Districts. Arkansaw........... Population in 1810. Chief Towns, 874 St. Francis........... 188 New Madrid........3,103.........New Madrid St. Genevieve......4,620.........St. Genevieve St. Louis......... ..5,667.........St. Louis, 4,000, in 1818. St. Charles...........3,505.........St. Charles, 1,500 in do. In describing the settlements from north to south, the new village of Franklin, upon the Missouri river, noticed in page 54, is first in place. This infant town has made rapid progress in population; which is chiefly composed of emigrants from Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Virginia. It already contains a great number of genteel habitations, many merchants' storehouses, a courthouse, and all appendages of a seat of justice; a newspaper is also published, and there are two or three respect able preachers, and several common schools. Merchants, traders, lawyers, physicians, and licensed tavern-keepers have established themselves here, and mechanics, such as smiths, joiners, saddiers, masons, and a variety of others, find their account in removing to this place. Two other towns have been laid off in the same district, in which the lots sell at a high price. St. Charles is a handsome village, settled by the French, but at present containing many American families. It stands upon the left shore of the Missouri, twenty-four miles above its mouth, and twenty-one from St. Louis, by land, over an excellent road, and through a rich country, principally prairie land. This town was founded in 1780, and lies along the bank of the river about a mile; the main street occupying the first bank, the second the top of the hill in this street is situated a round wooden tower, formerly occupied by the Spaniards as a fort or guard-house. The town contains at present about 200 houses, and 1,200, inhabitants. St. Charles' district occupies the peninsula between Mississippi and Missouri rivers; the settlements extending along both to a considerable distance: the soil is perhaps unexcelled upon the face of the earth. Exclusive of the two great rivers which bound the district on the northeast sides, it is intersected with a number of smaller streams, affording partial inland navigation and mill-seats. The country is undulating but not mountainous, the soil deep and strong; timber and good water are abundant. The prairie lands along the Mississippi are the only exceptions where these advantages are not enjoyed by the inhabitants. Extensive bottoms are found skirting all the large, and many of the smaller streams; those on the Missouri are clothed with wood, and but rarely inundated. Commencing at the mouth of the Missouri, a prairie lies along the right shore of the Mississippi, which extends about seventy miles in length, from one to ten miles wide. The settlements are formed along the margin, and the soil is extremely fertile, yielding an ample produce to the farmers. Like the adjacent districts, St. Charles produces lead and salt; and contains some of the richest mines of the latter yet known in the country the salt springs are found chiefly upon the waters of the Missouri. The population of this district was, in 1804, estimated at about 1,500 persons; in 1810, they were found augmented to upwards of 3,500, and are now more than double that number. Belle Fontaine is pleasantly situated on the south side of the Missouri, four miles above its mouth. The headquarters of the ninth military department are established here; the barracks, officers' quarters, &c. are built of logs; and there is a palisade work, with quarters large enough for the reception of 300 men. The garrison is situated on the river bluffs, at the distance of about 450 yards from the water. The inhabitants are chiefly French. Florissant, a flourishing French village, is situated on the north side of the Missouri, about twelve miles above Belle Fontaine. The villages and settlements of Femme Osage, Cherette, Bonhomme, Gasconade, and Cote sans Desire, embellish the banks of the Missouri above St. Charles. Portage des Scioux, is a village on the right bank of the Mississippi, six miles above the Missouri. This village is small but increasing; it contains about fifty houses, and between 150 to 200 inhabitants. St. Louis, the capital of the Missouri territory, is pleasantly situated on the west or right bank of the Mississippi, upon an elevated plain, eighteen miles by water below the mouth of the Missouri, fourteen above that of the Merrimack, and 1,179 (by water) from New Orleans, at 38° 36' N. lat. and 12° 58′ W.Nong. from Washington city. This town was founded in 1764 by some French traders, as a depot for traffic with the Indians. It has a decided advantage over any of the other towns, on account of its situation, being on a rock, elevated above the highest floods of the river, and immediately on its border. The buildings, about 900 in number, are scattered along three parallel streets, extending upwards of two miles upon the bank of the river, and each rising above the other, which gives the town a neat and romantic appearance. Most of the houses are built of stone, and white-washed on the outside; and almost every house has an extensive garden or park, round which high stone-walls are built. Some of the buildings are very large and costly, and surrounded with galleries: the population exceeds 4,000 souls. House rent is high; the better houses from 500 to 1,000 dollars a year. The town is increasing rapidly, and must continue to do so; it already enjoys a considerable trade, and has a well-established bank, a respectable printing-office, from which a newspaper is published, a post-office, and a Roman catholic chapel. Its situation taken altogether is not only advantageous, but interesting: occupying a point where so many rivers mingle their waters, an increasing, rapid, and lasting property is promised to this place.