ti. W, Wells on Prairies, 333 



America, and the Alps, in Europe. The resemblance which 

 the soil, in the low prairies, and not in the high, bears to the 

 alluvial, can justly be attributed^ it is presumed, to the leaves 

 and other vegetables and light materials of which they are 

 composed, having been washed by heavy rains, for ages past, 

 from the higher to the lower places. This will also account 

 for the circumstance of trees growing upon the summits of the 

 hills of steep ascent : being thin and poor, the grass neither 

 grows sufficiently long or thick to kill the timber when fired. 

 They could not have been islands in this fairy lake ; because 

 their Summits are frequently much lower than high prairie 

 flats a few miles distant. These are facts which will be re- 

 collected by those who have ever travelled through a prairie 

 country of any extent. 



But suppose it to have been proved, that the waters of Lake 

 Erie once overspread the state 6f Ohio, from its present shore 

 to Chillicothe, (a supposition which I trust has however been 

 shown to be visionary) does it follow that the prairies were 

 occasioned by such overflowing ? If the water, by covering 

 the country, prevented the timber from growing, should we 

 not naturally look for the largest timber on the higher grounds 

 which would be first forsaken by the waters, and for small 

 timber on the low grounds, where the water remained longest ? 

 If this be true, (and it is unquestionable) we should then look 

 for prairies on the low grounds bordering on Lakes Erie, 

 Huron, and Michigan ; and the thickly timbered country 

 Tvould be on the high land, near the sources of the rivers. 

 But the contrary is absolutely the fact : we find heavy tim- 

 bered land, and no prairies, in the low countries north of 

 the lakes, and none south, either in Michigan territory or 

 elsewhere, until we arrive near the sources of the rivers. It 

 is true, that the water standing in pends will prevent the 

 timber from growing ; but the diflerence is readily observed 

 between prairies, properly so called, and those bogs. 



But to prove farther that water had no agency in bringing 

 the prairies into existence, we may mention those on and 

 near the summit of the Alleghany mountains, (principally itf 



Vol. I. ...No. 4. 27 



