The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Expeditions of Zebulon Montgomery Pike (Volume 1 of 3), by Zebulon 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.

Dedication.

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.

Your obedient servant,

Z. M. PIKE,

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

CONTENTS OF VOL I.

PREFACE TO THE ORIGINAL EDITION.

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 ii 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 iii 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, iv 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.

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 vi 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 vii 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 viii 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 ix 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 x 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 xi 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 xii 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. xiii

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 xiv 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 xv 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 xvi 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 xvii 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 xvii* 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 xviii 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 xviii* 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.

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 xx 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 xxi 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. xxii

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 xxiii 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:

[*] 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: xxxi

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:

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:

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:

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 xxxv 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:

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, xxxviii 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:

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 xxxix 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 xl 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:

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 xlii 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 xliii 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 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 xliv 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:

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 xlv 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 xlvi 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 xlvii 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 xlviii '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:

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 l 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:

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, lii 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:

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 lv 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] lvi His name came before Congress in a way which ruffled his plumes, and extorted the following mettlesome effusion:

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: lviii

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:

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

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:

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:

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

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 lxii 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:

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 lxiii 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:

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 lxiv 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:

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:

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:

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 lxviii command of a regiment may be best estimated in the terms of his military biographer, General Whiting, who says, pp. 309-311:

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]

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:

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 lxxiii 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. lxxiv

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 lxxv 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 lxxvi 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 lxxvii 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 lxxviii 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: lxxix (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 lxxx 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:

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 lxxxiii 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):

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

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] lxxxv 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 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 lxxxvii 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, lxxxviii 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:

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

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:

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 xci 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):

Another letter from General Sheaffe, dated Kingston, May 5th, when he had become more composed in mind xcii 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:

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 xcvi 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:

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 xcviii with which his memory dwelt upon such a spectacle; but it can hardly be much overdrawn:

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 c 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 ci 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:

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: cii

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:

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, civ 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:

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:

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:

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

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:

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 cx 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. cxi 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:

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 cxiii 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. 1

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 2 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 3 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 4 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 5 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 6 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 7 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 8 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 13 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] 14 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 15 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: 17

"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 18 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, 19 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 21 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 23 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 24 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 25 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 26 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 27 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 28 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 29 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 30 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; 31 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 33 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. 34 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´´ 37 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 38 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 39 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]], 40 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 41 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 42 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 44 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 45 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 46 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 47 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 48 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. 49 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], 50 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 51 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 54 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 55 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 57-58 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 60 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. 61 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 62 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 64 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 65 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]] 67 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 68 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 69 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 71 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, 72 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, 73 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, 76 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 note⁴⁴, 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 78 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, 79 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 80 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 81 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. 82

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 84 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, 86 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 87 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. 88

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 89 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 90 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 92 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 93 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 94 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 97 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 99 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 100 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 103 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 105 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. 106 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. 108 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 109 small. My hunter killed three deer. Took Miller and remained out all night, but killed nothing.

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. 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 110 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 111 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 112 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 113 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. 114

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 115 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 116 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. 117

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 118 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, 119 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 120 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 121 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 122 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 124 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 125 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 126 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 128 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 129 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 131 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 133 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 134 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, 136 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 138 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 139 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 140 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.

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 141 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. 143

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 144 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 145 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 146 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]] 147 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 148 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. 149

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 150 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 151 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. 152

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 153 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, 154 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 156 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 157 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 158-164 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]; 165-167 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 168 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 169 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 170-171 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 172 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. 173 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 175 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 176 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 177 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 178 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 179 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 180 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 181 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 182 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. 183 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, 184 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 185 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 186 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 187 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 188 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, 189 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. 190

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 191 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 192 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. 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 193 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 194 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, 195 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 196 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 197 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 198 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 199 miles above [read below: see note⁷², 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 200 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 201 [Little Raven: see note², 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 202 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 note⁶⁴, 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 note⁶⁷, 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 203 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; 204 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 205 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 note⁶⁸, 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. 206 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: note⁵⁷, 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 207 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 208 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. 209 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 210 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 211 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 note¹³, 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. 212

Stopped at some islands [note¹², 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 214 than 20 Osage prisoners, conveying them to the cantonment on the Missouri; he informed me my friends were all well. 215 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.

