[VII-15] Pike's phrase "Le Mille Lac" br_The Expeditions of Zebulon Montgomery Pike, Volume 1 (of 3) To Headwaters of the Mississippi River Through Louisiana Territory, and in New Spain, During the Years 1805-6-7.

unique in some respects. No Minnesota lake is better known than this

one; but what shall we call it? Shall we say Mille Lac, and then call

the county in which it is partly situated Mille Lacs, as the G. L. O.

map of 1887 does? Is the single body of water Le Mille Lac, as Pike

says, or Les Mille Lacs? Is this one lake of a thousand, or a thousand

lakes in one? Nobody seems to know; hence a crop of phrases, _e. g._,

Mille Lac, Mille Lacs, Milles Lac, Milles Lacs; also, Mille Lac Lake,

Lake Mille Lac, Lake Mille Lacs, Mille Lacs Lake; item, Mil Lac, Mill

Lake, and other vagaries too many and too trivial to cite, all of

which the student of Minnesota geography will discover sooner or

later. The phrase being French, we naturally turn to see what a pure

French scholar who was also a great geographer has to say on the

subject. Speaking of the Sioux having their principal hunting-camps on

Leech l. and on "_Minsi-sagaigon-ing_, or Mille Lacs," Nicollet

explains in a note, Rep. 1843, p. 66: "This name is derived from

_minsi_, all sorts, or everywhere, etc.; _sagaigon_, lake; and _ing_,

which is a termination used to indicate a place; so the meaning of the

word is 'place where there are all sorts of lakes,' which the French

have rendered into Mille Lacs." Whence it appears that _Mille Lacs_ is

short for some such phrase as _le pays aux mille lacs_, _l'entourage

des mille lacs_, the country full of lakes, the environment of a

thousand lakes, etc. Now it so happens geographically that this one

lake among the thousand is vastly larger than any of the rest, perhaps

than all the rest put together; it is _par excellence le lac des mille

lacs_, the one among a thousand; furthermore, that it was a Sioux

rendezvous, which became known as Mille Lacs by a sort of unconscious

figure of speech on the part of those who very likely never heard of

the rhetorical trope synecdoche, but called a part by the name of the

whole, to suit themselves. I imagine, therefore, that the seeming

solecism of a plural phrase for a singular thing is logically correct;

that Nicollet was right in writing Mille Lacs; that Lac Mille Lacs

would be grammatically defensible, though inelegant; and that we could

say in English Lake Mille Lacs, or Lake Thousand-lakes, with equal

propriety, though we should avoid such forms as Lake Mille Lac, or

Mille Lac lake. In fine, the phrase Mille Lacs has ceased to concern

any question of grammatical number, and become a mere _name_ of two

words. As for the pleonasm or tautology of such phrases as Lac Mille

Lacs, or Lake Mille Lacs, etc., this need not disturb us as long as we

continue to talk of "Mississippi river," for example, as that means

"Misi River river." There are several earlier names of this remarkable

body of water. The memoir of Le Sieur Daniel Greysolon Du Luth on the

discovery of the country of the Nadouecioux, addressed in 1685 to

Monseigneur Le Marquis de Seignelay, as translated from the original

in the archives of the Ministry of the Marine, has this passage, as

given, _e. g._, in Shea's Hennep., 1880, p. 375: "On the 2nd of July,

1679, I had the honor to plant his Majesty's arms in the great village

of the Nadouecioux, called Izatys, where never had a Frenchman been,

no more than at the Songaskitons and Huetbatons," etc. De or Du Luth,

Lhut, Lhu, Lut, Lud, whatever the trader's name was, had come from

Montreal (Sept. 1st, 1678) with six or eight men to this part of

Canada and was in the vicinity of Sault Ste. Marie on Apr. 5th, 1679,

under the patronage of Comte Louis de Buade de Frontenac, who had

succeeded De Courcelle as governor of Canada Apr. 9th, 1672;

consequently he named the lake Lac de Buade or Lac Buade; this was its

original denomination in French, and such name appears on many old

maps, _e. g._, Hennepin's, 1683, Franquelin's, 1688, De L'Isle's,

1703, etc., some of which also mark a place by the name of Kathio,

supposed to be the site of a large Sioux village, on the W. side of L.

de Buade, near the base of the peninsula later known as Cormorant

Point. Du Luth's Izatys were Gens des Mille Lacs, _i. e._, Sioux who

lived about Lake Mille Lacs in the country of that "number of small

lakes called the Thousand Lakes," as Carver phrases it; they were the

Issati or Islati, Issaqui, Issanti, Issanati, Issanoti, Issayati,

etc., meaning those who lived in lodges on sharp stones, _i. e._,

Knife Indians, at one of the Mille Lacs called Lake Isan or Knife l.

However loosely Du Luth's term Izatys may have come to be used, it

designated and most properly designates the genuine original Gens du

Lac, or People of Lake Thousand-lakes, our modern Mdewakontonwans. Du

Luth's Houetbatons are supposed to be our Wakpatons, Warpetonwans, or

Waqpatonwans; his Songaskitons, our Sisitonwans, Seseetwawns or

Sissetons, _i. e._, lake-dwellers (_sisi_, marsh or lake, _tonwan_,

people); these two tribes are located on old maps eastward of Lake

Mille Lacs. In 1689, date of Pierre Lesueur's and Nicholas Perrot's

visit to Sioux dominions, we hear that N. E. of the Mississippi lived

the Menchokatonx or Mendesuacantons, _i. e._, the same Sioux as Du

Luth's Izatys of Lac Buade. According to E. D. Neill, Macalester Coll.

Cont. No. 10, in 1697 Aubert de la Chesnaye said that "at the lake of

the Issaqui, also called Lake Buade, are villages of the Sioux called

Issaqui; and beyond this lake are the Oetbatons; further off are the

Anitons who are also Cioux." Neill also cites a certain doc., dated

Quebec, 1710, which states that "the three bands with which we are

acquainted are the Tintons, the Songasquitons, and the Ouadebaetons."

Two of these are obviously the same as two of Du Luth's; the third

(Tintons) are the same as the Izatys, or rather a band of Indians who

came under this more general denomination. This connection is

established in Hennepin, whose Tintonbas, Tintonhas, or Thinthonhas

were Sioux who lived on the St. Francis (or Rum r., the main discharge

of Lake Buade) near the Issantis, and were the Indians who captured

his companions and himself. This dig at the roots of primitive Sioux

ethnology is merely to bring up the next name of Lac Buade; for, from

such intimate connection as this body of water had with certain Sioux,

it immediately became known as Lac des Issatis, and soon as Lac des

Sioux, or Sioux l.; moreover, St. Francis or Rum r., which runs out of

the lake, became Sioux r.; _e. g._, Franquelin's map, 1688, marks "R.

des François ou des Sioux." De L'Isle's map, 1703, letters the lake

"Mississacaigan ou L. Buade," and the issuant river "R. de

Mendeouacanion." The first of these two Indian names is the one which

Nicollet adopts for the lake in the form Minsi Sagaigoning; the other

is the same word as Mdewakantonwan. Nicollet's remark on this subject,

like all his pregnant writing, requires attention here, especially as

it raises a geographical besides a nomenclatural point, Rep. 1843, p.

67: "We still find some confusion on the maps as regards the name of

_Minsi-sagaigon-ing_. Some have laid it down as _Mille Lacs_; others

as Spirit lake; and on others, again, it appears as two lakes, with

(separately) both names. The ambiguity arises from the fact that the

same lake has been named by two nations. The one which I have adopted

is from the Chippeways; that by which it is known to the Sioux is

_Mini-wakan_--meaning literally, water spirit; but, in this case,

intended to signify _ardent spirits_. The river that issues from this

lake has been named Rum river by the traders; which appellation the

Chippeways have translated into _Ishkode-wabo_, or ardent spirits; and

the Sioux into _Mdote-mini-wakan_, or outlet of the ardent spirits."

That is a dismal aboriginal pun which mixes up nature-spirits with the

artificial product, turns the lake into a bottle, and the river into

its neck; it is bad enough to have been perpetrated "next morning,"

and it is too bad that the debauches to which the traders allured the

Indians should have been perpetuated in geographical nomenclature.

Spirit l. is the name under which Long, for example, maps Lake Mille

Lacs, and the Gens du Lac he calls People of Spirit Lake; and

Schoolcraft, Narr. Journ. of 1820, pub. 1821, p. 214, has Great Spirit

lake and Missisawgaiegon--the latter name also applied to its

discharge (Rum r.). Spirit is not now a name of Lake Mille Lacs; the

one for which Nicollet conserved the name Mini-wakan, and which hence

became known as Spirit l. and Devil's l., is the large body of water

in N. Dakota, tributary to the Red River of the North; Spirit l. of

modern Minnesota geography is a little one of the collection in Aitkin

Co., between Lower Red Cedar l. and Mille Lacs l. The latter is the

second largest lacustrine body of water in the State. It is situated

across the intercounty line between Aitkin and Mille Lacs, about half

in one and half in the other of these two counties. Its figure is more

regular than usual, being squarish, with three corners rounded off and

the S. E. one drawn out a little; there is also some constriction

about the middle, where points facing each other run out from the E.

and W. shore respectively; the shore line is said to be about 100

miles in all. The lake is readily accessible, being only some 12 m. S.

of Aitkin, and is a favorite resort for outings. One of the 14 present

Ojibwa reservations is on its S. shore.

[VII-16] There is an error here, as what Hennepin called the St. François

in 1680 is Rum r. of Carver, 1766, and authors generally; while St.

Francis r. of Carver, which he thought was Hennepin's St. François, is

Pike's Leaf r., now known as Elk r. See note 7, p. 95, where this

case is fully discussed.

[VII-17] Pike maps four on the W., above his Clear = Platte r., and

below his Pine cr. = Swan r.: see note 19, p. 103.

[VII-18] The name of this branch of St. Pierre's r. in Minnesota

duplicates that of a large branch of the Mississippi in Wisconsin. The

Minnesota tributary is Miawakong r. of Long's map, 1823, and Manya

Wakan r. of Nicollet's, 1843.

[VII-19] Lac à la Queue de Loutre of the F., whence the E. name. This is

the largest body of water into which the Red River of the North

expands in Minnesota, and may be called a principal source of that

river, as Pike says, though it compares with the true source very much

as Leech l. or Winnibigoshish l. does with that of the Mississippi. It

is situated about the center of Otter Tail Co., some 60-70 m. S. W. of

Leech l.; Pike's map tucks it up snug under Leech l. The Leech-Otter

Tail traverse, or route by which one passed from Mississippian waters

to those of Red r., as beyond indicated by Pike, is given in detail by

Schoolcraft upon information of traders who were familiar with this

chain of lakes. Using the nomenclature of his Narrative, etc., 1834,

p. 105, it may be stated as follows: From Leech l. through lakes

called Warpool, Little Long, of the Mountain and of the Island, to the

Crow Wing series, or Longwater, Little Vermillion, Birch, and Plé.

Lake Plé was the one where the route forked--one way leading on down

the Crow Wing series, the other turning off to the Otter Tail series.

The latter consisted in, first, a portage of four pauses to Island l.;

portage of one pause into a small lake which led into another, and

this into Lagard l.; half a pause to a small lake; pause and a half to

another; four pauses into Migiskun Aiaub or Fishline l.; a pause into

Pine l.; five pauses into a small river which runs into Scalp l. The

latter has an outlet which expands into three successive and about

equidistant lakes, and is then received into Lac Terrehaute, or Height

of Land l. The outlet of this last expands into a lake, and again into

water called Two Lakes from its form; whence the discharge is into

Otter Tail l. It is not easy to pick this exact route up from a modern

map; but I may add that it runs in Hubbard, Becker, and Otter Tail

cos.; that some of the lakes on or near this series are known as

Height of Land, Little Pine, Pine, and Rush (these being on the course

of Otter Tail r., and therefore on the Red River water-shed); and that

some places on or near the route are called Park Rapids, Osage,

Linnell, Shell Lake, Jarvis, Erie, McHugh, Frazer City, Lace, Perham,

and St. Lawrence. The N. P. R. R. from Moorhead to Brainerd crosses

the route in two or three places, one of these being between Pine and

Rush lakes.

[VII-20] Pinenet or pinenett is Pike's version of épinette of the French

voyageurs, name of the tree we commonly call tamarac or hackmetack,

and which the botanists know as black larch, _Larix americana_. It is

so abundant and characteristic in some places that the wet grounds in

which it grows are usually called tamarac swamps. The sap pine of the

same sentence has been already noted as the balsam-fir, _Abies

balsamea_: see note 44, p. 132. There is a Lac Sapin, called in

English Balsam-fir lake. The supposed occurrence of hemlock, _Tsuga

canadensis_, in this locality is open to question.

[VII-21] "R. le Crosse" of Pike's map, the discharge of the lake now

universally known as Ball Club: see the account of it in note 56,

p. 150.

[VII-22] The lake which Pike calls Winipie is the large body of water in

British America, through which the combined streams of the Assiniboine

and Red River of the North find their way into Hudson's bay, and which

we know as Lake Winnipeg; but this does not further concern us now.

