USA > Mississippi > History of the upper Mississippi Valley, pt 1 > Part 31
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"At the end of this corvee we found the Great Portage river. We embarked and proceeded np current, crossing two lakes which it forms in its course, cach about five or six miles in circum- ference, and containing patches of wild rice-un- fortunately for us not yet ripe. We gave these lakes the name of Manomeny-Kany-aguen, or the Lakes of Wild Rice.
" After proceeding upwards of five or six miles, always in a southerly direction, we entered a noble lake, formed like the others by the wrters of the river, and which has no other issue than the river's entrance and discharge.
"Its form is that of a half-moon, and it has a beautiful island in the centre of it. Its circuin- ference is about twenty miles. The Indians call it l'uposky- Wiza-Kany-aguen, or the End of the Shaking Lands; an etymology very correct, as nearly all the region we have traversed from the Lake of Pines may be almost considered to float upon the waters. * *
"I passed on this spot a part of the day of my arrival and the whole of the succeeding night. On the morning of the twenty-eighth, we resimmed our navigation of the river, which enters of the South side of the lake.
"Abont six miles higher up we discovered its sonrees, which spring ont of the ground in the middle of a small prairie, and the little basin into which they bubble up is surrounded by rushes. We approached the spot within fifty paces in our canoe."
" But now, my dear Countess, let me request . yon to step on quickly for a moment, pass the short portage which conducts to the top of the small hill, which overhangs these sonrees on the Sonth, and transport yourself to the place where I am now writing. Here, reposing under the tree, beneath whose shade I am resting at the present moment, you will survey with an eager eye, and with feelings of intense and new delight, the sub- lime traits of nature; phenomena which fill the soul with astonishment, and inspire it at the same time with almost heavenly cestasy 1 This is n work which belongs to the Creator of it alone to explain. We can only adore in silenco his onmipotent hand.
" We are now on the highest land of North Amerien, if we except the iey and unknown momi- tains which are lost in the problematical regions
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HISTORY OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
of the pole of that part of the world, and in the vagne conjectures of visionary map-makers. Yet all is here plain and level, and the hill is merely formed, as it were, for an observatory.
"Casting our eye around ns, we preceive the flow of waters - to the south towards the Gulf of Mexico, to the north towards the Frozen Sea, on the cast to the Atlantic, and to the west towards the Pacific Ocean. * *
* * "You have seen the sourecs of the river which I have aseended to this spot. They are precisely at the foot of the hill, and filtrate in a direet line from the north bauk of the lake, on the right of the centre, in deseending towards the north. They are the sources of Bloody river. On the other side, towards the south, and equally at the foot of the hill, other sources form a beautiful lit- tle basin of about eighty feet in circumference. These waters likewise filtrate from the lake, to- wards its southwestern extremity; and these sources are the actual sources of the Mississippi ! This lake, therefore, supplies the most southern sources of Red, or, as I shall in future eall it (by its truer name), Bloody river; and the most north- ern sources of the Mississippi -- sources till now unknown of both.
"This luke is about three miles round. It is formed in the shape of a heart; and it may be truly said to speak to the very soul. Mine was not slightly moved by it. It was but justice to draw it from the silenes in which geography, after so many expeditions, still suffered it to remain, and point it out to the world in all its honorable distinction. I have given it the name of the hon- orable lady whose life (to use the language of her illustrious friend the Countess of Albany ) was one undeviating course of moral rectitude, und whose death was n calamity to all who had the happiness of knowing her; and the recollection of whom is incessantly connected with veneration and grief by all who ean properly appreciate beneficenee and virtue. I have called the lake, accordingly, Lake Julia; and the sources of the two rivers, the Julian sources of the Bloody river, and the Julian sources of the Misssissippi, which, in the Algonquin language, means the Father of Rivers. Oh ! what were the thoughts which pass- ed through my mind at this most happy and brilliant moment of my life ! The shades of Marco Polo, of Columbus, of Ameriens Vespucius, of the Cabots, of Verazani, of Zenos, and varions others, appeared present, and joyfully assisting ut
this high and solemn ceremony, and congratulat- ing themselves on one of their countrymen having, by new and successful researches, brought back to the recollection of the world the inestimable - services which they had themselves conferred on it by their own peculiar discoveries, by their
talents, achievements, and virtues.
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"Neither traveler, nor missionary, nor geog- rapher, nor expedition-maker, ever visited this lake. A great many of the stories which find their way into books are invented by the red men, either to deceive the whites, or to conceal their own belief or their own weaknesses. * * * The Indians themselves have confessed to me that, when they go down to the traders' settlements, they amuse themselves with gulling their cred- ulity by a number of fables, which afterwards become the oraeles of geographers and book- makers.
