_Encampment on a peninsula in Leech Lake.—Departure for the
portage to the source of the De Corbeau river.—Traverse a
bay.—Commencement of the portage.—The mode of passing it.—First
portage to Warpool Lake.—Pass successively Little Long Lake,
the Four Lakes, Lake of the Mountain, Lake of the Island, and
encamp at the Kagi Nogumaug or Longwater, the source of the
De Corbeau.—Are visited by the Chief of the Pillagers, who
performs a journey for that purpose.—Recognize in his attendant
the murderer of Gov. Semple.—Narrative of facts leading to this
event.—Commence the descent of the river De Corbeau, passing
successively the Longwater, Little Vermillion, Birch Ple,
Boutwell’s Vieu, Desert, Summit, Long-rice, Allen’s, Johnston’s,
and Leelina Lakes.—Junction of the Shell River fork.—Encamp in a
storm._
On leaving the Gueule Plat’s village, the Surgeon and Interpreter,
with Lieut. Allen’s command, were left behind to complete the
vaccination of the Indians, while the rest of the party went forward a
couple of leagues, to form the night’s encampment. It was after seven
o’clock before they came up, and we waited some time after supper,
which is generally a late meal in voyaging, for the arrival of the
Indian guides, who had been promised to conduct us next day, to the
landing of the portage to the river De Corbeau. Morning, however,
came without them, and we embarked, (18th,) and proceeded towards the
southern shore of the lake, under the hope of being able to find the
portage, from the descriptions which had been given of it. Our course
lay, for a distance, along the peninsula, on which we had encamped.
Its trending too far to the east, induced us to hold a southerly
course across a spacious bay. On gaining its centre, doubts arose,
as to the proper course. A separation of the party was made. Part of
the canoes took a south, and part, a south-east course, having agreed
to concentrate on the firing of a gun, a signal which was eventually
given, by the southern canoes under Mr. Johnston and Lieut. Allen.
They had discovered a path, having every appearance of a portage,
being in the required direction. Examination served to confirm this
opinion. The baggage was immediately landed, the loose articles put
in a portable shape, and the order of march on a portage, taken up.
For this purpose, every article of the outfit, is originally put up
in the most compact and convenient form, not exceeding ninety pounds
weight. Pork is packed in kegs, flour in sail cloth bags, groceries
in wooden or tin canisters, goods in corded bales. These are carried
on the back, by a strong strap of leather passed around the forehead,
and tied by its tapering ends, to the bag, or other article, forming
the first, or lower piece. This is swung over the shoulders, and other
pieces laid on, to the number of two, or sometimes three, according to
the carrier’s strength. He then bends strongly forward, and proceeds
at a half trot. He goes on the length of a _pause_, say half a mile,
where the burden is put down, the strap untied, and the carrier, after
a few moments rest, briskly returns, for another load. This process is
continued till all the goods, are brought up to the first _pause_. The
canoe and its apparatus, are then brought up, when the men commence
making the second _pause_, and this order is repeated at every _pause_.
This is a severe labor, and requires able bodied men, well practiced.
And where the ground is low or swampy and often travelled, it soon
becomes a perfect bed of mire.
The present portage, however, was found to lie across a pine plain,
offering a clean beach of sand to debark on, and a dry smooth path to
travel. A portage of 1,078 yards, brought us to the banks of a small
lake, after crossing which we came to the entrance of a small clear
brook, having not over two or three inches depth of water, spread over
a bed of yellow sand. It seemed impossible to ascend it, especially
with the larger canoe, but by the men’s first carrying the lading, by
widening the channel in cutting down the banks with paddles, and then
by walking in the stream and lifting the canoe by its gunnels, they
succeeded in getting it up to another lake, called Little Long Lake. We
were twenty-four minutes in crossing this latter lake, and found its
inlet to be connected with four other small lakes of a pondy character,
redolent with nymphæ odorata, through which we successively passed,
and debarked at the head of the last lake on a shaking bog, being the
commencement of portage _Ple_. This portage is quite short and dry,
lies over a hill-prairie, and terminates on the banks of a transparent,
bowl-shaped lake, with elevated shores, where we made our breakfast,
at twelve o’clock. This lake, which we may refer to as the Lake of the
Mountains, notwithstanding the liveliness and purity of its waters, has
no visible outlet, a characteristic of which it partakes in common with
a very great number of the small lakes of this quarter, which may be
supposed to lie in aluminous strata. Next, in the order of travelling
south of it, is the Mountain Portage, appropriately so called. Its
extent is nine hundred and ten yards. The elevation is considerable,
but no rock strata appear in situ. The soil is diluvial, with boulders.
