Scenes and Adventures in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri and Arkansas. Henry Rowe Schoolcraft

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      Owing to the increased firmness of the shore, and the reinforcement of hands, we ascended this day ten miles. We began to feel in better spirits.

      July 8th. The calcareous and elevated formation of rocks, covered with geological drift, continued constantly along the Missouri shore; for it was this shore, and not the Illinois side, that we generally hugged. This drift, on ascending the elevations, consisted of a hard and reddish loam, or marly clay, filled with pebble-stones of various kinds, and fragments and chips of hornstone, chert, common jasper, argillaceous oxide of iron, radiated quartz, and quartz materials, betokening the disruption, in ancient eras, of prior formations. The trees observed on the diluvial elevations were oaks, sassafras, and, on the best lands, walnut, but of sparse growth; with a dense forest of cotton-wood, sycamore, and elm, on the alluvions. On ascending the river five miles, we came to the town of Cape Girardeau, consisting of about fifty wooden buildings of all sorts, with a post-office and two stores. We were now at the computed distance of fifty miles above the influx of the Ohio. We went no farther that day. This gave me an opportunity to explore the vicinity.

      I had not yet put my foot ashore, when a fellow-passenger brought me a message from one of the principal merchants of the place, desiring me to call at his store, and aid him in the examination of some drugs and medicines which he had newly received. On reaching his store, I was politely ushered into a back room, where some refreshments were handsomely set out. The whole thing was, in fact, designed as a friendly welcome to a professional man, who came neither to sell nor buy, but simply to inquire into the resources and natural history of the country. At this trait of hospitality and appreciation in a stranger, I took courage, and began to perceive that the West might be relied on.

      I found the town of Cape Girardeau situated on an elevation of rich, red, marly soil, highly charged with oxide of iron, which is characteristic of the best arable soils of the mine country. This soil appears to be very readily dissolved in water, and carried off rapidly by rains, which furnishes a solution to the deep gulfs and gorges that disfigure many parts of the cultivated high grounds. If such places were sown with the seeds of grass, it would give fixity to the soil, and add much to the beauty of the landscape.

      July 9th. We resumed our journey up the rapid stream betimes, but, with every exertion, ascended only seven miles. The river, in this distance, preserves its general character; the Missouri shores being rocky and elevated, while the vast alluvial tracts of the Illinois banks spread out in densely wooded bottoms. But, while the Missouri shores create the idea of greater security by their fixity, and freedom from treacherous alluvions, this very fixity of rocky banks creates jets of strong currents, setting around points, which require the greatest exertions of the bargemen to overcome. To aid them in these exigencies, the cordelle is employed. This consists of a stout rope fastened to a block in the bow of the barge, which is then passed over the shoulders of the men, who each at the same time grasp it, and lean hard forward.

      July 10th. To me, the tardiness of our ascent, after reaching the rock formations, was extremely favorable, as it facilitated my examinations. Every day the mineralogy of the western banks became more interesting, and I was enabled daily to add something to my collection. This day, I picked up a large fragment of the pseudo pumice which is brought down the Missouri by its summer freshets. This mineral appears to have been completely melted; and its superficies is so much enlarged by vesicles filled with air, and its specific gravity thereby so much reduced, as to permit it to float in water. We encamped this evening, after an ascent of seven miles, at a spot called the Moccasin Spring, which is contained in a crevice in a depressed part of the limestone formation.

      July 11th. This day was signalized by our being passed by a small steamer of forty tons burden, called the Harriet, laden with merchandise for St. Louis. Viewed from our stand-point, she seemed often nearly stationary, and sometimes receded, in her efforts to stem the fierce current; but she finally ascended, slowly and with labor. The pressure of the stream, before mentioned, against the rocky barrier of the western banks, was found, to-day, to be very strong. With much ado, with poles and cordelle, we made but five miles.

      July 12th. We passed the mouth of Great Muddy river, on the Illinois shore, this morning. This stream, it is said, affords valuable beds of coal. The name of the river does not appear to be very poetic, nor very characteristic, in a region where every tributary stream is muddy; the Mississippi itself being muddy above all others. But, thanks to the Indians, they have not embodied that idea in the name of the Father of rivers; its greatness, with them, being justly deemed by far its most characteristic trait.

      About two miles above this locality, we came to one of the geological wonders of the Mississippi, called the Grand Tower. It is a pile of limestone rocks, rising precipitously from the bed of the river in a circular form, resembling a massive castle. The height of this geological monument may be about one hundred feet. It is capped by some straggling cedars, which have caught a footing in the crevices. It might, with as much propriety as one of the Alps, be called the Jungfrau (Virgin); for it seems impossible that any human being should ever have ascended it. The main channel of the river passes east of it. There is a narrower channel on the west, which is apparently more dangerous. We crossed the river below this isolated cliff, and landed at some cavernous rocks on the Illinois side, which the boatmen, with the usual propensity of unlettered men, called the Devil's Oven. We then recrossed the river, and, after ascending a distance along the western shore, were repulsed in an attempt, with the cordelle, to pass Garlic Point. The captain then made elaborate preparations for a second attempt, but again failed. A third effort, with all our appliances, was resolved on, but with no better success; and we came-to, finally, for the night, in an eddy below the point, having advanced, during the day, seven miles. If we did not make rapid progress, I had good opportunities of seeing the country, and of contemplating this majestic river in one of its most characteristic phases—namely, its summer flood. I pleased myself by fancying, as I gazed upon its rushing eddies of mud and turbid matter, that I at least beheld a part of the Rocky mountains, passing along in the liquid state! It was a sight that would have delighted the eyes of Hutton; for methinks the quantity of detritus and broken-down strata would not have required, in his mind, many cycles to upbuild a continent.

      Mountains to chaos are by waters hurled,

       And re-create the geologic world.

      CHAPTER II.

       Table of Contents

      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.

      July 13th. We renewed the attempt to pass Cape Garlic at an early hour, and succeeded after a protracted and severe trial. But two of our best men immediately declared their unwillingness to proceed farther in these severe labors, in which they were obliged to pull like oxen; and they were promptly paid off by the captain, and permitted to return. The crew, thus diminished, went on a short distance further with the barge, and came-to at the mouth of the Obrazo river, to await the effort of our commander to procure additional hands. We had not now advanced more than two miles, which constituted the sum of this day's progress. While moored here, we were passed by four boats filled with emigrants from Vermont and Western New York, destined for Boon's Lick, on the Missouri. I embraced the occasion of this delay to make some excursions in the vicinity.

      July 14th. Having been successful СКАЧАТЬ