Read Ebook: The Middle of the Road: A Novel by Gibbs Philip

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To suppose the United States and its territory to be divided into three portions, the arrangement would be, the Atlantic slope--the Mississippi basin, or valley--and the Pacific slope.

A glance on any map of North America, will show that this Valley includes about two thirds of the territory of the United States. The Atlantic slope contains about 390,000; the Pacific slope, about 300,000; which, combined, are 690,000 square miles: while the Valley of the Mississippi contains at least 1,300,000 square miles, or 833,000,000 acres.

This Valley extends from the 29? to the 49? of N. latitude, or about 1400 miles from south to north; and from the 3? to the 35? of longitude west from Washington, or about 1470 miles from east to west. From the source of the Alleghany river to the sources of the Missouri, following the meanderings of the streams, is not less than 5000 miles.

Probably there is no portion of the globe, of equal extent, that contains as much of soil fit for cultivation, and which is capable of sustaining and supplying with all the necessaries and conveniences, and most of the luxuries of life, so dense a population as this great Valley. Deducting one third of its surface for water and desert, which is a very liberal allowance, and there remains 866,667 square miles, or 554,666,880 acres of arable land.

Let it become as populous as Massachusetts, which contains 610,014 inhabitants on an area of 7,800 square miles, or seventy-eight to every 640 acres, and the population of this immense region will amount to 67,600,000. The child is now born which will live to see this result. Suppose its population to become equally dense with England, including Wales, which contains 207 to the square mile, and its numbers will amount to 179,400,000. But let it become equal to the Netherlands, the most populous country on the globe, containing 230 to the square mile, and the Valley of the Mississippi teems with a population of 200 millions, a result which may be had in the same time that New England has been gathering its two millions. What reflections ought this view to present to the patriot, the philanthropist, and the christian.

North of this line the seasons are regularly divided into spring, summer, autumn, and winter. In the winter there is usually more or less snow, ice forms and frequently blocks up the rivers, navigation is obstructed, and cotton is not produced in sufficient quantity or quality to make it a staple for exportation. It is the region of furs, minerals, tobacco, hemp, live stock, and every description of grain and fruit that grows in New England. Its white population are mostly accustomed to labor.

South of this line, cotton, tobacco, indigo, and sugar are staples. It has little winter, snow seldom covers the earth, ice never obstructs the rivers, and most of the labor is done by slaves.

The Missouri is unquestionably the main stream, for it is not only longer and discharges a larger volume of water than the Mississippi above its mouth, but it has branches, which, for the extent of country they drain, their length, and the volume of water they discharge, far exceed the upper Mississippi.

The characteristics of these two rivers are each distinctly marked. The Missouri is turbid, violent in its motions, changing its currents; its navigation is interrupted or made difficult by snags, sawyers and planters, and it has many islands and sand-bars. Such is the character of the Mississippi below the mouth of the Missouri. But above its mouth, its waters are clear, its current gentle, while it is comparatively free from snags and sand-bars.

The Missouri, which we have shown to be the principal stream, rises in the Chippewan, or Rocky mountains in latitude 44? north, and longitude about 35? west from Washington city. It runs a northeast course till after it receives the Yellow Stone, when it reaches past the 48? of latitude, thence an east, then a south, and finally a southeastern course, until it meets the current of the Mississippi, 20 miles above St. Louis, and in latitude 38? 45' north. Besides numerous smaller streams, the Missouri receives the Yellow Stone and Platte, which of themselves, in any other part of the world, would be called large rivers, together with the Sioux, Kansau, Grand, Chariton, Osage, and Gasconade, all large and navigable rivers.

Its length, upon an entire comparative course, is 1870 miles, and upon a particular course, about 3000 miles. Lewis and Clark make the distance from the Mississippi to the great falls, 2580 miles.

There are several things in some respects peculiar to this river, which deserve notice.

Owing to the shifting of its current, and its snags and sand-bars, its navigation is less safe and pleasant than any other western river, but these difficulties are every year lessened by genius and enterprise.

This sediment does not prevent its habitual use by hundreds who live on its banks, or move in boats over its surface. Some filtrate it, but many more drink it, and use it for culinary purposes, in its natural state.

When entirely filtrated, it is the most limpid and agreeable river water I ever saw. Its specific gravity then, is about equal to rain water; but in its turbid state, it is much heavier than ordinary river water, for a boat will draw three or four inches less in it than in other rivers, with the same lading, and the human body will swim in it with but very little effort.

It possesses some medicinal properties. Placed in an open vessel and exposed to the summer's sun, it remains pure for weeks. Eruptions on the skin and ulcerous sores are cured by wading or frequent bathings, and commonly it produces slight cathartic effects upon strangers upon its first use.

The width of the Missouri river at St. Charles, is 550 yards. Its alluvial banks however are insecure, and are not unfrequently washed away for many yards at its annual floods. The bed of its channel is also precarious, and is elevated or depressed by the deposition or removal of its sandy foundation. Hence the elevation or depression of the surface of this river, affords no criterion of its depth, or of the volume of water it discharges at any one period.

