Thoreau and Mann on the Minnesota River, June 1861

This article presents Horace Mann Jr.'s description of the 1861 trip he took with Henry David Thoreau's journey to Minnesota from May to July of 1861, the "last journey" before his death. His travels included a voyage up and down the Minnesota River from Fort Snelling to the Lower Sioux Agency. The accounts include descriptions of Fort Snelling, the river and its valley, trees and flowers, birds and snakes, wild rice, steamboat navigation, and the Indians at the agency.