A Canoe Voyage up the Minnay Sotor, with an account of the lead and copper deposits in Wisconsin, of the gold region in the Cherokee country, and sketches of popular manners, etc

Front matter

Oil oloti-e hy'VJ'L "Walton rLuiimandei it VvaiioiL lathograjiiit CA.TABACT OF THE WHITEWATER.. Load.oa.PuJoib.ai.d Bentley. 1S46 A CANOE VOYAGE UP THE MINNAY SOTOR; WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE LEAD AND COPPER DEPOSITS IN WISCONSIN ; OF THE GOLD REGION IN THE CHEROKEE COUNTRY ; AND SKETCHES OF POPULAR MANNERS ; &c. &c. &c. By G. W. FEATHERSTONHAUGH, F.R.S., F.G.S AUTHOR OF " EXCURSION THROUGH THE SLAVE STATES." IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. ■» LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET ■IPubliSljnin (©rUmavp to S?tr iftflajtiSti). 1847. London : Printed by S. & J. Bentley*, Wilson, and Fley, Bangor House, Shoe Lane. CONTENTS TO THE FIRST VOLUME.

Chapter I. Page

The Author proposes to make a Tour of Exploration to the Coteau de Prairie, at the Sources of the Minnay Sotor, or St. Peter's River, a N. W. Tributary of the Mississippi . . . . . 1

Chapter II

Embarks upon the Canal at Georgetown, near Washington. — Beautiful Scenery of the Potomac. — Action of the River upon the Rocks near the Great Falls. — A sociable Quaker. — Fossil Plants in Silurian Sandstone. — Calcareous Breccia formed by the eastern Ridge of the Alleghanies coming up through the Limestone. — Harper's Ferry. — Characteristic story of a German Settler ...... 5

Chapter III

William's Port. — Clear Spring. — Bath Springs. — Arrive at Cumber land. — Fucoidal Fossils in place. — Frostburgh. — Great Bituminous Coal-field. — Remarkable Section of Coal Seams on the Potomac 14

Chapter IV

Interesting Escarpment on the Banks of the Potomac. — A singular Public Dinner. — The Gorge of Will's Mountain. — Bedford Springs. — Valuable Mineral Waters. — Cross the Backbone Mountain. — The Con torted Strata become horizontal to the west of the Alleghanies. — Arrive at Pittsburg ........ CONTENTS. IV PAGE 36 47 66 62 71' 79 90 101

Chapter XIX

Reach Fort Winnebago. — Meet with the first Tetrao. — Slight Eleva tion of the Land separating the Eastern and Western Rivers. — Embark on the Wisconsin. — Horizontal Sandstones. — A Shot Tower excavated in the Rock. — Beauty of the Valley of the Wisconsin. — Reach the Mississippi . • • • • • • .188 VI CONTENTS. PAGE 204 213 228 247 263 270 278

Chapter XXVIII

Ascend the Makatoh again. — The Voyageurs unwilling to proceed. — Milor 's good conduct. — Minday Mangwah, or " Swan Lakes." — Pahkah Skah, a beautiful Half-breed, abandoned by her Father. — Cameron's Grave. — Milor's Escape from Starvation. — Granite in Place

Chapter XXXIV

Reach the Summit Level dividing the Waters which flow into the Gulf of Mexico from those flowing into Hudson's Bay. — Migration of Musk-rats. — Two Buffaloes killed by One Draft of an Arrow. — Leave Lake Travers. — Buffalo Skeletons. — Reach the Sources of the Minnay Sotor on the Coteau du Prairie. — Milor advises our Return

Chapter XXXV

Reach Big Stone Lake on our Return. — Symptoms of Winter. — Im mense Masses of Granite, from whence the Lake takes its name. — Prairies on Fire. — Supposed Origin of the Word " Missouri." — Reach the Wahboptah. — Egregious Pride of the male Indians

Chapter XXXVI

Reach Lac qui Parle.— An Indian Marriage. — Dependence of the Indians upon the Traders.— Re-embark on the Minnay Sotor. — Im mense Quantities of Wild Fowl. — Reach Mr. Moore's and find Pah kah Skah there . . . . . . - .

