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A
NEW GUIDE FOR EMIGRANTS
TO THE
WEST,
CONTAINING SKETCHES OF
OHIO, INDIANA, ILLINOIS, MISSOURI, MICHIGAN, WITH
THE TERRITORIES OF WISCONSIN AND ARKANSAS,
AND THE ADJACENT PARTS.
BY J. M. PECK, A. M.
OF ROCK SPRING, ILL
BOSTON:
GOULD, KENDALL & LINCOLN.
FOR SALE BY THE BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED STATES.
1836.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1836,
By GOULD, KENDALL & LINCOLN,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts.
INDEX.
CHAP. I.
GENERAL VIEW OF THE VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
Extent--Subdivisions--Population--Physical Features--Animal,
Vegetable and Mineral Productions--History--Prospective
Increase of Population, 11
CHAP. II.
GENERAL VIEW, &C., CONTINUED.
Productions, 32
CHAP. III.
CLIMATE.
Comparative View of the Climate with the Atlantic
States--Diseases--Means of Preserving Health, 37
CHAP. IV.
CHARACTER, MANNERS AND PURSUITS OF THE PEOPLE.
Cotton and Sugar Planters--Farmers--Population of
the large Towns and Cities--Frontier Class--Hunters
and Trappers--Boatmen, 102
CHAP. V.
PUBLIC LANDS.
System of Surveys--Meridian and Base Lines--Townships--Diagram
of a Township surveyed into Sections--Land Districts and
Offices--Pre-emption Rights--Military and Bounty
Lands--Taxes--Valuable Tracts of Country unsettled, 130
CHAP. VI.
ABORIGINES.
Conjecture respecting their former Numbers and Condition--
Present Number and State--Indian Territory appropriated as
their Permanent Residence--Plan and Operations of the U. S.
Government--Missionary Efforts and Stations--Monuments and
Antiquities, 144
CHAP. VII.
WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA.
Face of the Country--Soil, Agriculture and Internal
Improvements--Chief Towns--Pittsburg--Coal--Sulphur and
Hot Springs--Wheeling, 163
CHAP. VIII.
MICHIGAN.
Extent--Situation--Boundaries--Face of the Country--Rivers--Lakes,
&c.--Soil and Productions--Subdivisions--Counties--Towns--
Detroit--Education--Internal Improvements projected--Boundary
Dispute--Outline of the Constitution, 179
CHAP. IX.
OHIO.
Boundaries--Divisions--Face of the Country--Soil and
Productions--Animals--Minerals--Financial Statistics--Canal
Fund--Expenditures--Land Taxes--School Fund--Statistics--
Canal Revenues--Population at different Periods--Internal
Improvements--Manufactures--Cities and Towns--Cincinnati--
Columbus--Education--Form of Government--History, 193
CHAP. X.
INDIANA.
Boundaries and Extent--Counties--Population--Face of the
Country, &c.--Sketch of each County--Form of Government--
Finances--Internal Improvements--Manufactures--Education--
History--General Remarks, 222
CHAP. XI.
ILLINOIS.
Boundaries and Extent--Face of the Country and Qualities of
Soil--Inundated Land--River Bottoms, or Alluvion--Prairies--
Barrens--Forest, or timbered Land--Knobs, Bluffs, Ravines and
Sink Holes--Rivers, &c.--Productions--Minerals--Lead, Coal,
Salt, &c.--Vegetables--Animals--Manufactures--Civil
Divisions--Tabular View of the Counties--Sketches of each
County--Towns--Alton--Projected Improvements--Education--
Government--General Remarks, 251
CHAP. XII.
MISSOURI.
Extent and Boundaries--Civil Divisions--Population--Surface,
Soil and Productions--Towns--St. Louis, 315
CHAP. XIII.
ARKANSAS AND TERRITORIAL DISTRICTS.
ARKANSAS.--Situation and Extent--Civil Divisions--
Rivers--Face of the Country--Soil--Water--Productions--
Climate--Minerals--State of Society. WISCONSIN.
Boundaries and Extent--Rivers--Soil--Productions--Towns, &c., 323
CHAP. XIV.
LITERARY AND RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS FOR THE WEST.
Colleges--Statistical Sketch of each Religious Denomination
--Roman Catholics--Field for Effort, and Progress made--
Theological Institutions--Deaf and Dumb Asylums--Medical
Institutions--Law Schools--Benevolent and Religious
Societies--Periodical Press, 334
CHAP. XV.
SUGGESTIONS TO EMIGRANTS.
Modes of Travel--Canal, Steamboat and Stage Routes--Other
Modes of Travel--Expenses--Roads, Distances, &c., 364
INTRODUCTION.
Much has been published already about the WEST,--the GREAT
WEST,--the VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI.--But no portion of
this immense and interesting region, is so much the subject of inquiry,
and so particularly excites the attention of the emigrant, as the States
of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Michigan, with the adjacent
territorial regions.
