James's Account of S. H. Long's Expedition, 1819-1820, part 4

by Edwin James; Stephen H. Long; Thomas Say

It may not be improper to remark in this place, that great havoc is annually made amongst the timber of this tract, by lumber and fuel mongers, who furnish the New Orleans market with large supplies of these articles, particularly of the former.

The bottom is bounded on the west by a chain of heights, corresponding to the river bluffs on other parts of the Mississippi, but not arranged in so regular a manner. These are the commencement of a part of the hilly country hereafter to be considered. The most considerable rivers that flow through the bottoms, and pour their tribute into the Mississippi, {214} are the St. Francis, the Big Black and White rivers, which are confluent, the Washita and Red river.

There are also a few other bottoms on the west side of the Mississippi of moderate size. The largest of these are Tywapata and Bois Broulè, situated a little above the mouth of the Ohio.

The hilly and mountainous country commences immediately west of the Mississippi bottoms, and extends westwardly about four hundred miles. Although the terms hilly and mountainous are expressive of the general character of the country, yet the following portions of this section may be enumerated as exceptions, viz. a tract of country comprehending St. Louis, Belle Fontain, Florissant, and extending south-westwardly so as to include the lead mine tract, Belle View, &c. This tract (which embraces the most populous part of the Missouri territory) may be denominated rolling, or moderately hilly. Considerable portions of the country situated between the Arkansa and Red rivers, particularly in the vicinity of the latter, are also of this character. On the Arkansa, above Belle Point, is an extensive tract of a similar description; as also many tracts of inferior size, on the north side of the Arkansa, between the villages of the Port and the Cadron settlements. On the south side of the Missouri is also an extensive tract of rolling country, commencing at the river Le Mine, six miles above Franklin, and extending upward along the Missouri, with occasional interruptions, to the Council Bluff. Such is the extent of this tract, that it comprises almost the whole of the country situated between the assumed meridian line and the Missouri, from Fort Osage upward. On the head waters of the Osage river, and on those of its principal tributaries, the country is said to be of a similar character also. To these may be added large portions of country situated on the Verdigrise river, upon the Arkansa, above Grand river, and upon the {215} Canadian, from its mouth upwards to the distance of about two hundred miles. The tracts here designated, exhibit broad and elevated swells of land, separated from each other by deep and spacious valleys.

These portions of country are chequered with woodlands and prairies, in many instances alternating with each other in due proportion, for the accommodation of settlers with farming and woodlands. On the Missouri above Fort Osage, and on the Osage river, however, the proportion of woodland is very inconsiderable, and the timber it affords of a scrubby character. The prairies here, as on the north of the Missouri, occupy at least nineteen-twentieths of the whole surface. Some portions of the Red river country are also deficient in the quantum of woodlands allotted to them; but in general it may be observed, that the more southerly regions are better supplied with timber than those farther north. The growth of the woodlands interspersed amongst the prairies is mostly post oak, hickory, black jack, and white oak upon the high lands; and cotton-wood, sycamore, black and white walnut, maple, bur oak, and several other trees common to the western bottoms, in the valleys. The bow wood, or, as it is sometimes called, the Osage orange, is found upon the southerly tributaries of the Arkansa, and upon the Red river and its tributaries. This tree is deserving of particular notice, inasmuch as it affords a timber extremely compact and elastic; its trunk and roots may prove very useful in dying yellow, and its fruit of importance in medicine.

The residue of this section, with the exception of the river bottoms, and tracts of valley land scattered in various directions throughout the whole, is extremely hilly, broken, and mountainous, the hills and mountains rising from five to fifteen hundred feet above the water-table of the country in which they are situated. They are exceedingly numerous, and are divided into a multiplicity of knobs and peaks, {216} having rounded summits, and presenting perpendicular cliffs and abrupt precipices of sandstone. Their surfaces generally are covered with rocks of this description, or flinty fragments strewed in profusion upon them. The growth upon them is, almost exclusively, pitch pine, cedar, scrubby oaks, hickory, haw and bramble; the poverty of the soil in some instances, and the scarcity of it in others, excluding the more luxuriant vegetable productions common to the more level country in their vicinity.

The range of mountains situated between the Arkansa and Red rivers gives rise to the following streams, all of which are sufficiently copious for mill-seats, and abound in cascades and falls, well adapted to such purposes; viz. the Blue Water, Kiamesha and Little rivers; the Mountain, Rolling, Cossetot and Saline forks of Little river, all of which are tributary to Red river; the Little Missouri, Cadeau, Washita, and the Saline, all confluent; the Mamelle, Le Fevre, Petit Jean and Poteau, tributary to the Arkansa, besides numerous creeks of less note.

The hills and mountains between the Arkansa and Missouri are equally prolific in watercourses. The most considerable of these are the Verdigrise, Neosho or Grand river, Illinois; together with the Frogs, Mulberry, White Oak, Spadra, Pine, Illinois, Point Remove and Cadron creeks, tributary to the Arkansa; the Little Red and White rivers, confluent streams; the Strawberry, Spring, Eleven Point, Currant, Little and Big Black, all confluent, and tributary to White river, which enters the Mississippi about thirty miles above the mouth of the Arkansa. The St. Francis and the Merameg have their sources in this broken region also, and discharge themselves into the Mississippi. Of the valleys of the rivers last enumerated, viz. those north of the Arkansa and tributary to the Mississippi, it is observable that they are uniformly possessed of a rich soil, but owing to the excessive floods occasionally brought down through them from {217} the hills and mountains, their cultivation is very precarious. The valley of White river, and those of some few others, are in many places elevated above the reach of the highest freshets, and are not altogether subject to this inconvenience. But for the most part they are liable to being swept by overwhelming freshets, which prostrate fences, buildings, and every artificial structure that opposes their march. Even a fall freshet has been known to inundate plantations situated within the valleys, to the depth of eight or ten feet. These floods are generally very sudden, as well as excessive, to such a degree, that on some occasions the water has risen, in the course of one night, more than twenty feet. By these sudden rises of the water, the planter that in the evening thought his family and possessions secure from harm, has been compelled the next morning to embark with his family in a canoe, to save themselves from impending destruction, while his habitation, fields, cattle, and all his effects, are abandoned to the fury of the torrent.

The streams rising in the same hilly country, and tributary to the Missouri, are the following, viz. the Bon Homme creek, the Gasconade, the Osage and its tributaries, the Le Mine, the Blue Water, and several streams tributary to the Konzas river. Upon some of these, as the Bon Homme, Gasconade, and some few creeks besides, mills have been constructed, at which much of the timber of the St. Louis market is sawed.