BORDERING ON THE UPPER WISCONSIN RIVER. 283 
The portage is about six miles long, over a high, rolling pine country, which does 
not afford a drop of water, from the Upper White Elk Lake to within a quarter of 
a mile of the end of the portage, where a small stream, ten feet wide, from the 
northwest, crosses the path. 
The high and broad strip of land which divides the waters of the Chippewa from 
those of the Wisconsin is made up of white sand, with small boulders thinly scat- 
tered over the surface. The pines with which it is covered are small, but very tall 
and straight, many of their trunks rising fifty or sixty feet without a branch. On 
some of the higher hills a great many small birch were seen; and in the vicinity of 
Muscle Lake the sugar maple began to appear. 
October 2. The ground was whitened by a heavy frost, and the atmosphere cool 
and bracing. Muscle Lake, upon which we began our voyage to the Mississippi, is 
about one mile long and rather more than half as broad. A small stream, about 
one hundred and fifty yards in length, led us into another lake, rather more than 
half a mile in diameter. It discharges its waters into the Wisconsin River, through 
a small creek, from one to five yards wide, running east. The creek is very shal- 
low, very crooked, and much obstructed by drift wood, but without a rock of any 
description. Its whole course is through swamps, bordered by sand-banks covered 
with pine. The banks have quite a reddish appearance, although the sand in the 
bed of the river is white. The entire bed of the creek, in-many places, is covered 
by several species of Unio. | 
At half-past twelve o'clock we entered Wisconsin River, which is twelve yards 
wide at the junction, and from three to four feet deep. Its course is south for 
several miles, but gradually changes to southwest, which was the prevailing course 
during most of the afternoon. We encamped about eighteen miles below the mouth 
of Muscle River, although in a direct line, probably, not more than six or seven 
miles, as the river is remarkably crooked. It is from ten to fifteen yards wide, and 
is occasionally obstructed by drift-wood. We did not see a rock or pebble of any 
kind, until just before reaching our camping-ground, when a solitary boulder showed 
itself; and, a few minutes afterwards, the shores were found lined with pebbles, 
washed out of the banks, which are composed of sand, and are from three to twenty 
feet high, and covered with pine, fir, and spruce, with a few aspens and small birch. 
The low grounds, which frequently intervene between the river and the high 
banks, support elm, and, where very low, tamerack in abundance. The margin of 
the water is overhung by alders and cranberry bushes. At one point the drift 
was seen resting on a bed of reddish-coloured indurated clay. The banks, where 
slides have taken place, present all the appearance of stratification, with a dip to 
the south greater than the fall of the river. A few first-rate and many second-rate 
pines were seen. 
October 3. We left camp at 8h. 30 min. this morning, and at Lh. 30 min. reached 
the first rapids. They are made by a low range of gneiss and gneissoid granite, 
bearing northeast and southwest, and are half a mile long. The fall is not very 
great, but the navigation was rendered rather difficult by the great number of boul- 
ders, some of them very large, which cover the bed of the river for nearly the whole 