The growth, yellow pine, with small maples and underbrush. It
terminates on the Lake of the Island. There is then a portage of two
pauses, or 1,960 yards into another lake, quite pond-like, where it is
first entered, but assuming a clear and bright surface after turning a
prominent point. There is then a further portage of one pause, a part
of it, through a morass, but terminating on highlands, surrounding
the head and shores of a handsome and comparatively extensive sheet
of water called Kagi Nogumaug, or The Long Water, where we encamped
for the night. This day’s journey was a hard and fatiguing one, to
the men. The Gueule Plat, who with one of the minor chiefs from Leech
Lake, overtook us on the banks of the Lake of the Island, expressed his
surprise that, with all our baggage and heavy canoes, we had pushed
on so far. It was, however, a definite point in the journey. We were
now on the source of the Kagági, or De Corbeau river. To have stopped
short of it, would have seriously broken in on the labors of the
following day; and the knowledge that the series of portages terminated
there, and the downward passage commenced, buoyed up the men to make
exertions. The day was particularly severe upon the soldiers, who were
less accustomed to this species of fatigue. Never were the shadows
of night more grateful to men, who had employed the morning, and the
noon, and the evening of the day, in hard labor. We had now reached
the _fourth_ source of the primary rivers of the Mississippi, and all
heading on the elevation of the Hauteur des Terres, within a circle
of perhaps seventy miles. These sources are Itasca Lake, its primary,
Ossowa, east fork, Shiba Lake and river, source of Leech Lake, and the
present source, The Long Water, being the source of the De Corbeau, or
Crow-wing river.
Gueule Plat, with his Indian secretary, so to call him, or Mishinowa,
and their families, came and encamped with us. The chief said that he
had many things to speak of, for which he had found no time during my
visit. I invited him to sup with the party. Conversation on various
topics ensued, and the hour of midnight imperceptibly arrived, before
he thought of retiring to his own lodge. I was rather confirmed in the
favorable opinions I have before expressed of him, and particularly
in the ordinary, sober routine of his reflections, and the habitual,
easy manner, which he evinced of arriving at correct conclusions. I
could not say as much for his companion and pipe-lighter, Maji Gabowi,
a very tall, gaunt, and savage looking warrior, who appeared to be
made up, body and mind, of sensualities. And although he appeared to
be quiet and passive, and uttered not a single expression that implied
passion or vindiction, I could not divest my mind of the recollection
that I was in company with the murderer of Gov. Semple. Whoever has
given much attention to north-western affairs, will recollect that
this event occurred in the fierce strife carried on between the North
West and Hudson’s Bay Company. And that, in the desperate struggles
which these corporations made for the possession of the fur trade, the
Indians often became the dupes of whichever party appeared, at the
moment, to possess the power of influencing them. The event referred
to, took place near the close of a long struggle in which the spirit of
opposition had reached its acme, in which company was furiously arrayed
against company, charter against charter, and agent against agent. A
period, at which, like the increasing energies of two powerful bodies
moving towards each other, they were destined to come into violent
contact, and the destruction of one, or both, seemed inevitable. The
dispute respecting territory which imbittered the strife, appeared to
be carried on, not so much from political ambition or the intrinsic
value of the soil, as to decide which party should have the exclusive
right of gleaning from the lodges of the unfortunate natives, the only
commodity worth disputing for—their furs and peltries. A question, in
which the Indians, in reality, had no other interest, but that which a
serf may be supposed to feel on an exchange of masters, in which he has
neither the right to choose nor the power to reject. Whichever party
prevailed, they were sure to loose or gain nothing, if they kept aloof
from the contest, or if they had any hopes from its effects upon their
condition, they arose more from a prolongation, than a termination of
the rivalry, as they were sure to fare better, both “in script and
store,” so long as they possessed the option of rival markets.
