We encamped on the west shore, a few miles below the island at seven o'clock, having been twelve hours in our canoes. The confinement of the position nobody can appreciate who has not tried it, and I hastened to stretch my legs, by ascending the river cliffs in our rear, to have a glimpse of its geology and scenery. The view westwardly was one of groves and prairies of most inviting agricultural promise. In front, the island mountain rises to an elevation which appears to have been the original geological level of the stratification before the Mississippi cut its way through it.
At the rapids of Black River, which enters opposite our encampment, a saw-mill, we were informed, had been erected by an inhabitant of Prairie du Chien. Thus the empire of the arts has begun to make its way into these regions, and proclaims the advance of a heavy civilization into a valley which has heretofore only resounded to the savage war-whoop. Or, if a higher grade of society and arts has ever before existed in it, as some of our tumuli and antiquities would lead us to infer, the light of history has failed to reach us on the subject.[ [104]
At the spot of our encampment, as soon as the shades of night closed in, we were visited by hordes of ephemera. The candles lighted in our tents became the points of attraction for these evanescent creations. They soon, however, began to feel the influence of the sinking of the thermometer, and the air was imperceptibly cleared of them in an hour or two. By the hour of three o'clock the next morning (5th) the expedition was again in motion descending the river. It halted for breakfast at Painted Rock, on the west shore. While this matter was being accomplished, I found an abundant locality of unios in a curve of the shore which produced an eddy. Fine specimens of U. purpureus, elongatus, and orbiculatus were obtained. With the increased spirit and animation which the whole party felt on the prospect of our arrival at Prairie du Chien, we proceeded unremittingly on our descent, and reached that place at six o'clock in the evening.
Prairie du Chien does not derive its name from the dog, but from a noted family of Fox Indians bearing this name, who anciently dwelt here. The old town is said to have been about a mile below the present settlement, which was commenced by Mr. Dubuque and his associates, in 1783. The prairie is most eligibly situated along the margin of the stream, above whose floods it is elevated. It consists of a heavy stratum of diluvial pebbles and boulders, which is picturesquely bounded by lofty cliffs of the silurian[ [105] limestones, and their accompanying column of stratification. The village has the old and shabby look of all the antique French towns on the Mississippi, and in the great lake basins; the dwellings being constructed of logs and barks, and the courtyards picketed in, as if they were intended for defence. It is called Kipisagee by the Chippewas and Algonquin tribes generally, meaning the place of the jet or outflow of the (Wisconsin) River. It is, in popular parlance, estimated to be 300 miles below St. Peter's, and 600 above St. Louis.[ [106] Its latitude is 43° 3´ 6´´. It is the seat of justice for Crawford County, having been so named in, honor of W. H. Crawford, Secretary of the Treasury of the U. S. It is, together with all the region west of Lake Michigan, attached to the territory of Michigan. There is a large and fertile island in the Mississippi, opposite the place.
We found the garrison to consist of a single company of infantry, under the command of Capt. J. Fowle, Jun.,[ [107] who received us courteously, and offered the salute due to the rank of His Excellency, Gov. Cass. The fort is a square stockade, with bastions at two angles. There was found on this part of the prairie, when it came to be occupied with a garrison by the Americans, in 1819, an ancient platform-mound, in an exactly square form, the shape and outlines of which were preserved with exactitude by the prairie sod. This earthwork, the probable evidence of a condition of ancient society, arts, and events of a race who are now reduced so low, was, with good taste, preserved by the military, when they erected this stockade. One of the officers built a dwelling-house upon it, thus converting it, to the use, and probably the only use, to which it was originally devoted. No measurements have been preserved of its original condition; but judging from present appearances, it must have squared seventy-five feet, and have had an elevation of eight feet.
CHAPTER XV.
Mr. Schoolcraft makes a visit to the lead mines of Dubuque—Incidents of the trip—Description of the mines—The title of occupancy, and the mode of the mines being worked by the Fox tribe of Indians—Who are the Foxes?