Death of Mr. Monroe--Affair of the massacre of the Menomonies by the Foxes--Descent to Galena--Trip in the lead mine country to Fort Winnebago--Gratiot's Grove--Sac and Fox disturbances--Black Hawk--Irish Diggings--Willow Springs--Vanmater's lead--An escape from falling into a pit--Mineral Point--Ansley's copper mine--Gen. Dodge's--Mr. Brigham's--Sugar Creek--Four Lakes--Seven Mile Prairie--A night in the woods--Reach Fort Winnebago--Return to the Sault--Political changes in the cabinet--Gov. Cass called to Washington--Religious changes--G.B. Porter appointed Governor--Natural history--Character of the new governor--Arrival of the Rev. Jeremiah Porter--Organization of a church.
1831,Aug. 14th. One of the first things we heard, on reaching Prairie du Chien, was the death of ex-President Monroe, which happened on the 4th of July, at the City of New York. The demise of three ex-Presidents of the revolutionary era (Jefferson, Adams, and Monroe), on this political jubilee of the republic, is certainly extraordinary, and appears, so far as human judgment goes, to lend a providential sanction to the bold act of confederated resistance to taxation and oppression, made in 1776.
The affray between the Foxes and Menomonies turns out thus. The Foxes had killed a young Menomonie hunter, near the mouth of the Wisconsin, and cut off his head. The Menomonies had retaliated by killing Foxes. The Foxes then made a war party against the Menomonies, and went up the Mississippi in search of them. They did not find them, till their return, when they discovered a Menomonie encampment on the upper part of the Prairie. They instantly attacked them, and killed seven men, five women, and thirteen children. The act was perfectly dastardly, for the Menomonies were some domestic lodges of persons living, as non-combatants, under the guns of the fort and the civil institutions of the town. The Menomonies complained to me. I told them to go to their Agent, and have a proper statement of the massacre drawn up by him, and transmitted to Washington.
I called on the commanding officer, Captain Loomis, and accepted his invitation to dine. He introduced me to Mr. Street, the Indian Agent. At four o'clock in the evening, I embarked for Galena, and, after descending the Mississippi as long as daylight lasted, encamped on a sand bar. The next morning (15th), we were again in motion before 5 o'clock. We passed Cassville and Dubuque at successive points, and, entering the river of Galena, reached the town about half-past eight o'clock, in the evening, and encamped on the banks of the river.
On the following day (16th) I dispatched my canoe back to the Wisconsin in charge of Mr. Johnston, accompanied by Dr. D. Houghton, and Mr. Melancthon Woolsey, with directions to meet me at the portage. I then hired a light wagon to visit the mine country, taking letters from Captain Legate, U.S.A., and Mr. C. Hemstead. Mr. Bennet, the landlord, went with me to bring back the team. We left Galena about ten o'clock in the morning (17th), and, passing over an open, rolling country, reached Gratiot's Grove, at a distance of fifteen miles. The Messrs. Gratiot received me kindly, and showed me the various ores, and their mode of preparing and smelting them, which are, in all respects, similar to the method pursued in Missouri, with which I was familiar.
Mr. Henry Gratiot was the sub-Indian agent for the Winnebagoes, and was present at the late disturbances at the head of Rock Island. His band is the Winnebagoes living on Rock River, which is the residence of their prophet. He says the latter is a half Sauk, and a very shrewd, cunning man. They are peaceable now, and disclaim all connection with Black Hawk, for war purposes. Mr. G. assured me that he places no confidence in these declarations, nor in the stability of the Sacs and Foxes. He deems the latter treacherous, as usual, and related to me several acts of their former villainy--all in accordance with their late attack and murder of the Menomonies at Prairie du Chien. This murder was committed by a part of Black Hawk's band, who had been driven from their villages on the Mississippi below the rapids. They ascended the river to Dubuque--from thence the party set out, and fell on the unsuspicious and defenceless Menomonies.
Having examined whatever was deemed worthy of attention here, I drove on about fifteen miles to Willow Springs. In this drive we had the Platte Mounds, a prominent object, all the afternoon on our left. We stopped at Irish Diggings, and I took specimens of the various spars, ores, and rocks. Lead ore is found here in fissures in the rock. An extraordinary mass of galena was recently discovered, in this geological position, by two men named Doyle and Hanley. It is stated to have been twenty-two feet wide by one hundred feet in length, and weighed many tons. It was of the kind of formation called sheet mineral, which occupies what appears to have once been an open fissure.
The face of the country is exceedingly beautiful, the soil fertile, and bearing oaks and shagbark hickory. Grass and flowers cover the prairies as far as the eye can reach. The hills are moderately elevated, and the roads excellent, except for short distances where streams are crossed. We passed the night at Willow Springs, where we were well accommodated by Mr. Ray.
On the 18th it rained in the morning. We stopped at Rocky Branch Diggings, and I obtained here some interesting specimens. We also stopped at Bracken's Furnace, where I procured some organic remains. I examined Vanmater's lead; it runs east and west nearly nine miles. There was so much certainty in tracing the course of this lead, that it was sought out with a compass. The top strata are thirty-six to forty feet--then the mineral clay and galena occur.
