Sword and Pen / Ventures and Adventures of Willard Glazier

by John Algernon Owens

Here they were received by a rough-looking man with long hair and unkempt beard, wearing, besides one other garment, a pair of pants made from a red blanket. The surroundings were certainly not inviting, and a closer inspection of the squalid accommodation did not lead them to form any more favorable opinion. However, travelers cannot always be choosers, and they really fared much better than they had expected, dining very agreeably on fresh fish and vegetables; breakfast the next morning being selected from the same simple bill of fare, varied only by the addition of "flap-jacks." In default of habitable beds their hammocks were swung from the rafters of the loft.

Leech Lake is one of the most irregularly shaped bodies of water that can be imagined. It has no well-defined form, being neither oval nor circular, but rather a combination of curves and varied outlines made by peninsulas and bays, of which only a map could convey any accurate idea. Ten islands are found upon its surface, and seven rivers and creeks enter it from various directions. It extends not less than twenty miles from North to South, and a still greater distance from East to West, with a coast line of over four hundred miles. It was for many years the seat of the Chippewa Indian Agency, but is now consolidated with the White Earth and Red Lake agencies. Major C. A. Ruffe is at present agent of the three departments, with headquarters at White Earth. The village consists of some half dozen government buildings, as many log-cabins, and about twenty or thirty wigwams scattered here and there along the shore of one of the arms of the lake.

The day after the arrival of Captain Glazier's party, the agency was thrown into a state of excitement by the announcement that Major Ruffe was on his way to Lake Winnibegoshish by way of Leech Lake. The Major came the next day, accompanied by Captain Taylor of St. Cloud, one of the pioneer surveyors of Minnesota; Paul Beaulieu, the veteran government interpreter, and White Cloud, the present chief of the Mississippi Indians, who succeeded Hole-in-the-day, the latter having been killed some time before by one of the Leech Lake band.

Paul Beaulieu, the half-breed interpreter to Major Ruffe, possesses a fund of information concerning the Upper Mississippi which cannot be ignored by those who are in pursuit of its mysterious source, and Captain Glazier considered himself most fortunate in meeting him before his departure for Lake Itasca. Beaulieu deserves more than a passing mention, as he is a man of wide experience, and is well known throughout Minnesota, and, in some circles, throughout the country. He was born at Mackinaw, while General Sibley was stationed there in the interest of the American Fur Company, of which John Jacob Astor was then the head. His father was a Frenchman and his mother an Indian. He received an English education, partly in the government school of Mackinaw, and partly at Montreal. On leaving school he was employed by the Fur Company, and sent all over the United States from the St. Lawrence to Lower California. He crossed the continent with the Stevens party on the first Northern Pacific survey, and rendered such valuable services that he was presented with a testimonial in recognition of his efficiency.

Beaulieu had a theory of his own regarding the source of the Mississippi, based upon the stories of the Chippewas and other Indians of his acquaintance. In conversation with Captain Glazier upon the subject he said that to the west of Lake Itasca there was another lake, the outlet of which united with the stream from the former, and which contributed a much larger volume of water at its junction with the Mississippi than the outlet of Lake Itasca. He therefore assumed that this nameless and almost unknown lake was the true source of the Mississippi.

In corroboration of the Beaulieu theory Major Ruffe said that he had heard the same opinion expressed by a number of old and reliable Indian voyagers. It will thus be seen that there was a great diversity of sentiment among the most trustworthy authorities as to the actual source of the Great River.

Captain Glazier was greatly exercised on finding that his arrival at Leech Lake was at a season when the local band of Indians, the Pillagers, as they are called, were away upon their annual hunting and fishing excursion. Their absence from the agency was a serious obstacle in the way of immediate further progress, for the reason that, being compelled to take the final step in their expedition to the source of the Mississippi from this point, it was important that they should complete their equipment by securing an interpreter, reliable guides and birch bark canoes.

"Find Rev. Edwin Benedict as soon as you reach Leech Lake" was the last injunction Captain Glazier received on leaving Brainerd. Mr. Benedict is Post Missionary, and one of the five representatives of the Episcopal Church on the Chippewa Reservation, holding his commission from Bishop Whipple of Minnesota. With this genial gentleman, Captain Glazier spent the greater part of his time while waiting at the Agency, when not engaged in preparations for the voyage. The courtesy of a semi-civilized bed, and the convenience of a table, with pens, ink and paper, were luxuries to be appreciated and not readily forgotten.

Conversations with Mr. Benedict and with Flat Mouth, chief of the Chippewas, developed the unexpected fact that there was but one Indian in the Chippewa country who had actually traversed the region which the Captain and his party were about to explore, and that he was then visiting some friends near Lake Winnibegoshish, and was not expected to return until the following Saturday, some three days off.

Satisfied that Che-no-wa-ge-sic, the Chippewa brave referred to, would prove indispensable to the success of his expedition, Captain Glazier decided to await his return to the Agency. While thus detained the Captain and his friends found themselves indebted to Major Ruffe for his untiring efforts to relieve the monotony of their sojourn, and to render their condition as agreeable as possible while within his sovereign borders.