Narrative of an expedition through the upper Mississippi to Itasca Lake, the actual source of this river : embracing an exploratory trip through the St. Croix and Burntwood (or Broule) Rivers, in 1832 / under the direction of Henry R. Schoolcraft
[2], 307, [1] p., [5] leaves of plates (2 folded) : maps ; 23 cm
Type:
Electronic resources
Place:
Minnesota
Mississippi River
Saint Croix River (Wis. and Minn.)
United States
Date:
1834
1789-1869
Notes:
"Geo. L. Whitney, Printer, Detroit"--Verso of t.p.
Two folded maps signed by Lieut. James Allen and one engraved by LeCount & Hammond.
Appendices: I. Natural history -- II. Indian language -- III. Official reports.
Errata: p. [308].
Howes, U.S.IANA, no. S.187
Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress Web site.
SCNHRB has three copies.
SCNHRB c. 1 (39088016462087) has booklabel, "WT", obscuring another label.
SCNHRB c. 1 has additional bookplate: Smithsonian Institution Libraries. The Charlotte and Lloyd Wineland Collection of Native American and Western Exploration Literature.
SCNHRB c. 1 half bound in brown leather and stone pattern marbled boards, title in gilt on spine.
SCNHRB c. 2 (39088016462129) has torn t.p., slightly affecting text; with no. in ink: 3235.
SCNHRB c. 2 has the bookplate of George P. Merrill.
SCNHRB c. 2 has stamps of the Mercantile Library Association, Boston and Boston Public Library on the t.p.
SCNHRB c. 2 has occasional pencilled ms. corrections to text.
SCNHRB c. 2 half bound in red cloth and black stone pattern marbled boards, with original leather spine label.
SCNHRB c. 3 (39088016462160) is incomplete with 294 p.; a section of text from p. v and map bound following p. 56 excised, only 1 additional plate.
SCNHRB c. 3 has occasional ink and pencilled ms. corrections to text.
SCNHRB c. 3 stamped on t.p.: Smithsonian Institution Schoolcraft Deposit no. [in ms.] 170753.
SCNHRB c. 3 bound in light blue library buckram, title in gilt on spine.
Summary:
This is an account by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (1793-1864) of his discovery of the Mississippi River's source, Lake Itasca, in 1832. Schoolcraft was an Indian agent for the region, and he assembled an expeditionary party of thirty, including Ozawindib (an Ojibway guide and interpreter), an army officer, a surgeon, a geologist, and interpreter, and a missionary. They set out with instructions from Secretary of War Lewis Cass to effect a permanent peace among the region's Native Americans, persuade them to be vaccinated against smallpox, acquire demographic and scientific information, and establish definitively the origin of the Mississippi. Expedition Through the Upper Mississippi contains anecdotes and observations about the beliefs, customs, and history of the Chippewa [Ojibway] as well as the Sioux [Dakota], the Fox [Mesquakie], the Sauk, the Menominee, the Mandans, and various other Native American groups. The narrative proceeds chronologically along the route the expedition followed, with detailed descriptions of geographical features. This volume also includes a short account of a trip along the St. Croix and Burntwood (Brule) River, and has an appendix containing statistical and linguistic data, a list of shells collected by Schoolcraft in the West and Northwestern territories, official reports, a speech by six Chippewa chiefs about the war delivered at Michilimackinac in July 1833, and a discussion of the Upper Mississippi's lead-mining country.
