"La fille du Roi son vout chassau,Avec son grande fusee d'largent,"they waked up a responsive feeling, not alone in the breasts of the Frenchhabitans, lining the shores of the river, but in our own breasts. On reaching the fort, the salute due to the governor of a territory was paid, in honor of our leader, Governor Cass; and in exchanging congratulations with the officers and citizens, we began first to feel, in reality, that, after passing among many savage tribes, our scalps were still safely on our heads. I found, at the fort, letters from my friends, and was thus reminded that warm sympathies had been alive for our fate. Weary regions had now been past, and privations endured, of which we thought little, at the time; the flag of the Union had been carried among barbarous tribes, who hardly knew there was such a power as the United States, or, if they knew, despised it; and some information had been gathered, which it was hoped would enlarge the boundaries of science, and would at the same time send a thrill of satisfaction, and impart a feeling of security, along the whole line of the advanced and extended western settlements. If Berkeley, in the dark days of the Commonwealth of England, could turn to the West, with exultation, as the hope of the nation, it must be admitted that it is by some out-door means, like this, that the way for the car of "empire" must be prepared.We found the fort, which bears the name of Howard, in chargeof Capt. W. Wistler, during the absence of Col. Joseph L. Smith. Its strength consists of three hundred men, together with about the same number of infantry at Camp Smith, at Rock or Dupere Rapid, a few miles above, who are engaged in quarrying stone for a permanent fortification at that point. On visiting this quarry, I found it to consist of a bluish-gray limestone, semi-crystalline in its structure, containing small disseminated masses of sulphuret of zinc, calcspar, and iron pyrites, and corresponding, in every respect, with the beds of this rock observed along the upper parts of the Fox and Wisconsin valleys.Fort Howard is seated on a handsome fertile plain, on the north banks of the Fox, near its mouth. It consists of a stockade of timber, thirty feet high, inclosing barracks, which face three sides of a quadrangle. This forms a fine parade. There are blockhouses, mounting guns, at the angles, and quarters for the surgeon and quartermaster, separately constructed. The whole is whitewashed, and presents a neat military appearance. The gardens of the military denote the most fruitful soil and genial climate. Data observed by the surgeon, indicate the site to be unexcelled for its salubrity, such a disease as fever, of any kind, never having visited it, in either an endemic or epidemic form.The name of Green Bay is associated with our earliest ideas of French history in America. When La Salle visited the country in the 17th century, it had been many years known to the French, and was esteemed one of the prime posts for trading with the Indians. The chief tribes who were located here, and in the vicinity, making this their central point of trade, were thePuants, i. e. Winnebagoes, Malomonies, or Folle Avoins, known to us as Menomonies, Sacs, and Foxes, called also Sakis, Outagami, and Renouards, and it was also the seat of trade for the equivocal tribe of the Mascoutins. The present inhabitants are, with few exceptions, descendants of the original French, who intermarried with Indian women, and who still speak the French and Indian languages. They are indolent, gay, and illiterate. I was told there were five hundred inhabitants, and about sixty principal dwellings, beside temporary structures. There are seventy inhabitants enrolled as militia-men, and the settlement has civil courts, being the seat of justice from Brown County, Michigan, so called in honor of Major-General Jacob Brown, U. S. A. Theplace is surrounded by the woodlands and forests, and seems destined to be an important lake-port.[125]The Algonquin name for this place is Boatchweekwaid, a term which describes an eccentric or abrupt bay, or inlet. Nothing could more truly depict its singular position; it is, in fact, a kind of cul-de-sac—a duplicature of Lake Michigan, with the coast-shore of which it lies parallel for about ninety miles.The singular configuration of this bay appears to be the chief cause of the appearances of a tide at the point where it is entered by Fox River. This phenomenon was early noticed by the French. La Hontan mentions it in 1689. Charlevoix remarks on it in 1721, and suggests its probable cause, which is, in his opinion, explained by the fact that Lakes Michigan and Huron, alternately empty themselves into each other through the Straits of Michilimackinac. The effects of such a flux and reflux, under the power of the winds, would appear to place Green Bay in the position of a siphon, on the west of Lake Michigan, and go far to account for the singular fluctuations of the current at the mouth of the Fox River. On reaching this spot of the rising and falling of the lake waters, Governor Cass caused observations to be made, which he greatly extended at a subsequent period.[126]These give no countenance to the theory of regular tides, but denote the changes in the level of the waters to be eccentrically irregular, and dependent, so far as the observations extend, altogether on the condition of the winds and currents of the lakes.Something analogous to this is perceived in the Baltic, which has no regular tides, and therefore experiences no difference of height, except when the wind blows violently. "At such times," says Pennant,[127]"there is a current in and out of the Baltic, according to the points they blow from, which forces the waterthrough the sound, with the velocity of two or three Danish miles in the hour. When the wind blows violently from the German Sea, the water rises in several Baltic harbors, and gives those in the western tract a temporary saltness; otherwise, the Baltic loses that other property of a sea, by reason of the want of tide, and the quantity of vast rivers it receives, which sweeten it so much as to render it, in many places, fit for domestic use."CHAPTER XVIII.The expedition traces the west shores of Lake Michigan southerly to Chicago—Outline of the journey along this coast—Sites of Manitoowoc, Sheboigan, Milwaukie, Racine, and Chicago, being the present chief towns and cities of Wisconsin and Illinois on the west shores of that Lake—Final reorganization of the party and departure from Chicago.Two days spent in preparations to reorganize the expedition, enabled it to continue its explorations. For the purpose of tracing the western and northern shores of Green Bay, and the northern shores of Lake Michigan, a sub-expedition was fitted out, under Mr. Trowbridge, our sub-topographer, who was accompanied by Mr. J. D. Doty, Mr. Alex. R. Chase, and James Riley, the Chippewa interpreter. The auxiliary Indians, who had, thus far, attended us in a separate canoe, were rewarded for their services, furnished with provisions to reach their homes, and dismissed. The escort of soldiers under Lieut. Mackay, U. S. A., were returned to their respective companies at Fort Howard and Camp Smith. The Chippewa chief,Iaba Wawashkash, or the Buck, who belonged to Michilimackinac, went with Mr. Trowbridge, together with Jo Parks, the intelligent Shawnee captive, and assimilated Shawnee of Waughpekennota,[128]Ohio. The Ottowa chief, Kewaygooshkum, of Grand-River, took the rest of the party in a separate canoe to their destination. Our collections in natural history were shipped in the schooner Decatur, Capt. Burnham (Perry's boatswain in the memorable naval battle of Lake Erie, Sept. 11, 1813), to Michilimackinac, together with the extra baggage.Thus relieved in numbers and canoe-hamper, we were reduced to two canoes; the travelling family of Gov. Cass now consisted of Capt. Douglass, Dr. Wolcott, Maj. Forsyth, Lieut. Mackay, and myself. Leaving Fort Howard at two o'clock P. M., we parted with Mr. Trowbridge and his party at the mouth of Fox River, at half past two, and taking the other, or east side of the bay, proceeded along its shores about twenty-five miles, and encamped on the coast called Red Banks. This is a term translated from the Winnebago name, which is renowned in their traditions as the earliest spot which they can recollect. They dwelt here when the French first reached Green Bay in their discoveries in the seventeenth century. Here, then, is a test of the value and continuity of Indian tradition, so far as this tribe is concerned, for admitting, what is doubtful, that the French reached this point so early as 1650, the period of recognized Winnebago history, as proved by geography, reaches but 170 years prior to the above date.In a short time after entering the bay, we were overtaken by Kewaygooshkum and his party, who travelled and encamped with us. In the course of the evening he pointed out a rocky island, at three or four miles distance, containing a large cavern, which has been used by the Indians from early times as a repository for the dead. The chief, as he pointed to it, as if absorbed in a spirit of ancestral reverence, seemed to say:—"It hath a charm the stranger knoweth not,It is the [sepulchre] of mine ancestry;There is an inspiration in its shade,The echoes of its walls are eloquent,The words they speak are of the glorious dead;Its tenants are not human—they are more!It is the home of memories dearly honoredBy many a trace of long departed glory."The appearance of ancient cultivation of this coast is such as to give semblance to the Winnebago tradition of its having been their former residence. The lands are fertile, alluvion, bearinga secondary growth of trees, mingled with older species of the acer saccharinum, elm, and oak.The next day, after traversing this coast twenty miles further, we reached and passed up Sturgeon Bay, to a portage path leading to Lake Michigan. This path begins in low grounds, where several of the swamp species of plants occur. On reaching the open shores of Lake Michigan, the wind was found strongly ahead, and we were compelled to encamp. At this spot we found several species of madreperes, and some other organic forms, among the shore debris. The next day the wind abated, and, agreeably to the estimate of Capt. Douglass, we advanced along the shore, southwardly, forty-six miles. The day following, we made forty miles, and reached the River Manitowakie,[129]and encamped on the lake shore, five miles south of it.In passing along the lake shore this day (25th), we observed it to be strewed abundantly with the carcasses of dead pigeons. This bird, we were told, is often overcome by the fatigue of long flights, or storms, in crossing the lake, and entire flocks drowned. This causes the shores to be visited by great numbers of hawks, eagles, and other birds of prey. The Indians only make use of those carcasses of pigeons, as food, when they are first cast on shore.The next day the expedition passed the mouth of the Sheboigan River, a stream originating not remotely from the banks of Winnebago Lake, with which, as the name indicates, there is a portage or passage through.