lilG EXPEDITION TO Till; 



(lergrowth of the country consists principally of hazle, su- 

 mac, elder, prickly ash, alder, thorn, bramble bush, laurel, 

 gooseberry, black currant, chokeberry, sand cherry, grape- 

 vine, hop-vine, bitter-sweet, night-shade, honeysuckle, 

 wild gourd, poison-vine, sjjikenard, sarsaparilla, grasses,. 

 ferns, and a variety of other herbage, conspicuous in many 

 instances for the beaut}?^ of its flowers. The islands, which 

 are exceedingly numerous in this part of the Mississippi 

 and its principal tributaries, sustain a dense growth of cot- 

 ton-wood and willows, surmounting thickets of shrubbery 

 and vines, rendered almost impenetrable by the luxuriance 

 of their growth. 



Under this division of our subject, we shall particular!}^ 

 notice a portion of the Upper Mississippi, (by which is 

 meant that portion of this noble river, situated above the 

 confluence of the Missouri,) the Illinois, and the Wiscon- 

 san rivers, referring to the accompanying map for the 

 names and localities of the rest. 



The valley of the Upper Mississippi, below. the Falls of 

 St. Anthony, varies from three to ten or twelve miles in 

 width, except at the De Moyen and Rock Island rapids, 

 where its breadth is so contracted that it affords sufficient 

 room only for the bed of the river, which at the former 

 place is about twelve hundred yards wide, and at the lat- 

 ter from eight hundred to one thousand. It is uniformly 

 bounded by high bluffs, which are generally abrupt, and 

 often precipitous. Within the valley, especially in the vi- 

 cinity of Lake Pepin, insulated knobs and hills of consi- 

 derable magnitude, based upon horizontal strata of rocks, 

 and towering to various heights, from one hundred to five 

 hundred feet, are frequently to be met with. These must 

 be regarded as the remains of the high country, through 

 which the river in process of time has scooped out its 



