[1] This remark is limited to the country south of about 46°. North of that point, there are no explorations known to me, except those of Lieutenant James Allen, who accompanied me above Cass Lake, in 1832, and those of J. N. Nicollet, in 1836, which were reported by him to the Topographical Bureau, and by the latter transmitted to Congress.—Vide Senate Doc. No. 237, 1843. These observations relate to the line of the Mississippi. Maj. Long's journey, in 1823, was west and north of that river.

[2] Lewis and Clark.

[3] Estimated by him at 233 miles.

[4] The surrender of the lake country by Great Britain, in 1796, at the close of what is known as General Wayne's war, extended to Michilimackinac, the remotest British garrison. The region northwest of this post was occupied by numerous tribes of Indians, who continued to be supplied with goods by British traders till after the close of the war of 1812. In 1816, Congress passed an act confining the trade to American citizens. Under this state of affairs, the Northwest Company of Montreal sold out their trading-posts and fixtures, northwest of Michilimackinac, to Mr. John Jacob Astor, of New York, who, from an account of one of his active factors, invested about $300,000 per annum in merchandise adapted to the Indian habits.

[5] Vide Scenes and Adventures in the Semi-Alpine Region of the Ozark Mountains of Missouri and Arkansas, with a View of the Lead-Mines of Missouri. New York, 1819. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo, and Co. 1 vol. 8vo. pp. 256. 1853.

[6] Professor F. Hall.

[7] Clarke's Travels.

[8] This is an Iroquois word, said to signify the thunder of waters. The word, as pronounced by the Senecas, is OniÁgarah. For additional information on this subject, see Notes on the Iroquois, p. 453. The etymology of the word has not, however, been fully examined. It is clear the pronunciation of the word in Goldsmith's day was NiagÁra.

[9] Report of the New York Canal Commissioners.

[10] The census of Detroit in 1850 gives it 21,019.

[11] Michigan. This Territory contained, at this period, a population of 8,896 inhabitants, principally Frenchmen, who were the descendants of the original settlers of the time of Louis XIV. In 1835, the population had so increased, chiefly by emigration from the older States, that the inhabitants applied for admission into the Union. The act of Congress admitting it was passed in 1836. In 1846, it had 212,267 souls. By the seventh national census, in 1850, it is shown to have a population of 397,654, entitling it to four representatives in Congress, with a large fraction. Its resources, its healthful climate, fertile soil, and very advantageous position on the great chain of navigable waters of the Upper Lakes, must insure a rapid development of its means and resources, and place the State, in a few years, in a high rank among the circle of American States.

[12] Now called Clinton River, a change made by Act of Legislature, the frequent repetition of this name by the French having been found inconvenient in the lake geography. 1853.

[13] Now the site of Algonac.

[14] To cover any arrangements of this kind, general orders had been issued by Gen. Macomb, to the commandants of the western posts.

[15] In the artesian borings for water, undertaken by Mr. Lucius Lyon, at Detroit, in 1833, these clay beds were found to be one hundred and fifteen feet deep.—Vide Historical and Scientific Sketches of Michigan, p. 177.

[16] This term has disappeared from the geological vocabulary under the researches of Sir Roderick J. Murchison, Mr. Lyell, and other distinguished generalizers.

[17] In passing along this coast in 1824, an Indian picked up, in shallow water, a small boulder imbedding a mass of native silver. Breaking off the most prominent mass, he still observed the metal forming veins in the rock, and brought both specimens to an officer of the British Indian department at Amherst (Lieut. Lewis S. Johnson), who presented them to me. This discovery is described in the Annals of the New York Lyceum of Natural History, vol. i. part 8, page 247.

[18] This is presumed to be a variety of the American Hare, and may be distinguished by the following characters: Body eighteen inches long; color of the hair grayish-brown on the back, grayish-white beneath. Neck and body rusty and cenerous. Legs pale rust color. Tail short, brown above, white beneath. Hind legs longest, and callous a short distance from the paws up. Ears tipped with black. Covering of the body rusty fur, beneath long coarse hair. Probable weight six pounds.

[19] Of this officer, who was a brother of Franklin Pierce, President of the United States, Gardner's Army Dictionary gives the following notice: Benjamin K. Pierce (N. H.), First Lieutenant Third Artillery, March, 1812; Adjutant, 1813; Captain, October, 1813; retained May 15, in artillery; in Fourth Artillery, May 21; Major ten years fa. service, Oct. 1, 1823; Major First Artillery, June 11, 1836 (Lieutenant-Colonel Eighth Infantry, July 7, 1838, declined); Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel "for distinguished service in affair at Fort Drane," Aug. 21, 1836 (Oct. 1836), in which he commanded: Colonel Regular Creek Mounted Volunteers, in Florida War, Oct. 1836; Lieutenant-Colonel First Artillery, March 19, 1842. Died April 1, 1850, at New York.

