be done, but these little volume^' form a neucleus about 

 which the student may arrano-e the facts he collects 

 and they will serve to enable one to ascertain what 

 has been done, and instead of wasting- his time in going- 

 over the same g'round, threshing- the old straw over, 

 will enable him to beg-in where we leave off, and push 

 on into the unknown reg-ions which lie beyond. 



We are g-etting- old; have lived years long-er than 

 we expected to when we were 21, but at 65, one can- 

 not have a ver}^ long* time for work before him, and 

 we have thoug-ht it wise to bring- tog-ether the material 

 we have g-athered in past years, incorporate it with all' 

 we could obtain of the results arrived at by others, 

 and thus give as complete a view of the "Natural His- 

 tory of La Salle County" as possible. 



If we shall, throug-h this work, impart one idea to 

 a seeker after truth or aid some one in their studies of 

 any part of the subject, we shall feel that we have not 

 toiled in vain. 



Nature is but God's revelation of Himself to man, 

 hence a part of His word, the Christian can as clearly 

 see the g-lory and goodness of his Heavenly Father in 

 the stars of night, in odorous and beautiful flowers, in 

 animals, the forest, the birds of the air, the fishes of 

 the deep, in his own wonderful frame as the written 

 word. Cold must be that soul and far from God who 

 cannot feel His presence as clearly in the forest shades 

 as in the temple made b}^ hands, and does not hear 

 His praise as distinctly in the ripple of the stream, the 

 sighing of the breeze and the roar of the tempest as in 

 the notes of the pealing organ or the song of the well- 

 trained chorus. To the Christian all things beautiful 

 and bright should be my Father's works, evidences of 

 His ternal wisdom, goodness and power. 



In the preface to Part I, will be found our ac- 

 knowledgements to many friends, and these we reiter- 

 ate here without repeating names given there, and will 

 add to that list Thos. D. Catlin, president of National 

 City Bank, Prof. U. J. Hoffman, County Superin- 

 tendant ofSchoolsandPres. lv. A. Vigness of Pleas- 

 ant View Luther College, 



