Schoolcraft

Henry Rowe Schoolcraft was an American explorer, geologist, and ethnologist renowned for discovering the source of the Mississippi River at Lake Itasca in 1832 and for his extensive writings on Native American tribes, including 'Historical and Statistical Information Respecting the History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States' (1851–57). His 'Algic Researches' (1839) inspired Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 'The Song of Hiawatha.' He served as Indian agent in Michigan and explored regions like the Ozarks and Upper Mississippi.