THE
STATES AND TERRITORIES
OF
THE GREAT WES T;
INCLUDING
OHIO, INDIANA, ILLINOIS, MISSOURI, MICHIGAN, WISCONSIN, IOWA,
MINESOTA, KANSAS, AND NEBRASKA;
THEIR
GEOGRAPHY, HISTORY, ADVANTAGES, RESOURCES, AND
PROSPECTS; COMPRISING THEIR LOCAL HISTORY, INSTITUTIONS, AND LAWS.
GIVING A
TABLE OF DISTANCES,
AND TIIE
MOST DIRECT ROUTES AND MODES OF CONVEYANCE; ALSO, POINTING OUT THE BEST
DISTRICTS FOR AGRICULTURAL, COMMERCIAL, LUMBERING,
AND MINING OPERATIONS.
WITH A MAP AND NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS.
BY JACOB FERRIS.
NEW YORK AND AUBURN:
MILLER, ORTON, AND MULLIGAN.
BUFFALO: E. F. BEADLE.
1856.




Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856,
BY E. F. BEADLE,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Northern District
of New York.
C.. FELTON,
T RIOTYPER, -..-......BUFFALO.




PUBLISHER'S ADVERTISEMENT.
No parallel can be found in the world's history to
the progress and the prospects of the GREAT WEST.
Within the memory of living men, it was, for the
most, an unbroken wild —the abode only of wild
beasts, or of wilder men; and many of its most
wealthy, prosperous, and inviting sections, scarcely
twenty years since were untrodden by civilized feet.
Now, in population, wealth, material progress, in the
means of intercommunication, in liberal and permanent provision for the general and thorough education of its rising millions, she is without a rival.
Her advancement, however, has but just begun.
Her real greatness is yet in the future.
The West is the common center —the grand rallying ground of the world's emigrants-of its population, its labor, and its capital.
In view of what the West now is, and what each




iV        PUBLISHERS7 ADVERTISEMENT.
year is demonstrating she must become, who can estimate her future population, resources, and greatness?
The history of a region so vast, so rich, and so rapidly advancing, is one of the most interesting that
can anywhere be found. In the work here offered
to the public, the effort has been to give the rise,
progress, and present condition of the States and
Territories of the Great West.
This book also supplies a great deficiency in our
literature. Most other books upon the West are confined to some limited range of country, and are filled
either with adventures across the plains and over the
mountains, or with details of mere local interest.
But this takes a comprehensive view of the WHOLE
WEST. It describes the earlier emigrations to the
West, and presents a vivid picture of the modes of
traveling, and of the difficulties and dangers of the
way; it takes a comprehensive survey of the vast
water communications which connect the West with
all other portions of the continent; it contains a reliable account of the first explorations of the Mississippi valley, compiled from the original manuscripts of
the explorers themselves, affording information which
has never before been placed in the hands of the gen



PUBLISHERS' ADVERTISEMENT.          V
eral reader; it brings the general history of the
West down to the present time; it gives a sketch of
the local history of the Western States and Territories, including Kansas and Nebraska, together with
such portions of their Constitutions and Laws as
possess a general interest; it traces out the great
thoroughfares by which the best regions for agriculture, commerce and mining may be reached, together
with tables of distances; and gives an accurate account of the mines of Lake Superior. On the whole,
it is a book to be read —interesting to the general
reader, and valuable to the emigrant and traveler.
It is written in a style at once sprightly and elegant;
its details and its facts are often relieved by romantic incidents, and exciting and interesting adventures
of Western Pioneer life.
The author possesses a rare experience of the
West, having visited almost every part of it this side
of the Rocky Mountains, to obtain a knowledge of
the country, the progress of settlements, and the
manners and customs of the people.








CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Early emigration to the West - Motives of the emigrants —Their independence and perils - The "western fever" - The substantial
settler - Conveniences for traveling fifty years ago — The open.
hearted frontiersman- The solitudes of the forest - Modes of
conveyance - The old-fashioned Jersey-wagon — The season for
emigration - The preparation - The good-by start - Progress -
The wayside meal - Incidents by the way - The buried treasure. 18
CHAPTER II.
EARLY HISTORY OF TEIE WEST.
Territory included in the Great West - Water-shed, or divide -The
rivers and their tributaries - The fur hunter's canoe-passage to the
Gulf of Mexico - River system - Progress of the French missionaries, as early as 1632 - Nicolet- His influence over the IndiansThe journey of his life - His reception at Green Bay - Council
with the chiefs - Iroquois war — Its effects on the missions - The
great river west of the lakes - Claude Allouez, the first explorer of
Lake Michigan - Frozen in on Lake Michigan - Sailing on the ice
in a canoe - Pitch Rock - Visit to the villages of the Illinois -
M. Joliet and James Marquette explorers of the Mississippi - Their
birth, education, and character - Marquette among the missions -
Visited by the Illinois Indians - Contemplates exploring the Missisaippi alone - Is stationed at Michilimackinac - Arrival of Joliet
with orders to explore the Mississippi - Prayers and thanksgiving
for the favors conferred on them - Preparation and outfit —-The
Canadian canoe.......... 28
CHAPTER III.
EXPLORATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
Departure from  Michilimackinac - Wild oats - The tide at Green
Bay - Ascending the Fox River —Indian village on the shore of
Lake Winnebago - Wisconsin River — Its peculiarities —Joy at
reaching the Mississippi — Strange  fish - The  abundance  of
game - Foot-prints on the shore - Discover an Indian villageCouncil - Feast of corn meal, fish, and boiled dog- Presented
with a calumet - A strange plant - Monsters painted on a rock -
Frightful appearance of the water, at the junction of the MiUsouri - Clay paint - Indian method of dealing with musquitoes —




V1i         l            CONTENTS.
"Snags" and "Sawyers" - Arkansas Indians - Return up the
Mississippi and Illinois - Portage to Chicago - Arrival at Green
Bay- James Marquette sets out on a return to Chicago, to instruct
the Illinois Indians - Is detained all winter at the portage by sickness- Reaches the Illinois country in April, and founds a mission - His maladay increasing, he sets out on his return to Michilimackinac — Driven by westerly winds to the mouth of the St.
Joseph's - Becomes too weak to proceed - Expires on a bed of
boughs, on the shore of Lake Michigan........    50
CHAPTER IV.
THE GREAT LAKES.
Ottawa and French rivers - Robert Cavalier de La Salle, first navigator
upon the lakes - His patent for the monopoly of the trade of the
West- "The Griffin," the first sail vessel built on the Lakes —
Her first and only trip - La Salle's misfortune - Descends the Mississippi - Loses one of his hunters in the woods - Takes formal
possession of the country at the mouth of the Mississippi -Plate
engraved, and deposited in the earth - La Salle goes to France -
Returns with three ships - The store-ship dashed in pieces on the
coast of Texas - One hundred men lost by sickness - La Salle and
sixteen men set out overland for the Illinois - La Salle murdered by
two of his companions............  64
CHAPTER V.
FRENCH SETTLEMENTS.
Destruction of Montreal by the Iroquois —Iroquois conquered —
Treaty of peace - French emigration - Fort Chartres — Manufacture of flour in the Wabash country - The adaptation of the Indian
manners, etc., by the French —Its effects —Description of the
French settlements —Dress of the settlers — Inroads upon the
French - Attempts of the Spaniards to dispossess the French -
Their defeat, and overthrow of the Santa Fi expedition - Progress
of English settlements toward the West —An English trader
among the French - His fate - The Ohio Company's grant - Gov.
Dinwiddie dispatches Geo. Washington with a message to the
French — Beginning of the French war - The West open to
English emigration- Taking possession of the military posts -
Robert Rogers - Rogers' Rangers — Character of the Rangers -
The Rangers at Cleveland - Visit from  Pontiac - The forts
delivered to the English.............   73
CHAPTER VI.
Manner of trading with the Indians - Early routes to the West- The
Albany route - The Philadelphia route - The Indian trader - His
dress-Trading stations —The Indian's notion of the surveyor's
compass and chain —The Acadians-Destruction of their prop



CONTENTS.                          iX
erty —Transported to the sea-coast - They gather, and emigrate
in a body to the French settlements - Received with great hospitality - The Indian character...........   99
CHAPTER VII.
PONTIAC'S WAR.
Pontiac -Indian method of drilling their warriors —Pontiac assembles a council - Pontiac's speech - His dream - The fort at Detroit- Pontiac inspects the fort during a calumet dance -Pontiac's
conspiracy on the fort at Detroit defeated — A general destruction of the forts and settlements by the Indians -Stratagems of
the game of ball between the Ojibways aud Sacs, and destruction of
Michilimackinac - Fall of Venango - Condition of the frontier settlements - Colonel Henry Bouquet - His victory near Fort Pitt -
A council with the chiefs - Their apology for the war - Bouquet's
reply- Orders the Indians to bring in all their prisoners before
giving them the hand of friendship - Meeting of long-lost friendsConclusion of the Indian war-. Assassination of Pontiac..  110
CHAPTER VIII.
CONQUEST OF THE WEST BY THE UNITED STATES.
English and French settlements contrasted - Want of elbow-room -
The Yankee pioneers - Their character - Recklessness - Peculiar
dress - Their houses, etc. - " Hog and hominy " - "Old Ned "Tomahawk rights - Colonel Clark at the West- His characterDescends the Ohio —Sinks his boats —Surprises KaskaskiaInhabitants declare for the United States —British Lieutenantgovernor Rocheblane, captured - Vincennes taken - Militia organized - Clark among the Indians - "Courts of Illinois "- British
Governor, Hamilton, descends the Wabash with one thousand menRuse of Captain Helm - Clark's winter march - Hamilton surrenders - Territory held by Colonel Clark until the close of the
war.................... 139
CHAPTER IX.
THE NORTHWESTERN  TERRITORY.
-Political organization -Permanent territorial laws - First and second
grade - First church and schools - Cincinnati and North BendFirst civil court in the territory - Lawyers of the Northwestern Territory - Their manner of traveling from one court to another - The
British posts in the territory surrendered to the United States. 155
CHAPTER X.
OHIO.
Division of the Northwestern Territory —State government -.- Early
politics of the state —Rapid growth of the state —Its climate
1*




X             ~           CONTENTS.
and soil - Minerals - Salt springs - Water communications —
Crops - Domestic commerce - Railroads - Institutions of learn
iiLg- Chmuches — Taxable property, etc.........   165
CHAPTER XI.
MICHIGAN.
French agriculture - Population - Geography - Geology - The lower
peninsula — White-oak  openings - Burr-oak  openings-  "Catholes"  Pine woods of the north -Windfalls - Soil and fruits of
the lower peninsula -Pasturage - Settlements of Michigan - Commercial advantages -Detroit and other ports -Site for a great.
central city - The rivers - The lakes around Michigan - Improved
lands —Annual products - Schools, churches, and other institutions — Attractions to the settler -Exemption laws.... 173
CHAPTER XII.
INDIANA.
Yankee emigrants-Emigration  checked by the war of 1812 -
Admission as a state -Rapid settlement of the state- Where the
settlers came from- Soil of the state - The Ohio and Whitewater
valleys - The White River Valley - The Wabash Valley - River
navigation - Canals - Railroads - Agricultural products- Charitable institutions, churches, colleges, and schools.....  191
CHAPTER XIII.
ILLINOIS.
Extinguishment of the Indian titles -Admission as a state- Great
earthquake of 1811- Effect on the Mississippi - Effect on the Indians- First steamboat on the Mississippi - Keel-boat navigation - Keel-boatmen -Nature of the population —Length and
breadth of the state. Number of counties - Lands improved and
unimproved - Number of farms -Value of farming implements -
Annual products - The soil - The "American Bottom "- Prairie
lands - Grand Prairie - Coal regions -Yankee fences in Illinois -
Mode of forming settlements on the prairie -Plowing the prairie- The timber region — Minerals - Lead region - Chicago -
Rivers, canals, and railroads -Varieties of climate - The winter of
1855-56 - Seasons of the greatest cold - Schools, colleges, and
libraries - Exemption laws........    199
CHAPTER XIV.
WISCONSIN.
Organized as a territory —First settlements —Rapid emigrationSource of emigration - Admission as a state - Number of counties, dwellings, and families —Nature of the population- State
laws, with regard to voters- Courts - Interesting provisions of




CONTENTS.                          xi
the constitution - Length, breadth, and general surface of the
state - Southern Wisconsin - Superior natural advantages- Prairies - Oak openings - Abundant pasturages - Inducements to settlers - Southern Wisconsin compared with other states - Increase
of agricultural wealth — Lead  mines - Iron  region - Limestone - White marble - Northern Wisconsin - Extensive pine
regions - Water-power -The Wisconsin pine - Annual amount
sawed - Climate of Wisconsin - Health - Opinion  of physicians- Commerce - Harbors- Milwaukie  brick- Railroads
Educational institutions and laws - Exemption laws,...    217
CHAPTER XV.
IOWA.
The Black Hawk Purchase - First settlements - Second Indian purchase - Reports of the surveyors - Erected into a territory —
Garden of the West - Constitution formed - Provisions of the,constitution -Refuses the terms of admission as a state - A new
constitution - Admission as a state - Length and breadth of the
state - Population - Number of dwellings and families - Number
of counties - Amount of unimproved lands - Excess of male population - Source of emigration - Most populous counties - Land
speculations - Advantageous geographical position - General appearance of the state-Agricultural condition and resources —
Coal-fields - Limestone - Cedar Valley - Soil - Minerals -Commerce - Shipping ports - Capital of Iowa - Iowa City — Railroads - Advantage to settlers - Public institutions,... 235
CHAPTER XVI.
MINESOTA TERRITORY.
Explorations of the Upper Mississippi - Location of the territory" The New England of the West "- Territorial boundary - Laws -
Counties - Population - Nature of the population - Crops — General surface of the territory - Geology - Above Crowing River -
Chalk formation - James River - Buffalo pasture-ground - Big
Sioux River - Red pipestone quarry- St. Peter's River - Bottomlands - Blue Earth River - St. Peter's Valley - The paradise of
farmers- Lake Pepin - Terror of the lumbermen of the north -
Timber - Wild rice - Soil and its products - The Red River of
the North - Springs and lakes - Minesota the Artesian fountain
of  the  continent - Underground   hydraulic  power - Boiling
springs - Magnificent forest - Destiny of Minesota - Indian summers - Manner of perfecting a squatter's title - St. Paul - Table
of distances from Galena to St. Paul - Rates of fare,... 253
CHAPTER XVII.
THE SUPERIOR COUNTRY.
Lake Superior — American  coast - Anchorage - Harbors - Danger of navigating the lake —Curious phenomena of the lake —




Xii1                    CONTENTS.
Transparency of its waters-The mirage of Lake Superior —
Islands — Isle  Royal —Lakes in Isle Royal-Perennial ice —
Effect of the extreme cold on the growth of the trees - Rock Harbor - Streams emptying into Lake Superior - Appearance of the
shore - Iron-works of Carp River - Porcupine Mountains - Table
of distances - The La Grande Sables - Pictured Rocks - Ontonagon River - Montreal River - Sturgeon River - The Iron re
gion- The different beds, etc. —Geologists' opinion of the iron
region - Location of good agricultural lands - Advantages of a
railroad through the iron regions - The copper region of the Superior country - Lake Superior reverenced by the Indians - The first
Englishman who visited the copper region - Extract from his journal - First mining company- Mining companies of KeweenawTrap rock -Silver amongr the copper - Cliff mine - Copper Falls
mine, rich in silver - Largest mass of copper- Table of the products of foreign mines - Eagle Harbor —Game and speckled
trout - Fisheries of Lake Superior - Climate, etc...   273
CHAPTER XVIII.
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA.
Boundary of Kansas - Best lands open for settlement - Valleys of the
tributaries of the Arkansas River, and of the Smoky Hill Fork of
the Kansas — Pasturage -The land between the desert hills and
the Rocky Mountains — The Kansas River -Valley of the Grand
River - Timber- Coal - Springs - Council Grove - The Grand
Prairie- The Upper Arkansas- Pawnee Rock- The mirageTable of distances from Independence City to Pawnee Rock - The
Santa F6 trade - Southern Kansas ores - Settlements of Eastern
Kansas - Kansas laws for the recognition of land claims —Indians of Kansas - "First right" - Table of distances fiom  Fort
Riley to Missouri border- Military roads - Climate of Kansas -
Nebraska.                         -                      304
CHAPTER XIX.
KANSAS.
Its history and politics............... 325
CHAPTER XX.
Aid societies and preemptions............       339
TABLE OF DISTANCES,
Via the principal thoroughfares, to the Great West..... 47








___          _-                 _ /;. ~~~.~ ~~
~~~ I ~~~~~~~~I
EARLY EMIGRATION TO THE WEST.
A~~~~~~~~~~~~~%"~- /~:-~_~-~3.~L  ~.~            ~o~~o~..~




STATES AND TERRITORIES
OF
THE GREAT BWEST.
CHAPTER I.
Early emigration to the West- Motives of the eniants —Their independence and perils - The "western fever" - The substantial
settler - Conveniences for traveling fifty  ars ago - The openhearted frontiersman — The solitudes of the forest - Modes of
conveyance-The old-fashioned Jersey-wagon - The season for
-emigration - The preparation - The good-by start - Progress
The wayside meal- Incidents by the way -The -buried treasure.
FoR morethan half a centufy public attention has been
directed toward the setting sun. At the beginning of
that period, the West was regarded with mingled emotions of curiosity and dread.  The contemplation of a
magnificent, boundless wilderness, was well calculated to
excite the most sluggish imagination.  But to the daring
and resolute pioneer, the mystery that hung over the endless woods was continually a temptation to explore the furthest regions concealed beneath their shade.  There lay,
undisturbed, the hunter's paradise, with every excitement
necessary to savage life, from contact with wild beasts to
warfare with human beings. Other motives, however,
equally powerful, influenced men of widely different characters to resort to the western country. The criminal,




14               THE GREAT WEST.
flying from justice, made his escape into the woods.
Those who disdained conformity to the usages of civil
life, who abhorred the restraints of fashion, who aspired
to entire independence of all control, sought, instinctively,
beyond the borders of civilization. for the wild freedom
of nature. Also, the victims of misfortune looked to the
West, as a proper field for renewing the struggle of life.
It opened before them like another creation —rugged,
unorganized; but this was charming to them. The distribution of property would have to be begun over again,
in their time. There could be no aristocracy of wealth
or refinement in the woods. Abject poverty and heartless
affluence could not meet together there for many years.
The poor man, whose limited means were insufficient for
the wants of a growing family, removed to the West;
contented to endure its privations, and submit to its
hardships; cheered by the certainty of securing a competence to his children. But a small capital might there be
made speedily to accumulate into a fortune, without having to wait upon the slow processes of industry. The
speculator, eager to become rich, willing to place everything at hazard, to whom the opportunities, in populous
countries, for acquiring property, were unsatisfactory, or
too few, hastened impatiently into the wilderness in search
of water-power, and sites for future cities, delighting himself in the solitudes, with the prospect of public streets,
whose lines were blazed trees.
And, at the close of the Revolution, many of the
heroes of that war, having become impoverished, sought
in the western plantations a restoration of their fortunes;
carrying with them into the woods the patient endurance
and discipline acquired in the army, and manifesting a
most courageous diligence in subduing alike the wilder
ness and its savage inhabitants. Rocky New England,




EARLY EMIGRATION.                 15
also, sent forth its hardy sons, inured to toil, laborious,
calculating, frugal, and resolute, to plant in the new
country the system of schools and churches that had been
the blessing of their earlier days, and the pride of their
fathers; rejoicing, moreover, to exchange the stubborn
hill-sides,where they had been born, for the productive
plains and fertile valleys of the West.
To the young man, energetic, hopeful, ambitious, the
new country was a theater for noble aspirations.  He
could gi'ow with its growth. Nothing seemed to be impossible to him there. He could mingle with the brave,
and participate in the glory of their achievements. He
could associate with the wise, and share their renown.
But another interesting class of men took part in the
formation of the early settlements. The European emigrant might well avail himself of the opportunities presented to him by a new territory.  He had heard the story
of its fabulous advantages. Adventurous hunters, and
soldiers returned from the Indian wars, had spoken of the
marvels which their own eyes had seen. The men of the
woods, seated at the hospitable firesides of the older states,
and partaking of the good cheer of the long winter evenings, while the cider, and the apples, and the nuts were
passing around, had recited to tingling ears the story of
their long trails, and had stirred up afresh their smouldering
camp-fires. The reports which had reached New York,
New England, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, of the unexampled fertility of the West, of its early springs and
lingering autumns, its forests of valuable timber, its sealike lakes and majestic rivers, its prairies of waving grass,
its abounding mineral wealth, had flown also across the
Atlantic, and had awakened, universally, a desire to participate in the fortunes of so magnificent a country. But
often the European emigrant was acted upon by sterner




16               THE GREAT WEST.
necessities. A political outcast, whose only crime consisted in his loving his native country too well, he looked
for shelter to a foreign land. The interest with which he
contemplated Republican institutions had strengthened
his attachment to a government whose sway he had
never felt, and whose flag he had never seen. The sturdy
peasants of France and Germany, the mountaineers of
Switzerland, the yeomanry of England, the patriotic
Irishmen fleeing from unnatural oppression, found an
asylum in the wilds of America.
It was to have been expected that, with these streams
of population fliwing in upon the West from unfailing
sources, the center of political power in the Union would
become removed beyond the Alleghanies. The founders
of the Republic seem, indeed, to have contemplated the
formation of states to the north-west of the river Ohio;
and they made ample provision for the integrity of them.
It may well be doubted, however, if any of the framers
of the American system of government could have foreseen the splendors of that reality which has been unfolded
before our eyes.
But the West had its perils as well as its advantages;
and the settler had to brave the former, in order to the
enjoyment of the latter. A homestead he could there
have, at little expense beyond that of taking possession of
the land, and reducing it into cultivation; but it would
have to be obtained at the risks incident to a howling
wilderness. The soil might be fertile; but it was covered
over with dense forests. The exuberant vegetation of the
prairies might furnish pastures for innumerable herds of
buffalo; but the Indian war-paths intersected these prairies in all directions. Life in the wilderness, evidently,
was one of rugged independence; free from officious neighbors, free from meddlesome impertinence of every sort;




THE SUBSTANTIAL SETTLER.             17
free from the wholesome restraints, also, of established
customs and laws. But such a life was clearly deficient
in many things necessary to civilized man.  It could
furnish no security to person or property, beyond the
exercise of mere brute force in self-defense.  It could
not surround itself with those genial influences of civilization which call into play the finer qualities of human
nature. The school was wanting. The church was
wanting. Society was wanting. The majority of those,
however, who contemplated removing to the West,
looked habitually on the brighter side of the picture.
Visions of sunlit woods, of glittering streams and silvery
lakes, of tables groaning with venison, of barns filled
with grain, of days spent in wild, boisterous enjoyment,
kept the mind feverish and impatient. If a dark shadow
did occasionally flit over the view, it was but for a moment only, and then the reaction carried the mind to a
still higher degree of excitement. This was the "Western fever," a disease that has carried many a one offWest. But the man of a cool head and clear judgment,
not unmindful of the difficulties of the undertaking, could
see his way opening gradually before him to solid and
enduring results. Brawny arms and a muscular frame
could contend successfully with the trees of the forest
that had swayed to the winds for centuries. In skillful
hands, the American ax is a masterly weapon of warfare
upon wood. The burning to ashes of great slashings of
timber and underbrush would prepare the ground as well
for seed as it could be done with the plow. A bountiful
harvest would allay all anxiety respecting a scarcity of
provisions. Incessant toil, in a few years, would turn
the hunting-grounds into farms.  Orchards could be
planted.  Buildings could be erected.  Each isolated
house, in the new country, would be a point of attraction
B




18              THE GREAT WEST.
to future emigrants; it would soon become the center of
a growing neighborhood; and a society would be steadily
forming, which, for a time, at least, would remain free
from those odious contrasts which deform  and corrupt
more populous communities.
Such was the prospect which was pleasing to the substantial settler. But it is human to magnify anticipated
results, and to diminish anticipated obstacles. The most
difficult thing in this world is, to forecast so wisely that
our calculations shall correspond to the rigid severity of
experience. Before a single blow could be struck in the
wilderness, before a place could be selected where to put
up a temporary cabin, a long and dangerous journey had
to be accomplished. And traveling, fifty years ago, to
any considerable distance, was not an affair of trifling
-moment. The era of steamboats and railroads had not
then dawned on the world. The canal which connects
the Hudson Riverwith the lakes, existed only as a dream
in the mind of an enthusiastic statesman. The highways
leading westward were little more than wheel-ruts cut
deep in the soil. Bridges were rarely seen. The struggling teams were plunged into the waters at the fordingplaces. On approaching the remote frontier, the traces
of a road had become more and more faint and indistinct;
a little further on, the road itself had dwindled into a horsepath, then a blind trail, and then, as a facetious traveler
has said, "it turned into a squirrel track, and ran up a
tree."
New roadways and wagon-tracks are thrust forward
by civilization, in advance of its great, general movements.  When, therefore, the emigrant had passed all
those, he had got beyond the border -he had come into
the midst of the great western woods. And there the
difficulties of the way began to thicken around him. His




TIHE OPEN-HEARTED FRONTIERS3MAN.         19
perilous journey was but just beginning. For, although
he may have been traveling for weeks, since he had left
the eastern shore of Virginia, or the river counties of
New York, or the hills of New England, his course thus
far had taken him along the line of the settlements,
where be had been sure of a cordial reception at every
farm-house.  The inhabitants of a country which has
been brought recently into occupation, dwelling far apart
from each other, are keenly alive to every opportunity
for social intercourse. They live with an open door to
strangers. The choicest fare is brought out, the best
accommodations made ready which the house affords, to
promote the traveler's comfort, so long as he shall choose
to remain with them. The stranger is always welcome.
The settler feels a manly pride in extending to all a free
invitation to take shelter beneath his roof. To pass him
by without so much as halting, or apologizing for such an
apparent slight, is looked upon as an exceedingly shabby
proceeding.  It is contrary to all his notions of propriety. Instances have occurred of grave offense being
given, by refusing to stop to dinner, or to stay all night
with the rude, open-hearted frontiersman; who, actuated
by a generous instinct, acknowledges that all new-comers
have claims upon him, which he is anxious to make
good; and who feels that he, in his turn, has demands
upon them, for conversation, for news from down-country,
for friction of mind upon mind, which they ought to satisfy. Indeed, a capital story is received as lawful tender
for victuals and lodging, eyerywhere along the border.
The unstinted hospitality of the settlers scattered
along the ways leading toward the West greatly facilitated the progress of emigration, by softening its
hardships and lessening its expenses. But between the
settlements lay wide reaches of forest, and, further on,




20              THE GREAT NVEST.
the unbroken wilderness. When, therefore, the. emigrant
had pressed forward beyond the established dwellingplaces of men, his journey began to assume an entirely
different character. Cultivated fields no longer opened
before him, with the grateful assurance of plenty and
welcome good cheer near at hand. No longer the smoke
curled upward invitingly from the house by the roadside.
Surrounded now by the grand old forms of nature, the
emigrant felt isolated, cut off from all human associations.
In the midst of savage sights and savage sounds, he was
moving onward through perpetual shade. His present
situation would be apt to make the stoutest heart feel its
weakness and dependence. Alone in the wilderness, the
trees must be his companions by day and his shelter by
night. The woods were before him, the woods were round
about him. They interposed their huge trunks between
him and the world. They lifted on high their umbrageous
tops, and shut out the heavens. Many have turned back
from their awful presence. But the solitude of the forest
was far from being repulsive; it was simply overpowering.
Its terrors were softened by many peculiar beauties. There
was the witchery of its swinging shadows. There was the
sunshine glancing from  innumerable leaves.  And on
every hand, opening down into the distant gloom, were
long avenues of trees, arched over with waving branches
and foliage, through which the struggling light penetrated below, and danced to the music of the winds. At
night, the stars hung out upon the tree-tops. If no human voice was responsive to the emigrant's voice, yet the
birds, morning and evening, poured their songs into his
ear. And in the repose of midday, and in the silence
of night, all was not hushed; for the very stillness of
the woods was audible. The trees were continually sighing and moaning in the breathing air. But when storms




MODES OF CONVEYANCE.               21
swept down upon them, they writhed, and shrieked,
and clashed their rude arms, and roared upon a thousand
trumpets.
Day after day, amid scenes of solitary grandeur,
the emigrant had to grope about in the woods with
no other guides than the sun and stars, the courses
of the hills and streams, hewing for himself a passage
through interminable windfalls of timber, winding around
swamps,. rafting over rivers-toward that distant point
where he was hoping to be able to ascertain and secure
his claim. In this present age of rapid and easy transition from place to place, it is difficult to form a just conception of the length, the tediousness, the hardships of
those earlier emigrations to the West.
When men, alone, undertook to penetrate into the
depths of the wilderness, they usually went forward on
horseback, or on foot, as was best suited to their circumstances or convenience.  Quite frequently, however, a
whole family was to be removed at once, together with
the household goods, farming implements, tools, and cattle.
It must have required great resolution to break up the
old attachments which bind men to the places of their
birth. It must have required an heroic courage to do
this for the purpose of seeking a new home, not only
among strangers, but among wild beasts and savages.
But the fathers and mothers, fifty years ago, seem to have
possessed a spirit which rose above the perils of their
times. They went forward, unhesitatingly, in their long
and toilsome journeys westward, driving their slow-footed
oxen and lumbering-wagons hundreds of miles over
ground where no road was, through woods infested with
bears, and wolves, and panthers, and warlike tribes of Indians, settling in the midst of those dangerous enemies,
and conquering them all.




22                TIIE GREAT WEST.
After it had been decided upon to remove with the
family to the West, a mode of conveyance had to be provided, suited to the feebleness of women and children, and
to the carrying of supplies for man and beast. A few
were so fortunately situated on the banks of rivers that
they could float down with the current in flat-boats,
while their cattle were being driven along the shore;
or if it was necessary to ascend toward the head-waters
of a river, they could work their way up stream with setting-poles. But very many of the emigrants traveled
wholly with teams. Some of those who went part of
the way in boats had to begin or end their journeys on
wagons. The vehicles which they provided on such occasions, for land-carriage, were curiosities of wheelcraft.
The old-fashioned Jersey-wagon has long since given
place to more showy and flexible vehicles. Before open
buggies, or buggies with tops, had a being; before light
farm-wagons or democrat market-wagons were ever
thought of; before the miscreant was born that invented
those airy nothings, consisting of thills and wheels, on
which fools ride astraddle, with a horse's tail switching
between their legs - the old-fashioned Jersey-wagon was
an established institution. It once rolled deep in the
sands between the Delaware and the Hudson. It once
rumbled among the mountains of Pennsylvania. It once
toted corn and tobacco on the eastern shore of Virginia.
It once toiled heavily up and down the Mohawk. Where
is it now? It used to descend with the family name,
from father to son, without injury and without repair.
But it has mysteriously disappeared.. The old-fashioned
Jersey-wagon, its broad fellies heavily tired, its solid-running gearing, its liberal allowance of tongue, its high endboards and curving side-boards, ribbed, and barred, and
riveted, glaring in red paint, was not gotten up for show.




THE PREPARATION AND START.            23
It made no pretensions to beauty. It was altogether a
substantial piece of work. What has become of the oldfashioned Jersey-wagon, with the four horses sweating
along before it, the driver on the near wheel-horse, twitching at a single rein? The old-fashioned Jersey-wagon was
the great original of the emigrant wagon of the West.
The spring of the year was the season usually selected
for moving. Much preparation had to be made before
entering upon a journey which would require months for
its completion.  During many weeks previous to the
appointed time, the emigrant had been anxiously providing
against the possible accidents and probable discomforts
of the road. The wagon-box had been fitted up with
flat, iron staples, about eighteen inches apart, along its
sides, and in those had been placed, upright, ashen hoops,
that stood some five feet above the bottom-boards, the
forward hoops projecting considerably over the hounds,
and the back ones over the end of the reach, which stuck
out behind.  Over this frame-work had been drawn a
covering of canvas or cotton, puckered up a little around
the edges in front, but drawn together, like a bag, behind,
and tied with a string. Upon one side of the wagon-box
had been fastened cleats, to secure the axes, spades, chis
els, and augers; and on the other side, a rack, for pots,
kettles, and pans. Beneath the hinder axletree, from a
staple driven into the firm wood, swung the tar-bucket.
Across the back end of the wagon-box, extending out
ward, its ends even with the wheels, was suspended the
feeding-trough for the team, strongly secured in its place
by iron straps. An extra log-chain had been coiled
around the reach, underneath the wagon. The crowbar
was flung into the feeding-trough.
Having made sale of his surplus goods at an old-fasb
ioned vendue, where his neighbors had bought many arti



24              THE GREAT WEST.
cles as keepsakes; having had one more friendly gathering beneath his roof, to bid all good-by, the emigrant
loaded his wagon, and was ready to start. Now, when
the teams had been brought up, the women and children
took their places on the chests, and boxes, and bundles
of bedding. The little baby-girl sat on its mother's lap,
sucking its thumb, wondering.  The youngest boy
crouched at his grandmother's feet; and he inquired of
her, as soon as they were fairly out of the gate, if they
were not most there now. Slowly trudged the oxen
along with the huge, high, awkward, rattling load. The
biggestboywalked alongside the team, the post of honor,
driving. Now he would pat "Old Buck" affectionately
on the neck, at which the patient brute would keep lolling
out his tongue, and flapping his ears; then he would look
round, and ask father some question, who walked
thoughtfully midway between the wheels; or speak
gently to mother, who could barely smile through her
tears. The other boys drove the cows, and "Bose" jogged along under the feeding-trough, his nose just clear of
the tar-bucket.
I do not intend to follow the emigrants throughout
their long journeyings toward the West.  Captivating
as a tramp into the woods may seem to be to those who
are living within the glare of brick walls, it is, in reality,
a laborious, wearisome undertaking. Sweating through
the brush, climbing over logs, slumping into marshes, tumbling over roots, in fair weather, is downright hard work,
to say nothing of those nuisances, the musquitoes and
gnats. There is poetry, it is true, in standing under
trees during a shower, listening to the pattering drops,
and seeing the leaves lift themselves up to drink the
rain. But poetry was never intended to keep the skin
dry. And the interest gives way to terror, when the trees,




INCIDENTS BY THE WAY.               25
bending and swinging in the wind, knock off their branches
overhead, or the lightning shivers down their huge trunks.
The daily experiences of those who penetrate into the
woods of a country fit to become the future abidingplace of men are, indeed, quite uniform. And the incidents, therefore, that befell the emigrants were characterized by a tedious sameness, which, after a while, began to
blunt the senses, and weigh down upon the spirits. The
most attractive scenery, if perpetually before the eyes, will
lose its power to please, by losing its power to fix the
attention. This effect was hastened by the constant recurrence of vexations, cares, and annoyances, which, although
they did not strip from the road through the wilderness
its grand and beautiful objects, indisposed the mind to
the perception and enjoyment of them.  When man is
placed under unfavorable circumstances, deprived of those
beneficent influences that flow from intelligence and refinement, he will assume an insensibility which makes
him blind to the most beautiful creations, and his spiritual
activity will become greatly irregular, flashing forth, on
some sudden emergence, with terrific power, and then
subsiding as quickly into habitual, uniform stolidity.
Life, in proportion as it deteriorates from civilization
toward the conditions of the savage state, may sometimes,
indeed, be intensely pleasurable in its excitements; but it
will have lost the elasticity of its spring, and be incapable of vibrating, except when some opposing force is
hurled violently against it.
The emigrants, ere long, found that the wilderness had
lost the charm of novelty. Sights and sounds that were
at first pleasing, and had lessened the sense of discomfort,
soon ceased to attract attention.  Their minds, solely
occupied with obstacles, inconveniences, and obstructions,
at every step of the way, became sullen, or, at the least,
2




26               THE GREAT WEST.
indifferent. For the first few days in the woods, they had
had a wild satisfaction in the wayside meal, beneath
the high, o'erarching canopy of foliage. "Buck" and
"Bright," at the feeding-trough, were up to their eyes in
bran and shorts. The cows straightened out their jaws
in a line with their throats, and chewed awkwardly upon
the hard nubbins of corn. The flames were crackling.
The pork sputtered in the frying-pan. The children,
among the wild violets, were playing at fighting roosters.
With  the wreathing  smoke  went up  the grateful
incense of tea.  How they cracked jokes over their
victuals, seated around on the carpet of leaves, and
laughed, and shouted, and poked fun at each other. Altogether, it was a delightful picnic. But picnics, three
times a day for a month or two, will become odious.
In this manner the earlier emigrants went forward.
Driving before them their heavy teams and cattle by day,
they slept around the camp-fire at night. There was
little variety in the work that had to be done during the
journey. Old, moss-covered logs, rotting on the ground,
had to be cut away. Rude bridges had to be built over
the creeks.  Sometimes the wagons would sink to the
hub in a slough-hole, and would have to be pried out;
and then, the "haw "-ing, and "gee "-ing, and shouting,
and the curses, rough enough to take the bark off the
trees, would give filll play to the lungs and throat. But
when they had come to a deep river, they could resort
only to the raft.
The casualties  of life clustered  thickly  around
the emigrants upon the road.   They were exposed
to great personal risks. An unlucky step might wrench
an ankle. The ax might glance from a twig, and split
a foot open. A broken leg, or a severed artery, is a
frightful thing, where no surgeon can be had. Exposure




THE BURIED TREASURE.               27
to all the changes of the weather- sleeping upon the
damp ground, frequently brought on fevers; and sickness
is a great calamity, always, to the traveler. It must
have been appalling in the woods. Mlany a mother has
carried her wailing, languishing child in her arms, to
lessen the jolting of the wagon, without being able to
render it the necessary assistance. Many a family has
paused on the way to gather a leafy couch for a dying
brother or sister. Many a parent has laid in the grave,
in the lonely wilderness, the child he shall meet no more
till the morning of the resurrection; and then has gone
on sorrowing. Many a heart, at the West, has yearned
at the thought of the buried, treasured beneath the
spreading tree. After-comers have stopped over the little
mound, and pondered upon the rude memorial carved in
the bark above it; and those who had sustained a similar
loss, have wrung their hands and wept over it, for their
own wounds were opened afresh.
But in spite of every obstacle, in the face of every consideration of personal ease and convenience, in defiance
of every peril, known and unknown, the earlier emigrants
pressed forward-the pioneers of civilization in the West.
This view of their hardships, and difficulties, and sufferings, tends to show what a noble race of men they were.
A heroism was displayed by them, as grand, as exalted, as
that of an army marching and conquering through a hostile land. Among the benefactors of mankind, a place
should be given to those who led the way in reducing a
howling wilderness into a flourishing empire.




28                  THE GREAT WEST.
CHAPTER II.
EARLY HISTORY OF THE WEST.
Territory included in the Great West - Water-shed, or divide — The
rivers and their tributaries - The fur-hunter's canoe-passage to the
Gulf of Mexico- River system -Progress of the French missionaries, as early as 1632- Nicolet - His influence over the Indians -
The journey of his life - His reception at Green Bay - Council
with the chiefs - Iroquois war - Its effects on the missions - The
great river west of the lakes - Claude Allouez, the first explorer of
Lake Michigan - Frozen in on Lake Michigan - Sailing on the ice
in a canoe - Pitch Rock — Visit to the villages of the Illinois —
M. Joliet and James Marquette, explorers of the Mississippi - Their
birth, education, and character - Marquette among the missions -
Visited by the Illinois Indians - Contemplates exploring the Mississippi alone — Is stationed at Michilimackinac - Arrival of Joliet
with orders to explore the Mississippi - Prayers and thanksgiving
for the favors conferred on them-Preparation and outfit-The
Canadian canoe.
THE region of country denominated the West has
been constantly decreasing in extent of surface on the
eastern side, although the land still lies just where it
was fashioned by the hand of God. It once spread out
from ocean to ocean. But it first began to recede when
an opening was made in the woods at Plymouth and at
Jamestown. Since then, the growth of population has
steadily driven the wilderness before it, over the mountains, and beyond the great lakes. And the progress of
civilization will continue to sweep away westward, narrowing the limits of wild beasts and Indians, until the
sound of the woodman's ax shall mingle with the roar of
the waves along the coast of the Pacific. But that time
has not yet come.  The West may still be found, without




THE RIVERS AND THEIR TRIBUTARIES.    29
following the apocryphal directions of an old hunter, who
said, that it was situated " about half a mile this side of
sundown."  The eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains
descends, gradually, through a distance of five hundred
miles, to the Mississippi River. That elevated table-land,
channeled by rivers, dotted and belted with forests, its
openings undulating as the sea, with the exceptions of
Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, and the settlements of Minesota, Nebraska, and Kansas, is the hunting-ground of
savage tribes.  And all around the southern shore of
Lake Superior, and in the lower peninsula of Michigan
north of the Grand River, in the north-western portions
of Wisconsin, and the western part of Iowa, is the great
wilderness of woods, still standing in the solitary magnificence of Nature. The West properly includes, also,
the states of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.
There is not another region on the face of the earth,
comparing with this in size, that is so abundantly supplied with running water. It is laced all over with a
vast net-work of rivers. The streams, flowing toward
all the points of the compass, converge, at last, and pour
their accumulated floods far out into the gulfs of Mexico
and St. Lawrence. Between the Alleghanies and the
Rocky Mountains is an extensive water-shed, or divide,
more than two thousand miles in length, which gives rise
to three distinct river systems, of incalculable advantage
to the West. Commencing in the county of Cattaraugus,
in the state of New York, the general direction of this
water-shed is south-west, through a part of Pennsylvania,
and west, through Ohio and Indiana; thence passing up,
in a north-westerly direction, through Illinois, within
sixty miles of Chicago, through Wisconsin, and the
north-eastern part of Minesota, it turns away westward.
It consists of a ridge of land so slightly elevated that




30               THE GREAT WEST.
it can scarcely be perceived to be either ascending or descending. It separates the western waters, which flow
into the Red River of the north, and into the St. Lawrence, and into the _Mississippi.  Through these great
natural channels of water communication, the West may
draw to itself the manufactures of the East, and the tropical productions of the South, and the furs of the North.
Through them, also, it may send its inexhaustible supplies of grain, and beef, and pork, to all the world. And
when a connection shall have been established between
the Missouri and the Columbia rivers, it may hold commercial intercourse with the four quarters of the globe.
Distinguished from all other water-sheds, which, like the
Andes, the Pyrenees, and the Alps, are mountainous and
uninhabitable, this is surpassingly fertile. Those seem to
have been formed with a design to divide and separate
nations; this, to bind a whole continent into one.
Far away, in the interior of North America, between
the forty-sixth and the forty-seventh parallels of latitude,
where they are intersected by the sixteenth degree of
longitude, west from Washington, is a sandy plain, six
miles wide, which alone separates the head-waters of the
St. Lawrence from the waters of the Mississippi. And
in the central portions of M3inesota there are two streams
of water, flowing within three miles of each other, through
an open prairie, — the one, a branch of the St. Peter's running southward to the Gulf of Mexico; the other, a branch
of the Red River of the north, emptying into Hudson's
Bay.
The St. Lawrence, including also the great lakes -which
are but vast expansions of its stream -is the most remarkable river of which we have any knowledge. Rising in
the center of the great American plain, it runs east and
north-east, through a fertile and beautiful country, for




LAKES AND RIVERS.               31
more than three thousand miles, to the Atlantic Ocean.
Other rivers there are, which expand in picturesque basins, and which have been celebrated in story and in song.
The Hudson has its lake at Saratoga, and its Tappan
Zee; the Rhone has its Lake Geneva; the Oswego has its
broader lakelets, Oneida, Owasco, Skeneateles, Cayuga,
and Seneca. But the St. Lawrence spreads out into five
principal seas, whose waves, roused up by tempests, dash
and roar like the billows of the ocean; whose harbors,
also, thronged with shipping, present their forests of
masts in rivalry with seaport towns. It is worthy of
notice, that the largest of those lakes, Huron, Superior,
and Michigan, are placed furthest inland, as if to invite a
display of commercial enterprise, on a grand scale, in the
heart of the continent.
The Mississippi is not so long, following its main channel, as the St. Lawrence; but it takes hold on a much
wider reach of country, by reason of its larger tributaries.
Upon the eastern-side, the Tennessee, rising in the mountains of North Carolina and Virginia, bends round through
the states of Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky, and
sends its branches down into Georgia and Mississippi.
The Ohio comes flowing from Carolina and Virginia,
from the confines of Maryland and New York, through
Pennsylvania, and forms the boundary of five great states.
From  the north-east come the Wabash, Kaskaskia, Illinois, Rock, and Wisconsin rivers. And on the western
side, the Red River of Louisiana, and the Arkansas, pour
through northern Texas the waters accumulating among
the mountains of New Mexico and Utah. While the
Missouri, and its branches, the Kansas, the Platte, and
the Yellow Stone, are swelling with the floods of the
Rocky Mountains.
The imagination can not grasp the extent of the inland




32                THE GREAT WEST.
water communication of the West with all the other portions of North America. The very fur-hunter himself,
on the frozen shores of the Arctic Ocean, by paddling his
canoe along Hudson's Bay, and up the Red River of the
north, and by drifting down with the current of the Mississippi, may float, at last, in the Gulf of Mexico, having
traversed the entire length of the continent from sea to
sea, by water alone, with the single exception of a portage of only three miles. The warm, sunny South, and
the cold, icy North, meet together in the West. The
land of perpetual summer, where the orange-tree blooms
in the fragrant air, where the cotton-plant flowers, and
the sugar-cane yields its sweetness, is bound fast, by
a continuous chain of rivers, with the dreary regions of
everlasting snows. But the water communications across
the continent are no less wonderful. These, also, open
through the West. A traveler embarking at Pittsburg,
on board a steamboat, may pass down the river Ohio, and
up the Missouri, so far, that the asthmatic coughing of
the escape-pipe will frighten the buffaloes feeding at the
foot of the Rocky Mountains. And the most astonishing
feature of this latter voyage of three thousand miles
would be, that, throughout its whole length, in its beginning, and in its continuance, and in its ending, it is everywhere hundreds of miles inland from the ocean.
The fertility and beauty of the western country, supplied with those magnificent river systems, make it, indeed, the garden of the world. But whoever has stood
at Niagara, and contemplated the mighty volume of the
waters of the St. Lawrence, forever pouring into the
abyss; or on the levee, at New Orleans, and watched the
turbulent flood of the Mississippi, seething and rolling
along at his feet, may well have wondered whence comes
the supply of these exhaustless rivers. The problem




SPANISH AND FRENCH TREATMENT.           33
would seem  to have been solved.  The trade-winds,
sweeping across the broad surface of the Pacific Ocean,
reach the American shore, heavily laden with moisture;
condensing into clouds in the cooler air, they hang for a
while on the pinnacles of the mountains; then, sailing
away to the eastward, they discharge their contents over
the West.
We are in the habit of thinking and speaking of the
region beyond the lakes, and upon the upper tributaries
of the Mississippi, as a new country. It is new in the
sense that it has only lately been opened and occupied
by permanent settlements. Notwithstanding that, it has
a history which extends through a period of two hundred
vears. In 1632, Canada, which had previously fallen into
the hands of the English, was restored to the possession
again of the French. The colonies of France seem to
have rivaled those of Spain, in the energy with which
they prosecuted their discoveries in the New World. But
they adopted a widely different system of exploration.
The Spaniards sent forth armed bands of marauders,
with the pomp and splendor of war, through an unknown
territory, to reduce all before them into submission. They
precipitated themselves with crushing force upon the illyprepared and unsuspecting people. In this manner, under
the lead of Cortez, the Spaniards achieved the conquest
of Mexico; and under the lead of Pizarro, the conquest
of Peru. But their violence aroused the vindictive hatred
of the native population, and that has been kept alive
against them to the present day. The French, on the
contrary, sent forward, in advance, the olive-branch, instead of the sword. With a wiser policy, they humanely
sought to win over the people among whom they had
come to dwell, and to attach them to the crown of France.
With great flexibility of character, they readily adapted
2*                       C




34              THE GREAT WEST.
themselves to the languages, manners, and customs of,the Indian tribes, treating their chiefs with the consideration due to their rank, and awakening personal attachments. They also intermarried with the tawny maidens,
and strengthened the ties of friendship with those stronger
ties of kindred and family. Great consequences followed
from this prudent course. Instead of being hemmed
in, like most other colonists, by a barrier of exasperated
savages, the French were invited into the interior of
the continent.
It was the missionaries of France, not her soldiers,
that first penetrated into the depths of the wilderness.
And now, since the province was restored, the work of
exploring the country and Christainizing the Indians,
which had been abandoned upon the conquest by the English, was prosecuted with uncommon vigor. The indefatigable Jesuits struck boldly into the woods in all directions. From the St. Lawrence, they crossed over to the
coast of Maine, where they had established a settlement.
The North was not so terrible but that they could lead
the way, overland, from Quebec to Hudson's Bay, and
commence the exploration of its waters. Curious to
know more of their own great river, they had followed
up the St. Lawrence into Lake Ontario; and had there
struck off to the south, into New York. They were the
first to discover the celebrated salt-springs of Onondaga.
But the country to the westward had more powerful attractions for them. Their eyes had seen the astonishing
vision of an ocean of fresh water, high above the level
of the sea, far irtland, spreading out from its wooded
shores beyond the horizon. From an unknown region,
the waves came rolling toward them, and broke in thunder along the beach. Indian rumors had told them of
greater waters, also, still beyond. A world of wonders




EARLY MISSIONS.                35
was about opening before them in the wilderness. The
love of the marvelous was combining with national prid~e
and religious enthusiasm in urging them onward toward
the West.
As early as 1640, the missionaries had followed up the
chain of the lakes as far as Lake Superior. Within twenty
years after the Pilgrims of New England had landed at
Plymouth, and at the very time when the Dutch at New
York were regarding the Hudson River as a terror, the
French missionaries were at home in the center of North
America. It may be painful to contrast their activity
with the sluggishness of the Dutch, and with the indifference of the English colonists. While the Dutch were yet
swapping tobacco-pipes and trinkets for peltry, with the
Indians around their forts, and several years before Elliot,
the Puritan missionary, had spoken to the Indians in the
vicinity of Boston harbor, the Jesuits had planted the
Cross at Sault Ste. Marie, and were preparing to descend
into the valley of the Mississippi.  But no great river
from the far interior came flowing through New York
or New England, inviting the adventurous to enter upon
a career of exploration.
Canada, in this respect, had a superiority over the
other colonies of the Atlantic. Yet Canada was not a
flourishing colony. Its climate was not favorable. Its
soil was not the most productive. Its government was
military, and despotic. The simple, credulous colonists
were deficient in energy, and had rather dream away existence, after the fashion of the Indians in their wigwams,
than endure additional hardships in extending the bound:
aries of knowledge, that had conferred so few of its
favors on them. But the missionaries, indeed, were noble
exceptions, possessing rare attainments for that age, and
an enthusiasm which sustained them under the. severest




36              THE GREAT WEST.
trials. Fortunately for them, the colony had an able.fficer in the person of its interpreter and commissary,
who encouraged the thorough exploration of the country,
and bravely led the way himself.
The gallant Nicolet had come out to Canada, in 1618.
His great abilities had placed him, at once, in active
service. From the time of his arrival to the conquest by
the English, he had been kept employed among the Indians; and he had become a great favorite with them.
He spoke their languages. He understood the Indian
character better than any other man of his times. Indeed, so constantly had he been with the Indians, that he
had almost become an Indian himself; but without losing that stubborn integrity which makes good faith possible among men in the savage state.  Nicolet was the
negotiator for the colony at all the Indian councils. His
character for probity had sent its influence far out into
the wilderness. When he spoke, chiefs listened and believed; and they called him the Straight Tongue of the
French. He had been dispatched on the hazardous undertaking of treating for peace with the Iroquois, after
their terrible war upon Canada, and he had succeeded in
inducing them to bury the hatchet. As a reward for his
services, upon the restoration of the colony, he had been
appointed interpreter and commissary.  Seven years
afterward, he undertook the great journey of his life.
In the spring of 1639, as soon as the accumulated ice
of a long winter had been broken up, and the St. Lawrence set free, Nicolet took his departure from Quebec,
for the purpose of completing the explorations of the lake
region. He had previously been as far as Lake Huron;
and along its shores, and the shores of Ontario, the Cross
was already planted. But the journey which he was
now entering upon must have possessed peculiar attrac



TREATY OF EVERLASTING AMITY.           37
tions to him. For, two seasons before that, when treating with the Indians that had comxe down from the regions
around Lake Superior, he had learned that the Great
Waters existed, also, to the southward, and to the westward of their country. But the Men of the Sea, as the
Indians of the Mississippi Valley were called, had been
represented to be powerful, and engaged in frequent wars
with the Indians of Lake Superior.
After having assisted in establishing a mission at Sault
Ste. Marie, and taken a survey of that interesting river,
Nicolet passed through the Straits of Michilimackinac.
Following along the shore, he entered an opening to the
west, and reached the head of Green Bay. The season
was advancing.  But a council had to be called. So
runners were dispatched to the hunting-grounds, giving
notice of the arrival of strange white men. After awhile,
the Men of the Sea gathered, at Green Bay, four or five
thousand warriors. It was a sublime spectacle of savage
life, even to Nicolet, who had spent twenty years in the
wilderness.  Never before had he seen such gigantic
trees as there darkened the woods at noonday. Never,
since the great council with the Iroquois, had he been
among so powerful and warlike a people. At Green Bay,
Nicolet's capacity as a negotiator shone forth most conspicuously. He not only accomplished a treaty of everlasting amity between the AMen of the Sea and the French,
but he made peace, also, between them and the tribes of
Lake Superior.
During that council, the chiefs, in speaking of the Great
Water, had stretched forth their arms toward the West.
It would seem, however, that Nicolet did not understand
them  to mean a river.  He was not sufficiently well
acquainted with the language of the Men of the Sea, and
he thought they applied the term Great Water to the




38              THE GREAT WEST.
ocean, for the lakes, surely, were great waters; and each
of those had a distinctive name. He was confident that
the western ocean was not far distant; and he left that
impression upon his return to Quebec. The season was
drawing to its close. But Nicolet was too adventurous
not to make an attempt to reach the Great Water, before
retracing his steps. Accordingly, paddling up the Fox
River, and crossing the portage, he launched his canoe on
the Wisconsin. And he was soon floating down with the
current that helps to swell the mighty volume of the
Mississippi. He, however, did not reach the main channel of that river, though he was the first to explore one
of its head streams. For some reason which has never
transpired, he was obliged to go back to Green Bay, and
from thence to Quebec. Nicolet had, indeed, been within
three days' sail of the mysterious Great Water; but it was
not his destiny ever to lift the veil which hung over it.
The exigency of affairs detained him, during the two succeeding years, in the vicinity of Quebec. And in 1642,
having been sent on an errand of mercy, to rescue a poor
Christian prisoner from the hands of the Pagan Indians,
his boat, on the last day of October, at sunset, was capsized in a gale, near Sillery, and Nicolet was drowned.
The little that is known concerning him deserves to be
remembered, for he was the first white man to reach the
valley of the Mississippi by the way of the great lakes.
The road to the Mississippi could now seem to have
been fairly opened. Fifteen missions dotted the shores
of the lakes, and brought the distant St. Mary's into communication with Quebec. But a greater calamity than
the loss of Nicolet was impending over the feeble colony.
No sooner had the waves closed over the late interpreter
and commissary, than the Iroquois war broke out with 
ten-fold fury, and raged for more than fifteen years. All




MASSACRE OF THE FRENCH.             39
the province was drenched in blood. The Indian allies
of the French were driven with fearful slaughter beyond
the great lakes. Montreal itself was besieged. And in
1650, all Upper Canada was a desert. Not a single mission —not an Indian village remained. The pastor and
his flock had been butchered together. Six of the fifteen
missionaries had been slain, and another had been put to
the most frightful tortures. Bressani was beaten, mangled, mutilated; driven barefoot over rough paths, and
naked through briars and thickets; scourged by'a whole
village; burned, tortured, and scarred; he was an eyewitness of the fate of one of his companions, who was
boiled and eaten. And, although the knowledge of the
interior country survived until the return of peace, yet
the work of establishing missions and military-posts had
all to be gone over again. But danger continued a great
while lingering along the shores of the St. Lawrence. In
1656, Garreau set out for Lake Superior, in search of his
scattered flock; but he was waylaid and tomahawked
before reaching Lake Ontario. Groseillas, with a single
companion, more fortunate in their undertaking, escaped
the lurking enemy, and wintered two years later at St.
iMary's. There they met with the returning bands of the
fugitive Indians, who, more than ten years before, had
been swept away from their hunting-grounds and the
graves of their fathers, by the tempests of war. And
from them they obtained a clear idea of the Great River,
which flows toward the south. A vivid impression may
be had of the terrible sway of the Iroquois over the
continent, by contemplating this feeble remnant of their
enemies, creeping back, broken and dispirited, from the
plains beyond the Mississippi.
The evidences of the existence of a great river to the
west of the lakes had begun to multiply rapidly. The




40              THE GREAT VWEST.
missionaries in New York saw Iroquois war-parties set
out, by the way of the Ohio River, which, they said, flowed
into another river, and led to the sea. And in 1660, Menard, for many years a missionary among the Hurons, now
an old man, his hair white, his frame shrunken, but with the
soul of a hero, skirted along Lake Superior, and founded
a mission on the southern shore. He, too, heard frequently of the Great River, and he had resolved to reach
it in his old age, undeterred by the difficulties before him.
But he was called away in another direction, and soon
after perished, at a lonely place in the wilderness, on
the banks of the Menominee.
The mantle of Menard would seem to have fallen, with
his office, to his successor. Claude Allouez, the first
explorer of Lake Michigan, has imperishably connected his
name with the progress of discovery in the West. IHe
left Quebec on the fourteenth day of May, 1665, and
reached St. Mary's in the September following. Without
any delay, he launched his frail canoe on Lake Superior,
and surveyed the whole southern shore. How impressive
to him must have been the views upon that vast inland
sea, whose waters contrast so strangely with the fantastic
scenery on the land; for the shores still bear the marks
of the volcanic fires, which shivered the crags into ten
thousand capricious forms, and poured the molten copper
over them, as if in sport. He spent the winter in erecting
and dedicating his chapel. After that, crossing the lake
to the north, he visited in their distress the remnant of a
once powerful tribe of Indians, who had been driven halfway to the frozen ocean, by the fierce and vengeful Iroquois. Allouez passed the winter of 1669 at Green Bay,
and early in April of the next year, ascending the Fox
River to Lake Winnebago, he explored that river beyond
the lake, following up its three principal streams. Then




DISCOVERY OF PITCH ROCK.             41
crossing over to the Wisconsin, and searching out its
head in the lakes and marshes, he, upon returning, floated
down with the waters which reach the Mississippi, as
Nicolet had done thirty years before. Neither did Allouez reach that river.  His missionary duties recalled
him to Green Bay. And soon after, the presence of all
the missionaries was required at the great council, at
St. Mary's, in 1671, of the French commander with
the Indians, to assist as interpreters. After that, the
missionaries turned  their attention toward the more
southern tribes.
Near the close of October, 1676, having completed his
preparations for founding a mission in the Illinois country,
Allouez, and two others, embarked in a canoe upon the
waters of Lake Michigan. The winter set in much earlier than common, and the forming ice prevented their
further progress up the lake. But the indomitable spirit
of the brave missionary would not yield even to the fearful elements.  A return to St. Mary's was not to be
thought of.  Boldly pushing to the unknown shore, a
camp was established, where, through falling snows and
howling tempests, Allouez waited till in the month of
February, for the ice to become sufficiently solid to support them securely on its surface.  Then setting forth
again, he adopted a novel method of lake navigation.
The canoe was drawn upon the ice, the sails spread, and
away they glided before the wind. Their curiosity, one
day, was very much excited by a rock standing seven or
eight feet out of the water, and about three fathoms in
circumference, which they called Pitch Rock. Indeed,
they saw the pitch running down it, in little drops, on the
side which was warmed by the sun. It was found to be
good to pitch the canoe, and Allouez used it to seal his
letters. Allouez, at last, entered the river which leads




42              THE GREAT WEST.
to the Illinois. That must have been at Chicago. The
Indians received him handsomely. "The chief," he said,
"advanced about thirty steps to meet me, holding in one
hand a firebrand, and in the other a feathered calumet.
As he drew near, he raised it to my mouth, and himself
lit the tobacco, which obliged me to pretend to smoke."
The Reverend Father, it would seem, was not accomplished in the use of the weed.
A few days afterward, in company with these Indians,
Allouez proceeded inland to the principal village of the
Illinois, which was found to be situated on the rising
ground, a little way back from the river, and upon the
edge of a prairie of vast extent. It was composed of
several hundred cabins, made of double mats of flat
rushes sewed together, scattered along in a single street,
and all of them fronting toward a marsh which skirted
the river. The Illinois Indians are described as having
been tall of stature, strong, and robust; in character,
proud and valiant.  The richness and fertility of the
country gave them fields everywhere. They ordinarily
carried the war-club, bow, and a quiver full of arrows,
which they could discharge so adroitly and quickly that
men armed with guns had hardly time to raise them to
the shoulder. They had bucklers, also, made of the
skins of wild cattle, which were arrow-proof, and covered the whole body. The warriors had as many wives
as they might choose to have, often selecting several sisters, that they might better agree together. The men
had no great reputation for gallantry; they made jealous
husbands, and would cut off their wives' noses on the
slightest suspicion. The women are represented to have
dressed modestly, and behaved well; while their lords, in
the summer-time, strutted about in all the dignity of
painted faces, and well-greased skins, without a particle




MISSISSIPPI RIVER.              43
of covering, except a few feathers stuck on the top of
the head.
The time for Allouez' departure having arrived, he
went back to the North, intending to return the next season to the Illinois. But others were sent there in his
stead. And in 1680, that tribe was scattered, and the
mission broken up, by an inroad of the Iroquois and
Miamis, from the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. In
the meanwhile, the information which the missionaries
possessed of the country to the westward of them had
been enlarging. The traders, who had shared with them
all the dangers of the wilderness, had felt an interested
curiosity as to the courses and directions of the streams
that might open to them new avenues for trafficking. The
Great River had become known to them by its name-the
Mississippi. They had learned from the Indians its general features, and the nature of the country through
which it was flowing. It seemed to them to encircle all
the lakes, rising in the north, and running to the south,
till it emptied into a sea, which they supposed to he the
Gulf of California, or the Gulf of Mexico; and some
even imagined that it wound around to the east as far as
Chesapeake Bay. Rumor always runs far in advance of
our knowledge of a new country, and keeps the mind perplexed between curiosity and doubt. But the time had,
at length, arrived, when all those uncertainties respecting
the river were about to be dispelled. The men to whom
belongs the honor of subjecting the Mississippi to the
dominion of the white man, were already preparing for
their memorable voyage.
Of M. Joliet but little is now known, beyond the circumstances which cluster more immediately around his
celebrated adventure down the Mississippi.  He was a
native of Canada. But the remembrance of the particular




44              THE GREAT WEST.
place of his birth has quite faded away from among
men. Joliet owed his education to the Jesuit college of
Quebec, where he is said to have been a classmate of the
first Canadian that was advanced to the priesthood.
After quitting the college, he had proceeded to the West,
to seek his fortune in the fur-trade. And during that
period of his life, he is known to have acquired the
knowledge and experience which induced the government
to select him as the explorer of the Mississippi. This
choice was most agreeable to the western missionaries,
for Joliet had always been on terms of close intimacy
with them. His equally illustrious companion of the voyage, James Marquette, has given us a sketch of M. Joliet's character, which shows him to have been eminently
fitted for the arduous and perilous undertaking. Marquette says: " The Sieur Joliet was a young man, born
in this country, and endowed with every quality that
could be desired in such an enterprise. He possessed
experience, and a knowledge of the languages of the
Ottawa country, where he had spent several years. He
had the tact and prudence so necessary for the success of
a voyage equally dangerous and difficult. And lastly, he
had the courage to fear nothing, where all is to be feared."
A noble tribute, indeed, as honorable to the heart of Marquette as it is advantageous to the character of M. Joliet.
James Marquette was born in the year 1637, at the
city of Laon, in the mountainous department of Aisne,
in France. He accordingly was thirty-six years old when
he set out on his great voyage upon the Mississippi. The
family of the Marquettes is the most ancient family of
Laon; and it has always been characterized by a martial
spirit, which drove its members into the armies of France,
in pursuit after distinction. And the United States,
also, are under obligations to cherish the memory of that




THE DESERTED MISSIONS.             45
distinguished family, for three of its sons accompanied the
French army to our own shores, and perished on the battle-fields of the American Revolution. James Marquette
was as ardent and enthusiastic in following the Cross as
the others of the name have been in following the sword.
At his own request, he was removed from the province of
Champaigne, which contained no foreign mission, and was
transferred to the province of France, which contained
the missions in the far West.  Having, at the earliest
opportunity, sailed for that new field of labor, he had
arrived at Quebec on the 20th day of September, 1666.
That was a period of deep interest in the history of the
colony, and in the progress of discovery in the interior of
the continent. The long war of extermination waged by
the Iroquois upon the French and their Indian allies had
been brought to a conclusion; and, with the return of
peace, the prospects of the missionaries had begun to
brighten. The region of the western missions, so long
laid waste and neglected, had been reopened, and was
then being enlarged. All New York, from Onondaga to
the Niagara River, had been explored. The deserted
missions had been revived along Lake Huron, and at
St. Mary's at Keweenaw Bay, on Lake Superior, and at
Green Bay.
Marquette was stationed, at first, for two years, at the
mouth of the Saguenay - a most strange river that pours
nearly a fathomless tide into the shallower St. Lawrence.
That was not more important as a mission than as a
plaice of traffic with the Indians; who, since the war was
over, yearly flocked to it from Nova Scotia, from Hudson's Bay, and from Lake Superior. During the season
for trading, religious instruction alternated with sharp
bargains. The twists which conscience received in the
daytime could hardly be taken out by a few hours' devo



46               THE GREAT WEST.
tion in the evening. The missionaries, however, managed
their affairs with great prudence, mollifying the irritated
feelings of the Indians, and rebuking the rapacity of the
traders. Much of human nature in its wildest aspects
was to have been learned there, as well as the Indian
languages, and a general knowledge of the surrounding
country.