[20] Among the erratic block or drift stratum, I observed on the south Huron coast singularly striking, round fragments of white quartz, imbedding red fragments of coarse jasper; a rock, which I afterwards found in places on the south end of Sugar Island, in St. Mary's Straits, which lies directly north of the general position, and may serve as a proof of the course of the drift.

[21] Vide Geo. Report, Appendix.

[22] Neither Fort Niagara nor Fort Ponchartrain (at the present site of Detroit) were then in existence. The foundation of the former was laid by La Salle, in 1678; the latter had not been erected when La Hontan passed through the country, in 1688.—Herriot's Travels through Canada, p. 196.

[23] Tour from Hartford to Quebec, p. 341.

[24] Tour from Hartford to Quebec, p. 341.

[25] Vide Henry's Travels, New York, 1809, 1 vol. 8vo.

[26] Henry, p. 109.

[27] Mackenzie's Voyages, Hist. Fur Trade, vii.

[28] Mackenzie, xxiv.

[29] Report of the Trials of De Reinhard, &c. Montreal, 1818.

[30] Lieut. Eneas Mackay. This officer, after the return from this expedition, went through the regular grades of promotion in the army, and had at the period of his death, which took place in 1850, at St. Louis, Missouri, reached the brevet rank of colonel.

[31] For the view from this point, see Information respecting the History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States, vol. iv. Plate 42.

[32] The following are the official data of this distinguished officer:—

Alexander Macomb, Jr., born April 3, 1782, Detroit, N. Y.; Cornet Cavalry, January 10, 1799; Second Lieutenant, February, 1801; retained, April, 1802, in Second Infantry; First Lieutenant of Engineers, October, 1802; Captain, June, 1805; Major of Engineers, February 23, 1808; Lieutenant-Colonel, July 23, 1810; Acting Adjutant-General of the Army, April 28, 1812; Colonel Third Artillery, July 6, 1812; Brigadier-General, January 24, 1814; Brevet Major-General, "for distinguished and gallant conduct in defeating the enemy at Plattsburg, September 11, 1814" (October 1, 1814); received the "thanks of Congress" of November 3, 1814, "for his gallantry and good conduct in defeating the enemy at Plattsburg, on the 11th of September, repelling with 1,500 men, aided by a body of militia and volunteers from New York and Vermont, a British veteran army, greatly superior in numbers," with the presentation of a gold medal, "emblematical of this triumph;" retained, April 8, 1815; retained, May 21, as Colonel and Principal Engineer, with Brevets Major-General and General-in-Chief of the Army, May 24, 1828; commanded the army of Florida 1836; died June 25, 1841, at his head-quarters, Washington City.—Gardner's Army Dictionary.

[33] John Sullivan Pierce (N. H., brother to Colonel Benjamin K. Pierce), Third Lieutenant Third Artillery, April 5, and Second Lieutenant, May, 1814; retained, May, 1815, in Artillery; First Lieutenant, April 1818; resigned February 1, 1823.—Gardner's Army Dictionary.

[34] This fort was first erected by the British in 1795, the year before Michilimackinac was evacuated under Wayne's treaty with the Indians.

[35] From Nebee, water; hence Nebeesh, rapid water, or strong water, the name of the rapids which connect the straits with the River St. Mary's. This word is the derogative form of the Chippewa noun.

[36] From the French bon jour.

[37] The present site of Fort Brady.

[38] Inter-European Amalgamation.—John Johnston was a native of the north of Ireland, where his family possessed an estate called "Craige," near the celebrated Giant's Causeway. He came to this country during the first Presidential term of Washington, and settled at St. Mary's, about 1793. He was a gentleman of taste, reading, refined feeling, and cultivated manners, which enabled him to direct the education of his children, an object to which he assiduously devoted himself; and his residence was long known as the seat of hospitality and refinement to all who visited the region. In 1814, his premises were visited, during his absence, by a part of the force who entered the St. Mary's, under Colonel Croghan, and his private property subjected to pillage, from a misapprehension, created by some evil-minded persons, that he was an agent of the Northwest Company. Genial, social, kind, and benevolent, his society was much sought, and he was sometimes imposed on by those who had been received into his employments and trusts (as in the reports which carried the Americans to his domicil in 1814). He died at St. Mary's, in 1828, leaving behind, among his papers, evidence that his leisure hours were sometimes lightened by literary employments. Mr. Johnston, by marrying the daughter of the ruling chief of this region, placed himself in the position of another Rolfe. Espousing, in Christian marriage, the daughter of Wabjeeg, he became the son-in-law of another Powhatan; thus establishing such a connection between the Hibernian and Chippewa races, as the former had done between the English and Powhetanic stocks.

