"Paul Beaulieu,
"U. S. Indian Interpreter."
An eastern correspondent addressed the following communication to the Saint Paul Dispatch, in which he claims that the discovery of the true source of the Mississippi should be credited to Captain Glazier:
"To the Editor—Saint Paul Dispatch:
"Having been a resident of Minnesota in 1855, I wish to say a word about Captain Glazier and his discovery. Minnesota, at the time of my residence there, was thinly settled. Minneapolis and Saint Anthony were both straggling villages. Saint Paul could boast of something like 10,000 population. The nearest railroad point to the latter city was one hundred and thirty miles distant. In winter Burbank's Northwestern Express carried the mails and the very few passengers that could muster courage to make the toilsome journey; and well do I remember my trip over this route. I know that, at that time, there was a question with the Sioux, Chippewas and many pioneers as to Lake Itasca being the source of the Great River. There was a settled opinion that something would be found beyond that would eventually prove to be the source of that stream. I believe Captain Glazier to have been actuated by a desire to establish the truth of this problem. Interested parties may seek to withhold from him his rightful due as a discoverer, but notwithstanding these attempts, in some schools in this region, Lake Glazier is taught as the true source of the Mississippi. To attempt to discredit one who took front rank for the preservation of the Union, and who suffered in many rebel prisons, is altogether unworthy of the parties who are making themselves conspicuous in the matter.
"J. C. Crane.
"West Millbury, Massachusetts, January, 1887."
Letter from Mr. John Lovell, geographer and historian, and one of the leading educational publishers of the Dominion of Canada: