CHAPTER XVII.
Descent of the Fox River from Winnebago Lake to Green Bay--Incidents--Etymology, conchology, mineralogy--Falls of the Konomic and Kakala--Population and antiquity of the settlement of Green Bay--Appearances of a tide, not sustained.
A rapid commences at the precise point where Fox River issues from Winnebago Lake. This rapid, down which canoes descend with half loads, extends a mile and a half, when the river assumes its usual navigable form, presenting a noble volume. Nine miles below this, a ledge of the semi-crystalline limestone rock crosses the entire channel, lifting itself five feet above the bed of the stream. Over this the Fox River throws itself by an abrupt cascade. Down this shelf of rock, the canoes, previously lightened of their burden, are lifted by the men. It was sometime after dark when we reached and encamped on the north shore, at the foot of this cascade, which bears the name of Konamik. The syllable _kon_, in this word, appears to me to be the same as _con_ in Wisconsin, and is, apparently, a derivative from a term for strong water, which has, in this case, the meaning of cascade or fall. The word _amik_, its terminal, means a beaver. We thus have the probable original meaning in beaver-water, or, by implication, beaver cascade. There is a rapid below this fall. I judged the water must sink its level, in this vicinity, about fifteen feet. On examining the character of the limestone, I discovered crystals of calcareous spar occupying small cavities. At other localities, at lower points, there were found crystals of black sulphuret of zinc, and yellow sulphuret of iron. The rock appears to be of the same age as the lead-bearing limestone of the West; it is also overlaid by the red marly clay, and I should judge it to contain deposits of sulphuret of lead.
The next morning, we resumed our descent of the Fox River with difficulty. It was now the 19th of August, and the waters had reached their lowest summer stage. The entire distance of twelve miles from the Konamik to the Kákala fall may be deemed to be, at this season, a continuous rapid. Our barge was abandoned on the rapids. While the men toiled in these rapids to get down their canoes, it was found rather a privilege to walk, for it gave a more ample opportunity to examine the mineral structure and productions of the country.
It was high noon when we reached the rapids of the Kákala. This is a formidable rapid, at which the river rushes with furious velocity down a rocky bed, which it seems impossible boats or canoes should ever safely descend. It demands a portage to be made, under all circumstances, the water sweeping round a curve or bow, of which the portage path is the string. This is the apparent meaning of the term, in the Indian tongue; but it is disguised by early orthography, in which the letter _l_ has taken the place of _n_, and the syllable _in_ of _au_. The term _kakina_ is the ancient French form of the Indian transitive-adjective _all_, inclusive, entirely. There is another root for the term in _kakiwa_, which is the ordinary term for a portage, or walk across a point of land, which is rendered local by the usual inflection, _o-nong_.
We found the portage path to be a well-beaten wagon road across a level fertile plain, which appeared to have been in cultivation from the earliest Indian period. Probably it had been a locality for the tribes, where they raised their favorite maize, long before the French first reached the waters of Green Bay. Evidence of such antiquity in the plain of Kákala appeared in an ancient cemetery of a circular shape, situated on one side of the road, on a comparatively large surface, which had reached the height of some eight or ten feet, by the mere accumulation of graves. This has all the appearance of a sepulchral mound, in the slow process of construction; for, on viewing it, I found a recent grave. We passed, on this plain, a Winnebago village of ten or twelve lodges, embracing two hundred souls. The portage is continued just one mile. Embarking again, at this point, we proceeded down the river, and encamped eight miles below this point, having, with every exertion, made but twenty miles this day.