[39] James Riley, a son of the late J. V. S. Riley, Esq., of Schenectady, N. Y., by a Saganaw woman; a man well versed in the language, customs, and local traditions of the Chippewas.

[40] St. Mary's Canal.—Thirty-three years have produced an astonishing progress. A ship-canal is now (1853) in the process of being constructed at these falls, by the State of Michigan, under a grant of public land for that purpose, from Congress. It is to consist of two locks of equal lift, dividing the aggregate fall. This canal will add the basin of Lake Superior to the line of lake navigation. It will enable ships and steamers to enter the St. Louis River of Fond du Lac, and to reach a point in latitude corresponding to Independence, on the Missouri. No other point of the lake chain reaches so far by some hundreds of miles towards the Rocky Mountains; and this canal will eventually be the outlet to the Atlantic cities of the copper and other mines of Lake Superior, and of the agricultural and mineral products of all the higher States of the Upper Mississippi and of the Missouri, and a part of Oregon and Washington on the Pacific.

[41] From na, excellent; amik, beaver; and ong, a place.

[42] From oda, a heart; neezh, two; and seebe, a river.

[43] From nÄgow, sand; and gitche, great.

[44] From iupa, high; aubik, a rock; and the substantive termination, a.

[45] From gitche, great; sebee, a river; and the local terminal ng, signifying place.

[46] The extensive iron works of Carp River, which are now yielding such fine blooms, are seated on the verge of these mountains.

[47] The equivalent of geologist or mineralogist, from pagua, a tabular surface; aubik, a rock; and _Ëga_, the active voice of the verb to strike.

[48] From kaug, a porcupine.

[49] For the view of this scene, see Information on the History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes, vol. iv. Title iv.

[50] From the expression nontonagon, my dish; and neen, the pronoun my.

[51] From wabiska, white (transitive animate), and penasee, a bird.

[52] Chemoquiman, from gitchee, great, and moquiman, knife.

[53] Vide Reports in the Appendix: 1. Report on the Copper Mines of Lake Superior, November 6, 1820. 2. Report on the Value of the Existing Evidences of Mineral Wealth in the Basin of Lake Superior to the Public Domain, October 1, 1822.

[54] Geological Report, vide Appendix.

[55] Now the seat of the Marquette Iron Works.

[56] This river has subsequently been fixed on as the northwestern boundary of the state of Michigan, separating it from Wisconsin.

[57] Birds of Lake Superior.—Of the species that frequent the vicinity of this lake, the magpie is found to approach as far north as Lac du Flambeau, on the head of the Montreal and Chippewa Rivers. This bird is called by the Chippewas Wabish Kagagee, a name derived from Wabishkau, white animate, and Kaw-gaw-gee, a crow. The three-toed woodpecker visits its forests. The T. polyglottis has been seen as far north as the Island of Michilimackinac. In the spring of 1823, a species of grosbeak visited St. Mary's, of which I transmitted a specimen to the New York Lyceum of Natural History, where it received the name of Evening Grosbeak.

[58] From Muskeeg, a swamp or bog, and o, the sign of the genitive.

[59] Muskeego, or Mauvais River.—In 1831, the United States government placed under my charge an expedition into the Indian country which ascended this river, with a view to penetrate through the intervening region to the Mississippi. Indian canoes were employed, as being best adapted to its rapids and portages, which were managed by voyageurs. A detachment of infantry, under Lieut. R. Clary, was added. The tribes in this secluded region were then meditating the outbreak which eventuated the next year in the Black Hawk War. This expedition ascended the river through a most embarrassing series of rapids and rafts, which often choked up its channel for miles, into a long lake, on its summit, called Kagenogumaug. From the northwest end of this, it passed, from lake to lake, to the Namakagun fork of the River St. Croix of the Mississippi, descended that stream to Yellow River, then retraced the Namakagun to a portage to Ottowa Lake, a source of Chippewa River, then to a portage into Lac Chetac, the source of the Red Cedar, or Follavoine River, and pursued the latter to the main channel of the Chippewa, and by the latter into the Mississippi, which it enters at the foot of Lake Pepin; thence down the Mississippi to Prairie du Chien, and through the present area of the State of Wisconsin, by the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers, to Green Bay; thence through Lakes Michigan and Huron to Sault de Ste Marie.

