The Expeditions of Zebulon Montgomery Pike, Volume 1 (of 3) / To Headwaters of the Mississippi River Through Louisiana Territory, and in New Spain, During the Years 1805-6-7.
Date: 2013-09-21T00:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Mississippi River -- Description and travel; West (U.S.) -- Description and travel; West (U.S.) -- History -- To 1848; New Mexico -- Description and travel; Pike; Zebulon Montgomery; 1779-1813 -- Travel -- West (U.S.); West (U.S.) -- Discovery and exploration

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Title: The Expeditions of Zebulon Montgomery Pike, Volume 1 (of 3)

Author: Zebulon Montgomery Pike

Editor: Elliott Coues

Release date: September 21, 2013 [eBook #43774]
Most recently updated: October 23, 2024

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EXPEDITIONS OF ZEBULON MONTGOMERY PIKE, VOLUME 1 (OF 3) ***

Transcriber's Note:

Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation in the original document have been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.

In Table D on page 283, a symbol for "per" has been replaced with the word per.

Footnote numbering, which in the original restarted at "1" with every chapter, has been prepended with OP (Original Preface), NP (New Preface), M (Memoir), or the Roman chapter number (e.g. VI-7 for the 7th note of chapter 6).

In Footnote M-6, 1892 should probably be 1792.

On page 216, the barometer reading for August 25th seems to be missing a digit.

This book is the first of three volumes. Volume 2 is available at http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/43775. Volume 3 is available at http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/43776. It contains an Index and Maps.

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Pike's Expeditions.

VOLUME I.

Edition Limited to Eleven Hundred and Fifty Copies.

Nos. 1 to 150 on Handmade Paper.
Nos. 151 to 1150 on Fine Book Paper.

No.................

THE EXPEDITIONS
OF
Zebulon Montgomery Pike,

To Headwaters of the Mississippi River,
Through Louisiana Territory, and in New Spain,
During the Years 1805-6-7.

A NEW EDITION,

Now First Reprinted in Full from the Original of 1810,
With Copious Critical Commentary,
Memoir of Pike, New Map and other Illustrations,
and Complete Index,

BY
ELLIOTT COUES,

Late Captain and Assistant Surgeon, United States Army,
Late Secretary and Naturalist, United States Geological Survey,
Member of the National Academy of Sciences,
Editor of Lewis and Clark,
etc., etc., etc.

IN THREE VOLUMES.

Vol. I.

Memoir of the Author—Mississippi Voyage.

NEW YORK:
FRANCIS P. HARPER.
1895.

Copyright, 1895,
BY
FRANCIS P. HARPER,
New York.

All rights reserved.

Dedication.

TO THE PRESIDENT AND MEMBERS OF THE
U. S. M. P. S.

Fellow Soldiers and Citizens:

In presuming to claim your protection and patronage for the following production, I feel less diffidence, knowing that the very institution of the society will plead in my favor, it being avowedly formed for the promotion of military knowledge.

The work is merely a volume of details, and if it should be found that in the relation I have delivered myself with perspicuity and exactitude, it is the highest meed of praise that I claim. When I touched on abstract subjects, or presumed to hypothesize, I have merely suggested doubts without conclusions, which, if deemed worthy, may hereafter be analyzed by men of genius and science. It being a work which has arisen from the events of youthful military exertions, the author, perhaps, has the most just and well-founded ground for a hope that it may receive the solicited approbation of your honorable institution.

I am, gentlemen, with the greatest respect and high consideration,

Your obedient servant,

Z. M. PIKE,

Major 6th Regt. Infantry,
M. U. S. M. P. Society.

CONTENTS OF VOL I.

PAGES
Original Preface, | i-iv
New Preface, | v-xviii*
Memoir of Zebulon Montgomery Pike, | xix-cxiv
PART I.
The Mississippi Voyage.
CHAPTER I.
Itinerary: St. Louis to St. Paul, August 9th-September 21st, 1805, | 1-81
CHAPTER II.
Itinerary, Continued: St. Paul to Leech Lake, September 22d, 1805-January 31st, 1806, | 82-151
CHAPTER III.
Itinerary, Concluded: Leech Lake to St. Louis, February 1st-April 30th, 1806, | 152-215
CHAPTER IV.
Weather Diary of the Mississippi, | 216-220
CHAPTER V.
Correspondence and Conferences, | 221-273
CHAPTER VI.
Commerce of the Mississippi, | 274-286
CHAPTER VII.
Geography of the Mississippi, | 287-336
CHAPTER VIII.
Ethnography of the Mississippi, | 337-354
CHAPTER IX.
Vocabulary of Mississippian Place-names, | 355, 356

PREFACE TO THE ORIGINAL EDITION.

To the Public:

Books of travels, journals, and voyages have become so numerous, and are so frequently impositions on the public, that the writer of the following sheets feels under an obligation to explain, in some measure, the original circumstances that led to the production of this volume. Soon after the purchase of Louisiana by an enlightened administration, measures were taken to explore the then unknown wilds of our western country—measures founded on principles of scientific pursuits, combined with a view of entering into a chain of philanthropic arrangements for ameliorating the condition of the Indians who inhabit those vast plains and deserts. His Excellency, Meriwether Lewis, then a captain of the first regiment of infantry, was selected by the President of the United States, in conjunction with Captain C. Clarke [Wm. Clark], to explore the then unknown sources of the Missouri, and I was chosen to trace the Mississippi to its source, with the objects in view contemplated by my instructions; to which I conceived my duty as a soldier should induce me to add an investigation into the views of the British traders in that quarter as to trade, and an inquiry into the limits of the territories of the United States and Great Britain. As a man of humanity and feeling, I made use of the name of my government to stop the savage warfare which had for ages been carried on by two of the most powerful nations of aborigines in North America. Why I did not execute the power vested in me by the laws of the country, to ruin the British traders and enrich myself, by seizing on the immense property of the North West Company, which I found in the acknowledged boundary of the United States, will be explained by my letter to Hugh M'Gillis, Esq., to whom I own eternal gratitude for his polite and hospitable treatment of myself and party.

In the execution of this voyage I had no gentleman to aid me, and I literally performed the duties (as far as my limited abilities permitted) of astronomer, surveyor, commanding officer, clerk, spy, guide, and hunter; frequently preceding the party for miles in order to reconnoiter, and returning in the evening, hungry and fatigued, to sit down in the open air, by firelight, to copy the notes and plot the courses of the day.

On my return from the Mississippi voyage, preparations were making for a second, which was to be conducted by another gentleman of the army; but General Wilkinson solicited as a favor that which he had a right to command, viz., that I would agree to take charge of the expedition. The late dangers and hardships I had undergone, together with the idea of again leaving my family in a strange country, distant from their connections, made me hesitate; but the ambition of a soldier, and the spirit of enterprise which was inherent in my breast, induced me to agree to his proposition. The great objects in view by this expedition, as I conceived in addition to my instructions, were to attach the Indians to our government, and to acquire such geographical knowledge of the southwestern boundary of Louisiana as to enable our government to enter into a definitive arrangement for a line of demarkation between that territory and North Mexico.

In this expedition I had the assistance of Lieutenant James [D.] Wilkinson, and also of Dr. John H. Robinson, a young gentleman of science and enterprise, who volunteered his services. I also was fitted out with a complete set of astronomical and mathematical instruments, which enabled me to ascertain the geographical situation of various places to a degree of exactitude that would have been extremely gratifying to all lovers of science, had I not been so unfortunate as to lose the greater part of my papers by the seizure of the Spanish government.

With respect to the great acquisitions which might have been made to the sciences of botany and zoölogy, I can only observe that neither my education nor taste led me to the pursuit; and if they had, my mind was too much engrossed in making arrangements for our subsistence and safety to give time to scrutinize the productions of the countries over which we traveled, with the eye of a Linnæus or Buffon; yet Dr. Robinson did make some observations on those subjects, which he has not yet communicated. With respect to the Spanish part, it has been suggested to me by some respected friends that the picture I drew of the manners, morals, etc., of individuals generally of New Spain, if a good likeness, was certainly not making a proper return for the hospitality and kindness with which those people honored me. Those reasons have induced me to omit many transactions, and draw a veil over various habits and customs which might appear in an unfavorable point of view, at the same time that I have dwelt with delight on their virtues.

There have not been wanting persons of various ranks who have endeavored to infuse the idea into the minds of the public that the last voyage was undertaken through some sinister designs of General Wilkinson; and although this report has been amply refuted by two letters from the Secretary of War, published with this work, yet I cannot forbear, in this public manner, declaring the insinuation to be a groundless calumny, arising from the envenomed breasts of persons who, through enmity to the general, would, in attempting his ruin, hurl destruction on all those who, either through their official stations or habits of friendship, ever had any connection with that gentleman.

As a military man—as a soldier from the time I was able to bear arms—it cannot be expected that a production of my pen can stand the test of criticism; and I hope, by this candid appeal to the justice and indulgence of the learned, to induce them to spare their censure if they cannot award their praise.

The gentleman who prints this work knows under what a variety of disadvantages it has gone to the press.[OP-1] At a distance during its publication, and engaged in my professional duties, it was impossible to give to it that attention which, in order to reach its proper degree of correctness, such a work necessarily would require.

Z. M. Pike.

PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION.

Pike's expeditions were the first military and the second governmental explorations which were pushed to any considerable extent in our then newly acquired territory of Louisiana. The name and fame of the brilliant young soldier who impersonated the authority of the United States over all the ground between British and Spanish possessions are thus inseparably linked with those of Lewis and Clark in the beginning of our history of the Great West—a West so great that it reached from the Mississippi to the Pacific. The two movements were similar in scope and plan; both were in the nature of claiming possession of property; they were alike fruitful of permanent good results; but they differed entirely in the circumstances under which each was devised, and to a marked degree in their respective purposes. Lewis and Clark's enterprise originated with the President of the United States; and though both of the men to whom that most memorable exploration was confided were officers of the regular army, their military organization was entirely subservient to affairs of state, being simply designed to secure the most efficient discipline in the discharge of certain civilian duties. Jefferson had invested heavily in real estate; the Louisiana purchase had been made with the people's money; he naturally wished to know what sort of a bargain he had made with Napoleon; so he sent Lewis and Clark to explore the vast extent of country he had bought. While their faces were still fixed on the setting sun, which for them still dipped behind the shining snow-caps, Pike set forth on his first journey northward; while they were homeward bound from the South Sea by way of the mighty Missouri and the rugged Roche Jaune, he was pressing on his second way toward the Mexican mountains. Both his expeditions originated with the commander-in-chief of the army; both were as strictly military in method as in purpose. Pike was the simon-pure and simple soldier, who had been ordered by his general to carry our flag among British traders and Sioux, Ojibways, and other Indians of the Northwest, in the first instance; in the second place, to display that emblem of authority among the Osages, Pawnees, and Comanches, and plant that standard of the republic on the still disputed boundary of New Spain in the Southwest. All else that he accomplished was incidental to Wilkinson's main aim. How daring were Pike's exploits, these volumes testify. Their moral effect was enormous; their results proved far-reaching; and some of these are still in evidence of intrepid adventure pushed to successful issue.

If the record of Pike's expeditions be overshadowed by the history of still greater and partly prior achievement, we may remember that its luster is dimmed only in comparison with the incomparable story of Lewis and Clark. If this witness of arduous duty ardently done in the service of his country stand dumb before that startling tragedy which set the seal of sacrifice upon a devoted life, we may reflect that such a consummation of noble aspirations but capped the climax of unswerving patriotism and unwavering fidelity to lofty ideals when it transfigured the already celebrated explorer into a national hero and a popular idol. Pike's personality is not less picturesque than is his career unique; our interest in his character becomes vivid as we study its manifestations, and perhaps even outgrows that regard we may bestow upon those of his achievements which have passed into permanent history. The present volumes tell his own story, in his own way; they are autobiographical in all that relates to the principal incidents and most stirring scenes of his life, before that final catastrophe which turned the tide of international warfare. If the narrative never halted at the point of an unaccustomed pen it would not be Pike's, and it would lack a certain quality which not even a Biddle could impart to the more polished and finished history of Lewis and Clark. It now seems probable that both books will endure, side by side, so long as any interest in the beginnings of our Great West finds a place in the hearts of the people.

Pike anticipated Lewis and Clark by about four years in bringing the results of his partly simultaneous explorations before the public. Since the first appearance of his work, there has never been a time when it has not been cited by scholars as an original authority in the many matters of historical, geographical, ethnological, and related interests of which it treats. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that Pike has never been so widely or so well known as he deserves to be in his double character of traveler and author. The soldier could hardly desire greater fame than fell to the happy lot of the hero of York, victorious in death; but what of his life? Who was this General Pike before that? Who was Lieutenant or Captain Pike—where did he go exploring—what did he discover—how should we know? In searching contemporaneous records of the War of 1812 for biographical data in the preparation of the Memoir which introduces these volumes, it was always the great soldier—General Pike—whom I found, with scant recognition, if anything more than mere mention, of the still greater explorer—the youthful, the dashing and winning, the ardent and enthusiastic lieutenant, who dreamed of glory till his dream came true. The fact would seem to be that Pike's death on the field of battle, under exceptionally thrilling circumstances, obscured rather than accentuated those earlier exploits which set his title to fame in the clearest and truest light. Probably no good general would have failed in what Pike accomplished on the day of his death; but how many subalterns in their twenties have won imperishable renown by achievements in the field of exploration? One purpose I had in view in preparing a new edition of this work will have been subserved if I have succeeded in eliminating a certain popular aberration, in calculating aright the parallax of Pike as viewed from different standpoints, and in thus placing his name in proper historical perspective.

Nearly or quite all that an editor might be expected to say in his preface concerning the subject-matter of his author will be found to have been said already in one place or another in the course of the extensive and minute commentary which appears upon almost every page of the present edition. Nevertheless, so few are the persons who have any clear or coherent ideas on the subject of Pike's performances, that it will be to consult the convenience of most readers who may take up this book to give here a brief statement of his journeyings.

Pike conducted two entirely separate and distinct expeditions. One of them, in 1805-6, was from St. Louis by way of the Mississippi to the headwaters of this river, and return—for the most part by the same way he went. This round trip, which I have called the "Mississippi Voyage," forms Pt. 1 of his book. The other expedition was taken westward from St. Louis into the interior parts of the then Louisiana, to the sources of the Arkansaw river, and among the Rocky mountains of present Colorado. In so far as Pike protracted this exploration of his own volition, it forms Pt. 2 of his book, which I have designated the "Arkansaw Journey." But at one point in the course of this journey Pike was captured by the Spaniards, and conducted against his will by a roundabout way through Mexico to the then Spanish-American boundary between Texas and Louisiana. This episode, unflattering to Pike's sensibilities, if not wholly unforeseen by him, he saw fit to make the subject of Pt. 3 of his book; I have entitled it the "Mexican Tour."

I. In July, 1805, Pike was ordered by General Wilkinson to explore and report upon the Mississippi river from St. Louis to its source, select sites for military posts, treat with the Indians, make peace if possible between the Sioux and Ojibways, and find out what he could about the British traders who still occupied posts in our newly acquired territory. Excepting these establishments of the Northwest Company, there were then no white settlements on or near the river beyond the village of Prairie du Chien, and our flag had never flown in that quarter. Pike navigated his boats to the vicinity of present Little Falls, but could get them no further. He there built a stockade, in which some of his men were left for the winter, and with the rest pushed on by land along the river to Lower Red Cedar Lake—Sandy lake—Grand rapids and Pokegama falls—mouth of Leech Lake river—up the latter to Leech lake—and thence to Upper Red Cedar (now Cass) lake, at the mouth of Turtle river. This was the furthest point he reached. He considered the Leech Lake drainage-area—which I have called the Pikean source—to be the true origin of the Mississippi, and remained in ignorance of the fact that this river flowed into Cass lake from such lakes as Bemidji and Itasca, though these and others were already known to some of the whites. Returning from Cass to Leech lake, and thence, by a more direct overland route than he had before taken, to the Mississippi in the vicinity of Lower Red Cedar lake, he descended the river to his stockade, picked up the men who had wintered there, and as soon as the ice broke up started in boats for St. Louis, which he reached in safety with all his party in April, 1806.

II. In July, 1806, Pike left St. Louis on his second expedition. He ascended the Missouri to the Osage, and the latter to the villages of the Indians of that name. Thence he continued westward overland, entered Kansas, and proceeded to the Pawnee village on the Republican river, near the present Kansas-Nebraska line. Turning southward, he reached the Arkansaw river at the present site of Great Bend. There he dispatched his junior officer, Lieutenant Wilkinson, with a few men, to descend the Arkansaw, while with the rest of his company he ascended the same river into Colorado, as far as Pueblo. From this point he made an unsuccessful side-trip which had for its object the ascent of the since famous peak which bears his name, and returned to his camp at Pueblo. Thence pushing up the Arkansaw, he was halted by the Grand cañon, at the site of present Cañon City. He then made a detour to the right, which took him up Oil creek into South Park. He traversed this park, along the South Platte and some of its tributaries, left it by way of Trout Creek pass, and was thus again brought to the Arkansaw. He pushed up this river till he viewed its sources, in the vicinity of present Leadville, turned about, and with great difficulty descended it to the very camp he had left at Cañon City. This part of his journey was not accomplished without much hardship, and ended in chagrin; for he had fancied himself on the headwaters of that Red river whose sources he had been pointedly instructed to discover. Nothing was known at that time, to Americans, of the origin of that great branch of the Mississippi which was called Red river lower down; nor was it known till years afterward that what the Spaniards had called high up by a name equivalent to Red river was really that main fork of the Arkansaw which is now designated the Canadian river, whose sources are in the mountains not far from Santa Fé. This was the river which Pike might have found, had his search been more fortunately directed, though neither he nor any other American was aware of that fact at the time. Nevertheless, he determined to carry out his orders to the letter, and with more courage than discretion pushed southward from his camp at Cañon City to discover an elusive Red river. He passed up that tributary of the Arkansaw which is now called Grape creek, and thus into the Wet Mountain valley. There the party suffered almost incredibly from cold and hunger; some of the men were frozen and crippled for life. But Pike managed to extricate himself and most of his companions from their perilous situation by crossing the Sangre de Cristo range through the Sand Hill pass into the San Luis valley, where he found himself on the Rio Grande del Norte. He descended this river to the Rio Conejos, and there established himself in a stockade—in part at least for the purpose of tarrying while he sent a small party back for those of the men who had been left behind, both at Cañon City and in Wet Mountain valley.

The secret which underlay Pike's ostensible instructions from General Wilkinson, and the mystery which is supposed to have enshrouded his movements on this portion of his second expedition, are fully discussed in my notes, at various points in Pike's narrative or in my Memoir, where the subject obtrudes. Without going into any particulars here, it is to be said simply that Pike may have been ordered to proceed to Santa Fé—or as near that capital of Spanish New Mexico as he could go with the force at his command—without being informed of whatever ulterior designs the general of the army may have entertained.

III. Pike was captured in his stockade, with the few men he had left about him, by Spanish dragoons, under the orders of General Allencaster, then governor of New Mexico. The message he received from his captors was disguised under the form of a polite invitation to visit the governor at Santa Fé. On the 27th of February, 1807, he left his post as a prisoner in the hands of a half-hostile foreign power, accompanied by the remnant of his men. They were treated with great forbearance—nay, with distinguished consideration; nevertheless, Pike was brought to book before the authorities, and required to explain how he had happened to invade Spanish territory with an armed force. Governor Allencaster then ordered him to report to General Salcedo at Chihuahua; he was accordingly escorted by the military down the Rio Grande from Santa Fé to El Paso, and thence by the usual route southward, in what was then New Biscay, to the first named city. From this capital he was conducted, still under guard, through a portion of what is now the State of Durango, around by the Bolson de Mapimi, thence northward throughout Coahuila, and so on to San Antonio. Continuing through Texas, he was finally delivered out of the hands of his Spanish hosts and captors, on crossing the river which in part bounds our present State of Louisiana; and ended his long peregrination at Natchitoches, among his own countrymen.

At this point the author's narrative ends abruptly, so far as any itinerary of his movements is concerned. We are not even told what became of the men who did not accompany him to Natchitoches—those who were left behind when he started from the Rio Conejos, either at that point, or in the Wet Mountain valley, or on the Arkansaw. It had been understood, and was fully expected, that they were all to follow him through Mexico under Spanish escort. It is probable that they did so, and that all were finally restored to the United States. But at the last word we have on the subject from Pike himself, eight persons were still detained in Mexico. (See p. 855.)

If the reader will now turn to p. xxxvi, he will find there and on some following pages an analysis of the original edition of Pike's work, together with an exposition of the wholly exceptional editorial difficulty of reproducing such a complicated affair in anything like good book form. The author, like many another gallant soldier, versed in the arts of war, was quite innocent of literary strategy, though capable of heading an impetuous assault upon the parts of speech. He may have acquired an impression, by no means confined to his own profession, that a book is made by putting manuscript in a printing-press and stirring it about with a composing-stick, which, like a magic wand that some kind fairy waves in an enchanted castle, will transfigure the homeliness of the pen into a thing of beauty and a joy forever. Pike seems to have labored under some such delusion in preparing his copious materials for the press, and no one appears either to have advised him in these premises or to have revised the proofs. The result was innumerable errors, both of the writing and of the printing, most of which might have been eliminated with due care.

In the original edition, which has never before been reprinted in full, or in anything like its own make-up, the three separate itineraries above noted followed one another consecutively, with only the interruption of certain meteorological tables. These itineraries made about one-half of the volume in bulk, but perhaps only about one-third of the total ems. They were called "Parts," respectively enumerated I., II., III., and were the only portions of the whole which were printed in large type, as the main "body" of the work. The greater remainder of the author's materials were then thrown into the form of three Appendixes, one for each of the three foregoing Parts, each one being necessarily displaced from its proper connection, and all being set in small type. The contents of these Appendixes were miscellaneous and multifarious, but reducible in the main to two sorts: (1) Formal retraversing of the ground gone over in the itineraries, with reference to geography, ethnology, commerce, military and political topics, and related matters which came under Pike's observation; (2) Letters and other documents upon a variety of subjects, representing what may be regarded as the officialities of Pike's Expeditions.

The determination to edit Pike with the omission of nothing whatever which the work originally contained, and to preserve as far as seemed reasonably possible the shape in which it came from his own hand, involved a problem whose solution was one of no ordinary difficulty. The division of the book into three Parts was perfectly sound, and by all means to be preserved. The main departure from Pike's plan that seemed to be required was simply to bring each Appendix into direct connection with its own Part, and set it in uniform typography, as being of equal value and interest with the itinerary. Having made these transpositions, I found it an easy matter to introduce chapter-heads which should co-ordinate the whole of the contents. Each of the three itineraries could be conveniently divided into three chapters, covering as many stages of the several journeys; and in like manner it was found that the contents of each of the three Appendixes could be naturally grouped under a few heads, thus carrying out the plan of chaptering the whole book. To effect this result required no change whatever in the course of the itineraries, and in the appendicial matters involved only some few unimportant transpositions, mainly for the purpose of rearranging the official correspondence in the chronological sequence of the letters and other documents of which it consisted. But even in this small matter I have been at the pains of pointing out the position which each separate piece occupied in the original edition—perhaps with needless scrupulosity. A glance at the tables of contents of this edition will show how well or ill the remodeling has been done.

The transpositions thus effected, together with the repeatedly broken and sometimes blank pagination of the original, made it obviously impossible to indicate in this edition the former numeration of the pages. Otherwise, in editing Pike's text, I have been guided by the same principles which I applied to my recent redaction of Lewis and Clark. I do not think that any editor may feel free to rewrite his author. It would be an unwarrantable liberty to sacrifice an author's individuality upon the altar of literary style. And especially in the case of an old book—one whose intrinsic merits survive what are "the defects of its qualities," and thus cause it to reappear in a new guise—is it desirable that the reader should feel sure he is offered a genuine text. At the same time, the essentials of genuineness are different from its factitious ear-marks, and may be preserved with fidelity by an editor who, nevertheless, feels free to disregard non-essentials. Pike's is both a rare and a curious book; yet we need not venerate its abounding misprints, or burn the incense of admiration in the face of its frequently solecistic grammar, or even kowtow to its peculiar punctuation. Such things as these are assuredly among the non-essentials of a pure text, always amenable to editorial revision, and always open to the welcome attentions of a friendly printer. But for the rest, as I lately said on a similar occasion, "I have punctiliously preserved the orthography of proper names in all their variance and eccentricity; and wherever I have amplified any statement in the text, or diverted the sense of a passage by a hair's breadth, square brackets indicate the fact."

A few words may be expected in this connection upon the new matter, by the introduction of which the single volume of Pike has been extended to three volumes, thus more than doubling the original text. I have seldom, if ever, studied a work whose author seemed to me in so great need of an interpreter. Pike was not always precise in his statements of fact, and sometimes failed to convey his own meaning with entire lucidity. Much was thus left to be supplied by the imagination of the reader, or to be clarified by the exercise of his critical faculties, whether or no he were sufficiently informed in the premises to follow his author intelligently. In subjecting the text to a scrutiny, perhaps exceptionally close and rigid, I have desired in the first place to inform myself of the exact significance which the author intended his words to have, thus putting myself as nearly as possible in his place, and always, as I trust, in full sympathy with him, however diverse from his views any of my own opinions may have been. Coming to such understanding of the work in hand—one whose accomplishment is now nearly a century old—my duty seemed to be to criticise the subject-matter from the standpoint of to-day, however copious might prove to be the additional information required, or to whatever extent the resulting commentary might be protracted. This part of my work is represented by the notes with which the present edition has been freighted, and which are typographically distinguished from the main text. These notes bespeak their own variety and perhaps comprehensiveness; but of their value or interest it is not for me to express any opinion.

Aside from this main exercise of an editorial function to the best of my ability, I have been induced to add another to the several good memoirs of Pike which we already possessed—notably Whiting's and Greely's. In the preparation of this I have been able to avail myself of much hitherto unpublished documentary material and other sources of information which have not before been utilized for this purpose. Under the circumstances of its present connection this biography could be prepared with little regard to Pike as an explorer, for these volumes cover all such ground; and thus I could dwell for the most part upon other aspects of his life and character, such as those which led up to his conspicuous adventures, and especially those of the War of 1812 which closed with his death a career of military honor and renown.

At the time when Pike first appeared in print, it was the fashion to regard an index to a book rather as an elegant superfluity, or a luxury of leisurely authorship, than as the imperative obligation and absolute necessity which we now find it to be, whenever anything else than fiction or poetry becomes a candidate for public favor. Pike has never been indexed before; and many who now see how lengthy is the list of proper names of persons, places, and other things, may for the first time become aware of the extent and variety of information of which this author's work has proved to be either the prolific source or the pregnant occasion.

All of the plates which illustrated the original edition of Pike have been reproduced in facsimile. They consist of a portrait of the author and six maps. To these are now added a facsimile of an autograph letter, and a new map, both prepared expressly for the present edition. The letter requires no further remark than that it is believed to be the first one ever published, and that it is also printed in its proper connection in the text of my Memoir, with many other hitherto unpublished documents. The new map, which I have legended as a Historico-geographical Chart of the Upper Mississippi River, has been compiled and drawn under my direction by Mr. Daniel W. Cronin, a skillful draughtsman of the U. S. Geological Survey, and is copyrighted by my publisher. It is based primarily upon the Map of the Mississippi River from Lake Itasca to the Falls of St. Anthony, compiled from surveys and reconnoissances made under the direction of Major F. U. Farquhar and Captain Charles J. Allen, U. S. A., and from the U. S. Land Surveys, published in fifteen sheets, on the scale of inch to mile, by the Engineer Department of the Army, in 1881. The hydrographic data from this source are supplemented from the latest map of Minnesota published by the U. S. General Land Office, from the sectional maps of Minnesota and of the Upper Mississippi lately issued by Jewett and Son of St. Paul, and from various other sources, in protracting the branches of the main stream and locating the lakes, etc., beyond the area shown on the Engineer charts. The Jewett maps are the best ones I have seen among those published by private enterprise; the map of Minnesota for which a certain Chicago firm is responsible is the worst of all those which have appeared of late years. My corner-map of the Infant Mississippi or "Cradled Hercules," on a much larger scale than the rest, is reduced from Brower's map of the Itasca State Park, with the author's kind permission; the names given to the numerous features of the Itascan source of the Mississippi are those now officially recognized, with the addition of a few which I have myself bestowed in the course of my notes on Pike, among other results of my recent tour of observation. In lettering the main part of this chart, my idea was, first, to illustrate Pike, by marking his camps with their dates, along the river, and also his trail, where he went overland; it is believed that this has been done with all the accuracy that a map of this scale permits, except for the route from Leech lake back to the Mississippi, which has never been—and probably never will be—ascertained with all desirable exactitude. Secondly, I intended to give the actual present names of all the natural and artificial features which are delineated; and thirdly, to add to these designations all the synonymy and other historical data which the map could conveniently carry. Though there is theoretically no end to the information of this kind which might be put upon a map, the practical limitations in any given case are obvious; and overcrowded lettering would be rather confusing than helpful to the reader. In general, the historical data which have been selected to be legended are in direct connection with and support of Pike's text and of my commentary thereupon. Only those who have long experienced the practical difficulty of making a good printer or draughtsman misspell words in order to reproduce historical forms literally can appreciate the obstacles to complete success in such an undertaking; but I indulge the hope that this chart, whatever its imperfections may be, will be found useful enough to warrant the great pains which have been taken to approximate accuracy.

As in editing Lewis and Clark, so in working upon Pike, I have been encouraged and assisted by many friends, not all of whom have I the pleasure of knowing personally. I am under special obligations to Mr. Alfred J. Hill of St. Paul, Minn., whose knowledge of the history and geography of the Upper Mississippi region is not less accurate than extensive. Mr. Hill has been good enough to accompany me throughout Pt. 1 of the work, and give me the benefit of his close scrutiny of the press-proofs, in the form of constant suggestion and criticism, besides frequent references to other available sources of information which I might have overlooked. His valued co-operation to this extent increases very appreciably the confidence which the reader may feel in all that relates to the Mississippi Voyage.[NP-1] Mr. R. I. Holcombe, county historian of Missouri, now of the U. S. Marshal's office in St. Paul, has criticised those pages of Pt. 2 which relate to the Osage river. The same friendly attentions have been bestowed upon the whole of Pike's route in Colorado by Mr. Wm. M. Maguire of Denver; and upon various points concerning the pueblos of New Mexico and Arizona, by Mr. F. W. Hodge of the U. S. Bureau of Ethnology. Hon. J. V. Brower of St. Paul, Commissioner of the Itasca State Park, has made me free to use his map of the park in connection with the new historico-geographical chart of the Upper Mississippi. The Hon. the Secretaries of War and of State have granted permission to examine official archives of their respective Departments; this research, in the War Department, has been facilitated by Mr. John Tweedale, Chief Clerk, and Mr. David Fitz Gerald, Librarian; in the State Department, by Mr. W. W. Rockhill, Chief Clerk; Mr. Andrew H. Allen, Chief of the Bureau of Rolls and Library, and Mr. Walter Manton of the same Bureau. Gen. A. W. Greely, Chief Signal Officer, U. S. Army; Gen. T. L. Casey, late Chief of Engineers, U. S. Army, and Mr. W. W. Winship, Chief Draughtsman of the same; Major J. W. Powell, late Director of the U. S. Geological Survey, and Director of the Bureau of Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution; Mr. Henry Gannett and Mr. A. H. Thompson of the same Survey; Prof. G. Brown Goode, Director of the U. S. National Museum, and Prof. Otis T. Mason of that Museum; Prof. Harry King, of the U. S. General Land Office; Hon. D. M. Browning, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and Mr. R. F. Thompson of the same Bureau; Mr. L. O. Howard, Chief of the Division of Entomology of the U. S. Department of Agriculture; Mr. A. R. Spofford, Librarian of Congress; Prof. N. H. Winchell, Director of the Geological Survey of Minnesota; Hon. Charles Aldrich, Curator of the Iowa State Historical Department; Mr. R. G. Thwaites, Secretary of the Historical Society of Wisconsin; Mr. D. L. Kingsbury, Acting Secretary of the Historical Society of Minnesota; Hon. C. C. James, Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Ontario, and Hon. A. Blue of the Bureau of Mines of Ontario, have each rendered valued official or personal favors, or both. I am also indebted in various ways, most of which are indicated in their respective connections in the course of my notes, to ex-President Benjamin Harrison; Mr. W. H. Harrison of North Bend, O.; Mrs. B. H. Eaton of El Paso, Tex.; Governor A. W. McIntire of Colorado; R. T. Durrett, LL. D., of Louisville, Ky.; Prof. E. D. Cope of Philadelphia; Mr. James Bain, Jr., of the Public Library of Toronto; Mr. L. P. Sylvain, Assistant Librarian of Parliament, Ottawa; Lieutenant J. R. Williams of the Third Artillery, U. S. A.; Lieutenant H. M. Chittenden of the Corps of Engineers, U. S. A.; Rev. O. S. Bunting of Trenton, N. J.; Prof. J. D. Butler of Madison, Wis.; Mr. W. P. Garrison of the New York Nation; Judge Thos. H. Bacon of Hannibal, Mo.; Judge Nathan Richardson of Little Falls, Minn.; Mr. Charles Hallock of Hallock, Minn.; Mr. H. D. Harrower of New York, N. Y.; Mr. T. H. Lewis of St. Paul, Minn.; Mr. C. H. Small of Pueblo, Col.; Mr. Geo. R. Buckman of Colorado Springs, Col.; Mr. D. Bosse of Great Bend, Kas., and Mr. Luther R. Smith of Washington, D. C. Mrs. Mary B. Anderson of Washington, D. C., has taken great pains in preparing under my direction an index, of somewhat unusual extent and special difficulty, which I am led to believe will be found exceptionally accurate. Mr. Robert M. Trulan and Mr. H. E. Gore-Kelly of the Mershon Printing Company, Rahway, N. J., have read the proofs with untiring zeal as well as professional skill. Mr. Francis P. Harper has set no limit to the extent to which my editorial work might be protracted, leaving the substance of these volumes entirely to my discretion; and I have returned the compliment by deferring to his judgment in all that relates to the manufacture of a book which may be found worthy to stand by the side of Lewis and Clark.

Elliott Coues.

Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, D. C.,
June 30th, 1895.

MEMOIR OF

ZEBULON MONTGOMERY PIKE.

BY ELLIOTT COUES.

The best Life of Pike we have had is that which was prepared by Henry Whiting and published in 1845 in Jared Sparks' Library of American Biography, vol. xv. (or new series vol. v.), pp. 217-314. This excellent memoir might be now reproduced, were it not mainly occupied with the account of those expeditions to which these volumes are devoted, and thus for the most part superfluous in the present connection. It still continues to be a main source of our information concerning the events of Pike's life before and after those exploits of 1805-7 which immortalized his name, and is particularly valuable in all that relates to his closing career, as the biographer was himself a distinguished soldier and competent military critic.[M-1]

But I have much new matter to offer, derived from a thorough examination of the archives of the War Department, which include many original and hitherto unpublished documents in Pike's case,[M-2] from diligent search among contemporaneous records of the war of 1812-15, and from various other sources.

The Pike family resided in New Jersey for several generations. One Captain John Pike acquired his military title in Indian warfare. Zebulon Pike, the father of Zebulon Montgomery Pike, had been a captain in the Revolutionary army, and had served in the levies of 1791, when he was made a captain of infantry Mar. 5th, 1792; he was assigned to the Third sub-Legion Sept. 4th, 1792, and to the 3d Infantry Nov. 1st, 1796; he became major Mar. 21st, 1800, and was transferred to the 1st Infantry Apr. 1st, 1802; he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel July 10th, 1812, and honorably discharged June 15th, 1815. He died July 27th, 1834. His son, Zebulon Montgomery, was born at Lamberton, afterward a south part of Trenton, N. J., Jan. 5th, 1779.[M-3]

During Zebulon Montgomery's childhood his parents removed to a place in Bucks Co., Pa., near the Delaware river, and thence to Easton, Pa. Whiting says that he was remembered by some of his schoolmates who were living in 1845, "as a boy of slender form, very fair complexion, gentle and retiring disposition, but of resolute spirit. Instances are mentioned in which his combative energies were put to a test, which would reflect no discredit upon his subsequent career." He had only a common school education, which appears to have been as slight in quality as it was short in duration, though he was at one time under the tuition of a Mr. Wall, a person of local repute in mathematics. He entered the army as a raw, shy country youth, of the most slender acquirements in any direction, whose main making of a man was ambition.

The records of young Pike's earliest military service are variant in some particulars not of much consequence. In one of his letters, printed beyond, p. lxv, he says that he entered the army when he was 15 years old. This would be in or about 1794, and doubtless refers to his cadetship. According to his biographer, he entered his father's company as a cadet, date not given; was commissioned as an ensign of the 2d Infantry Mar. 3d, 1799; promoted to be a first lieutenant in the same regiment Apr. 24th, 1800, and arranged to the 1st Infantry in 1802. In Heitman's Historical Register[M-4] it appears that Zebulon Montgomery Pike, of New Jersey, was first appointed from New Jersey to be a second lieutenant of the 2d Infantry, Mar. 3d, 1799; was next promoted to be first lieutenant of the same regiment, Nov. 1st, 1799; and then transferred to the 1st Infantry, Apr. 1st, 1802. Whatever may have been the facts in the discrepant cases of the earlier dates, there is no uncertainty from April 1st, 1802, when the name and rank became First Lieutenant Z. M. Pike, 1st Regiment of U. S. Infantry. It was as such that this young officer was first detailed for detached service in the exploration of the Mississippi, by order of General James Wilkinson, dated from the Commanding General's headquarters at St. Louis, Mo., July 30th, 1805.

Pike had not before been distinguished from any other meritorious and zealous subaltern, though his qualities had already attracted favorable attention. His selection by General Wilkinson for this duty was the beginning of all his greatness. The letter in which the detail was made will be found elsewhere (vol. ii, pp. 842-844). The principal other dates of Pike's brief but brilliant military career may be conveniently given here, though in so doing I anticipate events which will come up again in their regular order: His promotion to a captaincy in his regiment occurred by routine Aug. 12th, 1806, when he was voyaging up the Osage, early in his second expedition. He became major of the 6th Infantry May 3d, 1808, in less than a year after his return from his tour in Mexico—a journey which was directly continuous with his second, or Arkansaw expedition, but one which, having been involuntarily performed, he chose to separate formally from the other, and to make known as his "third" expedition. He became the lieutenant-colonel of the 4th Infantry Dec. 31st, 1809. From Apr. 3d, 1812, to July 3d of that year, he was on duty as deputy quartermaster-general. He became the colonel of the 15th Infantry July 6th, 1812, and was appointed to be brigadier-general Mar. 12th, 1813. But before this appointment was confirmed General Pike had been killed at the head of the troops he led to the assault on York, Upper Canada, April 27th, 1813, aged 34 years, 3 months, 22 days.

I am favored by Lieutenant J. R. Williams, of the army, with the following copy of the rough draught of a hitherto unpublished letter from General John R. Williams of Detroit to Major Amos Holton, giving an interesting picture of Pike, framed in his early environment:

Detroit, May 20, 1845.

Major Amos Holton, Dear Sir,

I have recd your esteemed favor of the 14th April last, on the interesting subject of your contemplated publication of a Biographical memoir, illustrative of the Character and services of the late Brigadier Genl. Zebulon Montgomery Pike of the U. S. Army. The half Sheet of the Albany Argus which you designed to accompany your letter, and which gives an account of a night battle on the Champlain frontier, I regret to say, has not been received.

The period of my acquaintance with the subject of your contemplated memoir, is indeed distant and remote; and altho' those days are still cherished in my recollection as the halcyon and pristine days of my youth and vigor, Yet, I cannot but be truly sensible that many interesting incidents have escaped my recollection in the lapse of forty-five years.

Soon after my arrival at Camp Allegheny in the month of May 1800 I became acquainted with Lieut. Zebulon Montgomery Pike of the 2d Regt. U. S. Infy, he was shortly afterwards appointed Adjutant of the Regiment, in which Capacity he served during the Years 1800 & 1801. No officer could be more attentive prompt and efficient in the execution of the several duties of his office—nor was there any more emulous to acquire a perfect knowledge of the Military profession, nor more zealous, ardent and persevering in the pursuit of scientific improvement.

It was these qualities and disposition of mind that laid the foundation of the subsequent Character and fame of Zebulon M. Pike and would probably have introduced him had he lived, to the highest honors, at least, in the military profession under the Republic.

I then understood that his only means of Education had been such as could be obtained in Garrison under the eye of his father then Major Pike at the several posts he commanded, notwithstanding these disadvantages he was a tolerable good english scholar and wrote a good hand when I knew him and had also acquired by his own persevering industry a tolerably good knowledge of the french language—this I know from the fact of having frequently corrected, at his own request, several of his translations from Fenelon's Telemachus.

Pike was very gentlemanly in his deportment—manners agreeable & polished, rather reserved in general and somewhat taciturn except when incited to conversation on some topic in which he felt interest and considered worthy of his attention he had less levity in his character than even many of his brother officers Senior to him in Years and Rank. His appearance was military yet somewhat peculiar he generally leaned or inclined his head on one side so that the tip of his Chapeau touched his right shoulder when on parade—His Stature was about five feet eight inches tolerably square and robust for his Age which I think must have been Twenty Years in 1800. His Complexion was then Ruddy, eyes blue, light hair and good features his habits were in keeping with his character, uniformly abstemious and temperate his attention to duty unremitted. At that period the most vexatious evil and obstacle that attended the maintenance of discipline in the Army was the general and extensive use of Ardent Spirits, Whiskey among the Men which was constantly being introduced in Camp by the Men & Women attached to the service and other hangers on around the Camp—On one occasion returning to Camp from Pittsburgh about ten o'clock in the evening Pike and myself being desirous of detecting the Soldiers in their Clandestine manoeuvres in the introduction of whiskey approaching the Camp silently through the bushes and occasionally halting to listen succeeded in capturing several fellows with jugs & bottles of their favorite beverage, not however without a race after them. On another occasion while going down the Ohio river in flats—The flats always halted for the night at some convenient place furnishing good ground & conveniences for Bivouacking for the Night a guard being mounted and Sentinels placed at suitable points around the Camp. The Soldiers were then permitted to Land build fires and bivouac on shore if they thought proper to do so in preference to remaining in the flats crowded as they were—there was about 70 men detailed for the purpose of managing Ten flats containing the Provisions under my Charge. The Signal for embarking in the Morning was the Reveille at day break and the General immediately after. It being then about the 20 December the weather was Cold and a good deal of ice drifting in the River. The men generally preferred the Company boats where they had to labor less than in those of the Commissariat where they had to labor constantly to keep up in the line agreeably to the order regulating the movement of the troops. One morning they appeared to be desirous of escaping from the Commissariat boats to their respective Company boats in hopes of getting rid of the duty to which they were detailed and left the boats as fast as they were ordered to embark until Pike observing their disobedience seized and threw several fire brans at those in the Act of leaving the boats to which they had been detailed and called to me to assist him by which means the men were taught a lesson which was not required to be repeated the residue of the journey down the River.

This prompt and decided course on the part of Pike was not only well timed but very important as it prevented much disorder and Confusion which would inevitably have ensued had he taken the ordinary and regular but slow steps to punish the Mutineers, to bring them to a sense of duty. the moment of departure had arrived, the boats were unmoored, and those which had precedence were already under way floating down the rapid current of the Ohio; The Colonels boat particularly, to whom he would have had to Report was already at some distance—The alternative then, which he adopted as quick as lightning was not only judicious but necessary and indispensible under the Circumstances of the Case. It operated a Salutary and instantaneous effect upon the insubordinate Soldiery which at once brought them to a sense of duty and order. This circumstance in my opinion speaks volumes in favor of Pike. The quickness and decision which characterized the transaction furnishes an index to his character neither to be mistaken nor misunderstood.

After our arrival at a point equidistant between Fort Massac & the Confluence of the Ohio & Mississippi Rivers, about eighteen miles below Fort Massac the Army landed on the 5th January 1801 at a high Bluff on the right Bank of the River where they encamped cleared the ground which was covered with heavy timber laid out an encampment after the plan of Greenville built with log huts which was named Wilkinsonville.

Some time in the summer of 1801 he obtained a furlow to visit Cincinnati as it was believed, on a matrimonial expedition at which time he was married to his present relict Mrs. Pike.

During the period alluded to, the duties of the Adjutant were arduous and unremitting—especially during the encampment on the Allegheny in addition to guard and police duty—We had Battalion drill twice or thrice a week and Company drill every day; and Officer drill once or twice a week, thus you can perceive that our time was industriously appropriated to the acquisition of military knowledge—We had also the advantage of being drilled by officers that served under the gallant Genl. Wayne and who composed part of his Army at the memorable and decisive Battle of the 20th of August 1794 at the Miami Rapids—

Colonel John Francis Hamtramck[M-5] of the 1st Regt U. S. Infy acted as Brigadier Genl. under Genl. Wilkinson being the senior Colonel of the U. S. Army—his remains now lie within a stone's throw of my Office, near the Roman Catholic Church of St Anne—As a Memorial of affection the principal Town above this City and within the County of Wayne bears his name Hamtramck as he was much beloved by the inhabitants of this Country.

Allow me here to make mention of the principal Officers composing the Command at Camp Allegheny. Colo. David Strong, Commandg 2d Regt Infy, Major Moses Porter with his Co. of Artillery—Major Turner Brigade Inspector Captains Graeton, Sedgwick, Shoemaker, (Visscher, stationed at fort Fayette) Grey, Lukens, Claiborne—Lieuts. Rand, Whipple, Schiras, Hook, Meriwether Lewis, Wilson—John Wilson—Z. M. Pike, Dill—& to which was added at Wilkinsonville Lieuts. Williams, Brevoort, Hughes, Hilton Many Blue & Others together with a Battalion of the 4th Regt. under Major Butler—making in the aggregate a force of about 1000 effective men.[M-6]

During the summer and autumn we were visited by Genl. Wilkinson & his staff Composed of Lieuts Walbach & Macomb & Lieut. Colo. Williams of the Engineer Corps.[M-7] about this period sickness among the troops and many deaths occurred in consequence of which the Troops were removed by order of Genl. Wilkinson to Cumberland Heights[*] a season of inactivity and a prospect unfavorable to Military life prevailing—many Officers resigned and sought to obtain a livelihood by other means than the profession of arms. These and other subsequent events are matters of history and I shall therefore close these short notes by pointing to the subsequent life and services of the lamented Zebulon M. Pike.

My opportunities of acquaintance with him arose from the Circumstance of having messed with Captain Peter Shoemaker and himself about Eight Months without intermission we three being the only members of the Mess.

In conclusion, it may not be inappropriate to remark that the period alluded to was during a state of peace. Yet, whilst the prospect lasted that the Troops might soon expect active service against the frontiers of the then possessions of Spain—The Zeal, Ardor, Enterprize and ambition of our Army could not have been surpassed; and would have sustained a comparison with the best and most glorious days of the Revolution, or of the late War with Britain, or the later achievements of our Braves against the forces of Mexico.

You are at liberty to use these notes in such manner as will meet the object you have in view.

With respectful Consideration
I am Dear Sir Your Obedt Servt
Jno. R. Williams.

Major Amos Holton
Washington City, D. C.

transmitted the foregoing by Mail Augt 26th 1846.[M-8]

[*] Mr. Jefferson having been elected President of the U. S. The policy of the Government changed instead of wresting the posts on the west bank of the Mississippi from Spain by force of Arms as was previously contemplated—They were eventually obtained by peaceable & Successful negociation. (Orig. note.)

The "matrimonial expedition" to which the foregoing letter quaintly alludes was successful, like Pike's other expeditions of later date and greater celebrity. The young lieutenant was married in 1801 (day of the month not ascertained) to Clarissa Brown, daughter of General John Brown of Kentucky. Whiting says that the issue of this connection was "three daughters and one son. Only one of these children reached the maturity of life, a daughter, who married Symmes Harrison, the son of General [William Henry] Harrison, and became a widow, many years since, with several children." Whiting continues with the following statements, embodying perhaps as much as has hitherto been published of Pike's domestic relations:

Mrs. Pike withdrew to the seclusion of a family residence [at North Bend] on the Ohio River just below Cincinnati, soon after the fall of her gallant husband, where she has since lived. It is well recollected by most of the officers who served on Lake Ontario in the early part of the campaign of 1813, that he regarded her with enthusiastic sentiments, believing her to share in all his ardent longings after distinction, and willing to make any sacrifice for their fulfilment. No doubt it was with a heart strengthened by such feelings, that she parted with him on the eve of the expedition in which he fell; though she may have felt, during her long widowhood, that the sacrifice, with all its honorable alleviations, has been at times as much as that heart could bear.

There was found an interesting memorandum on one of the blank pages of a copy of "Dodsley's Economy of Human Life,"[M-9] which General Pike habitually carried about with him. After affectionately alluding to his wife, and his son then living, he lays down two maxims, which he wishes may ever be present to the mind of his child, "as he rises from youth to manhood." "First: Preserve your honor free from blemish. Second: Be always ready to die for your country." This son was cut off too soon to exemplify the former in his life, or the latter in his death; but the father, in his life and in his death, exemplified them both.

On seeking for information in regard to General Pike's daughter and her children, I first wrote to ex-President Benjamin Harrison, by whom I was favored with prompt reply, in part as follows:

674 North Delaware Street,
Indianapolis, Ind., May 24, 1894.

My Dear Sir:

I have your letter of May 21st. My uncle, Symmes Harrison, married the daughter of General Pike and left several children; but I do not think I know of but one who survives—William Henry Harrison, who lives in the neighborhood of the old Pike homestead on the Ohio River, about two and a half miles below my grandfather's old home at North Bend.... I cannot give you the names of General Pike's children; I was too young to have any knowledge of them. Possibly my eldest sister, Mrs. Bettie H. Eaton, who is now residing at El Paso, Texas, may be able to give you some information about the Pike family.

Very truly yours,
[Signed] Benjamin Harrison.

Mrs. Bettie Harrison Eaton was kind enough to reply to my further inquiries, in a letter dated El Paso, Tex., July 2d, 1894, from which I quote in substance:

My cousin's, William Henry Harrison's, mother was a daughter of General Pike, whose maiden name was Clarissa Harlowe Pike. She was married to my uncle, John Cleves Symmes Harrison, but in what year I do not know. Indeed, I know very little about the Pike family, as I always understood that my aunt was General Pike's only child; if he had others I never heard of them. I remember her very slightly, as I was quite a little girl when she died. Her mother, Mrs. General Pike, of whom I have a better memory, was a tall, dignified, rather austere looking woman, who always dressed in deep black, wearing always a large black Canton crape shawl and a black crape turban on her head, which to my childish eyes gave her a somewhat awe-inspiring appearance. She was a highly educated and accomplished woman, and a fine French scholar. She kept for many years a diary, which was written in French. My cousin, to whom I refer you, lives on the old Pike homestead, and could probably give you the dates you wish, as he no doubt has the family Bible, and the old graveyard where the family are buried is on the place.

On applying to William Henry Harrison of North Bend, O., I received a brief note dated Sept. 10th, 1894, in which the following information is given: "My house burned some years ago, when all General Pike's private papers were lost. He had but one child, my mother Clara. His wife's maiden name was Clara Brown; she was the daughter of Captain John Brown of Revolutionary fame."

With thus much—none too complete, but all that I have in hand—concerning Pike's private life, we return to his public career. The unnumbered extant notices to which the fame that he acquired gave rise are mainly and most naturally devoted to the consideration of the Mississippian, Arkansan, and Mexican exploits which form the matter of the present volumes, but which need not occupy the present biographer, as they speak for themselves. These cover the dates of 1805-6-7; and before taking up Pike's life in 1808, we may next consider the bibliography of the books to which his expeditions gave rise.

The earliest one of these, forerunner of the regular edition of 1810, is entitled:

An Account | of a | Voyage | up the Mississippi River, from St. | Louis to its source; | made under the orders of the War De- | partment, by Lieut. Pike, of the Uni- | ted States Army, in the Years 1805 and | 1806. Compiled from Mr. Pike's Jour- | nal. |

Pamphlet, 8vo., pp. 1-68, no date, no author, no editor, no publisher, no printer, no place of publication; title, verso blank, pp. 1, 2; text, pp. 3-67, with colophon ("Finis."); p. 68 being "Extract of a letter from N. Boilvin [Nicholas Boivin] Indian agent, | to the Secretary of War, dated St. Louis, | Oct, 6, 1806. |"

This is an extremely rare tract. I have handled two copies, one of which I own, title page gone; the other being a perfect example in the Library of Congress at Washington. There is a third in the Ridgway Library of Philadelphia; and Sabin's Bibl. Amer. cites a fourth, in the library of the American Antiquarian Society at Worcester, Mass. These are all that I know of, though of course others exist. The authorship and circumstances of publication remain unknown, to me at least. Sabin gives the date 1807; this is probably correct, certainly true within a year, but questionable. I adopt it, in view of its probability, and in the absence of conclusive evidence against it, though Whiting says 1808. But early in 1808 Pike was already arranging for the publication of his own book, which appeared in 1810. Pike does not even allude to this publication, either in his own book, or in any of the manuscripts I have seen in which the latter is mentioned. On consultation with Mr. A. R. Spofford over the general aspect and "make-up," no definite conclusion could be reached by that exceptionally well-versed librarian. It is supposed by some, not without plausibility, to have been a government publication; but Mr. Spofford's ignorance of the fact, if it be such, is against this supposition; for a publication which he cannot recognize on sight as having been issued in Washington is unlikely. The tract looks as if it formed a part of something else; witness the peculiar set of the title page, the conclusion of the Pike matter on p. 67, and the appearance on p. 68 of the Boivin letter, having no obvious connection with the rest. However all this may really have been, there is no question of the genuineness of this unauthenticated narrative. Pike never penned it—he could not write so well as the anonymous author of this tract did. But whoever wrote it had Pike's original manuscript journal or note-book before him, and followed him closely, faithfully, and accurately. Pike's case is put in the third person by the writer, who gives in narrative form a better account of the Mississippi voyage than Pike's slender literary attainments enabled him to write for himself. This "text of 1807," as I shall call it, when I have occasion to cite it in my commentary, is an invaluable check upon Pike's own itinerary; he cannot have been unaware of its existence, and the friendly hand which thus first gave to the world the best account extant of the Mississippi voyage should not have been ignored when Pike came to write out his notes for publication in the princeps edition of his several expeditions, of date 1810.[M-10]

Immediately upon his escape from his Spanish captors and hosts, and his return to his native land, Pike set about writing his book. This was finished—or at any rate so far advanced that a contract for its publication had been made—early in 1808 (see letter of May 27th, 1808, beyond, p. lxi). The original edition of his Expeditions is as follows:

[1810.]—An Account of Expeditions | to the | Sources of the Mississippi, | and through the | Western Parts of Louisiana, | to the Sources of the | Arkansaw, Kans, La Platte, and Pierre | Jaun, Rivers; | performed by order of the | Government of the United States | during the years 1805, 1806, and 1807. | And a Tour through | the | Interior Parts of New Spain, | when conducted through these Provinces, | by order of | the Captain-General, | in the Year 1807. | —— | By Major Z. M. Pike. | Illustrated by maps and charts. | —— | Philadelphia: | Published by C. and A. Conrad, Co. No. 30, Chesnut Street. Somer- | vell & Conrad, Petersburgh. Bonsal, Conrad, & Co. Norfolk, | and Fielding Lucas, Jr. Baltimore. | —— | John Binns, Printer......1810. | One Vol. 8vo.

CONTENTS.

Portrait of Pike, frontispiece.

Title, backed with copyright, pp. [1], [2].

To the Public, being Preface by Pike and publisher's Apology, pp. [3]-[5]; blank, p. [6].

Dedication, To the President and Members of the U. S. M. P. S., one leaf not paginated, verso blank (= pp. 7, 8).

Part I., being the Mississippi Voyage: Pike's Itinerary, pp. 1-105; blank, p. 106; Meteorological Tables, 5 unnumbered leaves, raising pages to 116, last blank.

Part II., being the Arkansaw Journey: Instructions to Pike, pp. 107-110; Pike's Itinerary, pp. 111-204.

Part III., being the Mexican Tour: Pike's Itinerary, pp. 205-277; p. 278 blank; one blank leaf; Meteorological Table, one unpaged leaf.

Appendix to Part I., pp. 1-66 (last not numbered) + 2 folding Tables; contains Documents Nos. 1-18, and some others (No. 18, pp. 41-66, is Observations, etc., on the Mississippi Voyage); the folders are Tables C and F (other tables being on pages), respectively to face p. 40 and p. 66.

Appendix to Part II., pp. 1-53 (p. 54 blank), + 1 folding Table to face p. 53; contains (No. 1) A Dissertation, etc., on the Arkansaw Journey, pp. 1-18; (No. 2) Lieut. Wilkinson's Report on his Arkansaw Expedition, pp. 19-32; and other Documents to No. 15.

Appendix to Part III., pp. 1-87 (p. 88 blank); contains (No. 1) Geographical, Statistical, and General Observations, etc., on the Mexican Tour, pp. 1-51, by far the most important thing in the book; No. 2, pp. 52, 53, a certain Vocabulary belonging to the Mississippi Voyage, and therefore to App. to Part I.; with other Documents to No. 19.

Map, Falls of St. Anthony, page size.

Map, Mississippi river, about 29⅞ × 9 inches.

Map, the First Part of Pike's Chart of Louisiana, folding, about 17½ × 17½ inches, called Plate I.

Map, the Second Part of Pike's Chart of Louisiana, folding, about 17 × 15½ inches, called Plate II.

Map, Internal Provinces of New Spain, about 18¼ × 17¾ inches.

Map, Sketch of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, about 15⅝ × 12⅞ inches.

Total pages 8 + 278 + 10 + 4 + 66 + 54 + 88 = 508, some not paginated, a few blank; 5 sets of pagination. Inserts 1 portrait, 3 folding tables, 6 maps (5 folding) = 10. Folders all may be found in a separate vol. in some copies.

It has been said, "The pen is mightier than the sword." Pike's pen proved mightier than his sword, and pistols too, in putting bookmaking to confusion and editors to despair. It would be hard to find a match for the disorder in which Pike's materials were set forth in print, especially in the several Appendixes: Even the patient printer would not let it go without published apology. No editor has hitherto been found expert or rash enough to reproduce anything like the original arrangement of the "Parts," "Appendixes" with their numerous pieces, folding "Tables," etc. The English editor, who first undertook to bring something like cosmos out of this chaos, created a new book by weaving as much as he could of the matter of the Appendixes into the main text, or into footnotes thereto, thereby greatly reducing the bulk of the appendicial texts. But these contained documents which proved refractory to such treatment; the plan could not be fully carried out, for there was a residuum which still called for an Appendix. In fact, the real bulk of Pike's cargo is in these Appendixes; his Itineraries—the only portions of his book which were printed in large type, as main text—being less important, if not less interesting, than the rest of the freight. In approaching my own editorial labors, my intention was to adhere as closely as possible to the arrangement of the original. This I flatter myself I have succeeded in doing, with a few important exceptions to which attention is pointedly directed in my notes. These transpositions, with the introduction of chapter-heads, and co-ordination of all of the original book in uniform typography, have probably effected the required result.

In 1811 Pike's work was also published, from another MS. copy, with many modifications, in a handsome quarto edition, as follows:

[1811.]—Exploratory Travels | through the | Western Territories | of | North America: | comprising a | Voyage from St. Louis, on the Mississippi, | to the | Source of that River, | and a | Journey through the Interior of Louisiana, | and the | North-eastern Provinces of New Spain. | Performed in the years 1805, 1806, 1807, by Order of the Government of the United States. | —— | By Zebulon Montgomery Pike, | Major 6th Regt. United States Infantry. | —— | London: | Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, | Paternoster-Row. | —— | 1811. |

One vol., 4to. Half-title, 1 leaf, verso blank; title, 1 leaf, verso blank; advertisement, dated Jan. 28th, 1811, and signed Thomas Rees, pp. v-ix; Congressional matters taken from the App. to Part III. of the orig. ed., pp. xi-xviii; contents, pp. xix, xx; main text, pp. 1-390; Appendix, pp. 391-436; colophon, J. G. Barnard, Printer, Skinner-street, London. The copy examined has only two maps—the Mississippi, reduced to 4to page size; Louisiana and New Mexico, prepared by putting together two of Pike's orig. maps and reducing the result to 10⅛; × 13⅞ inches. Folding tables reset to page size.

This is the standard English edition, prepared under the careful and able editorship of Dr. Thomas Rees, from a manuscript copy transmitted to England at the time that the original manuscript went to press in America. This edition, and not the American of 1810, is the basis of the French and Dutch versions, and is also the one which was textually reprinted as the Denver edition of 1889. Dr. Rees made Pike a much better book than the author made for himself. The very great differences from the American original, due to the English editor's literary skill, are modestly set forth in the latter's Advertisement. It appears from this that the MS. transmitted to England "was divided into six parts, comprising the three journals which follow, and the observations pertaining to each in a separate portion." As the appendicial matters were received "in the desultory manner in which they were originally composed, the editor judged it for the advantage of the work to restore them, as nearly as he possibly could, in distinct paragraphs, to the places they had first occupied in the journal, thus rendering it unnecessary to lead the reader a second time over the same ground." In other words, Dr. Rees picked the helter-skelter Appendixes to pieces, and wove most of their contents into the main text, as already said. The accounts of the Indians on the Upper Mississippi, and the Observations on New Spain, he "preserved in their original state. The Notes and Appendixes, with some variation of arrangement, have been printed after the manuscripts, but a few articles have been omitted, as containing only repetitions of what had already appeared in the body of the work. With respect to the language and style of the Author, the Editor felt he had a much more delicate task to perform than in the disposal of the materials." He therefore preserved Pike's language in substance, but corrected his grammar freely. Dr. Rees' avowal of the trouble he had with proper names of persons and places will surprise no one who reads the present edition and sees with what extraordinary perversions of Indian, French, and Spanish names both Dr. Rees and myself had to contend. Dr. Rees speaks also of the "ignorant and careless transcriber" of the copy which reached him, and observes further: "It is mortifying to find that in America, where the Author was accessible, and might readily have elucidated any accidental obscurities in his manuscript, the work has been printed in very nearly as incorrect a state as it appeared in the present editor's copy. The sheets of the American Edition reached here some time after his own had been in the printer's hands, but its numerous errors, discreditable certainly to the American press, left him little to regret that they had not arrived at an earlier period." For the rest, Dr. Rees remarks that he furnished "some cursory notes, which are distinguished by the letter E," and adds: "In the account of New Spain he has subjoined the population of several places from Humboldt's recent 'Essai Politique,' in order to furnish the reader with the means of instant comparison. It is pleasing to observe how nearly these statements agree in the most material instances; and the circumstance affords no slight evidence of the general accuracy of Major Pike's information." He is charitable enough to refrain from adding what else this circumstance evidences. Dr. Rees' further introduction to his main text consists of the Congressional papers, which in the orig. ed. form a part of the App. to Pt. 3, and which are given this prominence, apparently, to authenticate the whole work in the eyes of the English public by these officialities. In the copy of the Rees edition which I have handled I find but two maps, reduced as above said.

This was followed in 1812 by a French version, the title and collation of which are here given:

[1812]—Voyage | au | Nouveau-Mexique, | a la suite a'une expédition ordonnée | par le Gouvernement des États-Unis, | pour reconnoître les sources des rivières | Arkansas, Kansès, la Platte et Pierre-jaune, | dans l'intérieur de la Louisiane occidentale. | Précédé | a'une Excursion aux Sources du Mississippi, | Pendant les années 1805, 1806, et 1807. | Par le Major Z. M. Pike. | Traduit de l'anglais | Par M. Breton, Auteur de la Biblioth. géographique. | Orné d'une Nouvelle Carte de la Louisiane, en trois parties. | Tome Premier [Second]. | A Paris, | Chez D'Hautel, Libraire, Rue de la Harpe, no. 80, | près le Collége de Justice. | — | 1812. |

Two vols., 8vo. Vol. I., pp. i-xvi, 1-368; Vol. II., pp. 1-373, with 3 maps. In Vol. I. the half title p., backed de l'imprimérie de L. Hausmann, Rue de la Harpe, No. 80, is pp. i, ii; full title p., verso blank, is pp. iii, iv; Préface du Traducteur, pp. v-xiv; sub-title, Voyage au Mississippi, backed with errata, pp. xv, xvi; Avertissement de l'auteur, pp. 1-6; Wilkinson's instructions to Pike of July 30th, 1805, abstracted from one of the pieces of App. to Pt. 3 of the orig. ed., pp. 7, 8; main text of the Mississippi Voyage, pp. 9-236, ending Pt. 1 of the orig. ed.; thence the Arkansaw Journey, with separate sub-title, Voyage au Nouveau-Mexique, pp. 237-368, ending Vol. I., with end of Pt. 2 of the orig. ed.—In Vol. II., half title p. backed blank, pp. 1, 2: full title, backed blank, pp. 3, 4; main text, pp. 5-373, beginning at date of Feb. 27th, 1807, when Pike was starting on his involuntary Mexican tour; this tour ending on p. 236, with end of the main text of Pt. 3 of the orig. ed.; thence to end of vol. various matters from the Appendixes of Pts. 2 and 3, including Lieutenant Wilkinson's Arkansaw Report, pp. 325-363, and a piece of padding, pp. 293-324, this last being Remarques Additionelles sur le sol, les productions et les habitans de la Nouvelle-Espagne, of which the editor says that "ces détails sont extraits en partie de l'excellente histoire d'Amérique par Winterbotham, et de l'ouvrage de l'abbé Clavigéro." These 32 pages of padding have no business in the book; I suppose they were wanted to balance the bulk of the two volumes. The maps of this edition are three in number, supposed to belong in Vol. II. They are the Mississippi and the two Arkansaw maps, prepared by Antoine Nau, redrawn and re-engraved, with French names instead of English ones; the size is about the same as that of the original; the execution is rather better. The editor apologizes, Vol I., p. xiii, for not reproducing Pike's two maps of Mexico, because he would not venture "d'attenter à la propriété de M. de Humboldt," i. e., steal Humboldt's thunder. For it seems that Humboldt thought Pike had done so, and he had just previously so expressed himself in a réclamation in Le Moniteur. Humboldt compliments Pike pro formâ, and proceeds to protest: "Mais les cartes du Mexique, publiées sous son [Pike's] nom, ne sont que des réductions de ma grande carte de la Nouvelle-Espagne, sur laquelle le voyageur a tracé sa route de Santa-Fé par Cohahuila à Nacodolhes [Nacogdoches or Natchitoches]."

Humboldt's direct and unqualified charge of plagiarism against Pike, which has never been answered and is probably unanswerable, is reiterated in that one of his works entitled: Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent during the Years 1799-1804. By Alexander de Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland. Written in French by Alexander de Humboldt, and translated into English by Helen Maria Williams, Philadelphia, M. Carey, 1 vol., 8vo, Dec. 23d, 1815, on p. xxii of which we read: "Mr. Pike displayed admirable courage in an important undertaking for the investigation of western Louisiana; but unprovided with instruments, and strictly watched on the road from Santa Fe to Natchitoches, he could do nothing towards the progress of the geography of the provincias internas. The maps of Mexico, which are annexed to the narrative of his journey, are reduced from my great map of New Spain, of which I left a copy, in 1804, at the secretary of state's office at Washington." In this connection Humboldt also makes the same well-founded charge against Arrowsmith, saying, p. xxi: "My general map of the kingdom of New Spain, formed on astronomical observations, and on the whole of the materials which existed in Mexico in 1804, has been copied by Mr. Arrowsmith, who has appropriated it to himself, by publishing it on a larger scale under the title of New Map of Mexico, compiled from original Documents, by Arrowsmith. It is very easy to recognize this map from the number of chalcographical errors with which it abounds," etc.

Of all forms of dishonesty, literary larceny is the most futile, because the surest of detection. Plagiarism is worse than a crime—it is a blunder. If the matter stolen is worth stealing, the transaction is certain to be exposed, sooner or later. The distinction between the use and misuse of the literary labors of another is so plain and simple that it cannot be misunderstood. It depends solely upon whether acknowledgment be made or not. Plagiarism acknowledged is no plagiarism—one has only to say "by your leave," to appropriate with impunity whatever he desires. But this instant formula is indispensable. Subsequent apology or explanation is impossible. Humboldt took Pike red-handed; this the present biographer deplores; but he can neither discover nor invent a defense. Pike's senselessness in this matter aggravates the offense. To have acknowledged his indebtedness to Humboldt and Bonpland, and then utilized their work to any extent he chose, would have been shrewd policy, as well as honest conduct; for Humboldt's was already a name to conjure with, and the hitherto nameless young writer could not have done better for himself than to cite such high authority in connection with his own work.[M-11] I have reluctantly satisfied myself that Pike's map of New Spain is no other than Humboldt's Carte Générale du Royaume de la Nouvelle Espagne, with Nau's errors and some little further modification.

The Dutch edition of Pike, 1812-13, is as follows:

[1812-13.]—Reize | naar | Nieuw-Mexico | en de Binnenlanden van | Louisiana, | Voorgegaan door eenen togt | naar de Bronnen der | Mississippi, | gedaan op last van het Gouver- | nement der Vereenigde Staten | in de jaren 1805, 1806 en 1807, | door den Majoor | Z. M. Pike. | — | Uit het Engelsch vertaald. | — | Eerste [Tweede] Deel. | met Kaarten. | — | Te Amsterdam, bij | C. Timmer. | MCDCCCXII [MDCCCXIII]. | Stilsteeg, No. 18. |

Two vols., 8vo. Vol. I., 1812 (notice misprint of date on title page), pp. i-viii, 1-327. Vol. II., 1813, two prel. leaves, and pp. 1-374, with three maps. Printed at Amsterdam by A. Breeman & Co. In Vol. I., title leaf, verso blank, pp. i, ii; Voorberigt van den Vertaler (Translator's Preface), pp. iii-viii, dated Amsterdam, Nov. 7th, 1812; main text, pp. 1-327, of which the Mississippi voyage runs to p. 218 inclusive, and the remainder finishes the Arkansaw journey, these being respectively Pt. 1 and Pt. 2 of the orig. ed. In Vol. II. a half title and a full title make each one unpaged leaf, and the main text runs pp. 1-374, being Pt. 3 of the orig. ed. The three maps belong in this vol.

The general form and style of this version are most like those of the French translation, from which, however, the Dutch differs in various particulars. It appears to have been based upon the English quarto rather than upon the original Philadelphia octavo, and to have been translated independently therefrom, as the French also was. Both the Dutch and the French editions follow the English one in working the matter of the Appendixes into the main text—in fact, no edition that I know of has hitherto followed the awkward and exasperating form of Pike's own book. The anonymous Dutch translator introduces a new preface, and a few short footnotes, not reproducing those of the French translator; the three maps are re-engraved from those prepared by Antoine Nau, as in the French edition, but with lettering of the names in Dutch instead of French.

The foregoing English, French, and Dutch editions were speedily followed by a German version. This seems to be a scarce book; I have not yet been able to find a copy. I presume that, like the French and Dutch, it was modeled upon the London quarto; but with what modifications, if any, aside from translation into another language, I have no idea.

The latest and best edition of Pike which has hitherto appeared in the United States, was published in 1889, as follows:

[1889.] Exploratory Travels | through the | Western Territories | of | North America: | comprising a | Voyage from St. Louis, on the Mississippi, | to the | Source of that river, | and a | Journey through the Interior of Louisiana, | and the | North-eastern Provinces of New Spain. | Performed in the years 1805, 1806, 1807, by Order of the Government of the United States. | — | By Zebulon Montgomery Pike, | Major 6th Regt. United States Infantry. | — | London: | Paternoster-Row. | — | 1811. | — | Denver: | W. H. Lawrence & Co. | 1889. |

One vol., large 4to. Engr. portrait, frontispiece, answering to pp. i, ii; title, verso copyright, pp. iii, iv; introduction (new, by Wm. M. Maguire, Denver, 1889), pp. v-xii; missing, pp. xiii, xiv; Report of Committee, etc. (1808), pp. xv-xxii (abstracted from Doc. No. 6 and accompanying papers of Appendix III. of the original); contents, pp. xxiii, xxiv, or pp. 23, 24; main text, pp. 25-351; blank, p. 352; Appendix, pp. 353-394; Mississippi map, reduced, opp. p. 24; 1st Louisiana map, reduced, opp. p. 146; 2d do., do., opp. p. 208; maps of Falls of St. Anthony and of Mexico not found; folding tables reset to page size.

As appears from the foregoing title and collation, this is a faithful and complete reprint of the English quarto. The title page is facsimiled with the camera, down to the publishers' names; the text is identical throughout, barring such slight literal or punctual differences as are necessarily incident to resetting type. The only noticeable change from the London edition is that Dr. Rees' advertisement is replaced by a new introduction, from the pen of William M. Maguire, Esq., of Denver. This is a valuable feature; my only regret is that so competent and conscientious an editor as Mr. Maguire—one familiar with much of Pike's route, and enthusiastic on the subject—did not give the work that extended critical revision which would have forestalled my own commentary and left me to exercise my editorial wits in some other direction. As it is, I am indebted to my valued correspondent in several particulars which appear in their proper connections in the course of my notes.

It is needless to cite here the multiplied notices of Pike and of his travels or his book which appear in ordinary biographical and encyclopedic publications. But, aside from Whiting's Memoir, already adduced, I may notice some special articles of more or less recent date.

The Pacific Railroad Reports, XI. 1855, pp. 19-22, contain a notice of Pike's Expeditions, by the late eminent geographer, General Gouverneur Kemble Warren. The routes are traced correctly, except in the instance of sending Pike over the Continental Divide to headwaters of the Colorado of the West; for General Warren says: "It appears that Lieutenant Pike has the honor of being the first American explorer that reached the sources of this large river [the Arkansaw], and the second that crossed the divide between the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans." The first clause of this statement is correct; in the second, the writer was misled.

"Mungo-Meri-Paike" is not the name of the celebrated Ethiopian explorer who was born at Fowlshiels, in Selkirkshire, Scotland, Sept. 20th, 1771, and became known to fame as Mungo Park, but a phonetization of the way "Montgomery Pike" reverberated in Spanish ears. Colonel James F. Meline's Two Thousand Miles on Horseback, etc., New York, Hurd and Houghton, 1867, exploits Pike in an interesting manner, especially in Letter xxix, pp. 234-245. Meline's contribution to the present biography is particularly valuable, as it gives some documentary evidence of the Spanish view of Pike's invasion of New Mexico. Most of this we have in Pike's book; but one of the papers which Colonel Meline presents, both in the original Spanish and in an English version, must find a place here; I give it in English, from Meline's pp. 243-245.[M-12] It is Governor Allencaster's report to General Salcedo, of date Santa Fé, N. M., Apr. 1st, 1807: compare Pike at p. 607 and following pages; also, p. 809.

The Topeka Commonwealth, a Kansan newspaper, during the summer and autumn of 1877 published a series of articles by Noble L. Prentis. These were afterward gathered in a volume entitled: A Kansan Abroad, what purports to be the second edition of which appeared in 1878, Topeka, Geo. W. Martin, sm. 8vo, pp. 240. One of the articles in this book, pp. 191-214, is thus described by its author, who seems to have been something of a wag: "The sketch, Pike of Pike's Peak, was first delivered at Topeka, February 19th, 1877, under the patronage of the Kansas State Historical Society. Afterward, in the cheerful month of March, the author went around the country with his production in the form of a 'lecture.' It was not as funny as was expected, and, as a lecture, was not an overwhelming success. It now appears for the first time in print; and may it find more readers than it ever did hearers." In this wish I concur with pleasure; for Mr. Prentis evidently had read his Pike with interested attention, and his essay is one of the best short biographies of our hero that I have seen. I have occasion to cite it twice in the present memoir.

In his Explorers and Travellers, forming a volume of the Men of Achievement series, New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1893, Art. VI., pp. 163-193, General A. W. Greely, Chief Signal Officer, U. S. A., who himself illuminates achievement in exploration, has given an appreciative sketch of Pike's career, in the main correct, though inaccurate in certain particulars. If I here specify two of these, it is in no spirit of detraction, but with the good feeling that General Greely reciprocated when I called his attention to them. It is said, p. 173, that "Pike visited Red Lake and passed to the north, which carried him to the drainage-basin of the Red River"; but Pike was never out of the Mississippian watershed on that voyage, his furthest point being Cass lake. This was formerly known as Red Cedar lake, whence perhaps General Greely's misapprehension. Again, it is said, p. 183, that Pike "doubtless crossed into Middle Park [in Colorado] and saw the head-waters of the Colorado"; but Pike went directly from South Park back into the valley of the Arkansaw, and never viewed a Pacific watershed. The general's summary, p. 175, of Pike's results on the Mississippi is judicious—a conservative estimate, colored with a generosity which none would wish to have been withheld:

Pike had more than carried out his orders to explore the sources of the great river, and did something more than give to the world the first definite and detailed information as to the upper river and its tributaries. He discovered the extent and importance of the British trade in that country, brought the foreign traders under the license and customs regulations of the United States, and broke up for all time their political influence over the Indians. He did much to restrain the unlawful sale of liquor to Indians by domestic traders, and not only inspired the Indians with respect for Americans, but also induced them to at least a temporary peace between themselves. He replaced a foreign flag by the ensign of his own country, and for the first time brought into this great territory the semblance of national authority and government.

Hon. Alva Adams of Pueblo, Col., delivered an address before the students and faculty of Colorado College, Colorado Springs, July 12th, 1894, which was published under the title: The Louisiana Purchase and its first Explorer, Zebulon Montgomery Pike, 8vo, pp. 23. This is a spirited oration, befitting the occasion and inspiring to read. It is true that Pike's book appeared in 1810, thus anticipating by four years the publication of Lewis and Clark; but can Governor Adams have forgotten who first explored the Louisiana Purchase, and returned from their expedition to the Pacific at noon of Sept. 23d, 1806? At that date Pike was at the Pawnee village on the Republican river; and on the 4th of October he had the news of Lewis and Clark's return to St. Louis. His western expedition had been in progress only since July 15th, 1806. If Governor Adams had Pike's Mississippi voyage in mind, that does not alter the case. Lewis and Clark started up the Missouri May 24th, 1804; and when Pike began to navigate the Mississippi, Aug. 9th, 1805, Lewis and Clark were on Jefferson river, in Montana. Furthermore, Pike was preceded in exploring Louisiana, from Missourian waters to those of the Rio Grande, by James Pursley, who had himself been preceded by Jean Baptiste Lalande, as we are duly informed by Pike himself; and it is probable that French traders reached Santa Fé by the same way half a century before Pike.

The Annals of Iowa, 3d series, Vol. I. No. 7, Oct., 1894, pp. 531-36, contains an article entitled: Pike's Explorations. This is anonymous, but was written by my much esteemed friend, Hon. Charles Aldrich, editor of the Annals and curator of the Iowa State Historical Department at Des Moines. The article is clear and concise; and it traces Pike's several journeys with absolute accuracy.

We return from this bibliographical excursus to resume the thread of Pike's biography—would that there had been many more years to chronicle in the gallant and patriotic, but all too brief, life of the young soldier! No longer lieutenant, but captain, since Aug. 12th, 1806, Pike was delivered out of the hands of "our friends the enemy" on the Sabine river, to which he had been escorted by his Spanish captors, June 29th, 1807; and arrived at Natchitoches about 4 p. m., July 1st. The following letter was received at the War Department Sept. 29th, 1807; it is not included in the Appendix to Pt. 3 of the book, and has probably never been published. I print verbatim from a copy of the original now on file in the office of the secretary of war:

Natchitoches 15 July. 1807.

Sir

I arrived here a few days since with part of my command only, the ballance being yet in New Spain, but expect them daily; as the Capt. General assured me they should follow me in a short period; he detaining them I presume, to put them through an examination, when he conceived they would be more easily intimidated into some equivocal expressions; which might palliate the unjustifyable conduct of the Spanish Government with respect to the expidition which I had the honor to command.

Whatever may be the sentiments of the Executive of the United States as to the conduct of the Spaniards to myself and command, I am bound to submit. Yet I am conscious that our Honor and Dignity, as a nation will not permit us to tranquilly view, the violation of our Territories; infringements of Treaties; Hostile communications to our Savages; and oppression of our Citizens; in various Instances: all of which I can make manifest.

The unreasionable Ideas of the Vice Roy, & His Excelly the Capt. Genl. (the immediate representatives of his Catholic Majesty on our Spanish Frontiers) as it respects the line of Demarkation, is such that in my humble oppinion almost precludes the possibility of a thought that they can ever be amicably adjusted.

On that subject I flatter myself I have acquired some important and interesting information.

Although the Capt. Genl. seized on (what he conceived all) my papers, I yet possess by a little strategem, the whole of my Journals; courses; and distances; and many other Geographical; Historical; and Philosophical notes; which I presume will be worthy of particular notice.

I conceive by a fortuitous event, that information has been acquired of the Spanish Kingdom of New Spain, which a foreigner never yet possessed; and which in case of a rupture between the United States, and that Govt, will be of the highest importance: but should peace still continue to bless those happy climes, will afford pleaseing subjects of contemplation, for the statesmen, the philosopher; and the Soldier.

I received from Genl. Wilkinson, some Conditional Orders on my Arrival at the place [this place—Natchitoches]; to which I have replied; but as the destination of that Gentleman, was uncertain, I thought it my duty to make a short report to you: I shall remain here waiting for my men a short time longer (as I expect some important information by their hands) when I shall march by the way of Kentucky, for the City of Washington. My papers being in such a mutilated and deranged state it will require some time to arrange them & (to which object every moment shall be devoted) likewise at Washington: I can obtain some necessary assistance as it would take one person a great length of time to make fair copies, and draughts of the plans, Journals &c &c of a tour of upwards of 4000 Miles—

The Surveys of Capns Lewis & Clark; mine of the Mississippi; Osage; upper Arkensaw; L'Platte; and Kans rivers; with Lieut Wilkinson's, & Mr. Freemans, of the lower parts, of the Red, and Arkensaw rivers; together with the notes I intend takeing on my route from hence up the Mississippi; will I presume form a mass of matter; which will leave but three, more objects, to be desired in forming a compleate chart of Louisiana.

I am Sir with High Consideration

Your obl. Sert.
[Signed] Z. M. Pike, Capt.

The Honl.
Henry Dearborne
Sect. W. Dept.

While at Natchitoches, Captain Pike made it one of his first concerns to move in the matter of Captain Nolan's men, then prisoners in Mexico: see beyond, pp. 609, 657, 660, 666, 767, 811. The case is little known, and has not proved an easy one to recover. But through the kind attentions of the eminent historian, Reuben T. Durrett, LL. D., president of the Filson Club of Louisville, Ky., I am put in possession of an article which appeared in the Natchez Herald of Aug. 18th, 1807, setting forth the facts in full. This I have the pleasure of presenting, literally according to the type-written copy which Dr. Durrett transmits, Apr. 12th, 1895:

Nachitoches, July 22, 1807.

Dear Sir—Inclosed you have a statement of the situation of the companions of the deceased Philip Nolan, and a short account of the ineffectual application I made, to rescue them from the eternal slavery, which it is to be feared, is destined for them, unless our government should be pleased to interfere in their behalf. Certainly the court of Spain would be too generous to refuse liberty to a few debilitated and half-lost wretches, who have at least expiated their crime, (if any) tenfold.

As I promised on my arrival in the United States, to give their friends an account of their situation, I could conceive no more certain and expeditious a method than through the medium of your Herald, and therefore wish you to give this communication publicity; and hope the Editors of the Gazettes of the states in which the friends of those unfortunate young men may belong, will republish it, that their connections may receive the melancholy assurances of some being in existence, and that others are beyond the power of tyranny and oppression.

I am, &c.,
[Signed] Z. M. Pike.

In a late involuntary tour which I made through part of his Catholic majesty's dominions of New Spain, whilst at St. Affe [Santa Fé], the capitol of N. Mexico and Chihuahua, I met with a number of the poor unfortunate companions of the deceased Nolan. One of whom gave me the following cursory statement of their treatment, &c. since their being taken, and on their joint application, I addressed a letter to his excellency Nemeio [sic] Salcedo, in their favor, of which an extract is subjoined, with the verbal reply of the general.

"We crossed the Mississippi on the 1st day of November, 1800, at the Walnut hills [Nogales], and in January following arrived at the river Brassus [Brazos], in the provinces of Texus, and proceeded to build pens [for the capture of mustangs]. In March, 1801, we began to run wild horses, and having caught several hundreds of them we selected the handsomest and let the ballance go. On the 22 of March, we were attacked at break of day, by sixty regular troops, and two hundred and forty militia and Indians, with one field piece. Our commander, (Nolan) being killed, we capitulated in the evening, on the assurance that Nolan was killed, who only was to blame, we should be conducted to Naggadoches [Nacogdoches], from whence there was no doubt, we would have permission to return to our country, as soon as the circumstances were stated to the governor of St. Antonio. We remained there under promises and daily expectations of being released until July, when we were all put in heavy irons.

"In August we were marched, in irons, to St. Antonio [Texas]; and in December through the province of Coqquella [Coahuila] and [New] Biscay, into the vice-royalty of Mexico, to the city of St. Louis Potosi, where we remained fourteen months, ironed, and in close confinement. In February, 1803, we were dispatched to Chihuahua, where after some time, our irons were struck off. From which to the present time, we have experienced various treatment, sometimes enjoying the liberty of the town, sometimes the barracks, and for three months in irons and close confinement.

"David Fero, from near Albany, state of New York, has been alternately in irons, the guard-house, limits of the fort or procedie [presidio]—is now confined to the limits of a fort called Cayome [sic], eight leagues distant from Chihuahua—in bad health. [See beyond, pp. 660, 665, 811.]

"Simon M'Coy, of the Oppelousas, or Natchez, a carpenter by profession, has the liberty of the town of Chihuahua—in good health.

"Joseph Reed, state of Kentucky, in the province of Biscay, but in what part and how situated unknown.

"Solomon Cooley [Colly of pp. 609, 613, beyond], of the state of Connecticut, a taylor by profession, carries on his business in the town of St. Affee, which is his limits.

"William Danton, of Natchez, residence and situation unknown.

"Charles King, of Natchez, works at the carpenter's trade, is confined by night to the quartel at Chihuahua—in good health.

"Ephriam Blackburn, of Natchez, is in some of the procedios of the province of Biscay—situation unknown.

"Joel Pears, of North Carolina, deceased at Chihuahua.

"John Waters, of Winchester, Virginia, a hatter, and carries on his business at Chihuahua, has embraced the Roman Catholic faith, after betraying a well concerted plan of his companions to effect their escape, and in which it is supposed they would have succeeded: his treachery caused them a close confinement in irons, and in a loathsome prison for three months—he is hated and despised, not only by his own countrymen but by every honest Spaniard in the place.

"Ellis Bean, of Granger county, state of Tennessee, a hatter, formerly carried on his business in the city of Chihuahua, but being detected in an intrigue with the daughter of an officer, and refusing to marry her, was in close confinement at St. Jeronime [San Jeronimo], a few leagues distant, in good health.

"Thomas House, of Jefferson county, Tennessee, blacksmith, confined to the quartel at night, but at that time was at the hospital, in a very bad state of health.

"Stephen Richards, of Natchez, has inlisted in the Spanish service, was lately at Baton Rouge with his father, in the quality of a citizen—belongs to the troops at Nagadoches."

[Here follows the above-mentioned letter from Pike to his Excellency, General Salcedo, given beyond, pp. 810-812.]

This letter I presented personally, & after the general had learned its contents, through an interpreter, he observed in reply That having found those men, on his arrival from Europe, to take the command of the internal provinces of New Spain, in the dungeons of St. Louis Potosi, he had demanded them of the Vice-Roy, and brought them to Chihuahua, where their irons were struck off, and every indulgence allowed them which his responsibility would admit—that he had felt a particular desire to serve Fero, but whose haughtiness of soul would not permit him to be under any obligation to the government, further than his allowance of twenty-five cents per day. That he had reported their situation to the King, and consequently must await the orders of his majesty; that with respect to the letters, they had always been permitted to correspond through him, with their friends—but that I might use my own pleasure as to taking letters, but he thought the peculiar delicacy of my own situation, should prevent me from taking any written communication out of the country.

Thus ended the conference, and thus stands the situation of those unfortunate men at present. But as I knew some part of the general's information to be incorrect, and especially as it related to the freedom of communication with their friends, I felt no such peculiar delicacy as to prevent my bringing out letters—but brought every one intrusted to my care.

[Signed] Z. M. Pike.

The records I have examined do not show Captain Pike's movements for the next few months. But imagination easily forges the missing links of the return of an intrepid and successful explorer who had been a captive in foreign lands, given up by his friends as lost to them forever—a loved husband, whom domus et placens uxor awaited—a hero, whose story remained to be told to a public eager to hear of El Dorado. He was in Washington soon—most likely before the end of the year, certainly in Jan., 1808—and already in hot water. For he took a header into the political caldron, which perpetually boils there, but had been superheated for him in consequence of his supposed confidential relations with his military commander-in-chief.[M-13] His name came before Congress in a way which ruffled his plumes, and extorted the following mettlesome effusion:

Washington 22 Feby 08.

Sir

The Honorable John Rowan of the House of representatives from Kentucky; has this day made some observations before that Honarable body from which a tacit inference might be drawn that my late Tour to the Westward was founded on Views intirely unknown to the Government; and connected with the nefarious plans of Aaron Burr and his associates. Had those insinuations arisen in any other quarter I should have concieved that my early choice of the military life, the many ardious and confidential duties I have performed, with the perfect knowledge which the Goverment must have of my military and political Character; would have been a sufficient justification for me to have passed over them in silence: but comeing from so respectable a source. I feel it a duty to myself; my family; and my profession; to request of you a testimonial which may shut the mouth of Calumny—and strike dumb the voice of slander. I have therefore to request of you Sir! to Honor me with a communication which may be calculated to present to the Speaker of the House of representatives; or a Committee of their Body, who have been appointed to inquire whether any, or what, extra Compensation should be made me & my Companions; for our late Voyages of Discovery, and exploration; and that I may have permission to give publicity to this letter which I have the Honor to address you, and your answer.

I am Sir with High Consideration

Your obt. Sert.
[Signed] Z. M. Pike Capt1st.
UStates Regt. Infy

The Hon.
Henry Dearborne
Sec. War. Dept.

On the same sheet of paper which has this letter, General Dearborn drafted a reply, with many interlineations and erasures, to be copied in a fair clerk's hand and signed by himself. In its final form, as received by Captain Pike, it was published, with other papers relating to Congressional action, as a part of Document No. 6 of the App. to Pt. 3 of the orig. ed. of this work: see p. 844. Its first form is as follows:

Feb: 24. 1808, War Dept.

Sir. In answer to your letter of the 22d Inst. I with pleasure observe that alth'o the two exploring expeditions you have performed were not previously ordered by the President of the U. S. there were frequent communications on the subject of each, between Genl. Wilkinson & this Department, of which the President of the U. S. was aquainted from time to time, and it will be no more than what justice requires to say, that your conduct in each of those expeditions met the approbation of the President; and that the information you obtained and communicated to the Executive in relation to the sources of the Mississippi & the natives in that quarter and the country generally as well on the uper Mississippi as that between the Arkansas & the Missouri, and on the borders of the latter extensive river to its source, and the adjacent countries, has been considered as highly interesting in a political, geographical & historical view. And you may rest assured that your services are held in high estimation by the President of the U. S.; and if opinion of my own can afford you any satisfaction I can very frankly declare that I consider the public very much indebted to you for the enterprising persevering and judicious manner in which you have performed them.

[No signature.]

To the above Pike made reply at once:

Washington City 26 Feby 08

Sir!

Suffer me to offer through you, to the president of the United States the effusions of a Heart impress'd with Gratitude for the very honarable testimonial of his approbation received by the Medium of Your Communication of the 24 Inst.

The Confidence of the Executive, and the respect of our fellow Citizens, must be the grand desiderata of every man of Honor, who wears a sword in the republican Armies of the United States; to acquire which has been the undeviateing pursuit of the earliest part of my life, & shall mark the colour of my future actions.

Suffer me to add Sir! that I feel myself deeply impressed by the Sentiments of personal respect and consideration with which you was pleased to Honor me—and shall always be proud to be considered as one who holds for your person and character Sentiments of the Sincerest Respect & Esteem

I am Sir
Your ob Sert
[Signed] Z. M. Pike Capt

The Honl.
Hen. Dearborne
Sec War Dept.

Meanwhile Captain Pike was panting for promotion—dear to every soldiers heart, and in his case well deserved. His majority was in sight but not in hand. There appears to have been a technical obstacle in his way. We often smile at the witticism expressed in the phrase: "the United States and New Jersey." Like most such things, it is not new. Being a Jerseyman, Captain Pike was required to establish the fact that he was not an alien to the United States—not for that reason, perhaps—still he was required to produce certain evidence of citizenship, as the following curious correspondence shows:

New-Jersey. Trenton 23d March 1808.

It appears by the records of this State, that Capt. John Pike, in the Year 1666, was one of the Original purchasers of & Settlers in Woodbridge—a magistrate & member of Council under the Proprietory government.—I have been well acquainted with Major Zebulon Pike, from my Childhood and with Capt. John Brown (Lieutent. of Cavalry in the revolutionary War) also a Native of Woodbridge—and whose daughter Capt. ZM. Pike married; so that Capt Pike has good reason to claim New-Jersey, not only as his Native State, but as the residence of his family for near a Century & a half.

[Signed] Joseph Bloomfield

The above certificate of Governor Bloomfield was inclosed by Pike to the War Department with the following letter:

Washington City 4 Apl 1808

Sir!

Having received the enclosed document from Govr. Bloomfield on the 27th Ulto.—who has particularly interested himself in my promotion in the profession my inclination has induced me to persue; I should not have conceived it necessary to have laid it before you had I not understood that you expressed a doubt as to the place of my nativity; and whether, the state of Jersey, was that of which I had a right to claim a Citizenship. I had not conceived that it would be requisite for a native of America who had served his country in Arms for Years (And his forefathers before him) to establish the Locality of his birth right but the prevoy prevoyance of my respected friend His Excells Govr. Bloomfield has laid it in my power to satisfy Genl. Dearborne on that Subject—I hope I shall be pardoned for thus intrudeing myself on the time of the Secy of War, and beg leave to offer assurances of High respect & Esteem——

[Signed] Z. M. Pike

The Honl.
Henry Dearborne.
Secy War Dept.

Having thus proven that he was a citizen of New Jersey and of the United States, the captain could feel that the coveted majority was his. His commission as major of the 6th Infantry, of date May 3d, 1808, was acknowledged by him in the following letter, which I have also chosen as the one to be reproduced in facsimile for the present work:

Washington 5 May. 1808

Sir

I have the Honor to acknowledge the receiipt of yours, notifying me of my appointment to a Majority in the 6th Regt. of Infantry in the Service of the United States. You will please Sir! to receive this as my acceptance of the same, and believe me to be

With High Consideration
Your Obt. Sert.
[Signed] Z. M. Pike

The Honl.
Henry Dearborne
Sec. War Dep.

Among other things which had engaged Major Pike's attention was of course his book—that story of his adventures which he had fondly dreamed would immortalize his name, and respecting which his dream was realized. He had already made such progress in his literary work that he entered into official correspondence with the Secretary of War on that subject. For instance:

Washington, 14th, April 1808.

Sir:—

[A two-page letter concluding thus:]

I shall in a day or two address an unofficial letter to the President, requesting the favour of his advice, on the Subject of the publication of my Voyages, on which, he having read them, in Manuscript, will be a Competent Judge—In this I shall speak as having the permission of your Department for the publication.—

I am Sir,
with great Consideration,
Your obt. servt.
[Signed] Z. M. Pike Captain.

The inside history of books which the world will not let die is always interesting. Here is a letter which speaks for itself:

Philadelphia 27 May. 1808.

Dr. Sir!

I have entered into an agreement with the firm of Conrad, Lucas & Co of this place to print and publish my Tours, for which I allow them 20 pr. Cent on all the sales, and pay besides the expences of printing &c.—This, with bad debts and other Casualties will leave to myself but an extreame small profit but as a soldiers views are more Generally directed to fame than interest I hope that one object will at least be accomplished.—The Work will not exceed four dollars pr. Copy but the exact price we cannot yet ascertain but hope Genl. Dearborne will give it all the patronage which he may deem it entitled to; and Signify to Messrs. Conrad and Lucas the number of Copies you will take on ac of your Department. I have taken the Liberty of encloseing under cover to you a letter addressed to Nau [the draughtsman] which the Secy can read, and if he does not wish to retain that man, in the Service of the Goverment at the present time he will be good enough to have the letter presented to him, and should the Goverment wish his services in the Autumn or after he has done my business he can return to Washington: But if he cannot be spared by the Departt. the letter can be distroyed look out for another person—

I beg leave to remind the Secy of War of the applications which have been made in favour of my friend Docr. Robinson—and hope he may yet be brought in for a Company Vice some one who did not accept.

Will Genl. Dearborne accept of my sincere acknowledgements for the many favours he has conferred on me and believe me to be with sincere respect and Esteem.

His obt Sert
[Signed] Z M Pike

The War Department proved to be a liberal subscriber; for General Dearborn indorsed the above in his own handwriting, "We will take 50 copies."

Matters thus being satisfactorily arranged for the publication of his book, Major Pike seems to have returned at once, or very soon, to military duty in his new rank—unless he went to see his wife on leave of absence. We find him at Belle Fontaine in August of this year, as evidenced by a letter I will transcribe in part, epitomizing the rest:

Camp Belle Fontain—
18 Augt. 1808.

Sir!

Col. Hunt[M-14] deceased last night at half past 12 O. C. after an illness of some weeks—He has left a distressed widow and nine children unprovided for, and unprotected. [The letter recommends military appointments for Col. Hunt's two sons, George and Thomas; states that the command of the district has devolved on Capt. James House of the artillery; that Capt. Clemson's company of the 1st Infantry had marched 10 days before for Fire Prairie, 25 miles up the Missouri, and Capt. Pinckney's company was to march in about 10 days for the Des Moines r., which would leave only one company of artillery at Belle Fontaine; wishes to know when he shall have definite orders to join his battalion in New Jersey; expects to be at Pittsburgh next October; and continues:] which is my anxious wish as from appearances we shall again have to meet the European Invaders of our country and if I know myself, I feel anxious to have the honor of being amongst the first to rencounter their boasted phalanx's—and to evence to them that the sons are able to sustain the Independence handed down to us by our Fathers

[Signed] Z. M. Pike, Majr.
6th Regt Inf

Before the year closed Major Pike had come East, and found his hands full, no doubt, in presenting to Congress the claims of himself and his men to the generous consideration of that body, in the little matter of an appropriation for their benefit. Those who have ever had occasion to cool their heels in the halls of greatness, till the mercury of their hopes congealed in the bulbs of their thoroughly refrigerated boots, will best appreciate Pike's plight. The novelist's realism of little Miss Flite in Chancery is out-realized in the Bleak House on Capitol Hill, which William McGarrahan haunted for a lifetime, and from which his injured ghost may not yet be freed. The following letter was written when Pike had not lost hope:

Capitol Hill, 2 Decemr. 08.

Sir

I am informed by Mr. Montgomery that some members of the committee (on the resolutions moved in favour of my late exploreing parties) wish to have our members officially notified; and the time we were employed in each Expedition, which information you requested from General Wilkinson—Inclosed you have a return of the party on each tour and the commencement & expiration, but as all the intervening time between my return from the source of the Mississippi to our departure to the West we were employed in prepareing for the second tour; I submit to your Judgment whether the whole should not be engrossed—Also there being a number of men still in new Spain the time will necessarily be extended to them. [This matter makes chap. vi., pp. 840-855, beyond.]

The Committee meet to-morrow morning will Genl. Dearborne have the goodness to furnish them with the necessary information by that time—I would have waited on you personally but am this day to set on General Court Martial which convenes at 9 OC. A. M.

I am Sir with High Respect
& Esteem your ob. sert
[Signed] Z M Pike Majr.
6 Regt Infy

The Honl.
Henry Dearborne
Sec W. Dept.

Nothing came of this move. Pike was less fortunate than Lewis and Clark. The difference did not all depend upon merit; simply, he had no political "pull." His expeditions originated with General Wilkinson; they were military movements with which the President had nothing to do. Jealousy is the most nearly universal of human weaknesses, in high as well as low places; besides which, Thomas Jefferson had his own opinion of James Wilkinson. Whatever Major Pike may have thought of it, he certainly lost little time in dancing attendance on Congress; he was not built for a lobbyist. In Dec., 1808, we find him on military duty at Fort McHenry, Md., as appears from various official letters of his before me, but which need not be transcribed, as they represent merely the routine correspondence of an army officer. At some period in 1809 he was transferred to the West; and he was on duty as military agent in New Orleans from Sept. 13th, 1809, to Mar. 10th, 1810, or later, by virtue of the following order:

Camp Terre au Bœuf,
Sept. 13th. 1809—

Sir

The Situation of the public service and the impossibility of finding a suitable Character in private life to undertake the temporary duties of Military Agent, Obliges me to impose that Office on you.... [instructions follow.]

[Signed] J. Wilkinson
Majr. Z. M. Pike

During his tour of duty in New Orleans Major Pike became lieutenant-colonel of the 4th Infantry Dec. 31st, 1809. One of Lieutenant-Colonel Pike's letters shows that he did not forget "Baroney," his quondam companion in arms on the Arkansaw:

New Orleans
March 4th. 1810

Sir

Ensign Vasquez of the 2d Infantry who was late Interpreter on the tour of Discovery to the source of the Arkansaw &c presented himself to me at this place. After being three years in the United States service without receiving any settlement I made a statement of his accounts and gave him an advance in Cash and a draft for the balance, in order that if the form of settlement did not meet your approbation they might be corrected. He has been absent going on four years, and begs permission to return to St Louis to see his Aged parents, which I hope will be granted him by the Honl. Secretary of War. The French language is his proper one; but he speaks Spanish very well, and is beginning with the English, but very imperfectly as yet. Under those circumstances I should conceive his services would be most important on the Spanish Frontiers. As he is about to embark for the City of Washington, I shall furnish him with a duplicate of this letter, and remain Sir, with
the highest Respect & Esteem
Your Obdt. Servt.
Z. M. Pike

The Honl William Eustis
Secretary War Department

There is little to mark Lieutenant-Colonel Pike's career in 1810-11, or until the breaking out of the war of 1812. From many letters I have seen by which he can be traced in these years, uneventful for him, I select one which shows the workings of his mind at this time, as well as his readiness to ventilate the views which he entertained. Characters such as his have visions which they may freely express without carrying conviction to others. The following communication was received at the War Department from Mississippi Territory:

Cantonment, Washington June 10, 10

Sir

Although, it may be deemed unmilitary in me (a Subordinate in Command) to address myself immediately to the War Department yet the purport of this Communication being principally of a private nature, I presume it will not, be deemed a great deviation from propriety.—I entered the Army at the early age of fifteen, and have continued to pursue my profession with enthusiasm to the present time a period upwards of Sixteen years during which I have had every practical experience which the times offered of becoming a Soldier.—Together with a Careful perusal of numerous Millitary authors in the French & English languages.—But hapily for my Country her Councils have been guided by Such Judicious Measures; That the opportunity which I have so long panted for, of Calling into Action, The Experience I possess, has never Occured.—Knowing that it must be the interest of the U.S to keep at peace with the world, and despairing of ever being Calld Into actual service I should some time since have resignd the sword and became a farmer, (The only proffession I can acquire) only for the unsettled state of our foreign affairs.—Fortune has at length placed me (Through the instrumentality of General Hampton) at the Head of the Compleatest body of Infantry in the US.—If this Regiment should be Consolidated and the Col. not join, I should be very happy to retain the Command and remain in this quarter.—If not I would hope to be ordered to join my Regiment in New England, a quarter of the Union I should be gratifyd. in spending some time in.—Should I remain here and be permitted to introduce the modern Discipline—into the Corps I would pledge my existance it would be equal to any in the U S. in one year. This is a subject of much diversity of Oppinion, as many gentlemen wish to Confine us to Stuben.[M-15]—The value of whose system no man appreciates more justly than myself. But the Battle of Jena but too fatally evinced to the Prusian Monarch that the mordern improvements in the Art of War had been such, as entirely to overturn the principles of manourvres of the Malboroughs—Eugenes and Fredericks. The Millitary Establishment of the United States can only be viewed as the nuclues of an Army in Case of War, from whence Could be drawn Staff Officers well versed in tactics and police—In the foregoing observations I mean to cast no reflections on my superior officers;—but Conceive at the same time the Ideas may not be deemed obtrusive On the Honl Secty of War.—Whilst makeing this unofficial Communication I think it my duty to intimate the situation in which the neighbouring province of Florida now stands. The Goverment is in a Compleat state of Lethargie.—The Citizens are forrming committees and appear to be disposed to offer their allegiance to the U S. when if it should be refused, they will Make it a tender to Great Britain this would have been done some time since had they not feared the Isle of Cuba.—That Cuba is competant to keep them in Subjection by force is extremely doubtful; But what line of Conduct the U. S will persue on the Occasion is an important question.—our views should only be turned to the effect our interferance would have abroad for we have disposible force in this territory & Orleans when joined to the Malcontents amply sufficient to secure possession of the province; But with respect to the effect this would have on Mexico is seriously to be taken into concideration Mexico including all the possessions of Spain North of Terra Firma [Tierra Firme], must constitute ere long a great and independant power of at least seven millions of souls, with more of the precious metals than any other nation in the world will it not be an object of the first Magnitude for the U S to secure the trade, friendship and alliance of this people. They never will become a maratime or manufactoring nation they are at present pastorial and On trial will prove Warlike. I hesitate not to say they Can pour forth thousans of Calvary surpass'd by none in the World. To this power We might become the Carryers and Manifactories, for which no Nation Could vie with us; which would be sources of immence Wealth.—And an Augmentation of our power.—To this very important object I humby Conceive a too early attention Cannot be paid—On this subject I have probaly intruded my oppinion on Mr. Eustis, but I could not forbear giveing those intimations which I conceived might be beneficial to my Country.—I had a brother in the Millitary Academy from whom I have not heard for some time should he merit the favour of his Country;—or if his Fathers Thirty Years service or my own claim some small indulgence for him, I hope he may be appointed an Ensign of Infantry and sufferd to join the Regiment to which I may be attached; the latter part of this request is not made from a desire that I may have it in my power to shew him any favour;—far from it,—but that, I may have him near me to Restrain the Disposition which all youths evince for irregularities. And point out to him the paths of propriety and Honor, also that he may benefit [by] the few years he can appropriate to study by the use of a variety of Millitary Authors I have collected.—Such are my reasons for wishing my brother with me. I hope this may meet the approbation of the Honbe Secrty.—And this letter may be attributed to its true motives, and that the Honble Secty may beleive me as I am from Duty and inclination Sincerely devoted to my Country and his obedt

Hble Sert—
[Signed] Z M Pike

The Honl.
Wm. Eustis
Secy War Dept—

Lieutenant-Colonel Pike's "despair of ever being called into service" was of short duration. He was soon to be called upon to lay down his life for his country on the battlefield. From April 3d, 1812, to July 3d of that year he had been deputy quartermaster-general. He was promoted to the colonelcy of the 15th Infantry July 6th, 1812. The war was upon us. Colonel Pike's qualifications for the command of a regiment may be best estimated in the terms of his military biographer, General Whiting, who says, pp. 309-311:

Probably no officer in the army, at that time, was held in higher estimation. This was not because he had seen much actual service, for he had hardly been in the presence of the enemy before the day on which he fell. It was on the promise, rather than the fulfilment, that the public mind rested his character for boldness and enterprise; and his fitness to direct and control men had been determined, to an extent that warranted much confidence, by his expeditions in the north-west and the south-west. He had there given such proofs of those qualities, as established a reputation in advance. He had exhibited, moreover, an indefatigable activity in the drill of his regiment, requiring of all under his command an unwearied devotion to duty, and an exact and prompt obedience to orders.

His regiment became an example of zeal, discipline, and aptitude in movements; his men had an unbounded belief in his capacity, and his officers looked up to him with unusual respect and affection. He inspired that confidence in all under his orders, which is almost a certain evidence that it is merited.

At the opening of the war of 1812, we were almost without any fixed guides in tactics and discipline. The standard of the latter part of the revolution, and of subsequent times, "Old Steuben," which had been approved by Washington, and had led to some of the best triumphs of the closing years of that glorious period, had become obsolete, even before any substitute was provided. Hence, when new regiments came into service by scores in 1812, nothing was prescribed for regulation or for drill. The old regiments had their forms and customs, which preserved in them the aspect of regulars. But even these presented no uniform example. Some adopted the "nineteen manœuvres" of the English; others, the ninety-and-nine manœuvres of the French; while a few adhered to old Dundas; and fewer still to older Steuben.

Nothing was laid down by the proper authority; therefore all manner of things were taken up without any authority at all. Amid this confusion, or wide latitude of choice, General Pike, though brought up in the old school, was often tempted, by his ambitious desire for improvement, to run into novelties. With a prescribed rule, he would have been the most steady and uncompromising observer of it. But, in such a competition for beneficial change, he most naturally believed himself as capable as others of changing for the better.

In this spirit of innovation, the 15th regiment underwent many changes, and exhibited, even in times when novelties and singularities were no rarities, perhaps the widest departure from common standards of any regiment in service. Adopting the French system of forming in three ranks, his third rank was armed in a manner peculiar to itself, having short guns, being the ordinary musket cut off some inches, and long pikes. It was said, by the wags of the day, that his own name suggested the manner, and the regiment was often called "Pike's regiment of pikes."

These pikes presented a formidable appearance on drill and dress parade, when the men could display their tactics with the precision of automata. They were even retained in the assault of Fort York. But at the first engagement after the fall of General Pike, the men threw them away, together with the cut-off pieces, and picked up English muskets to fight with. The experiment of putting his regiment on snow-shoes which Pike tried—doubtless remembering their serviceability to himself and his company on the upper Mississippi in the winter of 1805-6—does not seem to have proven any more lasting or decided a success.

Colonel Pike's sword was stronger than his pen, as we know; but he could sharpen either weapon on occasion, as the following spirited repulse of a newspaper attack on his regiment will show:[M-16]

Camp near Plattsburg [N. Y.], Oct. 12th, 1812.

Sir:

However incompatible it may be with the character and profession of a soldier, to enter into the party politics of the day, yet when the honor of the government, the corps he commands, and his personal fame are wantonly attacked, and attempted to be sacrificed to satiate the malignant venom of party purposes, it becomes his duty as a man, a patriot, to come forward and boldly contradict the base calumniator. The following piece "from the Connecticut Herald" and republished in the New York Herald of October 3d, is not only calculated to bring disrepute on the government, but to hold up our army as a mob wanting in discipline as well as in patriotism. The piece alluded to is as follows, viz.:

"The multiplied proof of folly, or of madness, or some worse cause, that have driven the nation into a ruinous, offensive war, are accumulating with every day's experience. Barely to enumerate the evidence would occupy columns. Two or three facts of recent occurrence, which have come to my knowledge, are in point and worthy of record. It is then a fact (for I state it on the best authority) that either the national treasury is so miserably empty, or the proper department so deficient in duty, that the army under General Dearborn, which has so long been idling away their time near Albany, was not only unpaid, but unprovided with the common necessaries of a camp; and when, a few days since, a part of these troops were ordered to the frontiers, one whole regiment (Colonel Pike's) absolutely refused, and deliberately stacked their arms, declaring they would not move until paid. In this refusal they were justified by their colonel, and an old soldier, who admitted they ought not to march unless the government would first pay the arrears due them. It fortunately happened that Mr. Secretary Gallatin was then at Albany, and on learning the state of affairs at the encampment, he borrowed $20,000 from one of the banks on his private credit, by which means the troops were paid, and cheerfully followed their commander."

In contradiction to this statement it will be sufficient to give the following facts:

[Firstly]—That the regimental paymaster had in his hands funds to pay the whole regiment up to the 31st. And [that] within three days of the period when the troops moved, three companies were paid previous to the march and the balance so soon as the troops halted a sufficient time to give the officers an opportunity to adjust the rolls and prepare the accounts of the recruits.

Secondly—That those funds were received by the regimental paymaster from the district paymaster, Mr. Eakins, who was then at Albany, and not from Mr. Gallatin whom, it is believed, did not arrive till after the regiment moved from Greenbush.

These facts can be corroborated by every officer of the 15th Infantry, who one and all deem the paragraph published in the Herald a base calumny, a direct attack on their honor as soldiers, and declare that the author, whoever he may be, has asserted gross untruths. As for myself, I have had the honor to serve in the army from the rank of volunteer to the station I now hold, during the Administration of Gen. Washington, Mr. Adams, Mr. Jefferson, and Mr. Madison, and can affirm that I have known some troops under the three first to have been upward of a year without a payment, and under the latter for eight months. This was owing to the dispersed state of our troops on the western frontiers. But never did I hear of a corps shewing a disposition to refuse to do their duty, because they had not received their pay; nor do I believe the American army has been disgraced by an instance of the kind since the Revolutionary War. But ask any man of consideration, what time it requires to organize an army, or a corps of new recruits—if, owing to the want of a knowledge of the officers to forms of returns, accounts, etc., it will not be some time before a new corps can be as well equipt, or appear as much like soldiers, as an old one? Every soldier will reply that it will require two years at least to teach both officers and men to reap the same benefit from the same supplies as old soldiers. And although at this time the 15th regiment has been as regularly supplied as any other corps with clothing, pay, arms, and accoutrements, even to watch coats to protect the centinel against the winter storms, yet were there an old regiment laying by their side, who had received the same supplies, they would most indubitably be better equipped and make themselves more comfortable, having the saving of two or more years' supplies on hand. But whether ill or well supplied, the soldiers and officers have too just a sense of the duty they owe their country and their own honor, ever to refuse to march against the enemy. And the colonel begs leave to assure the author of the above paragraph, that he hopes he will forbear any future attempt to injure his reputation by praising an action which, if true, must have forever tarnished the small claim he now has to a military character.

[Signed] Z. M. Pike,
Colonel 15th U. S. Infantry.

Colonel Pike seldom had occasion to make proclamations of a politico-military character. But one such which he issued while he was in command of a district may be here cited. It is not dated, in the printed form before me, but was no doubt given out in Jan., 1813, as it appears in Niles' Register for the week ending Jan. 30th, III. No. 22, p. 344:

To all whom it may concern. The state of hostility which exists between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United States makes it necessary that the intercourse which may take place between this country and the adjacent province of Canada should be regulated on the principles which govern belligerent nations. I have had it in charge from the commanding general, Chandler [John Chandler, of New Hampshire, d. 1841] that no person should be permitted to pass in or out of Canada without his permission, or, in his absence, the permission of the commandant of the district of Champlain. This order has been communicated to the commanding officer on the lines, and will be strenuously enforced.

Some members of the community have been found so void of all sense of honor, love of country, or any other principle which has governed the virtuous of all nations and ages, as to hold correspondence with and give intelligence to our enemies. It therefore becomes my duty to put the laws in full force. The two following sections of the rules and articles of war, which are equally binding on the citizen and the soldier, are published for the information of the public, that no one may plead ignorance, as from this time henceforward they shall be enforced with the greatest severity.

"Art. 56. Whosoever shall relieve the enemy with money, victuals, or ammunition, or shall knowingly harbor or protect an enemy shall suffer death, or such other punishment as shall be ordered by the sentence of a court-martial.

"Art. 57. Whosoever shall be convicted of holding correspondence with, or giving intelligence to, the enemy, either directly or indirectly, shall suffer death, or such other punishment as shall be ordered by the sentence of a court-martial."

[Signed] Z. M. Pike, Col. 15th Regt. Inf.
Commanding West Lake Champlain.

During the winter of 1812-13, when the 15th regiment was stationed on the northern frontier, in view of the operations to be undertaken against the posts of the enemy on the lakes, great confidence in this well-disciplined and zealous body of troops was felt by General Henry Dearborn, formerly secretary of war, and then the senior major-general of the army, in immediate command. As we have just seen, General Pike was in charge of a military district on Lake Champlain; his command was then of about 2,500 men. Various desultory demonstrations against the enemy had proved futile, in some cases fatuous and disgraceful. The War Department determined upon a more consistent and apparently feasible plan of concerted operations, which had in view the reduction of all the British posts on the St. Lawrence river and Lake Ontario. The capture of Kingston (site of old Fort Frontenac) was a measure of first importance. The garrison was supposed to be small, and lulled in a sense of security, owing to the rigors of the season and the numerical insignificance of our troops at Sackett's Harbor; nor was Kingston likely to be re-enforced from below, as the British forces were menaced on the Lower St. Lawrence by Pike's troops on Lake Champlain. It was proposed to transport these in sleighs to the foot of Lake Ontario with such promptitude that the movement could not be counteracted. General Dearborn also proposed to concentrate other forces at Sackett's Harbor, to which place his headquarters at Albany were to be moved at once. This was in Feb., 1813. But while these measures were pending, Sir George Prevost, Governor-General of the Canadas, prorogued the Parliament then in session, and moved to Kingston with re-enforcements for that place. According to General Dearborn's dispatches of Mar. 3d from Sackett's Harbor, this demonstration seemed so alarming that operations against Kingston were suspended in favor of others which had regard to the safety of Sackett's Harbor; though it appears in General Armstrong's History of the War that Sir George Prevost had executed a clever ruse with few troops, and "countervailed his antagonist only by dexterous and well-timed reports," Whiting's Pike, p. 290 seq.

The proposed attack on Kingston over the ice having been abandoned, the Secretary of War's alternative plan of reducing in succession the several posts on and about Lake Ontario engaged General Dearborn's attention. The Secretary indicated the order in which the successive attacks were to be made, viz.: Kingston and York on Lake Ontario; George and Erie on the Niagara river. But this sequence was not strictly regarded by General Dearborn, who determined to attack Kingston last instead of first; considering the rotation of the assaults to be of minor consequence, in view of the main features of a campaign which had for its object the reduction of all the posts named in the order of the Secretary. The general commanding, on consultation with Commodore Isaac Chauncey, concluded to make York the initial point of attack; George to come next, and then Kingston.

The prospect held out by this plan of the campaign was certainly very promising. It had all such probabilities in its favor as could be commanded by those who control only one side of the current of events. The force that could and would be brought to bear on each point of attack was ample, and left as little to hazard as prudence would suggest. The plan was founded on the best principles of strategy, and highly creditable to the generalship which dictated it. Had it been carried out with the spirit and perseverance with which it was commenced, there was every reasonable prospect of a successful issue. The causes of its failure were obvious: delays, without proper objects, after the capture of Fort George; and a change of command, wholly unnecessary and inexpedient, which led to the waste of nearly an entire season of inactivity (Whiting, p. 297).

As noted by this military critic and historian, General Dearborn was relieved from command early in July, 1813, his successor being enjoined to rest on his arms, except in the event of certain improbable contingencies which never arose, until the arrival of General Wilkinson, who did not reach Fort George until September, or resume operations until Oct. 1st; so that "nearly three months were utterly wasted by a body of 4,000 troops."

But I have digressed from the attack on Fort York, with which alone are we here concerned.

In the latter part of April, 1813, the navigation of Lake Ontario was open, and no molestation was apprehended, as it was known that Sir James Yeo's fleet was not operative. Agreeably with the plan of the campaign above briefly noted, therefore, General Dearborn embarked on board Commodore Chauncey's fleet, with about 1,700 troops, under the immediate command of Brigadier-General Pike, Apr. 25th. On the morning of the 27th the fleet reached York harbor, where it was intended to debark for the assault on Fort York. This military post defended the place which had been known as Toronto till 1793, and was then called York till 1834, when it resumed its aboriginal name.

The true signification of the Iroquois word which has settled in the form Toronto, after long fluctuation of all its vowels, is uncertain, or at any rate, is still questioned. It is now most frequently translated "trees in the water," or by some equivalent phrase, with reference to the formerly wooded, long, low spit of land which still encompasses the harbor of Ontario's metropolis. Irrespective of its etymology, the various connotations of Toronto in successive historical periods are to be carefully discriminated. If we turn to old maps, we see that the present Georgian bay of Lake Huron was Toronto bay; the present Lake Simcoe was Toronto lake; present Severn river and the Humber were each of them Toronto river. In the seventeenth century, Toronto was the official designation of a region between Lake Simcoe and the Georgian bay—the country of the Hurons, on the large peninsula which intervenes between Lake Huron and Lake Ontario. The comparatively narrow neck of this peninsula offered, by means of Humber river and certain portages, a convenient way to pass between these two great lakes—it was, in fact, an Indian thoroughfare. The mouth of the Humber consequently became an Indian rendezvous, and the name of the whole region thus became best known in connection with the locality of the present city. As the southern terminus of this highway, on Lake Ontario, offered an eligible site for a trading-post, advantage was taken of such an opportunity to cut off trade from Chouagen (Oswego) by planting the original establishment of the Whites near the mouth of the Humber. Such was the French Fort Rouillé, built in 1749, and named in compliment to Antoine Louis Rouillé, Comte de Jouy, then colonial minister. This post was destroyed in 1756, to prevent it from falling into the hands of the English. It became better known as Fort Toronto than it had been by its proper French name, and later on passed into history as Old Fort Toronto, in distinction from the two other establishments to which the name was successively bequeathed. Fort Rouillé, by whatever name called, was never lost sight of entirely. Lossing's Field Book of the War of 1812, New York, 1868, p. 593, has a cut which shows its appearance when it had been to some extent renovated in 1812-13. The exact site is now marked by a monument, lying alongside which is an inscribed stone. These memorials are pointed out to visitors, on the lake shore, in the southwest corner of the present Exposition grounds, on the western side of the city of Toronto. After the abandonment of old Fort Rouillé the region round about remained for nearly half a century a wild whose solitude may have been only relieved by the lodges of a few Misisagas—those Indians of Ojibwa affinities who had become members of the Iroquois confederation in 1746, three years before the fort was built. In 1791, Upper and Lower Canada were instituted by parliamentary measures which Pitt guided to success; the latter was practically the province of Quebec; the former became the province of Ontario, the refuge and future home of the United Empire Loyalists. For the capital of Ontario, a site was to be chosen in then unbroken wilds. The first provincial Parliament of the new province of Upper Canada was held in May, 1793, at Newark, the present town of Niagara, where the river of that name enters Lake Ontario. But this place was ineligible; the river became an international boundary; the guns of the United States Fort Niagara could be trained upon Newark; and in August of the same year the seat of government of the new province was transferred to the new site which had been surveyed to that end by Bouchette, and selected for the purpose by General and Governor John Graves Simcoe (b. Feb. 25th, 1752, d. Oct. 6th, 1806). To this place Simcoe gave the name of York, after the duke, second son of George III. The evolution of this embryo of future greatness was slow; for many years "Little York," or "Muddy York," as it was styled by some in derision, had but a few hundred inhabitants; its maintenance was mainly due to the United Loyalists already mentioned. In April, 1813, the works by which York was defended, and which General Pike carried by assault, were those called Fort York; later they were known as Fort Toronto, or "the Fort at Toronto." The town which Simcoe had christened York did not resume the original designation of the locality till 1834, when it was incorporated as the city of Toronto.

This magnificent metropolis, which so admirably illustrates the effect of American momentum upon English stability, is situated upon the north side of Lake Ontario, 39 miles northeast of Hamilton (which occupies the fond du lac) and 310 miles west-southwest of Montreal; at the observatory the position is calculated to be in latitude 43° 39´ 35´´ N. and longitude 79° 23´ 39´´ W. of the Greenwich meridian. The city extends westward from the vicinity of the Don in the direction of the Humber, across the small stream known as Garrison creek. It thus has several miles of lake front on the south, at the bay or harbor of Toronto, partly shut off from the lake by low land which was once a peninsula, and some small islands, with an entrance only from the west; but the peninsula has been artificially cut off from the mainland. At its end stood a blockhouse, in a position known as Gibraltar point; another blockhouse stood at the mouth of the Don, on the left or east bank of that river. One now drives a few blocks from any hotel in the heart of the city to "old" Fort York, at present dismantled, but very much in evidence still of the scene of General Pike's victory and mortal hurt. The visitor will be warned off the premises by the functionary who has these disjecta membra in charge, as Lossing had been before I was; but may nevertheless keep on the main street or road through the frowning earthworks, and will presently find himself on Garrison Common. This is the large level piece of ground, the middle of the lake front of which is occupied by the present barracks, or "new fort." At points included within the present garrison and parade ground were the positions of two outer defenses of old Fort York, respectively called at that time the Western and the Half Moon battery; these were the first and second obstacles for Pike to surmount in advancing upon the main defenses of York. Crossing Garrison Common in a few minutes we enter the Exposition grounds, at the further corner of which, to the left, and directly upon the lake shore, stand the Rouillé monument and inscribed cairn already mentioned, together with a historical cabin; a pier juts into the lake close by these objects. The direct distance between the Rouillé monument and old Fort York is about 6,000 feet—little over a mile by the road; the present barracks are nearly midway between those two places. Old Fort York occupies a position about the mouth of Garrison creek, between Front Street and the water's edge, at the foot of Tecumseh Street, and close to Queen's Wharf, in the midst of railroad tracks, freight houses, and depots. The magazine, which was exploded at the cost of many American and some British lives, stood in a depression at or near the mouth of the creek, with its top nearly on a level with higher ground on either hand; it is said that its existence was not suspected by the enemy. It was a comparatively large structure of its kind, solidly built of heavy stone masonry, and contained a great quantity of powder, shot, and shell. All the positions here in mention may be inspected in a leisurely drive of an hour. Those who have not been over the ground, or have not a city map at hand, will be helped to a clear understanding of the situation by the diagram given in Lossing, p. 590; together with the sketches there given of York, of Fort York, of the magazine which was blown up by General Sheaffe's order, and of the Western battery whose explosion was accidental. Of the latter, the picture represents the remains as they were in 1860.

The conflicting accounts of uninformed, unconsciously biased, or willfully mendacious writers have shrouded in obscurity the clear and intelligible relation which can be given of the battle of York. Especially have the two explosions which occurred during the assault been confounded and falsified in history. It is necessary, at the outset, to dissociate in mind these two catastrophes, namely: (1) The accidental explosion of a portable magazine at the Western battery during the advance of the Americans upon the main works. (2) The intentional explosion of the fixed magazine during the retreat of the British from the main works. The latter was somewhat premature, owing to overmuch zeal of the soldier who had been ordered to fire the train; but it was premeditated.

A diligent comparison of many different descriptions of the battle of York has satisfied me that the account in Whiting, Pike's most formal biographer, leaves much to be desired, and that Lossing's relation is decidedly preferable in most particulars. The latter gives, on the whole, the clearest and truest picture which any modern historian has painted. Lossing consulted the official reports of the commanders, both British and American; the accounts given by Thompson, Perkins, James, Auchinleck, Armstrong, Christy, Ingersoll, and others; Whiting's Biography of Pike; Hough's County histories; Roger's Canadian History; Smith's Canada; Cooper's Naval History; Niles' Register; the Portfolio; the Analectic Magazine; he had some manuscripts of actors in the scene, besides various verbal relations; and he went over the ground in person. In the following sketch I shall lean more heavily upon Lossing than upon Whiting; but for numerous particulars shall refer back of both to contemporaneous records and official reports, on both sides. I shall also adduce a certain obscure author, P. Finan, who is among those who witnessed the fight, and who describes what he saw in his little-known Journal of a Voyage to Quebec in the Year 1825, with Recollections of Canada during the late American War in the Years 1812-13, Newry, printed by Alexander Peacock, 1828. H. A. Fay's Collection of Official Documents, etc., 1 vol., 8vo, New York, 1817, gives General Dearborn's and Commodore Chauncey's reports to the Secretary of War and of the Navy, respectively, and the terms of the capitulation after the capture. Brannan's Official Letters, etc., 1 vol., 8vo, Washington, 1823, gives in full Pike's vigorous and rigorous brigade order, pp. 144-146; the reports said of Dearborn and of Chauncey; and various other items. These and many other materials are also contained in earlier form in Niles' Weekly Register, IV. Mar.-Sept., 1813. What here follows is derived mainly from the sources I have thus indicated, but also includes a certified copy of the most important one of the original Sheaffe documents in the Archives of Ontario at Ottawa.

General Pike's brigade order for the attack on York appears as follows in Niles' Register, IV. pp. 229, 230:

Sackett's Harbor, April 25, 1813.

Brigade Order. When the debarkation shall take place on the enemy's shore, Major Forsyth's light troops, formed in four platoons, shall be first landed. They will advance a small distance from the shore, and form the chain to cover the landing of the troops. They will not fire unless they discover the approach of a body of the enemy, but will make prisoners of every person who may be passing, and send them to the general. They will be followed by the regimental platoons of the first brigade, with two pieces of Brooks' artillery, one on the right and one on the left flank, covered by their musketry, and the small detachments of riflemen of the 15th and 16th Infantry. Then will be landed the three platoons of the reserve of the first brigade, under Major Swan.[M-17] Then Major Eustis, with his train of artillery, covered by his own musketry. Then Colonel M'Clure's volunteers, in four platoons, followed by the 21st regiment, in six platoons. When the troops shall move in column, either to meet the enemy or take a position, it will be in the following order, viz.: First, Forsyth's riflemen, with proper front and flank guards; the regiments of the first brigade, with their pieces; then three platoons of reserve; Major Eustis' train of artillery; volunteer corps; 21st regiment; each corps sending out proper flank guards. When the enemy shall be discovered in front, the riflemen will form the chain, and maintain their ground until they have the signal (the preparative) or receive orders to retire, at which they will retreat with the greatest velocity, and form equally on the two flanks of the regiments of the first brigade, and then renew their fire. The three reserve platoons of this line under the orders of Major Swan, 100 yards in the rear of the colors, ready to support any part which may show an unsteady countenance. Major Eustis and his train will form in the rear of this reserve, ready to act where circumstances may dictate.

The second line will be composed of the 21st Infantry in six platoons, flanked by Colonel M'Clure's volunteers, equally divided as light troops. The whole under the orders of Colonel Ripley.[M-18]

It is expected that every corps will be mindful of the honor of the American arms, and the disgraces which have recently tarnished our arms; and endeavor, by a cool and determined discharge of their duty, to support the one and wipe off the other. The riflemen in front will maintain their ground at all hazards, until ordered to retire, as will every corps of the army. With an assurance of being duly supported, should the commanding general find it prudent to withdraw the front line, he will give orders to retire by the heads of platoons, covered by the riflemen; and the second line will advance by the heads of platoons, pass the intervals, and form the line, call in the light troops, and renew the action. But the general may find it proper to bring up the second line on one or both flanks, to charge in columns, or perform a variety of manœuvres which it would be impossible to foresee. But as a general rule, whatever may be the directions of lines at the commencement of the action, the corps will form as before directed. If they then advance in line, it may be in parallel eschelons of platoons, or otherwise, as the ground or circumstances may dictate.

