Itasca Lake, the source of the Mississippi River, 3,160 miles from the Balize.A.Mississippi River.B.Route of expedition to the Lake.C.Schoolcraft's Island.The line of discovery of the Mississippi, explored above Cass Lake, taking the east fork from the primary junction, as shown by Mr. Allen's topographical notes, is one hundred and twenty-three miles.[166]This is the shortest and most direct branch. The line by the Itascan or main branch of it is, probably, some twenty or twenty-five miles longer. It is evident, as before intimated, that the river descends from its summit in plateaux. From the pseudo-alpine level of the parent lake, there is a principal and minor rapids, for the former of which the Indians have the appropriate name ofKakabikons, which is a descriptive term for a cascade over rocks or stones. Then the river again deploys itself in a lake and a series of minor lakes on the same level, and this process is repeated, until it finally plunges over the horizontal rocks at St. Anthony's Falls, and displays itself, for the last time, in Lake Pepin. Commencing with the latter lake, it may be observed for the purposes of generalization, and to give definite notions rather of its hydrography than geology, that there are nine plateaux, of which Governor Cass, in 1820, explored six. The other three, beginning at his terminal point, have now been indicated. The heights of these are given, barometrically. The distances travelled are given from time. The annexed diagram of these plateaux, extending to the Pakagama summit, will impress these deductions on the eye.The length of the Mississippi, from the Gulf of Mexico, pursuing its involutions, may be stated to be three thousand miles. By estimates from the best sources made, respectively, during the expeditions of 1820 and 1832, it is shown to have a winding thread of three thousand one hundred and sixty miles. Taking the barometrical height of Itasca Lake at fifteen hundred and seventy-five feet, it has a mean descent of a fraction over six inches per mile. As one of the most striking epochs in American geography, we have known this river, computing from the era of Marquette's discovery to the present day (July 13, 1832), but one hundred and fifty-nine years—a short period, indeed! How rich a portion of the geology of the globe lies buried in the flora and fauna of the tertiary, the middle or secondary, and the palæozoic eras of its valley, we have hardly begun to inquire. It will,doubtless, and, so far as we know,does, contribute evidences to the antiquity and mutations of the earth's surface, conformably to the progress of discoveries in other parts of the globe. The immense basins of coal, found in the middle and lower parts of its valley, prove the same gigantic epoch of its flora which has been established for the coal measures of Europe,[167]and sweep to the winds the jejune theory that the continent arose from a chaotic state, at a period a whit less remote than the other quarters of the globe. While the large bones of its later eras, found imbedded in its unconsolidated strata, prove how large a portion of its fauna were involved in the gigantic and monster-period.CHAPTER XXIV.Descent of the west, or Itascan branch—Kakabikoñs Falls—Junction of the Chemaun, Peniddiwin, or De Soto, and Allenoga Rivers—Return to Cass Lake.Itasca Lake lies in latitude twenty-five seconds only south of Leech Lake, and five minutes and eleven seconds west of the ultimate northerly point of the Mississippi, on the Queen Anne summit; it is a fraction over twelve minutes southwest of Cass Lake. The distance from the latter point, at which discovery rested in 1820, is, agreeably to the observations of Lieutenant Allen, one hundred and sixty-four miles.On scrutinizing the shores of the island, on which I had encamped, innumerable helices, and other small univalves, were found; among these I observed a new species, which Mr. Cooper has described as planorbis companulatus.[168]There were bones of certain species of fish, as well as the bucklers of one or two kinds of tortoise, scattered around the sites of old Indian camp fires, denoting so many points of its natural history. Amidst the forest-trees before named, the betula papyraceæ and spruce were observed. Directing one of the latter to be cut down, and prepared as a flagstaff, I caused the United States flag to be hoisted on it. This symbol was left flying at our departure. Ozawindib, who at once comprehended the meaning of this ceremony, with his companions fired a salute as it reached its elevation.Having made the necessary examinations, I directed my tent to be struck, and the canoes put into the water, and immediately embarked. The outlet lies north of the island. Before reaching it, we had lost sight of the flagstaff, owing to the curvature of the shore. Unexpectedly, the outlet proved quite a brisk brook, with a mean width of ten feet, and one foot in depth. The water is asclear as crystal, and we at once found ourselves gliding along, over a sandy and pebbly bottom, strewed with the scattered valves of shells, at a brisk rate. Its banks are overhung with limbs and foliage, which sometimes reach across. The bends are short, and have accumulations of flood-wood, so that, from both causes, the use of the axe is often necessary to clear a passage. There was also danger of running against boulders of black rock, lying in the margin, or piled up in the channel. As the rapid waters increased, we were hurled, as it were, along through the narrow passages, and should have descended at a prodigiously rapid rate, had it not been for these embarrassments to the navigation. Its course was northwest. After descending about ten miles, the river enters a narrow savanna, where the channel is wider and deeper, but equally circuitous. This reaches some seven or eight miles. It then breaks its way through a pine ridge, where the channel is again very much confined and rapid, the velocity of the stream threatening every moment to dash the canoe into a thousand pieces. The men were sometimes in the water, to guide the canoe, or stood ever ready, with poles, to fend off. After descending some twenty-five miles, we encamped on a high sandy bluff on the left hand.The next morning (14th), we were again in our canoes before five o'clock. The severe rapids continued, and were rendered more dangerous by limbs of trees which stretched over the stream, threatening to sweep off everything that was movable. We had been one hour passing down a perfect defile of rapids, when we approached the Kakabikoñs Falls.Kakábik,[169]in the Chippewa, means a cascade, or shoot of water over rocks.Oñsis merely the diminutive, to which all the nouns of this language are subject. How formidable this little cataract might be, we could not tell. It appeared to be a swift rush of water, bolting through a narrow gorge, without a perpendicular drop, and Ozawindib said it required a portage. Halting at its head, for Lieut. Allen to come up, his bowsman caught hold of my canoe, to check his velocity. It had that effect. But, being checked suddenly, the stern of his canoe swung across the stream, which permitted the steersman to catch hold of a branch. Thus stretched tensely across the rapid stream, in an instant the water swept over its gunwale, and its contents were plunged into the swift current. The water was about four feet deep. Allen and his men found footing, with much ado, but his canoe-compass, apparatus, and everything, was lost and swept over the falls. He grasped his manuscript notes, and, by feeling with his feet, fetched up his fowling-piece; the men clutched about, and managed to save the canoe. Fortunately, I had a fine instrument to replace the lost compass, though wanting the nautical rig of the other.We made a short portage. Two of the canoes, with Indian pilots, went down the rapids, but injured their canoes so much as to cause a longer delay than if they had carried them by land. Below this fall, the river receives a tributary on the right hand, called theChemaun, or Ocano. It contributes to double its volume, very nearly, and hence its savanna borders are enlarged. Conspicuous among the shrubbery on its shores are the wilding rose and clumps of the salix. The channel winds through these savanna borders capriciously. At a point where we landed for breakfast, on an open pine bank on the left shore, we observed several copious and clear springs pouring into the river. Indeed, the extensive sand ranges which traverse the woodlands of the Itasca plateau are perfectly charged with the moisture which is condensed on these elevations, which flows in through a thousand little rills. On these sandy heights the conifera predominate.The physical character of the stream made this part of our route a most rapid one. Willing or unwilling, we were hurried on; but, indeed, we had every desire to hasten the descent. At four o'clock P. M., we came to the junction of the Piniddiwin,[170]or Carnage River, a considerable tributary on the left. On this river, which originates in a lake, on the northeastern summit of the Hauteur des Terres, I bestowed the name of De Soto. It has also a lake, called Lac la Folle, at the point of its junction with the Mississippi, whose borders are noted for the abundant andvigorous growth of wild rice, reeds, and rushes. It is called Monomina,[171]by the Chippewas. By this accession, the width and depth of the river are strikingly increased. The Indian reed first appears at this spot.While passing through this part of the river, I observed a singular trait in the habits of the onzig duck, which, on being suddenly surprised by the traveller, affects for the moment to be disabled; flapping its wings on the water, as if it could not rise, in order to allow its brood, who are now (July) unfledged, to escape, when the mother instantly rises from the water, and wings her flight vigorously. We observed, sailing above the marshy areas of this fork, the falco furcatus, the feathers of which are much esteemed by the Indians, for this is considered a brave species, as its habit is to seize serpents by the neck, who twist themselves around its elongated body, while it flies off to some convenient perch to devour them. The deer is also noticed along the Itascan fork. Ozawindib landed a little below the junction of the Chemaun, to fire at one of them, which he discovered grazing at some distance; but, although he carefully landed and crept up crouchingly, he failed in his shot, either from the distance or some other cause. Immediately, he put a fresh charge of powder in his gun, and threw in a bullet, unwadded, and fired again before the animal had made many leaps, but it held its way.We descended about eighteen miles below the Piniddiwin, and landed to encamp. The day's descent had been an arduous one. Lieut. Allen estimated it at seventy-five miles. We had now fairly followed the Mississippi out of what may be denoted its Alpine passes. All its dangerous rapids had been overcome. It was now a flowing stream of sixty feet wide. Immediately on landing, one of the Indians captured an animal of the saurian type, calledocaut-e-kinabic,[172]eight inches in length, striped blue, black, and white, with four legs of equal length. The colors were very vivid.Having reached a part of the stream which could be safely navigated, I resolved to re-embark after supper, and continue the descent by night. We were now about fifteen miles above theprimary forks. Lieut. Allen determined to remain till daylight, in order to trace the river down to the point at which it had been left in the ascent. Nothing of an untoward nature occurred. A river of some size enters, on the left hand, about six miles below the saurian encampment, which originates in a lake. This stream, for which I heard no name, I designatedAllenoga, putting the Iroquois local terminal inogato the name of the worthy officer who traced out the first true map of the actual sources of the Mississippi.[173]We passed the influx of the east fork, about half-past one A. M. on the 15th, traversed the Lake of Queen Anne, and descended the whole series of the Metoswa rapids, to Lake Andrúsia, by the hour of daybreak, and reached the island of my primary encampment, in Cass Lake, at nine o'clock in the morning. We had been eleven hours and a half in our canoes, from the time of re-embarkation at the camp above Allenoga. Lieut. Allen did not rejoin us till six o'clock in the afternoon. He estimated the entire distance,outandin, at 290 miles, it being 125 miles to Itasca Lake, and, as before intimated, 165 miles from thence to Cass Lake. He estimates the length of the Mississippi, above the Falls of St. Anthony, at 1,029 miles. Taking the distance from the Gulf of Mexico to the Falls at 2,200 miles,[174]this would give to this stream a development of 3,229 miles, which exceeds my prior estimates more than fifty miles.CHAPTER XXV.The expedition proceeds to strike the source of the great Crow-Wing River, by the Indian trail and line of interior portages, by way of Leech Lake, the seat of the warlike tribe of the Pillagers, or Mukundwa.Having, while at Sandy Lake, summoned the Indians to meet me in council at the mouth of theL'aile de Corbeau, or Crow-Wing River, on the 20th of July, no time was to be lost in proceeding to that place. The 15th, being the Sabbath, was spent at the island, where the Rev. Mr. Boutwell addressed the Indians. The next day, I met the Cass Lake band in council, and, having finished that business, rewarded the Indians for their services and canoes on the trip to Itasca Lake, distributed the presents designed for them, replied to a message from Nezhopenais of Red Lake, and invested Ozawindib with the President's largest silver medal and a flag, and was ready by 10 o'clock A. M. to embark. Dr. Houghton employed the time to complete his vaccinations. I rewarded Mr. Default for taking charge of my camp during the journey to Itasca Lake. As well to shorten the line of travel as to visit an entirely unexplored section of the country, I resolved to pursue the Indian trail and line of interior portages from Cass to Leech Lake, and from the latter to the source of the great Crow-Wing fork.Passing southwardly across the lake, between Red Cedar and Garden Islands, we have a prolonged bay running deep into the land, toward the south. This bay is in the direct line to Leech Lake; and as it had been crossed on the ice in January, 1806, by Lieutenant Pike, in his adventurous and meritorious journey of exploration, I called it Pike's Bay. It was twelve o'clock, meridian, when we debarked at its head. The portage commenced on the edge of an open pine forest, interspersed with scrub oak. The path is deeply worn, in the sand-plain, and looks as if it hadbeen trod by the Indians for centuries. I observed, as we passed along, the alum root, hyacinthus, and sweet fern, with the ledum latifolium, vaccinium dumosum, and more common species of pine plains. The pinus resinosa assumes here a larger size, and the Indians pointed out to me markings and pictographs drawn with charcoal, and covered with the resin of the tree, which were made by the Indian tribe who preceded them in the occupancy of the sources of the Mississippi. This must have been, if I rightly apprehend their history, prior to A. D. 1600. That such markings should be preserved by the pitch, which sheds the rain, is, however, probable. They were of the totemic character,i.e.relating to the exploits or achievements of groups of families, in which the individual actor sinks his specific in the generic family or clan name. Antiquities of this character are certainly a new feature in Indian history. Letters have perfectly preserved the landing of Cartier at the mouth of the St. Lawrence in 1534. Pictography here records, that certain clans had killed bears and taken human scalps before that time. And the fact is deeply important in shedding light on Indian history and character; for the killing of deers and bears, and the taking of human scalps, is precisely what these tribes are doing at the present time. In the three hundred years' interval, they have made no mental progress. The Chippewa is just as fierce to-day, in hunting a Dacota scalp, as the Dacota is in hunting a Chippewa scalp. The conquering tribe has, however, pushed the Dacotas nearly one thousand miles down the Mississippi."Talk of your Hannibals, Napoleons, and Alps,My glory," quoth the feathered hunter, "is in scalps."After following the deeply indented path nine hundred and fifty yards, we reached a small lake which disclosed, as we passed it, patches of a dark, coarse, mossy-like substance at its bottom. On reaching down with their paddles, the men brought up a singular species of aquatic plant with coral-shaped branches. After crossing this lake, the pine plain resumed its former character. There was then a shallow bog of fifty or sixty yards. The rest of the path consists of an arid sand plain, which is sometimes brushy, but generally presents dry, easy travelling. We had walked four thousand one hundred yards, or about two and ahalf miles, when we reached an elongated body of clear living water, having its outflow into Leech Lake. Embarking on this, we crossed it, and entered a narrow stream, winding about in a shaking savanna, where it was found difficult to veer the large five-fathom canoes in which we now travelled. This tortuous stream was joined by a tributary from the right, and at no remote distance, entered an elongated duplicate body of water, named by the IndiansKapuka Sagatawag, or the Abrupt Discharges.