Chapter XX
Topographical survey of the northern shores of Green Bay and of the entire basin of Lake Michigan--Geological and Mineralogical indicia of the coast line--Era of sailing vessels and of the steamboat on the lakes--Route along the Huron coast, and return of the expedition to Detroit.
The coast line traversed by the party detached from Green Bay on the 22d of August, under Mr. Trowbridge, extended from the north shore of Fox River to the entrance of the Monominee River, and thence around the Little and Great Bay de Nocquet, to the northwestern cape of the entrance of Green Bay. From the latter point, the northern shore of Lake Michigan was traced by the Manistic, and the other smaller rivers of that coast, to the northern cape of the Straits of Michilimackinac, and through these to Point St. Ignace and the Island of Michilimackinac. The line of survey, agreeably to their reckoning, embraced two hundred and eighty miles, thus closing the topographical survey of the entire coast line of the basin of Lake Michigan, and placing in the hands of Captain Douglass the notes and materials for a perfect map of the lake.[146]
[146] It is to be regretted that Capt. Douglass, who, immediately on the conclusion of this expedition, was appointed to an important and arduous professorship in the U. S. Military Academy of West Point, could not command the leisure to complete and publish his map and topographical memoir of this part of the U. S. So long as there was a hope of this, my report of its geology, &c., and other data intended for the joint PUBLIC WORK, were withheld. But in revising this narrative, at this time, they are submitted in the Appendix. Prof. Douglass, of whose useful and meritorious life, I regret that I have no account to offer, died as one of the Faculty of Geneva College, October 21, 1849.
Mr. Trowbridge, whom I had requested to note the features of its geology and mineralogy, presented me with labelled specimens of the succession of strata which he had collected on the route. These denoted the continuance of the calcareous, horizontal series of formations of the Fox Valley, and of the islands of Green Bay, quite around those northern waters to the closing up of the surveys at Point St. Ignace and Michilimackinac. Nor do the primitive rocks disclose themselves on any part of that line of coast. Of this collection, Mr. Trowbridge well observes, in his report to me, the most interesting will probably be the organic remains. These were procured on the northeast side of Little Nocquet Bay, where areas of limestone appear. They consist of duplicates of the pectinite. Three layers of this, the magnesian limestone, show themselves at this place, of which the intermediate bed is of a dull blue color and compact structure, and is composed in a great measure of the remains of this species. It is comparatively soft when first taken up, but hardens by exposure. About ten miles north of this point, the upper calcareous, or surface rock, embraces nodules of hornstone. Specimens of a semi-crystalline limestone, labelled "marble," were also brought from a cliff, composed of this rock, on the lake shore, about thirty to forty miles southwest from Michilimackinac. Mr. Doty also brought some specimens of sulphate of lime, cal. spar, and some of the common rolled members of the quartz-drift stratum.
Michilimackinac is a name associated with our earliest ideas of history in the upper lakes. How so formidable a polysyllabic term came to be adopted by usage, it may be difficult to tell, till we are informed that the inhabitants, in speaking the word, clip off the first three syllables, leaving the last three to carry the whole meaning. The full term is, however, perpetuated by legal enactment, this part of Michigan having been organized into a separate county some time, I believe, during the administration of Gen. Hull. The military gentlemen call the fort on the cliff, "Mackin[=a]," the townspeople pronounce it Mackinaw; but if a man be hauled up on a magistrate's writ, it is in name of the sovereignty of Michilimackinac. Thus law and etymology grow strong together.
Commerce, we observe, is beginning to show itself here, but by the few vessels we have met, while traversing these broad and stormy seas, and their little tonnage, it seems as if they were stealthily making their way into regions of doubtful profit at least. The fur trade employs most of these, either in bringing up supplies, or carrying away its avails. La Salle, when, in 1679, he built the first vessel on the lakes, and sent it up to traffic in furs, was greatly in advance of his age; but he could hardly have anticipated that his countrymen should have adhered so long to the tedious and dangerous mode of making these long voyages in the bark canoe. It is memorable in the history of the region, that last year (1819) witnessed the first arrival of a steamer at Michilimackinac. It bore the characteristic name of Walk-in-the-water,[147] the name of a Wyandot chief of some local celebrity in Detroit, during the last war.
[147] So called from the water insect, called Miera by the Wyandots, one of the invertebrata which slips over the surface of water without apparently wetting its feet.--Vide Ethnological Researches, vol. ii. p. 226.
The astonishment produced upon the Indian mind by the arrival of this steamer has been described to us as very great; but, from a fuller acquaintance with the Indian character, we do not think him prone to this emotion. He gazes on new objects with imperturbability, and soon explains what he does not understand by what he does. Perceiving heat to be the primary cause of the motion, without knowing how that motion is generated, he calls the steamboat Ishcoda Nabequon, i. e. fire-vessel, and remains profoundly ignorant of the motive power of steam. The story of the vessel's being drawn by great fishes from the sea, is simply one of those fictions which white loungers about the Indian posts fabricate to supply the wants of travellers in search of the picturesque.
The winds seem to be unloosed from their mythologic bags, on the upper lakes, with the autumnal equinox; and we found them ready for their labors early in September; but it was not till the 13th of that month, after a detention of two days, that we found it practicable for canoes to leave the island. Mustering now a flotilla of three canoes, we embarked at three o'clock P.M., with a wind from the east, being moderately adverse, but soon got under the shelter of the island of Boisblanc; we passed along its inner shore about ten miles, till reaching Point aux Pins--so named from the prevalence here of the pinus resinosa. At this point, the wind, stretching openly through this passage from the east, compelled us to land and encamp. The next day, we were confined to the spot by adverse winds. While thus detained, Captain Douglass, under shelter of the island, returned to Mackinac, in a light canoe, doubly manned, for something he had left. When he returned, the wind had so far abated that we embarked, and crossed the separating channel, of about four miles, to the peninsula, and encamped near the River Cheboigan.[148] This was a tedious beginning of our voyage to Detroit; the first day had carried us only ten miles, the second but four.
[148] CHEBOIGAN. This is a noted river of the extreme of the peninsula of Michigan, which has just been made the centre of a new land district by Congress. It affords a harbor for shipping, and communicates with Little Travers Bay on Lake Michigan. A canal across a short route, of easy excavation, would avoid the whole dangerous route through the Straits of Michilimackinac, converting the end of the peninsula into an island, and save ninety miles of dangerous travel.
We were now to retraverse the shores of the Huron, along which we had encountered such delays in our outward passage, and the men applied themselves to the task with that impulse which all partake of when returning from a long journey. Winds we could not control, but every moment of calm was improved. Paddle and song were plied by them late and early. A violent rain-storm happened during the night, but it ceased at daybreak, when we embarked and traversed a coast line of forty-four miles, encamping at Presque Isle. Rain fell copiously during the night, and the unsettled and changing state of the atmosphere kept us in perpetual agitation during the day. Notwithstanding these changes, we embarked at five o'clock in the morning (16th), and, by dint of perseverance, made thirty miles. We slept on the west cape of Thunder Bay. Next morning, we landed a few moments on the Idol Island, in Thunder Bay, and, continuing along the sandy shore of the au sauble, or Iosco coast, entered Saganaw Bay, and encamped, on its west shore, at Sandy Point. Indians of the Chippewa language were encountered at this spot, whose manners and habits appeared to be quite modified by long contact with the white race.
The morning of the 18th (Sept.) proved fair, which enabled us to cross the bay, taking the island of Shawangunk in our course, where we stopped an hour, and re-examined its calcedonies and other minerals. We then proceeded across to Oak Point, on its eastern shore, and, coasting down to, and around, the precipitous cliffs of Point aux Barques, encamped in one of its deeply-indented coves, having made, during the day, forty-two miles.
The formation of this noted promontory consists of an ash-colored, not very closely-compacted sandstone, through original crevices in which the waves have scooped out entrances like vast corridors. In one of these, which has a sandy beach at its terminus, we encamped. He who has travelled along the shores of the lakes, and encamped on their borders, having his ears, while on his couch, close to the formation of sand, is early and very exactly apprised of the varying state of the wind. The deep-sounding roar of the waves, like the deep diapason of a hundred organs, plays over a gamut, whose rising or falling scale tells him, immediately, whether he can put his frail canoe before the wind, or must remain prisoner on the sand, in the sheltering nook where night overtakes him. These notes, sounded between two long lines of cavernous rocks, told us, long before daybreak, of a strong head wind that fixed us to the spot for the day. I amused myself by gathering some small species of the unio and the anadonta. Captain Douglass busied himself with astronomical observations. We all sallied out, during the day, over the sandy ridges of modern drift, in which the pinus resinosa had firmly imbedded its roots, and into sphagnous depressions beyond, where we had, in the June previous, found the sarracenia purpurea, which is the cococo mukazin, or oral's moccasin of the Indians. Here we found, as at more westerly points on the lake, the humble juniperus prostrata, and, in more favorable spots, the ribes lacustre.[149]
[149] Am. Journ. Science, vol. iv. 1822.
It was stated to us at Michilimackinac, that Lake Huron had fallen one foot during the last year. It was also added that the decrease in the lake waters had been noticed for many years, and that there were, in fact, periodical depressions and refluxes at periods of seven and fourteen years. A little reflection will, however, render it manifest that, in a region of country so extensive and thinly populated, observations must be vaguely made, and that many circumstances may operate to produce deception with respect to the permanent diminution or rise of water, as the prevalence of winds, the quantity of rain and snow which influences these basins, and the periodical distribution of solar heat. It has already been remarked, while at the mouth of Fox River, that a fluctuation, resembling a tide, has been improperly thought to exist there, and, indeed, similar phenomena appear to influence the Baltic. Philosophers have not been wanting, who have attributed similar appearances to the ocean itself. "It has been asserted," observed Cuvier, "that the sea is subject to a continual diminution of its level, and proofs of this are said to have been observed in some parts of the shores of the Baltic. Whatever may have been the cause of these appearances, we certainly know that nothing of the kind has been observed upon our coast, and, consequently, that there has been no general lowering of the waters of the ocean. The most ancient seaports still have their quays and other erections, at the same height above the level of the sea, as at their first construction. Certain general movements have been supposed in the sea, from east to west, or in other directions; but nowhere has any person been able to ascertain their effects with the least degree of precision."[150]
[150] Theory of the Earth. Modern geologists attribute these changes to the rising or sinking of the earth from volcanic forces.
On the next day (20th) the wind abated, so as to permit us, at six o'clock A.M., to issue from our place of detention; but we soon found the equilibrium of the atmosphere had been too much disturbed to rely on it. At seven o'clock, and again at nine o'clock, we were driven ashore; but as soon as it slackened we were again upon the lake; it finally settled to a light head wind, against which we urged our way diligently, until eight o'clock in the evening. The point where we encamped was upon that long line of deposit of the erratic block, or boulder stratum, of which the White Rock is one of the largest known pieces. At four o'clock the next morning, we were again in motion, dancing up and down on the blue waves; but after proceeding six miles the wind drove us from the lake, and we again encamped on the boulder stratum, where we passed the entire day. Nothing is more characteristic of the upper lake geology, than the frequency and abundance of these boulders. The causes which have removed them, at old periods, from their parent bed, were doubtless oceanic; for the area embraced is too extensive to admit of merely local action; but we know of no concentration of oceanic currents, of sufficient force, to bear up these heavy masses, over such extensive surfaces, without the supporting media of ice-floes. The boulders and pebbles are often driven as the moraines before glacial bodies, and there are not wanting portions of rock surface, in the west, which are deeply grooved or scratched by the pressing boulders. The crystallized peaks of the Little Rocks, above St. Anthony's Falls, have been completely polished by them.--Vide p. 149.
The next morning (22d) we were released from our position on this bleak drift-coast, although the wind was still moderately ahead, and after toiling twelve hours adown the closing shores of the lake, we reached its foot, and entered the River St. Clair. Halting a few moments at Fort Gratiot, we found it under the command of Lieut. James Watson Webb, who was, however, absent at the moment. Two miles below, at the mouth of Black River, we met this officer, who had just returned from an excursion up the Black River, where he had laid in a supply of fine watermelons, with which he liberally supplied us. From this spot, we descended the river seven miles, to Elk Island, on which we encamped at twilight, having made fifty-seven miles during the day. Glad to find ourselves out of the reach of the lake winds, and of Eolus, and all his hosts, against which we may be said to have fought our way from Michilimackinac, and animated with the prospect of soon terminating our voyage, we surrounded our evening board with unwonted spirits and glee. Supper being dispatched, with many a joke, and terminated with a song in full chorus, and the men having carefully repaired our canoes, it was determined to employ the night in descending the placid river, and at nine o'clock P.M. all was ready and we again embarked. Never did men more fully appreciate the melody of the Irish bard:--
"Sweetly as tolls the evening chime, Our voices keep tune and our oars keep time."
At half past three the next morning, we found ourselves at the entrance to Lake St. Clair, thirty miles from our evening repast. Owing to the dense fog and darkness, it was now necessary to await daylight, before attempting to cross. Daylight, which had been impatiently waited for, brought with it our old lake enemy, head winds, which made the most experienced men deem the passage impracticable. Counselled, however, rather by impatience than anything else, it was resolved on. Rain soon commenced, which appeared the signal for increased turbulence; but by dint of hard pushing in the men, with some help from our own hands, we succeeded in weathering Point Huron, the first point of shelter. The right hand shore then became a continued covert, and we successively saw point after point lessen in the distance. It was noon when we reached Grosse Point, the original place of our general embarkation on commencing the expedition; the rest of the voyage ran like a dream "when one awaketh," and we landed at the City of Detroit at half past three o'clock P. M.
Gov. Cass, and his equestrian party from Chicago, had preceded us thirteen days, as will be perceived from the following article from the weekly press of that city, of September 15, 1820, which embraces a comprehensive notice of the expedition; its route, the objects it accomplished, and the effects it may be expected to have on the leading interests and interior policy of the country, as well as the drawing forth of its resources.
EXPLORING EXPEDITION.
FROM THE DETROIT GAZETTE.