All these States have come into existence as such, with the exception of
Ohio, within the last twenty years; and much of the territory, now
adorned by the hand of civilization, and spread over with an
enterprising, industrious and intelligent people,--the field of public
improvements in Canals and Railways,--of Colleges, Churches, and other
institutions, was the hunting ground of the aborigines, and the scene of
border warfare. These States have been unparalleled in their growth,
both in the increase of population and property, and in the advance of
intellectual and moral improvement. Such an extent of forest was never
before cleared,--such a vast field of prairie was never before subdued
and cultivated by the hand of man, in the same short period of time.
Cities, and towns, and villages, and counties, and States never before
rushed into existence, and made such giant strides, as upon this field.
"_Who hath heard such a thing? Who hath seen such things? Shall the
earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at
once?_" Isaiah, LXVI. 8.
The rapid increase of population will be exhibited in a tabular form in
the following pages, and other parts showing that the general
improvement of the country, and the development of its physical,
intellectual and moral resources have kept pace with the extension of
settlements. And such are its admirable facilities for commerce by its
numerous navigable rivers, and its lines of canals, some of which are
finished, and many others commenced or projected,--such the richness of
its soil, and the variety of its productions,--such the genial nature of
its climate,--the enterprise of its population,--and the influence it
must soon wield in directing the destinies of the whole United States,
as to render the GREAT WEST an object of the deepest interest
to the American patriot. To the philanthropist and christian, the
character and manners,--the institutions, literature and religion of so
wide a portion of our country, whose mighty energies are soon to exert a
controlling influence over the character of the whole nation, and in
some measure, of the world, are not less matters of momentous concern.
"The West is a young empire of mind, and power, and wealth, and free
institutions, rushing up to a giant manhood, with a rapidity and power
never before witnessed below the sun. And if she carries with her the
elements of her preservation, the experiment will be glorious,--the joy
of the nation,--the joy of the whole earth, as she rises in the majesty
of her intelligence and benevolence, and enterprise, for the
emancipation of the world."--_Beecher._
Amongst the causes that have awakened the attention of the community in
the Atlantic States, to this Great Valley, and excited the desires of
multitudes to remove hither, may be reckoned the efforts of the liberal
and benevolent to aid the West in the immediate supply of her population
with the Bible, with Sunday Schools, with religious tracts, with the
gospel ministry, and to lay the foundation for Colleges and other
literary institutions. Hundreds of families, who might otherwise have
remained in the crowded cities and densely populated neighborhoods of
their ancestors, have had their attention directed to these States as a
permanent home. And thousands more of virtuous and industrious families
would follow, and fix their future residence on our prairies, and in our
western forests, cultivate our wild lands,--aid in building up our
towns and cities, and diffuse a healthful moral and intellectual
influence through the mass of our present population, could they feel
assured that they can reach some portion of the Western Valley without
great risk and expense,--provide for their families comfortably, and not
be swept off by sickness, or overwhelmed by suffering, beyond what is
incident to any new country.
The author's first book, "A GUIDE FOR EMIGRANTS," &c. was
written in the winter and spring of 1831, to answer the pressing call
then made for information of these western states, but more especially
that of Illinois;--but many of its particulars, as to the character and
usages of the people, manners and customs, modes of erecting buildings,
general characteristics and qualities of soil, productions, &c. were
applicable to the West generally.
Since that period, brief as it has been, wide and rapid changes have
been made, population has rapidly augmented, beyond that of any former
period of the same extent;--millions of acres of the public domain, then
wild and hardly explored, have been brought into market; settlements and
counties have been formed, and populous towns have sprung up where, at
that time, the Indian and wild beast had possession; facilities for
intercommunication have been greatly extended, and distant places have
been brought comparatively near; the desire to emigrate to the west has
increased, and everybody in the Atlantic states has become interested
and inquires about the Great Valley. That respectable place, so much the
theme of declamation and inquiry abroad, "_The Far West_," has gone from
this region towards the setting sun. Its exact locality has not yet been
settled, but probably it may soon be found along the gulf of California,
or near Nootka Sound. And if distance is to be measured by time, and the
facility of intercourse, we are now several hundred miles nearer the
Atlantic coast than twenty years since. Ten years more, and the
facilities of railways and improved machinery will place the Mississippi
within seven day's travel of Boston,--six days of Washington city, and
five days of Charleston, S. C.
To give a brief, and yet correct account of a portion of this Great
Valley, its resources, the manners and customs of its inhabitants, its
political subdivisions, cities, commercial and other important towns,
colleges and other literary institutions, religious condition, public
lands, qualities of soil and general features of each state and
territory named in the title page, together with such information as may
form a kind of manual for the emigrant and man of business, or which may
aid him on his journey hither, and enable him to surmount successfully
the difficulties of a new country, is the object of this new work. In
accomplishing this task the author has aimed at _correctness_ and
_brevity_. To condense the particular kind of information called for by
the public mind in a small space, has been no easy task. Nor has it been
a small matter to collect from so wide a range as five large states, and
two extensive territories, with other large districts, the facts and
statistical information often found in the compass of less than a page.
