[I-2] Or Du Bois r., Madison Co., Ill., notable in history as that at whose mouth Lewis and Clark had their winter camp of 1803-4, whence their expedition started May 14th, 1804. At this date it was said to be opp. the mouth of the Missouri; it is now opp. the large Mobile isl. and the Missouri enters 2 m. below Wood r., through the Amazon bend.
[I-3] In undertaking to follow a traveler, the first thing to ascertain is his "personal equation"—i. e., the probable error of his mileages. Pike traveled entirely by his watch, and all his distances are guesses based upon rate of progress—so many hours, so many miles. The way to approximate accuracy in this matter is to take him between two fixed points whose actual distance apart is ascertained, see what he makes of this, and adjust him accordingly. From St. Louis to Keokuk, by the present usual steamboat channel of the Miss. r., is 202¼ m.; say to the foot of Des Moines rapids, roundly 200 m. Pike's figures, as nearly as these can be got at, make this distance about 250 m. Hence we must discount his mileages 20 per cent., or one-fifth, as a rule. Taking one thing with another—changes in the channel in the course of the century, good or bad water, Pike's own feelings, errors of manuscript or print, etc., we shall find this deduction to work well; with the aid of such topographical data as we have, it will enable us to set most of his camps pretty closely. On the 10th, Pike gets left to bivouac on the bank at a point in Jersey Co., Ill., opposite Portage des Sioux, Mo., his barge being storm-bound somewhere above Alton, Ill., perhaps in the vicinity of Clifton or Randolph. The distance between Alton, first notable point above the Mo. r., and Grafton, last notable point below the Illinois r., is 16 m. Besides Alton and Clifton, places passed on the N. side are Shields' branch, Hop Hollow, Falling Rock cr., and Piasa cr.—some of the present isls. above Mobile isl. are Maple, Ellis, Search's, Piasa, and Eagle's Nest—the latter off Portage des Sioux.
[I-4] Portage des Sioux (or de Sioux) is that place in St. Charles Co., Mo., where the Mo. r. comes nearest to the Miss. r. before their confluence. It was the site of an early settlement on the S. bank of the Miss. r., one François Saucier having first built on the spot, 1769 or 1770; the village was already there in Pike's time, and still perpetuates the old F. name of the hostile Sioux's crossing-place (ca. 1780) between the two great rivers, also called Sioux Portage or Portage of the Sioux: see Beck's Gaz.; or Wetmore's, p. 254.
[I-5] First great tributary of the Miss. r. above the Mo. r., falling in at Calhoun pt., Calhoun Co., Ill., opp. Camden, Jersey Co., Ill.; Mason's isl. the largest one of several more in the Miss. r. just below the mouth of the Ill. r. In coming S. the Miss. r. makes a great bend E. and then nearly N. to the confluence, whence it turns again to a course approx. coincident with that which the Ill. r. holds; hence Pike's remark that the one might be mistaken for a part of the other. The river has had many names; the present is in form a French plural, sc. Rivière des Illinois, sc. of the people who lived on it—Illin, Illini, Illinoct, Illinoac, Illinoet, Illiniwek, Illeni, Illenois, Ilinois, Islinois, Islenois, etc. Pike's map has Illenois; Franquelin's, 1688, R. des Ilinois. Another aboriginal name, Theakiki, Teakiki, etc., whence Kankakee, was applied to one of the branches of this river. The Ill. r. sometimes shared the name St. Louis with the Mississippi and the Ohio. It was called R. de Seignelay by Hennepin, in compliment to the marquis of that name; and once known as the Divine r. The importance of this river as a water-way from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi is second only to that of the Wisconsin, and would be first if the long projected connection of St. Louis with Chicago by water were made. The use of these two rivers for this purpose was originally almost simultaneous; for Joliet and Marquette reached the Miss. r. from Green bay by the Wisc. r. June 15th or 17th, 1673, came down the Miss. r. past the mouth of the Ill. r. in July that year, continued down to or near the Arkansaw, turned up the Miss. r. July 17th, reached the Ill. r., and went up the latter to L. Michigan, Aug.-Sept., 1673. One of Joliet's maps, 1674, clearly shows the Wis. r. and Ill. r. connections of the Miss. r. with L. Michigan and Green bay respectively. Michael Accault's party, consisting of himself, Antoine Auguelle, and L. Hennepin, dispatched by La Salle from Fort Crêvecœur on the Ill. r., Feb. 29th, 1680, reached its mouth Mar. 7th, 1680; La Salle did the same himself Feb. 6th, 1682. The latter—one of the very greatest men in the early history of American discovery and exploration—came upon the Ill. r. in Dec., 1679, and made the first French establishment on Lower Mississippian waters in Jan., 1680, at the Illinois village Pimetoui, close to present Peoria.
