from the Mississippi Valley. The latter was entered through the Cantaguma or Sandy Lake River. From this point the source of the Mississippi was sought up rapids and falls and through lakes and savannahs, in which the channel winds. We passed the inlet of Leech Lake, which was fixed upon by Lieutenant Pike as its probable source, and traced it through Little Lake Winnipeg to the inlet of Turtle Lake in upper Red Cedar or Cass Lake in latitude 47°. On reaching this point the waters were found unfavorable to proceeding higher. The river was then descended to the falls of St. Anthony, St. Peter's, and Prairie du Chien. From the latter point we ascended the Wisconsin to the portage into Fox River, and descended the latter to Green Bay." At this point the expedition was divided. The party to which Mr. Schoolcraft was attached proceeded to Chicago, thence traced the eastern coast of Michigan, and rejoined the other party, which had gone north to trace the shores to Michilimackinack. About four thousand miles were traversed. Reports were made to the Government by Mr. Schoolcraft on the mineralogy and geology of the region; on the copper deposits of Lake Superior; on the botany, fresh-water conchology, zoölogy, and ichthyology; soil, productions, and climate received attention; and the Indian tribes were subjects of observation by General Cass. "In short, no exploration had before been made which so completely revealed the features and physical geography of so large a portion of the public domain." A new interest in mineralogy and geology was awakened by this expedition, and Mr. Schoolcraft's narrative of it was hurried into press under the pressure of the public clamor for its results. The book was published in May, 1821.
Mr. Schoolcraft shortly afterward embarked, with General Cass, on another expedition. The route lay. from the present site of Toledo, up the Miami of the lakes, down the Wabash and Ohio to Shawneetown, overland across the "knobs" and prairies, taking a famous locality of fluor-spar on the way, to St. Louis; thence up the Illinois to the rapids and on horseback to Chicago, stopping to find the fossil tree in the bed of the Des Plaines. In Chicago, a treaty was made with the Pottawattamies for the surrender of about five million acres of land, to which Mr. Schoolcraft should have given his signature among the others, but he was too ill—"did not, indeed, ever expect to make another entry in a human journal." The incidents and observations of the journey have been published as Travels in the Central Portions of the Mississippi Valley. In the next year (1822) Mr. Schoolcraft was appointed Indian agent at Sault Ste. Marie, of which he says, giving his reasons for accepting it: "I had now attained a fixed position; not such as I desired in the outset and had striven for, but one that offered an interesting class of duties, in the performance
