Henry Rowe Schoolcraft

Author Code: AHRS

Schoolcraft's career began in geology and his first contact with the frontier was during a mineralogical trip through Arkansas and Missouri in 1817-18. He was appointed geologist for the Lewis Cass Great Lakes expedition and described the region in A Narrative Journal (1821). During this period he had acquired experience and a knowledge of the Indians which led to his appointment as a federal agent to the Indians of the Great Lakes region. While there, he married an Ojibwa woman in 1822 and began a special study of the Ojibwa's language and customs. In 1832 he explored the upper reaches of the Mississippi River and located its source at Lake Itasca in Minnesota. He became superintendant of Indian affairs for Michigan (1836-41) and helped to conclude a treaty with the Ojibwa which ceded much of northern Michigan to the US. Some of his more important works include Algic Researches (1839) concerning the Algonquin tribes, Historical and Statistical Information Respecting the History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States (1851-57) and his Memoirs (1851).