PRAIRIE DU CHIEN

city, seat (1818) of Crawford county, southwestern Wisconsin, U.S., on the Mississippi River just above the influx of the Wisconsin River, 102 miles (164 km) west of Madison. The French and British each maintained a trading post (1673) and fort (1685) at the site before U.S. acquisition in 1783, making it the state's second oldest white settlement (after Green Bay). Named for an Indian chief, Alim (Dog, or chien), it became known as Prairie du Chien. As the western terminus of the Fox-Wisconsin river route to the Mississippi River system, it was long a rendezvous for explorers, missionaries, and traders. The Americans built Fort Shelby there during the War of 1812 and Fort Crawford in 1816. In 1820 Prairie du Chien became a depot for the American Fur Company. Villa Louis (1843), home of Hercules Dousman, the company's factor and regarded as Wisconsin's first millionaire, is preserved as a museum. The city is now a distribution point for agricultural produce and also has light manufacturing. The Museum of Medical Progress, a restored military hospital of Ft. Crawford (where William Beaumont continued his experiments with the digestive system), is a national historic landmark. Inc. 1872. Pop. (1990) 5,659.