The interest which had been excited by the conchology of the Mississippi and Wisconsin valleys, was renewed in the descent of the Fox River, particularly in the section of it below Winnebago Lake. Shrunk to its lowest summer level, its shores disclosed almost innumerable species of unios, many of which had been manifestly dragged to the shores and opened by the muskrat, thus serving to give hints for finding the living species. Among these, the U. obliqua, U. cornutus, U. ellipticus, U. carinatus, U. Alatus, U. prælongus, and U. parvus, were conspicuous; the latter of which, it is remarked by Mr. Barnes, is the smallest and most beautiful of all the genus yet discovered in America.[123] In the duplicates, from this part of the Fox River, transmitted to Mr. Isaac Lea, of Philadelphia, he found a species with green-rayed beaks, on a yellow surface and iridescent nacre, having a peculiar structure, which he did me the honor to name after me.[124] The description of Mr. Lea is as follows: "Unio Schoolcraftensis. Shell subrotund, somewhat angular at posterior dorsal margin, nearly equilateral, compressed, slightly tuberculate posteriorly to umbonical slope. Substance of the shell rather thick; beaks elevated; ligament short; epidermis smooth yellow, with several broad green rays; teeth elevated, and cleft in the left valve, single, and rising from a pit in the right; lateral teeth elevated, straight, and lamellar; anterior cicatrices distinct, posterior cicatrices confluent; dorsal cicatrices within the cavity of the shell on the base of the cardinal tooth; cavity of the beaks angular and deep; nacre pearly white and iridescent. Diameter ·7, length 1·1, breadth 1·3 inches."
[123] Amer. Journ. Science, vol. vi. pp. 120, 259, &c.
[124] Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, vol. v. p. 37; plate 3, fig. 9.
The next morning (20th), a heavy fog in the Fox Valley detained us in our encampment till 7 o'clock. Six miles brought us to another rapid, called the Little Kakala, which, however, opposes no obstacle to the descent of canoes. At this spot, which is the apparent western terminus of the Bay settlement, we found a party of U. S. soldiers, from Fort Howard, engaged in digging the foundations for a saw-mill. Our appearance must have been somewhat rusty at this time, from our deficiences in the tonsorial and sempstrescal way, for these sons of Mars did not recognize their superior officers in Capt. Douglass and Lt. Mackay; glibly saying, in a jolly way, as they handed them a drink of water: "After me, sir, is manners;" and drinking off the first cup. At this rapid I got out of my canoe, wishing to see the geological formation more fully, and walked quite to the Rapide du Pere, where Fox River finds its level in the broad, elongated, and lake-like tongue of water, extending up from the head of Green Bay. On reaching this point, the scene of the settlement first burst on our view, with its farm-houses and cultivated fields stretching, for five miles, along both banks of the river; disclosing the flagstaff of the distant fort, and the bannered masts of vessels, all of which brought vividly to mind our approach to the civilized world. If the Canadian boat-song was ever exhilarating and appropriate, it was peculiarly so on the present occasion; and when our _voyageurs_ burst out, in full chorus, with the ancient ditty, beginning,
"_La fille du Roi son vout chassau, Avec son grande fusee d'largent_,"
they waked up a responsive feeling, not alone in the breasts of the French _habitans_, lining the shores of the river, but in our own breasts. On reaching the fort, the salute due to the governor of a territory was paid, in honor of our leader, Governor Cass; and in exchanging congratulations with the officers and citizens, we began first to feel, in reality, that, after passing among many savage tribes, our scalps were still safely on our heads. I found, at the fort, letters from my friends, and was thus reminded that warm sympathies had been alive for our fate. Weary regions had now been past, and privations endured, of which we thought little, at the time; the flag of the Union had been carried among barbarous tribes, who hardly knew there was such a power as the United States, or, if they knew, despised it; and some information had been gathered, which it was hoped would enlarge the boundaries of science, and would at the same time send a thrill of satisfaction, and impart a feeling of security, along the whole line of the advanced and extended western settlements. If Berkeley, in the dark days of the Commonwealth of England, could turn to the West, with exultation, as the hope of the nation, it must be admitted that it is by some out-door means, like this, that the way for the car of "empire" must be prepared.
We found the fort, which bears the name of Howard, in charge of Capt. W. Wistler, during the absence of Col. Joseph L. Smith. Its strength consists of three hundred men, together with about the same number of infantry at Camp Smith, at Rock or Dupere Rapid, a few miles above, who are engaged in quarrying stone for a permanent fortification at that point. On visiting this quarry, I found it to consist of a bluish-gray limestone, semi-crystalline in its structure, containing small disseminated masses of sulphuret of zinc, calcspar, and iron pyrites, and corresponding, in every respect, with the beds of this rock observed along the upper parts of the Fox and Wisconsin valleys.
