THE GRAND PORTAGE. 



75 



team, which is employed by the people in charge of 

 the American trading post in forwarding their supplies. 



I endeavoured to procure a waggon and team from 

 the American traders at Grand Portage Bay to transfer 

 the heavy baggage from the east to the west end of the 

 portage, but although the vehicle was available the team 

 was not ; one ox having died during the winter, and the 

 other was in such a miserable condition that he could 

 scarcely draw the empty waggon. 



The passage of the Grand Portage consequently occu- 

 pied five days instead of two, and in making a comparison 

 between the two canoe routes to Lake Winnipeg, these 

 facts must be borne in mind. In 1857 the Eed Eiver 

 expedition landed at Fort William on the 31st of July, 

 and reached the Settlements on the 4th of September, 

 having been thirty-four days on the road, or forty from 

 Toronto. The expedition of 1858 reached Grand Portage 

 on the 5th of May, and arrived at the Stone Fort on the 

 2nd of June, a period of twenty-eight days, or thirty-four 

 from Toronto. The Grand Portage lying within the ter- 

 ritory of the United States loses all interest as the terminus 

 of a Canadian route ; but that part of the water communi- 

 cation which forms the boundary line, and the country be- 

 tween Arrow Lake, White Fish Lake, and Fort William, 

 seems to acquire importance in proportion to the ex- 

 tension of our knowledge respecting its capabilities and 

 resources. 



The waters on the rivers and lakes on the east side of 

 the Height of Land, the Lake Superior water-shed, were 

 high in 1858, while those on the west side, or the tribu- 

 taries to Lake Winnipeg, were unprecedently low. In many 

 of the lakes recent water-marks, four and five feet above the 

 present level, were frequently observed. This remarkable 

 lowness of the water was attributed by the half-breeds and 