No man will load until ordered, except the light troops in front until within a short distance of the enemy, and then charge bayonets; thus letting the enemy see that we can meet them in their own weapons. Any man firing or quitting his post without orders, must be put to instant death, as an example may be necessary. Platoon officers will pay the greatest attention to the coolness and aim of their men in the fire; their regularity and dressing in the charge. Courage and bravery in the field do not more distinguish the soldier than humanity after victory; and whatever examples the savage allies of our enemies may have given us, the general confidently hopes that the blood of an unresisting or yielding enemy will never stain the weapons of the soldiers of his column.

The unoffending citizens of Canada are many of them our own countrymen, and the poor Canadians have been forced into the war. Their property must therefore be held sacred, and any soldier who shall so far neglect the honor of his profession as to be guilty of plundering the inhabitants, shall, if convicted, be punished with death. But the commanding general assures the troops that, should they capture a large quantity of public stores, he will use his best endeavors to procure them a reward from his government.

This order shall be read at the head of each corps and every field officer shall carry a copy, in order that he may at any moment refer to it; and give explanations to his subordinates.

All those found in arms in the enemy's country, shall be treated as enemies; but those who are peaceably following the pursuits of their various avocations, friends—and their property respected.

By order of Brigadier-general Z. M. Pike.
Charles G. Jones,[M-19]
Assistant aid-de-camp.

Of quite another character than the foregoing order is the next word which reaches us from General Pike—probably from the last letter he ever wrote. It is always the soldier, but now the son and not the officer who speaks, in this letter addressed to his father. The extract is undated and unsigned, but was penned at Brownsville, near Sackett's Harbor, on the day before the expedition sailed from the latter place. I cite from Niles' Register of Saturday, July 10th, 1813, p. 304, these affecting passages:

"I embark to-morrow in the fleet at Sackett's Harbor, at the head of a column of 1,500 choice troops, on a secret expedition. If success attends my steps, honor and glory await my name—if defeat, still shall it be said we died like brave men, and conferred honor, even in death, on the American name.

"Should I be the happy mortal destined to turn the scale of war, will you not rejoice, O my father? May Heaven be propitious, and smile on the cause of my country. But if we are destined to fall, may my fall be like Wolfe's—to sleep in the arms of victory."

His aspiration was answered, for he turned the scale of war; his dream of glory came true, for he fell asleep, like Wolfe, in the arms of victory!

Commodore Isaac Chauncey's fleet, which conveyed the American troops from Sackett's Harbor to York, consisted of 14 vessels: the Madison, flagship; Oneida, Fair American, Hamilton, Governor Tompkins, Conquest, Asp, Pert, Julia, Growler, Ontario, Scourge, Lady of the Lake, and the transport Raven.

On that fateful 27th of April, 1813, about seven o'clock in the morning, when this fleet had reached York, the intention was to land the troops at old Fort Rouillé, whence the advance to the assault of Fort York would have been only about a mile, along the lake front, over the level ground of present Garrison Common. But a strong east wind drove the boats "a considerable distance" leeward, to some wooded point in the direction of the Humber. Exactly how far this was does not appear; but there is evidence that it was not more than some fraction of a mile—probably not as far west of Fort Rouillé as the latter was west of Fort York. General Dearborn says, "about a mile and a half" from Fort York, which would be about half a mile west of Fort Rouillé; and the place called Grenadier Point has been named in this connection. Doubtless the whole of the troops were not landed at precisely the same spot. General Dearborn remained with the fleet, which was to bombard York after landing the troops under the command of General Pike. The former's official report to Hon. John Armstrong, Secretary of War, dated Headquarters, York, Upper Canada, Apr. 28th, 1813, includes this passage (Brannan, p. 149):

I had been induced to confide the immediate command of the troops in action to General Pike, from a conviction that he fully expected it, and would be much mortified at being deprived of the honor, which he highly appreciated.

As rendered in Niles' Register, IV. p. 179, it is to the same effect, but somewhat differently worded:

To the general I had been induced to confide the immediate attack, from a knowledge that it was his wish and that he would have been mortified had it not been given to him.

We will hear from Pike himself once more before he falls. It is before any landing has been effected. Forsyth's boats are nearing the shore; they are fired upon from the woods, but have not yet answered a shot. Pike is standing on the deck of the flagship, surrounded by his staff, straining his eager eyes impatiently at the boats, which he sees have been driven beyond the intended point of debarkation. "'By God! I can't stay here any longer!' and addressing himself to his staff—'Come, jump into the boat!' which we immediately did, the commodore having reserved a boat specially for him and his suite; the little coxswain was ordered immediately to steer for the middle of the fray, and the balls whistled gloriously around; probably their number was owing to seeing so many officers in one boat; but we laughed at their clumsy efforts as we pressed forward with well-pulled oars."[M-20]

The first troops which effected a landing were Forsyth's[M-21] Rifles, conveyed in two boats. Their debarkation was promptly resisted by a choice body of light troops from Fort York, consisting of a company of Glengary Fencibles, with some Indians, under Major Givens. From an advantageous position in the woods which had been taken up, the enemy opened a galling fire as our troops left the boats. Concerning this opening engagement I cite Whiting, pp. 300-303:

The riflemen were formed on the bank as promptly as possible, when the boats returned to the fleet for other troops. In the meantime, this gallant little band, assisted by some few other troops that were thrown on shore in other boats, sustained the brunt of the combat. The numbers in this initial struggle were about equal, and it became a fair and close fight, to be turned either way as re-enforcements should happen to arrive. The British light troops were choice men, and commanded by a brave officer.

Forsyth's men were undisciplined, but had seen some desultory service on the Ogdensburg frontier, and had unbounded confidence in their leader, who was rather an extraordinary man, and regarded as a most promising partisan officer. He had peculiar notions as to the manner of training men. The common rules of discipline were looked upon by him with the utmost contempt. All he seemed to require of those under him was, that they should be good marksmen, and ready to follow him....

At the time of this expedition, Major Forsyth was a fat man, probably weighing some 200 pounds. The uniform of his men was green, and, at the time he landed, he wore a broad-skirted coat of that color, which was unbuttoned and thrown back, displaying a white vest spread over his ample chest, that afforded a mark for an enemy equal to the chalked circle of a common infantry target. He had on his head a broad-brimmed black hat. Soon after the landing, the armorer of his regiment, a favorite of both himself and his men, was killed. The skill of this man was such as enabled him to give the rifle its most deadly character; and the efficiency of the regiment was consequently supposed, both by officers and men, to depend much upon him. When he fell, every man felt as if a deed had been perpetrated by the enemy that demanded revenge; and the whole detachment, from Major Forsyth down to the most indifferent marksman, entered into the combat with a fierce spirit of retaliation that, no doubt, contributed much to the obstinacy of the stand they made, and the unusual loss sustained by the enemy immediately opposed to them.

Taking to the woods in which the British light troops were posted, the riflemen, after their loose manner, placed themselves behind trees, and thus carried on the contest with their more concentrated, better ordered, and, therefore, more exposed opponents. It is said that Major Forsyth continued, throughout the action, to move to and fro, armed only with a light sword, immediately in the rear of his men, pointing out with an earnest solemnity that partook both of sorrow and anger, to one rifleman and another, some one of the enemy, and exclaiming that he was the man who had killed the favorite armorer. This suggestion was almost sure to be fatal to the enemy thus specially branded with the guilt of having taken off the best man of the corps. The British light troops were nearly all left on the ground they first occupied, being too strong to retreat while the landing was only partially made, and too much exposed to stand before such expertness of aim, rendered so fierce and unyielding by one of the chance shots of an opening fight.

The force under Forsyth was soon supported by Major King's[M-22] battalion of the 15th Infantry, consisting of three companies—Captain John Scott's, Captain White Youngs', and that of Captain John Lambert Hoppock, who had been mortally wounded in the boats. When General Pike had landed with the whole body of his troops, the attacking force was represented by the 6th, 15th, 16th, and 21st Infantry, Colonel Maclure's 3d regiment of New York Militia, and several pieces of artillery.

At the first sharp collision, as we have seen, the British were defeated, not without much loss on both sides. On their retreat, the bugles sounded the advance, and the troops pressed forward along the lake shore toward Fort York, which was meanwhile bombarded from the fleet. One of General Pike's staff says: "Our march was by the lake road in sections, but the route was so much intersected by streams and rivulets, the bridges over which had been destroyed by the enemy as they retreated, that we were considerably retarded in our progress. We collected logs, and by severe efforts at length contrived to pass over one field piece and a howitzer, which were placed at the head of our column, in charge of Captain Fanning[M-23] of the 3d Artillery; and thus we proceeded through a spacious wood, as we emerged from which we were saluted by a battery of 24-pounders. The general then ordered one of his aids (Fraser) and a sergeant to proceed to the right of the battery, in order to discover how many men were in the works. We did so, and reported to him the number, and that they were spiking their own guns. The general immediately ordered Captain Walworth of the 16th [sic] with his company of grenadiers to make the assault. Walworth gallantly ordered his men to trail arms and advance at the accelerated pace; but at the moment when they were ordered to recover and charge the enemy, the enemy broke in the utmost confusion, leaving several men wounded on the ground which they abandoned."

This first serious obstacle to Pike's advance was the Western battery already described, p. lxxvii, where the explosion occurred before Captain Walworth[M-24] could carry out the order to charge this work. This accident caused some loss of life to the defenders, but none to the assaulters. Lossing has, concerning it:

The wooden magazine of the battery, that had been carelessly left open, blew up, killing some of the men, and seriously damaging the defences. The dismayed enemy spiked their cannon and fled to the next, or Half Moon battery. Walworth pressed forward, when that, too, was abandoned, and he found nothing within but spiked cannon. Sheaffe and his little army, deserted by the Indians, fled to the garrison near the governor's house, and there opened fire upon the Americans. Pike ordered his troops to halt, and lie flat upon the grass, while Major Eustis,[M-25] with his artillery battery, moved to the front, and soon silenced the great guns of the enemy.

Finan is more circumstantial in describing the casualty which did so much to decide the fate of the day:

While this part of our force was contending with the enemy in the woods, an unfortunate accident occurred in the battery opposed to the fleet which proved a death blow to the little hope that might have been entertained of a successful issue to the proceedings of the day. A gun was aimed at one of the vessels, and the officers, desirous of seeing if the ball would take effect, ascended the bastion: In the meantime the artilleryman, waiting for the word of command to fire, held the match behind him, as is usual under such circumstances; and the traveling magazine, a large wooden chest, containing cartridges for the great guns, being open just at his back, he unfortunately put the match into it and the consequence, as may be supposed, was dreadful indeed! Every man in the battery was blown into the air, and the dissection of the greater part of their bodies was inconceivably shocking! The officers were thrown from the bastion by the shock, but escaped with a few bruises; the cannons were dismounted, and consequently the battery was rendered completely useless.

I was standing at the gate of the garrison when the poor soldiers who escaped the explosion with a little life remaining, were brought in to the hospital, and a more afflicting sight could scarcely be witnessed. Their faces were completely black, resembling those of the blackest Africans; their hair frizzled like theirs, and their clothes scorched and emitting an effluvia so strong as to be perceived long before they reached one. One man in particular presented an awful spectacle: he was brought in a wheelbarrow, and from his appearance I should be inclined to suppose that almost every bone in his body was broken; he was lying in a powerless heap, shaking about with every motion of the barrow, from which his legs hung dangling down, as if only connected with his body by the skin, while his cries and groans were of the most heart-rending description.

Although Spartan valour was evinced by our little party, it proved unavailing against the numbers that pressed them upon all sides; and in consequence of the loss of the battery, and the reduction that had been made in the number of our troops, their ground was no longer tenable; but after nobly and desperately withstanding their enemies for several hours, a retreat towards the garrison became inevitable, although every inch of the ground was obstinately disputed.

It is remarkable that Whiting's relation of the attack has nothing about this marked affair; it is in fact impossible to follow the course of events in his narrative, between the conclusion of the opening engagement and the final explosion of the main magazine. Lossing, having brought our troops to a halt, when they were lying upon the grass, continues with the result of Major Eustis' operations:

The firing from the garrison ceased and the Americans expected every moment to see a white flag displayed from the blockhouse in token of surrender. Lieut. Riddle[M-26] was sent forward to reconnoitre. General Pike, who had just assisted, with his own hands, in removing a wounded soldier to a comfortable place, was sitting upon a stump conversing with a huge British sergeant[M-27] who had been taken prisoner, his staff standing around him. At that moment was felt a sudden tremor of the ground, followed by a tremendous explosion near the British garrison. The enemy, despairing of holding the place, had blown up their powder magazine, situated upon the edge of the water at the mouth of a ravine, near where the buildings of the Great Western Railway stand. The effect was terrible. Fragments of timber, and huge stones of which the magazine walls were built, were scattered in every direction over a space of several hundred yards. When the smoke floated away, the scene was appalling. Fifty-two Americans lay dead, and 180 were wounded. So badly had the affair been managed that 40 of the British also lost their lives by the explosion.[M-28]

General Armstrong states, in his History of the War of 1812, that General Sheaffe said this explosion was accidental, his own soldiers having been involved in its effects. General Whiting repeats this. But both Armstrong and Whiting are clearly in error. If General Sheaffe ever said this, he said what he knew was untrue. His words—such as they may have been—may have referred to the earlier explosion at the Western battery and been mistaken to apply to the main explosion. We have his own reiterated writings, that the magazine was exploded by his order. One of these statements is made in a hurried letter, whose almost illegible handwriting betrays the state of mind to which this gentleman had been reduced. It was written while he was on his retreat to Kingston, and is addressed to his superior officer, Sir George Prevost. The published text before me reads in part as follows (italics editorial):

Haldimand, 30th April.

My Dear Sir George,—I have the mortification of reporting to you that York is in the possession of the enemy, it having on the 27th inst. been attacked by a force too powerful to resist with success. Sixteen vessels of various descriptions full of men, including their new ship the Madison, formed their flotilla. The Grenadiers of the King's suffered first in the action with the enemy (in which Captain W. Neale was killed), and afterwards severely, in connection with other corps, by the accidental explosion of a battery magazine, which at the same time disabled the battery. I caused our grand magazine to be blown up....

I am, my dear Sir George, your very faithfully devoted servant,
R. H. Sheaffe.

Another letter from General Sheaffe, dated Kingston, May 5th, when he had become more composed in mind than he seems to have been during his inglorious if not disgraceful flight, gives a more coherent account and many further details. I cite it in full, from the original MS. now in the Department of Archives at Ottawa, as kindly copied and certified for me by Mr. L. P. Sylvain of the Library of Parliament:

Kingston, 5th May, 1813.

Sir,

I did myself the honour of writing to Your Excellency on my route from York to communicate the mortifying intelligence that the Enemy had obtained possession of that place on the 27th of April, and I shall now enter into a fuller detail, than I was enabled to do at the date of that letter.

In the evening of the 26th of April I received information that many Vessels had been seen from the Highlands to the Eastward of York, soon after daylight the next morning the Enemy's Vessels were discovered lying to not far from the shore of the peninsula in front of the town; they soon afterwards, sixteen in number of various descriptions, made sail with a fresh breeze from the [p. 2] eastward, led by the Ship lately built at Sackett's harbour, and anchored off the point where the french fort [Rouillé] formerly stood; many boats full of troops were soon discovered assembling near the Commander's Ship, apparently with an intention of effecting a landing on the ground off which he was anchored: our troops were ordered into the Ravine in the rear of the Government Garden and fields; Major Givens and the Indians with him were sent forward through the wood to oppose the landing of the Enemy—the Company of Glengary Light Infantry was directed to support them, and the Militia not having arrived at the Ravine, The Grenadiers of the King's Regiment and the small portion of the Royal Newfoundland Fencibles belonging to the Garrison of York were moved on, led by Lt Colonel Heathcote of that corps, commanding the Garrison; this movement was directed to be made within the wood, [p. 3] parallel to the Lake-side, and only so far from it, as not to be discovered by the Enemy's Vessels, several of which were not at a great distance from the shore: Captain Eustace's company of the King's Regiment, and some Militia that were quartered at the east end of the town, and had been left there during the night, lest the Enemy might make some attempt on that flank, were ordered, with the exception of a small party of the Militia, to join these troops—which was soon effected: while these operations were going on Major General Shaw, Adjudant General of Militia led a portion of the Militia on a road at the back of the wood to watch our rear, and to act according to circumstances; by some mistake he led the Glengary company away from the direction assigned to it, to accompany this detachment, so that it came late into action, instead of being near the Indians at its commencement; the movement of the other troops was retarded [p. 4] by the difficulty of the wood, while the Enemy being aided by the wind, rapidly gained the shore under cover of a fire from the commodore's ship and other vessels, and landed in spite of a spirited opposition from major Givens and his small band of Indians; the Enemy was shortly afterwards encountered by our handful of troops, Captain McNeal of the King's Regiment was early killed while gallantly leading his Company which suffered severely: the troops fell back. I succeeded in rallying them several times, and a detachment of the King's with some Militia, whom I had placed near the edge of the wood to protect our left Flank repulsed a column of the Enemy which was advancing along the bank at the Lake side: but our troops could not maintain the contest against the greatly superior and increasing numbers of the Enemy—they retired under cover of our batteries, which were engaged with some of their Vessels, that had begun to beat up towards [p. 5] the harbour, when their troops landed, occasionally firing, and had anchored at a short distance to the westward of the line from the Barracks to Gibraltar Point; from that situation they kept up a heavy fire on our batteries, on the Block House and Barracks, and on the communications between them, some of their Guns being thirty two pounders; to return their fire, we had two complete twelve pounders, and old condemned guns without trunnions (—— eighteen —— pounders) which, after being proved had been stocked and mounted under the direction of Lieut. Ingouville of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, whom I had appointed Assistant Engineer; a twelve pounder of the same description was added during the Engagement; with these defective means the Enemy was kept at bay for some time, when, by some unfortunate accident, the traveling Magazine at the Western battery blew up and killed and wounded a considerable number of men [italics editorial]; many of them belonging to the [p. 6] Grenadier Company of the King's Regiment, the battery was crippled, the platform being torn up, and one of the eighteen pounders overturned: the Magazine was replaced and the battery restored to some order, but it was evident that our numbers and means of defence were inadequate to the task of maintaining possession of York against the vast superiority of force brought against it, though providentially little mischief had hitherto been done by the long continued cannonade of the Enemy, except to some of the buildings: the troops were withdrawn towards the town, and the grand Magazine was at the same time blown up [italics editorial], the Enemy was so near to it, that he sustained great loss, and was, for a time, driven back by the explosion; some of our own troops were not beyond the reach of fragments of the stone, though they escaped with very little injury; Captain Loring, my aide-de-camp, received a severe contusion, and [p. 7] the horse he rode was killed.

The troops were halted at a ravine not far to the westward of the ship yard, I there consulted with the Superior Officers, and it being too apparent that a further opposition would but render the result more disastrous, some of the Enemy's vessels indicating an intention to move up the harbour, in order to co-operate with their land forces, I ordered the troops of the line to retreat on the road to Kingston, which was effected without any annoyance from the Enemy; when we had proceeded some miles we met the Light Company of the King's Regiment on its march for Fort George, I had sent an express the preceding evening to hasten its movement, but it was at too great a distance to be able to join us at York.

The ship on the stocks and the naval stores were destroyed to prevent the Enemy from getting possession of them. [p. 8] An attempt to set fire to the Gloucester that was fitting out for purposes of transport, proved abortive; she was aground a mere hulk, her repairs not being half finished: I have been informed that the enemy succeeded in getting her off, and putting her into a state to be towed away; a number of shipwrights having arrived from Sackett's harbour with the expectation of employing them in a similar task on our new ship.

The accounts of the number of the Enemy landed vary from eighteen hundred and ninety to three thousand [!], our force consisted of a Bombardier and twelve Gunners of the Royal Artillery to assist whom men were drawn from other corps, two companies of the 8th or King's Regiment, one of them, the Grenadiers, being on its route for Fort George, about a company in number, of the Royal [p. 9] Newfoundland regiment, and one of the Glengary Light Infantry, and about three hundred Militia and Dock Yard men; the quality of some of these troops was of so superior a description, and their general disposition so good, that under less unfavourable circumstances we might have repulsed the Enemy in spite of his numbers, or have made him pay dearly for success; as it was, according to the reports that have reached me, his loss was much greater than ours, a return of which I have the honour of transmitting, except of that of the Militia, of which a return has not yet been received; but I believe it to have been inconsiderable: Donald McLean Esqr Clerk of the House of Assembly gallantly volunteered his services with a musket, and was killed.

[p. 10] Captain Jarvis of the Incorporated Militia, a meritorious Officer, who had a share in the successes at Detroit and Queenston, had been sent with a party of Militia in three batteaux for the Militia Clothing, which had been left on the road from Kingston, he came to me during the action to report his arrival, and soon afterwards he was severely wounded: a few of the Indians (Missasagus & Chipeways) were killed and wounded, among the latter were two chiefs.

Thinking it highly probable that the Enemy would pay an early visit to York, I had remained there long beyond the period I had originally assigned for my departure to fort George, in order to expedite the preparations which the means in my power enabled me to make for the defence of the place; Your [p. 11] Excellency knows that I had intended to place Colonel Myers, Acting Quarter Master General, in the command there, at least for a time; I afterwards learnt that Colonel Young was in movement towards me with the 8th or King's Regt. I then decided to give him the Command to avoid the inconvenience of seperating (sic) the head of a department from me, and being informed that he was to move up by himself as speedily as possible, I was for some time in daily expectation of seeing him; at length, having reason to believe that he was to accompany one of the divisions of his Regiment, I wrote to him both by the land and by the water route to come to me without delay; about the 25th of April I received certain intelligence, of what had been [p. 12] before rumoured, that he was detained at Kingston by a severe illness, and on the 26th I learnt that Colonel Myers was to leave Fort George that day for York, I therefore determined to wait for his arrival, and to leave him in the command until Colonel Young might be in a state to relieve him; it was in the evening of the same day that I heard of the approach of the Enemy: I have thought it proper to enter into this explanation, as Your Excellency may have expected that I had returned to Fort George before the period at which the attack was made on York. I propose remaining here until I shall have received Your Excellency's Commands.

I have the honour to be,
With great respect,
Your Excellency's
Most obedient
humble servant
[Signed] R. H. Sheaffe.
M. Gen. Command.

His Excellency
Sir. George Prevost. Bt
et. et. et.

Certified a true copy of the original letter in the Department of Archives, Ottawa.
[Signed] L. P. Sylvain, Assist. Libr., Nov. 2d, 1894.

Here is the clear and intelligible testimony of the British commanding general to the facts that there were two explosions, one of which was accidental and destructive to his own men, the other designed and executed by his own command. It is believed to have been a little premature, in the confusion of an evacuation that was nothing short of a rout, before the defenders were quite out of reach of its effects; but that they suffered little from what wrought such havoc with the Americans, is incontestable. The ethics of the catastrophe I leave to be discussed by professional military critics; but it seems to me that General Sheaffe was justified in inflicting the utmost possible injury upon the enemy, and that he would have been chargeable with culpable neglect of duty if he had allowed valuable munitions of war to fall into their hands.

Before resuming the main thread of this painful narration I will introduce two accounts, both by eye-witnesses.

One of these is contained in an extract of a letter from a field officer in the force which landed at York, name not given, to the War Department, as published in Niles' Register, IV. p. 193. It is explicit regarding both explosions, though loose in statement of numbers killed by each, and in some other respects:

The column of attack consisted of the 6th, 15th, 16th, and 21st regiments of infantry, and a detachment of the light and heavy artillery. Major Forsyth's corps of riflemen, and Lieut. Col. M'Clure's corps of volunteers acted on the flanks. There was a long piece of woods to go through, which offered many obstructions to our heavy ordnance. As was expected, we were there annoyed on our flanks by a part of the British and Indians, with a six-pounder and two howitzers. One of the enemies batteries [the Western] accidentally blew up, by which they lost 50 men of the 8th regiment. A part of our force was detached from our column, as it came into the open ground, who carried the second battery by storm. The troops were halted a few minutes to bring up the heavy artillery to play on the blockhouse. General Sheaffe, despairing of holding the town, ordered fire to be put to the magazine, in which there were 500 barrels of powder, many cart loads of stone, and an immense quantity of iron, shells and shot. The explosion was tremendous. The column was raked from front to rear. General Pike and his three aids, and 250 officers and men were killed or wounded in the column. Notwithstanding this calamity and the discomfiture that might be expected to follow it, the troops gave three cheers, instantly formed the column, and marched on toward the town. General Sheaffe fled and left his papers and baggage behind him.[M-29]

Finan gives a vivid picture of what he saw of the catastrophe. It must be taken with some allowance, perhaps, for the force of the impression which the terrible scene made upon him at the moment, and the subsequent insistence with which his memory dwelt upon such a spectacle; but it can hardly be much overdrawn:

The governor's house, with some smaller buildings, formed a square, at the center battery, and under it the grand magazine, containing a large quantity of powder, was situated. As there were only two or three guns at this battery, and it but a short distance from the garrison, the troops did not remain in it, but retreated to the latter. When the Americans commanded by one of their best generals, Pike, reached this small battery, instead of pressing forward, they halted, and the general sat down on one of the guns; a fatal proceeding—for, in a few minutes, his advance guard, consisting of about 300 men and himself, were blown into the air by the explosion of the grand magazine.

Some time before this horrible circumstance took place, the vessels had commenced firing upon the garrison, which obliged the females, and children, &c. to leave it; we therefore retired into the country, to the house of an officer of the militia, where we remained a short time; but feeling anxious to know the fate of the day, I left the house without the knowledge of my mother, and was proceeding toward the garrison when the explosion took place. I heard the report, and felt a tremendous motion in the earth, resembling the shock of an earthquake; and, looking towards the spot, I saw an immense cloud ascend into the air. I was not aware at the moment what it had been occasioned by, but it had an awfully grand effect; at first it was a great confused mass of smoke, timber, men, earth, &c. but as it rose, in a most majestic manner, it assumed the shape of a vast balloon. When the whole mass had ascended to a considerable height, and the force by which the timber, &c. were impelled upwards became spent, the latter fell from the cloud and spread over the surrounding plain. I stopped to observe the cloud, which preserved its round shape while it remained within my view. I then advanced towards the garrison, but had not proceeded much farther until I discovered our little party collected in a close body between the town and that place, which latter they had been obliged to evacuate.

It is said, "Death loves a shining mark." One of the missiles that hurtled down on that devoted band sought out their heroic leader with fatal effect. A piece of rock fell on General Pike's back, and "broke in upon the very springs of life," to use Whiting's words. A sadly realistic memento of the speedily fatal injury reaches us from one of his aids, who was by his side and was himself gravely wounded. Lieutenant Fraser says, in a private letter he wrote by Pike's special injunction, which appeared in the Aurora, and afterward in Niles' Register, IV. p. 225: "Without the honor of a personal acquaintance, I address you at the particular order of the late General Pike. After he had been mortally wounded, his words were exactly these: '... I am mortally wounded—my ribs and back are stove in—write my friend D... and tell him what you know of the battle—and to comfort my ....' Some things else he said, on which I shall again write you; and many things he said for your ear have escaped me through the severity of my own bruises."

The dying general was carried to a boat at the lake side and conveyed to the Pert, whence he was taken aboard the flagship Madison. Some recorded words of his last moments need not be scanned with critical eye. When those who bore their fallen leader reached the boat the huzza of the troops fell upon his ears. "What does it mean?" he feebly asked. "Victory!" was the reply; "the Union Jack is coming down, General—the Stars and Stripes are going up!" The dying hero's face lighted up with a smile of ecstasy. His spirit lingered a few hours. Before the end came, the British flag was brought to him. He made a sign to place it under his head; and thus he expired.[M-30]

Military history hardly furnishes a closer parallel than that between the death of Pike before York and of Wolfe before Quebec. Each led to the assault; each conquered; each fell in the arms of victory; each is said to have pillowed his head on the stricken colors of the defenders. On the other hand, no contrast could be more obtrusive than that between the fall of Brock before Queenstown Heights and the conduct of his successor, Sheaffe, at York. The latter fled on the heels of disaster across the Don and on toward Kingston; even his personal baggage and papers fell into the hands of his enemy; the very terms of the surrender of York were agreed upon by others, in the absence of its late defender. But it is needless to pursue this subject. General Sheaffe has by none been more severely criticised than by British writers.

When General Pike fell, the command devolved by seniority upon Colonel Pearce,[M-31] of the 16th Infantry, until General Dearborn arrived upon the scene. Lieutenant Riddle's detachment was so near the place of explosion that it escaped the deadly shower; but the Americans scattered in dismay at the catastrophe. They were rallied by Brigade-Major Hunt and Lieutenant-Colonel Mitchell of the 3d Artillery. The column was formed again and led into the captured town without further resistance. Colonel Pearce sent a flag, demanding immediate and unconditional surrender—and surrender it was, with the single stipulation that private property should be respected. As soon as practicable General Dearborn left the fleet for York, where he was in command before night fell. His first dispatch to the Secretary of War appears as follows in the text of Fay's Collection, p. 81, and is substantially the same in Niles' Register, IV. p. 178:

Headquarters, York, Capital of U. C.
April 27, 1813—8 o'clock, P. M.

Sir—We are in full possession of this place, after a sharp conflict, in which we lost some brave officers and soldiers. General Sheaffe commanded the British troops, militia, and Indians, in person.—We shall be prepared to sail for the next object of the expedition, the first favourable wind. I have to lament the loss of the brave and active Brig. Gen. Pike.

I am, &c.
H. Dearborn.

Hon. J. Armstrong.

The official reports of General Dearborn and of Commodore Chauncey to their respective Secretaries of War and of the Navy appear in full in Niles' Register, IV. pp. 178-180; in Brannan's Official Letters, pp. 146-149, and in Fay's Collection of Official Documents, pp. 81-85. The text of Dearborn's in Niles is in greater part as follows:

Headquarters, York, Capital of Upper Canada,
April 28, 1813.

Sir:

After a detention of some days by adverse winds, we arrived at this place yesterday morning, and at eight o'clock commenced landing the troops, about three miles westward from the town, and one mile and a half from the enemy's works. The wind was high and in unfavorable direction for the boats, which prevented the landing of the troops at a clear field, the scite of the ancient French fort Toronto [Rouillé]. It prevented, also, many of the armed vessels from taking positions which would have most effectually covered our landing, but everything that could be done was effected.

The riflemen under Major Forsyth first landed, under a heavy fire from the Indians and other troops. General Sheaffe commanded in person. He had collected his whole force in the woods near the point where the wind compelled our troops to land. His force consisted of 700 regulars and militia, and 100 Indians. Major Forsyth was supported as promptly as possible; but the contest was sharp and severe for nearly half an hour, and the enemy were repulsed by a number far inferior to theirs. As soon as General Pike landed with 700 or 800 men and the remainder of the troops were pushing for the shore, the enemy retreated to their works. Our troops were now formed on the ground originally intended for their landing, advanced through a thick wood, and after carrying one [the Western] battery by assault, were moving in columns toward the main work; when within 60 rods of this, a tremendous explosion took place from a magazine previously prepared, which threw out such immense quantities of stone as most seriously to injure our troops. I have not yet been able to collect the returns of the killed and wounded; but our loss will I fear exceed 100 [see p. xci ]; and among those I have to lament the loss of that brave and excellent officer, Brigadier-General Pike, who received a concussion from a large stone, which terminated his valuable life within a few hours. His loss will be severely felt.

Previously to this explosion the enemy had retired into the town, excepting a party of regulars, to the number of 40, who did not escape the effects of the shock....

General Sheaffe moved off with the regular troops and left the commanding officer of the militia to make the best terms he could. In the mean time all further resistance on the part of the enemy ceased, and the outlines of a capitulation were agreed on....

I have the honor to be, Sir, &c.,
[Signed] Henry Dearborn.

Hon. Gen. John Armstrong,
Secretary of War, Washington.

The "Terms of capitulation entered into on the 27th of April, 1813, for the surrender of the town of York, in Upper Canada, to the Army and Navy of the United States, under the command of Major-General Dearborn and Commodore Chauncey," appear as follows, in Niles' Register, IV. p. 180—omitting the clauses which relate to the disposition of individuals as prisoners of war:

That the troops, regular and militia, at this post, and the naval officers and seamen, shall be surrendered prisoners of war. The troops, regular and militia, to ground their arms immediately, on parade, and the naval officers and seaman to be immediately surrendered.

That all public stores, naval and military, shall be immediately given up to the commanding officers of the army and navy of the United States. That all private property shall be guaranteed to the citizens of the town of York.

That all papers belonging to the civil officers shall be retained by them. That such surgeons as may be procured to attend the wounded of the British regulars and Canadian militia shall not be considered prisoners of war.

These articles bear the signatures of: Lieutenant-Colonel G. E. Mitchell,[M-32] 3d U. S. Artillery; Major S. S. Conner,[M-33] aid-de-camp to General Dearborn; Major William King, 15th U. S. Infantry; Lieutenant Jesse D. Elliott, U. S. Navy; Lieutenant-Colonel W. Chewitt, commanding 3d regiment of York Militia; Major W. Allen (or Allan), of the same; and F. Gaurreau, "lieut. M. Dpt."—the last name perhaps misprinted.

General Pike's body was prepared at York and conveyed to Sackett's Harbor for interment. It was first buried at Fort Tompkins, at a little distance from the shiphouse, together with that of his aid-de-camp, Captain Nicholson,[M-34] who had been mortally wounded by his side. Among the defenses of Sackett's Harbor was one named Fort Pike, which stood on Black River bay. A view of this work, as it was in 1855, is given by Lossing. Madison Barracks was built close by Fort Pike, soon after the war, and in the burying-ground there were deposited the remains of several officers, to whose memories a simple wooden monument was erected in 1819. Lossing figures this, p. 617, as it was when he examined it in July, 1855, "more leaning than the Pisa tower." In 1860 it was rapidly crumbling into dust; the urn which had surmounted it was gone, and the inscription was illegible. A part of the legend on the west panel, copied by Lossing at his previous visit, had been: "In memory of Brigadier General Z. M. Pike, killed at York, U. C. 27th April, 1813."

A tablet to the memory of General Pike has for many years been set in St. Michael's church, at Trenton, N. J. For a description of this object and a copy of the inscription I am indebted to the courteous attentions of the rector, Rev. O. S. Bunting. It consists of a marble slab, about 36 inches high by 20 inches wide, inserted in the outer wall of the church on the east side, the base being about two feet from the ground. On this slab is carved in relief an urn, which occupies the whole surface, as nearly as the shape of an urn can fill a rectangle; and on the urn is engraven the following inscription:

Sacred
to the memory of
GEN. Z. M. PIKE,
of the U. S. Army,
who fell in defence
of his country
on the 27th April
A. D. 1813,
at York
Upper Canada.

On the base is inscribed: "This small tribute of respect is erected by his friend, Z. R." The stone is in a good state of preservation, and its position affords considerable security. Mr. Bunting has no particulars of the erection of the tablet, and does not identify "Z. R."

Upon the fall of York, the press of the whole country teemed with jubilant notices of the auspicious event—the first signal success of our arms after a period of defeat, doubt, and almost despair. The death of Pike was on every tongue, in terms of affection for the man and honor to his name, coupled with expressions of horror and detestation of the manner in which he and so many of his companions had met their fate. The feeling in the latter regard was spontaneous and natural under the circumstances—it appears differently in the cold gray light of history. Among uncounted tributes to Pike's memory, a few may be selected for reproduction in the present biography.

The editor of Niles' Register was in the habit of dedicating a completed volume. The fourth volume, from Mar. to Sept., 1813, is inscribed: "In Testimony of Respect to the Memory of Zebulon Montgomery Pike, Brigadier-General: who fell gloriously before York, in Upper Canada. And James Lawrence, Captain in the Navy: Killed on board the Chesapeake frigate, fighting the Shannon. This volume of the Weekly Register, is dedicated. The former happily expired on the conquered flag of the foe, the latter died exclaiming, 'Don't give up the ship.'"

The same volume prints the following tribute in No. 14, for the week ending June 5th, 1813, pp. 228, 229:

It has been the lot of few men, unassisted by many adventitious circumstances to acquire and possess that high confidence and respect of all classes of his fellow-citizens, the late General Pike so happily enjoyed. Without the splendor of achievement that surrounds the fortunate hero, and commands the applause of the populace, the lamented man forced his way into the public affection by the power of his virtues and strength of his talents alone. Careless of popularity, a great and good name was "buckled on him" by a discriminating people. He was an ægis of the army; and the soldiery looked upon him with admiration and reverence; love, mixed with the fear of offending his nice ideas of right, governing them all. He was a severe disciplinarian; but had the felicity to make his soldiers assured that his strictness had for its object their glory—their ease—their preservation and safety. With a mind conscious of its own rectitude, he was not easily diverted from his purpose; and difficulty only invigorated exertion. To all the sweetness of a familiar friend, he added a strength of remark and pungency of observation, that delighted all around him. Though the camp was his delight, he was fitted for any company; and could make himself agreeable on every proper occasion. His courage was invincible, for it was the result of his reason; and his death is a proof of it. The pride of his countrymen in arms, the pattern for a military life, he fell, at the moment of victory, on the first opportunity that had been afforded to reduce to practice the perfection of his theory—"but he fell like a man." His transcendent qualities were opening to the view; but they were nipped in the bud by the base stratagem of a beaten foe.[M-35] His name is unperishable; and will descend to posterity with the Warrens, Montgomerys and Woosters, of the other war. Though dead, he shall yet speak to the army of the United States. His scheme of tactics and practice of discipline shall be the criterion of the soldier's worth. He has left behind him many accomplished scholars, who, "while memory holds her seat," shall teach his rules to others, and sacredly preserve them as landmarks whereby to govern themselves. The labors of the illustrious dead are not lost. His body has descended to the tomb, and the gallant spirit taken its flight to Him that gave it—but his virtues shall live, and be with us, many generations.

Mr. Niles' eulogy concludes with a dramatic incident which commends itself for insertion here, in further illustration of the strong hold General Pike acquired upon public sentiment:

It may not be amiss, perhaps, to notice a humble mark of respect offered by the managers of the Baltimore theatre, a few evenings ago, to the memory of the general. The house was crowded in consequence of several spectacles designed in honor of the day (the review of the Baltimore brigade). Between the second and third acts of the play the curtain slowly, but unexpectedly, rose to solemn music, and exhibited a lofty obelisk on which was inscribed "Z. M. Pike, Brigadier General—Fell gloriously before York—March [April] 27, 1813." On the left hand of the monument was that elegant actress, Mrs. Green, in character as Columbia, armed, kneeling on one knee, and pensively pointing with her spear to the name of the hero. Her dress was uncommonly splendid and very appropriate to the idea [she] designed to sustain. On the other side was a lady, an elegant figure, dressed in the deepest mourning, gracefully leaning against the pedestal, immovably fixed, "in all the solemn majesty of woe." The curtain being fairly raised, a death-like silence for a considerable time reigned in the house, the music excepted; which did not interrupt the pleasing melancholy by any ill-timed boisterousness: but soon the feelings of the people burst forth in one unanimous expression of applause, such has been rarely witnessed, certainly never surpassed in any country, on a similar occasion.

In the House of Representatives of the national Congress, on Tuesday, July 27th, 1813, the following resolution was submitted by Mr. Nelson:

Resolved, That a committee be appointed to examine and report on the propriety of conferring public honors on the memory of James Lawrence, late of the U. States frigate Chesapeake, and of Zebulon M. Pike, late a brigadier-general in the armies of the U. States, whose distinguished deaths in the service of their country add lustre to the character of the American nation; the propriety of adopting, as the peculiar children of the Republic, the sons of those distinguished heroes; and the propriety of making provision for the support and comfort of the families of these deceased officers.

Among the many measures which were adopted to honor General Pike's name and fame, there is perhaps none more marked than the action of the officers of the regiment of which he was the colonel. We have a glimpse of the hearts that still beat for him in the proceedings recorded in the Register of May 14th, 1814, VI. p. 176:

Burlington, April 29, 1814.

At a meeting of the Board of Honor of the 15th, or Pike's regiment held on the 24th inst., it was resolved, that the following articles of the constitution governing said Board be carried into effect.—"Article 2d. Each succeeding 27th April, the day on which the immortal Pike fell; the standard will be dressed in mourning; each officer to wear crape, and all unnecessary duties dispensed with during the day, as a token of respect for our departed friend and commander," and that captain Vandalsem, captain Barton, and lieutenant Goodwin be a committee of arrangement for the day.[M-36]

Agreeably to the above resolution, the regiment formed at eleven o'clock a. m. on the grand parade, and proceeded in funeral order through town, to the court house square, and from thence through Pearl street, to the cantonment, where by the request of the commanding officer, lieutenant Goodwin delivered the following pertinent address:

Fellow soldiers—Thus far have we solemnized this day in commemoration of the immortal father of our regiment, our beloved Pike. When our political horizon was darkened by the confusion that pervaded the whole world, he was among the first that advanced to meet our barbarous and unjust enemy. Stimulated by a love of country, and a thirst for glory, he solicited with ardor, the honor of facing the enemy's batteries on all occasions, he panted to invade in the just cause of his country, and lived with the lively hope of perpetuating our freedom and handing it down unpolluted to future generations.

As an officer, the remotest corners of our country are filled with his fame. Let the learned record his deeds, and let us improve the principles he has left imprinted in our minds, and like him live but "for honor and happiness in this life, and fame after death." Nor let us confound him with the list of ordinary heroes. He will compare with [Joseph] Warren and [Richard] Montgomery, for like them he fell at the head of his column, bravely fighting in his country's cause.

With body shattered by an inhuman and unequalled explosion, he smiled in death, while our flag waved triumphant in his sight, and expired without regret, on a pillow purchased with his life.

May the omnipotent hand which directs all things, cause his spirit to hover around our councils in the field, and at all times be with his beloved regiment.

After which the regiment fired three vollies and retired to their quarters.

White Youngs,[M-37] capt 15th inf.
President of the Board, pro tem.
Danl. E. Burch,[M-38] lt. 15th inf.
Secretary of the Board, pro tem.

Within some months, probably, of General Pike's death, a man-of-war was named in his honor. The Register for Aug. 7th, 1813, p. 374, describes it: "The General Pike is a strong, stout, and well built vessel. Length on deck 140 feet, beam 37 feet, burthen about 900 tons—has 14 ports on a side, and carries on the main deck long 24's—has also long 24's on the forecastle and poop, (one each), moving on a circle, and four guns on her top gallant forecastle; in all 34 guns." General A. W. Greely, who interested himself to procure the information, tells me that this frigate, a twin ship with the Madison, was built in 63 days and launched on Lake Ontario, at Sackett's Harbor, where she barely escaped destruction by fire, owing to the mistaken zeal of an officer who applied the torch, supposing the American victory to be a defeat; and that it does not appear that the vessel was ever brought into action.

I have already alluded to the Fort Pike on Lake Ontario. There was another Fort Pike, the name of which still finds place in current gazetteers. This was a military post on Petites Coquilles island, in Orleans parish, Louisiana, 35 miles E. N. E. of New Orleans. While it is not probable that all the counties, towns, etc., called "Pike" were named for our hero, certainly most of them bear his own name, alone or in combination or composition. There is a Pike county in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. There are about 20 Pike townships in different counties of Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Pike is the name of several small places in Illinois, New York, North Carolina, and Ohio. Pike City is a village in Sierra Co., Cal. Pike Creek is a township of Shannon Co., Mo., and another township, of Morrison Co., Minn., besides designating the stream itself which flows through the latter: see beyond, pp. 104, 123, 316. Pike Five Corners is a hamlet of Wyoming Co., N. Y. Pikeland is a station on the Pickering Valley R. R., in Chester Co., Pa. Pike Mills is a hamlet in Pike township, Potter Co., Pa. Pike rapids are those in the Mississippi, otherwise Knife rapids: see pp. 100, 104, 122. Pike's bay is the gulf at the southern part of Cass lake: see pp. 157, 158, 324. Pike's fork of the Arkansaw river, is present Grape creek: see pp. 463, 482. Pike's island, in the Mississippi at the mouth of the Minnesota river, is historic: see pp. 76, 197, 239. Pike's mountain is the range of bluffs opposite Prairie du Chien: see p. 37. Pike's Peak is not only the famous mountain so called, but a hamlet in Brown Co., Ind., a hamlet in Wayne Co., Mich., and a mining-camp in Deer Lodge Co., Mont. Pike Station is a village in Wayne Co., O. Piketon is a hamlet in Stoddard Co., Mo., and a village in Pike Co., O. Piketon or Pikeville is the capital of Pike Co., Ky. Pikesville or Pikeville is a village in Baltimore Co., Md.; a hamlet in Pike township, Berks Co., Pa.; the capital of Marion Co., Ala.; a post-office of Pike Co., Ind.; a hamlet in Pikeville township, Wayne Co., N. C.; a village in Darke Co., O.; and the capital of Bledsoe Co., Tenn. Some of these places are no doubt named for other persons of the same surname; some are called for the pike, a fish, as is the case with several Pike rivers, creeks, or ponds not included in the above list; and some may refer to a turnpike road, or have yet another implication.

To those of the foregoing geographical and political names which commemorate our hero is to be added the designation of "Pikes" as an epithet of the "Forty-niners" and later emigrants who navigated the great plains with their "prairie schooners." Thus Mr. Prentis, in the address already cited, says, pp. 193, 194:

To these people thus described, and to all who bore to them a family resemblance, and who in 1849 and in subsequent years crossed the Plains to California, came to be applied, by whom I know not, the general name of "Pikes." Various explanations have been given of the origin of the name. The most reasonable one is, that, there are in Missouri and Illinois two large counties named Pike, and separated from each other by the Mississippi river. In 1849 an immense emigration set in from these counties to California. In consequence, the traveler bound for the States, meeting teams, and asking the usual question, "Where are you from?" was answered frequently with, "Pike county" meaning in some cases one Pike county, in some cases the other. This led to the general impression that everybody on the road was from Pike county, or that the inhabitants of Pike had all taken the road. Hence the general name of "Pikes," as applied to emigrants, especially to those traveling from Missouri, and, generally, those migrating from southern Illinois and southern Indiana. Thus the popular song—the only poetry I ever heard of applied to this class of "movers," commences:

"My name it is Joe Bowers,

I've got a brother Ike;

I'm bound for Californy,

And I'm all the way from Pike."

Pike County, Ill., and Pike County, Mo., are certainly both named for the general, and I have no doubt that Mr. Prentis' explanation of "Pikes" is correct. With the above doggerel compare the slang phrase noted beyond, p. 454, and duly legended as the head-line of p. 457.

Another curious word, to which Pike has given rise indirectly, is "Peaker," as a designation of persons who came to the vicinity of Pike's Peak. Thus, we read in Colonel Meline's book, p. 89: "Most of the people who have settled on these farms [between Colorado Springs and Denver] were disappointed 'Peakers'—either those who had thrown down the shovel to take up the plough, or those who, with exhausted means, found a long mountain journey still before them after they had reached the Peak."

There is a sameness about the many published portraits of Pike which shows that they were probably all taken from one original painting. Lossing's cut looks a little different from the rest, as it faces the other way, but it is the same picture reversed in copying, no doubt with the camera lucida. There is no mistaking the extremely long, large nose, above the full compressed lips, denoting the forceful character which Pike displayed conspicuously throughout his career, whether in leading a handful of men through an unbroken wilderness, or in heading the columns which assaulted an intrenched foe. The same uniform coat, with its epaulets, its high standing, embroidered collar, unbuttoned across the breast and the flap turned down on one side, appears in all these likenesses. Such are inserted in some of the editions of Pike's work; one of the reproductions forms the frontispiece of an early popular history of the war, and is called "a striking likeness" on the title page. They are all doubtless traceable to the painting which has long hung and still hangs in the historical gallery of Independence Hall at Philadelphia, alongside the portraits of Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and many other noble men who loved and lived for their country. The painting which hangs in one of the rooms of the Minnesota Historical Society at St. Paul is believed to be a copy of this, though it differs in the introduction of a spirit hand, extended from an invisible arm, holding a wreath over the head—an attempt at symbolism in which the unknown artist has not been very successful. This portrait is dim and much cracked. I am informed by Mr. William M. Maguire of Denver, that a prominent citizen of Colorado has recently executed a bronze bust of Pike, to be placed in Manitou. Facsimiles of Pike's signature are seldom seen in print; Lossing gives one with the portrait on p. 586 of his Field Book. I am not aware that any facsimile of a letter in Pike's handwriting has hitherto been published. That one which is given in the present volume was selected from among many I have examined in the archives of the War Department, both for its intrinsic historical interest, and for the unusually well-formed signature it bears—that of one who died, as he had lived, for his country—of one whose fame that country will never permit to perish.

PIKE'S EXPEDITIONS.

Part I.

THE MISSISSIPPI VOYAGE.

CHAPTER I.

ITINERARY: ST. LOUIS TO ST. PAUL, AUGUST 9TH-SEPTEMBER 21ST, 1805.

Sailed from my encampment, near St. Louis, at 4 p. m., on Friday, the 9th of August, 1805, with one sergeant, two corporals, and 17 privates, in a keel-boat 70 feet long, provisioned for four months. Water very rapid. Encamped on the east side of the river, at the head of an island.[I-1]

Aug. 10th. Embarked early; breakfasted opposite the mouth of the Missouri, near Wood creek.[I-2] About 5 p. m. a storm came on from the westward; the boat lay-to. Having gone out to march with two men behind a cluster of islands, one of my soldiers swam a channel in the night, to inform me that the boat had stopped during the storm. I remained on the beach all night. Distance 28½ miles.[I-3]

Sunday, Aug. 11th. In the morning the boat came up and stopped opposite the Portage De Sioux.[I-4] We here spread out our baggage to dry; discharged our guns at a target, and scaled out our blunderbusses. Dined at the cave below the Illinois, at the mouth of which river we remained some time. From the course of the Mississippi, the Illinois[I-5] might be mistaken for a part of it. Encamped on the lower point of an island,[I-6] about six miles above the Illinois; were much detained by passing the east side of some islands above the Illinois; and were obliged to get into the water and haul the boat through.

Aug. 12th. In the morning made several miles to breakfast; about 3 o'clock p. m. passed Buffaloe [Cuivre or Copper river] or riviere au Bœuf, about five miles above which commences a beautiful cedar cliff. Having passed this, the river expands to nearly two miles in width, and has four islands, whose lowest points are nearly parallel; these we called the Four Brothers. Encamped on the point of the east one. It rained very hard all night. Caught one catfish. Distance 29¾ miles.[I-7]

Aug. 13th. Late before we sailed; passed a vast number of islands; left one of our dogs on shore; were much detained by sand-bars, and obliged to haul our boat over several of them; observed several [Indian] encampments which had been lately occupied. Rained all day. Distance 27 miles.[I-8]

Aug. 14th. Hard rain in the morning; but a fine wind springing up, we put off at half-past six o'clock. Passed a camp of Sacs, consisting of three men with their families. They were employed in spearing and scaffolding a fish,[I-9] about three feet in length, with a long flat snout; they pointed out the channel, and prevented us from taking the wrong one. I gave them a small quantity of whisky and biscuit; and they, in return, presented me with some fish. Sailed on through a continuation of islands for nearly 20 miles; met a young gentleman, Mr. Robedoux,[I-10] by whom I sent a letter to St. Louis; encamped on an island; caught 1,375 small fish. Rained all day. Distance 28 miles.[I-11]

Aug. 15th. Still raining in the morning. From the continued series of wet weather, the men were quite galled and sore. Met a Mr. Kettletas of N. Y., who gave me a line to Mr. Fisher of the Prairie Des Chein [du Chien]. Passed a small [elsewhere named Bar] river to the W., with a sand-bar at its entrance; also, passed Salt [elsewhere called Oahahah] river, which I do not recollect having seen on any chart; it is a considerable stream, and at high water is navigable for at least 200 miles. Left another dog. Distance 26 miles.[I-12]

Aug. 16th. Embarked early, but were so unfortunate as to get fast on a log; and did not extricate ourselves until past eleven o'clock, having to saw off a log under the water. At three o'clock arrived at the house of a Frenchman, situate on the W. side of the river, opposite Hurricane island. His cattle appeared to be in fine order, but his corn in a bad state of cultivation. About one mile above his house, on the W. shore, is a very handsome hill, which he informed me was level on the top, with a gradual descent on either side, and a fountain of fine water. This man likewise told me that two men had been killed on the Big Bay, or Three Brothers; and desired to be informed what measures had been taken in consequence thereof. Caught three catfish and one perch. Encamped four miles above the house. Distance 18 miles.[I-13]

Aug. 17th. Embarked and came on remarkably well; at ten o'clock stopped for breakfast, and in order to arrange our sail; when the wind served, we put off and continued under easy sail all day. Passed three batteaux. Distance 39 miles.[I-14]

Sunday, Aug. 18th. Embarked early; about eleven o'clock passed an Indian camp, on the E. side. They fired several guns; but we passed without stopping. Very hard head winds part of the day. Caught six fish. Distance 23 miles.[I-15]

Aug. 19th. Embarked early and made fine way; but at nine o'clock, in turning the point of a sand-bar, our boat struck a sawyer. At the moment, we did not know it had injured her; but, in a short time after, discovered her to be sinking; however, by thrusting oakum into the leak and bailing, we got her to shore on a bar, where, after entirely unloading, we with great difficulty keeled her sufficiently to cut out the plank and put in a new one. This at the time I conceived to be a great misfortune; but upon examination we discovered that the injury resulting from it was greater than we were at first induced to believe; for upon inspection we found our provisions and clothing considerably damaged. The day was usefully and necessarily employed in assorting, sunning, and airing those articles. One of my hunters, Sparks, having gone on shore to hunt, swam the river about seven miles above and killed a deer; but finding we did not come, he returned down the river, and joined us by swimming. Whilst we were at work at our boat on the sand-beach, three canoes with Indians passed on the opposite shore. They cried, "How-do-you-do?" wishing us to give them an invitation to come over; but receiving no answer they passed on. We then put our baggage on board and put off, designing to go where the young man had killed the deer; but after dark we became entangled among the sand-bars, and were obliged to stop and encamp on the point of a beach. Caught two fish. Distance 14 miles.[I-16]

Aug. 20th. Arrived at the foot of the rapids De Moyen[I-17] at seven o'clock. Although no soul on board had passed them, we commenced ascending them immediately. Our boat being large and moderately loaded, we found great difficulty. The river all the way through is from three-quarters to a mile wide. The rapids are 11 miles long, with successive ridges and shoals extending from shore to shore. The first has the greatest fall and is the most difficult to ascend. The channel, a bad one, is on the east side in passing the two first bars; then passes under the edge of the third; crosses to the west, and ascends on that side, all the way to the Sac village. The shoals continue the whole distance. We had passed the first and most difficult shoal, when we were met by Mr. Wm. Ewing,[I-18] who I understand is an agent appointed to reside with the Sacs to teach them the science of agriculture, with a French interpreter, four chiefs and 15 men of the Sac nation, in their canoes, bearing a flag of the United States. They came down to assist me up the rapids; took out 14 of my heaviest barrels, and put two of their men in the barge to pilot us up. Arrived at the house of Mr. Ewing, opposite the village, at dusk. The land on both sides of the rapids is hilly, but a rich soil. Distance 16 miles.[I-19]

Aug. 21st. All the chief men of the village came over to my encampment, where I spoke to them to the following purport:

"That their great father, the president of the United States, wishing to be more intimately acquainted with the situation, wants, &c., of the different nations of the red people, in our newly acquired territory of Louisiana, had ordered the general to send a number of his young warriors in different directions, to take them by the hand, and make such inquiries as might afford the satisfaction required.

"That I was authorized to choose situations for their trading establishments; and wished them to inform me if that place would be considered by them as central.

"That I was sorry to hear of the murder which had been committed on the river below; but, in consideration of their assurances that it was none of their nation, and the anxiety exhibited by them on the occasion, I had written to the general and informed him of what they had said on the subject.

"That in their treaty they engaged to apprehend all traders who came among them without license; for that time, I could not examine their traders on this subject; but that, on my return, I would make a particular examination.

"That if they thought proper they might send a young man in my boat, to inform the other villages of my mission," etc.

I then presented them with some tobacco, knives, and whisky. They replied to the following purport:

"That they thanked me for the good opinion I had of their nation, and for what I had written the general. That themselves, their young warriors, and the whole nation, were glad to see me among them.

"That as for the situation of the trading-houses, they could not determine, being but a part of the nation. With respect to sending a young man along, that if I would wait until to-morrow, they would choose one out. And finally, that they thanked me for my tobacco, knives, and whisky."

Not wishing to lose any time, after writing to the general[I-20] and my friends, I embarked and made six miles above the village. Encamped on a sand-bar. One canoe of savages passed.

Aug. 22d. Embarked at 5 o'clock a. m. Hard head winds. Passed a great number of islands. The river very wide and full of sand-bars. Distance 23 miles.[I-21]

Aug. 23d. Cool morning. Came on 5¼ miles, where, on the west shore, there is a very handsome situation for a garrison. The channel of the river passes under the hill, which is about 60 feet perpendicular, and level on the top; 400 yards in the rear there is a small prairie of 8 or 10 acres, which would be a convenient spot for gardens; and on the east side of the river there is a beautiful prospect over a large prairie, as far as the eye can extend, now and then interrupted by groves of trees. Directly under the rock is a limestone spring, which, after an hour's work, would afford water amply sufficient for the consumption of a regiment. The landing is bold and safe, and at the lower part of the hill a road may be made for a team in half an hour. Black and white oak timber in abundance. The mountain continues about two miles, and has five springs bursting from it in that distance.

Met four Indians and two squaws; landed with them; gave them one quart of made whisky [i. e., about three-fourths water], a few biscuit, and some salt. I requested some venison of them; they pretended they could not understand me; but after we had left them they held up two hams, and hallooed and laughed at us in derision. Passed nine horses on shore, and saw many signs of Indians. Passed a handsome prairie on the east side, and encamped at its head.[I-22]

Three batteaux from Michilimackinac stopped at our camp. We were told they were the property of Mr. Myers Michals. We were also informed that the largest Sac village was about 2½ miles out on the prairie; and that this prairie was called halfway from St. Louis to the prairie Des Cheins.

Aug. 24th. In the morning passed a number of islands. Before dinner, Corporal Bradley and myself took our guns and went on shore; we got behind a savannah, by following a stream we conceived to have been a branch of the river, but which led us at least two leagues from it.[I-23] My two favorite dogs, having gone out with us, gave out in the prairie, owing to the heat, high grass, and want of water; but, thinking they would come on, we continued our march. We heard the report of a gun, and supposing it to be from our boat, answered it; shortly after, however, we passed an Indian trail, which appeared as if the persons had been hurried, I presume at the report of our guns; for with this people all strangers are enemies. Shortly after we struck the river, and the boat appeared in view; stayed some time for my dogs; two of my men volunteered to go in search of them. Encamped on the west shore, nearly opposite a chalk bank. My two men had not yet returned, and it was extraordinary, as they knew my boat never waited for any person on shore. They endeavored to strike the Mississippi ahead of us. We fired a blunderbuss at three different times, to let them know where we lay. Distance 23½ miles.[I-24]

Sunday, Aug. 25th. Stopped on the Sand-bank prairie on the E. side [about New Boston, Ill.], from which you have a beautiful prospect of at least 40 miles down the river, bearing S. 38° E. Discovered that our boat leaked very fast; but we secured her inside so completely with oakum and tallow as nearly to prevent the leak. Fired a blunderbuss every hour, all day, as signals for our men. Passed the river Iowa. Encamped at night on the prairie marked Grant's prairie [below Muscatine, Ia.]. The men had not yet arrived. Distance 28 miles.[I-25]

Aug. 26th. Rain, with a very hard head wind. Towed our boat about nine miles, to where the river Hills join the Mississippi. Here I expected to find the two men I had lost, but was disappointed. The mercury in Reamur [Réaumur] at 13°; whereas yesterday it was 26° [= 61¼ and 90½ Fahr.] Met two peroques [sic[I-26]] full of Indians, who commenced hollowing [hallooing] "How do you do?" etc. They then put to shore and beckoned us to do likewise, but we continued our course. This day very severe on the men. Distance 28½ miles.[I-27]

Aug. 27th. Embarked early; cold north wind; mercury 10°; the wind so hard ahead that we were obliged to tow the boat all day. Passed one peroque of Indians; also, the Riviere De Roche [Rock river], late in the day. Some Indians, who were encamped there, embarked in their canoes and ascended the river before us. The wind was so very strong that, although it was down the stream, they were near sinking. Encamped about four miles above the Riviere De Roche, on the W. shore. This day passed a pole on a prairie on which five dogs were hanging. Distance 22 miles.[I-28]

Aug. 28th. About an hour after we had embarked, we arrived at the camp of Mr. James Aird,[I-29] a Scotch gentleman of Michilimackinac. He had encamped, with some goods, on the beach, and was repairing his boat, which had been injured in crossing [descending] the rapids of the Riviere De Roche, at the foot of which we now were. He had sent three boats back for the goods left behind. Breakfasted with him and obtained considerable information. Commenced ascending the rapids. Carried away our rudder in the first rapid; but after getting it repaired, the wind raised and we hoisted sail. Although entire strangers, we sailed through them with a perfect gale blowing all the time; had we struck a rock, in all probability we would have bilged and sunk. But we were so fortunate as to pass without touching. Met Mr. Aird's boats, which had pilots, fast on the rocks. Those shoals are a continued chain of rocks, extending in some places from shore to shore, about 18 miles in length.[I-30] They afford more water than those of De Moyen, but are much more rapid.

Aug. 29th. Breakfasted at the Reynard village, above the rapids; this is the first village of the Reynards.[I-31] I expected to find my two men here, but was disappointed. Finding they had not passed, I lay by until four o'clock, the wind fair all the time. The chief informed me, by signs, that in four days they could march to Prairie Des Cheins; and promised to furnish them with mockinsons [moccasins], and put them on their route. Set sail and made at least four knots an hour. I was disposed to sail all night; but the wind lulling, we encamped on the point of an island, on the W. shore. Distance 20 miles.[I-32]

Aug. 30th. Embarked at five o'clock; wind fair, but not very high. Sailed all day. Passed four peroques of Indians. Distance 43 miles.[I-33]

Aug. 31st. Embarked early. Passed one peroque of Indians; also, two encampments, one on a beautiful eminence on the W. side of the river. This place had the appearance of an old town. Sailed almost all day. Distance 31½ miles.[I-34]

Sunday, Sept. 1st. Embarked early; wind fair; arrived at the lead mines [Dubuque, Ia.] at twelve o'clock. A dysentery, with which I had been afflicted several days, was suddenly checked this morning, which I believe to have been the occasion of a very violent attack of fever about eleven o'clock. Notwithstanding it was very severe, I dressed myself, with an intention to execute the orders of the general relative to this place. We were saluted with a field-piece, and received with every mark of attention by Monsieur [Julien] Dubuque, the proprietor. There were no horses at the house, and it was six miles to where the mines were worked; it was therefore impossible to make a report by actual inspection. I therefore proposed 10 queries, on the answers to which my report was founded.[I-35]

Dined with Mr. D., who informed me that the Sioux and Sauteurs[I-36] were as warmly engaged in opposition as ever; that not long since the former killed 15 Sauteurs, who on the 10th of August in return killed 10 Sioux, at the entrance of the St. Peters [Minnesota river]; and that a war-party, composed of Sacs, Reynards, and Puants [Winnebagoes[I-37]], of 200 warriors, had embarked on an expedition against the Sauteurs; but that they had heard that the chief, having had an unfavorable dream, persuaded the party to return, and that I would meet them on my voyage. At this place I was introduced to a chief called Raven, of the Reynards. He made a very flowery speech on the occasion, which I answered in a few words, accompanied by a small present.

I had now given up all hopes of my two men, and was about to embark when a peroque arrived, in which they were, with a Mr. Blondeau, and two Indians whom that gentleman had engaged above the rapids of Stony [Rock] river. The two soldiers had been six days without anything to eat except muscles [mussels], when they met Mr. James Aird, by whose humanity and attention their strength and spirits were in a measure restored; and they were enabled to reach the Reynard village, where they met Mr. B. The Indian chief furnished them with corn and shoes, and showed his friendship by every possible attention. I immediately discharged the hire of the Indians, and gave Mr. Blondeau a passage to the Prairie des Cheins. Left the lead mines at four o'clock. Distance 25 miles.[I-38]

Sept. 2d. After making two short reaches, we commenced one which is 30 miles in length; the wind serving, we just made it, and encamped on the E. side [near Cassville, Wis.], opposite the mouth of Turkey river. In the course of the day we landed to shoot pigeons. The moment a gun was fired, some Indians, who were on the shore above us, ran down and put off in their peroques with great precipitation; upon which Mr. Blondeau informed me that all the women and children were frightened at the very name of an American boat, and that the men held us in great respect, conceiving us very quarrelsome, much for war, and also very brave. This information I used as prudence suggested. We stopped at an encampment about three miles below the town, where they gave us some excellent plums. They dispatched a peroque to the village, to give notice, as I supposed, of our arrival. It commenced raining about dusk, and rained all night. Distance 40 miles.[I-39]

Sept. 3d. Embarked at a pretty early hour. Cloudy. Met two peroques of family Indians; they at first asked Mr. Blondeau "if we were for war, or if going to war?" I now experienced the good effect of having some person on board who could speak their language; for they presented me with three pair of ducks and a quantity of venison, sufficient for all our crew for one day; in return, I made them some trifling presents. Afterward met two peroques, carrying some of the warriors spoken of on the 2d inst. They kept at a great distance, until spoken to by Mr. B., when they informed him that their party had proceeded up as high as Lake Pepin without effecting anything. It is surprising what a dread the Indians in this quarter have of the Americans. I have often seen them go round islands to avoid meeting my boat. It appears to me evident that the traders have taken great pains to impress upon the minds of the savages the idea of our being a very vindictive, ferocious, and warlike people. This impression was perhaps made with no good intention; but when they find that our conduct toward them is guided by magnanimity and justice, instead of operating in an injurious manner, it will have the effect to make them reverence at the same time they fear us. Distance 25 miles.[I-40]

Sept. 4th. Breakfasted just below the Ouiscousing [Wisconsin river[I-41]]. Arrived at the Prairie des Cheins about eleven o'clock; took quarters at Captain Fisher's, and were politely received by him and Mr. Frazer.

Sept. 5th. Embarked about half-past ten o'clock in a Schenectady boat, to go to the mouth of the Ouiscousing, in order to take the latitude [which I found to be 43° 28´ 8´´ N.], and look at the situation of the adjacent hills for a post. Was accompanied by Judge Fisher, Mr. Frazer, and Mr. Woods. We ascended the hill[I-42] on the west side of the Mississippi, and made choice of a spot which I thought most eligible, being level on the top, having a spring in the rear, and commanding a view of the country around. A shower of rain came on which completely wet us, and we returned to the village without having ascended the Ouiscousing as we intended. Marked four trees with A. B. C. D., and squared the sides of one in the center. Wrote to the general.

Sept. 6th. Had a small council with the Puants, and a chief of the lower band of the Sioux. Visited and laid out a position for a post, on a hill called the Petit Gris [Grès],[I-43] on the Ouiscousing, three miles above its mouth. Mr. Fisher, who accompanied me, was taken very sick, in consequence of drinking some water out of the Ouiscousing, The Puants never have any white interpreters, nor have the Fols Avoin [Folle Avoine (Menominee)[I-44]] nation. In my council I spoke to a Frenchman and he to a Sioux, who interpreted to some of the Puants.

Sept. 7th. My men beat all the villagers jumping and hopping. Began to load my new boats.

Sept. 8th. Embarked at half-past eleven o'clock in two batteaux. The wind fair and fresh. I found myself very much embarrassed and cramped in my new boats, with provision and baggage. I embarked two interpreters, one to perform the whole voyage, whose name was Pierre Rosseau [Rousseau[I-45]]; and the other named Joseph Reinulle [Reinville[I-46]], paid by Mr. Frazer to accompany me as high as the falls of St. Anthony. Mr. Frazer[I-47] is a young gentleman, clerk to Mr. Blakely of Montreal; he was born in Vermont, but has latterly resided in Canada. To the attention of this gentleman I am much indebted; he procured for me everything in his power that I stood in need of, dispatched his bark canoes, and remained himself to go on with me. His design was to winter with some of the Sioux bands. We sailed well, came 18 miles, and encamped on the W. bank.[I-48]

I must not omit here to bear testimony to the politeness of all the principal inhabitants of the village. There is, however, a material distinction to be made in the nature of those attentions: The kindness of Messrs. Fisher, Frazer, and Woods, all Americans, seemed to be the spontaneous effusions of good will, and partiality to their countrymen; it extended to the accommodation, convenience, exercises, and pastimes of my men; and whenever they proved superior to the French, openly showed their pleasure. But the French Canadians appeared attentive rather from their natural good manners than sincere friendship; however, it produced from them the same effect that natural good will did in the others.

Sept. 9th. Embarked early. Dined at Cape Garlic, or at Garlic river; after which we came on to an island on the E. side, about five miles below the river [Upper] Iowa, and encamped. Rained before sunset. Distance 28 miles.[I-49]

Sept. 10th. Rain still continuing, we remained at our camp. Having shot at some pigeons, the report was heard at the Sioux lodges, the same to whom I spoke on the 6th at the Prairie [du Chien]; when La Fieulle [Feuille[I-50]] sent down six of his young men to inform me "that he had waited three days with meat, etc., but that last night they had began to drink, and that on the next day he would receive me with his people sober." I returned him for answer "that the season was advanced, time was pressing, and if the rain ceased I must go on." Mr. Frazer and the interpreter went home with the Indians. We embarked about one o'clock.[I-51] Frazer, returning, informed me that the chief acquiesced in my reasons for pressing forward, but that he had prepared a pipe (by way of letter) to present me, to show to all the Sioux above, with a message to inform them that I was a chief of their new fathers, and that he wished me to be treated with friendship and respect.

On our arrival opposite the lodges, the men were paraded on the bank, with their guns in their hands. They saluted us with ball with what might be termed three rounds; which I returned with three rounds from each boat with my blunderbusses. This salute, although nothing to soldiers accustomed to fire, would not be so agreeable to many people; as the Indians had all been drinking, and as some of them even tried their dexterity, to see how near the boat they could strike. They may, indeed, be said to have struck on every side of us. When landed, I had my pistols in my belt and sword in hand. I was met on the bank by the chief, and invited to his lodge. As soon as my guards were formed and sentinels posted, I accompanied him. Some of my men who were going up with me I caused to leave their arms behind, as a mark of confidence. At the chief's lodge I found a clean mat and pillow for me to sit on, and the before-mentioned pipe on a pair of small crutches before me. The chief sat on my right hand, my interpreter and Mr. Frazer on my left. After smoking, the chief spoke to the following purport:

"That, notwithstanding he had seen me at the Prairie [du Chien], he was happy to take me by the hand among his own people, and there show his young men the respect due to their new father [President Jefferson]. That, when at St. Louis in the spring, his father [General Wilkinson] had told him that if he looked down the river he would see one of his young warriors [Pike] coming up. He now found it true, and he was happy to see me, who knew the Great Spirit was the father of all, both the white and the red people; and if one died, the other could not live long. That he had never been at war with their new father, and hoped always to preserve the same understanding that now existed. That he now presented me with a pipe, to show to the upper bands as a token of our good understanding, and that they might see his work and imitate his conduct. That he had gone to St. Louis on a shameful visit, to carry a murderer; but that we had given the man his life, and he thanked us for it. That he had provided something to eat, but he supposed I could not eat it; and if not, to give it to my young men."

I replied: "That, although I had told him at the Prairie my business up the Mississippi, I would again relate it to him." I then mentioned the different objects I had in view with regard to the savages who had fallen under our protection by our late purchase from the Spaniards; the different posts to be established; the objects of these posts as related to them; supplying them with necessaries; having officers and agents of government near them to attend to their business; and above all to endeavor to make peace between the Sioux and Sauteurs. "That it was possible on my return I should bring some of the Sauteurs down with me, and take with me some of the Sioux chiefs to St. Louis, there to settle the long and bloody war which had existed between the two nations. That I accepted his pipe with pleasure, as the gift of a great man, the chief of four bands, and a brother; that it should be used as he desired." I then eat of the dinner he had provided, which was very grateful. It was wild rye [rice?] and venison, of which I sent four bowls to my men.

I afterward went to a dance, the performance of which was attended with many curious maneuvers. Men and women danced indiscriminately. They were all dressed in the gayest manner; each had in the hand a small skin of some description, and would frequently run up, point their skin, and give a puff with their breath; when the person blown at, whether man or woman, would fall, and appear to be almost lifeless, or in great agony; but would recover slowly, rise, and join in the dance. This they called their great medicine; or, as I understood the word, dance of religion, the Indians believing that they actually puffed something into each others' bodies which occasioned the falling, etc. It is not every person who is admitted; persons wishing to join them must first make valuable presents to the society to the amount of $40 or $50, give a feast, and then be admitted with great ceremony. Mr. Frazer informed me that he was once in the lodge with some young men who did not belong to the club; when one of the dancers came in they immediately threw their blankets over him, and forced him out of the lodge; he laughed, but the young Indians called him a fool, and said "he did not know what the dancer might blow into his body."

I returned to my boat; sent for the chief and presented him with two carrots of tobacco, four knives, half a pound of vermilion, and one quart of salt. Mr. Frazer asked liberty to present them some rum; we made them up a keg between us, of eight gallons—two gallons of whisky [the rest water]. Mr. Frazer informed the chief that he dare not give them any without my permission. The chief thanked me for all my presents, and said "they must come free, as he did not ask for them." I replied that "to those who did not ask for anything, I gave freely; but to those who asked for much, I gave only a little or none."

We embarked about half-past three o'clock; came three miles, and encamped on the W. side.[I-52] Mr. Frazer we left behind, but he came up with his two peroques about dusk. It commenced raining very hard. In the night a peroque arrived from the lodges at his camp. During our stay at their camp, there were soldiers appointed to keep the crowd from my boats, who executed their duty with vigilance and rigor, driving men, women, and children back, whenever they came near my boats. At my departure, their soldiers said, "As I had shaken hands with their chief, they must shake hands with my soldiers." In which request I willingly indulged them.

Sept. 11th. Embarked at seven o'clock, although raining. Mr. Frazer's canoes also came on until nine o'clock. Stopped for breakfast and made a fire. Mr. Frazer stayed with me; finding his peroques not quite able to keep up, he dispatched them. We embarked; came on until near six o'clock, and encamped on the W. side. Saw nothing of his peroques after they left us. Supposed to have come 16 miles this day.[I-53] Rain and cold winds, all day ahead. The river has never been clear of islands since I left Prairie Des Chein. I absolutely believe it to be here two miles wide. Hills, or rather prairie knobs, on both sides.

Sept. 12th. It raining very hard in the morning, we did not embark until ten o'clock, Mr. Frazer's peroques then coming up. It was still raining, and was very cold; passed the Racine[I-54] river; also a prairie called Le Cross [La Crosse], from a game of ball played frequently on it by the Sioux Indians. This prairie is very handsome; it has a small square hill, similar to some mentioned by Carver. It is bounded in the rear by hills similar to [those of] the Prairie Des Chein.

On this prairie Mr. Frazer showed me some holes dug by the Sioux, when in expectation of an attack, into which they first put their women and children, and then crawl themselves. They were generally round and about 10 feet in diameter; but some were half-moons and quite a breastwork. This I understood was the chief work, which was the principal redoubt. Their modes of constructing them are: the moment they apprehend or discover an enemy on the prairie, they commence digging with their knives, tomahawks, and a wooden ladle; and in an incredibly short space of time they have a hole sufficiently deep to cover themselves and their families from the balls or arrows of the enemy. They [enemies] have no idea of taking those subterraneous redoubts by storm, as they would probably lose a great number of men in the attack; and although they might be successful in the event, it would be considered a very imprudent action.

Mr. Frazer, finding his canoes not able to keep up, stayed at this prairie to organize one of them, intending then to overtake us. Came on three miles further.[I-55]

Sept. 13th. Embarked at six o'clock. Came on to a sand-bar, and stopped to dry my things. At this place Mr. Frazer overtook me. We remained here three hours; came on to the foot of the hills, at le Montaigne qui Trompe a l'Eau [sic], which is a hill situated on the river. Rain all day, except about two hours at noon. Passed Black river. Distance 21 miles.[I-56]

Sept. 14th. Embarked early; the fog so thick we could not distinguish objects 20 yards. When we breakfasted we saw nothing of Mr. Frazer's canoes. After breakfast, at the head of an island, met Frazer's boats. Wind coming on fair, we hoisted sail, and found that we were more on an equality with our sails than our oars. The birch canoes sailed very well, but we were able to outrow them. Met the remainder of the war-party of the Sacs and Reynards before noted, returning from their expedition against the Sauteurs. I directed my interpreter to ask "How many scalps they had taken?" They replied, "None." He added, "They were all squaws"; for which I reprimanded him. Passed the mountain which stands in the river; or, as the French term it, which soaks in the river. Came to the Prairie Le Aisle [sic[I-57]], on the west.

Mr. Frazer, Bradley, Sparks, and myself, went out to hunt. We crossed first a dry flat prairie; when we arrived at the hills we ascended them, from which we had a most sublime and beautiful prospect. On the right, we saw the mountains which we passed in the morning and the prairie in their rear; like distant clouds, the mountains at the Prairie Le Cross; on our left and under our feet, the valley between the two barren hills through which the Mississippi wound itself by numerous channels, forming many beautiful islands, as far as the eye could embrace the scene; and our four boats under full sail, their flags streaming before the wind. It was altogether a prospect so variegated and romantic that a man may scarcely expect to enjoy such a one but twice or thrice in the course of his life. I proposed keeping the hills until they led to the river, encamping and waiting the next day for our boats; but Mr. Frazer's anxiety to get to the boats induced me to yield. After crossing a very thick bottom, fording and swimming three branches of the river, and crossing several morasses, we at twelve o'clock arrived opposite our boats, which were encamped on the east side. We were brought over. Saw great sign of elk, but had not the good fortune to come across any of them. My men saw three on the shore. Distance 21 miles.[I-58]

Sunday, Sept. 15th. Embarked early. Passed the riviere Embarrass [Zumbro river], and Lean Clare [i. e., l'Eau Claire; Clear, White Water, or Minneiska river], on the W., which is navigable 135 miles. Encamped opposite the river Le Bœuf [Beef or Buffalo river], on the W. shore.[I-59] At the head of this river the Chipeways inhabit, and it is navigable for peroques 40 or 50 leagues. Rained in the afternoon. Mr. Frazer broke one of his canoes. Came about three miles further than him. Distance 25 miles.

Sept. 16th. Embarked late, as I wished Mr. Frazer to overtake me, but came on very well. His canoes overtook us at dinner, at the grand encampment [7½ miles[I-60]] below Lake Pepin. We made the sandy peninsula on the east at the entrance of Lake Pepin, by dusk; passed the Sauteaux [Chippewa[I-61]] river on the east, at the entrance of the lake. After supper, the wind being fair, we put off with the intention to sail across; my interpreter, Rosseau, telling me that he had passed the lake twenty times, but never once in the day; giving as a reason that the wind frequently rose and detained them by day in the lake. But I believe the traders' true reason generally is their fears of the Sauteurs, as these have made several strokes of war at the mouth of this river, never distinguishing between the Sioux and their traders. However, the wind serving, I was induced to go on; and accordingly we sailed, my boat bringing up the rear, for I had put the sail of my big boat on my batteau, and a mast of 22 feet. Mr. Frazer embarked on my boat. At first the breeze was very gentle, and we sailed with our violins and other music playing; but the sky afterward became cloudy and quite a gale arose. My boat plowed the swells, sometimes almost bow under. When we came to the Traverse [crossing-place], which is opposite Point De Sable [Sandy point], we thought it most advisable, the lake being very much disturbed and the gale increasing, to take harbor in a bay on the east. One of the canoes and my boat came in very well together; but having made a fire on the point to give notice to our boats in the rear, they both ran on the bar before they doubled it, and were near foundering; but by jumping into the lake we brought them into a safe harbor. Distance 40 miles.[I-62]

Sept. 17th. Although there was every appearance of a very severe storm, we embarked at half-past six o'clock, the wind fair; but before we had hoisted all sail, those in front had struck theirs. The wind came on hard ahead. The sky became inflamed, and the lightning seemed to roll down the sides of the hills which bordered the shore of the lake. The storm in all its grandeur, majesty, and horror burst upon us in the Traverse, while making for Point De Sable; and it required no moderate exertion to weather the point and get to the windward side of it. Distance three miles.[I-63]

There we found Mr. Cameron,[I-64] who had sailed from the prairie [Prairie du Chien] on the 5th; he had three bark canoes and a wooden one with him. He had been lying here two days, his canoes unloaded and turned up for the habitation of his men, his tents pitched, and himself living in all the ease of an Indian trader. He appeared to be a man of tolerable information, but rather indolent in his habits; a Scotchman by birth, but an Englishman by prejudice. He had with him a very handsome young man, by the name of John Rudsdell, and also his own son, a lad of fifteen.

The storm continuing, we remained all day. I was shown a point of rocks [Maiden Rock, 400 feet high[I-65]] from which a Sioux maiden cast herself, and was dashed into a thousand pieces on the rocks below. She had been informed that her friends intended matching her to a man she despised; having been refused the man she had chosen, she ascended the hill, singing her death-song; and before they could overtake her and obviate her purpose she took the lover's leap! Thus ended her troubles with her life. A wonderful display of sentiment in a savage!

Sept. 18th. Embarked after breakfast. Mr. Cameron, with his boats, came on with me. Crossed the lake, sounded it, and took an observation at the upper end. I embarked in one of his canoes, and we came up to Canoe river,[I-66] where there was a small band of Sioux under the command of Red Wing, the second war chief in the nation. He made me a speech and presented a pipe, pouch, and buffalo skin. He appeared to be a man of sense, and promised to accompany me to St. Peters [the Minnesota river]; he saluted me, and had it returned. I made him a small present.[I-67]

We encamped on the end of the island, and although it was not more than eleven o'clock, were obliged to stay all night. Distance 18 miles.[I-68]

Sept. 19th. Embarked early; dined at St. Croix[I-69] river. Messrs. Frazer and Cameron having some business to do with the savages, we left them at the encampment; but they promised to overtake me, though they should be obliged to travel until twelve o'clock at night. Fired a blunderbuss for them at Tattoo. The chain of my watch became unhooked, by lending her to my guard; this was a very serious misfortune.[I-70]

Sept. 20th. Embarked after sunrise. Cloudy, with hard head winds; a small shower of rain; cleared up in the afternoon, and became pleasant. Encamped on a prairie on the east side, on which is a large painted stone, about eight miles below the Sioux village. The traders had not yet overtaken me. Distance 26½ miles.[I-71]

Sept. 21st. Embarked at a seasonable hour; breakfasted at the Sioux village on the east side [near St. Paul,[I-72] capital of Minnesota]. It consists of 11 lodges, and is situated at the head of an island just below a ledge of rocks [Dayton bluff, in the city]. The village was evacuated at this time, all the Indians having gone out to the lands to gather fols avoin [folle avoine, wild rice: see note^44, page 39]. About two miles above, saw three bears swimming over the river, but at too great a distance for us to have killed them; they made the shore before I could come up with them. Passed a camp of Sioux, of four lodges, in which I saw only one man, whose name was Black Soldier. The garrulity of the women astonished me, for at the other camps they never opened their lips; but here they flocked around us with all their tongues going at the same time. The cause of this freedom must have been the absence of their lords and masters. Passed the encampment of Mr. Ferrebault [Faribault[I-73]], who had broken his peroque and had encamped on the west side of the river, about three miles below St. Peters [under the bluff below Mendota]. We made our encampment on the N. E. point of the big [Pike's] island opposite [Fort Snelling or] St. Peters.[I-74] Distance 24 miles.

The Mississippi became so very narrow this day, that I once crossed in my batteaux with forty strokes of my oars. The water of the Mississippi, since we passed Lake Pepin, has been remarkably red; and where it is deep, appears as black as ink. The waters of the St. Croix and St. Peters appear blue and clear, for a considerable distance below their confluence.

I observed a white flag on shore to-day, and on landing, discovered it to be white silk; it was suspended over a scaffold, on which were laid four dead bodies, two inclosed in boards, and two in bark. They were wrapped up in blankets, which appeared to be quite new. They were the bodies, I was informed, of two Sioux women who had lived with two Frenchmen, one of their children, and some other relative; two of whom died at St. Peters and two at St. Croix, but were brought here to be deposited upon this scaffold together. This is the manner of Sioux burial when persons die a natural death; but when they are killed they suffer them to lie unburied. This circumstance brought to my recollection the bones of a man I found on the hills below the St. Croix; the jaw bone I brought on board. He must have been killed on that spot.

CHAPTER II.

ITINERARY, CONTINUED: ST. PAUL TO LEECH LAKE, SEPTEMBER 22D, 1805-JANUARY 31ST, 1806.

Sunday, Sept. 22d. Employed in the morning measuring the river. About three o'clock Mr. Frazer and his peroques arrived; and in three hours after Petit Corbeau, at the head of his band, arrived with 150 warriors.

They ascended the hill in the point between the Mississippi and St. Peters, and gave us a salute, a la mode savage, with balls; after which we settled affairs for the council next day. Mr. Frazer and myself took a bark canoe, and went up to the village, in order to see Mr. Cameron. We ascended the St. Peters to the village, and found his camp. He engaged to be at the council the next day, and promised to let me have his barge. The Sioux had marched on a war excursion; but, hearing by express of my arrival, they returned by land. We were treated very hospitably, and hallooed after to go into every lodge to eat. Returned to our camp about eleven o'clock, and found the Sioux and my men peaceably encamped. No current in the river.[II-1]

Sept. 23d. Prepared for the council, which we commenced about twelve o'clock. I had a bower or shade, made of my sails, on the beach, into which only my gentlemen (the traders) and the chiefs entered. I then addressed them in a speech, which, though long and touching on many points, had for its principal object the granting of land at this place, falls of St. Anthony, and St. Croix [river], and making peace with the Chipeways. I was replied to by Le Fils de Pinchow, Le Petit Corbeau, and l'Original Leve. They gave me the land required, about 100,000 acres, equal to $200,000, and promised me a safe passport for myself and any [Chippewa] chiefs I might bring down; but spoke doubtfully with respect to the peace. I gave them presents to the amount of about $200, and as soon as the council was over, I allowed the traders to present them with some liquor, which, with what I myself gave, was equal to 60 gallons. In one half-hour they were all embarked for their respective villages.

The chiefs in the council were: Le Petit Corbeau, who signed the grant; Le Fils de Pinchow, who also signed; Le Grand Partisan; Le Original Leve, war-chief; gave him my father's [General Wilkinson's] tomahawk, etc.; Le Demi Douzen, war-chief; Le Beccasse; Le Bœuf que Marche.

It was somewhat difficult to get them to sign the grant, as they conceived their word of honor should be taken for the grant without any mark; but I convinced then it was not on their account, but my own, that I wished them to sign it.[II-2]

Sept. 24th. In the morning I discovered that my flag was missing from my boat. Being in doubt whether it had been stolen by the Indians, or had fallen overboard and floated away, I sent for my friend, Original Leve, and sufficiently evinced to him, by the vehemence of my action, by the immediate punishment of my guard (having inflicted on one of them corporeal punishment), and by sending down the shore three miles in search of it, how much I was displeased that such a thing should have occurred. I sent a flag and two carrots of tobacco, by Mr. Cameron, to the Sioux at the head of the St. Peters; made a small draft of the position at this place; sent up the boat I got from Mr. Fisher to the village on the St. Peters, and exchanged her for a barge with Mr. Duncan. My men returned with the barge about sundown. She was a fine light thing; eight men were able to carry her. Employed all day in writing.

Sept. 25th. I was awakened out of my bed by Le Petit Corbeau, head chief, who came up from his village to see if we were all killed, or if any accident had happened to us. This was in consequence of their having found my flag floating three miles below their village, 15 miles hence, from which they concluded some affray had taken place, and that it had been thrown overboard. Although I considered this an unfortunate accident for me, I was exceedingly happy at its effect; for it was the occasion of preventing much bloodshed among the savages. A chief called Outard Blanche[II-3] had his lip cut off, and had come to Petit Corbeau and told him, "that his face was his looking-glass, that it was spoiled, and that he was determined on revenge." The parties were charging their guns and preparing for action, when lo! the flag appeared like a messenger of peace sent to prevent their bloody purposes. They were all astonished to see it. The staff was broken. Then Petit Corbeau arose and spoke to this effect: "That a thing so sacred had not been taken from my boat without violence; that it would be proper for them to hush all private animosities, until they had revenged the cause of their eldest brother; that he would immediately go up to St. Peters, to know what dogs had done that thing, in order to take steps to get satisfaction of those who had done the mischief." They all listened to this reasoning; he immediately had the flag put out to dry, and embarked for my camp. I was much concerned to hear of the blood likely to have been shed, and gave him five yards of blue stroud, three yards of calico, one handkerchief, one carrot of tobacco, and one knife, in order to make peace among his people. He promised to send my flag by land to the falls, and make peace with Outard Blanche. Mr. Frazer went up to the village. We embarked late, and encamped at the foot of the rapids. In many places, I could scarce [almost] throw a stone over the river. Distance three miles.[II-4]

Sept. 26th. Embarked at the usual hour, and after much labor in passing through the rapids, arrived at the foot of the falls [of St. Anthony, in the city of Minneapolis], about three or four o'clock; unloaded my boat, and had the principal part of her cargo carried over the portage. With the other boat, however, full loaded, they were not able to get over the last shoot, and encamped about 600 yards below. I pitched my tent and encamped above the shoot. The rapids mentioned in this day's march might properly be called a continuation of the falls of St. Anthony, for they are equally entitled to this appellation with the falls of the Delaware and Susquehanna. Killed one deer. Distance nine miles.[II-5]

Sept. 27th. Brought over the residue of my lading this morning. Two men arrived from Mr. Frazer, on St. Peters, for my dispatches. This business of closing and sealing appeared like a last adieu to the civilized world. Sent a large packet to the general, and a letter to Mrs. Pike, with a short note to Mr. Frazer. Two young Indians brought my flag across by land; they arrived yesterday, just as we came in sight of the falls. I made them a present for their punctuality and expedition, and the danger they were exposed to from the journey. Carried our boats out of the river as far as the bottom of the hill.

Sept. 28th. Brought my barge over, and put her in the river above the falls. While we were engaged with her, three-quarters of a mile from camp, seven Indians, painted black, appeared on the heights. We had left our guns at camp, and were entirely defenseless. It occurred to me that they were the small party of Sioux who were obstinate, and would go to war when the other part of the bands came in. These they proved to be. They were better armed than any I had ever seen, having guns, bows, arrows, clubs, spears, and some of them even a case of pistols. I was at that time giving my men a dram, and giving the cup of liquor to the first, he drank it off; but I was more cautious with the remainder. I sent my interpreter to camp with them to wait my coming, wishing to purchase one of their war-clubs, which was made of elk-horn, and decorated with inlaid work. This, and a set of bows and arrows, I wished to get as a curiosity. But the liquor I had given him beginning to operate, he came back for me; refusing to go till I brought my boat, he returned, and (I suppose being offended) borrowed a canoe and crossed the river. In the afternoon we got the other boat near the top of the hill, when the props gave way, and she slid all the way down to the bottom, but fortunately without injuring any person. It raining very hard, we left her. Killed one goose and a raccoon.

Sunday, Sept. 29th. I killed a remarkably large raccoon. Got our large boat over the portage, and put her in the river, at the upper landing. This night the men gave sufficient proof of their fatigue, by all throwing themselves down to sleep, preferring rest to supper. This day I had but 15 men out of 22; the others were sick.

This voyage could have been performed with great convenience if we had taken our departure in June. But the proper time would be to leave the Illinois as soon as the ice would permit, when the river would be of a good height.

Sept. 30th. Loaded my boat, moved over, and encamped on the island. The large boats loading likewise, we went over and put on board. In the meantime I took a survey of the Falls, Portage, etc. If it be possible to pass the falls at high water, of which I am doubtful, it must be on the east side, about 30 yards from shore, as there are three layers of rocks, one below the other. The pitch off either is not more than five feet; but of this I can say more on my return. (It is never possible, as ascertained on my return.)

Oct. 1st. Embarked late. The river at first appeared mild and sufficiently deep; but after about four miles the shoals commenced, and we had very hard water all day; passed three rapids. Killed one goose and two ducks. This day the sun shone after I had left the falls; but whilst there it was always cloudy. Distance 17 miles.[II-6]

Oct. 2d. Embarked at our usual hour, and shortly after passed some large islands and remarkably hard ripples. Indeed the navigation, to persons not determined to proceed, would have been deemed impracticable. We waded nearly all day, to force the boats off shoals, and draw them through rapids. Killed three geese and two swans. Much appearance of elk and deer. Distance 12 miles.[II-7]

Oct. 3d. Cold in the morning. Mercury at zero. Came on very well; some ripples and shoals. Killed three geese and one raccoon [Procyon lotor]; also a brelaw,[II-8] an animal I had never before seen. Distance 15½ miles.[II-9]

Oct. 4th. Rained in the morning; but the wind serving, we embarked, although it was extremely raw and cold. Opposite the mouth of Crow river [present name] we found a bark canoe cut to pieces with tomahawks, and the paddles broken on shore; a short distance higher up we saw five more, and continued to see the wrecks until we found eight. From the form of the canoes my interpreter pronounced them to be Sioux; and some broken arrows to be the Sauteurs. The paddles were also marked with the Indian sign of men and women killed. From all these circumstances we drew this inference, that the canoes had been the vessels of a party of Sioux who had been attacked and all killed or taken by the Sauteurs. Time may develop this transaction. My interpreter was much alarmed, assuring me that it was probable that at our first rencounter with the Chipeways they would take us for Sioux traders, and fire on us before we could come to an explanation; that they had murdered three Frenchmen whom they found on the shore about this time last spring; but notwithstanding his information, I was on shore all the afternoon in pursuit of elk. Caught a curious little animal on the prairie, which my Frenchman [Rousseau] termed a prairie mole,[II-10] but it is very different from the mole of the States. Killed two geese, one pheasant [ruffed grouse, Bonasa umbellus], and a wolf. Distance 16 miles.[II-11]

Oct. 5th. Hard water and ripples all day. Passed several old Sioux encampments, all fortified. Found five litters in which sick or wounded had been carried. At this place a hard battle was fought between the Sioux and Sauteurs in the year 1800. Killed one goose. Distance 11 miles.[II-12]

Sunday, Oct. 6th. Early in the morning discovered four elk; they swam the river. I pursued them, and wounded one, which made his escape into a marsh; saw two droves of elk. I killed some small game and joined the boats near night. Found a small red capot hung upon a tree; this my interpreter informed me was a sacrifice by some Indians to the bon Dieu. I determined to lie by and hunt next day. Killed three prairie-hens [pinnated grouse, Tympanuchus americanus] and two pheasants. This day saw the first elk. Distance 12 miles.[II-13]

Oct. 7th. Lay by in order to dry my corn, clothing, etc., and to have an investigation into the conduct of my sergeant [Kennerman], against whom some charges were exhibited. Sent several of my men out hunting. I went toward evening and killed some prairie-hens; the hunters were unsuccessful. Killed three prairie-hens and six pheasants.

Oct. 8th. Embarked early and made a very good day's march; had but three rapids to pass all day. Some oak woodland on the W. side, but the whole bottom covered with prickly-ash. I made it a practice to oblige every man to march who complained of indisposition, by which means I had some flankers on both sides of the river, who were excellent guards against surprises; they also served as hunters. We had but one raccoon killed by all. Distance 20 miles.[II-14]

Oct. 9th. Embarked early; wind ahead; barrens and prairie. Killed one deer and four pheasants. Distance 3 miles. [Camp between Plum creek and St. Augusta.]

Oct. 10th. Came to large islands and strong water early in the morning. Passed the place at which Mr. [Joseph] Reinville and Mons. Perlier [?] wintered in 1797. Passed a cluster of more than 20 islands in the course of four miles; these I called Beaver islands, from the immense sign of those animals; for they have dams on every island and roads from them every two or three rods. I would here attempt a description of this wonderful animal, and its admirable system of architecture, were not the subject already exhausted by the numerous travelers who have written on this subject. Encamped at the foot of the Grand [Sauk] Rapids. Killed two geese, five ducks, and four pheasants. Distance 16½ miles.[II-15]

Oct. 11th. Both boats passed the worst of the rapids by eleven o'clock, but we were obliged to wade and lift them over rocks where there was not a foot of water, when at times the next step would be in water over our heads. In consequence of this our boats were frequently in imminent danger of being bilged on the rocks. About five miles above the rapids our large boat was discovered to leak so fast as to render it necessary to unload her, which we did. Stopped the leak and reloaded. Near a war-encampment I found a painted buckskin and a piece of scarlet cloth, suspended by the limb of a tree; this I supposed to be a sacrifice to Matcho Maniton [sic], to render their enterprise successful; but I took the liberty of invading the rights of his diabolical majesty, by treating them as the priests of old have often done—that is, converting the sacrifice to my own use. Killed only two ducks. Distance 8 miles.[II-16]

Oct. 12th. Hard ripples in the morning. Passed a narrow rocky place [Watab rapids], after which we had good water. Our large boat again sprung a leak, and we were again obliged to encamp early and unload. Killed one deer, one wolf, two geese, and two ducks. Distance 12½ miles.[II-17]

Sunday, Oct. 13th. Embarked early and came on well. Passed [first a river on the right, which we named Lake river (now called Little Rock river) and then] a handsome little river on the east, which we named Clear river [now Platte]; water good. Killed one deer, one beaver, two minks, two geese, and one duck. Fair winds. Discovered one buffalo sign. Distance 29 miles.[II-18]

Oct. 14th. Ripples a considerable [part of the] way. My hunters killed three deer, four geese, and two porcupines. When hunting discovered a trail which I supposed to have been made by the savages. I followed it with much precaution, and at length started a large bear feeding on the carcass of a deer; he soon made his escape. Yesterday we came to the first timbered land above the falls. Made the first discovery of bear since we left St. Louis, excepting what we saw three miles below St. Peters. Distance 17 miles.[II-19]

Oct. 15th. Ripples all day. In the morning the large boat came up, and I once more got my party together; they had been detained by taking in the game. Yesterday and this day passed some skirts of good land, well timbered, swamps of hemlock, and white pine. Water very hard. The river became shallow and full of islands. We encamped on a beautiful point on the west, below a fall [Fourth, Knife, or Pike rapids] of the river over a bed of rocks, through which we had two narrow shoots to make our way the next day. Killed two deer, five ducks, and two geese. This day's march made me think seriously of our wintering ground and leaving our large boats. Distance five miles.[II-20]

Oct. 16th. When we arose in the morning found that snow had fallen during the night; the ground was covered, and it continued to snow. This indeed was but poor encouragement for attacking the rapids, in which we were certain to wade to our necks. I was determined, however, if possible, to make la riviere de Corbeau [now Crow Wing river], the highest point ever made by traders in their bark canoes. We embarked, and after four hours' work became so benumbed with cold that our limbs were perfectly useless. We put to shore on the opposite side of the river, about two-thirds of the way up the rapids. Built a large fire; and then discovered that our boats were nearly half-full of water, both having sprung such large leaks as to oblige me to keep three hands bailing. My Sergeant Kennerman, one of the stoutest men I ever knew, broke a blood-vessel and vomited nearly two quarts of blood. One of my corporals, Bradley, also evacuated nearly a pint of blood when he attempted to void his urine. These unhappy circumstances, in addition to the inability of four other men, whom we were obliged to leave on shore, convinced me that if I had no regard for my own health and constitution, I should have some for those poor fellows, who were killing themselves to obey my orders. After we had breakfasted and refreshed ourselves, we went down to our boats on the rocks, where I was obliged to leave them. I then informed my men that we would return to the camp, and there leave some of the party and our large boats. This information was pleasing, and the attempt to reach the camp soon accomplished.

My reasons for this step have partly been already stated. The necessity of unloading and refitting my boats, the beauty and convenience of the spot for building huts, the fine pine trees for peroques, and the quantity of game, were additional inducements. We immediately unloaded our boats and secured their cargoes. In the evening I went out upon a small but beautiful creek [i. e., Pine creek of Pike, now Swan river[II-21]] which empties into the falls [on the W. side], for the purpose of selecting pine trees to make canoes. Saw five deer, and killed one buck weighing 137 pounds. By my leaving men at this place, and from the great quantities of game in its vicinity, I was insured plenty of provision for my return voyage. In the party [to be] left behind was one hunter, to be continually employed, who would keep our stock of salt provisions good. Distance 233½ [about 111] miles above the falls of St. Anthony.

Oct. 17th. It continued to snow. I walked out in the morning and killed four bears, and my hunter three deers. Felled our trees for canoes and commenced working on them.

Oct. 18th. Stopped hunting and put every hand to work. Cut 60 logs for huts and worked at the canoes. This, considering we had only two felling-axes and three hatchets, was pretty good work. Cloudy, with little snow.

Oct. 19th. Raised one of our houses and almost completed one canoe. I was employed the principal part of this day in writing letters and making arrangements which I deemed necessary, in case I should never return.

Sunday, Oct. 20th. Continued our labor at the houses and canoes; finished my letters, etc. At night discovered the prairie on the opposite side of the river to be on fire: supposed to have been made by the Sauteurs. I wished much to have our situation respectable [defensible] here, or I would have sent next day to discover them.

Oct. 21st. Went out hunting, but killed nothing, not wishing to shoot at small game. Our labor went on.

Oct. 22d. Went out hunting. About 15 miles up the [Pine] creek saw a great quantity of deer; but from the dryness of the woods and the quantity of brush, only shot one through the body, which made its escape. This day my men neglected their work, which convinced me I must leave off hunting and superintend them. Miller and myself lay out all night in the pine woods.

Oct. 23d. Raised another blockhouse; deposited all our property in the one already completed. Killed a number of pheasants and ducks, while visiting my canoe-makers. Sleet and snow.

Oct. 24th. The snow having fallen one or two inches thick in the night, I sent out one hunter, Sparks, and went out myself; Bradley, my other hunter, being sick. Each of us killed two deer, one goose, and one pheasant.

Oct. 25th. Sent out men with Sparks to bring in his game. None of them returned, and I supposed them to be lost in the hemlock swamps with which the country abounds. My interpreter, however, whom I believe to be a coward, insisted that they were killed by the Sauteurs. Made arrangements for my departure.

Oct. 26th. Launched my canoes and found them very small. My hunter killed three deer. Took Miller and remained out all night, but killed nothing.

Sunday, Oct. 27th. Employed in preparing our baggage to depart.

Oct. 28th. My two canoes being finished, launched, and brought to the head of the rapids, I put my provision, ammunition, etc., on board, intending to embark by day. Left them under the charge of the sentinel; in an hour one of them sunk, in which was the ammunition and my baggage; this was occasioned by what is called a wind-shock.[II-22] This misfortune, and the extreme smallness of my canoes, induced me to build another. I had my cartridges spread out on blankets and large fires made around them. At that time I was not able to ascertain the extent of the misfortune, the magnitude of which none can estimate, save only those in the same situation with ourselves, 1,500 miles from civilized society; and in danger of losing the very means of defense—nay, of existence.

Oct. 29th. Felled a large pine and commenced another canoe. I was at work on my cartridges all day, but did not save five dozen out of 30. In attempting to dry the powder in pots I blew it up, and it had nearly blown up a tent and two or three men with it. Made a dozen new cartridges with the old wrapping-paper.

Oct. 30th. My men labored as usual. Nothing extraordinary.

Oct. 31st. Inclosed my little work completely with pickets. Hauled up my two boats, and turned them over on each side of the gateway, by which means a defense was made to the river. Had it not been for various political reasons, I would have laughed at the attack of 800 or 1,000 savages, if all my party were within. For, except accidents, it would only have afforded amusement, the Indians having no idea of taking a place by storm. Found myself powerfully attacked with the fantastics of the brain called ennui, at the mention of which I had hitherto scoffed; but my books being packed up, I was like a person entranced, and could easily conceive why so many persons who had been confined to remote places acquired the habit of drinking to excess and many other vicious practices, which have been adopted merely to pass time.

Nov. 1st. Finding that my canoe would not be finished in two or three days, I concluded to take six men and go down the river about 12 miles [vicinity of Buffalo cr. (Two Rivers)], where we had remarked great sign of elk and buffalo. Arrived there about the middle of the afternoon. All turned out to hunt. None of us killed anything but Sparks, one doe. A slight snow fell.

Nov. 2d. Left the camp with the fullest determination to kill an elk, if it were possible, before my return. I never had killed one of those animals. Took Miller, whose obliging disposition made him agreeable in the woods. I was determined, if we came on the trail of elk, to follow them a day or two in order to kill one. This, to a person acquainted with the nature of those animals, and the extent of the prairies in this country, would appear, what it really was, a very foolish resolution. We soon struck where a herd of 150 had passed. Pursued and came in sight about eight o'clock, when they appeared, at a distance, like an army of Indians moving along in single file; a large buck, of at least four feet between the horns, leading the van, and one of equal magnitude bringing up the rear. We followed until near night, without once being able to get within pointblank shot. I once made Miller fire at them with his musket, at about 400 yards' distance; it had no other effect than to make them leave us about five miles behind on the prairie. Passed several deer in the course of the day, which I think we could have killed, but did not fire for fear of alarming the elk. Finding that it was no easy matter to kill one, I shot a doe through the body, as I perceived by her blood where she lay down in the snow; yet, not knowing how to track, we lost her. Shortly after saw three elk by themselves near a copse of woods. Approached near them and broke the shoulder of one; but he ran off with the other two just as I was about to follow. Saw a buck deer lying on the grass; shot him between the eyes, when he fell over. I walked up to him, put my foot on his horns, and examined the shot; immediately after which he snorted, bounced up, and fell five steps from me. This I considered his last effort; but soon after, to our utter astonishment, he jumped up and ran off. He stopped frequently; we pursued him, expecting him to fall every minute; by which we were led from the pursuit of the wounded elk. After being wearied out in this unsuccessful chase we returned in pursuit of the wounded elk, and when we came up to the party, found him missing from the flock. Shot another in the body; but my ball being small, he likewise escaped. Wounded another deer; when, hungry, cold, and fatigued, after having wounded three deer and two elk, we were obliged to encamp in a point of hemlock woods, on the head of Clear [Platte] river. The large herd of elk lay about one mile from us, in the prairie. Our want of success I ascribe to the smallness of our balls, and to our inexperience in following the track after wounding the game, for it is very seldom a deer drops on the spot you shoot it.

Sunday, Nov. 3d. Rose pretty early and went in pursuit of the elk. Wounded one buck deer on the way. We made an attempt to drive them into the woods; but their leader broke past us, and it appeared as if the drove would have followed him, though they had been obliged to run over us. We fired at them passing, but without effect. Pursued them through the swamp till about ten o'clock, when I determined to attempt to make the river, and for that purpose took a due south course. Passed many droves of elk and buffalo, but being in the middle of an immense prairie, knew it was folly to attempt to shoot them. Wounded several deer, but got none. In fact, I knew I could shoot as many deer as anybody; but neither myself nor company could find one in ten, whereas one experienced hunter would get all. Near night struck a lake about five miles long and two miles wide. Saw immense droves of elk on both banks. About sundown saw a herd crossing the prairie toward us. We sat down. Two bucks, more curious than the others, came pretty close. I struck one behind the fore shoulder; he did not go more than 20 yards before he fell and died. This was the cause of much exultation, because it fulfilled my determination; and, as we had been two days and nights without victuals, it was very acceptable. Found some scrub oak. In about one mile made a fire, and with much labor and pains got our meat to it; the wolves feasting on one half while we were carrying away the other. We were now provisioned, but were still in want of water, the snow being all melted. Finding my drought very excessive in the night, I went in search of water, and was much surprised, after having gone about a mile, to strike the Mississippi. Filled my hat and returned to my companion.

Nov. 4th. Repaired my mockinsons, using a piece of elk's bone as an awl. We both went to the Mississippi and found we were a great distance from the camp. I left Miller to guard the meat and marched for camp. Having strained my ankles in the swamps, they were extremely sore, and the strings of my mockinsons cut them and made them swell considerably. Before I had gone far I discovered a herd of 10 elk; approached within 50 yards and shot one through the body. He fell on the spot; but rose again and ran off. I pursued him at least five miles, expecting every minute to see him drop. I then gave him up. When I arrived at Clear [Platte] river, a deer was standing on the other bank. I killed him on the spot, and while I was taking out the entrails another came up. I shot him also. This was my last ball, and then only could I kill! Left part of my clothes at this place to scare the wolves. Arrived at my camp at dusk, to the great joy of our men, who had been to our little garrison to inquire for me, and receiving no intelligence, had concluded we were killed by the Indians, having heard them fire on the opposite bank. The same night we saw fires on the opposite shore in the prairie; this was likewise seen in the fort, when all the men moved into the works.

Nov. 5th. Sent four of my men with one canoe, loaded with the balance of nine deer that had been killed; with the other two, went down the river for my meat. Stopped for the deer, which I found safe. Miller had just started to march home, but returned to camp with us. Found all the meat safe, and brought it to the river, where we pitched our camp.

Nov. 6th. At the earnest entreaties of my men, and with a hope of killing some more game, I agreed to stay and hunt. We went out and found that all the elk and buffalo had gone down the river from those plains the day before, leaving large roads to point out their course. This would not appear extraordinary to persons acquainted with the nature of those animals, as the prairie had unluckily caught fire. After Miller left the camp for home, Sparks killed two deer, about six miles off; and it being near the river, I sent the three men down with the canoe, to return early in the morning. It commenced snowing about midnight, and by morning was six inches deep.

Nov. 7th. Waited all day with the greatest anxiety for my men. The river became nearly filled with snow, partly congealed into ice. My situation can more easily be imagined than described. Went down the river to where I understood the deer were killed; but discovered nothing of my men. I now became very uneasy on their account, for I was well aware of the hostile disposition of the Indians to all persons on this part of the Mississippi, taking them to be traders—and we had not yet had an opportunity of explaining to them who we were. Snow still continued falling very fast, and was nearly knee-deep. Had great difficulty to procure wood sufficient to keep up a fire all night. Ice in the river thickening.

Nov. 8th. My men not yet arrived. I determined to depart for the garrison, and when the river had frozen, to come down on the ice with a party, or, if the weather became mild, by water, with my other peroques, to search for my poor men. Put up about ten pounds of meat, two blankets, and a bearskin, with my sword and gun, which made for me a very heavy load. Left the meat in as good a situation as possible. Wrote on the snow my wishes, and put my handkerchief up as a flag. Departed. My anxiety of mind was so great that, notwithstanding my load and the depth of the snow, I made into the bottom, above our former hunting-camp, a little before night. Passed several deer and one elk, which I might probably have killed; but not knowing whether I should be able to secure the meat if I killed them, and bearing in mind that they were created for the use and not the sport of man, I did not fire at them. While I was endeavoring to strike fire I heard voices, and looking round, observed Corporal Meek and three men passing. Called them to me, and we embarked together. They were on their march down to see if they could render us any assistance in ascending the river. They were much grieved to hear my report of the other men, Corporal Bradley, Sparks, and Miller.

Nov. 9th. Snowed a little. The men carried my pack. I was so sore that it was with difficulty I carried my gun; fortunately they brought with them a pair of mockinsons, sent me by one of my soldiers, Owings, who had rightly calculated that I was bare-foot; also a phial of whisky, sent by the sergeant; were both very acceptable to me. They brought also some tobacco for my lost men. We experienced difficulty in crossing the river, owing to the ice. Moved into the post my command, who were again encamped out, ready to march up the river. Set all hands to making sleds, in order that the moment the river closed I might descend, with a strong party, in search of my lost men. Issued provisions, and was obliged to use six venison hams, being part of a quantity of elegant hams I had preserved to take down, if possible, to the general and some other friends. Had the two hunters not been found, I must have become a slave to hunting in order to support my party. The ice still ran very thick.

Sunday, Nov. 10th. Continued making sleds. No news of my hunters. Ice in the river very thick and hard. Raised my tent with puncheons, and laid a floor in it.

Nov. 11th. I went out hunting. Saw but two deer. Killed a remarkably large black fox. Bradley and Miller arrived, having understood the writing on the snow, and left Sparks behind at the camp to take care of the meat. Their detention was owing to their being lost on the prairie the first night, and not being able to find their deer.

Nov. 12th. Dispatched Miller and Huddleston to the lower hunting-camp, and Bradley and Brown to hunting in the woods. Made my arrangements in camp. Thawing weather.

Nov. 13th. Bradley returned with a very large buck, which supplied us for the next four days.

Nov. 14th. It commenced raining at 4 o'clock a. m.; lightning and loud thunder. I went down the river in one of my canoes, with five men, in order to bring up the meat from the lower camp; but after descending about 13 miles, found the river blocked up with ice. Returned about two miles and encamped in the bottom where I had my hunting-camp on the 1st inst. Extremely cold toward night.

Nov. 15th. When we meant to embark in the morning, found the river full of ice and hardly moving. Returned to camp and went out to hunt, for we had no provision with us. Killed nothing but five prairie-hens, which afforded us this day's subsistence; this bird I took to be the same as grouse. Expecting the ice had become hard, we attempted to cross the river, but could not. In the endeavor one man fell through. Freezing.

Nov. 16th. Detached Corporal Meek and one private to the garrison, to order the sleds down. No success in hunting, except a few fowl. I began to consider the life of a hunter a very slavish life, and extremely precarious as to support; for sometimes I have myself, although no hunter, killed 600 weight of meat in one day; and I have hunted three days successively without killing anything but a few small birds, which I was obliged to do to keep my men from starving. Freezing.

Sunday, Nov. 17th. One of my men arrived; he had attempted to make the camp before, but lost himself in the prairie, lay out all night, and froze his toes. He informed us that the corporal and the men I sent with him had their toes frost-bitten, the former very badly; that three men were on their way down by land, the river above not being frozen over. They arrived a few hours before night. Freezing.

Nov. 18th. Took our departure down the river on the ice, our baggage on the sled. Ice very rough. Distance 12 miles. Freezing.

Nov. 19th. Arrived opposite our hunting-camp about noon. Had the meat, etc., moved over. They had a large quantity of meat. I went out and killed a very large buck. Thawing.

Nov. 20th. Departed to return to the stockade, part of our meat on the sled and part in the little peroque, the river being open in the middle. Killed four deer. Thawing. Distance five miles.

Nov. 21st. Marched in the morning. Came to a place where the river was very narrow, and the channel blocked up. Were obliged to unload our peroque and haul her over. The river having swelled a good deal at this place the ice gave way with myself and two men on it. We seized the sled that stood by us, with some little baggage on it, and by jumping over four cracks, the last two feet wide, providentially made our passage good without losing an individual thing. Encamped opposite Clear [Platte] river. Killed one deer and one otter. Freezing.

Nov. 22d. Were obliged to leave our canoe at Clear river, the river being closed. Made two trips with our sled. Killed one deer. Distance five miles.

Nov. 23d. Having seen a great deal of buffalo sign, I determined to kill one the next day—forgetting the elk chase. Encamped nearly opposite our camp of the 15th and 16th. Thawing. Distance four miles.

Sunday, Nov. 24th. Took Miller and Boley and went in pursuit of buffalo. Came up with some about ten o'clock. In the afternoon wounded one. Pursued them until night, and encamped on the side of a swamp. Thawing.

Nov. 25th. Commenced again the pursuit of the buffalo, and continued till eleven o'clock, when I gave up the chase. Arrived at the camp about sundown, hungry and weary, having eaten nothing since we left it. My rifle carried too small a ball to kill buffalo; the balls should not be more than 30 to the pound—an ounce ball would be still preferable—and the animal should be hunted on horse-back. I think that in the prairies of this country the bow and arrow could be used to more advantage than the gun; for you might ride immediately alongside, and strike them where you pleased, leaving them to proceed after others. Thawing.

Nov. 26th. Proceeded up the river. The ice getting very rotten, the men fell through several times. Thawing. Distance five miles.

Nov. 27th. Took one man and marched to the post. Found all well. My hunter, Bradley, had killed 11 deer since my departure. Sent all the men down to help the party up. They returned, accompanied by two Indians, who informed me they were two men of a band who resided on Lake Superior, called the Fols Avoins, but spoke the language of the Chipeways. They informed me that Mr. Dickson's[II-23] and the other trading-houses were established about 60 miles below, and that there were 70 lodges of Sioux on the Mississippi. All my men arrived at the post. We brought from our camp below the balance of 17 deer and 2 elk.

Nov. 28th. The Indians departed, much pleased with their reception. I dispatched Corporal Meek and one private down to Dickson with a letter, which would at least have the effect of attaching the most powerful tribes in this quarter to my interest.

Nov. 29th. A Sioux, the son of a warrior called the Killeur Rouge,[II-24] of the Gens des Feuilles, and a Fols Avoin, came to the post. He said that having struck our trail below and finding some to be shoe-tracks, he conceived it to be the establishment of some traders, took it, and came to the post. He informed me that Mr. Dickson had told the Sioux "that they might now hunt where they pleased, as I had gone ahead and would cause the Chipeways, wherever I met them, to treat them with friendship; that I had barred up the mouth of the St. Peters, so that no liquor could ascend that river; but that if they came on the Mississippi they should have what liquor they wanted; also, that I was on the river and had a great deal of merchandise to give them in presents." This information of Mr. Dickson to the Indians seemed to have self-interest and envy for its motives; for, by the idea of my having prevented liquor from going up the St. Peters he gave the Indians to understand that it was a regulation of my own, and not a law of the United States; by assuring them he would sell to them on the Mississippi, he drew all the Indians from the traders on the St. Peters, who had adhered to the restriction of not selling liquor; and should any of them be killed the blame would all lie on me, as he had without authority assured them they might hunt in security. I took care to give the young chief a full explanation of my ideas on the subject. He remained all night. Killed two deer.

Nov. 30th. I made the two Indians some small presents. They crossed the river and departed. Detached Kennerman with 11 men to bring up the two canoes.

Sunday, Dec. 1st. Snowed a little in the middle of the day. Went out with my gun, but killed nothing.

Dec. 2d. Sparks arrived from the party below, and informed me they could not kill any game, but had started up with the little peroque; also, that Mr. Dickson and a Frenchman had passed my detachment about three hours before. He left them on their march to the post. Sparks arrived about ten o'clock at night.

Dec. 3d. Mr. Dickson, with an engagee and a young Indian, arrived at the fort. I received him with every politeness in my power, and after a serious conversation with him on the subject of the information given me on the 29th ult., was induced to believe it in part incorrect. He assured me that no liquor was sold by him, or by any houses under his direction. He gave me much useful information relative to my future route, which gave me great encouragement as to the certainty of my accomplishing the object of my voyage to the fullest extent. He seemed to be a gentleman of general commercial knowledge, possessing much geographical information of the western country, and of open, frank manners. He gave me many assurances of his good wishes for the prosperity of my undertaking.

Dec. 4th. My men arrived with one canoe only. Calculated on returning them two days later.

Dec. 5th. Mr. Dickson, with his two men, departed for their station [in the vicinity of Thousand Islands, below St. Cloud], after having furnished me with a letter for a young man of his house on Lake de Sable [Sandy lake], and carte blanche as to my commands on him. Weather mild.

Dec. 6th. I dispatched my men down to bring up the other peroque with a strong sled on which it was intended to put the canoe about one-third, and to let the end drag on the ice. Three families of the Fols Avoins arrived and encamped near the fort; also, one Sioux, who pretended to have been sent to me from the Gens des Feuilles, to inform me that the Yanctongs and Sussitongs,[II-25] two bands of Sioux from the head of the St. Peters and the Missouri, and the most savage of them, had commenced the war-dance and would depart in a few days; in which case he conceived it would be advisable for the Fols Avoins to keep close under my protection; that making a stroke on the Chipeways would tend to injure the grand object of my voyage, etc. Some reasons induced me to believe he was a self-created envoy; however, I offered to pay him, or any young Sioux, who would go to those bands and carry my word. He promised to make known my wishes upon his return. My men returned in the evening without my canoe, having been so unfortunate as to split her in carrying her over the rough hilly ice in the ripples below. So many disappointments almost wearied out my patience; notwithstanding, I intended to embark by land and water in a few days.

Dec. 7th. An Indian by the name of Chien Blanche,[II-26] of the Fols Avoin tribe, with his family and connections, arrived and encamped near the stockade. He informed me that he had wintered here for ten years past; that the sugar-camp near the stockade was where he made sugar. He appeared to be an intelligent man. I visited his camp in the afternoon, and found him seated amidst his children and grandchildren, amounting in all to ten. His wife, although of an advanced age, was suckling two children that appeared to be about two years old. I should have taken them to be twins, had not one been much fairer than the other. Upon inquiry, however, I found that the fairest was the daughter of an Englishman, by one of the Indian's daughters, lately deceased; since whose death the grandmother had taken it to the breast. His lodge was made of rushes plaited into mats, after the manner of the Illinois. I was obliged to give some meat to all the Indians who arrived at the stockade, at the same time explaining our situation. The Chien Blanche assured me it should be repaid with interest in the course of the winter, but that at that time he was without anything to eat. In fact, our hunters having killed nothing for several days, we were ourselves on short allowance.

Dec. 8th. An invalid Sioux arrived with the information that the bands of the Sussitongs and Yanctongs had actually determined to make war on the Chipeways, and that they had formed a party of 150 or 160 men; but that part of the Sussitongs had refused to go to war, and would be here on a visit to me the next day. This occasioned me to delay crossing the river immediately, on my voyage to Lake Sang Sue [Leech lake], as it was possible that by having a conference with them I might still prevent the stroke intended to be made against the Chipeways.

Dec. 9th. Prepared to embark. Expecting the Sioux, I had two large kettles of soup made for them. Had a shooting-match with four prizes. The Sioux did not arrive, and we ate the soup ourselves. Crossed the river and encamped above the [Knife or Pike] rapids.[II-27] Wind changed and it grew cold.

Dec. 10th. After arranging our sleds and peroque we commenced our march. My sleds were such as are frequently seen about farmers' yards, calculated to hold two barrels or 400 weight, in which two men were geared abreast. The sleds on the prairie and the peroque were towed by three men. Found it extremely difficult to get along, the snow being melted off the prairie in spots. The men who had the canoe were obliged to wade and drag her over the rocks in many places. Shot the only deer I saw; it fell three times, and then made its escape. This was a great disappointment, for upon the game we took now we depended for our subsistence. This evening disclosed to my men the real danger they had to encounter. Distance five miles.[II-28]

Dec. 11th. It having thawed all night, the snow had almost melted from the prairie. I walked on until ten o'clock, and made a fire. I then went back to look for the peroque, and at a remarkable [Little Elk] rapid in the river, opposite a high piny island, made a fire and waited for them to come up, when we partly unloaded. I returned and met the sleds. When we arrived at the place pitched on for our camp, I sent the men down to assist the peroque. In the afternoon, from about three o'clock, we heard the report of not less than 50 guns ahead, and after dusk much shooting on the prairie. I was at a loss to know who they could be, unless they were Sauteaux, and what could be their object in shooting after dark. Kept a good lookout. Distance five miles.[II-29]

Dec. 12th. The snow having almost entirely left the prairie, we were obliged to take on but one sled at a time and treble man it. In the morning my interpreter came to me with quite a martial air, and requested that he might be allowed to go ahead to discover what Indians we heard fire last evening. I gave him permission and away he went. Shortly after, I went out with Corporal Bradley and a private, and in about an hour overtook my partizan, on a bottom close to the river; he was hunting raccoons, and had caught five. We left him; and after choosing an encampment and sending the private back to conduct the party to it, the corporal and myself marched on, anxious to discover the Indians. We ascended the river about eight miles; saw no Indians, but discovered that the river was frozen over. This pleased me more, for we would now be enabled to walk three times our usual distance in a day.

I was much surprised that we saw no Indians. After our return to camp I was told that a Fols Avoin Indian had met my party and informed them that in the rear of the hills that bordered the prairie there were many small lakes which by portages communicated with Lake Superior; that in one day's march on that course we would find English trading-houses; that the Chipeways were there hunting; that the Sioux who had visited my camp on the 29th ult., on hearing the firing, had prudently returned with his companions to the west side of the Mississippi, agreeably to my advice. How persons unacquainted with the searching spirit of trade and the enterprise of the people of the northwest would be surprised to find people who had penetrated from Lake Superior to lakes little more than marshes! It likewise points out the difficulty of putting a barrier on their trade.

All my sleds and peroques did not get up until half-past ten o'clock. Saw a very beautiful fox, with red back, white tail and breast. My interpreter called them reynard d'argent [silver fox]. I had no opportunity of shooting him. Killed six raccoons and one porcupine [Erethizon dorsatum]. Fine day. Distance seven miles.[II-30]

Dec. 13th. Made double trips. Embarked at the upper end of the ripples. It commenced snowing at three o'clock. Bradley killed one deer, another man killed one raccoon. Storm continued until next morning. Distance five miles.[II-31]

Dec. 14th. We departed from our encampment at the usual hour, but had not advanced one mile when the foremost sled, which happened unfortunately to carry my baggage and ammunition, fell into the river. We were all in the river up to our middle in recovering the things. Halted and made a fire. Came to where the river was frozen over. Stopped and encamped on the west shore, in a pine wood ["Pine camp" of Mar. 4th, 1806]. Upon examining my things, found all my baggage wet and some of my books materially injured; but a still greater injury was, that all my cartridges and four pounds of double battle Sussex powder which I had brought for my own use, were destroyed. Fortunately my kegs of powder were preserved dry, and some bottles of common glazed powder, which were so tightly corked as not to admit water. Had this not been the case, my voyage must necessarily have been terminated, for we could not have subsisted without ammunition. During the time of our misfortune, two Fols Avoin Indians came to us, one of whom was at my stockade on the 29th ult., in company with the Sioux. I signified to them by signs the place of our encampment, and invited them to come and encamp with us. They left me and both arrived at my camp in the evening, having each a deer which they presented me; I gave them my canoe to keep until spring, and in the morning at parting made them a small present. Sat up until three o'clock drying and assorting my ammunition, baggage, etc. Killed two deer. Distance four miles.

Sunday, Dec. 15th. Remained at our camp making sleds. Killed two deer. Crossed and recrossed several Indian trails in the woods.

Dec. 16th. Remained at the same camp, employed as yesterday. Killed three deer. I wounded a buffalo in the shoulder, and by a fair race overtook him in the prairie and gave him another shot; but it being near night left him till morning.[II-32]

Dec. 17th. Departed from our agreeable encampment at an early hour. Found our sleds to be very heavily loaded. Broke one sled-runner and were detained by other circumstances. Bradley, Rosseau the interpreter, and myself killed four deer and wounded five others. Having 11 on hand already, I found it necessary to leave behind some of my other lading. At night we dug a hole, four feet deep, three feet wide, and six feet long, in which we put one barrel of pork and one barrel of flour, after wrapping them up in seven deerskins to preserve them from the damp; we then filled up the hole and built our fire immediately over it.[II-33]

Dec. 18th. Did not get off until eight o'clock, from the delay in bringing in our meat. Ice tolerably good. Began to see the Chipeway encampments very frequently, but had not entirely left the Sioux country on the western shore. Beautiful pine ridges.

Dec. 19th. Were obliged to take to the prairie, from the river's being open: but the snow was frozen hard and the sleds did not sink deep, so that we made a pretty good day's journey. Killed one deer and two otters. River still open. Distance 10 miles.[II-34]

Dec. 20th. Traveled part of the day on the prairie and on the ice. Killed one deer. Heard three reports of guns just at sunset, from the opposite side of the river. Deposited one barrel of flour. Distance seven miles.[II-35]

Dec. 21st. Bradley and myself went on ahead and overtook my interpreter, who had left camp very early in hopes that he would be able to see the river De Corbeau, where he had twice wintered. He was immediately opposite a large island [Île de Corbeau[II-36]], which he supposed to have great resemblance to an island opposite the mouth of the above river; but finally he concluded it was not the island and returned to camp. But this was actually the [Rivière de Corbeau or Crow Wing] river, as we discovered when we got to the head of the island, from which we could see the river's entrance. This fact exposes the ignorance and inattention of the French and traders, and, with the exception of a few intelligent men, what little confidence is to be placed on their information. We ascended the Mississippi about five miles above the confluence; found it not frozen, but in many places not more than 100 yards over, mild and still; it had indeed all the appearance of a small river of a low country. Returned and found that my party, having broken sleds, etc., had only made good three miles, while I had marched 35.

Sunday, Dec. 22d. Killed three deer. Owing to the many difficult places we had to pass, made but 4½ miles.

Dec. 23d. Never did I undergo more fatigue, performing the duties of hunter, spy, guide, commanding officer, etc., sometimes in front, sometimes in the rear, frequently in advance of my party 10 or 15 miles. At night I was scarcely able to make my notes intelligible. Killed two raccoons. From our sleds breaking down, and having to make so many portages on the road, made but four miles.[II-37]

Dec. 24th. Took the latitude of the Isle de Corbeau, and found it to be in 45° 49´ 50´´ N. [It is above 46°.] The Mississippi becomes very narrow above the river De Corbeau; and, as if it were the forks, changes its direction from hard W. [read N.] to N. E. generally.[II-38] Distance 10½ miles.[II-39]

Dec. 25th. Marched, and encamped at eleven o'clock. Gave out two pounds of extra meat, two pounds of extra flour, one gill of whisky, and some tobacco per man, in order to distinguish Christmas Day. Distance three miles. [Not quite to Brainerd yet.]

Dec. 26th. Broke four sleds, broke into the river four times, and had four carrying-places, since we left the river De Corbeau. The timber was all yellow and pitch pine, of which there were scarcely any below. Distance three miles.[II-40]

Dec. 27th. After two carrying-places we arrived where the river was completely closed with ice; after which we proceeded with some degree of speed and ease. Killed one bear. The country on both sides presented a dreary and barren prospect of high rocks, with dead pine timber. Snow. Distance 10 miles.[II-41]

Dec. 28th. Two sleds fell through the ice. In the morning passed a very poor country with bare knobs on each side; but toward evening the bottoms became larger and the pine ridges better timbered. Bradley and myself marched 10 miles beyond the sleds. Killed one deer. Distance 12 miles.[II-42]

Sunday, Dec. 29th. Cold, windy day. Met with no material interruptions; passed some rapids. The snow blew from the woods on to the river. The country was full of small lakes, some three miles in circumference. Distance 21 miles.[II-43]

Dec. 30th. The snow having drifted on the ice retarded the sleds. Numerous small lakes and pine ridges continued. A new species of pine, called the French sap pine. Killed one otter [Lutra canadensis]. Distance 12 miles.[II-44]

Dec. 31st. Passed Pine[II-45] river about eleven o'clock. At its mouth there was a Chipeway's encampment of 15 lodges; this had been occupied in the summer, but was now vacant. By the significations of their marks we understood that they had marched a party of 50 warriors against the Sioux, and had killed four men and four women, which were represented by images carved out of pine or cedar. The four men were painted and put in the ground to the middle, leaving above ground those parts which are generally concealed; by their sides were four painted poles, sharpened at the end to represent the women. Near this were poles with deerskins, plumes, silk handkerchiefs, etc.; also, a circular hoop of cedar with something attached, representing a scalp. Near each lodge they had holes dug in the ground, and boughs ready to cover them, as a retreat for their women and children if attacked by the Sioux.

