THE GEAND COTEAU DE MISSOURI. 



351 



lias never been an accumulation of fine sediment. The 

 origin of the prairies and plains of Eupert's Land, as well 

 as the present distribution of timber, will be discussed 

 in another chapter. The Grand Coteau de Missouri, dis- 

 tinctly visible from the Eye-brow Hill, begins in latitude 

 45°, about sixty miles south-west of the head, of the 

 Coteau des Prairies in latitude 45° 55' ; the intervening 

 valley is occupied by James's Eiver, an affluent of the 

 Missouri. Its boundary pursues a course nearly due 

 north, under the 99th meridian as far as the 47th paral- 

 lel, when, turning north-westerly, it enters British ter- 

 ritory near the 104th meridian, and still preserving a 

 north-westerly direction comes on the South Branch of 

 the Saskatchewan, a few miles from the Elbow, in longi- 

 tude 108°.* The region east of the Grand Coteau be- 

 longs to the prairie region, the Grand Coteau itself and 

 its prolongation towards Battle Eiver, from its eastern 

 boundary to the foot of the Eocky Mountains, constitutes 

 the " Plains " properly so called of the north-western ter- 

 ritories of the United States and of British America. 

 Prom the character of its soil and the aridity of its cli- 

 mate, the Grand Coteau is permanently sterile and unfit 

 for the abode of civilised man. The length of its abrupt 

 flank, not including small bays or indentations, is about 

 650 miles from its commencement in the valley of 

 James Eiver to the Elbow of the South Branch of the 

 Saskatchewan. For a distance of 380 miles the course 

 of the Missouri is approximately parallel to the flanks 

 of the Grand Coteau, and at an average distance of 

 50 miles from it. This vast tableland rises from 400 

 to 800 feet above the Missouri, and bears the same 



* Vide Map accompanying Capt. Palliser's Reports ; also Military Map 

 of Nebraska and Dakotah, by Lieut. G. K. Warren, Top. Eng. U. S. Army. 



