Chapter I: Preface

The author of this work, unknown to fame, and unacquainted with the art of book-making, has endeavored, in the following pages, to give some account of the great WESTERN AND SOUTHERN COUNTRY. In performing this task, he has not attempted the regions of fancy and fiction; but has told his own story--"a plain unvarnished tale," in his own way. And although it may not indicate much depth of research, or possess all the graces of polished diction and charms of novelty, yet he hopes it may be found to contain information sufficient to repay a perusal.

He spent five months on his journey, and examined the country through which he passed, as much as time would permit:--Its soil, climate and productions--the manners, customs and health of the inhabitants--the animals, reptiles and insects--in short, all things favorable and unfavorable in the NEW WORLD. He has freely spoken of the country just as it appeared to him; and he believes the information this work purports to give, may be safely relied upon. But if it should be found to contain errors of fact, or of opinion, he is confident they will be deemed unintentional.

It would have been quite easy to make a much larger book of the author's travels; and had he followed the example set him by some of the journalists of the day, he should have done so. But his object was not to make a large and expensive volume. He has given in a concise form, such descriptions, incidents and anecdotes only, as he believes may instruct and amuse, and enable the public to form a correct opinion of the country. How he has succeeded in his undertaking, others, of course, will judge for themselves; he hopes this little work may be found not entirely destitute of useful and entertaining matter, and prove an acceptable offering to his friends and fellow-citizens.

In the appendix, will be found a particular description of MICHIGAN, and a BRIEF SKETCH of the TEXIAN REVOLUTIONARY WAR.

In this sketch, the author has consulted all the accounts given of this sanguinary war, and he believes it will be found correct in all its essential particulars: but he does not wish to conceal the fact, that amidst the hurry and bustle of a Revolution perfect accuracy is hardly attainable.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

Objects of the Trip--Albany, situation and appearance--Erie canal
basin--western travellers--rail road--canal boats, packets, line
boats and scows--accommodations--number of boats--mode of passing
each other--tow-pathbridges--accident in crossing--Erie
canal--Villages and grog-shops--Trenton falls--Ithaca falls--Taghcanic
falls--Rochester--canal aqueduct--Genesee falls--Sam Patch's last
leap--flouring mills--Lockport--double canal locks--deep cut--arrival
at Buffalo. Page, 13

CHAPTER II.

The city of Buffalo--steamboat on the Niagara river--Fort
Erie--Black Rock--visit to Niagara falls--Canada
shore--Manchester--State of New-York--emigration--return to
Buffalo--different routes to the West--passage in
steamboat--Cleaveland--Maumee--Monroe--number of emigrants--vessels
on the lake--Detroit--the Canada shore--ferry boats. 25

CHAPTER III.

Travelling by stage to the mouth of St. Joseph river--miry
roads--Ann Arbor--Upsilanti--oak openings--prairies and
woodland--Michigan, level, clear water, but not
pure---Jackson--Marshall--Gull lake and prairie--Kalamazoo
river--Bronson--Pawpaw river--St. Joseph village--lake
Michigan--misfortune of an emigrant--crossing the lake--Michigan
city--stage road on the beach. 35

CHAPTER IV.

Chicago, a general description thereof--Pottawattomie tribe
of Indians, their appearance and actions--the land back of
Chicago--the lakes and their original outlet through the
Illinois river--character of the inhabitants of Chicago--house
rent and provisions. 43

CHAPTER V.

Trip to Fox river--fellow travellers--river Oplane--Du Page river
and Naper's settlement--big and little woods--pleasant settlement
of emigrants--Fox river--upper house--lost in a prairie at night--log
house--travelling towards Rock river--gravel hills--Walker's
grove. 51

CHAPTER VI.

General description of the north part of Illinois--various kinds
of trees--prairies--excellent coal--government grant of
land--unsurveyed land settled upon--pre-emption right--not subject
to fever and ague--wild game--prairie wolves and mode of killing
them--prairie rattle snakes, blackbirds and squirrels--manner of
judging of a new country--anecdote of a Vermont emigrant--New-Hampshire
emigrant--statements of settlers and landholders not always to be
credited. 57

CHAPTER VII.

