Note 35 — Chapter I
Reading edition
No explanation of “Cot plains” was offered to Mr. Draper by his Illinois correspondents. If the present writer be allowed a pure guess it would be that “Cot” was the American spelling of the French Quatre, “four;” “Cot plains” would then be a “Four Mile Prairie” east or northeast of Skillet Creek. The Clay County route cut off a corner of Romaine Prairie just here—which may have been known as “Four Mile Prairie” in earliest days. It is not known that such was the case.