At the conclusion of that period, Marquette had been
ordered to Lake Superior. In going there, he followed
up the usual route of the western missionaries, ascending the Ottawa River, thence down the French River to
Lake Huron, and across that lake to St. Mary's. It was
both a toilsome and a dangerous journey. At St. Mary's,
Marquette built his cabin on the American side, just at
the foot of the rapids, where he continued instructing the
Indians that were returning from their long flight from
the Iroquois, until after Allouez' departure for Green Bay,
and the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers.
Marquette had been dispatched, next after that, to Lapointe, the most distant mission on Lake Superior, and
also the most dangerous. There he added considerably
to the information which he had already obtained respecting the Mississippi. The occasion of a visit from some
Illinois Indians, who had come a thirty-days' journey
from the south, by land, and some part of the way along
that river, afforded him an excellent opportunity for prosecuting his inquiries. They told him that that river ran
so far to the south that they did not know where it might
terminate.  They described a portion of the Missouri
also, and named over various tribes on both those rivers,
even so far down as those that raised two crops of corn
in a single summer. All these things Marquette had carefully written down, and he had begun digesting a plan
for exploring the whole course of the Mississippi, and




MISSION OF LAPOINTE.              47
would have set out alone. But the mission at Lapointe
was a disastrous one, and had to be abandoned, soon
after that, in consequence of a threatened inroad of the
Dacotahs, a fierce race, with long, black, streaming hair,
and who wore stone knives in their belts. The poor
Christian Indians, who had been driven, years before.,
across the Mississippi by the Iroquois, were now driven
back again across Lake Superior by the Dacotahs.
Making their escape in a fleet of canoes, they reached the
foot of the lake, and from thence went down to Michilimackinac, and established themselves on the northern
shore of those straits.
A mission had been attempted the previous year on
the neighboring island of that name, but it had become
deserted. The spot which Marquette had there selected
as a new home for his flock was, indeed, bleak and sterile, surrounded by tempestuous lakes; but the waters
were teeming with fish, and would afford them an easy
communication with all the other missions.  A  rude
chapel of logs was speedily erected, its roof covered
over with bark. The Indians built, near by, a palisade
fort, as an additional security against the danger of being
again dislodged by their enemies.  There they have
remained to this day. The mission of St. Ignatius, at
MIichilimackinac, was founded in the summer of 1672.
And it was while engaged in laying the foundation of
that mission that Marquette received the joyful intelligence that the government was preparing an expedition
to the Mississippi, and that he had been appointed to
accompany it.
Joliet, however, did not arrive there, on his way from
Quebec, until late in the fall, when the navigation of the
lakes was about closing; but he brought with him the
commissions, and the instructions to proceed, as soon as




48               THE GREAT WEST.
it should become practicable, to the Mississippi, and
explore its waters. He was received at Michilimackinac
with rejoicings, and much prayer and thanksgiving, for
the great favor conferred on them of being sent to open
the way into a new region, reputed to be filled with
marvels and wonders. The succeeding winter was spent
in making preparations for the great journey, which was
to immortalize their names, and by its results affect the
destiny of nations. All that before then had become
known concerning the Mississippi, and the country and
nations along its banks, was carefully reviewed.  The
various rumors that had reached the different missions,
from Lapointe to the Illinois, were rigidly scrutinized, and
compared with the reports of the Christian Indians, many
of whom had crossed over the plains as far as the Missouri. Those wanderers were gathered into Marquette's
cabin, and questioned as to what they had seen and
heard in that distant country. The figurative language
of the Indians had to be stripped of its exuberant metaphors, and reduced into harmony with well-known facts
respecting other rivers and other countries. And there, in
that gloomy abode in the center of the North American
wilderness, in midwinter, Marquette and Joliet drew upon
the ground, for want of a table, the first rude map of the
Mississippi River, and the water-courses that might lead
to it. The spectacle must have been sublime, of those
two solitary white men, kneeling within a tawny circle of
wondering Indians, and planning out the most important
discovery of that age.
When at length the dissolving snows indicated the
near approach of the season for lake and river navigation,
they set about providing the more material and substantial
parts of their outfit. The Canadian canoe is constructed
very differently from those canoes which were in use




THE CANADIAN CANOE.                49
on the Hudson and the Delaware, and which may now
occasionally be seen on our western and southern waters.
The latter is more properly called a "dug-out" —the name
by which it is known throughout the south-west. The
Canadian canoe consists of a frame-work of slender cedar
splints, running lengthwise from stem to stern, supported
upon ribs of spruce, and encased in a covering of birch
bark, which is securely fastened with fibrous roots, and
smeared along the seams with pitch. It possesses sufficient strength, and, at the same time, is so light that it
may easily be carried across portages on the shoulders of
two men; and it may be paddled through smooth water
at the rate of four or five miles an hour. The Canadian
canoe sits gracefully on the water, and, at a little distance
off, seems scarcely to touch the surface; but it is a lively
craft, and has the reputation of being tricky with strangers.  A  novice stepping into it might find himself
suddenly plumped into the water.
~~3                D




60                  THE GREAT WEST.
CHAPTER III.
EXPLORATION  OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
Departure from  Michilimackinac-Wild oats - The tide at Green
Bay - Ascending the Fox River — Indian village on the shore of
Lake Winnebago - Wisconsin River —Its peculiarities -Joy at
reaching the Mississippi —Strange fish - The abundance of
game - Foot-prints on the shore - Discover an Indian village -
Council-Feast of corn meal, fish, and boiled dog —Presented
with a calumet - A strange plant - Monsters painted on a rockFrightful appearance of the water at the junction- of the Missouri - Clay paint - Indian method of dealing with musquitocs -
"' Snags " and " Sawyers" - Arkansas Indians - Return up the
Mississippi and Illinois — Portage to Chicago - Arrival at Green
Bay - James Marquette sets out on a return to Chicago, to instruct
the Illinois Indians - Is detained all winter at the portage by sickness- Reaches the Illinois country in April, and founds a mission - His malady increasing, he sets out on his return to Michilimackinac — Driven by westerly winds to the mouth of the St.
Joseph's - Becomes too weak to proceed - Expires on a bed of
boughs, on the shore of Lake Michigan.
ON the seventeenth day of IMay, 1673, M. Joliet and
James Marquette set out from  Michilimackinac in two
bark canoes, to explore the Mississippi River. - They
were accompanied from that place by five men. The
whole stock of provisions for the voyage consisted of
Indian corn and some dried meat.  But they were firmly
resolved to do all and suffer all for so glorious an enterprise.   Marquette  says, in his narrative, "Our joy at
being chosen for this expedition roused our courage, and
sweetened the labor of rowing from  morning till night."
They made. their paddles play merrily along the straits,
and across Lake Michigan and Green Bay, to the mouth




THE TIDE AT GREEN BAY.              51
of the 3Menominee River, then called the Wild Oats,
from the quantities of that grass growing in its vicinity;
where they remained several days with the Indians, who
had taken their name, also, from the river.
The wild oats, or wild rice, as it is now called, is
the principal food of the north-western Indians, and might
be raised in all parts of the country where there are
rivers that annually overflow the rich bottom-lands. The
experiment was tried in the state of Connecticut, a few
years ago, and proved to be successful. The wild oats
are a kind of grass which grows spontaneously, at the
West, in little rivers with slimy bottoms, and in marshy
places.  They resemble the wild oats that grow up
among our wheat.  In the month of June, the stalks,
which are jointed at intervals, begin to shoot up through
the water, and continue growing till they float about two
feet above it. The grains are not thicker than our oats,
but are as long again, so that the meal is much more
abundant.  The wild oats ripen in September.  The
Indians boil the grains in water with meat or grease, and
in this way they make a dish about as palatable as rice
would be when not better seasoned.
The voyagers then proceeded up to the head of Green
Bay, where, Marquette says, "It is easy to remark the
tide, which has its regular flow and ebb, almost like that
of the sea."  This tidal movement has been frequently
observed at that place, and it may be accounted for by
the pressure of the winds upon the distant parts of Lake
3Michigan, making the waters to rise and fall along the
shores of Green Bay. From thence they ascended the
Fox River to Lake Winnebago, and in doing so, their
feet were very much cut by the sharp stones, while dragging their canoes up through the rapids of that river.
They stopped some time at the Indian villagre, which was




52               THE GREAT WEST.
built on a hill, overlooking the lake and a beautiful and
picturesque country. On every side, the prairies spread
out as far as they could see, and were dotted with groves
of lofty trees.
On the tenth day of June, they again embarked, with
two Miamis for guides to the portage between the Fox
and the Wisconsin rivers, and set out, in sight of a great
crowd of Indians, who were wondering and amazed to
see the Frenchmen daring to undertake so strange and so
hazardous an expedition. The distance to the Wisconsin
was already known from the explorations of Nicolet and
Allouez. The course bore by compass west-south-west;
hut the river branched off through so many marshes and
little lakes, and the channel was so concealed by the wild
oats, that it was easy to have gone astray. But the
guides led them safely to a portage, twenty-seven hundred paces across, 1elped them over with the canoes, and
then returned to Lake Winnebago, leaving the voyagers
alone in an unknown country, in the hands of Providence.
Marquette and Joliet were soon afloat upon the waters
of the Wisconsin River. They had got to the westward
of the streams which flow into the St. Lawrence, and
were passing quietly down with a current that was bearing them still further into the wilderness. They found the
Wisconsin to be a broad river, its sandy bottom having
formed into shallows, which rendered navigation difficult.
It was filled with little islands, that were grown up
to shrubbery and covered with vines; and the long
branches bent over from the shores, and trailed in the
water. Along the banks were, sometimes, woodland and
hills, but more generally prairies. They saw no fish in
that river. The timber consisted of oak, walnut, whitewood, and another hind of tree whose branches were
armed with long thorns. Deer were plenty, and they




TIHE ABUNDANCE OF GAME.             53
would frequently spring out of the island covers, and
dash and splurge through the water to the shore, and
then bound away, their white stub-tails teetering up and
down in the air, as far as the eye could follow them.
On the seventeenth day of June, just one month after
they had left Michilimackinac, the voyagers passed out
of the mouth of the Wisconsin into the long-looked-for
Mississippi. Great was their joy at beholding the broad
sweep of its waters. They immediately cast their nets,
and took some sturgeon, and a very extraordinary fish,
which Marquette describes as follows: "It resembles a
trout with this difference, that it has a larger mouth, but
smaller eyes and snout. Near the latter is a large bone,
like a woman's busk, three fingers wide, and a cubit long;
the end is circular, and as wide as the hand. In leaping
out of the water, the weight of this often throws it back."
This was the polyodon spatula, —a very rare fish, and but
seldom found in the Mississippi.
Following down the river, for a day or two, the land
appeared to have undergone an entire change. There
was almost no wood to be seen anywhere. Deer were to
be met with, and moose, bustards and wingless swans;
for those latter are said to shed their plumes in that
country. They saw a great many enormous fish, with
black, broad, ugly heads; and one of these struck against
the canoe so violently that Marquette took it for a large
tree about to knock them to pieces.'It was undoubtedly
a huge catfish on which they were so nev-ly snagged.
The voyagers soon came into the region of wild turkeys
and buffaloes. All other game had disappeared. The
turkeys would sometimes fly in vast flocks across the
river, when those that became weary with the flight
would tumble into the water. A number were obtained
in that way. With the buffaloes the Frenchmen were




TIE GREAT WEST.
very much interested.  They saw immense droves of
them every day, trampling and bellowing along the banks.
The voyagers had floated down with the current several hundred miles, without discovering anything more
dangerous than beasts and birds. Yet, they kept well on
their guard; making only a little fire on the shore at
night, to cook their meal; and then, anchoring the canoes
far out in the river, they took turns watching and sleeping
on the water. At length, on the twenty-fifth day of June,
they perceived some foot-prints of men by the water-side,
and a beaten path entering a beautiful prairie. Following
along that path four or five miles, they came to a large
village of the Illinois Indians, and were there received by
them in a very friendly manner. A council had to be
held, as is usual upon the arrival of strangers into a
country occupied by a particular tribe of Indians. Speeches
were then made and replied to, presents given, and presents
received. The council was succeeded by a feast; and the
Indians, being the hosts, got it up and conducted it after
their own fashion. The Frenchmen were the passive recipients of the savage favors. The first course consisted of a
great wooden dish, full of corn-nmeal, boiled in water, and
seasoned with grease. The master of the ceremonies, with
a spoonful of that greasy pudding, presented it three or
four times in succession to the mouths of the guests, as
we would do with little children. For the second course,
he, brought in a second dish, containing three fish, and
tooksome pains to remove the bones with his fingers; and
having blown upon it to cool it, he put it into their
mouths, as we would do in feeding young birds. The
third course was boiled dog; but that was going beyond
even French capacity to eat, of all living creatures, and
had to be withdrawn, as 3I. Joliet had discovered an
antrail dangling from the kettle. The fourth, and last




PRESENTED WITH A CALUMET.             55
course, was a piece of buffalo-beef, the fattest portions of
which were put into their mouths on the end of a stick.
After the feast came the process of lionizing; which, also,
was conducted after the Indian mode. The guests had
to march slowly through the whole length of the village,
and back again, an orator stepping along just before them,
constantly haranguing and gesticulating, to oblige all to
come out and see them, without being troublesome.
These Indians gave to the Frenchmen an additional
evidetnce of their kindly disposition, in presenting them
with a beautiful calumet, or pipe, to carry with them, as a
means of security against Indian violence. The calumet
is said to have been highly reverenced by the aborigines
of America. Whoever carried it might have walked
fearlessly amid enemies, and they would have lain down
their arms so soon as it had been shown to them. Marquette gives a description of it: "It is made of polished
red stone, like marble; so pierced, that one end serves to
hold the tobacco, while the other is fastened on the stem,
which is a stick two feet long, as thick as a common cane,
and pierced in the middle. It is ornamented with the
head and neck of different birds of beautiful plumage.
They also add large feathers of red, green, and other
colors, with which it is all covered. They esteem it particularly, because they regard it as the calumet of the
sun; and, in fact, they present it to him to smoke, when
they wish to obtain a calm, or rain, or fair weather."
The voyagers took leave of the Illinois Indians about
the end of June, some six hundred accompanying them
to the river-bank, and very much admiring the canoes,
having never before seen the like of them.  Marquette
promised these Indians to return the next year, and stop
at their village and instruct them. Soon after shoving
off from the shore, the canoes began to float down along




56               THE GREAT WEST.
some pretty high rocks which lined the river; and there
the company paused to examine a plant which seemed to
them to be very remarkable. Its root was like small turnips, linked together by little fibers, and it had the taste
of carrots. This root put forth a leaf as wide as the
hand, half the thickness of one's finger, and spotted along
the middle. From that leaf sprung other leaves, shaped
like the sockets of the old-fashioned chandeliers; and
each leaf bore five or six bell-shaped yellow flowers.
That was, probably, the cactus opuntia, several species
of which are known to grow in the western states. They
also found an abundance of mulberries and persimmons;
and they were quite disgusted with the latter tree, on
account of its shocking bad smell. The prairies there
abounded with the chincapin, a fruit resembling filberts,
but more tender; the leaves were larger, and sprung from
a stalk crowned at the top with a head like a sunflower,
in which all those nuts were neatly arranged.
A little further down the river, as they were coasting
along rocks frightful for their hight and length, they
saw two monsters painted on one of those rocks, which
startled them at first, and made the boldest Indian cover
his head with his blanket. These monsters were each as
large as a calf, with horns on the head like a deer: they
had a fearful look, red eyes, and were bearded like a tiger;
the face was like a man's face, the body covered with
scales, and the tail so long that it wound twice around
the body, passed over the head and down between the
legs, and ended like a fish. These nmonsters were well
painted; and they were so high up on the face of the rock
that it is difficult to conceive how anybody could have got
at them to paint them. The pictured rock is still a noted
feature of the Mississippi.
As the voyagers were discoursing of these painted




MONSTERS PAINTED ON THE ROCK.           67
monsters, and sailing gently down a beautiful, still, clear
water, they heard a roaring noise, as of a great rapid,
into which they were about to fall. Marquette says of it:
"I have seen nothing more frightful. A mass of trees,
entire, with branches, came rushing from the mouth of a
great river so impetuously that we could not, without
great danger, expose ourselves to pass across. The agitation was so great that the water was all muddy, and
could not get clear."  They, at length, by hugging the
shore, got by the horrible tumult occasioned by the commingling of the turbulent floods of the Missouri with the
waters of the Mississippi. The junction of these rivers
continues to present pretty much the same appearance
and the same dangers as were then, for the first time, seen
by white men. Acres of drifting timber, supplied by
rafts from above, keep on clashing, and roaring, and spinning round in the whirlpool formed by the rushing waters.
Before reaching the mouth of the Ohio, the explorers
came upon a place in the river that was much dreaded
by the Indians, because they thought a demon was living
there, that would devour all who should attempt to pass
that way. At that place there was a bay full of rocks,
some of which were twenty feet high; and the whole current, striking against them, was whirled back, and driven
over against a neighboring island, along which the mass
of water was forced, tumbling and roaring, through a narrow  channel.  That was what struck terror into the
Indians, "who," as Marquette says, "fear everything."
Just above the Ohio River, they found in great quantities
a kind of unctuous earth, of different colors, purple, violet,
and red. That spot has always been a favorite resort of
the Indians, to obtain the clay with which they paint
themselves.  There, also, they found a heavy red sand,
and Marquette put some of it on his paddle, which took
3*




58              THE GREAT WEST.
the color so well that it was not effaced after fifteen days'
rowing in the water. About this time they began to
enter the region of canes or large reeds lining the banks
of the river. These were of a beautiful green -the
knots or joints crowned with long, narrow, pointed leaves.
The canes were set so thickly that the buffaloes could,
with difficulty, force their way through them. And in
that vicinity they, one morning, saw a strange animal
swimming across. It had the head of a tiger, and a snout
pointed like a wildcat, with a beard, and ears that were
erect.  Its head was grayish, and the neck black. On
approaching nearer, and slapping the water with the paddles, the creature sprang briskly forward, spitting furiously
like a scared cat.
So far, down the river, the voyagers had gone, without
meeting with any very serious annoyance to distract
them, and withdraw their attention from the beautiful and
varied scenery of the country. But now the air was alive
with musquitoes; so that it was scarcely possible to handle
the paddles, because of the continued slapping and brushing away the pestiferous swarms. The more that were
killed the more there seemed to come. The musquitoes
got into the ears, and around the neck; dashed into the
eyes, and hair, and mouth; crawled up the shirt sleeves,
bit through the breeches. Indeed, it was quite impossible
to look, or talk, or eat, or sleep, with any degree of comfort. A prayerful state of mind was out of the question.
So, to escape the tormentors, they rolled themselves up
in thick blankets, legs, bodies, heads, and faces, till nearly
suffocated; then, as a change, took to fresh air and bites;
and when the stings became intolerable, went back again
to sweltering blankets.
MIarquette gives a minute description of the Indian
method, in that country, of dealing with the musquitoes:




SNAGS AND SAWYERS.                59
"They raise a scaffolding, the floor of which is made of
simple poles, and consequently a mere grate-work, to give
passage to the smoke of a fire which they build underneath. This drives off the little animals, as they can not
bear it. The Indians sleep on the poles, having pieces of
bark stretched above them to keep off the rain. This
scaffolding shelters them, too, from the excessive and
insupportable heat of the country; for they lie in the shade
in the lower story, and enjoy the cool air, which passes
freely through the scaffold." After the same plan the
voyagers lashed their canoes together, and made a rude
cabin of the sails to keep off the musquitoes, and shelter
themselves from the sun. In this manner, shut in from
the light and from the view around them, they floated
down the river blindfolded; peering out once in awhile,
to see what might be ahead.
Sailing along thus at the mercy of the current, they one
day canme upon some Indians, and learned from them that
it was not more than ten days' journey further to the sea.
This news aroused their courage again, and they took up
their paddles with renewed ardor, and passed swiftly down
the river.  They soon began to see less prairie-land, because both the banks were lined with lofty woods.  The
cotton-wood, elm, and whitewood, were of enormous hight
and size.  But the numbers of buffaloes they heard bellowing made them believe the prairies were not far off.
They heard the quails whistling along the water's edge;
and they killed a little parrot, with half the head red, the
rest, with the neck, yellow, and the body green.
The greatest danger, however, which was constantly
present to the minds of the voyagers, in this part of the
river, was occasioned by the snags and sawyers. Vast
tracts of fertile land along the banks of the Mississippi
and Missouri annually cave into those streams, unloosing




60               THE GREAT WEST.
thousands of forest trees, which are by this means set
adrift. Some of these gigantic trees, swept along down
with the floods, become fastened in the deep channel, with
their trunks pointing up stream; and then, shedding their
lesser branches, they present the long, formidable shafts,
known as " snags," in river navigation at the West. Other
trees, again, become fixed in the current, with their trunks
pointing down stream.  The rolling flood forces them
under, until the bending roots overcome the unequal pressure, and then the huge top slowly rises above the surface,
shakes its dripping limbs, to disappear again for awhile in
the depths below.  Those latter are the much-dreaded
"sawyers," the terror of the early navigators of the Mississippi; for the large swaying trunks might rise directly
beneath the canoe or skiff, and give it an uncomfortable
elevation into the air.
At last the voyagers had gone down stream as far as
the mouth of the Arkansas River. They were received
in a friendly manner, and entertained by the Indians that
lived along its banks, who had corn in abundance, but
little meat; not daring to hunt buffaloes on account of the
large war-parties of their enemies scouring the prairies.
These Indians were raising, in that warm climate, three
crops of corn a year. Marquette says:  "We saw some
ripe, more just sprouting, and more still in the milk." The
Arkansas Indians used large, well-made earthen pots, for
cooking; and they had plates also made of baked earth.
The men were entirely nahed, wore their hair cut short,
their noses and ears pierced and strung with beads. The
wromen were dressed in wretched skins, and without ornaments to adorn their persons.  They had about their
cabins, which were built of rush mats, enormous gourds,
as large as half barrels, for storing corn. The Arkansas
Indians were in possession of fire-arms, having obtained




RETURN UP THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.         61
them  from  the Spaniards at the mouth of the river,
which was but eight days' journey, by water, below them.
Joliet and Marquette had then ascertained where the
Mississippi emptied.  They had explored it from  the
Wisconsin to the Arkansas. The general course of the
river was due south, and they were far below the latitude
of Chesapeake Bay, and to the east of the Gulf of California. By going further down they would have risked
losing the fruits of their voyage, of which they could
have given no information; for the Spaniards, claiming the
whole country along the Gulf of Mexico, were excessively jealous of strangers, and would undoubtedly have
detained them close prisoners. It was deemed advisable,
therefore, to return to Quebec. Having been nearly one
month upon the river, they left the Arkansas, for the
north, on the seventeenth day of July. It is of no consequence, but, after all, a little curious, that they should
have taken their departure from Michilimackinac on tle
seventeenth day of May, and from the mouth of the Wisconsin on the seventeenth day of June, and set out upon
their return on the seventeenth day of July.
Now, in going up stream, the explorers had to contend
against the current of the Mississippi, which ran at the
rate of from three to five miles per hour. Every inch of
progress had to be made by incessant rowing. At length
they succeeded in getting as high up as the Illinois River,
which, perceiving that it came from the north-east, they
entered, and followed it to the portage which led to Chicago. Crossing over to Lake Michigan, they arrived at
Green Bay in the September following.  In all their
travels, they had seen nothing to compare with the Illfi
nois country, for the fertility of its lands, its prairies, woods,
buffaloes, deer, swans, and ducks. The river had many
little lakes and branches, and was navigable its whole




62               THE GREAT WEST.
length. During the spring of the year, the only portage
was one of one and a half miles.
Thus the greater part of the Mississippi was already
explored. For De Soto, crossing it from the east through
the country of the Choctaws, and wandering for a year in
Louisiana, Texas, and New Mexico, had returned to it
in 1542, by the Arkansas River; and there dying, his
body had been committed to its waters. A hundred and
thirty-one years later, Joliet and Marquette had completed their memorable voyage. All, therefore, below the
Wisconsin was known.  In 16S0, Louis Hennepin, a
prisoner among the Sioux, was taken up the Mississippi
to the Falls of St. Anthony; and upon his release, he returned by the way of the Wisconsin River. One hundred and
fifty years after Hennepin's captivity, the United States
government commissioned Henry R. Schooleraft to put
an end to the war then raging between the Chippewas
and Sioux.  In the performance of that mission, he
crossed over from Lake Superior and the St. Louis River;
and, following up the Mississippi, discovered its source
in Itasca Lake. Three different nations participated in
the exploration of that great river, and their attempts
extended through a period of three centuries.
But it will be interesting a little longer to follow the
fortunes of M. Joliet and James Marquette. Both of
them had written complete narratives of their expeditions,
and prepared maps of the countries they had visited. But
the former, on his way to Quebec, in October, 1673, was
capsized among the Rapids of the St. Lawrence, losing all
his papers, and only himself escaping, as by a miracle,
swimming, and reaching the bank in a state of insensibility.
He made a verbal report, which he wrote out for the
government, and dispatched it to France, together with a
map, drawn from recollection, and was waiting in hopes of
receiving a suitable reward for his distinguished services.




DEATH OF JAMES MARQUETTE.             63
Doomed to disappointment, he was put off, as if in mockery,
with the barren island of Anticosti, in the Gulf of St.
Lawrence; and that was captured and taken from him by
the English. His subsequent career is lost in obscurity,
and even the place of his death is unknown.
James Marquette was detained at Green Bay the whole
season of 1674, by a dysentery, brought on by the hardships which he had suffered during the voyage. Recovering a little toward the close of the succeeding summer,
he proceeded up Lake Michigan to Chicago, intending to
fulfill his promise to the Illinois Indians, to return and
instruct them.  But tempestuous weather kept him a
month along the lake; and his malady returning, he was
obliged to remain all winter at the portage, prostrate with
sickness, and without medical attendance.  It was not
until in April that he was able to reach the Illinois
country; and, although in feeble health, he laid the foundation of the mission at Kaskaskia. His malady, however,
increasing in violence, made it indispensable that he should
return to Michilimackinac. He set out in a canoe with
two companions. But westerly winds drove them over to
the eastern shore, near the mouth of the St. Joseph'sRiver,
where Marquette became so much weaker as to require
lifting to and from the canoe. He was still anxious to be
carried forward.  His companions, seeing him  sinking
fast, moved with gentle strokes along near the shore. But
his hour was come. Pausing at the entrance of a little
river of Michigan, a cabin was hastily erected, and there,
on a bed of boughs, the great explorer of the Mississippi
breathed his last, in the gloom and solitude of the wilderness. His companions buried him reverently, and marked
the place of his grave.  Two years later, the Illinois Indians, who had loved him as a father, exhumed his remains,
and carried them with solemn pomp to Michilimackinac,
where they deposited them in their final resting-place.




64                 THE GREAT WVEST.
CHAPTER IV.
THE GREAT LAKES.
Ottawa and French rivers - Robert Cavalier de La Salle, first navigator
upon the lakes - His patent for the monopoly of the trade of the
West — "The Griffin," the first sail-vessel built on the Lakes —
Her first and only trip - La Salle's misfortune - Descends the Mississippi - Loses one of his hunters in the woods - Takes formal
possession of the country at the mouth of the Mississippi -Plate
engraved, and deposited in the earth - La Salle goes to France -
Returns with three ships - The store-ship dashed in pieces on the
coast of Texas - One hundred men lost by sickness - La Salle and
sixteen men set out overland for the Illinois - La Salle murdered by
two of his companions.
NEXT after the discoveries in the Valley of the Mississippi, our attention is attracted to the exploration of the
great lakes, from the Falls of Niagara to Green Bay.
The lower lakes had all along been so infested by war
parties of the Iroquois, that safety, as well as directness,
had led to the adoption of another route.  The earlier
adventurers, leaving the St. Lawrence at 3Montreal, followed the courses of the Ottawa and French rivers to
Lake Huron.   But those streams were interrupted by
frequent and toilsome portages.  It led through a region
horrible with forests. All day long, they had to wade or
handle  the  oar.   Around  thirty-five water-falls  their
canoes had to be carried on the shoulders, through tangled
woods, and over rough stones; and be dragged by hand
up through fifty rapids.  The new route, by the way of
the lakes, made more accessible the whole interior of the
continent; and, sweeping further south, along Lake Erie,




ROBERT DE LA SALLE.                65
opened at once into the beautiful and fertile regions of the
Ohio. The missionaries had heretofore taken the lead in
the progress of discovery at the West. A merchant was
now about to enter the field. Religious enthusiasm was
to be superseded by commercial enterprise.
Robert Cavalier de La Salle, the first navigator upon the
lakes, was a native of Rouen, in the north of France. His
intellectual endowments were of a high order.  He had
been brought up exclusively for literary pursuits. Accomplished in all the sciences, especially the mathematics, he
had spent ten years of his life teaching and studying in the
Jesuit colleges.  But all his plans for the promotion of
learning were broken up by the loss of his inheritance,
which had been stripped from him by the unjust provisions
of the French law; and he had been compelled to seek, in
a new employment, and in a new country, the means of
restoring his fortunes.  The precise time of his coming
out to Canada can not now be ascertained; but it must
have been as early as 1670; for, two years later, we find
him in command at Frontenac - a military post at the foot
of Lake Ontario, near the site of the city of Kingston.
He obtained a grant of the lake and its dependencies,
together with a monopoly of its trade; but upon the condition that he should maintain a fort upon its shores, and
a sufficient garrison, at his own expense.  In compliance
with this condition, La Salle, in 1675, built a regular
stone fort, with four bastions, inclosing the old fort, and
commanding a bay, in which a considerable fleet of vessels
might have ridden with safety. The governor of Canada
went up to Frontenac each year, at the assembling of the
chiefs of the Iroquois nations; and, by distributing among
them flattering, presents, secured the alliance and coimmerce of that powerful confederacy.
Although La Salle had met with M. Joliet, at Frontenac,
E




66              THE GREAT WEST.
when that distinguished adventurer was returning from
the West, and had inspected the journals and maps
which, soon after that, were lost in the Rapids of the St.
Lawrence, yet he was so much occupied with his own
plans of making a fortune out of his monopoly of the trade
of the lake that he does not seem to have been desirous
of participating then in securing the traffic upon the Mississippi.  Three years later, however, finding that his
monopoly had aroused the jealousy of all the other traders,
who, scattered throughout the wilderness, were thwarting
him in every possible manner, he conceived the vast enterprise of shipping the furs of the Mississippi and its tributaries direct to France, by the way of the Gulf of Mexico.
The Indians would have to be conciliated, the Spaniards
expelled, forts and trading stations' established; but La
Salle had a genius for commerce, and a courage that was
equal to any hazard.  In 1677, he made a voyage to
France, to press his new application; and upon receiving
his patent for the monopoly of the trade of the West, he
returned in September, bringing with him Tonti, an
Italian soldier, as his lieutenant, and a body of mechanics
and sailors, together with all things necessary for his
expedition.
Such was the speed with which this extraordinary man
perfected his arrangements, that, on the eighteenth day of
November, he embarked, at Frontenac, in a brigantine,
with his company, and set sail for the Niagara River.
But contrary winds prevented him from  reaching the
place of destination until the sixth day of December.
A site for a fort was immediately selected, where the
yawning chasm  opened toward the lake, to obtain the
control of the outlet of the upper lakes, and give additional security to the commerce of Ontario. Above the
cataract, near the present village of Schlosser, La Salle




THE GRIFFIN.                67
caused the ways to be laid down, and commenced the
construction of a vessel, for the purpose of going round
by water to the Illinois country. Soon, the ringing sound
of axes and of hammers was heard in the grand old
woods, mingling with the deep booming of Niagara. At
the same time that the Dutch were paddling about on the
Mohawk in broad-bottomed skiffs, between Schenectady
and Albany, and just as the Puritans were beginning the
precious war upon witches in Massachusetts, the brave
French merchant was building ships in the profoundest
depths of the American wilderness.
Meanwhile, the enemies of La Salle were busy raising
clamors against him, and throwing obstacles in his way;
and they succeeded so far as to awaken distrust among
the Senecas; so that the building of the fort had to be
abandoned, for a time, and in its place substituted a house
surrounded by palisades. Misfortunes, also, seem to have
pressed heavily upon him. One of his vessels, on Lake
Ontario, loaded with materials, provisions, and merchandise, was cast away in a gale, and became a total wreck.
But La Salle was not a man to be disheartened by
ordinary losses. He vigorously prosecuted the building
of his vessel at Niagara; and at the close of July, 1679,
he had the pleasure of seeing it glide into the water.
He gave it the name of "The Griffin," in honor of the
arms of the Count de Frontenac, then governor of Canada, to whose friendly assistance he was greatly indebted
for the early completion of his preparations. On the seventh day of August, La Salle embarked with the greater
part of his company, and set about stemming the swift
current of the river. And just as the sun was going
flown behind the dark Canadian forests, The Griffin
began plowing her way through the waters of Lake Erie,
on the route to the West.




68             TIIlE GREAT WEST.
La Salle had with him during the voyage Tonti, his
lieutenant, several friars, and sixty sailors, boatmen, hunters, and soldiers. After a quick passage —considering
that it was, in part, upon unknown waters —they arrived
at Green Bay in twenty days, and cast anchor at its head,
having traced out a channel which has already become
one of the great highways of commerce. The Griffin
was sent back with a rich lading of furs, under orders to
return with provisions and merchandise, to be conveyed
to the head of Lake Michigan; whither La Salle was
preparing to go, forthwith, with a fleet of bark canoes.
Traversing the whole length of that lake in those frail
vessels, he spent the autumn in erecting a fort at the
mouth of the St. Joseph's River, in sounding the channel,
and establishing a depot for supplies and goods. Impatiently awaiting the return of The Griffin until the snows
began to fall, he crossed over to Chicago, and remained
there some weeks, in hopes that she still might arrive.
But upon returning he got no tidings of her. Misfortune
seems to have followed upon misfortune. The Griffin
was wrecked on her homeward voyage. Hearing nothing
more of her, La Salle proceeded south to the Kankakee,
a branch of the Illinois, and, descending the latter river,
below Peoria, he passed the winter in building another
fort, which he called Crevecsur, (Heart-break,) to signify
how great was his disappointment. But he spent no time
in lamenting his losses. His resolution appears to have
risen in proportion with his disasters. He laid the foundations of a new vessel at the foot of Lake Peoria, but
was obliged to abandon it for want of materials.
In March, 1680, La Salle determined upon a plan to
hasten or replace the necessary supplies; and for that
purpose he set off, with only three attendants, and following along the water-shed, or divide, which separates




THE LOSS OF THE GRIFFIN.             69
the streams that flow into the Ohio River from those
which flow into Lake Erie, he traveled the entire length
of the wilderness on foot, and reached Frontenac in safety.
There, however, new difficulties awaited him. He found
his affairs in the utmost confusion. With the loss of the
Griffin had come the report of La Salle's death, which
had been eagerly circulated by his enemies. His property
had been seized upon by his creditors. That would seem
to have been sufficient to have made his cup of bitterness
run over. But the invincible man was not to be made
to be dead before his time. The waste of waters, the
howling wilderness, malicious enemies, and hungry creditors, had all to yield to his iron will. Applying once
more to the governor for aid, he made arrangements to
continue the prosecution of his enterprise.
While thus conquering his embarrassments in Canada,
other disasters had befallen him in Michigan and in Illinois. No sooner had La Salle set his face toward the
east than most of his men deserted their posts. That at
St. Josephs was completely abandoned. Tonti, with a
few brave companions, continued to hold out at Peoria.
But while his master was yet traversing the wilderness,
some roving bands of Iroquois attacked the Illinois villages, drove Tonti from his post, which, together with
timber for the vessel, they burned with fire. Tonti fled
to Green Bay, and from thence proceeded by the northern
route to seek after La Salle. Long before Tonti had
reached Frontenac, La Salle was again on his way, with
recruits and supplies, overland, through Michigan to the
St. Josephs, and down that river to the lake. He arrived
at Peoria late in October, and found his fort a blackened
ruin. He resolutely began building still another fort on
the Illinois, sufficiently strong to bid defiance to the warfare of savages.. It was situated upon a cliff that rose




70               THE GREAT WEST.
two hundred feet above the river, in the center of a
lovely country of verdant prairies, bordered by distant
slopes, richly tufted with oak and black-walnut, and the
noblest trees of the American forest. And when that
was well-nigh completed, he set out again, in 1681, to
return to Frontenac for more recruits. But on his way
he met the faithful Tonti, at Michilimackinac, with a
company of men, hastening westward to his assistance.
With these, La Salle went back to his new fort, which he
named St. Louis.
He found it necessary to change the plan of his expedition. He had not time to build a ship. He would
explore the river to the Gulf of Mexico, take formal possession of the country; and then, going from Quebec to
France, he would return and enter the Mississippi from
the sea. La Salle proceeded to organize the expedition
according to that plan. He broke his followers up into
three companies, and appointed Dautray, also, to act as
lieutenant. Hastening his preparations, with his usual
celerity, he caused three large boats to be constructed,
during the winter, complete; and was ready, with the
opening of the Illinois, to embark.
On the sixth day of February, 1682, the expedition,
conducted by La Salle in person, and his lieutenants,
Tonti and Dautray, with Zenobius Membre as chaplain,
and Indians as hunters and guides, entered the wide
waters of the Mississippi. They waited at the mouth of
the Illinois till the thirteenth, to get clear of the floating
ice; and then proceeded down the river. They passed the
mouth of the muddy Missouri, and the rapids which the
Indians had so much dreaded; then the Ohio, and the
region of canes. The expedition was obliged to send out
hunting and fishing parties daily, not having been able to
lay in a stock of provisions, except Indian corn. On the




VISIT OF LA SALLE TO FRANCE.          71
twenty-fourth, all the hunters came in, but one; the rest
reported having seen an Indian trail; and that led to the
supposition that the Frenchman had been killed or taken
captive. With characteristic humanity, La Salle directed
the boats to anchor near a high bluff, on the top of which
he threw up intrenchments, determined to rescue the man,
or chastise his murderers. The most skillful hunters
were dispatched along the trail. None were allowed to
relax their efforts, until, on the ninth day, the missing
hunter, who had got bewildered and lost, was found.
As the expedition proceeded down the river, La Salle
took formal possession of the country at the mouth of the
Arkansas, and at iNatchez. On the sixth of April, it
arrived at a place where the Mississippi divided into
three channels, and the boats separated so as to explore
them  all.  The water soon became brackish as they
advanced; and on the ninth, they reached the open sea.
An authentic act was then drawn up, and signed by all
the party; and, amid a volley of musketry, a leaden plate,
inscribed with the arms of France and the names of
those who had made the discovery, was deposited in the
earth. The expedition then ascended the river to Illinois;
and La Salle dispatched Membre to France, to lay an
account of his voyage before the government.
The next year La Salle himself reached France, and
meeting with much favor, procured a fleet of four shipstwo of them, the Joly and the Belle, ships of war; the
Amaible, a store-ship; and the St. Francis, a ketch. The
St. Francis was captured by the Spaniards soon after
sailing. About the first of December, 1684, the three
ships, having stopped at St. Domingo, arrived off the
island of Cuba; and, steering to the north-west, sought
the mouths of the Mississippi. But all on board were
ignorant of the coast, and the fleet went too far west



72               THE GREAT WEST.
ward, which was perceived, at last, by the land setting
off south. In attempting to enter the mouth of a river,
on the coast of Texas, the store-ship got fast aground, and
was soon after broken to pieces by the waves.  The
goods were saved; and La Salle determined upon planting his colony in that country.  The ships of war
returned to France. Sickness, within a year, carried off
an hundred men, and the survivors were reduced to great
distress. La Salle, having made an ineffectual attempt
to reach the Mississippi, through the swamps along the
gulf, resolved to cross the continent to Illinois, by land.
He set out on that desperate undertaking in January,
1687, with sixteen men; and after interminable wanderings through the wilderness, he was murdered, on the
nineteenth day of March, by two mutinous companions.
The murderers themselves were afterward murdered.
Only five of the company succeeded in reaching the Arkansas River, and returning to Canada. In the meanwhile, Tonti had been twice down the Mississippi to
meet his master; but failing in that, he left a letter for
him with the Indians nearest the gulf, which was religiously kept by them for fourteen years, and delivered to
the first white man that afterward arrived in their country.




DESTRUCTION  OF MONTREAL.                   73
CHAPTER V.
FRENCH SETTLEMENTS.
Destruction of Montreal by the Iroquois —Iroquois conquered —
Treaty of peace - French emigration - Fort Chartres - Manufacture of flour in the Wabash country - The adaptation of the Indian
manners, etc., by the French —Its effects — Description of the
French settlements —Dress of the settlers - Inroads upon the
French -Attempts of the Spaniards to dispossess the French -
Their defeat, and overthrow of the Santa F6 expedition - Progress
of English settlements toward the West -An English trader
among the French - His fate - The Ohio Company's grant - Gor.
Dinwiddie dispatches Geo. Washington with a message to the
French —Beginning of the French war - The West open to
English emigration - Taking possession of the military posts —
Robert Rogers - Rogers' Rangers - Character of the Rangers -
The Rangers at Cleveland - Visit from Pontiac - The forts
delivered to the English.
ALTHOUGH La Salle had miserably perished, and Marquette had died in the wilderness, and Joliet been shamefully neglected, yet their glowing descriptions of the
western country had filled the imaginations of adventurous men with visions of a terrestrial paradise in the
delightful regions of the  Illinois and the Mississippi.
Many of the inhabitants along the Lower St. Lawrence
were becoming dissatisfied with its sterile shores and rigorous winters, and were preparing to seek new homes in
the great valley of the West, where the summer extended
through more than half the year; where the rich soils
produced, spontaneously, the choicest grains, the most
delicious fruits.  But, for a time, the progress of the
French settlements was checked by the breaking out of
4




74              THE GREAT WEST.
another Iroquois war. Bitterly had the Canadians rued
the day on which Champlain, the founder of the colony,
had joined the Huron war-parties in an irruption into the
Mohawk country. The hatred of the fierce Mohawk warriors had scarcely slumbered during a period of eighty
years. It again broke out afresh.
On the twenty-fifth day of August, 1689, fifteen hundred Iroquois warriors, horrible with paint, and thirsty
for blood, made a sudden and terrible inroad into Canada.
They ravaged the island of Montreal with fire and sword;
destroyed all the settlements, captured the town and fort,
and butchered, with frightful cruelties, the victims that
fell into their hands. After having spread desolation,
and woe, and death, in every direction, they only retired
at the approach of winter. The war continued to rage
for more than five years. In the meanwhile, Frontenac,
then upward of seventy years old, concentrated the
whole military force of the colony upon the shore of
Lake Ontario. The fields around the fort at the foot of
the lake became white with tents; in the bay floated two
schooners, armed, and a fleet of canoes. Soon afterward,
he made a descent, with four thousand men, upon the Iroquois country. Crossing the lake, and ascending the
Oswego, he destroyed the villages and cornfields of the
Onondagas and Oneidas, cut down their orchards, burnt
up their canoes, and laid waste their country. This
great invasion taught the Iroquois an important lesson:
the French were too numerous for extermination. The
chiefs consented to treat at a council to be held at Montreal. In the summer of the year 1700, the Ottawas and
Hurons, from Lake Superior; the Sioux, from the Upper
Mississippi; and four of the Iroquois nations, entered into
negotiations for an everlasting peace. A  treaty., vas
drawn up with great formality, and signed by all the




FORT CHARTRES.                 75
parties, each Indian nation placing for itself a symbol:
the Senecas and Onondagas, a spider; the Oneidas, a
forked stick; and the Mohawks, a bear. It declared that
war should cease along the whole frontier; that peace
should reach beyond the Mississippi.
The way of French emigration to the West had then,
at last, become safe. Missionary stations soon began to
grow into regular parishes. At Peoria a settlement was
rapidly forming. Kaskaskia became a happy and prosperous village.  Other places were rapidly rising into
note. In June, 1701, De la Motte Cadillac, and one
hundred men, took possession of Detroit River and Lake
St. Clair, then deemed the loveliest part of country;
and the French began the assertion of their claim to the
country south and west of the lakes, and upon the
streams occupied by their Indian allies, comprising all
the territory drained by the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi. This extensive region, the best watered, the most
fertile of any on the face of the earth, was called New
France. Five years later, extensive settlements had been
formed in the valley of the Wabash, fiom which fifteen
thousand hides and skins were annually sent south to Mobile, for the European market.
Great efforts were made to secure the possession of the
vast inland territory which opened, through such magnificent water communications, to the east and to the south.
The Spaniards were creeping up the Rio Grande into
New Mexico. The English were yet spread out along
the sea-coast, and were hemmed in by the mountains.
For that purpose, strong military posts were built on the
western and interior waters. In 1720, the construction
of a stronghold was commenced in the Illinois country,
to serve as the head-quarters of Upper Louisiana. This
was Fort Chartres, on the east side of the Mississippi,




76              THE GREAT WEST.
and sixty-five miles below the mouth of the Missouri.
Having been designed for one of the strongest fortresses
in America, its walls were built of solid masonry, which
required eighteen months for their completion. But, one
hundred years afterward, its massive ruins were so overgrown with vines and forest-trees as to be almost impenetrable to the  traveler.  Previous to 1735, the fort
which had previously been abandoned by La Salle, had
been rebuilt at Niagara, near the mouth of the river;
another frowned at Vincennes over the Wabash valley,
one hundred and fifty miles above the Ohio River; another at Presque Isle overlooked the waters of Lake Erie;
that at Detroit commanded the passage to the upper
lakes; and, soon after, Fort Du Quesne, now Pittsburgh,
controlled the navigation of the Ohio, Monongahela, and
Alleghany rivers.
As early as 1746, six hundred barrels of flour were
manufactured in the Wabash country, in a single year,
and transported to New Orleans, beside large quantities
of hides, tallow, and beeswax. The Upper Wabash was
the seat of a quiet, industrious, and agricultural people.
A few years later, the Illinois country was found to contain six distinct settlements, with their respective villages.
Cahokia, at the mouth of a creek of the same name, five
miles below the present site of St. Louis; St. Philips,
forty-five miles further down the river; Fort Chartres,
twelve miles above Kaskaskia; Kaskaskia, on the river
of that name, upon a peninsula, and within two miles of
the Mississippi; Prairie du Rocker, near Fort Chartres;
St. Genevibve, upon Gabarre creek. These were among
the oldest villages of the West.  And Kaskaskia, before
the country passed into the hands of the English, was
quite a large town, containing between three and four
thousand inhabitants. These villages were secure, though




INTERMARRIAGE WITH THE INDIANS.          77
in the midst of an Indian country, and surrounded by
many warlike tribes.
Throughout all their efforts at planting settlements in
the western country, the French had steadily adhered to
the policy of conciliating the Indians. They, indeed,
seem to have been peculiarly adapted to harmonize, in
their habits and feelings, with the wild denizens of the
forest and the prairie. In their explorations of the remotest rivers, in their long journeys overland, in the
wigwams, in the cabins, at the forts, they associated with
their red brethren on terms of entire equality.  The
French temper, so pliant, so plastic, so strongly in contrast with the stubborn spirit of Englishmen, was readily
moulded to Indian customs and Indian forms. The wandering Frenchman, with his free and easy manners, his
merry laughter, his fondness for display, mingling in the
dusky crowd, was cordially welcomed at all the Indian
villages of the West. He might choose himself a wife
among his Indian friends, and live there with them, and
be one of them. In fact, amalgamation existed to a very
considerable extent, and in a few generations scarcely a
tribe was free from an infusion of Celtic blood.
The ready adoption of the Indian manners and mode
of living, and more than that, the frequent intermarriages
between the two races, had a tendency to bind the native
tribes more closely to the French, who seemed to be bone
of their bone, and flesh of their flesh. In all the West,
the Indian villages were thronged with Frenchmen, who
joined in the dances, went forth with the hunting-parties,
and along the war-paths. But while this policy of intimate association with the different tribes had strengthened
the hold of the government upon the country, it also had
tended to sink the Frenchman into a barbarian. Casting
off the habits of civilization, he soon imbibed the notions,




7b              THE GREAT WEST.
whims, and prejudices of his wild associates. Hie loved
to decorate his hair with the feathers of eagles, and adorn
his hunting-shirt with hairy fringes, and his moccasins
with a web-work of porcupine quills. He came to have
faith in the magic drum of the Indian conjuror. He
believed in omens and in dreams. He would whistle
away vigorously through the hollow wing-bone of a bird,
to dispel the approaching thunder-storm.  He would
carry the horny tails of rattlesnakes in his bullet-pouch,
as charms, to give certainty to his aim.  But only a
small portion of the French population was thus easily
degenerated. It was the ignorant, who, everywhere,
and among all people, sink rather to the level below
them than climb to the level above them.
Beside the missionaries, other intelligent Frenchmen
were scattered throughout the West, studying the languages of their Indian allies, complying with their usages,
flattering their prejudices, and assisting them in acquiring
the arts of white men. These agents were careful not
to ruffle the self-complacent dignity of the Indian nature.
They never shocked the religious notions, nor ridiculed
the ancient customs of their savage friends. They
attended at all public ceremonies, and took part in them,
and strove to manifest a disposition to meet their companions of the wilderness half-way. Count Frontenac,
himself, plumed and painted like a chief, danced the wardance, and yelled the war-song, at the camp-fires of his
delighted allies. And whenever a party of sachems paid
a visit to a French fort, they were received with military
honors; the troops presented arms, the drums rolled, the
cannons belched forth their thundering welcomes. Indian
vanity was delighted with such pompous and showy
friendship. The chiefs were regaled at the officers' tables;
and when they took their departure, were  loaded with




THE FRENCH SETTLEMENTS.                79
presents, and adorned with medals and decorations, and
brilliant uniforms, and flags. Their treatment was always
respectful. None smiled at the strange fancies, or stared
at the ridiculous appearance of the daubed and greasy
warriors. The shirtless savage, in cocked-hat and plume,
his scarlet coat-tails flapping behind his naked legs, might
stalk all over the parade-ground, and never suspect that
he was not an object of intense admiration to all. The
hatred of the Iroquois, even, was not toward the Frenchmen as men, but toward them  as the allies of the
Hurons, the hereditary enemies of their confederacy.
The French settlements at the West, therefore, were
safe from Indian depredations. They, indeed, were situated in the midst of a wilderness, but it was a wilderness of beauty, and inhabited by friendly races. The
tribes around them were but so many outposts to repel
enemies, and  give timely warning of danger.  The
French settlements were compact villages, isolated from
each other, and a thousand miles distant through woods
and waters from Canada. The settlers were sociable, as
well as vagrant, and loved to congregate together. No
farm-houses were scattered, as with the English, along
highways cut through the woods. The French settlements were on the bank of some pleasant stream; a single
narrow street ran along in front; each lot, a few rods in
width, extended back as far again, fenced in with rude
pickets; each house contiguous to the houses right and
left. The merry villagers could pour out their volubility
at the windows or on the stoops. The young men and
maidens could readily pass from door to door. The
houses were uniform, one story high, surrounded by galleries. The houses were constructed of corner-posts, and
studs,'connected by numerous cross-ties, to hold the
mud mixed up with cut straw into a stiff mortar, and




80               THE GREAT WEST.
plastered on with the hand. The whole outside was
shingled over with bark to shed off the rains. The outside chimney was a rude stack of dried mud, supported
by a pyramid of poles and slats.
The French settlements had each a " commons," in the
rear of their houses, inclosing hundreds of acres within
one continuous fence, for the benefit of all. Each villager had assigned him a certain portion of it, as a field
or garden, graduated to the size of his family. Each one
cultivated and reaped his own allotment, to his own use,
and kept up the fence where it adjoined on him. The
times for plowing, planting, and reaping in the " commons "
were regulated by special enactments. Around the common field was left a vast tract of vacant land, open to
all as a pasture-ground. In the French settlements, poverty was unknown, for the fields and pastures were free
to all that would work. The newly-married received an
outfit from the whole village, and had their place on the
street, and in the field, assigned to them. The pasturegrounds of the French settlements were well stocked
with cattle, horses, and hogs, wandering at large, the
property of all. Care was a stranger to the villager, and
was rarely entertained as a guest. Amusements, festivals, and holidays, came with frequency, to sweeten toil,
and stimulate cheerfulness.
In addition to the villages, there were scattered
throughout the West, on the smaller prairies, and the
rich bottom-lands of rivers, country settlements of a
patriarchal character. These, also, were uniform in
appearance. In the middle of an inclosure of about two
acres, stood the homestead, occupied by the parent family.
Around the inclosure, and fronting on it, were placed,
one after another, the houses of children and.grandchildren. So that, in time, the aged father became




THE FRENCH SETTLEMENTS.            81
surrounded by many growing families of his own lineage,
all of them having a community of interest and feeling,
each occupying its own cottage contiguous to the paternal
roof. Scenes of this kind were frequent in the Illinois
country, and on the Wabash, among the French, before
the English had extended their sway over that beautiful
region. Scenes of this kind may yet be found upon the
coast above and below New Orleans. While the AngloSaxons along the Atlantic were struggling with a rugged
soil, and fighting with the savages among the mountains,
the French settlers at the West, far removed from civilization, surrounded by everything in nature which could
please the eye or delight the fancy, were living at peace
with the Indians, contented, prosperous, and happy, in
the full enjoyment of the terrestrial paradise of America.'
In the French settlements, the lands were held in common, and the vacant lands were free to all. The system
of landlord and tenant had no existence among them.
Hospitality was not so much esteemed a virtue, as a duty,
which all cheerfully performed. Taverns were unknown;
each house supplied the deficiency. They had no statute
-book4, no courts of law, no prisons, no instruments of
public punishment. Learning and science were terms
beyond the comprehension of the simple villagers. In
all matters appertaining to learning or religion, the priest
was their oracle. On politics, and the affairs of the
nation, they never suffered a moment's anxiety, believing,
implicitly, that France ruled the world, and ruled it
right. They had no trades or professions in their villages.
The business of all was agriculture, and the care of flocks
and herds. Each man was his own mechanic.
The winter dress of the men was a coarse blanket
capote, drawn over the shirt and long red vest, and serving the double purpose of cloak and hat; for the hood,
4*                        F




8j2             THE GREAT WEST.
hanging down from the collar, upon the shoulders and
back, could be drawn up over the head, to keep off the
cold. On festive occasions, the blooming damsels wound
around their foreheads fancy-colored handkerchiefs, streaming with gay ribbons, or plumed with flowers. The matrons wore the short jacket and petticoat. The foot was
left uncovered and free; but, on the holidays it was
adorned with the light moccasin, brilliant with porcupine
quills, shells, beads, and lace.
The peculiar manners and customs of these French
settlements, isolated at first-isolated for a century afterward —separated by more than a thousand miles from any
other civilized communities, became characteristic and
hereditary with the People, and have been perpetuated to
the present time. In their ordinary deportment the villagers were grave and saturnine, from habit acquired
from their Indian neighbors. In their amusements, however, they exhibited all the gayety of the original Frenchmen. The remnants of that peculiar population stand
out now, among the bustling Yankees at the West, as
distinct, as unbending, as the Indian races.
The French settlements, extending from Lake Ontario to the Mississippi, from Lake Superior to the Gulf of
Mexico, though unmolested by the Indians, were, nevertheless, exposed to greater dangers upon the eastern and
upon the western sides.  The English were chopping
their way up the Mohawk. The English were forcing
passages through the Alleghany Mountains at the point of
the bayonet.  The English were clambering over the
Blue Ridge, and hunting along the southern bank of the
Ohio. And the Spaniards, in Florida and Mexico, laid
claim to a large portion of the territory occupied by the
French. As early as 1719, the Spaniards, alarmed at
the rapid encroachments of the French in the upper and




ATTEMPTS TO DISPOSSESS THE FRENCH.    83
lower Mississippi valleys, made strenuous exertions to
dispossess them. The war raged in Florida, and along
the delta of the Mississippi, and among the swamps and
uplands of the Red River of Louisiana. Nor was it confined alone to those regions. A grand scheme of conquest,
worthy the days of Cortez and De Soto, was formed in
Mexico. The hunters and traders of the Rio Grande
had explored the great American desert, and had led thQ
way overland to the borders of the Illinois country. Detachments of cavalry had penetrated the dreary waste,
crossed from the branches of the Arkansas to the Missouri, and, following down the river, had witnessed the
advance of the French in that quarter. The Spaniards
planned the extermination of the French, along the Upper Mississippi, together with the Missouri Indians, their
allies, and the establishment, in their place, of a colony
from Mexico, to hold possession of the country, and
perpetuate their claim to the interior of the continent.
As the spring of 1720 was advancing, all Santa Fe
was in a state of ualusual excitement. Armed troops of
horsemen were galloping along the streets; foot soldiers
were parading in the public square; the fiat-roofed houses
were covered with a gaping crowd; the wild Indians of
the plains were there dancing the war-dance. Soon the
horsemen, and the footmen, and the Indians filed off
toward the mountains - a long and motley train, with waving banners, and swords gleaming in the sun, and straiins
of martial music sweetly floating in the air. As the
head of the column approached the pass which led to
the Canadian River, and the cavalry bugles were ringing
and echoing from jagged rocks and precipices, there followed, in the rear, the body of the colonists struggling
along the rugged and winding pathway —armed men;
women and children on horseback; mules loaded with




84              THE GREAT WEST.
goods; priests in their robes; and mixed up with them,
immense droves of cattle and swine, to be slaughtered
for food, and to stock the plantations of the new colony.
After many days spent in the desert, wandering over
arid plains, and crossing the numerous tributaries of the
Upper Arkansas, the guides became bewildered. It was
their design to reach the Osage country, and stir up
those Indians to war upon the Missouris and French.
But the guides lost the proper route, and led the way
unconsciously into the heart of the Missouri tribes. The
Spaniards did not discover the mistake, for the Missouris
spoke the same language with the Osages. Believing
themselves, therefore, among friends, they revealed their
plans without reserve, and supplied the Missouris with
arms and ammunition to aid in their own extermination.
The wily savage perceived the fatal mistake, but encouraged the error. They requested two days to assemble
the warriors for the contemplated expedition, in which
they professed to engage with pleasure. The appointed
time had nearly elapsed. The days were spent in feasting.  The Spaniards, completely deceived, had fixed
upon the next morning for renewing the march. But before the dawn of day, the Mlissouris fell upon their treacherous enemies, and dispatched them, every one, with
indiscriminate slaughter.  The tents were all spattered
with the brains and blood of men, and women, and children. One priest alone was spared, and sent to bear the
disastrous tidings to Mexico. That terrible defeat, together with the fall of Pensacola, about the same time,
broke the spirit of the Spaniards, who, during two centuries, have been degenerating in the soft, and balmy regions
of Mexico and Florida.
The news of the terrible overthrow of the Santa F6
expedition soon reached the French, and apprised them of




FORT CHARTRES.                  85
the designs of the Spaniards upon the Illinois country.
To arrest any further attempt from the same quarter, a
military post was established on an island in the Missouri
River, above the mouth of the Osage.  The late attempted invasion was the immediate cause, also, of the
erection of Fort Chartres.  About the same time, a
detachment of ninety men was sent up the Mississippi
and St. Peter's,and they built a fort and trading station
at the mouth of the Blue Earth River, among the Sioux
Indians. Fort Chartres was originally one mile and a
half from the river bank. It was built in the form of a
square. Each side was three hundred and forty feet in
length. The walls were of stone, and were three feet
thick, and fifteen feet high.  It was a place of great
strength for the Indian country. Fifty years afterward,
the river broke through its banks, and, forming a new
channel, undermined two of the bastions, and Fort Chartres had to be abandoned. The French, however, were
never again threatened with Spanish expeditions across
the plains. The fate of the first one had filled all Mexico
with horror.
But the great danger to the French possessions in the
interior of America frowned along the eastern mountains.
The progress of the English settlements, from the first,
had been exceedingly slow. Differing as widely from the
French in policy as in character —stern, unyielding,
unflinching-the English had, for a long time, been
engaged in almost incessant war with the tribes of the
Atlantic coast. The French had assimilated to the Indians; the English had exterminated them. In the populous parts of Canada were many flourishing native
villages, cherished by the government; among the older
provinces of the English, scarcely an Indian was to be
seen. He was only to be found on the distant border.




86             THE GREAT WEST.
The English policy was to subjugate the wilderness, to
sweep away the forests, to cover the ground with an
intelligent, hardy, thrifty population. Before them the
crashing trees, the huge gaps in the woods, the dark,
ascending smoke of the autumnal fires, heralded the
advance of Anglo-Saxon civilization, from which the
Indians fled as from a pestilence. It was the destiny of
the French to overrun the great West.  It was the
destiny of the English to subdue it.
Their modes of effecting settlements contrasted as
strongly as the policies which dictated  them.  The
French penetrated into remote parts of the country, without any fixed plan of occupation; scattered over a boundless region; located hundreds of miles apart-on the
Muskingum, the Wabash, Kaskaskia, Missouri, and Blue
Earth rivers; at Niagara, at Detroit, Michilimackinac,
and Green Bay. These distant settlements, feeble, isolated, scarcely made an impression on the wilderness.
The English began within the sound of the sea, and
established themselves firmly on the ground. They progressed slowly; but they cut everything clean as they
went along. At each step they left behind them cultivated fields, flourishing towns, cities, institutions of learning,
commerce, and the arts. The English settlements were
generally close upon the borders, within reach of populous neighborhoods that connected directly with the
strongholds of civilization and power. But this was the
mode of the progress of English civilization between the
sea-coast and the mountains. When those huge barriers
had to be crossed, the pioneers had to go forward in
detachments, and were separated, necessarily, at wide
intervals from each other and from the older settlements.
Thus disadvantageously situated, the English colonists at
the West had to contend with confederated enemies;




SEIZURE OF THE ENGLISH.            87
they had to combat the hatred of the Indians and of the
French combined.
Both the English and the French laid claim to the
western country. But the French were in possession;
which is nine points in law-with nations, the tenth
point is the point of the bayonet. The French, from the
beginning, were exceedingly jealous of English encroachments on the Ohio and along the lakes. They seem to
have had a presentiment of the mighty force that would
one day pour over the Alleghanies, and sweep them before
it. They seem to have striven to keep the knowledge of the
beautiful region of lakes and rivers, of forest and prairie,
wholly to themselves. They seized all the Englishmen
west of the mountains that they could lay their hands on,
and detained them as prisoners of war. The French settlers were hospitable toward each other, kindly with the
Indians, but murderous toward the English.
As early as 1687, Major McGregory, favored by the
friendship of the Iroquois, had ascended with a boat-load
of goods to Lake Huron, for the purpose of trafficking
with the Indians along its shores. The appearance of an
Englishman on those waters excited great commotion.
He was promptly seized and imprisoned, and his goods
distributed among the Hurons as presents from the
French. English trade in that quarter was repressed for
a time; the example of plundering Englishmen was distinctly set before the Indians; and the plunder distributed
as bribes to follow the example. In 1749, La Jonquiere,
governor of Canada, sent clear down to the mouth of the
Muskingum River, in OOhio, to capture four English traders, and had them conveyed to Quebec. But English
curiosity, resolution, and enterprise, were soon to break
through all the restrictions imposed on them by the
French.




88               THE GREAT WEST.
Even as far back as 1716, Governor Spotswood, of
Virginia, had recommended the establishment of a chain
of forts along the Ohio River, to secure the possession of
the western country. His proposition, however, had not
been acted upon. The time had not then arrived for the
English population to seek an outlet beyond the mountains. But, thirty years afterward, the region around the
head-waters of that river had attracted considerable
attention in Pennsylvania and in Virginia. Rumors of
the advance of the French trading-posts, south of the
lakes, had begun to disturb the English provincial statesmen. It was to have been feared, that their determined
rivals upon the St. Lawrence would succeed in getting
the entire possession of the interior, and in confining the
English to the Atlantic coast. In order to counteract
the plans of the French, and neutralize their influence
over the western tribes, and obtain also a footing in the
valley of the Ohio, a company had been formed in Virginia, with Gov. Dinwiddie at its head, known as the
Ohio Company. The grant originally made by the British crown to that company, in 1748, for six hundred
thousand acres of land, had afterward been transferred,
in greater part, to the Washington family; and in such
enterprising hands, measures speedily were taken to ascertain the precise positions of the French, and establish
a fortress on the Ohio River. Gist, the company's surveyor, soon carried the compass and chain as far down as
the falls at Louisville, to the great disgust of the Indians.
The summer of 1753 brought with it, to the middle
provinces, the startling intelligence that the French
troops, having crossed Lake Erie and fortified Presque
Isle, had also erected military posts on the northern tributaries of the Ohio. Dinwiddie immediately dispatched
George Washington with a message to the intruders,




MISSION OF WASHINGTON TO THE FRENCH.   89
requiring their removal from the English territory. The
distance through the wilderness to the French posts was
six hundred miles. It was late in the season before the
messenger was ready to depart. Washington took with
him a company of eight men. He traveled to the border
with horses, carrying tents, baggage, and provisions.
The little cavalcade attracted much attention as it passed
slowly through the remote settlements, scattered at the
foot of the mountains. Toward the close of November
a month dreary with storms of rain and snow- the company plunged through the forest, and wound along beneath
the dripping branches.  The snow already lay on the
mountains.  Reaching the Monongahela, Washington
passed down it in canoes to its junction with the Alleghany, and then up the latter river to Venango. There
he saw the French flag flying over the captured dwelling
of an English trader. He was referred to the commanding officer at Fort Le Bmeuf, on French creek, a few miles
south of Presque Isle. Repairing thither to deliver his
message, the officer replied, that he would forward it to
Canada; but that, in the meanwhile, he should hold possession of the country for the French. Washington's
journey, going and returning, occupied four months.
This mission confirmed the truthfulness of the rumors of
the preceding summer. It became evident that the time
for immediate action had arrived. The French had then
to be forestalled in their progress toward the other parts
of the territory, and driven out of their present fastnesses,
or the whole West would have to be abandoned to them.