Introduction

. The criticism of the Public is sometimes deprecated by travelled Authors, upon the plea that their original notes were not made with a view to publication. With out claiming any indulgence upon this ground, the writer of the following pages can truly state, that they are almost literally transcribed from the Journals he kept during the period of his observations; and he hopes that he may claim some confidence upon this point, since it is obvious, that, if he had been particularly anxious to appear as an Author, he would scarcely have permitted so many years to elapse before present ing his narratives to the public; for ten years had already passed away when his "Excursions through the Slave States" were published, and this " Canoe Voyage" was commmenced the same year that those Excursions terminated.

In determining to publish his Travels, the Author has been less influenced by personal motives than by those of a higher character. The greater part of his life having been passed in distant foreign lands, and his deep attachment to his native country having in-

INTRODUCTION.

. X creased with absence, he always cherished the natural English seeling, that he was bound— according to the degree of his ability— to make his experience useful to his country. It was only, therefore, when an appropriate moment seemed to be arrived for the ac complishment of that duty, that he ventured upon the experiment of drawing the attention of his countrymen to the serious considerations suggested by his know ledge of America, which, independent of them, he should most probably never have attempted. During the ten years which have elapsed since the Author visited the countries he has described, the read ing public has had its attention occupied by various tourists in the United States in works principally de scriptive of the manners, customs, and progress in the useful arts of the American population settled upon their Atlantic frontier; those features of civilization, which, with the exception of some strong shades of difference arising from climate and form of Govern ment, forcibly remind the English traveller of those commercial communities in his own country, which owe their high prosperity to the enterprise and per severing character of its distinguished merchants and manufacturers.

The pleasing pictures furnished by these writers of the stirring activity of the people of the Atlantic coast, of the intelligence and hospitality of the better classes, of the excellent administration of justice in the superior courts, and of the generally successful manner in which

INTRODUCTION.

. XI the better classes of Americans have applied the re ligion and laws which they derived from their British ancestry to the high purposes of civilization, are most satisfactory, and seem largely to flatter the opinion which is so well established in Eepublican America, that it is the happiest country in Christendom. Divided as the Americans are by their struggles for political power, yet, the occasions are frequent which evince their attachment to their country : for in no part of the civilized world, is there found a people indulging in such unqualified exultation, when writing or speak ing of themselves, or which is more unanimous, when the object is territorial aggrandisement. We rarely, however, find them inquiring whether that growing power, which is the source of their national pride, is likely to contribute to the happiness of man kind: that, indeed, seems to be a question which more nearly concerns those who contemplate their future strength as pregnant with some danger to it.

Enough has already transpired to create the justest apprehen sion of this character. We have seen conterminous states in North America in turns the object of that rapacious policy, which is sure to be generated by an inordinate cupidity. Scarcely had it been appeased by the conciliatory conduct of our own country, which Providence appears to have constituted at this time the especial guardian of the peace of Christian countries, than, refreshed as it were by its prey, the govern ment of the United States, with no plea more intelli-

INTRODUCTION.

. XII gible than that which determines the strong man when he assaults his weaker neighbour, dismembers and in vades a sister Republic — first making annexation the cause of war, and then making war the immediate motive for further annexation. Thus has a country, which came into existence with a promise of moral greatness, already stained its history by acts that revive the in dignant remembrance of the worst of European political transactions ! How often have not the orators of the model Re public, in their 4th of July orations, denounced the spoliation of Poland as the most execrable public act that ever was perpetrated? and how often have they not predicted, that, although Poland has been sup pressed, no physical power can extinguish the deep hatred of the Poles, or avert the fearful consequences that one day will overtake their oppressors?

Here after, perhaps, it will be seen that the unprincipled inva sion of Mexico will produce no permanent consequences, save the planting of an inextinguishable hatred in the future generations of its people. For some time past the attention of the world has been turned to the tendencies of the Republican Govern ment of the United States: no one, indeed, who has observed them, and who associates those tendencies with the possible misapplication of the immense resources which another generation or two will place at its com mand, can shut his eyes upon the future. The English traveller, above all, who has advanced to the distant

INTRODUCTION.

