1922] SMITH, BOTANY IN SOUTHWESTERN WISCONSIN 123 



used a two- wheeled cart, and while 101 was a fair highway, the north 

 or south roads were only so-called. We had hoped to see some of the 

 Yellow Lotus (Nelumbo lutea) along the river and we did. We also 

 saw quantities of what we took to be the red-brown Iris (Iris fulva), 

 though what it was doing away up here in Wisconsin, we couldn't 

 determine. This was near Ferryville, and as our press was not in 

 operation, but on the way to Prairie du Chien by express, we didn't 

 collect them. We supposed they would become commoner down the 

 river, but we never saw them again, — the one regret of the trip. We 

 left Ferryville with a decision to pass up the sand and hurry back to 

 the ridge road, so we took a long rising climb up along the bed of 

 Sugar Creek, six miles to the ridge road. It was easy sailing on the 

 ridge road and we were soon scaling off the miles through Mount 

 Sterling to Eastman, where dark overtook us and we stayed all night. 

 Next morning we went on down to Prairie du Chien, probably the 

 most historic spot in Wisconsin's early days. 



We furnished stories of this city, which were printed in the Sun- 

 day Milwaukee Journal. Judge O'Neil, who held forth in the oldest 

 courthouse in Wisconsin, referred us to Lawyer Evans, as the his- 

 torian of the region, and we spent an evening listening open-mouthed 

 to the stirring tales of frontier days. We saw the first whiteman's 

 house, brought down the Ohio river from Pennsylvania on a boat and 

 up the Mississippi to Prairie du Chien, and set up there with wooden 

 dowels. Not a nail in the house, and still occupied today. He also 

 told us of the old Astor fur trading post of Michael Brisbois, which is 

 still doing good service as Ben Schaub's Riverside Machine Shop. In 

 the early days, the Indians came here to trade from as far as the farther 

 shore of Lake Superior. Old Fort Crawford's ruins are in the south 

 end of town on route 19. Zachary Taylor and Jefif Davis used to visit 

 this old fort, and lived in the officers' quarters when here. 



We stopped at the City Hotel, where Mr. Bily's barn furnished our 

 workshop, and from here we covered the country for miles around. 

 Blackberries were in fine shape just at this time and we surely had our 

 share. Here we found the flora taking on more of a truly southern 

 aspect, and the Mississippi sloughs were interesting places. We saw 

 acres of the large Yellow Lotus, our largest native wild flower, and 

 photographed them quite thoroughly. There are eighteen stations in 

 Wisconsin, where this rapidly disappearing lily is found. It is a close 

 relative of the Lotus of the Nile, but yellow or cream color instead of 

 purple. We found it growing alongside of the sweet white water lily 