Early, therefore, in the following spring, Captain Trent,
and a company of backwoodsmen, crossed over the mountains, from Virginia to the Ohio, with instructions to fortify the point at the confluence of the Monongahela and
Alleghany rivers. The Virginians had begun the erection




90              THE GREAT WEST.
of a fort, and the woods were resounding to the axes,
when, suddenly, they were attacked by a host of French
and Indians, who, with sixty boats and three hundred
bark-canoes, had descended from Venango to expel them
from the territory. Captain Trent was obliged to withdraw in great discomfiture  toward Virginia.  At the
same time, Washington himself was advancing in considerable force beyond the border; but, hearing of Captain Trent's disaster, he, also, fell back; after having
captured a large detachment of the enemy, and after
fighting all day long against fearful odds, at the Great
Meadows. The disputed territory still remained in the
possession of the French. This was the beginning of the
old French war. Thus, in the forest, on the western slope
of the Alleghany Mountains, was kindled a war between
England and France, which involved in its struggles half
the kingdoms of Europe. The contending parties were
also on the Ganges as well as on the Ohio. America,
Europe, and Asia, furnished each the great theaters for
military display. Battles were being fought at one and
the same time on the opposite sides of the globe. But in
America the war assumed a new and striking aspect. A
wilderness concealed the combatants. Army met army
under the shadows of primeval forests; and when they
did come together, the ax of the pioneer had to hew a
passage for the bayonet of the soldier.
Upon the retreat of Captain Trent, the French proceeded with the fortifications which he had abandoned.
They named the new fort Fort Du Quesne. The war
thus begun continued for five years. That. whole period
was one of great suffering to the English colonists, who,
perceiving the extent of their danger, spared no pains to
avert it. General Braddock had been defeated and slain
on the banks of the Monongahela; — but Nova Scotia and




ENGLISH EMIGRATION.               91
New Brunswick had fallen to the English. The expeditions against Niagara and Crown Point had failed; —but
a French army had been put to utter rout on the headwaters of the Hudson; and their general, Dieskau, taken
prisoner. The tide of war had at last fully turned in
favor of the English. General Amherst had captured
Fort Du Quesne; Colonel Bradstreet had destroyed Fort
Frontenac; and General Wolfe had taken Quebec. On
the eighth day of September, 1760, the Marquis de Vaudreuil surrendered Canada, with all its dependencies, to
the British crown.
The Great West at last was open to English emigration; the French no longer were standing in the way.
But the western Indians were not included in the peace;
and though deserted by the surrender of their white
allies, the Indians were not dismayed. During the war,
they had been taught by the French to believe that the
sole object of the English was to get possession of all
the fine lands in the country. They, therefore, became
desperate in their determination to resist the advance of
the settlements, and were preparing, under Pontiac, to
renew the war, for the security of their ancient huntinggrounds between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi.
The West in the' main was then a howling wilderness,
promising, indeed, for the future; but for the present
grandly desolate, and dangerous to English emigration.
Over the vast tract of the Indian country was spread out
one continuous forest, covering all the land, sweeping
over hill and hollow in endless undulation, burying mountains in masses of verdure, and darkening the streams
from the light of day. Green intervals dotted with deer,
and broad plains blackened by herds of buffaloes, alone
broke the sameness of the woodland scenery. And to
these natural openings must be added the sparse and




92              THE GREAT WEST,
widely-scattered settlements of the French. Throughout
that vast wilderness of woods were roaming Indian
hunting-parties, and war-parties, hostile to each other;
but, under French influence, grown more hostile toward
the English. Taking advantage of this feeling, common
to all the western and northern Indians, Pontiac, a great
chieftain, began combining all the tribes in one savage
confederation to surprise and exterminate the hated race.
His arrangements were being made, over a territory of a
thousand miles in width, among hundreds of different
chiefs and warriors, with the characteristic secresy of the
Indian nature. Not one single solitary indication of the
approaching danger reached an English eye, while all the
horrid elements of war in its most savage form were
gathering along the whole frontier.
But, immediately upon the fall of Canada, while the
Indians were yet concocting their scheme of indiscriminate slaughter, it remained to the English to complete
the work of French subjugation, by taking possession of
the military posts upon the Ohio and the Wabash, at
Detroit, AMichilimackinac, and Green Bay. The execution of that task was both difficult and dangerous. The
nearest of these ports was six hundred miles from any
English colony, and they also were hundreds of miles
apart from each other. The route to them led through
the midst of the exasperated allies of the French; but,
fortunately, these allies, for the time, were bewildered
and confounded. The perilous expedition to these distant parts of the Indian country was committed to the
charge of Major Rogers —a man eminently qualified to
perform that duty with speed and success.
Robert Rogers was born in New Hampshire. He was
tall, broad-shouldered, athletic. His features were stern,
almost rugged.  HIis constitution and temper were as




ROGERS' RANGERS.                93
tough as the granite of his native hills. With a mind
remarkably active, and leading a roving life, he was by
no means uncultivated. His letters show that he was in
the habit of thinking closely, quickly, and to the point;
and they are written in a pithy, forcible style. IHaving
been kept engaged, for many years, in frontier warfare
with the savage hordes that poured into New England
from the north, he had become versed in all the arts of
woodcraft-in all the wiles of Indian cunning. He was
sagacious, prompt, decisive, fearless; yet so cautious and
so prudent that he has sometimes been charged, most unjustly, with cowardice. He never acted from impulse.
Constitutionally wary, he had grown more so by experience.  Neither passion nor the surprise of sudden
danger could start him one jot.  All his movements,
even the most critical, were dictated by cool, deliberate
calculation.
Major Rogers stood high as a partisan officer. He was
in command of a body of provincial rangers, who, like
their chief, had become inured to the hardships and perils
of the border. Rogers' Rangers were equally hunters,
woodsmen, and soldiers. Armed, like the Indians, with
rifles, tomahawks, and knives, they were trained in tactics of their own, peculiarly adapted to wild bush-fighting.  The principal theater of their action had been
among the mountains around lakes George and Champlain, between the hostile fortresses at Ticonderoga and
Crown Point. These solitudes had often been awakened
by the frightful warwhoop, and the answering shout of
the fearless rangers. In summer time, they had passed
up and down those eastern lakes in whale-boats and
canoes, or threaded their way over the shores in single
file, creeping around rocks, peering out from behind trees,
with all the caution of experienced Indian warriors.




94               THE GREAT WEST.
Dressed in gray homespun, with close-fitting caps, and
soft moccasins, they moved along like shadows. In winter time, they had tramped through the woods and
swamps on snow-shoes; or, putting on skates, they had
flown over the glary ice with the speed of the wind; at
night they had slept in the drifting snows. The rangers
had become a terror to the Canadian Indians. The savages did not feel safe for a single moment while passing
through that region. Their white foemen had become as
subtle as themselves, and ten-fold more persistent.
Storms of rain or driving sleet afforded no security,
for the rangers had become accustomed to face everything and endure everything, and would hunt a Canadian
Indian to death in the track of a thunderbolt. The rangers were not naturally blood-thirsty; but some of them
had been present when their own brothers and sisters had
been butchered and scalped; others had seen from a distance the paternal dwelling wrapped in flames, and the
father, and the mother, the guileless child, the helpless
infant, all consumed; others had themselves been taken
captive, their flesh stuck full of burning splinters,
scourged, shot at, mocked at, in their agony. All of
them had wrongs like these, of their own, or of their kindred, to avenge, the very remembrance of which made
their sinews like triple steel. The achievements of the
rangers, their rapid marches and counter-marches, their
determined fighting, their midwinter battles, had made
them famous throughout. America.
On the evening of the twelfth of September, 1760,
Major Rogers received orders to ascend the lakes with a
detachment of rangers, and take possession of the forts
included in the late capitulation. The troops were then
encamped at Montreal. He embarked with two hundred
rangers, in whale-boats, and swept along with steady




SUCCESS OF ROGERS.               95
strokes up the St. Lawrence.  Winding through the
channels among the Thousand Islands into Lake Ontario,
they skirted the northern shore. The weather was rough,
and their progress slow. They did not reach Niagara
before the first day of October. Then their boats had to
be carried over the difficult portage around the falls.
Hlaving seen his expedition safely afloat above the cataract, Rogers, with a small company, hastened on foot to
Pittsburgh, with dispatches for General AMarkton.  He
rejoined his command at Presque Isle about the close of
the month. The prospect, as they hugged along the shore,
was dreary enough. The chilly winds came sweeping
across the lake. The yellow-leaved beeches and maples
were shedding their foliage. Dark clumps of hemlock
and pine frowned gloomily over the shores. On the seventh day of,.November, the little fleet swept into Cuyahoga
River. The British flag had never before been carried so
far westward. The fall rains having set in, the rangers
encamped on the bank until the twelfth.
Soon after the landing of the rangers, a party of
Indians entered the camp, proclaiming themselves an
embassy from Pontiac, ruler of all that country, and
requiring the English to proceed no further without his
permission. Before the close of the day Pontiac himself
approached, with a number of chiefs, and demanded to
know Rogers' business in that country. This was explained to him. Pontiac replied that he should stand in
the way of the English until morning. He withdrew at
dusk. The rangers, suspecting treachery, stood well on
their guard throughout the night. In the morning Pontiac returned, and made a more formal reply, in substance,
that he was willing to live at peace with the English, and
suffer them to remain in his country, so long as they
should treat him with deference.




96               THE GREAT WEST.
That wily chief had been a fast ally of the French.
The American forest never produced a man more shrewd,
politic, ambitious. He saw the French power waning, and
he would no longer openly prop a falling cause. By
appearing friendly with the English, he would gain time
to bring about concert of action among the disjointed
tribes. He would seek to lull the English into fatal
security. A blow too soon, though successful, would be
ruinous. It would thwart the scheme of combining the
whole Indian race in one universal war of extermination.
It would bring the hated English upon the tribes separately, to destroy them by piecemeal. These may have
been the reasons why Pontiac should dissemble, and
assume the offices of friendship, and offer Rogers any
supplies which he might have stood in need of.
The whale-boats of the rangers, toward the close of
November, began moving up slowly between the low
banks of the Detroit River. At last, the uniformity of
marsh and wood-lands was relieved by the appearance
of Canadian houses, on either side, —the outskirts of the
secluded settlement. Before them, in the distance, was
seen the French flag, flying above the bark roofs and
weather-stained palisades of the fortified town. In obedience to the English summons, the garrison laid down
their arms, and the red cross of England rose to the peak
of the flag-staff. This was on the twenty-ninth day of
November, 1760.  The garrison were sent prisoners
down the lake. The inhabitants were disarmed. An
officer was dispatched southward to take possession of the
forts Miami and Ouatanon, which guarded the communications with the Ohio River. The gathering storms of
winter, and the drifting ice from Lake Huron, prevented
Rogers proceeding further.  Besides, his company had
been weakened by the detachments sent off to the south,




ENGLISH CONQUEST.                97
and seven hundred Indians were reported to be in the
immediate vicinity of Detroit.  Upon the return of
spring, Michilimackinac, St. Mary's, Green Bay, and St.
Josephs were delivered up to the English. Nothing was
left to the power of the French, except their posts on the
Mississippi, not included in the capitulation of Montreal.
The conquest appeared to have been consummated.
The English, having gone into possession of the territory yielded up to them after five years of incessant
war, succeeded to all the rights of the French. The
English flag was waving over the fortresses along the
Ohio and around the great lakes. But the West was an
immense region, accessible only to the most fearless and
hardy adventurers. The forts were altogether insignificant, when compared with the extent of country to be
awed into submission by them. A few hundred men,
broken up into small detachments, stationed at prodigious
distances from each other, were charged with the keeping
of nearly half the continent. The hands of the French
were, indeed, tied by the treaty. It was supposed that
the Indians, now their civilized allies had been conquered, would offer but little resistance to English power.
Peace, it was hoped, would continue pretty much unbroken.  All the wars with the Indians —all the savage
inroads into English territory — had, for more than a generation, been ascribed to the machinations of the French in
Canada.  In every hostile war-party that, within the
rememlrance of the living, had brought conflagration
and slaughter into the English homes, the sword and the
tomahawk had been seen to gleam together. The fall of
Canada had, indeed, been a terrible blow to the western
Indians. They, for a while, were staggering from the
effects of it. They were agitated for a season by conflict5                          G




98              THE GREAT WEST.
ing emotions and passions. Surprise at the overthrow of
their great ally, wonder at the sudden growth of their
enemy bewildered them, and held their hatred of the
English in suspense.  The woods appeared to be all
quiet. The Indians appeared submissive. But before
two years had elapsed, the delusion of the English was
dispelled, and the whole West was wrapped in flame.




TRADING WITH THE INDIANS.                99
CHAPTER VI.
Manner of trading with the Indians - Early routes to the West —The
Albany route- The Philadelphia route - The Indian trader -His
dress —Trading stations-The Indian's notion of the surveyor's
compass and chain-The Acadians - Destruction of their property - Transported to the sea-coast - They gather, and emigrate in a
body to the French settlements - Received with great hospitalityThe Indian character.
AT the close of the old French war, the English settlements extended from Georgia to Maine, along the Atlantic, and reached in from the coast about one hundred and
fifty miles, to the mountains-a narrow border of civilization upon the edge of the dark back-ground of wilderness. Hostile military posts no longer frowned upon the
western waters. Bold, adventurous men were eager to
penetrate the wilds.  Ever since iMajor ~McGregory had
been plundered on Lake Huron, English traders had been
impatient to secure to themselves the traffic with the
Indians. The rich furs could be bought for a song. A
few strings of beads, gaudy ribbons, hatchets, knives, gunpowder, and lead, and a little poor whisky, was all the
stock required for the trade. In the distant forest, far
beyond the reach of the law, dealing with ignorant savages, a system of cheating could be carried on with impunity, and enormous profits could be realized. The trader's
goods were disposed of in packages, or by the piece, at
prices regulated by his own greediness.  Competition
would seem  to have been impossible.  Whatever was
bought of the Indians was bought by weight; a white
man's hand placed on the scale was allowed to weigh a
pound, and his foot five pounds. It is needless to say,




100             THE GREAT WEST.
that the weights grew heavier in proportion to the Value
of the furs that swung at the other end of the beam.
Even though the bargaining -may have been conducted
honestly throughout, the trader's goods were unconscionably dear, while the Indian's goods were rated at merely
nominal prices. With such golden opportunities before
them, on the return of peace the greedy traders hastened
into the West.
The American forest, in 1761, may be compared with
the sea, in this respect: the sea had its ports, and the
forest had its places of rendezvous and outfit. While
the former were thronged with merchants and seamen,
the latter were swarming with traders and borderers.
The ocean and the woods were alike lawless and perilous.
In the northern provinces there were two important places
for fitting out for the wilderness. Albany and Philadelphia were competing with each other for the monopoly of
the trade of the West. Both held communications immediately with the sea; and they had each a peculiar mode
of inland transportation.  Their advantages and disadvantages were about equally balanced.  Albany had
intercourse with the interior by means of rivers and the
great lakes; Philadelphia, overland, and through the
head-waters of the Ohio. The route from Albany was
interrupted by frequent carrying-places; that from Philadelphia by a double chain of mountains.
Availing themselves of the opportunity for developing
the western trade, which the surrender of Canadca had,
for the first time, afforded them, large swarms of traders
set out from Albany and from Philadelphia with such
kinds of goods as were thought most likely to please their
savage customers. Those who went by the more northern
route, passed up the Mohawk in boats or canoes, paddling
where the current was not too swift, and at other times




LIEUTENANT GORRELL'S DIARY.         101
working their way against the stream with setting-poles.
The latter process was called "punting."  Passing by
Fort Hunter, at the mouth of the Schoharie creek, and
Fort Herkimer, at German Flats, they would make a halt
for a while at Fort Stanwix, now Rome, at the head of
river navigation. Thence crossing through the swamp to
Wood creek, they would again embark. The channel of
that creek was so crooked, that it is said to have run
through in the night and got lost. Taking to the oars
once more, on Oneida Lake, they would pass Fort Brewerton by the outlet to the Oswego River, which was once
a broad, deep, clear stream, before the canal was dug
along its banks; but, on account of that, the river is said
to have been running swamp water, from sheer mortification, ever since.  Shooting the falls, they would soon
arrive at Lake Ontario. The rest of the way was plain
sailing, except the long portage at Niagara.
The troops often followed this route. Lieutenant Gorrell, in 1763, passed over it with a detachment of soldiers.
His diary shows some of the inconveniences which
attended upon him: "July 2d. Dined with Sir William,
at Johnson Hall. The office of superintendent very
troublesome. Sir William continually plagued with Indians about him — generally from three hundred to nine
hundred in number —spoil his garden, and keep his house
always dirty.
"10th. Punted and rowed up the Mohawk River
against the stream, which, on account of the rapidity of
the current, is very hard work for the poor soldiers. Encamped on the banks of the river. Musquitoes. The
inconveniences attending a married subaltern strongly
appear in this tour. What with the sickness of their
wives, the squealing of their children, and the smallness
of their pay, I think the gentlemen discover no common




102             THE GREAT WEST.
share of philosophy in keeping themselves from  running mad.
"Monday, 14th. Went on horseback by the side of
Wood creek, twenty miles, to the Royal Block-house, a kind
of wooden castle, proof against any Indian attacks. It
is now abandoned by the troops, and a sutler lives there,
who keeps rum, milk, raccoons, etc., which, though none
of the most elegant, is comfortable to strangers passing
that way."
When the Albany traders had arrived at Presque Isle,
they could either continue on up the lakes, and spread out
through Michigan and the north, or crossing to French
creek, and down the Alleghany River, penetrate into
southern Ohio and Indiana.
From Philadelphia, the route led over to the Susquehanna, at Harrisburgh; thence up the valley of the lovely
Juniata, winding for an hundred miles through scenes of
romantic beauty; and then across the mountains to Pittsburgh.  Thence following down the Ohio, the traders
could ascend its tributaries into the heart of the northwest.  More commonly, the journeys by the southern
route were made with brigades of pacl-horses, loaded
with goods, and led along the rugged pathways of the
mountains, and urged on through thickets, and swimming
the rivers, under the guidance of drivers who had been
trained to their calling in the midst of the perils of
the borders.
That class of frontiersmen who were engaged in the
Indian trade have long since disappeared from the regions of their former renown. They were rough, bold
men, intractable and fierce. During their seasons of repose among the homes of civilization, they kept the sober
and steady people in constant alarm  with their wild
pranks. They loved to drink. They loved to dance with




FRONTIERSMEN.                 103
an earnestness and noise that sounded like the stamping
of horses.  They loved to fight, as they said, to keep
from " spilin'." After sleeping a half a day on a hard
bench in a bar-room, they would rouse up, "licker," go
out of doors, and give a yell that would scare half a
township.  They wore coon-skin caps; huge blanketcoats, or hunting-shirts of smoked deer-skin; carried a
rifle, knife, and tomahawk; made use of enormous powder-horns; and smoked, and swore, and drank, from morning till night. In the employ of a principal trader, these
tough, fearless men would push ahead into the depths of
the wilderness, shooting, as they went along, at a deer or
at an Indian, just as the one or the other happened to
come first within range. When the trains of horses had
penetrated far enough into the Indian country, the owner
of the goods would fix his head-quarters at some village,
whence he would dispatch his subordinates in every direction, with supplies of red cloth, tobacco, paint, beads, and
trinkets. This wild kind of traffic was liable to every
species of disorder. And the overreaching and cheating
of the traders, in the end, increased the exasperation of
the Indians against the English.
In a very short period of time, regular trading-stations
had been established at Pittsburgh, on the Muskingum
and the Miami, at Sandusky, at Detroit, on the Maumee
and St. Joseph's, at MIichilimackinac and Green Bay;
while numerous other places, on the branches of the
great rivers, were visited, periodically, for the purpose of
traffic. WVhen the traders and hunters had fairly broken
pathways through the wilderness, another class of men
speedily followed after them. The agents of land companies,and surveyors,began looking up valuable tracts of
land, running lines and blazing trees. Now nothing disgusted the Indians so much as this.  They regarded the




104              THE GREAT WEST.
surveyor, squinting over his compass, and making marks
on trees and in his books, as the white man's devil. Ho
seemed to them to exercise some sort of enchantment
over their lands,by means of which the English got into
the possession of them.  Squatting on their haunches
around the wigwam-fires, they would talk it all over to
one another, how the magical instruments stuck on the
top of a stick would turn toward all the best lands, and
how the chain would bind all fast to the white man.
These rude notions respecting the power of the surveyor's compass and chain were confirmed by the stories
of the Delawares, and other tribes that had been defrauded of their lands in the older provinces. The miserable remnants, driven from their hunting-grounds., had
sought a refuge beyond the Alleghanies, and, mingling
with the Indians there, had taught them to regard these
instruments with astonishment and fear. Wherever the
chain had been drawn, settlements would surely follow,
the woods would be cut down, and the Indians expelled.
The French, also, had encouraged the notion, and had
founded an argument upon it to induce the Indians to take
sides against the English. And although Canada had
fallen, Upper Louisiana was still a colony of France, and
included the forts and settlements on the Mississippi, and
Fort _Massac on the Ohio, forty miles above its mouth.
From these, agents and traders were going forth among
the tribes with whom they had held friendly intercourse
for nearly a century, and perceiving the cause of the dissatisfaction, they strove to promote it, in the hope of
regaining their lost territory in the event of a general
Indian war.
About this same time an event occurred which greatly
strengthened the charge of rapacity brought against the
English, and served to convince the Indians that there




THE ACADIANS WRONGED.             105
could be no safety in permitting the hated race to exist
on the continent.  It seems that during the late war,
England had committed one of those acts of oppression
which can only be justified, if at all, by appealing to the
terrible emergencies of military strife. Acadia adjoined
Canada. The inhabitants of both colonies had sprung
from the same stock, spoke the same language, professed
the same faith. They had been united in their history.
They had entertained the same prejudices. They had
cherished the same hopes; and both had participated in a
common hatred of the English. Upon the breaking out
of the war, which had raged clear round the globe, and
had involved the most civilized as well as the most savage nations, it was feared that the Acadians might do
more than sympathize with their kindred; and that, by
joining with the other French and the Indians, they
would make the burden of the war in America too great
for England and the English provinces to bear. The
situation of the English on this continent was then far
more critical than at any other period since the first settlements at Plymouth and at Jamestown. A powerful
enemy was in all the north, with fortresses and troops
extending half way from ocean to ocean. The savages
of a boundless wilderness, also, were in arms against them.
The dwellings of Englishmen, along the borders, were
blazing in midnight conflagrations, and the inhabitants,
without regard to age or sex, were butchered with horrible barbarity.  The frightened multitudes, fleeing from
the ghastly terror, were crowding into the Atlantic cities.
England, therefore, had resolved to put it forever out of
the power of the Acadians to take part with her numerous
enemies. A fleet was dispatched to the suspected colony,
commissioned to seize the inhabitants, destroy their property, and transport them to the coasts of New Jersey,'5*




106              THE GREAT WEST.
Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia.  Thousands of those
unfortunate people were torn from their homes, and
cast upon the cold charity of the world. Strangers to
our language, strangers to our manners, penniless, helpless, their mute sorrow had touched the humanity of the
Anglo-Americans, who, by private subscription and legislative bounty, had endeavored to soften the hardships of
their terrible lot. The work of despoiling the Acadians
had been accomplished with a zeal bordering on ferocity.
To prevent any lingering desire of home prompting them
to return, they were not only stripped of their money and
available property, but they had been compelled to look
on while their fields were being wasted, while their houses
and barns were burning, and their flocks and herds
slaughtered.
The treatment of the Acadians could not have had a
tendency to lessen their dislike of British rule. The
inhumanity of tearing them from their homes, destroying
all their possessions, and converting the places of their
birth into a desert, had been too great to be atoned for by
any subsequent acts of sympathy and kindness.  At
length the peace had come. Then, with a spirit honorable to them, and honorable to human nature, they determined no longer to eat the bread of charity at the hands
of a race which had been guilty of so atrocious an offense
against the rights of mankind. Gathering at last into
one of the middle provinces, a band of desolate outcasts,
they set their faces toward the West. A thousand miles
of wilderness lay between them and the French settlements on the Mississippi; and they resolved to brave its
perils. The aged grandsire, tottering on his staff; the
slender child; men once rich, now beggared forever; women with infants at their breasts; all, all undertook the
journey. The wilderness never beheld a more melancholy




HOSPITALITY TO THE ACADIANS.          107
spectacle than when that company of fugitives passed
into its shadows. Some died by the way. Some, from
exposure, became hopelessly decrepit.
After a while, the wanderers, weary and foot-sore,
reached the Ohio, and floated down in canoes and on rafts.
They were received at the French settlements with great
hospitality.  Every house was flung open to them.
Everything, in fact, was done to promote their comfort.
Lands were allotted to them.  Tools and seeds were
given to them. Rations were furnished them from the
public stores. But the iron had entered too deeply into
their souls. Many pined away and died broken-hearted.
Those who survived perpetuated their hatred of the
English name. The wrongs of the Acadians were related from village to village. The dancers stopped in the
midst of their graceful movements;  the herdsman forsook his flocks; the hunters and voyagers delayed their
departure, to listen to the terrible story. Anger was
kindled anew in every Frenchman's bosom. Then they
carried abroad with them what they had heard. Whereever a Frenchman could go in the wilderness, the story
flew. Chiefs in council listened to it, and saw in the fate
of the Acadians the fate of their tribes. The story was
repeated in all the dialects of the West, and helped to
bind the Indians still more closely with the French.
From that time forward, their common enmity to the
English was directed to the development of a great plan
of extermination.
Another cause which also tended to hasten the catastrophe arose from the impolitic conduct of the English
toward the tribes around them. The Indian nature is
peculiarly conistituted. It is tough, rugged, and inflexible.
Its strongest element is inordinate pride. However ignorant he may be, or poverty-stricken, or whimsical, the




108             THE GREAT WEST.
Indian, uncontaminated with the vices of civilization, has
a most exalted sense of character. He is every whit a
man; and, in his own opinion, a great man. An insult
seems to leave a scar on his very heart. The remembrance of a wrong done him clings to him through life.
His hatred is the most bitter of all hatreds; it may be
smothered for a time, but never quenched. Though bare
and breechless, he walks the earth with all the dignity of
a born lord. It is his pride that makes the Indian so
stoical as he is. He will not manifest his feelings. He
may suffer keenly; but he will repress every expression of
pain. It would be unmanly in him to give evidence of
distress. His pride enables him to endure the most frightful torments at the hands of his enemies without flinching.
WVhen tied at the stake, in a position of utter helplessness, he will not move a muscle, though the explosion of
fire-arms in his face should singe off his eyebrows. He
will not so much as wink, though the tomahawk, hurled
whistling through the air, should chip the top-knot from
his head within an ace of the skin. But the Indian's
pride is fully equaled by his vanity.
The French had understood the Indian character far
better than their rivals, and they had adapted their policy
to it. They had taken advantage of his overweening
self-importance, and had won him to their cause. They
had treated the Indian throughout, with the most flattering attentions; and had made him feel as though they
thought about as much of him as he thought of himself.
He could withstand the most awful tortures, but he could
Dot resist the crafty appeals to his vanity. This was the
secret of the French success in creating and maintaining
alliances with the Indian tribes. But the English, on
the contrary, had been altogether unaccommodating in
their treatment of the Indian. They regarded him as an
intruder on the soil, and he regarded them  in the same




ILL-TREATMENT OF THE INDIANS.         109
light. They could not harmonize in any respect whatever. An Englishman, upon meeting with an Indian for
the first time, would stand and stare at him as at a wild
beast. That was offensive. But, grown more familiar
with the sight, the Englishman would not notice him at
all. That was more offensive still. Soon the Indian had
become a nuisance, to be rudely jostled from the path;
and that was a mortal offense. When the chiefs visited
the forts, they were no longer received, as before, with
every mark of honor and distinction, but were met with
coldness and suspicion, or with utter indifference. The
soldiers would make fun of them, mimic the tones of
their voices and their pompous airs, and ridicule their appearance generally.  The very boys were allowed to
tease them with impertinent questions, call them nicknames, make faces at them. The officers would not
invite them to the tables; bu', after dinner, would send
out crusts and bones to them in the yards with the dogs.
The pride of the Indians was constantly wounded by
the conduct of the English. Repeated insults had been
superadded to repeated injuries.  The sagacious chiefs
had seen the surveyors tramping about in search of the
choicest lands, and they believed that a crowd of Englishmen would soon follow after them to destroy all the
hunting-grounds. They had seen the unprincipled traders cheating their people out of their property, exchanging the most worthless goods for the richest furs, and
making them foolish with strong drink. And these offensive things were not accidental, but intentional. Outrage
had been reduced to a system. And the English forts
and military posts had become like so many springs of
bitter water, overflowing, and sending out their poisonous streams further and further through the wilderness.
Such a state of things could not last much longer. A
rupture had become inevitable.




110                TIHE GREAT WEST.
CHAPTER VII.
PONTIAC'S WAR.
Pontiac - Indian method of drilling their warriors - Pontiac assembles a council - Pontiac's speech - His dream - The fort at Detroit - Pontiac inspects the fort during a calumet dance - Pontiac's
conspiracy on the fort at Detroit defeated - A general destruction
of the forts and settlements by the Indians - Stratagems of the
game of ball, between the Ojibways and Sacs, and destruction of
Michilimackinac - Fall of Venango - Condition of the frontier
settlements - Colonel Henry Bouquet —IHis victory near Fort
Pitt - A council with the chiefs- Their apology for the war -
Bouquet's reply - Orders the Indians to bring in all their prisoners
before giving them the hand of friendship - Meeting of long-lost
friends- Conclusion of the Indian war- Assassination of Pontiac.
THE English colonies were illy prepared to meet the
impending  war.  Those armies which  had  conquered
Canada, had been broken up and dispersed. The rangers
had been disbanded. The regulars had been sent home
to England. There remained barely troops sufficient to
garrison the posts in the Indian country. In the meanwhile, the deeply-rooted hatred of their oppressors was
urging the Indians on precipitately to action, which
would have much weakened the effect of the meditated
blow, and have given the English time for preparation.
But a master mind was busy restraining the impetuosity of
the Indian character, and wielding a moral influence over
the wild, discordant elements, to reduce them into a species of military order. An Indian chieftain, ruling over
a large confederacy, with broad, comprehensive views of
policy, is, indeed, an anomaly in the history of the
wilderness.




PONTIAC'S CONFEDERACY.            111
Pontiac, the great leader of the Indian confederacy, is
reported to have been not above the average hight of
men. But his muscular form is said to have been remarliable for its symmetry and vigor. His features were
irregular. His complexion was darker than is common
with the Indian. The expression of his face was bold,
stern, determined.  His whole bearing was imperious.
At the commencement of the war, he is said to have
been about fifty years old.  Ordinarily, his dress consisted of a scanty cloth, girt about his loins. His hair
was not shaven, but hung flowing over his shoulders.
Upon great occasions, he appeared before his warriors,
plumed and painted, and in a robe, and leggins, and moccasins richly ornamented, in the most impressive style of
savage art. He was resolute, wise, and eloquent. His
capacious intellect grasped everything within the range
of Indian vision. He possessed uncommon force of
character; and in subtlety, he was more than a match
for the wiliest chieftains of his race. With all those qualities which distinguish great men, it was his misfortune
to have been born an Indian. He was passionate, treacherous, and cruel. One of Nature's noblemen by birth, he
had been reduced by circumstances and position- to a
savage. His splendid genius blazed for a while in the
wilderness like a fallen star.
During the summer of 1762 the conspiracy against the
English had ripened to perfection. The hour of vengeance was drawing near.  The danger extended the
whole length of the western border, and was imminent to
all the middle provinces. Early in the fall, Pontiac had
dispatched his ambassadors to the Indian tribes. He had
his head-quarters in a small, secluded island, at the opening
of Lake St. Clair. From that place he had sent his messages throughout the country of the Ohio and its tributaries;




112             THE GREAT WEST.
through the vast region of the upper lakes; through the  wild
fastnesses of the Ottawa River; through the entire length
of the Valley of the Mississippi. And all the tribes north
of the Cherokee country, between the Alleghanies and the
great plains on the Missouri, had joined in the conspiracy,
including even the Senecas, one of the Iroquois nations.
Pontiac had directed that the blow should be struck in
the month of May following. The precise time had been
indicated by reference to the changes of the moon. The
tribes had been counseled to make a general and an instantaneous rising. Each tribe had been charged with the
destruction of the English garrison in its own neighborhood. Then they were to fling themselves in a mass on
the defenseless colonists.  Throughout the recesses of
the forest the preparations for war had already been
begun. The Indians, indeed, had no armies to drill in
complicated tactics, no military stores to provide; but a
deep personal interest in the approaching contest had to
be awakened in every warrior. The success of an Indian
campaign would be dependent on the intensity of the passion which should urge each one on to heroic deeds. Concert of action could be secured in no other way than by
bringing similar influences to bear with nearly equal force
on them all. That was the scope of the Indian tactics.
For that purpose, the Indian war-songs and the Indian
war-dances had long ago been devised. These were peculiarly adapted to stimulate savage natures to the highest
pitch of excitement. Mere animal courage always will
kindle quickly, by contact with its like, into a fierce and
furious flame. Could the English, in 1762, have pierced
the gloom of the wilderness, they would have beheld the
enacting of scenes of demoniac grandeur that would have
startled them from their fancied security. Throughout
the vast region of lakes and rivers, in all the valleys,




PREPARATIONS FOR HOSTILITIES.       113
along the mountains, and the heavily-timbered plains,
from north to south, from east to west, wherever the
blood-stained hatchets of Pontiac had been accepted, the
English would have beheld the gathering of the tribes for
the rude discipline of savage warfare. In the night-time,
fires would have been seen blazing beneath the leafy canopies., and sending out mingling streams of light and
shadow into the woods around. And near each crackling
heap of knots and brushwood, they would have seen a
post, driven firmly in the earth, and so painted as to designate the enemy, against whom the direst of passions
were to be wrought up to frenzy. Within the gaping circle
of women and children, the warriors would have been
seen, all painted and plumed, swaying with fierce exultation at the expected display of hatred toward the white
men. Soon they would have beheld a savage, leaping and
bounding impulsively within the ring, with brandished
tomahawk, as if in the act of rushing on a foe, and the
crowd, pressing and jostling each other, in the intensity of
excitement more nearly about him; while he, loudly
chanting the exploits of himself and his ancestors, with
furious gesticulations, enacting the deeds he was reciting,
becoming wholly frantic with passion, would strike at the
post as he would strike an enemy, and tear the scalp from
his imaginary victim. Then the swarms of warriors,
unable longer to refrain from bursting into the arena,
would have been seen jumping, and stamping, and rushing
and leaping, their tomahawks gleaming, and their knives
flashing, hacking, and stabbing the air in the fury of battle,
exciting themselves and each other to madness.
That was the Indian method of drilling their troops
for war. Each warrior knew how to use his weapons
well. But the midnight pantomimes of murder gave him
the spirit to use them on the designated foe. When all
H




114            THE GREAT WEST.
his excitable nature had been concentrated into one single
burning point, he was ready for the war-path. From that
little island in Lake St. Clair had gone forth an influence
that had kindled hundreds of those baleful night-fires;
and from that same island had gone forth another influence, also, that had restrained the fiercest passions of an
excitable people, until the hour for action had fully come.
Under so accomplished a leader as Pontiac, and following
implicitly his directions, the Indians, though on the eve
of an outbreak, effectually concealed their design. With
the deep dissimulation of the race, they had become
more friendly in their intercourse with the English, in
proportion as the spring was advancing. When the
troops had first taken possession of the forts, the Indians
had come thronging within the inclosures, to gratify their
curiosity, and observe the ways of the enemy, against
whom they had been so long at war. In a little while,
however, having become disgusted with the treatment
which they had received, they had withdrawn altogether
to the woods. And the soldiers had been congratulating
themselves at being well rid of the nuisances. But while
the winter of 1762-3 was passing away, the Indians had
begun to come back again, in a most desultory manner
and from different quarters, straggling into the vicinities
of the forts, and pitching their tents a little way off. The
warriors, as before, would hang listlessly around near the
sentries, or squat in groups in the corners of the paradegrounds, smoking and grunting, apparently undisturbed
by the rude taunts and jeers of the soldiers, and would
endure to be poked about with the butt-ends of muskets
without even a show of displeasure. They would beg,
importunately as ever, for tobacco, gunpowder, and whisky.
Observing this humility of the Indians, the English officers had flattered themselves that the wilderness was




PONTIAC'S COUNCIL.             115
becoming entirely quiet. Major Gladwyn, at Detroit, had
written in TMarch, to General Amherst, that, in the neighborhood of his own post, the savages were perfectly tranquil. While, within cannon-shot from where that deluded
officer was writing, lay the secluded island in the Lake
St. Clair, where Pontiac, who had completed his preparations for the general rising, was planning a surprise of
the very fortress of which the major was in command.
On the twenty-seventh day of April, 1763, the chiefs
and warriors of the three great north-western tribes, in
obedience to a summons from Pontiac, assembled in council on the banks of the River Ecorces. The spot which
had been selected was a natural meadow, about eight
miles below Detroit. As the bands came in and set up
their lodges, the field became dotted with wigwams.
There were the Ojibways, tall and naked, with their quivers
slung, and war-clubs resting in the hollows of their arms.
There were the Ottawas, close wrapped in blankets.
There were the Wyandots, flaunting in shirts of painted
skins, their hair adorned with feathers, and their leggins
with bells. The assembly were seated in circles, row
within row. Around were the women and the young
men; further off, the groups of children and ponies; and
beyond all, the woods.
Rising in the midst, Pontiac addressed them. He railed
against the English, dwelling upon their rapacity, their
arrogance, their injustice. He said the English had
expelled the French, and were only waiting for some pretext to turn upon the Indians, also, and destroy them.
He told them that the French king, at last, had awakened
from his long sleep, and had heard the voices of his red
children crying to him from the woods; that he was coming in his big war-canoes to wreak vengeance on their
enemies. He told them that the Indians and the French




116             THE GREAT WEST.
together should again strike down the English, as they
had done before, on the field of Braddock's defeat.
Pontiac then strove to enlist their superstitious feelings.
lie told them that the Great Spirit was angry with them
for permitting the English to live among them, and adopting the English weapons and tools. He told them that a
great prophet had been mourning over the destruction of
the Indians, and had become desirous of learning wisdom
from the Master of Life, but he was ignorant where to
find him. Then he had fasted, and dreamed dreams;
and it had been revealed to him, that, by moving forward
in a straight line, he should reach the abode of the Great
Spirit. The prophet had provided him a gun and powder-horn, ammunition, and a kettle, and had set out on
his journey. On the evening of the eighth day, he had
stopped in the edge of a prairie, and was cooking his
meal, when he saw three openings into the woods, and
three beaten paths entering them. Great was his wonder,
for the paths grew plainer as the darkness was increasing.
He had entered the largest opening a short way into the
woods, when bright flames had leaped out of the ground,
blazing before him. He had tried a second path with the
like result. But he had followed the third path a whole
day, when he came to a mountain of dazzling whiteness. It was steep, and the prophet had despaired of
going further. Then a beautiful woman had arisen, as he
was looking upon her, and she said to him, " How can
you hope to see the Master of Life! with your gun, and
powder-horn, ammunition, and kettle. Go!  throw them
away, and your meal, and your blanket, and wash you in
yon stream. Then you will be prepared to see the Master of Life."  The prophet had done as the woman had
bidden him. And he had climbed to the top of the mountain. There a beautiful plain was spread out before him,




PONTIAC'S SPEECH.              117
and the wildest animals were tame; and the fiercest, gentle. And he saw there three large villages, the wigwams
made of the most beautiful timber, far superior to the timber used by the Indians. While the prophet was standing, hesitating to enter, a man had come forth, dressed in
gorgeous apparel, and had taken him by the hand, and
bade him welcome.  Then he conducted him into the
presence of the Great Spirit, and left him confronting the
dazzling splendors. And the Great Spirit said to him:
"'I am the Maker of the heaven and earth, the trees,
lakes, rivers, and all things else. I am the Maker of
mankind. And because I love you, you must do as I bid
you. The land you live on, I have made it for you, and
not for others. Why do you suffer the white men to
dwell among you'? My children, you have forgotten the
customs and traditions of your forefathers. Why do you
not clothe yourselves in skins, as they did, and use the
bows and arrows, and the stone-pointed lances, which
they used l You have bought your guns, knives, kettles,
and blankets from the white tlen, until you can no longer
do without them. You have drank their fire-water, which
turns you to fools. Fling away all these things. Live
as your wise forefathers lived before you. And as for
those English-those dogs dressed in red, who have come
to rob you of your hunting-grounds, and scare away the
game —you must lift the hatchet against them.  Go!
wipe them off the face of the earth. Then you shall
win back my favor; and I will make you prosperous
and happy once more." Then the prophet had departed,
and had reported the wonders which he had seen and heard.
Such is the meager sketch of a part of Pontiac's speech,
which has been preserved to us by the Canadian French, a
few of whom had been permitted to be present, and had
heard him that day. Coming through two translations,




118             THE GREAT WEST.
and reported from recollection, it must fall far short of
displaying the eloquence and beauty of the original. It
is quite probable that other chiefs, also, may have spoken;
but, with us, the interest of that occasion attaches to
Pontiac alone. The encampment was broken up the next
morning, so early that when the sun had risen and lifted
the mists from the river the meadow was bare.
The western forts were situated as follows, namely:
Presque Isle, now Erie; Venango, on the Alleghany
River, at the mouth of French creek; Fort Pitt; Sandusky, on Sandusky Bay; Detroit; Miamis, on the Maumee River, one hundred miles above its mouth; Michilimackinac; Green Bay; Ouatanon, on the Upper Wabash,
one hundred miles south of Lake Michigan; and St. Josephs, on the shore of that lake. Into the neighborhoods
of all these forts the Indians were seen gathering early
in the month of May.
Detroit was one of the strongest of the English posts.
Some of them were merely block-houses. At the close
of the French war, Detroit had contained twenty-five
hundred inhabitants. On the western bank of the river,
midway the settlement, stood the fortified town or fort,
surrounded by a palisade twenty feet high, inclosing
about one hundred houses, thatched, some with bark and
some with straw, and a council-house, and a little church.
The village straggled along the river, above and below.
At each corner of the fort was a wooden bastion, which
brought the sides within range of a cross-fire.  The
gateways opened beneath block-houses.  The fort was
nearly square, and it had two principal entrances, one
from the river, the other from a large field, that had been
cleared of trees, stumps, hillocks - everything that could
shelter an enemy. Within, the streets were extremely
narrow, except a broad passage, running entirely around




THE CALUMET DANCE.             119
between the houses and the palisade.  Two small
schooners, armed, the Beaver and the Gladwyn, lay at
anchor in the river. And several light pieces of artillery
showed their black, open throats over the bastions. The
garrison consisted of one hundred and twenty soldiers,
under the command of Major Gladwyn, and about forty
fur traders, their clerks and attendants.  Across the
river, the bank was lined for five miles with French
houses, terminating toward Lake St. Clair at the village
of the Ottawas, and below at the Wyandots, opposite the
Pottawatamies. The Canadian dwellings had each its
garden and orchard, fenced in with rounded pickets, and
extending back in narrow lines to the woods. Detroit, in
1763, was a lonely place to Englishmen.
The nearest English settlements lay along the Mohawk
River.  The nearest English post was the mere blockhouse at Sandusky. In the woods around Detroit, the
Indians had been slowly gathering, all the spring, to the
number of about two thousand warriors. But those who
had appeared in the village and at the fort seemed docile,
submissive, and friendly. Their apparent purpose was
to trade, and have a good time, smoking and drinking,
after the tedium of winter.
On the first day of May, Pontiac came to the gateway,
and asked permission to enter, and dance the calumet
dance before the officers of the garrison. He had brought
with him forty Ottawa warriors.  Upon being admitted they had proceeded to the corner of the street in
front of the house of the commandant, and began the
dance, in the presence of Major Gladwyn and several of
his subordinates.  The Indians first spread upon the
ground a large mat, made from rushes of divers colors,
and placed on it the calumet, and their bows, quivers, and
tomahawks. Then they began a monotonous chant, dur



120             THE GREAT WEST.
ing which, each, in turn, advanced to the calumet, taking
a whiff and puffing out the smoke, as if offering incense.
After that, they repeated their advances, tossing the
calumet with their hands in time with the song, and displaying it to the spectators from side to side. When
that had been gone through with, the dance properly began. Each singly, as before, moved over the mat with a
shuffling gait, keeping step to the music, pluming the
feathers of the calumet, and waving its wings, as in the
act of flying from mouth to mouth. Next came the
mimic combats to the thumping of a drum, the singing
having ceased. Two warriors at a time advanced together, one with the calumet, the other with his weapons;
and they went through a mock battle, keeping step as
before, thrusting, parrying, flying, pursuing - the calumet
always being victorious. Then the victor had to make a
speech, bragging of what he had done, and of his ancestors, and tribe, and the Indians generally. All of them
went through with the performance with spirit and effect;
and before it had been concluded, the novel spectacle had
attracted to the spot every officer, soldier, trader, and
clerk, not on duty. The doors and windows around had
been flung open, and women and children were gazing.
It was remembered afterward that ten of the Indians had
slipped away early in the dance, and were found prying
about in different parts of the fort; but nothing had been
thought of it at the time. That was the method which
Pontiac had resorted to, in procuring an inspection of the
condition of the fortress.
Modern experiments have demonstrated that the proper
length of the rifle-barrel is about twenty-eight inches;
but the hunters an hundred years ago prized that weapon
for the length of its barrel, which usually was from three
to four feet. On the fifth of May, Mrs. St. Aubin, a




DISCOVERY OF THE PLOT.             121
Canadian woman, went over to the Ottawa village for maple-sugar and venison, aild she there saw several warriors
filing off their rifle-barrels about the middle. She mentioned this fact in surprise among her neighbors, when
the village blacksmith remarked, that the Indians had
been coming to him lately to borrow files and saws, and
would not tell him what they wanted them for.
The next day a beautiful Pottawatamie girl, who had
become much attached to one of the officers, revealed to
her lover the grand plot for the destruction of the fort
and garrison. Her affection had prevailed over her duty
to her tribe. "To-morrow," she said, " Pontiac will come
to the fort with sixty chiefs, each armed with a gun, cut
short, and hidden under his blanket. Hle will demand a
council; and, after making his speech, he will offer a
peace-belt of wampum, holding it in a reversed position.
That will be the signal of attack."
Major Gladwyn was possessed of rare courage and address. Calling his officers together, and communicating
the plot to them, he set about the defense. Greatly fearing that the Indians might precipitate matters, and
attempt carrying the fort by assault before morning, he
kept half the garrison under arms; and, with his officers,
spent the night watching. Early the next morning, a
fleet of canoes was seen through the mists, coming over,
with two or three Indians in each, moving slowly, and
deeply laden. It turned out that the canoes were filled
with warriors, lying flat on their faces, to escape observation. Soon, the field behind the fort became thronged
with Indians, seemingly preparing for a game of ball.
Warriors, wrapped in blankets, dropped in among them
from time to time. Some approached the gate. Gladwyn had them admitted; determined to convince them,
6




122              THE GREAT WEST.
that, while he had discovered their plot, he also despised
their hostility.
The whole garrison was under arms. The English
traders had closed their houses and armed their men.
Meanwhile, Pontiac was seen coming up the river road,
with his sixty chiefs. Beaufait, a Canadian, says that he
was standing on the bridge over Parent's creek, when
they filed past him; and that the chief in the rear was an
old friend, who, loosening the folds of his blanket, for an
instant, displayed his shortened gun, with a significant
gesture toward the fort.
At ten o'clock, Pontiac passed into the inclosure between the lines of soldiers; and though he must have
seen that his plan was discovered, he did not alter his
bearing in the least, but led the way directly across to
the council-house.  The officers were there to receive
him, fully armed. "Why," asked Pontiac, "do I see so
many of my father's young men standing in the street
with their guns? " Gladwyn replied, that they had been
out for review. The chiefs were seated, and, after the
customary pause, Pontiac rose to speak, holding in his
hand a wampum belt. The officers watched him closely.
Once, it is said, he was about to make the signal; but, at
a sign from Gladwyn, the drums at the door began beating
the charge, and the hurried tramp of men was heard in
the adjoining passage.  The officers kept their seats.
Gladwyn wished to destroy the plot, without bringing on
an open rupture. The din ceased, and Gladwyn replied,
that the Indians should have his friendship as long as
they deserved it; but that he would punish the first act
of aggression. The gates were again flung open, and the
baffled chiefs departed. The plot had failed.
The Indians began falling off, and in a little while the
fort was clear.  In their view, artifice was wisdom.




DESTRUCTION OF THE FORTS.           123
With them, the object of the war was to destroy their
enemies; and, for that purpose, all means seemed alike
honorable. The Indians would have regarded a needless
risk as a great folly. Had Pontiac ordered his followers
to charge upon the armed garrison, probably not one of
them would have obeyed him.  In accordance with their
strange superstition, they might, indeed, have reverenced
him, afterward, as a madman; but his fame among them
as a warrior, would have been lost forever.
Pontiac, though chagrined at the failure of his stratagem, was not discouraged in the prosecution of his war.
He immediately laid siege to Detroit, hemming in the
garrison within the fortress, and cutting off stragglers
and supplies. bFor many weeks, the soldiers were constantly under arms, mostly on guard, the officers sleeping
only in their clothes, with their swords beside them. At
one time, a large detachment coming to their relief was
captured on the river, and slaughtered. A schooner ascending from Lake Erie, with supplies for the famishing
garrison, was attacked so vigorously that, although the
desperate crew had slain three times their own number,
the savages were thronging the deck, when the mate sung
out below to fire the magazine. Some of the Indians
understood the order. Then they began plunging overboard on all sides, bobbing, and ducking, and swimming
for the shore, yelling with affright. Countermanding the
order, the schooner was brought safely to the wharf. The
Indians continued to press the siege of Detroit, with
unexampled perseverance, for more than five months.
In the meanwhile, Sandusky, and St. Josephs, and
Ouatanon, and Mliamis, and Venango, and Presque Isle,
had all fallen to the Indians, and the defenders had been
butchered. Fort Pitt, which had been strongly fortified
on the ruins of Fort Du Quesne, was also in a state of




124              THE GREAT WVEST.
siege. The storm of war was sweeping along the whole
border. The settlements had been attacked with frightful fury, the inhabitants murdered at their firesides, or
shot down in the fields. Congregations had been surprised
and slain in the act of public worship. School-houses
had been captured, and teachers and children left in
slaughtered heaps. Scores of captives had been burned
alive at the stake. Hundreds more had been adopted into
savage families, to fill the places of the Indians that had
fallen. Terror reigned everywhere. Each neighborhood
was occupied in providing for its own defense, so that
none could lend assistance to the others. The settlements were being swept away in detail.
Michilimackinac had fallen at a single blow. That
fortress, in 1763, consisted of a large area, inclosed by
a high palisade, in the form of a square. It stood on the
southern shore, close upon the margin of the lake. The
houses, barracks, and other buildings, within it, had been
built around a smaller square, in the center of the fort.
These erections were of a single story, with bark roofs,
and projections for stoops, opening toward the palisade.
The settlement at M3ichilimackinac was composed of sixty
families, half residing within, and half without the fortress. The garrison consisted of thirty-five men, with
their officers, under the command of Captain Etherington.
Two tribes of Indians were in that vicinity, in considerable force. The Ojibway village, which stood on the
island of AMackinaw, contained more than two hundred
warriors. They had another village, also, at the head of
Thunder Bay. The Ottawas, to the number of two hundred and fifty warriors, were located on an arm of Lake
Michigan, about twenty miles to the south-west. The
Ottawas had become partially Christianized, and had
made some progress toward civilization.  Milany among




TIHE GAM3E OF BALL.             125
them  were living in log houses, cultivating corn and
vegetables beyond their own wants, and supplying the
fort. But the Ojibways, in every respect, were thorough
savages.
Toward the close of May, a runner had reached the
Ojibway village from Detroit. "Pontiac," he said, "had
already struck the English." The news created great
excitement on the island; and the Indians there determined
to attack the fort without delaying for reinforcements.
Alexander Henry, who had resided at Michilimackinac,
as a trader, since the fall of 1761, and who was one of
the few that escaped the massacre, remembers to have
seen the fort filled with Indians, on the third day of June,
roving about among the soldiers with every appearance
of friendship. His own house, too, had been thronged
with them, coming there to buy knives and hatchets, often
asking to look at his silver bracelets and other ornaments,
with the intention, as would appear from their conduct
afterward, of ascertaining where he kept them. that they
might pillage him the more readily.
The fourth of June, 1763, was a warm and sultry day.
It was the birthday of King George. And on that
account the discipline of the garrison had been relaxed,
and considerable license was allowed to the soldiers. A
large party of Ojibways had crossed over, and encamped
in the woods near by, together with several bands of Sac
Indians, from  the Wisconsin River. In the forenoon,
some of the Ojibways invited the officers to come out and
see a grand game of ball played by their nation against
the Sacs. In a little while the fortress was half deserted.
A few soldiers, indeed, lounged in the doorways and windows of the barracks; but most of them were outside the
fort, scattered along in the shadow of the palisade,
watching the game. Scarcely one of them had his arms.




126             THE GREAT WEST.
The Canadians were squatted in groups on the grass,
smoking; and a great many squaws were hovering
around, wrapped in their blankets. Captain Etherington
and Lieutenant Leslie were standing near the open gateway, -the former, a thorough Englishman, offering to bet
on the Ojibways, that they would win.
The plain before them was swarming with the players.
The game was a great favorite with all the Indian tribes.
Two tall posts had been erected wide apart, to mark the
stations of the rival parties, and each was striving to
drive the ball beyond its adversary. Hundreds of lithe,
dark forms, half naked, their hair streaming out as they
ran, were racing and bounding hither and thither, to smite
the ball with their long bats. In fact, the ball was scarcely
permitted to reach the ground at all. Whenever it flew,
the yelling and screeching crowd followed at the top of
their speed, and drove it again into the air. Suddenly,
the ball was sent spinning up to a great hight, and it
descended swiftly to the foot of the palisade, while the
tumultuous throng came rushing on, as if in pursuit, to the
very gateway. In they swept, jostling the officers aside,
crowding upon one another, choking the passage, till the
fort was alive with Indians. It was the work of an
instant. Before the English could recover their composure, the startling warwhoop was raised within the fortress, and responded to from the plain and from the woods.
The squaws threw open their blankets, and furnished the
warriors with knives and tomahawks.  Then ensued a
terrible scene of blood.  The unguarded English were
slaughtered without resistance. MIr. Henry says that he
saw several of his companions scalped while yet alive
and struggling between the knees of their savage butchers.
Shrieks, groans, and yells, filled the air. Then for a few
moments nothing would be heard but the trampling of




DESTRUCTION OF FORT MiICHILIMACKINAC. 127
moccasined feet, till some new victim had been dragged
from his concealment.
Captain Etherington and Lieutenant Leslie had been
seized at the outset, and hurried off to the woods. Mr.
Henry clambered over a fence, and hid away in a Canadian garret. From thence he beheld the closing scenes
of the tragedy. "Through an aperture which afforded
me a view of the arena of the fort, I beheld, in shapes
the foulest and most terrible, the ferocious triumphs of
the barbarian conquerors. The dead were scalped and
mangled; the dying were writhing and shrieking under
the unsatiated knife and tomahawk; and from the bodies
of some, ripped open, their butchers were drinking the
blood, scooped up in the hollow of joined hands, and
quaffed amid shouts of rage and victory."
The posts at St. Mary's and Green Bay did not share
the fate of Michilimackinac. St. Mary's had been partially destroyed by fire the previous winter, and had been
abandoned. At Green Bay, Lieutenant Gorrell had conducted his command with great prudence. Having with
him only seventeen men, he had enlisted the Dacotahs,
from beyond the Mississippi, to overawe the Menominees
and Winnebagoes. But it was deemed not advisable to
maintain so feeble a post. WVith a large party of warriors,
he crossed Lake Michigan to the Ottawa village, where
Etherington and Leslie were held as prisoners. A council was called, and those gentlemen set at liberty. The
Ojibways had been seized with a sudden panic after the
taking of Michilimackinac, and consented that the English might return to Montreal, where they arrived on the
thirteenth day of August.
The fate of Venango, on the southern border of the
wilderness, was for a long time shrouded in mystery. It
had been destroyed, with its garrison, and by fire; but




128            THE GREAT WEST.
under what circumstances was wholly unknown. The
charred and blackened ruins alone remained, with the
fragments of bursted stones, pieces of melted glass and
iron, fire-eaten knives and gun-barrels, and calcined bones -
to tell their dreadful story. The friends and relatives
of the garrison kept hoping that some of them might
have escaped through the wilderness, or that they would
be restored from captivity. But they had been smitten,
every one, and had fallen the victims of treachery. After
the war was over, a Seneca Indian related to Sir William
Johnson the fall of Venango. He said that, long before
a breath of suspicion had been whispered along the border, a band of Senecas, far outnumbering the garrison,
had presented themselves at the fort with many expressions of friendship, and had been hospitably received and
entertained. While they were being feasted, a few of
them had withdrawn, and surprised the sentinels, and
closed the gates. Then, turning upon their unsuspecting
hosts, they had put them to death with the knife and the
tomahawk. The fortress was burned over the scalped
and mutilated slain. Lieutenant Gordon, the commandant, had alone been reserved for a most awful fate. Tied
hand and foot, strung up on a bent sapling, over a slow
fire, he had been roasted alive for several successive
nights, his flesh burned with blazing brands, and tortured
with whips, till exhausted nature could endure no longer,
and he had expired.
Ensign Price, with a small detachment, had been stationed at Fort Le Bceuf. They had a narrow escape.
The fortress was set on fire at midnight. It was a mere
block-house, built of logs, the upper story projecting far
over the lower one. While the whole structure above
was in flames, and the Indians gathered in a half-circle
before the entrance, yelling and screeching in savage glee,




DESTRUCTION OF FORT LE B(EUF.         129
expecting the stifled inmates would soon rush forth to
certain death, the brave men within took advantage of
the uproar, cut a passage between the logs in the rear,
and crawled out into the woods. They found shelter at
Fort Pitt. In the morning, the Indians, poking up the
ashes and embers, wondered what had become of the
white men's bones.
The following extract from a letter, bearing date June
30th, 1763, will serve to show the terrible condition of
the frontier settlements: "This morning a party of the
enemy attacked fifteen persons, who were mowing in Mr.
Croghan's field, within a mile of the garrison, (Fort
Bedford,) and news is brought in of two men being killed.
Eight o'clock.  Two men are brought in, alive, tomahawked, and scalped more than half the head over. Our
parade-ground, just now, presents a scene of bloody and
savage cruelty; three men, two of which are in the bloom
of life, the other an old man, lying scalped (two of them
still alive) thereon. The gashes the poor people bear are
most terrifying. Ten o'clock. They have just expired.
One of them, after being tomahawked and scalped, ran a
little way, and got on a loft in Mr. Croghan's house,
where he lay till found by a party of the garrison."
A strong detachment was sent out through borders to
reconnoiter, and they found every habitation in ashes,
and,in many instances, the singed bodies of the inmates
lying around. In addition to the slain, the inhabitants
were flying for their lives. A person from the midst of
those scenes wrote that a thousand families had been
driven from their homes; that the woods were filled with
fugitives, without shelter and without food. As the party
advanced further, pausing at each smouldering ruin to bury
the poor victims of savage fury, and hastening the flight
of the living, they came into the region where the general
Fox                         I




130             THE GREAT WEST.
massacre was yet going on. From every hill-top they
beheld columns of smoke rising above the woods, each,
way, as far as the eye could see. Often they had to
drive away the hogs from tearing and devouring the dead.
Frequently they found the corpses of men and women
still tied to the trees, where they had been tortured to
death by fire.
The multitude of the fugitives was so great that the
villages could not accommodate them. They had to
encamp in the fields, in huts made of boughs and bark,
living on charity. At one place, there were gathered
three hundred men, and as many women, and seven hundred children. They were the remnants, in part, of murdered families. Many of them were utterly incapable of
helping themselves, crazed with terror. Children cried
and sobbed, fatherless and motherless, and sank to sleep
among the leaves. Some of the grown people stood
aghast and bewildered with griefs that were too deep for
tears. Others settled down in the apathy of despair.
Others kept weeping and moaning with irrepressible
anguish. With not a few, every faculty had become
absorbed in a burning thirst for vengeance. A dying boy,
just expiring from his wounds, hoarsely whispered, 1 "Here,
take my gun, and kill the first Indian you see, and all
shall be well."
In 1763, the transmission of intelligence through the
West was made by the means of messengers, traversing
the wilderness. These, the Indians waylaid and killed.
A few reached their destination. Tidings of disaster
on disaster kept coming in. It had become known that
nine forts had been captured in quick succession. Detroit
and Fort Pitt, each beleaguered with savages, alone held
out. The vast territory, so lately won from the French,
had been suddenly snatched from the conquerors. Sir




COLONEL HENRY BOUQUET.              131
Jeffrey Amherst, the commander-in-chief, was forced to
the conviction that the Indian tribes had risen in a general insurrection. He began immediately his preparations
to put them down. It was, indeed, time for action. The
western settlements, extending from north to south r,more
than six hundred miles, were being wasted with fire
and steel.
Colonel Henry Bouquet, with five hundred Highlanders,
chiefly of the forty-second regiment, hastened from Philadelphia across the Alleghanies. By birth, a Swiss of the
canton of Berne, Bouquet had been in the military from
his boyhood. He was possessed of a fine person, and his
bearing was composed and dignified. Distinguished by
great activity, courage, and fertility of resource, he added
to these qualities a power of adapting himself to the
warfare of the woods. He was a thorough partisan soldier. He possessed a practical knowledge of the duties
of his officers and men, for he would sometimes perform
those duties himself. And at times, when it had become
necessary to penetrate dark defiles, he was known to have
taken the rifle, and to have gone out with his scouting
parties, preferring his own eyes to the reports of others.
In such a leader, the bold and hardy hunters could repose
entire confidence; and they flocked to his banner as the
little army was bearing it westward.
On the morning of the fifth day of August, the troops
met the Indians in the vicinity of Fort Pitt. The battle
raged all that day with doubtful success. Bouquet kept
his camp in utter darkness during the following night.
Not the slightest glimmer of a lamp should light the savage rifleman to his aim. The Indians whooped, yelled,
and fired for a while at random; but they soon gave it up
till morning. With the earliest dawn the battle was renewed. The rapid firing of the troops was followed by




132             THE GREAT WEST.
instantaneous charges into the cover, driving savages out
of their hiding-places like startled wolves. The Indians
were tasting for the first time the terrors of the English
bayonet. Soon the approach of the bristling steel would
send them flying in every direction. But they would
come back again. In this way the fight had continued till
nigh noon of the second day.  In the meantime the
condition of the army was becoming frightful.  The
wounded were dying of thirst. No water could be had.
The suffering of the soldiers was intolerable. Then Bouquet's genius displayed itself. He had observed that the
enemy would fire, and immediately run to escape the bayonet. How should he bring them into a body, so that a
charge could be made effectual? Making his arrangements with great rapidity, the rear was strengthened, and
the weakened front soon began to fall back, as if overpowered and about to retreat. To the Indians the battle
seemed to be won. Leaping in fury forward, they became
compacted together, completely exposed, and ardent in
the pursuit. Suddenly they received a heavy flank fire,
and through the smoke, at full run, came the dreaded
bayonets. There was no place of concealment. There
was no quarter shown.  The savages crowded upon
each other, writhed, dodged, and snatched at the gunbarrels, and threw themselves on the ground, thinking to
crawl under the line of steel, to get at the advancing
troops. It was all in vain. The incessant thug, thug, thug
of the merciless weapon as it drove through their naked
forms, was dropping them thickly over the ground. At
last, with yells of terror, they broke and fled. But one prisoner had been taken; and him the exasperated borderers,
in spite of remonstrance and of authority, shot to death
like a captured wolf. The little army had lost eight officers and one hundred and fifteen men slain. During the




COUNCIL WITH THE INDIANS.           133
battle the pack-horses, frightened by the uproar, had made
a general stampede. Bouquet, therefore, had to destroy
all the surplus baggage. Bearing the wounded along on
litters, the troops reached Fort Pitt on the tenth.
The moral effect of the victory was very great. The
despairing colonists were aroused to action. In western
Pennsylvania, a body of riflemen was organized under the
command of James Smith, who had been several years a
prisoner among the Indians. He understood the Indian
mode of fighting to perfection. He had his men dressed
like warriors, and their faces painted, and he trained them
in the Indian discipline. From Western Virginia a thousand riflemen had taken the field. The tide of war soon
flowed back into the wilderness, and the Indian villages
began to be smitten in their turn. Late in the fall, a large
detachment had ascended Lake Erie, and raised the siege
of Detroit.  Pontiac retired into the country upon the
head-waters of the Maumee. In the spring, a large body
of English troops was gathered at Sandusky; and Bouquet, having been reinforced at Fort Pitt, took up his line
of march through the heart of the Indian country. The
savages abandoned their villages, and fled at the approach
of so large an army.
The order of the march was such as to make an ambush, or a surprise, impossible. Far in advance, a body
of scouts was exploring every hill, valley, thicket, and
ravine.  On either flank, the woods were scoured for
miles by skillful hunters. At night, the great body of the
troops slept outside of the camp-fires, among the trees.
While advancing, in this guarded manner, upon the Indian villages within the recesses of the forest, a deputation of warriors was received, and they requested a
council, and offered the submission of their tribes. But
Bouquet, fearing treachery. while consenting to the coun



134              THE GREAT WEST.
cil, determined that the negotiations should be conducted
under the muzzles of his guns.  He ordered that the
chiefs should meet him the next day at a point on the
Muskingum River, a little below his camp. Booths were
erected for the officers and chiefs. In the morning, the
army moved in order of battle to the place of council,
and took up its position in a natural meadow in front of
the booths. The spectacle of fifteen hundred Englishmen in arms was to the Indians new and astounding.
The silence that reigned along the lengthened lines, the
barrels and bayonets flashing in the sun, the tartans of the
Highlanders, the bright red of the Royal Americans, the
dark uniforms and trappings of the colonial militia, the
hunting frocks of the backwoodsmen, with their long
rifles —all combined, formed an imposing display of military power that created a deep impression on the savage
warriors, and made the chiefs quite sincere in their
desires for peace.
The effect of the presence of a powerful army was immediately apparent.  The chiefs endeavored to excuse
the war, saying, that they had been driven into it by the
western Indians, and by their own hot-headed young
men; that they were now anxious to be at peace with the
English, and to have protection against the tribes beyond
them to the westward.  Bouquet's reply is a masterpiece
of diplomatic skill in dealing with Indians. Assuming
great sternness, he said: "Your excuses are frivolous and
unavailing.  Your conduct is without apology.  You
could not have acted through fear of the western Indians,
for you know, that, had you been faithful to us, we would
have protected you against them. As for your young
men, you should have punished them, if they did wrong.