Pike's Lake Winipeque is what we now call Lake Winnibigoshish, on the

course of the Mississippi. The French forms of the latter name, such

as Ouinipique, etc., whence our Winipeque, Winipec, Winipeck, etc.,

are diminutizing terms, as if to say Little Lake Winipeg. There can be

no occasion for confounding the two lakes, notwithstanding the

similarity and sometimes the identity of their names.

Lake Winnibigoshish is that very large dilatation of the Mississippi

which lies next below Cass l.: see note 8, p. 159, for the distance

between the two, and details of that section of the river which

connects them. The variants of its name are moderately numerous:

Winipeque, as above, but Winipec on Pike's map; Wenepec, Lewis and

Clark's map, 1814; Little Winnepeck, Long; Winnipec, Beltrami,

Schoolcraft; Winnepeg and Big Winnipeg, Allen; Winibigoshish,

Nicollet, Owen--this last the only name now used, generally with

doubled _n_, and with some variants, like Winnepegoosis, etc. This is

the second largest body of water in the whole Itascan basin, exceeded

only by Leech l., and much exceeding Cass l.; its area is probably not

far from that of Lake Pepin, but the shape is very different. The

figure is squarish, with the N. W. and S. W. corners rounded off, and

the N. E. corner extended into a well-marked bay; the main diameters

are about 11 m. from N. to S., and 7½ from E. to W.; the area thus

indicated is little encroached upon by projecting points, so that the

shore line is shorter than usual in proportion to the extent of

waters; the collateral feeders of the lake are comparatively few and

unimportant. The lake lies partly in no fewer than eight townships

(each 6 × 6 m. sq.); but it only slightly encroaches on five of these,

occupying nearly all of T. 146, R. 28, 5th M., the greater part of T.

145, R. 28, and about half of T. 146, R. 27: actual area thus

equivalent to rather more than two townships, or over 72 sq. m. The

construction of the government dam at the outlet has decidedly altered

the shore line, and modified other natural features; the overflow due

to this obstruction has inundated the original shore contour in the

low places, formed some backwater expansions, and drowned countless

trees. Many of these stand stark and black where they grew, far out

from the present shore line, which itself is piled with drift-wood in

most places. Snags also abound all along the wooded shores, and the

water is so shallow that some beds of bulrushes rise above the surface

a mile or more from land. The scene is desolate and forbidding. Add to

this a danger of navigation to an unusual degree for the frail

birch-bark canoes which alone are used on Winnibigoshish. The lake is

too large to be safely crossed in such boats at any time. Even the

Indians habitually sneak to the shore through the snags and rushes;

for the water is very shallow, easily churned up to quite a sea.

Sudden squalls and shifting currents are always to be expected, and

one runs considerable risk in venturing where land cannot be made in a

few minutes, if necessary. It would be nothing, of course, to a

well-built keel-boat with sail and oars; but a birch-bark is quite

another craft. I have seen Winnibigoshish as smooth as glass, and then

in a few minutes been glad to put ashore, to escape a choice between

swamping or capsizing, amid whitecaps and combers at least four feet

from crest to hollow, breaking on a lee shore full of snags and piled

with driftwood. Good landing places are not to be found all along;

most of the shore is low, and much of it consists of floating-bog, in

which a man may sink as easily, and less cleanly, than in quicksand,

if he sets an incautious foot. The water is so impure as to be

scarcely fit for drinking; the lake is a sort of cesspool for all the

sewerage of the basin whose waters pass through it. Winnibigoshish, in

short, is dreary, dirty, deceitful, and dangerous.

The Mississippi enters this reservoir in the S. W. part, at a point in

the S. W. ¼ of Sect. 36, T. 146, R. 29, 5th M., where it sweeps around

a firm bank, steep enough to be cut in some places, and on which some

Indians live; quite a little delta extends far out into the lake,

overgrown with bulrushes to such an extent as to hide the opening. But

it is not difficult to thread any one of several ways through these to

the high bank just said, which is the land-mark; a more conspicuous

one, from a distance, is a piece of high woodland whose point is due

S. ½ m. from the inlet. Hence southward is the nearest approach of

Leech l.; a traverse offers by means of Portage l. (Nicollet's Lake

Duponceau), though the carrying-place is somewhat over 2 m. long.

Passing northward, to our left as we start from the Mississippian

inlet to go around the shore, the first prominent feature is Raven's

point, distant from the inlet 4 m. The maps all represent this as much

longer and sharper than it looked to my eye; probably much of the

point that was once land is now under water, owing to the dam. It is

the site of a squalid village of Chippewas, who have been civilized

into the whole assortment of our own vices. A considerable stream

falls in here, which I suppose is Kaminaigokag r. of Nicollet and

Owen, though it is nameless on more modern maps. Its mouth is in Sect.

18, T. 146, R. 29, close to the N. border of Sect. 19; near by is a

lake about a mile in diameter, probably due to overflowage. Rounding

Raven's point and proceeding N. 4 m. further, we come to a little bay

into which flows a considerable stream from the W. This is Third r.,

often marked "III. R." The reason for this name will presently appear.

Schoolcraft in Narr. Journey of 1820, pub. 1821, p. 246, calls it

"Thornberry river, or La rivière des Epinettes," but F. _épinette_

does not mean "thornberry": see note 20, p. 319. The mouth of Third

r. falls in the N. W. ¼ of Sect. 33, T. 147, R. 28. Coasting now E.

along the N. shore, we round the prominence which defines Third River

bay, and which I call Windy pt. from my experience there--it had no

name that I could discover. It consists of a floating-bog for some

distance back, and in this morass, further eastward, a small creek

empties in Sect. 35 of the T. and R. last said; this may be called Bog

cr., if no earlier name can be found; it is not one of the regularly

enumerated streams. A mile and a half eastward of Bog cr., nearly or

exactly on the line between Sect. 36 of the same township and Sect. 31

of T. 147, R. 27, is the mouth of Pigeon r. No other name is heard on

the spot; but this is Second r. or "II. R." of the geographers.

Schoolcraft, _l. c._, called it Round Lake r., and Round l. is present

name of its principal source. There is a good landing here on a bit of

beach under a firm, bluffy bank, the site of the most decent and

well-to-do Chippewa village about the lake. Three and a half miles E.

S. E. of Pigeon r. is the wide, irregular opening of Cut Foot Sioux

r., otherwise First r., or "I. R.," which discharges from a system of

lakes, the nearest one of which is marked Cut Toe l. by Owen, and

Keeskeesedatpun l. on the Jewett map of 1890. This is the river called

Turtle Portage r. by Schoolcraft, _l. c._ Several houses stand on and

under the high land on the E. or left bank, a fraction of a mile back

of the opening, among them the trading-house of one Fairbanks, where

the usual robberies are perpetrated under another name, but without

further pretense of any sort. Four miles from the mouth of the Cut

Foot Sioux, in a direction about S. S. E., is the outlet of the

Mississippi, at the bottom of a large bay, offset from the rest of the

lake by prominent points of land. The separation of this bay from the

main body of waters is scarcely less well-marked than that of Pike bay

from the rest of Cass l. I propose to call it Dam bay. The points of

land which delimit its opening into Lake Winnibigoshish are: A long

linguiform extension from the S., occupying all the ground not

overflowed of Sects. 15 and 16, T. 146, R. 27, which may be designated

Tongue pt.; and opposite this, on the N., a much less extensive

prominence, which may become known as Rush pt., in Sect. 10 of the T.

and R. last said. Paddling 1½ m. from Cut Foot Sioux r., we go through

the strait between Tongue and Rush pts., and are then in Dam bay, a

roundish body of water about 2½ m. in diameter. At the S. end of this

is the short thoroughfare (outlet of the Mississippi), less than a

mile long, which leads into Little Lake Winnibigoshish, and has been

dammed at its lower end, in the S. W. ¼ of Sect. 25, necessitating, of

course, a portage of a few yards in canoeing. The dam in part consists

of a solid embankment, stretching from the S.; the rest is the wooden

construction for raising and lowering a series of gates by which the

flow of water can be regulated. This work looks sadly in need of

repair, and is said to be none too secure. At the N. end of the dam is

a high wooded hill, a fine spring of water, and some vacant buildings;

on the other side is a narrow pond over a mile long, called Rice l.

Immediately below the dam, the Mississippi dilates into Little Lake

Winnibigoshish (once Rush l.), of irregularly oval figure, 2¾ m. long

by scarcely over 1 m. in greatest breadth, its longest diameter about

N. W. to S. E. At a point near the S. E. is the portage, or carrying

place, over to Ball Club l., whose head is there distant about a mile:

see note 56, p. 150. The outlet of the Mississippi is on the S., in

the N. W. ¼ Sect. 6, T. 145, R. 26. Thence the river flows scarcely W.

of S. for 3 m. direct, but I judge fully 6½ by its extremely tortuous

channel, to a place in Sect. 24, T. 145, R. 27, where some rapids

occur; these, however, are easily shot. The further course of the

river is S. E., 8 m. direct, but more than twice as far by the bends,

to the confluence of Leech Lake r., or Pike's "Forks of the

Mississippi": see back, note last cited, p. 151. This whole section of

the Mississippi, from Little Lake Winnibigoshish to the mouth of Leech

Lake r., is easy canoeing down, with plenty of smooth, swift water,

even at low stages, and good places to camp all along on the wooded

points against which the channel continually abuts as it bends from

side to side of the low bottom-land, mostly overgrown with reeds

(_Phragmites communis_) and bulrushes (_Scirpus lacustris_), but

toward Leech Lake r. becoming meadowy and thus fit for haying. Besides

the main bends, or regular channel, there are a great many minor

sluices or cut-offs, practicable for canoeists; and one is borne

quickly along by the current, without minding much whether one is in

the channel or not. This way down, though circuitous and several times

as far as the route by Ball Club l., which lies off to the left as you

descend, is decidedly preferable; but going up river I should advise

one to take the route through Ball Club, and portage over to Little

Lake Winnibigoshish.

[VII-23] William Morrison is the first of white men known to have been at

Lake Itasca. He wintered at Lac la Folle, 1803-4, visited Lake Itasca

in 1804, and again in 1811 or 1812. Mr. Morrison was b. Canada, 1783,

d. there Aug. 9th, 1866. He kept a journal, which was lost, of his

movements before 1824. He described "Elk" l. to his daughter, Mrs.

Georgiana Demaray, and various other persons; he considered and

declared himself the first of white men at the source, though his

claim does not appear to have become a matter of authentic, citable

publication till 1856: see Final Rep. Minn. Geol. Surv., I. p. 26. The

document on which his claim mainly rests is the extant original of a

letter addressed by William to his brother Allan, dated Berthier, Jan.

16th, 1856. This is published verbatim in Brower's Report, Minn. Hist.

Soc. Coll., VII. 1893, pp. 122-124. Brower says (_l. c._ p. 120) that

the "Morrison letter," as originally published in Minn. Hist. Soc.

Coll., I. 1856, pp. 103, 104, or 2d ed., 1872, pp. 417-419, is "a

composite production." The article there covering the William Morrison

letter is entitled "Who Discovered Itasca Lake?" and includes a letter

from Allan Morrison to General Alexander Ramsay (now ex-Secretary of

War and President of the Society), dated Crow Wing, Benton County, M.

T., Feb. 17th, 1856. Charles Hallock, Esq., formerly of New York, the

well-known author of the Sportsman's Gazetteer and many other works,

founder of the Forest and Stream weekly in New York, and of the town

of Hallock, now the seat of Kittson Co., Minn., published a version of

the "Morrison letter," said to be a "correct copy," in his article The

Red River Trail, Harper's Mag. XIX. No. cix, June, 1859, p. 37, which

aroused the jealous recalcitration of Mr. Schoolcraft, whose

reclamation was made in a letter to George H. Moore, Esq., Librarian

of the New York Historical Society, dated Washington, Aug. 12th, 1859,

and published in the N. Y. Evening Post, Aug. 23d, 1859, p. 1, column

4. I have not inspected Morrison's autograph letter; but I have

compared the three printed versions here in mention--the one of 1856

or 1872, Hallock's of 1859, and Brower's of 1893. They are all to the

same effect, and evidently from one source; but the textual

discrepancies of all three are so great that they can scarcely be

called "copies." Brower speaks of "several letters written by Mr.

Morrison on this subject," and states that the one he prints, of Jan.

