ho showed me the way. Why did not Mr. S. take Nicollet's or
Schoolcraft's route, or seek a new one? Simply for the reason that my
itinerary was so clearly laid down that the journey became merely a
Cook's excursion. I had built and took with me to Minnesota a paper boat
for the descent of the river, but I have never made any secret of the
fact that I bought another one (a twin in name and fitted with the
appliances of the New York craft) for the tramp of seventy miles through
the wilderness from the railroad to the sources. In this I merely
followed the example frequently set by Mr. MacGregor, who is the father
of canoeing, and the advice of George A. Morrison, government
storekeeper at White Earth, the Hon. Dr. Day, United States Indian
commissioner, and other gentlemen of equal prominence. Neither of these
gentlemen had been over the ground, but they represented the country as
awful in the extreme. I acquainted everybody who asked with my
decision, and, were it desirable to involve others in this matter, could
name fifty persons to whom every detail of this initial stage of my trip
has been explained. Not a particle of accurate information regarding the
road, the number of days required or the distance could be obtained. It
was not possible _then_ to contract for forty-one dollars to be landed
on the Mississippi! Mr. Siegfried might have seen at every
camping-ground and meal-station along the route the blazed trees bearing
the deeply-cut Greek "delta," which seven years' precedence cannot have
effaced. His descriptions and mine are identical throughout: therefore,
he has either not been over the course at all (which I do not insinuate)
or he only proves the accuracy of my reports. He disposes of my fourteen
hundred and seventy-one miles of canoeing on the Mississippi because,
forsooth! I did not make a small part of it in a craft to suit his
liking. He claims that his was the first wooden boat that ever pushed up
to Itasca. This is something that I don't know anything about: several
parties have been there since 1832. What will he do with the claimant of
the first sheet-iron boat?

Mr. Siegfried's allegation that I made frequent portages is grossly and
maliciously false. That honor belongs to him, as a few facts will show.
In giving the guide as his authority he is most illogical, for in his
first article (on three separate pages) he wholly discredits this same
man. Again, some information: there are five portages abov