Box 4, Folder 2: Typewritten Letters 1860-1865

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contains the largest number of these reports that I have ever seen in any private library.

I would not in any way advise you to sell your cabinet and library. Those inanimate objects that we have put together with care, with much trouble and expense, become the dearest friends of our old age. But I know by numerous experiences, lately by what happened with the collection of your friend Dale Owen, that such precious cabinets are rarely cared for, when the proprietor is not more with them. And especially, I would sincerely desire that such a collection and library like yours become the property of some corporation of your place and be preserved entire for the advantage and the study of a young generation. No school in the west would have a better arranged and more valuable cabinet than yours.*

With many sincere thanks for your kindness and the pleasant time spent at your hospitable home, I remain, my dear sir,

Very sincerely yours,

Leo Lesquereau Columbus, O.

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Sarataoga, N.Y., July 28, 1862.

I.A. Lapham, Esq.,

My dear Sir--

As I have a few moments of leisure I wish to spend them in giving you an account of my whereabouts since I left Milwaukee.*** I much regretted that I was not able to go

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*There were many and very valuable additions made to every department of this collection before Dr. Lapham's death in 1875. This collection, except the herbarium and library, was burned in Science Hall, Madison, 1884.

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again to the swamps that we visited together in Milwaukee. I should have stopped there one day longer and gone there [there] again. Should you have time and opportunity to visit them soon, please look for Syrum religinosum and Amblydon. Both species are much desired.***

Now, my dear sir, let me thank you again for your kind and most admirable reception at your home. It is a long time since I enjoyed a journey as much as I did when going and stopping at Milwaukee. Please give my highest regards to your family.

Most sincerely yours,

Leo Lesquereau.

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Columbus, O.? Sept. 23, 1862.

I.A. Lapham, Esq.,

My dear Sir--

Your kind letter of Sept. 24 found me at home again.*** After my return from the mountains I stopped a few weeks with Prof. Guyet. Our tour was indeed interesting, but too hurried for a collection of mosses.*** Our party was pretty large (nine gentlemen) we even had six barometers and had to go to various and distant points for ascertaining measurements and fixing by trigonometrical observations the place of the most important points.***

Of course I could stop a little sometime, but stopping in the Adirondac woods is quite dangerous for a deaf man like myself, to be lost in such a wilderness as we have visited would not be pleasant, I assure you.*** Ambydon of your swamp is indeed A. dealbatus. It has never been found on this continent before, except by

[Data Charts-Sketch No. 61.]

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Drummond on the Rocky mountains.***

You are indeed very kind to thank me for a visit which gave me the greatest pleasure and of which I preserve a most agreeable remembrance.***

The Alpine vegetation of the Adirondacs is extremely poor. The highest summits are barren granite rocks, covered with stunted balsam firs. The Catskill Mts. are very fine for the views, the vegetation even to the highest summits as that of Milwaukee.

Very sincerely yours,

L. Lesquereau.

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Note.--(Sketch.)

This comparison shows that the effect of Lake Michigan in cooling the air in the spring and warming it in the fall at Milwaukee scarcely reaches as far back from the shore as Hartford. The Hartford curve is about that of Milwaukee from about March 31, to July 31; after which it is below; the maxima of difference being in May and September.

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Chicago, Dec. 22, 1862.

My dear Mr. Lapham--

I will make no apology for writing you on a subject in which is needed the counsel of our western "Nestor." You well know the interest I have felt (prompted not least by your admirable labors) in our western archaeology. These most interesting and precious relics of a prehistoric race and ago are fast disappearing. Shades of Hercules! Must it be thus? Is there

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no revering voice or hand to stay the ruin? My mind has been deeply moved for a long time with the conviction that something, however feeble, should be attempted. Can you help me?***

You doubtless know the extent, grandeur and importance of these remains in Illinois. Mr. Schoolcraft wrote me years since that our remains in Southern Illinois especially were of unsurpassed interest and importance.*** I myself have counted over 400 earthworks on a ride of seven miles from Rockford north.

The theory that their figure and arrangement were primarily designed to convey historical ideas and facts was first suggested to us here, on an examination of your work.*** I wrote of this to Mr. Francis Parkman, Boston, the letter was read to the Mass. Hist. Soc. at the time.*** Should it prove how important that we should save to science the vast remains of Illinois*** Allow me to ask your counsel in the matter. Can the right person be found to undertake the survey? What would be the probable cost of the survey alone, not the publication?*** How long a time, judging from your experience in Wisconsin would a similar survey of Illinois require?

I am very faithfully yours, Wm. Barey, Sec'y Chi. Hist. Soc.

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