The daily Green Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1861-1865, 1862-03-04
Sketches of Western Scenery, &a,--Eo. 81
PRAIRIE DU SAC.

After following for IL mile or two the q aISeiY
wooded road leading southerly from tie DtVl' =
Lake, over the high ri1gy country, which passes
under the name of the Earaboo Bluffs, you IN
| expectedlv come out on TO the brow OF an alb
rupt and commanding doclivisy; when scene
| of almost unIivalled nagniiicence suddenly
bursts on your view. Directly before You, with
its broad and tar-spreadng e1panse and Its bold
| and picturesque surroundings, lies the noted
! Prairie du Sac, the old and iayorte home OF the
Cnce populous and powerful Indian nation, from
whom the name OF the place was derived.
This splendid prairie is nearly len miles In
length and about five in average breadth. In
shape it is nearly perfect oval. and around Its
whole border stretches long lines OF encirclng
mountain elevations, sometimes rising 10 the
height of about five hundred feet above the level
of the prairie, and everywhere SO closely con-
ncctcd as to appear, in the distance, Ike one
continuous ridge, running around the whole
valley, and with the broad intermediate ex-
panse, constituting vast Oval basin, alElost as
perfect in shape as if moulded by nature with
the purpose of trying her skill on form OF
beauty just w!lh:n the rim OF this natural
BASIN. and along its whole eastern circumference,
gently course the bright waters OF the majestic
Wisconsin while It's copious tributaries, the
along under no less bold and circlng bluffs OF
the westcrn circumference, as to naNc IN almost
perfect counterpart TO the eastern, and thus
complete the circle around nearly the Whole
prairie OF sparkling streams Us we'll as OF in
posing mountains. Out Of the summit Levels Of
these enclosing ridges, abruptly rise two round,
rocky, tOWer-nke Gmlnences, one on the C..SJ
side OF he valley and one ON the west, oVertop-
ping all others and seemingly standing lp Ike
giant sentlnes to had each other from the oppo-
site ramparts: or to handy from side to side. Or
arrest and receive on their OWE heads the Ihun-
derhotS descending for their victims to the plains
below.
The view OF this prairie and its enyirons from
the standpoint We nave assumed, is slngaarly
striking &Nu picturesque at dny season Of the
year, but in early summer, when the groves and
mountain forests are clothed in then rcCenesc
giOries; when the broad p;Hllie, from the great
contrast OF cJors. IS more dlstlngulshably
marked into separate farms, with Their dotting
cottages peerlns out from clustering shade trees
Wheu The fields are everywhere deeply covered
with Alternating belts of the dark green maize,
the liz hrer tinted cereals and the exuberlnt
grasses-al combining to form one wide sea of
waving yerdu1e, bordered around by the silver
cord OF the glittering rivers; it is then, then,
that the scene becomes enchantipgly beautiful
and over it the raptured and never wearying eye
wanders on and on, till all the lesseninS objects
of the perspective, one after another fade away
in the distance, and the vision at length rests
on the low. dim outlines of the mountains lying
along the southern extremity of the valley, but
not there to remain, but to return, still unsat-
istied, and 80 over che same ground again, and
be again delighted by the same unrivalled beau
ties.
AS already intimated, this attractive valley
long Was, as well it mi ght have been, the favor
lite home Of the Sac Indians and it was directly
on its borders, that their last chief, Black Hawk,
made his final, but vain stand, to preserve tho
possessions Of his people and the graves of their
fathers from the encroachments of the white
man. AS early as l166, Captain Jonathan Car
ver, who explored the whole VALLEY of the Mis-
sissippl, then without a sing lie white settlement,
found this prairie in the undsputcd possession
OF the fourishing nation OF the Sac Indians,
or Sauks, us he probably more properly denonl-
mates them. Their chief village, which occu-
pied Cnc same site with their preson' Sank City,
was, 10 AYERS, composed Of uboa5 one hundred
comfortable houses, built CT AeWn plank, ana
50 securely walled ana rooted in as t, make
then. perfectly stotm-proof in the &oyst seasons
Of The year. 10 some OF these houses were 1T
tac!icd porticos to Others, store houses, aud
other uppendages; while everything combined
to make 1t she best built Indian town then ex-
listing among all the various tribes Of the west
And he also says, chat such was the industry
and agricultural enterprise OF 1his people, chat
they yearly raised immense quantities OF melons
beans and corn and OF the latter valuable pro-
duct, sucL an abundance as to make the place
everywhere knownas the best corn market within
eight hundred miles OF the spot. Plenty Of evil
dence, indeed, is still to DO found in lhe vicinity
OF the place to snbstantiate the fact IT,. The
Sauks were, i'll their best Gays, an m1ust1lous,
enterprising and intelligent people, and far in
advance OF the other tribes of the west in agri-
culture and the arts Of civilized life Among
these evidences are the traces of furnaces used
by the natives for melting lead, and perhaps tor
baking pottery. But the most pal pable ones,
at the present day, are the well marked traces
of native cornields, which stretched out from
the town in every direction, into the prairie, and
in which, wherever the ground has not been
broken by the plow Of the white man, tho old
corn hills, AS neatly fashioned in shape, and as
regularly and compactly laid out in. rows, as
those Of " modern farmer are, though uow deeply
erased over, still found there so prominent in
height and outline as to leave not single doub,
of their character in the mind of the dullest
beholder.
Gro BE CoNTINUED.)