Summary Narrative of an Exploratory Expedition to the Sources of the Mississippi River, in 1820: Resumed and Completed, by the Discovery of its Origin in Itasca Lake, in 1832Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe
History
Summary Narrative of an Exploratory Expedition to the Sources of the Mississippi River, in 1820: Resumed and Completed, by the Discovery of its Origin in Itasca Lake, in 1832
Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe
Great Lakes (North America); Mississippi River -- Sources; Northwest, Old -- Description and travel
_Sulphuret of Iron._--This variety is found, in limited quantities, in a
state of crystallization, in clay beds, on the west shore of Lake
Michigan, between Milwaukie and Chicago. It is frequently in the form of
a cube or an octahedron. Some of the crystals are in lumps of several
pounds' weight, with a metallic lustre. Often the masses, on being
broken, are found radiated, sometimes cellular, and occasionally irised.
_Iron Sand._--The breaking-up and prostration of the sandstone and other
sedimentary formations, along the shores of lakes Michigan, Huron, and
Superior, liberates this ore in considerable quantities. It arranges
itself, on the principle of its specific gravities, in separate strata
along the sandy shores, where it invariably occupies the lowest position
at and below the water's edge. The shores of Fond du Lac, on Lake
Superior, may be particularly mentioned as an abundant locality.
_Micaceous Oxide of Iron._--In detached mass, among the debris of the
River St. Louis and of Fond du Lac. It exists in veins in the clay slate
which characterizes the banks of this river.
_Ochrey Red Oxide of Iron._ (Red ochre)--Is produced near a spot called
the Big Stone, on the head of the River St. Peter's. It is said to occur
in a loose form, in a stratum of several inches thick, lying below the
soil of a level dry prairie or plain. The Sioux Indians, who employ it
as a paint, make this statement. The color of a portion given to me by
them is of a bright red; and a considerable proportion of the mass is in
a state of minute division. Particles of quartz are occasionally mixed
with it. This ore of iron is also represented to be found in the
prairies north of Gros Point, along the west shore of Lake Michigan,
between Milwaukie and Chicago.
Ochrey red oxide of iron occurs on the shores of Big Stone Lake, at the
source of the St. Peter's River. A large spring rises from a level, dry
plain, a few feet beyond which the mineral occurs. The Indians, who
employ it as a pigment, take it up with their knives. The stratum is
about eight inches thick, but just below the surface it is mixed with
common earth. The spring of water is pure and unadulterated.
5. SILVER.
The belief in the existence of silver ore in the region of the lakes,
and particularly on Lake Superior, seems to have early prevailed. So
much confidence was placed in the reports of its existence, that Henry
tells when a company was formed in England for exploring the copper
mines of Lake Superior (A. D. 1771), they were impelled to the search
more from an expectation of the silver, which it was hoped would be
found in connection with it, than from the copper.[234]
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