Word for 'prairie'?

[Koontz John E]

On Wed, 28 Jan 2004, R. Rankin wrote:
> Kaw /zaNje/ is 'upland forest' and the village /zaNjo:'liN/ is usually
> given as 'they live in the forest'.  Kaw /ttaNje/ is 'land like up on a
> hill/ according to Mrs. Rowe.  It's possible that either of these terms
> might be extended, but the one with /z/ seems to refer to an area with
> lots of trees.

OP zaN'de 'grove' (in Dorsey).

I tend to suspect that "upland" or "up on a hill" are intended as the
opposite of "bottomland" or "lowland," and that in the context of this
region along the Missouri and Mississippi these expressions refer to
"along the major rivers, in their floodplains" (bottom lands) and "up on
the bluffs and beyond on the flatlands up there" (upland areas).  The
uplands are typically fairly treeless, but not entirely so, and the
bottomlands are often comparatively heavily covered with gallery forest.

We have to assume that prairie in the proposed name refers to upland
grasslands, I guess!

Along the Missouri in Nebraska the lowland/upland contrast is pretty
extreme.  On the Nebraska side the bluffs are quite close to the river,
enclosing pockets lowlands of various sizes.  On the Iowa side the bluffs
are off in the distance or out of sight and the ground is flat and there
are lots of marshy areas.  At the top of the bluffs there is a band of
forest (not cottonwoods, but I don't know what) and then beyond there are
more or less rolling grasslands (mostly in corn and millet now).  I'm not
a native, only an occasional visitor, and some of the locals on the list
may wish to correct this slapdash assessment of their topography.