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THE 
 
 LOUISIANA PURCHASE 
 
 OF 1803 
 
 A History from the Earliest Explorations to the 
 Present Time of the Territory acquired by 
 the Louisiana Purchase ; together with 
 Some Account of the Famous Men 
 connected therewith ; and of 
 the Growth and Develop- 
 ment of the States 
 and Territories 
 into which it 
 has been 
 divided 
 
 NEW YORK 
 THE ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA COMPANY 
 
 n 
 
 1904 
 
,B.5L 
 
 Copyright, 1880, by Henry Gannett 
 
 Copyright, 1882, by Henry Gannett 
 
 Copyright, 1888, by Alexander Johnston 
 
 Copyright, 1902, by The Encyclop.-edia Britannica Company 
 
 Copyright, 1904, by 
 THE ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA COMPANY 
 
 UNDER 
 
 Interim Copyright Act of 1904 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 The Louisiana Purchase of 1803. By Alexander Johnston i 
 
 The Cession by Spain to France. By Richard Lodge . 6 
 
 The Purchase of the Territory by the United States. 
 
 By Alexander Johnston .,..., 7 
 
 Principal Actors in the Transaction — 
 
 Thomas Jefferson. By Hon. John Bigelow . . 9 
 
 James Monroe. By Prof. Freeman SNO^v . . . 22 
 
 Napoleon's Activities. By Sir J. R. Seeley . . 27 
 Character of Napoleon. By the Very Rev. G. W. 
 
 Kitchin ......... 32 
 
 Explorers of the Territory — 
 
 Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle. By J. D. G. 
 
 Shea 36 
 
 The Great River Systems — 
 
 Mississippi. By Brig.-Gen. H. L. Abbott ... 42 
 Missouri River. By Henry Gannett .... 48 
 
 Development of the Country — 
 
 Louisiana. By Henry Gannett ..... 50 
 
 Missouri. By Marshall S. Snow .... 56 
 
 Iowa. By Henry Gannett ...... 64 
 
 Minnesota. By J. G. Pyle 66 
 
 Kansas. By John Davis 72 
 
 Nebraska. By Prof. Samuel Aughey .... 76 
 
 North Dakota. By Webster Merrifield . . . 81 
 
 ill 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 South Dakota. By Hon. Bartlett Tripp 
 Montana. By Henry Gannett 
 Wyoming. By Henry Gannett 
 Indian Territory. By Henry Gannett 
 Oklahoma. By Charles H. Fitch 
 
 Colonial Literature — 
 
 The Colonial Period. By John Nichol 
 
 St Louis — 
 
 Description of City, &c. By David M'Adam 
 St Louis, By Marshall S. Snow 
 
 PAGE 
 
 86 
 
 94 
 98 
 
 99 
 
 107 
 1 10 
 
 IV 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803^ 
 
 The Territory concerned. Hozv it zuas settled ; 
 its cession from France to Spain, from Spain to 
 France, and its sale by France to the Utiited States. 
 
 The English settlements along the Atlantic had covered the 
 narrow strip of coast territory quite thoroughly before it was 
 possible to think of expansion westward. Since about 1605 
 Canada had been undisputedly in the hands of the French. 
 Their traders and missionaries had entered the present western 
 United States; Marquette and Joliet (1673) and La Salle 
 (1682) had explored the upper Mississippi river, and others, 
 following their track, had explored most of the Mississippi 
 valley and had built forts in various parts of it. About 1700 
 the French opened ground at the mouth of the Mississippi ; 
 D'Iberville (1702) founded Mobile and the French Mississippi 
 Company (171 8) founded the city of New Orleans. Con- 
 sistent design, foiled at last only by failure of material, marks 
 the proceedings of the French commanders in America for the 
 next thirty years. New Orleans and Quebec were the ex- 
 tremities of a line of well-placed forts which were to secure the 
 whole Mississippi valley, and to confine the English settlements 
 for ever to the strip of land along the coast bounded on the 
 west by the Appalachian or Alleghany range of mountains, 
 which is parallel to the coast, and has but one important break 
 in its barrier, the opening through which the Hudson river 
 flows. The practical genius of the French plans is shown 
 by the fact that so many of these old forts have since become 
 the sites of great and flourishing western cities : Natchez, 
 Vincennes, Peoria, Fort Wayne, Toledo, Detroit, Ogdensburgh, 
 and Montreal either are built on or are so near to the old 
 
 1 From the article "United States, Part I., History and Constitution," in the 
 
 Ninth Edition of the Encyclopedia Britantiica. Copyright, 1888, by Alexander 
 Johnston. 
 
 I - B 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 forts as to testify to the skill and foresight against which the 
 English colonies had to contend. To this whole territory, 
 extending from the mouth of the Mississippi to that of the 
 St Lawrence, covering even the western part of the present 
 State of New York, the name of New France was given. The 
 English possessions, extending in hardly any place more than 
 a hundred miles from the ocean, except where the Dutch had 
 long ago planted the outpost of Fort Orange, or Albany, on 
 the upper Hudson, were generally restricted to the immediate 
 neighbourhood of the coast, to which the early population had 
 naturally clung as its base of supplies. 
 
 The French difficulties were even greater than those of 
 the English. The French people had never had that love of 
 emigration which had given the English colonies their first 
 great impetus. Even where the French settled they showed 
 more of a disposition to coalesce with the native population 
 than to form a homogeneous people. The French were 
 commonly far stronger with the Indians than were the 
 English ; but, at the end of a hundred and fifty years, when 
 the English colonists numbered a million and a quarter, all 
 animated by the same political purposes, the population of all 
 New France was only about 100,000, and it is doubtful 
 whether there were 7500 in the whole Mississippi valley. The 
 whole French system, wisely as it was designed, was subject 
 to constant and fatal interference from a corrupt court. Its 
 own organization was hampered by attempts to introduce the 
 feudal features of home social life. A way was thus opened 
 to exactions from every agent of the court, to which the people 
 submitted with hereditary patience, but which were fatal to all 
 healthy development. Perhaps worst of all was the natural 
 and inevitable formation of the French line of claims. Trend- 
 ing westward from Quebec to meet the northward line of forts 
 from New Orleans, it was bent at the junction of the two parts, 
 about Detroit, and its most important part lay right athwart 
 the path of advancing English migration. The English wave 
 was thus to strike the weaker French line in flank and at its 
 weakest point, so that the final issue could not in any event 
 have been doubtful. The French and Indian war probably 
 only hastened the result. 
 
 There had been wars between the French and the English 
 colonies since the accession of William and Mary, mostly 
 accessory to wars between the mother countries. The colonies 
 
Eighteenth-Century Treaties 
 
 had taken part in the wars ended by the peace of Ryswick 
 (1697), the peace of Utrecht (17 13), and the peace of Aix-'la- 
 Chapelle (1748). The alliance of the French and Indians 
 made all these struggles wretched experiences for the English. 
 The province of Canada became a prison-pen, where captives 
 were held to ransom or adopted into savage tribes. Outlying 
 settlements were broken up, or forced to expend a large part of 
 their energy in watchful self-defence ; and it required all the 
 persistence of the English colonies to continue their steady 
 forward movement. Nevertheless they even undertook offensive 
 operations. They captured Port Royal in 1690, but it was 
 given up to the French in 1697. They captured it again in 
 1 7 10, and this time it was kept, with most of Acadia, which 
 was now to be known as Nova Scotia. In 1745 the colonies 
 took the strongest French fortress, Louisburgh, on Cape Breton 
 Island, with very little assistance from the home Government. 
 Their land expeditions against Montreal and Quebec were 
 unsuccessful, the reason for failure being usually defective 
 transport. 
 
 In the treaties which closed these wars, the interests of 
 the colonies met with little consideration. The most notable 
 instance of this was the i 2th article of the treaty of Utrecht, 
 by which an English company was secured the exclusive right 
 to carry African slaves into American ports. Originally meant 
 to obtain the Spanish trade in negroes, the company had 
 influence enough to commit the crown to a steady support of 
 the African slave-trade in its own colonies. Again and again 
 the English legislatures in North America attempted to stop 
 the slave-trade, and were prevented by the royal veto. This 
 will serve to explain a passage in Jefferson's first draft of the 
 American Declaration of Independence, as follows : — " He [the 
 king] has waged cruel war against human nature itself. . . . 
 Determined to keep open a market where men should be 
 bought and sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing 
 every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable 
 commerce." 
 
 All parties seem to have felt that the peace of Aix-la- 
 Chapelle was but a truce at the best ; and the French court 
 seems to have come at last to some comprehension of its 
 extensive opportunities and duties in North America. With 
 its tardy sympathy, its agents on the new continent began the 
 erection of barriers against the great wave of English westward 
 
 3 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 migration which was just appearing over the crest of the 
 Alleghanies. It was too late, however, for the English colonies 
 were really able to sustain themselves against the French 
 colonies and court together. Their surveyors (1747) had 
 crossed the crests of the mountains, and had brought back 
 appetizing accounts of the quality of the lands which lay 
 beyond. The Ohio Company (1749), formed partly of 
 Virginian speculators and partly of Englishmen, had obtained 
 a grant of 500,000 acres of land in the western part of 
 Pennsylvania (then supposed to be a part of Virginia), with a 
 monopoly of the Indian trade. As the grant was completely 
 on the western side of the Alleghanies, and was the first 
 English intrusion into the Ohio valley, it behoved the French 
 to meet the step with prompt action. Their agents traversed 
 the Ohio country, making treaties with the Indians and burying 
 lead plates inscribed with the lilies of France and a statement 
 of the French claims. The erection of the Ohio Company's 
 first fort (1752) brought on the crisis. The main line of 
 French forts was too far away to be any check upon it. The 
 French leaders therefore began to push a branch line eastward 
 into the disputed territory. Their first work (1753) was put up 
 at Presque Isle (now Erie), about 100 miles north of the Ohio 
 Company's fort. The citadel of the disputed territory had 
 been begun on the spot where Pittsburgh now stands, where the 
 Allegheny and Monongahela unite to form the Ohio river. 
 Governor Dinwiddle, of Virginia, had obtained the right to 
 erect the fort by treaty with the Indians. From Presque Isle 
 the French began running a line of forts south, through the 
 present " oil district " of Pennsylvania, towards the headquarters 
 of the English. 
 
 Washington was then a land-surveyor, barely of age ; but 
 he was the agent whom Dinwiddle selected to carry an 
 ultimatum to the French at Presque Isle. After a perilous 
 winter passage through the wilderness, he found that the French 
 had no intention of evacuating their positions, and returned. 
 Virginia at once (January 1754) voted money and men to 
 maintain the western claims of the colonies ; and Washington 
 was sent with 400 provincial troops to secure the half-built 
 fort at the head of the Ohio. The French were also pushing 
 for that place. They won in the race, drove away the English 
 workmen, and finished Fort Du Quesne, named after their 
 governor. Washington, compelled to stop and fortify his 
 
 4 
 
The War of the Revolution 
 
 position, won the first skirmish of the war with the French 
 advanced guard, but was forced to surrender on terms (July 4, 
 1754). The usual incidents of a general Indian warfare 
 followed for the rest of the year. 
 
 Both Governments began to ship regular troops to America, 
 though there was no formal declaration of war until 1756. 
 The year 1755 was marked by the surprise and defeat of 
 Braddock, a gallant and opinionated British officer who com- 
 manded an expedition against Fort Du Ouesne, by the complete 
 conquest of Nova Scotia, and by the defeat of the French, 
 under their principal officer, Dieskau, at Lake George, in New 
 York, by a force of provincial troops under Sir William Johnson. 
 In 1756 the greatest of French Canadian governors, Montcalm, 
 arrived ; and the tide of war went steadily against the 
 English. The officers sent out by the home Government were 
 incompetent, and they generally declined to draw on the 
 colonists for advice. Montcalm found them an easy prey ; 
 and his lines were steadily maintained at the point where they 
 had been when Washington surrendered at Fort Necessity. 
 Pitt's entrance to the Newcastle ministry (June 1757) changed 
 all this. For the first time the colonies found a man who 
 showed a sympathy with them and a willingness to use them. 
 Their legislatures were summoned into counsel as to the conduct 
 of the war ; and their alacrity in response was an augury of a 
 change in its fortune. Incompetent officers were weeded out, 
 with little regard to family or court influence. The whole 
 force of the colonies was gathered up, and in 1758 was launched 
 at the French. All western New York was cleared of the 
 enemy at a blow ; Fort Du Ouesne was taken and renamed 
 Fort Pitt ; Louisburgh, which had been restored to France at 
 Aix-la-Chapelle, was again taken ; and the only failure of the 
 year was the dreadful butchery of the English in assaulting the 
 walls of Ticonderoga. Louisburgh made an excellent point of 
 attack against Quebec, and Montcalm was forced to draw off 
 nearly all his troops elsewhere for the defence of his principal 
 post. The year 1759 was therefore begun by the capture of 
 Ticonderoga and almost all the French posts within the present 
 United States, and was crowned by Wolfe's capture of the 
 towering walls of Quebec. In 1760, while George II. lay 
 dying, the conquest of Canada was completed, and the dream 
 of a great French empire in North America disappeared for 
 ever. 
 
 5 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 The war continued through the first three years of George 
 III., and the colonies took part in the capture of Havana after 
 Spain had entered the struggle as an ally of France. The 
 peace of Paris, which put an end to the war, restored Havana 
 to Spain, in exchange for Florida, which now became English. 
 France retired from North America, giving to Spain all her 
 claims west of the Mississippi and that small portion east of 
 the Mississippi which surrounds New Orleans, and to England 
 the remainder of the continent east of the Mississippi. Spain 
 retained for her territory the name of Louisiana, originally 
 given by the French. The rest of the continent was now " the 
 English colonies of North America." 
 
 THE CESSION BY SPAIN TO FRANCE^ 
 
 The only advantage which Spain enjoyed at this period was 
 comparative independence of France. The military plans of 
 the Directory were unsuccessful during the absence of their 
 greatest general in Egypt, .and the second coalition gained 
 successes in 1799 which had seemed impossible since 1793. 
 But the return of Bonaparte, followed as it was by the fall 
 of the Directory and the establishment of the Consulate, 
 commenced a new epoch for Spain. As soon as the First 
 Consul had time to turn his attention to the Peninsula, he 
 determined to restore Godoy, who had already regained the 
 affection of the Queen, and to make him the tool of his policy. 
 Maria Louisa was easily gained over by playing on her 
 devotion to the house of Parma, and on October i, 1800, a 
 secret treaty was concluded at San Ildefonso. Spain undertook 
 to cede Louisiana and to aid France in all her' wars, while 
 Bonaparte promised to raise the Duke of Parma to the rank of 
 king, and to increase his territories by the addition either of 
 Tuscany or of the Roman Legations. This was followed by 
 Godoy's return to power, though he left the department of 
 foreign affairs to a subordinate. Spain was now more servile 
 to France than ever, and in 1801 was compelled to attack 
 Portugal in the French interests. Bonaparte was indignant 
 against Portugal, partly because its fleet had aided his enemies 
 in Egypt, and partly because its harbours offered great naval 
 
 1 From the article "Spain," in the Ninth Edition of the Encyclopedia 
 Britannica. 
 
Under Napoleon I. 
 
 advantages to the English. The Spanish invasion, which was 
 commanded by Godoy in person, met with no resistance, 
 and the prince ventured to conclude a peace on his own 
 authority, by which Portugal promised to observe a strict 
 neutrality on condition that its territories were left undiminished. 
 But Bonaparte resented this show of independence, and 
 compelled Charles IV. to refuse his ratification of the treaty. 
 Portugal had to submit to far harsher terms, and could only 
 purchase peace by the cession of territory in Guiana, by a dis- 
 advantageous treaty of commerce, and by a payment of twenty- 
 five millions of francs. This insult to his ally Bonaparte 
 followed up by others. In the preliminary treaty with England 
 he ceded the Spanish colony of Trinidad without even con- 
 sulting the court of Madrid, while he sold Louisiana to the 
 United States in spite of his promise not to alienate it except 
 to Spain. For these humiliations Spain had to console itself 
 with the empty honour of being the first signatory of the 
 treaty of Amiens. 
 
 THE PURCHASE OF THE TERRITORY BY THE 
 UNITED STATES^ 
 
 When Jefferson took office in 1801 he succeeded to a task 
 larger than he imagined. His party, ignoring the natural forces 
 which tied the States together even against their wills, insisted 
 that the legal basis of the bond was in the power of any State 
 to withdraw at will. This was no nationality ; and foreign 
 nations naturally refused to take the American national coin 
 at any higher valuation than that at which it was current in its 
 own country. The urgent necessity was for a reconciliation 
 between democracy and nationality ; and this was the work of 
 this period. An underlying sense of all this has led Democratic 
 leaders to call the war of 1812-15 the "second war for 
 independence " ; but the result was as much independence of 
 past ideas as of Great Britain. 
 
 The first force in the new direction was the acquisition of 
 Louisiana in 1803. Napoleon had acquired it from Spain, and, 
 fearing an attack upon it by Great Britain, offered it to the 
 
 1 From the article " United States, Part I., History and Constitution," in the 
 Ninth Edition of the Encyclopcidia Britamiica. Copyright, 1888, by Alexander 
 Johnston. 
 
 7 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 United States for $15,000,000. Jefferson and his party were 
 eager to accept the offer ; but the constitution gave the Federal 
 Government no power to buy and hold territory, and the party 
 was based on a strict construction of the constitution. Posses- 
 sion of power forced the strict-construction party to broaden its 
 ideas, and Louisiana was bought, though Jefferson quieted his 
 conscience by talking for a time of a futile proposal to amend 
 the constitution so as to grant the necessary power. The 
 acquisition of the western Mississippi basin more than doubled 
 the area of the United States, and gave them control of all the 
 great river-systems of central North America. The difficulties 
 of using these rivers were removed almost immediately by 
 Fulton's utilization of steam in navigation (1807). Within four 
 years steamboats were at work on Western waters ; and there- 
 after the increase of steam navigation and that of population 
 stimulated one another. Population crossed the Mississippi ; 
 constantly increasing eddies filled up the vacant places to the 
 east of the great river ; and all sections of the country advanced 
 as they had never advanced before. The "centre of population" 
 has been carefully ascertained by the census authorities for each 
 decade, and it represents the westward movement of popu- 
 lation very closely. During this period it advanced from 
 about the middle of the State of Maryland to its extreme 
 western limit — that is, the centre of population was in 1830 
 nearly at the place which had been the western limit ot 
 population in 1770. 
 
Principal Actors in the Transaction 
 
 Biographies of Thomas Jefferson, James Afonroe, 
 
 and Robert Livingston. Napoleon's activities 
 
 during this period. 
 
 THOMAS JEFFERSON 1 
 
 Jefferson, Thomas (1743- 1826), the third president of the 
 United States, and the most conspicuous apostle of Democracy 
 in America, was born April 2, 1743, at Shadvvell, Albemarle 
 county, in the State of Virginia, a region of which his father 
 Peter Jefferson, an obscure and unlettered planter, was the third 
 or fourth settler. 
 
 At the early age of five years Thomas was sent to an 
 English school, and from that time until he finished his studies 
 at William and Mary's College in 1762 appears to have 
 enjoyed superior educational advantages, and to have turned 
 them all to good account. He carried with him from college, 
 at nineteen, a tolerably thorough reading knowledge of the 
 Latin, Greek, and French languages, to which he added a 
 familiarity with the higher mathematics and natural sciences 
 only possessed at his gige by men who have, as he had, a rare 
 natural faculty for the prosecution of those studies. Soon after 
 leaving college he entered the law office of Mr George Wythe, 
 then at the head of the Virginia bar, and withal, Jefferson 
 being judge, " the best Latin and Greek scholar in the State." 
 In Mr Wythe he found a " faithful and beloved mentor in 
 youth and most affectionate friend through life." In 1767, 
 after five years' close application to the study of his profession, 
 he was admitted to the bar. The death of his father in 1757 
 left Thomas, who was the eldest son, heir to the estate on 
 
 ^ The article " Thomas Jefferson," in the Ninth Edition of the Encyclopccdia 
 Britannica. 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 which he was born, and which yielded him an income of about 
 ;^400 a year, a sum in those days sufficient to gratify all his 
 tastes, and to give him, as he matured, the position of an inde- 
 pendent country gentleman. At the time of his admission to 
 the bar he is described by his contemporaries as 6 feet 2 inches 
 in height, slim, erect as an arrow, with angular features, a 
 very ruddy complexion, an extremely delicate skin, full deep- 
 set hazel eyes, and sandy hair, an expert musician (the violin 
 being his favourite instrument), a good dancer, a dashing rider, 
 and a proficient in all manly exercises. He was, and continued 
 through life, frank, earnest, cordial, and sympathetic in his 
 manner, full of confidence in men, and sanguine in his views 
 of life. 
 
 Though mostly known to fame as a statesman, Jefferson's 
 success as a lawyer showed that the bar had no rewards which 
 were not fairly within his reach. He had sixty-eight cases 
 before the chief court of the province the first year of his 
 practice, and nearly twice that number the second. In the 
 fourth, his register shows that he was employed in four hundred 
 and thirty cases. During the eight years that he continued in 
 active practice his income had enabled him to live like a 
 gentleman, and to add a few hundred acres to his landed estate 
 from time to time, until his inheritance of 1900 acres had 
 become, in 1774, 5000 acres, and all paid for. But, while 
 fired with the Virginian passion of the period for acquiring 
 land, Jefferson does not appear to have shared the passion 
 which usually accompanied it, of multiplying slaves to clear 
 and till it. He was one of the first of English-speaking 
 statesmen with foresight enough to discover the thunders with 
 which the dark cloud of slavery was charged, and with courage 
 enough to warn his countrymen against them. It does not 
 appear that he ever acquired any slaves by purchase and as an 
 investment. 
 
 In 1767 Governor Fauquier, the colonial governor of 
 Virginia, died. The arrival of the new governor, Baron de 
 Botetourt, in October 1768, was followed, according to usage, 
 by the dismissal of the House of Burgesses, and a new election 
 was ordered. Jefferson, offering himself as a candidate, was 
 elected from the county of Albemarle, and continued to be 
 annually re-elected until the House of Burgesses was closed by 
 the revolution. His public career began, like that of some of the 
 greatest parliamentarians before him, in a mortifying failure. 
 
 10 
 
Principal Actors in the Transaction 
 
 In conformity with a usage brought from the mother country 
 of selecting one of the younger members to draft the reply to 
 the governor's speech, this complimentary duty was devolved 
 upon Jefferson. He confined himself too closely for the taste 
 of the committee to the language of the resolutions which 
 he was expected to amplify and glorify. His address was 
 rejected, and the duty of preparing a substitute was confided 
 to another member. This humiliation doubtless had some 
 share in giving to his pen the parliamentary distinction usually 
 won only by the tongue ; for he was no orator — indeed, though 
 one of the foremost members of several deliberative bodies in 
 his time, he can fairly be said to have never made a speech. 
 
 Jefferson's legislative duties were not destined to detain 
 him long from his profession. The king having abandoned 
 the policy of levying internal taxes, and directed instead that a 
 duty upon certain leading articles of foreign commerce should be 
 levied at the custom-houses in the colonies, in the spring of 
 1769 a messenger arrived at Williamsburg, then the seat of 
 government of Virginia, announcing to the House of Burgesses 
 the firm resolve of Massachusetts to resist these duties by all 
 constitutional means, and asking the concurrence and co- 
 operation of Virginia. On the third day of the session of 
 the House of Burgesses four resolutions were adopted with 
 substantial unanimity, in harmony with those adopted by 
 Massachusetts. The first declared against taxation without 
 representation ; the second, that the colonies may concur and 
 co-operate in seeking redress of grievances ; the third, that 
 sending accused persons away from their country for trial is 
 an inexpressible complexity of wrong ; the fourth, that they 
 should send an address on these topics to the " father of all his 
 people," beseeching his " royal interposition," On the follow- 
 ing day, and without waiting for an official copy of these 
 resolutions to reach him, Governor Botetourt dissolved the 
 House of Burgesses. 
 
 Thus in five days terminated, for the present, Jefferson's 
 career as a legislator. But, though brief and crowned with no 
 results to satisfy his ambition, history does not pronounce his 
 first experience as a legislator inglorious, for it was illustrated 
 by an effort, which was not the less honourable to him because 
 it was unsuccessful, to ameliorate the condition of the African 
 bondmen in Virginia. The law of those days forbade the 
 manumission of a slave, except upon the condition that he 
 
 II 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 was immediately sent out of the State. Jefferson desired the 
 repeal of this law. His efforts were not only unsuccessful, but 
 they developed such a state of feeling upon the subject as to 
 bring into grand relief the courage which even at that early 
 day ventured to propose such a measure. 
 
 The day after the House of Burgesses dispersed, its 
 members met at a public hall in the Raleigh Tavern in 
 Williamsburg, and, following the example of Massachusetts, 
 resolved, with a near approach to unanimity — (i) to be more 
 saving and industrious ; (2) never to buy any article taxed by 
 parliament for revenue, except low qualities of paper which 
 they could not dispense with ; nor (3) to import any article 
 from Britain or in British ships if they could help it, until the 
 offensive Act was repealed ; and (4) to save all their lambs 
 for wool. Every man who signed the agreement was re- 
 elected, and every man who refused lost his election. 
 
 On February i, 1770, while Jefferson and his mother were 
 absent from home, his house was burned down. He had, 
 however, already begun clearing the grounds and preparing for 
 the erection of a new residence at Monticello, which occupied 
 no inconsiderable portion of his time and thoughts for the 
 next two years, and which was destined to become, for more 
 than half a century, the most distinguished seat of private 
 hospitality in America. On the ist of January 1772 he 
 married Martha Skelton, a widowed daughter of a wealthy 
 neighbour, and associate at the bar of Williamsburg, of large 
 fortune in lands and slaves. The lady was very handsome, 
 childless, fond of music, twenty-three ; she proved to him a 
 loving and devoted wife, and was the centre of a domestic 
 circle, the joys of which seemed only to be intensified and 
 consecrated by the distractions of his public life. 
 
 In the spring of 1773 Jefferson was appointed by the 
 House of Burgesses a member of" a Committee of Correspond- 
 ence and Inquiry for the Dissemination of Intelligence between 
 the Colonies." The appointment of this committee responded 
 to the necessity then beginning to be felt by all the colonies 
 of making common cause against the pretensions of the Crown, 
 and looked to a convention in which their united purposes 
 might find expression. The resolutions which gave birth to 
 this committee provoked an immediate dissolution of the 
 House, but its members were all re-elected. Soon after they 
 had resumed their sittings in the following spring, news 
 
Principal Actors in the Transaction 
 
 reached them of what is known in history as " The Boston 
 Port Bill," by which the chief port of Massachusetts was to 
 be closed to commerce on the ist of June of that year (1774). 
 The House of Burgesses thereupon set apart that day for 
 fasting, humiliation, and prayer, thereby provoking from the 
 governor another dissolution. May 20, 1774. This immedi- 
 ately led to the selection of delegates from the several counties 
 to meet at Williamsburg in August, to consider the state of 
 the colony, and to provide for an annual congress of the 
 colonies. Jefferson was chosen a delegate to the State Con- 
 vention, but, owing to sudden indisposition which overtook 
 him on his way, was unable to attend. His influence there, 
 however, was not to be wanting, for much of the interval 
 between the dissolution of the House and the meeting of the 
 Convention was devoted to the consideration and preparation 
 of a series of instructions for the deputies who were to be sent 
 to the General Congress, which was to meet at Philadelphia 
 in September. In these instructions, which he had intended 
 himself to propose, could he have been present, he maintained^ 
 " that the relation between Great Britain and these colonies 
 was exactly the same as that of England and Scotland after 
 the accession of James and until the Union, and the same as 
 her present relations with Hanover, — having the same execu- 
 tive chief, but no other necessary political connexion ; and 
 that our emigration to this country gave no more rights over 
 us than the emigration of the Danes and Saxons gave to 
 the present authorities of the mother country over England." 
 These instructions, though too radical then for the purpose for 
 which they were designed, were laid upon the table of the 
 delegates, read by many, and published in a pamphlet entitled 
 A Summary Vieiv of the Rights of America, and extensively 
 circulated. It ran through edition after edition in England, 
 after receiving such modifications (attributed to the pen of 
 Burke) as adapted it to the purposes of the Opposition ; and 
 it procured for its author, to use his own language, " the 
 honour of having his name inserted in a long list of proscrip- 
 tions enrolled in a bill of attainder commenced in one of the 
 two Houses of Parliament, but suppressed in embryo by the 
 hasty course of events." This paper placed Jefferson among 
 the leaders, if not at the head of the revolutionary movement 
 in America — events rapidly ripening in the public mind its 
 novel and startling doctrines. The Declaration of Independ- 
 
 13 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 ence two years later, of which he asked that his tombstone 
 should testify as the greatest achievement of his life, was but 
 a perfected transcript of the Summary View. 
 
 Jefferson was the leading spirit in the succeeding sessions 
 of the Virginia Convention ; he was one of a committee of 
 thirteen appointed to report a plan for arming Virginia ; he 
 was named a delegate to the General Congress, where he took 
 his seat eight days after Colonel -George Washington had been 
 appointed commander-in-chief of the armies of the colonies ; 
 and he was placed upon the committee to draw up a statement 
 of the causes which had impelled the colonies to take up arms 
 against the mother country, and upon another committee to 
 report on Lord North's "conciliatory proposition." In the 
 winter of 1775-76 disastrous news arrived from England. 
 The king in opening parliament had denounced the colonists 
 as rebels, and recommended decisive coercive measures against 
 them ; and this was promptly followed by a law authorizing 
 the confiscation of American vessels and cargoes, and those of 
 all nations found trading in American ports, and the impress- 
 ment of American crews into the British navy. This measure 
 and the large vote by which it was passed instantly crystallized 
 the colonies, and on the iith June 1776 Congress appointed 
 Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Sherman, and Livingston to prepare 
 a Declaration of Independence. 
 
 Jefferson at the request of his associates prepared a draft 
 of the Declaration, which, after two or three verbal corrections 
 by them, was taken up for consideration in the House on the 
 2nd of July. In the debate on the Declaration Jefferson took 
 no part, " thinking it a duty to be on that occasion a passive 
 auditor of the opinions of others, more impartial judges than 
 he could be of its merits and demerits." Two or three ex- 
 pressions had been used which gave offence to some members : 
 the words " Scotch and other foreign auxiliaries " were resented 
 by some delegates of Scottish birth ; and the strictures on the 
 king's repeated veto of colonial laws repealing the law which 
 permitted the slave trade were disapproved by some of the 
 southern delegates. 
 
