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429 Mississippi River

The Misissippi river-the "Great River"-or as it is usually but improperly translated "The father of Waters" forms the western boundary of [the] Wisconsin from Latitudes forty one and a half degrees to its source. It takes its rise in Ithasca Lake (a beautiful irregularly shaped sheet of water seven miles long, from one to three broad) from which it rises with a channel about twenty feet wide, and two deep, being at once a considerable river. From this point it runs in a northerly direction to [Lac Fravers (illegible, crossed out) of the Indians] Lake Pemidjii (Lac [Favers?]) which is twelve miles wide, with high well wooded shores. From this lake to Cass lake the river has an easterly direction. This lake, named in honor of Lewis Cass, for many years governor of Michigan Territory, has a very irregular form & is about twenty miles in diameter. It is estimated (by Mr. Schoolcraft) to be about 3000 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, and thirteen hundred and thirty feet above its level. Twenty miles below Cass Lake the river passes through Lake Winnepeck,

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