Semple had accepted a governorship, which the late John Johnston, Esq.
had the forecast to refuse. He appeared to be a man zealously devoted
to the objects of the company (the Hudson’s Bay) whose interests were
committed to him. But he does not appear clearly to have perceived
the great difference which circumstances had interposed between a
magistracy in an English or Scottish county, and the naked solitudes
of Red River. He sallied forth himself, with a considerable retinue,
to read the riot act, to a disorderly and threatening assembly of all
kinds of a northwest population, on the plains. The agents and factors
of the North West Fur Company, were accused of being at the bottom
of this uproar, and it is certain that some of their servants were
engaged, either as actors or abettors. It is among the facts recorded
in a court of justice, that when certain of the clerks or partners of
the North West Company heard of the tragic result of this sally, they
shouted for joy.[17]
While the act was in the process of being read, one of the rioters
fired his piece. This was taken as a signal. A promiscuous and
scattering firing commenced. Semple was one of the first who received a
wound. He was shot in the thigh, and fell from his horse. He was unable
to sit up. At this moment a rush was made by the Indians in the North
West interest, and a total and most disastrous route of the Hudson’s
Bay party ensued. Panic, in its wildest forms, seized upon Semple’s
men. He was himself one of the first victims despatched. Maji Gabowi,
(one of our guests this evening) coming up, struck his tomahawk in his
head. He was then scalped.
We embarked at sunrise, on the 19th, bidding adieu to the Leech Lake
chief and his companion, who returned from this point, after having
requested, and received a lancet, with directions from Dr. Houghton,
for vaccinating such of his people as had not been present on the 17th.
We were forty minutes in passing the Kagi Nogumaug, which is a handsome
sheet of pure water presenting a succession of sylvan scenery. Its
outlet is a narrow brook overhung with alders. It may average a width
of six feet, but the bends are so extremely abrupt, and the channel so
narrowed with brushwood, that it became necessary to dig down the acute
points, and to use the axe in cutting away branches, to veer about a
canoe thirty-two feet in length. We were just half an hour in clearing
this passage, when the stream opened into another lake, denominated on
our travelling map, Little Vermillion Lake. The growth on the banks
of this lake is birch and aspen, with pines in the distance. We were
twenty minutes in passing it. The outlet is full doubled in width, and
free from the embarrassments encountered above. Tamarack is a frequent
tree on the shores, and the pond lily, flag and Indian reed, appear in
the stream. This outlet is followed about eight miles, where it expands
into a small lake, called Birch Lake, which we were only thirteen
minutes in passing. Its outlet exhibits a pebbly bottom, interspersed
with boulders, which produce so much inequality in the depth, that the
men were obliged often to wade. Not more than seven or eight minutes
were thus occupied, in the course of which we passed through a broken
fish-dam, when we entered another expanse called _Lac Ple_.
Lac Ple is about three and a half, or four miles long. Vegetation here
appears to show a more southerly character. Part of its shores are
prairie, interspersed with small pines. It is particularly deserving
of notice, as being the point, from which a series of portages is made
to Ottertail Lake. A map of these furnished by the traders, who often
use this route, exhibits the following features. First, a portage of
four pauses, to Island Lake, then a portage of one pause, into a small
lake, which has an outlet, through another small lake into Lake Lagard,
having a transverse position. Thence half a pause, into a small lake, a
pause and a half into another small lake, and thence four pauses into
Migiskun Aiaub, or Fish-line Lake. Thence one pause into Pine Lake, and
five into a small river which falls into Scalp Lake. The latter has
an outlet which expands into three lakes, at nearly equal distances
apart, and is finally received by Lac Terrehaut, on the Height of Land.
The outlet of the latter is twice expanded into the form of a Lake,
the last of which is, from its peculiarities called the Two Lakes,
and is finally discharged west of the Height of Land, into Ottertail
Lake. I had designed to come down this route, or down Leaf river, had
circumstances favored my going into Red river, from the sources of the
Mississippi. But these sources were found so much further south, than
it had been supposed, and so considerably removed from any practicable
route into Red river that I found it would be a consumption of time
altogether disproportionate to the anticipated results; and it was,
therefore, given up.
On going out of Lac Ple, the channel exhibits numerous fresh water
shells driven up against the shore, or lodged against inequalities
in the bottom.[18] And these productions are afterwards seen in all
the subsequent outlets which connect the numerous lakes of this
river. But little variety was, however, noticed among the species,
although greater attention than we could bestow, might elicit new
characteristics. Generally, they were small, or middle sized, often
decorticated and broken. Soon after entering this channel, one of my
men fired at, and brought down, a fork-tailed hawk, a species which
had before been noticed on the wing, but we had now an opportunity of
closer scrutiny. We did not observe any characteristics in which it
differed from the described species. And if we except the numerous
species of duck, the colomba migratoris, catbird, and some other land
species almost equally common, this constitutes the substance of our
observations, on the birds of this river. We saw the deer, of which
there are apparently two species. And we had frequent occasion to
observe the antlers and bones of these animals around deserted camps,
evincing their abundance in this part of the country.
