Chapter I: Preface

The following pages embrace the substance of the narratives of two distinct expeditions for the discovery of the sources of the Mississippi River, under the authority of the United States. By connecting the incidents of discovery, and of the facts brought to light during a period of twelve years, unity is preserved in the prosecution of an object of considerable importance in the progress of our geography and natural history, at least, from the new impulse which they received after the treaty of Ghent.

Geographers deem that branch of a river as its true source which originates at the remotest distance from its mouth, and, agreeably to this definition, the combined narratives, to which attention is now called, show this celebrated stream to arise in Itasca Lake, the source of the Itasca River.

Owing to the time which has intervened since these expeditions were undertaken, a mere revision of the prior narrations, in the _journal form_, was deemed inexpedient. A concise summary has, therefore, been made, preserving whatever information it was thought important to be known or remembered, and omitting all matters not partaking of permanent interest.

To this summary, something has been added from the original manuscript journals in his possession. The domestic organization and social habits of the parties may thus be more perfectly understood. The sympathies which bind men together in isolated or trying scenes are sources of interest long after the link is severed, and the progress of science or discovery has passed beyond the particular points at which they then stood. Events pass with so much rapidity at present, in the diffusion of our population over regions where, but lately, the Indian was the only tenant, that we are in danger of having but a confused record of them, if not of losing it altogether. It is some abatement of this fear to know that there is always a portion of the community who take a pleasure in remembering individuals; who have either ventured their lives, or exerted their energies, to promote knowledge or advance discovery. It is in this manner that, however intent an age may be in the plans which engross it, the sober progress and attainments of the period are counted up. An important fact discovered in the physical geography or natural history of the country, if it be placed on record, remains a fact added to the permanent stores of information. A new plant, a crystal, an insect, or the humblest invertebrate object of the zoological chain, is as incontestable an addition to scientific knowledge, as the finding of remains to establish a new species of mastodon. They only differ in interest and importance.

It is not the province of every age to produce a Linnæus, a Buffon, or a Cuvier; but, such are the almost endless forms of vegetable and animal life and organization--from the infusoria upward--that not a year elapses which may not enlarge the boundaries of science. The record of discovery is perpetually accumulating, and filling the list of discoverers with humbler, yet worthy names. Whoever reads with care the scientific desiderata here offered will find matter of description or comment which has employed the pens of a Torrey, a Mitchell, a Cooper, a Lea, a Barnes, a Houghton, and a Nicollet.

It is from considerations of this nature, that the author has appended to this narrative the original observations, reports, and descriptions made by his companions or himself, while engaged in these exploratory journeys, together with the determinations made on such scientific objects as were referred to other competent hands. These investigations of the physical geography of the West, and the phenomena or resources of the country, constitute, indeed, by far the most important permanent acquisitions of the scrutiny devoted to them. They form the elements of classes of facts which will retain their value, to men of research, when the incidents of the explorations are forgotten, and its actors themselves have passed to their final account.

It would have been desirable that what has here been done should have been done at an earlier period; but it may be sufficient to say that other objects engrossed the attention of the author for no small part of the intervening period, and that he could not earlier control the circumstances which the publication demanded. After his permanent return from the West--where so many years of his life passed--it was his first wish to accomplish a long-cherished desire of visiting England and the Continent, in which America, and its manners and institutions, might be contemplated at a distance, and compared by ocular proofs. And, when he determined on the task of preparing this volume, and began to look around for the companions of his travels, to avail himself of their notes, he found most of them had descended to the tomb. For the narrative parts, indeed, the manuscript journals, kept with great fulness, were still preserved; but the materials for the other division of the work were widely scattered. Some of them remained in the archives of the public offices to which they were originally communicated. Other papers had been given to the pages of scientific journals, and their reprint was inexpedient. The rich body of topographical data, and the elaborately drawn map of this portion of the United States, prepared by Captain Douglass, U. S. A., which would have been received with avidity at the time, had been in a great measure superseded by subsequent discoveries.[1] The only part of this officer's observations employed in this work, are his determinations of the geographical positions. The latter have been extended and perfected by the subsequent observations of Mr. Nicollet. At every point, there have been difficulties to overcome. He has been strenuous to award justice to his deceased companions, to whose memory he is attached by the ties of sympathy and former association. If more time has elapsed in preparing the work than was anticipated, it is owing to the nature of it; and he can only say that still more time and attention would be required to do justice to it.

