Southport telegraph. [volume] (Southport, W.T. [i.e. Kenosha, Wis.]) 1840-1850, 1842-10-26
From the Wisconsin Enquirer.
PRAIRIE DU CHEN.

This is one OF the most beautiful sites
for "a town On the Mississippi river. 1t
extends from the mouth Of the Wisconsin
up the Mississippi about nine miles and IS
about one mile in width, being bounded by
hills on the east side which terminate in
"B!u0s' several hundred feet in height
at the edge OF the prairie. The farms are
made at the foot ol' the bluffs, and the IN
ha0jtanIs generality live in villages along
the margin o! the river. I hese are known
as the town OF PRAIRIE DU CHEN, which
is no" thriving as rapidly as any other
place On the Mississippi. There are sew
eraI extensive mercantile establishments.
At the principal village the United States
have a Fort which is now garrisoncd by
a force adequate for the defence Of that
portion Of the country. Steamboats, as
cend from St. Louis to tbs place in SIX
days, and ;heir trips are frequent. There
Is mach beautiful country in the ncig 1bor-
hood and also upon the west side Of the
Mississippi, which is settling rapidly by
emigrants from New York and New Eng
land.
PRAIRIE DU CnIEN is place Of great
trade, as it has been from its earliest set
t.cment ii was selected by the French
traders on account Of It's facilities for trade
and commerce, being at the western ter
miIatioa Of the most practicable route for
communication by water with Lake Michi-
gan and the Upper Mississippi. HeEnc-
pin saws that towards the end of Scp'em-
Der 1880, we fell down the river ST. Fran
els into the Mississippi, and thence went
up lac Wisconsin, nayigabIc for large yes
sells 100 leagues; thcn we carried our
canoes over land half league to the Nee
nah, and arrived at last at the great Bay
Of the Puans (Grrcn Bay) where we found
many Canadians, who were come h,hcr
20 trade"
1t is assorted that this place was visited
by pere Marquette and Mons. Joliet in
1868. who 'in the spring ofthat year took
their dcpartu from the Preach settlement
at Green Bay, on a voyage of discovery
up the N cnah river and down the WIscon-
sin to the Mississippi.
In the year 1875 the government of
France established military post near the
mouth of the Wisconsin, and many French
families settled themselves IN the fleIgnOor-
hood and established the village of Prairie
du CHEN.
BY thc Treaty Of Versailles, in the year
1868. the village and the post following
the condition of the Canadas and the Hi
nois country, passed to the crown of Eng
land.
The Indian title to the Prairie was ex-
tinguished by Lit. Gov. Patrick Sinclair,
by treaty held at Mackinaw, in the year
1881.
In the year 1888, the fort was destroyed
and the events of the American revolution
again changed the condition of the inhab-
tantS, and on the first Of June 1876, the
village was formerly surrendered by the
British to he United States.
During the war of 1912 the United States
erected fort there which with its garriS on
was captured by party Of Canadian mill
Tia and Indians from the Saut ST. Maria;
and the fort was held by the British until
the treaty of peace in 1915.
The history Of Green Bay and Prairie
du CHEN is the history of the northwest,
and until the year 1925, all the citizens OF
Wisconsin were settled within the limits OF
these two villages