[175]Below the junction of these lakes, which appear to be outbursts from the Hauteur de Terre range, the stream is a wide-flowing river. Its shores abound in sedge, reeds, and wild rice. The last glimpses of daylight left us as this broad river entered into Leech Lake. Moonlight still served us, as we began the traverse of this spreading sea, but it soon became overcast, and it was intensely dark before we reached the recurved point of land of the principal chief's village. It was now ten o'clock at night, and it was eleven before the military canoes, under Lieutenant Allen, came up. In the morning a salute was fired by the Indians, who welcomed us. Aishkebuggekozh,[176]or the Flat-mouth, the reigning chief, invited me to breakfast. As this chief exercises a kind of imperial sway over the adjacent country, it was important to respect him. Having sent a dish of hard bread before me, I took my interpreter and went to his residence. I found him living in a tenement built of logs, with two rooms, well floored and roofed, with two small glass windows. At one end of the breakfast-room were extended his flags, medals, and warlike paraphernalia. In the centre of the floor, a large mat of rushes, or Indian-wovenapukwawas spread, and upon this the breakfast and breakfast things were arranged in an orderly manner. There were teacups, teaspoons, plates, knives and forks, all of plain English manufacture. A salt-cellar contained salt and pepper mixed in unequal proportions. There were just as many plates as expected guests. A large white fish, boiled, and cut up in good taste, occupied a dish in the centre. There was a dish of sugar made from the acer saccharinum. There were no stools, or chairs, butsmall apukwa mats were spread for each guest. I observed the dish of hard bread, which came opportunely, as there was no other representative form of bread. The chief sat down at the head of his breakfast, in the oriental fashion. Imitating his example, I sat down with a degree of repose and nonchalance, as if this had been the position I had practised from childhood. His empress—Equa,[177]sat on one side, near him, to pour out the tea, but neither ate nor drank anything herself. Her position was also that of the oriental custom for females; that is, both feet were thrown to one side, and doubled beside her.[178]The chief helped us to fish and to tea, taking the cups from his wife. He was dignified, grave, yet easy, and conversed freely, and the meal passed off agreeably and without a pause, or the slightest embarrassment. This was, perhaps, owing in part to my having been acquainted with him before, he having visited me at my agency at Sault Ste. Marie in 1828, and sat as a guest at my own table. Nor, in a people so loath to give their confidence as the Indian, is the fact undeserving of mention, of general affiliation to the tribe, caused by my marriage with a grand-daughter of the ruling chief of Lake Superior, a lady of refinement and intelligence, who was the child of a gentleman of Antrim, Ireland, where she was educated.On rising to leave, I invited him to a council, at my tent, which was ordered to assemble at the firing of the military. It is not unimportant to observe, that, in preparing to set out on this expedition into the Indian country, at a time when the Blackhawk had raised the standard of revolt on Rock River, and the tribes of the Upper Mississippi were believed to be extensively in his views, I had caused my canoe, after it had been finished in most perfect style of art known to this kind of vessel, to be painted with Chinese vermilion, from stem to stern. Ten years' residence among the tribes, in an official capacity, had convinced me that fear is the controlling principle of the Indian mind, and that the persuasions to a life of peace, are most effectively made under the symbols of war. To beg, to solicit, to creep and cringeto this race, whether in public or private, is a delusive, if not a fatal course; and though I was told by one or two of my neighbors that it was not well, on this occasion, to put my canoe in the symbolic garb of war, I did not think so. I carried, indeed, emphatically, messages of peace from the executive head of the Government, and had the means of insuring respect for these messages, by displaying the symbol of authority at the stern of each vessel, by an escort of soldiery, and by presents, and the services of a physician to arrest one of the most fatal of diseases which have ever afflicted the Indian race. But I carried them fearlessly and openly, with the avowed purpose of peace. The canoe, itself, was an emblem of this authority, and, like theoriflammeof the Mediæval Ages, cast an auspicious influence on my mission over these bleak and wide summits, lakes, and forests, inhabited alone by fierce and predatory tribes, who acknowledged no power but force. Long before I had reached the sources of the Mississippi, St. Vrain, my fellow agent, had been most cruelly murdered at his agency, and General Scott, with the whole disposable army of the United States, had taken the field at Chicago.Lieut. Allen paraded his men that morning with burnished arms. We could not, jointly, in an emergency, muster over forty men, of whom a part were not reliable in a melée, but arranged our camp in the best manner to produce effect. Effect, indeed, it required, when the hour of the council came. Not less than one thousand souls, men, women, and children, surrounded my tent, including a special deputation from the American borders of Rainy Lake. Of these, two hundred were active young warriors, who strode by with a bold and lofty air, and glistening eyes, often lifting the wings of my tent, to scan the preparations going forward. Aishkebuggekozh entered the council area, having in his train Majegabowi, the man who had led the revolt in the Red River settlement of Lord Selkirk, and who had tomahawked Gov. Semple, after he fell wounded from his horse. This association did not smack of peaceful designs. The chief, Aishkebuggekozh, himself, has the countenance of a very ogre. He is over six feet high, very brawny, and stout. That feature of his countenance from which he is named Flat-mouth, consisting of a broad expansion and protrusion of the front jaws, between the long incision of the mouth, reminds one much of a bull-dog's jaw. He held inhis hand, suspended by ribbons, five silver medals, smeared with vermilion, to symbolize blood.A person not familiar with Indian symbols, might deem such signs alarming. I knew him to be very fond of using these symbols, and, indeed, a man who never made a speech without them; and I had the fullest confidence that, while he aimed to produce the fullest effect upon his listening, but less shrewd tribe of folks, and upon all, indeed, he never dreamed of an act which should bring him into conflict with the United States. Like Blackhawk, who was now exciting and leading the tribes at lower points to war, he had, from his youth, been in the British interests. He displayed a British flag at his breakfast, and three of his medals were of British coinage, but he was a man of far more comprehensive mind and understanding than Blackhawk.Having been, as a government agent, the medium of the agreement of the Chippewas and Sioux in fixing on a boundary line for their respective territories at the treaty of Prairie-du-Chien, in 1825, I made that agreement, on the present occasion, the basis of my remarks, for their preserving in good faith the stipulations of that treaty, and of renewing the principles of it in the points where they had since been broken and violated. I concluded by assuring them of the friendship of the United States, of which my visit to this remote region must be deemed proof, and of the sincerity with which I had communicated the words of the President. The presents were then delivered and distributed.Aishkebuggekozh, or the Guelle Plat, replied, with much of the skill and force of Indian oratory. He began by calling the attention of the warriors to his words; he then turned to me, thanking me for the presents. He said that he had been present when Pike visited this lake in 1806. He pointed with his fingers across the lake, to the Ottertail Point, where the old trading-house of the British Northwest Company had stood. "You have come," he continued, "to remind us that the American flag is now flying over the country, and to offer us counsels of peace. I thank you. I have heard that voice before, but it was like a rushing wind. It was strong, but soon went. It did not remain long enough to choke up the path. At the treaty of Prairie-du-Chien, it had been promised that whoever crossed the lines, the long arms of the President should pull them back; but, that very year, the Siouxattacked us, and they have killed my people almost every year since. I was myself present when they fired on a peaceful delegation, and killed four Chippewas under the walls of Fort Snelling. My own son—myonlyson—has been killed. He was basely killed, without an opportunity to defend himself." A subordinate here handed him, at his request, a bundle of small sticks. "This," handing them to me, "is the number of Leech Lake Chippewas killed by the Sioux since the treaty of Prairie-du-Chien." There were forty-three sticks.He then lifted up a string of silver medals, smeared with vermilion. "Take notice, they are bloody. I wish you to wipe the blood off. I cannot do it. I find myself in a war with this people, and I believe it has been intended by the Creator that we should be at war with them. My warriors are brave [looking significantly at them]; it is to them that I owe success. But I have looked for help where I did not find it."[179]CHAPTER XXVI.Geographical account of Leech Lake—History of its Indians, the Mukundwas—The expedition proceeds to the source of the Crow-Wing River, and descends that stream, in its whole length, to the Mississippi.Leech Lake is a large, deep, and very irregularly-shaped body of water. It cannot be less than twenty miles across its extreme points. I requested the chief to draw its outlines, furnishing a sheet of foolscap. He began by tracing a large ellipsis, and then projecting large points and bays, inwardly and outwardly, with seven or eight islands, and that peculiar feature, the Kapuka Sagotawa, which I apprehend to originate in gigantic springs. The following eccentric figure of the lake is the result.This lake has been the seat of the Mukundwa, or Pillagers, from early days. The date of their occupancy is unknown. The French found them here early in the seventeenth century, when they began to push the fur trade from Montreal. They were the advance of the Algonquin group, who, when they had reached the head of Lake Superior, proceeded still towards the west and northwest. Two separate bodies assumed the advance in this migratory movement, one of which went from the north shore, at the old Grand Portage, north-northwest, by the way of the Rainy Lakes, and the other went northwest from Fond du Lac. The former soon earned for themselves the title of Killers, or Kenistenos,[180]and speak a distinct dialect; the other, whose language continued to be, with little variations, good Odjibwa, acquired in a short time the name of Takers, or Mukundwa. The Kenistenos advanced, through the Great Lake Winnepeck, and up its inflowing waters, to the Portage du Trait, of the great Churchill or Missi-nepi (much water) River, where they sent upa skinned frog, in derision of the feebler Athapasca race, whom they here encountered.Mackenzie's Voyages, p. lxxiii.Hist. FurTrade. The Odjibwas were led from Chegoimegon, in Lake Superior, by two noted chiefs, called Nokay and Bainswah, under whom they drove the Sioux from the region of Sandy Lake and the source of the Mississippi. (Ethnological Researches, vol. ii. p. 135.)Leech Lake.