Read Ebook: Summary Narrative of an Exploratory Expedition to the Sources of the Mississippi River in 1820 Resumed and Completed by the Discovery of its Origin in Itasca Lake in 1832 by Schoolcraft Henry Rowe

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EXPEDITION OF 1820.

INTRODUCTION 17

PRELIMINARY DOCUMENTS 25

NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION 37

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 Andr?sian Lakes and up the Metoswa Rapids, forty-five miles--Queen Anne's Lake 223

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

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

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

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

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

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 Broul?, of Lake Superior--Return of the party to St. Mary's Falls, Michigan 265

Departmental Reports 279 General Cass's Official Report 280 " " Memoir suggesting further Explorations 285 " " Personal Testimonial 287 " " Communication on Indian Hieroglyphics, &c. 430 " " Queries respecting Indian History, &c. 438 Indian History and Languages 430 Topography and Astronomy 288 Mineralogy and Geology 292 Mr. Schoolcraft's Report on Copper Mines 292 " " on Geology and Mineralogy 303 " " on the Value of the Mineral Lands on Lake Superior 362 " Memoir on the Geology of Western New York 381 " on the Elementary Sounds of the Chippewa Language 442 Botany 408 Zoology 408 Meteorology 418

Indian Language 453 Mr. Schoolcraft's Essay on the Indian Substantive 453 " " on the Noun-Adjective 489 " " on the Principles of the Pronoun 502 Natural History 515 Conchology 515 Botany 519 Mineralogy and Geology 526 Mr. Schoolcraft's Remarks on the Occurrence of Silver 531 " General List of Mineral Localities 534 " Geological Outline of Taquimenon Valley 537 " Suggestions respecting the Epoch of the St. Mary's Sandstone 539

INTRODUCTION.

Charlevoix informs us that the discovery of the Mississippi River is due to father Marquette, a Jesuit missionary, who manifested the most unwearied enterprise in exploring the north-western regions of New France; and after laying the foundation of Michilimackinac, proceeded, in company with Sieur Joliet, up the Fox River of Green Bay, and, crossing the portage into the Wisconsin, first entered the Mississippi in 1673.

Robert de la Salle, to whom the merit of this discovery is generally attributed, embarked at Rochelle, on his first voyage of discovery, July 14, 1678; reached Quebec in September following, and, proceeding up the St. Lawrence, laid the foundation of Fort Niagara, in the country of the Iroquois, late in the fall of that year. In the following year, he passes up the Niagara River; estimates the height of the falls at six hundred feet; and proceeding through Lakes Erie, St. Clair, and Huron, reaches Michilimackinac in August. He then visits the Sault de St. Marie, and returning to Michilimackinac, continues his voyage to the south, with a view of striking the Mississippi River; passes into the lake of the Illinois; touches at Green Bay; and enters the River St. Joseph's, of Lake Michigan, where he builds a fort, in the country of the Miamies.

In December of the same year, he crosses the portage between the St. Joseph's and the Illinois; descends the latter to the lake, and builds a fort in the midst of the tribes of the Illinois, which he calls Crevecoeur. Here he makes a stand; sends persons out to explore the Mississippi, traffics with the Indians, among all of whom he finds abundance of Indian corn; and returns to Fort Frontenac, on Lake Ontario, in 1680. He revisits Fort Crevecoeur late in the autumn of the following year, and finally descends the Illinois, to its junction with the Mississippi, and thence to the embouchure of the latter in the Gulf of Mexico, where he arrives on the 7th of April, 1683, and calculates the latitude between 23? and 24? north.