16th, 1856, "is given in full, and just as written and signed." From

this imprint I extract the following clauses: "I left the old Grand

Portage, July, 1802, ... in 1803-4, I went and wintered at Lac La

Folle.... Lac La Biche is near to Lac La Folle. Lac La Biche is the

source of the Great River Mississippi, which I visited in 1804, and if

the late Gen. Pike did not lay it down as such when he came to Leech

lake it is because he did not happen to meet me.... I visited in 1804,

Elk lake, and again in 1811-12," etc. Nothing appears to invalidate

this letter; for Mr. Schoolcraft's contemptuous contention of 1859

belittled Mr. Morrison and Mr. Hallock without disproving or even

disputing Mr. Morrison's claim. The gravamen of Mr. Schoolcraft's

charge is contained in the statement "that he [Morrison], or his

friends in Minnesota, should have deferred forty-seven years to make

this important announcement, is remarkable." It may have been

"remarkable"; but it is not inexplicable. Mr. Henry D. Harrower, in

the Educational Reporter Extra, Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor and Co., New

York and Chicago, pub. Oct., 1886, 8vo, p. 17, has some discerning and

judicious remarks on this score: "The statements of the brothers

Morrison have generally been received without question by scientists

and geographers in Minnesota; and in his letter Allan Morrison

expresses surprise that anyone should be ignorant of the title of his

brother to the discovery of Itasca prior to Schoolcraft. It is a

curious fact, however, that Allan Morrison acted as guide for Charles

Lanman for a number of weeks in 1846, during which time they visited

Itasca Lake; and that Lanman, in his published account of the trip,

nowhere mentions Wm. Morrison, or intimates that he was ever at the

source of the Mississippi, but definitely ascribes the discovery to

Schoolcraft in 1832. See Lanman's 'Adventures in the Wilderness,' vol.

i, pages 48, 75, etc. I venture the opinion that Morrison first

identified his Elk Lake of 1804 with Schoolcraft's Itasca when he read

Schoolcraft's 'Summary Narrative' (1855); and that it is safe to say

that if Morrison discovered Lake Itasca, Schoolcraft discovered

Morrison." This may be considered to raise the question, What

constitutes discovery? But that does not affect the main issue. Mr.

Morrison's declaration that he visited Lake Itasca in 1804 and again

in 1811-12 thus far rests uncontested. If the case is ever re-opened,

it will probably be upon newly discovered documentary evidence of

priority of discovery by some Frenchman. When Pike was at Leech l. he

just missed, by some months and scarcely more miles, the glory of the

most important discovery he could possibly have made in the course of

this or his other expedition.

In May, 1820, Lewis Cass, then governor of Michigan, left Detroit with

38 men, among whom was Henry Rowe Schoolcraft. Proceeding by

Michilimackinac he struck the Miss. r. at Sandy l., and entered it

July 17th. The narrative recites that he went to Peckagama falls,

thence 55 m. to the Forks, 45 to Lake Winnipec, and about 50 m. more

to the large lake then first called Cassina and afterward Cass l. by

Schoolcraft. This was entered July 21st; but the party went no

further. It was then represented to them that the source of the river

was in a lake called La Beesh, _i. e._, La Biche, erroneously supposed

to be 60 miles N. W.; upon which the river was computed to be 3,038 m.

long, at an altitude of 1,330 feet: for the particulars of this

voyage, see Schoolcraft's Narrative Journal, etc., pub. E. and E.

Hosford, Albany, N. Y., 1821, 1 vol. 8vo, pp. i-xvi, 17-419, 4 unpaged

pages of index, map, plates; it is full of errors. The Cradled

Hercules, as Nicollet later called it, slept on this till Schoolcraft

returned in 1832 to awaken the infant, with Lieut. Allen, Rev. Mr.

Boutwell, Dr. Houghton, and Mr. Johnston, under the leadership of

Chief Ozawindib.

Giacomo Constantino Beltrami was b. Bergamo, Italy, 1779; _au mieux_,

Mme. La Comtesse de Campagnoni _née_ Passeri, at Florence, 1812;

exiled, 1821; Fort St. Anthony (Snelling), May 10th, 1823; and when

Long's expedition came in July of that year, he accompanied it up the

Minn. r. and down the Red River of the North to Pembina, where he took

offense and his congé simultaneously, between Aug. 5th-9th. The

differences between the American soldier and the expatriated Italian

were great and various. Major Long ejected Signor Beltrami on the

spot, and on paper dismissed him not less curtly and contemptuously,

making this harsh judgment a personal matter over initials S. H. L. in

Keating, I., p. 314: "An Italian whom we met at Fort St. Anthony

attached himself to the expedition and accompanied us to Pembina. He

has recently published a book entitled, 'La Découverte des Sources du

Mississippi,' &c., which we notice merely on account of the fictions

and misrepresentations it contains." Mr. Schoolcraft makes a point of

snubbing Sig. Beltrami: see _posteà_. The amiable M. le Professeur

Nicollet alone has a kindly word for his co-laborer in Mississippian

exploration: "He descended Turtle river, which empties into Lake

Cass;--that had been the terminus of the expedition of 1820, under the

command of General Cass, and in honor of whom it is so named. Now, as

the sources of Turtle river are more distant from the mouth of the

Mississippi than this [Itasca] lake, Mr. Beltrami thought himself

authorized to publish that _he_ had discovered the sources of the

Mississippi. Hence, perhaps, may be explained why, as late as Mr.

Schoolcraft's expedition of 1832, the sources of the river were laid

down as N. W. of Lake Cass. I may be mistaken, but it strikes me that

American critics have been too disdainful of Mr. Beltrami's book,

which found many readers on both continents, whilst it propagated some

painful errors," Rep. 1843, p. 59. Hon. J. V. Brower, the latest and

altogether the best monographer, stigmatizes Sig. Beltrami as "a

hero-worshipper with but one hero, and that himself," Miss. R., etc.,

1893, p. 136. With me the question is not one of Beltrami's character,

temperament, imagination, sex-relations, etc., but simply, What did he

do about the Mississippian _origines_? Brower gives a clear,

connected, and fair answer, _ibid._, pp. 137-141, in part from an

article by Mr. A. J. Hill of St. Paul. Beltrami bravely made his way

alone to Red l., which he left Aug. 26th, 1823; was guided Aug. 28th

to the vicinity of Turtle l.; found a spot whence he thought water

flowed four ways, N., S., E., W., to three oceans, and which _was_ a

part of the divide between Mississippian and Hudsonian waters; named

Lake Julia, tributary to Turtle l., as a "Julian source" of the

Mississippi, which it _was_; declared it to be the true source, as he

defined the "source" of a river, by position relative to position of

the mouth; declared and certainly believed he had discovered this

source, in which he was mistaken, as it was already known; named other

lakes for other friends; and was informed by his guide of Lake Itasca,

which he located on his map with approx. accuracy by the name of Doe

l., translating Lac La Biche of the F., though it appears in his text

as Bitch l. by mistake. For Beltrami distinctly speaks, II. p. 434, of

Lake Itasca: "which the Indians call Moscosaguaiguen, or Bitch lake,

which receives no tributary stream, and seems to draw its waters from

the bosom of the earth. _It is here in my opinion that we shall fix

the western sources of the Mississippi_," as Schoolcraft and Allen

did, nine years afterward. Beltrami proceeded to Cass l., and thence

to Fort St. Anthony, where he arrived after great hardships in a state

of extreme destitution; went to New Orleans, and there published his

first book, 1824. In all this I see no necessary occasion for disdain

or derision; the man did the best he could--"angels could do no more."

He showed courage, fortitude, endurance, perseverance, ambition, and

enthusiasm--all admirable qualities. He wrote an extravagant book, to

be sure; but it displays less egotism and more fidelity to the facts,

as he understood them, than Hennepin's, for example, and has a higher

moral quality than the average Jesuit Relation. He shot high, but not

with a longer bow than many a traveler before and since himself. One

test of his good faith is the perfect ease with which we can find the

facts in his book and separate them from the figments of his

overwrought imagination. Heredity and environment conspired to lead

him into grave errors of judgment and some misstatements of fact; but

which one of us who write books can stone _his_ glass house with

impunity? Beltrami's Julian source will run in the books as long as

the water runs from that source, alongside the Plantagenian and

Itascan sources. Beltrami's map locates Doe=Itasca l. with greater

accuracy than any earlier map does. The "pointed similarity" it has

been said to bear to Pike's--and I fear as a suggestion of

plagiarism--does not extend to the Itascan source, for there is not a

trace of this on Pike's published map. Beltrami went from New Orleans

to Mexico, traversed that country, reached London about 1827,

published his Pilgrimage, etc., 2 vols., and d. at Filotrano, Feb.,

1855, in his 76th year. He fills the niche in Mississippian

geographical history between Cass, 1820, and Schoolcraft and Allen,

1832; meanwhile, Itasca State Park lies mainly in Beltrami Co., Minn.,

which includes both the Julian and Itascan sources. There was nothing

the matter with Beltrami but woman on the brain; he had a queen bee in

his bonnet--that is all. Much that has been taken for puerile conceit

is the virile badinage of a man of the world, of wit, and of

penetration. I have read his Pilgrimage with interested attention; it

is clear to me that Beltrami was no mere _flâneur_--by no means such a

trifler as some of his passages might excuse one for supposing him to

be. He was a well-read and well-traveled man; his _obiter dicta_ on

various things, as religion, politics, society, and other broad

themes, are generally acute. He was a brave man; I imagine Major Long

had a time of it with Sioux, and Signor Beltrami too; it seems to have

been a case of scalping-knife and stiletto. As I have already cited

the military mailed hand, let us see the fine Italian hand: "Major

Long did not cut a very noble figure in the affair; I foresaw all the

disgusts and vexations I should have to experience," II. p. 303; "met

a band of Sioux. The major thought he read hostile intentions in their

faces; he even thought they had threatened him;--of course everybody

else thought so too--like Casti's courtiers; ... it was incumbent on

me, therefore, to be very much alarmed, too; ... I rather think the

fright they threw the major into was in revenge for his giving them

nothing but boring speeches. If they meant it so they had every reason

to be satisfied," II. pp. 336-37; "Colonel Snelling's son, who shewed

the most friendly concern and apprehensions for me. He also left the

major at the same time, not without violent altercation, ... with

considerable regret I parted from Dr. Say, one of the naturalists

attached to the expedition, the only one who deserved the designation

[this was a tickler for Prof. Keating's fifth rib]," II. 370; "they

[Colonel Snelling, Major Taliaferro, and others] were indignant

against Major Long for acting towards me in the miserable manner that

he did. With respect to myself, I feel towards him a sort of gratitude

for having by his disgusting manners only strengthened my

determination to leave him," II. p. 483. Beltrami was evidently able

to keep his own scalp, and his book is vastly diverting, except in the

boggy places, where he mires us down with his gynæcosophy. It is

entitled: A Pilgrimage in Europe and America, leading to the Discovery

of the Sources of the Mississippi River, etc., 2 vols., 8vo, London,

1828, pp. i-lxxvi, 1-472, and 1-545, map and plates. It is dedicated

"To the Fair Sex. Oh Woman!" The text is in epistolary form,

ostensibly addressed to the countess, and consists of 22 letters,

1821-23; matter of Julian sources, II. p. 409 _seq._, and map.

In 1830, Cass was directed by the War Department to request

Schoolcraft, who was then an agent of the Office of Indian affairs of

the W. D., to proceed into the Chippewa country to endeavor to put an

end to the hostilities between the Chippewas and the Sioux. The wars

which neither Pike, nor Clark, nor anybody else had succeeded in

stopping permanently in those quarters were thus indirectly the cause,

and directly the occasion, of the rediscovery of the source of the

Miss. r. Schoolcraft left St. Mary's, at the foot of Lake Superior,

late in June, 1831, with 27 persons, exclusive of guides and Indian

portagers. But the atrocious massacre of Menomonees by the Sacs and

Foxes at Prairie du Chien, and other circumstances, diverted this

expedition from the sources of the river, and Schoolcraft returned to

the Sault Ste. Marie. The plan was resumed early in 1832, when another

party was made up of some 30 persons, on the basis of an attempt to

effect permanent peace between the two principal tribes. Schoolcraft

left the Sault June 7th, 1832. This place was and is on a large lake

which S. calls Igomi, Chigomi, and Gitchigomi, and others Kitchi

Gummi--though we prefer Lake Superior to the Chippewa vernacular. On

July 3d, he reached Mr. Aitkin's trading-house on the discharge of

Sandy l., a distance of about 150 m. by the usual St. Louis and

Savanna rivers route. Cass l. was entered on the 10th; this was the

point of departure for new exploration, as it was that where the Cass

expedition had ended July 21st, 1820. Cass l. was then determined to

be 2,978 instead of 3,038 m. from the Gulf of Mexico by the course of

the river. The Indian guide, Ozawindib, began to make history and

immortalize his name at this point. He took the party up the Miss. r.

to Lac Traverse or Pamitchi Gumaug, that is, to Lake Bemidji, and

thence by the chain of lakes Schoolcraft called Irving, Marquette, La

Salle, and Plantagenet, up the course of the "South" (better called

East) fork of the Miss. r. to the Naiwa r. and Usawa l., thus

discovering the linked chain which later became known as the

"Plantagenian source": see note 8, p. 162. Ozawindib then portaged

the party over to the lake which Morrison had discovered in 1804. Camp

was pitched on the island which by common consent bears Schoolcraft's

name, July 13th, 1832. The party consisted of 16 persons, including

Ozawindib, Mr. Schoolcraft, Lieut. James Allen, U. S. A., Dr. Douglass

Houghton, Rev. Wm. T. Boutwell, and Mr. George Johnston. The name

"Itasca" was a whim of Schoolcraft's, which would mislead anyone who

should search Indian languages for its etymology, especially as Mr. S.