Last Friday evening, Governor Cass arrived here from Chicago, accompanied by Lieutenant M'Kay and Mr. R. A. Forsyth,[151] both of whom belonged to the expedition--all in good health.
[151] Major Robert A. Forsyth was a native of the Detroit Country, of Canadian descent, and born a few years after its transfer to the United States. At the time of the expedition, he was the Secretary of Governor Cass, and was admirably qualified to take a part in it, by his energy and perseverance, his indomitable courage, and his physical power and activity. Some of these traits of character were developed at an early age. He was but yet a lad at the time of the surrender of Detroit, and was so much excited by that untoward event, that he insulted the British officers in the fort by his reproaches, and so irritated them that one of them threatened to pin him to the floor with a bayonet. During the war upon the frontier, he was actively employed, and on more than one occasion distinguished himself by his conduct and courage. He was with Major Holmes at the battle near the Long Woods, and behaved with great gallantry. In 1814, he was sent with Chandruai, a half-breed Pottowatamie, and with a small party of Indians, to invite the various Indian tribes to come to Greenville, at the treaties about to be held by Generals Harrison and Cass, with a view to detach the North-Western Indians from British influence. On the route, they met a superior party of Indians, led by an officer of the British Indian Department, who attempted to take them prisoners. They resisted, and, by their prompt and almost desperate courage, drove off the British party. Forsyth distinguished himself in the contest, in which the British leader of the party was killed. Soon after the war, he was appointed Private Secretary to Governor Cass, and continued in that capacity for fifteen years, till the latter was transferred to the War Department. He accompanied the General in all his expeditions into the Indian country, and rendered himself invariably useful, having a peculiar talent to control the rough men who took part in these dangerous excursions. He was ultimately appointed a paymaster in the army, in which capacity he served in Mexico, where he acquired the seeds of the disorder which proved fatal to him in 1849. He will be long recollected and regretted by those who knew him, for the shining qualities of head and heart which endeared him to all his acquaintances.
We understand that the objects of the expedition have been successfully accomplished. The party has traversed 4,000 miles of this frontier since the last of May. Their route was from this place to Michilimackinac, and to the Sault of St. Mary's, where a treaty was concluded with the Chippewas for the cession of a tract of land, with a view to the establishment of a military post. They thence coasted the southern shore of Lake Superior to the Fond du Lac; ascended the St. Louis River to one of its sources, and descended a small tributary stream of Sandy Lake to the Mississippi. They then ascended this latter river to the Upper Red Cedar Lake, which may be considered as the principal source of the Mississippi, and which is the reservoir where the small streams forming that river unite. From this lake they descended between thirteen and fourteen hundred miles to Prairie du Chien, passing by the post of St. Peter's on the route. They then navigated the Ouisconsin to the portage, entered the Fox River, and descended it to Green Bay. Then the party separated, in order to obtain a topographical sketch of Lake Michigan. Some of them coasted the northern shore to Michilimackinac, and the others took the route by Chicago. From this point they will traverse the eastern shore of the lake to Michilimackinac, and may be expected here in the course of a week. Governor Cass returned from Chicago by land. A correct topographical delineation of this extensive frontier may now be expected from the accurate observations of Captain Douglass, who is fully competent to perform the task. We have heretofore remained in ignorance upon this subject, and very little has been added to the stock of geographical knowledge since the French possessed the country. We understand that all the existing maps are found to be very erroneous. The character, numbers, situation, and feelings of the Indians in those remote regions have been fully explored, and we trust that much valuable information upon these subjects will be communicated to the Government and to the public. We learn that the Indians are peaceable, but that the effect of the immense distribution of presents to them by the British authorities, at Malden and at Drummond's Island, has been evident upon their wishes and feelings through the whole route. Upon the establishment of our posts, and the judicious distribution of our small military force, must we rely, and not upon the disposition of the Indians. The important points of the country are now almost all occupied by our troops, and these points have been selected with great judgment. It is thought by the party, that the erection of a military work at the Saut is essential to our security in that quarter. It is the key of Lake Superior, and the Indians in its vicinity are more disaffected than any others upon the route. Their daily intercourse with Drummond's Island, leaves us no reason to doubt what are the means by which their feelings are excited and continued. The importance of this site, in a military point of view, has not escaped the observation of Mr. Calhoun, and it was for this purpose that a treaty was directed to be held. The report which he made to the House of Representatives, in January last, contains his views upon the subject.
We cannot but hope that no reduction will be made in the ranks of the army. It is by physical force alone, and by a proper display of it, that we must expect to keep within reasonable bounds, the ardent, restless, and discontented savages, by whom this whole country is filled and surrounded. Few persons living at a distance are aware of the means which are used, and too successfully used, by the British agents, to imbitter the minds of the Indians, and preserve such an influence over them as will insure their co-operation in the event of any future difficulties. A post at the Fond du Lac will, before long, be necessary, and it is now proper that one should be established at the portage between the Fox and Ouisconsin Rivers.
Mr. Schoolcraft has examined the geological structure of the country, and has explored, as far as practicable, its mineralogical treasures. We are happy to learn that this department could not have been confided to one more able or zealous to effect the objects connected with it. Extensive collections, illustrating the natural history of the country, have been made, and will add to the common stock of American science.
We understand that copper, iron, and lead are very abundant through the whole country, and that the great mass of copper upon the Outanagon River has been fully examined. Upon this, as well as upon other subjects, we hope we shall, in a few days, be able to communicate more detailed information.
DISCOVERY
OF THE
ACTUAL SOURCE OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER
IN
ITASCA LAKE,
BY AN EXPEDITION, AUTHORIZED BY THE WAR DEPARTMENT OF THE UNITED STATES, IN 1832.
BY HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT, UNITED STATES SUPERINTENDENT OF INDIAN AFFAIRS FOR MICHIGAN, ETC.
Chapter XXI
The search for the veritable source of the Mississippi is resumed.--Ascent to Cass Lake, the prior point of discovery--Pursue the river westerly, through the Andrúsian Lakes and up the Metoswa Rapids, forty-five miles--Queen Anne's Lake.
Twelve years elapse between the closing of the prior, and the opening of the present narrative. In the month of August, 1830, instructions were received by Mr. Schoolcraft to proceed into the Upper Mississippi valley, to endeavor to terminate the renewed hostilities existing between the Chippewa and Sioux tribes. These directions did not come to hand at the remote post of Sault de Ste. Marie, at the outlet of Lake Superior, in season to permit the object to be executed that year. On reporting the fact that the tribes would be dispersed to their hunting-grounds before the scene could be reached, and that severe weather would close the streams with ice before the expedition could possibly return, the plan was deferred till the next year. Renewed instructions were issued in the month of April, 1831, and an expedition organized at St. Mary's to carry them into immediate effect.
These instructions did not require the broad table-lands on which the river originates to be visited, though the journey connected itself with preliminary questions; nor was it found practicable to extend the geographical examinations, in the Mississippi Valley, beyond about latitude 44°.
The force designed for this expedition consisted of twenty-seven men, including a botanist and geologist, and a small military party under Lieut. Robert E. Clary, U. S. A. Entering Lake Superior, in the month of June, with a bright pure atmosphere and serene weather, the party enjoyed a succession of those clear transporting vistas of rock and water scenery, which render this picturesque basin by far the most magnificent, varied, and affluent in its prospect in America. It is in this basin only, of all the series of North American lakes which stretch west from the St. Lawrence, that peaks and high mural walls of volcanic formation, pierce through, or lift up, the horizontal series of the silurian system; and that, in the lake region, the latter is found in singular juxtaposition, by means of these upheavals, with the senites, sienitic granites, and metamorphic rocks composing the globe's nucleus, or primary out-pushed stony coats of these latitudes.
I had passed through this varied and wonder-creating scene of coast views and long-stretching vistas in 1820, when geology, in America, at least, was in its infancy, as a member of the organic government expedition into this quarter of the Union, as detailed in the preceding pages. I had, in 1826, revisited the whole coast from Point Iroquois to Fond du Lac, in the exercise of official duties, connected with the Indian tribes; besides making sectional expeditions into the regions of the Gargontwa and Mishepecotin, and of the Takwymenon sand-rock, interior, and coast lines. But the beauty of the prospects presented in 1831, the serenity of the weather, and the opportunity which it gave of revisiting scenes which had before flitted by, as the fragments of a gorgeous dream, gave to this visit a charm which no length of time can obliterate. And these attractions were enhanced by association with the agreeable men who accompanied me; of whom it may be said that they represented the place of strings in a melodious harp, whose concurrence was at all times necessary to produce harmony. The sainted and scene-loving Woolsey[152]--the self-poised and amiable Houghton, just broke loose from the initial struggles of life to luxuriate on the geological smiles of the face of nature in this scene--ah! where are they? Death has laid his cold hand on them, to open their eyes on other, and to us inscrutable scenes.
[152] Vide Letters on Lake Superior, in Southern Literary Messenger, 1836.
Passing through this lake, the expedition met the brigade of boats of the late Mr. Wm. Aitken, from the Upper Mississippi waters, with the annual returns of furs from that region. He represented the urgent necessity of an official visit to that section of the country, where the Indians were in turmoil; but stated, at the same time, that the waters were too low in the streams at the sources of the Mississippi to render explorations practicable. He also represented it impracticable, this season, to enter the Mississippi by the way of the Broulé, or Misakoda River. This information was confirmed on reaching Chegoimegon, at the remarkable group of the Confederation Islands (ante, p. 105). Returning eight miles on my track, I entered the Muskigo, or Mauvais River, and ascended this stream by all its bad rafts, rapids, and portages, to the upper waters of the River St. Croix of the Mississippi. Crossing the intermediate table-lands, with their intricate system of lakes and portages to Lac Courteroille, or Ottawa Lake, I entered one of the main sources of Chippewa River, and descended this prime tributary stream to its entrance into the Mississippi, at the foot of Lake Pepin. From the latter point I descended to Prairie du Chien, and to Galena in Illinois. Dispatching the men and canoes from this place back to ascend the Wisconsin River, and meet me at the portage of Fort Winnebago, I crossed the lead-mine country by land, by the way of the Pekatolica, Blue Mound, and Four Lakes, to the source of the Fox River, and rejoining my canoes here, descended this stream to Green Bay, and returned to my starting-point by the way of Michilimackinac and the Straits of St. Mary. Two months and twelve days were employed on the journey, during which a line of forests and Indian trails had been passed, of two thousand three hundred miles.
The Indians had been met, and counselled with at various points, at which presents and provisions were distributed, and the peace policy of the Government enforced. A Chippewa war party, under Ninaba, had been arrested on its march against the Sioux in descending the Red Cedar fork of the Chippewa River. Information was obtained that nine tribes or bands had united in their sympathies for the restless Sauks and Foxes, who broke out in hostility to the United States the following spring. Messages, with pipes and belts, and in one case notice, with a tomahawk smeared with vermilion, to symbolize war, had passed between these tribes.[153]
[153] An outline of the expedition of 1831 is found in Schoolcraft's "Thirty Years on the American Frontiers." Lippincott & Co. Phila. 1850.
The information was communicated to the Government, with a suggestion that an expedition should be organized for visiting remoter regions the next year, and forwarding, at the same time, detailed estimates of the expenditures essential to its efficiency. These suggestions were approved by the Secretary of War on the 3d of May, 1832, and instructions forwarded to me for organizing an expedition to carry the reconnoissance and scrutiny to the tribes on the sources of the Mississippi. A small escort of U. S. infantry was ordered to accompany me, under Lieut. James Allen, U. S. A., who, being a graduate of the West Point Military Academy, undertook the departments of topography and trigonometry. I secured the services of Dr. Houghton, as physician and surgeon, and acting botanist and geologist--positions which he had occupied on the prior expedition of 1831. The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions were invited to send an agent to observe the wants and condition of the Indian tribes in these remote latitudes; who directed the Rev. Wm. T. Boutwell to join me at St. Mary's. I charged myself especially with inquiring into the Indian history and languages, statistics, and general ethnography.
The expedition left the Sault de Ste. Marie on the 7th of June, taking the route through Lake Superior to Fond du Lac and the St. Louis River, and the Savanna Summit to Sandy Lake, which lies 500 miles above St. Anthony's Falls of the Upper Mississippi. The width of the Mississippi at the outlet of Sandy Lake, by a line stretched across, was found to be 331 feet. At my camp here, a general council was summoned of the lower tribes, who were notified to assemble at the mouth of the River Des Corbeau on the 20th of July; and a boat with presents and supplies was sent down the Mississippi to await the return of the expedition through that river. Lightened thus of baggage, and having fixed a point of time within which to finish the explorations above, I proceeded up the main channel of the river to, and across the Pakagama Falls, and its wide plateau of savannas, and through the Little and Great Winnipek Lakes, to the Upper Red Cedar, or Cass Lake, which we entered on the 10th of July. This is a fine lake of transparent water, about eighteen miles in length, with several large bays and islands as denoted in the accompanying sketch, which give it an irregular shape. The largest island, called Grande Isle by the French, which is the Gitchiminis of the Indians, and the Colcaspi[154] of my initial narrative of 1832. This lake was the terminus of the respective explorations of Lieutenant Zebulon Pike, U. S. A., in 1806, and Governor Lewis Cass in 1820. The points at which they approached it were not, however, the same. Pike visited it in a dog train, on the snow, in the month of January, across the land, from the Northwest Company's trading post at Leech Lake. He visited an out-station of that company on Grand Island. Cass landed in July, after tracing its channel from Sandy Lake to the entrance of Turtle River, the line of communication to Turtle Lake, which was long the reputed source of the river. This has been called by a modern traveller in the region Lake Julia, that he might call it the Julian source of the Mississippi.[155]
[154] This is an anagram composed of the names of Schoolcraft, Cass, and Pike, the geographical discoverers, in reversed order, of the region.
[155] Beltrami.