—a, Rush Bay;b, Leech Lake River;c, Three Points;d, Boy's River;e, Bear Island;f, Pelican Island;g, Two Points;h, Ottertail Point;i, Chippewa Village;j, Sugar Point;k, Carp River;l, Old N. W. House;m, Goose Island;n, Encampment, July 16;o, Trading House Am. P. Co.;p, Flatmouth's House;q, Chippewa Village;r, Encampment, July 17;s,s, Route to Crow-Wing River;t, Sandy Point;u, Big Point;v, Sandy Bay River.Another party of this Algonquin force, which conquered the country lying round the sources of the Mississippi, proceeded through the Turtle River to Red Lake, and thence descended into the valley of the Red River of Hudson's Bay, where their descendants still reside. Large portions of these mingled with the Canadian stock, forming that remarkable people called Boisbrules. These advanced parties pressed into the buffalo plains, along the Rivers Assinabwoin and Saskatchawine, which is the ultimate western area of the spread of the Algonquin language. And to this migration the Blackfeet are believed to be indebted for the intermixture of this language which exists, and which Mr. Gallatin has erroneously supposed to arise from original elements, in the Blackfeet tongue.This lake yields in abundance the corregonus albus, a fish which is unknown to the Mississippi, and which delights only, it appears, in very limpid and cold waters.I found the population living at this lake to be eight hundred and thirty-two souls, under three chiefs, the Guelle Plat, Nesia, or the Elder Brother, and Chianoquet, or the Big Cloud, the latter of whom is exclusively a war chief. Having dined these chiefs at my tent, and finished my business, and the vaccinations and very numerous cases of odontalgia being got through with, I directed my canoes to be put in the water, with the view of going a few miles down the shore, in order to get a quiet night's encampment, and be ready for an early start on the morrow. It was near the hour of sunset before we could embark. Aiskebuggekozh came down to the boat to take leave of me. He was dressed, on this occasion (having been in Indian costume all the morning), in a blue military frock coat, with scarlet collar and cuffs, white underclothes, a ruffled shirt, shoes and stockings, and a citizen's hat. He was accompanied by Nesia and other followers, and it appeared to me if there ever was a person who had popular and undisputable claims to imperial sway, notwithstanding this poor taste in costume, it was he.We went about five miles in the general direction towardsthe source of the L'ail de Corbeau, and encamped. Dr. Houghton, who had been left behind with Lieut. Allen, to complete the vaccinations, rejoined me about seven o'clock. Guelle Plat had promised to send me guides, to cross the country to the Crow-Wing River, early the next morning (18th), but, as they did not arrive, I proceeded across the arm of the lake for the main shore without them. After reaching it, some time was spent in searching for the commencement of the portage path. It was found to lie across a dry pine plain. The Canadians, who are quick on finding the trail of a portage, wanted nothing more, but pushed on, canoes and baggage, without any further trouble about the Indian guides. A portage of 1,078 yards brought us to the banks of a small, clear, shallow lake, called Warpool, which had a very narrow, tortuous outlet, through which the men, with great difficulty, and by cutting away acute turns of the bank with their paddles, made way to force the canoes into Little Long Lake, which we were twenty-four minutes in crossing. The outlet from this lake expanded, at successive intervals, into three pond-like lakes, redolent with the nymphæ valerata; the series terminating in a fourth lake, lying at the foot of elevated lands, which was called the Lake of the Mountain. At the head of the latter, we debarked on a shaking bog. At this spot commences the portagePlé, which lies over a woodless and bleak hill. It is short and abrupt, and terminates on the banks of a deep bowl-shaped lake, where we took breakfast at twelve o'clock. We were now at the foot of elevated lands. Here began the mountain portage, so called. Its extent is, first, nine hundred and ten yards, terminating on the shores of a little lake, without outlet, called the Lake of the Isle. There is then a portage of 1,960 yards to another mountain lake, without outlet. We were now near the apex of the summit between Leech Lake and the source of De Corbeau. Another portage of one onwaybee or about a thousand yards, partly through a morass, carried us quite across this summit, and brought us out on elevated and highly beautiful grounds overlooking the Kaginogumaug, or Longwater Lake, which is the source of the Crow-Wing River. Here we encamped (18th).There is no rock stratum seen in place, on the De Corbeau summit. Its surface is purely composed of geological drift and boulders. The journey had been a very hard and fatiguing onefor the men, who were on the push and trot all day, embarking and debarking continually on lakes, or scrambling, with their burdens and canoes, over elevations or through morasses. It was particularly severe on the soldiers, who are ill-prepared for this kind of toil.The chief Guelle Plat, with some companions of the Mukandwa band, had overtaken us, at the Lake of the Isle, and came and encamped beside us. I invited him to sup with us, and the evening was passed in conversing with him on various topics. I found him a man of understanding and comprehensive views, who was well acquainted with the history of his people. It was twelve o'clock before these conversations ended, when he got up to go to his camp fire. With him there sat Majegabowee,[181]a tall, gaunt, and savage-looking man of Red River, who scarcely uttered a word, but sat a silent listener to the superior powers of conversation and reflection of his chief. But I could not look at this person without a sense of horror, when I reflected that in him I beheld the murderer of Gov. Semple, of the Hudson's Bay Territory, a circumstance which I have previously adverted to, while at Leech Lake.[182]Bidding adieu to the Leech Lake chief the next morning at sunrise (4 h. 45 m.), after giving him a lancet, with directions to vaccinate any of his people who had been overlooked, I embarked on the Kaginogamaug. This is a beautiful lake, with sylvan shores and crystal water, some four or five miles long. We were just forty minutes, with full paddles, in passing it. The outlet is narrow, and overhung with alders. The width is not over six feet, with good depth, but the turns are so sudden, and the stream so thickly overhung with foliage, that the use of the axe and the paddle as an excavator were often necessary. It then expands into a lake, called Little Vermilion, which is fringed with a growth of birch and aspen, with pines in the distance. Its outlet is fully doubled in width, and we had henceforth no more embarrassment in descending. This outlet is pursued about eightmiles. I noticed the tamarack on its banks, and the nymphæ odorata, scirpus lacustris, and Indian reed on the margin. It expands into Birch Lake, a clear sheet, about one mile long, with pebbly bottom, interspersed with boulders. A short outlet, in which we passed a broken fish-dam, connects it with Lac Plè. This lake is about three and a half miles long, exhibiting a portion of prairie on its shores, interspersed with small pines. From it, there is a portage to Ottertail Lake, the eastern source of Red River. This is the common war road of the Mukundwa against the Sioux.On coming out of Lac Plè, freshwater shells began to show themselves, chiefly species of naiades, a feature in the natural history of this stream which is afterwards common; but I observed none of much size, and they are often greatly decorticated. Four or five miles lower, we entered Assowa Lake, and about a mile and a half further, Lac Vieux Desert, or Old Gardon Lake, so called from the remains of a trading station, where we halted for breakfast. On resuming the descent, just twenty minutes were required, with vigorous strokes of the paddle, to pass it. It has an outlet about two miles long, when the stream again expands into a lake of considerable size, which we called Summit Lake. Thus far, we had been passing on a geological plateau of the diluvial character, extending southwest. But from this point the course of the river veers, at first towards the east and northeast, and, after a wide circuit, to the southeast, and eventually again to the southwest. From this point, rapids begin to mark its channel. The river, consequently, assumes a velocity which, while it hurries the traveller on, increases his danger of running his frail bark against rocks or shoals. We had been driven down this accelerated channel two hours and fifteen minutes, when it expanded into a sheet called Long Rice Lake. This is some three miles in length, and, at a very short distance below it, the river again expands into a considerable lake, which, from the circumstance of Lieut. Allen having circumnavigated it, I called Allen's Lake. He found it the recipient of a small river from the north. It is, apparently, the largest of this series of river lakes below the Kaginogumaug. While crossing it, we experienced a very severe and sudden tempest of wind and rain, accompaniedby most severe and appalling peals of thunder and vivid lightning. Broad ribbons of fire, in acute angles, appeared to rend the skies. Before the shore could be reached, the tempest had subsided, so sudden was its development. A short distance below this, the river makes its tenth evolution, in the shape of a lake, on which, as my Indian maps gave no name, I bestowed the name ofIlligan.[183]CHAPTER XXVII.Complete the exploration of the Crow-Wing River of Minnesota—Indian council—Reach St. Anthony's Falls—Council with the Sioux—Ascent and exploration of the River St. Croix and Misakoda, or Broulé, of Lake Superior—Return of the party to St. Mary's Falls, Michigan.At Illigan Lake, large oaks and elms appear in the forest; its banks are handsomely elevated, and the whole country puts on the appearance of being well adapted to cultivation. We landed to obtain a shot at some deer, which stood temptingly in sight, and were impressed with the sylvan aspect of the country. While in the act of passing out of the lake in our canoes, a small fire was observed on shore, with the usual signs of its having been abandoned in haste by Indians, who had been lying in ambush. Every appearance seemed to justify such a conclusion, and it was evident a party of Sioux had been concealed waiting the descent of Chippewas, but, on observing our flag, and the public character of the party, they hastily withdrew. Our men, knowing the perfidious and cruel character of this tribe, were evidently a good deal alarmed at these signs. We had been one hour in our canoes, descending the river with the double force of current and paddles, when the river was found again expanded, and for the eleventh and last time, in a lake, which the natives callKaitchebo Sagatowa, meaning the lake through one end of which the river passes. As this is not a term, however graphic, which will pass into popular use, I named it Lake Douglas, in allusion to a former companion in explorations in the northwest.[184]Ten miles below this lake, the river receives its first considerable tributary in Shell River, the Aisisepi of the Chippewas, which flows in from the right, from the slope of the Hauteurs des Terres, near the Ottertail Lake. Below this tributary, the Crow-Wing is nearly doubled in width,and there is no further fear of shallow water. We held on our way for a distance of fourteen miles below the point of junction, and encamped on the right hand bank at eight o'clock P.M. It had rained copiously during the afternoon, and everything in the shape of kindling stuff had become so completely saturated with moisture, that it was quite an enterprise in the men to light a camp-fire. Lieut. Allen did not reach our encampment this night, having been misled in Allen's Lake, and, being driven ashore by the tempest, he encamped in that quarter. Presuming him to be in advance, I had pushed on, to a late hour, and encamped under this impression.The next morning (20th), we set off from our camp betimes, and, having now a full flowing river, made good speed. The river passes for a dozen or more miles through a willowy low tract, on issuing from which there begins a series of strong rapids. Twenty-four of these rapids were counted, which were called the Metunna Rapids. Lieut. Allen estimates that they occupy thirty miles of the channel of the river. Below these rapids, the river extends to a mean width of three hundred feet. At this locality we were overtaken by Mr. Allen, at about two o'clock in the afternoon, and were thus first apprised of the fact that he had been all the while in our rear instead of in front.Twenty miles below the Metunna Rapids, Leaf River flows in from the right, by a mouth of forty yards wide. This stream originates in Leaf Lake, and is navigable sixty miles in the largest craft used by the traders.[185]The volume of the Crow-Wing River is constantly increased in width and velocity by these accessions, which enabled us fearlessly to make a large day's journey. We encamped together after sunset, on an elevated pine bank, having descended ninety miles.The 21st, we were early in motion, the river presenting a broad rushing mass of waters, every way resembling the Mississippi itself. On reaching within twenty miles of its mouth, we passed, on the right bank, the mouth of the Long Prairie River,[186]a prime tributary flowing from the great Ottertail slope, which hasbeen, time out of mind, the war road between the Chippewas and Sioux; and between this point and the confluence coming in we passed, on the left bank, the confluence of the Kioshk, or Gull River, through which there is a communication, by a series of portages, with Leech Lake.[187]From head to foot, we had now passed through the valley of the De Corbeau River, without finding in it the permanent location of a single Indian. We had not, in fact, seen even a temporary wigwam upon its banks. The whole river lies, in fact, on the war road between the two large rival tribes of the Chippewas and Sioux. It is entered by war parties from either side, decked out in war-paints and feathers, who descend either of its tributaries, the Leaf and Long Prairie Rivers. The Mukundwa descends the main channel from the Kaginogumaug Lake in canoes. On reaching the field of ambush, these canoes are abandoned, and the parties, after an encounter, haste home on foot.From this deserted and uninhabited state of the valley we were the more surprised, as noon drew on, to descry an Indian canoe ascending the river. It proved to be spies on the look-out, from the body of Chippewas encamped at the mouth of the river, agreeably to my invitation at Sandy Lake. After mutual recognitions, and learning that we were near the mouth of the river, we resumed our descent with renewed spirit, and soon reached its outflow into the Mississippi, and crossed it to the point at which the Indians had established their camp. We were received with yells of welcome. It occupied an eminence on the east bank of the Mississippi, directly opposite to the mouth of the De Corbeau.