Wednesday, Jan. 1st, 1806. Passed on the bank of the river [1 m. above Dean brook] six very elegant bark canoes, which had been laid up by the Chipeways; also, a camp which we conceived to have been evacuated about ten days. My interpreter came after me in a great hurry, conjuring me not to go so far ahead, and assured me that the Chipeways, encountering me without an interpreter, party, or flag, would certainly kill me. Notwithstanding this I went on several miles further than usual, in order to make any discoveries that were to be made; conceiving the savages not so barbarous or ferocious as to fire on two men (I had one with me) who were apparently coming into their country, trusting to their generosity; and knowing that if we met only two or three we were equal to them, I having my gun and pistols and he his buck-shot. Made some extra presents for New Year's Day.

Jan. 2d. Fine warm day. Discovered fresh sign of Indians. Just as we were encamping at night, my sentinel informed us that some Indians were coming full speed upon our trail or track. I ordered my men to stand by their guns carefully. They were immediately at my camp, and saluted the flag by a discharge of three pieces; when four Chipeways, one Englishman, and a Frenchman of the N. W. Company, presented themselves. They informed us that some women, having discovered our trail, gave the alarm, and not knowing but it was their enemies, they had departed to make a discovery. They had heard of us and revered our flag. Mr. [Cuthbert?] Grant, the Englishman, had only arrived the day before from Lake De Sable [Sandy lake], from which he had marched in one day and a half. I presented the Indians with half a deer, which they received thankfully, for they had discovered our fires some days ago, and believing it to be the Sioux, they dared not leave their camp. They returned, but Mr. Grant remained all night.

Jan. 3d. My party marched early, but I returned with Mr. Grant to his establishment on [Lower] Red Cedar Lake, having one corporal with me. When we came in sight of his house I observed the flag of Great Britain flying. I felt indignant, and cannot say what my feelings would have excited me to do, had he not informed me that it belonged to the Indians. This was not much more agreeable to me. After explaining to a Chipeway warrior called Curly Head [Curleyhead in text of 1807, p. 33[II-46]] the object of my voyage, and receiving his answer that he would remain tranquil until my return, we ate a good breakfast for the country, departed, and overtook my sleds just at dusk. Killed one porcupine. Distance 16 miles.[II-47]

Jan. 4th. We made 28 points[II-48] in the river; broad, good bottom, and of the usual timber. In the night I was awakened by the cry of the sentinel, calling repeatedly to the men; at length he vociferated, "G—d d—n your souls, will you let the lieutenant be burned to death?" This immediately aroused me. At first I seized my arms, but looking round I saw my tents in flames. The men flew to my assistance and we tore them down, but not until they were entirely ruined. This, with the loss of my leggins, mockinsons, socks, etc., which I had hung up to dry, was no trivial misfortune, in such a country and on such a voyage. But I had reason to thank God that the powder, three small casks of which I had in my tent, did not take fire; if it had I must certainly have lost all my baggage, if not my life.

Sunday, Jan. 5th. Mr. Grant promised to overtake me yesterday, but has not yet arrived. I conceived it would be necessary to attend his motions with careful observation. Distance 27 miles.[II-49]

Jan. 6th. Bradley and myself walked up 31 points, in hopes to discover Lake De Sable [Sandy lake]; but finding a near cut of 20 yards for 10 [two?] miles, and being fearful the sleds would miss it, we returned 23 points before we found our camp. They had made only eight points. Met two Frenchmen of the N. W. Company with about 180 [qu. 80?] pounds on each of their backs, with rackets [snowshoes] on; they informed me that Mr. Grant had gone on with the Frenchman. Snow fell all day and was three feet deep. Spent a miserable night.

Jan. 7th. Made but 11 miles, and then were obliged to send ahead and make fires every three miles; notwithstanding which the cold was so intense that some of the men had their noses, others their fingers, and others their toes frozen, before they felt the cold sensibly. Very severe day's march.

Jan. 8th. Conceiving I was at no great distance from Sandy Lake, I left my sleds, and with Corporal Bradley took my departure for that place, intending to send him back the same evening. We walked on very briskly until near night, when we met a young Indian, one of those who had visited my camp near [Lower] Red Cedar Lake. I endeavored to explain to him that it was my wish to go to Lake De Sable that evening. He returned with me until we came to a trail that led across the woods; this he signified was a near course. I went this course with him, and shortly after found myself at a Chipeway encampment, to which I believe the friendly savage had enticed me with an expectation that I would tarry all night, knowing that it was too late for us to make the lake in good season. But upon our refusing to stay, he put us in the right road. We arrived at the place where the track left the Mississippi, at dusk, when we traversed about two leagues of a wilderness, without any very great difficulty, and at length struck the shore of Lake De Sable, over a branch of which our course lay. The snow having covered the trail made by the Frenchmen who had passed before with the rackets, I was fearful of losing ourselves on the lake; the consequence of which can only be conceived by those who have been exposed on a lake, or naked plain, a dreary night of January, in latitude 47° and the thermometer below zero. Thinking that we could observe the bank of the other shore, we kept a straight course, some time after discovered lights, and on our arrival were not a little surprised to find a large stockade. The gate being open, we entered and proceeded to the quarters of Mr. Grant, where we were treated with the utmost hospitality.

Jan. 9th. Marched the corporal [back] early, in order that our men should receive assurances of our safety and success. He carried with him a small keg of spirits, a present from Mr. Grant. The establishment of this place was formed 12 years since by the N. W. Company, and was formerly under the charge of a Mr. Charles Brusky [Bousquai[II-50]]. It has attained at present such regularity as to permit the superintendent to live tolerably comfortable. They have horses procured from Red river of the Indians; raise plenty of Irish potatoes; catch pike, suckers, pickerel, and white-fish in abundance. They have also beaver, deer, and moose; but the provision they chiefly depend upon is wild oats, of which they purchase great quantities from the savages, giving at the rate of about $1.50 per bushel. But flour, pork, and salt are almost interdicted to persons not principals in the trade. Flour sells at 50 cts.; salt, $1; pork, 80 cts.; sugar, 50 cts.; coffee, ——, and tea, $4.50 per pound. The sugar is obtained from the Indians, and is made from the maple tree.

Jan. 10th. Mr. Grant accompanied me to the Mississippi to mark the place for my boats to leave that river. This was the first time I marched on rackets. I took the course of [Sandy] Lake river, from its mouth to the lake. Mr. Grant fell through the ice with his rackets on, and could not have got out without assistance.

Jan. 11th. Remained all day within quarters.

Sunday, Jan. 12th. Went out and met my men about 16 miles. A tree had fallen on one of them and hurt him very much, which induced me to dismiss a sled and put the lading on the others.

Jan. 13th. After encountering much difficulty, we [the main party] arrived at the establishment of the N. W. Company on Lake de Sable, a little before night. The ice being very bad on [Sandy] Lake river, owing to the many springs and marshes, one sled fell through. My men had an excellent room furnished them, and were presented with potatoes and fille (cant term for a dram of spirits). Mr. Grant had gone to an Indian lodge to receive his credits.

Jan. 14th. Crossed the lake to the north side, that I might take an observation; found the lat. 46° 9´ 20´´ N. [it is about 46° 46´]. Surveyed that part of the lake. Mr. Grant returned from the Indian lodges. They brought a quantity of furs and 11 beaver carcases.

Jan. 15th. Mr. Grant and myself made the tour of the lake, with two men whom I had for attendants. Found it to be much larger than could be imagined at a view. My men sawed stocks for the sleds, which I found it necessary to construct after the manner of the country. On our march met an Indian coming into the fort; his countenance expressed no little astonishment when told who I was and whence I came; for the people in this country themselves acknowledge that the savages hold the Americans in greater veneration than any other white people. They say of us, when alluding to warlike achievements, that we "are neither Frenchmen nor Englishmen, but white Indians."

Jan. 16th. Laid down Lake De Sable, etc. A young Indian whom I had engaged to go as a guide to Lake Sang Sue [Leech Lake], arrived from the woods.

Jan. 17th. Employed in making sleds, or traineaux de glace, after the manner of the country. Those sleds are made of a single plank turned up at one end like a fiddlehead, and the baggage is lashed on in bags and sacks. Two other Indians arrived from the woods. Engaged in writing.

Jan. 18th. Busy in preparing my baggage for my departure for Leech Lake, reading, etc.

Sunday, Jan. 19th. Employed as yesterday. Two men of the N. W. Company arrived from Fond du Lac Superior with letters, one of which was from their establishment in Athapuscow [Athapasca], and had been since last May on the route. While at this post I ate roasted beavers, dressed in every respect as a pig is usually dressed with us; it was excellent. I could not discern the least taste of Des Bois [i. e., of the wood on which beavers feed]. I also ate boiled moose's head: when well boiled, I consider it equal to the tail of the beaver; in taste and substance they are much alike.

Jan. 20th. The men with the sleds took their departure about two o'clock. Shortly after I followed them. We encamped at the portage between the Mississippi and Leech Lake [i. e., Willow[II-51]] river. Snow fell in the night.

Jan. 21st. Snowed in the morning, but we crossed [Willow portage] about nine o'clock. I had gone on a few points when I was overtaken by Mr. Grant, who informed me that the sleds could not get along, in consequence of water being on the ice [of Willow river]; he sent his men forward. We returned and met the sleds, which had scarcely advanced one mile. We unloaded them and sent eight men back to the post [on Sandy lake] with whatever might be denominated extra articles; but in the hurry sent my salt and ink. Mr. Grant encamped with me and marched early in the morning [of the 22d].

Jan. 22d. Made a pretty good day's journey. My Indian came up about noon. Distance 20 miles.

Jan. 23d. Marched about 18 miles. Forgot my thermometer, having hung it on a tree; sent Boley back five miles for it. My young Indian and myself killed eight partridges; took him to live with me.

Jan. 24th. At our encampment this night Mr. Grant had encamped on the night of the same day he left me; it was three days' march for us. In the evening the father of his girl came to my camp and stayed all night; he appeared very friendly and was very communicative; but having no interpreter, we made but little progress in conversation. It was late before the men came up.

Jan. 25th. Traveled almost all day through the lands, and found them much better than usual. Boley lost the Sioux pipestem which I carried along for the purpose of making peace with the Chipeways; I sent him back for it; he did not return until eleven o'clock at night. It was very warm; thawing all day. Distance 44 points.

Sunday, Jan. 26th. I left my party in order to proceed to a house or lodge of Mr. Grant's on the Mississippi [opposite Grand Rapids], where he was to tarry until I overtook him. Took with me my Indian, Boley, and some trifling provision; the Indian and myself marched so fast that we left Boley on the route about eight miles from the lodge. Met Mr. Grant's men on their return to Lake De Sable, they having evacuated the house this morning, and Mr. Grant having marched [thence] for Leech Lake. The Indian and I arrived before sundown [at Grant's house[II-52]]. Passed the night very uncomfortably, having nothing to eat, not much wood, nor any blankets. The Indian slept sound. I cursed his insensibility, being obliged to content myself over a few coals all night. Boley did not arrive. In the night the Indian mentioned something about his son, etc.

Monday, Jan. 27th. My Indian rose early, mended his mockinsons, then expressed by signs something about his son and the Frenchman we met yesterday. Conceiving that he wished to send some message to his family, I suffered him to depart. After his departure I felt the curse of solitude, although he truly was no company. Boley arrived about ten o'clock. He said that he had followed us until some time in the night; when, believing that he could not overtake us, he stopped and made a fire; but having no ax to cut wood, he was near freezing. He met the Indians, who made him signs to go on. I spent the day in putting my gun in order, mending my mockinsons, etc. Provided plenty of wood; still found it cold, with but one blanket.

I can only account for the gentlemen of the N. W. Company contenting themselves in this wilderness for 10, 15, and some of them for 20 years, by the attachment they contract for the Indian women. It appears to me that the wealth of nations would not induce me to remain secluded from the society of civilized mankind, surrounded by a savage and unproductive wilderness, without books or other sources of intellectual enjoyment, or being blessed with the cultivated and feeling mind of a civilized fair [one].

Tuesday, Jan. 28th. [My party joined Boley and myself at Grant's house to-day. Wednesday, Jan. 29th.[II-53] Took Miller and proceeded ahead of my party; reached Pakagama falls about one o'clock; proceeded to three deserted Chipeway lodges; found a fine parcel of firewood split; cut down three sap pines and wove the branches into one of the lodges to protect ourselves from the storm; had a tolerable night. Thursday, Jan. 30th. Miller and myself] left our encampment at a good hour; unable to find any trail, passed through one of the most dismal cypress swamps I ever saw, and struck the Mississippi at a small lake. Observed Mr. Grant's tracks going through it; found his mark of a cut-off, agreed on between us; took it, and proceeded very well until we came to a small lake where the trail was entirely hid. But after some search on the other side, found it; when we passed through a dismal swamp, on the other side of which we found a large lake at which I was entirely at a loss; no trail was to be seen. Struck a [White Oak[II-54]] point about three miles, where we found a Chipeway lodge of one man, his wife, five children, and one old woman. They received us with every mark that distinguished their barbarity, such as setting their dogs on ours, trying to thrust their hands into our pockets, etc. But we convinced them that we were not afraid, and let them know we were Chewockomen[II-55] (Americans), when they used us more civilly.

After we had arranged a camp as well as possible, I went into the lodge; they presented me with a plate of dried meat. I ordered Miller to bring about two gills of liquor, which made us all good friends. The old squaw gave me more meat, and offered me tobacco, which, not using, I did not take. I gave her an order upon my corporal for one knife and half a carrot of tobacco. Heaven clothes the lilies and feeds the ravens, and the same almighty Providence protects and preserves these creatures. After I had gone out to my fire, the old man came out and proposed to trade beaver-skins for whisky; meeting with a refusal, he left me; when presently the old woman came out with a beaver-skin; she also being refused, he returned to the charge with a quantity of dried meat, which, or any other, I should have been glad to have had. I gave him a peremptory refusal; then all further application ceased. It really appeared that with one quart of whisky I might have bought all they possessed. Night remarkably cold; was obliged to sit up nearly the whole of it. Suffered much with cold and from want of sleep.

Friday, Jan. 31st. Took my clothes into the Indian's lodge to dress, and was received very coolly; but by giving him a dram unasked, and his wife a little salt, I received from them directions for my route. Passed the lake or morass, and opened on meadows through which the Mississippi winds its course of nearly 15 miles long. Took a straight course through them to the head, when I found we had missed the river; made a turn of about two miles and regained it. Passed a fork which I supposed to be [that coming from] Lake Winipie [or Winipeque, i. e., the main Mississippi river coming from Lake Winnibigoshish], making the course N. W. The branch we took was Leech Lake branch, course S. W. and W. Passed a very large meadow or prairie, course W.[II-56] The [Leech Lake branch of the] Mississippi is only 15 yards wide. Encamped about one mile below the traverse of the meadow.

Saw a very large animal which, from its leaps, I supposed to have been a panther; but if so, it was twice as large as those on the lower Mississippi. He evinced some disposition to approach. I lay down (Miller being in the rear) in order to entice him to come near, but he would not. The night was remarkably cold. Some spirits which I had in a small keg congealed to the consistency of honey.

CHAPTER III.

ITINERARY, CONCLUDED: LEECH LAKE TO ST. LOUIS, FEBRUARY 1ST-APRIL 30TH, 1806.

Saturday, Feb. 1st. Left our camp pretty early. Passed a continued train of prairie, and arrived at Lake La Sang Sue [Leech lake] at half-past two o'clock. I will not attempt to describe my feelings on the accomplishment of my voyage, for this is [what was then mistaken to be] the main source of the Mississippi.[III-1] The Lake Winipie branch is navigable thence to [Upper] Red Cedar [now Cass] lake, for the distance of five leagues, which is [very far from being] the extremity of the navigation. Crossed the lake 12 miles to the establishment of the N. W. Company, where we arrived about three o'clock [10 o'clock, p. m.]; found all the gates locked, but upon knocking were admitted, and received with marked attention and hospitality by Mr. Hugh M'Gillis. Had a good dish of coffee, biscuit, butter, and cheese for supper.

Sunday, Feb. 2d. Remained all day within doors. In the evening sent an invitation to Mr. [George] Anderson, who was an agent of Dickson, and also for some young Indians at his house, to come over and breakfast in the morning.

Feb. 3d. Spent the day in reading Volney's Egypt,[III-2] proposing some queries to Mr. Anderson, and preparing my young man [Miller] to return with a supply of provisions to my party.

Feb. 4th. Miller departed this morning. Mr. Anderson returned to his quarters. My legs and ankles were so much swelled that I was not able to wear my own clothes and was obliged to borrow some from Mr. M'Gillis.

Feb. 5th. One of Mr. M'Gillis' clerks [Roussand or Boussant[III-3]] had been sent to some Indian lodges and expected to return in four days, but had now been absent nine. Mr. Grant was dispatched in order to find out what had become of him.

Feb. 6th. My men arrived at the fort about four o'clock.[III-4] Mr. M'Gillis asked if I had any objections to his hoisting their [British] flag in compliment to ours. I made none, as I had not yet explained to him my ideas. In making a traverse of the lake, some of my men had their ears, some their noses, and others their chins frozen.

Feb. 7th. Remained within doors, my limbs being still very much swelled. Addressed a letter to Mr. M'Gillis on the subject of the N. W. Company trade in this quarter.[III-5]

Feb. 8th. Took the latitude and found it to be 47° 16´ 13´´. Shot with our rifles.

Sunday, Feb. 9th. Mr. M'Gillis and myself paid a visit to Mr. Anderson, an agent of Mr. Dickson of the Lower Mississippi, who resided at the west end of the lake.[III-6] Found him eligibly situated as to trade, but his houses bad. I rode in a cariole for one person, constructed in the following manner: Boards planed smooth, turned up in front about two feet, coming to a point, and about 2½ feet wide behind; on which is fixed a box covered with dressed skins painted; this box is open at the top, but covered in front about two-thirds of the length. The horse is fastened between the shafts. The rider wraps himself up in a buffalo-robe and sits flat down, having a cushion to lean his back against. Thus accoutered, with a fur cap, etc., he may bid defiance to the wind and weather. Upon our return we found that some of the Indians had already returned from the hunting-camps; also, Monsieur Roussand [Mr. M'Gillis' clerk of Feb. 5th], the gentleman supposed to have been killed by the Indians. His arrival with Mr. Grant diffused a general satisfaction through the fort.

Feb. 10th. Hoisted the American flag in the fort. The English yacht [Jack] still flying at the top of the flagstaff, I directed the Indians and my riflemen to shoot at it. They soon broke the iron pin to which it was fastened, and brought it to the ground. Reading Shenstone, etc.

Feb. 11th. The Sweet, Buck, Burnt, etc., arrived, all chiefs of note, but the former in particular, a venerable old man.[III-7] From him I learned that the Sioux occupied this ground when, to use his own phrase, "he was a made man and began to hunt; that they occupied it the year that the French missionaries were killed at the river Pacagama." The Indians flocked in.

Feb. 12th. Bradley and myself, with Mr. M'Gillis and two of his men, left Leech Lake at ten o'clock, and arrived at the house at [Upper] Red Cedar [now Cass[III-8]] Lake, at sunset, a distance of 30 miles. My ankles were very much swelled and I was very lame. From the entrance of the Mississippi to the streight is called six miles, S. W. course. Thence to the south end, S. 30 E. four miles. The bay at the entrance extends nearly E. and W. six miles; it is about 2½ from the north side to a large point. This may be called the upper source of the Mississippi, being 15 miles above Little Lake Winipie [i. e., Lake Winnibigoshish]; and the extent of canoe navigation only two leagues to some of the Hudson's Bay waters.

Feb. 13th. Were favored with a beautiful day. Took the latitude, and found it to be 47° 42´ 40´´ N. At this place it was that Mr. Thompson[III-9] made his observations in 1798, from which he determined that the source of the Mississippi was in 47° 38´. I walked about three miles back in the country, at two-thirds water. One of our men marched to Lake Winepie [i. e., Lake Winnibigoshish] and returned by one o'clock, for the stem of the Sweet's pipe, a matter of more consequence in his affairs with the Sioux than the diploma of many an ambassador. We feasted on whitefish [Coregonus sp.], roasted on two iron grates fixed horizontally in the back of the chimney; the entrails left in the fish.

Feb. 14th. Left the house at nine o'clock. It becomes me here to do justice to the hospitality of our hosts: one Roy, a Canadian, and his wife, a Chipeway squaw. They relinquished for our use the only thing in the house that could be called a bed, attended us like servants, nor could either of them be persuaded to touch a mouthful until we had finished our repasts. We made the [Leech Lake] garrison about sundown, having been drawn at least 10 miles in a sleigh by two small dogs. They were loaded with 200 pounds, and went so fast as to render it difficult for the men with snowshoes to keep up with them. The chiefs asked my permission to dance the calumet-dance, which I granted.

Feb. 15th. The Flat Mouth,[III-10] chief of the Leech Lake village, and many other Indians arrived. Received a letter from Mr. M'Gillis.[III-11] Noted down the heads of my speech, and had it translated into French, in order that the interpreter should be perfectly master of his subject.

Sunday, Feb. 16th. Held a council with the chiefs and warriors of this place and of Red Lake; but it required much patience, coolness, and management to obtain the objects I desired, viz.: That they should make peace with the Sioux; deliver up their [British] medals and flags; and that some of their chiefs should follow me to St. Louis.[III-12] As a proof of their agreeing to the peace, I directed that they should smoke out of the [Sioux chief] Wabasha's pipe, which lay on the table; they all smoked, from the head chief to the youngest soldier. They generally delivered up their flags with a good grace, except Flat Mouth, who said he had left both at his camp, three days' march, and promised to deliver them up to Mr. M'Gillis to be forwarded. With respect to their returning with me, old Sweet thought it most proper to return to the Indians of Red lake, Red river, and Rainy Lake river. Flat Mouth said it was necessary for him to restrain his young warriors, etc. The other chiefs did not think themselves of sufficient consequence to offer any reason for not following me to St. Louis, a journey of between 2,000 and 3,000 miles through hostile tribes of Indians. I then told them, "that I was sorry to find that the hearts of the Sauteurs of this quarter were so weak; that the other nations would say, 'What! were there no soldiers at Leech, Red, and Rainy Lakes who had the hearts to carry the calumet of their chief to their father?'" This had the desired effect. The Bucks and Beaux [sic—both pl.], two of the most celebrated young warriors, rose and offered themselves to me for the embassy; they were accepted, adopted as my children, and I was installed their father. Their example animated the others, and it would have been no difficult matter to have taken a company; two, however, were sufficient. I determined that it should be my care never to make them regret the noble confidence placed in me; for I would have protected their lives with my own. Beaux is brother to Flat Mouth. Gave my new soldiers a dance and a small dram. They attempted to get more liquor, but a firm and peremptory denial convinced them I was not to be trifled with.

Feb. 17th. The chief of the land[III-13] brought in his flag and delivered it up. Made arrangements to march my party the next day. Instructed Sweet how to send the parole to the Indians of Red river, etc. Put my men through the manual, and fired three blank rounds, all of which not a little astonished the Indians. I was obliged to give my two new soldiers each a blanket, pair of leggins, scissors, and looking-glass.

Feb. 18th. We[III-14] marched for [Lower] Red Cedar Lake about eleven o'clock, with a guide provided for me by Mr. M'Gillis; were all provided with snowshoes. Marched off amid the acclamations and shouts of the Indians, who generally had remained to see us take our departure. Mr. Anderson promised to come on with letters; he arrived about twelve o'clock and remained all night. He concluded to go down with me to see Mr. Dickson.

Feb. 19th. Bradley, Mr. L'Rone [?], the two young Indians [Buck and Beau], and myself, left Mr. M'Gillis' at ten o'clock; crossed Leech Lake in a S. E. direction 24 miles. Mr. M'Gillis' hospitality deserves to be particularly noticed; he presented me with his dogs and cariole, valued in this country at $200. One of the dogs broke out of his harness, and we were not able during that day to catch him again; the other poor fellow was obliged to pull the whole load—at least 150 pounds. This day's march was from lake to lake.[III-15]

Feb. 20th. I allowed my men to march at least three hours before me; notwithstanding which, as it was cold and the road good, my sleigh dogs brought me ahead of all by one o'clock. Halted for an encampment at half past two o'clock. Our courses this day were S. E. six miles, then S. 18 miles, almost all the way over lakes, some of which were six miles across. Encamped on the bank of a lake called Sandy Lake.[III-16] Indians were out hunting.

Feb. 21st. Traveled this day generally S. Passed but two lakes; Sandy Lake, which is of an oblong form, N. and S. four miles, and one other small one. The Indians, at the instigation of Mr. L'Rone, applied for him to accompany us. I consented that he should go as far as [Lower] Red Cedar Lake. I then wrote a note to M'Gillis upon the occasion. After Reale had departed with it, L'Rone disclosed to me that it was his wish to desert the N. W. Company entirely, and accompany me. To have countenanced for a moment anything of this kind, I conceived would have been inconsistent with every principle of honor; I therefore obliged him to return immediately. We then had no guide, our Indians not knowing the road. Our course was through woods and bad brush, 15 miles.

Feb. 22d. Our course a little to the S. of E., through woods not very thick. Arrived at White Fish Lake[III-17] at eleven o'clock, and took an observation. My party crossed this lake and encamped between two lakes. This may be called the source of Pine river. At this place has been one of the N. W. Company's establishments at the N. E. and S. side. It was a square stockade of about 50 feet, but at this time nearly all consumed by fire. Also one standing over the point on the E. side.

Sunday, Feb. 23d. My two Indians, Boley, and myself, with my sleigh and dogs, left the party under an idea that we should make [Lower] Red Cedar lake. We marched hard all day, without arriving at the Mississippi. Our course was nearly due east until near night, when we changed more south. Took no provision or bedding. My Indians killed 15 partridges, some nearly black, with a red mark over their eyes, called the savanna partridge [Canada grouse or spruce partridge, Dendragapus canadensis]. Overtaken about noon by two of Mr. Anderson's men, named Brurie and [Blank], Mr. Anderson himself not being able to come. Distance 30 miles.

Feb. 24th. We started early, and after passing over one of the worst roads in the world, found ourselves on a lake about three o'clock; took its outlet [Dean creek] and struck the Mississippi about one mile below the [Chippewa] canoes mentioned on Jan. 1st, by which I knew where we were. Ascended the Mississippi about four miles, and encamped on the west side [about the mouth of Hay creek[III-18]]. Our general course this day was nearly S., when it should have been S. E. My young warriors were still in good heart, singing and showing every wish to keep me so. The pressure of my racket-strings brought the blood through my socks and mockinsons, from which the pain I marched in may be imagined.

Feb. 25th. We marched and arrived at [Lower Red] Cedar lake before noon; found Mr. Grant and De Breche, chief of Sandy lake [Chippewas[III-19]] at the house. This gave me much pleasure, for I conceive Mr. Grant to be a gentleman of as much candor as any with whom I made an acquaintance in this quarter, and the chief, De Breche, is reputed to be a man of better information than any [other] of the Sauteurs.

Feb. 26th. Sent one of Mr. Grant's men down with a bag of rice to meet my people; he found them encamped on the Mississippi. Wrote a letter[III-20] to Mr. Dickson on the subject of the Fols Avoins [Folle Avoine or Menomonee Indians]; also, some orders to my sergeant [Kennerman, at the stockade on Swan river]. This evening I had a long conversation with De Breche; he informed me that a string of wampum had been sent among the Chipeways, he thought by the British commanding officer at St. Joseph. He appeared to be a very intelligent man.

Feb. 27th. The chief called the White Fisher and seven Indians arrived at the house. My men also arrived about twelve o'clock.

Feb. 28th. We left [Lower] Red Cedar lake about eleven o'clock, and went to where the canoes were [near Dean creek], mentioned in my journal of Jan. 1st. My young Indians [Buck and Beau] remained behind under the pretense of waiting for the chief De Breche, who returned to Sandy Lake for his [British] flag and medals, and was to render himself at my post with Mr. Grant about the 15th of the following month.

Mar. 1st. Departed early. Passed our encampment of Dec. 31st at nine o'clock. Passed Pine river at twelve o'clock. Passed our encampment of Dec. 30th at three o'clock. Passed our encampment of Dec. 29th just before we came to our present, which we made on the point of the Pine Ridge below. Distance 43 miles.[III-21]

Sunday, Mar. 2d. Passed our encampment of Dec. 28th at ten o'clock, that of Dec. 27th at one o'clock, and encamped at that of Dec. 26th [Brainerd]. Found wood nearly sufficient for our use. This morning dispatched Bradley to the last place we had buried a barrel of flour [Dec. 20th, a short distance below Crow Wing river], to thaw the ground and hunt. This day a party of Indians struck the river behind Bradley and before us, but left it 10 miles above Raven [Crow Wing] river.

Mar. 3d. Marched early; passed our Christmas encampment at sunrise. I was ahead of my party in my cariole. Soon afterward I observed a smoke on the W. shore. I hallooed, and some Indians appeared on the bank. I waited until my interpreter came up; we then went to the camp. They proved to be a party of Chipeways, who had left the encampment the same day we left it. They presented me with some roast meat, which I gave my sleigh dogs. They then left their camp and accompanied us down the river. We passed our encampment of Dec. 24th at nine o'clock, of the 23d at ten o'clock, and of the 22d at eleven o'clock; here the Indians crossed over to the W. shore; arrived at the encampment of Dec. 21st at twelve o'clock, where we had a barrel of flour [cached Dec. 20th, short of Crow Wing river].

I here found Corporal Meek and another man from the post [on Swan river], from whom I heard that the men were all well; they confirmed the account of a Sioux having fired on a sentinel; and added that the sentinel had first made him drunk and then turned him out of the tent; upon which he fired on the sentinel and ran off, but promised to deliver himself up in the spring. The corporal informed me that the sergeant [Kennerman] had used all the elegant hams and saddles of venison which I had preserved to present to the commander-in-chief and other friends; that he had made away with all the whisky, including a keg I had for my own use, having publicly sold it to the men, and a barrel of pork; that he had broken open my trunk and sold some things out of it, traded with the Indians, gave them liquor, etc.; and this, too, contrary to my most pointed and particular directions. Thus, after I had used in going up the river with my party the strictest economy, living upon two pounds of frozen venison a day, in order that we might have provision to carry us down in the spring, this fellow was squandering the flour, pork, and liquor during the winter, while we were starving with hunger and cold. I had saved all our corn, bacon, and the meat of six deer, and left it at Sandy Lake, with some tents, my mess-boxes, salt, tobacco, etc., all of which we were obliged to sacrifice by not returning the same route we went; we had consoled ourselves at this loss by the flattering idea that we should find at our little post a handsome stock preserved—how mortifying the disappointment!

We raised our barrel of flour and came down to the mouth of the little [Nokasippi] river, on the E., which we had passed on Dec. 21st. The ice covered with water.

Mar. 4th. Proceeded early. Passed our encampment of Dec. 20th at sunrise. Arrived at that of the 19th [read 17th] at nine o'clock; here we had buried two barrels.[III-22] Made a large fire to thaw the ground. Went on the prairie and found Sparks, one of my hunters, and brought him to the river at the Pine Camp [of Dec. 14th, 15th, 16th, vicinity of Olmsted's bar]. Passed on opposite our encampment of Dec. 13th [at or near Topeka], and encamped where Sparks and some men had an old hunting-camp, and where Fresaie, a Chipeway chief, surrounded them.

Mar. 5th. Passed all the encampments [Dec. 12th, 11th, 10th, 9th] between Pine creek and the post, at which we arrived about ten o'clock.[III-23] I sent a man on ahead to prevent the salute I had before ordered by letter [of Feb. 28th]; this I had done from the idea that the Sioux chiefs would accompany me. Found all well. Confined my sergeant. About one o'clock Mr. Dickson arrived, with Killeur Rouge, his son, and two other Sioux men, with two women who had come up to be introduced to the Sauteurs they expected to find with me. Received a letter from [Joseph] Reinville.

Mar. 6th. Thomas [Carron[III-24]], the Fols Avoin's first chief, arrived with ten others of his nation. I made a serious and authoritative expostulative representation to him of my opinion of the conduct of Shawonoe, another chief of his nation, who had behaved ill. Had also a conference with Killeur Rouge and his people. At night wrote to Messrs. Grant, M'Gillis, and Anderson.

Mar. 7th. Held conversations with the Indians. Thomas [Carron], the Fols Avoin chief, assured me that he would interest himself in obliging the Puants to deliver up the men who had recently committed murders on the Ouiscousing and Rock rivers; and if necessary he would make it a national quarrel, on the side of the Americans. This Thomas is a fine fellow, of a very masculine figure, noble and animated delivery, and appears to be very much attached to the Americans. The Sioux informed me that they would wait until I had determined my affairs in this country, and then bear my words to the St. Peters.

Mar. 8th. The Fols Avoin chief presented me with his pipe to give to the Sauteurs on their arrival, with assurances of their safety on their voyage, and his wish for them to descend the river. The Fils de Killeur Rouge also presented me with his pipe to present to the Sauteur Indians on their arrival, to make them smoke, and assure them of his friendly disposition, and that he would wait to see them at Mr. Dickson's. Thomas made a formal complaint against a Frenchman, by name Greignor,[III-25] who resided in Green bay, and who he said abused the Indians, beat them, etc., without provocation. I promised to write to the commanding officer or Indian agent at Michilimackinac upon the occasion. The Indians with Mr. Dickson all took their departure. Hitched my dogs in the sleigh, which drew one of the Indian women down the ice, to the no little amusement of the others. Went some distance down the river in order to cut a mast. Cut a pine mast 35 feet long for my big boat at the prairie [Prairie du Chien]. This day my little boy broke the cock of my gun; few trifling misfortunes could have happened which I should have regretted more, as the wild fowl just began to return on the approach of spring.

Sunday, Mar. 9th. I examined into the conduct of my sergeant, and found that he was guilty; punished him by reduction, etc. Visited the Fols Avoin lodges and received a present of some tallow. One of my men arrived from the hunting-camp with two deer.

Mar. 10th. Was visited by the Fols Avoin chief and several others of his nation. This chief was an extraordinary hunter; to instance his power, he killed 40 elk and a bear in one day, chasing the former from dawn to eve. We were all busied in preparing oars, guns, mast, etc., by the time the ice broke up, which was opening fast.

Mar. 11th. In a long conversation with a Reynard, he professed not to believe in an hereafter; but he believed that the world would all be drowned by water at some future period; he asked how it was to be repeopled. In justice to his nation, however, I must observe that his opinion was singular.[III-26]

Mar. 12th. Made preparations; had a fine chase with deer on the ice; killed one. Since our return I have received eight deer from our camp.

Mar. 13th. Received two deer from my hunting-camp. Went out with my gun on the opposite side of the river. Ascended the mountain which borders the prairie. On the point of it I found a stone on which the Indians had sharpened their knives, and a war-club half finished. From this spot you may extend the eye over vast prairies with scarcely any interruption but clumps of trees, which at a distance appeared like mountains, from two or three of which the smoke rising in the air denoted the habitation of the wandering savage, and too often marked them out as victims to their enemies; from whose cruelty I have had the pleasure in the course of the winter and through a wilderness of immense extent to relieve them, as peace has reigned through my mediation from the prairie Des Cheins to the lower Red river. If a subaltern with but 20 men, at so great a distance from the seat of his government, could effect so important a change in the minds of those savages, what might not a great and independent power effect, if, instead of blowing up the flames of discord, they exerted their influence in the sacred cause of peace?

When I returned to the fort, I found the Fols Avoin chief, who intended to remain all night. He told me that near the conclusion of the Revolutionary War his nation began to look upon him as a warrior; that they received a parole from Michilimackinac, on which he was dispatched with 40 warriors; and that on his arrival he was requested to lead them against the Americans. To which he replied: "We have considered you and the Americans as one people. You are now at war; how are we to decide who has justice on their side? Besides, you white people are like the leaves on the trees for numbers. Should I march with my 40 warriors to the field of battle, they with their chief would be unnoticed in the multitude, and would be swallowed up as the big water embosoms the small rivulets which discharge themselves into it. No, I will return to my nation, where my countrymen may be of service against our red enemies, and their actions renowned in the dance of our nation."

Mar. 14th. Took the latitude by an artificial horizon, and measured the river. Received one deer and a half from my hunting-camp. Ice thinner.

Mar. 15th. This was the day fixed upon by Mr. Grant and the Chipeway warriors for their arrival at my fort. I was all day anxiously expecting them, for I knew that should they not accompany me down, the peace partially effected between them and the Sioux would not be on a permanent footing. Upon this I take them to be neither so brave or generous as the Sioux, who in all their transactions appear to be candid and brave, whereas the Chipeways are suspicious, consequently treacherous and of course cowards.

Sunday, Mar. 16th. Received three deer from our hunting-camp. Examined trees for canoes.

Mar. 17th. Left the fort with my interpreter [Rousseau] and [Private Alexander] Roy, in order to visit Thomas, the Fols Avoin chief, who was encamped, with six lodges of his nation, about 20 miles below us, on a little [Wolf creek of Pike, now Spunk] river which empties into the Mississippi on the W. side, a little above Clear river [of Pike, now the Platte]. On our way down killed one goose, wounded another, and a deer that the dogs had driven into an air-hole; hung our game on the trees. Arrived at the creek; took out on it; ascended three or four miles on one bank, and descended on the other [missing Carron's camp both ways]. Killed another goose. Struck the Mississippi below [Spunk river]. Encamped at our encampment of the [13th] of October, when we ascended the river. Ate our goose for supper. It snowed all day, and at night a very severe storm arose. It may be imagined that we spent a very disagreeable night without shelter, and but one blanket each.

Mar. 18th. We marched [up Spunk river], determined to find the [Menomonee] lodges. Met an Indian whose track we pursued through almost impenetrable woods for about 2½ miles to the camp. Here there was one of the finest sugar-camps I almost ever saw, the whole of the timber being sugar-tree. We were conducted to the chief's lodge, who received us in patriarchal style. He pulled off my leggings and mockinsons, put me in the best place in his lodge, and offered me dry clothes. He then presented us with syrup of the maple to drink, and asked whether I preferred eating beaver, swan, elk, or deer; upon my giving the preference to the first, a large kettle was filled by his wife, in which soup was made; this being thickened with flour, we had what I then thought a delicious repast. After we had refreshed ourselves, he asked whether we would visit his people at the other lodges, which we did, and in each were presented with something to eat; by some, with a bowl of sugar; by others, a beaver's tail, etc. After making this tour we returned to the chief's lodge, and found a berth provided for each of us, of good soft bearskins nicely spread, and on mine there was a large feather pillow.

I must not here omit to mention an anecdote which serves to characterize more particularly their manners. This in the eyes of the contracted moralist would deform my hospitable host into a monster of libertinism; but by a liberal mind would be considered as arising from the hearty generosity of the wild savage. In the course of the day, observing a ring on one of my fingers, he inquired if it was gold; he was told it was the gift of one with whom I should be happy to be at that time; he seemed to think seriously, and at night told my interpreter, "That perhaps his father" (as they all called me) "felt much grieved for the want of a woman; if so, he could furnish him with one." He was answered that with us each man had but one wife, and that I considered it strictly my duty to remain faithful to her. This he thought strange, he himself having three, and replied that "He knew some Americans at his nation who had half a dozen wives during the winter." The interpreter observed that they were men without character; but that all our great men had each but one wife. The chief acquiesced, but said he liked better to have as many as he pleased. This conversation passing without any appeal to me, as the interpreter knew my mind on those occasions and answered immediately, it did not appear as an immediate refusal of the woman. Continued snowing very hard all day. Slept very warm.

Mar. 19th. This morning purchased two baskets of sugar, for the amount of which I gave orders on Mr. Dickson. After feasting upon a swan, took our leave for [the Swan river] camp; still snowing. Finding my two companions [the interpreter and Private Roy] unable to keep up, I pushed on and arrived at the [Mississippi] river. When I arrived at the place where I had hung up my first goose [Mar. 17th], I found that the ravens and eagles had not left a feather; and feasting upon the deer was a band sufficient to have carried it away, which had picked its bones nearly clean; what remained I gave my dogs. Stopped at the place where I expected to find the last goose, but could see nothing of it; at length I found it hid under the grass and snow, where some animal had concealed it, after eating off its head and neck. I carried it to the fort, where I arrived about an hour before sundown. Dispatched immediately two men with rackets to meet the interpreter and Le Roy [Private A. Roy]. They arrived about two hours after dark. Some men also arrived at [from?] the hunting-camp with three deer. The snow ceased falling about one hour after dark; it was nearly two feet deep on a level, the deepest that had fallen so low down this winter.

Mar. 20th. Dispatched nine men to my hunting-camp, whence received two deer. Cloudy almost all day; but the water rose fast over the ice.

Mar. 21st. Received a visit from the Fols Avoin chief called the Shawonoe, and six young men. I informed him without reserve of the news I had heard of him at [Lower] Red Cedar Lake, and the letter I wrote to Mr. Dickson. He denied it in toto, and on the contrary said that he presented his flag and two medals to the Chipeways, as an inducement for them to descend in the spring; and gave them all the encouragement in his power. His party was much astonished at the language I held with him. But from his firm protestations we finally parted friends. He informed me that a camp of Sauteurs were on the river, waiting for the chiefs to come down; from which it appeared they were still expected. At night, after the others had gone, Thomas arrived and stayed all night. We agreed upon a hunting-party; also promised to pay old Shawonoe a visit. He informed me that he set out the other day to follow me, but finding the storm so very bad returned to his wigwam. The thermometer lower than it has been at any time since I commenced my voyage.

Mar. 22d. Ten of my men arrived from the hunting-camp with 4½ deer. Thomas departed; I sent a man with him to his camps, from which he sent me two beavers.

Sunday, Mar. 23d. Agreeably to promise, after breakfast I departed with Miller and my interpreter to pay a visit to the old chief Shawonoe. We arrived at his camp in about two hours. On our way we met the Fols Avoin called Chein Blanche [Chien Blanc], who had visited my post [Dec. 7th] previously to my starting up the river, and at whose house we stopped when passing. We were received by old Shawonoe at his lodge with the usual Indian hospitality, but very different from the polite reception given us by Thomas.

Charlevoix and others have all borne testimony to the beauty of this nation. From my own observation, I had sufficient reason to confirm their information as respected the males; for they were all straight and well-made, about the middle size; their complexions generally fair for savages, their teeth good, their eyes large and rather languishing; they have a mild but independent expression of countenance, that charms at first sight; in short, they would be considered anywhere as handsome men. But their account of the women I never before believed to be correct. In this lodge there were five very handsome women when we arrived; and about sundown a married pair arrived, whom my interpreter observed were the handsomest couple he knew; and in truth they were, the man being about 5 feet 11 inches, and possessing in an eminent manner all the beauties of countenance which distinguish his nation. His companion was 22 years old, having dark brown eyes, jet hair, an elegantly proportioned neck, and her figure by no means inclined to corpulency, as they generally are after marriage. He appeared to attach himself particularly to me, and informed that his wife was the daughter of an American who, passing through the nation about 23 years before, remained a week or two possessed of her mother, and that she was the fruit of this amour; but his name they were unacquainted with. I had brought six biscuits with me, which I presented her on the score of her being my countrywoman; this raised a loud laugh, and she was called "the Bostonian"[III-27] during the rest of my stay.

I found them generally extremely hard to deal with. My provision being only a little venison, I wished to procure some bear's oil, for a few gallons of which I was obliged to pay $1 per gallon, and then they wanted to mix tallow with the oil. They also demanded $10 for a bearskin, the most beautiful I ever saw, which I wanted to mount a saddle. Indeed I was informed that traders in this country sometimes give as much as $16 [apiece] for bearskins, for they are eminently superior to anything of the kind on the lower Mississippi, and sell in Europe for double the price. In the evening we were entertained with the calumet and dog dance; also the dance of the ——. Some of the men struck the post and told some of their war exploits; but as they spoke in Menomene, my interpreter could not explain it. After the dance, we had the feast of the dead, as it is called, at which each two or three were served with a pan or vessel full of meat, and when all were ready there was a prayer, after which the eating commenced. Then it was expected we should eat up our portion entirely, being careful not to drop a bone, but to gather all up and put them in the dish. We were then treated with soup. After the eating was finished the chief again gave an exhortation, which finished the ceremony. I am told they then gather up all the fragments, and throw them in the water, lest the dogs should get them. Burning them is considered as sacrilegious. In this lodge were collected at one time 41 persons, great and small, 17 of whom were capable of bearing arms, besides dogs without number.

Mar. 24th. Rose early and with my dog-sled arrived at the fort before ten o'clock. In the afternoon Mr. Grant arrived with De Breche [Brèche-dent] and some of his young men. Saluted him with 14 rounds. Found my two young warriors [Buck and Beau] of Leech Lake were brave enough to return to their homes. Mr. Grant and myself sat up late talking.

Mar. 25th. Sent an Indian to Thomas' lodge, and a letter to Mr. Dickson. It snowed and stormed all day. Gave the chief the news.

Mar. 26th. Thomas, the Fols Avoin chief, arrived with seven of his men, and old Shawonoe and six of his party. I had them all to feed as well as my own men. At night I gave them leave to dance in the garrison, which they did until ten o'clock; but once or twice told me that if I was tired of them the dance should cease. Old Shawonoe and White Dog [Chien Blanc] of the Fols Avoins told their exploits, which we could not understand; but De Breche arose and said, "I once killed a Sioux and cut off his head with such a spear as I now present to this Winebago"—at the same time presenting one to a Winebago present, with whom the Chipeways were at war; this was considered by the former as a great honor. My hunters went out but killed nothing.

Mar. 27th. In the morning the Chipeway chief made a speech and presented his peace pipe to me to bear to the Sioux, on which were seven strings of wampum, as authority from seven bands of the Chipeways either to conclude peace or to make war. As he had chosen the former, he sent his pipe to the Sioux and requested me to inform them that he and his people would encamp at the mouth of the Riviere De Corbeau the ensuing summer, where he would see the United States flag flying. As a proof of his pacific disposition, the Fols Avoin chief then spoke and said: "His nation was rendered small by its enemies; only a remnant was left, but they could boast of not being slaves; for that always in preference to their women and children being taken, they themselves killed them. But that their father (as they called me) had traveled far, and had taken much pains to prevent the Sioux and Chipeways from killing one another; that he thought none could be so ungenerous as to neglect listening to the words of their father; that he would report to the Sioux the pacific disposition of the Sauteurs, and hoped the peace would be firm and lasting." I then in a few words informed De Breche "that I would report to the Sioux all he had said, and that I should ever feel pleased and grateful that the two nations had laid aside the tomahawk at my request. That I thanked the Fols Avoin chief for his good wishes and parole which he had given the Sauteurs." After all this, each chief was furnished with a kettle of liquor, to drink each other's health; and De Breche's flag which I had presented him was displayed in the fort. The Fols Avoins then departed, at which I was by no means displeased; for they had already consumed all the dry meat I had laid aside for my voyage, and I was apprehensive that my hunters would not be able to lay up another supply.

Mar. 28th. Late in the afternoon Mr. Grant and the Sauteurs took their departure, calculating that the Sioux had left the country. Took with me one of my soldiers and accompanied them to the Fols Avoins lodge, called the Shawonese, where we ten stayed all night. The Fols Avoins and Sauteurs had a dance, at which I left them and went to sleep. Feasted on elk, sugar, and syrup. Previously to the Indians' departing from my post, I demanded the chief's medal and flags; the former he delivered, but with a bad grace; the latter he said were in the lands when I left Lake De Sable (as instructed by the traders I suppose), and that he could not obtain them. It thundered and lightened.

Mar. 29th. We all marched in the morning, Mr. Grant and party for Sandy Lake, and I for my hunting-camp. I gave him my spaniel dog. He joined me again after we had separated about five miles. Arrived at my hunting-camp about eight o'clock in the morning, and was informed that my hunters had gone to bring in a deer; they arrived with it, and about eleven o'clock we all went out hunting. Saw but few deer, out of which I had the good fortune to kill two. On our arrival at camp found one of my men at the garrison with a letter from Mr. Dickson. The soldier informed me that one Sioux had arrived with Mr. Dickson's men. Although much fatigued, as soon as I had eaten something I took one of my men and departed for the garrison one hour before sundown. The distance was 21 miles, and the ice very dangerous, being rotten, with water over it nearly a foot deep; we had sticks in our hands, and in many places ran them through the ice. It thundered and lightened, with rain. The Sioux, not finding the Sauteurs, had returned immediately.

Sunday, Mar. 30th. Wrote to Mr. Dickson, and dispatched his man. Considerably stiff from my yesterday's march. Calked our boats, as the ice had every appearance of breaking up in a few days. Thus while on the wing of eager expectation, every day seemed an age. Received 2½ deer from our hunting-camp.

Mar. 31st. Finished calking my boats; the difficulty then was with me, what I should get to pitch the seams. We were all this day and next as anxiously watching the ice as a lover would the arrival of the priest who was to unite him to his beloved. Sometimes it moved a little, but soon closed. An Indian and his woman crossed it when the poles which they held in their hands were forced through in many places. The provision to which I was obliged to restrict myself and men, viz., two pounds of fresh venison per day, was scarcely sufficient to keep us alive. Though I had not an extraordinary appetite, yet I was continually hungry.

[Apr. 1st. No entry.]

Apr. 2d. Went out and killed one deer and two partridges. The ice began to move opposite the fort at the foot of the rapids, but dammed up below. Received half a dozen bears from my hunting-camp. Launched our canoe and brought her down.

Apr. 3d. Sent one man down to see the river, another to the camp, and took two men myself over the hills on the other side of the Mississippi to hunt. In the course of the day I killed a swan and a goose, and we certainly would have killed one or two elk had it not been for the sleigh-dogs; for we lay concealed on the banks of Clear river when four came and threw themselves into it opposite, and were swimming directly to us when our dogs bounced into the water, and they turned. We then fired on them, but they carried off all the lead we gave them, and we could not cross the river unless we rafted (it being bank-full), which would have detained us too long a time. In the evening it became very cold, and we passed rather an uncomfortable night.

Apr. 4th. Took our course home. I killed one large buck and wounded another. We made a fire and ate breakfast. Arrived at the fort at two o'clock. Was informed that the river was still shut below, at the cluster of [Beltrami's Archipelago, Pike's Beaver, and now the Thousand] islands. Received some bear-meat and one deer from the camp.

Apr. 5th. In the morning dispatched two men down the river in order to see if it was open. My hunters arrived from the camps. Tallowed my boats with our candles and launched them; they made considerable water. The young [son of] Shawonoe arrived in my canoe from above, with about 1,000 lbs. of fur, which he deposited in the fort. The men returned and informed me that the river was still shut about 10 miles below.

Sunday, Apr. 6th. Sailed my peroque with Sergeant Bradley [promoted, vice Kennerman reduced] and two men, to descend the river and see if it was yet open below. They returned in the afternoon and reported all clear. I had previously determined to load and embark the next day, and hoped to find it free by the time I arrived. The Fols Avoin called the Shawonoe arrived and encamped near the stockade. He informed me that his nation had determined to send his son down in his place, as he declined the voyage to St. Louis. All hearts and hands were employed in preparing for our departure. In the evening the men cleared out their room, danced to the violin, and sang songs until eleven o'clock, so rejoiced was every heart at leaving this savage wilderness.

Apr. 7th. Loaded our boats and departed at 40 minutes past ten o'clock. At one o'clock arrived at Clear river, where we found my canoe and men. Although I had partly promised the Fols Avoin chief to remain one night, yet time was too precious, and we put off; passed the Grand [Sauk] Rapids, and arrived at Mr. Dickson's[III-28] just before sun-down. We were saluted with three rounds. At night he treated all my men with a supper and a dram. Mr. Dickson, Mr. Paulier, and myself sat up until four o'clock in the morning.

Apr. 8th. Were obliged to remain this day on account of some information to be obtained here. I spent the day in making a rough chart of St. Peters, notes on the Sioux, etc., and settling the affairs of the Indian department with Mr. Dickson, for whose communications and those of Mr. Paulier I am infinitely indebted. Made every necessary preparation for an early embarkation.

Apr. 9th. Rose early in the morning and commenced my arrangements. Having observed two Indians drunk during the night, and finding upon inquiry that the liquor had been furnished by a Mr. Greignor or Jennesse [La Jeunesse], I sent my interpreter to them to request they would not sell any strong drink to the Indians; upon which Mr. Jennesse demanded the restrictions in writing, which were given to him.[III-29] On demanding his license it amounted to no more than merely a certificate that he had paid the tax required by a law of the Indiana territory on all retailers of merchandise, and was by no means an Indian license; however, I did not think proper to go into a more close investigation. Last night was so cold that the water was covered with floating cakes of ice, of a strong consistence. After receiving every mark of attention from Messrs. Dickson and Paulier, I took my departure at eight o'clock. At 4 p. m. arrived at the house of Mr. Paulier, 25 leagues, to whose brother I had a letter. Was received with politeness by him and a Mr. Veau [Vean of 1807 text, p. 56] who had wintered alongside of him, on the very island at which we had encamped on the night of the [4th?] of October in ascending.

After having left this place some time, we discovered a bark canoe ahead; we gained on it for some time, when it turned a point about 300 yards before, and on our turning it also, it had entirely disappeared. This excited my curiosity; I stood up in the barge, and at last discovered it turned up in the grass of the prairie; but after we had passed a good gunshot, three savages made their appearance from under it, launched it in the river, and followed, not knowing of my other boats, which had just turned the point immediately upon them. They then came on; and on my stopping for the night at a vacant trading-house, they also stopped, and addressed me, "Saggo, Commandant," or "Your servant, Captain." I directed my interpreter to inquire their motives for concealing themselves. They replied that their canoe leaked, and that they had turned her up to discharge the water. This I did not believe; and as their conduct was equivocal I received them rather sternly; I gave them, however, a small dram and piece of bread. They then re-embarked and continued down the river.

Their conduct brought to mind the visit of Fils de Pinchow to Mr. Dickson, during the winter; one principal cause of which was that he wished to inform me that the seven men, whom I mentioned to have met [Sept. 28th] when crossing the portage of St. Anthony, had since declared that they would kill him for agreeing to the peace between the Sioux and the Sauteurs; me for being instrumental in preventing them from taking their revenge for relations killed by Sauteurs in August, 1805; and Thomas, the Fols Avoin chief, for the support he seemed disposed to give me. This information had not made the impression it ought to have made, coming from so respectable a source as the first chief of the village; but the conduct of those fellows put me to the consideration of it. And I appeal to God and my country, if self-preservation would not have justified me in cutting those scoundrels to pieces wherever I found them? This my men would have done, if ordered, amid a thousand of them, and I should have been supported by the chiefs of the St. Peters, at the mouth of which were 300 warriors, attending my arrival; also [I should have been justified in cutting to pieces], the rascal who fired on my sentinel last winter [see Mar. 3d, p. 178]. I dreaded the consequences of the meeting, not for the present, but for fear the impetuosity of my conduct might not be approved of by my government, which did not so intimately know the nature of those savages.

This day, for the first time, we saw the commencement of vegetation; yet the snow was a foot deep in some places.

Apr. 10th. Sailed at half past five o'clock; about seven passed Rum river, and at eight were saluted by six or seven lodges of Fols Avoins, among whom was a Mr. [Blank], a clerk of Mr. Dickson's. Those people had wintered on Rum river, and were waiting for their chiefs and traders to descend in order to accompany them to the Prairie Des Chiens. Arrived at the Falls of St. Anthony at ten o'clock. Carried over all our lading and the canoe to the lower end of the portage, and hauled our boats up on the bank. I pitched my tents at the lower end of the encampment, where all the men encamped except the guard, whose quarters were above.

The appearance of the Falls was much more tremendous than when we ascended; the increase of water occasioned the spray to rise much higher, and the mist appeared like clouds. How different my sensations now, from what they were when at this place before! At that time, not having accomplished more than half my route, winter fast approaching, war existing between the most savage nations in the course of my route, my provisions greatly diminished and but a poor prospect of an additional supply, many of my men sick and the others not a little disheartened, our success in this arduous undertaking very doubtful, just upon the borders of the haunts of civilized men, about to launch into an unknown wilderness—for ours was the first canoe that had ever crossed this portage—were reasons sufficient to dispossess my breast of contentment and ease. But now we have accomplished every wish, peace reigns throughout the vast extent, we have returned thus far on our voyage without the loss of a single man, and hope soon to be blessed with the society of our relations and friends.

The river this morning was covered with ice, which continued floating all day; the shores were still barricaded with it.

Apr. 11th. Although it snowed very hard, we brought over both boats and descended the river to the [Pike's] island at the entrance of the St. Peters. I sent to the chiefs and informed them I had something to communicate to them. Fils de Pinchow immediately waited on me, and informed me that he would provide a place for the purpose. About sundown I was sent for and introduced into the council-house, where I found a great many chiefs of the Sussitongs, Gens des Feuilles, and Gens du Lac. The Yanctongs had not yet come down. They were all waiting for my arrival. There were about 100 lodges, or 600 people; we were saluted on our crossing the river with ball, as usual. The council-house was two large lodges, capable of containing 300 men. In the upper were 40 chiefs, and as many pipes set against the poles, alongside of which I had the Sauteur's pipes arranged. I then informed them in short detail of my transactions with the Sauteurs; but my interpreters were not capable of making themselves understood. I was therefore obliged to omit mentioning every particular relative to the rascal who fired on my sentinel, and to the scoundrel who broke the Fols Avoins' canoes and threatened my life. The interpreters, however, informed them that I wanted some of their principal chiefs to go to St. Louis; and that those who thought proper might descend to the prairie [Prairie du Chien], where we would give them more explicit information. They all smoked out of the Sauteurs' pipes, excepting three, who were painted black and who were some of those who lost their relations last winter. I invited Fils de Pinchow and the son of Killeur Rouge to come over and sup with me; when Mr. Dickson and myself endeavored to explain what I intended to have said to them, could I have made myself understood; that at the Prairie we would have all things explained; that I was desirous of making a better report of them than Capt. [Meriwether] Lewis could do from their treatment of him. The former of those savages was the person who remained around my post all last winter, and treated my men so well; they endeavored to excuse their people, etc.

Apr. 12th. Embarked early. Although my interpreter had been frequently up the river, he could not tell me where the cave spoken of by Carver could be found; we carefully sought for it, but in vain.[III-30] At the Indian village a few miles above [read below: see note^72, p. 74] St. Peters we were about to pass a few lodges, but on receiving a very particular invitation to come on shore, we landed and were received in a lodge kindly; they presented us sugar, etc. I gave the proprietor a dram, and was about to depart, when he demanded a kettle of liquor; on being refused, and after I had left the shore, he told me that he did not like the arrangements and that he would go to war this summer. I directed the interpreter to tell him that if I returned to the St. Peters with the troops I would settle that affair with him. On our arrival at the St. Croix, I found Petit Corbeau [Little Raven: see note^2, p. 85] with his people, and Messrs. Frazer and Wood. We had a conference, when Petit Corbeau made many apologies for the misconduct of his people; he represented to us the different manners in which his young warriors had been inducing him to go to war; that he had been much blamed for dismissing his party last fall, but that he was determined to adhere as far as lay in his power to our instructions; that he thought it most prudent to remain here and restrain the warriors. He then presented me with a beaver robe and pipe, and his message to the general, that he was determined to preserve peace, and make the road clear; also, a remembrance of his promised medal. I made him a reply calculated to confirm him in his good intentions, and assured him that he should not be the less remembered by his father, although not present.

I was informed that notwithstanding the instruction of his license and my particular request, Murdoch Cameron [see note^64, p. 66] had taken liquor and sold it to the Indians on the river St. Peters, and that his partner below had been equally imprudent. I pledged myself to prosecute them according to law; for they have been the occasion of great confusion and of much injury to the other traders.

This day we met a canoe of Mr. Dickson's loaded with provision, under the charge of Mr. Anderson, brother of Mr. [George] Anderson at Leech Lake. He politely offered me any provision he had on board, for which Mr. Dickson had given me an order; but not now being in want I did not accept of any. This day, for the first time, I observed the trees beginning to bud, and indeed the climate seemed to have changed very materially since we passed the Falls of St. Anthony.

Sunday, Apr. 13th. We embarked after breakfast. Messrs. Frazer and Wood accompanied me. Wind strong ahead. They outrowed us—the first boat or canoe we met with on the voyage able to do it; but then they were double-manned and light. Arrived at the band of Aile Rouge [Red Wing: see note^67, p. 69] at two o'clock, where we were saluted as usual.

We had a council, when he spoke with more detestation of the conduct of the rascals at the mouth of the St. Peters than any man I had yet heard. He assured me, speaking of the fellow who had fired on my sentinel and threatened to kill me, that if I thought it requisite, he should be killed; but as there were many chiefs above with whom he wished to speak, he hoped I would remain one day, when all the Sioux would be down, and I might have the command of a thousand men of them; that I would probably think it no honor, but that the British used to flatter them they were proud of having them for soldiers. I replied in general terms, and assured him it was not for the conduct of two or three rascals that I meant to pass over all the good treatment I had received from the Sioux nation; but that in general council I would explain myself. That as to the scoundrel who fired at my sentinel, had I been at home the Sioux nation would never have been troubled with him, for I would have killed him on the spot; but that my young men did not do it, apprehensive that I would be displeased. I then gave him the news of the Sauteurs, etc.; that as to remaining one day, it would be of no service; that I was much pressed to arrive below, as my general expected me, my duty called me, and the state of my provision demanded the utmost expedition; that I would be happy to oblige him, but my men must eat. He replied that, Lake Pepin being yet shut with ice, if I went on and encamped on the ice it would not get me provision; that he would send out all his young men the next day; and that if the other bands did not arrive he would depart the day after with me. In short, after much talk, I agreed to remain one day, knowing that the lake was closed and that we could proceed only nine miles if we went.

This appeared to give general satisfaction. I was invited to different feasts, and entertained at one by a person whose father had been enacted a chief by the Spaniards. At this feast I saw a man called by the French Roman Nose [Nez de Corbeau[III-31]], and by the Indians Wind that Walks, who was formerly the second chief of the Sioux; but being the cause of the death of one of the traders, seven years since, he voluntarily relinquished that dignity, and has frequently requested to be given up to the whites. But he was now determined to go to St. Louis and deliver himself up, where he said they might put him to death. His long repentance and the great confidence of the nation in him would perhaps protect him from a punishment which the crime merited. But as the crime was committed long before the United States assumed its authority, and as no law of theirs could affect it, unless it were ex post facto and had a retrospective effect, I conceived it would certainly be dispunishable[III-32] now. I did not think proper, however, to so inform him. I here received a letter from Mr. Rollett,[III-33] partner of Mr. Cameron, with a present of some brandy, coffee, and sugar. I hesitated about receiving those articles from the partner of the man I intended to prosecute: their amount being trifling, however, I accepted of them, offering him pay. I assured him that the prosecution arose from a sense of duty, and not from any personal prejudice. My canoe did not come up, in consequence of the head wind. Sent out two men in a canoe to set fishing-lines; the canoe overset, and had it not been for the timely assistance of the savages, who carried them into their lodges, undressed them, and treated them with the greatest humanity and kindness, they must inevitably have perished. At this place I was informed that the rascal spoken of as having threatened my life had actually cocked his gun to shoot me from behind the hills, but was prevented by the others.

Apr. 14th. Was invited to a feast by Roman Nose. His conversation was interesting, and shall be detailed hereafter. The other Indians had not yet arrived. Messrs. Wood, Frazer, and myself ascended a high hill called the Barn [or La Grange; see note^68, p. 70], from which we had a view of Lake Pepin, of the valley through which the Mississippi by numerous channels wound itself to the St. Croix, the Cannon river, and the lofty hills on each side.

Apr. 15th. Arose very early and embarked about sunrise, much to the astonishment of the Indians, who were entirely prepared for the council when they heard I had put off. However, after some conversation with Mr. Frazer, they acknowledged that it was agreeably to what I had said, that I would sail early, and that they could not blame me. I was very positive in my word, for I found it by far the best way to treat the Indians. Aile Rouge had a beaver robe and pipe prepared to present, but was obliged for the present to retain it. Passed through Lake Pepin with my barges; the canoe being obliged to lie by, did not come on. Stopped at a prairie on the right bank, descending about nine miles below Lake Pepin. Went out to view some hills which had the appearance of the old fortifications spoken of [by Carver: see note of the Grand Encampment, p. 59]; but I will speak more fully of them hereafter. In these hollows I discovered a flock of elk; took out 15 men, but we were not able to kill any. Mr. Frazer came up and passed on about two miles. We encamped together. Neither Mr. Wood's nor my canoe arrived. Snowed considerably.

Apr. 16th. Mr. Frazer's canoes and my boats sailed about one hour by the sun. We waited some time, expecting Mr. Wood's barges and my canoe; but hearing a gun fired just above our encampment, we were induced to make sail. Passed Aile Prairie [Winona: note^57, p. 54], also La Montagne qui Trompe a [Trempe à] L'eau, the prairie De Cross [La Crosse], and encamped on the W. shore [at Brownsville], a few hundred yards below where I had encamped on the [11th] day of September, in ascending. Killed a goose flying. Shot at some pigeons at our camp, and was answered from behind an island with two guns; we returned them, and were replied to by two more. This day the trees appeared in bloom. Snow might still be seen on the sides of the hills. Distance 75 miles.

Apr. 17th. Put off pretty early and arrived at Wabasha's band at eleven o'clock, where I [was] detained all day for him [at Upper Iowa river]; but he alone of all the hunters remained out all night. Left some powder and tobacco for him. The Sioux presented me with a kettle of boiled meat and a deer. I here received information that the Puants had killed some white men below. Mr. Wood's and my canoe arrived.

Apr. 18th. Departed from our encampment very early. Stopped to breakfast at the Painted Rock. Arrived at Prairie Des Cheins at two o'clock, and were received by crowds on the bank. Took up my quarters at Mr. Fisher's. My men received a present of one barrel of pork from Mr. Campbell, a bag of biscuit, 20 loaves of bread, and some meat from Mr. Fisher. A Mr. Jearreau, from Cahokia, is here, who embarks to-morrow for St. Louis. I wrote to General Wilkinson by him.[III-34] I was called on by a number of chiefs, Reynards, Sioux of the Des Moyan [Des Moines river], etc. The Winebagos were here intending, as I was informed, to deliver some of the murderers to me. Received a great deal of news from the States and Europe, both civil and military.

Apr. 19th. Dined at Mr. Campbell's in company with Messrs. Wilmot, Blakely, Wood, Rollet, Fisher, Frazer, and Jearreau. Six canoes arrived from the upper part of St. Peters, with the Yanctong chiefs from the head of that river. Their appearance was indeed savage, much more so than any nation I have yet seen. Prepared my boat for sail. Gave notice to the Puants that I had business to do with them the next day. A band of the Gens Du Lac arrived. Took into my pay as interpreter Mr. Y. [read J.] Reinville.

Sunday, Apr. 20th. Held a council with the Puant chiefs, and demanded of them the murderers of their nation;[III-35] they required till to-morrow to consider it. I made a written demand of the magistrates to take depositions concerning the late murders.[III-36] Had a private conversation with Wabasha.

This afternoon they had a great game of the cross on the prairie, between the Sioux on the one side, and the Puants and Reynards on the other. The ball is made of some hard substance and covered with leather; the cross-sticks are round and net-work, with handles of three feet long. The parties being ready, and bets agreed upon, sometimes to the amount of some thousand dollars, the goals are set up on the prairie at the distance of half a mile. The ball is thrown up in the middle, and each party strives to drive it to the opposite goal; when either party gains the first rubber, which is driving it quick round the post, the ball is again taken to the center, the ground changed, and the contest renewed; and this is continued until one side gains four times, which decides the bet. It is an interesting sight to see two or three hundred naked savages contending on the plain who shall bear off the palm of victory; as he who drives the ball round the goal is much shouted at by his companions. It sometimes happens that one catches the ball in his racket, and depending on his speed endeavors to carry it to the goal; when he finds himself too closely pursued he hurls it with great force and dexterity to an amazing distance, where there are always flankers of both parties ready to receive it; it seldom touches the ground, but is sometimes kept in the air for hours before either party can gain the victory. In the game which I witnessed the Sioux were victorious—more, I believe, from the superiority of their skill in throwing the ball than by their swiftness, for I thought the Puants and Reynards the swiftest runners.

Apr. 21st. Was sent for by La Feuille, and had a long and interesting conversation with him, in which he spoke of the general jealousy of his nation toward their chiefs; and said that although he knew it might occasion some of the Sioux displeasure, he did not hesitate to declare that he looked on Nez Corbeau [otherwise Raven Nose and Roman Nose] as the man of most sense in their nation, and he believed it would be generally acceptable if he was reinstated in his rank. Upon my return I was sent for by Red Thunder,[III-37] chief of the Yanctongs, the most savage band of the Sioux. He was prepared with the most elegant pipes and robes I ever saw, and shortly declared, "That white blood had never been shed in the village of the Yanctongs, even when rum was permitted; that Mr. Murdoch Cameron arrived at his village last autumn; that he invited him to eat, gave him corn as a bird; that Cameron informed him of the prohibition of rum, and was the only person who afterward sold it in the village." After this I had a council with the Puants. Spent the evening with Mr. Wilmot, one of the best informed and most gentlemanly men in the place.

Apr. 22d. Held a council with the Sioux and Puants, the latter of whom delivered up their [British] medals and flags. Prepared to depart to-morrow.

Apr. 23d. After closing my accounts, etc., at half past twelve o'clock we left the Prairie; at the lower end of it were saluted by 17 lodges of the Puants. Met a barge, by which I received a letter from my lady. Further on met one batteau and one canoe of traders. Passed one trader's camp. Arrived at Mr. Dubuque's at [mouth of Catfish Creek, at] ten o'clock at night; found some traders encamped at the entrance with 40 or 50 Indians; obtained some information from Mr. D., and requested him to write me on certain points. After we had boiled our victuals, I divided my men into four watches and put off, wind ahead. Observed for the first time the half-formed leaves on the trees.

Apr. 24th. In the morning we used our oars until ten o'clock, and then floated while breakfasting. At this time two barges, one bark, and two wooden canoes passed us under full sail; by one of which I sent back a letter to Mr. Dubuque that I had forgotten to deliver. Stopped at dark to cook supper; after which, rowed under the windward shore, expecting we could make headway with four oars; but were blown on the lee shore in a few moments, when all hands were summoned, and we again with difficulty made to windward, came-to, placed one sentry on my bow, and all hands beside went to sleep. It rained, and before morning the water overflowed my bed in the bottom of the boat, having no cover or any extra accommodations, as it might have retarded my voyage. The wind very hard ahead.

Apr. 25th. Obliged to unship our mast to prevent its rolling overboard with the swell. Passed the first Reynard village [near head of Rock River rapids on the Iowan side] at twelve o'clock; counted 18 lodges. Stopped at the prairie in descending on the left, about the middle of the rapids, where there is a beautiful cove or harbor [Watertown, Rock Island Co., Ill.]. There were three lodges of Indians here, but none of them came near us. Shortly after we had left this, observed a barge under sail, with the United States flag, which upon our being seen put to shore on the Big [now Rock] Island, about three miles above Stony [Rock] river, where I also landed. It proved to be Capt. Many[III-38] of the Artillerists, who was in search of some Osage prisoners among the Sacs and Reynards. He informed me that at the [large Sac] village of Stony Point [near the mouth of Rock river] the Indians evinced a strong disposition to commit hostilities; that he was met at the mouth of the river by an old Indian, who said that all the inhabitants of the village were in a state of intoxication, and advised him to go up alone. This advice, however, he had rejected. That when they arrived there they were saluted by the appellation of the bloody Americans who had killed such a person's father, such a person's mother, brother, etc. The women carried off the guns and other arms, and concealed them. That he then crossed the river opposite the village, and was followed by a number of Indians with pistols under their blankets. That they would listen to no conference whatever relating to the delivery of the prisoners, but demanded insolently why he wore a plume in his hat, declared that they looked on it as a mark of war, and immediately decorated themselves with their raven's feathers, worn only in cases of hostility. We regretted that our orders would not permit of our punishing the scoundrels, as by a coup de main we might easily have carried the village. Gave Capt. Many a note of introduction to Messrs. Campbell, Fisher, Wilmot, and Dubuque, and every information in my power. We sat up late conversing.

Apr. 26th. Capt. Many and myself took breakfast and embarked; wind directly ahead, and a most tremendous swell to combat, which has existed ever since we left the prairie. Capt. Many under full sail. Descended by all the sinuosity of the shore, to avoid the strength of the wind and force of the waves. Indeed I was confident I could sail much faster up than we could possibly make down. Encamped on Grant's prairie, where we had encamped Aug. 25th when ascending. There was one Indian and family present, to whom I gave some corn.

Sunday, Apr. 27th. It cleared off during the night. We embarked early and came from eight or ten leagues above the river Iowa to the [U. S. agricultural] establishment at the lower Sac village [at Nauvoo, Ill., see Aug. 20th, 1805] by sundown, a distance of nearly 48 leagues. Here I met with Messrs. Maxwell and Blondeau; took the deposition of the former on the subject of the Indians' intoxication at this place, for they were all drunk. They had stolen a horse from the establishment, and offered to bring him back for liquor, but laughed at them when offered a blanket and powder. Passed two canoes and two barges. At the establishment received two letters from Mrs. Pike. Took with us Corporal Eddy and the other soldier whom Capt. Many had left. Rowed with four oars all night. A citizen took passage with me.

Apr. 28th. In the morning passed a wintering-ground where, from appearance, there must have been at least seven or eight different establishments. At twelve o'clock arrived at the French house [Hurricane Settlement] mentioned in our voyage up, Aug. 16th [see note^13, that date]. Here we landed our citizen; his name was [Blank], and he belonged to the settlement on Copper river. He informed me there were about 25 families in the settlement.

Stopped at some islands [note^12, Aug. 15th] about ten miles above Salt river, where there were pigeon-roosts, and in about 15 minutes my men had knocked on the head and brought on board 298. I had frequently heard of the fecundity of this bird [Ectopistes migratorius[III-39]], and never gave credit to what I then thought inclined to the marvelous; but really the most fervid imagination cannot conceive their numbers. Their noise in the woods was like the continued roaring of the wind, and the ground may be said to have been absolutely covered with their excrement. The young ones which we killed were nearly as large as the old; they could fly about ten steps, and were one mass of fat; their craws were filled with acorns and the wild pea. They were still reposing on their nests, which were merely small bunches of sticks joined, with which all the small trees were covered.

Met four canoes of the Sacs, with wicker baskets filled with young pigeons. They made motions to exchange them for liquor, to which I returned the back of my hand. Indeed those scoundrels had become so insolent, through the instigation of the traders, that nothing but the lenity of our government and humanity for the poor devils could have restrained me on my descent from carrying some of their towns by surprise, which I was determined to have done had the information of their firing on Capt. Many proved to have been correct.

Put into the mouth of Salt river to cook supper, after which, although raining, we put off and set our watches; but so violent a gale and thunderstorm came on about twelve o'clock that we put ashore. Discovered that one of my sleigh-dogs was missing.

Apr. 29th. In the morning still raining, and wind up the river; hoisted sail and returned to the mouth of the river, but neither here nor on the shore could we find my dog. This was no little mortification, as it broke the match, whose important services I had already experienced, after having brought them so near home. We continued on until twelve o'clock, when it ceased raining for a little time, and we put ashore for breakfast. Rowed till sundown, when I set the watch. Night fine and mild.

Apr. 30th. By daylight found ourselves at the Portage de Sioux. I here landed Captain Many's two men, and ordered them across by land to the cantonment [Belle Fontaine, on the Missouri]. As I had never seen the village, I walked up and through it; there are not more than 21 houses at furthest, which are built of square logs. Met Lieut. Hughes[III-40] about four miles above St. Louis,[III-41] with more than 20 Osage prisoners, conveying them to the cantonment on the Missouri; he informed me my friends were all well. Arrived about twelve o'clock at the town, after an absence of eight months and 22 days.

CHAPTER IV.

WEATHER DIARY OF THE MISSISSIPPI.[IV-1]

Meteorological Observations made by Lieutenant Pike, on the Mississippi, in 1805 and 1806.

Note.—These observations are very imperfect, my mode of traveling being such as to prevent my making regular references to the thermometer; and during the intense cold which prevailed some part of the winter, the mercury of the barometer sank into the bulb. I was also frequently obliged to be absent from my party, when it was impossible for me to carry instruments. Those different circumstances occasioned the omissions which appear in the table. The instrument employed was Reaumer's, but the observations made have been adapted to the scale of Fahrenheit.—Z. M. Pike, 1st lieutenant.

Date.

Thermometer
(degrees).

Sky.

Wind.

N. Lat.

W. Long.

Var.

Barometer
(inches).

sunrise. | 3 p.m. | sunset. | Course. | Force.
Aug.
6 | .... | .... | .... | clear | S S E | fresh | 39° 1´ | 15° 20´ Ph. | 7° 54´ | 28.5
7 | .... | 90 | .... | thunderstorm | N W | very hard | .... | .... | .... | 28
8 | .... | 75 | .... | rain | N W | do. | .... | .... | .... | 28.5
9 | .... | 83 | .... | cloudy | S by E | light | .... | .... | .... | 28.8
10 | .... | 97 | .... | flying clouds | W | squally | .... | .... | .... | 28
11 | .... | 108½ | .... | do. | W by S | .... | .... | .... | .... | 20
12 | .... | 101¾ | .... | rain | S by W | fresh | .... | .... | .... | 29.2
13 | .... | 83¾ | .... | hard rain | N W | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
14 | .... | 81½ | .... | do. | S by E | do. | .... | .... | .... | 28.5
15 | .... | 88¼ | .... | rainy | N W | do. | 40° 31´ | 16° 41´ | .... | 29
16 | .... | 90½ | .... | clear | N W | gentle | .... | .... | .... | 30
17 | .... | 88¼ | .... | do. | S E | do. | .... | .... | .... | 30.2
18 | .... | 81½ | .... | cloudy | N W | strong | .... | .... | .... | 28.5
19 | .... | 99½ | .... | clear | N W | gentle | .... | .... | .... | 30
20 | .... | 90½ | .... | do. | E | do. | .... | .... | .... | 30
21 | .... | 88¼ | .... | cloudy | S E | fresh | 40° 32´ 12´´ | .... | .... | 29
22 | .... | 90½ | .... | clear | N by W | strong | .... | .... | .... | 29.5
23 | .... | 106¼ | .... | do. | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | 30
24 | .... | 82¾ | .... | clear | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | 30
25 | .... | 81¼ | .... | cloudy | N by W | strong | .... | .... | .... | 2
26 | 61¼ | 72½ | .... | rain | N by W | gale | .... | .... | .... | ....
27 | 54½ | 63½ | .... | do. | N by W | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
28 | 52¼ | 61¼ | .... | do. | S by E | hard | .... | .... | .... | ....
29 | 52¼ | 72½ | .... | cloudy | S by E | fresh | .... | .... | .... | 28.5
30 | 61¼ | 88¼ | .... | clear | S by W | do. | .... | .... | .... | 28
31 | .... | 92¾ | .... | do. | S by W | gentle | .... | .... | .... | 28.5
Sept.
1 | .... | 88¼ | .... | clear | S E | fresh | .... | .... | .... | 30
2 | .... | 95 | .... | do. | S | gentle | .... | .... | .... | 29.3
3 | .... | 79¼ | .... | cloudy | N W | do. | .... | .... | .... | 28.8
4 | .... | 77 | .... | do. | S W | do. | 43° 44´ 8´´ | .... | .... | 29
5 | .... | 88¼ | .... | rain | S W | fresh | .... | .... | .... | 27
6 | .... | 95 | .... | clear | S by E | do. | .... | .... | .... | 27
7 | .... | 86 | .... | cloudy | S by E | do. | .... | .... | .... | 28
8 | .... | 99½ | .... | do. | S by E | do. | .... | .... | .... | 29.5
9 | .... | 92¾ | .... | do. | S | gentle | .... | .... | .... | 28.8
10 | .... | 72½ | .... | rain | N by W | fresh | .... | .... | .... | ....
11 | .... | 59 | .... | do. | N by E | hard | .... | .... | .... | ....
12 | .... | 52¼ | .... | do. | N by E | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
13 | .... | 50 | .... | do. | N | gentle | .... | .... | .... | ....
14 | .... | 43¼ | .... | clear | S E | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
15 | .... | 65¾ | .... | rain | S E | do. | .... | .... | .... | 28
16 | .... | 77 | .... | rising clouds | S E | fresh | .... | .... | .... | 28.5
17 | .... | 65¾ | .... | rain | N W | hard | .... | .... | .... | ....
18 | .... | 77 | .... | cloudy | N W | gentle | 45° 44´ 8´´ | .... | .... | ....
19 | .... | 65¾ | .... | do. | S E | fresh | .... | .... | .... | ....
20 | .... | 72½ | .... | clear | N W | do. | .... | .... | .... | 28.5
21 | 41 | 77 | .... | do. | S E | gentle | .... | .... | .... | 29
22 | .... | 77 | .... | do. | N W | fresh | .... | .... | .... | ....
23 | .... | 81½ | .... | cloudy | N W | do. | .... | .... | .... | 28.5
24 | .... | 86 | .... | do. | N W | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
25 | .... | 77 | .... | flying clouds | N W | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
26 | .... | 65¾ | .... | cloudy | S E | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
27 | .... | 65¾ | .... | do. | S E | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
28 | .... | 65¾ | .... | rain | S by E | hard | .... | .... | .... | 28
29 | .... | 72½ | .... | cloudy | S by E | fresh, hard | .... | .... | .... | ....
30 | .... | 65¾ | .... | do. | N E | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
Oct.
1 | 50 | 65¾ | .... | cloudy | N W | fresh | 45° | .... | .... | 28.5
2 | 50 | 72½ | .... | rain | N W | ... | .... | .... | .... | 28
3 | 32 | 50 | .... | clear | N W | | .... | .... | .... | 28.4
4 | 32 | 50 | .... | cloudy, hail | N W | | .... | .... | .... | 29
5 | 32 | 23 | .... | clear | N W | hard | .... | .... | .... | 29.5
6 | 32 | 23 | .... | do. | N W | do. | .... | .... | .... | 29.5
7 | 36½ | 50 | .... | do. | N W | do. | .... | .... | .... | 29
8 | 26 | 50 | .... | do. | S E | fresh | .... | .... | .... | 29.5
9 | 41 | 54½ | .... | do. | W by N | .... | .... | .... | .... | 29.5
10 | 50 | 88¼ | 65¾ | do. | S by W | do. | .... | .... | .... | 29.5
11 | 36½ | 65¾ | 54½ | do. | N by W | do. | .... | .... | .... | 29
12 | 36½ | 59 | 36½ | do. | N by W | hard | .... | .... | .... | 29.5
13 | 36 | 72½ | 59 | do. | S by W | fresh | .... | .... | .... | 36.2
14 | 36 | 65¾ | 50 | do. | N W | gentle | .... | .... | .... | 29
15 | 43¼ | 54½ | 41 | cloudy, rain | N by W | fresh | .... | .... | .... | 28.5
16 | 50 | 65¾ | 54½ | snow | do. | do. | 45° 33´ 3´´ | .... | .... | 28.5
17 | 41 | 50 | 52 | do. | do. | do. | .... | .... | .... | 28
18 | 43¼ | 54½ | 50 | cloudy | S by W | do. | .... | .... | .... | 29.5
19 | 45½ | 59 | 54½ | clear, cloudy | do. | gentle | .... | .... | .... | 29.8
20 | 43¼ | 54 | 43¼ | do. | do. | do. | .... | .... | .... | 29.5
21 | 23 | 14 | 20 | clear | do. | do. | .... | .... | .... | 29
22 | 29 | 45 | 32 | cloudy, snow | N by W | do. | .... | .... | .... | 28.5
23 | 20 | 27 | 23 | do. | N W | do. | .... | .... | .... | 29.3
24 | 20 | 27 | 23 | do. | N W | do. | .... | .... | .... | 29
25 | 16 | 23 | 43 | cloudy | .... | do. | .... | .... | 9° 10´ | 29
26 | 11 | 20 | 32 | clear | W | do. | .... | .... | .... | 29.5
27 | 20 | 32 | 43¼ | do. | W | do. | .... | .... | .... | 30
28 | 20 | 43 | 47 | do. | N E | do. | 45° 33´ 3´´ | .... | 9° 10´ S | 29.5
29 | 27 | 50 | 43 | cloudy, rain | N E | do. | .... | .... | .... | 29
30 | 50 | 52 | 50 | do. | N E | do. | .... | .... | .... | 28.5
31 | 32 | 43 | 47 | cloudy | N | do. | .... | .... | 9° 10´ S | 28
Nov.
1 | 36 | .... | .... | rain | .... | .... | 45° 33´ 3´´ | .... | .... | 28
2 | .... | .... | .... | snow | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
3 | .... | warm | .... | fair | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
4 | .... | fresh | .... | do. | N E | gentle | .... | .... | .... | ....
5 | .... | warm | .... | do. | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
6 | .... | cool | .... | snow | N W | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
7 | .... | warm | .... | hail, rain | do. | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
8 | .... | do. | .... | light snow | do. | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
9 | .... | cold | 27 | do. | do. | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
10 | 14 | 20 | 20 | clear | N W | gentle | .... | .... | .... | 28
11 | 20 | 25 | 25 | do. | S E | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
12 | 27 | 25 | 27 | cloudy | S W | do. | .... | .... | .... | 28.5
13 | 38 | 36 | 38 | do. | .... | do. | .... | .... | .... | 28.5
14 | 41 | .... | .... | rain | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
15 | 47 | 38 | 41 | cloudy | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
16 | 54 | 36 | 47 | do. | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
17 | 47 | 36 | 32 | do. | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
18 | 36 | 34 | 32 | clear | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
19 | 38 | 36 | 23 | do. | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
20 | 38 | 36 | 41 | do. | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
21 | 41 | 36 | 45 | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
22 | 41 | 36 | 38 | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
23 | 41 | 32 | 27 | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
24 | 38 | 34 | 32 | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
25 | 41 | 38 | 38 | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
26 | 38 | 32 | 34 | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
27 | 38 | 38 | 34 | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
28 | 29 | 43 | 41 | clear | N W | fresh | .... | .... | .... | ....
29 | 23 | 32 | 36 | do. | N | gentle | .... | .... | .... | ....
30 | 16 | 27 | 25 | do. | N by W | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
Dec.
1 | 25 | 32 | 32 | snow | S W | gentle | 45° 33´ 9´´ | .... | .... | ....
2 | 7 | 27 | 16 | clear | S E | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
3 | 16 | 32 | 20 | do. | S E | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
4 | 20 | 32 | 27 | do. | S E | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
5 | 23 | 32 | 32 | cloudy | S E | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
6 | 25 | 32 | 32 | clear | S E | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
7 | 20 | 27 | 25 | do. | S E | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
8 | 16 | 25 | 27 | do. | S E | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
9 | 20 | 25 | 23 | do. | N E | fresh | .... | .... | .... | ....
10 | 23 | 27 | 29 | cloudy | N W | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
11 | 27 | .... | 43 | do. | S E | gentle | .... | .... | .... | ....
12 | 29 | .... | 32 | do. | N W | fresh | .... | .... | .... | ....
13 | 38 | .... | 32 | snow | N W | hard | .... | .... | .... | ....
14 | 29 | .... | 7 | .... | N W | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
15 | 7 | .... | 11 | cloudy | N W | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
16 | 9 | .... | 43 | clear | S | gentle | .... | .... | .... | ....
17 | 20 | .... | 32 | do. | S E | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
18 | 36 | .... | 36 | do. | S E | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
19 | 36 | .... | 25 | cloudy | SE, NW | fresh | .... | .... | .... | ....
20 | 25 | .... | 32 | do. | N E | gentle | .... | .... | .... | ....
21 | 18 | .... | 27 | do. | N E | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
22 | 2 | .... | 5 | clear | N E | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
23 | 2 | .... | 32 | do. | N E | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
24 | 5 | .... | 27 | do. | N E | do. | 45° 49´ 50´´ | .... | .... | ....
25 | 27 | .... | 27 | cloudy | N W | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
26 | 23 | .... | 29 | do. | N E | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
27 | 23 | .... | 29 | snow | E | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
28 | 23 | .... | 32 | cloudy | S W | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
29 | 20 | .... | 11 | clear | N W | hard | .... | .... | .... | ....
30 | 9 | .... | 11 | do. | W | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
31 | 9 | .... | 20 | do. | W | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
Jan.
1 | 17-4/10 | .... | 11 | cloudy, snow | N E | fresh | .... | .... | .... | ....
2 | 2 | .... | 20 | clear | E | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
3 | 20 | .... | 25 | do. | W | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
4 | 23 | .... | 25 | do. | W | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
5 | 33-5/10 | .... | 20 | do. | E | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
6 | 20 | .... | 9 | snow | W | hard | 46° 9´ 20´´ | .... | .... | ....
7 | 15-2/10 | .... | 1 | clear | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
8 | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
9 | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
10 | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
11 | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
12 | .... | .... | 2 | clear | S E | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
13 | 28-5/10 | .... | 6 | do. | .... | .... | 46° 9´ 20´´ | 22° 13´ | .... | ....
14 | 24 | | .... | 1 | do. | N | .... | 46° 9´ 20´´ | .... | 3° 41´ W | ....
15 | 33-5/10 | .... | 6 | do. | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
16 | 19-8/10 | .... | 5 | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
17 | 6 | 23 | 20 | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
18 | 9 | 25 | 20 | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
19 | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
20 | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
21 | .... | .... | 23 | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
22 | 14 | .... | 27 | clear | N W | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
23 | 27 | | .... | 27 | do. | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
24 | 27 | 29 | 32 | cloudy | S by E | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
25 | .... | 27 | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
26 | .... | 5 | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
27 | .... | 5 | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
28 | 4 | 2 | 5 | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
29 | 5 | 14 | 11 | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
30 | 1 | 14 | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
31 | 8 | 14 | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
Feb.
1 | 10 | 7 | 5 | clear | .... | .... | 47° 16´ 13´´ | .... | .... | ....
2 | 5 | 9 | 14 | do. | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
3 | 7 | 27 | 23 | do. | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
4 | 1 | 9 | 1 | do. | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
5 | 10 | 14 | 7 | do. | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
6 | 5 | 27 | 11 | do. | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
7 | 2 | 23 | 20 | do. | W | fresh | .... | .... | .... | ....
8 | 8 | 1 | 9 | do. | W | hard | .... | .... | .... | ....
9 | 17-5/10 | 1 | 8 | snow | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
10 | 17-5/10 | 1 | 5 | do. | N E | gentle | .... | .... | .... | ....
11 | 1 | 7 | 1 | clear | S E | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
12 | 5 | 16 | 1 | do. | N E | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
13 | 23 | 36 | 32 | hail, clouds | S by E | fresh | .... | .... | .... | ....
14 | 11 | 36 | 32 | clear | N W | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
15 | 5 | 20 | 16 | do. | N W | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
16 | 2 | 23 | 16 | do. | S W | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
17 | 5 | 32 | 32 | sleet, snow | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
18 | 14 | 32 | .... | clear | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
19 | .... | .... | 20 | do. | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
20 | 1 | .... | 27 | do. | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
21 | 14 | .... | 27 | do. | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
22 | 16 | .... | 27 | do. | .... | .... | 46° 32´ 32´´ | .... | .... | ....
23 | 14 | .... | 23 | do. | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
24 | 16 | .... | 20 | do. | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
25 | 11 | .... | 25 | do. | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
26 | 23 | .... | 36 | do. | S W | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
27 | 16 | .... | 11 | .... | N W | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
28 | 16 | .... | .... | .... | N W | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
Mar.
1 | 16 | .... | 16 | clear | S E | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
2 | 16 | .... | 20 | cloudy | S E | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
3 | 20 | .... | 43 | clear | E | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
4 | 20 | .... | 27 | do. | E | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
5 | 25 | .... | 29 | do. | .... | .... | 45° 33´ 3´´ | .... | .... | ....
6 | 36 | .... | 27 | do. | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
7 | 29 | 41 | 27 | clear, warm | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
8 | 29 | 25 | 23 | cloudy | S E | hard | .... | .... | .... | ....
9 | 36 | 43 | 41 | clear | S E | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
10 | 25 | 25 | 27 | do. | N E | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
11 | 32 | 36 | 38 | cloudy | S E | fresh | .... | .... | .... | ....
12 | 34 | 47 | 38 | clear | N W | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
13 | 33 | 43 | 27 | do. | N W | .... | 45° 14´ 8´´ | .... | .... | ....
14 | 38 | 43 | 34 | do. | N W | fresh | .... | .... | .... | ....
15 | 50 | 41 | 36 | do. | N | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
16 | 38 | 43 | 36 | do. | E | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
17 | 32 | 32 | 32 | snow | N W | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
18 | 32 | 32 | 32 | do. | N | do. | 43° 44´ 8´´ | .... | .... | ....
19 | 32 | 32 | 29 | do. | N E | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
20 | 29 | 38 | 29 | cloudy | N by E | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
21 | 9 | 32 | 20 | clear | N W | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
22 | 1 | 9 | 14 | do. | N E | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
23 | 7 | 32 | 32 | do. | E | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
24 | 5 | 25 | 32 | cloudy | N E | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
25 | 25 | 32 | 32 | snow | S E | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
26 | 11 | 25 | 27 | clear | E | fresh | .... | .... | .... | ....
27 | 38 | 54 | 43 | do. | S E | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
28 | 36 | 41 | 43 | do. | S W | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
29 | 29 | 70 | 54 | do. | S E | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
30 | 52 | 56 | 43 | cloudy | N E | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
31 | 32 | 61 | 43 | clear | N E | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
Apr.
1 | 29 | 61 | 43 | clear | N E | fresh | .... | .... | .... | ....
2 | 34 | 74 | 63 | do. | S | hard | .... | .... | .... | ....
3 | 45 | 70 | 43 | do. | N E | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
4 | 20 | 45 | 41 | do. | N E | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
5 | 29 | 45 | 38 | cloudy | N E | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
6 | 27 | 43 | 36 | do. | N E | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
7 | 23 | .... | 32 | snow | N E | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
8 | 41 | .... | 34 | cloudy | N | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
9 | 5 | 18 | 32 | clear | N E | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
10 | 5 | 54 | 25 | do. | N E | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
11 | 18 | 32 | 32 | snow | S E | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
12 | 10 | 54 | 43 | clear | S E | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
13 | 32 | 50 | 45 | do. | S E | hard | .... | .... | .... | ....
14 | 38 | 50 | 45 | cloudy, rain | S E | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
15 | 34 | 52 | 32 | snow | S E | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
16 | 34 | 50 | 41 | do. | N W | fresh | .... | .... | .... | ....
17 | 34 | 70 | 43 | clear | N W | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
18 | 45 | 92 | 63 | do. | N W | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
19 | 50 | 99 | 81 | do. | S E | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
20 | 59 | 95 | 79 | do. | S E | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
21 | 54 | 92 | 63 | cloudy | N W | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
22 | 43 | 63 | 52 | clear | N W | fresh | .... | .... | .... | ....
23 | 36 | 72 | 63 | do. | S E | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
24 | 43 | 70 | 61 | cloudy | S E | hard | .... | .... | .... | ....
25 | 43 | 54 | 47 | cloudy, rain | S E | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
26 | 43 | 50 | .... | do. | S E | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
27 | 43 | 95 | 77 | clear | N E | gentle | .... | .... | .... | ....
28 | 43 | 81 | 72 | cloudy | S E | do. | .... | .... | .... | ....
29 | 38 | 59 | .... | rain | N W | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....

Remarks.

- Sept. 1st, The [Dubuque] Mines.

- Sept. 5th, Prairie De Chien.

- Sept. 10th, Barometer below 28.

- Sept. 18th, Lake Pepin.

- Sept. 22d, River St. Peter's.

- Sept. 27th, Falls of St. Anthony.

- Oct. 16th, Pine Creek Rapids.

- Oct. 28th, Pine Creek.

- Nov. 2d, Absent from camp.

- Nov. 6th, Thunder and lightning.

- Nov. 9th, Return to camp.

- Nov. 11th-12th, Thawing.

- Nov. 13th, Smoky.

- Nov. 14th, Thunder and lightning.

- Nov. 16th-19th, Freezing.

- Nov. 20th-21st, Thawing.

- Nov. 22d, Freezing.

- Nov. 23d-27th, Thawing.

- Dec. 11th, Thawing.

- Dec. 12th, Slight snow.

- Dec. 13th, Storm.

- Dec. 14th, Stormy.

- Dec. 17th-18th, Thawing.

- Dec. 19th-25th, Freezing.

- Dec. 28th, Very cold.

- Dec. 31st, Very cold.

- Jan. 6th, Lake Sable.

- Jan. 7th, Absent for six days.

- Feb. 1st, Leech Lake.

- Feb. 22d, White Fish Lake.

- Mar. 1st, Lower Red Cedar Lake.

- Mar. 6th, Snow at night.

- Mar. 7th, Pine Creek.

- Mar. 9th, Very warm; ice melting fast.

- Mar. 11th, Raw and disagreeable.

- Mar. 12th, Ice melting fast.

- Mar. 15th, Small snow in the night.

- Mar. 17th, Sleet and snow.

- Mar. 18th-19th, Heavy snow.

- Mar. 20th, Thawing at noon; water rising.

- Mar. 21st, Cold.

- Mar. 22d, Extraordinary cold.

- Mar. 24th, Sauteurs.

- Mar. 25th, Very stormy.

- Mar. 26th, Moderate.

- Mar. 27th, Warm.

- Mar. 28th, Warm, thunder, lightning.

- Mar. 29th, Warm, thunder, lightning, rain.

- Apr. 1st, Ice breaking up by degrees.

- Apr. 2d-3d, Ice commenced running.

- Apr. 5th, Snow.

- Apr. 6th, River entirely breaks up.

- Apr. 8th, Snow, hail.

- Apr. 9th, Remarkably cold.

- Apr. 11th, Snow falls three inches.

CHAPTER V.

CORRESPONDENCE AND CONFERENCES.[V-1]

Art. 1. Letter, Pike to Wilkinson. (Orig. No. 1, pp. 1, 2.)

Head of the Rapids de Moyen, Aug. 20th, 1805.

Dear General:

I arrived here this day, after what I have considered as rather an unfortunate voyage, having had a series of rainy weather for the first six days, by which means all our biscuit was more or less damaged, they being in very bad and open barrels; and our having got twice so fast on forked sawyers or old trees as to oblige me partly to unload, and staving in a plank on another [sawyer], which nearly sunk our boat before we got on shore and detained us one whole day. These all occasioned unavoidable detentions of two days, and the innumerable islands and sand-bars which, without exaggeration, exceed those of the river below the Ohio, have been the cause of much unexpected delay. But I calculate on getting to Prairie de Chien in at least the same time I was in coming [from St. Louis] here.

We were met yesterday on the Rapids by Mr. William Ewing, who is sent here by the government of the United States to teach the savages agriculture; and who, I perceive in Governor Harrison's instructions, is termed an agent of the United States, under the instructions of P. Choteau, with, he says, a salary of $500 per annum. I conceived you did not know of this functionary, else you would have mentioned him to me. He was accompanied by Monsieur Louis Tisson Houire [Tesson Honoré[V-2]], who informed me he had calculated on going with me as my interpreter; he said that you had spoken to him on the occasion, and appeared much disappointed when I told him I had no instructions to that effect. He also said he had promised to discover mines, etc., which no person knew but himself; but, as I conceive him much of a hypocrite, and possessing great gasconism, I am happy he was not chosen for my voyage. They brought with them three peroques of Indians, who lightened my barge and assisted me up the Rapids. They expressed great regret at the news of two men having been killed on the river below, which I believe to be a fact, as I have it from various channels, and were very apprehensive they would be censured by our government as the authors [of these murders], though from every inquiry they conceive it not to be the case, and seem to ascribe the murders to the Kickapoos. They strongly requested I would hear what they had to say on the subject; this, with an idea that this place would be a central position for a trading establishment for the Sacs, Reynards, Iowas of the de Moyen, Sioux from the head of said [Des Moines] river, and Paunte [Puants] of the de Roche [Rock river], has induced me to halt part of the day to-morrow. I should say more relative to Messrs. Ewing and Houire, only that they propose visiting you with the Indians who descend, as I understand by your request, in about 30 days, when your penetration will give you le tout ensemble of their characters [note^18, p. 15].

I have taken the liberty of inclosing a letter to Mrs. Pike to your care. My compliments to Lieutenant Wilkinson, and the tender of my highest respects for your lady, with the best wishes for your health and prosperity.

I am, General,
Your obedient servant,
[Signed] Z. M. Pike.

General Wilkinson.

Art. 2. Letter, Pike to Wilkinson. (Orig. No. 2, pp. 2-4.)

Prairie du Chien, Sept. 5th, 1805.

Dear General:

I arrived here day before yesterday, and found my interpreter gone in the employ of Mr. Dickson. I then endeavored to gain information relative to crossing the falls; and amidst the ignorance of the Canadians, and all the contradiction in the world, I have learned it is impossible to carry my large barge round the shoot [chute]. I have therefore hired two Schenectady barges, in which I shall embark day after to-morrow, with some expectation and hope of seeing the head of the Mississippi and the town of St. Louis yet this winter.

I have chosen three places for military establishments. The first is on a hill about 40 miles above the river de Moyen rapids, on the W. side of the river, in about 41° 2´ N. latitude. The channel of the river runs on that shore; the hill in front is about 60 feet perpendicular, nearly level on the top; 400 yards in the rear is a small prairie fit for gardening; over on the E. side of the river you have an elegant view on an immense prairie, as far as the eye can extend, now and then interrupted by clumps of trees; and, to crown all, immediately under the hill is a limestone spring, sufficient for the consumption of a regiment. The landing is good and bold, and at the point of the hill a road could be made for a wagon in half a day. This place I conceive to be the best to answer the general's instructions relative to an intermediate post between Prairie de Chien and St. Louis; but if its being on the W. bank is a material objection, about 30 miles above the second Sac village at the third yellow bank on the E. side is a commanding place, on a prairie and most elegantly situated; but it is scarce of timber, and no water but that of the Mississippi. When then thinking of the post to be established at the Ouiscousing [mouth of Wisconsin river], I did not look at the general's instructions. I therefore pitched on a spot on the top of the hill on the W. side of the Mississippi [at or near McGregor, Clayton Co., Ia.], which is —— feet high, level on the top, and completely commands both rivers, the Mississippi being only one-half mile wide and the Ouiscousing about 900 yards when full. There is plenty of timber in the rear, and a spring at no great distance on the hill. If this position is to have in view the annoyance of any European power who might be induced to attack it with cannon, it has infinitely the preference to a position called the Petit Gris on the Ouiscousing, which I visited and marked the next day. This latter position is three miles up the Ouiscousing, on a prairie hill on the W. side, where we should be obliged to get our timber from the other side of the river, and our water out of it; there is likewise a small channel which runs on the opposite side, navigable in high water, which could not be commanded by the guns of the fort, and a hill about three-quarters of a mile in the rear, from which it could be cannonaded. These two positions I have marked by blazing trees, etc. Mr. Fisher of this place will direct any officer who may be sent to occupy them. I found the confluence of the Ouiscousing and Mississippi to be in lat. 43° 28´ 8´´ N.

The day of my arrival at the lead mines, I was taken with a fever which, with Monsieur Dubuque's having no horses about his house, obliged me to content myself with proposing to him the inclosed queries [Art. 3]; the answers seem to carry with them the semblance of equivocation.

Messrs. Dubuque and Dickson were about sending a number of chiefs to St. Louis, but the former confessing he was not authorized, I have stopped them without in the least dissatisfying the Indians.

Dickson is at Michilimackinac. I cannot say I have experienced much spirit of accommodation from his clerks, when in their power to oblige me; but I beg leave to recommend to your attention Mr. James Aird, who is now in your country, as a gentleman to whose humanity and politeness I am much indebted; also Mr. Fisher of this place, the captain of militia and justice of the peace.

A band of Sioux between here and the Mississippi have applied for two medals, in order that they may have their chiefs distinguished as friends of the Americans: if the general thinks proper to send them here to the care of Mr. Fisher, with any other commands, they may possibly meet me here, or at the falls of St. Anthony, on my return.

[Lacuna here, indicating suppression of certain Spanish privacies.]

The above suggestion would only be acceptable under the idea of our differences with Spain being compromised; as should there be war, the field of action is the sphere for young men, where they hope, or at least aspire, to gather laurels or renown to smooth the decline of age, or a glorious death. You see, my dear general, I write to you like a person addressing a father; at the same time I hope you will consider me, not only in a professional but a personal view, one who holds you in the highest respect and esteem. My compliments to Lieutenant Wilkinson, and my highest respects to your lady.

I am, General,
Your obedient servant,
[Signed] Z. M. Pike, Lt.

General Wilkinson.

Art. 3. The Dubuque Interrogation.[V-3] Queries proposed to Mr. Dubuque, with his answers.

1. What is the date of your grant of the mines from the savages?

Ans. The copy of the grant is in Mr. [Antoine Pierre] Soulard's [Surveyor-general's] office at St. Louis.

2. What is the date of the confirmation by the Spaniards?

Ans. The same as to query first.

3. What is the extent of your grant?

Ans. The same as above.

4. What is the extent of the mines?

Ans. Twenty-eight or twenty-seven leagues long, and from one to three broad.

5. Lead made per annum?

Ans. From 20,000 to 40,000 pounds.

6. Quantity of lead per cwt. of mineral?

Ans. Seventy-five per cent.

7. Quantity of lead in pigs?

Ans. All we make, as we neither manufacture bar, sheet-lead, nor shot.

8. If mixed with any other mineral?

Ans. We have seen some copper, but having no person sufficiently acquainted with chemistry to make the experiment properly, cannot say as to the proportion it bears to the lead.

[Signed] Z. M. Pike.

Dubuque Lead Mines, Sept. 1st, 1805.

Art. 4. Speech, Pike to the Sioux[V-4] (Part of Orig. No. 3, pp. 6-8), delivered at the entrance of the river St. Peter's, Sept. 23d, 1803.

Brothers: I am happy to meet you here at this council fire, which your father has sent me to kindle, and to take you by the hands as our children, we having lately acquired from the Spanish [read French] the extensive territory of Louisiana. Our general has thought proper to send out a number of his young warriors to visit all his red children, to tell them his will, and to hear what request they may have to make of their father. I am happy the choice has fallen on me to come this road; as I find my brothers, the Sioux, ready to listen to my words.

Brothers: It is the wish of our government to establish military posts on the Upper Mississippi, at such places as may be thought expedient. I have therefore examined the country, and have pitched on the mouth of the St. Croix, this place [mouth of the Minnesota river], and the Falls of St. Anthony. I therefore wish you to grant to the United States nine miles square at St. Croix; and at this place, from a league below the confluence of St. Peter's and the Mississippi to a league above St. Anthony, extending three leagues on each side of the river. As we are a people who are accustomed to have all our acts written down, in order to have them handed down to our children, I have drawn up a form of an agreement which we will both sign in the presence of the traders now present. After we know the terms we will fill it up, and have it read and interpreted to you.

Brothers: Those posts are intended as a benefit to you. The old chiefs now present must see that their situation improves by communication with the whites. It is the intention of the United States to establish factories at those posts, in which the Indians may procure all their things at a cheaper and better rate then they do now, or than your traders can afford to sell them to you, as they are single men who come far in small boats. But your fathers are many and strong; they will come with a strong arm, in large boats. There will also be chiefs here, who can attend to the wants of their brothers, without your sending or going all the way to St. Louis; they will see the traders that go up your rivers, and know that they are good men.

Brothers: Another object your father has at heart, is to endeavor to make peace between you and the Chipeways. You have now been a long time at war, and when will you stop? If neither side will lay down the hatchet, your paths will always be red with blood; but if you will consent to make peace, and suffer your father to bury the hatchet between you, I will endeavor to bring down some of the Chipeway chiefs with me to St. Louis, where the good work can be completed under the auspices of your mutual father. I am much pleased to see that the young warriors have halted to hear my words this day; and as I know it is hard for a warrior to be struck and not strike again, I will send word to the chiefs by the first Chipeway I meet, that, if they have not yet felt your tomahawk, it is not because you have not the legs or the hearts of men, but because you have listened to the voice of your father.

Brothers: If their chiefs do not listen to the voice of their father, and continue to commit murders on you and our traders, they will call down the vengeance of the Americans; for they are not like a blind man walking into the fire. They were once at war with us, and joined to all the northern Indians; they were defeated at Roche De Bœuf, and were obliged to sue for peace; that peace we granted them. They know we are not children, but, like all wise people, are slow to shed blood.

Brothers: Your old men probably know that about 30 years ago we were subject to and governed by the king of the English; but he not treating us like children, we would no longer acknowledge him as father; and after ten years' war, in which he lost 100,000 men, he acknowledged us a free and independent nation. They know that not many years since we received Detroit, Michilimackinac, and all the posts on the lakes from the English; and now—but the other day—Louisiana from the Spanish [French]; so that we put one foot on the sea at the east and the other on the sea at the west; and if once children, are now men. Yet, I think the traders who come from Canada are bad birds amongst the Chipeways, and instigate them to make war on their red brothers the Sioux, in order to prevent our traders from going high up the Mississippi. This I shall inquire into, and if it be so, shall warn those persons of their ill conduct.

Brothers: Mr. Choteau was sent by your father to the Osage nation, with one of his young chiefs.[V-5] He sailed some days before me, and had not time to procure the medals which I am told he promised to send up; but they will be procured.

Brothers: I wish you to have some of your head chiefs ready to go down with me in the spring. From the head of the St. Pierre also, such other chiefs as you may think proper, to the number of four or five. When I pass here on my way I will send you word at what time you will meet me at the Prairie des Chiens.

Brothers: I expect that you will give orders to all your young warriors to respect my flag, and its protection which I may extend to the Chipeway chiefs who may come down with me in the spring; for were a dog to run to my lodge for safety, his enemy must walk over me to hurt him.

Brothers: Here is a flag, which I wish to send to the Gens de Feuilles, to show them they are not forgotten by their father. I wish the comrade of their chief to take it on himself to deliver it with my words.

Brothers: I am told that hitherto the traders have made a practice of selling rum to you. All of you in your right senses must know that it is injurious, and occasions quarrels, murders, etc., amongst yourselves. For this reason your father has thought proper to prohibit the traders from selling you any rum. Therefore, I hope my brothers the chiefs, when they know of a trader who sells an Indian rum, will prevent that Indian from paying his [that trader's] credit. This will break up the pernicious practice and oblige your father. But I hope you will not encourage your young men to treat our traders ill from this circumstance, or from a hope of the indulgence formerly experienced; but make your complaints to persons in this country, who will be authorized to do you justice.

Brothers: I now present you with some of your father's tobacco and other trifling things, as a memorandum of my good will; and before my departure I will give you some liquor to clear your throats.

Art 5. The Sioux Treaty[V-6] of Sept. 23d, 1805. (Part of Orig. No. 3, pp. 8, 9.)

Whereas, at a conference held between the United States of America and the Sioux nation of Indians: lieutenant Z. M. Pike, of the army of the United States, and the chiefs and the warriors of said tribe, have agreed to the following articles, which, when ratified and approved of by the proper authority, shall be binding on both parties.

Art. 1. That the Sioux nation grant unto the United States, for the purpose of establishment of military posts, nine miles square at the mouth of the St. Croix,[*] also from below the confluence of the Mississippi and St. Peters up the Mississippi to include the falls of St. Anthony, extending nine miles on each side of the river, that the Sioux nation grants to the United States the full sovereignty and power over said district for ever.

[*]My demand was one league below: their reply was "from below."—I imagine (without iniquity) they may be made to agree. [Orig. Note.]

Art. 2. That, in consideration of the above grants, the United States shall pay (filled up by the senate with 2000 dollars.)

Art. 3. The United States promise, on their part, to permit the Sioux to pass and repass, hunt, or make other use of the said districts as they have formerly done without any other exception than those specified in article first.

In testimony whereof we, the undersigned, have hereunto set our hands and seals, at the mouth of the river St. Peters, on the 23d day of September, 1805.

Z. M. Pike, 1st lieut.
and agent at the above conference.

(L. S.)

Le Petit Corbeau,

his
X
mark

(L. S.)

Way Ago Enagee,

his
X
mark

(L. S.)

Art. 6. Letter, Pike to Wilkinson. (Orig. No. 4, pp. 9-13.)

St. Peters, Nine Miles below the Falls
of St. Anthony, Sept. 23d, 1805.

Dear General:

I arrived here two days since, but shall not be able to depart before day after to-morrow. Three of my men have been up to view the falls, but their reports are so contradictory that no opinion can be formed from them.

All the young warriors of the two villages of Sioux near this place, and many chiefs, had marched against the Chipeways, to revenge a stroke made on their people, the very day after their return from their visit to the Illinois; ten persons were then killed on this ground. I yesterday saw the mausoleum in which all their bodies are deposited, and which is yet daily marked with the blood of those who swear to revenge them. But a runner headed them, and yesterday they all arrived—about 250 persons, in company with those who were in the ponds gathering rice. Amidst the yelling of the mourners and the salutes of the warriors there was a scene worthy the pen of a Robertson [qu. Rev. Wm. Robertson, the Scottish historian, b. 1721, d. 1793?]

To-day I held a council on the beach, and made them a speech, in which I touched on a variety of subjects; but the principal points were, obtaining the lands as specified in the within articles,[V-7] making peace with the Chipeways, and granting such [Chipeway] chiefs as might accompany me down to visit you a safe conduct through their [Sioux] country. These ends were accomplished. You will perceive that we have obtained about 100,000 acres for a song. You will please to observe, General, that the 2d article, relative to consideration, is blank. The reasons for it were as follows: I had to fee privately two of the chiefs, and beside that to make them presents at the council of articles which would in this country be valued at $200, and the others about $50; part of these things were private property purchased here, such as a few scarlet shrouds [strouds], etc. These I was not furnished by the United States; and although the chiefs in the council presented me with the land, yet it is possible your Excellency may think proper to insert the amount of those articles as the considerations to be specified in Article 2d. They have bound me up to many assurances that the posts shall be established; also, that if the Chipeways are obstinate, and continue to kill the Indians who bear our flags (the Chipeways on the Upper Mississippi bearing the English flag) and our traders, we will take them in hand and teach them to lay down the hatchet, as we have once already done. This I was the rather induced to say, as there were some persons present who, although trading under your licenses, I know to be British subjects. A chief by the name of Elan Levie [Élan Levé[V-8]], then told me to look round on those young warriors on the beach; that not only they, but those of six villages more, were at our command. If possible, I will endeavor to note down their several speeches, and show them you on my return.

I have not a doubt of making Lake Sable [Sandy lake] in pretty good season; but they inform me the source of the river is in Lake La Sang Sue [Leech lake], about 60 leagues further. This I must also see, and hope the General approves of my determination. At those two lakes there are establishments of the N. W. Company. These are both in our country, and time and circumstances only can determine in what manner I shall conduct myself toward them.[*]Mr. [Hugh] M'Gillis, whose father was a refugee and had his estate confiscated by the Americans, has charge of those factories. He, they say, is a sworn enemy of the United States. This was told me by a man who I expect was a friend of the N. W. Company; but it had quite a contrary effect to what he intended it to have, as I am determined, should he attempt anything malicious toward me—open force he dare not—to spare no pains to punish him. In fact, the dignity and honor of our government requires that they should be taught to gather their skins in quiet, but even then not in a clandestine manner. Added to this, they are the very instigators of the war between the Chipeways and Sioux, in order that they may monopolize the trade of the Upper Mississippi.

[*] Incorrect—he being a Scotchman, a gentleman, and a man of honor; but this was the information I received at the St. Peters. [Orig. Note.]

The chiefs who were at Saint Louis this spring gave up their English medals to Mr. Chouteau. He promised them to obtain American medals in return, and send them up by some officer. They applied to me for them, and said they were their commissions—their only distinguishing mark from the other warriors. I promised them that I would write you on the occasion, and that you would remedy the evil. The chiefs were very loath to sign the articles relative to the land, asserting that their word of honor for the gift was sufficient, that it was an impeachment of their probity to require them to bind themselves further, etc. This is a small sample of their way of thinking.

I must mention something to your Excellency relative to the man recommended to me by Mr. Chouteau as interpreter. At the time he solicited this employ he was engaged to Mr. [Robert] Dickson, and on my arrival at the Prairie [du Chien] was gone up the St. Peters. I understand he is to be recommended for the appointment of interpreter to the United States in this quarter. On the contrary, I beg leave to recommend for that appointment Mr. Joseph Reinville, who served as interpreter for the Sioux last spring at the Illinois, and who has gratuitously and willingly, by permission of Mr. [James] Frazer, to whom he is engaged, served as my interpreter in all my conferences with the Sioux. He is a man respected by the Indians, and I believe an honest one. I likewise beg leave to recommend to your attention Mr. Frazer, one of the two gentlemen who dined with you, and was destined for the Upper Mississippi. He waited eight or ten days at Prairie [du Chien] for me, detained his interpreter, and thenceforward has continued to evince a zeal to promote the success of my expedition by every means in his power. He is a Vermonter born, and, although not possessing the advantages of a polished education, inherits that without which an education serves but to add to frivolity of character—candor, bravery, and that amor patria which distinguishes the good of every nation, from Nova Zembla to the [Equatorial] line.

Finding that the traders were playing the devil with their rum, I yesterday in council informed the Indians that their father had prohibited the selling of liquor to them, and that they would oblige him and serve themselves if they would prevent their young men from paying the credits of any trader who sold rum to them, at the same time charging the chiefs to treat them well; as their father, although good, would not again forgive them, but punish with severity any injuries committed on their traders. This, I presume, General, is agreeable to the spirit of the laws. Mr. Frazer immediately set the example, by separating his spirits from the merchandise in his boats, and returning it to the Prairie, although it would materially injure him if the other traders retained and sold theirs. In fact, unless there are some persons at our posts here, when established, who have authority effectually to stop the evil by confiscating the liquors, etc., it will still be continued by the weak and malevolent.

I shall forbear giving you a description of this place until my return, except only to observe that the position for this post is on the point [where Fort Snelling now stands], between the two rivers, which equally commands both; and for that at the St. Croix, on the hill on the lower side of the entrance, on the E. bank of the Mississippi [now Prescott, Pierce Co., Wis.]. Owing to cloudy weather, etc., I have taken no observation here; but the head of Lake Pepin is in 44° 58´ 8´´ N., and we have made very little northing since. The Mississippi is 130 yards wide, and the St. Peters 80 yards at their confluence.

Sept. 24th. This morning Little Corbeau came to see me from the village, he having recovered an article which I suspected had been taken by the Indians. He told me many things which the ceremony of the council would not permit his delivering there; and added, he must tell me that Mr. Roche, who went up the river St. Peters, had in his presence given two kegs of rum to the Indians. The chief asked him why he did so, as he knew it was contrary to the orders of his father, adding that Messrs. Mareir and Tremer[V-9] had left their rum behind them, but that he alone had rum, contrary to orders. Roche then gave the chief 15 bottles of rum, as I suppose to bribe him to silence. I presume he should be taught the impropriety of his conduct when he applies for his license next year.

Above the Falls of St. Anthony, Sept. 26th.

The cloudy weather still continues, and I have not been able to take the latitude. Mr. Frazer has been kind enough to send two of his people across from the Sioux town on the St. Peters for my dispatches, and the place being dangerous for them, I must haste to dispatch them. Of course, General, the following short sketch of the falls will merely be from le coup d'œuil. The place where the river falls over the rocks appears to be about 15 feet perpendicular, the sheet being broken by one large island on the E. and a small one on the W., the former commencing below the shoot and extending 500 yards above; the river then falls through a continued bed of rocks, with a descent of at least 50 feet perpendicular in the course of half a mile. Thence to the St. Peters, a distance of 11 miles by water, there is almost one continued rapid, aggravated by the interruption of 12 small islands. The carrying-place has two hills, one of 25 feet, the other of 12, with an elevation of 45°, and is about three-fourths of a mile in length. Above the shoot, the river is of considerable width; but below, at this time, I can easily cast a stone over it. The rapid or suck continues about half a mile above the shoot, when the water becomes calm and deep. My barges are not yet over, but my trucks are preparing, and I have not the least doubt of succeeding.

The general, I hope, will pardon the tautologies and egotisms of my communications, as he well knows Indian affairs are productive of such errors, and that in a wilderness, detached from the civilized world, everything, even if of little import, becomes magnified in the eyes of the beholder. When I add that my hands are blistered in working over the rapids, I presume it will apologize for the manner and style of my communications.

I flatter myself with hearing from you at the Prairie, on my way down.

I am, General,
Your obedient servant,
[Signed] Z. M. Pike, Lt.

General Wilkinson.

Art. 7.[V-10] Instructions, Pike to Sergeant Henry Kennerman. (Orig. No. 16, pp. 33, 34.)

Pine Creek Rapids, Oct. 1st, 1805.

You are to remain here with the party under your command, subject to the following instructions: Your guards to consist of one non-commissioned officer and three privates, yourself mounting in regular rotation, making one sentinel by day and by night; until your position is inclosed by pickets, every man is to be employed on that object; after which Sparks is to be employed in hunting; but this will by no means excuse him from his tour of guard at night when in the stockade, but he must be relieved during the day by another man.

Should any Indians visit you previous to having your works complete, divide your men between the two blockhouses, and on no conditions suffer a savage to enter the one where the stores are, and not more than one or two into the other; but should you be so fortunate as not to be discovered until your works are completed, you may admit three, without arms, and no more, to enter at once, at the same time always treating them with as much friendship as is consistent with your own safety.

You are furnished with some tobacco to present them with, but on no condition are you ever to give them one drop of liquor; inform them that I have taken it all with me. From the arrangements I have made with the Sioux it is presumable they will treat you with friendship; but the Chipeways may be disposed to hostilities, and, should you be attacked, calculate on surrendering only with your life. Instruct your men not to fire at random, nor ever, unless the enemy is near enough to make him a point-blank shot. This you must particularly attend to, and punish the first man found acting in contradiction thereto. The greatest economy must be used with the ammunition and provisions. Of the latter I shall furnish Sparks his proportion; and at any time should a man accompany him for a day's hunt, furnish him with four or five balls and extra powder, and on his return take what is left away from him. The provisions must be issued agreeably to the following proportion: For four days N. 80 lbs. of fresh venison, elk, or buffalo, or 60 lbs. fresh bear meat, with one quart of salt for that period. The remainder of what is killed keep frozen in the open air as long as possible, or salt and smoke it, so as to lay up meat for my party and us all to descend the river with. If you are obliged, through the failure of your hunter, to issue out of our reserved provisions, you will deliver, for four days, 18 lbs. of pork or bacon, and 18 lbs. of flour only. This will be sufficient, and must in no instance be exceeded. No whisky will be issued after the present barrel is exhausted, at half a gill per man per day.

Our boats are turned up near your gate. You will make a barrel of pitch, and give them a complete repairing to be ready for us to descend in.

I have delivered to you my journals and observations to this place, with a letter accompanying them to his Excellency, General James Wilkinson, which, should I not return by the time hereafter specified, you will convey to him and deliver personally, requesting his permission to deliver the others committed to your charge.

You will observe the strictest discipline and justice in your command. I expect the men will conduct themselves in such a manner that there will be no complaints made on my return, and that they will be ready to account to a higher tribunal. The date of my return is uncertain; but let no information or reports, except from under my own hand, induce you to quit this place until one month after the ice has broken up at the head of the river; when, if I am not arrived, it will be reasonable to suppose that some disastrous events detain us, and you may repair to St. Louis. You are taught to discriminate between my baggage and United States' property. The latter deliver to the assistant military agent at St. Louis, taking his receipts for the same; the former, if in your power, to Mrs. Pike.

Your party is regularly supplied with provisions, to include the 8th of December only, from which time you are entitled to draw on the United States.

[Signed] Z. M. Pike, Lt.

Art. 8. Letter, Pike to Hugh M'Gillis. (Orig. No. 5, pp. 14-16.)

N. W. Establishment on Leech Lake, Feb. [6th], 1805.

Sir:

As [you are] a proprietor of the N. W. Company and director of the Zond [Fond] du Lac department, I conceive it my duty as an officer of the United States, in whose territory you are, to address you solely on the subject of the many houses under your instructions. As a member of the greatest commercial nation in the world, and of a company long renowned for their extent of connections and greatness of views, you cannot be ignorant of the rigor of the laws of the duties on imports of a foreign power.

Mr. Jay's treaty, it is true, gave the right of trade with the savages to British subjects in the United States territories, but by no means exempted them from paying the duties, obtaining licenses, and subscribing unto all the rules and restrictions of our laws. I find your establishments at every suitable place along the whole extent of the south side of Lake Superior to its head, thence to the source of the Mississippi, and down Red River, and even extending to the center of our newly acquired territory of Louisiana, in which it will probably yet become a question between the two governments, whether our treaties will authorize British subjects to enter into the Indian trade on the same footing as in the other parts of our frontiers, this not having been an integral part of the United States at the time of said treaty. Our traders to the south, on the Lower Mississippi, complain to our government, with justice, that the members of the N. W. Company encircle them on the frontiers of our N. W. territory, and trade with the savages upon superior terms to what they can afford, who pay the duties on their goods imported from Europe, and subscribe to the regulations prescribed by law.

These representations have at length attracted the attention of our government to the object in question, and, with an intention to do themselves as well as citizens justice, they last year took some steps to ascertain the facts and make provision against the growing evil. With this, and also with some geographical and local objects in view, was I dispatched with discretionary orders, with a party of troops, to the source of the Mississippi. I have found, Sir, your commerce and establishments extending beyond our most exaggerated ideas; and in addition to the injury done our revenue by evasion of the duties, other acts done which are more particularly injurious to the honor and dignity of our government. The transactions alluded to are the presenting medals of his Britannic Majesty, and flags of the said government, to the chiefs and warriors resident in the territory of the United States. As political subjects are strictly prohibited to our traders, what would be the ideas of the executive to see foreigners making chiefs, and distributing flags, the standard of an European power? The savages being accustomed to look on that standard, which was the only prevailing one for years, as that which alone has authority in the country, it would not be in the least astonishing to see them revolt from the United States' limited subjection which is claimed over them by the American government, and thereby be the cause of their receiving a chastisement which, although necessary, yet would be unfortunate, as they would have been led astray by the policy of the traders of your country.

I must likewise observe, Sir, that your establishments, if properly known, would be looked on with an eye of dissatisfaction by our government, for another reason, viz., there being so many furnished posts, in case of a rupture between the two powers the English government would not fail to make use of those as places of deposit of arms, ammunition, etc., to be distributed to the savages who joined their arms, to the great annoyance of our territory, and the loss of the lives of many of our citizens. Your flags, Sir, when hoisted in inclosed works, are in direct contradiction of the law of nations, and their practice in like cases, which only admits of foreign flags being expanded on board of vessels, and at the residences of ambassadors or consuls. I am not ignorant of the necessity of your being in such a position as to protect yourself from the sallies of drunken savages, or the more deliberate plans of intending plunderers; and under those considerations have I considered your stockades.

You, and the company of which you are a member, must be conscious from the foregoing statement that strict justice would demand, and I assure you that the law directs, under similar circumstances, a total confiscation of your property, personal imprisonment, and fines. But having discretionary instructions and no reason to think the above conduct to be dictated through ill-will or disrespect to our government, and conceiving it in some degree departing from the character of an officer to embrace the first opportunity of executing those laws, I am willing to sacrifice my prospect of private advantage, conscious that the government looks not to its interest, but to its dignity in the transaction. I have therefore to request of you assurances on the following heads which, setting aside the chicanery of law, as a gentleman you will strictly adhere to:

1st. That you will make representations to your agents, at your headquarters on Lake Superior, of the quantity of goods wanted the ensuing spring for your establishments in the territory of the United States, in time sufficient (or as early as possible) for them to enter them at the C. H. of Michilimackinac, and obtain a clearance and license to trade in due form.

2d. That you will give immediate instructions to all the posts in said territory under your direction, at no time and under no pretense whatever to hoist, or suffer to be hoisted, the English flag. If you conceive a flag necessary, you may make use of that of the United States, which is the only one which can be admitted.

3d. That you will on no further occasion present a flag or medal to an Indian, or hold councils with any of them on political subjects, or others foreign from that of trade; but that, on being applied to on those heads, you will refer them to the American agents, informing them that these are the only persons authorized to hold councils of a political nature with them.

There are many other subjects, such as the distribution of liquor, etc., which would be too lengthy to be treated of in detail. But the company will do well to furnish themselves with our laws regulating commerce with the savages, and regulate themselves in our territories accordingly.

I embrace this opportunity to acknowledge myself and command under singular obligations to yourself and agents for the assistance which you have rendered us, and the polite treatment with which we have been honored. With sentiments of high respect for the establishment and yourself,

I am, Sir,
Your obedient servant,
Z. M. Pike.

Hugh M'Gillis, Esq.,
Proprietor and Agent of the N. W. Company
established at Zond [Fond] Du Lac.

Art. 9. Letter, Hugh M'Gillis to Pike. (Orig. No. 6, pp. 17-19.)

Leech Lake, Feb. 15th, 1806.

Sir:

Your address presented on the 6th inst. has attracted my most serious consideration to the several objects of duties on importations; of presents made to, and our consultations with, Indians; of inclosing our stores and dwelling-houses; and finally, of the custom obtaining to hoist the British flag in the territory belonging to the United States of America. I shall at as early a period as possible present the agents of the N. W. Company with your representations regarding the paying duties on the importation of goods to be sent to our establishments within the bounds of the territory of the United States, as also their being entered at the custom house of Michilimackinac; but I beg to be allowed to present for consideration, that the major part of the goods necessary to be sent to the said establishments for the trade of the ensuing year, are now actually in our stores at Kamanitiguia, our headquarters on Lake Superior, and that it would cause us vast expense and trouble to be obliged to convey those goods back to Michilimackinac to be entered at the custom-house office. We therefore pray that the word of gentlemen with regard to the quantity and quality of the said goods, to be sent to said establishment, may be considered as equivalent to the certainty of a custom-house register. Our intention has never been to injure your traders, paying the duties established by law. We hope those representations to your government respecting our concerns with the Indians may have been dictated with truth, and not exaggerated by envy to prejudice our interests and to throw a stain on our character which may require time to efface from the minds of a people to whom we must ever consider ourselves indebted for that lenity of procedure of which the present is so notable a testimony. The inclosures to protect our stores and dwelling-houses from the insults and barbarity of savage rudeness, have been erected for the security of my property and person in a country, till now, exposed to the wild will of the frantic Indians. We never formed the smallest idea that the said inclosures might ever be useful in the juncture of a rupture between the two powers, nor do we now conceive that such poor shifts will ever be employed by the British government in a country overshadowed with wood so adequate to every purpose. Forts might in a short period of time be built far superior to any stockades we may have occasion to erect.

