[114] The principal explorers under the United States government of the regions lying west of the Mississippi, and who have published works upon the subject, are the following:
1. Messrs. Lewis and Clarke, in 1804-6, first explored the Rocky Mountains to the Columbia River.
2. Major Z. M. Pike, in 1805-7, visited the upper waters of the Mississippi and the western regions of Louisiana.
3. Major, afterward Colonel S. H. Long, of the United States Topographical Engineers, made two expeditions, one in 1819-20 to the Rocky Mountains, another in 1823 to the Sources of the St. Peter and the Lake of the Woods, whereby four volumes octavo were filled.
4. Governor Cass and Mr. Schoolcraft in 1820 explored the Sources of the Mississippi and the regions west and south of Lake Superior.
5. Colonel H. Dodge, U. S. Army, in 1835 traveled 1600 miles from Fort Leavenworth, and visited the regions between the Arkansas and the Platte Rivers.
6. Captain Canfield, United States Topographical Engineers, in 1838 explored the country between Forts Leavenworth and Snelling.
7. Mr. M‘Cox, of Missouri, surveyed the boundaries of the Indian reservations: his work was in part revised by the late Captain Hood, United States Topographical Engineers.
8. Mr. Nicollet (French) in 1833-38 mapped the country west of the Upper Mississippi: he was employed in 1838-9 to make a similar scientific reconnoissance between the Mississippi and the Missouri, on which occasion he was accompanied by Mr. Frémont. He died in 1842.
The explorations of Colonel Frémont, Captain Howard Stansbury, Lieutenant Gunnison, and Lieutenant Warren have been frequently alluded to in these pages.