[188]The site was marked by a flag hoisted on a tallstaff. The Indians fired a salute as we landed, and pressed down to the shore, with their chiefs, to greet us. They informed me that by their count of sticks, of the time appointed by me at Sandy Lake, to meet them at this spot, would be out this day, and I had the satisfaction of being told, within a short time of my arrival, that the canoe, with goods and supplies, from Sandy Lake, was in sight. The Indians were found encamped a short distance above the entrance of the Nokasippi[189]River, which is in the line of communication with the Mille Lac and Rum River Indians. I found the latter, together with the whole Sandy Lake Band, encamped here, awaiting my arrival. They numbered 280 souls, of whom 60 were warriors.A council was immediately summoned, to meet in front of my tent, at the appointed signal of the firing of the military; the business of my mission was at once explained, the presents distributed, and the vaccinations commenced. Replies were made at length, by the eldest chief, Gros Guelle, or Big Snout; by Soangekumig, or the Strong Echoing Ground; by Wabogeeg, or the White Fisher; and by Nitumegaubowee, or the First Standing Man. The business having been satisfactorily concluded, the vaccination finished, and having still a couple of hours of daylight, I embarked and went down the Mississippi some ten or fifteen miles, to a Mr. Baker's trading-house at Prairie Piercie.At this place, I remained encamped, it being the Sabbath day, and rested on the 22d, which had a good effect on the whole party, engaged as it had been, night and day, in pushing its way to accomplish certain results, and it prepared them to spring to their paddles the more cheerfully on Monday morning. Indeed, it had been part of my plan of travel, from the outset, to give the men this rest and opportunity to recruit every seventh day, and I always found that they did more work in the long run, from it. I had also engaged them, originally, not to drink any ardent spirits, promising them, however, that their board and pot should be well supplied at all times. And, indeed, although I had frequently travelled with Canadian canoemen, I never knew a crew who worked so cheerfully, and travelled so far, per diem, on the mean of the week, as these six days' working canoemen.At Mr. Baker's, 170 miles above St. Anthony's Falls, I found a stray number of a small newspaper, and first learned the state of the Sauc and Fox war. The chief, Blackhawk, had crossed the Mississippi, to enter the Rock River valley; had murdered Mr. St. Vrain, the United States agent, sustained a conflict with the Illinois militia, under Major Stillman, fled to Lake Gushkenong, on the head of Rock River, and drawn upon his movement the United States army, leaving, at last accounts, Generals Atkinson and Dodge in pursuit of him.Having struck the Mississippi at the point where the prior narrative describes it (videChap XII.), it becomes unnecessary to give details of my descent to St. Anthony's Falls. Leaving Prairie Piercie on the 23d, two days were employed in the descent to Fort Snelling. I found Captain Wm. R. Jouett in command, who received me with courtesy and kindness, and offered every facility, in the absence of Mr. Talliaferro, the United States Indian Agent, for laying the object of my mission before the Sioux. He had received no very recent intelligence of the progress of the Sauc war, in addition to that which I had learned at the mouth of the De Corbeau; although he was in the habit of sending a mail boat or canoe twice a month to Prairie du Chien.[190]On the 25th, being the day after my arrival, I met the assembled, Sioux, in council, at the Agency House, the commanding officer being present, and having finished that business, and finding the Sioux wholly unconnected with, and disapproving the proceedings of Blackhawk and his adherents, I embarked early the next morning on my return to Lake Superior. I reached the mouth of the River St. Croix, at three o'clock P. M. on the 26th, and having entered the sylvan sheet of Lake St. Croix, ascended it to within a few miles of its head, and encamped. Lieut. Allen did not reach my camp, but halted for the night some seven or eight miles short.[191]This lake is one of the most beautiful and picturesque sheets ofwater in the West, being from two to three miles wide, and some four-and-twenty or thirty in length.[192]The next morning I reached the head of the lake after a couple of hours of travel, and, by a diligent and hard day's work, during which we passed between perpendicular walls of sonorous trap-rock, reached and encamped at the falls of St. Croix, at eight o'clock in the evening.[193]We were now about fifty miles from the line of the Mississippi River. For the last few miles, there had been either a very strong current or severe eddies of water, around angular masses of trap-rock; and we were encamped at the precise foot of the falls, where the river, narrowed to some fifty feet, breaks its way through trap-rock, falling some fifty feet in the course of six hundred yards. We had been carried, at a tangent, from the great Mississippi series of the silurian period, beginning at St. Anthony's Falls, to the vitric formations of trap and greenstone of the Lake Superiorsystem, and were now to ascend a valley, in which a heavy diluvial drift and boulder stratum rested on this broken and angular basis.[194]On reaching the summit of the St. Croix, there are found vast plateaux of sand, supporting pine forests; and on descending the Misakoda, or Brulé of Fond du Lac, the sandstone strata of that basin are again encountered. This ascent was rendered arduous, from the low state of the water. I reached Snake River on the 30th, had an interview with the Buffalo chief (Pezhikee) and his subordinates; finding the population 300, with thirty-eight half breeds. The men, while here, cut their feet, treading on the trap-rock debris, in the mouth of the river. The distance thence to Yellow River is about thirty-five miles, which we accomplished on the 31st, by eight o'clock in the morning, having found our greatest obstacle at the Kettle Rapids, which discloses sharp masses of the trap-rock. The river, in this distance, receives on its right, in the ascent, the Aisippi, or Shell River, which originates in a lake of that name, noted for its large unios and anadontas.At Yellow River, I halted to confer with the Indians in front of a remarkable eminence called Pokunogun, or the Moose's Hip. This eminence is not, however, of artificial construction. This river, with its dependencies of Lac Vaseux, Rice Lake, and Yellow Lake, contains a Chippewa population of three hundred and eighty-two souls. We observed here the unio purpureus, which the Indians use for spoons, after rubbing off the alatæ and rounding the margin. We also examined the skin of the sciurus tredacem striatus of Mitchill.We reached the forks of the St. Croix about two o'clock P. M. The distance from Yellow River is about thirteen miles; it required five and a half hours to accomplish this. The water was, indeed, so low, that the men had often to wade; and, on reaching this point, we were to lose half its volume, or more, for the Namakagun[195]fork, which enters here, carries in more than half the quantity of water.I found the chief Kabamappa and his followers encamped at the forks, awaiting my arrival, who received me with a salute. He disclaimed all connection with the movement of the Blackhawk. He stated facts, however, which showed him to be well acquainted with the means which that chief had used to bring the Indians into an extensive league against the United States. He readily assented to the measures proposed to the upper bands, for bringing the Sioux and Chippewas into more intimate and permanent relations of peace and friendship.With respect to the ascent of the St. Croix, in the direction of the Brulé, his exclamation wasiskutta-iskutta, meaning it is dried up, or there is no water. Dry the channel, indeed, looked, but by leading the canoes around the shoals, all the men walking in the water, and picking out channels, we advanced about seven miles before the time of encampment. The next morning (Aug. 1) a heavy fog detained us in our encampment, till five o'clock, when we recommenced the ascent of a similar series of embarrassments from very low water, rapid succeeding to rapid, till two o'clock P. M., when we reached the summit of a plateau, and found still water and comparatively good navigation. Five hours canoeing on this summit brought us to Kabamappa's village at the Namakowágon, or sturgeon's dam, where we encamped. The chief gave us his population at 88 souls, of whom 28 were men, including the minor chief, Mukudapenas,[196]and his men. We had now got above all the strong rapids, and proceeded from our encampment at four o'clock, A. M., on the 2d. The river receives two tributaries, from the right hand, on this summit, namely, the Buffalo and Clearwater, and, at the distance of about ten miles above the Namakowágon, is found to be expanded in a handsome lake of about six miles in extent, called Lake St. Croix. This is the source of the river. We were favored with a fair wind in passing over it, and having reached its head debarked on a marshy margin, and immediately commenced the portage to the Brulé, or Misakoda River.[197]I had now reached the summit between the St. Croix and Lake Superior. The elevation of this summit has not been scientifically determined; but from the great fall of the Brulé, cannot be less than 600 feet. The length of the Brulé is about 100 miles, in which there are 240 distinct rapids. Some of these are from eight to ten feet each. Four of them require portages, at which all the canoes are discharged. The river itself, on looking down it, appears to be a perfect torrent, foaming and roaring; and it could never be used by the traders at all, were it not that it had abundance of water, being the off-drain for an extensive plateau of lakes and springs. To give an adequate idea of this foaming torrent, it is necessary to conceive of a river flowing down a pair of stairs, a hundred miles long.The portage from the St. Croix to it begins on marsh, ascending in a hundred yards or so, to an elevated sandy plain, which has been covered, at former times, with a heavy forest of the pinus resinosa; that having been consumed, there is left here and there a dry trunk, orauk, as the Indians call it. The length of the portage path is 3,350 yards, or about two miles. At this distance, we reach a small, sandy-bottomed brook, of four feet wide and a foot deep, of most clear crystalline cold water, winding its way, in a most serpentine manner, through a boggy tract, and overhung with dense alder bushes. It is a good place to slake one's thirst, but appears like anything else than a stream to embark on, with canoes and baggage. Nobody but an Indian would seem to have ever dreamed of it. Yet on this brook we embarked. It was now six o'clock in the evening. By going a distance below, and damming up the stream, a sufficient depth of water was got to float the canoes. The axe was used to cut away the alders. The men walked, guiding the canoes, and carrying some of the baggage. In this way we moved slowly, about one mile, when it became quite dark, and threatened rain. The voyageurs then searched about for a place on the bog dry enough to sleep on, and came, with joy, and told me that they had found a kind of bog, with bunches of grassy tufts, which are called by themtete de femme. The very poetry of the idea was something, and I was really happy, amid the intense gloom, to rest my head, for the night, on these fair tufts. The next morning we were astir as soon as there was light enough to direct our steps. Aftera few miles of these intricacies, we found a brisk and full tributary, below which, the descent is at once free, and on crossing the first narrow geologic plateau, the rapids begin; the stream being constantly and often suddenly enlarged, by springs and tributaries from the right and left. To describe the descent of this stream, in detail, would require graphic powers to which I do not aspire, and time which I cannot command. We were two days and a part of a night in making the descent, with every appliance of voyageur craft. It was after darkness had cast her pall over us, on the evening of the 4th of August, before we reached still water. The river is then a deep and broad mass of water, into which coasting vessels from the Lake might enter. Some four miles from the foot of the last rapids, it enters the Fond du Lac of Lake Superior. Some time before reaching this point, we had been apprised of our contiguity to it, from hearing the monotonous thump of the Indian drum; and we were glad, on our arrival, to find the chief, Mongazid,[198]of Fond du Lac, with the military barge of Lieut. Allen, left at that place on our outward trip, which he had promised to bring down to this point.Having thus accomplished the objects committed to my trust, and rejoined the track described in my prior narrative, I rested here on the next day (5th), being the Sabbath; and then proceeded through Lake Superior, to my starting-point at Sault de Ste Marie.[199]APPENDIX.No. 1.THE EXPEDITION TO THE SOURCES OF THEMISSISSIPPI IN 1820.[276]I. OFFICIAL REPORTS OF THE EXPEDITION OF 1820.1. DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS.I.Announcement of the Return of the Expedition. By Hon.Lewis Cass.II.General Report to the Department of War. By Hon.Lewis Cass.III.Further Explorations of Western Geography recommended. By Hon.Lewis Cass.IV.Personal Testimonial on the close of the Expedition. By Hon.Lewis Cass.2. TOPOGRAPHY AND ASTRONOMY.V.Results of Observations for Latitudes and Longitudes during the Expedition of 1820. ByDavid B. Douglass, Capt. Engineers, U. S. A.3. MINERALOGY AND GEOLOGY.VI.Report on theCopper Mines of Lake Superior. ByHenry R. Schoolcraft.VII.Observations on the Mineralogy and Geology of the country embracing the sources of the Mississippi River and the Great Lake Basins. ByHenry R. Schoolcraft.VIII.Report in reply to a Resolution of the U. S. Senate on the Value and Extent of the Mineral Lands on Lake Superior. ByHenry R. Schoolcraft.IX.Rapid Glances at the Geology of Western New York, beyond the Rome summit,in 1820. ByHenry R. Schoolcraft.X.A Memoir on the Geological Position of a Fossil Tree in the secondary rocks of the Illinois. Albany: E. & E. Hosford, pp. 18, 1822. ByHenry R. Schoolcraft.4. BOTANY.XI.List of Plants collected by Capt. D. B. Douglass at the sources of the Mississippi River. This paper has been published in the 4th vol. p. 56 of Silliman's Journal of Science. By Dr.John Torrey.5. ZOOLOGY.XII.A Letter embracing Notices of the Zoology of the Northwest, addressed toDr. Mitchell on the return of the Expedition. ByHenry R. Schoolcraft.(1.) FRESH-WATER CONCHOLOGY.XIII.Species of Bivalves collected by Mr. Schoolcraft and Capt. Douglass in the Northwest. Published in the 6th vol. Amer. Journ. of Science, pp. 120, 259. ByD. H. Barnes.XIV.Fresh-water Shells collected by Mr. Schoolcraft in the valleys of the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers. American Philosophical Transactions, vol. 5. By Mr.Isaac Lea.(2.) FAUNA: ICHTHYOLOGY: REPTILIA.XV.Summary Remarks respecting the Zoological Species noticed in the Expedition. By Dr.Samuel L. Mitchell.XVI.Mus Busarius. Medical Repository, vol. 21, p. 248. By Dr.Samuel L. Mitchell.XVII.Sciurus Tredecem Striatus. Med. Rep. vol. 21. By Dr.Samuel L. Mitchell.XVIII.Proteus of the Lakes. Am. Journ. Science, vol. 4. By Dr.Samuel L. Mitchell.6. METEOROLOGY.XIX.Memoranda on Climatic Phenomena, and the distribution of Solar Heat, in 1820. ByHenry R. Schoolcraft.7. INDIAN LANGUAGES AND HISTORY.XX.A Pictographic mode of communicating ideas by the Northwestern Indians. By Hon.Lewis Cass.XXI.Inquiries respecting the History, &c. of the Indians of the United States.Detroit, 1822. By Hon.Lewis Cass.XXII.A Letter on the Origin of the Indian Tribes of America, and the Principles of their Mode of uttering Ideas. By Dr.J. M'donnell, Belfast, Ireland.XXIII.Difficulties of studying the Indian Tongues of the United States. Schoolcraft's Travels in the Central Portions of the Mississippi Valley, p. 381. By Dr.Alexander Wolcott, Jr.XXIV.Examinations of the Elementary Structure of the Odjibwa-Algonquin Language. First paper. ByHenry R. Schoolcraft.XXV.A Vocabulary of the Odjibwa-Algonquin. ByHenry R. Schoolcraft.
