The iron deposits . They are beautiful sheets of water, clear, soft and deep, encircled by bold, fantastic rims, and dotted with tree- clad island cones of such varied beauty in the autumn season, that as one looks in unexpectedly upon them up the rapids of the narrow shaded rivers, he forgets his fatigue and revels in an exquisite garden of foliage plants. Among the larger and better- known of these bodies of water are Upper St Croix, Namakagon, Court Oreilles, Chetac and Chetek lakes. Some of them have no outlets. Most drain into the Chippewa and St Croix rivers.
Marshes are also abundant.
The narrowness of the portage from the St Croix to the Bois Brule River made this an important highway of communication between Lake Superior and the Mississippi. Thus it was so familiar to the Indians that the earliest white explorers learned of it at the very beginning and utilized it frequently. This was also true of the route from the Chippewa valley to Chequamegon Bay by way of the several headwaters of Bad River. Du Luth crossed the Bois Brule portage in 1680, Carver traveled that way in 1767, Le Sueur in 1693 and Schoolcraft in 1832. The Highland Lake District of northern Wisconsin lies in Vilas, Oneida and adjacent counties.