Description from John W. Hunt's 1853 Wisconsin Gazetteer: "PRAIRIE LA CROSSE, is the name given to the beautiful prairie at the mouth of La Crosse river, it was formerly an Indian trading station, and was frequented by them for the purpose of playing their favorite game of ball, from which fact the river now known as La Crosse river, derived its original name of Ball river."

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Prairie La Crosse, Wisconsin

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[Source: Hunt, John W. Wisconsin Gazetteer (Madison, 1853)]