The River St. Peter's is called, by the Dacotas, _Watepa Minnesota_. The prefixed term _watepa_, is their word for river; _minni_ is the name for water. The term _sota_ has been variously explained. The Canadian French, who have proved themselves most apt translators of Indian phrases, render it by the word _brouille_, or _blear_; or, if we regard this as derivative from the verb _brouiller_, _mixed_, or _mottled_--a condition of the waters of this river, whenever the Mississippi is in flood, and consequently at a higher elevation when it rushes into the mouth of the St. Peter's, producing that addled aspect of the water, to which the Dacotas, it is believed, apply the term _sota_. The scenery around St. Peter's is of the most sylvan and delightful character. About six miles west of the cantonment there are several beautiful lakes, in the prairies. The largest of these is about four miles in circumference, and is called Calhoun Lake, in compliment to the Secretary of War. Its waters are stored with bass and other varieties of fish. There are several pure springs of sparkling water, issuing from the picturesque cliffs which face the Mississippi at this place. I visited one about a mile from the cantonment, which deposits a yellow sulphurous flocculent mass along its course. On the prairies is found the _holcus fragrans_, which is braided by the Indian females, and employed in some instances to decorate their deer-skin clothing. This aromatic grass retains its scent in the dried state. Along the waters of the St. Peter's is found the _acer negundo_, the inner bark of which, mixed with the common nettle, is employed by the natives in the state of a strong decoction, as a cure for the _lues venerea_. Mr. Carver having described certain antiquities near the foot of Lake Pepin, in 1766, inquiries were made after objects of this kind in the vicinity. I was informed that traces of such remains existed in the valley of the St. Peter's, but can say nothing concerning them from actual inspection.[93] [93] The last known platform mound in the spread of the mound-builders north, is at Prairie du Chien. The monuments, supposed to be mounds, in the St. Peter's region, are found by Mr. Owen to be geological elevations. The remains on Blue Earth River are attributed to a fort or inclosure built by Le Seur, in his search for copper on that stream, in 1700. Other remains, in the St. Peter's valley, appear to be old trading-houses, fallen in.