"On the 4th of September we struek our teuts very early, and arrived in the evening at Red Cedar Lake, so called on account of the mumber of those beautiful trees, whose dark green foliage overshadows its islands and banks.
" This lake is the non plus ultra of all the dis- coveries ever made in these regions before my own. No traveler, no expedition, no explorer, whether European or American, has gone beyond this point; and it is at this lake that Mr. School- eraft fixed the sources of the Mississippi in 1819. For the more complete celebration of this for- tunte discovery, this illustrious epoch, he rebap- tized it by the name of Lake Cassina, from the uame of Mr. Cass, Governor of Michigan territory, who was at the head of the expedition. Mr. Schooleraft was the historiographer.
"At the bottom of this last lake, ou the west, is found the entrance of a considerable river, which the Indians call Demisimaguamaguensibi, or the river of Lake Traverse. It issues from the lake (the second of that name), twenty miles above its mouth, on the northwest. This lake communicates, in the same direction, by u strait of two or three miles in length, with another lake, which the In- diaus call Moscosagasiguen, or Bitch ( Biche ) Lake, which receives no tributary stream, and seems to draw its waters from the bosom of the earth. It is here, in my opinion, that we shall fix the west- ern sources of the Mississippi." Nine years after this suggestion, Allen and Schoolcraft visited the western sources of the Mississippi.
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181
SIOUX AND CHIPPEWAY BOUNDARIES.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
TREATIES OF CHIPPEWAYS WEST OF LAKE SUPERIOR WITH THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
CONFERENCE OF A. D. 1825 AT PRAIRIE DU CHIEN -DEATII OF CURLY HEAD-FOND DU LAC TREATY -TRADERS' INDIAN WIVES-TRADING POSTS IN 1826-TRADERS IN A. D. 1830.
The United States of America, in 1825, deter- mined to eall together the Indian tribes of the Upper Mississippi valley, and arrange the bound- aries of their hunting grounds, in the hope of pro- moting more peaceful relations. To effeet this object Governors Clark of Missouri, and Cass of Michigan, Commissioners of the United States, on the nineteenth of Angust, 1825, convened at Prairie du Chien, representatives from the Sionx, Chippeways, Sanks, Foxes, Menomonies, Ottowas, Toways, Pottawattomies and Winnebagoes.
At this conference it was ugreed between the Sioux and Chippeways that the line dividing their hunting grounds should commence at the Chippewa River, half a day's march below the falls, and from thence to Red Cedar River, just below The falls, and thence to the Standing Cedar, a day's paddle above the head of Lake ST. Croix; thence between two lakes called by the Chippe- ways Green Lakes, and by the Sioux, Lakes of the Buried Eagles; and from thenee to the Stand- ing Cedars that the Sioux split; thence to Rum River crossing nd. Choking Creek, a day's march from its mouth; thence to a point of woods that projects into the prairie, a half day's march to the Mississippi; thence in a straight line to the mouth of the first river above the Sank; thence np that river to a small lako at its sonree; thence to a lake at the head of Prairie River, a tributary of Crow Wing; thence to the portage of Otter Tail Lake; theuce to the outlet of said Lake; thence to the Buffalo River, midway between its source und month, and dowu said river to Red River, and down Red River to mouth of Outard Creok.
At this meeting of the tribes there were present Chippeways from Fond du Lac, Mille Lacs, Sandy Lake, Lecch Lake, Cass Lake and Red Lake. One
of their head chief, Ba-ba-see-gun-dib-a, or Curly Head, from Sandy Lake, was taken sick on his return journey, and ealling his son-in-law Pu-in- a-ne-ji, or Hole in the Day, and his elder brother, Song-uk-um-eg, or Strong Ground, gave them his last messages and died. As the Chippeways were scattered over a wide region, it was stipulated at Prairie du Chien that they should meet again in 1826, at some point on the shores of Lake Supe- rior. Governor Lewis Cass and T. L. MeKenny were appointed to assemble the Indians at Fond du Lac, and here, on the fifth of Angust, was eon- elnded the first formal treaty with the Chippe- ways on Minnesota soil.
