It is only necessary to add, that the following journal narrates the incidents of the tour. The narrative is drawn up from the original manuscript journal in my possession. Outlines of parts of it, were inserted in the pages of the Belles-lettres Repository, by Mr. Van Winkle, soon after my return to New York, in 1819; from whence they were transferred by Sir Richard Phillips to his collection of Voyages and Travels, London, 1821. This latter work has never been republished in the United States.
In preparing the present volume, after so considerable a lapse of time, it has been thought proper to omit all such topics as are not deemed of permanent or historical value. The scientific facts embraced in the appendix, on the mines and mineralogy of Missouri, are taken from my publication on these subjects. In making selections and revisions from a work which was at first hastily prepared, I have availed myself of the advantage of subsequent observation on the spot, as well as of the suggestions and critical remarks made by men of judgment and science.
A single further remark may be made: The term Ozark is applied to a broad, elevated district of highlands, running from north to south, centrally, through the States of Missouri and Arkansas. It has on its east the striking and deep alluvial tract of the Mississippi river, and, on its west, the woodless buffalo plains or deserts which stretch below the Rocky Mountains. The Osage Indians, who probably furnish origin for the term, have occupied all its most remarkable gorges and eminences, north of the Arkansas, from the earliest historical times; and this tribe, with the Pawnees ("Apana"), are supposed to have held this position ever since the days of De Soto.
Washington, January 20, 1853.
CONTENTS.
| Introduction | [13] |
| CHAPTER I. | |
| Junction of the Ohio with the Mississippi—Difficulty of Ascending the latter with a Barge—Its turbid and rapid Character—Incidents of the Voyage—Physical Impediments to its Navigation—Falling-in Banks—Tiawapati—Animals—Floating Trees—River at Night—Needless and laughable Alarm—Character of the Shores—Men give out—Reach the first fast Lands—Mineral Products—Cape Girardeau—Moccasin Spring—Non-poetic geographical Names—Grand Tower—Struggle to pass Cape Garlic. | [22] |
| CHAPTER II. | |
| Pass Cape Garlic—Obrazo River—Cliffs—Emigrants—Cape St. Comb—Bois Brule Bottom—Paroquet—Fort Chartres—Kaskaskia—St. Genevieve—M. Breton—The Mississippi deficient in Fish—Antiquities—Geology—Steamer—Herculaneum—M. Austin, Esq., the Pioneer to Texas—Journey on foot to St. Louis—Misadventures on the Maramec—Its Indian Name—Carondelet—St. Louis, its fine Site and probable future Importance—St. Louis Mounds not artificial—Downward Pressure of the diluvial Drift of the Mississippi. | [32] |
| CHAPTER III. | |
| Resolve to proceed further West—Night Voyage on the Mississippi in a Skiff—An Adventure—Proceed on foot West to the Missouri Mines—Incidents by the Way—Miners' Village of Shibboleth— Compelled by a Storm to pass the Night at Old Mines—Reach Potosi—Favourable Reception by the mining Gentry—Pass several Months in examining the Mines—Organize an Expedition to explore Westward—Its Composition—Discouragements on setting out—Proceed, notwithstanding—Incidents of the Journey to the Valley of Leaves. | [43] |
| CHAPTER IV. | |
| Horses elope—Desertion of our Guide—Encamp on one of the Sources of Black River—Head-waters of the River Currents—Enter a romantic Sub-Valley—Saltpetre Caves—Description of Ashley's Cave—Encampment there—Enter an elevated Summit—Calamarca, an unknown Stream—encounter four Bears—North Fork of White River. | [54] |
| CHAPTER V. | |
| Descend the Valley—Its Difficulties—Horse rolls down a Precipice—Purity of the Water—Accident caused thereby—Elkhorn Spring—Tower Creek—Horse plunges over his depth in Fording, and destroys whatever is deliquescent in his pack—Absence of Antiquities, or Evidences of ancient Habitation—a remarkable Cavern—Pinched for Food—Old Indian Lodges—The Beaver—A deserted Pioneer's Camp— Incident of the Pumpkin. | [65] |
| CHAPTER VI. | |
| Abandon our Camp and Horse in search of Settlements—Incidents of the first Day—Hear a Shot—Camp in an old Indian Lodge—Acorns for Supper—Kill a Woodpecker—Incidents of the second Day—Sterile Ridges—Want of Water—Camp at Night in a deep Gorge—Incidents of the third Day—Find a Horse-path, and pursue it— Discover a Man on Horseback—Reach a Hunter's Cabin—Incidents there—He conducts us back to our old Camp—Deserted there without Provisions—Deplorable State—Shifts—Taking of a Turkey. | [74] |
