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 furnishing 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 ship 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 shipwreck 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.

To investigate this question, P. Marquette, a Jesuit, and Joliet, were appointed by M. Talon, the Intendant of New France. Marquette was well acquainted with the Canadas, and had great influence with the Indian tribes. They conducted an expedition through the lakes, up Green bay and Fox river, to the Portage, where it approaches the Wisconsin, to which they pa.s.sed, and descended that river to the Mississippi, which they reached the 17th of June, 1673. They found a river much larger and deeper than it had been represented by the Indians. Their regular journal was lost on their return to Canada; but from the account, afterwards given by Joliet, they found the natives friendly, and that a tradition existed amongst them of the residence of a "Mon-e-to," or spirit, near the mouth of the Missouri, which they could not pa.s.s. They turned their course up the Illinois, and were highly delighted with the placid stream, and the woodlands and prairies through which it flowed.

They were hospitably received and kindly treated by the Illinois, a numerous nation of Indians who were dest.i.tute of the cruelty of savages.

The word "Illinois," or "Illini," is said by Hennepin, to signify a "_full grown man_." This nation appears to have originally possessed the Illinois country, and also a portion west of the Mississippi. The nation was made up of eight tribes:--the Miamies, Michigamies, Mascotins, Kaskaskias, Kahokias, Peorias, Piankeshaws, and Tau-mar-waus.

Marquette continued among these Indians with a view to christianize them; but Joliet returned to Canada and reported the discoveries he had made.

Several years elapsed before any one attempted to follow up the discoveries of Marquette and Joliet. M. de La Salle, a native of Normandy, but who had resided many years in Canada, was the first to extend these early discoveries. He was a man of intelligence, talents, enterprise, and perseverance. After obtaining the sanction of the king of France, he set out on his projected expedition, in 1678, from Frontenac, with Chevalier Tonti, his lieutenant, and Father Hennepin, a Jesuit missionary, and thirty or forty men.

He spent about one year in exploring the country bordering on the lakes, and in selecting positions for forts and trading posts, to secure the Indian trade to the French. After he had built a fort at Niagara, and fitted out a small vessel, he sailed through the lakes to Green bay, then called the "Bay of Puants." From thence he proceeded with his men in canoes towards the south end of lake Michigan, and arrived at the mouth of the "river of the Miamis" in November, 1679. This is thought to be the Milwaukee in Wisconsin Territory. Here he built a fort, left eight or ten men, and pa.s.sed with the rest of his company across the country to the waters of the Illinois river, and descended that river a considerable distance, when he was stopped for want of supplies. This was occasioned by the loss of a boat which had been sent from his post on Green bay. He was now compelled by necessity to build a fort, which, on account of the anxiety of mind he experienced, was called _Creve-coeur_, or broken heart.

The position of this fort cannot now be ascertained; but from some appearances, it is thought to have been near Spring bay, in the northeast part of Tazewell county.

At this period the Illinois were engaged in a war with the Iroquois, a numerous, warlike, and cruel nation, with whom La Salle had traded, while on the borders of Canada. The former, according to Indian notions of friendship, expected a.s.sistance from the French; but the interests and safety of La Salle depended upon terminating this warfare, and to this object he directed his strenuous efforts. The suspicious Illinois construed this into treachery, which was strengthened by the malicious and perfidious conduct of some of his own men, and p.r.o.nounced upon him the sentence of death. Immediately he formed and executed the bold and hazardous project of going alone and unarmed to the camp of the Illinois, and vindicating his conduct. He declared his innocence of the charges, and demanded the author. He urged that the war should be terminated, and that the hostile nations should live in peace.

The coolness, bravery, and eloquence of La Salle filled the Indians with astonishment, and entirely changed their purposes. The calumet was smoked, presents mutually exchanged, and a treaty of amity concluded.

The original project of discovery was now pursued. Father Hennepin started on the 28th of February, 1680, and having pa.s.sed down the Illinois, ascended the Mississippi to the falls of St. Anthony. Here he was taken prisoner, robbed, and carried to the Indian villages, from which he made his escape, returned to Canada by the way of the Wisconsin, and from thence to France, where he published an account of his travels.

La Salle visited Canada to obtain supplies, returned to Creve-coeur, and shortly after descended the Illinois, and then the Mississippi, where he built one or two forts on its banks, and took possession of the country in the name of the king of France, and in honor of him called it _Louisiana_.

One of these forts is thought to have been built on the west side of the river, between St. Louis and Carondalet.

After descending the Mississippi to its mouth, he returned to the Illinois, and on his way back left some of his companions to occupy the country. This is supposed to have been the commencement of the villages of Kaskaskia and Cahokia, in 1683. La Salle went to France, fitted out an expedition to form a colony at the mouth of the Mississippi, sailed to the gulf of Mexico, but not being able to find the mouths of that river, he commenced an overland journey to his fort on the Illinois. On this journey he was basely a.s.sa.s.sinated by two of his own men.[3]

After the death of La Salle, no attempts to discover the mouth of the Mississippi were made till about 1699, but the settlements in the Illinois country were gradually increased by emigrants from Canada.

