6 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[March 26, 1904. 
;PORT§nAN TO 
Trails of the Pathfinders. 
IV, — Jonathan Carver. 
At the close of the "late war with France," when 
peace had been established by the Treaty of Versailles, 
in the year 1763, Jonathan Carver, the captain of a com- 
pany of provincial troops during the French and Indian 
Wa.r, began to consider how he might continue to do 
service to his country, and contribute as much as lay in 
his power to make advantageous to Great Britain that 
vast territory -which had been acquired by that war in 
North America. What this territory was; how far _ it 
extended; what were its products; who were its in- 
habitants, were some of the questions that suggested 
themselves to Carver. He was a good patriot, and felt 
that knowledge as to these points would be of the 
greatest importance to his country. With the natural 
suspicion that all Englishmen of his time had for the 
French, he believed that this race, while they retained 
their power in North America, had ^aken every artful 
method to keep all other nations, particularly the Eng- 
lish, ignorant of everything concerning the interior parts 
of the country. "To accomplish this design with the 
greatest certainty," he says, "they had published inac- 
curate maps and false accounts; calling the different na- 
tions of the Indians by nicknames they had given them, 
and not by those really appertaining to them. Whether 
the intention of the French in doing this, was to prevent 
these nations from being discovered and traded with, or 
to conceal their discourse, when they talked to each 
other of the Indian concerns, in their presence, I will 
not determine; but whatsoever was the cause from 
which it arose, it tended to mislead." But Carver con- 
templated something more important and far reaching 
than the mere investigation of the country, for he says : 
"What I chiefly had in view after gaining a knowledge 
of the manners, customs, languages, soil, and natural 
products of the different nations that inhabit the back of 
the Mississippi, was to ascertain the breadth of that 
vast continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean in 
its broadest part, between 43 and 46 degrees north lati- 
tude. Had I been able to accomplish this, I intended to 
have proposed to the government to establish a post in 
some of those parts about the Straits of Annian [now 
Puget Sound] which, having been first discovered by Sir 
Francis Drake, of course belonged to the English. This, 
I am convinced, would greatly facilitate the discovery of 
the northwest passage, or a communication between 
Hudson's Bay and the Pacific Ocean, an event so de- 
sirable, and which has been so often sought for, but with- 
out success. Besides this important end, a settlement on 
that extremity of America would answer many good pur- 
poses, and repay every expense the establishment of it 
might occasion. For it would not only disclose new 
sourcfes of trade, and promote many useful discoveries, 
but would open a passage for conveying intelligence^ to 
China, and the English settlements in the East Indies, 
with greater expedition than a tedious voyage by the 
6ape of Good Hope, or the Straits of Magellan would 
allow oL" 
Carver's projects for crossing the continent to the 
Pacific Ocean proved abortive; yet he traveled into the 
interior nearly as far as any one had hitherto advanced. 
True, the Verendryes and one or two of the Jesuit 
Fathers went beyond him on this parallel of latitude; 
yet the work which Carver published is almost the first 
that touches on a region lying well within the borders of 
the Louisiana Purchase, and now one of the most im- 
portant sections of the United States. 
In his introduction, Carver has a prophetic word to 
say about the unhappy relations existing when he wrote be- 
tween Great Britain and America. "To what power or 
authority this new world will become dependent, after 
it has arisen from its present uncultivated state, time 
alone can discover. But as the seat of Empire, from time 
immemorial, has been gradually progressive toward the 
west, there is no doubt but that at some future 
period, mighty kingdoms will emerge from these wilder- 
nesses, and stately palaces and solemn temples, with 
gilded spires reaching the skies, supplant the Indians' 
huts, whose only decorations are the barbarous trophies 
of their vanquished enemies." 
In June, 1766, Carver left Boston for the interior parts 
of North America. He has little to say about the country 
lying adjacent to the "back-settlements," which, he ob- 
serves, have often been described. He passed through 
the Great Lakes, mentioning as he goes various Indian 
tribes, and some of the products of the country, stopped 
some little time at the great town of the Winnebagoes, 
at Lake Wiimebago, in Wisconsin, where he was very 
civilly received. At this time these people had a queen, 
or woman chief. He discusses this tribe at some length, 
and incidentally repeats a curious story: "An elderly 
chief more particularly acquainted me, that about forty- 
six winters ago, he marched, at the head of fifty warriors, 
toward the southwest for three m< ons. That during 
this expedition, whilst they were crossing a plain, they 
discovered a body of men on horse' jack, who belonged 
to the Black People; for so they call the Spaniards. As 
soon as they perceived them, they proceeded with caution, 
and concealed themselves till night came on; when they 
drew so near as to be able to discern the number and 
situation of their enemies. Finding they were not able 
to cope with so great a superiority by daylight, they 
waited till they had retired to rest; when they rushed 
i:pon them, and after having killed the greatest part of 
the men, took eighty horses loaded with what they termed 
white stone. This I suppose to have been silver, as he 
told me the horses were shod with it, and that their 
bridles were ornamented with the same. When they had 
satiated their revenge, they carried off their spoil, and^ 
being got so far as to be out of reach of the Spaniards 
that had escaped their fury, they left the useless and 
ponderous burthen, with which the horses were loaded, 
in the woods, and mounting themselves, in this manner 
returned to their friends. The party they had thus de- 
feated, I conclude to be the caravan that annually con- 
veys to Mexico the silver which the Spaniards find in great 
quantities on the mountains lying near the heads of the 
Colorado river : and the plains where the attack was 
made, probably, some they were obliged to pass over in 
their way to the heads of the River St. Fee, or Rio del 
Nord, which falls into the Gulf of Mexico to the west of 
the Mississippi." 
