AI'I'IM'IX. '.j.VJ 



useful to them and to the government And 1 therefore submit 

 to the Department the propriety of HUthoriling it. 



Additional weight is given to I as applicable to this 



■object, by the increased hazards at which the trade of our citi- 

 io that qaarter, and the influence they have to 

 contend with, from the proximity of a foreign and a rival fron- 

 tier. T | of the Hudson'* B ly 1 kunpany are wakeful and 

 actn ills, and there is reason to believe that the measure 

 of control which they I 14 rciae over the Indian population, is 

 irre* of an imaginary territorial line. At any rate, our 

 traders complain loudly of infractions and losses from this source. 

 Mi rely to visit the Indians and the traders at their posts, will be 

 to encourage and to sustain them. 



It is proposed to perform the journey in a single canoe, manned 

 iccompanied with an escort of soldiers, and with 

 such auxiliary aid from the native population as may be neces- 

 It would give additional utility to the effort, if the Engi- 

 neer Department should judge proper to subjoin an officer to take 

 observations for latitude, and to collect the materials for a cor- 

 rect map. The moral condition of the native population is such 

 as to render it an interesting field for evangelical observation, and 

 I propose to offer to a clergyman in the service of the A. B. F. 

 Missions, now on the frontier, the opportunity of exploring it. 



The route from the head of Lake Superior will extend, through 

 the River St. Louis and its connecting waters, to the Mississippi 

 at Sandy Lake, and by the way of Leech Lake to the sources of 

 the Mississippi. From the point where navigation is checked a 

 portage is proposed to be made into Ked Lake (a remote tribu- 

 tary of Hudson's Bay). And the route by Otter-tail Lake, 

 and the river De Corbeau, will be pursued so as to re-enter the 

 ;>i at the confluence of the latter. Thence by the Falls 



9t Anthony t<> ind through the St. Croix, the 



i, or the Wisconsin, to the lakes. Circumstances may 

 .re changes in tbji programme. 



The extent of the country to be traversed requires an earlv 

 departure from this place, and the toil of interior transportation 

 makes it desirable that as little baggage, and as few men, should 