You have been violent and perfidious. You robbed and
murdered in cold blood the traders among you. With




SURRENDER OF THE PRISONERS.         135
base treachery you took our out-posts and garrisons, and
assailed our troops —the same that now stand before
you. Not content with that, you burned our houses, and
killed our women and children, and have got many captives hidden away in the woods. You have been prowling around this army during its march, and would have
attacked it, had you dared. The other Indians have
made peace with us. You are now in our power. We
can cut you off the face of the earth. But the English
are great and powerful, and will let you live, if you will
do as I bid you. I give you twelve days to bring to me
all your prisoners: Englishmen, Frenchmen, women, and
children; whether adopted into your tribes, married, or
living among you on any pretense whatsoever. You shall
furnish them with food, clothing, and horses, to carry
them back to their homes again. Comply with these
conditions, and then I will tell you on what terms I will
let you live."
Bouquet required the chiefs to remain in his camp, as
hostages, till the prisoners should all be brought in; and,
in the meantime marched into the immediate vicinity of
the Indian towns, and fortified his camp, dispatching
bodies of troops to hasten the compliance with his terms.
Band after band of captives were brought in daily, until
more than two hundred had been collected, which was all
that could he ascertained to be in that part of the country. Until then, Bouquet had refused all friendly intercourse with the Indians. And they, judging him by their
own ferocity, were constantly in terror lest he should
put them all to the sword. At last, he gave them the
hand of friendship.  A Delaware chief had refused to
come in. Bouquet ordered the tribe to depose the refractory chief, and appoint another in his stead. The Indians
were completely cowed. Upon his return, Bouquet car



136             THE GREAT WEST.
ried with him the captives, and also a large number of
chiefs, as hostages for the continuance of the peace.
When the army had drawn near to the frontier, it was
met by a great company in search of lost relatives and
friends. Husbands found their wives, and parents their
children, from whom they had been separated for years.
Women, frantic between hope and fear, were running
hither and thither, looking piercingly into the face of
every child, to find their own, which, perhaps, had diedand then such shrieks of agony! Some of the little captives shrank from their own forgotten mothers, and hid in
terror in the blankets of the squaws that had adopted
them. Some that had been taken away young, had grown
up and married Indian husbands or Indian wives, and
now stood utterly bewildered with conflicting emotions.
A young Virginian had found his wife; but his little boy,
not two years old when captured, had been torn from her,
and had been carried off no one knew whither.  One
day, a warrior came in, leading a child. No one seemed
to own it. But soon the mother knew her offspring, and
screaming with joy, folded her son to her bosom. An old
woman had lost her granddaughter in the French war,
nine years before. All her other relatives had died under
the knife. Searching, with trembling eagerness, in each
face, she at last recognized the altered features of her
child. But the girl had forgotten her native tongue, and.returned no answer, and made no sign. The old woman
groaned, and cried, and complained bitterly, that the
daughter she had so often sung to sleep on her knees, had
forgotten her in her old age. Soldiers and officers were
alike overcome. "Sing," whispered Bouquet, "sing the
song you used to sing." As the low, trembling tones
began to ascend, the wild girl gave one sudden start, then
listening for a moment longer, her frame shaking like an




TERMINATION OF THE WAR.            137
ague, she burst into a passionate flood of tears. That
was sufficient. She was the lost child. All else had been
effaced from her memory but the music of the nurserysong. During her captivity she had heard it in her dreams.
The war was over. The English provinces, relieved
from their great burdens, soon began to grow rapidly.
The time was nearly come for a civilized people to extend
themselves over the uplands and prairies, and along the
lakes and rivers, and occupy permanently the West. In
the meantime, France, by the treaty of 1763, had ceded
to England all the territory east of the Mississippi River.
The French inhabitants of the Illinois country received
the news of their transfer with sorrow and anger. Many
of them, unwilling to live under the shadow of the British
flag, fled to New Orleans. Others removed to the opposite
bank of the river at St. Genevieve. But a far greater
number took the route by the way of Cahokia, and joined
the new settlement on the western bank, that had been
established by Pierre Laclede. That adventurer, in August, 1763, had set out with a large party of traders and
hunters from New Orleans, and had ascended to the mouth
of the Illinois River. The journey had been made in
boats, and had occupied three months. Selecting a spot
on the Mississippi, where a line of bluffs, beautifully
wooded, rose with an easy ascent from the water, to a
high, rolling prairie, Laclede had erected a storehouse, a
few cabins, and a slight palisade. This was at the close
of November.  Those erections constituted the first
foundations of the city of St. Louis.
But the French flag was still flying at Fort Chartres,
and the smaller posts in that vicinity. Major Loftus,
with four hundred regulars, had attempted to ascend the
Mississippi, and take possession of the Illinois country.
Hie had embarked at New Orleans in March, 1764, when




138              THE GREAT WEST.
the river was at its flood; but the repeated attacks of the
Indians, together with the swiftness of the current, had
compelled him to return. Captain Sterling, however, had
better success in reaching those distant fortresses. Setting out from Fort Pitt, toward the close of the winter
following, with one hundred Highlanders, he had floated
down the Ohio with the drifting ice. To him the French
flag descended from the ramparts of Fort Chartres, and
the neighboring posts, and the English were completely
in possession of the western country, after having endured
the horrors of two sanguinary wars. Four years later,
Pontiac was assassinated at Cahokia. The remains of
the great chief were buried at St. Louis, where the race
he so much hated are trampling with unceasing footsteps
over his forgotten grave.




WANT OF ELBOW-ROOM.                   139
CHAPTER VIII.
CONQUEST OF THE WEST BY THE UNITED STATES.
English and French settlements contrasted - Want of elbow-room -
The Yankee pioneers - Their character - Recklessness - Peculiar dress —Their Houses, etc. —" Hog and hominy"-"Old
Ned" - Tomahawk rights - Col. Clark at the West - His character —Descends the Ohio - Sinks his boats —Surprises Kaskaskia- Inhabitants declare for the United States- British Lieutenant-governor, Rocheblane, captured — Vincennes taken - Militia
organized - Clark among the Indians - "Courts of Illinois" —
British governor, Hamilton, descends the Wabash with one thousand men - Ruse of Capt. Helm - Clark's winter march - Hamilton surrenders - Territory held by Col. Clark until the close of
the war.
AFTER the general peace with the Indians, it was
to have been expected that settlements might be made
at the West with safety. The late military achievements in the vicinity of the lakes and in the valley of the
Ohio had established the supremacy of the English. The
British flag was waving over the wilderness, from Niagara
to the Mississippi. Nothing seems then to have been standing in the way of the speedy colonization of the country.
Bold, adventurous men were pining for the larger liberty
of the woods.  Moreover, the fearful struggle through
which the colonists had just been passing had called into
existence a restless courage, that could not remain satisfied with the repose of a quiet time. A new want, also,
strangely inconsistent with a sparse and scattered population, began to be felt; and it soon drove hundreds of
men off in a westerly direction. It was the want of
" elbow-room."  The spirit of the borderers was impelling




140              THE GREAT WEST.
them to seek in the excitements of the forest a substitute
for the excitements of war. A peaceful life seemed dull
and insipid to them. They had actually acquired a
relish for danger.
Large numbers were hastening forward to secure to
themselves the choice of the best locations. For that
purpose, the pioneers set out in parties, and traveled together far beyond the border; then, separating, they
roamed over a vast extent of country, selecting each a
place for himself. Thus settling down alone, and living
in entire seclusion, they in a short time acquired habits
utterly inconsistent with the development of civilization
A close, compact neighborhood soon came to be unendurable. One man is said to have abandoned his clearing,
and removed further west, because somebody else had
come so near to him that he could hear the crack of his
rifle. And another, observing a smoke rising over the
other side of the valley where he had located, traveled
fifteen miles to reach it; and, finding a settler there, quit
the country in disgust, population having become too
dense for him. But these, probably, are extreme cases.
It is well known, however, that, when the English had
undertaken the subjugation of the wilderness, they attempted it in a manner without a precedent in history.
They did not sweep down suddenly upon it, with a force
that would reduce its savage inhabitants at once into submission; but, by a sort of hectoring process, they wore
away upon the woods, chafing and exasperating the Indians while gradually exterminating them. The English
colonists, in the West, did not compromise with danger
they boldly took it by the beard.
The success of these early adventurers is almost a
miracle in colonization. Nation has heretofore precipitated itself upon nation, conquering the occupants of the




YANKEE PIONEERS.               141
soil, and seizing upon their possessions. But in the case
of the English settlement of the western country, we find
that isolated emigrants, without the benefits of a military
or of a civil organization, relying solely upon their own
bravery, and the assistance of each other, took and held
the possession of an extensive country, and laid the
foundations of powerful states. They kept falling, it is
true, under the knife and the tomahawk, and would have
become entirely cut off, had it not been for the incessant
streams of population supplying the waste of life, until
the Indians, discouraged in a contest with an enemy
whom no defeat could dishearten, sought safety in the
most abject submission.
Such men, exposed to constant peril, and compelled to
be on their guard at all times and places to avoid being
surprised and slain, driven by necessity into fearful encounters with the wily savages in the defense of home
and kindred, of necessity became fearless, reckless, implacable, and eager for victory and for vengeance. In time
it was ascertained that the hostility of the Indian races
was not so much excited against the English as a people, as against the settlers that were crowding in upon
them. It was, therefore, an easy matter, after the breaking out of the war between Great Britain and her revolted
colonies, to array the exasperated tribes of the West
against the Anglo-Americans.
One general trait has always characterized the frontier
settlers of the wilderness. They were daring, boisterous,
enterprising men. They were robust, rugged, tough —
caring nothing for luxuries or for comforts, and capable
of enduring any amount of exposure without injury. The
forerunners of civilization were not carpet knights, basking in the sunshine of a smile, and trembling at a frown,
but men of iron nerves. Wild as untamed nature, they




142             THE GREAT WEST.
could scream with the panther, howl with the wolf, whoop
with the Indian, and fight all creation. Forever going
through hair-breadth escapes, some of them became indifferent to every peril, and would "chaw" two inches of
live bear's tail for the toothache, quite careless whether
bruin was pleased with the performance or not. One
grizzly old fellow, slightly stoop-shouldered, with a great
burned strip down his cheek, his left eye twisted round
sideways, having been tomahawked, and had his scalp
started, said he believed he might yet be killed sometime,
as the lightning had tried him on once, and would have
done the business for him, if he had n't dodged.
The pioneers, living in constant contact with the Indians,necessarily became more than half savages in appearance,
habits, and manners; and frequently the whole savage
character was assumed. Their ordinary dress was too
unique to be forgotten. A coonskin cap, with the tail
dangling at the back of the neck, and the snout drooping
upon the forehead; long buckskin leggins, sewed with a
wide, fringed welt, down the outside of the leg; a long,
narrow strip of coarse cloth, passing around the hips and
between the thighs, was brought up before and behind
under the belt, and hung down flapping as they walked;
a loose, deerskin frock, open in front, and lapping once
and a half round the body, was belted at the middle,
forming convenient wallets on each side for chunks of hoecake, tow, jerked venison, screw drivers, and other fixings;
and Indian moccasins completed the hunter's apparel.
Over the whole was slung a bullet-pouch and powder-horn. From behind the left hip dangled a scalping-lknife; from the right protruded the handle of a
hatchet; both weapons stuck in leathern cases. Every
hunter carried an awl, a roll of buckskin, and strings
of hide, called "whangs," for thread. In the winter




TOMAHAWK RIGHTS.                143
loose deer-hair was stuffed into the moccasins to keep the
feet warm.
The pioneers lived in rude log-houses, covered, generally, with pieces of timber, about three feet in length and
six inches in width, called A" shakes," and laid over the roof
instead of shingles. They had neither nails, glass, saws,
nor brick. The houses had huge slab doors, pinned
together. The light came down the chimney, or through
a hole in the logs, covered with greased cloth. A scraggy
hemlock sapling, the knots left a foot long, served for a
stairway to the upper story. Their furniture consisted
of tamarack bedsteads framed into the walls, a few shelves
supported on long wooden pins; sometimes a chair or two,
but more often, a piece split off a tree, and so trimmed,
that the branches served for legs. Their utensils were
very simple; generally nothing but a skillet, which served
for baking, boiling, roasting, washing dishes, making
mush, scalding turkeys, cooking sassafras tea, and making
soap. A Johnny-cake board, instead of a dripping-pan,
hung on a peg in every house. The corn was cracked
into a coarse meal, by pounding it in a wooden mortar.
As soon as swine could be kept away from the bears, or,
rather, the bears away from them, the pioneers indulged
in a dish of pork and corn, boiled together, and known
among them as "hog and hominy." Fried pork they
called "old Ned."
Unlike the French, who clustered in villages, and had
their common fields, our Yankee settlers went the whole
length for individual property. Each settler claimed for
himself four hundred acres of land, and the privilege of
taking a thousand acres more, contiguous to his clearing.
Each one run out his own lines for himself, chipping the
bark off the trees, and cutting his name in the wood.
These claims, so loosely asserted, were called "tomahawk




144             THE GREAT WEST.
rights," and were respected by all the emigrants. Each
settler went to felling the timber and chopping house-logs,
sleeping, meanwhile, under a bark cover raised on crotches,
or under a tree. It is said of one of them that he could
hardly stomach his house, after it was done. The doorway was open, the logs unchinked, and the chimney gaped
wide above him; but the air was too " cluss," - he had to
sleep outside for a night or two to get used to it.
Such were the people, and such their modes of living,
that began to spread themselves throughout the West,
between the close of Pontiac's war and the commencement of the American Revolution.  Then, when that
struggle came on, new difficulties gathered thickly around
the scattered settlements. The reduction of the wilderness was a huge task of itself, even with every encouragement, and without opposition of any sort. But the
Anglo-Saxon seems to have had everything arranged
against him. Not only the forest, and the wild beasts,
and untold privations, stood in the way of his progress;
but the French first tried to crowd him out; then the
Indians sought to kill him; and, lastly, the British turned
against their own flesh and blood, and bribed the savages
to take his life. While the armies of England were ravaging and wasting the whole Atlantic coast, from Massachusetts to Georgia, the British governor at Detroit, and
his agents at the forts on the Wabash and 2Naumee rivers,
and at Kaskaskia, were busily engaged in inciting the
Indians to deeds of rapine and murder on the western
frontier. The terrible scenes of the old French war,
and of Pontiac's war, were beginning to be reenacted.
But the pioneers were now of a different temper altogether
from those who had suffered previously in Pennsylvania and
Virginia, and who had fled in terror from their own burning habitations. The Yankee pioneers did not wait to be




CLARK AT THE WEST.               145
smoked out, and have their throats cut, and their scalps
torn off their heads. That was a game they could participate in as well as their enemies.
No sooner, therefore, was it known that British emissaries were at work among the savages, stirring them up to
deadly strife against the American settlers, than it was
determined upon to carry the war into the wilderness
itself, — to the very doors of the enemy. Patrick Henry
was one of the first to set the ball of the Revolution in
motion. His eloquence as an orator was not greater than
his foresight as a statesman. It is to his perception of
the designs of Great Britain upon the western country,
that the United States are indebted for the preservation
of the immense region to the north of the river Ohio. In
1778, Patrick Henry was the governor of Virginia. He
had planned a secret expedition against the British forts
in the Illinois country. And on the second day of January, Governor Henry issued his instructions to Lieutenantcolonel George Rogers Clark, directing him to "Proceed
with all convenient speed to raise seven companies of soldiers, to consist of fifty men each, officered in the usual
manner, and armed most properly for the enterprise, and
with that force to attack the British fort at Kaskaskia."
His Excellency also directed Colonel Clark "to apply to
the commanding officer at Fort Pitt for boats." He further cautioned him: "During the whole transaction, you
are to take especial care to keep the true destination of
your force secret; -its success depends on this."
The evidence of British agency among the Indians was
full and complete. It had been ascertained that the
British commissioners, at a great council, had told the
chiefs that the people of the States were few in number,
and might easily be subdued; and that, on account of
their disobedience to the king, they justly merited all the
7                       J




146             THE GREAT WEST.
punishment which white men and Indians could possibly
inflict upon them. They had added, that the king was
rich and powerful, both in subjects and in money; that
his rum was as plenty as the water in the lakes; and that,
if the Indians would assist in the war until its close, they
should never want for money or goods. To complete the
atrocity, they offered rewards for the scalps of men, women, and children. In consequence of these representations and persuasions, the tribes had eagerly espoused the
quarrel of Great Britain, and were being supplied with
their weapons, and ammunition, and with presents, at the
various British forts from Detroit to Kaskaslia. Fort
Chartres was now no longer occupied. It had been undermined in 1772, by the ]Mississippi, and since then it
had been abandoned.
Now, the expedition through the hostile wilderness, for
the reduction of those forts, and for the purpose of overawing the Indians, could not have been confided to better
hands. George Rogers Clark was a Virginian by birth.
He had become a pioneer fromi  choice. His military
genius made him the most prominent defender of the
West, at the most critical period of American history.
Colonel Clark was one of the finest appearing men of his
time. Hle would have attracted attention among a thousand. Conscious dignity sat gracefully upon him. His
commanding presence was made pleasing by uncommon
sweetness of temper, and particularly agreeable by the
manliness of his deportment, the intelligence of his conversation, and, above all, by the vivacity and boldness of
his spirit. Colonel Clark was born a general. He certainly was the most competent, officer that ever led an
army against, the Indians; and he seems to have had a
tact for managing those impulsive, uncontrollable beings
better than any other person. lie possessed extraordinary




CLARK DESCENDS THE OIIIO.           147
military talents, and an energy of character that enabled
him to plan with consummate wisdom, and to execute his
designs with great decision and promptitude. He seems
to have been able to penetrate the designs of the enemy
with the utmost exactness, and never once failed in anticipating and defeating their hostile  movements.  His
judgment was unerring. He never hesitated. He never
was rash. And he was successful where failure would
seem to have been inevitable.
The only means that were furnished to Colonel Clark
for his expedition, besides the order for boats and ammunition, consisted of twelve hundred dollars in depreciated
paper, and a promised bounty of three hundred acres of
land to each private. He encountered great difficulty in
recruiting his companies from  the settlements, which
already were too feeble for their own protection. And a
secret enterprise was decidedly unpopular. Colonel Clark
set about his preparations in January, but it was not till
in June following, that his captains reached Fort Pitt
with their levies, in all less than six, in complete companies. With these he descended the Ohio to the falls, and
encamped a while on Corn Island, in hopes of receiving
additions from the Kentucly stations; but it was deemed
inexpedient to reduce their strength. With one hundred
and fifty-three men, armed after the Indian fashbon, Colonel Clark floated down the river below the mouth of the
Tennessee. Having there obtained information relative
to the actual condition of the British posts on the Upper
Mississippi, he determined to march overland, and surprise
Kaskaskia. Causing his boats to be sunk for concealment,
he led his force through the wilderness, across extensive
marshes, a distance of one hundred and twenty miles,
each man carrying his own rations and baggage. The
troops were often knee-deep in the water upon the marshes.




148            THE GREAT WEST.
They arrived in the vicinity of Kashaskia on the evening
of the fourth of July, 1778. At midnight,Colonel Clark
told his men " That the town and fort were to be taken
at all hazards." The principal street was immediately
secured, and a guard stationed at every avenue. All was
still. Lieutenant-governor Rocheblane, the British commandant, believing his post was entirely safe at so great
a distance from the American settlements, had neglected
setting a guard. The very gate of Fort Gage had been
left open. Colonel Clark had captured a guide, and he
compelled him to lead the way into the fort. The sleeping garrison were entirely surrounded. Rocheblane, while
reposing with his wife, was awakened by a gentle tap on
the shoulder, to find himself a prisoner, and to order the
unconditional surrender of the fortress.
The town of Kaskaskia then contained two hundred
and fifty houses, and about three thousand inhabitants,
having become reduced somewhat since the English had
gone into possession.  It was now two o'clock in the
morning. Runners were dispatched, to warn the people,
in the French tongue, that every enemy found in the
streets should be instantly shot. A strict patrol was established, and the inhabitants were commanded to be quiet
within doors, on peril of their lives. The Americans kept
up a terrible tumult in the streets, rattling their arms, and
whooping and yelling like so many savages; during which,
a sergeant's guard entered the houses, and completely disarmed the frightened population before daylight.  All
intercourse from house to house had been strictly prohibited; and Colonel Clark, in full possession of the fort,
had every part of the town within range of its guns.
During the next day, communications with the troops
were forbidden.  Several British militia officers were
unceremoniously put in irons. The words of the com



CLARK AT KASKASKIA.             149
mander were few and stern. Every movement of his men
was made with the most rigid military discipline. The
town was placed under martial law. The mongrel population, terribly scared, felt themselves prisoners in the
hands of an inexorable enemy-the dreaded "Bostonais,"
whom they had been taught to fear and hate from childhood. At length a deputation, headed by the village
priest, besought Colonel Clark not to tear them from each
other, and from their wives and children, and that something might be allowed their families for their support.
Colonel Clark replied:  "Do you think Americans will
make war on women and children, and take the bread out
of their mouths? To prevent the butchery of our own
wives and children, we have taken arms, and penetrated
to this remote stronghold of British and Indian barbarity;
and not for the purpose of plundering you. The people
of Kaskaskia, their families and property, shall be safe.
They shall not be molested by Americans. The British
have told you lies concerning us. Tell your people they
are at liberty to do as they please." Soon the bells were
ringing, and the whole population came forth to profess
themselves firmly attached to the United States.
Cahokia was captured with equal secrecy and celerity.
Colonel Clark then proceeded to reorganize the civil
government; and he placed in office prominent French
residents. The people rejoiced at this change from British
rule, and seemed gladly to espouse the American cause.
From being enemies they had become friends. That was
the result of Colonel Clark's firm and prudent management with them. The imperious and insolent Rocheblane
was sent, under guard, to Virginia as a prisoner of war.
After that, through the influence of the Kaskaskians, the
inhabitants of Virginia also were induced to declare themselves for the United States. And the new commandant




150             THE GREAT WEST.
for that post, Captain Helm, was received with acclamations by the people.
With the first of September came new difficulties. The
troops had been enlisted for three months only. Seventy
of his men had returned home. To supply their places,
Colonel Clark organized one company of the inhabitants
under their own officers; and before the close of September,
alarmed at his inroads into their country, the Indians
were seeking to open negotiations with him. From long
acquaintance with the Indian character, Colonel Clark
maintained a stern reserve, until they should ask for peace;
and he kept on fighting them fiercely until they did sue
for it in earnest. And whenever he treated with them,
he made them but few presents, because the giving of
presents was regarded by them as indicative of fear. In
all his negotiations, he made a deep impression on the
Indians, by his fearlessness, reserve, and promptdecision;
and in a little while they began to feel a wholesome dread
of his authority, which had been wholly unknown before.
The name of Clark soon became a terror among the
north-western tribes, because of his rapid movements, and
the daring courage of his troops; and before the middle
of December, Indian hostilities had nearly ceased. So
friendly had the French become to the Americans, under
his skillful treatment of them, that Captain Helm, with
two soldiers only, and the volunteer militia, held possession of the Fort of Vincennes. The whole regular force at
Kaskaskia and Cahokia was less than one hundred men.
In the meantime, the jurisdiction of Virginia had been
formally extended over the settlements of the Wabash
and the Upper Mississippi, by the organization of the
"County of Illinois."   Colonel John Todd had been
appointed civil commandant.
Soon the state of things in Indiana and Illinois had




RUSE OF CAPTAIN IHELMI.           15
become known at Detroit. The British governor, 1Iamilton, determined on recapturing the military posts
that had fallen into Colonel Clark's hands. With eighty
regulars, a large body of Canadian militia, and six hundred
Indians, Hamilton ascended the Maumee, crossed over to
the Wabash, and made a rapid descent upon Vincennes.
ITle was going to take the fort by storm, and put the garrison to the sword. On came the red-coats and savages,
certain of success. But Captain Helm was not a man to
be frightened from his self-possession. With an air of
confidence, as if the fort was filled with soldiers to back
him, he sprang upon a bastion near a cannon, and swinging his lighted match, shouted in a voice of thunder to the
advancing column to " Halt!" or he would " blow them to
atoms!"   The Indians scud for the woods, and the
Canadians fell back a little, to get out of range. Hamilton was surprised, and thought possibly, the fort might be
well manned, and that it might malke a desperate resistance. So he stopped to parley. Captain HIelm declared
he would fight as long as a soldier remained to shoulder
a rifle, unless he was allowed to march out with the full
honors of war. At last, the honors of war were agreed
to, and then the fort was thrown open, and Captain Helm
and five men, all told, marched out, with due formality.
The astonished Briton could hardly believe his eyes.
After his great achievement in taking Vincennes,
Hamilton, as the winter had set in with much rain and
snow, concluded to postpone the recapture of Kaskaskia
until the return of spring, when he expected to be largely
reinforced by Indians from Michilimackinac. Permitting
the Canadian militia to return home, he dispatched the
Indian warriors to ravage the borders of Pennsylvania
and Virginia. Late in January, Colonel Clark received
intelligence that Hamilton was at Vincennes, with only




152             THE GREAT WEST.
fifty soldiers, and that the savages had departed for the
east. Now, therefore, his time for action was come. The
British instigator of Indian barbarities might be captured. Fitting up a large keel-boat with two four-pounders
and four swivels, under the command of Captain Rodgers, with forty men, Colonel Clark ordered it to ascend the Wabash to within a few miles of the mouth of
the White River; and there Rodgers was to await further
orders.
On the seventh day of February, Colonel Clark, with
one hundred and thirty men, began a march for Vincennes.
The distance was one hundred and fifty miles, through
forest and prairie. The only road-mark was an Indian
trail, beaten deep in the ground. All the streams were
very much swollen.  The rivers had inundated their
bottoms from bluff to bluff, often several miles in width.
In addition to their rifles, the soldiers carried knapsacks,
filled with parched corn and jerked beef. When they had
arrived at the Little Wabash, the bottom-lands were inundated to the width of three or four miles. The water was
four feet deep. Through these lowlands the battalion
were under the necessity of marching, feeling for the
trail with their feet, and holding their guns and ammunition high above their heads. In five days more they
reached the Wabash, nine miles below Vincennes. The
boat had not arrived. Two days were spent in unavailing
efforts to cross the river. At length, on the twentieth, a
boat was captured. And when the troops had been carried over, they had afterward to wade up to their armpits before reaching the highlands.. At twilight, on the evening of the twenty-third, Colonel
Clark ordered the soldiers on parade, near the summit of
a hill, within sight of the fort; and kept them marching




HAMILTON'S SURRENDER.              163
for a long time, in such manner, that, to Hamilton, a
great army appeared to be approaching. He had seen,
he thought, nigh a thousand men, well appointed, and in
good order, with colors flying. Many of the inhabitants
of Vincennes, friendly to the Americans, assisted to invest the fort. In the dead of night a deep ditch was dug,
within rifle-shot of the fortress; and before morning a
body of marksmen had been stationed therein to pick off
the garrison.  Every gunner that attempted to squint
along the cannon of the fort was killed. Not a British
soldier dared so much as show an eye at a loop-hole. On
the twenty-fifth Hamilton surrendered.
During the siege, a war-party of British Indians was
discovered on their return from the east, with two white
prisoners. Clark gave them battle, and defeated them,.
recapturing the prisoners. A few days later, it was reported that a great quantity of military stores, together
with Indian goods, were approaching from Detroit,
guarded by an escort of forty men. Captain Helm was
dispatched with two companies to intercept them. He
captured the entire party, without the loss of a man, and
he brought in the goods, which amounted to ten thousand
pounds in value. The British soldiers were dismissed on
parole; but Hamilton, Major Hay, and a few subordinate
officers, were sent, strongly guarded, to Virginia, to answer for the crime of inciting Indian murders along the
frontiers.  Governor Hamilton and his associates were
put in irons, and kept in close confinement, in retaliation
for the massacres that had been planned and instigated
by them.
After that, no further attempts were ever made by the
British to recover the posts on the Wabash and Upper
Mississippi. Colonel Clark, having achieved the conquest
7*




154              THE GREAT WEST.
of the "Vest, continued to hold military possession of it
until the close of the Revolution, recruiting his troops,
supplying his stores, keeping the Indians in check, unaided, alone, and without money, a thousand miles in the
wilderness. And at the treaty for peace, Great Britain
conceded  that this territory belonged to the United
States, mainly on the ground of its having been conquered by Colonel Clark.




POLITICAL ORGANIZATION.               155
CHAPTER IX.
THE NORTHWESTERN TERRITORY.
Politioal organization - Permanent territorial laws - First and second
grade — Fir st church and schools - Cincinnati and North Bend -
First civil court in the territorv - Lawyers of' the Northwestern Territory - Their manner of traveling from one court to another - The
British posts in the territory surrendered to the United States.
THE review which has thus far been taken, of the early
history of the great West, has brought us down to a period
when society there first began to assume a political form.
No longer dealing with the general affairs of the whole
boundless region, our course hereafter will lead to the
contemplation of those states and territories which have
been carved out of the wilderness, and to a consideration
of some of the advantages of position, of soils, of climate;
the facilities for farming, mining, lumbering, manufacturing, and for commercial pursuits possessed by each of them.
T'ihe first political designation of the western country,
under the authority of the Congress of the United States,
was that of the " Northwestern Territory," comprising all
the American possessions north-west of the River Ohio,
over which, in 1787, a form  of government was established, to continue until the inhabitants should increase to
a sufficient number to entitle them to state governments.
Previous to that time, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New
York, and Virginia, had each laid claim to that region, by
virtue of their royal charters, which had left their western
boundaries undefined. And Virginia had claimed under
another title, also, which was clearly indisputable — the
title of conquest.    For Colonel Clark, throughout all his




156             THE GREAT WEST.
campaigns on the Wabash and Mississippi, had been acting under a commission issued by that state. But, after
the Revolution, these magnanimous states had consented
to an amicable adjustment of their claims, and had relinquished each its individual interest to the federal government, for the common benefit of the whole Unon. Connecticut and Virginia, however, made reservations in their
acts of cession, but only for the purpose of liquidating
their respective liabilities to Revolutionary soldiers. The
reservation of the former state was laid in that part of
Ohio lying north of the forty-first parallel of latitude, and
west of the line of Pennsylvania; that of the latter included the land between the Sciota and Little Miami
rivers. The former has been known as the "Western
Reserve," the latter as the "Virginia Military District."
For that same noble purpose, the Congress also appropriated a large tract along the eastern side of the Sciota
River, known as the "United States Military District."
With these exceptions, the whole region of the north-west
had passed under the authority of the Federal government,
and become the property of the Union. It may be well to
state, that the acts of cession were made as follows, viz:
That of New York, March first, 1789; that of Virginia,
April twenty-third, 1784; that of Massachusetts, April
nineteenth, 1785; that of Connecticut, September thirteenth, 1786-the Empire State taking the lead.
The ordinance of 1787 made provision for the subsequent division of the Northwestern Territory into not less
than three, nor more than five states, the Congress having
been restricted to these numbers by the stipulations of the
compact with Virginia, as a condition of the act of cession.
That ordinance contained several articles that were "to
remain forever unalterable, unless by common consent."
Among them are the following:




PERMANENT TERRITORIAL LAWS.           157
"No person shall ever be molested on account of his
mode of worship or religious sentiments.
"; No law shall be passed that shall in any manner whatever interfere with or affect private interests or engagements, bona-fide, and without fraud, previously formed.
"] No tax shall be imposed on lands, the property of the
United States, and in no case shall non-resident proprietors be taxed higher than resident.
" There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servi
tude in the said territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly
convicted; provided, always, that any person escaping into
the same, from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed
in any of the original states, such fugitive may be lawfully
reclaimed and conveyed to the person claiming his or her
labor in service, as aforesaid."
The ordinance provided for the' establishment of two
grades of territorial government. The territory, in the
earlier grade, would seem to have been regarded as a political infant, that would need wet-nurses, and dry-nurses,
and swaddling-clothes. Its jurisdiction was confided to a
governor, a secretary, and three judges. And the governor was authorized to "adopt and publish such laws of
the original states, civil and criminal, as might be necessary, and best adapted to the circumstances of the district."
In the absence of the governor, the secretary was to perform the duties of that officer. The first grade of territorial dependence was to continue until the number of free
white males over twenty-one years should amount to five
thousand. Under the second grade, a general assembly
of the territory was provided for, to consist of the governor, the legislative council, and the legislative assembly.
The governor was authorized to convene, prorogue, or
dissolve, the general assembly, whenever he might deem it




158              THE GREAT WEST.
expedient, to do so. The second grade was to continue
until the territory should contain sixty thousand souls.
The next summer after the passage of the ordinance,
the officers of the new territorial government arrived, and
took up their residence at Campus Martius, now Marietta.
They were General Arthur St. Clair, governor; Winthrop
Sargent, secretary; and the three judges for the executive council.  Campus Martius had the form of a square,
and was one hundred and eighty feet on each side. On
the top of the block-houses were small steeples for sentryboxes, bullet-proof. It was surrounded by a strong palisade, ten feet high. And the buildings, which were all
within the inclosure, had been constructed of whip-sawed
timbers, four inches thick, dove-tailed at the corners, and
covered with shingle roofs.  The various rooms had fireplaces and brick chimneys.  The bastions and towers
were glistening with whitewash.
Most of the settlers in the Northwestern Territory were
men who had spent the prime of their lives, and had
exhausted their fortunes, in the Revolutionary War. A
body of emigrants of that character left New England
in 1787, under the lead of General Rufus Putnam, and,
descending the river, below Marietta, to a beautiful plain,
formed- the settlement of Belpre. The people carried
with them  into the woods the good old customs and
steady habits of their pilgrim ancestors.  With characteristic energy, they had no sooner provided shelter for their
families, than they set about organizing a church and
establishing a school, toward which all the inhabitants
made contributions with right good will. These were
the first institutions of learning and religion ever built up
in the Northwestern Territory.
In 1789, Israel Ludlow and Robert Patterson, with
twenty persons, erected the first houses at Cincinnati, then




CINCINNATI AND NORTH BEND.           159
called Losanteville. The site of that great city was a
beautiful woodland bottom, on the bank of the river, sixty
feet above low-water mark, and extending back three
hundred yards to the base of a second bank, which rose
forty feet higher, and then sloped gently more than a half
mile to the foot of the bluff. The first bottom was covered with a heavy growth of sycamore, sugar-maple, and
black-walnut; the second with beeches, oak, and hickory.
And in January of that year, another party passed
down the river to North Bend. Their boats were novelties of river craft, consisting each of a frame-work of
logs, covered with green oak plank, and caulked with
rags. Stowed snugly in these rude "arks," men, women,
and children, together with their goods, floated down the
current with the drifting ice, secure from rifle-shots. The
Indians kept popping away at them from the river-banls;
but no one was harmed. When the company had landed,
they picked out quite a little supply of lead from the
solid planking.
For several years there was a continual strife between
Cincinnati and North Bend for superiority in the infant
territory. At first, North Bend had a decided advantage
over its rival. Judge Symmes, the principal proprietor,
had prevailed with General Harmar to have the troops of
the territory stationed at that place; and emigrants came
flocking thither, because they believed it was greatly more
secure from Indian attacks than any other settlement in
the wilderness.  But, shortly afterward, the officer in
command became very much smitten with the charms of
a beautiful woman, the wife of one of the settlers, and
paid to her the most assiduous attentions. The husband,
fully aware of his danger, broke up his establishment, and
removed his family to Cincinnati. Immediately North
Bend became totally unfit for military occupation, and




160             THE GREAT WEST.
Cincinnati was represented to be the only point from
which the whole territory could be reached with the protecting arm of government. The troops in a little while
were removed from North Bend, and the advantages of
military occupation conferred upon the rival settlement.
The population of Cincinnati began rapidly to increase;
business seemed to center there; and from a rude log
village, the lonely settlement on the bank of the river,
has been growing and thriving, and has become the
Queen City of the West. The beautiful Helen of Troy
was the cause of the destruction of that ancient city.
A modern Helen gave strength to the foundations of
Cincinnati.
The first civil court ever held in the Northwestern
Territory was convened on the second day of September,
1788, in the hall of the Campus Martius. It was the court
of common pleas, Rufus Putnam and Benjamin Tupper,
justices. The opening of that court in the remote wilderness was attended with an imposing ceremony. A
procession having been formed in the street, the sheriff
led the way with a drawn sword, followed by the officers
of the garrison, members of the bar, the supreme court
judges, the governor, and a clergyman, and the judges of
the common pleas. On arriving at the door of the hall,
the procession was countermarched into it, and their
honors, judges Putnam and Tupper, took their seats on
the bench. The prayer was offered by the Rev. Dr. Cutler. Then the sheriff cried aloud: "Oyez! Oyez! Oyez!
A court is opened for the administration of even-handed
justice to the poor and the rich, to the guilty and the
innocent, without respect of persons; none to be punished
without a trial by their peers, and in pursuance of the
laws and evidence in the case." There were present a
great crowd of settlers, and several hundred Indians.




LAWYERS OF THE TERRITORY.          161
After the territory had become more thickly settled,
the general court was held at Cincinnati, Marietta, and
Detroit.  The journeys of court and bar, in those
early times, to those remote places, would have taken all
the conceit out of Blackstone. They would generally
travel with five or six in company, with a pack-horse to
carry provisions. Frequently they would be ten days
together in the wilderness, camping out at night, and
swimming every stream that was too deep to be forded.
On one of those excursions, the learned gentlemen were
kept awake all night by the caterwauling of a couple of
panthers, that seemed to be hankering for a taste of judicial flesh. Sometimes, in the winter season, the party
would stop by the trail-side, brush the snow off a log,
and sit down to frozen chicken and biscuit, warming the
frigid fare in the stomach with frequent "nips " of peach
brandy. Once, in a summer tramp, the whole bar got
lost in a swamp, and had to stand on their feet all night,
doing penance for their sins by liquidating the bills of
the musquitoes. That was a night of exquisite torment,
and some of the gentlemen must have had vivid impressions of what they were coming to some time or other.
At another time it rained daily and nightly, and the dripping limbs of the law shook and shivered in the wind.
Even the court was moved. They all had to lie down
and soak from dusk till morning, with wet knapsacks for
pillows, and their smoking saddles drawn over their faces.
The lawyers of the Northwestern Territory must have
had some "high old times," if all be true that has come
down to us concerning them. If they did run the risk of
losing their scalps on the way to court, they could easily
make it up by skinning a client or two.
The settlements of the Northwestern Territory were
constantly annoyed by Indian hostilities, instigated by
K




162             THE GREAT WEST.
British agents, residing at posts surreptitiously erected
along the Maumee River.  General Wayne advanced
with a large army down that river, and gave the Indians
and Canadians battle, within sight of a British fort.
That was on the twentieth day of August, 1794. During
the battle, the Indians were fiercely driven at the point
of the bayonet more than two miles, through thick-fallen
timber and brush; and the Canadians fled in terror to the
fort.  A  spicy correspondence then followed between
General Wayne and Major Campbell, the British commandant. The former reconnoitered the fort within range
of its guns, and caused the troops to destroy all the
property around it; and they burned the house and store
of the British agent, Alexander McKay. The spirit of
the Indians was completely broken. And in 1769, all the
British posts in the territory were formally surrendered to
the United States.








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DIVISION OF THE TERRITORY.            165
CHAPTER X.
OHIO.
Division of the Northwestern Territory —State government —Early
politics of the state —Rapid growth of the state —Its climate
and soil —Minerals —Salt springs —Water communications —
Crops - Domestic commerce - Railroads - Institutions of learning - Churches - Taxable property, etc.
TIE Buckeye State came into the Union in 1803. Since
General Wayne's successful campaign, the population of
the river counties had been rapidly increasing. A general feeling of security pervaded the entire Northwestern
Territory. The eastern part had been separated, by act
of Congress, from the western, by a line to be run due
north from the mouth of the Great Miami, until it should
intersect the parallel of latitude which passes through the
southern extremity of Lake Michigan.  The northern
boundary of the proposed state remained undefined, by
actual survey, for several years, and once came near
involving Ohio and Michigan in a war for the possession
of the great Cotton wood Swamp, back of Toledo.
The controversy between the executive and legislature
of the Northwestern Territory was the immediate cause
of an early attempt at the formation of a state government.
Arthur St. Clair, the governor of the territory, was a
staunch federalist. The majority of the prominent men
were republicans. Party politics were running high, and
the executive and legislative departments could not act in
harmony upon any question whatever. It is due to the
character of Governor St. Clair to say, that he enjoyed
the respect of the people generally. In his manners, he




166             THE GREAT WEST.
was unassuming. In his dress, plain and simple, without
ostentation or gaudy equipage. In his deportment, he was
easy and frank. Holding himself accessible to all persons,
he presented a strong contrast with the austere, haughty,
and repulsive bearing of his secretary, Colonel Winthrop
Sargent. But Governor St. Clair seems to have placed a
high estimate upon his own judgment, and he rarely
yielded to the opinions of others. He was stubborn, and
the legislature was zealous.
The administration of the general government had
passed into the hands of the republican party. Thomas
Jefferson was President. The advocates of a state government had made application directly to Congress, to
authorize the people of the territory to elect delegates, for
the purpose of framing and adopting a constitution. Congress had granted the prayer of the petitioners, and had
directed the convention to assemble at Chilicothe on the
first Monday of November, 1802. The returns of the
territorial census, taken during the summer of that year,
had shown the aggregate white population of the eastern
division to be forty-five thousand persons. While the
convention was in session, Governor St. Clair, desirous of
participating in its deliberations, had sent word that he
would forward a communication in his official capacity.
But so zealously republican was that body, so fearful of
executive influence, that the proposition to listen to St.
Clair, as governor, had been voted down. And then the
convention coolly resolved, " That Arthur St. Clair, Senior,
Esquire, be permitted to address the convention on those
subjects which he deems of importance."  The convention had stopped his mouth, as chief magistrate, but would
listen to him as a man.
A constitution had been adopted on the twenty-ninth of
November, and, with strange inconsistency, had been




THE GROWTH OF THE STATE.             167
declared obligatory, without having been submitted to the
people for their assent. A proposition to that effect had
been rejected by a large majority. The delegates would
seem to have stoodin as great fear of the people as of the
governor. Although.the ordinance of 1787 required a
population of sixty thousand souls to entitle the people to
a state government,, yet Congress had seen fit to waive
that requirement; and, on the nineteenth day of February, 1803, an act was approved by the President, fully
recognizing the admission of the State of Ohio into the
Federal Union, as a free and independent state. Ohio,
the eldest born of republicanism, has retained its republican proclivities to the present day.
The growth of the Buckeye State has been rapid, beyond
all example, beyond all calculation or expectation. In the
beginning of this century, it was a territory just emerging
from the wilderness-just clear of savage marauders; in
the middle of it, a state, populous, powerful, and controlling,
in the midst of the greatest confederacy that has ever existed on earth. Ohio is eminently an agricultural state.
The soil is fertile as a garden. The land, descending gently
toward the south, is warm and quick; and the climate,
on that account, is far more mild than would seem to be
indicated by the latitude.  The general length of the
state, from east to west, is two hundred miles, and its
breadth about one hundred and forty miles, with an area
of thirty-nine thousand nine hundred and sixty-four square
miles. More than nine-tenths of the state is susceptible
of cultivation, and three-fourths of the soil is eminently
productive. The river bottoms are wide and fertile. In
the central portions, natural meadows are numerous; but
the greater part of the country was originally covered with
magnificent forests of oak, beech, sugar-maple, hickory,
and whitewood.




168             THE GREAT WEST.
The state of Ohio is rich in minerals.  Its coal is
bituminous, and the vast fields lie so near the surface that,
in many places, it is easier to dig for fuel than to chop for
it. The principal points where coal mines are worked,
are at Talmadge, Summit county; Pomeroy, Meigs
county; Nelsonville, Athens county, and some parts of
Starke and Coshocton counties. The coal trade of Ohio
might easily be increased to twenty million dollars annually. The iron business of the state will some time be of
great magnitude and importance. Extending through the
counties of Lawrence, Gallia, Jackson, Meigs, Vinton,
Athens, and Hocking, is a vast belt of iron ore, some
twelve miles in width, and more than one hundred miles
in length. It has been estimated that the ore, so rich and
abundant, is susceptible of feeding a furnace on every
square mile, that would require each one hundred hands,
and yield eight tons of iron per day, for ages.  Coal
underlies the same region, and the field there is of the
best quality, and from twenty to thirty feet in thickness.
England, with a coal region less extensive than the two
counties, Meigs and Athens, produces, annually, fifty million dollars' worth of iron. From that, we may form some
estimate as to what Ohio will be capable of doing, when
her mineral resources shall have been fully developed.
Ohio has salt springs that might be made to compete
with those of Onondaga. The salt wells are on Yellow
creek, above Steubenville; on Will's creek; on the Muskingum river, from the Coshocton to its mouth; on the
Hockhocking, and on Leading creek. The depth of the
salt rock, below the surface, varies from six hundred feet
to nine hundred feet. The brine, at the lower wells on
the Muskingum, yields one hundred pounds of salt from
one hundred gallons of water.
Ohio, moreover, has direct communication with the




THE PRODUCTS OF OHIO.            169
copper regions of the north, the cotton fields of the south,
and, in addition to the domestic growth of wool, might
draw largely from the prairies of Illinois. There is no
reason why Ohio shall not become one of the most successful manufacturing states in the world. Although the
streams are mostly "dry-weather" streams, and swell
full only with freshets; although there are no mountains
to give velocity and force to running water; yet steam
can be cheaply substituted for water-power. Along the
whole southern border, vessels may be freighted with goods,
and dispatched to one-half the states and territories of the
Union, to the Gulf of Mexico, and the Atlantic ocean.
And from the northern border, rich cargoes may be sent
to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and also up Lake Superior and Michigan, more than a thousand miles inland.
Thus, with an abundance of material, Ohio has also a
reliable and extensive market for all kinds of produce
and manufactures.
The population of Ohio, in 1790, was three thousand;
after sixty years, it had increased to two millions. While
manufactures, and the mineral resources of the state,
have been but little developed, its agriculture has become
unusually prosperous. The corn crop of Ohio is one-tenth
of the whole crop of the United States; its wheat crop,
one-seventh; its crops of oats and buckwheat are exceeded
only by those of New York and Pennsylvania, and its
barley by New York alone. Ohio owns one-tenth of all
the horses in the Union. It ranks next to New York in
the number of its milch cows and other cattle. It has
more sheep than any other state.  One-fifth of all the
wool in the United States is clipped in Ohio.
The domestic commerce of Ohio is astonishingly large,
and has been estimated, in its annual value, as high as
one hundred and sixty million dollars. Surprising as that
8




170            THE GREAT WEST.
amount may seem, it is certain, that the domestic
commerce is greatly on the increase. The exports of
Sandusky, in 1850, amounted to three million one hundred
thousand dollars; but in 1852 they had increased to
upwards of twenty million dollars. The growth of the
imports, at Sandusky, during those two years, was from
seven million dollars to forty-five millions.
The capital of Ohio is very largely invested in internal improvements. One of the largest canals in America
connects Lake Erie, at Cleveland, with the Ohio River, at
Portsmouth; another from Cincinnati stretches across to
Toledo; -affording the productions of the interior a convenient outlet to the north and the south. The railroads
cross each other in all directions throughout the state.
They center, chiefly, at Cleveland and Sandusky, on the
lake coast; at Mansfield, Newark, Zanesville, Columbus,
Xenia, Bellefontaine, Springfield, and Dayton, in the
interior; and at Cincinnati, on the river. Among these
roads, the most important are, the Bellefontaine and
Indiana, one hundred and eighteen miles in length; the
Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus, one hundred and
thirty-five miles; the Cleveland and Pittsburg, one hundred miles; the Mad River and Lake Erie, one hundred
and thirty-four miles; the Ohio and Pennsylvania, one
hundred and eighty-seven miles; all of which are completed, and have several daily trains running on them.
These roads, with their numerous branches, stretch far
out into the adjoining states, and connect with other lines
from Boston, in Massachusetts, to St. Louis, in Missouri,
and bind the lakes in iron bands with the Atlantic coast
and with the Mississippi River.
In Ohio, great attention has been paid to the establish.
ment of institutions of learning. There are about twelve
thousand common schools in the state, and the average




TAXABLE PROPERTY OF OHIO.           171
daily attendance of scholars is four hundred thousand.
There are twelve universities and colleges, and four
medical schools. The number of libraries is forty-eight,
with nearly two hundred thousand volumes. The number
of churches is about four thousand, accommodating near
one and a half millions of persons, and owning property
to the value of six million dollars. Ohio has twenty-one
representatives in the Congress of the United States.
And the total value of the taxable property of the state
is about four hundred and fifty million dollars. It seems
almost incredible that so much wealth should have been
created, on a tract of land two hundred miles long and
one hundred and forty broad, in sixty years. With all
this increase, Ohio, in fact, has but just begun the
development of its resources.  The present prosperous
condition of that state may be regarded merely as an
indication of its future greatness.




172                THE GREAT WEST.
CHAPTER XI.
MICHIGAN.
French agriculture - Population - Geography - Geology - The lower
peninsula - White-oak openings - Burr-oak openings — "Catholes" -  ine woods of the north -Windfalls- Soil and fruits of
the lower peninsula - Pasturage - Settlements of Michigan - Commercial advantages —Detroit and other ports -Site for a great
central city- The rivers- The lakes around Michigan - Improved
lands —Annual products - Schools, churches, and other institutions - Attractions to the settler - Exemption laws.
MICHIGAN, on the first day of July, 1805, entered upon
the first grade of territorial government, under the provisions of the ordinance of 1787.  General William Hull
was appointed governor; and Detroit was the seat of
government.  The southern boundary of Michigan Territory, according to the act of Congress, was to be a line
running due east from the most southern part of Lake
Michigan to Maumee Bay.  At the time of its organization, the population of the territory, exclusive of the
troops of the western army, did not exceed three thousand; for the early emigration to the West, at the
beginning of this century, before the era of steam  navigation on the lakes, had taken a more southern route, and
had flowed into the country bordering upon the Ohio
River.  Michigan was then very difficult of access.  The
territory was little known, and but few persons attempted
to reach its borders. The increase in the number of the
inhabitants went on so slowly that, in 1810, it contained
only eight thousand four hundred souls.
In 1796, when Michigan, for the first time, had come




FRENCH AGRICULTURE.             173
into the hands of the Americans, the population, on both
sides of the strait, from Lake St. Clair to the River
Raisin, was almost exclusively Canadian French. They
were an extremely ignorant people, and made most miserable cultivators of the soil. Their farms were only a few
rods in width upon the river, and ran back nearly two
miles, for quantity. The Canadian French seem to have
had no idea of any improvement in agriculture having
been made by any body, since Noah had planted his vineyard at the foot of Mount Ararat. They continued to
plow, and sow, and reap, just as their fathers had done
time out of mind. Whenever a field had become exhausted, it was abandoned. Instead of striving to enrich
their lands, the people trusted to the efficacy of prayers,
and threw the manure into the river. Under such treatment, the soil, of necessity, had become reduced, yielding
light crops, and provisions were extravagantly high.
About the year 1830, the tide of emigration began to
set toward that territory.  The population had then
become increased to twenty-eight thousand. Steamboat
navigation had been opening a new commerce upon the
lakes, encircling all the lower peninsula of Michigan. A
fleet of an hundred sail, sloops and schooners, was engaged
in traversing every part of these inland waters. On the
fifteenth day of June, 1836, a state constitution had been
adopted, and Michigan was admitted into the Union
in the January following, with a population of nearly an
hundred thousand. Emigrants began to flock in rapidly
from the middle states, and from New England. The
number of inhabitants, at the present time, is about three
hundred and ninety-eight thousand; of which Connecticut
has furnished seven thousand; Massachusetts, eight thousand; Vermont, twelve thousand; and New York, one
hundred and thirty-four thousand.




174              THE GREAT WEST.
The lower peninsula of Michigan is nearly three hundred miles in length, from north to south, and one hundred and twenty miles in width, having an area of about
forty thousand square miles. It is skirted by a belt of
heavily-timbered land, about twenty-five miles deep, surrounding the entire lake coast, and lying several feet
below the level of the adjoining openings. The tract of
timbered land, along the eastern side of the peninsula, is
generally a dead level. The whole interior, however, is
gently rolling, and, in some parts, hilly, though but
slightly so, just sufficient for wholesome running water.
The dividing ridge which gives rise to the river system
of Michigan, is considerably east of a line drawn from
Michilimackinac through the center of the state to the
boundary of Ohio; and the whole western slope descends gradually from that ridge, with an even, unbroken
surface, to Lake Michigan.  The coast, however, is
everywhere high above the level of the lakes; and along
lakes Huron and Michigan the banks are steep, and
varying from one hundred to three hundred feet in hight.
The lower peninsula is of the same geological formation as western New York. Its rocks consist of horizontal strata of limestones, sandstones, and slates; the
limestones being found along the rivers near the lakes,
and the sandstones in the interior. The soil is either
alluvial or diluvial, and has a depth varying from one
foot to one hundred and fifty feet. Quarries of sandstone
have been opened at several places on the Grand River.
It admits of being easily quarried, furnishing a good
building material, and is frequently used for grindstones.
The limestone of Michigan is, for the most part, quite
compact, and well adapted to agricultural purposes, generally producing a valuable lime upon burning, though
sometimes too silicious to be of the best quality.




THE LOWER PENINSULA.              175
Gypsum has been found in several localities. And in all
those places where the limestone formation exists, there
are indications of bituminous coal.
The lower peninsula presents three different general
aspects to the traveler passing through it, from south to
north. The first is the region of plains or openings.
These are not bare of trees, like prairies, nor are they
covered uniformly and evenly with timber. The growth
and density of the wood that is scattered over them is
extremely various, though all the openings are alike free
from underbrush, and a wagon might be driven miles on
miles without obstruction, or having scarcely to turn out
for a fallen tree. The timber of the openings consists
entirely of oak and hickory. The latter clusters almost
always in groves, to the exclusion of other varieties, the
trees being merely young, thrifty saplings, from three
inches to ten inches through, at the root, and from twenty
to thirty feet high.  These groves are found mostly
upon the elevated portions of gentle swells of ground,
covering a few acres, and surrounded every way by oak.
The hickories generally stand quite thickly, as though
they had been purposely planted for the sake of nurseries
of that timber, as the locust tree is raised in some parts
of New York.
The name of the white-oak openings will indicate the
variety of timber to be found wherever they exist. The
trees will be seen standing far apart, in size from one
to two feet through, the lower limbs, ten or twelve feet
above the ground, huge and gnarled, spreading out wide,
and supporting magnificent tops of branches and leaves,
precisely like the cherished homestead trees of an older
country. On the "timbered" openings, the oaks grow
taller, and the bark is smoother; but they do not attain to
the hight of those on timbered lands. Then, again, there




176              THE GREAT WEST.
are plains of red-oak, a tree which frequently stretches up
higher than the white-oak, its bark almost black, its body
covered with pins formed of the hearts of burnt limbs,
rough, scraggy, and so fastened together with knots as to
bid defiance to wedges and beetles. Here and there,
however, will be found one, large and tall, that will split
as free as a shingle. Such are selected for 1"shakes," and
the settler delights in them for rails.
Also the bur-oak openings will inform the reader of
the variety of oak growing upon them. These openings
are the pride of Michigan. The bur-oak is slender and
tapering like a poplar. The bark is lighter and spongier
than the white-oak, the tree altogether more delicate, and
the limbs more graceful. Scattered over the surface at
regular intervals, nearly uniform in size, and about twentyfive feet in hight, they present the appearance of.peartrees planted in immense orchards. The bur-oak derives
its name from the clusters of acorns which hang like burs
upon the ends of the slender twigs, and crown the very
top of the tree. A drove of hogs, turned out to feed,
will start on a run for a bur-oak opening, and champ the
acorns as they would corn.  Bruin knows how sweet
these acorns are, and he frequently leaves his mark on
the limbs and on the bark. The wild pigeons, in count.
less numbers, will hover, and flutter, and flap among the
bur-oaks.
T'he openings of Michigan do not, by any means, present an uniform appearance. Beside the different varieties of timber, and the gentle undulation of the surface,
there are frequent springs of water, forming into streams,
along which the woods, preserved from the ravages of
fire, grow up thick and dark, stretching out like long arms
and elbows throughout the country, adding to the interest
and beauty of the landscapes. There are also frepuent




PINE WOODS OF THE NORTH.           177
"cat-holes," or little circular basins, some of them as
regular as a bowl, from a few rods to two or three acres
over, grown up to whortleberry hushes and alders. And
sometimes, sunk down below the general level of the
country, one will find wet meadows of rank grass, among
which the cranberry stretches out its delicate vine. It
is doubtful whether there is a more beautiful region in
the United States than that of the openings of Michigan,
which, commencing near Detroit, extend clear across the
state.
On going toward the north, the timber becomes more
and more plentiful. Beeches begin to mingle with the
oaks. And, in a day or two, beeches and maples will
predominate over other varieties of timber. Huge whitewoods and basswoods will be seen towering above the
forest. The white-ash, the shag-bark, the black-cherry,
will have become abundant. The woods will seem to
have been growing darker and denser every mile of the
way. Soon the traveler will doubt whether Omnipotence
himself could have planted the trees larger, taller, and
thicker together than they are. A broad-horned ox would
have to tip his head on one side, in order to pass through
between them. The ground is slippery with decaying
leaves. Further on, the timber gradually begins to lessen, and, after a while, openings again appear along the
high, abrupt banks of the Grand River. These northern
openings, some thirty miles in width, are not so beautiful
as the southern, but they spread out fairer and moro
invitingly to the settler. For there, little prairies abound,
just big enough for farms, and belted with timber.
Pressing still forward, the emigrant will enter the great
pine woods of the north. For a while, however, before
reaching them, he will have been wandering through
groves of oak, and along the borders of natural meadows,
8*                     L




178             THE GREAT WEST.
and through clumps of beech and maple. Now and then
a pine or two will have been seen standing out like sentinels. But soon, as with a single step, the timber has
become all pine -yellow pine; moaning overhead, darkening all the ground, shutting out the sun, shutting out
the wind. With outstretched arms, the trees might almost
be reached on either hand, while passing along. The
tall trunks support the dark-green canopy full fifty feet
above the earth. Many of the trunks from the base of
the leafy top, half way down to the ground, are thorny and
jagged with the stubs of dead limbs. But the trees are,
nevertheless, sound and thrifty.
The belt of pine timber, and nothing but pine, is about
twenty-five miles in width, stretching from Saginaw Bay
directly across the peninsula of Michigan. Wherever
in all that region there have been windfalls, the pine has
been replaced by the thickest masses of oak and beech
saplings that ever was contemplated by man. A wolf
could hardly crawl through one of them without taking
every hair off his hide. In vain you poke the bushes aside,
to look in; you can not see a foot beyond your nose; it is
all bushes, thick as a hatchel, and limbs intertwining.
On asking a surveyor of the government lands how they
managed with the windfalls, he replied: "0  that's nothing.
We clomb on top and walked over, just as easy."  After
a while, to the northward, the pine appears to be confined
to the little ridges, that rise up like back-bones between
the streams. Wherever the rivers make a bend, on the
hollowing side will be found a heavy growth of black ash.
Now and then a clump of cedars will appear, each tree
leaning away from the rest, and some of them twisting
round at least " sixteen times in a foot." The level lands
have again become covered with beech and maple, of a
full, luxuriant growth, with here and there a gigantic




PINE WOODS OF THE NORTH.             179
Norway pine, six feet through, without a limb, till it
begins to stretch up half its length above the surrounding
trees. These are the general aspects of Michigan, as seen
on a tour through the center of the peninsula, from Coldwater, in Branch county, to the straits of Michilimackinac.
The soil of the lower peninsula is of great depth and
fertility. That which covers the openings and the pine
lands is a sandy loam, easily worked, and yielding large
crops of wheat, corn, and potatoes. All the varieties of
fruits to be found in western New York thrive there in
great vigor and productiveness.  The apple, the peach,
the pear, seem native to the climate. Garden vegetables
attain a surprising growth. The plains abound in strawberries. Throughout all the timbered lowlands there are
thick clusters of wild currants and gooseberries.  The
whortleberries grow large and luscious. The wild cranberries furnish a convenient sauce, and an article of great
market value. The soil of the timbered lands is slightly
heavier than that of the openings, but it is still sandy
rather than clayey. Vines of all kinds are astonishingly
thrifty. A tomato plant will grow as high as a man's head,
and will yield bushels of fruit. The pumpkin vine will
run over logs, stumps, brush-heaps, and cover half a field
with great yellow pumpkins. A single cantaloupe vine
has been known to yield twenty large, delicious melons.
In all the openings, "the mast" is abundant. Hogs
turned out to grass will become fat on the acorns alone.
Pasturage is every where plentiful, on the plains until
after the frosts of October, and then it is found in the
timbered swales. Many of the wet meadows will yield
red-top at the rate of two and three tons to the acre.
And further north, among the heavy timber, there are
marshes covered with a hardy reed, or flag, which the
frost never kills to the ground, but a green, juicy stub, six




180             THE GREAT WEST.
inches in length, will remain all winter, just beneath the
snow; and great droves of cattle, turned out in the sheltering woods, will thrive on these, alone, and come out in
good condition in the spring.
The settlements of Michigan are mostly confined to the
openings, and to the intervening belt of timber. Population has not extended more than thirty miles north of the
Grand River. Emigration would seem to have swept
straight across the southern half of the peninsula. In
earlier times, two principal wagon roads existed; the
old Territorial Road, through Ann Arbor, Jackson, and
Marshall, and the South or State Road, through Ypsilanti, Tecumseh, and Jonesville; and the settlers,
arriving at Detroit and at Toledo, would follow one or
the other of these routes. Those who designed going to
the Grand River country, had to make the voyage of the
lakes. And now, the two great thoroughfares of the
peninsula, the Michigan Central Railroad, and the Michigan Southern Railroad, are laid along those same lines of
travel. Michigan would seem to have been made a mere
roadway for the states beyond it.  Population, therefore,
has not reached far above these principal routes; for it
has been easier to go to Iowa than to the central parts of
Michigan. Some time or other, a railroad will be built on
the line from Michilimackinac through Lansing, the capital
of the state, and, intersecting the Central and Southern
roads at Jackson and at Jonesville, will make easily
accessible the pine region north of the Grand River.
There is probably no state in the Union which surpasses
Michigan in its commercial advantages. It is admirably
situated for drawing to itself the interior trade of America.
The lower peninsula is inclosed on all sides but one, by
four lakes: Erie, St. Clair, Huron, and Michigan. The
extent of the coast line, thus furnished, is about seven




PORTS AND HARBORS OF MICHIGAN.          181
hundred and fifty miles. Unlike most other commercial
states, that are considered to be favorably situated if they
have one border only lying along the sea, Michigan is nearly
surrounded by water, scarcely an acre of its land is anywhere over seventy miles from a lake shore. Its ports, large
and commodious, open toward all the points of the compass,
except the south. Its productions, therefore, can easily be
floated off westward, and northward, and eastward; and
from these same directions, every species of merchandise
that may be desirable can be imported into the state.
Michigan has more natural harbors, that will involve little
expense and labor to render them available in all seasons to
all classes of shipping, than any other state bordering on
the lakes. An enumeration of the ports and harbors will
show how grandly Michigan is situated for carrying on an
extensive commerce with the lakes.
First in order, along the great watery girdle around the
state, is the city of Monroe, in the south-eastern part, at
the base of the peninsula. Monroe is finely located on
the River Raisin, two and one-half miles above Lake
Erie. It is distant from Lansing, the capital of Michigan,
eighty-seven miles, and from Detroit, forty miles. The
country back of Monroe is level, having a sandy and
fertile soil, and yielding largely of all the grains, fruits,
and grasses. Building stone is found in that vicinity, of
an excellent quality. And the sulphur springs are beginning to attract attention.  The river, above the city,
affords exhaustless supplies of water-power. The harbor,
at all times, is accessible to vessels of the largest class.
Monroe is an important point in the great thoroughfare of
western travel and transportation.  It is the eastern terminus of the Michigan Southern Railroad, and it has
daily lines of steamboats, which connect it with Buffalo,
and all the ports on Lake Erie. The Toledo, Norwalk,




182             THE GREAT WEST.
and Cleveland Railroad has brought Monroe into communication, overland, with the Atlantic cities; and its
railroad connections with the country to the far West are
interrupted only by the Mississippi River.
But Detroit is the great commercial center of the.state,
although located upon the extreme eastern border. The
city extends along the bank of the river for more than
three miles. The business part of it is about seven miles
below Lake St. Clair, and eighteen miles above Lake Erie.
It has the finest harbor in all the west. The French
word, D'Etroit, signifies strait, which is a more appropriate appellation for the connecting stream between the
upper and the lower lakes than the word river, which
usually is applied to it. That strait, of an average depth
of thirty-two feet, with an equable current of two and onehalf miles an hour, is half a mile wide between the docks
at Detroit and the docks opposite, at Sandwich.  The
channel is nowhere interrupted by rocks, and the stream
is so deep and swift that it keeps itself clear of sand-bars
and sawyers.  The strait is closed but a little while
during the winter, for its powerful current will wear away
the thickest ice in a short time; and the floating ice,
drifting from  the lakes above, is borne along with an
uniform movement, which does not permit of the formation of damns, like those of the St. Lawrence, at Montreal.
These peculiarities of the strait make Detroit a secure
and accessible harbor, at all seasons of the year. It is
thronged with shipping. Detroit is the eastern terminus
of the Michigan Central Railroad, as Sandwich, immediately
opposite, is the western terminus of the Great Western
Railway through Canada.
AMount Clenmens is situated on the Clinton River, which
empties into Lake St. Clair. Algonac, Newport, and St.
Clair are situated upon the St, Clair River. All of these




THE RIVERS OF MICHIGAN.            183
ports have good harbors. The St. Clair river is forty miles
long, with a broad, deep current, of three miles an hour.