I found the Mississippi, at the point where it flows from the lake, to be 172 feet wide, not having lost half the width it had at Sandy Lake, although in this distance it is diminished by the volume of its Leech Lake tributary, which the northwest agents informed Lieutenant Pike, in 1806, to be its largest tributary. I had reached it ten days earlier in the season than Governor Cass, having been exactly one day less in traversing the long line of intervening country from Sault de Ste. Marie. I proceeded directly to Grand Isle, the residence of a Chippewa band numbering 157 persons. This island was found to have a fertile soil, where they had always raised the zea maize. Its latitude is 47° 25´ 23´´. Not only had I reached this point ten days earlier in the month than the expedition of 1820, but it was found that the state of the water on these summits was very favorable to their ascent. Ozawindib,[156] the Chippewa chief, said that his hunting-grounds embraced the source of the Mississippi, but that canoes of the size and burden which I had could not ascend higher than the Pemidjegumaug, or Queen Anne's Lake. I determined to encamp my extra men permanently on this island, with the heavy canoes, provisions, and baggage, leaving the camp in charge of Louis Default, a trusty man, of the metif class, well acquainted with the Indian language, who had been a guide in 1820, and to make explorations, in the lightest class of Indian canoes, provisioned for an élite movement. Lieutenant Allen also determined to encamp the United States soldiers of the party, leaving them under a sergeant. To give each gentleman of the party an opportunity of joining in this movement, it was necessary to procure five hunting canoes, which were of no greater capacity than to bear one sitter[157] and two paddlers.
[156] This name is derived from ozawau, yellow; winisis, hair, and kundiba, bone of the forehead or head.
[157] The term "sitter," which is a northwest phrase in common use, is equivalent to the Canadian word bourgoise.
Ozawindib and his companions produced these canoes at an early hour on the following morning, and having, at my request, drawn a map of the route, embarked himself as the guide to the party. We left the island before it was yet daylight. The party now consisted of sixteen persons, including three Chippewas and eight engagees. The Mississippi enters this lake through a savanna, on its extreme western borders, after performing one of those evolutions through meadow lands so common to its lower latitudes; after reaching to within fifty yards of the lake, it winds about, through a natural meadow, for many miles before its debouchure. The chief, who was familiar with this feature, carried me to a fifty yards portage, by which we saved some miles of paddling. We reached the Mississippi at a place where it expands into an elongated lake, for which I heard no name, and which I called Lake Andrúsia.[158] After passing through this, the river appeared very much in size and volume as it had on the outlet below Cass Lake. It winds its way through the same species of natural meadows, during which there is but little current. On ascending this channel but a short distance, the river is found to display itself in a second lake--which the natives call Pamitascodiac[159]--which, in general appearance and character, may be deemed the twin of Lake Andrúsia. On its upper margin, a tract of prairie land appears, of a sandy character, bearing scattered pines. This appears to be the particular feature alluded to by the Indian name. About four miles above this lake, and say fifteen from Cass Lake, the rapids commence. It was eight o'clock A. M. when we reached this point, and we had then been four hours in our canoes from the Andrúsia portage. These rapids soon proved themselves to be formidable. Boulders of the geological drift period are frequently encountered in ascending them, and the river spreads itself over so considerable a surface that it became necessary for the bowsmen and steersmen to get out into the shallows and lead up the canoes. These canoes were but of two fathoms length, drew but a few inches water, and would not bear more than three persons. It was ten o'clock when we landed, on a dry opening on the right shore, to boil our kettle, and prepare breakfast. So dry, indeed, was the vegetation here, that the camp-fire spread in the grass and leaves, and it required some activity in the men to prevent its burning the baggage. There were ten of these rapids encountered before we reached the summit, or plateau, of Lake Pemidjegumaug, which is the Lac Traverse of the French. These were called the Metóswa rapids, from the Indian numeral for ten.
[158] From Andrew Jackson, at that time President of the United States.
[159] This word appears to be a derivation from pemidj, across, muscoda, a prairie, and ackee, land.
The term Lac Traverse has been repeated several times by the Canadian French, in our northwestern geography; being prominently known in the Upper Mississippi for a handsome sheet of water, connecting the St. Peter's, or Minnesota River, with Red River of Hudson's Bay; and as the Indian name, though very graphic, is not euphonious, I named it Queen Anne's Lake.[160] It is a clear and beautiful sheet of water, twelve miles in length, from east to west, and six or seven broad, with an open forest of hard wood. It is distant forty-five miles from Cass Lake, and lies at an elevation of fifty-four feet above that lake, and of 1,456 feet above the Gulf of Mexico. The latitude is 47° 28´ 46´´. The peculiarity recognized by the Indian name of Pemidjegumaug, or Crosswater, is found to consist in the entrance of the Mississippi into its extreme south end, and its passage through or across part of it, at a short distance from the point of entrance. Another feature of its topography consists of its connection, by a lively channel of less than a mile's length, with another transverse lake of pure waters, to which I applied the name of Washington Irving. These features are shown by the subjoined sketch.
[160] In allusion to an interesting period of British history, in its influences on America.
Chapter XXII
Ascent of the Mississippi above Queen Anne's Lake--Reach the primary forks of the river--Ascend the left-hand, or minor branch--Lake Irving--Lake Marquette--Lake La Salle--Lake Plantagenet--Encamp at the Naiwa rapids at the base of the Height of Land, or Itasca Summit.
A short halt was made on entering Queen Anne's Lake, to examine an object of Indian superstition on its east shore. This consisted of one of those water-worn boulders which assume the shape of a rude image, and to which the Chippewas apply the name Shingabawassin, or image-stone. Nothing artificial appeared about it, except a ring of paint, of some ochreous matter, around the fancied neck of the image.[161] We were an hour in crossing the lake southwardly from this point, which would give a mean rate of five miles. At the point of landing, stood a small, deserted, long building, which Ozawindib informed me had been used as a minor winter trading station. I observed on the beach at this spot some small species of unios, and, at higher points on the shore, helices. We here noticed the passenger pigeon. The forest exhibited the elm, soft maple, and white ash. Proceeding directly south from this spot a short distance, we entered the Mississippi, which was found to flow in with a broad channel and rapid current. This channel Lieutenant Allen estimated to be but one hundred yards long, at which distance we entered into a beautiful little lake of pellucid water and a picturesque margin, spreading transversely to our track, to which I gave the name of Irving. Ozawindib held his way directly south through this body of water, striking the river again on its opposite shore. We had proceeded but half a mile above this lake, when it was announced that we had reached the primary forks of the Mississippi. We were now in latitude 47° 28´ 46´´. Up to this point, the river had carried its characteristics in a remarkable manner. Of the two primary streams before us, the one flowing from the west, or the Itascan fork, contributes by far the largest volume of water, possessing the greatest velocity and breadth of current. The two streams enter each other at an acute angle, which varies but little from due south, as denoted in the diagram.
[161] An object of analogous kind was noticed, during the prior expedition of 1820, at an island in Thunder Bay of Lake Huron. Vide p. 55.
Ozawindib hesitated not a moment which branch to ascend, but shooting his canoe out of the stronger current of the Itascan fork, entered the other. His wisdom in this movement was soon apparent. He had not only entered the shallower and stiller branch, but one that led more directly to the base of the ultimate summit of Itasca. This stream soon narrowed to twenty feet. We could distinctly descry the moving sands at its bottom; but its diminished velocity was apparent from the intrusion of aquatic plants along its shores. It was manifest also from the forest vegetation, that we were advancing into regions of a more alpine flora. The branches of the larches, spruce, and gray pines, were clothed with lichens and floating moss to their very tops, denoting an atmosphere of more than the ordinary humidity. Clumps of gray willows skirted the margin of the stream.
It was found that the river had made its utmost northing in Queen Anne's Lake. From the exit from that point, the course was nearly due south, and from this moment to our arrival at the ultimate forks, which cannot exceed a mile and a half or two miles, it was evident why the actual source of this celebrated river had so long eluded scrutiny. We were ascending at every curve so far south, as to carry the observer out of every old line of travel or commerce in the fur trade (the sole interest here), and into a remote elevated region, which is never visited indeed, except by Indian hunters, and is never crossed, even by them, to visit the waters of the Red River--the region in immediate juxtaposition north. This semi Alpine plateau, or height of land for which we were now pushing directly, is called in the parlance of the fur trade Hauteurs de Terre. It was evident that we were ascending to this continental plateau by steps, denoted by a series of rapids, presenting step by step, in regular succession, widespread areas of flat surface spotted with almost innumerable lakes, small and large, and rice-ponds and lagoons. Thus, after surmounting the step of the Packagama Falls, we enter on a wide and far stretching plateau which embraces the great area of Leech Lake, and its numerous lacustrine beds. This step or plateau may, in the descending order of the Mississippi, be called the fifth plateau, and is, by barometrical observation, 1,356 feet above the Gulf of Mexico. The next, or fourth step, is that of the plateau of Cass Lake, caused chiefly by the lively waters of the Leech Lake, the Upper Red Cedar, and the Winnepek outlets. The Cass Lake level extends west of this lake to the foot of the Metoswa rapids. This is forty-six feet above the Leech Lake level. The third plateau, on which the Mississippi spreads itself, is that of the Queen Anne summit, which is elevated by the Metoswa rapids sixty-four feet above the former. We had now entered on this third plateau, on which we found the river flowing with a just perceptible current, and frequently expanding itself in small lakes. On the first of these, after ascending the left hand, or minor fork, I bestowed the name of Marquette; and on the second, that of La Salle. We proceeded beyond these to a third lake of larger dimension, which the Chippewas call Kubba-Kunna, or the Rest in the Path, being the site of crossing of one of their noted land-trails; I named it Lake Plantagenet. Lt. Allen deemed this lake ten miles long and five wide. At a point a short distance above the head of this lake, we encamped at a late hour. It was now seven o'clock P. M., and we had been in our canoes sixteen hours, and travelled fifty-five miles. It was not easy to find ground dry enough to encamp on, and while we were searching for it, rain commenced. We had pushed through the ample borders of the Scirpus lacustris and other aquatic plants, to a point of willows, alders, and spruce and tamarack, with pinus banksiana in the distance. The ground was low and wet, the foot sinking into a carpet of green moss at every tread. The lower branches of the trees were dry and dead, exhibiting masses of flowing gray moss. Dampness, frigidity, and gloom marked the dreary spot, and when a camp fire had been kindled it threw its red glare around on strange masses of thickets and darkness, which might have well employed the pencil of a Michael Angelo. Tired and overwearied men are not, however, much given to the poetic on these occasions, and they addressed themselves at once to the pacification of that uneasy organ, the stomach. Travelling with men who strangely mix up two foreign languages, one falls insensibly into the same jargon habits, of which I convicted myself of a notable instance this evening. I had on landing and pushing into the forest, laid a green morocco portfolio on the branches of a little spruce, and could not find it. Kewau bemuasee, I said to one of the men, en petite chose ver, mittig onsing? Have you not seen a small green roll in a sapling? not recollecting that the middle clause of the sentence, though in regimen with the Ojibwa, could have only been construed by one familiar both with the Canadian French and the Algonquin. Such, however, proved to be the case, and he soon handed me the missing portfolio.
I observed, as the crews of the several canoes threw down their day's game before the cook, there was a species of duck, the anas canadensis, I think, which had a small unio attached to one of its mandibles, having been engaged in opening the shell at the moment it was shot. With every aid, however, from the tent and the tea-kettle, and our cook's art in spitting ducks, the night here, in a gloomy and damp thicket, just elevated above the line of the river flags, and quite in the range of the frogs and lizards, proved to be one of the most dreary and forlorn. It was felt that we were no longer on the open Mississippi, but were winding up a close and very serpentine tributary, nowhere over thirty feet wide, which unfolded itself in a savanna, or bog, bordered closely with lagoons and rice ponds. Indian sagacity, it was clear, had led Ozawindib up this tributary as the best, shortest, and easiest possible way of reaching to, and surmounting the Itasca plateau, but it required a perpetual use of hand, foot, paddle, and pole; nor was there a gleam of satisfaction to be found in anything but the most intense onward exertion. Besides, I had agreed to meet the Indians at the mouth of the Crow-Wing River on the 24th of July, and that engagement must be fulfilled.
At five o'clock the next morning (12th) we were on our feet, and resumed the ascent. The day was rainy and disagreeable. There was little strength of current, but quite a sufficient depth of water; the stream was excessively tortuous. Owing to the sudden bends, we often frightened up the same flocks of brant, ducks, and teals again and again, who did not appear to have been in times past much subjected to these intrusions. The flora of this valley appeared unfavorable. Dr. Houghton has reported a new species of malva and some five or six other species or varieties from the general region, but these have not, I think, been elaborately described. The localities of the known species of fauna might be marked by the occurrence, on this fork, of the cervus virginianus, which had not been seen after leaving the Sandy Lake summit till after getting above the primary forks, which flow from the south and west.
We toiled all day without intermission from daybreak till dark. The banks of the river are fringed with a species of coarse marshland grass. Clumps of willows fringe the stream. Rush and reed occupy spots favorable to their growth. The forest exhibits the larch, pine, and tamarack. Moss attaches itself to everything. Water-fowls seem alone to exult in their seclusion. After we had proceeded for an hour above Lake Plantagenet, an Indian in the advance canoe fired at and killed a deer. Although fairly shot, the animal ran several hundred yards. It then fell dead. The man who had killed it brought the carcass to the banks of the river. The dexterity with which he skinned and cut it up, excited admiration. He gave the moze, which I understood to mean the hide and feet, to my guide, Ozawindib. Signs of this animal were frequent along the stream. But we were impelled forward by higher objects than hunting. It was, indeed, geographical and scientific facts that we were hunting for. To trace to its source an important river, and to fix the actual point of its origin, furnished the mental stimulus which led us to care but little where we slept or what we ate.
