Flambeau Trail
As Wisconsin approached statehood, Joseph G. Norwood was comissioned by Congress to lead a Geological survey expedition. In 1847, Norwood launched his expedition from the La Pointe on Madeline Island in Chequamegon Bay. His initial goal was to reach Lac du Flambeau and ultimately the Mississippi River at the mouth of the Wisconsin.
Norwood had learned of several portages used by the Ojibwe and European fur traders and included descriptions in the report to Congress.
From La Pointe, the Norwood party paddled east to the mouth of the Montreal River to reach the terminus of the Flambeau Trail. This was a 40-mile overland route between Lake Superior and the Turtle River/Flambeau River water route which began at Long Lake six miles north of present-day Mercer. Reaching Long Lake after a five-day hike, they paddled birch bark canoes downriver.
Mercer was the step-off point onto Six Pause Portage, a four-mile land crossing between the Turtle and Manitowish Rivers. US highway 51 traces this route today. A launch down the Manitowish, then upriver on the Flambeau delivered the Norwood party to Lac du Flambeau.
Several routes eminate from Lac du Flambeau toward the Wisconsin River, and others toward the Chippewa River (via the Flambeau), each connecting Ojibwe clans dispersed across the northern one-third of Wisconsin, into Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and eastern Minnesota.
The Norwood expedition followed the northern portage route from Lac du Flambeau, aimed at a spot 10 miles south the Wisconsin River headwaters. They commenced northeast on Pokegama Lake and crossed to Lake Wepetangok, as it was known (now White Sand Lake to Little White Sand Lake) with a short crossing onto Mashkegwagoma (Ike Walton) Lake. The portage to the Trout River was one-and-a-half miles through the swamp, followed by a paddle upstream.
The portage from Trout Lake to Lower Rock (Pallette) Lake is just over two miles. The route from Upper Rock (Lost Canoe) Lake begins on the northeast shore, and is about two-and-a-half miles to a set of four White Elk Lakes (White Birch). First White Elk lake passes into second White Elk (Ballard) Lake, third White Elk (Irving) Lake, and via portage to fourth White Elk lake (Lake Laura).
This portage route east of Lake Laura split. One branch led directly to Lac Vieux Desert, the Wisconsin River headwaters and locale of an Ojibwe community. The other went six miles to Upper Buckatabon Springs. It discharges its waters into the Wisconsin through Muscle River (Buckcatabon Creek). Upon reaching this confluence, Norwood wrote the Wisconsin River is twelve yards wide, three to four feet deep and, “is remarkably crooked.”
Kewaykwodo Portage
The Kewaykwodo Portage was middle of three routes from Lac du Flambeau to Wisconsin River. Traveling east to west, the Kewaykwodo Portage began on the Wisconsin at a point south of the Rainbow Flowage. By way of portages between lakes then known as Swamp (now Dorothy Lake), Kewaykwodo (Lake Tomahawk), the Kewaykwodo Portage crossed the Bearskin Trail at Leech (Minocqua Lake) and Lake Kewasaugega. The portage went overland to Sheshebagomag (Shishkebogama), Mishekun (Fence), and La Roche qui Traine (Crawling Stone) Lake where it reached the Lac du Flambeau community.
The southern route on the Tomahawk River provided more direct access to the Fox River and Green Bay via the historic passage at Portage, or to the Mississippi River via the lower Wisconsin River.
The southern route from Lac du Flambeau followed a chain of lakes from Crawling Stone to Haskell and Squirrel Lakes, leading into the Little Wisconsin (Tomahawk) River by way of White Squirrel Creek (Squirrel River). Although longer, this was the most common route for return by travelers to Lac View Desert.
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Sources: http://www.tomahawkhistoricalsoc.org/custom/norwood1847/Norwood1847-0.html
http://www.marshfieldschools.org/Page/565
Above contains student maps of the several routes to LdF
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