“From the National Intelligencer, Views of the Western Country”

Date

1-13-1812

Newspaper

The Times

Newspaper Location

Charleston, South Carolina

Serial Number

374

Abstract

Very long article describing the area around the mouth of the Ohio and the Mississippi rivers. Does not describe any damage from the New Madrid earthquakes.

Transcript

THE TIMES. FROM THE NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER. View of the Western Country. To the interesting view, extracted from the Columbian Centinel, and re-published in the National Intelligencer of the 26th and 28th ult of the important relative position of the country near the junction of the Ohio river with the Mississippi, as it regards centrality to the immense Western World; and an union of commercial facilities by means of the various rivers extending from thence, like mighty arms in every direction, and penetrating to vast distances through tracts of unrivalled fertility-I beg leave to add a few observations (having more than once visited that situation) relating entirely to its local appearance, circumstances, qualities and capacities. I shall now soar on the wings of the writer of that luminous view, but shall come in from his wide range, floating down the converging streams, and shall describe the body, to which they are such mighty arms. Of the country lying at that important position, the writer of the view has said but little, and the world knows still less. If I mistake not, we shall find there a body corresponding well with its magnificent limbs, and capable of any functions which may be required of it in futurity. This body may be considered as embracing a tract circumscribed by a line drawn through the mouths of the various concentrating rivers in that vicinity, and enclosing salines and minerals not distantly situated. Such a line would be nearly circular, beginning at the junction of the Ohio with the Mississippi-passing up the former to the mouth of the Tennessee-from thence to the mouth of the Cumberland-from thence to the mouth of the Wabash-then north-westwardly to the mouth of the Missouri-and from thence around the lead mines of Louisiana to the place of beginning. No one diameter of this geographical figure would be 200 miles, and the center would fall not far from the lower part of the vast American bottom, bordering the Mississippi on the east, equidistant from the mouths of the Ohio and the Illinois. Every thing within this range appears to bespeak magnitude, particularly along the north and south diameter; contiguous to the noble stream of the Mississippi, all things seem created on a large scale-a scale as magnificent and grand as any conceivable circumstance of a commercial or other nature, in future, can possible be. Not more stupendous are the extensive regions spreading from thence in every direction, nor the various rivers which drain them and here disembogue their waters, than the objects presented within this interesting circle. To say nothing of the Mississippi itself, that majestic father of rivers--to say nothing of its mighty sons-their particular characteristics qualties first-born, Missouri*--the fair ones of its second, Ohio-or the blissful ones of its third, Illinois-and nothing of all its grandsons, the Tennessee, the Cumberland, the Wabash, &c. &c. Passing all these, whatever we consider within that circle, strikes the mind with unusual grandeur and magnificence. From various sites, there are prospects presented to the eye, uniting the sublime with the agreeable, in an eminent degree. Not frightful like those of mountains piled on mountains, they are still extensive, embracing the richest plains and prairies, with numberless objects exciting the pleasurable ideas, either directly by their beauty, or by association with future utility. From points of the bluff bounding eastwardly, the great American bottom before mentioned, looking beneath your feet, and on either hand, you see that bottom spread out as far as the eye can extend its vision to the right and to the left, chequered with alternate woods and open plains, covered with luxuriant, grass, and interspersed with lakes, together with some lines of Indian mounds and fortifications. On the western margin of this great scene, (from 3 to 12miles, according to your stand on the bluff) rolls the Mississippi, bordered in all its course with lofty trees. From thence the hills of Louisiana begin to rise, not hideous with rocks, but gentle and cultivable, gradually receding and still rising one behind another, until the horizon closes upon their blue summits, presenting an amphitheatrical view of astonishing extent and majesty. Or, if you take your stand on the summit of those hills of Louisiana, and look eastwardly, the objects already mentioned will be reversed as to their relative distance and position, until your eye meets with the bluff, which exhibits a continued stripe of a light color, formed by a perpendicular rock, chiefly smooth on its face, in places more than 100 feet high, bounding on the east the whole length of the American bottom, for an 100 miles. The top is clothed with grass and a thin growth of wood, which recede nearly on a level, till the extensive upland prairies appear. In these (instead of hills, behind hills, as in the other case) the prospect is lost/. What will those prospects be, when the great bottom on the east, and the hill sides on the west, shall be all in cultivated fields? Even the view in a single prairie is not without high