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Show .6 6 APl>ENDIX TO PART III: similar establishment, and will obtain the consent of tho Indians for their crrcuou, informing them that they arc intended to increase their trade, and ameliorate tlteit· condition. You will proceed to ascend. the main br::mch of the rivet· until you reach the source of it, or the season may forbid your further pro ~>; res c.; witbout endangering yom return, before the waters arc froz en up. Vo11 will cncll'avor to asr.P.l'lain thl' latitnrlc of the most remarkable pL1ces in your route, with the extent of the navigation and the direction of the difrt:rent rivers which fall into the Mississippi, and you will not fail to procure specimens of whatever you may find c urious, in the mineral, vegetable, or animal kingdoms, to be rendered at this place. In yotu· com·sc you arc to spare no pains to conciliate the Indians and to attach them to the United States, and you may invite the great chif:f.'c: of such distant natious as have not been at tllis j z!ace, to pay me a visit. YoUt· own good sense will regulate: the consumption of you1· provisions, and direct the distribution of the trifling presents which you may carry with you, particularly yout· flags. I wish you a speedy, pleasant, and safe tour, ~mel am, sir, with l:ientimcnts of respect and esteem, Y out· obedient servant, (Signed) JAMES 'VILKINSON. P. S. In addition to the preceding orders, you will be pleased to obtain permission fl'om the Indians who claim the gl'ound, for the erection of military posts and trading houses, at the mouth of the 1 ivcr St. Pierre, the falls of St. Anthony, am! every other critical point which may fall undel' yom observation; these permissions to be granted iu fot·mal conferences, regularly recct dcd, alld the ground mat·ked ofT'. J. \V.* Lieutenant Z .ill. J>i!.:c, 1st 1't'gt. injimtn;. SLH, 1 I'm· lJcj,m·tmcnt, F t:b 1'1W1'!J 24, 1808. lll answer to yo·l!r letter of the 22cl instant, I can with plea· •,urc oiJscrvc, that although the two exploring· expeditions you have performed, wet·e not previously ordered by the president of the • 1 or gcncr.ll W ilkinsou '8 further instructiom, sec P:trl II. page I 07· APPENDIX TO P.AHT IlL 67 United States, there were frequent communications on the subject of each, between genct'al \Vilkinson and this department; of which the president of the Unitc'd States was, from time to time, ac- • quaintcd; anc.l it will be no more than what justice rcqu it·c~, to say, that your conduct, in each of those expeditions, met the approbation of the president; and that the infomtation you obtained anti communicated to the executive, in relation to the source of the Mississippi and the natives in that qual'ter, and the country generally, as well on the Upper Mississippi, as that between the Arkans: w und the .l\1issouri, anc..l on the borders of the lntlct· extensive rivet· to rts source and the countt·y adjacent, has bcc.:n considcn.:d highly inte resting, in a political, gcogT~lphical, and historical view And yon may t·cs~ assured, that yout· services urr held iu hig-h estimation by the pt·csHlcnt of the United States; and 1f any opinion of my own can nflord you any satisfaction, I very frankly declare that I consider the public much indebted to you for the cntc1·pl'ising·, pcrsevet·imr and judicious manner, in which you have perf'ormcd ,them. v I am, very rcspcctf'tdJy, sir, Your· obedient servan t, Cajztain Z ebulon Ill. Pikf• . II. D1unoon ~ -·- HETUHN OF PEUSONS EM}'LOYJ•:D ON A T OUR OF DlSC OV.P.RY AND EXPLOTtA · TlON TO THE S0U HC.E OF THE 1\Il'i:H <;Sil' I' J> lN TII£ YE-11t'i J8()· AND 1806. Lieutenant Z. M. PIKE, Interprctct· PIEHIU.: HOSSEAU, Serjeant HENRY KENNEl{MAN, '£-•' orporaI s ~ vVILLI ;\ M .E. MEEK, SAMUEL 13HADLEY, Jeremiah Jackson, John Boley, John Drown, l'H£VATES. Jacob Carter, Thomas Dougherty, J lug·h ::\-Icuaugh, Ale.x:mclct· Hoy, John Sparks, J>utrick Smith, Frcegtft Stoute, |