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Platte Mounds

of trees, as if planted by the hand of art for ornamenting this naturally splendid scene. Over this extended view in all directions are scattered the incipient farms of the settlers, with their luxurient crops of wheat and oats, whose yellow sheaves, already cut, form a beautiful contrast with the waving green of the Indian corn, and the smooth dark lines, of the potatoe crop. Throughout the prairie the most gorgeous variety of flowers are seen rising above the thickly set grass, which in large and small patches has here and there been mowed for hay, all presenting a curious chequered appearance of the table beneath us. The mineral flower, the tall bright purple and red feather, the sunflower, the yellow bloom, the goldenrod, the several small and beautiful flowers intersperced with the grass render the scene indescribably beautiful. To the north the Wisconsin hills are seen bounding the view; to the east, prairie and wood are only limited by the horizon, and the Blue Mounds on the north-east form a back ground and a land mark; to the south the view over the rolling country extends into the state of Illinois; in the south=west is seen the Sinsinewa mound; the view to the west is only bounded by the Table mound, and the hills west of the Mississippi,

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