[130]Pushing forward with every forceduring the day, we reached the mouth of the Milwaukie River, and encamped on the beach some time after dark. This is a large and important river, and is connected by an Indian portage with the Rock River of the Mississippi. The next morning adverse winds confined us to this spot, where we remained a considerable part of the day, which enabled us to explore the locality. We found it to be the site of a Pottawattomie village. There were two American families located at that place, engaged in the Indian trade.The name of Milwaukie,[131]exhibits an instance of which there are many others, in which the French have substituted the sound of the letterlin place ofn, in Indian words.Min, in the Algonquin languages signifiesgood.Waukie, is a derivative fromauki, earth or land, the fertility of the soil, along the banks of that stream, being the characteristic trait which is described in the Indian compound.When the wind lulled so as to permit embarkation, we proceeded on our course. At the computed distance of five miles, we observed a bed of light-colored tertiary clay, possessing a compactness, tenacity, and feel, which denote its utility in the arts. This bed, after a break of many miles in the shores, reappears in thicker and more massive layers, at eight or ten miles distance. The waves dashing against this elevated bank of clay,[132]have liberated balls and crystallized-masses of sulphuret of iron.Some of the more recently exposed masses of this mineral are of a bright brass color. The tendency of their crystallization is to restore octahedral and cubical forms. We advanced along this shore about thirty-five miles, encamping on an eligible part of the beach before dark. I found, in examining the mineralogy of the coast, masses of detached limestone, containing fissures filled with asphaltum. On breaking these masses, and laying open the fissures, the substance assumed the form of naphtha. We observed among the plants along this portion of coast, the tradescantia virginica, and T. liatris, and squarrosa scariosa.[133]By scrutinizing the wave-moved pebble-drift along shore, it is evident that inferior positions, in the geological basin of Lake Michigan, contain slaty, or bituminous coal, masses of which were developed.The next day's journey, 28th, carried us forty miles, in which distance, the most noticeable fact in the topography of the coast, was the entrance of the Racine, or Root River;[134]its eligible shores being occupied by some Pottawattomie lodges. Having reached within ten or twelve miles of Chicago, and being anxious to make that point, we were in motion at a very early hour on the morning of the 29th, and reached the village at five o'clock A. M. We found four or five families living here, the principal of which were those of Mr. John Kinzie, Dr. A. Wolcott, J. B. Bobian, and Mr. J. Crafts, the latter living a short distance up the river. The Pottawattomies, to whom this site is the capital of their trade, appeared to be lords of the soil, and truly are entitled to the epithet, if laziness, and an utter inappreciation of the value of time, be a test of lordliness. Dr. Wolcott, being the U. S. Agent for this tribe, found himself at home here, and constitutes no further, a member of the expedition. Gov. Cass determined to return to Detroit from this point, on horseback, across the peninsula of Michigan, accompanied by Lt. Mackay, U. S. A., Maj. Forsyth, his private secretary, and the necessary number of men and pack horses to prepare their night encampments. This left Capt. Douglass and myself to continue the survey of the Lakes, and after reaching Michilimackinac and rejoining the party of Mr. Trowbridge, to return to Detroit from that point.The preparation for these ends occupied a couple of days, which gave us an opportunity to scan the vicinity. We found the post (Fort Dearborn) under the command of Capt. Bradley, with a force of one hundred and sixty men. The river is ample and deep for a few miles, but is utterly choked up by the lake sands, through which, behind a masked margin, it oozes its way for amile or two, till it percolates through the sands into the lake. Its banks consist of a black arenaceous fertile soil, which is stated to produce abundantly, in its season, the wild species of cepa, or leek. This circumstance has led the natives to name it the place of the wild leek. Such is the origin of the term Chicago,[135]which is a derivative, by elision and French annotation, from the wordChi-kaug-ong.Kaug, is the Algonquin name for the hystrix, or porcupine. It takes the prefixChi, when applied to the mustela putorius. The particleChi, is the common prefix of nouns to denote greatness in any natural object, but it is also employed, as here, to mean increase, or excess, as acridness, or pungency, in quality. The penultimateong, denotes locality. The putorius is so named from this plant, and not, as has been thought, the plant from it. I took the sketch, which is reproduced in the fourth vol. of myEthnological Researches, Plate xxvii., from a standpoint on the flat of sand which stretched in front of the place. This view embraces every house in the village, with the fort; and if the reproduction of the artist in vol. iv. may be subjected to any criticism, it is, perhaps, that the stockade bears too great a proportion to the scene, while the precipice observed in the shore line of sand, is wholly wanting in the original.The country around Chicago is the most fertile and beautiful that can be imagined. It consists of an intermixture of woods and prairies, diversified with gentle slopes, sometimes attaining the elevation of hills, and it is irrigated with a number of clear streams and rivers, which throw their waters partly into Lake Michigan, and partly into the Mississippi River. As a farming country, it presents the greatest facilities for raising stock andgrains, and it is one of the most favored parts of the Mississippi Valley; the climate has a delightful serenity, and it must, as soon as the Indian title is extinguished,[136]become one of the most attractive fields for the emigrant. To the ordinary advantages of an agricultural market town, it must add that of being a depot for the commerce between the northern and southern sections of the Union, and a great thoroughfare for strangers, merchants, and travellers.The Milwaukie clays to which I have adverted, do not extend thus far, although the argillaceous deposits found, appear to be destitute of the oxide of iron, for the bricks produced from them burn white. There is a locality of bituminous coal on Fox River, about forty miles south. Near, the junction of the Desplaines River with the Kankakee, there exists in the semi-crystalline or sedimentary limestone, a remarkable fossil-tree.[137]CHAPTER XIX.South and Eastern borders of Lake Michigan—Their Flora and Fauna—Incidents of the journey—Topography—Geology, Botany, and Mineralogy—Indian Tribes—Burial-place of Marquette—Ruins of the post of old Mackinac—Reach Michilimackinac after a canoe journey north of four hundred miles.It was now the last day of August. Having partaken of the hospitalities of Mr. Kinzie, and of Captains Bradley and Green, of Fort Dearborn, during our stay at Chicago, and completed the reorganization of our parties, we separated on the last day of the month, at two o'clock P. M.; Gov. Cass and his party, on horseback, taking the old Indian trail to Detroit, and Capt. Douglass and myself being left, with two canoes, to complete the circumnavigation of the lakes. We did not delay our departure over thirty minutes, but bidding adieu to Dr. Wolcott, whose manners, judgment, and intelligence had commanded our respect during the journey, embarked with two canoes; our steersmen immediately hoisted their square sails, and, favored by a good breeze, we proceeded twenty miles along the southern curve, at the head of Lake Michigan, and encamped.Within two miles of Chicago, we passed, on the open shores of the lake, the scene of the massacre of Chicago, of the 15th of August, 1812, being the day after the surrender of Detroit by Gen. Hull. Gloom hung, at that eventful period, over every part of our western borders. Michilimackinac had already been carried by surprise; and the ill-advised order to evacuate Chicago, was deemed by the Indians an admission that the Americans were to be driven from the country. The Pottawattomies determined to show the power of their hostility on this occasion. Capt. Heald, the commanding officer, having received Gen. Hull's order to abandon the post, and having an escort of thirty friendly