We were not conscious, Sir, of the error I acknowledge we have been guilty of committing, by exhibiting to view on your territory any standard of Great Britain. I will pledge myself to your government, that I will use my utmost endeavors, as soon as possible, to prevent the future display of the British flag, or the presenting of medals, or the exhibiting to public view any other mark of European power, throughout the extent of territory known to belong to the dominion of the United States. The custom has long been established and we innocently and inoffensively, as we imagined, have conformed to it till the present day.

Be persuaded that on no consideration shall any Indian be entertained on political subjects, or on any affairs foreign to our trade; and that reference shall be made to the American agents, should any application be made worthy such reference. Be also assured that we, as a commercial company, must find it ever our interests to interfere as little as possible with affairs of government in the course of trade, ignorant as we are in this rude and distant country of the political views of nations.

We are convinced that the inestimable advantages arising from the endeavors of your government to establish a more peaceful course of trade in this part of the territory belonging to the United States are not acquired through the mere liberality of a nation, and we are ready to contribute to the expense necessarily attending them. We are not averse to paying the common duties established by law, and will ever be ready to conform ourselves to all rules and regulations of trade that may be established according to common justice.

I beg to be allowed to say that we have reason to hope that every measure will be adopted to secure and facilitate the trade with the Indians; and these hopes seem to be confirmed beyond the smallest idea of doubt, when we see a man sent among us who, instead of private considerations to pecuniary views, prefers the honor, dignity, and lenity of his government, and whose transactions are in every respect so conformable to equity. When we behold an armed force ready to protect or chastise as necessity or policy may direct, we know not how to express our gratitude to that people whose only view seems to be to promote the happiness of all, the savages that rove over the wild confines of their domains not excepted.

It is to you, Sir, we feel ourselves most greatly indebted, whose claim to honor, esteem, and respect will ever be held in high estimation by myself and associates. The danger and hardships, by your fortitude vanquished and by your perseverance overcome, are signal, and will ever be preserved in the annals of the N. W. Company. Were it solely from consideration of those who have exposed their lives in a long and perilous march through a country where they had every distress to suffer, and many dangers to expect,—and this with a view to establish peace in a savage country,—we should think ourselves under the most strict obligation to assist them. But we know we are in a country where hospitality and gratitude are to be considered above every other virtue, and therefore have offered for their relief what our poor means will allow: and, Sir, permit me to embrace this opportunity to testify that I feel myself highly honored by your acceptance of such accommodations as my humble roof could afford.

With great consideration and high respect for the government of the United States, allow me to express my esteem and regard for yourself.

I am, Sir,
Your obedient humble servant,
[Signed] H. M'Gillis,
Of N. W. Company

Lieut. Pike,
1st. Regt. United States Infantry.

Art. 10. Speech, Pike to the Sauteaux, in a Council at Leech Lake, Feb. 16th, 1806. (Orig. No. 7, pp. 19-22.)

Brothers: A few months since the Spaniards shut up the mouth of the Mississippi, and prevented the Americans from floating down to the sea. This your father, the President of the United States, would not admit of. He therefore took such measures as to open the river, remove the Spaniards from both sides of the Mississippi to a great distance on the other side of the Missouri, and open the road from the ocean of the east to that of the west. The Americans being then at peace with all the world, your great father, the President of the United States, began to look round on his red children, in order to see what he could do to render them happy and sensible of his protection. For that purpose he sent two of his Captains, Lewis and Clark, up the Missouri, to pass on to the west sea, in order to see all his new children, to go round the world that way, and return by water. They stayed the first winter at the Mandane's[V-11] village, where you might have heard of them. This year your great father directed his great war-chief (General Wilkinson) at St. Louis, to send a number of his young warriors up the Missouri, Illinois, Osage River, and other courses, to learn the situation of his red children, to encourage the good, punish the bad, and make peace between them all by persuading them to lay by the hatchet and follow the young warriors to St. Louis, where the great war-chief will open their ears that they may hear the truth, and their eyes, to see what is right.

Brothers: I was chosen to ascend the Mississippi, to bear to his red children the words of their father; and the Great Spirit has opened the eyes and ears of all the nations that I have passed to listen to my words. The Sauks and Reynards are planting corn and raising cattle. The Winnebagos continue peaceable, as usual, and even the Sioux have laid by the hatchet at my request. Yes, my brothers, the Sioux, who have so long and so obstinately waged war against the Chipeways, have agreed to lay by the hatchet, smoke the calumet, and become again your brothers, as they were wont to be.[V-12]

Brothers: You behold the pipe of Wabasha as a proof of what I say. Little Corbeau, Tills [Fils] De Pinchow, and L'Aile Rouge had marched 250 warriors to revenge the blood of their women and children, slain last year at the St. Peters. I sent a runner after them, stopped their march, and met them in council at the mouth of the St. Peters, where they promised to remain peaceable until my return; and if the Ouchipawah [Chippewa] chiefs accompanied me, to receive them as brothers and accompany us to St. Louis, there to bury the hatchet and smoke the pipe in the presence of our great war-chief; and to request him to punish those who first broke the peace.

Brothers: I sent flags and a message up the St. Peters to the bands of Sioux on that river, requesting them to remain quiet, and not to go to war. The People of the Leaves [Gens des Feuilles] received my message and sent me word that they would obey; but the Yanctongs and Sussitongs had left the St. Peters previous to my message arriving, and did not receive it. When I left my fort they had appointed a day for 50 of their chiefs and warriors to come and see me, but I could not wait for them; so that, as to their dispositions for peace or war, I cannot answer positively.

Brothers: I have therefore come to fetch some of your approved chiefs with me to St. Louis.

Brothers: In speaking to you I speak to brave warriors. It is therefore not my intention to deceive you. Possibly we may meet with some bad people who may wish to do us ill; but if so, we will die together, certain that our fathers, the Americans, will settle with them for our blood.

Brothers: I find you have received from your traders English medals and flags. These you must deliver up, and your chiefs who go with me shall receive others from the American government, in their room.

Brothers: Traders have no authority to make chiefs; and in doing this they have done what is not right. It is only great chiefs, appointed by your fathers, who have that authority. But at the same time you are under considerable obligations to your traders, who come over large waters, high mountains, and up swift falls, to supply you with clothing for your women and children, and ammunition for your hunters, to feed you, and keep you from perishing with cold.

Brothers: Your chiefs should see your traders done justice, oblige your young men to pay their credits, and protect them from insults; and your traders, on their part, must not cheat the Indians, but give them the value of their skins.

Brothers: Your father is going to appoint chiefs of his own to reside among you, to see justice done to his white and red children, who will punish those who deserve punishment, without reference to the color of their skin.

Brothers: I understand that one of your young men killed an American at Red Lake last year, but the murderer is far off. Let him keep so—send him where we never may hear of him more; for were he here I would be obliged to demand him of you, and make my young men shoot him. My hands on this journey are yet clear of blood—may the Great Spirit keep them so!

Brothers: We expect, in the summer, soldiers to come to the St. Peters. Your chiefs who go with me may either come up with them, or some traders who return sooner. They may make their selection.

Brothers: Your father finds that the rum with which you are supplied by the traders is the occasion of quarrels, murders, and bloodshed; and that, instead of buying clothing for your women and children, you spend your skins in liquor, etc. He has determined to direct his young warriors and chiefs to prohibit it, and keep it from among you. But I have found the traders here with a great deal of rum on hand. I have therefore given them permission to sell what they have, that you may forget it by degrees, against next year, when none will be suffered to come in the country.

Art. 11. Speeches, Chippewa Chiefs[V-13] to Pike, at Leech Lake, Feb. 16th, 1806. (Orig. No. 8, pp. 22, 23.)

1st. Sucre of Red lake (Wiscoup).

My father: I have heard and understood the words of our great father. It overjoys me to see you make peace among us. I should have accompanied you had my family been present, and would have gone to see my father, the great war-chief.

My father: This medal I hold in my hands I received from the English chiefs. I willingly deliver it up to you. Wabasha's calumet, with which I am presented, I receive with all my heart. Be assured that I will use my best endeavors to keep my young men quiet. There is my calumet. I send it to my father the great war-chief. What does it signify that I should go to see him? Will not my pipe answer the same purpose?

My father: You will meet with the Sioux on your return. You will make them smoke my pipe, and tell them that I have let fall my hatchet.

My father: Tell the Sioux on the upper part of the river St. Peters to mark trees with the figure of a calumet, that we of Red Lake who may go that way, should we see them, may make peace with them, being assured of their pacific disposition when we see the calumet marked on the trees.

2d. The Chief de la Terre of Leech lake (Obigouitte).

My father: I am glad to hear that we and the Sioux are now brothers, peace being made between us. If I have received a medal from the English traders, it was not as a mark of rank or distinction, as I considered it, but merely because I made good hunts and paid my debts. Had Sucre been able to go and see our father, the great war-chief, I should have accompanied him; but I am determined to go to Michilimackinac next spring to see my brothers the Americans.

3d. Geuelle Platte of Leech lake (Eskibugeckoge).

My father: My heart beat high with joy when I heard that you had arrived, and that all the nations through which you passed had received and made peace among them.

My father: You ask me to accompany you to meet our father, the great war-chief. This I would willingly do, but certain considerations prevent me. I have sent my calumet to all the Sauteaux who hunt round about, to assemble to form a war-party; should I be absent, they, when assembled, might strike those with whom we have made peace, and thus kill our brothers. I must therefore remain here to prevent them from assembling, as I fear that there are many who have begun already to prepare to meet me. I present you with the medal of my uncle here present. He received it from the English chiefs as a recompense for his good hunts. As for me, I have no medal here; it is at my tent, and I will cheerfully deliver it up. That medal was given me by the English traders, in consideration of something that I had done; and I can say that three-fourths of those here present belong to me.

My father: I promise you, and you may confide in my word, that I will preserve peace; that I bury my hatchet; and that even should the Sioux come and strike me, for the first time I would not take up my hatchet; but should they come and strike me a second time, I would dig up my hatchet and revenge myself.

Art. 12. Extract of a letter, Pike to Robert Dickson, Lower Red Cedar Lake, Feb. 26th, 1806. (Orig. No. 9, pp. 23, 24.)

Mr. Grant was prepared to go on a trading voyage among the Fols Avoins; but that was what I could not by any means admit of, and I hope that, on a moment's reflection, you will admit the justice of my refusal. For what could be a greater piece of injustice than for me to permit you to send goods, illegally brought into the country, down into the same quarter, to trade for the credits of men who have paid their duties, regularly taken out licenses, and in other respects acted conformably to law? They might exclaim with justice, "What! Lt. Pike, not content with suffering the laws to slumber when it was his duty to have executed them, has now suffered the N. W. Company's agents to come even here to violate them, and injure the citizens of the United States—certainly he must be corrupted to admit this."

This, Sir, would be the natural conclusion of all persons.

Art. 13. Letter, Pike to La Jeunesse. (Orig. No. 10, p. 24.)

Grand Isle, Upper Mississippi, Apr. 9th, 1806.

Sir:

Being informed that you have arrived here with an intention of selling spirituous liquors to the savages of this quarter, together with other merchandise under your charge, I beg leave to inform you that the sale of spirituous liquors on the Indian territories, to any savages whatsoever, is contrary to a law of the United States for regulating trade with the savages and preserving peace on the frontiers; and that notwithstanding the custom has hitherto obtained on the Upper Mississippi, no person whatsoever has authority therefor. As the practice may have a tendency to occasion broils and dissensions among the savages, thereby occasioning bloodshed and an infraction of the good understanding which now, through my endeavors, so happily exists, I have, at your particular request, addressed you this note in writing, informing you that in case of an infraction I shall conceive it my duty, as an officer of the United States, to prosecute according to the pains and penalties of the law.

I am, Sir,
With all due consideration,
Your obedient servant,
[Signed] Z. M. Pike, Lt.

Mr. La Jennesse.

Art. 14. Letter, Pike to Wilkinson. (Orig. No. 11, pp. 25, 26.)

Prairie De Chien, Apr. 18, 1806.

Dear General:

I arrived here within the hour, and as Mr. Jearreau, of Cahokia, embarks for St. Louis early to-morrow morning, I embrace this opportunity to give a slight sketch of the events of my expedition. Being obliged to steal the hours from my repose, I hope the General will pardon the conciseness of my epistle.

I pushed forward last October with all eagerness, in hopes to make Lake De Sable, and return to St. Louis in the autumn. The weather was mild and promising until the middle of the month, when a sudden change took place and the ice immediately commenced running. I was then conscious of my inability to return, as the falls and other obstacles would retain me until the river would close. I then conceived it best to station part of my men, and push my discovery with the remainder on foot. I marched with 11 soldiers and my interpreter, 700 miles, to the source of the Mississippi, through (I may without vanity say) as many hardships as almost any party of Americans ever experienced, by cold and hunger. I was on the communication of Red river and the Mississippi, the former being a water of Hudson's bay.[V-14] The British flag, which was expanded on some very respectable positions, has given place to that of the United States wherever we passed; likewise, we have the faith and honor of the N. W. Company for about $13,000 duties this year; and by the voyage peace is established between the Sioux and Sauteurs. These objects I have been happy enough to accomplish without the loss of one man, although once fired on. I expect hourly the Sussitongs, Yanctongs, Wachpecoutes, and three other bands of Sioux; some are from the head of the St. Peters, and some from the plains west of that river. From here I bring with me a few of the principal men only, agreeably to your orders; also, some chiefs of the Fols Avoins or Menomones, and Winebagos, the latter of whom have murdered three men since my passing here last autumn. The murderers I shall demand, and am in expectation of obtaining two, for whom I now have irons making, and expect to have them with me on my arrival. Indeed, Sir, the insolence of the savages in this quarter is unbounded; and unless an immediate example is made, we shall certainly be obliged to enter into a general war with them.

My party has been some small check to them this winter, as I was determined to preserve the dignity of our flag, or die in the attempt.

I presume, General, that my voyage will be productive of much new, useful, and interesting information for our government, although detailed in the unpolished diction of a soldier of fortune.

The river broke up at my stockade, 600 miles above here, on the 7th inst., and Lake Pepin was passable for boats only on the 14th. Thus you may perceive, Sir, I have not been slow in my descent, leaving all the traders behind me. From the time it will take to make my arrangements, and the state of the water, I calculate on arriving at the cantonment [Belle Fontaine] on the 4th of May; and hope my General will be assured that nothing but the most insurmountable obstacles shall detain me one moment.

N. B. I beg leave to caution the General against attending to the reports of any individuals relating to this country, as the most unbounded prejudices and party rancor pervade almost generally.

I am, dear Sir,
With great consideration,
Your obedient servant,
[Signed] Z. M. Pike, Lt.

Art. 15.[V-15] Speech, Pike to the Puants at Prairie Du Chien, Apr. 20th, 1806. (Part of Orig. No. 12, pp. 26, 27.)

Brothers: When I passed here last autumn I requested to see you on my return. I am pleased to see you have listened to my words. It pleased the Great Spirit to open the ears of all the nations through which I passed, to hear and attend to the words of their father. Peace has been established between two of the most powerful nations in this quarter.

Notwithstanding all this, some of your nation have been bold enough to kill some of the white people. Not content with firing on the canoes descending the Ouiscousing last autumn, they have killed a man on Rock river, when sitting peaceably in his tent. They have also recently murdered a young man near this place, without any provocation whatever. As an officer of the United States, it is my duty to demand the murderers; and I do now demand them.

Brothers: In this action I am not influenced or urged by any individual of this place, or the people generally; no more than as it is my duty to give all our citizens all the protection in my power. I will not deceive you. If the prisoners are delivered to me, I shall put them in irons, under my guards, and in all instances treat them as men guilty of a capital crime; on their arrival below, they will be tried for their lives; and if it be proved they have killed these people without provocation, in all probability they will be put to death. If, on the contrary, it is proved that the whites were the aggressors, and it was only self-defence, it will be deemed justifiable, and they will be sent back to their nation.

It becomes you to consider well whether in case of a refusal you are sufficiently powerful to protect these men against the power of the United States, which have always, since the treaty of 1795, treated all the savages as their children; but if they are obliged to march troops to punish the many murders committed on their citizens, then the innocent will suffer with the guilty.

My demand will be reported in candor and truth below; when the general will take such steps as he may deem proper. But I hope, for the sake of your innocent women and children, you will do us and yourselves justice. I was directed to invite a few chiefs down with me to St. Louis. Many of different bands are about to descend with me. I now give an invitation to two or three of your principal men to descend with me. Whatever are your determinations, I pledge the faith of a soldier for a safe conduct back to your nation. At present, I am not instructed to act by force to procure those men, therefore you will consider yourselves as acting without restraint, and under free deliberations.

They replied that they thanked me for the generous and candid manner in which I had explained myself, and that they would give me an answer to-morrow.

Art. 16. Further Conferences with Indians at Prairie du Chien, Apr. 21st, 1806. (Part of Orig. No. 12, pp. 27-29.)

The Puants met me in council, agreeably to promise. Karamone, their chief, addressed me, and said they had come to reply to my demand of yesterday. He requested that I, with the traders, would listen. A soldier called Little Thunder then arose and said: "The chiefs were for giving up the murderer present; but it was the opinion of the soldiers that they should themselves take him with the others to their father. But if I preferred their taking one down now, they would do it; if, on the contrary, I expected all three, they would immediately depart in pursuit of the others, and bring them all together to their father. That if he did not bring them he would deliver himself up to the Americans." I replied: "He must not attempt to deceive. That I had before told him that I was not authorized to seize their men by force of arms, but that I wished to know explicitly the time when we might expect them at St. Louis, in order that our general should know what steps to take in case they did not arrive. That the consequence of a non-compliance would be serious to themselves and their children. Also that they had recently hoisted a British flag near this place which, had I been here, I should have prevented. I advised them to bring their British flags and medals down to St. Louis, to deliver them up, and receive others in exchange." Their reply was: "In ten days to the Prairie, and thence to St. Louis in ten days more."

Held a council with the Sioux, in which the chiefs of the Yanctongs, Sussitongs, Sioux of the head of the De Moyen, and part of the Gens Du Lac were present. Wabasha first spoke, in answer to my speech, wherein I had recapitulated the conduct of the Sauteurs, their desire and willingness for peace, their arrangements for next summer, the pipes they had sent, etc. Also, the wish of the general for some of the chiefs to descend below. Recommended the situation and good intentions of the young chiefs at the mouth of the St. Peters, to the others; and that they should give them assistance to keep the bad men in awe.

They all acquiesced in the peace with the Sauteurs, but said generally they doubted their bad faith, as they had experienced it many a time. Nez Corbeau said he had been accused of being hired to kill Mr. Dixon [Dickson], but he here solemnly denied ever having been instigated to any such action.

Tonnere Rouge then arose and said: Jealousy was in a great measure the principal cause of his descending. That if any trader ever had cause to complain of him, now let him do it publicly. That last year an officer went up the Missouri, gave flags and medals, made chiefs, and played the devil and all. That this year liquor was restricted [forbidden] to the Indians on the Louisiana side, and permitted on this. He wished to know the reason of those arrangements.

I replied that the officer who ascended the Missouri was authorized by their father; and that to make chiefs of them, etc., was what I now invited them down for. As to liquor, it was too long an explanation to give them here, but it would be explained to them below; and that in a very short time liquor would be restricted on both sides of the river.

The Puants in the evening came to the house, and Macraragah, alias Merchant, spoke: That last spring he had embarked to go down to St. Louis; but at De Buques [Dubuque's] the Reynards gave back. That when he saw me last autumn he gave me his hand without shame; but since it had pleased the father of life to cover them with shame, they now felt themselves miserable. They implored me to present their flags and medals to the general, as a proof of their good intentions; and when I arrived at St. Louis, to assure the general they were not far behind. The chiefs and the soldiers would follow with the murderers; but begged I would make their road clear, etc. Delivered his pipe and flag.

Karamone then spoke, with apparent difficulty; assured me of the shame, disgrace, and distress of their nation, and that he would fulfill what the others had said; said that he sent by me the medal of his father, which he considered himself no longer worthy to wear—putting it around my neck, trembling—and begged me to intercede with the general in their favor, etc.

I assured him that the American was a generous nation, not confounding the innocent with the guilty; that when they had delivered up the three or four dogs who had covered them with blood, we would again look on them as our children; advised them to take courage that, if they did well, they should be treated well; said that I would tell the general everything relative to the affair; also, their repentance, and determination to deliver themselves and the murderers, and that I would explain about their flags and medals.

Art. 17. Letter, Pike to Campbell and Fisher. (Orig. No. 13, pp. 29, 30.)

(Notice to Messrs. Campbell and Fisher, for taking depositions against the murderers of the Puant nation.)

Prairie des Chiens, Apr. 20th, 1806.

Gentlemen:

Having demanded of the Puants the authors of the late atrocious murders, and understanding that it is their intention to deliver them to me, I have to request of you, as magistrates of this territory, that you will have all the depositions of those facts taken which it is in your power to procure; and if at any future period, previous to the final decisions of their fate, further proofs can be obtained, that you will have them properly authenticated and forwarded to his Excellency, General Wilkinson.

I am, Gentlemen,
With respect,
Your obedient servant,
[Signed] Z. M. Pike, Lt.

Art. 18. Letter, Pike to Wilkinson. (Orig. No. 14, pp. 30, 31.)

Fort St. Louis, May 26th, 1806.

Dear Sir:

I have hitherto detained the medals and flags, intending to present them to you at the final conclusion of my vouchers on the subject of my correspondence with the savages. But in order that the general might know of whom I had obtained medals and flags, I gave him a memorandum when I handed in my vouchers on the subject of the N. W. Company. Now I have thought proper to send them by the bearer, marked with the names of the chiefs from whom I obtained them.

I also send you a pipe and beaver robe of Tonnere Rouge, as they are the handsomest of any which I received on the whole route. I have several other pipes, two sacks, and one robe; but as they bore no particular message, I conceived the general would look on it as a matter of no consequence; indeed, none except the Sauteurs' [presents] were accompanied by a talk, but just served as an emblem of the good will of the moment. I likewise send the skins of the lynx and brelaw [badger], as the general may have an opportunity to forward them.

Some gentlemen have promised me a mate for my dog; if I obtain him, the pair, or the single one with the sleigh, is at the general's service, to be transmitted to the States as we determined on doing. I mentioned in my memorandums the engagements I was under relative to the flags or medals, and should any early communications be made to that country, I hope the subject may not be forgotten. I have labeled each article with the name of those from whom I obtained them; also the names of the different animals.

I am, sir,
With esteem and high consideration,
Your obedient servant,
[Signed] Z. M. Pike, Lt.

General James Wilkinson.

My faith was pledged to the savage chiefs for the replacing of the medals and flags of the British government which they surrendered me, by others of the same magnitude of the United States; but owing to the change of agents, and a variety of circumstances, it was never fulfilled. This has left a number of the Sioux and Sauteur chiefs without their distinguishing marks of dignity, and has induced them to look on my conduct toward them as a premeditated fraud. This would render my life in danger should I ever return amongst them, and the situation of any other officer who should presume to make a similar demand extremely delicate; besides, it has compromitted with those savage warriors the faith of our government, which, to enable any government ever to do good, should be held inviolate.[V-16]

Art. 19. Letter,[V-17] Pike to Wilkinson. (Orig. No. 15, pp. 31-33.)

Bellefontaine, July 2d, 1806.

Dear Sir:

I have at length finished all my reports, observations, and journals, which arose from my late voyage to the source of the Mississippi, and hope they may prove interesting, from the information on different subjects which they contain.

I perceive that I differ materially from Captain Lewis[V-18] in my account of the numbers, manners, and morals of the Sioux. But our reception by that nation at the first interview being so different, it no doubt left an impression on our minds, which may have, unknown to ourselves, given a cast to our observations. I will not only vouch for the authenticity of my account as to numbers, arms, etc., from my own notes, but from having had them revised and corrected by a gentleman[V-19] of liberal education, who has resided 18 years in that nation, speaks their language, and for some years past has been collecting materials for their natural and philosophical history.

I have not attempted to give an account of nations of Indians whom I did not visit, except the Assinniboins, whom, from their intimate connection with the Sioux, in a lineal point of view, it would have been improper to leave out of the catalogue.

The correctness of the geographical parts of the voyage I will vouch for, as I spared neither time, fatigue, nor danger, to see for myself every part connected with my immediate route.

As the general already knows, at the time I left St. Louis there were no instruments proper for celestial observations, excepting those which he furnished me, which were inadequate to taking the longitude; neither had I the proper tables or authors to accomplish that object, though it can no doubt be ascertained by various charts at different points of my route. Nor had I proper time-pieces or instruments for meteorological observations. Those made were from an imperfect instrument which I purchased in the town of St. Louis.

I do not possess the qualifications of the naturalist, and even had they been mine, it would have been impossible to gratify them to any great extent, as we passed with rapidity over the country we surveyed, which was covered with snow six months out of the nine I was absent. And indeed, my thoughts were too much engrossed in making provision for the exigencies of the morrow to attempt a science which requires time, and a placidity of mind which seldom fell to my lot.

The journal in itself will have little to strike the imagination, being but a dull detail of our daily march, and containing many notes which should have come into the geographical part; others of observations on the savage character, and many that were never intended to be included in my official report.

The daily occurrences written at night, frequently by firelight, when extremely fatigued, and the cold so severe as to freeze the ink in my pen, of course have little claim to elegance of expression or style; but they have truth to recommend them, which, if always attended to, would strip the pages of many of our journalists of their most interesting occurrences.

The general will please to recollect also, that I had scarcely returned to St. Louis before the [Arkansaw] voyage now in contemplation was proposed to me; and that, after some consideration my duty, and inclination in some respects, induced me to undertake it. The preparations for my new voyage prevented the possibility of my paying that attention to the correction of my errors that I should otherwise have done. This, with the foregoing reasons, will, I hope, be deemed a sufficient apology for the numerous errors, tautologies, and egotisms which will appear.

I am, dear General,
With great respect,
Your obedient servant,
[Signed] Z. M. Pike,
Lt. 1st Regt. Infty.

General James Wilkinson.

CHAPTER VI.

COMMERCE OF THE MISSISSIPPI.[VI-1]

Observations on the trade, views, and policy of the North West Company, and the national objects connected with their commerce, as it interests the Government of the United States.[VI-2]

The fur-trade in Canada has always been considered an object of the first importance to that colony, and has been cherished by the respective governors of that province by every regulation in their power, under both the French and English administrations. The great and almost unlimited influence the traders of that country acquired over the savages was severely felt, and will long be remembered by the citizens on our frontiers. Every attention was paid by the cabinet of St. James, in our treaty with Great Britain, to secure to their Canadian subjects the privilege of the Indian trade within our territories, and with what judgment they have improved the advantages obtained by the mother country, time will soon unfold.

In the year 1766, the trade was first extended from Michilimackinac, to the northwest, by a few desperate adventurers, whose mode of life on the voyage, and short residence in civilized society, obtained for them the appellation of Coureurs des Bois. From those trifling beginnings arose the present North West Company, who, notwithstanding the repeated attacks made on their trade, have withstood every shock, and are now, by the coalition of the late X. Y. Company, established on so firm a basis as to bid defiance to every opposition which can be made by private individuals.

They, by a late purchase of the king's posts in Canada, extend their line of trade from Hudson's Bay to the St. Lawrence, and up that river on both sides to the Lakes; thence to the head of Lake Superior, at which place the North West Company have their headquarters; thence to the source of Red river and all its tributary streams through the country to the Missouri; through the waters of Lake Winipie to the Saskashawin; on that river to its source; up Elk river to the Lake of the Hills; up Peace river to the Rocky mountains; from the Lake of the Hills [Lac des Buttes, old French name of Lake Athapasca] up Slave river to Slave Lake. This year they have dispatched a Mr. [(not Sir) Alexander] Mackenzie on a voyage of trade and discovery down Mackenzie's river to the north sea; and also a Mr. M'Coy,[VI-3] to cross the Rocky mountains and proceed to the western ocean with the same objects in view.

They have had a gentleman by the name of [David] Thompson[VI-4] making a geographical survey of the northwest part of the continent; who, for three years, with an astonishing spirit of enterprise and perseverance, passed over all that extensive and unknown country. His establishment, although not splendid, the mode of traveling not admitting it, was such as to admit of unlimited expenses in everything necessary to facilitate his inquiries; and he is now engaged in digesting the important results of his enterprise.

I find from the observations and suggestions of Mr. Thompson, when at the [Julian] source of the Mississippi, that it was his opinion the line of limits between the United States and Great Britain must run such a course from the head of the Lake of the Woods as to touch the source of the Mississippi; and this I discovered to be the opinion of the North West Company, who, we may suppose or reasonably conclude, speak the language held forth by their government. The admission of this pretension will throw out of our territory all the upper part of Red river, and nearly two-fifths of the territory of Louisiana. Whereas, if the line be run due west from the head of the Lake of the Woods, it will cross Red river nearly at the entrance of Reed river, and, it is conjectured, strike the western ocean at Birch Bay, in Queen Charlotte Sound. Those differences of opinion, it is presumed, might be easily adjusted between the two governments at the present day; but it is believed that delays, by unfolding the true value of the country, may produce difficulties which do not at present exist.

The North West Company have made establishments at several places on the south side of Lake Superior, and on the head waters of the Sauteaux and St. Croix, which discharge into the Mississippi. The first I met with on the voyage up was at Lower Red Cedar Lake, about 150 miles above Isle de Corfeau [Corbeau], on the east side of the river, and distant therefrom six miles. It is situated on the north point of the lake, and consists of log buildings, flanked by picketed bastions on two of its angles. The next establishment I met with was situated on Sandy Lake: for a description of which, see document [herewith] marked A. Midway between Sandy Lake and Leech Lake is a small house not worthy of notice [Grant's: see note^52 p. 144]. On the southwest side of the latter lake, from the outlet of the Mississippi, stand the headquarters of the Fond du Lac department: for information relative to which, have reference to document marked B. Here resides the director of this department. In document C is a recapitulation of the specific articles of 115 packs of peltry, which will give an idea of the whole, amounting per said voucher to 233 packs per annum in the Fond du Lac department. Document D will explain the relative price of goods in that district; but the trading prices are various, according to situations and circumstances. Voucher E shows the number of men, women, and children in the service of the North West Company in the district aforesaid, with their pay per annum, etc. This department brings in annually 40 canoes; from which, by a calculation made by a gentleman [George Anderson] of veracity and information, who has been 18 years in the Indian trade and in the habit of importing goods by Michilimackinac, it appears that the annual amount of duties would be about $13,000. The Lower Red river, which I conceive to be within our territory, would yield about half that sum, $6,500, and the Hudson Bay Company's servants, who import by the way of Lake Winipie, $6,500 more.

Thus is the United States defrauded annually of about $26,000. From my observations and information, I think it will be an easy matter to prevent the smuggling of the Fond du Lac department, by establishing a post with a garrison of 100 men, and an office of the customs, near the mouth of the St. Louis, where all goods for the Fond du Lac department must enter. This is at present the distributing point, where the company have an establishment, and where the goods, on being received from Kamanitiquia, are embarked for their different destinations. That point also commands the communication with Lake de Sable, Leech Lake, Red Lake, etc. I am also of opinion that the goods for Red River, if it be within our boundary, would enter here, in preference to being exposed to seizure. It is worthy of remark that the charter of the Hudson's Bay Company extends to all its waters: and if the British government conceived they had authority to make such a grant, they certainly would claim the country therein specified, which would extend far south of the west line from the head of the Lake of the Woods.

The North West Company were about to push their trade down the Mississippi until they would have met the traders of Michilimackinac; but I gave them to understand that it could not be admitted, as appears per letter to Mr. Dickson.

A. Description of the N. W. Company's Fort at Sandy Lake.

The fort at Sandy Lake is situated on the S. side, near the W. end, and is a stockade 100 feet square, with bastions at the S. E. and N. W. angles, pierced for small-arms. The pickets are squared on the outside, round within, about one foot diameter, and 13 feet above ground. There are three gates: the principal one fronts the lake on the N., and is 10 × 9 feet; the one on the W. 6 × 4 feet; and the one on the E. 6 × 5 feet. As you enter by the main gate you have on the left a building of one story, 20 feet square, the residence of the superintendent. Opposite this house on the left of the E. gate, is a house 25 × 15 feet, the quarters of the men. On entering the W. gate you find the storehouse on the right, 30 × 20 feet, and on your left a building 40 × 20 feet, which contains rooms for clerks, a workshop, and provision store.

On the W. and N. W. is a picketed inclosure of about four acres, in which last year they raised 400 bushels of Irish potatoes, cultivating no other vegetables. In this inclosure is a very ingeniously constructed vault to contain the potatoes, and which likewise has secret apartments to conceal liquors, dry goods, etc.

B. Description of the N. W. Company's Fort at Leech Lake.

The fort is situated on the W. side of the lake, in lat. 47° 16´ 13´´ N. It is built near the shore, on the declivity of a rising ground, having an inclosed garden of about 5 acres on the N. W. It is a square stockade of 150 feet, the pickets being 16 feet in length, 3 feet under and 13 feet above the ground, bound together by horizontal bars each 10 feet long. Pickets of 10 feet are likewise driven into the ground on the inside of the work, opposite the apertures between the large pickets. At the W. and E. angles are square bastions, pierced for fire-arms.

The main building in the rear, fronting the lake, is 60 × 25 feet, 1½ story high; the W. end of this is occupied by the director of the Fond du Lac department. He has a hall 18 feet square, bed-room, and kitchen, with an office. The center is a trading shop of 12½ feet square, with a bedroom in the rear, of the same dimensions. The E. end is a large store 25 × 20 feet, under which is an ice-house well filled. The loft extends over the whole building, and contains bales of goods, packs of peltries; also, chests with 500 bushels of wild rice. Beside the ice-house, there are cellars under all the other parts of the building. The doors and window-shutters are musket-proof.

On the W. side is a range of buildings 54 × 18 feet, fronting the parade, the N. end of which is a cooper's shop 18 × 14 feet, with a cellar; joining to which is a room called the Indian hall, expressly for the reception of Indians, and in which the chiefs who met me in council were entertained. In this hall are two closed bunks for interpreters; its dimensions are 22 × 18 feet. Adjoining this is a room 18 feet square for the clerks, in which my small party were quartered. Under both of the latter rooms are cellars.

On the E. side is a range of buildings 50 × 18 feet, which has one room of 20 feet and one of 15 feet, for quarters for the men; also, a blacksmith's shop of 15 feet, which is occupied by an excellent workman. On the left of the main gate, fronting the river, is the flag-staff, 50 feet in height.

They intended building a small blockhouse over the main gate, fronting the lake, to place a small piece of artillery in. There are likewise gates on the N. and E. flanks, of about 10 × 8 feet.

D. The price of goods in exchange with the Indians.

Blankets, 3 and 2½ point, each, | [VI-5]plus 4 | $8
Blankets, 2 point, each, | 2 | 4
Blankets, 1½ point, each, | 1 | 2
Blue strouds, per fathom, | 4 | 8
Scarlet cloth, 8-6, | 6 | 12
Worsted binding, per piece, | 4 | 8
Vermilion, per pound, | 4 | 8
Molten [glass beads], blue and white, per fathom, | 2 | 4
Gunpowder, per half-pint, | 1 | 2
Balls, per 30, | 1 | 2
Shot of all sorts, per handful, | 1 | 2
Tobacco, per carrot, | 4 | 8
Twist tobacco, per fathom, | 1 | 2
Beaver-traps, each, | 4 | 8
Half-axes, each, | 2 | 4
Castites, | 1 | 2
N. W. guns, each, | 10 | 20
Knives, each, | 1 | 2

For wampum and silver works, as well as rum, there is no regulation; but the real price of goods here, in exchange for peltry, is about 250 per cent. on the prime cost.

Geo. Anderson.

C.—Recapitulation of Furs and Peltries, North West Company, 1804-5, Fond du Lac Department; Marks and Numbers as per margin.

LEGEND

- Column A = Marks.

- Column B = Numbers.

- Column C = Wt. of Packs, lbs.

- Column D = Bears.

- Column E = Bear Cubs.

- Column F = Beaver, Mixed.

- Column G = Beaver, Large.

- Column H = Beaver, Small.

- Column I = Beaver, Wt. in lbs.

- Column J = Badgers.

- Column K = Carcajou.

- Column L = Deer.

- Column M = Foxes.

- Column N = Fishers.

- Column O = Lynxes.

- Column P = Martens.

- Column Q = Minks.

- Column R = Original skins dr's'd.

- Column S = Do. Parchment.

- Column T = Do. Green.

- Column U = Otters.

- Column V = Racoons.

- Column W = Musk Rats.

- Column X = Wolves.

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X
N. W. L. L. [Leech Lake.] | 1 | 92 | | | | | | | | | 45 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 2 | 92 | | | | | | | | | 47 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 3 | 93 | | | | | | | | | 47 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 4 | 91 | | | | | | | | | 45 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 5 | 90 | | | | | | | | | 47 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 6 | 91 | | | | | | | | | 47 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 7 | 92 | | | | | | | | | 39 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 8 | 87 | | | | | | | | | 40 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 9 | 92 | | | | | | | | | 38 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 10 | 91 | | | | | | | | | 38 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 11 | 92 | | | | | | | | | 38 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 12 | 87 | | | | | | | | | 38 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 13 | 90 | | | | | | | | | 44 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 14 | 92 | | | | | | | | | 39 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 15 | 93 | | | | | | | | | 35 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 16 | 93 | | | | | | | | | 40 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 17 | 99 | | | | | | | | | 40 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 18 | 88 | | | | | | | | | 35 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 19 | 96 | | | | | | | | | 2 | | | | | | | | | | | 655 |
| 20 | 95 | | | | | | | | | 2 | | | | | | | | | | | 607 |
| 21 | 90 | | | 68 | | | 90 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 22 | 89 | | | 66 | | | 89 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 23 | 92 | | | 64 | | | 92 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 24 | 92 | | | 71 | | | 92 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 25 | 92 | | | 68 | | | 92 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 26 | 92 | | | 65 | | | 92 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 27 | 91 | | | 73 | | | 91 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 28 | 89 | | | 75 | | | 89 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 29 | 90 | | | 75 | | | 90 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 30 | 90 | | | 85 | | | 90 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 31 | 91 | | | 61 | | | 91 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 32 | 92 | | | 60 | | | 92 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 33 | 91 | | | 67 | | | 91 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 34 | 91 | | | 74 | | | 91 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 35 | 91 | 5 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 60 | | |
| 36 | 99 | 4 | | | | | | | | 2 | | | | | | | | | 60 | | |
| 37 | 92 | 18 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 38 | 93 | 4 | | | | | | | | 3 | | 22 | 25 | | | | | | 22 | | |
| 39 | 92 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | 11 | 4 | | 2 | | | | 16 | 1 | 94 |
| 40 | 87 | 6 | | | | | | | 1 | 2 | 1 | 11 | | 5 | 21 | | | | | 27 | 144 |
| 41 | 92 | 6 | | 29 | | | 20 | | | 7 | | 1 | 1 | | 5 | | | | 16 | 10 | 58 |
| 42 | 93 | | | 66 | | | 93 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 43 | 93 | | | 79 | | | 93 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 44 | 90 | | | 70 | | | 93 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 45 | 93 | 2 | | | | | | 1 | | 12 | | 3 | | 14 | 2 | 13 | | | 7⅓ | 2 | 9 |
| 46 | 91 | | | | 79 | | | 91 | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 47 | 90 | | | | 89 | | | 90 | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 48 | 91 | | | | 69 | | | 91 | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 49 | 91 | | | | 73 | | | 91 | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 50 | 87 | 2 | | | | | | | 1 | 2 | | 12 | 1 | 3 | 15 | 4 | | | 45 | | |
| 51 | 104 | 2 | | 36 | | | | | | 1 | | 2 | 2 | | 2 | 2 | | | 10 | 1 | 137 |
| 52 | 127 | 1 | | 46 | | | | | | | | 4 | | 4 | 3 | 2 | | | 11 | 2 | 117 |
N. W. R. [Red Lake.] | 1 | 94 | | | | 57 | 9 | 94 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 2 | 91 | | | | 51 | 14 | 91 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 3 | 92 | | | | 50 | 22 | 92 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 4 | 92 | | | | 49 | 19 | 92 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 5 | 92 | | | | 54 | 31 | 92 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 6 | 92 | | | | 59 | 6 | 62 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 7 | 95 | 7 | 1 | | 2 | | | | | | | | 3 | | | 11 | | | | 3 | |
| 8 | 92 | | | | 2 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 672 |
| 9 | 92 | | | | | | | | 1 | 1 | | 15 | | | | | | 1 | 67 | | | 1
| 10 | 90 | | | | 1 | | | | | 1 | | | 3 | | | 11 | | | | | |
| 11 | 90 | 8 | 2 | | 2 | | | | | | 1 | 3 | 7 | 37 | 24 | 5 | | | | | 3 |
| 12 | 95 | | | | 45 | 8 | | | | | | 2 | | | | | | | 11 | 13 | |
| 13 | 93 | 4 | 4 | | | | | | | | | 11 | | 7 | 19 | 9 | 1 | | 1 | 3 | 58 |
| 14 | 93 | 2 | 2 | | 13 | 9 | | | | | | 7 | | 1 | 1 | 11 | | | 6 | 4 | 6 |
| 15 | 92 | | | | 3 | 6 | 14 | | | | | | | 2 | 1 | | 2 | 8 | 1 | | 1 |
N. W. S. [Sandy Lake.] | 1 | 86 | | | | | | | | | 14 | 1 | 18 | | 3 | 7 | | | | 25 | 7 | |
| 2 | 91 | | | | | | | | | 6 | | | | | | | | | | | 500 |
| 3 | 88 | | | | 40 | 29 | 88 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 4 | 91 | | | | 37 | 32 | 91 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 5 | 91 | | | | 37 | 30 | 91 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 6 | 90 | | | | 31 | 37 | 90 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 7 | 89 | | | | 38 | 26 | 89 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 8 | 92 | | | | 41 | 33 | 92 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 9 | 86 | | | | 43 | 17 | 86 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 10 | 87 | | | | 32 | 40 | 87 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 11 | 88 | | | | 41 | 28 | 88 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 12 | 90 | | | | 44 | 22 | 90 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 13 | 87 | | | | 35 | 38 | 87 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 14 | 92 | | | | 43 | 23 | 92 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 15 | 95 | | | | | | | | | 5 | | 22 | | | | | | | 63 | | |
| 16 | 92 | | | | | | | | | 25 | | 6 | 3 | 15 | 14 | | | | | 16 | |
| 17 | 86 | | | | | | | | | 32 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 18 | 90 | | | | | | | | | 31 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 19 | 91 | | | | | | | | | 29 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 20 | 95 | | | | | | | | | 33 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 21 | 87 | 7 | 1 | | 30 | | 43 | | | 6 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 22 | 83 | | | | 38 | 33 | 83 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 23 | 93 | | | | 34 | 42 | 93 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 24 | 87 | | | | 34 | 43 | 87 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 25 | 89 | | | | 36 | 37 | 89 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 26 | 92 | | | | 57 | 14 | 92 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 27 | 94 | 16 | 1 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 28 | 94 | 4 | | | | | | | | 2 | | 11 | | | | | | | 58 | | |
| 29 | 90 | | | | | | | | | 2 | | | | | | | | | | | 600 |
| 30 | 91 | | | | | | | | | | | 5 | 1 | 43 | 22 | 1 | 11 | | | 10 | |
| 31 | 93 | | | | | | | | | 39 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 32 | 93 | | | | | | | | | 43 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 33 | 90 | | | | | | | | | 43 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 34 | 91 | | | | | | | | | 35 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 35 | 99 | | | | | | | | | 41 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 36 | 86 | | | | | | | | | 44 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 37 | 72 | | | | | | | | | 7 | | | | | 2 | 13 | 1 | | 1 | | 55 |
| 38 | 92 | 1 | | | 35 | 33 | | | | 5 | | | | | | 1 | | | 5 | | |
F. L. [Fond du Lac.] | Summr. Nos. | | 1 | | | 7 | | 12 | | | | | 1 | | | 3 | | 1 | | 4 | | 162 |
| 1 | 91 | | | | 2 | | 4 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 615 |
| 2 | 93 | | | | 51 | 14 | 93 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 3 | 92 | | | | 45 | 24 | 92 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 4 | 93 | | | | 44 | 25 | 93 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 5 | 88 | | | | 41 | 34 | 88 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 6 | 95 | 5 | | | | | | | | | | | | 199 | 40 | 8 | | | | | |
| 7 | 95 | 5 | | | | | | | | | | 16 | | | | 6 | | | 35 | | |
| 8 | 95 | 4 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 1 | | | | | 472 |
| 9 | 93 | 9 | 4 | | | | | | | 2 | 1 | | 3 | | | 6 | | | 6 | 6 | 49 |
| 10 | 98 | | 1 | | 30 | 19 | | | | 1 | | | | | | 2 | | 2 | | | |
| A. Pacton | | | | | 11 | | 15 | | | | | | | 2 | | 2 | | | 3 | | |

Amount of the above returns, 115 Packs.

Different establishments not included, 34 Packs.

Amount of the E. of the X. Y. Company, 84 Packs.

Total amount, 233 Packs.

E. Return of men employed in the N. W. Company's Department of Fond du Lac, for 1805, with the amount of their wages per annum, etc.

Accountants, | | 3
Clerks, and men receiving interpreters' wages, | | 19
Interpreters, | | 2
Canoe-men, | | 85
Total, | | 109
Women and Children belonging to the Establishment.
Women, | | 29
Children, | | 50
Total, | | 79
Livres.
Sum of the wages per annum of the above 109 men, | 63,913 |
Average wages of each man, | 586 | 7
Due by the N. W. Company, | 38,566 | 8
Due to the N. W. Company, | 24,326 | 16

N. B. The above women are all Indians, there not being a single white woman N. W. of Lake Superior.

CHAPTER VII.

GEOGRAPHY OF THE MISSISSIPPI.[VII-1]

Observations on the Soil, Shores, Quarries, Timber, Islands, Rapids, Confluent Streams, Highlands, Prairies, and Settlements on the Mississippi,[VII-2] from St. Louis to its Source.

From St. Louis to the mouth of the Missouri, on the east is a rich sandy soil, timbered with buttonwood, ash, cottonwood, hackberry, etc. The west side is highlands for a short distance above the town; then it is bordered by a small prairie, after which is bottom-land, with the same timber as on the east. The current is rapid, and the navigation in low water obstructed by sand-bars.

Immediately on the peninsula formed by the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers is a small Kickapoo settlement, occupied in summer only. On the west shore is a rich prairie, with small skirts of woods; and on the east shore is generally high hills, from 80 to 100 feet, extending to the mouth of the Illinois. The current of the Mississippi, above the entrance of the Missouri, is quite mild until you arrive at the mouth of the Illinois; where, owing to the large sand-bars and many islands, it is extremely rapid.

The Illinois River is about 450 yards wide at its mouth, and bears from the Mississippi N. 75° W. The current appears not to exceed 2½ miles per hour. The navigation and connecting streams of this river are too well known to require a description at the present day. From the Illinois to Buffalo river the E. shore is hills, but of easy ascent. On the W. is continued the prairie, but not always bordering on the river. The timber on both sides is generally hackberry, cottonwood, and ash. Buffalo [Cuivre] river comes in on the W. shore, and appears to be about 100 yards wide at its mouth; it bears from the Mississippi S. 30° W. From the Illinois to this river the navigation is by no means difficult, and the current mild.

Thence to Salt or Oahahah river, the east shore is either immediately bounded by beautiful cedar cliffs, or the ridges may be seen at a distance. On the W. shore there is a rich low soil, and two small rivers which increase the waters of the Mississippi. The first [Buffalo creek] called Bar river, about 20 yards in width. The second [now Noir[VII-3] or Bear creek] is about 15 yards. Salt river bears from the Mississippi N. 75° W., and is about 100 or 120 yards wide at its entrance, and when I passed appeared to be perfectly mild, with scarcely any current. About one day's sail up the river there are salt springs, which have been worked for four years; but I am not informed as to their qualities or productions. In this distance the navigation of the Mississippi is very much obstructed by bars and islands; indeed to such a degree as to render it in many places difficult to find the proper channel. The shores are generally a sandy soil, timbered with sugar-maple, ash, pecan, locust, and black walnut. The E. side has generally the preference as to situations for buildings.

From this to the river Jaustioni [Jauflione, Jeffrion, or North Two Rivers: see note^14, pp. 10, 11], which is our boundary between the Sac nation and the United States on the west side of the Mississippi, we have hills on the W. shore, and lowlands on the E., the latter of which is timbered with hickory, oak, ash, maple, pecan, etc.; the former the same, with an increase of oak. The E. is a rich sandy soil, and has many very eligible situations for cultivation. About seven miles below the Jaustioni a Frenchman is settled on the W. shore. He is married to a woman of the Sac nation, and lives by a little cultivation and the Indian trade. The [North] river before mentioned is about 30 yards wide at its mouth, and bears from the Mississippi about S. W. In this part of the river the navigation is good.

From this to the Wyaconda river [at La Grange, Lewis Co., Mo.] the navigation is easy, with very few impediments; and the soil on both sides pretty good. This river pays its tribute to the Mississippi by a mouth 100 yards wide, and bears from the latter nearly due W. Just below its entrance is [Durgan's creek] a small stream 15 yards wide, which discharges into the Mississippi. Between this river and the River de Moyen [Des Moines] there is one small [Fox] river emptying into the Mississippi on the W., about 55 yards in width, and bearing S. by W. The first part of the distance is obstructed by islands, and the river expands to a great width, so as to render the navigation extremely difficult; but the latter part affords more water and is less difficult. The timber is principally oak and pecan; the soil as on the river below. For a description of de Moyen, see the chart herewith; and for that of the rapids [near Keokuk] see my diary of Aug. 20th.

Above the rapid de Moyen, on the W. bank of the Mississippi [at Montrose, Lee Co., Ia.], is situated the first Sac village, consisting of 13 lodges; and immediately opposite is the establishment of Mr. Ewing,[VII-4] the American agent at that place. Whence to a large prairie on the E. side, on which [and on Henderson river] is situated the second Sac village; the E. side of the river is beautiful land, principally prairie. The W. is in some part highland; both sides are timbered with oak, ash, etc. The navigation is by no means difficult.

Thence to the Iowa river the navigation is much obstructed with islands. In ascending Iowa river 36 miles you come to a fork, the right branch of which is called Red Cedar river, from the quantity of that wood on its banks; this is navigable for batteaux nearly 300 miles, where it branches out into three forks, called the Turkey's foot. Those forks shortly after lose themselves in Rice lakes.

The Iowa river bears from the Mississippi S. W. and is 150 yards wide at its mouth. The E. shore of the Mississippi is high prairie, with yellow clay banks, and in some places red sand. On the W. is prairie also, but bounded on the shore by skirts of woods. About 10 miles up the Iowa river, on its right bank, is a village of the Iowas.

From this place to Rock river we generally had beautiful prairies on the W., but in some places very rich land, with black walnut and hickory timber. Stony [Rock] river is a large river which takes its source near Green bay of Lake Michigan more than 450 miles from its mouth, and is navigable upward of 300 miles; it empties into the Mississippi on the E. shore, and is about 300 yards wide at its mouth. It bears from the Mississippi almost due E. About three miles up this river, on the S. bank [Milan, Rock Island Co., Ill.], is situated the third town of the Sac nation, which, I was informed by Mr. James Aird, was burned in the year 1781 or 1782, by about 300 Americans, although the Indians had assembled 700 warriors to give them battle. For a description of the rapids of Stony river, see my diary of Aug. 28th.

Between Iowa river and Turkey river, on the W., you find Wabisipinekan river. It coasts along Red Cedar river in a parallel direction, with scarcely any wood on its banks. The next water is the Great Macoketh, and 20 leagues higher is the little river of the same name. These two rivers appear to approach each other, and have nothing remarkable excepting lead mines, which are said to be in their banks.

A little above the rapids of Rock river, on the W. side of the Mississippi, is situated the first Reynard village; it consists of about 18 lodges [Le Claire, Scott Co., Ia.]. From this place to the lead mines [Dubuque, Ia.] the Mississippi evidently becomes narrower; but the navigation is thereby rendered much less difficult. The shores are generally prairie, which, if not immediately bordering on the river, can be seen through the skirts of forests which border the river. The timber is generally maple, birch, and oak, and the soil very excellent. To this place we had seen only a few turkeys and deer, the latter of which are pretty numerous from the river de Moyen up. For a description of the lead mines, see my report from the prairie des Chiens of Sept. 5th.[VII-5]

From the lead mines unto Turkey river the Mississippi continues about the same width; and the banks, soil, and productions are entirely similar. Turkey river empties on the W., bears from the Mississippi about S. W., and is about 100 yards wide at its mouth. Half a league up this river, on the right bank, is the third village of the Reynards, at which place they raise sufficient corn to supply all the permanent and transient inhabitants of the Prairie des Chiens. Thence to the Ouiscousing the high hills are perceptible on both sides, but on the W. almost border the river the whole distance. The Ouiscousing at its entrance is nearly half a mile wide, and bears from the Mississippi nearly N. E.

This river is the grand source of communication between the lakes and the Mississippi, and the route by which all the traders of Michilimackinac convey their goods for the trade of the Mississippi from St. Louis to the river de Corbeau, and the confluent streams which are in those boundaries.

The voyage from Michilimackinac to the Prairie des Chiens, by the Ouiscousing and Fox rivers, is as follows:[VII-6]

"The distance between Michilimackinac and the settlement at the bottom of Green bay is calculated to be 80 leagues. On leaving Michilimackinac there is a traverse of five miles to Point St. Ignace [in Mackinac Co., Mich.], which is the entrance into Lake Michigan. Four leagues from Michilimackinac is an island of considerable extent, named St. Helens [or Helena], which may be seen from that place on a clear day. The shore [of Lake Michigan] from Michilimackinac to Point du Chene [Pointe au Chêne, Oak Point], which is a league distant from the island, is rocky; and from this point to the island of Epouvette, which is a very small one near the banks of the lake, is high and covered with pine; the soil is very barren. From this island to the river Mino Cockien [Milakokia] is five leagues. Two small islands are on the way, and a river where boats and canoes may take shelter from a storm. The river Mino Cockien is large and deep, and takes its rise near Lake Superior. From this to Shouchoir [Pointe Seul Choix, in Schoolcraft Co., Mich.] is ten leagues. The shore [along by Points Patterson, Scott, and Hughes] is dangerous, from the number of shoals that extend a great way into the lake. This rock [or point], called Shouchoir, is an excellent harbor for canoes, but its entrance, when the wind blows from the lake, is difficult; but when once in, canoes and boats may lie during any storm without unlading. A custom prevails here among the voyagers for everyone to have his name carved on the rocks the first time he passes, and pay something to the canoe-men. From this to the river Manistique [Monistique, at Epsport, Schoolcraft Co., Mich.] is five leagues. This is a large river; the entrance is difficult, from a sand-bank at its mouth, and the waves are very high when the wind blows from the lake. At certain seasons sturgeon are found here in great numbers. The banks of this river are high and sandy, covered with pine. It takes its rise [in part] from a large lake [of the same name], and nearly communicates with Lake Superior. From this to the Detour [Pointe de Tour (Turning Point), end of the peninsula in Delta Co., between Baie de Noc and Lake Michigan] is 10 leagues [passing Point Wiggins, Pointe au Barque, and Portage bay]. The shore is rocky, flat, and dangerous. Here begins the Traverse, at the mouth of Green bay. The first island is distant from the mainland about a league, and is called the Isle au Detour [now Big Summer island]; it is at least three leagues in circumference. There are generally a few Sauteaux lodges of Indians on this island during the summer months. From this to Isle Brule [Gravelly island] is three leagues. There are two small [Gull] islands from these to Isle Verte [St. Martin's island], and it is two leagues to Isle de Pou [Washington island], called so from the Poutowatomies having once had a village here, now abandoned. In the months of May and June there is a fishery of trout [Salmo (Cristivomer) namaycush], and they are taken in great quantities by trolling. There are also whitefish [Coregonus clupeiformis] in vast numbers. The ship channel is between this island and Isle Verte. Thence to Petit D'Etroit [Détroit] to the mainland is three leagues, where some lodges of Ottawas and Sauteaux raise small quantities of corn; but their subsistence, during the summer months, chiefly depends upon the quantities of sturgeon [Acipenser rubicundus] and other fish, with which the lake here abounds. From Petit D'Etroit [the strait between Washington island and the mainland of Door Co., Wis., in which are Detroit, Plum, and Pilot islands] to the mainland is three leagues, and is called the Port de Mort [Porte des Morts], from a number of Reynard canoes having been wrecked at this place, where everyone perished. The shore is bold and rocky [Hedgehog Harbor, Death's Door Bluffs, Sister Bluffs, etc.]. From this it is four leagues to the Isle Racro [Horseshoe island, in Eagle bay], which is a safe harbor, inaccessible to all winds. From this to Sturgeon bay is eight leagues. The shore is bold and rocky [Eagle Bluff, Egg Harbor, etc.], and several large [Chambers, Green, and the small Strawberry, and Hat] islands lie a few miles distant. A few Sauteaux families raise corn here and reside during the summer season. Trout and sturgeon are here in great numbers. Sturgeon's bay is two miles across and about four leagues in length, and communicates by a portage [now a canal] with Lake Michigan, near Michilimackinac. Distant from the lake about two leagues is the Isle Vermillion [off Little Sturgeon bay]. Here were a few years ago a number of Fols Avoin inhabitants, who were accustomed to raise corn; but for what reasons they have left this place I cannot learn. From this is 13 leagues to the entrance of Fox river. On leaving Isle Vermillion, the woods and general appearance of the country begin to change, and have a very different aspect from the more northern parts of this lake [i. e., Green bay]. A small river called Riviere Rouge [Red river, and town of same name, in Kewaunee Co.] falls into the lake [Green bay], about halfway between Isle Vermillion and La Baye [La Baie;[VII-7] location of Green Bay, seat of Brown Co.]. On approaching La Baye, the water of the latter [lake, i. e., Green bay] assumes a whiter appearance, and becomes less deep. A channel which winds a good deal may be found for vessels of 50 and 60 tons burden; loaded vessels of these dimensions have gone up Fox river to the French settlement [of La Baie, site of Depere], opposite which is the Fols Avoin village [present site of Nicollet], which consists of 10 or 12 bark lodges. A great number of Sauteaux, and some Ottawas, come here in the spring and fall. Three leagues from La Baye [present Green Bay] is a small village [below present Little Kaukauna] of the same nation; and there is another three leagues higher, at the portage of Kakalin [Little Rapids[VII-8]]. This portage is a mile long; the ground even and rocky. There is a fall of about ten feet, which obstructs the navigation. For three leagues higher are almost continual rapids, until the fall of Grand Konimee [vicinity of present Kaukauna], about five feet high. Above this, the river opens into a small lake, at the end of which is a strong rapid, called Puant's rapid [now Winnebago rapids], which issues from a lake of that name [i. e., Lake Winnebago, in Winnebago Co.[VII-9]]. This lake is 10 leagues long, and from two to three wide. At its entrance [where are now Menasha and Neenah, Winnebago Co.] is another Puant village, of about the same number of lodges, and at this end is a small river, which, with the interval of a few portages, communicates with Rock river [of Wisconsin and Illinois]. About midway between the two Puant villages is a Fols Avoin village, on the south [-east] side of the lake [in Calumet Co.], of 50 or 60 men. Five leagues from the entrance of the lake, on the north [-west] side, Fox river falls in [at Oshkosh, Winnebago Co.], and is about 200 yards wide. Ascending two leagues higher, is a small Fols Avoin village, where is a lake [Lac Butte des Morts] more than two leagues long; and about a league above this lake the river de Loup [Wolf river, after flowing through Poygan lake] joins Fox river near a hill [and town] called the But de Mort [Butte des Morts], where the Fox nation were nearly exterminated by the French and Confederate Indians. The rivers and lakes are, at certain seasons, full of wild rice. The country on the borders of this [Fox] river is finely diversified with woods and prairies. Any quantity of hay may be made, and it is as fine a country for raising stock as any in the same latitude through all America. From the But de Mort to the Lac a Puckway[VII-10] is 28 leagues. Here is another Puant village, of seven or eight large lodges. This lake is three leagues long; four leagues above it Lac de Bœuf [Buffalo lake] begins, which is also four leagues long; this is full of wild rice, and has a great many fowl in their season. From Lac de Bœuf to the forks [confluence of the Necha river with Fox river], which is five leagues from the portage of the Ouiscousing, and 10 leagues above the forks [??], is a very small lake, called Lac Vaseux [Muddy lake], so choked with wild rice as to render it almost impassable. The [Fox] river, although very winding, becomes more and more serpentine on approaching the portage, and narrows so much as almost to prevent the use of oars. The length of the portage to the Ouiscousing [river, at present town of Portage, Columbia Co.] is two miles; but when the waters are high, canoes and boats pass over loaded. Here the waters at that time separate, one part going to the Gulf of Mexico, and the other to that of St. Lawrence. In wet seasons the portage road is very bad, the soil being of a swampy nature. There is for nearly halfway a kind of natural canal, which is sometimes used, and I think a canal between the two rivers might be easily cut [Wis. Cent., and C., M., and St. P. R. R. to Portage now]. The expense at present attending the transport is one-third of a dollar per cwt.; for a canoe $5 and a boat $8; this is not cash, but in goods at the rate of 200 per cent. on the sterling. There are at present two white men who have establishments there; they are much incommoded by the Puants of Rock river, who are troublesome visitors. The Ouiscousing is a large river; its bottom sandy, full of islands and sand-bars during the summer season. The navigation is difficult even for canoes, owing to the lowness of the water. From the portage to its confluence with the Mississippi is 60 leagues [about 40 leagues—112 miles]. The Saques and Reynards formerly lived on its banks, but were driven off by the Sauteaux. They were accustomed to raise a great deal of corn and beans, the soil being excellent. Opposite the Detour de Pin, halfway from the portage, on the south side, are lead mines, said to be the best in any part of the country, and to be wrought with great ease. Boats of more than four tons are improper for the communication between the Mississippi and Michilimackinac." ([Colonel Robert] Dickson.)

The present village of Prairie des Chiens was first settled in the year 1783, and the first settlers were Mr. Giard, Mr. Antaya, and Mr. Dubuque. The old village is about a mile below the present one, and existed during the time the French were possessed of the country. It derives its name from a family of Reynards who formerly lived there, distinguished by the appellation of Dogs. The present village was settled under the English government, and the ground was purchased from the Reynard Indians. It is situated about one league above the mouth of the Ouiscousing river. On the E. bank of the river there is a small pond or marsh which runs parallel to the river in the rear of the town, which, in front of the marsh, consists of 18 dwelling-houses, in two streets; 16 in Front Street and two in First Street. In the rear of the pond are eight dwelling-houses; part of the houses are framed, and in place of weatherboarding there are small logs let into mortises made in the uprights, joined close, daubed on the outside with clay, and handsomely whitewashed within. The inside furniture of their houses is decent and, indeed, in those of the most wealthy displays a degree of elegance and taste.

There are eight houses scattered round the country, at the distance of one, two, three, and five miles: also, on the W. side of the Mississippi [now Bloody Run, on which is N. McGregor, Clayton Co., Ia.] three houses, situated on a small stream called Giards [or Giard's] river, making, in the village and vicinity, 37 houses, which it will not be too much to calculate at 10 persons each. The population would thus be 370 souls; but this calculation will not answer for the spring or autumn, as there are then, at least, 500 or 600 white persons. This is owing to the concourse of traders and their engagees from Michilimackinac and other parts, who make this their last stage previous to launching into the savage wilderness. They again meet here in the spring, on their return from their wintering-grounds, accompanied by 300 or 400 Indians, when they hold a fair; the one disposes of remnants of goods, and the others reserved peltries. It is astonishing that there are not more murders and affrays at this place, where meets such an heterogeneous mass to trade, the use of spirituous liquors being in no manner restricted; but since the American has become known, such accidents are much less frequent than formerly. The prairie on which the village is situated is bounded in the rear by high bald hills. It is from one mile to three-quarters of a mile from the river, and extends about eight miles from the Mississippi, to where it strikes the Ouiscousing at the Petit Grey, which bears from the village S. E. by E.

If the marsh before spoken of were drained, which might be easily done, I am of the opinion it would render healthy the situation of the prairie, which now subjects its inhabitants to intermitting fevers in the spring and autumn.

There are a few gentlemen residing at the Prairie des Chiens, and many others claiming that appellation; but the rivalship of the Indian trade occasions them to be guilty of acts at their wintering-grounds which they would blush to be thought guilty of in the civilized world. They possess the spirit of generosity and hospitality in an eminent degree, but this is the leading feature in the character of frontier inhabitants. Their mode of living has obliged them to have transient connection with the Indian women; and what was at first policy is now so confirmed by habit and inclination that it is become the ruling practice of the traders, with few exceptions; in fact, almost one-half the inhabitants under 20 years have the blood of the aborigines in their veins.

From this village to Lake Pepin we have, on the W. shore [Iowa and Minnesota], first Yellow river [present name; at its mouth Council Hill, Allamakee Co., Ia.], of about 20 yards wide, bearing from the Mississippi nearly due W.; second, the [Upper] Iowa river, about 100 yards wide, bearing from the Mississippi about N. W.; third, the Racine [Root] river, about 20 yards wide, bearing from the Mississippi nearly W., and navigable for canoes 60 miles; fourth, the rivers Embarra [Embarras, or Zumbro] and Lean Claire [l'Eau Claire, now White Water or Minneiska], which join their waters just as they form a confluence with the Mississippi, are about 60 yards wide, and bear nearly S. W.

On the E. shore [Wisconsin], in the same distance, is the river de la Prairie la Cross [La Crosse river], which empties into the Mississippi at the head of the prairie of that name. It is about 20 yards wide, and bears N. N. W. We then meet with the Black [present name] river, a very considerable stream about 200 yards wide at its mouth, on which the traders frequently winter with the Puants and Fols Avoins. Next we pass the river of the Montaigne qui Trompes dans l'Eau [Rivière de la Montagne qui Trempe à l'Eau, now Trempealeau river], a small stream in the rear of the hill of that name. Then we find the Riviere au Bœuf [Buffalo river], about 30 yards wide, bearing N. by W. At the entrance of Lake Pepin, on the E. shore, joins the Sauteaux [Chippewa] river, which is at least half a mile wide, and appears to be a deep and majestic stream. It bears from the Mississippi nearly due N. This river is in size and course, for some distance up, scarcely to be distinguished from the Ouiscousing; it has a communication with Montreal river by a short portage, and by this river with Lake Superior.[VII-11] The agents of the N. W. Company supply the Fols Avoin Sauteaux who reside at the head of this river; and those of Michilimackinac, the Sioux who hunt on its lower waters.

In this division of the Mississippi the shores are more than three-fourths prairie on both sides, or, more properly speaking, bald hills which, instead of running parallel with the river, form a continual succession of high perpendicular cliffs and low valleys; they appear to head on the river, and to traverse the country in an angular direction. Those hills and valleys give rise to some of the most sublime and romantic views I ever saw. But this irregular scenery is sometimes interrupted by a wide extended plain which brings to mind the verdant lawn of civilized life, and would almost induce the traveler to imagine himself in the center of a highly cultivated plantation. The timber of this division is generally birch, elm, and Cottonwood; all the cliffs being bordered by cedar.

The navigation unto [Upper] Iowa river is good, but thence to the Sauteaux river is very much obstructed by islands; in some places the Mississippi is uncommonly wide, and divided into many small channels which from the cliffs appear like so many distinct rivers, winding in a parallel course through the same immense valley. But there are few sand-bars in those narrow channels; the soil being rich, the water cuts through it with facility.

La Montaigne qui Trompe dans l'Eau stands in the Mississippi near the E. shore, about 50 miles below the Sauteaux river, and is about two miles in circumference, with an elevation of 200 feet, covered with timber. There is a small [Trempealeau: see note^56, pp. 52-54] river which empties into the Mississippi in the rear of the mountain, which I conceive once bounded the mountain on the lower side, and the Mississippi on the upper, when the mountain was joined to the main by a neck of low prairie ground, which in time was worn away by the spring freshets of the Mississippi, and thus formed an island of this celebrated mountain.

Lake Pepin, so called by the French, appears to be only an expansion of the Mississippi. It commences at the entrance of the Sauteaux, and bears N. 55° W. 12 miles to Point de Sable, which is a neck of land making out about one mile into the lake from the W. shore, and is the narrowest part of the lake. From here to the upper end the course is nearly due W. about 10 miles, making its whole length 22 miles, and from 4 to 1½ miles in width; the broadest part being in the bay below Point de Sable. This is a beautiful place; the contrast of the Mississippi full of islands, and the lake with not one in its whole extent, gives more force to the grandeur of the scene. The French, under the government of M. Frontenac, drove the Reynards or Ottaquamies [Outagamas, etc.] from the Ouiscousing, pursued them up the Mississippi, and, as a barrier, built a stockade [Fort Beauharnois?] on Lake Pepin on the W. shore, just below Point de Sable. As was generally the case with that nation, they blended the military and mercantile professions, by making their fort a factory for the Sioux. The lake, at the upper end, is three fathoms deep; but this, I am informed, is its shoalest part. From [Upper] Iowa river to the head of Lake Pepin, elk are the prevailing species of wild game, with some deer, and a few bear.

From the head of Lake Pepin for about 12 miles, to Cannon river, the Mississippi is branched out into many channels, and its bosom covered with numerous islands. There is a hill on the W. shore [at Red Wing], about six miles above the lake, called the Grange [la Grange, the Barn], from the summit of which you have one of the most delightful prospects in nature. When turning your face to the E. you have the river winding in three [South, Middle, and North] channels at your feet; on your right the extensive bosom of the lake, bounded by its chain of hills; in front, over the Mississippi, a wide extended prairie; on the left the valley of the Mississippi, open to view quite to the St. Croix; and partly in your rear, the valley through which passes Riviere au Canon. When I viewed it, on one of the islands below appeared the spotted lodges of Red Wing's band of Sioux. The white tents of the traders and my soldiers, and three flags of the United States waving on the water, gave a contrast to the still and lifeless wilderness around and increased the pleasure of the prospect.

From Cannon river to the St. Croix, the Mississippi evidently becomes narrower, and the navigation less obstructed by islands. St. Croix river joins the Mississippi on the E., and bears from the latter almost due N. It is only 80 yards wide at its mouth, but 500 yards up commences [Lower] Lake St. Croix, which is from 1½ to 3 miles wide, and 36 long. This river communicates with Lake Superior by the Burnt river, by a portage of half a mile only, and in its whole extent has not one fall or rapid worthy of notice.[VII-12] This, with the mildness of its current, and its other advantages, render it by far the most preferable communication which can be had with the N. W. from this part of our territories. Its upper waters are inhabited by the Fols Avoins and Sauteaux, who are supplied by the agents of the North West Company; and its lower division, by the Sioux and their traders.

The Mississippi from Cannon river is bounded on the E. by high ridges, but the left is low ground. The timber is generally ash and maple, except the cedar of the cliffs. From the St. Croix to the St. Peters the Mississippi is collected into a narrow compass; I crossed it at one place with 40 strokes of my oars,[VII-13] and the navigation is very good. The E. bank is generally bounded by the river ridges, but the W. sometimes by timbered bottom or prairie. The timber is generally maple, sugar-tree, and ash. About 20 miles below the entrance of the St. Peters, on the E. shore, at a place called the Grand Morais [Marais, Big Marsh, now Pig's Eye marsh or lake], is situated Petit Corbeau's village of 11 log houses. For a description of the St. Peters see the chart herewith.

From the St. Peters to the Falls of St. Anthony the river is contracted between high hills, and is one continual rapid or fall, the bottom being covered with rocks which in low water are some feet above the surface, leaving narrow channels between them. The rapidity of the current is likewise much augmented by the numerous small, rocky islands which obstruct the navigation. The shores have many large and beautiful springs issuing forth, which form small cascades as they tumble over the cliffs into the Mississippi. The timber is generally maple. This place we noted for the great quantity of wild fowl.

As I ascended the Mississippi, the Falls of St. Anthony did not strike me with that majestic appearance which I had been taught to expect from the descriptions of former travelers. On an actual survey I find the portage to be 260 poles; but when the river is not very low, boats ascending may be put in 31 poles below, at a large cedar tree; this would reduce it to 229 poles. The hill over which the portage is made is 69 feet in ascent, with an elevation at the point of debarkation of 45°. The fall of the water between the place of debarkation and reloading is 58 feet; the perpendicular fall of the shoot is 16½ feet. The width of the river above the shoot is 627 yards; below, 209. For the form of the shoot, see a rough draught herewith.[VII-14] In high water the appearance is much more sublime, as the great quantity of water then forms a spray, which in clear weather reflects from some positions the colors of the rainbow, and when the sky is overcast covers the falls in gloom and chaotic majesty.

From the Falls of St. Anthony to Rum river, the Mississippi is almost one continual chain of rapids, with the eddies formed by winding channels. Both sides are prairie, with scarcely any timber but small groves of scrub oak. Rum river is about 50 yards wide at its mouth, and takes its source in Le Mille Lac,[VII-15] which is but 35 miles S. of Lower Red Cedar Lake. The small Indian canoes ascend this river quite to the lake, which is considered as one of the best fur hunting-grounds for some hundreds of miles, and has been long a scene of rencounters between the hunting-parties of the Sioux and Sauteaux. Last winter a number of Fols Avoins and Sioux, and some Sauteaux wintered in that quarter. From Rum river to Leaf river, called [not] by Father Hennipin and [but by] Carver the river St. Francis,[VII-16] and which was the extent of their travels, the prairies continue with few interruptions. The timber is scrub-oak, with now and then a lonely pine. Previous to your arrival at Leaf river, you pass Crow [Carver's Goose] river on the W., about 30 yards wide, which bears from the Mississippi S. W. Leaf river is only a small stream of not more than 15 yards over, and bears N. by W.

The elk begin to be very plenty; there are also some buffalo, quantities of deer, raccoons, and on the prairie a few of the animals called by the French brelaws [blaireaux, badgers].

Thence to Sac [or Sauk] river, a little above the Grand Rapids [Sauk Rapids, St. Cloud, etc.], both sides of the river are generally prairie, with skirts of scrub-oak. The navigation is still obstructed with ripples, but with some intermissions of a few miles.

At the Grand Rapids the river expands to about ¾ of a mile in width, its general width not being more than ⅗ of a mile, and tumbles over an unequal bed of rocks for about two miles, through which there cannot be said to be any channel; for, notwithstanding the rapidity of the current, one of my invalids who was on the W. shore waded to the E., where we were encamped. The E. bank of these rapids is a very high prairie; the W. scrubby wood-land. The Sac river is a considerable stream, which comes in on the W. and bears about S. W., and is 200 yards wide at its mouth.

The quantity of game increases from Sac river to Pine creek [now Swan river], the place where I built my stockade and left part of my party; the borders are prairie, with groves of pine on the edge of the bank; but there are some exceptions, where you meet with small bottoms of oak, ash, maple, and lynn [linden, basswood or whitewood, Tilia americana—bois blanc of the voyageurs].

In this distance there is an intermission of rapids for about 40 miles, when they commence again, and are fully as difficult as ever. There are three small creeks[VII-17] emptying on the W. scarcely worthy of notice, and on the E. are two small rivers called Lake and Clear Rivers; the former, quite a small one [now called Little Rock], bears N. W., and is about 15 yards wide at its mouth; about three miles from its entrance is a beautiful small [Little Rock] lake, around which resort immense herds of elk and buffalo. Clear river [now called Platte river] is a beautiful little stream of about 80 yards in width, which heads in some swamps and small lakes [Platte, Ogechie, etc.] on which the Sauteaux of Lower Red Cedar Lake and Sandy Lake frequently come to hunt. The soil of the prairies from above the falls is sandy, but would raise small grain in abundance; the bottoms are rich, and fit for corn or hemp.

Pine creek [now Swan river] is a small stream which comes in on the W. shore, and bears nearly W. It is bordered by large groves of white and red pine.

From Pine creek to the Isle De Corbeau, or river of that name [now called Crow Wing], two small rivers come in on the W. shore. The first [now Pike creek] is of little consequence; but the second, called Elk [or as now Little Elk] river, is entitled to more consideration, from its communication with the river St. Peters. They first ascend it to a small lake, cross this, then ascend a small stream [Long Prairie river, a branch of Crow Wing river] to a large [Osakis] lake; from which they make a portage of four miles W. and fall into the Sauteaux [or Chippewa[VII-18]] river, which they descend into the river St. Peters. On the E. side is one small stream [Nokasippi river], which heads toward Lower Red Cedar Lake, and is bounded by hills.

The whole of this distance is remarkably difficult to navigate, being one continued succession of rapid shoals and falls; but there is one [fall which] deserves to be more particularly noticed, viz.: The place called by the French Le Shute de la Roche Peinture [La Chute de la Roche Peinte, Rapids of the Painted Rock, now Little falls], which is certainly the third obstacle in point of navigation which I met with in my whole route. The shore, where there is not prairie, is a continued succession of pine ridges. The entrance of the river De Corbeau is partly hid by the island of that name, and discharges its waters into the Mississippi above and below it; the lowest channel bearing from the Mississippi N. 65° W., the upper due W. This, in my opinion, should be termed the Forks of the Mississippi, it being nearly of equal magnitude, and heading not far from the same source, although taking a much more direct course to their junction. It may be observed on the chart that, from St. Louis to this place, the course of the river has generally been N. to W. and that from here it bears N. E.

This river affords the best and most approved communication with the Red river; and the navigation is as follows: You ascend the river De Corbeau 180 miles, to the entrance of the river Des Feuilles [now Leaf river], which comes from the N. W. This you ascend 180 miles also; then make a portage of half a mile into Otter Tail Lake,[VII-19] which is a principal source of Red river. The other [Long Prairie] branch of the river De Corbeau bears S. W. and approximates with the St. Peters. The whole of this river is rapid, and by no means affording so much water as the Mississippi. Their confluence is in latitude 45° 49´ 50´´ N. In this division the elk, deer, and buffalo were probably in greater quantities than in any other part of my whole voyage.

Thence to Pine river [present name: not to be confounded with Pike's Pine creek, now Swan river] the Mississippi continues to become narrower, and has but few islands. In this distance I discovered but one rapid, which the force of the frost had not entirely covered with ice. The shores in general presented a dreary prospect of high barren nobs, covered with dead and fallen pine timber. To this there were some exceptions of ridges of yellow and pitch-pine; also some small bottoms of lynn, elm, oak, and ash. The adjacent country is at least two-thirds covered with small lakes, some of which are three miles in circumference. This renders communication impossible in summer, except with small bark canoes.

In this distance we first met with a species of pine [fir] called the sap pine [French sapin, balsam-fir, Abies balsamea]. It was equally unknown to myself and all my party. It scarcely ever exceeds the height of 35 feet, and is very full of projecting branches. The leaves are similar to other pines, but project out from the branches on each side in a direct line, thereby rendering the branch flat. This formation occasions the natives and voyagers to give it the preference on all occasions to the branches of all other trees for their beds, and to cover their temporary camps; but its greatest virtue arises from its medicinal qualities. The rind is smooth, with the exception of little protuberances of about the size of a hazel-nut; the top of which being cut, you squeeze out a glutinous substance of the consistence of honey. This gum or sap gives name to the tree, and is used by the natives and traders of that country as a balsam for all wounds made by sharp instruments, or for parts frozen, and almost all other external injuries which they receive. My poor fellows experienced its beneficial qualities by the application made of it to their frozen extremities in various instances.

Pine river bears from the Mississippi N. 30° E., although it empties on that which has been hitherto termed the W. shore. It is 80 yards wide at its mouth, and has an island immediately at the entrance. It communicates with Lake Le Sang Sue [Leech lake] by the following course of navigation: In one day's sail from the confluence, you arrive at the first part of White Fish Lake [present name], which is about six miles long and two wide. Thence you pursue the river about two miles, and come to the second White Fish Lake, which is about three miles long and one wide; then you have the river three miles to the third lake, which is seven miles long and two in width. This I crossed on my return from the head of the Mississippi on the [20th] of February; it is in 46° 32´ 32´´ N. lat. Thence you follow the river a quarter of a mile to the fourth lake, which is a circular one of about five miles in circumference. Thence you pursue the river one day's sail to a small lake; thence two days' sail to a portage, which conveys you to another lake; whence, by small portages from lake to lake, you make the voyage to Leech Lake. The whole of this course lies through ridges of pines or swamps of pinenet [épinette[VII-20]], sap pine, hemlock, etc. From the river De Corbeau to this place the deer are very plenty, but we found no buffalo or elk.

From this spot to [Lower] Red Cedar Lake, the pine ridges are interrupted by large bottoms of elm, ash, oak, and maple, the soil of which would be very proper for cultivation. From the appearance of the ice, which was firm and equal, I conceive there can be but one ripple in this distance. [Lower] Red Cedar lake lies on the E. side of the Mississippi, at the distance of six miles from it, and is near equally distant from the river De Corbeau and Lake De Sable [Sandy lake]. Its form is an oblong square, and may be 10 miles in circumference. From this to Lake De Sable, on the E. shore, you meet with Muddy [now Rice] river, which discharges itself into the Mississippi by a mouth 20 yards wide, and bears nearly N. E. We then meet with Pike [now Willow: see note^49, p. 127] river, on the W., about 77 [air-line about 15] miles below Sandy lake, bearing nearly due N.; up which you ascend with canoes four days' sail, and arrive at a Wild Rice lake, which you pass through and enter a small stream, and ascend it two leagues; then cross a portage of two acres into a [Big Rice] lake seven leagues in circumference; then two leagues of a [Kwiwisens or Little Boy] river into another small lake. Thence you descend the current N. E. into Leech lake. The banks of the Mississippi are still bordered by pines of different species, except a few small bottoms of elm, lynn, and maple. The game is scarce, and the aborigines subsist almost entirely on the beaver, with a few moose, and wild rice or oats.

Sandy Lake River, the discharge of said lake, is large, but only six [about two] miles in length from the lake to its confluence with the Mississippi. Lake De Sable is about 25 miles in circumference, and has a number of small rivers running into it. One of those is entitled to particular attention: the Savanna, which by a portage of 3¾ miles communicates with the river [Fond Du Lac or] St. Louis, which empties into Lake Superior at Fond Du Lac, and is the channel by which the N. W. Company bring all their goods for the trade of the Upper Mississippi. Game is very scarce in this country.

In ascending the Mississippi from Sandy Lake, you first meet with the Swan river [still so called: not to be confounded with the other of the same present name] on the east, which bears nearly due E., and is navigable for bark canoes for 90 miles to Swan Lake. You then meet with the Meadow [or Prairie] River, which falls in on the E., bears nearly E. by N., and is navigable for Indian canoes 100 miles. You then in ascending meet with a very strong ripple [Grand rapids], and an expansion of the river where it forms a small lake. This is three miles below the Falls of Packegamau [Pokegama], and from which the noise of that shoot might be heard. The course of the river is N. 70° W.; just below, the river is a quarter of a mile in width, but above the shoot not more than 20 yards. The water thus collected runs down a flat rock, which has an elevation of about 30 degrees. Immediately above the fall is a small island of about 50 yards in circumference, covered with sap pine. The portage, which is on the E. (or N.) side, is no more than 200 yards, and by no means difficult. Those falls, in point of consideration as an impediment to the navigation, stand next to the Falls of St. Anthony, from the source of the river to the Gulf of Mexico. The banks of the river to Meadow river have generally either been timbered by pine, pinenett [épinette], hemlock, sap pine [sapin or balsam-fir], or aspen tree. Thence it winds through high grass meadows or savannas, with pine swamps appearing at a distance to cast a deeper gloom on the borders. From the falls in ascending, you pass Lake Packegamau on the W., celebrated for its great production of wild rice; and next meet with Deer river [present name] on the E., the extent of its navigation unknown. You next meet with the Riviere Le Crosse[VII-21] [Rivière à la Crosse] on the E. side, which bears nearly N., and has only a portage of one mile to pass from it into the Lake Winipeque Branch of the Mississippi [through Little Lake Winnibigoshish].

We next come to what the people of that quarter call the forks of the Mississippi, the right fork of which bears N. W., and runs eight leagues to Lake Winipeque [Winnibigoshish[VII-22]], which is of an oval form, and about 36 miles in circumference. From Lake Winipeque the river continues five leagues to Upper Red Cedar [now Cass] Lake, which may be termed the Upper Source of the Mississippi. The [other fork or] Leech Lake Branch bears from the forks S. W., and runs through a chain of meadows. You pass Muddy [or Mud] lake, which is scarcely anything more than an extensive marsh of 15 miles in circumference; the river bears through it nearly N., after which it again turns W. In many places this branch is not more than 10 or 15 yards in width, although 15 or 20 feet deep. From this to Leech Lake the communication [through Leech Lake river] is direct and without any impediment. This is rather considered as the main source, although the Winipeque Branch is navigable the greatest distance.

To this place the whole face of the country has an appearance of an impenetrable morass or boundless savanna. But on the borders of the lake is some oak, with large groves of sugar-maple, from which the traders make sufficient sugar for their consumption the whole year. Leech Lake communicates with the river De Corbeau by seven portages, and with the river Des Feuilles; also, with the Red river, by the Otter Tail Lake on the one side, and by [Upper] Red Cedar Lake and other small lakes to Red Lake on the other. Out of these small lakes and ridges rise the upper waters of the St. Lawrence, Mississippi,[VII-23] and Red river, the latter of which discharges itself into the ocean by Lake Winipie, Nelson's River, and Hudson's Bay. All those waters have their upper sources within 100 miles of each other, which I think plainly proves this to be the most elevated part of the N. E. continent of America. But we must cross what is commonly termed the Rocky Mountains, or a Spur of the Cordeliers [Cordilleras], previous to our finding the waters whose currents run westward and pay tribute to the western ocean.

In this quarter we find moose, a very few deer and bear, but a vast variety of fur animals of all descriptions.

CHAPTER VIII.

ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE MISSISSIPPI.[VIII-1]

The first nation of Indians whom we met with in ascending the Mississippi from St. Louis were the Sauks, who principally reside in four villages. The first at the head of the rapids De Moyen on the W. shore, consisting of 13 log lodges; the second on a prairie on the E. shore, about 60 miles above; the third on the Riviere De Roche, about three miles from the entrance; and the fourth on the river Iowa.

They hunt on the Mississippi and its confluent streams, from the Illinois to the river Des Iowa; and on the plains west of them, which border the Missouri. They are so perfectly consolidated with the Reynards[VIII-2] that they scarcely can be termed a distinct nation; but recently there appears to be a schism between the two nations, the latter not approving of the insolence and ill-will which has marked the conduct of the former toward the United States on many late occurrences. They have for many years past, under the auspices of the Sioux, made war on the Sauteaux, Osages, and Missouries; but as recently a peace has been made between them and the nations of the Missouri through the influence of the United States, and by the same means between the Sioux and Sauteaux, their principal allies, it appears that it would by no means be a difficult matter to induce them to make a general peace, and pay still greater attention to the cultivation of the earth; as they now raise a considerable quantity of corn, beans, and melons. The character that they bear with their savage brethren is that they are much more to be dreaded for their deceit and inclination for stratagem than for their open courage.

The Reynards reside in three villages. The first is on the W. side of the Mississippi, six miles above the rapids of the River De Roche; the second is about 12 miles in the rear of the lead mines; and the third is on Turkey river, half a league from its entrance. They are engaged in the same wars and have the same alliances as the Sauks, with whom they must be considered as indissoluble in war or peace. They hunt on both sides of the Mississippi from the Iowa, below Prairie Des Chiens to a river of that name [Upper Iowa], above said village. They raise a great quantity of corn, beans, and melons; the former of those articles in such quantities as to sell many hundred bushels per annum.

The Iowas reside on the De Moyen and Iowa rivers in two villages. They hunt on the W. side of the Mississippi, the De Moyen, and westward to the Missouri; their wars and alliances are the same as those of the Sauks and Reynards, under whose special protection they conceive themselves to be. They cultivate some corn, but not so much in proportion as the Sauks and Reynards. Their residence being on the small streams in the rear of the Mississippi, out of the highroad of commerce, renders them less civilized than those nations.

The Sauks, Reynards, and Iowas, since the treaty of the two former with the United States [in 1804], claim the land from the entrance of the Jauflioni [see note^14, p. 11], on the W. side of the Mississippi, up the latter river to the Des Iowa, above Prairie Des Chiens, and westward to the Missouri; but the limits between themselves are undefined. All the land formerly claimed by those nations E. of the Mississippi is now ceded to the United States; but they have reserved to themselves the privilege of hunting and residing on it, as usual.

By killing the celebrated Sauk chief Pontiac, the Illinois, Cahokias, Kaskaskias, and Piorias kindled a war with the allied nations of Sauks and Reynards, which has been the cause of the almost entire destruction of the former nations.

The Winebagos or Puants are a nation who reside on the rivers Ouiscousing, De Roche, Fox, and Green Bay, in seven villages, which are situated as follows: 1st, at the entrance of Green Bay; 2d, at the end of Green Bay; 3d, at Wuckan [Lake Poygan], on Fox river; 4th, at Lake Puckway; 5th, at the portage of the Ouiscousing; 6th and 7th, on Roche river.

Those villages are so situated that the Winebagos can embody the whole force of their nation, at any one point of their territory, in four days. They hunt on the Ouiscousing and Rock rivers, and E. side of the Mississippi, from Rock river to Prairie Des Chiens; on Lake Michigan, Black river, and in the country between Lakes Michigan, Huron, and Superior. From the tradition amongst them, and their speaking the same language as the Otos of the Riviere Platte, I am confident in asserting that they are a nation who have emigrated from Mexico to avoid the oppression of the Spaniards; and the time may be fixed at about 1½ centuries past, when they were taken under the protection of the Sioux, to whom they still profess to owe faith, and at least brotherly attention. They have formerly been at war with the nations west of the Mississippi, but appear recently to have laid down the hatchet. They are reputed brave, but from every circumstance their neighbors distinguish their bravery as the ferocity of a tiger, rather than the deliberate resolution of a man; and recently their conduct has been such as to authorize the remark made by a chief of a neighboring nation, that "a white man never should lie down to sleep without precaution in their villages."

The Menomene or Fols Avoins, as they are termed by the French, reside in seven villages, situated as follows: 1st, at the Menomene river, 15 leagues from Green Bay, on the north side of the lake; 2d, at Green Bay; 3d, at Little Kakalin; 4th, at portage of Kakalin; 5th, on Stinking Lake [Winnebago]; 6th, at the entrance of a small lake [Lac Butte des Morts] on Fox river; and 7th, behind the Bank of the Dead [Butte des Morts]. Their hunting-grounds are similar to those of the Winebagos; only that, owing to the very high estimation in which they are held both by Sioux and Chipeways, they are frequently permitted to hunt near Raven river on the Mississippi, which may be termed the battle-ground between those two great nations. The language which they speak is singular, for no white man has ever yet been known to acquire it; but this may probably be attributed to their understanding the Algonquin, in which they and the Winebagos transact all conferences with the whites or other nations; and the facility with which that language is acquired is a further reason for its prevalence.

The Fols Avoins, although a small nation, are respected by all their neighbors for their bravery and independent spirit, and esteemed by the whites as their friends and protectors. When in the country I heard their chief assert in council with the Sioux and Chipeways, that although they were reduced to few in number, yet they could say, "we never were slaves," as they had always preferred that their women and children should die by their own hands, to their being led into slavery by their enemies. The boundary of their territory is uncertain. The Sauks, Reynards, Puants, and Menomenes all reside, when not at their villages, in lodges in the form of an ellipsis; some are from 30 to 40 feet in length by 14 or 15 wide, and are sufficiently large to shelter 60 people from the storm, or for 20 to reside in. Their covering is rushes plaited into mats, and carefully tied to the poles. In the center are the fires, immediately over which is a small vacancy in the lodge, which in fair weather is sufficient to give vent to the smoke; but in bad weather you must lie down on the ground to prevent being considerably incommoded by it.

We next come to that powerful nation the Sioux, the dread of whom is extended over all the Savage nations, from the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri to Raven river on the former, and to the Snake [Shoshone] Indians on the latter. But in those limits are many nations whom they consider as allies, on a similar footing with the allies of ancient Rome, i. e., humble dependents. But the Chipeway nation is an exception, who have maintained a long contest with them, owing to their country being intersected by numerous small lakes, water-courses, impenetrable morasses, and swamps; and have hitherto bid defiance to all the attacks of their neighbors. It is necessary to divide the Sioux nation into the different bands, as distinguished amongst themselves, in order to have a correct idea of them.

Agreeably to this plan, I shall begin with the Minowa Kantong [Mdewakantonwans] or Gens De Lac, who extend from Prairie Des Chiens to La Prairie du Francois [vicinity of Shakopee, Chaska, etc.], 35 miles up the St. Peters. This band is again subdivided into four divisions, under different chiefs. The first of these most generally reside at their village on the Upper Iowa river, above Prairie Des Chiens, and are commanded by Wabasha, a chief whose father was considered as the first chief of all the Sioux nation. This subdivision hunts on both sides of the Mississippi and its confluent streams, from Prairie Des Chiens to the riviere du Bœuf. The second subdivision resides near the head of Lake Pepin, and hunts from the riviere du Bœuf to near the St. Croix. Their chief's name is Tantangamani—a very celebrated war-chief. The third subdivision resides between the riviere au Canon and the entrance of the St. Peters, headed by Chatewaconamani. Their principal hunting-ground is on the St. Croix. They have a village [Kapoja] at a place called Grand Marais [Pig's Eye lake], 15 miles below the entrance of the St. Peters. It is situated on the east bank of the Mississippi, and consists of 11 log huts. The fourth subdivision is situated from the entrance of the St. Peters to the Prairie Des Francois; they are headed by a chief called Chatamutah, but a young man, Wyaganage, has recently taken the lead in all the councils and affairs of state of this sub-band. They have one village, nine miles up the St. Peters, on the N. side. This band (Minowa Kantong) are reputed the bravest of all the Sioux, and have for years been opposed to the Fols Avoin Sauteurs, who are reputed the bravest of all the numerous bands of Chipeways.

The second band of Sioux are the Washpetong [Waqpetonwan] or Gens Des Fieulles [Feuilles], who inhabit the country from the Prairie De Francois to near Roche Blanche, on the St. Peters. Their first chief is Wasonquianni. They hunt on the St. Peters, also on the Mississippi, up Rum river, and sometimes follow the buffalo on the plains. Their subdivisions I am unacquainted with.

The third band are the Sussitongs [Sisitonwans or Sissetons]; they extend from the Roche Blanche [White Rock] to Lac de Gross Roche [Big Stone or Inyantonka lake], on the river St. Peters; they are divided into two subdivisions. The first, called the Cawrees [Kahras], are headed by the chief called Wuckiew Nutch or Tonnere Rouge [Red Thunder]. The second, the Sussitongs proper, are headed by Wacantoe or Esprit Blue [Blue Spirit]. These two sub-bands hunt eastward to the Mississippi, and up that river as far as the Riviere De Corbeau.

The fourth great band are the Yanctongs [Ihanktonwans or Yanktons], who are dispersed from the Montaignes [Coteau] De la Prairie, which extends from St. Peters to the Missouri, to the De Moyen. They are divided into two grand divisions, generally termed Yanctongs of the North, and Yanctongs of the South [Yanktonnais and Yanktons]. The former are headed by a chief called Muckpeanutah or Nuage Rouge [Red Cloud]; and those of the Prairie, by Petessung. This band are never stationary, but with the Titongs are the most erratic of all the Sioux, sometimes to be found on the borders of the Lower Red River, sometimes on the Missouri, and on those immense plains which are between the two rivers.

The fifth great band are the Titongs [Titonwans, commonly called Tetons], who are dispersed on both sides of the Missouri; on the north, principally from the river Chienne [Cheyenne] up; and on the south, from the Mahas [Omahas] to the Minetares, or Gross Ventres [Hidatsas]. They may be divided into the Titongs of the North and South; but the immense plains over which they rove with the Yanctongs renders it impossible to point out their place of habitation.

The sixth, last, and smallest band of the Sioux are the Washpecoute [Waqpekute or Wahkpakotoan], who reside generally on the lands west of the Mississippi, between that river and the Missouri. They hunt most generally on the head of the De Moyen. They appeared to me to be the most stupid and inactive of all the Sioux.

The Minowa Kantongs are the only band of Sioux who use canoes, and by far the most civilized, being the only ones who have ever built log huts, or cultivated any species of vegetables, and among those only a very small quantity of corn and beans; for, although I was with them in September or October, I never saw one kettle of either, they always using wild oats for bread. This production nature has furnished to all the most uncultivated nations of the N. W. continent, who may gather in autumn a sufficiency which, when added to the productions of the chase and the net, insures them a subsistence through all the seasons of the year. This band is entirely armed with firearms, but is not considered by the other bands as anything superior on that account, especially on the plains.

The Washpetong are a roving band; they leave the St. Peters in the month of April, and do not return from the plains until the middle of August. The Sussitongs of Roche Blanche have the character of being the most evil-disposed Indians on the St. Peters. They likewise follow the buffalo in the spring and summer months. The Sussitongs of Lac de Gross Roche [Big Stone Lake], under Tonnere Rouge, have the character of good hunters and brave warriors, which may principally be attributed to their chief, Tonnere Rouge, who at the present day is allowed by both white people and the savages of the different bands to be (after their own chiefs) the first man in the Sioux nation. The Yanctongs and Titongs are the most independent Indians in the world; they follow the buffalo as chance directs, clothing themselves with the skins, and making their lodges, bridles, and saddles of the same materials, the flesh of the animal furnishing their food. Possessing innumerable herds of horses, they are here this day, 500 miles off ten days hence, and find themselves equally at home in either place, moving with a rapidity scarcely to be imagined by the inhabitants of the civilized world.

The trade of the Minowa Kantongs, Washpetongs, Sussitongs, and part of the Yanctongs, is all derived from the traders of Michilimackinac; and the latter of those two bands supply the Yanctongs of the North and Titongs with the small quantities of iron works [hardware] which they require. Firearms are not in much estimation with them. The Washpecoute trade principally with the people of Prairie Des Chiens; but for a more particular explanation of this subject, please to refer to the table.[VIII-3]

Abstract of the Nations of Indians on the Mississippi and its confluent streams from St. Louis, Louisiana, to its source, including Red Lake and Lower Red River.

Names. | Warriors. | Women. | Children. | Villages. | Probable Souls. | Lodges of Roving Bands. | Fire Arms. | Primitive Language. | Traders or Bands with whom they traffic. | Annual Consumption of Merchandise. | Annual return of Peltry in packs. | Species of Peltry.
English. | Indian. | French.
I. Sauks | Sawkee | Saque | 700 | 750 | 1400 | 3 | 2850 | | 700 | Sauk | Michilimackinac, St. Louis, people of Prairie des Chiens | 15000 | 600 | Deer, some bear, a few otter, beaver, racoon.
II. Foxes | Ottagaumie | Reynards | 400 | 500 | 850 | 3 | 1750 | | 400 | Sauk, with a small difference in the idiom | do. | 8500 | 400 | Deer, a few bear, with a small proportion more of furs.
III. Iowas | Aiowais | Ne Perce | 300 | 400 | 700 | 2 | 1400 | | 250 | Missouries | Michilimackinac | 10000 | 300 | Deer, bear, otter, beaver, mink, racoon, gray fox, muskrat.
IV. Winebagos | Ochangras | Puants | 450 | 500 | 1000 | 7 | 1950 | | 450 | Missouries, or Zoto | do. | 9000 | 200 | Same as the Fox's.
V. Menomenes | Menomene | Fols Avoin | 300 | 350 | 700 | 7 | 1350 | | 300 | Menomene | do. | 9000 | 250 | Beaver, marten, gray fox, mink, muskrat, otter, deer, elk, &c.
| | [Total of the above] | 2150 | 2500 | 4650 | 22 | 9300 | | 2100 | | | | |
VI. Sues | Narcotah | Sioux | | | | | | | | | | | |
1. People of the Lakes | Minowa Kantong | Gens du Lac | 305 | 600 | 1200 | 3 | 2105 | 125 | 305 | Narcotah | do. | 13500 | 230 | Deer, a few bear, some beaver, racoon, &c.
2. People of the Leaves | Washpetong | Gens des Feuilles | 180 | 350 | 530 | | 1060 | 70 | 160 | do. | do. | 6000 | 115 | Deer, a few buffalo-robes, some beaver, otter, mink, &c.
3. Sissitons | Sussitongs | Sussitongs | 360 | 700 | 1100 | | 2160 | 155 | 260 | do. | do. | 12500 | 160 | Deer, many buffalo-robes, furs from Raven river.
4. Yanktons | Yanctong | Yanctong | 900 | 1600 | 2700 | | 4300 | 270 | 350 | do. | do. | 8000 | 130 | Principally buffalo-robes.
5. Tetons | Titong | Titong | 2000 | 3600 | 6000 | | 11600 | 600 | 100 | do. | Yanktongs and some Sussitongs | | | Buffalo-robes.
6. People of the Leaves detached[*] | Washpecoute[*] | Gens des Feuilles tirees[*] | 90 | 180 | 270 | | 450 | 50 | 90 | do. | People of Prairies des Chiens and on head of de Moyen | 2000 | 50 | Deer, beaver, otter, bear &c.
| | [Total Sioux] | 3835 | 6433 | 11800 | 3 | 21675 | 1270 | 1270 | | | | |
VII. Chipeways | Ouchipawah | Sauteurs | | | | | | | | | | | |
1. Leapers | | Sauteurs proper | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Of Sandy Lake[+] | | 45 | 79 | 224 | | 345 | 24 | | Algonquin | N. W. Company[++] | | | Beaver, muskrats, otter, marten, black and silver fox &c.
| Of Leech Lake[+] | | 150 | 280 | 690 | | 1120 | 65 | | do. | do. | | | do.
| Of Red Lake[+] | | 150 | 260 | 610 | | 1020 | 64 | | do. | do. | | | do.
2. Of St. Croix and Chipeway r. | | | 104 | 165 | 420 | | 689 | 50 | | do. | do. | | | do.
3. Of the other bands generally | | | 1600 | 2400 | 4000 | | 8000 | 400 | | do. | N. W. Co. and others | Uncertain | | Unknown.
| | Total Chippewas | 2049 | 3184 | 5944 | | 11177 | 630 | 2049 | | | | |
| | [Grand total] | 8034 | 12114 | 22394 | 25 | 45152 | 1873 | 5414 | | | | |

Names (English.) | Best Positions for Trading-posts. | With Whom at war. | With whom at peace, or in alliance. | Names of Chiefs or Principal Men. | Remarks.
Indian. | French. | English.
I. Sauks | Head of rapid de Moyen | Chipeways | Reynards, Puants, Sioux, Osage, Potowatomies, Fols Avoins, Ioways, all nations of the Missouri | Washione | | |
Pockquinike | Bras Casse | Broken Arm |
II. Foxes | Giard's river, nearly opp. Prairie des Chiens, confluence of Miss. and Ouiscousing | do. | do. | Olopier | | | First Chief
Pecit | Petit Corbeau | Little Raven |
Akaque | Peau Blanche | White Skin | Killed the Osage on their way to St. Louis; now raising a war-party to strike the Sauteaux
III. Iowas | Rivers de Moyen and Iowa | do. | do. | | | |
IV. Winebagos | Portage de Cockalin (on Fox river) or at Grand Calumet | Since the peace between Osages, Sauks and Reynards, Puants have tacitly ceased war on the former | In alliance with Sauks, Reynards, Sioux, Fols Avoins, &c., at peace with all others | New Okat | | | First chief; commissioned as such
Sansamani | | |
Chenoway's Son | | | Commissioned
Karamone | | | do.
Du Quarre | | | do.
Macraragah | | | do.
V. Menomenes | Portage des Perre, on Fox river | None | In alliance with Ottoway, Chipeway, Ochangras | Tomaw | Thomas Carron | Thomas Carron | First chief; received commission as such, and flag
Shawonoe | | |
Neckech | | |
VI. Sues | | | | Wabasha | La Feuille | The Leaf | Literally translated; first chief of the nation; received a commission and a flag
1. People of the Lakes | Entrance St. Croix | Recently, Chipeways; now at peace; at war with Assinniboins and some nations on the Missouri | Sauks, Reynards, Ioways, Fols Avoins | Talangamane | Aile Rouge | Red Wing | do.
Chatewaconamani | Petit Corbeau | Little Raven | Received commission and flag
Tahamie | Orignal Leve | Rising Moose | Literally translated
Tatamane | Nez Corbeau | Raven Nose | Literally Wind that Walks; commissioned
2. People of the Leaves | Little Rapids, St. Peters | do. | do. | Wasonquianni | Araignee Jaune | Yellow Spider | First chief of the nation
Wukunsna | Tonnerre qui Sonne | Rolling Thunder | Literally translated
Houho Otah | Le Noyeau | Stone of Fruit | Received a commission and flag
3. Sissitons | Lac de Gross Roche, St. Peters | do. | do. | Wacanto | Esprit Bleu | Blue Spirit | First chief of his band
Waminisabah | Killieu Noir | Black Eagle | Literally translated
Itoye | Gross Calumet | Big Pipe |
Wuckiew Nutch | Tonnerre Rouge | Red Thunder | Literal translation; first chief of all the Sioux
4. Yanktons | | | | Petessung | Vache Blanche | White Buffalo | Literally translated
Muckpeanutah | Nuage Rouge | Red Cloud | Literally translated; first chief of the nation
Champanage | | |
5. Tetons | | Various nations of the Missouri | do. | Chantaoeteka | Cœur Mauvais | Bad Heart | Bois Brulle
Shenouskar | Couverte Blanche | White Blanket | Okandanda
6. People of the Leaves detached | Prairie des Chiens | do. | do. | Wamaneopenutah | Cœur du Killeur Rouge | Heart of the Red Eagle |
Tantangashatah | Bœuf qui Joue | Playing Buffalo | Literal translation
Kachiwasigon | Corbeau Francois | French Raven | do.
VII. Chipeways
1. Leapers
| Sandy Lake | Recently, Sioux; now at peace; at war with Sauks, Foxes, Iowas | Fols Avoins, all nations of Canada | Catawabata | De Breche | Broken Teeth | First chief of his band
| Leech Lake | do. | do. | Eskibugeckoge | Geuelle Platte | Flat Mouth | do.
Obigouitte | Chef de la Terre | Chief of the Land |
Oole | La Brule | The Burnt |
| Red Lake | do. | do. | Wiscoup | Le Sucre | The Sweet | do.
2. Of St. Croix and Chipeway r. | South side of Lake Superior | do. | do. | | | |
3. Of the other bands generally | | | | Necktame | Preinier [Premier] | Head Chief | Resides on Lac La Pluir river.

N. B.—Wyaganage, or Fils de Pinchow, a chief of Gens du Lac, and head of village at entrance of St. Peters, omitted; has received flag and commission. [Z. M. P.]

[N. B.—Total of Sacs, Foxes, Iowas, Winnebagoes, and Menomonees, and Grand Total, embodied from the "Recapitulation," which was on separate leaf (unpaged p. 66) of orig. ed.—E. C.]

[*] This is merely a band of vagabonds, formed by refugees from all other bands, which they left for some bad deed.

[+] From actual estimate.

[++] See my Reports on the trade of the N. W. Company.

The claims of limits of the Sioux nation are allowed by all their neighbors to commence at Prairie Des Chiens, and ascend the Mississippi on both sides to the Riviere De Corbeau; up that river to its source; thence to the source of the St. Peters; thence to the Montaigne De La Prairie; thence to the Missouri; down that river to the Mahas, bearing thence N. E. to the source of the De Moyen; and thence to the place of beginning. They also claim a large territory south of the Missouri, but how far it extends is uncertain. The country E. of the Mississippi, from Rum river to the Riviere De Corbeau, is likewise in dispute between them and the Chipeways, and has been the scene of many a sharp encounter for near 150 years past.

From my knowledge of the Sioux nation, I do not hesitate to pronounce them the most warlike and independent nation of Indians within the boundaries of the United States, their every passion being subservient to that of war; at the same time that their traders feel themselves perfectly secure of any combination being made against themselves, it is extremely necessary to be careful not to injure the honor or feelings of an individual, which is certainly the principal cause of the many broils which occur between them. But never was a trader known to suffer in the estimation of the nation by resenting any indignity offered him, even if it went to taking the life of the offender. Their guttural pronunciation, high cheek bones, their visages, and distinct manners, together with their own traditions, supported by the testimony of neighboring nations, puts it in my mind beyond the shadow of a doubt that they have emigrated from the N. W. point of America, to which they have come across the narrow streight which in that quarter divides the two continents, and are absolutely descendants of a Tartarean tribe.

The only personal knowledge which I have of the Chipeway nation is restricted to the tribes on the south side of Lake Superior, on the headwaters of the Chipeway and the St. Croix; and to those who reside at Sandy Lake, Leech Lake, Rainy Lake, Red Lake, and the heads of the rivers Rouge, Mississippi, and De Corbeau. They are divided, like the Sioux, into many bands, the names of only seven of which I am acquainted with.

[1st.] I shall begin with those who reside on the south side of Lake Superior, and on Lakes De Sable and Sang Sue, with the adjacent country. They are generally denominated by the traders by the name of Sauteuxs, but those of the headwaters of the Chipeway and St. Croix rivers are called Fols Avoin Sauteurs. I am unacquainted with the names of their chiefs. Those of Sandy Lake are headed by a chief called Catawabata, or De Breche [Brèche-dent]. They hunt on Mille Lacs, Red Lake, the east bank of the Mississippi from Rum river up to the Des Corbeau, and thence on both sides of the Mississippi to Pine river; on that river also, up the Mississippi to Lake De Sable, and about 100 miles above that lake. Those of Leech Lake hunt on its streams, Lake Winipie [Winnibigoshish], Upper Red Cedar Lake, Otter Tail Lake, head of the De Corbeau, and the upper part of Lower Red river. Their chief is Le Gieulle [La Gueule] Platte, or Eskibugeckoge [Flat Mouth].

2d. The Crees reside on Red lake, and hunt in its vicinity and on Red river. Their first chief's name is Wiscoup, or Le Sucre.

3d. The Nepesangs reside on Lake Nippising and Lake St. Joseph.

4th. The Algonquins reside on the Lake of the two Mountains, and are dispersed along the north sides of Lakes Ontario and Erie. From this tribe the language of the Chipeways derives its name, and the whole nation is frequently designated by that appellation.

5th. The Otoways [Ottawas] reside on the N. W. side of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron; and hunt between those lakes and Lake Superior.

6th. The Iroquois Chipeways are dispersed along the banks of all the Great Lakes, from Ontario to the Lake of the Woods.

7th. The Muscononges reside on the waters of Lower Red river, near to Lake Winipie [Winnipeg], and are the furthest band of Chipeways.

The Chipeways were the great and almost natural enemies of the Sioux, with whom they had been waging a war of extermination for near two centuries. On my arrival among them I succeeded in inducing both sides to agree to a peace, and no blood was shed from Sept., 1805, to Apr., 1806, when I left the country. This object had frequently been in vain attempted by the British government, who often brought the chiefs of the two nations together at Michilimackinac, made them presents, etc. But the Sioux, still haughty and overbearing, spurned the proffered calumet, and returned to renew the scenes of slaughter and barbarity. It may then be demanded, how could a subaltern with 20 men, and no presents worthy of notice, effect that which the governors of Canada, with all the immense finances of the Indian department, had attempted in vain, although they frequently and urgently recommended it? I reply that it is true the British government requested, recommended, and made presents—but all this at a distance; and when the chiefs returned to their bands, their thirst for blood soon obliterated from their recollection the lectures of humanity which they had heard in the councils of Michilimackinac. But when I appeared amongst them the United States had lately acquired jurisdiction over them, and the names of the Americans as warriors had frequently been sounded in their ears; when I spoke to them on the subject I commanded them, in the name of their great father, to make peace; offered them the benefit of the mediation and guarantee of the United States; and spoke of the peace, not as a benefit to us, but a step taken to make themselves and their children happy. This language, held up to both nations with the assistance of the traders, was a happy coincidence of circumstances; and (may I not add?) the assistance of the Almighty effected that which had long been attempted in vain. But I am perfectly convinced that, unless troops are sent up between those two nations, with an agent whose business it would be to watch the rising discontents and check the brooding spirit of revenge, the weapons of death will again be raised, and the echoes of savage barbarity will resound through the wilderness.[VIII-4]

The Chipeways are uncommonly attached to spirituous liquors; but may not this be owing to their traders, who find it much to their [own] interest to encourage their [the Chipeways'] thirst after an article which enables them [the traders] to obtain their [the Chipeways'] peltries at so low a rate as scarcely to be denominated a consideration, and have reduced the people near the establishments to a degree of degradation unparalleled?

The Algonquin language is one of the most copious and sonorous languages of all the savage dialects in North America; and is spoken and understood by the various nations, except the Sioux, from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Lake Winipie [Winnipeg].

This nation is much more mild and docile than the Sioux, and if we may judge from unprejudiced observers, more cool and deliberate in action. But the latter possess a much higher sense of the honor of their nation: the others plan for self-preservation. The Sioux attacks with impetuosity; the other defends with every necessary precaution. But the superior numbers of the Sioux would have enabled them to annihilate the Chipeways long since had it not been for the nature of their [the Chipeways'] country, which entirely precludes the possibility of an attack on horseback. This also gives them a decided advantage over an enemy half armed with arrows, as the least twig of a bush will turn the shaft of death out of its direction; whereas, the whizzing bullet holds its course nor spends its force short of the destined victim. Thus we generally have found that when engaged in a prairie the Sioux came off victorious; but if in the woods, even if not obliged to retreat, the carcasses of their slaughtered brethren showed how dearly they purchased the victory.

The Sioux are bounded on the N. E. and N. by these two powerful nations, the Chipeways and Knisteneaux [Crees], whose manners, strength, and boundaries are ably described by Sir Alexander McKenzie. The Assinniboins, or Stone Sioux, who border the Chipeways on the N. W. and W., are a revolted band of the Sioux, who have maintained war with the parent nation for about a century, and have rendered themselves their most violent enemies. They extend from the Red river W. nearly to the Rocky Mountains, and are computed at 1,500 warriors. They reside on the plains, and follow the buffalo; consequently they have very little occasion for traders or European productions.

CHAPTER IX.

VOCABULARY OF MISSISSIPPIAN PLACE-NAMES.[IX-1]

English. | French. | Indian.
Natural Meadow | Prairie
Buffalo river | Riviere au Bœuf
Salt river | Riviere au Sel | Oahaha
River of Means | Riviere de Moyen
Iowa river | Riviere de Ayoua
Stony, or Rock river | Riviere des Rochers
Turkey river | Riviere au Dindon
Dog's meadow | Prairie Des Chien
| | Ouiscousing
Raven river | Riviere de Corbeau
Yellow river | Riviere Jaune
Root river | Riviere aux Racines
River of Embarrassments | Riviere d'Embarras
Clear Water river | Riviere l'Eau Clair
River of the Prairie of Cross | Riviere de la Prairie de Crosse
Chipeway river | Riviere Sauteaux | Ouchipewa Sippi
The Mountain which soaks in the Water | La Montaigne qui trempe dans l'Eau
River of do | Riviere de do
Sandy point | Point de Sable
The Barn | La Grange
Cannon River | Riviere a Canon
River St. Peters | Riviere St. Pierre
Falls of St. Anthony | Shute de St. Antoine
Rum river | Prairie l'Eau de Vie
Leaf river | Riviere aux Feuilles
Sauk river | Riviere aux Saukes
Big Falls | Grand rapid
Lower Red Cedar lake | Le Bas Lac du Cedre Rouge
Raven island | Isle de Corbeau
Pine river | Riviere au Pin
Leech lake | Lac Sang Sue
Sandy lake | Lac de Sable
Pike river | Riviere du Brochet
Bottom of the lake | Fond du Lac
Swan river | Riviere a Cigue
Falls of Packegamaw | Petite Shute | Packegamaw
Upper Red Cedar lake | Le Haut Lac de Cedre Rouge
Red lake | Lac Rouge
Green bay | La Baye Verde
St. Ignatius | St. Ignace
Oak Point | Point au Chene
| | Meno Cockien
The Turn | La Detour
Island of the Turn | Isle du Detour
Burnt island | Isle Brule
Potowatomies island | Isle des Poux
Little Streight | Petit Detroit
Port of the Dead | Port des Morts
Vermillion island | Isle Vermilion
Red river | Riviere Rouge
Stinking rapid | Puant Rapid
Wolf river | Riviere des Loups
Hillock of the dead | Butte des Morts
| | Lac Puckway
Muddy lake | Lac Vaseux

FOOTNOTES

[OP-1] The publisher owes it to truth, and to Colonel Pike, to state that he very much doubts whether any book ever went to press under so many disadvantages as the one now presented to the public. Some of those disadvantages must be obvious to every man who reads the work; but there are many others of a nature not sufficiently interesting for publication, yet of sufficient magnitude to retard the work, embarrass the publisher, and impose more anxiety than has fallen to his lot in the various books which he has published. It is, however, confidently believed that, notwithstanding all those circumstances, the Journal and its Appendixes will be found particularly interesting and pregnant with important information.

[NP-1] Since these words were penned Mr. Hill has made the long portage, alas! His death occurred at St. Paul, on the 15th inst.

[M-1] Henry Whiting of Massachusetts entered the army as a cornet of Light Dragoons Oct. 29th, 1808; he became a second lieutenant Sept. 15th, 1809, and a first lieutenant Aug. 20th, 1811; was transferred to the 5th Infantry May 17th, 1815; promoted to be captain Mar. 3d, 1817; and transferred to the 1st Artillery June 1st, 1821. He became major and quartermaster Feb. 23d, 1835; lieutenant-colonel and deputy quartermaster-general, July 7th, 1838; colonel and assistant quartermaster-general, Apr. 21st, 1846. He was repeatedly brevetted for faithful and meritorious service, and on Feb. 23d, 1847, received the brevet of brigadier-general for gallantry in the battle of Buena Vista. General Whiting died Sept. 16th, 1851.

[M-2] Access to these records was given in the following terms:

War Department,
Washington, D. C.,
January 29, 1894.

Sir:

As requested in your letter of the 22nd instant, I take pleasure in advising you that you will be afforded an opportunity at such time as you may call at the Department to examine for historical purposes such records as are on file covering the expedition of Z. M. Pike, a publication of whose travels you state first appeared in 1810.

Very respectfully,
[Signed] Daniel S. Lamont,
Secretary of War.

Dr. Elliott Coues,
Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, D. C.

[M-3] See beyond, p. lix, for a document bearing on the Pike family, in connection with a letter of Zebulon M. Pike, both introduced in their proper chronological order in this memoir. But I find no better place than this for a letter from his father, which has never been published before and will be read with interest:

Indiana Territory
Dear born County
July 15th 1807

Sir

I have taken the liberty of making out my accounts of Pay Forrage and Subsistance from the 1t of January to the 31t inst and forwarded them to the Pay Master for payment which I pray may meet your approbation

Permit me to request the Honor of a few lines informing if Z. M. Pike received orders for His Government on His late exploring expedition, from The President, Yourself, or Genl Wilkinson, and if any or how late the last information or communications from Him. I need not mention how disagreeable a state of Suspense is, nor, to move your sympathy, to say more than that the anxiety and concern, exhibited for His safety, by an affectionate Mother and Wife, is Great. By way of consolation to the former, I have thought proper to extend the probable Period of His return, untill this month; Mrs Pike is now begining to lose confidence in my opinion, consequently my consolating influence is daily lesening, and Her afflictions increasing——

I decline in Strength as regular as Time paseth and However Painfull the reflection, It is by the Bounty of my Country Life is rendered Tolerable

Be assured I write in Pain as well that I am

Your Very Obedt. Servt.
Zebn Pike——

Henry Dear born
Secretary of War——

This letter is endorsed in General Dearborn's handwriting: "Tell him his son is safe, and is probably at Natchitoches"—where Captain Pike had in fact arrived July 1st, 1807. The Secretary of War at the same time ordered attention to the matter of Major Pike's pay and allowances, mentioned in the letter.

[M-4] Historical Register of the United States Army, from its Organization, September 29th, 1789, to September 29th, 1889. By F. B. Heitman, Clerk, Adjutant General's office, War Department, Washington, D. C., 1890, 1 vol., large 8vo, pp. 890. I make a point throughout Pike of identifying as far as possible the officers whose names appear in his text, giving in brief their official records, and doing the same for those who are mentioned in my own writing. I am indebted to Heitman's invaluable work for most such matter.

[M-5] This officer was a native of Canada, appointed to the army from New York. He had served as a captain in the Revolutionary Army when he was commissioned as a major of Infantry Sept. 29th, 1789; he was assigned to the 1st Infantry Mar. 3d, 1791, and arranged to the Second sub-Legion Sept. 4th, 1792; he became lieutenant-colonel commandant of the First sub-Legion Feb. 18th, 1793, and colonel of the 1st Infantry Apr. 1st, 1802; his death occurred Apr. 11th, 1803. (Another John Francis Hamtramck, of Indiana, was a sergeant in the 1st Infantry before he became a cadet at West Point, where he was graduated in 1819, continued to be an officer of the army till 1848, and died in 1858.)

[M-6] The time when these officers were together at Camp Alleghany must have been prior to Aug. 19th, 1801, when Lieutenant-Colonel David Strong died. He was from Connecticut; entered the army as a captain of Infantry Sept. 29th, 1789; became major of the 2d Infantry Nov. 4th, 1791; was arranged to the Second sub-Legion Sept. 4th, 1792; promoted to be lieutenant-colonel Feb. 19th, 1793, and held that rank in the 2d Infantry from Nov. 1st, 1796.—Moses Porter, of Massachusetts, had served in the Revolutionary Army when he became a lieutenant of Artillery Sept. 29th, 1789; he was promoted to be captain Nov. 4th, 1791; major May 26th, 1800, and colonel Mar. 12th, 1812; brevetted brigadier-general Sept. 10th, 1813, for distinguished services, and died April 14th, 1822.—Edward D. Turner, of Massachusetts, entered the army as an ensign of the 2d Infantry Mar. 4th, 1791; became a lieutenant July 13th, 1792; captain, Nov. 11th, 1793, and was brigade inspector from Nov. 1st, 1799, to April 1st, 1802; he resigned Nov. 30th, 1805.—Richard Humphrey Greaton (not "Graeton"), of Massachusetts, was made a lieutenant in the 2d Infantry Mar. 4th, 1791; became captain Feb. 18th, 1793, and was honorably discharged June 1, 1802.—Theodore Sedgwick, of Massachusetts, became an ensign of the 2d Infantry Mar. 4th, 1791; lieutenant, July 30th, 1792; captain, Dec. 29th, 1793, and was honorably discharged June 1st, 1802.—Peter Shoemaker, of Pennsylvania, appointed ensign in the 2d Infantry Apr. 11th, 1793; became lieutenant Mar. 3d, 1793; captain, Mar. 3d, 1799, and was honorably discharged June 1st, 1802.—Nanning John Visscher, of New York, entered the army as an ensign in the 2d Infantry Mar. 16th, 1792; became lieutenant May 1st, 1794, and captain Nov. 1st, 1799; he was honorably discharged June 1st, 1802; was afterward made a captain of Rifles Apr. 26th, 1809; resigned Nov. 30th, 1812, and died Dec. 12th, 1821.—Archibald Gray (not "Grey"), of Virginia, was made an ensign of Infantry Mar. 7th, 1792; lieutenant, May 1st, 1794; was assigned to the 2d Infantry Nov. 1st, 1796; became captain Nov. 1st, 1799, and resigned July 1st, 1801.—Jesse Lukens, of Pennsylvania, was appointed an ensign in the Second sub-Legion Feb. 23d, 1793; became lieutenant Oct. 1st, 1793; was assigned to the 2d Infantry Nov. 1st, 1796; promoted to be captain Mar. 3d, 1799, and died May 21st, 1801.—Ferdinand Leigh Claiborne, of Virginia, was made an ensign of the First sub-Legion Feb. 23d, 1793; lieutenant, June 30th, 1794; assigned to the 1st Infantry Nov. 1st, 1796; promoted to be captain Oct. 23d, 1799, and resigned Jan. 1st, 1802; he was afterward a colonel and brigadier-general of Volunteers in the war of 1812-14, and died in February, 1815.—Benjamin Rand, of Massachusetts, became ensign in the Second sub-Legion May 12th, 1794; was assigned to the 2d Infantry as such Nov. 1, 1796; became lieutenant Mar. 10th, 1797, and resigned Dec. 29th, 1800.—John Whipple became an ensign in the 2d Infantry July 10th, 1797; a lieutenant Mar. 2d, 1799; was transferred to the 1st Infantry April 1st, 1802; made captain Apr. 11th, 1803, and resigned Jan. 31st, 1807.—Peter Shiras (not "Schiras"), of Pennsylvania, was commissioned a second lieutenant of the 2d Infantry Mar. 3d, 1799; promoted to be first lieutenant Nov. 22d, 1799, and honorably discharged June 1, 1802.—Moses Hook, of Massachusetts, was commissioned as a second lieutenant of the 1st Infantry Mar. 3d, 1799; became first lieutenant Oct. 23d, 1799; captain, Mar. 13th, 1805, and resigned Jan. 20th, 1808. (Merriwether Lewis intended to take this officer with him, in the event of William Clark's declination of his invitation: on this point, see Lewis and Clark, ed. 1893, pp. xxiv, lxx.)—John Wilson, of Pennsylvania, was a second lieutenant of the 2d Infantry from Mar. 3d, 1799, to Nov. 22d, 1799, when he became first lieutenant; he was honorably discharged June 1st, 1802.—James Dill, of Pennsylvania, was made a second lieutenant of the 2d Infantry Mar. 3d, 1799; a first lieutenant Nov. 1st, 1799, honorably discharged June 15th, 1800.—The above named Lieut. Williams is not fully identified.—Henry B. Brevoort, of New York, was commissioned a second lieutenant of the 3d Infantry Feb. 16th, 1801, and retained as an ensign in the 2d Infantry May 7th, 1802 (?); was second lieutenant of the same July 1st, 1802; first lieutenant Nov. 30th, 1805; captain May 1st, 1811; major in the 45th Infantry Apr. 15th, 1814, and honorably discharged June 15th, 1815.—Daniel Hughes, of Maryland, was made an ensign of the 9th Infantry Jan. 8th, 1799; a second lieutenant Mar. 3d. 1799, and honorably discharged June 15th, 1800; he was reappointed second lieutenant of the 2d Infantry Feb. 16th, 1801, and transferred to the 1st Infantry Apr. 1st, 1802; became first lieutenant Mar. 23d, 1805; captain, Dec. 15th, 1808; major of the 2d Infantry Feb. 21st, 1814 and was honorably discharged June 15th, 1815.—The Lieutenant "Hilton" is probably an error.—For James B. Many see note^38, p. 210.—Uriah Blue, of Virginia, was commissioned as a second lieutenant of the 8th Infantry July 12th, 1799, and honorably discharged June 15th, 1800; reappointed as a second lieutenant in the 2d Infantry Feb. 16th, 1801, and honorably discharged again June 1st, 1802; reappointed as first lieutenant of the 7th Infantry May 3d, 1808; became captain May 9th, 1809; major of the 39th Infantry Mar. 13th, 1814; was honorably discharged June 15th, 1815, and reinstated Dec. 2d, 1815, as a captain in the 8th Infantry, to rank as such from May 9th, 1809, and with brevet of major from Mar. 13th, 1814; he resigned Dec. 3d, 1816, and died in May, 1836.—Edward Butler, of Pennsylvania, had been a captain in the levies of 1791, when he was made a captain of Infantry Mar. 5th, 1792, and arranged to the Fourth sub-Legion Sept. 4th, 1892; acted as adjutant and inspector from July 18th, 1793, to May 13th, 1794; was assigned to the 4th Infantry Nov. 1st, 1796, and transferred to the 2d Infantry April 1st, 1802; died May 9th, 1803. (For Williams and "Hilton" see these names in Index.)

[M-7] John De Barth Walbach was a native of Germany, who was commissioned from Pennsylvania as a lieutenant of Light Dragoons Jan. 8th, 1799, and honorably discharged June 15th, 1800. He re-entered the service as a lieutenant of the 2d Artillerists and Engineers Feb. 16th, 1801, and was retained in the Artillerists April 1st, 1802; he became captain Jan. 31st, 1806, and was transferred to the Corps of Artillery May 12th, 1814. During the war he served in various capacities, with ranks of major and colonel, and was among those retained as captain of Artillery May 17th, 1815. He became major Apr. 25th, 1818, and was transferred to the 1st Artillery June 1st, 1821; promoted to be lieutenant-colonel May 30th, 1832, and to be colonel of the 4th Artillery March 19th, 1842. He was repeatedly brevetted for gallant, meritorious, and faithful services; his latest brevet being that of brigadier-general Nov. 11th, 1823. General Walbach died June 10th, 1857. An unpublished letter before me, from General Wilkinson to the Secretary of War, dated St. Louis, Nov. 26th, 1805, refers to Lieutenant Walbach in the following terms: "In every cavalry arrangement I must beg leave to call Walbach to your recollection, as the ablest horse officer in America, not only in the choice of animals, but in equipping, training, forming, and heading them to action."

Alexander Macomb was commander-in-chief of the army from May 29th, 1828, to his death, June 25th, 1841. He was brevetted major-general Sept. 11th, 1814, and received the thanks of Congress Nov. 3d, 1814, for distinguished and gallant conduct at Plattsburgh, N. Y. General Macomb entered the army as a cornet of Light Dragoons Jan. 10th, 1799; attained the rank of brigadier-general in 1814, and major-general in 1828.

Jonathan Williams, of Massachusetts, was appointed from Pennsylvania a major of the 2d Artillerists and Engineers Feb. 16th, 1801; he served as inspector of fortifications from Dec. 14th, 1801, to June 1st, 1802, and was retained as major of Engineers April 1st, 1802. He resigned June 20th, 1803; was made lieutenant-colonel and chief engineer Apr. 19th, 1805, and promoted to be colonel Feb. 23d, 1808. He resigned again July 31st, 1812, and died May 20th, 1815.

[M-8] Note by Lieutenant J. R. Williams, May 19th, 1894: "The foregoing is a literal copy of the rough draft of John R. Williams' letter to Major Holton. The fair copy of course is not in my possession, but I have reason to believe the fair copy must contain several of the peculiar errors of the writer, whose early education was wholly French, so that he never, as far as I know, capitalized the initial letters of such words as English and French. John R. Williams, writer of this letter, entered the 2d U. S. Infantry as a cadet early in 1800, but appears to have resigned in about six months. He was subsequently connected with the same regiment for about a year in the capacity of agent of the contractor for commissary supplies. The title of general, by which he is well remembered in Detroit, was acquired by his connection with the militia of Michigan for about 40 years, as adjutant-general and major-general."