On the twenty-eighth of July, 1826, the Commis- sioners approached in their barges, with tlying colors and music, the trading port of Fond du Lac; and for the first time the Chippeways of that region heard the tune "Hail! Columbia." On the thirty- first Commissioner MeKenny went to an island opposite the trading post to visit u woman who had been sealped when n child under the follow- ing circumstances. When fourteen years of age, while with a party of about sixty persons near the Falls of Chippewa River, Wiseonsin, the Sioux surprised and attacked it. She flew toward the woods, but was pursued by one of The Sions and captured. Just Then another Sioux approached, struck her with a war club, scalped her, and was abont to eut her throat when he was shot. In the contest each warrior had taken off a portion of her scalp. Her father at length killed her captor, and after it was dark he searched for his daughter, und found her senseless on the snow, about a half mile from the scene of conflict. By care she re- covered, and at the time of the treaty hud been the mother of ten children.
The conneil convened on the second day of Angust, and continued for several days. Among those present was an old Chippewa woman from Montreal River of Lake Superior. She wore around her neck her husband's medal, .and being
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182
HISTORY OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
very poor, in the place of wampum, she placed on the table of the commissioners some grass and porcupine quills. In presenting them she said, "I come in the place of my husband. He is old and blind, but yet he has a mouth and cars. He can speak and hear. He is very poor. He hopes to receive a present from his fathers."
After the usual feastings, and speeches, and trials of patienee, a treaty was concluded on the fifth day of August, which, with some modifica- tions, was ratified by the United States Senate on the second day of February of the next year. Supplementary to the Treaty was the following elause: "As the Chippeways who committed the murder upon four American citizens in June, 1824, upon the shores of Lake Pepin, are not present at this Council, but are far in the interior of the country, so that they cannot be apprehended and delivered to the proper authority before next sum- mer, and as the Commissioners have been specially instructed to demand the surrender of these per- sons, aud to state to the Chippeway tribe the con- sequence of suffering such a flagitious outrage to go unpunished, it is agreed that the persons guilty of the aforementioned innrder shall be brought in, either to the Sault St. Marie or Green Bay, as carly next summer as practicable."
Poliey, as well as the absence of white women, led the Chippeway traders, withi scarcely an ex- ception, to live withi women of Indian blood, and in the treaty of 1826 provision was made for them and their deseendants. To Kencesqua, the wife of Sumnel Ashmum, was given a seetion of land; to Teeganshan, wife of Charles H. Oakes, and enel of her children, a seetion; to Charlotte, widow of Truman A. Warren, and each child, a seetion; to Pazhikuntqna, wife of William Aitkin, and each child, n section; to Manitowidjewing's daughter, the wife of Allan Morrison, and each child, a see- tion; to Pinnegeezhigoqna's danghter, the wife of Thomas Conner, and each child, a seetion; to Ogcemangeezhigoqua, wife of Basil Boileau, a seetion; to Wanneanssequa, wife of Paul Boilean, a section.
Governor Cass having determined to return in a birch bark eanoe, contracted with a son of the scalped woman to build one about five feet wide and thirty-six feet long.
A large company of squaws and children, the laborers in every Indian village, soon be- gan the work. Stakes were driven into the ground, the desired length of the canoe, and the
rolls of birch bark stripped from the trees, and stitched together with the roots of the larch. These were placed within the frame and fastened to the stakes. Cross pieces of cedar were then in- serted to produce the desired form, and secure strength. The seams were then covered with resin, and after some ornamenting of the sides, it was delivered.
The words of Longfellow have since faithfully described the building :
" Thus the birch eanoe was builded, In the valley, by the river,
In the bosom of the forest ; And the forest's life was in it,
All its mystery and magic, All the lightness of the birch tree, All the toughness of the eedar,
All the lareh's supple sinews ; And it floated on the river
Like a yellow leaf in Autumn, Like a yellow water lily."
A letter written on the 8thi of February, 1826, to Colonel Snelling by Taliaferro, the Indian Agent at Fort Snelling, shows the condition of the Indian trade at that time above the Falls of Saint Anthony :
" Dear Sir: Agreeably to your request, made a few days since, desiring information as to the most practicable and speedy routes to the several trad- ing posts on the Upper Mississippi, also, the mm- ber of posts at which locations have been made for carrying on trade with the Indians, and also my other information deemed pertinent to the subject.
I have at lengthi, after a full examination of the documents in my office, been enabled to state as fol- lows: The number of locations made by me, under the Act of Congress of the 20th of May, 1824, on the waters of the Mississippi alone, amount to seven in number, viz: one at the month of Chippeway river; one, at the Falls of St. Croix; one, at Crow Island; one, at Sandy Lake; one, at Leaf Lake; one, at Leeeli Lake, and one, at Red Lake.