Miamis, from Fort Wayne, under Captain Wells, had quitted thefort at nine o'clock in the morning, with fifty-four regulars, a subaltern, physician, twelve militia, and the necessary baggage wagons for the provisions and ammunition, which contained eighteen soldiers, women and children. They had not proceeded more than a mile and a half along the shore of the lake, when an ambuscade of Indians was discovered behind the sand-hills which encompass the flat sandy shore. The horrid yell, which rose on the discovery being made, was accompanied by a general and deadly fire from them. Several men fell at the first fire, but Capt. Heald formed his men, and effected a charge up the bank, which dispersed his assailants. It was only, however, to find the enemy return by a flank movement, in which their numbers gave them the victory. In a few moments, out of his effective force of sixty-six men, but sixteen survived. With these, he succeeded in drawing off to a position in the prairie, where he was not followed by the Indians. On a negotiation, opened by a chief called Mukudapenais, he surrendered, under promise of security for their lives. This promise was afterwards violated, with the exception of himself and three or four men. Among the slain was Ensign Ronan, Dr. Voorhis, and Capt. Wells. The latter had his heart cut out, and his body received other shocking indignities. The saddest part of the tragedy was the attack on the women and children who occupied the baggage wagons, and were all slain. Several of the women fought with swords. During the action, a sergeant of infantry ran his bayonet through the heart of an Indian who had lifted his tomahawk to strike him; not being able to withdraw the instrument, it served to hold up the Indian, who actually tomahawked him in this position, and both fell dead together.[138]The Miamis remained neuter in this massacre. Mr. Kinzie, of Chicago, of whose hospitalities we had partaken, was a witness of this transaction, and furnished the principal facts of this narrative.The morning (Sept. 1) opened with a perfect gale, and we weredegradè, to use a Canadian term, all day; the waves dashed against the shore with a violence that made it impossible to take the lake with canoes, and would have rendered it perilous even to a largevessel. This violence continued, with no perceptible diminution, during the day. As a mode of relief from the tedium of delay, a short excursion was made into the prairie. I found a few species of the unio, in a partially choked up branch of the Konamek. Capt. Douglass improved the time by taking observations for the latitude, and we footed around ten miles of the extreme southern head of the lake. It is edged with sand-hills, bearing pines. A few dead valves of the fresh-water muscle were found on the shore.On the following day the wind lulled, when we proceeded fifty-four miles, passing in the distance the remains of the schooner Hercules, which went ashore in a gale, in November, 1816, and all on board perished; her mast, pump, spars, and the graves of the passengers, among which, was that of Lieut. W. S. Eveleth, U. S. A., were pointed out to us. We landed a few moments at the entrance of the River du Chemin,[139]where the trail to Detroit leaves the lake shore. The distance to that city is estimated at three hundred miles. Ten miles beyond this spot we passed the little River Galien, where, at this time, the town and harbor of New Buffalo, of Michigan, is situated, and we encamped on the shore twelve miles beyond it.We had been travelling on a slightly curved line from Chicago to the spot, in the latitude of 41° 52´ 20´´, and had now reached a point where the course tends more directly to the northeast and north. By the best accounts, the length of Lake Michigan, lying directly from south to north, is four hundred miles. There is no other lake in America, north or south, which traverses so many degrees of latitude, and we had reason to expect its flora and fauna to denote some striking changes. We had passed down its west, or Wisconsin shore, from Sturgeon Bay, finding it to present a clear margin of forest, with many good harbors, and a fertile, gently undulating surface. But we were now to encounter another cast of scenery. It is manifest, from a survey of the eastern shore of this lake, that the prevalent winds are from the west and northwest, for they have cast up vast sand dunes along the coast, which give it an arid appearance. These dunes are,however, but a hem on the fertile prairie lands, not extending more than half a mile or more, and thus masking the fertile lands. Water, in the shape of lagoons, is often accumulated behind these sand-banks, and the force of the winds is such as to choke and sometimes entirely shut up the mouth of its rivers. We had found this hem of sand-hills extending around the southern shore of the lake from the vicinity of Chicago, and soon found that it gave an appearance of sterility to the country that it by no means merited. On reaching the mouth of St. Joseph's River (3d), a full exemplification of this striking effect of the lake action was exhibited. This is one of the largest rivers of the peninsula, running for more than a hundred and twenty miles through a succession of rich plains and prairies; yet its mouth, which carries a large volume of water into the lake, is rendered difficult of entrance to vessels, and its lake-borders are loaded with drifts of shifting sand.The next day's journey carried us fifty miles; and, on proceeding ten miles further on the 4th, we reached the mouth of the Kalamazoo.[140]Before reaching this river, I discovered on the beach a body of detached orbicular masses of the calcareous marl called septaria—the ludus helmontii of the old mineralogists. On breaking some of these masses, they disclosed small crystalline seams of sulphuret of zinc. The Kalamazoo irrigates a fine tract of the most fertile and beautiful prairies of Michigan, which, at the date of the revision of this journal, is studded with flourishing towns and villages.Fifteen miles further progress towards the north, brought us to the mouth of Grand River—the Washtenong of the Indians—which is, I believe the largest and longest stream of the Michigan peninsula. It is the boundary between the hunting-grounds of the Pottowattomies (who have thus far claimed jurisdiction from Chicago) and the Ottowas. The latter live in large numbers at its rapids and on its various tributaries.[141]The next stream ofnote we encountered was the Maskigon, twelve miles north of Grand River, where we encamped, having travelled, during the day, fifty-four miles. The view of this scene was impressive from its bleakness, the dunes of sand being more at the mercy of the winds. I found here a large, branching specimen of the club-fungus, attached to a dead specimen of the populus tremuloides, which had been completely penetrated by these drifting sands, so as to present quite the appearance, and no little part of the hardness and consistency, of a fossil. The following figure of this transformation from a fungus to a semi-stony body, presents a perfect outline of it as sketched in its original position.On the day of our departure from the Maskigon, we enjoyed fine weather and favorable winds, and proceeded, from the data of Captain Douglass, seventy miles, and encamped a few miles beyond the Sandy River. In this line of coast, we passed, successively, the White, Pentwater, and Marquette. Of these, the latter, both from its size and its historical associations, is by far the mostimportant; for it was at this spot, after having spent years of devotion in the cause of missions in New France—in the course of which he discovered the Mississippi River—that this zealous servant of God laid down in his tent, after a hard day's travel, and surrendered up his life. The event occurred on the 8th of May, 1675, but two years after his grand discovery. Marquette was a native of Laon, in Picardy, where his family was of distinguished rank. The precise moment of his death was not witnessed, his men having retired to leave him to his devotions, but returning, in a short time, found him lifeless. They carried his body to the mission of old Michilimackinac, of which he was the founder, where it was interred.[142]It rained the next morning (6th), by which we lost two hours, and we had some unfavorable winds, but, by dint of hard pushing, we made forty-five miles, and slept at Gravelly Point. In this line we passed successively, at distances of seventeen and thirty miles, the rivers Manistic andBecsie, which is the Canadian phrase for the anas canadensis. Clouds and murky weather still hovered around us on the next morning, but we left our encampment at an early hour. Thirteen miles brought us to the Omicomico, or Plate River, nine miles beyond which found us in front of a remarkable and very elevated sand June, called the Sleeping Bear—a fanciful term, derived from the Indian, through the Frenchl'ours qui dormis. Opposite this feature in the coast geology, lie the two large wooded islands called the Minitos—well-known objects to all mariners who venture into the vast unsheltered basin of the southern body of Lake Michigan. Thirty miles beyond this sandy elevation, brought us to the southern cape of Grand Traverse Bay, where we encamped, having advanced fifty-two miles. This was the first place where we had noticed rocks in situ, since passing the little Konamic River, near Chicago. It proved to be limestone, of the same apparent era of the calcareous rockwhich we had observed at Sturgeon Bay and the contiguous west shore of Lake Michigan. The line of lake coast included in this remark is three hundred and twenty miles; during all which distance the coast seems, but only seems, to be the sport of the fierce gales and storms, for there is reason to believe that the formations of drift clay, sand, and gravel rest, at various depths, on a stratification of solid, permanent rock. To us, however, it proved a barren field for the collection of both geological and mineralogical specimens. There were gleaned some rolled specimens of organic remains, of no further use than to denote the occurrence of these in some part of a vast basin. There was a specimen of gypsum from Grand River. The few patches of iron sand I had noticed, were hardly worthy of record after the heavy beds of this mineral which we had passed in Lake Superior. The same remark may be made of the few rolled fragments of calcedonies, and other varieties of the quartz family, gleaned up along its shores, for neither of these constitute a reliable locality.Petrified leaf of theFagus FerrugineaOf the floræ and fauna we had been observant, but the sandy character of the mere coast line greatly narrowed the former, in which Captain Douglass found but little to preserve, beyond theparnassia caroliniana and seottia cerna.