Northern Historically

Plate 17, representing the Falls of the Chippewa during the flood of June 1847, shows the exposure of the crystalline rocks as they appeared at the time.
     Near the head of the portage above Ganethie's Trading Post, at the mouth of the Cut Rock, solid ledges of sandstone F 1 a, are again in place on the west side of the river, by no crystalline rocks are visible above the level of high water. The sandstones at this locality are remarkable for their cross line of deposition.
     The beds lie in the following succession from above down, as measured by Mr. A. Randall:
1st.  Drift, ten feet
2nd.  Soft white sandstone with thin schistose layers between the beds, ten feet.
3rd.  Fine pebbly sandstone with oblique laminations, eight feet.
4th.  Hard thin layers of sandstone, nine inches
5th.  Sandstone with brown streaks; schistose layer interlaminated, eight feet
6th.  Hard brown sandstone in layers from 1 to 4 inches, 1 foot 6 inches
7th.  Soft white sandstone, with remarkable oblique lines of deposition, the angles varying 15° to 45°, five feet.
8th.  Fine pebbly sandstone, five feet.
9th.  Fine pebbly sandstone, with oblique line of lamination, six inches.
10th.  Schistose layers of sandstone, six inches.
11th.  White sandstone, with layers of fine pebbles, eight feet.
12th.  Soft white sandstone, six feet
13th.  Pebbly sandstone, the pebbles about the size of a pea, 2 feet above the water, two feet.
     These sandstones have a dip to the south-southwest sometimes to the extent of 10°.  They are seen in the cuts of the streams to within a mile of the Vermillion Rapids, where the pebbly sandstone is exposed for fifteen feet, overlying crystalline rocks, and shows apparent marks of disturbance and dislocation.
     Three miles west of this junction, lingular sandstone F 1 c caps the hills.  Six or seven miles about Ganethie's are the Vermillion Rapid and portage, where Mr. Aruntiage has a trading post; the whole distance of the portage is four and half miles.  Here there are a greater variety of rocks than on the Falls of the Chippewa. In the space of one mile I observed fine and course grained granite, with masses and veins of pink and while feldspar, hornblende rock, gneiss traversed by veins of quartz and petrosilex, mica slate passing into chlorite slate.  The lamination of the schistose rocks is nearly vertical, and their bearing at different places varies from 10° to 20° north, and south of a due east and west course.  At the time I was there, the high water prevented a critical examination; but Mr. A. Randall, in his descent from the Manidowish, passed afterwards over this rapids in October, when the water was quite low, he found gneiss and hornblende rock to prevail; the former much contorted and traversed by pyramidal dykes of massive quartz running into a petrosiliceous rock of a grey color.  On the southeast bank resting on the crystalline rocks are drift deposits in the following order:
1st.  Soil.......................................................................................15 inches
2nd.  Subsoil, light yellow sand........................................................... 15 inches
3rd.  Fine drift, pebble not over half an inch in diameter.................................. 4 feet
4th.  Coarse drift, pebbles chiefly crystalline and trappean rocks........................ 4 feet
5th.  Red marly drift, pebbles chiefly red sandstone........................................ 4 feet
6th.  Course drift, with dark yellow sand................................................... 15 feet
     Two to two and a half miles above the head of this portage are rapids, where a chain of close-grained quartzose granite, not unlike that of Woodstock, in Maryland, forms the riverbed.  Above the heads of these rapids, gneiss is in places traversed by veins of granite.  Two and a half to three miles higher on the Chippewa, greenstone and hornblende schist protrude where the rapids again commence.
     Twelve miles above the Vermillion Rapids is the Brunet's portage and trading post.  By water this portage is about three-quarters of a mile, by land one mile.  The Chippewa here is lined on either side by a dense forest of moderate sided pines.  The rocks are more elevated here than at the Vermillion Rapids, and the fall is greater - about thirty-six feet from the foot to the head of the portage.  Hornblende predominates in the rocks of this locality.  It is seen in some of the beds in distinct crystals of quart to half an inch long. Some portions of the rock have the appearance and sublumnar structure of basalt; other portions are schistose. 

At the most turbulent part of the Chippewa, at these rapids, the rock is more of a bluish pink quartzose granite, and presents the appearance seen on Plate 18.
