40 THE GEOLOGY OF MINNESOTA. 



[Keating. 1823. 



The recurrence of these primitive knobs disturbs the current of the river, and renders the 

 navigation difficult and hazardous. Five miles below the encampment of the 19th there is a 

 place where the boats and their loads are carried for the distance of a mile ; from which circum- 

 stance the place is called the Grand Portage. By this portage the canoes avoid thirteen rapids ; 

 these, with twenty-six other rapids, constitute all the obstructions to the navigation of the river from 

 its source to its mouth. In a good stage of the waters, there are, however, but two portages, of 

 which this is one. Among the tributaries passed that day only one deserves to be mentioned. It 

 is called the Pejehata Zeze Watapan (yellow medicine) It is about the same size as the Redwood, 

 and rises, in like manner, at the base of the Coteau des prairies. Nearly opposite to it a small 

 stream falls in ; the Indians call it the Chataba (that hatches sparrow-hawks); the traders term it 

 L\Eau de Vie. On our map we have retained the name Epervier, which being in use among some 

 of the traders, and intelligible both to French and English travelers, appears likely to prevail. 



The foregoing exposures were wholly below Lac qui Parle, which is 

 said to be a short day's journey further up, consisting of an expansion of 

 the river, similar to lake Pepin, about seven and a half miles long, and 

 from one-quarter to three-quarters of a mile wide. Mention is made of 

 the Chippewa river, coming in from the north, said to interlock with the 

 headwaters of the Red river, also of " Beaver rivulet " (Lac qui Parle river) 

 which, with steep and high banks consisting of loose, white sand, joins the 

 St. Peter near the foot of Lac qui parle. Of the countiy about Lac qui 

 parle Keating notes that the elevation evidently became greater as they 

 advanced, but with no hills of any magnitude, the only ascents being the 

 river bluffs, which sometimes reach or exceed one hundred feet. The sur- 

 rounding undulated plains were destitute of wood, the only trees seen 

 skirting along the water-courses. Above the lake the bluffs are said to 

 diminish in hight, not being more than forty feet, the high prairie some- 

 times blending gradually with the river valley. Above the lake the St. 

 Peter was found to be only a rivulet from twenty to thirty feet wide, very 

 much obstructed with high grass and wild rice, and stagnant water. Five 

 leagues higher the Spirit Mountain* creek joins the St. Peter from the 

 south, so named from a hill near which it is said to rise. Near the mouth 

 of this stream the primitive rock is again noted scattered here and there 

 across the valley, one exposure in particular being remarkable for the 

 beauty of its feldspar, which is described as "very lamellar, with an easy 

 cleavage, and intermixed with quartz, giving it almost the appearance of 

 graphic granite." Big Stone lake is described, as the " last expansion of 

 the river, improperly called a lake." 



Yellow Bank river. 



