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sycamore, black walnut, &c. On the south hills, rivulets and a number of small creeks, with a rich soil, fine timber, grape vines, and a luxuriant growth of cane. From the Gasconade to the entrance of the Osage, thirty-three miles, the south side of the river is hilly, but well timbered. Thus far the soil is well suited to the cultivation of the grain and agricultural products of the middle and western states: the timber is various, but the cotton-wood predominates. To give a precise idea of the incalculable riches scattered along the sides of the Missouri, would require unlimited knowledge. The low bottoms are covered with large trees, especially the poplar and cotton trees, large enough for the first rate canoes; the sugar maple, red and black walnut, so useful to joiners; red and white elm, the three-thorned acacia, of which impenetrable hedges can be made; the osier, the red and black mulberry, lime-tree, horse-chesnut, all of which are very plentiful; red and white oak, fit for vessels; and on the Rocky mountains, cedar is a common production. It is impossible to enumerate all the trees, which are yet unknown in other countries; and with those whose uses and qualities we are as yet unacquainted. The smaller plants are still more numerous. The Indians know the virtues of many of them; some are used to poison arrows, others for dyeing colours, some again to heal wounds, and to cure diseases. They conceal with great care, a plant which renders them for some instants insensible to the most vehement fire; and by means of which they can hold red hot iron in their hands for several seconds, without injury.

The lands in the neighbourhood of the Missouri are excellent, and when cultivated are capable of yielding all the productions of the temperate climates, and even some of the hot ones; such as wheat, maize, and every kind of grain; common and sweet potatoes; hemp, which seems to be an indigenous vegetable; even cotton succeeds here, though not so well as further south; and the raising of it answers a good purpose for the families already settled on the river: for, from a field of about two acres, they obtain a crop sufficient to clothe a family. The natural prairies are a great resource for them. These afford excellent pasture, and require but little labour to clear them. After one year's exertion, a man may enjoy his fields duly prepared for crops. Brick and potter's earths are very common, and the true Chinese Kaolin is reported, by good judges, to be here, that substance to which porcelain owes its peculiar firmness. And there

exists on the borders of this river, salt springs, which will furnish salt in abundance for the country when it shall become inhabited. Saltpetre is found very abundantly in numberless caverns near the Missouri. The rocks are generally calcareous; though there is one which is peculiar to this river; it is of a blood-red colour, compact, yielding to a tool, hardening in the air, and receiving the neatest polish. There are also quarries of marble.

The bottoms of the Mississippi afford suitable situations for settlement, from the mouth of the Missouri to the falls of St. Anthony, except at certain bluffs, where the soil is too barren to invite settlers. The alluvial bottoms are generally composed of a rich, sandy soil, yielding a pretty heavy growth of pecan, poplar, sugar-maple, honeylocust, ash, cotton-wood, black walnut, and cucumber. The prairies in many places approach close to the river; they are sometimes visible through the skirts of the woods. Above the Wabisa penem, the land bordering the river is three-fourths prairie, or rather bold hills, which instead of running parallel with the river, form a continual succesion of high, perpendicular cliffs, and low valleys; they appear to head on the river, and to traverse the country in an angular direction. These hills and valleys give rise to subiime and romantic views. But this irregular scenery is sometime interrupted by a wide extended plain, which brings to mind the verdant lawn of civilized life; and would almost induce the traveller to imagine himself in the centre of a highly cultivated plantation. The timber above this, is chiefly ash, elm, cotton-wood, birch, and sugar-maple. Above the falls of St. Anthony, the pine country commences; this timber borders all the streams, except occasional tracts of sugar-maple, basswood, and beech.

Of the minerals found in the Missouri territory, lead is the most abundant; and might be raised in sufficient quantity to supply the whole world. The principal mines are upon the rivers Merrimack and Gouberie, both of which fall into the Mississippi between the mouth of the Ohio and that of the Missouri. These mines extend through a great district of country, being above fifty miles long and twenty-five broad; but the lead reaches far beyond those limits, having been found at the confluence of the Gasconade with the Missouri, 100 miles above St. Louis, and many are of opinion that it extends to the mines belonging to the Saukee and Fox Indians, which are situated on the Mississippi, 600 miles above St. Louis. These mines are known to extend over a space of eighty

miles in length, and nine in breadth.* Lead mines also exist on the waters of the Washita and St. Francis.

The furnaces upon the Merrimack and Gouberie smelt about 1,000 tons annually; most of the mineral is so rich, that 100 pounds of ore will produce from eighty to ninety pounds of pure lead. The most noted mines in this district are Mine le Burton,† Mine la Motte, New Diggings, American Mine, Richwood Mines, Elliot's Diggings, Mine Belle Fontaine, and Old Diggings; some of these diggings are ten or twelve miles distant from each other; and Mine la Motte, on the river St. Francis, is thirty or forty miles south of all the rest. The mines of St. Genevieve occupy an extent of country, the limits of which have not yet been ascertained; they commence about thirty miles west of the Mississippi, and extend west and north-west. The ore can be found in almost every direction; the price of lead is from four to five dollars a hundred, and shot nine dollars.

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Most of the above mines have been worked for about ninety years; and until of late the ore has not been sought for in the rock, but has been found in the earth in detached lumps. The workmen employed have no other implements than a pick-axe and a wooden shovel, and

• These mines are of great value to the Indians, for as the game on their lands is nearly destroyed, they have been compelled to commence the business of mining, or rather digging. The ore is raised by the men, but the operation of smelting is performed by the squaws. They first dig a deep cavity in the ground, near a perpendicular bank of the Mississippi, and from the face of the bank make an horizontal hole to meet the bottom of it. A quantity of dry wood is then thrown into the cavity, and set fire to, after which the ore is thrown in, and the supply of both continted. The metal runs out at the horizontal opening, and is received in holes made by the Indians with their heels in the sand of the river. In this state it is bought by the traders from St. Louis, who afterwards cast it into pigs in their own moulds.