himself affects obscurantism by saying: "Having previously got an

inkling of some of their mythological and necromantic notions of the

origin and mutations of the country, which permitted the use of a

female name for it, I denominated it Itasca." This is a dark hint of

mystic and very likely phallic superstitions; but the facts in the

case are given in Brower's Report, p. 148, from personal interview

with the Rev. Boutwell himself, who said in substance that once when

he and Mr. S. were in the same canoe in 1832, the latter suddenly

turned and asked him what was the Greek and Latin definition of the

headwaters or true source of a river. Mr. B. could not on the spur of

the moment rally any Greek, but mustered Latin enough to give Mr. S.

his choice of _Verum Caput_ (true head) or _Veritas_, _Caput_ (truth,

head); by combining which latter two words, beheading one and

bobtailing the other, Mr. S. made (Ver)ITASCA(put), and said, "Itasca

shall be the name." He was quite equal to such juggling with words;

_e. g._, his Lake Shiba is named by a word which consists of the

initial letters of _S_choolcraft, _H_oughton, _I_ohnston (for

_J_ohnston), _B_outwell, and _A_llen. It is lucky Mr. Boutwell did not

think of the Greek for "head waters," or Itasca might have been named

Lake Hydrocephalus. Mr. Schoolcraft perpetuated the etymological myth

by perpetrating some stanzas, two lines of which are: "As if in Indian

myths a truth there could be read, And these were tears indeed, by

fair Itasca shed." None of the party appears to have noticed the

smaller lake south of Itasca, though it was only 333 yards from the

head of the W. arm, which was not explored; and in fact the visit of

so much historical moment was in itself but momentary. The main point

ascertained was the _location_ of Itasca to the S. W. of Cass l.,

where Beltrami had already represented it to be, instead of the N. W.

where Schoolcraft had supposed it was. The many little lakes and

streams in the Itasca basin, and all nice topographic features, were

left to be discovered by Nicollet and his successors. Their Chippewa

guide took them back by way of the main, west, or Itascan course of

the river to Cass l., whence they went to Leech l., thence by the

chain of lakes to Crow Wing r., and so on to the Mississippi again. It

is certainly not my desire to disparage Mr. Schoolcraft; but one who

could be taken to the source of the Mississippi and leave it the same

day, seeing nothing but what was shown him, and giving only a glance

at that, was not the person who should have snubbed Beltrami as he did

when he wrote that "a Mr. Beltrami, returning from the settlement of

Pembina by the usual route of the traders from Red Lake to Turtle

Lake, published at New Orleans, a small 12mo volume under the title of

'La découverte des sources du Mississippi, et de la Riviere [_sic_]

Sanglante,' a work which has since been expanded into two heavy 8vo

volumes by the London press" (Narrative, etc., heavy 8vo, New York,

1834, p. 73). That sort of a sneer at a prior explorer in the same

region comes with particularly bad grace from a gentleman who was

expert in expanding his own stock of information to the most

voluminous proportions, and whose cacoëthes scribendi, by dint of

incessant scratching, finally developed a case of pruritus senilis,

marked by an acute mania for renaming things he had named years

before: see his Summary Narrative, etc., Philada., Lippincott, Grambo

and Co., 1855. Mr. Schoolcraft never forgave Sig. Beltrami for telling

where Lake Itasca would be found; had he done so, he would have been

untrue to the supreme selfishness, inordinate vanity, vehement

prejudices, and conscientious narrow-mindedness with which his

all-wise and all-powerful Calvinistic Creator had been graciously

pleased to endow him. Another account of Schoolcraft's expedition of

1832 occupies pp. 125-132 of Minn. Hist. Soc. Coll., I. 2d ed. 1872;

Mr. Boutwell's narrative of the same is found _ibid._, pp. 153-176.

James Allen's name is not so well known in this connection as it

should be. That is to say, the public seldom connects his name with

the discovery of Lake Itasca. But if Mr. Schoolcraft was the actual

head of the expedition of 1832, and became its best known historian,

Lieutenant Allen was a large and shapely portion of the body of that

enterprise, decidedly the better observer, geographer, and

cartographer; item, the commander of the military escort, which might

have been necessary for safety and success; item, the author of an

able, interesting, and important report upon the subject, which he

made to the military authorities. He was detailed for this duty by

order of A. Macomb, Major-General, commanding the army, dated Hdqrs.

of the Army, Washn., May 9th, 1832, and proceeded to Fort Brady,

Mich., with a detachment consisting of Corporal Wibru, and Privates

Briscoe, Beemis, Burke, Copp, Dutton, Ingram, Lentz, Riley, and Wade,

of the 5th Infantry. He was gone June 6th-Aug. 26th, 1832. His

movements were the same as Mr. Schoolcraft's, except where the latter

left him in the lurch on the St. Croix; his operations more extensive

and more intelligently directed to explore and report upon the

country. He named Schoolcraft isl. and various other things; Allen's

bay was named for him by Mr. Schoolcraft, and Allen's l. by Mr.

Brower. Allen was an Ohio man, appointed from Madison, Jefferson Co.,

Ind., cadet at West Point, July 1st, 1825; 2d lieut. 5th Infantry,

July 1st, 1829; 2d lieut. 1st Dragoons, Mar. 4th, 1833; 1st lieut. May

31st, 1835; capt., June 30th, 1837; on detached service, engineering

duty, Chicago, 1837-38; d. suddenly at Fort Leavenworth, Kas., Aug.

22d or 23d, 1846, as lieutenant-colonel of a Mormon battalion of

volunteer infantry he had raised to re-enforce our Army of the West,

"beloved while living, and regretted after death, by all who knew

him," Hughes, Doniphan's Exped., 1847, p. 53. His valuable Mississippi

report, completed at Fort Dearborn (Chicago), Nov. 25th, 1833, was

transmitted to Congr. by Hon. Lewis Cass, Sec. of War, Apr. 11th,

1834, and published in Amer. State Papers, Class V. Milit. Affairs, V.

Ex. Doc. No. 579, 1st Session, 23d Congr., folio, pp. 312-344, and

map.

The illustrious name of Jean Nicolas Nicollet is first in time on the

roll of those who have applied modern methods of exact and exacting

science to the geography of the West. Nicollet is most highly

appreciated by those who are themselves most worthy of appreciation

and most competent critics. Thus, Gen. G. K. Warren pronounces

Nicollet's map "one of the greatest contributions ever made to

American geography." It will stand forever as the sound basis of

knowledge on the subject. Notices of Nicollet's life and work are

found in: Trans. Assoc. Amer. Geol. and Nat., 1840-42, Boston, 1843,

pp. 32-34; Amer. Journ. Sci., 1st ser., XLVII. p. 139, sketch by Prof.

H. D. Rogers; Minn. Hist. Coll., I. (of 1850-56), 2d ed. 1872, pp.

183-195, memoir by Gen. H. H. Sibley; VI. 1891, pp. 242-245, being

reminiscences in the autobiography of Maj. Lawrence Taliaferro; and

VII. 1893, pp. 155-165, notice by J. V. Brower with portrait; Ann.

Rep. Smiths. Inst., 1870, p. 194; Frémont's Memoirs, I. pp. 30-72,

_passim_; notice in Educational Reporter Extra, Oct., 1886, by H. D.

Harrower; and especially N. H. Winchell, Amer. Geol., VIII. Dec.,

1891, pp. 343-352, with portrait and best biography. N. was b. at

Cluses in Savoy, 1790; d. Baltimore, Md., Sept. 11th, 1843. He was a

watchmaker's apprentice till æt. 18; was a natural musician; studied

languages and mathematics, and in 1818 published an article which

became noted in the annals of insurance for its calculations on

probable duration of human life; he wrote others of similar character;

1819 to 1828, he published various mathematical and astronomical

treatises; was decorated in 1825 with the Cross of the Legion of

Honor; at one time held a professorship in the Royal College of Louis

Le Grand; was also an inspector of naval schools; he was in high

esteem, and made money. But the fickle goddess of fortune ceased to

smile; he made business ventures which failed, and cost him all his

worldly goods and all his fair-weather friends; in 1832 he was a poor

refugee in the United States. But his amiable character, his

accomplishments, his great talents, and greater genius were more

conspicuous in adversity than they had been in prosperity. He made

friends everywhere, among them some in high stations, able to estimate

his abilities and glad to use his services. Under the auspices of the

War Department, and with the personal attentions of such men as Pierre

Chouteau, Jr., Gen. Sibley, and Maj. Taliaferro, he was enabled to

make, 1833-39, those several explorations and surveys which resulted

in his Map and Report--a work which would have done credit to anyone

under any circumstances, but one which only a Nicollet could have

accomplished under the actual conditions. In 1840 and 1841 he was on

office duty in Washington, reducing his field-work and preparing his

map, which latter was drawn under his direction by Lieuts. J. C.

Frémont and E. P. Scammon. This was completed probably in 1840, as it

had been submitted to Congress and ordered to be printed, Feb. 16th,

1841. But the hardships he had endured in the field had undermined his

frail physique; the further drafts upon his balance of vitality were

overdrawn; and the fatal blow was given by Arago, who defeated his

election to the French Academy. "Pas même un Academicien," this great

soul never wore the crown of his life. His work was published under

the editorship of Gen. J. J. Abert, to whom science is indebted in

many ways--perhaps in no one of these more than in the recognition of

the merits of the gentle Savoyard, and consequently the steps he took

to facilitate and complete Nicollet's labors. The publication forms

Doc. No. 237, 26th Congr., 2d Session, entitled: Report intended to

illustrate a Map of the Hydrographical Basin of the Upper Mississippi

River, made by I. [_sic_] N. Nicollet, etc., 1 vol, 8vo, Washington,

Blair and Rives, 1843, pp. 1-170, map, 30¾ × 37 inches; also pub. as

Ex. Doc. No. 52, Ho. Reps., 2d Sess., 28th Congr. The report is

officially addressed to Colonel Abert; the original journals and other

MSS. were to be deposited in the Bureau of the Corps of Topographical

Engineers, Sept. 13th, 1843. I have examined the original map, from

which the published one was engraved, not without some variant

lettering here and there; it is now in bad condition, very brittle,

and would soon go to pieces if often unrolled without great care in

handling it. I think it should be renovated, without delay, and put in

the best possible condition for permanent preservation.

July 26th, 1836, Nicollet went from Fort Snelling to the Falls of St.

Anthony, with Lieutenants S. N. Plummer, G. W. Shaw, and James

McClure, to see him off; 29th, he was ascending the river; at the

mouth of the Crow Wing he left the Mississippi, ascended the former to

Gayashk or Gull r., went from this to Pine r., visited Kadikomeg or

Whitefish l. thence up E. fork of Pine r. to Kwiwisens or Boy r., and

down this into Leech l., where he spent a week, mostly camped on Otter

Tail pt., where resided his principal guide, Francis Brunet--"a man

six feet three inches high--a giant of great strength, but at the same

time full of the milk of human kindness and, withal, an excellent

natural geographer." He found here Mr. Boutwell, who was good enough

to help him out of some sort of a scrape the Chippewas got him into.

He left Leech l. in a bark canoe with Brunet, another man named

Desiré, and a Chippewa whose name he renders Kegwedzissag, since

spelled Gaygwedosay and applied to a creek which runs into present Elk

l. He crossed several small lakes and came to one he calls

Kabe-Konang--not the same as Schoolcraft's Kubba Kunna, which latter

is the one S. called Lake Plantagenet, and is on Nicollet's Laplace r.

He continued up Kabekonang r., made a 5-m. portage to Laplace r.

(which is also called Naiwa, Yellow Head, and Schoolcraft's r., being

the Plantagenet fork of the Miss. r.), and ascended it to a position 1

m. south of Assawa l., where he found the traces of a camp used four

years before by the Schoolcraft party. Next morning he was up at 4.30,

preparing for the 6-m. portage to Lake Itasca across the Big

Burning--by no means an easy thing; the ground was very bad, and the

mosquitoes as bad as they knew how to be. Brunet carried the canoe,

weighing 110-115 lbs.; Desiré and Kegwedzissag had each a load of

85-90 lbs.; while poor Nicollet had a full burden in proportion to the

powers of the slight and frail body that was so soon, alas! to fail

him altogether. "I had about 35 pounds' weight unequally distributed

upon my body.... I carried my sextant on my back in a leather case

thrown over me as a knapsack; then my barometer slung over my left

shoulder; my cloak thrown over the same shoulder confined the

barometer closely against the sextant; a portfolio under the arm; a

basket in hand which contained my thermometer, chronometer, pocket

compass, artificial horizon, tape-line, &c. On the right side, a

spy-glass, powder-flask, and shot-bag; and in my hand a gun or an

umbrella according to circumstances. Such was my accoutrement." Though

Nicollet estimated his load at only 35 pounds, it was an awkward one

to manage, and more than he should have undertaken to carry through

such a place; his head swam more than once, he lost his way, got

bogged several times, and only extricated himself by scrambling along

slippery and decayed tree-trunks. However, he reached Itasca safely,

two hours after the rest, pitched his tent on the island, and

proceeded to adjust his artificial horizon. During the three days

spent in exploring the basin he made those minute and precise

observations which will forever associate his honored name with

Mississippian discovery. His approach to the spot duplicated Mr.

