They often launch off into
exclamations as to the beautiful surface of the country; while their
account of native fruits and the bracing climate and fertile soil
picture to the imagination all the elements of a home.
M. Nicollet was a foreign gentleman who possessed superior scientific
knowledge and a rare zeal to prosecute researches. He made an
exploration through the valley of the St. Peter's and the Missouri;
and from thence to the sources of the Mississippi, in the year 1839.
The official report which he made is a valuable document, but
difficult to be obtained. I shall therefore make a few extracts from
it. I should here remark that M. Nicollet died before he had completed
the introduction to his report. "The Mississippi," he says, "holds its
own from its very origin; for it is not necessary to suppose, as has
been done, that Lake Itasca may be supplied with invisible sources, to
justify the character of a remarkable stream, which it assumes at its
issue from this lake. There are five creeks that fall into it, formed
by innumerable streamlets oozing from the clay-beds at the bases of
the hills, that consist of an accumulation of sand, gravel, and clay,
intermixed with erratic fragments; being a more prominent portion of
the great erratic deposit previously described, and which here is
known by the name of 'Hauteurs des Terres'-- heights of land.
Pages:
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119