The average depth of the channel is fifty feet. The river
is half a mile wide. Five miles above Lake St. Clair, the
river divides, and flows through six channels into the lake;
the more northerly one alone is navigable. Port Huron,
situated at the mouth of Black River, two miles south of
Lake Huron, has a good harbor, and possesses superior
advantages for ship-building. Saginaw is situated near
the head of the bay of the same name. The city stands
on the west bank of the Saginaw River, at an elevation
of thirty feet above the water. The Saginaw River has
a depth of twenty-five feet, and upon the bar, at its mouth,
eight feet. The bay is sixty miles long, and thirty miles
wide, and its shores are indented with innumerable coves,
which form some of the most convenient harbors on Lake
Huron.  Further up the lake, Thunder Bay is a most
excellent harbor. The depth of water is thirty feet. The
bay is sheltered by several islands at its entrance. A
considerable river of the same name comes in at the head,
and a number of smaller streams; and at the extreme
north is Michilimackinac. If one were to point out on
the map of North America, a site for a great central city
in the lake region, it would be in the immediate vicinity
of the straits of Michilimackinac.  A city so located
would have the control of the mineral trade, the fisheries,
the furs, and the lumber of the entire north. It might
become the metropolis of a great commercial empire. It
would be the Venice of the lakes. Following along down
Lake Michigan, we come to Little Traverse Bay, and
Grand Traverse Bay, each magnificent harbors. A railroad constructed from the latter bay to Saginaw would
open all the upper half of the southern peninsula of
Michigan. Next in order, are the mouths of the Manistee,




184             THE GREAT WEST.
White, and Muskegon Rivers, which are said to have
convenient harbors.
Grand Haven, at the mouth of the Grand River, is one
of the best harbors on Lake Michigan. The water, on
the bar, is never less than twelve feet deep; in the harbor
it averages twenty-five feet. The Grand River is about
one-fourth of a mile wide, and is navigable by steamboats,
forty miles, to the rapids, at all seasons, and at high
water to Ionia and Lyons. It is a noble river of clear
and swift water, two hundred and seventy miles in length.
The principal branches are the Rogue, Flat, Maple, Looking-glass, Red Cedar, and Thorn-apple rivers -all large
streams, flowing through some of the choicest lands in
the state, and furnishing an abundance of water-power.
Kalamazoo River is a magnificent stream, two hundred
miles in length, and navigable for vessels of forty tons,
to Allegan, thirty-eight miles above its mouth. The
depth of water on the bar is eight feet. St. Josephs
River is two hundred and fifty miles long, and winds
round through northern Indiana. At its-mouth is a sandbar with six feet of water. The river is a thousand feet
in width. At its mouth, the village of St. Josephs occupies a commanding site, at an elevation of sixty feet
above the water.
These are the harbors, and these the rivers of the
lower peninsula of Michigan. The majority of them are,
as yet, appropriated, almost exclusively, to the lumber
trade. The northern branches of the Grand River; the
Muskegon, White, and Manistee rivers; the Thunder Bay,
and the Audable rivers; the Saginaw River, and its
branches; the Cass, and Flint, and Shiawasse, and Tittibawasse, and the Black, and the Clinton rivers-all open
into a region of the choicest timber. The pine lumber of




THE LAKES OF MICHIGAN.             185
Michigan is equal to any in the world, and the demand
for it has increased prodigiously within a few years.
The lakes around Michigan furnish that state with a
theater for the grandest display of commercial enterprise.
Lake Erie is two hundred and sixty-five miles in length,
and averages thirty-five miles in width. Its mean depth
is one hundred and thirty feet. It opens to Michigan the
trade of the East. Lake St. Clair is about ninety miles
in circumference, and twenty feet deep. The passage at
the head of that lake into the St. Clair River is, for a
little way, extremely difficult. At a trifling expense, the
channel might be kept open to vessels of the largest
class. The general government, heretofore, has neglected
to make appropriations for the improvement of the channel
through the St. Clair Flats, leaving millions of dollars
annually to be stuck in the mud, because, forsooth, the
mud is fresh-water mud, instead of salt. The policy of
certain American statesmen, respecting the improvement
of western rivers, has been childish in the extreme.
Who ever heard, before, of the constitutional rights of a
great commercial people being regulated by the ebbings
and flowings of the tides? It is a wonder that it has not
been suggested to those astute minds, to put the constitution itself into pickle. Now, the St. Clair Flats, (out
of Congress,) lie between Algonae and the mouth of the
Thames River. They are extremely shoal, covered all
over with luxuriant crops of wild rice, through which the
channel, crooked and narrow, rarely has a depth of water
to exceed nine feet. From the principal passage, looking
toward the Canadian coast, the whole expanse, for miles,
is a waving morass of rice, intersected by small, winding
bayous. Every northern state has an immediate interest
in the removal of the obstructions of the St. Clair River.
A commerce of the value of more than a hundred million




186              THE GREAT WEST.
dollars, and a licensed tonnage of steam and sail-craft,
amounting in the aggregate to forty thousand tons, are
put in jeopardy every year.
Lake Huron is two hundred and sixty miles in length,
and one hundred and sixty in width, inclusive of the
Georgian Bay, a vast expanse of itself, almost divided from
the lake by a continuous chain of islands. Lake Huron
is said to contain more than thirty thousand islands, principally near the northern shore. Its greatest depth is one
thousand feet. A railroad runs across through Canada,
from Toronto to Collingwood, at the headof Nottawasaga
Bay on Georgian Bay; and another from Buffalo through
Brantford, to be completed to Goderich, on the eastern
shore of the lake. The principal harbors of Lake Huron
are on the western side, which will give to Michigan the
largest share of its commerce.
Lake Michigan is three hundred and sixty miles in
length, with an average breadth of sixty miles. It has a
mean depth of nine hundred feet. Its surface is four feet
higher than that of Lake Huron, and six hundred feet
above the level of the Atlantic Ocean. On the western
side is Green Bay, one hundred miles long and thirty
broad, through which, and the Fox and Wisconsin rivers,
navigation can easily be opened between the lakes and
the Mississippi.  The same communication has been
effected by the canal at Chicago, connecting with the
Illinois River.
Being so situated in the heart of the lake country,
Michigan may participate very largely in the commerce
of the whole interior of the continent. And that state
possesses within itself the means of supporting the most
extensive commercial enterprises. Its soil, throughout, is
of surpassing fertility. Only one-third of the land is improved; yet the produce annually is, as follows: Wheat,




THE PRODUCTS OF MICHIGAN.            187
five million bushels; corn, six million bushels; oats, three
million bushels; and potatoes, three million bushels. The
yield of maple-sugar is two and one-half million pounds.
The live stock within the state is valued at ten million
dollars. The wool clipped annually, is about three million pounds; the butter made, seven and one-half million
pounds; cheese, near two million pounds. The value of
the animals slaughtered is about one and one-half million
of dollars. The total amount of the yearly products of
manufactures is nearly eleven million dollars.  The
whole northern half of the lower peninsula, covered
with magnificent forests, though scarcely yet broken into,
yields astonishing quantities of lumber. The saw-mills
are already cutting over three hundred and ten million
feet of sawed lumber annually.
The ports of Algonac, Mount Clemens, St. Clair, Port
Huron, and Saginaw, on the eastern side, and the Grand
River, the Muskegon, White, and Manistee rivers, on the
western side, are the avenues through which the lumber
of Michigan finds its way to market. While the ports at
Grand Haven, Allegan, and St. Josephs, and at Detroit
and Monroe, are crowded with grain and other agricultural productions.
The whole amount of property owned in the state is
valued at sixty million dollars. MAichigan is entitled to
four representatives in Congress.  The number of public
schools is about three thousand five hundred. A State
Normal School has been established at Ypsilanti, with an
ample endowment of school lands. The principal collegiate institution is the University at Ann Arbor. The
total number of libraries is three hundred and eighty-one,
containing about seventy thousand volumes. About seventy periodicals are published in the State, of which
thirty are of a literary, scientific, or religious character.




188             THE GREAT WEST.
Michigan contains about four hundred churches, accommodating nearly an hundred and twenty-five thousand
persons.  Michigan may be far behind Ohio; but it
should be remembered that Ohio has had more than
thirty years the start.
Michigan presents many attractions to the settler;
and among those, the beautiful little lakes, scattered
profusely over its surface, through the openings and the
timbered lands alike, must not be forgotten.  These
cover from one acre to five hundred acres, clear and deep
waters, alive with fish. Some of the lakes have neither
inlet nor outlet, being fed with springs just equal to the
evaporation.  But most of them  send forth copious
streams. There are places, among the openings, where,
standing on a hill, one may see half a dozen of these
lakelets, nestling together.  Another advantage in settling in Michigan is, that it is about half-way between
the East and the West. One does not have to go to the
other side of creation to get there; and the inhabitants
may well deem themselves located just about in the center of the world. A strong inducement, also, is found in
the fact, that the government lands in Michigan have
been in market, most of them, over ten years, and have
fallen in prices to one dollar an acre. The land-offices
are situated at Detroit, Ionia, and Michilimackinac.
The exemption laws of Michigan are extremely liberal
toward her citizens. A correct view of household property would seem to have been taken by the legislature;
that the property of the husband necessary to the sustenance of the family belongs to the family, and should not
be alienated by mortgage, or lien, without the consent of
the wife.
In addition to the usual exemption of a seat in a
church, a cemetery, arms, and accouterments, and house



THE EXEMPTION LAWS.               189
hold utensils, and stores, the exemption includes the
following property, viz.: All wearing apparel of every
person or family; school books and library, to the value
of one hundred and fifty dollars; household goods and
furniture, to the same amount; ten sheep, two cows, five
swine, and feed for them; and provisions and fuel for the
family for six months; tools, implements, materials,
stocks, apparatus, team, vehicle, horses, harness, or other
things, to carry on a trade, occupation, or business, not
exceeding in value two hundred and fifty dollars. And
all chattel mortgages, bills of sale, or other liens on such
property, are declared void, unless signed by the wife.
In addition to the foregoing, forty acres of land, the
dwelling-house thereon, and the appurtenances, are also
exempt. So, where a man shall occupy a house or land
not his own, the house is exempt.




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YANKEE EMIGRANTS.                  191
CHAPTER XII.
INDIANA.
Yankee emigrants-Emigration checked by the war of 1812Admission as a state - Rapid settlement of the state - Where the
settlers came from -Soil of the state - The Ohio and Whitewater
valleys - The White River Valley - The Wabash Valley - River
navigation - Canals - Railroads - Agricultural products -Charitable institutions, churches, colleges, and schools.
UPON the organization of the eastern portion of the
Northwestern Territory into a separate'territorial government, the remaining portion of it, extending westward to
the Mississippi, and northward to the lakes, became known
as the Indiana Territory. In 1804, it entered upon the
first grade of territorial government, as prescribed by
the ordinances of 1787. William  Henry Harrison was
appointed governor. Vincennes was selected as the capital.
The north-western tribes had continued to be peaceable,
since the conquest of that region by Colonel Clark. The
French settlements on the Wabash soon began to receive
additions of Yankee emigrants. The rambling disposition
of the people, their curiosity to see and explore new and
beautiful regions, led them to plunge into the wilderness,
and seek out those remote and lonely settlements. Roadtraces, or lines of blazed trees, marked out the routes to be
pursued by the emigrants. Previous to 1805, the Indian
title to nearly all the southern half of Indiana had been
extinguished, removing the chief obstacle to the peaceful
settlement of the country.
Three years later, the population having increased to
five thousand free white males, Congress, with a view to
a future state government, assigned the limits of Indiana,




192             THE GREAT WEST.
and authorized the election of a territorial legislature.
The prosperity of Indiana was considerably checked by
the last war with Great Britain. Indian hostilities were
at once resumed, and many of the advanced settlements
had to be abandoned. It was not until the summer of
1815 that the population of Indiana began rapidly to
increase. For the various campaigns of that war, and
the mounted expeditions that had traversed the territory,
were virtual explorations of that fertile and beautiful
country by thousands of young, hardy, and enterprising
pioneers, who, upon the return of peace, moved thither
with their families, and formed settlements upon all the
water-courses.  Many of the inhabitants came into the
territory from Ohio and Kentucky. So great was the rush
of emigration that, early the next season, the population
had become sufficiently large to entitle them to a state
government. In April, 1816, Indiana was admitted into
the Union as a free and independent state.
None of the western states have become settled with
greater rapidity than Indiana.  Four years after the
adoption of the state constitution, the population numbered
one hundred and forty-eight thousand souls; five years
afterward, two hundred and fifty thousand; in 1830,
three hundred and forty-two thousand; and in 1835, six
hundred thousand. The present population is over one
million. Of that number, New York has furnished twentyfour thousand; Pennsylvania, forty-four thousand; IMaryland, ten thousand; Virginia, forty-five thousand; Kentucky, sixty-nine thousand; and Ohio, one hundred and
twenty thousand. In 1850, the improved farm lands in
the state amounted to five million acres; the unimproved, over seven million acres.
The remarkable fertility of the soil of Indiana arises
mainly from  its geological position.  Situated nearly




SOIL OF THE STATE.                193
in the center of the great American valley, far distant
from the primitive ranges of mountains, the surface-earth
is accordingly formed from the destruction of a vast
variety of rocks, both crystalline and sedimentary, which
have been minutely divided, and intimately blended, by
the action of air and water. That soil is known to be the
most productive which has been formed from the destruction of the greatest variety of rocks, by which is produced
the due mixture of gravel, sand, clay, and limestone,
necessary for the nutrition of plants. Two-thirds of the
state of Indiana is level land, slightly undulating, and the
water-shed, or divide, within its borders, is scarcely perceptible. But the country has continuous slopes of vast
extent, and the highest elevation of the surface is six
hundred feet above the Ohio River at the falls. Along
the rivers are ranges of low hills, which extend back in
spurs a little way into the country. Those on the banks
of the streams, where the water-courses have torn through
them, present much imposing scenery. Back of the hills
is the table-land of the interior country; and that lies
gently rolling, as if formed into billows. Occasionally
there are small conical elevations, from one hundred feet
to two hundred feet in  bight.  Inclosed within the
river hills are the rich bottom-lands, which, originally,
were covered with mighty forests. The predominant timber of the state is oak and beech. Next in order are the
sugar-maple, hickory, ash, poplar, elm, cherry, hackliberry,
whitewood, coffee-tree, and honey-locust.  Chestnut is
found only on the east fork of the White River.
Indiana has four distinct natural divisions. First, the
Ohio and Whitewater valleys, comprising  about five
thousand square miles. It is a limestone region, heavily
timbered, and the soil of great depth and fertility. The
hills are abrupt, and broken through by numerous streams,
9                        M




194             THE GREAT WEST.
that in dry weather show only the marks where torrents
have disappeared almost as soon as the storms which had
occasioned them. About two-thirds of this division consists of choice farming lands. The residue is too much
broken to be cultivated profitably. The poorest land is
in the fiats at the heads of the streams, which would
seem to have washed the substance of the soil upon the
bottoms below.
Second, the White River Valley, which extends back,
through the center of the state, from the Wabash to the
boundary of Ohio, and contains about nine thousand
square miles. The surface is uniformly level, originally
covered with a heavy growth of forest — except in the
western part, where there are some small prairies and
low, rugged hills. This valley is wholly destitute of rock.
The soil is the best in the state, with but very little that
is not fit for cultivation. It is supplied with never-failing
streams, and an abundance of water-power.
Third, the Wabash Valley, which constitutes the largest division, as it contains upward of twelve thousand
square miles. It interlocks with the White River Valley, which it resembles, in the eastern part. The Wabash Valley is more broken, but not less fertile. The
middle of this region is supplied with running water;
but the upper and the lower portions are nearly destitute
of it. From the river-hills along the Ohio, the land inclines to the Wabash; and it is a curiosity of the
Indiana river system, that the streams rising near the
former river flow off to a great distance, and form
junctions with the latter.
Fourth, the northern part of the state, which is
watered by the St. Joseph's and its tributaries, and the
Kankakee, a branch of the Illinois. It resembles very
much the Wabash country, only that it is rather more




RIVER  NAVIGATION.             195
swampy, and, near the lake, quite sandy. The extreme
northern counties have extensive ranges of sand-hills,
covered only with shriveled pines and bur-oaks.  This
region, however, constitutes only a small portion of the
state.
The principal rivers are the Ohio, the Wabash, and
the White. The first named forms the southern boundary
of the state, for a distance, following the windings of the
river, of three hundred and eighty miles. The Whitewater joins the Miami six miles above its entrance into
the Ohio. The Wabash, entering Indiana from the east,
flows clear across it, and thence, turning south, forms the
western boundary. It is six hundred miles in length, and
for more than half that distance it is navigable. The
confluence of the White River with the Wabash is one
hundred miles above the mouth of the latter river. The
Kankakee is lined with extensive marshes.  Deep and
Calumet rivers lie just south of Lake Michigan, separated from it, in some places, only by sand-banks.
The river navigation of Indiana is rendered difficult
by frequent shallows. The boats are of light draft, flatbottomed; and the paddle-wheel — for they have but oneis placed across the stern, and appears like a huge undershot wheel, revolving behind. It has been said of the
Indiana boats, that, in making headway down stream,
they contrive to keep up with the current. They draw
about as much water as a sap-trough. When they get
stuck in the sand, all hands will jump out and push them
off. It is related of an exasperated Hoosier, who had
refused to pay his fare till there should be some prospect
of his getting somewhere or other, that, being ordered
ashore from the middle of the river, he stepped into the
water, seized the craft by the bows, and gave it a shove
half a mile down stream, stern foremost; and when it




196             THE GREAT WEST.
had worked back up again to where he was standing, he
placed his foot against it, and held it, fluttering and puffing, without letting it make any headway. The engineer
put on the steam, and the captain " cussed; " but it was
no use. The Hoosier was too much for it. A compromise had to be effected. The Hoosier was hired for the
rest of the voyage to help the engine.
Indiana is two hundred and seventy-six miles in extreme length, from north to south, and one hundred and
sixty-miles in width, with an area of about thirty-four
thousand square miles. It has a magnificent system of
internal improvements. The Wabash and Erie Canal —
from Toledo, on Lake Erie, to Evansville, on the Ohio
River- is four hundred and sixty-seven miles in length,
more than three-fourths of which are in Indiana. Indianapolis, the capital, is situated in the center of the
state; and from that point the railroad lines radiate in
every direction. One line stretches up north-east, through
Bellefontaine to Cleveland, and connects with the Lake
Shore road; another runs south to Louisville; another,
west to Terra Haute, on the Wabash PRiver; another,
north through Lafayette to Michigan City, connecting
with the Michigan Southern road; and another, east to
Dayton, connecting with the Cincinnati, Cleveland, and
Columbus road.
Indiana produced in 1850, of wheat, over six million
bushels; corn, fifty-three million bushels; and oats, six
million bushels. The corn crop had nearly doubled since
1840. The products of its manufactures is of the annual
value of twenty million dollars. The total value of its
live stock is about twenty-two million dollars. It produces annually about thirteen million pounds of butter;
and the value of the animals slaughtered yearly is about
seven million dollars.




CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS, ETC.         197
Colored people are not permitted to come into, or settle in the state. All contracts made with them  are
declared void. And all persons employing them are liable to be fined from ten dollars to five hundred dollars.
Notwithstanding its illiberality toward that unfortunate
class of people, the state has adopted an humane policy
in other respects. It has built an asylum for the deaf
and dumb, and an institution for the blind, and a hospital for the insane, at Indianapolis.  There are in the
state about two thousand churches, accommodating seven
hundred thousand persons.  The common schools and
colleges are endowed more liberally than those of any
other new state.  The constitution provides that "the
common school fund shall consist of the congressional
township fund, and the lands belonging thereto; of the
surplus revenue, saline, and bank-stock funds; the fund
derived from the sale of county seminaries, and money
and property heretofore held for such seminaries; all fines,
forfeitures, and escheats, and lands not otherwise specially
granted, including the net proceeds of the sales of the
swamp-lands granted to the state by the Act of Congress,
September twenty-eighth, one thousand eight hundred
and fifty. The principal of the fund may be increased,
but shall never be diminished; and its income shall be
devoted solely to the support of common schools."




cr= 2~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-~ —0M
_ ----— ~~~~~-LLIOIS




EXTINGUISHMENT OF INDIAN TITLES              199
CHAPTER XIII.
ILLINOIS.
Extinguishment of the Indian titles -Admission as a state - Great
earthquake of 1811- Effect on the Mississippi - Effect on the Indians - First steamboat on the Mississippi - Keel-boat navigation - Keel-boatmen - Nature of the population - Length and
breadth of the state - Number of counties - Lands improved and
unimproved - Number of farms -Value of farming implements -
Annual products - The soil - The "American Bottom "-Prairie
lands- Grand Prairie - Coal regions -Yankee fences in Illinois -
Mode of forming settlements on the prairie —Plowing the prairie- The timber region - Minerals - Lead region - ChicagoRivers, canals, and railroads -Varieties of climate - The winter of
1855-56 - Seasons of the greatest cold- Schools, colleges, and
libraries - Exemption laws.
WHEN, in 1809, Congress, by the Act of February
3d, had restricted the limits of Indiana, and had authorized a territorial legislature, the region to the westward
of the Wabash was erected into a territorial government
of the first grade, and designated as the Illinois Territory.
Ninian Edwards was appointed governor. Congress had
already taken measures for the extinguishment of the Indian title.  By the treaty of Fort Wayne, which was ratified at Vincennes, on the seventh day of August, 1803,
by the Eel River Indians, the Wyandots, the Kaskaskias,
and the Kickapoos, over three hundred and thirty-six
thousand acres had been ceded to the United States. By
a subsequent treaty, made only six days later, with the
IKaskaskias alone, that tribe had ceded eight and one-half
million acres.   On the third day of November, 1804,
the Sacs and Foxes, by treaty, had relinquished fourteen




200             THE GREAT WEST.
million acres, principally situated in Illinois.  At Vincennes, December 30th, 1805, the Piankeshas had
ceded their claim to about three million acres. So that,
with the spring following, one-third part of Illinois was
open for settlement.
The balance of the territory still remained in the possession of the Indians, and they continued lingering
around the old familiar hunting-grounds which they had
ceded away, although they had received the stipulated
price, and had consented to retire.  For several years.
the settlements of Illinois increased in number but very
slowly. The country was so remote, so much exposed to
Indian depredations, and so destitute of the comforts of
civilized life, that it did not attract many emigrants,
while other lands, equally good and far more easily accessible, were to be had. But, notwithstanding the distance and the danger, the inhabitants began to come in
slowly around the older villages of the French, and along
the west bank of the Wabash, and upon the lower tributaries of the Illinois, and the east bank of the Mississippi,
until about the close of 1817, when it was ascertained
that the population had become equal to the population
of Ohio at the time of its admission into the Union. The
territorial legislature, at the next session, made application to Congress for authority to establish a state government. A constitution, adopted in August, 1818, had been
approved in December following, and Illinois was admitted within about two years after the admission of Indiana.
The census of 1820 gave the entire population at the
number of fifty-five thousand two hundred and ten souls.
During the five years next succeeding, the increase was
about seventeen thousand.  Many persons had been deterred from going to Illinois by the erroneous supposition
that the country was subject to volcanic action.  This




GREAT EARTHQUAKE.               201
had originated from the great earthquake of 1811, by which
the valley of the Mississippi had been greatly shaken, the
shocks having continued for nearly three months. The
country just below the mouth of the Ohio River would
seem to have been near the center of the agitation. For
miles, the land had been seamed with yawning chasms
and deep holes, the remains of which are still visible.
The bluff on which New Madrid had been built had sunk
to the level of the river, and had become, soon afterward,
totally submerged.  The commotion in the Mississippi
had been very great: the banks had caved in, islands had
dissolved, and the channel had become changed.
At every shock, the surface of the river had risen and
fallen like the waves of the sea.  An eye-witness, who
was coming down on a flat-boat, says: "After escaping
many dangers, my boat suddenly swung round in the conflicting currents, and rapidly shot up the river. Looking
ahead, I beheld the mighty Mississippi cut in twain, and
pouring down a vast opening into the bowels of the earth.
A moment more and the chasm filled; but the strong
sides of the flat-boat were crumbled to pieces in the convulsive efforts of the flood to obtain its wonted level."
The Indians had been utterly bewildered by the earthquake, and could account for the physical tumult only upon the supposition that things generally had been getting
drunk. It is said of one of them, who had given himself up
for lost, that, upon being questioned as to what the matter
was, he had replied, while at the same time pointing fearfully to the heavens, "Great Spirit - whisky too much!"
It was not until after the commencement of steam
navigation that Illinois received its great accessions of
population. The first steamboat that ever plowed the
Mississippi was built at Pittsburg in 1812, and made the
voyage to New Orleans the next season. The Enterprise,
9*




202              THE GREAT WEST.
in December, 1814, was the first to make the entire trip'up the river, from New Orleans to Pittsburg.   That is
said to have been considered a great triumph, "for it was
doubted whether this new power could displace the strong
arms of the keel-boatmen in stemming the powerful tide."
Several years more had elapsed before steam vessels were
introduced upon the lakes. The first that was built upon
Lake Erie was in 1818; and from that time until 1825,
when the Erie Canal had become completed, the shipping
upon the lakes was principally employed in carrying westward supplies and trinkets for the Indian trade, and
returning with cargoes of furs and peltries. The influence
of the canal was immediately felt throughout the entire
West, in facilitating emigration; and Illinois began rapidly
to fill up with an enterprising population.
Previous to the era of steam navigation upon the western waters, the transportation of emigrants, and merchandise, and produce, was effected by means of keel-boats, that
would drift down well enough with the current, but had
to be forced up stream with setting-poles.  "The keelboat was long and narrow, sharp at the bow and stern,
and of light draft. From fifteen to twenty hands were
required to propel it along. The crew, divided equally on
each side, took their places upon the running boards,
extending along the whole length of the craft; and each
man, setting one end of a long pole in the bottom of the
river, brought the other to the shoulder, and bending down
upon it, his face nearly to the plank, exerted all his force
against the boat, treading it from under him." While
those on one side were thus passing down in line to the
stern, those on the other, having faced about, were passing up toward the bow, drawing their poles floating on
the water.  One man always stood leisurely steering,
astraddle of the oar; and generally, some one of the men




THE KEEL-BOATMEN.               203
might have been seen on the deck, sawing away upon a
fiddle, with as much energy as if he were scalping an
Indian. In this way, they would walk up the whole
length of the Mississippi.
The keel-boatmen kept their rifles constantly within
reach.  They were the most athletic, restless, and
recldess set of men the country ever produced.  Constantly exposed, they despised danger, and were ready to
drop their poles and have a fight, just for the fun of the
thing. Going shirtless, wearing nothing but trowsers and
hats, they were tanned and swarthy from the head to the
waist. They seemed to live and thrive on grog, which
they took in a manner peculiar to themselves - first a cup
of whisky, and then a cup of river water, mixing it in
the stomach. Whoever among them could boast that he
had never been whipped, was bound to fight any one that
might dare to dispute his superiority. The keel-boatmen
were great sticklers for "fair play," and would permit of
no interference with either of the combatants.  Their
arrival in port was a general jubilee, where hundreds
often met together for the noisiest and most outlandish
diversions. In their habits, the keel-boatmen were lawless in the extreme, and would set the civil authorities at
defiance for days together. Had their numbers increased
with the population of the West, they would have endangered the peace of the country; but they went out with
the commencement of steam navigation, and have gradually disappeared.
Now and then a " specimen" of the by-gone race of
river boatmen, who have mostly settled down to farming,
will turn up on the western steamboats; and on such occasions their propensity to "rough fun" will break out
afresh.  Some years since, one of them took passage
down for New Orleans, and for several days he seemed




204              THE GREAT WEST.
quite desponding for want of excitement. At last the
boat put into Napoleon, in the state of Arkansas, for
supplies. Just at the moment there was a general fight,
extending all along in front of the town, which, at that
time, consisted of a single grocery. The unhappy passenger, fidgeting about, jerking his feet up and down as if
they were touching upon hot bricks, inquired of a spectator: "Stranger, is this'ere a free fight?" The reply
was prompt: "Wall, it ar'.  If you want to go in, you
need n't stand on ceremony." The passenger went in, and
soon after came out again, appearing to be reasonably
satisfied. Groping his way on board, his hair half torn
out, his coat in tatters, one eye closed up, and several of
his teeth knocked into his throat, he sat down on a hencoop, and soliloquized: " So this is Na-po-le-on, is it? It's
jeest the most refreshing place I've seen in many a day."
After 1825, the number of inhabitants in Illinois increased with great rapidity. The fame of its prairies had
reached the eastern states, and the Erie Canal.and the
steamboats on the lakes afforded a continuous chain of
water communication to its distant borders. The ease
and speed of the new modes of conveyance and transportation seenled to have shortened the journey by more than
one-half. The states which bordered upon Illinois to the
east and south sent forth constant streams of enterprising
families, that were seeking, among its choice lands and
rich mines, to secure a competence to themselves and to
their children. Cities began to spring up, like Jonah's
gourd, almost in a night. The edges of its prairies were
beginning to be dotted with villages. And fields of luxuriant grain had taken the place of the tall, rank grass.
The population, in 1830, numbered over one hundred and
fifty-seven thousand; in 1840, four hundred and seventy
six thousand; and in 1850, eight hundred and fifty-one




NATURE OF THE POPULATION.          205
thousand. During these last two periods, the decennial
increase had been about three hundred and fifty thousand.
Of the whole number of people, in 1850, about three
hundred and forty-four thousand had been born within the
state. Nearly one hundred and eleven thousand were of
foreign birth. Of the rest, twenty-six thousand had come
from New England; sixty-seven thousand from New York;
seven thousand from New Jersey; thirty-eight thousand
from Pennsylvania; seven thousand each from Maryland
and Missouri; from Virginia, twenty-four thousand; North
Carolina, thirteen thousand; Georgia and Alabama, each
one thousand; Tennessee, thirty-two thousand; Kentucky,
fifty thousand; Ohio, sixty-four thousand; and Indiana,
thirty-one thousand. Of the foreign population, eighteen
thousand were from England; twenty-eight thousand fron
Ireland; thirty-eight thousand from Germany; and eleven
thousand from British America. Illinois is entitled to
nine members of the House of Representatives of the
United States.
The extreme length of the state, on the meridian of
Cairo city, is three hundred and seventy-eight miles, and
its greatest breadth is two hundred and twelve miles;
but the average length and breadth is considerably less
than that. The state comprises an area of fifty-five thousand four hundred and five square miles. It is divided
into ninety-nine counties. Illinois contains about five and
one-half million acres of improved farm lands, and six and
one-half million acres unimproved. The number of farms
under cultivation is nearly one hundred thousand; and
the value of the farming implements and machinery has
been estimated as high as seven million dollars. The
annual production of wheat and oats is, for each, ten million bushels; Indian corn, about sixty million bushels;
and potatoes, three million bushels.




206              THE GREAT WEST.
Generally, it may be said of Illinois, that it occupies
the lower part of the great plain, inclining to the southwest, of which the shores of Lake Michigan are the highest part. Down this plain flow the Wabash, Kaskaskia,
and Illinois rivers. The lowest section, in the extreme
southern angle of the state, at the mouth of the Ohio River,
is about three hundred and forty feet above tide-water in
the Gulf of Mexico; and the mean hight of the arable
lands above tide-water may be stated at six hundred feet.
It has been supposed that, at some former period, an
obstruction existed in the channel of the Mississippi, at
the Grand Tower, producing a stagnation in the current,
at an elevation of about one hundred feet, above the present ordinary water-mark. At that place, the hills, which,
for several hundred miles above, are separated by a valley
of twenty-five miles in width, approach near each other,
and line both banks with precipitous shores. The walls
of rock that frown upon the river have, upon their abrupt
fronts, a series of water lines, uniformly presenting their
greatest depression toward the sources of the river. At
Grand Tower, those rocks of dark-colored limestone, which
pervade a very considerable portion of the country, project
toward each other, and seem to indicate that, at a remote
period, they must have been disunited by some convulsion
of nature, which opened for the Mississippi its present
channel, and gave vent to the waters stagnating upon the
prairies above.
The surface of Illinois is almost uniformly levej the
most so of any othei- of the American states, with the
exception of Louisiana and Delaware. CA small section
in the southern part may be denominated hilly, and the
more northern portion is broken and uneven. Along the
Illinois River there are, likewise, considerable elevations;
and the Mississippi bluffs in some places might pass for




PRAIRIE LANDS.                 207
mountains; but the far greater portion of the state is distributed in vast plains, that are gently rolling like the
waves of the sea after a stormi.The surface is remarkably free from stone. A few of the northern counties are
somewhat stony, yet, in every other part, the plow may
pass over millions of acres without -striking as much as a
pebble big enough to fling at a humming-bird.
The portion of the soil most celebrated for its fertility
and productiveness consists of the rich bottoms or alluvial borders of the rivers, which have been formed from
the deposits of the waters during floods. On some of these
the surface mold is more than thirty feet in depth; but, at
present, nearly one-sixth of the bottom-lands in the state
are unfit for cultivation, though productive of valuable
timber. A tract, called the "American Bottom," extending along the Mississippi for ninety miles, and about five
miles in average width, is of this formation. In the
vicinity of the French towns, it has been under cultivation, and has produced great crops of corn every year,
without manuring, for one hundred and fifty years.
The prairie lands of Illinois are less fertile than the
river bottoms, yet they are not inferior for many agricultural purposes, and are greatly preferable, where timber
can be had, on account of the salubrity of the climate.
The soil of the oak openings is still thinner and lighter
than the prairies. The level region, embracing the whole
country lying between the waters which flow into the
Mississippi and the waters which flow into the Wabash,
is denominated the "Grand Prairie."  The surface is
undulating, and the wave-like ridges, with a long, gentle
slope on one side, precipitous on the other, frequently rise
into quite respectable hills. But the general aspect of the
country is that of a dead level sea of grass. Grand
Prairie does not consist of one vast tract alone -it is




208              THE GREAT WEST.
made up of a great number of continuous tracts, centering
upon an immense plain. Long reaches of timber stretch,
in narrow lines, far into that plain, while broad arms of
prairie are extended out between. The central plain
itself is utterly destitute of trees and shrubbery.
The southern points of the Grand Prairie are formed in
Jackson county; and from thence, extending in a northeasterly direction, varying in width from five to twenty
miles, through the counties of Perry, Washington, Jefferson, Marion, Fayette, Effingham, Coles, Champaign, and
Iroquois, it becomes connected with those prairies which
project eastward from the Illinois River.. A very large
- arm stretches up through Marion county, between the
Crooked Creek and the east fork of the Kaskaskia River.
This latter part, alone, is frequently spoken of as the
Grand Trairie, though, in fact, it is but a single branch
of it. The Grand Prairie comprises territory sufficient
for a state, respectable in size) The Vincennes road
passes through it in Marion county. The soil is mostly
fertile; but in the southern part there are vast flats that
are quite inferior.
No insurmountable obstacle exists in the way of settlements upon the Grand Prairie. Timber for buildings and
fences alone is wanting. Fuel is plentiful; for the immense coal field which stretches away through western
Kentucky, northern Missouri, and the greater part of Iowa,
crosses the Mississippi to the eastward, and underlies
almost every acre of the Grand Prairie. The coal region
of Illinois is the most extensive of any state or country
on the globe. It comprises an area of about forty-four
thousand square miles-nearly three times larger than that
of Pennsylvania. With the completion of the Illinois
Central Railroad, the lumber regions of Michigan and
Wisconsin will have been brought into connection with




YANKEE FENCES IN ILLINOIS.          209
the Grand Prairie, and will furnish supplies of building
material; while the Osage orange - a tough, hardy shrub -
can be- grown rapidly into hedges. In the meantime,
resort must be had to turf fences and ditches. Those
who have settled upon the prairie contrive to eke out
their fencing timber so as to make the most of it. The
Yankee settlers have introduced into Illinois a new kind
of fence, that takes all the conceit out of the zigzag Virginia worm fences. Coming from the land of wooden
nutmegs and basswood hams, they seem to possess a rare
genius for working up wood to the best advantage. With
an inveterate propensity for whittling, they rive out of
oak logs narrow strips, and drive them into the ground,
about three inches apart, along the line of the fence; and
upon the tops nail a cap, to hold all secure. After a year
or two, a furrow is thrown up, on each side, against the
stakes, to give additional support. Fences can be made
in that manner so tight that a grasshopper could hardly
jump through. The amount of timber necessary to inclose a field is, in this way, greatly lessened — by nearly
one-half.
Those who have witnessed the changes produced upon
a prairie surface within a period of twenty-five years, by
excluding the fires from them, consider the extensive
prairies of Illinois as offering no serious impediment to
the future growth of the state. The effect of protecting
the surface from the ravages of fire may be seen in St.
Louis county, in the state of Missouri, which, down to
1823, was pretty much all prairie. But now that tract is
covered with a thrifty growth of timber, and it would be
difficult to find an acre of prairie in the county. The
mode of forming settlements upon prairie lands has been
thus described: " The first improvements are usually made
on that part of the prairie which adjoins the timber; and
N




210             THE GREAT WEST.
thus- we may see, at the commencement, a range of farms
circumscribing the entire prairie. The burning of the
prairies is then stopped, through the whole distance of the
circuit in the neighborhood of these farms, to prevent
injury to the fences and other improvements. This is
done, by plowing two or three furrows all round the settlement. In a short time the timber springs up spontaneously on all the parts not burned, and the groves and
forests commence a gradual encroachment on the adjacent
prairies. By and by you will see another tier of farms
springing up on the outside of the first, and further out
on the prairie; and thus farm succeeds farm, as the timber grows up, until the entire prairie is occupied."
The sward of the prairies is exceedingly tough, composed of the fibrous grass-roots; and, in turning it over,
five' or six yoke of cattle are required to draw the plow.
Two drivers, generally a man and a boy, guide the team.
Moving over an unbroken surface, uninterrupted by stones
or stumps, the plow moves steadily along; the plowman
having but little to do, except at the end of the "lands,"
where the direction has to be changed, and the plow set
in at a proper distance for the furrow. The modern wheel
plow is mostly in use; the wheel at the nose of the beam
regulating the depth, and the sharp colter, its heel set
against the point of the share, dividing the sward like a
knife. It would be almost impossible for the plowman
alone to regulate the depth without the wheel; f6r sometimes the plow would be thrown out by the sward, and
at other times plunged into the ground to the beam.'To
procure steadiness, the plow is set by the dip of the share,
so as to run too deep, which brings a constant pressure
upon the wheel, and binds the whole machine steadily to
the earth. In earlier times, before the invention of plows
that were adapted to prairie service, the end of the beam




r.,~'..'I,''~'"~':J'~i -x ~-"" ~
"'":B ~    ~RARI P         L           O           ING








THE TIMBER REGION.              211
had to be attached to the axletree of a cart, the box of
which served to carry an ax, mattock, chains, wrenches,
screws, nuts, bolts, devises, and pieces of timber for
repairs, in case of accidents. The yield of wheat the
third season is deemed the best. After that the surface
of the ground will have become mellow as an ash heap.
Illinois has plenty of timber within its limits; and, were
it equally distributed through the state, there would be
no part deficient. The several species of oaks are most
abundant.  The other varieties are the black-walnut,
the white-walnut, ash, elm, maple, honey-locust, hackberry, linden, or whitewood, pecan, cottonwood, mulberry,
buckeye, sycamore, wild cherry, box, sassafras, and persimmon. The undergrowths are the red-bud, pawpaw,
sumac, plum, crab-apple, dog-wood, spice-bush, greenbriar, and hazel. On the bottom-lands, the cottonwood
and sycamore grow to amazing size.
The prairies of Illinois are finely adapted for grazing.
Immense flocks and herds might find ample room and
abundant supplies of pasturage.  The inhabitants are
turning their attention in that direction. The state has
superior advantages for the growth of wool, and might
supply half the manufactories of the Union with that
great staple. The clipping of wool, in 1840, was only
about six hundred thousand pounds; in 1850 it had increased to nearly two and one half million pounds.
There need be no limit to the growth of wool but the
demand for it in the market.
The northern part of the state is inexhaustibly rich in
minerals. Iron ore is widely distributed. Copper and
silver have been found in considerable quantities. But
the great mining operations are confined to the lead region, in the north-western point, in the vicinity of Galena.
The lead region embraces an area of about sixty square




212              THE GREAT WEST.
miles. Commencing at the mouth of the Little Moquaquity River, in Wisconsin, it extends along both banks
of the Mississippi about sixty miles, in Wisconsin, Illinois,
and Iowa. The surface of the earth is there povertystricken and desolate enough; the short, wiry, dwarfgrass is unpalatable even to goats; but riches lie below.
Galena is situated on both sides of the Fever River,
six miles above the Mississippi, and is accessible to the
largest class of steamboats, at all seasons.. In 1852, not
less than forty million pounds of lead were shipped from
Galena alone, valued at two million dollars.
The north-eastern corner of the state, for fifty miles, is
washed by the waters of Lake Michigan, which open
communication with the whole lake country to the north
and east. Its principal port is Chicago. Chicago in
1833, was described as follows: "This little mushroom
town is situated on the verge of a level tract of country,
for the greater part consisting of open prairie lands, at a
point where a small river -whose sources interlock, in the
wet season, with those of the Illinois River-enters Lake
Michigan. It, however, forms no harbor; and vessels
must anchor in the open lake, which spreads to the horizon, north and east, in a sheet of -uniform extent." The
contrast between Chicago of 1833, and the Chicago of the
present day, is truly startling. "This mushroom town"
is now the focus of a commerce equal to that enjoyed by
many of the states of Europe. In 1830, Chicago was a
mere trading-post, and ten years later it had only four thousand four hundred and seventy inhabitants; but in 1850
its population was thirty thousand.
The Mississippi forms the western boundary of the
state; the Ohio and the Wabash rivers demark its southern and eastern limits, together forming a natural highway, by water, of unexampled extent. The Illinois River,




VARIETIES OF CLIMATE.              213
through the center of the state, is navigable over four
hundred miles from its mouth, and it is connected with
Lake Michigan by the Illinois and Michigan Canal, at
Chicago. That canal is one hundred miles in length.
The railroad lines from Chicago reach the Mississippi
River at Galena, Rock Island, Quincy, Alton, and Cairo.
The Illinois Central Railroad runs through the heart of
the " Grand Prairie."  A line stretches along the lake to
3[ilwaukie, and other lines to Janesville, Madison, and
Fond du Lac.
Illinois offers very great advantages to the settler; but,
at the same time, it must be borne in mind that, as the
state extends through five and one-half degrees of latitude,
it possesses considerable variety of climate, and that the
level surface, unsheltered by forests, exposes it alike to
sun, and storm. The summers are hot and prolonged,
and the winters everywhere severe.  The prevailing
winds are the south-west, which blow three-fourths of the
year. The northerly and westerly winds prevail in winter. On the whole, the climate may be regarded as
favorable to outdoor employments, the proportion of
clear weather being two hundred and forty-five days, to
one hundred and twenty of cloudy. The general salubrity of Illinois is well attested, and few suffer from
endemic diseases, except those who have settled near
swamps and wet bottom-lands.
The winter of 1855-56 has been one of uncommon
severity throughout the West. On the prairies, the cold
has been intense. Ice has been formed as far down as the
Gulf of Mexico. The cold weather in Illinois continued,
uninterrupted, for more than two months. Such periods
of intense cold, however, recur at wide intervals. Some
may be curious to know the seasons of the greatest cold
which have occurred. In 1133, the river Po, in Italy,




214             THE GREAT WEST.
was frozen from Cremona to the sea; wine burst the
casks containing it, and the trees split with a loud
report.
In 1234, the Mediterranean was frozen over, and merchandise was transported across it on the ice.  The
winter of 1681 was so severe that whole forests of oak
were ruined, the trees being split with the cold.
In 1698, the wolves came into Vienna, and attacked
men, women, and children, owing to the intense cold and
hunger.
And in 1704, the most extraordinary storm of which
there is any record, occurred in Scotland. The snow fell
in a single night to the depth of ten feet.
The schools of Illinois are in a flourishing condition.
The funds appropriated to their support amount to a
million of dollars. The Illinois College is located at
Jacksonville; the Shurtleff College, at Upper Alton;
the McKendree College, at Lebanon; and the Knox College, at Galesburg. There are twenty-seven libraries in
the state, containing about twenty thousand volumes.
The Law Library contains four thousand volumes.
In Illinois, the necessary wearing apparel of every
person is exempt from execution, and household furniture
to the value of fifteen dollars, beside bedding and utensils for cooking.  Also, one cow; two sheep for each
member of the family; and sixty dollars' worth of property, to be selected by the debtor; provisions for three
months; and, in case of fines, only one bed and bedding,
one cow, and ten dollars' worth of household kitchenfurniture.








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WISCOKSIN.




ORGANIZED AS A TERRITORY.                  217
CHAPTER XIV.
WISCONSIN.
Organized as a territory —First settlements —Rapid emigration —
Source of emigration - Admission as a state - Number of counties, dwellings, and families —Nature of the population   State
laws, with regard to voters- Courts - Interesting provisions of
the constitution - Length, breadth, and general surface of the
state - Southern Wisconsin - Superior natural advantages — Prairies - Oak openings - Abundant pasturages - Inducements to settlers - Southern Wisconsin compared with other states - Increase
of Agricultural wealth - Lead  mines - Iron  region - Limestone - White marble - Northern Wisconsin - Extensive pine
regions - Water-power —The Wisconsin pine - Annual amount
sawed - Climate of Wisconsin - Health - Opinion of physicians - Commerce- Harbors - Milwaukie brick - RailroadsEducational institutions and laws - Exemption laws.
THE region of country west of Lake Michigan - formerly attached to the territorial jurisdiction of Michigan,
and known as the " Huron District -was erected into a
separate territorial government, under the name of the
WTisconsin Territory, upon the admission of the State of
Michigan into the  Union in 1837.  Henry Dodge was
appointed governor, and John S. Horner, secretary. The
territory, at that time, comprised within its limits all the
country from  Lake Michigan to Lake Superior, extending
westward to the Missouri River, including all the sources
of the Upper Mississippi.  Its southern limits were the
northern boundaries of Illinois and Missouri, and its
extent, from north to south, was five hundred and eighty
miles, and from east to west, six hundred and fifty miles.
Its settled portions consisted of a small tract near the
shores of Lake Michigan, and the organized counties lay
10




218              THE GREAT WEST.
along the Fox River of Green Bay, as far as Fort Win.
nebago, and thence down the Wisconsin River, on the
south-eastern side, for thirty miles below the portage.
Immigrants, coming in by the way of Milwaukie and
Racine, were advancing upon the tributaries of Rock
River, as far west as the Four Lakes and Fort Madison. A few settlements had grown up on the bank. of
the Mississippi, north of Galena; and some where extending across the river upon the Des Moines, Skunk
River, Lower Iowa, and Wapsipinicon. Those settlements
upon the western side of the Mississippi were known as
the District of Iowa. After the organization of a separate
territorial government, and especially after the extinction
of the Indian title, in 1837, the settlements began to
extend in a remarkable manner, not only upon the western
shores of Lake Mlichigan, but in an equal degree upon the
Mississippi. About the same time, immense numbers of
foreign immigrants from Europe, but chiefly from Germany,
arriving at New York and Nk-,v Orleans, took their way to
Wisconsin, around the lakes, and up the Mississippi.
And thousands of the early settlers of Ohio, Indiana,
Kentucky, and Tennessee, or their descendants, were
seeking new homes in the same direction.
During the years 1841, 1842, and 1S43, emigration from
the New England and middle states began sending its
floods into Wisconsin Territory, to repose along the Wisconsin River. Inhabitants came crowding into the beautifully undulating lands near the shore of.Lake Michigan,
south of Green Bay, to the Illinois line, and around Lake
Winnebago, and between the Fox and Wisconsin rivers.
Settlements soon spread throughout this delightful country, diversified by lakes and rivers, in which the crystal
tributaries of the Rock River take their rise. Thriving
towns and villages were springing up in all parts of this




ADMISSION INTO THE UNION.           219
region, which, but a few years previously, had been called
the Far West, beyond the advance of white settlements
and civilized life, in the sole occupancy of the most
degraded and improvident of the savage tribes —the
Winnebagoes, the Sacs, and the Foxes. During 1843, the
aggregate number of persons that arrived in the Wisconsin Territory has been estimated at more than sixty
thousand, embracing all ages, and both sexes. Of those,
fifty thousand came by the route of the lakes.
In 1845, Wisconsin Territory contained more inhabi.
tants than any other new territory had possessed upon
admission into the Union; yet the people, satisfied with
the territorial form of government, did not desire, the settlements having been made so recently, to incur the additional expenses of an independent state government.
And although the population amounted to more than one
hundred and forty thousand souls, they had not made
application to Congress for authority to organize themselves into a state. Leave, however, having been granted
by Congress, in 1846, for the holding of a convention, the
delegates assembled at Madison, in October of that year,
and adopted a constitution. But the people, at the next
election, having rejected it, another convention was held
in the winter of 1847, and the new constitution was
approved in April following. On the twenty-ninth day of
May, 1848, Wisconsin was admitted into the Union on an
equal footing with the other states.
Wisconsin is divided into thirty-one counties, the most
populous of which are, Dane, Dodge, Milwaukie, Racine,
Rock, Walworth, Washington, Waukesha, Winnebago,
Kenosha, Jefferson, Grant, and Fond du Lac counties; and
the least populous are, Saint Croix, Richland, Marathon, La
Pointe, Chippewa, and Adams. In 1850, the whole number of dwellings in the state was fifty-six thousand three




220             TIE GREAT WEST.
hundred and sixteen; of families, fifty-seven thousand six
hundred and eight; and of inhabitants, three hundred and
four thousand five hundred and sixty-five. Wisconsin
contains twenty-one thousand more males than females;
and a larger number of foreigners in proportion to the
whole population than any other state —one-third being
foreigners. Of the whole population, upward of sixty
thousand were born in the state; the balance came, mainly
as follows, viz.: From New England, twenty-seven thousand; from New York, sixty-nine thousand; New Jersey
and Pennsylvania, eleven thousand; Kentucky and Michigan, each two thousand; Ohio, twelve thousand; and
Illinois, six thousand. Of the foreign population, nineteen thousand came from England; twenty-two thousand
from Ireland; three thousand five hundred from Scotland; twelve hundred from Russia; nine thousand from
Norway; four thousand from Prussia; and nine thousand
from British America.  Wisconsin is entitled to three
members of the House of Representatives of the United
States.
The Legislature meets annually at Madison, on the
first Monday of January. All males, twenty-one years
old, residents of the state for one year next before the
election, who are white citizens of the United States, or
white foreigners who have declared their intention to become such citizens, or persons of Indian blood once declared by the laws of the United States to be citizenssubsequent laws to the contrary notwithstanding - or civilized persons of Indian descent, not members of a tribe,
are entitled to vote at all elections. The elections are
held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November,
in each year.
Wisconsin has an elective judiciary.  The state is
divided into six judicial districts, in each of which the




THE STATE CONSTITUTION.             221
people elect a supreme court judge, for six years. The
circuit courts have original jurisdiction of all actions —
civil, criminal, and equitable. The supreme court, with
the exception of issuing writs of mandamus, quo warranto, and the like, has appellate jurisdiction only, and is
the court of last resort. There can be no trial by jury
in that court. The county courts are composed of a
county judge for each county, elected for four years;
and they have concurrent jurisdiction with the circuit
court, where the damages claimed do not exceed five
hundred dollars.  Justices of the peace are elected in
the several towns, and hold office for two years.
The state constitution contains some interesting miscellaneous provisions, among which are the following: No
lottery or divorce can be granted by the legislature; laws
shall be passed providing a way for suing the state; the
credit of the state shall never be lent, nor shall any debt
be contracted nor money paid for internal improvements,
unless the state holds trust property dedicated to such
uses; except in cases of war, invasion, or insurrection, no
debt exceeding one hundred thousand dollars shall be
contracted; an university, without sectarian instruction,
shall be established; the legislature shall prevent towns
and cities from contracting debts; no general or special
law to create a bank or banks shall be passed, till a
majority of the votes at a general election shall have been
in favor of a bank, and until such majority have afterward
approved the act passed; any person implicated in a duel
loses the right of suffrage, and becomes ineligible to any
office; no public defaulter shall hold any office; in criminal prosecutions for libel, the jury are judges of both law
and fact; leases of agricultural lands for more than fifteen
years are void; resident aliens have all the property rights
of citizens; imprisonment for debt is abolished; no




222             THE GREAT WEST.
religious opinions shall disqualify a witness.  Amendments to the constitution, agreed to by the legislature,
shall be published for three months before the election,
and again referred to the legislature then chosen; and.if
again approved, shall then be submitted to the people.
And a convention may be called in like manner.
The State of Wisconsin in its greatest length, north
and south, is two hundred and eighty-five miles, and its
greatest breadth is two hundred and fifty-five miles. It
comprises an area of about fifty-four thousand square
miles. The surface of Wisconsin presents the appearance
of a vast plain, extending from  Lake Michigan to the
Mississippi River. The water-shed, or divide, is near the
lake; but it bears away to the north-west. The surface
of the state, possesses great uniformity of elevation, and
it is neither -mountainous, hilly, nor flat, but gently undulating throughout, presenting to the settler one of the most
beautiful regions of country in America. Wisconsin is
one of the highest, best-watered, and best-drained stktes
in the Union. The country west of the Sugar River, and
south of the Wisconsin, is somewhat broken, principally
by the dividing ridge upon which the road from Madison
to Prairie du Chien passes.  West of the Wisconsin
River is a range of hills, which might be dignified with
the name of mountains, seeing they are situated in the
heart of a level country.
The south-eastern portion of the state is one continuous
table-land, marked and furrowed by ravines along the
streams, which are depressed hut little below the surrounding surface. The principal features of that region
are the prairies, destitute of trees and shrubbery, covered
by a luxuriant growth of grass, interspersed, in the spring,
with flowers of every hue; the oak openings, which, like
those of Michigan, have a sufficiency of timber for fencing




SUPERIOR NATURAL ADVANTAGES.           223
and building purposes scattered over the surface; the
wood-land borders of the little lakes and streams, running
out into the prairies and openings in all directions; and the
natural meadows, which supply any amount of pasturage,
and a sufficient quantity of hay for the winter. The soil
of the prairies and openings consists of a vegetable mold,
dark-brown in color, and from one to two feet in depth,
very mellow, and entirely destitute of stone or gravel.
For fertility it is not, and can not be surpassed. The subsoil is a clayey loam, preventing all danger of leaching,
and furnishing, by deep plowing, a ready means for
enriching the surface.
The prairies of Wisconsin are not so extensive as thoseof other states, and being skirted and belted with timber,
within easy access from every part, they. are adapted to
immediate and profitable occupation.  Nature has dohe
all the clearing and preparing the lands; man has only
to put in the plow, and reap abundant harvests.  The
openings comprise the finest portions of the state. The
autumnal fires have kept down the under-growth, and
destroyed all the varieties of timber, except the oak, which
seems to be capable of withstanding the sweep of that
element. That autumnal destruction of wood, and leaves,
and grasses, has been adding to the richness of the land
for ages; while, at the same time, there has been left a
sufficient supply of timber for the immediate wants of the
immigrant.  These considerations explain, in' a great
measure, the wonderful capacity Wisconsin has displayed
for rapid settlement. There is another fact, important to
be noticed in this connection:  "The low, level prairie,
or natural meadow, of moderate extent, is so generally
distributed over the face of the country, that the settler,
on a fine section of arable lands,/finds on his own farm, or




224             THE GREAT WEST.
in his immediate neighborhood, abundant pasturage for
his stock in summer; and hay for the winter for the cutting -the bounty of Nature supplying his need in this
behalf till the cultivated grasses can be introduced and
become sufficient for his use."
Presenting such strong inducements to the actual settler,
Wisconsin has been rapidly drawing within its borders an
enterprising, industrious, and thrifty population. The
increase has been almost unexampled.  In 1840, the
Territory of Wisconsin did not possess thirty-one thousand inbabitants; but in the ten years next succeeding, the
number had increased to more than three hundred thousand. It may safely be presumed that the southern half
of the state is capable of accommodating and supporting
a denser population than any other part of America of
the same extent. As rapidly as the country would appear
to have been settling up, a small portion only of the
choicest lands has been reduced to actual occupation.
Thousands of acres, equal to the best in the world, are
awaiting the hand of the husbandman to make them blossom like a garden. In 1850, the unimproved farm lands
in Wisconsin numbered over one million nine hundred
thousand acres; the improved lands, one million and
forty-five thousand acres; the total number of cultivated
farms, twenty thousand one hundred and seventy-seven.
The farming implements and machinery were at the
same time valued at more than a million and a half of
dollars.
The following tables, extracted from Colton's Gazetteer, will show how rapidly Wisconsin has been increasing in agricultural wealth.  The years compared are
1840 and 1850. We have no reliable data later than the
last-mentioned year.




AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIONS.             225
LIVE STOCK.    1840.      1850.       INCREASE.
Horses,.         5,735 hd 30,179 1Id.  24,600 head.
Asses & mules,                 156 4
Milch cows,..)            64,339
Working oxen,   0 30,269 "  42,801 "   153,164
Other cattle,..           76,293 "  )
Swine,.          51,383 " 159,276 "   107,893  "
Sheep,..         34,624 " 124,892 "    90,268 "
The growth of wool, in 1840, was...  6,777 pounds....           in 1850, was... 253,963    "
The grain crops of 1840, as compared with those of
1850, are as follows:
CROPS.         1840.              1850.
heat,... 212,116 bushels.    4,286,131 bushels
ye,....  1,965    ". S1,253    "
Indian corn,..379,359    "          1,988,979
Oats,..        406,514    "         3,414,672
Potatoes,.. 419,608    "         1,500,000    "
In 1850, the value of live stock amounted to nearly five
million dollars.
But it is not to agriculture alone that the inhabitants of
WVisconsin may look for increase of wealth. The mining
and lumbering facilities of that state are on the grandest
scale.  The copper mines are reserved for the chapter on
I "The Superior Country."  Wisconsin is best known as a
mineral region by its lead mines, which comprise fourfifths of the entire lead district of the West.  The leadbearing rock is a porous limestone, and it prevails throughout the counties of Grant, Iowa, and Lafayette.  Threefourths of all the lead shipped at Galena is produced in
10*                       0




226             THE GREAT WEST.
Wisconsin. There are, also, large quantities shipped at
other places along the Mississippi, and on the Wisconsin
River, the precise amounts of which no data has been furnished upon which an intelligent estimate can be made.
The general appearance of the lead region of Wisconsin
is precisely similar to that of Illinois,- a broken, desolate
surface, covered with a wiry, unpalatable grass; but the
rich mineral lies below.
The iron mines of Wisconsin have scarcely yet been
opened; but they are well worthy of the attention of the
immigrant. The ore exists in great abundance near the
head-waters of the Rock River, on the upper tributaries of
the Mississippi, and to the west of the sources of the
Menominee. In respect to the iron, it is impossible to do
more than point out, generally, the localities where it is
known to exist. The region where the ore abounds is
mostly a howling wilderness. The smelting of the ore
requires a great outlay of capital in the first instance; and,
in view of the present condition of the country, it Nwill
probably be several years before the iron of Wisconsin
will become known in the market. But with the lead it
is quite different. Very little capital is requisite. The
exceeding abundance of the mineral, the comparative
ease with which it may be mined, and the high price it
commands, the moment it is brought to the surface, open
to the industrious and prudent operative a highway to
wealth.
"The limestone underlying the coal fields of Illinois
forms the immediate basis of the alluvion of southern
Wisconsin. This geological district, in addition to that
portion of the state which lies southerly of the valley of
the Wisconsin River, comprises the whole of the slope
toward Lake Michigan."  In many places the lime rock
disappears, and the out-cropping sandstone furnishes a




THE PINE LANDS.                 227
fine material for building. The region of primitive rock
lies north of a line drawn from the Falls of St. Anthony
across to Green Bay; and in that portion of the state
between the primitive formation and the limestone to the
south and east, the transition sandstone prevails, comprising the section drained by the rivers flowing south-westerly, and below the falls in those rivers. In all this
middle region are found quarries of white marble, which
promise to be abundant and valuable, rivaling those of
Vermont.
Leaving the prairies and proceeding northward up the
W5isconsin and Fox rivers, the timber constantly increases.
The surface of the ground becomes more uneven.  Large
marshes are found, with a rank growth of cranberries and
wild-rice. And still further north and north-west is one
of the finest tracts of pine land in America, through which
the streams, tumbling down frequent falls, afford an incalculable amount of water-power, just where it is most
needed for the manufacture of lumber.  The Wisconsin
forest of evergreens is perfectly immense, covering fully
one-third of the state. The pineries of the Upper Wisconsin and its tributaries are at present most extensive; and those are distinguished still more for the fine
quality than for the inexhaustible quantities of the timber.
The other localities of pine may be reached by going up
the Wolf River, the great northern affluent of Fox River,
the streams which pour into Green Bay, and the LaCrosse,
the Black, Chippewa, and the St. Croix rivers, branches
of the Mississippi. These are all streams having swift
currents, broken by frequent rapids. With the annual
floods and the occasional freshets, the yield of the mills
on the Wolf River are floated down to Lake Winnebago
and Green Bay, and on the north-western streams, to the
Mississippi




228              THE GREAT WEST.
Throughout all the west and south-west, the Wisconsin
pine has taken the place of all other in the market. It is
carried to Kansas and Nebraska; it is used throughout
Missouri and Arkansas; it monopolizes the market at
Natchez and New Orleans; it is taken up the Tennessee,
the Cumberland, and the Green rivers; it is carried east
by way of the lakes, and south into Indiana and Illinois.
"Scarcely ten years have elapsed since the Alleghany
pine of New York and Pennsylvania had undisputed possession of the market, not only of the Ohio valley, but of
the Mississippi and its tributaries above New Orleans, at
which point it competed with the lumber of Maine and
New Brunswick. The course of the lumber trade may
now be considered permanently changed. The pineries
of Wisconsin control, and will hold possession of the
market of the valley of the Mississippi and its great
western affluents."
The amount of pine lumber estimated to be sawed in
Wisconsin, annually, is as follows:
Black River,......   15,000,000 feet.
Chippewa,.......   28,500,000 
Green Bay..                 21,000,000  "
MIanitowoc........          24,500,000  "
St. Croix,.......  20,000,000  "
Wisconsin,........58,500,000
Wolf River,......  25,500,000  "
Total number of feet,... 193,000,000
And owing to the great demand for lumber upon the
prairies, to the south and south-west, the lumbering business of Wisconsin is increasing more rapidly than any
other in the state, not excepting the mining for lead.




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RESOURCES OF WISCONSIN.            229
Aside from the pine lumber, a great number of saw-mills,
driven by both steam and water-power, are in operation
in all parts of the state, where timber is found, manufacturing large quantities of oak scantling and plank, and
basswood siding and lath.
Wisconsin, in addition to its immense resources, has
one very decided advantage over some of the other -vestern states. It possesses a most salubrious climate. Its
atmosphere is one of great purity. Every part of the
state is supplied with copious, living springs. "The
coolness and short duration of the summer," says Mr.
Lapham, " and the dryness of the air during winter, conspire to render Wisconsin one of the most healthy portions
of the United States. The wet-meadows, marshes, and
swamps, are constantly supplied with pure water from
springs; and as they are not exposed during summer to
a burning heat, they do not send forth those noxious and
deleterious qualities so much dreaded in more southern
and less favored latitudes. Many of our most flourishing
towns and settlements are in the immediate vicinity of
large swamps, and partially overflown meadows; yet no
injurious effects upon the general health are produced by
them. It has usually been found, in making new settlemernts in the vwestern wilderness, that, as the forests are
cleared away, and the surface thereby exposed to the
direct influence of the sun and winds, a deleterious effect
is produced on the general health-the decaying vegetable matter being thus suddenly made to send forth its
nalarious qualities. But in Wisconsin no such result is
apprehended, or can be produced; for a large proportion
of the country consists of oak openings and prairie, and
may therefore be considered as already cleaned. The
removal of the few remaining bur-oaks can not have the
same effect upon the soil as the cutting down of the de~.nse




230              THE GREAT WEST.
forests of other states. And besides this, the fires that
have annually raged over the surface have prevented
that rapid accumulation of vegetable matter, which is
always found in deep, shady woods." It is also stated
to be the opinion of physicians, that Wisconsin is, and
will continue to be., one of the healthiest regions in
the world.
Wisconsin is finely located for carrying on an extensive
commerce, with Lake Aichigan on the east and the Mississippi on the west, besides the Wisconsin River, which
flows in a south-westerly direction through the heart of the
state. Its principal ports are AMilwaukie, Racine, Sheboygan, and Green Bay, on the lake, and Prairie du Chien
and Cassville, on the Mississippi.
Milwaukie is situated at the mouth of a river of the
s-ame name, ninety miles above Chicago. The shore of.ake Michigan consists of a bank of clay from twenty to
one hundred feet high, and nearly perpendicular. The
harbor lies at the head of a semi-circular bay, six miles
across and three miles deep. The bottom affords the
best anchoring ground to be found on Lake Michigan.
In 1850, the city contained a population of more than
twenty thousand persons.  During the year 1855, six
vessels were built at Milwaukie, having an aggregate
tonnage of twelve hundred tons; and at the close of the
season there were on the stocks one propeller and five
vessels, estimated to have an aggregate tonnage of one
thousand six hundred and thirty tons. The finest quality
of brick in the world is manufactured at Milwaukie. In
and about the city are six extensive yards, employing over
two hundred men, and turning out upward of twenty-six
million bricks annually, valued at nearly two hundred
thousand dollars. Of that number, six and one-half millions are exported to Chicago and other lake ports  Its




RAILROADS.                 231
external and domestic trade, and manufactures, are very
rapidly on the increase.
Racine is situated at the mouth of Root River. It is
a flourishing place, with a good harbor, and has already
become an important commercial point in the state. The
Green Bay, MIilwaukie & Chicago Railroad passes through
it. Sheboygan, at the mouth of Sheboygan River, is
rap)idly growing into a place of c( nsidenable importance.
It is visited by regular lines of steamboats and vessels,
and is surrounded by a fertile and well (cultivated country.
Green Bay is situated at the head of Green Bay, at the
mouth of the Fox River. It occupies an important location, and has an excellent harbor. The village stands on
a commanding eminence. It must become, in the natural
course of events, a large commercial depot. Its population is about three thousand.
Prairie du Chien is situated on the Mississippi River,
three miles above the mouth of the Wisconsin. The
prairie from which it takes its name is ten miles long and
three miles wide, and productive as a garden. The population is about three thousand. Its trade is very large,
and rapidly increasing. There are rich mines of copper
and lead in its immediate neighborhood. Cassville is
situated in Grant county, in the midst of the lead region.