| CHAPTER VII. | |
| Proceed West—Bog our Horse—Cross the Knife Hills—Reach the Unica, or White River—Abandon the Horse at a Hunter's, and proceed with Packs—Objects of Pity—Sugar-Loaf Prairie—Camp under a Cliff—Ford the Unica twice—Descend into a Cavern—Reach Beaver River, the highest Point of Occupancy by a Hunter Population. | [83] |
| CHAPTER VIII. | |
| Obstacle produced by the Fear of Osage Hostility—Means pursued to overcome it—Natural Monuments of Denudation in the Limestone Cliffs—Purity of the Water—Pebbles of Yellow Jasper—Complete the Hunters' Cabins—A Job in Jewellery—Construct a Blowpipe from Cane—What is thought of Religion. | [93] |
| CHAPTER IX. | |
| Proceed into the Hunting-Country of the Osages—Diluvial Hills and Plains—Bald Hill—Swan Creek—Osage Encampments—Form of the Osage Lodge—The Habits of the Beaver—Discover a remarkable Cavern in the Limestone Rock, having natural Vases of pure Water—Its geological and metalliferous Character—Reach the Summit of the Ozark Range, which is found to display a broad Region of fertile Soil, overlying a mineral Deposit. | [101] |
| CHAPTER X. | |
| Depart from the Cave—Character of the Hunters who guided the Author—Incidents of the Route—A beautiful and fertile Country, abounding in Game—Reach the extreme north-western Source of White River—Discoveries of Lead-ore in a Part of its Bed—Encamp, and investigate its Mineralogy—Character, Value, and History of the Country—Probability of its having been traversed by De Soto in 1541. | [109] |
| CHAPTER XI. | |
| Severe winter Weather on the Summit of the Ozarks—False Alarm of Indians—Danger of my Furnace, etc., being hereafter taken for Antiquities—Proceed South—Animal Tracks in the Snow—Winoca or Spirit Valley—Honey and the Honey-Bee—Buffalo- Bull Creek—Robe of Snow—Mehausca Valley—Superstitious Experiment of the Hunters—Arrive at Beaver Creek. | [115] |
| CHAPTER XII. | |
| Descend White River in a Canoe—Its pure Water, Character, and Scenery—Places of Stopping—Bear Creek—Sugar-Loaf Prairie—Big Creek—A River Pedlar—Pot Shoals—Mouth of Little North Fork—Descend formidable Rapids, called the Bull Shoals—Stranded on Rocks—A Patriarch Pioneer—Mineralogy—Antique Pottery and Bones—Some Trace of De Soto—A Trip by Land—Reach the Mouth of the Great North Fork. | [120] |
| CHAPTER XIII. | |
| Detention at the Mouth of the Great North Fork—Natural History of the Vicinity—Great Blocks of Quartz—Imposing Precipices of the Calico Rock—A Characteristic of American Scenery—Cherokee Occupancy of the Country between the White and Arkansas Rivers—Its Effects on the Pioneers—Question of the Fate of the Indian Races—Iron-ore—Descent to the Arkansas Ferries—Leave the River at this Point—Remarks on its Character and Productions. | [128] |
| CHAPTER XIV. | |
| Ancient Spot of De Soto's crossing White River in 1542—Lameness produced by a former Injury—Incidents of the Journey to the St. Francis River—De Soto's ancient Marches and Adventures on this River in the search after Gold—Fossil Salt—Copper—The ancient Ranges of the Buffalo. | [134] |
| CHAPTER XV. | |
| Proceed North—Incidents of the Route—A severe Tempest of Rain, which swells the Stream—Change in the Geology of the Country—The ancient Coligoa of De Soto—A primitive and mineral Region—St. Michael—Mine a La Motte—Wade through Wolf Creek—A Deserted House—Cross Grand River—Return to Potosi. | [142] |
| PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE WEST. | |
| Two Letters, addressed to the Hon. J. B. Thomas, U. S. Senate, Washington. | [146] |
| APPENDIX. | |
| MINERALOGY, GEOLOGY, AND MINES. | |
| 1. A View of the Lead-Mines of Missouri. | [153] |
| 2. A Catalogue of the Minerals of the Mississippi Valley | [198] |
| 3. Mineral Resources of the Western Country. A Letter to Gen. C. G. Haines. | [215] |
| GEOGRAPHY. | |
| 1. Missouri. | [222] |
| 2. Hot Springs of Washita. | [231] |
| 3. Memoir of White River. | [233] |
| 4. List of Steamboats on the Mississippi River in 1819. | [239] |
| ANTIQUITIES AND INDIAN HISTORY. | |
| 1. Articles of curious Workmanship found in ancient Indian Graves. | [241] |
| 2. Ancient Indian Cemetery found in the Maramec Valley. | [243] |