282 APPENDIX. 



ing. The timber is bircli, pine, and trees of that description 

 which characterize the nature of the country. The first part of 

 the shore is moderately elevated, the next, hilly, and even mount- 

 ainous, and the last a low, flat, sandy beach. Two of the most 

 sublime natural objects in the United States, the Grand Sable and 

 the pictured rocks, are to be found upon this coast. The former 

 is an immense hill of sand, extending for some miles along the 

 lake, of great elevation and precipitous ascent. The latter is an 

 unbroken wall of rocks, rising perpendicularly from the lake to 

 the beight of 300 feet, assuming every grotesque and fanciful 

 appearance, and presenting to the eye of the passenger a spectacle 

 as tremendous as the imagination can conceive, or as reason itself 

 can well sustain. 



The emotions excited by these objects are fresh in the recollec- 

 tion of us all ; and they will undoubtedly be described, so that 

 the public can appreciate their character and appearance. The 

 indications of copper upon the western part of the coast, are 

 numerous ; and there is reason to suppose that silver, in small 

 quantities, has been found. 



The communication by the Montreal with the Chippewa River, 

 and by the Mauvais and Bruld Elvers with the St. Croix, is 

 difficult and precarious. The routes are interrupted by long, 

 numerous, and tedious portages, across which the boats and all 

 their contents are transported by the men. It is doubtful whe- 

 ther their communication can ever be much used, except for the 

 purposes to which they are now applied. In the present state of 

 the Indian trade, human labor is nothing, because the number of 

 men employed in transporting the property is necessary to con- 

 duct the trade, after the different parties have reached their desti- 

 nation, and the intermediate labor does not affect the aggregate 

 amount of the expense. Under ordinary circumstances, and for 

 those purposes to which water communication is applied in the 

 common course of civilized trade, these routes would be aban- 

 doned. From the mouth of the Montreal River alone to its source, 

 there are not less than forty-five miles of portage. 



The St. Louis River is a considerable stream, and for twenty- 

 five miles its navigation is uninterrupted. At this distance, near 

 an establishment of the Southwest Company, commences the 

 Grand Portage about six miles in length, across spurs of the 