It is an easy task to a belles-lettre scholar, sitting at his desk, in
an easy chair, and by a pleasant fire, to write "Histories," and
"Geographies," and "Sketches," and "Recollections," and "Views," and
"Tours" of the Western Valley,--but it is quite another concern to
explore these regions, examine public documents, reconcile contradictory
statements, correspond with hundreds of persons in public and private
life, read all the histories, geographies, tours, sketches, and
recollections that have been published, and correct their numerous
errors,--then collate, arrange, digest, and condense the facts of the
country. Those who have read his former "GUIDE FOR EMIGRANTS,"
will find upon perusal, that this is radically a _new work_--rather than
a new edition. Its whole plan is changed; and though some whole pages of
the former work are retained, and many of its facts and particulars
given in a more condensed form, much of that work being before the
public in other forms, he has been directed, both by his own judgment,
and the solicitude of the public mind in the Atlantic states, to give to
the work its present form and features.
There are three classes of persons in particular who may derive
advantage from this Guide.
1. All those who intend to remove to the states and territories
described. Such persons, whether citizens of the Atlantic states, or
natives of Europe, will find in this small volume, much of that species
of information for which they are solicitous.
It has been a primary object of the author throughout this work, to
furnish the outline of facts necessary for this class. He is aware also
that much in detail will be desired and eagerly sought after, which the
portable and limited size of this little work could not contain; but
such information may be found in the larger works, by Hall, Flint,
Darby, Schoolcraft, Long, and other authors and travellers. Those who
desire more specific and detailed descriptions of Illinois, will be
satisfied probably with the author's GAZETTEER of that State,
published in 1834, and which can be had by application to the author, or
to the publishers of this work.
2. This Guide is also designed for those, who, for either pleasure,
health or business, intend to travel through the western States. Such
are now the facilities of intercommunication between the eastern and
western States, and to most points in the Valley of the Mississippi,
that thousands are visiting some portions of this interesting region
every month. Some knowledge of the routes that lead to different parts
of this Valley, the lines of steamboats and stages, cities, towns,
public institutions, manners and customs of the people, &c., is
certainly desirable to all who travel. Such persons may expect a
correct, and it is hoped, a pleasant Guide in this book.
3. There is a numerous class of persons in the Atlantic States, who
desire to know more about the Great West and to have a book for
reference, who do not expect to emigrate here. Many are deeply
interested in its moral welfare. They have cheerfully contributed to
establish and build up its literary and religious institutions, and yet
from want of access to those facts which exist amongst us, their
information is but partial and limited. The author in his travels in the
Atlantic states has met with many persons, who, though well informed on
other subjects, are surprisingly ignorant of the actual condition,
resources, society, manners of the people, and even the geography of
these states and territories. The author is aware of the difficulty of
conveying entirely correct ideas of this region to a person who has
never travelled beyond the borders of his native state. The laws and
habits of associating ideas in the human mind forbid it.
The chief source of information for those states that lie on the
Mississippi, has been the personal observation of the author,--having
explored most of the settlements in Missouri and Illinois, and a portion
of Indiana and Ohio,--having spent more than eighteen years here, and
seen the two former states, from an incipient territorial form of
government, and a few scattered and detached settlements, arise to their
present state of improvement, population, wealth and national
importance. His next source of information has been from personal
acquaintance and correspondence with many intelligent citizens of the
states and territories he describes. Reference has also been had to the
works of Hall, Flint, Darby, Breckenridge, Beck, Long, Schoolcraft,
Lewis and Clarke, Mitchell's and Tanner's maps, Farmer's map of
Michigan, Turnbull's map of Ohio, The Ohio Gazetteer, The Indiana
Gazetteer, Dr. Drake's writings, Mr. Coy's Annual Register of Indian
affairs, Ellicott's surveys, and several periodicals.
J. M. P.
_Rock Spring, Illinois, January, 1836._
CHAPTER I.
GENERAL VIEW OF THE VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
Its extent,--Subdivisions,--Population,--Physical features,--Animal,
Vegetable and Mineral productions,--History,--Prospective increase of
Population.
The Valley of the Mississippi, in its proper geographical extent,
embraces all that portion of the United States, lying between the
Alleghany and Rocky Mountains, the waters of which are discharged into
the gulf of Mexico, through the mouths of the Mississippi. I have
embraced, however, under that general term, a portion of the country
bordering on the northern lakes, including the north part of Ohio, the
north-eastern portions of Indiana and Illinois, the whole of Michigan,
with a considerable territorial district on the west side of lake
Michigan, and around lake Superior.
_Extent._ This great Valley is one of the largest divisions of the
globe, the waters of which pass one estuary.
To suppose the United States and its territory to be divided into three
portions, the arrangement would be, the Atlantic slope--the Mississippi
basin, or valley--and the Pacific slope.