Schoolcraft's; but the comparison need not be pushed further--it

cannot be. Nicollet's return was by way of the main stream to Lake

Cass and thence to Leech l.--where, by the way, he had a conference

with that sagacious savage Eshkibogikoj, otherwise Gueule Platte or

Flat Mouth, with whom he took tea "out of fine china-ware" and spent

evenings "full of instruction." Of the fine work he did at Lake

Itasca, I must quote his own modest words: "The honor of having first

explored the sources of the Mississippi and introduced a knowledge of

them in physical geography, belongs to Mr. Schoolcraft and Lieutenant

Allen. I come only after these gentleman; but I may be permitted to

claim some merit for having completed what was wanting for a full

geographical account of these sources. Moreover, I am, I believe, the

first traveler who has carried with him astronomical instruments, and

put them to profitable account along the whole course of the

Mississippi, from its mouth to its sources." He might well have

claimed more than this; for, aside from all topographic and

hydrographic details, what he discovered, determined, and described

was the Mississippi itself above Lake Itasca. His praise is greatest

in the mouths of wisest censure, and for once in the history of

discovery no one withholds from modest merit and signal achievement

their just dues.

The length of this note warns me to resist the temptation to pursue

post-Nicolletian exploration and touring--through the names of Charles

Lanman, 1846; Rev. Frederick Ayer and son, 1849; Wm. Bungo, 1865;

Julius Chambers, of the New York Herald's "Dolly Varden" expedition,

1872; James H. Baker, in official capacities, 1875-79; Edwin S. Hall,

U. S. surveyor, 1875; A. H. Siegfried, representing the Louisville

Courier-Journal's "Rob Roy" expedition, 1879; O. E. Garrison, 1880; W.

E. Neal, 1880 and 1881; Rev. J. A. Gilfillan and Prof. Cooke, in May,

1881, the same year that one X. Y. Z. exploited his fraud--to that of

J. V. Brower, 1888-94. The scandalous episode in a record otherwise

honorable to all concerned may be read in all its unsavory particulars

in the able exposés made by Mr. H. D. Harrower, entitled: Captain

Glazier and his Lake, etc., pub. Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor and Co.,

N. Y., Oct., 1886, pp. 1-58, with 9 maps; by Mr. Hopewell Clarke, in

Science and Education, I. No 2, Dec. 24th, 1886, pp. 45-57, with 5

maps; by Hon. James H. Baker, in the report entitled: The Sources of

the Mississippi. Their Discoveries, real and pretended, read before

the Minn. His. Soc., Feb. 8th, 1887, and published as Vol. VI., Pt. I,

of that society's Collections, pp. 28; and by Commissioner Brower, pp.

191-209 of his elaborate and exhaustive monograph, pub. 1893, to which

I am greatly indebted, and to which reference should be made for

further details, whether in the history or the geography of the

Mississippian sources. Nicollet is the pivotal point upon which the

whole matter turns from Morrison to Brower, 1804-1894.

Some Additional Facts about Nicollet, not given on my foregoing pages,

may be found in Horace V. Winchell's article, Amer. Geologist, Vol.

XIII, pp. 126-128, Feb., 1894. The date of birth is there given as

July 24th, 1786 (not 1790); the name, as Joseph (not Jean) Nicolas

Nicollet; and the place of death, as Washington, D. C. (not Baltimore,

Md.); the date is the same--Sept. 11th, 1843.

CHAPTER VIII.

ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE MISSISSIPPI.[VIII-1]

The first nation of Indians whom we met with in ascending the

Mississippi from St. Louis were the Sauks, who principally reside in

four villages. The first at the head of the rapids De Moyen on the W.

shore, consisting of 13 log lodges; the second on a prairie on the E.

shore, about 60 miles above; the third on the Riviere De Roche, about

three miles from the entrance; and the fourth on the river Iowa.

They hunt on the Mississippi and its confluent streams, from the

Illinois to the river Des Iowa; and on the plains west of them, which

border the Missouri. They are so perfectly consolidated with the

Reynards[VIII-2] that they scarcely can be termed a distinct nation; but

recently there appears to be a schism between the two nations, the

latter not approving of the insolence and ill-will which has marked

the conduct of the former toward the United States on many late

occurrences. They have for many years past, under the auspices of the

Sioux, made war on the Sauteaux, Osages, and Missouries; but as

recently a peace has been made between them and the nations of the

Missouri through the influence of the United States, and by the same

means between the Sioux and Sauteaux, their principal allies, it

appears that it would by no means be a difficult matter to induce them

to make a general peace, and pay still greater attention to the

cultivation of the earth; as they now raise a considerable quantity of

corn, beans, and melons. The character that they bear with their

savage brethren is that they are much more to be dreaded for their

deceit and inclination for stratagem than for their open courage.

The Reynards reside in three villages. The first is on the W. side of

the Mississippi, six miles above the rapids of the River De Roche; the

second is about 12 miles in the rear of the lead mines; and the third

is on Turkey river, half a league from its entrance. They are engaged

in the same wars and have the same alliances as the Sauks, with whom

they must be considered as indissoluble in war or peace. They hunt on

both sides of the Mississippi from the Iowa, below Prairie Des Chiens

to a river of that name [Upper Iowa], above said village. They raise a

great quantity of corn, beans, and melons; the former of those

articles in such quantities as to sell many hundred bushels per annum.

The Iowas reside on the De Moyen and Iowa rivers in two villages. They

hunt on the W. side of the Mississippi, the De Moyen, and westward to

the Missouri; their wars and alliances are the same as those of the

Sauks and Reynards, under whose special protection they conceive

themselves to be. They cultivate some corn, but not so much in

proportion as the Sauks and Reynards. Their residence being on the

small streams in the rear of the Mississippi, out of the highroad of

commerce, renders them less civilized than those nations.

The Sauks, Reynards, and Iowas, since the treaty of the two former

with the United States [in 1804], claim the land from the entrance of

the Jauflioni [see note 14, p. 11], on the W. side of the

Mississippi, up the latter river to the Des Iowa, above Prairie Des

Chiens, and westward to the Missouri; but the limits between

themselves are undefined. All the land formerly claimed by those

nations E. of the Mississippi is now ceded to the United States; but

they have reserved to themselves the privilege of hunting and residing

on it, as usual.

By killing the celebrated Sauk chief Pontiac, the Illinois, Cahokias,

Kaskaskias, and Piorias kindled a war with the allied nations of

Sauks and Reynards, which has been the cause of the almost entire

destruction of the former nations.

The Winebagos or Puants are a nation who reside on the rivers

Ouiscousing, De Roche, Fox, and Green Bay, in seven villages, which

are situated as follows: 1st, at the entrance of Green Bay; 2d, at the

end of Green Bay; 3d, at Wuckan [Lake Poygan], on Fox river; 4th, at

Lake Puckway; 5th, at the portage of the Ouiscousing; 6th and 7th, on

Roche river.

Those villages are so situated that the Winebagos can embody the whole

force of their nation, at any one point of their territory, in four

days. They hunt on the Ouiscousing and Rock rivers, and E. side of the

Mississippi, from Rock river to Prairie Des Chiens; on Lake Michigan,

Black river, and in the country between Lakes Michigan, Huron, and

Superior. From the tradition amongst them, and their speaking the same

language as the Otos of the Riviere Platte, I am confident in

asserting that they are a nation who have emigrated from Mexico to

avoid the oppression of the Spaniards; and the time may be fixed at

about 1½ centuries past, when they were taken under the protection of

the Sioux, to whom they still profess to owe faith, and at least

brotherly attention. They have formerly been at war with the nations

west of the Mississippi, but appear recently to have laid down the

hatchet. They are reputed brave, but from every circumstance their

neighbors distinguish their bravery as the ferocity of a tiger, rather

than the deliberate resolution of a man; and recently their conduct

has been such as to authorize the remark made by a chief of a

neighboring nation, that "a white man never should lie down to sleep

without precaution in their villages."

The Menomene or Fols Avoins, as they are termed by the French, reside

in seven villages, situated as follows: 1st, at the Menomene river, 15

leagues from Green Bay, on the north side of the lake; 2d, at Green

Bay; 3d, at Little Kakalin; 4th, at portage of Kakalin; 5th, on

Stinking Lake [Winnebago]; 6th, at the entrance of a small lake [Lac

Butte des Morts] on Fox river; and 7th, behind the Bank of the Dead

[Butte des Morts]. Their hunting-grounds are similar to those of the

Winebagos; only that, owing to the very high estimation in which they

are held both by Sioux and Chipeways, they are frequently permitted to

hunt near Raven river on the Mississippi, which may be termed the

battle-ground between those two great nations. The language which they

speak is singular, for no white man has ever yet been known to acquire

it; but this may probably be attributed to their understanding the

Algonquin, in which they and the Winebagos transact all conferences

with the whites or other nations; and the facility with which that

language is acquired is a further reason for its prevalence.

The Fols Avoins, although a small nation, are respected by all their

neighbors for their bravery and independent spirit, and esteemed by

the whites as their friends and protectors. When in the country I

heard their chief assert in council with the Sioux and Chipeways, that

although they were reduced to few in number, yet they could say, "we

never were slaves," as they had always preferred that their women and

children should die by their own hands, to their being led into

slavery by their enemies. The boundary of their territory is

uncertain. The Sauks, Reynards, Puants, and Menomenes all reside, when

not at their villages, in lodges in the form of an ellipsis; some are

from 30 to 40 feet in length by 14 or 15 wide, and are sufficiently

large to shelter 60 people from the storm, or for 20 to reside in.

Their covering is rushes plaited into mats, and carefully tied to the

poles. In the center are the fires, immediately over which is a small

vacancy in the lodge, which in fair weather is sufficient to give vent

to the smoke; but in bad weather you must lie down on the ground to

prevent being considerably incommoded by it.

We next come to that powerful nation the Sioux, the dread of whom is

extended over all the Savage nations, from the confluence of the

Mississippi and Missouri to Raven river on the former, and to the

Snake [Shoshone] Indians on the latter. But in those limits are many

nations whom they consider as allies, on a similar footing with the

allies of ancient Rome, _i. e._, humble dependents. But the Chipeway

nation is an exception, who have maintained a long contest with them,

owing to their country being intersected by numerous small lakes,

water-courses, impenetrable morasses, and swamps; and have hitherto

bid defiance to all the attacks of their neighbors. It is necessary to

divide the Sioux nation into the different bands, as distinguished

amongst themselves, in order to have a correct idea of them.

Agreeably to this plan, I shall begin with the Minowa Kantong

[Mdewakantonwans] or Gens De Lac, who extend from Prairie Des Chiens

to La Prairie du Francois [vicinity of Shakopee, Chaska, etc.], 35

miles up the St. Peters. This band is again subdivided into four

divisions, under different chiefs. The first of these most generally

reside at their village on the Upper Iowa river, above Prairie Des

Chiens, and are commanded by Wabasha, a chief whose father was

considered as the first chief of all the Sioux nation. This

subdivision hunts on both sides of the Mississippi and its confluent

streams, from Prairie Des Chiens to the riviere du Bœuff. The second

subdivision resides near the head of Lake Pepin, and hunts from the

riviere du Bœuff to near the St. Croix. Their chief's name is

Tantangamani--a very celebrated war-chief. The third subdivision

resides between the riviere au Canon and the entrance of the St.

Peters, headed by Chatewaconamani. Their principal hunting-ground is

on the St. Croix. They have a village [Kapoja] at a place called Grand

Marais [Pig's Eye lake], 15 miles below the entrance of the St.

Peters. It is situated on the east bank of the Mississippi, and

consists of 11 log huts. The fourth subdivision is situated from the

entrance of the St. Peters to the Prairie Des Francois; they are

headed by a chief called Chatamutah, but a young man, Wyaganage, has

recently taken the lead in all the councils and affairs of state of

this sub-band. They have one village, nine miles up the St. Peters, on

the N. side. This band (Minowa Kantong) are reputed the bravest of

all the Sioux, and have for years been opposed to the Fols Avoin

Sauteurs, who are reputed the bravest of all the numerous bands of

Chipeways.

The second band of Sioux are the Washpetong [Waqpetonwan] or Gens Des

Fieulles [Feuilles], who inhabit the country from the Prairie De

Francois to near Roche Blanche, on the St. Peters. Their first chief

is Wasonquianni. They hunt on the St. Peters, also on the Mississippi,

up Rum river, and sometimes follow the buffalo on the plains. Their

subdivisions I am unacquainted with.

