Sword and pen - or, Ventures and adventures of Willard Glazier in war and literature (1890) (14760464184)

Identifier: swordpenorventura00owen (find matches)
Title: Sword and pen : or, Ventures and adventures of Willard Glazier in war and literature
Year: 1890 (1890s)
Authors: Owens, John Algernon
Subjects: Glazier, Willard, 1841-1905 Glazier, Willard W., 1841-1905 United States -- History Civil War, 1861-1865 Personal narratives
Publisher: Philadelphia : P.W. Ziegler and Co.
Contributing Library: New York Public Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN



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ccasionally to remove diminutive sandbars from the bed of the stream with our paddles. As we neared the head of this primal section of the mighty river, we could readily touch both shores with our hands at the same time, while the average depth of water in the channel did not exceed ten inches. Every paddlestroke seemed to increase the ardor with which we were carried forward. The desire to see the actual source of a river so celebrated as the Mississippi, whose mouth had been reached nearly two centuries before, was doubtles the impelling motive. In their eagerness to obtain a first view of the beautiful lake toward which we were paddling, and greatly annoyed by the slow progress made in the canoes, my brother and Paine stepped ashore and proposed a race to the crest of the hill which Chenowagesic told them overhung the lake. To this proposition of my companions I made objection and insisted that all should see the goal of our expedition from the canoes. What had long been sought at last joxsv I
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SOURCE OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 469 appeared suddenly. On pulling and pushing our way through a network of rushes similar to the one encountered on leaving Itasca, the cheering sight of a transparent body of water burst upon our view. It wa sa beautiful lake the source of the Father of Waters. A few moments later and our little flotilla of thre canoes was put in motion, headed for a small promontory which we discerned at the opposite end of the lake. We paddled slowly across one of the purest andmost tranquil sheets of water we had encountered in our voyage. Not a breath of air was stirring. We halted frequently to scan its shores, and to run oureyes along the verdure covered hills which enclose its basin. These elevations are at a distance of from three to four miles, and are covered chiefly with white pines, intermingled with the cedar, spruce and tamarack. The beach is fringed with a mixed foliage of the evergreen species. At one point we observed pond lilies, and at another a small quan