TOPOGRAPHY OF ROUTE FROM THE MISSISSIPPI TO THE COLUMBIA. 
161 
The country near the Shayenne as it flows southward assumes a bolder character : the 
swelling surface takes the forms of terraces and ridges ; ponds and marshes occur more fre¬ 
quently ; timber disappears from the uplands; the prairie becomes gravelly and abounds in 
granite boulders; and the river itself, moderately fringed with wood of different kinds, flows 
through a deep intervale enclosed by sand and clay bluffs from one hundred and fifty to two 
hundred feet and more of elevation, which are again surmounted by occasional hills sufficiently 
conspicuous to serve as landmarks to the hunters, and associated with thrilling reminiscences of 
Indian story. 
Leaving the Shayenne, the prairie for a considerable space shows no material change; a salty 
efflorescence appears in spots, betokening cur vicinity to Miniwakan lake, the meridian of which 
may be generally considered as the limit of previously authorized explorations north of the 
Missouri, and also of the region of the more fertile prairies, the pretty wooded Lake Jessie 
being the last well-known object on the route pursued by the expedition. From this point 
westward, and a little north of west for more than forty miles, to where the route strikes the 
Jacques or James river near its source, the country presents the same alternation of rolling 
prairie, flat intervals, marshy pools and small lakes, some of which have timber, with bluffy 
banks ; the greater number bare, with a level shore-line. The Jacques river flows from this point 
southeast almost parallel to the course of the Shayenne, embracing with that river the summit 
which, in this region, divides the waters flowing to the Red river and the Missouri. This sum¬ 
mit ridge, rising abruptly from the Shayenne, attains its greatest altitude in successive terraces; 
the slope is more uniform towards the Jacques, which flows between low banks, and for a long 
distance without timber. The ridge terminates towards Dead Colt Hillock, where it merges 
in the level sweep of prairie extending from the Bois des Sioux; farther south, on the head¬ 
waters of Wild Rice river, rises the head of the Coteau des Prairies, leaving an interval which 
at once strikes the eye of an engineer as the natural roadway through this great labyrinth of 
rivers, the only obstruction being the easy crossing of the Jacques. 
The main route, about thirty-five miles from the point last mentioned, and in the same general 
course, crosses the Shayenne for the third time; here this river flows in a northeast course, making 
a long circuit before it bends to the south, and receiving a considerable tributary from the north¬ 
west, as reported by the guide. It presents at this point the same character of intervale and steep 
bluffs, but less water, and no timber. Five miles farther rises the Butte de Morale, one of the 
ordinary prairie hills, so named to commemorate some incident of the hunting ground or the war 
path. From the top of this hill the aspect of the country grows wilder and more hilly, in other 
respects maintaining the same general character. It will serve somewhat further to indicate 
the topography of this section to state that, from Lake Jessie to Mouse river, a distance of about 
one hundred and twenty-five miles, timber was onty once met with in the ravines of some hills 
surrounding a small lake about midway between the Shayenne and Mouse rivers;' an abundant 
substitute for firewood, however, is found in the dried buffalo claps —still more elegantly called 
the “ bois de vache”—which makes it unnecessary for travellers and hunters to leave their direct 
course for the small wooded lakes. From this point also is seen the coteau of the Missouri looming 
prominently on the horizon, and marking the limit of the more open prairie. Keeping a north¬ 
west direction, the coteau culminates, so to speak, in the Dog House hill, the most conspicuous 
object on the plateau ; still, in the same course, it bounds the narrow valley of Mouse river, 
which presents a similar but not so bold a formation on the other side, the width of the valley as 
far as seen being less than twenty miles. The direction and appearance of the coteau at once 
destroy the supposition of any waters of Mouse river rising within a mile of the Missouri, as pre¬ 
viously reported, and so represented on the most authentic maps. Wintering river is the only 
branch of Mouse river crossed by the route of the expedition, and is more of a slough than a 
river—the stream being hardly perceptible through the pools created by the track of the buffalo. 
No fact of this kind was reported by the guides, and Wintering river was actually headed bj^ one of 
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