Very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
Henry R. Schoolcraft.
P.S. Capt. Jouett, commanding at this post, has recently seized sixteen kegs of high-wines. His prompt, decisive, and correct conduct in this, and other transactions relating to Indian affairs, merit the approbation of government.
The Petite Corbeau has requested that no trader may be located at the month of the St. Croix.
IV.
Letter from the Secretary of War, transmitting, in obedience to a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 24th ultimo, information in relation to an expedition of Henry R. Schoolcraft into the Indian country.
Department of War,
March 7, 1832.
Sir,
In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 24th ultimo, directing the Secretary of War to furnish that House with “copies of any reports which may have been received at the War Department, communicating an account of the recent expedition of Henry R. Schoolcraft into the Indian country,” I have the honor to transmit, herewith, the documents required.
I have the honor to be,
Very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
Lew. Cass.
Hon. Andrew Stephenson,
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Documents transmitted to the House of Representatives, in compliance with a resolution of February 24, 1832.
No. 1.
Sault Ste. Marie, October 1, 1831.
His Excellency George B. Porter, Governor of Michigan, and Superintendent of Indian Affairs.
Sir,
I have now the honor, through your intervention, to forward to the Department my report of the late tour through the Huron Territory. It has not been possible to prepare the map referred to in season to accompany the report, but it will be forwarded as soon as it can be completed. In the mean time, I send a sketch of portions of the country intermediate between Lake Superior and the Mississippi, from which you will be enabled to trace my particular route, and the location of the principal streams, lakes, and villages. The imperfect state of public information respecting the geography of this region, and the numerous errors which still continue to characterize our maps, render something of this kind essential.
With the limited means assigned for the accomplishment of the object, it became necessary that every moment of time should be used in pushing forward. This will account for the great space travelled in a comparatively short time. I am of the opinion, however, that little or nothing has been lost from the efficacy of the movement by its celerity. Lakes, rivers, and villages succeeded each other, with short intervals. But, in ascending each river, in crossing each lake and portage, the object of the expedition was definitely impressed upon the natives who witnessed our progress; and it was acquiesced in by the chiefs and warriors, at the several councils which I held with them. For a general detail of these councils, the report may be consulted.
It will be perceived that new topics for discussion arose from a recent misunderstanding between the Chippewas and Menomonies; and from the uncertainty as to the spot where the boundary line between the Chippewas and Sioux strikes the falls on the Red Cedar fork, agreeably to a just construction of the treaty of Prairie du Chien of 1825. With respect to the first, I am of opinion that time will only serve to increase the difficulty of restoring a perfect understanding.
The line on the Red Cedar is important, as opposing an obstacle to a firm peace between the Sioux and Chippewas; and I doubt whether any steps could be taken by the government to induce them to live peaceably near each other, with so little cost of time and money as the taking post, with a small military force, on the frontier in dispute, at some suitable point between Prairie du Chien and St. Peters. With this impression, I have brought the subject to the consideration of the Secretary of War; and I shall be gratified, if, on a review of it, you shall concur in opinion with,
Sir, very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
H. R. Schoolcraft.
No. 2.
Sault Ste. Marie, Sept. 21, 1831.
To Elbert Herring, Esq.
Office of Indian Affairs, War Department.
Sir,
In compliance with instructions to endeavour to terminate the hostilities between the Chippewas and Sioux, I proceeded into the Chippewa country with thirteen men in two canoes, having the necessary provisions and presents for the Indians, an interpreter, a physician to attend the sick, and a person in charge of the provisions and other public property. The commanding officer of Fort Brady furnished me with an escort of ten soldiers, under the command of a lieutenant; and I took with me a few Chippewas, in a canoe provided with oars, to convey a part of the provisions. A flag was procured for each canoe. I joined the expedition at the head of the portage, at this place, on the 25th of June; and, after visiting the Chippewa villages in the belt of country between Lake Superior and the Mississippi, in latitudes 44° to 70°, returned on the 4th of September, having been absent seventy-two days, and travelled a line of country estimated to be two thousand three hundred and eight miles. I have now the honor to report to you the route pursued, the means employed to accomplish the object, and such further measures as appear to me to be necessary to give effect to what has been done, and to ensure a lasting peace between the two tribes.
Reasons existed for not extending the visit to the Chippewa bands on the extreme Upper Mississippi, on Red Lake, and Red River, and the river De Corbeau. After entering Lake Superior, and traversing its southern shores to Point Chegoimegon and the adjacent cluster of islands, I ascended the Mauvaise River to a portage of 8¾ miles into the Kaginogumac or Long Water Lake. This lake is about eight miles long, and of very irregular width. Thence, by a portage of 280 yards, into Turtle Lake; thence, by a portage of 1,075 yards, into Clary’s Lake, so called; thence, by a portage of 425 yards, into Lake Polyganum; and thence, by a portage of 1,050 yards, into the Namakagon River, a branch of the river St. Croix of the Upper Mississippi. The distance from Lake Superior to this spot is, by estimation, 124 miles.
We descended the Namakagon to the Pukwaewa, a rice lake, and a Chippewa village of eight permanent lodges, containing a population of 53 persons, under a local chief called Odabossa. We found here gardens of corn, potatoes, and pumpkins, in a very neat state of cultivation. The low state of the water, and the consequent difficulty of the navigation, induced me to leave the provisions and stores at this place, in charge of Mr. Woolsey, with directions to proceed (with part of the men, and the aid of the Indians) to Lac Courtorielle or Ottowa Lake, and there await my arrival. I then descended the Namakagon in a light canoe, to its discharge into the St. Croix, and down the latter to Yellow River, the site of a trading-post and an Indian village, where I had, by runners, appointed a council. In this trip I was accompanied by Mr. Johnson, sub-agent, acting as interpreter, and by Dr. Houghton, adjunct professor of the Rensselaer school. We reached Yellow River on the 1st of August, and found the Indians assembled. After terminating the business of the council (of which I shall presently mention the results), I re-ascended the St. Croix and the Namakagon to the portage which intervenes between the latter and Lac Courtorielle. The first of the series of carrying-places is about three miles in length, and terminates at the Lake of the Isles (Lac des Isles); after crossing which, a portage of 750 yards leads to Lac du Gres. This lake has a navigable outlet into Ottowa Lake, where I rejoined the advanced party (including Lieutenant Clary’s detachment) on the 5th of August.
Ottowa Lake is a considerable expanse of water, being about twelve miles long, with irregular but elevated shores. A