On embarking, at an early hour, we found the humidity of the night atmosphere to be such, that articles left exposed to it were completely saturated. Yet, the temperature stood at 50° at half-past four o'clock, the moment of our embarkation. On descending six miles we passed the mouth of the Osakis, or Sac River, a considerable tributary from the west, which opens a line of communication with the Red River valley.
About ten o'clock we encountered a series of rapids extending some eight hundred or a thousand yards, in the course of which the river has a probable aggregate fall of sixteen feet. These rapids bear the malappropriate title of the Big Falls. Following these, were a series called Prairie Rapids. At half-past four we passed the entrance of the River St. Francis, a considerable stream on the left bank. At this spot, Hennepin terminated his voyage in 1681, and Carver in 1766. There is an island at the point of confluence. At six o'clock we passed the entrance on the west shore of the stream called Corneille, by the French, which is the true interpretation of the Sioux name Karishon, and the Chippewa term Andaig, which mean the crow, and not the raven. We encamped five miles below, on the east bank, having been thirteen hours in our canoes, with a generally strong current. My mineralogical gleanings, during the day, had given some specimens of the interesting varieties of the quartz family, for which the geological drift is noted, and a single piece of agatized wood. The geological floor on which the river runs, has been indicated.
At five o'clock the following morning (30th) we resumed the descent, and at the distance of two leagues reached the entrance of the Missisagiegon, or Rum River. It is Carver, I believe, who first gives us this name, for a stream which the Indians describe as a river flowing from a lake of lakes—a term, by the way, which the French, with their usual adherence to Indian etymology, have called Mille Lacs. The term missi, in this word, does not signify great, but a collected mass, or all kinds, and sometimes everywhere—the allusion being to water. Sa-gi-e-gon is a lake, and when the prefixed term missi, is put to it, nothing could more graphically describe the large body of water, interspersed with islands, which give a confused aspect, from which the river issues. The Dacotas call this lake Mini Wakan, meaning Spirit-water, which is probably the origin of the name of Rum River.
About thirteen miles below Rum River, and when within half a mile of the Falls, [86] I observed calcareous rocks in horizontal beds, on the left bank of the river. It was now evident we had passed out of the primitive range of deposits, and had entered that of the great sedimentary horizontal and semi-crystalline or silurian system of the Mississippi Valley; and descending with a strong current, we came, rather suddenly, it appeared, to the Falls of St. Anthony, where the river drops, by a cascade, into a rock-bordered valley. Surprise and admiration were the first emotions on getting out of our canoes and gazing on this superlative scene; and we were not a little struck with the idea that the Sioux had named the Falls from manifestly similar impressions, calling it Rara, from the Dacota verb irara, to laugh. By another authority, the word is written Ha Ha, or Dhaha, the letters h in the word representing a strong guttural sound resembling the old Arabic r. [87] (S. R. Riggs's Dakota Dict. and Gram.) Nothing can exceed the sylvan beauty of the country which is here thrown before the eye; and we should not feel surprised that the Aboriginal mind has fallen on very nearly identical sounds with the English, to express its impressions. A not very dissimilar principle has been observed by the Chippewas, who have a uniform termination of their names in ish, which signifies the very same quality which we express by ish in whitish, blackish, saltish—meaning a lesser, or defective quality of the noun.
The popular name of these Falls, it is known, is due to Father Louis Hennepin, a missionary who accompanied La Salle to the Illinois, in 1679, and was carried captive into the country of the Issati, a Dacota tribe, in 1680. Lt. Pike states the portage to be two hundred and sixty poles. By the time we had taken a good view of the position, and made a few sketches, the men had completed carrying over our baggage and canoes. It was now one o'clock, when we embarked to proceed to the newly-established military encampment, a few miles below. It was a noticeable feature, in our descent of the river above the Falls, that Babasikundiba had always kept behind the flotilla of canoes; but the moment we advanced below the Falls, he shot ahead with his delegates, each one being dressed out in his best manner. His canoe had its little flag displayed—the Indian drum was soon heard sending its measured thumps and murmurs of vocal accompaniment over the water, and ever and anon guns were fired. All this was done that the enemy might be apprised of the approach of the delegation in the boldest and most open manner. It was eight or nine miles to the post, near the influx of the St. Peter's, and long before we reached Col. Leavenworth's camp, which occupied a high bluff, the attention of the Sioux was arrested by their advance, and it was inferable from the friendly answering shouts which they gave, that the mission was received with joy. Although we had known nothing of the movement which produced the pictographic letter found on a pole at the Petite Roche, above Sac River, it was, in fact, regarded by the Dacotas as an answer to that letter. And the Chippewa chief, and his followers, were received with a salute by the Sioux, by whom they were taken by the hand, individually, as they landed.
Col. Leavenworth, the commanding officer, received the expedition in the most cordial manner, and assigned quarters for the members. Gov. Cass was received with a salute due to his rank. We learn that the post was established last fall. Orders for this purpose were issued, as will be seen by reference to the Preliminary Documents, p. 35, early in the spring. The troops destined for this purpose, were placed under the orders of Col. Leavenworth, who had distinguished himself as the commander of the ninth and twenty-second regiments, in the war of 1812. They left Detroit in the spring (1819), and proceeding by the way of Green Bay and Prairie du Chien, where garrisons were left, they ascended to the mouth of the St. Peter's, in season to erect cantonments before winter. The site chosen, being on the alluvial grounds, proved unhealthy, in consequence of which the cantonment was removed, in the spring of 1820, to an eminence and spring on the west bank of the Mississippi, about a mile from the former position.
CHAPTER XIII.
Position of the military post established at the mouth of the St. Peter's—Beauty, salubrity, and fertility of the country—Pictographic letter—Indian treaty—The appearance of the offer of frankincense in the burning of tobacco—Opwagonite—native pigments—Salt; native copper—The pouched or prairie rat—Minnesota squirrel—Etymology of the Indian name of St. Peter's River—Antiquities—Sketch of the Dacota—Descent of the Mississippi to Little Crow's village—Feast of green corn.
In favor of the soil and climate, and of the salubrity of the position, the officers speak in terms of the highest admiration. The garrison has directed its attention to both horticulture and agriculture. About ninety acres of the choicest bottom land along the St. Peter's Valley, and the adjacent prairies, have been planted with Indian corn and potatoes, cereal grains, and esculents, inclusive of a hospital, a regimental, and private gardens. At the mess-table of Col. Leavenworth, and in our camp, we were presented with green corn in the ear, peas, beans, cucumbers, beets, radishes, and lettuce. The earliest garden peas were eaten here on the 15th of June, and the first green corn on the 20th July. Much of the corn is already too hard for the table, and some of the ears can be selected which are ripe enough for seed corn. Wheat, on the prairie lands, is found to be entirely ripe, and melons in the military gardens nearly so. These are the best practical commentaries on the soil and climate. [88]
The distance of the St. Peter's from the Gulf of Mexico is estimated to be about two thousand two hundred miles. Its position above St. Louis is estimated at nine hundred miles. Its elevation above the Gulf is but 744 feet. The precise latitude of this point is 44° 52´ 46´´. [89] The atmosphere is represented as serene and transparent during the summer and spring seasons, and free from the humidity which is so objectionable a trait of our eastern latitudes. The mean temperature is 45°.