Note I-70 — Chapter I · ITINERARY: ST. LOUIS TO ST. PAUL, AUGUST 9TH-SEPTEMBER 21ST, 1805.

Especially as it leaves us in the lurch for mileage of the 19th. But we can easily overhaul him before he gets to St. Paul, which is only 30 river-miles from Prescott (mouth of St. Croix r.). He did not go far above this river; for he makes it 26½ + 8 = 34½ m. to the Sioux village, which latter was close to the present city limits of St. Paul. If we must set a camp for him, it may be assigned to Hastings, Dakota Co., Minn., 2½ m. above Prescott, Pierce Co., Wis., and 18½ m. below Newport, Washington Co., Minn., in the vicinity of which he will camp to-morrow. "Tattoo," at which the blunderbuss was fired, is not a place, as the context and capitalization might suggest, but a certain military call which is habitually sounded in garrisons and camps in the evening before taps. It marks the hour when the soldiers are supposed to retire to their quarters for their devotions before the lights are put out at taps, and when the officers settle down in earnest for the night's poker. In approaching the St. Croix from his camp opposite Cannon r., Pike has bluffs off his right nearly all the way, and the town of Diamond Bluff, Pierce Co., Wis., is at the point where they first reach to the river, a mile and a half above the mouth of Trimbelle r., right, and 11 m. below Prescott. On the left the bluffs are off the river all the way, and for most of this distance Vermilion slough, running under the bluffs, cuts off an island 11 m. long and at its widest near 3 m. broad. The lower outlet of the slough is below Trimbelle r.; the middle opening is only 3 m. below Prescott; the upper one is at Hastings. The bottom-land of the principal island has several bodies of water, one of them called Sturgeon l., discharging separately from the main slough; and is traversed lengthwise by a sand-bank 6 m. long, which may be called Lesueur's Terrace. For this Prairie or Bald isl. is no doubt that formerly known as Isle Pelée, on which was built Fort Lesueur, 1695. The middle opening of Vermilion slough is in common with a lower outlet of Vermilion r. This is Rapid r. of Long, and Rivière Jaune of the French; "R. Jaune" appears on Franquelin's map, 1688. The upper discharge of this river is at Hastings, and thus above the mouth of the St. Croix; Lake Isabel is a small sheet between the river and the town. The Minnesota county line between Goodhue and Dakota strikes the Mississippi just 1¼ m. below the lower mouth of Vermilion r. At the mouth of the St. Croix the Mississippi ceases or rather begins to separate Wisconsin from Minnesota; so that henceforth Pike proceeds in the latter State.