Part 2 (1/2)

CHAPTER II.

GENERAL VIEW OF THE VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI.

(CONTINUED.)

Productions.

_Minerals._--But few mines exist in the Lower Valley of the Mississippi.

_Louisiana_, being chiefly alluvion, furnishes only two specimens, sulphuret of antimony, and meteoric iron ore. It is supposed that the pine barrens towards Texas, if explored, would add to the number.

The only minerals in _Mississippi_, are amethyst, of which one crystal has been found; potter's clay, at the Chickasaw Bluffs, and near Natchez; sulphuret of lead in small quant.i.ties, about Port Gibson; and sulphate of iron. Petrified trunks of trees are found in the bed of the Mississippi, opposite Natchez. In Arkansas Territory are various species. Here may be found the native magnet, or magnetic oxide of iron, possessing strong magnetic power. Iron ores are very abundant. Sulphate of copper, sulphuret of zinc, alum, and aluminous slate are found about the cove of Was.h.i.+tau, and the Hot Springs. Buhr stone of a superior quality exists in the surrounding hills. The hot springs are interesting on account of the minerals around them, the heat of their waters, and as furnis.h.i.+ng a retreat to valetudinarians from the sickly regions of the south. They are situated on the Was.h.i.+tau, a large stream that empties itself into Red river.

The _lead mines_ of Missouri have been worked for more than a century.

They are distributed through the country from thirty to one hundred miles southwest from St. Louis, and probably extend through the Gasconade country. Immense quant.i.ties of iron ore exist in this region.

Lead is found in vast quant.i.ties in the northern part of Illinois, the south part of the Wisconsin Territory, and the country on the opposite side of the Mississippi. These mines are worked extensively. Native copper in large quant.i.ties is found in the same region. Large quant.i.ties of iron ore is found in the mountainous parts of Tennessee and Kentucky, where furnaces and forges have been erected. Also, in the hilly parts of Ohio, particularly at the falls of Licking four miles west of Zanesville, and in Adams and Lawrence counties near the Ohio river. With _iron ore_ the West is profusely supplied.

_Bituminous coal_ exists in great profusion in various parts of the Western Valley. The hills around Pittsburg are inexhaustible. It extends through many portions of Ohio and Indiana. Nearly every county in Illinois is supplied with this valuable article. Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee have their share. Immense quant.i.ties are found in the mountains along the Kenhawa, in Western Virginia, and it is now employed in the manufacture of salt. The c.u.mberland mountains in Tennessee contain immense deposits.

_Muriate of Soda_ or common salt, exists in most of the states and territories of this Valley. Near the sources of the Arkansas incrustations are formed by evaporation during the dry season, in the depressed portions of the immense prairies of that region. The celebrated salt rock is on the red fork of the Canadian, a branch of the Arkansas river. Jefferson lake has its water strongly impregnated with salt, and is of a bright red color. Beds of rock salt are in the mountains of this region. Several counties of Missouri have abundant salt springs. Considerable quant.i.ties of salt are manufactured in Jackson, Gallatin and Vermillion counties, Illinois. Saline springs, and ”licks” as they are called, abound through Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Ohio, Western Pennsylvania, and Western Virginia. Salt is manufactured in great abundance at the Kenhawa salines, 16 miles above Charlestown, Va., and brought down the Kenhawa river and carried to all the Western States. Much salt is made also on the Kiskiminitas, a branch of the Alleghany river, at the Yellow creek above Steubenville, and in the Scioto country in Ohio. The water is frequently obtained by boring through rock of different strata, several hundred feet deep.

Copper, antimony, manganese, and several other minerals are found in different parts of the West, but are not yet worked. _Nitrate of potash_ is found in great abundance in the caverns of Kentucky and Tennessee, also in Missouri, from which large quant.i.ties of Saltpetre are manufactured. _Sulphate of Magnesia_ is found in Kentucky, Indiana, and perhaps other states. Sulphur and other mineral springs are very common in the western states.

_Vegetable Productions._--_Trees, &c._ Almost every species of timber and shrub common to the Atlantic states is found in some part of the Western Valley. The cotton wood and sycamore are found along all the rivers below the 41 of N. lat.i.tude. The cypress begins near the mouth of the Ohio and spreads through the alluvion portions of the Lower Valley. The magnolia, with its large, beautiful flower, grows in Louisiana, and the long leaf pine flourishes in the uplands of the same region. The sugar maple abounds in the northern and middle portions. The chestnut is found in the eastern portion of the Valley as far as Indiana, but not a tree is known to exist in a natural state west of the Wabash river. Yellow or pitch pine, grows in several counties of Missouri, especially on the Gasconade, from whence large quant.i.ties of lumber are brought to St. Louis. White pine from the Alleghany river is annually sent to all the towns on the Ohio, and further down.

