Further exploration of the upper Mississippi was made by Joseph N. Nicollet during the summer of the next year. This French scientist was aided in part by the War Department, and in part by the fur traders, P. Chouteau, Jr., & Co., of St. Louis.[460] While at Fort Snelling he determined to visit the sources of the great river, and in his enterprises he was greatly assisted by Lawrence Taliaferro, H. H. Sibley, and the officers at the fort. Some of the soldiers wished to accompany him, but the absence of many of the garrison at Prairie du Chien made their presence at the post necessary. Some Chippewa Indians, some half-breeds, and a Frenchman, Desire Fronchet, were his only companions when the ascent of the river was commenced. But at the first stopping place, near the Falls of St. Anthony, a band of thieving Sioux robbed him of many of his supplies, and the attempt would have been given up had not Major Taliaferro made good the loss from his own means.[461] Nicollet visited Lake Itasca and indicated its principal tributary, so that some authors have credited him with being the discoverer of the true source of the Mississippi.[462] After the return from this perilous journey, the winter was spent at Fort Snelling in working over the notes and a map. For the kindness shown him Mr. Nicollet expressed great appreciation, though the rude hospitality of the frontier post could provide no supper better than wild rice, mush, and milk, and no sleeping quarters better than the storehouse. But here he was entertained, as the agent wrote, in Virginia fashion where a call lasts six months and a visit one year; and the nights were made merry with the music of the violin and piano, and with the animated conversation of Taliaferro and Nicollet. For many hours on cold winter nights he studied through his telescope the stars in the clear heavens.[463] Mr. Nicollet devoted two more seasons to examining the country between the Mississippi and Missouri rivers in company with John C. Fremont. In 1838 a trip was made from Fort Snelling to the pipestone quarry; and in 1839 his party ascended the Missouri River to Fort Pierre, and then passed over the prairies to the Mississippi.[464] The accounts of these journeys were widely read, and coming from the pen of such an able scientist and pleasing writer, the interest of the country was turned to the rich possibilities of this new Northwest.[465] In addition to these well-known travellers there was a host of people who made the trip as a vacation jaunt. On June 1, 1836, the "Palmyra" arrived with thirty passengers. The steamboat "Burlington" tied up at Fort Snelling on June 13, 1838, having among its many passengers Captain Frederick Marryat, the popular English novelist. Only two days later the "Brazil" was moored near the "Burlington", the presence of two boats at the same time being considered a novel sight. The family of Governor Henry Dodge was on this second boat.[466]