Prairie du Chien does not derive its name from the dog, but from a noted family of Fox Indians bearing this name, who anciently dwelt here. The old town is said to have been about a mile below the present settlement, which was commenced by Mr. Dubuque and his associates, in 1783. The prairie is most eligibly situated along the margin of the stream, above whose floods it is elevated. It consists of a heavy stratum of diluvial pebbles and boulders, which is picturesquely bounded by lofty cliffs of the silurian[105] limestones, and their accompanying column of stratification. The village has the old and shabby look of all the antique French towns on the Mississippi, and in the great lake basins; the dwellings being constructed of logs and barks, and the courtyards picketed in, as if they were intended for defence. It is called Kipisagee by the Chippewas and Algonquin tribes generally, meaning the place of the jet or outflow of the (Wisconsin) River. It is, in popular parlance, estimated to be 300 miles below St. Peter's, and 600 above St. Louis.[106] Its latitude is 43° 3´ 6´´. It is the seat of justice for Crawford County, having been so named in, honor of W. H. Crawford, Secretary of the Treasury of the U. S. It is, together with all the region west of Lake Michigan, attached to the territory of Michigan. There is a large and fertile island in the Mississippi, opposite the place. [105] This term, unknown to geology at the period, has been subsequently introduced by Sir Roderic Murchison. [106] These distances are reduced by _Ex. Doc._ 237, respectively to 260 and 542 miles. We found the garrison to consist of a single company of infantry, under the command of Capt. J. Fowle, Jun.,[107] who received us courteously, and offered the salute due to the rank of His Excellency, Gov. Cass. The fort is a square stockade, with bastions at two angles. There was found on this part of the prairie, when it came to be occupied with a garrison by the Americans, in 1819, an ancient platform-mound, in an exactly square form, the shape and outlines of which were preserved with exactitude by the prairie sod. This earthwork, the probable evidence of a condition of ancient society, arts, and events of a race who are now reduced so low, was, with good taste, preserved by the military, when they erected this stockade. One of the officers built a dwelling-house upon it, thus converting it, to the use, and probably the only use, to which it was originally devoted. No measurements have been preserved of its original condition; but judging from present appearances, it must have squared seventy-five feet, and have had an elevation of eight feet. [107] This officer entered the army in 1812, serving with reputation. He rose, through various grades of the service, to the rank of Lieut. Col. of the 6th infantry. He lost his life on the 25th April, 1838, by the explosion of the steamer Moselle, on the Ohio River. CHAPTER XV.