The third band are the Sussitongs [Sisitonwans or Sissetons]; they

extend from the Roche Blanche [White Rock] to Lac de Gross Roche [Big

Stone or Inyantonka lake], on the river St. Peters; they are divided

into two subdivisions. The first, called the Cawrees [Kahras], are

headed by the chief called Wuckiew Nutch or Tonnere Rouge [Red

Thunder]. The second, the Sussitongs proper, are headed by Wacantoe or

Esprit Blue [Blue Spirit]. These two sub-bands hunt eastward to the

Mississippi, and up that river as far as the Riviere De Corbeau.

The fourth great band are the Yanctongs [Ihanktonwans or Yanktons],

who are dispersed from the Montaignes [Coteau] De la Prairie, which

extends from St. Peters to the Missouri, to the De Moyen. They are

divided into two grand divisions, generally termed Yanctongs of the

North, and Yanctongs of the South [Yanktonnais and Yanktons]. The

former are headed by a chief called Muckpeanutah or Nuage Rouge [Red

Cloud]; and those of the Prairie, by Petessung. This band are never

stationary, but with the Titongs are the most erratic of all the

Sioux, sometimes to be found on the borders of the Lower Red River,

sometimes on the Missouri, and on those immense plains which are

between the two rivers.

The fifth great band are the Titongs [Titonwans, commonly called

Tetons], who are dispersed on both sides of the Missouri; on the

north, principally from the river Chienne [Cheyenne] up; and on the

south, from the Mahas [Omahas] to the Minetares, or Gross Ventres

[Hidatsas]. They may be divided into the Titongs of the North and

South; but the immense plains over which they rove with the Yanctongs

renders it impossible to point out their place of habitation.

The sixth, last, and smallest band of the Sioux are the Washpecoute

[Waqpekute or Wahkpakotoan], who reside generally on the lands west of

the Mississippi, between that river and the Missouri. They hunt most

generally on the head of the De Moyen. They appeared to me to be the

most stupid and inactive of all the Sioux.

The Minowa Kantongs are the only band of Sioux who use canoes, and by

far the most civilized, being the only ones who have ever built log

huts, or cultivated any species of vegetables, and among those only a

very small quantity of corn and beans; for, although I was with them

in September or October, I never saw one kettle of either, they always

using wild oats for bread. This production nature has furnished to all

the most uncultivated nations of the N. W. continent, who may gather

in autumn a sufficiency which, when added to the productions of the

chase and the net, insures them a subsistence through all the seasons

of the year. This band is entirely armed with firearms, but is not

considered by the other bands as anything superior on that account,

especially on the plains.

The Washpetong are a roving band; they leave the St. Peters in the

month of April, and do not return from the plains until the middle of

August. The Sussitongs of Roche Blanche have the character of being

the most evil-disposed Indians on the St. Peters. They likewise follow

the buffalo in the spring and summer months. The Sussitongs of Lac de

Gross Roche [Big Stone Lake], under Tonnere Rouge, have the character

of good hunters and brave warriors, which may principally be

attributed to their chief, Tonnere Rouge, who at the present day is

allowed by both white people and the savages of the different bands to

be (after their own chiefs) the first man in the Sioux nation. The

Yanctongs and Titongs are the most independent Indians in the world;

they follow the buffalo as chance directs, clothing themselves with

the skins, and making their lodges, bridles, and saddles of the same

materials, the flesh of the animal furnishing their food. Possessing

innumerable herds of horses, they are here this day, 500 miles off ten

days hence, and find themselves equally at home in either place,

moving with a rapidity scarcely to be imagined by the inhabitants of

the civilized world.

The trade of the Minowa Kantongs, Washpetongs, Sussitongs, and part of

the Yanctongs, is all derived from the traders of Michilimackinac; and

the latter of those two bands supply the Yanctongs of the North and

Titongs with the small quantities of iron works [hardware] which they

require. Firearms are not in much estimation with them. The

Washpecoute trade principally with the people of Prairie Des Chiens;

but for a more particular explanation of this subject, please to refer

to the table.[VIII-3]

_Abstract of the Nations of Indians on the Mississippi and its

confluent streams from St. Louis, Louisiana, to its source, including

Red Lake and Lower Red River._

TABLE LEGEND:

Column A = Warriors.

Column B = Women.

Column C = Children.

Column D = Villages.

Column E = Probable Souls.

Column F = Lodges of Roving Bands.

Column G = Fire Arms.

Column H = Primitive Language.

Column I = Traders or Bands with whom they traffic.

Column J = Annual Consumption of Merchandise.

Column K = Annual return of Peltry in packs.

======================================+====+=====+=====+===+=====+====+=====

| | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

--------------+-----------+-----------+ | | | | | |

| | | | | | | | |

English. | Indian. | French. | A. | B. | C. | D.| E. | F. | G.

| | | | | | | | |

--------------+-----------+-----------+----+-----+-----+---+-----+----|-----

| | | | | | | | |

I. Sauks |Sawkee |Saque | 700| 750| 1400| 3| 2850| | 700

| | | | | | | | |

II. Foxes |Ottagaumie |Reynards | 400| 500| 850| 3| 1750| | 400

| | | | | | | | |

III. Iowas |Aiowais |Ne Perce | 300| 400| 700| 2| 1400| | 250

| | | | | | | | |

IV. Winebagos |Ochangras |Puants | 450| 500| 1000| 7| 1950| | 450

| | | | | | | | |

V. Menomenes |Menomene |Fols Avoin | 300| 350| 700| 7| 1350| | 300

| | +----+-----+-----+---+---- +----+----

| |the above] |2150| 2500| 4650| 22| 9300| |2100

| | +----+-----+-----+---+-----+----+----

| | | | | | | | |

| | | | | | | | |

1. People of |Minowa |Gens du | 305| 600| 1200| 3| 2105| 125| 305

| | | | | | | | |

2. People of |Washpetong |Gens des | 180| 350| 530| | 1060| 70| 160

| | | | | | | | |

3. Sissitons |Sussitongs |Sussitongs | 360| 700| 1100| | 2160| 155| 260

| | | | | | | | |

4. Yanktons |Yanctong |Yanctong | 900| 1600| 2700| | 4300| 270| 350

| | | | | | | | |

5. Tetons |Titong |Titong |2000| 3600| 6000| |11600| 600| 100

| | | | | | | | |

6. People of |Washpecoute|Gens des | 90| 180| 270| | 450| 50| 90

| | +----+-----+-----+---+-----+----+----

| |Total |3835| 6433|11800| 3|21675|1270|1270

| |[Sioux] +----+-----+-----+---+-----+----+----

| | | | | | | | |

| | | | | | | | |

| | | | | | | | |

|Of Sandy | | 45| 79| 224| | 345| 24|

| | | | | | | | |

|Of Leech | | 150| 280| 690| | 1120| 65|

| | | | | | | | |

|Of Red Lake| | 150| 260| 610| | 1020| 64|

| | | | | | | | |

Chipeway r. | | | 104| 165| 420| | 689| 50|

| | | | | | | | |

generally | | |1600| 2400| 4000| | 8000| 400|

| | | | | | | | |

| | +----+-----+-----+---+-----+----+----

| |Total |2049| 3184| 5944| |11177| 630|2049

| |[Chippewas]+----+-----+-----+---+-----+----+----

| | | | | | | | |

| |[Grand |8034|12114|22394| 25|45152|1873|5414

==============+===========+===========+====+=====+=====+===+=====+====+====

==============+===========+=================+=====+====+===================

| | | | |

English | H. | I. | J. | K. | Species of

| | | | |

--------------+-----------+-----------------+-----+----+-------------------

| {|Michilimackinac, | | |Deer, some bear,

I. Sauks |Sauk {|St. Louis, |15000| 600|a few otter,

| {|people of Prairie| | |beaver, racoon.

| {|des Chiens | | |

| | | | |

II. Foxes |Sauk, with | do. | 8500| 400| Deer, a few bear,

| | | | |

| | | | |

IV. Winebagos |Missouries,| do. | 9000| 200| Same as the

| | | | |

V. Menomenes |Menomene | do. | 9000| 250| Beaver, marten,

| | | | |

| | | | |

1. People of |Narcotah | do. |13500| 230| Deer, a few bear,

| | | | |

2. People of | do. | do. | 6000| 115| Deer, a few

| | | | |

3. Sissitons | do. | do. |12500| 160| Deer, many

| | | | |

4. Yanktons | do. | do. | 8000| 130| Principally

| | | | |

| | | | |

6. People of | do. |People of | 2000| 50| Deer, beaver,

| | | | |

| | | | |

| | | | |

| | | | |

Of Leech Lake | do. | do. | | | do.

| | | | |

Of Red Lake | do. | do. | | | do.

| | | | |

2. Of St. | do. | do. | | | do.

| | | | |

==============+===========+=================+=====+====+===================

==============+====================+====================+==================

English | Best Positions | With whom | With whom at

Names | for | | peace or in

| Trading-Posts. | at war. | alliance.

--------------+--------------------+--------------------+------------------

I. Sauks | Head of rapid |Chipeways |Reynards, Puants,

| de Moyen | |Sioux, Osage,

| | |Potowatomies, Fols

| | |Avoins, Ioways,

| | |all nations of the

| | |Missouri

| | |

II. Foxes | Giard's river, | do. | do.

| nearly opp. | |

| Prairie des | |

| Chiens, confluence | |

| of Miss. | |

| and Ouiscousing | |

| | |

III. Iowas | Rivers de Moyen | do. | do.

| and Iowa | |

| | |

IV. Winebagos | Portage de Cockalin|Since the peace |In alliance with

| (on Fox river) or |between Osages, |Sauks, Reynards,

| at Grand Calumet |Sauks and Reynards, |Sioux, Fols

| |Puants have tacitly |Avoins, &c., at

| |ceased war on the |peace with all

| |former |others

| | |

V. Menomenes | Portage des Perre, |None |In alliance with

| on Fox river | |Ottoway, Chipeway,

| | |Ochangras

| | |

VI. Sues | | |

| | |

1. People of | Entrance St. Croix |Recently, Chipeways;|

the Lakes | |now at peace; at war|Sauks, Reynards,

| |with Assinniboins |Ioways,

| |and some nations on |Fols Avoins

| |the Missouri |

| | |

2. People of | Little Rapids, | do. | do.

the Leaves | St. Peters | |

| | |

3. Sissitons | Lac de Gross Roche,| do. | do.

| St. Peters | |

| | |

4. Yanktons | | |

| | |

5. Tetons | |Various nations of | do.

| |the Missouri |

| | |

6. People of | Prairie des Chiens | do. | do.

the Leaves | | |

detached | | |

| | |

VII. Chipeways| | |

| | |

1. Leapers | | |

| | |

Of Sandy Lake | Sandy Lake |Recently, Sioux; |Fols Avoins,

| |now at peace; at war|all nations of

| |with Sauks, Foxes, |Canada

| |Iowas |

| | |

Of Leech Lake | Leech Lake | do. | do.

| | |

Of Red Lake | Red Lake | do. | do.

| | |

2. Of St. | South side of | do. | do.

Croix and | Lake Superior | |

Chipeway r. | | |

| | |

3. Of the | | |

other bands | | |

generally | | |

==============+====================+====================+==================

=============+==============================================+=================

Names | Names of Chiefs or Principal Men. |

-------------+---------------+--------------+---------------+ Remarks.