Itasca Lake, the source of the Mississippi River, 3,160 miles from the Balize.A.Mississippi River.B.Route of expedition to the Lake.C.Schoolcraft's Island.
The line of discovery of the Mississippi, explored above Cass Lake, taking the east fork from the primary junction, as shown by Mr. Allen's topographical notes, is one hundred and twenty-three miles.[166]This is the shortest and most direct branch. The line by the Itascan or main branch of it is, probably, some twenty or twenty-five miles longer. It is evident, as before intimated, that the river descends from its summit in plateaux. From the pseudo-alpine level of the parent lake, there is a principal and minor rapids, for the former of which the Indians have the appropriate name ofKakabikons, which is a descriptive term for a cascade over rocks or stones. Then the river again deploys itself in a lake and a series of minor lakes on the same level, and this process is repeated, until it finally plunges over the horizontal rocks at St. Anthony's Falls, and displays itself, for the last time, in Lake Pepin. Commencing with the latter lake, it may be observed for the purposes of generalization, and to give definite notions rather of its hydrography than geology, that there are nine plateaux, of which Governor Cass, in 1820, explored six. The other three, beginning at his terminal point, have now been indicated. The heights of these are given, barometrically. The distances travelled are given from time. The annexed diagram of these plateaux, extending to the Pakagama summit, will impress these deductions on the eye.
The length of the Mississippi, from the Gulf of Mexico, pursuing its involutions, may be stated to be three thousand miles. By estimates from the best sources made, respectively, during the expeditions of 1820 and 1832, it is shown to have a winding thread of three thousand one hundred and sixty miles. Taking the barometrical height of Itasca Lake at fifteen hundred and seventy-five feet, it has a mean descent of a fraction over six inches per mile. As one of the most striking epochs in American geography, we have known this river, computing from the era of Marquette's discovery to the present day (July 13, 1832), but one hundred and fifty-nine years—a short period, indeed! How rich a portion of the geology of the globe lies buried in the flora and fauna of the tertiary, the middle or secondary, and the palæozoic eras of its valley, we have hardly begun to inquire. It will,doubtless, and, so far as we know,does, contribute evidences to the antiquity and mutations of the earth's surface, conformably to the progress of discoveries in other parts of the globe. The immense basins of coal, found in the middle and lower parts of its valley, prove the same gigantic epoch of its flora which has been established for the coal measures of Europe,[167]and sweep to the winds the jejune theory that the continent arose from a chaotic state, at a period a whit less remote than the other quarters of the globe. While the large bones of its later eras, found imbedded in its unconsolidated strata, prove how large a portion of its fauna were involved in the gigantic and monster-period.
Descent of the west, or Itascan branch—Kakabikoñs Falls—Junction of the Chemaun, Peniddiwin, or De Soto, and Allenoga Rivers—Return to Cass Lake.
Itasca Lake lies in latitude twenty-five seconds only south of Leech Lake, and five minutes and eleven seconds west of the ultimate northerly point of the Mississippi, on the Queen Anne summit; it is a fraction over twelve minutes southwest of Cass Lake. The distance from the latter point, at which discovery rested in 1820, is, agreeably to the observations of Lieutenant Allen, one hundred and sixty-four miles.
On scrutinizing the shores of the island, on which I had encamped, innumerable helices, and other small univalves, were found; among these I observed a new species, which Mr. Cooper has described as planorbis companulatus.[168]There were bones of certain species of fish, as well as the bucklers of one or two kinds of tortoise, scattered around the sites of old Indian camp fires, denoting so many points of its natural history. Amidst the forest-trees before named, the betula papyraceæ and spruce were observed. Directing one of the latter to be cut down, and prepared as a flagstaff, I caused the United States flag to be hoisted on it. This symbol was left flying at our departure. Ozawindib, who at once comprehended the meaning of this ceremony, with his companions fired a salute as it reached its elevation.
Having made the necessary examinations, I directed my tent to be struck, and the canoes put into the water, and immediately embarked. The outlet lies north of the island. Before reaching it, we had lost sight of the flagstaff, owing to the curvature of the shore. Unexpectedly, the outlet proved quite a brisk brook, with a mean width of ten feet, and one foot in depth. The water is asclear as crystal, and we at once found ourselves gliding along, over a sandy and pebbly bottom, strewed with the scattered valves of shells, at a brisk rate. Its banks are overhung with limbs and foliage, which sometimes reach across. The bends are short, and have accumulations of flood-wood, so that, from both causes, the use of the axe is often necessary to clear a passage. There was also danger of running against boulders of black rock, lying in the margin, or piled up in the channel. As the rapid waters increased, we were hurled, as it were, along through the narrow passages, and should have descended at a prodigiously rapid rate, had it not been for these embarrassments to the navigation. Its course was northwest. After descending about ten miles, the river enters a narrow savanna, where the channel is wider and deeper, but equally circuitous. This reaches some seven or eight miles. It then breaks its way through a pine ridge, where the channel is again very much confined and rapid, the velocity of the stream threatening every moment to dash the canoe into a thousand pieces. The men were sometimes in the water, to guide the canoe, or stood ever ready, with poles, to fend off. After descending some twenty-five miles, we encamped on a high sandy bluff on the left hand.
The next morning (14th), we were again in our canoes before five o'clock. The severe rapids continued, and were rendered more dangerous by limbs of trees which stretched over the stream, threatening to sweep off everything that was movable. We had been one hour passing down a perfect defile of rapids, when we approached the Kakabikoñs Falls.Kakábik,[169]in the Chippewa, means a cascade, or shoot of water over rocks.Oñsis merely the diminutive, to which all the nouns of this language are subject. How formidable this little cataract might be, we could not tell. It appeared to be a swift rush of water, bolting through a narrow gorge, without a perpendicular drop, and Ozawindib said it required a portage. Halting at its head, for Lieut. Allen to come up, his bowsman caught hold of my canoe, to check his velocity. It had that effect. But, being checked suddenly, the stern of his canoe swung across the stream, which permitted the steersman to catch hold of a branch. Thus stretched tensely across the rapid stream, in an instant the water swept over its gunwale, and its contents were plunged into the swift current. The water was about four feet deep. Allen and his men found footing, with much ado, but his canoe-compass, apparatus, and everything, was lost and swept over the falls. He grasped his manuscript notes, and, by feeling with his feet, fetched up his fowling-piece; the men clutched about, and managed to save the canoe. Fortunately, I had a fine instrument to replace the lost compass, though wanting the nautical rig of the other.
We made a short portage. Two of the canoes, with Indian pilots, went down the rapids, but injured their canoes so much as to cause a longer delay than if they had carried them by land. Below this fall, the river receives a tributary on the right hand, called theChemaun, or Ocano. It contributes to double its volume, very nearly, and hence its savanna borders are enlarged. Conspicuous among the shrubbery on its shores are the wilding rose and clumps of the salix. The channel winds through these savanna borders capriciously. At a point where we landed for breakfast, on an open pine bank on the left shore, we observed several copious and clear springs pouring into the river. Indeed, the extensive sand ranges which traverse the woodlands of the Itasca plateau are perfectly charged with the moisture which is condensed on these elevations, which flows in through a thousand little rills. On these sandy heights the conifera predominate.
The physical character of the stream made this part of our route a most rapid one. Willing or unwilling, we were hurried on; but, indeed, we had every desire to hasten the descent. At four o'clock P. M., we came to the junction of the Piniddiwin,[170]or Carnage River, a considerable tributary on the left. On this river, which originates in a lake, on the northeastern summit of the Hauteur des Terres, I bestowed the name of De Soto. It has also a lake, called Lac la Folle, at the point of its junction with the Mississippi, whose borders are noted for the abundant andvigorous growth of wild rice, reeds, and rushes. It is called Monomina,[171]by the Chippewas. By this accession, the width and depth of the river are strikingly increased. The Indian reed first appears at this spot.
While passing through this part of the river, I observed a singular trait in the habits of the onzig duck, which, on being suddenly surprised by the traveller, affects for the moment to be disabled; flapping its wings on the water, as if it could not rise, in order to allow its brood, who are now (July) unfledged, to escape, when the mother instantly rises from the water, and wings her flight vigorously. We observed, sailing above the marshy areas of this fork, the falco furcatus, the feathers of which are much esteemed by the Indians, for this is considered a brave species, as its habit is to seize serpents by the neck, who twist themselves around its elongated body, while it flies off to some convenient perch to devour them. The deer is also noticed along the Itascan fork. Ozawindib landed a little below the junction of the Chemaun, to fire at one of them, which he discovered grazing at some distance; but, although he carefully landed and crept up crouchingly, he failed in his shot, either from the distance or some other cause. Immediately, he put a fresh charge of powder in his gun, and threw in a bullet, unwadded, and fired again before the animal had made many leaps, but it held its way.
We descended about eighteen miles below the Piniddiwin, and landed to encamp. The day's descent had been an arduous one. Lieut. Allen estimated it at seventy-five miles. We had now fairly followed the Mississippi out of what may be denoted its Alpine passes. All its dangerous rapids had been overcome. It was now a flowing stream of sixty feet wide. Immediately on landing, one of the Indians captured an animal of the saurian type, calledocaut-e-kinabic,[172]eight inches in length, striped blue, black, and white, with four legs of equal length. The colors were very vivid.
Having reached a part of the stream which could be safely navigated, I resolved to re-embark after supper, and continue the descent by night. We were now about fifteen miles above theprimary forks. Lieut. Allen determined to remain till daylight, in order to trace the river down to the point at which it had been left in the ascent. Nothing of an untoward nature occurred. A river of some size enters, on the left hand, about six miles below the saurian encampment, which originates in a lake. This stream, for which I heard no name, I designatedAllenoga, putting the Iroquois local terminal inogato the name of the worthy officer who traced out the first true map of the actual sources of the Mississippi.[173]We passed the influx of the east fork, about half-past one A. M. on the 15th, traversed the Lake of Queen Anne, and descended the whole series of the Metoswa rapids, to Lake Andrúsia, by the hour of daybreak, and reached the island of my primary encampment, in Cass Lake, at nine o'clock in the morning. We had been eleven hours and a half in our canoes, from the time of re-embarkation at the camp above Allenoga. Lieut. Allen did not rejoin us till six o'clock in the afternoon. He estimated the entire distance,outandin, at 290 miles, it being 125 miles to Itasca Lake, and, as before intimated, 165 miles from thence to Cass Lake. He estimates the length of the Mississippi, above the Falls of St. Anthony, at 1,029 miles. Taking the distance from the Gulf of Mexico to the Falls at 2,200 miles,[174]this would give to this stream a development of 3,229 miles, which exceeds my prior estimates more than fifty miles.
The expedition proceeds to strike the source of the great Crow-Wing River, by the Indian trail and line of interior portages, by way of Leech Lake, the seat of the warlike tribe of the Pillagers, or Mukundwa.