     This is the most important axis of upheaval, which came under my observation on the Chippewa.  It is the locality, which demands more than any, which I saw on that stream, a detailed examination; the more so since the mineral character of the rock is very similar to the crystalline formations near Limoges and Chanteloupe, in the Department of the Haute Vienne, in France, where a variety of valuable minerals have been discovered.
     Six miles above Brunet's is another portage of half a mile.  Here also hornblende is the principal constituent of the rocks, only they are closer grained and more siliceous than at Brunet's; and they are associated with a kind of petrosiliceous schistose rock, with a very uniform cleavage angle of 26°.  The general bearing of the beds is east by north and west by south.
     Above this portage some six miles, and about one mile below the confluence of the Chippewa and Manidowish, are some fine pines, intermixed with maple and other hard wood.
     The drift deposits here are similar to those observed at the Vermillion Rapids; only Number 4 of this section is better developed.  After passing the mouth of the stream no rocks were perceived in place until two miles above the mouth of the Whip River, where there is some fine-grained pink and grey granite.  For two or three miles here the current of the Chippewa is very swift and the banks lined with boulders.
     A mile or two further on, and three or four mile above the mouth of the Whip River, I observed some syenitic granite, traversed by veins of reddish granite.  Similar rocks were in place every few miles to the mouth of the Courte Oreilles River.
     Soon after entering this branch of the Chippewa, we came to a rapids formed by a chain of porphyritic sienite, and the same kind of rock is seen in several places between this and the portage, two to three miles above the mouth.  The sienite has much the appearance of that which occurs at St. Julien, in France.
     The falls of the river at the portage of the Courte Oreilles River is about fourteen or fifteen feet.  Huge blocks of sienite covered with different kinds of moss, may be seen here projecting amongst the pines that line the adjacent bank.  On this part of the river there is no high ground in sight; the surface is mostly covered with drift composed of sand, gravel and boulders.
     A succession of rapids, with very little still water, continued for fourteen to sixteen miles.  Wherever the water is swift, the bottom of the stream is covered with boulders, and huge blocks of crystalline or trappean rocks project out of the water, either in place, or not far removed from the parent mass.
     This is the character of the river to within six to eight miles of the Lac Courte Oreilles.  There the country becomes more open; the dense pine forest gives place to a more stunted growth of evergreens and aspen.  A few hills of drift appear in sight; one of these measured one hundred and twenty feet above the level of the river.  The general face of the country, however, for four or five miles before reaching the lake, is very little elevated above high water mark, and it supports only such growths as flourish in swampy ground.  A few stunted and half decayed pines were the only trees visible.
     At Corbin's Trading Post, near the entrance of Lac Courte Oreilles, the banks are elevated twelve to fourteen feet above the level of the lake, and the height beyond, inhabited by the chief of the tribe that resides in the vicinity of the lake, is still higher, about twenty feet.  This spot presented a fine appearance at the time we visited the place, in June, the green slope extending down to the edge of the water.  All the elevated land around this lake is composed of drift, in which sand is the predominating ingredient.
     It is said, that the upper and lower rapids of the Courte Oreilles River, a copper boulder weighing more than one hundred pounds, was found by the Chippewa Indians; this was probably an erratic mass.
     The lake has a very narrow entrance; the channel is only some twelve or fifteen feet wide.  The greatest length of the lake is said to be nine miles from northeast to southwest.  Its waters are clear and not colored brown, like those of the Courte Oreilles and the Chippewa Rivers.
     From the lake we passed by a very narrow channel, through water lilies and bulrushes, into Lac Grit or Grindstone Lake.  This is also a fine expanse of water, which received its name from a kind of grit or grindstone found on the north shore.  On examining the spot where they are procured, I found the shore thickly lined with boulders, and, some distance from the bank, loose masses of a buff colored freestone.  The lighter colored of the gritstones resembles some of the members of F 1; the pink varieties, and especially those that are spotted, have more the aspect of the Lake Superior formations.  The partial exposure of this rock at present observed, taken in connection with the absence of palaeontological evidence, does not admit of any positive conclusion as to the era to which they belong; this remains a matter for further investigation.