A glance on any map of North America, will show that this Valley
includes about two thirds of the territory of the United States. The
Atlantic slope contains about 390,000; the Pacific slope, about 300,000;
which, combined, are 690,000 square miles: while the Valley of the
Mississippi contains at least 1,300,000 square miles, or 833,000,000
acres.
This Valley extends from the 29 deg. to the 49 deg. of N. latitude, or
about 1400 miles from south to north; and from the 3 deg. to the 35 deg.
of longitude west from Washington, or about 1470 miles from east to west.
From the source of the Alleghany river to the sources of the Missouri,
following the meanderings of the streams, is not less than 5000 miles.
_Subdivisions._ The states and territories included, are a small section
of New York watered by the heads of the Alleghany river, western
Pennsylvania, western Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri,
Michigan, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Territory of
Arkansas, Indian Territory, the vast unsettled regions lying to the west
and north of this Territory, the Wisconsin Territory including an
extensive country west of the Mississippi and north of the state of
Missouri, with the vast regions that lie towards the heads of the
Mississippi, and around lake Superior.[1]
_Population._ The following table, gives a comparative view of the
population of the Valley of the Mississippi, and shows the proportional
increase of the several States, parts of States, and Territories, from
1790 to the close of 1835, a period of 45 years. The column for 1835 is
made up partly from the census taken in several states and territories,
and partly by estimation. It is sufficiently accurate for general
purposes.
States, parts of | 1790 | 1800 | 1810 | 1820 | 1830 | 1835
States and | | | | | |
Territories. | | | | | |
====================+=======+=======+=========+=========+=========+==========
Western Pennsylvania| 75,000|130,000| 240,000 | 290,000| 380,000| 490,000
and a fraction of | | | | | |
New York.} | | | | | |
Western Virginia | 45,000| 75,000| 100,000| 147,178| 204,175| 230,000
Ohio | [_a_]45,000| 230,760| 581,434| 937,679|1,375,000
Indiana | | | 24,520| 147,178| 341,582| 600,000
Illinois | | | 12,282| 55,211| 157,575| 272,427
Missouri | | [_b_]20,845| 66,586| 140,074| 210,000
Michigan | | | 4,762| 8,896| 31,000| 83,000
Kentucky | 73,677|220,959| 406,511| 564,317| 688,844| 748,844
Tennessee | 35,691|105,602| 261,727| 422,813| 684,822| 735,000
Mississippi | [_c_]8,850| 40,352| 75,448| 136,806| 300,000
Louisiana | | | 76,556| 153,407| 214,693| 270,000
Arkansas Territory | | | | 14,273| 30,608| 51,809
[_e_]Wisconsin Ter. | | | | | |
and New purchase | | | | [_d_]3,608| 15,000
--------------------+-------+-------+---------+---------+---------+---------
Total |229,368|585,411|1,418,315|2,526,741|3,951,466|5,381,080
====================+=======+=======+=========+=========+=========+=========
_a_ Including Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan.
_b_ Including Arkansas.
_c_ Including Alabama.
_d_ Included with Michigan in the census of 1830.
_e_: The country west of the Mississippi, and north of the State of
Missouri, was ceded by the Sauk Indians, Sept. 1832. It now contains
about 6000 inhabitants.
Probably there is no portion of the globe, of equal extent, that
contains as much of soil fit for cultivation, and which is capable of
sustaining and supplying with all the necessaries and conveniences, and
most of the luxuries of life, so dense a population as this great
Valley. Deducting one third of its surface for water and desert, which
is a very liberal allowance, and there remains 866,667 square miles, or
554,666,880 acres of arable land.
Let it become as populous as Massachusetts, which contains 610,014
inhabitants on an area of 7,800 square miles, or seventy-eight to every
640 acres, and the population of this immense region will amount to
67,600,000. The child is now born which will live to see this result.
Suppose its population to become equally dense with England, including
Wales, which contains 207 to the square mile, and its numbers will
amount to 179,400,000. But let it become equal to the Netherlands, the
most populous country on the globe, containing 230 to the square mile,
and the Valley of the Mississippi teems with a population of 200
millions, a result which may be had in the same time that New England
has been gathering its two millions. What reflections ought this view to
present to the patriot, the philanthropist, and the christian.
_Physical Features._ The physical features of this Valley are peculiar.
1. It includes two great inclined planes, one on its eastern, and the
other on its western border, terminating with the Mississippi.
2. This river receives all the waters produced on these slopes, which
are discharged by its mouths into the gulf of Mexico.
3. Every part of this vast region can be penetrated by steamboats, or
other water craft; nor is there a spot in all this wide region,
excepting a small district in the vast plains of Upper Missouri, that is
more than one hundred miles from some navigable water. A boat may take
in its lading on the banks of the Chatauque lake, in the State of New
York; another may receive its cargo in the interior of Virginia; a third
may start from the rice lakes at the head of the Mississippi; and a
fourth may come laden with furs from the Chippewan mountains, 2,800
miles up the Missouri, and all meet at the mouth of the Ohio, and
proceed in company to the ocean.