While examining some large specimens which had been thrown out of an old pit forty feet deep, whose edges were concealed by bushes, I had nearly fallen in backwards, by which I should have been inevitably killed. The fate that I escaped fell to the lot of Bennet's dog. The poor fellow jumped over the cluster of bushes without seeing the pit beyond. By looking down we could see that he was still living. Mr. Vanmater promised to erect a windlass over the pit and get him out before Mr. Bennet returned.
We reached Mineral Point about eleven o'clock. I immediately called on Mr. Ansley, to whom I had a letter, and went with him to visit his copper ore discovery. On the way he lost his mule, and, after some exertions to catch the animal, being under the effects of a fever and ague, he went back. A Mr. Black went with me to the diggings. Green and blue carbonates of copper were found in rolled lumps in the clay soil, much like that kind of lead ore which is called, from its abraded form, gravel ore. Taking specimens of each kind of ore, I went back to the town to dinner, and then drove on two or three miles to General Dodge's. The General received me with great urbanity. I was introduced to his son Augustus, a young gentleman of striking and agreeable manners. Mrs. Dodge had prepared in a few moments a cup of coffee, which formed a very acceptable appendage to my late dinner. We then continued our way, passing through Dodgeville to Porter's Grove, where we stopped for the night, and were made very comfortable at Morrison's.
On the 19th we drove to breakfast at Brigham's at the Blue Mounds. I here found in my host my old friend with whom I had set out from Pittsburgh for the western world some thirteen or fourteen years before, and whom I last saw, I believe, fighting with the crows on the Illinois bottoms for the produce of a fine field of corn. I went on to the mound with him to view the extraordinary growth of the same grain at this place. The stalks were so high that it really required a tall man to reach up and pull off the ears.
Ten miles beyond Brigham's we came to Sugar Creek and a tree marked by Mr. Lyon. From this point we found the trail measured and mile stakes driven by Mr. Lyon's party, but the Indians have removed several. From Sugar Creek it is ten miles to the head of the Four Lakes. We then crossed the Seven Mile Prairie. To the left as we passed there rose a high point of rocks, on the top of which the Indians had placed image stones. Night overtook us soon after crossing this prairie. We took the horse out of the shafts and tied him to the wagon. My friend Bennet, thoughau faiton these trips, failed to strike a fire. We ate something, and made shift to pass the night.
Next morning we drove twelve miles to a house (Hasting's), where we got breakfast. We drove through Duck Creek with some ado, the skies threatening rain, and came in to Fort Winnebago by one o'clock, during a pouring rain. The canoes sent from Galena had not yet arrived. I spent the next day at the Winnebago agency, Mr. John H. Kinzie's, where I was received with great kindness. The canoe with Dr. Houghton and his companions did not arrive till the 23d, and I embarked the same day on my return to St. Mary's. It will not be necessary to describe this route. We were three days in descending the Fox River and its portages to Green Bay. It required eight days to traverse the shores and bays to Mackinack, and three more to reach St. Mary's, where I arrived on the 4th of September.
During my absence on this expedition, there were some things in my correspondence that require notice. Gen. Cass had been transferred to the War Office at Washington. He writes to me from Detroit (July 22d): "Very much to my surprise I have found myself called to another sphere of action. The change I am afraid will be not less unfavorable to my health and comfort than it certainly is adverse to my pecuniary interest. But I am forced by irresistible circumstances to accept the appointment. I have no time to detail these now. When I next have the pleasure of meeting you, I will fully lay them open to you. You will then see and say that no other choice was before me."
Gen. Eaton, the former incumbent, goes out as minister to Spain. The most important aspect is, perhaps, that we shall have a new governor, under whose rule we shall be happy, if he does not rashly derange Indian affairs in a too eager zeal to mend them. For a long and eventful era Gen. Cass has presided as an umpire between the Indian tribes and the citizens. His force and urbanity of character have equally inspired the respect of both. He has equally secured the confidence of every class of citizens in a wise civil administration of affairs. He has carried the territory from a state of war and desolation, which it presented at the close of 1815, when the whole population was less than three thousand souls, to a state of sound prosperity, which, in a few years, will develop resources that must class us one of the first of the Lake States.
July 26th. The Rev. Absalom Peters, Sec. Home Miss. Society, holds out the prospect of bringing our remote position, at the foot of Lake Superior, within the pale of the operations of that society. He views and describes a graduate of Dartmouth College, who may, probably, be induced to venture himself on this frontier. He asks: "Please to say whether you desire such a man as I have described? Will it be best for him to go this fall, or wait until next spring? How much can you raise for his support? How much will be necessary to sustain him and his family with suitable economy? What will be his peculiar trials?"
Aug. 23d. It is announced that Mr. Geo. B. Porter, of Lancaster, Penn., is to be the new governor.
Oct. 4th. The last mail brings me a letter from an early and esteemed friend, a Prof. in the Med. Col. at New York, offering me congratulations on the moral stand recently taken by me. Approvals, indeed, of this act reach me from many quarters. The way seemed open, with very little exertion on my part, to run a political course. But my impressions were averse to it. There is so much of independent honest opinion to be offered up by politicians--such continual calls to forsake the right for the expedient--such large sacrifices to be made in various ways to the god of public opinion, that a political career is rather startling to a quiet, unambitious, home-loving individual like myself, one, too, who is largely interested in other studies and pursuits, the rewards of which are not, indeed, very prompt, very sure, nor very full; but they are fraught with gratifications of a more enduring kind, and furnish aliment to moral conceptions which exalt and purify the soul.
