A Winter in the Far West (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1835 Excerpt: ... APPENDIX. Nore A.--Page 1. Carver, who visited Prairie du Chien in 1766, describes it, under the name of" The Lower Town of the Ottagaumies," as a large place, "containing about three hundred families. The houses," he adds, "are well built, after the Indian manner, and pleasantly situated on a very rich soil, from which they raise every necessary of life in abundance. This town is the great mart where all the adjacent tribes, and even those who inhabit the most remote branches of the Mississippi, annually assemble about the latter end of May, bringing with them their furs to dispose of to the traders." The aspect of the village is very different at present. It consists, exclusive of two or three frame-built stores, of some five-and-twenty rude and ruinous dwelling-houses, which are almost black with age, and the population can hardly amount to two hundred souls. The situation of the hamlet and the features of the country adjacent are thus described in "Long's Second Expedition: "--"The village of Prairie du Chien is situated four or five miles above the mouth of the Wisconsan, 'on a beautiful prairie, which extends along the eastern bank of the river for about ten miles in length, and which is limited to the east by a range of steep hills, rising to a height of about four hundred and thirty-five feet, and running parallel with the course of the river about a mile and a half. On the western bank are bluffs which rise to the same elevation, and are washed at their base by the river. 'Pike's Hill, ' which is on the west bank, immediately opposite to the mouth of the Wisconsan, is about five hundred and fifty feet high. The hill has no particular limits in regard to its extent, being merely a part of the river's bluffs, which stretch along the margin of the river ...