order was given to " back her." Her bow was then turned 

 towards another part of the bar, and when "two feet full" was 

 announced as the result of the next efibrt, the bell was rung 

 "go ahead," and the steamer " North Star " wriggled with an 

 eel-like motion, which set the glasses jingling in the cabin, and 

 made one feel as though riding an hippopotamus, over the 

 deepest part of the bar, when " two-and-a-half feet," "three 

 feet," "three-and-a-half feet," were announced in quick succes- 

 sion, followed by another dip of the pole which, passing be- 

 yond the four foot mark, brought the announcement from the 

 mate, who rose at that moment to put away his pine lead-line; 

 " no bottom." 



Fine weather, and the beautiful scenery along the banks 

 of the upper Mississippi, made the trip a pleasant one, and 

 brought us safely to St. Paul ; Minnehaha was visited, and the 

 Falls of St. Anthony, as well as the beautiful and historic 

 promontory, then crowned by Fort Snelling ; then came the 

 question of the remainder of the journey, over 650 miles, which 

 lay between that city and Fort Garry. 



The first stage Jine had just been given the contract for 

 the carriage of the mails to the then rem(jte military outpost 

 of Fort A.bercrombie, with a bonus large enough to induce the 

 contractors to agree to the stipulation demanded by the gov- 

 ernment, that the mails should be carried in " overland " 

 coaches with four horses ; and these military conditions facili- 

 tated my traversing that part of the journey. Shortly before 

 this Anson Northrup, a well known Upper river steamboat- 

 man, had brought a small steamer, named after himself, dur- 

 ing the spring flood up to near the head of the Mississippi River^ 

 and from there had portaged the machinery and the boat, in 

 sections, over to the head waters of tlie Red River, and the 

 boat, which had been rebuilt and ciiristened the " Anson Nor- 

 thrup," was then lying at Georgetown, the BLudson's Bay 

 Company's temporary transportation post, 45 miles north of 

 Abercrombie. 



The journey on this stage was a pleasant one ; the beauti- 

 ful Minnesota lakes and rivers, on which temporary stage 



