In the month of May, 1823, occurred an event which was epochal, not only in regard to the commercial development of the Northwest, but also in respect to the growth of the upper Mississippi as a Mecca for travellers. The steamboat "Virginia", one hundred and twenty feet long with a twenty foot beam, commanded by Captain Crawford, left St. Louis with supplies for Fort Snelling; on the tenth of May it was received by the soldiers at the fort with a salute of cannon and by the assembled Indians with awe and consternation.[440] "I know not what impression the first sight of the Phoenician vessels might make on the inhabitants of the coasts of Greece," wrote one who was a passenger on that eventful voyage, "or the Triremi of the Romans on the natives of Iberia, Gaul, or Britain; but I am sure it could not be stronger than that which I saw on the countenances of these savages at the arrival of our steam-boat."[441] The man who wrote these words was J. C. Beltrami, an Italian refugee, who for political reasons had fled from his native land. In 1823 he met Major Taliaferro at Pittsburgh and requested permission to accompany him to the Falls of St. Anthony. This was granted, and in company with the Indian agent he arrived at Fort Snelling on the first steamboat to brave the current of the upper Mississippi.[442] Here for almost two months he was entertained by the officials at the post, visiting the Indian bands, attending their councils, writing letters to "My Dear Countess",[443] and conversing with Mrs. Snelling who alone could speak French with him.[444] He was on the point of setting out overland for Council Bluffs when another party arrived at the post. In the list of the exploring expeditions which traversed the region about the head of Lake Superior, by far the most important was the one led by Stephen H. Long and conducted under the auspices of the War Department. The permanent members of the party were Major Long of the Topographical Engineers, Thomas Say, zooelogist and antiquary, William H. Keating, mineralogist and geologist, Samuel Seymour, landscape painter and designer, and James E. Colhoun, astronomer and assistant topographer. The start was made at Philadelphia on April 30, 1823, and the route led by way of Wheeling and Chicago to Fort Crawford at Prairie du Chien. From this point Major Long and Mr. Colhoun travelled by land and the others by water, the two parties arriving at the fort on July 2nd and July 3rd respectively. After a few days wait the journey was again resumed late on the afternoon of July 9th.[445]