[I-6] Among the islands (or their modern representatives) past which Pike struggled may be named Perry, Squaw, Enterprise, and Iowa; the present channel is W. of all these excepting Squaw, taking through Hatchet chute to Rock ldg. and Milan, Calhoun Co., Ill. That island whose foot is now nearest 6 m. from the Illinois r. is Dardenne; but camp was more probably a mile short of this, where is now Bolter's isl., as it is called—properly Boulder's.
[I-7] About 21 m., Bolter's isl. to the Four Brothers, at Cap au Grès. The present run of the principal islands is: Dardenne, Two Branch, Criminal, Peruque, Sweden, all below the mouth of Buffalo, Copper or Cuivre r. Dardenne cr. falls in on the left hand going up, right bank, opp. the island of that name; it appears as Dardonne on Owen's map. Peruque cr. occupies a corresponding position opp. Peruque and Sweden isls.; Nicollet's map has Perruque. R. au Cuivre or aux Bœufs of the French, Copper and Buffalo r. of others ("Quiver" r. of Lewis and Clark's map, 1814), is a large stream which courses from Montgomery into Lincoln Co., Mo., and then, with its Big cr. branch, separates the latter from St. Charles Co.; it falls into Cuivre slough, which cuts off Cuivre isl., 3 m. long. At the upper end of this slough is the mouth of the creek mapped by Nicollet as McLean's, now as Bob, Bobb, Bobs, Bobbs, etc., cr. Some of the named places along the river are Brock's, Dixon's, Fruitland, Thomason's, Beck's, Two Branch, Martin's, Hastings, Beech's, and Bogtown—all insignificant, mostly mere landings, and all in Calhoun Co., Ill., excepting Beck's. Pike's Four Brothers are represented by islands Nos. 499, 500, 501, and 502, of late surveys, not now abreast; all are small, and the largest one is called Sarah Ann. Pike's "beautiful cedar cliff" is Cap au Grès rock, opposite a hamlet of the same name in Lincoln Co., Mo.; Dogtown, Ill., is under the cliff. The phrase is commonly rendered Cap au Gre or Cap au Gris, by mistaking F. grès, a noun, meaning sandstone, for F. gris, adj., gray. Long of 1817, as pub. 1860 and again 1890, has a Little Cape Gris; Beltrami, II. p. 196, renders Great Cape Gray. The exact distance to this place from Grafton is 27 m.; from Alton, 43 m.; from St. Louis 66 m.
