Summary Narrative of an Exploratory Expedition to the Sources of the Mississippi River, in 1820 / Resumed and Completed, by the Discovery of its Origin in Itasca Lake, in 1832

by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft

[162] By the report of Governor Stevens (June, 1854), the selected pass for the contemplated railroad through the St. Mary to the Columbia valley is in 47° 30´, where there is but little snow at any time, and rich pasturage for cattle. The phenomena of the climates of our northern latitudes are but little understood.

[163] A The Canadian French call this animal la Biche, from Biche, a hind.

[164] This myth is further alluded to, in the following stanzas from the Literary World, No. 337:—

[ [165]

STANZAS.

ON REACHING THE SOURCE OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER IN 1832.

I.

Ha! truant of western waters! Thou who hast

So long concealed thy very sources—flitting shy,

Now here, now there—through spreading mazes vast