When the usual hour for breakfast arrived, the banks of the river proved too marshy to land, and we continued on till a quarter past twelve P. M., before a convenient landing could be made. After this recruit to stomach and spirits, the men again pushed forward, threading the stream as it wound about in a savanna, seldom halting more than a few minutes at a time. Frequently, a shot was fired at the numerous water-fowl, so abundant on these waters. Sometimes a small unio or anadonta was picked up from the shores; occasionally a plant pulled up, for the botanical press. Nowhere was the water found too shallow for our canoes, which were only embarrassed at some points by the density of vegetable tissue. Rain showers were encountered during the whole of the day, the equilibrium of the atmosphere being disturbed by rolling, cumulous clouds, which often poured down their contents with little warning, and without, indeed, driving us from our canoes. For, on these occasions, where a fixed point is to be made, and the showers are not anticipated to be long or heavy, it is better to travel in the rain and submit to the wetting, than to attempt landing. Neither can the meal of dinner be stopped for. At length, at half past five o'clock in the evening, we came to the base of the highlands of the Itasca or Hauteurs de Terre summit. The flanks of this elevation revealed themselves in a high, naked precipice of the drift and boulder stratum, on the immediate margin of the stream which washed against it. Our pilot, Ozawindib, was at the moment in the rear; halting a few moments for him to come up, he said that we were within a few hundred yards of the Naiwa rapids, and that the portage around them commenced at this escarpment. We had seen no rock of any species, in place, thus far.
A general landing was immediately made at the foot of the hill, and as the five canoes came up the baggage was prepared in bundles and packages for being carried, the canoe-paddles and poles securely tied in bundles, and the canoes lifted from the water and dried in the sun to make the transportation of them as light as possible, and mended and pitched wherever they leaked. It was found that the whole baggage, canoes and all, could be arranged for eleven back-loads, this being the precise number of our carriers, white and red; and being ready, Ozawindib led the way, having a single canoe for his share, and he was soon followed by the whole line, each one of our sitters falling in this line, charged with the particular instrument of his observation, or record of it. The hill was steep, and the footing soft and yielding in the crumbling diluvion, and the scene, as the party struggled up the ascent, presented quite a study for the picturesque. Lieutenant Allen carried his canoe-compass, which I had had mounted by an artisan of Detroit; Dr. Houghton grasped his hortus siccus under his arms; Mr. Johnston, our interpreter, had his pipe and fowling-piece, and Mr. Boutwell had wellnigh lost his pocket-bible and notes, while staying himself against the treacherous influence of a steep sand cliff. While the party thus took their way over the hill to cross a peninsula of a mile or two, and strike the river above the junction of the Naiwa River, I went to observe the rapids. The river, at this point, is forced through a narrow gorge, where the water descends with loud murmuring over a series of rapids, which form a complete check to navigation. The portage is two miles. I judged the entire descent of the channel, from the beginning to the terminus of the portage, to be forty-eight feet. Boulders of the peculiar northern sienite, highly charged with hornblende, and of trap-rock, or greenstone, quartz, and sandstone, were scattered over this elevation, and mixed with the more finely comminuted portions of the same rocks, and of amygdaloids and schistose fragments. Among these, I observed some specimens of the zoned agate, which identifies the stratum with the extensive drift formation of the upper Mississippi. It would seem that extensive amygdaloidal strata formerly extended over these heights, which have been broken down by the fierce and general rush of the oceanic currents of the north, which once manifestly swept over these elevations.
Darkness fell as we reached an elevation overlooking the river above the Naiwa Rapids, and after some deliberation as to the spot where we should suffer less annoyance from mosquitos, I proceeded to the lower part of the valley near the river, and set up my tent there for the night. On questioning Ozawindib of the Naiwa River, he informed me that it was a stream of considerable size, and that it originated in a lake on a distant part of the plateau, which was infested with the copper-head snake; hence the name. Mr. Allen's estimate of this day's journey was fifty-two miles. We had reached the second, or Assawa plateau of the Mississippi, which is, barometrically, seventy-six feet above the Queen Anne summit, and now had but one more to surmount.
Chapter XXIII
The Expedition having reached the source of the east fork in Assawa Lake, crosses the highlands of the Hauteurs de Terre to the source of the main or west fork in Itasca Lake.
The next morning (13th) a dense fog prevailed. We had found the atmosphere warm, but charged with water and vapors, which frequently condensed into showers. The evenings and nights were, however, cool, at the precise time of the earth hiding the sun's disk. It was five o'clock before we could discern objects with sufficient distinctness to venture to embark. We found the channel of the river strikingly diminished on getting above the Naiwa. Its width is that of a mere brook, running in a valley half a mile wide. The water is still and pond-like, the margin being encroached on by aquatic plants. It presents some areas of the zizania palustris, and appeared to be the favorite resort for several species of duck, who were continually disturbed by our progress. After diligently ascending an hour and a half, or about eight miles, the stream almost imperceptibly began to open into a lake, which the Indians called Assawa, or Perch Lake. Its borders are fringed with the monomin of the Chippewas, or wild rice, and several of the liliaceous water plants. The water is transparent when dipped up and viewed by the light, but from the falling of leaves and other carbonaceous fibre to the bottom, it reflects a sombre hue. We were just twenty minutes in passing through it, denoting a length of perhaps two miles, and a width of half a mile. Our course through it was directly south. Ozawindib, who took the advance, entered an inlet, but had not ascended it far, when he rested on his paddles, and exclaimed o-omah mekunnah, here is the path, or portage. We had, in fact, traced this branch of the river into its utmost sources. It was seven o'clock in the morning. We were surrounded by what the natives term azhiskee, or mire, broad-leaved plants extending over the surface of the water, in which I recognized a diminutive species of yellow pond-lily. There was no mode of reaching dry land but by stepping into this yielding azhiskee. The water was rather tepid. After wading about fifty yards the footing became more firm, and we soon began to ascend a slight elevation. Some traces of an Indian trail appeared here, which led to an opening in the thicket, where vestiges of the bones of birds, and old camp-poles, indicated the prior encampment of Indians.
I had now traced this branch of the Mississippi to its source, and was at the south base of the inter-continental highlands, which give origin to the longest and principal branch of the Mississippi. To reach its source it was necessary to ascend and cross these. Of their height, and the difficulty of their ascent, we knew nothing. This only was sure, from the representation of the natives, that it could be readily done, carrying the small bark canoes we had thus far employed. The chief said it was thirteen opugidjiwenun, or putting-down-places, which are otherwise called onwaybees, or rests. From the roughness of the path, not more than half a mile can be estimated to each onwaybee. Assawa Lake is shown, by barometric measurement, to be 1,532 feet above the Gulf. Having followed out this branch to its source, its very existence in our geography becomes a new fact.
While the baggage and canoes were being carried to the spot of our encampment, a camp-fire was kindled and the cook busied himself in preparing breakfast. The canoes were then carefully examined and repaired, and the baggage parted into loads, so as to permit the whole outfit and apparatus to be transported at one trip. These things having been arranged, and the breakfast dispatched, we set forward to mount the highlands. Ozawindib having thrown one of the canoes over his shoulders, led the way, complaisantly, being followed by the entire party.
The prevailing growth at this place is thick bramble, spruce, white cedar, and tamarak. The path plunges at once into a marshy and matted thicket, which it requires all one's strength to press through--then rises to a little elevation covered with white cedar, and again plunges into a morass strewed with fallen and decayed logs, covered with moss. From this the trail emerges on dry ground. Relieved from the entanglement about our feet, we soon found ourselves ascending an elevation of the drift stratum, consisting of oceanic sand, with boulders. On the side of this eminence we enjoyed our first onwaybee. The day had developed itself clear and warm, and glad indeed were we to find the chief had put down his canoe, and by the time we reached had lit his pipe. The second onwaybee brought us to the summit of this elevation; the third to the side of a ridge beyond it; the fourth to another summit; in fine, we found ourselves crossing a succession of ridges and depressions, which seemed to have owed their original outlines to the tumultuous waves of some mighty ocean, which had once had the mastery over the highlands. Trail there was often none. The day being clear, the chief, however, held his course truly, and when he was turned out of it by some defile, or thicket, or bog, he again found his line at the earliest possible point. In one of the depressions, we crossed a little lake in the canoes; in another, we followed the guide on foot, through and along the border of a shallow lake, to avoid the density of the thickets.
Ripe strawberries were brought to me at one of our onwaybees. I observed the diminutive rebus nutkanus on low grounds. The common falco was noticed, and the Indians remarked tracks of the deer, not, however, of very recent date. The forest growth is small, by far the most common species being the scrubby pinus banksianus, exhibiting its parasitic moss. The elevated parts of the route were sufficiently open, with often steep ascents. Over these sienite and granite, quartz and sandstone boulders were scattered. Every step we made in crossing these sandy and diluvial elevations, seemed to inspire renewed ardor in completing the traverse. The guide had called the distance, as we computed it, about six, or six and a half miles. We had been four hours upon it, now clambering up steeps, and now brushing through thickets, when he told us we were ascending the last elevation, and I kept close to his heels, soon outwent him on the trail, and got the first glimpse of the glittering nymph we had been pursuing. On reaching the summit this wish was gratified. At a depression of perhaps a hundred feet below, cradled among the hills, the lake spread out its elongated volume, presenting a scene of no common picturesqueness and rural beauty. In a short time I stood on its border, the whole cortege of canoes and pedestrians following; and as each one came he deposited his burden on a little open plat, which constituted the terminus of the Indian trail. In a few moments a little fire threw up its blaze, and the pan of pigieu, or pine pitch, was heated to mend the seams of the bark canoes. When this was done, they were instantly put into the lake, with their appropriate baggage; and the little flotilla of five canoes was soon in motion, passing down one of the most tranquil and pure sheets of water of which it is possible to conceive. There was not a breath of wind. We often rested to behold the scene. It is not a lake overhung by rocks. Not a precipice is in sight, or a stone, save the pebbles and boulders of the drift era, which are scattered on the beach. The water-fowl, whom we disturbed in their seclusion, seemed rather loath to fly up. At one point we observed a deer, standing in the water, and stooping down, apparently to eat moss.
The diluvial hills inclosing the basin, at distances of one or two miles, are covered with pines. From these elevations the lands slope gently down to the water's edge, which is fringed with a mixed foliage of deciduous and evergreen species. After passing some few miles down its longest arm, we landed at an island, which appeared to be the only one in the lake. I immediately had my tent pitched, and while the cook exerted his skill to prepare a meal, scrutinized its shores for crustacea, while Dr. Houghton sought to identify its plants. While here, the latter recognized the mycrostylis ophioglossoides, physalis lanceolata, silene antirrhina, and viola pedata. We found the elm, lynn, soft maple, and wild cherry, mingled with the fir species.
An arm of the lake stretches immediately south from this island, which receives a small brook. Lieutenant Allen, who estimates the greatest length of the lake at seven miles, drew the following sketch of its configuration. (See p. 243.)
The latitude of this lake is 47° 13´ 35´´.[162] The highest grounds passed over by us, in our transit from the Assowa Lake, lie at an elevation of 1,695 feet. The view given of the scene in the first volume of my Ethnological Researches, p. 146, is taken from a point north of the island, looking into the vista of the south arm of the lake. I inquired of Ozawindib the Indian name of this lake; he replied Omushkös, which is the Chippewa name of the Elk.[163] Having previously got an inkling of some of their mythological and necromantic notions of the origin and mutations of the country, which permitted the use of a female name for it, I denominated it ITASCA.[164]
[162] By the report of Governor Stevens (June, 1854), the selected pass for the contemplated railroad through the St. Mary to the Columbia valley is in 47° 30´, where there is but little snow at any time, and rich pasturage for cattle. The phenomena of the climates of our northern latitudes are but little understood.
[163] A The Canadian French call this animal la Biche, from Biche, a hind.
[164] This myth is further alluded to, in the following stanzas from the Literary World, No. 337:--
STANZAS.
ON REACHING THE SOURCE OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER IN 1832.[165]
I.
Ha! truant of western waters! Thou who hast So long concealed thy very sources--flitting shy, Now here, now there--through spreading mazes vast Thou art, at length, discovered to the eye In crystal springs, that run, like silver thread, From out their sandy heights, and glittering lie Within a beauteous basin, fair outspread Hesperian woodlands of the western sky, As if, in Indian myths, a truth there could be read, And these were tears, indeed, by fair Itasca shed.
II.
To bear the sword, on prancing steed arrayed; To lift the voice admiring Senates own; To tune the lyre, enraptured muses played; Or pierce the starry heavens--the blue unknown-- These were the aims of many sons of fame, Who shook the world with glory's golden song. I sought a moral meed of less acclaim, In treading lands remote, and mazes long; And while around aerial voices ring, I quaff the limpid cup at Mississippi's spring.
H. R. S.
[165] Narrative of an Expedition to Itasca Lake. Harpers. 1834. 1 vol. 8vo. p. 307.
The line of discovery of the Mississippi, explored above Cass Lake, taking the east fork from the primary junction, as shown by Mr. Allen's topographical notes, is one hundred and twenty-three miles.[166] This is the shortest and most direct branch. The line by the Itascan or main branch of it is, probably, some twenty or twenty-five miles longer. It is evident, as before intimated, that the river descends from its summit in plateaux. From the pseudo-alpine level of the parent lake, there is a principal and minor rapids, for the former of which the Indians have the appropriate name of Kakabikons, which is a descriptive term for a cascade over rocks or stones. Then the river again deploys itself in a lake and a series of minor lakes on the same level, and this process is repeated, until it finally plunges over the horizontal rocks at St. Anthony's Falls, and displays itself, for the last time, in Lake Pepin. Commencing with the latter lake, it may be observed for the purposes of generalization, and to give definite notions rather of its hydrography than geology, that there are nine plateaux, of which Governor Cass, in 1820, explored six. The other three, beginning at his terminal point, have now been indicated. The heights of these are given, barometrically. The distances travelled are given from time. The annexed diagram of these plateaux, extending to the Pakagama summit, will impress these deductions on the eye.
[166] Mr. Nicollet, who ascended the same fork in 1836, makes the distance twelve miles more. Vide Ex., Doc. No. 237.