[60] From Shaugwamegun, low lands, and ing, a place.

[61] Wisacoda, or Broule River.—On returning down the Mississippi River, from the exploration of its sources, in 1832, I ascended the River St. Croix quite to its source in St. Croix Lake. A short portage, across a sandy summit, terminated at the head springs of the Wisacoda, which, from a very narrow and tortuous channel, is soon increased in volume by tributaries, and becomes a copious stream. Thus swelled in volume, it is dashed down an inclined plane, for nearly seventy miles, over which it roars and foams with the impetuosity of a torrent. It is not till within a few miles of Lake Superior that it becomes still and deep. The entire length of the river may be estimated at one hundred miles. It has two hundred and forty distinct rapids, at some of which the river sinks its level from eight to ten feet. It cannot fall, in this distance, less than 500. That it should ever have been used in the fur trade, is to be explained by the fact that it has much water.

[62] Vide Appendix.

[63] The pouncing hawk.

[64] For heights and distances, vide Appendix.

[65] From ka, an affirmative particle; webeed, teeth; and eda, a transitive objective inflection.

[66] Ba, a repeating particle; besaw, fine, curly; and kundib, the human head.

[67] Cartier discovered the St. Lawrence in 1534.

[68] Expedition to Hasca Lake in 1832.

[69] Vide Appendix—Elevations.

[70] From ka, a particle affirmative of an adverse quality, aubik, rock, and ons, a diminutive inflection.

[71] Mr. Nicollet places the summit of the falls at 1,340 feet above the Gulf.

[72] From weenud, dirty, beegog, waters, and ish, a derogative inflection of nouns.

[73] Called AndrÚsia. Expedition to Starca Lake in 1837.

[74] Nicollet, in the report of his exploration of 1836, places it in 47° 25´ 23´´.

[75] Vide Expedition to Stasca Lake in 1832.

[76] Vide Appendix.

[77] Now called Minnesota River.

[78] Vide Hennepin.

[79] Senate Document No. 237, 26 Con. 2d Session, A. D. 1843.

[80] Nicollet, in his report to the Top. Bureau, in 1836, states the direct distance from St. Peter's to Sandy Lake, at but 334 miles.

[81] An exclamation.

[82] Crow-wing River.—In returning from Itasca Lake, in 1832, I passed from Leech Lake by a series of old Indian portages into Lake Ka-ge-no-ge-maug, or Long Water Lake, which is its source; and from thence descended it to its entrance into the Mississippi.—Vide Exp. to Itasca Lake. N. Y., Harpers, 1834: vol. i. 8vo. with maps.

[83] The Indian name of this river is Kagiwegwon, or Raven's-wing, or Quill, which is accurately translated by the term Aile de Corbeau, but it is improperly called Crow-Wing. The Chippewa term for crow is andaig, and the French, corneille—terms which are appropriately applied to another stream, nearer St. Anthony's Falls.

[84] The Chippewas affirm that this was the last time the buffalo crossed the Mississippi eastwardly. It did not appear, in the same region, in 1821.

[85] In the treaty of Indian boundaries of Prairie du Chien, of 1825, this mission of the Sioux became a point of reference by the Sioux chiefs Wabishaw, Petite Corbeau, and Wanita, as denoting the limit of their excursions north. The Chippewas, on the contrary, by the mouths of Babasikundiba, Kadawabeda, and the Broken Arm of Sandy Lake, contended for Sac River as the line. I discussed this subject, having Indian maps, at length, with the chiefs and Mr. Taliaferro, the Sioux agent, of St. Peter's. An intermediate stream, the Watab River, was eventually fixed on, as the separating boundary between these two warlike tribes.—Indian Treaties; Washington, D. C. 1837. Vol. i. 8vo. p. 370.

[86] It is recently asserted that this change in the stratification occurs about a mile above the Falls. [Sen. Doc. p. 237.] By the same authority it is shown that the aggregate fall of the Mississippi from the mouth of Sandy Lake River to the Falls of St. Anthony is 397 feet.

[87] Both words are derived from the verb to laugh.

[88] This is now (1854) the central area of Minnesota Territory—a territory in a rapid process of the development of the population and resources of a State.

[89] Ex. Doc., No. 237.

[90] Army Register.

[91] Vide Appendix, for a letter from Gen. Cass to the Secretary of War on this curious topic.

