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Show He Found the Source of "The Father of Waters' fiZ Schoolcraft Landjnq atLake Itasca m!832 " "Henry "Rowe V Z? t'fc - 4 4 MVV Schoolcraft ' W . y V' $ , r lO.ll -HV ; v By ELMO SCOTT VMTSON tfiutxiwn HE Indians called it "The Fa-(t Fa-(t tlier of Waters" this mighty "i stream which flows south through the heart of the North American continent. Its mystery, Its majesty and its power captivated cap-tivated the imagination of the first white men to hear of It and sent them upon perilous journeys jour-neys Into the wilderness to gaze upon the broad sweep of Its waters. wa-ters. The epic of American history his-tory could not be complete without with-out Including the story of the Mississippi and Jt has furnished the theme for what seems destined des-tined to become one of the folk songs of the nation "01' Man Itiver." To a Spaniard goes the credit for being the first white man to stand upon Its banks and that man was Hernando De Soto who "discovered" "discov-ered" the Mississippi in 1541, although there is a possibility that Panfilo Narvaez, following- the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, saw the mouth of the Mississippi as early as 1527 or 1528. It was in May, 1541, near Chickasaw Bluffs In what Is now the state of Mississippi that De Soto, inarching westward in search of gold, reined In his horse on the east bank of the Great River. A year later he was to find a watery grave in that stream and the remnant of his command, under un-der Luis de Moscosco, floated down the river to the gulf and then made their way back to Mexico. Mex-ico. So while De Soto has the credit for being the first white man to see the main stream of the Mississippi, It was his lieutenant, Moscosco, who was most likely the first white man to see Its southern terminal. It was the French, however, rather than the Spanish who made the Mississippi one of the main routes of travel In extending their empire In the New world. Did Pierre Esprit Radlsson and Medard Chouart Groseillers, fur traders of Three Rivers, Quebec, discover the Upper Mississippi Mis-sissippi in 1059? Some historians say they did not, but Agnes C. Laut in her "Pathfinders of the West" states unequivocally that they did and produces what seems to be abundant proof to back up her assertions. But whether they did or didn't reach the Mississippi, only a few more years were to elapse before Frenchmen were to be navigating the upper waters of the river Marquette, the Jesuit priest, and Louis Joliet, the fur trader, exploring it from the mouth of the Wisconsin river in 1GT3 and following fol-lowing it as far south as the mouth of the Arkansas Ar-kansas river; Louis Hennepin exploring it north from the Wisconsin river to the Falls of St. Anthony An-thony ; and Rene Cavalier de la Salle in 1GS2 floating down the Mississippi from the mouth of the Illinois to where the Great River empties into the Gulf, the first man to follow It for so long a distance and there at the mouth to raise the banner of France and take possession posses-sion of the vast empire drained by this river In the name of his king. For more than a century the white men, British Brit-ish and French, busy with their struggle for domination of North America, did no more to solve the whole mystery of the Mississippi Its course from source to mouth. No doubt there was much speculation as to the origin of this mighty waterway during this time but it was not until 17118 that David Thompson, a British surveyor and trader for the Northwest company, wlille returning to Grand Tortage from a trading trad-ing visit to the Mandan villages In what Is now North Dakota, found the present body of water known as Turtle lake which he believed to be the source of the Mississippi. But his claims were disproved seven years later by a dashing young American army officer, Lieut 7-obulon M. Pike who followed the Mississippi Mis-sissippi north to Its headwaters. Pike loft St. Louis on August 0. 