^m ':vj. YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY THE LIBRARY ASSOCIATES Gift of Frank A, Assmann Yale 1909 ADVENT UEES WILDS or THE UNITED STATES iri&l l^mmcait IroMnces CHARLES LANMAN, AUTHOR OF " ESSAYS FOR SUMMER HOURS," "PRIVATE LIFE OP DANIEL WEBSTER," ETC., ETC ILLUSTRATED BY THE AUTHOR AND OSCAR BESSAU. "Without registering these things by the pen they will slide away unprofitably."— Owes Felltham. WITH AN APPENDIX BY LIEUT. CAMPBELL HAEDY. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. PHILADELPHIA: JOHN W. MOORE, No. 195 CHESTNUT STREET. 1856. Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1856, by JOHN W. MOOEE, in the Clerk's OfBce of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. H. B. ASHMEAD, BOOK AND JOB PRINTER, GEORGE STKEET ABOVE ELEVENTH. J TRYING HIS LUCK. PEEFACE. This work is composed of materials which I have gathered within the last ten years, while performing occasional Tours into almost every nook and corner of the United States, and the neighboring British Provinces. It comprehends ample descriptions of the Valleys of the Mississippi and St. Lawrence rivers, with the Basin of the Great Lakes, the entire Mountain-Land overlooking -our Atlantic seaboard, and the Alluvial Region bordering on the Gulf of Mexico. It is indeed a kind of Cyclopedia of American Scenery and Personal Ad venture, and of Traveling Incidents, calculated to exhibit the man ners and customs of our people, and interest the lovers of Natural History and the various Arts of Sporting. The several parts of the work, as they at present appear, were origi nally published in the journals and periodicals of the day, and sub sequently in as many small volumes, which were all very kindly received by the public, both in this country and England. My chief channel of communication, however, as a Tourist, has been the National Intelligeiicer ; but I have also written occasionally for the New York Observer, the New York Express, the Southern Literary Messenger, and Bentley's Magazine. Among those who have been my friends, and given me advice, and whose kindly offices I have acknowledged in brief Dedicatory Epistles, now thrown aside, are Messrs. Gales & Seaton, Hon. George P. Marsh, Professor Joseph Henry, William C. Bryant, Esq., Hon. John F. Crampton, and IV PEEFACE. Washington Irving, Esq. I mention these several names with pride and thankfulness, and can only hope that the unpretending literary career of their sometime pupil, will reflect no discredit upon their teachings. With regard to Mr. Irving, I would say that his delightful writings were the first to animate me with a natural, though in my case a daring spirit of emulation, ^ut as I have, in the following letters, his sanction for my folly, I am quite contented. The first had reference to my traveling essays, as they were appearing at inter vals, and the second was in answer to a petition for advice on the pro priety of the present publication. Sunny Side. My Dear Sir : — I would not reply to your very obliging letter of September 10th, until I had time to read the volumes which accom panied it. This, from the pressure of various engagements, I have but just been able to do; and I now return you thanks for the delightful entertainment which your summer rambles have afforded me. I do not see that I have any literary advice to give you, excepting to keep on as you have begun. You seem to have the happy, enjoyable humor of old Izaak Walton. I anticipate great success, therefore, in your Essays on our American Fishes, and on Angling, which I trust will give us still further scenes and adven tures on our great internal waters, depicted with the freshness and graphic skill of your present volumes. In fact, the adventurous life of the angler, amidst our wild scenery, on our vast lakes and rivers, must furnish a striking contrast to the quiet loiterings of the English angler along the Trent or Dove ; with country milk-maids to sing madrigals to him, and a snug, decent country inn at night, where he may sleep in sheets that have been laid in lavender. With best wishes for your success, I am, my dear sir, Very truly, your obliged WASHINGTON IRVING. preface. v Sunny Side. My Dear Sir ; — I am glad to learn that you intend to publish your narrative and descriptive writings in a collected form. I have read parts of them as they were published separately, and the great pleasure derived from the perusal makes me desirous of having the whole in my possession. They carry us into the fastnesses of our mountains, the depths , of our forests, the watery wilderness of our lakes and rivers, giving xis pictures of savage life and savage tribes, Indian legends, fishing and hunting anecdotes, the adventures of trappers and backwoodsmen; our whole arcanum, in short, of indi genous poetry and iromanoe : to use a favorite phrase of the old dis coverers, " they lay open the secrets of the country to us." I cannot but believe your work will be well received, and meet with the wide circulation which it assuredly merits. With best wishes for your success, I remain, my dear sir. Yours, very truly, WASHINGTON IRVING. ' But another of the "Literary Fathers," who hais honored me with his friendly advice, is the Hon. Edward Everett, and, as I have his permission for doing so, I trust my readers will excuse me for print ing the following letter : Washington, February 19th, 1853. Dear Sir : — I am much obliged to you for the "copy of the English edition of your life of