James's Account of S. H. Long's Expedition, 1819-1820, part 1

by Edwin James; Stephen H. Long; Thomas Say

But although this isolated fact does not yield a positive proof of the long asserted migration of the ancestors of the present race of American Indians from Asia to this country, yet, when taken in combination with other evidence, which has been collected by various authors, with so much industry, it will be regarded as highly corroborative of that popular belief.[084]

In the prairies of Illinois, opposite St. Louis, are numbers of large mounds. We counted seventy-five in the course of a walk of about five miles, which brought us to the hill a few years since occupied by the monks of La Trappe.[085] This enormous mound lies nearly from north to south, but it is so overgrown with bushes and weeds, interlaced with briers and vines, that we were unable to obtain an accurate account of its dimensions.

The survey of these productions of human industry, these monuments without inscription, commemorating the existence of a people once numerous and powerful, but no longer known or remembered, never fails, though often repeated, to produce an impression of sadness. As we stand upon these {60} mouldering piles, many of them now nearly obliterated, we cannot but compare their aspect of decay with the freshness of the wide field of nature, which[pg121] we see reviving around us; their insignificance, with the majestic and imperishable features of the landscape. We feel the insignificance and the want of permanence in every thing human; we are reminded of what has been so often said of the pyramids of Egypt, and may with equal propriety be applied to all the works of men, "these monuments must perish, but the grass that grows between their disjointed fragments shall be renewed from year to year."[086]

June 21st. After completing our arrangements at St. Louis, we left that place at noon, and at 10 o'clock on the following day, entered the mouth of the Missouri. From St. Louis upward to the Missouri, the water of the Mississippi, for a part of the year, is observed to be clear and of a greenish colour on the Illinois side, while it is turbid and yellow along the western bank. But at the time of our ascent every part of the Mississippi appeared equally turbid, its waters soon becoming blended with the heavy flood of the Missouri.

The Missouri being now swollen by the spring floods, which had subsided in the Mississippi, entered that river with such impetuosity, as apparently to displace almost the whole body of the waters in its channel. We had occasion to observe that the water of the Missouri passes under that of the Mississippi, rising and becoming mingled with it on the opposite shore, so that a portion of the clear, green waters of the latter river run for some distance in the[pg122] middle of the channel, and along the surface of the Missouri waters, rendered perhaps specifically heavier by the great quantities of earthy matter mingled with them. The waters of the Missouri are so charged with mud and sand as to be absolutely opake, and of a clay {61} colour; while those of the Mississippi being comparatively clear, and having a somewhat olivaceous tint, afford an opportunity of tracing their respective courses, after their junction in the same channel. At some stages of water they run side by side, and in a great measure unmingled as far as Herculaneum, forty-eight miles below their confluence.

We had the pleasure to find, notwithstanding the furnace was supplied with wood of an indifferent quality, that the force of our steam-engine was sufficient to propel the boat against the current of the Missouri, without recourse to the aid of the cordelle,[087] which we had expected to find necessary.

We were somewhat surprised to see here a flock of black-headed terns. It is remarkable that these birds, whose ordinary range is in the immediate vicinity of the sea-coast, should ascend this river to so great a distance. They are not seen on the Delaware as high as Philadelphia, unless driven up by storms.

In ascending from the mouth of the Missouri to Bellefontain, a distance of four miles, our boat grounded twice on the point of the same sand-bar, and considerable time was consumed in efforts to get her afloat. A military post was established at Bellefontain, under the direction of the government of the United States, by General Wilkinson, in 1803; but the soil on which his works were erected has[pg123] disappeared, the place being now occupied by the bed of the river. A few fruit trees only, which stood in the end of his garden, are yet standing, but are now on the brink of the river. The first bank is here ten or twelve feet high, rising perpendicularly from the water. Near its base are the trunks of several trees with one end imbedded, and the other projecting horizontally over the surface of the water, affording an evidence of the recent deposition of the soil of the low plains, and an admonition of the uncertainty of tenure, on the first bank of the river. One of these projecting trunks is still in good preservation. It is {62} about three feet in diameter, and from its direction, must pass immediately under the roots of two large trees, now occupying the surface of the soil.[088] Similar appearances are frequent along the Mississippi and Missouri, and furnish abundant evidence that these rivers are constantly changing their bed, and, from the great rapidity of the stream, as well as from the appearances presented, we must suppose these changes are not very slowly produced; but their range is confined to the valley within the second banks, which are here raised about seventy feet. On this second bank, in the rear of the site of the former works, the buildings belonging to the present military establishment have been erected. They were commenced in 1810. The houses are of one story, constructed of logs, based upon masonry, and united in the form of a hollow square. At[pg124] the foot of the second bank rises a fine spring of water, which has given name to the place. Cold Water creek, a very small stream not navigable, discharges itself a few hundred yards above; in times of high water its mouth might afford harbour to small boats. Before the recent change in the bed of the Missouri, this creek entered higher up than at present, and then afforded a good harbour for boats of all sizes. The sixth regiment were encamped here at the time of our arrival, waiting for the contractor's steam-boats, three of which we had passed at the mouth of the river.[089]

Here we found it necessary to adjust a tube to the boilers of our steam-engine, in order to form a passage, through which the mud might be blown out: the method heretofore adopted, of taking off one end for the purpose of admitting a man to clean them, proving too tedious when it was found necessary to repeat the operation daily. The expedient of the tube succeeded to our entire satisfaction.

Dr. Baldwin found here a plant, which he considered as forming a new genus, approaching astragalus; {63} also the new species of rose, pointed out by Mr. Bradbury, and by him called Rosa mutabilis. This last is a very beautiful species, rising sometimes to the height of eight or ten feet. The linden tree[090] attains great magnitude in the low[pg125] grounds of the Missouri; its flowers were now fully expanded.