CHAPTER V.

CORRESPONDENCE AND CONFERENCES.[V-1]

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

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 222 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. 223 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 [note¹⁸, 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.

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

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 224 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 225 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.

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.

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

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

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.

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 227 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 228 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. 229

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. 231

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.

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

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. 233

All the young warriors of the two villages of Sioux near this place, and many chiefs, had marched against the Chipeways, 234-36 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 237-239 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 240 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 241 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 242 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, 243 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.

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.

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

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 246 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 247 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.

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

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 248 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. 249

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 250 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,

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.)

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 252 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 253 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 254 of the United States, allow me to express my esteem and regard for yourself.

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 255 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 256 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. 258

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 259 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.)

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 260 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.

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, 261 I should have accompanied him; but I am determined to go to Michilimackinac next spring to see my brothers the Americans.

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, 262 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."

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

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.

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

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, 264 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 267 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 268 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 269 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.)

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.

Art. 18. Letter, Pike to Wilkinson. (Orig. No. 14, pp. 30, 31.)

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 270 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.

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 271 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.)

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 272 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 273 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.

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 275 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 276 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 277 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 278 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 279 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. 280 Midway between Sandy Lake and Leech Lake is a small house not worthy of notice [Grant's: see note⁵² 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 281 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. 282

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 283 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.

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.

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.

N. B. The above women are all Indians, there not being a single white woman N. W. of Lake Superior. 287

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 289 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 290 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 note¹⁴, 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, 291 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 293 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 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 304 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 305 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 306 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 307 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 note⁵⁶, 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 308 [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 309 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 310 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 311 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 312 Red Cedar Lake. The small Indian canoes ascend this river quite to the lake, which is considered as one of the 313 best fur hunting-grounds for some hundreds of miles, and has been long a scene of rencounters between the hunting-parties 314 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 315 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 316 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 317 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] 318 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 319 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 320 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 note⁴⁹, 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 321 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] 322 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 323 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 324 [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 325 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 326 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 327-333 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 334 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 338 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 339 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 note¹⁴, 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 340 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 341 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 342 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) 343 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 344 [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 345 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.

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.] 348

[*] This is merely a band of vagabonds, formed by refugees from all other bands, which they left for some bad deed.

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; 349 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. 350 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. 351 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.

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 352 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 354 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. 355

CHAPTER IX.

VOCABULARY OF MISSISSIPPIAN PLACE-NAMES.[IX-1]

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 15^th 1807

Sir

I have taken the liberty of making out my accounts of Pay Forrage and Subsistance from the 1^t of January to the 31^t ins^t 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 Gen^l 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 Obed^t. Serv^t.
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 note³⁸, 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 note², 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 note³⁷, 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 M^cLean'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 Estab^t." 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 note⁴⁴, 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 "M^r. 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 note³⁷, 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 note²⁵, 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 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

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.)

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

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

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.	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.
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

Date.	Thermometer (degrees).			Sky.	Wind.		N. Lat.	W. Long.	Var.	Barometer (inches).
Date.	sunrise.	3 p.m.	sunset.	Sky.	Course.	Force.	N. Lat.	W. Long.	Var.	Barometer (inches).
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	....	....	....	....	....

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

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.
Names (English.)	Best Positions for Trading-posts.	With Whom at war.	With whom at peace, or in alliance.	Indian.	French.	English.	Remarks.
I. Sauks	Head of rapid de Moyen	Chipeways	Reynards, Puants, Sioux, Osage, Potowatomies, Fols Avoins, Ioways, all nations of the Missouri	Washione
I. Sauks	Head of rapid de Moyen	Chipeways		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
5. Tetons		Various nations of the Missouri	do.	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.

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 Sippi356
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