1S05, In a keel-boat, with CO men and provisions for four months, under orders, or-ders, among other things, to "ascend the main branch of the Mississippi to Its source." By October Tike had reached the present site of Little Falls, Minn. There winter overtook him and he built a fort for use as his base of operations. op-erations. Undaunted by the bitter weather Pike started north early In December, traveling by dog sleds over the frozen river. ne reached Sandy lake. Leech lake, which he considered the "main source of the Mississippi." and Upper Red Cedar lake, now called Cass lake, which he reported to be the "upper source of the Mississippi." Mis-sissippi." His "discovery" was verified 14 years later when Gov. Lewis Cass of Michigan territory led an exploring party to the shores of Cass lake in 1.S-T-. Cass and his party left Detroit on M;:y 21 in three big birch-hark canoes and on July o entered the mouth of the St. Louis river, Ita3ca - passed the present site of Duluth, Minn., and landed at the American Fur company's post of Fond du Lac. From there he proceeded by a well known route, part waterways and part portages, up the St. Louis and East Savanna rivers and down the West Savanna to Sandy lake. He then went up the Mississippi to Upper Red Cedar lake which was named Cassina (the present Cass lake) and this lake he confirmed Pike's report as the "true source of the Mississippi." Mis-sissippi." But Pike was not destined to have the honor of becoming the discoverer of "the true source of the Mississippi." That honor was to be reserved for an American Amer-ican mineralogist named Henry Rowe Schoolcraft School-craft and it is his feat which Is the occasion for an interesting centennial celebration In Minnesota Min-nesota this summer. On July 13, 1832, Schoolcraft School-craft discovered what is now known as Lake Itasca and which has officially been determined the "true head" of the Mississippi and in recognition recog-nition of that fact twelve communities In the vicinity of Itasca state park, organized Into what is known as the Northwestern Minnesota Historical association, will commemorate the event with a pageant which Is free to the public, pub-lic, which will be staged on the banks of Lake Itasca and to which the whole nation Is Invited. The dates for the pageant are July 13, 16 and 31, August 14 and 25 and September 4. In addition addi-tion to these pageants, the Minnesota Historical society will hold Its annual meeting in the park on July 16 and most of its program will be devoted de-voted to the history of Schoolcraft's exploration. Few stories of exploring expeditions and discoveries dis-coveries in American history have so many romantic ro-mantic elements in them as has the story of Schoolcraft's achievement. He was born at Hamilton, Ham-ilton, N. Y., March 28, 1793, and was educated at Middlebury and Union colleges. Schoolcraft was one of the first Americans to become interested in-terested in mineralogy and geology and, because of those Interests, made his first trip to the Mississippi Mis-sissippi valley in 1817. ,, Schoolcraft accompanied Governor Cass' expedition ex-pedition in 1S20 as mineralogist and although he seems to have accepted Cass' belief that Cass lake was the true source of the Mississippi, the mineralogist took careful note of that fact that Cass lake had two inlets, indicating that there must be some body of water which fed Cass lake and which therefore might more properly be regarded as the source. But he had no opportunity op-portunity at the time to pursue his Investigations. Investiga-tions. In 1S22 the semi-diplomatic position of Agent of Indian Affairs In the Northwest was created and Schoolcraft, being best fitted for the post because of his knowledge of the Indians, In-dians, was given the appointment. In 1S32 Cass, who was then secretary of war. Instructed his former mineralogist to conduct con-duct an exploration into the country west of the Great Lakes, the principal purpose being one of pacification. For the Chippewas had received a painted war club and pipe from Chief Black Hawk of the Sauks, who was preparing to resist what he considered the unjust aggressions of the whites in the state of Illinois. Schoolcraft was instructed to checkmate the activities of the Sauk leader among the Chippewas, to try to bring about a lasting peace between them and their hereditary hered-itary enemies, the Sioux, to gather as much Information about them as he could, and to see to It that as many as possible were vaccinated. vac-cinated. For purposes of "evangelical observation" ob-servation" a missionary, William T. Boutwell, was attached to the party; Dr. Douglass Hough-Vn Hough-Vn went to vaccinate the Indians; and a military mil-itary escort consisting of ten soldiers commanded command-ed by Lieut. James Allen was provided. Schoolcraft's party left Sault Ste. Marie on June 7. 