River Mississippi--Iron banks--Chalk bank--Remarkable melody of
birds--Bayou St. Jean--New Madrid--Delightful morning--Little
Prairie--An Indian camp--Mansfield’s island.
We had thought the water of the Ohio very turbid, but it was clear
in comparison of the Mississippi, the two rivers being distinctly
marked three or four miles after their junction. The Ohio carried us
out almost into the middle of the Mississippi, so that I was almost
deceived into thinking that the latter river ran to the westward
instead of to the eastward; by the time however that we were near
midchannel the Mississippi had gained the ascendancy, and we were
forced to eastward with encreased velocity, its current being more
rapid than that of the Ohio. We soon lost sight of the labyrinth of
waters formed by the conflux of the two rivers, and quickly got into a
single channel, assuming gradually its usual southerly direction. We
now began to look for Fort Jefferson, marked in Mr. Cramer’s Navigator
as just above Mayfield creek on the left, but not seeing either we
supposed they were concealed by island No. 1 acting as a screen to
them.[184]
At fifteen miles from the Ohio, we observed a fine new settlement on
the right, with the boats moored {255} at the landing which had brought
the family down the river.
Five miles lower we passed the Iron banks on the left. These are very
remarkable, being a red cliff near the top of a high ridge of hills
about a mile long, where the river is narrowed to little more than a
quarter of a mile wide.
From the Iron banks a fine bay of a mile in breadth is terminated by
the Chalk bank, which is a whitish brown bluff cliff, rising from the
water’s edge, surmounted by a forest of lofty trees. Having passed some
other islands, we made a harbour for the night on Wolf island just
opposite Chalk bank, about three miles below the Iron banks.
May 23d.--A steady rain did not prevent our proceeding this morning. We
found the river generally from half to three quarters of a mile wide,
and the navigation rather intricate on account of the number of islands
and sand-bars, which gave us some trouble to keep clear of. The rain
ceased about three o’clock, when it cleared up calm and hot. At 4
o’clock we passed Island No. 10, on the right. The singing of the birds
on this island exceeded every thing of the kind I had ever before heard
in America. Notes resembling the wild clear whistle of the European
black birds, and others like the call of the quail, or American
partridge, were particularly distinguishable among a wonderful variety
of feathered songsters. The island probably bears some vegetable
production peculiar to itself, which attracts such uncommon numbers of
small birds.
At seven, P. M. we rowed into Bayou St. Jean, on the right, at
the upper end of New Madrid, to which settlement it serves for a
harbour,--having only advanced about fifty miles this whole day. We
found here several boats bound down the river.
New Madrid contains about a hundred houses, much scattered, on a fine
plain of two miles square, {256} on which however the river has so
encroached during the twenty-two years since it was first settled, that
the bank is now half a mile behind its old bounds, and the inhabitants
have had to remove repeatedly farther back. They are a mixture of
French Creoles from Illinois, United States Americans, and Germans.
They have plenty of cattle, but seem in other respects to be very poor.
There is some trade with the Indian hunters for furs and peltry, but of
little consequence. Dry goods and groceries are enormously high, and
the inhabitants charge travellers immensely for any common necessaries,
such as milk, butter, fowls, eggs, &c. There is a militia, the officers
of which wear cockades in common as a mark of distinction, although the
rest of their dress should be only a dirty ragged hunting shirt and
trowsers.--There is a church going to decay and no preacher, and there
are courts of common pleas and quarter sessions, from which an appeal
lies to the supreme court at St. Louis, the capital of the territory of
Upper Louisiana, which is two hundred and forty miles to the northward,
by a wagon road which passes through St. Genevieve at 180 miles
distance.--On account of its distance from the capital, New Madrid has
obtained a right to have all trials for felony held and adjudged here
without appeal.
The inhabitants regret much the change of government from Spanish
to American, but this I am not surprised at, as it is the nature of
mankind to never be satisfied.[185]
We had observed no settlements between the Ohio and New Madrid except
one new one before mentioned.
