Note I-56 — Chapter I · ITINERARY: ST. LOUIS TO ST. PAUL, AUGUST 9TH-SEPTEMBER 21ST, 1805.

From La Crosse to the town of Trempealeau is reckoned 19 m. by the channel; the mountain is 3 m. further by the same way. Pike was advanced beyond La Crosse when he started from La Crescent, and his 21 m. no doubt set him snug under the famous hill whose F. name snagged him when he reached it. This is not the mountain which "deceives" (trompe) in the water, as by mirage or reflection of itself reversed; but one which rises so abruptly from the water's edge that it seems to bathe, or at least to soak its feet, in the water, and was therefore called by the French la Montagne qui Trempe à l'Eau—a clumsy phrase which we have reduced to Mt. Trempealeau, Mt. Trombalo, and various other terms not less curious. There is a notable assortment of names along the river. On decamping and crossing the bounds of Houston Co. into Winona Co., Minn., Pike comes to the Rising Sun—though his course is about N., and we are not informed whether this name advertises a certain stove-polish, or is meant to throw in the shade both the Turkish crescent and the Christian cross. E. of Rising Sun is Minnesota isl., on the Wisconsin side. A few miles further is a place in Minnesota by the Teutonic name of Dresbach, at the head of Dresbach's isl.; 1½ m. further is a town with the Siouan name Dakota; while E. of these (across the Black r. delta in Wis.) is a place called Onalaska, suggestive of Captain Cook's voyage to the Aleutian isls. One Winter used to have his ldg. on the Wis. side, 2½ m. above Dakota, and in the vicinity of the place where Black r. debouched in Pike's time—Winter's ldg. being a singular verbal coincidence, almost like a pun upon the old name of hibernation (Butte d'Hyvernement), which appears on the earlier pages of Mississippian history. At 3 m. above Winter's ldg. stands Richmond, which was established under Queen's bluff on the Minn. side. Both of these names suggest English Colonial history of the times when a certain country was named Virginia—certainly not to quiz one of the greatest women who ever graced a crown, but to emphasize a diplomatic euphemism. The "highest hill" in this vicinity is Queen's bluff, also known as Spirit rock—not that called Kettle hill by Long in 1817; its elevation was determined by Nicollet to be 531 feet, but was reduced to 375 feet by later measurements. The town of Trempealeau, in the Wis. co. of that name, is midway between Richmond and the mountain; but before Pike reached the latter, he passed on his left the site of Lamoille, Minn., built under the bluff, about 300 feet high, between two creeks whose names are Trout and Cedar. It is really wonderful how much history is hidden—or revealed—in mere names. Personal and local words are the most concrete facts of history. If, for example, those which appear in this paragraph were set forth at full length in proper historical perspective, we should have a perfect panorama of scenes and incidents along 20 m. of the river for 200 yrs. The myrionymous molehill on the river, which has been dignified by the name of a mountain because there are no mountains to speak of in Wisconsin or Minnesota, and which has been belittled by a set of phrases so absurd that it could not be further ridiculed if one were to call it Mt. Trombonello, or Mt. Trump Low, or Mt. Tremble Oh, or Mt. Soak-your-feet-in-mustard-water-and-go-to-bed-oh, has not only conferred titles on a town and a county in Wisconsin, but also on the river which washes its foot, and which is known by one of the most unique circumlocutory phrases to be found in geographical terminology: La Rivière de la Montagne qui Trempe à l'Eau, of the French; River of the Mountain, etc., Pike; Mont. q. t. à l'E. r., Owen; Mountain Island r., Nicollet; Bluff Island r., Long—and so on through all the chimes that can be rung out of paraphrase. It is now usually called Trempealeau r., and forms the boundary between this and Buffalo cos. The Sioux name of the mountain is rendered Minnay Chonkahah, or Bluff in the Water, by Featherstonhaugh. A more frequent form of this is Minneshonka. The Winnebago name is given as Hay-me-ah-chan or Soaking mountain in Hist. Winona Co., 1883. The island on which the mountain rests has a corresponding series of names.

Pike passed to-day the place where was once situated an old French fort, which has lately been unearthed alongside the Chic., Burl. and N. R. R. The site is on the S. half of the S. E. quarter of Section 20, Township 18 N., Range 9 W., 1¾ m. above the village, and 1½ m. below the mountain, of Trempealeau. It was discovered by T. H. Lewis, July, 1885, and by him examined in Nov., 1888, and again in Apr., 1889: see his article, Mag. Amer. Hist., Sept., 1889, and separate, 8vo. p. 5, with three cuts, and postscript dated Feb. 22d, 1890. See also T. H. Kirk, Mag. Amer. Hist., Dec., 1889, article entitled, "Fort Perrot, Wisconsin, established in 1685, by Nicholas Perrot," with reference to the evasive Butte d'Hyvernement, or wintering-hill of the Franquelin map, 1688. The separate of Mr. Lewis' article is entitled, "Old French Post at Trempeleau, Wisconsin." "Fort Perrot," as a name of this establishment, must not be confounded with the one often so called on Lake Pepin.