Having, while at Sandy Lake, summoned the Indians to meet me in council at the mouth of theL'aile de Corbeau, or Crow-Wing River, on the 20th of July, no time was to be lost in proceeding to that place. The 15th, being the Sabbath, was spent at the island, where the Rev. Mr. Boutwell addressed the Indians. The next day, I met the Cass Lake band in council, and, having finished that business, rewarded the Indians for their services and canoes on the trip to Itasca Lake, distributed the presents designed for them, replied to a message from Nezhopenais of Red Lake, and invested Ozawindib with the President's largest silver medal and a flag, and was ready by 10 o'clock A. M. to embark. Dr. Houghton employed the time to complete his vaccinations. I rewarded Mr. Default for taking charge of my camp during the journey to Itasca Lake. As well to shorten the line of travel as to visit an entirely unexplored section of the country, I resolved to pursue the Indian trail and line of interior portages from Cass to Leech Lake, and from the latter to the source of the great Crow-Wing fork.
Passing southwardly across the lake, between Red Cedar and Garden Islands, we have a prolonged bay running deep into the land, toward the south. This bay is in the direct line to Leech Lake; and as it had been crossed on the ice in January, 1806, by Lieutenant Pike, in his adventurous and meritorious journey of exploration, I called it Pike's Bay. It was twelve o'clock, meridian, when we debarked at its head. The portage commenced on the edge of an open pine forest, interspersed with scrub oak. The path is deeply worn, in the sand-plain, and looks as if it hadbeen trod by the Indians for centuries. I observed, as we passed along, the alum root, hyacinthus, and sweet fern, with the ledum latifolium, vaccinium dumosum, and more common species of pine plains. The pinus resinosa assumes here a larger size, and the Indians pointed out to me markings and pictographs drawn with charcoal, and covered with the resin of the tree, which were made by the Indian tribe who preceded them in the occupancy of the sources of the Mississippi. This must have been, if I rightly apprehend their history, prior to A. D. 1600. That such markings should be preserved by the pitch, which sheds the rain, is, however, probable. They were of the totemic character,i.e.relating to the exploits or achievements of groups of families, in which the individual actor sinks his specific in the generic family or clan name. Antiquities of this character are certainly a new feature in Indian history. Letters have perfectly preserved the landing of Cartier at the mouth of the St. Lawrence in 1534. Pictography here records, that certain clans had killed bears and taken human scalps before that time. And the fact is deeply important in shedding light on Indian history and character; for the killing of deers and bears, and the taking of human scalps, is precisely what these tribes are doing at the present time. In the three hundred years' interval, they have made no mental progress. The Chippewa is just as fierce to-day, in hunting a Dacota scalp, as the Dacota is in hunting a Chippewa scalp. The conquering tribe has, however, pushed the Dacotas nearly one thousand miles down the Mississippi.
"Talk of your Hannibals, Napoleons, and Alps,My glory," quoth the feathered hunter, "is in scalps."
"Talk of your Hannibals, Napoleons, and Alps,My glory," quoth the feathered hunter, "is in scalps."
"Talk of your Hannibals, Napoleons, and Alps,
My glory," quoth the feathered hunter, "is in scalps."
After following the deeply indented path nine hundred and fifty yards, we reached a small lake which disclosed, as we passed it, patches of a dark, coarse, mossy-like substance at its bottom. On reaching down with their paddles, the men brought up a singular species of aquatic plant with coral-shaped branches. After crossing this lake, the pine plain resumed its former character. There was then a shallow bog of fifty or sixty yards. The rest of the path consists of an arid sand plain, which is sometimes brushy, but generally presents dry, easy travelling. We had walked four thousand one hundred yards, or about two and ahalf miles, when we reached an elongated body of clear living water, having its outflow into Leech Lake. Embarking on this, we crossed it, and entered a narrow stream, winding about in a shaking savanna, where it was found difficult to veer the large five-fathom canoes in which we now travelled. This tortuous stream was joined by a tributary from the right, and at no remote distance, entered an elongated duplicate body of water, named by the IndiansKapuka Sagatawag, or the Abrupt Discharges.[175]Below the junction of these lakes, which appear to be outbursts from the Hauteur de Terre range, the stream is a wide-flowing river. Its shores abound in sedge, reeds, and wild rice. The last glimpses of daylight left us as this broad river entered into Leech Lake. Moonlight still served us, as we began the traverse of this spreading sea, but it soon became overcast, and it was intensely dark before we reached the recurved point of land of the principal chief's village. It was now ten o'clock at night, and it was eleven before the military canoes, under Lieutenant Allen, came up. In the morning a salute was fired by the Indians, who welcomed us. Aishkebuggekozh,[176]or the Flat-mouth, the reigning chief, invited me to breakfast. As this chief exercises a kind of imperial sway over the adjacent country, it was important to respect him. Having sent a dish of hard bread before me, I took my interpreter and went to his residence. I found him living in a tenement built of logs, with two rooms, well floored and roofed, with two small glass windows. At one end of the breakfast-room were extended his flags, medals, and warlike paraphernalia. In the centre of the floor, a large mat of rushes, or Indian-wovenapukwawas spread, and upon this the breakfast and breakfast things were arranged in an orderly manner. There were teacups, teaspoons, plates, knives and forks, all of plain English manufacture. A salt-cellar contained salt and pepper mixed in unequal proportions. There were just as many plates as expected guests. A large white fish, boiled, and cut up in good taste, occupied a dish in the centre. There was a dish of sugar made from the acer saccharinum. There were no stools, or chairs, butsmall apukwa mats were spread for each guest. I observed the dish of hard bread, which came opportunely, as there was no other representative form of bread. The chief sat down at the head of his breakfast, in the oriental fashion. Imitating his example, I sat down with a degree of repose and nonchalance, as if this had been the position I had practised from childhood. His empress—Equa,[177]sat on one side, near him, to pour out the tea, but neither ate nor drank anything herself. Her position was also that of the oriental custom for females; that is, both feet were thrown to one side, and doubled beside her.[178]The chief helped us to fish and to tea, taking the cups from his wife. He was dignified, grave, yet easy, and conversed freely, and the meal passed off agreeably and without a pause, or the slightest embarrassment. This was, perhaps, owing in part to my having been acquainted with him before, he having visited me at my agency at Sault Ste. Marie in 1828, and sat as a guest at my own table. Nor, in a people so loath to give their confidence as the Indian, is the fact undeserving of mention, of general affiliation to the tribe, caused by my marriage with a grand-daughter of the ruling chief of Lake Superior, a lady of refinement and intelligence, who was the child of a gentleman of Antrim, Ireland, where she was educated.
On rising to leave, I invited him to a council, at my tent, which was ordered to assemble at the firing of the military. It is not unimportant to observe, that, in preparing to set out on this expedition into the Indian country, at a time when the Blackhawk had raised the standard of revolt on Rock River, and the tribes of the Upper Mississippi were believed to be extensively in his views, I had caused my canoe, after it had been finished in most perfect style of art known to this kind of vessel, to be painted with Chinese vermilion, from stem to stern. Ten years' residence among the tribes, in an official capacity, had convinced me that fear is the controlling principle of the Indian mind, and that the persuasions to a life of peace, are most effectively made under the symbols of war. To beg, to solicit, to creep and cringeto this race, whether in public or private, is a delusive, if not a fatal course; and though I was told by one or two of my neighbors that it was not well, on this occasion, to put my canoe in the symbolic garb of war, I did not think so. I carried, indeed, emphatically, messages of peace from the executive head of the Government, and had the means of insuring respect for these messages, by displaying the symbol of authority at the stern of each vessel, by an escort of soldiery, and by presents, and the services of a physician to arrest one of the most fatal of diseases which have ever afflicted the Indian race. But I carried them fearlessly and openly, with the avowed purpose of peace. The canoe, itself, was an emblem of this authority, and, like theoriflammeof the Mediæval Ages, cast an auspicious influence on my mission over these bleak and wide summits, lakes, and forests, inhabited alone by fierce and predatory tribes, who acknowledged no power but force. Long before I had reached the sources of the Mississippi, St. Vrain, my fellow agent, had been most cruelly murdered at his agency, and General Scott, with the whole disposable army of the United States, had taken the field at Chicago.
Lieut. Allen paraded his men that morning with burnished arms. We could not, jointly, in an emergency, muster over forty men, of whom a part were not reliable in a melée, but arranged our camp in the best manner to produce effect. Effect, indeed, it required, when the hour of the council came. Not less than one thousand souls, men, women, and children, surrounded my tent, including a special deputation from the American borders of Rainy Lake. Of these, two hundred were active young warriors, who strode by with a bold and lofty air, and glistening eyes, often lifting the wings of my tent, to scan the preparations going forward. Aishkebuggekozh entered the council area, having in his train Majegabowi, the man who had led the revolt in the Red River settlement of Lord Selkirk, and who had tomahawked Gov. Semple, after he fell wounded from his horse. This association did not smack of peaceful designs. The chief, Aishkebuggekozh, himself, has the countenance of a very ogre. He is over six feet high, very brawny, and stout. That feature of his countenance from which he is named Flat-mouth, consisting of a broad expansion and protrusion of the front jaws, between the long incision of the mouth, reminds one much of a bull-dog's jaw. He held inhis hand, suspended by ribbons, five silver medals, smeared with vermilion, to symbolize blood.
A person not familiar with Indian symbols, might deem such signs alarming. I knew him to be very fond of using these symbols, and, indeed, a man who never made a speech without them; and I had the fullest confidence that, while he aimed to produce the fullest effect upon his listening, but less shrewd tribe of folks, and upon all, indeed, he never dreamed of an act which should bring him into conflict with the United States. Like Blackhawk, who was now exciting and leading the tribes at lower points to war, he had, from his youth, been in the British interests. He displayed a British flag at his breakfast, and three of his medals were of British coinage, but he was a man of far more comprehensive mind and understanding than Blackhawk.
Having been, as a government agent, the medium of the agreement of the Chippewas and Sioux in fixing on a boundary line for their respective territories at the treaty of Prairie-du-Chien, in 1825, I made that agreement, on the present occasion, the basis of my remarks, for their preserving in good faith the stipulations of that treaty, and of renewing the principles of it in the points where they had since been broken and violated. I concluded by assuring them of the friendship of the United States, of which my visit to this remote region must be deemed proof, and of the sincerity with which I had communicated the words of the President. The presents were then delivered and distributed.
Aishkebuggekozh, or the Guelle Plat, replied, with much of the skill and force of Indian oratory. He began by calling the attention of the warriors to his words; he then turned to me, thanking me for the presents. He said that he had been present when Pike visited this lake in 1806. He pointed with his fingers across the lake, to the Ottertail Point, where the old trading-house of the British Northwest Company had stood. "You have come," he continued, "to remind us that the American flag is now flying over the country, and to offer us counsels of peace. I thank you. I have heard that voice before, but it was like a rushing wind. It was strong, but soon went. It did not remain long enough to choke up the path. At the treaty of Prairie-du-Chien, it had been promised that whoever crossed the lines, the long arms of the President should pull them back; but, that very year, the Siouxattacked us, and they have killed my people almost every year since. I was myself present when they fired on a peaceful delegation, and killed four Chippewas under the walls of Fort Snelling. My own son—myonlyson—has been killed. He was basely killed, without an opportunity to defend himself." A subordinate here handed him, at his request, a bundle of small sticks. "This," handing them to me, "is the number of Leech Lake Chippewas killed by the Sioux since the treaty of Prairie-du-Chien." There were forty-three sticks.
He then lifted up a string of silver medals, smeared with vermilion. "Take notice, they are bloody. I wish you to wipe the blood off. I cannot do it. I find myself in a war with this people, and I believe it has been intended by the Creator that we should be at war with them. My warriors are brave [looking significantly at them]; it is to them that I owe success. But I have looked for help where I did not find it."[179]
Geographical account of Leech Lake—History of its Indians, the Mukundwas—The expedition proceeds to the source of the Crow-Wing River, and descends that stream, in its whole length, to the Mississippi.
Leech Lake is a large, deep, and very irregularly-shaped body of water. It cannot be less than twenty miles across its extreme points. I requested the chief to draw its outlines, furnishing a sheet of foolscap. He began by tracing a large ellipsis, and then projecting large points and bays, inwardly and outwardly, with seven or eight islands, and that peculiar feature, the Kapuka Sagotawa, which I apprehend to originate in gigantic springs. The following eccentric figure of the lake is the result.
