Prairie du Chien

Seat of Crawford County, southwestern Wisconsin, USA, on the Mississippi River, just north of its confluence with the Wisconsin River, opposite Marquette, Iowa, and the Effigy Mounds; population (1990) 5,700. It is an agricultural market centre. Prairie du Chien is the oldest settlement in Wisconsin after Green Bay; its name refers to an 18th-century leader of the Fox peoples, known as the Dog.

The town was a major trading and distribution hub when the Fox–Wisconsin river route (via Portage) formed the easiest connection between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi. French explorers were here as early as 1673, and British and American outposts followed, protecting and servicing the fur trade.