238 EXPEDITION TO THE 



soil, from which they raise every necessary of life in great 

 abundance. This town is the great mart where all the ad- 

 jacent 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 dis- 

 pose of to the traders."* " I should have remarked," 

 says the same author, " that whatever Indians happen to 

 meet at La Prairie le Chien, the great mart to which all 

 who inhabit the adjacent country resort, though the na- 

 tions to which they belong are at war with each other, 

 yet they are obliged to restrain their enmity, and to for- 

 bear all hostile acts dur.ing their stay there. This regula- 

 tion has long been estalilislied among them for their mu- 

 tual convenience, as without it no trade could be carried 

 on."t 



The fort, which is one of the rudest and least comfort- 

 able that we have seen, is situated about one hundred 

 and fifty yards from the river. Its site is low and un- 

 pleasant, as a slough extends to the south of it. The river 

 bank is here so low and flat, that by a swell which took 

 place in the Mississippi the summer before we visited it, the 

 water rose upon the prairie, and entered the parade, which 

 it covered to the depth of three or four feet ; it penetrated 

 into all the officers' and soldiers' quarters, so as to render 

 it necessary for the garrison to remove from the fort and 

 encamp upon the neighbouring heights, where they spent 

 about a month. The waters having subsided, at the end of 

 that time, they returned to their quarters; the old men 

 about the village say that such an inundation may be ex- 

 pected every seven years. The village also suffered much 

 from the inundation, though the ground being somewhat 

 higher, the injury done to it was not so great. The fort was 



• Carver's Travels, Philadelphia, 1796, p. 31. f Idem, p. 62. 



