The Expedition having reached the source of the east fork in Assawa
Lake, crosses the highlands of the Hauteurs de Terre to the source
of the main or west fork in Itasca Lake.
The next morning (13th) a dense fog prevailed. We had found the
atmosphere warm, but charged with water and vapors, which frequently
condensed into showers. The evenings and nights were, however, cool, at
the precise time of the earth hiding the sun's disk. It was five o'clock
before we could discern objects with sufficient distinctness to venture
to embark. We found the channel of the river strikingly diminished on
getting above the Naiwa. Its width is that of a mere brook, running in a
valley half a mile wide. The water is still and pond-like, the margin
being encroached on by aquatic plants. It presents some areas of the
zizania palustris, and appeared to be the favorite resort for several
species of duck, who were continually disturbed by our progress. After
diligently ascending an hour and a half, or about eight miles, the
stream almost imperceptibly began to open into a lake, which the Indians
called Assawa, or Perch Lake. Its borders are fringed with the _monomin_
of the Chippewas, or wild rice, and several of the liliaceous water
plants. The water is transparent when dipped up and viewed by the light,
but from the falling of leaves and other carbonaceous fibre to the
bottom, it reflects a sombre hue. We were just twenty minutes in passing
through it, denoting a length of perhaps two miles, and a width of half
a mile. Our course through it was directly south. Ozawindib, who took
the advance, entered an inlet, but had not ascended it far, when he
rested on his paddles, and exclaimed _o-omah mekunnah_, here is the
path, or portage. We had, in fact, traced this branch of the river into
its utmost sources. It was seven o'clock in the morning. We were
surrounded by what the natives term _azhiskee_, or mire, broad-leaved
plants extending over the surface of the water, in which I recognized a
diminutive species of yellow pond-lily. There was no mode of reaching
dry land but by stepping into this yielding azhiskee. The water was
rather tepid. After wading about fifty yards the footing became more
firm, and we soon began to ascend a slight elevation. Some traces of an
Indian trail appeared here, which led to an opening in the thicket,
where vestiges of the bones of birds, and old camp-poles, indicated the
prior encampment of Indians.
I had now traced this branch of the Mississippi to its source, and was
at the south base of the inter-continental highlands, which give origin
to the longest and principal branch of the Mississippi. To reach its
source it was necessary to ascend and cross these. Of their height, and
the difficulty of their ascent, we knew nothing. This only was sure,
from the representation of the natives, that it could be readily done,
carrying the small bark canoes we had thus far employed. The chief said
it was thirteen _opugidjiwenun_, or putting-down-places, which are
otherwise called _onwaybees_, or rests. From the roughness of the path,
not more than half a mile can be estimated to each _onwaybee_. Assawa
Lake is shown, by barometric measurement, to be 1,532 feet above the
Gulf. Having followed out this branch to its source, its very existence
in our geography becomes a new fact.
While the baggage and canoes were being carried to the spot of our
encampment, a camp-fire was kindled and the cook busied himself in
preparing breakfast. The canoes were then carefully examined and
repaired, and the baggage parted into loads, so as to permit the whole
outfit and apparatus to be transported at one trip. These things having
been arranged, and the breakfast dispatched, we set forward to mount the
highlands. Ozawindib having thrown one of the canoes over his shoulders,
led the way, complaisantly, being followed by the entire party.
The prevailing growth at this place is thick bramble, spruce, white
cedar, and tamarak. The path plunges at once into a marshy and matted
thicket, which it requires all one's strength to press through--then
rises to a little elevation covered with white cedar, and again plunges
into a morass strewed with fallen and decayed logs, covered with moss.
From this the trail emerges on dry ground. Relieved from the
entanglement about our feet, we soon found ourselves ascending an
elevation of the drift stratum, consisting of oceanic sand, with
boulders. On the side of this eminence we enjoyed our first _onwaybee_.
