SOURCE OP ST. Peter's river. 291 



1822, by Sergeant Heckle, of the garrison, who reduced 

 the distance to two hundred and twelve miles ; his mea- 

 surement was made by means of a perambulator of his own 

 invention ; be is said to have made allowance for the crook- 

 ed channel followed by voyagers ; from the time which we 

 consumed in ascending, making a due allowance for the 

 speed of the opposing current, we should have estimated 

 the distance at two hundred and twenty miles. The time 

 required for this journey varies from eight to twenty and 

 twenty-five days, according to the wind ; for it is impos- 

 sible to row against the current with a strong head wind.. 

 Our boat made the trip in seven days and a half, which 

 was considered the shortest that had been known of at the 

 fort. In 1817, Major Long ascended in eight days to the 

 falls, which are nine miles higher. Pike was eighteen days 

 in reaching the same spot. Mr. Scott, who returned to 

 Prairie du Chien the next day after his arrival at the fort, 

 reascended the river, completing his voyage to and from 

 the Prairie in nine days and a half, a speed hitherto un- 

 known. The average passage down the river is tlu^ee days ; 

 it has been performed in forty-eight hours. 



The streams that enter the Mississippi between the Wis- 

 consan and the St. Peter are numerous, but for the most part 

 unimportant. Those which alone deserve to be mentioned 

 are, on the west side, the Cannon, Root, and lawa rivers ; on 

 the east side, the St. Croix, Chippewa, and Black rivers. Of 

 these the St. Croix and Chippewa head near some of the 

 streams tributary to Lake Superior. It was the Chippewa 

 river that Carver ascended after having visited the Falls of 

 St. Anthony, and thence descending one of the neighbour- 

 ing streams, probably the Montreal river, reached Lake Su- 

 perior. The St. Croix rises near the head waters of the Bois 

 Brule, which also falls into the Lake ; there is a portage of 

 two miles between these streains. This is one of the routes 