4. With the exception of its eastern and western borders, there are no
mountains. Some portions are level, a large part is gently undulating,
or what in the west is called "rolling," and the remainder is made up of
abrupt hills, flint and limestone ridges, bluffs, and ravines.
5. It is divided into two great portions, the UPPER, and
LOWER VALLEY, according to its general features, climate,
staple productions, and habits of its population. The parallel of
latitude that cuts the mouth of the Ohio river, will designate these
portions with sufficient accuracy.
North of this line the seasons are regularly divided into spring,
summer, autumn, and winter. In the winter there is usually more or less
snow, ice forms and frequently blocks up the rivers, navigation is
obstructed, and cotton is not produced in sufficient quantity or quality
to make it a staple for exportation. It is the region of furs, minerals,
tobacco, hemp, live stock, and every description of grain and fruit that
grows in New England. Its white population are mostly accustomed to
labor.
South of this line, cotton, tobacco, indigo, and sugar are staples. It
has little winter, snow seldom covers the earth, ice never obstructs the
rivers, and most of the labor is done by slaves.
_Rivers._ The rivers are, the Mississippi and its tributaries, or more
correctly, the Missouri and its tributaries. If we except the Amazon, no
river can compare with this for length of its course, the number and
extent of its tributaries, the vast country they drain, and their
capabilities for navigation. Its tributaries generally issue either from
the eastern or western mountains, and flow over this immense region,
diffusing not only fertility to the soil, but affording facilities for
commerce a great part of the year.
The Missouri is unquestionably the main stream, for it is not only
longer and discharges a larger volume of water than the Mississippi
above its mouth, but it has branches, which, for the extent of country
they drain, their length, and the volume of water they discharge, far
exceed the upper Mississippi.
The characteristics of these two rivers are each distinctly marked. The
Missouri is turbid, violent in its motions, changing its currents; its
navigation is interrupted or made difficult by snags, sawyers and
planters, and it has many islands and sand-bars. Such is the character
of the Mississippi below the mouth of the Missouri. But above its mouth,
its waters are clear, its current gentle, while it is comparatively free
from snags and sand-bars.
The Missouri, which we have shown to be the principal stream, rises in
the Chippewan, or Rocky mountains in latitude 44 deg. north, and longitude
about 35 deg. west from Washington city. It runs a northeast course till
after it receives the Yellow Stone, when it reaches past the 48 deg. of
latitude, thence an east, then a south, and finally a southeastern
course, until it meets the current of the Mississippi, 20 miles above
St. Louis, and in latitude 38 deg. 45' north. Besides numerous smaller
streams, the Missouri receives the Yellow Stone and Platte, which of
themselves, in any other part of the world, would be called large
rivers, together with the Sioux, Kansau, Grand, Chariton, Osage, and
Gasconade, all large and navigable rivers.
Its length, upon an entire comparative course, is 1870 miles, and upon a
particular course, about 3000 miles. Lewis and Clark make the distance
from the Mississippi to the great falls, 2580 miles.
There are several things in some respects peculiar to this river, which
deserve notice.
1. Its current is very rapid, usually at the rate of four or five miles
an hour, when at its height; and it requires a strong wind to propel a
boat with a sail against it. Steam overcomes its force, for boats ply
regularly from St. Louis to the towns and landings on its banks within
the borders of the state, and return with the produce of the country.
Small steamboats have gone to the Yellow Stone for furs.
Owing to the shifting of its current, and its snags and sand-bars, its
navigation is less safe and pleasant than any other western river, but
these difficulties are every year lessened by genius and enterprise.
2. Its water is always turbid, being of a muddy, ash color, though more
so at its periodical rise than at other times. This is caused by
extremely fine sand, received from the neighborhood of the Yellow Stone.
During the summer flood, a tumbler of water taken from the Missouri, and
precipitated, will produce about one fourth of its bulk in sediment.
This sediment does not prevent its habitual use by hundreds who live on
its banks, or move in boats over its surface. Some filtrate it, but many
more drink it, and use it for culinary purposes, in its natural state.
When entirely filtrated, it is the most limpid and agreeable river
water I ever saw. Its specific gravity then, is about equal to rain
water; but in its turbid state, it is much heavier than ordinary river
water, for a boat will draw three or four inches less in it than in
other rivers, with the same lading, and the human body will swim in it
with but very little effort.
It possesses some medicinal properties. Placed in an open vessel and
exposed to the summer's sun, it remains pure for weeks. Eruptions on the
skin and ulcerous sores are cured by wading or frequent bathings, and
commonly it produces slight cathartic effects upon strangers upon its
first use.