. XIII confines of that Government, who has trod over many thousand miles of its unrivalled fertility, — who has traversed its Coal-fields, occupying an area larger than Great Britain, — who has seen its inexhaustable supply of Iron and Copper ores, its productive Lead district ex tending at least eight hundred miles, its Gold regions nearly equally long, — and who foresees what a prodigious population will hereafter be assembled amidst these elements of power, cannot but be deeply impressed with the fact that every popular election in Republican America exposes all these immense resources to fall under the controul of men little disposed to honour the principles that alone bind nations to the maintenance of the peace of mankind ; men who, within another generation, may attempt upon the British North Ame rican provinces as lawless an invasion as that which they have set on foot against their presumed feeble sister Republic of Mexico !

In the following pages the reader will see how vast the future resources of the United States will be; and, if he has attended to the progress of events, will be prepared for the warnings which the Author has given in the 20th Chapter of the first Volume. It was reflections of this kind that first led the Author to revise his old notes, with a view to their pub lication. In the introduction to the " Excursions through the Slave States," Universal Suffrage and the Government of an uncontrolled Democracy were spoken of with freedom. Since the publication of that work,

INTRODUCTION.

. XIV events have taken place on the American continent which have confirmed the Author in his opinions, and determined him to offer to the public a second Narrative, where an extensive tour through a different part of the American continent will be described. To this he con fesses he was also partly induced by the somewhat unexpected approbation with which his first work was received in his native country. In the United States that work on its appearance, was represented as an illiberal attack upon the nation, and the Author spoken of in acrimoni ous terms. This he somewhat expected, and submitted to, in the confidence that time would produce a juster feeling towards him in liberal minds there. In this he has not been disappointed, having received the most satisfactory assurances that he is acquitted in the judgment of the good and wise of any intention but that of holding up just principles to the veneration of all men.

He trusts, therefore, that the present work also will be considered in America as a not unfaithful representation of what is described, and that no passage in it will be construed as justly offensive to honourable minds, or bring into doubt the Author's lively admiration for a country he knows so familiarly, where he has left so many valued friends, and whose future glory and pros perity he prays may be founded upon those great prin ciples which alone secure the happiness of a people and the respect of mankind. Dec., 1846. A CANOE VOYAGE TO THE SOURCES OF THE MINNAY SOTOR.

Chapter I. The Author Proposes To Make

A TOUR OF EXPLORATION TO THE COTEAU DE PRAIRIE, AT THE SOURCES OF THE MINNAY SOTOR, OR ST. PETER's RIVER, A N.W. TRIBUTARY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. At the close of the winter which succeeded to the excursion I made in 1834 through the Slave States to the then frontiers of Mexico, which has been already laid before the public, I turned my attention to those coun tries watered by the principal tributaries of the Missis sippi river, which descend from the elevated land to which the old French voyageurs had given the name of Coteau de Prairie, and from which are thrown down the waters of Red River, of Lake Winnipeg, several im portant tributaries of the Missouri river, and the Minnay Sotor, or St. Peter's River, first visited by Carver in 1778. With the exception of the huried reconnais sance of the country adjacent to this last river by that intelligent American officer, Colonel Long, no account existed of the nature of the country and its capabilities for settlement but in the meagre pages of Hennepin and Carver.

VOL. I. B SUPPOSED COPPER-MINES. Charlevoix, it is true, in his " Histoire de la Nouvelle France," had asserted that Le Sueur, in 1698, had en tered the Makatoh, a tributary of the St. Peter's, and had discovered near its mouth a copper-mine, at the foot of a mountain ten leagues long, which appeared to be composed of a green cupreous earth ; and further added, that Le Sueur, having received a commission from the French Court to open these mines, had entered the Ma katoh on the 19th of September, 1700, with a party of workmen that had accompanied him from France, had erected Fort L'ffuillier, named after one of the farmers general who was his patron, and having taken 30,000 pounds' weight of the ore, descended to the mouth of the Mississippi with it, and selecting 4000 pounds of the best kind, had proceeded with it to France.

