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|  Rick McGee and Ray Nelson gave an informative Presentation on Zebulon Pike last Tuesday night in Crosslake - photo by Paul Boblett | Zebulon Pike Presentation Held at Crosslake Area Historical SocietyBy Paul Boblett, Editor Ray Nelson, Park Director at the ACOE Campground and Recreation area in Crosslake, and Rick McGee of Eagan, MN presented another entertaining program on the travels of Zebulon Pike last Tuesday evening at the Crosslake Historic Village. For the third year in a row, the Crosslake Historic Village has hosted a program of this type; last summer, Nelson and McGee presented a program on Lewis and Clark’s expedition, and the year previous was a presentation on the Diary of a Dam Tender. Nelson and Mcgee portrayed Corporal Samuel Bradley and Private John Boley, members of the exploration party headed by Pike. Zebulon Montgomery Pike Jr. was born January 5, 1779. He was an American soldier and explorer for whom Pike’s Peak in Colorado is named. His Pike expedition, often compared to the Lewis and Clark Expedition, mapped much of the southern portion of the Louisiana Purchase. Nelson and McGee read from Pike’s journal written in 1806 and told of the many adventures encountered by Pike and his crew during his exploration of the Upper Mississippi River. The two men demonstrated various tools, firearms and other items from the journey for the crowd of thirty visitors to the Historic Village on a beautiful summer night. In the summer of 1805, the 26-year-old Pike became the protégé of James Wilkinson, the commanding general of the U.S. Army. Wilkinson was not only an American officer, but a secret double agent for Spain. Wilkinson gave Lt. Pike the assignment of conducting a reconnaissance mission into the upper Mississippi River. While Lewis and Clark were at the headwaters of the Missouri River far to the West, Pike left Fort Belle Fontaine near St Louis, Missouri on August 9, 1805, with orders to find the source of the Mississippi. He was also instructed to purchase land from Native Americans for future military posts, and to bring a few important native American chiefs back to St. Louis for talks. Pike left St. Louis with a crew of 20 men on a 70-foot keelboat, but had little time to prepare for his trip. There was no interpreter of Indian languages, no one with medical training, and scientific equipment was limited to a watch, a thermometer, and a theodolite (a device to determine latitude). He reached Leech Lake, which he called "the main source of the Mississippi", on February 1, 1806 but traveled 30 miles farther to Cass Lake. Then, after working against British influences among the Indians, Pike turned back, and went down the Mississippi and arrived in St. Louis on April 30, 1806. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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