frequently covered by huge heaps of earth. Again, a stone work exists, as I am informed by General Ashley, about ten miles below the mills. It is on the west side of the Gasconade, and is about twenty-five or thirty feet square; and although at present in a dilapidated condition, appears to have been originally built with an uncommon degree of regularity. It is situated on a high bald cliff, which commands a fine and extensive view of the country on all sides. From this stone work is a small foot-path, running a devious course down the cliff to the entrance of a cave, in which was found a quantity of ashes. The mouth of the cave commands an easterly view." This path communicating with the sacred cave, shows that the temple may have been erected to some imaginary deity. It is probable that the region of these ancient works, and that of the caves, will fall in the county of Crawford, that has been erected out of the territory of Gasconade county; which was originally so extensive as to be called "the State of Gasconade."

GREEN COUNTY. The boundaries of this county begin where the line, dividing townships twenty-six and twenty-seven, crosses the line dividing ranges seventeen and eighteen; thence west with said township line to its intersection with the eastern boundary of Barry county; thence along said line to the southern boundary-line of Polk county; thence with said line to the southeast corner thereof; thence south to the beginning. This county contains much good land, with a fair proportion of timber and prairie; the soil, however, is not as deep as that of some of the counties on the Mississippi and Missouri. The limestone appears in the ravines and branches in the prairies, and it generally lies nearer the surface of the earth than in any other part of the Lead mineral is sometimes found where the limestone is thus exposed. Large volumes of water, in various parts of the country, flow out of the earth, or break out of fissures of the rocks, of sufficient capacity to drive a pair of mill-stones; and these streams vary but little during all the wet and dry seasons of the year. The value of these springs to the individuals who may secure the title to them, and to the county generally,

state.

is incalculable. One of the heavy tasks imposed on a farmer in Missouri, who is not so fortunate as to reside near to a water gristmill, consists in the loss of the time of hands, and a team that he is obliged to employ at the horse-mill. There are but few of the early settlers of a new country who have capital sufficient to employ in erecting mills; and fewer who are willing to risk it in such enterprises. The soil is sometimes found so light on that bank of a mill-stream where the rock does not appear, that it is difficult to make a mill-dam stand permanently. The legislative enactments of Missouri have latterly tended to discourage building mills. It is, however, believed that the lawgivers will cease to interfere with the contracts that millers and their customers may choose to make, and allow the former to fix the rate of toll according to the interest of the contracting parties. Notwithstanding the prohibitory enactments now in force, it is the practice of some millers to take one bushel of grain for grinding two; but the bag is generally sent home with the grist. Competition in milling will eventually make the terms of grinding easier to the farmers-but legislation never! James's Fork, and some other branches of White river, water Green county; and the head of keel-boat navigation on this river is supposed to be about forty miles from Springfield.

SPRINGFIELD is the county-seat of Green. The land-offices for the southwestern land district of Missouri are located here. There are in Springfield seven stores, and several mechanics' shops. This town is situated near the Kickapoo prairie, which has been a point of attraction for emigrants for many years. The country around Springfield, and the county generally, are well settled with a respectable and wealthy population, the principal part of whom migrated hither from Tennessee. The great interior road that the natural operations of business intercourse have traced out between the Mississippi, at Marion county, and the Arkansas and Red river rich settlements, runs through Springfield, and crosses James's Fork of White river, about ten miles beyond the town, at a place called the old Delaware towns. The territory lying south of Green county, and bordering on the state line, is erected into the first stage of existence as a county, named

Taney, but yet attached to Green for purposes of government, civil and military. The descriptions and examination of this county lead to the impression, that the good land in it may be in amount, like the religion of Mr. Randolph of Roanoke, as he rated it himself—" none to speak of! none to speak of!" This circumstance may, however, make many locations there more desirable to stock-raisers, as they will not be annoyed with the animals of near neighbours. The pasturage (or range, as it is familiarly called) is good in the Taney district. The face of the country is broken, and the rugged hills will shelter stock in winter, while the bottoms afford cane and grass sufficient to winter animals without the expense of feeding. The narrow bottoms on the numerous streams and branches of this region afford sufficient arable land for small farms, and the soil is very productive. The streams and springs are all clear and pure, and these, and the face of the country, afford strong indications of great salubrity. Taking all these facts into view, the just conclusion is reached, that an unostentatious people may here find frugal, happy homes, where an honest competence will be earned with light labour. It will, however, be found essential to the interests of the people of Taney district, that they persuade a few "Ichabod Crane" like schoolmasters to take the trail down through their "diggins." The timber of Green county is good, and consists of almost all the varieties that are found in other parts of Missouri, including, probably, some good yellow pine.

