The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-07-02
CANOE DOLLY WARDEN.
Searching for the Source Of the
Mississippi.
Wild Rice Lake and tn Surroundings-In the
Track Of Tornado-A Perilous Position-Im-
portant Geographical Discovery Resting
at "Ah-shaw-way-way-se-ta
CANOE DOLLY WARDEN,
LAKE AH-SHAw-wAY-wAY -GEN, !
EN- ROUTE FOR ITASCA June T. 1879

CANOE DOLLY WARDEN
LAKE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
EN- ROUTE FOR ITAsCA, June 7, 1872. }
The crew OF the Dolly and the guide broke up the
camp on the banks Of the Wild Rice River at an
early hour. It is daylight here at halfpast two,
and the sun rises before four. The night had been
very cool and the daylight disclosed white frost.
Under heavy blanket ana the tent, formed by
flashing the paddle across the two masts Of the
canoe, the crew had not been comfortably warm.
The guide and Indian had slept on the ground
in front Of the nre, and they complained
of the severity Of the night dense fog
stood over the river, but the guide gave 1t as his
opinion that the day would be very pleasant. The
Indian began to manifest signs Of laziness and the
guide gave him q thorough overhauling, the only
words Of which distinguishabe to the crew were an
occasional oath in English. Unfortunately for the
Chippewas their language has no provision for
swearing, and they are thus forced to learn what
oaths they need from the English language. They
improve every occasion for convincing the stranger
that they have at least so slight an acquaintance
with the language. The start was made, after wad-
ing through about one hundred yards OF swamp.
and in the early morning, with the fog lifted abous
twenty feet above the water, this unexplored
river looked very weird Its banks were DOGGY
for the first two miles, with high grass, but back
IrOm JnlS Dog, on elLner MOc, Tue Iauu rose, anu
dense forests Of pine appeared.
WILD RICE LAKE.
After about one hours padding Wild Rice Lake
was reached This is a shallow body Of water, six
miles in length by and half mile In width.
tending northwest and southeast by south 1t was
not to be found on Colton's map The lake Is one
immense field Of wild rice. and Is nowhere more
than five feet In depth In many places the canoes
had to be poled over the grass for several hun
dred feet. The lake was surrounded by the impen-
etrable pine forests Of the region. The Indians
visit this lake in the fall from all parts Of Northern
Minnesota and gather their winters supply Of rice
AS an article Of diet with them wild rice is quite
staple The guide directed his boat toward small
opening In the light grass which closed the end Of
the lake, and, after some active polling the canoes
again reached the river The wide, sluggish stream
twisted along through the meadow, and the engines
OF the Dolly, settling down to about twenty-eight
doubleblade strokes per minute, made good head
way.
"BoxINa THE coMpAssn
The river was so tortuous that the navigator
finally reported to the captain 1.-THE compass, sir,
o the ing
about five miles through prairie, and then passes
suddenly into dense forest OF tamarac The route
and up rapids, where all had to jump
into the water to drag up the canoes. The crew at
to e walk 70 sne ne 20 s
along the banks but found that the guides were
gaining on him. and he waS again forced to take to
with small brery bushes, which make 1t very diff
cult travelling. The crew made 1t practice to
stopped for meals or camped at night These
marks, 1t Is hoped future explorers win respect.
The forest passed, the river emerged MO wide,
grassy meadow, which was strewn with the trunks
and branches OF large pines.
IN THE TRACK OF A TORNADO.
These had unquestiOnaby been carried by lorna
does from high bluff away of to the northeast and
deposited IN this meadow. One place was noticed
HEIGHT Of y nae ee aSp
trees were seen standing on their branches, with
their roots toward heaven. The birch-bark canoe
among the rapids, and the guide and Indian stop
ped to gum their craft. Here 1t should be stated
OF birch-bark and paper canoes the latter showed
infinite superiority. 1t became SO common for the
crew OF the Dolly to see the crew Of the brch-bark
pull ashore and light fire to gum their canoe that
1t ceased, after few days, to be annoying as de-
delaying the progress OF the voyage. In this In
leaving the other 70 oow He
ressed perhaps half mile when
CLOUD OF BURNING CINDERS
came with the wind, and the air became almost
scorching hot. Looking to windward the dry,
It was approaching with great rapidity. The banks
Of the river were too high to be over from the
seat IN the canoe. A bend in the river was reached
the next minute, which was sheltered by damp
slough on the windward side, and under this bank
the canoe was pushed and made fast while the
1t over his head. BY this means the air was cooled
before breathing The smoke which followed the
names was really more oppressive but much less
dangerous. The guides came up soon after, and
were rejoiced to find the crew safe. They explained
y S isaSses sP1Is @ sns. ss
was in flames in several places bel0fc the fact was
discovered Being down below the river banks,
the breeze. which was blowing strong from the
northwest, had not been noticed by the Doly's
crew.
THE NORTH AMERICAN CONTINENT IN TWO PIECES
Quite discovery was In store for the expedition.
The river had narrowed to about twelve feet In
width and had depth of about fourteen inches. A
place was reached at which very rapid stream OF
clear, cold water entered the Wild Rice from the
southeast. The crew Of the Dolly was struck
with the fact that It VS., was so much clearer
able to decide which was the main stream,
awaited the arrival Of the guides The Indian then
informed him, through the Interpreter, that tins
sssippi had its rse He assured us OF his certainty
OF the fact by stating that he had when hunting
It q to s It's Ss until he had
as his opinion that the Indian was correct, as
there was stream which flowed from the
bog above Itasca toward the northwest The crew
was for pushing right up this channel into Itasca.
but walk OF $50 feet convinced him that 1t would
be impossible to get the canoes through the brush
which everywhere damned the course OF the
stream The waters OF the Mississippi and the Red
River OF the North, united In this manner, makes
an island of the entire eastern half OF the North
American Continent II Is bounded by water on
the north by the Hudson Bay and the Arctic ocean;
on the east by the Atlantic; OH the south by the
Gulf OF Mexico, and on the west by the Mississippi,
Wild Rice and Red Rivers, Lake Winnipeg and Hud-
son Bay.
The Indian, as reason for not attempting the
passage, told the crew, through the interpreter,
hat the trip would consume four or five days, and
would result, probably, in demolishing the play
thing-meaning the Dolly.
This, then, was Mississippi water and the Red
River OF the North was, vampire like, stealing the
Likelihood OF the "Father OF Waters.D