The day had developed itself clear and warm, and glad indeed were we to
find the chief had put down his canoe, and by the time we reached had
lit his pipe. The second onwaybee brought us to the summit of this
elevation; the third to the side of a ridge beyond it; the fourth to
another summit; in fine, we found ourselves crossing a succession of
ridges and depressions, which seemed to have owed their original
outlines to the tumultuous waves of some mighty ocean, which had once
had the mastery over the highlands. Trail there was often none. The day
being clear, the chief, however, held his course truly, and when he was
turned out of it by some defile, or thicket, or bog, he again found his
line at the earliest possible point. In one of the depressions, we
crossed a little lake in the canoes; in another, we followed the guide
on foot, through and along the border of a shallow lake, to avoid the
density of the thickets.
Ripe strawberries were brought to me at one of our onwaybees. I observed
the diminutive rebus nutkanus on low grounds. The common falco was
noticed, and the Indians remarked tracks of the deer, not, however, of
very recent date. The forest growth is small, by far the most common
species being the scrubby pinus banksianus, exhibiting its parasitic
moss. The elevated parts of the route were sufficiently open, with often
steep ascents. Over these sienite and granite, quartz and sandstone
boulders were scattered. Every step we made in crossing these sandy and
diluvial elevations, seemed to inspire renewed ardor in completing the
traverse. The guide had called the distance, as we computed it, about
six, or six and a half miles. We had been four hours upon it, now
clambering up steeps, and now brushing through thickets, when he told us
we were ascending the last elevation, and I kept close to his heels,
soon outwent him on the trail, and got the first glimpse of the
glittering nymph we had been pursuing. On reaching the summit this wish
was gratified. At a depression of perhaps a hundred feet below, cradled
among the hills, the lake spread out its elongated volume, presenting a
scene of no common picturesqueness and rural beauty. In a short time I
stood on its border, the whole cortege of canoes and pedestrians
following; and as each one came he deposited his burden on a little open
plat, which constituted the terminus of the Indian trail. In a few
moments a little fire threw up its blaze, and the pan of _pigieu_, or
pine pitch, was heated to mend the seams of the bark canoes. When this
was done, they were instantly put into the lake, with their appropriate
baggage; and the little flotilla of five canoes was soon in motion,
passing down one of the most tranquil and pure sheets of water of which
it is possible to conceive. There was not a breath of wind. We often
rested to behold the scene. It is not a lake overhung by rocks. Not a
precipice is in sight, or a stone, save the pebbles and boulders of the
drift era, which are scattered on the beach. The water-fowl, whom we
disturbed in their seclusion, seemed rather loath to fly up. At one
point we observed a deer, standing in the water, and stooping down,
apparently to eat moss.
The diluvial hills inclosing the basin, at distances of one or two
miles, are covered with pines. From these elevations the lands slope
gently down to the water's edge, which is fringed with a mixed foliage
of deciduous and evergreen species. After passing some few miles down
its longest arm, we landed at an island, which appeared to be the only
one in the lake. I immediately had my tent pitched, and while the cook
exerted his skill to prepare a meal, scrutinized its shores for
crustacea, while Dr. Houghton sought to identify its plants. While here,
the latter recognized the mycrostylis ophioglossoides, physalis
lanceolata, silene antirrhina, and viola pedata. We found the elm, lynn,
soft maple, and wild cherry, mingled with the fir species.
An arm of the lake stretches immediately south from this island, which
receives a small brook. Lieutenant Allen, who estimates the greatest
length of the lake at seven miles, drew the following sketch of its
configuration. (See p. 243.)
The latitude of this lake is 47° 13´ 35´´.[162] The highest grounds
passed over by us, in our transit from the Assowa Lake, lie at an
elevation of 1,695 feet. The view given of the scene in the first
volume of my _Ethnological Researches_, p. 146, is taken from a point
north of the island, looking into the vista of the south arm of the
lake. I inquired of Ozawindib the Indian name of this lake; he replied
_Omushkös_, which is the Chippewa name of the Elk.[163] 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.[164]
[162] By the report of Governor Stevens (June, 1854), the selected
pass for the contemplated railroad through the St. Mary to the
Columbia valley is in 47° 30´, where there is but little snow at any
time, and rich pasturage for cattle. The phenomena of the climates of
our northern latitudes are but little understood.
[163] A The Canadian French call this animal _la Biche_, from
_Biche_, a hind.
[164] This myth is further alluded to, in the following stanzas from
the _Literary World_, No. 337:--
STANZAS.