+ The mineral at Mine le Burton is generally found in veins of almost every size, from three feet in circumference and under, and from six to twelve feet below the surface of the earth. At the New Diggings it is found from four to thirty feet under ground, where they are obliged to discontinue their work on account of the water coming in upon them. They have no contrivance to draw it off, except a single bucket suspended from an arm in a crotchet, after the manner of some draw wells. There is no doubt that those grounds or mines which have apparently been exhausted, or abandoned on account of the water flowing in, will eventually be found the richest discoveries yet made. It is evident that in no instance have they yet fallen upon the main bed of ore, which probably lies at such a depth as will require the sinking of a shaft to enable them to work it. Hitherto they have been contented with the smail spurs or veins which are found near the surface of the earth; but the few proprietors who have ventured to penetrate the rock, have been amply rewarded for their trouble. From one mine, four millions of pounds, weight of ore was raised in the course of a summer. There is but one regular built air-furnace throughout this country, and that is at the Mine le Burton. The expense of such a building is so great, and the mineral so plenty, that the miners prefer an open furnace, which does not cost more than forty or fifty dollars; whereas a proper air furnace, like the one just mentioned, would cost 5 or 6,000, dollars,

when at work, appear as if they were making tan-pits. rather than mining When they come to the rock, which is always found at the depth of from six to twelve feet below the surface, they quit that hole, and commence a new digging, within a few feet of that which they have abandoned. Each digger works separately for himself, and sells the ore to the proprietor of the mine at two dollars per 100 lbs. The ore is then smelted in furnaces constructed of two parallel walls, one about eight, the other four feet high, and three and a half asunder; these are joined by two sloping side walls, and into this enclosed area the fuel and ore are thrown. The mines belong to a number of proprietors, and are worked with more or less. spirit, as the ore happens to be abundant or otherwise; for the workmen quit one digging without ceremony when they hear of better success at another: therefore when the diggings become less productive than usual, the owners make trials on different parts of the land, to discover where the ore is most abundant, that the diggers may be induced to remain with them. These trials consist of nothing more than digging holes in some parts of the woods, to the depth of three or four feet, and judging by the quantity of ore what degree of success may be expected.

The number and extent of the salt rivers and springs in this territory exceed belief. No fewer than three salt streams flow into the Arkansaw, the least of which is fifty, another seventy-five, and the largest 150 yards wide. It appears that the salt deposit passes under the Arkansaw to the north-west, and impregnates two branches of the Kanzas river. The salines in general have uncommon strength, and they are so abundant, that almost every township will for ever have an inexhaustible supply of salt, particularly south of the Missouri. The extent of the salt region is not less than seventy-five miles square, which gives an area of 5,625 square miles. Mines of rock salt exist towards the head branches of the Arkansaw, and sometimes approach to the surface of the earth; when these regions become peopled, the transportation of this salt will be perfectly easy, by means of the fine river on which it is happily situated. The Grand Saline is about 280 miles south-west of Fort Osage; it is a hard level plain of reddish-coloured sand, full thirty miles in circumference. This plain is entirely covered in dry hot weather, from two to six inches deep, with a crust of beautiful clean white salt, which bears a striking resemblance to a field of brilliant snow after rain, with a light crust

on its top. The distance from this place to a navigable branch of the Arkansaw is about eighty miles.

The Hot Springs at the head of the Washita, 302 miles from Natchez, and 458 from New Orleans, are a great natural curiosity; they are six in number, issuing from the side of a hill, the body of which is partly flint and partly freestone. Their heat is too great for the hand to bear; the highest temperature is about 150 degrees, and is greatest in dry seasons. Meat has been boiled in them in a shorter time than could be accomplished by a common fire. The water is soft and limpid, without smell, and of an agreeable taste. It is drunk after it becomes cool, and used for every other purpose in preference to the waters of the cold springs in the vicinity. The Indians have from time immemorial resorted to them on account of their medicinal virtues. The land round the springs is called by them the "Land of Peace;" for hostile tribes frequent the waters at the same time with perfect harmony. Dr. Hunter, who visited these springs, found a green plant growing in the hot water; but what is more remarkable, a small shell animal adhered to it, and lived in a temperature approaching to boiling heat! He beheld plants, shrubs, and trees, and a species of wild cabbage, absolutely growing and appearing healthy, while their roots were exposed to a heat of 130 degrees. He and his companion cooked the cabbage, and found it to be mild and good for food. These waters have effected surprising cures in chronic pains, palsy, &c.; and persons from a state of entire inability of motion, have been restored by the use of these springs to complete health and activity.

No portion of the earth is more abundant in that most useful mineral, coal, than the Missouri territory. It appears in various parts, at the foot of the bluffs of the Missouri; and on the Osage river, a bed of very great but unknown thickness, shews itself. On Red river it comes to the surface in many places, and the hunters speak of it as being one of the most common substances on the Little Missouri, upwards of 1,700 miles above St. Louis, and on the Yellow Stone river, 190 miles higher up. On the banks of the Mississippi, below the mouth of the Missouri, coal is found in great abundance. About four miles west of St. Louis a vein, from twelve to eighteen inches in thickness, breaks out at the edge of a creek and is used by the blacksmiths. In the year 1810, the grass of the prairie on the American Bottom, about five miles east of St. Louis, took fire, and kindled the dry stump of

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