It is one of the principal places for shipping that valuable
metal, and for bringing in supplies for those engaged in
mining. It is growing rapidly in size and in business.
Wisconsin is laying down lines of railroad in all directions across the state. The Lake Shore road, from Chicago, north, will soon be completed to Green Bay. The
Milwaukie & Mississippi road, already opened to Madison,
ninety-seven miles, will be completed during the season
of 1856, to Prairie du.Chben, one hundred and ninety-five
miles. The LaCr:sse & Milwaukie road, extending from




232              THE GREAT WEST.
the latter place to the Upper Mississippi, is open to
Beaver Dam, sixty-one miles from Milwaukie, and is progressing toward a speedy completion.  The Horicon
road branches off from  the LaCrosse at Horicon, and
will strike the Wisconsin River at Stevens' Point, on the
route toward St. Paul, in  lIinesota. A company has
been organized to build a road from Stevens' Point to
Lake Superior. Another road will intersect the LaCrosse
at Ripon, and running through Oshkosh, on Lake Winnebago, will terminate at Green Bay. These roads are 41!
upon important lines of transportation, and some of the lastnamed will open through the great pineries of Wisconsin.
Wisconsin is not behind-hand in promoting education.
The school fund amounts to more than half a million dollars.  Seventy thousand children attend her common
schools. The value of the school-houses in the state is
about two hundred thousand dollars. The school-houses
would seem to vary some in the value set upon them,
according to the report of the superintendent of public
instruction, one being valued at five thousand dollars, and
another at five cents. There are also about ninety private or select schools, averaging seventy-five pupils each.
The State University is located at 3Madison, the capital
of the state, and is well endowed. The Beloit College is
an older institution. Both are in a flourishing condition.
The State Library contains over four thousand volumes.
In the state there are thirty-five libraries, containing, in
all, about eight thousand volumes.
Wisconsin has a liberal homestead exemption law,
securing to the occupant forty acres, together with the
necessary buildings. The statute would seem to have
been copied from the statute of Michigan, being almost
precisely similar to it. The mechanic's lien law is more
liberal than in most states. It is not confined in its




EXEMPTION LAWS.                 233
operation to cities, but extends throughout the entire
state, as all such laws should do. Every contract not
to be performed within one year, and every promise to
answer for the debt, default, or miscarriage of a third
person, and every agreement made upon consideration of
marriage - except mutual promises to marry-imuist be in
writing. Every contract for the sale of goods for the
price of fifty dollars or more, must be in writing, and subscribed by the parties thereto, unless the buyer receive
part of the goods, or pay part of the purchase money.
It is clear that Wisconsin is destined to become one
of the most populous, enterprising and wealthy states
in the Union. Her people are steady, industrious, and
loyal. Having commercial intercourse with the east and
with the south, her influence will be felt and respected in
the most extreme portions of our common country.




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THE BLACK HAWK PURCHASE.                   235
CHAPTER XV.
IOWA.
The Black Hawk purchase - First settlements -— Second Indian pur
chase —Reports of the surveyors - Erected into a TerritoryGarden of the West - Constitution formed - Provisions of the
constitution -Refuses the terms of admission as a state - A new
constitution - Admission as a state - Length and breadth of the
state - Population - Number of dwellings and families - Number
of counties - Amount of unimproved lands - Excess of mIle population - Source of emigration - Most populous counties - Land
speculations - Advantageous geographical position - General appearance of the state - Agricultural'condition and resources -
Coal-fields - Limestone - Cedar Valley - Soil - Minerals -Commerce -Shipping ports - Capital of Iowa - Iowa City - Railroads- Advantage to settlers - Public institutions.
IOWA had attracted the attention of emigrants about
the same time with Wisconsin. The region of country to
the west of the Mississippi was easily accessible; for the
settlers from the south could ascend that river; those from
the east could float down the Ohio.  Settlements, however,
in that direction, had met with a sudden and terrible check,
upon the breaking out of the Black Hawk war, in 1829,
which for three years had laid waste all the north-western
portions of Illinois. But at the close of that period, Black
Hawk, utterly routed, driven from  Wisconsin Territory,
had retired to the distant border of Missouri, and there,
upon the head-waters of the Iowa River, he had made
overtures for a cessation of hostilities. In September,
1832, a treaty of peace had been concluded between the
discomfited savages and the United States, by which it
was provided that the Indians should relinquish nearly all




236              THE GREAT WEST.
the lands from the Mississippi westward, for fifty miles,
between the Des Moines River on the south and the Yellow River on the north. That cession comprised not less
than one-third part of the present State of Iowa, and
became known, subsequently, as the "Black Hawk Purchase." By the treaty, it was stipulated that the Indians
should retire from the ceded lands as early as the month
of June of the next year.
The first settlement in the Black Hawk Purchase was
made in the fall of 1832, at Fort Madison, on the Mississippi, just above the mouth of the Des Moines River, by
Zachariah Hawkins and Benjamin Jennings. Three years
afterward, the town was regularly laid out, and the lots
exposed for sale. From  that time, Fort Madison continued to grow rapidly, and in 1S38, the beautiful grounds
contained a thriving village of nearly  six hundred
inhabitants.
The next year after Fort Madison, another settlement
was begun at Burlington, seventy-nine miles below Rock
Island, by Morton MA. M'Carver and Sampson S. White,
while the land was still in the occupancy of the Indians.
At the same time, two stores were opened there by Dr.
WV. R. Ross and Jeremiah Smith, each "well supplied
with western merchandise."  In less than four years,
Burlington had become the seat of government for the
Territory of Wisconsin, of which Iowa was then a district; and three years later, it contained a population of
fourteen hundred persons.
Also, in 1833, the city of Dubuque, situated on the
Mississippi, four hundred and twenty-five miles above St.
Louis, received  its first Anglo-Amlericain inhabitants;
and so rapid was its growth, that, in seven years afterward, it had become a rich commercial town, of about
fifteen hundred persons. Dubuque received its name in




'FIRST SETTLEMENTS.            237
honor of Julien Dubuque, the early proprietor of the' "Mines of Spain," upon the Upper Mississippi. A Canadian by birth, Dubuque had visited the lead region in
1786. Exploring its mineral resources, he had succeeded
in obtaining from the Indians a grant of a tract of land,
comprising about one hundred and forty thousand acres,
upon the west bank of the river. Dubuque had acquired
great wealth from his mining operations.  He died in
1810. His monument may be seen, about one mile below
the city, on a high bluff.
In 1835, the town of Salem was settled by Aaron Street,
a member of the Society of Friends. It was upon the
extreme frontier of the Black Hawk Purchase, and constituted the first Quaker settlement in Iowa. Five years
afterward, the colony in the vicinity of Salem numbered
one thousand persons, many of them aged patriarchs,
surrounded by their descendants to the third and fourth
generations. Many other settlements of less note had
also been springing up along the Mississippi.
At the time of the organization of the Territory of
Wisconsin, in 1836, the region of country west of the
Mississippi was included within it, under the name of
the District of Iowa, comprising but two counties-the
county of Dubuque and the county of Des Moines - which
together contained ten thousand five hundred and thirtyone inhabitants. In a little while, the District of Iowa
had become noted throughout the West for its extraordinary beauty and fertility, and the great advantages
which it afforded to agricultural enterprise. The first
Black Hawk Purchase was speedily overrun by emigrants,
who were advancing upon the Indian country beyond. A
new treaty, in 1837, had to be negotiated with the Sacs
and Foxes, by which they consented to the further
extension of the western boundary, so as to include the




238              THE GREAT WEST.
principal sources of the Iowa River, opening a magnificent
region to the progress of settlements. Emigration continued to augment the population.  Land-offices were
established at Dubuque and Burlington. The surveyors
reported "the lands" to consist of "a beautiful, fertile,
healthy, undulating region, interspersed with groves and
prairies, abounding in springs of pure water, with numerous streams flowing through a soil abounding with limestone of divers varieties, and other kind of rock, and
some coal."
Before the close of 1838, the counties of Dubuque and
Des Moines had been broken up into sixteen counties,
having in the aggregate a population of more than twenty
thousand souls, widely distributed throughout those portions of the district to which the Indian title had been
extinguished. In the meantime, on the fourth of July
of that year, Iowa, having been erected into a territory,
had become separated from Wisconsin. The first governor of the territory of Iowa was Robert Lucas, formerly governor of Ohio.  James Clark was appointed
secretary. Augustus C. Dodge was elected by the people
to represent them in Congress. The territory, as first
organized, comprised "all that region of country north of
Missouri, which lies west of the Mississippi River, and
of a line drawn due north from the source of the Mississippi to the northern limit of the United States."
The first general assembly of the Territory of Iowa,
with a strong conviction of the certainty of the growth
of the fiuture state, proceeded to rmake provision for the
seat of government, and ordained that it should spring up
in the wilderness.  "On the first day of MIay, 1839, the
beautiful spot which is now occupied by the city of Iowa,
was within the Indian hunting-grounds, from which the
tribes had not then retired, and within twenty miles of the




GARDEN OF THE WEST.               239
new Indian boundary, and fifty-two miles west of the
Mississippi River. On the fourth, it was selected by the
commissioners as the site of the future state capital. On
the first day of July, the survey of the city was commenced, upon a scale of magnificence rarely equaled.
The streets and avenues were wide, and spacious lots and
squares were designated for the public use; and the city
of Iowa commenced. Twelve months afterward, it contained a population of seven hundred persons.
The inhabitants of the territory continued to increase
in number with astonishing rapidity.  The Mississippi
was crowded with steamers ascending to the north, and
vast fleets were plowing the lakes westward, loaded with
emigrants bound for the distant Garden of the. West.
The growth of the settlements in Iowa is unprecedented
in the history of colonization. That territory was outstripping its former yoke-fellow upon the eastern bank of
the river. According to the census of 1840, the population of Iowa Territory was forty-three thousand and
seventeen persons; that of Wisconsin, thirty thousand
nine hundred and forty-five persons. Foreign immigrants
kept on coming into the territory, but not nearly so rapidly
as into Wisconsin. The far greater portion of the settlers
came from the other western states, and from the middle
states.  Internal navigation throughout the north, by
means of the lakes and canals, had become so much perfected, that population, for many years, continued to flow
toward the far west in one continuous stream.
The number of the inhabitants had become augmented
to such a degree that, with the permission of Congress, a
convention assembled in 1844; and on the seventh day of
October it adopted a constitution for the proposed State
of Iowa. Iowa was the fourth state organized within the
limits of the province of Louisiana. The constitution




240             THE GREAT WEST.
was strongly democratic. It not only provided for an
elective judiciary, but all officers, civil and military, were
to be elected by the people. The legislature was prohibited from creating any debt in the name of the state,
exceeding one hundred thousand dollars. But the people
of Iowa, numbering about ninety thousand persons, were
doomed to disappointment in the contemplated change of
government. The constitution which they had adopted
never went into operation; and they remained two years
longer in a condition of territorial dependence. The difficulty between the state and the federal government grew
out of the territorial limits which Iowa had assumed to
herself; - Congress, having approved of the proposed constitution, by the act of the third day of March, 1845,
provided for the admission of Iowa simultaneously with
Florida; but with the condition attached, that the people
of the former territory, at the next general election,
should assent to the territorial limits imposed by Congress. The object of the condition was to reduce Iowa,
so as to make it conform with the general area of the
other western states. But the people refused to ratify the
proposed limits, and they rejected the terms of admission
by a majority of two thousand. Iowa, however, at last
yielded, and, in 1846, through its legislature, signified its
acquiescence in the terms which had been prescribed. A
second convention was accordingly authorized, and the
new constitution having also been approved, the State of
Iowa was admitted into the Union on the third day of
December.
The greatest length of the state, from east to west, is
three hundred miles; and its breadth, one hundred and
ninety-six miles, with an area of about fifty-one thousand
square miles. In 1850, the population numbered one hundred and ninety-two thousand two hundred and fourteen




POPULATION.                241
persons, The number of dwellings in the state was
about thirty-three thousand; and of families, thirty-three
thousand five hundred.  Iowa, at that time, contained
forty-nine counties; but since the census of 1850 was taken,
Pottawatamie county has been broken up into forty-nine
additional counties, so that the number is now ninety-nine.
The number of farms under cultivation, at that time, in
the whole state, was fourteen thousand eight hundred and
five, containing in all about nine hundred thousand acres.
There were ten thousand more males than females in the
state. Of the entire population, a little over five thousand persons came from New England; New York, eight
thousand one hundred and thirty-four; New Jersey and
Pennsylvania, together, sixteen thousand; Delaware and
South Carolina, each about five thousand; Maryland, two
thousand; Virginia, eight thousand; Tennessee and Kentucky, thirteen thousand; Ohio, thirty-one thousand; Indiana, twenty thousand; Illinois and Missouri, eleven
thousand. The foreign population consisted of nearly
four thousand English, five thousand Irish, and over seven
thousand Germans, and two thousand Canadians.
The most populous counties are as follows, viz: Lee,
Van Buren, Des Moines, Dubuque, Jefferson, Henry,
Wapello, Davis, Jackson, Muscatine, Scott, Marion, Mahaska, Linn, Louisa, Keokuk, Polk, Washington, Johnson, Clayton, Cedar, and Appanoose. The western and
north-western parts of the state, though increasing in
population, are, as yet, but thinly inhabited. Speculation
in the lands of Iowa has run very high, and, in many of
the newer regions, a very large proportion of the choicest
lands has been taken up by non-residents. The landoffices, for weeks at a time, have been thronged with
anxious buyers, crowding and pressing upon one another,
at the doors and windows, to enter their selections.
11                  P




242              THE GREAT WEST.
It is not at all surprising that everybody should desire
to own lands in Iowa. Its position, soil, climate, and resources, indicate that it will, one day, take rank among
- the first states in the Union. " Situated nearly midway
between the two great oceans; bounded on both sides by
the great rivers of the continent, and watered by innumerable smaller streams; possessing a fertile soil, inexhaustible mineral resources, a healthful climate, a free
constitution, and a hardy, industrious population, the
State of Iowa has commenced its career with prospects
of far more than ordinary brilliancy. In extent of boundary, it is one of the largest in the Union; and it may
safely be prophesied that, with these great advantages, it
is destined, at no distant day, to rank among the first in
point of wealth and political importance, as it already
exceeds its compeers in rapidity of growth."
The general appearance of Iowa is that of a high,
rolling prairie, watered by magnificent streams of the
clearest water, flowing over pebbly and rocky beds.
Interspersed, throughout the whole region, are beautiful
groves of oak; and the river bottoms, and the margins of
the smaller streams, are mostly covered with a dense and
thrifty growth of timber. Iowa contains a smaller quantity of "poor land" than any other state in the Union.
Upon traveling through the state, the eye is everywhere
greeted with a succession of the finest landscapes in the
world.  The inland scenery is surpassingly beautiful.
Iowa contains a great number of little lakes, set like
crystals in the surface -clear and limpid - with gravelly
bottoms and shores. M3ostly the lake-margins are timbered; but sometimes the green-sward will be found
sloping to the very edge of the water.
Iowa owes its present prosperous condition to its agricultural resources. It is indeed true, that the timbered




AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES.            243
lands in the state are less extensive than the prairies;
but the timber is so uniformly and equally distributed, so
easily accessible, that no reasonable objection can be
taken to the openness of the country. " For all agricultural purposes, Iowa is perhaps as fine a region as ever
the sun cherished by its beams."
In 1850, the value of the farming implements and machines was estimated at one million one hundred and seventy-two thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine dollars.
The following table will show the condition of the agriculture of the state for that year.
Wheat,.......   1,530,581 bushels.
IRye.........    19,916   "
Indian corn......       8,656,799 "6
-Oats,......... 1,524,345   "
Barley........    25,093 "
Buckwheat,......    52,516   "
Irish potatoes.....    276,120   "
Sweet potatoes,.          6,243   "
Butter.......  2,171,188 pounds.
Cheese,.......    209,840   "
Wool........   373,898   "
Flax.........    62,553   "
Beeswax and honey,..      321,711   "
The value of the animals slaughtered during the year
was estimated at $S821,164. The live stock was reported as follows: Horses, 38,546; milch cows, 45,704;
working oxen, 21,892; other cattle, 69,025; sheep,
149,960; and swine, 323,247- estimated at the value
of $3,689,275.
The most important mineral of Iowa is coal. The
coal-field is of prodigious extent, of remarkable thickness,




244              THE GREAT WEST.
and lies quite near the surface. Coming into the state
across the southern border, it stretches broadly off to the
north, for more than one hundred and forty miles; and in
length, from east to west, it is over two hundred miles.
The coal-field of Iowa, therefore, underlies an area of
about twenty-five thousand square miles. The beds of
coal have been estimated, by geologists, to be of the
average thickness of one hundred feet.
The principal limestone regions of the state are in the
valleys of the Cedar and Iowa rivers. In the former
valley, the limestone, commencing along the Mississippi,
for thirty miles in width, between the head of Rock Rapids
and the town of Wyoming, sweeps, with a north-westerly
curve, up Cedar River, varying from twelve to fifteen
miles in width; till, in latitude forty-three, it disappears
under the drift of northern Iowa. The rock appears
mostly in low ledges near the water-courses. On the
Shell Rock, an eastern branch of the Cedar River, near
the head of the latter, is a bold bluff of limestone, standing high above the bottom, and at right-angles with the
stream. The country around is exceedingly picturesque,
diversified with gentle swells of ground, groves of oak,
and meandering streams. Cedar Valley is plentifully
supplied with timber; but it contains no such dense
forests as originally grew upon the river-banks of Indiana
and Ohio. The soil is stiff, dark, calcareous, exceedingly
strong and deep, richer and more retentive than that
over the coal-fields. On the whole, Cedar Valley may be
regarded as the finest portion of the state.
The Iowa River, also, flows through a limestone region;
but the out-croppings of the rock are not, in general, so
marked and distinct as along the Cedar River; nor is the
valley so uniformly supplied with timber. In the elbows
of the river are timbered bottoms; and, spreading off each




SOIL - MINERALS.               245
way, are openings, with gentle swells of ground, from
seventy to one hundred feet in hight; furnishing capital
building sites, and delightful farms, within reach of both
water and wood. The soil is similar, though slightly
lighter, than that of Cedar Valley. There is but little
choice between the two streams for desirable locations.
The rich, black soil of the prairies, and the lightly-timbered openings, which are found chiefly over the coalfield, throughout the southern portion of the state, is
rather sandy and porous, but warm and quick, forcing
vegetation rapidly, particularly early in the season. Crops
there, however, are liable to suffer from the droughts of
summer; and the higher grounds are generally gravelly.
Notwithstanding that, the soil is considered to be equally
advantageous., as it is adapted to all kinds of agricultural
pursuits. The prairie-sod, matted and deep-rooted, usually requires from six to eight yoke of oxen effectually to
break it up. The second year, it will have become rotted,
and the surface of the fields will be mellow, and free
from stone.
Iowa is justly numbered among the great mineral-producing states of the Union. In addition to its coal, the
lead mines in the north-east, of which Dubuque is the
center, have been worked for three-quarters of a century,
and have been productive in proportion to the number of
persons engaged in mining. The mines are contiguous
to those of Illinois and Wisconsin, being separated from
them only by the breadth of the Mississippi. Dr. Owenwho made a geological survey of this region —upon a
review of its resources and capabilities, says, that ten
thousand miners and laborers could find profitable employment within its confines. The mines furnish as much
of that desirable metal as the whole continent of Europe;
and there would seem to be no end to the quantities of




246              THE GREAT WEST.
the ore. Zinc, also, occurs in the fissures of the leadbearing rock; and it sometimes appears in cellular masses.
Iron ore has been found abundantly distril)uted throughout the state; but as yet no large amount has been
converted into metal.
The three states, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Iowa, might
produce sufficient iron to supply all America for ages.
At the present time, instead of working and patronizing
our own native mines, the people are largely engaged in
importing iron from abroad, enriching Sweden and England at the expense of the Great West. It would seem
to be a pity that it should be deemed the policy of the
United States to bring railroad iron, for instance, across
three thousand miles of ocean, exposed to the lightnings
of heaven and the tumbling billows of the deep, and lay
it down over the ore beds of the infant states of the west,
crippling their energies, and restraining the development
of their resources.
Iowa is finely situated with respect to inland commerce
and navigation. On the map, the state presents the appearance of being upheld between the two principal rivers
of the continent.  The Mississippi forms the eastern
boundary, throughout its windings, for nearly four hundred and fifty miles. On the wvest, the Mlissouri, from
above latitude forty to the mouth of the Big, Sioux River,
washes the confines of the state for more than three
hundred miles; so that both sides of Iowa are furnished
with equal facilities for external commerce, and many
fine sites for flourishing cities. The Des Moines River is
the great central artery of the state. It enters Iowa from
the north, and, flowing south-east for four hundred miles,
empties into the Mississippi at the foot of the lower
rapids. It is one of the most beautiful of all the noble
rivers of the west, having a rock bottom, and high banks,




SHIPPING PORTS.                247
which are not subject to overflow.  It passes through
the great coal-field, and through a country of surpassing
fertility. The state has undertaken to render it navigable for steamboats of a medium size, to Fort Des Moines,
two hundred miles above its mouth. Beside those three
great rivers, there are many smaller ones —i the Iowa
River, the Skunk River, Wapsipinicon, MAakoqueta, and
the Turkey River, and numerous other streams, affluents
of the Missouri. Most of these streams are navigable
from twenty to sixty miles, and, with their branches, fur
nish an abundance of water-power.  Many of them pass
over limestone or sandstone beds, and they are generally
skirted with timber.
The principal shipping ports are Keokuk, at the mouth
of the Des:Moines; Fort Madison, just above, on the
MIississippi, two hundred and forty-eight miles from  St.
Louis; Muscatine City, thirty-two miles below Davenport; Davenport, one hundred miles below Galena, and
three hundred and thirty-eight above St. Louis. It is
situated opposite Rock Island, and is connected by railroad with Chicago, and another line is projected westward
to Council Bluffs. Also Lyons, Bellevue, and Dubuque.
The annual value of the commerce of Keokuk is estimated as high as seven million dollars. It is the principal
port of the entire Des MIoines Valley, in which more than
half the population and agricultural wealth of the state
is concentrated. The city stands upon a high limestone
bluff, which affords inexhaustible supplies of building
stone. It is situated at the foot of the lower rapids of
the Mississippi, which are eleven miles in length; and in
that distance the water falls twenty-four feet. At low
stages of the river upward-bound boats have to unload
at Keokuk, and their cargoes are taken over the rapids
on lighters.




248             THE GREAT WEST.
The present capital of Iowa is Fort Des Moines; which
is finely situated on the west bank of the Des Moines
River, a little to the south of the center of the state, and
one hundred and nine miles west of Iowa City. A large
branch of the river comes in just below Fort Des MIoines,
and opens a communication with some of the western
counties, while the Des Moines extends up beyond the
northern boundary of the state. The railroad in contemplation from Davenport to Council Bluffs, passes through
Fort Des Moines, and several other lines center in there.
It is a place of great business facilities, surrounded by a
delightful and exceedingly fertile country, with a good
supply of water-power in its vicinity for manufacturing
purposes. A land-office is situated there, besides other
public buildings; and the crowd of emigrants in the streets
gives it a business-like appearance.
Iowa City is destined to be one of the most attractive
cities in America. It is situated on the east bank of the
Iowa River, fifty-two miles from the Mississippi, sixtythree miles from Burlington, fifty-one miles from Davenport, and seventy miles from  Dubuque. The river is
navigable to Iowa City at all stages of the water, and
regular lines of steamboats ascend and descend it daily.
Railroads are centering toward it from all the ports on
the Mississippi, to unite and stretch out from thence to
Council Bluffs and the Pacific Ocean. A grand chain of
railroads, north and south, will pass through it, connecting St. Louis with the great upland prairies of Minesota;
and the last few miles of railroad are now being completed between Iowa City and Portland, in the State of
Maine; and before the season of 1856 will have drawn to
a close, a continuous track will exist between those places,
one thousand four hundred and thirty-six miles distant
from each other —the largest line of railroad on the globe.




ADVANTAGES TO SETTLERS.            249
The surface of the ground, at Iowa City, rises from the
margin of the river in three successive plateaux: the first
is about one hundred yards in width, and has been devoted to a public promenade; the second plain is about
twelve feet higher than the first; and the third, eighteen
feet above the second. On these two beautiful natural
elevations the city is built.  The principal avenues,
nearly two hundred feet wide, run along the brows of the
plateaux, and are intersected by Iowa Avenue -a magnificent street, ascending, one after another, these eminences,
and reaching to the open prairie.
There are many reasons which should influence the
emigrant to settle in Iowa; and not the least important
is the acknowledged salubrity of the climate. The state
is not exempt from those diseases incident to rich, luxuriant, and uncultivated soils; but from the openness of the
landscape, warmed with sunshine, fanned with breezes, it
is less liable to the scourge of malaria than most new
countries.  The temperature of the atmosphere is far
more uniform than upon the Atlantic coast. It is exempt,
too, from those chilling, piercing easterly winds, so withering to the consumptive. The air breathes over the
elevated plains as regularly and as refreshing as from the
ocean between the tropics, tempering the extremes incident to the high northern latitude.
Iowa has made noble provision for her public schools.
All lands granted by Congress to the state, all escheated
lands, and such per centage as may be granted on the
sale of the public lands, constitute a perpetual fund for
the support of schools. It is made the duty of the legislature to provide, in each district, a school, for at least
three months in each year. All moneys received as a
commutation instead of military duty, and moneys derived
from fines imposed by the courts, are devoted to the same
11*




250              TIIE GREAT WEST.
purpose, or for the establishment of school libraries. The
school fund amounts to nearly three hundred thousand
dollars. A State University, amply endowed, has been
located at Iowa City. The State Library contains about
three thousand volumes.
There are one hundred and forty-eight churches in the
state, accommodating about thirty-eight thousand persons.  Of the religious denominations, the Methodist is
the most numerous; next the Presbyterian; then the Roman Catholic, the Baptist, and the Congregationalists.
Iowa, in every respect, is an important member of the
Union. In its extent of surface, climate, productions,
commercial position, institutions, and the enterprising
spirit of the inhabitants, it promises soon to compete with
the older states in everything which will tend to promote
the prosperity of a great people.








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EXPLORATIONS OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 253
CHAPTER XVI.
MINESOTA TERRITORY.
Explorations of the Upper Mississippi- Location of the Territory"The New England of the West "- Territorial boundary - Laws -
Counties - Population - Nature of the population - Crops -General surface of the territory - Geology - Above Crow Wing River -
Chalk formation —James River —Buffalo pasture-ground- Big
Sioux River - Red pipe-stone quarry- St. Peters River - Bottom
lands - Blue Earth River - St. Peters Valley — The paradise of
farmers- Lake Pepin - Terror of the lumbermen of the north -
Timber- Wild rice - Soil and its products - The Red River of
the North- Springs and lakes - Minesota the artesian fountain
of the  continent - Underground  hydraulic power - Boiling
springs - Magnificent forest - Destiny of Minesota - Indian summers - Manner of perfecting a squatter's title - St. Paul - Table
of distances from Galena to St. Paul -— Rates of fare.
TiiE Mississippi River extends, in a direct line, through
nineteen degrees of latitude. Nine states and one territory are watered by its magnificent stream. The great
valley, which slopes from the east and from the west to
the banks of that river, is barely cultivated sufficiently to
afford an indication of its vast capabilities. The lower
waters of the Mississippi had been explored nearly three
hundred years before any white man ever stood upon the
sources of its exhaustless tide.   Countless steamboats
were stemming the torrent, for a distance of two thousand
miles, while yet the region whence it emanated was as
unknown as the interior of Ethiopia. Lieutenant Zebulon
Montgomery Pike, with a military expedition, in 1805,
ascended the Mississippi one hundred and twenty miles




254              THE GREAT WEST.
above the Falls of St. Anthony; but he had set out late
in the season, and the snows and ice compelled him to
delay, for the purpose of erecting a block-house and
securing his stores.  Tramping about in the winter on
snow-shoes did not afford him much opportunity for
examining the country. With the spring, his expedition
had returned.
In 1820, another expedition, which had been projected
by Governor Cass, of Michigan, left Detroit in a fleet of
birch-bark canoes, and, passing up through Lake Superior,
crossed over the country between the St. Louis River and
the Sandy Lake, in the valley of the Mississippi, and from
thence explored the river as high as the Cass Lake.
Twelve years afterward a third expedition, commencing
its explorations at Cass Lake, followed up the channel of
the river, through all its windings and lakes, to its source
in Itasca Lake. The last two exqedtitiou  were fvrtunately accompanied by an intelligent chronicler of their
adventures, in the person of Henry R. Schooleraft, to,whose narratives the public is indebted for much of the
knowledge which it possessed of those distant regions.
Upon the head-waters of the Mississippi and of the Red
River of the North lies the territory of AMinesota, extending from Iowa to the British possessions, and from Lake
Superior to the Missouri River. The most accurate information concerning the soil and climate of the various
portions of the territory is derived from the geological
surveys made under the authority of the federal government; and in the immediate vicinities of the settlements
above the mouth of the St. Peter's, the country has been
pretty thoroughly explored; but the extent of exact
knowledge acquired in that manner is about as astone's
throw to the wide reach of the territory itself.
Concerning  Minesota -"the  New England of the




TERRITORIAL BOUNDARY.             255
West "-but little, indeed, was heard or known until in
1 849. Emigration had continued flowing, year after year,
into regions further south, and not so far west. Fertile
lands, comprising millions of acres, far easier of access,
lay spread out invitingly to the settler, nearer home. The
whole intervening country still contains but a sparse and
scattered population. Wisconsin, which lies between the
sources of population in the older states and the vast
territory of the north, is yet a new country, more than
half of it a wilderness, and but little explored. Iowa,
too, is receiving an immense influx of immigration, the
entire western and northern portions of the state being
comparatively wild and tenantless. And for two years
past, the political excitement in Kansas has been drawing
public attention to that quarter, and political motives are
urging on settlers from all parts of the Union to seek
there for homes. Mlinesota, therefore, has been, and is,
to some degree, neglected and forgotten.
Tl1he southern limit of the territory is the boundary of
Iowa. On the east, the line follows up the Mississippi to
Prescott, at the mouth of the St. Croix; thence up the
latter river to Lake Superior. On the north, the line, commencing at the mouth of the Arrow River, opposite Isle
Royale, runs north-westerly through Rainy Lake to the
southern extremity of the Lake of the Woods; thence
westerly to the White Earth River, which empties into the
Missouri at its extreme northerly bend. The boundary
on the west is, for a little way, along the White Earth
River; thence, following down the Missouri, throughout
its windings, for a thousand miles, it terminates at the
mouth of the Big Sioux River.   Minesota extends
through more than six degrees of latitude and twelve
degrees of longitude.  Its extreme length, from east to
west, has been computed at six hundred miles, and its




256             THE GREAT WEST.
breadth at four hundred and sixty miles, with an area of
upward of one hundred and fifty thousand square miles.
Previous to the organization of the State of Wisconsin,
all that part of Minesota lying on the east side of the
Mississippi River had been included in the Territory of
WVisconsin. All that portion west of the river had been
comprised in the Territory of Iowa. By the Act of Congress, March 3d, 1849, Minesota was erected into a
territory. Alexander Ramsey was appointed governor,
and Charles H. Smith, secretary. The legislative power
is vested in the governor and legislative assembly.
The assembly consists of a council, and house of representatives.  Councilors, to the number of nine, are
elected every two years; representatives, annually. The
number may be increased, from time to time, by the
legislative assembly; but not to exceed fifteen councilors and thirty-nine representatives. No law shall be
passed interfering with the primary disposal of the soil;
no tax shall be imposed upon the property of the United
States; nor shall the lands or other property of nonresidents be taxed higher than the property of residents.
All laws, passed by the legislative, assembly and governor, shall be submitted to the Congress of the United
States, and if disapproved, shall be null and of no effect.
No one session of the legislature shall exceed the term
of sixty days. All persons of a mixture of white and
Indian blood, who have adopted the habits and customs
of civilized men, are admitted to citizenship.
Minesota is divided into twenty counties; viz., Benton,
Blue Earth, Cass, Chisago, IDakotah, Fillmore, Goodhue,
IIennepin, Itasca, Kapasia, Le Seur, Nicollet, Pierce,
Pembina, Ramsey, Rice, Scott, Sibley, Wabashaw,
and Washington.  St. Paul is the capital.  The increase of population is seen by comparifng the years




NATIVITY OF TlHE POPULATION.         257
of 1849 and 1850. In the former, the number was four
thousand seven hundred and eighty; the latter, six thousand and seventy-seven. According to the census, there
were nearly two thousand more males than females. Of
the inhabitants, about seven hundred came from New
England; New York, five hundred; Pennsylvania and
New Jersey together, three hundred; Virginia, sixty;
Illinois, two hundred; Ohio, three hundred; Wisconsin,
three hundred and fifty; 4,issouri, ninety; South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana, each about half
a dozen. The foreigners consist of about ninety Englishmen, three hundred Irishmen, forty Scotchmen, one
hundred and fifty Germans, thirty Frenchmen, thirty-five
Swiss; Canadians, two thousand.
The number of farms, in 1850, was one hundred and
fifty-seven, containing in all some thirty thousand acres,
of which one fourth was under cultivation. The crops
were reported as follows; viz,
Wheat,.....1,401 bushels.
Rye..........    125   "
Corn,.........  16,725
Oats.......... 38,582
Barley.........  1,216   "
Buckwheat,........   515 "
Peas and beans.....  10,000
Irish potatoes.......  21,145
Sweet potatoes,.....          200
Wool..........   85 pounds.
Butter.....                  1,100  "
Maple-sugar,.......    3,000 "
The value of the animals slaughtered was estimated at
three thousand dollars.
The general features of M)inesota are those of a high,
Q




258              THE GREAT WEST.
rolling prairie, or elevated table-land. The surface of
the territory is destitute of mountains; yet the land is the
highest of any between the Gulf of Mexico and Hudson's
Bay. The Mississippi, and the Red River of the north,
each rising near the head-waters of the other, in the
center of the great plain, flow off in opposite directions -
the one to the tropics, the other half-way to the frozen
ocean.  The St. Lawrence, also, takes its rise in this
favored territory. The average hight of the land above
the Gulf of Mexico is about twelve hundred feet.
This vast northern region is one of great geological interest. The prevailing opinion of those who have studied the
features of the rocks of Minesota would seem to be that,
at some period, the whole region has been lifted up - projected outward from the center of the earth. On ascending the Mississippi, the layers of rock are seen to have a
southern dip. At the entrance to Lake Pepin, the lower
sandstone constitutes nearly three hundred and forty feet
of the bluff; and the lower magnesian limestone, one
hundred and fifty feet. Near the great bend of that lake,
the latter rock forms a perpendicular wall of two hundred
feet, the total elevation above the water being over four
hundred feet. This is known as the celebrated "Maiden's
Rock." Thirteen miles below the mouth of the St. Croix
River, the sandstone has entirely disappeared, the lower
limestone reaching to the hight of two hundred feet above
the level of the Mississippi; and at St. Paul, the upper
white sandstone rests above the terrace of lower magnesian limestone.
The sandstone at St. Paul is of the best quality, whiter
and fairer than the Linn sand, used in the manufacture
of flint-glass. The depth of the rock varies from forty
to one hundred feet. Along the St. Peter's, as far up
as Little Rapids, the sandstone is covered by a thin




GEOLOGICAL FOR')MATIONS.            259
formation of shell limestone, which contains about sixty
per cent. of carbonate of lime. And throughout the
region of little lakes, south of the St. Peter's, known as
the "Undine Region," the same formation continues, consisting of a friable sandstone basis, covered with a deposit
of limestone. The undulating prairies of that tract of
country support a calcareous soil, of excellent quality,
producing heavy crops of grain. Other contiguous tracts
rest upon a white shell marl and infusorial earth, possessing great fertilizing properties. Above Little Rapids,
extending to White Rock, a distance of eighty miles, the
bed of the St. Peter's is formed by ledges of soft, brown
sandstone, supporting a layer of fawn-colored carboniferous limestone.  Wherever that formation prevails, the soil
is of excellent quality, rich, and capable of sustaining a
long succession of crops.
Ascending  the Mississippi, above the Crow  Wing
River, the country presents an entirely different aspect
from that below. The forests become denser, and contain
a greater variety of timber.  The soil is alternately
sandy, gravelly, clayey, and loamy; and lighter, except on
the shores of the lakes and larger streams.  The high
lands are covered with white and yellow pines, spruce, and
birch; the lowlands, by larches and willows. From the
lake and river margins, the wood-lands extend back a mile
and more, producing sugar-maple, oak, elm, ash, and basswood. Red cedar is found only on the islands of the
Red Cedar Lakes. "The aspect of the country is greatly
varied by hills, dales, copses, small prairies, and a great
number of lakes. The climate is found to be well adapted
to the culture of wheat, barley, oats, and corn. The
potato is of a superior quality to that of the middle
states of the Union."
On the western side of the territory, along the Mis



260             THE GREAT WEST.
souri, the chalk formation sets in, just above the Big
Sioux River, and extends indefinitely north-west. This
region may possess great interest to the geologist; but it
should be shunned by the agriculturist. The banks of
the Missouri consist of argillaceous limestone, at the bottom, rising three feet above the bed of the river; next a
calcareous marl, from thirty to forty feet thick; then a
ferruginous clay bank, of a yellowish color, some twenty
feet thick; and lastly a deposit of plastic clay, two hundred feet thick. Now a soil formed from such materials
will produce only the most meager vegetation.
But that region of sterility is confined to the immediate
vicinity of the Missouri. The valley of the Riviere a
Jacques, or James River, is preeminently beautiful and
fertile. That river, rising north of parallel forty-seven,
winds along in a southerly direction, through more than
four degrees of latitude, across the whole of western
Minesota, for seven hundred miles, to the south-western
extremity of the territory.  Its shores are lined with
beautiful groves of maple, elm, ash, and oak. Frequently
the stream expands into picturesque lakes. Its waters
are wide, deep, and clear, descending from an elevation of
seven hundred feet.  The immense basin of the river
varies from fifty miles to one hundred miles in width, and
constitutes one continuous prairie, interrupted only by the
timbered branches of the main stream, unsurpassed by
any other in the United States. The river is navigable
throughout three-fourths of its entire length. The valley
of the James River is the great pasture-ground of the
buffaloes east of the Missouri.
The Big Sioux River is likewise a most interesting
stream, flowing through a fertile country, except near its
mouth, where the surface is broken into rugged hills. Its
banks are continuously lined with timber.  The river




NAVIGATION OF TIH  MISSOURI.          261
rises within a mile of the head-waters of the St. Peter's.
About midway in its course, the Big Sioux breaks through
a remarkable quartz formation, and seems to have ruptured the massive wall of rock. Within a distance of
four hundred yards, the river leaps and plunges down
three successive falls - one of twenty feet, one of eighteen
feet, and one of ten feet -with rapids intervening, supplying an incalculable amount of water-power. Above and
below, the valley rises gently, on either hand, to a hight
of three hundred feet above the bed of the stream. Between the Big Sioux and the Des Moines is situated the
celebrated red pipe-stone quarry, which the Indians believe
was opened to them by the Great Spirit. The tribes all
consider it to be consecrated grounds, and never chip
off a bit of the rock, without many superstitious observances.  The stone readily receives a dull polish. It is
not affected by acids, and is said to be indestructible by
fire. In color it is blood-red.
Before dismissing the western side of Minesota, it may
be well to mention, that the Missouri River is navigable,
for steamboats, as high up as the Yellow Stone-more
than three thousand miles above St. Louis; but the
channel is winding, intricate, and ever-shifting, thronged
with snags and sawyers, and interrupted by sand-bars.
The greatest freshets  occur in  July.   Steamboats,
stemming its impetuous current, require four months to
complete the ascent.
The valley of the St. Peter's is one of the most attractive portions of the territory. The land rises from the
water in three terraces, rather than bluffs.  First, the
alluvial border, about a mile in width, of natural meadow,
some parts of it annually overflowed, and of inexhaustible
fertility.  Ten miles above Little Rapids, this bottomland is elevated one hundred and thirty feet above the




262              THE GREAT WEST.
water, three-fourths of a mile wide on each side of the
stream, and many miles in length, affording some of the
best farming lands in the world. In that delightful region, the lower terrace is dotted with groves of sugarmaple, elmi, ash, and oak. The second terrace is from
fifty to one hundred feet higher than the first, and consists of openings, so interspersed with timber that it
resembles a cultivated country. Fifty feet higher is the
third elevation, spreading out, as far as the eye can reach,
an illimitable rolling prairie.
Commencing at Traverse des Sioux, one hundred and
sixteen miles above the mouth of the St. Peter's, the valley consists of an undulating, fertile prairie, with a background of forest, in which the basswood, and whitewood,
the sugar-maple, elm, butternut, and hickory, abound.
The underbrush is a mixture of prickly-ash, gooseberry
bushes, and grape-vines.  In many places, the terraces
subside into a gentle slope, dotted with groves, with here
and there among the shrubbery a huge bowlder, giving the landscape, at a little distance, the appearance
of a settled country, with dwellings, and gardens, and
orchards.
The Blue Earth River is the principal tributary of the
St. Peter's, and it comes flowing in from the south. At
its mouth it is very rapid; but above, the current is rather
moderate. On the whole, it is a deep and important
stream. The river takes its name from a bank of blue
clay, six miles from the St. Peter's, which the Indians
have been using as a paint for ages. The river banks
are, in some places, almost perpendicular, and generally
full sixty feet in hight. The Blue Earth has a very
great number of branches spreading out through the
country, like a fan. The valleys and the uplands are well
supplied with timber. One of its branches is separated




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264             THE GREAT WEST.
from the Des Moines only by a narrow tongue of land,
not more than a mile and a half broad.
The St. Peter's Valley is destined some day to support
an immense population.  It is in the same latitude of
northern New  York.  The soil is inviting; the land
cleared for the plow, yet timber sufficient for all purposes; and water-power always near at hand. Thle most
important point in the whole course of the stream, which
flows through a distance of nearly five hundred miles, is
Traverse des Sioux. It has a good landing, a fine site
for a city, in the midst of a lovely country; and from a
back ridge of an elevation of two hundred feet, comes
tumbling down a rapid creek, fed by constant springs.
Among the beautiful scenery of the St. Peter's Valley,
the tourist should not fail to look for the Minnehaha Falls,
about three miles distant from Fort Snelling.  The outlets of a number of the upland lakes flow into each other,
and form a single channel with a gentle descent to the
edge of a precipice, down which the " Laughing Waters,"
as the Indians named them, leap into a secluded rocky
chasm, throwing up spray, and roaring among the trees.
But some egotistical "cuss," who deserves flinging over
the cataract for his impudence, has stuck the name of his
own' ugly mug" upon the picturesque locality, and
called it "Brown's Falls."  Let the public all unite in
the spicy protest of the indiginant tourist, who, upon the
banks of the Alinnchaha, in view of the " Laughing Waters," and of 1"Brown's" desecration of them, thus proclaimed aloud: "In the namle of common-sense, and all
that is poetic and pleasing in human nature, let us solemnly protest against those desecrations which rob our
beautiful lakes, rivers, and cascades, of their charming
and significant Indian names; and no longer allow every
Brown, Smith, Snooks, and Fizzle, who happens to be the




LAKE PEPIN.                    265
first to see some beautiful creation of Nature, with dull
eyeswhichhave noappreciation for any thing more sentimental than a lump of lead, a buffalo-hide, or a catfish,
to perpetuate his cognomen at the expense of good taste
and common honesty."
The tract of land sweeping away to the south of the
St. Peter's, to the head-waters of the Cannon and the
WVazi-oju rivers, is likewise fertile, undulating, dotted
thickly with little lakes, of deep, clear, and sparkling water, belted with trees, and surrounded every way by woodcrowned hills and lovely prairies. So romantic is this
region, so thickly strewn with lakes and ponds, that repose
like gems on the bosom of the earth; so beautifully timbered with groves, free from underbrush; with such a
gently-rising and falling surface of prairie and openings,
that it may be denominated the paradise of farmers.
Approaching the Mississippi, from the country south
of the St. Peter's, the traveler will come plump upon the
yawning chasm of Lake Pepin, four hundred feet below
him, where huge rafts, like river serpents, are floating
along, and steamboats, diminutive in the depths, are coughing, and wheezing, and fluttering upon the water. But
Lake Pepin is not all the way walled in by precipices.
On the western shore, near the upper end of this remarkable expansion of the Mississippi, there is a beautiful
prairie, commencing along the water's edge for four or
five miles, and rising in a gentle slope, far back, where it
is crowned with mounds and bluffs.  Just above this
prairie  is La Grange Mountain, three  hundred and
twenty-two feet high.
Lake Pepin is ordinarily placid and smooth as a
mirror. It has scarcely a perceptible current. Yet it is
deceitful above all things —subject to gales and storms,
when the wind will whistle and howl through the rocky
12




266              THE GREAT WEST.
chasm, and toss the water about like "all possessed."
The French voyageurs regarded it as a natural contrivance for " raising the devil," generally. They would say
of it: "Le lac est petit, mais il est malin."  It is the
terror of all the lumbermen of the north. Their rafts often
get knocked " endwise," and distributed pretty generally
along down the Mississippi. One day, a steamboat was
towing a huge raft of timber and sawed lumber over the
lake, as proud as an old duck followed by her brood; but
soon a gale pitched the raft to pieces, and tumbled the
logs about, so fiercely that the boat had to cast loose,
and scud for safety.
Proceeding up the Mississippi, the country, from St.
Paul to Sauk Rapids, one hundred miles above the Falls
of St. Anthony, is well adapted to agricultural purposes.
The soil, sandy to the depth of six inches, rests on a bed
of clay. The river banks vary from ten to twenty feet in
hight; well timbered - particularly the western shorewith groves of sugar-maple, oak, ash, elm, and hickory.
Many small streams wind through the prairies, skirted
with woods; and, passing along the river road, one
scarcely loses sight of the lakes,- for, in Minesota, lakes
are everywhere —on the hills; in the valleys; among
the woods; on the plains; and upon the banks of rivers.
In some parts of the country, it is difficult to tell whether
the land is surrounded by water, or the water by land.
" Crow Wing River is an important tributary of the
Mississippi. It has its source in Lake Kaginogumaug,
near Leech Lake, with which it is connected, in Indian
navigation, by ten small lakes or ponds, separated by five
small portages, of various lengths. It expands successively into eleven lakes, before it forms a junction with
Shell River, which is nearly as large as the main stream.
It has two large tributaries —Leaf and Long Prairie




'40-MM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
-~~-; —- " —-FALLSOF S. ANHONY








WILD RICE.                 267
rivers, which flow from the west, and are rivers of considerable magnitude.  Its banks are elevated, crowned
with forests, yielding every variety of pine. Its alluvial
bottoms are studded with elm, soft-maple, ash, and oak."
Further toward the north, in the vicinity of Red Lake,
and Cass Lake, and Turtle River, the country abounds
in wild rice. Immense fields of it-thousands of acresgrow up annually, without sowing or reaping, with large
yield, sufficient to supply a dense population. The Indians
push round in among it in the latter part of August, and
thrash their canoes full of the grain, scaring innumerable
water-fowl, that quack, and twitter, and flap about, gorged
almost to suffocation. The wild rice makes a nourishing
diet, -a bushel of it is said to contain as much nutritive
matter as a bushel of wheat. There are likewise vast
meadows of sweet grass, which the cattle eagerly crop.
For the mere purpose of sustaining life, this is an incomparable region, - there is wood enough, cranberries, raspberries, rice, pasturage, game, and the finest varieties of
fish; the soil is quick and warm, producing corn, potatoes, oats, peas, and all the substantial garden vegetables;
and the woods abound in sugar-maple.
In no part of the country do the streams meander so
beautifully as in this. They wind around in all shapes
and directions, sweeping away for miles, to return within
a few rods of their own banks. They interlace the entire
region, and almost flow under, and over, and into, each
other. The country rises to a high prairie, between those
streams and the tributaries of the Red River of the north,
possessing groves of timber, springs of water, and a sandy,
loamy soil, bottomed on clay.  From  the Otter Tail
Lake, the Red River makes a great southward bend,
through a region unsurpassed for rural beauty. It resem
bles the most attractive portions of Iowa. The bound



268               THE GREAT WEST.
less prairie has a strong, calcareous soil, adapted to all
the cereal grains. Voyaging down that noble river in
midsummer, between its banks embowered in wild-roses,
the air is loaded with perfume.  When the river has
again turned to the northward, it pours along through a
plain of vast extent,- the eye seeks in vain for hills; but
scattered about, as if planted by hand, are groves of oak.
The timber continues growing sparser and thinner, till,
before reaching Pembina, every vestige of shrubbery has
disappeared from  the plain.  The river, however, has
some few trees on its banks. Its ash attains a prodigious
growth. One striking peculiarity of the Red River of
the North is, that it has no bluffs, no hills, no rising background; but throughout its entire course it meanders in
the midst of a high table-land. The river-bed is channeled into the surface of the plain. In the immediate
neighborhood of Pembina, the timber increases, and becomes plentiful for all purposes..
No country of which we have any knowledge is so
bountifully supplied with  spring  water as Minesota.
The springs are constant and powerful: they are rather
gushing fountains, supplying lakes innumerable, and filling
the upper channels of the three largest rivers in North
America. The rocks, dipping in either direction, here
bring to the surface those water seams, which in other
parts are only to be reached by deep boring. Minesota
is the artesian fountain of the continent. A few miles
above St. Anthony's Falls, at Cold Spring Prairie, the
tourist may see a little of the working of that underground
hydraulic power that pumps the territory full of lakes,
and requires the Red River, and the Mississippi, and the
St. Lawrence, for spout-ways to the ocean. Cold Spring
Prairie takes its name from a spring in the bottom of the
Mississippi. A traveler has described it as follows: "It




INDIAN SUMMER.                269
was boiling up in the Mississippi like a pot, about a foot
from the edge of the bank, and apparently in deep water,
throwing up constantly gravel and pebble-stones. By
scooping my hand two or three times along the surface,
I obtained a handful of the latter.' The noise made by
this boiling spring could be heard some ten or twelve rods.
The water, though mingled with that of the Mississippi,
was nearly as cold as ice-water."
Minesota, notwithstanding its prairie features, has one
magnificent forest. Commencing at a point on the west
side of the river, about eight miles above St. Anthony, a
remarkable belt of heavy timber extends in a southerly
direction, at a right-angle across the St. Peter's, to the
branches of the Blue Earth River, a distance of one hundred and twenty miles. This forest varies, in width, from
fifteen to forty miles, resembling very much the " Cross
Timbers " in the western part of Arkansas. The soil is
unusually deep, covered with the mold of a thousand
years. Wherever the sunlight penetrates the shade, the
little lakes, with which the forest is studded, glisten and
gleam like molten silver.
Minesota is destined to become a great agricultural and
grazing region. Its upland and lowland pastures would
support a dairy that would enrich an empire. All the
principal grains and roots thrive there in great vigor, as
high toward the north as Pembina, just below the dividing line between the IJnited States and British America.
Latitude does not always indicate the climate. The
character of the soil has great influence upon the temperature of the air. A quick, warm soil makes a warm
atmosphere.  The autumns of Mlinesota are greatly
lengthened out by the Indian summer —that smoky,
dreamy, balmy season, which protects the surface from
frost, like a mantle flung over the earth. The cold nips




270             TUIE GREAT WTEST.
vegetation about as early along the Ohio as along the
St. Peter's. The winters of Minesota are cold; but then
they are still and calm, and the icy air does not penetrate
as it does in a windy climate. The snow falls, and there
it lies till spring; and does not, as in Virginia the present
winter, drift over the tree-tops in the valleys, leaving the
hills bare, to freeze any imaginable depth.
The manner of perfecting a squatter's title in the territory, upon the unsurveyed lands, is as follows: "First,
some labor must be bestowed on the claim-such as plowing two or three furrows, or staking it out, so that the
claim may be designated, or the intentions of the claimant
made known. This causes it to be respected for one
year. In the second year, improvements to the value of
fifty dollars or more must be made. During the third
year, it must be occupied, either by the claimant himself,
or by some one for him."  In Minesota, two sections of
land in every township are devoted to the support of
common schools.
The beautiful village of Mendota occupies a fine situation on the St. Peter's, five miles below St. Paul, and
upon the west bank of the Mississippi. There is one
serious drawback upon this attractive town: it is within
the military reservation, and no white people are allowed
to reside there without permission of the United States.
St. Paul, the seat of government, at the head of navigation from  the Lower Mississippi, is built on a level
plateau, terminating, on the river, in a precipitous bluff,
about eightv feet high. But that bluff recedes from the
margin of the river at both the upper and at the lower
end of the town, forming two landings, creating a healthy
rivalry in business. Part of the lower town is situated
on a bench of land, about twenty feet below the level of
the plateau. St. Paul has one disagreeable feature: the




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TABLE OF DISTANCES.               271
streets are narrow; and the land on the edge of the bluff,
instead of being reserved for a promenade, like that of
Iowa City, is cut up into small lots, having their rear
toward the Mississippi; and certain little, but very useful,
buildings present an unpleasant aspect, when viewed from
the river.
The religious statistics of the territory are as yet so
imperfectly made up that but little can be said, with certainty, respecting the denominational character of the
inhabitants.  The Episcopalians have a church at St.
Paul. The Roman Catholics have seven, in different
parts — chiefly mission stations.  The Methodists and
Baptists are supposed to be numerous. On the whole,
MIinesota is one of the most promising regions of country
in the world, and will richly repay the tourist in surveying the beauty of its scenery, and the settler in the
productiveness of its soil.
A railroad now connects Chicago with Galena, and the
remainder of the distance to St. Paul is by steamboat.
The Upper Mississippi generally opens in April, and the
boats continue running till about the first of December. The following table will show the distances from
Galena, viz:
WHOLE DISTANCE.
MILES.  ]MILES.
"'To the mouth of Fever River,..   6        6
Dubuque......   20        26
Cassville..... 31   57
Wisconsin River,.....   26        83
Prairie du Chien.....    5        88
Upper Iowa River,.. 38      126
Bad Ox........   12           138
Root River,..... 23        161
Black River,......   12       173




272               THE GREAT WEST.
MILES.  MILBS.
Chippewa River.....   68         241
Head of Lake Pepin,... 25          266
St. Croix,.......   35         301
St. Paul.......   26         327
"From Galena to St. Peter's, the fare varies from five to
six dollars, for cabin passage; two dollars and fifty cents
for deck passage; freight, per hundred, twenty-five cents;
horses and cattle, per head, four dollars. But families,
with considerable freight, are taken at a much lower rate."




NORTH AMERICAN  LAKES.                   273
CHAPTER XVII.
THE SUPERIOR COUNTRY.
Lake Superior — American coast - Anchorage - Harbors - Danger of navigating the lake —Curious phenomena of the lake -
Transparency of its waters —The mirage of Lake SuperiorIslands-Isle Royale-Lakes in Isle Royale —Perennial ice -
Effect of the extreme cold on the growth of the trees - Rock Harbor - Streams emptying into Lake Superior - Appearance of the
shore - Iron-works of Carp River - Porcupine Mountains - Table
of distances - The La Grande Sables - Pictured Rocks - Ontonagon River - Montreal River - Sturgeon River - The Iron region- The different beds, etc.- Geologists' opinion of the iron
region - Location of good agricultural lands - Advantages of a
railroad through the iron regions - The copper region of the Superior country- Lake Superior reverenced by the Indians - The first
Englishman who visited the copper region - Extract from his journal - First mining company- Mining companies of Keweenaw -
Trap rock - Silver among the copper - Cliff mine - Copper Falls
mine, rich in silver - Largest mass of copper - Table of the products of foreign mines - Eagle Harbor -Game and  speckled
trout - Fisheries of Lake Superior - Climate, etc.
THE North American lakes, consisting of lakes Superior,
Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, present a weatery
surface of ninety thousand square miles, of which more
than one-third, or thirty-two thousand square miles, is
comprised in Lake Superior alone.  That vast inland sea
lies between the forty-sixth and forty-ninth parallels of
latitude, and the eighty-fourth and ninety-second degrees
of longitude west of Greenwich. Its greatest length is
four hundred miles.  Its greatest breadth from  Grand
Island to Neepigon Bay is one hundred and sixty miles.
The surface of the lake is six hundred feet above the




274              THE GREAT WEST.
level of the Atlantic Ocean; but its bottom is three
hundred feet below; for it has a mean depth of nine hundred feet. The French, who were the first explorers of
Lake Superior, fancifully described it as a watery bow, of
which the southern shore was the string, and Keweenaw
Point, the arrow. The lake discharges through the St.
Mary's Strait into lake Huron, which occupies a lower
level, by forty-four feet and eight inches. The strait is
about seventy miles long; but it is divided into two sections by the Falls of St. Mary, fifteen miles below Lake
Superior.  The lower section is navigable for small
steamboats, and vessels drawing six feet of water.  This
section contains four large islands and several smaller ones;
but the principal channel -the westerly one- is nearly
a mile in width. The Falls of St. Mary, or more properly, rapids, are three-fourths of a mile in length, having
a fall, in that distance, of twenty-two feet and ten inches.
The two sections are now united by a steamboat and ship
canal.
Following along the indentations of the southern shore,
around the westerly extremity of the lake, to Arrow River,
opposite to Isle Royale, will give the extreme length of
the American coast, which can not be much less than one
thousand miles; a part of which is in Michigan, part in
Wisconsin, and part in AMinesota.  Lake Superior is
walled in by rocks, which, in some places, are piled in
mountain masses upon the very shore. The waves dash
against precipices and beetling crags, that threaten the
unfortunate mariner, in a storm upon a lee shore, with almost inevitable destruction. There is tolerable anchorage
at the head of St. MIary's Strait. Keweenaw Point has
two sheltering bays; viz, Copper Harbor and Eagle
Harbor. Protection may be found from the surf, under
the lee of the Apostle Islands, at La Pointe.  St. Louis




LAKE SUPERIOR.                275
River, at the head of thle lake, is a good harbor; but the
best harbors are afforded by the indentations of the shores
of Isle Royale.
"Owing to the lofty crags which surround Lake Superior, the winds, sweeping over the lake, impinge upon its
surface so abruptly as to raise a peculiarly deep and
combing sea, which is extremely dangerous to boats and
small craft. It is not safe, on this account, to venture
far out into the lake in bateaux; and hence voyagers
generally hug the shore, in order to be able to take land,
in case of sudden storms. During the months of June,
July, and August, the navigation of the lake is ordinarily
safe; but after the middle of September, great caution
is required in navigating its waters; and boatmen of experience never venture far from land, or attempt long
traverses across bays.  Their boats are always drawn
far up on the land at every camping-place for the night,
lest they should be staved to pieces by the surf, which
is liable, at any moment, to rise, and beat with great fury
upon the beaches."
One of the most curious phenomena of the lake is the
sudden and inexplicable heaving and swelling of its waters,
when the air is still.  MIr. Schoolcraft, who passed over
Lake Superior, in 1820, thus describes it' "Although it
was calm, and had been so all day, save a light breeze
for a couple of hours after leaving the Ontonagon, the
waters near the shore were in a perfect rage, heaving and
lashing upon the rocks in a manner which rendered it
difficult to land. At the same time, scarce a breath of
air was stirring, and the atmosphere was beautifully
serene."  Now this agitation was observed at the close
of the day's voyage, which had carried the party fifty
miles from the Ontonagon; and the slight breeze had been
blowing only a little while in the morning.




276              THE GREAT WEST.
Another noticeable feature of Lake  Superior is the
extraordinary purity and transparency of the water,
through which every pebble may be distinctly seen at
the depth of twenty-five feet. When out in a canoe upon
its surface, the frail vessel does not seem to be afloat upon
a watery element, but suspended in mid-air, with ethereal
depths around and below.' Those who have visited both
Lake George —the world-famous Horicon, whose waters
were at one time carried to Rome to fill the papal fonts -
and Lake Superior, affirm that the latter far surpasses
the former in clearness and transparency. Indeed, they
assure us that, often, while looking down from the hight
at which the boat seems suspended, the head will grow
dizzy, and a feeling of faintness be superinduced. The
water of Lake Superior, like that of lakes Michigan,
Huron, and Erie, is "hard," and unfit for laundry purposes,
without a previous breaking by soda or other means.
This can be accounted for only on the supposition that it
rolls over calcareous beds in some part of its course, but
what part has not yet been ascertained; for the water of
all the streams and springs that flow into the lake, so far
as they have been examined, is found to be " soft," and
so entirely free from earthy or other foreign matter, "that
the daguerreotypist finds it better for his purposes than
the best distilled water of the chemist."
Not less peculiar is the atmosphere around and over
the lake, which plays strange and fantastic tricks in the
face of high heaven, seeming to possess a life and spirit
strictly in unison with the wonderful expanse of waters
that lies spread out below. The mirage of Lake Superior
fills the spectator with astonishment.  For weeks during
the summer, the traveler along the shores of this inland
sea may be gratified by a view of the most curious phantasmagoria-images of mountains and islands being




ROCK HARBOR.                  277
vividly represented, in all their outlines, with their tufts
of ever-green trees, precipices, and rocky pinnacles, all
inverted in the air, and hanging high over their terrestrial
originals, and then agaiii repeated upright in another
picture directly above the inverted one. Rock Harbor, in
Isle Royale, is the most noted locality for observing these
phantasmagoria. But the mirage is not confined to any
particular part of the lake. Frequently, the voyager, long
before he has hove in sight of land, will see the coast he
is approaching pictured upon the skies along the horizon;
and after the real shore has appeared, three views of it
will be presented-two, right side up, according to the
order of creation; and the middle one bottom upward.
Vessels will appear to be sailing in the air, points of land
bent up at right-angles, and the sun at setting twisted into
astonishing shapes.
The skies and the waters seem to harmonize completely together.   While the sky daguerreotypes all
below, the water catches the tints of all that is above,
and the ethereal dome is caverned in the deep.  Mr.
Jackson, United States geologist, says of the lake: "The
color of the water, affected by the hues of the sky, and
holding no sediment to dim its transparency, presents
deeper tints than are seen on the lower lakes - deep tints
of blue, green, and red prevailing, according to the color
of the sky and clouds.  I have seen at sunset the surface
of the lake off Isle Royale of a deep-claret color- a tint
much richer than ever is reflected from the waters of
other lakes, or in any other country I have visited."
Lake Superior, unlike Lake Huron, has but few islands.
The largest of these are Grand Island, situated near
the southern shore, one hundred and thirty-two miles
west of St. Mary's, and represented to have a deep and
landlocked harbor; Middle Island, toward the westerly




278               THE GREAT WEST.
extremity of the lake, near the group of Apostle
Islands; and Isle Royale, near the.northern shore, and
within the jurisdiction of the United States. Isle Royale
is about forty miles long, and averages six miles in width.
It is a most interesting island, "singularly formed, and
sending out long spits of rocks into the lake at its northeastern extremity; while at its south-western end, it
shelves off far into the lake, presenting slightly-inclined
beds of red sandstone; the tabular sheets of which, for
miles from the coast, are barely covered with water, and
offer dangerous shoals and reefs, on which vessels, and
even boats would be quickly stranded, if they endeavored
to pass near that shore." But igneous rocks constitute
the rocky basis of more than four-fifths of the island, and
in those portions of it where these exist, the shores are
precipitous.. "Bold cliffs of columnar trap and castellated
rocks, with mural escarpments, sternly present themselves
to the surf, and defy the storms.  The waters of the lake
are deep close to their very shores, and the largest ship
might in many places lie close to the rocks, as at an artificial pier."
Isle Royale contains a great number of beautiful lakes,
the largest of which is Siskawit Lake, on the southern
side, near Sishawit Bay.  It is also surrounded by innumerable small islands, which cluster close to its shores, as
if for protection from the waves. Mr. Jackson, before
referred to, gives the following interesting description of
the general appearance of Isle Royale:  "Added to the
fantastic irregularities of the coast and its castle-like
islands —the abrupt elevation of the hills inland rising
like almost perpendicular walls from the shores of the
numerous beautiful lakes which are scattered through the
interior of the island, and corresponding with the lines of
mountain upheaval-we observe occasionally rude crags




PERENNIAL ICE.                279
detached from the main body of the mountains, and, in
one place, two lofty twin towers, standing on a hillside,
and rising perpendicularly, like huge chimneys, to the
elevation of seventy feet, while they are surrounded by
the deep-green foliage of the primeval forest."
In the secluded valleys between the hills of Isle
Royale there are either little lakes, or swamps filled with
a dense growth of white cedars. Upon the higher lands,
the timber is a mixture of maple, birch, spruce, fir, and
pine trees, which are of thrifty growth, and will afford
both timber and fuel. The soil of more than nine-tenths
of the island is formed by the decomposition of the trap
rocks; and such a soil is well-known to be warm and
fertile.  In the lowlands, the springs from the hills will
keep the soil cold and wet; but if properly drained, there
is no doubt those lands might be cultivated, and would
produce good crops. Indeed, this is said to have been
proved in the vicinity of Rock Harbor, where the lowland
soil, which was originally covered with swamp-muck, is
now drained and made productive.
In the deep shadow of the crags, and in some of the
thick swamps of cedar, it is said that perennial ice has
been found upon the island; and on the immediate rocky
border of the lake shore, the influence of the wintry winds
from the lake is strikingly exemplified in the stunted
growth of the fir and spruce trees, that get root in the
crevices of the rocks. Mr. Jackson says:  "In numerous instances, we were able to witness the joint effects of
cold air and a limited supply of soil, in retarding the
growth of trees, and giving the wood an extremely fine
texture.   Small trees have sprung up, having all the
appearance of age which the dwarfed trees raised by the
ingenious Chinese gardener are known to present. Those
little trees, from four inches to a foot high, are covered with




280              THE GREAT WEST.
mosses like old trees, and the tiny stem presents in its
bark and wood, the different layers, representing many
seasons. In cutting through these little trees, they were
found, in some instances, to possess forty different annual
rings; and the wood was nearly as hard as boxwood, and
as fine!"
