OF WISCONSIN AND MINNESOTA. 101 



name takes its rise. These heights command an extensive prospect of the surround- 

 ing country, which is clothed with evergreens. The landscape resembles, in its 

 general features, the high ground of Keweenaw Point. About a quarter to half 

 a mile east of the trail, and but little lower than the summit-level, is a small lake. 



The head waters of St. Croix Eiver proceed from a larger lake, about six miles long, 

 and a half to three-quarters of a mile wide. The shore at the northern extremity 

 is low, but on the east and west it is bounded by ridges twenty to thirty feet high, 

 on which the growth is chiefly birch. Boulders of trap, granite, and hornblendic 

 rocks line the margin of the lake. The channel of its outlet runs for three or four 

 miles, like a canal, between fields of wild rice, interspersed with bulrushes and water- 

 lilies. The temperature of the head waters of the Brule is from twelve to fourteen 

 degrees cooler than that of the St. Croix. This difference of temperature was found 

 generally to hold good between the streams flowing into Lake Superior and the 

 tributaries of the Mississippi. 



Tamerack [Larix Americana) and cedar are the prevalent growths on the head 

 waters of the St. Croix. Of the former, there are two species, or at least varieties ; 

 one, which frequents the wet, swampy ground ; and the other, the low ridges. The 

 leaves of the former are of a grayish green colour, and have the appearance of moss, 

 at a distance, and the tree has a rugged look. The latter has a dark green colour, 

 runs up into a pointed summit, and its whole outline is much more formal. I am 

 not certain whether this is the Larix microcarpa of Lambert. 



After descending about four miles, we found the channel very much obstructed 

 by boulders, though the current was sluggish. Seven or eight miles below Upper 

 Lake St. Croix, on the west side of the river, the trail which leads from Lake 

 Superior strikes it. This is about two or three miles above the mouth of Schawas- 

 kosibi, or Green River, a tributary which comes in from the southeast. Soon after 

 passing this stream, the velocity of the current increases a little, and the stream 

 widens. 



On the southeast is a ridge similar to the one crossed on the portage from the 

 Brule to the St. Croix, supporting a growth of the same kind of pine. This 

 timber, however, is soon replaced by tamerack. From the appearance of these 

 ridges, they would probably afford good ground for a road up the valley of the St. 

 Croix. 



About twenty-three or twenty-four miles below the lake, at the head of the St. 

 Croix, the river expands into a small lake, or, rather, two lakes, connected by a 

 bend of the river. At the foot of the lower of these, the first red sandstone which 

 was observed in place reaches the surface. Here the rapids commence flowing over 

 its horizontal ledges, which are much broken and split into pieces. The rapids are 

 short, with slack water between. Two of these are very sudden, swift, and difficult 

 to navigate. Trap boulders, some of which are large, fill the channel, and do not 

 appear to be far out of place. The width of the St. Croix, at these rapids, is about 

 twenty-five yards. 



The red sandstone of this part of the St. Croix has numerous smooth and almost 



polished spots disseminated through it, more argillaceous than the body of the rock ; 



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