Proceed up the St. Louis River, and around its falls and rapids to
Sandy Lake in the valley of the Upper Mississippi--Grand
Portage--Portage aux Coteaux--A sub-exploring party--Cross the
great morass of Akeek Scepi to Sandy Lake--Indian mode of
pictographic writing--Site of an Indian jonglery--Post of Sandy
Lake.
We had now reached above nine hundred and fifty miles from our
starting-point at Detroit, and had been more than forty days in
traversing the shores of Lakes Huron and Superior. July had already
commenced, and no time was to be lost in reaching our extreme point of
destination. Every exertion was therefore made to push ahead. By ten
o'clock of the morning after our arrival at the Fond du Lac post, we
embarked, and after going two miles reached the foot of the first rapids
of the St. Louis. This spot is called the commencement of the Grand
Portage--over this path all the goods, provisions, and canoes are to be
carried by hand nine miles. During this distance, the St. Louis River, a
stream of prime magnitude, bursts through the high trap range of what
Bouchette calls the Cabotian Mountains, being a continuation of the
upheavals of the north shore of Lake Superior, the river leaping and
foaming, from crag to crag, in a manner which creates some of the most
grand and picturesque views. We sometimes stood gazing at their
precipices and falls, with admiration, and often heard their roar on our
path, when we were miles away from them. Capt. Douglass estimated the
river to fall one hundred and eight feet during the first nine miles;
and from estimates furnished me by Dr. Wolcott, the aggregate fall from
the mouth of the Savannè, to that point, is two hundred and twelve feet.
We found the first part of the ascent of its banks very precipitous and
difficult, particularly for the men who bore burdens, and what rendered
the labor almost insupportable was the heat, which stood at 82°, in the
shade, at noon. We made but five _pauses_ the first day; and were three
days on the portage. It rained the second day, which added much to the
difficulty of our progress. We now found ourselves, at every step,
advancing into a wild and rugged region. Everything around us wore the
aspect of remoteness. Dark forests, swampy grounds, rocky precipices,
and the distant roaring of the river, as it leapt from rock to rock,
would have sufficiently impressed the mind with the presence of the
wilderness, without heavy rains, miry paths, and the train of wild and
picturesque Indians, who constituted a part of our carriers.
The rocks, at the foot of the portage, consisted of horizontal red
sandstone. On reaching the head of it, we found argillite in a vertical
position. I found the latter, in some places, pervaded by thin veins of
quartz, and in one instance by grauwackke. At one spot there was a small
vein of coarse graphite in the argillite. Large blocks of black
crystallized hornblende rock lie along the shores, where we again
reached the river, and are often seen on its bed, amid the swift-running
water, but I did not observe this rock in place. Among the loose stones
at the foot of the portage, I picked up a specimen of micaceous oxide of
iron. Such are the gleams of its geology and mineralogy. The growth of
the forest is pines, hemlock, spruce, birch, oak, and maple. In
favorable situations, I observed the common red raspberry, ripe.
On embarking above the portage, the expedition occupied seven canoes, of
a size most suitable for this species of navigation. Our Indian
auxiliaries from Fond du Lac were here rewarded, and dismissed. On
ascending six miles, we reached the Portage aux Coteaux, so called from
the carrying path lying over a surface of vertical argillite. This rock,
standing up in the bed, or on the banks of the stream, with a scanty
overhanging foliage of cedar, gives a peculiarly wild and abrupt aspect
to the scene; which is by no means lessened by the loud roaring of the
waters. There is a fall and rapid at this portage, where the river, it
may be estimated, sinks its level about fourteen feet.
We encamped at the head of this portage, where the water again permits
the canoes to be put in. Thus far, we had found this stream a broad,
flowing torrent, but owing to its rapids and rocks, anything but
favorable to its navigation by boats, or canoes of heavy burden. His
excellency Gov. Cass, therefore, determined to relieve the river party,
by detaching a sub-expedition across the country to Sandy Lake. It was
thought proper that I should accompany this party. It consisted,
besides, of Lieut. Mackay, with eight soldiers, and of Mr. Doty, Mr.
Trowbridge, and Mr. Chase. We were provided with an interpreter and two
Chippewa guides, being sixteen persons in all.
Thus organized, we left the camp at the head of the portage, the
following morning, at six o'clock. Each one carried provisions for five
days, a knife, a musquito bar, and a blanket or cloak. There were a few
guns taken, but generally this was thought to be an incumbrance, as we
expected to see little game and to encounter a toilsome tramp. The
guides, taking their course by the sun, struck west into a close forest
of pine, hemlock, and underbrush, which required energy to push through.
