Note II-49 — Chapter II · ITINERARY, CONTINUED: ST. PAUL TO LEECH LAKE, SEPTEMBER 22D, 1805-JANUARY 31ST, 1806.

The direct distance from Aitkin to the site of the N. W. Co. house, at least 1 m. S. of the outlet of Sandy l., is about 24 m.; the river is also pretty direct as a whole, between these two places; but it is extremely tortuous in its many minor bends of a mile or two apiece, so that the distance the sledges traveled on the ice may have been twice as far as that by the way Pike and Bradley forged ahead. These two reached Mr. Grant's house on the night of the 8th; the men with the sledges, not till evening of the 13th. The two sets of camps might be arbitrarily set along this lap, by ignoring such wild figures as "27 miles" for the 5th, and assuming other data. But this would probably not help us to a better understanding of this section of the route than the following notes: 1. Less than a mile above the mouth of Mud r. (Aitkin) a stream falls in on the right; this is Missagony r., marked Sesabagomag r. on Owen's map. 2. Rice r. (Manomin r. of Nicollet's map) falls in on the right, 4½ m. in an air-line above the mouth of Mud r., in Sect. 4, T. 47, R. 26, 4th M. 3. Willow r. falls in on the left, 6 m. in an air-line above the mouth of Rice r., in Sect. 2, T. 48, R. 26, 4th M. This is to be particularly noted in connection with Pike's journey, as he proceeds approximately by way of this river from Sandy l. to Grand Rapids in the vicinity of Pokegama falls. It is the largest tributary of the Mississippi on that side between Pine r. and the Leech Lake branch of the Mississippi. Pike charts it by the name of Pike r.—not his own name, as Beltrami implies, II. p. 446, but that of the pike, a fish, translating F. Rivière du Brochet; it is also Pike r. of Long's map; it was called Alder r. by Cass and Meaogeo r. by Beltrami; but it is now always known as Willow r. Its system of lakes is also in close relation with those E. and S. E. of Leech l., and the river was thus one of the recognized routes between this lake and the Mississippi. Its mouth is about one-third of the direct distance between Aitkin and Sandy lake. 4. There are some rapids above Willow r., two of them called Moose and Sandy Lake rapids; the latter are only about 2½ m. direct W. from the lake, but fully 6 m. by the bends of the river; the town of Portage is near them. Pike and Bradley left the river at some point below these rapids, to make straight for the lake. 5. Sandy l., Lac au Sable or de Sable of the French, is close to the river, on the right hand going up, and discharges into the Mississippi by a short crooked stream called Sandy Lake r., 2 m. or less in length. Its greatest diameter in any direction is probably under 5 m., but the figure is so irregular, with such extensive projections into the main body of waters, that the actual shore-line is more than 30 m. It receives the discharges of a number of smaller lakes in the vicinity, among them one called Aitkin by Nicollet. Its principal feeders are two in number. One of these comes in at the southernmost end of the lake, and takes the name of Sandy, Sandy Lake, or Rice Lake r. The N. P. R. R. crosses this stream near McGregor, which is 12 m. by the wagon-road southward from the discharge of the lake. This river has a main branch from Manomin or Rice l.; and either this branch or the whole river is the Menomeny-sibi or Wild Oats r. of Beltrami. The other main affluent of Sandy l. comes in from the E., at a point on the E. shore in the N. E. ¼ of Sect. 9, T. 49, R. 23, 4th M., and is generally known as Prairie r. Nicollet called it Little Prairie r.; Long, Savanna r. Its main branch from the N. E. is now known as Savanna r.; Nicollet called this West Savannah r. to distinguish it from that branch of the St. Louis r. which he designated East Savannah r., and accentuate the relations of the two. For it must be known that these rivers of the Mississippian basin connect so closely with certain branches of the St. Louis, in the Lake Superior basin, that they were formerly of the utmost importance as waterways between the two great systems, and as such were greatly used by the early voyageurs. The N. W. Co. house where Pike was entertained stood on the W. shore of Sandy l., next to the Mississippi. Pike marks the site on his map, and gives it as 1¼ m. S. of the discharge of the lake into the short thoroughfare by which this reaches the Mississippi. There are existing remains of old settlements in various positions further south. A trail from the Indian village struck the Mississippi r. in the S. E. ¼ of Sect. 4, T. 49, R. 24. When David Thompson was here in 1798, he made the fort to be lat. 46° 46´ 39´´ N., long. 93° 20´ W. It was a point of commercial and even political importance long before Pike's day—it was such at the pivotal date, 1763, in the history of French-English occupancy of the Upper Mississippi. At the discharge of the lake into the Mississippi on the N. side, in the center of Sect. 25, T. 50, R. 24, is a small sharp point; this was the site of a post of the Amer. Fur Co. of which Schoolcraft speaks in 1832; Palmburg was and Libby is there now. It would be a pity if the government dam now constructing on the outlet should convert this beautiful sheet of water into such a dismal cesspool as Lake Winnibigoshish has become since that was dammed; but lumberjacks prevail in northern Minnesota by a large majority, and logging-booms have nothing in common with scenic effects.