[92] Schoolcraft's View of the Lead Mines of Missouri. Scenes and Adventures in the Ozark Mountains, the Catlinite of Dr. Jackson.

[93] The last known platform mound in the spread of the mound-builders north, is at Prairie du Chien. The monuments, supposed to be mounds, in the St. Peter's region, are found by Mr. Owen to be geological elevations. The remains on Blue Earth River are attributed to a fort or inclosure built by Le Seur, in his search for copper on that stream, in 1700. Other remains, in the St. Peter's valley, appear to be old trading-houses, fallen in.

[94] This is an Algonquin expression, signifying enemy. It is derived from Nodowa, an Iroquois, or a Dacota; the word was originally applied to a serpent. The termination in sie is from awasie, an animal or creature. This term is the root, it is apprehended, of the French sobriquet Sioux.

[95] St. Paul's, the present capital of Minnesota (1854), is situated on the high grounds, a few miles below this cave.

[96] Carver's Cave is four miles lower down, on the same side of the river, agreeably to subsequent observation. It is now obstructed by fallen rock and debris.

[97] This river was explored by me in 1832. Vide Schoolcraft's Expedition to Itasca Lake. 1 vol. 8vo. p. 307—1834: N. Y., Harp.

[98] In 1831, this river was ascended by me with a public expedition, dispatched into the Indian country to quell the disturbances which eventuated the next year in the Sauk war. Vide Schoolcraft's Thirty Years in the Indian Country. Lippincott, Grambo, & Co., Philad.: 1 vol. p. 703, 1851.

[99] Doc. 237.

[100] Silliman's Journal of Science, 1823; also, Trans. Am. Phil. Soc.

[101] Travellers who are disposed to regard La Hontan's fiction of his purported discoveries on Rivier la Longue, as entitled to notice, have suggested this river as the locality intended. Nicollet, otherwise reliable, has gone so far as to call it La Hontan River.

[102] Carver's Travels, p. 30.

[103] Mr. G. W. Featherstonehaugh, in his Geological Reconnoissance, in 1834, landed at the location of these antiquarian remains, and is disposed to recognize their authenticity.

[104] American Antiquities. As the tumuli and earthworks of the Mississippi Valley are more closely scrutinized, they do not appear to denote a higher degree of civilization than may be assigned to the ancestors of the present races of Indians, prior to the epoch of the introduction of European arts into America. Certainly there is nothing in our earthworks and mounds, to compare with the Toltec and Aztec type of arts at the opening of the 16th century; while the possession by our tribes of the zea maize, a tropical plant, and other facts indicative of a southern migration, appear to denote a residence in warmer latitudes. The distribution of the Mexican teocalli and pyramid is also plainly traceable from the south. Neither the platform nor the solid conical mound has been traced higher north than Prairie du Chien; nor have the earthworks (adopting Carver's notices) reached higher than Lake Pepin. There are no mounds or earthworks at the sources of the Mississippi nor in all British America to the shores of the Arctic Seas. We cannot bring arts or civilization from that quarter.

[105] This term, unknown to geology at the period, has been subsequently introduced by Sir Roderic Murchison.

[106] These distances are reduced by Ex. Doc. 237, respectively to 260 and 542 miles.

[107] This officer entered the army in 1812, serving with reputation. He rose, through various grades of the service, to the rank of Lieut. Col. of the 6th infantry. He lost his life on the 25th April, 1838, by the explosion of the steamer Moselle, on the Ohio River.

[108] It was at this spot, one hundred and thirty-seven years ago, that Marquette and M. Joliet, coming from the lakes, discovered the Mississippi.

[109] Now the site of Cassville, Grant County, Wisconsin. It is a post town, pleasantly situated, with a population of 200.

[110] Fondness for melons, and annual vine fruits of the garden, is a striking trait of the Indians. Some curious facts on this head are published in the statistics.—Indian Information, vol. iii. p. 624, 1853, Philadelphia, Lippincott & Co.

[111] This is now (1854) the site of the city of Dubuque, State of Iowa, which is reputed to be the oldest settlement in that State. This city is eligibly situated on a broad plateau, between limestone cliffs. The soil rests on a rock foundation, which renders it incapable of being undermined by the Mississippi. Its streets are broad and laid out at right angles. It has several Protestant churches, a Catholic cathedral, a public land office, two banks, four printing offices, and by the last census contains a population of 7,500, the county of which it is the seat of justice, has 10,840. Two railroads have their terminal points at this place. At the time of my visit, in 1820, the house which had been built by Mr. Dubuque, had been burnt down; and there was not a dwelling superior to the Indian wigwam within the present limits of Iowa. The State of Iowa was admitted into the Union in 1837. By the 7th U. S. census, the population of this State, in 1850, is shown to be 192,214. The number of square miles is 50,914. No Western State is believed to contain a less proportionate quantity of land unsuited to the plough, and its population and resources must have a rapid development.

