Excerpt from Summary Narrative of an Exploratory Expedition to the Sources of the Mississippi River, in 1820: Resumed and Completed, by the Discovery of Its Origin in Itasca Lake, in 1832, by Authority of the United States The following pages embrace the substance of the narratives of two distinct expeditions for the discovery of the sources of the Mississippi River, under the authority of the United States. By connecting the incidents of discovery, and of the facts brought to light during a period of twelve years, unity is preserved in the prosecution of an object of considerable importance in the progress of our geography and natural history, at least, from the new impulse which they received after the treaty of Ghent. Geographers deem that branch of a river as its true source which originates at the remotest distance from its mouth, and, agreeably to this definition, the combined narratives, to which attention is now called, show this celebrated stream to arise in Itasca Lake, the source of the Itasca River. Owing to the time which has intervened since these expeditions were undertaken, a mere revision of the prior narrations, in the journal form, was deemed inexpedient. A concise summary has, therefore, been made, preserving whatever information it was thought important to be known or remembered, and omitting all matters not partaking of permanent interest. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.