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Betula Lake--Larch Lake--A war party surprised--Indian
manners--Rice Lake--Indian council--Red Cedar Lake--Speeches of
Wabezhais and Neenaba--Equal division of goods--Orifice for treading
out rice--A live beaver--Notices of natural history--Value of the
Follavoine Valley--A medal of the third President--War
dance--Ornithology--A prairie country, fertile and abounding in
game--Saw mills--Chippewa River--Snake--La Garde Mountain--Descent
of the Mississippi--Sioux village--General impression of the
Mississippi--Arrival at Prairie du Chien.
1831. BETULA LAKE. LARCH LAKE.--The 7th of August, which dawned
upon us in Lake Chetac, proved foggy and cool. The thermometer at 4,
7 and 8 A.M., stood respectively at 50 deg., 52 deg. and 56 deg.. We
found the outlet very shallow, so much so, that the canoes could
with difficulty be got out while we walked. It led us by a short
portage into a small lake called Betula, or Birch Lake, a sylvan
little body of water having three islands, which we were just
twenty-five minutes in crossing by free strokes of the paddles. Its
outlet was still too shallow for any other purpose than to enable
the men to lead down the empty canoes. We made a portage of twelve
hundred and ninety-five yards into another lake, called Larch or
Sapin Lake--which is about double the size of the former lake. We
were half an hour in crossing it with an animated and free stroke of
the paddle--the men's spirits rising as they find themselves getting
out of these harassing defiles and portages.
A WAR PARTY SURPRISED.--We took breakfast on the beach while the
canoes were for the last time being led down the outlet. We had
nearly finished it on the last morsel of the fawn, and were glancing
all the while over the placid and bright expanse, with its dark
foliage, when suddenly a small Indian canoe, very light, and
successively seven others, with a warrior in the bow and stern of
each, glided from a side channel, being the outlet into its other
extremity. As soon as our position was revealed, they stopped in
utter amazement, and lighting their pipes began to smoke; and we,
nearly as much amazed, immediately put up our flag, and Lt. Clary
paraded his men. We were more than two to one on the basis of a
fight. A few moments revealed our respective relations. It was the
Lac Courtorielle detachment of the Rice Lake war party, and
gave us the first intimation of its return. It was now evident that
the man on the Little Chippewa from whom we purchased the fawn was
but an advanced member of the same party. As soon as they perceived
our national character, they fired a salute and cautiously advanced.
It proved to be the brother of Mozojeed and two of his sons, with
thirteen other warriors, on their return. Each had a gun, a shot-bag
and powder horn, a scalping knife and a war club, and was painted
with vermilion lines on the face. The men were nearly naked, having
little but the auzeaun and moccasons and the leather baldric
that confines the knife and necessary warlike appendages and their
head gear. They had absolutely no baggage in the canoe. When the
warrior leaped out, it was seen to be a mere elongated and ribbed
dish of the white birch bark, and a man with one hand could easily
lift it. Such a display of the Indian manners and customs on a war
party, it is not one in a thousand even of those on the frontiers is
ever so fortunate as to see.
They still landed under some trepidation, but I took each personally
by the hand as they came up to my flag, and the ceremony was united
in by Lieut. Clary, and continued by them until every gentleman of
my party had been taken by the hand. The Indians understood this
ceremony as a committal of friendship. I directed tobacco to be
distributed to them, and immediately gathered them in council. They
stated that the war party had encountered signs of Sioux
outnumbering them on the lower part of the Chippewa River, and
footsteps of strange persons coming. This inroad of an apparently
new combination against them had alarmed the moose, which had fled
before them; and that six of the party had been sent in advance
while the main body lay back to await the news. From whatever cause
the party had retreated, it was evidently broken up for the season;
and, the object of my official visit and advice accomplished, I
turned this to advantage in the interview, and left them, I trust,
better prepared to understand their true duties and policy
hereafter, and we crossed the lake with spirits more elevated.