The width of the Missouri river at St. Charles, is 550 yards. Its
alluvial banks however are insecure, and are not unfrequently washed
away for many yards at its annual floods. The bed of its channel is also
precarious, and is elevated or depressed by the deposition or removal of
its sandy foundation. Hence the elevation or depression of the surface
of this river, affords no criterion of its depth, or of the volume of
water it discharges at any one period.
Undulatory motions, like the boiling of a pot, are frequently seen on
its surface, caused by the shifting of the sand that forms its bed.
The volume of water it ordinarily discharges into the Mississippi is
vastly disproportionate to its length, or the number and size of its
tributaries. I have seen less than six feet depth of water at St.
Charles at a low stage, and it was once forded by a soldier, at
Bellefontaine, four miles above its junction with the Mississippi.
Evaporation takes up large quantities, but absorption throughout the
porous soil of its wide bottoms consumes much more. In all the wells dug
in the bottom lands of the Missouri, water is always found at the depth
of the surface of the river, and invariably rises or sinks with the
floods and ebbings of the stream. Volumes of sand frequently enter these
wells as the river rises.
Its periodical floods deserve notice. Ordinarily this river has three
periods of rising and falling each year. The first rise is caused by the
breaking up of winter on the Gasconade, Osage, Kansau, Chariton, Grand,
and other branches of the lower Missouri, and occurs the latter part of
February, or early in March. Its second rise is usually in April, when
the Platte, Yellow Stone, and other streams pour into it their spring
floods. But the flood that more usually attracts attention takes place
from the 10th to the 25th of June, when the melting snows on the
Chippewan mountains pour their contents into the Missouri. This flood is
scarcely ever less than five, nor more than 20 feet at St. Louis, above
the ordinary height of the river. On two occasions, however, since the
country was known to the French, it has arisen to that height in the
Mississippi as to flow over the American Bottom in Illinois, and drive
the inhabitants of Cahokia and Kaskaskia from their villages to the
bluffs. Rain in greater or less quantities usually falls during the rise
of the river, and ceases when the waters subside. So uniform is this the
case in Upper Missouri, the region beyond the boundary of the State,
that the seasons are divided into wet and dry.
Pumice stones and other volcanic productions occasionally float down its
waters.
_Mississippi River._ The extreme head of the longest branch of the
Mississippi river, has been found in lake Itaska, or Lac la Biche, by
Mr. Schoolcraft, who states it to be elevated 1500 feet above the
Atlantic ocean, and distant 3,160 miles from the extreme outlet of the
river at the gulf of Mexico. The outlet of Itaska lake, which is
connected with a string of small lakes, is ten or twelve feet broad, and
twelve or fifteen inches deep. This is in latitude about 48 deg. north.
From this it passes Cedar and several smaller lakes, and runs a winding
course, 700 miles, to the falls of St. Anthony, where its waters are
precipitated over a cataract of 16 or 17 feet perpendicular. It then
continues a southeastern course to the Missouri, in N. lat, 38 deg. 38',
receiving the St. Croix, Chippewa, Wisconsin, Rock and Illinois rivers,
with many smaller streams from the east, and the St. Peter's, Iowa, Des
Moines, and Salt rivers, besides a number of smaller ones from the west.
The current of the Missouri strikes that of the Mississippi at right
angles, and throws it upon the eastern shore. When at a low stage, the
waters of the two rivers are distinct till they pass St. Louis.
The principal branch of the Upper Mississippi, is the St. Peter's, which
rises in the great prairies in the northwest, and enters the parent
stream ten miles below the falls of St. Anthony. Towards the sources of
this river the quarries exist from which are made the red stone pipes of
the Indians. This is sacred ground. Hostile tribes meet here, and part
unmolested.
Rock river drains the waters from the northern part of Illinois and
Wisconsin, and enters the parent stream at 41 deg. 30' north latitude. In
latitude 39 deg. comes in the Illinois, signifying the "River of Men;" and
eighteen miles below this, it unites with, and is lost in the Missouri.
Custom has fixed unalterably, the name _Mississippi_, to this united
body of waters, that rolls its turbid waves towards the Mexican gulf;
though, as has been intimated, it is but a continuation of the Missouri.
Sixty miles below St. Louis, the Kaskaskia joins it, after a devious
course of 400 miles. In 37 deg. north latitude, the Ohio pours in its
tribute, called by the early French explorers, "La Belle Riviere," the
beautiful river. A little below 34 deg., the White river enters after a
course of more than 1,000 miles. Thirty miles below that, the Arkansas,
bringing its tribute from the confines of Mexico, pours in its waters.
Above Natchez, the Yazoo from the east, and eighty miles below, the Red
river from the west, unite their waters with the Mississippi. Red River
takes its rise in the Mexican dominions, and runs a course of more than
2,000 miles.
Hitherto, the waters in the wide regions of the west have been
congregating to one point. The "Father of Waters," is now upwards of a
mile in width, and several fathoms deep. During its annual floods, it
overflows its banks below the mouth of the Ohio, and penetrates the
numerous bayous, lakes, and swamps, and especially on its western side.