Dr. Torrey also alludes, in the same letter, to my recent journey in the Indian country: "I am anxious to make some inquiries of you concerning your expedition to the Falls of St. Anthony, &c. Though your principal object was more important, perhaps, than natural science, I hope the latter was not entirely neglected. I know that you have heretofore devoted as much of your attention as possible to the observation of natural objects, and the preservation of specimens, and your last expedition was through a country well deserving of your highest exertions. I know that part of it is the same as that explored while you attended Gov. Cass, many years ago; but much of the ground, if I am rightly informed, is new. You know that I have long devoted much of my time to the study of N. American botany, and that I am collecting materials for a general Flora of our country. Now, my dear sir, if you or Mr. Houghton (the young gentleman whom, I am informed, accompanied you) have made any collections in botany, I should esteem it a peculiar favor to have the examination of the specimens.
"Our Lyceum prospers. We have removed to the N.Y. Dispensatory, a new building lately erected in White Street, where we have excellent accommodations. The Corporation of the city had use for the N.Y. Institution, and nearly all the societies who occupied it have been obliged to decamp. You doubtless have heard of the death of Dr. Mitchell. Dr. Akerly will pronounce his eulogy soon, and probably Dr. Hosick will give a more elaborate account of his life.
"Mr. Cooper now devotes himself to shells and birds. If you have anything rare or new in these departments, we should be greatly obliged to you for such specimens as you can spare.
"Dr. Dekay went to Russia with his father, Mr. Eckford, last summer."
23d. A friend and shrewd observer from Detroit, writes: "You ask how we like our new Governor. Very well. He is a well-informed plain man, unassuming in his manners and conciliatory, always ready for business, and accustomed to do everythingen ordre. His wife is a fine-looking agreeable woman, with several pretty well-behaved children."
Another correspondent says: "Mr. Porter is very much such a man as A. E. Wing, and will, no doubt, generally suit the citizens of the territory,"
30th. W. Ward, Esq., says: "I remove hence to Washington, with no certain prospects, only hopes. I cannot go without thanking you for much enjoyment in the hours passed with you, and for the manifestations of interest and friendship."
Nov. 12th. Rev. W. S. Boutwell says: "I am happy to hear that my friend and classmate, Porter, is at Mackinack, on his way to this people. The Lord speed him on his way."
22d. Dr. Houghton writes from Fredonia, communicating the results of his analyses of the Lake Superior copper-ores.
Dec. 31st. The person named in a prior letter from the Home Missionary Society, prefers a more southerly location, in consequence of which a new selection has been made by Dr. Peters, in the person of Rev. Jeremiah Porter, a graduate of Princeton and Andover, and a lineal descendant, I understand, by the mother's side, of the great Dr. Edwards. We have been favorably impressed by the manner and deportment, and not less so by the piety and learning of the man. I felt happy, the moment of his landing, in offering him a furnished chamber, bed and plate, at Elmwood, while residing on this frontier. He has taken steps to organize a church. He preaches in an animated and persuasive style, and has commenced a system of moral instruction in detail, which, in our local history, constitutes an era. It has been written that "where vice abounds, grace shall much more abound," and St. Mary's may now be well included in the list of favorable examples. The lordly "wassail" of the fur-trader, the long-continued dance of the gay French "habitant," the roll of the billiard-ball, the shuffle of the card, and the frequent potations of wine "when it is red in the cup," will now, at least, no longer retain their places in the customs of this spot on the frontier without the hope of having their immoral tendencies pointed out. Some of the soldiers have also shown a disposition to attend the several meetings for instruction. The claims of temperance have likewise led to an organized effort, and if the pious and gentle Mr. Laird were permitted once again to visit the place, after a lapse of seven years, he might fervently exclaim, in the language of the Gospel, "What hath God wrought?"
Revival of St. Mary's--Rejection of Mr. Van Buren as Minister to England--Botany and Natural History of the North-west--Project of a new expedition to find the Sources of the Mississippi--Algie Society--Consolidation of the Agencies of St. Mary's and Michilimackinack--Good effects of the American Home Missionary Society--Organization of a new inland exploring expedition committed to me--Its objects and composition of the corps of observers.
1832,Jan. 31st. I was now to spend a winter to aid a preacher in promoting the diffusion and understanding of the detailed facts, which all go to establish a great truth--a truth which was first brought to the world's notice eighteen hundred and thirty-two years before, namely, that God, who was incarnate in the Messiah, under the name of Jesus Christ, offered himself a public sacrifice for human sins, amidst the most striking and imposing circumstances of a Roman execution--a fact which, in an age of extraordinary moral stolidity and ecclesiastical delusion, was regarded as the behest of a mere human tribunal.
For this work the circumstances of our position and exclusion from society was very favorable. The world, with all its political and commercial care, was, in fact, shut out with the closing of the river. Three hundred miles of a waste, howling wilderness separated us south-easterly from the settlements at Detroit. Ninety miles in a south-westerly direction lay the island and little settlement and mission of Mackinack.