My letter to you of the 6th of January Inst, in- forms you of the purport of Mr. Prescott's report, and there is no doubt but that the goods and peltries of the Canadians near his house are liable to and would be a lawful seizure, besides the forfeiture of their bonds, in the sm of $500 cach, they entering the country to serve as boatswain or interpreler, as the case may be.
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LICENSED TRADERS.
Mr. Baker reports one house in operation be- tween Crow Island and Sandy Lake, where no location has been made by any Agent of the Gov- ernment. This trader, it appears, was licensed for Red Lako, and permitted to take with him twenty kegs of liquor, but found it better suited his pur- pose to establish himself as before stated.
There may be some whiskey at Sandy Lake, but no large quantity nearer than the post of the American Fur Company, at the Fond du Lac, on Lake Superior, which would be too far for troops to march at this advanced season of the winter. I am also informed that the buildings which were erected for the accommodation of our troops while getting timber for the public service last winter, are now occupied by common hands of the Amer- ican Fur Company, and are no doubt unlawfully engaged in the Indian trade. Traders have no right to station their men at any point, other than at special posts, assigned in their licenses.
As it is not in my power to give a correct state-
ment of the route from this point to the leading locations above, on the Mississippi, I have there- fore procured a faithful Indian as a guide to the first post, Crow Island, where every facility to the other posts, will be afforded by Mr. B. F. Baker.
I mu fully impressed with the belief that show- ing a detachment of troops occasionally in the In- dian country, on the Upper Mississippi, will have the effect, in a short time, of putting an entire stop to this petty illicit trade, and the bartering of whiskey, which have been carried on for several years past."-
The licensed traders among the Chippeways in 1830 were as follows: Lyman M. Warren, William Aitkin, W. Davenport, John II. Fairbanks, B. F. Baker. At Lake Winnebegoshish was Alfred Ait- kin; at Cass Lake, J. Ermatinger; at Leech Lake, Pierre Cota, G. Bungo; at Mille Lacs, J. Belan- ger, Charles Chabattio, Allan Morrison and J. B. Roy; at Pembina, David Aitkin, D. Dufault; at Snake River, Thomas Conner.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
EXPLORATION TO LAKE ITASCA, A. D. 1832.
DIFFICULT PORTAGE OF ST. LOUIS RIVER .- STRENGTII OF CHIPPEWAY WOMEN .- FOND DU LAC TRADING POST. - CONVERSATION WITH TRADER AITKIN. SANDY LAKE TRADING POST .- BELANGER'S TRAD- ING POST .- SCALP DANCE AT CASS LAKE .- ARRIVAL WITH SCHOOLCRAFT AT ELK, NOW ITASCA LAKE. -- ORIGIN OF NAME ITASCA.
In the year 1832 a suggestion of Henry R. Schoolcraft, the Indian Agent at Sanlt St. Marie, that he and others should visit the Chippeways west of Lake Superior, for the purpose of vacci- nating them, and of exploration, was approved by the Secretary of War. Major General Ma- comb, on May 9th, 1832, ordered Captain Wilcox, the commander at Fort Brady to detail an officer, and ten or twelve men to make a part of that. ox- pedition ; to describe the country through which it may pass ; to delineate topographically the ronte and several points of importance ; to ascer- tain the names and characters of the various Indian tribes, as well as describe the game, fish, and nature of the soil.
On the 7th of June, the expedition left Sault |
St. Marie, consisting of H. R. Schoolcraft, as leader, Dr. Houghton as surgeon to vaceinate the Indians, and acting botanist and geologist, and the Rev. William T. Boutwell, of the Presbyterian Indian mission at Mackinaw. George Johnston, interpreter, and twenty Canadian voyagers. The military escort consisted of ten soldiers under St. James Allen of the Fifth Infantry.
Extraets from Lt. Allen's Journal, which are here given, convey a correct idea of the Upper Mississippi region as it appeared fifty years ago. Under the date of the 23d of June, he writes : "The month of the Fond du Lac | Saint Louis | River, or the "ontranee," as it is called by the traders and voyagers, is about eighty feet broad, but is shallow, and would not admit a vessel of three or four feet draught. It expands immedi- ately into two bays to the right and left, separated from each other by a small island near, and directly in front of the entrance. The monthi seems to be in the very end of the Lake, and hence it is probably called Fond du Lac River. * There was formerly a
184
HISTORY OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
trading house near the entrance, but it has been abandoned-destroyed, and the present house for all the Fond du Lac country is twenty miles above.
