The Prairie
Page 2
AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION
The geological formation of that portion of the American Union, whichlies between the Alleghanies and the Rocky Mountains, has given rise tomany ingenious theories. Virtually, the whole of this immense region isa plain. For a distance extending nearly 1500 miles east and west, and600 north and south, there is scarcely an elevation worthy to be calleda mountain. Even hills are not common; though a good deal of the faceof the country has more or less of that "rolling" character, which isdescribed in the opening pages of this work.
There is much reason to believe, that the territory which now composesOhio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and a large portion of the countrywest of the Mississippi, lay formerly under water. The soil of all theformer states has the appearance of an alluvial deposit; and isolatedrocks have been found, of a nature and in situations which render itdifficult to refute the opinion that they have been transferred to theirpresent beds by floating ice. This theory assumes that the Great Lakeswere the deep pools of one immense body of fresh water, which lay toolow to be drained by the irruption that laid bare the land.
It will be remembered that the French, when masters of the Canadas andLouisiana, claimed the whole of the territory in question. Their huntersand advanced troops held the first communications with the savageoccupants, and the earliest written accounts we possess of these vastregions, are from the pens of their missionaries. Many French wordshave, consequently, become of local use in this quarter of America, andnot a few names given in that language have been perpetuated. When theadventurers, who first penetrated these wilds, met, in the centre of theforests, immense plains, covered with rich verdure or rank grasses, theynaturally gave them the appellation of meadows. As the English succeededthe French, and found a peculiarity of nature, differing from all theyhad yet seen on the continent, already distinguished by a word that didnot express any thing in their own language, they left these naturalmeadows in possession of their title of convention. In this manner hasthe word "Prairie" been adopted into the English tongue.
The American prairies are of two kinds. Those which lie east of theMississippi are comparatively small, are exceedingly fertile, and arealways surrounded by forests. They are susceptible of high cultivation,and are fast becoming settled. They abound in Ohio, Michigan, Illinois,and Indiana. They labour under the disadvantages of a scarcity of woodand water,--evils of a serious character, until art has had time tosupply the deficiencies of nature. As coal is said to abound in allthat region, and wells are generally successful, the enterprise of theemigrants is gradually prevailing against these difficulties.
The second description of these natural meadows lies west of theMississippi, at a distance of a few hundred miles from that river, andis called the Great Prairies. They resemble the steppes of Tartary morethan any other known portion of Christendom; being, in fact, a vastcountry, incapable of sustaining a dense population, in the absence ofthe two great necessaries already named. Rivers abound, it is true; butthis region is nearly destitute of brooks and the smaller water courses,which tend so much to comfort and fertility.
The origin and date of the Great American Prairies form one of naturesmost majestic mysteries. The general character of the United States, ofthe Canadas, and of Mexico, is that of luxuriant fertility. It wouldbe difficult to find another portion of the world, of the same extent,which has so little useless land as the inhabited parts of the AmericanUnion. Most of the mountains are arable, and even the prairies, in thissection of the republic, are of deep alluvion. The same is true betweenthe Rocky Mountains and the Pacific. Between the two lies the broadbelt, of comparative desert, which is the scene of this tale, appearingto interpose a barrier to the progress of the American people westward.
The Great Prairies appear to be the final gathering place of the redmen. The remnants of the Mohicans, and the Delawares, of the Creeks,Choctaws, and Cherokees, are destined to fulfil their time on thesevast plains. The entire number of the Indians, within the Union, isdifferently computed, at between one and three hundred thousand souls.Most of them inhabit the country west of the Mississippi. At the periodof the tale, they dwelt in open hostility; national feuds passing fromgeneration to generation. The power of the republic has done much torestore peace to these wild scenes, and it is now possible to travelin security, where civilised man did not dare to pass unprotectedfive-and-twenty years ago.
The reader, who has perused the two former works, of which this is thenatural successor, will recognise an old acquaintance in the principalcharacter of the story. We have here brought him to his end, and wetrust he will be permitted to slumber in the peace of the just.
J. F. Cooper Paris June 1832
THE PRAIRIE