In many places these floods extend thirty or forty miles into the
interior. But after it receives the Red river, it begins to throw off
its surplus waters, which flow in separate channels to the gulf, and
never again unite with the parent stream. Several of these
communications are held with the ocean at different and distant points.
_Ohio River._ The Ohio river is formed by the junction of the Alleghany
and Monongahela, at Pittsburg. The Alleghany river rises not far from
the head of the western branch of the Susquehannah, in the highlands of
McKean county, Pennsylvania. It runs north till it penetrates Cataraugus
county, New York, then turns west, then southwest, and finally takes a
southern course to Pittsburg. It receives a branch from the Chatauque
lake, Chatauque county, New York. The Monongahela rises near the
sources of the Kenhawa, in western Virginia, and runs north till it
meets the Alleghany.
The general course of the Ohio is southwest. Its current is gentle, and
it receives a number of tributaries, which are noticed in the States
where they run.
The Valley of the Mississippi has been arranged by Mr. Darby, into four
great subdivisions.
1. The _Ohio Valley_, length 750 miles, and mean width 261; containing
196,000 square miles.
2. _Mississippi Valley_, above Ohio, including the minor valley of
Illinois, but exclusive of Missouri, 650 miles long, and 277 mean width,
and containing 180,000 square miles.
3. _Lower Valley of the Mississippi_, including White, Arkansas, and Red
river vallies, 1,000 miles long, and 200 wide, containing 200,000 square
miles.
4. _Missouri proper_, including Osage, Kansau, Platte rivers, &c. 1,200
miles long, and 437 wide, containing 523,000 square miles.
"The _Valley of the Ohio_ is better known than any of the others; has
much fertile land, and much that is sterile, or unfit for cultivation,
on account of its unevenness. It is divided into two unequal portions,
by the Ohio river; leaving on the right or northwest side 80,000, and on
the left or southeast side, 116,000 square miles. The eastern part of
this valley is hilly, and rapidly acclivous towards the Appalachian
mountains. Indeed its high hills, as you approach these mountains, are
of a strongly marked mountainous character. Of course the rivers which
flow into the Ohio--the Monongahela, Kenhawa, Licking, Sandy, Kentucky,
Green, Cumberland, and Tennessee--are rapid, and abounding in cataracts
and falls, which, towards their sources, greatly impede navigation. The
western side of this Valley is, also, hilly for a considerable distance
from the Ohio, but towards its western limit, it subsides to a
remarkably level region. So that whilst the eastern line of this Valley
lies along the high table land, on which the Appalachian mountains rest,
and where the rivers of the eastern section of this Valley rise, which
is at least 2,000 miles generally above the ocean level; the western
line has not an elevation of much more than half of that amount on the
north, and which greatly subsides towards the Kaskaskia. The rivers of
the western section are Beaver, Muskingum, Hockhocking, Scioto, Miami,
and Wabash. Along the Ohio, on each side, are high hills, often
intersected with deep ravines, and sometimes openings of considerable
extent, and well known by the appellation of "Ohio hills." Towards the
mouth of the Ohio, these hills almost wholly disappear, and extensive
level bottoms, covered with heavy forests of oak, sycamore, elm, poplar,
and cotton wood, stretch along each side of the river. On the lower
section of the river, the water, at the time of the spring floods,
often overflows these bottoms to a great extent. This fine Valley
embraces considerably more than one half of the whole population of the
entire Valley of the West. The western parts of Pennsylvania and
Virginia, the entire states of Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky, the larger
part of Tennessee, and a smaller part of Illinois, are in the Valley of
the Ohio."
_The Upper Valley of the Mississippi_ possesses a surface far less
diversified than the Valley of the Ohio. The country where its most
northern branches take their rise, is elevated table land, abounding
with marshes and lakes, that are filled with a graniferous vegetable
called wild rice. It is a slim, shrivelled grain of a brownish hue, and
gathered by the Indians in large quantities for food. There are tracts
of arable land covered with elm, linden, pine, hemlock, cherry, maple,
birch and other timber common to a northern climate. From the same
plateau flow the numerous branches of Red river, and other streams that
flow into lake Winnipeck, and thence into Hudson's bay. Here, too, are
found some of the head branches of the waters of St. Lawrence, that
enter the Lake of the Woods, and Superior. In the whole country of which
we are speaking, there is nothing that deserves the name of mountain.
Below the falls of St. Anthony the river bluffs are often abrupt, wild
and romantic, and at their base and along the streams are thousands of
quartz crystals, carnelians and other precious stones.
But a short distance in the rear, you enter upon table land of extensive
prairies, with clumps of trees, and groves along the streams. Further
down, abrupt cliffs and overhanging precipices are frequently seen at
the termination of the river alluvion.
