Scenes and Adventures in the Semi-Alpine Region of the Ozark Mountains of Missouri and Arkansas Part 23

[+ Oriental sh.e.l.ls.]

MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE WEST.

A LETTER TO CHARLES G. HAINES, ESQ., SECRETARY OF THE a.s.sOCIATION FOR THE PROMOTION OF INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS AT NEW YORK.

NEW YORK, October 5th, 1819.

SIR: In reply to your communication of the 4th inst., I submit the subjoined remarks on the following questions:--

I. "To what extent are the lead, and other mines, worked in our western country, either by the United States' government, or by individuals?"

In the extensive region to which this inquiry has allusion, are found numerous ores, salts, ochres, and other minerals; and the catalogue is daily increasing, by the discovery of new substances, which promise to become important to the commerce of the western country; but the only mines worked are those of lead, iron, and coal.

The lead-mines are situated in Missouri Territory, (formerly Upper Louisiana,) and extend on the western bank of the Mississippi for a distance of about one hundred miles, by forty in width, comprising the present counties of Was.h.i.+ngton, St. Genevieve, Jefferson, and Madison.

The first lead-ore was discovered by De Lochon, La Motte, and others, acting under the authority of the Company of the West, as early as 1720.

Since which period, the number of mines has been annually increasing by new discoveries, under the jurisdiction which has been successively exercised over that country by France, Spain, and the United States. The number of mines now worked is forty-five; thirty-nine of which are in Was.h.i.+ngton county, three in St. Genevieve, one in Madison, and two in Jefferson. The quant.i.ty of lead annually smelted from the crude ore, I have estimated at three million pounds; and the number of hands to whom it furnishes employment, at eleven hundred. A considerable proportion of these are, however, farmers, who only turn their attention to mining a part of the year, when their farms do not require their labor; the residue are professed smelters and miners, including blacksmiths and others, whose services are constantly required. The price of lead at the mines is now four dollars per cwt. It is worth four dollars and fifty cents on the banks of the Mississippi, at St. Genevieve and Herculaneum, and is quoted at seven dollars in Philadelphia. The ore exclusively worked is the common galena, or sulphuret of lead, with a broad glittering grain. It is found in detached pieces and beds in red clay, and in veins in limestone rock, accompanied by sulphate of barytes, calcareous spar, blende, quartz, and pyrites. It melts easily, yielding, in the large way, from sixty to seventy-five per cent. of pure metal. By chemical a.n.a.lysis I procured eighty-two per cent. of metallic lead from a specimen of common ore at Mine a Burton. The residue is chiefly sulphur, with a little carbonate of lime and silex. It contains no silver, or at least none which can be detected by the usual tests.

All the lead smelted at these mines is transported in carts and wagons to the banks of the Mississippi, and deposited for s.h.i.+pment at Herculaneum or St. Genevieve. The different mines are situated at various distances, from thirty to forty-five miles in the interior, and the cost of transportation may be averaged at seventy-five cents per cwt. In summer, when the roads are in good order, it may be procured at fifty cents; but in the spring and fall, when the roads are cut up, it will cost one dollar. The transportation from Herculaneum and St.

Genevieve to New Orleans, may now be procured at seventy cents per cwt.

This is less than the sum paid, previous to the introduction of steamboats on the Mississippi and its tributary streams. Hence, it costs more to convey a hundredweight of lead forty miles by land, in wagons and carts, than to transport the same one thousand miles (the distance from Herculaneum to New Orleans) by steamboats. An improvement of the streams of the mine country, so as to render them navigable at all seasons for keel-boats and barges, is therefore a subject of the first moment. The Maramec river, a stream of one hundred and eighty miles in length, and a hundred yards wide at its mouth, which enters the Mississippi eighteen miles below St. Louis, draws its waters from the mining counties of Was.h.i.+ngton, Jefferson, St. Genevieve, and the unincorporated wilderness on the south-east, and the fertile counties of Franklin and St. Louis on the north-west; and its south-eastern tributaries meander throughout the mine tract. The princ.i.p.al of these are Grand river and Mineral Fork, which are navigable in spring and fall for keel-boats of a small size, and might, I believe, be rendered so throughout the year, at an inconsiderable expense.

The lead-mines are exclusively worked by individuals, either under the authority of leases obtained from the United States for a limited time; on lands which were granted by the French or Spanish, and the t.i.tles to which have been subsequently confirmed by the United States; on unconfirmed lands; or in violation of existing laws.

There are few sections of the valley of the Mississippi which are not characterized by iron and coal. Iron-ore is abundant on the Ohio and its tributaries, particularly on the Alleghany, Monongahela, and Muskingum.

It is worked at several foundries in the counties of Fayette, Armstrong, and Alleghany, in Pennsylvania. The most noted furnaces are at Brownsville, from which the extensive foundries at Pittsburgh are chiefly supplied with pig-iron. It is also worked at Zanesville, on the Muskingum, and on Brush creek, in Ohio; and a foundry at Cincinnati, and another at Louisville, in Kentucky, are supplied with pig-iron from the latter place. The ore is chiefly of that kind called the argillaceous oxide, and produces iron which is well adapted for steam-engine machinery, and for hollow-ware.

