Narrative journal of travels through the northwestern regions of the United States : extending from Detroit through the great chain of American lakes to the sources of the Mississippi River, performed as a member of the expedition under Governor Cass in the year 1820
Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (Author), E. & E. Hosford (Firm) (Publisher, Printer)
Print Book, English, 1821
Printed and published by E. & E. Hosford, No. 100, State Street, Albany, 1821
419, 5 unnumbered pages, 22 unnumbered pages of plates (some folded) : illustrations (some color), folded map ; 22 cm
1277885
"Embellished with a map and eight copper plate engravings."
Errata slip pasted opposite last page of index
Added title page engraved
Each copper plate accompanied by guard sheet
Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (1793-1864) was an explorer, Indian agent, and early ethnologist of Native American culture who joined an expedition organized by Governor Cass of Michigan in 1819. Its purpose was to locate the Mississippi River's sources, to explore the Great Lakes region, and to describe its significant topographical features, natural history, and mineral wealth. Schoolcraft joined the expedition as a mineralogist, and this is the journal of his participation. He describes his preliminary journey from New York to Detroit, where the expedition embarks for Michilimackinac and presses on to Sault de Ste. Marie and Fond du Lac. Eventually the explorers locate Lake Itasca in Minnesota, where the Mississippi originates. Schoolcraft also highlights St. Peter's, Prairie du Chien, the lead mines at Dubuque, and Green Bay, and devotes a whole chapter to the Ontagenon River and its nearby copper mines. His journal blends narrative with historical, ethnographic and statistical information