The whole country northwest of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi, as
far north as the falls of St. Anthony, exhibits striking marks of a
diluvial formation, by a gradual retiring of the waters. From the summit
level that divides the waters of the lakes from those of the
Mississippi, through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin, which is
scarcely a perceptible ridge, to the south point of Illinois at the
junction of the Ohio and Mississippi, appears to have once been a plane
with an inclination equal to 12 or 15 inches per mile. The ravines and
vallies appear to have been gradually scooped out by the abrasion of the
waters.
"The _Lower Mississippi Valley_, has a length of 1,200 miles, from
northwest to southeast, considering the source of the Arkansas, and the
mouth of the Mississippi river as extreme points; reaching from north
latitude 29 deg. to 42 deg., and without estimating mountains, ridges, or
peaks, differs in relative elevation at least 500 feet.
"The _Arkansas river_ rises near north latitude 42 deg., and longitude 32
deg. west from Washington, and falls into the Mississippi at 33 deg. 56',
passing over eight degrees of latitude.
"_Red River_ rises in the mountainous country of Mexico, north of Texas,
in north latitude 34 deg.; and west longitude 28 deg. from Washington,
and falls into the Mississippi in latitude 31 deg. They are both
remarkable rivers for their extent, the number of their branches, the
volume of their waters, the quantity of alluvion they carry down to the
parent stream, and the color of their waters. Impregnated by saline
particles, and colored with ocherous earth, the waters of these two
rivers are at once brackish and nauseous to the taste, particularly near
their mouths; that of Red river is so much so at Natchitoches at low
water that it cannot be used for culinary purposes.
"At a short distance below the mouth of the Red river, a large bayou,
(as it is called,) or outlet, breaks from the Mississippi on the west;
by which, it is believed, that as large a volume of water as the Red
river brings to the parent river, is drained off, and runs to the gulf
of Mexico, fifty miles from the mouth of the Mississippi. The name of
this bayou is Atchafalaya, or as it is commonly called, _Chaffalio_.
Below this bayou, another of large dimensions breaks forth on the same
side, and finally falls into the Atchafalaya. This is the Placquemine.
Still lower, at Donaldsonville, ninety miles above New Orleans, on the
same side, the Lafourche bayou breaks out, and pursues a course parallel
to the Mississippi, fifty miles west of the mouth of that river. On the
east side, the Ibberville bayou drains off a portion of the waters of
the Mississippi, into lakes Maurepas, Ponchartrain, Borgnes, and the
gulf of Mexico, and thus forms the long and narrow island of Orleans.
"In the lower Valley of the Mississippi there is a great extent of land
of the very richest kind. There is also much that is almost always
overflown with waters, and is a perpetual swamp. There are extensive
prairies in this Valley; and towards the Rocky mountains; on the upper
waters of the Arkansas and Red rivers, there are vast barren steppes or
plains of sand, dreary and barren, like the central steppes of Asia. On
the east of the Mississippi, are extensive regions of the densest
forests, which form a striking contrast with the prairies which stretch
on the west of that great river.
"_The Valley of the Missouri_ extends 1200 miles in length, and 700 in
width, and embraces 253,000 square miles. The Missouri river rises in
the Chippewan mountains, through eight degrees, or nearly 600 miles. The
Yellow Stone is its longest branch. The course of the Missouri, after
leaving the Rocky mountains, is generally southeast, until it unites
with the Mississippi. The principal branches flow from the southwest.
They are the Osage, Kansas, Platte, &c. The three most striking features
of this Valley are, 1st. The turbid character of its waters. 2d. The
very unequal volumes of the right and left confluences. 3d. The immense
predominance of the open prairies, over the forests which line the
rivers. The western part of this Valley rises to an elevation towards
the Chippewan mountains, equal to ten degrees of temperature. Ascending
from the lower verge of this widely extended plain, wood becomes more
and more scarce, until one naked surface spreads on all sides. Even the
ridges and chains of the Chippewan, partake of these traits of
desolation. The traveller, who has read the descriptions of central
Asia, by Tooke or Pallas, will feel on the higher branches of the
Missouri, a resemblance, at once striking and appalling; and he will
acknowledge, if near to the Chippewan mountains in winter, that the
utmost intensity of frost over Siberia and Mongolia, has its full
counterpart in North America, on similar, if not on lower latitudes.
There is much fertile land in the Valley of the Missouri, though much of
it must be forever the abode of the buffalo and the elk, the wolf and
the deer.[2]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Why the names Huron, Mandan, Sioux, Osage, and _Ozark_ have been
applied by Darby and other authors, to the extensive regions on the
Upper Mississippi, the Upper Missouri, and the Arkansas rivers, I am not
able to solve. _Osage_ is a French corruption of _Wos-sosh-ee_, and
_Ozark_ is an awkward, illiterate corruption of Osage. _Sioux_ is
another French corruption, the origin of which is not now easily
ascertained. Carver and other travellers, call this nation of Indiana
Nau-do-wes-sees. Chiefs of this nation have repeatedly disclaimed the
name of Sioux, (pronounced Soos.) They sometimes call themselves
Da-co-tah.
[2] Darby.