"If the assumption by some writers that the lake to the south of Itasca had been seen before my visit to that region in 1881 is well grounded, I need only say in reply that it had not been assigned any geographical importance prior to my visit; in other words, it had not been recognized by any one as the true source of the Mississippi.
"When William Morrison, the fur-trader, pitched his tent on Schoolcraft Island in 1804, he evidently did not know that the outlet of the lake on which he looked was a part of the mighty river. Schoolcraft followed, at the head of an expedition twenty-eight years later, and claimed the lake as the source of the Mississippi. It is very generally admitted that Morrison had seen Itasca before Schoolcraft, but no one questioned that the latter was entitled to the credit of discovery, since he was the first to establish the fact that the Mississippi was its outlet. My claim to have definitely located the true source in the lake beyond Itasca stands on precisely the same ground.
"I do not desire to pass a reasonable limit in an effort to insure justice, but having consumed considerable time and money in locating lakes and streams in Northern Minnesota, and having established that the lake to the south of Itasca is the primal reservoir of the Mississippi, I do not feel disposed to allow myself to be thrust aside by those who know comparatively little or nothing of that region.
"Assuming that the statements of my party are incontrovertible concerning the lake which we claim as the True Source of the Great River, it follows naturally:
"I. That Lake Itasca cannot longer be recognized as the fountain-head of the Mississippi, for the reason that it is the custom, agreeably to the definition of geographers, to fix upon the remotest water, and a lake if possible, as the source of a river.
"II. That the lake to the south of Itasca, and connected therewith by a perennial stream, is the primal reservoir or True Source of the Mississippi; that it was not so considered prior to the visit of my expedition in 1881; and that my party was the first to locate its feeders correctly, and discover its true relation to the Great River.
"III. That Schoolcraft could not have seen the lake located by me, else he would have assigned it its true character in the narrative of his expedition.
"IV. That Nicollet, who followed Schoolcraft, could not have been aware of its existence, as he gives it no place upon his maps, or description in the accounts of his explorations.
"V. That the lake known as Pokegama by the Chippewas was not christened 'Glazier' by me, or through my instrumentality, but was so named by my companions, in opposition to my wish that it should retain its Indian appellation.
"Finally, whatever the verdict may be upon the merits of my claim to have been the first to locate the source of the Mississippi River and publish it to the world, if any person had seen this lake prior to 1881 it was certainly not known to the white residents of Northern Minnesota, or to the Indian tribes in the vicinity of its headwaters. Lake Itasca was still recognized as the fountain-head, was so placed upon maps, and taught as such in all the schools of the country.