more than the seven days to accomplish it. Accordingly, as
his mind had been prepared by his guides all along to accept Itasca as
the true source, he only stopped long enough to see and hurriedly coast
the lake, and then returned to the Indian council on Crow-Wing River.
This is Schoolcraft's own statement, and there can be no doubt that it
is the true reason for his failure to locate the source correctly. He
never saw the beautiful lake to the south of Itasca, fed by the springs
and streams of the marshes which give birth to the Infant Mississippi.

Therefore, he could not know that Itasca was but an expansion of the
stream, like other lakes in its onward course, a sudden growth, as it
were, which gave promise of the vast proportions the mighty giant would
hereafter assume. There would be something almost sad in his coming so
near and yet missing the mark at which he had aimed, if it were not that
he lived and _died_ in the belief that he was right in his assertion
that the great Father of Waters rose in the lake which he, oddly enough,
named Itasca. Oddly, because Itasca is a name given by the Indians to
the mysteries of their religion and necromantic arts, and Schoolcraft,
by his decided statements in regard to the lake, succeeded in enveloping
in mystery the true source for another fifty years. Why it should _ever_
have been a mystery is a question often raised; but there can be no
doubt that it is owing to the fact that no fur traders and but few
Indians ever penetrate the boggy, swampy, lake-covered regions of
Northern Minnesota.

Our explorers, having finished their survey of the lake, now disembarked
and prepared to hold suitable and becoming ceremonies to celebrate their
momentous discovery. First they drank of the clear, cool water to the
health of Captain Glazier, who had led them on to making this grand
achievement. The Captain then thanked them in a few eloquent and
appropriate remarks for their good wishes and also for their faith in
him, and the determination they had shown to stand by him until he had
reached the goal he sought. He spoke, too, of the magnitude and
importance of their discovery, of the knowledge it would add to the
geographical lore of the country, and of the strangeness of the fact
that the source of their mightiest river had so long been a disputed
question. The cause of this he attributed to the peculiarities of the
region in which it rose, the many lakes and swamps making much traveli