May 24th.--At eight, A. M. we left New Madrid, and after toiling until
three, P. M. against a fresh southerly wind, when we had advanced only
eleven miles, we were forced to shore on the left, and hauling through
some willows which broke off {257} the sea, moored and remained there
until four A. M.
May 25th--when we were awoke to the enjoyment of a delightful morning,
by the enchanting melody of the birds saluting the day, while the horn
of a boat floating down the far side of the river, was echoed and
re-echoed from both shores, to all which we added, with fine effect,
some airs on the clarionet and the octave flute. When we hauled out
of the willows, several boats were in sight, which added much to the
cheerfulness of the morning.
Having passed several islands, we saw on the right the settlement of
one Biddle, being the first on the river since four miles below New
Madrid.
Four miles lower we landed in the skiff at the town of Little Prairie
on the right, containing twenty-four low houses and cabins, scattered
on a fine and pleasant plain inhabited chiefly by French creoles
from Canada and Illinois. We were informed that there were several
Anglo-American farmers all round in a circle of ten miles. We stopped
at a tavern and store kept by a European Frenchman, where we got some
necessaries.
Every thing is excessively dear here, as in New Madrid--butter a
quarter of a dollar per pound, milk half a dollar per gallon, eggs a
quarter of a dollar a dozen, and fowls half to three quarters of a
dollar each.
We found here five lumber loaded boats owned by Mr. Holmes of
Meadville, which had left Pittsburgh about the 20th of March. Three of
them had been stove, and they were going to unload and repair them.
Continuing to coast along in the skiff, while our ark fell down the
river with the current, we landed about a mile below Little Prairie,
at an Indian camp formed by the crews of three canoes, all Delawares
except one Chocktaw. They had sold their peltry {258} and were now
enjoying their whiskey, of which they had made such liberal use as to
be most of them quite drunk. They did not seem to like our intrusion,
but on our demanding whiskey from them, and drinking with them, they
became more social.
Two miles below the Indian camp we again overtook our boat from which
we had been absent the last fourteen miles, and seven miles lower, met
a canoe with two Indians, who wanted to sell us skins.--After passing
several islands as far as No. 21, of Mr. Cramer’s Navigator, in twelve
miles farther, we came to one not mentioned in the Navigator, which
we named Mansfield’s island, from one of our passengers who was the
first to land on it. It was a beautiful little island, and the evening
being far advanced, we were tempted to moor at its west point, to
some willows on a fine hard sand, but we had nothing to boast of our
choice of situation, as myriads of musquitoes effectually prevented our
sleeping all night.
FOOTNOTES:
[184] Fort Jefferson was built by George Rogers Clark in the spring of
1780, in order to protect the Illinois settlements, and maintain the
Virginian claim to this part of the territory. Clark planned a town
here to receive his own name (Clarksville); but few settlers went out,
as the post was distant and much exposed. In 1781, Fort Jefferson was
besieged by the Chickasaws under the lead of a half-breed, Alexander
Colburn. Timely assistance arriving, the siege was raised, but the fort
was abandoned in June of the same year.--ED.
[185] New Madrid was originally the site of a Delaware Indian town,
at which two Canadians, named LeSueur, established a trading-house in
1780. Eight years later Colonel George Morgan attempted to obtain a
large concession from the Spanish government to establish an American
colony at this point, with rights of local self-government. Morgan
brought out the first installment of colonists, but the arrangements
at New Orleans which were to confirm his title to the grant failed of
completion. The Spanish authorities sent Lieutenant Pierre Foucher,
with a garrison of ninety men, to command here in 1789. A settlement
of a heterogeneous character, as Cuming indicates, gradually grew up
around the fort. The later history of New Madrid is chiefly concerned
with the disastrous earthquakes of 1811-12, and the congressional grant
of relief for the settlers.--ED.