The Legislature, last winter, at the instance of the Historical Society, and in conformity with the custom of naming some of the counties of a territory or state after its early explorers, established a county by the name of Beltrami; which extends from the first “range line” below the mouth of Turtle River, on the east, to the line between ranges 38 and 39 on the west, and from the line between townships 154 and 155 on the north to the north line of Beecher county, and to the Mississippi on the south. This county comprehends the region of the head of “Bloody River,” &c., and is in area about 4,000 square miles—subject to reduction and modification of boundary it is true; but, it is to be hoped, always to retain the same name, and to include the “Julian Sources of the Mississippi” within its limits. Of this act of legislation, his friend, Major Taliaferro says, “It is a high compliment;—one well deserved, and creditable to the movers and State;” and all lovers of justice who read Beltrami’s own words will rejoice that his claims have at last been officially recognized.
In reference to the opportunity he had of perpetuating his own name in the Indian territory by giving it an archipelago, as he terms it, of the Mississippi—the present “Thousand Islands,” situated a mile or two below St. Cloud—he wrote, “After my death, men will dispose of my name as God will of my soul, according as I shall have well or ill deserved during my life; and I leave to my friends, and to those who have had opportunities of becoming acquainted with my heart, the charge of defending my memory, should it ever be attacked by injustice or prejudice.”
APPENDIX.
HYDROGRAPHY OF THE SOURCES OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
In reference to the question as to which stream we should look to for the right source of the Mississippi, the following article has been prepared by Col. Charles Whittlesey—a man well known to the reading public, not only by his explorations and contributions to the stock of knowledge concerning the geology and physical geography of the North West, but by his writings on the earthworks and other relics of the aboriginal inhabitants of the same region:
“Cleveland, O., March 28, 1866.
“Turtle Lake, at the head of Turtle River, which discharges into Cass Lake, is the most northerly of the waters of the Mississippi. Mr. Schoolcraft claims that Itasca Lake and its tributaries constitute the true source of the Great River, because these streams are further from the mouth than any other. Whether this, if true, is a correct mode of fixing the head waters of rivers, I must be allowed to doubt. It seems to me that the largest branch forms the river, and the heads of that branch constitute the sources.
“When I was on the upper waters of the Mississippi, in September 1848, I compared the quantity of water flowing from Lake Winnibigoshish with that from Leech Lake, as far as observations without gauging enabled me to do it. At that time I judged the discharge from the Leech Lake branch to be three times as much as from Lake Winnibigoshish, and one of our voyageurs, who was raised in the region, said it generally discharged twice as much. The distance from the junction of the Leech Lake branch, below Winnibigoshish, to the most distant sources of the various branches, does not appear to me to be materially different. Among the hundreds of small streams converging into, and passing through nearly as many lakes, there cannot be said to be a main or separate river above this junction. From this point, the Mississippi assumes its proper characteristics, as one stream, to the gulf of Mexico; but above it, the branches are excessively numerous. Below the junction, it is two chains wide, with a broad regular current, having the same imposing features which it retains to its mouth. The furthest streams that discharge into Leech Lake rise to the south, interlocking with the waters of Pine River; but, if we can rely upon our maps—of a region as yet unsurveyed—the development of these branches, including the lakes through which they pass, equals in length the Itasca branch.
“Our missionaries at Cass Lake said the Turtle River discharged more water than Bemidji River, which enters Cass Lake from Itasca Lake.”