been consumed by fire, as far as the eye could reach on every side. The prospect is one of a broken landscape of barren hills, studded here and there with charred pine stubs, with scarce a living tree except the second growth of white birch and poplar. The soil of the hills is rocky and unfit for cultivation." Within this "burnt district" there are two perpendicular falls, about a mile apart, and about nine feet in height; and at the termination of that district is the Big Quinnesec Falls, where there is a difficult portage of one and a half miles. The total fall in this distance in the river is one hundred and thirty-four feet. "This amount," says Capt. Cram, "is divided into several chutes, with intervening rapids. The general aspect of this series of water falls is exceedingly picturesque: at every change of the point of view, new and varied beauties are perceived; but the lower fall of the series is by far the most magnificent of all the cascades on the Menomonee. Here the whole river is seen in a terrible phrenzy, dashing in mighty masses of foam over a perpendicular wall of rocks forty feet in height." The next fall in descending the river is the Little Quinnesec, where the fall is about thirty-five feet in an extent of two hundred and fifty feet, and the river is contracted in width to about eighty-five feet. The bed and banks are composed of slate rock. The name of these two falls, Quinnesec, is derived from what the Indians take to be smoke (spray), which is seen continually ascending from the bottom of the torrent high into the air. The portage is short, but very steep and difficult. A short distance below is Sandy Portage, a beautiful rapid about a mile in extent, with a perpendicular fall. Sturgeon Falls, so called because the sturgeon, in ascending the river, are stopped here, and collect in great numbers, is the next below Sandy Portage. The fall is thirteen and three-fourths feet, in a distance of one thousand feet. The river is here also contracted to eighty feet in width, and rushes through a straight gap or cliff, the summit of which is one hundred feet above the water below the falls. It is quite impossible for canoes or even sturgeon to pass these falls in safety. The scenery is picturesque, and the abundance of sturgeon causes it to be much visited by the Indians. The Quaver Rapids and portage, some miles below, require an hour for the passage. The Pemenee Falls (elbow), so called from a crook in the river just below, has a fall of eight and eighty-four hundredths feet, in a distance of eight hundred and thirtythree feet, exclusive of a short rapid immediately above the principal chute. The passage for the water, in its narrowest place, is fifty feet wide. A slight rapids, called White Rapids, lies between the Pemenee and the Grand Rapids, where for two miles the water is shoal, and passes over a smooth bottom of flat stones. Below these are two slight rapids, known as Chappeau's and the Menomonee Rapids. When this country becomes densely populated, the various rapids along the river will, in consequence of the water power they afford, become the sites of important villages and manufacturing towns. The NEENAH, or, as it was formerly called, the Fox River of Green Bay,* is one of the most important rivers in Wisconsin, extending, as it does, nearly half across the Territory, and almost touching at the portage the waters of another river, by which navigation may, with a little improvement, be extended across the country from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi. It takes its rise in Lake Sarah, Portage county, and runs in a direction a little south of west (almost directly opposite its general course) for eighteen miles, towards the Wisconsin, as if with the intention of entering that river; but, owing to some unaccountable freak of nature, when within one and a half miles of that stream, makes a sudden turn to the north, and soon assumes its general course towards Green Bay. From the * It is to be regretted that the citizens are not willing to adopt the Indian name of this important river, as we have another of the same name. portage to Lake Winnebago, through which this river passes, it winds about among extensive marshes covered with tall grass and wild rice. Below the lake there is a succession of rapids, that require an expenditure of about four hundred and fifty thousand dollars to render the river navigable. At the Winnebago Rapids, near Lake Winnebago, there is a descent of seven feet and fifty-four hundredths in a distance of seven thousand seven hundred feet. At the Grand Chute, nine miles