interest to one who has never seen it before; nor does it lose entirely its interest by familiarity; but like the surface of the ocean continues to impress the mind with pleasing sublimity and wonder. While riding through one of these, boundless to the eye, the sensation is, in some respects, like that of sailing upon the sea. At the proper season, it is heightened and enlivened by the vast profusion of flowers, and their varieties, which continually surround you. In most of the prairies there are beautiful elevations of ground, which seem designed for magnificent seats, or rather seem as if they had been seats now abandoned, the buildings and fences perished, but the herbage luxuriantly flourishing. Some of them are so situated, that the prospects from them are superb beyond expression, and the largest places only would comport with the grandeur of the scite. The land is ready for the plough, free of every obstacle but the incumbent grass. I believe it is admitted by all who have seen it, that the American bottom (which I have several times mentioned) is without a parallel in all the world. Geography, I am confident, does not furnish one uniform tract of land of the same quality, by any means so extensive. Bottoms are usually limitted to a small extent, or if they spread largely (as is the case lower down towards the mouth of the same river) they are apt to run into uncultivable marshes and swamps. But here are possibly a million of acres, as rich as bottoms generally are, and still dry enough throughout for cultivation, and the raising of any kind of productions.-What is remarkable, it equally produces the stoutes corn and hemp, and at the same time the best crops of small grain. The soil is in inexhaustibly deep. Some standing waters, or lakes, are interspersed through it, but they are confirned within dry margins, and may be easily taken off, or preserved for their fish and fowl, as future owners shall please. That such a tract, admitting such a cultivation (and of course so vast a population) should be placed in so remarkable a position, amidst the mouths of so many converging rivers and along the bank of the chief father for an hundred miles, bespeaks a no ordinary intention of Providence, and indicates, I think, the future important of the circle containing it. I have little doubt, that a future day will seusit the garden of North America, and its emporium, and its capital, as it is its central point. In its present condition, it must be admitted to be occasionally unhealthy; but this is is the case generally with lands in proportion to their richness, particularly in their wild state; and this tract, by proper draining and cultivation, promises health. It is too valuable a prize to be possessed without some inconvenience in the beginning. I would not now choose it for the residence of my life, but the calculating eye of avarice will not neglect it, and an hundred years hence it will be an object of envy to those who have not a foothold in it. The other lands within the circle described are by no means contemptible. The greater portion is upland prairie, always dry enough for tillage, and of a rich soil. Grass, grain, and even hemp and corn, may be raised in abundance. Water is easily obtained by digging, and there are coals for fuel. Timer may be had for building, and it is probable the mode of building with earth will prevail there, as the soil and its strong grass are well adapted for it. Fencing may be effected by hedging or (as has been lately tried) by ploughing up the tough sward of the prairies, cutting it into chumps, and laying them up like stone or brick. It is found to remain firm, and the grass grows on it. There are few natural milseats, but the grand engine of steam will supply them. The wood lands on both sides of the river are of a good quality and well adapted to small grain. If this station is distinguishable for the noble streams pouring towards it from every quarter, furnishing easy highways for the influx of products from abroad, it is no less remarkable for the facility of roads within itself, for the purposes of business or of pleasure. Unlike those seats of commerce and of governments, where nature seems to be forced thro' rocks and morasses and other obstacles, to furnish the means of approach and internal communication, the tract in question is already like one great bowling-green, admitting agreeable traversing in all directions, for the most part clear of obstacles in obstruct the greatest speed on horseback or on wheels. A few small bridges and the felling of a few trees will make any road through it completely convenient. So accustomed are the settlers in this country to rapid traveling, that 50 and 60 miles per day are considered but most moderate journies; nor is it unusual to perform 80 and 100. From St. Louis to Kaskaskia is reckoned 60 miles, and it is generally accomplished in one day, and sometimes in two-thirds of the time. The same I other directions. One's horse appears to go on as by magic, and you are at the end of a great ride before you are aware of it. The expense of preparing the best roads through this tract would not be more than a tenth part of what is necessary in any space of equal extent east of the Alleghany mountains-or west of them, so far as I am acquainted. Two of the weightiest articles (and one certainly the greatest necessary of life) are produced in unlimited abundance within this important circle. These are salt and lead. The United States saline (situated in the Illinois territory, 12 miles back of the Ohio river, and from 15 to 20 below the Wabash) is capable of supplying any demand. Its situation now limits the supply to the countries in its vicinity [unreadable] the lower parts of the Indiana and Kentucky; the whole state of Tennessee, and the settlements below itself on the Ohio, and to a small distance above. Formerly the salt was sent up the Ohio as far as Cincinnati, but of late the Kanhaway works have interfered. Though the works of the U.S. saline have been obliged to be contracted, the salt made there still amonts to 150 or 200 bushels per day, and might be at once increased on emergency. There are other salt works too within the circle in question. On the western bank of the Mississippi (near the center of the circle) just below St. Genevieve and within six miles of Kaskaskia is a saline which yields (at a low price) salt enough for the neighborhood, and might produce much more. Besides, there are rich springs upon the Missouri, one of which is already worked to considerable profit, and its salt is used at St. Louis and Cahokia. If, in this circle, many species of minerals are not yet discovered, lead certainly abounds in extraordinary quantities. In no country on earth has so much been found above the soil, or under it so far as pursued. It is a reasonable conjecture, that enough is emboweled there, not only for the supply of the U. States, but of the world. It is found in numerous places, and many hands are already profitably employed in procuring it. With proper capital, or governement encouragement, its veins might be pursued and such quantities raised as to supply at a cheap rate every purpose for which that mineral is used, and furnish convenient remittance to foreign countries. The Manufacture of shot is commenced near the mines, as well as some chemical preparations of that metal. The mention of shot reminds me of the fowls of that region. If there is any thing majestic in the swan, or wonderful in the pelican, or curious in the various species of heron, or astonishing in myriads of congregated ducks and geese of every feather, it is to be seen there. The bosom of the water, at certain seasons, is literally convered with them. And at times, the larger fowls, particularly the three first, rise into the air, in companies for the purpose of sport, and it is truly amusing to see them wheel and play over your head, and to hear their sportive sounds. The swans are of snowy white, and mount to an immense distance; the pelicans are also white, except the wings which are black, and they wheel in curious forms; the herons, both whitened blue, are in great abundance, & play at various heights. The traveler, however grave or thoughtful, cannot avoid casting up his eyes and listening with delight beneath these airy choirs. The innumerable grouse (commonly called prairieless) are also an object of curiosity. They are colored in a measure like the pheasant, or partridge, but of large size and longer on the wing. Near the approach of winter, they gather in great companies, often around the barns of settlers, and may be taken in any numbers. The immensity of herage in that country supports as many cattle, horses, and swine, as any one choses to raise. That numbers at present subsist there, and in but few spots do you discover the wild food diminished. The beef, fattened without any attention of th owner, is equal to the best stall fed in the Atlantic states. The grass is great, like other things; when full grown from three to six feet high. And the wood lands are mostly covered with it, as well as the prairies. Wild fruits are in abundance; hickory nuts; black walnuts; butter nuts; pecans; pawpaws; persimons, grapes; and a variety of plums, with crabapples-Hops grow plentifully on the bottoms. There are no chestnut nor beech trees. There are many acorns. Strawberries are in profusion. Peaches, pears, and apples succeed well; as do all other fruits, appoureous, and subterrany, of the various climates of the U. States, from the Carolina potatoe to the New-England pumpkin. But I will not tax the patience of your readers with more particulars. If I have succeeded in giving to any who have not seen it, a feint glimpse of the region in question, I am satisfied. A glimpse only was intended. Some of my remarks, I am sensible, are trifling; but my descriptions were necessarily confined to things in the simple state of nature. Human skill or exertion has as yet done little there worthy of notice, I flatter myself, that from the foregoing observations, something may be inferred of the congeniality of the body lying, in that interesting position, with the mighty limbs stretching from it in all directions. *This river always bears along a quantity of the subtilest clay or earth, which give it the appearance of a thick suds, and preserves itself in a distinct body for several leagues after it joins the Mississippi. This water being taken up in a vessel, soon clarifies, and is very soft, agreeable and wholesome. +From the general appearance, and circumstances attending this river, the French (who first navigated it) gave it the name of Belle Riviere or fair river, by which they call it to this day. ++The French describe this river and the adjacent country as terestrial paradise. **The extraordinary pouch of this fowl is well known. The bird is very large, measuring from 3 to 10 feet from the tip of one wing to the other.

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