A Life on the American Frontiers: Collected Works of Henry Schoolcraft. Henry Rowe Schoolcraft

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СКАЧАТЬ manner than had been done at Sandy Lake, the objects of the visit. On closing the address, the presents and provisions designed for these bands, were issued to them. Kwiwizainsish, or the Grosse Gueule, Soangikumig, or the Strong Ground, White Fisher, and the son of Pugusainjigun, were the principal speakers in reply. The peculiarities in the speech of each, may be adverted to.

      The Grosse Gueule, observed, that, as the line was a question between the Chippewas and Sioux, a firm peace could never exist, until the line was surveyed and marked, so that each party could see where it ran. This was wanted in the section of country, immediately west of them. The Sioux, were in the habit of trespassing on it. And when their own hunters went out, in the pursuit of game, they did not like to stop short of the game, and they saw no marked line to stop them. He said that it had been promised at the treaty at Prairie du Chien, that the line should be run, and he wished me to convey his words on the subject, to the President. He was in favor of peace now as he had been, when he had met the Government in council at Tipisagi, and at Fond du Lac.

Soangikumig,19 said, through his brother, that he had taken a part in defending the lines. He hoped that they might be made plain, so that each party could see them. As it was, a perpetual pretence was given, for crossing the path, (or lines.) It must be expected that the peace would often be broken, when it could be, so easily.

      Wabojeeg, or the White Fisher, stated that he had given his influence to peace counsels. He had been present at the treaty of Fond du Lac. The Sandy Lake Indians had been lately reproached, as it were, for their pacific character, by hearing the Leech Lake war party passing so near to them. (This party went up Long Prairie River.) He hoped the same advice given to Chippewas, would be given to Sioux. If the Sioux would not come over the lines, they, (the Chippewas,) would not go over them. He thought the lines might have been differently run. Their hunters always came out of Sauc river, which had been given up to the Sioux. But as they had been agreed to, by their old Chiefs, who were now gone, (he referred particularly to the late Katawabida, and Babisikundadi,) it would be best to let them remain.

      Nittum Egabowa, or the Front Standing Man, confined his speech to personal topics. He said the medal he wore, and by virtue of which, he claimed the Chieftainship, had been presented to his deceased father, at the treaty of Prairie du Chien. He presented a pipe.

      Ascertaining the trading house of a Mr. Baker to be near our encampment, after closing the council, we embarked and descended the Mississippi about eighteen miles to Prairie Piercée. Intelligence had reached this place a few days before, by way of St. Peter’s, of open hostilities among the Saucs and Foxes, and we here saw a western paper, giving an account of an action with the militia on River Rock, the murder of St. Vrain, the agent for these tribes, and other particulars indicating the frontier to be irretrievably plunged into an Indian war.

      At this point, (i. e. the mouth of the De Corbeau) a remote point in our north-western geography, the route, of which the preceeding sketches give an outline, intersects that of the expedition to the sources of the Mississippi, under the direction of the present Secretary of War, Gov. Cass, in 1820. And in order that no part of the present volume may be considered as going over grounds pre-occupied by the details embraced in our “Narrative Journal of Travels,” the account of the present expedition is here terminated.

      In submitting it to the public, it is conceived suitable to remark, that it has been accomplished, from beginning to end, without the use of so much as a drop of ardent spirits, of any kind, either by the men upon whom the fatigues of the labor fell, or by the gentlemen who composed the exploring party. This fact itself might be deemed an empty annunciation, were it not in my power to add the gratifying result, that no diminution of the strength or capacity of the men to perform their labor has been, at any time experienced; nor has any sickness at all supervened. At no stage of the journey, have the men, who were originally engaged with a distinct understanding on this point, asked for or required any liquor, or evinced any murmuring that it had been excluded from the supplies. But even, where the labor was most severe, on portages, in morasses, or in crossing highlands, they have evinced a readiness, a cheerfulness, and an ability for sustaining continued fatigue, which has often been the subject of remark and commendation by the party. Often when the day’s work was done, when they had labored hard at the paddle or carrying-strap, and sometimes when even a portion of the night had been added to it, they showed a joyful spirit in the encampment. And they frequently went to gather wood, after such fatigues, for supplying the night fires, with the boatman’s song.

      Another fact, may, with equal pleasure, be recorded, and it seems intimately connected, in its influence with the preceeding. No Sabbath day was employed in travelling. It was laid down as a principle, to rest on that day, and wherever it overtook us, whether on the land, or on the water, the men knew that their labor would cease, and that the day would be given them for rest. Such of them as felt the inclination, had the further privilege of hearing a portion of the scriptures read, or expounded, or uniting in other devotional rites. There were but a few hours of a single morning and a few hours of a single evening, of separate Sabbaths, at distant points, which were necessarily employed in reaching particular places. And the use of these appeared to be unavoidable under the particular circumstances of our local position. It may, perhaps, be thought, that the giving up of one seventh part of the whole time, employed on a public expedition in a very remote region, and with many men to subsist, must have, in this ratio, increased the time devoted to the route. But the result was far otherwise. The time devoted to recruit the men, not only gave the surgeon of the party an opportunity to heal up the bruises and chafings they complained of, but it replenished them with strength; they commenced the week’s labor with renewed zest, and this zest was, in a measure, kept up by the reflection, that the ensuing Sabbath would be a day of rest. It was found by computing the whole route, and comparing the time employed, with that which had been devoted on similar routes, in this part of the world, that an equal space had been gone over, in less time, than it had ever been known to be performed, by loaded canoes, or (as the fact is) by light canoes, before. And the whole expedition, its incidents and results, have been of a character furnishing strong reasons for uniting in ascriptions of praise to that Eternal Power, who hath been our shield from “the pestilence that walketh in darkness, and from the destruction that wasteth at noon-day.”

      EXPLORATORY TRIP

       THROUGH THE

       ST. CROIX AND BURNTWOOD

       (OR BRULÉ) RIVERS.

       Table of Contents

       ST. CROIX and MISACODA or BURNTWOOD RIVERS.

      INTRODUCTORY MEMORANDA.

       Table of Contents

      The principal points at which the waters of the Mississippi river communicate, by interlocking rivers and portages, with the lakes, are the following, proceeding from south to north, namely,

      1. By the Illinois and Chicago Creek, (with Lake Michigan.)

      2. By the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers, (with Green Bay.)

      3. By the Chippewa and Mushkee (or Mauvais) Rivers, (with Lake Superior.)

      4. By the St. Croix and Burntwood (or Brulé) Rivers, (do.)

      5. By the Savanne and St. Louis Rivers, (do.)

      The СКАЧАТЬ