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Table of Contents

Brief detail of transactions at Cass Lake.—A select exploring party is organised here, for ascending to the actual source of the Mississippi.—Council with the Indians.—Speech of Oza Windib.—The Indians furnish canoes and guides.—Arrangement of the party.—Notice of a Warrior’s widow.—Scalp dance.—Facts respecting foreign interference in the trade of the Upper Mississippi.—The question of the use of ardent spirits in the trade.—Act of Congress of 1832, prohibiting it.—Departure of the exploring party.—Ascent to Pamitchi Gumaug, or Lac Travers.—Its elevation and size.—A Shingaba Wossin.—Image worship.—Bay.—Ultimate forks of the Mississippi.—Ascend the east fork.—Lake Marquette.—Lake La Salle.—Kubbakunna Lake.—Notices of the Natural History.

Having determined to organise a select party at this lake, to explore the source of the river, measures were immediately taken to effect it. A council of the Indians was assembled, and the object declared to them. They were requested to delineate maps of the country, and to furnish the requisite number of hunting canoes and guides. Oza Windib, said, “My father, the country you are going to see, is my hunting ground. I have travelled with you many days.4 I shall go with you farther. I will myself furnish the maps you have requested, and will guide you onward. There are many rapids in the way, but the waters are favorable. I shall consult with my band about the canoes, and see who will step forward to furnish them. My own canoe, shall be one of the number.”

Before night the maps were completed, and five different individuals, including Oza Windib, brought each a canoe of the proper size and laid it down. Two young men expressed their willingness to go, as additional guides. Seven engagés and a cook, were added to this number, making, with Lieut. J. Allen, (who declared he could push his men no farther, Doct. Douglass Houghton, the Reverend Wm. T. Boutwell, Mr. George Johnston, and myself,) sixteen persons. These, with their travelling beds, were distributed among five canoes, with provisions for ten days, a tent and poles, oil cloth, mess basket, tea-kettle, flag and staff, a medicine chest, some instruments, an herbarium, fowling pieces, and a few Indian presents. The detachment of infantry was left in their encampment on the island, under the command of their non-commissioned officer. The remainder of the party, with the baggage and travelling equipment, was placed in charge of Mr. Le Default, a clerk of one of the upper posts of trade, who was attached to the expedition from Fond du Lac, and obligingly undertook the acquisition of certain points of information, during the contemplated absence.

While these arrangements were in process, a mixed group of men, women, and children, from the Indian village, thronged our encampment. Among them I observed the widow of a Chippewa warrior, who had been killed some three or four weeks previous, in the foray of the Leech Lake war party, in the Sioux country. She was accompanied by her children and appeared dejected. I asked one of the Indians the place of her residence. He replied, here; that her husband had been a brave warrior, and went, on the call of the Leech Lake chief, with a number of volunteers, to join the party. I asked him, of what number the party consisted? He replied, about one hundred. Who had led them? The Gueuile Platte. Where they had met the enemy? South of the head of Leaf river. What had been the result of the action? They were victorious, having taken three scalps on the field, and lost but one, being the husband of the widow referred to. The action had however, been at long shots, with frequent changes of position, and the enemy had finally fled to a village for reinforcement. The Chippewas took this opportunity to retreat, and, after consultation, returned, bringing back the three scalps, as memorials of their prowess. These trophies had, we learned, been exhibited in the customary dances at Leech Lake, after which one of them was forwarded to Oza Windib’s band, to undergo a like ceremony. And it was finally presented to the widow.

It was now exhibited by the young men, in her behalf, for a purpose which was certainly new to me. Although I knew that this people were ingenious in converting most circumstances, connected with both fortune and misfortune, into a means of soliciting alms, I had never before seen the scalp of an enemy employed as a means of levying contributions. Such, however, was the purpose for which it was now brought forward. It was exhibited with all the circumstances of barbarian triumph. Shouts and dancing, intermingled with the sounds of the rattle, and Indian drum, form the conspicuous traits of such a scene. Short harangues, terminated by a general shout, fill up the pauses of the dance, and at this moment the drums cease. It was an outcry of this kind that first drew my attention to a neighboring eminence. I observed some of the simple bark enclosures, which mark the locality of a Chippewa burial ground. Near them, was erected a sort of triumphal arch, consisting of bent and tied saplings, from the arc formed by which, depended an object, which was said to be the remains of decaying scalps. Around this, was gathered a crowd of dancers, moving in a circle. The fresh scalp was suspended from a rod. Every time it waved, a new impulse seemed to be given to the shouting. The widow and her children were present. And the whole group of spectators, Canadians as well as Indians, appeared to regard the ceremony with an absorbing interest. In the brief pause, which separated each dance, presents were thrown in. And all that was given was deemed the property of the widow. This was the scalp dance.

