48 NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 



such boats as ascend the Upper Missisippi above the Rapids. 

 To render it navigable at all times by such boats, it requires 

 to have a few loose rocks removed, some snags drawn out, 

 and, in a few points, an artificial embankment, to overcome 

 the sharp angles. With these operations, the river may be 

 navigable for 300 miles. Perhaps the making slack water 

 at certain distances, would further improve it. Capt. Guion, 

 of the Topographical Engineers, describes it as being the 

 most beautiful and fertile country on which the eye of man 

 ever rested. The Tchanshetcha Lake, which is the source 

 of the Watumwan, a branch of the Mankato, which, in its 

 turn, is tributary to St. Peter's, is separated from the Des 

 Moines only one mile and a half, and by a short canal, boats 

 may pass through into the St. Peter's. 



Nicollet, in- his report, gives an extended and very excel- 

 lent description of this river, from which we take the follow- 

 ing extract : 



" The Des Moines empties into the Missisippi in 40^ 22' 

 latitude north ; and its sources, heretofore supposed to be in 

 43^, are extended on my map to 44° 3' north. It is fed from 

 the beautiful group of lakes, previously described as the 

 Shetek lakes, towards the middle of the plateau of the Coteau 

 des Prairies, at an elevation of 1580 feet above the level of 

 the sea. The waters of these lakes flow from northwest to 

 southeast, swelling themselves by innumerable tributaries 

 until they enter the Missisippi at an elevation of about 444 

 feet above the Gulf of Mexico. 



" The course of the Des Moines cannot be less than 400 

 miles ; whence it would follow that the average of its descent 

 is nearly three feet to the mile, with a current approaching in 

 velocity that of the Missouri. The river flows constantly in 

 a deep valley, from its sources to within a few miles of its 

 confluence witli the Missisippi, where it spreads over low 



