Departing from the two days' camping-place, three miles from Kaskaskia, the course, for almost the entire first day, lay through thick forests, which have quite disappeared since that time, on the watershed between the Kaskaskia tributaries on the northwest and those of the St. Mary on the southeast.[23] Fortunately the journey at the outset was comparatively easy; the weather was warm for the season, though rainy. A good march was made on the seventh through the forests and out into Lively Prairie, half a mile northeast of Salem, Randolph County, where the course of the old trail is well known. Beyond this, Flat Prairie opened the way toward the "Great Rib," as the French knew the ridge in Grand Cote Prairie (_La Prairie de la Grande Côte_) on which the present village of Coultersville, Randolph County, stands. The first night's camp was pitched probably in Flat Prairie, between Salem and Coultersville.[24] The authoritative record for this day's march, as of all others, is the official Bowman's _Journal_:[25] "Made a good march for about nine hours; the road very bad, with mud and water. Pitched our camp in a square, baggage in the middle, every company to guard their own squares." On the eighth the record continues: "Marched early through the waters, which we now began to meet in those large and level plains, where, from the flatness of the country, [water] rests a considerable time before it drains off; notwithstanding which, our men were in great spirits, though much fatigued." By the eighth it would seem the little band had reached the lower plains in the northwest corner of Perry County, two and a half miles northwest of Swanwick, where the headwaters of the Big Muddy tributary of the Kaskaskia were crossed, and the prairie south of Oakdale, Washington County, at which point Elkhorn Creek was crossed at the famous "Meadow-in-the-Hole" of old French days. This region was also known as _Corne de Cerf_, Elkhorn Prairie, Elkhorn Point and Ayres Point.[26] Prairie, forest, and bottom land were not far apart here. The "Meadow-in-the-Hole" was a singular little meadow, fifty or sixty yards wide, located on a "dry branch" of the Elkhorn and thirty feet lower than the surrounding forests--at what is now Oakdale on the Elkhorn.[27] From the present Oakdale the pathway ran from Elkhorn Prairie through Nashville Prairie, circling half a mile to the north and northeast of Nashville, Washington County. Turning to the east here, it coursed onward to a celebrated "point" of woods called Grand Point, near the present Grand Point Creek, section 32, township 2, south range 1W, two miles and a half northwest of Richview, Washington County.[28] From thence it circled northeast through section 9 in Grand Prairie Township, the extreme northwest township of Jefferson County.[29] The second night's camp may have been pitched on Grand Point Creek, near Richview; and that of the ninth on Raccoon Creek, near