Having kept and published a journal of the daily incidents of the expedition, I refer to it for details.[8] To plunge into the wilderness is truly to take one’s life in his hand.  But nobody thought of this.  The enterprise was of a kind to produce exhilaration.  The route lay up the Detroit and St. Clair Rivers, and around the southern shores of Lakes Huron and Superior to Fond du Lac.  Thence up the St. Louis River in its rugged passage through the Cabotian Mountains to the Savannah summit which divides the great lakes from the Mississippi Valley.  The latter was entered through the Comtaguma or Sandy Lake River.  From this point the source of the Mississippi was sought up rapids and falls, and through lakes and savannahs, in which the channel winds.  We passed the inlet of the Leech Lake, which was fixed upon by Lieutenant Pike as its probable source, and traced it through Little Lake Winnipeg to the inlet of Turtle Lake in upper Red Cedar, or Cass Lake, in north lat. 47 deg..  On reaching this point, the waters were found unfavorable to proceeding higher.  The river was then descended to the falls of St. Anthony, St. Peters, and 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.