Holderman's Grove--Ottawa--junction of Fox and Illinois
rivers--Hennipen--Princeton--present and past situation of an
emigrant--massacre of Elijah Philips by the Indians, and the
fortunate escape of his companions. 66

CHAPTER VIII.

Peoria--beauty of the surrounding country--fever and ague--scholars
studying aloud in school--stages from Peoria--anecdote of a tavern
keeper--Illinois river--passage down it in a steamboat--narrow
lakes--high bluffs--Pekin--Beardstown--Naples--arrival at upper
Alton. 74

CHAPTER IX.

General description of the state of Illinois--streams skirted
with timber--more than half prairie--a level State--generally
rich soil--American bottom--military bounty lands--beautiful
region of Sangamon river--the best tracts of land in the
State--more good land than any other State--cause of the existence
of prairies--country once inhabited by a civilized race anterior
to the Indians--its rivers, Kankakee, Oplane, Du Page, Fox,
Illinois, Rock, Spoon, Kaskaskia, Wabash, &c.--lead
mines--productions--milk-sickness--chief towns--schools, &c. 79

CHAPTER X.

Burning of the prairies--backwoodsmen--society--meeting-houses
and school-houses--what kind of goods an emigrant ought to take
with him--cheapness of provisions--manner of commencing a
settlement--ploughing the prairies--guarding the improvements
against the prairie fires--junction of the Missouri with the
Mississippi--arrival at St. Louis--a description of the
town--steam ferry boat. 92

CHAPTER XI.

General description of the state of Missouri--south part
generally barren, or wet and unhealthy--soil not muddy--prairie
on the Mississippi--banks of the Missouri--large prairies
destitute of wood and water--productions--prairie blossoms--wild
animals, snakes, &c.--dryness and purity of the
atmosphere--diseases--mildness of the winter--lead mines and
minerals--chief towns. 99

CHAPTER XII.

Voyage down the Mississippi in a steamboat--high bluffs--screw
auger grist mills--shot towers--curiosities--dangers of the
Mississippi navigation--narrow escape--run aground on a sand
bar--mouth of the Ohio--cargo of the boat--amusements on
board--history of one of the ladies--"Queen of the Nile"--description
of the steamboat--price of passage--wooding the boat--ludicrous
fracas on board--noise of the boats, &c.--peculiarities of expression
of the western people--names of money. 107

CHAPTER XIII.

Independent frankness of the western people--eastern people--towns
on the river--great earthquake at New Madrid--bluffs on the
river--woodcutters--serpentine course of the Mississippi--negro
slaves on board--one died of the cholera--benefit of steamboat
navigation--flat boats still in use. 119

CHAPTER XIV.

Arrival at Natchez--description of the city--starts for Texas
with another traveller--cotton plantations--description of the
cotton plant--passage through the great Mississippi swamp--cypress
knees, water and mud--Tensaw river--overtaken by night in the
swamp--gloomy situation--lake Lovelace--planter's house on Indian
mound--mildness of the weather--good accommodations--travelling
in a right spirit--anecdote of a testy traveller. 125

CHAPTER XV.

Outlet of the lake--Washita river--Harrisonburg--pine
woods--description of a planter--Red River rightly named--changes
at its mouth--arrival at Alexandria and description of the
place--race-course and horses--death of a gambler--fruit trees and
vegetables--moschetoes. 134

CHAPTER XVI.

Bayou Rapide--fine cotton plantations--stream running in opposite
directions--accompanied by another traveller--pine woods--planter's
house--price of meals, &c.--Spanish moss--bottom land covered
with dense forest--pine woods--the widow's house--manner
of lodging travellers--inquisitiveness of the people--emigrants to
Texas--Sabine river. 139

CHAPTER XVII.