This lake has been the seat of the Mukundwa, or Pillagers, from early days. The date of their occupancy is unknown. The French found them here early in the seventeenth century, when they began to push the fur trade from Montreal. They were the advance of the Algonquin group, who, when they had reached the head of Lake Superior, proceeded still towards the west and northwest. Two separate bodies assumed the advance in this migratory movement, one of which went from the north shore, at the old Grand Portage, north-northwest, by the way of the Rainy Lakes, and the other went northwest from Fond du Lac. The former soon earned for themselves the title of Killers, or Kenistenos,[180]and speak a distinct dialect; the other, whose language continued to be, with little variations, good Odjibwa, acquired in a short time the name of Takers, or Mukundwa. The Kenistenos advanced, through the Great Lake Winnepeck, and up its inflowing waters, to the Portage du Trait, of the great Churchill or Missi-nepi (much water) River, where they sent upa skinned frog, in derision of the feebler Athapasca race, whom they here encountered.Mackenzie's Voyages, p. lxxiii.Hist. FurTrade. The Odjibwas were led from Chegoimegon, in Lake Superior, by two noted chiefs, called Nokay and Bainswah, under whom they drove the Sioux from the region of Sandy Lake and the source of the Mississippi. (Ethnological Researches, vol. ii. p. 135.)
Leech Lake.—a, Rush Bay;b, Leech Lake River;c, Three Points;d, Boy's River;e, Bear Island;f, Pelican Island;g, Two Points;h, Ottertail Point;i, Chippewa Village;j, Sugar Point;k, Carp River;l, Old N. W. House;m, Goose Island;n, Encampment, July 16;o, Trading House Am. P. Co.;p, Flatmouth's House;q, Chippewa Village;r, Encampment, July 17;s,s, Route to Crow-Wing River;t, Sandy Point;u, Big Point;v, Sandy Bay River.
Another party of this Algonquin force, which conquered the country lying round the sources of the Mississippi, proceeded through the Turtle River to Red Lake, and thence descended into the valley of the Red River of Hudson's Bay, where their descendants still reside. Large portions of these mingled with the Canadian stock, forming that remarkable people called Boisbrules. These advanced parties pressed into the buffalo plains, along the Rivers Assinabwoin and Saskatchawine, which is the ultimate western area of the spread of the Algonquin language. And to this migration the Blackfeet are believed to be indebted for the intermixture of this language which exists, and which Mr. Gallatin has erroneously supposed to arise from original elements, in the Blackfeet tongue.
This lake yields in abundance the corregonus albus, a fish which is unknown to the Mississippi, and which delights only, it appears, in very limpid and cold waters.
I found the population living at this lake to be eight hundred and thirty-two souls, under three chiefs, the Guelle Plat, Nesia, or the Elder Brother, and Chianoquet, or the Big Cloud, the latter of whom is exclusively a war chief. Having dined these chiefs at my tent, and finished my business, and the vaccinations and very numerous cases of odontalgia being got through with, I directed my canoes to be put in the water, with the view of going a few miles down the shore, in order to get a quiet night's encampment, and be ready for an early start on the morrow. It was near the hour of sunset before we could embark. Aiskebuggekozh came down to the boat to take leave of me. He was dressed, on this occasion (having been in Indian costume all the morning), in a blue military frock coat, with scarlet collar and cuffs, white underclothes, a ruffled shirt, shoes and stockings, and a citizen's hat. He was accompanied by Nesia and other followers, and it appeared to me if there ever was a person who had popular and undisputable claims to imperial sway, notwithstanding this poor taste in costume, it was he.
We went about five miles in the general direction towardsthe source of the L'ail de Corbeau, and encamped. Dr. Houghton, who had been left behind with Lieut. Allen, to complete the vaccinations, rejoined me about seven o'clock. Guelle Plat had promised to send me guides, to cross the country to the Crow-Wing River, early the next morning (18th), but, as they did not arrive, I proceeded across the arm of the lake for the main shore without them. After reaching it, some time was spent in searching for the commencement of the portage path. It was found to lie across a dry pine plain. The Canadians, who are quick on finding the trail of a portage, wanted nothing more, but pushed on, canoes and baggage, without any further trouble about the Indian guides. A portage of 1,078 yards brought us to the banks of a small, clear, shallow lake, called Warpool, which had a very narrow, tortuous outlet, through which the men, with great difficulty, and by cutting away acute turns of the bank with their paddles, made way to force the canoes into Little Long Lake, which we were twenty-four minutes in crossing. The outlet from this lake expanded, at successive intervals, into three pond-like lakes, redolent with the nymphæ valerata; the series terminating in a fourth lake, lying at the foot of elevated lands, which was called the Lake of the Mountain. At the head of the latter, we debarked on a shaking bog. At this spot commences the portagePlé, which lies over a woodless and bleak hill. It is short and abrupt, and terminates on the banks of a deep bowl-shaped lake, where we took breakfast at twelve o'clock. We were now at the foot of elevated lands. Here began the mountain portage, so called. Its extent is, first, nine hundred and ten yards, terminating on the shores of a little lake, without outlet, called the Lake of the Isle. There is then a portage of 1,960 yards to another mountain lake, without outlet. We were now near the apex of the summit between Leech Lake and the source of De Corbeau. Another portage of one onwaybee or about a thousand yards, partly through a morass, carried us quite across this summit, and brought us out on elevated and highly beautiful grounds overlooking the Kaginogumaug, or Longwater Lake, which is the source of the Crow-Wing River. Here we encamped (18th).
There is no rock stratum seen in place, on the De Corbeau summit. Its surface is purely composed of geological drift and boulders. The journey had been a very hard and fatiguing onefor the men, who were on the push and trot all day, embarking and debarking continually on lakes, or scrambling, with their burdens and canoes, over elevations or through morasses. It was particularly severe on the soldiers, who are ill-prepared for this kind of toil.
The chief Guelle Plat, with some companions of the Mukandwa band, had overtaken us, at the Lake of the Isle, and came and encamped beside us. I invited him to sup with us, and the evening was passed in conversing with him on various topics. I found him a man of understanding and comprehensive views, who was well acquainted with the history of his people. It was twelve o'clock before these conversations ended, when he got up to go to his camp fire. With him there sat Majegabowee,[181]a tall, gaunt, and savage-looking man of Red River, who scarcely uttered a word, but sat a silent listener to the superior powers of conversation and reflection of his chief. But I could not look at this person without a sense of horror, when I reflected that in him I beheld the murderer of Gov. Semple, of the Hudson's Bay Territory, a circumstance which I have previously adverted to, while at Leech Lake.[182]
Bidding adieu to the Leech Lake chief the next morning at sunrise (4 h. 45 m.), after giving him a lancet, with directions to vaccinate any of his people who had been overlooked, I embarked on the Kaginogamaug. This is a beautiful lake, with sylvan shores and crystal water, some four or five miles long. We were just forty minutes, with full paddles, in passing it. The outlet is narrow, and overhung with alders. The width is not over six feet, with good depth, but the turns are so sudden, and the stream so thickly overhung with foliage, that the use of the axe and the paddle as an excavator were often necessary. It then expands into a lake, called Little Vermilion, which is fringed with a growth of birch and aspen, with pines in the distance. Its outlet is fully doubled in width, and we had henceforth no more embarrassment in descending. This outlet is pursued about eightmiles. I noticed the tamarack on its banks, and the nymphæ odorata, scirpus lacustris, and Indian reed on the margin. It expands into Birch Lake, a clear sheet, about one mile long, with pebbly bottom, interspersed with boulders. A short outlet, in which we passed a broken fish-dam, connects it with Lac Plè. This lake is about three and a half miles long, exhibiting a portion of prairie on its shores, interspersed with small pines. From it, there is a portage to Ottertail Lake, the eastern source of Red River. This is the common war road of the Mukundwa against the Sioux.
On coming out of Lac Plè, freshwater shells began to show themselves, chiefly species of naiades, a feature in the natural history of this stream which is afterwards common; but I observed none of much size, and they are often greatly decorticated. Four or five miles lower, we entered Assowa Lake, and about a mile and a half further, Lac Vieux Desert, or Old Gardon Lake, so called from the remains of a trading station, where we halted for breakfast. On resuming the descent, just twenty minutes were required, with vigorous strokes of the paddle, to pass it. It has an outlet about two miles long, when the stream again expands into a lake of considerable size, which we called Summit Lake. Thus far, we had been passing on a geological plateau of the diluvial character, extending southwest. But from this point the course of the river veers, at first towards the east and northeast, and, after a wide circuit, to the southeast, and eventually again to the southwest. From this point, rapids begin to mark its channel. The river, consequently, assumes a velocity which, while it hurries the traveller on, increases his danger of running his frail bark against rocks or shoals. We had been driven down this accelerated channel two hours and fifteen minutes, when it expanded into a sheet called Long Rice Lake. This is some three miles in length, and, at a very short distance below it, the river again expands into a considerable lake, which, from the circumstance of Lieut. Allen having circumnavigated it, I called Allen's Lake. He found it the recipient of a small river from the north. It is, apparently, the largest of this series of river lakes below the Kaginogumaug. While crossing it, we experienced a very severe and sudden tempest of wind and rain, accompaniedby most severe and appalling peals of thunder and vivid lightning. Broad ribbons of fire, in acute angles, appeared to rend the skies. Before the shore could be reached, the tempest had subsided, so sudden was its development. A short distance below this, the river makes its tenth evolution, in the shape of a lake, on which, as my Indian maps gave no name, I bestowed the name ofIlligan.[183]
Complete the exploration of the Crow-Wing River of Minnesota—Indian council—Reach St. Anthony's Falls—Council with the Sioux—Ascent and exploration of the River St. Croix and Misakoda, or Broulé, of Lake Superior—Return of the party to St. Mary's Falls, Michigan.
At Illigan Lake, large oaks and elms appear in the forest; its banks are handsomely elevated, and the whole country puts on the appearance of being well adapted to cultivation. We landed to obtain a shot at some deer, which stood temptingly in sight, and were impressed with the sylvan aspect of the country. While in the act of passing out of the lake in our canoes, a small fire was observed on shore, with the usual signs of its having been abandoned in haste by Indians, who had been lying in ambush. Every appearance seemed to justify such a conclusion, and it was evident a party of Sioux had been concealed waiting the descent of Chippewas, but, on observing our flag, and the public character of the party, they hastily withdrew. Our men, knowing the perfidious and cruel character of this tribe, were evidently a good deal alarmed at these signs. We had been one hour in our canoes, descending the river with the double force of current and paddles, when the river was found again expanded, and for the eleventh and last time, in a lake, which the natives callKaitchebo Sagatowa, meaning the lake through one end of which the river passes. As this is not a term, however graphic, which will pass into popular use, I named it Lake Douglas, in allusion to a former companion in explorations in the northwest.[184]Ten miles below this lake, the river receives its first considerable tributary in Shell River, the Aisisepi of the Chippewas, which flows in from the right, from the slope of the Hauteurs des Terres, near the Ottertail Lake. Below this tributary, the Crow-Wing is nearly doubled in width,and there is no further fear of shallow water. We held on our way for a distance of fourteen miles below the point of junction, and encamped on the right hand bank at eight o'clock P.M. It had rained copiously during the afternoon, and everything in the shape of kindling stuff had become so completely saturated with moisture, that it was quite an enterprise in the men to light a camp-fire. Lieut. Allen did not reach our encampment this night, having been misled in Allen's Lake, and, being driven ashore by the tempest, he encamped in that quarter. Presuming him to be in advance, I had pushed on, to a late hour, and encamped under this impression.
The next morning (20th), we set off from our camp betimes, and, having now a full flowing river, made good speed. The river passes for a dozen or more miles through a willowy low tract, on issuing from which there begins a series of strong rapids. Twenty-four of these rapids were counted, which were called the Metunna Rapids. Lieut. Allen estimates that they occupy thirty miles of the channel of the river. Below these rapids, the river extends to a mean width of three hundred feet. At this locality we were overtaken by Mr. Allen, at about two o'clock in the afternoon, and were thus first apprised of the fact that he had been all the while in our rear instead of in front.
Twenty miles below the Metunna Rapids, Leaf River flows in from the right, by a mouth of forty yards wide. This stream originates in Leaf Lake, and is navigable sixty miles in the largest craft used by the traders.[185]The volume of the Crow-Wing River is constantly increased in width and velocity by these accessions, which enabled us fearlessly to make a large day's journey. We encamped together after sunset, on an elevated pine bank, having descended ninety miles.
