It turned out the next morning, that the whole of the baggage and provisions had not been brought up, nor any of the canoes. This work was early commenced by the men. About half the day was employed in the necessary toil. When it was concluded, the wind on the lake had become too high, blowing in an adverse direction, to permit embarkation. Nothing remained but to submit to the increased delay, during which we made ourselves as familiar with the neighboring parts of the lake shore as possible. During the time the expedition remained encamped at the portage, I made a short excursion up the peninsula northeastwardly, accompanied by Captain Douglass, Mr. Trowbridge, and some other persons. The results of this trip are sufficiently comprehended in what has already been stated respecting the geology and mineralogy of this prominent peninsula.
On the following morning (27th) the wind proved fair, and the day was one of the finest we had yet encountered on this fretful inland sea. We embarked at half-past four A. M., every heart feeling rejoiced to speed on our course. The prominent headlands, west of this point, are capped, as those on its south-eastern border, with red sandstone. The wind proved full and adequate to bear us on, without endangering our safety, which enabled the steersmen to hold out boldly, from point to point. We had not proceeded far beyond the cliffs west of the portage, when the dim blue outlines of the Okaug or Porcupine Mountains[ [48] burst on our view.[ [49] Their prominent outline seemed to stretch on the line of the horizon directly across our track. The atmosphere was quite transparent, and they must have been seen at the distance of sixty miles. Captain Douglass thought, from the curve of the earth, that they could not be less than eighteen hundred feet in height. We successively passed the entrance of Little Salmon-Trout, Graverod, Misery, and Firesteel Rivers, at the latter of which a landing was made; when we again resumed our course, and entered the Ontonagon River, at half-past three in the afternoon. A large body of water enters the lake at the spot, but its mouth is filled up very much by sands. One of those curious refluxes is seen here, of which a prior instance has been noticed, in which its waters, having been impeded and dammed up by gales of wind, react, at their cessation, with unusual force. The name of the River Ontonagon[ [50] is, indeed, due to these refluxes, the prized dish of an Indian female having, agreeably to tradition, been carried out of the river into the lake.
Captain Douglass made observations for the latitude of the place, and determined it to be in north latitude 46° 52´ 2´´. The stationary distances of the route are given in the subjoined list, in which it may be observed that they are probably exaggerated about one-third by the voyagers and northwest traders, who always pride themselves on going great distances; but they denote very well, in all cases, the relative distances.
CHAPTER VI.
Chippewa village at the mouth of the Ontonagon—Organize an expedition to explore its mineralogy—Incidents of the trip—Rough nature of the country—Reach the copper rock—Misadventure—Kill a bear—Discoveries of copper—General remarks on the mineral affluence of the basin of Lake Superior.
A small Chippewa village, under the chieftainship of Tshwee-tshweesh-ke-wa, or the Plover, and Kundekund, the Net Buoy, was found on the west bank of the river, near its mouth, the chiefs and warriors of which received us in the most friendly manner. If not originally a people of a serene and placid temperament, they have been so long in habits of intercourse with the white race that they are quite familiar with their manners and customs, and mode of doing business. They appeared to regard the Canadian-Frenchmen of our party as if they were of their own mode of thinking, and, indeed, almost identical with themselves.
The Ontonagon River had, from the outset, formed an object of examination, from the early and continued reports of copper on its borders. It was determined to lose no time in examining it. Guides were furnished to conduct a party up the river to the locality of the large mass of this metal, known from early days. This being one of the peculiar duties of my appointment, I felt the deepest interest in its success, and took with me the apparatus I had brought for cutting the rock and securing proper specimens.