54:2 APPENDIX. 



latter and Lac Courtorielle. The first of the series of carrying- 

 places is about three miles in length, and terminates at the Lake 

 of the Isles {Lac des Isles)', after crossing which, a portage of 750 

 yards leads to Lac du Gres. This lake has a navigable outlet into 

 Ottowa Lake, where I rejoined the advanced party (including 

 Lieutenant Clary's detachment) on the 5th of August. 



Ottowa Lake is a considerable expanse of water, being about 

 twelve miles long, with irregular but elevated shores, A popu- 

 lous Chippewa village and a trading-post are located at its outlet, 

 and a numerous Indian population subsists in the vicinity. It is 

 situated in a district of country which abounds in rice lakes, has 

 a proportion of prairie or burnt land, caused by the ravages of 

 fire, and, in addition to the small fur-bearing animals, has several 

 of the deer species. It occupies, geographically, a central situa- 

 tion, being intermediate, and commanding the communications 

 between the St. Croix and Chippewa Elvers, and between Lake 

 Superior and the Upper Mississippi. It is on the great slope of 

 land descending towards the latter, enjoys a climate of compara- 

 tive mildness, and yields, with few and short intervals of ex- 

 treme want, the means of subsistence to a population which is 

 still essentially erratic. These remarks apply, with some modi- 

 fications, to the entire range of country (within the latitudes men- 

 tioned) situated west and south of the high lands circumscribing 

 the waters of Lake Superior. The outlet of this Lake (Ottowa) 

 is a fork of Chippewa Eiver, called Ottowa Eiver. 



I had intended to proceed from this lake, either by following 

 down the Ottowa branch to its junction with the main Chippewa, 

 and then ascending the latter into Lac du Flambeau, or by de- 

 scending the Ottowa branch only to its junction with the north- 

 west fork, called the Ochasowa Eiver; and, ascending the latter 

 to a portage of sixty jsawses, into the Chippewa Eiver. By the 

 latter route time and distance would have been saved, and I 

 should, in either way, have been enabled to proceed from Lac du 

 Flambeau to Green Bay by an easy communication into the Upper 

 Ouisconsin, and from the latter into the Menomonie Eiver, or by 

 Plover Portage into Wolf Eiver. This was the route I had de- 

 signed to go on quitting Lake Superior ; but, on consulting my 

 Indian maps, and obtaining at Ottowa Lake the best and most 

 recent information of the distance and the actual state of the 