[I-8] Cap au Grès to Hamburg, Calhoun Co., Ill., 22 m.; river crooked, and channel still more so; late start and much obstruction; Pike may hardly have reached Hamburg, but was in that vicinity, and we may set him there, in the absence of any datum for greater precision. The "vast" number of islands he passed have their modern representatives in such as: Sandy, 2½ m. long, with Turner's near it; Stag and Maple, abreast; Sterling; Westport, 3½ m. long, with Kickapoo and Kelly's alongside it. Along this whole way, on the left hand going up, in Lincoln Co., Mo., runs a long slough approx. parallel with the river. This is the discharge of Bryant's cr., which approaches the river opp. Hamburg, gets from the hills and runs in the bottom down to Sandy isl.; it is called Bayou au Roi on some maps, Bayou Roy on others. Nicollet charts it with his usual accuracy, but without name. The principal places passed are the villages of Sterling and Westport, Lincoln Co., Mo.; Gilead, back up on the hill, in Calhoun Co., Ill.; lesser ones are the landings, wood-piles, or what-not, called Asbury, Turner's, Hogtown, and Red's. The St. L., Keok. and N. W. R. R. runs in the bottom along the bayou; stations Foley, Apex, Elsberry, and Dameron.
[I-9] Polyodon spatula, or Spatularia spatula, the paddlefish, also called spoon-billed cat or duck-billed cat, common in Mississippian waters. It sometimes attains a length of 5 or 6 feet; the shape resembles that of the sturgeon, but the skin is scaleless, like a cat's. One of the Relations ascribed to Hennepin, and pub. 1697, speaks of this fish as the "long-beaked sturgeon," and says it was spawning Apr. 24th. Hennepin doubtless became acquainted with it when he was first on the Mississippi, under Accault, in 1680: see, e. g., Shea's Tr. of Henp., 1880, p. 359.
[I-10] Doubtless one of the brothers mentioned in Lewis and Clark: see ed. 1893, pp. 1209, 1236, 1243.
[I-11] From Hamburg to Clarksville is 14½ m., Louisiana or Louisianaville, 24½; Pike went about 20, say to Krider's bend, and his camp was on an island which we may take to be that now called Krider's, 6 m. above Clarksville, 4 m. below Louisiana. The "continuation of islands" is now the following in ascending series, omitting about a dozen small ones; Mosier's or Mozier's, and Howard's, together, the former 1¾ m. long; Tilden's; McCoy's or Cock; Slim and Grimes, the former 3¼ m. long; Coon, 1 m.; Carroll's or Carle's, 1¾; Amaranth, small; Eagle, 1 m.; Clarksville, 2 m., opposite the town; Pharr's, 1¾ m.; and Krider's, 1 m. Above Mosier's isl. and ldg., on the E., is the outlet of Hamburg bay, 3½ m. above the town; Bay cr. falls into it. Behind Slim isl. is the chute of that name, into which falls the large creek called Guin's, Guinn's, Gwin's, etc.; and at the head of the island is the mouth of Ramsey's cr., another large one. These streams are both in Pike Co., Mo.; and as soon as Pike passes opposite Clarksville he has Pike Co., Ill., on his right, so that he sails many miles with a county of his own on each side. Clarksville, Mo., is something of a town, on the edge of the river, under the hill around which Calumet cr. comes to fall in just above; and 3 m. higher comes Little Calumet cr. on the same side. Opposite Clarksville is the lower opening of that immense slough whose character is not less remarkable than its name. This runs for more than 30 m. alongside the river, clear through Pike Co., Ill., and into Adams Co., forming a maze of channels which intersect one another and thus cut off various islands, besides opening into the Mississippi at several places; some of these lesser sloughs are called Spring Lake, Atlas, Cocklebur, Swift, Coon, Mud, Five Points, Crooked, Running, and Swan. This collateral water-course also receives a series of creeks, among which are those called Big or Big Stew, Six Mile, Honey or Hadley, Ashton or Fall, and Harkness. This whole affair is commonly called the Snicarty or Sny Carte; it is Suycartee Slough on Owen's map, and has other variants too numerous to recount. All these words or phrases are perversions of F. Chenal Écarté, lit. cut-off channel. For this and the corresponding formation of the name Sniabar or Snibar, given to a creek and town in Missouri, see my note, N. Y. Nation, Jan. 19th, 1893, and Lewis and Clark, ed. 1893, p. 29. The embankment built to defend the river from the slough is known as the Sny levee.