Considerable quant.i.ties of white pine grow on the upper Mississippi, along the western sh.o.r.e of Michigan, about Green bay, and along the sh.o.r.es of lake Superior. The yellow poplar, (Liriodendron tulipifera) is a majestic tree, valuable for light boards, and may be found in some parts of most of the western states. The beech tree is frequently found in company. The live oak, so valuable in s.h.i.+p building, is found south of the 31, and along the Louisiana coast. The orange, fig, olive, pine apple, &c. find a genial climate about New Orleans. High in the north we have the birch, hemlock, fir, and other trees peculiar to a cold region.

Amongst our fruit bearing trees we may enumerate the walnut, hickory or s.h.a.g bark, persimmon, pecan, mulberry, crab apple, pawpaw, wild plum, and wild cherry. The vine grows everywhere. Of the various species of oak, elm, ash, linden, hackberry, &c. it is unnecessary to speak. Where forests abound, the trees are tall and majestic. In the prairie country, the timber is usually found on the streams, or in detached groves.

In the early settlement of Kentucky there were found, south of Green river, large tracts, with stunted scattering trees intermixed with hazel and brushwood. From this appearance it was inferred that the soil was of inferior quality, and these tracts were denominated ”barrens.”

Subsequently, it was found that this land was of prime quality. The term ”barrens” is now applied extensively in the West to the same description of country. It distinguishes an intermediate grade from forest and prairie. A common error has prevailed abroad that our prairie land is wet. _Prairie_ is a French word signifying _meadow_, and is applied to any description of surface, that is dest.i.tute of timber and brushwood, and clothed with gra.s.s. Wet, dry, level, and undulating, are terms of description merely, and apply to prairies in the same sense as they do to forests. The prairies in summer are clothed with gra.s.s, herbage and flowers, exhibit a delightful prospect, and furnish most abundant and luxuriant pasturage for stock. Much of the forest land in the Western Valley produces a fine range for domestic animals and swine.

Thousands are raised, and the emigrant grows wealthy, from the bounties of nature, with but little labor.

Of _animals_, _birds_ and _reptiles_, little need be said. The buffalo was in Illinois the beginning of the present century. They are not found now within three hundred miles of Missouri and Arkansas, and they are fast receding. Deer are found still in all frontier settlements. Wolves, foxes, wild cats, racc.o.o.ns, opossums, and squirrels are plenty. The brown bear is still hunted in some parts of the western states. Col.

Crockett was a famous bear hunter in Western Tennessee, The white bear, mountain sheep, antelope and beaver, are found in the defiles of the Rocky mountains. The elk is still found by the hunter contiguous to newly formed settlements. All the domestic animals of the United States flourish here.

Nearly all the feathered tribe of the Atlantic slope are to be found in the Valley. Pelicans, wild geese, swans, cranes, ducks, paroquets, wild turkeys, prairie hens, &c. are found in different states, especially on the Mississippi.

_Reptiles._ The rattlesnake, copperhead snake, moccasin snake, bull snake, and the various snakes usually found in the Atlantic states are here. Of the venomous kinds, mult.i.tudes are destroyed by the deer and swine. Chameleons and scorpions exist in the Lower Valley, and lizards everywhere. The alligator, an unwieldy and bulky animal, is found in the rivers and lakes south of 34 north lat.i.tude. He sometimes destroys calves and pigs, and very rarely, even young children.

_History._--The honor of the discovery of this country is disputed by the Spanish, English, and French. It is probable that Sebastian Cabot sailed along the sh.o.r.es of what was afterwards called Florida, but a few years after Columbus discovered America. Spanish authors claim that Juan Ponce de Leon discovered and named Florida, in 1512. Narvaez, another Spanish commander, having obtained a grant of Florida in 1528, landed four or five hundred men, but was lost by s.h.i.+pwreck near the mouth of the Mississippi. Ferdinand de Soto was probably the first white man who saw the Mississippi river. He is said to have marched 1000 men from Florida, through the Chickasaw country, to the Mississippi, near the mouth of Red river, where he took sick and died. His men returned. Some writers suppose De Soto travelled as far north as Kentucky, or the Ohio river. This is not probable.

The French were the first to explore and settle the West, and they held jurisdiction over the country of Illinois for 80 years, when it fell into the hands of the British upon the conquest of Canada.

In 1564, Florida was settled by a colony of Huguenots, under Admiral Coligny, who were afterwards ma.s.sacred by the Spaniards, because they were Protestant _heretics_.

In 1608, Admiral Champlaine founded Quebec, from which French settlements spread through the Canadas.

About 1670, the notion prevailed amongst the French that visited Canada, that a western pa.s.sage to the Pacific ocean existed. They learned from the Indians that far in the west there was a great river; but of its course or termination they could learn nothing. They supposed that this river communicated with the western ocean.