of timber to be avoided, and a stealthy Indian tread to be 

 fancied in the rustle of every leaf. 



Coming up from Kingston in the spring of 1860 by way 

 of the lakes to Chicago, one railway only was then in exis- 

 tence in the direction I wished to travel, its termination being 

 Prairie-du-Chien, on the Mississippi. From this point the 

 only connection to St. Paul, then a large frontier town and 

 trading post, was by steamers built for the navigation of the 

 upper Mississippi, and well do I remember my first look at 

 these extraordinary boats ; accustomed as I was to seeing the 

 vessels used on the great lakes, where strength and solidity is 

 required, they seemed frail to absurdity in contrast. The 

 supports of the upper decks, scarcely heavier than the trellis 

 work of grape vines, were called stanchions ; and I discovered 

 that two inch oak was considered heavy planking for these 

 extraordinary craft. The boiler was on deck, the four feet of 

 hold not of course having room for it, and the power was con- 

 veyed to an immense wheel at the stern, which, extraordinary 

 as it looked to one accustomed to the heavy side wheels and 

 screws of the steam craft on other waters, was yet found to 

 serve an admirable purpose when approaching the shallows 

 and sand bars in the upper part of the river. 



No ordinary rule of navigation seemed to be followed in 

 the running of these steamers ; and watching everything with 

 the curiosity and interest of nineteen, I especially marked the 

 method in which the " heaving of the lead," which was order- 

 ed from the wheel-house, as we approached some shallow 

 navigation, was carried out by the mate on the fore-deck. 

 That functionary fii-st seated himself near the bow, with his 

 legs hanging over the unbulwarked deck, and in this position, 

 with a ten-foot pole, the lower four feet of which were paint- 

 ed alternately red and white, he plunged it into the water, 

 announcing as he drew it up " three feet full ;" plunged again, 

 he announced " three feet scant ;" another efibrt brought " two- 

 and-a-half feet ; " then the bell rang and the steamer's speed 

 was decreased, and when " only two feet " was announced, the 



