The original outward track north-westward was then regained, through the valleys of the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers, and the extended shores of Lake Michigan and Huron elaborately traced.

In this he was accompanied by the late Professor David B.Douglass, who collected the materials for a correct map of the great lakes and the sources of the Mississippi.
It was late in the autumn when Mr.Schoolcraft returned to his residence at New York, when he was solicited to publish his "narrative journal." This he completed early in the spring of 1821.

This work, which evinces accurate and original powers of observation, established his reputation as a scientific and judicious traveler.

Copies of it found their way to England, where it was praised by Sir Humphrey Davy and the veteran geographer, Major Rennel.

His report to the Secretary of War on the copper mines of Lake Superior, was published in advance by the American Journal of Science, and by order of the Senate of the United States, and gives the earliest scientific account of the mineral affluence of the basin of that lake.