Historic Diaries: James Doty, 1820
July 6, 1820: The Three-Day "Grand Portage"
Editor's Note:
Grand Portage was a well-known obstacle on the fur trade route into northern Minnesota. A "pause" was traditionally thought to equal half a mile but in practice signified the distance between places a traveler could set down the baggage and rest briefly. Schoolcraft defined it this way:
"a pause is reckoned at half a mile, but when the country is rough and the way bad, it is much shorter, while on a level road, it often exceeds that distance. The labour, however, of travelling across a short pause is as great as that of the longest, and about the same time is required in crossing it, so that this term is rather expressive of a division of the labour of making a portage, than of the geographical distance."
Schoolcraft's notes on the first day of portaging: "The river is ascended two miles further, to the foot of the Grand Portage. Here the goods are all landed, and the carrying commences, but the canoes, without load, ascend two miles higher to the Galley, where they are also taken out and carried across. The first part of the portage is excessively rough, and the fatigue was rendered almost insupportable by the heat of the day, the thermometer standing at 82° at noon. With the assistance of the Indians, (sixteen of whom were brought up from the mouth of the river for that purpose,) we proceeded however, with all our baggage, five pauses, and encamped at twilight."
The site of their camp this night appears to be under the Thomson Reservoir today
Location: near modern Thomson, Minn.
View Doty's handwritten manuscript of this page
View page in the 1895 printed edition
Early this morning we embarked and proceeded up the river against a strong rapid for 2 miles when the gent. of the party landed, the rapid becoming more difficult, and crossed over by land. The path lay over very rugged hills, 1 mile. This is called the "women portage" because the women are generally set on shore here to lighten the canoes.
Here the "grand portage" commences. It has 19 pauses and is estimated at 9 miles. A pause is the voyageurs resting place and is generally computed 1/2 of a mile, though they all fall short of this. They seem to be calculated from the labor of carrying from one to another and not with any relation to the actual distance, as one that is hilly or marshy is not half the distance of one on level smooth ground. The first pause was at the top of the bank, and about 200 feet above the level of the river. I carried my own baggage weighing 80 or 85 lbs. Some of the gent, who had said much of their intention of performing this feat, were careful to leave most of their effects to be brought by the men. At the end of the second pause, the bank of the river was a strata of breccia. It lay in an acute angle shelving towards the river. To this 5 of the smallest canoes came up by water. Our 2 largest were left, to be taken back by the Indians who assisted us to the Establishment.
We crowded on very hard to the end of 7 pauses where we encamped before sun set much fatigued. There were frequent wind falls across the path which made the portage much more difficult. The frenchmen stated there was a great hurricane through this country this last spring. They represent its effects to have been terrible in some parts. Nothing but swamp water to drink at this place. This is called the "maple pause." Nearly opposite this is the highest fall in the river — supposed to be about 30 feet. Weather fair.
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