Mr. Webster, kindly sent with your note of yesterday. I fully concur with the opinions expressed by Mr. Irving, on the subject of a collective edition of your narrative and descriptive writ ings. Having, during nearly all the time since they began to appear, been engaged in official duties, which have left me but little time for VI PEEFACE. general reading, I am not familiar with all of them; but from what I have read of them, and from Mr. Irving's emphatic and discriminat ing commendation, I am confident the series would be welcomed by a large class of readers. You have explored nooks in our scenery seldom visited; and described forms of life and manners of which the greater portion of our busy population are entirely ignorant. Topics of this kind, though briefly sketched, are, or at least ought to be, in this country, of far greater interest than the attempted descriptions of fashionable life in Europe, which form the staple of those trashy works of fiction constantly poured in upon us from abroad. Wishing you much success in your proposed undertaking, I remain. Very truly yours, EDWARD EVERETT. As to the concluding division of this work, it is proper that I should make an explanatory remark. It was intended as a kind of Sequel to the preceding Sketches, and consists of after records, the majority of which 'might have been printed in the shape of letters, when the notes for them were first collected, but were published in the National Intelligencer as Editorial Essays, whereby the frequent use of the pronoun we is accounted for. The essays on the Game Fish of the country were written at various periods of my angling expe rience, so that the reader will occasionally find in the body of the work more full accounts of the fishing streams and their scenery than in the sequel ; while those who feel an interest in the Legendary Lore of the Aborigines, are referred to the additional collection at the end of the work. I also deem it proper to mention ii^this place, that the first part was written in '1846, the second in 1847, the third in 1848, the fourth in 1851, the fifth in 1853, the sixth in 1853 and 1854, and the seventh from 1846 to 1856. And now, on glancing over the pages of my manuscript, I am re- PEEFACE. VXl minded of the many kind and agreeable people, by whom I have been entertained in my manifold journeys, or with whom I have sported in the lonely wilderness, and to all of tlj.em would I send a wish for their prosperity and happiness. From them, and from Nature, have I gathered the staple of this work, and the secret of my success thus far, I fancy to be, that I have always written from impulse, with an honest intention, and in the hope of securing the approbation of those only whose hearts beat in sympathy with my own. One word more. Should some of the earlier passages of my present publication appear, to the matured reader, to be somewhat too fanciful in idea or expression, he will please remember that it is not manly always to condemn the follies of youth ; — and I must add the con fession, that I would rather be wrong with the warm-hearted lover of nature, than to be right with the cold-blooded critic. Georgetown, D. C, Summer of 1856. CONTENTS OE VOL. L gl Sttmnwr in % Miltentss: PAGE. 1 THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER, - .... 7 LEGEND OP THE ILLINOIS, 12 NAUVOO, - - - - - 15 PRAIRIE DU CHIEN, 19 THE LEAD REGION, ... . . 25 THE ALPINE REGION, ... - 29 RED WING VILLAGE, ... 34 THE FALLS OF SAINT ANTHONY, 38 A RIDE ON HORSEBACK, - - - - 45 CROW WING, - - - 48 THE INDIAN TRADER, 55 SPIRIT LAKE, - - 59 LAKE WINNIPEG, - - - 64 RED CEDAR LAKE, 69 ELK LAKE, - .... 75 LEECH LAKE, - . . 79 PISH OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI, - - 84 SANDY LAKE, - - .... 90 THE SAINT LOUIS RIVER, - - - 94 LAKE SUPERIOR, ... . - 100 CONTENTS. THE VOYAGEUR, THE COPPER REGION, SAULT SAINT MARIE, MACKINAW, RECOLLECTIONS OF MICHIGAN, 110119123 128182 Ji %mx t0 % iito M^utm^: THE CATSKILL MOUNTAINS, A SPRING DAY, . . . - THE CORN PLANTING BEE, LAKE HORICON, THE SCAROON COUNTRY, THE ADIRONDAC MOUNTAINS, THE ADIRONDAC HUNTER, LAKE CHAMPLAIN, THE GREEN AND WHITE MOUNTAINS, MONTREAL, ... QUEBEC, ... ... DOWN THE ST. LAWRENCE, THE SAGUENAY RIVER, SALMON FISHING ADVENTURES, SEAL HUNTING ON THE ST. LAWRENCE, THE ESQUIMAUX INDIANS OF LABRADOR, THE HABITANS OF CANADA, LAKE TIMISCOUTA, - THE ACADIANS, DOWN THE MADAWASKA, .... THE HERMIT OF AROOSTOOK, ... THE RIVER ST. JOHN, THE PENOBSCOT RIVER, MOOSEHEAD LAKE AND THE KENNEBEC RIVER, 171 188 196 200 211217229238 244255259 265270 278 288 293 297 301 305 309 312 325 329 333 CONTENTS. xi Uitm front % Pe|f|ans lliUMnidiis ; DAHLONEGA, .... . . 343 TRIP TO TRACK ROCK, 351 VALLEY OF NACOOCHEE, - - - 355 CASCADE OP TUCCOAH, - - - 360 THE PALLS OP TALLULAH, - . 364 THE HUNTER OF TALLULAH, - . - 369 TRAIL MOUNTAIN, - - - . 374 DOWN THE OWASSA, - . 378 ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS, - 384 THE LITTLE TENNESSEE, 392 SMOKY MOUNTAIN, - - 400 THE CHEROKEE INDIANS, - 407 CHEROKEE CUSTOMS, - - - 413 CHEROKEE CHARACTERS, - 417 HICKORY NUT GAP, 425 THE FRENCH BROAD RIVER, - - - 431 BLACK MOUNTAIN, - 438 . THE CATAWBA COUNTRY, - 445 THE MOUNTAINS AND THEIR PEOPLE, 455 THE NAMELESS VALLEY, - - 460 THE VALLEY OP VIRGINIA, - 467 MISCELLANEOUS NOTES, 472 W^t Smtos 0{% |0t0mii;t: ROMNEY, . - - 477 MOORPIELD, - - - 484 THE HERMIT WOMAN OP THE ALLEGHANIES, 489 ACROSS TH% ALLEGHANIES, - 495 THE CHEAT RIVER COUNTRY, - 500 BUFFALO GLADE, - -