New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-01-23
LAKE lTASCA AND THE UPPER NHSSIS-
SIPPI.

A LEAF FROM A LUMBERMANS JOURNAL.
psusspopdepce Of The n. Y. Tribune.
NATIONAL, Jan. 9, 1853.
As the season o. RAINING logs was over, and work
slack party OF us started from Fort Ripley fo- Iasca
Lake in the month of June 1856. Our company con-
sisted of five personstwO officers from the fort, two
mmbermen and an Indian guide. Our outfit consisted
Of two brch-bark canoes, tent, blankets, some cook
Dg utensils and few eatables, consisting of pork,
-four salt &c. and We furnished with guns and
fishing tackle upon which depended in good part
for our grub during the trip. The tent was OF In
da rubber cloth. the four corners were fastened by
stakes within two feet of the ground and then pole
or sappg was bent down and tied to knot in the top
by which means il was stretched up something after
the fashion Of hanging in the backwoods-the sapIng
We bent the knot tied, and away goes the culpnt.
And speaking of hanging, that is the way we roasted
geese and ducks We hung them up by the heels,
ike traitors on forked stick thus roasting them
after the most approved Indian fashion, After pOlng
up the Mississippi about twenty miles we left 1t tothe
right and did not see it again until within abouttwenty
miles Of Itasca LAX. Our route lay through lakes ana
along streams nearly the whole distance. We made
frequent portages sometimes carrying our boats ana
tramping half mile. We eDcamped the thlrd night
Cd perhaps, the nOrthemmost pralrle III Minnesota
suated on the north side of Otter Tail Lake. IL was
O beautiful spot the prairie soping toward the lake
gravely beach, the clear waters pictunng the cloud
and rejecting faithfully the varied hues OF sunset
our canoes moored TO the shore, our tent andcamp-r
hard by where supper was being prepared, the Off
cers and Indian sitting stlessly by the tent looking
on the scene, formed picture which Will long be fresh
IN my memory. The country through which we passed
yss much of il marshy, and rice lakes and tamaracf,
md cedar swamps were quite common. Wild nee Is
staple of Indian food They 60 just before 1t begins
10 rpen and tie il together in punches, and when 1t
" ripe take their and 90 among 1t, and bend
down the punches and thresh them out into their ca
noes thus harvesting and thre shng at the same time
They roast il as we do pop cOrn, and carry 1t with
them when they go off hunting Game ls abundant
along the lakes and marches, and kept constant
supply on hand Our encampments were usually
made at portage, on the high bank OF lake
among the pine woods. We were obliged TO put up
mueketO-bar every night to keep OIL the insects
which literally swarm along the swamps. lney
pitched into us with the utmost enthusiasm and prac
iced every mode of attack known in the art OF war
They came single handed, they came III guerrilla
style, they formed in line of battle, they blockaded
they besieged, and if we dspa ched one swarm a
larger came on to take their places, as empty OF
blood and as full of buzz as their " illustrious
predecessors" From the middle Of the afternoon TIL
after midnight their hum was perpetual: Supper was
with par excellence the meal OF the day, Tor break
fast was supper warmed over, and dinner was simply
lunch The less said the better perhaps, about our
cookery; but must say we had excellent sauce-viz
appetite. ANY dyspectic youngster at the East, who
belongs TO the class who have meat but cannot eat
can find certain for lazness and dyspepsia both
by worn ing in the Mississippi pineres one year and
taking trip TO Lake ltasca Our favorite dish the
captain nick named "dough-g gods 1t was a stew,
something after the fashion Of a New-Eugland pot
pie consisting of goose duck, some dough, piece
pork and firms, boiled together III congomerate
mas over slow fire. Perhaps no kitchen-maid
would be proud of precisely such production, but
we ate il with infinite good humor. Indeed the cap
tain taid i could beat the world making dough
gods and may say of him, as Shakespeare says OF
Cardinal Wosey, that " he was a man of unbounded
stomach" though not, perhaps, with precisely the
~ We
found and then tract Of hardwood timber, plen-
ufuly inteIspersed with white birch. This northern
country il mostly level and the soil sandy, but the
timber grows to a great size. We saw pine trees
scattered through the hardwood groves which were
eighty ieet to the lowest limb and straight as an
arrow Lumber will be the great staple OF Northern
nnHe,C.S ana the great valley of the Mississippi de-
Pehus o'Gay lot lumber mainly the pnerles Of Wis
cODsn and Minnesota. Wild Rice and cranberTies also
abound IN this Upper Country. We stsid al Itasca
Lake nearly tnIee DAYS and made circuit of the lake.
On the ives. side y Is marshy and swampy bu. the
east side il :imbered with oak, maple elm and the
everlasting white birch, and the banks are high. with
gravelly shores There are some twenty streams
smptypg into the lake, severa! OF themy feet across
and the N ssssipp where it leaves the lske s about
a. wide as above the Falls OF ST. Anthony On our re-
turn we followed the curren. Of the Mississippi, which
Is 10 many places extremely crooked. Often we pad
died by Indians and after a while we would see them
ahead of us again. They made portsges and saved
number Of miles at time, but we chose to follow
the river. Sometimes We would see wafer aheac
which supposed TO be me TlVeI, out on q i nea
view We would end il 10 be a lake, situated IKE
pocket in the bend of The river About LOO miles be
low Itssca Lake, are Propaganda Falls where th'
water falls a dis ,ance Of twelve feet. Inc scenery
around these falls IS plctdresquey beautiful I'M
hanks of the river for distance of % miles ABOVE
are covered with thick and heavy pine WOODS sn'
these falls furnish the water power which IL one gay
.Sw the whole into lumber. Az we passed along d9Wi
the nver Te often climbed ,he loi:iest trees on l'
hlltops 10 view the country around and the featare
ti ihe landscape much the same. Lakes Marshes
oius beIts of pine woods the Dredomnan' lea
tures Frequently wen. up the s.rea us thai issue'
nom The contiguous lakes and usually found water
fall. The Indians build embankments INTO tles'
Streams, congergng toward the falls that the stream
@eply lew feet vide at the falls. They then place
poles Just above the surface Of The water below, 80 a.
10 catch the hsh and let The water through. We
sometimes found barrel If fish "A these poles ant
dog out d trough, and rated them for our own use
We found initials 90 ,fees scyerl. places, al owu,
mat claims have been mace Some euterprsins G7r
kse tas staked 4 - q claim built "A nat 8 o.