57 



1835 from the Seat of Grovernment, by the Way of Green Bay and 

 the Wisconsin Territory to the Coteau de Prairie, by Gr. W. Feather- 

 stonhaugh, U. S. Greologist." (Doc. 333, printed by order of the Sen- 

 ate) p p 129 — 132 ; where the author states : 



Having a copy of Carver's Travels with me, an d having always found 

 his descriptions deserving of very great confidence, I had been anxious 

 to discover a remarkable locality he speaks of,* and which, from the 

 doubts expressed by other travellers,! they evidently had never seen. 

 The passage in Carver is so minutely descriptive, and the existence of 

 the remains of a work capacious enough to hold 5,000 men was some- 

 thing so remarkable, that I was solicitous not to miss the place, however 

 troublesome the search, since he does not say on whicli bank of the river 

 it is, and merely speaks of it as "some miles below Lake Pepin." 



On climbing the bank where these evergreen trees wore, which is the 

 right bank of the Mississippi, about eight miles S. E. of Roque's.|: trading- 

 house, near the entrance of Lake Pepin, I found myself on an extensive 

 and beautifully smooth prairie. At a distance not exceeding two miles, 

 I saw some urmsual elevations to the south ; and, hoping I had had the 

 good fortune to find, at length, the true place, I walked to them, and, on 

 reaching them, was at once persuaded that I had found tlie locality de- 

 scribed by Carver, and which was sufficiently remarkable to justify the 

 description he had given of it. The elevation had the appearance of an 

 ancient military work in ruins; externally there was the appearance of a 

 ditch, in places filled up with the blowing sand, and having a slope com- 

 ing down from what might be supposed the walls of the work to the 

 ditch, of about twenty yards. Inside was a great cavity, with irregular 



*"One day, having landed on the shore of the Mississippi, some miles below Lake 

 Pepin, whilst my attendants wi'ii' iireimrins my dinner, I walked out to take a view of 

 the adjacent country. I h;id noi ihiiccciIimI far hoi'ore I came to a line, level, open plain, 

 on which I perceived, at a lilllc disiancc, a, i)artia.l elevation, that had the appearance of 

 an intrenchment. On a nearer inspection 1 had greater reason to suppose that it had 

 really been intemled for this many centuries ago. Notwithstanding it was now covered 

 withgrass, I conld plainly discern that it had once been a breastwork of about four feet 

 in height, extending the best part of a mile, and sufficiently capacious to cover five 

 thousand men. Its form was somewhat circular, and its flanks reached to the river. 

 Though much defaced by time, every angle was distinguishable, and appeared as regu- 

 lar, and fashioned with as much military skill, as if planned by Vaubau himself. The 

 ditch was not visible, but 1 thought, on examining more curiously, that I could perceive 

 there certainly had been one. From its situation, also, I am convinced that it must have 

 been designed for this purpose. It fronted the country, and the rear was covered by the 

 river, nor was there any rising ground f(jr a considerable way that commanded ; a few 

 straggling oaks were alone to be seen near it. In many places small tracks were worn 

 across it by the feet of the elks and deer, and from the depth of the bed of earth by 

 which it wiis covered, I was able to draw certain conclusions of its great antiquity. I 

 examined all the angles and every part with great attention, and have often blamed my- 

 self since for not encamping on the spot, and drawing an exact plan of it. To show that 

 this description is not the offspring of a heated imagination, or the chimerical tale of a 

 mistaken traveller, I find on inquiry since my return, that Mons. St. Pierre and several 

 traders have, at different times, taken notice of similar appearances, on which they have 

 formed the .same conjectures, but without examining them so minutely as I did. How a 

 work of this kind could exist in a country thai, has hitherto (according to the generally 

 received opinion) been the seat oi war to untutored Indians alone, whose whole stock of 

 military knowledge has only, till within two conliiries, nniounted to drawing the bow, 

 and whose only breastwork "even at present is tlie thicket, I know not. I have given as 

 exact an account as possible of this .singvdar appearance, and leave to future explorers of 

 these distant regions to discover whether it is a production of nature or art." — Travels 

 through the interior parts of North America, in the years ]7(J6, 1767, 1768, by J. Carver, 

 Esq. Page 57, 58. London, 1778. 



fKeating's Narrative, Ac. vol. 1, page 276. 



|A half-breed known in the Indian country by the name of Wahjustahchay or Straw- 

 berry. 