1S32. and went by way of Fond du Lac and the Savanna portage to Sandy and Cass lakes. While he was still on Lake Superior he met O.awlndib, or the Yellow Head, a Chippewa Chip-pewa Indian whose home was at Cass lake. This Indian was hired to guide the party. He led the explorers to Star Island In Cass lake, where his village was located. From this place Schoolcraft planned to push on Into the wilderness through one of the inlets that he had observed In 1S20, hoping to find the true source of the Mississippi. The Yellow Head, who knew the region well, was ready to help him. lie drew maps, col- LA jV'n M RevWilliamT Boutell lected five small canoes In which to travel, ac4 engaged additional guides. Early on the morning of July 11 he led a party of 16 persons out of Cass lake by way of a stream that he said was the Mississippi. The travelers ascended as-cended this stream to Lake Bemldji and' then turned south, following the east fork of the Mississippi now known as the Yellow Head or Schoolcraft river to its beginnings in a swamp. They then began to walk over a hardly noticeable portage path toward the southwest. This journey across the portage began early on the morning of July 13. The Yellow Head, carrying a conoe, led the way, and the others came after, some loaded with baggage, others bearing canoes. Through woods and underbrush under-brush they picked their way In Indian file. "Every step we made . . seemed to increase in-crease the ardor with which we were carried forward," writes Schoolcraft "The desire of reaching the actual source of a stream so celebrated cele-brated as the Mississippi a stream which La Salle had reached the mouth of, a century and a half (lacking a year) before, was perhaps predominant ; and we followed our guide down the sides of the last elevation, with the expectation expec-tation of momentarily reaching the goal of our journey. What had been long sought, at last appeared suddenly. On turning out of a thicket, into a small weedy opening, the cheering cheer-ing sight of a transparent body of water burst upon our view. It was Itasca lake the source of the Mississippi." Having found the lake, Schoolcraft was ready with a name for it. The Indians called it "Omushkos," the Chippewa name for elk ; and fur-traders, who had knowledge of the lake's existence, used the name Lac La Biche, or Elk lake. According to a story told years later by Boutwell, Schoolcraft coined the name "Itasca" while coasting along the south shore of Superior Su-perior on his westward journey. He had asked the missionary for some classical words meaning mean-ing true source, or head of a river. On a piece of paper Boutwell wrote down "Veritas" and "caput," the Latin words for truth and head. Schoolcraft then cut off the first syllable of "Veritas," did the same with the last syllable of "caput," joined what was left and had Itasca." Such Is the story commonly told, but Schoolcraft School-craft himself offers a somewhat different explanation. expla-nation. In his "History, Condition, and Prospects Pros-pects of the Indian Tribes of the United States," published in 1S55, he included in a list of "Names Based on the Indian Vocabularies" the name "Itasca" with the following comment: "From ia, to be, totosh, the female breast, or origin, and ka, a terminal subs, Inflection." Schoolcraft and his party remained at Lake Itasca only a few hours. Up the long southeast south-east arm they paddled to the island that has since been known as Schoolcraft Island. Here they put put up a pole and raised the American Ameri-can flag. The Yellow Head told the explorers that a tiny creek that could not he called a river was all that flowed Into Lake Itasca from the south. Both Schoolcraft and Allen showed their confidence In the Indian by accepting his statement. Leaving to later explorers the task of making a detailed examination of the shores of the hike, they took their departure through its northward flowing outlet, which they were surprised to find about ten feet wide with an average depth of more than foot. This was the main stream of the Mississippi, and they followed It to Cass lake. There, on Star Island, called by the explorer Colcaspi or Grand island. Schoolcraft gave the Yellow Head a "flag and the president's medal, thus Investing him with chieftainship." On July 10, three days after the discovery of Itasca, Schoolcraft and his men were making their way southward to Fort Snelling. From that place the explorers returned to the Sault by way of the Mississippi and SL Croix rivers and Lake Superior. Though the existence of Elk lake undoubtedly undoubt-edly was known to fur-traders long before Schoolcraft's visit on July 13. 1S.12, historians have not hesitated to honor Schoolcraft as the real discoverer. And so this summer the citizens citi-zens of Minnesota will celebrate the one-hundredth anniversary of the discovery of the source of the Mississippi river, confident that It was the achievement of Henry Rowe Schoolcraft School-craft I ( by WeaterD NewspaPftT Cnloo.) j |