In addition to the exertions of Mr. Porter, who was our pastor, the winter had enclosed, at that point, a zealous missionary of the American Board, destined for a more northerly position, in the person of Mr. Boutwell, who with the person, Mr. Bingham, in charge of the Indian mission at the same point, maintained by the Baptist Convention, constituted a moral force that was not likely to be without its results. They derived mutual aid from each other in various ways, and directed their entire efforts upon a limited community, wholly excluded from open contact with the busy world, and having, by their very isolation, much leisure.
The result was an awakened attention to the truth, to which I have adverted, not as a mere historical event, but one personally interesting and important to every person, without regard at all to their circumstances or position. Severity of climate, deep snows, the temperature often below zero, and frequently but little above, blinding snow storms, and every inconvenience of the place or places of meeting, appeared only to have the effect to give greater efficacy to the inquiry, as the workings of unshackled mind and will. Early in the season, a comparatively large number of persons of every class deemed it their duty to profess a personal interest in the atonement, the great truth dwelt on, and made eventually a profession of faith by uniting with, and recording their names as members of some branch of the church. Among these were several natives. Mrs. Johnston, known to her people by the name of the Sha-go-wash-co-da-wa-qua, being the most noted. Also four of her daughters, and one of her sons, one or two Catholic soldiers, several officers of Fort Brady, citizens, &c., &c.
This statement will tend to render many of the allusions in my journal of this winter's transactions intelligible. Indeed some of them would not be at all understood without it. Historically considered, there was deep instruction "hid" in this event. It was now precisely 222 years since the Puritans, with the principles of the Scriptures for their guidance, in fleeing to lay the foundation of a new government in the West, had landed at Plymouth. It had required this time, leaving events to develop themselves, for the circle of civilization to reach the foot of Lake Superior. Ten years after the first landing at this remote spot in 1822, had been sufficient to warm these ancient principles into life. John Eliot, and the band of eminent saints who began the labor with him in 1632, had been centuries in their tombs, but the great principles which they upheld and enforced were invested with the sacred vitality which they possessed at that day. Two truths are revealed by this reminiscence. 1. That the Scriptures will be promulgated by human means. 2. That time, in the Divine mind, is to be measured in a more enlarged sense; but the propagation of truth goes on, as obstacle after obstacle is withdrawn, surely, steadily, unalterably, and that its spread over the entire globe is a mere question of time.
Jan. 31st. Mr. Wing, delegate in Congress, writes from Washington, that the nomination of Mr. Van Buren as minister to England has been rejected by the Senate, by a majority of one--and that one the casting vote of the Vice-President. A letter from Albany, Feb. 1, says: "Albany (and the State generally) is considerably excited this morning in consequence of the rejection of Mr. Van Buren. Nothing could have more promoted the interest of Mr. Van Buren than this step of the Senate. New York city has resolved to receive him, on his return from England, with all the 'pomp and magnificence in its power, and to show that her 'favorite son' shall be sustained.' I heard this read in public from a letter received by a person in this city."
"A report reached this a few days ago, stating that the 'cholera' had been brought to New Orleans in a Spanish vessel."
"Mr. Woolsey, the young gentleman of your tour last summer, died at New York a short time since." In a letter which he wrote to me (Sept. 27th), on the eve of his leaving Detroit, he says: "Permit me now, sir, in closing this note, again to express my gratitude for the opportunity you have afforded me of visiting a very interesting portion of our country, and for the uniform kindness that I have experienced at your hands, and for the friendly wishes, that prosperity may crown my exertions in life."
Dr. Houghton says (Feb. 8) respecting this moral young man: "The tears of regret might flow freely for the loss of such true unsophisticated worth, even with those who knew him imperfectly, but to me, who felt as a brother, the loss is doubly great. We have, however, when reflecting upon his untimely death, the sweet consolation that he died as he lived, a Christian."
Feb. 4th. Dr. Torrey expresses his interest in the botany and natural history, generally, of the country visited by me last summer. "Your kind offer to place in my hands the botanical rarities which, from time to time, you may acquire, in your interesting journeys, I fully appreciate. It will give me great pleasure to examine the collections made by Dr. Houghton during your last expedition.
"My friend Mr. William Cooper, of the Lyceum, will be happy to lend you all the assistance in his power in determining the shells you have collected. He is decidedly our beat conchologist in New York, and I would rather trust him than most men--for he is by no means afflicted with the mania of desiring to multiply new species, which, is, at present, the bane of natural history.
"You speak of having discovered some interesting minerals, especially some good native copper. Above all the specimens which you obtained, I should like to see the native magnesia which you found in serpentine. I am desirous of analyzing the mineral, to ascertain whether its composition agrees with that of Hoboken and Unst (the only recorded localities in our mineralogical works)."
13th. Submitted, in a letter to the department at Washington, A PROJECT of an expedition to the North-west, during the ensuing season, in order to carry out the views expressed in the instructions of last year, to preserve peace on the western frontiers, inclosing the necessary estimates, &c.
16th. Mr. W. H. Sherman, of Vernon, N.Y., communicates intelligence of the death of my mother, which took place about ten o'clock on the morning of this day. She was seventy-five years of age, and a Christian--and died as she had lived, in a full hope. I had read the letters before breakfast, and while the family were assembling for prayers. I had announced the fact with great composure, and afterward proceeded to read in course the 42d Psalm, and went on well, until I came to the verse--"Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God."