The 21st, we were early in motion, the river presenting a broad rushing mass of waters, every way resembling the Mississippi itself. On reaching within twenty miles of its mouth, we passed, on the right bank, the mouth of the Long Prairie River,[186]a prime tributary flowing from the great Ottertail slope, which hasbeen, time out of mind, the war road between the Chippewas and Sioux; and between this point and the confluence coming in we passed, on the left bank, the confluence of the Kioshk, or Gull River, through which there is a communication, by a series of portages, with Leech Lake.[187]
From head to foot, we had now passed through the valley of the De Corbeau River, without finding in it the permanent location of a single Indian. We had not, in fact, seen even a temporary wigwam upon its banks. The whole river lies, in fact, on the war road between the two large rival tribes of the Chippewas and Sioux. It is entered by war parties from either side, decked out in war-paints and feathers, who descend either of its tributaries, the Leaf and Long Prairie Rivers. The Mukundwa descends the main channel from the Kaginogumaug Lake in canoes. On reaching the field of ambush, these canoes are abandoned, and the parties, after an encounter, haste home on foot.
From this deserted and uninhabited state of the valley we were the more surprised, as noon drew on, to descry an Indian canoe ascending the river. It proved to be spies on the look-out, from the body of Chippewas encamped at the mouth of the river, agreeably to my invitation at Sandy Lake. After mutual recognitions, and learning that we were near the mouth of the river, we resumed our descent with renewed spirit, and soon reached its outflow into the Mississippi, and crossed it to the point at which the Indians had established their camp. We were received with yells of welcome. It occupied an eminence on the east bank of the Mississippi, directly opposite to the mouth of the De Corbeau.[188]The site was marked by a flag hoisted on a tallstaff. The Indians fired a salute as we landed, and pressed down to the shore, with their chiefs, to greet us. They informed me that by their count of sticks, of the time appointed by me at Sandy Lake, to meet them at this spot, would be out this day, and I had the satisfaction of being told, within a short time of my arrival, that the canoe, with goods and supplies, from Sandy Lake, was in sight. The Indians were found encamped a short distance above the entrance of the Nokasippi[189]River, which is in the line of communication with the Mille Lac and Rum River Indians. I found the latter, together with the whole Sandy Lake Band, encamped here, awaiting my arrival. They numbered 280 souls, of whom 60 were warriors.
A council was immediately summoned, to meet in front of my tent, at the appointed signal of the firing of the military; the business of my mission was at once explained, the presents distributed, and the vaccinations commenced. Replies were made at length, by the eldest chief, Gros Guelle, or Big Snout; by Soangekumig, or the Strong Echoing Ground; by Wabogeeg, or the White Fisher; and by Nitumegaubowee, or the First Standing Man. The business having been satisfactorily concluded, the vaccination finished, and having still a couple of hours of daylight, I embarked and went down the Mississippi some ten or fifteen miles, to a Mr. Baker's trading-house at Prairie Piercie.
At this place, I remained encamped, it being the Sabbath day, and rested on the 22d, which had a good effect on the whole party, engaged as it had been, night and day, in pushing its way to accomplish certain results, and it prepared them to spring to their paddles the more cheerfully on Monday morning. Indeed, it had been part of my plan of travel, from the outset, to give the men this rest and opportunity to recruit every seventh day, and I always found that they did more work in the long run, from it. I had also engaged them, originally, not to drink any ardent spirits, promising them, however, that their board and pot should be well supplied at all times. And, indeed, although I had frequently travelled with Canadian canoemen, I never knew a crew who worked so cheerfully, and travelled so far, per diem, on the mean of the week, as these six days' working canoemen.
At Mr. Baker's, 170 miles above St. Anthony's Falls, I found a stray number of a small newspaper, and first learned the state of the Sauc and Fox war. The chief, Blackhawk, had crossed the Mississippi, to enter the Rock River valley; had murdered Mr. St. Vrain, the United States agent, sustained a conflict with the Illinois militia, under Major Stillman, fled to Lake Gushkenong, on the head of Rock River, and drawn upon his movement the United States army, leaving, at last accounts, Generals Atkinson and Dodge in pursuit of him.
Having struck the Mississippi at the point where the prior narrative describes it (videChap XII.), it becomes unnecessary to give details of my descent to St. Anthony's Falls. Leaving Prairie Piercie on the 23d, two days were employed in the descent to Fort Snelling. I found Captain Wm. R. Jouett in command, who received me with courtesy and kindness, and offered every facility, in the absence of Mr. Talliaferro, the United States Indian Agent, for laying the object of my mission before the Sioux. He had received no very recent intelligence of the progress of the Sauc war, in addition to that which I had learned at the mouth of the De Corbeau; although he was in the habit of sending a mail boat or canoe twice a month to Prairie du Chien.[190]
On the 25th, being the day after my arrival, I met the assembled, Sioux, in council, at the Agency House, the commanding officer being present, and having finished that business, and finding the Sioux wholly unconnected with, and disapproving the proceedings of Blackhawk and his adherents, I embarked early the next morning on my return to Lake Superior. I reached the mouth of the River St. Croix, at three o'clock P. M. on the 26th, and having entered the sylvan sheet of Lake St. Croix, ascended it to within a few miles of its head, and encamped. Lieut. Allen did not reach my camp, but halted for the night some seven or eight miles short.[191]This lake is one of the most beautiful and picturesque sheets ofwater in the West, being from two to three miles wide, and some four-and-twenty or thirty in length.[192]The next morning I reached the head of the lake after a couple of hours of travel, and, by a diligent and hard day's work, during which we passed between perpendicular walls of sonorous trap-rock, reached and encamped at the falls of St. Croix, at eight o'clock in the evening.[193]We were now about fifty miles from the line of the Mississippi River. For the last few miles, there had been either a very strong current or severe eddies of water, around angular masses of trap-rock; and we were encamped at the precise foot of the falls, where the river, narrowed to some fifty feet, breaks its way through trap-rock, falling some fifty feet in the course of six hundred yards. We had been carried, at a tangent, from the great Mississippi series of the silurian period, beginning at St. Anthony's Falls, to the vitric formations of trap and greenstone of the Lake Superiorsystem, and were now to ascend a valley, in which a heavy diluvial drift and boulder stratum rested on this broken and angular basis.[194]On reaching the summit of the St. Croix, there are found vast plateaux of sand, supporting pine forests; and on descending the Misakoda, or Brulé of Fond du Lac, the sandstone strata of that basin are again encountered. This ascent was rendered arduous, from the low state of the water. I reached Snake River on the 30th, had an interview with the Buffalo chief (Pezhikee) and his subordinates; finding the population 300, with thirty-eight half breeds. The men, while here, cut their feet, treading on the trap-rock debris, in the mouth of the river. The distance thence to Yellow River is about thirty-five miles, which we accomplished on the 31st, by eight o'clock in the morning, having found our greatest obstacle at the Kettle Rapids, which discloses sharp masses of the trap-rock. The river, in this distance, receives on its right, in the ascent, the Aisippi, or Shell River, which originates in a lake of that name, noted for its large unios and anadontas.
At Yellow River, I halted to confer with the Indians in front of a remarkable eminence called Pokunogun, or the Moose's Hip. This eminence is not, however, of artificial construction. This river, with its dependencies of Lac Vaseux, Rice Lake, and Yellow Lake, contains a Chippewa population of three hundred and eighty-two souls. We observed here the unio purpureus, which the Indians use for spoons, after rubbing off the alatæ and rounding the margin. We also examined the skin of the sciurus tredacem striatus of Mitchill.
We reached the forks of the St. Croix about two o'clock P. M. The distance from Yellow River is about thirteen miles; it required five and a half hours to accomplish this. The water was, indeed, so low, that the men had often to wade; and, on reaching this point, we were to lose half its volume, or more, for the Namakagun[195]fork, which enters here, carries in more than half the quantity of water.
I found the chief Kabamappa and his followers encamped at the forks, awaiting my arrival, who received me with a salute. He disclaimed all connection with the movement of the Blackhawk. He stated facts, however, which showed him to be well acquainted with the means which that chief had used to bring the Indians into an extensive league against the United States. He readily assented to the measures proposed to the upper bands, for bringing the Sioux and Chippewas into more intimate and permanent relations of peace and friendship.
With respect to the ascent of the St. Croix, in the direction of the Brulé, his exclamation wasiskutta-iskutta, meaning it is dried up, or there is no water. Dry the channel, indeed, looked, but by leading the canoes around the shoals, all the men walking in the water, and picking out channels, we advanced about seven miles before the time of encampment. The next morning (Aug. 1) a heavy fog detained us in our encampment, till five o'clock, when we recommenced the ascent of a similar series of embarrassments from very low water, rapid succeeding to rapid, till two o'clock P. M., when we reached the summit of a plateau, and found still water and comparatively good navigation. Five hours canoeing on this summit brought us to Kabamappa's village at the Namakowágon, or sturgeon's dam, where we encamped. The chief gave us his population at 88 souls, of whom 28 were men, including the minor chief, Mukudapenas,[196]and his men. We had now got above all the strong rapids, and proceeded from our encampment at four o'clock, A. M., on the 2d. The river receives two tributaries, from the right hand, on this summit, namely, the Buffalo and Clearwater, and, at the distance of about ten miles above the Namakowágon, is found to be expanded in a handsome lake of about six miles in extent, called Lake St. Croix. This is the source of the river. We were favored with a fair wind in passing over it, and having reached its head debarked on a marshy margin, and immediately commenced the portage to the Brulé, or Misakoda River.[197]
I had now reached the summit between the St. Croix and Lake Superior. The elevation of this summit has not been scientifically determined; but from the great fall of the Brulé, cannot be less than 600 feet. The length of the Brulé is about 100 miles, in which there are 240 distinct rapids. Some of these are from eight to ten feet each. Four of them require portages, at which all the canoes are discharged. The river itself, on looking down it, appears to be a perfect torrent, foaming and roaring; and it could never be used by the traders at all, were it not that it had abundance of water, being the off-drain for an extensive plateau of lakes and springs. To give an adequate idea of this foaming torrent, it is necessary to conceive of a river flowing down a pair of stairs, a hundred miles long.
The portage from the St. Croix to it begins on marsh, ascending in a hundred yards or so, to an elevated sandy plain, which has been covered, at former times, with a heavy forest of the pinus resinosa; that having been consumed, there is left here and there a dry trunk, orauk, as the Indians call it. The length of the portage path is 3,350 yards, or about two miles. At this distance, we reach a small, sandy-bottomed brook, of four feet wide and a foot deep, of most clear crystalline cold water, winding its way, in a most serpentine manner, through a boggy tract, and overhung with dense alder bushes. It is a good place to slake one's thirst, but appears like anything else than a stream to embark on, with canoes and baggage. Nobody but an Indian would seem to have ever dreamed of it. Yet on this brook we embarked. It was now six o'clock in the evening. By going a distance below, and damming up the stream, a sufficient depth of water was got to float the canoes. The axe was used to cut away the alders. The men walked, guiding the canoes, and carrying some of the baggage. In this way we moved slowly, about one mile, when it became quite dark, and threatened rain. The voyageurs then searched about for a place on the bog dry enough to sleep on, and came, with joy, and told me that they had found a kind of bog, with bunches of grassy tufts, which are called by themtete de femme. The very poetry of the idea was something, and I was really happy, amid the intense gloom, to rest my head, for the night, on these fair tufts. The next morning we were astir as soon as there was light enough to direct our steps. Aftera few miles of these intricacies, we found a brisk and full tributary, below which, the descent is at once free, and on crossing the first narrow geologic plateau, the rapids begin; the stream being constantly and often suddenly enlarged, by springs and tributaries from the right and left. To describe the descent of this stream, in detail, would require graphic powers to which I do not aspire, and time which I cannot command. We were two days and a part of a night in making the descent, with every appliance of voyageur craft. It was after darkness had cast her pall over us, on the evening of the 4th of August, before we reached still water. The river is then a deep and broad mass of water, into which coasting vessels from the Lake might enter. Some four miles from the foot of the last rapids, it enters the Fond du Lac of Lake Superior. Some time before reaching this point, we had been apprised of our contiguity to it, from hearing the monotonous thump of the Indian drum; and we were glad, on our arrival, to find the chief, Mongazid,[198]of Fond du Lac, with the military barge of Lieut. Allen, left at that place on our outward trip, which he had promised to bring down to this point.
Having thus accomplished the objects committed to my trust, and rejoined the track described in my prior narrative, I rested here on the next day (5th), being the Sabbath; and then proceeded through Lake Superior, to my starting-point at Sault de Ste Marie.[199]
APPENDIX.No. 1.THE EXPEDITION TO THE SOURCES OF THEMISSISSIPPI IN 1820.
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I. OFFICIAL REPORTS OF THE EXPEDITION OF 1820.