during the day, we reached the mouth of the Milwaukie River, and encamped on the beach some time after dark. This is a large and important river, and is connected by an Indian portage with the Rock River of the Mississippi. The next morning adverse winds confined us to this spot, where we remained a considerable part of the day, which enabled us to explore the locality. We found it to be the site of a Pottawattomie village. There were two American families located at that place, engaged in the Indian trade. The name of Milwaukie,* exhibits an instance of which there are many others, in which the French have substituted the sound of the letter in place of n, in Indian words. Min, in the Algonquin languages signifies good. Waukie, is a derivative from auki, earth or land, the fertility of the soil, along the banks of that stream, being the characteristic trait which is described in the Indian compound. When the wind lulled so as to permit embarkation, we proceeded on our course. At the computed distance of five miles, we observed a bed of light-colored tertiary clay, possessing a compactness, tenacity, and feel, which denote its utility in the arts. This bed, after a break of many miles in the shores, reappears in thicker and more massive layers, at eight or ten miles distance. The waves dashing against this elevated bank of clay,† have liberated balls and crystallized masses of sulphuret of iron. Some of the more recently exposed masses of this mineral are of a bright brass color. The tendency of their crystallization is to restore octahedral and cubical forms. We advanced along this shore about thirty-five miles, encamping on an eligible part of the beach before dark. I found, in examining the mineralogy of the coast, masses of detached limestone, containing fissures filled with asphaltum. On breaking these masses, and laying open the fissures, the substance assumed the form of naphtha. We observed among the plants along this portion of coast, the tradescantia vir * Milwaukie is the principal city of the State of Wisconsin. It lies in latitude 43° 3′ 45 North. It is ninety miles north of Chicago and seventy-five east from Madison. It contains thirty churches, five public high schools, two academies, five orphan asylums, and other benevolent institutions, seven daily and seven weekly newspapers, four banks, and, by the census of 1850, 20,161 inhabitants. † An admired kind of cream-colored bricks are manufactured from portions of the clay found near Milwaukie. ginica, and T. liatris, and squarrosa scariosa.* By scrutinizing the wave-moved pebble-drift along shore, it is evident that inferior positions, in the geological basin of Lake Michigan, contain slaty, or bituminous coal, masses of which were developed. The next day's journey, 28th, carried us forty miles, in which distance, the most noticeable fact in the topography of the coast, was the entrance of the Racine, or Root River;t its eligible shores being occupied by some Pottawattomie lodges. Having reached within ten or twelve miles of Chicago, and being anxious to make that point, we were in motion at a very early hour on the morning of the 29th, and reached the village at five o'clock A. M. We found four or five families living here, the principal of which were those of Mr. John Kinzie, Dr. A. Wolcott, J. B. Bobian, and Mr. J. Crafts, the latter living a short distance up the river. The Pottawattomies, to whom this site is the capital of their trade, appeared to be lords of the soil, and truly are entitled to the epithet, if laziness, and an utter inappreciation of the value of time, be a test of lordliness. Dr. Wolcott, being the U. S. Agent for this tribe, found himself at home here, and constitutes no further, a member of the expedition. Gov. Cass determined to return to Detroit from this point, on horseback, across the peninsula of Michigan, accompanied by Lt. Mackay, U. S. A., Maj. Forsyth, his private secretary, and the necessary number of men and pack horses to prepare their night encampments. This left Capt. Douglass and myself to continue the survey of the Lakes, and after reaching Michilimackinac and rejoining the party of Mr. Trowbridge, to return to Detroit from that point. The preparation for these ends occupied a couple of days, which gave us an opportunity to scan the vicinity. We found the post (Fort Dearborn) under the command of Capt. Bradley, with a force of one hundred and sixty men. The river is ample and deep for a few miles, but is utterly choked up by the lake sands, through which, behind a masked margin, it oozes its way for a * Dr. J. Torrey, Am. Journ. Science, vol. 4, p. 56. RACINE. This is now the second city in size in the State of Wisconsin. By the census of 1850, its population is 5,110. It has a harbor which admits vessels drawing twelve feet water; it has fourteen churches, a high school, college, bank, several newspapers, three ship-yards, and exhibits more than two millions of imports and exports. The settlement was commenced in 1835. mile or two, till it percolates through the sands into the lake. Its banks consist of a black arenaceous fertile soil, which is stated to produce abundantly, in its season, the wild species of cepa, or leek. This circumstance has led the natives to name it the place of the wild leek. Such is the origin of the term Chicago,* which is a derivative, by elision and French annotation, from the word Chikaug-ong. Kaug, is the Algonquin name for the hystrix, or porcupine. It takes the prefix Chi, when applied to the mustela putorius. The particle Chi, is the common prefix of nouns to denote greatness in any natural object, but it is also employed, as here, to mean increase, or