Minneapolis, Minn. Thoreau writes in his journal:
To Minneapolis. [Increase A.] Lapham’s Fauna & Flora of Wisconsin in their state’s Agricultural Reports for 1852 says bison last seen east of Mississippi in 1832 & last beaver killed in south part of Wisconsin in 1819. Thaspium, variety apterum on prairie. (The doctor [Charles L. Anderson] has this & also the Z. aurea.) Osmorrhiza brevistylis. Dine with Dr. [Charles L.] Anderson, P.M., ride to Lake Calhoun 4 miles south . . .
Spermophile tridecemlineatus erect, making a queer note like a plover, over his hole. Earth heap of gopher (according to Anderson), bursarius or pouched. Ribbon snake in swamp. Indian or deer path on prairie. Thresh grain with a machine. Poplars & willows the ornamental trees. Bass & bream in lake (1300 acres). Great no. of golden rods on prairie . . .
Tuesday, put in wash, 3 shirts, 1 flannel, 1 pair drawers, 4 bosoms, 5 handkerchiefs (2 small cotton), 1 pair socks.
(Thoreau’s Minnesota Journey, 6, 31)
St. Anthony, Minn. Horace Mann Jr. writes to his mother Mary on 1 June:
On Tuesday Mr. Thoreau thought he would go over to Minneapolis, which is on the other side of the river, and call upon a Dr. [Charles L.] Anderson, to whom he had a letter of introduction from Mr. [Samuel] Thatcher, and so I went over with him. We found him at last and Mr. Thoreau gave the letter to him and he said he was very glad to see us, and invited us to go to his house to dinner, so we went there, and after dinner he took us out to ride in his buggy, and went to Lake Calhoun about 4 miles s.w. of Minneapolis (look at the map). It is a very pretty little lake of about 640 acres as he told us. We wandered around there for a while and I got some shells and then we came home.
(Thoreau’s Minnesota Journey, 50)
In the letter of introduction, Thatcher “explained that Thoreau had ‘come to Minnesota to Clear up his Bronchitis and to Botanize,’ and that he had ‘in company with him Mr. Mann son of late Horace Mann.’ Thatcher noted that ‘Any attention Shown to my friend Thoreau’ would be personally gratifying to him, as he himself was incapacitated.”
(Westward I Go Free, 212)
