This is the beginning of the river.
Mouse Over to see the end of the river.

In 1832, Henry Schoolcraft went to follow the stream.  Hiring an Ojibwe man named Ozaawindib, he led Schoolcraft to what we now call Lake Itasca. It’s doubtful that Schoolcraft would have made it there on his own, but Ozaawindib knew exactly where to go, because, well, he lived there. Schoolcraft wrote in his journal on July 13, "What had been long sought, at last appeared suddenly. On turning out of a thicket, into a small weedy opening, the cheering sight of a transparent body of water burst upon our view. It was Itasca Lake."