excess, as acridness, or pungency, in quality. The penultimate ong, denotes locality. The putorius is so named from this plant, and not, as has been thought, the plant from it. I took the sketch, which is reproduced in the fourth vol. of my Ethnological Researches, Plate xxvii., from a standpoint on the flat of sand which stretched in front of the place. This view embraces every house in the village, with the fort; and if the reproduction of the artist in vol. iv. may be subjected to any criticism, it is, perhaps, that the stockade bears too great a proportion to the scene, while the precipice observed in the shore line of sand, is wholly wanting in the original. The country around Chicago is the most fertile and beautiful that can be imagined. It consists of an intermixture of woods and prairies, diversified with gentle slopes, sometimes attaining the elevation of hills, and it is irrigated with a number of clear streams and rivers, which throw their waters partly into Lake Michigan, and partly into the Mississippi River. As a farming country, it presents the greatest facilities for raising stock and * CHICAGO is the largest city of the State of Illinois, excelling all others in its commercial and business capacities, and public and moral influences. Standing on the borders of the great western prairies, it is the great city of the plains, and its growth cannot be limited, or can scarcely be estimated. It began to be built about 1831, eleven years after this visit. It was incorporated as a city in 1836, with 4,853 inhabitants. In 1850, it had 29,963, and it is now estimated to exceed 60,000. This city lies in lat. 41° 52′ 20. It is connected by lakes, canals, and railroads, with the most distant regions. Its imports and exports the last year, were twenty millions. Like all the cities and towns of America, its political and moral influence, are seen to keep an exact pace with its sound religious influences; the number of churches and newspapers, having a certain fixed relation. More than any other city of the West, its position destines it to be another Nineveh. grains, and it is one of the most favored parts of the Mississippi Valley; the climate has a delightful serenity, and it must, as soon as the Indian title is extinguished,* become one of the most attractive fields for the emigrant. To the ordinary advantages of an agricultural market town, it must add that of being a depot for the commerce between the northern and southern sections of the Union, and a great thoroughfare for strangers, merchants, and travellers. The Milwaukie clays to which I have adverted, do not extend thus far, although the argillaceous deposits found, appear to be destitute of the oxide of iron, for the bricks produced from them burn white. There is a locality of bituminous coal on Fox River, about forty miles south. Near the junction of the Desplaines River with the Kankakee, there exists in the semi-crystalline or sedimentary limestone, a remarkable fossil-tree.t ` • This was done in 1821; having been, myself, secretary to the Commissioners, Gov. Cass and Hon. Sol. Sibley, who were appointed to treat with the Indians. Vide Indian Treaties, p. 297. + FOSSIL FLORA of the West.-Of this gigantic specimen of the geological flora of the newer rocks of the Mississippi Valley, I published a memoir in 1822, founded on a personal examination of the phenomena. Albany, E. and E. Hosford, 24 pp. 8vo. This paper (Vide Appendix) was prepared for the American Geological Society, at New Haven. See American Journ. Science, vol. 4, p. 285; See also, vol. 5, p. 23, for appreciating testimony of the value of geological science (then coming into notice), from Ex-Presidents John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison, to whom copies of it were transmitted. CHAPTER XIX. South and Eastern borders of Lake Michigan--Their Flora and Fauna-Incidents of the journey-Topography--Geology, Botany, and Mineralogy-Indian Tribes -Burial-place of Marquette-Ruins of the post of old Mackinac--Reach Michilimackinac after a canoe journey north of four hundred miles. It was now the last day of August. Having partaken of the hospitalities of Mr. Kinzie, and of Captains Bradley and Green, of Fort Dearborn, during our stay at Chicago, and completed the reorganization of our parties, we separated on the last day of the month, at two o'clock P. M.; Gov. Cass and his party, on horseback, taking the old Indian trail to Detroit, and Capt. Douglass and myself being left, with two canoes, to complete the circumnavigation of the lakes. We did not delay our departure over thirty minutes, but bidding adieu to Dr. Wolcott, whose manners, judgment, and intelligence had commanded our respect during the journey, embarked with two canoes; our steersmen immediately hoisted their square sails, and, favored by a good breeze, we proceeded twenty miles along the southern curve, at the head of Lake Michigan, and encamped. Within two miles of Chicago, we passed, on the open shores of the lake, the scene of the massacre of Chicago, of the 15th of August, 1812, being the day after the surrender of Detroit by Gen. Hull. Gloom hung, at that eventful period, over every part of our western borders. Michilimackinac had already been carried by surprise; and the ill-advised order to evacuate Chicago, was deemed by the Indians an admission that the Americans were to be driven from the country. The Pottawattomies determined to show the power of their hostility on this occasion. Capt. Heald, the commanding officer, having received Gen. Hull's order to abandon the post, and having an escort of thirty friendly Miamis, from Fort Wayne, under Captain Wells, had quitted the |