The Namekagon Portage (sometimes referred to as the "Namekagon Court Oreilles Portage") was a well known canoe portage connecting the St. Croix River watershed to the Chippewa River watershed and was located about five miles south of the present day city of Hayward in Sawyer County, Wisconsin. The portage ran approximately two and one-half miles from the Namekagon River (in the St. Croix River watershed) to Windigo Lake in the Chippewa River watershed. The route then proceeded from Windigo Lake through Grindstone Lake to Lac Courte Oreilles where a well known Ojibwa village was located. This portage was used as one of the alternative routes to the Mississippi River for persons passing from Lake Superior to the Mississippi River by way of the Bois Brule River, as described below.
The Chippewa River in Wisconsin flows approximately 183 miles (294 km) through west-central and northwestern Wisconsin. It was once navigable for approximately 50 miles (80 km) of its length, from the Mississippi River, by Durand, northeast to Eau Claire. Its catchment defines a portion of the northern boundary of the Driftless Area. The river is easily accessible for bikers and pleasure seekers via the Chippewa River State Trail which follows the river from Eau Claire to Durand.
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States, in the Midwest and Great Lakes regions. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin is the 23rd largest state by total area and the 20th most populous. The state capital is Madison, and its largest city is Milwaukee, which is located on the western shore of Lake Michigan. The state is divided into 72 counties.
The Namekagon River is a tributary of the St. Croix River. It is 101 miles (163 km) long and is located in northwestern Wisconsin in the United States. Its course is protected as part of the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway.
One of the important routes from Lake Superior to the Mississippi River led southward on the Bois Brule River to the Lake Superior/Mississippi River divide. From this point, a portage of approximately two miles passed over the divide to Upper St. Croix Lake (Bois Brule-St. Croix Portage). The route then led southward down the St. Croix to its junction with the Namekagon River. At this point, there were two major alternative routes to the Mississippi River.
Lake Superior, the largest of the Great Lakes of North America, is also the world's largest freshwater lake by surface area, and the third largest freshwater lake by volume. The lake is shared by the Canadian province of Ontario to the north, the U.S. state of Minnesota to the west, and Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to the south. The farthest north and west of the Great Lakes chain, Superior has the highest elevation of all five great lakes and drains into the St. Mary's River.
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system on the North American continent, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. Its source is Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota and it flows generally south for 2,320 miles (3,730 km) to the Mississippi River Delta in the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains all or parts of 32 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces between the Rocky and Appalachian mountains. The main stem is entirely within the United States; the total drainage basin is 1,151,000 sq mi (2,980,000 km2), of which only about one percent is in Canada. The Mississippi ranks as the fourth-longest and fifteenth-largest river by discharge in the world. The river either borders or passes through the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana.
The Bois Brule River is located in Douglas County, Wisconsin, United States, near the county's eastern border with Bayfield County. The river is 43.9 miles (70.7 km) long. The source is in central Douglas County near Upper St. Croix Lake, it flows through the Brule River State Forest, and drains into Lake Superior.
The most direct route continued southward down the St. Croix River to its junction with the Mississippi River near present-day Hastings, Minnesota. However, this route led through territory held by Sioux Indians who were often at odds with the Ojibwa Indians of the upper St. Croix. The Ojibwa frequently acted as guides for the European explorers.
Hastings is a city in Dakota and Washington counties, in the U.S. state of Minnesota, near the confluence of the Mississippi, Vermillion, and St. Croix Rivers. Its population was 22,172 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Dakota County, which contains most of it as well as a small part extending into Washington County. It is named for the first elected governor of the state of Minnesota, Henry Hastings Sibley.
Minnesota is a state in the Upper Midwest, Great Lakes, and northern regions of the United States. Minnesota was admitted as the 32nd U.S. state on May 11, 1858, created from the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory. The state has a large number of lakes, and is known by the slogan the "Land of 10,000 Lakes". Its official motto is L'Étoile du Nord.
