OF WISCONSIN AND MINNESOTA. 157 
the Chippewa and Manidowish, are some fine pines, intermixed with maple and 
other hard wood. 
The drift deposits here are similar to those observed at Vermilion Rapids, only 
No. 4 of the Section is better developed. After passing the mouth of the stream, 
no rocks were perceived in place, until two miles above the mouth of the Whip 
River, where there is some fine-grained pink.and gray granite. For two or three 
miles here the current of the Chippewa is very swift, and the banks are lined with 
boulders. 
A mile or. two further on, and three to four miles above the mouth of Whip 
River, I observed some syenitic granite, traversed by veins of reddish granite. 
Similar rocks were in place, every few miles, to the mouth of Court Oreille 
River. 
Soon after entering this branch of the Chippewa, we came to rapids, formed by a 
chain of porphyritic syenite, and the same kind of rock is seen in several places 
between this and the portage, two to three miles above the mouth. The syenite 
has much the appearance of that which occurs at St. Julien, in France. 
The fall of the river, at the portage of the Court Oreille, is about fourteen or 
fifteen feet. Huge blocks of syenite, covered with different kinds of moss, may be 
seen projecting amongst the pines that line the adjacent bank. On this part of 
the river there is no high ground in sight; the surface is mostly covered with drift, 
composed of sand, gravel, and boulders. 
A succession of rapids, with very little still water, continues for fourteen to six- 
teen miles. Wherever the water is swift, the bottom of the stream is covered with 
boulders, and huge blocks of crystalline or trappean rocks project out of the water, 
either in place, or not far removed from the parent mass. 
This is the character of the river to within six or eight miles of Lake Court 
Oreille. There the country becomes more open; the dense pine forest gives place 
to a more stunted growth of evergreens and aspen. A few hills of drift appear in 
sight; one of these measured one hundred and twenty-five feet above the level of 
the river. The general face of the country, however, for four or five miles before 
reaching the lake, is very little elevated above high-water mark, and it supports 
only such growths as flourish in swampy ground. A few stunted and half-decayed 
pines were the only trees visible. 
At Corbin’s Trading-Post, near the entrance of Lake Court Oreille, the banks are 
elevated twelve or fourteen feet above the level of the lake, and the height beyond, 
inhabited by the chief of the tribe that resides in the vicinity of the lake, is still 
higher, about twenty feet. This spot presented a very fine appearance at the time 
we visited the place, in June, the green slope extending down to the edge of the 
water. All the elevated land around this lake is composed of drift, m which sand 
is the predominating ingredient. 
It is said, that between the upper and lower rapids of the Court Oreille River, a 
copper boulder, weighing more than one hundred pounds, was found by the Chip- 
pewa Indians; this was probably an erratic mass. 
The lake bas a very narrow entrance; the channel is only some twelve or fifteen 
feet wide. The greatest length of the lake is said to be nine miles from north- 