-Including the whole country of Louisiana, St. Louis is the most central town yet built in the American Union; and when this important circumstance, with the great confluence of navigable streams, the amazing extent of the prairies, the mildness and salubrity of the climate, and the advantages that will result from the mines in its neighbourhood, are all taken into consideration, the mind instinctively looks forward to this town as one of the first consequence in the United States; probably as the future capital of the greatest country that ever the world saw. Distant 981 miles from Washington; 758 from Pittsburgh; 440 from Lexington, Kentucky; 470 from Knoxville, Tennessee; 948 (by land) from New Orleans; 1,418 from the source of the Mississippi; and 3,557 from the Pacific ocean.* St. Louis district has the Mississippi river east, Missouri north-west, and the Merrimack on the south. The country around and west of the town is for fifteen miles one extended prairie, of a very luxuriant soil, and in a high state of cultivation. There is a ferry from St. Louis to the Illinois side of the Mississippi; from hence passes the main road to Kaskaskia. Lead and salt are the principal staples, and those articles are sent wherever a market offers; but principally at New Orleans. The lands in the entire district of St. Louis are more fertile, and less broken, than those of St. Genevieve. Between the Merrimack and the town of St. Louis, the banks The distance from St. Louis to the Pacific ocean, in a direct line, is only 1,861 miles. of the Mississippi are high and rocky; a short distance above St. Louis an alluvial bottom commences, which extends above the mouth of the Missouri. Upon both rivers the bottoms are extensive, with a level and fertile soil, covered with large timber. Prairies are very large near both St. Louis and St. Ferdinand; that near the latter is twelve miles long and two wide: extensive settlements are made upon its border. It lies nearly parallel to the Missouri, and from one to two miles from that stream; the settlements made upon this prairie are similar to those formed in like places in other parts of the territory: the plantations are extended into both the prairie and woodland, embracing a due proportion of each. The farms are many of them large and well cultivated, and their proprietors wealthy. The settlements are every where extending; the fertility of the lands, and the health enjoyed by the inhabitants, contribute to give unusual prosperity to the country near St. Louis. The richness and variety of its mineral and vegetable productions; its lead, salt, flour, beef, pork, flax, and hemp, afford inexhaustible sources of wealth, and secures to this country a rank among the most eligible spots in the United States. The population of this district, in 1804, amounted to about 2,800 persons; by the census of 1810, the inhabitants were 5,667. The population at the commencement of 1819, exceeded 13,000 souls. Attached to St. Louis, is the flourishing settlement of St. Andrew's, twenty-five miles south-west of that town. Like all other parts of the district, the lands of St. Andrew's exhibit a mixture of prairie and woodland; hill, dale, and soil, every where fertile: the farms are large, and skilfully conducted. Carondelet is situated on the bank of the Mississippi, six miles west of St. Louis, in the direction of the mines: it is an inconsiderable place, but like every other village in this country, is upon the increase. St. Ferdinand stands upon a rising ground near a fine brook of clear water, fourteen miles north-west of St. Louis. The lands adjacent, particularly the prairies, are extremely fertile. Villepuche, a French village of sixty or seventy houses, is situated on the margin of the Mississippi, nineteen miles below St. Louis, and just below the mouth of Bigolua creek. Herculaneum stands near the Mississippi, thirty miles below St. Louis. It is settled by Americans, and has a fine manufactory of shot, with a fall of 200 feet perpendicular. The lead mines are about forty-five miles due wes from. this place. St. Genevieve is situated on the second bank of the Mississippi, about one mile from the river, and twentyone miles below Herculaneum, in lat. 37° 51'. N. It was commenced about the year 1774, and is at present the principal depot for most of the mines on the waters of the Merrimack, and the store-house from whence are drawn the supplies of the miners. Its site is a handsome plain of 100 acres; the little river Gouberie, the two branches of which form a junction between the town and the river, water it on its upper and lower margins. In front of the town there is a fine bottom, extending from the mouth of the Gouberie, eight or nine miles along the Mississippi, and the greater part of the distance three miles wide. The common field, enclosed and cultivated by the citizens, contains about 7,000 acres. The surrounding country is broken, but yields good crops. The town contains about 350 houses, an academy, and eight or ten stores. A road runs from this town to the lead mines, and the greater part of the inhabitants have an interest in, or are employed in some way, in the lead trade. The district of St. Genevieve is bounded south-east by Apple creek, sixty-four miles, north by Merrimack river, fifty-seven miles, north-east by the Mississippi; upon the latter it extends upwards of 100 miles: to the west its boundaries are unlimited. The land is various, and more hilly than that of Cape Girardeau, perhaps it is also less fertile; but certainly richer in mineral wealth, particularly in lead and salt: the settlements extend to the river St. Francis, whose lead streams rise in this district. Between St. Genevieve and the Merrimack, the banks of the Mississippi are in many places of great elevation, and composed of rock. Some of the bluffs rise at least 360 feet, and have at a distance the appearance of artificial towers: they are solid masses of limestone disposed in horizontal layers. The population of Genevieve district, in 1804, amounted to 2,870; in 1810, to 4,820; it is now more than double the latter number, and increasing with great rapidity. New Bourbon is situated on a bluff, two miles lower down the river, and contains about seventy buildings. The inhabitants are mostly French, and are a lively and hospitable people. Cape Girardeau stands on an eminence thirty-eight miles above the mouth of the Ohio, and seventy-six below St. Genevieve; it is settled by Germans and a few French. The country to the west of the village is uneven, |