 On the evening of the 4th of July i yjG the Declaration was 
 reported back from the committee of the whole House, and 
 agreed to. Circumstances have given an historical importance 
 to this document somewhat disproportioned to its merits as a 
 statement of the grievances of the colonies ; for it seemed to 
 
 14 
 
Principal Actors in the Transaction 
 
 be the weapon that dismembered a great empire, and that 
 gave birth to a nation of unlimited possibiHties ; it gave 
 guarantees for the fame of its author which are possessed 
 by no other production of an American pen ; for more than 
 a century it has been read to assembled multitudes in every 
 considerable town in the United States on the anniversary 
 of its adoption ; and its style and sentiments have been the 
 model for every people which since that time has sought to 
 assert for itself the right of self-government. 
 
 Jefferson continued to participate actively in the efforts 
 to organize the government of the confederation, and prepare 
 it for the life -and -death struggle which was impending, until 
 the 2nd of September, when he resigned, to take his seat in 
 the legislature of Virginia, to which he had been elected, and 
 where he thought his services would be most needed. " When 
 I left Congress in '^61^ he says in his autobiography, " it 
 was in the persuasion that our whole code must be reviewed, 
 adapted to our republican form of government, and, now that 
 we had no negatives of councils, governors, or kings to restrain 
 us from doing right, that it be corrected in all its parts with a 
 single eye to reason and the good of those for whose govern- 
 ment it was framed." To this task he now devoted himself. 
 Of the various measures introduced in furtherance of this 
 purpose he says : " I considered four, passed or reported, as 
 forming a system by which every fibre would be eradicated 
 of ancient or future aristocracy, and a foundation laid for 
 a government truly republican." These were — the repeal of 
 the laws of entail, the abolition of primogeniture and equal 
 partition of inheritances, the restoration of the rights of con- 
 science and relief of the people from taxation for the support 
 of a religion not theirs, and a system of general education. 
 He tried to add to these, but without success, the introduction 
 of trial by jury into the courts of chancery, and to provide for 
 the gradual emancipation of the slaves. He did, however, 
 introduce a bill, which passed without opposition, forbidding 
 the further importation of slaves into the State — the only im- 
 portant change effected in the slave system of Virginia during 
 the revolutionary period. The importance he attached to his 
 work in Virginia at this time he showed by resigning his seat 
 in Congress, and by declining the appointment tendered him 
 by Congress in 1776, to go with Franklin to Paris, to assist 
 in negotiating treaties of commerce and alliance with France. 
 
 15 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 In the third year of the war (1779), and just as the 
 darkest and most threatening clouds were gathering over 
 Virginia, Jefferson was elected governor. The enemy had 
 decided to carry the war into the south. The commonwealth 
 was almost defenceless, all her military resources having been 
 exhausted in sustaining Washington's policy of driving the 
 enemy out of the north. Arnold entered Richmond, recently 
 become the capital, on the 5th of January 1781, and ravaged 
 the place. The legislature, which had taken refuge at Char- 
 lottesville, were pursued and dispersed by Tarleton, who 
 immediately sent a party to capture Jefferson at Monticello. 
 He narrowly escaped, his pursuers being in sight of him as 
 he mounted his horse and rode off to join his family. Though 
 Monticello was spared by Tarleton's order, Jefferson's estate 
 of Elk Hill, on the James river, was less fortunate. It was 
 completely despoiled by the orders of Cornwallis. It was 
 natural that the ineffectual resistance made to the enemy 
 in Virginia should have exposed the governor's conduct to 
 criticism, for few knew, as he did, that a more effective 
 defence was impossible without weakening the northern army, 
 and totally disarranging the plans upon which the commander- 
 in-chief wisely relied for the ultimate success of the national 
 defence. An investigation of his conduct was threatened ; but 
 when it was ascertained that he had been acting in harmony 
 with the policy of Washington, the investigation was not only 
 abandoned but the legislature shortly after the expiration of 
 his term of office resolved unanimously "That the thanks of 
 the general assembly be given to our former governor, Thomas 
 Jefferson, for his impartial, upright, and attentive administra- 
 tion while in office. The assembly wish to declare in the 
 strongest manner the high opinion which they entertain of 
 Mr Jefferson's ability, rectitude, and integrity as chief magis- 
 trate in this commonwealth, and mean, by thus publicly 
 avowing their opinion, to obviate and to remove all unmerited 
 censure." Jefferson became sensible that in the exhausted 
 condition of Virginia, without money, without equipment, 
 without troops, without any currency except the products 
 of the soil, no governor not a trained soldier could hope to 
 retain the confidence of the people during the crisis, and 
 therefore he determined to decline re-election. 
 
 In 1782 he was summoned by Congress to act as one 
 of the plenipotentiaries to negotiate a treaty of peace with 
 
 16 
 
Principal Actors in the Transaction 
 
 the mother country, but the business was found to be so far 
 advanced before he was ready to sail that his appointment 
 was recalled, and we find him at the following winter session 
 again occupying his seat in Congress, where, as chairman of 
 the committee to which it was referred, he reported the 
 definitive treaty of peace with England. At the succeeding 
 session he introduced an elaborate report, and secured the 
 adoption of the system of coinage which is still in vogue in 
 the United States. In the same session he drafted the report 
 of a plan for the government of the vast territory lying to the 
 north-west of the Ohio river, which Virginia had ceded to the 
 Federal Government in 1780. Among other provisions which 
 he suggested, and which were adopted, was one big with a 
 rebellion of far more threatening proportions than that which 
 its author had just assisted in bringing to a successful issue. 
 The clause in question provided "that after the year 1800 
 of the Christian era there shall be neither slavery nor in- 
 voluntary servitude in any of the said States, otherwise than 
 in punishment of crimes whereof the party shall be duly con- 
 victed to have been personally guilty." It was the attempt to 
 organize States from this territory in defiance of this restriction 
 that led to the war of 1861, and to the final, though costly, 
 vindication of Jefferson's sagacity and forecast in 1783. 
 
 In 1784 Jefferson was again commissioned by Congress as 
 minister plenipotentiary, this time to assist Franklin and Adams 
 in negotiating treaties of commerce with European states. He 
 joined his associates in Paris in July. The mission upon which 
 he was sent proved somewhat premature. Jefferson, wisely 
 judging that fuller and more correct information about America 
 must precede any successful attempts to deal with European 
 states to advantage, printed at his own expense, and distributed 
 among his friends, some Notes on Virginia, which he had 
 prepared two years before. It was in these notes that the oft- 
 quoted passage occurs : " I tremble for my country when I 
 think that God is just ; that his justice cannot sleep for ever ; 
 that, considering numbers, nature, and natural means only, a 
 revolution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange of situations, 
 is among possible events ; that it may become probable by 
 supernatural interference. The Almighty has no attribute 
 that can take sides with us in such a contest." A very bad 
 translation of a copy of the Notes which had found its way to 
 France having made its appearance in Paris, Jefferson felt he 
 
 17 c 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 had no longer any motive for trying to limit their usefulness to 
 the few discreet friends to whom he had addressed them.^ 
 
 In January 1785 Dr Franklin, after eight years' residence 
 at the French court, pressed his application to be relieved, and 
 Jefferson was selected, as he gracefully put it in presenting his 
 letters of credence, " to succeed him, for no one could replace 
 him." Jefferson was exceedingly popular as a minister, and 
 was fortunate in securing several important modifications of the 
 French tariff in the interests of American commerce. 
 
 In the summer of 1789 Washington, who had been elected 
 president of the United States under the new constitution, 
 gave Jefferson leave of absence, and soon after his arrival in 
 America, " as well from motives of private regard as a convic- 
 tion of public propriety," tendered him the office of secretary 
 of state. Reluctant as Jefferson was to leave Paris, he yielded 
 at once to the wishes of the president, and entered upon the 
 duties of his new office in March 1790. Alexander Hamilton, 
 who was the head of the Federal party as distinguished from 
 the Democratic, of which Jefferson was the most conspicuous 
 representative, was appointed the secretary of the treasury. 
 They represented the two great schools of political thought 
 which contended for mastery in American politics, not only 
 during Washington's administration, but for the succeeding 
 sixty years, and until their differences were merged in the 
 graver and more absorbing issues that grew out of the conflict 
 between free and servile labour. Jefferson was an advocate of 
 State sovereignty and of decentralization. He was strongly 
 opposed to the leading features of the British constitution, and 
 in cordial sympathy with the new school of politics which had 
 recently begun to be felt in the government of France. His 
 five years' residence in that country had greatly strengthened 
 him in these views, and they more or less affected his treatment 
 of all questions that came before him as a cabinet minister. 
 Hamilton's great fear, on the other hand, was that the central 
 government under the new constitution would be too weak, and 
 he favoured all measures that tended to exalt and strengthen 
 
 1 Jefferson took a very modest view of this book, and in a purely literary point 
 of view he could not afford to take any other ; but it was so thoroughly saturated 
 with democratic-republican ideas, of which he was then the most complete living 
 exponent, with the possible exception of Franklin, that it was widely and eagerly 
 read, and no doubt did much to relax the hold the doctrines of divine right and of 
 passive obedience had upon the educated classes of France, and measurably con- 
 tributed to precipitate the great popular uprising in that kingdom, with which Europe 
 was soon to be convulsed. 
 
Principal Actors in the Transaction 
 
 the executive, and to bring the government more in harmony 
 with that of England. Washington very prudently gave the 
 victory to the partisan of neither theory, though his sympathies 
 were supposed to be more frequently with the Federal than 
 with the Republican leader. 
 
 The most perplexing questions which occupied Jefferson's 
 attention as secretary of state grew out of the war declared by 
 France in 1793 against Holland and Great Britain. What 
 should be the neutral policy, and what were to be insisted 
 upon as the neutral rights of the United States ? Upon this 
 question both parties put forth their whole strength. The 
 Republicans, under Jefferson's lead, pretty generally sympathized 
 with the French, and were inclined to authorize privateers to 
 be fitted out in American ports to cruise against English 
 vessels. This policy was energetically and wisely resisted by 
 the Federalists, who were for peace with all and entangling 
 alliances with none. Jefferson advocated the propriety of 
 receiving a diplomatic representative from the French republic. 
 In this his advice prevailed, and Genest was promptly sent as 
 minister. With more zeal than discretion he proceeded at 
 once to fit out privateers, and empower French consuls in the 
 United States to organize courts of admiralty to condemn prizes. 
 This led to heated discussions in the cabinet, and finally to 
 the recall of Genest. Partly from discontent with a position 
 in which he did not feel that he enjoyed the absolute, which 
 meant pretty much the exclusive, confidence of the president, 
 and partly because of the embarrassed condition of his private 
 affairs, due mainly to the ravages of war, Jefferson resigned 
 his seat in the cabinet December 31, 1793, and retired to 
 Monticello. There he remained till the fall of 1796, when he 
 was made vice-president at the election which called John 
 Adams to the presidency. The duties of this position being 
 limited to presiding over the Senate during its sessions, 
 Jefferson spent most of the four years of his official term in 
 improving his estate, and by his counsels directing the policy 
 of the party of which he was the acknowledged leader. The 
 excesses of the Reign of Terror had worked a formidable 
 reaction in America against the sympathizers with revolutionists 
 in France. This, with the aggressive policy of the Directory, 
 and the insulting reception given to the American envoys in 
 Paris, for a time paralysed the Republican party. President 
 Adams, mistaking the resentment felt in the United States 
 
 19 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 towards France for a popular reaction there against re- 
 publicanism, was betrayed into a series of ill - considered 
 measures, which were not long in telling upon the fortunes of 
 his party. Among these measures the most unfortunate per- 
 haps were the alien and sedition laws, the former empowering 
 the president to expel from the country such aliens as he 
 should deem dangerous, and the latter punishing as sedition, 
 with fine and imprisonment, the printing or uttering malicious 
 charges against the president or Congress. The Republicans 
 commenced an active agitation against the laws throughout 
 the country, which, co-operating with a strong and popular 
 sympathy with the Republican doctrines, finally resulted in the 
 election of Jefferson and Burr, the candidates of the Republican 
 party, as president and vice-president, and the defeat of Adams 
 and Pinckney, the candidates of the Federalists. Washington 
 having died only a few months before, this election proved the 
 coup de grace of the Federal party, and established Jeffersonian 
 Republicanism as the permanent policy of the country. Jefferson 
 entered upon the duties of the presidency on the 4th of March 
 1 80 1, and was re-elected for the term commencing March 4, 
 1805, by 143 out of 176 electoral votes. His administration 
 of twice four years was characterized by the simplicity which 
 distinguished his conduct in private life. He eschewed all 
 pomp and ceremony designed artificially to distinguish the 
 president from the people. His dress " was of plain cloth " on 
 the day of his inauguration. Instead of driving to the capitol 
 in a coach and six as had been the practice, he rode there on 
 horseback, without a guard or even a servant in his train, 
 dismounted without assistance, and hitched the bridle of his 
 horse to a fence. Instead of opening Congress in the English 
 fashion, with a speech to which a formal reply was expected, 
 he sent his message by a private hand. Court etiquette was 
 practically abolished, and the weekly levee with it. The code 
 of precedence was essentially modified. Titles of honour were 
 not recognized as such. " Excellency," " Honourable," and 
 even " Mr " were distasteful to him. Between the president 
 and governors of States he recognized no difference in rank, 
 each being the supreme head of an independent state. " If it 
 be possible," he said, " to be certainly conscious of anything, I 
 am conscious of feeling no difference between writing to the 
 highest and lowest being on earth." 
 
 In public official station he regarded himself purely as a 
 
Principal Actors in the Transaction 
 
 trustee for the public. He discontinued the practice of sending 
 ministers abroad in Government vessels, nor would he have 
 his birthday celebrated by state balls ; he refused to appoint 
 days of fasting and thanksgiving on the ground that they were 
 religious rites, and no recommendation from him, therefore, 
 could make them more or less binding upon the conscience. 
 To secularize and republicanize the Government were the 
 paramount purpose and the distinguishing feature of his 
 administration. His cabinet, of which Madison and Gallatin 
 were the pillars, was in thorough sympathy with Jefferson in 
 his general policy, and its perfect harmony was uninterrupted. 
 He gave his ministers his entire confidence. " If I had the 
 world to choose from," he once said, " I could not change one 
 of my associates to my better satisfaction." The first im- 
 portant act of his administration was to send four of the six 
 vessels constituting the so-called navy of the republic to the 
 Mediterranean to exterminate the Algerine pirates who for 
 half a century had preyed upon the commerce of the world, 
 thus initiating a series of events which in a few years rendered 
 the commerce of the Mediterranean as safe as that of the 
 English Channel. Possessed with a conviction of the supreme 
 commercial importance of New Orleans, he directed negotia- 
 tions to be opened with the French Government, which resulted 
 in the purchase for $15,000,000 of the territory of Louisiana, 
 which had been ceded by Spain to France. Though the con- 
 stitutional power under which this important transaction was 
 consummated was far from clear, neither its validity nor its 
 wisdom was ever seriously questioned ; and it is now justly 
 regarded by his countrymen as the crowning achievement of 
 his administration, and none the less meritorious for the 
 responsibility he deliberately assumed in bringing it to pass. 
 The remainder of his administration derives most of its historic 
 importance from his unsuccessful attempt to convict Aaron 
 Burr, the late vice-president, of having engaged in treasonable 
 projects in the south-west, and from his efforts to maintain, 
 without war, the rights of neutrals on the high seas. Among 
 the less conspicuous though scarcely less important measures 
 of his administration were the careful exploration of the 
 Western Territories ; reducing the public debt, and practically 
 extirpating from the country the then not unpopular delusion 
 that a national debt is a national blessing ; fortifying the sea- 
 ports ; reorganizing and rearming the militia ; diminishing the 
 
 21 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 taxes ; and extinguishing the Indians' titles by fair purchase, 
 and promoting their emigration beyond the Mississippi. On 
 the 4th of March 1809 he retired from the presidency, after 
 an almost continuous public service of over forty years. He 
 was pressed to allow himself to be re-elected for a third term, 
 but refused unconditionally, though the legislatures of five 
 States formally requested him to be a candidate. 
 
 Jefferson, whose private fortune had been seriously com- 
 promised by the interruptions of foreign commerce before and 
 during his administration, and by the expenses incident to 
 his representative position, lived seventeen years after his 
 retirement, and to the last was the most considerable personage 
 in the United States. His immediate successors in the 
 presidency for the next sixteen years were his pupils and 
 devoted personal friends, and rarely ventured upon any im- 
 portant step without the support of his approval. The 
 employments of his closing years were in harmony with the 
 dignified and patriotic purposes of his active life. Nothing 
 that concerned the welfare of the country was a matter of 
 indifference to him. He urged successfully the foundation of 
 a university, and became one of its most efficient trustees. His 
 correspondence during this period is regarded as one of the most 
 interesting and instructive contributions to the early literature 
 of the United States. He had inherited a wonderful constitution 
 and herculean strength, neither of which did he ever abuse. 
 
 In the spring of 1826 the decline of his strength, which 
 had been gradually increasing for two or three years, became 
 more rapid, and on the 4th of July he expired, in the eighty- 
 third year of his age. John Adams, his predecessor in the 
 presidency, by an impressive coincidence, died on the 
 same day, — the fiftieth anniversary of an event imperishably 
 associated with the names of both and with the fortunes of a 
 nation. 
 
 JAMES MONROE' 
 
 Monroe, James (i 758-1 831), fifth president of the United 
 States, was born 28th April 1758, in the county of West- 
 moreland, Virginia. According to the family tradition, their 
 ancestors are traced back to a family of Scottish cavaliers 
 descended from Hector Monroe, an officer of Charles I. At 
 
 1 The article "James Monroe," in the Ninth Edition of the Encyclopedia 
 Britannica. 
 
Principal Actors in the Transaction 
 
 the outbreak of the Revolutionary war, James Monroe was a 
 student at the College of William and Mary, but left his 
 studies in 1776 to join the continental army. He took part 
 as lieutenant in the New Jersey campaign of that year, and 
 was wounded at the battle of Trenton. The next year he 
 served with the rank of captain on the staff of General William 
 Alexander (" Lord Stirling "), but, thus being out of the line 
 of promotion, he soon found himself without military employ- 
 ment. In 1780 he began the study of the law under the 
 direction of Jefferson, then Governor of Virginia. His intimacy 
 with Jefferson at this time had probably a controlling influence 
 upon his subsequent political career. He continued through 
 all vicissitudes to possess the friendship and support of both 
 Jefferson and Madison. 
 
 In 1782 Monroe was in the State legislature, and from 
 1783 to 1786 was a member of Congress. On retiring from 
 Congress he entered upon the practice of the law at Fredericks- 
 burg, and was again elected to the legislature. In the Virginia 
 Convention of 1788 for the ratification of the constitution, he 
 was among the opponents of that instrument ; but his course 
 was approved by the legislature of his State, who elected him 
 United States senator in 1790 to fill the vacancy caused by 
 the death of William Grayson. As senator he was a decided 
 opponent of the Federalist administration. Nevertheless he 
 was selected by Washington in 1794 as minister to France 
 in place of Gouverneur Morris, a Federalist, recalled upon the 
 request of the French Government. Being of the party who 
 sympathized with the revolutionary struggle in France, it was 
 expected that his appointment would be flattering to the 
 Government of that country, and would also conciliate the 
 French party at home. The Government of the National 
 Convention received Monroe with open signs of favour, and 
 on his part he expressed his own and his country's sympathy 
 with the French Republic with so much enthusiasm that 
 Washington deemed his language not in keeping with the 
 neutral policy which the administration had recently pro- 
 claimed. At about the same time John Jay had negotiated 
 a treaty of amity and commerce with England which gave 
 great umbrage to France. It was alleged that the earlier 
 treaty of 1778 with France was violated by the stipulations 
 of the Jay treaty ; and the Directory seemed disposed to 
 make of this a casjis belli. In this emergency it was believed 
 
 23 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 by Washington and his advisers that Monroe failed to 
 represent properly the policy of the Government, and he was 
 therefore recalled in 1796. In justification of his diplomatic 
 conduct, he published the next year his Vt'eza, a pamphlet of 
 500 pages. In 1799 he became governor of Virginia, and 
 was twice re-elected. In the meantime, the Republican party 
 had come into power, with Jefferson as president, and Monroe 
 was again called upon to fill an important diplomatic station. 
 He was commissioned on loth January 1803 to act with 
 Livingston, resident minister at Paris, in negotiating the 
 purchase of New Orleans and the territory embracing the 
 mouth of the Mississippi, which formed a part of the province 
 of Louisiana, recently ceded by Spain to France. In view 
 of the anticipated renewal of hostilities between England and 
 France in 1803, Napoleon was anxious, for a consideration, 
 to part with his new acquisition, which, in the event of a war 
 with England, he would probably lose by conquest. The 
 American commissioners met therefore with little difficulty 
 in the accomplishment of their object. But, in the absence 
 of instructions, they assumed the responsibility of negotiating 
 the purchase not only of New Orleans, but of the entire 
 territory of Louisiana — an event that is hardly second in 
 importance to any in the history of the country. Monroe 
 was next commissioned as minister to England to succeed 
 Rufus King, who had resigned. In 1 804 he undertook a 
 mission to Madrid, with the object of negotiating the purchase 
 of the Floridas ; but in this he was unsuccessful, and returned 
 to London in 1805. The next year he was joined in a 
 commission with William Pinkney to negotiate a treaty with 
 England to take the place of the Jay treaty, which expired in 
 that year. Lords Auckland and Howick having been appointed 
 on the part of England, a treaty was concluded on the last day 
 of the year, which was perhaps more favourable to the United 
 States than the Jay treaty ; but, like the latter, it contained no 
 provision against the impressment of American seamen. For 
 this reason President Jefferson refused to submit it to the Senate 
 for ratification, but sent it back for revision. In the meantime 
 Canning had become foreign secretary in place of Fox, and re- 
 fused to reopen the negotiation. Monroe returned to the United 
 States in 1807, and, as in the case of his first French mission, 
 he drew up a defence of his diplomatic conduct in England. 
 In 1 808 certain disaffected Republicans attempted to put 
 
 24 
 
Principal Actors in the Transaction 
 
 Monroe forward as the candidate for the presidency, but as 
 Virginia declared in favour of Madison, Monroe withdrew his 
 name. In 1810 he was again in the legislature of his native 
 State, and the next year its governor. But in this year he was 
 called from the State to the national councils, superseding 
 Robert Smith as secretary of state in Madison's cabinet, and 
 took an active part in precipitating the war against England 
 in 18 I 2. On the retirement of Armstrong, after the capture 
 of Washington in 18 14, Monroe assumed the duties of the 
 war department in addition to those of the state department, 
 and by his energy and decision infused something of vigour 
 into the conduct of the war. He was elected president in 
 1 8 16, and was re-elected in 1820 without opposition. The 
 period of his administration (1817-25) has been called "the 
 era of good feeling," for the reason that the party issues of the 
 past were mostly dead, and new issues had not yet arisen. In 
 the formation of his cabinet Monroe showed the soundness of 
 his judgment, selecting for the leading positions J. Q. Adams, 
 J. C. Calhoun, W. H. Crawford, and William Wirt. With 
 these able advisers he devoted himself to the economic develop- 
 ment of the country, which had been so long retarded by 
 foreign complications. As president, moreover, he was able 
 to accomplish in 18 19 the acquisition of the Floridas, which 
 as minister to Spain he had failed to do in 1804, and to define 
 the boundary of Louisiana, which he had been the agent in 
 purchasing in 1803. But Monroe is best known to later 
 generations as the author of the so-called " Monroe doctrine," 
 a declaration inserted in his seventh annual message, 2nd 
 December 1823. It was the formulation of the sentiment, 
 then beginning to prevail, that America was for Americans. 
 One of the principles of the neutral policy of the country, 
 which had been established with much difficulty, had been 
 that the United States would not interfere in European 
 politics ; and now this policy was held to include the converse 
 as a necessary corollary — that is, that Europe should not 
 interfere in American politics, whether in North America or 
 South America. The occasion of proclaiming this doctrine 
 was the rumoured intervention of the Holy Alliance to aid 
 Spain in the reconquest of her American colonies. President 
 Monroe believed that such a policy entered upon by the allied 
 continental powers of Europe would be dangerous to the peace 
 and safety of the United States. He therefore declared that 
 
 25 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 " we would not view any intervention for the purpose of 
 oppressing them (the Spanish American states) or controlling 
 in any manner their destiny, by any European power, in any 
 other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly dis- 
 position toward the United States." This declaration, together 
 with the known hostility of England to such a project, was 
 sufficient to prevent further action on the part of the Alliance. 
 On the expiration of his presidential term Monroe retired 
 to Oak Hill, his residence in London county, Virginia ; but 
 at the time of his death, 4th July 1831, he was residing in 
 New York. He was married about 1786, and left two 
 daughters. He was a man of spotless character ; and, though 
 not possessing ability of the first order, he ranks high as 
 a wise and prudent statesman. His Life has been written 
 by D. C. Oilman. 
 
 ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON 1 
 
 Livingston, Robert R. (1746-18 13), American statesman, 
 brother of Edward Livingston noticed above, was born at New 
 York, November 27, 1746. He graduated at King's College, 
 New York, at the age of nineteen, became a practitioner of 
 law, and, in 1773, recorder of the city, but was soon displaced 
 by loyalist influence because of his sympathies with the revolu- 
 tion. In 1776 he was a member of the committee of congress 
 which drew up the Declaration of Independence, and in 1777 
 was a prominent member of the convention at Kingston, 
 which framed the first constitution of New York. Upon the 
 adoption of that instrument in the same year he became the 
 first chancellor of the State, which office he held until 1801, 
 whence he is best known as "Chancellor" Livingston. He 
 administered the oath of office to Washington at his first 
 inauguration to the presidency in New York, April 30, 1789. 
 In 1 80 1 he was appointed by President Jefferson as minister 
 to France, and in 1803 effected in behalf of his Government 
 the purchase from France of the vast territory then known as 
 Louisiana, comprising the entire territory between the Mississippi 
 and the Rocky Mountains, from the Spanish to the British 
 possessions. This was, perhaps, the most important transfer 
 of territory by purchase ever made, but none of those who 
 
 1 The article " Robert R. Livingston," in the Ninth Edition of the E>uyclopcEdia 
 Britaunica. 
 
 26 
 
Principal Actors in the Transaction 
 
 participated in it realized its importance. Napoleon's agent 
 obtained ten million francs more than he had been instructed 
 to accept for the cession, and Jefferson and Livingston were at 
 the time bitterly censured for rashly concluding so useless a 
 purchase. In 1804 Livingston withdrew from public life, and 
 after spending a year in travel in Europe, returned to New 
 York, where he occupied his remaining years in promoting 
 various improvements in agriculture. He also assisted Fulton in 
 his invention of the steamboat. He died in February 18 13. 
 
 NAPOLEON'S ACTIVITIES^ 
 
 Bonaparte was still nominally only consul in the French 
 republic. But the rupture with England furnished him with 
 the occasion of throwing off the last disguise and openly restor- 
 ing monarchy. It was a step which required all his audacity 
 and cunning. He had crushed Jacobinism, but two great 
 parties remained. There was first the more moderate repub- 
 licanism, which might be called Girondism, and was widely 
 spread among all classes and particularly in the army. 
 Secondly, there was the old royalism, which after many years 
 of helpless weakness had revived since Brumaire. These twO' 
 parties, though hostile to each other, were forced into a sort of 
 alliance by the new attitude of Bonaparte, who was hurrying 
 France at once into a new revolution at home and into an 
 abyss of war abroad. England too, after the rupture, favoured 
 the efforts of these parties. Royalism from England began to 
 open communications with moderate republicanism in France. 
 Pichegru acted for the former, and the great representative of 
 the latter was Moreau, who had helped to make Brumaire in 
 the tacit expectation probably of rising to the consulate in due 
 course when Bonaparte's term should have expired, and was 
 therefore hurt in his personal claims as well as in his republican 
 principles. Bonaparte watched the movement through his 
 ubiquitous police, and with characteristic strategy determined 
 not merely to defeat it but to make it his stepping-stone to 
 monarchy. He would ruin Moreau by fastening on him the 
 stigma of royalism ; he would persuade France to make him 
 emperor in order to keep out the Bourbons. He achieved this 
 
 ' From the article "Napoleon I.," in the Ninth Edition of the Encyclopadia 
 Britannica. 
 
 27 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 with the peculiar mastery which he always showed in villainous 
 intrigue. . . . Controlling the Senate, he was able to suppress . 
 the jury ; controlling every avenue of publicity, he was able to 
 suppress opinion ; and the army, Moreau's fortress, was won 
 through its hatred of royalism. In this way Bonaparte's last 
 personal rival was removed, . . . 
 
 Throughout 1804 and the first part of 1805 the policy of 
 Bonaparte is such as might be called insane, if he had had the 
 ordinary objects of a ruler ; it is explained by the consideration 
 that he wants war, even if it should be war with all the world. 
 He had acted in a similar way in 1798. In thinking that he 
 should profit by war he was not mistaken. Had he only gone 
 to war with the whole Continent at once, he would not, as the 
 ■event proved, have overestimated his strength. But he was not, 
 in the long run, a match for England and the Continent to- 
 gether ; he made at starting the irremediable mistake of not 
 dividing these two enemies. He seems indeed to have set out 
 with a monstrous miscalculation which might have ruined 
 him very speedily, for he had laid his plan for an invasion 
 of England and a M/ar in Europe at the same time. . . . 
 As it was, the signal failure of his English enterprise left 
 room for a triumphant campaign in Germany, and Ulm con- 
 cealed Trafalgar from the view of the Continent. . . . Positive 
 conquest and annexation of territory too now went on as 
 rapidly and as openly as in 1798. The new empire compared 
 itself to that of Charlemagne, which extended over Italy and 
 Germany, and on December 2, 1804, a parody of the famous 
 transference of the empire took place in Notre Dame, the pope 
 (Pius VII.) appearing there to crown Napoleon, who, however, 
 took the crown from his hands and placed it himself upon his 
 own head. Meanwhile the Italian republic was changed into a 
 kingdom, which at first Bonaparte intended to give to his brother 
 Joseph, but in the end accepted for himself. In the first months 
 of 1805, fresh from the sacre in Notre Dame, he visited Italy and 
 received the iron crown of the Lombard kings at Milan. Soon 
 after the Ligurian republic was annexed, and a principality was 
 found for his brother-in-law Bacciochi in Lucca and Piombino, 
 By these acts he seemed to show himself not only ready but 
 eager to fight with all Europe at once. . . . 
 
 Five years had passed since Napoleon had taken the field 
 when the second period of his military career began. He now 
 begins to make war as a sovereign with a boundless command 
 
 28 
 
Principal Actors in the Transaction 
 
 of means. For five years, from 1805 to 1809, he takes the 
 field regularly, and in these campaigns he founds the great 
 Napoleonic empire. By the first he breaks up the Germanic 
 system and attaches the minor German states to France, by 
 the second he humbles Prussia, by the third he forces Russia 
 into an alliance, by the fourth he reduces Spain to submission, 
 by the fifth he humbles Austria. Then follows a second pause, 
 during which for three years Napoleon's sword is in the sheath^ 
 and he is once more ruler, not soldier. . . . 
 