Rock Harbor, on the southern side of the north-easterly
end of Isle Royale, is the largest and most beautiful
haven on Lake Superior. The bay extends about four
miles up into the island.  The water is deep enough for
any vessels, and the harbor is perfectly sheltered from
every wind. Around its entrance are numerous islands,
that stand like so many rocky castles to break the heavy
surges of the lake. " In some respects it resembles the
Bay of Naples, with Procida, Capri, and Ischia, at its
entrance; but no modern volcano completes the background of the picture, though there must at one time
have been greater eruptions there than ever took place
in Italy."
Lake Superior is fed by about eighty streams, which
are represented to be not navigable, except for canoes,
owing to the falls and rapids with which they abound.
The principal ones that flow through American territory
are the St. Louis, Montreal, Presque Isle, Arrow, Little
Montreal, Ontonagon, Eagle, Sturgeon, Huron, Dead,
Carp, Chocolate, La Prairie, Two-hearted, and Tequamenen rivers. The largest of these are the Ontonagon and
Sturgeon rivers, which, by the removal of some obstructions at their mouths, and the construction of piers to
prevent the formation of bars, might be converted into
excellent and spacious harbors, in the immediate vicinity
of some of the most valuable mines, where the want of
safe anchorage is now severely felt; as at Eagle Harbor,
for instance, where the propellers have to cast anchor




RIVERS OF THE SUPERIOR REGION.    281
over a hundred yards out, and the copper intended for
shipment has to be first placed on hoard of a scow, on
which passengers also take a position, and then floated
out to the propellers. The copper is raised on board by
means of a crane, which is stationary upon the side of
the vessel.
The Twin River, or Two-hearted River, as it is called
by the traders, consists in the union of two separate
streams, near the point of its outlet. It empties into the
lake seventy-two miles westward of St. Mary's. A short
distance beyond Grand Island, at the mouth of a small
stream known as Laughing-fish River, a curious flux and
reflux of the water is maintained, similar to the tides of
the ocean. At the mouth of Chocolate River, there is a
large bay setting up deep into the shore, which requires a
day's canoe-travel to circumnavigate it.  Just beyond
that, the traveler will first strike the old crystaline rocks,
or primitive formation. From hence, for two days' travel
to Huron Bay, the shore presents a continuous series of
rough, conical peaks, which are noted for immense bodies
of iron ore, chiefly in the condition of iron glance, from
which the extensive iron-works of Carp River, seated at
the foot of these mountains, are yielding such fine blooms.
Continuing on westward across Keweenaw Bay, the canoe
voyager will enter Portage Lake, embosomed near the
base of Keweenaw Point, and, with a short portage, will
reach the lake west of the'Point without the toil and dis —
tance of circumnavigating it. And, in doing so, he will
observe that the geology of the country has become
entirely changed. He will have passed into the midst of
a region of trap-dike - the great copper-bearing rock of
Lake Superior. Passing onward along the lake, the dimblue outlines of the Porcupine Mountains will rise to
view on the edge of the horizon, directly ahead. These




282             THE GREAT WEST.
mountains, on a clear day, may be seen from a distance
of sixty miles. Soon the voyager will be traversing the
entrances of Little Salmon, Graverod, Misery, and ]Firesteel rivers, to the mouth of Ontonagon River, where a
large body of water enters the lake; but the mouth of the
river is very much obstructed by a sand-bar.  There,
likewise, may be observed another of those curious
refluxes, where the water, impeded and dammed up by
gales, reacts with unusual force.
The following table of distances is made up from the
statements of voyagers, and is supposed to be exaggerated by about one-third, as that class of men always pride
themselves on going long distances. Nevertheless, the
table may be of value.
WHOLE No
MILES. OF MILES.
From Michilimackinac to Detour,. 40
Sault Ste. Marie,.             45  85
Point aux Pius.......  6    91
Point Iroquois, entrance to Lake
Superior........  9   100
Tequamenon River.....  15   115
Shelldrake River......   9   124
White Fish Point......   9   133
Two-hearted River.....  24   157
Grande Marrais......  21   17S
La Point la Grand Sables,..    9   187
Pictured Rocks,..            12   199
Miner's River.......   6   205
Grande Island.......  12   217
River aux Trains......   9   226
Isle aux Trains......   3   229
Laughing-fish River,...       6   235
Chocolate River......  15   250
Dead River, and Presque Isle Bay,  6   256




TABLE OF DISTANCES.               283
WHOLE NO.
MILES. OF MILES.
Granite Point.......  6. 262
Garlic River,........  9. 271
St. John's River,......   15. 286
Salmon River....... 12. 298
Pine River.....  304
Huron River.......    9. 313
East Cape of Keweenaw Bay,. 319
Mouth of Portage River,... 21. 340
Head of Portage River,... 24. 364
Lake Superior, at the end of the
Portage........      1. 365
Little Salmon River,.....    9. 374
Graverod River,......    6. 380
Misery River.......   12. 392
Firesteel River,....... 18. 410
Ontonagon River,......    5. 416
In crossing the St. Marry's Strait, from Point aux Pius
to Point Iroquois, the first view of Lake Superior is to
be had, affording one of the most pleasing prospects in
the world. The St. Mary's River passes out of the lake
between two prominent capes; viz, Gros Cape and Point
Iroquois. The former rises up in high, barren peaks, of
hornblende rock; the latter consists of elevated masses
of red sandstone, covered with a dense forest.
The La Grand Sables is an interesting feature of the
lake coast. The shore consists of "several heavy strata
of the drift era, reaching a hight of two or three hundred feet, with a precipitous front on the lake. The sands,
driven up by the waters, are blown over these bights,
forming a heavy deposit. It is this sandy deposit, falling
down the face of the precipice, that appears to convert
the whole formation into dunes, whereon the sandy coat



284              THE GREAT WEST.
ing rests like a vail.  The number of rapacious birds,
which are observed about these bights, adds to the interest
of the prospect."
The pictured rocks of Lake Superior will always attract the attention of the tourist. That coast of rocks is
twelve miles in length, consisting of a gray sandstone,
and presenting perpendicular walls, which have been
worn by the waves into pillared masses, and cavernous
arches. These caverns yawn into the face of the cliff,
and the winds howl, and the waves roar around their
mouths. A small river leaps from the top of the precipice clear into the lake. At one place the " Doric Rock,"
a vast entablature, rests on two immense water-worn pillars. At another place, the precipice has been completely
undermined, so that it rests solely on a single massive
column, standing in the water. The dark-red clay, overlaying the rocks above, has been washed by the rains
down the face of the precipice, and, being blended with
the sand and dust blown about by the winds, presents a
pictorial appearance.  Schooleraft says: "We almost
held our breath in passing that coast."
The Ontonagon River, for four miles up from its
mouth, is broad and deep, having a gentle current, flowing
through a winding channel, between banks that are heavily wooded, the dark-green foliage overhanging the water.
A long, narrow island divides the river into two channels,
through which the current flows slowly and tranquilly to
the lake. The stream above is broken by frequent rapids.
The soil of the Ontonagon, near its mouth, is coarse and
sandy; but it is said to be productive of garden vegetables. Further up the river the soil becomes clayey and
loamy — very suitable for cultivation.  Several mining
companies have locations on this river; but at its mouth
the land is reserved for the use of the government. The




IRON, COPPER, AND SILVER MINES.    285
banks are from seven to ten feet high, supporting a fine
growth of elm, whitewood, sugar-maple, birch, spruce,
white-pine, and cedar; also, gooseberries and raspberries.
The Montreal River forms the boundary between Michigan and Wisconsin.  It presents many attractions for the
admirers of picturesque scenery, and exhibits the most
beautiful waterfalls any where to be found along the entire coast of Lake Superior.  A little way above its
mouth, and within sight of the lake, the red sandstone
rocks have a northerly dip of seventy degrees; and over
this ledge, the river is precipitated eighty feet, into a deep
circular basin, the sides of which have been excavated by
the rushing waters into a spacious amphitheater. About
three miles further up the river, in a direct line from the
lake, is a second waterfall, said to be fully as beautiful
as the first.
Sturgeon River rises in the country to the south of the
head of Keweenaw Bay; and, running northerly, empties
into Portage Lake. This lake is connected with Superior
by Portage River, which may be ascended by vessels
drawing eight feet of water, and to the head of the lake,
twenty miles inland.   Those streams, together with
the Montreal River, are famous for their sturgeon fisheries. All the rivers that flow into Lake Superior, at a
little distance inland, become very rapid, broken by frequent waterfalls, furnishing water-power in great abundance. The bights of land between Portage Lake and
Montreal River vary from six hundred feet to thirteen
hundred feet in hight.
The Superior country is celebrated alike for its iron, its
copper, and its silver. It can never become much of an
agricultural country; but its mineral resources are very
great, beyond the power of calculation.  The country has
been explored just sufficiently to enable us to form  a
1J                             $




286              THE GREAT WEST.
mere rough guess as to its capability of producing the
most valuable metals in constant use by man. The iron
occupies a region distinct by itself.  The copper and
silver are found blended together.
The iron region of Lake Superior, no less than the
copper region, is one of the wonders of the world. It
commences along the coast of the lake, with the metamorphic rocks, extending from the Chocolate River to the
Dead River, a distance of ten miles, following the shore,
and sweeps away southerly and westerly across the
branches of the Menominee River —the Mlachi-gamig and
the Brule —and the Sturgeon River, and the Esconaha
River, that empties into Little Bay de, Noquet, near the
head of Green Bay. Now, it must be borne in mind, that
the Chocolate River comes into Lake Superior from the
south-east, and the Dead River from the west. On the
meridian intersecting the mouth of the Dead River, the
iron-bearing rocks extend directly south more than eleven
miles; and on that of the Jackson Forge, nine miles
west of the mouth of the river, the iron region is some
fourteen miles in width. Its western limit has not been
determined; but it must be far within the borders of Wisconsin, having been traced in that direction nearly one
hundred miles. The northern limit is nearly on a line
drawn due west from the mouth of the Dead River. The
southerly limit also, from the Chocolate River, runs pretty
much straight west, till beyond the Esconaba, where it
turns off south along the Machi-gamig, and crosses the
Menominee. There the width of the iron region is known
to be more than fifty miles. This valuable mineral tract
has been but partially explored, and no sufficient data
have been furnished to estimate exactly its area.
There is the most abundant authority, however, for
saying, that the iron of the Superior country is both




IRON ORE.                   287
rich and inexhaustible. The following statements, condensed from the reports made by the persons engaged
in the United States geological survey of the mineral
lands, will convey some idea of the extent and quality of
the ore.
The first bed of magnetic ore is situated near the
Menominee River, and in the direction of Fort River, a
branch of the Esconaba, at the corner of townships fortyone and forty-two, north, and between ranges twenty-nine
and thirty, west. It was found in a low ridge, some three
chains in width, which appeared to be one mass of iron
ore, stratified and jointed.  The ore has generally a
granular structure; color, iron-black, passing into steelgray; luster, when fresh broken, metallic, but soon
oxydizes, upon exposure to the atmosphere.
The second bed of ore is situated on the east boundary
of township forty-six north, range thirty west, sections
one and six, along the south-western shore of a small lake,
in the 3Iachi-gamig River. The extent of this bed of ore
is unknown; but it borders that side of the lake, from
twenty to fifty feet in hight. The ore is likewise stratified
and jointed, so that it may be quarried with ease. In color
and luster, it resembles the first-fresh fractures appearing
like fine-grained cast-iron. Now, this bed of ore extends
along through a range of hills on the north-easterly side
also of that lake, to an unknown extent, and in a mass so
great as to stagger belief. Let the surveyor speak for
himself: "The river here forms a lake-like expansion, and
is bounded on the north-east by a range of hills, which
rise abruptly to the hight of two hundred feet above the
water.  We explored this ridge, and found that it was
composed, for the most part, of nearly pure specular oxyd
of iron. It shoots up in a perpendicular cliff, one hundred
and thirteen feet in hight, so pure, that it is difficult to




288              THE GREAT WEST.
determine its mineral associations. WVe passed along the
base of this cliff for more than a quarter of a mile, seeking for a gap, through which we might pass, and gain the
summit. At length, and by clambering from one point to
another, we succeeded. Passing along the brow of the
cliff, forty feet, the mass was comparatively pure; then
succeeded a bed of quartz, composed of grounded grains,
with small specks of iron disseminated, and large, rounded
masses of the same material inclosed, constituting a
conglomerate. This bed was fifteen feet in thickness, and
was succeeded again by specular iron, exposed in places
to the width of one hundred feet; but the soil and trees
prevented our determining its entire width.  This one
cliff contains iron sufficient to supply the world for ages;
yet we saw neither its length nor its width, but only an
outline of the mass."
It may be proper here to suggest, that the best possible
use that can be made of the capital afloat in the importing trade, would be to make one more investment in English railroad iron, to lay a track from Green Bay up the
Esconaba River, which reaches within a mile of this
mountain of iron, and make it accessible. Whoever will
do this will do more to promote the wealth of the country
than ever has yet been done by opening mines; for iron is
the most valuable mineral on the continent, despite the
copper further north, and the gold of California.  Set
this native mountain of ore once to running, and it will
flow throughout the earth, superseding the iron of all
other countries.
The third bed of ore is situated on the east boundary
of township forty-seven north, range twenty-nine west,
near section thirteen, in another cliff, facing souih-west,
and varying from twenty to fifty feet in hight. The ore
is stratified and jointed, and in quality similar to the




THE IRON REGION.                 289
other beds.  The extent of this bed is likewise unknown.
Thirteen chains distant, south-south-west, from the main
mass, on the shore of a pond, the ore rises above the
surface in the form of a knob, thirty feet in hight.
The fourth bed of ore is near the south boundary of
township  forty-eight north, range  twenty-eight west,
on section four, consisting of a knob of iron fifty feet
in bight.
The fifth bed of ore is in the next township west of the
fourth bed, on section thirty-two, consisting of a fidge of
iron ore eight feet in hight. It was traced seventy-five
chains.  This bed is very extensive, and highly magnetic.
In quality it is similar to the others.
In this manner the surveyors proceed to enumerate orebed after ore-bed, throughout the various townships of
that great mineral tract.  The foregoing is probably sufficient to satisfy the reader of the existence of exhaustless beds of that ore in the Superior country. With the
mention of one more ore-bed, this enumeration shall
cease.  It is referred to because it is much nearer the
Chocolate River than the others, being directly south of
the Jackson furnace six miles, in township forty-seven,
range twenty-six, sections twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one,
and thirty-two. There are two hills of the ore, made up
almost entirely of granulated, magnetic, or specular iron,
with small quantities of spathous and micaceous iron.
The more northerly hill extends east and west full a
quarter of a mile, and is over one thousand feet in width -
a single mass of ore. The ore breaks readily into subrhomboidal fragments, in such manner as will greatly
facilitate the operations of mining.
In conclusion, the geologists say: "This iron region is
the most valuable and extensive in the world for the manufacture of the finer varieties of wrought-iron and steel.




290              THE GREAT WEST.
When we consider the immense extent of the district, the
mountain masses of the ore, its purity and adaptation to
the manufacture of the most valuable kinds of iron, and
the immense forests which cover the surface, suitable for
charcoal, this district may be pronounced unrivaled. The
ore consists mainly of the specular, or peroxyd of iron,
an admixture of the fine-grained magnetic. In some instances, the whole ridge, or knob, appears to consist of
one mass of pure ore-so pure that no selection is
required; but an unlimited quantity might be quarried, or
picked up in loose blocks around the slopes.  In others, the
ore is mixed with scams of quartz or jasper, which renders it less valuable, and requires some care for the
selection. The iron in such cases presents a banded or
contorted structure, or alternating seams of steel-gray
and brilliant red. The appearance of a mountain cliff,
thus made up, is extraordinary.  The iron mountain
of Missouri becomes insignificant compared with these
immense deposits."
The surveyors report some good agricultural lands in
this district. The following table will show the location
of them, viz.:
Townships 42 north, in ranges 32, 33, 34, and 35 west.
Townships 43 north, in ranges 32, 33, 34, and 35 west.
Townships 47 north, in ranges 27 and 28 west.
Townships 48 north, in ranges 27 and 28 west.
Townships 49 north, in ranges 32, 33, 34, and 35 west.
Townships 50 north, in ranges 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34,
and 35 west.
These tracts of fertile land will become of great value,
when the rivers shall have been opened, and a mining
population introduced, creating a sure and convenient
home-market for the productions of the farm.
This bountiful iron region, in most part, sustains a




COPPER MINES.                291
heavy growth of maple, birch, pine, and oak timber; and
the streams, numerous and rapid, supply any amount of
water-power. If a railroad was constructed from Little
Bay de Noquet, on Green Bay, to Keweenaw Bay, on Lake
Superior, a distance of one hundred and ten miles, through
the heart of the iron region, those extensive ore-beds
would be left no longer unoccupied and useless. It would
seem to be like offering an indignity to Providence to
neglect the development of such magnificent resources,
placed within the borders of the United States.
Next in importance, after the iron, is the copper of the
Superior country. The region where that metal is found,
along the southern shore of the lake, is described, as follows, by Messrs. Foster and Whitney, United States
geologists: "The examination of a great number of
localities has demonstrated that the veins of copper, and
its ores, in the sandstone and conglomerate, are not to be
relied on, and that when worked, even to an inconsiderable
depth, they give out. Although copper is found at short
intervals, from the Pictured Rocks to the Montreal River,
in this rock, yet we have designated no tract in it as
mineral land. As all the productive lodes are confined
to the ranges of trap, all of the mineral tracts designated
lie within those ranges. What is generally known as the
trap-range, consists of a belt of igneous rocks, composed
for the most part of hornblende and feldspar, which in
places have broken through the sandstones, tilting them
up at high angles; but oftener are found in alternating
beds, having the same dip as the detrital rocks. The trap
range extends from Montreal River-the western boundary of the district — and disappears in the lake at the
extremity of Keweenaw Point. Its general course is a
little north of east, preserving a pretty uniform parallelism  with the southern coast of Lake Superior.  Its




292              THE GREAT WEST.
width varies from two miles to twelve. Throughout this
range —nearly one hundred and fifty miles in extent —
copper, mostly native, is disseminated, but more profusely
in some places than others.. In fact, there may be said to
exist two centers of metallic riches, around each of which
copper has been accumulated in considerable quantity,
but under circumstances somewhat different. The one
may be designated as the Keweenaw Point center, which
has a system of veins cutting across the trap-range.  The
other may be designated as the Ontonagon center; and
here the veins preserve a certain parallelism with the
ranges, or run with the formation."
The red sandstone and conglomerate rocks of Keweenaw  Point undoubtedly existed long before the traprocks were pushed up through them, and were produced
by the deposition of fine sand and pebbles in water; for
the ripple marks are well preserved, and record this fact
in the most absolute and positive manner. It is supposed
that, by pressure and heat, the materials of a loose, shifting
sand, became converted into a solid sandstone, the layvers
of sand foirming the different strata.  Previous to the
action of the disturbing forces from beneath, the sandstone must have been composed in horizontal layers, as
water necessarily deposits a mechanical sediment in that
manner. But the sandstone has been broken through by
the trap-rocks, and' elevated at considerable angles along
the line of its disruption. It is plain, that the forcing of
a melted mass of rocks up through such a sedimentary
strata must have exerted a powerful influence upon the
sediment itself. Accordingly, it is found, at Keweenaw
Point, that a chemical combination took place, of the
material of the sandstone with the material of the trap
rocks, along the line of junction, resulting in the formation of an amygdaloid rock. And between the sandstone




COPPER OF SUPERIOR.                   293
and the trap is found a mass of broliken, indurated sandstone, scoria of fused trap, and sandstone, amygdaloidal
and compact trap, and porphyry.   which together form,
when re-cemented by heat, a rock known as trap-tuff or
breccia.  Near Eagle River, the trap breccias occupy a
considerable space between the sandlstone and the amlvgdaloid; and sonie hav\e mistalkcen them for a conglomerate
of the sandstones in that vicinity.  And whlien the trap
rocks conjoin with the sandstone, the foIrmer is found to
be amlygdaloidal, and the cavities generally filled with
chlorite, in particles varying  in size from a pea to a walnut.  In one- portion, it has been noticed that, whenever a
cavity is filled withl chlorite, a granule of copper will be
found concealed in its center; but nearer the copper veins
the cavities are oftener filled with pulre copper or silver,
or with both ihcse metals.  One of the most surprising
features of the trap region of Lahe Superior is the occurrence of veins of solid metallic copper., admixed with
natire silver, and vet not alloyed with it.  Two veins
occurrilng   in a stratified rock generally traverse the strata
at a considerable angle, and aye more regular than those
which run parallel to the layers, possessing well-defined
walls, and  often  incrusted  with  vein-stone, prehnite,
quartz, and calcareous spar.  The rocky fissure is filled
with vein-stones of different kinds, which, together with
the accompanying minerals, constitute the lode.  Sometimes the veins, at the surface, are composed entirely
of prehnite, anld contain only  minute speckls of copper
inclosed in the crystals, or sparsely scattered throughout
the mass.  Beneath tlis covering of vein-stones is found
the solid metallic copper of Lake Superior.
The rocks of the coppyer regiotn have been elevated to
anll angle of about forty degrees, inclining to the northwest, by the terrific forces that injected the molten copper
13:




294              THE GREAT WEST.
throughout their cracks and crevices. Along the hillsides, where, by reason of this angular elevation, the rocks
are made to out-crop the superincumbent masses of
decayed rock, and other accumulations, have been washed
away by the action of torrents; and the metal, in some
places, appears at the surface.  Some of those points,
where the copper is thus exposed, would seem to have
attracted the attention of the Indians, long before any
white man ever trod the bleak and sterile shores of Lake
Superior. Along the banks of the Ontonagon River have
been found the ancient mines, to which the tribes must
have resorted for a supply of copper for the manufacture
of tools and ornaments. The metal was very highly
prized by them; and pieces of native copper were treasured
up with great care, and used as an article of traffic. It
is evident that the aboriginal miners were not more
advanced toward civilization than the Indians generally;
because the mining and other implements, found on the
Ontonagon in the ancient excavations, are precisely similar
to those which are known to have been in u-se among the
tribes of the Atlantic coast. The stone-hammers, made
of oval pebbles, groved about the middle, for withes,
which formed the handles, were the native instruments for
breaking out pieces of copper, on Lake Superior, and for
breaking the hard rocks of Moosehead Lake for the arrow
and spear-heads of the eastern Indians. Such hammers,
together with half-finished stone scalping-knives, have
been found both at Ontonagon and at Eagle River. The
Indian miner also assisted the operation of breaking the
rocks by kindling fires upon them; and hence the origir
of the charred brands and coal that have been found
around the battered and beaten projections of copper.
The Lake Superior was greatly reverenced by the
Indians inhabiting its shores at the time of the early




MR. HENRY VISITS THE COPPER REGION.   295
explorations of the Jesuit missionaries. Claude Allouez
says, respecting this superstition: "irThe savages respect
this lake as a divinity, and make sacrifices to it; on
account perhaps, of its magnitude, for it is two hundred
leagues long and eighty wide; or on account of its goodness in furnishing them with fishes, which nourish all these
people, where there is but little game. There are often
found, beneath the water, pieces of copper, all formed, and
of the weight of ten and twenty pounds. I have seen
them many times in the hands of the savages; and as they
are superstitious, they keep them as so many divinities, or
as presents from the gods beneath the water, who have
given them as pledges of good fortune. On that account,
they keep the pieces of copper enveloped among their
most precious furniture. There are some who have preserved them for more than fifty years, and others who
have had them in their families from time immemorial, and
cherish them as household gods."
The first Englishman that ever visited the copper region was Alexander Henry, who, after having his hair
almost started out of his head at the frightful massacre
of Michilimackinac, continued in the Superior country for
several years, poking about among its ravines and precipices with a most refreshing indifference to danger. One or
two extracts from his journal will show what he saw there.
"On the 19th of August, 1765, we reached the mouth
of the Ontonagon River, one of the largest on the south
side of the lake. At the mouth was an Indian village;
and three leagues above, a fall, at the foot of which
sturgeon, at this season, were obtained so abundant, that
a month's subsistence for a regiment could have been
taken in a few hours. But I found this river chiefly remarkable for the abundance of virgin copper which is on
its banks and in its neighborhood.




296               THE GREAT WEST.
"On my way back to Mlichilimackinac, I encamped a
second time at the mouth of the Ontonagon River, and
now took the opportunity of going ten miles up tbe river
with Indian guides.  The object for which I most expressly went, and to which I had the satisfaction of being
led, was a mass of copper of the weight, according to my
estimate, of no less than five tons.  Such was its pure
and malleable state, that, with an ax, I was able to cut
off a portion weighing a hundred pounds.  On viewing
the surrounding surface, I conjectured that the mass, at
some period or other, had rolled down the side of a lofty
hill which rises at its back."   This copper rock has been
removed to WTashington, and may now be seen lying on
the ground near the War Department.'That same enterprising explorer was also the first to
organize a Lake Superior AMining Company.  In 1770,
Messrs. Baxter, Bostwick, and Henry built a barge at
Point aux Pius, and laid the keel of a sloop of forty tons.'Ihey were in search of gold and silver, and expected to
make their fortunes.  T'lhe other partners in England
were "His Royal Highness, the Duke of Gloucester; Mr.
Secretary Townshend; Sir Samuel rTuchet, Bart.; 3Mr.
Baxter, consul of the Empress of Russia; and Mr. Cruikshank: in America, Sir William  Johnson, ]3art.; Mr.
Bostwick; Mr Baxter, and myself. A charter had been
petitioned for, and obtained; but, owing to our ill success,
it was never taken from the seal-office.":Mr. Baxter
sold the sloop and other effects of the company, and paid
its debts, which certainly was a most commendable feature of their operations.  Lake Superior seems then to
have been abandoned, and its mineral resources forgotten.
Since 1845, public attention has been again drawn
toward the Superior country.  Its mineral lands have
been surveyed, affording tolerably accurate information




MIINING COM3PANIES.              297
of the localities where the ores of copper, and iron, and
silver abound.  A  large number of mining companies
have belen organized, and some of them have gone into
successful operation.  It has been stated that there are
forty-one companies carrying on mining operations at
Keweenaw Point alone, among which are the following:
Norlthlwest, S'iskowit, Algonquin, Piscataqua, Ontonagon, Boheniia, Chesapeake, and Cape-eight, having
their offices in Philadelphia; the Pittsburg and Boston,
Northwestern, North American, Iron City, Eureka, Ohio
Trap Rock, Colling, Ohio, Aztec, Adventure, Ridge, and
Fire-Steel- twelve, having their offices at Pittsburg;
the  3Minesota,  Norwich, Wheal  Kate, Albion, and
Forest - five, with their offices in New York; the Copper Falls, Phmnix, Winthrop, Dana, Douglass Houghton,
Quincey, Alcomah, Farm, and Toltec-nine, with their
offices in Boston.
The belt of the trap rocks on Keweenaw Point is three
miles in width, in its narrowest part, and seven miles in
its widest. It underlies seven townships, or, more exactly,
two hundred and seventeen sections of land, between Portage Lake and the extremity of the promontory.  It is
exceedingly rich in copper and silver. Trhe country is
broken, hilly, and irregular, and very much cut up by the
streams.  r'he soil is represented to be of an excellent
quality - warm  and fertile, as trappean soils generally
are; and is covered with a heavy growth of hard-wood
forest-trees, with some soft-wood.'The forests are more
open than those on the adjacent sandstone rocks, and the
timber is more thrifty. The appearance of the trap-rock
is quite singular; for the melted mass, when it was forced
up from below, did not burst out in circular spaces, or
through cylindrical chimneys, like lava eruptions of modern times; but intruded itself through chasms and frac



298              THE GREAT WEST.
tures of the superincumbent rocks, frequently overflowing
them, and spreading out between the strata, and existing
as intervening masses, or beds.
At the Lake Superior Company's mines, shaft number
two, passing into the western side of the vein, was very rich
in copper and silver at the surface, where it immediately
bordered upon the leader, and impoverished as it left it in
descending. So, after working downward, for a time,
through barren rock, "the miners sent off a level toward
the river, with the intention of striking the vein under the
stream; but, to their great surprise, opened into a deep
and wide ravine, or ancient channel of the river, filled
with great masses of copper, lumps of copper and silver
mixed, small globules of pure silver-all rounded and
worn by the action of running water, and mixed with
sand, gravel, and pebbles. A single mass of silver was
obtained from this ravine, which weighed more than six
pounds, and was worth one hundred and thirty dollars."
That lump of silver is now in the cabinet of the United
States Mlint, at Philadelphia. MIasses of copper were
also found in that ravine, weighing a thousand pounds.
These were exported to France.
The Cliff Mine, belonging to the Boston and Pittsburg Mining  Company, is situated on the south-west
branch of Eagle River, three miles from the office of the
Lake Superior Company. "The Cliff Mine," says 3Mr.
Jackson, United States geologist, "is one of the most
remarkable known, for the enormous masses of native
copper it contains. One of the masses, now got out, is
estimated at fifty tons weight. It is cut by means of
steel chisels, driven by blows of a heavy sledge-hammerone man holding the chisel, while the other strikes with
the sledge; a groove is mortised out across the mass of




COPPER MINING.                 299
copper; and then a series of ribbons of it, about a quarter
of an inch in thickness, are cut out, until the channel thus
mortised divides the mass.  The copper is perfectly mal
leable and ductile, and is very tough.  The masses of
solid copper are very pure, and ought to yield more than
ninety per cent. of refined metal."
To get out such huge masses of copper, a place is
sought in the shaft where a hole may be bored into the
rock, and then firing a heavy blast. This starts the copper from the wall of rock, and sometimes removes it entirely. It is then cut up with chisels. This vein varies
from two to four feet in width, and increases in width and
richness as it descends in the rock. The hight of the
cliff in which this vein is seen, is nearly three hundred
feet, and the upper exposure of the veins, two hundred
and thirteen feet. The top of the cliff is seven hundred
feet above Lake Superior.
At the Copper Falls mines, about two hundred feet
above the level of the lake, the shafts descend perpendicularly into the rock nearly to that depth. There is a vein
of solid copper. The sheets of copper are of amazing
dimensions. Mr. Jackson says: 1" One of the masses of
copper got out was twenty feet long, nine feet wide, and
from four to six inches thick, and weighed, by estimation,
ten tons."  The Copper Falls mines are exceedingly rich
in silver. In many parts of the vein, from twenty-five to
one hundred dollars' worth of silver is contained in an
hundred weight of rock. Mr. Jackson analyzed a rich
specimen, which yielded five ounces of silver to six pounds
of veinstone.
rThe largest mass of copper that has yet been removed,
was at the bottom of the Cliff Mine, and was estimated
to weigh eighty tons. It was pure copper, having a den



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PRODUCTS OF COPPER MINES.           301
sity equal to- that of the hammered copper of commerce,
and much tougher than that which is obtained by artificial
smelting.
The great national value of the copper mines of Lake
Superior will be seen by comparing their capability for
the production of metal with the other copper mines in
different parts of the earth. The following table exhibits
the foreign mines, together with the annual yield of metal.
Sweden..  1,000 tons.
Russia..........                2,000 "
Hungary.........  2,000  "
Hartz Mountains......        212  "
East Germany..                143  "
Hesse..........    500  "
Norway..........   7,200  "
United Kingdom of Great Britain,  14.465
Mexico.........                 200'
The principal landing-place on Keweenaw Point, to get
access to the mines, is Eagle Harbor. The village occupies a beautiful site. The houses are built on the rising
ground, in a magnificent grove of Norwegian pines. The
harbor is a fraction less than a mile wide; the greatest
depth of water, one hundred feet; depth on the bar, ten
feet; and there it can be easily deepened to sixteen feet,
by blasting away the rocks. This ought to be done for the
safety of loaded steamboats, which frequently take shelter
in the bay.
The Superior country is quite destitute of game; but
the waters abound in fish of the choicest kinds. The
streams throughout the iron region are alive with speckled
trout. The lake fisheries will one day rival those of the
T




302              THE GREAT WEST.
ocean, both in extent and value. Isle Royale is a favorite
place of resort for fishermen, who take there great numbers
of the siskowit-the fattest and finest variety of the laketrout family; also, lake-trout and whitefish. The siskowit has been known to attain to the weight of twenty-five
pounds; and the lake trout, fifty pounds. The siskowit
has only to become introduced into the eastern market, to
take the place of all other fish, as a delicacy for the table
of the epicure. The capability of the fisheries of the
Superior country may be estimated by the quantities
taken at one place, near Mlackinaw, at which ten thousand
barrels are packed annually. The preparations for packing are very simple. After being cleaned, the fish are
laid, with the scales on, upon broad benches, and salted;
then thrown into a box, or crate, with a grating at the
bottom, to drain. Sometimes a common wagon-wheel is
used, suspended by a rod passing through the hub; the
water passes off from the fish, between the spokes. After
draining, the packing commences. Fish are an important
article of food. at the mines, and will continue to become
more valuable as the business of mining increases.
The Superior country is a healthy country; but the
climate is too cold and forbidding, and the winters too
long, to attract emigrants, who prefer to cultivate the
soil. In July, the days are very warm; the nights, however, are cool. The changes in the temperature are very
sudden and very great. It is no uncommon thing for the
thermometer, to fall forty degrees in twenty-four hours.
Frosts occur about the tenth of September, sufficient to
kill all vegetation. The snows attain to the depth of six
feet, and remain to the last of May. Winter sets in early
in October. During the fall months there are frequent
and terrible gales of wind, and storms of rain and snow,




FUTURE DEVELOPMENT.              303
The Superior country will one day be erected into a
territory by itself, or admitted as a state. It will be, for
all time, not only a mine of wealth to the Union, but
also a nursery of a tough, hardy, and energetic race of
men. The full development of its vast resources would
require a population that will make it the great northern
hive of America.




304               THE GRIEAT WEST.
CHAPTER XVIII.
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA.
Boundary of Kansas - Best lands open for settlement - Valleys of the
tributaries of the Arkansas River, and of the Smoky Hill Fork of
the Kansas - Pasturage —The land between the desert hills and
the Rocky Mountains - The Kansas River -Valley of the Grand
River-Timber-Coal - Springs - Council Grove - The Grand
Prairie- The Upper Arkansas- Pawnee Rock- The mirage -
Table of distances from Independence City to Pawnee Rock - The
Santa F6 trade- Southern Kansas ores - Settlements of Eastern
Kansas - Kansas laws for the recognition of land claims - Indians
of Kansas - "First right" - Table of distances firom Fort Riley to
Missouri border — Military roads - Climate of Kansas - Nebraska.
KANSAS Territory lies spread out between the thirtyseventh and the fortieth parallels of north latitude, and
from the border of Missouri clear over the Rocky Mountains.  The northern boundary consists of a straight line,
running due east and west. The southern boundary is
directsy west along the line of the Indian Territory, and
of Texas to New Mexico; thence, ascending northward
one degree, it again turns away westward. The eastern
portion, therefore, is considerably wider than the western.
The territory comprises an area of nearly one hundred
and fifteen thousand square miles. It has been suggested,
that "ultimately, the State of Kansas will probably be
restricted, by cutting off the western portion to form a new
state or states, so as to leave this about three hundred miles
long, from east to west, and two hundred wide, from north
to south." The eastern boundary, for more than one hundred miles, is formed by the Missouri River, between the
mouth of the Kansas and the southern border of Nebraska.




BEST LANDS OPEN FOR SETTLEMENT.    305
The eastern and the western extremities of the territory comprise the best lands in Kansas; the middle regions
being quite indifferent, and in some places absolutely
barren. The finest portions now open for settlement are
comprised in the strip which extends across the territory
contiguous to the Missouri boundary, varying in width
from seventy-five to one hundred and eighty miles. This
tract of land has a limestone basis; and the soil, consisting of a dark vegetable mold far superior to the ordinary
prairie soil, is exceedingly fertile, and of great depth.
The soil, throughout the entire region, is represented as
having an average depth of four feet, which, with its calcareous quality, and freedom  from  stone, makes it most
desirable for agricultural purposes.  The bottom-lands
along the borders of the rivers are equal to any in the
world. The upland is composed of a continual succession
of ridges and valleys, rising and falling with the regularity of ocean waves. The general direction of the ridges
is north and south, except where their uniformity is broken
by the courses of the streams. The rivers are belted with
timber; but the forests are not so thick, nor the trees so
large. as those which originally grew in New York and
Ohio. The woods have not a sufficient supply of timber
for a dense population; but it is presumed to be sufficient
for the purposes of settlement, until hedges can be raised,
and the fires shut out frorim the plains, permitting a growth
of trees to spring up where now every twig is consumed.
The effect of narrowing the limits of the autumnal fires
will, no doubt, be the same in Kansas that it has been in
Missouri, converting prairie into thrifty timbered lands.
The upland country, diversified with hills and valleys, is
rendered picturesque by groves, scattered unevenly and
irregularly over the surface, sometimes on the hillsides,




306              THE GREAT WEST.
but oftener in the valleys, consisting, in the former case,
of the stately cottonwoods, and in the latter, of elms.
Clumps of oak are found in some places.  The timber of
the bottom-lands consists of oak, ash, elm, white and
sugar-maple, and hickory.  This eastern tract is known
among the overland travelers to Oregon and California
as the region of "tall grass."  The blade is coarse and
rough at the edges, like the grass of Illinois. It ordinarily attains to the hight of three feet, toward the close of
summer; but where the land is moist it grows more luxuriantly, and is said to become "tall enough to hide from
view horse and rider."  In June, those rolling prairie
lands are covered with gaudy flowers. The small streams
are quite numerous, having their sources in springs; and
though they may not entirely dry up, they are, nevertheless, "dry-weather streams," showing little more in September than pebbly beds, but swelled full, muddy and
turbulent, in the spring.'l'These streams have cut their
channels down deep in the soil, forming ravines difficult
to cross; but with their borders fringed with timber, and
winding through the country in all directions, they add
very much to the beauty of the landscape.
Immediately contiguous to the fertile plains of eastern
Kansas is a narrow belt, averaging twenty miles in width,
of an entirely different character, having a sandstone basis.
The country is not so rolling.' Spring-water is rarely
found; but there are many large rivers, together with
their head streams, which flow through this tract. As a
general thing, the soil would be considered too light and
sandy for profitable cultivation.  The traveler will observe that the hickory timber has entirely disappeared,
and the few trees which he will find " are mostly the blackjack, elm, cottonwood, ash, and willow."  This region,
however, is said to possess some attractions for the tourist.




TRIBUTARIES OF THE ARKANSAS RIVER.   307
It has been thus described:  "Here the finest patches of
buffalo grass intermingle with stinted meads of tall grass,
and beds of pale-green moss, long and slender; which,
with the oxlip, blue and white violet, and, near the
streams, a sensitive plant of yellow-cup dotted with jet,
and many another of the floral sisterhood, fragile and aromatic as the field-flowers of the Atlantic, all blooming in
the lively green of the vernal season, form a mosaic, as
agreeably contrasted as any garden of art."
Further to the westward is a region which possesses
considerable interest, and affords some advantages for
keeping flocks and herds.  It is not a belt of country
stretching like the other two across the territory, but consists rather of long reaches of fertile and well-watered
land, lying upon the banks of the tributaries of the Arkansas River, and of the Smoky Hill Fork of the Kansas.
The valleys of these streams are much depressed below
the level of the surrounding and intervening plains. The
river bluffs often sweep away from the banks in semicircular walls, to a distance of three and four miles, inclosing narrow sections of fertile bottom-lands, covered with
vegetable mold to the depth of many feet. These are
studded with groves of willow and cottonwood, and sometimes of ash, and, along the Arkansas, but rarely, groups
of oak, and mezquit. These alluvial lands are highly
productive; but the plains are supposed to be worthless
for cultivation, though finely adapted to pasturage, being
covered with the buffalo grass, "which has been described "
as " a soft, slender, and very nutritious blade, seven
inches high when. in perfection, but nearly every where
so cropped down by herds of buffalo and antelope as to
look like a lawn over which the scythe has lately passed."
Beyond this is the vast tract known as the American
Desert, extending from  Nebraska through Kansas into




808              THE GREAT WEST.
Texas and New Mexico. There are no small streams,
and but few rivers, flowing through this desolate region.
The surface is almost a dead, uniform level, sweeping in
every direction to the horizon, and is composed of a
heavy gray and yellow clay, destitute of rocks and stone,
with not a single tree, only here and there a grease-bush,
or knob of cactus, and a few juiceless blades of bitter,
unpalatable grass. The desert terminates to the westward in a range of hills composed of marl and limestone,
which rise abruptly from the plain, and have precipitous
sides and flat tops. This narrow belt of hill-country is
known as the range of "buttes."
From  the desert-hills to the Rocky Mountains is a
beautiful, fertile country, resembling, in many respects,
eastern Kansas, but more broken, with an abundance of
timber, and innumerable rivulets. The soil is rich and
warm. The country is filled with sheltered valleys. The
scenery is represented as exceedingly beautiful and
various - a mixture of mountains, valleys, streams, waterfalls, natural meadows, and groves of cedar, walnut, and
oak. But few persons have visited that distant region,
and little is known concerning it, except this, that all
agree in saying that it is very attractive, and appears to
possess a good soil, with plenty of wood-land, and a mild,
salubrious climate.
Probably the choicest lands, and the most easily accessible, within the borders of Kansas, are those which lie
along the river from which the territory has taken its
name. Mr. Greene, in his interesting book on the Kansas
Region, gives the following description of the river: "The
Kansas River at its delta is six hundred yards wide; and,
for the first hundred miles above, its average width is
nearly the same; from Pottawatomie to Big Blue it is
four hundred yards; and, from that to Fort Riley, two




KANSAS RIVER.                  309
hundred yards.  This river is turbid like the lower ~Mississippi.  For one hundred and twenty-five miles from the
mouth, it is quite straight-above that it is crooked as
the mad Missouri; but the current is less rapid, there are
fewer snags, the banks are firmer, and not so often cut
away for new channels. It is a good navigable stream,
for three months in the year, and in very wet seasons, for
as many as five months. Ascending fifteen miles, to the
entrance of Delaware creek, the river is bordered with
wood-land and prairie; and from  thence to Fort Riley,
both banks are heavily timbered, with here and there a
high bottom of dry, rich alluvion. Along every few miles
of this region, fine arable bluffs project boldly into, or
swell out gently from the rippling waters that float dreamily by, or glide on with arrowy sweep. On the north side
there is a mound of remarkable beauty; from the western
curve of which a brook, poetically named The Stranger,
pours in its pellucid tribute; and immediately above,
there is a great horseshoe bend, where a tract of excellent bottom-land, high and dry, might, with much saving
of labor, be inclosed by a fence of a few rods across the
neck.  Opposite, there is a gradually-rising grass-plat,
ornamented with groups of trees, and rolling up into a
bold and broad prairie. Still passing up the Kansas,
from the foot of a low bluff on the north, Sugar creek
comes in, under spread of a grape thicket of several thousand acres, alternated with a rich walnut bottom.  Near
by, an abundance of coal is found; and an undulating
eminence, diversified with grove and prairie, affords an
eligible site for a flourishing city.  On the south, the
Wakaroosa flows in, near the western limit of the Shawnee Reserve.  The Wakaroosa, like most other western
streams, is in some places deeply indented, clearing its
banks canal-like, and revealing a fat, black loam, five feet
14




310              THE GREAT WEST.
in depth.  Studding the banks of the rivulets, and in
(,lumps on the prairie, are several varieties of plum, wild
cherry, the delicious pawpaw, persimmon, hazel-nut, and
hickory, white and black walnut, coffee-bean, butternut,
gooseberry, haw, and, of all nuts, the unapproachable
pecan. The soil is well adapted to the culture of the
apple, peach, pear, and currant, and produces exuberant
crops of wheat, hemp, corn, buckwheat, oats, rye, potatoes, tobacco, and all the vegetables of the eastern states.
Proceeding up the Kansas, the next region of mark is
that adjacent to Grasshopper creek. Here is a bluff of
more than ordinary beauty, commanding a wide and
pleasant prospect. From this to Mud creek, a prairiebottom spreads out its lap of natural treasures, alluring
the industrious emigrant to pause and make himself a
home. At the Hundred Mile Point, on the north side,
rises a lofty, handsome bluff. lilke an island, from out a sea
of timber; its summit decorated with inwoven foliage of
the oak and walnut; while afar, the thick rolls of prairie
surge off to the horizon, with its narrow curtain of haze
separating the bright-green from the brighter blue. Along
the left bank, the prairie dips smooth and velvety to the
river's rim. Pursuing the westward route, there is a rapid
alternation of meadow and grove, affording the largest
facilities for farming. Next we have Uniontown, a village
of log cabins, a mile to the south of the river. Twentyfive miles above, the Vermilion River disgorges; with its
umbrageous binding of timber, like a dark serpent, trailing out to the north. This stream is marked with many
available mill-sites. And, in fact, it is upon the northern
tributaries of the Kansas, deeply indented, and of descending volume, that the most frequent and valuable waterpower of the territory is to be found; a short distance
above, the Big Blue pours in its affluence of waters from




VALLEY OF THE GRAND RIVER.                311
the hills of Nebraska.  From  this point, the southern
acclivity of the Kansas Valley presses against the channel every  four or five miles, inlocking  intervals of
enticing loveliness, and snug little coves for tranquil neighborhoods; while on the northern bank, there is a continuous bottom, five miles broad, stretching down-stream  for
fifty miles; not so extensive, but in richness rivaling the
American Bottom  south of St. Louis, and more elevated
and healthier, blessed with a salubrious atmosphere, and
not subject, like that, to inundation.  Immediately west
of the Blue, a fine prairie slopes northward further than
the eye can follow; and a lawn of several thousand
acres is inclosed by a river-bend, with an isthmus of
about a half a mile.  While from an adjacent bluff, ledges
of building-stone crop out."
The valley of the Grand River —a branch of the Arkansas —possesses a great many attractions for agriculturists.  Commencing  south of Fort Riley, the valley
extends south-easterly, almost to the boundary of the territory.  Indeed, the advantages offered to the emigrant in
the regions upon the Grand and Osage rivers are fully
equal to any in Kansas.  The country is beautifully
rolling, and inclines greatly toward the south.  In addition to the richness and depth of the soil, every acre of
land is suitable for cultivation, being entirely free from
swamps and bluffs.  The timber is the best and most
abundant in the territory, consisting of a large growth of
hickory, oak, elm, sycamore, mulberry, and sassafrias, with
numerous groves of maiple, and here and there a clump of
beeches.  In both valleys there are quarries of excellent
limestone, and apparently inexhaustible.  Bituminous coal
has been found in several localities, leading to the supposition that a coal-field underlies all that part of the territory.  The valley of the Grand River is well known for




312              THE GREAT WEST.
its numerous springs of pure and sparkling water-wells
have to be sunk only some twelve feet to obtain an unfailing supply.  In the vicinity of Council Grove, and, indeed,
in most parts of Kansas, the soil rests upon a regular
substratum of hard pan, and is thus enabled to retain a
supply of moisture for the nourishment of crops in the
severest droughts. The clay is very compact, and dries
readily into adobe, or sun-made brick,. such as is commonly used in Mexican structures.  Council Grove takes
its name from a grove, or forest rather, three miles in
width and fifteen miles long, consisting, in most part, of
gigantic walnuts, hickories, and oaks. And there, in 1825,
a treaty was ratified between the United States and the
Indians, granting a right of way from Missouri to Texas.
And in the early Santa Fe] trade, it was customary for
parties to assemble at the grove, and organize their
caravans, by appointing officers, and adopting a code of
laws. From thence to Santa Fe, timber is not to be had,
and caravans always carried a sufficient quantity with them
for repairs. For that purpose, logs were lashed underneath the wagons, and sometimes were carried to Santa
Fe and back again. On the road, further westward, the
undulations of the land gradually subside into one uniform
level, known as the Grand Prairie, which is of an average
width of five hundred miles; and at the base of the Rocky
Mountains, that prairie is said to be a thousand miles
wide. The Grand Prairie is the great buffalo pasture of
the West. As Mr. Green says: "The commercial value
to Kansas of the prairie cattle, may be inferred from the
simple statement of the item, that one hundred thousand
buffalo rugs are now exported annually."
The Santa Fe road strikes the Arkansas at the Big
Bend. The river is there about a quarter of a mile broad
The Upper Arkansas has been thurs described: "From




PAWNEE ROCK                   313
the adjacent hights the ledges of wave-like yellow sand,
along the southern bank, look like wind-driven piles of
wheat, beneath which, through a low and wide trench, the
majestic waters sweep placid as'the river of a dream.'
Rio Napeste', as the Mexicans name it, will probably
measure two thousand miles in length from its sources to
the frontiers of Arkansas. The channel is wide and shallow, with banks in many places not five feet above lowwater-mark. It varies from a quarter to three-quarters
of a mile in width, and at certain points can be forded,
except in time of freshet; but care is requisite to avoid
quicksands; and the current has a velocity and coolness
that would not be anticipated from the smoothness of the
surface." It has been suggested, that, without very great
expense, the Arkansas might be made navigable for small
steamboats, to the mountains.  If so, it would furnish
an immense channel of inland communication for the
rising territory. One of its branches, the Grand River,
is navigable to as great a distance as the Hudson. With
the seat of empire steadily removing westward, the time
may come when steam navigation on the Arkansas shall
reach from  the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains, a
distance twice the length of the Ohio River.
Beyond Walnut creek, a tributary of the Arkansas, at
the head of a prairie-slope, which rises from the very edge
of the water, stands the Pawnee Rock, five miles from
the river, celebrated in Indian story, overlooking a boundless expanse of country-its front and sides of highly
ferruginous sandstone, covered over with the names and
memorials of prairie voyagers. The atmosphere is dry.
There are no marshes in the valley of the river, and no
fogs arising from the stream. The mirage is astonishing,
and ofttimes ludicrous enough. A facetious traveler, having




314              THE GREAT WEST.
encamped at the foot of the rock, "saw the elephant"
himself, and thus describes it: "Our party were amused
with a series of these grotesque transformations on the
part of a buffalo, intent upon having a drink from the
Arliansas. As the staid fellowunwittinglyplodded along,
his hump shot into a pyramid; then jauntily cocking it
one side, like the beaver of a lop-eared dandy, and descending a knowl, he turned a flip-flap somerset, swallowed
himself, and came out a very elegant giraffe, which shortly
settled into a brown and shapeless heap; and in another
second, reassumed its ancient buffalonian aspect, only to
undergo momentary changes as ludicrous as before."
The Upper Arkansas Valley is said to possess a warm,
quick soil, composed of vegetable mold, rather sandy,
adapted to gardening, and capable of yielding support to
a pastoral community. The waters of this region are
fiequented by the American crane-a very large birdtwice the size of the eagle. This crane is represented as
" superbly white," except the tips of the wings, which are
raven-black.  The firogs of the Arkansas attain to an
enormous size, and mingle their hoarse croaking with the
doleful howling of the wolves. The atmosphere is peculiarly sweet and wholesome, and those who have breathed
it pronounce it astonishingly invigorating.
The following table of distances may be useful to those
who design looking in the southern part of Kansas for
locations.  It commences from  Independence City, in
Missouri, because that is, or was, the old frontier town,
the port for fitting out for the wilderness and Santa F6.
The route lies through some of the most delightful regions of Kansas, on the head-waters of the Osage and
Grand rivers, where settlements are springing up and
growing with unexampled rapidity.




TABLE OF DISTANCES.             315
Independence City to-               MILES.  AGGREGATE.
Kansas boundary......  22          22
Love Elm........    7          29
Round Grove.......  6          35
The Narrows,.......  30          65
Black Jack........    3          68
One-hundred-and-ten-mile Creek,. 32    100
(Council City,) Switzler's Creek,.  9  109
Dragoon Creek......    5    114
(Council Grove,) Big John Spring, 35    149
Kansas Village.  1......           150
Sylvan Camp.......    2    152
WTillow Spring,.                 6    158
Diamond Spring......   13    171
Lost Spring........ 16    187
Cottonwood Fork of Grand River,. 12    199
Turkey Creek.......  29    228
MIud Creek........   19    247
Little Arkansas......    3    250
Cow Creek.......  20    270
Plum Buttes,....... 14    284
Great Bend of the Arkansas,.     2    286
Walnut Creek.......    7    293
Pawnee Rock.......   14    307
The Santa Fe trade is quite an item in estimating the
advantages which Kansas offers to the enterprising settler. The following statement, compiled by Mr. Greene,
will show the development of that trade:
" The growth and fluctuations of business, from 1822
to this period, may be inferred from this condensed statement; which, if not entirely accurate, is sufficiently so for
our purpose, having been derived from the best authorities,
and conversations with intelligent gentlemen in the trade.




316             THE GREAT WEST.
" In 1822, fifteen thousand dollars' worth of merchandise
were transported, pack animals solely being used; and
fifteen men were employed besides the sixty interested
proprietors. In 1824, twenty-six wagons, in addition to
the beasts of burden, were brought into service; and
twenty-five thousand dollars' worth of goods were carried over. In 1826, our exports equaled one hundred
thousand dollars; there were seventy proprietors, and one
hundred men employed. Thenceforth, wagons only were
used. Ill 1828, there were one hundred and fifty thousand
dollars' worth of merchandise transported; there were
one hundred wagons in requisition; eighty proprietors
engaged; giving employment to two hundred men. In
the year 1830, oxen were first used; which have never
been brought into successful competition with mules. In
1831, the transports were to the amount of two hundred
and fifty thousand dollars; there were eighty owners; one
hundred and twenty-five wagons; and three hundred men.
In 1832, one hundred and fifty thousand dollars; seventy
wagons; one hundred and fifty men; and forty owners.
In 1839, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars; one
hundred and twenty-five wagons; two hundred and fifty
men; and forty proprietors. And in 1843, the transports
amounted to half a million of dollars; there were two
hundred and fifty wagons, and four hundred men employed; while the proprietorship had dwindled into the
hands of thirty capitalists. The reopening of the next
year tempted fewer owners into the field; yet our aggregate of exports amounted to two hundred thousand dollars; in the conveyance of which, one hundred wagons
and two hundred men were employed. For ten years
antecedent, a heavy proportion of all merchandise had
been carried by Missouri freighters, from Independence




SANTA FE TRADE.               317
to Santa Fe, at rates varying from ten to twelve cents a
pound; as late as 1850, the price was nine cents.
"Of course, the statement of value of goods are at'United States costs. In the earliest history of the traffic,
the advanced price of sales was immensely more; but
from 1830 to 1843 witnessed considerable diminution; the
rates at the latter period scarcely averaging one hundred
per cent. over originals costs-calicoes selling at from
twenty-five to fifty cents, that had, in 1825, commanded
two and three dollars.
"' Since our war with Mexico, and its consequent revolution, entrance to the ports is unimpeded by the oppressive arancel formerly interposed by the Mexican executive;
and as a consequence, I am informed by Mir. Aubrey and
other reliable gentlemen, that, from 1850 to the present
date, our annual exports range from two to three million of
dollars; much of which has been freighted into Chihuahua,
at charges varying from six to eight cents a pound.
"' The big prices have gone down; yet the palmy days of
the Santa Fe trade are not ended. Its story in the future
can not be so romantic, for the hazardous element is disappearing, and the interests merged are gradually equalizing, as the route to be traversed is shortened, and the
supply and demand are more accurately fitting into each
other. In after time, its records will be rather statistical
than biographical, and more magnificent with wealth
achieved, than lustrous with heraldry of high-hearted men.
"That town of Kansas will be fortunate which shall be
destined as the entrepot of this prairie commerce; and
trebly fortunate will it be, if it converge other interests,
and become the emporium of all the traffic with the plains
and distant mountains; and the outfitting mart and place
of transhipment for the trappers who range the vast
region beyond."                           U
14*




318'             THIE GREAT WEST.
In the southern part of Kansas, in the region of the
Cimarron River, iron, lead, copper, and silver ores, have
been found, sufficiently rich to make mining profitable
when the country shall have become inhabited. There
are many indications of the existence of an immense bed
of salt; the smaller streams soon become strongly impregnated, and numerous sprirgs boil up in brine, within
pot-shaped fountains Cllmed of calcareous and saline concretions. In some places, the prairie is covered with crystallized salt,white as a marble floor. "This salt-plain is
near the mouth of the Cimarron, and extends for miles
without the slightest irregularity of surface, being so low
and level that the bordering streams sometimes overflow
it." Adjacent to this saline tract, the river-bluffs are
largely composed of gypsum.
Settlements are progressing rapidly throughout eastern
Kansas. Emigrants are flocking thither from all parts of
the United States. Villages are springing up as if by
magic. Lawrence is located in a most delightful region,
and so strong is the tide flowing into that vicinity, that,
it is said, claims have been taken up in every direction
for fifteen miles. Pawnee is situated about a mile below
the junction of the Republican and Chetolah rivers.
Many of the buildings are of stone. Claims have been
taken upon Clark's creek for six or seven miles; on the
Republican Fork, near ten miles; and on the Chetolah,
or Smoky Hill Fork, over fourteen miles. Kenilworth is
destined to be a manufacturing village. A company is
engaged in constructing mills at this place, which is situated on the east bank of the Republican Fork, fifteen
miles above its mouth. The soil is equal to that of Illinois.
The country is watered by numerous springs, and forests
of good timber are in the immediate vicinity. Topeka is
situated on the Kansas River, below Pawnee. It is set



MUTUAL SETTLERS' ASSOCIATION.           319
tiled chiefly by Pennsylvanians. Bituminous coal has been
found, of the best quality, within two miles of this thriving settlement. On Sugar creek, some fifty miles south
of Council City, is a settlement of anti-slavery Missourians. Rock City, on the military road, ninety miles west
of the Missouri River, is situated in a region of heavy
timber. It is impossible to enumerate the settlements of
Kansas, or to give their respective populations; for, where
yesterday the silence of nature brooded over the prairie,
to-day the hammer of the builder is heard, and the voices
of civilization.
The lands of Kansas have not been surveyed, and
will not be for some years. All the settlers, therefore,
are "squatters."  Now, squatting is an American "institution," indispensable to tho growth of the'Vest, working
wonders in the way of transforming the wilderness into
cultivated fields. Squatting, although lawless, has regulations of its own; it has been reduced into system; and
" claims " are not only respected but protected.  In
August, 1854, the Mutual Settlers' Association of Kansas Territory agreed to the following laws for the recognition of land-claims, viz.:
"1 1. Recognizing the right of every citizen to a claim
of two hundred and forty acres, eighty of timber, and one
hundred and sixty of prairie-land; the claim to be secured
by improvement and residence, which must commence
within sixty days from the entry of the claim, on either
the prairie or timber-land, which is to secure the claim
to both.
" 2. Single persons and females allowed to secure their
claims by residing in the territory, without residing on
their claims. Persons allowed a day additional to the
time provided above for every five miles they may have
to travel to reach their families.




320              THE GREAT WEST.
"3. No person to hold, directly or indirectly, more than
one claim.
"4. No person allowed to enter any previously marked
claim.
"5. Persons neglecting to improve within the specified
time, to forfeit their claims, which can then be taken up
by any other citizen.
"6. Any person to point out the extent of his claim
whenever another may wish to ascertain it.
" 7. Claimant to make oath that his claim does not infringe on that of any other person.
"8. Form of application for registry to describe the
claim, and date of its selection.
" 9. On the survey of the territory, the settlers to deed
and redeed to each other, so as to secure to each the
amount of land specified as the amount of claim.
"10 to 13, inclusive, provide for the appointment of a
chief justice, a register, and marshal, and a treasurer, and
define their duties.
"' 14. The limits of the association to be the waters of
the Wakaroosa and Kansas rivers, and the territory between the same, from the mouth of the Wakaroosa up to
the Shawnee purchase.
"15 to 21 provide for the election and removal of officers by a majority of members, and other incidental
regulations."
And such is presumed to be the method of securing a
recognition of land-claims throughout the territory.
The aboriginal Indians, with the exception of the Pawnees, are still in possession of the central and western
districts of Kansas. The Pawnees, once the most powerful of the prairie tribes, have been reduced by war and
disease to utter insignificance as to numbers, wealth, and
valor. Twenty-five years ago, the small-pox swept away
one-half their numbers; and, since that time, other tribes,




INDIAN TRIBES OF KANSAS.           321
once held in subjection, becoming relatively stronger,
have been wiping out the remembrance of traditional
wrongs. The Pawnees were located, for a time, north of
the Nebraska River, and west of the Missouri-the feeble
remnant of a nation that, fifty years ago, spread terror
from the sources of the Missouri to the mountains of Mexico; but becoming disheartened under the attacks of the
Blackfeet and Sioux, the Pawnees have again migrated
south, near the Ottoes and Omahas, and exist in a most
wretched condition.
The Arapahoes roam over the western part of Kansas.
They profess to be friendly to the whites; but the safer
policy is to give them a wide berth. The Cheyennes are
in alliance with the Arapahoes, professing friendship, but
treacherous to a proverb. These tribes have control of
the Grand Prairie; and they are said to hold there, what
in Europe would be called, " the balance of power." These
tribes are known to be very numerous -for it is quite
common to stumble upon three or four thousand of them,
collected in a single hunting-camp. The other aboriginal
tribes are the Osages, Kansas, and Arkansas, numbering
about nine thousand. The hunting-grounds of the Kansas
lie around the confluence of the Smoky Hill and Republican Forks.  "The name of this tribe is variously
spelled- Kanzas, Kansas, Cansas, Konzas, and Consas -
and, to cap all with absurdity, they scarcely know themselvesby any other word than Kaws." Since we have
1" Hoosiers," and " Suckers," and " Pukes," in the older
states, it may be questioned whether we shall not have
"Kaws " in Kansas.
The whole Indian population of the territory has been
estimated at twenty-five thousand. The Kickapoos, Wyandots, Sacs and Foxes, Munsers, Weas, Piankashaws,
Peorias, Kaskaskias, Pottawatomies, Chippewas, I)ela



322              THE GREAT WEST.
wares, and Shawnees have reservations in Kansas. But
those who are instructed in these matters say, that a
person may safely squat where it pleases him best; that
if he should intrude upon an Indian reservation, a small
fee of ten dollars will propitiate the owning tribe.  The
lands of the territory can not, probably, be brought into
market under three or four years; and when it shall
be exposed for sale, the squatter is entitled to the first
bid. And whenever a stranger trespasses upon a regular
claim, an arrow, placed over the cabin door, will signify
to the intruder that "first right " must he respected.
Fort Riley stands near the confluence of the Smoky
fHill and Republican Forks, at the head of the Kansas
River. This fort was built in 1854, for the purpose of
holding the Indians more completely in check, and furthering intercourse between frontier posts. It is said to
be a handsome pile of buildings, constructed of limestone
taken from the neighboring bluffs.  The following table
will show the probable distances, by the river route, from
Fort Riley to the Missouri border:
MILES.  AGGREGATE.
Fort Riley to -
Wild Cat......         12       12
Big Blue,.....    7       19
Sargent's Creek,...        3      22
Rock Creek.....         14       36
Vermilion......    4          40
Lost Creek......  5              45
Catholic Mission,.            7      52
Soldier Creek.....   20       72
Grasshopper Creek,.    20       92
Hickory Point,.....  10             102
Stranger Creek.....   12       114
Salt Creek......    9       123
Missouri State Line,..    4     127




THE CLIMATE OF KANSAS.              323
Congress, in 1855, made two appropriations for military
roads in Kansas-one of fifty thousand dollars, for the
construction of a road from Fort Riley to such point on
the Arkansas River as may, in the opinion of the secretary of war, be most expedient for military purposes; and
the further sum of fifty thousand dollars for the construction of a road from Fort Riley to Bridger's Pass, in the
Rocky Mountains.
The climate of Kansas is very nearly that of Virginia;
but it is less sultry. In the warmest days, a gentle breeze
is blowing front the nmountains.  Spring is attended with
much rain from March till June. The rivers become
swollen; the roads miry - but not hub-deep, as in Indiana.
It is supposed that plank-roads will never be needed in
Kansas, for the soil does not soften into mud. Vegetation is early and exuberant. Plowing commences in January.  December is frequently warm enough for shirtsleeves and calico.  But there are also terribly bleak
days, when the north wind sweeps like a scythe across
the prairies. The average depth of snow is said not to
exceed three inches. The weather during the months
of August, September, and October, is dry; and the Indian summer lingers far into the season of winter. It is
claimed for Kansas, that the climate is " decidedly superior to that of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Michigan."  The
western plains are noted for the frequent and terrific
thunder-storms that sweep over them.  The lands of
Kansas lie high and dry, far above the swamps and fogs
of the Mississippi Valley. One great blessing which the
settlers of this new territory will enjoy over those in
other parts is graphically described by an old squatter,
thus: "'sketers is scuss."  It would seem that the tiny
insects dry up and blow away. The salubrity of the
climate is unquestionable.




324              THE GREAT WEST.
Nebraska is divided into nine counties, viz.: Douglass,
Ottoe, Richardson, Dodge, Dacotah, Burt, Cass, Nemaha,
and Washington. The whole white population numbers
about six thousand souls. Nebraska has a less quantity
of valuable timbered land than Kansas. The southwestern part is said to resemble the prairies and openings
of Iowa, and to possess a deep and fertile soil. The eastern boundary is formed by the Missouri River for about
twelve hundred miles. The Platte River is the principal
stream in the southern part of the territory. There are
groves of timber on the banks of the Platte, and the
bottom-lands are represented as strong, and capable of
sustaining a long succession of crops. The soil is found
to have a limestone basis. It is reported that coal has
been discovered in the territory, and other minerals; but
it is certain that Nebraska will become an agricultural
region. The climate is warmer than in the same latitude
east of the lakes. Owing to the vast extent of prairie
surface, the changes of temperature are very sudden and
very great; and the winds from the north and west have
a wide sweep over the plains. " Squatter law" prevails
there as well as in Kansas; and the "general principles "
are the same as those recognized in the neighboring
territory.
Congress has appropriated fifty thousand dollars for the
purpose of constructing a territorial road from opposite
Council Bluffs to New Fort Kearney, which, when completed, will greatly facilitate settlements in Nebraska.
Also, Congress has appropriated thirty thousand dollars
for the construction of a military road from the Great
Falls of the Missouri River, to intersect the military
road from Walla Walla to Puget's Sound; which will
open a safe thoroughfare for emigrants through central
and north-western Nebraska.




THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE.           325
CHAPTER XIX.
KANSAS-ITS HISTORY AND POLITICS.