The length of the Mississippi, from the Gulf of Mexico, pursuing its involutions, may be stated to be three thousand miles. By estimates from the best sources made, respectively, during the expeditions of 1820 and 1832, it is shown to have a winding thread of three thousand one hundred and sixty miles. Taking the barometrical height of Itasca Lake at fifteen hundred and seventy-five feet, it has a mean descent of a fraction over six inches per mile. As one of the most striking epochs in American geography, we have known this river, computing from the era of Marquette's discovery to the present day (July 13, 1832), but one hundred and fifty-nine years--a short period, indeed! How rich a portion of the geology of the globe lies buried in the flora and fauna of the tertiary, the middle or secondary, and the palæozoic eras of its valley, we have hardly begun to inquire. It will, doubtless, and, so far as we know, does, contribute evidences to the antiquity and mutations of the earth's surface, conformably to the progress of discoveries in other parts of the globe. The immense basins of coal, found in the middle and lower parts of its valley, prove the same gigantic epoch of its flora which has been established for the coal measures of Europe,[167] and sweep to the winds the jejune theory that the continent arose from a chaotic state, at a period a whit less remote than the other quarters of the globe. While the large bones of its later eras, found imbedded in its unconsolidated strata, prove how large a portion of its fauna were involved in the gigantic and monster-period.
[167] Entire trees are often found imbedded in its rocks of the middle era, as is evidenced by an individual of the juglans nigra, of at least fifty feet long, in the River De Plaine, valley of the Illinois. Vide Appendix.
Chapter XXIV
Descent of the west, or Itascan branch--Kakabikoñs Falls--Junction of the Chemaun, Peniddiwin, or De Soto, and Allenoga Rivers--Return to Cass Lake.
Itasca Lake lies in latitude twenty-five seconds only south of Leech Lake, and five minutes and eleven seconds west of the ultimate northerly point of the Mississippi, on the Queen Anne summit; it is a fraction over twelve minutes southwest of Cass Lake. The distance from the latter point, at which discovery rested in 1820, is, agreeably to the observations of Lieutenant Allen, one hundred and sixty-four miles.
On scrutinizing the shores of the island, on which I had encamped, innumerable helices, and other small univalves, were found; among these I observed a new species, which Mr. Cooper has described as planorbis companulatus.[168] There were bones of certain species of fish, as well as the bucklers of one or two kinds of tortoise, scattered around the sites of old Indian camp fires, denoting so many points of its natural history. Amidst the forest-trees before named, the betula papyraceæ and spruce were observed. Directing one of the latter to be cut down, and prepared as a flagstaff, I caused the United States flag to be hoisted on it. This symbol was left flying at our departure. Ozawindib, who at once comprehended the meaning of this ceremony, with his companions fired a salute as it reached its elevation.
[168] Appendix.
Having made the necessary examinations, I directed my tent to be struck, and the canoes put into the water, and immediately embarked. The outlet lies north of the island. Before reaching it, we had lost sight of the flagstaff, owing to the curvature of the shore. Unexpectedly, the outlet proved quite a brisk brook, with a mean width of ten feet, and one foot in depth. The water is as clear as crystal, and we at once found ourselves gliding along, over a sandy and pebbly bottom, strewed with the scattered valves of shells, at a brisk rate. Its banks are overhung with limbs and foliage, which sometimes reach across. The bends are short, and have accumulations of flood-wood, so that, from both causes, the use of the axe is often necessary to clear a passage. There was also danger of running against boulders of black rock, lying in the margin, or piled up in the channel. As the rapid waters increased, we were hurled, as it were, along through the narrow passages, and should have descended at a prodigiously rapid rate, had it not been for these embarrassments to the navigation. Its course was northwest. After descending about ten miles, the river enters a narrow savanna, where the channel is wider and deeper, but equally circuitous. This reaches some seven or eight miles. It then breaks its way through a pine ridge, where the channel is again very much confined and rapid, the velocity of the stream threatening every moment to dash the canoe into a thousand pieces. The men were sometimes in the water, to guide the canoe, or stood ever ready, with poles, to fend off. After descending some twenty-five miles, we encamped on a high sandy bluff on the left hand.
The next morning (14th), we were again in our canoes before five o'clock. The severe rapids continued, and were rendered more dangerous by limbs of trees which stretched over the stream, threatening to sweep off everything that was movable. We had been one hour passing down a perfect defile of rapids, when we approached the Kakabikoñs Falls. Kakábik,[169] in the Chippewa, means a cascade, or shoot of water over rocks. Oñs is merely the diminutive, to which all the nouns of this language are subject. How formidable this little cataract might be, we could not tell. It appeared to be a swift rush of water, bolting through a narrow gorge, without a perpendicular drop, and Ozawindib said it required a portage. Halting at its head, for Lieut. Allen to come up, his bowsman caught hold of my canoe, to check his velocity. It had that effect. But, being checked suddenly, the stern of his canoe swung across the stream, which permitted the steersman to catch hold of a branch. Thus stretched tensely across the rapid stream, in an instant the water swept over its gunwale, and its contents were plunged into the swift current. The water was about four feet deep. Allen and his men found footing, with much ado, but his canoe-compass, apparatus, and everything, was lost and swept over the falls. He grasped his manuscript notes, and, by feeling with his feet, fetched up his fowling-piece; the men clutched about, and managed to save the canoe. Fortunately, I had a fine instrument to replace the lost compass, though wanting the nautical rig of the other.
[169] Kakábik. Abik is a rock. The prefixed syllable, Kak, may be derived from Kukidjewum, a rapid stream. Ka is often a prefix of negation in compound words, which has the force of a derogative.
We made a short portage. Two of the canoes, with Indian pilots, went down the rapids, but injured their canoes so much as to cause a longer delay than if they had carried them by land. Below this fall, the river receives a tributary on the right hand, called the Chemaun, or Ocano. It contributes to double its volume, very nearly, and hence its savanna borders are enlarged. Conspicuous among the shrubbery on its shores are the wilding rose and clumps of the salix. The channel winds through these savanna borders capriciously. At a point where we landed for breakfast, on an open pine bank on the left shore, we observed several copious and clear springs pouring into the river. Indeed, the extensive sand ranges which traverse the woodlands of the Itasca plateau are perfectly charged with the moisture which is condensed on these elevations, which flows in through a thousand little rills. On these sandy heights the conifera predominate.
The physical character of the stream made this part of our route a most rapid one. Willing or unwilling, we were hurried on; but, indeed, we had every desire to hasten the descent. At four o'clock P. M., we came to the junction of the Piniddiwin,[170] or Carnage River, a considerable tributary on the left. On this river, which originates in a lake, on the northeastern summit of the Hauteur des Terres, I bestowed the name of De Soto. It has also a lake, called Lac la Folle, at the point of its junction with the Mississippi, whose borders are noted for the abundant and vigorous growth of wild rice, reeds, and rushes. It is called Monomina,[171] by the Chippewas. By this accession, the width and depth of the river are strikingly increased. The Indian reed first appears at this spot.
[170] From the term Iah-pinuniddewin, an emphatic expression for a place of carnage, so called from a secret attack made at this place, in time past, by a party of Sioux, who killed every member of a lodge of Chippewas, and then shockingly mangled their bodies.
[171] From Monominakauning, place of wild rice.
While passing through this part of the river, I observed a singular trait in the habits of the onzig duck, which, on being suddenly surprised by the traveller, affects for the moment to be disabled; flapping its wings on the water, as if it could not rise, in order to allow its brood, who are now (July) unfledged, to escape, when the mother instantly rises from the water, and wings her flight vigorously. We observed, sailing above the marshy areas of this fork, the falco furcatus, the feathers of which are much esteemed by the Indians, for this is considered a brave species, as its habit is to seize serpents by the neck, who twist themselves around its elongated body, while it flies off to some convenient perch to devour them. The deer is also noticed along the Itascan fork. Ozawindib landed a little below the junction of the Chemaun, to fire at one of them, which he discovered grazing at some distance; but, although he carefully landed and crept up crouchingly, he failed in his shot, either from the distance or some other cause. Immediately, he put a fresh charge of powder in his gun, and threw in a bullet, unwadded, and fired again before the animal had made many leaps, but it held its way.
We descended about eighteen miles below the Piniddiwin, and landed to encamp. The day's descent had been an arduous one. Lieut. Allen estimated it at seventy-five miles. We had now fairly followed the Mississippi out of what may be denoted its Alpine passes. All its dangerous rapids had been overcome. It was now a flowing stream of sixty feet wide. Immediately on landing, one of the Indians captured an animal of the saurian type, called ocaut-e-kinabic,[172] eight inches in length, striped blue, black, and white, with four legs of equal length. The colors were very vivid.
[172] From ocaut, a leg, and kinabic, a snake.
Having reached a part of the stream which could be safely navigated, I resolved to re-embark after supper, and continue the descent by night. We were now about fifteen miles above the primary forks. Lieut. Allen determined to remain till daylight, in order to trace the river down to the point at which it had been left in the ascent. Nothing of an untoward nature occurred. A river of some size enters, on the left hand, about six miles below the saurian encampment, which originates in a lake. This stream, for which I heard no name, I designated Allenoga, putting the Iroquois local terminal in oga to the name of the worthy officer who traced out the first true map of the actual sources of the Mississippi.[173] We passed the influx of the east fork, about half-past one A. M. on the 15th, traversed the Lake of Queen Anne, and descended the whole series of the Metoswa rapids, to Lake Andrúsia, by the hour of daybreak, and reached the island of my primary encampment, in Cass Lake, at nine o'clock in the morning. We had been eleven hours and a half in our canoes, from the time of re-embarkation at the camp above Allenoga. Lieut. Allen did not rejoin us till six o'clock in the afternoon. He estimated the entire distance, out and in, at 290 miles, it being 125 miles to Itasca Lake, and, as before intimated, 165 miles from thence to Cass Lake. He estimates the length of the Mississippi, above the Falls of St. Anthony, at 1,029 miles. Taking the distance from the Gulf of Mexico to the Falls at 2,200 miles,[174] this would give to this stream a development of 3,229 miles, which exceeds my prior estimates more than fifty miles.
[173] Lieut.-Col. James Allen, U. S. A. This officer graduated at West Point in 1825. After passing through various grades, he was promoted to a captaincy of infantry in 1837. He was lieutenant-colonel and commandant of the battalion of Mormon volunteers in the Mexican war, which was raised by his exertions, and died at Fort Leavenworth, on the Missouri, on the 23d of August, 1846.
[174] Doc. No. 237.
Chapter XXV
The expedition proceeds to strike the source of the great Crow-Wing River, by the Indian trail and line of interior portages, by way of Leech Lake, the seat of the warlike tribe of the Pillagers, or Mukundwa.
Having, while at Sandy Lake, summoned the Indians to meet me in council at the mouth of the L'aile de Corbeau, or Crow-Wing River, on the 20th of July, no time was to be lost in proceeding to that place. The 15th, being the Sabbath, was spent at the island, where the Rev. Mr. Boutwell addressed the Indians. The next day, I met the Cass Lake band in council, and, having finished that business, rewarded the Indians for their services and canoes on the trip to Itasca Lake, distributed the presents designed for them, replied to a message from Nezhopenais of Red Lake, and invested Ozawindib with the President's largest silver medal and a flag, and was ready by 10 o'clock A. M. to embark. Dr. Houghton employed the time to complete his vaccinations. I rewarded Mr. Default for taking charge of my camp during the journey to Itasca Lake. As well to shorten the line of travel as to visit an entirely unexplored section of the country, I resolved to pursue the Indian trail and line of interior portages from Cass to Leech Lake, and from the latter to the source of the great Crow-Wing fork.
Passing southwardly across the lake, between Red Cedar and Garden Islands, we have a prolonged bay running deep into the land, toward the south. This bay is in the direct line to Leech Lake; and as it had been crossed on the ice in January, 1806, by Lieutenant Pike, in his adventurous and meritorious journey of exploration, I called it Pike's Bay. It was twelve o'clock, meridian, when we debarked at its head. The portage commenced on the edge of an open pine forest, interspersed with scrub oak. The path is deeply worn, in the sand-plain, and looks as if it had been trod by the Indians for centuries. I observed, as we passed along, the alum root, hyacinthus, and sweet fern, with the ledum latifolium, vaccinium dumosum, and more common species of pine plains. The pinus resinosa assumes here a larger size, and the Indians pointed out to me markings and pictographs drawn with charcoal, and covered with the resin of the tree, which were made by the Indian tribe who preceded them in the occupancy of the sources of the Mississippi. This must have been, if I rightly apprehend their history, prior to A. D. 1600. That such markings should be preserved by the pitch, which sheds the rain, is, however, probable. They were of the totemic character, i.e. relating to the exploits or achievements of groups of families, in which the individual actor sinks his specific in the generic family or clan name. Antiquities of this character are certainly a new feature in Indian history. Letters have perfectly preserved the landing of Cartier at the mouth of the St. Lawrence in 1534. Pictography here records, that certain clans had killed bears and taken human scalps before that time. And the fact is deeply important in shedding light on Indian history and character; for the killing of deers and bears, and the taking of human scalps, is precisely what these tribes are doing at the present time. In the three hundred years' interval, they have made no mental progress. The Chippewa is just as fierce to-day, in hunting a Dacota scalp, as the Dacota is in hunting a Chippewa scalp. The conquering tribe has, however, pushed the Dacotas nearly one thousand miles down the Mississippi.
"Talk of your Hannibals, Napoleons, and Alps, My glory," quoth the feathered hunter, "is in scalps."