The Sioux, also known as Očhéthi Šakówiŋ, are groups of Native American tribes and First Nations peoples in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or to any of the nation's many language dialects. The modern Sioux consist of two major divisions based on language divisions: the Dakota and Lakota.
In order to avoid potential problems with the Sioux Indians on the lower St. Croix River, travelers could alternatively reach the Mississippi by way of the Chippewa River watershed. [1] This was done by proceeding eastward from the St. Croix/Namekagon junction up the Namekagon River to the vicinity of current Hayward, Wisconsin. At this point, the route followed the Namekagon Portage across the divide between the St. Croix and Chippewa watersheds to Windigo Lake, through Grindstone Lake and Lac Courte Oreilles, and down the Couderay River to the Chippewa River which ultimately joined the Mississippi River at Lake Pepin.
Windigo Lake is a freshwater lake located in north central Wisconsin in the Town of Bass Lake, Sawyer County, United States, in township 40 north, range 9 west. The lake is irregular in shape, with numerous peninsulas and bays, and is approximately one mile in diameter. Windigo Lake is 529.6 acres (2.143 km2) in size with a maximum depth of 51 feet (16 m) and a shoreline of 9 miles (14 km). The lake does not have an obvious inflow or outflow stream and is classified as a seepage lake, i.e., a lake without an inlet or an outlet.
Lac Courte Oreilles is a large freshwater lake located in northwest Wisconsin in Sawyer County in townships 39 and 40 north, ranges 8 and 9 west. It is irregular in shape, having numerous peninsulas and bays, and is approximately six miles long in a southwest to northeast direction and with a maximum width of about two miles (3 km). Lac Courte Oreilles is 5,039 acres (20.39 km2) in size with a maximum depth of 90 feet (27 m) and a shoreline of 25.4 miles (40.9 km). The lake has a small inlet stream that enters on the northeast shore of the lake and flows from Grindstone Lake, a short distance away to the north. An outlet on the southeast shore of the lake leads through a very short passage to Little Lac Courte Oreilles, then via the Couderay River to the Chippewa River, and ultimately to the Mississippi River at Lake Pepin.
The Couderay River is a tributary of the Chippewa River in northwestern Wisconsin in the United States. Via the Chippewa River, it is part of the Mississippi River watershed. It flows for its entire length in Sawyer County. Its name is derived from the French "Rivière des Courte Oreilles".
Explorer Jonathan Carver passed through the area in 1767 traveling north from the Mississippi River to Lake Superior by way of the Chippewa River. His journal entry and survey journal for June 29 and 30, 1767 record his leaving the Ojibwa Indian village on Lac Courte Oreilles, passing through Grindstone Lake and Windigo Lake, and using the Namekagon Portage to reach the Namekagon River. [2] An historical marker at the portage site (see external link below) indicates that Michel Cadotte established a fur-trading post at the northwestern end of the portage in 1784. The area was later visited by Henry Schoolcraft in 1831 who described the Namekagon Portage running from the Namekagon River to Lac Courte Oreilles by way of Windigo Lake (called by him Lac des Isles) and Grindstone Lake (called by him Lac du Gres). [3]
Jonathan Carver was a colonial American explorer and writer. He was born in Weymouth, Province of Massachusetts Bay and then moved with his family to Canterbury, Connecticut. He later married Abigail Robbins and became a shoemaker. He is believed to have had seven children.
Michel Cadotte, Kechemeshane in Ojibwe was a Métis fur trader of Ojibwe and French-Canadian descent. He dominated the business in the area of the south shore of Lake Superior.
Henry Rowe Schoolcraft was an American geographer, geologist, and ethnologist, noted for his early studies of Native American cultures, as well as for his 1832 expedition to the source of the Mississippi River. He is also noted for his major six-volume study of Native Americans published in the 1850s.
The southeastern end of the Namekagon Portage is now indicated by an historical marker located approximately five and one-half miles south of Hayward on State Highway 27 (see external link below). According to statements in an opinion of the Wisconsin Attorney General, portions of the portage trail were apparently still visible and used by the general public as of 1986. [4]
