Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1839-09-27
THE WESTERN PRAIRlEs.

These great savannns Of Missouri and H.
linois, have been described hundred times
over in books and newspaper paragraphs,
and have not the vanity TO suppose. that
can say any thing about them. which has
not been better said by others. Nevertheless.
as TO me, the spectacle was entirely novel
and exceedingly interesting. may perhaps
venture TO put down some ofmy impressions
as well as am able The first view had.
which was of the low fat prairies on the
Mississippi. did not, confess. come up 10 my
expectations. could no, perceive how
they differed from some of those extensive
salt marshes had so often seen upon the sea
board. The grass was not much higher,
and at distance, could not be distinguished
from the ordinary growth the salt mead
ow. Afterwards l saw many other prairies,
more or less extensive, of the same leve. or
monotonous character. on the Illinois river
and elsewhere. and found it quite impossible
to admire them; the more so on account OF
the great rains which made the travelling
very heavy in crossing them, and now and
then prompted The unwelcome request from
our stage coach man. that we would get out
and wade, (,1aik think he phrased i'll
"for," continued he. in the language Of the
country, slam afraid we shall get stalled in
the slem." In the wettest parts oftbose fiat
praries the grass is coarse and sedgy, and
grows very tall. Where the fires sweep
over them late in the fall. and early in the
spring, the young growth is for short time
extremely slender and nutritious. But al
though should myself never think Of set
Ting down upon one Of these deadlevel bot
toms, and cannot in conscience say. that !
think them either grand or beautiful, few OF
them are so we, but that in ordinary seasons,
they may be cultivated: and they often bring
MS heavy crops as the richest soil can yield.
But the rolling praines are ola very diff
ferent and far more interesting character
Many of the inequalities Of the ground
are gentle swells, like the pillows Of the
ocean in calm Others rise higher, some
times sloping off on all sides with surpass-
| ing gracefulness, and sometimes extending
the most beautiful sites imaginable for de-
taching dwellings. or charming villages.
have said that do not like the fiat praires
at all; but when level tracts are inteispersed
with undulations and wooded islands stretch
ing away TO the distant horison, they serve
10 heiphten the effect, which for solitude,
grandeur and beauty far surpasses what my
Imagination had depicted.
After left the Mississippi, and entered
the prairie region OF illinois, | could not for
some time get rid OF the impression. that II
was an old country which an industrious
race OF men had cleared up and occupied
for centuries but from which they had been
swept of, with all traces oftheir existence, at
period so remote, that the wave Of oblivion
has long since rolled over il. do not mean
that this is my theory-fcr, whoever may
have beenin possession ofthe country, far back
OF our most ancient historical records. ! DO
not believe it was ever covered with such
forests as you see in Kentucky, and Ohio
or the upper Mississippi Certainly annu'
al fires ofthe hunter. have from time inme-
mortal, kept them clear of timber. except
near the water courses, where it has found
adequate protection,
The largest prairie that | crossed, lies
somewhere about midway between Spring
field and Peoria. do not know that its un-
Hdulations are more beautiful, or lis ever
changing aspects more charming, than
what you see and admire on smaller scale