106 NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION. 



Fond du Lac. At this point our course changed from northwest 

 to south-southwest. 



The sandstone formation here showed itself for the last time. 

 The shore soon assumes a diluvial character, bordered with long 

 lines of yellow sand and pebbles. In some places, heavy beds 

 of pure iron sand were observed. The agitation which marked 

 the lake soon subsided, under the change of wind, and our men 

 seemed determined, by the diligence with which they worked, to 

 make amends for our delay at Sandy Eiver. 



At eight o'clock in the evening we came to Cranberry River 

 and encamped, having, by their estimation, come twenty -three 

 miles. The evening was perfectly clear and calm, with a striking 

 twilight, which was remarked all night. These lengthened twi- 

 lights form a very observable feature as we proceed north. Mac- 

 kenzie says that, in lat. 67° 47', on the 11th of July, 1789, he saw 

 the sun above the horizon at twelve o'clock P. M. 



The calmness and beauty of the night, and our chiefs anxiety 

 to press forward, made this a short night. Gen. Cass aroused the 

 camp at a very early hour, so that at three o'clock we were again 

 upon the lake, urging our way up the Fond du Lac Bay. The 

 sun rose above the horizon at ten minutes before four o'clock. 

 The morning w^as clear and brilliant. Not a cloud obscured the 

 sky, and the waves of the lake spread out with the brightness of 

 a mirror. At the distance of five leagues, we passed the mouth 

 of the Wisakoda, or Broule Eiver,* a stream which forms the 

 connecting link with the Mississippi River, through the St. Croix. 

 Three miles beyond this point we landed a short time, on the 

 shore, where we observed a stratum of iron sand, pure and black, 

 a foot in thickness. 



* V/isACODA, or Beoi'le River. — On returning down the Mississippi River, from 

 the exploration of its sources, in 1832, I ascended the River St. Croix quite to its 

 source in St. Croix Lake. A short portage, across a sandy summit, terminated 

 at the head springs of the Wisacoda, which, from a very narrow and tortuous 

 channel, is soon increased in volume by tributaries, and becomes a copious stream. 

 Thus swelled in volume, it is dashed down an inclined plane, for nearly seventy 

 miles, over which it roars and foams with the impetuosity of a torrent. It is not 

 till within a few miles of Lake Superior that it becomes still and deep. The entire 

 length of the river may be estimated at one hundred miles. It has two hundred 

 and forty distinct rapids, at some of which the river sinks its level from eight to 

 ten feet. It cannot fall, in this distance, less than 500. That it should ever have 

 been used in the fur trade, is to be explained by the fact that it has much water. 