[143]The fury of the waves renders it a region wholly unfitted to the whole tribe of fresh-water shells. A petrifaction of the fagus ferruginia, brought from a spring on the banks of the St. Joseph's River by Gov. Cass, on his home route, on horseback, presented the petrifying process in one of its most perfect forms (videp. 206). Surfeited with a species of scenery in which the naked sand dunes were often painful to the eye, from their ophthalmic influence, and of geological prostrations which seemed to lay the coast in ruins, we were glad to reach the solid rock formations, supporting, as they did, a soil favorable to green forests.A partial eclipse of the sun had been calculated for the 5th of September (1820), to commence at seven o'clock, twenty minutes; but, though we were on the lake, and anxious to note it, the weather proved to be too much overcast, and no effects of it were observed. This eclipse was observed, according to the predictions, at Philadelphia.The morning of the 8th proved calm, which permitted us to cross the mouth of Grand Traverse Bay. This piece of water is nine miles across, with an unexplored depth, and has some 300 Chippewas living on its borders. Six miles north of this point, we reached and crossed Little Traverse Bay, which is occupied by Ottawas. These two tribes are close confederates, speak dialects of the same language which is readily understood by both, and live on the most friendly terms. The Ottowas on the head of Little Traverse Bay, and on the adjoining coast of Lake Michigan—which, from its principal village, bears the names of Village of the Cross, and of Waganukizzie,[144]or L'Arbre Croche—are, to a great extent, cultivators of the soil, and have adopted the use of hats, and the Frenchcapot, having laid aside paints and feathers. They raise large quantities of Indian corn for the Mackinac market, and manufacture, in the season, from the sap of the acer saccharinum, considerable quantities of maple sugar, which is put up, in somewhat elongated bark boxes, called muckucks, in which it is carried to the same market. We found them, wherever they were encountered, a people of friendly manners and comity.We were now drawing toward the foot of Lake Michigan, at the point where this inland sea is connected, through the Straits of Michilimackinac, with Lake Huron. A cluster of islands, called the Beaver Islands, had been in sight on our left hand, since passing the coast of the Sleeping Bear, which are noted as affording good anchorage ground to vessels navigating the lake. It is twenty-five miles from the site of the old French mission, near L'Arbre Croche, to the end of point Wagoshance,[145]which is the southeast cape of the Straits of Michilimackinac, and nine miles from thence to the Island. Along the bleak coast of this storm-beaten, horizontal limestone rock, with a thin covering of drift, we diligently passed. Night overtook us as we came through the straits, hugging their eastern shore, and we encamped on a little circular open bay, long after it became pitchy dark. We had traversed a coast line of fifty-seven miles, and were glad, after a refreshing cup of tea and our usual meal, to retire to our pallets.The next morning revealed our position. We were at the ancient site of old Michilimackinac—a spot celebrated in the early missionary annals and history of New France. This was, indeed, one of the first points settled by the French after Cadaracqui, being a missionary and trading station before the foundation of Fort Niagara, in 1678; for La Salle, after determining on the latter, proceeded, the same fall, up the lakes to this point, which he installed with a military element. The mission of St. Ignace had before been attempted on the north shore of the straits, but it was finally removed here by the advice of Marquette. On gazing at the straits, they were found to be agitated by a perfect gale. This gave time for examining the vicinity. It was found a deserted plain, overspread with sand, in many parts, with the ruins of former occupancy piercing through these sandy drifts, which gave it an air of perfect desolation. By far the most conspicuous among these ruins, was the stone foundation of the ancient fort, and the excavations of the exterior buildings, which had evidently composed a part of the military or missionary plan. Not a house, not a cultivated field, not a fence was to be seen. The remains of broken pottery, and pieces of black bottles, irridescent from age, served impressively to show that men had once eaten and drank here. It was in 1763, in the outbreak of the Pontiac war, that this fort, then recently surrendered to the English, was captured, by acoup-de-main, by the Indians. The English, probably doubting its safety, during the American Revolution, removed the garrison to the island, which had, indeed, furnished the name of Michilimackinac before; for the Indians had,ab initio, called the old post Peekwutinong, or Headland-place, applying the other name exclusively, as at this day, to the Gibraltar-like island which rises up, with its picturesque cliffs, from the very depths of Lake Huron. The sketch of this scene of desolation, with the Island in view, is given in the second volume of myEthnological Researches, Plate LIII.After pacing the plain of this ancient point of French settlement in every point, we returned to our tent about eleven o'clock A. M., and deemed it practicable to attempt the crossing to the island in a light canoe, for, although the gale was little if any abated, the wind blew fair. I concurred in the opinion of Captain Douglass that this might be done, and very readily assented to try it, leaving the men in the baggage canoe to effect the passage when the wind fell. It cannot be asserted that this passage was without hazard; for my own part, I had too much trust in my nature to fear it, and, if we were ever wafted on "the wings of the wind," it was on this occasion; our boatmen, volunteers for the occasion, reefing the sails to two feet, and we owed our success mainly to their good management. On rounding the Ottowa point, which is the south cape of the little harbor of 'Mackinac, our friends who had parted from us at Green Bay were among the first to greet us. By the union of these two parties, the circumnavigation of Lake Michigan had been completely made. The rate of travel along the line traversed by them was computed at forty-five miles per day. They had been eight days on the route. The coast line traversed by Captain Douglass and myself, since quitting Chicago, is four hundred and thirty-nine miles, giving a mean of forty-three miles per diem, of which one entire day was lost by head winds.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]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 seriesof 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 upsupplies, 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.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 toMackinac, 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 onlytenmiles, the second butfour.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 theau 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]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]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 suchextensive 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.—Videp.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:—
"La fille du Roi son vout chassau,Avec son grande fusee d'largent,"
"La fille du Roi son vout chassau,Avec son grande fusee d'largent,"
"La fille du Roi son vout chassau,
Avec son grande fusee d'largent,"
they waked up a responsive feeling, not alone in the breasts of the Frenchhabitans, lining the shores of the river, but in our own breasts. On reaching the fort, the salute due to the governor of a territory was paid, in honor of our leader, Governor Cass; and in exchanging congratulations with the officers and citizens, we began first to feel, in reality, that, after passing among many savage tribes, our scalps were still safely on our heads. I found, at the fort, letters from my friends, and was thus reminded that warm sympathies had been alive for our fate. Weary regions had now been past, and privations endured, of which we thought little, at the time; the flag of the Union had been carried among barbarous tribes, who hardly knew there was such a power as the United States, or, if they knew, despised it; and some information had been gathered, which it was hoped would enlarge the boundaries of science, and would at the same time send a thrill of satisfaction, and impart a feeling of security, along the whole line of the advanced and extended western settlements. If Berkeley, in the dark days of the Commonwealth of England, could turn to the West, with exultation, as the hope of the nation, it must be admitted that it is by some out-door means, like this, that the way for the car of "empire" must be prepared.
