d Prairie du Chien. From the latter point we ascended the
Wisconsin to the portage into Fox River, and descended the latter to
Green Bay. At this point, the expedition was divided, a part going
north, in order to trace the shores to Michilimackinack, and part
steering south, by the shores of Lake Michigan to Chicago. At the latter
place, another division was made, Governor Cass and suite proceeding on
horseback, across the peninsula of Michigan, and Captain Douglass and
myself completing the survey of the eastern coast of Michigan, and
rejoining the party detached to strike Michilimackinack. The Huron
shores were coasted to the head of the River St. Clair and Detroit.

[Footnote 8: A Narrative Journal of Travels through the American Lakes
to the Sources of the Mississippi River. 1 vol. 8vo. pp. 419:
Albany, 1821.]

About four thousand miles were traversed. Of this distance the
topography was accurately traced by Captain Douglass and his assistant,
Mr. Trowbridge. This officer also took observations for the latitude at
every practical point, and collected with much labor the materials for a
new and enlarged map. Its geology and mineralogy were the subjects of a
detailed report made by me to the War Department in 1822. Of the copper
deposits on Lake Superior, a detailed report was made to the same
department in November 1820. The Indian tribes were the subject of
observation made by General Cass. Its botany, its fresh water
conchology, and its zoology and ichthyology, received the attention that
a rapid transit permitted. Its soil, productions, and climate were the
topics of daily observation. In short, no exploration had before been
made which so completely revealed the features and physical geography of
so large a portion of the public domain. And the literary and scientific
public waited with an intense desire for the result of these
observations in every department.

The first letter I received on my return route from that eventful tour,
was at the post of Green Bay, where a letter from J.T. Johnston, Esq.,
of New York, awaited me: "Since you departed," he observes, "nothing of
importance has occurred, either in the moral or political world. The
disturbances which disgrace the kingdom of Great Britain are, and still
continue to be, favored by a few factionists. Thistlewood, and the
members of the Cato Street conspiracy, have been tried for high treason,
and condemned, and I presume the next arrivals must bring us an