[112] Vide my View of the Lead Mines of Missouri, &c., New York, 1819.

[113] This is believed to be an oriental mode of excavation, which appears to have been practised in digging wells.

[114] New York, 1819.

[115] The city of Galena has subsequently been built on this river, at the distance of six miles from the Mississippi. The river is, indeed, thus far, an arm of the Mississippi, which permits steamboats freely to enter, converting the place into a commercial depot for a vast surrounding country. Not less than 40,000,000 pounds of lead were shipped from this place in 1852, valued at one million six hundred thousand dollars. It is the terminus of the Chicago and Galena Railroad, connecting it by a line of 180 miles with the lakes. It contains a bank, three newspaper offices, and several churches of various denominations, and has, by the census of 1850, a population of 6,004.

[116] There is believed to be no instance, in America, where the Indians have disannulled grants or privileges to persons settling among them, and leaving families founded on the Indian element.

[117] For the facts in this case, see Collection of Land Laws of the United States, printed at Washington, 1817.

[118] This name was first applied to a territory in 1836.

[119] American Journal of Science, vol. vi. p. 119.

[120] American Journal of Science, vol. vi. p. 120, &c.

[121] Wisconsin. This region was separated from Michigan, and formed into a separate territory in 1836; and admitted as a State in 1848. By the census of 1850, it has a population of 305,391, divided into 33,517 families, occupying 32,962 dwellings, and cultivating 1,045,499 acres of land. There are 43 organized counties, and 334 churches of all denominations, giving one church to every 1,250 inhabitants. It has three representatives in the popular branch of Congress. It was 16 years after my visit, before it had a distinct legal existence—it increased to become a State in twelve years; and, according to our ordinary rate of increase, will contain one million of inhabitants in 1890.

[122] This spot is now the site of the flourishing town of Fond du Lac, which was laid out in 1845. It had a population of 2,014 in 1850, including two newspaper offices, two banking houses, one iron foundry, a car factory, twelve drygoods stores, and sixty other stores. It is situated 72 miles N. N. W. from Milwaukie, and 90 N. E. from Madison, the capital of the State of Wisconsin. It is the shire town of a county containing a population of 14,510, with 17 churches, and 2,844 pupils attending public schools, and 85 attending academies. It has a plank road to Lake Michigan, and will soon be connected by a railroad with Chicago. It is by such means that the American wilderness is conquered.

[123] Amer. Journ. Science, vol. vi. pp. 120, 259, &c.

[124] Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, vol. v. p. 37; plate 3, fig. 9.

[125] Green Bay. This town has just (1854) been incorporated as a city, the anticipations respecting it having been slow in being realized. It has now an estimated population of 3,000, with several churches in a healthy and flourishing state, two printing presses, a post-office, collectorship, and thriving agricultural and commercial advantages, which will be fully realized when the internal improvements in process of construction through the Fox and Wisconsin valleys are finished. Its extreme salubrity has, it seems, been disregarded by emigrants.

[126] American Journal of Science, vol. xvii.

[127] Arctic Geology.

[128] Waughpekennota. This place was then the residence of the Shawnee tribe, under the Prophet Elksattawa, of war memory, the celebrated brother of Tecumseh, who, seeing the intrusive tread of the Americans, headed, in 1827, the first exploring party of the tribe to the west of the Mississippi, where they finally settled. After living twenty-seven years at this spot, they found themselves within the newly-erected territory of Kansas, and sold their surplus lands to the U. States by a treaty concluded at Washington in May, 1854, the said Parks being at this time first chief of the Shawnee tribe.

[129] From Manito, a spirit, auk, a standing or hollow tree that is under a mysterious influence, and the generic inflection ie, which is applied to vital or animate nouns. A town, at present, exists at the spot called Manitoowoc. It is the shire town of a county of the same name in Wisconsin; it has a good harbor, and by the census of 1850 contains four churches, twelve stores, two steam mills, two ship-yards, a newspaper, post-office, and 2,500 inhabitants. We found the site inhabited by a village Monomonees of six lodges.