English | Indian. | French. | English. |

-------------+---------------+--------------+---------------+-----------------

I. Sauks |Washione | | |

|Pockquinike |Bras Casse |Broken Arm |

| | | |

II. Foxes |Olopier | | |First Chief

|Pecit |Petit Corbeau |Little Raven |

|Akaque |Peau Blanche |White Skin |Killed the Osage

| | | |on their way to

| | | |St. Louis; now

| | | |raising a war-

| | | |party to strike

| | | |the Sauteaux

| | | |

III. Iowas | | | |

| | | |

IV. Winebagos|New Okat | | |First chief; com-

|Sansamani | | |missioned as such

|Chenoway's Son | | |Commissioned

|Karamone | | | do.

|Du Quarre | | | do.

|Macraragah | | | do.

| | | |

V. Menomenes |Tomaw |Thomas Carron |Thomas Carron |First chief;

|Shawonoe | | |received com-

|Neckech | | |mission as such,

| | | |and flag

| | | |

| | | |Literally

| | | |translated; first

VI. Sues |Wabasha |La Feuille |The Leaf |chief of the

| | | |nation; received

| | | |a commission

| | | |and a flag

| | | |

1. People of |Talangamane |Aile Rouge |Red Wing | do.

the Lakes |Chatewaconamani|Petit Corbeau |Little Raven |Received com-

| | | |mission and flag

|Tahamie |Orignal Leve |Rising Moose |Literally

| | | |translated

|Tatamane |Nez Corbeau |Raven Nose |Literally Wind

| | | |that Walks;

| | | |commissioned

| | | |

2. People of |Wasonquianni |Araignee Jaune|Yellow Spider |First chief of

the Leaves | | | |the nation

|Wukunsna |Tonnerre qui |Rolling Thunder|Literally

| |Sonne | |translated

|Houho Otah |Le Noyeau |Stone of Fruit |Received a com-

| | | |mission and flag

| | | |

3. Sissitons |Wacanto |Esprit Bleu |Blue Spirit |First chief of

| | | |his band

|Waminisabah |Killieu Noir |Black Eagle |Literally

| | | |translated

|Itoye |Gross Calumet |Big Pipe |

|Wuckiew Nutch |Tonnerre Rouge|Red Thunder |Literal

| | | |translation;

| | | |first chief of

| | | |all the Sioux

| | | |

4. Yanktons |Petessung |Vache Blanche |White Buffalo |Literally

| | | |translated

|Muckpeanutah |Nuage Rouge |Red Cloud |Literally

| | | |translated;

|Champanage | | |first chief of

| | | |the nation

| | | |

5. Tetons |Chantaoeteka |Cœur Mauvais |Bad Heart |Bois Brulle

|Shenouskar |Couverte |White Blanket |Okandanda

| |Blanche | |

| | | |

6. People of |Wamaneopenutah |Coe ur du |Heart of the |

the Leaves | |Killeur Rouge |Red Eagle |

detached |Tantangashatah |Bœuf qui Joue |Playing Buffalo|Literal

| | | |translation

|Kachiwasigon |Corbeau |French Raven | do.

| | Francois | |

| | | |

VII. Chippeways | | |

| | | |

1. Leapers | | | |

| | | |

Of Sandy Lake|Catawabata |De Breche |Broken Teeth |First chief of

| | | |his band

| | | |

Of Leech Lake|Eskibugeckoge |Geuelle Platte|Flat Mouth | do.

|Obigouitte |Chef de la |Chief of the |

| |Terre |Land |

|Oole |La Brule |The Burnt |

| | | |

Of Red Lake |Wiscoup |Le Sucre |The Sweet | do.

| | | |

2. Of St. |Necktame |Preinier |Head Chief |Resides on Lac

Croix and | |[Premier] | |La Pluir river.

Chipeway r. | | | |

=============+===============+==============+===============+===============

N. B.--Wyaganage, or Fils de Pinchow, a chief of Gens du Lac, and head

of village at entrance of St. Peters, omitted; has received flag and

commission. [Z. M. P.]

[N. B.--Total of Sacs, Foxes, Iowas, Winnebagoes, and Menomonees, and

Grand Total, embodied from the "Recapitulation," which was on separate

leaf (unpaged p. 66) of orig. ed.--E. C.]

[*] This is merely a band of vagabonds, formed by refugees from all

other bands, which they left for some bad deed.

[+] From actual estimate.

[++] See my Reports on the trade of the N. W. Company.

The claims of limits of the Sioux nation are allowed by all their

neighbors to commence at Prairie Des Chiens, and ascend the

Mississippi on both sides to the Riviere De Corbeau; up that river to

its source; thence to the source of the St. Peters; thence to the

Montaigne De La Prairie; thence to the Missouri; down that river to

the Mahas, bearing thence N. E. to the source of the De Moyen; and

thence to the place of beginning. They also claim a large territory

south of the Missouri, but how far it extends is uncertain. The

country E. of the Mississippi, from Rum river to the Riviere De

Corbeau, is likewise in dispute between them and the Chipeways, and

has been the scene of many a sharp encounter for near 150 years past.

From my knowledge of the Sioux nation, I do not hesitate to pronounce

them the most warlike and independent nation of Indians within the

boundaries of the United States, their every passion being subservient

to that of war; at the same time that their traders feel themselves

perfectly secure of any combination being made against themselves, it

is extremely necessary to be careful not to injure the honor or

feelings of an individual, which is certainly the principal cause of

the many broils which occur between them. But never was a trader known

to suffer in the estimation of the nation by resenting any indignity

offered him, even if it went to taking the life of the offender. Their

guttural pronunciation, high cheek bones, their visages, and distinct

manners, together with their own traditions, supported by the

testimony of neighboring nations, puts it in my mind beyond the shadow

of a doubt that they have emigrated from the N. W. point of America,

to which they have come across the narrow streight which in that

quarter divides the two continents, and are absolutely descendants of

a Tartarean tribe.

The only personal knowledge which I have of the Chipeway nation is

restricted to the tribes on the south side of Lake Superior, on the

headwaters of the Chipeway and the St. Croix; and to those who reside

at Sandy Lake, Leech Lake, Rainy Lake, Red Lake, and the heads of the

rivers Rouge, Mississippi, and De Corbeau. They are divided, like the

Sioux, into many bands, the names of only seven of which I am

acquainted with.

[1st.] I shall begin with those who reside on the south side of Lake

Superior, and on Lakes De Sable and Sang Sue, with the adjacent

country. They are generally denominated by the traders by the name of

Sauteuxs, but those of the headwaters of the Chipeway and St. Croix

rivers are called Fols Avoin Sauteurs. I am unacquainted with the

names of their chiefs. Those of Sandy Lake are headed by a chief

called Catawabata, or De Breche [Brèche-dent]. They hunt on Mille

Lacs, Red Lake, the east bank of the Mississippi from Rum river up to

the Des Corbeau, and thence on both sides of the Mississippi to Pine

river; on that river also, up the Mississippi to Lake De Sable, and

about 100 miles above that lake. Those of Leech Lake hunt on its

streams, Lake Winipie [Winnibigoshish], Upper Red Cedar Lake, Otter

Tail Lake, head of the De Corbeau, and the upper part of Lower Red

river. Their chief is Le Gieulle [La Gueule] Platte, or Eskibugeckoge

[Flat Mouth].

2d. The Crees reside on Red lake, and hunt in its vicinity and on Red

river. Their first chief's name is Wiscoup, or Le Sucre.

3d. The Nepesangs reside on Lake Nippising and Lake St. Joseph.

4th. The Algonquins reside on the Lake of the two Mountains, and are

dispersed along the north sides of Lakes Ontario and Erie. From this

tribe the language of the Chipeways derives its name, and the whole

nation is frequently designated by that appellation.

5th. The Otoways [Ottawas] reside on the N. W. side of Lake Michigan

and Lake Huron; and hunt between those lakes and Lake Superior.

6th. The Iroquois Chipeways are dispersed along the banks of all the

Great Lakes, from Ontario to the Lake of the Woods.

7th. The Muscononges reside on the waters of Lower Red river, near to

Lake Winipie [Winnipeg], and are the furthest band of Chipeways.

The Chipeways were the great and almost natural enemies of the Sioux,

with whom they had been waging a war of extermination for near two

centuries. On my arrival among them I succeeded in inducing both sides

to agree to a peace, and no blood was shed from Sept., 1805, to Apr.,

1806, when I left the country. This object had frequently been in

vain attempted by the British government, who often brought the chiefs

of the two nations together at Michilimackinac, made them presents,

etc. But the Sioux, still haughty and overbearing, spurned the

proffered calumet, and returned to renew the scenes of slaughter and

barbarity. It may then be demanded, how could a subaltern with 20 men,

and no presents worthy of notice, effect that which the governors of

Canada, with all the immense finances of the Indian department, had

attempted in vain, although they frequently and urgently recommended

it? I reply that it is true the British government requested,

recommended, and made presents--but all this at a distance; and when

the chiefs returned to their bands, their thirst for blood soon

obliterated from their recollection the lectures of humanity which

they had heard in the councils of Michilimackinac. But when I appeared

amongst them the United States had lately acquired jurisdiction over

them, and the names of the Americans as warriors had frequently been

sounded in their ears; when I spoke to them on the subject I commanded

them, in the name of their great father, to make peace; offered them

the benefit of the mediation and guarantee of the United States; and

spoke of the peace, not as a benefit to us, but a step taken to make

themselves and their children happy. This language, held up to both

nations with the assistance of the traders, was a happy coincidence of

circumstances; and (may I not add?) the assistance of the Almighty

effected that which had long been attempted in vain. But I am

perfectly convinced that, unless troops are sent up between those two

nations, with an agent whose business it would be to watch the rising

discontents and check the brooding spirit of revenge, the weapons of

death will again be raised, and the echoes of savage barbarity will

resound through the wilderness.[VIII-4]

The Chipeways are uncommonly attached to spirituous liquors; but may

not this be owing to their traders, who find it much to their [own]

interest to encourage their [the Chipeways'] thirst after an article

which enables them [the traders] to obtain their [the Chipeways']

peltries at so low a rate as scarcely to be denominated a

consideration, and have reduced the people near the establishments to

a degree of degradation unparalleled?

The Algonquin language is one of the most copious and sonorous

languages of all the savage dialects in North America; and is spoken

and understood by the various nations, except the Sioux, from the Gulf

of St. Lawrence to Lake Winipie [Winnipeg].

This nation is much more mild and docile than the Sioux, and if we may

judge from unprejudiced observers, more cool and deliberate in action.

But the latter possess a much higher sense of the honor of their

nation: the others plan for self-preservation. The Sioux attacks with

impetuosity; the other defends with every necessary precaution. But

the superior numbers of the Sioux would have enabled them to

annihilate the Chipeways long since had it not been for the nature of

their [the Chipeways'] country, which entirely precludes the

possibility of an attack on horseback. This also gives them a decided

advantage over an enemy half armed with arrows, as the least twig of a

bush will turn the shaft of death out of its direction; whereas, the

whizzing bullet holds its course nor spends its force short of the

destined victim. Thus we generally have found that when engaged in a

prairie the Sioux came off victorious; but if in the woods, even if

not obliged to retreat, the carcasses of their slaughtered brethren

showed how dearly they purchased the victory.

The Sioux are bounded on the N. E. and N. by these two powerful

nations, the Chipeways and Knisteneaux [Crees], whose manners,

strength, and boundaries are ably described by Sir Alexander McKenzie.

The Assinniboins, or Stone Sioux, who border the Chipeways on the N.

W. and W., are a revolted band of the Sioux, who have maintained war

with the parent nation for about a century, and have rendered

themselves their most violent enemies. They extend from the Red river

W. nearly to the Rocky Mountains, and are computed at 1,500 warriors.

They reside on the plains, and follow the buffalo; consequently they

have very little occasion for traders or European productions.

FOOTNOTES:

[VIII-1] As explained in note 1, p. 287, this chapter is that part of

Doc. No. 18 which relates to the Indians, running pp. 56-66 and

folder, without break in the text of p. 56 from the geographical

matter. But its separation seems desirable, and I accordingly make a

chapter for its accommodation. There is no change in the sequence of

the matter.

[VIII-2] The Sacs and Foxes have a curious history, perhaps not exactly

paralleled by that of any other tribes whatever. The names are linked

inseparably from the earliest times to the present day. Each has

always been to the other what neither of them has ever been to any

other Indians or to any whites--friend. The entire composure with

which we have been able to speak of Sacs and Foxes in our day and

generation is the reverse of the frame of mind which many persons now

living can recall as having been once theirs, before the final

subjugation of these capricious, turbulent, and enterprising tribes in

trans-Mississippian territory. They are Algonquian Indians who can be

traced in blood from Lake Ontario westward, along the gauntlet they

ran from Ontarian Canada to the final burying-grounds of their

hatchets in Iowa, Kansas, and the Indian Territory. They fought

everybody in their way--French, English, and American in turn, as well

as perhaps every Indian tribe they encountered. They were alternately

friends and foes of each of the two principal nations whose lands they

overran--their Algonquian relations the Chippewas, and their natural

enemies the Sioux, thus at times turning the balance of power between

these two hereditary foes. They inhabited at times many places along

the Great Lakes and westward, and the present names of not a few are

directly traceable to such occupancy. They were specially identified

with the histories of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois for more than

a hundred years. Carver speaks of their villages on the Wisconsin r.

in 1766, after they had been expelled from the Green Bay and Fox River

region. They appear to have been driven from the St. Croix by the

decisive battle at the Falls, in which they were defeated by the

Chippewas under Waboji (d. 1793). Writing of 1832, Schoolcraft speaks

of their recent residences on Rock r., and their confinement west of

the Mississippi by the then latest tragic act in their history. This

was the decisive battle of the Bad Axe in 1832: see note 51, p. 45.

The Foxes are located on the old maps under some form of their

Chippewan name Otagami; they were also called Miskwakis or Red Earths;

their F. name Reynard, which we translate Fox, and sometimes Dog or

Wolf, was an opprobrious nickname or nom de guerre. The Indian name

Osagi, Osawki, Osaukee, Sauk, Sac, Sacque, etc., is by some said to

signify the erratic propensities of the tribe which bears it, meaning

migrants, or those who went out of the land: for a probably better

definition, see note 16, p. 101. The survivors of both tribes

scarcely number 1,000.

Le Bras Cassé, or Broken Arm, was a Sac chief whom Pike names

Pockquinike in his folding Table of the Foxes and other Indians. He

was a noted character, whose name turns up in various published

accounts. He figures, for example, in the Relation, etc., of

Perreault, on the scene of the assassination of Mr. Kay at Sandy Lake,

May 2d, 1785, by Le Cousin and his mother, both of whom knifed their

victim. Le Cousin was promptly stabbed by Feebyain or Le Petit Mort, a

friend of Kay's, and Brasse Casse (as Mr. Schoolcraft spells his name)

took Kay in hand to cure him; but the wound proved fatal Aug. 26th,

1785.

