SOURCE OF ST. PETEr's RIVER. 271 



much finer than those on the Mississippi. Not only does 

 it supply the fort at Prairie du Chien, but even, as we are 

 informed, much of the " pine timber, used at St. Louis, is 

 cut here."* The voyagers have remarked that the number 

 of islands, in this part of the Mississippi, is so great, that 

 there are but few spots where both banks of the river can 

 be seen at the same time ; this is, however, the case, at a 

 short distance, above the mouth of Black river ; and one 

 mile above this place the bluffs, on both sides of the river, 

 approach within eight hundred yards of each other. The 

 wind being ahead, and strong, the progress of the boat was 

 slow. On the evening of the 28th, the party reached the 

 spot which has been described, by all travellers, as a great 

 natural curiosity, though, in fact, it presents nothing extra- 

 ordinary. It is termed, by the voyagers, the Montagne 

 qui trempe dans Veau. This, which we understand to be 

 but the translation of the Indian name for it, means " the 

 mountain that soaks in the water." It is a rocky island 

 corresponding with the adjoining bluffs, and separated from 

 the left bank of the river by a narrow sluice. This insu- 

 lated portion of highland appears, when seen from a dis- 

 tance, to stand in the middle of the stream, and its base is 

 washed by the water; but on approaching towards it, it is 

 found to be very near the east bank of the river ; and as 

 well as the party could judge from the opposite bank, along 

 which they were coasting, there was at that time but lit- 

 tle or no water between the " mountain" and the left 

 bank. Pike has, in his journal, stated its height at about 

 two hundred feet ; from a trigonometrical admeasurement 

 of it, made in 1817, Major Long estimates its elevation at 

 five hundred feet ; although his instruments did' not allow 



• Major Long's MS. 1817, No. 2, folio 4. 



