I caused some trees to be felled, pitched my tent, and
raised the American flag on a high staff, the Indians firing a salute
as it rose.
This flag, as the evidence of the government having extended its
jurisdiction to this quarter, I left flying, on quitting the island--and
presume the band of Ozawandib, at Cass Lake, afterwards appropriated it
to themselves.
Questions of geography and astronomy may deserve a moment's attention.
If we assume the discovery of the mouth of the Mississippi to have been
made by Narvaez in 1527--a doubtful point!--a period of 305 years has
elapsed before its actual source has been fixed. If the date of De
Soto's journey (1541) be taken, which is undisputed, this period is
reduced to 290 years. Hennepin saw it as high as the mouth of the river
St. Francis in 1680. Lt. Pike, under the administration of Mr.
Jefferson, ascended it by water in 1805, near to the entrance of Elk
River, south of the Crow Wing Fork, and being overtaken at this spot by
frosts and snow, and winter setting in strongly, he afterwards ascended
its banks, on snow shoes, his men carrying his baggage on hand sleds, to
Sandy Lake, then a post of the North-west Company.
Pages:
875
876
877
878
879
880
881
882
883
884
885
886
887
888
889
890
891
892
893
894
895
896
897
898
899