THE extensive region included within the territories of
Kansas and Nebraska was annexed to the United States,
by virtue of a treaty with France, concluded at Paris, on
the thirtieth day of April, 1803. It formed a portion of
the vast tract of country known as the "Louisiana Purchase."  That purchase embraced all the lands within
the limits of the following states and territories, viz.:
Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, and Iowa; Indian Territory, Kansas, Nebraska, and Minesota, west of the
Mississippi River.
In December, 1818, the legislature of Missouri Territory petitioned Congress for admission into the Union as
an independent state. A bill, embodying the views of the
petitioners, having been accordingly framed, on the nineteenth day of February following, an amendment, pro
hibiting the further introduction of slavery, or involuntary
servitude, was adopted by a vote of eighty-seven to seventy-six, in the House of Representatives. Also, on the
fifteenth day of March, another amendment, providing
that all children born within said state after its admission
should be free at the age of twenty-five years, was adopted
in the House, by a vote of seventy-nine to sixty-seven.
The Senate of the United States, however, refused to
concur in these two amendments, and the House, insisting
upon them, the bill did not pass at that session. But
during the next session of Congress, when the Missouri
bill came again under consideration, in order to free the




326              THE GREAT WEST.
measure from the embarrassment resulting from the disagreement of the two houses, a compromise was effected,
by which Missouri was to be admitted as a slave state,
without any restriction or limitation xwhatever, as to the
existence of slavery, on the express condition, that slavery
should be forever prohibited in all the territory of the
United States north of the line of thirty-six degrees and
thirty minutes north latitude.  For that purpose, both
houses concurred in an amendment to the bill, by which
it was enacted, "That in all that territory ceded by France
to the United States under the name of Louisiana, which
lies north of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes north
latitude, excepting only such part thereof as is included
within the limits of the state contemplated by this act,
slavery and involuntary servitude, otherwise than in the
punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been
duly convicted, shall be, and is hereby forever prohibited;
provided always, that any person escaping into the same,
from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed in any
state or territory of the United States, such fugitive may
be lawfully reclaimed, and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor or service as aforesaid." After the
incorporation of that amendment, the bill admitting Missouri into the Union was passed early in March, 1820.
That amendment constituted the celebrated compromise
of 1820.
The principle of that compromise has twice been
solemnly recognized and reaffirmed.  First, upon the
admission of Texas, in 1845, the joint resolution of
March the first provides that such states as may be formed
out of that portion of the territory of Texas which lies
south of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes north latitude, commonly known as the Missouri Compromise Line,
shall be admitted, with or without slavery, as the people




MISSOURI COMPROMIISE.            327
of each state asking admission may desire; and in states
formed north of that line, slavery shall be prohibited.
And second, in 1848, when the admission of Oregon was
under consideration, Mr. Douglass, in the Senate, nmoved
an amendment, by which the Missouri Compromise Line
was extended to the Pacific Ocean; but as the House of
Representatives did not concur in the amendment, the
Senate receded, and substituted a clause prohibiting
slavery.
Other measures, also, of the federal government, running through a period of more than thirty years, have in
some instances sanctioned that compromise; in others,
recognized it as binding and obligatory upon the government and people. The principle of sustaining that compromise is embraced in the following solemn compacts
among the people of the United States:
1st. The admission of Missouri as a slave state.
2d. The admission of Texas into the Union.
3d. The organization of the Territory of Oregon.
4th. The establishment of the Texan boundary.
5th. The organization of the Territory of New Mexico.
6th. The organization of the Territory of Utah.
7th. The admission of California.
8th. The fugitive slave act.
9th. The suppression of the slave-trade in the District
of Columbia.
Yet, notwithstanding the course of federal legislation
for thirty years, the act providing a territorial organization for the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, approved
the twenty-seventh day of May, 1854, repeals the restriction upon the existence of slavery north of the line of
thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes north latitude, and
leaves the character of the institutions of the states in
contemplation there, with respect of freedom or slavery,




328              THE GREAT WEST.
to be determined by a contest upon the soil. From thence
have followed a most terrible excitement throughout the
entire Union, and all the scenes of anarchy and blood
that have been enacted within those territories. For the
question, once supposed to have been finally disposed of,
is made again an open question to be settled by political
and by physical force, whether the new states shall be
free states or slave states. Every inhabitant of those
territories has a direct personal interest, and every citizen
of the United States a political interest, in the settlement
of that vexed question. As the controversy has now got
to be decided within the territories themselves, the advocates and the enemies of slavery are alike hastening
thither to secure the necessary majorities, to sanction or
to prohibit the existence of slavery.
Hon. A. H. Reeder, of Pennsylvania, was appointed
Governor of Kansas Territory; and Daniel Woodson,
of Arkansas, secretary. The first election of delegate to
Congress was fixed to take place on the twenty-ninth day
of November, 1854. Governor Reeder had appointed election judges, and had instructed them to administer the oaths
to every person suspected of residing in another state or
territory. It would seem to have been determined upon
by a large number of persons, inhabitants of the State of
Missouri, to vote at the approaching Kansas election. A
few days before the polls were to be opened, a great crowd
assembled at St. Joseph, in Missouri, and were addressed
by General Stringfellow, with reference to the election
soon to be held in the adjacent territory. In the course
of that speech, he said: "I tell you to marlk every
scoundrel among you that is the least tainted with freesoilism, and exterminate him.  Neither give nor take
quarter from the d —d rascals. To those who have
qualms of conscience, as to violating laws —state or




TIIE FIRST ELECTION IN KANSAS.        329
national —the time has come when such impositions must
be disregarded; and I advise you, one and all, to enter
every election district in Kansas, in defiance of Reeder
and his vile myrmidons, and vote at the point of the
bowie-knife and revolver.  What right has Governor
Reeder to rule Missourians in Kansas?  His proclamation and prescribed oath must be repudiated."
Similar gatherings took place at other points within the
Missouri border. On the day of the election, the Missourians, having crossed over into Kansas, forcibly took
possession of the polls in several election districts, and
deposited their votes in such numbers as they pleased.
In reference to those transactions, the people of Kansas
in their representation, say: "The first ballot-box that
was opened upon our soil was closed to us by overpowering numbers and impending force. So bold and reckless
were our invaders, that they cared not to conceal their
attack. They came upon us, not in the guise of voters,
to steal away our franchise, but openly, to snatch it with
a strong hand. They came directly from their own
homes, and in compact and organized bands, with arms in
hand, and provisions for the expedition, marched to our
polls; and when the work was done, returned whence
they came. It is enough to say, that in three districts —in
which, by the most irrefragable evidence, there were not
one hundred and fifty voters, most of whom refused to
participate in the mockery of the elective franchise -these
invaders polled over a thousand votes." It is alleged
that, in consequence of this violation of the elective
franchise, Whitfield was elected over his competitors, as
the delegate for Kansas to the Congress of the United
States.
In the spring following, on the thirteenth day of March,
at the election of members of the territorial legislature,




330              THE GREAT WEST.
Kansas was again invaded by persons foreign to its territory, and similar scenes were re/nactedl on a grander
scale of violence and outrage. Concerning the proceedings of the MIissourians on the day of that election, the
people of Kansas, in their representation, make the following statement: "They (the Missourians) arrived at
their several destinations the night before the election, and
having pitched their camps, and placed their sentries,
waited for the coming day. Baggage wagons were there,
with arms and ammunition enough for a protracted fight,
and among them two brass field-pieces, ready charged.
They came with drums beating, and flags flying, and their
leaders were of the most prominent and conspicuous men
of their respective states.  In the morning, they surrounded the polls, armed with guns, bowie-knives, and
revolvers, and declared their determination to vote at, all
hazards, and in spite of all consequences. If the judges
could be made to subserve their purposes, and receive
their votes, and if no obstacle was cast in their way, their
leaders exerted themselves to preserve peace and order in
the conduct of the election; but, at the same time, did
not hesitate to declare that, if not allowed to vote, they
would proceed to any extremity in destruction of property
and life. If the control of the polls could not be had
otherwise, the judges were, by intimidation, and, if necessary, by violence, prevented from performing their duty,
or, if unyielding in this respect, were driven firom  their
post, and the vacancy filled in form by the persons on the
ground; and whenever, by any means, they had obtained
the control of the board, the foreign vote was promiscuously poured in, without discrimination or reserve, or the
slightest care to conceal its nefarious illegality. At one
of the polls, two of the judges having stood up in the face
of an armed mob, and declared they would do their duty,




ELECTION OUTRAGES.              331
one portion of the mob commenced to tear down the
house, another proceeded to break in the door of the
judge's room, while others, with drawn knives, posted
themselves at the window, with the proclaimed purpose
of killing any voter who would allow himself to be sworn
Voters were dragged from  the window, because they
would not show their tickets, or vote at the dictation of
the mob; and the invaders declared openly, at the polls,
that they would cut the throats of the judges, if they did
not receive their votes without requiring an oath as to
their residence. The room was finally forced, and the
judges, surrounded by an armed and excited crowd, were
offered the alternative of resignation or death, and five
minutes were allowed for their decision. The ballot-box
was seized, and, amid shouts of'hurrah for Missouri,' was
carried into the mob. The two menaced judges then left
tlhe ground, together with all the resident citizens, except
a few who acted in the outrage, because the result
expected from it corresponded to their own views.
"When an excess of the foreign force was found to be
had at one poll, detachments were sent to the others..... A minister of the gospel, who refused to accede to
the demands of a similar mob of some four hundred armed
and organized men, was driven by violence from his post,
and the vacancy filled by themselves..... Another clergyman, for the expression of his opinion, was assaulted and
beaten.... The inhabitants of' the district — powerless
to resist the abundant supply of arms and ammunition,
organized preparation, and overwhelming numbers of the
foreigners-left the polls without voting..... In the
Lawrence district, one voter was fired at, as he was
driven from the election ground:.... Finding they had
a greater force than was necessary for that poll, some two
hundred men were drafted from the number, and sent off,




332              THE GREAT WEST.
under the proper officers, to another district; after which
they still polled from this camp seven hundred votes..... In the fourth and seventh districts, the invaders
came together in an armed and organized body, with trains
of fifty wagons, besides horsemen; and the night before
election, pitched their camps in the vicinity of the polls;
and having appointed their own judges, in place of those
who, from intimidation or otherwise, failed to attend, they
voted without any proof of residence. In these two election districts, where the census shows one hundred voters,
there were polled three hundred and fourteen votes; and
last fall, seven hundred and sixty-five votes, although a
large part of the actual residents did not vote on either
occasion..... From a careful examination of the returns, we are satisfied that over three thousand votes
were thus cast by the citizens and residents of the states."
A legislature, so elected, was altogether pro-slavery,
and no more represented the people of Kansas than it did
the man in the moon. Some of its members were not, at
the time of its assembling, in July, and never had been,
residents of the territory, but were living in the State of
Missouri, while legislating for Kansas. One of the acts
of the legislature provides a very cheap method of obtaining the right to vote at any election in the territory,
without requiring a residence within its borders for a single day. It opens the ballot-boxes for a dollar a head to
all citizens from Maine to California, no matter where
they may reside.  The enactment is as follows: "That
every free white male above the age of twenty-one years,
who shall pay to the proper officer in Kansas Territory the
sum of one dollar as a poll-tax, and shall produce to the
judges of any election within and for the territory of
Kansas, a receipt showing the paying of said poll-tax,
shall be deemed a legal voter, and shall be entitled to vote




LAWS RESPECTING SLAVE PROPERTY.    333
at any election in said territory during the year for which
the same shall have been paid." This is the first time
the elective franchise has ever been put up for sale within
the United States.
That legislature then proceeded to a wholesale and an
indiscriminate adoption of the statute laws of Missouri;
and then, to conceal the evidences of indecent haste, subsequently enacted that wherever the word "state " occurred in those statutes, the word " territory" should be
substituted.
The following statutes were also passed, for the protection of slave property, which are here inserted in full
for the benefit of those who design settling in Kansas:
AN ACT TO PUNISH OFFENSES AGAINST SLAVE PROPERTY.
~ 1. Be it enacted by the Governor and Legislative
Assembly of the Territory of Kansas, That every person,
bond or free, who shall be convicted of actually raising a
rebellion or insurrection of slaves, free negroes, or mulattoes, in this territory, shall suffer death.
~ 2. Every free person who shall aid or assist in any
rebellion or insurrection of slaves, free negroes, or mulattoes, or shall furnish arms, or do any overt act in furtherance of such rebellion or insurrection, shall suffer death
~ 3. If any free person shall, by speaking, writing, or
printing, advise, persuade, or induce any slave to rebel,
conspire against, or murder any citizen of the territory, or
shall bring into, print, write, publish, or circulate, or cause
to be brought into, printed, written, published or circulated,
or shall knowingly aid or assist in the bringing into, printing, writing, publishing, or circulating, in this territory,
any book, paper, magazine, pamphlet, or circular, for the
purpose of exciting insurrection, rebellion, revolt, or conspiracy on the part of the slaves, free negroes, or mulattoes
15                           V




334               THE GREAT WEST.
against the citizens of the territory, or any part of them,
such person shall be guilty of felony, and suffer death.
~ 4. If any person shall entice, decoy, or carry away
out of this territory any slave belonging to another, with
the intent to deprive the owner thereof of the services of
such slave, or with intent to effect or procure the freedom
of such slave, he shall be adjudged guilty of grand larceny,
and, on conviction thereof, shall suffer death, or be imprisoned at hard labor for not less than ten years.
~ 5. If any person aid or assist in enticing, decoying, or
persuading, or carrying away, or sending out of this territory, any slave belonging to another, with intent to procure or effect the freedom of such slave, or with intent to
deprive the owner thereof of the services of such slave,
he shall be adjudged guilty of grand larceny, and on conviction thereof shall suffer death, or be imprisoned at hard
labor for not less than ten years.
~ 6. If any person shall entice, decoy, or carry away,
out of any state or other territory of the United States,
any slave belonging to another, with intent to procure or
effect the freedom of such slave, or to deprive the owner
thereof of the services of such slave, and shall bring such
slave into this territory, he shall be adjudged guilty of
grand larceny, in the same manner as if such slave had
been enticed, decoyed, or carried away out of this territory; and in such case the larceny may be charged to
have been committed in any county of this territory, into
or through which such slave shall have been brought by
such person; and on conviction thereof, the person offending shall suffer death, or be imprisoned at hard labor for
not less than ten years.
~ 7. If any person shall entice, persuade, or induce any
slave to escape from the service of his master or owner
in this territory, or shall aid or assist any slave in escap




LAWS RESPECTING SLAVE PROPERTY.    335ing from the service of his master or owner, or shall assist,
harbor, or conceal any slave who may have escaped from
the service of his master or owner, he shall be deemed
guilty of felony, and punished by imprisonment at hard
labor for a term of not less than five years.
~ 8. If any person in this territory shall aid or assist,
harbor or conceal, any slave who has escaped from the
service of his master or owner in another state or territory, such persons shall be punished in like manner as
if such slave had escaped from the service of his master or owner in this territory.
~ 9. If any person shall resist any officer while attempting to arrest any slave that may have escaped from the
service of his master or owner, or shall rescue such slave
when in custody of any officer or other person, or shall entice,
persuade, aid, or assist such slave to escape from the custody of any officer or other person who may have such
slave in custody, whether such slave may have escaped
from the service of his master or owner in this territory,
or in any other state or territory, the person so offending
shall be guilty of felony, and punished by imprisonment
at hard labor for a term of not less than two years.
~ 10. If any marshal, sheriff, or constable, or the deputy of any such officer, shall, when required by any
person, refuse to aid or assist in the arrest and capture of
any slave that may have escaped from the service of his
master or owner, whether such slave shall have escaped
from his master or owner in this territory, or any state or
other territory, such officer shall be fined in a sum of not
less than one hundred, or more than five hundred dollars.
~ 11. If any person print, write, introduce into, publish,
or circulate, or cause to be brought into, printed, written,
published, or circulated, or shall knowingly aid or assist
in bringing into, printing, publishing, or circulating, within




336               THE GREAT WEST.
this territory, any book, paper, pamphlet, magazine, handbill, or circular, containing any statements, arguments,
opinion, sentiment, doctrine, advice, or inuendo, calculated
to produce a disorderly, dangerous, or rebellious disaffection among the slaves in this territory, or to induce such
slaves to escape from the service of their masters, or to
resist their authority, he shall be guilty of felony, and be
punished by imprisonment at hard labor for a teim nit
less than five years.
~ 12. If any free person, by speaking or writing, assert
or maintain that persons have not the right to hold slaves
in this territory, or shall introduce into this territory,
print, publish, write, circulate, or cause to be introduced
into this territory, written, printed, published or circulated
in this territory, any book, paper, magazine, pamphlet,
or circular, containing any denial of the right of persons
to hold slaves in this territory, such person shall be deemed
guilty of felony, and punished by imprisonment at hard
labor for a term of not less than two years.
~ 13. No person who is conscientiously opposed to holding slaves, or who does not admit the right to hold slaves
in this territory, shall sit as a juror on the trial of any
prosecution, for any violation of any of the sections of
this act.
AN ACT TO PUNISH PERSONS DECOYING SLAVES FROM
THEIR MASTERS.
~1. Be it enacted by the Governor and Legislative Assembly of Kansas Territory:  If any person shall entice,
decoy, or carry away out of this territory, any slave belonging to another, with intent to deprive the owner
thereof of the services of such slave, or with intent to
effect or procure the freedom of such slaves, he shall be
adjudged guilty of grand larceny, and on conviction
thereof, shall suffer death.




FREE SOIL STATE CONVENTION.            337
~2. If any person shall aid or assist in enticing, decoying, or persuading, or carrying away, or sending out of
this territory, any slave belonging to another, with intent
to procure or effect the freedom of such slave, or with intent to deprive the owner thereof of the services of such
slave, he shall be adjudged guilty of grand larceny, and
on conviction thereof, shall suffer death.
~3. If any person shall entice, decoy, or carry away
out of any state or other territory of the United States,
any slave belonging to another, with intent to procure or
effect the freedom of such slave, or to deprive the owner
thereof of the services of such slave, and shall bring such
slave into this territory, he shall be adjudged guilty of
grand larceny, in the same manner as if such slave had
been enticed, decoyed, or carried sway out of this terriory; in such case the larceny may be charged to have
been committed in any county of this territory into or
through which such slave shall have been brought by
such person, and, on conviction thereof, the person offending shall suffer death.
The sober and well-intended residents of the territory
seem at once to have repudiated the action of the territorial legislature. Thbey regarded it as an assemblage that
had been forced upon them. T'hey determined not to
submit to the control of a body — many of whose members were non-residents, and all of whom had been elected
to office by non-resident voters over the heads of voters
of the territory. On the fifth dlay of September, 1855, a
convention representing the people of Kansas was held at
Big Springs, numbering in all one hundred delegates.
That convention resolved to repudiate all the acts of the
territorial legislature; to take no part in the election of a
delegate, which that body had appointed to be held; but
to appoint an election to be held one week after that one




338            THE GREAT WEST.
Ex-Governor Reeder, who had been removed by the President, and Governor Shannon appointed in his place, was
agreed upon as candidate for delegate. It was expected
that he would be elected without much opposition; and
that, as Mr. Whitfield would be again elected by the Missourians, the effect would be to bring the question of
popular rights in Kansas before the House of Representatives at Washington. A committee of the House
was sent, in April last, 1856, to Kansas, for the purpose
of investigating the character of these elections.
Another convention, on the nineteenth day of September, assembled at Topeka, and adopted a resolution, "by
the people of Kansas Territory, in delegate convention
assembled," authorizing the holding of an election on the
second Tuesday of October, for members of a convention
to form a state constitution, preparatory to application for
admission into-the Union. The number of delegates was
fixed at fifty-two, and the convention was authorized to
be held at Topeka on the fourth Tuesday of October.
The election was accordingly held at the appointed time.
No non-resident was permitted to vote, and no resident
who had not been such for at least thirty days. The
constitutional convention assembled, and adopted a constitution for the State of Kansas, eminently republican
in its character, and commending itself to the people
of the territory, by whom  it was ratified, and who,
soon afterward, proceeded to the election of state officers
to carry the new government into effect, That, in brief,
is the political position of the people of Kansas, who are
now awaiting the action of the federal government to
recognise them as a free and independent state. Charles
Robinson was elected governor.




AID SOCIETIES AND PREEMPTIONS.        339
CHAPTER XX.
AID SOCIETIES AND PREEMPTIONS.
SEVERAL societies have been organized in the eastern
and middle states, to facilitate emigration to Kansas; and
through them such arrangements have been made with
the different railroad and steamboat lines as lessens very
materially the expense of removing to those distant regions. Under these arrangements, the following tables
will show the routes, distances, time, and fares, from New
York to St. Louis.
From New York, via the New York and Erie Railroad,
Lake Shore Railroad, and Chicago and Mississippi Railroad, to St. Louis; fare, twenty-eight dollars —meals
and state-rooms extra.
To Dunkirk..                    460 miles.
Thence to Toledo,......  254  "
"    Chicago,.....   243  "
"    Alton.......  290  "
"    St. Louis,.....   25  "
K" ansas.......    450  "
From New York to Kansas,.  1,722 miles.
From New York, vii Hudson River Railroad, New
York Central Railroad, Southern Michigan Railroad,
and Chicago and Mississippi Railroad, to St. Louis;
fare to St. Louis, twenty-six dollars; whole distance,
1,760 miles.




340             THE GREAT WEST.
Upon the same route, but from Buffalo to Chicago by
the Michigan Central Railroad, the fare is the same and
distance the same.
Upon the same route, but by Hudson River steamboats, and through Canada by the Great Western Railway; fare, twenty-eight dollars; distance, 1,736 miles.
From Pittsburg to St. Louis, by steamboat- fare, generally, about ten dollars, meals and state-rooms included.
Down the Ohio River,....  1,006 miles.
To St. Louis.......   177  "
St. Louis to Kansas,.....  450  "
Pittsburg to Kansas,..   1,633 miles.
Fare, from St. Louis to Kansas, from eight to ten
dollars.
The average time from New York to Kansas is about
twelve days.
There can be no doubt that Kansas, with its fertile soil,
and genial climate, and the strong political motives just
now operating to encourage settlement, will speedily fill
up with inhabitants coming from all parts of the Union.
None need be disappointed in their expectations. The
state of the controversy respecting the existence of slavery
in the territory is well known. Those who would prefer
a home where politics are undisturbed by any stong element of agitation had better go into the more northern
territory. Nebraska will furnish room for immigrants for
many years to come.
The expense of removing to the West, and the hardships that have to be endured, are exceedingly discouraging to persons of very limited means; and, although
Congress has not authorized the sale of the public lands
upon credit, yet provision has been made by which the




PREEMPTION LAWS.                341
settler has allowed him a certain period, within which
"to turn himself," and make his payments.  The follow.
ing is the preemption act of 1841:
"~ 10. And he it furthcr enacted, that from and after
the passage of this act, every person, being the head
of a family, or widow, or single man over the age of
twenty-one years, and being a citizen of the United States,
or having filed his declaration of intention to become a
citizen, as required by the naturalization laws, who, since
the first day of June, Anno Domini eighteen hundred and
forty, has made, or shall hereafter make, a settlement, in
person, on the public lands, to which the Indian title has
been at the time of such settlement extinguished, and
which has been, or shall have been, surveyed prior thereto,
and who shall inhabit and improve the same, and who has
or shall erect a dwelling-house thereon, shall be, and is here1by authorized to enter with the register of the land-office for
the district in which such lands may be, by legal subdivisions, any number of acres not exceeding one hundred
and sixty, or a quarter-section of land, to include the residence of such claimant, upon paying to the United States
the minimum price of such land; subject, however, to the
following limitations and exceptions: No person shall be
entitled to more than one preemptive right by virtue of
this act; no person who is the proprietor of three hundred
and twenty acres of land in any state or territory of the
United States, and no person who shall quit or abandon
his residence on his own land to reside on the public land
in the same state or territory, shall acquire any right of
preemption under this act:
"~ 11. And be it further enacted, That, when two or
more persons shall have settled on the same quarter-section of land, the right of preemption shall be in him or
her who made the first settlement, provided such persons
15*




3-1~2            THE GREAT WEST.
shall conform to the other provisions of this act: and all
question as to the right of preemption, arising between
different settlers, shall be settled by the register and receiver of the district within which the land is situated,
subject to an appeal to, and a reversion by, the secretary
of the treasury of the United States.
"~ 12. And be it further enacted, That, prior to any
entries being made under and by virtue of the provisions
of this act, proof of the settlement and improvement
thereby acquired shall be made to the satisfaction of
the register and receiver of the land district in which
such lands may lie, agreeable to such rules as shall be
prescribed by the secretary of the treasury, who shall each
be entitled to receive fifty cents from each applicant for
his service, to be rendered as aforesaid: and all assignments and transfers of the right hereby secured, prior to
the issuing of the patent, shall be null and void.
" ~ 13. And be it further enacted, That, before any person claiming the benefit of this act shall be allowed to
enter such lands, he or she shall make oath, before the
receiver or register of the land district in which the land
is situated, who are hereby authorized to administer the
same, that he or she has never had the benefit of any
right of p reemption under this act: that he or she is not
the owner of three hundred and twenty acres of land in
any state or territory of the United States, nor hath he
or she settled upon or improved said land to sell the same
on speculation, but in good faith to appropriate it to his
or her own exclusive use and benefit, and that he or she
has not directly or indirectly made any agreement or contract, in any way or manner, with any person or persons
whatsoever, by which the title, which he or she might
acquire from the government of United States, should
insure, in whole or in part, to the benefit of any person




PREEMPTION LAWS.                343
except himself or herself; and if any person taking such
oath shall swear falsely in the premises, he or she shall
be subjected to all the pains and penalties of perjury, and
shall forfeit the money which he or she may have paid
for said land, and all right and title to the same: and any
grant or conveyance which he or she may have made,
except in the hands of bona-fide purchasers for a valuable
consideration, shall be null and void; and it shall be the
duty of the officer administering such oath to file a certificate thereof in the public land-office of such district, and
to transmit a duplicate copy to the General Land Office,
either of which shall be good and sufficient evidence that
such oath was administered according to law.
" ~ 14. And be it further enacted, That, this act shall not
delay the sale of any of the public lands of the United
States, beyond thie time which has been, or may be appointed by the proclamation of the President, nor shall the
provisions of this act be available to any person or persons
who shall fail to make the proof and payment, and file the
affidavit required, before the day appointed for the commencement of the sales aforesaid.
" ~ 15. And be it further enacted, That, whenever any
person has settled or shall settle and improve a tract of
land subject at the time of settlement to private entry,
and shall intend to purchase the same under the provisions of this act, such person shall in the first case,
within three month after passage of the same, and in the
last within thirty days next after the date of each settlement, file with the register of the proper district a written
statement, describing the land settled upon, and declaring
the intention of such person to claim the same under the
provisions of this act; and shall, where such settlement is
already made, within twelve months after passage of this
act, and where it shall hereafter be made within the same




344              THE GREAT WEST.
period after fhe date of such settlement, make the proof,
affidavit, and payment herein required.
"Approved Sept. 4th., 1841."
In 1854, further provision respecting preemptions was
made by the act providing for the graduation in the price
of the public lands. The first section provides, in substance, that the lands which have been in market ten
years shall be subject to entry at one dollar per acre;
fifteen years, at seventy-five cents per acre: falling in
price twenty-five cents on an acre every five years, until
the lands shall have fallen to twelve and one-half cents
per acre.
The second section provides, "That upon every reduction in price, under the provisions of this act, the occupant
and settler upon the lands shall have the right of preemption, at such graduated price, upon the same terms,
conditions, restrictions, and limitations, upon which the
publlic lands of the United States are now subject to the
right of preemption, until within thirty days preceding the
next graduation or reduction that shall take place; and
if not so purchased, shall again be subject to the right of
preemption for eleven months, as before:" and so on,
from time to time, as reductions shall take place.
The oath and proof required by this act are similar to
the Act of 1841, and are to be made before the register
and receiver, who are entitled to a fee of fifty cents each
for their services.
The provisions of the preemption laws are all very
well so far as they go; but another step will undoubtedly
be taken, and the hardy settler, battling with privation
and toil, remote from  civilization, redeeming the wilderness, and peopling the waste, will be rewarded, under
suitable restrictions, with the fee of one hundred and
sixty acres of land for his pains.




THE WEST -FUTURE SEAT OF EMPIRE.   345
From the survey which has been taken of the states
and territories of the Great West, it is evident, that the
seat of empire on the continent of North America is being
removed to the regions around the lakes and upon the
upper tributaries of the Mississippi. The people inhabiting these are profoundly interested in the continuance.
the peace, and the prosperity of the whole Union. They
grasp the east by means of the lakes; they grasp the
south by means of the Mississippi. The people of the
West will not dissolve the Union themselves; and they
will not permit any body else to do it.  Their watchword is "Liberty and union, now and forever, one and
inseparable!"








TABLE OF DISTANCES.                              347
TABLE OF DISTANCES
VIA TnE
PRINCIPAL THIOROUGHFARES TO THE GREAT WEST.
From Boston to Newo York. Manhattan -----------  8 St. Johnsville -------— 64
Boston to                 Yonkers. —----------- 17 Little Falls ---------— 74
Worcester ----------- 44 Hastings ------------- 21 Herkimer -----------— 81
Clappville ---------   53 Dobbs Ferry ---------- 22 Ilion ----------------- 83
Charlton ------------- 57 Irvington ------------- 25 Frankfort -----------— 86
Spencer -----      --- 62 Tarrytown ----------  27 Utica ---------------— 95
East Brookfield. —--- 64 Sing Sing3. 2 Whitesboro'-.........99
Brookfield ---------- 67 Crugers --------------- 36 Oriskany ------------— 102
West Brookfield... —--  69 Peekskill ------------- 43 Rome ---------— 109
Warren ---------- 73 Garrison's --------- 51 Green's Corners -            114
Brimfield ------------    Cold Spring. —-------  54 Verona -------------- 118
Palmer --------------- 83 Fishkill. —--------     60 Oneida -----------— 122
Indian Orchard. —---- 92 New Hamburg -------- 66 Wampsville ------....125
Springfield --------  98 Poughkeepsie-            75 Canastota -...........127
West Springfield -----— 100 Hyde Park ----------- 81 Canasaraga. —------— 831
Westfield ------— 108 Staatsburg                 85 Chittenango     -..........133
Russell. —-------—.116 Rhinebeck ----------- 91 Kirkville ----------— 137
Huntington _ —----- 119 Barrytown -----------   Manlius -----------— 140
Chester Factory -----— 126 Tivoli.-......... 100 Syracuse ------------— 148
Middlefield ----------    Germantown. —------ 105 Warner's -----------— 157
Becket ----. --------— 135 Oak Hill. —---------- 110 Canton -----------— 159
Washington.-....... 138 Hudson -. —-----         116 Jordan --------------- 165
Hinsdale ----------— 143 Stockport -----------— 120 Weedsport ------—.-169
Dalton.-........... 146 Coxsackie -12:1 Port Byron ----------— 172
Pittsfield ----------— 151 Stuyvesant -------- 126 Savannah..-..........179
Shaker Village.-.... 154 Schodack --------    133 Clyde ---------------— 186
Richmond ----------— 159 Castleton ------— 136 Lyons -.        193
State Line ----------— 162 East Albany --—......144 Newark -...........198
Canaan -------------- 167                           Palmyra ------------— 206
East Chatham ------— 172      Albany to Bufalo.    Macedon ------------— 210
Chatham Four-Corners 177 Albany to                  Fairport ------------— 219
Chatham Center ----- 181 Troy -----------------   Rochester ---------— 229
Kinderhook ---------— 184 Schenectady ---------- 17 Cold Water --------- - 235
Schodack ------------ 192 Hoffman's -. — -------- 26 Chili ----------------— 239
Greenbush ----------— 199 Crane's Village ----- 30 Churchville ---------— 244
Albany-.............. 200 Amsterdam -..... 33 Bergen.-.............247
New York.-. —----— 344 Tribe's Hill. —------ 39 West Bergen -------— 251
Fonda ---------------- 44 Byron -----------— 254
New York to Albany.  Yost's ---------------- 49 Batavia. —----------- 261
New  York, Chambers   Spraker's ------------- 62 Croft's ------------— 268
street, to              Palatine Bridge-       55 Pembroke. —--------- 272
Thirty-first street...... sPort Plain............. 58 Alden.................277




348                     THE GREAT WEST.
Wende. —         _  279 Lackawaxen -           -112! Nunda -24
Town Line ----------- 282 Mast Hope. —-------- 117 Portage -8- 30
Lancaster -----------— 287 Narrowsburg -------— 123 Castile -------------— 34
Forks. —------------ 289 Cochecton ----------— 132 Gainesville -.......37
Buffalo -------------— 298 Callicoon -----------— 137 Warsaw -----------— 44
Hankin's -----------— 144 Middlebury ----------— 49
Rochester to Suspension  Lordville.-......... 154 Linden -------------— 53
Bridge.          Stockport -----------— 160 Attica -.............. 60
Rochester to              Hancock ---------— 165 Darien City ---------— 64
Gates ---------------- 5 Hale's Eddy --------— 173 Darien Center -------— 66
Spencerport.-........10 Deposit -------------— 178 Alden. —------------  71
Adam's Basin --------— 12 Susquehanna --------— 193 Town Line ----------— 76
Brockport ---------— 17 Great Bend.......... 201 Lancaster -----------— 81
Holley.-.............22 Kirkwood -----------— 207 Buffalo - -- --—.91
Murray -----------— 25 Binghamton --------— 216
Albion -------------— 30 Union ------------— 224 Philadelphia to WilliamsMedina -------------— 40 Campville ----------- 231             port.
Middleport ----------— 45 Owego. —------------ 238 Philadelphia to
Gasport -------------— 51 Tioga ---------------— 243 Port Clinton --------— 78
Lockport -----------— 56 Smithboro'       - -.........247 Ringgold ------------— 88
Pekin —.-. —---—..      66 Barton -------------— 250 Tamaqua ------------— 98
Suspension Bridge —... 74 Waverly ------------- 257 Summit -----------— 110
Connects with Great   Chemung -----------— 261 Mahanoy ------------— 118
Western Railway.          Wellsburg ----------— 267 Ringtown -----------— 123
Elmira --------------— 274 Beaver.-             130
Buffalo to Suspension   Junction Elmira, Can-   Maineville ---------- 138
Bridge.            andaigua, and Niagara    Catawissa ---------- 4
Buffalo to                  Falls Railroad ----— 278 Rupert --------------- 147
Black Rock ----------  4 BigFlats -..........284 Danville ------------- 154
Tonawanda ----------  11 Corning ---------— 292 Mooresburg ---------- 160
La Salle ----------  17 Painted Post. —----- 293 Milton --------------- 170
Niagara Falls --------- 22 Addison -......... 303 Muncy o -------------- 187
Suspension Bridge —... 24 Rathboneville -------— 308 Williamsport.-...... 197
Cameron -............315
iNew York to Dunkirk, vi&i Crosbyville. —- ----— _324  Williamsport to Elmira.
N7ew York and Erie R. R. Canisteo ------------— 329 Williamsport to
New York to               Hornelsville ---------— 333 McKinney's ----------  5
Jersey City --------- 1   [See table from Hor-   Mahaffey's ------------ 7
Bergen-       -          3 nelsville to Buffalo.]    Cogan Valley ------- 8
Hackensack Bridge -..  7 Almond ------------— 338 Crescent -...........11
Boiling Spring ------ 9 Alfred -.342 Trout Run ----------— 15
Passaic Bridge --      12 Andover                350 Field's                 16
Huyler's ------------- 13 Genesee ------------— 359 Dubois -----            19
Paterson ---- -------- 17 Scio -------------— 363 Bodine's ------------— 20
Godwinville ---------- 22 Phillipsville ------— 367 Lycoming.-.......... 22
Hohokus ---- ---------- 24 Belvidere -----------— 370 Ralston -------------— 25
Allendale --- ---------- 26 Friendship ----------— 375 Canton -------------— 39
Ramsey's ---- ------- 28 Cuba ---------------— 384 Alba ----------------- 44
Suffern's ---- -------- 33 Hinsdale ------------— 390 West Granville ------— 48
Ramapo ---- --------  34 Olean -------------— 396 Troy -.................52
Sloatsburg ------------ 36 Allegany ---------— 399 Columbia Road.-......57
Southfields ---------- 43 Great Valley --------— 412 Dunning's ---------— 65
Greenwood ----------- 45 Little Valley -------— 222 State Line ----------- 68
Turner's -------------- 48 Cattaraugus ---------- 429 Elmira   -., —--------'78
Monroe ---- ------- - 50 Dayton -------------— 439
Oxford -. —----------- 53 Perrysburg -..........442   Elmira to Suspension
Junction ---- --------- 55 Smith's Mills -------— 449         Bridge.
Chester. —-- --------.   56 Forestville ----------- 452 Elmira to
Goshen ---- -------- 60 Dunkirk -.............461 Junction ----------   4
Hampton ------------ 64'Horseheads ---------  6
Middletown              68  Hornelsville to Buffalo.  Millport ---------—.13
Howell's. —---------  72 Hornelsville to           IHavana ------------—.19
Otisville. —--------  76 Burns ------------—.   9i Jefferson ------------- 22
Port Jervis ----------- 89 Whitney Valley -...... 13 Rock Stream.-...... 28
Shohola..............108 Swainville............ 171 Big Stream........... 30




TABLE OF DISTANCES.                             349
Starkey. —--,   33 Detroit.-............ 230 Clayton -----------— 44
Himrod's ---------—, 37                           Hudson -----------—, 50
Milo Center -------—. 41 Buffalo to Chicago, vid Pitsford. —----------- 56
Penn Yan       - --------—, 45  Lake Shore Railroad.  Hillsdale ------------— 66
Benton, —------------ 49 Buffalo to               Jonesville -----------— 70
Bellona, —............ 51 Hamburg. —--------   10 Quincy ------------—, 82
Hall's Corners -      6 —---- 55 Evans' Center -----—. 21 Coldwater -----------— 88
Gorham -.6 —---------- 58 Irving       29 Bronson -------------- 99
Hopewell. —--------- 63 Dunkirk. —----------- 40 Burr Oak. —----- - 106
Canandaigua ---------- 69 Portland.-6 —-------  50 Sturgis. —----------- 112
East Bloomfield ----- 77 Westfield ------------ 57 White Pigeon.. —--- 124
West Bloomfield ------ 85 Quincy. —----------- 65 Middlebury ----------— 129
Iloneoye Falls. —----- 88 State Line ------------ 68 Bristol -------------— 134
Genesee Valley Railroad   North East --------- 73 Elkhart ------------— 144
Junction ---------  95 Harbor Creek --------- 80 Mishawaka ----------— 154
Caledonia -----------— 102 Erie ------------------ 88 South Bend --------— 158
Leroy -------------— 109 Swanville ----------- 95 Terre Coupee ------—.169
Stafford,. ---------— 113 Girard --------------- 103 Rolling Prairie ------— 178
Batavia -------------— 119 Springfield ----------— 108 Laporte -------------— 185
East Pembroke ------ 125 Conneaut. —--------- 115 Holmesville, —------- 193
Richville     - -----------— 132 Kingsville -----------— 123 Calumet ------------— 202
Akron --------------— 135 Ashtabula ----------— 129 Bailytown ---------— 207
Clarence Center...-...142 Saybrook, —--------- 133 Miller's -------------— 214
Transit -------------— 146 Geneva, —----------- 138 Pine Station --------— 221
Vincent ------------- 152i Madison ------------— 143 Ainsworth ----------- 231
ronawanda. —-------- 155 Perry -------------— 148 Junction -----------— 236
Cayuga Creek -------— 161 Painesville ----------— 152 Chicago. — ---------—.243
Niagara Falls -------— 166 Mentor -------------— 158
Suspension Bridge-.168 Willoughby ---------— 162 Buffalo to Chicago, vi&
Wickliffe ----------- 167   Michigan Central RailSuspension Bridge to De- Euclid.-...........171  road.
troit, vid Great Western Cleveland. —--------- 181 Steamers leave Buffalo for
Railway.               Rockport -----------— 187   Detroit every evening exSuspension Bridge to     Berea -...............193  oept Sundays.
Thorold --------------  9 Olmsted Falls -, —---- 195 Detroit to
St. Catherines -------- 11 Ridgeville.-.......200 Halfway Side Track..
Jordan --------------- 17 Elyria --------------- 206 Dearborn ---------—, 10
Beamsville ---------  22 Amherst ------------— 212 Wayne --------------— 18
Grimsby ------------- 27 Brownhelm. —.,..215 Ypsilanti -------------- 30
Ontario -------------  32 Vermillion ----------— 119 Ann Arbor -.......... 37
IIamilton ------------- 43 Berlin -------------— 227 Dexter --------------— 47
Dundas --------------- 48 Huron --------------— 231 Chelsea............-.654
Flamboro'      -. -....... 52 Sandusky -........... 241 Grass Lake --------—,  65
Copetown.........., 55 Venice --------------— 244 Jackson,   75
Vansickles ----------  59 Mixer's*Point -------— 248 Parma --------------— 86
Fairchild's Creek ----- 62 Port Clinton --------— 254 Albion.o —-- -........95
Paris.- ----------—, - 72 Hartford --------— 265 Marengo..-.......... 101
Priinceton --, —------- 79 Benton -------------— 271 Marshall.-....... 107
Eastwood ------------- 86 Clay Junction -------— 280 Ceresco -------------— 112
WVoodstock ------------ 91 Toledo              288 Battle Creek          120
Beachville ----------  96 Chicago -6 —-----    531 Galesburg ----------— 134
Inlgersoll ---------— 100                          Kalamazoo — _....... 143
Edwardsburg.-........110 Buffalo to Chicago, via  Oshtemo -----------— 148
London ------------— 119  Michigasn Southern Rail- Paw Paw -----------— 159
Komoka ------------— 129  road.                    Decatur ------------— 167
Mount Brydges ------ 134 Steamers leave Buffalo for Dowagiac-. —-----    178
Ekfriid.-........ 139  Toledo every evening, ex- Niles.-.    191
Mosa -.............. 149  cept Sundays.  Buchanan ---------— 196
Wardsville. —-------- 155 Toledo to               Terre Coupee --------— 202
Thamesville ---------— 168 Air Line Junction.   3 New Buffalo --------- 218
Chatham....-....183 Sylvania ----—,. 11 Michigan City -----— 228
Baptiste Creek ---— 196 Knight's -------------- 21 Porter, -------------— 240
Rochester -......210 Blissfield ------- 23 Lake Station -------,  248
Puce    -_  _...    216 Palmyra ----------  27 Gibson's -----------— 260
Windsor --------— 229 Adrian................ 33 Calumet -........... 269
W




350                       THIE GREAT WEST.
Five Mile Side Track  M_ Manor -------------— 329 Maples. —----------- 303
Chicago                282 Irwin's -331 Fort Wayne                            318
Stewart's.............336
Philadelphia to Pittsburg. Brinton's -, —-------- 341 Fort Wayne to Chicago.
Philadelphia to            Wilkinsburg            346 Fort Wayne to
Downing ----------- 32 East Liberty --------— 348 Taw-Taw -,. —-------  8
Lancaster ------—,   68 Outer Station ----       352 Coesse. —------------ 14
Dillerville -.- ------  70 Pittsburg --------— 353 Columbia -----------— 20
Landisville Station....77                            Huntsville ----------— 27
Mount Joy ---------- 81 Pittsburg to Fort Wayne. Pierceton ------------ 30
Elizabethtown -, —--—.   87 Pittsburg to             Wooster ------------— 33
Conewago        - ----  90 Courtney's. —--------  6 Warsaw ---------— 40
Branch Intersection  - 95 Haysville ------------  10 Etna Green ---------— 50
Middletown ----------  96 Sewickley -—, —-—,    - 12 Bourbon ------------— 53
Highspire ------       100 Shousetown ---           14 Plymouth ------------   65
Harrisburg ---------- 106 Economy. —---------- 1.7 Cross New Albany and
Rockville Station ---— 111 Remington. —--- -----   21   Salem Railroad ----— 95
Cove -----------       116 Freedom ------           23 Valparaiso -...........104
Duncannon.-.........120 Rochester -----   25 Hobart -----          117
Aqueduct Station ---- 123 New Brighton. —----- 28 Cross  Joliet  Cut-Off
Baily's -, —-- 1 —---— 128 Darlington --------- 38  Railroad ----------— 120
Newport                133 Enon                    44 Illinois Line --------— 134
Millerstown ---------— 138 Palestine ---------- 49 Chicago ------------ 147
Thompsontown ------ 143 Bull Creek ----------- 54
Tuscarora -----------— 148 Columbiana --------- 59 Cleveland  to  Cincinnati.
Mifflin -------------— 154 Franklin ---------- 65 Cleveland to
Narrows Station -----— 161 Salem -------------- 69 Rockport ------------   7
Lewistown ----------— 166 Damascus    --------- 74 Berea ---------------— 12
Anderson's Station...173 Smithfield --------- 77 Olmstead ---------—, 15
MeVeyton --------—. 178 Alliance  -------------- 82 Columbia. —--------- 18
Manayunk Station -.. 183 Strasburg --------  88 Grafton, —----------.25
North Hamilton -— 188 Louisville ------------ 94 La Grange ---------— 29
Mount Union ------— 191 Canton 1 —-------             100 Wellington ---------— 36
Mill Creek ----------— 197 Massillon ----------—,108 Rochester ----------—.  41
Huntingdon ----......202 Lawrence -, —-- --- 115 New London -           47
Petersburg ----------— 208 Fairview  -----------— 119 Greenwich ----------— 54
Spruce Creek -,...... 214 Orrville ----------— 123 Salem ----—..........60
Tyrone -— 22 —--- 2'- 1 Paradise-..........126 Shelby ---------------  67'ostoria -. — 227 Wooster ------------- 134 Crestline.-.........750
Altoona -------------- 236 Millbrook,, —------  140 Galion --------—, --— 79
Kittanning Point ---- 242 Clinton ----- ------- 143 Iberia ---------------— 85
East End of Tunnel — _247 Lakeville ---------— 149 Gilead --------------— 92
Gallitzin ------------— 249 Loudonville ---------— 155 Cardington.-..........37
Cresson ------------- 252 Perrysville ----------- 160 Ashley -1 —-    --------.04
Lilly's                255 Lucas   -,,-  167 Eden ---— 108
Portage -.- -----—.260 Mansfield --------- 174 Delaware             - -.........112
Willmore. —- 2 —----—.2  Spring Mills. —------ 179 Berlin ------------- 115
Summerhill ------— 264 Richland --------- 183 Orange ------------— 119
South Fork ---------— 268 Crestline ----------— 187 Worthinton --------— 126
Mineral Point ---       270 Leesville - -- -- — 190 Columbus -----------— 135
Conemaugh --—.......273 Bucyrus  -----------— 199 Cincinnati -------— 255
Johnstown ---------- 275 Nevada ----------- 207
Dornockl Point -----—'278 Upper Sandusky -- 2 —-'216 Cincinnati to  Vincennes.
Slackwater Station..._281 Kirby- -  --------—.222 Cincinnati to
Nineveh -...........: 285 Forest -- - 228 Sylvania                8
New Florence ------- 289 Dunkirk ---------— 234 Anderson's Ferry ----  6
Lockport -------       293 Mount Washington. __238 Delhi-................10
Bolivar -------------— 295 Johnstown. —---- -— 245 North Bend ---------— 15
Blairsville Branch-.._300 Lafayette. —-------— 252 Pike -...........17
Hillside  ---          304 Lima                   259 Gravel Pit               18
Derry ------—.-. —-... 307 Elida ---------------- 266 Corn-Crib Switch ----— 21
Latrobe ------    -— 312 Delphos -------------— 273 Junction ----------— 22
Beaty's                315 Middle Point           279 Lawrenceburg...... 22
Greensburgo -------— 322 Van Wert -—. —-----.'86 Turnout. —--        -      23
Radebaugh's..........324 Dixon....... — ---—.  299 Aurora............... 26




TABLE OF DISTANCES.                               351
Cochran —.,,    27 Dallas. —------------ 188 Litchfield ---------— 134
Dillsborough. —------ 33 Union --------------— 197 Clyde ------------— 139
Moore's Hill ---------- 40 Harrisville ---------— 201 Gillespie ----------— 144
~Milan. —-------------  42 Winchester ---------— 207 Bunker Hill ------— 153
Pierceville ------------ 45 Farmland     -.    -.214 Dorsey's ------------— 158
Delaware               47 Smithfield ----------— 221 Bethalto.-..........163
Laughery Creek ------ 49 Muncie. —----------- 227 Alton.., —---------- 163
Osgood --------------- 52 Yorktown ----------— 233 Junction ------------— 167
Poston. —--------     56 Chesterfield --------— 239 Illinoistown ------— 187
Holton                 58 Anderson               245 St. Louis
Otter Creek.-....... 61 Pendleton -----------— 253
Turnout -------------- 63 Alfont ----------— 258   Chicago to St. Louis.
Butlerville. —-------- 66 Fortville ------------ 261 Chicago to
North Vernon -------- 73 McCord's -----------— 264 Joliet --------------— 40
Hardenberg ---------- 80 Oakland.-........... 266 Elwood ---------— 49
Seymour ------------- 88 Laneville -----------— 271 Wilmington --------— 56
Delzell's ------------— 275 Stewart's Grove ---— 63
Vincennes to St. Louis. Indianapolis ------— 280 Gardner -----------— 68
Take steamers for all ports                          Dwight -------------— 77
on the Mississippi and   Indianapolis to Terre  Odell ---------           85 —-—,    5
Missouri Rivers.                  Haute.           Livingston -.......... 90
Vincennes to              Indianapolis to            Pontiac -. — -----    95
Lawrenceville -------- 9 Bridgeport ---------- 9 Rook Creek -            -.._,....100
Sumner -------------- 19 Plainfield. —-- -. —--- 14 Peoria Junction-.106
Claremont ----------  25 Cartersburg. —-------- 17 Lexington, —-------- 113
Olney -8 —------------ 31 Belleville ------------ 19 Towanda-...........121
Noble ---------------- 39 Clayton. —-----------  21 Illinois  Central RailMBaysville ------------- 46 Pecksburg -           23  road Junction ----— 127
Flora -. —---------  53 Amo ----------- 25 Bloomington --------— 129
Xenia ---------------- 62 Cincinnatus -------  27 Funk's Grove. —----- 140
Middlelon-... 70 Coatsville ----------  29 Atlanta.      - ------—,...149
Salem ----------------- 79 Nicholsonville ------ 33. Lawn Dale --------— 151
Junction --— ~-......... 85 Greencastle s —-------  39 Lincoln..-.........   160
Sandoval.. —---------- 88 Putnamville. —-------  42 Elkhart -_-..........170
Collins'               96 Hamerick's ------------ 44 Williamsville -------— 176
Carlyle -------------— 10, Reel's Mill ---------- 48 Sangamon -.......... 183
Shoal Creek --------— 110 Eaglefield's Mill ------ 51 Springfield. —-----...188
Aviston.-......... 114 Croy's Creek ---------- 52 Great Western Railroad
Trenton ------------— 118 Brazil ----------------  57 Junction -,.......... 190
Summerfeld --------— 122 Staunton.  61 Chatham.n —-------- 197
Lebanon ------------— 125 Cloverland ------------ 63 Auburn ----------—.. 203
O'Fallon -----------— 133 Wood's Mill ---------- 65 Virden -............. 210
Caseyville -........13'9 Terre Haute.    -  73 Girard. —------------ 214
Ilinoistown -----—..     147                       Prairie Station ----— 218
St. Louis. —---------     Terre Iaute to Alton, on Carlinville ----------- 226
the AIississippi, at the Macoupin.... —-......233
Cleveland to Indianapolis.  junction of the Mlissouri. iipman -----------—.241
Cleveland to              Terre Haute to              Wrighton -, —-------- 248
Crestline              75 St. Mary's. -    ----------  4 Monticello ----------— 255
Galion-.............. 79 Sanford's -------------  8 Alton..-...........280
Caledonia. —--------- 90 Paris ----------------- 19 St. Louis -----------— 285
Marion,, —-----------  99 Grandview ----------— 28
Bryant's -— _........ 104 Midway. —------------ 32  Chicago to Burlington.
Larue -. ——. —-- 113 Ashmore ----------- 37 Chicago to
MIount Victory. —--- 121 Charleston ------------ 46 Park Station ---------
Ridgway -..124  Mattoon                56 Oak Ridge. 8
Bushsylvania ------ 130 Summit............... 62 Babcock's Grove ----— 20
Harper    -        -............ 133 Windsor. —----------- 68 Danby.-. —----------  23
Bellefontaine. —----- 139 Thornton -----------  78 Wheaton's --------  15
De Graff ----------— 149 Shelbyville -........... 80 WVinfield ------------— 28
Pemberton, —-------- 155 Towerhill ------------- 88 Junction. —--------- 30
Sidney -...,......... 162 Pana - -----, —------- 95 Batavia -------------— 36
Hardir.              167 Nocomis -              107 aurora -  -----     -43
Lor. and Houston-...1721Irvin-            -.....117 fVlest Aurora. —------ 44
Versailles —-. —----  1&0 Iiillsborough ---— 123 Mlontgomery --------— 45




352                       THE GREAT WEST.
Oswego --------------- 47 Huntley -i —--------- 55 Rubicon -, —------- 39
Bristol. —----—. —- 51 Union ---------------- 62 Woodland.-........ 43
Plano --—.. —-------- 57 Marengo..-......., 66 Iron Ridge ----------— 45
Newark        -----   61 Garden Prairie -------- 72 Horicon.-........... 51
Somonauk ---------— 64 Belvidere -----------  78 Junction -.-.......54
Waverly ------------ 71 Caledonia..-......, 86 Oak Grove -     56
Earl ------------------ 77 Roscoe. —------------ 93 Beaver Dam        - --------— 61
Mendota -------------- 88 Beloit --------------— 98
Arlington. — ------ 97 Afton ---------------— 106  Milwaukie to Madison.
Dover --------------,104 Plymouth --------— 111 Milwaukie to
Princeton --------— 109 Footville ------------— 114 Wauwautosa ---------- 5
WyanQt ------------- 116 Magnolia -........... 118 Side Track -.... 12
Buda                   122 Madison ------------— 1566 Junction                14
Neponset -----------— 128                             Forest House -------— 17
Kewanee ---------- -136   Chicago to Milwaukie.  Waukesha --- ------— 20
Galvy ------------— 144 Chicago to                    Genesee -------------- 28
Altona., —--------  152 Chittenden --------—.  7 Eagle -..............36
Wataga ----            160 Evanston ----------—, 12 Palmyra ------------—.42
Galesburg -----------— 168 Wynetka ------------- 16 Whitewater.-.........50
Cameron --------— 177 Glencoe. —----------- 19 Child's Station ------— 55
Monmouth ---------— 184 Highland Park ------ 23 Milton................62
Linden -------------— 191 Rockland ------------- 30 Edgerton.............72
Oquawka Junction...202 Waukegan --- ------- 385 Stoughton -------—,   82
East Burlington ---- 210 State Line --------—,  45 Madison --------— _     _ 98
Kenosha -, —---------  51
Chicago to Madison.   Racine ----- ----------- 62 Chicago to Fond du Lac.
Chicago to                 County Line --------- 70 Chicago to
Park Station ---------    Oak Creek. —----        75 Jefferson —_........ 9
Oak Ridge ----------- 8 Milwaukie ----------- 85 Canfield ------------— 12
Cottage Hill --------— 16                             Des Plaines ----— b —— 16
Babcock's Grove ------ 20 Milwaukie to Beaver Dam. Dunton - -----------— 23
Danby ------------ 22 Milwaukie to                    Palatine " —----------  27
Wheaton ------------ 25 Schwartzburg                7 Barrington     -----   32
Winfield ------------ 27 Granville.....- 13 Cary ----------------- 38
Aurora Junction ----- 30 Germantown --------- 18 Crystal Lake --------- 43
Wayne -,,... 35 Richfield ----------  23 Ridgefield  ---- ----  45
Clinton -, —-------—,  39 Cedar Creek  __....-.. 28 Woodstock —---  ----- 51
Elgin,. —--------—,,,  42 Schleisinger,-. —---- 30 Janesville           1).....90
Gilbert................ 50 Hartford-.............. 34 Fond du Lac --------— 170




HISTORY OF THE MOR1iONS,
Brd,  WI-tt-r A h l      lE0gis0
WITH A MEMOIR OF
JOE S3IITH, THE "AMERICAN PROPHET."
Illustrated, 399 pp. 12mo.  Price $1 00.
Mormonism, or American Mahomedanism, is the most singular delu
sion of modern times. That such a dark, wild, baseless and immoral
vagary should have its rise, and grow and flourish in the middle of
the 19th century, and in a community that is noted for its intelligence
and its respect for morality and religion, is, in the highest degree, surprising. Already the number of its foolish votaries is counted by scores
of thousands, and the grossness of their immoralities, the horror of
their crimes and debauchery, and the darkness of their superstition,-are
not excelled in the deepest recesses of the Turkish harems, or in the
foulest haunts of Asiatic licentiousness and debauchery.
MILLER, ORTON & MULLIGAN, Publishers,
No. 25 Park Row, NEw Yoaa, and 107 Genesee-st., AUBURN.




AMERICAN FRUIT CULTURIST,
WITH DIRECTIONS FOR
THE ORCHARD, NURSERY, AND GARDEN,
AND DESCRIPTIONS OF
AMERICAN AND FOREIGN VARIETIES.
BY J. J. THOMAS.
One Volume, 421 pp. 12nmo., 300 Illustrations. Price 1 25,
OTHINTG connected with
D)'    1 A jpractical agriculture is now at/  ~  h  r  it:    tracting more attention than the
I7      cultivation  of choice varieties'of Fruit.  Information of the
Ki,/\\  -ei-~:   ~.>s best kinds, and how  to obtain
and   successfully   to  cultivate
~   f4~/,     ~i;them,   is therefore soughlt by
X  _  nearly every farm or lot owner.:-,aab~ls ~ _Hence,  a complete, plain, and, -             entirely reliable Fruit Book, has
become a necessity  to nearly
every householder.
The author of THE AMERICAN FRUIT CULTURIST has been brought up in the Nursery
business from  boyhood, his father being
a scientific and practical Nurseryman, and
En).<'~1    the author himself having  had nearly
fifty years experience as a practical Horticulturist, Nurseryman and Fruit Grower.,.-t~//~ e    rHence, his book is not a mere compilation
/    /       i:l Aof old ideas in a new dress, but is the result of a life experience in the Nursery,
j.lih  J 1 B  the Orchard, and  the  Garden, and  is,
therefore entirely worthy of the fullest
confidence of the public.
The book undergoes periodic revisions,
and is, therefore, always "up to the time."
NOTICES OF THE PRESS,
Among all the writers on fruits, we do not know of one who is Mr. Thomas' superior
if his equal, in condensing important matter. Hence, we always look into his writings
with the assurance that we shall find something new, or some improvements on the old;
and we are seldom disappointed. This book is no exception. It is full. There is no
vacant spiace in it. It is like a fresh egg-all good, and packed to the shell, full.-Prairie
Former.
A cheaper, but equally valuable book with Downing's, was wanted by the great mass.
Just such a work has Mr. Thomas given us. We consider it an invaluable addition to
our agricultural libraries.- lVool Girower.
We can say with confidence to our readers, that if you need a book to instruct you in
tie modes of growing trees, &c., from the first start, the systems of pruning, etc.. you
will find the American Fruit Culturist an extremely valuable work.-Cleve. Herald.
MILLER, ORTON & MULLIGAN, Publishers.




The Latest and Best-A Now Book for Housewives.
PRACTICAL AMERICAN COOKERY
AND
DOMESTIC ECONOMY.
BY MISS E. M. HALL.
One Volume, 436pp. 12mo. Price, $1 00.
This work has been prepared with much care and well directed attention. It cont&a A
the results of experience, and will be found on inspection to be all that is essential, either
for the most simply or elaborately furnished table. The Recipes are carefully prepared
anad conveniently classified and arranged.
The Cookery contains 97 3 Recipes, relating to every department of the subject, and
is illustrated with 44 appropriate Engravings.
The JDomestic Economy contains 363 Recipes and recent important information
relating to the Garden, the Orchard, the Wardrobe, the Laundry, and to all those household and domestic affairs upon which instruction is sought by the thoughtful and caretaking mistress. This department of the book, so seldom to be found in works of tile
kind-we deem a convenient and important feature. A Cook-book has become a household hand-book, and as such is frequently consulted. By embracing in the same volume
the most important information relating to the general subject and to the details of household management, the publishers feel that they have supplied a want which will be appreciated by American housewives.
OPINIONS OF REVIEWERS.
This is the latest, as it is also one of the best and mbst complete books of practical domestic cookery that has ever been published in this country. It contains over 1,300 recipes, relating to every department, and illustrated with about fifty instructive engravings. The work has been prepared with great industry, care, and judgment; the recilpes are for the most part simple, easy, and of great variety. To housekeepers this work
will be an invaluable vadle necune, including as it does important instructions for the
managemrent of the garden, the orchard, the wardrobe, the laundry, and every variety of
domestic affairs.-Boston Atlas.
This work will prove an invaluable aid to young housekeepers, and in fact old ones
may glean some excellent hints from it. Instructions for the behavior of guest, hcst,
and servant-rules for carving and serving, besides recipes for cooking all kinds of
dishes. In this fast age, when young ladies are educated for the drawing-room instead
of the kitchen, when housekeeping has become a vulgar employment, and economy and
care are obsolete words, such a book is greatly needed. —Geneva Courier.
Here is another book for housewives, and we should think it a very good one. The
recipes have been selected and arranged with mnuch care, and what is better still, are the
results of experience. —Olive Branch.
True economy should induce every good housewife to purchase this work.-Boston
Transcript.
This is a valuable and truly useful work, comprising everything needful to be known
in the domestic economy. essential to the comfort, convenience, and enjoyment of a family. No female shonld.be without a copy.-O.wego Palla(ldiem.
It is an American book, and this fact alone is enough to commend it to the good sense
of every American woman, in preference to the garlic-scented French style of cookery.
Everything in the shape of cooking, from a roast turkey down to the most delicate preserve, may be learned from Miss Hall's book.-Chr7is. Secretary.
In fullness of material, in happy and simple arrangement, and in profuseness of illustration, we have as yet seen no book for housewives which claims to be equal to Miss
Hall's book in interest and value.-Aserican, Spectator.
We scorn all bribes, but admit we should like to dine with Miss Hall, or any one of
her proficient pupils. Her book has effected us even to tears; had we been hungry as
erst we have been, it would have been overpowering. In all candor, we believe this to
be a very good book. It contains directions for carving, preparation of beverages, medicinal and other, and a great variety of very useful information.-N. Y. Criterion.
MILLER, ORTON & MULLIGAN, Publishers,
25 Park Row, NEW YoRE, and 107 Genesee-st., AUBURN.




LIVES OF HENRY VIII. AND HIS SIX WIVES,
By HI. W. HERBERT, 7 portraits, 441 pp. 12mo.,.                    $1 21
LIFE OF HENRY CLAY,
By HORACE GREELEY and EPES SARGEANT, steel portrait, 428 pp. 12mo.,. 1 25
IFE AND SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY, being the above, to which is added
his most able and popular Speeches, steel portrait, 633 pp. 8vo.,.  2 00
WEBSTER AND HIS MASTER-PIECES,
By B. F. TEFFT, D. D., LL. D., steel portrait, 2 vols., 1082 pp. 12mo.,.. 2 50
LIFE OF GEO. WASHINGTON, by JARED SPARKS, LL. D., new and fine edition, steel portrait, 674 pp. 12mo.,..                              1 25
LIFE OF WILLIAM  H. SEWARD, with Selections from his Works, edited
by GEO. E. BAKER, steel portrait, 410 pp. 12mo.,.         1 00
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, by W. II. SEWARD, portrait, 404 pp. 12mo., 1 00
LIFE OF ANDREW  JACKSON, by J. S. JENKINS, illustrated, 397 pp. 12mlo.,   1 00
LIFE OF WM. H. HARRISON, by H. MONTGOMERY, portrait, 465 pp. 12mo.,   1 00
LIFE OF ZACHARY TAYLOR, by II. MONTGOMERY, illustrated, 463 pp. 8vo.,  1 25
LIFE OF FRANKLIN PIERCE, by D. W. BARTLETT, portrait, 304 pp. 12mo.,   75
LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, written by himself, with his Miscellaneous Essays, portrait, 375 pp. 12mo.,.                                  1 25
LIFE OF GEN. LAFAYETTE, by P. C. HEADLEY, portrait, 371 pp. 12mo.,          1 25
LIFE OF LOUIS KOSSUTH, including Notices of the Men and Scenes of the
Hungarian Revolution, and his Principal Speeches, by P. C.. IIEADLEY; with
an Introduction by HORACE GREELET; portrait, 461 pp. 12mo..          1 25
LIFE OF DANI.EL BOONE, and the Hunters of Kentucky, by W. If. BOGART,
illustrated, 464 pp. 12mo.,.......   1 25
LIFE OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, LOCKHIART, portrait, 392 pp. 12mo.,    1 25
LIFE OF THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, P. C. HEADLEY, portrait, 3S3 pp.,            1 25
LIFE OF MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS, P. C. IIEADLEY, portrait, 448 pp.,            1 25
LIFE OF REV. A. JUDSON, by J. CLEMENT, portrait, 336 pp. 12mo.,.   1 00
LIVES OF THE THREE MRS. JUDSONS, MRs. WILLSON, 2 portraits, 856 pp., 1 25
LIVES OF MARY AND MARTHIA WASHINGTON, Mother and Wife of
George Washington, by MARGARET C. CONKLING, portrait, 2418 pp. 16mno.,    76
LIFE OF LADY JANE GREY, by D. W. BARTLETT, portrait,'298 pp. 12mo.           75
LIFE OF JOAN OF ARC, by D. W. BARTLETT, portrait, 221 pp. 16nlo.,.         75
LIVES OF EMINENT METHODIST MINISTERS, containing Biographical
Sketches. Ircidents, Anecdotes, Records of Travel, &c., by Rev. P. DOUGLASS
GORRIE, portraits, 408 pp. 12mo.,......   1 00
LIFE OF PATRICK HENRY, by S. G. ARNOLD, 270 pp. 16mo.,.        60
LIFE OF JOSEPH ADDISON, by LUcY AIKEN, 279 pp., 12mo.,                        50
LF For sale by all Booksellers, or Single Copies sent by Mail, post
paid, on receipt of price.
MILLER, ORTON & MULLIGAN, Publishers,
No. 25 Park Row, NEw YORK, and 107 Genesee-st., AuBuaRN