If this extraordinary statement were founded in truth, the locality well deserved to be investigated. Unfor tunately Colonel Long's party, who were acquainted with Charlevoix's statement, had not found it convenient, when passing through the country, to enter the Makatoh and convince themselves of the probability of such an extra ordinary deposit of cupreous ore existing ; so that Charle voix, whom I had found in my previous excursion accurate in many things, had hitherto not been contra dicted. Although the impostures of La Hontan, and the exag gerations of other French adventurers who in the early periods of the domination of the French crown in Canada had penetrated to the Mississippi, had too frequently led me to place little confidence in their descriptions of the unknown countries they asserted themselves to have visited, yet Hennepin and La Sale were good authorities ; and as it was possible that Charlevoix's statement was GREAT BITUMINOUS COAL-FIELD. 3 founded in fact, I was desirous of personally settling this very interesting mineralogical question.

The whole geo logy, too, of this part of America was unknown ; and a tour of observation for the purpose of examining it could be made to comprehend an investigation of the lead region of Wisconsin, which I had found reason to believe, during my examination of the mines in Missouri in 1834, was an extension of one great galeniferous deposit at least of from six to seven hundred miles in length. In the pursuit of these objects I could not fail to acquire a great deal of information ; and, by selecting a route to those remote countries through the most unfrequented and undescribed settled districts of the central parts of the United States, it was probable I should be able to acquire the knowledge of many things interesting both to America and Europe, and see a good deal of the manners and customs of the inhabitants.

It was my desire to commence this journey of from fifteen hundred to two thousand miles from Washington to the sources of the St. Peter, by ascending the Po tomac river to the great bituminous coal-field com mencing at Cumberland. I had before been much struck with the sections of rock this river had made at Harper's Ferry, and was desirous of inspecting those which had been created by its passage through the Alleghany Mountains and the enormous coal-field ex tending along the whole course of their western flank. Fortunately for my purpose, some gentlemen of my acquaintance, who superintended the construction of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, a very extensive work, then in progress along the margin of the Potomac, for the purpose of transporting the coal from Cumberland, were on the point of proceeding on the canal as far as it was B PLEASANT COMPANIONS. finished, to inspect their works, and most kindly offered to conduct me on my way as far as they were themselves bound.

These were not only intelligent, but amiable men, such as the better classes are formed of in the United States : so, independent of the great conve nience which thus presented itself, I should, by accept ing their offer, have the advantage of enjoying for several days the society of cheerful and well-informed compa nions. One of them was a near relative of the celebrated George Washington, and not only bore his name, but a strong family resemblance to him, which, apart from his intrinsic good qualities, always interested me deeply; so charmed are we to trace in living expression some of the lineaments of departed greatness. Another of the party was a distinguished topographical officer, in the service of the United States. A third was a very remarkable Quaker gentleman from Virginia, shrewd, well-informed, full of wit and repartee, and quite capable of unbending into a fair share of discreet joviality.

The rest of the party was composed of men of great worth, and who, with those I have named, had been selected by the stockholders of the canal and by the Govern ment of the United States to manage the construction of this important undertaking. CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL.

Chapter II. Embarks Uton The Canal At Georgetown, Near Washington

— BEAUTIFUL SCENERY OF THE POTOMAC. ACTION OF THE RIVER UPON THE ROCKS NEAR THE GREAT FALLS. A SOCIABLE QUAKER. FOSSIL PLANTS IN SILURIAN SAND STONE. CALCAREOUS BRECCIA FORMED Bt THE EASTERN RIDGE OF THE ALLEGHANIES COMING UP THROUGH THE LIMESTONE. HARPF.r's FERRY. CHARACTERISTIC STORY OF A GERMAN SETTLER. July 8, 1835. — This morning we all embarked upon the canal at George Town, near Washington, in a commodious iron boat, eighty-five feet long. The weather was clear and sunny, and we glided agreeably on in the midst of the most charming scenery, with that fine river, the Potomac, flowing within the distance of a few yards on our left. The gneiss and hornblende rocks which prevailed at George Town continued to the Great Falls of the Potomac. The strata were generally inclined at an angle of about 50°.

