PRAIRIE DU CHIEN, a beautiful post-village, capital of Crawford co., Wisconsin, is finely situated on the Mississippi, 4 miles above the mouth of Wisconsin river, and about 100 miles W. from Madison. It is one of the oldest towns of the state. It is the W. terminus of the Milwaukee and Mississippi railroad, in course of construction. The site is a level plain or prairie, 6 or 8 miles long and 1 or 2 miles wide, enclosed on the E. by rocky bluffs. The village contains a newspaper office and several churches, one of which is Catholic. (Baldwin's New and Complete Gazetteer of the United States..., 1854)
PRAIRIE DU CHIEN, P. V. & C. H., is situated on section 6, town 6 N., of range 6 W., upon an elevated prairie, averaging one mile in width, and is about 8 miles in length, extending from the mouth of the Wisconsin river, northward, along the bank of the Mississippi. It has one of the best landings on the river, is very healthy; and all who have visited the place concur in the opinion that its location gives it a commanding commercial importance. (John Warren Hunt, Wisconsin Gazetteer..., Madison, 1853)