[M-9] This is a remarkable book, which has had a very exceptional career, the end of which is not even yet. Robert Dodsley, b. 1703, d. Sept. 23d, 1764, was in early life a menial in the service of Hon. Mrs. Lowther, but became by his natural talents a wealthy publisher, as well as a prolific author. In the latter capacity he was scarcely rated as more than a hack writer in his lifetime, during which he was probably never suspected of having written an immortal book. Whether this was a stroke of his own genius or not is questionable; but he should have the full credit of the book, until an extraneous source of his inspiration can be instanced. The Œconomy of Human Life was first published anonymously in a collection of miscellanies, in 1745, and soon acquired great repute, in part at least due to the fact that it was commonly attributed to Lord Chesterfield. It ran through many editions in various styles, some of them finely illustrated. The earlier ones all preserved the author's anonymity, and in more than one reprint of very late years his incognito is formally preserved. An anonymous edition of 1806, which I have handled, consists only of Book I, Parts i-vii, entitled as follows: The | Œconomy | of | Human Life, | translated from an | Indian Manuscript, | written by an Ancient Bramin | — | London: | printed for W. Gardiner, Pall-Mall; and | Vernor, Hood, and Sharpe, Poultny. | 1 vol., 12mo, pp. i-x, 1 leaf, pp. 1-116, and many engr. head- and tail-pieces. Another, of 1809, with the authorship avowed, is as follows: The | Economy | of | Human Life. | In Two Books. | — | By Robert Dodsley. | — | With six elegant engravings by Mackenzie, | from designs by Craig and Unwins. | — | London: | [etc., 4 lines of printers' names] | — | 1809. 1 vol., 16mo, 1 prel. leaf, vignette title, pp. i-xviii, 5-188; portrait and memoir of Dodsley, and 5 full-page engravings; said to have been pub. Jan. 31st, 1809. The copy Pike had was most probably one of the cheap American reprints which appeared about this time. Dodsley's book consists of philosophical and moral reflections or aphorisms in curt, sententious style, of distinctly Oriental flavor; it is feigned to be based upon manuscripts of immense antiquity, discovered in the capital of Tibet by an emissary of the emperor of China, and in some occult manner received in England and translated. I liked the thing so much that I lately brought out a new edition myself, preserving the author's feigned origin of the book and his own incognito, transposing some of the pieces, adding a new "foreword" in antique style, and modifying the title to—Kuthumi: The True and Complete Œconomy of Human Life, etc. In this guise Dodsley's book forms No. 5 of my Biogen Series, Boston, Estes and Lauriat, 1886; 1 vol., small square 8vo, pp. i-x, 1-123.

[M-10] Another good editorial version of Pike's Mississippi itinerary appeared in the tract entitled: Materials for the Future History of Minnesota, etc., the same being Part V. of the publications of the Minn. Hist. Soc., 8vo, St. Paul, 1856, pp. about 142. The five separately issued Parts, dating 1850-56, were in 1872 collectively republished in a second edition, forming Vol. I. of the Collections of the Minn. Hist. Soc., 8vo, pp. 1-519. In this reprint the article is entitled: Pike's Explorations in Minnesota, 1805-06, and occupies pp. 368-416, or 48 pages, being thus about as extensive as the text of 1807. The editor says that his aim was "to make judicious extracts" from Pike's journal; and he certainly succeeded in this intention. The editor's name does not appear; but as the footnotes which explain or amplify various points in the text are signed "W.," an initial of Mr. J. Fletcher Williams, who was secretary of the society and editor of its publications for many years, the work is presumably his, being thus an authentic as well as a genuine account of the Mississippi voyage. This publication therefore ranks side by side with the original unknown editor's performance, though the two are separated by an interval of half a century.

[M-11] Thomas W. Field, Essay towards an Indian Bibl., etc., 1873, p. 313, throws the mantle of charity in the following terms: "Captain Pike could be charged with no association in this misdemeanor, as the work was edited and published in his absence on duty." This is true only in so far as the forerunner of the Mississippi voyage is concerned (see above, p. xxxiii,) and conveys an erroneous impression regarding Pike's princeps edition, in which the plagiarism occurs. For Pike wrote this book himself, and necessarily knew everything there was in it. See beyond, p. lxi, where the circumstances under which it was prepared are adduced from hitherto unpublished documents.

[M-12] "REPORT OF A LATE OCCURRENCE IN THIS PROVINCE OF NEW MEXICO.

"On the 15th of February last two Indians of the Ute tribe arrived and brought into my presence an Anglo-American, a young man of genteel appearance [joben de presencia fina, as Dr. Robinson appeared to be], whose statement I heard, and even invited him to dine with me, in order to satisfy myself he was what I supposed him to be as to intelligence and good breeding.

"I did not believe him, and suspecting the truth of his statement as to the nature of his escort, I sent out a small regular detachment and some provincial troops to reconnoitre, who not only fell in with a first lieutenant with six soldiers in an excellent fort built on the Conejos not far from its junction with the Del Norte, two days' journey from the capital of this province, towards the same direction [acia el mismo rumbo], but overcoming the obstacles of deep snows, succeeded in finding the sergeant [Meek] and corporal [meaning Private Miller] belonging to the detachment, making a total of thirteen soldiers, two of them [Dougherty and Sparks] with frozen feet, and having lost nearly all their fingers. [Compare p. 510, beyond.]

"On the 2d of March last, the above-mentioned lieutenant, whose name is Mungo-Meri-Paike, came in with six men of his detachment, and on the 18th the remainder of his men. Without any resistance they acquiesced in the notification made them, that being in my territory it was absolutely necessary that they should appear before me.

"They did so, with their arms, and I assured them that in no respect should they be treated as prisoners, saving only that, in accordance with the orders of the general commanding, it was necessary that they should appear before him and fully explain the objects of their mission.

"Paike showed me his instructions from General Wilkinson, his journal, and a rough sketch of a chart of all the rivers and countries he had explored.

"Placing all which papers in a trunk, of which I requested him to retain the key, I delivered the same to the officer [Capitan Antonio D'Almansa: see p. 611] commanding his escort—not to be opened save in presence of the aforesaid general commanding.

"From all which circumstances, from what I gathered from Robinson and from the above named officer, I conclude distinctly that the expedition of July [last—1806] was specially designed to conciliate two Indian tribes in behalf of the U. S. Government, to make them liberal presents, and drawing them into friendship, treaty, and commerce, to place them under the Anglo-American protection—all this referring especially to the Comanche tribe, the most powerful of our allies.

"Furthermore, that the Anglo-American government considers as included within the boundaries of Louisiana all the rivers that empty into the Mississippi, and all the territories that extend to the head waters of the Rio Colorado [meaning that Red r. which is the branch of the Arkansaw now called the Canadian r. as Meline explains in a footnote], which rises a few leagues from the pueblo of Taos further to the north in this province; that it is their intention this year or the next to establish forts or settlements on all these rivers, in order to monopolize all the trade and commerce carried on by a large number of tribes in the province.

"The detachment of Anglo-American troops referred to, went to Chihuahua to appear before the commanding general, guarded by an escort, being allowed to carry their arms and ammunition on account of the danger of hostile Apaches on the route.

"All of which is submitted to the general commanding, reminding him of the representation made in my communication of the 4th of January last year, concerning the necessity of placing this province on a respectable footing, and of having frontier posts and positions thrown out to oppose the ambitious views of the aforesaid Anglo-American government, exposing also the wretchedly defenseless condition actually existing, and so found for years past by whomsoever has been in command.

"Santa Fé, April 1st, 1807."

[M-13] The reputation of General Wilkinson for honor and patriotism went under a cloud, from which it has never been cleared, in connection with the Burr conspiracy. He was technically acquitted, from lack of evidence to convict; but the proof that he was a mercenary traitor subsequently appeared. General Winfield Scott is reported to have called him an "unprincipled imbecile." Governor Adams has lately put the case bluntly, but as I believe truthfully, Address, July 12th, 1894, p. 20: "General Wilkinson, then in command of the western army, has been proven by recently discovered documents to have been 'a rascal through and through.' He was in sympathy and perhaps in the confidence of Burr. Wearing the uniform and sword of an American officer, he was in the pay of Spain, and conspired to create out of the colonies west of the mountains a Spanish empire. It was Wilkinson who sent Pike west; but no matter how guilty may have been his superior in command, Pike certainly had no knowledge of his schemes. Pike was innocent of any stain. He was a patriot as pure and sincere as Wilkinson was a traitor base and ungrateful." While there is no question of Pike's perfervid patriotism, we may doubt that his lamb's-wool was as white as all that; in fact, Governor Adams himself goes on to say: "It is not entirely clear that Pike was as innocent as he professed of his whereabouts when captured in the San Luis valley. Some believe he knew he was upon the Rio Grande, and not upon the Red [river], as he pretended to believe. But had it been the Red instead of the Rio Grande, what right had he to be on the south [i. e., west] side of the river, his rude fort being several miles south [west] of the stream and under an abeyance treaty upon forbidden ground? The Spaniards believed that Pike carried secret orders to intrude upon their territory."

This belief of the Spaniards was well founded: compare my notes at p. 499, p. 504, p. 563, and p. 571. Colonel Meline corroborates the general tenor and purport of these observations, in the following terms, p. 313 of his work already cited:

"Wilkinson's bulky and diffuse published memoirs may be searched in vain for any information concerning Pike's expedition, and his silence on the subject is, to say the least, suggestive.

"Of his complicity with Burr but little doubt is now entertained and proofs are not wanting of the existence of his designs upon Mexico, from the period of his note in cypher to Governor Gayoso de Lemas (February, 1797), and his dealings with [Captain Philip] Nolan, down to the conspiracy of 1806.

"It has been stated that Wilkinson himself planned the exploring expedition of Pike, in order to obtain for his own purposes a more perfect knowledge of the country, and that he availed himself of his official authority to have it ordered by the Government. [See note^2, p. 564.]

"The Mississippi Herald of September 15th, 1807, published the affidavit of Judge Timothy Kibby, of the Louisiana Territory, acting Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas for the district of St. Charles.

"The affidavit sets forth—

"'That in confidential conversation the general (Wilkinson) speaking of Pike's Expedition, upon inquiry, replied, smiling, that it was of a secret nature, and that Lieutenant Pike himself was not apprised of the ultimate object of the expedition, but that his destination was Santa Fé, treating with the Indians as he advanced.

"'He (Wilkinson) intimated that Lieutenant Pike had been dispatched by his orders; that the plan was his own, not emanating from the Government, but assented to.'"

With these pertinent particulars I could—but need not—forbear to couple the racy characterization given by Mr. Prentis, p. 198 of his Kansan Abroad:

"The military officer in charge of the western country at that time [1806] was General James Wilkinson, a restless, bombastic, fussy old gentleman, with a rare faculty for getting into difficulties. As an officer in the Revolutionary army, he was concerned in the [Thomas] Conway cabal, a plot to supplant Washington, and place in his stead General Gates, an officer who afterwards got beautifully thrashed by the British at Camden. He turned up in the army, after being for a while a merchant at Lexington, Kentucky, in 1791; received Louisiana from the French in 1803, and contrived to get mixed up in the Burr business to such an extent that nobody knows to this day, I believe, which side he was on. He was investigated, court-martialed, and acquitted; went into the war of 1812; served on the Canadian frontier; was a conspicuous failure; was court-martialed again [subjected to a court of inquiry], and again acquitted; and finally, there being in those days no chance to enter the lecture field, he wrote his memoirs [1816], and retired to the City of Mexico, where he died.

"General James Wilkinson in his day was probably the subject of more uncomplimentary remarks than any man of his caliber in the country, and I deem it no more than justice to say for him, that, with all his faults, he was the steadfast friend of Zebulon M. Pike."

I may add, that left-hand compliments to this notorious individual have been current from that day to this, and are still in order. One of the keenest of them is attributed to a distinguished contemporary who, it is said, favored his appointment to the command of the army as the only way of "keeping him out of mischief"!

The following is the formal official record of General Wilkinson: Of Maryland, appointed from that State colonel and adjutant-general in Gates' army during the Revolutionary war with brevet of brigadier-general from Nov. 6th, 1777; lieutenant-colonel commanding the 2d Infantry Oct. 22d, 1791; brigadier-general March 5th, 1792; commander-in-chief of the army from Dec. 15th, 1796, to July 13th, 1798, and from June 15th, 1800, to Jan. 27th, 1812; brevet major-general, July 10th, 1812; major-general, Mar. 2d, 1813; honorably discharged June 15th, 1815; died Dec. 28th, 1825.

[M-14] Thomas Hunt of Massachusetts had been a captain in the Revolutionary Army when he was made a captain of the 2d Infantry Mar. 4th, 1791; he was assigned to the Second sub-Legion Sept. 4th, 1792; was promoted to a majority Feb. 18th, 1793; was in the 1st Infantry Nov. 1st, 1796; made a lieutenant-colonel Apr. 1st, 1802, and colonel April 11th, 1803; he died Aug. 18th, 1808, and it fell to the part of Pike to announce his death to the War Department.

[M-15] Baron Friedrich Wilhelm August Heinrich Ferdinand von Steuben, the Prussian-American general, b. Magdeburg, Nov. 17th, 1730, d. New York, Nov. 28th, 1794. He entered the Prussian military service in 1744, rising to the rank of adjutant-general and staff officer, 1762; was distinguished at Prague, Rossbach, Kunersdorf, 1757-1759, and at the siege of Schweidnitz; and later, in 1764, was grand marshal to the Prince of Hohenzollern. In 1777 he came to the United States, reaching Portsmouth, N. H., Dec. 1st; was appointed by Washington inspector-general, with the rank of major-general, May 5th, 1778; and reorganized the army. He served at Monmouth and Yorktown, and was a member of the court-martial on André in 1780. His manual for the army was approved by Congress in 1779; in 1790 he was voted by that body a life-annuity of $2,500; and New York State gave him 16,000 acres near Utica. Various places are named Steuben or Steubenville. Life by F. Bowen in Sparks' Amer. Biogr. Life by F. Kapp, N. Y., 1860.

[M-16] Cited from Hezekiah Niles' Weekly Register, III. No. 9, pp. 133, 134, Oct. 31st, 1812, into which it was copied from the Philadelphia Aurora, headed "15th Regiment. To the editor of the Aurora." I copy literally from the Register, but with modern punctuation, as I shall do in subsequent extracts from the same source.

[M-17] William Swan appears in Heitman's Register as major of the "2 inf" in 1813. On the supposition that this is a typographical error for 21st Infantry, which was engaged at York, the record may be given as that of the above-named Major Swan: Of Massachusetts, appointed from that State a first lieutenant of the 15th Infantry Jan. 8th, 1799; honorably discharged June 15th, 1800; reappointed first lieutenant in the 1st Infantry Feb. 16th, 1801; captain Nov. 15th, 1807; deputy-quartermaster-general April 3d, 1812; major "2 inf" i. e. 21st Infantry, Jan. 20th, 1813; colonel and quartermaster-general from Aug. 7th, 1813, to June 9th, 1814; lieutenant-colonel 20th Infantry March 13th, 1814; transferred to the 4th Infantry Apr. 30th, 1814; resigned June 9th, 1814; died June 12th, 1872.

[M-18] Eleazar Wheelock Ripley, b. Hanover, N. H., Apr. 15th, 1782, appointed from Massachusetts lieutenant-colonel 21st Infantry Mar. 12th, 1812; colonel of that regiment Mar. 12th, 1813; brigadier-general Apr. 15th, 1814; and brevet major-general July 25th, 1814, for gallantry at the battle of Niagara Falls. On the 3d of November, 1814, he was by resolution of Congress given a gold medal in testimony of appreciation of his conduct at the battles of Chippewa, Niagara, and Erie. He resigned Feb. 1st, 1820; was Democratic member of Congress from Louisiana 1835-39: and d. in that State Mar. 2d, 1839.

[M-19] Of New York, appointed a captain of the 29th Infantry Mar. 24th, 1813; resigned Mar. 14th, 1814.

[M-20] From the narrative of Lieutenant Fraser, one of Pike's staff officers, who was wounded by his side; it was published in the Philadelphia Aurora, and copied into Niles' Register of Saturday, June 5th, 1813, IV. pp. 225, 226, from which I quote.

[M-21] Benjamin Forsyth of North Carolina originally entered the army as a second lieutenant of the 6th Infantry Apr. 24th, 1800, but was very soon honorably discharged. He was reappointed as a captain of Rifles July 1st, 1808; became major Jan. 20th, 1813, and was brevetted lieutenant-colonel for distinguished services Feb. 6th, 1813. He was killed in action at Odelltown, N. Y., June 28th, 1814. "The death of this officer was in harmony with his character. After the taking of York, finding that the official account of the action gave him little credit for the conspicuous share he had in it, he became sick and inactive, and kept himself in sullen seclusion among his own men, apparently determined that no services should be rendered, either by himself or his men, since they were so inadequately rewarded, or so unduly estimated. He did little or nothing the residue of that campaign. Having been promoted before the following campaign, he, on the Champlain frontier, was put in command of an advanced party, which was to engage the enemy and then fall back, in order to draw him into an ambush. Lieutenant-Colonel Forsyth was the last man who was likely to fulfill such a plan. As soon as he opened the fight with the enemy, his instructions to fall back were either forgotten or ignored. His spirit could not brook a retreat, even for an ultimate advantage. He rushed on and fell, and lost, with his life, all the success that would probably have followed more prudence, or strict obedience to orders." (Whiting, l. c.)

[M-22] William King of Delaware was appointed from Maryland a second lieutenant of the 5th Infantry May 3d, 1808; became first lieutenant Sept. 30th, 1810; captain, 15th Infantry, July 2d, 1812; major, Mar. 3d, 1813. He was made colonel of the 3d Rifles Feb. 21st, 1814; was transferred to the 4th Infantry May 17th, 1815; honorably discharged June 1st, 1821; and died Jan. 1st, 1826.

Two officers named John Scott, both of New Jersey, both of the 15th Infantry, appear in Heitman's Register. The captain above said was appointed as such Mar. 12th, 1812, resigned Aug. 15th, 1813, and died in 1839. The other John Scott did not rise above the rank of a subaltern. Possibly a single record in this case appears as those of two different persons. For Captain White Youngs, see note^37, p. cix . Captain Hoppock's name appears as "Hopsock" in some places.

[M-23] Alexander C. W. Fanning of Massachusetts was appointed to a cadetship at West Point April 14th, 1809; he was made a first lieutenant of the 3d Artillery Mar. 12th, 1812, and promoted to be a captain Mar. 13th, 1813; transferred to the corps of artillery May 12th, 1814, and to the 2d Artillery June 2d, 1821; became major of the 4th Artillery Nov. 3d, 1832, and lieutenant-colonel Sept. 16th, 1838; he was transferred to the 2d Artillery May 24th, 1841. On Aug. 15th, 1814, he was brevetted major for gallant conduct at Fort Erie; on Aug. 15th, 1824, he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel for 10 years' faithful service in one grade; and on Dec. 31st, 1834, he was brevetted colonel for gallant and meritorious conduct in battle near the Withlachoochee under General Clinch and in defending Fort Mellon, Florida; he died Aug. 18th, 1846.

[M-24] John Walworth of New York was appointed from that State first lieutenant of the 6th (sic—Heitman) Infantry Dec. 12th, 1808; was made captain Jan. 1st, 1810; major of the 33d Infantry May 1st, 1814, and honorably discharged June 15th, 1815.

[M-25] Abram Eustis of Virginia, appointed from Massachusetts a captain of light artillery May 3d, 1808, became major of the same Mar. 15th, 1810. He was transferred to the 4th Artillery June 1st, 1821; became lieutenant-colonel of the 2d Artillery May 8th, 1822; was transferred to the 4th Artillery Aug. 2d, 1822; became colonel of the 1st Artillery Nov. 17th, 1834, and brigadier-general June 30th, 1834; he died June 27th, 1843.

[M-26] David Riddle of Pennsylvania, who had been appointed a second lieutenant of the 15th Infantry, was at that time a first lieutenant, ranking as such from Mar. 13th, 1813. He was transferred to the 8th Infantry May 17th, 1815, and became captain Dec. 3d, 1816, when he had already been twice brevetted, for distinguished services at the battle of Niagara Falls, and for gallant conduct in the sortie from Fort Erie.

[M-27] Lossing says elsewhere that one of the officers told him his own life was probably saved by the bulk of this sergeant, who was blown against him. This officer was Lieutenant Fraser, one of Pike's aids, whose own words on the subject are given in Niles' Register, IV. p. 226: "The general had just aided in removing a wounded man with his own hands, and sat down on a stump with a British sergeant we had taken prisoner, whom the general, with Captain Nicholson and myself, were examining, when the explosion took place. The general, Captain Nicholson, and the British sergeant, were all mortally wounded, and I was so much bruised in the general crash, that it is surprising how I survived; probably I owe my escape to the corpulency of the British serjeant, whose body was thrown upon mine by the concussion."

[M-28] The figures, vary, as usual. The official report gives our loss as 38 killed and 222 wounded by the explosion; which, added to 14 killed and 32 wounded in battle gives a total of 306 army casualties on our side in the whole affair; to which add 3 killed and 11 wounded of the navy, making 320 in all. Whiting's figures for killed and wounded, on the American side, are 320; on the British, in killed, wounded, and taken, "about 500." The tabular exhibit in Niles' Register, IV. p. 238, is as follows:

Killed in battle—1 subaltern, 2 sergeants, 1 corporal, 2 musicians, 8 privates | 14
Killed by the explosion—1 captain, 4 sergeants, 4 corporals, 29 privates | 38
Total killed | 52
Wounded in battle—2 captains (one since dead), 1 subaltern, 3 sergeants, 4 corporals, 22 privates | 32

Wounded by the explosion—1 brig. gen. (since dead), 1 aid-de-camp, 1 acting aid, 1 volunteer aid, 6 captains, 6 subalterns, 11 sergeants, 9 corporals, 1 musician, 185 privates

222

Total wounded | 254
Total killed and wounded | 306
Of the navy—2 midshipmen and 1 seaman killed, 11 seamen wounded | 14
Total killed and wounded | 320

[M-29] The statement that General Sheaffe's retreat was so precipitate that he lost his papers is confirmed by General Dearborn in a letter to the Secretary of War, dated Niagara, May 3d, 1813 (Niles' Register, ibid.): "York was a magazine for Niagara, Detroit, etc., and notwithstanding the immense amount which was destroyed by them, we found more than we could bring off. Gen. Sheaffe's baggage and papers fell into my hands; the papers are a valuable acquisition. A scalp was found in the executive and legislative council chamber, suspended near the speaker's chair in company with the mace, etc."

This "scalp incident," as it came to be known, and as I may remark in passing, became the probably groundless pretext for a storm of abuse of British methods of warfare. In the feverish state of public opinion which the startling climax of the battle of York excited almost to frenzy, it was regarded as adding insult to injury, and furthermore taken as a proof that our dead and wounded would be handed over by the British to their Indian allies, to be dealt with according to the customs of savage warfare. Thus, the usually temperate and judicious editor of the Register could permit himself to say: "The 'mace' is the emblem of authority, and the scalp's position near it is truly symbolical of the British power in Canada. Horrible and infamous wretches! But the reign of the murderers is nearly at an end," p. 190. And again, p. 259, with "scalp" in large capitals, and various other typographical methods of relieving his state of mind: "British humanity. When major-general Dearborn stated that a SCALP had been found in the government-house of Upper Canada, suspended near the mace, the emblem of power, many persons affected to doubt the fact; but most men believed, not only because General Dearborn had stated the circumstance, but because it was strictly characteristic of the British government, which is as base and deliberately wicked as any other in the civilized world. But the horrible fact is further and conclusively established by commodore Chauncey, whose testimony will not be disputed, openly, by those who pretended to disbelieve gen. Dearborn. Let us hear no more of 'British humanity and religion'—nor permit these great attributes to be lavished upon murderous villains. It is fact, horrible fact, that the legislature of 'unoffending Canada' did sanction (by hanging up in their hall, in evidence of their authority, a human scalp) the murders of our people by the savages. Great Heaven!" This senseless outburst concludes with the following letter:

U. S. Ship Madison, Sackett's Harbor, 4th June, 1813.

Sir—I have the honor to present to you by the hands of lieutenant Dudley, the British standard taken at York on the 27th of April last, accompanied by the mace, over which hung a human SCALP.—Those articles were taken from the parliament house by one of my officers and presented to me. The scalp I caused to be presented to general Dearborn, who I believe still has it in his possession. I also send by the same gentleman, one of the British flags taken at Fort George on the 27th of May.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, sir, your most obedient humble servant,

[Signed] Isaac Chauncey.

Honorable Wm. Jones,
Secretary of the Navy, Washington.

It may be here added that the practice of scalping is by no means confined to the aborigines of North America. Among white Americans, it has never been too uncommon to excite remark, still less reprobation; and though it may not have been a regularly recognized and practiced incident of our warfare with Indians of late years, one has only to read any of the chronicles of our earlier warrings with Indian, English, or French foes, to perceive the entire reciprocity of the custom. It fell into desuetude, on our part, less from any disrepute than from sheer indifference. Instances are not lacking during the last century, of our skinning whole Indians, tanning their hides, and manufacturing the leather into various articles of use or joy; and when we ceased to scalp as a rule, it was simply because scalps were no longer worth the trouble of taking. I am myself no stranger to reeking Apache scalps, taken both by citizens and soldiery. I knew a young officer of our army who, in a spirit of bravado, fastened an Apache scalp to each of his spurs, and wore them with the long black hair trailing at his heels during one of his hunts for Indians in Arizona. The legislature of one of our Territories passed a bill offering a reward of a certain sum of money for every "buck" Indian's scalp which should be produced, and a certain other sum for the scalp of "anything in the shape of an Indian," i. e., woman or child. The British general, Henry Hamilton, while lieutenant-governor at Detroit, had a regular tariff of prices both for prisoners and for scalps which he purchased from Indians and from white renegades, thus acquiring the soubriquet of "the hair-buying general," applied to him by George Rogers Clark. Honors are so easy on this score that they do not count in the game of war which the British played with their American cousins.

[M-30] "A distinguished officer who was in the battle at York states that, as he passed the general, after he was wounded, he cried, 'Push on, my brave fellows, and avenge your general.' As he was breathing his last the British standard was brought to him; he made a sign to have it placed under his head, and died without a groan."

[M-31] Cromwell Pearce of Pennsylvania. He had been appointed from his State a first lieutenant of the 10th Infantry May 3d, 1799, and honorably discharged June 15th, 1800. His colonelcy of the 16th Infantry dated from April 25th, 1813; he was honorably discharged June 15th, 1815, and died April 2d, 1852.

[M-32] George E. Mitchell of Maryland became major of the 3d Artillery May 1st, 1812, and lieutenant-colonel Mar. 3d, 1813; he was brevetted colonel May 5th, 1814, for gallant conduct in repelling the attack of British forces on Fort Oswego, N. Y.; transferred to corps of Artillery May 12th, 1814, and to 3d Artillery June 1st, 1821; he resigned the same day, and died June 28th, 1832.

[M-33] Samuel S. Conner of New Hampshire was appointed from Massachusetts major of the 21st Infantry, Mar. 12th, 1812; became lieutenant-colonel of the 13th Infantry Mar. 12th, 1813; resigned July 14th, 1814, and died Dec. 17th, 1820.

[M-34] Benjamin Nicholson of Maryland, who languished of his wounds till May 13th. He had been appointed a first lieutenant of the 14th Infantry Mar. 12th, 1812, and promoted to be captain Mar. 3d, 1813.

[M-35] This is but a mild sample of the epithets by which Sheaffe's firing of the magazine was stigmatized in phrases current at a time when invective was invoked till language was exhausted. In the cooling of overheated passions a sense of humor stole in to the relief of surcharged feelings, and execration of the shocking catastrophe subsided from the sublime to the ridiculous. "And it was not until after the capture of Fort George," says Whiting, p. 306, "that this explosion ceased to haunt, like a dreadful spectre, the American army. While preparing for that capture, it seemed to be a settled conviction in the mind of the commander-in-chief, that explosions were to be the ordinary means of warfare with the British. On the point opposite Fort Niagara, and not far from Fort George, stood a lighthouse, which was made of stone. The common impression was, that these stones were to be discharged upon our heads whenever we made the attempt to land; it being taken for granted that we should land between that and a neighboring wood, as the open grounds there were completely commanded by the guns of our fort. Many British deserters came over during the month which elapsed between the capture of York and Fort George. The question asked of each was, whether the lighthouse were mined. No answer intimated that it was; still it was determined to land at a safe distance from it, though the point chosen afforded the enemy an excellent cover, where his batteries could be silenced only by our vessels. After the landing had been effected, the lighthouse was approached by stragglers with much caution, until some one, more hardy or more curious than the rest, entering into it, found within its recesses, instead of a Guy Fawkes, some women and children, who had taken shelter there from the dangers of the day."

[M-36] Henry H. Van Dalsem of New Jersey became a captain of the 15th Infantry Mar. 12th, 1812, and resigned June 15th, 1815.

Joseph L. Barton of New Jersey was appointed a first lieutenant of the 15th Infantry Mar. 12th, 1812, promoted to be captain July 30th, 1812, and honorably discharged June 15th, 1815.

Abraham Godwin of New Jersey was appointed a second lieutenant of the 15th Infantry Mar. 12th, 1812, became first lieutenant May 13th, 1813, and was honorably discharged June 15th, 1815.

[M-37] White Youngs of New York was made a captain of the 15th Infantry Mar. 12th, 1812; transferred to the 8th Infantry May 17th, 1815; brevetted major Sept. 11th, 1814, for gallant conduct at Plattsburgh, N. Y.; resigned Mar. 8th, 1819, and died Dec. 8th, 1822.

[M-38] Daniel E. Burch of New Jersey was appointed from that State ensign in the 15th Infantry Oct. 7th, 1812; became third lieutenant Mar. 13th, 1813, and second lieutenant Aug. 15th, 1813: he was regimental paymaster from Mar. 12th, 1814, to June 15th, 1815, and honorably discharged June 15th, 1815. He re-entered the service as second lieutenant of the 7th Infantry Jan. 5th, 1817; became first lieutenant June 7th, 1817, and captain June 30th, 1820; acted as assistant quartermaster from Oct. 25th, 1822, to June 27th, 1831; resigned Apr. 30th, 1833, and died May 8th, 1833.

[I-1] Roster of the party: 1. Lieutenant Z. M. Pike, 1st lieut. 1st regt. U. S. Infantry, comdg.—2. Non-comm. officers: (1) Sergeant Henry Kennerman; (2) Corporal Samuel Bradley; (3) Corporal William E. Meek.—3. Privates: (1) John Boley; (2) Peter Branden; (3) John Brown; (4) Jacob Carter; (5) Thomas Dougherty; (6) William Gorden; (7) Solomon Huddleston; (8) Jeremiah Jackson; (9) Hugh Menaugh; (10) Theodore Miller; (11) John Mountjoy; (12) David Owings; (13) Alexander Roy; (14) Patrick Smith; (15) John Sparks; (16) Freegift Stoute; (17) David Whelply. This detail for detached service was made July 1st, 1805; returned Apr. 30th, 1806, without change, excepting Bradley promoted, vice Kennerman reduced to the ranks. Voyage of the 9th was between St. Louis Co., Mo., and Madison Co., Ill., past Caberet's isl. to camp on Illinois side at head of Chouteau's isl.

The above roster of the Mississippi Expedition is derived from the Return of Persons, etc., which formed a part of one of the Papers accompanying a Congressional Committee Report which was given as No. 6, pp. 64-68 of the Appendix to Part 3 of the orig. ed. of this work. It appears in full, in its proper connection, at or near the end of the main text of the present edition.

The letter of instructions from General Wilkinson, dated St. Louis, July 30th, 1805, in obedience to which Lieutenant Pike proceeded upon the Mississippi Expedition, likewise formed one of the Papers accompanying the same Congressional Committee Report. It was given nowhere else in the orig. ed. of this book; though the corresponding instructions Pike received for his second (Arkansaw) Expedition were prefixed to the main text of his narrative. The Mississippi order appears in full, in its original position, near the end of the main text of the present edition.

[I-2] Or Du Bois r., Madison Co., Ill., notable in history as that at whose mouth Lewis and Clark had their winter camp of 1803-4, whence their expedition started May 14th, 1804. At this date it was said to be opp. the mouth of the Missouri; it is now opp. the large Mobile isl. and the Missouri enters 2 m. below Wood r., through the Amazon bend.

[I-3] In undertaking to follow a traveler, the first thing to ascertain is his "personal equation"—i. e., the probable error of his mileages. Pike traveled entirely by his watch, and all his distances are guesses based upon rate of progress—so many hours, so many miles. The way to approximate accuracy in this matter is to take him between two fixed points whose actual distance apart is ascertained, see what he makes of this, and adjust him accordingly. From St. Louis to Keokuk, by the present usual steamboat channel of the Miss. r., is 202¼ m.; say to the foot of Des Moines rapids, roundly 200 m. Pike's figures, as nearly as these can be got at, make this distance about 250 m. Hence we must discount his mileages 20 per cent., or one-fifth, as a rule. Taking one thing with another—changes in the channel in the course of the century, good or bad water, Pike's own feelings, errors of manuscript or print, etc., we shall find this deduction to work well; with the aid of such topographical data as we have, it will enable us to set most of his camps pretty closely. On the 10th, Pike gets left to bivouac on the bank at a point in Jersey Co., Ill., opposite Portage des Sioux, Mo., his barge being storm-bound somewhere above Alton, Ill., perhaps in the vicinity of Clifton or Randolph. The distance between Alton, first notable point above the Mo. r., and Grafton, last notable point below the Illinois r., is 16 m. Besides Alton and Clifton, places passed on the N. side are Shields' branch, Hop Hollow, Falling Rock cr., and Piasa cr.—some of the present isls. above Mobile isl. are Maple, Ellis, Search's, Piasa, and Eagle's Nest—the latter off Portage des Sioux.

[I-4] Portage des Sioux (or de Sioux) is that place in St. Charles Co., Mo., where the Mo. r. comes nearest to the Miss. r. before their confluence. It was the site of an early settlement on the S. bank of the Miss. r., one François Saucier having first built on the spot, 1769 or 1770; the village was already there in Pike's time, and still perpetuates the old F. name of the hostile Sioux's crossing-place (ca. 1780) between the two great rivers, also called Sioux Portage or Portage of the Sioux: see Beck's Gaz.; or Wetmore's, p. 254.

[I-5] First great tributary of the Miss. r. above the Mo. r., falling in at Calhoun pt., Calhoun Co., Ill., opp. Camden, Jersey Co., Ill.; Mason's isl. the largest one of several more in the Miss. r. just below the mouth of the Ill. r. In coming S. the Miss. r. makes a great bend E. and then nearly N. to the confluence, whence it turns again to a course approx. coincident with that which the Ill. r. holds; hence Pike's remark that the one might be mistaken for a part of the other. The river has had many names; the present is in form a French plural, sc. Rivière des Illinois, sc. of the people who lived on it—Illin, Illini, Illinoct, Illinoac, Illinoet, Illiniwek, Illeni, Illenois, Ilinois, Islinois, Islenois, etc. Pike's map has Illenois; Franquelin's, 1688, R. des Ilinois. Another aboriginal name, Theakiki, Teakiki, etc., whence Kankakee, was applied to one of the branches of this river. The Ill. r. sometimes shared the name St. Louis with the Mississippi and the Ohio. It was called R. de Seignelay by Hennepin, in compliment to the marquis of that name; and once known as the Divine r. The importance of this river as a water-way from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi is second only to that of the Wisconsin, and would be first if the long projected connection of St. Louis with Chicago by water were made. The use of these two rivers for this purpose was originally almost simultaneous; for Joliet and Marquette reached the Miss. r. from Green bay by the Wisc. r. June 15th or 17th, 1673, came down the Miss. r. past the mouth of the Ill. r. in July that year, continued down to or near the Arkansaw, turned up the Miss. r. July 17th, reached the Ill. r., and went up the latter to L. Michigan, Aug.-Sept., 1673. One of Joliet's maps, 1674, clearly shows the Wis. r. and Ill. r. connections of the Miss. r. with L. Michigan and Green bay respectively. Michael Accault's party, consisting of himself, Antoine Auguelle, and L. Hennepin, dispatched by La Salle from Fort Crêvecœur on the Ill. r., Feb. 29th, 1680, reached its mouth Mar. 7th, 1680; La Salle did the same himself Feb. 6th, 1682. The latter—one of the very greatest men in the early history of American discovery and exploration—came upon the Ill. r. in Dec., 1679, and made the first French establishment on Lower Mississippian waters in Jan., 1680, at the Illinois village Pimetoui, close to present Peoria.

[I-6] Among the islands (or their modern representatives) past which Pike struggled may be named Perry, Squaw, Enterprise, and Iowa; the present channel is W. of all these excepting Squaw, taking through Hatchet chute to Rock ldg. and Milan, Calhoun Co., Ill. That island whose foot is now nearest 6 m. from the Illinois r. is Dardenne; but camp was more probably a mile short of this, where is now Bolter's isl., as it is called—properly Boulder's.

[I-7] About 21 m., Bolter's isl. to the Four Brothers, at Cap au Grès. The present run of the principal islands is: Dardenne, Two Branch, Criminal, Peruque, Sweden, all below the mouth of Buffalo, Copper or Cuivre r. Dardenne cr. falls in on the left hand going up, right bank, opp. the island of that name; it appears as Dardonne on Owen's map. Peruque cr. occupies a corresponding position opp. Peruque and Sweden isls.; Nicollet's map has Perruque. R. au Cuivre or aux Bœufs of the French, Copper and Buffalo r. of others ("Quiver" r. of Lewis and Clark's map, 1814), is a large stream which courses from Montgomery into Lincoln Co., Mo., and then, with its Big cr. branch, separates the latter from St. Charles Co.; it falls into Cuivre slough, which cuts off Cuivre isl., 3 m. long. At the upper end of this slough is the mouth of the creek mapped by Nicollet as McLean's, now as Bob, Bobb, Bobs, Bobbs, etc., cr. Some of the named places along the river are Brock's, Dixon's, Fruitland, Thomason's, Beck's, Two Branch, Martin's, Hastings, Beech's, and Bogtown—all insignificant, mostly mere landings, and all in Calhoun Co., Ill., excepting Beck's. Pike's Four Brothers are represented by islands Nos. 499, 500, 501, and 502, of late surveys, not now abreast; all are small, and the largest one is called Sarah Ann. Pike's "beautiful cedar cliff" is Cap au Grès rock, opposite a hamlet of the same name in Lincoln Co., Mo.; Dogtown, Ill., is under the cliff. The phrase is commonly rendered Cap au Gre or Cap au Gris, by mistaking F. grès, a noun, meaning sandstone, for F. gris, adj., gray. Long of 1817, as pub. 1860 and again 1890, has a Little Cape Gris; Beltrami, II. p. 196, renders Great Cape Gray. The exact distance to this place from Grafton is 27 m.; from Alton, 43 m.; from St. Louis 66 m.

[I-8] Cap au Grès to Hamburg, Calhoun Co., Ill., 22 m.; river crooked, and channel still more so; late start and much obstruction; Pike may hardly have reached Hamburg, but was in that vicinity, and we may set him there, in the absence of any datum for greater precision. The "vast" number of islands he passed have their modern representatives in such as: Sandy, 2½ m. long, with Turner's near it; Stag and Maple, abreast; Sterling; Westport, 3½ m. long, with Kickapoo and Kelly's alongside it. Along this whole way, on the left hand going up, in Lincoln Co., Mo., runs a long slough approx. parallel with the river. This is the discharge of Bryant's cr., which approaches the river opp. Hamburg, gets from the hills and runs in the bottom down to Sandy isl.; it is called Bayou au Roi on some maps, Bayou Roy on others. Nicollet charts it with his usual accuracy, but without name. The principal places passed are the villages of Sterling and Westport, Lincoln Co., Mo.; Gilead, back up on the hill, in Calhoun Co., Ill.; lesser ones are the landings, wood-piles, or what-not, called Asbury, Turner's, Hogtown, and Red's. The St. L., Keok. and N. W. R. R. runs in the bottom along the bayou; stations Foley, Apex, Elsberry, and Dameron.

[I-9] Polyodon spatula, or Spatularia spatula, the paddlefish, also called spoon-billed cat or duck-billed cat, common in Mississippian waters. It sometimes attains a length of 5 or 6 feet; the shape resembles that of the sturgeon, but the skin is scaleless, like a cat's. One of the Relations ascribed to Hennepin, and pub. 1697, speaks of this fish as the "long-beaked sturgeon," and says it was spawning Apr. 24th. Hennepin doubtless became acquainted with it when he was first on the Mississippi, under Accault, in 1680: see, e. g., Shea's Tr. of Henp., 1880, p. 359.

[I-10] Doubtless one of the brothers mentioned in Lewis and Clark: see ed. 1893, pp. 1209, 1236, 1243.

[I-11] From Hamburg to Clarksville is 14½ m., Louisiana or Louisianaville, 24½; Pike went about 20, say to Krider's bend, and his camp was on an island which we may take to be that now called Krider's, 6 m. above Clarksville, 4 m. below Louisiana. The "continuation of islands" is now the following in ascending series, omitting about a dozen small ones; Mosier's or Mozier's, and Howard's, together, the former 1¾ m. long; Tilden's; McCoy's or Cock; Slim and Grimes, the former 3¼ m. long; Coon, 1 m.; Carroll's or Carle's, 1¾; Amaranth, small; Eagle, 1 m.; Clarksville, 2 m., opposite the town; Pharr's, 1¾ m.; and Krider's, 1 m. Above Mosier's isl. and ldg., on the E., is the outlet of Hamburg bay, 3½ m. above the town; Bay cr. falls into it. Behind Slim isl. is the chute of that name, into which falls the large creek called Guin's, Guinn's, Gwin's, etc.; and at the head of the island is the mouth of Ramsey's cr., another large one. These streams are both in Pike Co., Mo.; and as soon as Pike passes opposite Clarksville he has Pike Co., Ill., on his right, so that he sails many miles with a county of his own on each side. Clarksville, Mo., is something of a town, on the edge of the river, under the hill around which Calumet cr. comes to fall in just above; and 3 m. higher comes Little Calumet cr. on the same side. Opposite Clarksville is the lower opening of that immense slough whose character is not less remarkable than its name. This runs for more than 30 m. alongside the river, clear through Pike Co., Ill., and into Adams Co., forming a maze of channels which intersect one another and thus cut off various islands, besides opening into the Mississippi at several places; some of these lesser sloughs are called Spring Lake, Atlas, Cocklebur, Swift, Coon, Mud, Five Points, Crooked, Running, and Swan. This collateral water-course also receives a series of creeks, among which are those called Big or Big Stew, Six Mile, Honey or Hadley, Ashton or Fall, and Harkness. This whole affair is commonly called the Snicarty or Sny Carte; it is Suycartee Slough on Owen's map, and has other variants too numerous to recount. All these words or phrases are perversions of F. Chenal Écarté, lit. cut-off channel. For this and the corresponding formation of the name Sniabar or Snibar, given to a creek and town in Missouri, see my note, N. Y. Nation, Jan. 19th, 1893, and Lewis and Clark, ed. 1893, p. 29. The embankment built to defend the river from the slough is known as the Sny levee.

[I-12] About 20 m., setting Pike in the vicinity of Cincinnati, Pike Co., Ill.; camp perhaps a little beyond this town, but just about opposite the boundary between Pike Co., Mo., and Ralls Co., Mo. On the Illinois side we have nothing worthy of note but the snaky Snicarty, back of which are the villages Atlas and Rockport. But the Missouri side offers some interesting things. On decamping from Krider's isl., Pike passes in quick succession two creeks, Louisiana and Salt river, all on his left, all within 6 m. 1. Pike elsewhere cites both these creeks, and says the first of them is the one he calls Bar r.; this is now Buffalo cr., falling in 2 m. below Louisiana; the bar at its mouth, whence the name, is present Buffalo isl. 2. The next creek is that immediately above, whose mouth is Louisiana; this is called Noir cr. on most of the maps before me, but Bear cr. on the latest G. L. O. map; which name the natives prefer I am not informed. 3. Louisiana is quite a town, which dates back to Nicollet's time, at least, as he marks it on the beautiful map he made before 1840. The Chic. and Alton R. R. bridges the river at the mouth of Noir or Bear cr. This was built 1872-73 (Act of Congr., Mar. 3d, 1871); the town or station Pike is on the Illinois side, opp. Louisiana. The C. B. and Q. R. R. sends a branch here; the St. L., Keok. and N. W. R. R. also runs through Louisiana. 4. Next is Salt r., which Pike elsewhere calls Oahahah, and others Auhaha, 2 m. above Louisiana. This seems to have been known long before the time Pike's remark would suggest; if I mistake not, it is laid down on some maps before 1700. It is a large river; the French were along here in 1680-90, and I can put my finger on an old F. Rivière au Sel. Salt r., with its branches, is big enough to water five or six modern counties, before it falls in through Pike Co. Present islands in Pike's course of to-day, from Salt r. upward, are Angle, South, and North Fritz between Hickory chute and Scott's ldg., Atlas, Blackbird, and Denmark, between a couple of Snicarty openings and Mundy's ldg. or Ashburn sta.; then the very large Gilbert's isl., 2½ m. long, which lies between Gilbert's and Tompkins' ldg. on the Missouri side, and Cincinnati ldg. on the other. A good deal of engineering work was done at this bad place to close Gilbert's chute and throw the main channel over against the Illinois side.

[I-13] Cincinnati Landing, Pike Co., Ill., to Hannibal, Marion Co., Mo., 12 m. direct, and not much more by river, as its course is quite straight. The Frenchman's house, 4 m. beyond which Pike went to camp, was a germ of Hannibal, sown under the handsome hill, just above a little run which Nicollet and Owen both map as Bear cr., opposite Hurricane isl. This place is mapped by Pike as Hurricane Settlement; he speaks of it again under date of Apr. 26th, 1806. It is now a notable railroad center; the Wabash R. R. built the bridge in 1871 (Act of Congr., July 25th, 1866). On the Illinois side there was a place called Douglasville, which seems to have been a forerunner of the town or station Shepherd; while Hannibal itself has also the St. L., Keok. and N. W. R. R. skirting the Miss. r., the Hann. and St. Jo., the St. L. and Hann., and the Mo., Kas. and Tex. To reach this then French embryo, Pike proceeded with present Pike Co., Ill., on his right the whole way, but with Ralls Co. on his left, to past Saverton in the latter county, and so on to Marion Co., Mo. He passed the positions of the islands now called Taylor's, Cottel's, King's, and Glasscock's; and after he had interviewed the Frenchman he went on past the present position of the mouth of Bayou St. Charles, off which are Turtle, Glaucus, and other islands, to camp in Marion Co., Mo., about where the present boundary between Pike and Adams cos., Ill., strikes the river—that is to say, opposite Armstrong isl., near the beginning of the Snicarty. The St. Charles or Charles is old in history; I have seen the name ascribed to Hennepin, 1680, but have not myself so found it. Pike's Hurricane isl. is probably not now determinable, if existent, unless he means a large tract of bottom-land opposite Hannibal, isolated by the Snicarty. Glasscock's isl. is now or was lately the only well-founded island on the river near the mouth of Bear cr. It is said in Holcombe's Hist. Marion Co., 1884, p. 902, that an island opposite the mouth of Bear cr. disappeared in 1849. Judge Thos. W. Bacon, who came to Hannibal in 1847, informs me in lit. Mar. 21st, 1894, that he remembers no such island; "there was a sand-bar visible at low water just above the mouth of Bear cr., and it disappeared long ago, but no such fugitive formation could properly be termed an island. Along the N. front of the site of Hannibal was once an incipient island—a sand-bar with growing willows extending from the N. end almost to the mainland. This gradually disappeared except at the lower end, where it prolonged and merged into a granite gravel bed or bar visible at low water, which was dredged away by the government." Pike is probably mistaken in using the name Hurricane in the present connection. There were a Hurricane ldg., isl., and cr. lower down, in Lincoln Co.; but Judge Bacon informs me he never heard the name applied to Hannibal. Nor is it true that this town was ever called Stavely's ldg., except as a piece of fugitive sarcasm in the newspapers of a rival town, arising in the habit of one John W. Stavely, a saddler of Hannibal, who used to haunt the landing when steamers arrived. It could not well have been first known as a "landing," because the first steamer to arrive there, the Gen. Putnam, Moses D. Bates, master, came in 1825, while Hannibal was platted in 1819 by its present name, shortly after Pike Co. was organized (Dec. 14th, 1818). The classical term is said to be traceable to Antoine Soulard, surveyor-general, who is also said to have named Fabius r. for the great Roman cunctator. But this is dubious; old forms Fabas and Fabbas suggest Sp. fabas beans. Bay St. Charles was called Scipio r., as attested by the hamlet of Port Scipio at its mouth.

[I-14] This stretch of "39" m. needs to be warily discussed. The whole distance from Hannibal to Keokuk by the river channel is only 61 m. Pike makes it from his camp of the 16th to that of the 19th 39 + 23 + 4 = 76 m.; he also started from a little above Hannibal on the 17th, and did not quite make Keokuk on the 19th; for he only got to the foot of the Des Moines rapids after breakfast on the 20th. The whole way would have been about 80 of his miles against say 60 of actual travel, or the proportion of 4:3, as already noted, p. 2; and we may confidently set him down on the 17th halfway between Hannibal and Keokuk. Now from Hannibal to La Grange is 30 m. and from La Grange to Keokuk is 31 m.; La Grange, Lewis Co., Mo., at the mouth of Wyaconda r., is the required location of camp of the 17th. This is 10 m. above Quincy, the seat of Adams Co., Ill., one of the best known cities on the river, though not as old as some of them. The C. B. and Q. R. R. bridged the river just above the city in 1867-68; a West Quincy grew up on the Missouri side, and the present importance of the place requires no comment. A very short distance above Quincy Pike passes from Marion into Lewis Co., Mo. But the most important point of this day's voyage is one to which the above text does not even allude. Pike elsewhere speaks of a certain Jaustioni river, as the then boundary between the U. S. and the Sac nation, 7 m. above the Frenchman's house at Hurricane Settlement, on the W. side; and he traces this river on his map by the name Jauflione. Now there are five large streams which enter the Miss. r. on the W. within 3 m. of one another, by four separate mouths, in Marion Co., say 2 to 5 miles below W. Quincy, and the proportionate distance above Hannibal. They are now known as (1) South Two Rivers; (2) North Two Rivers; (3) a branch of the latter—these three emptying practically together, just below Fabius isl.; (4) South Fabius; and (5) North Fabius rivers, which fall into a slough whose two mouths are opposite Orton's isl. Pike has left us no data to decide which of these he means by Jaustioni or Jauflione, especially as the positions of the several outlets have no doubt changed since 1805. They are all at present, or were very recently, considerably more than the "seven" miles above Hannibal, being entirely beyond the Bayou St. Charles, itself about 7 m. long. Pike's queer names, Justioni or Jaustioni, and Jauflione (latter in early text, 1807, p. 4, and on map), are found also as Jeffreon, and usually as Jeffrion. Some form of the name, the meaning of which I have never learned, endured for many years; thus Jauflione r. appears in Morse's Univ. Gaz., 3d ed. 1821, p. 350, though it had mostly disappeared from ordinary maps of about that date. The river thus designated has a history which will bear looking up. Judge Thos. H. Bacon of Hannibal refers me to certain documents bearing on French Colonial history to be found in Amer. State Papers, VI. 1860, pp. 713-14, and 830-34, also repub. in Holcombe's Hist. Marion Co., 1884. On p. 834 is: "July 10th, 1810. Board met. Present John B. C. Lucas, Clement B. Penrose, and Frederick Bates, Commissioners. Charles Gratiot, assignee of Mathurin Bouvet, claiming 84 arpents of land front on the Mississippi river and in depth from the river back to the hills in the district of St. Charles.... The Board order that this claim be surveyed, provided that it be not situated above the mouth of the River Jeffrion conformably to the possession of Mathurin Bouvet," etc. As Bouvet's claim was ultimately confirmed to Gratiot, Jeffrion r. must have been above Salt r. The next considerable river above Salt r. is that one of the "Two Rivers" called South r.; but this is hardly 30 m. long, and an Act of Dec. 31st, 1813, describes Jeffrion r. as over 30 m. long. The next one is North Two Rivers; undoubtedly it is this one which was known as the Jeffrion in Territorial days. When the region was first settled it was called the Two Rivers country, and the title of a certain Two Rivers Baptist Association preserves this designation. The Governor of Louisiana Territory was required to divide it into districts (Act of Congr., Mar. 26th, 1804, sec. 13); Holcombe's Hist. Marion Co., p. 37, says that Governor Wm. Clark by proclamation reorganized the districts into counties Oct. 1st, 1812; and doubtless the Jeffrion would be there again in mention. Bouvet's settlement on Bay Charles is unquestionable in location; it was described as about 34 leagues above St. Louis, and was a place with which the commissioners must have been officially acquainted. In history B. Charles is nearly a century older than St. Louis, and it was for many years a better known locality. Present North r. is the only one that answers the historical and geographical requirements of the north one of Two Rivers of early Territorial times and of the Jeffrion r. of French Colonial days. Holcombe, p. 148, gives an account of Kentucky prospectors on the Jeffrion in 1817. The name of the Sac chief Black Hawk occurs in connection with an incident on Two Rivers in 1812. But the most satisfactory and in fact a conclusive identification of North Two Rivers with the Jauflione is derivable from the terms of our treaty with the Sacs and Foxes of 1804. This will be found in Statutes at Large, VII. p. 84, seq.: A Treaty between the United States of America and the United Tribes of Sac and Fox Indians, made Nov. 3d, 1804, ratified Jan. 25th, 1805, and proclaimed Feb. 21st, 1805. Among the "articles of a treaty made at St. Louis in the district of Louisiana between William Henry Harrison, governor of the Indiana territory and of the district of Louisiana [etc., etc.] of the one part, and the chiefs and head men of the united Sac and Fox tribes of the other part," there is one defining the boundary thus: "Article 2. The general boundary or line between the lands of the United States and of the said Indian tribes shall be as follows, to wit: Beginning at a point on the Missouri river opposite to the mouth of the Gasconade river; thence in a direct course so as to strike the river Jeffreon at the distance of thirty miles from its mouth, and down the said Jeffreon to the Mississippi," etc., etc. In company with Mr. Robert F. Thompson of the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Washington I made a special examination of maps in his office with reference to this point, and among them found one, prepared for office use in determining boundaries indicated in the terms of Indian treaties, on which the boundary in mention had been drawn from the Missouri opposite the mouth of the Gasconade directly to a point supposed to be 30 m. up the North Two Rivers, which I had on other grounds determined the Jauflione or Jeffreon to be. This river empties in Fabius township, in the N. W. ¼ of Sect. 3, T. 58 N., R. 5 W., Marion Co., Mo.

On this extraordinary cession see a note by L. C. D[raper] in Minn. Hist. Coll., III. Part 2, p. 143, 1874.

At the upper end of St. Charles bayou, called Bayou chute, a couple of miles below Two Rivers, was the site of a place that rejoiced on paper in the name of Marion City. They started a railroad there, were liable to wash-outs, and inspired Charles Dickens' idea of his quizzical "Eden." If one would like to see how uncounted "cities" were laid out in gaudy prints—some consisting in a hovel or two, some without even that—let him look over Featherstonhaugh's diverting relations of the '30's, when he traveled in these parts, then overrun with a set of the neediest, greediest, and most unscrupulous landsharks that ever lived on calomel, whisky, and the gullibility of their fellows. Marion City is located on one of the maps before me, but not on any of the others. A little above it are Fabius and Orton isls., already mentioned, and opposite these is Ward's isl., larger than either of the other two. A couple of miles above Quincy begins the group of Cottonwood isls., opposite a large horseshoe-shaped slough which seems to be an old cut-off of the river; it is connected with the Fabius r. outlets, and receives Durgan's (i. e., Durkee's) cr. At Quincy is the lower outlet of a very extensive snicarty, 12 or 15 m. direct, and much more by its sinuosities; this begins at Canton (above La Grange) and connects at various points with Canton chute, itself some 10 m. long. La Grange, where Pike camps, was so called from the hill under which it nestled, and the English of which would be Barn hill. The original settlement was named Wyaconda or Waconda, from the river at whose mouth it was made; thus Nicollet's map marks Wiyakonda instead of La Grange, preserving the Indian name of the place. This river is a large one which, with its branches, traverses Scotland and Clark cos. before entering Lewis Co. Before settlement a certain tract of country below La Grange had been called Waconda prairie, or in some similar form of the Indian word, as Wacondaw of Maj. Thos. Forsyth, 1819; and this is what Pike's map presents as the "Small Prairie."

[I-15] About two-thirds of the way from La Grange to Keokuk—say to Fox prairie, at the mouth of Fox r., site of Gregory's Landing, Clark Co., Mo. The principal place passed is Canton, Lewis Co., Mo., 7 m. above La Grange, opposite the head of Canton chute. Some other places that were started, such as Satterfield, would be hard to find on a latter-day map. Tully is now practically a part of Canton; Tully isl. exists, 3 or 4 m. above Canton, and Satterfield's creek is a branch of Fox r. Near there, one Dodd kept for some years a woodyard on the Illinois side, and the steamboat channel among the sand-bars and islands in his vicinity acquired the name of Dodd's crossing.

[I-16] About 10 m., from Gregory's ldg. to "the point of a beach" within the present city limits of Keokuk, Lee Co., Ia., immediately above the mouth of Des Moines r., which for some distance separates the States of Missouri and Iowa; opposite is Hancock Co., Ill. The place where Pike got sawyered was very likely between Hackley's and Fox isls. The place is a bad one; there has been a good deal of engineering work done in damming Hackley's chute, and jettying the channel over to the other side. Fox r. (once called R. Puante, whence also Stinking cr.) is not mentioned by Pike in the present connection; but he speaks of it elsewhere, and lays it down on his map without name, marking an Indian village on the Illinois side between its mouth and that of Des Moines r. The present or a very recent arrangement of its discharge is by Fox slough, a small snicarty that begins at Alexandria and runs 5 m. down to Gregory's ldg. This cuts off a piece of bottom which the railroad traverses between the points said, besides Fox and several lesser islands.

[I-17] For the origin of this name, involving a spurious etymology by association with Trappist monks, see Lewis and Clark, ed. 1893, p. 20. The always careful and accurate Nicollet made the matter quite plain: see his Rep. 1843, p. 22. Some form of the old Indian name is used by the earliest French travelers in these parts. One of the oldest maps I have seen, dressée par J. B. Franquelin dans 1688 pour être presentée à Louis XIV., letters R. des Moingana, and marks the Indian village of Moingoana. One of Joliet's maps has Moeng8ena. Joliet and Marquette passed its mouth going down the Miss. r. in 1673, on or about June 25th; Accault, Auguelle, and Hennepin passed it going up the Miss. r. early in 1680. Besides the many early variants of the phrase which settled into Des Moines, we find R. of the Outontantas, 8tantas, 8t8ntes, Otentas, etc., R. of the Peouareas, Paotes, etc., R. of the Maskoutens, etc., Nadouessioux, etc. This is the largest river Pike has come to since he left the Illinois, and the only tributary of the Missouri which he charts with any detail; he lays it down with 20 of its branches, and marks the positions on it of old Forts Crawford and St. Louis. We observe that he calls it De Moyen; and this gives occasion for a blunder not less amusing than to call it Trappist r. would be. For our hero was ambitious of French scholarship, and on consulting his dictionary to find out about moyen, he set the stream down as Means r. in his French-English vocabulary of geographical names. Another author, or his printer, got it Demon r. Beltrami, 1828, renders Le Moine and Monk r. Pike's editor of the early text, 1807, has des Moines, p. 4. The stream is a large and very important one, too much so to be entered upon in a mere note like this; but I may observe that it is historically less significant than those of similar extent on the Illinois and Wisconsin side of the Mississippi, because several of the latter were highways during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The mouth of the Des Moines became of course the scene of early settlement, but not all the places started there survived. Nicollet's map shows three—Keokuck, Montebello, Warsaw. Owen's, somewhat later, has also Nassau and Churchville, immediately at the debouchure, where there came to be also a Buenavista. Publishing in 1847, but having written of 1835, the always entertaining Featherstonhaugh speaks of "a sorry settlement on the left bank, called Keokuk, after a celebrated Sauk chief, inhabited altogether by a set of desperados"—a diagnosis which will no doubt be better relished by the Hamiltonians, Varsovians, and Alexandrians than by the present polished Keokukites. He should have made one exception, however, for he found there the famous George Catlin, Nov. 4th, 1835: see his book, II. p. 42. Besides Keokuk, Lee Co., Ia., at the foot of the rapids above the mouth of the Des Moines, the three places which have grown into urban reality are: Hamilton, Hancock Co., Ill., directly opposite Keokuk; Warsaw, Hancock Co., Ill., 2 m. below the mouth, and directly opposite this, Alexandria, Clark Co., Mo. Three States as well as three counties thus met here. Pike continues with Illinois on his right, but now has Iowa instead of Missouri on his left.

Fort Edwards was a position of importance for some years. This military post was built on the east side of the Mississippi, 3 m. below the foot of the rapids, and directly opposite the two islands which divided the outlet of the Des Moines into three channels. Half a mile S. W. from the fort was Cantonment Davis, its precursor, abandoned when the works were completed. The locality is practically Warsaw. A full description of this establishment, as it was at the time of Long's visit in August, 1817, is given in his report, as printed in Minn. Hist. Col., II. Part 1, 1860; 2d ed. 1890, pp. 77-80. It had been building since June, 1816, and was not quite finished in 1817.

[I-18] Some light—at least that light in which he was regarded—is thrown on Mr. Ewing by a letter before me from General James Wilkinson to General Henry Dearborn, Secretary at War, dated St. Louis, Dec. 3d, 1805: "In a former letter you have asked me who this Ewing was? I can give you no further Information than that I found Him in a place, which He is utterly unqualified to fill—He is I understand placed at the River Desmoin, to teach the Indians the Arts of Agriculture, but has I believe given but a wretched example—This is I think the Third visit he has made since my arrival to this place, and I expect his disbursements which are supplied by Mr. Chouteau may exceed expectation—He appears to be a young man of innocence, levity & simplicity—without experience or observation."

[I-19] The rapids named from their situation above the mouth of Des Moines r. have also been known as the Lower rapids, in distinction from those higher up about the mouth of Rock r. These formidable obstacles to navigation have been overcome by modern engineering skill, but Pike's curt notice of the channel is clearly recognizable. The river was bridged by the Wabash road between Hamilton and Keokuk, in 1869-70 (Act of Congr., July 25th, 1866); the town lock and chain are within a mile or so of the bridge. Then succeed the English, Lamalee, and Spanish chains, and the Upper chain at the head of the rapids. The distance is about 11 m. Sandusky, Ia., was located between the English and Lamalee chains; Nashville, Ia., at the Spanish chain; Solferino, Ia., above the last; at or near one of these last two is Galland, Ia.; and on the Illinois side is a place called Sonora. On that side Cheney cr. falls in at Hamilton, and higher up are two others, known as Golden's and Quarry Sugar, but which used to be called Wagoner's and Larry's; while on the Iowan side Price's cr. falls in at the middle lock, Lamalee's at Sandusky, and several smaller ones at various points. The railroad and canal hug the Iowan side. At the head of the rapids the river makes a sharp bend; in the concavity of this bend stands Nauvoo, Ill., originally a Mormon settlement; it used to be called also Commerce. This is the place where Mr. Ewing had his establishment when he entertained Pike; the latter charts it as "U. S. Agricultural Estabt." The Sac village opposite was on the site of the present town of Montrose, Ia. A large creek runs through this town. There are some islands at the head of the rapids, between Nauvoo and Montrose, one of which, No. 401 of the Miss. Surv. chart, is called Montrose. At the head of the bend, still opp. Nauvoo, is the lower end of Dobson's slough, which receives a stream charted by Nicollet and Owen as Sugar cr., but later dedicated to his Satanic majesty by the name of Devil's or Big Devil cr., called by Beltrami Manitou cr. Devil's isl. is the name of the large tract, nearly 4 m. long, which is isolated by Dobson's slough, certain sections of which latter are known as Big River and Potter's.

[I-20] James Wilkinson: see elsewhere for this letter, which formed Doc. No. 1, App. to Pt. 1. of the orig. ed. of this work. Pike's 5 or 6 m. takes him past Dobson's slough and Devil's or Sugar cr. and isl., and the sand-bar on which he camped is now represented by Niota isl., 2½ m. long, or one of the small ones close by. The locality is the well-known one of the city of Madison, or Fort Madison, seat of Lee Co., Ia. Opposite this city, in Hancock Co., Ill., are two little places, one called Niota, and the other Appannose (Nicollet), Appanoose (G. L. O. map), Appanooce (Miss. Surv. chart), etc. A certain creek which falls in by Niota and is known as Tyson's cr. seems to be the never-identified one which Lewis and Clark mapped in 1814 as Sand Bank cr.

A history of Lee Co., pub. Chicago, 1879, says that the city of Fort Madison was so called from the old fort and trading-post of that name. The author speaks of the tradition that this establishment was built by Zachary Taylor, when this distinguished general, afterward president of the United States, was a lieutenant in the army; and attempts to refute this tradition by an appeal to the War Department for the facts in the case. But unluckily, the information he derived from this source was erroneous; for the Hon. Geo. W. McCrary, then secretary of war, told him that the adjutant-general of the army reported to him (McCrary) that Fort Madison was erected by Pike in 1805. Whereas, besides imperishable renown, Pike erected nothing in 1805 but his stockade on Swan r., and various patriotic flag-poles. The difference between selecting or recommending a site for a fort, and building one on that site, is obvious at sight. But Pike did not even select or recommend this spot for a fort, the lowest one of several which he did pick out being at Burlington: see next note. Z. Taylor was a 1st lieut. of the 7th Infantry in 1808, appointed from Ky.; which fact, as far as it goes, supports the tradition. The Andreas Hist. Atl. of Ia. has it that the fort for which the town was named was built in 1808; evacuated and burned by hostile Indians, 1813 (qu. 1812?). On Monday, Aug. 4th, 1817, when Long visited the ruins of Fort Madison, there was nothing left but some old chimneys, a covert way leading from the main garrison to some sort of an elevated outwork in the rear, and a number of fruit-trees on the ground which had been a garden: see Minn. Hist. Soc. II., Part 1, 1860, 2d ed. 1890, p. 75. In the fall of 1832 one Peter Williams settled on the present site of the town. The old trading-house there was called Le Moine factory. The old fort stood close to the river, and as I judge within a third of a mile of the present State penitentiary.

[I-21] About 18 m., to a position above the mouth of Skunk r., a little below the Burlington bluffs; he calls it 5¼ m. to the locality he presently describes with particularity, and which will be recognized as the site of Burlington, seat of Des Moines Co., Ia. After passing Madison on his left, with Niota and Appanoose on his right, he goes up by Pontoosuc and Dallas, both in Hancock Co., Ill., and then has Henderson Co., Ill., on his right. Further up, on the left, Lee Co. is separated from Des Moines Co., Ia., by Skunk r. This is a large stream, whose present pleasant name translates the Indian word rendered Shikagua by Nicollet, and Shokauk by Featherstonhaugh; Lewis and Clark map it as Polecat r. Beltrami, 1828, calls it Polecat r. and River of the Bête Puante. Green Bay is a small place in Lee Co., on a sort of slough which discharges into the river behind Lead isl., and which is called Green bay. This is connected in some way, which for me remains occult, with a creek called by Nicollet Lost cr.; it is a part of the intricate waters between Skunk r. and that stream which runs through Madison past the State penitentiary, where the bridge that was built in 1887-88 strikes the Iowa side. Jollyville was a place on the same waters, but seems to have been lost like the creek. Some of the islands besides Lead, the present positions of which Pike passed, if not these islands themselves, are now known as Dutchman, Hog, Polk, Thompson, Peel, and Twin, the latter at the mouth of Skunk r. His camp I suppose to have been about on the spot where one Sauerwein used to keep his woodyard, about halfway between Twin isls. and the mouth of Spruce (or Spring) cr. This is nearly opp. the middle of the great island now called Burlington, formerly Big, being 7 m. long, separated from the Illinois mainland by Shokokon slough, on which there is or was a place called by this latter name. A number of creeks make into this slough, among them those called Dug Out, Honey (Camp cr. of Nicollet and Owen), and Ellison's. A place called Montreal started near Ellison's cr., but does not seem to have survived. What Pike maps as "Sand bank Creek," at a place he calls "Sand Bay," seems to be Dug Out cr., or the next one below, which falls into the slough behind Thompson's isl., near Dallas City.

[I-22] This is the prairie through which meanders Henderson r., 6 m. above Burlington. The Sac village was on its north bank. The prairie and the village are lettered on the map as per text; the river is shown there, without name; the Burlington bluffs are delineated, marked "Positions for a Fort." The present city was built across the mouth of Hawkeye cr., a rivulet which makes in above the steepest part of the bluff, where the Flint hills recede a little from the river; it extends to the larger Flint cr. or r., at whose mouth it may be said to be situated. Across the Mississippi is East Burlington, Ill., at the head of Shokokon slough; the bridge which the C., B. and Q. R. R. built in 1867-68 spans the river and connects the two places. There are numerous islands above Burlington, the principal of which are O'Connell's, Rush, and Otter. Above Henderson r. there is nothing of special note till we reach Oquawka, seat of Henderson Co., Ill., reckoned 13 m. by the channel above Burlington. Pike omits his customary mileages to-day, but did not get beyond Oquawka, which is at the head of the prairie on which he camped; for here begin some steep banks, known before and since Pike's day as the Yellow banks. He marks them on his map, and they are mentioned by the same name in Forsyth's narrative of 1819.

[I-23] We are not told which side of the river this was, and the sentence is otherwise ambiguous, as all streams hereabouts are branches of the river. We know he means a bayou or slough, by following which he expected soon to regain the Mississippi ahead of his boats, and I suppose that Huron slough, on the Iowa side, led him astray. The slough itself is not long, merely cutting off Huron and some smaller islands for four miles; but this receives Iowa slough, which meanders toward the river, and so would take Pike and Bradley away from the river if they followed it up. This supposition is strengthened by Pike's using the word "savannah," which with him means rather marsh or bog than prairie, and he would hardly have applied it to the better ground on the Illinois side if he had gone there and been misled by Henderson r. Moreover, he continues to camp on the west side, as he would naturally do after loss of the two men who went to find his dogs; and also he expected to recover the men at the place above where the hills first come down to the river, which is at Muscatine, Ia. He does not say who these men were; they were not recovered till Sept. 1st, at Dubuque.

[I-24] This mileage is excessive, as are all those hence to Rock Island or Davenport, the distance of which by the channel is 70 m. from Oquawka, though Pike makes it 92. Moreover, the distance from Oquawka to New Boston, directly opposite the mouth of the Iowa r., is only 18 m., and Pike remains below the Iowa r. to-day. What with sloughing it, losing his dogs, and waiting for his men, he did not get much beyond Keithsburg, Mercer Co., Ill., which we may safely take as to-day's datum-point. This is built under a bank at the mouth of Pope's cr., and so far answers the requirements of Pike's camp opposite it. The situation is in Louisa Co., Ia., but a little distance over the boundary of Des Moines Co. Excepting Keithsburg, no notable point is passed to-day. A place called Huron was started on the slough of that name, but it never came to anything. Huron isl. is called Thieves' isl. on some maps. The large one (No. 355) opp. Keithsburg, and crossed by the railroad, is separated from the Iowan side by Black Hawk slough.

[I-25] Pike delineates "Sand Bank" on his map directly opposite the mouth of Iowa r. This is the site of New Boston, Mercer Co., Ill. The bank comes immediately upon the river with a frontage of 2 m., and Edwards r. falls in at the foot of the bank, 3½ m. above Pope's r. At New Boston the Mississippi turns sharply, so that the mouth of Iowa r. is rather on the S. than W.; and the bank on which is the town recedes northward, leaving low ground between itself and the Mississippi, watered by the ramifications of Sturgeon bay, Illinois slough, Swan lake, etc. This is what Pike means by his "Sand-bank prairie on the E. side." As to that "marked Grant's prairie," I should observe that no such name appears on the map as published; Pike referred to his immense original draft in water-colors, now preserved in the War Department, and from which the small printed map was reduced with the omission of too many details. What he means by Grant's prairie is the lowlands on the Iowa side before you come to Muscatine, which is the point where the hills first reach the river-side. Compare Apr. 26th, 1806. Grant's prairie is now known as Muscatine isl., being virtually cut off by Muscatine slough, whose lower mouth is hardly 2 m. above the Iowa r., though the upper entrance is at Muscatine—a distance of some 18-20 m. At one point this slough dilates into a body of water which is now called Keokuk lake, but which was charted by Nicollet as "L. Maskuding or in the Prairie." Here are obviously the origin and meaning of the name "Muscatine." The town now so called was once known as Bloomington. I suspect that "Grant's" prairie in Pike may be intended for Grande prairie; thus Beltrami calls it Grande Prairie Mascotin, II. p. 196, and Forsyth has Grand Mascoutin. There was a place started by the name of Port Louisa on the Iowan side of the river, near one of the openings of Muscatine slough; but it seems to have disappeared after bequeathing the name to the county, whose seat is now Wapello. As to Pike's "28" miles to-day, that is best disposed of by observing that to-morrow he drags his boat "nine miles, to where the river Hills join the Mississippi," i. e., to Muscatine. So he camps on the Iowan side, a certain distance below Muscatine. We shall not be far out if we set him exactly on the boundary between Louisa and Muscatine cos., opp. the lower end of Blanchard's isl., behind the middle of which Copperas or Copper cr. falls in on the Illinois side.

The great Iowa r. should not be passed without remark. For the name in its extreme fluidity, see Lewis and Clark, ed. 1893, p. 20. Some still more singular forms of the word than those there noted reach us from the time when the French writers and cartographers used the figure 8 for the letters ou; so that "Iowa" was liable to appear as Ay8ay (Ayouay), or in some such form: Neill cites forms sing. and pl. as Aye8ias, Ayo8ois, Ayooues, Ayavois, Ayoois, Ayouez, Ayoes, Aaiaoua, to which I can add Aiavvi; another series of words flows from the introduction of J or j: thus Pike, early text, 1807, p. 5, has Jowa, and I have noticed also Ajoe, Jaway, Joway, Jowah, etc. Beltrami, 1828, has Yawoha, Yahowa, and Yawowa. This river-system waters a great portion of the State, on courses S., S. E., and E. Pike says elsewhere that in ascending it 36 m. you come to a fork, the right-hand branch of which is called Red Cedar r. Waiving any question of distance, this is correct; and moreover, Red Cedar is the larger of the two forks, though by a very unusual freak of nomenclature the united stream Iowa takes the name of the lesser fork. He further says that Red Cedar r. branches out 300 m. from its mouth; which triple forking is "called the Turkey's foot." This term seems to have lapsed; the situation is in Black Hawk Co., above Cedar Falls, and one of the turkey's toes is called Shell Rock r. The notable town of Cedar Rapids is lower down, in Linn Co. The confluence of Iowa r. proper with Red Cedar is at Fredonia, Louisa Co.; Pike's map represents this by the pitchfork-shaped object, though it is not lettered with any name. He marks a village of Iowas "about 10 miles up," on the "right" bank, i. e., on the right-hand side going up, left bank. Iowa r. presents the anomaly of a great river with nothing to speak of at its mouth (New Boston is across the Mississippi). "Iowa City" seems never to have got much beyond its original wood-pile, and a similar "city" which Nicollet charts by the name of Black Hawk would be hard to find now. There is, however, a little place called Toolsboro, under the hill on the left bank, 2 m. above the mouth of the Iowa.

[I-26] Pirogues: see L. and C., ed. 1893, p. 4. Pike uses this form consistently. The most amusing variant of the word I have noticed occurs in Shea's Hennepin's Descr. Louisiana, Eng. tr., 1880, p. 156, where we read, "a number of parrakeets and about eighty cabins full of Indians," and an editorial note informs us that "the French printer put peroquets, but Margry's Relation gives the real word, 'pirogues,' 'canoes.'"

[I-27] The distance between Muscatine and Rock Island is 28 or 29 m. by the channel. As Pike has 6 or 8 m. to go before reaching Muscatine, makes "28½" to-day, and "22" to-morrow, we can confidently set him down to-night halfway between these two places—say vicinity of Montpelier, Muscatine Co., Ia., 4 or 5 m. below Buffalo, Ia., and Andalusia, Ill. There is no specially notable point in this whole stretch, after Muscatine is passed; the most of a place is Fairport, Ia., 3 m. above Tahma or Sweetland cr. Several places that were started seem to have died young, if they were not stillborn; we find on older maps such as Geneva, somewhere between Muscatine and Fairport on the Iowa side, and Wyoming, apparently in the same position as Fairport now is. Between Muscatine and Fairport the river is or was recently divided into Drury slough, Wyoming slough, and Hersey chute betwixt these. Pine cr. falls in on the Iowan side, 2½ m. above Fairport. Opposite Fairport the long Andalusia slough opens, running down on the Illinois side all the way from Andalusia, a distance of 9 m. Pike's camp was probably on the Iowan side (still in Muscatine Co.); across the river he has Rock Island Co., Ill.

[I-28] Actually about 16 m., to one of the most definite locations of the voyage thus far, in the heart of the present city of Davenport, seat of Scott Co., Ia., and directly opposite Rock Island, seat of Rock Island Co., Ill. Soon after passing present site of Montpelier, Pike went from Muscatine into Scott Co., Ia. Next are the two towns directly opposite each other, of Buffalo, Ia., and Andalusia, Ill.; the former is marked N. Buffalo on Nicollet's map; the other is called Rockport on Owen's map, or Rockport was then where Andalusia is now. Linwood, Ia., is a small place 2 m. above Buffalo; and 3 m. above this was the site of Rockingham, Ia. This last was started directly opposite the mouth of Rock r., but never flourished. In fact there is probably no place on the Mississippi where more mushroom towns have been projected on paper by unscrupulous speculators than about the mouth of Rock r.; and we observe that they mostly had resounding names, well known in other parts of the world. A certain Stephensonville is marked on Nicollet's map, apparently in the present position of the city of Rock Island. In the mouth of Rock r. is a triangular island, dividing the two outlets, and opposite this is Credit isl. (No. 312), 1½ m. long. Pike's camp in Davenport was probably about opposite the lower point of Rock isl., 2½ m. long; this is No. 307 of the Engineers' chart, and its lower end was utilized for the bridge built in 1869-72 by the C., R. I. and P. R. R. (Act of Congr., July 26th, 1868).

La Rivière de Roche, or à la Roche, of the French, which Pike and others call Stoney or Stony and Rocky or Rock r., and which is now known by the latter name, is the second largest in Illinois. It arises in Wisconsin, in the region S. of Lake Winnebago, leaves that State at Beloit, and holds a general S. W. course through Illinois to the Mississippi. It used to be called Kickapoo r.—a name traceable to R. des Kicapous of Franquelin's map, 1688. Pike gives its source as near Green bay of L. Michigan, and ascribes a length of 450 m., 300 of them navigable. His map letters "The largest Sac Vill." on its S. side near the mouth, about the present position of Milan, and delineates the extensive rapids of the Miss. r., above its mouth, which the text of the 28th describes. Rock r. afforded one of the five or six principal waterways between the Great Lakes and the Miss. r., the connection being made above the Horicon marshes by portage from the small stream which falls into L. Winnebago at Fond du Lac. But this way was less eligible than the Fox-Wisconsin route.

[I-29] See Lewis and Clark, ed. 1893, pp. 1202, 1203, 1211. James Aird and his brother George were among the Sioux traders at the mouth of the Minnesota or St. Pierre r. in 1803 and thereafter; others similarly engaged then and there were Archibald Campbell, Duncan Graham, and Francis M. Dease.

[I-30] Davenport, Ia., to Le Claire, Ia., 16 m. by water; Rock Island, Ill., to Port Byron, Ill., 17 m.; actual extent of the rapids somewhat less than either of these distances. The chains, in ascending series, are called Lower, Moline, Duck Creek, Winnebago, Campbell's, St. Louis, Crab Island, Sycamore, Smith's, Upper. The principal islands are: Rock, No. 307, 2½ m. long, with the little ones called Papoose (No. 308), Benham's, and Sylvan, alongside; Campbell's, opp. Watertown, Ill.; Spencer's, opp. Hampton, Ill., on the Iowan side; and Fulton's. A number of creeks make in on both sides; among them are Duck, Crow, and Spencer's, on the Iowan side, and the one on the Illinois side which falls in by Watertown, name unknown to me. The rapids were formerly guarded by Fort Armstrong, occupying an eligible site on the extreme lower end of Rock isl. A good account of this post, as it was in 1817, is found in Long's Expedition of that year, printed in 1860 and reprinted in 1890, in Part I of II. of the Minn. Hist. Coll., pp. 67-73. The places on the Illinois side are: Moline, 3½ m. above Rock Island; Watertown, 5 m. above Moline; Hampton, 1 m. above Moline; Rapids City, 4½ m. above Hampton; Port Byron, 1 m. further; land distances less than by river-channel. On the Iowan side, between Davenport and Le Claire, are places called Gilberttown or Gilbert, opp. Moline, and Valley City or Pleasant Valley, opp. Hampton. Pike does not say where he camped at the head of the rapids; but it was no doubt at Le Claire, as the channel ran on the Iowan side.

[I-31] This Fox Indian village is located on Pike's map, but without name. It was on the Iowan side, above the rapids—not at Le Claire, but somewhat further up, at or near present town of Princeton, Scott Co., Ia. Forsyth in 1819 speaks of "the Little Fox village, 9 miles above the rapids." A mile above Princeton, on the Illinois side, is Cordova, marked Cordawa on Owen's map, and Berlin on Nicollet's.

[I-32] At 4 m. above Cordova, Pike passed on the left or Iowan side a river whose name is perhaps the most remarkable thing about it: Wabisapencun, Pike's map; Wabisipinekan, Pike's text, further on; Wabisapincun, Lewis and Clark's map of 1814; Wapisipinacon, Long's; Wabezipinikan, Nicollet's; Wabesapinica, Featherstonhaugh's; Wapsipinicon, Owen's and U. S. Eng'rs'; Wapsipinecon, G. L. O. No two original authors agree, and when one tries to copy another he is liable to be foiled by his printer. But the river runs on just the same, through several Iowan counties, on a general S. E. course, approximately parallel in most of its extent with Red Cedar r. It also does duty as the boundary between Scott and Clinton cos., Ia., along most of their apposed extent. There are several islands about its mouth; one of them is called Adams. Opposite the mouth of the W——n r., for a space of about 8 m. along the Illinois side of the Mississippi, the hills recede, leaving a low place in which the body of water known as Marais d'Osier, or Lake Willowmarsh, is situated: see Pike's map, in the interval between his "High Prairie" (ending at Cordova) and his "Rocky Hills" (beginning about Albany). Beltrami, II. 196, calls this Marais d'Ogé, and says it was "inhabited by a savage of the same name"! Beltrami's bosom friend, Major Long, has a still more startling rendition of the phrase, as Mer a Doge, in Minn. Hist. Coll., II. Part 1, 1860, 2d ed. 1890, p. 67. It appears as Mare de Oge on an Illinois atlas before me. From Le Claire to Albany is 18 m.; Pike probably did not get quite so far as this, but for convenience of keeping tally we will assume that he did, and set him on the lower point of the great Beaver isl. (No. 291), at the mouth of Comanche slough, directly opposite Albany, Whiteside Co., Ill.; nearest place on the other side is Comanche or Camanche, Clinton Co., Ia. Beaver isl. is 3 m. long, and extends up to Clinton, the county seat.

[I-33] The distance by river-channel from Albany to Dubuque is reckoned 72 m. Pike's figures are 43 + 31½ + 25 = 99½ m. The required reduction of mileage is about one-fourth off; applying which to the "43" m. of the 30th, we find Pike somewhere in the vicinity of Apple r., and may most conveniently set him at its mouth. Decamping on the 30th, he first made the stretch of Beaver isl., past Cedar and Cat-tail crs., right, and came to Clinton. The original name of this city, or of its site, was New York; both these terms seem to point back to the time when Governor Dewitt C. Clinton was popular. The river was spanned here by the bridge built by the C. and N. W. R. R. in 1864-65, utilizing island No. 290. Two or three miles above stand, facing each other, Lyons, Clinton Co., Ia., and Fulton, Whiteside Co., Ill.; around the other side of the hill N. of Fulton, Otter cr. falls in. The line of hills on the Iowan side comes to the river a mile above Lyons, but at once recedes again, leaving along the river-side what is called the Pomme de Terre, Potato, or Ground Apple prairie, at the head of which Elk r. or cr. falls in, 8 m. above Lyons. The recession of the hills on the Illinois side from Fulton is much greater for a space of 16 m., where there is low ground for some miles back from the river, sloughy the whole way near the river, and thus making various islands, the largest of which are called Fulton and Savanna. Near the head of Fulton isl. is a little place named Thompson, in Carroll Co., Ill. The line of Whiteside and Carroll cos. strikes the river about halfway between Fulton (town) and Thompson. On the Iowan side, the line of Clinton and Jackson cos. is between Elk r. and Sabula. The latter town, or its site, used to be called Charleston. It naturally grew after 1881, when the C., M. and St. P. R. R. built the bridge here, under Act of Congr., Apr. 1st, 1872. The site of Sabula is called Prairie du Frappeur, Beltrami, II. p. 196, where it is said to have been "inhabited by a savage of that name." Before crossing the river, the track ran for a couple of miles on Savanna isl., at the head of which Plum r. falls in; and immediately above this point is Savanna, Carroll Co., Ill., 2½ m. from Sabula. The high ground comes close to the river at Savanna, but on the Iowan side there is sloughy bottom for 4 m. above Sabula, all this lowland being known as Keller's isl.; above this, higher ground comes to the river-side at Keller's bar. Rush or Big Rush cr. falls in on the Illinois side 5 m. above Savanna, and 2 m. further is the mouth of La Pomme or Apple r., nearly up to the boundary between Carroll and Jo Daviess cos., Ill. One Arnold used to have his landing a mile below Apple r., about where we suppose Pike to have camped.

[I-34] Whatever the exact distance represented by this mileage, we have to set the Expedition down in a very unhealthy place to-night, as will presently appear. Soon after decamping from Apple r.,—that is, in 5 miles' distance by the channel, Pike passes on his left a notable stream, which he elsewhere calls the Great Macoketh. This is Makokety r. of Nicollet, Maquoketa r. of others, whose name is now usually spelled Makoqueta. This is also the designation of the county seat of Jackson, situated upon the river. It falls in opposite Sand prairie, about where the line between Carroll and Jo Daviess cos. strikes the river. The "beautiful eminence on the W." which Pike observed is Leopold hill, near Bellevue, Jackson Co., Ia. This town existed before Nicollet's map was made, as he marks it by name. The locality called Chéniere by Beltrami II. 196, was hereabouts. He gives it on the W., 10 m. above his R. la Pomme. The hills begin to approach the river four or five miles below Bellevue, and so continue with little interruption to Dubuque. The trough of the river is similar on the Illinois side, but the hills do not hug the river so closely, leaving a stretch of sloughy bottom, especially at the delta of the Galena r. This is the insalubrious place of encampment. The Galena was long named, and is still sometimes called, Fever r. The same slough by which it discharges receives Smallpox cr.; and on the Iowan side, opposite Harris slough, which is the upper end of the Fever delta, a creek falls in known as Tête du Mort, or Tête des Morts. It must have been a choice region of saturnine and miasmatic poisons, as the victims of lead-palsy and ague-cake who lived on Fever r. had the option of moving down on Smallpox cr. or over to Death's-head cr. The place to avoid is pointed out to Mississippian tourists by Pilot Knob, an isolated eminence on the prairie near the variolous creek, 3 m. S. of the city of Galena, which is about the same distance up the febrile stream. The cranial creek is said to have been so named on account of the number of skulls which resulted from an Indian fight there. On this point Beltrami, 1828, II. p. 160, has "a place called the Death's-heads; a field of battle where the Foxes defeated the Kikassias [Kaskaskias?], whose heads they fixed upon poles as trophies of their victory. We stopped at the entrance of the river la Fièvre, a name in perfect conformity with the effect of the bad air which prevails there." Nor do I know what terrors may be hidden under the name of Sinsinawa cr., which makes in a mile or two higher up, on the Illinois side. Two of the sloughs at the delta are called respectively Harris' and Spratt's; a third is Stone slough. One Gordon established a ferry here, many years ago, and a place on the Iowan side, close to the boundary between Jackson and Dubuque cos., is still known as Gordon's ferry. Regarding the nomenclature of Galena r., we should not omit to cite here Keating's Long's Exp. of 1823, published 1824, I. p. 212, where it is stated that Smallpox cr. and Fever r. are the same: "a small stream, called by the Indians Mekabea Sepe, or Small-pox river; it is the Riviere de la Fievre, which is said to enter the Mississippi opposite to Dubuque's mines." Probably not much weight attaches to this observation, which Major Long only made parenthetically, and evidently at second-hand information, in speaking of a badger which his party had killed and cooked; though it is also quite possible that Galena r. once rejoiced in both names, one of which was later conferred upon the small creek which enters its delta. That Long knew the Galena as La Fièvre r. is certain, for he uses the latter name, though without any accent, in the narrative of his voyage of 1817, in speaking of reaching it on Monday, July 28th, of that year. See Minn. Hist. Coll., II. Part 1, 1860; 2d ed. 1890, p. 66. It appears that Long's MS. of his voyage of 1817 was placed in Prof. Keating's hands when the latter was preparing for publication the history of Long's Expedition of 1823. This source of information was freely drawn upon; in fact, I do not see that Prof. Keating did not fully avail himself of this opportunity to editorially embody in the narrative of 1823 the whole substance of the 1817 materials, in so far as Major Long went over the same ground in the two expeditions. But the earlier narrative contains considerable matter not pertinent to the later one, inasmuch as Major Long in 1817 traversed a long section of the Mississippi that he did not retrace in 1823. On this particular account, as well as for more general reasons, it was desirable and eminently fitting that Long's Expedition of 1817 should be published; and that was first done in long after-years by my friend, the late Rev. Edw. D. Neill, the veteran Minnesota historian, who received the MS. for this purpose from Dr. Edwin James, then of Burlington, Ia. (who d. Oct. 28th, 1861). As originally published under Dr. Neill's careful editorship, the article was entitled: "Voyage in a Six-Oared Skiff to the Falls of Saint Anthony in 1817. By Major Stephen H. Long, Topographical Engineer United States Army," and formed Part 1 of Vol. II. of the Minn. Hist. Coll., 1860 (about 80 pages); 2d ed. 1890, half-title and introductory note by E. D. N., one leaf; journal, pp. 9-83; map and appendix, prepared by A. J. Hill, pp. 84-88. Major Long's movements of 1817 occupied 76 days, of which the journal here printed covers the period from July 9th to Aug. 15th, both inclusive, or 38 days; as it picks up Major Long after his return to Prairie du Chien from a tour of the Fox-Wisconsin portage, takes him from that Prairie to the falls, and returns him to Bellefontaine, near the mouth of the Missouri. The objects of this voyage were to meander the upper Mississippi and take its topography, with special reference to the selection of military sites. It was performed in a boat furnished by Governor William Clark, Superintendent of Indian Affairs at St. Louis. Its most important single result was the speedy occupation of the mouth of St. Peter's r. for a military post, at first called Fort St. Anthony, and in 1824 named Fort Snelling; but the narrative is replete with matter of permanent historical and scientific interest. Major Long was a conscientious, competent, and well-equipped explorer, as all three of his important and memorable expeditions attest. The present expedition is the only one of which we have the account from his own pen, as Dr. James and Prof. Keating, respectively, were the authors of the other two. Stephen Harriman Long, of New Hampshire, was appointed from that State a second lieutenant of Engineers Dec. 12th, 1814, and brevetted major of Topographical Engineers Apr. 29th, 1816, though his actual majority in that corps was not reached till July 7th, 1838. He became colonel Sept. 9th, 1861, was retired June 1st, 1863, and died at Alton, Ill., Sept. 4th, 1864.

[I-35] This Dubuque matter formed a part of Doc. No. 2 of App. to Part 1 of the orig. ed., p. 5, and will be found beyond: see Chap. v. Art. 3. The document was transmitted to General Wilkinson by Pike from Prairie du Chien.

[I-36] Chippewas, or Ojibways—of whom Pike has much to say in this volume. The French nickname he uses, found also as Saulteurs, Saulteux, Saltiaux, Sautiers, Saltiers, Soutors, Soters, etc., was not given because these Indians were better jumpers than any others, but because the band of Chippewas whom it originally designated lived about the Sault de Sainte Marie, or St. Mary's falls, of Lake Superior. The term afterward became synonymous with Chippewas or Ojibways in a broad sense. On the map of Champlain's Voy., Paris, 1632, the Sault is marked du Gaston, for the brother of Louis XIII., and there located between Mer Douce and Grand Lac, i. e., between Lakes Huron and Superior. The chute seems to have been first heard of about 1616-18, from one Étienne Bruslé, or Stephen Broolay. In 1669, when the Jesuits reached the place, they changed the name to compliment the B. V. M. There is no doubt that Ojibwa or Ojibway is preferable to Chippewa or Chippeway, as a name of the tribe; but the latter is best established, both in official history and in geography, and may be most conveniently retained. These are the same word, etymologically, and are mere samples of the extraordinary profusion of forms in which the name exists. Very likely 50 different combinations of letters could be produced, some of them bearing little resemblance to one another. The meaning of the name is in chronic dispute. The linguistic sages seem to be agreed that the word has something to do with puckering; but whether it refers to the place which is puckered up between the two lakes above said, or to the way the moccasins of these Indians were puckered along a peculiar seam, or to the habits of these Indians of torturing with fire till the skins of their prisoners were puckered by burning to a crisp, are questions much agitated. The learned Anglojibway, Hon. W. W. Warren, historian of his tribe, takes the latter view, saying: "The word is composed of o-jib, 'pucker up,' and ub-way, 'to roast,' and it means, 'to roast till puckered up.'" Mr. Warren adduces also the name Abboinug, literally Roasters, given by the Ojibways to the Sioux, from the same horrid practice. He says that the Ojibways, as a distinct tribe or people, denominate themselves Awishinaubay. Probably the best account we possess of these Indians is that given in the Minn. Hist. Coll., V. of which is almost entirely devoted to the subject (pp. 1-510, 1885). This consists of Warren's history, based on traditions, and of Neill's, based on documents. The two thus admirably complement each other, and are preceded by a memoir of Warren, by J. Fletcher Williams.

[I-37] Our name of these Siouan Indians comes from their Algonkin appellation, which reached us through an assortment of French forms like Ouinipigou (as Vimont, Relation, 1640), etc., several of which have served as the originals of place-names now fixed in current usage. The term Puants, meaning Stinkers, was the French nickname. It is found as Puans, Pauns, Pawns, Paunts, etc., originated very early, and was much in vogue. On the old map cited in the foregoing note appears the legend "La Nation des Puans," though these Indians, with their Green bay, are marked on it N. instead of S. of Lakes Superior and Huron. The Stinkards gave occasion for a Latin synonym, as seen in the phrase "Magnus Lacus Algonquiniorum seu Lacus Fœtentium" of De Creux's map, Hist. Canada, Paris, 1664. They were also called Gens de Mer, Sea People. Jean Nicolet of Cherbourg in France, in the service of Champlain's Hundred Associates, believed to have been the first white man to enter Green bay, in July, 1634, calls them by their own name of themselves, which he renders Ochunkgraw, and which later acquired a variety of forms: see note^44, p. 39, and Butterfield's Disc. N. W., 1881, passim, esp. p. 38.

[I-38] Pike did not get far from Dubuque, if he left at 4 p. m. He probably stopped at the first convenient place to camp above the bluff, in the vicinity of Little Makoqueta r.—perhaps on the spot where Sinipi, Sinipee, or Sinope was started. In bringing him up to Dubuque from the Galena delta we have not much to note: Suisinawa, Sinsinawa, or Sinsinniwa r., right; Menomonee cr., right, and Catfish cr., left, between which is Nine Mile isl.; Massey, Ia., town at Dodge's branch; East Dubuque, Ill., rather below the large city of Dubuque. This is the oldest establishment in Iowa, as the Canadian Frenchman Julien Dubuque came there in 1788; extinction of Indian title and permanent settlement not till 1833; town incorporated 1837; city charter, 1840; pop. 3,100 in 1850: for the rest, see any gazetteer or cyclopedia. With this day's journey Pike finishes Illinois, which has been on his right all the way, and takes Wisconsin on that side; but Iowa continues on his left. The interstate line runs on the parallel of 42° 30´ N., which cuts through Dubuque.

[I-39] From Dubuque to Cassville is only 30 m., and Pike was somewhat advanced beyond Dubuque when he started. "The mouth of Turkey river," opp. which he camped, is of course a fixed point; and this shows the required reduction of his "40" miles to somewhat under 30. Determinations like these would be proof, were any needed, of the proposition advanced at the start, that the set of mileages with which we have to deal require a discount of 20 to 25 per cent. as a rule. In making his "two short reaches," Pike passed his Little Macoketh, the Little Makoqueta r., on his left, and the extensive slough on his right which receives the discharges of Platte and Grant rivers. He maps the former river: see the unnamed stream on the left, where "Mr. Dubuques Houfe" and "Lead Mines" are lettered. The other two rivers are not laid down; they run in Grant Co., Wis. Beltrami, II. 196, has a locality on the W. said to be 16 m. above Dubuque's mines, and to be called Prairie Macotche, "from the name of a savage who inhabited it." This item is no doubt imaginary; but Macotche is clearly the same word as Makoqueta. Pike's "long reach" is the 15 m. or more where the river is straight; it begins about Specht's Ferry (opp. which the Potosi canal was dug for an outlet of Grant r.) and extends to Turkey r. On the left, about halfway along this stretch, is the town of Waupeton (Wahpeton, Warpeton, etc.), at or near which the boundary between Dubuque and Clayton cos. strikes the Mississippi; the town of Buenavista, Clayton Co., Ia., is 3½ m. higher, between Plum and Panther crs. On the right a snicarty 11 m. long connects Grant r. with Jack Oak slough, at the head of which Cassville is situated, at the mouth of Furnace cr., and obliquely opposite the mouth of Turkey r. Some places which started along the river have failed, or changed their names; I do not now find Osceola, which maps mark near the mouth of Platte r.; nor Lafayette, which started about the present site of Potosi, and is now marked by some dilapidated chimneys you will observe when the C., B. and Q. train stops at a sort of station there; nor Frenchtown and Finlay, both on the Iowan side, the latter at the mouth of a creek called Bastard on a map of 1857; nor Frankford, at or near Buenavista; nor Winchester, about the mouth of Turkey r. Whether by accident or design, Grant r. is lettered "Le Grand R." on Nicollet's map. The Fox village, whose women and children were so frightened at the sight of the Americans, is marked by Pike on the N. side of Turkey r., near its mouth, about where Winchester seems to have stood. Present Turkey R. Junction of the C., M. and St. P. R. R. is on the other side. This stream is "Turkies" r. of Beltrami, II. p. 196.

[I-40] Probably 19 m., Cassville to Clayton, Ia., whence he could go comfortably for breakfast to Wyalusing, Wis., or still nearer the Wisconsin r. Above the mouth of Turkey r. the Miss. r. is divided into two courses, called the Casville slough on the Wisconsin side and the Guttenberg channel on the Iowan side. The latter is the broadest course, but the former is, or was some years ago, the main channel. The two come together 10 m. above Cassville, and a mile or two above Glen Haven, Wis. Guttenberg, Ia., is 8 m. above Cassville, at the mouth of Miners, Miner's, or Miners' cr.; it seems to have been formerly called Prairie La Port, as marked on Nicollet's map. Buck or Back cr. falls in a mile above. Approaching Clayton the banks are high and abrupt on the Iowan side, but on the other the hills recede, leaving a sloughy bottom into which several creeks empty, one of them Sandy cr., which comes by a sort of sand-bank. In this vicinity there was a place called Cincinnati, Wis., which seems to have disappeared, like another called Kilroy, on the Iowan side. Owen's map marks Killroy, a Clayton Co. map of 1857 has Keleroy, and Nicollet lays down the sizable creek near which it appears to have been situated, now known as the Sny Magill. The distance from Clayton to Wyalusing is 3 m.; thence it is about the same to the Wisconsin r.

[I-41] R. des Ouisconsins on Hennepin's map, 1683, and thus near the modern form, though in the plural for the Indians and with ou for the letter w that the F. alphabet lacks; in Hennepin's text, passim, Ouscousin, Oviscousin, Onisconsin, Misconsin, etc., according to typesetter's fancy; Ouisconsing, Misconsing, etc., in La Salle, and there also Meschetz Odeba; Miscou, Joliet on one of his maps, Miskonsing on another; Ouisconching, Perrot; Ouisconsinc, Lahontan's map; Ouisconsing, Franquelin's map, 1688; Ouisconsin, Carver; variable in Pike; Owisconsin and Owisconsing in Beltrami; Wisconsan, consistently, in Long; Wisconsin in Nicollet, and most writers since his time. Were it not for La Salle's appearance on the Illinois r. in 1680, and his sending Hennepin down it to the Mississippi, when he dispatched Michael Accault and Antoine Auguelle from Fort Crêvecœur to trade with the Chaas, the Wisconsin would rank first in historical significance as a waterway to the Mississippi from the Great Lakes; and such priority of date is offset in favor of the Wisconsin as the best and most traveled route from the lakes to points below the Falls of St. Anthony. It was already an Indian highway when it was first known to the whites, and did not cease to be such when the paddle was exchanged for the paddlewheel. A pretty full account of the Fox-Wisconsin route will be rendered beyond in this work. There are accounts of white settlements, or at least trading-posts, at Prairie du Chien about 1755; but white men may have lived in this vicinity, if not upon the spot, long before that, for Franquelin's map of 1688 locates a certain Fort St. Nicolas in what appears to be the position of P. du Chien, as well as I can judge. Moreover, Joliet and Marquette reached the Mississippi r. by way of the Fox-Wisconsin, June 15th or 17th, 1673. Our most definite information, however, dates from Oct. 15th, 1766, when Carver came to the spot. He reached it by the Fox-Wisconsin route, went up the Mississippi as high as the river St. Francis, wintered 1766-67 up the St. Peter, returned to P. du C. in the summer of 1767, went up the Mississippi again to the Chippewa r., and by that river back to the Great Lakes in July, 1767. He called the place Prairie le Chien; at the time of his visit it was "a large town containing about 300 families," with houses well built after the Indian fashion, and a great trade center for all the country roundabout. Carver also called the place Dog Plains. This is plain as a transl. of the F., and nobody doubts what Prairie du Chien denotes; what it connotes, however, or its actual implication, is another question which has been much mooted. Pike states elsewhere in this work that the place—which, by the way, he seldom if ever calls Prairie du Chien, but de Chein, des Cheins, etc.—was named for Indians who lived here, known as Reynards, etc., and would translate this F. nickname either Fox, Wolf, or Dog; in one place he has Dog's Plain. But Wolf or Dog does not seem to have been the name used for this tribe, which, when they were not called Ottagamies (or by some form of that word) were either the Reynards of the French or the Foxes of the English and Americans. Beltrami, II., p. 170, has that "it takes its name from an Indian family whom the first Frenchmen met there, called Kigigad or Dog." The whole weight of evidence is on the side of a personal name in the singular number. Long states that P. du C. was named after an Indian who lived there and was called the Dog. This may bear on Pike's statement, and the latter may be explicable upon the understanding that it refers to certain Indians, not necessarily of the Reynard tribe, who were called Dog Indians, i. e., The Dog's Indians. Nicollet marks the Indian town by the Chippewa name, Kipy Saging; Schoolcraft renders this Tipisagi, with reference to the treaty of Prairie du Chien. At the time of Long's 1823 visit the village had about 20 dwelling-houses besides the stores, most of them old and some decaying; the pop. was about 150. He located the place as in lat. 43° 3´ 31´´ N., long. 90° 52´ 30´´ W.; magn. var. 8° 48´ 52´´ E. Long speaks of one Mr. Brisbois, who had long resided there; of Mr. Rolette of the Am. Fur Co.; and of Augustin Roque, a half-breed and whole-fraud, to whom we shall refer again. Fort Crawford began to be built July 3d, 1816, by the troops under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel William S. Hamilton of North Carolina, who had attained that rank in the 3d Rifles Feb. 21st, 1814, and who resigned from the army March 8th, 1817; it would hold four or five companies, but was a mean establishment, poorly built on a bad site, too near Rousseau channel and the Kipy Saging slough. Long relates that in 1822 the fort as well as the village was inundated, so that the water stood three or four feet deep on the parade ground and ran into the officers' quarters and the barracks, forcing the garrison to camp for a month on higher ground. One of the blockhouses of the fort was built on a mound which was large enough to have supported the whole establishment, though only the stockade ran up to it. Through the attentions of Wm. Hancock Clark of Detroit, Mich., I am in possession of a water-color picture of the fort, roughly but tellingly done by his illustrious grandfather, William Clark, who with Governor Lewis Cass effected the important treaty of P. du C., Aug. 19th, 1825. This measures 18 × 15 inches, and shows a part of the stockade straggling up to that one of the blockhouses which was on the hill or mound, as described by Long. The general effect upon the beholder is to suggest something of a cross between a penitentiary and a stockyard, but unsafe for criminals and too small for cattle. The remains are extant, and may be observed about 40 rods W. of the railroad track, half a mile S. of the station of the C., B. and Q. This Fort Crawford must not be confounded with the earlier one of the same name, built in 1812 or sooner, at the N. end of the town, close to Rousseau channel. This site was near the positions of the two early French settlements, as distinguished from the later one that grew up S. of the site of the second Fort Crawford. Our actual settlement, continued on as the Prairie du Chien of to-day, only dates from 1835 or thereabouts, after the cessation of Indian hostilities in that quarter; the town is now the seat of Crawford Co., Wis. It is in the very S. W. corner of the county, which is separated from Grant Co. by the Wisconsin r. The bridge across the Mississippi to N. McGregor was built in 1873-74 and altered in 1888; C., M. and St. P. R. R.; Act of Congr. legalizing, June 6th, 1874. Notwithstanding its prominent situation, its distinguished history, and its comparative antiquity, Prairie du Chien has never amounted to much, and probably never will. There is nothing the matter with the place—the trouble is with the people. The place to-day cuts a lesser figure than it did in Pike's time, when it was our extreme frontier post in that direction, and it continued to be such until Fort St. Anthony (Snelling) was built. A part of the difficulty is ecclesiastical; no priest-ridden community can expect to keep up with the times. Prairie du Chien is an antique curio, comparing with the rest of Wisconsin very much as Quebec does with Ontario—and for similar reasons.

[I-42] The bluff W. bank of the Miss. r., opp. P. du C., was later called Pike's mountain; which, says Long's MSS. of 1817, No. I, fol. 37, as cited by Keating, 1824, received its name from having been recommended by the late General Pike, in his journal, "as a position well calculated for the construction of a military post to command the Mississippi." But this recommendation is nowhere made in Pike's journal: it is made in a letter which Pike wrote to General Wilkinson from P. du C., this date of Sept. 5th, as the above text says, and which formed in the orig. ed. Doc. No. 2 of the App. to Part I—the same that covered the Dubuque report. The particular hill that Pike picked out does not differ from the general range of bluffs which extend on that side of the river for several miles, all of about the same elevation. But to be particular, it was that hill which stands between McGregor and N. McGregor. The original settlement of McGregor was called in the first instance McGregor's landing. This was 1½ mile below N. McGregor, built at the mouth of the creek that comes down by Pike's mountain. This stream used to be known as Giard or Gayard r. (latter on Pike's map), and these were common spellings of the name of a person otherwise known as Gaillard, of mixed French-Indian blood, said to have been, with Antaya and Dubuque, one of the three first white settlers at Prairie du Chien, and by Long to have died suddenly during the latter's expedition up the Wisconsin r. The present name of the creek is Bloody Run, which may easily have acquired if it did not deserve the designation in some one or more of the uncounted fierce collisions of this blood-brued region. But tradition, if not authentic history, ascribes the origin of the sanguinary title to the Nimrodic exploits of the celebrated Captain Martin Scott, a mighty hunter who used to kill so much game in that vicinity that he was said to have made this stream literally run with blood. But so much used to be told about Captain Scott—on whom was fathered in those parts the story of the coon which promised to come down if he would not shoot, elsewhere connected with the name of Davy Crockett—that the legends concerning him may pass for what they may be worth. The mouth of this creek is 3 m. below that of Yellow r., and the boundary between Clayton and Allamakee cos. strikes the Mississippi between the two, though very near the mouth of the latter.

[I-43] See note anteà, p. 5, where the phrase Cap au Grès is mentioned. Pike's term Petit Gris, elsewhere Petit Grey, would be preferably rendered Petit Cap au Grès, in the peculiar system of phonetics which our Parisian friends are wont to enjoy. This Little Sandstone bluff extends up the Wisconsin in the direction of Bridgeport. A small creek which comes down a break in the bluff, and empties into the N. side of the Wisconsin a mile above its mouth, is also named Petit Gris or Grès. There was also a Grand Grès in that vicinity—to judge from a creek I find on some maps by the name of Grandgris—perhaps the branch of the Wisconsin now known as Kickapoo r. Pike's recommendation of the Petit Grès as a military site was never acted upon.

[I-44] I think Pike never once hits what a grammarian would consider the proper way to write this phrase. Wherever he happens upon it, the gender or the number gets awry. The hitch in pluralizing seems to be because the first s is sounded before the initial vowel of the next word, but the last s is silent, because the French seldom articulate their letters at par. Folle avoine, literally "fool oat"—a phrase also reflected in the Latin term avena fatua—is the Canadian French name of the plant known to botanists as Zizania aquatica, and to us common folks as wild rice, wild oats, water-rice, water-oats, Indian or Canadian rice or oats, etc. My friend Prof. Lester F. Ward, whom I desired to prepare the botanical definitions for the Century Dictionary, and who did write them, with the assistance of Mr. F. H. Knowlton, after the lamented death of Prof. Sereno Watson, Prof. Asa Gray's successor at Cambridge, defines Zizania as "a genus of grasses, of the tribe Oryzeæ. It is characterized by numerous narrow unisexual spikelets in a long, loose androgynous panicle, each spikelet having two glumes and six stamens or two more or less connate styles." This would be news to the Menominees, though these Indians subsisted so largely upon the seeds of the plant that the French called them les Folles Avoines, and the English knew them as the Rice-eaters. This rice grows in profusion in all the lacustrine regions of the N. W., and is regularly harvested by all the Indians of that country, to be sold or bartered as well as eaten by them. Its great size, its purplish spike-like heads when ripe, and its omnipresence, render it one of the most conspicuous products of the region. The Indians do not cut the stalk as we reap our cereals, because the loose grains fall so readily that the easiest way to gather them is to simply shake or beat them into a canoe. As to the polyglot council which Pike held with the Puants, we may hope without believing that the Winnebagoes were deeply impressed by the combination of New Jersey and Canadian French which fell upon their ears through the Dakotan tongue. It is true that the Winnebagoes come of Siouan stock, and so have some linguistic affinity with the Sioux; but the dialect they acquired is conceded by all philologists to be peculiar to themselves, and peculiarly difficult to utter. The Winnebago spoken at this council was probably as different from the Dakotan as Latin is from its cognate Greek, or even as Pike's French was from that spoken in Montreal or Paris. The Winnebagoes call themselves by a name which is rendered Otchagra by Long, Howchungera by Featherstonhaugh, Hotcañgara by Powell; also Ochungarand, Hohchunhgrah, and in various other ways which authors prefer and printing-offices permit: see note^37, p. 31. Since Charlevoix they have been known as Puans, Puants, or Stinkers—and they deserve to be. Their vernacular is noted for the predominance of the growler or dog-letter r, litera canina of the Latin grammarians.

[I-45] Billon's Ann. St. Louis, 1804-21, pub. 1888, p. 382, is obviously in error in stating that Pierre Rousseau embarked with Pike at St. Louis; for here we have him first hired at P. du C. I know nothing further of the man; but he is doubtless the one from whom Rousseau channel of the Miss. r., which runs past P. du C. on the Wis. side, as distinguished from the main steamboat channel past McGregor on the Iowan side, derived its name.

[I-46] Joseph Reinville or Renville was the name of two persons, father and son, former French-Canadian, latter half-breed by a Sioux squaw of the village of Petit Corbeau or Little Raven (Kaposia). Long extolls him for ability and fidelity as an interpreter, remarking that he had met with few men that appeared "to be gifted with a more inquiring and discerning mind, or with more force and penetration," Keating, Exp. of 1823, I. p. 312. Reinville naturally acquired great influence over the Indians, and when the British decided to use such allies in the war of 1812-14, he was selected by Colonel Robert Dickson as the man who could be most relied upon to command the Sioux. In his military capacity he received the rank, pay, and emoluments of a captain in the British army, and distinguished himself as well by humanity as by gallantry in war. After this he entered the service of the H. B. Co.; left it, relinquishing also his British pension, and returned to his old trading-post near the sources of Red r., where he established the successful Columbia Fur Co. Reinville had that energy and independence which enabled him to decide for himself and act upon his decisions; he therefore made bitter enemies as well as warm friends, whose judgments of his character and conduct were, of course, as diverse as their feelings for or against him. Reinville was born at Kaposia, near St. Paul, about 1779, and died in March, 1846: see sketch of his life by Rev. E. D. Neill in Minn. Hist. Soc. Coll., I., 2d ed. 1872, pp. 196-206.

[I-47] This Frazer I do not doubt was a relative of the Robert Frazer, Frazier, Fraser, etc., who accompanied Lewis and Clark. The latter was a "Green Mountain boy," and it is highly improbable that two unrelated Frazers came from Vermont to the Western frontiers in the beginning of this century. But I can only conjecture what their degree of kinship was. One Joseph Jack Frazer cut a figure in early Minnesota history, if we may judge from the sketches of his life and adventures which ran through the columns of the St. Paul Pioneer, about 1866 or 1867, from the pen of General Henry Hastings Sibley. In this connection I may be permitted to note the fact, not generally known, that Robert Frazer was one of several annalists of that famous expedition, who went so far as to issue a MS. prospectus of a book he was going to publish about it, with Captain Lewis' own sanction. But this project failed for lack of subscribers to what any publisher would now be glad to accept, could the MSS. be found. See Prof. James D. Butler's review of my L. and C., N. Y. Nation, Oct. 26th and Nov. 2d, 1893.

[I-48] Pike's was luckier than Long's boat-party of 1823, which started from P. du C. as Pike did, but did not get much above Yellow r. It consisted of Thomas Say, the subsequently distinguished naturalist; Prof. W. H. Keating; Mr. Samuel Seymour, the artist; the rascally interpreter Roque or Rocque; and Lieutenant Martin Scott, the latter in command of a corporal and his squad of eight soldiers. These men tapped a keg of liquor, and got too drunk to navigate—the crew did, I mean, for it is well known that officers never drink. Yellow r. is present name of the stream consistently so called since it ceased to be R. Jaune of the French régime; it has been already mentioned as falling in on the W., 3 m. above Bloody Run and N. McGregor. Three miles higher, on the same side, is Paint cr., or Painted Rock cr., near a place full of historic interest; for at one point along the almost unbroken bluffs is the steep escarpment which became known to the F. as Roche Peinte, or Rochers Peints, and which continues to be called Painted Rock or Rocks, from the Indian pictographs with which it was adorned for ages. Beltrami gives it as Pointed Rock, II. p. 196. High places of all sorts, whether the elevation be phallic or terrene, have always been regarded as great medicine by the untutored, from the days of the priests of Baal, Moloch, or Jahveh, to those of the similar shamans and marvel-mongers of Lo. Such theological jugglery is reflected in the present name of Waucon or Waukon Junction, near the mouth of Paint cr., where the Chic., Dub. and Minn. R. R., meandering the river, sends the Waukon branch to Waukon, seat of Allamakee Co., Ia. A town, or something that tried to be one, by the prosaic name of Johnsonsport, is to be found on some maps at the mouth of Paint cr. About 4 m. above Waukon Junction is a place called Harper's Ferry, suggestive of Virginian emigration. The bluffs hug the Iowan bank closely to Paint cr. The opposite side is low for some miles back, with sloughs or bayous known as Marais, Courtois, Sioux, etc., into which drain several creeks, among them one called Fisher's—no doubt for the gentleman who entertained Pike—and another named Pickadee; both these are received in Sioux bayou. But above Paint cr. the channel runs, or recently did run, on the Wisconsin side, having an intricate snicarty on the other, whose various courses are known as Seaman's slough, Big Suck-off, Gordon's bay, Martell's lake, Center, Harper, St. Paul, Crooked, Ferry, etc., sloughs. Wherever the channel was in Pike's time, he says that he camped on the W. side, and I suppose at a point about opposite present town of Lynxville, Crawford Co., Wis., which is reckoned 17 m. above P. du C. by comparatively recent hydrographers. To reach this place he passed Trout cr., which falls in on the right hand nearly opp. Painted Rock, and the site of Viola, at the mouth of Buck cr., also on the right.

[I-49] Say Island No. 142, or head of No. 143, for a present location which exactly fits, being on E. side, 4 or 5 m. below mouth of Upper Iowa r., and opp. De Soto, Wis., on the border of Crawford and Vernon cos. The camp itself is of little consequence, in comparison with the notable points passed to reach it, at Pike's Cape Garlic and in that vicinity. At the head of Harper and Crooked sloughs the channel runs under the Iowan bluffs to Lansing, Allamakee Co., Ia., 12½ m. from Lynxville. On the Wisconsin side for the same distance is a remarkably labyrinthic snicarty, whose principal run is called Winneshiek slough, upon which is Ferryville, Crawford Co., Wis., at or near the mouth of Sugar cr. The series of creeks which fall into these sloughs is as follows, in ascending order: Kettle, above Polander hollow; Copper, above Cumming's hollow; Buck (duplicating a name: see last note); the Sugar cr. just said; and Rush, above Ferryville. The river sweeps under the bold Iowan headlands, two prominent points of which became known as Cape Garlic and Cape Winnebago—one from the alliaceous plant growing there, and the other from the incident about to be cited; while two of the four streams which fall in through four breaks on these bluffs were correspondingly called Garlic r. or Cape Garlic cr., and Winnebago r. or Cape Winnebago cr. Authors differ as to which is which; I make the following determinations: 1. At the point where the main channel of the Mississippi divides into Crooked and Harper sloughs, 8 m. below Lansing, and near where Heytman had his landing, a large creek falls in. This is properly Garlic r.—the one on which the town of Capoli is situated. Capoli means Cape Garlic, being a perversion of the F. Cap à L'Ail—a phrase that has been peculiarly unlucky at the hands of compositors and engravers; even on Nicollet's map it stands by accident Cap a´ Lail, though the eminent geographer himself was un Français de France, whose mother-tongue was academic. Beltrami, II. p. 197, expands the phrase to Cape à l'Ail Sauvage. 2. Three miles above the mouth of Capoli cr. a rivulet falls in between two eminences; the lower one of these is present Capoli bluff, formerly Cap Puant or Cape Winnebago; the upper one is now called Atchafalaga bluff, formerly Cap à l'Ail or Cape Garlic; the rivulet just said is Pike's Garlic r. 3. At 4½ m. higher, through a recess in the highlands falls in the stream now called Village cr., which Nicollet maps as Cape Winnebago cr. This is the one on which the town of Village Creek is situated, 3 m. up. Its mouth is exactly a mile below the mouth of Coon or Clear cr., on which Lansing is situated, under Mt. Hosmer—this "mountain" being that part of the bluffs which is isolated between the two creeks just said to fall in a mile apart. With thus much by way of geographical determinations, I must leave to someone more familiar than I am with the local traditions or actual history of the place, to identify the exact scene of the following incident, given in Keating's Long's Exp. of 1823, pub. 1824, I. p. 266: "Two remarkable capes or points were observed on the right bank of the Mississippi below Iowa river; the lower one is designated by the name of Cape Puant, because at a time when the Sioux and Winnebagoes (Puants) were about to commence hostilities, a party of the latter set out on an expedition to invade the territory of the Sioux and take them by surprise; but these being informed of the design, collected a superior force and lay in ambush near this place, expecting the arrival of their enemies. As soon as the Winnebagoes had landed, the Sioux sallied from their hiding-places, pressed upon them as they lay collected in a small recess between the two capes, drove them into the river, and massacred the whole party. Garlic cape, just above [italics mine] this, strikes the voyager by the singularity of its appearance. In shape it represents a cone cut by a vertical plane passing through its apex and base; its height is about four hundred feet." I suppose the "small recess" of this recital to be that between present Capoli (lower) and present Atchafalaga (upper) bluffs, respectively former Cape Winnebago (lower) and former Cape Garlic (upper) bluffs.

[I-50] La Feuille is a name which Pike rarely, and only by accident, spells correctly. But in writings of the period it was extremely variable, being found even as Lefei, Lefoi, Lefoy, La Fye, etc. This French term commonly appears in English as The Leaf, sometimes Falling Leaf, and is conjecturally a translation of the native name of the hereditary chiefs of the Kioxa (Kiyuksa) band of Sioux. This has usually been rendered Wabasha or Wapasha, and explained as derived from wapa, leaf, and sha, red. In one place Long has Wauppaushaw. In Riggs and Pond's Dakota dictionary the name is given as Wapahasha, and etymologized as from wapaha, a standard, and sha, red. In Minn. Hist. Coll., I. 2d ed. 1872, p. 370, J. Fletcher Williams surmises the origination of the name in the chieftainship of the Warpekutes, otherwise Leaf Shooters—though why the tribe was so called, and whether the English term is a proper version of the aboriginal name, seem never to have been satisfactorily shown. Such forms of the chief's name as Wabashaw and Wapashaw, etc., are common, besides which there are some odd and rare ones; e. g., Beltrami, II. p. 180, has: "The Great Wabiscihouwa, who is regarded as the Ulysses of the whole nation." Three chiefs named Wabasha are known to us in history. Wabasha I. was famous during the Revolutionary war. Wabasha II. was his son, and the latter is the one of whom Pike, Long, Beltrami, and many others speak. He was already a great chief in Pike's time, who grew in credit and renown with years. He was seen in 1820 by General Henry Whiting, who describes him as a small man with a patch over one eye, who nevertheless impressed everyone with respect, and whose profile was said to resemble that of the illustrious Condé. "While with us at Prairie du Chien," says Whiting, "he never moved, or was seen, without his pipe-bearer. His people treated him with reverence. Unlike all other speakers in council, he spoke sitting, considering, it was said, that he was called upon to stand only in the presence of his great father at Washington, or his representatives at St. Louis." He was not a warrior, believing that Indians could prosper only at peace with one another and with the whites, and declared that he had never been at war with the latter, though many of his young men, against his advice, had been led astray in the war of 1812. His son, Wabasha III., resided at the village below Lake Pepin until 1853, and in 1872 was living on the Niobrara Reservation.

[I-51] To go up to the mouth of Upper Iowa r., for the conference with Leaf's band of Sioux, who received the Expedition with almost touching warmth, as Pike goes on to narrate. His map letters "Upper Iowa River," and marks "Sioux Vill." on the S. side near the mouth. Pike's text of 1807, p. 7, has Jowa: Beltrami has Yahowa in text, Yawowa on map: for other forms see note^25, p. 22. The river is a large one which, with its tributaries, drains a N. E. portion of Iowa and some adjoining Minnesota land. The river discharges by a set of sloughs in such intricate fashion that it is not easy to locate its principal mouth with entire precision, to say nothing of where it was at Pike's visit; recent hydrographic surveys, on the scale of a mile to the inch, show the largest opening at a point exactly 2½ m. S. of the inter-State line between Iowa and Minnesota, which runs to the Mississippi on the parallel of 43° 30´ N., through the village of New Albin, on Winnebago cr., and cuts through Lost slough. Assuming this position, which is probably right within a fraction of a mile, Pike is precisely opposite the place where was fought the decisive battle of Bad Axe, notable in history as finishing the second Black Hawk war. Black Hawk was the most celebrated chief during the Sac and Fox war, b. about 1768, at the Sac vill. near the mouth of Rock r. in Illinois, d. on the Des Moines, in Iowa, Oct. 3d, 1838. In the campaign of 1832 the Indians were defeated on the Wisconsin r. July 21st, by Colonel Henry Dodge, and again Aug. 2d by General Henry Atkinson. Zach. Taylor had become colonel of the 1st Infantry Apr. 4th, 1832, and had his hdqrs. at Fort Crawford, P. du Chien. He moved his forces under General Atkinson, and caught the Indians opposite the mouth of Upper Iowa r., as they were preparing to cross the Mississippi; the battle of Bad Axe was fought, the hostiles were defeated, and their organization was broken up. Colonel Taylor returned to P. du Chien with the troops he commanded, and soon afterward received the formal surrender of the Sac chieftain, whose sagacity was as great as his courage. Black Hawk was sent by Taylor, with about 60 of his people, as a prisoner of war to General Winf. Scott, and with some of them was confined for a while in Fortress Monroe; released June 5th, 1833. The first stream of any size, on the Wisconsin side, above the scene of action was named and is still called Bad Axe. A place above Battle cr. and Battle isl., very near the battle-field, if not actually on the spot, was started by the name of Victory, which it still bears. This is directly on the river-bank, at the mouth of a rivulet which makes in there, about a mile below the spot where one Tippet had his landing. Tippet's place was nearly opposite the Iowa-Minnesota State line, and 1½ m. S. of the lower mouth of Bad Axe r. As the price of their defeat the S. and F. Inds. were obliged to surrender a large tract of land, about 9,000 sq. m., along 180 m. of the W. bank of the Mississippi, and, perhaps, 50 m. broad; this became known as the Scott or the Black Hawk purchase, and later as the Iowa district; it was attached to the Territory of Michigan for judicial purposes in 1834, and the separate Territory of Iowa was made July 4th, 1838.

[I-52] By the river channel barely over the Iowa State line into Houston Co., Minn., obliquely opposite Tippet's landing, and about a mile below the mouth of Bad Axe r., which falls in on the Wisconsin side. Pike continues to have Wisconsin on his right until he crosses the mouth of St. Croix r.

I suspect that the Upper Iowa r., which Pike has just left, has a longer historical record than that with which it is generally credited. Franquelin, 1688, maps a large river above the Wisconsin and below Root r., thus apparently in the position of the Upper Iowa. He letters Indians on it as Peoueria and Tapoueri. Perrot's Ayoës r. seems to be the same, as is certainly the Ioua r. of Lewis and Clark's map, 1814. Long has Little Ioway r. in 1817, and Upper Iaway r. in 1823.

[I-53] This is not very definite—perhaps Pike forgot to wind up his watch after the Sioux affair. But we shall be about right to set him down at Brownsville, Houston Co., Minn.; this is below Root r., which he passes to-morrow, and within convenient reach of the place, 3 m. beyond La Crosse, to which he comes on that rainy day. Starting from the State line, as already said, he first rounds Bad Axe bend, at the mouth of Bad Axe r., and then comes to the town of Genoa, 8¼ m. above Victoria. Genoa used to be called Bad Axe; but they do not seem to have fancied the name, or perhaps the Victorians crowed over them, and told them stories about George Washington and his little hatchet, so it was changed. Bad Axe r. is also found with the F. name Mauvaise Hache: e. g., Beltrami, II. p. 178. A mile above Genoa the river divides in two courses, inclosing an irregularly oval cluster of islands 6½ m. long; that on the Minnesota side is Raft channel, which runs part of the way under bluffs; the one on the Wisconsin side, which is or was lately the steamboat way, is Coon, Raccoon, or Racoon slough, with a creek of these names coming in about its middle, 3 and 2 m. above Britt's and Warner's ldgs., respectively. The hills are some miles back on this side, with a break where Coon cr. comes in, and so continue all the way to Prairie La Crosse. Brownsville is at the mouth of Wild Cat cr., 1½ m. above the place where the two courses of the river reunite, or rather begin to separate; and this town is 21 m. by the river-channel above Victoria—for Coon slough is very crooked. Britt's ldg. became the site of a place called Bergen; and one by the name of Stoddard is on the slough a little above Coon cr., about opp. Brownsville. The Wisconsin county line between Vernon and La Crosse comes to the river between Stoddard and Mormon creeks.

[I-54] R. aux Racines of the French; Racine or Root r., the latter name now most used, though in the case of a well-known Wisconsin city the F. word persists as the name. Nicollet calls it Hokah or Root r., and so does Owen. The Franquelin map of 1688 marks a certain R. des Arounoues, which some authors identify with Lahontan's semi-mythical R. Morte or Longue, and refer both to Root r.; but this is questionable. Long speaks (I. p. 247) of Root r. as having its Dakotan name Hoka, and being supposed to be the same as the Rivière Long or Rivière Morte of Lahontan, I. p. 112, called by Coxe in 1741, p. 19 and p. 63, Mitschaoywa and Meschaouay. He utterly discredits the Baron's "180 leagues" of this river, as well as his fabulous nations "Eokoros," "Essanapes," and "Gnacsitares." Without prejudice to the perennial question, which it would be a pity to settle now, whether the Baron was a knave or a fool, or most likely both, it may be observed that Major Long is mistaken in supposing his Hoka or Root r. to be the one which Lahontan represents himself to have gone up; for if he went up any real river, that is Cannon r., as Nicollet urges, and would clinch his argument by calling it Lahontan r.: see beyond. Hokah, Racine, or Root r.—to use all three of the sure names—is a large stream which runs E. through several of the lower tier of Minnesota counties, and falls in through Houston Co., 3½ m. directly S. of La Crosse, though the distance is more than this by the winding river-channel. Mormon cr. comes into the slough on the Wisconsin side opposite Root r., immediately below La Crosse prairie. The slough on the Minnesota side above Root r. is called Broken Arrow—and this, by the way, is connected with a certain small Target lake; so that no doubt some actual incident gave rise to both these names. This lake is the outlet of Pine cr.