We found the fort, which bears the name of Howard, in chargeof Capt. W. Wistler, during the absence of Col. Joseph L. Smith. Its strength consists of three hundred men, together with about the same number of infantry at Camp Smith, at Rock or Dupere Rapid, a few miles above, who are engaged in quarrying stone for a permanent fortification at that point. On visiting this quarry, I found it to consist of a bluish-gray limestone, semi-crystalline in its structure, containing small disseminated masses of sulphuret of zinc, calcspar, and iron pyrites, and corresponding, in every respect, with the beds of this rock observed along the upper parts of the Fox and Wisconsin valleys.
Fort Howard is seated on a handsome fertile plain, on the north banks of the Fox, near its mouth. It consists of a stockade of timber, thirty feet high, inclosing barracks, which face three sides of a quadrangle. This forms a fine parade. There are blockhouses, mounting guns, at the angles, and quarters for the surgeon and quartermaster, separately constructed. The whole is whitewashed, and presents a neat military appearance. The gardens of the military denote the most fruitful soil and genial climate. Data observed by the surgeon, indicate the site to be unexcelled for its salubrity, such a disease as fever, of any kind, never having visited it, in either an endemic or epidemic form.
The name of Green Bay is associated with our earliest ideas of French history in America. When La Salle visited the country in the 17th century, it had been many years known to the French, and was esteemed one of the prime posts for trading with the Indians. The chief tribes who were located here, and in the vicinity, making this their central point of trade, were thePuants, i. e. Winnebagoes, Malomonies, or Folle Avoins, known to us as Menomonies, Sacs, and Foxes, called also Sakis, Outagami, and Renouards, and it was also the seat of trade for the equivocal tribe of the Mascoutins. The present inhabitants are, with few exceptions, descendants of the original French, who intermarried with Indian women, and who still speak the French and Indian languages. They are indolent, gay, and illiterate. I was told there were five hundred inhabitants, and about sixty principal dwellings, beside temporary structures. There are seventy inhabitants enrolled as militia-men, and the settlement has civil courts, being the seat of justice from Brown County, Michigan, so called in honor of Major-General Jacob Brown, U. S. A. Theplace is surrounded by the woodlands and forests, and seems destined to be an important lake-port.[125]The Algonquin name for this place is Boatchweekwaid, a term which describes an eccentric or abrupt bay, or inlet. Nothing could more truly depict its singular position; it is, in fact, a kind of cul-de-sac—a duplicature of Lake Michigan, with the coast-shore of which it lies parallel for about ninety miles.
The singular configuration of this bay appears to be the chief cause of the appearances of a tide at the point where it is entered by Fox River. This phenomenon was early noticed by the French. La Hontan mentions it in 1689. Charlevoix remarks on it in 1721, and suggests its probable cause, which is, in his opinion, explained by the fact that Lakes Michigan and Huron, alternately empty themselves into each other through the Straits of Michilimackinac. The effects of such a flux and reflux, under the power of the winds, would appear to place Green Bay in the position of a siphon, on the west of Lake Michigan, and go far to account for the singular fluctuations of the current at the mouth of the Fox River. On reaching this spot of the rising and falling of the lake waters, Governor Cass caused observations to be made, which he greatly extended at a subsequent period.[126]These give no countenance to the theory of regular tides, but denote the changes in the level of the waters to be eccentrically irregular, and dependent, so far as the observations extend, altogether on the condition of the winds and currents of the lakes.
Something analogous to this is perceived in the Baltic, which has no regular tides, and therefore experiences no difference of height, except when the wind blows violently. "At such times," says Pennant,[127]"there is a current in and out of the Baltic, according to the points they blow from, which forces the waterthrough the sound, with the velocity of two or three Danish miles in the hour. When the wind blows violently from the German Sea, the water rises in several Baltic harbors, and gives those in the western tract a temporary saltness; otherwise, the Baltic loses that other property of a sea, by reason of the want of tide, and the quantity of vast rivers it receives, which sweeten it so much as to render it, in many places, fit for domestic use."
The expedition traces the west shores of Lake Michigan southerly to Chicago—Outline of the journey along this coast—Sites of Manitoowoc, Sheboigan, Milwaukie, Racine, and Chicago, being the present chief towns and cities of Wisconsin and Illinois on the west shores of that Lake—Final reorganization of the party and departure from Chicago.
Two days spent in preparations to reorganize the expedition, enabled it to continue its explorations. For the purpose of tracing the western and northern shores of Green Bay, and the northern shores of Lake Michigan, a sub-expedition was fitted out, under Mr. Trowbridge, our sub-topographer, who was accompanied by Mr. J. D. Doty, Mr. Alex. R. Chase, and James Riley, the Chippewa interpreter. The auxiliary Indians, who had, thus far, attended us in a separate canoe, were rewarded for their services, furnished with provisions to reach their homes, and dismissed. The escort of soldiers under Lieut. Mackay, U. S. A., were returned to their respective companies at Fort Howard and Camp Smith. The Chippewa chief,Iaba Wawashkash, or the Buck, who belonged to Michilimackinac, went with Mr. Trowbridge, together with Jo Parks, the intelligent Shawnee captive, and assimilated Shawnee of Waughpekennota,[128]Ohio. The Ottowa chief, Kewaygooshkum, of Grand-River, took the rest of the party in a separate canoe to their destination. Our collections in natural history were shipped in the schooner Decatur, Capt. Burnham (Perry's boatswain in the memorable naval battle of Lake Erie, Sept. 11, 1813), to Michilimackinac, together with the extra baggage.
Thus relieved in numbers and canoe-hamper, we were reduced to two canoes; the travelling family of Gov. Cass now consisted of Capt. Douglass, Dr. Wolcott, Maj. Forsyth, Lieut. Mackay, and myself. Leaving Fort Howard at two o'clock P. M., we parted with Mr. Trowbridge and his party at the mouth of Fox River, at half past two, and taking the other, or east side of the bay, proceeded along its shores about twenty-five miles, and encamped on the coast called Red Banks. This is a term translated from the Winnebago name, which is renowned in their traditions as the earliest spot which they can recollect. They dwelt here when the French first reached Green Bay in their discoveries in the seventeenth century. Here, then, is a test of the value and continuity of Indian tradition, so far as this tribe is concerned, for admitting, what is doubtful, that the French reached this point so early as 1650, the period of recognized Winnebago history, as proved by geography, reaches but 170 years prior to the above date.
In a short time after entering the bay, we were overtaken by Kewaygooshkum and his party, who travelled and encamped with us. In the course of the evening he pointed out a rocky island, at three or four miles distance, containing a large cavern, which has been used by the Indians from early times as a repository for the dead. The chief, as he pointed to it, as if absorbed in a spirit of ancestral reverence, seemed to say:—
"It hath a charm the stranger knoweth not,It is the [sepulchre] of mine ancestry;There is an inspiration in its shade,The echoes of its walls are eloquent,The words they speak are of the glorious dead;Its tenants are not human—they are more!It is the home of memories dearly honoredBy many a trace of long departed glory."
