8 NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 



of the water-courses, woodlands and prairies, to bestow 

 interest and value upon its several sub-divisions. 



" The basin of the Upper Missisippi is separated, in a 

 great part of its extent, from that of the Missouri, by an ele- 

 vated plain, the appearance of which, seen from the valley 

 of the St. Peter's, or that of the Riviere Jacques, looming, as 

 it were, a distant shore, has suggested for it the name of 

 coteau des iirairies. Its more appropriate designation would 

 be that oi plateau, which means something more than is con- 

 veyed to the mind by the expression, a plain. 



" Its northern extremity is in lat. 46^, extending to 43^ ; 

 after which it loses its distinctive elevation above the sur- 

 rounding plains, and passes into rolling prairies. Its length 

 is about two hundred miles, and its general direction N.NW. 

 and S.SE. Its northern termination (called ' tete du coteau' 

 in consequence of its peculiar configuration) is not more than 

 fifteen to twenty miles across ; its elevation above the level 

 of the Big Stone Lake is 890 feet ; and above the ocean 

 1,916 feet. Starting from this extremity (that is, the head 

 of the coteau), the surface of the plateau is undulating, 

 forming many dividing ridges, which separate the waters 

 flowing into the St. Peter's and the Missisippi from those 

 of the Missouri 



" Under the forty-fourth degree of latitude the breadth of 

 the coteau is about forty miles, and its mean elevation is here 

 reduced to 1,450 feet above the sea. Within this space its 

 two slopes are rather abrupt, crowned with verdure, and 

 scolloped by deep ravines thickly shaded with bushes, form- 

 nig the beds of rivulets that water the subjacent plains. The 

 coteau itself is isolated in the midst of boundless and fertile 

 prairies, extending to the west, to the north, and into the val- 

 ley of the St. Peter's. 



" The plain, at its northern extremity, is a most beautiful 



