FIRST EXPLORERS OF THE FAR WEST.
Kill Creek, Kan.
Is it a fact that early French explorers were the first to cross the continent through the northern part of what is now the United States?
Samuel Ritter.
Answer.—No French explorers, known as explorers, traveled farther West than Minnesota, but doubtless the French trappers reached the head waters of the Missouri, if they did not go even farther. These, however, have left no record of their wanderings, and we know nothing of what they discovered. To Lewis and Clarke who in 1804-5 ascended to the head waters of the Missouri and descended the Columbia to the Pacific Ocean, belongs the honor of having given the first written account of the far West.
PENNSYLVANIA WHISKY WAR.
Prairie City, Ill.
Did the distillers of Pennsylvania at one time create an insurrection on account of certain excise laws? If so, please state the facts, and what means was used by the government to quell the disturbance?
S. T. Young.