0 F W I S C O N S I N AN 1) MINN E S 0 T A. 



157 



the Chippewa and Manidowish, are some fine pines, intermixed with maple and 

 other hard wood. 



The drift deposits here are similar to those observed at Vermilion Rapids, only 

 No. 4 of the Section is better developed. After passing the mouth of the stream, 

 no rocks were perceived in place, until two miles above the mouth of the Whip 

 River, where there is some fine-grained pink and gray granite. For two or three 

 miles here the current of the Chippewa is very swift, and the banks are lined with 

 boulders. 



A mile or two further on, and three to four miles above the mouth of Whip 

 River, I observed some syenitic granite, traversed by veins of reddish granite. 

 Similar rocks were in place, every few miles, to the mouth of Court Oreille 

 River. 



Soon after entering this branch of the Chippewa, we came to rapids, formed by a 

 chain of porphyritic syenite, and the same kind of rock is seen in several places 

 between this and the portage, two to three miles above the mouth. The syenite 

 has much the apjuearance of that which occurs at St. Julien, in France. 



The fall of the river, at the portage of the Court Oreille, is about fourteen or 

 fifteen feet. Huge blocks of syenite, covered with different kinds of moss, may be 

 seen projecting amongst the pines that line the adjacent bank. On this part of 

 the river there is no high ground in sight ; the surface is mostly covered with drift, 

 composed of sand, gravel, and boulders. 



A succession of rapids, with very little still water, continues for fourteen to six- 

 teen miles. Wherever the water is swift, the bottom of the stream is covered with 

 boulders, and huge blocks of crystalline or trappean rocks project out of the water, 

 either in place, or not far removed from the parent mass. 



This is the character of the river to within six or eight miles of Lake Court 

 Oreille. There the country becomes more open ; the dense pine forest gives place 

 to a more stunted growth of evergreens and aspen. A few hills of drift appear in 

 sight ; one of these measured one hundred and twenty-five feet above the level of 

 the river. The general face of the country, however, for four or five miles before 

 reaching the lake, is very little elevated above high-water mark, and it supports 

 only such growths as flourish in swampy ground. A few stunted and half-decayed 

 pines were the only trees visible. 



At Corbin's Trading- Post, near the entrance of Lake Court Oreille, the banks are 

 elevated twelve or fourteen feet above the level of the lake, and the height beyond, 

 inhabited by the chief of the tribe that resides in the vicinity of the lake, is still 

 higher, about twenty feet. This spot presented a very fine appearance at the time 

 we visited the place, in June, the green slope extending down to the edge of the 

 water. All the elevated land around this lake is composed of drift, in which sand 

 is the predominating ingredient. 



It is said, that between the upper and lower rapids of the Court Oreille River, a 

 copper boulder, weighing more than one hundred pounds, was found by the Chip- 

 pewa Indians ; this was probably an erratic mass. 



The lake has a very narrow entrance ; the channel is only some twelve or fifteen 

 feet wide. The greatest length of the lake is said to be nine miles from north- 