Other incidents of the sojourn of the expedition on this island will be mentioned on the return of the party to it. A few may be added here.

Representations having been made to the Department, on the subject of foreign interference in the trade of the Upper Mississippi, a number of queries were addressed to an American trader, well acquainted with its geography and resources. I inquired of him, whether the American traders on that border, were strenuously opposed in their trade by the inhabitants of the Red river colony, or by the partners and clerks of the Hudson’s Bay Company. He replied that the inhabitants of Pembina, were in the habit of making temporary voyages of trade to Voleuse, or Thief river, south of the parallel of forty-nine degrees, but that they had not built or made a permanent stand there. He said, that the open nature of the country about the Red river settlement, gave great facilities for making short excursions into the Indian country, on horseback and in carts. But he did not know any place to which permanent outfits had been sent, except the river Souris, west of Red river. He believed that this traffic was carried on, exclusively, by the inhabitants of the colony and not by the Hudson’s Bay Company.

I asked him whether the Indians of the Lake of the Woods visited the post of Red Lake, and whether our traders were annoyed in their trade in that quarter by the servants of the Hudson’s Bay Company. He replied, that the Lac du Bois Indians came across to Red Lake ordinarily; that it is a three day’s journey; but that no annoyance is experienced in the trade of that part from the Hudson’s Bay factors. He was of opinion that they do not send outfits into any part of the territory south or west of the national boundary, beginning at Portage des Rats on the Lake of the Woods.

A quite different aspect was put upon the temper of this opposition by the Principal of this department of trade, who was met below. He complained of the influence which the Hudson’s Bay Company exert across the lines, and the moral character of the means which were resorted to, to induce the American Indians to go to their posts. He said that in 1831, (I think) one of his petty clerks had been induced to abscond with his outfit, and had been well received by one of the partners of the Hudson’s Bay Company. On inquiry, I found this clerk to be Mainville, one of the murderers of Keveny. He said that high wines was the great power of the supremacy of the Hudson’s Bay Company on the lines, and brought forward the usual arguments of those persons, who either deem ardent spirits essential to the success of the trade, or justify its temporary use on the principle of expediency.

It may here, in brief, be observed, that all such arguments plausible as they may appear, are founded on a false principle. They assume the existence of an evil, which is alleged to be so fixed, that it is better to tolerate it, than to run the risk of uprooting it; as if it were better to submit to a disease, than to attempt its cure, by a removal of its causes. No trader, will however, deny the existence of the evil, as an abstract question. Neither is it denied, that ardent spirits is a tax upon the trade, in the exact ratio of its entire cost, doubled, and trebled, and quadrupled, as this cost is by the expense of interior transportation. But the question is, “Who shall begin to give up its use?” This is a question internally, between trader and trader, externally, between company and company. As such it has been bandied between New-York and London, the seats of commercial power. But neither side has felt the requisite degree of confidence, to risk the experiment of a voluntary arrangement for its entire exclusion from the lines.5 Congress has terminated this question, so far as it respects American citizens, by an act of the 9th of July, of the present year, (1832,) which contains this provision: “That no ardent spirits shall be hereafter introduced, under any pretence, into the Indian country.” The enforcement of this act, has been rigidly enjoined, and it is in the process of successful execution. Posterity will probably regard this measure as reflecting more honor upon our national legislation, than if we had decreed a hundred monuments to fallen greatness. But we are writing a homily, where we intended to offer a few hints, and must hie to the labor of the journey before us. Every arrangement being completed on the evening of the 10th, we embarked, at the island, at three o’clock the next morning. Our course lay westward, through a strait, formed by the approach of a part of the island, to a part of the main shore. We then passed two islands, called Garden and Elm islands. The morning was too hazy to give us any extensive prospect of the lake, or its shores. We had been a little more than an hour in motion, when we found ourselves nearing the western head of the lake, and the men soon shoved our canoes upon a sandy beach, with the exclamation of un portage. We found this portage to extend about fifty yards, over a plain of sand, bearing pine, and terminating on the banks of a small lake. Through this lake the Mississippi has its course, and the two lakes are connected by a circuitous channel, which might, perhaps, have occupied a half, or three quarters of an hour, to ascend. The lake, for which we heard no name, is several miles in extent. We passed it transversely, and entered the channel of the river on its western border. It presents a still current, with an edging of savannah, which, at no great distance above, is again expanded around the margin of another lake, called Tascodiac.6 Hills of sand, covered with yellow pines, here present themselves, and the river exhibits for several miles above, either a sand bank, or a savannah border. Time is the only measure of distance, which we had the means of referring to. About eight o’clock, rapid water was encountered, and at this point, which may be fifteen miles above Cass Lake, the meadow lands cease. Boulders, of a primitive character, are found on the rapids. The rapids are such, in their force and inequality of depth, as to require the men frequently to wade, and pull up the canoes. There are, say, ten of these principal rapids, in the ensuing twenty or twenty-five miles, at which distance, we reach the most northern point of the Mississippi, which is marked by the fine expanse of the Pamitchi Gumaug, or Lac Travers. This lake may be fifty feet above the level of Cass Lake. It is about 12 miles long, from north to south, and six or seven broad, with elevated shores, presenting to the eye a beautiful vista of hard wood groves.