 In 181 I the alliance of Tilsit gradually dissolves. 
 Napoleon's Russian expedition is hardly to be regarded as 
 a freak of insane pride. He himself regarded it as the 
 unfortunate effect of a fatality, and he betrayed throughout an 
 unwonted reluctance and perplexity. The truth is, he could 
 not now stop. Upon the Continental system he had staked 
 everything. He had united all Europe in the crusade against 
 England, and no state, least of all such a state as Russia, could 
 withdraw from the system without practically joining England. 
 Nevertheless we may wonder that, if he felt obliged to make 
 war on Russia, he should have chosen to wage it in the manner 
 he did, by an overwhelming invasion. . . . The army with which 
 he invaded Russia consisted of somewhat more than 600,00a 
 men, — the French troops mainly commanded by Davoust, 
 Oudinot, and Ney, the Italian troops by Prince Eugene, the 
 Poles by Poniatowski, the Austrian contingent (33,000 men) 
 by Schwarzenberg, the remaining German troops by Gouvion 
 St Cyr, Reynier, Vandamme, Victor, Macdonald (who had 
 the Prussian contingent), and Augereau. When we consider 
 that the war of the Peninsula was at the same time at its 
 height, and that England was now at war with the United 
 States, we may form a notion of the calamitous condition of 
 the world ! . . . 
 
 In relating this war we have to beware of national exaggera- 
 tions on both sides. On Napoleon's side it is absurdly said 
 that he was only vanquished by winter, whereas it is evident 
 that he brought the winter upon himself, first by beginning so 
 late, then by repeated delays at Vilna, at Vitebsk, and most 
 of all at Moscow. On the other side we must not admit 
 absolutely the Russian story that he was lured onward by a 
 Parthian policy, and that Moscow was sacrificed by a solemn 
 universal act of patriotism. Wellington's policy of retrograde 
 movements had indeed come into fashion among specialists^ 
 
 29 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 and an entrenched camp was preparing at Drissa on the 
 Dwina in imitation of Torres Vedras. But the nation and the 
 army were full of reckless confidence and impatience for battle ; 
 only their preparations were by no means complete. The long 
 retreat to Moscow and beyond it was unintentional, and filled 
 the Russians with despair, while at the same time it agreed 
 with the views of some of the more enlightened strategists. . . . 
 
 His unresisted progress, and the abandonment by Barclay 
 of one position after another, created the greatest consternation 
 among the Russians, as well they might. Barclay was a 
 German, and might well seem another Melas or Mack. A cry 
 arose for his dismissal, to which the czar responded by putting 
 old Kutusoff, who was at least a Russian, at the head of 
 all his armies. This change necessarily brought on a great 
 battle, which took place on September 6 near the village of 
 Borodino. More than 100,000 men and about 600 pieces 
 of artillery were engaged on each side. It ended in a victory, 
 but an almost fruitless victory, for the French. . . . 
 
 This battle, the greatest after Leipsic of all the Napoleonic 
 battles, was followed by the occupation of Moscow on 
 September 14, which, to Napoleon's great disappointment, 
 was found almost entirely empty. After a council of war held 
 at Fili, Kutusoff had taken the resolution to abandon the old 
 capital, the loss of which was held not to be so irreparable as 
 the loss of the army. But, as with Old Russian craft he had 
 announced Borodino to the emperor as a victory, the sensation 
 produced upon the Russian public by the fall of Moscow was 
 all the more overwhelming. Nor did the next occurrence, which 
 immediately followed, at first bring any relief. Fires broke out 
 in Moscow on the night after Napoleon's entrance ; on the next 
 night, by which time he was quartered in the Kremlin, the 
 greater part of the city was in flames, and on the day following 
 he was forced by the progress of the conflagration to evacuate 
 the Kremlin again. But on the first intelligence of this 
 catastrophe the destruction of Moscow was attributed in 
 Russia to the French themselves, and was not by any means 
 regarded as a crushing blow dealt at Napoleon by Russian 
 patriotism. . . . 
 
 Napoleon suddenly found that he had before him, not the 
 simple problem he had solved so often in earlier life, but the 
 insoluble puzzle he had first encountered in Spain. His failures 
 in Egypt and in Spain had been more or less disguised. He 
 
 30 
 
Principal Actors in the Transaction 
 
 was now in danger of a failure which could not be concealed, 
 and on a far larger scale. . . . He reached Smolensk on 
 November 9, when he might have been at Vilna. He 
 marched by Orcza to the Berezina, which he struck near 
 Borisofif. Here Tchitchagoff at the head of the Danube army 
 confronted him, and two other Russian armies were approach- 
 ing. Napoleon on his side was joined by what remained of 
 the corps of Oudinot and Victor, who had held the line of the 
 Dwina. But what was the army of Napoleon which was thus 
 reinforced ? 
 
 In July it had consisted of more than 250,000 men. It 
 had suffered no decisive defeat and yet it amounted now only 
 to 12,000; in the retreat from Moscow alone about 90,000 
 had been lost. The force which now joined it amounted to 
 18,000, and Napoleon's star had still influence enough to 
 enable him to make his way across the Berezina, and so 
 escape total ruin and captivity. But December came on, and 
 the cold was more terrible than ever. On the evening of 
 December 6 a miserable throng, like a crowd of beggars, 
 tottered into Vilna. . . . 
 
 Napoleon left the wreck of his army at Smorgoni on 
 December 5 (as he had left his Egyptian army thirteen 
 years before), travelling in a carriage placed upon a sledge 
 and accompanied by Caulaincourt and Duroc. He had an 
 interview with Maret outside Vilna, and then travelled to 
 Warsaw, where he saw his ambassador De Pradt, who has 
 left an account of his confused talk. Here, as in the famous 
 29th bulletin, published a little after, we observe that he 
 consoles himself for the loss of his army by reflecting that 
 his own health was never better — he kept on repeating this. 
 Then he said, " From the sublime to the ridiculous there is 
 but a step " ; for the retreat from Moscow strikes him as 
 ridiculous ! From Warsaw he passed to Dresden, where he 
 saw his ally the king of Saxony, and wrote letters to the 
 emperor of Austria and to the king of Prussia. He then 
 made his way by Erfurt and Mainz to Paris, where he arrived 
 on December 18.... April came, and Napoleon took the 
 field again. 
 
 By rapidity and energy he was still able to take the 
 offensive. . . . The war which now commenced ended not 
 only to the disadvantage of Napoleon, but, unlike any former 
 war, it ended in a complete defeat of France, nay, in the 
 
 31 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 conquest of France, an event to which nothing parallel had 
 been seen in modern Europe. Nor was this result attained 
 by any political or revolutionary means, e.g., by exciting a 
 republican or Bourbon party against Napoleon's authority, 
 but by sheer military superiority. The causes of this 
 remarkable result must be noted as we proceed. Meanwhile, 
 we remark that the war, though technically one, is really three 
 distinct wars. There is first the war with Russia and Prussia 
 which occupies the month of May, and is concluded by an 
 armistice on June 4. There is next a war with Russia, 
 Prussia, and Austria, which begins in August and is practically 
 terminated in October by the expulsion of Napoleon from 
 Germany. Thirdly, there is an invasion of France by the 
 same allied powers. This began in January 18 14, and ended 
 in April with the fall of Napoleon. 
 
 CHARACTER OF NAPOLEON^ 
 
 There is a saying attributed to Talleyrand, which hits the 
 prominent characteristics of Napoleon's nature : — " What a 
 pity that so great a man was so ill brought up ! " For he had 
 genius and no breeding ; he never shook off the adventurer- 
 element in his life ; nor had he that high sense of honour, 
 truthfulness, and gentleness which go with true nobility of soul. 
 With a frame of iron. Napoleon could endure any hardships ; 
 and in war, in artillery especially and engineering, he stands 
 unrivalled in the world's history. His quick intelligence was 
 altogether scientific in the colder and harder aspects of scientific 
 knowledge. He took no interest in moral sciences or history, 
 or the brighter works of imagination. Throughout we discern 
 in him the precisian, the despot on exact principles. Even 
 when he unbent among his intimate friends, his was " a tyrant's 
 familiarity," with a touch of Oriental ferocity under it. He 
 was ever on the watch against rivals, ever full of distrust, 
 treating great men with a false and feline grace of manner, 
 which seemed to be expecting a surprise. No one was ever 
 so naturally untrue as he ; he never hesitated to lie and to 
 deceive ; the most important despatches he would readily 
 falsify, if he thought there was anything to be gained by it. 
 There was in him a swiftness of intelligence which answered to 
 
 1 From the article " France," in the Ninth Edition of the Encyclopadia 
 Britannica. 
 
 32 
 
Principal Actors in the Transaction 
 
 his hot and passionate nature ; the true and solid balance was 
 wanting. He could not rest, and knew not when he had 
 achieved success. And this was immediately connected with 
 another Oriental quality, his vast and unmeasured ambition, 
 and the schemes and dreams of a visionary, which led him to 
 the greatest errors of his life — his expedition to Egypt and 
 his hopes of an Eastern empire, and his terrible attack on 
 Russia. The same largeness of vision showed itself in his 
 endeavours to reconstruct the map of Europe, and to organize 
 anew the whole of society in France. He could have in his 
 mouth the phrases and cries of the i8th century, and with 
 them he knew how to charm mankind. Yet with this gift, 
 and with his amazing power of influencing his soldiers, who 
 sacrificed themselves in myriads for him with enthusiasm, 
 there was a coldness of moral character which enabled him to 
 abandon those who had given up all for him, and made him 
 show shameless ingratitude towards those who had done him 
 the greatest services. We can gauge a man's character by his 
 complaints against others, for those complaints are always the 
 reflexion of his own characteristics. Napoleon was ever 
 inveighing against the deceit of Alexander, the treachery of 
 the Germans, the perfidy of Pitt, the warfare of savages which 
 he had to face ; and the phrases represent the worst elements 
 in his own character. He was, in fact, the successor and 
 representative of the "18th-century despots," the military 
 follower of the Pombals, the Arandas, the Struenzees of the 
 past. He had their unbalanced energies, their fierce resistance 
 to feudalism and the older world, their ready use of benevolent 
 and enlightened phraseology, their willingness to wade through 
 blood and ruin to their goal, their undying ambition, their 
 restlessness and revolutionary eagerness to reorganize society. 
 Like them, with well-sounding professions, he succeeded in 
 alienating the peoples of Europe, in whose behalf he pretended 
 to be acting. And when they learnt by bitter experience that 
 he had absolutely no love for liberty, and encouraged equality 
 only so long as it was an equality of subjects under his rule, 
 they soon began to war against what was in fact a world- 
 destroying military despotism. When the popular feeling was 
 thoroughly aroused against him in Spain, in Germany, in 
 England, his wonderful career was at last brought to an end. 
 
 33 
 
Explorers of the Territory 
 
 Biographies of De Soto, La Salle, Marquette, 
 Meriwether Lewis, and John Charles Fremont 
 
 FERDINANDO DE SOTO ^ 
 
 De Soto, Ferdinando (1496 ? -i 542), a Spanish captain and 
 explorer, who is frequently accredited with the honour of being 
 the discoverer of the Mississippi, and is certainly one of the 
 most remarkable of the Eldorado adventurers of the i6th 
 century. He was born at Xeres de Caballeros, in Estremadura, 
 of an impoverished family of good position, and v/as indebted 
 to the favour of Pedrarias Davila for the means of pursuing his 
 studies at the university. He commenced active life in 15 19 
 by joining his patron in his second expedition to Darien, where 
 he distinguished himself by his ability and the independence of 
 his demeanour. In 1528 we find him exploring the coast of 
 Guatemala and Yucatan, and in 1532 he led a reinforcement 
 of 300 volunteers to the assistance of Pizarro in Peru. To 
 him was due the discovery of the pass through the mountains 
 to Cuzco ; and in the capture of that city and in other 
 important engagements he bore a brilliant part. After the 
 completion of the conquest De Soto, who had landed in 
 America with " nothing else of his own save his sword and 
 target," returned to Spain with a fortune of " an hundred and 
 fourscore thousand duckets," which enabled him to marry the 
 daughter of his old patron Davila, and to maintain " all the 
 state that the house of a nobleman requireth." The Emperor 
 Charles V., to whom he had lent a portion of his wealth, 
 appointed him governor of the island of Cuba, and adelantado 
 or president of Florida, which was then the object of great 
 
 1 The article "Ferdinando de Soto" in the Ninth Edition of the E7icyclo- 
 padia Britannica. 
 
 34 
 
Explorers of the Territory 
 
 interest, as possibly another Peru. In 1538 he set sail with 
 an enthusiastic and richly furnished company of about 600 
 men, of whom several had sold all that they possessed to 
 furnish their equipment. Landing in May 1539 at Espiritu 
 Santo Bay, on the west coast of the present State of Florida, 
 the explorers continued for nearly four years to wander from 
 one point to another, ever deceived in their expectations, and 
 ever allured by the report of the wealth that lay beyond. The 
 exact line of their route is in many places difficult to identify, 
 but it seems to have passed N. through Florida and Georgia 
 as far as 35° N, lat, and then S. to the neighbourhood of 
 Mobile, and finally N.W. towards the Mississippi. This river 
 was reached early in 1541, and the following winter was spent 
 on the Washita. As they were returning in 1542 along the 
 Mississippi, De Soto died (either in May or June), and his 
 body was sunk in its waters. On the failure of an attempt 
 which they made to push eastwards again, his men, under the 
 leadership of Moscoso, were compelled in 1543 to trust 
 themselves to the stream. A voyage of nineteen days brought 
 them to the sea, and they then held along the coast to Panuco, 
 in Mexico. 
 
 Of this unfortunate expedition three narratives are extant, 
 of seemingly independent origin, and certainly of a very 
 different character. The first was published in i 5 5 7 at Evora, 
 and professes to be the work of a Portuguese gentleman of 
 Elvas, who had accompanied the expedition : Relacam vet'- 
 dadeira dos Trabalhos q ho Gouej'itador do Fernddo dSouto & 
 certos Fidalgos Portugueses passaroni no d scobrinicto da Provincia 
 da Frolida. Agora nouaniete feita per hu Fidalgo Deluas. An 
 English translation was published by Hakluyt in 1609, and 
 another by an anonymous translator in 1686, the latter being 
 based on a French version which had appeared at Paris in 
 1685 from the pen of Citri de la Guette. The second narrative 
 is the famous history of Florida by the Inca, Garcilasso de la 
 Vega, who obtained his information from a Spanish cavalier 
 engaged in the enterprise; it was completed in 1591, first 
 appeared at Lisbon in 1605 under the title o{ La Florida del 
 Ynca, and has since passed through many editions in various 
 languages. The third is a report presented to Charles V. of 
 Spain in his Council of the Indies in i 544, by Luis Hernandez 
 de Biedma, who had accompanied De Soto as His Majesty's 
 factor. It is to be found in Ternaux-Compans's Recueil de 
 
 35 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 Pieces sur la Floride in the Historical Collections of Louisiana, 
 Philadelphia, 1850, and in W. B. Rye's reprint for the Hakluyt 
 Society of Hakluyt's translation of the Portuguese narrative. 
 
 ROBERT CAVELIER, SIEUR DE LA SALLE ^ 
 
 La Salle, Robert Cavelier, Sieur de (1643-1687), a 
 French explorer in North America, was born at Rouen in 
 November 1643. He became a settler in Canada, and about 
 1669, leaving his trading post at La Chine, above Montreal, he 
 sought to reach China by way of the Ohio, supposing, from the 
 reports of Indians, this river to flow into the Pacific. He made 
 explorations of the country between the Ohio and the lakes, 
 but, when Joliet and Marquette made it evident that the main 
 river Mississippi emptied in the Gulf of Mexico, he conceived a 
 vast project for extending the French power in the lower 
 Mississippi valley, and thence attacking Mexico. He obtained 
 extensive grants from the French Government, rebuilt Fort 
 Frontenac, established a post above Niagara Falls, and built a 
 small vessel, in which he sailed up the lakes to Green Bay. 
 Thence, despatching his vessel freighted with furs, he proceeded 
 with the rest of the party, in boats and on foot, to the Illinois 
 river, near the head of which he began a post called Fort Creve 
 Coeur, and a vessel in which to descend the Mississippi. Not 
 hearing of his vessel on the lakes, he detached Hennepin, with 
 one companion, to ascend the Mississippi from the mouth of the 
 Illinois, and, leaving Tonty, with five men, at Fort Creve Coeur, 
 he returned by land to Canada. Towards the close of 1681 
 La Salle, with a party in canoes, again reached the head of 
 Lake Michigan, at the present site of Chicago, and, making the 
 long portage to the Illinois, descended it to the Mississippi, 
 which he followed to its mouth, where he set up a cross and the 
 arms of France, April 9, 1682. La Salle fell sick on his voyage 
 up the river, and sent on intelligence of his success, which was 
 carried to France by Father Membre, and was published in 
 Hennepin's work in 1683. When La Salle reached France, 
 projects were taken up by the Government for an expedition 
 against the rich mining country of northern Mexico. Plans 
 were submitted by La Salle and by Peilalosa, a renegade 
 Spaniard, who, while governor of New Mexico in 1662, had 
 
 1 The article "La Salle" in the Ninth Edition of the Encyclopedia Brilannica. 
 
 ^6 
 
Explorers of the Territory 
 
 penetrated apparently to the Mississippi. La Salle was 
 accordingly sent out in July 1684, with four vessels and a 
 small body of soldiers, ostensibly to found an establishment at 
 the mouth of the Mississippi, but really to push on and secure 
 a favourable base of operations, and gain the aid of the Indians 
 against the Spaniards, while awaiting a more powerful force 
 under Penalosa. The design was so well masked, and subse- 
 quently misrepresented, that he is generally said to have been 
 carried beyond the Mississippi by the treachery of Beaujeu, a 
 naval officer commanding one of the vessels. After running 
 along the coast. La Salle returned to Espiritu Santo Bay, 
 Texas. There he landed his soldiers, but lost one vessel with 
 valuable stores. He refused Beaujeu's offer to obtain aid for him 
 from the West Indies, and when that officer, according to his 
 orders, sailed back. La Salle put up a rude fort. Then for two 
 years, from January 1685 to January 1687, he wasted the 
 time in aimless excursions by land, never getting beyond the 
 present limits of Texas, and making no attempt to explore the 
 coast or reach the Mississippi with his remaining vessel. His 
 colonists and soldiery dwindled away ; no reinforcements or 
 expedition under Penalosa arrived ; and in January 1687, 
 leaving part of his force at Fort St Louis, he set out with the 
 rest to reach Canada by way of the Mississippi to obtain relief. 
 His harshness and arbitrary manner had provoked a bitter feel- 
 ing among his followers, and he was assassinated on the 19th 
 of March, near the Trinity river. Some of the survivors reached 
 Tonty's post on the Arkansas, and returned to France by way 
 of Canada. The party left at the fort were nearly all cut off 
 by the Indians, a few survivors having been rescued by a 
 Spanish force sent to root out the French. 
 
 For the various operations of La Salle, the chief works are 
 Hennepin's Descyiptio7i of Louisiana, 1683 ; Le Clercq's 
 EstablisJnnent of the Faith, 1691 ; Tonty's Narrative (1697), 
 and Joutel's (171 3) ; and the immense collection of documents 
 published by Margry (3 vols. 8vo, Paris, 1875-78). Hennepin 
 and Le Clercq's accounts were published partially in Shea's 
 Discovery of tJie Mississippi, 1852, and recently entire. La 
 Salle's early explorations have been discussed by Tailhan, 
 Verreau, and Shea, historical scholars generally rejecting the 
 claims set up by Margry. Parkman gives La Salle's whole 
 career in his Discovery of the Great West, modified, however, 
 greatly in his La Salle, Boston, 1879. 
 
 37 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 JACQUES MARQUETTE^ 
 
 Marquette, Jacques, a Jesuit missionary and explorer, was 
 born in 1637 at Laon in France, and died May 18, 1675, on 
 the banks of a small stream, now known as the Marquette, 
 which has its mouth on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. 
 Having joined the Society of Jesus, he sailed for Canada in 
 1666, spent eighteen months in the vicinity of Three Rivers, 
 founded the mission of Sault Sainte Marie on Lake Superior in 
 1668, and followed the Hurons to Mackinaw in 167 1. It is 
 mainly, however, as Joliet's companion in his voyage down the 
 Mississippi in 1673 that Marquette holds a permanent position 
 in the history of discovery in America. 
 
 His narrative, first published in Thevenot's Recueil de 
 Voyages (Paris, 1681), is printed along with other documents 
 relating to him in Shea's Discovery mid Exploration of the 
 Mississippi Valley (New York, 1852). 
 
 MERIWETHER LEWIS' 
 
 Lewis, Meriwether (1774- 1809), American explorer, was 
 born near Charlottesville, Virginia, August 18, 1774. In 
 1794 he volunteered with the troops called out to suppress the 
 " whisky insurrection," was commissioned as ensign in the 
 regular army in 1795, and as captain in 1800, and was 
 President Jefferson's private secretary from 1801 to 1803. 
 On Jefferson's recommendation he was appointed by Congress 
 to conduct, in connexion with Captain William Clarke, an 
 expedition to the headwaters of the Missouri river, and thence 
 across the mountains to the Pacific Ocean, the first extended 
 exploration of the north-western portion of the United States, 
 The States had as yet acquired no claim to this region, and 
 the exploration was designed by Jefferson in the interests not 
 only of geographical science but of territorial acquisition. 
 Lewis and Clarke, setting out late in i 803 with twenty-eight men, 
 spent the winter at the mouth of the Missouri. Early in the 
 
 J The article "Jacques Marquette " in the Ninth Edition of the Encyclopcedia 
 Britannica. 
 
 2 The article "Meriwether Lewis" in the Ninth Edition of the Encyclopccdia 
 Britannica. 
 
 38 
 
Explorers of the Territory 
 
 spring the party embarked in several boats, and during the 
 summer made the difficult ascent of the Missouri as far as 
 47° 2i' N. lat., where the second winter was passed among the 
 Mandan Indians. In 1805 the ascent of the Missouri was 
 continued as far as the tributary which they named Jefferson 
 river, which was followed to its source in the south-western 
 part of what is now Montana territory. Procuring a guide 
 and horses from the Shoshone Indians, they pushed westward 
 through the mountains, and on October 7 embarked in canoes 
 on a tributary of the Columbia river, the mouth of which they 
 reached on November 15. They had travelled upwards of 
 4000 miles from their starting-point, had encountered various 
 Indian tribes never before seen by whites, had made scientific 
 collections and observations, and were the first explorers to 
 reach the Pacific by crossing the continent north of Mexico. 
 After spending the winter upon the Columbia, they made the 
 return journey across the mountains and down the Missouri, 
 reaching the Mississippi in September 1806. The reports of 
 the Lewis and Clarke expedition attracted great attention at 
 the time, and it has scarcely been exceeded in romantic 
 interest by later explorations in any quarter of the globe. 
 The leaders and men of the exploring party were rewarded 
 with liberal grants of land, and Lewis was made governor of 
 the territory of Missouri. In the unwonted quiet of his new 
 duties his mind, always subject to melancholy, became un- 
 balanced, and, while on his way to Washington, he committed 
 suicide near Nashville, Tennessee, October 11, 1809. 
 
 JOHN CHARLES FREMONT^ 
 
 Fr£mont, John Charles (18 13-1890), American explorer 
 and politician, was born in Savannah, Ga., January 21, 18 13. 
 His father, a native of France, died when he was yet a boy, 
 and his mother, a Virginian, removed to Charleston, S.C. 
 He had a taste for mathematics, but was otherwise far from 
 being a hard-working student ; he was even expelled from 
 Charleston College. Subsequently, however, he was given a 
 degree, and passed an examination for a professorship in the 
 United States navy ; but he declined this appointment to give 
 
 ^ The article " John Charles Fremont " in the New Volumes of the Encyclo- 
 pedia Britannica. Copyright, 1902, by The Encyclopedia Britannica Company. 
 
 39 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 his attention to civil engineering in connexion with railways. 
 In the spring of 1838 he became assistant to the French 
 explorer Nicollet, whom the war department employed to 
 make a map of the country extending from the upper 
 waters of the Missouri river to the British boundary line. 
 Fremont showed great talent as an explorer in the five 
 important expeditions he made in the north-west. The object 
 of the first expedition was to obtain accurate knowledge as to 
 the character of the territories of Nebraska and Wyoming, 
 and especially of South Pass, the opening through the 
 mountains on the way to Oregon (1842). The purpose of 
 the second expedition (1843-44) was to explore the possible 
 lines of communication between Missouri, Nebraska, Wyoming, 
 Utah, Idaho, and Oregon, and find a way by land from the 
 lower Columbia river to the Bay of San Francisco. The 
 third expedition, begun in 1845, was designed to explore the 
 great basin and the coast regions of California and Oregon, 
 but it was changed by events connected with the Mexican war 
 into a military and political conquest. From Oregon Fremont 
 went to the Mexican province of California, and collected 
 under his standard the scattered settlers who sided with the 
 Americans in opposition to the Mexicans in the war then in 
 progress. In less than thirty days he won the territory from 
 the Mexicans, and on July 4, 1846, was chosen its governor. 
 A few months later Mexican authority was withdrawn, and 
 California thenceforth belonged to the United States. In 
 1848 Fremont undertook, at his own expense, to discover a 
 passage to California via the headwaters of the Rio Grande, 
 along a route subsequently followed by the Southern Pacific 
 Railway. His fifth and last expedition, begun in 1853, was 
 for the purpose of finding the best route for a national railway 
 from the Mississippi valley to the Pacific Ocean. When, in 
 1850, California was admitted as a state, Fremont became 
 one of her first two senators. But as he drew the short term 
 he had only three weeks of service in the United States Senate, 
 and he failed to obtain re-election on account of his anti- 
 slavery opinions. In 1856 the newly -formed Republican 
 party was in search of a popular anti-slavery man as candidate 
 for the presidency, and Fremont, then only forty-three years 
 old, was nominated by both the Republicans and the National 
 Americans. It was still too soon, however, for an anti-slavery 
 policy to win the confidence of a majority of the voters, and 
 
 40 
 
Explorers of the Territory 
 
 he was defeated by Buchanan. Fremont was in Europe when 
 the Civil War began. He purchased for the Federal Govern- 
 ment a large supply of arms from France, and was appointed 
 major-general in the regular army, with headquarters in St 
 Louis. His military training had not been sufficient to fit 
 him for so high a command. He declared martial law, 
 arrested secessionists and muzzled the opposition press ; but 
 as he lacked system and executive ability his affairs soon 
 became badly involved, and he was subjected to damaging 
 criticism. In August 1861 he announced his intention to 
 emancipate the slaves of all Missourians in rebellion against the 
 United States ; but as this announcement was in advancement 
 of public opinion. President Lincoln decided to annul it. In 
 November 1861 Fremont was removed on account of the 
 alleged extravagance and inefficiency of his management of 
 military affairs. In compliance with popular sympathy he 
 was placed in command of the mountain district south of the 
 Ohio river, but his operations against " Stonewall " Jackson 
 were not sufficiently successful to inspire confidence. In June 
 1862 his corps was incorporated in the Army of Virginia, and 
 he asked to be relieved from service under its commander, 
 General Pope. Thenceforth he held no command. Fremont's 
 picturesque career and his anti -slavery ideas made him a 
 favourite of the Republicans, who were discontented with 
 Lincoln's administration, and, in May 1864, he was nomi- 
 nated as their candidate for the presidency, but he withdrew, 
 lest his opposition to Lincoln might result in the election of a 
 Democrat. After the war he was interested in the plan for 
 a trans -continental railway between Norfolk, Va., and San 
 Francisco, which proved to be a very unsuccessful financial 
 enterprise. From 1878 to 1881 he was governor of the 
 territory of Arizona. In his last years Congress authorized the 
 president to appoint him major-general and placed him on 
 the retired list. He died in New York on the 1 3th of July 
 1890. A volume of his memoirs, covering only the earlier 
 part of his life, was published in 1886. 
 
 41 
 
The Great River Systems 
 
 MISSISSIPPI' 
 
 Mississippi. — The territory drained by the Mississippi river and 
 its tributaries includes the greater part of the United States of 
 America lying between the Alleghany Mountains on the east 
 and the Rocky Mountains on the west, and has an area 
 (1,244,000 square miles) considerably larger than all central 
 Europe. The central artery through which the drainage of 
 this region passes is called the Mississippi river for about 
 1 300 miles above its mouth. The name is then usurped by 
 a tributary, while the main stream becomes known as the 
 Missouri. From its remote sources in the Rocky Mountains 
 to the Gulf of Mexico the total length of the river is about 
 4200 miles. The other principal tributaries are the Ohio, 
 the Arkansas, and the Red River, but the Yazoo and the 
 St Francis often make dangerous contributions in seasons 
 of flood. . . . 
 
 Below the influx of the Ohio the Mississippi traverses 
 alluvial bottom lands liable to overflow in flood seasons. 
 The soil is of inexhaustible fertility, producing large crops 
 of corn in the northern portion, cotton in the middle district, 
 and sugar, rice, and orange groves near the mouth. These 
 bottom lands, averaging about 40 miles in width, extend 
 from north to south for a distance of 500 miles, having a 
 general southern slope of 8 inches to the mile. The river 
 winds through them in a devious course for 11 00 miles, 
 occasionally on the east side washing bluffs from 100 to 
 300 feet in height, but usually confined by banks of its 
 own creation, which, as with all sediment-bearing rivers of 
 like character, are highest near the stream itself. The 
 
 1 From the article " Mississippi " in the Ninth Edition of the Eitcyclopcedia 
 Britaitnica. 
 
 42 
 
The Great River Systems 
 
 general lateral slope towards the foot hills is about 6 inches 
 in 5000 feet, but the normal fall in the first mile is about 
 7 feet. Thus apparently following a low ridge through 
 the bottom lands, the tawny sea sweeps onward with great 
 velocity, eroding its banks in the bends and rebuilding them 
 on the points, now forming islands by its deposits, and now 
 removing them as the direction of the flow is modified by 
 the never-ending changes in progress. Chief among such 
 changes is the formation of cut-offs. Two eroding bends 
 gradually approach each other until the water forces a 
 passage across the narrow neck. As the channel distance 
 between these bends may be many miles, a cascade perhaps 
 5 or 6 feet in height is formed, and the torrent rushes 
 through with a roar audible for miles. The banks dissolve 
 like sugar. In a single day the course of the river is 
 changed, and steamboats pass where a few hours before 
 the plough had been at work. The checking of the current 
 at the upper and lower mouths of the abandoned channel 
 soon obstructs them by deposit, and forms in a few years 
 one of the characteristic crescent lakes which are so marked 
 a feature on the maps. . . . 
 