ON REACHING THE SOURCE OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER IN 1832.[165]
I.
Ha! truant of western waters! Thou who hast
So long concealed thy very sources--flitting shy,
Now here, now there--through spreading mazes vast
Thou art, at length, discovered to the eye
In crystal springs, that run, like silver thread,
From out their sandy heights, and glittering lie
Within a beauteous basin, fair outspread
Hesperian woodlands of the western sky,
As if, in Indian myths, a truth there could be read,
And these were tears, indeed, by fair Itasca shed.
II.
To bear the sword, on prancing steed arrayed;
To lift the voice admiring Senates own;
To tune the lyre, enraptured muses played;
Or pierce the starry heavens--the blue unknown--
These were the aims of many sons of fame,
Who shook the world with glory's golden song.
I sought a moral meed of less acclaim,
In treading lands remote, and mazes long;
And while around aerial voices ring,
I quaff the limpid cup at Mississippi's spring.
H. R. S.
[165] Narrative of an Expedition to Itasca Lake. Harpers. 1834. 1
vol. 8vo. p. 307.
[Illustration: Itasca Lake, the source of the Mississippi River, 3,160
miles from the Balize.
A. Mississippi River. B. Route of expedition to the Lake. C.
Schoolcraft's Island.]
The line of discovery of the Mississippi, explored above Cass Lake,
taking the east fork from the primary junction, as shown by Mr. Allen's
topographical notes, is one hundred and twenty-three miles.[166] This is
the shortest and most direct branch. The line by the Itascan or main
branch of it is, probably, some twenty or twenty-five miles longer. It
is evident, as before intimated, that the river descends from its summit
in plateaux. From the pseudo-alpine level of the parent lake, there is a
principal and minor rapids, for the former of which the Indians have the
appropriate name of _Kakabikons_, which is a descriptive term for a
cascade over rocks or stones. Then the river again deploys itself in a
lake and a series of minor lakes on the same level, and this process is
repeated, until it finally plunges over the horizontal rocks at St.
Anthony's Falls, and displays itself, for the last time, in Lake Pepin.
Commencing with the latter lake, it may be observed for the purposes of
generalization, and to give definite notions rather of its hydrography
than geology, that there are nine plateaux, of which Governor Cass, in
1820, explored six. The other three, beginning at his terminal point,
have now been indicated. The heights of these are given, barometrically.
The distances travelled are given from time. The annexed diagram of
these plateaux, extending to the Pakagama summit, will impress these
deductions on the eye.
[166] Mr. Nicollet, who ascended the same fork in 1836, makes the
distance twelve miles more. _Vide_ Ex., Doc. No. 237.
The length of the Mississippi, from the Gulf of Mexico, pursuing its
involutions, may be stated to be three thousand miles. By estimates from
the best sources made, respectively, during the expeditions of 1820 and
1832, it is shown to have a winding thread of three thousand one hundred
and sixty miles. Taking the barometrical height of Itasca Lake at
fifteen hundred and seventy-five feet, it has a mean descent of a
fraction over six inches per mile. As one of the most striking epochs in
American geography, we have known this river, computing from the era of
Marquette's discovery to the present day (July 13, 1832), but one
hundred and fifty-nine years--a short period, indeed! How rich a portion
of the geology of the globe lies buried in the flora and fauna of the
tertiary, the middle or secondary, and the palæozoic eras of its valley,
we have hardly begun to inquire. It will, _doubtless_, and, so far as we
know, _does_, contribute evidences to the antiquity and mutations of the
earth's surface, conformably to the progress of discoveries in other
parts of the globe. The immense basins of coal, found in the middle and
lower parts of its valley, prove the same gigantic epoch of its flora
which has been established for the coal measures of Europe,[167] and
sweep to the winds the jejune theory that the continent arose from a
chaotic state, at a period a whit less remote than the other quarters of
the globe. While the large bones of its later eras, found imbedded in
its unconsolidated strata, prove how large a portion of its fauna were
involved in the gigantic and monster-period.
[167] Entire trees are often found imbedded in its rocks of the
middle era, as is evidenced by an individual of the juglans nigra, of
at least fifty feet long, in the River De Plaine, valley of the
Illinois. _Vide_ Appendix.