The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1856-10-04

dred ysrds in length was eonstruc ted. IN
the centre of thesmarsh the water was three
feet deep. hsgrass cut was the best quail
|lty Of meadow erase Ne ever saw, and was
estimated to he six tons to the acre. This
over and-one or two smaller marshes and
creeks crossed, our party reached the bor-
ders Of lake supposed to connect with the
Kandiyohi, about noon. Here the boat was
again launched, while the wagons continued
abouta mile further and encamped on the
banks of another. lake. The encampment
was made just in the edge of a. dense body
of timber of several hundred acres in extent.
The land in the, vicinity of these lakes is
considerably broken, the banks of the lake
in some places being from fifty to hundred
feet in height and almost as, PERCEPTIONS as
the Mississippi bluffs. All, tie. varieties of
timber may here be found that abound in
in the 3 6 Woods. ,I4 a,c...., i,...,..s.,~ ..--.
I In about two hours after We had encamped
the boat party came up. They had made a
journey of five or six miles and bad been in
three lakes, VIII CHI were found to he connect
ed by short channels more resembling canal
than any thing else, being not less than
twenty feet in Width, by four ip, depth. Our
party took the opportunity during the after
noon to explore in all directions, both IN foot
and by horse. We found the surveyors in
the neigllborhood subdivding, so that the
land in this vicinity will soon be, open for
presumption. We were now in. Town ll9,
Range "a west of the 9th meridian. Some
of our party who climbed trees on the high
est ground they could fin !, discovered large
lake about five or six miles further, west land
this it was resolved should be explored tue
next day, s... ,,r... .,.s.r.r.....-. ,r y
/ -, -f4,, t. KANDIYOHI. I'll ,,- g, ..,. ,
/ The next morning, Sept, %, active pre-
partitions were made to renew the explora-
tons and demonstrate what was supposed to
be the case, !. e., that this series of lakes
were connected by channels wide and deep
enough to admit Of successful 'eamboat ma
vigation. Our stock Of provisions admon-
ished us that VIC must start the next day for
the settlements, for we now had nothing but
potatoes and sinking ham. Our party was
divided, the largest portion of them taking
the horses, willie others went in the boat.
The hrrsemen went directly west for about
five or six miles, when they came upon the
banks Of the large lake seen the day before.
He:e they stopped anil reconnotered. Like
all the rest, there was body of tin Der con-
veniently on the banks, though the prairie
lance. Along the route the country is most
beautifully diversified bylprairie, meadow
timber, &C., and running streams were found,
supposed to abound in trout. AT one O'Clock
the announcement that the boat was to be
seen at the distance, excited the most lively
interest for this demonstrated the fact of a
connection by wafer, and as the boat came
within milling distance, cheer upon cheer
rent the air from tue people on shore and on
the water They had been rowing for six
hours Ind had come a distance estimated at
twelve. or fifteen miles. After separating
from the rest Of the party i'll Tie morning
they rowed abodt two miles to the south
west corner of the lake, where channel was
found Of about half a mile in extent, open
inc into another lake. This was a lake not
before seen, and WIS about three miles in
length, with number of small islands COW
cred with timber. After going the entire
length, they came to a navigable channel
or canal about four miles in length and very
crooked. Many times they believed they
had come to the ED Of it, but it would sud
denly turn to the right or left, or open into
small lakes. AT noon they reached the lake
on the banks of which could be deserted the
other party, and came up to them, as before
stated, at one o'clock This lake was five or
six miles in length, by two in width. ....
Itwas now considered as certain that a
navigable channel could be found to exist be-
tween all Of these lakes, and that the Kan
diyohi lake, instead OF being one large body
of water, as represented on the map. is a
series of smaller ones, almost separated from
each other by Tpcninsu'as, p-omontories and
islands of timber. Many Of our party con-
sidered the extent of lake shore to be nearly
if not quite equal to that of Lake Minneton-
ka, while the surrounding country is incom-
parably better. The main body of water
had not been seen by most of the party.
which is supposed to be ten or fifteen miles
in length by four or five in width but the
necessity Of Starting for home the next day
forbade any further explorations. r'.i-ey
We presume it is unnecessary to add that
the name for this body of water is a Sioux
word, which is translated thus: Kandi,
buffalo-fsh; yohi, a concentration or as
sembling Of, or, a lake rhre the Bafido.fsh
meet. The, parties returned to camp that
night well satisfied with the result of their
days explorations. The suggestions con
corning these lakes entertained by the first
exploring party were found to be correct /;
and it was conceded by all that it was natu-
rally country capable of more dense set
Element than any we had yet seen in Mime
sofa. So well satisfied were q mum er Of
the party, that they proceeded at once to lay