The emotions of this painful event, which I had striven to conceal, swelled up in all their reality, my utterance was suddenly choked, and I was obliged to close the book, and wait for calmness to go on.
28th. The initial steps were taken for forming an association of persons interested in the cause of the reclamation of the Indians, to be known under the name of the Algic Society. Connected with this, one of its objects was to collect and disseminate practical information respecting their language, history, traditions, customs, and character; their numbers and condition; the geographical features of the country they inhabit; and its natural history and productions.
It proposes some definite means of action for furthering their moral instruction, and reclamation from the evils of intemperance and the principles of war, and to subserve the general purposes of a society of moral inquiry. The place was deemed favorable both for the collection of original information, and for offering a helping hand to missionaries and teachers who should visit the frontiers in carrying forward the great moral question of the exaltation of the tribes from barbarism to civilization and Christianity.
28th. Instructions are issued at Washington, consolidating the agencies of St. Mary's and Michilimackinack--and placing the joint agency under my charge. By this arrangement, Col. Boyd, the agent at the latter point, is transferred to Green Bay, and I am left at liberty to reside at St. Mary's or Michilimackinack, placing a sub-agent at the point where I do not reside.
This measure is announced to me in a private letter of this day, from the Secretary of War, who says: "I think the time has arrived when a just economy requires such a measure." By it the entire expenses of one full agency are dispensed with--the duties of which are devolved upon me, in addition to those I before had. By being allowed the choice of selection, two hundred dollars are added to my salary. Here is opened a new field, and certainly a very ample one, for exertions.
April 8th. The object contemplated by invoking the aid of the Home Missionary Society, in the establishment of a church at this remote point on the frontiers--in connection with the means already possessed, and the aid providentially present, have, it will have been seen, had the effect to work quite a moral revolution. The evils of a lax society have been rebuked in various ways. Intemperance and disorder have been made to stand out as such, and already a spirit of rendering the use, or rathermisuseof time, subservient to the general purposes of social dissipation, has been shown to be unwise and immoral in every view. More than all, the Sabbath-day has been vindicated as a part of time set apart as holy. The claims and obligations of the decalogue have been enforced; and the great truths of the Gospel thus prominently brought forward. The result has been every way propitious.
The Rev. Wm. M. Ferry, of Mackinack, writes (Feb. 21): "The intelligence we have received by your letters, Mr. Boutwell, &c., of the Lord's doings among you, as a people, at the Sault, has rejoiced our hearts much. Surely it is with you a time of the right hand of the Most High." "All of us," writes Mr. Robert Stuart (March 29) "who love the Lord, were much pleased at the indications of God's goodness and presence among you."
The Rev. J. Porter, in subsequently referring to the results of these additions to the church, observes, that they embraced five officers and four ladies of the garrison; two gentlemen and seven ladies of the settlement, and thirty soldiers and four women of Fort Brady, numbering fifty-two in all. Of these, twenty-six were adults added by baptism.
At Detroit a similar result was experienced. Mr. Trowbridge writes (April 8th), that about seventy persons united themselves a few days previous to Mr. Wells' church, to which the influence has been principally, but not wholly confined. Among these were many who had, unaffectedly, listened to the Gospel, if not all their lives, certainly no small part of it.
May 3d. Public instructions are issued for my organizing and taking command of an expedition to the country upon the sources of the Mississippi River, to effect a pacification between the Indian tribes, in order to carry out, with increased means, the efforts made in 1831. Those efforts were confined to tribes living in latitudes south of St. Anthony's Falls. It was now proposed to extend them to the Indian population living north of that point, reaching to the sources of that river. This opened the prospect of settling a long contested point in the geography of that stream, namely, its actual source--a question in which I had long felt the deepest interest.
The outbreak of Indian hostility, under Black Hawk, which characterized the summer of 1832, was apprehended, and it became the policy of the Indian Bureau, in the actual state of its information, to prevent the northern tribes from joining in the Sac and Fox league under that influential leader. I forwarded to the Superintendent and Governor of the territory, a report of a message and war-club sent to the Chippewas to join in the war, for which I was indebted to the chief, Chingwauk, or Little Pine.
"Reports from various quarters of the Indian country," says the Secretary of War, in a private letter so early as March 28th, "lead to the belief that the Indians are in an unsettled state, and prudence requires that we should advise and restrain them. I think one more tour would be very useful in this respect, and would complete our knowledge of the geography of that region."
"There is a prospect," says the official instructions (May 3d), "of extensive hostilities among themselves. It is no less the dictate of humanity than of policy to repress this feeling, and to establish permanent peace among the tribe.
"It is also important to inspect the condition of the trade, and the conduct of the traders. To ascertain whether the regulations and the laws are complied with, and to suggest such alterations as may be required. And, finally, to inquire into the number, standing, disposition, and prospect of the Indians, and to report all the statistical facts you can procure, and which will be useful to the government in its operations, or to the community in the investigation of these subjects."