About eleven miles from George Town we reached the termination of the first plane, containing seventeen well-constructed locks : here the west side of the canal was walled up next to the river by masonry 100 feet high ; and I soon began to understand how such massive constructions must necessarily have occasioned, upon so long a line, the expenditure of the many millions of dollars which had been talked of. The contrast between nature and art was very striking here ; for by the side of these ponderous displays of human enterprise, the river Avound about in a beautiful manner, to escape by a narrow and picturesque gorge. Further on, the stream GEOLOGICAL PHENOMENA. was running amidst thousands of very small islands, consisting of gneiss covered with wild grass, exceedingly verdant. Ere we reached the Great Falls the rocks lay bared for a great distance, as ruggedly as if they were upon their edges, somewhat resembling the effect that would be produced by the instantaneous congelation of a sea highly cuspated.

As my friends very kindly permitted me to leave the boat whenever I desired to examine any locality, I descended to these rocks, and found reason to believe that they had been brought to that state by the action of the water : remains of pot-holes were numerous, some of which had been two and three feet in diameter. Here, undoubtedly, had been a ledge across the river, which at this place is 168 feet above the level of tide water, giving about 14 feet slope per mile for the distance from George Town. Like most other streams, the Potomac has worked its channels through the rocks by retrocession, and in long periods of time has worn down this ledge by first forming pot holes, and then attenuating and breaking them up. In this particular place the very rugged appearance has been materially caused by the inclination of the strata, formed of a coarse micaceous slate.

Having gratified myself with the inspection of many curious geological phenomena along the channel of the river, I re-ascended the bank, and after a sharp walk overtook our party. We now, all seated in the comfortable cabin of our nice floating hotel, proceeded to discuss a cold collation, consisting of a great many good things ; some very choice old Madeira not being wanting to crown our repast. We all got very merry, and began singing songs as we glided along the pleasant canal. I found AMUSING ANECDOTES. 7 my companions an amiable jocose set of men, without prejudices, quite disposed to make the excursion a pleasant one, and full of kind attentions to myself. But we none of us could hold the candle to our worthy friend the Quaker, whose dry facetious manner was inimitable : he was the life of the company, full of repartee and anecdote.

Now and then our mirth was suspended for a short time by these gentlemen leaving the boat to inspect the works, and when, upon their return, I inquired how far it was to the next lock, our dry friend would say, " Thee may'st put it down in thy book, that it will take us just two bottles of Madeira to get there." One of our party was a General S., who had commanded a body of fifteen hundred American militia, when in 1813 the gallant General Ross captured the city of Washington. Amongst the amusing anecdotes he told us, was that of a party of his men, who slipped off to play at " all-fours :" some of our light troops coming upon them unawares, fired a volley and killed the corporal, with " high, low, Jack, and the game ■" in his hand ! It was a day of uninterrupted enjoyment and happiness to me.

Towards evening we arrived at Seneca Falls, where a wide dam was thrown across the river for a feeder, raising a fine expanse of water for several miles, and giving it all the character of a broad glassy lake. The hills recede here, and the country assumed an aspect different from that given by the imposing primary rocks amidst which we had hitherto been moving. The country had the appearance of a basin, and I thought it not improbable that it might be an extension of the bituminous coal-field which passes through Virginia to the south ; for on reaching Seneca Creek, I found it divided A BEAUTIFUL CALCAREOUS BRECCIA. the micaceous slate from a red slaty sandstone, that had evidently been disturbed from a horizontal position. Near this place we slept at a country tavern, far infe rior, however, in cleanliness and resources, to our own floating hotel.

July 9. — The next day we stopped at a romantic place called The Rock, belonging to a gentleman of the name of Lee, who has a pretty cottage at the top of a narrow path, fancifully cut in the hill-side. I was curious to visit this place, having before examined at Washington some stone intended for the public works that came from the quar ries Mr. Lee had opened here. The rock was a silurian sandstone, containing seams of anthracite coal, with many traces of carbonate of copper, Calamites and other fossil plants were not unfrequent, and I brought away a few good specimens. On leaving this place we passed for a dozen miles through a rich agricultural country, some fine farms having been established upon the fertile alluvial bottoms. For the first nineteen miles we had a tolerably level country, having had to pass only three locks.