[1] This remark is limited to the country south of about 46°. North
of that point, there are no explorations known to me, except those of
Lieutenant James Allen, who accompanied me above Cass Lake, in 1832,
and those of J. N. Nicollet, in 1836, which were reported by him to
the Topographical Bureau, and by the latter transmitted to
Congress.--Vide _Senate Doc._ No. 237, 1843. These observations
relate to the line of the Mississippi. Maj. Long's journey, in 1823,
was _west_ and _north_ of that river.

A word may be added respecting the period of these explorations. The year 1820 marked a time of much activity in geographical discovery in the United States. The treaty of Ghent, a few years before, had relieved the frontiers from a most sanguinary Indian war. This event enlarged the region for settlement, and created an intense desire for information respecting the new countries. Government had, indeed, at an earlier period, shown a disposition to aid and encourage discoveries. The feeling on this subject cannot be well understood, without allusion to the name of John Ledyard. This intrepid traveller had accompanied Captain Cook on his last voyage round the world. In 1786, he presented himself to Mr. Jefferson, the American minister at Paris, with a plan of extensive explorations. He proposed to set out from St. Petersburg, and, passing through Russia and Tartary to Behring's Straits, to traverse the north Pacific to Oregon, and thence cross the Rocky Mountains to the Missouri Valley.[2] Mr. Jefferson communicated the matter to the Russian plenipotentiary at Paris--and to the Baron Grimm, the confidential agent of the Empress Catherine--through whose influence he received the required passports. He proceeded on this adventure, and had reached within two hundred miles of Kamschatka, where he was arrested, and taken back, in a close carriage, to Moscow, and thence conducted to the frontiers of Poland. On reaching London, the African Association selected him to make explorations in the direction of the Niger. Reaching Egypt, he proceeded up the Nile to Cairo, where, having completed his preparations for entering the interior of Africa, he sickened and died, in the month of November, 1788.--_Life of Ledyard_, Sparks's _Amer. Biog._ vol. xvi.

The suggestion of Ledyard to explore Oregon became the germ of the voyages of Lewis and Clark. It appears that, in 1792, Mr. Jefferson proposed the subject to the American Philosophical Society at Philadelphia.[2] It is not known that its action resulted in anything practical. After Mr. Jefferson himself, however, came to the presidency, in 1801, he called the attention of Congress to the matter. Louisiana had been acquired, under his auspices, in 1803, which furnished a strong public reason for its exploration. To conduct it, he selected his private secretary and relative, Merriweather Lewis, of Virginia; Captain William Clark was named as his assistant. Both these gentlemen were commissioned in the army, and the expense thus placed on a public basis. Captain Lewis left the city of Washington, on this enterprise, on the 5th of July, 1803, and was joined by Captain Clark west of the Alleghanies. Having organized the expedition at St. Louis, they began the ascent of the Missouri River on the 14th of May, 1804. They wintered the first year at Fort Mandan, about 1,800 miles up the Missouri, in the country of the Mandans. Crossing the Rocky Mountains the next year, and descending the Columbia to the open shore of the Pacific, they retraced their general course to the waters of the Missouri, in 1806, and returned to St. Louis on the 23d of September of that year. (_Lewis and Clark_, vol. ii. p. 433.)

[2] Lewis and Clark.