Congress, during the session, passed an act for vaccinating the Indians. This constituted a separate duty, and enabled me to take along a physician and surgeon. I offered the situation to Dr. Douglass Houghton, of Fredonia, who, in the discharge of it, was prepared to take cognizance of the subjects of botany, geology, and mineralogy. I offered to the American Board of Missions, at Boston, to take a missionary agent, to observe the condition and prospects of the Indian tribes in the north-west, as presenting a field for their operations, and named the Rev. W.T. Boutwell, then at Michilimackinack, for the post, which the Board confirmed, with a formal vote of thanks. Lieut. James Allen, 5th U.S. Infantry, who was assigned to the command of the detachment of troops, assumed the duties of topographer and draughtsman. Mr. George Johnston, of St. Mary's, was appointed interpreter and baggage-master. I retained myself the topics of Indian history, archaeology, and language. The party numbered about thirty souls. All this appeared strictly compatible with the practical objects to be attained--keeping the expenses within the sum appropriated for the object.
Some few weeks were required completely to organize the expedition, to prepare the necessary supplies, and to permit the several persons to reach the place of rendezvous. Meantime I visited Michilimackinack to receive the agency from Col. Boyd; after which it was left temporarily in charge of a sub-agent and interpreter, with the supervision of the commanding officer of Fort Mackinack.
4th. The Secretary of War writes a private letter: "We have allowed all it was possible, and you must on no account exceed the sum, as the pressure upon our funds is very great."
Maj. W. writes from Detroit (May 7th): "I am glad to hear that you are about going on another expedition, and that Mr. Houghton is to accompany you. I hope you will find time to send us some specimens collected on your former tour before you start."
Dr. Houghton writes from Fredonia (May 12th): "I shall leave here immediately after the twenty-fourth, and hope to see you as early as the second or third of June. I have heard from Torrey, and have sent him a suit of plants."
The Secretary of War again writes (May 22d): "It has been impossible before now, to make you a remittance of funds, and they cannot yet all be sent for your expedition. Our annual appropriation has not yet passed, and when it will I am sure I cannot tell. So you must get along as well as you can. I trust, however, the amount now sent will be sufficient to enable you to start upon your expedition. The residue promised to you, as well as the funds for your ordinary expenditures, shall be sent as soon as the appropriation is made."
The sub-agent, in charge of the agency at Mackinack, writes (May 22d): "Gen. Brook arrived yesterday from Green Bay, and has concluded to make this post his head-quarters. I was up, yesterday, in the garrison, and Capt. McCabe introduced me to him. I found him a very pleasant, plain, unassuming man. Col. Boyd has handed me a list of articles which you will find inclosed, &c."
"The committee," says the Rev. David Green, Boston, "wish me to express to you the satisfaction they have in learning that your views respecting the importance of making known the great truths of the Gospel to the Indians, as the basis on which to build their improvement, in all respects accords so perfectly with their own. It is our earnest desire that our missionaries should act wisely in all their labors for the benefit of the Indians, and that all the measures which may be adopted by them, or by others who seek to promote the present or future welfare of this unhappy and long-abused people, may be under the Divine guidance, and crowned with great success."
These triple claims, which have now been mentioned, of business, of science, and of religion, on my attention created not the least distraction on my mind, but, on the contrary, appeared to have propitious and harmonizing influences.
Expedition to, and discovery of, Itasca Lake, the source of the Mississippi River--Brief notice of the journey to the point of former geographical discovery in the basin of Upper Red Cedar, or Cass Lake--Ascent and portage to Queen Anne's Lake--Lake Pemetascodiac--The Ten, or Metoswa Rapids--Pemidgegomag, or Cross-water Lake--Lake Irving--Lake Marquette--Lake La Salle--Lake Plantagenet--Ascent of the Plantagenian Fork--Naiwa, or Copper-snake River--Agate Rapids and portage--Assawa Lake--Portage over the Hauteur des Terres--Itasca Lake--Its picturesque character--Geographical and astronomical position--Historical data.
1832.June 7th. It was not until this day that the expedition was ready to embark at the head of the portage at St. Mary's. I had organized it strictly on temperance principles, observation having convinced me, during frequent expeditions in the wilderness, that not only is there no situation, unless administered from the medicine-chest, where men are advantaged by its use, but in nearly every instance of fatigue or exhaustion their powers are enfeebled by it, while, in a moral and intellectual sense, they are rendered incapable, neglectful, or disobedient. This exclusion constituted a special clause in every verbal agreement with the men, who were Canadians, which I thought necessary to make, in order that they might have no reason to complain while inland of its exclusion. They were promised, instead of it, abundance of good wholesome food at all times. The effects of this were apparent even at the start. They all presented smiling faces, and took hold of their paddles with a conscious feeling of satisfaction in the wisdom of their agreement.
The military and their supplies occupied a large Mackinack boat; my heavy stores filled another. I traveled in acanoe-elège,as being better adapted to speed and the celerity of landing. Each carried a national flag. We slept the first night at Point Iroquois, which commands a full view of the magnificent entrance into the lake. We were fifteen days in traversing the lake, being my fifth trip through this inland sea. We passed up the St. Louis River by its numerous portages and falls to the Sandy Lake summit, and reached the banks of the Mississippi on the third of July, and ascertained its width above the junction of the Sandy Lake outlet to be 331 feet. We were six days in ascending it to the central island in Cass Lake. This being the point at which geographical discovery rests, I decided to encamp the men, deposit my heavy baggage, and fitted out a light party in hunting canoes to trace the stream to its source. The Indians supplied me with five canoes of two fathoms each, and requiring but two men to manage each, which would allow one canoe to each of the gentlemen of my party. I took three Indians and seven white men as the joint crew, making, with the sitters, fifteen persons. We were provisioned for a few days, carried a flag, mess-basket, tent, and other necessary apparatus. We left the island early the next morning, and reached the influx of the Mississippi into the Lake at an early hour. To avoid a very circuitous bay, which I called Allen's Bay, we made a short portage through open pine woods.