 The work of embankment began in 17 17, when the 
 engineer De la Tour erected a dyke or levee i mile long 
 to protect the infant city of New Orleans from overflow. 
 Progress at first was slow. In 1770 the settlements ex- 
 tended only 30 miles above and 20 miles below New 
 Orleans; but by 1828 the levees, although quite insufficient 
 in dimensions, had become continuous nearly to the mouth 
 of Red River. In 1850 a great impulse was given to 
 systematic embankment by the U.S. Government, which 
 gave over to the several States all unsold swamp and over- 
 flowed lands within their limits to provide a fund for re- 
 claiming the districts liable to inundation. The action 
 resulting from this caused alarm in Louisiana, for the great 
 bottom lands above were believed to act as reservoirs to 
 receive the highest flood wave ; and it was imagined that if 
 they were closed by levees the lower country would be over- 
 whelmed whenever the river in flood rose above its natural 
 banks. The aid of the Government was invoked, and 
 Congress immediately ordered the necessary investigations 
 and surveys. This work was placed in charge of Captain 
 (now General) Humphreys, and an elaborate report covering 
 
 43 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 the results of ten years of investigation was published just 
 after the outbreak of the civil war in 1861, . . . 
 
 The percentage of sedimentary matter carried in suspen- 
 sion by the water varies greatly at different times, but is 
 certainly not dependent upon the stage above low water. 
 It is chiefly determined by the tributary whence the water 
 proceeds, but is also influenced by the caving of the banks, 
 which is always excessive when the river is rapidly falling 
 after the spring flood. In long periods the sedimentary 
 matter is to the water by weight nearly as i to 1500, and 
 by bulk as i to 2900. The amount held in suspension and 
 annually contributed to the Gulf constitutes a prism i mile 
 square and 263 feet high. In addition to this amount a 
 large volume, estimated at i mile square and 27 feet high 
 annually, is pushed by the current along the bottom and thus 
 transported to the Gulf 
 
 The mean annual succession of stages for long periods 
 is quite uniform, but so many exceptions are noted that no 
 definite prediction can safely be made for any particular 
 epoch. The river is usually lowest in October. It rises 
 rapidly until checked by the freezing of the northern tribu- 
 taries. It begins to rise again in February, and attains its 
 highest point about the ist of April. After falling a few 
 feet it again rises until, early in June, it attains nearly the 
 same level as before. After this it rapidly recedes to low- 
 water mark. As a rule the river is above mid-stage from 
 January to August inclusive, and below that level for the 
 remainder of the year. 
 
 It has been established by measurement and observation 
 that the great bottom lands above Red River before the 
 construction of their levees did not serve as reservoirs to 
 diminish the maximum wave which passed through Louisiana 
 in great flood seasons. They had already become filled by 
 local rains and by water escaping into them from the 
 Mississippi through numerous bayous, so that at the date 
 of highest water the discharge into the river near their 
 southern borders was fully equal to the volume which the 
 wave had lost in passing along their fronts. 
 
 In fine, the investigations between 1850 and i860 
 established that no diversion of tributaries was possible ; 
 that no reservoirs artificially constructed could keep back 
 the spring freshets which caused the floods ; that the making 
 
 44 
 
The Great River Systems 
 
 of cut-offs, which had sometimes been advocated as a measure 
 of relief, so far from being beneficial, was in the highest degree 
 injurious ; that, while outlets within proper limits were theo- 
 retically advantageous, they were impracticable from the 
 lack of suitable sites ; and, finally, that levees properly 
 constructed and judiciously placed would afford protection 
 to the entire alluvial region. 
 
 During the civil war (1861-65) the artificial embankments 
 were neglected ; but after its close large sums were expended 
 by the States directly interested in repairing them. The 
 work was done without concert upon defective plans, and a 
 great flood early in 1874 inundated the country, causing 
 terrible suffering and loss. Congress, then in session, passed 
 an Act creating a commission of five engineers to determine 
 and report on the best system for the permanent reclamation 
 of the entire alluvial region. Their report, rendered in 1875, 
 endorsed the conclusions of that of 1861, and advocated a 
 general levee system on each bank. This system com- 
 prised — (i) a main embankment raised to specified heights 
 sufficient to restrain the floods ; and (2), where reasonable 
 security against caving required considerable areas near the 
 river to be thrown out, exterior levees of such a height as 
 to exclude ordinary high waters, but to allow free passage to 
 great floods, which as a rule only occur at intervals of five 
 or six years. The back country would thus be securely 
 protected, and a safe refuge would be provided for the 
 inhabitants and domestic animals living upon the portion 
 subject to occasional overflow. An engineering organization 
 was proposed for constructing and maintaining these levees, 
 and a detailed topographical survey was recommended to 
 determine their precise location. Congress promptly approved 
 and ordered the survey ; . but strong opposition on constitu- 
 tional grounds was raised to the construction of the levees 
 by the Government. 
 
 In the meantime complaints began to be heard respecting 
 the low-water navigation of the river below the mouth of the 
 Ohio. Forty -three places above the mouth of Red River 
 afforded depths of less than 10 feet, and thirteen places depths 
 less than 5 feet, the aggregate length of such places being 
 about 150 miles. A board of five army engineers, appointed 
 in 1878 to consider a plan of relief, reported that 10 feet could 
 probably be secured by narrowing the wide places to about 
 
 45 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 3500 feet with hurdle work, brush ropes, or brush dykes 
 designed to cause a deposit of sediment, and by protecting 
 caving banks, when necessary, by such Hght and cheap mat- 
 tresses as experience would show to be suited to the work. 
 Experiments in these methods were soon begun upon the river 
 above Cairo, and have since proved of decided benefit. 
 
 In June 1879 Congress created a commission of seven 
 members to mature plans to correct, permanently determine, 
 and deepen the channel, to protect the banks of the river, to 
 improve and give safety to navigation, to prevent destructive 
 floods, and to promote and facilitate commerce. Up to 1882 
 appropriations amounting to ;^ 1,2 8 5, 000 were made to 
 execute the plans of this commission, but with provisos that 
 none of the funds were to be expended in repairing or building 
 levees for the protection of land against overflow, although 
 such levees might be constructed if necessary to deepen the 
 channel and improve navigation. Acting under this authority, 
 the commission have allotted considerable sums to repair existing 
 breaks in the levees ; but their chief dependence is upon con- 
 tracting the channel at low water by promoting lateral deposits, 
 and upon protecting the high-water banks against caving by 
 mats of brush, wire, etc., ballasted where necessary with stone, 
 — substantially the plans proposed by the army board of 1878. 
 The bars at the efflux of the passes at the mouth of the 
 Mississippi have long been recognized as serious impediments 
 to commerce. The river naturally discharges through three 
 principal branches, the south-west pass, the south pass, and the 
 north-east pass, the latter through two channels, the most 
 northern of which is called Pass a I'Outre. The ruling depth on 
 the several bars varies with the discharge over them, which in 
 turn is controlled by the successive advances of the passes. In 
 the natural condition the greatest depth does not exceed 12 or 
 1 3 feet. The first appropriation by Congress to secure in- 
 creased depth was made in 1837, and was expended in an 
 elaborate survey and in a system of dredging by buckets, but 
 the plan of a ship canal was also discussed. At the next 
 appropriation, made in 1852, a board of officers, appointed by 
 the war department, recommended trying in succession — (i) 
 stirring up the bottom by suitable machinery ; (2) dredging by 
 buckets ; (3) constructing parallel jetties 5 miles long at the 
 south-west pass, to be extended as found necessary ; (4) closing 
 lateral outlets, and (5) constructing a ship canal. A depth of 
 
 46 
 
The Great River Systems 
 
 1 8 feet was secured by the first plan, and was maintained until 
 the available funds were exhausted. Under the next appro- 
 priation (1856) an abortive attempt was made to apply the 
 plan of jetties to the south-west pass. This failed from defects 
 in execution by the contractors, but a depth of 18 feet was 
 finally secured by dredging and scraping. The report of 1861 
 discussed the subject of bar formation at length. Although it 
 approved the plan of jetties and closure of outlets as correct in 
 theory, the stirring up of the bottom by scrapers during the 
 flood stages of the river (six months annually) was recom- 
 mended by it as the most economical and least objectionable. 
 After the war this recommendation was carried into effect for 
 several years with improved machinery, giving at a moderate 
 annual cost a depth at times reaching 20 feet at extreme low 
 water, but experience indicated that not much more than 1 8 
 feet could be steadily maintained. This depth, entirely satis- 
 factory at first, soon became insufficient to meet the growing 
 demands of commerce, and in 1873 Major Howell, the engineer 
 in charge, revived the project of a ship canal. The subject was 
 discussed carefully by a board of army engineers, the majority 
 approving a ship canal. In 1874 Congress constituted a 
 special board, which, after visiting Europe and examining 
 similar works of improvement there, reported in favour of con- 
 structing jetties at the south pass, substantially upon the plan 
 used by Mr. Caland at the mouth of the Meuse ; and in March 
 1875 Captain J. B. Eads and associates were authorized by 
 Congress to open by contract a broad and deep channel through 
 the south pass upon the general plan proposed by this board. 
 This contract called for the " maintenance of a channel of 30 
 feet in depth and 350 feet in width for twenty years" by "the 
 construction of thoroughly substantial and permanent works by 
 which said channel may be maintained for all time after their 
 completion." The jetties were to be not less than 700 feet 
 apart. The sum of ;^ 1,080,000 was to be paid for obtaining 
 this channel, and ^^"4 12,000 for maintaining it for twenty years. 
 In addition, the contractors were authorized to use any materials 
 on the public lands suitable for and needed in the work. The 
 south pass was 123-^^ miles long. It had an average width of 
 730 feet and a minimum interior channel depth of 29 feet. 
 The distance from the 30-foot curve inside the pass across 
 the bar to the 30-foot curve outside was 11,900 feet. The 
 minimum depth at average flood tide on the bars was about 
 
 47 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 8 feet. The discharge at the mouth was about 57,000 cubic 
 feet of water per second, transporting annually about 22 
 million cubic yards of sediment in suspension to the Gulf. 
 A small island and shoal existed at the head of the pass, 
 the channel there having a minimum depth of 1 7 feet. The 
 work was begun on June 2, 1875, 3-"cl has been so far success- 
 ful that during the year ending June 30, 1882, a channel 
 was maintained having a least depth of 30 feet between the 
 jetties and extending through the bar. Its least width was 
 20 feet, the average being 105 feet. The 26-foot channel had 
 a least width of 200 feet, except for a few days. . . . 
 
 MISSOURI RIVERA 
 
 Missouri River, the main western branch of the Mississippi 
 river, U.S.A. It rises in three streams in the Rocky Mountains 
 of South-western Montana, the Jefferson, Madison, and Gallatin 
 rivers, which unite at the foot of Gallatin Valley, thence the 
 river flows north, out of the mountain region into the plains, 
 which it traverses in a course at first north-east, then east, 
 flowing down the general slope. Entering North Dakota the 
 river turns gradually to the south-east, then south, and again 
 south-east, traversing both North and South Dakota. It forms 
 the eastern boundary of Nebraska and part of Kansas, and 
 crosses Missouri in an easterly course to its junction with the 
 Mississippi a few miles above St Louis. Its entire length is 
 3475 miles, and it drains an area of 527,155 square miles, or 
 more than one-sixth of the area of the United States, excluding 
 Alaska. As its longest and largest affluent, it is properly the 
 main source of the Mississippi. Of the three sources of the 
 Missouri, the middle stream, Madison river, rises in Yellow- 
 stone National Park, and is fed by geysers and hot springs. 
 Yellowstone river, a right-hand tributary, rises just south of 
 Yellowstone National Park, flows through it, and joins the 
 Missouri at the eastern boundary of Montana. On this stream, 
 within the park, are Yellowstone Lake, the Great Falls (300 feet 
 high), and the canon, features which constitute some of the 
 finest scenery of the United States. In the Dakotas many 
 small but long streams join it, among them the Little Missouri 
 
 ^ The article "Missouri River" in the New Volumes of the Encyclopedia 
 Britannica. Copyright, 1902, by The Encyclopredia Britannica Company. 
 
 48 
 
The Great River Systems 
 
 from the Bad Lands, and the Cheyenne from the Black Hills. 
 In Nebraska come the muddy waters of the Platte, which rises 
 in two large branches in Colorado. At Kansas City the 
 Missouri is joined by Kansas river, a stream ot the plains. 
 On the left the Missouri is fed by Sun, Marias, and Milk 
 rivers, which rise in Mission Range in Western Montana, and 
 farther down by the James, the Big Sioux, and many smaller 
 streams. Owing to the vast amount of detritus which its 
 waters collect in its long course over the plains, the Missouri 
 is at all times thick with mud, and well deserves its familiar 
 cognomen of " Big Muddy." The Missouri is navigable at 
 high water to the Great Falls, near the city of that name in 
 Tvlontana ; and even now, in spite of the competition of the 
 railways, carries a large amount of freight. Upon it are 
 situated many cities, the principal of which are Kansas City, 
 Mo. ; St Joseph, Mo. ; and Omaha, Neb. 
 
 49 
 
Development of the Country 
 
 How it has been made into Territories and 
 States. Detailed Descriptions of those Divisions. 
 
 LOUISIANA^ 
 
 Louisiana, one of the Southern States of the American 
 Union, situated on the lower course and debouchment of the 
 Mississippi river. It is bounded S. by the Gulf of Mexico, 
 W. by Texas, N. by Arkansas, and E. by Mississippi. Its 
 western boundary is a line through the middle of Sabine lake 
 and river, as far north as the 32nd parallel, whence it follows 
 the meridian of the point of intersection of the river with that 
 parallel. The northern boundary is the parallel of 33°. The 
 eastern boundary is the mid-channel of the Mississippi river, 
 as far south as the 31st parallel, whence it follows that parallel 
 eastward to the middle of Pearl river, and passes down that 
 stream to the Gulf. The area of the State, according to a 
 late determination made by the Census Bureau, is 48,720 
 square miles, of which 1060 consist of land-locked bays, 1700 
 of inland lakes, and 540 of river surface, leaving 45,420 
 square miles as the total land area of the State. 
 
 The average elevation of the State is only 75 feet, and no 
 part of it reaches 500 feet above sea-level. The most elevated 
 portion is near its northern border. The surface is naturally 
 divided into two parts — the upland, and the alluvial and coast 
 swamp regions. Each of the larger streams, as well as a large 
 proportion of the smaller ones, is accompanied by a belt of 
 bottom land, of greater or less width, lying low as regards the 
 stream, and liable to overflow at times of high water. These 
 bottom lands form collectively what is known as the alluvial 
 
 1 From the article " Louisiana " in the Ninth Edition of the EncyclopLEdia 
 Britannica. Copyright, 1882, by Henry Gannett. 
 
 50 
 
Development of the Country 
 
 region. It extends in a broad belt down the Mississippi, 
 from the mouth of the Ohio to the Gulf of Mexico, and up the 
 Ouachita and its branches and the Red River, to and beyond 
 the limits of the State. Its breadth along the Mississippi 
 within this State ranges from lo to 50 or 60 miles, and that 
 along the Red River and Ouachita has an average breadth of 
 10 miles. Through its great flood-plain the Mississippi river 
 winds upon the summit of a ridge formed by its own deposits. 
 In each direction the country falls away in a succession of 
 minor undulations, the summits of the ridges being occupied 
 by the streams and bayous. Nearly all of this vast flood-plain 
 lies below the level of high water in the Mississippi, and, were 
 it not for the protection afforded by the levees, with which 
 most of the course of' the stream is lined, every considerable 
 rise of its waters would inundate vast areas of fertile and 
 cultivated land. 
 
 Stretching along the coast, and extending inland to a 
 varying distance, ranging from 20 to 50 or even 60 miles, is 
 a low, swampy region, the surface of which is diversified only 
 by the slight ridges along the streams and bayous which 
 traverse it, by occasional patches of slightly elevated prairie, 
 and by live oak ridges. It is in and along the borders of this 
 coast swamp region that most of the sugar-cane and rice 
 produced in the State are grown. 
 
 The low regions of Louisiana, including the alluvial lands 
 and the coast swamps, comprise about 20,100 square miles, 
 or nearly one-half the area of the State. The remainder 
 consists of uplands of prairie and forest. The borders of 
 these uplands are generally defined by lines of bluffs of no 
 great height. 
 
 The principal rivers are the Mississippi, which flows nearly 
 600 miles through and along the border of the State, the Red 
 River, the Ouachita or Washita, Sabine, and Pearl, all which, 
 excepting the last, are navigable at all stages of the water. 
 Besides those streams which may properly be called rivers, the 
 State is intersected by " bayous," several of which are of great 
 importance both for navigation and for drainage. They may 
 be characterized as secondary outlets of the rivers. . . . 
 
 The lakes of the State are mainly comprised in three 
 classes. First come the lagoons of the coast, many of which 
 are merely land-locked bays, whose waters are salt, and which 
 rise and fall with the tides. Of this class are Pontchartrain, 
 
 51 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 Borgne, Maurepas, and Sabine, and indeed all or nearly all 
 those situated in the region of the coast swamps. These are 
 simply parts of the sea which have escaped the filling-in 
 process carried on by the great river and the lesser streams. 
 A second class, large in numbers but small in area, is the 
 result of " cut-offs " and other changes of channel in the 
 Mississippi, and, to a small extent, in the Red River. ... A 
 third class may be mentioned, namely, those upon Red River 
 and its branches which are caused by the partial stoppage of 
 the water by the " raft " above Shreveport. , . . 
 
 The climate of the State is semi-tropical ; the mean annual 
 temperature ranges from 60° to 75°, changing approximately 
 with the latitude. The mean temperature of the hottest 
 month is about 85°, while that ot the coldest month ranges in 
 different parts of the State from 45° to 60°. The temperature 
 rarely, if ever, falls below 0° Fahr., while the heats of summer 
 reach 105° in some parts. The rainfall is very heavy along 
 the coast, exceeding 60 inches annually, but decreases inland, 
 and is not more than 50 inches in the northern districts. 
 
 This large amount of moisture, together with the high 
 temperature and the fertile soil, suffices to cover the greater 
 part of the State, and particularly the alluvial regions and the 
 coast swamps, with the most luxuriant sub-tropical vegetation, 
 both arborescent and herbaceous. . . . For the beauty and 
 fragrance of its flowers Louisiana is justly celebrated. Its 
 bottom lands and its upland prairies are decked with them in 
 tropical profusion. Prominent among them in abundance are 
 roses, magnolias, jasmines, camellias, and oleanders. Most 
 fruits common to a semi-tropical region are to be found here, 
 either native or cultivated, such as oranges, olives, figs, peaches, 
 and plums. . . . 
 
 History. — The early history of the exploration of Louisiana 
 forms one of the most interesting chapters in the annals of the 
 country. It was first visited in 1541 by De Soto, of the 
 Spanish Government service. This daring explorer, landing 
 on the coast of Florida, made his way through the pathless 
 forests and almost impassable swamps to the Mississippi, and 
 even penetrated many leagues west of it, finally leaving his 
 bones upon its shores. In 1673 Marquette and Joliet, starting 
 from the settlements in Canada, descended the great river from 
 northern Illinois to the mouth of the Arkansas. In 1682 La 
 Salle descended the Mississippi, also starting from the French 
 
 52 
 
Development of the Country 
 
 settlements in the Canadas. He navigated the river from the 
 mouth of the Illinois to the Gulf. Returning to France, he 
 originated a scheme for colonizing the country, and succeeded 
 in obtaining from France the desired concessions, and in 
 collecting a company of colonists, which set sail from Rochelle 
 on the 24th of July 1684. Owing to the difficulty of 
 obtaining correct longitudes at sea, the vessel missed the 
 mouth of the Mississippi, and finally landed on the shore of 
 Matagorda Bay, in Texas, where they established a colony. 
 From this point La Salle started to make his way overland to 
 Canada, but was treacherously murdered by his companions. 
 Shortly after his death the colony disappeared. 
 
 The first successful attempt at settlement within the State 
 was made by the French under the leadership of Iberville in 
 1700. The colony was located at a point on the Mississippi 
 about 38 miles below the present site of New Orleans, now 
 known as " Poverty Point." At first it was by no means 
 prosperous, and it was only after the treaty of Utrecht that it 
 appears to have gained ground. At that time there were not 
 over five hundred Europeans in the whole territory of Louisiana 
 as then constituted ; the greater part were in what is now the 
 State of Louisiana, the others being scattered at a few little 
 posts along the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. Immediately 
 after the treaty of Utrecht the king of France granted the 
 whole territory of Louisiana to Antoine Crozat, ceding to him 
 all the territories watered by the Mississippi and its tributaries 
 below the mouth of the Illinois, with all the privileges of 
 hunting, fishing, commerce, mining, &c., which might arise in 
 this new territory. Crozat appointed Cadillac governor of the 
 colony. Affairs, however, went badly under the new adminis- 
 tration, and after a succession of governors, the whole district 
 fell into the hands of John Law, the originator of the famous 
 " Mississippi scheme." Desiring to control, among other 
 commercial monopolies, the colony of Louisiana, Law found it 
 an easy matter to obtain the charter and privileges from 
 Crozat, who was only too glad to relinquish them in his favour. 
 A company was formed under the name of the " Western 
 Company." Grants made to it were for twenty -five years. 
 Subscribers to the stock were allowed to pay three-fourths of 
 the purchase money in the depreciated bonds of France, one- 
 fourth only of the subscription being asked for in coin. 
 Bienville, brother of Iberville, and a man possessing great 
 
 53 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 influence in the colony, was appointed governor. One of his 
 first acts was to found the city of New Orleans on its present 
 site. During the year 1718, 7 vessels were sent out with 
 stores and emigrants, numbering in all about 1500 persons. 
 The following year i i ships were despatched, and 500 negroes 
 from the Guinea coast were imported. In 1721, 1000 white 
 emigrants arrived, and 1367 slaves. 
 
 In the meantime the Western Company had obtained from 
 the regent power to join with it the East India Company 
 grants, and its name was changed to that of the India 
 Company. This inflated scheme burst in due time, but the 
 misfortunes of the company did not check the prosperity ot 
 the colony. The year 172 1, which was that following the 
 financial ruin of the former, witnessed the greatest immigration 
 to the colony which it had ever received. The company 
 retained its organization and its grant of Louisiana until 1732, 
 when the province reverted to the crown. At that time the 
 population of the colony was said to have been 5000 whites 
 and 2000 slaves ; but a census taken fifteen years later shows 
 a population of only 4000 whites. 
 
 In 1762, by a secret treaty, the province was transferred 
 from France to Spain. This treaty was not made public 
 until a year and a half after it was signed, and Spain did not 
 obtain possession until 1769. Meanwhile, in February 1763, 
 by a treaty made between France and Spain on the one hand 
 and Great Britain and Portugal on the other, the portion of 
 Louisiana lying east of the Mississippi from its source to the 
 river Iberville, and thence along the middle of the Iberville and 
 the lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain to the sea, was ceded to 
 Great Britain. In this treaty, by implication, Louisiana was 
 made to extend to the sources of the Mississippi, and this is 
 the view commonly held. The province was governed by 
 Spain till the year 1800, in the meantime making little or no 
 progress owing to the narrow and oppressive policy pursued 
 towards it by the home Government. By the treaty of 1783 
 with Great Britain, the United States were placed in possession 
 of the eastern bank of the Mississippi river, as far down as the 
 31st degree of latitude, while Spain held possession of the 
 other bank, and had complete possession of the river below 
 the 3 1st parallel. 
 
 From the time of the first settlement in the valley of 
 the Mississippi and its tributaries, the importance of the river 
 
 54 
 
Development of the Country 
 
 as a means of transportation to the seaboard, and the almost 
 absolute necessity of possessing the country about its mouths, 
 were recognized by the United States. As settlements in- 
 creased in the valley and spread down the river, and as the 
 hostile policy of Spain became more and more plainly 
 developed, the feelings of the settlers became stronger against 
 the restrictions of the Spanish Government. In 1800, how- 
 ever, Spain ceded the territory back to France, and in 1803 
 it was sold to the United States by Napoleon, in order to 
 prevent it from falling into the hands of Great Britain. The 
 price was 60,000,000 francs, with a stipulation that the United 
 States should assume the claims of its citizens against France 
 (French spoliation claims), which were estimated to amount 
 to $3,750,000. The province which thus came into the 
 possession of the United States was of vast though ill-defined 
 territorial extent. 
 
 In 1804 nearly all of what is now the State of Louisiana 
 was erected into a territory, under the name of Orleans. In 
 1 8 10 this was increased by the addition of the south-eastern 
 portion, east of the Mississippi river, and in 18 12 it was 
 admitted as a State under its present name, and with its 
 present boundaries. During the war with Great Britain, 
 which followed shortly after, a battle was fought for the 
 possession of New Orleans, between the British forces under 
 Pakenham and the American army under Jackson, in which 
 the former were signally defeated. Up to i860 the develop- 
 ment of the State was very rapid, especially in the direction 
 of agriculture and commerce. 
 
 Upon the outbreak of the civil war the State promptly 
 joined its fortunes with the Southern Confederacy. Its act of 
 secession from the Union was passed December 23, i860, 
 and from that time until the final suppression of the rebellion 
 the State government was in the hands of the Confederates, 
 although for the last two years of the war its territory was 
 held in the main by the Federal forces. In the early part of 
 the war the State suffered but little, but in April 1862 
 Admiral Farragut with a powerful fleet succeeded in passing 
 Forts Jackson and St Philip, which defended the approaches 
 to New Orleans, and captured the city, thus compelling the 
 evacuation of the forts. The navigation of the Mississippi 
 being secured by this means and by operations from the 
 north, the State was at the mercy of the Federal Government. 
 
 55 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 At the close of the war, on the reorganization of the State 
 government, the administration fell into the hands of the 
 ignorant negro classes, led by unscrupulous whites, and an 
 unfortunate state of affairs ensued, which was brought to an 
 end only by the arbitrary and forcible assumption of power by 
 the better elements of society. This occurred in 1877, and 
 since that time the State has prospered markedly in all 
 material respects. 
 
 MISSOURP 
 
 Missouri, a central State of the American Union, lying 
 almost midway between the Atlantic and the Rocky Moun- 
 tains, British America and the Gulf of Mexico. Its eastern 
 boundary is the Mississippi, separating it from Illinois, Kentucky, 
 and Tennessee. North and south its boundaries with Iowa 
 and Arkansas respectively are mainly coincident with the 
 parallels of 40° 30' and 36° 30' N. lat. ; but a small peninsula 
 between the Mississippi and St Francois rivers stretch 34 
 miles farther south between Arkansas and Tennessee. The 
 western border, with Nebraska, Kansas, and the Indian Terri- 
 tory, is nearly coincident with the course of the Missouri to 
 the junction of that stream with the Kansas, and then follows 
 the meridian of 17° 40' W. of Washington (94° 43' W. of 
 Greenwich), The area of the State is 65,350 square miles, 
 the extreme length from north to south 282 miles, the extreme 
 width 348 miles. Missouri is divided into a northern and 
 southern portion by the Missouri river, flowing 400 miles in a 
 generally easterly direction from its junction with the Kansas 
 to the point i 2 miles above St Louis where it unites with the 
 Mississippi. Northern Missouri has a surface broken and 
 hilly, but not mountainous. It is mainly prairie land, well 
 watered by streams, and fit for agriculture ; but there is a 
 good deal of timber in the eastern parts, especially along the 
 bold bluffs of the two great rivers. Southern Missouri is 
 almost equally divided between timber land in the east and 
 prairie in the west. In its south-western portion rises the 
 table-land of the Ozark hills (highest point 1600 feet above 
 the sea). The Osage, the Gasconade, and other streams flow 
 northward and eastward into the Missouri. The south-eastern 
 
 1 From the article " Missouri " in the Ninth Edition of the Encydopadia 
 Britannica. 
 
 56 
 
Development of the Country 
 
 lowlands form an undulating country, readily drained after 
 rain, with fertile ridges generally running north and south, 
 occasional abrupt isolated hills, forests of oak, hickory, elm, 
 maple, ash, locust, willow, persimmon, pecan, chestnut, and 
 cherry trees, and in the lowest parts swamps and morasses. 
 High rocky bluffs extend along the banks of the Mississippi 
 from the mouth of the Meramec river to Ste Genevieve, rising 
 sometimes precipitously to the height of 350 feet above the 
 water, and low bottom lands with many lakes and lagoons 
 extend from Ste Genevieve to the Arkansas border. The 
 south-east corner of the State is 275 feet above the sea, the 
 north-east corner 445 feet, and the north-west corner 1000 
 feet. 
 
 Clhnate. — The climate of Missouri, lying as it does far 
 from the ocean and unprotected by mountain ranges, is one of 
 extremes in heat and cold, moisture and drought. The Ozark 
 range is high enough to influence the climate locally, but not 
 to affect that of the whole State. The mean summer tempera- 
 ture for the ten years 1870-80 ranged from 75° in the 
 north-west of the State to 78°.$ in the south-east; but the 
 thermometer has been known to rise to 104°. The winter 
 temperature averaged 33°.87 for the whole State, varying from 
 2 8°. 5 in the north-west to 39°.5 in the south-east. In some 
 winters the temperature hardly falls to zero ; in others 20° 
 below zero have been registered. The Mississippi at St Louis 
 freezes over once in four or five years ; but this is partly 
 caused by the accumulations of floating ice coming down from 
 the north. The river has closed as early as the first week in 
 December, and, again, has remained open until the last week 
 in February. It is in cold seasons sometimes passable for 
 the heaviest teams. The Missouri river is often closed during 
 the whole winter. The mean annual temperature of the State 
 varies from 53° to 58°. The climate is, on the whole, dry; 
 for, in spite of the abundant rains, especially in the spring, 
 evaporation is so rapid that the atmosphere is rarely over- 
 loaded with moisture. April is the driest month. The 
 greatest amount of rain falls in the south-eastern part of the 
 State. An unusual amount of fair weather, prevailing clear- 
 ness of sky, general salubrity of soil and climate, are chief 
 among the natural advantages of this great State. 
 
