proved by the rapidity of the river. Six miles above its mouth it is brought within a compass of half a mile's width; yet the Spanish merchants at Pancore, or St. Louis, say they go two thousand miles up it. . . . What is the shortest distance between the navigable waters of the Missouri and those of the North River [Rio del Norte or Rio Grande], or how far this is navigable above Santa Fe, I could never learn."
At another place in the book Jefferson records the following incident: "A Mr. Stanley, taken prisoner near the mouth of the Tanissee, relates that, after being transferred through several tribes, from one to another, he was at length carried over the mountains west of the Missouri to a river which runs westwardly." ^
These writings show that Jefferson knew something about the northwestward reach of the Missouri and that he had a vague notion about a connection between that river and the south flowing Rio Grande, as also between the Missouri and a west flowing stream. But the "river which runs westwardly "had for him as yet neither name, character, nor exact destination.
His letter to Steptoe. His manner of writing about these things, however, indicates Jefferson's eagerness to learn all that could be learned about them, and in letters written near the same time we have proof that his mind was turning to methodical exploration as a means of clearing up such geographical problems. On the 26th of November, 1782, he wrote to James
1 Quotations from Jefferson's writings, Ford's Ed., as reprinted in the author's Acquisition of Oregon Territory, pp. 29-3a
