"
Mr. Walsh, of the _National Gazette_, deems it a valuable addition to
this class of literature.
"Public attention," he remarks, "was much excited last year by the
prospectus of the expedition, of which Mr. Schoolcraft formed a part as
mineralogist, and whose journey he has now described. He remarks, in his
introduction, with truth, that but little detailed information was
before possessed of the extreme north-western region of the Union--of the
great chain of lakes--and of the sources of the Mississippi River, which
continued to be a subject of dispute between geographical writers. In
the autumn of 1819 Governor Cass, of Michigan Territory, projected an
expedition for exploring what was so imperfectly known, and yet so
worthy of being industriously surveyed.
"The Secretary of War--to whom Mr. Schoolcraft's book is appropriately
dedicated, with a just testimony to the liberal and enlightened
character of his official administration--not only admitted the plan of
Governor Cass, but furnished him with the means of carrying it into full
effect by providing an escort of soldiers and directing the commandants
of the frontier garrisons to furnish every aid, of whatever
description, which the party might require.
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