 Geology. — The stratified rocks of Missouri belong to the 
 following divisions : Quaternary, Tertiary, Carboniferous, 
 
 57 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 Devonian, Silurian, and Archaean, The Quaternary system 
 comprises the drift, 155 feet thick; the bluff, 200 feet above 
 the drift ; then the bottom prairie, 3 5 feet thick ; and on the 
 surface the alluvium, 30 feet in thickness. Clays with strata 
 of sands, marls, and humus form the alluvial bottoms of the 
 two great rivers of the State, and make up a soil deep, light, 
 and incomparably rich. Beneath the alluvium is found the 
 bottom prairie, made up also of sands, clays, and vegetable 
 moulds. This formation is found only in the bottom lands ot 
 the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, and more abundantly in 
 those of the former. Numerous and well-preserved organic 
 remains are found in the bottom prairie, including the shells 
 found in great quantities in the bluff and remains of the 
 mastodon and many trees and plants. Below this formation, 
 resting upon the drift, is the bluff. This rests upon the ridges 
 and river bluffs, and thus is topographically higher, although 
 geologically lower, than the bottom prairie. It is composed 
 chiefly of a grey siliceous marl, coloured sometimes to a deep 
 brown or red by the stains of oxide of iron. This formation 
 extends along the bluffs of the Missouri from Fort Union to 
 its mouth, and is found capping those of the Mississippi from 
 Dubuque to the mouth of the Ohio. It is sometimes 200 feet 
 thick ; at St Joseph it is 140, at Booneville 100, at St Louis 
 50, in Marion county only 30 feet. This formation has 
 interesting fossils {Elephas priiuigenius, &c.). The drift, the 
 lowest of the Quaternary system, appears in the altered drift, 
 the boulder formation, made up largely of the igneous and 
 metamorphic rocks, with rocks from the Palaeozoic strata upon 
 which the others rest. Large boulders, five or six feet in 
 diameter, are found, usually of granite or metamorphic sand- 
 stone ; no fossils except a few logs in the altered drift have 
 been found in this formation. The Tertiary formation in 
 Missouri is composed of clays, shales, iron ores, sandstone, and 
 sand, and extends along the bluffs and bottoms of the south- 
 east part of the State. Iron ore is found in this formation in 
 great abundance ; sand of the best quality for glass-making 
 and clays for pottery and stoneware also abound. Below the 
 Tertiary bed are found rocks which strongly resemble Creta- 
 ceous beds found in other places in the United States. These 
 strata are in such a state of irregularity and disturbance as to 
 indicate the occurrence of some great movements after their 
 deposition and before the formation of the Tertiary strata. 
 
 58 
 
Development of the Country 
 
 The Upper Carboniferous system, or coal measures, made up 
 of sandstone, limestone, marl, coal, and iron ores, covers an 
 area of more than 23,000 square miles in Missouri, occupying 
 the western and northern portions of the State. The supply 
 of bituminous and cannel coals found here would seem to be 
 well-nigh inexhaustible. In the Lower Carboniferous rock 
 are found many varieties of limestone and sandstone. Among 
 these are the Upper Archimedes Limestone, 200 feet ; 
 Ferruginous Sandstone, 195 feet; Middle Archimedes Lime- 
 stone, 50 feet; St Louis Limestone, 250 feet. The Devonian 
 system is represented by limestone in Marion, Ralls, Pike, 
 Callaway, Saline, and Ste Genevieve counties, among which 
 occur the Chouteau Limestone, 85 feet; Lithographic Lime- 
 stone, 125 feet; Onondaga Limestone, 100 feet. Of the 
 Upper Silurian series are the following formations : — Lower 
 Helderberg, 350 feet; Niagara Group, 200 feet; Cape 
 Girardeau Limestone, 60 feet. Prominent among the Lower 
 Silurian formations are the Trenton Limestone, 360 feet ; the 
 Black River and Bird's Eye Limestone ; and the Magnesian 
 series. The last-named series is valuable both in a scientific 
 and an economic sense. It covers much of the southern and 
 south-eastern portions of the State, and in it are found vast 
 deposits of lead, zinc, copper, cobalt, iron ores, and marble. 
 The Archaean rocks occur below the Silurian deposits, and 
 contain siliceous and other slates in which no fossils are found. 
 The porphyry rocks of this formation also contain iron 
 ores. . . . 
 
 History. — On the 9th April 1682 the French voyager and 
 discoverer La Salle took possession of the country of Louisiana 
 in the name of the king of France. Its limits were quite 
 indefinite, and included the present territory of Missouri (see 
 Louisiana). The first settlements of Missouri were made in 
 Ste Genevieve and at New Bourbon, but uncertainty exists as 
 to the exact date. By some the year is fixed at 1763, by 
 others, and by many traditions, as early as 173 5- St Louis 
 was settled by Pierre Laclede Liguest, a native of France. 
 The site was chosen in 1763, and in February 1764 Auguste 
 Chouteau went at the order of Liguest to the spot previously 
 selected, and built a small village. For a long time the 
 settlements were confined to the neighbourhood of the river. 
 On the 31st of October 1803, the Congress of the United 
 States passed an Act by which the president was authorized 
 
 59 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 to take possession of the territory according to the treaty of 
 Paris, and the formal transfer of Lower Louisiana was made 
 on 20th December 1803. In 1804 Congress divided the 
 territory into two portions. The northern part, commonly 
 called Upper Louisiana, was taken possession of in March 
 1804. In June 1812 Missouri was organized as a Territory, 
 with a governor and general assembly. The first governor 
 (181 3-1820) was William Clarke. In 1818 Missouri applied 
 for admission to the Union as a State. Two years of 
 bitter controversy followed, which convulsed the country and 
 threatened the dissolution of the Union. This controversy 
 followed a resolution introduced into Congress which had in 
 view an anti-slavery restriction upon the admission of Missouri 
 to the Union. This was at last settled by the adoption of 
 the " Missouri compromise," which forbade slavery in all that 
 portion of the Louisiana purchase lying north of 36° 30' 
 except in Missouri, and on 19th July 1820 Missouri was 
 admitted to the Union. A convention to frame a constitu- 
 tion had already been called, and the constitution then adopted 
 remained without material change until 1865. The first 
 general assembly under the constitution met in St Louis in 
 September 1820, and Alexander M'Nair was chosen governor 
 in August. The seat of government was fixed at St Charles 
 in 1820, and removed to Jefferson City, the present State 
 capital, in 1826. The first census of the State was taken in 
 182 I, when the number of inhabitants was found to be 70,647, 
 of whom 11,254 were slaves. In the Black Hawk war in 
 1832, the Florida war in 1837, and the Mexican war in 1846 
 Missouri volunteer troops did their share of the work. In the 
 troubles in Kansas, and the bitter discussion upon the question 
 of slavery, Missouri was deeply involved. A strong feeling 
 in favour of secession showed itself in many parts of the State. 
 Governor Jackson, in his inaugural address on the 4th of 
 January 1861, said that Missouri must stand by the slave- 
 holding States, whatever might be their course. The election 
 of a majority of Union men, however, as delegates to a con- 
 vention called to consider the affairs of the nation, showed 
 that public sentiment was hostile to secession, and the con- 
 vention adjourned without committing the State to the 
 secession party. United States troops were soon gathered at 
 St Louis, and forces were also sent to Jefferson City, and to 
 Rolla. Governor Jackson fled from the capital, and summoned 
 
 60 
 
Development of the Country 
 
 all the State troops to meet him at Booneville. General Lyon 
 defeated these troops, 17th June 1861, and soon most of the 
 State was under the control of the United States forces. 
 The State convention was reassembled. This body declared 
 vacant the offices of governor, lieutenant-governor, and secretary 
 of state, and filled them by appointment. The seats of 
 the members of the legislature were also declared vacant. 
 Governor Jackson soon issued a proclamation declaring the 
 State out of the Union, and Confederate forces were assembled 
 in large numbers in the south-western part of the State. 
 General Lyon was killed at the battle of Wilson's Creek near 
 Springfield, and General Fremont, commanding the department 
 of the west, decreed martial law throughout the State. For a 
 year matters were favourable to the Confederates, and at the 
 opening of 1862 their troops held nearly half the State; 
 but in February a Federal force under General Curtis drove 
 General Price into Arkansas. He returned in 1864, and 
 overran a large part of the State, but was finally forced to 
 retreat, and but little further trouble arose in Missouri during 
 the war. Missouri furnished to the United States army 
 during the war 108,773 troops. In 1865 a new constitution 
 was adopted by the people. In 1869 the XV. Amendment 
 to the United States constitution was adopted by a large 
 majority. In 1875 still another State constitution was drawn 
 up by a convention called for that purpose, and ratified by 
 the people, and is now the fundamental law of the State. 
 
 ARKANSAS^ 
 
 Arkansas, one of the south-western States of the North 
 American Union, situated between lat. 33° and 36° 30' N., and 
 long. 89° 45' and 94° 40' W., with an area of 52,198 square miles. 
 It is bounded N. by Missouri, E. by Tennessee and Mississippi, 
 from which it is separated by the Mississippi River, S. by 
 Louisiana, and W. by the Indian territory. It belongs to the 
 great basin of the Mississippi, being watered by that river and 
 by several of its main tributaries, which are all more or less 
 navigable. Of these the principal are the St Francis, in the 
 north-east ; the White River with its affluents, the Cache, 
 Little Red, and Black Rivers in the north ; and notably the 
 
 1 From the article " Arkansas " in the Ninth Edition oi \h^ Encyclopadia Britannica. 
 
 61 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 Arkansas, which, entering the State at Fort Smith, traverses it 
 in a south-easterly direction until it joins the Mississippi at 
 Napoleon. The southern part of the State is watered by the 
 Washita in the east, and by a bend of the Red River in 
 the west. The eastern part of the State, bordering on the 
 Mississippi, is low and swampy, and is annually overflowed. 
 Westward the country gradually attains a greater elevation, 
 passing off into hills and undulating prairies, which lead 
 up to the Ozark Mountains, beyond which, again, an elevated 
 plain stretches towards the Rocky Mountains. The Ozark 
 Mountains do not exceed 2000 feet in height, and the only 
 other great masses of elevation are the Black Hills and the 
 Washita Hills. A geological survey of the whole territory was 
 commenced at the State expense by Dr David D. Owen in 
 1857, and two volumes of Reports were published in 1858 
 and i860. In the district north of the Arkansas River, the 
 three leading formations are the " mill-stone grit, with its 
 associate shales and conglomerate ; the subcarboniferous lime- 
 stone and its associate chert, shales, and limestones ; and the 
 magnesian limestones, and their associate sandstones, calciferous 
 sand-rocks and chert, belonging to the lower Silurian period." 
 The mineral products are reported to be very considerable, 
 *' including zinc, maganese, iron, lead, and copper ; marble, 
 whet and hone stones, rock-crystal, paints, nitre-earths, kaolin, 
 granite, freestone, limestone, marls, greensand, marly limestones, 
 grindstones, and slate." The zinc ores are said to compare 
 very favourably with those of Silesia, while the argentiferous 
 galena produces a high average percentage of silver. Of coal, 
 anthracite, and lignite, there are abundant supplies. A great 
 number of mineral and thermal springs occur in various parts 
 of the State, the most remarkable and most frequented groups 
 lying to the south of the Arkansas in Hot Springs county. 
 The heat of several attains 146° or 148" Fahr. Among what 
 are called natural curiosities may be mentioned the sandstone 
 dam across Lee's Creek in Crawfurd county, the Mammoth 
 Spring in Fulton, which is supposed to have underground 
 connection with Howel's Valley in Missouri, and is said to 
 pour forth its water " at the rate of 8000 (?) barrels per 
 minute," the Bee Rock in White county, and the crystalline 
 productions of Magnet Cove. It need hardly be said that 
 there is great variety of soil in such a State as Arkansas. 
 Along the river " bottoms " the alluvium is dark, rich, and 
 
 62 
 
Development of the Country 
 
 deep, and yields excellent crops. The chief crops cultivated 
 are maize, wheat, cotton, and tobacco, as well as apples and 
 other fruits. There is a natural flora of great richness, a 
 complete list of which is given in Dr Owen's second Report. 
 The trees and shrubs most frequently occurring are poplars, 
 oaks, pines, sweet -gum, sycamore, black locust, ash, elm, 
 hickory, dog-wood, elder, palma-christi, black spice, papaw, 
 mockernut, wild vine, &c. The fauna of Arkansas includes 
 the buffalo, eland, red-deer, beaver, otter, hare, racoon, wild 
 turkey, goose, and quail, as well as bears and wolves among 
 the mountains. The climate of the lower districts is decidedly 
 unhealthy, largely on account of the lack of wholesome water ; 
 but in the upper regions it is quite salubrious. Hitherto 
 Arkansas has been mainly agricultural, but it is rapidly 
 advancing in the development of its mineral wealth, in the 
 extension of its railway communication, in the embankment 
 and guidance of its rivers, in the reclaiming of its waste but 
 fertile lands, in the progress of manufactures and industries, 
 and in the establishment of educational and benevolent institu- 
 tions. At the census of 1870 the population amounted to 
 484,471, comprising 362,115 whites and 122,169 coloured 
 persons. In i860 the population amounted to 435,450, so 
 that an increase of more than 10 per cent, has taken place 
 between these two periods, principally in the white population. 
 The capital is Little Rock, originally a French settlement, 
 situated on the Arkansas River, and occupying a very central 
 position in the State. . . . Arkansas was first colonized by 
 the French, in the 17th century, and in 1720 Louis XV. 
 made a grant of land on the Arkansas to the well-known John 
 Law, but this led to no results of importance. In 1763 the 
 territory was handed over to Spain, but returned to France in 
 1800. In 1803 it was purchased by the United States, along 
 with the rest of what was then called Louisiana, and was 
 established as a separate non- Indian territory in 18 19. It 
 was received into the Union as a slave State in 1836; and 
 during the American Civil War, 1861-65, its convention sided 
 with the Confederate States, joining that organization May 6, 
 T861. 
 
 63 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 lOWA^ 
 
 Iowa, one of the north-western States of the American Union. 
 Its boundary lines are — on the S. and N. the parallels 40° 36' 
 and 43° 30' of N. lat, on the E. the Mississippi river, and on 
 the W. the Missouri and Big Sioux rivers. The south-eastern 
 corner projects slightly below the parallel of 40° 36', the 
 boundary following the Des Moines river down to its mouth. 
 The neighbouring States are: Minnesota on the north, Wisconsin 
 and Illinois on the east, Missouri on the south, and Nebraska 
 and Dakota on the west. The length of the State from north 
 to south is about 200 miles, and its greatest breadth from 
 east to west 300 miles. Its area is 35,228,800 acres, or 
 55,045 square miles. 
 
 The State lies entirely within the prairie region of the 
 Mississippi valley, and has a level or undulating surface. Its 
 mean height above the sea is 925 feet, ranging from 500 in 
 the south-east to 1700 in the north-west. About 24,600 
 square miles of the area rise less than 1000 feet above sea- 
 level. 
 
 The surface presents very little relief. A broad elevation 
 (1700 feet at the north boundary, and decreasing gradually 
 southwards) separates the waters of the Mississippi from those 
 of the Missouri. The position of this " divide " is, for the 
 most part, near the western border of the State, giving to the 
 branches of the Mississippi long courses and an easy fall, while 
 those of the Missouri have comparatively short courses and 
 a rapid fall. Near their sources, those branches, both of 
 the Mississippi and Missouri, flow in broad, shallow valleys. 
 Farther down their courses, however, bluffs develop, and increase 
 gradually in height, while the valleys in general become 
 narrower. The bluffs bordering the valley of the Mississippi 
 range in height from 200 to 400 feet, the valley between them 
 being usually from 4 to 8 miles in width, although in a few 
 places, as at Dubuque, they close in upon the river on both 
 sides. On the Missouri, the bluffs range from 200 to 300 feet 
 in height, enclosing a bottom land 5 to 1 2 miles in width. 
 
 Rivers and Lakes. — The Mississippi and Missouri are the 
 only navigable rivers. They have ample depth of water for 
 all purposes of inland navigation. . . . 
 
 ^ From the article " Iowa " in the Ninth Edition of the Encyclopcedia Britannica. 
 
 64 
 
Development of the Country 
 
 Geology. — The geology of the State is remarkably simple ; 
 excepting in the north-western quarter, where the formations 
 are so covered with Quaternary drift as to be unrecognizable, 
 there is from north-east to south-west a succession of belts, 
 from the Lower Silurian to the top of the Carboniferous, 
 varying in breadth and extending north-west and south-east. 
 The Silurian occupies but a comparatively small area in the 
 north-eastern corner, A strip of Devonian follows, 40 to 50 
 miles in width, extending from Davenport on the Mississippi 
 north-westward to the northern boundary. The south-western 
 half of the State is overlaid by the different members of the 
 Carboniferous formation, with here and there fragments of 
 Cretaceous beds, which have survived the enormous erosion 
 to which the surface has everywhere been subjected. 
 
 Minerals. — It is estimated that about 7000 square miles 
 are underlaid by the Coal-measures. Within this area coal 
 beds of workable thickness and quality have been found at 
 Fort Dodge, Moingona, Des Moines, and Oskaloosa, where 
 they are being extensively worked. The coal is bituminous, 
 no anthracite having been found in the State. The north- 
 eastern part of Iowa is included within the great lead region 
 of the Upper Mississippi ; and, although the palmy days of 
 the mines of that region are over, the product is yet very 
 important. The ore, which is galena, is found in pockety 
 deposits in the limestones of the Silurian formation. These 
 deposits vary immensely in size, and in general extend 
 to no great depth, and therefore cannot be relied upon for 
 permanence. 
 
 Climate. — The climate resembles in its essential features 
 that of the rest of the prairies States, excepting that towards 
 the west the aridity of the atmosphere and the decreased 
 rainfall characteristic of the great plains begin to be perceptible. 
 The annual rainfall ranges from 24 to 44 inches, with an 
 average of about 36 inches, the south-eastern portion receiving 
 the greatest amount, and the western part the least. The 
 mean annual temperature ranges from 42° to 52° Fahr., the 
 summer mean from 66° to 79°, and the winter mean from 
 14° to 27°, showing a difference between the summer and 
 winter temperatures of 52". The highest single observed 
 temperatures have been 95° to 105°, and the lowest 18° to 
 33° below zero, an extreme range of about 125°. The south- 
 eastern portion has the mildest and most equable temperature, 
 
 65 F 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 as well as the greatest rainfall. Northward and westward 
 the temperature becomes lower and extremes greater. 
 
 Soil. — The soil is extremely fertile, whether drift, bluff, or 
 alluvial. The drift, whose name explains its origin, covers 
 the greater part of the State. It is a dark loam, i to 2 feet 
 in depth, and of almost inexhaustible fertility. The bluff soil 
 or loess occupies the country bordering upon the valley of the 
 Missouri. . . . 
 
 History. — Iowa was originally a part of the Louisiana 
 purchase. In 1834 all that part of the United States lying 
 west of the Mississippi river and north of Missouri, including 
 the present area of Iowa, was placed under the jurisdiction of 
 the Territory of Michigan, and two years later the Territory 
 of Wisconsin was created, including what is now Iowa. In 
 1838 Iowa itself was made a Territory, and on December 28, 
 1846, it was admitted to the Union as a State. At the time 
 of the Louisiana purchase, this region was occupied by the 
 Sioux, Sac and Fox, and Iowa tribes of Indians. The first 
 white settlements within the State were made along the 
 Mississippi in 1833, — Fort Madison, Burlington, and Dubuque 
 being the first points occupied. From these points settlement 
 spread westward, and the growth of the Territory and State 
 has from that time been rapid and steady. 
 
 MINNESOTA' 
 
 Minnesota, one of the north-western States of the American 
 Union, extending from 43° 30' N. lat. to the British Possessions 
 (about 49° N. lat.), and from Wisconsin and Lake Superior on 
 the east to Dakota on the west, between the meridians of 89° 
 39' and 97° 5' W. long. Its area, including half of the lakes, 
 straits, and rivers along its boundaries, except Rainy Lake and 
 Lake of the Woods, amounts to 83,365 square miles. 
 
 The surface of Minnesota is diversified by few elevations 
 of any great height. In general it is an undulating plain, 
 breaking in some sections into rolling prairie, and traversed by 
 belts of timber. It has an average elevation above sea-level of 
 about 1000 feet. The watershed of the north (which deter- 
 mines the course of the three great continental river systems) 
 
 1 From the article "Minnesota" in the Ninth Edition of the EticyclopcEdia 
 Britannica. 
 
 66 
 
Development of the Country 
 
 and that of the west are not ridges or hills, but elevations whose 
 inclination is almost insensible. The southern and central 
 portions of the State are chiefly rolling prairie, the upper part 
 of which is crossed from N.W. to S.E. by the forest belt known 
 as the Big Woods, — a stretch of deciduous forest trees with an 
 area of about 5000 square miles. North of the 47th parallel, 
 the great Minnesota pine belt reaches from Lake Superior to 
 the confines of the Red River valley, including the region of 
 the headwaters of the Mississippi and its upper tributaries, as 
 well as those of the Superior streams. North of the pine 
 region there is but a stunted growth of tamarack and dwarf 
 pine. In the north-east are found the rugged elevations of the 
 granite uplift of the shores of Lake Superior, rising to a con- 
 siderable height ; while in the north-west the surface slopes 
 away to the level prairie reaches of the Red River valley. 
 The surface elevation of the State varies from 800 to 2000 
 feet above sea-level. A short line of hills in the north-east 
 reaches the latter altitude, while only the valleys of the Red 
 River, the Mississippi, and the Minnesota fall below the former. 
 Geology and Soil. . . . The great central zone, from Lake 
 Superior to the south-western extremity of the State, is occupied 
 by granitic and metamorphic rocks, succeeded, in the south-east, 
 by narrower bands of later formation. Within the great Azoic 
 area lies the central watershed of the continent, from which the 
 St Lawrence system sends its waters towards the Atlantic, the 
 Mississippi towards the Gulf of Mexico, and the Red River of 
 the North to Hudson's Bay. These primordial rocks carry 
 back the geologic history of Minnesota to pre-Silurian times. 
 They form in the north-east, in the neighbourhood of Lake 
 Superior, an extremely rough and hilly country, but as they 
 reach the central and south-western portions of the State they 
 for the most part disappear beneath the surface drift. This 
 central belt is succeeded, on the south and east, by a stretch 
 of sandstone, partially the true red Potsdam and partially a 
 similar but lighter-coloured stratum, which some have proposed 
 to designate the St Croix Sandstone. Isolated beds of sand- 
 stone are found in various parts of the State. The north- 
 western corner, stretching east from the Red River valley, is 
 believed to be Cretaceous ; but the great depth of drift and 
 alluvium, disturbed by no large rivers, prevents a positive 
 conclusion. The Lower Magnesian limestone underlies the 
 extreme south-eastern portion of the State, and extends along 
 
 67 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 the west side of the Mississippi to a point a Httle below 
 St Paul ; thence it takes a course almost semicircular, and 
 finally passes out of the State at the south-western boundary. 
 The Trenton limestone occupies a large field in the south and 
 south-east ; it comes to the surface in long irregular bands, 
 and an island of it underlies the cities of Minneapolis and 
 St Paul with the adjacent districts. The Galena limestone, 
 the Masquoketa shales, the Niagara limestone, and the rocks 
 of the Devonian age in turn prevail in the other counties of 
 the south and east ; while the existence of the St Peter sand- 
 stone would scarcely be known but for its outcropping along 
 the bluffs of the Mississippi, and at the famous waterfall of 
 Minnehaha. From these various formations numerous kinds 
 of stone valuable for building purposes are obtained. The 
 grey granite of St Cloud is extremely hard and enduring. 
 The Lower Magnesian furnishes two especially handsome 
 building stones, — the pink limestone known as Kasota stone, 
 and the cream-coloured stone of Red Wing, both easily 
 worked, and hardening by exposure to atmospheric changes. 
 Naturally, from its location underneath the principal cities of 
 the State, the Trenton limestone is the most widely used. 
 Sand suitable for glass -making, and argillaceous deposits 
 abound. The clays which make up so large a portion of the 
 surface drift of the State are almost wholly of glacial origin. 
 Overlying the deposits of sand, gravel, boulders, and clay is, 
 in most portions of the State, a sandy loam, very finely divided, 
 rich in organic matter, deep brown or black in colour, and of 
 the greatest fertility. It is this soil which has given to the 
 State its reputation for productiveness. Its depth varies from 
 2 to 5 feet in various parts of the State, and it has been 
 described by Dr Owen as " excellent in quality, rich as well 
 in organic matter as in those mineral salts which give rapidity 
 to the growth of plants, while it has that durability which 
 enables it to sustain a long succession of crops." 
 
 Rivers and Lakes. — The State holds a unique place with 
 reference to the great water systems of the continent. The 
 Mississippi takes its rise in Lake Itasca, north of the centre of 
 the State. Before it leaves the State limits it becomes a great 
 river, half a mile wide, and from 5 to 20 feet deep. It drains 
 with its tributaries all the southern and central portions and a 
 large area of the northern part of the State. It is navigable 
 as far as St Paul, and at Minneapolis the falls of St Anthony 
 
 68 
 
Development of the Country 
 
 afford unrivalled facilities for manufacturing. Of the many 
 affluents of the Mississippi the most important is the Minnesota, 
 which after a course of about 440 miles flows into the main 
 stream at Fort Snelling, 3 miles above St Paul. The source 
 of the Minnesota is but i mile from Lake Traverse, the origin 
 of the Red River of the North, and it is navigable during the 
 high-water season for about 238 miles. Its principal tributaries 
 are the Blue Earth, Chippewa, Redwood, Lac qui Parle, and 
 Pomme de Terre. The Red River system drains the north- 
 western part of the State, and its waters finally pass into 
 Hudson's Bay, as also do those from the country drained by 
 streams flowing to the Rainy Lake river and the lakes along 
 the northern boundary line. East of this lies the region 
 tributary to Lake Superior and the St Lawrence system. 
 This comprises an area within the State estimated at 9000 
 square miles. Its principal river is the St Louis. There 
 are altogether about 2796 miles of navigable water in 
 Minnesota. 
 
 The number of lakes is estimated at seven thousand. They 
 are of all sizes, and are found chiefly in the northern two-thirds 
 of the State. . . . 
 
 Climate. — The State lies so far north as to have a low 
 mean annual temperature, and so far inland as to have the 
 characteristic continental climate. Its elevation above sea- 
 level gives an agreeable rarefaction to the atmosphere, and 
 makes the prevalence of fogs and damp weather unknown. 
 Between June and January there is an annual variation from 
 the summer heat of southern Ohio to the winter cold ot 
 Montreal. The winter, usually commencing in November, 
 and continuing till near the end of March, is not a period of 
 intense continued cold, but is subject to considerable variations. 
 As a rule, the comparative dryness of the atmosphere neutral- 
 izes the severest effect of excessive cold. The snowfall is 
 extremely light during most of the winter, but as spring 
 approaches precipitation becomes greater, and there are fre- 
 quently heavy snowfalls in February and March. The change 
 from winter to summer is rapid, vegetation sometimes seeming 
 to leap into full and active growth within the space of a few 
 weeks. The summer months bring days of intense heat, but, 
 with comparatively rare exceptions, the nights are deliciously 
 cool. . . . 
 
 Agriculture. — The leading industry of the State is agri- 
 
 69 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 culture. The character of the surface soil varies in different 
 parts of the State with the character of the underlying strata. 
 The fertile land comprises about three-fourths of the entire 
 area of the State. The drift soil proper of the south and 
 centre, including the Minnesota valley and the greater part of 
 that of the Mississippi, contains silica and calcareous matter, 
 and is interspersed with alluvial river bottoms. The limestone 
 soil, in which there is a large calcareous element, lies chiefly on 
 the western slope of the Mississippi. The Red River valley 
 consists of an argillaceous mould, rich in organic deposits. 
 Around Lake Superior, wherever arable land is to be found, it 
 is marked by a rich trap soil. North of the central fertile 
 area, and in the neighbourhood of the sources of the Mississippi, 
 is much swampy land, susceptible of easy drainage, with a large 
 tract of sand and other drift detritus, unfavourable to produc- 
 tion. Maize and potatoes flourish, and the uplands, which 
 support hardwood ridges, are suited to general agriculture. To 
 the extreme north the surface, while indicating mineral wealth, 
 is utterly unfit, except in occasional isolated areas, for purposes 
 of tillage. 
 
 Wheat has hitherto been the staple product of the State. 
 Soil and climate are such as to ensure a large average yield, 
 while the superior quality of the grain has given it a wide 
 reputation. The other cereals are also cultivated with success. 
 The tendency to diversify agriculture, especially in the southern 
 part of the State, has been stimulated by several partial failures 
 of the wheat crop, the locust invasions, and the competition of 
 the farther north-west. . . . 
 
 History. — Missionary efforts and the trading spirit first 
 induced white men to venture as far into the unexplored north- 
 west as the boundaries of what is now the State of Minnesota. 
 The earliest accounts of its natural features and native tribes 
 appear in the Jesuit writings. The "Relations" of 1670-71 
 allude to the Sioux or Dakotas. In 1678 a company was 
 formed for trading with this tribe. Du Luth was leader of 
 this expedition, and later on went from Lake Superior to the 
 Mississippi by canoe. But the first published account is that 
 of Louis Hennepin, a Recollect monk, who, in 1680, visited 
 the falls of St Anthony, and gave them their name, from that 
 of his patron saint. For a century the only visitants of the 
 wild region were a few missionaries, and a number of fur 
 traders who found the profit of the journey to more than 
 
 70 
 
Development of the Country 
 
 counterbalance its perils and hardships. To the latter class 
 belong Perrot, who reached the Mississippi by way of the Fox 
 and Wisconsin in 1684, and founded at Lake Pepin the first 
 trading post in the State, and Le Sueur, a Canadian, who 
 ascended the great river from its mouth, and established 
 another post above Lake Pepin. Captain John Carver, the 
 explorer of the country of the upper Mississippi, visited the 
 falls of St Anthony in 1766, being the first British traveller 
 who reached the spot. On March 20, 1804, Upper Louisiana 
 was organized, consisting of Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, and a 
 large portion of Minnesota. From this time onwards the 
 progress of exploration was rapid, and settlement followed in 
 its train. The first really extensive exploration of any large 
 part of what is now Minnesota was made between i 8 1 7 and 
 1823, by Major S. H. Long, of the United States engineer 
 corps, in command of a Government expedition. About the 
 same time the Red River received its first visitant. Thomas 
 Douglas, earl of Selkirk, an Englishman of eccentric character, 
 went, in 1 8 1 7, to what is now Winnipeg, by way of York 
 river. Having been struck with the agricultural possibilities of 
 the region about the Red River of the North, he induced a 
 colony of Swiss farmers to settle there. These were dis- 
 appointed in the country, and unused to the severity of the 
 climate, so that they finally removed to the vicinity of St 
 Paul and contributed to the earliest development of the 
 agricultural industry of the State. In 1821 Colonel Snelling 
 built, at the junction of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers, 
 a stronghold which he named Fort St Anthony. The name 
 was changed to Fort Snelling in his honour, in 1824, and the 
 fort is still an important post as a base of supplies for the 
 newer north-west. The first steamboat made its appearance 
 at the head of navigation in 1823. The settlement of St 
 Paul, one of the oldest towns as well as the capital, is commonly 
 dated from 1846, at which time there were a few shanties 
 on its site. Population now began to arrive in constantly 
 increasing numbers, and on March 3, 1849, ^ t)ill passed 
 Congress for organizing the Territory. It was proposed at one 
 time to name it Itasca, but the name Minnesota, meaning 
 " sky-tinted water," and originally applied to the river bearing 
 that title, was finally retained. The western boundary of the 
 territory was fixed at the Missouri river. The population was 
 but 4057, the largest town had but a few hundred inhabitants, 
 
 71 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 and a large part of the soil of the State still belonged to the 
 Indians. But progress now began in earnest. A constitution 
 was adopted in 1857, and on May ii, 1858, Minnesota was 
 admitted as a State. . . . 
 
