The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1896-06-18
Discovery of River Sources.

EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: Persons
versed in geographical matters will remem-
her The interesting idyllic narrative of Sir
Samuel Baker who about the year 1861 ex-
plored the River Nile from its mouth To- the
Lake Albert Nyanza. He was accom- panied
by his wife, and they were the only white
members of the expedition. He was an ac-
c0nIpli-hed hunter, gifted with all the
characteristics of body and mind necessary
to fit him for such an ex plOration. Sick and
wearied almost to helpiessness the brave
pair at length reached that great reservoir
Of the Nile and imagined il was the dis
covery of the source Of the great African
river. But afterwards Henry NJ. Stanley
came to another body OF less size at "a higher
elevation, and whose waters joined the Nile
by flowing through Bakers Lake. Stanley's
pool was named Albert Edward Nyanzr
Lake, and is now recognized rs the proper
source of the Nile.
The object of the previous statements,
suggested by the recent memoirs of Sir
Samuel Baker, who died two years ago. is to
call attention 10 the perfect similarity of
facts shown in the discoveries of the real
sources of two of the great rivers in the
world. For 80 years previous to 1881 Lake
I,asca was considered the source of the Mis-
sissippi. In 1892 Schoolcraft, an American
explorer, with few Indian companions,
reached this three-armed picturesque sheet
of water and deemed it the origin of
Americas mighty river Wearied and ex-
hausted as was Sir Samuel Baker, though
not so much SO, he hastily skirted its shores
and returned to civilization, announcing to
the world what he honestly believed to be q
fact. But subsequently Capt Willard
f.tI ~. Il
the tablelands of river origin. The result
was on July %, 1881, Capt. Glazier reached
another small lake whose waters passed
through Itasca and thence down the Missis-
sippi. Aside from shelving banks this far
Their collection of water was fed by four rills
originating nearby. This beautiful lake of
clear water, nearly round in shape and nearly
mile in diameter, is evidently the true
source of the Mississippi. 1t was so regarded,
and the members of the expedition, two
white men and two Indians, named it Lake
Glazier in honor of their leader. The dis
ceveTy was announced to the world and all
the details and facts concerning it and the
headwater region have since been published
in charming narrative form.
The instances of Stanley and Glazier are
thus precisely analogous. In them may be
discovered the all-cOmprehending principle
of evolution, wherein events and facts are
gradually unfolded by time, place, and cir
cumstance amid the exertioBs and opinions
of individuals, who themselves, Willingly
or unwittingly, are so many links in the
.causative chain of genesis and development.
1t is often the case that many partial efforts
in the line of invention and discovery are
mads before the cap sheaf of complete knowl-
edge crowns human wisdom. Stanley went
farther to find really what Baker imagined
he had reached. In like manner Glazier
advanced beyond the baltings of Pike and
SchOo.craft to grasp in verify what they had
only approached. Thus the true source of
the Mississippi has been determined, and it
is interesting to note that the fact has an
exact parallel in equatorial Africa.-A.
MUNsELL, Dubuque, Iowa