The river for this distance is very crooked and winding, but its general course up, is south-east ; the channel is of variable breadth and generally deep ; the shore is irregular, and presents alter- nately, on either hand, marshes, bluff sand banks, and hills, and is cut up by numerons channels, or " pockets," from ten to one hundred yards broad, which run ont straight, and generally perpendien- lar to the river. * * * *
We arrival at the trading house at four o'clock P. M. The river is here penetrating a chain of mountains, is more regular in its course, and has its channel more confined.
The trading house is situated at the base of the mountain, on a narrow piece of bottom, three or four hundred yards broad, which is rich, and ex- cepting the gardens, where the trader raises abun- dance of potatoes, is covered with a very tall green, luxuriant grass. We met here Mr. Aitkin, the chief of the department of the country be- yond Fond du Lac, and all his clerks, to the num- ber of fifteen or twenty, and their engagces, all just ready to start for Mackinac, on their regular summer trip.
This is called the "Fond du Lac Post," and was formerly the headquarters of an extensive district, ealled "The Fond du Lae Department." The department is still the same, but Mr. Aitkin, of the American Fur Company, the principal of it, has removed his headquarters to the Missis- sippi, at Sandy Lake, which is more central in re- speet to his several subordinate posts. This is still, however, a place of rendezvous for all his clerks, propuratory to their embarking in boats, with their annual stock of furs, for Mackinac. Here too, on their return, in the fall, n partinl dis- tribution of goods is made ; the boats ure left, and the navigation in all directions begins in bark canoes. The buildings here consist of a dwelling, three or four stores, a large honse for the accom- modation of clerks, and some other buildings for the engagees or Frenchmon. They are hand- somely situated on the bank of the river, and directly in front is an island of nbont two miles circuit, of very rich soil, and a forest of large chins, and on which the Indians now assembled have their lodges.
Mr. Aitkin very politely gave me the following
information in relation to his trade. His depart- ment embraces an extent of country from Fond du Lac north to the boundary line, west to Red River, and sonth to near the Falls of St. Anthony on the Mississippi, and contains nine permanent posts, from which returns are made every year, viz : Fond du Lac ; Lake Superior on the north side, at Grand Portage ; Rainy Lake ; Vermil- lion Lake at the head of Fond du Lac, Red Lake ; Pembina Settlement on Red River ; Red Cedar [Cass ] Lake ; Leech Lake ; and Sandy Lake, Mr. Aitkin' residence. For facilities of trade there are several other smaller posts, as at Lake Winnepeg ; mouth of Crow Wing, and others, but these are subordinate, severally, to save one of the larger ports named, which is con- sidered as making the whole return for a particn- lar district.
Mr. Aitkin' returns of this year are less than nsual, and are as follows : from Fond du Lac $2.000 ; Grand Portage, $1.000 ; Rainy Lake, $4.000 ; Vermillion Lake, $2.000 ; Red Lake, $2.000 ; Pembina, $2.500 ; Red Cedar Lake, $1.500 ; Leech Lake, $5.000, and Sandy Lake, $5.000.
The population of the Fond du Lac band is 193, of which about 45 are warriors. They are. however, at peace, as they are too far away from the Sioux to go against them. This country is very poor in all animals for food, and their partic- nlar trader furnishes most of their living ; the reut they get from the fish of the Lake, the white- fish and trout, which they take in gill nets, and from the few furred animals they kill.
Since the stoppage of whisky in the trade, they are increasing very rapidly, there being more children born and fewer deaths from neglect of drunken mothers. They are miserably poor ; und although this country is in a measure exhausted, and must soon refuse a supply to their increasing wants, they have not reflection or providence enough to save themselves from starvation by cultivating the soil, which in many parts is rich, und would with little labor afford them abundance.
There are about 150 Indians encumped on the island nt present, some of them belong to Sandy Lake, and some came with us from Bois Brute River. Among the latter is an Indian of some distinction. Yellow Head from Red Cedar Lake, who was on his way to visit the agent at Fort. Briuly, but is now returning with ns. This being
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DIFFICULT PORTAGE.
Sunday Mr. Boutwell preached to the Indians through the interpreter.
June 25. The Indians assembled carly in the morning, and regaled us with their usual dance, after which Mr. Schooleraft held a comeil and talk with them and distributed a few presents. Mr. Aitkin embarked all his furs, in seven large Maekinae boats, all well manned, and under the command of a clerk, started them down the Lake. Many of his Frenehmen have Indian wives and friends, who are left here till they returu.
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