HOWARD COUNTY is situated on the left bank of Missouri, and its boundaries" begin in the Missouri river opposite the mouth of Moniteau Creek; thence up said creek to the line between townships forty-eight and forty-nine; thence in a direct line to the northeast corner of township fifty-one, range fourteen west; thence in a direct line to a point one and a half miles due west of the northeast corner of township fifty-two, range seventeen west; thence in a direct line to a point in the middle of the Missouri river, where the line between sections seventeen and twenty, township fifty-one, range seventeen west, intersects the same, and down the same to the beginning."

The salt-springs, so long and so successfully worked by Major

James Morrison (one of our old inhabitants, who is distinguished for his enterprise), flow out of the earth at "Booneslick." This lick, coupled with the name of Daniel Boone, "Backwoodsman of Kentucky," gives celebrity to a district of country embraced within and extending beyond the limits of Howard county. The Booneslick country for many years, in the early settlement of Missouri, was the point of attraction for emigrants; and it was deemed headquarters, to which the traveller, with an indefinite idea of a new home, repaired. Here it was customary to halt, and look about for a location. The thoroughfare thus created drew to this region of country one of the first land-offices established by the federal government in the territory of Missouri. The first land-sales were held here in 1818. The competition for land was conducted with a cupidity almost frantic.

This country having justly attained such celebrity by its great fertility, emigrants within the last few years have been observed to drive onward, with untiring fortitude, until they have paused in their pilgrimage on the banks of Nature's saline mirror, in which Boone, in his unsocial pursuits, contemplated his own image that the idea of the human face might not escape him.

This county is populous; and all the public land that is desirable in it is taken up and appropriated to farming, in all the variety of agricultural branches to which the soil is adapted. The land-office is continued in Howard, and has been removed from Old Franklin to Fayette, the seat of justice.

Burckhardt's salt-works have been productive since the early settlement of the county. The Buffalo lick, near Fayette, is esteemed valuable; and salt has been manufactured there for a long period; and it is only necessary to convey fuel from the excellent coal-banks in the vicinity, to make the springs at that lick productive. At the Moniteau springs, the salt-works of Messrs. Bass and Jackson have been conducted profitably for many years.

The coal-banks of Howard are numerous and inexhaustible; and the quality of the coal, although inferior to that used in St. Louis, is an excellent fuel for domestic use. The quality may improve when mining shall be carried to a greater extent.

Richland Creek, that falls into the Missouri on the west side of the county, is appropriately named after the tract of very fertile land which it drains. This stream is not sufficiently powerful to drive machinery. The Bonne Femme and Moniteau are streams of sufficient power for grist and saw mills; and there are several excellent mill-sites on each. There is a good grist and saw mill on the former; and on the Sulphur, a considerable branch of Bonne Femme, there is likewise a grist and saw mill. Salt Creek is valuable stock water. Near Fayette a steam sawmill is in operation; at New Franklin there is another, and three miles east of this town a third. There is at the latter place a merchant steam-mill; and there are in the county several good sites for wind-mills. The usual mode of grinding bread-stuffs for domestic use is by the agency of ox and horse power, applied on inclined planes, and by the steady" long and strong pull, and a pull all together."

The mill of "armstrong," or the hommony-beater, is laid aside, and only used in great emergencies, and on festive occasions, as contributors to the "critter comforts" of the table. Springs and wells furnish pure limestone-water for the inhabitants of Howard, who esteem it one of the greatest luxuries of life.

The timber of this part of Missouri consists of oak, hickory, black and white walnut, black and blue ash, hackberry, linn, maple, sycamore, coffee-bean, honey-locust, sugar-tree, mulberry, and cottonwood. Quarries of lime and sandstone are abundant in Howard. There is also an excellent grindstone quarry between New Franklin and the ferry of Arrow Rock.

FAYETTE. This town is the seat of justice of Howard county, and contains a courthouse, a great number of neat private dwellings, fourteen stores, and many mechanics' shops. There is likewise a college and excellent common schools. There are published in Fayette two public journals, ably edited and neatly printed. Fayette is a healthy, well-watered town, peopled with excellent moral and religious inhabitants, of social habits.

FRANKLIN. The old town bearing this name was situated on a high alluvial bottom on the left bank of the Missouri, opposite Booneville. This town was very populous and increasing in con