Fort Howard is seated on a handsome fertile plain, on the north banks of the Fox, near its mouth. It consists of a stockade of timber, thirty feet high, inclosing barracks, which face three sides of a quadrangle. This forms a fine parade. There are blockhouses, mounting guns, at the angles, and quarters for the surgeon and quartermaster, separately constructed. The whole is whitewashed, and presents a neat military appearance. The gardens of the military denote the most fruitful soil and genial climate. Data observed by the surgeon, indicate the site to be unexcelled for its salubrity, such a disease as fever, of any kind, never having visited it, in either an endemic or epidemic form.
The name of Green Bay is associated with our earliest ideas of French history in America. When La Salle visited the country in the 17th century, it had been many years known to the French, and was esteemed one of the prime posts for trading with the Indians. The chief tribes who were located here, and in the vicinity, making this their central point of trade, were the _Puants_, i. e. Winnebagoes, Malomonies, or Folle Avoins, known to us as Menomonies, Sacs, and Foxes, called also Sakis, Outagami, and Renouards, and it was also the seat of trade for the equivocal tribe of the Mascoutins. The present inhabitants are, with few exceptions, descendants of the original French, who intermarried with Indian women, and who still speak the French and Indian languages. They are indolent, gay, and illiterate. I was told there were five hundred inhabitants, and about sixty principal dwellings, beside temporary structures. There are seventy inhabitants enrolled as militia-men, and the settlement has civil courts, being the seat of justice from Brown County, Michigan, so called in honor of Major-General Jacob Brown, U. S. A. The place is surrounded by the woodlands and forests, and seems destined to be an important lake-port.[125] The Algonquin name for this place is Boatchweekwaid, a term which describes an eccentric or abrupt bay, or inlet. Nothing could more truly depict its singular position; it is, in fact, a kind of cul-de-sac--a duplicature of Lake Michigan, with the coast-shore of which it lies parallel for about ninety miles.
[125] GREEN BAY. This town has just (1854) been incorporated as a city, the anticipations respecting it having been slow in being realized. It has now an estimated population of 3,000, with several churches in a healthy and flourishing state, two printing presses, a post-office, collectorship, and thriving agricultural and commercial advantages, which will be fully realized when the internal improvements in process of construction through the Fox and Wisconsin valleys are finished. Its extreme salubrity has, it seems, been disregarded by emigrants.
The singular configuration of this bay appears to be the chief cause of the appearances of a tide at the point where it is entered by Fox River. This phenomenon was early noticed by the French. La Hontan mentions it in 1689. Charlevoix remarks on it in 1721, and suggests its probable cause, which is, in his opinion, explained by the fact that Lakes Michigan and Huron, alternately empty themselves into each other through the Straits of Michilimackinac. The effects of such a flux and reflux, under the power of the winds, would appear to place Green Bay in the position of a siphon, on the west of Lake Michigan, and go far to account for the singular fluctuations of the current at the mouth of the Fox River. On reaching this spot of the rising and falling of the lake waters, Governor Cass caused observations to be made, which he greatly extended at a subsequent period.[126] These give no countenance to the theory of regular tides, but denote the changes in the level of the waters to be eccentrically irregular, and dependent, so far as the observations extend, altogether on the condition of the winds and currents of the lakes.
[126] American Journal of Science, vol. xvii.
Something analogous to this is perceived in the Baltic, which has no regular tides, and therefore experiences no difference of height, except when the wind blows violently. "At such times," says Pennant,[127] "there is a current in and out of the Baltic, according to the points they blow from, which forces the water through the sound, with the velocity of two or three Danish miles in the hour. When the wind blows violently from the German Sea, the water rises in several Baltic harbors, and gives those in the western tract a temporary saltness; otherwise, the Baltic loses that other property of a sea, by reason of the want of tide, and the quantity of vast rivers it receives, which sweeten it so much as to render it, in many places, fit for domestic use."
[127] Arctic Geology.