Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 1.djvu/198



river was now liable to freeze and Lieutenant Pike remained in camp until December 10th, building sleds and light canoes with which to pursue his explorations northward.

By the 8th of January, 1806, Pike with a corporal of his command reached a trading post on Lake Sable, in latitude 47°, kept by a Mr. Grant, for the Northwest Fur Company. This English company had extended its trade into this region in 1766 and from a small beginning in this section had built up gradually an immense concern. Its operations now extended from Hudson's Bay to the great lakes, up the St. Lawrence River, to the source of the Red River of the North, all of its tributaries west to the Rocky Mountains, including the territory since formed into the States of Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, the Dakotas and Montana. From here Pike, with a small party, proceeded to the head waters of the Mississippi, which point he reached on the first day of February, 1806, arriving at Lake La Sang Sue at half-past two p. m. It was a proud moment for the young commander when he stood upon the shores of the lake from which the mighty Mississippi River takes its rise.

On the 12th of the month Lieutenant Pike, in company with the agent at the post, Mr. McGillis, ascended another fork of the Mississippi to its source in Red Cedar Lake, about thirty miles northeast of Leech Lake. They were now within six miles of the source of the Hudson Bay waters. On the 18th of February the lieutenant began his journey southward, accompanied by several Sauteur warriors.

He had been successful in establishing peaceful relations with all Indian tribes he had met, some of whom were the most fierce and warlike savages of the west. By the 7th of April, the ice having disappeared from the rivers, he started on his homeward journey, arriving at St. Louis on the 30th of April, after an absence of nearly nine months.