38 LAKE SUPEKIOR. 



CHAPTER II. 



IN the northern part of Minnesota is the greatest 

 elevation of what geologists denominate the eastern 

 water-shed of our continent ; lying almost exactly 

 in the centre of North America, here the streams 

 that flow to the north, east, and south, find their 

 source. Lake Superior, that adjoins this section on 

 the east, is the chief of those magnificent lakes that 

 empty from one another into the St. Lawrence, and 

 finally wash the coast of Labrador. The Mississippi, 

 taking its rise in the same region and but a few miles 

 away, flows southward with ever increasing volume 

 to the Gulf of Mexico, and then sweeping around 

 Florida and through the Atlantic, rejoins the waters 

 of Lake Superior off Newfoundland ; while the 

 Red River of the North, pursuing a contrary course, 

 empties into Hudson's Bay and thence into the 

 Northern Ocean. These waters, starting from little 

 rills and springs scarcely more than a few steps 

 apart, after wandering thousands of miles asunder 

 come together and commingle in the Northern Atlan- 

 tic Ocean. 



Here were the famous Indian portages. One from 

 Lake Superior through Pigeon River, Sturgeon Lake, 

 and Rainy River into the Lake of the Woods, has 

 served to locate the boundary between two great 



