Old Man River, the mighty Mississippi River, begins its life rippling between stepping stones at the outlet of Lake Itasca in Northern Minnesota. Explorers of North America had been guessing at the source of the big river for 300 years when Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, led by Ojibwe guide Ozaawindib (Yellow Head), found the headwaters in 1832. Though some dissenters still point to Elk Lake above Lake Itasca's west arm, experts affirm Schoolcraft's claim that Itasca is the uppermost collection basin where the river begins its 2,500-mile journey to the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi borders the entire state of Illinois on the western side of the state, beginning in Northeast Illinois at East Dubuque and ending in South Region at Cairo, at its confluence with the Ohio River.