After following the deeply indented path nine hundred and fifty yards, we reached a small lake which disclosed, as we passed it, patches of a dark, coarse, mossy-like substance at its bottom. On reaching down with their paddles, the men brought up a singular species of aquatic plant with coral-shaped branches. After crossing this lake, the pine plain resumed its former character. There was then a shallow bog of fifty or sixty yards. The rest of the path consists of an arid sand plain, which is sometimes brushy, but generally presents dry, easy travelling. We had walked four thousand one hundred yards, or about two and a half miles, when we reached an elongated body of clear living water, having its outflow into Leech Lake. Embarking on this, we crossed it, and entered a narrow stream, winding about in a shaking savanna, where it was found difficult to veer the large five-fathom canoes in which we now travelled. This tortuous stream was joined by a tributary from the right, and at no remote distance, entered an elongated duplicate body of water, named by the Indians Kapuka Sagatawag, or the Abrupt Discharges.[175] Below the junction of these lakes, which appear to be outbursts from the Hauteur de Terre range, the stream is a wide-flowing river. Its shores abound in sedge, reeds, and wild rice. The last glimpses of daylight left us as this broad river entered into Leech Lake. Moonlight still served us, as we began the traverse of this spreading sea, but it soon became overcast, and it was intensely dark before we reached the recurved point of land of the principal chief's village. It was now ten o'clock at night, and it was eleven before the military canoes, under Lieutenant Allen, came up. In the morning a salute was fired by the Indians, who welcomed us. Aishkebuggekozh,[176] or the Flat-mouth, the reigning chief, invited me to breakfast. As this chief exercises a kind of imperial sway over the adjacent country, it was important to respect him. Having sent a dish of hard bread before me, I took my interpreter and went to his residence. I found him living in a tenement built of logs, with two rooms, well floored and roofed, with two small glass windows. At one end of the breakfast-room were extended his flags, medals, and warlike paraphernalia. In the centre of the floor, a large mat of rushes, or Indian-woven apukwa was spread, and upon this the breakfast and breakfast things were arranged in an orderly manner. There were teacups, teaspoons, plates, knives and forks, all of plain English manufacture. A salt-cellar contained salt and pepper mixed in unequal proportions. There were just as many plates as expected guests. A large white fish, boiled, and cut up in good taste, occupied a dish in the centre. There was a dish of sugar made from the acer saccharinum. There were no stools, or chairs, but small apukwa mats were spread for each guest. I observed the dish of hard bread, which came opportunely, as there was no other representative form of bread. The chief sat down at the head of his breakfast, in the oriental fashion. Imitating his example, I sat down with a degree of repose and nonchalance, as if this had been the position I had practised from childhood. His empress--Equa,[177] sat on one side, near him, to pour out the tea, but neither ate nor drank anything herself. Her position was also that of the oriental custom for females; that is, both feet were thrown to one side, and doubled beside her.[178] The chief helped us to fish and to tea, taking the cups from his wife. He was dignified, grave, yet easy, and conversed freely, and the meal passed off agreeably and without a pause, or the slightest embarrassment. This was, perhaps, owing in part to my having been acquainted with him before, he having visited me at my agency at Sault Ste. Marie in 1828, and sat as a guest at my own table. Nor, in a people so loath to give their confidence as the Indian, is the fact undeserving of mention, of general affiliation to the tribe, caused by my marriage with a grand-daughter of the ruling chief of Lake Superior, a lady of refinement and intelligence, who was the child of a gentleman of Antrim, Ireland, where she was educated.
[175] From the word puka, abrupt phenomenon, and the verb saugi, outflowing.
[176] From Aizhenagozze, countenance, and kozh, a bill of a bird, or snout of an animal. The word is appropriately translated guelle by the Canadians.
[177] Equa, a female; it is not, appropriately, the term of wife, for which the vocabulary has a peculiar term, but is generally employed in the sense of woman.
[178] I have observed this to be the universal custom among all the aboriginal females of America. They never part the feet.
On rising to leave, I invited him to a council, at my tent, which was ordered to assemble at the firing of the military. It is not unimportant to observe, that, in preparing to set out on this expedition into the Indian country, at a time when the Blackhawk had raised the standard of revolt on Rock River, and the tribes of the Upper Mississippi were believed to be extensively in his views, I had caused my canoe, after it had been finished in most perfect style of art known to this kind of vessel, to be painted with Chinese vermilion, from stem to stern. Ten years' residence among the tribes, in an official capacity, had convinced me that fear is the controlling principle of the Indian mind, and that the persuasions to a life of peace, are most effectively made under the symbols of war. To beg, to solicit, to creep and cringe to this race, whether in public or private, is a delusive, if not a fatal course; and though I was told by one or two of my neighbors that it was not well, on this occasion, to put my canoe in the symbolic garb of war, I did not think so. I carried, indeed, emphatically, messages of peace from the executive head of the Government, and had the means of insuring respect for these messages, by displaying the symbol of authority at the stern of each vessel, by an escort of soldiery, and by presents, and the services of a physician to arrest one of the most fatal of diseases which have ever afflicted the Indian race. But I carried them fearlessly and openly, with the avowed purpose of peace. The canoe, itself, was an emblem of this authority, and, like the oriflamme of the Mediæval Ages, cast an auspicious influence on my mission over these bleak and wide summits, lakes, and forests, inhabited alone by fierce and predatory tribes, who acknowledged no power but force. Long before I had reached the sources of the Mississippi, St. Vrain, my fellow agent, had been most cruelly murdered at his agency, and General Scott, with the whole disposable army of the United States, had taken the field at Chicago.
Lieut. Allen paraded his men that morning with burnished arms. We could not, jointly, in an emergency, muster over forty men, of whom a part were not reliable in a melée, but arranged our camp in the best manner to produce effect. Effect, indeed, it required, when the hour of the council came. Not less than one thousand souls, men, women, and children, surrounded my tent, including a special deputation from the American borders of Rainy Lake. Of these, two hundred were active young warriors, who strode by with a bold and lofty air, and glistening eyes, often lifting the wings of my tent, to scan the preparations going forward. Aishkebuggekozh entered the council area, having in his train Majegabowi, the man who had led the revolt in the Red River settlement of Lord Selkirk, and who had tomahawked Gov. Semple, after he fell wounded from his horse. This association did not smack of peaceful designs. The chief, Aishkebuggekozh, himself, has the countenance of a very ogre. He is over six feet high, very brawny, and stout. That feature of his countenance from which he is named Flat-mouth, consisting of a broad expansion and protrusion of the front jaws, between the long incision of the mouth, reminds one much of a bull-dog's jaw. He held in his hand, suspended by ribbons, five silver medals, smeared with vermilion, to symbolize blood.
A person not familiar with Indian symbols, might deem such signs alarming. I knew him to be very fond of using these symbols, and, indeed, a man who never made a speech without them; and I had the fullest confidence that, while he aimed to produce the fullest effect upon his listening, but less shrewd tribe of folks, and upon all, indeed, he never dreamed of an act which should bring him into conflict with the United States. Like Blackhawk, who was now exciting and leading the tribes at lower points to war, he had, from his youth, been in the British interests. He displayed a British flag at his breakfast, and three of his medals were of British coinage, but he was a man of far more comprehensive mind and understanding than Blackhawk.
Having been, as a government agent, the medium of the agreement of the Chippewas and Sioux in fixing on a boundary line for their respective territories at the treaty of Prairie-du-Chien, in 1825, I made that agreement, on the present occasion, the basis of my remarks, for their preserving in good faith the stipulations of that treaty, and of renewing the principles of it in the points where they had since been broken and violated. I concluded by assuring them of the friendship of the United States, of which my visit to this remote region must be deemed proof, and of the sincerity with which I had communicated the words of the President. The presents were then delivered and distributed.
Aishkebuggekozh, or the Guelle Plat, replied, with much of the skill and force of Indian oratory. He began by calling the attention of the warriors to his words; he then turned to me, thanking me for the presents. He said that he had been present when Pike visited this lake in 1806. He pointed with his fingers across the lake, to the Ottertail Point, where the old trading-house of the British Northwest Company had stood. "You have come," he continued, "to remind us that the American flag is now flying over the country, and to offer us counsels of peace. I thank you. I have heard that voice before, but it was like a rushing wind. It was strong, but soon went. It did not remain long enough to choke up the path. At the treaty of Prairie-du-Chien, it had been promised that whoever crossed the lines, the long arms of the President should pull them back; but, that very year, the Sioux attacked us, and they have killed my people almost every year since. I was myself present when they fired on a peaceful delegation, and killed four Chippewas under the walls of Fort Snelling. My own son--my only son--has been killed. He was basely killed, without an opportunity to defend himself." A subordinate here handed him, at his request, a bundle of small sticks. "This," handing them to me, "is the number of Leech Lake Chippewas killed by the Sioux since the treaty of Prairie-du-Chien." There were forty-three sticks.
He then lifted up a string of silver medals, smeared with vermilion. "Take notice, they are bloody. I wish you to wipe the blood off. I cannot do it. I find myself in a war with this people, and I believe it has been intended by the Creator that we should be at war with them. My warriors are brave [looking significantly at them]; it is to them that I owe success. But I have looked for help where I did not find it."[179]
[179] It is hoped, hereafter, to give further sketches of this interview, and of this chief's life and character.
Chapter XXVI
Geographical account of Leech Lake--History of its Indians, the Mukundwas--The expedition proceeds to the source of the Crow-Wing River, and descends that stream, in its whole length, to the Mississippi.
Leech Lake is a large, deep, and very irregularly-shaped body of water. It cannot be less than twenty miles across its extreme points. I requested the chief to draw its outlines, furnishing a sheet of foolscap. He began by tracing a large ellipsis, and then projecting large points and bays, inwardly and outwardly, with seven or eight islands, and that peculiar feature, the Kapuka Sagotawa, which I apprehend to originate in gigantic springs. The following eccentric figure of the lake is the result.
This lake has been the seat of the Mukundwa, or Pillagers, from early days. The date of their occupancy is unknown. The French found them here early in the seventeenth century, when they began to push the fur trade from Montreal. They were the advance of the Algonquin group, who, when they had reached the head of Lake Superior, proceeded still towards the west and northwest. Two separate bodies assumed the advance in this migratory movement, one of which went from the north shore, at the old Grand Portage, north-northwest, by the way of the Rainy Lakes, and the other went northwest from Fond du Lac. The former soon earned for themselves the title of Killers, or Kenistenos,[180] and speak a distinct dialect; the other, whose language continued to be, with little variations, good Odjibwa, acquired in a short time the name of Takers, or Mukundwa. The Kenistenos advanced, through the Great Lake Winnepeck, and up its inflowing waters, to the Portage du Trait, of the great Churchill or Missi-nepi (much water) River, where they sent up a skinned frog, in derision of the feebler Athapasca race, whom they here encountered. Mackenzie's Voyages, p. lxxiii. Hist. Fur Trade. The Odjibwas were led from Chegoimegon, in Lake Superior, by two noted chiefs, called Nokay and Bainswah, under whom they drove the Sioux from the region of Sandy Lake and the source of the Mississippi. (Ethnological Researches, vol. ii. p. 135.)
[180] Called by the French Crees.
Another party of this Algonquin force, which conquered the country lying round the sources of the Mississippi, proceeded through the Turtle River to Red Lake, and thence descended into the valley of the Red River of Hudson's Bay, where their descendants still reside. Large portions of these mingled with the Canadian stock, forming that remarkable people called Boisbrules. These advanced parties pressed into the buffalo plains, along the Rivers Assinabwoin and Saskatchawine, which is the ultimate western area of the spread of the Algonquin language. And to this migration the Blackfeet are believed to be indebted for the intermixture of this language which exists, and which Mr. Gallatin has erroneously supposed to arise from original elements, in the Blackfeet tongue.
This lake yields in abundance the corregonus albus, a fish which is unknown to the Mississippi, and which delights only, it appears, in very limpid and cold waters.
I found the population living at this lake to be eight hundred and thirty-two souls, under three chiefs, the Guelle Plat, Nesia, or the Elder Brother, and Chianoquet, or the Big Cloud, the latter of whom is exclusively a war chief. Having dined these chiefs at my tent, and finished my business, and the vaccinations and very numerous cases of odontalgia being got through with, I directed my canoes to be put in the water, with the view of going a few miles down the shore, in order to get a quiet night's encampment, and be ready for an early start on the morrow. It was near the hour of sunset before we could embark. Aiskebuggekozh came down to the boat to take leave of me. He was dressed, on this occasion (having been in Indian costume all the morning), in a blue military frock coat, with scarlet collar and cuffs, white underclothes, a ruffled shirt, shoes and stockings, and a citizen's hat. He was accompanied by Nesia and other followers, and it appeared to me if there ever was a person who had popular and undisputable claims to imperial sway, notwithstanding this poor taste in costume, it was he.
We went about five miles in the general direction towards the source of the L'ail de Corbeau, and encamped. Dr. Houghton, who had been left behind with Lieut. Allen, to complete the vaccinations, rejoined me about seven o'clock. Guelle Plat had promised to send me guides, to cross the country to the Crow-Wing River, early the next morning (18th), but, as they did not arrive, I proceeded across the arm of the lake for the main shore without them. After reaching it, some time was spent in searching for the commencement of the portage path. It was found to lie across a dry pine plain. The Canadians, who are quick on finding the trail of a portage, wanted nothing more, but pushed on, canoes and baggage, without any further trouble about the Indian guides. A portage of 1,078 yards brought us to the banks of a small, clear, shallow lake, called Warpool, which had a very narrow, tortuous outlet, through which the men, with great difficulty, and by cutting away acute turns of the bank with their paddles, made way to force the canoes into Little Long Lake, which we were twenty-four minutes in crossing. The outlet from this lake expanded, at successive intervals, into three pond-like lakes, redolent with the nymphæ valerata; the series terminating in a fourth lake, lying at the foot of elevated lands, which was called the Lake of the Mountain. At the head of the latter, we debarked on a shaking bog. At this spot commences the portage Plé, which lies over a woodless and bleak hill. It is short and abrupt, and terminates on the banks of a deep bowl-shaped lake, where we took breakfast at twelve o'clock. We were now at the foot of elevated lands. Here began the mountain portage, so called. Its extent is, first, nine hundred and ten yards, terminating on the shores of a little lake, without outlet, called the Lake of the Isle. There is then a portage of 1,960 yards to another mountain lake, without outlet. We were now near the apex of the summit between Leech Lake and the source of De Corbeau. Another portage of one onwaybee or about a thousand yards, partly through a morass, carried us quite across this summit, and brought us out on elevated and highly beautiful grounds overlooking the Kaginogumaug, or Longwater Lake, which is the source of the Crow-Wing River. Here we encamped (18th).
There is no rock stratum seen in place, on the De Corbeau summit. Its surface is purely composed of geological drift and boulders. The journey had been a very hard and fatiguing one for the men, who were on the push and trot all day, embarking and debarking continually on lakes, or scrambling, with their burdens and canoes, over elevations or through morasses. It was particularly severe on the soldiers, who are ill-prepared for this kind of toil.