To explore the Missouri to its source, and leave the remote summits of the Mississippi untouched, would seem to have ill-accorded with Mr. Jefferson's conceptions. It does not appear, however, from published data, that he selected the person to perform the latter service, leaving it to the military commandant of the district. (_Life of Pike_, Sparks's _Amer. Biog._ vol. xv. pp. 220, 281.) General Wilkinson, who had been directed to occupy Louisiana, appears to have made the selection. He designated Lieutenant Zebulon Montgomery Pike. This officer left Bellefontaine, Missouri, on the 9th of August, 1805, with a total force of twenty men, at least four months too late in the season to reach even the central part of his destination, without an aid in the command, without a scientific observer of any description, and without even an interpreter to communicate with the Indians. That he should have accomplished what he did, is altogether owing to his activity, vigilance, and enterprise, his knowledge of hunting and forest life, and his well-established habits of mental and military discipline. Winter overtook him, on the 16th of October, in his ascent, when he was about one hundred and twenty miles (as now ascertained) above the Falls of St. Anthony.[3] Severe cold, snow, and ice, rendered it impossible to push his boats further. Devoting twelve days in erecting a blockhouse, and leaving his heavy stores and disabled men in charge of a non commissioned officer, he proceeded onwards, on snow shoes, with small hand-sledges, and, by great energy and perseverance, reached, at successive periods, Sandy Lake, Leach Lake, and Upper Red Cedar Lake, on the third great plateau at the sources of the Mississippi. On the opening of the river, he began his descent, and returned to his starting-point, at Bellefontaine, on the 30th of April, 1806, having been absent a little less than nine months. On his visiting the country above the point where the climate arrested his advance, the whole region was found to be clothed in a mantle of snow. On his journey, the deer, elk, buffalo, and wolf, were found on the prairies--the waters were inhabited by wild fowl; as he acted the part of hunter, and, to some extent, guide, these furnished abundant employ for his efficient sportsman-like propensities. Of its distinctive zoology, minerals, plants, and other physical desiderata, it was not in his power, had he been ever so well prepared, to make observations. Even for the topography, above the latitude of about 46°, he was dependent, essentially, on the information furnished by the factors of the Northwest British Fur Company, who, at that period, occupied the country.[4] This information was readily given, and enabled him, with general accuracy, to present the maps and descriptions which accompany his account of the region. He was, however, misled in placing the source of the river in Turtle Lake, and in the topography of the region south and west of that point.

[3] Estimated by him at 233 miles.

[4] The surrender of the lake country by Great Britain, in 1796, at
the close of what is known as General Wayne's war, extended to
Michilimackinac, the remotest British garrison. The region northwest
of this post was occupied by numerous tribes of Indians, who
continued to be supplied with goods by British traders till after the
close of the war of 1812. In 1816, Congress passed an act confining
the trade to American citizens. Under this state of affairs, the
Northwest Company of Montreal sold out their trading-posts and
fixtures, northwest of Michilimackinac, to Mr. John Jacob Astor, of
New York, who, from an account of one of his active factors, invested
about $300,000 per annum in merchandise adapted to the Indian habits.

Pike's account of his expedition did not issue from the press till 1810. The narrative of the expedition of Lewis and Clark was still longer delayed--owing to the melancholy death of Lewis--and was not given till 1814; a period of political commotion by no means favorable to literary matters. It was, however, at once hailed as a valuable and standard accession to geographical science. Public opinion had for years been called to this daring enterprise.

Such was the state of geographical discovery in the United States in 1816. The war with Great Britain had had an exhausting effect upon the resources and fiscal condition of the country. But, owing to the information gained by the operation of armies in the ample area west of the Alleghanies, it opened a new world for enterprise in that quarter. The treaty of 1814 with Great Britain, which affirmed the original boundaries of 1783, by terminating, at the same time, the war and the fallacious hopes of sovereignty set up for the Indian tribes, truly opened the Mississippi Valley to settlement.

All eyes were turned to the general climate of the West, and its capacities of growth and expansion. The universal ardor which then arose and was spread, of its fertility, extent, and resources, has, from that era, filled the public mind, and fixed the liveliest hopes of the extension of the Union.

The accession of Mr. Monroe to the presidency, 4th March, 1817, formed the opening of this new epoch of industrial empire and progress in the West. This period brought into the administration a man of great grasp of intellect and energy of character in Mr. Calhoun. By placing the army in a series of self-sustaining posts on the frontiers, in advance of the settlements, he gave them efficient protection against the still feverish tribes, who hovered--feeble and dejected from the results of the war, but in broken, discordant, and hostile masses--around the long and still dangerous line of the frontiers, from Florida to Detroit and the Falls of St. Anthony. He encouraged every means of acquiring true information of its geography and resources. In 1819, the military line was extended to Council Bluffs, on the Missouri, and to the Falls of St. Anthony, on the Mississippi. Major S. H. Long, of the Topographical Engineers, was directed to ascend the Missouri, for the purpose of exploring the region west to the Rocky Mountains. During the same year, he approved a plan for exploring the sources of the Mississippi, submitted by General Cass, who occupied the northwestern frontiers.

The author having then returned from the exploration of the Ozark Highlands, and the mine country of Missouri and Arkansas,[5] received from Mr. Calhoun the appointment of geologist and mineralogist on this expedition; and having, at a subsequent period, been selected, as the leader of the expedition of 1832, to resume and complete the discoveries under the same authority, commenced in 1820, it is to the journals and notes kept on these separate occasions, that he is indebted for the data of the narratives and for the body of information now submitted.

