BORDERING ON T H E UPPER WISCONSIN R T V E R. 



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The portage is about six miles long, over a high, rolling pine country, which does 

 not afford a drop of water, from the Upper White Elk Lake to within a quarter of 

 a mile of the end of the portage, where a small stream, ten feet wide, from the 

 northwest, crosses the path. 



The high and broad strip of land which divides the waters of the Chippewa from 

 those of the Wisconsin is made up of white sand, with small boulders thinly scat- 

 tered over the surface. The pines with which it is covered are small, but very tall 

 and straight, many of their trunks rising fifty or sixty feet without a branch. On 

 some of the higher hills a great many small birch were seen ; and in the vicinity of 

 Muscle Lake the sugar maple began to appear. 



October 2. The ground was whitened by a heavy frost, and the atmosphere cool 

 and bracing. Muscle Lake, upon which we began our voyage to the Mississippi, is 

 about one mile long and rather more than half as broad. A small stream, about 

 one hundred and fifty yards in length, led us into another lake, rather more than 

 half a mile in diameter. It discharges its waters into the Wisconsin River, through 

 a small creek, from one to five yards wide, running east. The creek is very shal- 

 low, very crooked, and much obstructed by drift wood, but without a rock of any 

 description. Its whole course is through swamps, bordered by sand-banks covered 

 with pine. The banks have quite a reddish appearance, although the sand in the 

 bed of the river is white. The entire bed of the creek, in many places, is covered 

 by several species of Unio. 



At half-past twelve o'clock we entered Wisconsin River, which is twelve yards 

 wide at the junction, and from three to four feet deep. Its course is south for 

 several miles, but gradually changes to southwest, which was the prevailing course 

 during most of the afternoon. We encamped about eighteen miles below the mouth 

 of Muscle River, although in a direct line, probably, not more than six or seven 

 miles, as the river is remarkably crooked. It is from ten to fifteen yards wide, and 

 is occasionally obstructed by drift-wood. We did not see a rock or pebble of any 

 kind, until just before reaching our camping-ground, when a solitary boulder showed 

 itself; and, a few minutes afterwards, the shores were found lined with pebbles, 

 washed out of the banks, which are composed of sand, and are from three to twenty 

 feet high, and covered with pine, fir, and spruce, with a few aspens and small birch. 

 The low grounds, which frequently intervene between the river and the high 

 banks, support elm, and, where very low, tamerack in abundance. The margin of 

 the water is overhung by alders and cranberry bushes. At one point the drift 

 was seen resting on a bed of reddish-coloured indurated clay. The banks, where 

 slides have taken place, present all the appearance of stratification, with a dip to 

 the south greater than the fall of the river. A few first-rate and many second-rate 

 pines were seen. 



October 3. We left camp at 8h. 30 min. this morning, and at lh. 30 min. reached 

 the first rapids. They are made by a low range of gneiss and gneissoid granite, 

 bearing northeast and southwest, and are half a mile long. The fall is not very 

 great, but the navigation was rendered rather difficult by the great number of boul- 

 ders, some of them very large, which cover the bed of the river for nearly the whole 