We had been three fourths of an hour in descending this outlet,
when we entered a lake called Boutwell, with banks of rather sombre
vegetation, which we were nineteen minutes in passing. Its outlet, of
a spreading, sandy, shelly character, is about a mile and a half in
extent, at which distance it expands into Lac Vieux Desert, or the Lake
of the Old Wintering Ground, where we halted long enough to prepare
breakfast. This lake we were twenty-six minutes in passing through.
Its outlet is about two miles long, where it again expands into a lake
of about two and a quarter miles extent, which may, from its position,
be denominated Summit Lake. The course, which, from the Kagi Nogumaug,
is thus far generally south-west, here suddenly veers to the east and
northeast, and after a striking circuit, comes round to the south-east,
and eventually again to the south-west, before its junction with Shell
River. And the stream which thus far seems to have its course on a
level or summit, is here deflected into a valley, and is beset with
rapids, and by the flood wood lodged upon its banks, and their partial
denudation, puts on the appearance of a stream which must sometimes
assume the fury of a torrent. It probably, at such times, is a turbid
stream, but was now clear with a gravelly bottom. We were hurried along
through this channel for the space of two hours and fifteen minutes,
when it expanded into Long-rice Lake. We were thirty-five minutes in
passing this lake. Shortly below it, the channel expands again into a
lake, which from Lieut. Allen’s exploring it, we called Allen’s Lake.
It is probably the largest of the series below the Kagi Nogumaug. It
receives a tributary from the northwest, which was visited by Lieut.
Allen.
The atmosphere had for some time admonished us of a storm, and it
broke upon us, on entering this lake. Dark clouds rolled over each
other, until the light of day was sensibly and suddenly obscured. We
have seldom known an equal quantity of the electric fluid discharged
in so short a space of time, or with the incessant repetition of an
electric light, so subtle and painful to be endured. The rain fell in
a heavy and continued torrent, and it began with gusts of wind which
threw the canoe-men into alarm. They veered the canoe for the nearest
shore, but before reaching it, the tempest settled, and the rain fell
less violently. We therefore, continued our way without landing, and
passed out of the lake. A short channel, on the banks of which the
elm and oak appeared conspicuously, terminated in a moderate sized
lake of handsomely elevated hard wood and pine shores, for which, as
our maps afforded neither Indian nor French name, we made use of the
circumstance of Mr. Johnston’s landing to fire at a deer, to name it
after him. On going out of this lake, we had our attention excited
by an unextinguished fire, on the banks of the outlet. But no person
appeared, nor was there any canoe ashore, nor lodge-poles, which there
would have been, in the case of a travelling Chippewa family. These
evidences were deemed conclusive by the canoe-men, of the presence of
Sioux, who, it is supposed, perceiving the character of the party,
had concealed themselves. And the circumstance was suited to alarm
a class of men, who, being of the Gallic-Chippewa race, retain very
strong attachments to the Chippewas, and have imbibed with very little
abatement, all the prejudices which this people feel for a powerful
hereditary enemy.
An hour’s voyage from this spot brought us to the entrance and merely
to the entrance of the eleventh, and last lake of the series called
Kaichibo Sagitowa, or the Lake which the River passes through one End
of, or Lake Leelina. Not many miles below this point, the river forms
its first forks, by the junction of Shell river, a considerable stream
of nearly equal size with itself. Below this point, there is always
water enough, although the channel exhibits numerous rapids, and is
often spread over a wide bed, giving rise to shallows. We descended
about fourteen miles below the junction, and encamped. It was after
eight o’clock when we put ashore. The rain had fallen, with steadiness
for some hours previous. And the flashes of lightning, which lit up the
sombre channel of the stream, excited a feeling of no very pleasant
kind. We landed wet, cold and cheerless. The rain continued to fall.
But the cheerfulness and activity of our canoe-men did not desert them.
They searched among the prostrate vegetation, to discover dry fibres,
or the unwetted parts that could be pulled from the nether rind of
fallen trees. They ignited the mass with spunk, and soon sent up the
gladdening flames of an ample camp fire. To pitch the tent, arrange
its interior furniture, and place the heavy baggage under oil-cloths,
secure from rain, or night dews, is the work of a few moments with
these people—and he who would travel fast over an intricate interior
route and be well served on the way, should not fail to prepare himself
with a canoe _allége_ and a crew of _voyagèurs_. They will not only
go, when they are bid to go, but they will go unmurmuringly. And after
submitting to severe labor, both of the night and day, on land and
water, they are not only ready for further efforts, but will make them
under the enlivening influence of a song.