Arkansas true Democrat., 1857-08-04

| wing and Leat rvers and making three very narrow portages between Leaf Lake and Otter. tall Lake, descended the latter to it's optlot ana following the remarkable stream, of which It Is the souide, arrived at the mouth of the chayenne In elevsn days from Crow Vino and five from the head of Otter-tail Lake, The particulars of thisjourney, which was per- formed Tn batteau from Crow Wing. we col ctirom Mr. Borden's rough notes. They will De found Interesting to those who are interest eu m the hydrographcal features of this unex piored country, and will be useful to those who contemplate settling there.
 he Crow Wing IS broad, shallow stream. With an average width of $50 feet. It's course ls. gently winding, flowing over a smooth he'd oi sand, occasionally broken ba rapids. It's banks are high and less liable to overflow than those ot the Mississippi river. Enter Leaf river thlrty hve miles above Crow Wing, he found It very crooked stream, deep and narrow. a hundred feet wide, perhaps, and ascended with diilcuity against the rapid current. Pine woods c'othe Its banks, which possess, in other re- spects, few of the features which allure settle. lheht to the adjacent districts. Leaf Lake, the source of this stream, and which opens the ooor to the otter-tail Lake reson, is, in fact, a small, discovered chain of Lakes, three in
 
 1 aggregate width Is not more than two miles, The soil around these lakes is of extraordinary fertility, and the scenery justl6es even the rap l lures of Pope.
 But there Is no poetic appropriateness in the incidents of the place. No one could have pre- dicted scene like this from tho analogies of physical geography. A huge, storm crested Iltah ranSe-lts mountain matrix, torn with Volcahic throes, should have given birth to two such mighty streams as those which. par,ing I rom this ridge bind all zones in their oppo- 1 ste currents. No such monumental yrandeurs as mark the rise of classic rivers indicate tba. here the traveller stands upon the summit of the watershed of the continent. A ouiet softly undulatins landscape, set in a smooth horizon, sombered with dark green oroves toned to calm almost religious, in the deep stiffness of it's clustered lakes-such is inc scene that culminates that magnificent hvdro [ graphical system which is one of the wonders of the world.
 l Yet, there is poetic sublimtv in the situa ton winch lntoXcates the imagination. and the sun sets after all, on nothing grander than when. setting on these placid lakes, 1t gds the dis severed Inks of that wondrous chain of water communication that connects the Gulf of Mex leo with HudSon's Bay, and the distant tropics with the lar frozen north. The ancient Greeks would nave built here a shrine to the twin nver gods born of the gentlest of all Naads. and myth divlnized by the Io1neric muse would have taught the Attic fancy to sec here the sublime symbol of opposite destnics, de- partih5 rom the same origin, and mingng at last, as these do, in common eternity of waters. Instead of temp plcs and fables. however a town site Was surveyed. a town site, sir, the Yam 1 1h. t., '.b
 because the most practical of poetry. He Is not content with admiring d beauty of land scape, but he must possess 1t, and possessing it. he ded'cateS hls life to it. But he is not selfish and Is willing to divide his happiness with the world. 50 he surveys 1t into lots, for conven. lence of distribution. This is not always the history oi town sites, but it is the history of Leaf City, winch Is stuatcd on portage be- tween tw" of these pretty lakes, while throu ,h It runs the old Red river trail-the probable path of the Pacific Railroad. An enterprisipo settlement of Boston men have approuriateJ the spot and intend making town there Bnt dWeihnS among these charming lakes. we had forgotten that VIC were c0DtDugli1p c,l ,,,l,u1e Of Mr. Borden. Otter-taiI Lake, nearly fy. miles from Leaf City, has been described in a previous artlcle- The river derived from tbis lake has been called Otter-tail river. and is a branch of Red river. The best authorities however. agree in calling this Red river.
 From the outlet of Ottcr-tail, the stream ex pandS Tn small chain of lakes, ten in all. con- nected by small river like issu"s These lakes are described as being lined with woods, espe- claIIy the hard wood varieties, with gravellv shorcs hard bottom and abounding in fish = At tho foot of this chain of lakes thirty miIos hy water, from the outlet of Otter-tail. town site had been laid out by some entcrpri.ipr ] pioneers. l From this point the river narrows to q mi. form breadth of about 100 feet, and then for distance of 3O miles to the mouth of Pelican r'ver and cSht miles beyond, the swift curren, Is broken into succession of rapids This is i where the stream lntersects the hillv rance known as Lodf Mountain, and the country on elther side Is Characterised by the broken and somewhat picturesque, though not rugged features of that region
 1 he soil is fertile but timber is less abun dart than in the lake region above. Beauti. tnl groves cap the ridges of tho rolling surf3ce 1 Dn approaching the Pelican, the boIIer out- 1 lines of these hills melt gradually down. and soften into undulating slopes of treat beantv At the mouth of the Pelican the scenery ia described as remarkably fine and the streams 1 flows on over few miles more of rapids. and then, with a current graiuallv decraasing in velocity and increasing in depth, through one ot the most delightful landscapes in the 1 world, until, leaving groves and rapids and the ! enchanting phases of the undulating planes be- hnd 1t, launches the traveller upon the mono. | tonous snbilm'ty of that immense plain to 1 winch Dr. Owen applied the name of the Great Savannah" The even banks of the 1 great prairie are here only about eighteen | inches above the banks of the rvcr-as the | fiVcr IS now seen-pcrnaps somewhat swollen ' by the spring rains Tho blue line of the ! Leaf Mountains clouds the eastern horizon. but north or south or west, no timber is visible nntll within a short distance of Bois des Siop1 l From this to Graham's Point no timber was found; thence downward timber abounds on the banks of the river.
 From Pelican river to Graham's Point the ! average width of the Red river is about l5O feet, tIll it reaches the mouth of the Savenne where its volume is largely increased by the tributary waters of that stream. From the lakes downward the Red river flows over a hard bottom of stones and gravel which be- comes sand as it enters the great livel bottoms ot the Great Savannah. We have before de- scrbed the exceeding croolledness of this stream. The Minnesota river is a right line compared to It. It's slowneSs and depth are well-known characteristics The richness of the soil of the Red river valley, the sparseness of timber, the wondlous breadth of plain, have been already dilated on. These notes, however, will supply some details of nforma, ton, which if not interesting will be useful to the curious in such matters.
 INTERESTING GUNrowDER EXPERIMENT. The following is from the Druggists Circular, published in New York:
 In his seventh lecture, at the Smithsonian Institute, Dr. Reid described the failure of an
 intending incendary to do great act of mis l chief by the very means le adonted to mako