 One of the first acts of the new State was the issue of the 
 railroad bonds noticed above. Soon after came the civil war. 
 Within two months of Lincoln's first call for troops the first 
 Minnesota regiment, over one thousand strong, was mustered 
 into service. By August of 1862 ten regiments had been 
 called for and furnished. In all, the State supplied to the 
 armies of the Union 25,052 men, or about one-seventh of its 
 entire population at the outbreak of the war. 
 
 In the meantime there occurred, in 1862, the horrible 
 outbreak known as the Sioux massacre. Settlements were cut 
 off, isolated settlers murdered, and even a strong post like 
 Fort Ridgely was attacked. The outbreak spread over a large 
 portion of the State ; several severe engagements were fought ; 
 and it was not until the State had a thoroughly equipped 
 military force ready for the campaign that the Indians begun 
 to flee or to give themselves up. By this time over 700 
 persons had been murdered, 200, chiefly women, taken captive ; 
 eighteen counties were ravaged, and 30,000 people were 
 homeless. The property loss was not less than $3,000,000. 
 
 During these local and national disturbances the material 
 prosperity of the State was unabated. Notwithstanding the 
 heavy cost of the civil war and the Sioux massacre, the census 
 of 1865 showed a population of 250,099. Railroad construc- 
 tion began to be energetically carried forward; in 1870, 329 
 miles were made and 1096 miles were in operation ; a road to 
 Lake Superior was completed, and the Northern Pacific was 
 fairly under way. In 1873-76, and to some extent in 1877, 
 successive visitations of locusts destroyed the crops of the 
 south-western counties. The sufferers were relieved by the 
 State. . . . 
 
 KANSAS^ 
 
 Kansas, the central State of the American Union, lies between 
 37° and 40° N. lat. and between 94° 38' and 102° W. long. It 
 is bounded on the N. by Nebraska, on the E. by Missouri, on 
 
 ' From the article " Kansas "' in the Ninth Edition of the Encyclopedia 
 Britayinica. 
 
 72 
 
Development of the Country 
 
 the S. by Indian territory, and on the W. by Colorado. The 
 State is nearly rectangular in shape, with a breadth of about 
 2IO miles from north to south, and a length of 400 miles from 
 east to west. It contains an area of 81,318 square miles, or 
 52,043,520 acres. 
 
 Kansas is an undulating plain, gently sloping from west to 
 east, at an average of nearly 7 feet per mile. There is also an 
 inclination from north to south, as indicated by the course of 
 the rivers, which flow southerly as well as easterly, but never 
 northerly or westerly, except for short distances from local 
 causes. The mouth of the Kansas river, at the east line of the 
 State, is 750 feet above the sea-level; the average altitude of 
 the western boundary is about 3500 feet. The broad prairie 
 surface is diversified by an endless succession of valleys and 
 woodlands. The great central valley is traversed by the Kansas 
 or Kaw river, which, inclusive of the Smokyhill branch, extends 
 the entire length of the State. Lateral valleys on the north are 
 formed by the Saline, Solomon, Republican, and Blue rivers, and 
 other smaller streams. Another broad valley is formed in the 
 southern half of the State by the Arkansas river, with lateral 
 valleys on the north, traversed by the Walnut, Little Arkansas, 
 Pawnee Fork, and other streams. The south-eastern portion 
 contains the important Neosho valley, and the smaller valleys 
 of the Osage and Verdigris. In the extreme south-west and 
 along the southern boundary are the valley of the Cimarron, and 
 a network of the southern tributaries of the Arkansas. Numerous 
 small affluents of the Missouri enrich and diversify the north- 
 eastern quarter of the State. The streams of Kansas are 
 usually fed by perennial springs, and, as a rule, the eastern and 
 middle portions of the State are well watered. The western 
 part is more elevated, and water is less abundant. 
 
 Geology and Minerals. — The surface presents three distinct 
 geological sections. The eastern portion of the State belongs 
 to the Carboniferous system, in which are found inexhaustible 
 beds of valuable bituminous coal, often at shallow depths or 
 cropping out on the surface. The central portion belongs to 
 the Triassic formation, with magnesian limestone, ferruginous 
 sandstone, and gypsum as the representative rocks. Magnesian 
 limestone, known as dolomite, is especially plentiful along the 
 Blue, Republican, and Neosho rivers and their tributaries. This 
 beautiful stone, resembling white, grey, and cream-coloured 
 marble, is exceedingly useful for building purposes. It crops 
 
 73 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 out in the bluffs in endless quantities, and is easily worked. 
 The western portion of the State belongs to the Cretaceous 
 formation, in which chalks and a species of native quicklime 
 are very prominent in the river bluffs. The white and cream- 
 coloured chalks are much used for building purposes, but the 
 blue is usually too soft for exposure to the weather. The quick- 
 lime as quarried from the bluffs slakes perfectly, and with sand 
 makes a fairly good mortar, without calcination or other 
 previous preparations. Lead-mines are extensively worked in 
 the south-eastern portion of the State, and prosperous towns and 
 cities are growing up in connexion with these mines. In the 
 central region, salt is produced from wells, and appears in 
 occasional marshes. Salt industries are carried on at Solomon 
 City, near the mouth of the Solomon river, and an excellent 
 brine is obtained at Junction City. The salt of the south-west 
 is found in beds and dry incrustations, varying in thickness 
 from a few inches to 2 feet. The salts of Kansas are remark- 
 ably free from lime and other impurities. Gypsum is found 
 in beautiful crystalline form in extensive quarries. . . . 
 The lignite found near the Colorado line makes a valuable 
 domestic fuel. 
 
 Climate. — The climate of Kansas is exceptionally salubrious. 
 Extremes of heat and cold occur, as in all open prairie countries, 
 but as a rule the winters are dry and mild, while the summer 
 heats are tempered by the perpetual prairie breezes. The 
 summer nights are invariably cool and refreshing. The mean 
 annual temperature at Fort Riley for twenty-three years end- 
 ing December 1874 has been 53°. The highest temperature 
 there during the same period was 98° and the lowest 12° below 
 zero. The average annual rainfall at the city of Lawrence for 
 six years (i 875-1 880) was 32"68 inches, the heaviest rainfalls 
 occurring in May, June, July, and August, the lightest in 
 November, December, January, and February. 
 
 Soil. — The soil of the upland prairies is generally a deep 
 rich clay loam, of a dark colour. The bottom lands near the 
 streams are a black sandy loam ; and the intermediate lands, 
 or " second bottoms," show a rich and deep black loam, 
 containing very little sand. These soils are all easily cultivated, 
 free from stones, and exceedingly productive. There are 
 exceptional spots on the upland prairies composed of stiff clay, 
 not as easily cultivated, but very productive when properly 
 managed and enriched. In the early history of the country 
 
 74 
 
Development of the Country 
 
 the prairies were covered with the short " buffalo grass," very- 
 nutritious for pasturage, on which immense herds of buffalo 
 and other animals subsisted, but utterly unfit for hay. With 
 the disappearance of the buffalo, and as the country is settled 
 and cultivated, the short buffalo grass gives place to the tall 
 blue stem and other bladed grasses valuable alike for pasture 
 and hay. Timber is abundant along the streams in the eastern 
 section of the State, but is less plentiful in the central portion, 
 and very scarce in some parts of the west. The varieties of 
 timber embrace oak, elm, black walnut, cottonwood, mulberry, 
 box, elder, willow, hickory, sycamore, white ash, and other hard 
 and soft woods. . . . 
 
 Agriculture. — The bright climate and pure atmosphere are 
 admirably adapted to the growth of the apple, pear, peach, 
 plum, grape, and cherry. The smaller fruits also, with scarce 
 an exception, flourish finely. Trees never suffer from sodden 
 or water-soaked roots, and very seldom from the winter's cold, 
 when reasonable judgment and care have been exercised in 
 selecting and managing the grounds. . . . 
 
 Manufactures. — There is perhaps no tract of country of 
 equal extent better supplied with available water power than 
 Kansas. The streams are fed by living springs, and the 
 inclination of the country insures uniformly rapid currents. 
 Most of the streams maintain a good flow of water in the 
 driest seasons, and in case of heavy rains many of them 
 " underflow " the adjacent bottom lands, saturating the perme- 
 able substratum of the country with the surplus water, which 
 in time drains out and feeds the subsiding streams. . . . 
 
 History. — Kansas belongs to that immense tract of country, 
 purchased by the American Government from France in 1803, 
 known as the Louisiana purchase. Prior to 1854 it was in 
 the hands of various Indian tribes, some native, and others 
 which had been removed from the older States. It was 
 organized and opened for settlement as a territory by Act of 
 Congress in May 1854, in the midst of a heated contest on 
 the slavery question. The slaveholders and the friends of 
 freedom at once began a vigorous contest for the occupancy 
 and control of the new territory, and thus it was that Kansas 
 became the vanguard in the great struggle which resulted in 
 the overthrow of slavery in the United States. Before the 
 formal beginning of the war, societies were organized by the 
 rival settlers and their friends in the States on both sides of 
 
 75 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 the slavery question, and even rival legislatures were elected 
 and convened. The discussions frequently resulted in personal 
 violence, and the greatest excitement prevailed till the breaking 
 out of the civil war. Kansas was admitted into the Union as 
 a State in January 1861, and took an active part in furnishing 
 troops for the suppression of the rebellion. The State was 
 frequently invaded, and the city of Lawrence was sacked and 
 burned in August 1863. Since the overthrow of slavery, 
 Kansas has shared fully in the general progress of the country. 
 
 NEBRASKA^ 
 
 Nebraska, a central State of the American Union, lies 
 between 40° and 43° N. lat. ; the Missouri flows along its 
 eastern side, the most easterly point being 95° 2$' W. long., 
 and the boundary line separating it from Wyoming on the 
 west is 104° W. long. It is bounded on the S. by Colorado 
 and Kansas, on the E. by Missouri and Iowa, on the N. by 
 Dakota, and on the W. by Wyoming and Colorado. The 
 width of the State from north to south is 208^ miles, the 
 length from east to west 413 miles, and the area ^6,64.'/ square 
 miles, or 49,054,080 acres. 
 
 The greater part of Nebraska is a plateau. . . . There are 
 no mountains, but in the northern and western parts there are 
 some ridges and a few lofty hills. Generally the slopes are 
 gentle, but occasionally precipitous, and in rare cases there are 
 cafions with perpendicular sides. The lands of three-fourths of 
 the State are gently rolling. The surface owes its present 
 form mainly to erosion. Between all the forms of upland 
 surface the transition is gradual. The bottom lands and 
 valleys are the most conspicuous modifying features of the 
 surface. They are huge shallow troughs, varying in breadth 
 from a quarter of a mile on the smaller streams to 23 miles on 
 the Platte and the Missouri. Their numerous terraces, like 
 broad steps, gradually lead to the bordering uplands, which in 
 turn are varied in height and form. Occasionally it is hard to 
 determine where the bottom ends and the bordering bluffs 
 begin, but generally both forms are clearly outlined. The 
 innumerable tributaries that creep quietly into the main 
 
 ^ From the article "Nebraska" in the Ninth Edition of the Encyclopedia 
 Britannica. 
 
 76 
 
Development of the Country 
 
 bottoms greatly complicate and beautify the forms of land- 
 scape. The number of these valleys is very great, the 
 Republican alone having more than four hundred tributaries. 
 Not less than 2 5 per cent of the entire surface of the State is com- 
 posed of well-watered valleys. . . . Most of these bottom lands, 
 though composed of the richest vegetable mould and alluvium 
 modified by loess materials, are perfectly dry, and rarely 
 subject to overflow. A clear conception of the topography 
 can only be obtained by crossing the State at right angles to 
 the courses of the valleys. . . . South of the valley of the 
 Niobrara, and commencing in 100° W. long., are the noted 
 sand-hills. They vary in height from a few yards to several 
 hundred feet. Almost every form of wind sculpturing is found, 
 but the conical predominates. Though formerly naked, these 
 hills have recently become covered with grasses which are 
 fixing the sands, and preserving their curious crater-like forms. 
 They extend to the head of the forks of the Loup river, 
 covering an estimated area of 8000 square miles. 
 
 The average mean temperature of the summer months — 
 June, July, and August — in eastern Nebraska is 73° Fahr. At 
 the North Platte it is slightly higher. Excepting a small 
 section in the north-western part, the whole State is included 
 between the summer isotherms of 72' and 76°. The mean 
 temperature of the autumn months — September, October, and 
 November — is 49°. As excessive rains rarely fall during these 
 months, the comparatively high mean temperature renders 
 the autumn season long and delightfully mild. The isotherm 
 of 20° during the winter months — December, January, and 
 February — embraces all of Nebraska except the north-west 
 corner, where the temperature is slightly lower, and the south- 
 east corner, where it is slightly higher. The spring months — 
 March, April, and May — have a mean of 47° Fahr. The mean 
 of the whole year is in the southern half of the State 55°, in 
 the northern half 52^°. Rarely does the temperature in 
 midsummer rise to 100°. In twelve years the thermometer 
 fell below zero on an average thirteen times a year. The 
 lowest point ever reached was 32° below zero. The heat of 
 summer is constantly modified by breezes. Owing to the dry- 
 ness of the atmosphere the cold is not felt more when the 
 thermometer registers — 20° than in moist regions when it 
 marks only zero. . . . The atmosphere is wonderfully clear and 
 pure throughout the year ; objects can be seen at a great 
 
 77 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 distance, and clouds when formed are outlined with exceptional 
 clearness. 
 
 The rainfall in eastern Nebraska is abundant. At the 
 Missouri it averages 40 inches a year ; 100 miles farther west 
 32 inches ; 200 miles west of the eastern boundary 30 inches. 
 Beyond this point it more rapidly lessens until the North 
 Platte is reached in western Nebraska, where the average is 
 only 20 inches. In the end of May, or in early June, when 
 the " big rise " of the Missouri and the Platte occurs, a rainy 
 season invariably commences which lasts from three to eight 
 weeks. As this is the time when crops most need rain, 
 destructive droughts are rare in eastern Nebraska. . . . 
 
 The name Nebraska signifies land of broad rivers. Chief 
 of all is the Missouri, which flows in a tortuous course for 500 
 miles along its eastern boundary, and is navigable for 2000 
 miles above Omaha. Next in importance is the Platte, which 
 flows through the whole length of the State from west to east. 
 Rising in lakelets in the Rocky Mountains, fed by snows, its 
 entire length approximates 1200 miles. When it enters the 
 State it is already a broad and rapid, though shallow, river, 
 flowing over a sandy bed. At North Platte it forks, one 
 branch being known as the South and the other as the North 
 Platte. . . . 
 
 That, as explained above, the soils of the State are among 
 the best in the world, chemical analysis and experience alike 
 confirm. Experience has not yet settled the question whether 
 the alluvium of the valleys or the loess of the uplands is the 
 more valuable. Grasses and corn (maize) are the principal 
 products. Corn, especially, is a rarely failing crop. The root 
 crops that grow in temperate latitudes thrive amazingly. 
 Eastern Nebraska is eminently adapted to the growth of 
 apples, which here attain a size, colour, and flavour rarely 
 equalled elsewhere. Grapes, plums, and cherries do equally 
 well. Peaches, though not so sure as the former, are successfully 
 grown south of the Platte. The strawberry nowhere reaches a 
 better size or more luscious flavour than here. Other small 
 fruits do almost equally well. The spontaneous growth of 
 nutritious grasses, the ease with which cultivated varieties are 
 grown, and the enormous yield of corn render the State 
 peculiarly adapted for the raising of cattle, horses, sheep, and 
 hogs. The stock industry is growing rapidly, and is at present 
 doing most to enrich the people. No industry promises better 
 
 78 
 
Development of the Country 
 
 results, however, than the planting of new forests, to which 
 many people are devoting themselves with the most gratifying 
 success. . . . 
 
 History. — Nebraska was probably first visited by Europeans 
 in 1 541, in July of which year the Spanish general and 
 explorer Coronado penetrated from New Mexico to a country 
 which he called Quivira, and described as lying about the 40th 
 parallel, and abounding in buffalo, which corresponds with the 
 region of the Platte. It was then occupied by powerful Indian 
 tribes, whose chief ruler was Tatarax. It was subsequently 
 revisited by Padilla, a Franciscan friar who had accompanied 
 Coronado, and who here lost his life. No more records of 
 visits to this region are chronicled for two hundred years. 
 About the middle of the eighteenth century French missionaries 
 from Canada came to the Missouri, and still later a few traders 
 found their way here. It constituted a portion of the Louisiana 
 territory which was purchased by Jefferson from France in 
 1803. At that time Indian tribes still occupied the whole 
 region. At some earlier period a more civilized race lived 
 here who made pottery and skilful carvings, built houses and 
 fortifications, and reared mounds which often contain the ashes 
 of their dead. When Nebraska came into possession of the 
 United States the Sioux Indians were most numerous. The 
 Pawnees, Otoes, and Omahas were next in numbers and in 
 importance. These powerful tribes have all become reduced 
 in numbers by disease, constant wars, and privations. The 
 Sioux, who early gained the ascendency over the other tribes, 
 resided in north-eastern Nebraska. The eastern part of the 
 South Platte region was occupied by the Otoes, and the western 
 part by the Pawnees, between which tribes there were constant 
 boundary disputes. 
 
 The first settlement by whites was made in 1847 at 
 Bellevue on the Missouri, 9 miles south of Omaha. Here a 
 trading post of the American Fur Company was conducted by 
 Colonel Peter A. Sarpy, a Frenchman distinguished by his 
 knowledge of the Indians, his courage, and his enterprise. The 
 Mormon emigration, begun in 1847, traversed several paths, 
 one of which lay through Nebraska, which thus first became 
 generally known throughout the country. During the overland 
 traffic to California that commenced in 1849, depots of supply 
 were established at Bellevue, Plattsmouth, Nebraska City, and 
 in the interior at Fort Kearney. 
 
 79 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 The Act constituting Nebraska a distinct Territory, and 
 opening its lands to settlement, was approved May 30, 1854. 
 Its area then embraced 351,558 square miles, extending from 
 the 40th parallel to British America on the north, its eastern 
 line connecting the Missouri river on the south-east with the 
 Red River on the north, and its western line being the summit 
 of the Rocky Mountains, In 1861 Nebraska was shorn of its 
 extended territory by the cutting off of portions of it to form 
 Dakota and Colorado Territories. In 1863 it was still further 
 reduced by the formation of Idaho Territory. These curtail- 
 ments left Nebraska a purely prairie State. During the first 
 five years after the organization of the Territory the settlements 
 rapidly increased along the Missouri. Great numbers who 
 rushed to Pike's Peak in 1859 when the gold excitement was 
 at its height, on their return, disappointed and disgusted, 
 stopped and opened farms in the State. This had the effect of 
 starting settlements in the interior. The bottom lands of the 
 Missouri and its tributaries had first been occupied, and it was 
 supposed that the uplands were of inferior fertility. Now, 
 however, these so-called "bluff lands," composed of loess 
 materials, began to be cultivated, cautiously at first, until 
 experiment proved them to be of the choicest character. 
 Pioneers then began to push out from the rivers, at first only a 
 few miles, but finally wherever lands could be obtained, without 
 regard to the presence or absence of bottom lands. In 1863 
 the Union Pacific Railroad and in 1864 the Burlington and 
 Missouri River Railroad began to sell portions of their lands in 
 Nebraska, received from the general Government ; and this 
 became a most potent factor in turning a tide of emigration 
 into the State. 
 
 At the breaking out of the civil war in 1861 the population 
 of the Territory comprised less than 30,000. Yet Nebraska 
 furnished to the Union army during the war 3307 officers and 
 men, including two companies of scouts, partly composed of 
 Indians. 
 
 In 1866 the legislature prepared a constitution for a State 
 government, which a vote of the people confirmed by a small 
 majority, though the opponents of the measure claimed that it 
 was obtained by fraud. The first legislature under the State 
 constitution met July 4, 1866. The bill to admit Nebraska 
 as a State was passed over the president's veto, and proclaimed 
 on March i, 1867. 
 
 80 
 
Development of the Country 
 
 The first capital of Nebraska was at Bellevue. It was 
 removed to Omaha in 1855, where it remained until Nebraska 
 became a State, when it was taken to Lancaster, a town of half 
 a dozen houses, whose name was then changed to Lincoln. . . . 
 
 NORTH DAKOTA^ 
 
 North Dakota, one of the north-western group of states of 
 the American Union, lies between 96° 25' and 104° W. and 
 45° 55' ^^^ 49° N. It has an extreme length east and west 
 of 360 miles, an extreme width north and south of 210 miles, 
 and an area of 70,795 square miles. Its vast expanse of 
 level or rolling prairies is well supplied with surface water by 
 several river systems and numerous small lakes. The most 
 important rivers are the Red river of the North along the 
 eastern border of the state, the Missouri in the western portion, 
 and the Sheyenne and James in the central portion. The surface 
 features of the state may in a general way be classified as 
 follows : plains of the Red river valley, highlands of the Pembina 
 and Turtle mountains, the rolling prairies of the central region, 
 and the western Coteau of the Missouri. The uniformly level 
 character of its surface, the absence of uplifts, and the lack of 
 deep erosion over the greater part of the state have given it no 
 very marked geological features. The formations occurring 
 include rocks of the Archaean, Cambrian, Silurian, Cretaceous, 
 and Tertiary ages, as well as glacial drift and alluvial deposits. 
 The Dakota sandstone of the Cretaceous group is especially 
 important as being the water-bearing stratum of the Great 
 Artesian belt, occupying a large part of the state. Many of 
 the clay deposits of the Cretaceous and Tertiary formations, 
 particularly those near Dickinson, Stark county, are remarkably 
 pure, and are utilized in the manufacture of excellent fire and 
 pressed brick. To the same formations belong the immense 
 beds of lignite coal extending west of the Missouri river, 
 from north of the Great Northern Railway into South Dakota. 
 In portions of the Red river valley the drift and alluvial 
 deposits attain a depth of 300 feet, giving a remarkably strong 
 subsoil and a deep and rich upper soil of black vegetable 
 mould. These deposits thin out westwards, with the gradually 
 
 1 From the article "North Dakota," in the new volumes of the Eiicyclopccdia 
 Britannica. Copyright, 1902, by The Encyclopcedia Britannica Company. 
 
 81 G 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 increasing altitude, till the high rolling prairies of the central 
 portion of the state are reached. . . . 
 
 Climate. — The climate is remarkably dry, cool, and in- 
 vigorating. The temperature occasionally rises to 95° F. in 
 summer, and occasionally falls to — 40° in winter, but neither the 
 exceptional heat of summer nor the exceptional cold of winter 
 entails the discomfort attending a similar range of temperature 
 in more humid climates. The summer nights are always cool. 
 The mean temperature at many signal stations in the state for 
 July and January, the hottest and coldest months, during the 
 years 1892-98 inclusive, was 68.9° and 3.7° F. respectively. 
 The mean temperature for the year was 39°. The average 
 precipitation is 17.23 inches a year, ranging from more than 20 
 inches in the extreme eastern part to less than 10 inches in 
 the extreme western. Fully three-fourths of the precipitation 
 occurs during the growing season (April to August inclusive), 
 and is sufficient for successful dry farming as far west as the 
 1 00th meridian. Beyond that meridian, save in localities of 
 exceptional rainfall, the country is better adapted to stock- 
 raising than to agriculture. 
 
 Agriculture. — Agriculture is the leading industry in the 
 eastern half of the state, as stock-raising is in the western half 
 In 1900 there were in the state 45,332 farms, containing 
 altogether 15,542,640 acres, of which about 62 per cent was 
 improved land. The total value of farm property was 
 $255,266,751, comprising land, improvements, and buildings, 
 $198,780,700; implements and machinery, $14,055,560 ; and 
 live stock, $42,430,491. The total value of farm products in 
 the preceding year was $64,252,494. The leading crops are 
 wheat, oats, barley, flax, rye, corn, and potatoes. The most 
 important crop is wheat. Spring wheat is grown exclusively, 
 mostly of the Scottish Fife variety, and ranking as No. i Hard 
 the best grain known to the market. Apples, pears, and 
 peaches are not grown to any extent, but all the small fruits 
 wild and domestic grasses, and all root crops are grown in 
 great profusion and of excellent quality. . . . 
 
 Population. — The population in 1880 of that part of 
 Dakota territory embraced in the present state of North 
 Dakota was 36,909 {-^^ to the square mile) ; the population 
 in 1890 was 182,719 (2^^ to the square mile); and in 
 1900 it was 319,146 (4y% to the square mile), showing an 
 increase for the decade of 74.7 per cent. Of the population in 
 
 82 
 
Development of the Country 
 
 1890, 101,590 were males, 81,129 females; 101,258 native- 
 born, 81,461 foreign-born; 7980 Indians, 373 negroes. Of 
 the population in 1900, 177,493 were males, 141,653 females; 
 206,055 were native-born, 113,091 foreign - born ; 311,712 
 were white, 286 negroes, 180 Chinese and Japanese, 6968 
 Indians. Fargo (population in 1900, 9589) and Grand Forks 
 (population in 1900, 7652), the leading towns, are the centres 
 of a large wholesale and retail trade. Bismarck, the capital 
 (population in 1900, 3319), is situated near the centre of the 
 state, at the junction of the Northern Pacific Railway with the 
 Missouri river. 
 
 History. — Dakota was a part of the Louisiana purchase of 
 1803. It was organized as an independent territory in 1861. 
 The territory was divided by Act of Congress, 22nd February 
 1889, and North Dakota admitted as a state 2nd November 
 of the same year. In politics the state has been uniformly 
 Republican, except in 1892, when it was carried by the com- 
 bined Democrats and Populists by a plurality on the Presi- 
 dential ticket of 181. 
 
 SOUTH DAKOTA^ 
 
 South Dakota, one of the north-western states of the American 
 Union, about 360 miles long, with an average width of about 
 225 miles ; it contains 77,850 square miles. 
 
 Geography and Geology. — The surface of the state, with the 
 exception of the Black Hills in the south-west corner, is 
 generally rolling prairie. The land east of the Missouri river is 
 fertile and well adapted to agriculture, that west of the river 
 is drier, more broken, and well suited to stock-raising. No 
 timber is found in the state outside the Black Hills, except 
 along the banks of the rivers and streams. The Black Hills, 
 where the timber has not been cut off, are covered with pine. 
 The timber along the rivers and streams is ash, elm, cotton- 
 wood, and box elder. Oak and black walnut are also found. 
 The greater portion of the state is of Cretaceous formation, with 
 some Tertiary deposits in the southern part. The Black Hills 
 are a distinct formation. Discoveries are constantly being 
 made of gold and silver in this part of the state. In 1899, 
 
 1 From the article " South Dakota," in the new volumes of the EncyclopcEdia 
 Britannica. Copyright, 1902, by The Encyclopcedia Britannica Company. 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 312,962 ounces of fine gold and 145,600 ounces of silver were 
 mined ; and mines of mica, gypsum, and bituminous coal of 
 good quality have been also opened and developed. Natural 
 gas has been discovered in different parts of the state, especially 
 in Hughes, Sully, and McCook counties, and is being utilized to 
 some extent for heating and illuminating. Quartzite sandstone 
 and other kinds of building rock are found in abundance in 
 various parts of the state. In 1899, 50,000 barrels of very 
 excellent cement, equal in strength and endurance to the best 
 Portland cement, were manufactured at Yankton from the chalk 
 rock and clays found in abundance along the bluffs of the 
 Missouri river. 
 
 Agriculture. — Of the agricultural products, wheat is the 
 staple crop, and has a world-wide reputation as producing the 
 best of flour ; 41,889,380 bushels were grown in 1899, valued 
 at $20,957,917. The yield of corn in the southern part of 
 the state and on the Missouri bottom lands frequently averages 
 75 bushels to the acre; 32,402,540 bushels were grown in 
 
 1899, valued at $7,263,127. . . . An artesian basin has been 
 developed in the central portion of the state at a depth of from 
 500 to I 100 feet, which is being utilized for irrigation, and 
 in some localities for manufacturing. Though there is a period 
 of low temperature during mid-winter, the climate is dry and 
 bracing. . , . 
 
 Population. — The census of 1890 gave the population of 
 South Dakota alone as 328,808, being an increase during the 
 preceding ten years of 234.6 percent. In 1900 the population 
 was 401,570, an increase for the decade of 72,762, or 22.1 
 per cent, approximately that of the country as a whole. 
 The average number of persons to the square mile was, in 
 
 1900, 5.2, as compared with 4,3 in 1890. There were, in 
 1900, 134 incorporated cities, towns, and villages in South 
 Dakota, of which 25 had more than 1000 inhabitants, 12 
 more than 2000, and only 2 more than 5000. These two 
 were Sioux Falls, with 10,266, and Lead City, with 6210 
 inhabitants. The capital, Pierre, had 2306 inhabitants. The 
 death-rate of the entire state in 1900, on the basis of the 
 number of deaths reported to the census enumerators in that 
 year, was about y.y. Of the total population in 1900, 216,164 
 (53.8 per cent) were males and 185,406 females; 313,062 
 (78 per cent) were native-born and 88,508 foreign -born ; 
 380,714 (94.8 per cent) were white and 20,856 were coloured. 
 
Development of the Country 
 
 of whom 465 were negroes, 165 Chinese, i Japanese, 20,225 
 Indians. Although there are numerous settlements of Scandi- 
 navians, Germans, Dutch, Bohemians, and other nationahties, 
 the American element is being rapidly increased by the 
 immigration of farmers from Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, and 
 other states, who, having sold their farms at high prices, go 
 west to buy equally good lands at a cheaper rate. Great 
 numbers of Indians have abandoned their tribal relations and 
 are taking their lands in severalty. 
 
 History and Politics. — The state formed a part of the 
 Louisiana purchase, and a portion of it was at one time included 
 in Minnesota territory, and later formed a part of the territory 
 of Nebraska. The territory of Dakota was organized in 1861, 
 and included the present states of North and South Dakota and 
 a large portion of Wyoming and Montana. It contained less 
 than 5000 white inhabitants. In i 870 that part of the territory 
 that is now the state of South Dakota contained 11,776, 
 and in 1880, 98,268, an increase for the decade of 734.5 
 per cent. The first constitutional convention met at Sioux 
 Falls in October 1883, and drafted a state constitution, which 
 was adopted by the people and presented to Congress for 
 approval ; but no action was taken. On 22 nd February 
 1889 Congress passed an Enabling Act, under which South 
 Dakota was admitted as a state, 3rd November 1889. The 
 former large Indian reservations west of the Missouri river 
 have been subdivided and large portions thrown open to 
 settlement. 
 