From the Winnebago town. Carver proceeded up the 
Fox river, and then carried across a short distance to 
the Ouisconsin river, and proceeded down that. Here 
he found the great town of the Saukies, the largest and 
best built Indian town he ever saw. It consisted of 
"about ninety houses, each large enough for several 
families, built of hewn plank, neatly jointed, and covered 
with bark so compactly as to keep out the most pene- 
trating rains." The streets were regular and spacious; 
and it appeared more like a civilized town than the abode 
of savages. About the town lay the plantations of the 
Indians, in which they raise great quantities of corn, 
beans, and melons ; and their annual product was so large 
that this place was esteemed the best market for traders 
to furnish themselves with provisions, of any other with- 
in eight hundred miles. Near the mouth of the Wiscon- 
sin river, on the banks of the Mississippi, the Ottigaumies 
— Outagami, i. e., "people of the other band," that is the 
Foxes — had a large town, at a place called "La Prairie les 
Chiens, which signifies Dog Plains ;" a great trading place. 
About the first of November, Carver reached Lake 
Pepin, and speaks with the greatest enthusiasm of the 
beauty of the country; its apparent productiveness, and 
the extraordinary number of game and wild fowl seen 
near about it. On the plains, he says, are the largest 
buffalo of any in America. In the groves are found great 
plenty of turkeys and partridges ; while great numbers of 
fowl, such as storks, swans, geese, brants, and ducks fre- 
quent the lake. A little below that lake he discovered, 
in a fine, level, open plain, what had once been a breast- 
work, about four feet in height, extending the best part 
of a mile, and sufficiently capacious to cover five thou- 
sand men: one of the famous mounds for which the 
Mississippi valley has so long been celebrated. 
About thirty miles above Lake Pepin, near the St. 
Croix river. Carver met three bands of the Naudowessie 
(Sioux) Indians; and while he was there, a war party 
of Chippewas approached the camp, and seemed to be 
preparing for an attack. The Sioux requested Carver to 
help them; to put himself at their head and lead them 
against their enemies. This, the traveler was of course 
unwilling to do, for his work in the country made it im- 
portant that he should be friepdly with all people. He 
endeavored to persuade the Sioux to allow him to at- 
tempt to make peace with the Chippewas, and when at 
length they assented, he met the invaders, and succeeded 
in inducing them to turn back without making an attack. 
He then persuaded the Sioux to move their camp to 
another part of the country, lest the Chippewas should 
change their mind, and return to attack them. Carver 
declares that this diplomatic success gained him great 
credit with both Sioux and Chippewas ; that to it he was 
indebted for the friendly reception that he afterward 
m.et with the Naudowessie of the Plains; and that, when 
many months later he reached the village of the Chippe- 
was, further to the north, he was received with_ great 
cordiality by the chiefs, many of whom thanked him for 
having prevented the mischief. 
About thirty miles below the Falls of St. Anthony, 
Carver was shown a remarkable cave of amazing depth, 
which the Indians called Wacon-teebe _; that is to say, 
"the Dwelling of the Great Spirit." Within it is a lake, 
which "extends to an unsearchable distance ; for_ the 
darkness of the cave prevents all attempts to acquire a 
knowledge of it." The walls are covered with many 
Indian hieroglyphics, which seem to be very ancient, for 
time had nearly covered them with moss. The Falls of 
Saint Anthony greatly impressed Carver, as they did the 
young Indian in his company. 
At the mouth of the River St. Francis, Carver says, "I 
observed here many deer and carraboes, some elk, with 
abundance of beavers, otters and other furs. Not far 
above this, to the northeast, are a number of small lakes 
called the Thousand Lakes; the parts about which 
though but little frequented, are the best within many 
miles for hunting, as the hunter never fails of returning 
loaded beyond his expectations." 