RED CEDAR LAKE.--A short outlet conducted us into Red Cedar Lake, a
handsome body of water which we were an hour in passing through, say
four or five miles. The men raised their songs, which had not been
heard for some time. It presents some islands, which add to its
picturesqueness. Formerly there stood a single red cedar on one of
these, which gave the name to the lake, but no other tree of this
species is known in the region. Half a mile south of its banks the
Indians procure a kind of red pipe stone, similar to that brought
from the Coteau des Prairies, but of a duller red color. We
met four Indians in a canoe in passing it, who saluted us. The
outlet is filled with long flowing grass and aquatic plants. Two
Indian women in a canoe who were met here guided us down its
somewhat intricate channel. We observed the spiralis or eel weed and
the rattlesnake leaf (scrofula weed or goodyeara) ashore. The tulip
tree and butternut were noticed along the banks.
INDIAN MANNERS.---In passing down the outlet of the Red Cedar Lake
we, soon after leaving our guides, met three canoes at short
distances apart, two of which had a little boy in each end, and the
third an old woman and child. We next met a Chippewa with his wife
and child on the banks. They had landed from a canoe, evidently in
fear, but, learning our character, embarked and followed us to Rice
Lake. The woman had her hair hanging loose about her head, and not
clubbed up in the usual fashion. I asked, and understood in reply,
that this was a fashion peculiar to a band of Chippewas who live
north of Rice Lake. On coming into Rice Lake we found the whole area
of it, except a channel, covered with wild rice not yet ripe. We
here met a number of boys and girls in a canoe, who, on seeing us,
put ashore and fled in the utmost trepidation into the tall grasses
and hid themselves.
RICE LAKE, or MONOMINEKANING.--As we came in sight of the village,
every canoe was put in the best trim for display. The flags were
hoisted; the military canoes paid all possible devotion to Mars.
There were five canoes. I led the advance, the men striking up one
of their liveliest songs--which by the way was some rural ditty of
love and adventure of the age of Louis XIV.--and we landed in front
of the village with a flourish of air (purely a matter of ceremony)
as if the Grand Mogul were coming, and they would be swallowed up. I
immediately sent to the chiefs, to point out the best place for
encamping, which they did.
COUNCIL AT RICE LAKE.--As soon as my tent was pitched, Neenaba,
Wabezhais, and their followers, to the number of twenty-two persons,
visited me, were received with a shake of the hand and a "bon-jour,"
and presented with tobacco. Notice was immediately given that I
would meet them in council at the firing of signal guns by the
military. They attended accordingly. This council was preliminary,
as I intended to halt here for a couple of days, in order to put new
bottoms to my canoes. I wished, also, some geographical and other
information from them, prior to my final council. Neenaba agreed to
draw a map of the lower part of the river, &c., denoting the lines
drawn by the treaty of Prairie du Chien, and the sites of the
saw-mills erected, without leave, by squatters.
NATIVE SPEECHES.--Next day (8th) the final council was held, at the
usual signal. Wabezhais and Neenaba were the principal speakers.
They both disclaimed setting themselves up against the authority or
wishes of the United States. They knew the lines, and meant to keep
them. But they were on the frontiers. The Sioux came out against
them. They came up the river. They had last year killed a man and
his two sons in a canoe, on the opposite banks of Rice Lake, where
they lay concealed. Left to protect themselves, they had no choice.
They must strike, or die. Their fathers had left them councils,
which, although young and foolish, they must respect. They did not
disregard the voice of the President. They were glad to listen to
it. They were pleased that he had honored them with this visit, and
this advice. This is the substance of both speeches.
