The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1870-01-08
Judge Cations Paper on "The Origin
of the Prairies"

ana important essays, lectures. and "paperS'
read before the recent gathering of teachers
al ottawa, none WAS really more deserving q
attention than the paper of Judge Catcn on
1.-The Origin of the PrairieS," and our readers
will not complain o. Us, we feel quite sure
TOR devoting :" large a space to lis insertion
IN our columns. We are the more impelleol
Z" It's publication, because, what outside com
ments we have heard upon it have hardly done
the Judge justice, or ut least seemed to do it
| grndsinGly. That 1t Was really all able essay,
very instructive to those not above being in.
strucfed, Gas are unfortunately too many OF
| u.s. we can now safely cntrnst to the better
judgment of our readers. Ii may have been
unfortunate that Its delivery followed So close
| ly upon Maj. Powelrs eloquent and piquant
description OF another region of the earth
, surface, which seemed like iairyland, while
the prairies seemed in contrast like the laml
lar ploughed field. Possibly the title might
have been little misconceived; and instead of
| stating the question as, what was the origin
| of the prairies' it might have been what is
| the force of habit ?" for while we all, that
| were born in the woods, are wondering how
the praries came to be, our children born
here, will never cease to wonder how in the
name of heaven the woods came to be. 1t can
he learned from the Judges able essay how
all this came about. For if he did not tell us
in so many words he told us so that we might
all infer, that the mountains and rocks are the
matrlX of leguminous fecundity, and the
granite detritus washed from their sides, and
the vast aluminous beds Of the earth, remain
ing just as God made them in the first place.
are The nurseries where the eternal forests of
the planet were reared. and that the sedimcn
tary deposits of vegetable and animal matter
are in like manner the matrix Of all the gram
nous productions dispersed over the worlds
surface. The deltas of the Ganges, the Nile,
the Rhine and the Mississippi show this; AMI
it is not climate, either, that is at the bottom
of it. For, the vast tunda of Siberia, bring
ing the southern shore of the Arctic Ocean, for
two thousand miles, with depth southwark
only a few inches above the crest of the Arc
tic waves, is like orr prairies, scClmcn'ar,
deposit, bequeathcd by the retiring waters
of the Arctic Sea, which once washed the foo,
rf the Altar chain, still three hundred miles
further south to the most inhospitabe eli
mate on earth-and yet, like our pra,rics, il i
equally the hcmc Of graminous vcgcta,ion,-
is equal to them in fcrtihtv-for it suhsis,s
some millions of inhabitants, with thousands
Of horses, while the less rigorous climate c-
Labrador, with its granite rocks, is the region
| of Forests, but Of Inhabitants none. The next
question is, where did the waters come from.
and where did they go to, that once rolled
tiom the Allegheny to the Rocky mountains
Well, It's not difficult to find that out. The
current, gentle as that of the lakes now j.,
came from the northeast and set towards the
, south west We all know about the Saug.
enay highands-no Of the s.. Lawrence
shooting out westward, from the mountain
region of Labrador, and setting the current
that came from the north, towards Michigan
and Illinois. Then the bed of the gulf of
Mexico and the Ocean south settled, and
then was corresponding upheavcl Of the
ground upon which we now stand, and during
the progress of many thousand years, it
changed from the bed ola vast ocean, to the
dry land Of a mighty Continent. We do not
know the price Of real estate in those days,
nor, in fact whether our ancestors had arrived
from some other planet and established a set
tcmen, upon this one or not but it is safe to
say, that real estate situated on the top Of Tie
Rocky mountains must have been worth much
more per acre, than the site Of Chicago then
was.
Such,--learned and luminous in its state
ment Of facts, interesting in its suggestions.
and slightly, almost imperceptibly humorous
in its presentation OF them,---is the Judges
able essay. Extended and implied into vol
ume, as we hope it may be some day, the best
We can say Of il is, that it would make an ,g
norant man wsc, and lugubrious man CAV.
------.
Pleasant Reading.