The chief Guelle Plat, with some companions of the Mukandwa band, had overtaken us, at the Lake of the Isle, and came and encamped beside us. I invited him to sup with us, and the evening was passed in conversing with him on various topics. I found him a man of understanding and comprehensive views, who was well acquainted with the history of his people. It was twelve o'clock before these conversations ended, when he got up to go to his camp fire. With him there sat Majegabowee,[181] a tall, gaunt, and savage-looking man of Red River, who scarcely uttered a word, but sat a silent listener to the superior powers of conversation and reflection of his chief. But I could not look at this person without a sense of horror, when I reflected that in him I beheld the murderer of Gov. Semple, of the Hudson's Bay Territory, a circumstance which I have previously adverted to, while at Leech Lake.[182]
[181] The Fore-standing man. From the verb maja, to go, ninabow, I stand, and izzee, a person or man.
[182] For an account of this transaction, vide Reports of the Disputes between the Earl of Selkirk and the Northwest Company, at the assizes held at York, Upper Canada, Oct. 1818. 1 vol. 8vo. pp. 664. Montreal, Casie & Mower, 1819.
Bidding adieu to the Leech Lake chief the next morning at sunrise (4 h. 45 m.), after giving him a lancet, with directions to vaccinate any of his people who had been overlooked, I embarked on the Kaginogamaug. This is a beautiful lake, with sylvan shores and crystal water, some four or five miles long. We were just forty minutes, with full paddles, in passing it. The outlet is narrow, and overhung with alders. The width is not over six feet, with good depth, but the turns are so sudden, and the stream so thickly overhung with foliage, that the use of the axe and the paddle as an excavator were often necessary. It then expands into a lake, called Little Vermilion, which is fringed with a growth of birch and aspen, with pines in the distance. Its outlet is fully doubled in width, and we had henceforth no more embarrassment in descending. This outlet is pursued about eight miles. I noticed the tamarack on its banks, and the nymphæ odorata, scirpus lacustris, and Indian reed on the margin. It expands into Birch Lake, a clear sheet, about one mile long, with pebbly bottom, interspersed with boulders. A short outlet, in which we passed a broken fish-dam, connects it with Lac Plè. This lake is about three and a half miles long, exhibiting a portion of prairie on its shores, interspersed with small pines. From it, there is a portage to Ottertail Lake, the eastern source of Red River. This is the common war road of the Mukundwa against the Sioux.
On coming out of Lac Plè, freshwater shells began to show themselves, chiefly species of naiades, a feature in the natural history of this stream which is afterwards common; but I observed none of much size, and they are often greatly decorticated. Four or five miles lower, we entered Assowa Lake, and about a mile and a half further, Lac Vieux Desert, or Old Gardon Lake, so called from the remains of a trading station, where we halted for breakfast. On resuming the descent, just twenty minutes were required, with vigorous strokes of the paddle, to pass it. It has an outlet about two miles long, when the stream again expands into a lake of considerable size, which we called Summit Lake. Thus far, we had been passing on a geological plateau of the diluvial character, extending southwest. But from this point the course of the river veers, at first towards the east and northeast, and, after a wide circuit, to the southeast, and eventually again to the southwest. From this point, rapids begin to mark its channel. The river, consequently, assumes a velocity which, while it hurries the traveller on, increases his danger of running his frail bark against rocks or shoals. We had been driven down this accelerated channel two hours and fifteen minutes, when it expanded into a sheet called Long Rice Lake. This is some three miles in length, and, at a very short distance below it, the river again expands into a considerable lake, which, from the circumstance of Lieut. Allen having circumnavigated it, I called Allen's Lake. He found it the recipient of a small river from the north. It is, apparently, the largest of this series of river lakes below the Kaginogumaug. While crossing it, we experienced a very severe and sudden tempest of wind and rain, accompanied by most severe and appalling peals of thunder and vivid lightning. Broad ribbons of fire, in acute angles, appeared to rend the skies. Before the shore could be reached, the tempest had subsided, so sudden was its development. A short distance below this, the river makes its tenth evolution, in the shape of a lake, on which, as my Indian maps gave no name, I bestowed the name of Illigan.[183]
[183] From ininéeg, men, and sugiegan, lake, signs of a war party having been discovered at this place. In this derivative, the usual transition of n to l of the old Algonquin is made.
Chapter XXVII
Complete the exploration of the Crow-Wing River of Minnesota--Indian council--Reach St. Anthony's Falls--Council with the Sioux--Ascent and exploration of the River St. Croix and Misakoda, or Broulé, of Lake Superior--Return of the party to St. Mary's Falls, Michigan.
At Illigan Lake, large oaks and elms appear in the forest; its banks are handsomely elevated, and the whole country puts on the appearance of being well adapted to cultivation. We landed to obtain a shot at some deer, which stood temptingly in sight, and were impressed with the sylvan aspect of the country. While in the act of passing out of the lake in our canoes, a small fire was observed on shore, with the usual signs of its having been abandoned in haste by Indians, who had been lying in ambush. Every appearance seemed to justify such a conclusion, and it was evident a party of Sioux had been concealed waiting the descent of Chippewas, but, on observing our flag, and the public character of the party, they hastily withdrew. Our men, knowing the perfidious and cruel character of this tribe, were evidently a good deal alarmed at these signs. We had been one hour in our canoes, descending the river with the double force of current and paddles, when the river was found again expanded, and for the eleventh and last time, in a lake, which the natives call Kaitchebo Sagatowa, meaning the lake through one end of which the river passes. As this is not a term, however graphic, which will pass into popular use, I named it Lake Douglas, in allusion to a former companion in explorations in the northwest.[184] Ten miles below this lake, the river receives its first considerable tributary in Shell River, the Aisisepi of the Chippewas, which flows in from the right, from the slope of the Hauteurs des Terres, near the Ottertail Lake. Below this tributary, the Crow-Wing is nearly doubled in width, and there is no further fear of shallow water. We held on our way for a distance of fourteen miles below the point of junction, and encamped on the right hand bank at eight o'clock P.M. It had rained copiously during the afternoon, and everything in the shape of kindling stuff had become so completely saturated with moisture, that it was quite an enterprise in the men to light a camp-fire. Lieut. Allen did not reach our encampment this night, having been misled in Allen's Lake, and, being driven ashore by the tempest, he encamped in that quarter. Presuming him to be in advance, I had pushed on, to a late hour, and encamped under this impression.
[184] Professor D. B. Douglas.
The next morning (20th), we set off from our camp betimes, and, having now a full flowing river, made good speed. The river passes for a dozen or more miles through a willowy low tract, on issuing from which there begins a series of strong rapids. Twenty-four of these rapids were counted, which were called the Metunna Rapids. Lieut. Allen estimates that they occupy thirty miles of the channel of the river. Below these rapids, the river extends to a mean width of three hundred feet. At this locality we were overtaken by Mr. Allen, at about two o'clock in the afternoon, and were thus first apprised of the fact that he had been all the while in our rear instead of in front.
Twenty miles below the Metunna Rapids, Leaf River flows in from the right, by a mouth of forty yards wide. This stream originates in Leaf Lake, and is navigable sixty miles in the largest craft used by the traders.[185] The volume of the Crow-Wing River is constantly increased in width and velocity by these accessions, which enabled us fearlessly to make a large day's journey. We encamped together after sunset, on an elevated pine bank, having descended ninety miles.
[185] The angle of country above Leaf River, on the Crow-Wing, has been proposed as a refuge for the Menomonee tribe, of Wisconsin, for whom temporary arrangements, at least, are now made, on the head of Fox River, of that State.
The 21st, we were early in motion, the river presenting a broad rushing mass of waters, every way resembling the Mississippi itself. On reaching within twenty miles of its mouth, we passed, on the right bank, the mouth of the Long Prairie River,[186] a prime tributary flowing from the great Ottertail slope, which has been, time out of mind, the war road between the Chippewas and Sioux; and between this point and the confluence coming in we passed, on the left bank, the confluence of the Kioshk, or Gull River, through which there is a communication, by a series of portages, with Leech Lake.[187]
[186] This river has been assigned as the residence of the Winnebago Indians. It is the present seat of the United States agency, and of the farming and mechanical establishment for that tribe.
[187] Mr. J. J. Nicolet pursued this route in 1836, on his visit to the sources of the Mississippi. Vide Senate Doc. No. 237. Washington, D. C., 1843.
From head to foot, we had now passed through the valley of the De Corbeau River, without finding in it the permanent location of a single Indian. We had not, in fact, seen even a temporary wigwam upon its banks. The whole river lies, in fact, on the war road between the two large rival tribes of the Chippewas and Sioux. It is entered by war parties from either side, decked out in war-paints and feathers, who descend either of its tributaries, the Leaf and Long Prairie Rivers. The Mukundwa descends the main channel from the Kaginogumaug Lake in canoes. On reaching the field of ambush, these canoes are abandoned, and the parties, after an encounter, haste home on foot.
From this deserted and uninhabited state of the valley we were the more surprised, as noon drew on, to descry an Indian canoe ascending the river. It proved to be spies on the look-out, from the body of Chippewas encamped at the mouth of the river, agreeably to my invitation at Sandy Lake. After mutual recognitions, and learning that we were near the mouth of the river, we resumed our descent with renewed spirit, and soon reached its outflow into the Mississippi, and crossed it to the point at which the Indians had established their camp. We were received with yells of welcome. It occupied an eminence on the east bank of the Mississippi, directly opposite to the mouth of the De Corbeau.[188] The site was marked by a flag hoisted on a tall staff. The Indians fired a salute as we landed, and pressed down to the shore, with their chiefs, to greet us. They informed me that by their count of sticks, of the time appointed by me at Sandy Lake, to meet them at this spot, would be out this day, and I had the satisfaction of being told, within a short time of my arrival, that the canoe, with goods and supplies, from Sandy Lake, was in sight. The Indians were found encamped a short distance above the entrance of the Nokasippi[189] River, which is in the line of communication with the Mille Lac and Rum River Indians. I found the latter, together with the whole Sandy Lake Band, encamped here, awaiting my arrival. They numbered 280 souls, of whom 60 were warriors.
[188] CROW-WING RIVER.--This stream is the largest tributary of the Mississippi above the falls of St. Anthony. It enters the Mississippi in lat. 46° 15´ 50´´, 180 miles above the latter, and 145 miles below Sandy Lake. Government first explored it, in 1832, from its source in Lake Kaginogumaug to its mouth, and an accurate map of its channel, and its eleven lakes, was made by Lieut. Allen, U. S. A., who accompanied the party as topographer. It is 210 miles in length, to its source in Long Lake. The island, in its mouth, is about three miles long, and covered with hard-wood timber. The whole region is noted for its pine timber; the lands lie in gentle ridges, with much open country; a large part of it is adapted to agriculture, and there is much hydraulic power It is navigable at the lowest stages of water, about 80 miles, and by small boats to its very source.
[189] From Noka, a man's name, and seebi, a river.
A council was immediately summoned, to meet in front of my tent, at the appointed signal of the firing of the military; the business of my mission was at once explained, the presents distributed, and the vaccinations commenced. Replies were made at length, by the eldest chief, Gros Guelle, or Big Snout; by Soangekumig, or the Strong Echoing Ground; by Wabogeeg, or the White Fisher; and by Nitumegaubowee, or the First Standing Man. The business having been satisfactorily concluded, the vaccination finished, and having still a couple of hours of daylight, I embarked and went down the Mississippi some ten or fifteen miles, to a Mr. Baker's trading-house at Prairie Piercie.
At this place, I remained encamped, it being the Sabbath day, and rested on the 22d, which had a good effect on the whole party, engaged as it had been, night and day, in pushing its way to accomplish certain results, and it prepared them to spring to their paddles the more cheerfully on Monday morning. Indeed, it had been part of my plan of travel, from the outset, to give the men this rest and opportunity to recruit every seventh day, and I always found that they did more work in the long run, from it. I had also engaged them, originally, not to drink any ardent spirits, promising them, however, that their board and pot should be well supplied at all times. And, indeed, although I had frequently travelled with Canadian canoemen, I never knew a crew who worked so cheerfully, and travelled so far, per diem, on the mean of the week, as these six days' working canoemen.
At Mr. Baker's, 170 miles above St. Anthony's Falls, I found a stray number of a small newspaper, and first learned the state of the Sauc and Fox war. The chief, Blackhawk, had crossed the Mississippi, to enter the Rock River valley; had murdered Mr. St. Vrain, the United States agent, sustained a conflict with the Illinois militia, under Major Stillman, fled to Lake Gushkenong, on the head of Rock River, and drawn upon his movement the United States army, leaving, at last accounts, Generals Atkinson and Dodge in pursuit of him.
Having struck the Mississippi at the point where the prior narrative describes it (vide Chap XII.), it becomes unnecessary to give details of my descent to St. Anthony's Falls. Leaving Prairie Piercie on the 23d, two days were employed in the descent to Fort Snelling. I found Captain Wm. R. Jouett in command, who received me with courtesy and kindness, and offered every facility, in the absence of Mr. Talliaferro, the United States Indian Agent, for laying the object of my mission before the Sioux. He had received no very recent intelligence of the progress of the Sauc war, in addition to that which I had learned at the mouth of the De Corbeau; although he was in the habit of sending a mail boat or canoe twice a month to Prairie du Chien.[190]
[190] It was not till some time after my return to St. Mary's that I learned of the overthrow of the chief and his army, and his being taken prisoner at the battle of the Badaxe, on the 14th of August, 1832.
