1G8 FORMATIONS OF THE INTERIOR 



philus of Cuvier, and somewhat longer than the common ground-squirrel of the 

 West. 



Twelve miles from Elk River, we passed a lake, on our right, two to two and a 

 half miles in length, and about a mile wide. Its waters are remarkably clear, and 

 the shores are strewn with a great variety of pebbles of quartz, petrosilex, horn- 

 stone, chert, granite, greenstone, and porphyry. 



Near the road, and about two miles from the Osakis Rapids, there rises out of 

 the prairie a dome-shaped mass of syenitic granite, elevated ten to twelve feet above 

 the level of the plain. This is the eastern extension of the chain of rocks formerly 

 mentioned as crossing the Mississippi at Osakis Rapids. It is worthy of notice 

 here, as being the first rock found in situ on the land route from the Falls of St. 

 Anthony to Crow Wing, and because there is here also a marked change in the 

 character of the ground. The prairies are no longer so level as they are south of 

 this exposure. Here may be considered the commencement of those marshy, boggy 

 lands, which, with intervening lakes, ponds, tamerack and cedar swamps, charac- 

 terize a great portion of the Upper Mississippi and its tributaries, even as far as the 

 northern boundary of the United States. It is true that here and there may be , 

 seen limited tracts of good land ; but, taken as a whole, it is a poor agricultural 

 country ; not to be compared in value to the prairies south of the Falls of St. An- 

 thony, in Wisconsin and Iowa, and the Valley of St. Peter's. This is an important 

 fact, to be borne in mind in case the government should still contemplate pur- 

 chasing the lands north of the line of the treaty of 1837. 



I speak now chiefly of the lands on the east side of the Mississippi ; for I had 

 not much opportunity to examine the country lately purchased for the Winne- 

 bagoes, on the west side, between Osakis Rapids and Long Prairie River. 



Beyond Little Rock, the road passes over an extensive level prairie, with a 

 second rate siliceous soil, and elevated beyond the reach of the high water of the 

 Mississippi. About ten miles beyond Pekushino or Platte River, which heads near 

 Mille-Lacs, we entered upon a flat country, intersected with wet, marshy ground, 

 very difficult to travel over with loaded wagons ; after which we passed across a 

 level prairie to Nokay River, a distance of some ten miles. On our right, a mile 

 or two northeast of the Knife Rapids, is a ridge of drift, a hundred and twenty-five 

 feet high, and most probably based upon the extension of the mica-slate, which 

 protrudes in the bed of the river at these Rapids. This is a conspicuous landmark, 

 and affords, from its summit, an extensive prospect in every direction over the 

 surrounding country. It has been selected, on this account, as the burial-place of 

 a celebrated Indian chief, of the Chippewa nation, Hole-in-the-clay ; and affords an 

 instance of the predilection of the Indians for commanding positions on which to 

 deposit the remains of those whom they respect, and whose memory they desire 

 to perpetuate. 



Crow Wing and Leaf River Lands. — The country which I travelled over between 

 the mouth of Crow Wing and the outlet of Otter Tail Lake into Red River, 

 furnishes little of interest to record. It is, for the most part, flat, especially towards 

 the heads of the streams ; the soil is generally poor and sandy, or too wet for cultiva- 