"It hath a charm the stranger knoweth not,It is the [sepulchre] of mine ancestry;There is an inspiration in its shade,The echoes of its walls are eloquent,The words they speak are of the glorious dead;Its tenants are not human—they are more!It is the home of memories dearly honoredBy many a trace of long departed glory."
"It hath a charm the stranger knoweth not,
It is the [sepulchre] of mine ancestry;
There is an inspiration in its shade,
The echoes of its walls are eloquent,
The words they speak are of the glorious dead;
Its tenants are not human—they are more!
It is the home of memories dearly honored
By many a trace of long departed glory."
The appearance of ancient cultivation of this coast is such as to give semblance to the Winnebago tradition of its having been their former residence. The lands are fertile, alluvion, bearinga secondary growth of trees, mingled with older species of the acer saccharinum, elm, and oak.
The next day, after traversing this coast twenty miles further, we reached and passed up Sturgeon Bay, to a portage path leading to Lake Michigan. This path begins in low grounds, where several of the swamp species of plants occur. On reaching the open shores of Lake Michigan, the wind was found strongly ahead, and we were compelled to encamp. At this spot we found several species of madreperes, and some other organic forms, among the shore debris. The next day the wind abated, and, agreeably to the estimate of Capt. Douglass, we advanced along the shore, southwardly, forty-six miles. The day following, we made forty miles, and reached the River Manitowakie,[129]and encamped on the lake shore, five miles south of it.
In passing along the lake shore this day (25th), we observed it to be strewed abundantly with the carcasses of dead pigeons. This bird, we were told, is often overcome by the fatigue of long flights, or storms, in crossing the lake, and entire flocks drowned. This causes the shores to be visited by great numbers of hawks, eagles, and other birds of prey. The Indians only make use of those carcasses of pigeons, as food, when they are first cast on shore.
The next day the expedition passed the mouth of the Sheboigan River, a stream originating not remotely from the banks of Winnebago Lake, with which, as the name indicates, there is a portage or passage through.[130]Pushing forward with every forceduring the day, we reached the mouth of the Milwaukie River, and encamped on the beach some time after dark. This is a large and important river, and is connected by an Indian portage with the Rock River of the Mississippi. The next morning adverse winds confined us to this spot, where we remained a considerable part of the day, which enabled us to explore the locality. We found it to be the site of a Pottawattomie village. There were two American families located at that place, engaged in the Indian trade.
The name of Milwaukie,[131]exhibits an instance of which there are many others, in which the French have substituted the sound of the letterlin place ofn, in Indian words.Min, in the Algonquin languages signifiesgood.Waukie, is a derivative fromauki, earth or land, the fertility of the soil, along the banks of that stream, being the characteristic trait which is described in the Indian compound.
When the wind lulled so as to permit embarkation, we proceeded on our course. At the computed distance of five miles, we observed a bed of light-colored tertiary clay, possessing a compactness, tenacity, and feel, which denote its utility in the arts. This bed, after a break of many miles in the shores, reappears in thicker and more massive layers, at eight or ten miles distance. The waves dashing against this elevated bank of clay,[132]have liberated balls and crystallized-masses of sulphuret of iron.
Some of the more recently exposed masses of this mineral are of a bright brass color. The tendency of their crystallization is to restore octahedral and cubical forms. We advanced along this shore about thirty-five miles, encamping on an eligible part of the beach before dark. I found, in examining the mineralogy of the coast, masses of detached limestone, containing fissures filled with asphaltum. On breaking these masses, and laying open the fissures, the substance assumed the form of naphtha. We observed among the plants along this portion of coast, the tradescantia virginica, and T. liatris, and squarrosa scariosa.[133]By scrutinizing the wave-moved pebble-drift along shore, it is evident that inferior positions, in the geological basin of Lake Michigan, contain slaty, or bituminous coal, masses of which were developed.
The next day's journey, 28th, carried us forty miles, in which distance, the most noticeable fact in the topography of the coast, was the entrance of the Racine, or Root River;[134]its eligible shores being occupied by some Pottawattomie lodges. Having reached within ten or twelve miles of Chicago, and being anxious to make that point, we were in motion at a very early hour on the morning of the 29th, and reached the village at five o'clock A. M. We found four or five families living here, the principal of which were those of Mr. John Kinzie, Dr. A. Wolcott, J. B. Bobian, and Mr. J. Crafts, the latter living a short distance up the river. The Pottawattomies, to whom this site is the capital of their trade, appeared to be lords of the soil, and truly are entitled to the epithet, if laziness, and an utter inappreciation of the value of time, be a test of lordliness. Dr. Wolcott, being the U. S. Agent for this tribe, found himself at home here, and constitutes no further, a member of the expedition. Gov. Cass determined to return to Detroit from this point, on horseback, across the peninsula of Michigan, accompanied by Lt. Mackay, U. S. A., Maj. Forsyth, his private secretary, and the necessary number of men and pack horses to prepare their night encampments. This left Capt. Douglass and myself to continue the survey of the Lakes, and after reaching Michilimackinac and rejoining the party of Mr. Trowbridge, to return to Detroit from that point.
The preparation for these ends occupied a couple of days, which gave us an opportunity to scan the vicinity. We found the post (Fort Dearborn) under the command of Capt. Bradley, with a force of one hundred and sixty men. The river is ample and deep for a few miles, but is utterly choked up by the lake sands, through which, behind a masked margin, it oozes its way for amile or two, till it percolates through the sands into the lake. Its banks consist of a black arenaceous fertile soil, which is stated to produce abundantly, in its season, the wild species of cepa, or leek. This circumstance has led the natives to name it the place of the wild leek. Such is the origin of the term Chicago,[135]which is a derivative, by elision and French annotation, from the wordChi-kaug-ong.Kaug, is the Algonquin name for the hystrix, or porcupine. It takes the prefixChi, when applied to the mustela putorius. The particleChi, is the common prefix of nouns to denote greatness in any natural object, but it is also employed, as here, to mean increase, or excess, as acridness, or pungency, in quality. The penultimateong, denotes locality. The putorius is so named from this plant, and not, as has been thought, the plant from it. I took the sketch, which is reproduced in the fourth vol. of myEthnological Researches, Plate xxvii., from a standpoint on the flat of sand which stretched in front of the place. This view embraces every house in the village, with the fort; and if the reproduction of the artist in vol. iv. may be subjected to any criticism, it is, perhaps, that the stockade bears too great a proportion to the scene, while the precipice observed in the shore line of sand, is wholly wanting in the original.
The country around Chicago is the most fertile and beautiful that can be imagined. It consists of an intermixture of woods and prairies, diversified with gentle slopes, sometimes attaining the elevation of hills, and it is irrigated with a number of clear streams and rivers, which throw their waters partly into Lake Michigan, and partly into the Mississippi River. As a farming country, it presents the greatest facilities for raising stock andgrains, and it is one of the most favored parts of the Mississippi Valley; the climate has a delightful serenity, and it must, as soon as the Indian title is extinguished,[136]become one of the most attractive fields for the emigrant. To the ordinary advantages of an agricultural market town, it must add that of being a depot for the commerce between the northern and southern sections of the Union, and a great thoroughfare for strangers, merchants, and travellers.
The Milwaukie clays to which I have adverted, do not extend thus far, although the argillaceous deposits found, appear to be destitute of the oxide of iron, for the bricks produced from them burn white. There is a locality of bituminous coal on Fox River, about forty miles south. Near, the junction of the Desplaines River with the Kankakee, there exists in the semi-crystalline or sedimentary limestone, a remarkable fossil-tree.[137]
South and Eastern borders of Lake Michigan—Their Flora and Fauna—Incidents of the journey—Topography—Geology, Botany, and Mineralogy—Indian Tribes—Burial-place of Marquette—Ruins of the post of old Mackinac—Reach Michilimackinac after a canoe journey north of four hundred miles.