The Bignonia radicans was everywhere abundant and showy. Five miles before arriving at Monocasy Creek, a calcareous breccia occurs dipping to the east, in broad beds ; these are sometimes separated by seams of red shaley argillaceous sandstone, which on the other side of the Monocasy we found in places without any breccia, dipping equally to the east. This breccia, which has furnished the beautiful columns of the Senate- Chamber at Washington, again occurs near to the Point of Rocks, dipping to the west, and completing the anticlinal axis. At the Point of Rocks the river passes through the Cotoctiti Mountains, formed here of an unctuous and ORIGIN OF THE BRECCIA. 9 shining chloritic talcose slate. The canal is constructed in this rock all the way to Harper's Ferry, where we arrived about sunset.

The whole of this day was replete with geological interest to me : the broad Potomac had laid open the structure of the country in a much more complete manner than investigations made on land could have done. This breccia, too, was a very interesting feature in the geology of the country. From the irre gular calcareous seams in it, it was evident that after its first consolidation it had undergone another movement, which, in giving it an anticlinal form, had pro duced fissures, that, being subsequently filled up by cal careous solutions, formed the irregular seams so frequent in it. A similar breccia, but composed of rocks not calcareous, is found at various points in Virginia and the southern States south-west from this. Near Buck land, in Virginia, there is a fine instance of it. It may, therefore, be inferred that the most eastern of all these Alleghany ridges, which I have upon other occasions called the Atlantic slope or chain, has been upraised through the silurian limestone of this part of the country, and through the slates farther to the south, and has carried their fragments to its eastern side, where they have been deposited in beds, and consolidated into rocks ; and that the anticlinal structure of these beds has been occasioned by a subsequent movement.

July 10. — Having passed the night at Harper's Ferry, I arose early to have an opportunity of again looking at the lofty escarpments of the Shenandoah, which here joins the Potomac, and the rocks of what is called the Blue Ridge, opposite to Harper's Ferry, which present a mural escarpment of about 900 feet. After breakfast we returned to our boat, and pursued our way until we had BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY. passed through all the chloritic slates of the ridge, when we again came upon the silurian limestone, about a quarter of a mile from an important feeder of the canal, which confirmed me in the opinion I had formed of the origin of the breccia we had left behind. Further on, we passed on the Virginia side of the Potomac immense de posits of bog-iron ore, which it is probable had a con temporaneous origin with the red argillaceous matter in which the beds of breccia were occasionally inclosed.

The country and river here were both very beautiful, and the district we passed through was singularly fertile, teeming with heavy crops, whilst the scene was much embellished by the fine limestone escarpments on the right bank of the river. On our arrival at Shepherds town, there being yet some daylight left, I walked to the escarpment, which contained large proportions of hy draulic lime, of a good quality, that had been made ser viceable in the construction of the canal. Shepherdstown is an old Virginia village, built upon the fertile limestone valley that traverses the country, and which is filled with rich farms. The Potomac is deep here, and wound in a pleasing serpentine course. It was too evident, however, that every advantage was not taken of the great fertility of the soil, and that slovenly farming kept down its pro ductiveness.

July 11. — Pursuing our route, we came at no great distance to a place where the canal had been cut through a stout bluff of limestone 85 feet high, that had pro jected into the river. Several caves were in the rock, into one of which I entered, but found nothing but stalactites. Everywhere nature was beautiful, the weather was delicious ; and although the sun was rather inconveniently hot, a belt of graceful trees, entwined from top to AN AMERICO-GERMANIC FARMER. bottom with vines and creepers, which extended along the edge of the tow-path next to the Potomac, gave us a grateful shade, with occasional lovely peeps at the river. We endeavoured to do honour to all these attractions, by sacrificing sundry bottles of excellent wine, and being as merry and facetious as good wine and good company could make us.

Every man was strong in his way, but for a good crack our excellent friend the Quaker was without a rival. If any one made us roar by a story, our demure-looking companion was sure to follow with a supplementary joke of a higher caliber. This fertile land, on the Maryland side of the river, which bore such heavy crops of wheat and maize, was valued, I found, at fifty dollars an acre, and belonged principally to the descendants of Germans who had strayed from Pennsylvania, — a thrifty, but, generally speaking, a coarse, ignorant race of men. We passed the house of an opulent settler of this kind, of whom they related the following story, which, although rather vulgar, is quite characteristic of the ways and manners of these people. He was notorious for his stinginess, and had never been known, when any one entered his house whilst he was at table, to practise those rites of hospitality so common amongst country-people.