On travelling a couple of miles, we fell into an Indian path leading in
the required direction; but this path, after passing through two ponds,
and some marshes, eventually lost itself in swamps. These marshes, after
following through them, about four miles, were succeeded by an elevated
dry sandy barren, with occasional clumps of pitch pine, and with a
surface of shrubbery. Walking over this dry tract was quite a relief. We
then entered a thick forest of young spruce and hemlock. Two miles of
this brought us to the banks of a small lake, with clear water, and a
pebbly shore. Having no canoe to cross it, our guides led us around its
southern shores. The fallen timber and brush rendered this a very
difficult march. To avoid these obstructions, as they approached the
head of the lake, we eventually took its margin, occasionally leading
into the water. While passing these shores, I picked up some specimens
of the water-worn agates, for which the diluvians in this quarter are
remarkable. We now fell into an old Indian path, which led to two small
lakes, similar in size, to the former one, but with marshy borders, and
reddish water. These small lakes were filled with pond lilies, rushes,
and wild rice. At the margin of the second lake, the path ceased, and
the guides could not afterwards find it. The path terminated abruptly at
the second lake. While searching about this, Chamees,[63] one of the
Indian guides, found a large green tortoise, which he and his companion
killed in a very ingenious and effectual way, by a blow from a hatchet
on the neck, at the point where the shell or buckler terminates. After
leaving this water, they appeared to be in doubt about the way; almost
imperceptibly, we found ourselves in a great tamarak swamp. The bogs and
moss served to cover up, almost completely, the fallen trees, and formed
so elastic a carpet as to sink deep at every tread. Occasionally they
broke through, letting the foot into the mire. This proved a very
fatiguing tramp. To add to its toils, it rained at intervals all day. We
were eleven hours in passing this swamp, and estimated, and probably
over-estimated ourselves to have past twenty miles. We encamped at five
o'clock near the shores of a third small lake, each one picking out for
himself the most elevated spot possible, and the person who got a
position most completely out of the water was the best man. It is
fatigue, however, that makes sleep a welcome guest, and we awoke without
any cause of complaint on that score.
[63] The pouncing hawk.
The next morning, as we were about to depart, we observed near the
camp-fire of our guides a pole leaning in the direction we were to go,
with a birch-bark inscription inserted in a slit in the top of the pole.
This was too curious an object not to excite marked attention, and we
took it down to examine the hieroglyphics, or symbols, which had been
inscribed with charcoal on the birch scroll. We found the party minutely
depicted by symbols. The figures of eight muskets denoted that there
were eight soldiers in the party. The usual figure for a man, namely, a
closed cross with a head, thus:--
[Illustration]
and one hand holding a sword, told the tale that they were commanded by
an officer. Mr. Doty was drawn with a book, they having understood that
he was a lawyer. I was depicted with a hammer, to denote a mineralogist.
Mr. Trowbridge and Mr. Chase, and the interpreter, were also depicted.
Chamees and his companion were drawn by a camp-fire apart, and the
figure of the tortoise and a prairie-hen denoted the day's hunt. There
were three hacks on the pole, which leaned to the N. W., denoting our
course of travel. Having examined this unique memorial, it was carefully
replaced in its former position, when we again set forward. It appeared
we had rested in a sort of oasis in the swamp, for we soon entered into
a section of a decidedly worse character than that we had passed the day
before. The windfalls and decaying timber were more frequent--the bogs,
if possible, more elastic--the spots dry enough to halt on, more
infrequent, and the water more highly colored with infusions of decaying
vegetable matter. We urged our way across this tract of morass for nine
hours, during which we estimated our progress at fourteen miles, and
encamped about four o'clock P. M., in a complete state of exhaustion.
Even our Indian guides demanded a halt; and what had, indeed, added to
our discouragements, was the uncertainty of their way, which they had
manifested.
Our second night's repose in this swampy tract, was on ground just
elevated above the water; the mosquitos were so pertinacious at this
spot as to leave us but little rest. From information given by our
guides, this wide tract of morass constitutes the sources of the Akeek
Seebi, or Kettle River, which is one of the remotest sources of the
Mille Lac, and, through that body of water, of Rum River. It is visited
only by the Indians, at the proper season for trapping the beaver,
marten, and muskrat. During our transit through it, we came to open
spaces where the cranberry was abundant. In the same locality, we found
the ripe fruit, green berries, and blossoms of this fruit.
It was five o'clock A. M. when we resumed our march through this
toilsome tract, and we passed out of it, after pressing forward with our
best might, during twelve hours. We had been observant of the perplexity
of our guides, who had unwittingly, we thought, plunged us into this
dreary and seemingly endless morass, and were rejoiced, on a sudden, to
hear them raise loud shouts. They had reached a part of the country
known to them, and took this mode to express their joy, and we soon
found ourselves on the banks of a small clear stream, called by them
Bezhiki Seebi, or Buffalo Creek, a tributary to Sandy Lake. We had, at
length, reached waters flowing into the Mississippi. On this stream we
prepared to encamp, in high spirits, feeling, as those are apt to who
have long labored at an object, a pleasure in some measure proportioned
to the exertions made.
