Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Time Travelers 2002
6 Pause Portage Historic Travel Quotes
Digital Time Traveler Below are Quotes from 19th century travelers. Quotes will be listed chronologically
Home Page
and will have a brief annotation.
6Pause Main Page
Victor Malhiot 180506 was a French Fur Trader employed by the Northwest Fur Company. His year long journal is arguably
Virtual Trip along the the most comprehesive descrition of the traditional fur trade in northern Wisconsin the and the upper peninsula of Michigan.
portage Malhiot was a ruthless trader, complainer, racist and suffered traveling along 6Pause portage. His quotes regarding the
difficult of 6Pause are the mnost elequent and powerful.
Journal links
"Until now, owing to lack of time and to sickness, I have been unable to make any observations on the country and the Savages, but as I
Map links am better today I will begin by saying that of all the spots and places I have seen in my thirteen years’ of travels, this is the most horrid
and most sterile. The Portage road is truly that to heaven because it is narrow, full of overturned trees, obstacles, thorns, and muskegs.
Quotes from 19th century Men who go over it loaded and who are obliged to carry baggage over it, certainly deserve to be called “men.”
travelers This vile portage is inhabited solely by owls, because no other animal could find a living there, and the hoots of those solitary birds are
enough to frighten an angel or intimidate a Casear." 1804
Research questions
"26th Sunday. Yesterday we crossed the Portage des Six Poses and that of the village of la Tortue and, at one o’clock this afternoon we
Pictures reached the Grand Portage of the Montreal River1 where my canoe was broken, and we are obliged to camp in order to allow four
packs to dry that got wet. The two portages we crossed are exceedingly bad and the Savages tell me this one is still worse." 180
How to get a video or
Quicktime version of
2002 6Pause Portage James Duane Doty 1820 was a government agent represnting the territorial interests of the United States of America. His
project reference to 6 Pause is brief but noted as a key route.
"A lake of considerable size is connected with Turtle Lake on the northeast by a river. In Lake Du Flambeau the Southwest Company
have an establishment of five traders and twenty hands, the return from which last season was about fifty packs. It lies from Turtle Lake
near southeast. The route is from the mouth of the Montreal to Turtle Lake, from which there is a portage onefourth of a mile to a small
pond, thence up the outlet of a small lake onefourth of a mile, from which a portage of three miles is made to the Old Plantation River.
This is descended eighteen miles to the entrance of the Rivière du Flambeau,..."
Sherman Hall 1832 was a missionar wor for the American Board ofr Foreign Missionaires and kept a detailed journal on his
travels to Lac Du Flambeau. Hall's journals contatin many insights into the conduct of Native and non native cultures. His
religious bias is glaring but balances nicely with man good observations. On 6Pause Portage Hall was caught by dearkness
and spent a cold and uncomfortable night camping on the protage trail. He has extensive observations regarding the trail and
requirement of travel in the northwoods in the early 19th centruy.
"Our passage across these lakes was short probably not exceeding two miles. Here we reached
the portage which was to take us to the Chippeway river. As before I took the baggage while my man took the canoe, and commenced
ourmarch, hoping to reach the river, which was three of four miles distant, before we encamped. After we left the lake, we ascended on
to high ground, which was covered with a heavy growth of hemlock and hard wood it was nearly sundown before we left the lake, and
the darkness overtook us so soon, that we were obliged to encamp before we reached the river. We laid down our loads and kindled a
fire and prepared to make ourselves as comfortable as possible. We were near a tamarack swamp, which produced a damp and
unpleasant atmosphere during the night. The weather had become considerable cool during the preceeding [sic] after noon, of which I
was not aware till too late to provide a sufficient quantity of wood to keep a fire
during the whole night, and our encampment being in the open air and not sufficient by trees, a single blanket was not sufficient to shield
me from the cold and frost, and I passed a rather uncomfortable night. 20. This morning as soon as light, we recommenced our march
through a swamp of mud and water. Every thing was covered with frost, and the ground through the swamp was slightly stiffened by the
cold of the night. The water which immediately pierced the deer skin shoes, which [I] wore on my feet was extremely cold and
uncomfortable. In about an hour we reached the Chippeway river, and were soon floating down its rapid current, and in two or three
hours we reached the mouth of the Lac du Flamabeau river, which we began to ascend, to
wards the lake and the termination of our journey."
Thomas Jefferson Cram 1842 was a government agent in charge of surveying the modern border between Wiscconsin and the
upper peninsula of Michigan. Cram was overwehlmed by his task and after striking the East Branch of the Montreal River
traveled southeast to Trout Lake via 6Pause Portage to Triagulate his survey between Lac Vieux Desert and the East Branch
of the Montreal. Cram makes no real mention of the portage trail due to his fatigue and extensive notes on the border.
A. B. Gray 1846 was a geologist who was surveying the area south of copper and iron ranges along Lake Superior to
determine if any mineral wealth could be found in the interior lake region. His sciettific and cultural observations are excellent.
Gray traveled up the Manitowish River to the Trout Lake band of the Ojibwe adding some fine insight relative to the Turtle
Band of the Ojibwe and 6Pause Portage.
"The next day we continued on our course to the eastward. After a short distance by water, made another portage of 2‡ miles with the
canoes, part of it through a deep tamarack swamp, and launched them into the main branch of the Chippewa river. This stream
appeared to be about 30 feet wide where we struck it, rapid and quite deep, and, I understand, can be descended from Trout lake in
canoes the whole way to the Mississippi, with but a few portages around falls or rapids."
J. G. Norwood 1847 was a geologist who also surveyed the interior region for mineral wealth and was asttached to the Owen
Expedition. Norwood kept an extensive journal of his travels with the greatest detail. His map is outstanding and was drawn
by an Ojibwe with many lakes and portages written in native language. Norwood kept great journals of all his travels and was
the most scientific in his record of 6Pause Portage. Norwood's work is the most comprehensive regarding the Turtle Portage,
the Flambeau Trail and Turtle Band of the Ojibwe.
"The outlet from Little Turtle lake is through a very narrow channel connecting it with another lake, which we crossed, and came to the
beginning of what is known as "Six Pause portage." As the voyagers had to make a double portage, we took our packs and walked on
to its termination, at the east branch of the Chippewa river, or as it is commonly called the Manidowish, where we arrived at noon. The
trail runs over a sand barren, with the exception of the last half mile, which runs through one of the worst tamerack swamps I have ever
seen. A few stunted pines, with the occasional patches of course grass, is the only vegetation supported on the high grounds.
The Manidowish river at this point comes from the northeast, is deep and clear, about thirty feet wide, and winds through the centre of a
broad wet meadow, with grass from two to five feet high. After the portage was made, we descended the river four miles, though
probably not more than one mile in a direct line from the portage to a favorable place for a camping ground."