The lake, which is about twenty miles in length, and six in breadth, and through which the Mississippi directs its course, is about two thousand miles from the entrance into the gulf of Mexico, and as many westerly from Quebec, Boston, and New-York; it is situated between 42 and 43 degrees of north latitude. The plains in its vicinity are extensive, and fit for immediate cultivation: elk, deer, and other quadrupeds, including the beaver, otter, mink, martin, sable, musk-rat, and the largest buffaloes in America, are the inhabitants of this region, whilst various species of wild fowl frequent the lake, whose waters are stored with fish in great abundance; vegetation is luxuriant in the meadows, where the maple is indigenous, of whose sap the Indians make great quantities of sugar, capable of fermentation, and of producing spirit; the grapes hang in such clusters, that almost any quantity of brandy might, under a like process, be distilled from them; rice, a grain adapted to many useful purposes of life, is also very plentiful.
The number of hunting Indians, who frequent Lake Pepin, is not less than 2000, each of whom brings about one hundred pounds weight of beaver to barter, which, at the lowest price, in the London market, is five shillings a pound; hence a trade at this place will command annually 200000 crowns worth of furs, besides skins. But there is reason to conclude, that when a general mart is established here, furnished with a sufficient assortment of goods, and a supply of liquors, that there would be a more general resort of traders.
The French, indeed, supported a trade at this lake, before the English had made a conquest of the country; but they never attempted the lucrative branch of distilling spirituous liquors upon the spot, though they have been conveyed hither two thousand miles of difficult carriage, and produced considerable profit.
It may be doubted in a moral, if not in a political view, whether such a traffic of rendering the means of inebriation more easily attainable, should meet with the encouragement of the legislature. Captain Carver, however, computed that 2000 gallons of brandy could be made on the spot, as cheap as in the West-Indies; and that by avoiding the expence of 3000 miles carriage also, the traders would make a saving of 2000 per cent. besides duties and various contingencies: and as, by a moderate computation, every gallon of spirits will produce there what will amount to ten pounds in the London market, it must eventually prove a most lucrative branch of trade, if pursued with proper caution and policy.
The great plenty of the edible necessaries of life, will afford a cheap, easy, and salutary supply; and the goodness of the soil, with very little labour, will render provisions still more easily attainable, and altogether form a place of traffic hitherto unequalled.
From Captain Carver’s long residence in the neighbourhood of Lake Pepin, among the Naudowissie and Chipéway Indians, he acquired a knowledge of their languages, and an intimacy with many of their chiefs, which, with his spirited and judicious conduct in acting as a mediator between these two nations, conciliated their attachment and friendship; and as an acknowledgment of their grateful sense of his happy interference, the Naudowissies gave him a formal grant of a tract of land, lying on the north side of Lake Pepin. The original, duly subscribed by two chiefs, is in my possession; and as an Indian deed of conveyance may prove a curiosity to many readers, I shall here insert a copy of it.
“To Jonathan Carver, a chief under the most mighty and potent George the Third, King of the English and other nations, the fame of whose courageous warriors have reached our ears, and has been more fully told us by our good brother Jonathan aforesaid, whom we rejoice to see come among us, and bring us good news from his country. We, chiefs of the Naudowissies, who have hereto set our seals, do by these presents for ourselves and heirs for ever, in return for the many presents, and other good services done by the said Jonathan to ourselves and allies, give, grant, and convey to him the said Jonathan, and to his heirs and assigns for ever, the whole of a certain tract or territory of land, bounded as follows: (viz.) from the fall of St. Anthony, running on the east banks of the Mississippi, nearly south-east, as far as the south end of Lake Pepin, where the Chipéway river joins the Mississippi, and from thence eastward five days travel, accounting twenty English miles per day, and from thence north six days travel, at twenty English miles per day, and from thence again to the fall of St. Anthony, on a direct straight line. We do for ourselves, heirs, and assigns, for ever, give unto the said Jonathan, his heirs and assigns, for ever, all the said lands, with all the trees, rocks, and rivers therein, reserving for ourselves and heirs the sole liberty of hunting and fishing on land not planted or improved by the said Jonathan, his heirs and assigns, to which we have affixed our respective seals, at the great cave, May the first, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-seven.”
Hawnopawjatin his mark (top)
Otohtongoomlisheaw his mark (bottom)
Soon after the above period, our author concluded to return to Boston, where he arrived in 1768, having been absent two years and five months, during which time he had travelled about seven thousand miles. After digesting his journal and charts, he sailed for England, and arrived there in the year 1769. The reasons which induced him to undertake this voyage, are amply related by himself in his travels (page [177].) to which I refer.