above the Grand Kakalin, there is a fall of twenty-nine feet and sixty-eight hundredths, in a distance of eight thousand five hundred and twenty-five feet. At the head of the chute the bluffs are very steep and high. At the Little Chute, three miles above the Grand Kakalin, there is a descent of thirty-one feet and twenty-two hundredths, in a distance of nine thousand two hundred feet; and the banks are high and steep near the head of the chute. At the Grand Kakalin there is a fall of forty-four feet, in a distance of eight thousand six hundred feet. At the Rapide de Croche, four miles below the Grand Kakalin, the fall of the river is only one foot and seventeen hundredths, in a distance of thirteen hundred feet; but the "crook" is so short, and the current so rapid, and sets so strongly against the southern bank, that a boat would experience great difficulty in passing, and would invariably incur the risk of being forced against the shore before it could turn the elbow or crook. The Little Kakalin, and Depere Rapids, are already improved, by the dam at Depere, of six feet in height. The whole descent in these rapids is about one hundred and twenty feet; and if we add one foot per mile for the descent of the river between the rapids, we find Lake Winnebago one hundred and sixty feet above Lake Michigan. Above Lake Winnebago, the descent in the river is probably about half a foot per mile, or sixty-three feet to the portage, making that place, as stated in the table of altitudes (page 49), two hundred and twenty-three feet above Lake Michigan. At a place on this river called Red Banks, there are numerous ancient artificial mounds and earth-works, on both sides of the river. Table of distances along the course of the Neenah: From the mouth to the Rapides des Peres . 7 miles. 5 7 4 4 5 Winnebago Rapids Oshkosh (through Lake Winnebago) Great Butte des Morts lake through said lake to mouth of Wolf river Lake Puckawa through said lake to Buffalo lake The other streams, which are wholly or partially within the county of Brown, so far as they have received names, and become known to the writer, are as follows: APPLE RIVER, a branch of the Neenah from the northwest, entering about five miles below Rapide de Croche. ASHWABENA, another small tributary of the Neenah, enters between Green Bay and Depere, from the west. BENTON CREEK, a small branch of the West Twin river, about ten miles in length, entering near the north part of town twenty-one, range twenty-three. DUCK CREEK, a small stream running through the tract of land occupied by the Oneida Indians, and entering Green Bay a little west of the Neenah. The settlement of Oneida Indians is on this creek, numbering about seven hundred, of whom one hundred and twenty are communicants of the Episcopal Church, under the charge of the Rev. Solomon Davis. EMBARRASS, a branch of Wolf river, from the west. KEWAUNEE RIVER, a tributary of Lake Michigan, entering immediately east from the southern extremity of Green Bay. It is about twenty-five miles long, and drains about one hundred and twenty square miles of surface. It is said to be navigable for vessels drawing twelve feet, for a distance of five and a half miles from its mouth, to a place where it has worn a channel for itself through a limestone ledge, and affords good water power. It is the most northerly stream on the west side of the lake at which a good harbor can be constructed. MANITOO RIVER (or, as it is vulgarly called, Devil river) rises near the south line of the country, and running parallel to, and within two or three miles of the Neenah river, for a distance of twenty miles, enters that river near its mouth. This peculiar tendency of several streams and lakes to parallelism, is probably owing to some peculiar arrangement of the strata of rock beneath the soil, which is here limestone. MARTIN'S CREEK, a branch of the East Twin river, about seven miles in length, entering in town twenty-one, and range twenty-four. MAUVAISE CREEK, a stream about nine miles in length, running between Benton's and Martin's Creek, into the East Twin. MUD CREEK enters the Neenah from the south, at the foot of the Little Chute, two and a half miles above La Fontaine. Muskos, a branch of the Menomonee, sometimes called Pine river, which enters near the Big Quinnesec Falls a few miles below the mouth of the Wesacota. It is so low in summer that it is not navigable, except for the smallest canoes ; and in some seasons it is almost dry. This indicates a sandy bed and soil. NAMAYACUM, a branch of the Neenah, entering from the north a few miles below Puckawa lake. |