[5] _Vide_ Scenes and Adventures in the Semi-Alpine Region of the
Ozark Mountains of Missouri and Arkansas, with a View of the
Lead-Mines of Missouri. New York, 1819. Philadelphia: Lippincott,
Grambo, and Co. 1 vol. 8vo. pp. 256. 1853.

WASHINGTON, D. C., October 24, 1854.

CONTENTS.

EXPEDITION OF 1820.

INTRODUCTION 17

PRELIMINARY DOCUMENTS 25

NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION 37

CHAPTER I.

Departure--Considerations on visiting the northern summits early in
the season--Cross the Highlands of the Hudson--Incidents of the
journey from Albany to Buffalo--Visit Niagara Falls--Their
grandeur the effect of magnitude--Embark on board the steamer
Walk-in-the-Water--Passage up Lake Erie--Reach Detroit 39

CHAPTER II.

Preparations for the expedition--Constitution of the party--Mode of
travel in canoes--Embarkation, and incidents of the journey across
the Lake, and up the River St. Clair--Head winds encountered on
Lake Huron--Point aux Barques--Cross Saganaw Bay--Delays in
ascending the Huron coast--Its geology and natural history--Reach
Michilimackinac 47

CHAPTER III.

Description of Michilimackinac--Prominent scenery--Geology--Arched
Rock--Sugarloaf Rock--History--Statistics--Mineralogy--Skull
Cave--Manners--Its fish, agriculture, moral wants--Ingenious
manufactures of the Indians--Fur trade--Etymology of the
word--Antique bones disclosed in the interior of the island 59

CHAPTER IV.

Proceed down the north shore of Lake Huron to the entrance of the
Straits of St. Mary's--Character of the shores, and
incidents--Ascend the river to Sault Ste. Marie--Hostilities
encountered there--Intrepidity of General Cass 72

CHAPTER V.

Embark at the head of the portage at St. Mary's--Entrance into Lake
Superior--Journey and incidents along its coasts--Great Sand
Dunes--Pictured Rocks--Grand Island--Keweena peninsula and
portage--Incidents thence to Ontonagon River 83

CHAPTER VI.

Chippewa village at the mouth of the Ontonagon--Organize an expedition
to explore its mineralogy--Incidents of the trip--Rough nature of
the country--Reach the Copper Rock--Misadventure--Kill a
bear--Discoveries of copper--General remarks on the mineral
affluence of the basin of Lake Superior 94

CHAPTER VII.

Proceed along the southern coast of Lake Superior from the Ontonagon,
to Fond du Lac--Porcupine range of mountains--Streams that run
from it, at parallel distances, into the lake--La Pointe--Group of
the Federation Islands--River St. Louis--Physical geography of
Lake Superior 102

CHAPTER VIII.

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 main 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 110

CHAPTER IX.

Reunion of the expedition on the Savanna Portage--Elevation of this
summit--Descent to Sandy Lake--Council with the Chippewa
tribe--Who are they?--Traits of their history, language,
and customs--Enter the Mississippi, with the main exploring
party, and proceed in search of its source--Physical
characteristics of the stream at this place--Character of
the Canadian voyageur 118

CHAPTER X.

Proceed up the Mississippi River--Its velocity and character--Swan
River--Trout River, and Mushcoda or Prairie River--Rapids
ascended--Reach, and make a portage around Pakagama Falls--Enter
a vast lacustrine region--Its character and productions, vegetable
and animal--Tortuous channel--Vermilion and Deer Rivers--Leech
Lake branch--Lake Winnipek--Ascent of the river to Upper Red
Cedar, or Cass Lake--Physical character of the Mississippi
River 126

CHAPTER XI.

Physical traits of the Mississippi--The elevation of its
sources--Its velocity and mean descent--Etymology of the name
Mississippi--Descent of the river to Sandy Lake, and thence
to the Falls of St. Anthony--Recross the great Bitobi
Savanna--Pakagama formation--Description of the voyage
from Sandy Lake to Pine River--Brief notices of the natural
history 137

CHAPTER XII.

Description of the descent from Pine River--Pine tracts--Confluence
of the Crow-wing River--Enter a sylvan region--prairies and
groves, occupied by deer, elk, and buffalo--Sport of buffalo
hunting--Reach elevations of sienitic and metamorphic
rocks--Discover a pictographic inscription of the Sioux, by
which they denote a desire for peace--Pass the Osaukes, St.
Francis's, Corneille, and Rum Rivers--St. Anthony's
Falls--Etymology of the name--Geographical considerations 145

CHAPTER XIII.

