[II-11] To a position about halfway between Elk r., Sherburne Co., and Monticello, Wright Co.—say Baker's ferry, at head of Dimick's or Demick's isl., and compare [note] at date of Apr. 9th. On making Dayton rapids Pike passed the mouth of Crow r., which falls in on the left above the town and below Dayton isl. This river rises in Green l., Kamdiyohi Co., and by various affluents elsewhere, flows about E. through Meeker and Wright, and then turns N. E., separating the latter from Hennepin Co. (This must not be confounded with Crow Wing r., much higher up the Mississippi.) It was discovered by Carver Nov. 20th, 1766, and by him called Goose r. Beltrami chose Rook's r. Nicollet has Karishon or Crow r. This river needed an ornithologist to keep from mixing up those birds so! Besides the three bird-names, Beltrami produced Poanagoan-sibi or Sioux r., as he says it was called by the "Cypowais." Elk River, 41 m. from St. Paul by rail, pop. 1,500, is the seat of Sherburne Co. It is situated immediately below the mouth of Elk r. This is the stream charted by Pike with the legend "Leaf R. or St. Francis of Carver & Henepen": see for this case [note7]. Pike also calls it R. des Feuilles. Allen had St. Francis or Parallel r. Beltrami said Kapitotigaya-sibi or Double r. Nicollet's terms Wichaniwa and St. Francis belong to the main (East) fork of Elk r., now commonly called the St. Francis; he names the other fork Kabitawi (which is the same word that Beltrami uses in another form). Above Elk River is Otsego, Wright Co., with Orano's (Jameson and Wilson) isls. below and Davis isl. above it.
[II-12] To vicinity of Monticello, Wright Co. In the course of the hard water stemmed to-day are Spring rapids and Battle rapids, each of which Pike marks "Ripple" on his map; the former is first above Dimick's isl.; the latter is above Brown's isl. and Houghton's flats; and the name no doubt commemorates the Indian fight of which Pike speaks. The rise represented by the hard water is about 25 feet, bringing the Expedition up to 898 or 900 feet above sea-level. Nicollet's Migadiwin cr. falls in on the left, just above Monticello; this is now known as Otter cr. Boom isl. is just below the ferry at Monticello.
[II-13] To some obscure point about one-third of the way from Monticello to Clear Water. It is past Lane's and Cedar isls., and above Cedar rapids, which Pike marks "Ripple" on his map (the third such mark above his Leaf r.), and below Silver cr.; but I cannot stick a pin in the map, as there is no named place in the immediate vicinity; nearest probably R. R. station Lund, Wright Co.
[II-14] Vicinity of Clear Water r., a sizable stream which separates Wright from Stearns Co.; Kawakomik or Clear Water r. of Nicollet; Kawakonuk r. of Owen; Kawanibio-sibi of Beltrami; and qu. Little Lake r. of Carver's map? The whole distance from Monticello to town of Clear Water at the mouth of this river is only 19 m., and thence to St. Cloud, 14 m. = 33 m. for which Pike allows 12 + 20 + 3 + 16½ = 51½ m. This is over his average excess, and the case is complicated by the position assigned for the wintering station of the persons named on the 10th. Pike lays down Clear Water r., and his map legends, a little below this, "Wintering Grounds of Mr. Potier, 1797; & Mr. Dickson, 1805-1806." The names do not correspond exactly with the text, and as the wintering ground of the text was not passed till the 10th, when Pike was certainly above the Clear Water, this wintering ground is simply legended too low on the map. Compare Apr. 7th, [beyond], when Pike reaches the post of Mr. Dickson and the other person, there called Paulier, in one day's voyage from his stockade on Swan r. As there explained, the post in question was only 4 m. below the head of Pike's Beaver isls., thus in the vicinity of St. Augusta, while Pike's station of the 8th was at or near Clear Water. To reach this town and river Pike passes Bear isl., Smiler's rapids, and on his left two small streams. The lower one of these is Silver cr., coming from a small lake between Silver Creek Siding and a place called Hasty. The upper one of these is Bend cr. of Nicollet (discharge of Fish l.), so named from falling into what was a remarkable bend of the Mississippi, now a cut-off with a large (Boynton's) island. This place is 3 m. below Clear Water, in Sect. 6, T. 122, R. 26, 5th M.
[II-15] St. Cloud, seat of Stearns Co.; population 8,000; East St. Cloud opp.; bridges; railroads converging by five tracks; rapids of 30,000 horse-power, dammed and utilized. This is a notable place, likely to become more so. The whole descent from the upper part of the town of Sauk Rapids to the lower part of St. Cloud, a distance of some 5 m., is 24 feet; of which Sauk rapids proper fall 17 or 18 feet in the course of a mile. Pike camps at the foot of these. "Grand Rapids" of the above text are mapped by Pike as "Big Rapids," the term also used by Lewis and Clark; they are Nicollet's Second rapids. When I last saw the place it was not easy to discern the natural course of the river, it was so jammed with logging-booms. The "more than 20 islands" which Pike passed to-day are in part included in the cluster called the Archipelago by Beltrami, now known as the Thousand isls., smallest and most numerous in the expansion of the river just below St. Cloud and above Mosquito rapids; the latter, not bad, are between a large island on the right and a creek that makes in on the left (S. 36, T. 124, R. 28, 5th M.). A short distance below these islands, probably not far from Mosquito rapids, and thus somewhere about opposite St. Augusta, was the above-named wintering place.
[II-16] The whole distance by river from St. Cloud to Pike rapids, where he stops to build his winter-quarters, is only 33 m. He makes this 8 + 12½ + 29 + 17 + 5 = 71½! As there is no possible mistake about the place we have brought him to, or about that where we shall drop him, an error of over 100 per cent. is evident in the mileage of the 11th-15th. The text gives but one named point (his Clear r.) to consider for the required adjustment; but there are seven definite named rivers in this course and several rapids; so that we can check him at every few miles, and only need to cut down his mileage a little more than one-half. Camp of the 11th ("8" = 4 m.) is a little above the mouth of Sauk r. On heading Sauk rapids, Pike passes the town of Sauk Rapids, seat of Benton Co., 75 m. by rail from St. Paul. It is a smaller place than St. Cloud, pop. 1,200, but enjoys the same 30,000 horse-power of the 18 feet to the mile fall of the Miss. r. Sauk r. falls in from the W., opposite the upper part of the town; Pike elsewhere calls it R. aux Saukes, and maps it as Sack r.; so does Long, though he calls the Indians Sakawes and Sakawis: Nicollet's map has Osakis r.; other variants of the name are Sac, Sacque, Saque, Sawk, Saukee, Sawkee, Osaukee, Osauki, etc. The most elaborate way of spelling Sauk that I have found is Sassassaouacotton. The form Ozaukee is adopted by Verwyst, Wis. Hist. Soc., XII. 1892, p. 396, where it is said that this and Sauk are corrupted from ozagig, meaning those who live at a river's mouth.
[II-17] About 6 m., to a position near the mouth of Little Rock r., above Watab rapids and the town of that name in Benton Co. Pike first passes on his right, about a mile from camp, a small stream whose name has not reached me (it empties in the S. W. ¼ of Sect. 15, T. 36, R. 31, 4th M.). In another mile he passes Little Sauk r., a stream like its namesake, but small. This is called Watab r. by Nicollet, Owen, and Brower, Wadub r. by Schoolcraft, Wattah r. by Allen. This little river was formerly important as the most tangible part of the shadowy Sioux-Chippewa boundary of 1825. Starting from the Chippewa r., the line cut across most rivers, at odd places the savages no doubt understood, but geographers never did. It crossed the St. Croix at "Standing Cedars" below the falls, struck near the head of Coon cr., crossed Rum r. at or near its principal forks, hit a "Point of Woods" somewhere, crossed Leaf (Elk) r. low down, and reached the Mississippi opp. the mouth of the Little Sauk, which it followed up, and then went N. W., passed past Swan and Little Elk rivers to the watershed of the Red River of the North, which it followed approx. N. to the Otter Tail and Leech l. traverse. (See Allen's map.) The "narrow rocky place" passed is Watab rapids, and the town of Watab is just above these, on the creek to the right, 5 m. above Sauk Rapids. Sauk and Watab are respectively the "2nd" and "3rd" rapids of Nicollet's map. The word watab means spruce; or, rather, as follows: "The small roots of the spruce tree afford the wattap, with which the bark [of birchen canoes] is sewed; ... Bark, some spare wattap, and gum, are always carried in each canoe," Alex. Henry, Travels, 1761-66, N. Y., 8vo, 1809, p. 14. In this matter we also have the support of the highest possible authority; for the Century Dictionary, representing the acme of English scholarship, defines watap or watapeh as "the long slender roots of the white spruce, Picea alba, which are used by canoe-makers in northwestern North America for binding together the strips of birch-bark." Cf. Baraga's Otchipwe Dict., 1880, Pt. 2, p. 404, s. v. watab. Pike charts Watab rapids; his map, place marked "Ripple," first above his "Little Sack R." This is where his boat sprung a leak, and he did not get much further.
[II-18] Say about 14 m., to a position between Platte r. and Spunk r. Soon after decamping, Pike passed a river he does not mention above, but which he elsewhere names Lake r., and maps conspicuously in connection with a certain small sheet of water he names Elk l. These are now known as Little Rock r. and Little Rock l. The stream is laid down by Nicollet with the additional name of Pikwabic r. It falls into a remarkable horseshoe bend of the river, which has not cut off an island since the charts I use were drawn. Opposite this bend there is a place called Brockway, in Stearns Co. Of Clear r. as above, and also so charted by Pike, Lewis and Clark, and Allen, Pike elsewhere says that it "is a beautiful little stream, of about 80 yards in width, and heads in some swamps and small lakes on which the Sauteaux of Lower Red Cedar Lake and Sandy Lake frequently come to hunt." It is Pekushino r. of Nicollet, Bekozino-sibi and Pines Tail r. of Beltrami, now commonly called Platte r., and occasionally Flat r., as on an 1850 map of Minnesota before me; it heads in the region about Mille Lacs. At the place where the railroad crosses Platte or Clear r. is Royalton, in Bellevue township, Morrison Co. One-third of a mile below its mouth is the line between Stearns and Morrison cos., on first section-line above town-line 126-7. One of the two rivers here noted is Cold r. of Carver, 1767; but I am uncertain which one. McNeal's ferry over the Mississippi is about a mile below the mouth of the Platte.
[II-19] Making the requisite adjustment of this, we set Pike down in the N. E. ¼ of Sect. 29, T. 128, R. 29, 5th M.; this will give us 3 m. to fill the bill of the "five" to-morrow. To-day's itinerary furnishes some nice points which we must determine with precision—not for their intrinsic importance, but for their significance in connection with Pike's winter-quarters. The matter must be attended to here, though the text has not a word about it. But Pike elsewhere speaks of three creeks along here, above his Clear r.=Platte, and below his Pine cr.=Swan r., near which he builds his stockade. Pike's map has four, on the left, beginning above Clear r.: (1) Wolf cr.; (2) a creek; (3) Buffalo cr.; (4) Rocky cr.—all names of his own, none used now. Proceeding up from Platte=Clear r., we have on the left in succession: (1) Spunk r., whose mouth is in the S. E. ¼ of Sect. 22, T. 127, R. 29, 5th M. This is the Wolf cr. of Pike's, item of Lewis and Clark's map, 1814; mapped, no name, Allen; Zakatagana-sibi of Beltrami; Sagatagon or Spunk r. of Nicollet; Spunk brook of various maps. The native name which we have translated means some sort of touchwood or punk, which may be more plentiful hereabouts than elsewhere, or of better quality. (2) A rivulet for which I can find no name, not even on the local maps, and which is too insignificant to appear at all on most maps; Pike's traces it without name. I will call it Maple brook, because it falls in behind Maple isl., in Sect. 17 of the T., R., and M. last said. Maple isl. is sizable, and locally well known; either this or the little round one close by is probably Beltrami's "Island of the Sun." (3) Two Rivers, or Two r., or Twin r., as the next stream is called, which empties about the center of Sect. 8 of the same T., R., and M., hardly a mile above Maple brook. This is the one Pike maps by the name of Buffalo cr.; it is also Buffaloe cr. of Lewis and Clark's map; and the Kanizotygoga of Beltrami. This is a sizable stream, giving name to Two Rivers Township, and does not fall in behind any island. (4) Little Two Rivers, or Two Rivers brook, which falls in about half a mile higher up, in the same Section, behind an island. (5) A nameless and utterly insignificant brook, which falls in at McDougal's eddy, behind an island, in the S. E. ¼ of Sect. 5 of the same T., R., and M. I find it correctly laid down on a Morrison Co. map, on a scale of 2 inches to the mile; but it does not appear on the inch-to-mile charts I mostly follow. (6) Hay cr., which most maps run into Little Two Rivers, but which is quite distinct, with the brook (5) intervening. Hay cr. comes southward along the E. border of Swan River township, turns S. E. across Sect. 31 of T. 128, R. 29, thence enters Sect. 5 of T. 127, R. 29, and falls into the Mississippi behind the three-cornered isl. which there lies opp. some rapids next above McDougal's eddy. The only question seems to be, whether Pike's Rocky cr. is Little Two Rivers or Hay cr.; but after pretty close scrutiny of the country thereabouts, I incline to decide in favor of Little Two Rivers, and could give various reasons for this identification. Pike maps four rapids, in quick succession, above his Rocky cr. Two of these I suppose to be those now known as Blanchard's and McDougal's, both passed on the 14th; a third is surmounted on the 15th, but the fourth finishes Pike's boat-voyage: see [next note].
[II-20] Three miles, to camp at the foot of Knife or Pike rapids, W. side of the Mississippi, about the S. border of Sect. 7, T. 128, R. 29, 5th M. These are the 4th or Knife rapids of Nicollet, apparently so called from the narrowness of the two channels into which the river is divided for most of their extent by an island, which is what Pike's text above means by the "two narrow shoots." The designation of Pike rapids is not recent; it occurs on the Allen map pub. 1834, and no doubt this antedates the time that the next creek above Swan r. was named Pike cr., and the township next above Swan River township was named Pike Creek township. The ascent is 10 or 11 feet to the mouth of Swan r.; and this is 4 m. below the city of Little Falls. Little Falls is given as 115 m. by the river from Minneapolis, and as 105 m. by rail from St. Paul (N. P. R. R.). We know where Pike sleeps to-night within a few rods, and shall be able to locate his stockade with a "probable error" of no yards, feet, or inches.