âEarly in the morning of the 21st we found an Indian trail and followed it through the forest to the prairie. From the dense, shady, native woods to the open, smooth, sunny plains, the change was so sudden, and the contrast so great, that a new world of wondrous beauty seemed open to our view. For three days we had traveled in the heavy belt of timber, which extended from the cloudy waters of the Minnesota River to the borders of the northwestern open country called by the red men,Ta-tonka-ka-gapl, orthe home ofthe buffalo.â