 The state is Republican in politics, but was carried for Mr. 
 Bryan and the Populist ticket in 1896 by a majority of a few 
 hundreds, and in 1898 a Populist governor was elected by a 
 small majority, though the Republican Congressmen and the 
 balance of the state ticket were elected by a large one. In 
 1900 the state went Republican by a plurality of 14,986. 
 Three important amendments to the constitution were submitted 
 to the voters at the election of 1898. One of them, involving 
 the initiative and referendum systems of legislation, was adopted 
 by a majority of 7331 ; another, involving women's suffrage, 
 was defeated by a majority of 3285 ; and the third, involving 
 the dispensary liquor system founded on that of South Carolina 
 (see Liquor Legislation)^ was adopted by a majority of 1643 ; 
 the Legislature of 1898-99, however, instead of enacting any 
 legislation to put the amendment in force, passed a resolution 
 
 85 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 submitting to the voters its appeal, which was carried in the 
 election of 1900. The civil and penal codes, as well as civil 
 and criminal codes of procedure, are similar to those adopted 
 in California, and are founded on those favourably reported by 
 the Code Commissioners of New York, 
 
 MONTANA 1 
 
 Montana ... is limited on the N. by British Columbia, on 
 the E. by Dakota, on the S. by Wyoming and Idaho, and on 
 the W. by Idaho. Its boundaries, as established by statute, 
 are as follows : — on the N., the 49th parallel ; on the E., the 
 27th meridian west of Washington, or the 104th west of 
 Greenwich ; on the S. and W. the boundary follows the 45 th 
 parallel from the 27th meridian west to the 34th meridian 
 west, then turns south along the latter meridian to its point of 
 intersection with the continental watershed, thence along the 
 crest-line of this watershed westward and north-westward until it 
 reaches the Bitter-root Mountains ; it then follows the crest of 
 this range north-westward to the point where it is crossed by 
 the 39th meridian west, which it follows north to the line of 
 British Columbia. The total area is about 146,080 square 
 miles — an approximate estimate, as the boundary along the 
 continental watershed and the Bitter-root Mountains has not 
 been exactly surveyed. The average elevation above sea-level 
 has been estimated at 3900 feet. 
 
 Topographically, Montana may be separated into two great 
 divisions — that of the plains comprising the eastern two-thirds, 
 and that of the mountains comprising the western portion. 
 The former, a monotonous rolling expanse, broken only by the 
 beds of the few streams which traverse it, and by a few small 
 groups of hills, extends over nine degrees of longitude in a 
 gentle uniform slope, rising from 2000 feet above the sea at 
 the eastern boundary to 4000 at the base of the Rocky 
 Mountains. Except along the streams and upon the scattered 
 groups of hills, this section is entirely devoid of forest-growth 
 of any kind. Vegetation is limited to the bunch grasses, 
 artemisia, and cacti. The grasses are the most abundant and 
 luxuriant near the mountains, where the rainfall is greatest. 
 
 1 From the article " Montana," in the Ninth Edition of the Encyclopadia 
 Britannica. 
 
 86 
 
Development of the Country 
 
 The mountain section ... is composed, in general terms, 
 of a succession of ranges and valleys running very uniformly 
 somewhat in a north-west and south-east direction. The 
 mountains vary in height from 8000 to 10,000, even in 
 isolated cases reaching 1 1,000 feet, with mountain passes 6000 
 to 8000 feet above the sea. Towards the north the ranges 
 become almost continuous, forcing the streams into long and 
 circuitous courses in order to disentangle themselves from the 
 maize of mountains, while, on the other hand, the ranges of the 
 south-western part . . . are much broken, affording numerous 
 low passes and water-gaps. 
 
 In the mountainous part . . . are the head waters of the 
 Missouri (Atlantic basin) and Clark's Fork of the Columbia 
 (Pacific basin). The former rises in the south-west ... in 
 three large branches, the Jefferson, Madison, and Gallatin, 
 which meet at the foot of the Gallatin valley at a point known 
 as the " Three Forks of the Missouri." Here the Missouri is 
 a good -sized stream, fordable with difficulty even when the 
 current is lowest. From this point to its mouth navigation 
 is possible when the stream is not below its mean height ; it is 
 interrupted only at the Great Falls of the Missouri, near Fort 
 Benton, above which, however, it is practically little used for 
 navigation. Its other principal tributaries in its upper course 
 are the Sun, Teton, Marias, Musselshell, and Milk rivers, all of 
 which vary much in size with the season — the last two being 
 nearly or quite dry near their mouths in the fall of the year. 
 The Yellowstone, one of the most important tributaries of the 
 Missouri, has nearly all its course in Montana, and is navigable 
 for small steamers as far as the Crow Agency, except when 
 the water is low. Clark's Fork of the Columbia is formed by 
 the junction of the Flathead and the Missoula or Hellgate 
 river. The former rises in the mountains of British Columbia 
 and flows nearly south through Flathead Lake to its point of 
 junction with the Missoula. The latter rises opposite the 
 Jefferson river and flows north-westward, receiving on its way 
 several large affluents. Below the point of junction of these 
 streams, Clark's Fork flows north-west along the base of the 
 Bitter-root Mountains into Idaho. This stream is very rapid, 
 and is not navigable. Its course, as well as those of most of 
 its tributaries, passes through narrow valleys, the surrounding 
 country being well watered and covered with dense forests of 
 Coniferce. 
 
 87 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 Geology. — Most of the mountain area belongs to the Eozoic 
 and Silurian formations. Along the base of the mountains is 
 a Triassic belt of variable width. Succeeding this is a broad 
 area of nearly horizontal Cretaceous beds, followed by the 
 Tertiary formation, which covers nearly one-third of the 
 Territory. These recent formations are interrupted here and 
 there by volcanic upheavals. 
 
 Cli}nate. — The climate of Montana differs almost as greatly 
 in different parts ... as that of California. In the north- 
 west it resembles that of the Pacific coast. The westerly 
 winds blowing off the Pacific do not meet with as formidable a 
 barrier as farther south, and consequently are not chilled, or 
 deprived of so large a proportion of their moisture. The 
 result is that the north-western portion of Montana enjoys a 
 mild temperature and a rainfall sufficient for the needs of 
 agriculture. The valleys of the Kootenai, Flathead, Missoula, 
 and Bitter-root can be cultivated without irrigation with little 
 danger of loss from drought. Farther east and south the 
 rainfall decreases. In the valleys of the upper Missouri, the 
 Jefferson, Madison, Gallatin, and the upper Yellowstone 
 irrigation is almost everywhere required, as well as over the 
 broad extent of the plains. . . . The rainfall ranges from lO 
 to 1 5 inches annually; in the north-western corner it rises 
 to 25. 
 
 The general temperature is comparatively mild for the 
 latitude, the elevation above the sea being decidedly less than 
 that of the average of the Rocky Mountain region. The mean 
 annual temperature ranges from 40° to 50° Fahr., but the 
 variations are very great and violent. Frosts and snowstorms 
 are possible during every month of the year, so that agriculture 
 and stock-raising are more or less hazardous. On the other 
 hand, the ordinary extremes of temperature are not so great as 
 in more arid portions of the country. . . . 
 
 History. — The Montana country was originally acquired by 
 the United States under the Louisiana purchase. It became 
 successively a part of Louisiana Territory, of Missouri Territory, 
 of Nebraska Territory, and of Dakota. . . . The exploration 
 of this region commenced with the celebrated expedition of 
 Lewis and Clark in 1803-06. Between 1850 and 1855 it was 
 traversed and mapped by a number of exploring parties, having 
 in view the selection of trans-continental railroad routes. . . . 
 The first settlers entered the Territory in 1 86 1, discovered placer 
 
 88 
 
Development of the Country 
 
 gold on Little Prickly Pear Creek, and shortly after built the 
 city of Helena. Later, the placers at Bannack were discovered, 
 and a small "rush" to the Territory commenced. In 1863 
 the rich placers at Alder Gulch were brought to view, and 
 miners and adventurers swarmed in from all parts. Then it 
 was that the early social history of California was repeated on 
 a smaller scale in Montana. The lawless elements assumed 
 control, and for many months neither life nor property was 
 safe. Indeed, for a time the community was in a state of 
 blockade ; no one with money in his possession could get out 
 of the Territory. Finally, the citizens organized a " Vigilance 
 Committee " for self-preservation, took the offensive, and after 
 a short sharp struggle rid the community of its disturbing 
 elements. After the exhaustion of the placers, the population 
 decreased, owing to the migration of the floating mining class ; 
 but their place was soon taken by more permanent settlers. 
 
 COLORADO' 
 
 Colorado, one of the United States of North America. 
 Boundaries : N., Wyoming and Nebraska ; E., Nebraska and 
 Kansas ; S., the Indian Territory and New Mexico ; and W., 
 Utah. Latitude, between 37^ and 41° N. ; longitude, from 
 102° to 109° W. Breadth, N. to S., about 280 miles ; length, 
 E. to W., about 380. Area estimated at 106,500 square 
 miles or 68,160,000 acres. Population, 120,000. 
 
 Mountains. — This territory is traversed from north to south 
 by the great continental chain of the Rocky Mountains, and 
 according to its orographical configuration may be divided into 
 a mountain district, a hill district, and a plain district. The prin- 
 cipal range of these mountains bears the name of the Sawatch 
 Range. It consists of a solid mass of granite, has an average eleva- 
 tion of I 3,500 feet, presents a broad and massive outline, and has 
 a mean breadth of from fifteen to twenty miles. It is really a pro- 
 longation of the Sierra Madre of Mexico, and up to about 40° N. 
 lat. it forms the dividing line between the Atlantic and the 
 Pacific versants. Beginning at the south we have the following 
 peaks: — Mount Bowles, 14,106 feet; twelve miles northward. 
 Mount Howard, 14,208 ; eleven miles to the north-east. La 
 
 1 From the article "Colorado," in the Ninth Edition of the Encyclopedia 
 Br/tannica. 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 Plata Mount, 14,126; seven miles from La Plata, Grizzly 
 Peak, 13,786, and Mount Elbert, 14,150; and six miles from 
 Mount Elbert, Massive Mountain, 14,192. P^or about eighteen 
 miles north of this last elevation the range is comparatively low, 
 but it rises again in the great terminal peak of the Holy Cross, 
 which attains a height of 13,478 feet, and owes its name to the 
 figure emblazoned on its summit by the white lines of its snow- 
 filled ravines. Second only in importance to the Sawatch 
 range are the Elk Mountains, which strike off from it in a 
 south-west direction, and extend for a distance of upwards of 
 thirty miles. They are geologically interesting for the almost 
 unexampled displacement of the strata of which they are com- 
 posed, and the apparent confusion which has thence arisen. 
 Among the most remarkable of its separate summits are 
 Italian Mountain, 13,43 i feet in height, so called because it dis- 
 plays the red, white, and green of the Italian national colours ; 
 Whiterock Mountain, 13,847 feet ; Teocalli Mountain, 13,274 ; 
 Crested Butte, 12,014; Gothic Mountain, 12,491; Snow 
 Mass, 13,961 ; Maroon Mountain, 14,000; Castle Peak, 14,106 ; 
 Capitol, 13,992, and Sopris Peak, 12,972. Of less importance, 
 but still distinct and well defined, are the Wet Mountains in 
 the south-east, the Raton Mountains in the south, and the 
 Uncompahgre Mountains in the south-west. The eastern 
 series of elevations which abut on the region of the plains 
 are known as the Front Range, and present a fine bold outline, 
 broken by several peaks of about 14,000 feet or upwards 
 in height. One of the most remarkable features of the oro- 
 graphy of Colorado is the unusual development of its upland 
 valleys, or " parks," to use the term that has become distinctively 
 their own. The four most extensive are known respectively 
 as the North, the Middle, the South, and the San Luis ; the 
 last is by far the finest of the four. They stretch almost in a 
 line from the southern to the northern boundary of the State, 
 just on the western side of the Front Range, and occupy an 
 average breadth of 50 miles. The San Luis Park is, as it 
 were, an " immense elliptical bowl " with an area of 9400 
 square miles, bounded on the E. by the Wet Mountains and 
 the Sangre de Cristo range, and on the W. by the Sierra de 
 San Juan, which is part of the great Sierra Miembres. Its 
 surface is nearly as flat as a lake, and it almost certainly was 
 at one time the bed of a great inland sea. The centre of the 
 northern part, which bears the distinctive title of the Rincon, 
 
 90 
 
Development of the Country 
 
 is still occupied by a considerable sheet of water, fed by 
 nineteen mountain streams, and accustomed in the winter to 
 overflow a large stretch of the neighbouring savannah. The 
 southern part, which continues onwards into New Mexico, is 
 traversed by the Rio del Norte and several of its tributaries. 
 
 Rivers. — Of the rivers of the Atlantic versant, the most 
 important are the South Platte, the Arkansas, and the Rio 
 Grande del Norte ; those of the Pacific are all members of the 
 great Colorado River. The South Platte has its head waters in 
 Buckskin Mountain, and its earlier tributaries flow from the 
 slopes of the northern part of the Front Range. At its source 
 at Montgomery it has a height above the sea of i 1,176 feet ; 
 at its exit from the upper canon it is still 7623, but by the 
 time it reaches Denver it is only 5176. The Arkansas rises 
 in the same district, at a height of 10,176 above the sea, in 
 Tennessee Pass, but as it leaves Chalk Creek has come down 
 to 7877. In the upper part of its course it passes through a 
 canon from 1000 to 1500 feet in depth. The Rio Grande del 
 Norte has its head waters in the Sawatch range and the Sangre 
 de Cristo range, and flows south through the valley San Luis 
 Park. The river, which gives its name to the State, belongs to 
 the territory only by some of its most important tributaries, 
 of which it is sufficient to mention the Bear River and the 
 Gunnison and Grand River, which unite before they pass into 
 the territory of Utah. The numerous minor " creeks " which 
 feed the main streams must not be forgotten in forming an idea 
 of the main features of the country. . . . 
 
 The climate of Colorado is remarkable for its regularity and 
 salubrity. During the day the thermometer not unfrequently 
 rises to 90° in summer, but the nights are always cool and 
 dewless. In winter the weather is generally mild — the lowest 
 thermometric marking being only 7° below zero, in Middle 
 Park 15°, and in Denver 13°. Snow often lies deep in the 
 higher inhabited districts, but in the lowlands it is never more 
 than 10 or 12 inches, and it disappears again almost im- 
 mediately. All through the year the atmosphere is so dry and 
 light that butcher meat can be preserved by the simplest process 
 of desiccation. Between July and October there is very little 
 rain, day after day bringing a bright and cloudless sky. " An 
 air more delicious to breathe," says Bayard Taylor, "cannot 
 anywhere be found ; it is neither too sedative nor too exciting, 
 but has that pure, sweet, flexible quality which seems to support 
 
 91 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 all one's happiest and healthiest moods." For asthmatic and 
 consumptive patients it exercises a restorative influence which 
 cannot be disputed ; and the State consequently promises to 
 become an extensive sanatorium for the eastern districts of the 
 continent. The only flaw in the climate of Colorado is its 
 violent storms of wind, and in some parts of the country heavy 
 falls of hail. It would seem, however, that the humidity is on 
 the increase ; and, whatever be its cause, the change is quite 
 perceptible since the colonization of the territory. The Cache 
 a la Poudre, for instance, is said to be yearly increasing in 
 volume, and streams which formerly dried up in the summer 
 now maintain a continuous flow. Among the secondary 
 hygienic advantages of which Colorado can boast, the mineral 
 wells hold an important place. They occur in various parts of 
 the country, and belong to different classes. Chalybeate 
 waters are found at Manitou, Carlisle, and Red Creek ; soda 
 springs at Manitou, Trinidad, and Canon City ; sulphur springs 
 at Fairplay, on the Navajo River, and at Idaho springs ; and 
 thermal springs, partly sulphur and partly soda, exist at 
 Pagosa, in the Middle Park, in Seguache County, at Wagon 
 Wheel Gap, and at Del Norte. Manitou is already becoming 
 a fashionable watering-place ; the fountains and the surrounding 
 land were purchased by a. company in 1870; and in 1873 
 there were already six large hotels and numerous private 
 residences erected round the spot. . . . 
 
 Vegetation. — The mountains of Colorado were, till a com- 
 paratively recent date, richly clothed with forest ; but owing 
 partly to natural causes, and still more to the lavish consumption 
 and reckless destruction of the early settlers, the quantity of 
 growing timber in the State is exceedingly small, and before 
 long, if restorative measures are not adopted, the Colorado 
 demand for wood will require to be supplied from without. 
 Whole mountain sides often present the appearance of 
 monstrous cheavaux-de-frise, the dead trunks of the wind- 
 thrown pines being tossed about in all directions. The 
 principal trees, after the pine, are the so-called hemlock and 
 cedar, the cotton-wood, and the aspen (or Popnlus treumloides). 
 The minor flora of the country is exceedingly rich ; and 
 especially in the plain region the abundance of flowers is 
 amazing. " The colour of the landscape," says Dilke, " is in 
 summer green and flowers ; in fall time yellow and flowers ; 
 but flowers ever." 
 
 92 
 
Development of the Country 
 
 Agriculture. — Wherever irrigation can be obtained the soil 
 of eastern Colorado is well fitted for agriculture. Wheat, oats, 
 and barley afford heavy crops ; potatoes succeed except in the 
 extreme south, and owing to the dryness of the atmosphere are 
 easily kept ; onions vie in size and flavour with any in the 
 continent ; beans might be grown more extensively, but they 
 suffer from the attacks of a small insect, possibly a species of 
 Haltica ; and almost all the garden products of the same 
 latitude in Europe can be satisfactorily cultivated. The wheat 
 affords a very white dry flour, and competes with the finest 
 in the markets of the world. The yield often reaches forty 
 or fifty bushels per acre, and in exceptional cases con- 
 siderably exceeds this amount. In the higher districts — 
 the parks and the mountain -valleys — a greater proportion of 
 ground is devoted to pasture either of sheep or cattle. The 
 native grasses are of excellent quality as fodder ; and during 
 the winter the natural hay that has withered where it grew is 
 preferred by the cattle to the best that can be furnished by the 
 labours of the husbandman. In certain districts the pastoral 
 departments of husbandry have had to be abandoned, owing to 
 the presence of poisonous plants, the most important of which 
 seems to be Oxytropis Lamberti ; but these districts are of very 
 limited extent. The cost of pasturing is merely nominal, as 
 the cattle can be driven over extensive districts, under the 
 charge of Mexican or Indian herdsmen. Wool can be pro- 
 duced for ten cents per lb., and a four-year-old steer for ten 
 dollars. . . . 
 
 History. — Recent explorations have shown that the western 
 parts, at least, of the Colorado territory were at one time 
 inhabited by a native American race of considerable civilization, 
 who were perhaps connected or even identical with the Moquis 
 of the regions further south. The first important European 
 mission was that of Vasquez Coronado, despatched from 
 Mexico in 1540. In 1821 the Rocky Mountains were visited 
 by S. T. Long, the American engineer ; and part of the northern 
 district was pretty fully explored by Captain J. C. Fremont 
 during the great expedition of 1843. It was not till 1858 that 
 the Indian tribes were disturbed in their sparsely-peopled 
 hunting-grounds ; but in that year the discovery of gold by 
 W. G. Russell, a Georgian, on the banks of the River Platte, 
 near the present city of Denver, attracted general attention, and 
 bands of pioneers poured in from Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri. 
 
 93 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 During i860, 1861, and 1862 there was a continuous stream 
 of immigration ; Denver, Black Hawk, Golden City, Central 
 City, Mount Vernon, and Nevada City were all founded in 
 1859; next year saw the rise of Breckenridge, Empire, and 
 Gold Hill; George Town and Mill City were added in 1861, 
 and Ward District was settled in 1862. In 1861 the region 
 was organized as a territory in accordance with the wish of 
 the inhabitants, who had held a convention at Denver in 1859 ; 
 its area was declared to include 47,657,000 acres previously 
 assigned to the territories of Utah and Kansas, 10,262,400 
 from that of Nebraska, and 8,960,000 from New Mexico, 
 making a total of 66,880,000. The first governor was William 
 Gilpin, a Pennsylvanian by birth and a Quaker in religion, 
 who has done a great deal for the development of the territory, 
 and was the originator of the scheme by which it was made to 
 include part of both slopes of the Sierra. From 1862 to 1865 
 the natural progress of immigrational movement was checked, 
 partly by the great national struggle, and partly by the local 
 Indian war which broke out in 1864, and for a time rendered 
 the routes extremely unsafe, and even threatened the existence 
 of the new settlements. Many of the sites, indeed, were 
 deserted, and large numbers of the miners left the country. 
 In this way Empire greatly decayed, and Gold Dirt and 
 Bakerville absolutely disappeared. Happily it was only the 
 Indians of the plains who took part in the attacks, and 
 though they numbered from 10,000 to 15,000, they were 
 quickly quelled. In 1865 the immigration again flowed on ; 
 and it was found that at the census of 1870 the population 
 was 39,864 citizens, distributed into 9358 families, and inhabit- 
 ing 10,009 houses. The proportion of males to females was 
 24,820 to 15,044. Since that date the population has very 
 rapidly increased, and it was estimated at 120,000 in 1874. 
 Colorado was received into the Union as a State in 1877. 
 
 WYOMING' 
 
 Wyoming ... is nearly rectangular in shape, having as its 
 boundaries the 41st and 45 th parallels of N. latitude and the 
 27th and 34th meridians west of Washington. South of it are 
 Colorado and Utah ; on the west, Utah, Idaho, and Montana; 
 
 1 From the article "Wyoming," in the Ninth Edition of the Encyclopczdia 
 Britannica. 
 
 94 
 
Development of the Country 
 
 on the north, Montana ; and on the east, Dakota and Nebraska. 
 The area is 97,890 square miles. 
 
 The surface is greatly diversified. Its mean elevation is 
 great, being probably not less than 6400 feet. The lowest 
 portions of the Territory are along the northern and eastern 
 borders, where in several places the surface is less than 5000 
 feet above sea-level, while its highest points exceed 13,000 feet. 
 By far the greater part consists of high plains, which are broken 
 by numerous mountain ranges and ridges, which form parts of 
 the Rocky Mountain system. This system enters the Territory 
 in the south-eastern part,and traverses it in a north-west direction. 
 On the south it consists of three members, the Laramie range, 
 which is crossed by the Union Pacific railroad at Sherman, and 
 the Medicine Bow and Park ranges, which separate branches of 
 the North Platte river. These ranges run out and fall down 
 into the plain in the southern part of the Territory, leaving for 
 150 miles a broad flat plateau to represent the Rocky 
 Mountain system. The ill-defined summit of this plateau 
 forms the parting between the waters of the Missouri and 
 Colorado. Eastward this plateau slopes to the Great Plains, 
 and westward to the Green river basin. The Union Pacific 
 railroad traverses it, and therefore the traveller upon this road 
 sees little of the Rocky Mountains except at a distance. 
 Farther north the mountains rise again from this plateau in 
 several ranges. The principal of these is that known as the 
 Wind River range, which in a sense is continued northward 
 beyond the northern boundary of the Territory by the 
 Absaroka range. The former contains the most elevated 
 land in the Territory, its highest peak being Fremont's, with 
 an elevation of i 3,790 feet. The latter range is in its southern 
 part a great volcanic plateau, elevated 10,000 to 11,000 feet 
 above the sea, while farther north it is eroded into very rugged 
 mountain forms. About the point where these ranges join, 
 there is a confused mass of mountains of great breadth and 
 considerable height. In this elevated mass rise streams flowing 
 to the Atlantic, the Gulf of California, and the Pacific. The 
 highest peaks of these mountains are those known as the 
 Three Tetons, the most elevated of which. Mount Hayden, has 
 an altitude of 13,691 feet. East of the Wind River and 
 Absaroka ranges, and separated from them by the valley of 
 the Wind River and the Big Horn basin, is the range known 
 as the Big Horn Mountains, which is reputed to contain peaks 
 
 95 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 having an altitude of 12,000 feet. These ranges form the 
 backbone of the Territory. Eastward from the Big Horn and 
 Laramie ranges stretch the plains in an almost unbroken 
 expanse, gently sloping to the eastward from an altitude 
 of about 6000 feet at the base of the mountains, while 
 south-west of the Wind River range is spread the expanse 
 of the Green River basin, through which flows the principal 
 fork of the Colorado. 
 
 The drainage system of Wyoming is somewhat complex. 
 While the mountainous regions are well watered by numerous 
 streams, the broad valleys and the plains are poorly supplied 
 with streams. Many of those which flow full in the mountains 
 during the entire year run dry in summer upon the plains. 
 None of the streams are navigable. The eastern three-fourths 
 of the Territory is drained by the tributaries of the Missouri to 
 the Atlantic. Of this area the North Platte drains the southern 
 portion of the Rocky Mountain system, together with a large 
 part of the plains lying north and east of it. Farther north- 
 ward and eastward the plains are drained by the Cheyenne 
 river. The eastern face of the Big Horn mountains is drained 
 by the Powder and Tongue rivers, while from its western slopes 
 and from the eastern slopes of the Wind River and Absaroka 
 ranges, the Wind River, known lower down in its course as the 
 Big Horn, collects the waters. The Yellowstone, heading in 
 the confused mass of mountains about the north end of the 
 Wind River range, flows northward through a beautiful lake, 
 draining the west slope of the Absaroka range. The Snake, 
 or " Mad " river of the early explorers, heading in the same 
 mass of mountains, flows south-westward to seek an exit from 
 them, while the Green, whose sources are in the same elevated 
 country, drains the west slope of the Wind River range, and 
 flows southward through the broad sage - covered expanse 
 known as the Green River basin. In the south-west corner of 
 the Territory is a small area drained by means of Bear River 
 into Great Salt Lake. 
 
 The geological structure of Wyoming is even more com- 
 plicated than its surface features. In the north-western corner 
 is an area in which volcanic action, as represented in hot 
 springs and geysers, is still alive, while the evidences of 
 volcanic action upon a tremendous scale, in recent geological 
 time, are seen in the form of sheets of lava and volcanic breccia, 
 which are spread over the land, and from which mountain 
 
 96 
 
Development of the Country 
 
 ranges have been carved. Most of this region is comprised in 
 the Yellowstone National Park {g.v.), which has been set 
 apart from settlement by the general Government. Many of 
 the mountain slopes show a succession of the stratified forma- 
 tions, from the Triassic downwards through the series. The 
 plains region is mainly floored by Tertiary and Cretaceous 
 formations, as is also the case with the higher plateaus and 
 with the Green river basin. 
 
 The native fauna of Wyoming resembles that of the other 
 north-west Territories. The larger quadrupeds, which were 
 formerly very abundant, and which are now not unfrequently to 
 be met with, are the grizzly, black, and cinnamon bears, the 
 North American panther, the elk, the moose, two or three 
 species of deer, and the antelope. Upon the plains are seen 
 the grey wolf and the coyote, the jack rabbit, the prairie dog, 
 and the gopher. The buffalo, which was formerly extremely 
 abundant upon the plains, is now practically extinct. 
 
 The eastern plains are mainly grass-covered, but as one 
 goes westward the grass gradually disappears and gives place 
 to artemisia and greasewood. Forests are confined almost 
 entirely to the mountains, although the high plains in the 
 Yellowstone Park, in the north-western corner of the Territory, 
 are covered with timber. The forests are composed of quaking 
 aspen upon the lower slopes, succeeded at greater elevations by 
 pines and spruces, the upper limit of timber in the Territory 
 being about 10,000 feet above the sea. 
 
 Wyoming has, in common with most of the western states, 
 an arid climate. In the arable regions the rainfall is nowhere 
 sufficient for the needs of agriculture, and irrigation is univer- 
 sally practised. The rainfall ranges in this part of the 
 Territory from 8 to i 5 inches, being greater in the eastern part 
 and diminishing westward. Upon the mountains it probably 
 reaches, if it does not exceed, 30 inches annually. 
 
 The temperature ranges with the elevation. Upon the 
 plains and plateaus and in the valleys (this comprising nearly 
 all the habitable parts of Wyoming) the annual temperature is 
 between 40^ and 50° F. Upon the mountains it diminishes 
 until at an altitude of 10,000 feet it reaches approximately the 
 freezing point. . . . 
 
 The area of Wyoming was in the main included in the 
 Territory of Louisiana, acquired by the United States by 
 purchase from France. . . . 
 
 97 H 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 INDIAN TERRITORY 1 
 
 Indian Territory is a tract of land in the southern central 
 portion of the United States, which has been set apart as a 
 reservation for the use of various tribes of Indians. It lies 
 between the parallels of 33° and 37" N. lat and the meridians 
 of 17° and 23° W. long, of Washington (94° and 100° W. of 
 Greenwich). It is bounded N. by Kansas, E, by Missouri and 
 Arkansas, and S. and W. by Texas. The area is estimated 
 approximately at 69,000 square miles. The eastern portion is 
 fertile and well watered, having an annual rainfall of 40 to 50 
 inches, and a mean annual temperature of about 60° Fahr. 
 The surface is mainly rolling prairie, with broad stretches of 
 rich land along the streams, and an abundance of timber. 
 This section of the territory is separated from the western part, 
 which presents a different aspect, by a broad belt of forest, 
 known as the " Cross Timbers," which extends nearly across 
 the territory in a north and south direction, marking the 
 outcrop of the Carboniferous formation. Its breadth ranges 
 from 40 to 60 miles. 
 
 West of this singular strip of forest the country assumes 
 the appearance of the " Great Plains," — that long incline which 
 stretches eastward from the base of the Rocky Mountains. 
 The surface is a monotonous, rolling, treeless expanse. The 
 valleys are shallow, and the dividing ridges are broad and 
 slightly marked. The climate is comparatively dry, the average 
 annual rainfall being but 20 to 25 inches; and irrigation is 
 needed for the successful cultivation of most crops. The mean 
 annual temperature is somewhat lower than in the east, while 
 the contrast in this regard between summer and winter, day 
 and night, becomes much more marked. . . . 
 
 The generally level surface of prairies and plains is broken 
 in the southern and south-eastern parts of the territory by 
 ranges and groups of hills, which rise from a few hundred to 
 1500 feet above the surrounding country. These hills, known 
 as the San Bois Hills, Shawnee Hills, Wichita Mountains, etc., 
 form a part of the Ozark Mountains, which extend eastward 
 over into Missouri and Arkansas. 
 
 The principal rivers of the territory are the Arkansas with 
 
 1 From the article " Indian Territory " in tiie Ninth Edition of the Encydopmdia 
 Britaiinica. Copyright, 1880, by Henry Gannett. 
 