[I-55] Three of Pike's river-miles beyond La Crosse bring him to La Crescent, Houston Co., Minn., close to the border of Winona Co.—not that he says he camped on the W. side, but he would naturally select that side in preference to the other, where the various outlets of La Crosse and Black rivers make such a snicarty. La Crescent is curiously so called, apparently in rivalry with La Crosse, and perhaps by some individual who thought he knew what La Crosse means, and was minded to suggest by the Turkish emblem that the star of the new place was in the ascendant and the town bound to grow. Thus far, however, it has been more of an excrescence from La Crosse than a crescence of itself. Crosse, in French, does not mean "cross," but the game of hockey, shinny, or bandy, and the crooked stick or racket with which it is played. Pike describes the game beyond, under date of Apr. 20th, 1806. The F. word for "crescent" is croissant. The beautiful Prairie à la Crosse was so called by the French because the Indians used to play ball there when they felt safe; and when the enemy appeared they could scoop holes in it and scuttle into them in a few minutes. The river which laves this ball-ground on the N. became La Rivière de la Prairie à la Crosse, which we naturally shorten into La Crosse r. Pike says la Cross and le Cross, usually. I have seen it spelled Crose. Lewis and Clark's map of 1814 letters "Prairie La Crosse R." Long has in one place Prairie de la Cross. Featherstonhaugh turns the phrase into Ball Game r. It was probably by accident that Long once gave it as La Croix r.; for he is careful in his statements, and his editor, Keating, is scholarly. This slip is particularly unlucky, as it is liable to cause confusion with St. Croix, name of the large river higher up on the same side. The city of La Crosse was started on the edge of the plain, immediately over the river, and gave name to the county of which it became the seat. Two of the islands which the city faces are Grand and La Plume, respectively 1¼ and ¾ m. long. Close above La Crosse r.—in fact, connected with one of its mouths at the place where the town of North La Crosse was planted—is Black r. This has a long history. La Salle speaks of it as R. Noire and Chabadeba [Beaver], in his letter of Aug. 22d, 1682; R. Noire appears on Franquelin's map, 1688; Hennepin has it under the Sioux name Chabedeba or Chabaoudeba, and the like, translated Beaver r. Franqulin locates a certain Butte d'Hyvernement, or wintering-hill, at the mouth of R. Noire; Menard and Guerin are said to have ascended the latter in 1661. The most remarkable things about the mouth of Black r. are the extraordinary length of its delta and the great changes which this has experienced within comparatively few years. The waters of Black r., though it is not a very large stream, have found their way into the Mississippi from La Crosse upward for 12 m. or more. There are now a number of openings, though the principal one is the lowermost, nearest La Crosse. Nicollet, writing about 1840, gives this as the "new mouth" of the Sappah or Black r. (Sapah Watpa of the Sioux), and calls the next one Broken Gun channel. This is rendered by F. Casse-Fusils in Beltrami, II. p. 178, who recites the gun-breaking incident. This channel now opens opposite the mouth of Dakota cr., which falls in under Mineral bluff, at a place called Dakota. The main former debouchment seems to have been at a point about 12 m. direct above La Crosse, through what is now known as Hammond's chute. In Pike's time the mouth was evidently high up, for he does not pass it till the 13th. The present (or recent) channel is turbid and sloughy for some miles up from its contracted opening into the Mississippi, reminding one of the similar but more pronounced expansion of St. Croix r. above its mouth. The width of the delta, or its extent sideways from the Mississippi, averages between 3 and 4 m., inclusive of a higher piece of ground it incloses, called Lytle's prairie or terrace; this is 4¼ m. long and 20-30 feet above high-water mark; Half Way cr. comes around its lower end. The vicissitudes of Black r. may be among the reasons why exact identification of some places about its mouth in the early French writers is not easy. Speaking with reserve, and ready to stand corrected by anyone who knows more than I do about it, I do not see why the traditional Butte d'Hyvernement may not have been Mt. Trempealeau. As for the extent of the Black River basin, this is long enough to begin in Taylor Co., where waters separate in various directions, and to run through Clark and Jackson cos.; thence the river separates La Crosse from Trempealeau Co. till it reaches the town of New Amsterdam; after which the river enters its delta in La Crosse Co., and the county line runs 5 or 6 m. to the Mississippi on a parallel of latitude.

[I-56] From La Crosse to the town of Trempealeau is reckoned 19 m. by the channel; the mountain is 3 m. further by the same way. Pike was advanced beyond La Crosse when he started from La Crescent, and his 21 m. no doubt set him snug under the famous hill whose F. name snagged him when he reached it. This is not the mountain which "deceives" (trompe) in the water, as by mirage or reflection of itself reversed; but one which rises so abruptly from the water's edge that it seems to bathe, or at least to soak its feet, in the water, and was therefore called by the French la Montagne qui Trempe à l'Eau—a clumsy phrase which we have reduced to Mt. Trempealeau, Mt. Trombalo, and various other terms not less curious. There is a notable assortment of names along the river. On decamping and crossing the bounds of Houston Co. into Winona Co., Minn., Pike comes to the Rising Sun—though his course is about N., and we are not informed whether this name advertises a certain stove-polish, or is meant to throw in the shade both the Turkish crescent and the Christian cross. E. of Rising Sun is Minnesota isl., on the Wisconsin side. A few miles further is a place in Minnesota by the Teutonic name of Dresbach, at the head of Dresbach's isl.; 1½ m. further is a town with the Siouan name Dakota; while E. of these (across the Black r. delta in Wis.) is a place called Onalaska, suggestive of Captain Cook's voyage to the Aleutian isls. One Winter used to have his ldg. on the Wis. side, 2½ m. above Dakota, and in the vicinity of the place where Black r. debouched in Pike's time—Winter's ldg. being a singular verbal coincidence, almost like a pun upon the old name of hibernation (Butte d'Hyvernement), which appears on the earlier pages of Mississippian history. At 3 m. above Winter's ldg. stands Richmond, which was established under Queen's bluff on the Minn. side. Both of these names suggest English Colonial history of the times when a certain country was named Virginia—certainly not to quiz one of the greatest women who ever graced a crown, but to emphasize a diplomatic euphemism. The "highest hill" in this vicinity is Queen's bluff, also known as Spirit rock—not that called Kettle hill by Long in 1817; its elevation was determined by Nicollet to be 531 feet, but was reduced to 375 feet by later measurements. The town of Trempealeau, in the Wis. co. of that name, is midway between Richmond and the mountain; but before Pike reached the latter, he passed on his left the site of Lamoille, Minn., built under the bluff, about 300 feet high, between two creeks whose names are Trout and Cedar. It is really wonderful how much history is hidden—or revealed—in mere names. Personal and local words are the most concrete facts of history. If, for example, those which appear in this paragraph were set forth at full length in proper historical perspective, we should have a perfect panorama of scenes and incidents along 20 m. of the river for 200 yrs. The myrionymous molehill on the river, which has been dignified by the name of a mountain because there are no mountains to speak of in Wisconsin or Minnesota, and which has been belittled by a set of phrases so absurd that it could not be further ridiculed if one were to call it Mt. Trombonello, or Mt. Trump Low, or Mt. Tremble Oh, or Mt. Soak-your-feet-in-mustard-water-and-go-to-bed-oh, has not only conferred titles on a town and a county in Wisconsin, but also on the river which washes its foot, and which is known by one of the most unique circumlocutory phrases to be found in geographical terminology: La Rivière de la Montagne qui Trempe à l'Eau, of the French; River of the Mountain, etc., Pike; Mont. q. t. à l'E. r., Owen; Mountain Island r., Nicollet; Bluff Island r., Long—and so on through all the chimes that can be rung out of paraphrase. It is now usually called Trempealeau r., and forms the boundary between this and Buffalo cos. The Sioux name of the mountain is rendered Minnay Chonkahah, or Bluff in the Water, by Featherstonhaugh. A more frequent form of this is Minneshonka. The Winnebago name is given as Hay-me-ah-chan or Soaking mountain in Hist. Winona Co., 1883. The island on which the mountain rests has a corresponding series of names.

Pike passed to-day the place where was once situated an old French fort, which has lately been unearthed alongside the Chic., Burl. and N. R. R. The site is on the S. half of the S. E. quarter of Section 20, Township 18 N., Range 9 W., 1¾ m. above the village, and 1½ m. below the mountain, of Trempealeau. It was discovered by T. H. Lewis, July, 1885, and by him examined in Nov., 1888, and again in Apr., 1889: see his article, Mag. Amer. Hist., Sept., 1889, and separate, 8vo. p. 5, with three cuts, and postscript dated Feb. 22d, 1890. See also T. H. Kirk, Mag. Amer. Hist., Dec., 1889, article entitled, "Fort Perrot, Wisconsin, established in 1685, by Nicholas Perrot," with reference to the evasive Butte d'Hyvernement, or wintering-hill of the Franquelin map, 1688. The separate of Mr. Lewis' article is entitled, "Old French Post at Trempeleau, Wisconsin." "Fort Perrot," as a name of this establishment, must not be confounded with the one often so called on Lake Pepin.

[I-57] A meaningless phrase as it stands, and one open to various rendering, as L'Aile, L'Ail, or L'Île. Pike's text of 1807, p. 12, has L'aile; Long's of 1807, as printed in Minn. Hist. Coll., II. Part 1, 2d ed. 1890, p. 175, has Aux Aisle; Beltrami's, II. p. 180, gives aux Ailes. "The site of Winona was known to the French as La Prairie Aux Ailes (pronounced O'Zell) or the Wing's prairie, presumably because of its having been occupied by members of Red Wing's band," Hist. Winona Co., 1883. It is easily recognized by Pike's vivid description: see next note. Long, l. c., calls it "an extensive lawn," and notes the situation on it in 1817 of an Indian village, whose chief he calls Wauppaushaw by a rather unusual spelling of the native name of La Feuille. Forsyth, 1819, names it Wing prairie.

[I-58] From his camp in the vicinity of Trempealeau and Lamoille towns, a little below the Mountain which, etc., Pike makes it 21 m. to-day and 25 m. to-morrow to a point opp. the mouth of Buffalo r. He is therefore to-day a little short of halfway between Trempealeau and Alma. From Trempealeau to Fountain City is 20 m. by the channel; from Fountain City to Alma is 22 m. Pike camps to-day at Fountain City, Buffalo Co., Wis., immediately below the mouth of Eagle cr. The island at the head of which he breakfasted, and where Frazer's boats came up, was No. 75, which separates the Homer chute, also called Blacksmith slough, from the rest of the Mississippi. Though narrow, this is, or lately was, the steamboat channel. Opposite is town of Homer, Winona Co., Minn., under Cabin bluff (most probably Kettle hill of Long). At 1½ m. above Homer, on the same side, is the town of Minneopa. Here the bluffs recede from the river; here Pike left his boats for an excursion on the hills. The "Prairie Le Aisle," which he first crossed, is in Burris valley. The highest point of the hills which he ascended for his prospect is called the Sugarloaf. Standing there to-day, we overlook Winona, seat of the county, and at the foot of the hills between us and the town is Lake Winona, nearly 2 m. long, discharging into Burris Valley cr. Looking E. from the Sugar-loaf, down-river, we perceive that the Mountain which, etc., is simply a point of the bluffs which stands isolated in the delta of Trempealeau r. To our left of it as we look, and beyond it eastward, stretches the high prairie between the delta just said and that of Black r. Rambling further along the hills back of Winona we come to Minnesota City, at a break in the bluffs through which a rivulet finds its way into Crooked slough. From this spot Fountain City is in full view, 3½ air-miles off on a course N. by E., under Eagle bluff, on the other side of the river. A portion of these bluffs is probably that called Tumbling Rock by Forsyth in 1819. We could keep along the hills till they strike the river about 5 m. further. But Mr. Frazer is anxious to get back to the boats; very likely Bradley and Sparks are also. So we descend into the bottom from Minnesota City, flounder across some sloughs, and on reaching the W. bank of the Mississippi, we signal to our men to come over in a canoe and ferry us to Fountain City.

[I-59] Fountain City to Alma, 22 m. Camp opp. Alma, in Wabasha Co., Minn., amid the intricacies of the Zumbro delta. For many miles above and below this place—from Chippewa r. down to Winona, say 40 m.—the Father of Waters, like the father of Shem, Ham, and Japhet, if we can credit the chronicles of that ancient mariner, gets himself in very bad form. He reels along as if he would like to take both sides of the bluffs at once. Great skill has been shown by engineers in trying to steer him in the way he should go; much money has been spent in throwing out jetties like friends at each elbow of the staggering patriarch, to mend his ways; some of his worst lurches have been dammed as a matter of necessity, and all of them have been otherwise objurgated as a matter of course by every steamboat captain. The late General G. K. Warren, who was intrusted with the responsible duty of surveying the river with reference to the improvement of navigation, makes a most accurate observation in his preliminary Rep., Ex. Doc. No. 57, 2d Sess. 39th Congr., p. 19: "It is often remarked, 'What a slight thing will cause a change of the river.' But it is erroneous to infer from this that it is easy to make it change as we wish. Effects are often accumulating unobserved during a state of unstable equilibrium. A slight cause then disturbs this, and marked changes take place. But it is exceedingly superficial to attribute the whole effect to this last cause." In consequence of the great changes in the river, both natural and artificial, since the days of Pike, we must not assume the present or quite recent details to be those of Pike's time; nor should we presume to speak censoriously regarding the identification of such things as Carver's supposed fortifications of 1766-67. Within the bounds of the solid, if not eternal hills, through which the water has excavated its trough, we have the great river safe enough. But these bounds are some miles apart, and between them all is in the "unstable equilibrium" of which the eminent engineer just cited speaks. The result is incessant shiftiness or shiftlessness, not only as regards the sloughy bottoms and snicarties themselves, but in respect of the sands which accumulate in various places and form banks or terraces which sometimes take such shapes as to be easily mistaken for artificial mounds. The cardinal principle of sound archæology is to assume every mound to be a natural formation until it is proven to be the work of man. One of the most notable historical instances in point is that of the "fortifications" at Bon Homme, on the Missouri r., which deceived even so accurate an observer as Captain Clark: see L. and C., ed. 1893, p. 103, seq., and pl. Some of the present or quite recent water-ways in the vicinity of Fountain City are those known as Pap chute, Betsy, Haddock, and Rollingstone sloughs, Horseshoe bend, and Fountain City bay, into which Eagle cr. falls, under Eagle bluff. The hills then come to the river on the Minnesota side, and so continue past Mt. Vernon to Minneiska. One of the boldest of these headlands is called Chimney Rock. Some have an altitude of 450 feet. On the other side the bluffs recede above Fountain City, break to give passage to Eagle c., start again about 2½ m. from the river, and thence upward approach gradually till they strike the river at Alma. The space between these hills and the river bottom is partly filled by a sand terrace for about 9 m., with an average width of a mile. On the edge of the upper one of these banks is Buffalo City, 2 m. above which a place was started by the name of Belvidere. The boundary between Winona and Wabasha cos. comes on a parallel of latitude to the river at Minneiska, a town named for the river at whose mouth it is situated, under high bluffs, facing the lower part of Summerfield or Summerfield's isl., which is 4 m. long. This river is Pike's "Lean Clare," clearly by typographical error, as he elsewhere has Riviere l'Eau Clair, almost right, and correctly translates the phrase by Clear r. and Clear Water r. This is also White Water r. of Long and others, at present the usual alternative name of Minneiska r.; Miniskon r., Nicollet; Miniskah r., Owen; Minneska r., Warren; and so on with the forms of the Indian word. Clear r. comes into the bottom between the Minneiska bluffs and a certain isolated hill to the northward, in the vicinity of which Clear r. is still or was lately connected with one of the lowest sluices of the Zumbro r. This last is what Pike calls riviere Embarrass (river Embaras, ed. 1807, p. 13). The French named it Rivière aux Embarras, from the difficulty they found in attempting to navigate it, and we have made Zumbro out of this embarrassment. Nicollet calls it Wazi Oju r., in which he is followed by Owen and others. Its delta extends practically from Minneiska to Wabasha, a distance of 20 m. by the Mississippi channel. The opening which Pike takes as the mouth is the lower one, as he passes it before camping opp. Alma. This delta incloses one long, narrow sand terrace, continuous for 9 m., and several similar but smaller banks, as well as an extensive system of sloughs and islands. The West Newton chute and accompanying islands are among these; and Pike's camp was at the head of this chute, directly opposite Alma and the mouth of Buffalo r. The history of this river dates back to 1680 at least: R. des Bœufs, Hennepin, map, 1683; River of Wild Bulls, Hennep., Engl. transl.; Bœufs R., Lahontan, map; Buffaloe or Buffalo r., Pike, Long, Nicollet, Owen, etc.; Beef r., Warren and others; cf. also, R. de Bon Secours of the early F. writers, whence Good Help r. by translation. Some connect the two names, as R. des Bœufs ou de Bon Secours, as if the supply of beef had been a great relief. There were plenty of buffaloes on this part of the Mississippi in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and indeed down to some early years of our own. But they were exterminated or driven off soon after Fort St. Anthony (Snelling) was built in 1819. Fort St. Antoine appears in earliest connection with the river. Its own mouth has no doubt been fixed since prehistoric times by the solid Alma bluffs around which it sweeps into the Mississippi. But the delta of Chippewa r., whose main discharge is by a contracted opening 9½ direct miles above the mouth of Buffalo r., extends between these two points, and is meandered by the intricacies of Beef slough, which such competent professional opinion as Warren's pronounces to have once divided the main Chippewa: Ex. Doc. No. 57, etc., p. 13. "The Chippeway river had a large lateral gorge like that of the St. Croix to fill up before reaching the valley of the Mississippi, and it now joins the Mississippi by a very complete set of delta streams, beginning about 15 miles above its mouth. There was a time when the mouth now known as Beef slough was about equal to the main Chippeway. In their growth each kept along the bluffs or sides of the gorge they were filling up, raising their immediate banks and leaving a depression between them. The bank which the present Mississippi finally put across the delta was not then there, and large trees grew up on this intermediate space. The delta having finally reached the Mississippi, the water was more rapidly raised in Lake Pepin. This intermediate space was closed up on its third side by the new forming bank of the Mississippi, and became a lake. The trees in it then perished, and their submerged parts, preserved by the water, remain standing in the lake at this time [July 31st, 1865]. This place is known as Stump lake, and this name it bore among the aboriginal Sioux (Chan-poksa-m'dé). The lower of these two delta mouths became obstructed and dammed up by the new forming banks of the Mississippi; the lower part of it then filled up, and it finally broke through its own banks into Stump lake, so that it now issues therefrom in several much obstructed channels, almost entirely useless to navigation.... The Trempealeau and Black rivers repeat the operation of the Chippeway on a smaller scale, the Wisconsin probably on a greater, other streams doing the same in proportion to their size." In this view of Beef slough as an obstructed channel of the Chippewa, Beef or Buffalo r. is simply an affluent of the Chippewa, precisely as the Minneiska is of the Zumbro, or La Crosse of Black r.; and other such cases of originally distinct rivers falling into the Mississippi as one by their deltopoetic processes could easily be cited.

[I-60] "Grand Encampment" is a phrase in use since Carver's Travels first appeared. Carver first came to Lake Pepin Nov. 1st, 1766. Those who wish to verify the fact will find it on p. 34 of the Phila. ed. of 1796, which is commoner and therefore more accessible than any of the earlier ones; the London princeps, 1778, is a rare book; the place is p. 54 of this ed. On p. 35, Carver says the place was "some miles below Lake Pepin." This left the location in the air, especially as he does not say which side of the river; and various authors have raised such a fog about it that we might be excused if we failed to find it anywhere. By Pike as above, the place is between Buffalo r. and Chippewa r.; he starts late, noons on the spot, and gets into Lake Pepin at dusk. On his return voyage, Apr. 15th, 1806, he stops at the place; he makes it on the right (west) bank, 9 m. below Lake Pepin. When Long comes by, in 1823, his boat-party camps opposite the mouth of Buffalo r., just as Pike did yesterday; on the 30th of June they find themselves "a few miles" below L. Pepin, and much concerned to discover Carver's "fortifications": see Keating, I. pp. 276-78. The upshot of their long discussion is the conclusion that Carver did really see what he says he saw, but that the works he described were not at the Grand Encampment, where they found no fortifications. But this is clearly a non sequitur, or a lucus a non, or a petitio principii, or an argumentum ad hominem, or whatever may be the logical definition of an illogical syllogism. It misses the point. The question is not one of identifying Carver's locality; the question is whether what he saw there was an artificial work or a natural formation. The place can be pointed out with the point of a pin stuck through the map, provided the topography has not changed too much for that during the century; for the point which now points to Carver's location is Point Teepeeota of the U. S. survey chart. The point above, at which Major Long's boat-party landed an hour or two later that day, and "which appeared to correspond with the description" of Carver's place, though "their search here was likewise unsuccessful" (p. 278), is the present site of Wabasha—the place where Nicholas Perrot is thought to have landed in 1683, and built a log fort, the first thing of the kind in all that country, afterward marked on some maps as Fort Perrot. Teepeeota pt. is the projecting end of the long narrow sand-drift or sand terrace already mentioned as extending 9 m. or more in the delta of the Zumbro; it strikes the Mississippi immediately below the Middle mouth of the Zumbro, and in fact determines the position of that opening. Teepeeota pt. is 4½ m. direct above Alma, somewhat more than 5 m. by the channel; it is 3 m. direct below Wabasah, a little more by the channel; it is 6 m. below the upper mouth of Chippewa r., say 7 by the channel. The Indian name would be more correctly rendered Tipiotah—tipi meaning a lodge or dwelling (such as is called "wigwam" in novels, but seldom so on the spot) and the rest of the word denoting multitude; the paper-town there, called Tepeeotah City, went up in smoke, 1859. The island off Teepeeota pt., but a little lower down, is now called Grand Encampment isl. Of the accuracy of this identification I do not see how there can be any question, though time has modified the contour details in the course of nature, as well as in the course of the engineering work done there of late years. These fortifications of the river against its own sands are doubtless the only ones of any magnitude that have ever been made on the spot, before or since Carver; though there was nothing to hinder the Sioux from scooping holes in the sand-drift and scuttling into them when the Chippewas came in sight, as we know they did at Prairie La Crosse and elsewhere. Under these circumstances, I think the gentlemen of Major Long's party were as unjust to themselves in doubting their own identifications (in which they were supported by Hart, Rolette, and others who knew about the place), as they were to Carver in saying, p. 277: "No gentleman of the party would be willing to ascribe to Carver a scrupulous adherence to truth, (personal observation having convinced them all of the many misrepresentations contained in his work)." If this is meant to charge Carver with willful misrepresentation, I think it is unjust as well as ungenerous. Carver mistook a natural for an artificial work—so did William Clark, to the extent of drawing one to a scale and describing it in the terms of military science—so have done many professional archæologists. Carver made mistakes, like the rest of us; he was often loose about distances, dimensions, and such things; he believed more things that were told him than a less honest and more wary wayfarer would have taken to be true; but I think that he drew a short bow for so long a journey, had no occasion to deceive anyone but himself, and always intended to tell the truth as it seemed to him—in short, I do not see how his good faith can be seriously questioned. I accept Carver's statements, as I do those of Pike, Long, and other honest persons, for what they may prove to be worth.

[I-61] R. des Sauteurs, etc., of the French, i. e., River of the Chippewas, with all the uncounted variations of the latter word, from such forms as Ouchipouwaictz to the present Chippewa, Chippeway, or Chipeway. Pike's 1807 text has Sautiaux r., p. 13. Beltrami has Cypewais in text, Cypoway on map. Present usage among geographers favors two p's and no y; the ethnologists incline rather to Ojibwa. This one of the major tributaries of the Mississippi now falls in by its main upper mouth 1½ m. below the end of Lake Pepin, from the N., nearly at a right angle; it is somewhat bottle-nosed—that is, with a contracted orifice of a turgid body of water, though the dilation is not so great as in the case of the St. Croix. The general character of the delta has been already discussed in connection with Beef slough. Pike has this on his right all the way from Alma to L. Pepin. On his left he passes Grand Encampment isl. and dines near Point Teepeeota, already described as the point of that sandbank I should wish to call Carver's Terrace. He next comes to Wabasha, seat of the Minnesota county of that name, so called from the celebrated Sioux chief of whom we read much in Long, I. p. 272, and elsewhere; his name is there spelled Wapasha, and his village was at that time not on this spot, but lower down (Winona). The site of Wabasha duplicates the situation at Point Teepeeota; it is in the Zumbro delta, below the Upper Zumbro outlet, on the point of a sand-bank identical in formation with Carver's Terrace, though much smaller—under 3 m. in length, and less than a mile wide. Passing Wabasha, Pike comes 2 m. to the town now called Read's Landing, at the uppermost point of the Zumbro floodplain, almost opposite the mouth of Chippewa r. Nicollet marks "Roques," i. e., Augustin Rocque's trading-house, in about the right position, i. e. at present site of Wabasha, where Rocque's old chimney was evidence in 1884. This person, whose last name might be spelled with a g as well as his first, very likely lived on more than one spot in the course of his career. Featherstonhaugh informs us that "Ruque's" Indian name was Wajhustachay, and that his house stood on the edge of a high prairie, 50 feet from the water, at S. E. end of L. Pepin, right bank, opp. Chip. r.; which fits in only with the site of present Read's Landing. Here the C., M. and St. P. R. R. bridged the Miss. r. in '82 (Act of Congr., Mar. 28th, '82). As indicated in an earlier note, the Chippewa is one of the main waterways between the Mississippi and the Great Lakes; the connection will be more particularly noted hereafter. Carver went this way in June or July, 1867, after he had wintered up the St. Peter. For some distance from its mouth this river separates Pepin from Buffalo Co.

[I-62] Apparently a misprint: Alma to Read's Landing, near the foot of Lake Pepin, 12 m. by the crooked channel; thence to Wakouta, near the head of the lake, is only 25 m., and Pike is not yet halfway through. He says himself that he made 3 m. further to Sandy pt., and then 18 m. up to Cannon r. He undoubtedly ran for shelter from the gale at or near Stockholm, Pepin Co., Wis. The channel is or has lately been along the Minnesota side to Lake City, crossing obliquely to the other side in passing Stockholm, then leaving for the Minn. side to reach Point No Point, and so on up this side to Wakouta, Red Wing, and Cannon r. "Le lac est petit, mais il est malin": I faithfully copy this venerable Jo Miller, and am ready to agree that the lake is not big, but bad. It is reckoned about 21 m. long, averaging about 2½ broad; thus it is merely a dilation of the Mississippi, like that of the St. Croix and some other Mississippian tributaries, though on a larger scale. The Chippewa r. was concerned in the formation of Lake Pepin, and the two have had some reciprocal effect. General Warren's opinion may be here cited, Ex. Doc. No. 57, 1866-67, p. 11: "In order to better understand the formation of the present bottom-land valley, and comprehend the existing state of things, we must go back to the time when, by the elevation of the continent above the ocean, the present rivers, like the Wisconsin and Chippeway, began to flow into the channel formed by the present Mississippi bluffs. As soon as the sediment brought down by their waters had filled up the lateral chasm by which they joined the Mississippi, this sediment would begin to obstruct the flow of the Mississippi water, force its channel to the opposite side, and narrow and dam it back till the water gained sufficient force to carry the sediment down the valley. The continual sorting out of this sediment would leave the heavier particles behind, so that this bar would continually increase in elevation and form a lake above. There are evidences of the effect of the Wisconsin in making such a dam in the neighborhood of Prairie du Chien, also by other affluents above their mouths, which lakes have since been filled up. In the case of the Chippeway and Lake Pepin this effect still remains, the affluents above the Chippeway not having been able to fill up the lake which was formed. It seems almost impossible to doubt that this is the origin of Lake Pepin, and there are evidences in the shape of the sand and boulder spits along the Mississippi bluffs above Lake Pepin, such as are only formed now in it and Lake St. Croix, which indicate that the lake formerly extended up much higher than now.... The river now enters Lake Pepin by three principal mouths, and the land of the delta gently slopes down to and under the water. It has advanced very slowly, if at all, since first visited by white men. The largest sized cottonwood trees, dying of old age, are found on the islands within two miles of the head of the lake. The small willows on the low and extreme points seem of an almost uniform size and age; and are small more, perhaps, from the unfavorable condition in which they are placed than from want of time to grow since the land was formed. The bottom in the shoal places at the head of Lake Pepin is composed of soft mud, and not of sand. It seems probable that nearly all the other islands of the Mississippi were formed in similar lakes by advancing deltas, until finally the lakes were filled up. Lake Pepin has almost no current, and deepens gradually down to near the point of entrance of the Chippeway, and then rapidly shoals and narrows to form again the flowing river." Lake Pepin is curved on itself, more so than the old-fashioned Italic letter ſ, there being a bend in the middle reach which is oblique between the straight and approximately parallel reaches at the two ends—say W. N. W. and E. S. E., then N. and S., then nearly W. and E. The lake nearly fills the space between the bluffs in which it is embedded, but there are several pieces of arable bottom-land in places where the bluffs recede, furnishing the sites of a corresponding number of settlements, mostly at points where creeks or brooks fall in between gaps in the hills. Such are Pepin and Stockholm, Pepin Co., Wis.; Maiden Rock City and Bay City, Pierce Co., Wis.; Lake City, Wabasha Co., Minn.; Florence, Frontenac, and Wakouta or Wacouta, Goodhue Co., Minn. Maiden Rock City is under the line of bluffs, about 400 feet high, to several of which the Winona legend attaches; but this town is at the mouth of Rush cr., and thus nearly 5 m. by the railroad above that bluff to which the names of Maiden's Rock, Maiden's Head, and Lover's Leap more particularly belong. This is directly opposite Sandy point, and only about 2 m. by rail above the village of Stockholm; being that one of the series of quite similar bluffs which has a remarkable vertical escarpment, at a point where there is little room to spare for the track between the talus at its foot and the lake shore. A good view is obtained as the cars recede from it. Rush cr. is mapped both by Pike and by Nicollet, without name; it seems to be that called Porcupine-Quill cr. by Schoolcraft, and is perhaps Marchessau r. of Featherstonhaugh. A similar stream, also mapped by Pike and by Nicollet, without name, and now known as Pine or Mill Pine cr., falls in 1½ m. below Rush cr. Three other small streams, known as Bogus cr., Lost cr., and Roaring r., fall in below Stockholm on the Wisconsin side; on which side, near the head of the lake, at the place called Bay City, is Isabel cr. (the Clear Water cr. of Nicollet, and perhaps the Rocher Rouge r. of Featherstonhaugh). On the Minnesota side a creek falls in below and another above Lake City; Wells cr. (the Sandy Point cr. of Pike, and the Sand Point r. of Nicollet), falls in at the point indicated by these names, a mile or more below Frontenac; while at Wacouta we find a stream mapped by Nicollet without name, formerly called Bullard's and now known as Ida cr. The most prominent part of the Minnesota shore, where the channel sweeps around the convexity of the bold headland, is fittingly called Point No Point—as the up-bound passenger discovers when the boat rounds it. This is immediately above Frontenac, opp. Maiden Rock City, and about the junction of the middle with the upper reach of the lake. This body of water is between two States and four counties. The line between Pepin and Pierce cos., Wis., strikes it at or near Maiden Rock City; that between Wabasha and Goodhue, Minn., comes to the lake below Frontenac, about Lake City.

Lake Pepin is commonly said to have been "discovered by Hennepin" in 1680. This statement is exactly one-third right and two-thirds wrong, and does a double injustice, because it ignores two of the three white men who were simultaneously on the spot. These were: 1. Michael Accault, the bourgeois or leader of the party, who afterward flourished under the style of Le Sieur d'Accault, d'Acau, d'Ako, Dacan, etc. 2. His man Antoine Auguelle, commonly called Le Picard, or Picard du Gay. 3. His ecclesiastical functionary Louis Hennepin, a monk of the Franciscan order, whom La Salle got rid of by sending him along with Accault and Auguelle, when this Chaas trading-party started from Fort Crèvecœur on the Illinois r., Feb. 29th, 1680; they reached the Miss. r. at the mouth of the Illinois, Mar. 7th, 1680, and came to Lake Pepin in June of that year. It is a pity that the reverend father's vanity, servility, and envy prevented him from sticking to his ghostly trade; but he was ambitious of authorship, like many another religious worldling, and jealous of La Salle. So he set about a book for the glory of a trinity composed of Louis Hennepin, Louis XIV., and God. It has made much trouble for geographers and historians, who would willingly have waited for all the information that it contains till this should have been imparted by some less bigoted, less bombastic, and more veracious chronicler than this Recollect priest, who recollected a good many things that never happened, and forgot some of those that did occur. Hennepin is the able philologist who discovered that the Indians called their solar deity by the name of the then King of France, and who followed up this discovery by naming the whole country Louisiana. He is the same unscrupulous courtier who represents the king's arms to have been cut in the bark of an oak west of Lac des Assenipoils, ca. lat. 60° N.: see his map, place marked "Armes du Roy telle quelle sont grauée sur l'escorce d'vn Chesne a lendroit marqué—A". The tree may be there yet, but the monk never was. Lahontan's fables are entertaining, like La Fontaine's; Hennepin's are a bore. When this little Louis is not wheedling the great Louis, he is apt to be whining; he was troubled with gumboils, from dental caries, and did not always remember the excellent injunction he received from Father Gabriel—viriliter age et comfortetur cor tuum; which an Englishman might freely render, "Be a man and keep your courage up." This missionary lachrymosely named the lake, to which Accault, Auguelle, and himself were taken by the Indians, Lac des Pleurs, a phrase which appears in Engl. transls. of his book as Lake of Tears, "which we so named," as Shea's text reads, p. 198, "because the Indians who had taken us, wishing to kill us, some of them wept the whole night, to induce the others to consent to our death"—hinc illæ lacrymæ. Hennepin, by the way, says further, ibid.: "Half a league below the Lake of Tears, on the south side, is Buffalo river." This would make R. aux Bœufs = Chippewa r.: see note^59, p. 58, for some bearings on the case. The obscurity of the origin of the name Lake Pepin has not been cleared up, so far as I know. Lesueur came here Sept. 14th, 1700, and "Pepin" is found in La Harpe's MS. relation of Lesueur's journey of July 12th-Dec. 13th, 1700. It is unlikely that this name, by whomever given, was bestowed with direct reference to any person of the Carlovingian dynasty; they were all dead and gone ages before the lake was discovered, when nobody but historical researchers took any interest in those defunct monarchs. St. Croix's and St. Pierre's rivers were certainly named for contemporaneous individuals, and so probably was Lake Pepin. There were a number of Frenchmen by the name of Pepin, Papin, etc., in the country in later years, and some one or more of them may have come before 1700. Carver first came here Nov. 1st, 1766; he notes the remains of an old F. factory, "where it is said Capt. St. Pierre resided." Old Ft. St. Antoine may have been on the lake rather than at the mouth of R. des Bœufs ou de Bon Secours; and the lake was once called Lac de Bon Secours, or Bonsecours, a phrase which has been translated Lake Good Help and Lake Relief. Fort Beauharnois was built on the lake, after Sept. 17th, 1727, when La Perriere du Boucher landed on Pointe au Sable or elsewhere; the exact site is unknown. This was an extensive and substantial structure, and was named in honor of the then Governor of Canada; it included a mission-house which the ecclesiastical functionaries of Boucher's outfit called St. Michael, after an archangel of that denomination. This was the fourth French establishment; the other three having been Fort L'Huillier, 1700, built by Lesueur, on the Blue Earth r., a branch of St. Pierre's; the fort on Isle Pelée, below Hastings, by Lesueur also, in 1695; and the fort below the foot of Lake Pepin, at or near present Wabasha, built by Perrot, 1683.

[I-63] To a position 1½ m. below present Frontenac, Goodhue Co., Minn., about the mouth of Sand Point r. of Nicollet, now called Wells cr.; this is below present Point No Point, and Frontenac is between. The county was named by the Legislative Assembly of Minnesota, in 1853, for James M. Goodhue, b. Hebron, N. H., Mar. 31st, 1810, came to St. Paul, Minn., Apr. 18th, 1849, founded the Pioneer newspaper, d. 8.30 p. m., Friday, Aug. 27th, 1852: see his obit. by E. D. Neill, Minn. Hist. Soc. Coll., I (orig. ed. 1850-56), 2d ed. 1872, pp. 245-53.

[I-64] Pike calls him Murdock Cameron on Apr. 12th: see that date; text of 1807 has Mordock Cameron, p. 59 and p. 64: see also L. and C., ed. 1893, pp. 239, 1222. This is the same Cameron of whom Featherstonhaugh, Canoe Voyage, etc., I. 1847, p. 314, speaks at length, and whose death in 1811 is given as follows: "Passed a place on the right bank [of St. Pierre's r., above the Waraju] where Milor [F.'s voyageur] buried his bourgeois, a Mr. Cameron, in 1811. He was an enterprising, sagacious Scotchman who had amassed a good deal of property by trafficking with the Indians;... and whilst upon one of his expeditions he was taken ill in his canoe, was landed, and died in the woods." Fgh. does not hint at foul play here; for the suspicions in the case, see Long, as cited in my L. and C. Cameron was buried on a bluff near Lac qui Parle, the lake where his trading-post was, and "Cameron's grave" has continued to be an identified spot from that day to this. Cameron's name appears as that of one of the four witnesses to Pike's Sioux treaty of Sept. 23d on one of the manuscript copies of that document before me. The "Milor" mentioned here was a Canadian French half-breed who became very well known as a resident of Mendota, Minn., where he died about 1860, "after a long life full of adventure and daring exploits," as J. F. Williams says, Minn. Hist. Coll., I. 2d. ed. 1872, p. 375.

[I-65] Those of a sentimental turn who may like to have the full-rounded legend of the maiden Winona will find the romance related in a scholarly yet sympathetic vein by Prof. Keating, in Long of 1823, pub. 1824, I. pp. 280-85. Beltrami, II. p. 183, calls the girl Oholoaïtha, her lover Anikigi, comparing the pair to the muse of Mitylene and Phaon. Whether the tragic event is fact or fancy is another question I see no use of raising. There is no inherent improbability in the case; any girl could have thrown herself over the rock with more ease than she had climbed it for that purpose, and suicide is not less frequent among squaws than various other peoples of both sexes. In the case of Indian women the most usual causes are said to be grief, anger, and revenge, though in some cases the suicidal resolve is more deliberate, and rather a matter of social etiquette or of a religious code than of emotional insanity. I understand that hanging is the customary method of taking one's self off; and that the smallest tree which will answer the purpose is preferred, because it is an article of belief that the ghost thus discarnated must drag the instrument of death about for a period, and a woman naturally prefers to lighten the load as much as possible. Supposing Winona to have taken the fatal leap, it is reasonable to infer from the faith in such affairs that she is there yet, chained to the rock like another Andromeda; for the bluff is too big for her to budge an inch, even with the assistance of a possible Perseus. There is unimpeachable precedent for her performance in the classics, not entirely dissociated from the name and fame of the gifted poetical archetæra Sappho; and rocks reputed to be the scenes of lovers' leaps abound in history and geography.

[I-66] That much-named river, whereto hangs a tale of great length. Pike here has the right name of it, though it is now usually called Cannon r., by perversion of the French Rivière aux Canots: Cano, Canot, Canon, Canow r. of various writers; Riviere au Canon, Canoe r., Cannon r., Pike, passim; Canon r., Long's map; Eamozindata or High Rock r., Long's text, 1824, I. p. 263; Inyan Bosndata r., Natural Obelisk r., Standing Rock r., Lahontan r., Cannon r., Nicollet, text and map. It is commonly supposed that the stream marked R. aux Raisins on Franquelin's map of 1688 is this river, and I see no objection to this identification; for though the name is suspiciously like a mistake for R. aux Racines, the river is laid down as above the Chippewa, and can hardly have been intended for Root r. The main question is whether R. Morte and R. Longue (Long r.), Lahontan, 1686-87, are names to be added to the synonyms of this stream. The Baron Lahontan, "Lord Lieutenant of the French colony at Placentia in Newfoundland," gives an account of himself on the Miss. r. in Letter XVI. of his book, pp. 104-141 of the English ed., Lond., 1735. This letter is "Dated at Missilimakinac, May 28th, 1689, containing an Account of the Author's Departure from, and Return to Missilimackinac. A Description of the Bay of Puante, and its Villages. An Ample Description of the Beavers; followed by the journal of a remarkable Voyage upon the Long River, and a Map of the adjacent Country." According to this relation Lahontan came by the Fox-Wisconsin route to Prairie du Chien Oct. 23d, 1686, thus hard upon the heels of Accault's party, who had Hennepin along: "On the 3d [of Nov.] we entered the Mouth of the Long River, which looks like a lake full of Bull-rushes; we found in the middle of it a narrow Channel," etc. He continued his journey, on paper if not on the river, and returned to the Mississippi Mar. 2d, 1687; dropped down to the Missouri Mar. 17th; went up the Missouri to the Osage r.; down the Missouri to the Mississippi again Mar. 25th; down the Mississippi to the Wabash, and back up to the Illinois Apr. 7th; up the Illinois to Fort Crêvecœur Apr. 16th; arrived at "Chekakou" Apr. 24th; and made Michilimackinac soon afterward. The whole crux of Lahontan's relation is in his Long r., which he professes to have ascended a great distance to the countries of the Eororos, Esanapes, and Gnacsitares, where he also got wind of equally peculiar people called Mozeemlek and Tahuglauk. The main feature of his map is the "Morte or River Longue," represented as larger than that portion of the Mississippi which he traces, and as heading in a great lake which connects across high mountains by numerous large streams with another great river which runs off his map due W. De te fabula narratur. But there is nothing to forbid us to suppose that Lahontan went up to or toward, or even ascended, some such stream as Cannon r., and then simply tacked this on to St. Peter's r. by hearsay. We must in justice observe that all he professes to know about Long r. above the point he says he ascended it he acknowledges he got from the natives; and he is careful to separate his map into two parts by a heavy line lettered "The Division of the Two Maps," i. e., his own and one "drawn upon Stag-skins by ye Gnacsitares." Such a piece of patch-work would easily make his Long r. out of Cannon or some similar stream, run on to the whole course of St. Peter's above the Mankato or Blue Earth r. Fortunately we have little to do with the Baron's crazy-quilt, but I must here quote Nicollet, because he sees reason to believe that Lahontan really did ascend Cannon r., and has signalized his conclusion by naming it Lahontan r. on his map. Though the gentle Nicollet's quality of mercy was never strained, yet his judgments, even his special pleadings, deserve always the most respectful consideration. Nicollet says, in substance, Rep. pp. 20, 21, that he was forced to this conclusion after surveying the Undine region; that the principal statements of the Baron "coincided remarkably well with what I have laid down as belonging to Cannon river.... His account, too, of the mouth of the river is particularly accurate"; the objection that the Baron says that he navigated Long r. in November and December, when it is usually frozen, is in part overcome by the fact that it is one of the last to freeze, and the last resort of the wild fowl; and while he must convict the Baron of "gross exaggeration of the length of the river," of its numerous population, and other pretended information, he would conclude "that if La Hontan's claims to discoveries are mere fables, he has had the good fortune or the sagacity to come near the truth." As this musty old straw has never been threshed over to find any more grains of wheat in it than Nicollet believed he had garnered, no one else is likely in the future to make more of it than this; and our alternative seems to be to accept Nicollet's results, or noll. pros. the whole case. I incline to the former, partly from my habitual inclination to account for as many historical names as possible, partly because I have so much confidence in Nicollet. It does not seem to have occurred to him that his view of the case would be strengthened by the original though probably not new suggestion I have made, to the effect that fables of the St. Peter, tacked on to some facts of Cannon r., would explain Lahontan's Long r.

[I-67] The present town of Redwing or Red Wing, Goodhue Co., Minn., commemorates this chieftain, and preserves the site of his village with entire exactitude. Pike's tabular statement, bound in this work, calls him Talangamane, L'Aile Rouge, and Red Wing; his tribe, Minowa Kantong, Gens du Lac, and People of the Lakes. Beltrami, II. p. 186, makes one Tantangamani "the unnatural father of the unhappy Oholoaïtha." "Major Long arrived on the evening of the 30th [of June, 1823] at an Indian village, which is under the direction of Shakea, (the man that paints himself red;) the village has retained the appellation of Redwing, (aile rouge,) by which this chief was formerly distinguished," Keating's Long, I. p. 251, where the name which Pike renders "Talangamane" is given as that of Red Wing's son, Tatunkamene, and translated Walking Buffalo. "The Redwing chief is, at present [1823], very much superannuated, but he is still much respected on account of his former distinguished achievements," ibid., p. 260. More about him to come in Pike, beyond.

[I-68] Frontenac to Red Wing, some 13 miles by present channel, whence it is a couple of miles further to the head of the island opp. Cannon r. camp. Pike coasts the Minnesota shore till he finishes with the lake at the mouth of Bullard's or Ida cr., a streamlet that makes in at a town called after the chief Wakouta, Wacouta, Wakuta, etc. Here he enters one of the channels by which the Mississippi finds its way into the lake, no doubt the middle one, then as now the main one, which, however, soon joins the south one; the north channel is narrower, crookeder, shoaler, and connected with some expansions known as Upper and Lower lakes and Goose bay. The town of Red Wing is situated on the S. side of a sharp bend the river makes in coming from the Cannon, on a plain under bluffs that nearly encompass the town; one of these is specially notable as the isolated elevation forming a conspicuous landmark on the very brink of the river. This is Barn bluff, or Barn mountain, so named by tr. of F. La Grange; it is ¾ of a mile long and 345 feet above low water mark; "upon the highest point of the Grange. Major Long, who ascended it in 1817, observed an artificial mound, whose elevation above its base was about five feet," Keating, I. p. 296. Nicollet made the altitude 322 feet, with commendable caution; Owen gave 350 feet, almost correctly. This word Grange is often found as Gange: thus Beltrami has in text, p. 189, mountain of the Gange, and Gange r.; latter also on map, and I suppose Ganges r. could be found, even at this distance from India. About the mouth of Cannon r., opp. Pike's camp, there was a place called Remnichah; both Nicollet and Owen chart Remnicha r. or cr. as a stream falling in close to the mouth. While Remnicha or Hhemnicha was a name of Red Wing's village, it also covered the whole tract from Barn bluff to Cannon r. Mr. A. J. Hill informs me of "a small ravine or coulée which ran through Red Wing's village, and in 1854, when I lived there, was called the Jordan. It only headed a few blocks back, and is now doubtless a sewer or filled up." So Nicollet's Remnicha r. is that now known as Hay cr., above which a certain Spring cr. makes in on the same side. Present town of Trenton, Pierce Co., Wis., is about a mile above camp.

[I-69] Discovery of the St. Croix r. is commonly attributed to Accault's party, already mentioned as consisting of himself, Auguelle, and Hennepin, prisoners in the hands of the Sioux at the time. The date is 1680; day in question. According to La Salle's letter of Aug. 22d, 1682, written at Fort Frontenac, in Margry's Relations, II. p. 245 seq., it was very shortly after the 22d of April, 1680, when the Indians who were carrying them off had come up the Mississippi to 8 leagues below the falls of St. Anthony, and then determined to finish their journey by land to their village at Mille Lacs. As the St. Croix is more than 24 m. below Minneapolis, this party must have passed its mouth about the date said. The Memoir of Le Sieur Daniel Greysolon Du Luth to the Marquis of Seignelay, 1685 (Archives of the Ministry of the Marine), states that in June, 1680, he entered a river 8 leagues from the end of Lake Superior, ascended it, made a half league portage, and fell into "a very fine river," which took him to the Mississippi r. This was the St. Croix, which Du Luth thus certainly descended to its mouth at that time. He heard of the captivity of his countrymen with indignation and surprise, hired a Sioux to show him where they were, and rescued them; he says that he put them in his canoes and carried them to Michelimakinak, whence, after wintering there, they set out for the settlements Mar. 29th, 1681. It is quite possible that before the great triangular duel which La Salle, Du Luth, and Hennepin managed to arrange among themselves over the operations of 1680, the St. Croix was seen by the missionary Menard, who in 1661 may have reached the Mississippi by way of the St. Croix or some other way, and was soon after lost. Marquette is not in question here, as he came by the Wisconsin to the Mississippi and went down the latter. So with any other person who reached the Mississippi prior to 1680. Excepting the Menard matter, which is uncertain, the case narrows to Accault's party and Du Luth, within some weeks of each other, late spring and early summer of 1680; the facts appear to be that the former first passed the mouth of the St. Croix, and the latter first descended this river. Hennepin first named the river R. de Tombeau, Descr. Louis., 1683, map; this is translated Tomb r., as, e. g., Shea's Hennepin, 1880, p. 199, where we read: "Forty leagues above [Chippewa r.] is a river full of rapids, by which, striking northwest [read N. E.], you can proceed to Lake Condé [L. Superior], as far as Nimissakouat [in Margry Nemitsakouat, in the Nouv. Déc. Nissipikouet, being the Bois Brûlé] river, which empties into that lake. This first river is called Tomb river because the Issati [Sioux] left there the body of one of their warriors, killed by a rattlesnake, on whom, according to their custom, I put a blanket." Some translate Grave r. On Franquelin's map, 1688, the St. Croix is lettered R. de la Magdelaine, though a certain Fort St. Croix appears about its head; by whom it was first called Magdalene r. I am not informed. Lahontan's map shows nothing here; he was too full of his fabulous Long r. to concern himself much with real rivers. Next come Lesueur and his people, 1695; he had first reached the Mississippi in 1683, and on this his second appearance (his third being in 1700) they built the trading-house called Fort Lesueur on Pelée isl., just below the mouth of the St. Croix, as already noted. His editor, so far as this trip is concerned, is the clever carpenter Penicaut, a sensible, fair-and-square man. Just here comes in the question of the first application of the name St. Croix. The river was already so called and the name in use before 1700; thus, Nicolas Perrot's prise de possession, a document dated at Fort St. Antoine, May 8, 1689, mentions the Rivière-Sainte-Croix. The Carte du Canada ou de la Nouvelle France, par Guillame de L'Isle, Paris, 1703, traces the river and letters it "L. & R. Ste. Croix," i. e., as some have translated it, Lake and River Holy Cross; said lake being, of course, the dilation of the same bottle-nosed river, which issues from a contracted orifice, but is a mile or two wide higher up. But whatever the theological proclivity to suppose this name to have been given for the usual instrument of the execution of Roman malefactors, later put by the Emperor Constantine on his banner, and afterward used for other purposes, it is certain that the Christian crucifix is not directly implied in the name. It is a personal designation, connoting one Sainte Croix or Saint Croix, a trader named in La Harpe's MSS. of Lesueur's third voyage as a Frenchman who had been wrecked there; for we read: "September 16 he [Lesueur] passed on the east a large river called Sainte-Croix, because a Frenchman of that name was shipwrecked at its mouth." Hennepin names Sainte Croix as one of six men who deserted La Salle. A letter written in June, 1684, by Du Luth to Governor De la Barre (who succeeded Frontenac in 1682), states that the writer had met one Sieur de la Croix and his two companions. This case resembles those of La Crosse r. already noted, and St. Pierre r., noted beyond. It may be summed in the statement that St. Croix r., St. Pierre r., and Lake Pepin, were all three so named for persons, by Lesueur or his companions, not earlier than 1683 and not later than 1695; best assignable date, 1689. The river has also been called Hohang or Fish r. (cf. Sioux Hogan-wanke-kin). The character of St. Croix's r. as a waterway to the Great Lakes is elsewhere discussed. This stream now forms the boundary between Wisconsin and Minnesota from its mouth to beyond 46° N., where it splits up into small streams in Burnett Co., Wis. Its general course is not far from S.—it is due S. for many miles before it falls into the Mississippi; which latter, for a great distance above their confluence, has a general bearing S. E. Immediately at the mouth of the St. Croix, on the E., is Prescott, Pierce Co., Wis., the site of which was once recommended by Long for a military post; on the W. is Point Douglas, Washington Co., Minn.; and across the Mississippi, a very little higher up, is Hastings, seat of Dakota Co., Minn., at the mouth of Vermilion r. The above-mentioned dilation of the river into Lake St. Croix extends some 30 m. up from its mouth; and as far above this lake as an Indian ordinarily paddled his canoe in a day was the long-noted Sioux-Chippewa boundary, at a place which became known as Standing Cedars. Thus the river did duty in Indian politics before it set bounds to our Minnesota and Wisconsin. This lake was often called Lower St. Croix l., in distinction from the sizable body of water at the head of the river known as Upper St. Croix l. For the route thence by Burnt r. to Lake Superior, see a note beyond.

[I-70] Especially as it leaves us in the lurch for mileage of the 19th. But we can easily overhaul him before he gets to St. Paul, which is only 30 river-miles from Prescott (mouth of St. Croix r.). He did not go far above this river; for he makes it 26½ + 8 = 34½ m. to the Sioux village, which latter was close to the present city limits of St. Paul. If we must set a camp for him, it may be assigned to Hastings, Dakota Co., Minn., 2½ m. above Prescott, Pierce Co., Wis., and 18½ m. below Newport, Washington Co., Minn., in the vicinity of which he will camp to-morrow. "Tattoo," at which the blunderbuss was fired, is not a place, as the context and capitalization might suggest, but a certain military call which is habitually sounded in garrisons and camps in the evening before taps. It marks the hour when the soldiers are supposed to retire to their quarters for their devotions before the lights are put out at taps, and when the officers settle down in earnest for the night's poker. In approaching the St. Croix from his camp opposite Cannon r., Pike has bluffs off his right nearly all the way, and the town of Diamond Bluff, Pierce Co., Wis., is at the point where they first reach to the river, a mile and a half above the mouth of Trimbelle r., right, and 11 m. below Prescott. On the left the bluffs are off the river all the way, and for most of this distance Vermilion slough, running under the bluffs, cuts off an island 11 m. long and at its widest near 3 m. broad. The lower outlet of the slough is below Trimbelle r.; the middle opening is only 3 m. below Prescott; the upper one is at Hastings. The bottom-land of the principal island has several bodies of water, one of them called Sturgeon l., discharging separately from the main slough; and is traversed lengthwise by a sand-bank 6 m. long, which may be called Lesueur's Terrace. For this Prairie or Bald isl. is no doubt that formerly known as Isle Pelée, on which was built Fort Lesueur, 1695. The middle opening of Vermilion slough is in common with a lower outlet of Vermilion r. This is Rapid r. of Long, and Rivière Jaune of the French; "R. Jaune" appears on Franquelin's map, 1688. The upper discharge of this river is at Hastings, and thus above the mouth of the St. Croix; Lake Isabel is a small sheet between the river and the town. The Minnesota county line between Goodhue and Dakota strikes the Mississippi just 1¼ m. below the lower mouth of Vermilion r. At the mouth of the St. Croix the Mississippi ceases or rather begins to separate Wisconsin from Minnesota; so that henceforth Pike proceeds in the latter State.

[I-71] Hastings to Newport, 18½ m. by the channel; camp a mile and a half beyond this, vicinity of present Red Rock, Washington Co., at the point on the small strip of prairie where the Sioux had their celebrated red medicine-stone; this was the "large painted stone" Pike observed. It gave name to Red Rock, having meanwhile become a historical object. We read in Long, I. p. 287: "a stone which is held in high veneration by the Indians on account of the red pigment with which it is bedawbed, it is generally called the painted stone.... It is a fragment of syenite, which is about four and a half feet in diameter.... The Indians frequently offer presents to the Great Spirit near this stone," etc. The party found near the stone an eagle's feather, roots of Psoralea esculenta, and willow sticks painted red; they secured a fragment of the idol for their mineralogical collection. At the time of this visit (1823) there was an Indian burying-ground a short distance above—in sight from the spot—if that place can be called a burying-ground where the bodies are not buried in the ground but scaffolded in the air; a mode of disposition of the dead which might be called hypsitaphy, in distinction from bathytaphy or ordinary underground interment. See Pike's remarks on Sioux burial on the 21st. To reach the sacred spot, hallowed by association with the deepest religious emotions of the untutored aboriginal mind, Pike left Hastings, where the river was bridged by the C., M. and St. P. R. R. in 1871 (Act of Minn. Legisl., Feb. 7th, 1867), and soon passed the site of Nininger, Dakota Co., a small town built at the lower point of a steep bluff which fronts the river's edge on the S., at the mouth of the rivulet which serves as the upper discharge of Lake Rebecca or King l.—in fact the whole bottom on his left is an island 2¾ m. long, extending from Hastings to Nininger, being cut off by the slough of which King l. is a dilation. On the right, in Washington Co., bluffs front the river for a mile or more, to the lower opening of Boulanger slough, which cuts off an island 2½ m. long. The immediate frontage of the Nininger bluffs on the river is less than a mile, for they recede at the lower opening of Nininger slough. The river thus winds from side to side of its bed, with alternation of bluffs and bottom on each side. Above Nininger slough the river makes a great loop to the left; the whole irregular curve is subtended on the right by Grey Cloud slough, about 4 m. long direct, and longer by its meanders, thus cutting off Grey Cloud isl., of the same length, and over 2 m. wide in some places; town site Grey Cloud, Washington Co., on the river bank on this island, which also presents at its northern end a limestone rock, 50 to 75 feet above low-water mark, and a mile or more long; this is probably the Medicine Wood of Forsyth, 1819. Near the middle of the loop, on the other side, is the nominis umbra site of Pine Bend, Dakota Co., where the river runs under the hills. This loop was formerly called Détour de Pin or des Pins, whence its modern names Pine bend and Pine turn. The hills border the river pretty closely for 5 m. further, to Merrimac, opposite which is an island of the same name; within 1½ m. of this on the right hand, opposite an island of its own name, is Newport, Washington Co.

[I-72] Newport to St. Paul—to a steamboat ldg. about the foot of Wabasha or Robert st.—is 8½ m. by the channel, and considerably more than halfway up to Pike's camp on the island at the mouth of St. Peter's or the Minnesota r. Thus, though Pike calls to-day's voyage "24 miles," it is nearer 14. One who then swept around the bold bend of the river at St. Paul saw a germ of that great metropolis in the humble Sioux village, though only prescience could have divined what time would make of the site above it. A later account than Pike's is given in Keating's Long's Exp. of 1823, pub. 1824, I. p. 289: "Passed an Indian village consisting of ten or twelve huts, situated at a handsome turn on the river, about 10 miles below the mouth of the St. Peter; the village is generally known by the name of the Petit Corbeau, or Little Raven, which was the appellation of the father and grandfather of the present chief. He is called Chetanwakoamene (the good sparrow-hunter). The Indians designate this band by the name of Kapoja, which implies that they are deemed lighter and more active than the rest of the nation." This was a band of Mdewakantonwan Sioux (the Minowa Kantong of Pike), for which, as well as for the celebrated chief himself, see notes beyond. The term which Keating renders Kapoja is now Kaposia, as a designation of the locality of South Park, a place on the west bank of the river; but the old Sioux village was on the east bank, below Frenchman's bar, in the low ground formerly called by the French Grand Marais, rendered by Beltrami Great March (for Great Marsh, II. p. 197), and now rejoicing in the epithet of Pig's Eye marsh or lake. Pig's Eye was the soubriquet of one Peter Parrant, a whisky-seller who squatted on the bottom in 1838, below Carver's Cave in the Dayton bluff. The whole region about the mouth of St. Peter's r. had been a Sioux focus and stamping-ground for generations before any of the localities thereabouts received names from us. The curious origin of the name St. Paul for the present capital was in this wise: The limits of the military reservation about Fort Snelling were authoritatively fixed in 1839. The whisky-traders, loafers, and squatters about the place became so troublesome that the U. S. Marshal of Wisconsin was directed to remove all such intruders, who were given till next spring to decamp; and on May 6th, 1840, the troops were called out to complete the eviction by the destruction of cabins. In the words of E. D. Neill, Minn. Hist. Soc., II. Part 2, 1864, 2d ed. 1881, p. 142: "The squatters then retreated to the nearest point below the military reserve, and there they became the inglorious founders of a hamlet, which was shortly graced with the small Roman Catholic chapel of St. Paul, the name of which is retained by the thrifty capital of Minnesota, which has emerged from the groggeries of 'certain lewd fellows of the baser sort.'" The chapel above mentioned was built by Rev. Lucian Galtier, on what is now Catholic block; it fronted on Bench street. It was dedicated Nov. 1st, 1841. The first marriage bans were those of one Vital Guerin, described as "a resident of St. Paul;" and thus the priest named the place as well as the house, although it was also called for a time St. Paul Landing, because some stores had been put up close by, which caused steamboats to stop there. In 1848, when Minnesota acquired Territorial organization, and the capital was fixed at St. Paul, no such place could be found on ordinary maps; it was some obscure settlement, supposed to be somewhere about the mouth of St. Peter's r., or in the vicinity of St. Anthony's falls, perhaps at a place known as White Rock, or Iminijaska, where some bluffs were more easily discernible than any village. Even down to 40 years ago, or a little before 1858, when Minnesota acquired statehood, St. Paul had only replaced tepees with a sprinkling of log cabins; and people scrambled up the bluff by digging their toes into the ground. The site of the city is one which would hardly have been anticipated as such; nor would the original features of the locality be easily recognized now after all the grading and terracing that has been done to convert the stubborn hills and intractable hollows into a beautiful city of over 190,000 inhabitants. But all this was to be, and is well worth all that it cost. Among the natural features which should be noted in this connection, especially as they have given rise to conflicting historical statements, are Carver's Great Cave in Dayton's bluff, and Nicollet's New (Fountain) Cave, halfway thence to Fort Snelling; but for these, as well as for a third cave close to Carver's, see a note beyond, at date of Apr. 12th, 1806, when Pike's text brings the matter up.

[I-73] Jean Baptiste Faribault, b. Berthier, Lower Canada, 1774, d. Faribault, Minn., Aug. 20th, 1860, being at the time the oldest white resident of the present State. Jean Baptiste was the youngest one of 10 children of Bartholomew (who was b. in Paris and came to Canada in 1754); he was in business in Quebec 1790-97, at the latter date entered the employ of J. J. Astor as an agent of the N. W. Co., and was engaged in the Indian trade at various points in the Mississippi region for about 50 years, for the most part on his own account. One of the posts he established was at the mouth of the Minnesota r., where Pike found him. In 1814 he married a half-breed daughter of Major Hause (then Superintendent of Indian Affairs), by whom he had eight children. His Indian name was Chahpahsintay, meaning Beaver Tail. His eldest son, Alexander, founded the present town of Faribault, Minn. Mr. J. B. Faribault "espoused the cause of the U. S. during the war of 1812, and lost many thousand dollars thereby, as well as narrowly escaping with his life on several occasions. He labored all his life to benefit the red man, teach him agriculture and the arts of industry, and protect his interests. He had an unbounded influence over them; his advice was never disregarded. He was prominent at all treaties, and rendered the U. S. many valuable services," says J. F. Williams, Minn. Hist. Coll., I. 2d ed. 1872, p. 377: see also ibid., p. 468. An extended memoir of Faribault, by General H. H. Sibley, occupies pp. 168-79 of III. of the Minn. Hist. Coll., 1874.

[I-74] The history of the discovery of St. Peter's r., off the mouth of which Pike is now camped, is involved in some obscurity, which modern research has not wholly cleared up, though the main facts have probably been certified. (1) It has been conceded since Carver's time that Hennepin missed the river. Discovery has not been traced back of Lesueur's time. Lesueur was first on the Mississippi hereabouts in 1683; next in 1695, when he built on Pelée isl., just below the St. Croix; and again in 1700; both these rivers are noted in the treatise of Nicolas Perrot, and before 1700 the river of St. Pierre had been so named. (2) Charlevoix's account, Hist. N. Fr., Paris, 1744, IV. pp. 165, 166, is in substance: In 1700 Lesueur, sent by D'Iberville to establish himself in the Sioux country and take possession of a copper-mine que le Sueur y avait découverte, had already discovered there, some time before; ascended St. Peter 40 leagues to Rivière Verte (now Blue Earth r.) which comes in on the left hand as you go up; ascended this Green r. 1 league; built a fort and wintered there, 1700-1; in April, "1702," for which read 1701, went up Green r. ¾ league to his mine and in 22 days got out over 30,000 lbs. of ore, of which 4,000 selected lbs. were sent to France; there was a mountain of this mineral 10 leagues long, etc. (3) The Amer. Philos. Society's copy of the MS. of Bénard de la Harpe is carefully digested by Keating in Long's Exp., I. pp. 317-322. This MS. is entitled: "Journal historique concernant l'établissement des Français à la Louisianne, tiré des mémoires de Messrs. d'Iberville et de Bienville, etc., par M. Bénard de la Harpe." The original of this copy was in the hands of Dr. Sibley, who certifies to the correctness of the copy in a note annexed, dated Natchitoches, Oct. 29th, 1805. Some of the contents of this MS. are: (a) Lesueur and d'Iberville, with 30 hands, reached the mouth of the Mississippi Dec., 1699. Lesueur was sent there by M. l'Huillier, fermier général, under orders to establish himself at a place near the sources of the Mississippi, where he had previously discovered a green ore, i. e., in 1695. The substance of the 1695 discovery is: Lesueur built a fort on an island (Isle Pelée, now Prairie isl.) in the Mississippi over 200 m. above the Illinois, by order of Count Frontenac; and the same year he went to Montreal with the Chippewa chief Chingouabé and the Sioux chief Tioscaté, the latter the first of his nation that ever was in Canada, and received very kindly by the authorities in view of what they hoped to make out of his country. With this Sioux chief Lesueur had intended to reascend the Mississippi in 1696; but the former died at Montreal after 33 days' illness. Lesueur, thus released from an obligation to go back with the chief to the country where he had discovered the ore, determined to go to France to ask leave to open mines; this voyage he made, and had his permit in 1697. June, 1697, he embarked at La Rochelle for Canada; was captured by the British on the Newfoundland banks and carried to Portsmouth; after peace, returned to Paris for a new commission, which was issued to him in 1698; went to Canada with this; various obstacles threw him back to Europe; and meanwhile part of the men whom he had left in charge in 1695 abandoned their posts and proceeded to Montreal. Thus operations on the mines were suspended from 1695 to 1700, for Lesueur and d'Iberville, with their 30 workmen, as we have seen, only reached the mouth of the Mississippi in Dec., 1699. (b) The MS. we are following states, under date of Feb. 10th, 1702, that Lesueur was that day come to the mouth of the Mississippi with 2000 quintaux of blue and green earth. This he certainly had got on his tour of Dec., 1699-Feb., 1702, from and back to the mouth of the Mississippi, and he had got it from the mine he opened and worked on Rivière Verte or Blue Earth r., the principal branch of St. Peter's. The MS. contains a narrative of this tour from July 12th to Dec. 13th, 1700. It appears that Lesueur moved as follows: July 13th, mouth of the Missouri; Sept. 1st, mouth of the Wisconsin; Sept. 14th, mouth of the Chippewa (on one of whose branches he had found a 60-lb. mass of copper during his previous journey); same day, Lake Pepin, so designated in the MS.; 16th, passed La Croix r., so called from a Frenchman wrecked there; 19th, entered St. Peter's r.; Oct. 1st had ascended this for 44¼ leagues, and then entered Blue r., so called for the color of the earth on its banks; started an establishment at or more probably near the mouth of Blue r., at what the MS. gives as lat. 44° 13´ N.; Oct. 14th, finished the works, which were named Fort L'Huillier; Oct. 26th, went to the mine with three canoes, which he loaded with colored earth taken from mountains near which were mines of copper, samples of which L'Huillier had assayed at Paris in 1696. Lesueur wintered there, 1700-1, and, as we have seen, was back to the mouth of the Mississippi Feb. 10th, 1702. (c) From these historical data Keating in Long, 1823, I. p. 320, infers that St. Peter's and the Blue (Blue Earth) rivers were those streams which Lesueur had ascended in 1695, which date is consequently assigned to the discovery, without reference back to 1683. This inference is made "from the circumstance that they are mentioned as well known, and not as recently discovered; and more especially from the observation of la Harpe, that the eastern Sioux having complained of the situation of the fort [L'Huillier], which they would have wished to see at the confluence of the St. Peter and Mississippi, M. le Sueur endeavoured to reconcile them to it. 'He had foreseen,' says la Harpe, 'that an establishment on the Blue river would not be agreeable to the eastern Sioux, who are the rulers of all the other Sioux, because they were the first with whom the French traded, and whom they provided with guns; nevertheless, as this undertaking had not been commenced with the sole view of trading for beavers, but in order to become thoroughly acquainted with the quality of the various mines which he had previously discovered there [italics Keating's], he replied to the natives that he was sorry he had not been made sooner acquainted with their wishes, &c., but that the advanced state of the season prevented his returning to the mouth of the river.' No mention is made in this narrative of the stream being obstructed with ice, a circumstance which, had it really occurred, would, we think, have been recorded by de la Harpe, who appears to have been a careful and a curious observer, and who undoubtedly saw le Sueur's original narrative." (4) On the foregoing data Nicollet, Rep. 1843, p. 18, has some judicious remarks in fixing Lesueur's locality with precision: "On the left bank of the Mankato [Green, Blue, or Blue Earth r.], six miles from its mouth, in a rocky bluff composed of sandstone and limestone, are found cavities in which the famed blue or green earth, used by the Sioux as their principal pigment, is obtained. This material is nearly exhausted, and it is not likely that this is the spot where a Mr. Lesueur (who is mentioned in the Narrative of Major Long's Second Expedition, as also by Mr. Featherstonhaugh) could, in his third voyage, during the year 1700, have collected his 4000 pounds of copper earth sent by him to France. I have reason to believe that Lesueur's location is on the river to which I have affixed his name, and which empties into the Mankato three-quarters of a league above Fort L'Huillier, built by him and where he spent a winter. This location corresponds precisely with that given by Charlevoix, whilst it is totally inapplicable to the former. Here the blue earth is abundant in the steep and elevated hills at the mouth of this river, which hills form a broken country on the right side of the Mankato. Mr. [J. C.] Fremont and myself have verified this fact: he, during his visit to Lesueur river; and I, upon the locality designated by Mr. Featherstonhaugh, where the Ndakotahs formerly assembled in great numbers to collect it, but to which they now seldom resort, as it is comparatively scarce—at least so I was informed by Sleepy-eye, the chief of the Sissitons, who accompanied me during this excursion." (5) Featherstonhaugh's remarks, Canoe Voyage, etc., I. p. 280 and p. 304, seem to me less judicious than likely to make the judicious grieve; in fine, they are singularly obtuse to have come from so British a man and so clever a story-teller. He heads a page in caps, "The Copper-mine, a Fable;" he has in text, "finding the copper-mine to be a fable"; again: "that either M. le Sueur's green cupreous earth had not corresponded to the expectations he had raised, or that the whole account of it was to be classed with Baron Lahontan's" fables, etc. This sort of talk would befog the whole subject, were it not obvious that it has no bearing whatever upon the historico-geographical case we are discussing. The question is where Lesueur went, and when he got there—not at all what he found there. It is obtuse, I say, because unintentionally misleading, for F'gh to say that, when he reached the bluff whence the pigment had been taken, "Le Sueur's story lost all credit with me, for I instantly saw that it was nothing but a continuation of the seam which divided the sandstone from the limestone ... containing a silicate of iron of a blueish-green color." In the first place, F'gh was not at exactly the right spot, which Nicollet has pointed out. Secondly, though Lesueur should have been mistaken or mendacious about any copper-mine being in that region—though he should not have collected 30,000 lbs. of ore in 22 days, or even a gunny-sack full of anything in a year—though the mountains should shrink to bluffs, and the whole commercial features of the case turn into the physiognomy of the wild-cat—that would not affect the historical and geographical facts, viz.: Lesueur ascended the St. Peter's to the Mankato, and this as far at least as its first branch, thus exploring both these rivers in 1700. Item, he had been to if not also up the river of St. Pierre in 1695; and it had been known since his first voyage in 1683. (6) As to the name Rivière St. Pierre, or de St. Pierre, which we have translated St. Peter, or St. Peter's r., the former obscurity of its origin has, I think, been almost entirely cleared up. Keating's Long, 1824, I. p. 322, has: "We have sought in vain for the origin of the name; we can find no notice of it; it appears to us at present not unlikely that the name may have been given by le Sueur in 1795 [slip for 1695], in honor of M. de St. Pierre Repantigni, to whom La Hontan incidentally alludes (I. p. 136) as being in Canada in 1789 [i. e., 1689]. This person may have accompanied le Sueur on his expedition." Keating does not cite in this connection the remark of Carver, ed. 1796, p. 35: "Here [at Lake Pepin] I discovered the ruins of a French factory, where it is said Captain St. Pierre resided, and carried on a very great trade with the Naudowessies [Sioux], before the reduction of Canada." This person was Jacques Le Gardeur St. Pierre, who in 1737 commanded the fort on Lake Pepin (Fort Beauharnois). One Fort St. Pierre was built at Rainy l. late in 1731; J. Le G. St. Pierre was there in 1751: for extended notice of him, see Neill, Macalester Coll. Cont., No. 4, 1890, pp. 136-40. His father was Captain Paul St. Pierre, who was sent to the French post (Maison Françoise) at La Pointe (Chaquamegon bay) in 1718. Nicollet, Rep. 1843, p. 68, cites Carver, and states: "I have no hesitation in assigning its [the name's] origin to a Canadian by the name of De St. Pierre, who resided for a long time thereabouts." The name appears for the first time in Perrot's report, of the date 1689, which is also the most probable date of naming the St. Croix r. and Lake Pepin. The only question left is, whether the river was not named to compliment Pierre Lesueur himself. Whoever the St. Pierre whose name the river bears may prove to be, the name is a personal one, which we should not have translated into English St. Peter; for it certainly has nothing to do with the legendary saint so styled, whose career is connected with the crowing of cocks three times more than with the course of any river. Had the stream been named by some priest for such a sadly overworked patron as the apocryphal first Bishop of Rome, we should have heard all about it in the Jesuit Relations or elsewhere. (7) The suggestion that the name St. Pierre is a perversion of sans pierres ("without stones"), may be dismissed as too good to be true; for it is a settled principle of sound philology that the easiest etymologies are the most likely to have been invented to fit the case, ex post-facto. (8) As to native names, Nicollet says, l. c.: "The name which the Sioux give to the St. Peter's river is Mini-sotah; and to St. Peter's, as a station [Mendota], Mdote-mini-sotah. The adjective sotah is of different translation. The Canadians translate it by a pretty equivalent French word, brouillé—perhaps most properly rendered into English by blear; as, for instance, mini sotah, blear water, or the entrance of blear water. I have entered into this explanation, because the word sotah really means neither clear nor turbid, as some authors have asserted; its true meaning being readily found in the Sioux expression ishta-sotah, blear-eyed.... The Chippeways are more accurate; by them, the St. Peter's river [is called] Ashkibogi-sibi, the Green Leaf river." It occurs to me that the distinction Nicollet draws would correspond to translucent, as distinguished on the one hand from colorless or transparent water, and on the other from opaque or turbid water. I may also refer to the old medical term, gutta serena, for forming cataract of the eye, when clear vision is obscured by a degree of opacity that does not entirely exclude light. As applied to water, Sioux sotah may be about equivalent to Greek γλαυκός, Latin glaucus, variously rendered "gray," "bluish-green," etc., and Nicollet's "blear-eyed" be equivalent to what was called glaucoma (γλαύκωμα). Notice what Pike says above of the color of the water; but it must be added that, when he speaks of the Mississippi as "remarkably red," we must understand only a reddish-yellow hue of its shoal portions, imparted by its sands; and by "black as ink," only the darker color of deeper places where the sands do not show through. The name Mini-sota has a number of variants: for example, Carver, who wintered on it Nov., 1766-Apr., 1767, has "the River St. Pierre, called by the natives the Waddapawmenesotor"; with which compare Watapan Menesota of Long, Watpàmenisothé of Beltrami, and the title of Featherstonhaugh's diverting book, "A Canoe Voyage up the Minnay Sotor," etc. It has become fixed of late years, since an Act of Congress, approved June 19th, 1852 (Stat. at Large, X. p. 147), decreed that the noble river should bear the name of the State through which it flows. (9) The Minnesota r. appears on various old maps of Louisiana (not on Hennepin's, 1683). Franquelin's, 1688, traces it without any name, but letters it with the name of the Indians, "Les Mascoutens Nadouescioux," i. e., Sioux of the Prairie, Gens du Large of the French, collectively, as distinguished from Gens du Lac. De L'Isle's map, 1703, has "R. St. Pierre."

[II-1] The village which Pike visited is marked on his map on the west, upper, or left bank of the Minnesota r., which here runs little E. of N. into the Mississippi. The hill on the point whence the Sioux saluted him so savagely was the scene of many a more warlike demonstration in after-years; for here was built Fort St. Anthony, later known as Fort Snelling, one of the most important and permanent military establishments in the United States, and for nearly half a century the most notable place on the Mississippi above Prairie du Chien. It was erected on the land which Pike secured by the transaction his text is about to describe, and which extended thence up the river to include the falls of St. Anthony, and thus the site of the present great city of Minneapolis, with St. Paul the twin metropolis of the Northwest. The location of Fort Snelling is in Nicollet's opinion "the finest site on the Mississippi river"; and I should be the last to dissent from this judgment, after my enjoyable visit to the fort in 1873, at the invitation of General Alexander. The bluff headland is about 105 feet above the water; the two rivers separated by this rocky point are respectively over 300 and nearly 600 feet broad. The height of Pilot Knob, across the Minnesota r., is about 250 feet. The plateau on the point of which the fort is situated stretches indefinitely S. W.; 8 m. direct N. W. are Minneapolis and the falls. The Mississippi receives the Minnesota at the point of greatest convexity of a deep bend to the S., duplicating that bend to the N. on which St. Paul is situated, the two together forming quite a figure of s. Nothing came of Pike's recommendation of this site for a military post till a report to the same effect was made by Major Long, after his expedition of 1817, during which he reached the place at 2 p. m., Wednesday, July 16th. On Feb. 10th, 1819, the Secretary of War, John C. Calhoun, ordered the 5th infantry to proceed to the Mississippi and establish regimental headquarters at the mouth of St. Peter's r. A detachment of troops, mustering 98 rank and file, under Colonel Henry Leavenworth, who had become lieutenant-colonel of that regiment Feb. 10th, 1818, was first cantoned at New Hope, near Mendota, Sept. 24th, 1819, and preparations were begun at once for a permanent structure. The winter of 1819-20 was disastrous from scurvy. On May 5th, 1820, camp was shifted to a place near a spring, above the graveyard, and was thereupon named Camp Coldwater. In the spring of 1820 Jean Baptiste Faribault located himself in the vicinity; Governor Lewis Cass came from his exploration of the upper Mississippi during the summer, and Lawrence Taliaferro's Indian agency was established as Camp St. Peter's. As usual, the colonel commanding and the Indian agent clashed, notably in the matters of medals and whisky. In August, 1820, Colonel Josiah Snelling, who had become colonel of the regiment June 1st, 1819, arrived and relieved Colonel Leavenworth of the command. He determined to build on the point originally selected by Pike. The corner-stone of Fort St. Anthony is supposed to have been laid Sept. 10th, 1820; and the building was so far forward in the autumn of 1822 that the troops moved in, though it was not completed. It is traditional that a tree on which Pike had cut his name was ordered to be spared in the process of construction; but, if so, it soon disappeared. On May 10th, 1823, the first steamboat, the Virginia, reached the fort. It brought among other notables the Chevalier Beltrami. On July 3d, 1823, Major Long arrived, en route to his exploration of St. Peter's r. In 1824 General Winfield Scott visited the fort on a tour of inspection. It does not appear to have struck anybody before that the name of a professional saint of the Prince of Peace was absurdly inapplicable to any military establishment. General Scott very sensibly reported that the name was "foreign to all our associations," besides being "geographically incorrect," and recommended the post to be named Fort Snelling, in well-deserved compliment to the distinguished officer who had built it. The story of Fort Snelling, from its inception to the end of all Indian collisions, is an integral and very prominent part of the history of Minnesota; it is an honorable record, of which citizens and soldiery may be equally proud—one replete with stirring scenes and thrilling episodes, which in the lapse of years tradition has delighted to set in all the glamour of romance. But the most sober historians have found a wealth of material in the stern actualities of Fort Snelling. The facts in the case need no embellishment. The following are some of the many references that could be given to the early history of Fort Snelling: Occurrences in and around Fort Snelling from 1819 to 1840, E. D. Neill, M. H. C., II. Part 2, 1864; 2d ed. 1881, pp. 102-42. Early Days at Fort Snelling, Anon., M. H. C., I. Part 5, 1856; 2d ed. 1872, pp. 420-438 (many inaccuracies in dates, etc.). Running the Gauntlet, ibid., pp. 439-56, Anon., believed to be by W. J. Snelling, son of Josiah Snelling. Reminiscences of Mrs. Ann Adams, 1821-29, M. H. C., VI. Part 2, 1891, pp. 93-112. Autobiography of Maj. Lawrence Taliaferro, written in 1864, M. H. C., VI. Part 2, pp. 189-255 (specially interesting, as he was Indian agent, 1819-40).

[II-2] Pike's speech at this memorable conference, the treaty itself, and a long letter which Pike addressed to Wilkinson in this connection on the 23d, 24th, and 25th, formed Docs. Nos. 4 and 5 of the App. to Part 1 of the orig. ed. These are given in full beyond, Chap. V. Arts. 4, 5, and 6, where the text of the treaty is subjected to a searching criticism in the light of subsequent events. Here we may conveniently note the names of the chiefs concerned in the transaction. The best article I have seen upon this subject is that by Dr. Thomas Foster of Duluth, in the St. Paul Daily Democrat of May 4th, 1854, as cited by J. Fletcher Williams in Minn. Hist. Coll., I. 2d ed. 1872, p. 379; this, however, requires some additions and corrections.

1. Little Crow and Little Raven are English equivalents of Petit Corbeau, which latter is a French version of the name of the hereditary chiefs of the Kapoja band, borne by successive individuals through several generations. Pike's Little Crow is said by Long to have been son of Little Crow, who was himself son of Little Crow; and Foster identifies Pike's Little Crow "as the grandfather of the present chief, Little Crow," i. e., of one of this name who was chief in 1854, adding neatly that "he was the Great Crow of all," i. e., the most celebrated of all those who bore the name. This reference would seem to cover five generations, from Pike's Little Crow backward to his grandfather and forward to his grandson. Riggs renders Pike's Little Crow's name Chatanwakoowamani, Who-walks-pursuing-a-hawk; says that his son's name was Wamdetanka, or Big Eagle, who flourished in the thirties; and adds that the dynasty became extinct with Taoyatidoota (or Towaiotadootah), who was the Little Crow of the Sioux outbreak of 1862. He was a very black crow indeed, this last of the Corvidæ, and was killed by a Mr. Lamson in 1863. Confining attention now to the one who seems by this reckoning to have been Little Crow III. of the series I.-V., we find him tabulated by Pike as Chatewaconamini. We have already found him cited by Long as Chetanwakoamene, rendered Good Sparrow Hunter. Beltrami, II. p. 191, presents Chatewaconamani, or the Little Raven, as the chief in 1823. Featherstonhaugh has a chief he calls Tchaypehamonee, or Little Crow, living in 1835. Rev. Dr. Neill has in one place Chatonwahtooamany, Petit Corbeau. Dr. Foster gives the Dakota name as Tchahtanwahkoowahmane, or the Hawk that Chases Walking. Pike's Little Crow lived many years after he "touched the quill" (signed his x mark) to the cession, and was in Washington in 1824. Schoolcraft, who held a council with the Wahpeton Sioux at Fort Snelling, July 25th, 1832, says, Narr., etc., 1834, p. 146: "The aged chief Petite [sic] Corbeau uttered their reply. I recognized in this chief one of the signers of the grant of land made at this place 26 years ago, when the site of the fort was first visited by the late General Pike." The death of this good man (in 1834?) occurred from a mortal wound he accidentally inflicted upon himself in drawing his gun from a wagon, at his village of Kaposia. The circumstances are narrated with interesting particulars by General H. H. Sibley, Minn. Hist. Coll., III. 1874, pp. 251-54.

2. The chief here and consistently throughout Pike's book of 1810 called Fils de Pinchow appears in the 1807 text as Fils de Penichon, Penechon, or Pinechon; but nowhere are we told of whom this eminent individual was the son. The name seems to have been one to conjure with; and our curiosity is excited to discover Pinchow I., who was such a personage that Pike's Fils de Pinchow, or Pinchow II., needed no other title to glory. On looking up this subject, I find, first, that "Pinchow," as rendered in the above text, and the three forms given in the 1807 print, are four variants of a word which is also written Pinichon, Pinchon, Penition, Pinneshaw, etc., in French or English; and that these are corruptions of a Dakota word. Thus Beltrami, II. p. 207, introduces us to one Tacokoquipesceni, or Panisciowa, as being in 1823 chief of the old village on the St. Peter's, three miles above its mouth. The shorter name which Beltrami uses is obviously the same as Pinchow, etc., while the longer one he uses is the same as that Takopepeshene of which we read in Keating's Long, I. p. 385: "Wapasha formerly lived in that [old] village, but having removed from it with the greater part of his warriors, a few preferred remaining there, and chose one of their number as a leader. His son Takopepeshene, (dauntless,) now [1823] rules over them." We read further in Keating's Long, I. p. 419, of the Nanpashene, or "Dauntless Society," as an association of young braves who feared nothing: see further in this matter, Lewis and Clark, ed. 1893, p. 96. So the connection of all these words is obvious, though the genetic relationships of the individuals bearing the name is not so clear. I suppose that Pike, Beltrami, and Long all refer to one and the same individual, i. e., to the son of that individual whom the warriors who preferred to remain at the said village chose as their leader. Dr. Foster, as above cited, says that Pinchon, or Pinichon, etc., was the grandfather of one Good Road, and in his tribe the most noted chief of the eastern Sioux; the name conferred upon this chief being Tahkookeepayshne, or "What is he afraid of?" implying the affirmation that he was afraid of nothing. This having been corrupted by the French to Pinchon, etc., and taken up in English as Pinneshaw, etc., was readopted by the Sioux themselves as a common noun, rather than a proper name, to designate a very brave man; so that they would speak of such or such a one as a pinneshaw. Recurring now to the individual whom Pike names Fils de Pinchow, we elsewhere find him listed by Pike under the name of Wyaganage, as a chief of the Gens du Lac and head of the village Pike visited at the mouth of the St. Peter's; this is the Way Ago Enagee whose name appears above as that of a signer by his x mark of the grant of land; and such appears to be the only name by which he became officially known to us. It is spelled differently in every one of the several places where I have found it in print or in manuscript; but in no case irrecognizably.

3. We know no more of the Grand Partisan than this name or title. Dr. Foster supposes him to have been only a principal soldier—certainly not a chief.

4. "Le Original Leve" is decidedly original! The queer phrase stands for L'Orignal Levé, given in the text of 1807 as Le Orignal Levé, and thus nearly right. The individual thus designated is listed on Pike's tabular exhibit as Tahamie, Orignal leve, and Rising Moose; he is also mentioned in Pike's letter to Wilkinson of Sept. 23d-26th, 1805, as Elan Levie. There is no doubt about the meaning of these phrases; for orignal, orignac, oriniac, orenac, etc., are Basque forms of a name of the moose, which animal, as well as the elk, is also called élan, while levé certainly implies that the animal had arisen, and was standing on his legs, not that he was in the act of rising. Dr. Foster evidently did not know what the French phrase should be, for he presents Pike's peculiar cacographies, and is brought to book about it by Mr. Williams; but he gives us some interesting particulars of the chief who bore these names, and I transcribe his remarks in substance. Tah'amie, L'Orignal Levé, or Standing Moose is believed to be identical with an aged Indian whom most old Minnesotians knew by the name of Tammahhaw, who had but one eye and always wore a stove-pipe hat. He used to boast that he was the only "American" Sioux—by which he meant that in the war of 1812, when the Sioux sided with the British, and Little Crow and Joseph Reinville led a war-party against the Americans, he refused to join them and went to St. Louis, where he entered the service of the Americans in the employ of General William Clark. In 1854 he still treasured a commission he had received in 1814 (or May 6th, 1816?) from General Clark. Dr. Foster remarks that if there is no mistake in the identity, the friendship Tahamie conceived for Pike stood the test of time, and the two fought together against our common enemies—a fact which our government should not overlook. One Joseph Mojou, an old Canadian of Point Prescott, told Dr. Foster that Tamahaw was called by the voyageurs "Old Priest," because he was such a talker on all occasions; and Dr. Foster remarks that the Sioux word tamwamda, which resembles this Indian's name, means to vociferate, reiterate, harangue, etc. Mr. E. A. C. Hatch informed Dr. Foster that when he traded with the Winnebagoes, and with Wabasha's band of Sioux, he knew the Indian and had seen the commission issued by General Clark; also, that the Winnebagoes, who were acquainted with this Indian, translated his name Nazeekah in their language—this being their word for the pike, a fish, and tammahhay being the Dakotan word for that fish. According to J. F. Williams, Minn. Hist. Coll., III. 1874, p. 15, Tahama or Tahamie was called by the French Le Bourgne (Borgne), and by the English One-eye, or the One-eyed Sioux, and that the loss of the eye occurred by accident in a game during his boyhood. He was born at Prairie à l'Aile, the present site of Winona, and died in April, 1860, "at least 85 years old, though some who knew him well place his age at nearly 100." A daguerreotype likeness of him, procured at Wabasha in 1859 by Hon. C. S. Bryant, is in the possession of the Minnesota Historical Society.

5. "Le Demi Douzen" is not named elsewhere in this book, and does not appear at all in the 1807 edition. If the phrase which represents his name means Half Dozen, or Six, it would be better written Demie Douzaine, or Demi-douzaine; but we have seen enough of Pike's French to be already satisfied that he always saluted the letters of the French alphabet with blank cartridges. The Indian he calls Demi Douzen is thoroughly identified by Dr. Foster as the father of the present (1854) chief Little Six, and the chief of the large Sioux village which was situated 28 m. up the St. Peter's, 3 or 4 m. this side of the modern Indian village of Shakopee. The father—the one who attended Pike's conference—was known as Shahkpay, Half Dozen, and Six; his son as Shahkpaydan, or Little Six, the former being the second of the name, or Six II., and the latter the third of the name, or Six III.; but who was the original Half Dozen, or Six I., founder of this dynasty, we are not informed. Long speaks of Six II. as Shakpa, chief of the village Taoapa; and Forsyth calls this one "Mr. Six, a good-for-nothing fellow."

6. "Le Beccasse" of the above text was a stumbling-block. In the 1807 edition the term appears as Le Bucasse. It looks as if it were meant for La Bécasse, meaning Woodcock. But Dr. Foster (whose text as cited by Mr. Williams has Le Boccasse) informs us that the phrase should be written Bras Casse—by which he evidently means Bras Cassé, as he translates Broken Arm. (Pike's tabular exhibit presents a certain Bras Casse; but this was a Sauk chief, otherwise Pockquinike.) Broken Arm's Sioux name is believed by Dr. Foster to have been Wahkantahpay; "and as late as 1825 he was still living at his small village of Wahpaykootans, on a lake near the Minnesota [river] some five or six miles below Prairie La Fleche, now Le Sueur."

7. Le Bœuf que [qui] Marche, or Walking Buffalo, as we are informed by Dr. Foster, was also called Tahtawkahmahnee; "he was a kind of sub-chief of old Wabashaw (who was not present), being also called Red Wing; and it is from him that the village at the head of Lake Pepin derives its name. He was the father [Hancock says uncle] of Wahkootay, the present [1854] old chieftain of the Red Wing band." Compare note^67, p. 69.

[II-3] Outard Blanche, correctly Outarde Blanche, means White Bustard. The bustard is a very large bird, many species of which inhabit Europe, Asia, and Africa, but none America. It may, therefore, be well to explain that outarde was a name given by the early French in America to the Canada goose (Bernicla canadensis); but that since this goose is mostly black, the phrase outarde blanche would rather indicate the snow goose (Chen hyperboreus), which when adult is pure white excepting the tips of the wings. I remember seeing somewhere a statement, the source of which I cannot now recall, to the effect that the phrase meant White Buzzard, not White Bustard; in which case the French form would be Busard Blanc. Major Taliaferro speaks of White Buzzard in his autobiography, as printed in Minn. Hist. Coll., VI. Part 2, 1891, p. 225, p. 234, etc. Major Forsyth calls him White Bustard. However this may be, it is certain that there was a chief of the name of Mahgossau, who was called Old Bustard, and for many years known to the whites by the latter designation. For an account of the stabbing of this chief in a whisky-bout, in the summer of 1820, see letter of Lawrence Taliaferro, Indian agent at St. Peters, dated Aug. 5th, 1820, in Minn. Hist. Coll., II. Part 2, 1864, 2d ed. 1881, p. 104.

[II-4] Setting camp close to a small stream which falls in on Pike's left, and which has acquired great celebrity for its pretty little water-fall. For this is no other than the Minnehaha. It is a wonder Pike missed Minnehaha falls; or that, if he was informed of them, he did not take the trouble to go less than a mile up the stream to see so pretty a spectacle. About 2½ m. from Fort Snelling, on the road to Minneapolis, the stream spills over the bluff, with as clear a descent as water ordinarily makes from the nozzle of a spout. The picturesque features of this place may be imagined, or easily inspected by ordinary tourist travel; the poetical and sentimental are well developed by Longfellow in Hiawatha; the hydrographic are a creek 5 yards wide, falling 43 feet in an unbroken parabolic curve. This was formerly plain Brown's cr. and Brown's fall; Nicollet named the stream Cascade cr.; but it will doubtless always be best known by the name which Longfellow transferred from its original to a new application, to suit the exigencies of verse. This stream is the discharge of Lake Minnetonka. In its course it receives the outlet of a chain of lakes from the W., called Bass (modern), Calhoun (Nicollet), and Harriet (Nicollet); nearer the falls is a set of smaller lakes, whose modern names are Diamond, Pearl, Duck, Mother, Amelia, and Rice (latter, the Lake Ann of times when Fort Snelling was Fort St. Anthony, an expansion of Brown's cr. itself).

[II-5] The rapids Pike thus ascends to the falls, and the comparative characters of the two gorges, of the Mississippi and Minnesota respectively, which unite at Fort Snelling, indicate that in prehistoric time the falls were located about the position of the fort. But there has been no natural recession within the brief historic period—merely a momentary flash on the screen of geologic duration. The most marked alteration of the falls that we know of was the accidental result of an unintended interference by man. This happened from the bursting of a log-boom. "Behind the boom were thousands of logs two or three feet across and twelve feet long. These descending by the fall probably acquired a velocity of not less than 64 feet a second, and striking endwise on the débris of the hard copping rock pulverized it so that the undermining of the soft sand rock which this débris protected went on with great rapidity," Warren, Ex. Doc. No. 57, 1866-7, p. 19. On July 5th, 1880, the Minn. Hist. Soc. celebrated the bi-centennial of the discovery of the falls, and there is no question that they were first seen of white men by the two companions of Accault within a few hours of July 5th, 1680, if not by the light of that very day. The occasion was a buffalo-hunt down river from the great Sioux town on Lake Buade (Mille Lacs), when the Indians brought the Picard and the priest (two of their three prisoners) along. The falls were named by Hennepin Sault de St. Antoine de Padoü (so map, 1683) "in gratitude for the favors done me by the Almighty through the intercession of that great saint whom we had chosen patron and protector of all our enterprises," as Shea's tr. Hennep., 1880, p. 200, puts it. What these favors were is not evident in the light of history; according to Hennepin's own relation, God's gracious designs, whatever they may have been, were effectually disconcerted by the Sioux, who took this slavish son of superstition by the nape of the neck and otherwise subjected him to dire indignities; while as to the monk Anthony, that Franciscan was born at Lisbon, Aug. 15th, 1195, died at Padua, June 13th, 1231, and there is not a scintilla of evidence that he did anything whatever subsequent to this latter date. We might laugh off even so glaring an anachronism as a mere theological pleasantry which deceives no one, were it not for the injustice it does to La Salle, who furnished the sinews of war for Accault's, Auguelle's, and Hennepin's campaign, and was the only person who patronized their trip, saving the said Sioux, who turned it into a personally conducted tour like our modern Cook's. "Saut St. Antoine" appears on Franquelin's map, 1688. The Sioux called these falls Minirara, the laughing water, whence Minnehaha. In Dakotan ira means to laugh, and the reduplicated form irara means to laugh much or often; but ira is compounded of i, the mouth, and ra, to curl; and in its application to the falls rara, which is simply ra reduplicated, should be translated curling and not laughing waters. Ungeographical transfer of Minnehaha to Brown's falls is simply poetical license. The Chip. name was Kakabikah, alluding to the severed rock. Hennepin calls the falls "something very astonishing," indeed "terrible," more suo crasso, and exaggerated the descent of waters to 50 or 60 feet. Carver brings him to book about this, and reduces the height to 30 feet. Pike's figures are very close indeed, and his description is the most accurate we had in 1810; Long makes the height practically the same, but Pike's breadth of 627 yards was reduced by Say and Calhoun in 1823 to 594. In view of these good measurements it is surprising that Schoolcraft elevates the falls to 40 feet perpendicular, and narrows the width to 227 yards. He was a man of great ability and still greater industry, whose acquirements were extensive and varied; yet he must be taken warily, for there is many a loose screw in his handiwork, and no structure is stronger than its weakest joint. The trouble with Schoolcraft is two-fold; he tried to cover too much ground to go over it thoroughly, and never emerged from the penumbra of that same theological occultation which kept Hennepin's wits in total eclipse. The natural beauty of this cataract was not destined to be a thing of joy forever; one's emotions, on beholding it now, are those that might be aroused by any mill-tail of similar dimensions. But the new beauty of utility has been conferred by human skill and ingenuity in utilizing the vast water-power, to which Minneapolis measurably owes her matchless progress and present opulence; pop. 1870, 13,000; 1880, 47,000; 1885, 129,000; now or lately, 220,000; thus surpassing the 190,000 of her elder sister, St. Paul—in fact becoming the alter ego of the wonderful pair. Considering the rapid building up of the fair interurban district, and consequently the absorption of respective suburbs into mutualities, it is logical to infer the complete Siamization of the splendid twins, and a clutch at the laurels of Chicago or New York. By that time such scenes as the Mississippi has here transferred to the canvas of human art will be shifted to the Great Falls of the Missouri, where history will repeat itself in another magnificent metropolis. Everything begins in watery elements; the force of falling water controls the course of empire; and the conversion of gravitational potentialities into electrical potencies realizes dreams of destiny, without the intercession of saints or the interference of God.

[II-6] Decidedly less than this; it is only 18-20 m. by river or rail from Minneapolis to Anoka, which Pike does not reach till to-morrow night; to-day's camp between Casey's isls. and Coon cr., in Anoka Co. if on the right, in Hennepin Co. if on the left. The three rapids he passed raised him from 792 to 808 feet above sea-level; one of them is known as Fridley's bar, 5 m. above Minneapolis, 1½ m. below Durnam's isl. He had made the usual portage of the falls on the right-hand side (left bank); and soon after decamping this morning he passed on his left Bassett's cr., which runs through the city, or recently did so—what disposition may have since been made of it I do not know. This was formerly called Falls cr., as by Nicollet, who maps it in connection with his Lake of the Isles and two other sheets. Either this or the next above on the same side is also traced on Pike's map, without name. This next one is Shingle cr., called Omini Wakan cr. by Nicollet and by Owen; it comes in on the left a mile or more below Fridley's bar. Half a mile above Durnam's isl., and on the right, is Rice or Manomin cr., which Nicollet calls Ottonwey r., and connects with Mde Wakanton l. Pike also traces this one, but by no name. R. R. station Fridley is near its mouth. (See further under Fridley, in the index.)

[II-7] About 8 m., to Anoka, seat of that county, a logging town of 6,000 pop., at mouth of Rum r. Pike first passed Coon cr., right, and the most difficult rapids he went up are those named for the same intelligent and ablutionary quadruped, Procyon lotor. Coon or Racoon cr. was formerly known as Peterah cr. Wanyecha (now Elm) cr. falls in on the left, slightly below Rum r. The latter is a notable stream, being the main discharge of Mille Lacs, and as such having acquired a long history. Carver called it Rum r.: "in the little tour I made about the Falls [of St. A.], after traveling 14 m. by the side of the Mississippi, I came to a river nearly 20 yards wide which ran from the north east, called Rum River," he says, p. 45, ed. 1796. This was Nov. 19th, 1767, and the river has oftenest been so designated ever since. But here is a place where the involuntary exploration which the Sioux forced on Accault's party comes in, and the Hennepinian canonical calendar is obtruded as usual, making the following trouble:

"Eight leagues above St. Anthony of Padua's falls on the right, you find the river of the Issati or Nadoussiou [Sioux], with a very narrow mouth, which you can ascend to the north for about 70 leagues to Lake Buade or of the Issati [Mille Lacs] where it rises. We gave this river the name of St. Francis," Shea's Henp., tr. 1880, p. 201. In French the name was R. de St. François: so Henp., map, 1683; on Franquelin's, 1688, it is "Riviere des Francois ou des Sioux," which turns it over from the saint to the French nation, possibly less saintly on the whole—that is, unless Franquelin intended to cover St. Francis de Sales, St. Francis d'Assisi, and St. Francis de Paola, or unless des be a mis-engravement for de S. But Franquelin's earlier map, 1683 or 1684, has only R. des François, which is there connected with R. de la Madelaine (St. Croix r.) by R. du Portage, which latter stands for present Snake r., a branch of the St. Croix. De L'Isle's map, 1703, avoids any such question by turning the river entirely over to the Sioux; he letters R. de Mendeouacanion, i. e., Mdewakantonwan or Gens du Lac. A question affecting the identification of St. Francis with Rum came up in Carver's time, and is still mooted. Carver says, ed. cit. p. 45: "Reached the River St. Francis, near 60 miles above the Falls. To this river Father Hennipin gave the name," etc. He reached it Nov. 21st, 1687. This is the stream next above Rum r. on the same side, now best known as Elk r. But Pike's map letters "Leaf R. or St. Francis of Carver & Henepen"; Long has it St. Francis r.; even Nicollet gives Wichaniwa or St. Francis. Prof. N. H. Winchell remarks, Hist. Sketch Expl. and Surv. Minn., 4to, p. 15: "On modern maps the name of St. Francis is applied to the next stream above the Rum, and that may have been the river to which Hennepin referred in his journal, since by a portage the route by it to lake Buade is much less than the course by the Rum river, and the Indians may have followed that route." I quite agree with my friend the professor that the Sioux who took charge of Hennepin's "explorations," in spite of all the saints on the calendar, may have brought him that way from Mille Lacs to the Mississippi; but the question is not by what river he came; the question is, Which river did he call R. de St. François and map by this name? To me Hennepin makes it perfectly clear that he meant Rum r. Thus he fixes it 8 leagues = 23⅓ m. above the falls, which is much closer to the actual position of Rum r. than such a befogged geographer often comes; item, he makes his St. François r. come from Mille Lacs, as Rum r. does and the other one does not (at least not uninterruptedly); item, his alternative names, r. of the Issati or Nadoussiou, point directly to Rum r.; item, for a clincher, Hennepin's map letters R. de St. François precisely along the whole course of Rum r. from the Mississippi to Lac Buade, and traces the other river too, without any name. You seldom find a case clearer than this seems to me to be. Carver was simply mistaken in identifying Hennepin's St. Francis with the other river instead of with his own Rum r.; and this malidentification on Carver's part seems to have given later writers an unconscious bias in the wrong direction; Pike makes the same mistake further on in this book. The strongest counter-argument to my view is that I differ with Nicollet in this case. It is always unsafe to disagree with that model of caution and precision; but I must venture to do so in this instance. For the rest, add to the synonyms of Rum r. the aboriginal name Iskode Wabo, as given by Nicollet, and the variants of this phrase; also, R. de l'Eau de Vie of Pike; also, Missayguani-sibi and Brandy r. of Beltrami. F. eau de vie is obviously the explanation of the "Audevies Cr." of Lewis and Clark's map, 1814, though the stream thus designated looks to my eye too low down for Rum r. The source of this river is noted beyond, where the case of Mille Lacs comes up.

[II-8] The curious word "brelaw," elsewhere "brelau," which we owe to Pike, is a corruption of F. blaireau, badger. This, of course, originally denoted the European badger, Meles taxus, but was easily transferred to the generically and specifically different American badger, Taxidea americana. Other forms of similar perversity are braro, brarow, brairo, braroca, praro, prarow, etc. See L. and C., ed. 1893, p. 64. Pike's original editor of 1807 had blaireau, correctly, but Pike himself seldom got any F. word or phrase exactly right.

[II-9] Less than this, as Crow r. is not yet passed, though Pike is not much short of that point. There is little to note: pass Cloquet or Clouquet isl.; camp at head of Goodwin's isl. or foot of Dayton rapids; a small body of water to the right called L. Itaska, not to be confounded with L. Itasca! At or near the mouth of Crow r. Pike leaves both Hennepin and Anoka cos.; he then has Wright on his left and Sherburne on his right. Dayton, Hennepin Co., is at the mouth of Crow r. The crossing there was called Slater's ferry.

[II-10] What Pierre Rousseau called a "prairie mole" was the pocket-gopher of this region, Thomomys talpoides. This was first made known to science by Dr. John Richardson in his paper entitled "Short Characters of a few Quadrupeds Procured on Capt. Franklin's late Expedition," published in the Zoölogical Journal, III. No. 12, Jan.-Apr. 1828, pp. 516-520. He named it Cricetus talpoides, taking this specific name from its mole-like appearance, and afterwards called it Geomys talpoides, in the Fauna Boreali-Americana, I. 1829, p. 204. Among the peculiarities of the animal, and indeed of the whole family to which it belongs, are the strictly subterranean habits, and the possession of large cheek-pouches external to the mouth and lined with fur inside: see Coues and Allen, Monographs N. A. Rodentia, 1877, p. 623. The common mole of the United States, from which Pike saw that this gopher was very different, is Scalops aquaticus, of the mammalian order Insectivora (not Rodentia).

[II-11] To a position about halfway between Elk r., Sherburne Co., and Monticello, Wright Co.—say Baker's ferry, at head of Dimick's or Demick's isl., and compare note at date of Apr. 9th. On making Dayton rapids Pike passed the mouth of Crow r., which falls in on the left above the town and below Dayton isl. This river rises in Green l., Kamdiyohi Co., and by various affluents elsewhere, flows about E. through Meeker and Wright, and then turns N. E., separating the latter from Hennepin Co. (This must not be confounded with Crow Wing r., much higher up the Mississippi.) It was discovered by Carver Nov. 20th, 1766, and by him called Goose r. Beltrami chose Rook's r. Nicollet has Karishon or Crow r. This river needed an ornithologist to keep from mixing up those birds so! Besides the three bird-names, Beltrami produced Poanagoan-sibi or Sioux r., as he says it was called by the "Cypowais." Elk River, 41 m. from St. Paul by rail, pop. 1,500, is the seat of Sherburne Co. It is situated immediately below the mouth of Elk r. This is the stream charted by Pike with the legend "Leaf R. or St. Francis of Carver & Henepen": see for this case note^7. Pike also calls it R. des Feuilles. Allen had St. Francis or Parallel r. Beltrami said Kapitotigaya-sibi or Double r. Nicollet's terms Wichaniwa and St. Francis belong to the main (East) fork of Elk r., now commonly called the St. Francis; he names the other fork Kabitawi (which is the same word that Beltrami uses in another form). Above Elk River is Otsego, Wright Co., with Orano's (Jameson and Wilson) isls. below and Davis isl. above it.

[II-12] To vicinity of Monticello, Wright Co. In the course of the hard water stemmed to-day are Spring rapids and Battle rapids, each of which Pike marks "Ripple" on his map; the former is first above Dimick's isl.; the latter is above Brown's isl. and Houghton's flats; and the name no doubt commemorates the Indian fight of which Pike speaks. The rise represented by the hard water is about 25 feet, bringing the Expedition up to 898 or 900 feet above sea-level. Nicollet's Migadiwin cr. falls in on the left, just above Monticello; this is now known as Otter cr. Boom isl. is just below the ferry at Monticello.

[II-13] To some obscure point about one-third of the way from Monticello to Clear Water. It is past Lane's and Cedar isls., and above Cedar rapids, which Pike marks "Ripple" on his map (the third such mark above his Leaf r.), and below Silver cr.; but I cannot stick a pin in the map, as there is no named place in the immediate vicinity; nearest probably R. R. station Lund, Wright Co.

[II-14] Vicinity of Clear Water r., a sizable stream which separates Wright from Stearns Co.; Kawakomik or Clear Water r. of Nicollet; Kawakonuk r. of Owen; Kawanibio-sibi of Beltrami; and qu. Little Lake r. of Carver's map? The whole distance from Monticello to town of Clear Water at the mouth of this river is only 19 m., and thence to St. Cloud, 14 m. = 33 m. for which Pike allows 12 + 20 + 3 + 16½ = 51½ m. This is over his average excess, and the case is complicated by the position assigned for the wintering station of the persons named on the 10th. Pike lays down Clear Water r., and his map legends, a little below this, "Wintering Grounds of Mr. Potier, 1797; & Mr. Dickson, 1805-1806." The names do not correspond exactly with the text, and as the wintering ground of the text was not passed till the 10th, when Pike was certainly above the Clear Water, this wintering ground is simply legended too low on the map. Compare Apr. 7th, beyond, when Pike reaches the post of Mr. Dickson and the other person, there called Paulier, in one day's voyage from his stockade on Swan r. As there explained, the post in question was only 4 m. below the head of Pike's Beaver isls., thus in the vicinity of St. Augusta, while Pike's station of the 8th was at or near Clear Water. To reach this town and river Pike passes Bear isl., Smiler's rapids, and on his left two small streams. The lower one of these is Silver cr., coming from a small lake between Silver Creek Siding and a place called Hasty. The upper one of these is Bend cr. of Nicollet (discharge of Fish l.), so named from falling into what was a remarkable bend of the Mississippi, now a cut-off with a large (Boynton's) island. This place is 3 m. below Clear Water, in Sect. 6, T. 122, R. 26, 5th M.

[II-15] St. Cloud, seat of Stearns Co.; population 8,000; East St. Cloud opp.; bridges; railroads converging by five tracks; rapids of 30,000 horse-power, dammed and utilized. This is a notable place, likely to become more so. The whole descent from the upper part of the town of Sauk Rapids to the lower part of St. Cloud, a distance of some 5 m., is 24 feet; of which Sauk rapids proper fall 17 or 18 feet in the course of a mile. Pike camps at the foot of these. "Grand Rapids" of the above text are mapped by Pike as "Big Rapids," the term also used by Lewis and Clark; they are Nicollet's Second rapids. When I last saw the place it was not easy to discern the natural course of the river, it was so jammed with logging-booms. The "more than 20 islands" which Pike passed to-day are in part included in the cluster called the Archipelago by Beltrami, now known as the Thousand isls., smallest and most numerous in the expansion of the river just below St. Cloud and above Mosquito rapids; the latter, not bad, are between a large island on the right and a creek that makes in on the left (S. 36, T. 124, R. 28, 5th M.). A short distance below these islands, probably not far from Mosquito rapids, and thus somewhere about opposite St. Augusta, was the above-named wintering place.

[II-16] The whole distance by river from St. Cloud to Pike rapids, where he stops to build his winter-quarters, is only 33 m. He makes this 8 + 12½ + 29 + 17 + 5 = 71½! As there is no possible mistake about the place we have brought him to, or about that where we shall drop him, an error of over 100 per cent. is evident in the mileage of the 11th-15th. The text gives but one named point (his Clear r.) to consider for the required adjustment; but there are seven definite named rivers in this course and several rapids; so that we can check him at every few miles, and only need to cut down his mileage a little more than one-half. Camp of the 11th ("8" = 4 m.) is a little above the mouth of Sauk r. On heading Sauk rapids, Pike passes the town of Sauk Rapids, seat of Benton Co., 75 m. by rail from St. Paul. It is a smaller place than St. Cloud, pop. 1,200, but enjoys the same 30,000 horse-power of the 18 feet to the mile fall of the Miss. r. Sauk r. falls in from the W., opposite the upper part of the town; Pike elsewhere calls it R. aux Saukes, and maps it as Sack r.; so does Long, though he calls the Indians Sakawes and Sakawis: Nicollet's map has Osakis r.; other variants of the name are Sac, Sacque, Saque, Sawk, Saukee, Sawkee, Osaukee, Osauki, etc. The most elaborate way of spelling Sauk that I have found is Sassassaouacotton. The form Ozaukee is adopted by Verwyst, Wis. Hist. Soc., XII. 1892, p. 396, where it is said that this and Sauk are corrupted from ozagig, meaning those who live at a river's mouth.

[II-17] About 6 m., to a position near the mouth of Little Rock r., above Watab rapids and the town of that name in Benton Co. Pike first passes on his right, about a mile from camp, a small stream whose name has not reached me (it empties in the S. W. ¼ of Sect. 15, T. 36, R. 31, 4th M.). In another mile he passes Little Sauk r., a stream like its namesake, but small. This is called Watab r. by Nicollet, Owen, and Brower, Wadub r. by Schoolcraft, Wattah r. by Allen. This little river was formerly important as the most tangible part of the shadowy Sioux-Chippewa boundary of 1825. Starting from the Chippewa r., the line cut across most rivers, at odd places the savages no doubt understood, but geographers never did. It crossed the St. Croix at "Standing Cedars" below the falls, struck near the head of Coon cr., crossed Rum r. at or near its principal forks, hit a "Point of Woods" somewhere, crossed Leaf (Elk) r. low down, and reached the Mississippi opp. the mouth of the Little Sauk, which it followed up, and then went N. W., passed past Swan and Little Elk rivers to the watershed of the Red River of the North, which it followed approx. N. to the Otter Tail and Leech l. traverse. (See Allen's map.) The "narrow rocky place" passed is Watab rapids, and the town of Watab is just above these, on the creek to the right, 5 m. above Sauk Rapids. Sauk and Watab are respectively the "2nd" and "3rd" rapids of Nicollet's map. The word watab means spruce; or, rather, as follows: "The small roots of the spruce tree afford the wattap, with which the bark [of birchen canoes] is sewed; ... Bark, some spare wattap, and gum, are always carried in each canoe," Alex. Henry, Travels, 1761-66, N. Y., 8vo, 1809, p. 14. In this matter we also have the support of the highest possible authority; for the Century Dictionary, representing the acme of English scholarship, defines watap or watapeh as "the long slender roots of the white spruce, Picea alba, which are used by canoe-makers in northwestern North America for binding together the strips of birch-bark." Cf. Baraga's Otchipwe Dict., 1880, Pt. 2, p. 404, s. v. watab. Pike charts Watab rapids; his map, place marked "Ripple," first above his "Little Sack R." This is where his boat sprung a leak, and he did not get much further.

[II-18] Say about 14 m., to a position between Platte r. and Spunk r. Soon after decamping, Pike passed a river he does not mention above, but which he elsewhere names Lake r., and maps conspicuously in connection with a certain small sheet of water he names Elk l. These are now known as Little Rock r. and Little Rock l. The stream is laid down by Nicollet with the additional name of Pikwabic r. It falls into a remarkable horseshoe bend of the river, which has not cut off an island since the charts I use were drawn. Opposite this bend there is a place called Brockway, in Stearns Co. Of Clear r. as above, and also so charted by Pike, Lewis and Clark, and Allen, Pike elsewhere says that it "is a beautiful little stream, of about 80 yards in width, and heads in some swamps and small lakes on which the Sauteaux of Lower Red Cedar Lake and Sandy Lake frequently come to hunt." It is Pekushino r. of Nicollet, Bekozino-sibi and Pines Tail r. of Beltrami, now commonly called Platte r., and occasionally Flat r., as on an 1850 map of Minnesota before me; it heads in the region about Mille Lacs. At the place where the railroad crosses Platte or Clear r. is Royalton, in Bellevue township, Morrison Co. One-third of a mile below its mouth is the line between Stearns and Morrison cos., on first section-line above town-line 126-7. One of the two rivers here noted is Cold r. of Carver, 1767; but I am uncertain which one. McNeal's ferry over the Mississippi is about a mile below the mouth of the Platte.

[II-19] Making the requisite adjustment of this, we set Pike down in the N. E. ¼ of Sect. 29, T. 128, R. 29, 5th M.; this will give us 3 m. to fill the bill of the "five" to-morrow. To-day's itinerary furnishes some nice points which we must determine with precision—not for their intrinsic importance, but for their significance in connection with Pike's winter-quarters. The matter must be attended to here, though the text has not a word about it. But Pike elsewhere speaks of three creeks along here, above his Clear r.=Platte, and below his Pine cr.=Swan r., near which he builds his stockade. Pike's map has four, on the left, beginning above Clear r.: (1) Wolf cr.; (2) a creek; (3) Buffalo cr.; (4) Rocky cr.—all names of his own, none used now. Proceeding up from Platte=Clear r., we have on the left in succession: (1) Spunk r., whose mouth is in the S. E. ¼ of Sect. 22, T. 127, R. 29, 5th M. This is the Wolf cr. of Pike's, item of Lewis and Clark's map, 1814; mapped, no name, Allen; Zakatagana-sibi of Beltrami; Sagatagon or Spunk r. of Nicollet; Spunk brook of various maps. The native name which we have translated means some sort of touchwood or punk, which may be more plentiful hereabouts than elsewhere, or of better quality. (2) A rivulet for which I can find no name, not even on the local maps, and which is too insignificant to appear at all on most maps; Pike's traces it without name. I will call it Maple brook, because it falls in behind Maple isl., in Sect. 17 of the T., R., and M. last said. Maple isl. is sizable, and locally well known; either this or the little round one close by is probably Beltrami's "Island of the Sun." (3) Two Rivers, or Two r., or Twin r., as the next stream is called, which empties about the center of Sect. 8 of the same T., R., and M., hardly a mile above Maple brook. This is the one Pike maps by the name of Buffalo cr.; it is also Buffaloe cr. of Lewis and Clark's map; and the Kanizotygoga of Beltrami. This is a sizable stream, giving name to Two Rivers Township, and does not fall in behind any island. (4) Little Two Rivers, or Two Rivers brook, which falls in about half a mile higher up, in the same Section, behind an island. (5) A nameless and utterly insignificant brook, which falls in at McDougal's eddy, behind an island, in the S. E. ¼ of Sect. 5 of the same T., R., and M. I find it correctly laid down on a Morrison Co. map, on a scale of 2 inches to the mile; but it does not appear on the inch-to-mile charts I mostly follow. (6) Hay cr., which most maps run into Little Two Rivers, but which is quite distinct, with the brook (5) intervening. Hay cr. comes southward along the E. border of Swan River township, turns S. E. across Sect. 31 of T. 128, R. 29, thence enters Sect. 5 of T. 127, R. 29, and falls into the Mississippi behind the three-cornered isl. which there lies opp. some rapids next above McDougal's eddy. The only question seems to be, whether Pike's Rocky cr. is Little Two Rivers or Hay cr.; but after pretty close scrutiny of the country thereabouts, I incline to decide in favor of Little Two Rivers, and could give various reasons for this identification. Pike maps four rapids, in quick succession, above his Rocky cr. Two of these I suppose to be those now known as Blanchard's and McDougal's, both passed on the 14th; a third is surmounted on the 15th, but the fourth finishes Pike's boat-voyage: see next note.

[II-20] Three miles, to camp at the foot of Knife or Pike rapids, W. side of the Mississippi, about the S. border of Sect. 7, T. 128, R. 29, 5th M. These are the 4th or Knife rapids of Nicollet, apparently so called from the narrowness of the two channels into which the river is divided for most of their extent by an island, which is what Pike's text above means by the "two narrow shoots." The designation of Pike rapids is not recent; it occurs on the Allen map pub. 1834, and no doubt this antedates the time that the next creek above Swan r. was named Pike cr., and the township next above Swan River township was named Pike Creek township. The ascent is 10 or 11 feet to the mouth of Swan r.; and this is 4 m. below the city of Little Falls. Little Falls is given as 115 m. by the river from Minneapolis, and as 105 m. by rail from St. Paul (N. P. R. R.). We know where Pike sleeps to-night within a few rods, and shall be able to locate his stockade with a "probable error" of no yards, feet, or inches.

[II-21] "Lieut. Pikes, Block House or Post, for the Winter 1805-1806" is legended on the pub. map, and marked by a zigzag line snug up under his Pine cr. (now Swan r.). The orig. MS. map, now on file in the Engineer Office of the War Dept., is large enough to show the exact spot, on which is delineated a stockade 36 feet square, with a blockhouse on the N. W. and another on the S. E. corner of the structure. Notwithstanding such precise indicia, the site has been vaguely stated by various authors, and even shifted down to Two Rivers by so careful and usually correct a writer as my friend the Hon. J. V. Brower, who is clearly in error in stating that "the south branch of Two Rivers was named Pine creek, and the other Second creek," Minn. Hist. Coll., VII., Mississippi R. and its Source, 8vo., Minneapolis, 1893, p. 126. This is simply an obiter dictum, by inadvertence. I had satisfied myself of the true site within a few rods, when I first learned from Prof. N. H. Winchell, State Geologist of Minnesota, that traces of the building had been discovered by Judge Nathan Richardson, Mayor of Little Falls, Minn. On writing to this gentleman, I received a prompt reply, as follows:

Little Falls, Minn., Feb. 24th, 1894.

Elliott Coues, Esq., Washington, D. C.

My Dear Sir: Yours of the 21st inst. is received making inquiry about my discovering the location of a fort built by Zebulon M. Pike in the fall of 1805. The location is on the West bank of the Mississippi River on Government Subdivision described as Lot No. 1, Sec. No. 7, in Township No. 128 North, of Range No. 29 West, of the 5th Principal Meridian, near the S. E. corner of said Lot No. 1, and near 80 rods south from the mouth of Swan river and four miles south of this city. I settled at this place in 1855. I wrote a history of this county in 1876. Then in 1880 I revised it. Before writing the revision in 1880 I looked over the books in our State Historical Society, where I found an account of Pike's Expedition up into this region of country that year. His description of the location was so plain and explicit that I had no trouble in finding it. At that time there were no logs or timber left. The place was plainly marked by a pile of stone, about the size of an ordinary haycock, of which the chimney or fire-place was built. The fort was built of logs. The bottom layer was imbedded about one-half their size into the ground when built. The groove in the earth showed very plain when I first visited the place. As near as I could judge the building was 40 feet square. Built just on the brink of a slight elevation, as described by Mr. Pike in his narrative. Afterward in speaking about the location of Pike's Fort to an old settler, Samuel Lee, now residing at Long Prairie in this State, he told me that he had been at the place many years before, and when he was first at the place the bottom tier of logs were still there. I visited the spot two years ago for the purpose of getting one of the stones that were used to build the fire-place, and took one that will weigh about 75 pounds, which I am keeping as a relic. The pile of stone is getting scattered about; the ground has never been cleared and broken up, but is used as a pasture. Unless something durable is put up soon to mark the location all trace of it will be obliterated. This country commenced to settle with farmers in 1850, and has become quite well settled up. I will say before closing that the rapids at the foot of which he built the fort bear the name of Pike rapids, so named in honor of him. I will send you a copy of our extra paper [Daily Transcript, of Little Falls], issued the 1st of January. If I have omitted anything that you may wish to know write me again.

Yours very respectfully,
[Signed]    N. Richardson.

Judge Richardson is entitled to the credit of recovering and making known the spot in modern times. The Hist. Up. Miss. Vall., pub. Minneap. 1881, treating Morrison Co. in Chap. cxxxviii, has on p. 586 a short notice of the location, presumably upon Judge Richardson's data, as the publishers' preface makes general acknowledgments of indebtedness to him. In Oct., 1886, the place was visited by Mr. T. H. Lewis, at the instance of Mr. A. J. Hill of St. Paul, and through the friendly attentions of the latter I am put in possession of extracts and tracings from Mr. Lewis' notebook, made on the spot at the date said, when he found the extant remains. Mr. Lewis identified the site upon his own observations, not being at the time informed of the earlier discovery. So interesting a spot should be permanently marked before all traces of it are obliterated, and I hope Judge Richardson will interest himself to see that this is done. It need not be an expensive or elaborate monument; probably the stones of the old chimney and fire-place, now scattered about, would answer the purpose if they were solidly piled up.

Postscript.—Little Falls, Minn., Sept. 8th, 1894.—I have this day visited the spot in person, accompanied by Judge Richardson and Mrs. Coues. We have piled up the rocks in a conspicuous heap. I do not recognize any trace of the original woodwork, or of the ground-plan of the structure, except the place of the chimney; but the site is unquestionable. To reach it, you go down the main road from Little Falls, about 4 m. along the W. side of the Miss. r., crossing Pike cr. and next Swan r.; a few rods beyond the latter, turn to the left into Simon Kurtzman's cornfield, through bars, and keep on due E. to the river. You will see the cairn we have made in the following position: Sect. 7, T. 128, R. 29, 5th M., in S. E. corner of Lot No. 1, 80 rods E. of Simon Kurtzman's house, about 80 rods S. S. E. of the mouth of Swan r., near the E. border of the cornfield, 30 paces back from the brink of the Mississippi, 50 yards S. by E. of a lone pine tree 50 feet high, on a flat piece of high ground in a copse of scattered scrub oaks, overgrown with brush and weeds. Letter on the subject over my signature in Little Falls Daily Transcript, Sept. 10, 1894, urging the erection of a monument.

[II-22] Or windshake—not that the canoe foundered in the wind, but that there was a flaw in the wood of which it was built, such unsoundness of timber being called a windshock or windshake.

[II-23] For Dickson's trading-house of 1805-6 see note beyond, date of Apr. 7th. Dickson's name frequently recurs in Pike, but I think never once in full. Robert Dickson was an Englishman who began to trade with the Sioux as early as 1790, and acquired great renown in the early history of the country. The following occurs in Minn. Hist. Coll., I. 2d ed. 1872, p. 390: "Five years after Pike's visit he espoused the British cause, and took a prominent part in encouraging the western tribes in hostility against the Americans. Yet he is said to have been very humane to American prisoners, rescuing many from the Indians, and restraining the latter from barbarities and cold-blooded massacres. After the war Dickson, some accounts say, did not resume trade with the Sioux; but he did at least live at Lake Travers as late as 1817, and was charged with alienating the Sioux from the United States, in complicity with Lord Selkirk, who was there establishing his colony on Red river. He was soon after arrested near what is now St. Paul, and taken to St. Louis. He was probably soon released, however, and found his way back to Queenstown in Canada, where he died. Dickson had a Sioux wife and four half-breed children. One of his grandchildren was wife of Joseph Laframboise, a well-known trader at Lac Qui Parle." To this may be added that one of Col. Robert Dickson's half-breed sons was William Dickson, whose name appears here and there in Minnesota annals.

[II-24] There is no such French word as "killeur," which Pike elsewhere renders "killieu," and which appears in the text of 1807 as "killien" and "killein." On consulting the F. text, I. p. 95, I find that the editor says, "Plutôt tueur rouge, car le mot killeur n'est pas françois; c'est sans doute un barbarisme échappé à M. Pike." The son of this chief Pike calls "Fils de Killeur Rouge": see Mar. 5th and 8th, 1806, beyond. There is a Canadian French word pilleur, pillager, and the Leech Lake Chippewas were known as Pilleurs or Pillagers; but this Killeur was a Sioux chief of the Gens des Feuilles or Leaf Indians, now called Wahpetonwans: see L. and C., ed. 1893, p. 100. Pike translates Killeur by "Eagle"; and this clew to the meaning of the word is carried on by Beltrami, II. p. 207, who has a chief called "Ki-han or Red Quilliou"; ibid., p. 224, he speaks of "a bird which the Canadians call killiou, and the Indians Wamendi-hi"; ibid., p. 307, he says "a plume of killow," making an English word of it. Forsyth has "the killiew (thus named from a species of eagle)," in Minn. Hist. Col., III. 1874, p. 154. So killeur, etc., is simply a French way of spelling a certain Indian name of the eagle, whose feathers are used for ornament. I once noted this word in the form khoya. Riggs' Dak. Dict., 1852, has "Ḣu-yá, n., the common eagle" (the dotted h a deep surd guttural).

[II-25] Yanktons and Sissetons: see L. and C., ed. 1893, pp. 94, 100.

[II-26] More probably Chien Blanc, or White Dog—unless we could go so far as to suppose he was called by the less polite and less appropriate name of Chienne Blanche.

[II-27] About opp. the mouth of Pine cr. or Swan r., ½ m. above head of Roberts' isl., and on or near the present site of Gregory, Morrison Co. This place is marked as Aitkin's ferry, trading-post, and hotel, on a Minnesota map, pub. Phila., Cowperthwait, 1850; it is about the middle of the southwesternmost section of Little Falls township (Township 40, Range 32, 4th mer.), say 3 m. below the middle of the city of Little Falls. The head of Pike rapids is 1,071 or 1,072 feet above sea-level. Swan r. bends up a little to fall into the Miss. r., so that its mouth is slightly over the S. border of Sect. 6, Township 128, Range 29, 5th mer. There is a flour mill on its S. side, at the bend, half a mile or less from its mouth. Ledoux P. O. is on this stream, a few miles up, in Swan River township, which lies between North Prairie township and Pike Creek township; Swan r. runs over the N. border of it a mile W. of the Mississippi. By whom Pike's Pine cr. was first called Swan r. I do not know, unless it was Nicollet; it is Wabizio-sibi of Beltrami, Wabezi or Swan r. of Nicollet, 1836, Swan r. of Owen and later writers; but Lieut. Allen has it Elk r. on his map, by error.

[II-28] Less than this, to camp on left or E. bank of the Mississippi, in the present city of Little Falls, Morrison Co., probably about the place where is the lower bridge, a few blocks from the Buckman hotel. Painted Rock rapids is now Little falls. A high, small island at the falls divides the river in two channels; it is Rock isl. of Nicollet, now called Mill isl.; some mills are there, and there is the site of the present dam, immediately below the lower bridge. Little Falls is a flourishing place, as towns with a water-power of 35,000 horses may easily be; pop. now or lately 3,000; dam built 1887-8, said to have cost $250,000; two bridges span the river, the upper one for the N. P. R. R., near the large sawmill which stands on the W. bank; chief industry, milling flour and logs; city incorporated 1889; N. Richardson, mayor for five years: see Little Falls Daily Transcript, Industrial ed., Jan. 1st, 1894, large folio, pp. 28, maps and views, price 5c. The Little falls—cataract, not town—are so called by Pike elsewhere in this work; he also says that "the place is called by the French Le Shute de la Roche Peinture," by which we may understand La Chute de la Roche Peinte; his map legends "Painted Rock or Little Falls." Beltrami names the falls Great Rock and Kekebicaugé. As to the "5 miles" of to-day's journey, we may note that the distance is less now than it used to be by the channel, because there was a bend of the river to the E. which is now straightened out. This bend appears on maps of 20 years ago; it is now city ground, and the march of improvement has effected various other changes in the course of the river. When about a mile from this morning's camp, Pike passed a place where the river was fordable, and may be so still; here was the site of Swan River P. O., on the E. bank, in Little Falls township. When a mile further on, he passed the mouth of a creek from the W. which he calls 2nd cr. (on the map "2d Cr."), and which others have rendered Second cr., though Nicollet and Owen both have it Little Fall cr.; it is now known as Pike cr., and gives name to Pike Creek township. It falls into the Mississippi at the middle of the E. border of Sect. 25, Township 129, Range 30, 5th mer., through the 6th one of the 16 outlots of O. O. Searles, slightly beyond present city limits.

[II-29] To a position at the head of Little Elk rapids, a short distance above the mouth of Little Elk r. This is a sizable stream which comes from the W. through Parker and Randall townships to the S. W. corner of Green Prairie township, touches the N. E. corner of Pike creek township, and then curves a couple of miles to the Mississippi through Sects. 6 and 5, T. 129, R. 29, 5th M. Pike elsewhere notes it with particularity by the name of Elk r. Beltrami says Moska or Mosko and Doe or Bitch r. This last name is a mistaken rendering of R. la Biche or Elk r. of the French—he makes the same singular blunder in the case of Lake Itasca, which he calls Doe or Bitch l., after the French Lac la Biche. The river is the Omoshkos or Elk r. of Nicollet and Owen. It is marked Little Fork cr. on the Minn. map of 1850; and Allen's map makes it Swan r., by an erroneous transposition of names; see note^27 p. 122.