The Spaniards had previously sought in vain for the mouth of this stream, and bestowed upon it, in anticipation, the name of Del Rio Ascondido. La Salle now returns to Quebec, by way of the Lakes, and from thence to France, where he is well received by the king, who grants him an outfit of four ships, and two hundred men, to enable him to continue his discoveries, and found a colony in the newly discovered territories. He leaves Rochelle in July, 1684, reaches the Bay of St. Louis, which is fifty leagues south of the Mississippi, in the Gulf of Mexico, in February following, where he builds a fort, founds a settlement, and is finally assassinated by one of his own party. The exertions of this enterprising individual, and the account which was published of his discoveries by the Chevalier Tonti, who had accompanied him in all his perilous expeditions, had a greater effect, in the French capital, in producing a correct estimate of the extent, productions, and importance of the Canadas, than all that had been done by preceding tourists; and this may be considered as the true era, when the eyes of politicians and divines, merchants and speculators, were first strongly turned towards the boundless forests, the sublime rivers and lakes, the populous Indian tribes, and the profitable commerce of New France.

Father Louis Hennepin was a missionary of the Franciscan order of Catholics, who accompanied La Salle on his first voyage from France; and after the building of Fort Crevecoeur, on the Illinois, was dispatched in company with three French voyageurs to explore the Mississippi River.

They departed from Fort Crevecoeur on the 29th of February, 1680, and dropping down the Illinois to its junction with the Mississippi, followed the latter an indeterminate distance towards the Gulf, not believed to be great, where they left some memorial of their visit, and immediately commenced their return. When they had proceeded up the Mississippi a hundred and fifty leagues above the confluence of the Illinois, they were taken prisoners by some Indian tribes, and carried towards its sources nineteen days' journey into the territories of the Naudowessies and Issati, where they were detained in captivity three or four months, and then suffered to return. The account which Hennepin published of his travels and discoveries, served to throw some new light upon the topography, and the Indian tribes of the Canadas; and modern geography is indebted to him for the names which he bestowed upon the Falls of St. Anthony and the River St. Francis.

In 1703, the Baron La Hontan, an unfrocked monk, published, in London, his voyages to North America, the result of a residence of six years in the Canadas. La Hontan served as an officer in the French army, and first went out to Quebec in 1683. During the succeeding four years he was chiefly stationed at Chambly, Fort Frontenac, Niagara, St. Joseph, at the foot of Lake Huron, and the Sault de St. Marie.

He arrives at Michilimackinac in 1688, and there first hears of the assassination of La Salle. In 1689 he visits Green Bay, and passes through the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers into the Mississippi. So far, his work appears to be the result of actual observation, and is entitled to respect; but what he relates of Long River appears wholly incredible, and can only be regarded as some flight of the imagination, intended to gratify the public taste for travels, during an age when it had been highly excited by the extravagant accounts which had been published respecting the wealth, population, and advantages of Peru, Mexico, the English and Dutch colonies, New France, the Illinois, and various other parts of the New World.

To convey some idea of this part of the Baron's work, it will be sufficient to observe that after travelling ten days above the mouth of the Wisconsin, he arrives at the mouth of a large stream, which he calls Long River, and which he ascends eighty-four days successively, during which he meets with numerous tribes of savages, as the Eskoros, Essenapes, Pinnokas, Mozemleeks, &c. He is attended a part of the way by five or six hundred, as an escort; sees at one time two thousand savages upon the shore; and states the population of the Essenapes at 20,000 souls; but this tribe is still inferior to the Mozemleeks in numbers, in arts, and in every other prerequisite for a great people. "The Mozemleek nation," he observes, "is numerous and puissant. The four slaves of that country informed me that, at the distance of 150 leagues from the place where I then was, their principal river empties itself into a salt lake of three hundred leagues in circumference, the mouth of which is about two leagues broad; that the lower part of that river is adorned with six noble cities, surrounded with stone, cemented with fat earth; that the houses of these cities have no roofs, but are open above like a platform; that, besides the above-mentioned cities, there are an hundred towns, great and small, round that sort of sea; that the people of that country make stuffs, copper axes, and several other manufactures, &c."