Arrival in Texas--oak openings and prairies--plantations of corn
and cotton--St. Augustine--arrival at Nacogdoches--its grotesque
appearance--Indian trade in deer pelts--Galveston bay and Texas
land company--four leagues of land for a dog--pine woods--Indian
mounds--mounds in Ohio, Missouri and Illinois--Monastery near
a mound--their origin and use--Neches river--new made bridge. 149

CHAPTER XVIII.

Leave the pine woods--wet prairie--Trinity river--planter's
house--death of an emigrant's wife--perplexities of
emigration--an emigrant lost his money--breach of trust in
a hired man--beautiful prairies--muddy streams--red cedar--petrified
wood--mode of grinding corn--living from hand to mouth--beautiful
prospect--Indians on horseback--massacre of twenty Polanders--muddy
swamp--Brazos river--Spanish trader--Indians more friendly to Americans
than Spaniards--prairie country--Cole's settlement--live oak--Colorado
river. 160

CHAPTER XIX.

GENERAL VIEW OF TEXAS--herds of buffalo and wild
horses--mustangs, manner of catching--seacoast flat--Galveston
bay and Texas land company--burning of the prairies--fine
grazing country--wildgame--deer-hunting--shooting deer in the
night--productions of the soil--list of forest trees--Spanish
moss--health of the country and climate. 169

CHAPTER XX.

Rivers of Texas--seacoast--mill-seats--land grants--number of
inhabitants--exports--inhabitants indolent--cheapness of
land and manner of obtaining it--reptiles and
animals--panther--flies--moschetoes--Indian tribes--water
too warm. 182

CHAPTER XXI.

Towns in Texas--Spanish villages--Mexican
garrisons--Texas--mechanics--Texas and Cohahuila united--courts
of law--professional men--unlawful punishments--salt lake--negroes
indented--boundaries of Texas--general appearance of the
country--rainy season--roads and carriages--emigration. 196

CHAPTER XXII.

Emigrants unhappy--Mexican republic unsettled--Col.
Austin--imprisonment--Texians slandered--healthy portions
of the country--what an emigrant ought to take with him--price
of stock--mail routes--currency--best spot in Texas--emigrant
puzzled--how property may be acquired. 204

CHAPTER XXIII.

Arrival at San Felipe--billiard room--gambler shot--bloody affray
about a lady--ten men to one woman in the country--arrival at Columbia
and Bell's landing--started down river in a canoe--Brazoria--went
on board a vessel--hunting excursion of the mate--Brazos
river--Velasco--sandy beach. 213

CHAPTER XXIV.

Passed over the bar and left Texas--reasons for emigrating
in the fall--means for going to Texas--speculation--passengers
on board--sea sickness--vessel run aground--Mississippi steam
tow-boats--sugar plantations and negroes--making sugar. 222

CHAPTER XXV.

City of New-Orleans--vessels in port--muddy streets and filthy
gutters--houses of dissipation--character of the inhabitants--resort
of knaves and vagabonds--ship yards--canal and railroad--no wharves. 228

CHAPTER XXVI.

Start down the river--nunnery--battle-ground--negro slavery--the
situation of the negroes--general views on the subject. 235

CHAPTER XXVII.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION of the MISSISSIPPI RIVER--its
source--its tributaries--Wisconsin and Illinois--Missouri, its
source and tributaries--gates of the Rocky mountains--Ohio
river, its general character and appearance--White, Arkansas
and Red rivers--outlets of the Mississippi--falls of St. Anthony--Dacota
Indian woman--river banks--width of the stream and depth of
water--Mississippi swamp--serpentine course--color of the waters--the
most interesting river in the world. 246

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Sail for Boston--sea voyage disagreeable to a landsman--change of
scenery--Chatham, Boston--arrival at home. 262

CHAPTER XXIX.

RETROSPECTIVE GLANCE at the GREAT MISSISSIPPI
VALLEY--character, appearance and natural
productions--conclusion. 266