     From Grindstone Lake, we made a portage of half a mile to Lac Volle' or Lilly Lake, a small sheet of water about half a mile in length. From this lake to the Namekagon River, is another portage between four and five miles.  The trail leads over a ridge which overlooks a considerable extent of country.  In consequence of a thunderstorm, which caused considerable oscillations of the mercury, I could not make very accurate observations of the relative level of Lac Volle' and the Namekagon River.  The height of the ridge in sight of the Namekagon is one hundred and two feet above the stream, and a high point to the right on the southwest of the trail near the same place is thirty-six feet higher.  Nothing but the drift could be seen in any of these hills; the prevalent growth is birch.
     On arriving at the Namekagon River two of our party descended that steam with one canoe to its mouth; the rest ascending it on the route to Lake Superior by the way of Mauvaise Rivière.
     The Namekagon River is about fifteen to twenty paces wide, with banks from eight to twelve feet high.  The prevailing growths are pine and birch, usually of small size.  The soil is thin, sandy and gravelly, not much better than that on the Chippewa River below the Dalles.  The undergrowth is chiefly ferns, the land level and the woods open.  The only rocks visible are boulders, which are chiefly varieties of trap from the size of a half bushel measure to that of small pebbles.
     The sandy nature of the soil on this portion of the Namekagon rather favors the idea that the nucleus of theknolls and hills is sandstone.
     About fifteen miles from the point where we embarked on the Namekagon is a small lake known by the name of Little Rice Lake.  A mile or so beyond this, low hills appear on the river on the northwest.  They are from twenty-five to thirty feet height, and are composed of drift.  These appeared at intervals, for four or five miles to the "Big Pine" encampment above the Snake Rapids, where these hills and drifts were found to be seventy-one feet high.  Their summits command an extensive view. To the northeast the country is tolerably open, but on the opposite side of the Namekagon, in a southeast course, a pine forest bounds the prospect to the horizon. No ledges of rock were visible, but large boulders are strewed on the surface and also in the bed of the stream at the rapids.
     Nine miles by water from Little Rive Lake and six or seven by the trail is the Great Rice Lake, which is merely an expansion of the river.  It has anything but an inviting appearance.  The blades of wild rice, which rest drooping on its waters almost, cover the surface. At the season of the year I visited it, had all the appearance of that green scum often seen in stagnant pools, cause by a growth of confervae.
     Soil on the north side of the Namekagon, between these two lakes, is of the same sandy character, which generally prevails the pinelands of those regions, where extensive deposits of drift have been derived from the destruction of pre-existing sandstones.  On the south side it is probable that the soil is of a better quality since the timber is of larger growth.
     The waters of the Namekagon are not nearly as highly colored as those of the principal branches of the Chippewa River, but they are warmer and less palatable.  The Indians who inhabit its banks are wont, before drinking it, to mix it with maple sugar.
     Six or seven miles above the Great Rice Lake, our party left the Namekagon, in order to gain the headwaters of the Mauvaise Rivière, through a series of lakes which lie to the north.
     The first of these we reached by a portage of about one mile.  It is known by the name of Leach Lake, no doubt from the number of leeches, which infest it; they are of a flat form and brown color.  The length of the lake may be about half to three quarters of a mile.  The shores are lined with boulders of trap, granite, gneiss, and porphyry.  Of the latter I observed a peculiar variety; the base is composed of a light color feldspar, which embedded particles of quartz, about the size of the pupil of the eye; many of them are coated over with a green material substance which is either a kind of epidote or serpentine.
     The next lake is called Island Lake, on account of a small and rather handsome island in its center, covered with small birch trees; the portage to this lake is one-third to two-thirds of a mile. The dimensions are about the same as those of Leach Lake.
     The third lake is Little Lake, distant about two-thirds to three-quarters of a mile north of Island Lake.  It is from half a mile to three-quarters long, and from a quarter to two-thirds wide.  It is surrounded by a mossy swamp, in which that remarkable flower, Saracenia Purpurea, with its pitcher shaped leaf, grows abundantly.  It was in bloom when we were there - June 30, 1847.
     Between these two lakes are to be found many mottled dark gray trappean boulders, similar to some I noticed on the Chippewa.  The portage between these lakes passes over low hills, of thirty to forty feet in height, composed of the same kind of drift as all the hills along the Namekagon.
     The portage from Little Lake is northeast and southwest, or N.N.E and S.S.W.

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