TOPOGRAPHY OF ROUTE FROM THE MISSISSIPPI TO THE COLUMBIA. 161 



The country near the Shayenne as it flows southward assumes a bolder character : the 

 swelling surface takes the forms of terraces and ridges ; ponds and marshes occur more fre 

 quently ; timber disappears from the uplands; the prairie becomes gravelly and abounds in 

 granite boulders ; and the river itself, moderately fringed with wood of different kinds, flows 

 through a deep intervale enclosed by sand and clay bluffs from one hundred and fifty to two 

 hundred feet and more of elevation, which are again surmounted by occasional hills sufficiently 

 conspicuous to serve as landmarks to the hunters, and associated with thrilling reminiscences of 

 Indian story. 



Leaving the Shayenne, the prairie for a considerable space shows no material change ; a salty 

 efflorescence appears in spots, betokening our vicinity to Miniwakan lake, the meridian of which 

 may be generally considered as the limit of previously authorized explorations north of the 

 Missouri, and also of the region of the more fertile prairies, the pretty wooded Lake Jessie 

 being the last well-known object on the route pursued by the expedition. From this point 

 westward, and a little north of west for more than forty miles, to where the route strikes the 

 Jacques or James river near its source, the country presents the same alternation of rolling 

 prairie, flat intervals, marshy pools and small lakes, some of which have timber, with bluffy 

 banks ; the greater number bare, with a level shore-line. The Jacques river flows from this point 

 southeast almost parallel to tbe course of the Shayenne, embracing with that river the summit 

 which, in this region, divides the waters flowing to the Red river and the Missouri. This sum 

 mit ridge, rising abruptly from the Shayenne, attains its greatest altitude in successive terraces; 

 the slope is more uniform towards the Jacques, which flows between low banks, and for a long 

 distance without timber. The ridge terminates towards Dead Colt Hillock, where it merges 

 in the level sweep of prairie extending from the Bois des Sioux ; farther south, on the head 

 waters of Wild Rice river, rises the head of the Coteau des Prairies, leaving an interval which 

 at once strikes the eye of an engineer as the natural roadway through this great labyrinth of 

 rivers, the only obstruction being the easy crossing of the Jacques. 



The main route, about thirty-five miles from the point last mentioned, and in the same general 

 course, crosses the Shayenne for the third time; here this river flows in a northeast course, making 

 a long circuit before it bends to the south, and receiving a considerable tributary from the north 

 west, as reported by the guide. It presents at this point the same character of intervale and steep 

 bluffs, but less water, and no timber. Five miles farther rises the Butte de Morale, one of the 

 ordinary prairie hills, so named to commemorate some incident of the hunting ground or the war 

 path. From the top of this hill the aspect of the country grows wilder and more hilly, in other 

 respects maintaining the same general character. It will serve somewhat further to indicate 

 the topography of this section to state that, from Lake Jessie to Mouse river, a distance of about 

 one hundred and twenty-five miles, timber was only once met with in the ravines of some hills 

 surrounding a small lake about midway between the Shayenne and Mouse rivers ; an abundant 

 substitute for firewood, however, is found in the dried buffalo chips still more elegantly called 

 the &quot;bois de vache&quot; which makes it unnecessary for travellers and hunters to leave their direct 

 course for the small wooded lakes. From this point also is seen the coteau of the Missouri looming 

 prominently on the horizon, and marking the limit of the more open prairie. Keeping a north 

 west direction, the coteau culminates, so to speak, in the Dog House hill, the most conspicuous 

 object on the plateau ; stih 1 , in the same course, it bounds the narrow valley of Mouse river, 

 which presents a similar but not so bold a formation on the other side, the width of the valley as 

 far as seen being less than twenty miles. The direction and appearance of the coteau at once 

 destroy the supposition of any waters of Mouse river rising within a mile of the Missouri, as pre 

 viously reported, and so represented on the most authentic maps. Wintering river is the only 

 branch of Mouse river crossed by the route of the expedition, and is more of a slough than a 

 river the stream being hardly perceptible through the pools created by the track of the buffalo. 

 No fact of this kind was reported by the guides, and Wintering river was actually headed by one of 

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