From: george.kincaid@worldnet.att.net   
      
   I guess prairie may mean different things in different parts of the country.   
   Illinois now is one big farm--corn, wheat, soybeans. It may have had some   
   wild areas of grasslands in the pre-Civil War days... maybe that's what was   
   meant. I thought prairie was wild grasslands, but I'm from the Ohio Valley.   
   The term may mean something different.   
      
   "Al B. Traus"  wrote in message   
   news:426d75e7@nntp.zianet.com...   
   > In article ,   
   > george.kincaid@worldnet.att.net says...   
   > \   
   >>There are some ranchers here in Missouri, but I don't imagine they'd need   
   >>chaps.   
   >   
   > Recently I was puzzled by a reference to   
   > Illinois being known as "The Prairie State."   
   > I would have thought that title appropriate   
   > to the Dakotas, Wyoming, or even Nebraska,   
   > but Illinois???   
   >   
   > "At one time, well over half of Illinois was   
   > covered with prairies, earning it the nickname   
   > of "The Prairie State.""   
   >   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)