[130] Shebiau, is to look critically; shebiabunjegun, a spy-glass or instrument to look through. Sheboigan appears to have its termination from the word gan, a lake, and the combination denotes a river, or water pass from lake to lake. This place is now (1854) a town and county site of Wisconsin. The county was organized in 1839, and by the last census has seven churches, two newspapers, 624 pupils at schools, and a population of 8,379. The town of this name contains 2,000 inhabitants. It is 62 miles N. from Milwaukie, and 110 N. E. from Madison, the State capital. It has a plank road of 40 miles to Fond du Lac, and is noted for its lumber trade.

[131] Milwaukie is the principal city of the State of Wisconsin. It lies in latitude 43° 3´ 45´´ North. It is ninety miles north of Chicago and seventy-five east from Madison. It contains thirty churches, five public high schools, two academies, five orphan asylums, and other benevolent institutions, seven daily and seven weekly newspapers, four banks, and, by the census of 1850, 20,161 inhabitants.

[132] An admired kind of cream-colored bricks are manufactured from portions of the clay found near Milwaukie.

[133] Dr. J. Torrey, Am. Journ. Science, vol. 4, p. 56.

[134] Racine.—This is now the second city in size in the State of Wisconsin. By the census of 1850, its population is 5,110. It has a harbor which admits vessels drawing twelve feet water; it has fourteen churches, a high school, college, bank, several newspapers, three ship-yards, and exhibits more than two millions of imports and exports. The settlement was commenced in 1835.

[135] Chicago is the largest city of the State of Illinois, excelling all others in its commercial and business capacities, and public and moral influences. Standing on the borders of the great western prairies, it is the great city of the plains, and its growth cannot be limited, or can scarcely be estimated. It began to be built about 1831, eleven years after this visit. It was incorporated as a city in 1836, with 4,853 inhabitants. In 1850, it had 29,963, and it is now estimated to exceed 60,000. This city lies in lat. 41° 52´ 20´´. It is connected by lakes, canals, and railroads, with the most distant regions. Its imports and exports the last year, were twenty millions. Like all the cities and towns of America, its political and moral influence, are seen to keep an exact pace with its sound religious influences; the number of churches and newspapers, having a certain fixed relation. More than any other city of the West, its position destines it to be another Nineveh.

[136] This was done in 1821; having been, myself, secretary to the Commissioners, Gov. Cass and Hon. Sol. Sibley, who were appointed to treat with the Indians. Vide Indian Treaties, p. 297.

[137] Fossil Flora of the West.—Of this gigantic specimen of the geological flora of the newer rocks of the Mississippi Valley, I published a memoir in 1822, founded on a personal examination of the phenomena. Albany, E. and E. Hosford, 24 pp. 8vo. This paper (Vide Appendix) was prepared for the American Geological Society, at New Haven. See American Journ. Science, vol. 4, p. 285; See also, vol. 5, p. 23, for appreciating testimony of the value of geological science (then coming into notice), from Ex-Presidents John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison, to whom copies of it were transmitted.

[138] Gouverneur Morris recites a similar incident at the battle of Oriskany, in 1777.—Coll. New York Hist. Soc.

[139] Michigan City, of the State of Indiana, is located near this spot. This city has its harbor communicating with Lake Michigan through this creek. It has a newspaper, branch bank, railroad, and (in 1853) 2,353 inhabitants.

[140] Kalamazoo. This word is the contraction of an Indian phrase descriptive of the stones seen through the water in its bed, which, from a refractive power in the current, resembles an otter swimming under water. Hence the original term, Negikanamazoo. This term has its root forms in negik, an otter, the verb kana, to hide, and ozoo, a quadruped's tail. The letter l is the mere transposition of l in native words passing from the Indian to the Indo-French language.

[141] Ottowas. So late as 1841, the number of the tribe, reported to the Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Michigan, was 1,391, which was divided into 13 villages, scattered over its whole valley.—Schoolcraft's Report on Indian Affairs, Detroit, A. S. Bagg, 1840.

[142] Place of Interment of Marquette. It is known that the mission of Michilimackinac fell on the downfall of the Jesuits. When the post of Michilimackinac was removed from the peninsula to the island, about 1780, the bones of the missionary were transferred to the old Catholic burial-ground, in the village on the island. There they remained till a land or property question arose to agitate the church, and, when the crisis happened, the whole graveyard was disturbed, and his bones, with others, were transferred to the Indian village of La Crosse, which is in the vicinity of L'Arbre Croche, Michigan.

[143] Dr. John Torrey, Am. Journ. Science, vol. iv.

[144] From Waganuk, a crooked or croched tree, and izzie, an animate termination, denoting existence or being, carrying the idea of its being charmed or enchanted.