Any other people but the Indians would feel ill at ease in dreary
regions like these. But these sons of the forest appear to carry all
their socialities with them, even in the most forbidding solitudes. They
are so familiarized with the notions of demons and spirits, that the
wildest solitude is replete with objects of hope and fear. We had
evidence of this, just before we encamped on the banks of the Bezhiki,
when we came to a cleared spot, which had been occupied by what the
Canadians, with much force, call a _jonglery_, or place of necromantic
ceremonies of their priests or jossakeeds. There were left standing of
this structure six or eight smooth posts of equal length, standing
perpendicularly. These had been carefully peeled, and painted with a
species of ochrey clay. The curtains of bark, extending between them,
and isolating the powow, or operator, had been removed; but the
precincts had the appearance of having been carefully cleared of brush,
and the ground levelled, for the purposes of these sacred orgies, which
exercise so much influence on Indian society.
We were awaked in our encampment, between four and five o'clock, the
next morning, by a shower of rain. Jumping up, and taking our customary
meal of jerked beef and biscuit, we now followed our guides, with
alacrity, over a dry and uneven surface, towards Sandy Lake. We had now
been three days in accomplishing the traverse over this broad and
elevated, yet sphagnous summit, separating the valley of the St. Louis
of Lake Superior from that of the Upper Mississippi. As we approached
the basin of Sandy Lake, we passed over several sandy ridges, bearing
the white and yellow pine; the surface and its depressions bearing the
wild cherry, poplar, hazel, ledum latifolia, and other usual growth and
shrubs of the latitude. On the dry sandy tracts the uva ursi, or
kinnikinnik of the Indians, was noticed. In the mineral constitution of
the ridges themselves, the geologist recognizes that wide-spreading
drift-stratum, with boulders and pebbles of sienitic and hornblende,
quartz, and sandstone rock, which is so prevalent in the region. As we
approached the lake we ascended one of those sandy ridges which surround
it, and dashing our way through the dense underbrush, were gratified on
gaining its apex to behold the sylvan shores and islands of the lake,
with the trading-post and flag, seen dimly in the distance. The view is
preserved in the following outlines, taken on the spot.
[Illustration: Sandy Lake, from an eminence north of the mouth of the
West Creek of the Portage of Savannah. 15th July, 1820.]
I asked Chamees the Indian name of this lake. He replied,
Ka-metong-aug-e-maug. This is one of those compound terms, in their
languages, of which the particle _ka_ is affirmative. Metongaug, is the
plural form of sandy lake. Maug is the plural form of water,
corresponding, by the usual grammatical duality of meaning, to the
plural form of the noun. The word might, perhaps, be adopted in the form
of Kametonga.
Having heard, on our passage through Lake Superior, that a gun fired in
the basin of Sandy Lake, could be heard at the fort, that experiment was
tried, while we sat down or sauntered about to await the result. Having
waited in vain, the shots were repeated. After the lapse of a long time,
a boat, with two men, was descried in the distance approaching. It
proved to be occupied by two young clerks of the trading establishment,
named Ashmun and Fairbanks. They managed to embark the elite of our
party, in their small vessel, and, as we crossed the lake, amused us
with an account of the excitement our shots had caused. Some Indian
women affirmed to them that they had heard warwhoops, and to make sure
that a Sioux war party were not upon them, they drove off their cattle
to a place of safety. In the actual position of affairs, the hunt being
over for the year, and the avails being sent to Michilimackinac (for
this was the head-quarters of the factor whom we had met at Shelldrake
River), the probabilities of its being a hunting party were less. We
informed them that we were an advance party of an expedition sent out to
explore the sources of the Mississippi River, under the personal order
of his Excellency Governor Cass, who was urging his way up the St. Louis
to the Savanna Portage, through which he intended to descend into Sandy
Lake.
It was near sunset before we landed at the establishment. We found the
trading fort a stockade of squared pine timber, thirteen feet high, and
facing an area a hundred feet square, with bastions pierced for musketry
at the southeast and northwest angles. There were three or four acres
outside of one of the angles, picketed in, and devoted to the culture of
potatoes. The stockade inclosed two ranges of buildings. This is the
post visited by Lieut. Z. Pike, U. S. A., on snow-shoes, and with
dog-trains, in the winter of 1806, when it was occupied by the British
northwest trading company. As a deep mantle of snow covered the country,
it did not permit minute observations on the topography or natural
history; and there have been no explorations since. Pike's chief error
was in placing the source of the Mississippi in Turtle Lake--a mistake
which is due entirely, it is believed, to the imperfect or false maps
furnished him by the chief traders of the time.
We were received with all the hospitality possible, in the actual state
of things, and with every kindness; and for the first time, since
leaving Detroit, we slept in a house. We were informed that we were now
within two miles of the Mississippi River, into which the outlet of
Sandy Lake emptied itself, and that we were five hundred miles above the
Falls of St. Anthony. We had accomplished the transference of position
from the head of the basin of Lake Superior, that is, from the foot of
the falls of the St. Louis River, in seven days, by a route, too,
certainly one of the worst imaginable, and there can be no temerity in
supposing that it might be effected in light canoes in half that time.