[II-30] From Little Falls to Crow Wing is only 26 m. by the river. Pike does not reach Crow Wing till the 21st, and his party does not get up till the 23d or 24th. Exactly what distance he makes it cannot be said, as mileage is missing some days. He appears to have thought it some 50 or 60 m. Thus the itinerary does not afford data for fixing camps with precision, and hence we can only check him approximately from day to day. The sledge-party does not average 3 m. a day, but Pike himself seems to skirmish about for many more miles—perhaps the excessive mileages represent his own activities, not the actual advance of the Expedition. The average course is due N. On the 12th Conradi shoal and Belle Prairie were passed, to camp in the vicinity of Fletcher cr. Belle Prairie is a comparatively old settlement on the E. bank, founded by Frederick Ayer, a missionary, in 1848; pop. 800. This is only 4½ m. by rail from Little Falls. The town is directly opposite the shoals. These are the Fifth rapid of Nicollet. A small creek comes in opposite them from the W., in Green Prairie township. Fletcher cr. is mapped by Nicollet without name; it is McKinney's r. on the 1850 map of Minn. It falls in from the E. through Sect. 1, T. 41, R. 32, 4th M.

[II-31] In the vicinity of Topeka, a town and station on the N. P. R. R., on the E. bank of the river.

[II-32] Camp of the 14th, 15th, and 16th seems to have been on the W. bank of the river, at the head of Olmsted's bar, and was very likely opp. the point of land in Sect. 15, T. 42, R. 32, 4th M., where one Baker located his trading-house in 1831. It is formally named Pine camp when it is passed on the way down, Mar. 4th, 1806: see that date. Olmsted's bar is the Sixth rapid of Nicollet, at a place where the river expands and contains a cluster of small islands, called The Sirens by Beltrami, II. p. 466.

[II-33] This cache was in the vicinity of present Fort Ripley. The town now so called is on the E. side; railroad; pop. 500. Old Fort Ripley itself is on the W. side, a mile off; some of the buildings still stand. This post, or another in the same place, was once called Fort Gaines; Prairie Percée of the F. intersected the river a little below. The fort is in the N. E. ¼ of Sect. 7, T. 131, R. 29, 5th M., about a half mile below the mouth of Nokasippi r., which falls in from the E. through Sect. 27, T. 43, R. 32, 4th M. This is a considerable stream: Nokasippi and Noka Sipi of Schoolcraft; Nokay r. of Nicollet and of Owen; Nokasele on one of my maps, Nankesele and Nankele on others; Woco-sibi of Beltrami's text, II. p. 466, Wokeosiby and Prophet r. on his map. This hint that the name is a personal one is correct. Noka was a Chippewa, the grandfather of White Fisher or Waubojeeg. "It is from this old warrior and stalwart hunter, who fearlessly passed his summers on the string of lakes which form the head of the No-ka river, which empties into the Mississippi nearly opposite present site of Fort Ripley, that the name of this stream is derived," says W. W. Warren, Minn. Hist. Coll., V. 1885, p. 266. It is mapped by Pike and mentioned by him beyond at date of Mar. 3d, 1806; but he has no name for it. Allen's map gives it as Long r. But the earliest name of the stream I can discover is on Lewis and Clark's map, pub. 1814, where it is called Scrub Oak r., no doubt from the prairie above it, to which Pike gave that name. On reaching ownline 42-3, Pike leaves Morrison for Crow Wing Co., on the right, but still has the former on his left, up to Crow Wing r.

[II-34] To some point probably more than halfway between the Nokasippi and Crow Wing rivers, perhaps not far from the station or siding Albion (St. Paul Div. of N. P. R. R.). It is beyond Lenox, and a little above that creek for which I find no name, but which falls in from the W. through Sect. 24, T. 132, R. 30, 5th M.

[II-35] To a position immediately below the mouth of the Crow Wing r.

[II-36] Rivière à l'Aile de Corbeau of the F., usually shortened into R. de Corbeau, though Eng. Crow Wing r. reflects the full name. The large island at its mouth was called Isle or Île de Corbeau, and I suspect that the similarity of aile and isle or île may be concerned in this nomenclature. The river sometimes appears as Crow r., rendering the shorter F. form; in such instance it must not be confounded with Crow r. much lower down the Mississippi: see note^11, p. 97. Crow Wing also appears as Crow-wing, and I have found both Cow-wing and Crowing r. in Schoolcraft. Raven r. is another name; Pike sometimes uses this. Beltrami has Raven's Plume r. and Crow Feather r. Nicollet calls it Kagiwan r. This is the largest branch of the Mississippi above Little Falls. The unnumbered affluents which unite to compose the main stream head in lakes and marshes of Hubbard, Becker, Otter Tail, Wadena, and Todd cos. Having received most of its tributaries, and coursed through Wadena, the river for a short distance separates Todd from Cass Co., and then runs between Cass and Morrison to empty opp. the town of Crow Wing. Crow Wing r. was important as a means of communication between the Mississippi and Red River of the North. It was navigated up to the mouth of R. des Feuilles, now Leaf r., in the S. part of Wadena Co.; thence the route was up Leaf r., and by portage into Otter Tail l., one of the principal sources of Red r. waters. Crow Wing r. was also a route to Leech l. Schoolcraft made the trip this way from Leech l. to the Miss. r. in July, 1832; his map, pub. 1834, letters some of the main branches Kioshk r., Longprairie or Warwater r., and Leaf r. The chain of lakes on this route are in his nomenclature as follows, from below upward: 1. Kaichibo Sagitowa; 2. Johnston's; 3. Allen's; 4. Longrice (Long Rice); 5. Summit; 6. Vieux Desert; 7. Ossowa; 8. Plé; 9. Birth; 10. Little Vermillion; 11. Kaginogumag, source of the river. Four small ones thence to Leech l. are called Lake of the Island, Lake of the Mountain, Little Long l., and Warpool l. The branch which Schoolcraft calls Kíosh is Nicollet's Gayashk r., now called Gull r.; a lake on it has the same name, and one higher up is Lake Sibley of Nicollet. Nicollet says that he contracted Gayashk from Chip. Kagayashkensikang, "the place where there are little gulls [terns]," Rep. 1843, p. 54. Gull r. comes from the N., approx. parallel with the Mississippi, and falls into Crow Wing r. only some 3 or 4 m. above its mouth; about the same distance up it is crossed by the N. P. R. R., at or near Gull River station (between Baxter and Sylvan Lake stations).

[II-37] This seems to bring the whole party up to Crow Wing isl., opp. old town of Crow Wing. Pike says himself that he could scarcely make his notes intelligible, but we certainly know where he is to-day, and have probably checked him from Little Falls with all the accuracy the case admits. The town was mainly in Sect. 24, T. 44, R. 32, 4th M., but settlements in 1857 were in Sect. 23; pop. in 1866, 600; Brainerd killed the place about 1870: see Harper's Mag., XIX. 1859, p. 47. Thos. Cowperthwait's map of Minn., Phila., 1850, letters "Morrison's" on the town site.

[II-38] "Hard W." is a misprint for N., the general course of the river as you ascend, for many miles, till the Crow Wing is reached; after this the Mississippi bears N. E.; and as the Crow Wing comes in from the W., and is very large, their confluence is, as it were, the forks of the Mississippi.

[II-39] The whole way by river from Crow Wing to Pine r. (the next place where we can certainly check Pike), is only 34 m. He makes it 10½ + 3 + 3 + 10 + 12 + 21 + 12 = 71½ m., with something over for morning of Dec. 31st. Hence we have to cut him down about half. His "10½" m. takes him about 6 m. toward Brainerd, with nothing to note on the way, excepting a small creek on the left hand, in Sect. 26, T. 133, R. 29, 5th M. From Crow Wing to Brainerd is 11¼ m. by the river; Crow Wing Co. continues on the right; on the left is Cass Co., according to such a presumably authoritative map as that of the G. L. O., 1893; but in fact Crow Wing Co. also extends on the left-hand side of the Mississippi from a point about 1½ m. above the mouth of Crow Wing r. upward for many miles, its W. border being along the middle line of R. 29.

[II-40] To Brainerd, Crow Wing Co., called City of the Pines, now easily first in this part of the State; pop. 10,000; junction of St. Paul div. with main N. P. R. R., 136 m. from St. Paul by rail, 114 from Duluth; recent utilization of the fall of the river furnishing perhaps 20,000 horse-power; water-works, electric lights, etc. It is a center of the lumber interests, and a focus of roads from every direction; the river is bridged, and the surplus population forms West Brainerd. Brainerd was laid out by the railroad in 1870, and has no earlier history.

[II-41] Beyond Rice r. or cr., Nagajika cr. of Nicollet, which falls in on the right, in Sect. 18, T. 45, R. 30, 4th M., about 3 m. above Brainerd, and is to be distinguished from another of the same name higher up on the same side; also, past French rapids, the Seventh of Nicollet, which were Pike's carrying-places to-day. Above these he found the river frozen solid.

[II-42] Vicinity of Sand cr., from the right. This is mapped by Nicollet, but without name. It falls in through Sect. 27, T. 46, R. 30, 4th M.; directly opposite its mouth is a smaller creek, from the left.

[II-43] To a position at or near the stream called White Bear-skin r. by the geologist D. Norwood, 1847, being the discharge of Duck l. and Swamp l., two of the largest of the numerous small lakes that lie close along this course of the river. They are close together; each is about 2 m. long and at one point only a mile or so to the left of the river. Lake Taliaferro of Nicollet is on this connection, but further off. Pike is fairly within the great lacustrine region of Minnesota, where there are more lakes than have ever been counted. Half Moon l. is a little one, about half a mile below the discharge of Duck and Swamp lakes. The most notable point Pike passes to-day is the mouth of Rabbit r., on the right. This is a considerable stream discharging from a set of lakes (one at least of which has the same name), at the junction of Sects. 13 and 24, T. 46, R. 30, 4th M., at or near the foot of Island rapids. A smaller creek, also from the right, empties below, in Sect. 24. Higher up are some rapids called Big Eddy.

[II-44] Nearly to the mouth of Pine r. (not to be confounded with Pike's Pine cr., now Swan r.): see next note. The new species of pine "called the French sap pine," is the balsam-fir, Abies balsamea. Pike meant to say "called by the French sapin." The text of 1807, p. 31, has "Sappine."

[II-45] Present name of the largest stream in the northern portion of Crow Wing Co., falling in from the N. in the S. W. ¼ of Sect. 25, T. 136, R. 27, 5th M., at a sharp bend the Mississippi here makes. Pine r. has been so called by pretty nearly all writers since Pike's time; but Beltrami has it Singuoako or Pines r. It is connected directly, or indirectly, with an immense number of small lakes, not all of which have ever been counted, and still fewer named. Two of the largest are called Whitefish and Pelican. This whole system of waters lies to the N. and W. of the Mississippi, S. of Leech lake, and on Pike's left as he ascends. It offered a means of communication with Leech lake much more direct than the course of the Mississippi itself; this was taken by Pike on his return journey, and the river is consequently to be particularly noted in that connection: see under dates of Feb. 19th-24th, beyond.

[II-46] Curly Head does not appear in Pike's tabular exhibit of Chippewa chiefs, and we are left without his native name, or any fair identification; but Hon. W. W. Warren supplies the requisite data, Minn. Hist. Coll., V. 1885, p. 47, p. 348 seq., p. 366; see also ibid. p. 469 seq. and p. 495. The name of the old civil and military chief Babesigaundibay is inseparably linked with the history of his tribe. He belonged to the Businause family, or Crane totem, and ruled for many years over the Chippewas of the Mississippi r., in the vicinity of Gayashk or Gull l., eventually becoming the third man in importance in the councils of his nation, sharing honors with Broken Tooth of Sandy l. and Flat Mouth of Leech l. His people increased in numbers, held the Crow Wing region against all enemies, and in 1852 numbered about 600. Curly Head was respected and beloved; "he was a father to his people; they looked on him as children do to a parent; and his lightest wish was immediately performed. His lodge was ever full of meat, to which the hungry and destitute were ever welcome. The traders vied with one another who should treat him best, and the presents which he received at their hands he always distributed to his people without reserve." This estimable man died on his way back from the grand conference held at Prairie du Chien by Governors William Clark and Lewis Cass, Aug. 19th, 1825. His signature to this treaty, as printed in one of the copies before me, is "Babaseekeendase, Curling Hair." I elsewhere find Babikesundeba. Curly Head died childless; on his death-bed he called two of his pipe-bearers and formally constituted them his successors. These were brothers; one was Songukumigor, Strong Ground, and the other Pugonakeshig, or Hole in the Day I. The latter exerted great influence for about a quarter of a century, killed 36 people, and was killed by being bounced out of a cart while drunk, near Platte r., Benton Co., Minn., early in 1847.

[II-47] No mileage from Dec. 31st, 1805, to Jan. 3d, 1806: so we must check Pike by other data. From Pine r. to town of Aitkin, Aitkin Co., is 32½ m. by river; this is very tortuous; air-line distance between these points, 16¼ m., or just one-half of the river-miles. At 12 of these direct miles' distance above Pine r. and 4¼ below Aitkin is our most important datum-point, viz., mouth of Lower Red Cedar r. This is the discharge of Lower Red Cedar l., a comparatively large body of water 6 m. to the right (nearly S. from the mouth of L. R. C. r.). On the shore of L. R. C. l., half a mile E. S. E. of the place where the river issues from it, was the post of the N. W. Co., whence the party that met Pike on the 2d came to see what was up, and to which Pike repairs as Mr. Grant's guest on the 3d. While it is true that these facts do not fix the three camps with all desirable precision, they enable us to carry Pike on by "rule of thumb" in an intelligible manner. I propose, therefore, to set him one-third of the way from Pine r. to Lower Red Cedar r. on the 31st of Dec.—say opp. Rabbit l.; two-thirds of this way on the 1st of Jan.—some point between Dean cr. and Hay cr., both of which fall in on the left (probably a mile above Dean cr.—see Feb. 24th, beyond); at mouth of Lower Red Cedar r., Jan. 2d; at Aitkin Jan. 3d—to reach which Little Willow r., flowing S. from Waukenabo and Esquagamau lakes, is passed. These stages cannot in any event be far out of the way; and to so make them brings up all the points worth noting between Pine r. and Aitkin in orderly sequence. The principal ones are the lake and the town. The lake has been well known since the days of the old French régime; its relations with Mille Lacs are intimate, and it was thus of consequence in connection with old canoe-routes; it was for many years also the situation of important trading-posts. It was le Bas Lac aux Cèdres Rouges of the French, Lower Red Cedar l., in distinction from another one of similar name, now Cass l. The distinction is to be sedulously borne in mind, especially as Pike most often ignores it formally, and repeatedly speaks of "Red Cedar" or "Cedar" l. indifferently, meaning the present one when he is hereabouts, and meaning Cass l. when he is thereabouts; the name is also now commonly clipped down to Cedar l. and Cedar r. or cr., meaning this one, in modern geographies and guide-books. Lower Red Cedar l. is large, with perhaps 50 m. of shore-line altogether; it bears from Aitkin in the direction of Brainerd; some of its relations are with smaller bodies of water known as Crystal l., Mud l., Spirit l., Hanging Kettle l., Pine l., Farm Island l., and Sesabagomag l. Cedar Lake station is about 5 m. W. of Aitkin, N. P. R. R. Aitkin is per schedule by rail 27 m. from Brainerd, 87 m. from Duluth; population 1,000; for persons named Aitkin (not Aiken or Aitken), see that word in the Index. The present town is on the right hand going up, left or S. side of the Mississippi, at the mouth of Mud or Muddy r. (Ripple cr.), a considerable stream, connected with a system of small lakes. It falls into the Mississippi in Sect. 1, T. 47, R. 27, 4th M.; and in this same section is the mouth of a stream which Owen called Sesabagomag r., but which I find given as Missagony r. on late maps. Nicollet charted it, with no name. Below the mouth of Lower Red Cedar r. Pike goes from Crow Wing into Aitkin Co. He had passed the county line Jan. 3d.

[II-48] "Point" as a measure of distance is not a well-known term, and I am not sure of what it means. There is some internal evidence in Pike that one of his "points" was from ⅛ to ¼ to ½ m., according to the nature of the ground and the degree of "that tired feeling" which is liable to overcome the most pushing wayfarer. I imagine "point" to correspond to the pause or pose of the voyageurs. In their language a piece was a package of any goods, made up to weigh from 50 to 100 lbs., supposed to weigh about 90 on an average, for convenience of transportation over portages. Such a pack would be slung on the shoulders by the fillet or forehead strap; and the voyageur would start off at a dog-trot and drop it when he got tired. This stop or rest was the pose; the Chip. name was opuggiddiwanan, lit. the place of putting down the pack. Pike had to the last degree the first qualification of a traveler—"go"; people who lack plenty of that should stay at home. That he was a prudent or judicious traveler can hardly be said; he must have been a terrible fellow to push, merciless on his men, and especially on himself. He took all the chances per aspera, when some of the roughest things might have been smoothed or avoided had his foresight been as good as his hindsight. He blew up things with gunpowder once, and it is a wonder he was not blown up on the 4th, instead of being only burnt out. He missed very few of the accidents that the spirits of fire, air, earth, and water could conspire to throw in his way; and his faithless sergeant made away with all the spirits he had in the keg at Swan r. However, he got through all right, and got his men all through too—sic iter ad astra.

[II-49] The direct distance from Aitkin to the site of the N. W. Co. house, at least 1 m. S. of the outlet of Sandy l., is about 24 m.; the river is also pretty direct as a whole, between these two places; but it is extremely tortuous in its many minor bends of a mile or two apiece, so that the distance the sledges traveled on the ice may have been twice as far as that by the way Pike and Bradley forged ahead. These two reached Mr. Grant's house on the night of the 8th; the men with the sledges, not till evening of the 13th. The two sets of camps might be arbitrarily set along this lap, by ignoring such wild figures as "27 miles" for the 5th, and assuming other data. But this would probably not help us to a better understanding of this section of the route than the following notes: 1. Less than a mile above the mouth of Mud r. (Aitkin) a stream falls in on the right; this is Missagony r., marked Sesabagomag r. on Owen's map. 2. Rice r. (Manomin r. of Nicollet's map) falls in on the right, 4½ m. in an air-line above the mouth of Mud r., in Sect. 4, T. 47, R. 26, 4th M. 3. Willow r. falls in on the left, 6 m. in an air-line above the mouth of Rice r., in Sect. 2, T. 48, R. 26, 4th M. This is to be particularly noted in connection with Pike's journey, as he proceeds approximately by way of this river from Sandy l. to Grand Rapids in the vicinity of Pokegama falls. It is the largest tributary of the Mississippi on that side between Pine r. and the Leech Lake branch of the Mississippi. Pike charts it by the name of Pike r.—not his own name, as Beltrami implies, II. p. 446, but that of the pike, a fish, translating F. Rivière du Brochet; it is also Pike r. of Long's map; it was called Alder r. by Cass and Meaogeo r. by Beltrami; but it is now always known as Willow r. Its system of lakes is also in close relation with those E. and S. E. of Leech l., and the river was thus one of the recognized routes between this lake and the Mississippi. Its mouth is about one-third of the direct distance between Aitkin and Sandy lake. 4. There are some rapids above Willow r., two of them called Moose and Sandy Lake rapids; the latter are only about 2½ m. direct W. from the lake, but fully 6 m. by the bends of the river; the town of Portage is near them. Pike and Bradley left the river at some point below these rapids, to make straight for the lake. 5. Sandy l., Lac au Sable or de Sable of the French, is close to the river, on the right hand going up, and discharges into the Mississippi by a short crooked stream called Sandy Lake r., 2 m. or less in length. Its greatest diameter in any direction is probably under 5 m., but the figure is so irregular, with such extensive projections into the main body of waters, that the actual shore-line is more than 30 m. It receives the discharges of a number of smaller lakes in the vicinity, among them one called Aitkin by Nicollet. Its principal feeders are two in number. One of these comes in at the southernmost end of the lake, and takes the name of Sandy, Sandy Lake, or Rice Lake r. The N. P. R. R. crosses this stream near McGregor, which is 12 m. by the wagon-road southward from the discharge of the lake. This river has a main branch from Manomin or Rice l.; and either this branch or the whole river is the Menomeny-sibi or Wild Oats r. of Beltrami. The other main affluent of Sandy l. comes in from the E., at a point on the E. shore in the N. E. ¼ of Sect. 9, T. 49, R. 23, 4th M., and is generally known as Prairie r. Nicollet called it Little Prairie r.; Long, Savanna r. Its main branch from the N. E. is now known as Savanna r.; Nicollet called this West Savannah r. to distinguish it from that branch of the St. Louis r. which he designated East Savannah r., and accentuate the relations of the two. For it must be known that these rivers of the Mississippian basin connect so closely with certain branches of the St. Louis, in the Lake Superior basin, that they were formerly of the utmost importance as waterways between the two great systems, and as such were greatly used by the early voyageurs. The N. W. Co. house where Pike was entertained stood on the W. shore of Sandy l., next to the Mississippi. Pike marks the site on his map, and gives it as 1¼ m. S. of the discharge of the lake into the short thoroughfare by which this reaches the Mississippi. There are existing remains of old settlements in various positions further south. A trail from the Indian village struck the Mississippi r. in the S. E. ¼ of Sect. 4, T. 49, R. 24. When David Thompson was here in 1798, he made the fort to be lat. 46° 46´ 39´´ N., long. 93° 20´ W. It was a point of commercial and even political importance long before Pike's day—it was such at the pivotal date, 1763, in the history of French-English occupancy of the Upper Mississippi. At the discharge of the lake into the Mississippi on the N. side, in the center of Sect. 25, T. 50, R. 24, is a small sharp point; this was the site of a post of the Amer. Fur Co. of which Schoolcraft speaks in 1832; Palmburg was and Libby is there now. It would be a pity if the government dam now constructing on the outlet should convert this beautiful sheet of water into such a dismal cesspool as Lake Winnibigoshish has become since that was dammed; but lumberjacks prevail in northern Minnesota by a large majority, and logging-booms have nothing in common with scenic effects.

[II-50] In the summer of 1802, the Morrison party, consisting of William Morrison, the brothers Michael and Antoine Cheniers, John McBean, one Bouvin, and one Grignon, came into the country in the service of the X. Y. Co. (Richardson & Co.), in opposition to the N. W. Co. The genuine Morrison letter elsewhere cited, in connection with the discovery of the Mississippian source, says: "I found ... Sayers at Leech Lake, Cotton at Fond du Lac, and Bousquai at Sandy Lake." The latter is no doubt Pike's "Charles Brusky." The name stands Bousky in Pike's text of 1807, p. 34. The Rev. Mr. Neill, Minn. Hist. Coll., V. 1885, p. 451, speaks of the visit of David Thompson, May 6th, 1798, to Sandy Lake, adding, "where the post was in charge of Mr. Bruské" (Bruske in the index).

[II-51] See note^49, p. 137, for Willow r. Pike calls it "Leech Lake river" in this place, not because that was then or ever has been its name, but because it was on the route he was going to take from Sandy l. to Leech l. He flatters our intelligence further by giving us a perfectly blind snow-shoe trail, for the most part 'cross lots, without a single compass-point, with wild mileage or none, and not even a geographical hint, from the 20th to the 26th. He takes it for granted that we know all about the swamps of N. Minnesota in midwinter. Luckily, we are not without the means of bringing him to book. He continues on the Willow River route toward Leech l. with his whole party till the morning of the 26th, when he leaves the party to follow up that route, and goes himself with Boley and the Indian to Mr. Grant's house "on the Mississippi." The Mississippi is a pretty long river, but it happens that we can discover where Mr. Grant's was in 1805: see Pike's map, place marked "N. W. Co.", on the right bank (W. side) of the river, a little below the place marked "Ripple." This was directly opposite the present town of Grand Rapids, Itasca Co., 3 m. below Pokegama Falls. The air-line distance from the outlet of Sandy l. to Grand Rapids is supposed to be 32⅕ m.; by the way Pike went perhaps 40-45 m. The course is about N. N. W. This cuts off a considerable segment from the winding course of the Mississippi, which makes a large elbow eastward. Pike subtends this bend; having crossed the Mississippi near Sandy l., and thus continued across what he calls the "portage" to Willow r., he goes up this, not far from parallel with the Mississippi, till Willow r. bears more to the left; when he leaves it to continue his course to Mr. Grant's house, having the Mississippi on his right, but at several (say 5 to 10) miles' distance, representing the amount of cut-off he makes. On the 26th, with Boley and an Indian, he forges ahead of his party, who do not get up to Grant's house till the evening of the 28th, though he is there on the night of the 26th with the Indian, and Boley comes up on the morning of the 27th. That section of the Mississippi which Pike thus avoids may be passed over briefly, as it offers little of interest. There are some rapids above Sandy l. Three of these are duly charted by Nicollet, being his lower, middle, and upper "Small" rapids, respectively now known as Ox-portage, Crooked, and Pine rapids. The first of these are in Sect. 2, T. 50, R. 24, 4th M.: the others in the next township above, of the same range. By far the most important tributary of the Mississippi in this portion of its course is Swan r., which falls in from the E. in Sect. 9, T. 52, R. 24, 4th M., 1¼ m. (direct) south of the boundary line between Aitkin and Itasca cos., which here runs on the line between T. 52 and T. 53. The Duluth and Winnipeg R. R. from Duluth meanders the St. Louis r. as far as Floodwood, continues N. W. to Wawana, along some tributaries of Floodwood r., to the divide between Laurentian and Mississippian waters in the vicinity of Swan r. The latter is marked "Wild Swan R." on the U. S. Engineers' chart—which is well enough, as all the swans in that country are wild, though this name apparently arose from misunderstanding the legend "W. Swan R." on Nicollet's map. This stands for West—not Wild—Swan r., and Nicollet meant by it to contrast this stream with that tributary of the St. Louis which he called East Swan r. At a distance of 6½ air-line miles, but fully 14 m. by the meanders of the Mississippi, above the mouth of Swan r., a small stream comes in from the W., nearly if not exactly on the common corner of Sects. 21, 22, 27 and 28 of T. 53, R. 24, 4th M. This is Split Hand r.—the Cut Hand cr. of Nicollet and of Owen, draining from a lake of the same incisive name, from Willibob l., and some others, all of which lie southeastward of the large Lake Pokegama. This is the stream called by Beltrami Singonki-sibi or Marten r. Above Split Hand r. are several streams on either hand. The one which I take to be Nicollet's Blueberry cr. falls in from the E. in the S. W. ¼ of Sect. 21, T. 54, R. 24, 4th M., ¾ of a mile due S. of a considerable hill in the next section above, and 3 m. due E. of Hale l.—that little lake which is at the tip of the longest eastward finger of Lake Pokegama. Ascending the Mississippi still, we next come to Trout r. or cr., from the E., whose mouth falls in the S. W. ¼ of Sect. 5 of the township just said. This has held its present name since the days of Schoolcraft and Allen, though Beltrami called it Namago-sibi. Here we are already approaching Grand Rapids, where we shall find Pike: for the many important features of that vicinity see next note.

[II-52] I do not know that the exact site of Grant's N. W. Co. House has been recovered of late years; but there is no question of its location nearly or directly opposite the town of Grand Rapids, somewhere in the S. ½ of Sect. 21, T. 55, R. 25, 4th M. It doubtless stood on the first rising ground from the river—most probably, as I think, on the knoll that overlooks that curious expansion of the Mississippi into a pair of ponds or one small lake of hour-glass shape, across the constricted part of which the river flows. Grand Rapids is the seat of Itasca Co., and has become quite a town of late years, at least in comparison with any others for many miles thereabouts. It stands across the mouth of a small creek, whose name, if it have one, I could not learn, even when I was on the spot. It discharges from several small lakes. The rapids from which the town takes its name are not particularly "grand." Pike calls them a "ripple." "Kakabikons (or simply Kabikons) rapids, as I have laid them down on the map, have a fall of 9 feet in a distance of 80 yards," Nicollet, Rep. 1843, p. 63. The volatile Beltrami calls them "Sassicy-Woenne, or Thundering Rapids," II. p. 455. The Engineer chart marks the rapids 1247 below and 1252 above—a difference of only 5 feet. At the direct distance of 2½ m. below (E. S. E. of) the town is a village called La Prairie, of no consequence in itself, but occupying a notable place. This is the mouth of a comparatively large river, charted by Pike as "Meadow R. navigable for Bark Canoes 100 M." Long also maps it as Meadow r.; by Beltrami it is called Mushkotensoi-sibi or Prairie r., and this last is its present designation (duplicating the name of one of the tributaries of Sandy l.: see note^49, p. 138). It is the translation of the Indian word which Nicollet in this connection renders Mashkudens, and which occurs in many forms, as Mascouten, Muscatine, etc. About 2 m. S. W. of Grand Rapids is Horseshoe l., one of the many small bodies of water which hover like satellites about Lake Pokegama: see next note. The D. and W. R. R. keeps on the N. side of the Mississippi, from La Prairie through Grand Rapids to Cohasset and Deer River, its present terminus.

[II-53] Jan. 29th and 30th are not entered in the diary, and there is intrinsic evidence of confusion in Pike's notes. Observe the statement made under "Feb. 1st" that Pike reached Leech l. at 2.30 p. m., crossed it to the house and arrived there about 3 p. m.—12 m. in about half an hour, an obvious impossibility. Observe also that Boley was his only soldier according to Jan. 26th and 27th; but that Miller was the man with him on the 28th and later days. What became of Boley and where did Miller come from? We have not a word about the main party; in fact we are never told by what route they reached Leech l.—simply that they got there five days after Pike, at 4 p. m., Feb. 6th: see that date. Fortunately the early text of 1807, pp. 37-40, clears the whole matter up, as follows: "After the whole party had arrived at this lodge [Grant's house, evening of Jan. 28th], Mr. Pike determined to proceed on to the head of the river [Leech l.], accompanied by one of his young men, named Miller. He left the camp on the morning of the 29th, when it was snowing very fast," etc., reached Pokegama falls at 1 p. m.; soon after found three deserted Chippewa lodges, and "a fine parcel of split wood"; cut down three balsam-firs to make a shelter, and camped. Jan. 30th, passed through the "dismal cypress swamp," found Mr. Grant's cut-off and reached the inhospitable Chippewas, who were living at or near White Oak pt. (All this is given on the 28th in the above text; this is where the break was made, though there is no break in the week-days, for the entry "Tuesday, Jan. 28th," covers that day, Wednesday 29th, and Thursday 30th, as shown by what I have bracketed in the text.) Jan. 31st, Pike and Miller continued on from White Oak pt. and went past the mouth of the Leech Lake fork to some point on that fork, described above as "one mile below [i. e. beyond] the traverse of the meadow," in the 1807 text as "a mile above the meadow"; camped there. Feb. 1st, reached Leech l. "a little after midday," p. 39 of the 1807 text, agreeing with 2.30 p. m. of above text well enough; across the lake it was "12 miles" to the establishment of the North West Company, at which they arrived about ten o'clock in the evening. "The gates were locked," etc., p. 40.

[II-54] Pike has now (Jan. 29th and 30th) gone up the Mississippi from Grand Rapids to White Oak pt.—not following the river exactly, but taking the cut-off Mr. Grant marked for him. The air-line distance is about 13 m. Supposing him to have taken something like the usual trail, he went as follows: At 3 m. direct above Grand Rapids, 4 m. by the river, he passed Pokegama falls at 1 p. m., Jan. 29th. This is a place where the Mississippi drops about 15 feet over a granular quartz ridge: Pike maps it "Falls of Pakagama 20 Ft. Portage 200 yards." It is naturally one of the best known points on the river in this vicinity. It is visible in part from the car window as you go by on the railroad, but the dam which has been built just above is a more conspicuous object from that point of view. Nicollet calls the cataract Kabikons or Little falls, and more fully Kakabikons or Little-severed Rock falls. At 3¼ m. by the river, above these falls, is the discharge of Lake Pokegama itself. This is by far the largest body of water in the vicinity, having an extreme length of 13 m.; but its form is so irregular, something like a hand with spread-out fingers, that its actual shore-line is very much greater; and a number of smaller sheets of water are dotted about it on all sides. Two of the largest of these are Sisibakwet and Rice lakes. Nicollet renders Pakegomag, "a name applied by the Chippeways to all sheets of water in the vicinity of a river," Rep. 1843, p. 63. Schoolcraft says Peckagama, Allen Pecagama, Owen Pokegoma; Packegamau, and I suppose a dozen more forms of the word, are found; Beltrami has Pakegamanaguen or Hook l.; the form I use seems to be most frequent now. The accent is on the antepenult—Pokeg´-ama. A mile or so below the mouth of this lake Bass brook falls in from the north, discharging from Bass and other lakes; the town of Cohasset is at its mouth. The trail now crosses, or lately did cross, the Mississippi from S. E. to N. W. in this vicinity. It continues westward, past two overflows of the river known as Backwater and Cut-off lakes, respectively, on one side and the other of the Mississippi, continues to a small lake which I suppose to be one of those so said by Pike above, and then strikes for the larger lake he speaks of. This traverse leaves the Mississippi several miles to the left as you go west; for the river makes an extensive sharp bend S., and there receives Vermilion r. (Wanomon r. on Nicollet's map) from the S., at the bight of this bend. Exactly 2¼ m. below the mouth of Vermilion r. is the discharge of Lake Kabukasagetewa (as the name is rendered on the Warner and Foote map). The "large lake" of the above text is evidently that known to the voyageurs as Lac aux Chênes, whence our Oak l., also White Oak l.; from the head of which to Pointe aux Chênes, now Oak pt. or White Oak pt. (Red-oak Point, Nic., p. 63), is exactly 2½ m. This is clearly the place where the good Samaritan Chippewa and his amiable family resided, close by the mouth of Deer r., which Pike charts by this name, and which is still so called. This falls in from the N. through another White Oak l., also called Deer, also Stephen's. Notice that this last (Deer r.) is the stream Beltrami erroneously calls Onomonikana-sibi or Vermilion r., as he fetches it in on the N., both in text and on his map.

Addendum to the above. I found when at Deer River that the nomenclature of the natives does not agree with that on our best maps regarding the lake to be called "White Oak." The first White Oak l. of the above note, and of all our modern maps—the one which Pike comes to before he reaches White Oak pt.—is a small one 1½ × ¾ m., lying chiefly in Sects. 3 and 10 of T. 55, R. 27, 4th M., and through it goes one but not the other of the two courses into which the Mississippi is here widely divided. The people never call this White Oak l., but apply that name to the much larger one through which Deer r. discharges above White Oak pt.—the Deer l. of Nicollet, Stephen's lake of our maps. This is a pear-shaped body of water 2¾ m. in extreme length, with a greatest breadth of over a mile at its lower end. It lies mainly in Sects. 1, 2, and 12 of T. 144, R. 25, 5th M., but with the butt end overrunning into T. 56, R. 27, 4th M., and both the inlet and the outlet of Deer r. being in the latter township. It is thus entirely off Pike's trail, N. and W. of White Oak pt. This lake discharges into a loop of the Mississippi by a short thoroughfare of ½ a mile, ending close above White Oak pt., in the N. E. ¼ of Sect. 13, T. 144, R. 25, 5th M. The miserable hamlet of Deer River—as vile a place as it was ever my bad luck to discover—lies W. of Deer r., and a mile or more N. of White Oak l. Here is the terminus of the D. and W. R. R., a siding of which runs down to the lake at a point ½ a mile W. of the inlet of Deer r., where a pier is built. On crossing the lake to get into and go up the Mississippi the usual route is through the outlet and thence down the Mississippi for nearly a mile, to get into a long, straight cut-off which avoids some great bends. But there is a shorter way still, if one can find it, as I did on coming down—an obscure point directly opposite the pier, in the reeds, where a canoe can be pushed through into the nearest bend, and so save more than a mile. A fact which may have originated or perpetuated the above noted confusion of names is that, above this large White Oak or Stephen's l. there is a point of hard-wood called Little White Oak pt., occupying a position with reference to the larger lake like that which the original Pointe aux Chênes or Oak pt. bears to the lesser lake. A glance at the Engineer chart, or at such a good map as Jewett's, on the scale of 2 m. to the inch, will give a clearer idea of these points than the most elaborate description is likely to convey.

[II-55] "Chewockomen," as well as the "Chewockmen" of the 1807 ed., is far from any recognized or acceptable spelling of the Chippewa word, one fairly good form of which is Kitchimokomen. Schoolcraft has Chimoquemon. It means Big Knives or Long Knives, and is commonly so translated, the reference being either to the swords of the officers or the bayonets of the soldiers, which have often struck Indians forcibly, both in a literal and in a figurative sense. Kitchimokomen corresponds to the Sioux name Isantanka, of the same meaning and application.

[II-56] On leaving White Oak pt. on the morning of Jan. 31st, Pike and Miller proceeded approximately up the course of the Mississippi to the "fork" above said, i. e., the confluence of Leech Lake fork with the main stream. This stretch, which Pike calls "nearly 15 miles long," is just 6 m. in an air-line, and not much more by the trail. The Mississippi here flows through "meadows," as Pike correctly says; these meadows are in part what Nicollet named Eagle Nest savannah. It is absolutely flat and low marshy ground, alternating with haying fields, extending widely on both sides of the river, S. and W. of White Oak l. Little White Oak pt. reaches the river in a narrow tongue of higher ground, from the N., while higher up several bends of the river abut against woodland on the S. Throughout this reach the river is exceeding tortuous; its bends are, moreover, so connected with collateral channels, in part natural and in part artificial, that the stream is virtually double and incloses a series of large islands in its sinuous folds. Some of these thoroughfares float the steamboats that ply on the river to transport the hay; others are mere ditches, through which only canoes can be shoved. Two m. below (N. N. E. of) the Leech Lake fork, the Mississippi receives an important affluent, namely, the discharge of Ball Club l., which enters at about the middle of the S. border of Sect. 31, T. 145, R. 25, 5th M., and thus only about 4 m. due W. of Deer River (town). The difference in level between this lake and the river is so slight that sometimes, when the latter is full, it backs up into the former. Ball Club is a pretty large lake—6 m. long, usually called 7, and 1 to 2 m. broad in different places, with its long axis about N. W. and S. E.; its shape is not very well delineated on the Engineer chart, being not elbowed enough. The outlet is from the lower broad end, in the same Sect. in which it joins the Mississippi, and is thus less than 1 m. long (little over ½ m.). This lake is notable because it is the usual and direct route up to Little Lake Winnibigoshish and so on, to avoid the more circuitous course of the Mississippi itself. You traverse the main axis of the lake from its outlet N. W. to its head, and there make a portage of a mile or so over into Little Lake Winnibigoshish. "Ball Club," the now universal name of this body of water, is a term which translates the F. La Crosse; Schoolcraft renders once Lac a la Crose; Pike has Lac Le Crosse and Le Cross. Schoolcraft has in another place Bogottowa l., which aboriginal name is rendered Bagatwa by Beltrami, Pagadowan by Nicollet, by others Pagadawin, etc. All these names refer to the celebrated game of ball, which the learned Anglojibway Warren calls baugahudoway. Several streams feed this lake; one of them comes in at the head, from a small lake which Schoolcraft named Helix l., from the abundance of its snails of that genus. To return from this excursus to Pike at the mouth of the Leech Lake fork, up which he goes: This is of course a definite and well-known point, exactly on the dividing line between the S. W. ¼ of Sect. 7, T. 144, R. 25, and the S. E. ¼ of Sect. 12, T. 144, R. 26, 5th M. I had a good view of the confluence from a bit of high bank on the left or N. side of the Mississippi, looking across the mazes of marsh and meadow land through which both streams meander to their junction. Leech Lake r. is a very large branch of the Mississippi, deserving the name of "fork" which Pike applies; he also calls it the South, and the Sang Sue branch or fork. Beltrami essays the Chippewa name, as Cazaguaguagine-sibi. Inasmuch as Pike considered this river to be the main stream, I propose to designate Leech Lake and its feeders and discharge as the Pikean Source, in distinction from the Julian, Plantagenian, and Itascan sources we shall discuss beyond. Passing the Forks, Pike and Miller go up Leech Lake r., Jan. 31st, to some undetermined point in the vicinity of the largest lake into which this stream expands, and which Pike calls Muddy l. This is of an oval figure, about 4 m. long by half as broad; its outlet is 3¼ m. up Leech Lake r. from the forks. Nicollet named it Lake Bessel, after the famous scientist—his map fairly glitters with the galaxy of illustrious names he reflects from the bosoms of lakes in Northern Minnesota, though I cannot recall an instance in which such academic nomenclature has been "understanded of the people" and retained in their speech. The lake in present mention is always called Mud or Muddy, and is much frequented by the Indians for the eminently utilitarian purpose of gathering wild rice. I saw a string of their canoes heading that way Aug. 15th, 1894.

[III-1] It is simple justice to Pike to state here that, in making this widely erroneous statement, he reflected common report of his day, and that he elsewhere himself qualifies the assertion. Thus, in his general review of the Mississippi (which in the orig. ed. formed Doc. No. 18, p. 41 seq. of the App. to Part 1), he says of the Leech Lake branch: "This is rather considered as the main source, although the Winipeque [read Winnibigoshish] branch is navigable the greatest distance." If the volume of waters collected by Leech l. and then contributed to the Mississippi were made the criterion, the true Itascan source might have to look to its laurels. Deferring other considerations to a more convenient connection, we may here confine attention to the Leech Lake system. The lake itself is much the largest body of water in the Mississippi basin above Mille Lacs, much exceeding in size Lake Winnibigoshish, which itself much exceeds Lake Cass. These three are the largest reservoirs of the whole drainage area whose waters unite at the junction of the Leech Lake branch with the main stream. This area, taken down to Pokegama falls, is about 80 m. from E. to W. and 50 from N. to S.; its content is more than a thousand lakes and rivers, few of which have been named. These are quite clearly divided into two main sets, namely, those of the Leech Lake system on the one hand, and all the rest on the other. Leech l. is not much smaller than Red l. (of a different system); its greatest diameter in one direction is over 20 m.; its figure is extremely irregular, giving a shore-line said to be of about 160 m. length, with 9 principal salient re-entrances and 6 large bays; the feeders, large and small, are 25-30 in number. The "fond du lac" is at that S. W. place where the waters of Kabekona and other lakes discharge by the Kabekona r., in Sect. 9, T. 142, R. 31, 5th M. This series affords, with several portages, a tolerably direct approach to Lake Itasca, which lies at an air-line distance of about 25 m. nearly due W. North of the mouth of the Kabekona, in Sect. 9, T. 143, of the same R. and M., the Kapukasagitowa, Pikesagidowag, or Bukesagidowag r. falls in from the N. W. This point is only 7 m. directly S. of the southernmost part of Cass l., and a chain of 10 small lakes here lies between Cass and Leech, offering a waterway with some portages. Two of these small lakes are Moss and Shiba of Schoolcraft; two others of them are his Kapuka Sagitowa lakes. Further E. on the N. shore of Leech l. a river falls in from the N. in Sect. 14, T. 144, R. 30. This is Carp r. of Schoolcraft, draining from a chain of small lakes which approach the Mississippi itself in that portion of its course which runs from Cass to Winnibigoshish l. The N. E. extremity of Leech l., called Rush l. by Schoolcraft and Pickering bay by Nicollet, reaches within 4 m. (air-line) of Lake Winnibigoshish; there is a small lake between, named Lake Duponceau by Nicollet, but now known as Portage l., from the function indicated by this name. In fact it is easier to go from Winnibigoshish over into Leech than from Cass over into the same. Along the S. W., S., S. E., and E. shores of Leech l. is a succession of affluents, some of the larger of which respectively establish waterways of communication with Crow Wing r., with Pine r., and with Willow r. The largest of these Leech l. tributaries is Kwiwisens or Boy r., which offers by its system of lakes and portages the most direct route by way of Willow r. to Sandy l. Some of the lakes along this line are by Nicollet named Hassler, Gauss, Deluot, Eccleston, Brûlé, and Rosati. One of the communications with Pine r. is made by Sandy r., which falls into Leech l. from the S. (The Crow Wing connections are noticed elsewhere in detail.) Leech l. discharges by Leech Lake r. near its N. E. extremity, the outlet being in Sect. 29, T. 144, R. 28, 5th M. The discharge is now controlled by a dam which, like the similar structures at the outlet of Lake Winnibigoshish and elsewhere, is designed to utilize the lakes as artificial reservoirs to regulate the flow of the Mississippi according to the requirements for navigation. Leech Lake r. is bowed into an arc whose chord is 16 m. long; Mud l. lies in its course, as already said. The principal projection of land into Leech l. from the N. is the well-known Otter-tail pt.; opposite this, from the south, is Big pt.; continuous with which, by a narrow isthmus, is a very extensive peninsula of remarkable form, something like a badly shaped anchor or a distorted letter T. This Tau-formed peninsula is the best known and most historic place about the lake, as the site of a Chippewa village and various other establishments, of which more anon. There are several islands in Leech l.; the largest is Bear or Mukwa isl. (Macuwa of Beltrami); two others are Pelican and Goose. Leech l. derives its English name from the F. Lac Sang Sue, or L. aux Sangsues, originally bestowed in compliment to the sanguisugent annelids with which it was supposed to be peculiarly favored, by the Chippewas, who conveyed their meaning in the voluble vocable Kasagaskwadjimekang.

[III-2] Voy. en Égypte et en Syrie, etc., 2 vols., 8vo, Paris, 1787; tr. Eng., London, 1787, etc. Constantin François Chassebœuf, Comte de Volney, b. Craon, Anjou, Feb. 3d, 1757, d. Paris, Apr. 25th, 1820, is best known in letters by his celebrated work, commonly called "Volney's Ruins," i. e., Les Ruines ou Méditations sur les Révolutions des Empires, etc., orig. ed. 1791, numberless trans. and eds. down to the present time. The illustrious author was the peer of Voltaire or Paine in philosophy and religion, and underwent the usual vicissitudes of free-thinkers of his time, from the prison to the peerage. His intellect was clear and profound, his erudition vast and varied; so they called him an "infidel"—whatever they may have meant by that—and having given him the name would have hanged him had he been hangable. His researches were chiefly in the fields of history, geography, archæology, linguistics, statecraft, and priestcraft, all of which he illuminated to the great inconvenience of political and ecclesiastical demagogues. Nullum tetigit quod non ornavit; the clergy, however, he adorned with a touch that Voltaire himself might have envied. Count Volney was in the U. S. in 1795-6-7; his controversy with the meritorious but somewhat obtuse Priestley, on the unquestionable unorthodoxy of his Ruins, brought his more formal scientific works into prominence, and accentuated the fame of his most imperishable treatise. Cheap editions of the Ruins abound, usually including the tract originally entitled La Loi Naturelle; this is a little catechism designed by a great philosopher to kindly help little fools out of some of their folly; it is quite worthy to rank with Paine's Age of Reason. Volney's complete works were edited by A. Bossange, 8 vols., Paris, 1820-26. Pike was in good company on the 3d, while he nursed his sore feet.

[III-3] This clerk is named Roussand beyond, Feb. 9th. He is "a Monsr. Boussant" in the early text, 1807, p. 40.

[III-4] We have no hint of the route by which the main party reached Leech l. after Pike first left them on the 26th of Jan., unless one is conveyed in the statement that Miller returned with a supply of provisions for them. That would seem to imply that they followed Pike's trail, and came to Leech l. by a route the same as his, or one not materially different. This is in fact what they did: see note^51, p. 142. The shorter way would have been that Willow River traverse indicated in note^1, p. 153. What seems to have been a usual route in former days is clearly indicated on Nicollet's map. Starting from Sandy l. it struck W. to Willow r. and went up this to Rosati and Brulé lakes, whence by portage over to Eccleston or Deluot l., and so to the Boy's River connection, continued through Gauss and Hassler lakes. All these have different names now, and I cannot speak with confidence in the new nomenclature. Among the lakes of Nicollet's series appear to be those now called Big Rice, Thunder, and Boy.

[III-5] This letter formed Doc. No. 5, on p. 14 of the App. to Pt. 1 of the orig. ed. It is given beyond, together with Mr. M'Gillis' reply; which latter was Doc. No. 6, p. 17 of the same App. in the orig. ed.

[III-6] This is the first intimation we have that Pike is not already at the west end, or at any rate on the west side of Leech l. He certainly has told us that he "crossed the lake 12 miles" to reach Mr. M'Gillis' house, where he is now quartered. The only place marked on Pike's map is on the W. side, with the legend "N. W. Co. Ho. Lat. 47° 16´ 18´´ N." The position of this seems to have been near Sugar pt., and to be the same as that marked "Old N. W. House" on Lt. James Allen's map facing p. 76 of Schoolcraft's Rep. pub. 1834. There have been various trading-houses at the same and different points about Leech l., simultaneously and successively. In 1832, according to Schoolcraft's large map in the work just said, there was a "Tr. Post" on the E. side of the lake, between the outlet and Boy's r., but the principal one was on the Tau-formed peninsula, and was a post of the Am. Fur Co. Schoolcraft was camped there July 16th, 1832. This place was then also the site of the Chippewa village of Gueule Platte or Flat Mouth, a chieftain of whom Pike has something to say soon, and of whom Nicollet, who met him there in 1836, has told us somewhat, Rep. 1843, p. 61 seq.

[III-7] The Sweet of the above paragraph is elsewhere named by Pike as Wiscoup and Le Sucre, first chief of a Red Lake band of Chippewas; The Burnt, as Oole and La Brule, for which latter phrase I suppose Le Brûlé might be preferred by some fastidious persons. The Buck is Iaba Waddik of Schoolcraft, Summary, etc., 1855, p. 144. The Sweet was probably not so named from any such personal peculiarity as would have singled him out among all Indians of whatever tribe, but with reference in some way to the concrete juice of the sugar-maple, Acer saccharinum, upon which he fed: cf. Sugar pt., a place-name in this vicinity. This is evidently the poetical case of "sweets to The Sweet"—not of saccharum per se. The scholarly Anglojibway, Hon. W. W. Warren, who should know best how to spell Chippewa words of any author I have read, gives the name as Weeshcoob. This chief had great character, and a long career. For some of his exploits which became historical, see Minn. Hist. Coll., V. 1885, pp. 231, 376, 452, 454, 458—latter with esp. ref. to Pike.

[III-8] Haut Lac aux Cèdres Rouges of the French, Upper Red Cedar l. of the English, in distinction from the one of like name much further down the Mississippi, near Aitkin: see note^47, p. 135. Pike is careless about the names, and calls both lakes Red Cedar, or Cedar without further qualification. The valuable species of Juniperus, commonly known as "cedar" or "red cedar," is not a very abundant tree in N. Minnesota, and its prevalence about each of these lakes duplicated their designation. They are too far apart, luckily, for any confusion to have ever arisen. Pike's description of Up. R. C. l. is not good, and his map is so far out as to omit entirely the entrance of the Mississippi into this lake; for what he delineates as and mistook for the entrance of the main river is merely the discharge of the Turtle River chain of lakes from the Beltramian or so-called Julian source of the Mississippi, which falls in at the extreme N. border of the lake. Thus, what the text means by saying "from the entrance of the Mississippi to the streight is called six miles," is the distance from the mouth of Turtle r. to the strait which divides off Pike's bay from the rest of Cass l.; "thence to the south end," etc., is the length of Pike's bay; the "bay at the entrance" of the supposed Mississippi, i. e., of Turtle r., means the general recess of Cass l. on the N.; and finally, the "large point," given as 2½ m. "from the north side," is the point of Colcaspi or Grand isl., which is almost a peninsula, and which marks off Allen's bay from the rest of Cass l. With this much by way of comment on Pike, we will look further at this interesting body of water, which I have lately crossed twice. Its first English name, after the ones above given, was Lake Cassina, bestowed by Schoolcraft in 1820, in honor of Governor and General Lewis Cass (b. Exeter, N. H., Oct. 9th, 1782, d. Detroit, Mich., June 17th, 1866), leader of the expedition which made its nearest approach to the true source of the Miss. r., in July of that year. Their camp was on the N. shore, close by the mouth of Turtle r., on the W. side of that mouth, directly opposite the site of the N. W. Co. Ho. where Pike now is. The name "Cassina Lake" stands on the Schlcr. map of the 1820 Cass exped.; item, "Cassina L." is on Long's map, 1823; the adj. Cassinian also occurs in Schlcr. and elsewhere; but the latter afterward clipped the name to Cass, and it has become fixed in this form—the same as that of the county later dedicated appropriately to this eminent statesman and soldier. The Schlcr. map of 1820 also lays down the Turtle River system with approximate accuracy, and on this map was first traced the course of the Mississippi to Lake Itasca. This had not then received its present name, but stands there as "L. Labeish," i. e., Lac La Biche, or Lac à la Biche, translating the Chippewa Omoshkos Sogiagon, and translated Elk l. in English. The main defect of the 1820 map was in laying down the Itascan source to the N. W. instead of to the S. W. of Cass l.—thus really on the line of the Turtle River source. This mistake was corrected in 1832, the year that Schoolcraft's party were guided to Lake Itasca itself by the Chippewa chief, Ozawindib or Yellow Head. Schoolcraft's nomenclature, as far as possible, was accepted by the greatest geographer who ever saw the source of the Mississippi, and Nicollet's example in this respect has been generally followed. Cass is a beautiful lake, the third largest in the drainage-area of the uppermost Mississippi, being exceeded in size only by Winnibigoshish and Leech. The greatest length is nearly meridional; including Pike's bay it is 9¾ m.; the greatest breadth is almost due E. and W.; including Allen's bay it is 7½ m. In position with reference to the 5th meridian (the only one with which we have to do in this note), the Range line of townships 30-31, and the Township line of 145-146, decussate at right angles in the center of the lake, just off the E. shore of Colcaspi isl. The body of water thus occupies portions of four townships. In figure Cass l. is more irregular than Lake Winnibigoshish, less so than Leech l. Pike's bay, on the S., is almost shut off from the rest of the lake by a long, narrow peninsula which stretches nearly across from E. to W., leaving but a very narrow thoroughfare. Pike's bay is of rounded form, about 3 m. in any diameter. Allen's bay, on the W., is almost equally well marked off by Colcaspi isl.; it is 2⅓ m. long, with an average width of over a mile, and includes two small islands, named Elm and Garden. Red Cedar isl. lies in the S. E. part of the main body of water; but the most conspicuous feature of the lake is the island best known as Grand or Colcaspi. The latter curious name is one of those verbal wind-eggs which Schoolcraft was fond of hatching; he tells us it is compounded of fragments of the names of "the three prior explorers," meaning Cass and himself, 1820, and Pike, 1806. This Island of Ozawindib, as named by Brower, 1894, is shaped like a blacksmith's anvil or molar tooth; its greatest diameters, along conjugate diagonal axes, are 2¾ and 2½ m.; aside from its horns, the island would yield a square of about 1¼ m. The Chippewa village of Ozawindib, where Schoolcraft was camped July 10th and again July 15th—between which dates he went to Itasca and back—was on the N. E. point of the anvil. I should advise canoeists to give this point a wide berth; for a shoal runs far out northward, and the birch-bark may thump on a stony bottom if there is any sea. This shoal reaches out directly across the straightest traverse from the inlet to the outlet of the Mississippi. Ozawindib isl. is almost a peninsula in relation to the north shore of the lake, but a canoe can generally be floated across the isthmus. I waded and dragged my boat on going up, but on returning was obliged to make a portage of a few paces, as the water had lowered. But even if it be found a carrying-place, it is the shortest and best way across the lake from the inlet of the Mississippi, either to its outlet or to the inlet of Turtle r. The latter falls in at the extreme N. of the lake, 2½ m. W. N. W. from the outlet of the Mississippi, in the N. E. ¼ of Sect. 18, T. 146, R. 30. Here came David Thompson in 1798, along the usual traders' route from the Red River country, in part the then supposed course of the Mississippi itself above Red Cedar l. Here, in Roy's N. W. Co. House, on the E. or left bank, is Pike this 12th of February, 1806. Here were Cass and Schoolcraft in 1820; here came Beltrami in 1823, down this same Turtle r. from his Lake Julia, and so from the Julian source of the Mississippi. A mission once stood here; there is now an Indian village at a little distance westward. The place may be recognized at a distance by a high ridge on the right or W. bank; and on nearer approach by a stout post with historical inscriptions, erected by Brower in August, 1894. About a mile up Turtle r. expands into a lake, called Kichi by Nicollet in 1836, and by error Kitihi, as on Brower's map of 1892. No other considerable stream enters Cass l., excepting the Mississippi itself. The Mississippi leaves the lake in a recess on the N. E. shore, easy to find by good land-marks—notice a clump of trees on the right of the outlet as you approach it, and a house on the first rising ground to the left. The position is in the N. E. ¼ of Sect. 21, T. 146, R. 30. From this point the river flows nearly E. S. E. into Lake Winnibigoshish (makes 2⅔ m. of southing in 8¼ m. of easting—air-line about 9 m.). The general course is about straight, but the reciprocal bends are numerous, giving an actual course, as I should judge, of 16¾ m., though they call it 18. This is Cass r. or Red Cedar r.—the most beautiful part of the Mississippi—good flat water and plenty of it at the lowest stages of canoeing, with a moderate current and no rapids, shoals, or snags to speak of; also, good camping places all along on the wooded points or knolls. The only tributary of this "interlaken" course of the Mississippi is from the S., about halfway between Cass and Winnibigoshish; being the discharge from Horn l. (Eshkabwaka l. of Owen), ¾ of a mile (direct) E. of the boundary between Itasca and Beltrami cos., in the S. E. ¼ of Sect. 30, T. 146, R. 29.

Pike at Leech l. was the nearest he ever went to the true source of the Mississippi—about 25 m. in an air-line E. of Lake Itasca. Pike at Cass l. is further away from this goal, but he is on the course of the great river. Having already noted the Leech Lake sub-basin, or what I call the Pikean source, I will with the reader's indulgence indicate the main features of the true Itascan or Nicolletian sub-basin. To this end we will start together from Cass l. and paddle our own canoe to Lake Itasca. The following observations are from my canoe voyage from Deer River to Lake Itasca and return, Aug. 15th-Sept. 3d, 1894:

The Mississippi enters Cass l. at the W. end of Allen's bay, by a crooked s-shaped thoroughfare about a mile long, from the next lake above. The inlet into Cass opens in the center of Sect. 29, T. 146, R. 31; the outlet from the other lake is in the N. W. ¼ of the same section. So close, in fact, are the two lakes, that at two places they are only separated by 100 yards or less. At the northern one of these short portages stands a dilapidated old chapel, once a mission-house, and other buildings are scattered about, chiefly Chippewa cabins. I could learn no name for this next lake, though it appears to be the one Schoolcraft called Andrusia in 1855; but if so, the name has lapsed. A letter before me from Hon. J. V. Brower, Itasca State Park Commissioner, dated St. Paul, Sept. 15th, 1894, says: "The beautiful body of water situated upon Sects. 7, 8, 17, 18, 19, 20, 29, and 30, T. 146, R. 31, 5th M., above Cass lake, and through which the Mississippi takes its course, has this day been named by me Lake Elliott Coues, as a slight recognition of your services to the public, and for the purposes of a more accurate and correct geographical description." This lake is 3½ m. long by 1¼ m. in greatest breadth, with its long axis meridional. The Mississippi runs across its S. end about ¾ of a mile from W. to E., the inlet being in the N. W. ¼ of Sect. 30 of the same T. and R. as the outlet. A trader's house is on the N. side, in a Chippewa village. A winding course of the Mississippi of 2 m. brings us to another lake, Pamitascodiac or Tascodiac of Schoolcraft, and Vandermaelen of Nicollet. This is hourglass-shaped, 2¼ m. long by about a mile across either bulb. The Mississippi enters it at the N. and leaves it at the E., the inlet and outlet being within half a mile of each other, in Sect. 25, T. 146, R. 32. For 2 or 3 m. above Lake Tascodiac canoeing is easy, through the flat water of marsh and meadow land; but then begins the trouble which hardly intermits thence to Lake Bemidji. The canoeist may as well put on his rubber boots at the start and keep them on, for he will have to wade most of the way and drag or shove his boat through almost incessant rocky rapids, shoals, and snags. My canoe drew only about 3 inches of water when my man and myself were overboard, yet we had great difficulty in getting along at all without portaging. Where the water is flat, it is shoal and snaggy; otherwise it is all "Metoswa" rapids. The distance from Lake Tascodiac to Lake Bemidji is only 8 m. in an air line, but this is the chord of a considerable arc the river describes northward, which, with the minor bends around the wooded points, makes, as I judge, about 13½ m. of water-course. The people call it 20 m., but that is because it is such a hard road to travel. It took me a day and a quarter to make Bemidji from Elliott Coues; but I did the same distance in less than one day coming down. Beltrami calls this course "Demizimagua-maguen-sibi, or River of Lake Traverse," II. p. 434—which reminds me to say that among the Indians each section of the river between lakes takes the name of the lake whence it flows. The Bemidji section of the Mississippi issues from the lake of that name in the N. W. ¼ of Sect. 2, T. 146, R. 33, near the middle of the E. shore. This outlet is hidden in a maze of bulrushes, and as there is no conspicuous landmark on shore it is not easy to find. Lake Bemidji is a large body of water 5½ m. long N. and S., by 1¾ to 2½ m. broad, of somewhat pyriform figure, lying athwart the course of the Mississippi: whence the F. name Lac Traverse, which we render Traverse, Travers, and Cross lake; Schl. named it Queen Anne's l. in 1855. Among the Indian forms are Pamitchi, as Schoolcraft; Pemidji, as Nicollet; also Bermiji, Permidji, etc., and with an additional element Bemejigemug, Pamajiggermug, etc. The N. end of Bemidji is only 2½ m. from the S. end of Turtle l., so that the Julian sources may be here easily reached by portage. From the outlet as above described to the inlet is 2¾ m. on a S. W. course; for the Mississippi enters at the extreme S. W. angle, in the N. W. ¼ of Sect. 16, T. 146, R. 33. Here are some Chippewa cabins, and here is also the lair of one of the ferocious blood-sucking parasites of the tribe of Indian traders. The system only differs from robbery in name. For instance, the squaw-man will sell you a whitefish for 10 cents a pound. He bought that fish for two cents a pound from the Indian who caught it, and he also paid for it in goods at his own price, probably about five times their cost to him. Those old traders who were satisfied to make 250 per cent. on prime cost were meek and lowly philanthropists in comparison with some of their successors. A short wide thoroughfare of about 40 rods leads directly from Bemidji into Lake Irving, so named by Schoolcraft in 1832 after the facile writer, and still so called. This is only 1½ m. broad by ¾ long, lying chiefly in Sects. 16 and 17; the Mississippi comes directly across its short axis from S. to N. The inlet is at the S. E. corner of Sect. 17. On Nicollet's published map "L. Irving" appears out of place altogether, on another stream. But that is a mere accident of cartography, for which the admirable geographer is not responsible; he knew where Lake Irving is as well as I do. Three short bends and then a straight course of a mile bring us up the Mississippi to the mouth of a river from the S., to be particularly noted for several reasons. It is the largest remaining tributary of the Mississippi, and one of its sources is a lake no more than 5 m. from Itasca itself. This river joins the Mississippi in the S. E. of Sect. 20, T. 146, R. 33. Going up it we at once fall upon the very small Lake Marquette; next, Lake La Salle (Lasale on Nicollet's map), larger and hourglass-shaped; next, Lake Plantagenet, a two-legged body of water, 2¾ m. long by 1¾ broad. The first two were named in 1832 by Schoolcraft, who also said the largest one was called Kubba Kunna, or Rest in the Path l.—these terms becoming Rahbahkanna and Resting l. in Allen. Continuing through Lake Plantagenet and up this "Plantagenian source" of the Mississippi, as it has come to be known, we find that it forks in Sect. 21, T. 144, R. 34, at a direct distance of 7 or 8 m. from Lake Plantagenet. The fork on our left as we go up takes us 5 or 6 m. further to Lake Naiwa, called Neway l. by Nicollet, and recently renamed Lake George. Alongside and emptying into this is Nicollet's L. Bowditch, lately renamed L. Paine. These two are in Sects. 15, 19, 22, and 21, T. 143, R. 34. Going up the other fork, we find in about 3 m. that it forks. The fork on our left as we go up comes N. from a number of small lakes, one of them lately become known as Lake Chenowagesic; and this is probably to be considered the main course of the river we are now on. The other fork comes from the west; if we follow it up we proceed directly toward Lake Itasca, and find our stream heading in a lake which occupies portions of Sects. 2 and 11, T. 143, R. 35. This is Lake Assawa—Ossowa and Usawa of Schoolcraft, Usaw-way or Perch of Allen, Assawe of Nicollet; also, Lake Alice of the Rand-McNally map (Chicago, 1894), whose compilers adopted the names bestowed by a certain unfortunate excursionist. Another name this unhappy person gave this same lake is Elvira. It is historically of the greatest possible interest, for from Lake Assawa did Schoolcraft's party proceed by portage to discover Lake Itasca in 1832, and from it also did Nicollet proceed by portage to Lake Itasca in 1836, and so on to discover the actual source of the Mississippi, which Schoolcraft missed in his hurry on that happy-go-lucky 13th of July. As to the name which the whole stream thus sketched should bear, there may be two opinions. Schoolcraft maps it with the legend "Plantagenian or South Fork of the Mississippi," and makes the Assawa Lake fork the main source, calling the Naiwa Lake fork by the name of this lake. Nicollet names the main stream R. Laplace, after the celebrated astronomer, as he did L. Bowditch after the translator of that author's Mécanique Céleste; and he considers the main stream to be that middle one which comes from the Chenowagesic l., furthest from the S. (over the border of Hubbard Co., in fact). This view is undoubtedly correct, and I, for one, should like to see Nicollet's designation of Laplace r. stand. But the river is in fact called the Naiwa, and this current designation will probably prevail. I observe that our best maps in the present uncertainty omit any name, though the Rand-McNally map legends "Schoolcraft R." (after Eastman's, 1855). Should the main stream come to be known to geographers as the Naiwa, I would suggest that its E. fork be called the East Naiwa, agreeably with Schoolcraft's, 1832; and the other the West Naiwa.

We return from this excursion up the Naiwa or Laplace r.—the Plantagenian source of the Mississippi—and proceed up the latter from the mouth of the former. We hold a due W. course on the whole for 5½ m. in an air-line, but on a zigzag with multitudinous minor tortuosities, making the distance more than twice as far; part of the way winding among wooded points, working our way over shoals and among snags, to a point in the N. W. ¼ of Sect. 28, T. 146, R. 34. Here the small Allenoga r., on our right from the north, discharges from a small, crooked lake which lies mainly in Sects. 16 and 21. Knowing no name for this, I call it Cowhorn l., from its shape and from the trivial circumstance of finding a horn stuck on a stake in the river. We go on through a monotonous, swampy tract of reeds, rushes, wild rice, and lily-pads, alternately approaching and receding from tamarac clumps as the river winds about, for 2½ m. further W. in an air-line, and more than three times that distance in actual paddling, till we reach some haying-meadows, and soon find the entrance of a notable stream on our right, in the N. E. ¼ of Sect. 25, T. 146, R. 35; this is Pinidiwin r. (Pinnidiwin, Carnage, and De Soto r. of Schoolcraft, Piniddiwin of Brower), through a lake about a mile wide, filled with a fine crop of wild rice. Hence it is one of many lakes which are called La Folle, Rice, or Manomin (Monomina on the Rand-McNally map); but it had better keep the distinctive name of the river which flows through it. I paddled up into Pinidiwin l., and was surprised at the volume of water it discharged, as well as at the strength of its current. But the river is a large, forked stream which drains a very extensive area N. of the Mississippi. The volume of the Mississippi seemed diminished nearly one-half above the mouth of this "Little Mississippi." The course up the Mississippi is now S. W. to a point in the S. E. ¼ of Sect. 35, T. 146, R. 35; where, at a bend, it receives a sizable tributary from the S. Nicollet charts this stream, but has no name for it, and I know of none, excepting that suspicious "Hennepin R." which appears on the same Rand-McNally map, so thoroughly vitiated by countenancing the names given by a dishonest person. Hennepin r. rises as far south as about the middle of T. 144, R. 35, and flows nearly due northward; one of its tributaries comes from a certain Lake Joliet, the name of which arose with the same trickster. Rounding the bend here we go up N. W. into the middle of Sect. 28, T. 146, R. 35, and turn S. W. to the corner of this section, on the property of Mr. A. J. Jones, a bona fide settler and cultivator of the soil. The situation is also marked by a small creek (say Jones') which falls in hard by from the W.; but it is more notable as a sort of "Great Bend" of the Mississippi; for here is the place where, our course thus far having been on the whole westward, we turn quite abruptly southward to make for Lake Itasca, distant about 14 m. as the crow flies, but at least twice as far as that by the way we paddle. It has been good flat water, with no obstructions to speak of, for many miles back; but a little distance above Jones' place we come to rocky rapids for half a mile, reminding us of our experiences below Lake Bemidji. I do not think that these, but that some of those higher up, are the rapids where Allen's boat was wrecked on the 15th of July, 1832, though Schoolcraft talks of having come "32" m. from Itasca on the 14th, before the accident. As we proceed, other obstacles offer; snags abound, the Mississippi becomes in places too shallow to float a canoe, and in others bushes begin to meet across the channel, or fallen logs require to be chopped out of the way. We pass an insignificant creek on the right, and then soon sight quite an imposing pine-clad ridge on the left. Here, in the S. W. ¼ of Sect. 19, T. 145, R. 35, is the mouth of a creek on the left. This is marked on Schoolcraft's map "Cano R.", i. e., Canot or Canoe r., also Ocano (Au Canot), and Chemaun r. It is charted by Nicollet, without any name. It has been described by Brower as Andrus cr., is on Eastman's map (1855) as De Witt Clinton's r., and was once named La Salle r. by an unscrupulous person. Above Andrus cr., in the S. E. ¼ of Sect. 26 of the tp. last said, a small creek comes in on the right, at "Dutch Fred's" place. I heard a man call it Bear cr. Here the Mississippi enters (or rather leaves) a haying-meadow, and within a mile receives a small creek on our left, from the S., locally known as Killpecker or Chillpecker cr. It is less than a mile hence to the house of one Searles, in the S. W. ¼ of Sect. 35, T. 145, R. 35. There is still visible evidence that this was the site of an old trading-post; and on discussing the case with my friend Brower, I agreed with his conclusion that it was most probably the very spot we hear of from William Morrison, who was the first known of white men at Lake Itasca, in 1804. From this place upward to Lake Itasca the Mississippi is practically unnavigable, at least in such a low stage of water as that I found—not so much on account of the extensive rapids as from snags and brush. The distance is called 20 m.—even 25 m., if one wants you to hire his wagon—but it is nothing of the sort; 12 m. would cover it. The air-line from Searles' house to Itasca is just 6 m., and though the river is tortuous, besides having a general westward curve, it can hardly be more than twice as much. One creek on this course, called Division cr. by Brower, falls in from the W. in the S. W. ¼ of Sect. 27, T. 144, R. 36. A wagon-road leads from Searles' due S. to the lower end of the N. arm of Lake Itasca. The distance is about 7 m. by this road, which keeps on the ridge E. of the Mississippi till it ends at the lake, close by the outlet, in the S. W. ¼ of Sect. 35, T. 144, R. 36, thus almost on the line between T. 144 and T. 143, which cuts the end of the N. arm, and forms the N. boundary of Itasca State Park. Here Brower discovered the site of a prehistoric village in Oct., 1894.

This park, created by Act of the Minnesota Legislature, approved Apr. 20th, 1891, is 7 m. N. and S. by 5 m. E. and W., thus being 35 square miles, 19,701⅔ acres, consisting of Sects. 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 33, 34, 35, 36, of T. 143, R. 36, in Beltrami Co., with Sects. 1, 2, 3, 4, of T. 142, R. 36, in Becker Co., Sects. 6, 7, 18, 19, 30, 31, of T. 143, R. 35, and Sect. 6, of T. 142, R. 35—these in Hubbard Co. The rectangle thus delimited includes nearly all the natural features about to be noted, in the area designated as the ultimate reservoir bowl of the Mississippi by Brower, to whose admirable official report I am indebted for some particulars which did not come under my personal observation on the spot, Aug. 24th and 25th, 1894. The brim of the bowl is the Height of Land, Nicollet's Hauteurs des Terres, sc. between Hudsonian and Mexican waters; for all the water in the bowl runs into the Mississippi. The political boundary of the park is less than conterminous with the area of this bowl. The latter is conveniently divided into the greater and lesser segments, according to whether the waters drain into the W. or the E. arm of Lake Itasca; the greater segment contains the primal sources of the Mississippi. The brim of the bowl has a maximum elevation of 1,750 feet above sea-level. The southernmost lake in the bowl is Brower's Hernando de Soto, supposed to be 2,555¼ m. from the Gulf of Mexico, at an altitude of 1,558 feet. Another is Morrison l. There are too many other small lakes to mention, mostly beyond or beside any actual permanent surface connection with the Mississippian stream; two little ones which come very near to such connection are Whipple and Floating Moss. The Mississippi springs from the ground under a hill which I call the Verumontanum; the first collection of living waters, or what may be termed Fons et Origo Springs, occurs about the contiguous corners of Sects. 28/33|27/34, T. 143, R. 36. The rill which issues thence runs northward in Sects. 27 and 28, collecting there in a pool worthily named by Brower the Upper Nicollet l., after the keen-eyed geographer who first spied and mapped it in connection with his immortal discovery of the Mississippian Verum Caput. But this Lacus Superior Nicolleti is not now connected by surface flowage with the continuation of the Mississippi; Brower is correct in designating its feeder as the "detached upper fork" of the Mississippi; for the Upper Nicollet l. is separated by a dry ridge a few yards wide, forming a sort of "natural bridge," under or through which water seeps, but over which it certainly never flows. Stepping a few paces over this Pons Naturalis, we descend into a boggy place where the several Nicollet Springs issue from the ground and form a rill whose waters are continuous to the Gulf of Mexico. If one wishes to "cover" the Mississippi in any sense, one may do so literally here, where the river is a few inches wide and fewer deep, by lying at full length on both sides of the stream and drinking out of the channel. This rivulet is the principal feeder of the Middle Nicollet l., which is of oval figure, less than ⅓ of a mile long, lying chiefly in the S. E. ¼ of Sect. 21. The outlet of this lake is close to the inlet, by a well-defined stream say ⅓ of a mile long, which starts W., receives a small tributary called Howard cr. from the S., and then curves N. into the Lower Nicollet l., ⅙ m. E. of the Middle l. This is in size between the Upper and Middle lakes; it receives two rills, one of them called Spring Ridge cr.; the Mississippi issues from the N. end of this lake, and thence pursues a general N. E. course for about ¾ of a mile in an air-line, though crookedly and with several small bends, to fall into the head of the W. arm of Lake Itasca, in the S. W. ¼ of Sect. 15. On its way it receives Demaray cr. from the W. Thus is constituted, entirely above or S. of Lake Itasca, the Infant Mississippi, discovered by Nicollet in 1836, and by him poetically styled the Cradled Hercules. The cradle is now known as Nicollet valley; it is bounded on the W. by the Hauteurs des Terres, now Nicollet Heights, and on the E. by a long, curved, and somewhat broken ridge, which I propose to call Brower Ridge, after the accomplished gentleman whose name will always be associated with the history and geography of the Itasca basin. This ridge is the best walking from Itasca toward the Fons et Origo Springs—though in the present state of the ground this is not saying much in its favor, yet this way is less laborious than following up the Infant Mississippi. The N. end of the ridge rises on Morrison hill, which overlooks Itasca on the one hand and on the other gives a fine view of Elk l.; it is only a few steps down to either lake from the summit, where stands the Brower post of 1887 with its historical inscription, a sign-board commemorating Nicollet, and a granite bowlder more durably graven with a less enduring name (not Glazier). Elk l. is the largest body of water in the bowl after Itasca, being of irregular oval figure, about 1 m. long by two-thirds as broad. It lies almost entirely in Sect. 22, immediately S. of the head of the W. arm of Itasca, and thus alongside the Herculean Incunabula, from which it is separated by Brower Ridge. Elk l. has the bad luck of a bad name, with the more serious misfortune of a vainglorious record of "exploitation." In the first place the name—with due deference to Gen. J. H. Baker, who in 1876 caused "Elk" to become official on the plot of T. 143, R. 36—seems to me badly chosen. For "Elk" was originally the English name of Lake Itasca, translating F. Lac la Biche, and Chippewa Omoshkos Sogiagon; so its transfer to the smaller lake is liable to create confusion. Better Gilfillan's Lake Breck, 1881, or Chippewa Gagiwitadinag (embosomed in hills). In the second place a certain unworthy person magnified the size of this lake, stretched out its principal feeder southward, lengthened, widened, and deepened its discharge into Itasca, labeled it Lake Glazier, and trumpeted his false claim of discovering the one and only true source of the Mississippi, to the scandal of geographical societies and other learned bodies. The best mot I ever heard on this subject was given me by a native of Deer River, whose remark, however, is withheld, on the well-known principle that "the greater the truth the greater the libel." Elk l. was well described in 1872 by Julius Chambers, who called it Lake Dolly Varden; its discharge into Itasca is now known as Chambers' cr. This is a small side-stream about 333 yards long, in the bed of which I walked dry-shod, yet which has been exploited as the course of the Mississippi. Elk l. has several feeders, among them three creeks called Elk, Siegfried, and Gaygwedosay—the latter for Nicollet's guide of 1836, whom Nicollet calls Kegwedzissag. All the features thus far noted are in the greater ultimate reservoir bowl, in relation with the W. arm of Lake Itasca. Turning to the lesser part of the bowl, whose waters drain into the E. arm, we find a chain of small lakes, whose names from S. to N. are Josephine, Ako, Danger, Twin, and Mary—the last having continuous surface flow by Mary cr. into the head of the E. arm. Such, in brief, are the main features of the Mississippian waters which drain from the S. into Lake Itasca; but I suppose there are a hundred little lakes or pools in the bowl, which seep through the bibulous soil—in fact, this flowing bowl is full of lees. The largest lake, which forms its strongest feature, is of a three-pronged or triradiate figure—mostly arms, with little body, like a star-fish. It is said that the early name refers to the head and antlers of the elk, respectively represented by the three projections. There is not very much difference in size and shape between them, though each has its particular form. Where the three prongs come together as the main body of this lake is the small but picturesque Schoolcraft isl., where the party of 1832 camped July 13th, as Nicollet did in Aug., 1836; it is decidedly the most eligible spot for the purpose, before making one's periplus of the lake. The island is in Sect. 11, T. 143, R. 36; its absolute position has been dead-reckoned by Mr. A. J. Hill to be lat. 47° 13´ 10´´ N., long. 95° 12´ W. Mr. Brower has this summer (1894) set up a very stanch oaken commemoration post, which bears a suitable legend and looks as if it might stand for a century. The island was named by Allen (Rep., p. 332). Near it is a shallow place called Rocky Shoal. The lake is 3⅔ m. in greatest length from the end of the N. to that of the E. arm; the ends of the E. and W. arms are 2⅔ m. apart. The W. arm is marked off by Ozawindib pt., the E. arm by Bear pt., and Turnbull pt. projects into the latter arm about opposite the place where Nicollet struck the lake in portaging over from Lake Assawa. The best view of the lake is to be had from Rhodes' Hill, near the base of the E. arm. Itasca has several feeders besides Mary cr., Chambers' cr., and the Infant Mississippi; four of these are Island cr., from the W., opposite Schoolcraft isl.; Floating Bog cr., falling in by Bear pt.; Boutwell cr., on the W. side of the W. arm; and Shawinukumag cr., a little rill close by the mouth of the Infant. There is one point about the lake I wish to signalize by the name of Point Hill, after my esteemed friend, Mr. Alfred J. Hill of St. Paul. When you come to the N. end of the N. arm, at the usual landing or embarking place, where McMullen's house stands, your view of Schoolcraft isl., as you look southward up the N. arm, is intercepted by a promontory from the W. side, near the center of Sect. 2, T. 143, R. 36; this is Point Hill. The altitude of Lake Itasca is given by Brower as 1,457 feet; its distance from the Gulf of Mexico, by the channel of the Mississippi, is probably about 2,550 m.—by no means those "3,184" m. which the Rand-McNally map exploits. The general situation is: 150 m. W. of Lake Superior; 125 m. S. from the N. border of Minnesota; 75 m. E. from the W. and 252 m. N. from the S. border of the same. The lake is reached from St. Paul by 240 m. overland; take the G. N. R. R. to Park Rapids, and go thence in one day by wagon. The distance from St. Paul by the Mississippi is said to be 560 m.; it is practically out of the question as a route, because of obstructions to navigation, especially by logging-booms. A much easier way than I selected for my own excursion is, as just said, to the lake by rail and wagon, thence down the Mississippi by canoe or skiff to Deer River or Grand Rapids, where you strike the D. and W. R. R., or even down to Brainerd, where the N. P. R. R. crosses. The names most prominently associated with discovery and exploration in the Itasca basin are: William Morrison, 1804; Henry R. Schoolcraft and James Allen, 1832; Jean N. Nicollet, 1836; Julius Chambers, 1872; James H. Baker and Edwin S. Hall, 1875; Hopewell Clarke, 1886; J. V. Brower, 1889-94. A more extended historical note will be found beyond; meanwhile let us return to Pike, at the mouth of Turtle r., on Cass l.

[III-9] David Thompson, the great explorer and surveyor, b. St. John's parish, Westminster, Eng., Apr. 30th, 1770, d. Longueuil, opposite Montreal, Canada, Feb. 16th, 1857, and now with his wife in Mt. Royal cemetery. His activities compassed half a century, say 1790-1840, during some of which years he seems to have been almost ubiquitous—so extensive were his travels, in the service of the H. B. Co., N. W. Co., and on professional duties in connection with the survey of the boundary between the British possessions and the United States. Mr. Thompson was a good practical astronomer and an admirable geographer. Some of his determinations would not easily be surpassed in accuracy by the best modern methods. He was also an assiduous journalist, and a good draughtsman; but most of his work has never seen the light. The manuscripts which he left are believed to cover the long period of years during which he traveled and observed; and to include not only his personal narrative, but also the mathematical tables by which his astronomical observations were worked out for the determination of latitude and longitude. They have more than once been drawn upon for historical and geographical data; but no publication of such a thorough digest of Thompson's life and work as could have been prepared from these materials under competent and critical editorship has ever been made. A brief recital of his journeys was read by J. B. Tyrrell, B. A., etc., before the Canadian Institute, Mar. 3d, 1888, and published that year, Toronto, 8vo., pp. 28. The official records I have mentioned must not be confounded with certain fragments of Thompson's MSS., now the property of a Mr. Charles Lindsey of Toronto, and recently offered for sale. These are about 600 foolscap pp. in Thompson's handwriting, drawn up very late in life—being thus by no means his original journals and field note-books. Thompson was on the Missouri at the Mandan villages Dec. 29th, 1797-Jan. 10th, 1798—thus before Lewis and Clark, Oct. 27th, 1804-Apr. 7th, 1805, and the younger Alexander Henry, July and Aug., 1806. While here he undertook to determine from Indian information the source of the Yellowstone r., and made one of the most extraordinary computations on record; for his figures agree within 20 m. or less with the true latitude and longitude. Thompson was the first white man who ever descended the Columbia r. from its head-waters to the point where Lewis and Clark struck it, Oct. 16th, 1806; this voyage was made in the summer of 1811, and protracted to the Pacific at Astoria. That journey to which Pike refers was made in 1798. Thompson came down the Turtle River route to Cass l., late in April, and stopped at John Sayers' house, located by him in lat. 47° 27´ 56´´ N. and long. 95° W. If we marvel why such a man as Thompson missed the honor of discovering the source of the Mississippi, when that prize was so near at hand, we may remember that the Turtle River head-waters were already the accepted source, as being the furthest N. Leaving Cass l. May 3d, Thompson descended the Mississippi through Lake Winnibigoshish, and so on to the N. W. Co. house at Sandy l.; thence he went up Prairie or Savanna r., the usual traders' route, portaged over to waters of the St. Louis, and descended this river to the Fond du Lac house, which stood 2½ m. from Lake Superior. This journey was from the post on the Assiniboine r., at the mouth of Souris or Mouse r., which he left Feb. 25th; he reached Fond du Lac May 10th, or in 2 months and 18 days.

[III-10] This most celebrated chief of the Leech Lake Chippewas, or Pillagers, had three names, whose several variants number probably three dozen. One of them may be written Ask a Buggy Cuss—for if that is not right, it is as near right as some others, and easier to say than any of the rest. It is the rule that the name is different with everyone who uses it, and it often varies with the same author whose "takes" fall into the hands of different compositors. Some of the forms I have noted are: Aishkibugikozsh; Aishkabugakosh; Eshkibogikoj; Esquibusicoge; Aishkebugekoshe and Eschkebugecoshe (in Minn. Hist. Coll., V. passim); Eski Bugeckoge (in the French Pike, I. p. 220). The French form of the name was Gueule Platte; and the English of it was Flat Mouth. Pike spells the French in half a dozen different ways, the question of gender included in the variation; while Schoolcraft, who was something of a linguist, is equally vagarious in this case, giving us Geulle Platte, Gouelle Platte, Guelle Plat, Gueulle Plat, Guella Plat—anything you please, except Gruel Plate or Ghoul Plot! Our Gallic friends themselves tried a variety of combinations, as gole, goule, gule, before they suited themselves with gueule as a satisfactory substitute for the Latin gula—just as we did before we made gulley and gullet out of the same old Roman stock. On Pike's folding Abstract, the individual whose mouth, jaws, and throat are so much in literary doubt figures as "Eskibugeckoge, Geuelle Platte, Flat Mouth, first chief of his band." This was a large one, best known as the Pillagers, also as Muckundwas, who had long maintained a separate tribal organization. The medal which Flat Mouth had received from the British at Fort William on Lake Superior, and which Pike took from him to substitute an American one, was replaced by a large solid silver one given him by Schoolcraft July 19th, 1828. The latter author has a long and good account of this remarkably brave and sensible Indian, who in 1832 seemed to be turned of 60 years, about 5 feet 9 or 10 inches high, erect, but inclined to corpulency. He had been on the war-path 25 times, and had killed a good many Sioux without ever receiving a wound. He was a man of great discernment and sound judgment, extensively and accurately informed upon all affairs which concerned his people or himself. There is much said of him in the Minnesota Historical Collections from first to last, especially in the Hon. W. W. Warren's History of the Ojibwas, and Rev. E. D. Neill's continuation of the same subject: see for example pp. 17, 19, 45, 50, 138, 178, 223, 269, 275, 324, 342, 349, 352, 359, 360, 362, 369, and 459, 463, 465, 475, 478, in Vol. V. of those Collections. He figured prominently in Anglojibwa affairs for more than half a century, and was living in 1852, at a supposed age of about 78 years, having been born about 1774. The circumstances under which the Leech Lake Indians received the names of Makandwyinniniwag, Mukundwais, or Muckundwas, F. Pilleurs, E. Pillagers, Plunderers, and Robbers, are said in substance by Schoolcraft to be these: During the period of great irregularities in the fur-trade consequent upon the transfer of the balance of power from French to English hands, when the latter were still dependent in part or entirely upon the former for their clerks and boatmen, and these were in great favor with the Indians, one Berti came on with goods and took his station at the mouth of Crow-wing r. to trade with the Chips. But he had more to sell than they could buy, including guns and ammunition which he knew the Sioux would be glad to get. The Chips., however, forbade his thus arming their foes; and when he started for the Sioux country, in spite of their warnings and threats, they arrested him by force of arms, and robbed him of all he possessed, though they spared his life. Berti returned to Sandy l., soon died of a broken heart, or of the exertions he had made to defend his property, and was buried thereabouts. Dr. Douglass Houghton relates a curious story of this trader's indirect causation of a terrible smallpox epidemic that ravaged the Chips. The above occurrences were in 1767-68. When the facts became known to the company at Mackinac, the Indians were directed to make requital, with threats of punishment for non-compliance. A deputation went to Mackinac in the spring of 1770, with furs which were taken as an equivalent for those which had been stolen, and the Indians were dismissed with a cask of liquor and a closely rolled flag as a token of friendship. They were enjoined not to broach the one or unroll the other till they got home. But on the way they did both, and had a drunken spree with some of their friends at Fond du Lac. Several were taken sick, some died, and it was soon discovered that the disease had broken out among them. It was spread broadcast, and is said to have cost many hundred Chippewa lives before its ravages ceased. Whether rightly or wrongly, the Indians were always firmly persuaded that a dastardly outrage had been perpetrated upon them by the intentional communication to them of the disease through the medium of the presents they had received from officers of the fur company. I have thus cited Schoolcraft for the popular or traditional as distinguished from the proper or historical presentation of this case. The facts are set forth at length in Warren's History of the Ojibways, chap. xxi., forming pp. 256-262 of Minn. Hist. Coll., V. 1885. The nom de guerre which the Pillagers accepted for themselves is there rendered Mukimduawininewug (men who take by force). There appears to be no truth whatever in laying upon the British the infamous charge of intentional introduction of smallpox. Warren had the facts direct from an intelligent old chief of the Pillagers, from which it appears that the terrible epidemic, costing several thousand lives, was introduced on the return of a war-party of Kenistenos, Assineboines, and Ojibways, who had gone for scalps to the Kechepegano (Missouri) r., and caught the infection from a village of Giaucthinnewug (Grosventres).

[III-11] Which formed Doc. No. 6, p. 17 of the App. to Pt. 1 of the orig. ed., and will be found beyond. This letter answered Pike's of Feb. 7th.

[III-12] The speech made at this conference by Pike, and the replies of three chiefs, formed Docs. Nos. 7 and 8, p. 19 and p. 22 of the App. to Pt. 1 of the orig. ed. Both are found beyond.

[III-13] Though the phrase is not capitalized, this is the personal name of a Leech Lake chief, whom Pike elsewhere calls Chef de la Terre and Obigouitte.

[III-14] That is, the main party, whom Pike starts off to-day with their guide, in advance of himself, Corporal Bradley, Mr. "L'Rone," and the two young Chips. named Buck and Beau. This would be inferred from the above text, and is confirmed by that of 1807, p. 43, which says that "the men were marched" Feb. 18th, and Pike with others was "to follow afterwards." I have no clew as yet to the identity of this "L'Rone." He seems to have been the guide whom Mr. M'Gillis provided, as Pike says on the 21st, when this man was bundled back again, that he had then no guide. But in that case, who or what was the Reale named on the 21st? (See this name in Index.)

[III-15] Pike is on a Pine River route from Leech l. to Lower Red Cedar l., and goes across country on a general course about S. S. E., in Cass Co. This much is clear; but this region is none too well known, and my own information does not suffice me to attempt identification of the many small lakes he crosses till he comes to the large Whitefish l. in the course of Pine r. I doubt that we have data which enable anyone to trail him with confidence. The multiplicity of lakes and streams of the Pine River connections affords in fact several ways when the water is open, and when everything was frozen over Pike did not necessarily take any one of the usual routes. The air-line distance is some 55 m.; but he traveled much further, as he blundered on the way and struck the Mississippi too low down—at the mouth of present Dean cr. See note^47, p. 135, and forward, where Pike describes his Pine River journey.

[III-16] Not identified; but not to be confounded with the great Sandy l. or Lac du Sable on the other side of the Mississippi, which Pike reached Jan. 8th and left Jan. 20th: see note^49, p. 138.

[III-17] Whitefish or Fish l., as it is still called, is the largest body of water into which Pine r. expands, but by no means to be considered as its source. Several large streams fall into it, and the largest one of these is properly regarded as the continuation of Pine r. This lake begins only about 10 m. (air-line) from the Mississippi. Nicollet names it Kadikomeg l.; two smaller ones, lower down on Pine r., he names Plympton and Davenport. Three of this same connection are now Cross, Pine, and Gear. We know exactly where Pike is to-day; though his account of what appear to be two? or three? N. W. Co. houses on this lake is not as clear as we could wish.

[III-18] On the up-voyage we figured out camp of Jan. 1st, 1806, to have been between Dean and Hay crs.; the present pat coincidence confirms the former independent determination: see note^47, p. 134. From Whitefish l. Pike forged ahead of his party, accompanied by Boley, Buck, and Beau, and bore away from Pine r. direct for Lower Red Cedar l. He struck one of the little lakes connected with Dean cr., followed this creek down to its mouth, and recognized this point on the Mississippi as being a mile below where he had seen the Chippewa canoes turned up Jan. 1st. Dean cr. empties 3½ m. direct, exactly 5 m. by the river, below Hay cr., about up to the mouth of which he goes to camp to-night, and easily makes the N. W. Co. house to-morrow. Some points I did not present in my former note on this locality are these: Between Dean and Hay crs., and just W. of the "guide meridian" which, N. of the Mississippi, marks the separation of the 4th and 5th meridian systems of survey, is a very nearly straight stretch of the river for 2 m., nearly E. and W. This was known to the old voyageurs as the Grande Avenue. Its W. end is 1¾ m. above Dean cr.; its E. beginning is at a sharp turn of the river ½ m. below (N. N. E. of) the mouth of Hay cr., 2¾ m. scarcely E. of N. of the mouth of Cedar r.; Pine Knoll is on this turn. At the end of the first ½ m. ascending the Avenue, the range line between Ranges 27 and 28 (of the 4th M.) strikes the Mississippi from the S., and ends there; this range line is also the inter-county line between Crow Wing and Aitkin cos. Rounding the bend at Pine Knoll and going less than ½ m., one comes to the section line of Sects. 1 and 13, T. 136, R. 25, 5th M.; this is ⅛ m. from the mouth of Hay cr., and from this point upward Aitkin Co. is on both sides of the river. Pike's camp of the 24th was within a small fraction of a mile from the point thus indicated.

[III-19] The first chief of the Sandy Lake Chippewas of Pike's time is called on his table Catawabata, De Breche, and Broken Teeth. The French form is intended for Dent Breche, and I suppose the more usual term for a person with broken teeth would be Brèche-dent. I have seen the word printed as "Brusha." The native name is rendered Cadiwabida by Schoolcraft, who speaks of him in 1832 as among the dead patriarchs of his tribe. W. W. Warren renders this more correctly Kadowaubeda; while Neill, with unusual inaccuracy on his part, speaks of Catawatabeta the Breche, in one place, and Kadewabedas, Breche, Breché-dent, or Brechedent, in others. This man was living in July, 1828, when he visited Sandy l.; he was then the oldest Chippewa chief, having been a small boy at the time of the capture of Fort Mackinac in 1763.

[III-20] Doc. No. 9, p. 23 of App. to Pt. I of the orig. ed; to be found beyond in the present ed.

[III-21] See note^43, p. 131, Dec. 29th. It will not often be necessary to recheck mileages on the down-voyage, now fairly under way. "Pine Ridge" is hardly a named locality, though capitalized as such. It is close to White Bear Skin r., the discharge of Duck and Swamp lakes, near which we set camp of Dec. 29th, 1805. For a still closer indication of the present camp, take the diminutive Half Moon l., near the W. bank of the river. The point of the pine ridge is opposite that.

[III-22] There is difficulty in adjusting the discrepant records of Mar. 3d and 4th with those of Christmas week, 1805: see back, Dec. 17th-25th, and notes there. The party were then toiling by Crow Wing r., between Ripley and Brainerd; Pike did not keep with his men, and some of the discrepancies may be due to actual difference between his movements and theirs. Pike also says, Dec. 23d, that he was scarcely able to make his notes intelligible. The two records contradict instead of corroborating each other. Thus, Dec. 17th has it that the two-barrel cache (pork and flour) was made that day, not the 19th, as above said; and it was at or near Ripley. Dec. 20th one barrel of flour was buried; the party were then so close on to Crow Wing r. that Pike got there early next morning. He did not leave Crow Wing r. till after he had taken the latitude there, on the 24th. Meanwhile, his men were struggling up to this river. It is really a small matter, of no more than some 16 m. direct, or 20 m. by the Mississippi, and thus hardly worth dwelling on; but I like to be accurate when I can. Pike was camped at Brainerd Dec. 26th and Mar. 2d; he raised his one-barrel cache of Dec. 20th, near Crow Wing r., on Mar. 3d, and continued on down to the Nokasippi, which had been passed on or about Dec. 18th, not 21st, as above; on Mar. 4th he came to the two-barrel cache which he had made on Dec. 17th, not 19th, as above said, when he was in the vicinity of Ripley; he continues to-day past Ripley, past his three days' camp of Dec. 14th, 15th, and 16th, above Olmsted's bar, and fetches up to-night opposite his camp of Dec. 13th, in the vicinity of Topeka. Mar. 5th finds him at his stockade on Swan r. The camp of Mar. 3d, at the Nokasippi r., is an absolutely fixed point, as this is the only river that falls in from the E. hereabouts. "Pine Camp" of the above paragraph is the place where he was camped for three days, Dec. 14th, 15th, 16th, in the vicinity of Olmsted's bar.

[III-23] "Between Pine creek and the post" is a slip for "between Pine camp and the post"; for the post was on Pine creek (Swan r.). The December camps passed Mar. 5th were four: Dec. 12th, at or near Fletcher cr.; Dec. 11th, near Little Elk r.; Dec. 10th, at Little Falls (city); Dec. 9th, just above Swan r., on the other side of the Mississippi. The salute had been ordered by letter from Grant's house on Lower Red Cedar l.: see back, Feb. 26th. For "Killeur Rouge" see note^24, p. 118.

[III-24] Full name of this Menomonee chief, as listed by Pike on his tabular exhibit, where his native name is rendered Tomaw, and where the other Folle Avoine chief also appears by the above name, Shawanoe, not translated in F. or E.

[III-25] Possibly a clew here to the unidentified person whose name occurs as Greinyea or Grienway in Lewis and Clark, ed. of 1893, p. 1188, q. v. The person here meant is Louis Grignon: see Wis. Hist. Coll., VII. p. 247. A Mr. Grignon is mentioned in Wm. Morrison's letter (elsewhere cited) as one of the five persons besides himself who formed the party that came into the country from Fond du Lac in July, 1802. The name stands Greignon, text of 1807, p. 46.

[III-26] Pike's observation strikes me as much more "singular" than the Fox Indian's opinion. Many of us have been taught that the whole world was once drowned, excepting one favored family, and we have also been told how it was repeopled. That is one advantage which an enlightened Christian has over Lo, the poor benighted Indian. The savage simply accepts that one of the deluge-myths which his own ancestors elaborated to suit themselves. But the Christian has the Word of God himself, bound up in many different editions of various dates, for the truth of that particular deluge-myth which the Jews appropriated, with variations to suit their own tribal vanity, from the Chaldeans. They invented very little except their precious Jehovah, who was less polished and less agreeable a god than most of those who were elaborated by the more civilized tribes who surrounded and generally whipped the Jews. The Noachian narration, like the Genesis relation of both the Elohistic and the Jehovistic scribes, was borrowed from one of the myths that clustered about the legendary character known as Gisdhubar, Izdubar, etc., alleged descendant of the last antediluvian monarch Hasisadra, who became known to the Greeks through Berosus as Xisuthros. The original of this deluge-myth was recovered from the cuneiform characters by Geo. Smith of the British Museum in 1872, and may be read in English and various other modern languages, to the great edification of the faithful, no doubt: see it, e. g., in the charming and readily accessible book, The Story of Chaldea, by Zénaïde A. Ragozin, 2d ed., 8vo, N. Y., G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1888, p. 301 and p. 314. After the aqueous allegations had been reduced to writing in Hebrew characters, and generations of Jewish rabbis had tinkered the text to suit themselves with Masoretic points, and various anonymous scribes had turned it into Septuagint Greek and Vulgate Latin, some people in England who had never heard of the original, could not have read a word of it if they had handled the very bricks on which it was first stamped, and do not appear to have been informed on the subject by the Holy Ghost, gave us their English version of the words of God duly "authorized" by "the wisest fool in Europe," as the Duc de Sully called James I. The most credible items in this account are that the elephant took his trunk with him and stood behind it in the ark, but that the cock and the fox were worse off for baggage, having only a comb and a brush between them; yet I also believe just as firmly that the raven which Noah let fly was the original progenitor of the Petit Corbeau who lived in the village of Kapoja, near St. Paul, Minn.

[III-27] The phrase which Pike's interpreter applied to the woman was no doubt "La Bastonnaise." For a long period before and after the end of the last century, "Bostonian" in some form was the nickname of English-speaking whites, especially New Englanders—just as we now say "Yankee." The Indians picked up the word from the Canadian French, and it passed from mouth to mouth across the continent; e. g., it entered the vocabulary of the Chinook jargon spoken on the N. W. Coast. To cite a case: "On my remarking to Mr. Frobisher that I suspected the Bastonnais (Bostonians, or English colonists) had been doing some mischief in Canada, the Indians directly exclaimed, 'Yes; that is the name! Bastonnais.' They were lately from the Grand Portage," etc., Alex. Henry, Trav. of 1761-76, 8vo, N. Y., 1809, p. 329.

[III-28] See back, note^14, p. 99, Oct. 8th, 1805. Pike's getting down to Mr. Dickson's wintering-ground in one day from the stockade on Swan r. confirms the opinion expressed in that note that this place is marked too low on his map (below Clear Water r.). It also relieves us of the difficulty that seemed to arise when we were told that Pike did not pass Dickson's place till Oct. 10th, when we brought him up to St. Cloud. Evidently, then, our adjustment of mileages and camps of Oct. 8th-10th is right, and Dickson's place was at the foot of the Thousand Island cluster (Pike's Beaver isls.). The text of 1807, p. 21, speaks of "the place where Mr. Rienville and Monsr. Perlier wintered in 1797. Above it is a cluster of more than 20 islands in the course of four miles, which they named the Beaver islands." As to the name of the person who was with Mr. Dickson, we have choice of four: Paulier, as above; Perlier, text of Oct. 10th, of both 1807 and 1810 eds., but Paulire on p. 56 of the 1807 text; and Potier, on the map. One Antoine Pothier, a trader, is named among Laclede's "thirty associates" by Billon, Ann. St. Louis, 1764-1804, pub. 1886, p. 18; and it appears in St. Louis archives that one Isidor Peltier sold a slave to Louis Blouin, Oct. 7th, 1767. For one Pothier, 1812, see also Wis. His. Soc. Coll., XI. p. 272. But Pike's man is Jacques Porlier, b. 1765, Milwaukee in 1783, Green Bay in 1791, d. 1839: see Wis. His. Soc. Coll., III. p. 244, VII. p. 247, and Tassé, Les Canadiens de l'Ouest, 8vo, Montreal, 1878, I. pp. 137-141.

[III-29] This letter formed Doc. No. 10, p. 24, of App. to Pt. 1 of the orig. ed.; it is given beyond. It is dated Grand Isle (i. e., Grande Île), Apr. 9th; by which we may infer this to have been then the name of the place where Mr. Dickson wintered, and that this place was on a large island. All indications now are that the wintering-place in question was on the foot of the large island at whose head are Mosquito rapids, and only a mile or so above St. Augusta, as already surmised in note^16, p. 100. For "a Mr. Greignor," see note^25, p. 181. "A Mr. Veau" is Jacques Vieau or De Veau, b. 1757, d. 1852: see W. H. S. C., XI. p. 218. The October date above is provokingly blank for the day of the month. But I construe the passage to mean that the place where Pike now is, Apr. 9th, is also the place where Mr. Porlier's brother and Mr. Veau had wintered 1805-6. If so, we may query Oct. 4th as the missing date; for though Pike does not say that his camp that day was on an island, the position of Dimick's isl., to which we then brought him, is such that he can easily make Rum r. by 7 a. m. to-morrow, if he keeps on "some time" after leaving the island in question, as he says he does.

[III-30] Pike twice passed directly by Dayton bluff, in which this cave was situated—once Sept. 21st, 1805, and again to-day: see back, note^72, p. 75, for the locality, and add: The cave which Carver discovered in 1766 is thus described by him, pp. 39, 40, ed. of 1796: "About 30 [say 15] miles below the Falls of St. Anthony, at which I arrived the 10th day after I left Lake Pepin, is a remarkable cave of an amazing depth. The Indians term it Wakon-teebe, that is, the Dwelling of the Great Spirit. The entrance into it is about 10 feet wide, the height of it 5 feet. The arch within is near 15 feet high, and about 30 feet broad. The bottom of it consists of clear sand. About 20 feet from the entrance begins a lake, the water of which is transparent, and extends to an unsearchable distance; for the darkness of the cave prevents all attempts to acquire a knowledge of it. I threw a small pebble towards the interior parts of is [it], with my utmost strength: I could hear that it fell into the water, and notwithstanding it was of so small a size, it caused an astonishing and horrible noise, that reverberated through all those gloomy regions. I found in this cave many Indian hieroglyphics, which appeared very ancient, for time had nearly covered them with moss, so that it was with difficulty I could trace them. They were cut in a rude manner upon the inside of the walls, which were composed of a stone so extremely soft that it might easily be penetrated with a knife; a stone everywhere to be found near the Mississippi. The cave is only accessible by ascending a narrow, steep passage, that lies near the brink of the river." Now it is easy to criticise such an account, and those who wish to discredit this honest gentleman seize upon "amazing depth," "unsearchable distance," "horrible noise," etc. But that is unfair. These phrases are only Carver's façon de parler of his subjective sensations; the objective reality is truthfully and recognizably described. Besides, one should be sure he is in Carver's cave before he criticises the description—not get into another cave and then find fault with Carver because the wrong cave does not fit the right description, as our friend Schoolcraft did. The cave which Carver does not describe was not discovered till 1811. Long visited two in 1817; in 1823 Long's second party visited the New or Fountain cave, and Keating has left the matter in such clear light that the passage may be transcribed, I. p. 289, ed. of 1824: "Above this village [of Kapoja], there is a cave which is much visited by the voyagers; we stopped to examine it, although it presents, in fact, but little to admire; it is formed in the sandstone, and is of course destitute of those beautiful appearances, which characterize the caverns in calcareous rock. It is the same which is described by Mr. Schoolcraft, whose name, as well as those of several of Governor Cass' party we found carved in the rock. In his account of it, Mr. Schoolcraft states it to be the cavern that was visited by Carver, but adds that 'it appears to have undergone a considerable alteration since that period.' It appears from Major Long's MSS. of 1817, that there are two caves, both of which he visited; the lower one was Carver's; it was in 1817 very much reduced in size from the dimensions given by Carver; the opening into it was then so low, that the only way of entering it was by creeping in a prostrate position. Our interpreter, who had accompanied Major Long, told us that it was now closed up; it was probably near the cemetery which we have mentioned. The cavern which we visited, and which Mr. Schoolcraft describes, is situated five miles above; it was discovered in 1811, and is called the Fountain cave; there is a beautiful stream running through it," etc. I think very likely the cave Long visited in 1817, and thought to be Carver's, was really the smaller one alongside Carver's in Dayton bluff, of which I am informed by my friend Mr. A. J. Hill, seeing how "much reduced in size from the dimensions given by Carver" he found it. Beltrami, II. pp. 191-193, goes on about Carver's cave in a way which makes one think he entered no one of the three caves in this vicinity, but drew on his imagination for his description after reading up on the subject. He uses the phrase "cave of Trophonius," and says that "the Sioux call this cave Whakoon-Thiiby"—a decidedly original way of spelling it. Featherstonhaugh describes his visit of Sept. 12th, 1835, to what he calls Carver's cave, p. 257 of his Canoe Voyage, etc., pub. 1847. Nicollet, who is always to the point, speaks of two caves, one 4 and the other 8 m. below St. Peters, Rep. 1843, p. 72: "Both are in the sandstone, but at different elevations. The former is on a level with the river, and is reached through a short ravine along the limpid streamlet that issues from it. Many authors have thought this to be the cave described by Carver, but erroneously. It would, in fact, be only necessary to compare the locality with Carver's description, to be at once convinced. The cave now referred to is of recent formation. The aged Sioux say that it did not exist formerly. It has to them no ceremonial association. They scarcely ever visit it, and there are none of their hieroglyphics upon its sides or floor. It owes its formation to the dislocation and decomposition of the upland limestone, which have left sloughy places; the waters of which have penetrated into the sandstone, wearing it away, and giving origin to the streamlet which issues from it. The location of this cave is on my map designated as the new cave [New Cave]. The second, four miles below the former, is that described by Carver. Its entrance has been, for more than 30 years, closed by the disintegrated débris of the limestone capping the sandstone in which it is located. On the 3d day of July, 1837, with the assistance of Messrs. Campbell and Quinn—the former an interpreter for the Sioux, the latter for the Chippeways—I set about clearing this entrance; which, by-the-bye, was no easy work; for, on the 5th we were about abandoning the job, when, unexpectedly, we found that we had made an opening into it; and although we had not entirely disincumbered it of its rubbish, I saw enough to satisfy me of the accuracy of Carver's description. The lake mentioned by him is there; but I could only see a segment of the cave, a portion of its roof being too near the surface of the water to enable me to proceed any further. A Chippeway warrior made a long harangue on the occasion; throwing his knife into the lake as an offering to Wakan-tibi, the spirit of the grottoes. The ascent to the cave is by a rapid slope; and on the rocks that form a wall to the left, there are a number of ancient Sioux hieroglyphics, that mean nothing more than to indicate the names of Indians that have at various times visited this natural curiosity. On leaving the cave and reaching the river, a stroll of a few yards to the left, by keeping close to the rocks, brought us upon a sweet, limpid and copious spring which had remained for a long time unknown in consequence of the shingle and brush that conceal its outlet. This is evidently the issue of the waters of Grotto lake; and their abundance indicates that the lake is well fed, and doubtless occupies a considerable space within the mountain. On the high grounds above the cave there are some Indian mounds, to which the Indians belonging to the tribe of Mdewakantonwans formerly transported the bones of the deceased members of their families," as is stated by Carver, Pike, Long, and many others. I am led into this long note partly for the purpose of setting history straight, and partly from the intrinsic interest of these Stygian caverns, which Pike passes to-day without notice, as hundreds now do every day and will do until the places are improved off the earth. The cave that Nicollet opened is the veritable one that Carver discovered; it is right on the railroad that skirts Dayton bluff, about a mile in an air-line from Union depot. The New or Fountain cave is miles away, in Upper St. Paul, near the railroad bridge there, unless it has lately yielded to the triumph of art over nature and been effaced. Mr. Hill writes from St. Paul, Mar. 18th, 1894: "Before the shaving off of Carver's cave—or rather before our civil war—the serpent on the roof on the right hand as you stood on the brink of the waters was very plainly visible, and might have been traced by rubbing or otherwise; but this would have required scaffolding. It has been remarked that the serpent was the totem of Ottahtongoomlishcah, one of the Sioux chiefs of the 'Cave Treaty.' I found by actual measurement that the extreme length of the lake was 110 feet, before any alteration of the surface had occurred." See also the article by Mr. Hill on Mounds, Minn. Hist. Soc. Coll., VI. Pt. 2, 1891. J. Fletcher Williams, in Minn. Hist. Soc. Coll., I. 2d ed. 1872, p. 355, notes that there was little change in Carver's cave in the course of a century, for it was much the same May 1st, 1867, when the Historical Society celebrated the centennial of Carver's purported treaty with the Sioux. "Within the past two years, however, sad changes have taken place. The St. Paul & Chicago Railroad, having condemned for their use the strip of land along the river bank, including the bluff or cliff in which is the cave, have dug it down and nearly destroyed it. But a narrow cavity now remains to mark its site. The pool or lake is gone, and the limpid stream that flows through it now supplies a railroad tank." But now, says Mr. Hill, "sand heaped from railroad cutting has again backed up the water into a pool, the receptacle of all filth." Mr. T. H. Lewis' article, Cave-Drawings, Appleton's Annual Cyclop., 1889, p. 117 (reprint, p. 3), gives the exact position of both the Dayton bluff caves; the small one, 400 feet above Carver's, is 50 feet N. E. of Commercial St., midway between Plum and Cherry Sts., at the foot of the bluff; 35 feet long on the floor, as measured in 1889 to the edge of the water in the rear, 24 feet wide, 10 feet high—thus about one-third as large as Carver's. It had pictographs like those of Carver's cave. None of those Carver mentions were ever copied; his cave was in part demolished by grading when the railroad first came by, and in the course of time the walls were scribbled over by the ubiquitous army of idlers and tramps from whose vandalism no natural formation or artificial monument in the world is secure.

[III-31] Literally Raven's Nose. He is tabulated by Pike as Tatamane, Nez Corbeau, Raven Nose, and Wind that Walks (latter name a euphemism).

[III-32] "Dispunishable" is a good old word, though rare and now obsolete; but Pike uses it in the opposite of its meaning, which was simply "punishable"—for the prefix dis- is here intensive, not reversive or nugatory. C. D. marks it obs., and cites in support of def. a passage from the last will of Dean Swift, in a clause of which "dispunishable of waste" occurs.

[III-33] Joseph Rolette, Sr. There were various persons of this surname, whose spelling varies as usual. Billon gives one Michel Rolette as a French soldier who came from Fort Chartres to Laclede's village (St. Louis) in 1764. Pike's "Mr. Rollett" is the same man as Beltrami's "Mr. Roulet," said in Beltrami's book, II. p. 174, to have been at Prairie du Chien in 1823, in the S. W. Co. The Minn. Hist. Coll., II. Part 2, 1864, 2d ed. 1881, p. 107, mentions "the notorious Joseph Rolette, sen.," as at Prairie du Chien, in or about Feb., 1822. The memoir of Hercules M. Dousman, by General H. H. Sibley, Minn. Hist. Coll., III. 1870-80, p. 193, speaks of "the late Joseph Rolette, senior," as a partner of the American Fur Company, in 1826; again we read there, p. 194: "In 1834 ... I formed with him [Dousman] and the late Joseph Rolette, senior, a co-partnership with the American Fur Company of New York, which passed in that year under the direction of Ramsay Crooks as President"; and once more, ibid., p. 199: "In 1844, Col. Dousman was united in marriage to the widow of his former partner in business, Joseph Rolette, senior, who died some years previously."

[III-34] This letter was Doc. No. 11, p. 25 of the App. to Pt. 1 of the orig. ed. It is given beyond.

[III-35] That is to say, certain ones of their nation who were murderers of some white men: see Apr. 17th. The minutes of this Winnebago conference formed Doc. No. 12, p. 26 of the App. to Pt. 1 of the orig. ed.; given beyond.

[III-36] Doc. No. 13, p. 29 of the App. to Pt. 1 of the orig. ed.; given beyond.

[III-37] On Pike's Tabular Abstract, one Red Thunder, Tonnerre Rouge, or Wuckiew Nutch, appears as a Sisseton and "first chief of all the Sioux"; while Red Cloud, Nuage Rouge, or Muckpeanutah, is exhibited as first chief of the Yanktons.

[III-38] James B. Many of Delaware, whose name occurs in Pike and elsewhere as Many, Maney, Manny, and Mary, also as Mancy in the text of 1807, was appointed first lieutenant of the 2d reg't of Artillerists and Engineers June 4th, 1798, and hence of Artillerists Apr. 1st, 1802; promoted to be captain Oct. 1st, 1804, and major, May 5th, 1813; he was transferred to the corps of Artillery May 12th, 1814, to the 4th Infantry June 1st, 1821, to the 5th Infantry Oct. 24th, 1821; on the 1st of Jan., 1822, he was made lieutenant-colonel of the 7th Infantry, to rank from June 1st, 1821; became colonel of the 2d Infantry July 21st, 1834, and died Feb. 23d, 1852.

[III-39] Pigeons are among the least fecund of birds, as they lay only two eggs at a clutch, and that not oftener than most other birds. But Pike's account of their vast numbers is not in the least exaggerated. The aggregate of individuals in existence in the United States during those and for many later years defies all attempt at calculation. Some single flights have been estimated to include millions. The settlement of the country, and consequent wanton destruction during our generation, have exterminated the wild pigeon in some regions, and reduced to comparatively few its numbers in others.

[III-40] Daniel Hughes of Maryland originally entered the army as an ensign of the 9th Infantry, Jan. 8th, 1799; became a lieutenant that year, and was honorably discharged June 15th, 1800. He was reappointed second lieutenant of the 2d Infantry Feb. 16th, 1801, and transferred to the 1st Infantry Apr. 1st, 1802; promoted to be first lieutenant Mar. 23d, 1805, and captain Dec. 15th, 1808; became major of the 2d Infantry Feb. 21st, 1814, and was honorably discharged June 15th, 1815. His subsequent career is not known to me.

[III-41] A sketch of the early history of St. Louis forms pp. 75-92 of Nicollet's Report of 1843, so often cited in the foregoing notes. It will be well to abstract here the main historical points of this article, which is not so well known as everything that Nicollet wrote should be. Some of the following items are adduced from other sources, as Billon's Annals. Louisiana was ceded by France to Spain, Treaty of Fontainebleau, Nov. 3d, 1762, ratified Nov. 13th; and by Treaty of Paris, Feb. 10th, 1763, France and Spain jointly made the cession to Great Britain. In 1762 or 1763 D'Abadie was director-general of Louisiana ad interim, vice Governor Kerlerec, relieved. He licensed Laclede, Maxent (or Maxam) and Co., merchants of New Orleans, to trade up the river. Pierre Ligueste Laclede, in charge of the party, left New Orleans Aug. 3d, 1763; proceeded to St. Genevieve and Fort Chartres, Nov. 3d; to the mouth of the Missouri in Dec.; blazed a site for his trading-post, now St. Louis; and returned to winter at Fort Chartres, 1763-64. He soon sent to the spot he had marked a boat with 30 persons, in charge of Auguste Chouteau; they arrived Feb. 15th, 1764 (so Nicollet), or Mar. 14th (Chouteau himself says). The list of the "Thirty Associates" of Laclede given by Billon, p. 17, is 31, with Antoine Riviere, who, however, did not go in this boat, but drove the cart which contained Mrs. Chouteau and four children, and which was escorted by Laclede in person. Chouteau says that Laclede came there early in April, selected a site for his own house, and returned to Fort Chartres. He brought his family in September, and established himself in his new house. The settlement was made, and at least eight persons were added to the original number by the fall of 1764. The original name was Laclede's Village. In Oct., 1764, the infant colony was annoyed by begging and pilfering Missouri Indians. D'Abadie died Feb. 4th, 1765. Neyon de Villiers had turned over the command of Fort Chartres, June 15th, 1764, to Louis St. Ange de Bellerive, by whom it was given over to the British Captain Stirling, Oct. 10th (not July 17th), 1765; Stirling died in three months, and St. Ange resumed temporary charge of the fort, pending arrival of Stirling's English successor. British dominion E. of the Mississippi, already established, was odious; it drove many persons across the river, and naturally they gathered about the nucleus Laclede had provided. By the end of 1765 several hundred were there; law was needed, and a provisional government was set up by general consent in the election or recognition of St. Ange as governor; this was in effect in April, 1766, with the first recorded document of a public character; first on record being one filed by Joseph Labusciere, notary, Jan. 21st, 1766. Laclede, St. Ange, Labusciere, and Judge Joseph Le Febvre d'Inglebert d'Brouisseau were the four persons most prominent in moving the wheels of government for four or five years. The settlement had already outgrown all the earlier ones in the vicinity and become the actual "metropolis" or capital place in the country. In 1767 the village had perhaps 80 houses, and several hundred people. Late that year Capt. Francisco Rios or Rivers arrived with some 25 men, sent by Don Antonio d' Ulloa to take Spanish possession; he could not be conveniently accommodated, so selected a camp on the Missouri, 14 miles away, where he built in 1768 Fort Charles the Prince (site of subsequent Belle Fontaine), named for the one who became in 1788 Charles IV. of Spain. Definitive possession of Upper Louisiana was taken May 20th, 1770, by Capt. Piedro Piernas, sent from New Orleans by Gen. Alex. O'Reilly (Oreiley of Nicollet), who had landed there at 5 p. m., Aug. 18th, 1769. At the close of the French régime, 1770, the village had 100 wooden and 15 stone houses; pop. 500. Before or about 1770, some other settlements were made in the region roundabout; Blanchette the hunter built his shack on les Petites Côtes, and this place became St. Charles in 1784; the place to be called both Florissant and St. Ferdinand was started by François Borosier Dunegan (so Nicollet—but query this name?) François Saucier settled at Portage des Sioux. The origin of the name Pain Court is said to be: In 1767, one Delor Détergette settled on the W. bank of the Miss. r., 6 m. S. of St. Louis, and was followed by others, all so poor that when they visited St. Louis, the people there would exclaim, "voilà les poches vides qui viennent!" "Here come the Empty Pockets!" "But," says Nicollet, "on one occasion a wag remarked, 'You had better call them emptiers of pockets'—les Vide-poches; a compliment which was retaliated by them upon the place of St. Louis, which was subject to frequent seasons of want, by styling it Pain-Court—Short of Bread." The Vide-poche place became Carondelet in 1776. Laclede died at the Poste aux Arkansas, June 20th, 1778. On May 6th, 1780, St. Louis was attacked by Indians and British, and many persons (accounts differ as to numbers) were killed or captured; it became known as l'Année du Grand Coup—year of the great blow. Similarly 1785 was called l'Année des Grandes Eaux, because of the flood in April when the Mississippi rose to an unprecedented height and inundated the lowlands; it is traditional that Auguste Chouteau moored his boat and breakfasted on top of the highest roof in St. Genevieve. The year 1788 was called L'Année des Dix Batteaux, from circumstances of piracy on the river. The winter of 1789-90 was notable for its intensity. There was no interruption of Spanish dominion until the cession of Louisiana to the United States: see Lewis and Clark, ed. 1893, p. xxxiii. and p. 2.

[IV-1] In the orig. ed. these Tables made five unpaged leaves, bound to follow blank p. 106, and thus were appended to the main text of Pike's itinerary, not put in the Appendix to Part I. It really makes little difference where these Tables go, as nobody ever reads such matter. I leave them where I find them, on the general principle of interfering as little as possible with the original composition of the book, simply introducing a chapter-head for their accommodation; and shall pass this thrilling chapter without further remark.

[V-1] Under this head I bring all the matter which formed in the orig. ed. the first 16 pieces, Nos. 1-16, pp. 1-34 of the Appendix to Pt. 1. These fall easily together, as they consist entirely of letters Pike wrote or received during his Mississippi Expedition—even the reports of his Indian councils being actually a part of his correspondence with General Wilkinson. I am also able to follow the original sequence of the pieces, with the single exception of orig. No. 16 (instructions to Kennerman), which Pike put last and I bring into chronological order of dates. The difference of my Arts. 1-18 from Pike's Nos. 1-16 results from my Art. 3, which had no number in the orig. ed. (it being merely an inclosure in Pike's No. 2), and my Art. 5, the Sioux treaty, which Pike did not separate by any sort of mark from his No. 3, though it is by far the most important piece of this whole lot. The changes I make affect the numeration after No. 2, but not the sequence in any case except that of my Art. 7 (Pike's No. 16). I indicate the original numeration and pagination.

[V-2] There were three persons of this name down to 1805. Louis Tesson Honoré 1st, tailor, b. Canada, 1734, d. St. Louis, 1807, aged 73; married Magdalena Peterson, b. 1739, d. St. Louis, 1812. The family came to St. Louis from Kaskaskia. Among 8 children was—Louis Tesson Honoré 2d, eldest son; he married (1) Marie Duchouquette, (2) Theresa Creely, in 1788; by the latter he had Louis Tesson Honoré 3d, b. St. Louis about 1790; married Amaranthe Dumoulin; d. there Aug. 20th, 1827. The one Pike names was no doubt No. 2.

[V-3] This piece is the inclosure mentioned in Art. 2. In the orig. ed. it had no number, and occupied p. 5.

[V-4] Doc. No. 3, p. 6-9, of the orig. ed. was printed in a peculiarly misleading manner. In the first place it was headed in capitals, "Conferences held with different bands of Indians, on a voyage up the Mississippi, in the years 1805 and 1806," though it was entirely occupied with a single such conference, namely, that with the Sioux, of Sept. 23d, 1805. In the second place, this major head was followed by an italicised minor head which properly covered only Pike's speech on the occasion, yet included the important terms of the treaty effected, as the latter was tacked on to Pike's speech without any separate heading, and even without any break in the text. We must therefore break orig. Doc. No. 3 into two pieces, to be enumerated as Art. 4 and Art. 5. For the former of these, which is Pike's speech, the orig. minor head of Doc. No. 3 may be retained. For the latter of these, which is the Sioux treaty, a new head must be supplied; especially as this is by far the most important result of Pike's Mississippi voyage—perhaps more important than all the rest collectively—concerning which there is a great deal to be said.

[V-5] Who the "father" may be whom Pike imposes upon the Indians in his various powwows is not always clear. Sometimes President Jefferson appears to be indicated; sometimes General Wilkinson; sometimes Pike himself. In the present instance it is General Wilkinson, and the Osage mission in mention is that upon which Lieutenant George Peter had been detailed by the general. This appears in a letter from General Wilkinson to the Secretary of War, dated St. Louis, Aug. 25th, 1805, now on file in the War Department, and in the following extract: "I find our parties under Lieuts. Pike and Peter are making rapid progress on their routes. Pike had ascended the Mississippi 150 miles on the fifth day after he left this place, and I have just received a letter from Peters [sic] dated the 19th inst., 150 miles up the Osage River, altho' he left St. Charles, 25 miles from the mouth of the Missouri, on the 10th inst. and had been obstructed by almost incessant rains and consequent high waters. He is charmed with the river and its banks, which He reports to be far superior to those of the Ohio in beauty and fertility—Independent of the immediate objects of these parties, they serve to instruct our young officers and also our soldiery, on subjects which may hereafter become interesting to the United States." George Peter of Maryland was appointed from the District of Columbia to be a second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry, July 12th, 1799, and honorably discharged June 15th, 1800; he was appointed lieutenant of Artillerists and Engineers, Feb. 16th, 1801; of Artillerists, Apr. 1st, 1802; became captain, Nov. 3d, 1807; was transferred to the Light Artillery in May, 1808; resigned, June 11th, 1809; and died June 22d, 1861.

[V-6]As explained in note^1, p. 221, this article requires separation from Art. 4, from which it is totally distinct, though the two form undistinguished parts of one Doc. No. 3, of the orig. ed. I accordingly set them apart, and supply a new heading for Art. 5; but I reprint the latter precisely as it stands in the orig. ed., for reasons which will presently appear. As originally drafted by Pike, and by him communicated to General Wilkinson under cover of a letter of equal date, it appears to have been "scarcely legible," as the general informs the Secretary of War in a letter before me (see Art. 6). I doubt that this extraordinary document ever existed in a form which might not be set aside as fatally defective; and I do not doubt that we acquired legal title to the lands by some means subsequent to this invalid instrument. The probability is that upon due and sufficient investigation of points of law involved it would appear that the supposed cession of lands was not a legally accomplished fact until made such by later negotiation or legislation, with which we have here nothing to do. The following argument concerning Pike's treaty, as simply a starting-point for further steps in the transaction, was submitted in the press-proofs to my relative James M. Flower, Esq., of Chicago, who had no material modification to suggest.

Let us first examine that version of the document which Pike presents upon his own page, and which is therefore presumably authentic.

1. The preamble recites that a conference was held "between the United States of America and the Sioux nation of Indians." But it does not appear that either of the alleged parties to the transaction was officially and legally represented. The Sioux nation consisted in 1805 of at least seven tribes, only one of which was concerned in the affair; and if only the consent of this one tribe was required to effect the cession the conference is erroneously described. Furthermore, it does not appear by what authority Pike assumed to represent the United States. He signs himself "agent" at the conference. Agent of whom or of what? He was certainly not an Indian agent, empowered by the United States to effect treaties with aliens; and though it is true that he was instructed by his military superior to obtain if possible certain cessions, among which was the cession of land at and near the mouth of St. Peter's r., the question recurs whether General Wilkinson was competent to issue military orders to that effect without the authority of the government; and no such authority is expressed or necessarily implied in the terms of the alleged treaty.

2. Art. 1, which ostensibly declares what lands were supposed to be ceded, does in fact declare or describe no such lands sufficiently or recognizably, and is furthermore vitiated by a blunder which would constitute a fatal flaw in the title, if contested. (a) "Nine miles square at the mouth of the St. Croix," is in the first place an impossibility, because the mouth of the St. Croix has no such dimensions; and in the second place may mean either a tract of 81 square miles, whose center is at the mouth of the said river, or any one of four or more square tracts of the said extent, any one of whose angles, or any indetermined point of one of whose sides, is at the mouth of the said river; and in no one of these contingencies is the direction in which the remaining bounds are to be laid off described either by points of the compass or by natural landmarks. (b) The asterisk set at the words "St. Croix" refers to a memorandum which Pike causes to appear as a clause of the treaty itself, interpolated of his own motion, without the knowledge or consent of the other party to the transaction; it is also unintelligible on its face. "My demand was one league below." Below what? Below the mouth of the St. Croix? That would be the obvious inference; but it would be erroneous to so infer. "Their reply was 'from below.'" This is absolutely unintelligible as it stands; it has no meaning whatever. "I imagine (without iniquity) they may be made to agree." Is it Pike's imagination that is without iniquity? Or is it some agreement that may be brought about without iniquity between his demands and the terms of the cession? Or is it the Indians who can without iniquity be made to agree with a demand that conflicts with the terms of the cession as understood by them? In point of fact, however, this interpolated clause of the treaty, or interpolated memorandum relating to the terms of the cession, has nothing whatever to do with the lands at or near the St. Croix r., because the asterisk which points out the place of the interpolation is misplaced by error of the types. The words which stand "St. Croix,* also from," etc., should stand "St. Croix. *Also from," etc. The printer foiled Pike's intention of placing the asterisk at the beginning of the clause to which it pertains, by setting it at the end of the preceding clause, to which it does not pertain.

