SOURCE OF ST. PETER's RIVER. £19 



•f weeds, vines, and bushes almost impenetrable. The 

 woodlands thus situated are subject to inundations, during 

 the prevalence of a nioderate freshet, but in their rear, at a 

 considerable distance from the river, are extensive prairies 

 of a rolling aspect, and richly adorned with herbage. The 

 ascent to the highlands across the bluffs, is generally gra- 

 dual, but in some instances abrupt. 



The navigable communication above mentioned is con- 

 tinued from the head of the Illinois by two different routes, 

 viz. to Chicago fifty miles through the river Des Plaines 

 and a small water-course connecting the stream just men- 

 tioned with Chicago river; and to the St. Joseph of the 

 Lake about one hundred and twenty miles, through the 

 Kankakee, and a small tributary of the St. Joseph inter- 

 locking with that river in a tract of marshy country. 

 Through both of these routes loaded boats have passed 

 from the lakes to the Illinois during the vernal floods. 

 The route first mentioned is very direct, and is now fre- 

 quently traversed with boats of burden ; the other is ex- 

 tremely tortuous along the windings of the Kankakee, and 

 is seldom practicable. 



The Wisconsan, from its magnitude and importance, de- 

 serves a high rank among the tributaries of the Missis- 

 sippi. When swollen by a freshet it affords an easy navi- 

 gation for boats of considerable burden through a distance 

 of more than one hundred and eighty miles. Its current 

 is rapid, and, like the Mississippi, it embosoms innumera- 

 ble islands. In a low stage of water its navigation is ob- 

 structed by numerous shoals and sand banks. At the distance 

 from its mouth above mentioned, there is a portage of one 

 mile and a half, across a flat meadow, which is occasionally 

 subject to inundation, to a branch of Fox river of Green 

 Bay, thus affording another navigable communication be* 



