144 Journey to the Coteau des Prairies, ^c. 



much doubt in my mind. I believe that the geologist may take 

 the different varieties which he may gather at the base of the 

 Coteau in one hour, and travel the continent of North America 

 all over, without being enabled to put them all in place ; coming 

 at last to the unavoidable conclusion, that numerous chains or 

 beds of primitive rocks have reared their heads on this continent, 

 the summits of which have been swept away by the force of the 

 diluvial currents, and their fragments jostled together and strewed 

 about, like foreigners in a strange land, over the great valleys of 

 the Mississippi and Missouri, where they will ever remain and be 

 gazed upon by the traveller, as the only remaining evidence of 

 their native ledges, which have been again submerged or covered 

 with diluvial deposits. 



There seems not to be, either on the Coteau or in the great 

 valleys on either side, so far as I have travelled, any slaty or other 

 formation exposed above the surface, on which grooves or scratches 

 can be seen, to establish the direction of the diluvial currents in 

 those regions ; yet I think the fact is pretty clearly established 

 by the general shapes of the valleys, and the courses of the moun- 

 tain ridges -which wall them in on their sides. 



The Coteau des Prairies is the dividing ridge between the St. 

 Peter's and the Missouri rivers ; its southern termination or slope 

 is about in the latitude of the Falls of St. Anthony, and it stands 

 equidistant between the two rivers, its general course bearing 

 two or three degrees west of north, for the distance of two or 

 three hundred miles, when it gradually slopes again to the north, 

 throwing out from its base the head waters and tributaries of the 

 St. Peter's on the east ; the Red River and other streams which 

 empty into the Hudson's Bay on the north ; " La Riviere Jaques" 

 and several other tributaries to the Missouri on the west ; and the 

 Red Cedar, the loway and the De Moines on the south. 



This wonderful anomaly in nature, which is several hundred 

 miles in length, and varying from fifty to an hundred in width, is 

 undoubtedly the noblest mound of its kind in the world : it grad- 

 ually and gracefully rises on each side, by swell after swell, with- 

 out tree, or bush, or rocks, (save what are to be seen at the Pipe 

 Stone Q,uarry,) and is every where covered with green grass, af- 

 fording the traveller, from its highest elevations, the most un- 

 bounded and sublime views of — nothing at all, — save the blue 

 and boundless ocean of prairies that lie beneath and all around 