We landed a few moments, on the right hand shore in entering it, to examine an object, which the men had been conversing of on the way, namely, a Shingaba Wossin. It proved to be a boulder of gneiss rock, water worn, so as to present the figure of a rude shaft, with an entablature, but not exceeding in weight, the maximum of a man’s strength. One of the canoe-men lifted it. It had been set up, on its base, and was decorated with a ring of red paint. The name may be freely translated Image Stone, and has no reference to the composition of the mass, any farther than that the name is usually found to be applied to rocks of the primitive kind, both from the liability of this class of rocks to assume these forms, and from their hardness, which has enabled them to endure the power of attrition. Offerings are usually left at such rude altars, and they afford, perhaps, the nearest approach to idol worship, in its grosser forms, which an examination of our Indian customs, present. The soil, at this spot, appeared to be rather rich, bearing a growth of elm, soft maple and white ash.

We were an hour in crossing the lake south-westwardly, and were impressed with the extent and beauty of the prospect. On gaining the opposite shore, we found the Mississippi flowing with a brisk and deep current into it, and exhibiting a width of, perhaps one hundred and fifty feet. In landing, a few moments, at this point, we found the beach strewed with small shells, both uniones, and helices. A log house, used as a winter trading camp, stood a few hundred yards northwardly. And this may be referred to, as the most advanced trading location on the main waters of this river.

Lac Travers is separated by a short channel, from a bay or lake of moderate dimensions, which is, from its proximity, considered a part of the main lake, although the current of the separating channel, indicates the latter to be rather a river than a strait. It will be convenient to refer to it, as it is from this point that the Mississippi, which has now been pursued to its utmost northing, is ascended directly south. About four miles above this bay, the Mississippi has its ultimate forks, being formed of an east and west branch, of which the west branch is decidedly the largest, and considerably the longest. Reasons indicated by our guide, induced him to conduct us up the east branch, which we soon found expanded into a small lake, denoted Marquette, and not far above, into another, denoted La Salle. We were twenty-four minutes in passing through the last, and on leaving it, found the stream strikingly diminished in volume, with a limited depth, and a vegetation of a more decidedly alpine character. About four miles above the latter, the stream expands into a lake some six or seven miles in length, and about half that distance in width. This lake, which is called Kubbakunna, The Rest in the Path, presented a pleasing aspect, after the sombre vegetation, we had passed below. Rushes, however, were abundant toward its head, and we found the ground too low and wet for encamping. After ascending the river, for a distance, we put ashore for the night, at a point of woods extending into the marsh-land, constituting the river margin. The soil at this place, appeared to be of the most frigid character. A carpet of moss covered it, which the foot sank deep into, at every step. The growth was exclusively small grey pine, with numerous dead branches below, and strikingly festooned with flowing moss. Nearer the margin of the river, alder, tamarack, and willow, occupied the soil. As night approached it commenced raining, which served to add to the natural gloom of the spot.

Notices of the natural history of the country, during this day’s journey are meagre. The principal growth of forest trees, out of the immediate valley, is pine. The plants appear to present little variety, and consist of species peculiar to moist, cold, or elevated situations. Water fowl are abundant, and were frequently shot. Among the number brought in from the different canoes, in the evenings, were the duck and mallard, wood-duck, and saw-bill. One of the latter species, had a unio firmly attached to its lower mandible, having been in the act of opening it when shot.