Prairie Generics in Midligan

SO FAR, NO TRUE GENERICS OF prairiel have been found on current topographical maps of Michigan.2 Yet at one time there were a good number of named prairies in the state, and the inhabitants used the word considerably. For this information I am grateful to Professor Albert H. Marckwardt, who called my attention to Albert F. Butler's article entitled Rediscovering Michigan's Prairies.3 principle, some of Butler's observations hold true outside of Michigan, probably applying more to Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota than elsewhere. On page 268 of the September, 1947, installment Butler says, The French fur traders and hunters ... [gave] us this heritage not only of a general topographical term, but names for specific prairie areas of Michigan Portage Prairie, Terre Coupe Prairie, Prairie Mouillee, Prairie Ronde, Grand (Grande) Prairie, and possibly others. He goes on (ibid., pp.275-'76) to describe the conditions that affected the use of the expression in this region: In many cases, the need for prairie names came before the· need for village names and in a certain period, especially in the 1820's and 1830's, one spoke of prairies in giving directions, rather than employing the names of

Archaeology · Geography · State (computer science · Archaeology and Natural History · Botany, Ecology, and Taxonomy Studies · History