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Show ·l·8 APPENDIX TO PAHT I. of ;1bout 20 yards wide, bearing from the Mississip pi ncal'!y due \\', scconcl, the Iowa river, nhout 100 yards wide, bct~ring- from thr i\1issi s!>ippi about N. \V. third. the Ra ·inc river, a~)Olll 20 yards wide, bearin p· [1om the Missio.;sippi nc.\rly ,V. and IH\VIg-able for canoes 60 miles. ' fourth. the rivers Embann and Lean Ctair·e, which join thtir· \~uters just us they form <1 confluence" ith the l\lississi ppi, and arc :lll'Htt 60 yardo.; "ide, and bear neal'ly S. Vv. On the E. shore, in the same distance, is the river de la I'rairic }a Cross, which empties i11to the Mississippi, at the hcacl of the prairie of thctt name. It i!> about 20 y<'nls wide, and ~)CUrs N. N. \V. \V e then meet with tlte Black ri "er, a vcr·y constderable stream about 200 yard: "ide at its mouth, on which the traders frequently winter with the Pwwts and Fols .!lvoin.~. Next pass the ri ver· of the J.l Tontaig~~t: qai Tromju•s dans l' R au, a S'T.all stream in the rear of the hill of th '\t uame; and then we fine! the H ;, ic rc au Ureuf, of about SO yanb wide, be arin~-; N. by vV. and, at the entrance of Lake Pepin, on the E. shot·e joins the Sauteaux river, which is at least half a mile wide, and :~pprars to be a clcep and ma'1ec:;tic stream. It bears from the Missisgippi ne:1rly due N. This l'ivct· ic:; in size arHl ronrsc ( some cl ist·mce up) scarcely to he distin ~~ ui shcd ~rom the Oui sr omi11 ~, and has a comnntnic,Hion "ith the i\lontrcalnvcl' by n short portage, and by this t ivct· "ith J,ake Superior. The agent~ of t he N. \Y. C"ompany supply the 1 ols Avoin s,,utcaux, who rcstde ~t the head or this river, ancl those of Michilimackinac, the Sioux who hunt 011 its lowe r •' <Hers. Iu this division of the Mississippi the shores arc more than thrcc-foul'lhs prairie on b~>th sides, or, more propcl'iy speaking, bald hills, which, instead of runnin g- p <1 t'allc l with the rivet·, form a continual succesc:;ion of high perpendicular· cliO's and low vallies: they :appc·ar to head on tlte river, and to traverse the country in an angular direction. Those hills ::mel vallies give rise to some of the most sublime and romantic views I cvet· saw. But this inc~; u lar scenery is sometimes interrupted by a wide extended plain, which brin ~·s to mind the verdant lawn of civilized life, antl would almost induce the travellct· to ilnagine himself in the c entre of a hi g-hly cultivated plantation. The timber of this divillion is generally b\rch, elm and cottonwood, all the cliffs being bor·dercd by cedar. The navigation unto the Iowa rivet· is good; but from thence to the Sautcaux rivet· is very m uch obstt·uctcd by islands; aud in some places the Mississippi is uncomrnonly wide. and divided into many small channels, wllich from the dill's appear like so m·my dis• tinct rivers, \'rinding in a p;,mdlcl course through the same im· APPENDIX T > PART I. 49 mutsc valley. Dut there arc few sand-bat·s in those nan·ow channels: the soil being· rich, the water cuts through it with fa c llity. La Montaignc qui l'rompe dans I' Eau stands in the l\lississippi ncar the E. shore, about so mites below the s.~uteaux river·, and i5 about two miles in circumference, with an elevation of two hundred feet, covered with timber. There is a srnall r·ivet· which e mp tief~ into the Mississippi, in the rear of the mountain, which, I conceive, once IJoundcd the •Ho untain on the lower :side, unci the Missi:;:si ppi on the .ll!)pe1·, when the m o.unt~in ~vas j oined to the rna· n by a nee~ of pnune low gr~tll~d,. w~uch 111 tunc was wo1·n aw,ty by the spring fr·eshes of the M1sstss1pp1; and thus formed an islaqd of this ccle .. br·ated mountain. Lake Pepin , so called by the French ) .lppears to be only an expansion of the Mississippi. It commences at the cntrc1ncc of the Sautcaux river, and bcar·s N. ~ 5 \V. to Point de Sable 12 miles, which is a neck of land making out ab Jllt one mile into the lake from the \ V. s hore, and is the nanowcst part of the lake. From here to the uppet· end the cout·sc is nearly due ,V, about 10 miles, making its whole length 22 miles, and from foUl' to one and a half miles in width, the bt·o<.alcst part being· in the bay below Point de Sable. This is a beautiful p lace ; the contrast of the Mississippi full of isla11ds, and the lake with not one in its whole extent, gives more force to the gt·andctlr of the scene. !'he F 1·ench, under· the. government of .. M. Frontenac, drove the Rcynards ( 01• ~tt~qu~rmcs) from the Ou1scouslng·l and pursued them up the Misstssippl, and, as a barrict·, built a stockade on Lake Pepin, on the \~ · shore, ju.~t below Point de Sable; :md, as was generally the case Wlth that mttwn, blended the militat·y and mercantile professions bv muki?g th ci1· .fort a f~\ctory for the Sioux. The lake, at the up~>e~ end, 1s tlm:-e fathoms deep; but this, I am informed, is its shoalcst part. From the Iowa river to the head of Lake Pepin, th~ elk are the prcvailiug species of wild game, with some deer, and a few bear.· . From the head of Lake Pepin about 12 miles to "the Caunon nver, the Mississippi is branched out ~nto many channels, and it~ bosom covered with numei'Ous islands. The1·c is a hill on the \tV. shore, about six miles above the lake called the Gl'ano·e fi·om the • • ':> ' summ1t of which you have one of t~e most deli g htful pt·ospects in ~atm.'e. \.Yhen turnin g· yout· face to the .E. yotJ have the rive1· wind .. lng ln tht'ee channels at you~· feet; on your 1·ight the extensive ~~0~ ?f ~he la~(c, bl!nmded by its chain of hills, in f1·ont over the 1551 Ss1pp1, a Wide extended prairie ; on the left the valley of the Mis!>issipl )i ' open to · · v1cw qmte to the St. Croix, and partly in your rear, the valley through which passes the Riviere: a:' Canon; An~ 7 |