132 Fvatherstonhaugh's Geological Report. 



All the angles and bastions are very much rounded by the 

 weather, and some of the slopes outside consist of sand brought 

 there by the wind. It is undoubtedly true that all the appear- 

 ances I have described may have been produced by the action 

 of the wind ; but those who think so, after personal inspec- 

 tion, are bound to account to themselves why other parts of 

 this prairie, and of other prairies similarly situated, are not 

 blown up, and why the ground covered by these elevations is 

 blown up in such a manner as to resemble artificial w r orks so 

 closely. If, when this curious place becomes more known and 

 investigated, Indian antiquities should be discovered commen- 

 surate with the extent of the work, such as the stone instru- 

 ments and weapons of offence usually found about Indian 

 encampments, it would decide with me the question. If any 

 thing of that kind is there, it is probably buried beneath the 

 sands too deep for passing travellers to find. I brought nothing 

 away with me but a plan of the general appearance of the 

 locality, and one or two of the principal elevations. 



At the southernmost end of Lake Pepin, Chippeway river 

 eomes in on the left bank, a stream of considerable magnitude, 

 from four to five hundred yards wide where it joins the Mis- 

 sissippi ; the volume of water is said to be great for sixty 

 miles.* Having passed its mouth the scenery becomes changed, 

 and, instead of a valley two or three miles wide, full of low 

 wooded islands, Lake Pepin presents itself, a sheet of water 

 about twenty miles long and nearly three miles w r ide upon an 

 average, perhaps. This is nothing but a continuation of the 

 Mississippi valley without any islands, with this difference, 

 that the river occupies all the space between the banks, whilst 

 the bluffs and coulees present themselves with the same gene- 

 ral character as below. Why there are no islands in this part 

 of the valley, and why it is a lake, deserve an inquiry. It 



* At the falls of this river, which are very extensive, there is an indefinite quan- 

 tity of water-power. The tracts of fine pine timber will, if preserved by order of 

 Government, be extremely valuable. It will be indispensable for building.pur- 

 poses when settlers get into that country. 