In 1721, P. De Charlevoix, the historian of New France, was commissioned by the French Government to make a tour of observation through the Canadas, and in addition to his topographical and historical account of New France, published a journal of his voyage through the Lakes. He was one of the most learned divines of his age, and although strongly tinctured with the doctrines of fatality, and disposed to view everything relative to the Indian tribes with the over-zealous eye of a Catholic missionary, yet his works bear the impress of a strong and well-cultivated mind, and abound in philosophical reflections, enlarged views, and accurate deductions; and, notwithstanding the lapse of a century, he must still be regarded as the most polished and illustrious traveller of the region. He first landed at Quebec in the spring of 1721, and immediately proceeded up the St. Lawrence to Fort Frontenac and Niagara, where he corrects the error into which those who preceded him had fallen, with respect to the height of the cataract. He proceeds through Lakes Erie, Huron, and Michigan, descends the Illinois and Mississippi to New Orleans, then recently settled, and embarks for France. The period of his visit was that, when the Mississippi Scheme was in the height of experiment, and excited the liveliest interest in the French metropolis; people were then engaged, in Louisiana, in exploring every part of the country, under the delusive hope of finding rich mines of gold and silver; and the remarks he makes upon the probability of a failure, were shortly justified by the event.

In 1760, Alexander Henry, Esq. visited the upper lakes, in the character of a trader, and devoted sixteen years to travelling over different parts of the north-western region of the Canadas and the United States. The result of his observations upon the topography, Indian tribes, and natural history of the country, was first published in 1809, and, as a volume of travels and adventures, is a valuable acquisition to our means of information. This work abounds in just and sensible reflections upon scenes, situations, and objects of the most interesting kind, and is written in a style of the most charming perspicuity and simplicity. He was the first English traveller of the region.

Between the years 1769 and 1772, Samuel Hearne performed a journey from Prince of Wales's Fort, in Hudson's Bay, to the Coppermine River of the Arctic Ocean. McKenkie's voyages to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans were performed in 1789 and 1793. Pike ascended the Mississippi in 1805 and 1806.

Such is a brief outline of the progress of discovery in the north-western regions of the United States, by which our sources of information have been from time to time augmented, and additional light cast upon the interesting history of our Indian tribes--their numbers and condition, and other particulars connected with the regions they inhabit. Still, it cannot be denied that, amidst much sound and useful information, there has been mingled no inconsiderable proportion that is deceptive, hypothetical, or false; and, upon the whole, that the progress of information has not kept pace with the increased importance which that section of the Union has latterly assumed--with the great improvements of society--and with the spirit and the enterprise of the times. A new era has dawned in the moral history of our country, and, no longer satisfied with mere geographical outlines and boundaries, its physical productions, its antiquities, and the numerous other traits which it presents for scientific research, already attract the attention of a great proportion of the reading community; and it is eagerly inquired of various sections of it--whose trade, whose agriculture, and whose population have been long known--what are its indigenous plants, its zoology, its geology, its mineralogy, &c. Of no part of it, however, has the paucity of information upon these, and upon other and more familiar subjects, been so great, as of the extreme north-western regions of the Union, of the great chain of lakes, and of the sources of the Mississippi River, which have continued to be the subject of dispute between geographical writers.

Impressed with the importance of these facts, Governor Cass, of Michigan, projected, in the fall of 1819, an expedition for exploring the regions in question, and presented a memorial to the Secretary of War upon the subject, in which he proposed leaving Detroit the ensuing spring, in Indian canoes, as being best adapted to the navigation of the shallow waters of the upper country, and to the numerous portages which it is necessary to make from stream to stream.

The specific objects of this journey were to obtain a more correct knowledge of the names, numbers, customs, history, condition, mode of subsistence, and dispositions of the Indian tribes; to survey the topography of the country, and collect the materials for an accurate map; to locate the site and purchase the ground for a garrison at the foot of Lake Superior; to investigate the subject of the north-western copper mines, lead mines, and gypsum quarries, and to purchase from the Indian tribes such tracts as might be necessary to secure to the United States the ultimate advantages to be derived from them. To accomplish these objects, it was proposed to attach to the expedition a topographical engineer, an astronomer, a physician, and a mineralogist and geologist, and some other scientific observers.

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