Summary Narrative of an Exploratory Expedition to the Sources of the Mississippi River, in 1820. Henry Rowe Schoolcraft

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СКАЧАТЬ and the morning was cloudy, with a dense fog. At the distance of ten miles, we passed the Leech Lake River. This is a very considerable river, bringing in, apparently, one-third as much water as the main branch. It is, however, but fifty miles in length, and is merely the outlet of the large lake bearing that name. It was thought the current of the Mississippi denoted greater velocity above this point, while the water exhibited greater clearness. We had still the same savanna regions, with a serpentine channel to encounter. Through this the men urged their way for a distance of thirty-five miles, when Winnipek Lake displayed itself before us. The waters of this lake have a whitish, slightly turbid aspect, after the prevalence of storms, which appears to reveal its shallowness, with a probably whitish clay bottom. The Chippewa name of Winnebeegogish [72] is, indeed, derivative from this circumstance. This lake is stated to be ten miles in its greatest length. We crossed it transversely in order to strike the inlet of the Mississippi, and encamped on the other side. In this transit we met a couple of Indian women in a canoe, who, being interrogated by the interpreter, stated that they came to observe whether the wild rice, which is quite an item of the Indian subsistence in this quarter, was matured enough to be tied into clusters for beating out. We estimated our advance this day, by the time denoted by the chronometer, at fifty-one miles.

      

      We were again in our canoes the next morning at half-past four o'clock. In coasting along the north shores of Winnipek Lake, an object of limy whiteness attracted our attention, which turned out to be a small island composed of granitical and other boulders, which had served as the resting-place of birds, for which the region above the Pakagama Falls is so remarkable. On landing, a dead pelican was stretched on the surface. We had not before observed this species on the river, and named the island Shayta, from its Chippewa name. The buzzard, cormorant, brant, eagle, and raven had hitherto constituted the largest species. Along the shores of the river, the king-fisher and heron had been frequent objects. With respect to the cormorant, it was observed that the Indians classify it with the species of duck, their name for it, ka-ga-ge-sheeb, signifying, literally, crow-duck.

      On again reaching the inlet of the Mississippi, its size and appearance corresponded so exactly to its character below the Winnipek, that it had evidently experienced but little or no change by passing through this lake. The same width and volume were observed which it had below this point; the same moderate velocity; the same borders of grassy savanna, and the same tendency to redouble its length, by its contortions, appeared. In some places, however, it approaches those extensive ridges of sandy formation, bearing pines, which traverse, or rather bound, these wide savannas. Through these channels the canoemen urged their course with their usual alacrity—now stopping a few moments to breathe, and then, striking their paddles again in the water with renewed vigor, and often starting off with one of their animated canoe-songs. From about eight o'clock in the morning till two in the afternoon we proceeded up the winding thread of this channel, when the appearance of a large body of water in the distance before us attracted attention. It was the first glimpse we had of the upper Red Cedar Lake. The Mississippi River here deploys itself in one of those large sheets of pellucid water which are so characteristic of its sources. On reaching the estuary at its entrance, a short halt was made. A large body of the most transparent water spread out before us. Its outlines, towards the south, were only bounded by the line of the horizon. In the distance appeared the traces of wooded islands. If Sandy Lake had, on emerging from the wilderness, impressed us with its rural beauty, this far transcended it in the variety and extent of outlines, and that oceanic amplitude of freshness, which so often inspires admiration in beholding the interior American lakes. It was determined to cross a part of the lake towards the north-east, in order to strike the site of an ancient Indian village at the mouth of Turtle River; and under the influences of a serene day, and one of their liveliest chants, the men pushed for that point, which was reached at three o'clock in the afternoon of the 21st July. The spot at which we landed was the verge of a green lawn, rising in a short distance to a handsome eminence, crowned with oaks and maples. One or two small log tenements stood on this slope occupied by two Canadians in the service of the American Fur Company. Several wigwams of bark and poles lifted their fragile conical forms on either side.

      In one of these tenements, consisting of a small cabin of poles, sheathed with bark, we found an object of human misery which excited our sympathies. It was in the person of one of the Canadians, to whom reference has been made, of the name of Montruille. He had, in the often severe peregrinations of the fur trade in this quarter, been caught in a snow-storm during the last winter, and frozen both his feet in so severe a manner that they eventually sloughed off, and he could no longer stand upright or walk. He lay on the ground in a most pitiable state of dejection, with the stumps of his legs bound up with deer skins, with a gray, long-neglected beard, and an aspect of extreme despair. English he could not speak; and the French he uttered was but an abuse of the noble gift of language to call down denunciations on those who had deserted him, or left him thus to his fate. A rush mat lay under him. He had no covering. He was emaciated to the last degree, every bone in his body seemed visible through the skin. His cheeks were fallen in, and his eyes sunk in their sockets, but darting a look of despair. His Indian wife had deserted him. Food, of an inadequate quality, was occasionally thrown in to him. Such were the accounts we received. Governor Cass directed groceries, ammunition, and presents of clothing to be made to him, to the latter of which, every member of the party added. He also engaged a person to convey him to Sandy Lake.

      We examined the environs of the place with interest; the village occupies the north banks of Turtle River Valley. Turtle River, which cuts its way through this slope and plain, constitutes the direct line of intercourse for the Indian trade, through Turtle and Red Lakes, to the Red River Valley of Hudson's Bay. On inquiry, we learned that this river had constituted the ancient Indian line of communication by canoes and portages, from time immemorial, with that valley, the distance to the extreme plateau, or summit, being about sixty miles. On this summit, within a couple of miles of each other, lie Turtle and Red Lakes, the one having its discharge into the Gulf of Mexico and the other into Hudson's Bay. When Canada was settled by the French, this aboriginal route was adopted. The fur companies of Great Britain, on coming into possession of the country, after the fall of Quebec, 1759, followed the same route. The factors of these companies told Lieutenant Pike, in 1806, at Sandy Lake and Leech Lake, that the Turtle portage was the only practicable route of communication to the Red River, and that it was the true source of the Mississippi; and they furnished him manuscript maps of the country conformable to these views. The region has actually been in possession of the Americans only since 1806, adopting the era of Pike's visit.

      By inquiry from the Chippewa Indians at this village, sanctioned by the Canadian authorities, we are informed that the Mississippi falls into the south end of Cass Lake, at the distance of eight or ten miles; that it reaches that point from the west, by a series of sharp rapids stretching over an extent of about forty miles from a large lake; [73] and that this celebrated stream originates in Lac la Biche, about six days' journey from our present position, and has many small lakes, rapids, and falls. It is further asserted by the Indians, that the water in these remote streams, and upon these rapids, is at all times shallow, but it is particularly so this season; and that it is not practicable to reach these remote sources of the river with boats, or large canoes of the size we have.

      On submitting these facts to the gentlemen composing his party, Governor Cass asked each one to give his views, beginning with the youngest, and to express his opinion on the feasibility of further explorations. They concurred in opinion that, in the present low state of the water on these summits, considering the impossibility of ascending them with our present craft, and in the actual state of our provisions, such an attempt was impracticable. Thereon, he announced his decision to rejoin our party at Sandy Lake, and to pursue the exploration of the river down its channel to the Falls of St. Anthony, to the inlet of the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers, and to return into the great lake basins, and complete their circumnavigation.

      Having reached the ultimate geographical point visited by the expedition, I thought it due to the energy and enlightened zeal of the gentleman who had led us, to mark the event by naming this body of water in my journal Cassina, or Cass Lake. СКАЧАТЬ