It was now the last day of August. Having partaken of the hospitalities of Mr. Kinzie, and of Captains Bradley and Green, of Fort Dearborn, during our stay at Chicago, and completed the reorganization of our parties, we separated on the last day of the month, at two o'clock P. M.; Gov. Cass and his party, on horseback, taking the old Indian trail to Detroit, and Capt. Douglass and myself being left, with two canoes, to complete the circumnavigation of the lakes. We did not delay our departure over thirty minutes, but bidding adieu to Dr. Wolcott, whose manners, judgment, and intelligence had commanded our respect during the journey, embarked with two canoes; our steersmen immediately hoisted their square sails, and, favored by a good breeze, we proceeded twenty miles along the southern curve, at the head of Lake Michigan, and encamped.
Within two miles of Chicago, we passed, on the open shores of the lake, the scene of the massacre of Chicago, of the 15th of August, 1812, being the day after the surrender of Detroit by Gen. Hull. Gloom hung, at that eventful period, over every part of our western borders. Michilimackinac had already been carried by surprise; and the ill-advised order to evacuate Chicago, was deemed by the Indians an admission that the Americans were to be driven from the country. The Pottawattomies determined to show the power of their hostility on this occasion. Capt. Heald, the commanding officer, having received Gen. Hull's order to abandon the post, and having an escort of thirty friendly Miamis, from Fort Wayne, under Captain Wells, had quitted thefort at nine o'clock in the morning, with fifty-four regulars, a subaltern, physician, twelve militia, and the necessary baggage wagons for the provisions and ammunition, which contained eighteen soldiers, women and children. They had not proceeded more than a mile and a half along the shore of the lake, when an ambuscade of Indians was discovered behind the sand-hills which encompass the flat sandy shore. The horrid yell, which rose on the discovery being made, was accompanied by a general and deadly fire from them. Several men fell at the first fire, but Capt. Heald formed his men, and effected a charge up the bank, which dispersed his assailants. It was only, however, to find the enemy return by a flank movement, in which their numbers gave them the victory. In a few moments, out of his effective force of sixty-six men, but sixteen survived. With these, he succeeded in drawing off to a position in the prairie, where he was not followed by the Indians. On a negotiation, opened by a chief called Mukudapenais, he surrendered, under promise of security for their lives. This promise was afterwards violated, with the exception of himself and three or four men. Among the slain was Ensign Ronan, Dr. Voorhis, and Capt. Wells. The latter had his heart cut out, and his body received other shocking indignities. The saddest part of the tragedy was the attack on the women and children who occupied the baggage wagons, and were all slain. Several of the women fought with swords. During the action, a sergeant of infantry ran his bayonet through the heart of an Indian who had lifted his tomahawk to strike him; not being able to withdraw the instrument, it served to hold up the Indian, who actually tomahawked him in this position, and both fell dead together.[138]The Miamis remained neuter in this massacre. Mr. Kinzie, of Chicago, of whose hospitalities we had partaken, was a witness of this transaction, and furnished the principal facts of this narrative.
The morning (Sept. 1) opened with a perfect gale, and we weredegradè, to use a Canadian term, all day; the waves dashed against the shore with a violence that made it impossible to take the lake with canoes, and would have rendered it perilous even to a largevessel. This violence continued, with no perceptible diminution, during the day. As a mode of relief from the tedium of delay, a short excursion was made into the prairie. I found a few species of the unio, in a partially choked up branch of the Konamek. Capt. Douglass improved the time by taking observations for the latitude, and we footed around ten miles of the extreme southern head of the lake. It is edged with sand-hills, bearing pines. A few dead valves of the fresh-water muscle were found on the shore.
On the following day the wind lulled, when we proceeded fifty-four miles, passing in the distance the remains of the schooner Hercules, which went ashore in a gale, in November, 1816, and all on board perished; her mast, pump, spars, and the graves of the passengers, among which, was that of Lieut. W. S. Eveleth, U. S. A., were pointed out to us. We landed a few moments at the entrance of the River du Chemin,[139]where the trail to Detroit leaves the lake shore. The distance to that city is estimated at three hundred miles. Ten miles beyond this spot we passed the little River Galien, where, at this time, the town and harbor of New Buffalo, of Michigan, is situated, and we encamped on the shore twelve miles beyond it.
We had been travelling on a slightly curved line from Chicago to the spot, in the latitude of 41° 52´ 20´´, and had now reached a point where the course tends more directly to the northeast and north. By the best accounts, the length of Lake Michigan, lying directly from south to north, is four hundred miles. There is no other lake in America, north or south, which traverses so many degrees of latitude, and we had reason to expect its flora and fauna to denote some striking changes. We had passed down its west, or Wisconsin shore, from Sturgeon Bay, finding it to present a clear margin of forest, with many good harbors, and a fertile, gently undulating surface. But we were now to encounter another cast of scenery. It is manifest, from a survey of the eastern shore of this lake, that the prevalent winds are from the west and northwest, for they have cast up vast sand dunes along the coast, which give it an arid appearance. These dunes are,however, but a hem on the fertile prairie lands, not extending more than half a mile or more, and thus masking the fertile lands. Water, in the shape of lagoons, is often accumulated behind these sand-banks, and the force of the winds is such as to choke and sometimes entirely shut up the mouth of its rivers. We had found this hem of sand-hills extending around the southern shore of the lake from the vicinity of Chicago, and soon found that it gave an appearance of sterility to the country that it by no means merited. On reaching the mouth of St. Joseph's River (3d), a full exemplification of this striking effect of the lake action was exhibited. This is one of the largest rivers of the peninsula, running for more than a hundred and twenty miles through a succession of rich plains and prairies; yet its mouth, which carries a large volume of water into the lake, is rendered difficult of entrance to vessels, and its lake-borders are loaded with drifts of shifting sand.
The next day's journey carried us fifty miles; and, on proceeding ten miles further on the 4th, we reached the mouth of the Kalamazoo.[140]Before reaching this river, I discovered on the beach a body of detached orbicular masses of the calcareous marl called septaria—the ludus helmontii of the old mineralogists. On breaking some of these masses, they disclosed small crystalline seams of sulphuret of zinc. The Kalamazoo irrigates a fine tract of the most fertile and beautiful prairies of Michigan, which, at the date of the revision of this journal, is studded with flourishing towns and villages.
Fifteen miles further progress towards the north, brought us to the mouth of Grand River—the Washtenong of the Indians—which is, I believe the largest and longest stream of the Michigan peninsula. It is the boundary between the hunting-grounds of the Pottowattomies (who have thus far claimed jurisdiction from Chicago) and the Ottowas. The latter live in large numbers at its rapids and on its various tributaries.[141]The next stream ofnote we encountered was the Maskigon, twelve miles north of Grand River, where we encamped, having travelled, during the day, fifty-four miles. The view of this scene was impressive from its bleakness, the dunes of sand being more at the mercy of the winds. I found here a large, branching specimen of the club-fungus, attached to a dead specimen of the populus tremuloides, which had been completely penetrated by these drifting sands, so as to present quite the appearance, and no little part of the hardness and consistency, of a fossil. The following figure of this transformation from a fungus to a semi-stony body, presents a perfect outline of it as sketched in its original position.
