From the first falls to Gull Island Lake, forty miles above, the river is alternately quick and dead water.  Part of it is very heavy rapids, over which it was necessary to track, and in some places to double the crews.  Each boat had a tow line of fifty feet, and in tracking the end was taken ashore by one of the crew of two, while the boat was kept off the bank by the other man with an oar.  At the Horseshoe Rapids, ten miles above Gull Island Lake, an accident happened which threatened to put a stop to further progress of the expedition.  While tracking around a steep point in crossing these rapids the boat which Messrs. Cary and Smith were tracking was overturned, dumping barometer, shotgun, and ax into the river, together with nearly one-half the total amount of provisions.  In the swift water of the rapids all these things were irrevocably lost, a very serious loss at this stage in the expedition.  On this day so great was the force of the water that only one mile was made, and that only with the greatest difficulty.

Just above the mouth of the Nimpa River, which enters the Grand River twenty-five miles above Gull Island Lake, a second cache of provisions was made, holding enough to carry the party to their first cache at the first falls.  One of the boats was now found to be leaking badly, and a stop was made to pitch the cracks and repair her, making necessary the loss of a few hours.  From Nimpa River to the Mouni Rapids, at the entrance to Lake Waminikapon, the water was found to be fairly smooth, and good progress was made.  The change in the scenery, too, is noticeable, becoming more magnificent and grand.  The mountains, which are bolder and more barren, approach much nearer to each other on each side of the river, and at the base of these grim sentinels the river flows silvery and silently.  The Mouni Rapids, through which the water passes from Lake Waminikapon, presented the next obstacle to further progress, but the swift water here was soon passed, and well repaid the traveler with the sight here presented almost unexpectedly to his view.

The lake was entered about 4 o’clock in the afternoon, and, as the narrow entrance was passed, the sun poured its full rich light on rocky mountains stretching as far away as the eye could reach, on each side of the lake, and terminating in rocky cliffs from 600 to 800 feet in perpendicular height, which formed the shores or confines of the lake.  Across Lake Waminikapon, which is, more properly speaking, not a lake at all, but rather a widening of the river bed, the progress was very good, the water having no motion to retard the boats, and forty miles were made during the day.