Undulatory motions, like the boiling of a pot, are frequently seen on its surface, caused by the shifting of the sand that forms its bed.

The volume of water it ordinarily discharges into the Mississippi is vastly disproportionate to its length, or the number and size of its tributaries. I have seen less than six feet depth of water at St. Charles at a low stage, and it was once forded by a soldier, at Bellefontaine, four miles above its junction with the Mississippi.

Evaporation takes up large quantities, but absorption throughout the porous soil of its wide bottoms consumes much more. In all the wells dug in the bottom lands of the Missouri, water is always found at the depth of the surface of the river, and invariably rises or sinks with the floods and ebbings of the stream. Volumes of sand frequently enter these wells as the river rises.

Its periodical floods deserve notice. Ordinarily this river has three periods of rising and falling each year. The first rise is caused by the breaking up of winter on the Gasconade, Osage, Kansau, Chariton, Grand, and other branches of the lower Missouri, and occurs the latter part of February, or early in March. Its second rise is usually in April, when the Platte, Yellow Stone, and other streams pour into it their spring floods. But the flood that more usually attracts attention takes place from the 10th to the 25th of June, when the melting snows on the Chippewan mountains pour their contents into the Missouri. This flood is scarcely ever less than five, nor more than 20 feet at St. Louis, above the ordinary height of the river. On two occasions, however, since the country was known to the French, it has arisen to that height in the Mississippi as to flow over the American Bottom in Illinois, and drive the inhabitants of Cahokia and Kaskaskia from their villages to the bluffs. Rain in greater or less quantities usually falls during the rise of the river, and ceases when the waters subside. So uniform is this the case in Upper Missouri, the region beyond the boundary of the State, that the seasons are divided into wet and dry.

Pumice stones and other volcanic productions occasionally float down its waters.

The principal branch of the Upper Mississippi, is the St. Peter's, which rises in the great prairies in the northwest, and enters the parent stream ten miles below the falls of St. Anthony. Towards the sources of this river the quarries exist from which are made the red stone pipes of the Indians. This is sacred ground. Hostile tribes meet here, and part unmolested.

Rock river drains the waters from the northern part of Illinois and Wisconsin, and enters the parent stream at 41? 30' north latitude. In latitude 39? comes in the Illinois, signifying the "River of Men;" and eighteen miles below this, it unites with, and is lost in the Missouri.

Sixty miles below St. Louis, the Kaskaskia joins it, after a devious course of 400 miles. In 37? north latitude, the Ohio pours in its tribute, called by the early French explorers, "La Belle Rivi?re," the beautiful river. A little below 34?, the White river enters after a course of more than 1,000 miles. Thirty miles below that, the Arkansas, bringing its tribute from the confines of Mexico, pours in its waters. Above Natchez, the Yazoo from the east, and eighty miles below, the Red river from the west, unite their waters with the Mississippi. Red River takes its rise in the Mexican dominions, and runs a course of more than 2,000 miles.

Hitherto, the waters in the wide regions of the west have been congregating to one point. The "Father of Waters," is now upwards of a mile in width, and several fathoms deep. During its annual floods, it overflows its banks below the mouth of the Ohio, and penetrates the numerous bayous, lakes, and swamps, and especially on its western side. In many places these floods extend thirty or forty miles into the interior. But after it receives the Red river, it begins to throw off its surplus waters, which flow in separate channels to the gulf, and never again unite with the parent stream. Several of these communications are held with the ocean at different and distant points.

The general course of the Ohio is southwest. Its current is gentle, and it receives a number of tributaries, which are noticed in the States where they run.

The Valley of the Mississippi has been arranged by Mr. Darby, into four great subdivisions.

But a short distance in the rear, you enter upon table land of extensive prairies, with clumps of trees, and groves along the streams. Further down, abrupt cliffs and overhanging precipices are frequently seen at the termination of the river alluvion.

The whole country northwest of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi, as far north as the falls of St. Anthony, exhibits striking marks of a diluvial formation, by a gradual retiring of the waters. From the summit level that divides the waters of the lakes from those of the Mississippi, through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin, which is scarcely a perceptible ridge, to the south point of Illinois at the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi, appears to have once been a plane with an inclination equal to 12 or 15 inches per mile. The ravines and vallies appear to have been gradually scooped out by the abrasion of the waters.

"In the lower Valley of the Mississippi there is a great extent of land of the very richest kind. There is also much that is almost always overflown with waters, and is a perpetual swamp. There are extensive prairies in this Valley; and towards the Rocky mountains; on the upper waters of the Arkansas and Red rivers, there are vast barren steppes or plains of sand, dreary and barren, like the central steppes of Asia. On the east of the Mississippi, are extensive regions of the densest forests, which form a striking contrast with the prairies which stretch on the west of that great river.

FOOTNOTES:

Darby.

Productions.

Nearly all the feathered tribe of the Atlantic slope are to be found in the Valley. Pelicans, wild geese, swans, cranes, ducks, paroquets, wild turkeys, prairie hens, &c. are found in different states, especially on the Mississippi.