Above the St. Francis river, the Mississippi was new 
ground, for Hennepin, the river's first explorer, had not 
passed up it further than the St. Francis, and Carver re- 
marks that, "As this river Is not navigable from sea 
for vessels of any considerable burthen, much higher up 
than the forks of the Ohio, and even that is accomplished 
with great difficulty, owing to the rapidity of the cur- 
rent, and the windings of the river, those settlements 
which may be made on the interior branches of it, rnust 
be indisputably secure from the attacks of any maritime 
power. But at the same time the settlers will have the 
advantage of being able to convey their produce to the 
sea-ports with great facility, the current of the river, 
from its source to its entrance into the Gulph of Mexico, 
being extremely favorable for doing this in small craft. 
This might also in time be facilitated by canals or shorter 
cuts ; and a communication opened by water with New 
York, Canada, etc., by way of the lakes." 
Returning to the north mouth of the river St. Pierre, 
now the Minnesota river. Carver ascended this about two 
hundred miles, to the country of the Naudowessie of the 
Plains. The northern branch of the river St. Pierre, 
rises, he says, from a number of lakes near the Shining 
Mountains; and it is from some of these also that a 
capital branch of the river Bourbon— the York, now 
Nelson river — which runs into Hudson's Bay, has its 
sources. All this geography comes from the accounts of 
Indians, and is clearly misunderstood as to distance and 
k^cation, for Carver says, also, that the river Messorie, 
which enters the Mississippi far to the southward, also 
takes its rise at the head of the river St. Pierre. His 
distances were very far from right, for he makes the 
St. Lawrence, the Mississippi, the river Bourbon, and 
the Oregon, or River of the West (Columbia), head all 
together in these high mountains. 
_ At the great Sioux camp, which he came to on this 
river, and which he estimated to contain a thousand 
people, most of whom had never seen a white man, he 
was most hospitably received. He spent the winter with 
thern, studying their language, acquiring so far as 
possible a knowledge of the geography of the country, 
and at last, with a considerable portion of the camp, re- 
turning down the river to the Great Cave, and to the 
burial ground which lay near it. Before parting with the 
Sioux he held a council with them, at which long 
speeches were made by both Englishmen and Indians, 
and finally, Carver left them to return to La Prairie du 
Chien, where there were some traders from whom he 
purchased goods for his further journey. 
Among the places now well known which Carver visit- 
ed, was what he calls the Red Mountain, from which 
the Indians get a sort of red stone out of which they hew 
the bowls of their pipes. This is, no. doubt, the pipestone 
quarry, described by Catlin, and now owned by the Sioux 
Indians, which it has been proposed that the Government 
shall purchase as a park. Carver says, also, that in some 
of these parts is found a black hard clay, or rather, stone, 
of which the Indians make their family utensils. 
Carver was much impressed by the beauties of the 
country through which the River St. Pierre (Minnesota 
river), flowed; of which he says: "Wild rice grows 
here in great abundance; and every part is filled with 
trees, bending under their loads of fruit, such as plums, 
grapes, and apples; the meadows are covered with hops, 
and many sorts of vegetables ; whilst the ground is stored 
with useful roots, with angelica, spikenard, and ground- 
nuts as large as hen's eggs. At a little distance from 
the sides of the river are eminences, from which you have 
views that cannot be exceeded even by the most beautiful 
of those I have already described; amidst these are de- 
lightful groves, and such amazing quantities of maples, 
that they would produce sugar sufficient for any number 
of inhabitants." 
Carver at length reached La Prairie du Chien, and 
after attending to various matters there, returned up 
the Mississippi to the place where the Chippewa river 
enters it, a little below Lake Pepin. Here he engaged an 
Indian pilot, and instructed him to steer toward the 
Ottowaw Lakes, which lie near the head of that river. 
About thirty miles from the mouth, Carver took the 
easternmost of the two branches and passed along 
through the wide, gently flowing stream. "The country 
adjoining to the river," he says, "for about sixty miles, 
is very level, and on its banks lie fine meadows, where 
larger droves of buffaloes and elks were feeding, than I 
had observed in any other part of my travels. The track 
between the two branches of this river is termed the 
Road of War between the Chipeway and Naudowessie 
Indians." Near the head of the stream he Came upon a 
Chippewa town, the houses built after the Indian manner, 
and having neat plantations behind them. He then 
carried over to the head of the river St. Croix, descended 
one of the branches, and then ascended another; and on 
both streams he found several mines of virgin copper. 
Then carrying across a height of land and descending 
another stream, he found himself on Lake Superior, and 
coasted along its western shores until he reached the 
Grand Portage, between Lake Superior and Lac la 
Pluie, or Rainy Lake. 
Here were met a large party of Killistinoe and Assini- 
poil Indians, "with their respective kings and their 
families." They had come to this place to meet the 
traders from the east, who were accustomed to make this 
their road to the northwest. From these Indians Carver 
received considerable geographical information about the 
country to the westward, much of which, however, is too 
vague to be very valuable. Many of the great lakes to 