Fifty yards' walk brought us and our canoe and baggage to the banks of Queen Anne's Lake, a small sylvan lake through which the whole channel of the Mississippi passed. A few miles above its termination we entered another lake of limited size, which the Indians called Pemetascodiac. The river winds about in this portion of it--through savannas, bordered by sandhills, and pines in the distance--for about fifteen miles. At this distance, rapids commence, and the bed of the river exhibited greenstone and gneissoid boulders. We counted ten of these rapids, which our guide called the Metoswa, or Ten Rapids. They extend about twenty miles, during which there is a gradual ascent of about forty feet. The men got out at each of these rapids, and lifted or drew the canoes up by their gunwales. We ascended slowly and with toil. At the computed distance of forty-five miles, we entered a very handsome sheet of water, lying transverse to our course, which the Indians called Pamidjegumag, which means crosswater, and which the French callLac Traverse. It is about twelve miles long from east to west, and five or six wide. It is surrounded with hardwood forest, presenting a picturesque appearance.
We stopped a few moments to observe a rude idol on its shores; it consisted of a granitic boulder, of an extraordinary shape, with some rings and spots of paint, designed to give it a resemblance to a human statue. We observed the passenger-pigeon and some small fresh-water shells of the species of unios and anadontas.
A short channel, with a strong current, connects this lake with another of less than a third of its dimensions, to which I gave the name of Washington Irving. Not more than three or four miles above the latter, the Mississippi exhibits the junction of its ultimate forks. The right hand, or Itasca branch, was represented as by far the longest, the most circuitous, and most difficult of ascent. It brings down much the largest volume of water. I availed myself of the geographical knowledge of my Indian guide by taking the left hand, or what I had occasion soon to call the Plantagenian branch. It expanded, in the course of a few miles, into a lake, which I called Marquette, and, a little further, into another, which I named La Salle. About four miles above the latter, we entered into a more considerable sheet of water, which I named Plantagenet, being the site of an old Indian encampment called Kubbakunna, or the Rest in the Path.
We encamped a short distance above the upper end of this lake at the close of the day, on a point of low land covered with a small growth of gray pine, fringed with alder, tamarisk, spruce, and willow. A bed of moss covered the soil, into which the foot sank at every step. Long moss hung from every branch. Everything indicated a cold frigid soil. In the act of encamping, it commenced raining, which gave a double gloom to the place. Several species of duck were brought from the different canoes as the result of the day's hunt.
Early the next morning we resumed the ascent. The river became narrow and tortuous. Clumps of willow and alder lined the shore. Wherever larger species were seen they were gray pines or tamarack. One of the Indians killed a deer, of the speciesC. Virginea, during the morning. Ducks were frequently disturbed as we pushed up the winding channel. The shores were often too sedgy and wet to permit our landing, and we went on till twelve o'clock before finding a suitable spot to breakfast.
About five o'clock we came to a high diluvial ridge of gravel and sand, mixed with boulders of syenite, trap-rock, quartz, and sandstone. Ozawandib, our guide, said we were near the junction of the Naiwa, or Copper-snake River, the principal tributary of this branch of the Mississippi, and that it was necessary to make a passage over this ridge to avoid a formidable series of rapids. Our track lay across a peninsula. This occupied the remainder of the day, and we encamped on the banks of the stream above the rapids and pitched our tent, before daylight had finally departed. The position of the sun, in this latitude, it must be recollected, is protracted, very perceptibly, above the horizon. We ascended to the summit in a series of geological steps or plateaux. There is but little perceptible rise from the Cross-water level to this point--called Agate Rapids and Portage, from the occurrence of this mineral in the drift. The descent of water at this place cannot be less than seventy feet. On resuming the journey the next morning (13th) we found the water above these rapids had almost the appearance of a dead level. The current is very gentle; and, by its diminished volume, denotes clearly the absence of the contributions from the Naiwa. About seven miles above the Agate Portage we entered Lake Assawa, which our Indian guide informed us was the source of this branch. We were precisely twenty minutes in passing through it, with the full force of paddles. It receives two small inlets, the most southerly of which we entered, and the canoes soon stuck fast, amidst aquatic plants, on a boggy shore. I did not know, for a moment, the cause of our having grounded, till Ozawandib exclaimed, "O-um-a, mikun-na!" here is the portage! We were at the Southern flanks of the diluvial hills, called HAUTEUR DES TERRES--a geological formation of drift materials, which form one of the continental water-sheds, dividing the streams tributary to the Gulf of Mexico, from those of Hudson's Bay. He described the portage as consisting of twelvepug-gi-de-nun, or resting places, where the men are temporarily eased of their burdens. This was indefinite, depending on the measure of a man's strength to carry. Not only our baggage, but the canoes were to be carried. After taking breakfast, on the nearest dry ground, the different back-loads for the men were prepared. Ozawandib threw my canoe over his shoulders and led the way. The rest followed, with their appointed loads. I charged myself with a spy-glass, strapped, and portfolio. Dr. Houghton carried a plant press. Each one had something, and the men toiled with five canoes, Our provisions, beds, tent, &c. The path was one of the most intricate and tangled that I ever knew. Tornadoes appeared to have cast down the trees in every direction. A soft spongy mass, that gave way under the tread, covered the interstices between the fallen timber. The toil and fatigue were incessant. At length we ascended the first height. It was an arid eminence of the pebble and erratic block era, bearing small gray pines and shrubbery. This constituted our first pause, orpuggidenun.On descending it, we were again plunged among bramble. Path, there was none, or trail that any mortal eye, but an Indian's, could trace. We ascended another eminence. We descended it, and entered a thicket of bramble, every twig of which seemed placed there to bear some token of our wardrobe, as we passed. To avoid this, the guide passed through a lengthened shallow pond, beyond which the walking was easier. Hill succeeded hill. It was a hot day in July, and the sun shone out brightly. Although we were evidently passing an alpine height, where a long winter reigned, and the vegetation bore every indication of being imperfectly developed. We observed the passenger pigeon, and one or two species of thefalcofamily. There were indications of the common deer. Moss hung abundantly from the trees. The gray pine predominated in the forest growth.
