Chapter I: Preface

These early adventures in the Ozarks comprehend my first exploratory effort in the great area of the West. To traverse the plains and mountain elevations west of the Mississippi, which had once echoed the tramp of the squadrons of De Soto--to range over hills, and through rugged defiles, which he had once searched in the hope of finding mines of gold and silver rivalling those of Mexico and Peru; and this, too, coming as a climax to the panorama of a long, long journey from the East--constituted an attainment of youthful exultation and self-felicitation, which might have been forgotten with its termination. But the incidents are perceived to have had a value of a different kind. They supply the first attempt to trace the track of the Spanish cavaliers west of the Mississippi. The name of De Soto is inseparably connected with the territorial area of Missouri and Arkansas, which he was the first European to penetrate, and in the latter of which he died.

Four-and-thirty years have passed away, since the travels here brought to view, were terminated. They comprise a period of exciting and startling events in our history, social and political. With the occupancy of Oregon, the annexation of Texas, the discoveries in California, and the acquisition of New Mexico, the very ends of the Union appear to have been turned about. And the lone scenes and adventures of a man on a then remote frontier, may be thought to have lost their interest. But they are believed to possess a more permanent character. It is the first and _only_ attempt to identify De Soto's march west of the Mississippi; and it recalls reminiscences of scenes and observations which belong to the history of the discovery and settlement of the country.

Little, it is conceived, need be said, to enable the reader to determine the author's position on the frontiers of Missouri and Arkansas in 1818. He had passed the summer and fall of that year in investigating the geological structure and mineral resources of the lead-mine district of Missouri. He had discovered the isolated primitive tract on the sources of the St. Francis and Grand rivers--the "Coligoa" of the Spanish adventurer--and he felt a strong impulse to explore the regions west of it, to determine the extent of this formation, and fix its geological relations between the primitive ranges of the Alleghany and Rocky mountains.

Reports represented it as an alpine tract, abounding in picturesque valleys and caves, and replete with varied mineral resources, but difficult to penetrate on account of the hostile character of the Osage and Pawnee Indians. He recrossed the Mississippi to the American bottom of Illinois, to lay his plan before a friend and fellow-traveller in an earlier part of his explorations, Mr. Ebenezer Brigham, of Massachusetts, who agreed to unite in the enterprise. He then proceeded to St. Louis, where Mr. Pettibone, a Connecticut man, and a fellow-voyager on the Alleghany river, determined also to unite in this interior journey. The place of rendezvous was appointed at Potosi, about forty miles west of the Mississippi. Each one was to share in the preparations, and some experienced hunters and frontiersmen were to join in the expedition. But it turned out, when the day of starting arrived, that each one of the latter persons found some easy and good excuse for declining to go, principally on the ground that they were poor men, and could not leave supplies for their families during so long a period of absence. Both the other gentlemen came promptly to the point, though one of them was compelled by sickness to return; and my remaining companion and myself plunged into the wilderness with a gust of adventure and determination, which made amends for whatever else we lacked.

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 Page 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