Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1895-02-07


tie Stream That Nicoilet Christened the
Graded Achilles"
II have stepped across the Mississippi
river, :" said Dr. Coues. at was easy, for
the stream was only about 8 inches wide
and inches deep. l have seen the Fa-
Their OF Waters where he rises literally
out Of the ground and starts as an infant
rivulet, destined TO cut the United States
in twain with the mighty volume Of his
adult food.
1.-THE story Of the search for the source
of the Mississippi reads like romance.
After the discovery of the upper river in
1878 by Joliet and Marquette. and the
discovery of the falls of ST. Anthony in
1850. by Hennepin, little more was
known Of the Father Of Waters for near
" century. In 1866 Captain Jonathan
Carver assembled the stream as far as the
mouth of Rum river In 1898 the ia
nous English astronomer and Surveyor.
David Thompson, in the service of the
Northwest company, reached Turtle
lake This lake, which sends tributary
to the Mississippi. was for some time
supposed to be the source.
''The first white man known to have
visited the neighborhood of the actual
source of the Mississippi was William
Morrison, fur trader. who was certain
" at Lake Itasca in 1903 or 1904. He
never published anything on the sub
ject and it is only very recently that
Ia >-;+x, ~ d;eoox,o,.x, Il ao 1,aav, i,,nxut,
The next explorer of the sources of the
river was Lieutenant Zebulon Mont
gomery Pike. He was the first American
citizen to carry the flag of the United
States into northern Minnesota. He was
sent by tho government to treat with
the Indians and stop the sale of liquor
in that region. incidentally he purchased
for $3.50 and some whisky tract of
land nine miles square. which included
the present site Of Minneapolis. Con-
gress subsequently voted All additional
payment to the Indians for this tract OF
81, 600
Lieutenant Pike proceeded by boat
to the vicinity of the present Little Falls
in Morrison county, Mimi. He got no
farther with boats, and SO continued his
journey through the winter of 1866 on
snowshoes and with sledges northward.
He finally reached Leech lake. This lake
he mistook for the source Of the Missis-
sippi. and his report on this subject was
held to be correct for some years after
ward.
I'm 1920 the Hon. Lewis Cass. ac-
companied by Henry r. Schoolcraft, the
historian, went on an exploring expedi-
tion up the Mississippi as far rs Cass
lake. 80 named at the time by School
craft In 1928 an Italian traveller, j. G..
Beltrami. went over David Thompson
route to Turtle lake and reported that
lake to be the true source Evidently,
however, he heard from the Indians
about Lake Itasca. for he mapped 1t with
Approximate accuracy, though he was
never there and did not imagine that
the Father OF Waters sprang thence.
Lake Itasca was redisoovered in
1882. when Sohoolcraft. accompanied by
Lieutenant Allen. United States army;
the Rev Mr. Boutwell, and others, was
guided to the lake by Chippewa In
dian, known as Yellow Head. On this
occasion Lake Itasca received its present
name. which was made up Of parts of
the words Veritas Caput. signifying the
true head of the river. The Latin was
bad. for it ought to have been Verum
Caput The lake had previously been
known by the French name of Lac a la
Biches meaning Elk Lake. This was a
translation OF the Chippewa Omoshkos
Sogiagon
''Sohoolcraft's party made an exami-
nation of Lake ftasoa. being satisfied
that they had found the true source of
the Mississippi. Not again until 1886
did any scientific man visit the spot
This was a Frenchman, j. NJ Nicollet,
who tried to ascertain the source of the
feeders Of Lake Ttasca Exploring south
ward, he reached the springs from which
the infant river takes its rise. Itshould
be understood that the Mississippi runs
from its source directly northward for a
distance Of 80 miles before turning about
in sort Of fishhook bend and starting
southwark. To the baby stream. before il
enters Lake Ttasca, Nicollet gave the po-
etic name Of Graded Achilles He es.
tablished its course in connection with
three small lakes. since named Upper,
Middle and Lower Nioollet lakes-thai
10 10 say. he found that the little river
ran through two Of these small lakes
and connected with the third. This ex-
plorer mapped the whole Of the Itascan
basin and determined the latitude. Ion
gitude and altitude with such accuracy