 98 
 
Development of the Country 
 
 its branches, the Neosho, the Salt and Red Forks, and the 
 Canadian, with its North Fork, and, in the southern part of the 
 territory, the Red River, which forms the boundary with Texas, 
 and its branch, the Washita. All these are of little or no 
 importance as regards navigation. The eastern part of the 
 territory is well watered, but the western part, except at times 
 of flood, in late spring and early summer, has few flowing 
 streams. . . . 
 
 The fauna and flora partake of the double character of the 
 surface and climate. In the eastern part they tend toward 
 subtropical types, while the western portion presents forms 
 more or less peculiar to the arid plains. . . . The vegetation of 
 the eastern part is profuse, especially in the bottom lands. 
 The forests present a great variety of species very similar to 
 those found throughout the lower Mississippi valley ; among 
 them are several species of oak and pine, cypress, red cedar, 
 black walnut, gum tree, &c. Among the wild fruits, which 
 also present much variety, are plums, persimmons, grapes, &c. 
 On the plains of the western part of the territory the principal 
 natural productions are the grasses which, growing in tufts or 
 bunches, are known collectively as bunch or buffalo grass. 
 While this is the prevailing growth, in the more desert 
 localities its place is usurped more or less by artemisia, cactus, 
 and yucca. 
 
 OKLAHOMA 1 
 
 Oklahoma, a territory lying in the south central part of the 
 United States, organized under an Act of Congress, passed 
 2nd May 1890. It was formed from the western part of 
 Indian Territory, and included all that part of it not occupied 
 by the Five Civilized Tribes, and the Indian tribes within the 
 Quapaw Agency, except the Cherokee outlet lands. The 
 Cherokee outlet and " No Man's Land " were added by pro- 
 clamation of the President in September 1893. Lying between 
 34° and 37° N. and 96° and 103° W., it is bounded on the N. 
 by Colorado and Kansas, on the E. by Indian Territory, on the 
 S. by Texas, and on the W. by Texas and New Mexico. 
 There are contained within its boundaries 39,030 square miles, 
 of which 4600 square miles are reserved. Geologically it is 
 
 1 From the article "Oklahoma" in the New Volumes of the Eticyclopccdia 
 Britannica. Copyright, 1902, by The Encyclopedia Britannica Company. 
 
 99 
 
 l-of^. 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 divided into regions of mountains, prairie plains, and great 
 plains. The group or range, in the southern part, known as 
 the Wichita Mountains, is of granitic formation, and rises 
 through Silurian limestones and red beds to an altitude of 
 about 2700 feet above the sea-level. The prairie plains in 
 the north-east are a continuation of the residual soils of the 
 Carboniferous prairies to the east, extending westwards to 
 about 97° 30' W., marked by red sandy clays, or red beds, and 
 further characterized by great deposits of gypsum and salt. 
 Here and there over the prairies are areas of Cretaceous forma- 
 tion, the sandy beds of which are covered with oak timber 
 (" Cross timbers "). The great plains in Oklahoma are eastern 
 breaks of the Great Plains plateau to the west, making a 
 ragged line through the western part, with sandy tongue-like 
 divides between the streams. Soils and rocks are sandstone, 
 gravel, and marl, and there are great salt deposits in the north- 
 western corner along Beaver Creek. . . . 
 
 History. — For a number of years before the opening of this 
 country, public lands in adjoining territory had been so over- 
 populated that many illegal attempts were made by covetous 
 squatters to obtain possession. When finally the lands had 
 been purchased of the Indians by the Government, and thrown 
 open to settlement, the rush to secure homesteads and town 
 lots was unprecedented, there being five or six persons for every 
 available claim, and innumerable contests arose in consequence. 
 Probably no agricultural country was ever settled with such 
 rapidity. Towns were started without a single inhabitant in 
 the morning and by night contained a population of five 
 thousand, housed in tents or without shelter. Railways already 
 built facilitated this rapid growth by landing building material 
 and supplies without delay. " No Man's Land," the extreme 
 western strip of land, was for many years unattached to any 
 state or territory, and designated on the maps as " Public 
 Land." Greer county, in the south - western corner, was 
 disputed territory for many years, the state of Texas claiming 
 that the North Fork of the Red river was the main stream, and 
 therefore the boundary line. A decision of the United States 
 Supreme Court was against this claim and it remains attached 
 to Oklahoma. 
 
 Products. — The eastern and middle parts are agricultural 
 lands, the richest soil being in the bottom lands of the broad 
 river valleys, devoted to the cultivation of various farm products, 
 
Development of the Country 
 
 the most important of which are wheat, oats, cotton, and corn. 
 Indian corn, castor beans, melons, pea-nuts, alfalfa, and many- 
 fruits and vegetables are raised. The rainfall is occasionally- 
 much below the average, when failures result, but with normal 
 conditions the soil produces luxuriantly. The western part is 
 a grazing land, affording pasturage for cattle in large numbers. 
 Horses, sheep, and swine are also raised. ... It is estimated 
 that during 1901, 25,000,000 bushels of wheat, 60,000,000 
 bushels of corn, and 140,000 bales of cotton were raised, and 
 that 36,235 horses, 52,580 mules, 617,750 cattle, 42,000 
 sheep, and 277,289 hogs were owned in the Territory. 
 
 Population. — The population in 1900 was 398,331, as 
 compared with 61,834 in 1890; 214,359 were males, and 
 183,972 were females; 382,651 were native and 15,680 were 
 foreign-born; 367,524 were whites, 18,831 were negro, 11,945 
 were Indians, and 3 i were Chinese. The population materially 
 increased in 1901 by the opening to settlement of the Kiowa 
 and Comanche Indian Reservation. The average number of 
 persons to the square mile was 10.3, as compared with 1.6 in 
 1890. There were fifty incorporated cities and towns in 1900, 
 but of these only two had a population of over 4000, namely, 
 Oklahoma city with 10,037, and Guthrie (the capital) with 
 10,006 inhabitants. . . . There are about 12,000 Indians 
 upon the several reservations and allotted lands set apart for 
 their use, representing members of the following tribes : Kiowa, 
 Comanche, Apache, Wichita, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Sac and Fox, 
 Ponca, Pawnee, Caddo, Delaware, Kansas, Osage, and Shawnee. 
 Some of the tribes are dependent upon the Government for 
 support, while others are self-sustaining. Several Government 
 schools are maintained, attended by 2000 Indian children. 
 Many acres of their land are leased for grazing purposes, but 
 some of it is used by the Indians themselves for agriculture and 
 grazing. . . . 
 
 There has been a remarkable increase in the manufactures 
 and mechanical industries since 1 890, an increase even more 
 striking than the increase in population (544.2 per cent), and 
 exceeding that of any other state or territory. Compared 
 with older localities, the amount of manufacturing is still 
 insignificant. A notable product is the manufacture of cotton- 
 seed oil, which has grown with the rapid development of the 
 cotton crop. 
 
Colonial Literature' 
 
 Some Account of the Chief Literary 
 Characters and Efforts of the Time. 
 
 The Colonial Period. — Little of interest in the world of letters 
 has come down to us from the 17th century in the 
 West. Sandys's Ovid, translated on the banks of the James 
 River, dedicated to Charles I., and published 1626, is worthy 
 of note as the first contribution to English literature from 
 America. About the same date the Welsh Puritan Vaughan 
 sent home his Golden Fleece from Newfoundland, and Captain 
 Smith gave to the world his descriptions of Virginia. ... A 
 little later we have a Puritan version of the Psalms, the worst 
 of many bad ; and about 1 650 the poems of Anne Bradstreet 
 and Benjamin Thomson, worthy of mention, but scarcely 
 readable. In prose are relics of the sermons and controversies 
 of Roger Williams and John Cotton and Eliot, the apostle of 
 the Indians, with the ponderous Magnalia and witch denuncia- 
 tions of Cotton Mather. The main literary event of the 
 century was the foundation (1636) of Harvard University. 
 Yale College followed at a long interval, and subsequently 
 Princeton College, and Brown University (Rhode Island). In 
 all new countries industrial and commercial interests are at 
 first the strongest. The febrile activity produced by fear of a 
 sterile future leaves little room for speculative imagination. 
 But in the New World, colonized in part by adventurers, in 
 part by religious refugees and enthusiasts, another influence 
 was from the first at work. When her solitudes began to give 
 place to cities, the brains of her people were expended on the 
 farm or the exchange with a zeal materially modified by the 
 spirit and formulae of the faith which led the founders of the 
 Northern States across the sea, and continued to infuse a 
 
 ' From the article "American Literature" in the Ninth Edition of the 
 EncyclopiEciia Brilannica. 
 
 102 
 
Colonial Literature 
 
 religious element into their enterprises. This element, which 
 elevated the settlers of New England above ordinary emigrants, 
 adding to their strength and giving a faster dye to their 
 morality, was yet, in its original form, no more favourable to 
 freedom or variety of thought than the industrialism by which 
 it was surrounded. But it begat and fostered the Puritan 
 theological literature which was concentrated in the massive 
 yet incisive treatises and discussions of Jonathan Edwards of 
 Connecticut — (1703 -175 8) — who, if not, as asserted by 
 American panegyrists, " the first man of the world during the 
 second quarter of the 1 8th century," was yet, by the clear 
 vigour of his thought and the force of its expression, one of the 
 foremost figures of that era. An estimate of his rank as a 
 theologian belongs to a distinct branch of the history of 
 American literature. It is enough here to refer to the 
 testimony of all competent judges as to the singular lucidity of 
 his style, and to that of his contemporaries as to the fervour of 
 his eloquence and the modest simplicity of his life. Passages 
 of his occasional writings, as the description of his future wife, 
 evince a grace and sweetness of temper not always associated 
 with the views of which he was and remains the most salient 
 English advocate, . . . Benjamin Franklin, as long as Utilitarian 
 philosophy endures, will be a name to conjure with. It is 
 claruvi et venerabile, though its owner was endowed with as 
 little as possible for a great man of the " faculty divine." 
 Franklin's autobiography, the details of which need not find 
 place here, is as romantic as the life of an unromantic person can 
 be. . . . Franklin's experiments and physical discoveries form a 
 chapter in the history of science ; but half of his fame even in 
 this field is due to the precision and clearness of the manner in 
 which they are announced. "The most profound observations," 
 says Lord Jeffrey, " are suggested by him as if they were the 
 most obvious and natural way of accounting for phenomena." 
 The same literary merit characterizes the financial pamphlets 
 and treatises which first brought him into celebrity. Both are 
 marked by the same spirit, — the love of the Useful, which was 
 his passion through life. Franklin follows Bacon, to an 
 extreme opposed to that of the Platonists, in decrying abstrac- 
 tions. Archytas is said to have apologized for inventing the 
 arch. Franklin is ashamed to have wasted time over pure 
 mathematics in his " magical squares." His aim is everywhere 
 to bring down philosophy, like the lightning, from heaven to 
 
 103 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 earth, '■' illustrans conimoda vitcB." His ethics — those of 
 Confucius or the Seven Sages, modified by the experience and 
 the circumstances of a later age — are embodied in the most 
 famous of popular annuals. Poor Richard's Almanack, in which 
 for twenty-six years he taught his readers (rising to the number 
 of 10,000) "the way to be healthy and wealthy and wise," by 
 following simple utilitarian rules, set forth in plain incisive 
 prose and rhyme, rendered attractive by a vein of quaint 
 humour and the homely illustrations always acceptable to his 
 countrymen. The same train of thought appears in the 
 " Whistle," among the letters from Passy, where his persistent 
 deification of thrift appears side by side with graceful compli- 
 ments to Mesdames Helvetius and Brillon, records of the 
 aftermath of sentiment that often marks a green old age. 
 Franklin remains the most practical of philosophers in perhaps 
 the most practical of nations. . . . 
 
 Little that is of permanent literary value is left us of the 
 harangues that were the trumpet-calls of patriotism during the 
 American Revolutionary War. The triumphs of Patrick 
 Henry, who " wielded at will that young democraty," are 
 commemorated in the judicious biography of Wirt, but few of 
 his orations are accurately preserved ; and of the speeches of 
 James Otis, which were compared to " flames of fire," we have 
 mainly a tradition. His pamphlet (1762), entitled A Vindica- 
 tion of the Conduct of the House of Representatives, is considered 
 to contain the germ of the Declaration of Independence. 
 Among other considerable efforts of eloquence, those of Fisher 
 Ames are worthy of note as being directed in great measure 
 against the excesses of democracy. The master-minds of the 
 era were the statesmen and jurists, who fought for the free soil, 
 sunk the deep foundations, and reared the superstructure of the 
 new Commonwealth. The history of American law is a 
 distinct theme. It must suffice here to mention, as claiming 
 recognition in the field of letters, Washington himself, in his 
 clear and incisive though seldom highly-polished correspond- 
 ence ; his biographer John Marshall, chief justice of the 
 supreme court from 1801 to 1835, one of the early pilots of 
 the state, who left behind him a noble and stainless name, and 
 laid down the first principles of that international code after- 
 wards elaborated by Wheaton ; Madison, John Jay, the elder 
 Adams, and Alexander Hamilton, during the war Washington's 
 " most confidential aid," afterwards the presiding genius of the 
 
 104 
 
Colonial Literature 
 
 movement represented by the Federalist, the organ of the anti- 
 democratic party. To this he contributed three-fourths of the 
 material, marked, as are all his papers and speeches, by 
 originality of thought, breadth of view, and purity of style. 
 As secretary of the treasury, he became perhaps the greatest of 
 financiers. The general judgment of his countrymen acquiesces 
 in the terms of the tribute paid to his memory by Guizot. 
 " He must be classed among the men who have best known 
 the vital principles and fundamental conditions of a govern- 
 ment worthy of its name and mission." Of Hamilton's 
 numerous historical sketches, the most celebrated is his letter 
 to Colonel Laurens giving an account of the fate of Major 
 Andre, in which refinement of feeling and inflexible impartiality 
 of view are alike conspicuous. The great and unhappily the 
 bitter antagonist of the Federalists is one of the most con- 
 spicuous figures in the history of American thought. Thomas 
 Jefferson (1743- 1826), President from 1801 to 1809, is the 
 representative in chief of the revolutionary spirit of his age and 
 country. . . . Jefferson might be termed the Danton of the 
 West, but his forte lay not so much in oratory as in political 
 management and incisive vivacity. More perhaps than any 
 other great statesman of his age, he aspired to be an author, to 
 which title the best passages in his Notes on Virginia, his 
 Autobiography, and Correspondence, give him a fair claim. His 
 descriptions of scenery in the first are always pleasing and 
 generally graphic. His sketches of Continental society are 
 lively, and his occasional flights of fancy, as the dialogue 
 between the head and heart, at least ingenious. His religion 
 and ethics were those of his friend Tom Paine and the 
 Encyclopedie. . . . 
 
 The ballad literature of the revolution days is said to have 
 attracted the attention of Lord Chatham, less probably from 
 its intrinsic merit than from its faithful though rough embodi- 
 ment of the sentiment that not only moved over the surface, 
 but penetrated the depths of the national life. The anonymous 
 popular literature of a country is the best " abstract and brief 
 chronicle of the time" in which it is produced. The songs 
 current in America during this era, inspired by the same spirit 
 and pitched in the same key, are historically interesting and 
 artistically monotonous. They celebrate in rude verse the 
 achievements of native heroes, like " Bold Hawthorne " ; or 
 ridicule, like " Jack Brag," the British Lion, or, like the " Fate 
 
 105 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 of Burgoyne," the overthrow of vaulting ambition ; or, as in 
 " Wyoming Massacre," bewail the fate of the fallen ; or, as in 
 " Free America," celebrate with schoolboy huzzahs the triumph 
 of the good cause. Among the very rude national anthems of 
 the West, " Yankee Doodle " is remarkable as having been an 
 old Dutch catch adapted into an English satirical chant, and 
 adopted, with conscious or unconscious irony, by the American 
 troops. " Hail Columbia," which as a poetical production takes 
 even a lower rank than " Rule Britannia," was a somewhat later 
 production by Joseph Hopkinson (1798); and the "Star- 
 Spangled Banner" of Francis S. Key is associated with the 
 traditions of the second British war. As inspired with the 
 spirit of the i8th, though belonging in date to the early years 
 of the 19th century, we may mention in advance the "Pilgrim 
 Fathers " of J. Pierpont, Woodworth's " Old Oaken Bucket," 
 " Home, Sweet Home," by J. H. Payne ; the humorous burlesque 
 of J. G. Saxe, " Miss MacBride " ; and the verses of the great 
 painter and creditable romancer Washington Allston, with the 
 refrain " We are one," 
 
 English philology and literature were during this period 
 represented by the famous Lindley Murray, and Noah Webster 
 (i 758-1 843), the author of the best dictionary of our language 
 that has appeared since Johnson's. In natural science, the two 
 Bertrams ; Alexander Wilson, the ornithologist ; and Audubon, 
 the literary glory of Louisiana, whose descriptions of animate 
 nature rival those of Bufifon, are illustrious names. 
 
 106 
 
St Louis ^ 
 
 Description of the City, and History 
 of its Settlement and Early Days. 
 
 St Louis, a city of the United States, chief city of the State 
 of Missouri, is situated on the west bank of the Mississippi 
 river, 20 miles below its confluence with the Missouri river and 
 200 miles above the influx of the Ohio, in 38° 38' i".6 N. 
 lat. and 90° 12' \y" W. long. It is distant by river about 
 1200 miles from New Orleans, and 729 from St. Paul at the 
 head of navigation on the Mississippi, and occupies a position 
 near the centre of the great basin through which the mingled 
 flood of the Mississippi and Missouri and their extensive 
 system of tributaries is carried to the Gulf of Mexico. The 
 site embraces a series of undulations extending westwards with 
 a general direction nearly parallel to the river, which at this 
 point makes a wide curve to the east. . . . The elevation ot 
 the city directrix above the waters of the Gulf of Mexico is 
 428 feet, that of the highest point of ground in the city above 
 the directrix is 203 feet ; the extreme high-water mark above 
 the directrix is 7 feet 7 inches, and the extreme low-water 
 mark below the same is 33 feet g^ inches. The elevated site 
 of the city prevents any serious interruption of business by 
 high water, even in seasons of unusual floods. 
 
 The plan of the city is rectilinear, the ground being laid 
 out in blocks about 300 feet square, with the general direction 
 of street lines north-south and east-west. The wharf or river 
 front is known as the Levee or Front Street, the next street 
 west is Main Street, and the next Second, and thence the 
 streets going north-south are, with few exceptions, in numerical 
 order (Third, Fourth, &c.). . . . The east-west streets bear 
 regular names (Chestnut, Pine, Washington, Franklin, and the 
 like). Market Street is regarded as the middle of the city, 
 
 1 From the article "St Louis" in the Ninth Edition of the Encyclopedia 
 Britannica. 
 
 107 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 and the numbering on the intersecting streets commences at 
 that line, north and south respectively. One hundred house 
 numbers are allotted to each block, and the blocks follow in 
 numerical order. ... In the central streets, subject to heavy- 
 traffic, the pavement is of granite blocks ; wood, asphalt, and 
 limestone blocks and Telford pavements are also used. . . . 
 
 The bridge across the Mississippi river at St Louis is one 
 of the most remarkable structures in the world in character and 
 magnitude. It consists of three arches, the two side spans 
 being 502 feet in the clear and the centre span 520 feet, and 
 carries a roadway for ordinary traffic 54 feet wide and below 
 this two lines of rail. The dimensions of the abutments and 
 piers are as follows : — 
 
 
 Dimensions at 
 foundation. 
 
 Dimensions at 
 top. 
 
 Height 
 
 from 
 
 foundation 
 
 to top of 
 
 M. 
 
 Foundation 
 
 below 
 
 extreme 
 
 low water. 
 
 Length. 
 
 Thickness. 
 
 Length. 
 
 Thickness. 
 
 East abutment . 
 East pier . 
 West pier. 
 West abutment . 
 
 ft. 
 83 
 
 82 
 82 
 
 94 
 
 ft. in. 
 70 6 
 
 60 
 
 48 
 
 62 8i 
 
 ft. in. 
 64 3i 
 
 63 
 
 63 
 
 64 3h 
 
 ft. in. 
 47 6 
 
 24 
 
 24 
 
 47 6 
 
 ft. in. 
 192 9 
 
 197 li 
 172 ij 
 112 8^ 
 
 ft. in. 
 93 3i 
 
 86 2^ 
 61 2j 
 13 3i 
 
 The foundations of abutments and piers rest on solid rock. 
 The two piers and the east abutment were sunk by means of 
 pneumatic caissons. The greatest depth below the surface at 
 which work was done was i i o feet, the air-pressure in the 
 caisson being 49 lb. Each arch consists of four equal ribs ; 
 each rib is composed of two circular members, 1 2 feet apart, 
 which are connected by a single system of diagonal braces. 
 The circular members consist of steel tubes, which are i 2 feet 
 long and 1 8 inches in diameter ; each tube is composed of 
 6 steel staves, varying in thickness between i^^ and 2^ inches. 
 These staves are held together by a steel envelope, a quarter of 
 an inch thick. The tubes are joined together by couplings, 
 and the end tubes are rigidly connected with wrought-iron 
 skewbacks, which are fixed to the masonry by long bolts. 
 The arches were erected without using any false work. Work 
 on the bridge was commenced March 1868, and it was opened 
 for traffic on 4th July 1874. The total cost of bridge and 
 approaches was $6,536,730. . . . 
 
 108 
 
St Louis 
 
 History. — The first permanent settlement on the site of 
 St Louis was made in February 1764, and was in the nature 
 of a trading post, established by Pierre Laclede Liguest. 
 Long prior to this event there had been some exploration of 
 the vast regions of the Mississippi and its tributaries by 
 Marquette, Joliet, La Salle, Hennepin, and others ; but, 
 although a few widely separated military and trading posts 
 had been established, there was no accurate knowledge of the 
 character and resources of the country. Laclede's expedition 
 was nearly contemporaneous with the treaty of Paris, 1763, by 
 which the title of France to the regions in the valley of the 
 Mississippi was practically extinguished, Spain becoming owner 
 of all Louisiana west of the Mississippi, and England of all 
 territory east of that river, excepting New Orleans. The few 
 French forts north of the Ohio were nominally surrendered to 
 the English, including Vincennes, Cahokia, Kaskaskia, and Fort 
 de Chartres ; but there was no immediate formal assertion of 
 English control, and French sentiments and manners and 
 customs remained undisturbed. In 1771 St Louis was 
 formally occupied by a small body of Spanish troops, 
 commanded by Don Pedro Piernas, and a period of somewhat 
 over thirty years of Spanish rule followed, during which few 
 local events of noteworthy character occurred. On 25 th May 
 1780 — the festival of Corpus Christ! — the post, or village, was 
 attacked by Indians, and about thirty of the citizens were 
 killed ; but the savages were beaten off and did not renew the 
 attack. In 1800 Spain ceded back to France all her territory 
 of Louisiana, and three years later — 30th April 1803 — France 
 ceded to the United States all her right, title, and interest in 
 the territory for eighty million francs. At this time St Louis 
 and the adjacent districts had a population of not over 3000, 
 and the total population of Upper Louisiana was between 
 8000 and 9000, including 1300 Negroes. There were not 
 over 200 houses in the embryo city, which consisted mainly of 
 two streets parallel to the river. For fifty or sixty years after 
 the landing of Laclede the progress of the town was necessarily 
 slow. In 1 8 10 the population was less than 1500, and in 
 1830 it had not reached 6000. From the latter date progress 
 became steady and rapid, and the real growth of the city was 
 compressed within half a century. An extensive conflagration 
 occurred in 1849, which destroyed most of the business houses 
 on the Levee and Main Street. During the Civil War the 
 
 109 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 commercial advancement of St Louis was seriously retarded ; 
 but the city continued to expand in population owing to its 
 advantageous geographical position. 
 
 ST LOUIS ^ 
 
 St Louis, the most important city in the state of Missouri 
 and the 4th in size in the United States, situated on the right, 
 or west, bank of the river Mississippi, about 20 miles below its 
 junction with the Missouri, in 38° 38' 3-6" N. and 90° 12' 17" 
 W. It has an area of 62^- square miles and a river front of 
 19 miles. Twenty lines of railway have their terminus in the 
 Union station, which covers i i acres and was opened in Sep- 
 tember 1894, The cost of the station, including the site, was 
 $6,500,000. The lines from the east cross the Mississippi by 
 Eads Bridge, which was opened for traffic 4th July 1874, and 
 also by Merchants' Bridge, 3 miles above the former, which was 
 finished in 1890 and is controlled by the Terminal Railway 
 Company. An Act of the legislature, passed in i 899, authorized 
 the consolidation of nearly all the rapid transit lines within the 
 city, A single company owns and controls 361 miles of single 
 track, and runs about 2000 cars. By a system of transfers, 
 passengers can go from almost any point in the city to another 
 upon payment of one fare. The suburban system owns lOO 
 miles of single track, and its equipment includes 200 cars. 
 
 Population. — The population in 1 890, not including any 
 suburban locality, was 451,770, an increase of 28.89 per cent, 
 over that of 1880. In 1900 it was 575,238, an increase of 
 27.33 per cent, over that of 1890. In 1900 the foreign-born 
 population numbered 1 1 1,356, and the native white population 
 born of foreign parents was 239,170. The total number of 
 negroes, or persons of negro descent, was 3 5,5 16. The death- 
 rate by the census of 1890 was 17.4. In 1900 it was 17.9, 
 being nearly 90 per cent, higher among the coloured than 
 among the white population. The birth-rate by the census of 
 1890 was 26.46 per 1000 for white persons and 26.36 for 
 coloured persons. 
 
 Education, Libraries, &c. — The number of public schools in 
 1 90 1 was 188 ; the number of teachers, 175 i ; the number of 
 
 1 From the article "St Louis" in the New Vohimes of the Encyclopedia 
 Britannica. Copyright, 1902, by The Encyclopaedia Britannica Company. 
 
 no 
 
St. Louis 
 
 pupils, 82,712. The total amount expended for school pur- 
 poses in 1899 was $1,888,670.22, and the estimated value of 
 all public school property, including that held for investment, 
 was $6,803,704. During the year 1899 and the spring of 
 1900 Washington University, an endowed non-sectarian insti- 
 tution, increased its endowment fund by more than $4,000,000, 
 and began preparations for removal to a new site comprising 
 150 acres on the outskirts of the city. The land, which cost 
 about $350,000, the fund for the new buildings, amounting to 
 $750,000, and the increased endowment, were the gifts of 
 citizens of St Louis. The St Louis University, belonging to 
 the Roman Catholic order of Jesuits, occupies large and com- 
 modious buildings in the city, and is one of the most important 
 institutions of learning controlled by that religious body in the 
 United States. 
 
 St Louis has a large number of clubs for social and 
 business purposes, chief among which are the St Louis, the 
 University, the Mercantile, the Noonday, the Union, the Com- 
 mercial, and the Round Table. The Mercantile library con- 
 tains upwards of i i 2,000 volumes. The public library con- 
 tains 135,000 volumes. 
 
 Municipal Affairs, Taxation, &c. — The bonded debt at the 
 end of the fiscal year 1900-1901 amounted to $ 1 8,916,278. 
 The annual interest charges on the debt outstanding loth 
 April 1899 amounted to $802,209, or an average of 4.367 per 
 cent, per annum. The resources of the sinking fund for the 
 fiscal year 1898-99 amounted to $361,783, and this money 
 was used in returning to the treasury the sum advanced during 
 the year 1897-98, and in the redemption of bonds maturing 
 during the year 1898-99. The assessed valuation of property 
 for the taxes of 1901 was $394,722,700, not including the 
 street railway property, the assessment on which is made by the 
 state board of equalization. The rate of taxation on the $100 
 valuation of property for 1901 for municipal purposes was 
 $1.90. In 1887 the city council authorized the extension of the 
 water-works system, and established a low-service station at the 
 Chain of Rocks, several miles above the former station. This 
 work was put into operation during 1894. Since that time 
 an extension of the high-service pumping plant has been 
 authorized, and plans are on foot for a plant to filter all water 
 before it is delivered. The extended works are able to furnish 
 100 million gallons of water a day. 
 
 Ill 
 
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 
 
 Cofyinierce and Manufactures. — Foreign shipments of flour 
 and grain by rail and river on through bills of lading during 
 the year 1901 were: of flour, 2,961,563 barrels; of wheat, 
 16,922,890 bushels; of corn, 14,942,915 bushels; of oats, 
 6,219,540 bushels ; cotton, 973,837 bales. The total value of 
 the gross receipts of cotton for 1901 was about $40,000,000. 
 Among other receipts for 1901 were: lumber and logs, 
 824,201,000 feet; wool, 25,877,110 lb.; sugar, 253 hhds., 
 465,246 barrels, 534,576 bags; coal, 4,407,890 tons; butter, 
 13,476,929 lb. The total number of tons of freight of all kinds 
 received and shipped was 28,758,664. St Louis produces more 
 than three-fourths of all the manufactures of the state of 
 Missouri. The estimated product of the manufactures of St 
 Louis for 1 90 1 is valued at $340,000,000, of which the follow- 
 ing are the chief: tobacco, 80,766,883 lb. ; flour, 1,505,234 
 barrels; furniture of the value of about $33,000,000. Boots 
 and shoes have been sold valued at $43,500,000 ; bagging, 
 12,500,000 yards. 
 
 Banking. — The number of banks in St Louis has been 
 reduced by consolidation from twenty-five in 1896 to nineteen 
 in 1901 ; the total capital has, however, been increased. 
 There are eight trust companies. In 1901 the bank deposits 
 increased to $788,801,986, and those in the trust companies 
 increased to $19,016,293. The total capital of the nineteen 
 banks in December 1901 was $30,059,963, and of the trust 
 companies, $29,278,007. The dividends paid by both banks 
 and trust companies in 1901 amounted to $2,604,000, an 
 increase of $619,000 over those of 1900. The clearings for 
 1901 exceeded those of any previous year by $562,830,722, 
 aggregating $2,270,680,216. The balances for the year 1898 
 were $182,014,792, and for 1899, $214,166,941. 
 
 Political Parties. — The city several years gave a decided 
 majority to the candidates of the Republican party in municipal, 
 state, and Federal elections, although the state of Missouri was 
 Democratic by a large majority for many years. The city, 
 however, gave a majority to the candidates of the Democratic 
 party in 1901. The vote for Presidential electors in 1896 was 
 as follows : for Republican electors, 65,708 ; for Democratic 
 electors, 50,091 ; in 1900, for Republican electors, 60,597 ; for 
 Democratic electors, 59,93 i. In the election of a state supreme 
 judge in 1898 the vote was as follows: for the Republican 
 candidate, 48,900 ; for the Democratic candidate, 39,697. 
 
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