Position of the military post established at the mouth of
the St. Peter's--Beauty, salubrity, and fertility of the
country--Pictographic letter--Indian treaty--The appearance
of the offer of frankincense in the burning of
tobacco--Opwagonite--native pigments--Salt; native copper--The
pouched or prairie rat--Minnesota squirrel--Etymology of
the Indian name of St. Peter's River--Antiquities--Sketch
of the Dacota--Descent of the Mississippi to Little Crow's
village--Feast of green corn 153

CHAPTER XIV.

Descent of the river from the site of Little Crow's Village to
Prairie du Chien--Incidents of the voyage, and notices of
the scenery and natural history 162

CHAPTER XV.

Mr. Schoolcraft makes a visit to the lead mines of
Dubuque--Incidents of the trip--Description of the
mines--The title of occupancy, and the mode of the mines
being worked by the Fox tribe of Indians--Who are the Foxes? 169

CHAPTER XVI.

The expedition proceeds from Prairie du Chien up the Wisconsin
Valley--Incidents of the ascent--Etymology of the name--The low
state of its waters favorable to the observation of its
fresh-water conchology--Cross the Wisconsin summit, and descend
the Fox River to Winnebago Lake 178

CHAPTER XVII.

Descent of the Fox River from Winnebago Lake to Green
Bay--Incidents--Etymology, conchology, mineralogy--Falls of the
Konomic and Kakala--Population and antiquity of the settlement
of Green Bay--Appearances of a tide, not sustained 186

CHAPTER XVIII.

The expedition traces the west shores of Lake Michigan southerly
to Chicago--Outline of the journey along this coast--Sites of
Manitoowoc, Sheboigan, Milwaukie, Racine, and Chicago, being the
present chief towns and cities of Wisconsin and Illinois on the
west shores of that Lake--Final reorganization of the party and
departure from Chicago 193

CHAPTER XIX.

South and Eastern borders of Lake Michigan--Their Flora and
Fauna--Incidents of the journey--Topography--Geology, Botany,
and Mineralogy--Indian Tribes--Burial-place of Marquette--Ruins
of the post of old Mackinac--Reach Michilimackinac after a
canoe journey north of four hundred miles 200

CHAPTER XX.

Topographical survey of the northern shores of Green Bay and of the
entire basin of Lake Michigan--Geological and Mineralogical
indicia of the coast line--Era of sailing vessels and of the
steamboat on the lakes--Route along the Huron coast, and return of
the expedition to Detroit 210

EXPEDITION OF 1832.

DISCOVERY OF THE SOURCE OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER IN ITASCA LAKE 221

CHAPTER XXI.

The search for the veritable source of the Mississippi is
resumed.--Ascent to Cass Lake, the prior point of
discovery--Pursue the river westerly, through the Andrúsian
Lakes and up the Metoswa Rapids, forty-five miles--Queen
Anne's Lake 223

CHAPTER XXII.

Ascent of the Mississippi above Queen Anne's Lake--Reach the
primary forks of the river--Ascend the left-hand, or minor
branch--Lake Irving--Lake Marquette--Lake La Salle--Lake
Plantagenet--Encamp at the Naiwa rapids at the base of the
Height of Land, or Itasca Summit 231

CHAPTER XXIII.

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 239

CHAPTER XXIV.

Descent of the west, or Itascan branch--Kakabikoñs Falls--Junction
of the Chemaun, Peniddiwin, or De Soto, and Allenoga
Rivers--Return to Cass Lake 246

CHAPTER XXV.

The expedition proceeds to strike the source of the great
Crow-Wing River, by the Indian trail and line of interior
portages, by way of Leech Lake, the seat of the warlike tribe
of the Pillagers, or Mukundwa 251

CHAPTER XXVI.

Geographical account of Leech Lake--History of its Indians, the
Mukundwas--The expedition proceeds to the source of the
Crow-Wing River, and descends that stream, in its whole length,
to the Mississippi 258

CHAPTER XXVII.

Complete the exploration of the Crow-Wing River of
Minnesota--Indian council--Reach St. Anthony's Falls--Council
with the Sioux--Ascent and exploration of the River St. Croix
and Misakoda, or Broulé, of Lake Superior--Return of the party
to St. Mary's Falls, Michigan 265