We had not to arrive at the fort to receive a welcome, for when we were
still distant about seven miles, the officers of the garrison, who had
notice of our coming, made their appearance on horseback, bringing a
britchska and grey horses for our accommodation. Those who were not on
duty (and I was one) accepted the invitation, and we drove in upon a
road which, indeed, for the last thirty miles, had been as level as the
best in England. The carriage was followed by pointers, hounds, and a
variety of dogs, who were off duty like ourselves, and who appeared
quite as much delighted with their run as we were tired with ours. The
medical officer attached to the fort, an old friend and correspondent of
Mr Lee of Philadelphia, received me with all kindness, and immediately
installed me into one of the rooms in the hospital.
Fort Winnebago is situated between the Fox and Wisconsin rivers at the
portage, the two rivers being about a mile and a-half apart; the Fox
river running east, and giving its waters to Lake Michigan at Green Bay,
while the Wisconsin turns to the west, and runs into the Mississippi at
Prairie du Chien. The fort is merely a square of barracks, connected
together with palisades, to protect it from the Indians; and it is
hardly sufficiently strong for even that purpose. It is beautifully
situated, and when the country fills up will become a place of
importance. Most of the officers are unmarried, and live a very quiet,
and secluded, but not unpleasant life. I stayed there two days, much
pleased with the society and the kindness shown to me; but an
opportunity of descending the Wisconsin to Prairie du Chien, in a
keel-boat, having presented itself, I availed myself of an invitation to
join the party, instead of proceeding by land to Galena, as had been my
original intention.
The boat had been towed up the Wisconsin with a cargo of flour for the
garrison; and a portion of the officers having been ordered down to
Prairie du Chien, they had obtained this large boat to transport
themselves, families, furniture, and horses, all at once, down to their
destination. The boat was about one hundred and twenty feet long,
covered in to the height of six feet above the gunnel, and very much in
appearance like the Noah's Ark given to children, excepting that the
roof was flat. It was an unwieldy craft, and, to manage it, it required
at least twenty-five men with poles and long sweeps; but the army
gentlemen had decided that, as we were to go down with the stream, six
men with short oars would be sufficient--a very great mistake. In every
other respect she was badly found, as we term it at sea, having but one
old piece of rope to hang on with, and one axe. Our freight consisted
of furniture stowed forward and aft, with a horse and cow. In a cabin
in the centre we had a lady and five children, one maid and two
officers. Our crew was composed of six soldiers, a servant, and a
French _half bred_ to pilot us down the river. All Winnebago came out
to see us start; and as soon as the rope was cast off, away we went down
with the strong current at the rate of five miles an hour. The river
passed through forests of oak, the large limbs of which hung from
fifteen to twenty feet over the banks on each side; sometimes whole
trees lay prostrate in the stream, held by their roots still partially
remaining in the ground, while their trunks and branches offering
resistance to the swift current, created a succession of small masses of
froth, which floated away on the dark green water.
We had not proceeded far, before we found that it was impossible to
manage such a large and cumbrous vessel with our few hands; we were
almost at the mercy of the current, which appeared to increase in
rapidity every minute; however, by exertion and good management, we
contrived to keep in the middle of the stream until the wind sprung up
and drove us on to the southern bank of the river, and then all was
cracking and tearing away of the wood-work, breaking of limbs from the
projecting trees, the snapping, cracking, screaming, hallooing, and
confusion. As fast as we cleared ourselves of one tree, the current
bore us down upon another; as soon as we were clear above water, we were
foul and entangled below. It was a pretty general average; but, what
was worse than all a snag had intercepted and unshipped our rudder, and
we were floating away from it, as it still remained fixed upon the
sunken tree. We had no boat with us, not even a _dug-out_--(a canoe
made out of the trunk of a tree)--so one of the men climbed on shore by
the limbs of an oak, and went back to disengage it. He did so, but not
being able to resist the force of the stream, down he and the rudder
came together--his only chance of salvation being that of our catching
him as he came past us. This we fortunately succeeded in effecting; and
then hanging on by our old piece of rope to the banks of the river,
after an hour's delay we contrived to re-ship our rudder, and proceeded
on our voyage, which was a continuation of the same eventful history.
Every half hour we found ourselves wedged in between the spreading limbs
of the oaks, and were obliged to have recourse to the axe to clear
ourselves: and on every occasion we lost a further portion of the
frame-work of our boat, either from the roof, the sides, or by the
tearing away of the stancheons themselves.
A little before sunset, we were again swept on to the bank with such
force as to draw the pintles of our rudder. This finished us for the
day: before it could be replaced, it was time to make fast for the
night; so there we lay, holding by our rotten piece of rope, which
cracked and strained to such a degree, as inclined us to speculate upon
where we might find ourselves in the morning. However, we could not
help ourselves, so we landed, made a large fire, and cooked our
victuals; not, however, venturing to wander away far, on account of the
rattle-snakes, which here abounded. Perhaps there is no portion of
America in which the rattle-snakes are so large and so numerous as in
Wisconsin. There are two varieties: the black rattle-snake, that
frequents marshy spots, and renders it rather dangerous to shoot snipes
and ducks; and the yellow, which takes up its abode in the rocks and dry
places. Dr F---told me that he had killed, inside of the fort
Winnebago, one of the latter species, between seven and eight feet long.
The rattle-snake, although its poison is so fatal, is in fact not a
very dangerous animal, and people are seldom bitten by it. This arises
from two causes: first, that it invariably gives you notice of its
presence by its rattle; and secondly, that it always coils itself up
like a watch-spring before it strikes, and then darts forward only about
its own length. Where they are common, the people generally carry with
them a vial of ammonia, which, if instantly applied to the bite, will at
least prevent death. The copper-head is a snake of a much more
dangerous nature, from its giving no warning, and its poison being
equally active.