The French were the first to explore and settle the West, and they held jurisdiction over the country of Illinois for 80 years, when it fell into the hands of the British upon the conquest of Canada.

In 1608, Admiral Champlaine founded Quebec, from which French settlements spread through the Canadas.

About 1670, the notion prevailed amongst the French that visited Canada, that a western passage to the Pacific ocean existed. They learned from the Indians that far in the west there was a great river; but of its course or termination they could learn nothing. They supposed that this river communicated with the western ocean.

Marquette continued among these Indians with a view to christianize them; but Joliet returned to Canada and reported the discoveries he had made.

Several years elapsed before any one attempted to follow up the discoveries of Marquette and Joliet. M. de La Salle, a native of Normandy, but who had resided many years in Canada, was the first to extend these early discoveries. He was a man of intelligence, talents, enterprise, and perseverance. After obtaining the sanction of the king of France, he set out on his projected expedition, in 1678, from Frontenac, with Chevalier Tonti, his lieutenant, and Father Hennepin, a Jesuit missionary, and thirty or forty men.

The position of this fort cannot now be ascertained; but from some appearances, it is thought to have been near Spring bay, in the northeast part of Tazewell county.

At this period the Illinois were engaged in a war with the Iroquois, a numerous, warlike, and cruel nation, with whom La Salle had traded, while on the borders of Canada. The former, according to Indian notions of friendship, expected assistance from the French; but the interests and safety of La Salle depended upon terminating this warfare, and to this object he directed his strenuous efforts. The suspicious Illinois construed this into treachery, which was strengthened by the malicious and perfidious conduct of some of his own men, and pronounced upon him the sentence of death. Immediately he formed and executed the bold and hazardous project of going alone and unarmed to the camp of the Illinois, and vindicating his conduct. He declared his innocence of the charges, and demanded the author. He urged that the war should be terminated, and that the hostile nations should live in peace.

The coolness, bravery, and eloquence of La Salle filled the Indians with astonishment, and entirely changed their purposes. The calumet was smoked, presents mutually exchanged, and a treaty of amity concluded.

The original project of discovery was now pursued. Father Hennepin started on the 28th of February, 1680, and having passed down the Illinois, ascended the Mississippi to the falls of St. Anthony. Here he was taken prisoner, robbed, and carried to the Indian villages, from which he made his escape, returned to Canada by the way of the Wisconsin, and from thence to France, where he published an account of his travels.

One of these forts is thought to have been built on the west side of the river, between St. Louis and Carondalet.

After descending the Mississippi to its mouth, he returned to the Illinois, and on his way back left some of his companions to occupy the country. This is supposed to have been the commencement of the villages of Kaskaskia and Cahokia, in 1683. La Salle went to France, fitted out an expedition to form a colony at the mouth of the Mississippi, sailed to the gulf of Mexico, but not being able to find the mouths of that river, he commenced an overland journey to his fort on the Illinois. On this journey he was basely assassinated by two of his own men.

After the death of La Salle, no attempts to discover the mouth of the Mississippi were made till about 1699, but the settlements in the Illinois country were gradually increased by emigrants from Canada.

In 1712, the king of France, by letters patent, gave the whole country of Louisiana to M. Crosat, with the commerce of the country, with the profits of all the mines, reserving for his own use one fifth of the gold and silver. After expending large sums in digging and exploring for the precious metals without success, Crosat gave up his privilege to the king, in 1717. Soon after, the colony was granted to the Mississippi company, projected by Mr. Law, which took possession of Louisiana, and appointed M. Bienville governor. In 1719, La Harpe commanded a fort with French troops, not far from the mouth of the Missouri river.

In 1699, M. Ibberville arrived in the gulf of Mexico with two frigates, and in March ascended the river in a felucca one hundred leagues, and returned by the bayou or outlet that bears his name, through lake Ponchartrain to the gulf. He planted his colony at Biloxi, a healthy but sterile spot between the Mobile and Mississippi rivers, and built a fortification. During several succeeding years much exploring was done, and considerable trade carried on with the Indians for peltries, yet these expeditions were a source of much expense to France.

In January, 1702, the colony at Mobile was planted; several other settlements were soon after formed. The Catholics also commenced several missions amongst the Indians. Difficulties frequently occurred with their Spanish neighbors in Florida and Mexico.

M. Ibberville died in 1706, and M. Bienville succeeded him in the government of Louisiana for many years. The city of New Orleans was founded, during his administration, in 1719. It is situated on the east bank of the Mississippi, one hundred and five miles from its mouth. From 1723 to 1730, the French had exterminating wars with the Natchez, a powerful nation of Indians. They had killed 700 French in 1723, and about 1730 the French exterminated the nation. Various wars took place subsequently with the Spanish and English. But over most of the Indians along the Mississippi, these French colonists gained extraordinary influence.--During this period emigrants continued to arrive from France, so that the colonists rapidly increased in numbers.

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