At length, the glittering of water appeared, at a distance below, as viewed from the summit of one of these eminences. It was declared by our Indian guide to be Itasca Lake--the source of the main, or South fork of the Mississippi. I passed him, as we descended a long winding slope, and was the first man to reach its banks. A little grassy opening served as the terminus of our trail, and proved that the Indians had been in the practice of crossing this eminence in their hunts. As one after another of the party came, we exulted in the accomplishment of our search. A fire was quickly kindled, and the canoes gummed, preparatory to embarkation.
We had struck within a mile of the southern extremity of the lake, and could plainly see its terminus from the place of our embarking. The view was quite enchanting. The waters were of the most limpid character. The shores were overhung with hard wood foliage, mixed with species of spruce, larch, and aspen. We judged it to be about seven miles in length, by an average of one to two broad. A bay, near its eastern-end, gave it somewhat the shape of the letter y. We observed a deer standing in the water. Wild fowl appeared to be abundant. We landed at the only island it contains--a beautiful spot for encampment, covered with the elm, cherry, larch, maple, and birch, and giving evidence, by the remains of old camp-fires, and scattered bones of species killed in the chase, of its having been much resorted to by the aborigines.
This picturesque island the party honored me by calling after my name--in which they have been sanctioned by Nicollet and other geographers. I caused some trees to be felled, pitched my tent, and raised the American flag on a high staff, the Indians firing a salute as it rose.
This flag, as the evidence of the government having extended its jurisdiction to this quarter, I left flying, on quitting the island--and presume the band of Ozawandib, at Cass Lake, afterwards appropriated it to themselves.
Questions of geography and astronomy may deserve a moment's attention. If we assume the discovery of the mouth of the Mississippi to have been made by Narvaez in 1527--a doubtful point!--a period of 305 years has elapsed before its actual source has been fixed. If the date of De Soto's journey (1541) be taken, which is undisputed, this period is reduced to 290 years. Hennepin saw it as high as the mouth of the river St. Francis in 1680. Lt. Pike, under the administration of Mr. Jefferson, ascended it by water in 1805, near to the entrance of Elk River, south of the Crow Wing Fork, and being overtaken at this spot by frosts and snow, and winter setting in strongly, he afterwards ascended its banks, on snow shoes, his men carrying his baggage on hand sleds, to Sandy Lake, then a post of the North-west Company. From this point he was carried forward, under their auspices, by the Canadian trainde-glis,drawn by dogs to Leech Lake; and eventually, by the same conveyance, to what is now denominated Cass Lake, or upperLac Cedre Rogue. This he reached in January, 1806, and it formed the terminus of his journey.
In 1820, Gen. Cass visited Sandy Lake, by the way of Lake Superior, with a strong party, and exploratory outfit, under the authority of the government. He encamped the bulk of his party at Sandy Lake, depositing all his heavy supplies, and fitted out a light party in two canoes, to trace up the river to its source. After ascending to the point of land at the entrance of Turtle River into Cass Lake, it was found, from Indian accounts, that he could not ascend higher in the state of the water with his heavy canoes, if, indeed, his supplies or the time at his command would have permitted him to accomplish it, compatibly with other objects of his instructions. This, therefore, constituted the terminal point of his journey.
The length of the river, from the Gulf of Mexico to Itasca Lake, has been estimated at 3,160 miles. Barometrical observations show its altitude, above the same point, to be 1,680 feet--which denotes an average descent of a fraction over six inches per mile.
The latitude of Itasca Lake has been accurately determined to be 47° 13' 35"--which is nearly two degrees south of the position assigned to it by the best geographers in 1783, the date of the definite treaty of peace between the United States and Great Britain.
The reason of this geographical mistake has been satisfactorily shown in traversing up the stream from the summit of the Pemidjegomag, or Cross-water Lake--during which, the general course of the ascent is due south.