158 



RED RIVER EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 



panse of flooded land on either side, extending, according 

 to our guide, fifty miles to the right hand and to the left. 



Having found it impossible to proceed further on horse- 

 back than the beginning of the great marshy tract of the 

 Eoseau, and not being provided with a canoe, the following 

 description of the country rests upon the authority of the 

 guide who accompanied us, and who had resided at Eo- 

 seau Lake for a year and a half when in the service of the 

 Hudson's Bay Company. The river channel can be traced 

 through a marsh ten miles long, nearly on a level with the 

 water in the river. The depth of the marsh does not ex- 

 ceed three feet, and it is quite possible to wade on horse- 

 back through it. The Hudson's Bay Company's route to 

 their post on Eoseau Lake (in 1851) retired from the 

 banks of the river when the waters began to flow slug- 

 gishly, and pursued a direction some miles to the south of 

 the channel, probably within the United States territory. 

 In 1847, a very dry season, it was possible to proceed 

 with carts in a direct line near the banks of the river from 

 the beginning of the marsh to the post, one mile and a 

 half from Eoseau Lake. 



An idea of the character of the country about this post 

 may be inferred from the guide's description of his at- 

 tempts to destroy the monotony of his life, when stationed 

 at Eoseau Lake. He informed me that when he wished 

 " to see anything " beyond the four walls of his log shanty, 

 and the rushes by which it was surrounded, he was in the 

 habit of mounting to the roof, and from the top of the mud 

 chimney enjoying the view ; which consisted of reeds to 

 the north, reeds to the south, and reeds to the west, as far 

 as the eye could reach, and to the east, Eoseau Lake, 

 fifteen miles long by ten broad, with a deep fringe of reecls. 

 On the bosom of this retired sheet of water, in the spring 

 and the fall, he was enabled to watch countless millions 



