50 NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 



only twenty miles below the confluence of the others, called, 

 by the Indians, Pishtaco, and by the inhabitants of the country, 

 in modern times, the Fox River of the Illinois. The cha- 

 racter of tlie country on the Upper Sheshikmaoshike is simi- 

 lar to that about the sources of the Kankake, very flat, wet 

 and marshy, and is, for the most part, prairie or untimbered 

 land, covered with tall grass, wild rice, and other aquatic 

 plants. The course of the Illinois, as constituted by these 

 several streams, is nearly south for a considerable distance. 

 It then takes a course more westerly, and, becoming navi- 

 gable for steamboats below the falls at a point w^here is built 

 the town of Peru, it pursues its course through a country 

 which, if it be surpassed, is only by the Moingona and Sini- 

 sepo or Rock River, and St. Peter's. It is, in the wdiole 

 length of the united stream, three hundred miles or more to 

 the mouth. For fifty miles of its upper course it is not navi- 

 gable, to the lower rapids ; below this point it is navigable for 

 250 miles to its mouth. Below these rapids the current is 

 almost imperceptible. On account of the very slight descent 

 of the river the Missisippi when full sets back the waters of 

 the Illinois for seventy miles. It frequently overfloAvs its 

 banks. The Vermillion is considerable in size, and adds a 

 large volume to the waters of the principal river, but it is not 

 navigable. The Mackina, Sangamon, Spoon and Crooked 

 Rivers, lower tributaries, are sometimes set down as navi- 

 gable. The Sangamon is so. Before entering the Missi- 

 sippi it receives many minor streams, and the Macoupin, 

 scarcely less than those last before named. 



The other tributaries of the Missisippi on the west, be- 

 tween Des Moines and St. Peter's, are the Iowa and Red 

 Cedar, both of which may be said to be navigable, the Wa- 

 besepinicon, Makwaketa, Turkey or Penaca, Upper Iowa, 

 Haka (or Root), and Lahontan. The Tchansansan, or James 