On the 25th, being the day after my arrival, I met the assembled, Sioux, in council, at the Agency House, the commanding officer being present, and having finished that business, and finding the Sioux wholly unconnected with, and disapproving the proceedings of Blackhawk and his adherents, I embarked early the next morning on my return to Lake Superior. I reached the mouth of the River St. Croix, at three o'clock P. M. on the 26th, and having entered the sylvan sheet of Lake St. Croix, ascended it to within a few miles of its head, and encamped. Lieut. Allen did not reach my camp, but halted for the night some seven or eight miles short.[191] This lake is one of the most beautiful and picturesque sheets of water in the West, being from two to three miles wide, and some four-and-twenty or thirty in length.[192] The next morning I reached the head of the lake after a couple of hours of travel, and, by a diligent and hard day's work, during which we passed between perpendicular walls of sonorous trap-rock, reached and encamped at the falls of St. Croix, at eight o'clock in the evening.[193] We were now about fifty miles from the line of the Mississippi River. For the last few miles, there had been either a very strong current or severe eddies of water, around angular masses of trap-rock; and we were encamped at the precise foot of the falls, where the river, narrowed to some fifty feet, breaks its way through trap-rock, falling some fifty feet in the course of six hundred yards. We had been carried, at a tangent, from the great Mississippi series of the silurian period, beginning at St. Anthony's Falls, to the vitric formations of trap and greenstone of the Lake Superior system, and were now to ascend a valley, in which a heavy diluvial drift and boulder stratum rested on this broken and angular basis.[194] On reaching the summit of the St. Croix, there are found vast plateaux of sand, supporting pine forests; and on descending the Misakoda, or Brulé of Fond du Lac, the sandstone strata of that basin are again encountered. This ascent was rendered arduous, from the low state of the water. I reached Snake River on the 30th, had an interview with the Buffalo chief (Pezhikee) and his subordinates; finding the population 300, with thirty-eight half breeds. The men, while here, cut their feet, treading on the trap-rock debris, in the mouth of the river. The distance thence to Yellow River is about thirty-five miles, which we accomplished on the 31st, by eight o'clock in the morning, having found our greatest obstacle at the Kettle Rapids, which discloses sharp masses of the trap-rock. The river, in this distance, receives on its right, in the ascent, the Aisippi, or Shell River, which originates in a lake of that name, noted for its large unios and anadontas.
[191] United States soldiers are not adapted to travelling in Indian canoes. Comparatively clumsy, formal, and used to the comforts of good quarters and shelter, they flinch under the activities and fatigue of forest life, and particularly of that kind of life and toil, which consists in the management of canoes, and the carrying forward canoes and baggage over bad portages, and conducting these frail vessels over dangerous rapids and around falls. No amount of energy is sufficient on the part of the officers to make them keep up, on these trips, with the gay, light, and athletic voyageur, who unites the activity and expertness of the Indian with the power of endurance of the white man. Lieut. Allen deserves great credit, as an army officer, for urging his men forward as well as he did on this arduous journey, for they were a perpetual cause of delay and anxiety to me and to him. They were relieved and aided by my men at every practicable point; but, having the responsibility of performing a definite duty, on a fixed sum of money, with many men to feed in the wilderness, it was imperative in me to push on with energy, day in and day out, and to set a manful example of diligence, at every point; and, instead of carping at my rapidity of movement, as he does in his official report of the ascent of the St. Croix, he having every supply within himself, and being, moreover, in a friendly tribe, where there was no danger from Indian hostilities, he should not have evinced a desire to control my encampments, but rather given his men to understand that he could not countenance their dilatoriness.
[192] It is, at this time, a part of the boundary between the State of Wisconsin and the Territory of Minnesota, and is the site of several flourishing towns and villages. On its western head is the town of Stillwater, the seat of justice for Washington County, Minnesota. This town has a population of 1,500 inhabitants, containing a court house, several churches, schools, printing offices, a public land office, and territorial penitentiary, with stores, mills, &c. Hudson is a town seated on its east bank, at Willow River, being the seat of justice for St. Croix County, Wisconsin. It contains a United States land-office, two churches, and 94 dwellings, besides stores and mills. Steamboats freely navigate its waters from the Mississippi.
[193] FALLS OF ST. CROIX.--A thriving post town is now seated on the Wisconsin side of these falls in Polk County, Wisconsin, which contains several mills, at which it is estimated, four millions of feet of pine lumber are sawed annually. It is at the head of steamboat navigation of St. Croix River.
[194] Vide Owen's Geological Report, for the first attempt to delineate the order of the various local and general formations. Philada., Lippincott & Co., 1852.
At Yellow River, I halted to confer with the Indians in front of a remarkable eminence called Pokunogun, or the Moose's Hip. This eminence is not, however, of artificial construction. This river, with its dependencies of Lac Vaseux, Rice Lake, and Yellow Lake, contains a Chippewa population of three hundred and eighty-two souls. We observed here the unio purpureus, which the Indians use for spoons, after rubbing off the alatæ and rounding the margin. We also examined the skin of the sciurus tredacem striatus of Mitchill.
We reached the forks of the St. Croix about two o'clock P. M. The distance from Yellow River is about thirteen miles; it required five and a half hours to accomplish this. The water was, indeed, so low, that the men had often to wade; and, on reaching this point, we were to lose half its volume, or more, for the Namakagun[195] fork, which enters here, carries in more than half the quantity of water.
[195] From nama, a sturgeon, and kagun, a yoke or wier. I explored this stream in 1831, having reached it after ascending the Mauvais or Maskigo of Lake Superior. Vide Personal Memoirs: Lippincott, Grambo, & Co., 1851.
I found the chief Kabamappa and his followers encamped at the forks, awaiting my arrival, who received me with a salute. He disclaimed all connection with the movement of the Blackhawk. He stated facts, however, which showed him to be well acquainted with the means which that chief had used to bring the Indians into an extensive league against the United States. He readily assented to the measures proposed to the upper bands, for bringing the Sioux and Chippewas into more intimate and permanent relations of peace and friendship.
With respect to the ascent of the St. Croix, in the direction of the Brulé, his exclamation was iskutta-iskutta, meaning it is dried up, or there is no water. Dry the channel, indeed, looked, but by leading the canoes around the shoals, all the men walking in the water, and picking out channels, we advanced about seven miles before the time of encampment. The next morning (Aug. 1) a heavy fog detained us in our encampment, till five o'clock, when we recommenced the ascent of a similar series of embarrassments from very low water, rapid succeeding to rapid, till two o'clock P. M., when we reached the summit of a plateau, and found still water and comparatively good navigation. Five hours canoeing on this summit brought us to Kabamappa's village at the Namakowágon, or sturgeon's dam, where we encamped. The chief gave us his population at 88 souls, of whom 28 were men, including the minor chief, Mukudapenas,[196] and his men. We had now got above all the strong rapids, and proceeded from our encampment at four o'clock, A. M., on the 2d. The river receives two tributaries, from the right hand, on this summit, namely, the Buffalo and Clearwater, and, at the distance of about ten miles above the Namakowágon, is found to be expanded in a handsome lake of about six miles in extent, called Lake St. Croix. This is the source of the river. We were favored with a fair wind in passing over it, and having reached its head debarked on a marshy margin, and immediately commenced the portage to the Brulé, or Misakoda River.[197]
[196] From mukuda, black, and penaisee, a bird, the name of the rail.
[197] From misk, red or colored, muscoda, a plain, and auk, a dead standing tree, as a tree burned by fire or lightning. From the French translation of the word, by the phrase Brulé; the Indian meaning is clearly shown to be burnt, scorched, or parched--a term which is applied to metifs of the mixed race.
I had now reached the summit between the St. Croix and Lake Superior. The elevation of this summit has not been scientifically determined; but from the great fall of the Brulé, cannot be less than 600 feet. The length of the Brulé is about 100 miles, in which there are 240 distinct rapids. Some of these are from eight to ten feet each. Four of them require portages, at which all the canoes are discharged. The river itself, on looking down it, appears to be a perfect torrent, foaming and roaring; and it could never be used by the traders at all, were it not that it had abundance of water, being the off-drain for an extensive plateau of lakes and springs. To give an adequate idea of this foaming torrent, it is necessary to conceive of a river flowing down a pair of stairs, a hundred miles long.
The portage from the St. Croix to it begins on marsh, ascending in a hundred yards or so, to an elevated sandy plain, which has been covered, at former times, with a heavy forest of the pinus resinosa; that having been consumed, there is left here and there a dry trunk, or auk, as the Indians call it. The length of the portage path is 3,350 yards, or about two miles. At this distance, we reach a small, sandy-bottomed brook, of four feet wide and a foot deep, of most clear crystalline cold water, winding its way, in a most serpentine manner, through a boggy tract, and overhung with dense alder bushes. It is a good place to slake one's thirst, but appears like anything else than a stream to embark on, with canoes and baggage. Nobody but an Indian would seem to have ever dreamed of it. Yet on this brook we embarked. It was now six o'clock in the evening. By going a distance below, and damming up the stream, a sufficient depth of water was got to float the canoes. The axe was used to cut away the alders. The men walked, guiding the canoes, and carrying some of the baggage. In this way we moved slowly, about one mile, when it became quite dark, and threatened rain. The voyageurs then searched about for a place on the bog dry enough to sleep on, and came, with joy, and told me that they had found a kind of bog, with bunches of grassy tufts, which are called by them tete de femme. The very poetry of the idea was something, and I was really happy, amid the intense gloom, to rest my head, for the night, on these fair tufts. The next morning we were astir as soon as there was light enough to direct our steps. After a few miles of these intricacies, we found a brisk and full tributary, below which, the descent is at once free, and on crossing the first narrow geologic plateau, the rapids begin; the stream being constantly and often suddenly enlarged, by springs and tributaries from the right and left. To describe the descent of this stream, in detail, would require graphic powers to which I do not aspire, and time which I cannot command. We were two days and a part of a night in making the descent, with every appliance of voyageur craft. It was after darkness had cast her pall over us, on the evening of the 4th of August, before we reached still water. The river is then a deep and broad mass of water, into which coasting vessels from the Lake might enter. Some four miles from the foot of the last rapids, it enters the Fond du Lac of Lake Superior. Some time before reaching this point, we had been apprised of our contiguity to it, from hearing the monotonous thump of the Indian drum; and we were glad, on our arrival, to find the chief, Mongazid,[198] of Fond du Lac, with the military barge of Lieut. Allen, left at that place on our outward trip, which he had promised to bring down to this point.
[198] From mong, a loon, and ozid, his foot. The name is in allusion to the track of the bird on the sand.
Having thus accomplished the objects committed to my trust, and rejoined the track described in my prior narrative, I rested here on the next day (5th), being the Sabbath; and then proceeded through Lake Superior, to my starting-point at Sault de Ste Marie.[199]
[199] On passing through Lake Superior, I learned from an Indian the first breaking out of Asiatic cholera in the country, in 1832, and the wide alarm it had produced.
Appendix
No. 1.
THE EXPEDITION TO THE SOURCES OF THE MISSISSIPPI IN 1820.
I. OFFICIAL REPORTS OF THE EXPEDITION OF 1820.
1. DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS.
I. Announcement of the Return of the Expedition. By Hon. LEWIS CASS.
II. General Report to the Department of War. By Hon. LEWIS CASS.
III. Further Explorations of Western Geography recommended. By Hon. LEWIS CASS.
IV. Personal Testimonial on the close of the Expedition. By Hon. LEWIS CASS.
2. TOPOGRAPHY AND ASTRONOMY.
V. Results of Observations for Latitudes and Longitudes during the Expedition of 1820. By DAVID B. DOUGLASS, Capt. Engineers, U. S. A.
3. MINERALOGY AND GEOLOGY.
VI. Report on the Copper Mines of Lake Superior. By HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT.
VII. Observations on the Mineralogy and Geology of the country embracing the sources of the Mississippi River and the Great Lake Basins. By HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT.
VIII. Report in reply to a Resolution of the U. S. Senate on the Value and Extent of the Mineral Lands on Lake Superior. By HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT.
IX. Rapid Glances at the Geology of Western New York, beyond the Rome summit, in 1820. By HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT.
X. A Memoir on the Geological Position of a Fossil Tree in the secondary rocks of the Illinois. Albany: E. & E. Hosford, pp. 18, 1822. By HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT.
4. BOTANY.
XI. List of Plants collected by Capt. D. B. Douglass at the sources of the Mississippi River. This paper has been published in the 4th vol. p. 56 of Silliman's Journal of Science. By Dr. JOHN TORREY.
5. ZOOLOGY.
XII. A Letter embracing Notices of the Zoology of the Northwest, addressed to Dr. Mitchell on the return of the Expedition. By HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT.
(1.) FRESH-WATER CONCHOLOGY.
XIII. Species of Bivalves collected by Mr. Schoolcraft and Capt. Douglass in the Northwest. Published in the 6th vol. Amer. Journ. of Science, pp. 120, 259. By D. H. BARNES.
XIV. Fresh-water Shells collected by Mr. Schoolcraft in the valleys of the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers. American Philosophical Transactions, vol. 5. By Mr. ISAAC LEA.
(2.) FAUNA: ICHTHYOLOGY: REPTILIA.
XV. Summary Remarks respecting the Zoological Species noticed in the Expedition. By Dr. SAMUEL L. MITCHELL.
XVI. Mus Busarius. Medical Repository, vol. 21, p. 248. By Dr. SAMUEL L. MITCHELL.
XVII. Sciurus Tredecem Striatus. Med. Rep. vol. 21. By Dr. SAMUEL L. MITCHELL.
XVIII. Proteus of the Lakes. Am. Journ. Science, vol. 4. By Dr. SAMUEL L. MITCHELL.
6. METEOROLOGY.
XIX. Memoranda on Climatic Phenomena, and the distribution of Solar Heat, in 1820. By HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT.
7. INDIAN LANGUAGES AND HISTORY.
XX. A Pictographic mode of communicating ideas by the Northwestern Indians. By Hon. LEWIS CASS.
XXI. Inquiries respecting the History, &c. of the Indians of the United States. Detroit, 1822. By Hon. LEWIS CASS.
XXII. A Letter on the Origin of the Indian Tribes of America, and the Principles of their Mode of uttering Ideas. By Dr. J. M'DONNELL, Belfast, Ireland.
XXIII. Difficulties of studying the Indian Tongues of the United States. Schoolcraft's Travels in the Central Portions of the Mississippi Valley, p. 381. By Dr. ALEXANDER WOLCOTT, Jr.
XXIV. Examinations of the Elementary Structure of the Odjibwa-Algonquin Language. First paper. By HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT.
XXV. A Vocabulary of the Odjibwa-Algonquin. By HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT.