[III-8] Haut Lac aux Cèdres Rouges of the French, Upper Red Cedar l. of the English, in distinction from the one of like name much further down the Mississippi, near Aitkin: see [note47], p. 135. Pike is careless about the names, and calls both lakes Red Cedar, or Cedar without further qualification. The valuable species of Juniperus, commonly known as "cedar" or "red cedar," is not a very abundant tree in N. Minnesota, and its prevalence about each of these lakes duplicated their designation. They are too far apart, luckily, for any confusion to have ever arisen. Pike's description of Up. R. C. l. is not good, and his map is so far out as to omit entirely the entrance of the Mississippi into this lake; for what he delineates as and mistook for the entrance of the main river is merely the discharge of the Turtle River chain of lakes from the Beltramian or so-called Julian source of the Mississippi, which falls in at the extreme N. border of the lake. Thus, what the text means by saying "from the entrance of the Mississippi to the streight is called six miles," is the distance from the mouth of Turtle r. to the strait which divides off Pike's bay from the rest of Cass l.; "thence to the south end," etc., is the length of Pike's bay; the "bay at the entrance" of the supposed Mississippi, i. e., of Turtle r., means the general recess of Cass l. on the N.; and finally, the "large point," given as 2½ m. "from the north side," is the point of Colcaspi or Grand isl., which is almost a peninsula, and which marks off Allen's bay from the rest of Cass l. With this much by way of comment on Pike, we will look further at this interesting body of water, which I have lately crossed twice. Its first English name, after the ones above given, was Lake Cassina, bestowed by Schoolcraft in 1820, in honor of Governor and General Lewis Cass (b. Exeter, N. H., Oct. 9th, 1782, d. Detroit, Mich., June 17th, 1866), leader of the expedition which made its nearest approach to the true source of the Miss. r., in July of that year. Their camp was on the N. shore, close by the mouth of Turtle r., on the W. side of that mouth, directly opposite the site of the N. W. Co. Ho. where Pike now is. The name "Cassina Lake" stands on the Schlcr. map of the 1820 Cass exped.; item, "Cassina L." is on Long's map, 1823; the adj. Cassinian also occurs in Schlcr. and elsewhere; but the latter afterward clipped the name to Cass, and it has become fixed in this form—the same as that of the county later dedicated appropriately to this eminent statesman and soldier. The Schlcr. map of 1820 also lays down the Turtle River system with approximate accuracy, and on this map was first traced the course of the Mississippi to Lake Itasca. This had not then received its present name, but stands there as "L. Labeish," i. e., Lac La Biche, or Lac à la Biche, translating the Chippewa Omoshkos Sogiagon, and translated Elk l. in English. The main defect of the 1820 map was in laying down the Itascan source to the N. W. instead of to the S. W. of Cass l.—thus really on the line of the Turtle River source. This mistake was corrected in 1832, the year that Schoolcraft's party were guided to Lake Itasca itself by the Chippewa chief, Ozawindib or Yellow Head. Schoolcraft's nomenclature, as far as possible, was accepted by the greatest geographer who ever saw the source of the Mississippi, and Nicollet's example in this respect has been generally followed. Cass is a beautiful lake, the third largest in the drainage-area of the uppermost Mississippi, being exceeded in size only by Winnibigoshish and Leech. The greatest length is nearly meridional; including Pike's bay it is 9¾ m.; the greatest breadth is almost due E. and W.; including Allen's bay it is 7½ m. In position with reference to the 5th meridian (the only one with which we have to do in this note), the Range line of townships 30-31, and the Township line of 145-146, decussate at right angles in the center of the lake, just off the E. shore of Colcaspi isl. The body of water thus occupies portions of four townships. In figure Cass l. is more irregular than Lake Winnibigoshish, less so than Leech l. Pike's bay, on the S., is almost shut off from the rest of the lake by a long, narrow peninsula which stretches nearly across from E. to W., leaving but a very narrow thoroughfare. Pike's bay is of rounded form, about 3 m. in any diameter. Allen's bay, on the W., is almost equally well marked off by Colcaspi isl.; it is 2⅓ m. long, with an average width of over a mile, and includes two small islands, named Elm and Garden. Red Cedar isl. lies in the S. E. part of the main body of water; but the most conspicuous feature of the lake is the island best known as Grand or Colcaspi. The latter curious name is one of those verbal wind-eggs which Schoolcraft was fond of hatching; he tells us it is compounded of fragments of the names of "the three prior explorers," meaning Cass and himself, 1820, and Pike, 1806. This Island of Ozawindib, as named by Brower, 1894, is shaped like a blacksmith's anvil or molar tooth; its greatest diameters, along conjugate diagonal axes, are 2¾ and 2½ m.; aside from its horns, the island would yield a square of about 1¼ m. The Chippewa village of Ozawindib, where Schoolcraft was camped July 10th and again July 15th—between which dates he went to Itasca and back—was on the N. E. point of the anvil. I should advise canoeists to give this point a wide berth; for a shoal runs far out northward, and the birch-bark may thump on a stony bottom if there is any sea. This shoal reaches out directly across the straightest traverse from the inlet to the outlet of the Mississippi. Ozawindib isl. is almost a peninsula in relation to the north shore of the lake, but a canoe can generally be floated across the isthmus. I waded and dragged my boat on going up, but on returning was obliged to make a portage of a few paces, as the water had lowered. But even if it be found a carrying-place, it is the shortest and best way across the lake from the inlet of the Mississippi, either to its outlet or to the inlet of Turtle r. The latter falls in at the extreme N. of the lake, 2½ m. W. N. W. from the outlet of the Mississippi, in the N. E. ¼ of Sect. 18, T. 146, R. 30. Here came David Thompson in 1798, along the usual traders' route from the Red River country, in part the then supposed course of the Mississippi itself above Red Cedar l. Here, in Roy's N. W. Co. House, on the E. or left bank, is Pike this 12th of February, 1806. Here were Cass and Schoolcraft in 1820; here came Beltrami in 1823, down this same Turtle r. from his Lake Julia, and so from the Julian source of the Mississippi. A mission once stood here; there is now an Indian village at a little distance westward. The place may be recognized at a distance by a high ridge on the right or W. bank; and on nearer approach by a stout post with historical inscriptions, erected by Brower in August, 1894. About a mile up Turtle r. expands into a lake, called Kichi by Nicollet in 1836, and by error Kitihi, as on Brower's map of 1892. No other considerable stream enters Cass l., excepting the Mississippi itself. The Mississippi leaves the lake in a recess on the N. E. shore, easy to find by good land-marks—notice a clump of trees on the right of the outlet as you approach it, and a house on the first rising ground to the left. The position is in the N. E. ¼ of Sect. 21, T. 146, R. 30. From this point the river flows nearly E. S. E. into Lake Winnibigoshish (makes 2⅔ m. of southing in 8¼ m. of easting—air-line about 9 m.). The general course is about straight, but the reciprocal bends are numerous, giving an actual course, as I should judge, of 16¾ m., though they call it 18. This is Cass r. or Red Cedar r.—the most beautiful part of the Mississippi—good flat water and plenty of it at the lowest stages of canoeing, with a moderate current and no rapids, shoals, or snags to speak of; also, good camping places all along on the wooded points or knolls. The only tributary of this "interlaken" course of the Mississippi is from the S., about halfway between Cass and Winnibigoshish; being the discharge from Horn l. (Eshkabwaka l. of Owen), ¾ of a mile (direct) E. of the boundary between Itasca and Beltrami cos., in the S. E. ¼ of Sect. 30, T. 146, R. 29.
Pike at Leech l. was the nearest he ever went to the true source of the Mississippi—about 25 m. in an air-line E. of Lake Itasca. Pike at Cass l. is further away from this goal, but he is on the course of the great river. Having already noted the Leech Lake sub-basin, or what I call the Pikean source, I will with the reader's indulgence indicate the main features of the true Itascan or Nicolletian sub-basin. To this end we will start together from Cass l. and paddle our own canoe to Lake Itasca. The following observations are from my canoe voyage from Deer River to Lake Itasca and return, Aug. 15th-Sept. 3d, 1894:
The Mississippi enters Cass l. at the W. end of Allen's bay, by a crooked s-shaped thoroughfare about a mile long, from the next lake above. The inlet into Cass opens in the center of Sect. 29, T. 146, R. 31; the outlet from the other lake is in the N. W. ¼ of the same section. So close, in fact, are the two lakes, that at two places they are only separated by 100 yards or less. At the northern one of these short portages stands a dilapidated old chapel, once a mission-house, and other buildings are scattered about, chiefly Chippewa cabins. I could learn no name for this next lake, though it appears to be the one Schoolcraft called Andrusia in 1855; but if so, the name has lapsed. A letter before me from Hon. J. V. Brower, Itasca State Park Commissioner, dated St. Paul, Sept. 15th, 1894, says: "The beautiful body of water situated upon Sects. 7, 8, 17, 18, 19, 20, 29, and 30, T. 146, R. 31, 5th M., above Cass lake, and through which the Mississippi takes its course, has this day been named by me Lake Elliott Coues, as a slight recognition of your services to the public, and for the purposes of a more accurate and correct geographical description." This lake is 3½ m. long by 1¼ m. in greatest breadth, with its long axis meridional. The Mississippi runs across its S. end about ¾ of a mile from W. to E., the inlet being in the N. W. ¼ of Sect. 30 of the same T. and R. as the outlet. A trader's house is on the N. side, in a Chippewa village. A winding course of the Mississippi of 2 m. brings us to another lake, Pamitascodiac or Tascodiac of Schoolcraft, and Vandermaelen of Nicollet. This is hourglass-shaped, 2¼ m. long by about a mile across either bulb. The Mississippi enters it at the N. and leaves it at the E., the inlet and outlet being within half a mile of each other, in Sect. 25, T. 146, R. 32. For 2 or 3 m. above Lake Tascodiac canoeing is easy, through the flat water of marsh and meadow land; but then begins the trouble which hardly intermits thence to Lake Bemidji. The canoeist may as well put on his rubber boots at the start and keep them on, for he will have to wade most of the way and drag or shove his boat through almost incessant rocky rapids, shoals, and snags. My canoe drew only about 3 inches of water when my man and myself were overboard, yet we had great difficulty in getting along at all without portaging. Where the water is flat, it is shoal and snaggy; otherwise it is all "Metoswa" rapids. The distance from Lake Tascodiac to Lake Bemidji is only 8 m. in an air line, but this is the chord of a considerable arc the river describes northward, which, with the minor bends around the wooded points, makes, as I judge, about 13½ m. of water-course. The people call it 20 m., but that is because it is such a hard road to travel. It took me a day and a quarter to make Bemidji from Elliott Coues; but I did the same distance in less than one day coming down. Beltrami calls this course "Demizimagua-maguen-sibi, or River of Lake Traverse," II. p. 434—which reminds me to say that among the Indians each section of the river between lakes takes the name of the lake whence it flows. The Bemidji section of the Mississippi issues from the lake of that name in the N. W. ¼ of Sect. 2, T. 146, R. 33, near the middle of the E. shore. This outlet is hidden in a maze of bulrushes, and as there is no conspicuous landmark on shore it is not easy to find. Lake Bemidji is a large body of water 5½ m. long N. and S., by 1¾ to 2½ m. broad, of somewhat pyriform figure, lying athwart the course of the Mississippi: whence the F. name Lac Traverse, which we render Traverse, Travers, and Cross lake; Schl. named it Queen Anne's l. in 1855. Among the Indian forms are Pamitchi, as Schoolcraft; Pemidji, as Nicollet; also Bermiji, Permidji, etc., and with an additional element Bemejigemug, Pamajiggermug, etc. The N. end of Bemidji is only 2½ m. from the S. end of Turtle l., so that the Julian sources may be here easily reached by portage. From the outlet as above described to the inlet is 2¾ m. on a S. W. course; for the Mississippi enters at the extreme S. W. angle, in the N. W. ¼ of Sect. 16, T. 146, R. 33. Here are some Chippewa cabins, and here is also the lair of one of the ferocious blood-sucking parasites of the tribe of Indian traders. The system only differs from robbery in name. For instance, the squaw-man will sell you a whitefish for 10 cents a pound. He bought that fish for two cents a pound from the Indian who caught it, and he also paid for it in goods at his own price, probably about five times their cost to him. Those old traders who were satisfied to make 250 per cent. on prime cost were meek and lowly philanthropists in comparison with some of their successors. A short wide thoroughfare of about 40 rods leads directly from Bemidji into Lake Irving, so named by Schoolcraft in 1832 after the facile writer, and still so called. This is only 1½ m. broad by ¾ long, lying chiefly in Sects. 16 and 17; the Mississippi comes directly across its short axis from S. to N. The inlet is at the S. E. corner of Sect. 17. On Nicollet's published map "L. Irving" appears out of place altogether, on another stream. But that is a mere accident of cartography, for which the admirable geographer is not responsible; he knew where Lake Irving is as well as I do. Three short bends and then a straight course of a mile bring us up the Mississippi to the mouth of a river from the S., to be particularly noted for several reasons. It is the largest remaining tributary of the Mississippi, and one of its sources is a lake no more than 5 m. from Itasca itself. This river joins the Mississippi in the S. E. of Sect. 20, T. 146, R. 33. Going up it we at once fall upon the very small Lake Marquette; next, Lake La Salle (Lasale on Nicollet's map), larger and hourglass-shaped; next, Lake Plantagenet, a two-legged body of water, 2¾ m. long by 1¾ broad. The first two were named in 1832 by Schoolcraft, who also said the largest one was called Kubba Kunna, or Rest in the Path l.—these terms becoming Rahbahkanna and Resting l. in Allen. Continuing through Lake Plantagenet and up this "Plantagenian source" of the Mississippi, as it has come to be known, we find that it forks in Sect. 21, T. 144, R. 34, at a direct distance of 7 or 8 m. from Lake Plantagenet. The fork on our left as we go up takes us 5 or 6 m. further to Lake Naiwa, called Neway l. by Nicollet, and recently renamed Lake George. Alongside and emptying into this is Nicollet's L. Bowditch, lately renamed L. Paine. These two are in Sects. 15, 19, 22, and 21, T. 143, R. 34. Going up the other fork, we find in about 3 m. that it forks. The fork on our left as we go up comes N. from a number of small lakes, one of them lately become known as Lake Chenowagesic; and this is probably to be considered the main course of the river we are now on. The other fork comes from the west; if we follow it up we proceed directly toward Lake Itasca, and find our stream heading in a lake which occupies portions of Sects. 2 and 11, T. 143, R. 35. This is Lake Assawa—Ossowa and Usawa of Schoolcraft, Usaw-way or Perch of Allen, Assawe of Nicollet; also, Lake Alice of the Rand-McNally map (Chicago, 1894), whose compilers adopted the names bestowed by a certain unfortunate excursionist. Another name this unhappy person gave this same lake is Elvira. It is historically of the greatest possible interest, for from Lake Assawa did Schoolcraft's party proceed by portage to discover Lake Itasca in 1832, and from it also did Nicollet proceed by portage to Lake Itasca in 1836, and so on to discover the actual source of the Mississippi, which Schoolcraft missed in his hurry on that happy-go-lucky 13th of July. As to the name which the whole stream thus sketched should bear, there may be two opinions. Schoolcraft maps it with the legend "Plantagenian or South Fork of the Mississippi," and makes the Assawa Lake fork the main source, calling the Naiwa Lake fork by the name of this lake. Nicollet names the main stream R. Laplace, after the celebrated astronomer, as he did L. Bowditch after the translator of that author's Mécanique Céleste; and he considers the main stream to be that middle one which comes from the Chenowagesic l., furthest from the S. (over the border of Hubbard Co., in fact). This view is undoubtedly correct, and I, for one, should like to see Nicollet's designation of Laplace r. stand. But the river is in fact called the Naiwa, and this current designation will probably prevail. I observe that our best maps in the present uncertainty omit any name, though the Rand-McNally map legends "Schoolcraft R." (after Eastman's, 1855). Should the main stream come to be known to geographers as the Naiwa, I would suggest that its E. fork be called the East Naiwa, agreeably with Schoolcraft's, 1832; and the other the West Naiwa.
We return from this excursion up the Naiwa or Laplace r.—the Plantagenian source of the Mississippi—and proceed up the latter from the mouth of the former. We hold a due W. course on the whole for 5½ m. in an air-line, but on a zigzag with multitudinous minor tortuosities, making the distance more than twice as far; part of the way winding among wooded points, working our way over shoals and among snags, to a point in the N. W. ¼ of Sect. 28, T. 146, R. 34. Here the small Allenoga r., on our right from the north, discharges from a small, crooked lake which lies mainly in Sects. 16 and 21. Knowing no name for this, I call it Cowhorn l., from its shape and from the trivial circumstance of finding a horn stuck on a stake in the river. We go on through a monotonous, swampy tract of reeds, rushes, wild rice, and lily-pads, alternately approaching and receding from tamarac clumps as the river winds about, for 2½ m. further W. in an air-line, and more than three times that distance in actual paddling, till we reach some haying-meadows, and soon find the entrance of a notable stream on our right, in the N. E. ¼ of Sect. 25, T. 146, R. 35; this is Pinidiwin r. (Pinnidiwin, Carnage, and De Soto r. of Schoolcraft, Piniddiwin of Brower), through a lake about a mile wide, filled with a fine crop of wild rice. Hence it is one of many lakes which are called La Folle, Rice, or Manomin (Monomina on the Rand-McNally map); but it had better keep the distinctive name of the river which flows through it. I paddled up into Pinidiwin l., and was surprised at the volume of water it discharged, as well as at the strength of its current. But the river is a large, forked stream which drains a very extensive area N. of the Mississippi. The volume of the Mississippi seemed diminished nearly one-half above the mouth of this "Little Mississippi." The course up the Mississippi is now S. W. to a point in the S. E. ¼ of Sect. 35, T. 146, R. 35; where, at a bend, it receives a sizable tributary from the S. Nicollet charts this stream, but has no name for it, and I know of none, excepting that suspicious "Hennepin R." which appears on the same Rand-McNally map, so thoroughly vitiated by countenancing the names given by a dishonest person. Hennepin r. rises as far south as about the middle of T. 144, R. 35, and flows nearly due northward; one of its tributaries comes from a certain Lake Joliet, the name of which arose with the same trickster. Rounding the bend here we go up N. W. into the middle of Sect. 28, T. 146, R. 35, and turn S. W. to the corner of this section, on the property of Mr. A. J. Jones, a bona fide settler and cultivator of the soil. The situation is also marked by a small creek (say Jones') which falls in hard by from the W.; but it is more notable as a sort of "Great Bend" of the Mississippi; for here is the place where, our course thus far having been on the whole westward, we turn quite abruptly southward to make for Lake Itasca, distant about 14 m. as the crow flies, but at least twice as far as that by the way we paddle. It has been good flat water, with no obstructions to speak of, for many miles back; but a little distance above Jones' place we come to rocky rapids for half a mile, reminding us of our experiences below Lake Bemidji. I do not think that these, but that some of those higher up, are the rapids where Allen's boat was wrecked on the 15th of July, 1832, though Schoolcraft talks of having come "32" m. from Itasca on the 14th, before the accident. As we proceed, other obstacles offer; snags abound, the Mississippi becomes in places too shallow to float a canoe, and in others bushes begin to meet across the channel, or fallen logs require to be chopped out of the way. We pass an insignificant creek on the right, and then soon sight quite an imposing pine-clad ridge on the left. Here, in the S. W. ¼ of Sect. 19, T. 145, R. 35, is the mouth of a creek on the left. This is marked on Schoolcraft's map "Cano R.", i. e., Canot or Canoe r., also Ocano (Au Canot), and Chemaun r. It is charted by Nicollet, without any name. It has been described by Brower as Andrus cr., is on Eastman's map (1855) as De Witt Clinton's r., and was once named La Salle r. by an unscrupulous person. Above Andrus cr., in the S. E. ¼ of Sect. 26 of the tp. last said, a small creek comes in on the right, at "Dutch Fred's" place. I heard a man call it Bear cr. Here the Mississippi enters (or rather leaves) a haying-meadow, and within a mile receives a small creek on our left, from the S., locally known as Killpecker or Chillpecker cr. It is less than a mile hence to the house of one Searles, in the S. W. ¼ of Sect. 35, T. 145, R. 35. There is still visible evidence that this was the site of an old trading-post; and on discussing the case with my friend Brower, I agreed with his conclusion that it was most probably the very spot we hear of from William Morrison, who was the first known of white men at Lake Itasca, in 1804. From this place upward to Lake Itasca the Mississippi is practically unnavigable, at least in such a low stage of water as that I found—not so much on account of the extensive rapids as from snags and brush. The distance is called 20 m.—even 25 m., if one wants you to hire his wagon—but it is nothing of the sort; 12 m. would cover it. The air-line from Searles' house to Itasca is just 6 m., and though the river is tortuous, besides having a general westward curve, it can hardly be more than twice as much. One creek on this course, called Division cr. by Brower, falls in from the W. in the S. W. ¼ of Sect. 27, T. 144, R. 36. A wagon-road leads from Searles' due S. to the lower end of the N. arm of Lake Itasca. The distance is about 7 m. by this road, which keeps on the ridge E. of the Mississippi till it ends at the lake, close by the outlet, in the S. W. ¼ of Sect. 35, T. 144, R. 36, thus almost on the line between T. 144 and T. 143, which cuts the end of the N. arm, and forms the N. boundary of Itasca State Park. Here Brower discovered the site of a prehistoric village in Oct., 1894.
This park, created by Act of the Minnesota Legislature, approved Apr. 20th, 1891, is 7 m. N. and S. by 5 m. E. and W., thus being 35 square miles, 19,701⅔ acres, consisting of Sects. 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 33, 34, 35, 36, of T. 143, R. 36, in Beltrami Co., with Sects. 1, 2, 3, 4, of T. 142, R. 36, in Becker Co., Sects. 6, 7, 18, 19, 30, 31, of T. 143, R. 35, and Sect. 6, of T. 142, R. 35—these in Hubbard Co. The rectangle thus delimited includes nearly all the natural features about to be noted, in the area designated as the ultimate reservoir bowl of the Mississippi by Brower, to whose admirable official report I am indebted for some particulars which did not come under my personal observation on the spot, Aug. 24th and 25th, 1894. The brim of the bowl is the Height of Land, Nicollet's Hauteurs des Terres, sc. between Hudsonian and Mexican waters; for all the water in the bowl runs into the Mississippi. The political boundary of the park is less than conterminous with the area of this bowl. The latter is conveniently divided into the greater and lesser segments, according to whether the waters drain into the W. or the E. arm of Lake Itasca; the greater segment contains the primal sources of the Mississippi. The brim of the bowl has a maximum elevation of 1,750 feet above sea-level. The southernmost lake in the bowl is Brower's Hernando de Soto, supposed to be 2,555¼ m. from the Gulf of Mexico, at an altitude of 1,558 feet. Another is Morrison l. There are too many other small lakes to mention, mostly beyond or beside any actual permanent surface connection with the Mississippian stream; two little ones which come very near to such connection are Whipple and Floating Moss. The Mississippi springs from the ground under a hill which I call the Verumontanum; the first collection of living waters, or what may be termed Fons et Origo Springs, occurs about the contiguous corners of Sects. 28/33|27/34, T. 143, R. 36. The rill which issues thence runs northward in Sects. 27 and 28, collecting there in a pool worthily named by Brower the Upper Nicollet l., after the keen-eyed geographer who first spied and mapped it in connection with his immortal discovery of the Mississippian Verum Caput. But this Lacus Superior Nicolleti is not now connected by surface flowage with the continuation of the Mississippi; Brower is correct in designating its feeder as the "detached upper fork" of the Mississippi; for the Upper Nicollet l. is separated by a dry ridge a few yards wide, forming a sort of "natural bridge," under or through which water seeps, but over which it certainly never flows. Stepping a few paces over this Pons Naturalis, we descend into a boggy place where the several Nicollet Springs issue from the ground and form a rill whose waters are continuous to the Gulf of Mexico. If one wishes to "cover" the Mississippi in any sense, one may do so literally here, where the river is a few inches wide and fewer deep, by lying at full length on both sides of the stream and drinking out of the channel. This rivulet is the principal feeder of the Middle Nicollet l., which is of oval figure, less than ⅓ of a mile long, lying chiefly in the S. E. ¼ of Sect. 21. The outlet of this lake is close to the inlet, by a well-defined stream say ⅓ of a mile long, which starts W., receives a small tributary called Howard cr. from the S., and then curves N. into the Lower Nicollet l., ⅙ m. E. of the Middle l. This is in size between the Upper and Middle lakes; it receives two rills, one of them called Spring Ridge cr.; the Mississippi issues from the N. end of this lake, and thence pursues a general N. E. course for about ¾ of a mile in an air-line, though crookedly and with several small bends, to fall into the head of the W. arm of Lake Itasca, in the S. W. ¼ of Sect. 15. On its way it receives Demaray cr. from the W. Thus is constituted, entirely above or S. of Lake Itasca, the Infant Mississippi, discovered by Nicollet in 1836, and by him poetically styled the Cradled Hercules. The cradle is now known as Nicollet valley; it is bounded on the W. by the Hauteurs des Terres, now Nicollet Heights, and on the E. by a long, curved, and somewhat broken ridge, which I propose to call Brower Ridge, after the accomplished gentleman whose name will always be associated with the history and geography of the Itasca basin. This ridge is the best walking from Itasca toward the Fons et Origo Springs—though in the present state of the ground this is not saying much in its favor, yet this way is less laborious than following up the Infant Mississippi. The N. end of the ridge rises on Morrison hill, which overlooks Itasca on the one hand and on the other gives a fine view of Elk l.; it is only a few steps down to either lake from the summit, where stands the Brower post of 1887 with its historical inscription, a sign-board commemorating Nicollet, and a granite bowlder more durably graven with a less enduring name (not Glazier). Elk l. is the largest body of water in the bowl after Itasca, being of irregular oval figure, about 1 m. long by two-thirds as broad. It lies almost entirely in Sect. 22, immediately S. of the head of the W. arm of Itasca, and thus alongside the Herculean Incunabula, from which it is separated by Brower Ridge. Elk l. has the bad luck of a bad name, with the more serious misfortune of a vainglorious record of "exploitation." In the first place the name—with due deference to Gen. J. H. Baker, who in 1876 caused "Elk" to become official on the plot of T. 143, R. 36—seems to me badly chosen. For "Elk" was originally the English name of Lake Itasca, translating F. Lac la Biche, and Chippewa Omoshkos Sogiagon; so its transfer to the smaller lake is liable to create confusion. Better Gilfillan's Lake Breck, 1881, or Chippewa Gagiwitadinag (embosomed in hills). In the second place a certain unworthy person magnified the size of this lake, stretched out its principal feeder southward, lengthened, widened, and deepened its discharge into Itasca, labeled it Lake Glazier, and trumpeted his false claim of discovering the one and only true source of the Mississippi, to the scandal of geographical societies and other learned bodies. The best mot I ever heard on this subject was given me by a native of Deer River, whose remark, however, is withheld, on the well-known principle that "the greater the truth the greater the libel." Elk l. was well described in 1872 by Julius Chambers, who called it Lake Dolly Varden; its discharge into Itasca is now known as Chambers' cr. This is a small side-stream about 333 yards long, in the bed of which I walked dry-shod, yet which has been exploited as the course of the Mississippi. Elk l. has several feeders, among them three creeks called Elk, Siegfried, and Gaygwedosay—the latter for Nicollet's guide of 1836, whom Nicollet calls Kegwedzissag. All the features thus far noted are in the greater ultimate reservoir bowl, in relation with the W. arm of Lake Itasca. Turning to the lesser part of the bowl, whose waters drain into the E. arm, we find a chain of small lakes, whose names from S. to N. are Josephine, Ako, Danger, Twin, and Mary—the last having continuous surface flow by Mary cr. into the head of the E. arm. Such, in brief, are the main features of the Mississippian waters which drain from the S. into Lake Itasca; but I suppose there are a hundred little lakes or pools in the bowl, which seep through the bibulous soil—in fact, this flowing bowl is full of lees. The largest lake, which forms its strongest feature, is of a three-pronged or triradiate figure—mostly arms, with little body, like a star-fish. It is said that the early name refers to the head and antlers of the elk, respectively represented by the three projections. There is not very much difference in size and shape between them, though each has its particular form. Where the three prongs come together as the main body of this lake is the small but picturesque Schoolcraft isl., where the party of 1832 camped July 13th, as Nicollet did in Aug., 1836; it is decidedly the most eligible spot for the purpose, before making one's periplus of the lake. The island is in Sect. 11, T. 143, R. 36; its absolute position has been dead-reckoned by Mr. A. J. Hill to be lat. 47° 13´ 10´´ N., long. 95° 12´ W. Mr. Brower has this summer (1894) set up a very stanch oaken commemoration post, which bears a suitable legend and looks as if it might stand for a century. The island was named by Allen (Rep., p. 332). Near it is a shallow place called Rocky Shoal. The lake is 3⅔ m. in greatest length from the end of the N. to that of the E. arm; the ends of the E. and W. arms are 2⅔ m. apart. The W. arm is marked off by Ozawindib pt., the E. arm by Bear pt., and Turnbull pt. projects into the latter arm about opposite the place where Nicollet struck the lake in portaging over from Lake Assawa. The best view of the lake is to be had from Rhodes' Hill, near the base of the E. arm. Itasca has several feeders besides Mary cr., Chambers' cr., and the Infant Mississippi; four of these are Island cr., from the W., opposite Schoolcraft isl.; Floating Bog cr., falling in by Bear pt.; Boutwell cr., on the W. side of the W. arm; and Shawinukumag cr., a little rill close by the mouth of the Infant. There is one point about the lake I wish to signalize by the name of Point Hill, after my esteemed friend, Mr. Alfred J. Hill of St. Paul. When you come to the N. end of the N. arm, at the usual landing or embarking place, where McMullen's house stands, your view of Schoolcraft isl., as you look southward up the N. arm, is intercepted by a promontory from the W. side, near the center of Sect. 2, T. 143, R. 36; this is Point Hill. The altitude of Lake Itasca is given by Brower as 1,457 feet; its distance from the Gulf of Mexico, by the channel of the Mississippi, is probably about 2,550 m.—by no means those "3,184" m. which the Rand-McNally map exploits. The general situation is: 150 m. W. of Lake Superior; 125 m. S. from the N. border of Minnesota; 75 m. E. from the W. and 252 m. N. from the S. border of the same. The lake is reached from St. Paul by 240 m. overland; take the G. N. R. R. to Park Rapids, and go thence in one day by wagon. The distance from St. Paul by the Mississippi is said to be 560 m.; it is practically out of the question as a route, because of obstructions to navigation, especially by logging-booms. A much easier way than I selected for my own excursion is, as just said, to the lake by rail and wagon, thence down the Mississippi by canoe or skiff to Deer River or Grand Rapids, where you strike the D. and W. R. R., or even down to Brainerd, where the N. P. R. R. crosses. The names most prominently associated with discovery and exploration in the Itasca basin are: William Morrison, 1804; Henry R. Schoolcraft and James Allen, 1832; Jean N. Nicollet, 1836; Julius Chambers, 1872; James H. Baker and Edwin S. Hall, 1875; Hopewell Clarke, 1886; J. V. Brower, 1889-94. A more extended historical note will be found beyond; meanwhile let us return to Pike, at the mouth of Turtle r., on Cass l.
[III-9] David Thompson, the great explorer and surveyor, b. St. John's parish, Westminster, Eng., Apr. 30th, 1770, d. Longueuil, opposite Montreal, Canada, Feb. 16th, 1857, and now with his wife in Mt. Royal cemetery. His activities compassed half a century, say 1790-1840, during some of which years he seems to have been almost ubiquitous—so extensive were his travels, in the service of the H. B. Co., N. W. Co., and on professional duties in connection with the survey of the boundary between the British possessions and the United States. Mr. Thompson was a good practical astronomer and an admirable geographer. Some of his determinations would not easily be surpassed in accuracy by the best modern methods. He was also an assiduous journalist, and a good draughtsman; but most of his work has never seen the light. The manuscripts which he left are believed to cover the long period of years during which he traveled and observed; and to include not only his personal narrative, but also the mathematical tables by which his astronomical observations were worked out for the determination of latitude and longitude. They have more than once been drawn upon for historical and geographical data; but no publication of such a thorough digest of Thompson's life and work as could have been prepared from these materials under competent and critical editorship has ever been made. A brief recital of his journeys was read by J. B. Tyrrell, B. A., etc., before the Canadian Institute, Mar. 3d, 1888, and published that year, Toronto, 8vo., pp. 28. The official records I have mentioned must not be confounded with certain fragments of Thompson's MSS., now the property of a Mr. Charles Lindsey of Toronto, and recently offered for sale. These are about 600 foolscap pp. in Thompson's handwriting, drawn up very late in life—being thus by no means his original journals and field note-books. Thompson was on the Missouri at the Mandan villages Dec. 29th, 1797-Jan. 10th, 1798—thus before Lewis and Clark, Oct. 27th, 1804-Apr. 7th, 1805, and the younger Alexander Henry, July and Aug., 1806. While here he undertook to determine from Indian information the source of the Yellowstone r., and made one of the most extraordinary computations on record; for his figures agree within 20 m. or less with the true latitude and longitude. Thompson was the first white man who ever descended the Columbia r. from its head-waters to the point where Lewis and Clark struck it, Oct. 16th, 1806; this voyage was made in the summer of 1811, and protracted to the Pacific at Astoria. That journey to which Pike refers was made in 1798. Thompson came down the Turtle River route to Cass l., late in April, and stopped at John Sayers' house, located by him in lat. 47° 27´ 56´´ N. and long. 95° W. If we marvel why such a man as Thompson missed the honor of discovering the source of the Mississippi, when that prize was so near at hand, we may remember that the Turtle River head-waters were already the accepted source, as being the furthest N. Leaving Cass l. May 3d, Thompson descended the Mississippi through Lake Winnibigoshish, and so on to the N. W. Co. house at Sandy l.; thence he went up Prairie or Savanna r., the usual traders' route, portaged over to waters of the St. Louis, and descended this river to the Fond du Lac house, which stood 2½ m. from Lake Superior. This journey was from the post on the Assiniboine r., at the mouth of Souris or Mouse r., which he left Feb. 25th; he reached Fond du Lac May 10th, or in 2 months and 18 days.
[III-10] This most celebrated chief of the Leech Lake Chippewas, or Pillagers, had three names, whose several variants number probably three dozen. One of them may be written Ask a Buggy Cuss—for if that is not right, it is as near right as some others, and easier to say than any of the rest. It is the rule that the name is different with everyone who uses it, and it often varies with the same author whose "takes" fall into the hands of different compositors. Some of the forms I have noted are: Aishkibugikozsh; Aishkabugakosh; Eshkibogikoj; Esquibusicoge; Aishkebugekoshe and Eschkebugecoshe (in Minn. Hist. Coll., V. passim); Eski Bugeckoge (in the French Pike, I. p. 220). The French form of the name was Gueule Platte; and the English of it was Flat Mouth. Pike spells the French in half a dozen different ways, the question of gender included in the variation; while Schoolcraft, who was something of a linguist, is equally vagarious in this case, giving us Geulle Platte, Gouelle Platte, Guelle Plat, Gueulle Plat, Guella Plat—anything you please, except Gruel Plate or Ghoul Plot! Our Gallic friends themselves tried a variety of combinations, as gole, goule, gule, before they suited themselves with gueule as a satisfactory substitute for the Latin gula—just as we did before we made gulley and gullet out of the same old Roman stock. On Pike's folding [Abstract], the individual whose mouth, jaws, and throat are so much in literary doubt figures as "Eskibugeckoge, Geuelle Platte, Flat Mouth, first chief of his band." This was a large one, best known as the Pillagers, also as Muckundwas, who had long maintained a separate tribal organization. The medal which Flat Mouth had received from the British at Fort William on Lake Superior, and which Pike took from him to substitute an American one, was replaced by a large solid silver one given him by Schoolcraft July 19th, 1828. The latter author has a long and good account of this remarkably brave and sensible Indian, who in 1832 seemed to be turned of 60 years, about 5 feet 9 or 10 inches high, erect, but inclined to corpulency. He had been on the war-path 25 times, and had killed a good many Sioux without ever receiving a wound. He was a man of great discernment and sound judgment, extensively and accurately informed upon all affairs which concerned his people or himself. There is much said of him in the Minnesota Historical Collections from first to last, especially in the Hon. W. W. Warren's History of the Ojibwas, and Rev. E. D. Neill's continuation of the same subject: see for example pp. 17, 19, 45, 50, 138, 178, 223, 269, 275, 324, 342, 349, 352, 359, 360, 362, 369, and 459, 463, 465, 475, 478, in Vol. V. of those Collections. He figured prominently in Anglojibwa affairs for more than half a century, and was living in 1852, at a supposed age of about 78 years, having been born about 1774. The circumstances under which the Leech Lake Indians received the names of Makandwyinniniwag, Mukundwais, or Muckundwas, F. Pilleurs, E. Pillagers, Plunderers, and Robbers, are said in substance by Schoolcraft to be these: During the period of great irregularities in the fur-trade consequent upon the transfer of the balance of power from French to English hands, when the latter were still dependent in part or entirely upon the former for their clerks and boatmen, and these were in great favor with the Indians, one Berti came on with goods and took his station at the mouth of Crow-wing r. to trade with the Chips. But he had more to sell than they could buy, including guns and ammunition which he knew the Sioux would be glad to get. The Chips., however, forbade his thus arming their foes; and when he started for the Sioux country, in spite of their warnings and threats, they arrested him by force of arms, and robbed him of all he possessed, though they spared his life. Berti returned to Sandy l., soon died of a broken heart, or of the exertions he had made to defend his property, and was buried thereabouts. Dr. Douglass Houghton relates a curious story of this trader's indirect causation of a terrible smallpox epidemic that ravaged the Chips. The above occurrences were in 1767-68. When the facts became known to the company at Mackinac, the Indians were directed to make requital, with threats of punishment for non-compliance. A deputation went to Mackinac in the spring of 1770, with furs which were taken as an equivalent for those which had been stolen, and the Indians were dismissed with a cask of liquor and a closely rolled flag as a token of friendship. They were enjoined not to broach the one or unroll the other till they got home. But on the way they did both, and had a drunken spree with some of their friends at Fond du Lac. Several were taken sick, some died, and it was soon discovered that the disease had broken out among them. It was spread broadcast, and is said to have cost many hundred Chippewa lives before its ravages ceased. Whether rightly or wrongly, the Indians were always firmly persuaded that a dastardly outrage had been perpetrated upon them by the intentional communication to them of the disease through the medium of the presents they had received from officers of the fur company. I have thus cited Schoolcraft for the popular or traditional as distinguished from the proper or historical presentation of this case. The facts are set forth at length in Warren's History of the Ojibways, chap. xxi., forming pp. 256-262 of Minn. Hist. Coll., V. 1885. The nom de guerre which the Pillagers accepted for themselves is there rendered Mukimduawininewug (men who take by force). There appears to be no truth whatever in laying upon the British the infamous charge of intentional introduction of smallpox. Warren had the facts direct from an intelligent old chief of the Pillagers, from which it appears that the terrible epidemic, costing several thousand lives, was introduced on the return of a war-party of Kenistenos, Assineboines, and Ojibways, who had gone for scalps to the Kechepegano (Missouri) r., and caught the infection from a village of Giaucthinnewug (Grosventres).
[III-11] Which formed Doc. No. 6, p. 17 of the App. to Pt. 1 of the orig. ed., and will be found [beyond]. This letter answered [Pike]'s of Feb. 7th.
[III-12] The speech made at this conference by Pike, and the replies of three chiefs, formed Docs. Nos. 7 and 8, p. 19 and p. 22 of the App. to Pt. 1 of the orig. ed. Both are found [beyond].
[III-13] Though the phrase is not capitalized, this is the personal name of a Leech Lake chief, whom Pike elsewhere calls Chef de la Terre and Obigouitte.