This river has been very appropriately named by the Indians the `Stream
of the Thousand Isles,' as it is studded with them; indeed, every
quarter of a mile you find one or two in its channel. The scenery is
fine, as the river runs through high ridges, covered with oak to their
summits; sometimes these ridges are backed by higher cliffs and
mountains, which halfway up are of a verdant green, and above that
present horizontal strata of calcareous rock of rich grey tints, having,
at a distance, very much the appearance of the dilapidated castles on
the Rhine.
The scenery, though not so grand as the highlands of the Hudson, is more
diversified and beautiful. The river was very full, and the current
occasionally so rapid, as to leave a foam as it swept by any projecting
point. We had, now that the river widened, sand banks to contend with,
which required all the exertions of our insufficient crew.
On the second morning, I was very much annoyed at our having left
without providing ourselves with a boat, for at the grey of dawn, we
discovered that some deer had taken the river close to us, and were in
midstream. Had we had a boat, we might have procured a good supply of
venison. We cast off again and resumed our voyage; and without any
serious accident we arrived at the shot-tower, where we remained for the
night. Finding a shot-tower in such a lone wilderness as this, gives
you some idea of the enterprise of the Americans; but the Galena, or
lead district, commences here, on the south bank of the Wisconsin. The
smelting is carried on about twelve miles inland, and the lead is
brought here, made into shot, and then sent down the river to the
Mississippi, by which, and its tributary streams, it is supplied to all
America, west of the Alleghanies. The people were all at work when we
arrived. The general distress had even affected the demand for shot,
which was now considerably reduced.
On the third day we had the good fortune to have no wind, and
consequently made rapid progress, without much further damage. We
passed a small settlement called the English prairie--for the prairies
were now occasionally mixed up with the mountain scenery. Here there
was a smelting-house and a steam saw-mill.
The _diggings_, as they term the places where the lead is found (for
they do not mine, but dig down from the surface,) were about sixteen
miles distant. We continued our course for about twenty miles lower
down, when we wound up our day's work by getting into a more serious
_fix_ among the trees, and eventually losing our only _axe_, which fell
overboard into deep water. All Noah's Ark was in dismay, for we did not
know what might happen, or what the next day might bring forth.
Fortunately, it was not necessary to cut wood for firing. During the
whole of this trip I was much amused with our pilot, who, fully aware of
the dangers of the river, was also equally conscious that there were not
sufficient means on board to avoid them; when, therefore, we were set
upon a sand-bank, or pressed by the wind on the sunken trees, he always
whistled; that was all he could do, and in proportion as the danger
became more imminent, so did he whistle the louder, until the affair was
decided by a bump or a crash, and then he was silent.
On the ensuing day we had nothing but misfortunes. We were continually
twisted and twirled about, sometimes with our bows, sometimes with our
stern foremost, and as often with our broadside to the stream. We were
whirled against one bank, and, as soon as we were clear of that we were
thrown upon the other. Having no axe to cut away, we were obliged to
use our hands. Again our rudder was unshipped, and with great
difficulty replaced. By this time we had lost nearly the half of the
upper works of the boat, one portion after another having been torn off
by the limbs of the trees as the impetuous current drove us along. To
add to our difficulties, a strong wind rose against the current, and the
boat became quite unmanageable. About noon, when we had gained only
seven miles, the wind abated, and two Menonnomie Indians, in a
_dug-out_, came alongside of us; and as it was doubtful whether we
should arrive at the mouth of the river on that night, or be left upon a
sand-bank, I got into the canoe with them, to go down to the
landing-place, and from thence to cross over to Prairie du Chien, to
inform the officers of the garrison of our condition, and obtain
assistance. The canoe would exactly hold three, and no more; but we
paddled swiftly down the stream, and we soon lost sight of the Noah's
Ark. Independently of the canoe being so small, she had lost a large
portion of her stem, so that at the least ripple of the water she took
it in, and threatened us with a swim; and she was so very narrow, that
the least motion would have destroyed her equilibrium and upset her.
One Indian sat in the bow, the other in the stern, whilst I was doubled
up in the middle. We had given the Indians some bread and pork, and
after paddling about half an hour, they stopped to eat. Now, the Indian
at the bow had the pork, while the one at the stern had the bread; any
attempt to move, so as to hand the eatables to each other, must have
upset us; so this was their plan of communication:--The one in the bow
cut off a slice of pork, and putting it into the lid of a saucepan which
he had with him, and floating it alongside of the canoe, gave it a
sufficient momentum to make it swim to the stern, when the other took
possession of it. He in the stern then cut off a piece of bread, and
sent it back in return by the same conveyance. I had a flask of whisky,
but they would not trust that by the same perilous little conveyance; so
I had to lean forward very steadily, and hand it to the foremost, and,
when he returned it to me, to lean backwards to give it the other, with
whom it remained till we landed, for I could not regain it. After about
an hour's more paddling, we arrived safely at the landing-place. I had
some trouble to get a horse, and was obliged to go out to the fields
where the men were ploughing. In doing so, I passed two or three very
large snakes. At last I was mounted somehow, but without stirrups, and
set off for Prairie du Chien. After riding about four miles, I had
passed the mountain, and I suddenly came upon the prairie (on which were
feeding several herd of cattle and horses), with the fort in the
distance, and the wide waters of the Upper Mississippi flowing beyond
it. I crossed the prairie, found my way into the fort, stated the
situation of our party, and requested assistance. This was immediately
dispatched, but on their arrival at the landing-place, they found that
the keel-boat had arrived at the ferry without further difficulty.
Before sunset the carriages returned with the whole party, who were
comfortably accommodated in the barracks--a sufficient number of men
being left with the boat to bring it round to the Mississippi, a
distance of about twelve miles.