[145] Little Fox Point. This word comes from Wagoush, a fox, and the denominative inflection a ainc or aiÑs.

[146] It is to be regretted that Capt. Douglass, who, immediately on the conclusion of this expedition, was appointed to an important and arduous professorship in the U. S. Military Academy of West Point, could not command the leisure to complete and publish his map and topographical memoir of this part of the U. S. So long as there was a hope of this, my report of its geology, &c., and other data intended for the joint PUBLIC WORK, were withheld. But in revising this narrative, at this time, they are submitted in the Appendix. Prof. Douglass, of whose useful and meritorious life, I regret that I have no account to offer, died as one of the Faculty of Geneva College, October 21, 1849.

[147] So called from the water insect, called Miera by the Wyandots, one of the invertebrata which slips over the surface of water without apparently wetting its feet.—Vide Ethnological Researches, vol. ii. p. 226.

[148] Cheboigan. This is a noted river of the extreme of the peninsula of Michigan, which has just been made the centre of a new land district by Congress. It affords a harbor for shipping, and communicates with Little Travers Bay on Lake Michigan. A canal across a short route, of easy excavation, would avoid the whole dangerous route through the Straits of Michilimackinac, converting the end of the peninsula into an island, and save ninety miles of dangerous travel.

[149] Am. Journ. Science, vol. iv. 1822.

[150] Theory of the Earth. Modern geologists attribute these changes to the rising or sinking of the earth from volcanic forces.

[151] Major Robert A. Forsyth was a native of the Detroit Country, of Canadian descent, and born a few years after its transfer to the United States. At the time of the expedition, he was the Secretary of Governor Cass, and was admirably qualified to take a part in it, by his energy and perseverance, his indomitable courage, and his physical power and activity. Some of these traits of character were developed at an early age. He was but yet a lad at the time of the surrender of Detroit, and was so much excited by that untoward event, that he insulted the British officers in the fort by his reproaches, and so irritated them that one of them threatened to pin him to the floor with a bayonet. During the war upon the frontier, he was actively employed, and on more than one occasion distinguished himself by his conduct and courage. He was with Major Holmes at the battle near the Long Woods, and behaved with great gallantry. In 1814, he was sent with Chandruai, a half-breed Pottowatamie, and with a small party of Indians, to invite the various Indian tribes to come to Greenville, at the treaties about to be held by Generals Harrison and Cass, with a view to detach the North-Western Indians from British influence. On the route, they met a superior party of Indians, led by an officer of the British Indian Department, who attempted to take them prisoners. They resisted, and, by their prompt and almost desperate courage, drove off the British party. Forsyth distinguished himself in the contest, in which the British leader of the party was killed. Soon after the war, he was appointed Private Secretary to Governor Cass, and continued in that capacity for fifteen years, till the latter was transferred to the War Department. He accompanied the General in all his expeditions into the Indian country, and rendered himself invariably useful, having a peculiar talent to control the rough men who took part in these dangerous excursions. He was ultimately appointed a paymaster in the army, in which capacity he served in Mexico, where he acquired the seeds of the disorder which proved fatal to him in 1849. He will be long recollected and regretted by those who knew him, for the shining qualities of head and heart which endeared him to all his acquaintances.

[152] Vide Letters on Lake Superior, in Southern Literary Messenger, 1836.

[153] An outline of the expedition of 1831 is found in Schoolcraft's "Thirty Years on the American Frontiers." Lippincott & Co. Phila. 1850.

[154] This is an anagram composed of the names of Schoolcraft, Cass, and Pike, the geographical discoverers, in reversed order, of the region.

[155] Beltrami.

[156] This name is derived from ozawau, yellow; winisis, hair, and kundiba, bone of the forehead or head.

[157] The term "sitter," which is a northwest phrase in common use, is equivalent to the Canadian word bourgoise.

[158] From Andrew Jackson, at that time President of the United States.

[159] This word appears to be a derivation from pemidj, across, muscoda, a prairie, and ackee, land.

[160] In allusion to an interesting period of British history, in its influences on America.

[161] An object of analogous kind was noticed, during the prior expedition of 1820, at an island in Thunder Bay of Lake Huron. Vide p. 55.

[162] By the report of Governor Stevens (June, 1854), the selected pass for the contemplated railroad through the St. Mary to the Columbia valley is in 47° 30´, where there is but little snow at any time, and rich pasturage for cattle. The phenomena of the climates of our northern latitudes are but little understood.

[163] A The Canadian French call this animal la Biche, from Biche, a hind.

[164] This myth is further alluded to, in the following stanzas from the Literary World, No. 337:—

[165]