[VIII-3] Folding Table F of the orig. ed., facing p. 66 of the App. to

Pt. 1, with a part of it, which the printer could not get on the

sheet, overrun as p. 66 of the main text, headed "Recapitulation." In

the present ed. this overrun piece is drawn into the table, which, as

now printed, can be set unbroken on two pages facing each other.

For the modern scientific classification of the Siouan linguistic

family in general, and of the Dakotas or Sioux in particular, see my

ed. of Lewis and Clark, 1893, pp. 94-101, and pp. 128-130. As that

work is or should be in the hands of all good Americans, the subject

need not be traversed here. Taking that article as a modern norm or

standard of comparison, it may be useful to give here the

classification and nomenclature of the Sioux which was adopted by

Major Long, who was next in the field after Pike with an account of

these Indians, Keating, I. 1824, chap. viii., p. 376 _seq._ The

Dacota, he says, means the allied, who in their external relations

style themselves Ochente Shakoan, which signifies the nation of seven

(council-) fires, represented by the following septenary division

which once prevailed: 1. _Mende Wahkantoan_, or People of the Spirit

lake. 2. _Wahkpatoan_, or People of the Leaves. 3. _Sisitoan_, or Mia

Kechakesa. 4. _Yanktoanan_, or People of the Ferns. 5. _Yanktoan_, or

People descended from Ferns. 6. _Titoan_ , or Braggers. 7.

_Wahkpakotoan_, or People that shoot at Leaves. Of these Long has it

that No. 1 was the Gens du Lac of the French, and Nos. 2-6 were all

included in the Gens du Large of the F. traders, _i. e._, People "at

large," roving bands of prairie Sioux. But the French had other terms,

especially Gens des Feuilles for No. 2, and Gens des Feuilles Tirées

for No. 7. Comparing Long with Pike, we find: Long's No. 1=Pike's No.

1. Long's No. 2=Pike's No. 2. Long's No. 3=Pike's No. 3. Long's Nos. 4

and 5=Pike's No. 4, with his two divisions. Long's No. 6=Pike's No. 5.

Long's No. 7=Pike's No. 6. Such a concordance as this deserves a

red-letter mark, considering how seldom authors have agreed upon

Sioux; and Pike is entitled to the credit of establishing the seven

main tribes. In his census, to be compared with Pike's, Long gives

total lodges, 2,330; warriors, 7,055; souls, 28,100: see Pike's

Abstract, on pp. 346, 347. These are distributed by Long as follows:

No. 1, 160--305--1,500. No. 2, 120--240--900. No. 3, 130--260--1,000;

to which add for the Kahra (Pike's Cawree) band of Sissetons,

160--450--1,500. No. 4, 460--1,300--5,200. No. 5, 200--500--2,000. No.

6, 900--3,600--14,440. No. 7, 100--200--800. To which add for various

stragglers 100--200--800, making total of lodges, warriors, and souls,

as above. Long estimated the revolted Stone Sioux, Haha, or

Assiniboines at 3,000--7,000--28,100, or almost precisely the same as

all the other Sioux together. Long's interesting particulars of the 14

bands which he recognizes, by dividing his No. 1 into seven and

separating the Kahras from the other Sissetons, may be thus

summarized: No. 1. _Mende-Wahkantoan_: (1) Keoxa; pop. 40--70--400;

chief Wapasha, Wabasha, La Feuille or Leaf; two villages, one on Iowa

r., other near Lake Pepin; hunt both sides of the Miss. r. near the

Chippewa r. and its tributaries. Keoxa means "relationship

overlooked"; _i. e._, they inbreed closer than other Sioux. (2)

Eanbosandata, so called from the vertical rock on Cannon r.; pop.

10--25--100; chief Shakea; two small villages, one on the Miss. r.,

other on Cannon r.; hunt on the headwaters of the latter. (3) Kapoja,

signifying light or active; one village (at the Grand Marais or Pig's

Eye marsh near St. Paul); pop. 30--70--300; chief, the celebrated

Chetanwakoamene, Petit Corbeau, or little Raven, who visited

Washington in July, 1824; hunt on St. Croix r. (4) Oanoska, meaning

great avenue; chief Wamendetanka or War Eagle, formerly dependent on

Petit Corbeau; one village (Black Dog's) on the St. Peter, S. side,

near the mouth; pop. 30--40--200; hunt on the Miss. r. above Falls of

St. Anthony. (5) Tetankatane, meaning Old Village; the oldest one

among the Dakotas; 400 lodges there when Wapasha's father ruled the

nation; Wapasha formerly lived there, but moved away with most of his

warriors; those that stayed chose a new leader from amongst

themselves, whose son Takopepeshene, the Dauntless, now rules; pop.

10--30--150; village on the St. Peter, 3 m. above its mouth; hunt on

this and Miss. r. (6) Taoapa; one village on the St. Peter; pop.

30--60--300; chief Shakpa, whose name means Six, is third in the

nation, ranking next after La Feuille and Petit Corbeau; hunt between

the Miss. and St. Peter. (7) Weakaote, a small band dependent on (6);

pop. 10--10--50. No. 2. _Wahkpatoan_, or Gens des Feuilles; name said

to mean "people that live beyond those that shoot at leaves," _i. e._,

higher up the river than the Wahkpakatoan; hunt near Otter Tail Lake;

chief Nunpakea, meaning "twice flying." No. 3. _Miakechesa_ or

Sisitoan: (_a_) Sissetons proper; no fixed abode; chief rendezvous,

Blue Earth r.; hunt buffalo over to the Missouri; live in skin tepees;

their chief Wahkanto, or Blue Spirit, by hereditary right. (_b_) Kahra

or Wild Rice Sissetons; no fixed abode; Lake Traverse and Red r.; skin

lodges; follow chief Tantankanaje, Standing Buffalo, hereditary, but

also a warrior. No. 4. _Yanktoanan_, the Fern Leaves, an important

tribe, pop. one-fifth of the whole nation; no fixed residence; skin

lodges; hunt from Red r. to the Missouri; trade at Lake Travers, Big

Stone l., and the Shienne r.; principal chief, Wanotan, the Charger.

No. 5. _Yanktoan_, descended from the Fern Leaves; live and trade on

the Missouri; hunt on E. side of that river; chief Tatanka Yuteshane,

meaning one who eats no buffalo. No. 6. Tetoans, Braggers; by far the

most numerous tribe of the Sioux, by some said to compose one-half of

the nation; rove between St. Peters and the Missouri; trade on both

rivers; live in skin lodges; hostile, great boasters; their chief

Chantapeta, or Heart of Fire, a powerful warrior. No. 7.

_Wahkpakotoan_, a name rendered by Long "'Shooters at Leaves,' which

they mistake for deer." No fixed abode; rove near head of the Cannon

and Blue Earth rivers; skin lodges; their last leader Shakeska, White

Nails, who died in 1822; he rose to his station by his military

ability. They have a regular hereditary chief Wiahuga, the Raven,

acknowledged as such by the Indian Agent; but he became disgusted with

the behavior of his tribe, and withdrew to Wapasha's. Long agrees with

Pike in giving this band a bad name as a lawless set. Pike says they

were mere vagabonds, and refugees from other tribes on account of

misdeeds. These Sioux were also called Gens des Feuilles Tirées and

Leaf Shooters. In the Lewis and Clark schedule they formed the Ninth

tribe of Sioux, named Wahpatoota, or Leaf Beds. A queer form of the

name is 8apik8ti=Ouapikouti, on one of Joliet's maps.

The earliest form of the word _Sioux_ is believed to be Naduesiu,

derived from Jean Nicolet's journey of 1634-35, as written about five

years later in the Jesuit Relations, by Father Le Jeune. The form

Nadouessis, pl., is used by Raymbault and Jogues, who were at the

Sault Ste. Marie in 1641 (Jes. Rel. of 1642). Nadouesiouek is given in

a Relation of 1656, Nadouechiouec, 1660; and soon also Nadouesseronons,

Nadouesserons, etc.

An excellent article on the Sioux, entitled Dakota Land and Dakota

Life, by Rev. E. D. Neill, occupies pp. 254-294 of the 2d ed. 1872, of

Minn. Hist. Soc. Coll., originally published in 1853.

[VIII-4] The punctuation of the last two sentences in the original left

Pike's meaning obscure. It was by no means evident whether the

language which he had used to the Indians held up to their minds a

happy coincidence of circumstances which the traders helped to bring

about before the Almighty interfered at all, or whether the happy

coincidence of circumstances consisted in the endorsement of his

language both by the traders and the Almighty. On the whole, I am

inclined to think he meant that the speeches he made to the Indians

whom he addressed directly were repeated and backed up by the traders

among those Indians to whom he had no access; and that this was the

happy coincidence of circumstances which enabled the Almighty to

finish the business. But after all I am not quite confident that I

catch his meaning. If I do, I must say that he is not very

complimentary to the Deity, whose assistance he suspects may have been

necessary to effect that which the traders and himself jointly

attempted. For it seems from his further reflections on the subject

that he thought God possibly equal to burying the hatchet between the

Sioux and Chippewas, but hardly able to keep the peace without the

assistance of the military and of a special agent. However, Pike was

nothing if not a good soldier, and he had Napoleonic authority for

supposing that God would always be found on the side of the heaviest

artillery.

CHAPTER IX.

VOCABULARY OF MISSISSIPPIAN PLACE-NAMES.[IX-1]

_English._ _French._ _Indian._

Natural Meadow Prairie

Buffalo river Riviere au Bœuf

Salt river Riviere au Sel Oahaha

River of Means Riviere de Moyen

Iowa river Riviere de Ayoua

Stony, or Rock river Riviere des Rochers

Turkey river Riviere au Dindon

Dog's meadow Prairie Des Chien

Ouiscousing

Raven river Riviere de Corbeau

Yellow river Riviere Jaune

Root river Riviere aux Racines

River of Embarrassments Riviere d'Embarras

Clear Water river Riviere l'Eau Clair

River of the Prairie of Riviere de la Prairie de

Cross Crosse

Chipeway river Riviere Sauteaux Ouchipewa Sippi

The Mountain which La Montaigne qui

soaks in the Water trempe dans l'Eau

River of do Riviere de do

Sandy point Point de Sable

The Barn La Grange

Cannon River Riviere a Canon

River St. Peters Riviere St. Pierre

Falls of St. Anthony Shute de St. Antoine

Rum river Prairie l'Eau de Vie

Leaf river Riviere aux Feuilles

Sauk river Riviere aux Saukes

Big Falls Grand rapid

Lower Red Cedar lake Le Bas Lac du Cedre Rouge

Raven island Isle de Corbeau

Pine river Riviere au Pin

Leech lake Lac Sang Sue

Sandy lake Lac de Sable

Pike river Riviere du Brochet

Bottom of the lake Fond du Lac

Swan river Riviere a Cigue

Falls of Packegamaw Petite Shute Packegamaw

Upper Red Cedar lake Le Haut Lac de Cedre Rouge

Red lake Lac Rouge

Green bay La Baye Verde

St. Ignatius St. Ignace

Oak Point Point au Chene

Meno Cockien

The Turn La Detour

Island of the Turn Isle du Detour

Burnt island Isle Brule

Potowatomies island Isle des Poux

Little Streight Petit Detroit

Port of the Dead Port des Morts

Vermillion island Isle Vermilion

Red river Riviere Rouge

Stinking rapid Puant Rapid

Wolf river Riviere des Loups

Hillock of the dead Butte des Morts

Lac Puckway

Muddy lake Lac Vaseux

FOOTNOTE:

[IX-1] This article formed Doc. No. 2, pp. 52, 53 of the App. to _Part

III._ of the orig. ed., entitled "Explanatory Table of Names of

Places, Persons, and Things, made use of in this Volume." But there is

not a name of any person in it, and not a name of anything in it that

does not belong to Part I., _i. e._, to the Mississippi voyage alone.

Having thus been obviously out of place in Part III., it is now

brought where it belongs, and a new chapter made for it, with a new

head, which more accurately indicates what it is. But even as a

vocabulary of Mississippian place-names, it is a mere fragment,

neither the plan nor scope of which is evident, as the names occur

neither in alphabetical nor any other recognizable order, and include

only a very small fraction of those which Pike uses in Part I. of his

book. He may have intended to make something of it which should

justify the title he gave it, and left it out of Part I. for that

reason; but nothing more came of it, and it was finally bundled into

Part III. The lists include a few terms which do not occur elsewhere

in the work, as for example, "River of Means"; but are chiefly curious

as an evidence of the difficulty our author found in spelling proper

names twice alike.

The Expeditions of Zebulon Montgomery Pike, Volume 1 (of 3) To Headwaters of the Mississippi River Through Louisiana Territory, and in New Spain, During the Years 1805-6-7. · 第 19 / 19 章

[VII-15] Pike's phrase "Le Mille Lac" brings up an orthographic case