BORDEEING 



ON THE ST. LOUIS RIVE R. 



309 



with them a short distance higher up the river, as well as in every other part of 

 the District explored. 



Between Fond du Lac and Knife Portage, the river is obstructed by numerous 

 rapids, four of which merit the name of falls. About three miles above the village 

 of Fond du Lac, the portage trail begins, and over it everything has to be carried in 

 ascending or descending the river. By great exertions, experienced voyageurs may 

 ascend with light canoes nearly to the foot of the Lower Falls, but beyond that point 

 they cannot pass in any stage of water. 



The Lower Falls are a series of cascades, ten or eleven in number, and from six to 

 ten feet in height, running obliquely across the stream, and extending for the dis- 

 tance of half a mile. The water falls in this distance, including the rapids imme- 

 diately above and below the upper and lower cascades, one hundred and three feet. 

 At no one point, however, does the water fall more than ten feet, and then glides, 

 rather than falls, down the inclined layers of slate. 



The Second Falls are about a mile and a half above the first ; and while the 

 descent from top to bottom is not nearly so great, they present a much more imposing 

 appearance than the lower ones. Enormous walls of rock, from thirty to forty feet 

 in height, project from either bank, and run nearly across the river, like huge dams. 

 At one point, the channel through which the water flows, is forty feet in width, and 

 at another dam, it was found to be only twenty-five feet wide, the width of the river 

 above and below being from one hundred and fifty to two hundred yards. During 

 the floods which sometimes occur in this region, there is, no doubt, a perpendicular 

 fall of water at this place of over forty feet ; that the river flows over the dams at 

 such times, being abundantly proved by the drift-wood lodged on their tops. At 

 present, however, there is a fall nearly perpendicular, at one point, of fifteen feet in 

 height and twenty in width, and this is the only place at which anything like a 

 perpendicular fall was observed on the whole river. The height of these falls, in- 

 cluding the upper and lower rapids, is nearly seventy-six feet. 



The Third Falls, like the others, are made up of a series of cascades, and for gran- 

 deur and beauty, equal any scenery of the kind I have met with south or west of 

 Lake Superior. Although the fall, including the rapids, is only forty-five feet, the 

 disposition of the rocks, and the surrounding scenery, combine to render the effect 

 indescribably beautiful. 



The Fourth Falls are made up of a series of five large cascades, and numerous 

 smaller ones. The ledges of slate cross the river nearly at right angles, and are cut 

 through, as at the Second Falls, into deep narrow chutes, sufficiently wide, however, 

 to afford a passage for the waters, except during freshets, when they flow over the 

 highest barriers. The whole height of the fall is a little over one hundred feet. 



The descent from this point to Lake Superior, including all the falls and inter- 

 mediate rapids, is three hundred and eighty-nine feet. 



Knife Portage is about a mile and three-quarters long, and is so called from pass- 

 ing over the sharp edges of uptilted slates. Near the lower end, the rock is similar 

 to that found at the lower falls ; and rather less than half a mile further up the 

 river it is traversed by a trap dike. Above the trap, the slate is highly metamor- 

 phosed, and in consequence of the disturbance produced by the intrusive rock, is 