Neenaba complained that the lumbermen had built mills on their land,
and cut pine logs, without right. That the Indians got nothing but
civil treatment, when they went to the mills, and tobacco. This
young chief appears to have drawn a temporary notoriety upon himself
by his position in the late war party, which is, to some extent,
fallacious. His modesty is, however, a recommendation. I proposed to
have invested him with a second class medal and flag; but he brought
them to me again, laying them down, and saying that he perceived
that it would produce dissatisfaction and discord in his tribe; and
that they were not necessary to insure his good influence and
friendship for the United States. On consultation with the band,
these marks of authority were finally awarded to WABEZHAIS.
Presents, including the last of my dry goods, were then distributed.
Among them, was a small piece of fine scarlet cloth, but too little
to make a present to each. The divider of the goods, which were
given in camp, who was Indian, when he came to this tore it into
small strips, so as to make a head-band or baldric for each. The
utmost exactness of division was observed in everything.
ORIFICES FOR TREADING OUT RICE.--I saw artificial orifices in the
ground near our encampment. On inquiry, I learned that these were
used for treading out the wild rice. A skin is put in these holes
which are filled with ears. A man then treads out the grain. This
appears to be the only part of rice making that is performed by the
men. The women gather, dry, and winnow it.
A LIVE BEAVER.--The Indians brought into camp one morning, while I
was at Rice Lake, a young beaver; an animal more completely
amphibious, it would be difficult to find. The head and front part
of the body resemble the muskrat. The fore legs are short, and have
five toes. The hind legs are long, stout, and web-footed. The spine
projects back in a thick mass, and terminates in a spatula-shaped
tail, naked and scale-form. The animal is young, and was taken about
ten days ago. Previously to being brought in, it had been taken out
in a canoe into the lake, and immersed. It appeared to be cold, and
shivered slightly. Its hair was saturated with water, and it made
use of its fore paws in attempts to express the water, sometimes
like a cat, and at others, like a squirrel. It sat up, like the
latter, on its hind legs, and ate bread in the manner of a squirrel.
In this position it gave some idea of the kangaroo. Its color was a
black body, brownish on the cheeks and under the body. The eye small
and not very brilliant. Its cry is not unlike that of a young child.
The owner said, it would eat rice and fish. It was perfectly tamed
in this short time, and would run to its owner.
NOTICES OF NATURAL HISTORY.--I took out of the bed of the river, in
the descent below Red Cedar Lake, a greenish substance attached to
stone, having an animal organization resembling the sponge. In our
descent, the men caught, and killed with their poles, a proteus. The
wild rice, which fills this part of the river, is monoecious. The
river abounds in muscles, among which the species of unios is
common, but not of large size, so far as we observed. The forest
growth improves about this point, and denotes a better soil and
climate. Pine species are still present, but have become more mixed
with hard wood, and what the French canoe-men denominate "Bois
Franc."
VALUE OF THE FOLLEAVOINE FORK.--The name by which this tributary of
the Chippewa is called, on the Lake Superior side, namely, Red
Cedar, is quite inappropriate. Above Rice Lake it is characterized
by the wild rice plant, and the name of Folleavoine, which we found
in use on the Mississippi border, better expresses its character.
The lower part of the stream appears to be not only more plenteous
in the class of resources on which an Indian population rely, but
far better adapted to the purposes of agriculture, grazing, and
hydraulics.
MEDAL OF THE THIRD PRESIDENT.--During the assemblages at Rice Lake,
I observed a lad called Ogeima Geezhick, or Chief Day, having a
Jefferson medal around his neck. I called him and his father, and,
while inquiring its history, put a new ribbon to it. It was probably
given by the late Col. Bolvin, Indian agent at Prairie du Chien, to
the chief called Peesh-a-Peevely, of Ottawa Lake. The latter died at
his village, an old man, last winter. He gave it to a young man who
was killed by the Sioux. His brother having a boy named after him,
namely, Ogeima Geezhick, gave it to him.
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Personal Memoirs of a Residence of Thirty Years with the
Indian Tribes on the American Frontiers, 1851
Thirty
Years with the Indians |
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