On the day of our departure from the Maskigon, we enjoyed fine weather and favorable winds, and proceeded, from the data of Captain Douglass, seventy miles, and encamped a few miles beyond the Sandy River. In this line of coast, we passed, successively, the White, Pentwater, and Marquette. Of these, the latter, both from its size and its historical associations, is by far the mostimportant; for it was at this spot, after having spent years of devotion in the cause of missions in New France—in the course of which he discovered the Mississippi River—that this zealous servant of God laid down in his tent, after a hard day's travel, and surrendered up his life. The event occurred on the 8th of May, 1675, but two years after his grand discovery. Marquette was a native of Laon, in Picardy, where his family was of distinguished rank. The precise moment of his death was not witnessed, his men having retired to leave him to his devotions, but returning, in a short time, found him lifeless. They carried his body to the mission of old Michilimackinac, of which he was the founder, where it was interred.[142]
It rained the next morning (6th), by which we lost two hours, and we had some unfavorable winds, but, by dint of hard pushing, we made forty-five miles, and slept at Gravelly Point. In this line we passed successively, at distances of seventeen and thirty miles, the rivers Manistic andBecsie, which is the Canadian phrase for the anas canadensis. Clouds and murky weather still hovered around us on the next morning, but we left our encampment at an early hour. Thirteen miles brought us to the Omicomico, or Plate River, nine miles beyond which found us in front of a remarkable and very elevated sand June, called the Sleeping Bear—a fanciful term, derived from the Indian, through the Frenchl'ours qui dormis. Opposite this feature in the coast geology, lie the two large wooded islands called the Minitos—well-known objects to all mariners who venture into the vast unsheltered basin of the southern body of Lake Michigan. Thirty miles beyond this sandy elevation, brought us to the southern cape of Grand Traverse Bay, where we encamped, having advanced fifty-two miles. This was the first place where we had noticed rocks in situ, since passing the little Konamic River, near Chicago. It proved to be limestone, of the same apparent era of the calcareous rockwhich we had observed at Sturgeon Bay and the contiguous west shore of Lake Michigan. The line of lake coast included in this remark is three hundred and twenty miles; during all which distance the coast seems, but only seems, to be the sport of the fierce gales and storms, for there is reason to believe that the formations of drift clay, sand, and gravel rest, at various depths, on a stratification of solid, permanent rock. To us, however, it proved a barren field for the collection of both geological and mineralogical specimens. There were gleaned some rolled specimens of organic remains, of no further use than to denote the occurrence of these in some part of a vast basin. There was a specimen of gypsum from Grand River. The few patches of iron sand I had noticed, were hardly worthy of record after the heavy beds of this mineral which we had passed in Lake Superior. The same remark may be made of the few rolled fragments of calcedonies, and other varieties of the quartz family, gleaned up along its shores, for neither of these constitute a reliable locality.
Petrified leaf of theFagus Ferruginea
Of the floræ and fauna we had been observant, but the sandy character of the mere coast line greatly narrowed the former, in which Captain Douglass found but little to preserve, beyond theparnassia caroliniana and seottia cerna.[143]The fury of the waves renders it a region wholly unfitted to the whole tribe of fresh-water shells. A petrifaction of the fagus ferruginia, brought from a spring on the banks of the St. Joseph's River by Gov. Cass, on his home route, on horseback, presented the petrifying process in one of its most perfect forms (videp. 206). Surfeited with a species of scenery in which the naked sand dunes were often painful to the eye, from their ophthalmic influence, and of geological prostrations which seemed to lay the coast in ruins, we were glad to reach the solid rock formations, supporting, as they did, a soil favorable to green forests.
A partial eclipse of the sun had been calculated for the 5th of September (1820), to commence at seven o'clock, twenty minutes; but, though we were on the lake, and anxious to note it, the weather proved to be too much overcast, and no effects of it were observed. This eclipse was observed, according to the predictions, at Philadelphia.
The morning of the 8th proved calm, which permitted us to cross the mouth of Grand Traverse Bay. This piece of water is nine miles across, with an unexplored depth, and has some 300 Chippewas living on its borders. Six miles north of this point, we reached and crossed Little Traverse Bay, which is occupied by Ottawas. These two tribes are close confederates, speak dialects of the same language which is readily understood by both, and live on the most friendly terms. The Ottowas on the head of Little Traverse Bay, and on the adjoining coast of Lake Michigan—which, from its principal village, bears the names of Village of the Cross, and of Waganukizzie,[144]or L'Arbre Croche—are, to a great extent, cultivators of the soil, and have adopted the use of hats, and the Frenchcapot, having laid aside paints and feathers. They raise large quantities of Indian corn for the Mackinac market, and manufacture, in the season, from the sap of the acer saccharinum, considerable quantities of maple sugar, which is put up, in somewhat elongated bark boxes, called muckucks, in which it is carried to the same market. We found them, wherever they were encountered, a people of friendly manners and comity.
We were now drawing toward the foot of Lake Michigan, at the point where this inland sea is connected, through the Straits of Michilimackinac, with Lake Huron. A cluster of islands, called the Beaver Islands, had been in sight on our left hand, since passing the coast of the Sleeping Bear, which are noted as affording good anchorage ground to vessels navigating the lake. It is twenty-five miles from the site of the old French mission, near L'Arbre Croche, to the end of point Wagoshance,[145]which is the southeast cape of the Straits of Michilimackinac, and nine miles from thence to the Island. Along the bleak coast of this storm-beaten, horizontal limestone rock, with a thin covering of drift, we diligently passed. Night overtook us as we came through the straits, hugging their eastern shore, and we encamped on a little circular open bay, long after it became pitchy dark. We had traversed a coast line of fifty-seven miles, and were glad, after a refreshing cup of tea and our usual meal, to retire to our pallets.
The next morning revealed our position. We were at the ancient site of old Michilimackinac—a spot celebrated in the early missionary annals and history of New France. This was, indeed, one of the first points settled by the French after Cadaracqui, being a missionary and trading station before the foundation of Fort Niagara, in 1678; for La Salle, after determining on the latter, proceeded, the same fall, up the lakes to this point, which he installed with a military element. The mission of St. Ignace had before been attempted on the north shore of the straits, but it was finally removed here by the advice of Marquette. On gazing at the straits, they were found to be agitated by a perfect gale. This gave time for examining the vicinity. It was found a deserted plain, overspread with sand, in many parts, with the ruins of former occupancy piercing through these sandy drifts, which gave it an air of perfect desolation. By far the most conspicuous among these ruins, was the stone foundation of the ancient fort, and the excavations of the exterior buildings, which had evidently composed a part of the military or missionary plan. Not a house, not a cultivated field, not a fence was to be seen. The remains of broken pottery, and pieces of black bottles, irridescent from age, served impressively to show that men had once eaten and drank here. It was in 1763, in the outbreak of the Pontiac war, that this fort, then recently surrendered to the English, was captured, by acoup-de-main, by the Indians. The English, probably doubting its safety, during the American Revolution, removed the garrison to the island, which had, indeed, furnished the name of Michilimackinac before; for the Indians had,ab initio, called the old post Peekwutinong, or Headland-place, applying the other name exclusively, as at this day, to the Gibraltar-like island which rises up, with its picturesque cliffs, from the very depths of Lake Huron. The sketch of this scene of desolation, with the Island in view, is given in the second volume of myEthnological Researches, Plate LIII.
After pacing the plain of this ancient point of French settlement in every point, we returned to our tent about eleven o'clock A. M., and deemed it practicable to attempt the crossing to the island in a light canoe, for, although the gale was little if any abated, the wind blew fair. I concurred in the opinion of Captain Douglass that this might be done, and very readily assented to try it, leaving the men in the baggage canoe to effect the passage when the wind fell. It cannot be asserted that this passage was without hazard; for my own part, I had too much trust in my nature to fear it, and, if we were ever wafted on "the wings of the wind," it was on this occasion; our boatmen, volunteers for the occasion, reefing the sails to two feet, and we owed our success mainly to their good management. On rounding the Ottowa point, which is the south cape of the little harbor of 'Mackinac, our friends who had parted from us at Green Bay were among the first to greet us. By the union of these two parties, the circumnavigation of Lake Michigan had been completely made. The rate of travel along the line traversed by them was computed at forty-five miles per day. They had been eight days on the route. The coast line traversed by Captain Douglass and myself, since quitting Chicago, is four hundred and thirty-nine miles, giving a mean of forty-three miles per diem, of which one entire day was lost by head winds.
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]
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 seriesof 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 upsupplies, 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.
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 toMackinac, 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 onlytenmiles, the second butfour.
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 theau 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]
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]
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 suchextensive 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.—Videp.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:—