In 1712, the king of France, by letters patent, gave the whole country of Louisiana to M. Crosat, with the commerce of the country, with the profits of all the mines, reserving for his own use one fifth of the gold and silver. After expending large sums in digging and exploring for the precious metals without success, Crosat gave up his privilege to the king, in 1717. Soon after, the colony was granted to the Mississippi company, projected by Mr. Law, which took possession of Louisiana, and appointed M. Bienville governor. In 1719, La Harpe commanded a fort with French troops, not far from the mouth of the Missouri river.

Shortly after, several forts were built within the present limits of Illinois, of which fort Chartres was the most considerable. By these means a chain of communication was formed from Canada to the mouth of the Mississippi.

In 1699, M. Ibberville arrived in the gulf of Mexico with two frigates, and in March ascended the river in a felucca one hundred leagues, and returned by the bayou or outlet that bears his name, through lake Ponchartrain to the gulf. He planted his colony at Biloxi, a healthy but sterile spot between the Mobile and Mississippi rivers, and built a fortification. During several succeeding years much exploring was done, and considerable trade carried on with the Indians for peltries, yet these expeditions were a source of much expense to France.

In January, 1702, the colony at Mobile was planted; several other settlements were soon after formed. The Catholics also commenced several missions amongst the Indians. Difficulties frequently occurred with their Spanish neighbors in Florida and Mexico.

M. Ibberville died in 1706, and M. Bienville succeeded him in the government of Louisiana for many years. The city of New Orleans was founded, during his administration, in 1719. It is situated on the east bank of the Mississippi, one hundred and five miles from its mouth. From 1723 to 1730, the French had exterminating wars with the Natchez, a powerful nation of Indians. They had killed 700 French in 1723, and about 1730 the French exterminated the nation. Various wars took place subsequently with the Spanish and English. But over most of the Indians along the Mississippi, these French colonists gained extraordinary influence.--During this period emigrants continued to arrive from France, so that the colonists rapidly increased in numbers.

The Mississippi land scheme, or "bubble" as it was called, originated with the celebrated John Law in 1717, which soon burst and spread ruin throughout the monied interests of France. The amount of stock created, was said to equal 310,000,000 of dollars. The whole proved an entire failure, but it served to increase greatly the population of Louisiana, so that from 1736, the colonies in the Lower Valley prospered.

In 1754, the war commenced between France and England relative to the boundaries of the Canadas. At that period France claimed all the countries west of the Alleghany mountains, while England on the other hand had granted to Virginia, Connecticut and other colonies, charters which extended across the continent to the "South Sea," as the Pacific ocean was then called. A grant also was made by Virginia, and the crown of Great Britain, of 600,000 acres to a company called "The Ohio Company." The governor of New France, as Canada and Louisiana was then called, protested, erected forts on lake Erie, and at the present site of Pittsburg, and enlisted the Indians against the English and Americans. Pittsburg was then called Fort du Quesne. Then followed Braddock's war, as this contest is called in the west,--the mission of Major (afterward General) Washington,--the defeat of Braddock; and finally by the memorable victory of Wolfe at Quebec, and the lesser ones at Niagara and Ticonderoga, and by victories of the English fleet on the ocean, the French were humbled, and at the treaty of Paris, in 1763, surrendered all their claims to the country east of the Mississippi.

Towards the close of the war, however, France, by a secret treaty, ceded all the country west of the Mississippi, and including New Orleans, to Spain, who held possession till 1803, when it was delivered to the French government under Napoleon, and by him ceded to the United States for 15,000,000 of dollars.

The English held possession of the military posts, and exercised jurisdiction over the country of Illinois, and the adjacent regions, till 1778, during the revolutionary war; when by a secret expedition, without direct legislative sanction, but by a most enterprising, skilful, and hazardous military manoeuvre, the posts of Kaskaskia, Cahokia, Fort Chartres and Vincennes were captured by Gen. GEORGE ROGERS CLARK, with a small force of volunteer Americans, and that portion of the Valley fell under the jurisdiction of Virginia.

The legislature of Virginia sanctioned the expedition of Clark, which the Executive, Patrick Henry and his council, with Thomas Jefferson, George Wythe, and George Mason, by written instructions, had agreed should be done, and a county called "Illinois" was organized the same year.

In 1784, Virginia, in conjunction with other states, ceded all claims to the Great West, to the United States, reserving certain tracts for the payment of revolutionary claims. This cession laid the foundation for five new states northwest of Ohio, when each district should have 60,000 inhabitants, and even a less number, by consent of Congress. Two restrictions were peremptorily enjoined,--that each state should adopt a const.i.tution with a republican form of government, and that slavery or involuntary servitude, should be forever prohibited.

It is unnecessary here to enter into details of the settlement of each particular state,--the incessant attacks from the Indians,--the border wars that ensued,--the adventures of Boone and his a.s.sociates in settling Kentucky,--the unfortunate campaigns of Harmar and St.