3. Now making the actually required transference of the asterisk to its proper and intended position (where it stands correctly on a manuscript copy of the orig. doc. now before me), the whole difficulty which this obnoxious interpolation occasions is shifted to a much more important clause of the treaty, upon which it remains in full force. Accordingly we find that this most important clause beginning "*Also from below," etc., includes an irreconcilable discrepancy between Pike's demand and the Indians' concession. He appears to have demanded that the tract of land ceded should begin "one league" below the confluence of St. Peter's with the Mississippi r.; and the Indians appear to have agreed, not to this demand, but to a cession of a tract of land which should begin "from below" the said confluence; though how far "from below" is not said, and there is nothing to show whether the distance should be more or less than the "one league" which Pike demanded and to which the Indians did not agree. But it is impossible, either with or without "iniquity," to come to any incontestable conclusion concerning a boundary so unintelligibly indicated. The most we can do is to "imagine," as Pike did, that what the Indians were willing to cede and did in fact cede by the terms of the treaty, was a tract which began on one side at no appreciable or no considerable distance below the said confluence, i. e., exactly or immediately at the mouth of St. Peter's r. This is a reasonable and natural, if not the only, inference to be drawn from the obscure and scarcely intelligible terms of the article in question; and I believe that such has always been the assumption of its true purport. The initial point assumed, then, is the mouth of St. Peter's r.; but the article does not show in what, if any, direction a line is to be drawn through this point for the purpose of establishing a practicable boundary. No line can be determined by fewer than two points; yet the article specifies no second point to or from which a line may be drawn from or to the mouth of St. Peter's r. to represent one side of the tract supposed to have been ceded. The further terms of the article throw no light on the case. These terms are only "to include the falls of St. Anthony, extending nine miles on each side of the river." This clause of the cession does not specify which one of the two said rivers the Falls of St. Anthony extend nine miles on each side of, and it is also a natural impossibility for the said falls to extend any miles on either side of any river. Seeking some other construction to be put upon terms which are obviously absurd if taken literally, we drag from obscurity a semblance of meaning they may be assumed to have. This meaning is, that the tract of land ceded does to all intent and purpose extend from a point at the mouth of St. Peter's r. to some point in or on the Mississippi r., at or beyond the Falls of St. Anthony; but to what point is not specified. However, we may assume that the phrase "to include the falls of St. Anthony" is to be construed to include no more than these falls. This assumption gives us a second datum-point of the required boundary, but does not in any way assist us to an intelligible connection between the first point and the second one, along which any line can be drawn as a boundary. This deficiency of any line whatever may be assumed to be supplied by the only remaining clause of the article, namely, "extending nine miles on each side of the river." But in what direction are nine miles on each side of the river to be taken? For anything that appears to the contrary, the distance between the mouth of St. Peter's r. and the Falls of St. Anthony may be nine miles, and there is nothing in the terms of the article which forbids the measurement of nine miles to be made up each side of the Mississippi from the mouth of St. Peter's r. to the Falls of St. Anthony, and as much further as nine miles may be found to reach. On such assumption, the cession included only a section of the Mississippi r., and not any land on either side of this river beyond its immediate banks; all that was ceded by the Sioux being in such event a waterway and a waterpower. To claim as ours by the terms of the treaty any land on either side of the river, we have to proceed upon yet another assumption, namely, that the nine miles in question were to be measured in a direction away from the river "on each side." But even assuming such to have been the intent and purport of the article, several further questions arise. The first of these concerns the meaning of the word "each" in its present connection. This word means either one of two or more things in their reciprocal relation, and thus implies both; in the present instance, as a river has only two sides, "each side" means both sides. It is clear that a distance of nine miles is to be measured away from each side of the river, i. e., is to include some distance on both sides of the river; but the terms of the article do not state whether the whole of nine miles' distance from one side of the river, and the whole of nine miles' distance from the other side of the river, was ceded, or whether a part of these nine miles on one side and the rest of these nine miles on the other was ceded; or, in the latter case, what part of these nine miles on one side and what part of these nine miles on the other side were ceded. In other words, is the tract of land ceded eighteen miles wide, or only nine miles wide? In the former case it would of course lie in two equal tracts, one on each side of the river; in the latter case, its location would be wholly indeterminate (within certain obvious limitations); for it might be four and a half miles on each side, or four miles on one side and five on the other, and so on. Even were all the foregoing questions settled—arbitrarily, conventionally, or otherwise—yet others would arise. Among these would be the shape of the two lateral boundaries of the tract of land. This tract is described as "extending nine miles on each side of the river." That is, each boundary furthest from the river is to be at the same distance from its own side of the river at every point of its own extent. This requires that these bounds should be parallel with each other, and such parallelism involves the meandering of two lines parallel at every point with the meanders of the river. Assuming that this were satisfactorily done, it would still be impossible to determine the connection of these two sides of a theoretical tract of land with the other two sides required for actual boundary. For there is nothing in the article to show the direction in which either the line which crosses the mouth of St. Peter's r., or the line which crosses the Falls of St. Anthony, is to be extended to intersect any lines, however the latter may have been projected. We are forced to yet further assumptions, for which the terms of the cession give no warrant whatever. No determinable shape is given to the tract of land by the terms of the cession. If we assume that a square was intended—as was expressly the intention in the case of the land about the mouth of the St. Croix—we are confronted with some terms of the article which put a square out of the question. By these terms the land can only be a square in case the mouth of the St. Peter's r. be nine miles below the Falls of St. Anthony, and in the further case that we measure four and a half miles from one and four and a half miles from the other side of the Mississippi, and make all connections at right angles by means of right lines. It is needless to push the difficulty further. Nothing of this sort, we may be sure, was in the minds of the Sioux at the time, and it may be doubted that anything of the sort occurred to Pike. The patent fact remains that even if both parties to the transaction were competent to execute the instrument by which certain lands were ceded, neither the situation, nor the shape, nor the size of the tract ceded can be determined from the article of the treaty relating thereto. How the cession thus left in the air may have been subsequently determined, it is not to my present purpose to inquire. My contention is simply that we acquired by Article 1 of this famous treaty no tract or tracts of land which can be located according to the terms of the article; and that if there be not a cloud upon the title to every foot of land between and including Fort Snelling and Minneapolis, and for some distance on each side of those places, then such cloud has been removed by legislative or other action subsequent to the supposed cession. It will also be remembered by those interested in such things that the question has been raised whether the Sioux who seem to have ceded this land to us had at the time a clear title to it; for Carver claimed, and some of his heirs have since sought to establish his claim, that the Sioux had at one time made over to him, for a valuable consideration, certain lands supposed to be the same, wholly or in part, as those which they made over to Pike. This case I understand was tried, and decided adversely in law; whether it be not a good case in equity is another question.

4. With the competency of both parties to the transaction brought into question, and with the size, shape, and situation of the land-grant shown to be indeterminable, we have next to consider whether Article 2 does not invalidate, vitiate, or void the whole instrument. In the version which Pike's printer offers us, it reads: "Art. 2. That in consideration of the above grants, the United States shall pay (filled up by the senate with 2000 dollars)." This is simply ridiculous. By the terms of Article 2, the valuable consideration which the Sioux received is an imaginary nonentity described as "(filled up by the senate with 2000 dollars)." However, this absurdity in the wording of an international document is so clearly due to the heedlessness of an inexperienced young officer, and what Pike meant by such phraseology is so obvious, that we can let it go with only the further remark that the purport of Article 2, as it stands on his page, is clearer than anything in Article 1. For it is an obvious editorial interpolation of his own, forming no part of the original document, but simply intended to inform the reader that at some time subsequent to the execution of the instrument by the contracting parties, the Senate of the United States voted to fill up a place which had been left blank in the original document with a clause which provided that the United States should pay $2,000 to the Indians in consideration of the grant which the latter had made. But this very fact goes far to show that the instrument was in the first place fatally defective, no valuable or any consideration whatever having been originally expressed or implied in the terms of Article 2. On this point I have carefully examined two manuscript copies of the "treaty," both made soon after the transaction in question, and both now on file in the War Department. One of the manuscripts reads: "Article 2nd.—That in consideration of the above Grants, the United States" The other manuscript reads: "Art. 2d That in consideration of the above grants the U. S." A third version of Article 2, in an official imprint of the treaty, published by the Indian Bureau, is: "Article 2. That in consideration of the above grants the United States ******" Whence it appears that the words "shall pay," which occur in the version our young friend offers in his book, were also an editorial invention of his own; there is no hint in the original instrument that the United States was to pay anything. For anything that appears to the contrary, the United States might have declared war with England, or amended the Constitution, or done nothing, in consideration of the above grant. Pike could give the Indians no assurance that the United States would do anything whatever—that they would even accept the lands as a gift, because he had no knowledge of future Acts of Congress, and no authority to make any stipulations which should be binding on the government. What is perhaps the most extraordinary thing about this extraordinary transaction is that Pike informs Wilkinson by letter of equal date that lands to the extent of about 100,000 acres had been obtained "for a song"; calls the general's attention pointedly to the fact "that the 2d article, relative to consideration, is blank;" that the "song" in mention was worth about $250, being the value of certain presents with which he had personally and privately feed the two chiefs who signed the treaty, these presents being partly from articles of his personal property; and suggests to the general "to insert the amount of those articles as the considerations to be specified in article 2d." General Wilkinson expresses unfeigned surprise at this, in a letter before me addressed to the Secretary of War, dated St. Louis, Nov. 26th, 1805, in which he says: "You have a copy of the agreement under cover, in which, for what reason I cannot divine, he [Pike] omits the stipulation on the part of the United States;" and again, after quoting some clauses of Pike's letter to himself, he remarks: "I do not fairly comprehend this reasoning, but I dare say Mr. Pike will be able to explain it satisfactorily, tho' it is unquestionable he is a much abler soldier than negotiator." We need not take the view that this was a shady transaction; yet if Wilkinson had inserted $250 as the consideration to be paid for the land, no more than this could have been claimed by the Sioux, and as this was in part Pike's personal property, some land would have been his own unless he had chosen to make it over to the United States on being reimbursed in a like amount—that is, if such a treaty was worth any more than the paper on which it was written. The facts appear to be that Pike hobnobbed with two chiefs till he got them to make him a present of the land he wanted, in consideration of some presents which he had already made to these two Indians privately.

5. The third article of the treaty is intelligible, though it is not clear what "exceptions" were "specified" in Article 1, as recited in Article 3. The purport seems to be that the Sioux should retain right of way in the land, and such other use of it as should not be abridged or nullified by our occupation. At the same time it is not clear that, since the United States were to have "full sovereignty and power," by the terms of Article 1, they were not authorized to withdraw all the privileges of Article 3 if they saw fit to do so.

6. The question of the validity of many legal documents is affected by the presence or absence of witnesses to the same. In the present case no signatures of witnesses appear on the face of the instrument, and there is nothing whatever to show that it is anything more than a part of a speech which Pike made to certain Indians, and which two of them subscribed besides himself. None of the published versions of the "treaty" which I have seen includes this important feature. But one of the manuscript copies before me has the names of four persons as witnesses, all whites. Reference to the second paragraph of Pike's speech will show him to have spoken of "a form of agreement which we will both sign in the presence of the traders now present." Four names which appear on the face of the manuscript copy just mentioned, in the usual place of witnesses' signatures, and under a word which I make out to be "Tests," (i. e., teste or testibus, in the ablative sing. or pl.) are: Wm. Meyer, M[urdoch] Cameron, James Frazer, Duncan Graham. It is remarkable that, if these names appear on the original document, they were not transcribed on all the copies, and also printed with the published versions, as an integral part of the same.

7. The names of the two chiefs who are supposed to have "touched the quill" to this transaction, i. e., signed with their respective marks, occur in variant forms in the several copies; but this is the rule in such cases, and has no significance except of clerical incompetency. In the officially published version above mentioned the two names stand "Le Petit Carbeau" and "Way Aga Enagee," each of which only differs by one letter from the correct form (in the case of the French) or from a usual form (in the case of the Sioux). Each of these chiefs has been already identified: see note^2, p. 85 and p. 86.

The subsequent history of this mock instrument or valid document is not less singular than the conditions and circumstances under which it originated. Diligent search for it among the treaties duly published in the U. S. Statutes at Large fails to show that it was ever included in that collection of official papers. But certain facts were furnished, with the text of the treaty itself, to the Indian Bureau by Mr. C. C. Royce of the Bureau of Ethnology at Washington, and printed by the former Bureau in an editorial note explanatory of that text, on p. 316 of its official publication entitled "Laws of the United States relating to Indian Affairs," etc., Washington, Government Printing Office, 1884. It appears in this place that the treaty (in some form) was submitted by the President to the Senate, March 29th, 1808, thus more than two years after the execution of the instrument in writing; that the Senate reported favorably upon it April 13th, 1808, with the following amendment to fill the blank in Article 2: "After the word 'States' in the second article insert the following words: 'shall, prior to taking possession thereof, pay to the Sioux two thousand dollars, or deliver the value thereof in such goods and merchandise as they shall choose.'" With this amendment the Senate unanimously advised and consented to its ratification, April 16th, 1808. Examination of the records of the State Department fails to disclose that any subsequent action was taken by the President; and the ratification of the treaty does not appear to have ever been proclaimed. This is a very unusual circumstance; for such treaties ordinarily have three official dates of as many stages in their progress from inception to full effect, viz.: date of agreement between the contracting parties; date of ratification by the proper authority; and date of proclamation by the President. In the present case the principal evidence that the alleged cession of lands was ever a legally accomplished fact is said by Mr. Royce to consist in certain correspondence of the War Department more than twenty-five years after the date of ratification of the amended treaty by the Senate. But that the cession was effected, legally or otherwise, is certain. In 1819 Major Thomas Forsyth, Indian Agent at St. Louis, had received instructions from the War Department to deliver "a certain quantity of goods, say $2,000 worth," "in payment of lands ceded by the Sioux Indians to the late Gen. Pike for the United States": see Forsyth's Narrative, as orig. pub. in Wis. Hist. Coll., 1872, with notes by Lyman C. Draper, and repub. in Minn. Hist. Coll., III. 1874, pp. 139-67. Yet we find General H. H. Sibley saying, ibid., p. 174: "In the year 1821, Col. Leavenworth called together the chiefs and head men of the Sioux bands, and procured from them a grant of land nine miles square at the junction of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers." What can one make of such conflicting statements? Here it is said that Colonel Leavenworth procured in 1821 a grant of land which Major Forsyth is said to have paid for in 1819, and which Pike is said to have secured in 1805. In the same place General Sibley says that there was an article in the Leavenworth-Sioux treaty of 1821 by which the Indians "donated" Pike's isl. to Mr. J. B. Faribault.

[V-7] "The within articles" are those of the Sioux Treaty of same date, inclosed in this letter to General Wilkinson, which reached St. Louis on or about Nov. 26th, 1805, and was immediately communicated in full to the Secretary of War. A manuscript copy of the original is on file in the Record Division of the War Department, together with two copies of General Wilkinson's own letter to General Dearborn on the same subject and other topics. I might reproduce the manuscript of Pike's letter textually, but as the copy before me is in a clerk's hand, its peculiarities being thus not Pike's own, it is not worth while to replace the above fair imprint of the original with another version which would show no difference except in its clerical errors. See preceding article for a criticism of the treaty itself which formed the inclosure of the present letter. One passage from General Wilkinson's unpublished letter to the Secretary of War may be here cited: "He [Pike] tells me he has no doubt of being able to make Lake Sable in pretty good Season, but observes that the source of the River is in 'Lake Sang Sue,' about sixty Leagues further North & that He must 'see that also'—in which case he will have stretched his orders & we shall not hear of Him before the Spring—He reports that our flag is every where received with pleasure, & that he had patched up a Peace between the Scioux & Chepaways, who are generally at War——"

[V-8] This is the "Original Leve" of p. 85—the chief whose name would be in English Standing Elk or Standing Moose: see note^2, p. 87. Élan is French for such an animal; it is the same word as the Dutch eland, which we have borrowed for a South African species.

[V-9] "Mareir" and "Tremer" are both wrong, no doubt, but I do not know what the right names are. A clerk's copy of the original letter before me has "Mercier" and "Fener"—latter perhaps François Fennai: cf. W. H. S. C., XII. p. 160.

[V-10] Article 7 was misplaced in the orig. ed. as No. 16, being brought in at the end of all the rest of the correspondence. I transfer it to its present proper place in chronological sequence of these documents. It requires no comment, being simply the written orders which the commanding officer gave his sergeant for the guidance of the latter during the former's absence, and which Kennerman proceeded to disobey in general and in particular.

[V-11] The first visit of white men to the Mandans was made in 1738, under the leadership of Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, otherwise Le Sieur Verendrye. A relation of this journey, by Rev. Dr. Edward D. Neill, occupies pp. 113-119 of the Macalester College Contributions, Department of History, Literature, and Political Science, Second Series, No. 5, which I extract in substance, as follows:

On Sept. 24th, 1738, Verendrye was at the confluence of the Red River of the North with the Assiniboine r. Two days afterward he began his journey up the latter, and on the 30th, having found a suitable place, he established Fort La Reine. Within a week, Mgr. de La Marque (otherwise Charles Nolan, Noland, or Nolant, son of J. B. Nolan and Marie Anne La Marque, b. 1694), and his brother, Sieur Nolan, with eight men, arrived in two canoes from Mackinac. On Oct. 16th Verendrye selected 10 of his own men and 10 of La Marque's party for the Mandan expedition, and their march began on the 18th. The party consisted of Verendrye, with two of his sons; La Marque and his brother Nolan; together with some voyageurs and Indians—in all 52 persons. On the 21st, at the distance of 26 leagues from Fort La Reine, they reached the first (no doubt Turtle) mountain. After slow marches southwestwardly, the first Mandans were met on the morning of the 28th. A chief came and stood near Verendrye, and one of his band presented corn on the cob and some tobacco. These Indians were only covered with a buffalo-robe, wearing no breech-clout. The Mandan chief requested the French to visit his village, and left on the 30th, accompanied by about 600 Indians. On the evening of the third day's march an Assiniboine, one of a number of this tribe who had already joined the expedition, stole a bag containing Verendrye's papers and other valuables; two men were hired to pursue the thief, and they captured him. On the morning of the fourth day's march camp was broken early in order to reach the Mandan settlement. A short distance from the village they were met on an elevation by a delegation of Mandans, who presented the calumet. Verendrye directed his son, the chevalier, to draw up the French in line, place the flag of France four paces before them, and fire three volleys. At 4 p. m., Dec. 3d, Verendrye and his associates entered the village and were conducted to the lodge of the principal chief, where a bag containing presents, and also 300 livres, was stolen. The Assiniboines were much afraid of the Sioux, from whom they had separated years before, and the Mandans, not wishing to entertain Verendrye's escort, purposely raised a rumor that the Sioux were coming, whereupon the Assiniboines decamped. Verendrye was embarrassed for want of a good interpreter, but learned that on the banks of the Missouri, lower down, were the Pananas, and then the Pananis, at war with each other. Six days after the Assiniboines decamped, Chevalier Verendrye, Sieur Nolan, six Frenchmen, and several Mandans visited a settlement on the bank of the river, and then Sieur Verendrye and Mgr. de La Marque inspected the village. There were 130 cabins. A fort was built on an elevation in the open prairie, surrounded by a ditch about 15 feet deep and from 15 to 18 feet wide. (Compare A. J. Hill's plot of Mandan fortification, in T. H. Lewis' Minor Antiq. Art. No. iv, p. 5, 1884.) The cabins were spacious, separated into several apartments by thick planks, and goods were hung on posts in large bags. The men were naked, covered only with a buffalo robe; the women also, excepting a loose apron about a foot long. On the evening of Dec. 4th Verendrye's son and Nolan came back and reported that the village they had visited was twice as large as that where they were. On Dec. 8th the latitude was taken and found to be 48° 12´ N. It was now decided to leave two men to winter with the Mandans to acquire their language, and return with the rest to Fort La Reine. Before they departed the head chief was presented with a flag, and a leaden plate upon which the arms of France were cut. When ready to leave, Verendrye fell sick and could not travel for two or three days. On Dec. 24th, still weak, he reached the Assiniboine village, and was agreeably surprised when the box of papers which had been stolen was returned in good order. On Jan. 9th, 1739, the first height of land between the Missouri and Assiniboine rivers was reached; here Verendrye remained, while La Marque hurried on to Fort La Reine. There he arrived Feb. 1st, and sent back assistance to Verendrye, who reached the post, greatly fatigued, on the 10th of this month. The two voyageurs who had been left with the Mandans returned to the fort Sept. 27th, 1739, with reports representing more fiction than fact.

In 1740 Verendrye visited Canada, and on Oct. 13th, 1741, he returned to Fort La Reine. He afterward established a fifth post called Fort Dauphin at Lac des Prairies, and a sixth, Fort Bourbon, at the mouth of the Poskoyac r. (i. e., the Saskatchewan). In April, 1742, the Chevalier Verendrye and his brother left Fort La Reine, and by way of the Mandan village, on a southwestward course, are supposed to have reached the Rocky Mountains in January, 1743. The Sieur Verendrye died Dec. 6th, 1749.

[V-12] "As they were wont to be" is a particularly fine rhetorical climax to what our young friend so innocently prides himself on having accomplished. It must have made the most stolid savage of them all smile in his sleeve,—or whatever article of nether apparel he wore,—as there never had been a time in his memory, or in the memories of any of his ancestors as far back as his tribal traditions went in the dim past, when the Sioux and Chippewas were not hereditary foes, who killed and scalped each other with alacrious and comprehensive reciprocity. It is true that in rare sporadic cases, when both sets of red brethren were exhausted in war, or when each found it necessary to let up a little on the other for a chance to hunt in peace for the necessaries of life, temporary truces had been agreed upon. But such spasms were supposed by neither party to last longer than suited the convenience of either; nay, the very councils in which such a peace was patched up sometimes ended in fresh bloodshed on the sacred spot; and the annals of all the Indians of North America might be sifted through and through to discover a more notable case of inveterate, perpetual, and ferocious warfare than is afforded by the hereditary hostility of these two powerful nations. Pike was no doubt sincere and veracious in his representations of the happy results of his peace-making; but his ignorance of the facts in the case must have been complete, or he would have known that such a truce as he effected was sure to be broken as soon as his back was turned—if not sooner. Furthermore, the expediency of interfering with such affairs may reasonably be doubted; for, paradoxical as it may appear, a patched-up peace between tribes whose hostilities are hereditary costs more lives than it saves, and makes more trouble than it prevents. The vigilance of both parties is relaxed, private enterprise replaces public policy, and individual murders multiply rapidly till the normal equilibrium of forces is readjusted by open declaration of the always existent intertribal hostility. War is the necessary and natural state of affairs among savages; it is the main business of their lives, and the principal if not the only means of attaining all that is dearest to their hearts; and it is better for all parties to proceed on that understanding in a straightforward, businesslike way than to bushwhack for surreptitious scalps. Such trophies of prowess must be had in any event and at all hazards; and secret assassinations to secure them represent in the aggregate a higher death-rate than that resulting from pitched battles. Meddling with unmanageable things is never good policy, and interference with intertribal relations of savages is generally inhumane as well as impolitic.

[V-13] The three whose answers to Pike's address are given in this article have already been sufficiently identified: see back, note^7, p. 156, note^10, p. 169, note^13, p. 172. It is amusing to observe the unanimity with which they declined the polite invitation to visit General Wilkinson at St. Louis. Old Sweet's regrets strike me as the most ingenuous. What was the use of his going in person if he sent his pipe? If we send our card to a functionary in acknowledgment of an invitation, is not the etiquette of the occasion accomplished by that civil ceremony? Sucre's suggestion regarding the Sioux of the upper Minnesota r., whose intentions were doubtful, was eminently practical—if they wanted peace, let them so signify in the usual manner. Chef de la Terre seems to have been less resourceful in polite excuses than the other two. He could not go unless Sucre did; but some other day, perhaps, etc. Flat Mouth's remarks were the most astute. His excuse, whether feigned or not, was good; but as to his intention of burying the hatchet so far out of sight that he would let the Sioux strike him even once without digging it up, we may indulge a doubt.

[V-14] This is true in a certain sense. When Pike was on Cass l., at the mouth of Turtle r., Feb. 12th-14th., 1806, he was on a Mississippian water-way of communication with Red r. and so with Hudsonian waters. But this must not be taken to indicate that he ever reached the divide between these waters, still less that he passed to Red r. or Red l. The fact that it has been so taken gives occasion for this note. For the situation at the dates said, see note^8, p. 157.

[V-15] Orig. No. 12, though only entitled, "A speech delivered to the Puants, at the Prairie des Cheins the 20th day of April, 1806," included, besides the speech covered by this heading, various other matters which came up April 21st, in another council with the same Winnebagoes, and furthermore gave a report of a conference with the Sioux, etc. Accordingly, I separate Orig. No. 12 into two articles, making Pike's speech Art. 15, and supplying a new head for Art. 16, to cover the rest of the proceedings at Prairie du Chien.

[V-16] The above paragraph formed no part of the letter to which it is appended, being an explanatory note which Pike added when he was about to print the letter in his book. One reason why the Indians did not get the medals they had been led to expect is evident in the following extract of a letter before me from General Wilkinson to the Secretary of War, dated St. Louis, Dec. 3d, 1805: "The Indians in all directions Clamour for Medals, & it is found policy to present them, but we have not one in the Country, or among the factory Goods—If you send any out let them be addressed to the Superintendant & not the Agent, for many & obvious reasons—the last aims at too much importance & the former may need some."

[V-17] This is the last letter we have from Pike on the subject of the Mississippi voyage. It is, in fact, a letter of transmittal of his official report to the commanding general, and thus a sort of preface or introduction to the whole subject. In two weeks from the date of this communication Pike had started up the Missouri on his second expedition, and of course did nothing further with his Mississippi matters until he had returned from Mexico, the following year. Article 19 therefore completes the batch of miscellaneous documents, chiefly letters, which I have grouped in this chapter of "Correspondence and Conferences." But we have still to deal with four formal articles relating to the Mississippian voyage; these I make the subjects of the following chapters.

[V-18] The reference is here to Captain Meriwether Lewis' Statistical View of the Indian Nations, etc., which formed the second one of five papers accompanying President Jefferson's message to Congress, Feb. 16th, 1806: see L. and C., ed. 1893, p. cviii.

[V-19] Mr. George Anderson, the same who furnished Pike with most of the data he obtained concerning the fur-trade. See next chapter, on the commerce of the Mississippi.

[VI-1] This article, for which I introduce a new chapter, with a new major head, formed Doc. No. 17 of the orig. ed., pp. 35-40 and a folder, of the Appendix to Pt. 1. The original title of the piece is preserved as a minor head of the chapter, and this will also serve to effect some sort of typographical uniformity with the following five pieces, A, B, C, D, E, which are integral parts of the article, yet were in the orig. ed. separated from the rest of the article under a different heading, in larger type than the main heading itself; moreover, the piece marked C, whose proper position was of course between B and D, was a separate folding blanket-sheet bound to face p. 40, thus coming after E. The construction of this table is such that it can be printed on two pages of the present edition, and be put between D and E.

Pike's remarks on the fur-trade are sound and very much to the point; together with his descriptions of the trading-houses, etc., they represent probably the best account extant of things as they were in 1805. His present Observations, etc., as well as his correspondence with Hugh M'Gillis (Arts. 8 and 9 of the foregoing chapter, pp. 247-254), were extracted for use in the Statutes, Documents, and Papers bearing on the Discussion respecting the Northern and Western Boundaries of the Province of Ontario, pub. Toronto, Hunter, Rose and Co., 1877, 8vo, pp. 318-323.

[VI-2] The Indian trade is not among the least of the vexed questions which the United States has sought to answer in the natural and necessary process of causing the Indians to make their exeunt from the world's stage. The prices at which goods were sold by private individuals, whether French, English, or American, seem exorbitant, extortionate—in a word, monstrous! But trade is a thing that seems to regulate itself, without regard to theory or sentiment; the Indian trade certainly did. I once asked the lion-tamer of a popular circus what was the secret of his profession, expecting some discerning remarks from him on the power of the human eye over wild beasts, and so forth; but all he told me was, "You just have to know your lion." In war, trade, or religion, you just have to know your Indian, as our soldiers, traders, and priests found out for their respective selves. General Whiting has some extremely moderate and judicious words on the subject, in his Life of Pike, p. 231 seq., which I will reproduce in substance, as it was a part of Pike's business on this voyage to keep an eye on the Indian traders and trade. The various expenses attending the transport of goods swelled the original value to such an extraordinary degree that a knife cost an Indian the ordinary price of a handsome sword, when he stuck it in his belt; and by the time his squaw had put a yard and a half of blue strouds around her waist, her lord was in debt for an amount that would have bought a city belle a ball dress. Such high prices would have been ruinous to the Indian had not their trade customs furnished a corrective. Few Indians ever hunted beforehand; they seldom got their stock of skins to offer for sale at a fair or any price, else the traffic would have been on more nearly equal terms. They must have their outfit for the chase first, and then they must feel the pangs of hunger before they would start on a hunt. The trader was obliged to overcome their indolence by offering certain inducements, besides furnishing the necessary means. This was an invention of necessity on which the whole system of credits was based, and on which such a structure of extortion and other evils was reared. The trader had to let his goods go on credit into lazy, improvident, always uncertain and often dishonest or criminal hands, with no security for any adequate return for his outlay except in a scale of ordinary prices that would cover him in case of extraordinary losses. He took great risks and put up his premium accordingly. He expected to realize 200 to 250 per cent. on the price of goods for which he got anything, to cover the loss on what he got nothing for. Thus the Indians were a prey to cupidity and extortion; they were swindled, as it seems to us. Yet they had a way of getting even with the most unprincipled trader, sometimes of beating him at his own game. At the end of the hunt the Indian brought in his peltries. "If these paid his debt," says Whiting, "which was not often the case, the account was squared; if an arrearage remained, as was generally the case, no reasoning nor threats could convince the red man that the responsibility held over to another season, and that his obligations survived the hunt. When that hunt terminated, and the furs obtained by it had been fairly rendered, he considered the account as canceled. Whether it was balanced or not was a question he did not undertake to answer.

"One of the objects Lieutenant Pike appears to have been instructed to keep in view while on his trip, was the investigation of these evils of the Indian trade, and to ascertain where proper trading establishments could be fixed, which were intended to correct them. These establishments were of course to be made under the patronage of the Government. They were afterward actually made under the 'factor' system. In a benevolent spirit, the United States enacted that certain stores should be conveniently placed within the Indian territory, where factors, having a salary and no interest in the trade, were to keep on hand a constant supply of articles suitable for the Indians, which were to be exchanged with them for peltries, the articles bearing only a fair cost, all expenses included, and the peltries being received at a fair rate. Government thus, out of kindness to the Indians, became a trader, and a competitor with individual traders.

"The theory was as promising as it was benevolent; but, like many theories, it did not fulfill expectation when put into practice. It is true that the Indian under it was sure of a just equivalent for such furs and peltries as he brought in. This assurance was spread abroad by agents, and was generally known and understood. But an important consideration had been omitted in the calculations that suggested the arrangement. Most of the Indians are improvident, and leave the morrow to take care of itself. The future causes them no anxiety. It is the present moment, with its gratifications, or its wants, that occupies, almost exclusively, their minds—the former exhausted with blind avidity, the latter borne with passive endurance. They seldom lay up the means of providing themselves with the small equipments of a hunting expedition. While they used the bow and arrow, it was different. Then a few hours' exertion of their own hands provided all that was necessary. But the moment a gun was put into their hands, their dependence upon the trader was secured. They must have ammunition, or their guns were more useless than the bow and arrow; and they could obtain this only on credit.

"Hence the United States factor, who had a knife at a few shillings, and a stroud at not many more, and powder and ball at a fair rate, but who could sell for cash only, or its equivalent, would find his shelves nearly as full at the end of the season as at the beginning; while the individual trader, who sold on credit, though he might sell at an enormous profit, at a thousand per cent. above his government competitor, would empty his shelves in a few weeks. Besides, no system can work well unless it is managed well. The factor was expected, by the law, to be honest and disinterested; and he was often so. Still, he was in a remote part of the country, and beset by temptations, and dealt with a people that were supposed to be unable to tell tales that could be understood. The system was abandoned after a vain experiment of a few years."

About the time that Pike was on this expedition, Lewis and Clark also had their attention turned to the same business. One of the results of their observations was Lewis' Essay on an Indian Policy, which had special regard to the commercial aspects of the case, and will never go entirely out of date till the last Indian has bought his last bullet, or had it fired into him. The reader is referred to this article, occupying pp. 1215-43 of the 1893 ed. of L. and C.

Trade is one of those things which, like a hen hunting for a nest, does best when let alone. Any hen will lay more eggs and hatch more chicks in a nest of her own selection than in the most artful contrivances of the coop to provide for her comfort and convenience. All interference with a man's tendency to take advantage of his neighbor is unwise, and injurious to both parties. It tends to sharpen the wits of the one and make him more of a knave than he was before; while it blunts the wits of the other with a specious sense of being protected, and thus makes him a bigger fool than ever. Trade being what it is, in consequence of the great quantity of human nature there is in mankind, can never be legislated into anything else than an attempt to enrich one's self at another's expense by buying cheap and selling dear. Free trade in all the markets of the world is the only natural postulate; all tariff regulations and restrictions are simply necessary concessions to the inherent weakness of artificial systems of trade. The evils of damming individual channels of trade—or rather, of attempting to dam them with desultory yet reiterated interference—reach a climax of absurdity and injury in what is known as tariff-tinkering. Very likely they ought to be dammed—all avenues of selfishness ought to be; but they never will be in this world. As to the practical worldly wisdom displayed in specific measures to promote commercial activity by legislative interference, it is probable that any jockey in the land, with a hidebound horse for sale and some arsenic in his pocket, could give our legislators pointers on those tricks which are said to be in all trades but ours.

[VI-3] "A Mr. M'Coy" is not easily identified. I am inclined to think that the name is McKay or Mackay, and that the person meant is Alexander Mackay, who had been with Sir A. Mackenzie, left the N. W. Co. in 1810, for Astor's American Fur Co., and was blown up with the ship Tonquin in 1811; but I am far from feeling sure of this.

[VI-4] David Thompson was among the Mandans from Dec. 29th, 1797, to Jan. 10th, 1798. He left McDonald's house, which was near the mouth of Mouse r., on Nov. 28th, en route to the Missouri. On Dec. 7th he reached the old Ash house on Mouse r., "settled two years ago and abandoned the following spring." Being unable to procure a guide here, he took the lead himself and struck for Turtle mountain, west of which he again crossed Mouse r., and followed this stream up to the bight of the great loop it makes in North Dakota, at a point 37 m. from the Missouri. Here leaving the river and coming south over the plains, he struck the Missouri Dec. 29th, at a point 6 m. above the uppermost Mandan village. These villages are said to have been five in number, and to have contained in all 318 houses and seven tents, inhabited by Mandan and Willow Indians in about equal numbers. (The census of the Willow Indians is given as from 2,200 to 2,500, in another place in Thompson's MS., where he calls them Fall Indians.) While among the Mandans Thompson prepared a vocabulary of about 375 words of their language. He left the villages Jan. 10th, 1798; but being delayed by storms, it was Jan. 24th before he reached Mouse r., and Feb. 3d when he regained McDonald's house. I take these items from J. B. Tyrrell's paper on the journeys of David Thompson, read before the Canadian Institute Mar. 3d, 1888, and pub. in advance of the Proceedings, Toronto, 1888, 8vo, pp. 7, 8: see also note^9, 167. Another account of Thompson's travels occupies pp. 94-103 of Statutes, etc., N. and W. Bound. Ontario, pub. Toronto, 8vo, 1877.

[VI-5] The plus in the fur-trade was the standard of value, viz.: one prime beaver (abiminikwa). In the above scale of prices the plus was reckoned as $2. The scale was a multiple or fraction of this, which answered the purpose of an English shilling, French franc, Indian rupee, or our dollar. Thus Perrault tells us that in 1784 a bear, an otter, or a lynx was worth a plus; three martens or 15 muskrats were also a plus; a buffalo was two plus, etc. A keg of "made" liquor, i. e., three-fourths water, one-fourth alcohol, with a little strychnine, Cocculus indicus, or tobacco-juice to flavor and color it, has been sold to many an Indian for 20 to 40 plus. During my recent canoe voyage to the source of the Mississippi, I believe that I could have been provisioned, lodged, and transported by the Chippewas for a month at the cost of a gallon or two of "made" whisky, had I been provided with that article and disposed to put it to an unlawful purpose.

[VII-1] This article, for which I make a new chapter with a major head, was in the orig. ed. a part of Doc. No. 18 of the Appendix to Pt. 1, running from p. 41 to p. 56; the remainder of the document—continuing without break to p. 66, and including also a folding table—being an account of the Indians. I make a separate chapter for this ethnographic matter, beyond. I retain as a minor heading of the present chapter Pike's original title of No. 18, nearly in his words; but must cut it down to exclude "the savages," and in so doing I also reduce its verbiage a little. As thus restricted, this article is a rapid review or cursory description of the Mississippi, in so far as Pike ascended and descended this river. Having already given a copious commentary in my notes on his itinerary, I must refer the reader back to these for most details; here I simply bracket a few names in the text for the purpose of ready recognition, and restrict my notes to new matters which come up.

[VII-2] The form of the word Mississippi was not fixed with eleven letters till after 1800. President Jefferson, a scholar of his times and especially interested in linguistics, used nine or ten letters. Our fashion of doubling all the consonants except the first is distinctly an innovation which has no advantage over Misisipi, but on the contrary the undesirable effect of obscuring the pronunciation of the Algonquian elements by neutralizing the vowels. Analysis of the eleven letters shows three consonantal sounds, one of them repeated, and each of these four followed by a short if not neutral vowel: Mi-si-si-pi. The initial m is a nasolabial, not likely to vary, and in fact constant. This is followed by a sibilant surd, repeated, with probable and actual variation to s of c or ch in one or both places. The final consonant p is a labial surd, easily and actually variant to its sonant b. The name is really a term of two words: Misi Sipi=Misi River—whatever Misi may mean. Waiving this, and taking the name as one word, the actual variations which I have noted from time to time may be thus displayed as regards the eleven letters: (1) m, constant; (2) i, variant to a and e; (3) first s, var. to c, or missing; (4) second s, var. to c and ch, or missing; (5) second i, nearly constant, when present; (6) third s, var. to c, not to ch, when present; (7) fourth s, same as third s; (8) third i, var. to e and y; (9) first p, var. to b; (10) second p, constant, if not dropped after the third p, never present if the third p becomes b; (11) final i, var. to e and y. The permutations possible under the several variants indicated may be ciphered out by those who have leisure for amusement; probably not one-tenth of the possibilities are actualities in print; and of those actually existent probably no complete list has ever been made. We might expect to find 30 forms without much trouble. Some of the examples I have noted are: Mischipi, Freytas, from Spanish Relations of 1661, pub. 1663, perhaps the first appearance of the word in print; Messipi, Allouez, in French Relations of 1667, said to be the original form in that language; Mississipy, 1671; Messisipi, Joliet, after 1673; Micissypy, Perrot; Masciccipi, La Salle, qu. misprint in first syllable? Meschasipi and other forms in Hennepin, 1683, and his editors; Messchsipi on an old map, about 1688; Michi Sepe, Labal, as cited by Brower; Mechesebe, etc. The general evolution of the present word has been: early elimination of c or ch; tendency of all the vowels to i, with e in the first place and y in the last place longest persistent; and then the doubling of the s's and the p, all the possible cases of this process being not only extant, but neither very old nor very rare. The unconscious motif here seems to have been to give the longest river the longest name. There are many other names of the "Mycycypy" river, aboriginal, Spanish, and French, for the whole or certain parts of its course. Spanish relations from De Soto yield for lower parts of the river Chucagua in variant forms; Tamalisieu; Tapatui; and Mico. Also, for about the mouth, we have Malabanchia or Malabouchia, from French narration, D'Iberville, Mar. 2d, 1699. An Iroquois name, Gastacha, is cited. Spanish relations yield several of the earliest names, all of which have been translated; e. g., El Rio, The River, Knight of Elvas, pub. 1557; Rio Grande, Grand r., Great r., ref. to Hernando de Soto, near Quizquiz, Sunday, May 8th, 1541, and at Guachoya, Apr. 17th, 1542; Rio del Espiritu Santo, as De Biedma, River of the Holy Ghost, with variant spellings of the phrase, cf. Chavez map, in Ortelius, Antwerp, 1580, and Cortés map for Spanish Charles V., 1520; Rio de las Palmas, River of Palms, Admiral map, 1507, pub. in ed. Ptolemy, 1513 (I cite these two without prejudice to the question whether they did actually apply or were only supposed to apply to the Mississippi); Rio de los Palisados (as I find it cited, though it seems to me R. de las Palizadas would be better Spanish for Palisade r., the connotation of this term being what a steamboat man would mean if he said Snag or Sawyer r.); and Rio Escondido, Hidden r., because it was hard to find the right channel through the delta. Certain genuflexions of French knees to powers that were and happily be no longer, are reflected in the names Rivière de la Conception, sc. of the B. V. M., which Marquette conceived in one of the unisexual transports of his morbid imagination, June 15th or 17th, 1673, trans. Immaculate Conception r.; R. de Buade, sc. Frontenac r., as Joliet, who had an eye to a visible patron; R. de Colbert, as Hennepin, who kept one eye on St. Anthony and the other on King Louis; R. de Louis, R. de St. Louis, R. de Louisiane of various F. relations (St. Louis occurring in letters patent of Louis XIV. to Crozat, Sept. 14th, 1712); from descriptive phrases which are found in Radisson's relations, Forked r. and River That Divides Itself in Two have been evolved as names with the aid of capitals; the upper section of the stream, flowing from Lake Itasca, has been called R. à la Biche, Elk r., from the former F. name Lac à la Biche, translating Ojibwa Omoshkos Sogiagon; the next section, Bemidji-sibi, with many variants of this, in Ojibwa, French, Italian, and English; the next section, R. aux Cèdres Rouges, Red Cedar r., Cassina r., Cass r.; next section, Winnibigoshish r., in many variants; and below the confluence of the Leech Lake fork, Kitchi-sibi, Great r. There are also several forms of the Sioux name, to the same effect as Kitchi-sibi. I am ignorant of any English name originally given as a genuine appellation, and not a translation or mere epithet, like "Father of Waters," and the like. It is text-book tradition that this phrase translates the Algonquian term; which tradition is too untrue and too popular to ever die—let it rest in peace, along with Washington's hatchet and Tell's apple. It is Featherstonhaugh, I think (I have mislaid the mem. I once made), who remarks with great gravity and great truth, that "Father of Waters" is a misnomer, because the river resulting from the confluence of other rivers is the Son of Waters and not the father of them at all. This is a sober sort of statement, for a witticism; it is not a figurative locution or a flight of fancy; it is a solemn fact. It only stops short of the most comprehensive statement that can be made regarding the origin of rivers, which is, that all rivers arise in cloudland.

[VII-3] See note^12, p. 7, and add: I suspect that Noir is not the F. adj. which means "black," but a perversion of the noun Noix, Noyau, or Noyer, meaning "nut" or "walnut." Beck's Gazetteer, 1823, gives the name as Noyer cr.

[VII-4] An opinion of Mr. Ewing occupies note^18, p. 15. A hitherto unpublished letter of General William Clark, Indian Agent for Louisiana, to the Secretary at War, is in part as follows:

"Saint Louis 22nd. June 1807.

"Sir

"... William Ewing's Account for provisions, hired men and Squars [squaws] appears to be unatherized by any person in this Country. Mr. G. Chouteau informs me that he never empowered him under any authority which he possessed to incur such expences to the U : States as [are] charged in his account.—And further says that he has always given such provisions and other articles to Mr. Ewing as he thought the Public Service required, for which he either paid himself or included in the account of Rations settled with the Contractor.—The public clammer [clamor] at this place is very much against Mr. Ewing; many unfavourable relation has been made of his conduct, such as purchaseing the Indians Guns for whisky and selling them again to the Indians for a high price.—Selling his corn to the Traders for trinkets for his Squar, hireing men on the behalf of the United States and sending them to work for his private benefit, makeing an incorrect report to me, &c. &c. I am induced to believe from the report of Mr. Bolvar [Nicholas Boilvin] and others who are willing to sweare that Mr. Wm. Ewing has behaved incorrectly and his example is degrading to the institution, and calculate to give the Indians an unfavourable impression of the public Agents in this Country. The Conduct of public Agents in this distant quarter, I fear will never be under sufficent check until there is a person to whome all are obliged to account resideing in this Country, with full power and descretion to inspect their actions &c. &c.

"A copy of Mr. Ewings report is inclosed in which he states the situation of his establishment and his prospects &c....

"Your most Obedent "Humble Servent,
[Signed] "Wm. Clark. I. A. L."

[VII-5] Being letter to General Wilkinson, from that place at that date, which formed Doc. No. 2, p. 2, of the App. to Pt. 1 of the orig. ed. See Art. 2, p. 223. The lead mines are of course identifiable with the location of Dubuque; but the precise situation of Julien Dubuque's house, where Pike stopped both ways, was Catfish cr., about 2 m. below. Mr. Dubuque died Mar. 24th, 1810, aged 45½ years, and was buried on the eminence close by, which became known as Dubuque's bluff, and still bears this name. The peculiar character of his claim to the property occasioned much litigation, which was carried up to the Supreme Court of the U. S., and there decided in favor of the settlers, in or about 1853.

[VII-6] This description makes in the orig. ed. a 3-page footnote, which I reset in the main text, as no confusion will come from this obvious digression, the reader returning to Prairie du Chien in due course. It was furnished to Pike by (Robert) Dickson, whose name appears at the end. In spite of the mangling of the geographical names, and one or two sentences that seem to have got awry, it is a very telling piece of work—perhaps the most concise and correct statement extant in 1810 of what is one of the most memorable routes in the annals of American exploration. It was by this famous Fox-Wisconsin traverse from the Great Lakes to the Miss. r. that the latter was itself discovered to Europeans. For it is practically if not identically the route of Joliet and Marquette, 1673. Under the Canadian governorship of Comte Louis de Buade de Frontenac, who succeeded De Courcelle Apr. 9th, 1672, the Quebec trader Joliet, the priest Marquette, and five other Frenchmen, who were at Michilimackinac in Dec., 1672, passed thence by Green bay of Lake Michigan, Fox r., Lake Winnebago and Wis. r., to Miss. r. at Prairie du Chien, reached June 15th or 17th, 1673, and named Rivière Colbert after the French king's minister. Our esteemed antetemporary Jonathan Carver paddled that way too, and so did others too numerous to mention, among them the macronymous G. W. Featherstonhaugh, F. R. S., etc., whose canoe voyage up the Minnay Sotor, etc., made in 1835, furnished data for very readable and realistic gossip, 2 vols. 8vo, Lond. 1847, I. p. 151 seq. The clearest view of the Fox-Wisconsin traverse I have seen is on the map accompanying Bvt. Maj. C. R. Suter's Rep., being Doc. E of Bvt. Maj.-Gen. G. K. Warren's Prelim. Rep. Surv. Miss. River above Rock Island rapids, this being Ex. Doc. No. 58, Ho. Reps., 39th Congress, 2d Sess., 8vo, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1867, pp. 1-116. Accurate engineering operations always reduce the mileages guessed at by tired travelers or idle tourists, but Dickson's estimates come remarkably near Suter's measurements, some of which are: Lower Fox r., 37½ m.; traverse on Lake Winnebago, 15½ m.; Upper Fox r., 104 m.; canal at portage, 2⅓ m.; Wisconsin r., 112 m.; total, Green Bay to Prairie du Chien, 271⅓ m.

I may here summarize as curtly as I can the main points of the probable fact that the Upper Mississippi was reached by practically this route, by Menard and Guerin, before its long-alleged and generally accepted discovery by Joliet and Marquette, as above noted. In 1659 Fond du Lac was approached by two traders, Groseilliers and Radisson; the former was Medard Chouart, the latter Pierre d'Esprit. Groseilliers, Grozayyay, Desgrozeliers, etc., was b. near Meaux in France; traded on Lake Huron in 1646; in 1647, married Veuve Étienne of Quebec, daughter of Abraham Martin; in Aug., 1653, married Marguerite Hayet Radisson, sister of Radisson. Radisson was b. St. Malo, France; came to Canada 1651, married Elizabeth Herault 1656; was at Three Rivers in Canada in 1658, and arranged to go with Groseilliers to Lake Superior. The two built the first trading-post on Lake Superior, at Chaquamegon bay (old Chagouamikon, etc.). Groseilliers was back at Montreal Aug. 21st, 1660; he returned to Lake Superior and was at Keweenaw bay Oct. 15th, 1660. Some of the traders of his party wintered here 1660-61; with them was the Jesuit Menard, the first missionary on the lake. Menard and one Jean Guerin left the lake June 13th, 1661, for the region of the Ottawa lakes in Wisconsin. Perrot says that Menard and Guerin followed the Outaouas to the Lake of the Illinoets (Lake Michigan), and to the River Louisiane (i. e., the Mississippi), to a point above the River Noire (Black r.), where they were deserted by their Huron Indians. One day in August, 1661, they were ascending a rapid in their canoe, which Menard left to lighten it; he lost his way, and perished; Guerin survived. Menard's breviary and cassock, it is said, were later found among the Sioux. Justin Winsor's Narr. and Crit. Hist. Amer. IV. p. 206, gives a sketch map on which a place is marked as that where Menard was lost. This seems to be toward the sources of Chippewa r. If Perrot's relation be true, and not misunderstood, Menard and Guerin reached the Mississippi via the Wisconsin from Green bay, ascended it to the Black or the Chippewa, and left it that way in the summer of 1661, 12 years before Joliet and Marquette came to the Mississippi.

[VII-7] Dickson's use of the term "La Baye" requires qualification to prevent misreading him. 1. The old Baye des Puans or Puants, Stinkers' bay, so called from the malodorous fish-eating Winnebagos who lived thereabouts, became from its verdure la Baie Verte, our Green bay, i. e., the whole water of that great N. W. arm of Lake Michigan, into the head of which Lower Fox r. empties. The last 7 m. of this river makes a sort of estuary from the foot of the last rapids, or head of natural river navigation, to the waters of Green bay; and this whole estuarian course was La Baye or La Baie of various early writers. 2. The earliest French footing on the estuary was the Jesuit mission at the foot of the rapids called Rapides des Pères (Priests' rapids), whence the modern name De Pere or Depere for the town now at or near the spot, on the E. bank of the river. The earliest French fort there was called Fort La Baye or La Baie; and this is the implication of the term as the name of a spot or place on the estuary also called "La Baye" or "La Baie." 3. When settlement was made under English occupation it crept down the estuary on the E. side to near the bay, and "La Baye," i. e., La Baie Verte, furnished the local habitation as well as the name of our Green Bay (town), a mile or two above the mouth of the estuary. 4. Under our régime, La Baie of the American Fur Company period was at a place called Shantytown, say halfway between the old French La Baye (present town of Depere) and the less old English La Baie (present county town of Green Bay, Brown Co., Wis.). 5. There were other settlements along the estuary, on the same side too. Thus, writing of 1835, Featherstonhaugh speaks of the new American settlement of Navarino, "a short distance" from Shantytown; he describes the latter as "a small bourgade," and locates Navarino opp. Fort Howard, i. e., where Green Bay now is. 6. On the left bank, nearly opp. present Green Bay, but rather nearer Green bay, was the site of our Fort Howard, which flourished say 60 years ago, and bequeathed the name to the town of Howard or Fort Howard, now opposite Green Bay. On the left bank higher up, opp. Depere, is a town called Nicollet, no doubt a belated bud of promise, as no such place appears on maps of 25 years ago. 7. None of the foregoing localities or establishments on Fox r. must be confounded with the recent outgrowth called Bay Settlement, which is out on the S. E. shore of Green bay, toward Point Sable.

[VII-8] Kakalin and Konimee of the above text, also Cockien of p. 295, are three forms of one word which has other curious shapes. Featherstonhaugh I. p. 162, speaks of rapids "called in the Menominie tongue Kawkawnin, literally 'can't get up,'" and says that the voyageurs make it Cocolo. Suter's text has Kankarma; his map, Kankana. Present usage favors Kaukauna; so G. L. O. maps, railroad folders, etc. With the qualifying terms Petit and Grand, or Little and Great, etc., the word denotes different places and things on the river; i. e., certain lower and upper rapids themselves, together with certain settlements at or near each of these obstructions to navigation. Petit Kakalin, Petite chute, Little Konimee, Little shoot, Little rapids, designated the lower rapids; and the town 6 m. above Depere received the name of Little Rapids or Little Kaukauna. Some miles above this place is now Wrightstown, on the right or E. bank of Fox r. Between Little Kaukauna and Wrightstown are obstructions in the river which are or were called Rapides Croches, from their crookedness. All the foregoing are in present Brown Co. Passing to Outagamie Co., we find what Dickson called the fall of Grand Konimee, and others knew as Grand Kakalin, Grand chute, etc. This is now simply styled Kaukauna falls, without any qualifying term; and the town there is Kaukauna Falls. Above Kaukauna falls and town, say 2 or 3 m., are rapids called Little chute (duplicating a different application of the name), and within a mile of them are others known as Cedar rapids. In this vicinity is also the town of Little Chute, 7 or 7½ m. below Appleton, seat of Outagamie Co. From Appleton we pass into Winnebago Co., and it is only 6 or 8 m. to where Dickson says "the river opens into a small lake," i. e., Lake Winnebago discharges into Lower Fox r. This outlet is by two channels, N. and S., separated by Doty or Doty's isl.; here are the Puant, or, as now known, Winnebago rapids; here was the first Puant or Winnebago village; here are now the cities of Menasha on the N. channel, and Neenah on the S. channel. The rapids are strongest in the latter.

[VII-9] Formerly Lac des Puans or des Puants, Stinkers' l., etc. This is the large body of water in Winnebago, Calumet, and Fond Du Lac cos., 35 m. long, 9 to 14 m. wide, and 12 to 25 feet deep, thus being an extensive overflow of Fox r., which enters at Oshkosh, Winnebago Co., about the middle of the W. side of the lake, and leaves by Neenah and Menasha, at the N. W. corner. The distance between these points, which was the usual canoe traverse, is 15½ m. There is a small island in this distance, known by the name of Garlic, which Featherstonhaugh calls Hotwater, from a droll incident he describes, I. p. 174. The Puant village which Dickson mentions as being at the upper end of the lake was at or near present Fond Du Lac, the county seat, and one of well known places in Wisconsin. Dickson's midway "Fols Avoine" village was the Menomonee settlement on the E. side of the lake, in Calumet Co. (Stockbridge and Brotherton Res.). Lake Winnebago conveniently divides Fox r. into the Upper Fox, which runs into it, and the Lower Fox, which runs out of it into Green bay; it also acts as a sort of reservoir or regulator to prevent freshets in the Lower Fox. The western shore is now skirted with railroads all the way from Menasha to Fond du Lac, and various towns are strung along this distance. Just before Fox r. falls in, it suffers dilatation into what was and is still called Lac Butte des Morts, the head of which is about 7 m. from Oshkosh; town of the same cheerful name there now. In this vicinity Loup or Wolf r. falls into the Upper Fox, after passing through an expansion known by some such perversions of the Chippewa name as Pawmaygun, Pauwaicun, Poygan, etc.

[VII-10] This is easier to locate than to tell the name of. It is that dilatation of Upper Fox r. which lies mainly in Green Lake Co., and for some little distance separates this from Marquette Co. The lake is 14½ m. long, but very narrow. Rush l. would be the English translation of the Indian name, a few of the variants of which are Apachquay, Apuckaway, Apukwa, Puckaway, Packaway, Pokeway, Puckway, Pacaua, etc. Before this notable lake was reached, the canoes passed the mouth of Wolf r., as above said; of Waukan r., discharging from a certain Rush l. in Winnebago Co., in the vicinity of places called Omri, Delhi, and Eureka; a couple of small streams at and near Berlin, Green Lake Co.; Puckegan cr., the discharge of Green l., which falls in at Fiddler's (qu. Fidler's?) Bend, on the S.; near this White r., on the N.; present site of Princeton, Green Lake Co., 12¼ m. above Fiddler's Bend; and lastly Mechan or Mecan r., whence it is only 6 m. to Lake Puckaway. The town of Marquette, Green Lake Co., is on the lake near its foot; and 7 m. above its head is Montello, seat of Marquette Co. A stream absurdly called Grand r. falls in on the S. between Lake Puckaway and Montello. From Montello to Packwaukee is 8 m.; this is on Bœuf, Beef, or Buffalo l., a dilatation of the river like Lake Puckaway, but not so wide. There was an old French fort or factory here, whose name is given as Ganville (qu. Bienville?). The "forks" of Fox r. of which Dickson speaks is the confluence of Necha r.; but there seems to be some copyist's mistake about the situation of his Lac Vaseux "ten leagues above the forks"; for there is no 28½ m. of the river left. Lac Vaseux of the text, otherwise known as Muddy, Rice, and Manomin, immediately succeeds Buffalo l., being below (north of) Moundville and Roslin or Port Hope. It seems to be reckoned a part of Lake Buffalo, for the distance hence to the Wisconsin r. is given as only about 14 m. The canal which Dickson recommends was long since cut, with a length of 2⅓ m. to Portage, seat of Columbia Co. From this place along the Wisconsin r. to the Mississippi, given by Dickson and repeated by Long as 60 leagues = 165 m., is 112 m. I have not the clew to the exact location of Dickson's Détour du Pin or Pine Bend; but I imagine it was about the situation of Lone Rock, Richland Co., above the mouth of Pine r., and below the place that Mr. Whitney named Helena, when he had his curious shot-tower there some 60 years ago.

[VII-11] The Montreal or Kawasidjiwong r. is a small stream which separates Wisconsin from Michigan for some little distance, and falls into Lake Superior at Oronto bay, E. of Point Clinton. The connection with Sauteur or Chippewa r., of which Pike speaks, was made by portages from the main E. fork of the Chippewa—that is, from Manidowish, Flambeau, or Torch r. But we should note here that there was more than one recognized route by way of the Chippewa from the Mississippi to Lake Superior, and in Carver's case, for example, confusion has arisen in consequence. Thus, some say that Carver left the Mississippi by way of Chippewa r. This is true; but he did not reach Lake Superior by way of Flambeau r. and Montreal r. Observing this, some say he reached Lake Superior by way of the St. Croix and the river he calls Goddard's. This is true; but he did not leave the Mississippi by St. Croix r. In June, 1767, Carver came from Prairie du Chien up the Miss. r. to the Chippewa; he went up this for the Ottawaw lakes, as he calls the present Lac Court Oreilles and some lesser ones close by; visited the Chippewa town whence the river took its name, he says, "near the heads of this river;... In July I left this town, and having crossed a number of small lakes and carrying places that intervened, came to a head branch of the river St. Croix. This branch I descended to a fork, and then ascended another to its source. On both these rivers I discovered several mines of virgin copper, which was as pure as that found in any other country. Here I came to a small brook," which by confluence of others soon "increased to a most rapid river, which we descended till it entered into Lake Superior.... This river I named ... Goddard's River," Trav., ed. 1796, pp. 66, 67. A small river west of Goddard's Carver named Strawberry r., "from the great number of strawberries of a good size and flavor that grew on its banks."

[VII-12] Pike was sadly misinformed on this point. No place on the river is better known than St. Croix falls, above Osceola Mills, Polk Co., Wis., and Franconia, Chisago Co., Minn., where the descent is quoted at 5 feet in 300 yards. Higher up, the river has many rapids—toward its head so many that Nicollet's map legends "Succession of Rapids"; Schoolcraft's marks about a dozen; Lieut. Allen, when abandoned by Mr. Schoolcraft, encountered "almost interminable rapids"; La Salle cited Du Luth for "forty leagues of rapids," in his letter from Fort Frontenac, Aug. 22d, 1682; and Hennepin called the St. Croix "a river full of rapids." They are most numerous and most nearly continuous above Yellow and Namakagon rivers, two of the principal branches of the Upper St. Croix, both of which drain from the region about the Ottawa lakes and others in Sawyer and Washburn cos., Wis. Pike's Burnt r. is supposed to be the same as Carver's Goddard r.; it is also called Burnt Wood r., from the F. Bois Brûlé, and the latter name is still in use. Burnt r. is called by Nicollet Wissakude and by others Misacoda—a name no doubt the same as Nimissakouat, Nemitsakouat, Nissipikouet, etc., de l'ancien régime; on Franquelin's map, 1688, it stands Neouoasicoton. This last is a specially notable case, as Franquelin marks "Fort St. Croix" and "Portage" near the head of his river at a certain "Lac de la Providence" in which he heads his "R. de la Magdelaine"; for these are the Upper St. Croix l. and the St. Croix r. (This post was probably established by Du Luth before 1684 or 1685; he had been in Paris in 1683; at Montreal, Quebec, etc., 1682 and 1681; and in June, 1680, made the Bois Brûlé-St. Croix trip from Lake Superior to the Mississippi.) Franquelin's early map, 1683-84, is said to be the first to delineate the Bois Brûlé-St. Croix route: this shows R. de la Magdelaine connecting by Lac de la Providence with R. Neouaisicoton, but no Fort St. Croix is there marked. This river is said well enough to head in this lake; but more precisely, its sources are in the feeders of this lake. One of these, which is situated on a pine ridge a couple of miles off, offers the always interesting, though not very rare case of a sheet of water running two ways; for this small Source l., as it is called, discharges one way into the St. Croix stream, hence into the Gulf of Mexico, and the other way into Burnt r., which takes water to Lake Superior and finally to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The Burnt is navigable, though much obstructed with shoals, rapids, and falls; it runs in the main northward, near the E. border of Douglas Co. (named for Stephen A. Douglas), and falls into the Kichi Gummi, Sea of the North, West Sea, Grand Lac (Champlain's Voy., 1632, map), Lac de Condé, Lac de Tracy, Lac Supérieur, Lacus Superior (De Creux, 1664, map), Lake Algona, etc. There were Chippewa villages along nearly the whole line of both the rivers at various points, including one on an island in the Upper St. Croix l. Islands and peninsulas in lakes were always favorite sites, for in such cases these Indians enjoyed some additional immunity from the Sioux in what we may style their "moated granges." On the St. Croix r., low down, was the Chippewa-Sioux boundary line, marked for some years by cedar trees which stood there a few miles below St. Croix falls: see note^17, p. 101.

[VII-13] Keating, I. 1824, p. 287, cites Long's MS. 1817, fol. 12, that Major Long's "boat crossed it, from a dead start, in 16 strokes." Referring to note^69, p. 70, for some historical remarks on St. Pierre's r., I wish to add here that this remarkable stream was at one period the main course of the Mississippi. The evidence of the rocks supports the opinion that the Falls of St. Anthony were once opposite the position of Fort Snelling. The Mississippi above the mouth of St. Pierre's differs in various particulars from the character it acquires below that point, and was once tributary to a then greater stream. This case does not seem to have attracted the attention to which it became entitled after its forcible presentation by General Warren. It is not so well marked as the obvious case of the Missouri vs. the Mississippi, in which there is no question which is the main and which the subsidiary stream; but it is similar. In other words, what the Mississippi is to the Missouri above St. Louis, that the Mississippi has been to the Minnesota above Fort Snelling.

[VII-14] The "rough draft" herein mentioned was published in the orig. ed. as a plate of page size, and is reproduced in facsimile for the present ed.

[VII-15] Pike's phrase "Le Mille Lac" brings up an orthographic case unique in some respects. No Minnesota lake is better known than this one; but what shall we call it? Shall we say Mille Lac, and then call the county in which it is partly situated Mille Lacs, as the G. L. O. map of 1887 does? Is the single body of water Le Mille Lac, as Pike says, or Les Mille Lacs? Is this one lake of a thousand, or a thousand lakes in one? Nobody seems to know; hence a crop of phrases, e. g., Mille Lac, Mille Lacs, Milles Lac, Milles Lacs; also, Mille Lac Lake, Lake Mille Lac, Lake Mille Lacs, Mille Lacs Lake; item, Mil Lac, Mill Lake, and other vagaries too many and too trivial to cite, all of which the student of Minnesota geography will discover sooner or later. The phrase being French, we naturally turn to see what a pure French scholar who was also a great geographer has to say on the subject. Speaking of the Sioux having their principal hunting-camps on Leech l. and on "Minsi-sagaigon-ing, or Mille Lacs," Nicollet explains in a note, Rep. 1843, p. 66: "This name is derived from minsi, all sorts, or everywhere, etc.; sagaigon, lake; and ing, which is a termination used to indicate a place; so the meaning of the word is 'place where there are all sorts of lakes,' which the French have rendered into Mille Lacs." Whence it appears that Mille Lacs is short for some such phrase as le pays aux mille lacs, l'entourage des mille lacs, the country full of lakes, the environment of a thousand lakes, etc. Now it so happens geographically that this one lake among the thousand is vastly larger than any of the rest, perhaps than all the rest put together; it is par excellence le lac des mille lacs, the one among a thousand; furthermore, that it was a Sioux rendezvous, which became known as Mille Lacs by a sort of unconscious figure of speech on the part of those who very likely never heard of the rhetorical trope synecdoche, but called a part by the name of the whole, to suit themselves. I imagine, therefore, that the seeming solecism of a plural phrase for a singular thing is logically correct; that Nicollet was right in writing Mille Lacs; that Lac Mille Lacs would be grammatically defensible, though inelegant; and that we could say in English Lake Mille Lacs, or Lake Thousand-lakes, with equal propriety, though we should avoid such forms as Lake Mille Lac, or Mille Lac lake. In fine, the phrase Mille Lacs has ceased to concern any question of grammatical number, and become a mere name of two words. As for the pleonasm or tautology of such phrases as Lac Mille Lacs, or Lake Mille Lacs, etc., this need not disturb us as long as we continue to talk of "Mississippi river," for example, as that means "Misi River river." There are several earlier names of this remarkable body of water. The memoir of Le Sieur Daniel Greysolon Du Luth on the discovery of the country of the Nadouecioux, addressed in 1685 to Monseigneur Le Marquis de Seignelay, as translated from the original in the archives of the Ministry of the Marine, has this passage, as given, e. g., in Shea's Hennep., 1880, p. 375: "On the 2nd of July, 1679, I had the honor to plant his Majesty's arms in the great village of the Nadouecioux, called Izatys, where never had a Frenchman been, no more than at the Songaskitons and Huetbatons," etc. De or Du Luth, Lhut, Lhu, Lut, Lud, whatever the trader's name was, had come from Montreal (Sept. 1st, 1678) with six or eight men to this part of Canada and was in the vicinity of Sault Ste. Marie on Apr. 5th, 1679, under the patronage of Comte Louis de Buade de Frontenac, who had succeeded De Courcelle as governor of Canada Apr. 9th, 1672; consequently he named the lake Lac de Buade or Lac Buade; this was its original denomination in French, and such name appears on many old maps, e. g., Hennepin's, 1683, Franquelin's, 1688, De L'Isle's, 1703, etc., some of which also mark a place by the name of Kathio, supposed to be the site of a large Sioux village, on the W. side of L. de Buade, near the base of the peninsula later known as Cormorant Point. Du Luth's Izatys were Gens des Mille Lacs, i. e., Sioux who lived about Lake Mille Lacs in the country of that "number of small lakes called the Thousand Lakes," as Carver phrases it; they were the Issati or Islati, Issaqui, Issanti, Issanati, Issanoti, Issayati, etc., meaning those who lived in lodges on sharp stones, i. e., Knife Indians, at one of the Mille Lacs called Lake Isan or Knife l. However loosely Du Luth's term Izatys may have come to be used, it designated and most properly designates the genuine original Gens du Lac, or People of Lake Thousand-lakes, our modern Mdewakontonwans. Du Luth's Houetbatons are supposed to be our Wakpatons, Warpetonwans, or Waqpatonwans; his Songaskitons, our Sisitonwans, Seseetwawns or Sissetons, i. e., lake-dwellers (sisi, marsh or lake, tonwan, people); these two tribes are located on old maps eastward of Lake Mille Lacs. In 1689, date of Pierre Lesueur's and Nicholas Perrot's visit to Sioux dominions, we hear that N. E. of the Mississippi lived the Menchokatonx or Mendesuacantons, i. e., the same Sioux as Du Luth's Izatys of Lac Buade. According to E. D. Neill, Macalester Coll. Cont. No. 10, in 1697 Aubert de la Chesnaye said that "at the lake of the Issaqui, also called Lake Buade, are villages of the Sioux called Issaqui; and beyond this lake are the Oetbatons; further off are the Anitons who are also Cioux." Neill also cites a certain doc., dated Quebec, 1710, which states that "the three bands with which we are acquainted are the Tintons, the Songasquitons, and the Ouadebaetons." Two of these are obviously the same as two of Du Luth's; the third (Tintons) are the same as the Izatys, or rather a band of Indians who came under this more general denomination. This connection is established in Hennepin, whose Tintonbas, Tintonhas, or Thinthonhas were Sioux who lived on the St. Francis (or Rum r., the main discharge of Lake Buade) near the Issantis, and were the Indians who captured his companions and himself. This dig at the roots of primitive Sioux ethnology is merely to bring up the next name of Lac Buade; for, from such intimate connection as this body of water had with certain Sioux, it immediately became known as Lac des Issatis, and soon as Lac des Sioux, or Sioux l.; moreover, St. Francis or Rum r., which runs out of the lake, became Sioux r.; e. g., Franquelin's map, 1688, marks "R. des François ou des Sioux." De L'Isle's map, 1703, letters the lake "Mississacaigan ou L. Buade," and the issuant river "R. de Mendeouacanion." The first of these two Indian names is the one which Nicollet adopts for the lake in the form Minsi Sagaigoning; the other is the same word as Mdewakantonwan. Nicollet's remark on this subject, like all his pregnant writing, requires attention here, especially as it raises a geographical besides a nomenclatural point, Rep. 1843, p. 67: "We still find some confusion on the maps as regards the name of Minsi-sagaigon-ing. Some have laid it down as Mille Lacs; others as Spirit lake; and on others, again, it appears as two lakes, with (separately) both names. The ambiguity arises from the fact that the same lake has been named by two nations. The one which I have adopted is from the Chippeways; that by which it is known to the Sioux is Mini-wakan—meaning literally, water spirit; but, in this case, intended to signify ardent spirits. The river that issues from this lake has been named Rum river by the traders; which appellation the Chippeways have translated into Ishkode-wabo, or ardent spirits; and the Sioux into Mdote-mini-wakan, or outlet of the ardent spirits." That is a dismal aboriginal pun which mixes up nature-spirits with the artificial product, turns the lake into a bottle, and the river into its neck; it is bad enough to have been perpetrated "next morning," and it is too bad that the debauches to which the traders allured the Indians should have been perpetuated in geographical nomenclature. Spirit l. is the name under which Long, for example, maps Lake Mille Lacs, and the Gens du Lac he calls People of Spirit Lake; and Schoolcraft, Narr. Journ. of 1820, pub. 1821, p. 214, has Great Spirit lake and Missisawgaiegon—the latter name also applied to its discharge (Rum r.). Spirit is not now a name of Lake Mille Lacs; the one for which Nicollet conserved the name Mini-wakan, and which hence became known as Spirit l. and Devil's l., is the large body of water in N. Dakota, tributary to the Red River of the North; Spirit l. of modern Minnesota geography is a little one of the collection in Aitkin Co., between Lower Red Cedar l. and Mille Lacs l. The latter is the second largest lacustrine body of water in the State. It is situated across the intercounty line between Aitkin and Mille Lacs, about half in one and half in the other of these two counties. Its figure is more regular than usual, being squarish, with three corners rounded off and the S. E. one drawn out a little; there is also some constriction about the middle, where points facing each other run out from the E. and W. shore respectively; the shore line is said to be about 100 miles in all. The lake is readily accessible, being only some 12 m. S. of Aitkin, and is a favorite resort for outings. One of the 14 present Ojibwa reservations is on its S. shore.

[VII-16] There is an error here, as what Hennepin called the St. François in 1680 is Rum r. of Carver, 1766, and authors generally; while St. Francis r. of Carver, which he thought was Hennepin's St. François, is Pike's Leaf r., now known as Elk r. See note^7, p. 95, where this case is fully discussed.

[VII-17] Pike maps four on the W., above his Clear = Platte r., and below his Pine cr. = Swan r.: see note^19, p. 103.

[VII-18] The name of this branch of St. Pierre's r. in Minnesota duplicates that of a large branch of the Mississippi in Wisconsin. The Minnesota tributary is Miawakong r. of Long's map, 1823, and Manya Wakan r. of Nicollet's, 1843.

[VII-19] Lac à la Queue de Loutre of the F., whence the E. name. This is the largest body of water into which the Red River of the North expands in Minnesota, and may be called a principal source of that river, as Pike says, though it compares with the true source very much as Leech l. or Winnibigoshish l. does with that of the Mississippi. It is situated about the center of Otter Tail Co., some 60-70 m. S. W. of Leech l.; Pike's map tucks it up snug under Leech l. The Leech-Otter Tail traverse, or route by which one passed from Mississippian waters to those of Red r., as beyond indicated by Pike, is given in detail by Schoolcraft upon information of traders who were familiar with this chain of lakes. Using the nomenclature of his Narrative, etc., 1834, p. 105, it may be stated as follows: From Leech l. through lakes called Warpool, Little Long, of the Mountain and of the Island, to the Crow Wing series, or Longwater, Little Vermillion, Birch, and Plé. Lake Plé was the one where the route forked—one way leading on down the Crow Wing series, the other turning off to the Otter Tail series. The latter consisted in, first, a portage of four pauses to Island l.; portage of one pause into a small lake which led into another, and this into Lagard l.; half a pause to a small lake; pause and a half to another; four pauses into Migiskun Aiaub or Fishline l.; a pause into Pine l.; five pauses into a small river which runs into Scalp l. The latter has an outlet which expands into three successive and about equidistant lakes, and is then received into Lac Terrehaute, or Height of Land l. The outlet of this last expands into a lake, and again into water called Two Lakes from its form; whence the discharge is into Otter Tail l. It is not easy to pick this exact route up from a modern map; but I may add that it runs in Hubbard, Becker, and Otter Tail cos.; that some of the lakes on or near this series are known as Height of Land, Little Pine, Pine, and Rush (these being on the course of Otter Tail r., and therefore on the Red River water-shed); and that some places on or near the route are called Park Rapids, Osage, Linnell, Shell Lake, Jarvis, Erie, McHugh, Frazer City, Lace, Perham, and St. Lawrence. The N. P. R. R. from Moorhead to Brainerd crosses the route in two or three places, one of these being between Pine and Rush lakes.

[VII-20] Pinenet or pinenett is Pike's version of épinette of the French voyageurs, name of the tree we commonly call tamarac or hackmetack, and which the botanists know as black larch, Larix americana. It is so abundant and characteristic in some places that the wet grounds in which it grows are usually called tamarac swamps. The sap pine of the same sentence has been already noted as the balsam-fir, Abies balsamea: see note^44, p. 132. There is a Lac Sapin, called in English Balsam-fir lake. The supposed occurrence of hemlock, Tsuga canadensis, in this locality is open to question.

[VII-21] "R. le Crosse" of Pike's map, the discharge of the lake now universally known as Ball Club: see the account of it in note^56, p. 150.

[VII-22] The lake which Pike calls Winipie is the large body of water in British America, through which the combined streams of the Assiniboine and Red River of the North find their way into Hudson's bay, and which we know as Lake Winnipeg; but this does not further concern us now. Pike's Lake Winipeque is what we now call Lake Winnibigoshish, on the course of the Mississippi. The French forms of the latter name, such as Ouinipique, etc., whence our Winipeque, Winipec, Winipeck, etc., are diminutizing terms, as if to say Little Lake Winipeg. There can be no occasion for confounding the two lakes, notwithstanding the similarity and sometimes the identity of their names.

Lake Winnibigoshish is that very large dilatation of the Mississippi which lies next below Cass l.: see note^8, p. 159, for the distance between the two, and details of that section of the river which connects them. The variants of its name are moderately numerous: Winipeque, as above, but Winipec on Pike's map; Wenepec, Lewis and Clark's map, 1814; Little Winnepeck, Long; Winnipec, Beltrami, Schoolcraft; Winnepeg and Big Winnipeg, Allen; Winibigoshish, Nicollet, Owen—this last the only name now used, generally with doubled n, and with some variants, like Winnepegoosis, etc. This is the second largest body of water in the whole Itascan basin, exceeded only by Leech l., and much exceeding Cass l.; its area is probably not far from that of Lake Pepin, but the shape is very different. The figure is squarish, with the N. W. and S. W. corners rounded off, and the N. E. corner extended into a well-marked bay; the main diameters are about 11 m. from N. to S., and 7½ from E. to W.; the area thus indicated is little encroached upon by projecting points, so that the shore line is shorter than usual in proportion to the extent of waters; the collateral feeders of the lake are comparatively few and unimportant. The lake lies partly in no fewer than eight townships (each 6 × 6 m. sq.); but it only slightly encroaches on five of these, occupying nearly all of T. 146, R. 28, 5th M., the greater part of T. 145, R. 28, and about half of T. 146, R. 27: actual area thus equivalent to rather more than two townships, or over 72 sq. m. The construction of the government dam at the outlet has decidedly altered the shore line, and modified other natural features; the overflow due to this obstruction has inundated the original shore contour in the low places, formed some backwater expansions, and drowned countless trees. Many of these stand stark and black where they grew, far out from the present shore line, which itself is piled with drift-wood in most places. Snags also abound all along the wooded shores, and the water is so shallow that some beds of bulrushes rise above the surface a mile or more from land. The scene is desolate and forbidding. Add to this a danger of navigation to an unusual degree for the frail birch-bark canoes which alone are used on Winnibigoshish. The lake is too large to be safely crossed in such boats at any time. Even the Indians habitually sneak to the shore through the snags and rushes; for the water is very shallow, easily churned up to quite a sea. Sudden squalls and shifting currents are always to be expected, and one runs considerable risk in venturing where land cannot be made in a few minutes, if necessary. It would be nothing, of course, to a well-built keel-boat with sail and oars; but a birch-bark is quite another craft. I have seen Winnibigoshish as smooth as glass, and then in a few minutes been glad to put ashore, to escape a choice between swamping or capsizing, amid whitecaps and combers at least four feet from crest to hollow, breaking on a lee shore full of snags and piled with driftwood. Good landing places are not to be found all along; most of the shore is low, and much of it consists of floating-bog, in which a man may sink as easily, and less cleanly, than in quicksand, if he sets an incautious foot. The water is so impure as to be scarcely fit for drinking; the lake is a sort of cesspool for all the sewerage of the basin whose waters pass through it. Winnibigoshish, in short, is dreary, dirty, deceitful, and dangerous.

The Mississippi enters this reservoir in the S. W. part, at a point in the S. W. ¼ of Sect. 36, T. 146, R. 29, 5th M., where it sweeps around a firm bank, steep enough to be cut in some places, and on which some Indians live; quite a little delta extends far out into the lake, overgrown with bulrushes to such an extent as to hide the opening. But it is not difficult to thread any one of several ways through these to the high bank just said, which is the land-mark; a more conspicuous one, from a distance, is a piece of high woodland whose point is due S. ½ m. from the inlet. Hence southward is the nearest approach of Leech l.; a traverse offers by means of Portage l. (Nicollet's Lake Duponceau), though the carrying-place is somewhat over 2 m. long.

Passing northward, to our left as we start from the Mississippian inlet to go around the shore, the first prominent feature is Raven's point, distant from the inlet 4 m. The maps all represent this as much longer and sharper than it looked to my eye; probably much of the point that was once land is now under water, owing to the dam. It is the site of a squalid village of Chippewas, who have been civilized into the whole assortment of our own vices. A considerable stream falls in here, which I suppose is Kaminaigokag r. of Nicollet and Owen, though it is nameless on more modern maps. Its mouth is in Sect. 18, T. 146, R. 29, close to the N. border of Sect. 19; near by is a lake about a mile in diameter, probably due to overflowage. Rounding Raven's point and proceeding N. 4 m. further, we come to a little bay into which flows a considerable stream from the W. This is Third r., often marked "III. R." The reason for this name will presently appear. Schoolcraft in Narr. Journey of 1820, pub. 1821, p. 246, calls it "Thornberry river, or La rivière des Epinettes," but F. épinette does not mean "thornberry": see note^20, p. 319. The mouth of Third r. falls in the N. W. ¼ of Sect. 33, T. 147, R. 28. Coasting now E. along the N. shore, we round the prominence which defines Third River bay, and which I call Windy pt. from my experience there—it had no name that I could discover. It consists of a floating-bog for some distance back, and in this morass, further eastward, a small creek empties in Sect. 35 of the T. and R. last said; this may be called Bog cr., if no earlier name can be found; it is not one of the regularly enumerated streams. A mile and a half eastward of Bog cr., nearly or exactly on the line between Sect. 36 of the same township and Sect. 31 of T. 147, R. 27, is the mouth of Pigeon r. No other name is heard on the spot; but this is Second r. or "II. R." of the geographers. Schoolcraft, l. c., called it Round Lake r., and Round l. is present name of its principal source. There is a good landing here on a bit of beach under a firm, bluffy bank, the site of the most decent and well-to-do Chippewa village about the lake. Three and a half miles E. S. E. of Pigeon r. is the wide, irregular opening of Cut Foot Sioux r., otherwise First r., or "I. R.," which discharges from a system of lakes, the nearest one of which is marked Cut Toe l. by Owen, and Keeskeesedatpun l. on the Jewett map of 1890. This is the river called Turtle Portage r. by Schoolcraft, l. c. Several houses stand on and under the high land on the E. or left bank, a fraction of a mile back of the opening, among them the trading-house of one Fairbanks, where the usual robberies are perpetrated under another name, but without further pretense of any sort. Four miles from the mouth of the Cut Foot Sioux, in a direction about S. S. E., is the outlet of the Mississippi, at the bottom of a large bay, offset from the rest of the lake by prominent points of land. The separation of this bay from the main body of waters is scarcely less well-marked than that of Pike bay from the rest of Cass l. I propose to call it Dam bay. The points of land which delimit its opening into Lake Winnibigoshish are: A long linguiform extension from the S., occupying all the ground not overflowed of Sects. 15 and 16, T. 146, R. 27, which may be designated Tongue pt.; and opposite this, on the N., a much less extensive prominence, which may become known as Rush pt., in Sect. 10 of the T. and R. last said. Paddling 1½ m. from Cut Foot Sioux r., we go through the strait between Tongue and Rush pts., and are then in Dam bay, a roundish body of water about 2½ m. in diameter. At the S. end of this is the short thoroughfare (outlet of the Mississippi), less than a mile long, which leads into Little Lake Winnibigoshish, and has been dammed at its lower end, in the S. W. ¼ of Sect. 25, necessitating, of course, a portage of a few yards in canoeing. The dam in part consists of a solid embankment, stretching from the S.; the rest is the wooden construction for raising and lowering a series of gates by which the flow of water can be regulated. This work looks sadly in need of repair, and is said to be none too secure. At the N. end of the dam is a high wooded hill, a fine spring of water, and some vacant buildings; on the other side is a narrow pond over a mile long, called Rice l.

Immediately below the dam, the Mississippi dilates into Little Lake Winnibigoshish (once Rush l.), of irregularly oval figure, 2¾ m. long by scarcely over 1 m. in greatest breadth, its longest diameter about N. W. to S. E. At a point near the S. E. is the portage, or carrying place, over to Ball Club l., whose head is there distant about a mile: see note^56, p. 150. The outlet of the Mississippi is on the S., in the N. W. ¼ Sect. 6, T. 145, R. 26. Thence the river flows scarcely W. of S. for 3 m. direct, but I judge fully 6½ by its extremely tortuous channel, to a place in Sect. 24, T. 145, R. 27, where some rapids occur; these, however, are easily shot. The further course of the river is S. E., 8 m. direct, but more than twice as far by the bends, to the confluence of Leech Lake r., or Pike's "Forks of the Mississippi": see back, note last cited, p. 151. This whole section of the Mississippi, from Little Lake Winnibigoshish to the mouth of Leech Lake r., is easy canoeing down, with plenty of smooth, swift water, even at low stages, and good places to camp all along on the wooded points against which the channel continually abuts as it bends from side to side of the low bottom-land, mostly overgrown with reeds (Phragmites communis) and bulrushes (Scirpus lacustris), but toward Leech Lake r. becoming meadowy and thus fit for haying. Besides the main bends, or regular channel, there are a great many minor sluices or cut-offs, practicable for canoeists; and one is borne quickly along by the current, without minding much whether one is in the channel or not. This way down, though circuitous and several times as far as the route by Ball Club l., which lies off to the left as you descend, is decidedly preferable; but going up river I should advise one to take the route through Ball Club, and portage over to Little Lake Winnibigoshish.

[VII-23] William Morrison is the first of white men known to have been at Lake Itasca. He wintered at Lac la Folle, 1803-4, visited Lake Itasca in 1804, and again in 1811 or 1812. Mr. Morrison was b. Canada, 1783, d. there Aug. 9th, 1866. He kept a journal, which was lost, of his movements before 1824. He described "Elk" l. to his daughter, Mrs. Georgiana Demaray, and various other persons; he considered and declared himself the first of white men at the source, though his claim does not appear to have become a matter of authentic, citable publication till 1856: see Final Rep. Minn. Geol. Surv., I. p. 26. The document on which his claim mainly rests is the extant original of a letter addressed by William to his brother Allan, dated Berthier, Jan. 16th, 1856. This is published verbatim in Brower's Report, Minn. Hist. Soc. Coll., VII. 1893, pp. 122-124. Brower says (l. c. p. 120) that the "Morrison letter," as originally published in Minn. Hist. Soc. Coll., I. 1856, pp. 103, 104, or 2d ed., 1872, pp. 417-419, is "a composite production." The article there covering the William Morrison letter is entitled "Who Discovered Itasca Lake?" and includes a letter from Allan Morrison to General Alexander Ramsay (now ex-Secretary of War and President of the Society), dated Crow Wing, Benton County, M. T., Feb. 17th, 1856. Charles Hallock, Esq., formerly of New York, the well-known author of the Sportsman's Gazetteer and many other works, founder of the Forest and Stream weekly in New York, and of the town of Hallock, now the seat of Kittson Co., Minn., published a version of the "Morrison letter," said to be a "correct copy," in his article The Red River Trail, Harper's Mag. XIX. No. cix, June, 1859, p. 37, which aroused the jealous recalcitration of Mr. Schoolcraft, whose reclamation was made in a letter to George H. Moore, Esq., Librarian of the New York Historical Society, dated Washington, Aug. 12th, 1859, and published in the N. Y. Evening Post, Aug. 23d, 1859, p. 1, column 4. I have not inspected Morrison's autograph letter; but I have compared the three printed versions here in mention—the one of 1856 or 1872, Hallock's of 1859, and Brower's of 1893. They are all to the same effect, and evidently from one source; but the textual discrepancies of all three are so great that they can scarcely be called "copies." Brower speaks of "several letters written by Mr. Morrison on this subject," and states that the one he prints, of Jan. 16th, 1856, "is given in full, and just as written and signed." From this imprint I extract the following clauses: "I left the old Grand Portage, July, 1802, ... in 1803-4, I went and wintered at Lac La Folle.... Lac La Biche is near to Lac La Folle. Lac La Biche is the source of the Great River Mississippi, which I visited in 1804, and if the late Gen. Pike did not lay it down as such when he came to Leech lake it is because he did not happen to meet me.... I visited in 1804, Elk lake, and again in 1811-12," etc. Nothing appears to invalidate this letter; for Mr. Schoolcraft's contemptuous contention of 1859 belittled Mr. Morrison and Mr. Hallock without disproving or even disputing Mr. Morrison's claim. The gravamen of Mr. Schoolcraft's charge is contained in the statement "that he [Morrison], or his friends in Minnesota, should have deferred forty-seven years to make this important announcement, is remarkable." It may have been "remarkable"; but it is not inexplicable. Mr. Henry D. Harrower, in the Educational Reporter Extra, Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor and Co., New York and Chicago, pub. Oct., 1886, 8vo, p. 17, has some discerning and judicious remarks on this score: "The statements of the brothers Morrison have generally been received without question by scientists and geographers in Minnesota; and in his letter Allan Morrison expresses surprise that anyone should be ignorant of the title of his brother to the discovery of Itasca prior to Schoolcraft. It is a curious fact, however, that Allan Morrison acted as guide for Charles Lanman for a number of weeks in 1846, during which time they visited Itasca Lake; and that Lanman, in his published account of the trip, nowhere mentions Wm. Morrison, or intimates that he was ever at the source of the Mississippi, but definitely ascribes the discovery to Schoolcraft in 1832. See Lanman's 'Adventures in the Wilderness,' vol. i, pages 48, 75, etc. I venture the opinion that Morrison first identified his Elk Lake of 1804 with Schoolcraft's Itasca when he read Schoolcraft's 'Summary Narrative' (1855); and that it is safe to say that if Morrison discovered Lake Itasca, Schoolcraft discovered Morrison." This may be considered to raise the question, What constitutes discovery? But that does not affect the main issue. Mr. Morrison's declaration that he visited Lake Itasca in 1804 and again in 1811-12 thus far rests uncontested. If the case is ever re-opened, it will probably be upon newly discovered documentary evidence of priority of discovery by some Frenchman. When Pike was at Leech l. he just missed, by some months and scarcely more miles, the glory of the most important discovery he could possibly have made in the course of this or his other expedition.

In May, 1820, Lewis Cass, then governor of Michigan, left Detroit with 38 men, among whom was Henry Rowe Schoolcraft. Proceeding by Michilimackinac he struck the Miss. r. at Sandy l., and entered it July 17th. The narrative recites that he went to Peckagama falls, thence 55 m. to the Forks, 45 to Lake Winnipec, and about 50 m. more to the large lake then first called Cassina and afterward Cass l. by Schoolcraft. This was entered July 21st; but the party went no further. It was then represented to them that the source of the river was in a lake called La Beesh, i. e., La Biche, erroneously supposed to be 60 miles N. W.; upon which the river was computed to be 3,038 m. long, at an altitude of 1,330 feet: for the particulars of this voyage, see Schoolcraft's Narrative Journal, etc., pub. E. and E. Hosford, Albany, N. Y., 1821, 1 vol. 8vo, pp. i-xvi, 17-419, 4 unpaged pages of index, map, plates; it is full of errors. The Cradled Hercules, as Nicollet later called it, slept on this till Schoolcraft returned in 1832 to awaken the infant, with Lieut. Allen, Rev. Mr. Boutwell, Dr. Houghton, and Mr. Johnston, under the leadership of Chief Ozawindib.

Giacomo Constantino Beltrami was b. Bergamo, Italy, 1779; au mieux, Mme. La Comtesse de Campagnoni née Passeri, at Florence, 1812; exiled, 1821; Fort St. Anthony (Snelling), May 10th, 1823; and when Long's expedition came in July of that year, he accompanied it up the Minn. r. and down the Red River of the North to Pembina, where he took offense and his congé simultaneously, between Aug. 5th-9th. The differences between the American soldier and the expatriated Italian were great and various. Major Long ejected Signor Beltrami on the spot, and on paper dismissed him not less curtly and contemptuously, making this harsh judgment a personal matter over initials S. H. L. in Keating, I., p. 314: "An Italian whom we met at Fort St. Anthony attached himself to the expedition and accompanied us to Pembina. He has recently published a book entitled, 'La Découverte des Sources du Mississippi,' &c., which we notice merely on account of the fictions and misrepresentations it contains." Mr. Schoolcraft makes a point of snubbing Sig. Beltrami: see posteà. The amiable M. le Professeur Nicollet alone has a kindly word for his co-laborer in Mississippian exploration: "He descended Turtle river, which empties into Lake Cass;—that had been the terminus of the expedition of 1820, under the command of General Cass, and in honor of whom it is so named. Now, as the sources of Turtle river are more distant from the mouth of the Mississippi than this [Itasca] lake, Mr. Beltrami thought himself authorized to publish that he had discovered the sources of the Mississippi. Hence, perhaps, may be explained why, as late as Mr. Schoolcraft's expedition of 1832, the sources of the river were laid down as N. W. of Lake Cass. I may be mistaken, but it strikes me that American critics have been too disdainful of Mr. Beltrami's book, which found many readers on both continents, whilst it propagated some painful errors," Rep. 1843, p. 59. Hon. J. V. Brower, the latest and altogether the best monographer, stigmatizes Sig. Beltrami as "a hero-worshipper with but one hero, and that himself," Miss. R., etc., 1893, p. 136. With me the question is not one of Beltrami's character, temperament, imagination, sex-relations, etc., but simply, What did he do about the Mississippian origines? Brower gives a clear, connected, and fair answer, ibid., pp. 137-141, in part from an article by Mr. A. J. Hill of St. Paul. Beltrami bravely made his way alone to Red l., which he left Aug. 26th, 1823; was guided Aug. 28th to the vicinity of Turtle l.; found a spot whence he thought water flowed four ways, N., S., E., W., to three oceans, and which was a part of the divide between Mississippian and Hudsonian waters; named Lake Julia, tributary to Turtle l., as a "Julian source" of the Mississippi, which it was; declared it to be the true source, as he defined the "source" of a river, by position relative to position of the mouth; declared and certainly believed he had discovered this source, in which he was mistaken, as it was already known; named other lakes for other friends; and was informed by his guide of Lake Itasca, which he located on his map with approx. accuracy by the name of Doe l., translating Lac La Biche of the F., though it appears in his text as Bitch l. by mistake. For Beltrami distinctly speaks, II. p. 434, of Lake Itasca: "which the Indians call Moscosaguaiguen, or Bitch lake, which receives no tributary stream, and seems to draw its waters from the bosom of the earth. It is here in my opinion that we shall fix the western sources of the Mississippi," as Schoolcraft and Allen did, nine years afterward. Beltrami proceeded to Cass l., and thence to Fort St. Anthony, where he arrived after great hardships in a state of extreme destitution; went to New Orleans, and there published his first book, 1824. In all this I see no necessary occasion for disdain or derision; the man did the best he could—"angels could do no more." He showed courage, fortitude, endurance, perseverance, ambition, and enthusiasm—all admirable qualities. He wrote an extravagant book, to be sure; but it displays less egotism and more fidelity to the facts, as he understood them, than Hennepin's, for example, and has a higher moral quality than the average Jesuit Relation. He shot high, but not with a longer bow than many a traveler before and since himself. One test of his good faith is the perfect ease with which we can find the facts in his book and separate them from the figments of his overwrought imagination. Heredity and environment conspired to lead him into grave errors of judgment and some misstatements of fact; but which one of us who write books can stone his glass house with impunity? Beltrami's Julian source will run in the books as long as the water runs from that source, alongside the Plantagenian and Itascan sources. Beltrami's map locates Doe=Itasca l. with greater accuracy than any earlier map does. The "pointed similarity" it has been said to bear to Pike's—and I fear as a suggestion of plagiarism—does not extend to the Itascan source, for there is not a trace of this on Pike's published map. Beltrami went from New Orleans to Mexico, traversed that country, reached London about 1827, published his Pilgrimage, etc., 2 vols., and d. at Filotrano, Feb., 1855, in his 76th year. He fills the niche in Mississippian geographical history between Cass, 1820, and Schoolcraft and Allen, 1832; meanwhile, Itasca State Park lies mainly in Beltrami Co., Minn., which includes both the Julian and Itascan sources. There was nothing the matter with Beltrami but woman on the brain; he had a queen bee in his bonnet—that is all. Much that has been taken for puerile conceit is the virile badinage of a man of the world, of wit, and of penetration. I have read his Pilgrimage with interested attention; it is clear to me that Beltrami was no mere flâneur—by no means such a trifler as some of his passages might excuse one for supposing him to be. He was a well-read and well-traveled man; his obiter dicta on various things, as religion, politics, society, and other broad themes, are generally acute. He was a brave man; I imagine Major Long had a time of it with Sioux, and Signor Beltrami too; it seems to have been a case of scalping-knife and stiletto. As I have already cited the military mailed hand, let us see the fine Italian hand: "Major Long did not cut a very noble figure in the affair; I foresaw all the disgusts and vexations I should have to experience," II. p. 303; "met a band of Sioux. The major thought he read hostile intentions in their faces; he even thought they had threatened him;—of course everybody else thought so too—like Casti's courtiers; ... it was incumbent on me, therefore, to be very much alarmed, too; ... I rather think the fright they threw the major into was in revenge for his giving them nothing but boring speeches. If they meant it so they had every reason to be satisfied," II. pp. 336-37; "Colonel Snelling's son, who shewed the most friendly concern and apprehensions for me. He also left the major at the same time, not without violent altercation, ... with considerable regret I parted from Dr. Say, one of the naturalists attached to the expedition, the only one who deserved the designation [this was a tickler for Prof. Keating's fifth rib]," II. 370; "they [Colonel Snelling, Major Taliaferro, and others] were indignant against Major Long for acting towards me in the miserable manner that he did. With respect to myself, I feel towards him a sort of gratitude for having by his disgusting manners only strengthened my determination to leave him," II. p. 483. Beltrami was evidently able to keep his own scalp, and his book is vastly diverting, except in the boggy places, where he mires us down with his gynæcosophy. It is entitled: A Pilgrimage in Europe and America, leading to the Discovery of the Sources of the Mississippi River, etc., 2 vols., 8vo, London, 1828, pp. i-lxxvi, 1-472, and 1-545, map and plates. It is dedicated "To the Fair Sex. Oh Woman!" The text is in epistolary form, ostensibly addressed to the countess, and consists of 22 letters, 1821-23; matter of Julian sources, II. p. 409 seq., and map.

In 1830, Cass was directed by the War Department to request Schoolcraft, who was then an agent of the Office of Indian affairs of the W. D., to proceed into the Chippewa country to endeavor to put an end to the hostilities between the Chippewas and the Sioux. The wars which neither Pike, nor Clark, nor anybody else had succeeded in stopping permanently in those quarters were thus indirectly the cause, and directly the occasion, of the rediscovery of the source of the Miss. r. Schoolcraft left St. Mary's, at the foot of Lake Superior, late in June, 1831, with 27 persons, exclusive of guides and Indian portagers. But the atrocious massacre of Menomonees by the Sacs and Foxes at Prairie du Chien, and other circumstances, diverted this expedition from the sources of the river, and Schoolcraft returned to the Sault Ste. Marie. The plan was resumed early in 1832, when another party was made up of some 30 persons, on the basis of an attempt to effect permanent peace between the two principal tribes. Schoolcraft left the Sault June 7th, 1832. This place was and is on a large lake which S. calls Igomi, Chigomi, and Gitchigomi, and others Kitchi Gummi—though we prefer Lake Superior to the Chippewa vernacular. On July 3d, he reached Mr. Aitkin's trading-house on the discharge of Sandy l., a distance of about 150 m. by the usual St. Louis and Savanna rivers route. Cass l. was entered on the 10th; this was the point of departure for new exploration, as it was that where the Cass expedition had ended July 21st, 1820. Cass l. was then determined to be 2,978 instead of 3,038 m. from the Gulf of Mexico by the course of the river. The Indian guide, Ozawindib, began to make history and immortalize his name at this point. He took the party up the Miss. r. to Lac Traverse or Pamitchi Gumaug, that is, to Lake Bemidji, and thence by the chain of lakes Schoolcraft called Irving, Marquette, La Salle, and Plantagenet, up the course of the "South" (better called East) fork of the Miss. r. to the Naiwa r. and Usawa l., thus discovering the linked chain which later became known as the "Plantagenian source": see note^8, p. 162. Ozawindib then portaged the party over to the lake which Morrison had discovered in 1804. Camp was pitched on the island which by common consent bears Schoolcraft's name, July 13th, 1832. The party consisted of 16 persons, including Ozawindib, Mr. Schoolcraft, Lieut. James Allen, U. S. A., Dr. Douglass Houghton, Rev. Wm. T. Boutwell, and Mr. George Johnston. The name "Itasca" was a whim of Schoolcraft's, which would mislead anyone who should search Indian languages for its etymology, especially as Mr. S. himself affects obscurantism by saying: "Having previously got an inkling of some of their mythological and necromantic notions of the origin and mutations of the country, which permitted the use of a female name for it, I denominated it Itasca." This is a dark hint of mystic and very likely phallic superstitions; but the facts in the case are given in Brower's Report, p. 148, from personal interview with the Rev. Boutwell himself, who said in substance that once when he and Mr. S. were in the same canoe in 1832, the latter suddenly turned and asked him what was the Greek and Latin definition of the headwaters or true source of a river. Mr. B. could not on the spur of the moment rally any Greek, but mustered Latin enough to give Mr. S. his choice of Verum Caput (true head) or Veritas, Caput (truth, head); by combining which latter two words, beheading one and bobtailing the other, Mr. S. made (Ver)ITASCA(put), and said, "Itasca shall be the name." He was quite equal to such juggling with words; e. g., his Lake Shiba is named by a word which consists of the initial letters of schoolcraft, houghton, iohnston (for johnston), boutwell, and allen. It is lucky Mr. Boutwell did not think of the Greek for "head waters," or Itasca might have been named Lake Hydrocephalus. Mr. Schoolcraft perpetuated the etymological myth by perpetrating some stanzas, two lines of which are: "As if in Indian myths a truth there could be read, And these were tears indeed, by fair Itasca shed." None of the party appears to have noticed the smaller lake south of Itasca, though it was only 333 yards from the head of the W. arm, which was not explored; and in fact the visit of so much historical moment was in itself but momentary. The main point ascertained was the location of Itasca to the S. W. of Cass l., where Beltrami had already represented it to be, instead of the N. W. where Schoolcraft had supposed it was. The many little lakes and streams in the Itasca basin, and all nice topographic features, were left to be discovered by Nicollet and his successors. Their Chippewa guide took them back by way of the main, west, or Itascan course of the river to Cass l., whence they went to Leech l., thence by the chain of lakes to Crow Wing r., and so on to the Mississippi again. It is certainly not my desire to disparage Mr. Schoolcraft; but one who could be taken to the source of the Mississippi and leave it the same day, seeing nothing but what was shown him, and giving only a glance at that, was not the person who should have snubbed Beltrami as he did when he wrote that "a Mr. Beltrami, returning from the settlement of Pembina by the usual route of the traders from Red Lake to Turtle Lake, published at New Orleans, a small 12mo volume under the title of 'La découverte des sources du Mississippi, et de la Riviere [sic] Sanglante,' a work which has since been expanded into two heavy 8vo volumes by the London press" (Narrative, etc., heavy 8vo, New York, 1834, p. 73). That sort of a sneer at a prior explorer in the same region comes with particularly bad grace from a gentleman who was expert in expanding his own stock of information to the most voluminous proportions, and whose cacoëthes scribendi, by dint of incessant scratching, finally developed a case of pruritus senilis, marked by an acute mania for renaming things he had named years before: see his Summary Narrative, etc., Philada., Lippincott, Grambo and Co., 1855. Mr. Schoolcraft never forgave Sig. Beltrami for telling where Lake Itasca would be found; had he done so, he would have been untrue to the supreme selfishness, inordinate vanity, vehement prejudices, and conscientious narrow-mindedness with which his all-wise and all-powerful Calvinistic Creator had been graciously pleased to endow him. Another account of Schoolcraft's expedition of 1832 occupies pp. 125-132 of Minn. Hist. Soc. Coll., I. 2d ed. 1872; Mr. Boutwell's narrative of the same is found ibid., pp. 153-176.

James Allen's name is not so well known in this connection as it should be. That is to say, the public seldom connects his name with the discovery of Lake Itasca. But if Mr. Schoolcraft was the actual head of the expedition of 1832, and became its best known historian, Lieutenant Allen was a large and shapely portion of the body of that enterprise, decidedly the better observer, geographer, and cartographer; item, the commander of the military escort, which might have been necessary for safety and success; item, the author of an able, interesting, and important report upon the subject, which he made to the military authorities. He was detailed for this duty by order of A. Macomb, Major-General, commanding the army, dated Hdqrs. of the Army, Washn., May 9th, 1832, and proceeded to Fort Brady, Mich., with a detachment consisting of Corporal Wibru, and Privates Briscoe, Beemis, Burke, Copp, Dutton, Ingram, Lentz, Riley, and Wade, of the 5th Infantry. He was gone June 6th-Aug. 26th, 1832. His movements were the same as Mr. Schoolcraft's, except where the latter left him in the lurch on the St. Croix; his operations more extensive and more intelligently directed to explore and report upon the country. He named Schoolcraft isl. and various other things; Allen's bay was named for him by Mr. Schoolcraft, and Allen's l. by Mr. Brower. Allen was an Ohio man, appointed from Madison, Jefferson Co., Ind., cadet at West Point, July 1st, 1825; 2d lieut. 5th Infantry, July 1st, 1829; 2d lieut. 1st Dragoons, Mar. 4th, 1833; 1st lieut. May 31st, 1835; capt., June 30th, 1837; on detached service, engineering duty, Chicago, 1837-38; d. suddenly at Fort Leavenworth, Kas., Aug. 22d or 23d, 1846, as lieutenant-colonel of a Mormon battalion of volunteer infantry he had raised to re-enforce our Army of the West, "beloved while living, and regretted after death, by all who knew him," Hughes, Doniphan's Exped., 1847, p. 53. His valuable Mississippi report, completed at Fort Dearborn (Chicago), Nov. 25th, 1833, was transmitted to Congr. by Hon. Lewis Cass, Sec. of War, Apr. 11th, 1834, and published in Amer. State Papers, Class V. Milit. Affairs, V. Ex. Doc. No. 579, 1st Session, 23d Congr., folio, pp. 312-344, and map.

The illustrious name of Jean Nicolas Nicollet is first in time on the roll of those who have applied modern methods of exact and exacting science to the geography of the West. Nicollet is most highly appreciated by those who are themselves most worthy of appreciation and most competent critics. Thus, Gen. G. K. Warren pronounces Nicollet's map "one of the greatest contributions ever made to American geography." It will stand forever as the sound basis of knowledge on the subject. Notices of Nicollet's life and work are found in: Trans. Assoc. Amer. Geol. and Nat., 1840-42, Boston, 1843, pp. 32-34; Amer. Journ. Sci., 1st ser., XLVII. p. 139, sketch by Prof. H. D. Rogers; Minn. Hist. Coll., I. (of 1850-56), 2d ed. 1872, pp. 183-195, memoir by Gen. H. H. Sibley; VI. 1891, pp. 242-245, being reminiscences in the autobiography of Maj. Lawrence Taliaferro; and VII. 1893, pp. 155-165, notice by J. V. Brower with portrait; Ann. Rep. Smiths. Inst., 1870, p. 194; Frémont's Memoirs, I. pp. 30-72, passim; notice in Educational Reporter Extra, Oct., 1886, by H. D. Harrower; and especially N. H. Winchell, Amer. Geol., VIII. Dec., 1891, pp. 343-352, with portrait and best biography. N. was b. at Cluses in Savoy, 1790; d. Baltimore, Md., Sept. 11th, 1843. He was a watchmaker's apprentice till æt. 18; was a natural musician; studied languages and mathematics, and in 1818 published an article which became noted in the annals of insurance for its calculations on probable duration of human life; he wrote others of similar character; 1819 to 1828, he published various mathematical and astronomical treatises; was decorated in 1825 with the Cross of the Legion of Honor; at one time held a professorship in the Royal College of Louis Le Grand; was also an inspector of naval schools; he was in high esteem, and made money. But the fickle goddess of fortune ceased to smile; he made business ventures which failed, and cost him all his worldly goods and all his fair-weather friends; in 1832 he was a poor refugee in the United States. But his amiable character, his accomplishments, his great talents, and greater genius were more conspicuous in adversity than they had been in prosperity. He made friends everywhere, among them some in high stations, able to estimate his abilities and glad to use his services. Under the auspices of the War Department, and with the personal attentions of such men as Pierre Chouteau, Jr., Gen. Sibley, and Maj. Taliaferro, he was enabled to make, 1833-39, those several explorations and surveys which resulted in his Map and Report—a work which would have done credit to anyone under any circumstances, but one which only a Nicollet could have accomplished under the actual conditions. In 1840 and 1841 he was on office duty in Washington, reducing his field-work and preparing his map, which latter was drawn under his direction by Lieuts. J. C. Frémont and E. P. Scammon. This was completed probably in 1840, as it had been submitted to Congress and ordered to be printed, Feb. 16th, 1841. But the hardships he had endured in the field had undermined his frail physique; the further drafts upon his balance of vitality were overdrawn; and the fatal blow was given by Arago, who defeated his election to the French Academy. "Pas même un Academicien," this great soul never wore the crown of his life. His work was published under the editorship of Gen. J. J. Abert, to whom science is indebted in many ways—perhaps in no one of these more than in the recognition of the merits of the gentle Savoyard, and consequently the steps he took to facilitate and complete Nicollet's labors. The publication forms Doc. No. 237, 26th Congr., 2d Session, entitled: Report intended to illustrate a Map of the Hydrographical Basin of the Upper Mississippi River, made by I. [sic] N. Nicollet, etc., 1 vol, 8vo, Washington, Blair and Rives, 1843, pp. 1-170, map, 30¾ × 37 inches; also pub. as Ex. Doc. No. 52, Ho. Reps., 2d Sess., 28th Congr. The report is officially addressed to Colonel Abert; the original journals and other MSS. were to be deposited in the Bureau of the Corps of Topographical Engineers, Sept. 13th, 1843. I have examined the original map, from which the published one was engraved, not without some variant lettering here and there; it is now in bad condition, very brittle, and would soon go to pieces if often unrolled without great care in handling it. I think it should be renovated, without delay, and put in the best possible condition for permanent preservation.

July 26th, 1836, Nicollet went from Fort Snelling to the Falls of St. Anthony, with Lieutenants S. N. Plummer, G. W. Shaw, and James McClure, to see him off; 29th, he was ascending the river; at the mouth of the Crow Wing he left the Mississippi, ascended the former to Gayashk or Gull r., went from this to Pine r., visited Kadikomeg or Whitefish l. thence up E. fork of Pine r. to Kwiwisens or Boy r., and down this into Leech l., where he spent a week, mostly camped on Otter Tail pt., where resided his principal guide, Francis Brunet—"a man six feet three inches high—a giant of great strength, but at the same time full of the milk of human kindness and, withal, an excellent natural geographer." He found here Mr. Boutwell, who was good enough to help him out of some sort of a scrape the Chippewas got him into. He left Leech l. in a bark canoe with Brunet, another man named Desiré, and a Chippewa whose name he renders Kegwedzissag, since spelled Gaygwedosay and applied to a creek which runs into present Elk l. He crossed several small lakes and came to one he calls Kabe-Konang—not the same as Schoolcraft's Kubba Kunna, which latter is the one S. called Lake Plantagenet, and is on Nicollet's Laplace r. He continued up Kabekonang r., made a 5-m. portage to Laplace r. (which is also called Naiwa, Yellow Head, and Schoolcraft's r., being the Plantagenet fork of the Miss. r.), and ascended it to a position 1 m. south of Assawa l., where he found the traces of a camp used four years before by the Schoolcraft party. Next morning he was up at 4.30, preparing for the 6-m. portage to Lake Itasca across the Big Burning—by no means an easy thing; the ground was very bad, and the mosquitoes as bad as they knew how to be. Brunet carried the canoe, weighing 110-115 lbs.; Desiré and Kegwedzissag had each a load of 85-90 lbs.; while poor Nicollet had a full burden in proportion to the powers of the slight and frail body that was so soon, alas! to fail him altogether. "I had about 35 pounds' weight unequally distributed upon my body.... I carried my sextant on my back in a leather case thrown over me as a knapsack; then my barometer slung over my left shoulder; my cloak thrown over the same shoulder confined the barometer closely against the sextant; a portfolio under the arm; a basket in hand which contained my thermometer, chronometer, pocket compass, artificial horizon, tape-line, &c. On the right side, a spy-glass, powder-flask, and shot-bag; and in my hand a gun or an umbrella according to circumstances. Such was my accoutrement." Though Nicollet estimated his load at only 35 pounds, it was an awkward one to manage, and more than he should have undertaken to carry through such a place; his head swam more than once, he lost his way, got bogged several times, and only extricated himself by scrambling along slippery and decayed tree-trunks. However, he reached Itasca safely, two hours after the rest, pitched his tent on the island, and proceeded to adjust his artificial horizon. During the three days spent in exploring the basin he made those minute and precise observations which will forever associate his honored name with Mississippian discovery. His approach to the spot duplicated Mr. Schoolcraft's; but the comparison need not be pushed further—it cannot be. Nicollet's return was by way of the main stream to Lake Cass and thence to Leech l.—where, by the way, he had a conference with that sagacious savage Eshkibogikoj, otherwise Gueule Platte or Flat Mouth, with whom he took tea "out of fine china-ware" and spent evenings "full of instruction." Of the fine work he did at Lake Itasca, I must quote his own modest words: "The honor of having first explored the sources of the Mississippi and introduced a knowledge of them in physical geography, belongs to Mr. Schoolcraft and Lieutenant Allen. I come only after these gentleman; but I may be permitted to claim some merit for having completed what was wanting for a full geographical account of these sources. Moreover, I am, I believe, the first traveler who has carried with him astronomical instruments, and put them to profitable account along the whole course of the Mississippi, from its mouth to its sources." He might well have claimed more than this; for, aside from all topographic and hydrographic details, what he discovered, determined, and described was the Mississippi itself above Lake Itasca. His praise is greatest in the mouths of wisest censure, and for once in the history of discovery no one withholds from modest merit and signal achievement their just dues.

The length of this note warns me to resist the temptation to pursue post-Nicolletian exploration and touring—through the names of Charles Lanman, 1846; Rev. Frederick Ayer and son, 1849; Wm. Bungo, 1865; Julius Chambers, of the New York Herald's "Dolly Varden" expedition, 1872; James H. Baker, in official capacities, 1875-79; Edwin S. Hall, U. S. surveyor, 1875; A. H. Siegfried, representing the Louisville Courier-Journal's "Rob Roy" expedition, 1879; O. E. Garrison, 1880; W. E. Neal, 1880 and 1881; Rev. J. A. Gilfillan and Prof. Cooke, in May, 1881, the same year that one X. Y. Z. exploited his fraud—to that of J. V. Brower, 1888-94. The scandalous episode in a record otherwise honorable to all concerned may be read in all its unsavory particulars in the able exposés made by Mr. H. D. Harrower, entitled: Captain Glazier and his Lake, etc., pub. Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor and Co., N. Y., Oct., 1886, pp. 1-58, with 9 maps; by Mr. Hopewell Clarke, in Science and Education, I. No 2, Dec. 24th, 1886, pp. 45-57, with 5 maps; by Hon. James H. Baker, in the report entitled: The Sources of the Mississippi. Their Discoveries, real and pretended, read before the Minn. His. Soc., Feb. 8th, 1887, and published as Vol. VI., Pt. I, of that society's Collections, pp. 28; and by Commissioner Brower, pp. 191-209 of his elaborate and exhaustive monograph, pub. 1893, to which I am greatly indebted, and to which reference should be made for further details, whether in the history or the geography of the Mississippian sources. Nicollet is the pivotal point upon which the whole matter turns from Morrison to Brower, 1804-1894.

Some Additional Facts about Nicollet, not given on my foregoing pages, may be found in Horace V. Winchell's article, Amer. Geologist, Vol. XIII, pp. 126-128, Feb., 1894. The date of birth is there given as July 24th, 1786 (not 1790); the name, as Joseph (not Jean) Nicolas Nicollet; and the place of death, as Washington, D. C. (not Baltimore, Md.); the date is the same—Sept. 11th, 1843.

[VIII-1] As explained in note^1, p. 287, this chapter is that part of Doc. No. 18 which relates to the Indians, running pp. 56-66 and folder, without break in the text of p. 56 from the geographical matter. But its separation seems desirable, and I accordingly make a chapter for its accommodation. There is no change in the sequence of the matter.

[VIII-2] The Sacs and Foxes have a curious history, perhaps not exactly paralleled by that of any other tribes whatever. The names are linked inseparably from the earliest times to the present day. Each has always been to the other what neither of them has ever been to any other Indians or to any whites—friend. The entire composure with which we have been able to speak of Sacs and Foxes in our day and generation is the reverse of the frame of mind which many persons now living can recall as having been once theirs, before the final subjugation of these capricious, turbulent, and enterprising tribes in trans-Mississippian territory. They are Algonquian Indians who can be traced in blood from Lake Ontario westward, along the gauntlet they ran from Ontarian Canada to the final burying-grounds of their hatchets in Iowa, Kansas, and the Indian Territory. They fought everybody in their way—French, English, and American in turn, as well as perhaps every Indian tribe they encountered. They were alternately friends and foes of each of the two principal nations whose lands they overran—their Algonquian relations the Chippewas, and their natural enemies the Sioux, thus at times turning the balance of power between these two hereditary foes. They inhabited at times many places along the Great Lakes and westward, and the present names of not a few are directly traceable to such occupancy. They were specially identified with the histories of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois for more than a hundred years. Carver speaks of their villages on the Wisconsin r. in 1766, after they had been expelled from the Green Bay and Fox River region. They appear to have been driven from the St. Croix by the decisive battle at the Falls, in which they were defeated by the Chippewas under Waboji (d. 1793). Writing of 1832, Schoolcraft speaks of their recent residences on Rock r., and their confinement west of the Mississippi by the then latest tragic act in their history. This was the decisive battle of the Bad Axe in 1832: see note^51, p. 45. The Foxes are located on the old maps under some form of their Chippewan name Otagami; they were also called Miskwakis or Red Earths; their F. name Reynard, which we translate Fox, and sometimes Dog or Wolf, was an opprobrious nickname or nom de guerre. The Indian name Osagi, Osawki, Osaukee, Sauk, Sac, Sacque, etc., is by some said to signify the erratic propensities of the tribe which bears it, meaning migrants, or those who went out of the land: for a probably better definition, see note^16, p. 101. The survivors of both tribes scarcely number 1,000.

Le Bras Cassé, or Broken Arm, was a Sac chief whom Pike names Pockquinike in his folding Table of the Foxes and other Indians. He was a noted character, whose name turns up in various published accounts. He figures, for example, in the Relation, etc., of Perreault, on the scene of the assassination of Mr. Kay at Sandy Lake, May 2d, 1785, by Le Cousin and his mother, both of whom knifed their victim. Le Cousin was promptly stabbed by Feebyain or Le Petit Mort, a friend of Kay's, and Brasse Casse (as Mr. Schoolcraft spells his name) took Kay in hand to cure him; but the wound proved fatal Aug. 26th, 1785.

[VIII-3] Folding Table F of the orig. ed., facing p. 66 of the App. to Pt. 1, with a part of it, which the printer could not get on the sheet, overrun as p. 66 of the main text, headed "Recapitulation." In the present ed. this overrun piece is drawn into the table, which, as now printed, can be set unbroken on two pages facing each other.

For the modern scientific classification of the Siouan linguistic family in general, and of the Dakotas or Sioux in particular, see my ed. of Lewis and Clark, 1893, pp. 94-101, and pp. 128-130. As that work is or should be in the hands of all good Americans, the subject need not be traversed here. Taking that article as a modern norm or standard of comparison, it may be useful to give here the classification and nomenclature of the Sioux which was adopted by Major Long, who was next in the field after Pike with an account of these Indians, Keating, I. 1824, chap. viii., p. 376 seq. The Dacota, he says, means the allied, who in their external relations style themselves Ochente Shakoan, which signifies the nation of seven (council-) fires, represented by the following septenary division which once prevailed: 1. Mende Wahkantoan, or People of the Spirit lake. 2. Wahkpatoan, or People of the Leaves. 3. Sisitoan, or Mia Kechakesa. 4. Yanktoanan, or People of the Ferns. 5. Yanktoan, or People descended from Ferns. 6. Titoan , or Braggers. 7. Wahkpakotoan, or People that shoot at Leaves. Of these Long has it that No. 1 was the Gens du Lac of the French, and Nos. 2-6 were all included in the Gens du Large of the F. traders, i. e., People "at large," roving bands of prairie Sioux. But the French had other terms, especially Gens des Feuilles for No. 2, and Gens des Feuilles Tirées for No. 7. Comparing Long with Pike, we find: Long's No. 1=Pike's No. 1. Long's No. 2=Pike's No. 2. Long's No. 3=Pike's No. 3. Long's Nos. 4 and 5=Pike's No. 4, with his two divisions. Long's No. 6=Pike's No. 5. Long's No. 7=Pike's No. 6. Such a concordance as this deserves a red-letter mark, considering how seldom authors have agreed upon Sioux; and Pike is entitled to the credit of establishing the seven main tribes. In his census, to be compared with Pike's, Long gives total lodges, 2,330; warriors, 7,055; souls, 28,100: see Pike's Abstract, on pp. 346, 347. These are distributed by Long as follows: No. 1, 160—305—1,500. No. 2, 120—240—900. No. 3, 130—260—1,000; to which add for the Kahra (Pike's Cawree) band of Sissetons, 160—450—1,500. No. 4, 460—1,300—5,200. No. 5, 200—500—2,000. No. 6, 900—3,600—14,440. No. 7, 100—200—800. To which add for various stragglers 100—200—800, making total of lodges, warriors, and souls, as above. Long estimated the revolted Stone Sioux, Haha, or Assiniboines at 3,000—7,000—28,100, or almost precisely the same as all the other Sioux together. Long's interesting particulars of the 14 bands which he recognizes, by dividing his No. 1 into seven and separating the Kahras from the other Sissetons, may be thus summarized: No. 1. Mende-Wahkantoan: (1) Keoxa; pop. 40—70—400; chief Wapasha, Wabasha, La Feuille or Leaf; two villages, one on Iowa r., other near Lake Pepin; hunt both sides of the Miss. r. near the Chippewa r. and its tributaries. Keoxa means "relationship overlooked"; i. e., they inbreed closer than other Sioux. (2) Eanbosandata, so called from the vertical rock on Cannon r.; pop. 10—25—100; chief Shakea; two small villages, one on the Miss. r., other on Cannon r.; hunt on the headwaters of the latter. (3) Kapoja, signifying light or active; one village (at the Grand Marais or Pig's Eye marsh near St. Paul); pop. 30—70—300; chief, the celebrated Chetanwakoamene, Petit Corbeau, or little Raven, who visited Washington in July, 1824; hunt on St. Croix r. (4) Oanoska, meaning great avenue; chief Wamendetanka or War Eagle, formerly dependent on Petit Corbeau; one village (Black Dog's) on the St. Peter, S. side, near the mouth; pop. 30—40—200; hunt on the Miss. r. above Falls of St. Anthony. (5) Tetankatane, meaning Old Village; the oldest one among the Dakotas; 400 lodges there when Wapasha's father ruled the nation; Wapasha formerly lived there, but moved away with most of his warriors; those that stayed chose a new leader from amongst themselves, whose son Takopepeshene, the Dauntless, now rules; pop. 10—30—150; village on the St. Peter, 3 m. above its mouth; hunt on this and Miss. r. (6) Taoapa; one village on the St. Peter; pop. 30—60—300; chief Shakpa, whose name means Six, is third in the nation, ranking next after La Feuille and Petit Corbeau; hunt between the Miss. and St. Peter. (7) Weakaote, a small band dependent on (6); pop. 10—10—50. No. 2. Wahkpatoan, or Gens des Feuilles; name said to mean "people that live beyond those that shoot at leaves," i. e., higher up the river than the Wahkpakatoan; hunt near Otter Tail Lake; chief Nunpakea, meaning "twice flying." No. 3. Miakechesa or Sisitoan: (a) Sissetons proper; no fixed abode; chief rendezvous, Blue Earth r.; hunt buffalo over to the Missouri; live in skin tepees; their chief Wahkanto, or Blue Spirit, by hereditary right. (b) Kahra or Wild Rice Sissetons; no fixed abode; Lake Traverse and Red r.; skin lodges; follow chief Tantankanaje, Standing Buffalo, hereditary, but also a warrior. No. 4. Yanktoanan, the Fern Leaves, an important tribe, pop. one-fifth of the whole nation; no fixed residence; skin lodges; hunt from Red r. to the Missouri; trade at Lake Travers, Big Stone l., and the Shienne r.; principal chief, Wanotan, the Charger. No. 5. Yanktoan, descended from the Fern Leaves; live and trade on the Missouri; hunt on E. side of that river; chief Tatanka Yuteshane, meaning one who eats no buffalo. No. 6. Tetoans, Braggers; by far the most numerous tribe of the Sioux, by some said to compose one-half of the nation; rove between St. Peters and the Missouri; trade on both rivers; live in skin lodges; hostile, great boasters; their chief Chantapeta, or Heart of Fire, a powerful warrior. No. 7. Wahkpakotoan, a name rendered by Long "'Shooters at Leaves,' which they mistake for deer." No fixed abode; rove near head of the Cannon and Blue Earth rivers; skin lodges; their last leader Shakeska, White Nails, who died in 1822; he rose to his station by his military ability. They have a regular hereditary chief Wiahuga, the Raven, acknowledged as such by the Indian Agent; but he became disgusted with the behavior of his tribe, and withdrew to Wapasha's. Long agrees with Pike in giving this band a bad name as a lawless set. Pike says they were mere vagabonds, and refugees from other tribes on account of misdeeds. These Sioux were also called Gens des Feuilles Tirées and Leaf Shooters. In the Lewis and Clark schedule they formed the Ninth tribe of Sioux, named Wahpatoota, or Leaf Beds. A queer form of the name is 8apik8ti=Ouapikouti, on one of Joliet's maps.

The earliest form of the word Sioux is believed to be Naduesiu, derived from Jean Nicolet's journey of 1634-35, as written about five years later in the Jesuit Relations, by Father Le Jeune. The form Nadouessis, pl., is used by Raymbault and Jogues, who were at the Sault Ste. Marie in 1641 (Jes. Rel. of 1642). Nadouesiouek is given in a Relation of 1656, Nadouechiouec, 1660; and soon also Nadouesseronons, Nadouesserons, etc.

An excellent article on the Sioux, entitled Dakota Land and Dakota Life, by Rev. E. D. Neill, occupies pp. 254-294 of the 2d ed. 1872, of Minn. Hist. Soc. Coll., originally published in 1853.

[VIII-4] The punctuation of the last two sentences in the original left Pike's meaning obscure. It was by no means evident whether the language which he had used to the Indians held up to their minds a happy coincidence of circumstances which the traders helped to bring about before the Almighty interfered at all, or whether the happy coincidence of circumstances consisted in the endorsement of his language both by the traders and the Almighty. On the whole, I am inclined to think he meant that the speeches he made to the Indians whom he addressed directly were repeated and backed up by the traders among those Indians to whom he had no access; and that this was the happy coincidence of circumstances which enabled the Almighty to finish the business. But after all I am not quite confident that I catch his meaning. If I do, I must say that he is not very complimentary to the Deity, whose assistance he suspects may have been necessary to effect that which the traders and himself jointly attempted. For it seems from his further reflections on the subject that he thought God possibly equal to burying the hatchet between the Sioux and Chippewas, but hardly able to keep the peace without the assistance of the military and of a special agent. However, Pike was nothing if not a good soldier, and he had Napoleonic authority for supposing that God would always be found on the side of the heaviest artillery.

[IX-1] This article formed Doc. No. 2, pp. 52, 53 of the App. to Part III. of the orig. ed., entitled "Explanatory Table of Names of Places, Persons, and Things, made use of in this Volume." But there is not a name of any person in it, and not a name of anything in it that does not belong to Part I., i. e., to the Mississippi voyage alone. Having thus been obviously out of place in Part III., it is now brought where it belongs, and a new chapter made for it, with a new head, which more accurately indicates what it is. But even as a vocabulary of Mississippian place-names, it is a mere fragment, neither the plan nor scope of which is evident, as the names occur neither in alphabetical nor any other recognizable order, and include only a very small fraction of those which Pike uses in Part I. of his book. He may have intended to make something of it which should justify the title he gave it, and left it out of Part I. for that reason; but nothing more came of it, and it was finally bundled into Part III. The lists include a few terms which do not occur elsewhere in the work, as for example, "River of Means"; but are chiefly curious as an evidence of the difficulty our author found in spelling proper names twice alike.

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Table of Contents

- THE EXPEDITIONS OF Zebulon Montgomery Pike,

- Dedication.

- CONTENTS OF VOL I.

- PREFACE TO THE ORIGINAL EDITION.

- PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION.

- MEMOIR OF ZEBULON MONTGOMERY PIKE. BY ELLIOTT COUES.

- CHAPTER I. ITINERARY: ST. LOUIS TO ST. PAUL, AUGUST 9TH-SEPTEMBER 21ST, 1805.

- CHAPTER II. ITINERARY, CONTINUED: ST. PAUL TO LEECH LAKE, SEPTEMBER 22D, 1805-JANUARY 31ST, 1806.

- CHAPTER III. ITINERARY, CONCLUDED: LEECH LAKE TO ST. LOUIS, FEBRUARY 1ST-APRIL 30TH, 1806.

- CHAPTER IV. WEATHER DIARY OF THE MISSISSIPPI.[IV-1]

- CHAPTER V. CORRESPONDENCE AND CONFERENCES.[V-1]

- Art. 1. Letter, Pike to Wilkinson. (Orig. No. 1, pp. 1, 2.)

- Art. 2. Letter, Pike to Wilkinson. (Orig. No. 2, pp. 2-4.)

- Art. 3. The Dubuque Interrogation.[V-3] Queries proposed to Mr. Dubuque, with his answers.

- Art. 4. Speech, Pike to the Sioux[V-4] (Part of Orig. No. 3, pp. 6-8), delivered at the entrance of the river St. Peter's, Sept. 23d, 1803.

- Art 5. The Sioux Treaty[V-6] of Sept. 23d, 1805. (Part of Orig. No. 3, pp. 8, 9.)

- Art. 6. Letter, Pike to Wilkinson. (Orig. No. 4, pp. 9-13.)

- Art. 7.[V-10] Instructions, Pike to Sergeant Henry Kennerman. (Orig. No. 16, pp. 33, 34.)

- Art. 8. Letter, Pike to Hugh M'Gillis. (Orig. No. 5, pp. 14-16.)

- Art. 9. Letter, Hugh M'Gillis to Pike. (Orig. No. 6, pp. 17-19.)

- Art. 10. Speech, Pike to the Sauteaux, in a Council at Leech Lake, Feb. 16th, 1806. (Orig. No. 7, pp. 19-22.)

- Art. 11. Speeches, Chippewa Chiefs[V-13] to Pike, at Leech Lake, Feb. 16th, 1806. (Orig. No. 8, pp. 22, 23.)

- Art. 12. Extract of a letter, Pike to Robert Dickson, Lower Red Cedar Lake, Feb. 26th, 1806. (Orig. No. 9, pp. 23, 24.)

- Art. 13. Letter, Pike to La Jeunesse. (Orig. No. 10, p. 24.)

- Art. 14. Letter, Pike to Wilkinson. (Orig. No. 11, pp. 25, 26.)

- Art. 15.[V-15] Speech, Pike to the Puants at Prairie Du Chien, Apr. 20th, 1806. (Part of Orig. No. 12, pp. 26, 27.)

- Art. 16. Further Conferences with Indians at Prairie du Chien, Apr. 21st, 1806. (Part of Orig. No. 12, pp. 27-29.)

- Art. 17. Letter, Pike to Campbell and Fisher. (Orig. No. 13, pp. 29, 30.)

- Art. 18. Letter, Pike to Wilkinson. (Orig. No. 14, pp. 30, 31.)

- Art. 19. Letter,[V-17] Pike to Wilkinson. (Orig. No. 15, pp. 31-33.)

- CHAPTER VI. COMMERCE OF THE MISSISSIPPI.[VI-1]

- A. Description of the N. W. Company's Fort at Sandy Lake.

- B. Description of the N. W. Company's Fort at Leech Lake.

- D. The price of goods in exchange with the Indians.

- C.—Recapitulation of Furs and Peltries, North West Company, 1804-5, Fond du Lac Department; Marks and Numbers as per margin.

- E. Return of men employed in the N. W. Company's Department of Fond du Lac, for 1805, with the amount of their wages per annum, etc.

- CHAPTER VII. GEOGRAPHY OF THE MISSISSIPPI.[VII-1]

- CHAPTER VIII. ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE MISSISSIPPI.[VIII-1]

- CHAPTER IX. VOCABULARY OF MISSISSIPPIAN PLACE-NAMES.[IX-1]

- FOOTNOTES

- THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG™ LICENSE