IfARB \ i . 73 



troll of lli - mic 3 of the ippi in the winter of 1 



and it may be appropriately named after a man, who, both as a 

 traveller and a soldier, has so lair a claim to rememberancc. 



Lake has been estimated to he within a few miles of 

 3,000 from the Gulf of Mexico, and to lie at an elevation of 

 1,830 ;• i t ab >ve thai point of the Atlantic waters ; its distance 

 northwi -t of Sandy Lake, is about two hundred and seventy 



miles, and of Fond du Lac, four hundred and twenty miles. 



Estimates make it one hundred and eighty-two miles below the 

 tine source of the Mississippi in Itasca Lake, and sixty south of 

 Red Lake, It receives Turtle River on its northern shore. 

 This river is ascended through eleven small lakes, a distance of 

 about thirty-eight to forty miiea to its origin in Turtle Lake, once 

 deemed to be the source of the Mississippi.' There is a por- 

 tage from the lake, Tor light packages of goods, across the sum- 

 mit level of the Mississippi valley into Red Lake, and the fertile 

 valley of Red river. The latter embraces the settlements plan- 

 ted by the Larlof Selkirk, the inhabitants of which maintain- .1 

 their existence for several years against the strenuous oppo 

 lion of th«' North West Company, and they appear now to be 

 in a state of comparative prosperity under the direction of a 

 .1 gov< irnor, council, and clergy. 



The portage from Pike's Day. (where we arrived at twelve 

 o'clock in the morning, after a two hours's journey from the 

 island,) commences on the edge of an open pine forest, int< I 



lb oak. The path is deeply worn, and looks as 

 if ii might have been used by the Indians, for centuries. It ties 

 across a plain presenting tin: usual aridity of similar formations, 

 and exhibiting the usual growth of underbrush and shrubbery. 

 J ol rved the alum root, harebell and sweet fern, scattered 



* A . I ina, 



l>y tii • Led Lake to 1 .... i at 



I ■ I . 



.k which I 



• 



1 