Stone-coal, of an excellent quality, is abundant at Pittsburgh, where it is largely consumed in iron-foundries, gla.s.s-furnaces, and other manufactories, and also in private dwellings. The most extensive pits or galleries are situated immediately opposite the city, on Coal Hill, where it has been pursued into the hill eight or nine hundred yards. It is found breaking out on the banks of the Alleghany at several places, at and near Kittaning, where beds of it have been opened; and I have even observed traces of it in the vicinity of Olean, near the head of Genesee river, in the State of New York. On the Monongahela it extends by Williamsport, Brownsville, and Greensburgh, to the vicinity of Morgantown, in Virginia; and such is the abundance of this mineral, and the uniformity and regularity which the geological structure of this part of the country presents, that there is no considerable section of it, within a circle of two hundred miles in diameter around Pittsburgh, which does not afford beds of good inflammable coal. Pursuing the Ohio down from Pittsburgh, it is successively worked at Wellsburg, Wheeling, Gallipolis, and Maysville. In Illinois, on Great Muddy river, and at Alton; in Missouri, at Florissant, and on Osage river; and in Arkansas, on the Was.h.i.+ta river; this valuable mineral has also been found.

II. "What mines have been discovered?"

V. "Where are the most valuable mines to be found in the western country?"

The reply to these inquiries has been, in part, antic.i.p.ated by the preceding details. Lead and other mines are, however, found in several other sections of the western country. An extensive body of lead-ore is found near Prairie du Chien, on the west bank of the Mississippi, about five hundred miles above St. Louis. The ore is in the state of a sulphuret, is easily reduced, and yields about sixty-two and a half per cent. of metal. These mines are worked in an imperfect manner by the savages, the Sacs and Foxes, the original owners of the soil; and considerable quant.i.ties are annually brought down to St. Louis by the north-west traders. Lead-ore is also found on the river Desmoines of the Mississippi, where it was formerly worked by the French--on the Osage, Gasconade, and Mine river of the Missouri; on the White river and its tributaries; on the St. Francis; and on the Arkansas, where it is combined with a small proportion of silver. It is also found at Cave-in-Rock, Gallatin county, Illinois, accompanied by fluor spar; at Drennon's Lick and Millersburgh, in Kentucky; and on New river, at Austinville, in Wythe county, Virginia. At the latter place, it has been worked without interruption for nearly fifty years; and the mines still continue to be wrought. The ore is galena, accompanied by the carbonate of lead, and the earthy oxide of lead; the latter of which is worked in the large way, as is said, to a profit.

Zinc is found in Was.h.i.+ngton county, Missouri, in considerable quant.i.ties; but only in the state of a sulphuret.

Copper has been found in small ma.s.ses, in a metallic state, on Great Muddy river, and at Harrisonville, Monroe county, Illinois. A grant of land made to P. F. Renault, in 1723, at Old Peoria, on the Illinois river, specifies the existence of a copper-mine upon it; but the most remarkable bodies of copper which the globe affords, are stated to exist on the western sh.o.r.es of Lake Superior, and on the Upper Mississippi. It is found in the metallic state, but accompanied also, as is said, by the sulphuret and carbonate of copper. The ores stretch over a very extensive region, and have been traced as low as the falls of St.

Anthony. There is, indeed, reason to believe that copper is disseminated from the west bank of Great Muddy river, in Illinois, in a north-west direction, to the western sh.o.r.e of lake Superior, as all the streams, so far as observed, which flow either north or south at right angles with such a line, afford traces of copper. Thus, the Kaskaskia, the Illinois and its tributaries, the St. Peter, Wisconsin, and the southern forks of the Wabash and Miami, all furnish specimens of copper, as well as lead, zinc, and iron. An attempt was made by President Adams to explore the copper-mines of the north-west; but I know not what success attended the undertaking. Considering the certainty with which all travellers, since the days of Carver, have spoken of the existence of these mines, with the daily concurrent testimony of traders from that quarter, and their great importance in a national point of view, it is matter of surprise that they have been so long neglected. Is not the present an auspicious time for authorizing a mission into that quarter, for the purpose of exploring its physical geography?

Iron is a mineral common to all parts of the western country. One of its most remarkable localities is the head of the river St. Francis, in Missouri Territory, where it extends through a considerable part of Madison and Was.h.i.+ngton counties. The most noted body is called the Iron Mountain, and is situated about forty miles west of the Mississippi, in Bellevieu, Was.h.i.+ngton county. The ore is here found in immense ma.s.ses, and forms the southern extremity of a lofty ridge of hills, which consists chiefly of red granite, but terminates, in a rich alluvial plain, in a ma.s.s of solid ore. It is chiefly the micaceous oxide, accompanied by the red oxide, and by iron-glance. It melts very easily, producing a soft, malleable iron.

Coal is not less common, and may be considered among those extensive mineral formations which stretch, in so remarkable a manner, throughout the vast basin included between the Alleghany and Rocky mountains. Salt and gypsum may also be referred to the same great geological formations, as they are to be traced, accompanying each other, from the western section of New York, to the southern banks of the Arkansas, where immense quant.i.ties of salt and gypsum exist. Clay, flint, ochre of various kinds, saltpetre, alum, reddle, soapstone, plumbago, oil-stone, marble, serpentine, &c., may be enumerated among the useful minerals of less importance, which characterize that region.

III. "To what extent and advantage do you think the mines might be worked, under proper management and superintendence?"

IV. "Are the laws of Congress, which have been pa.s.sed in relation to our lead-mines, salutary in their operation?"

I have stated the amount of lead annually produced by the Missouri mines at three millions of pounds, which, on reflection, I think is sufficiently high. But there are numerous difficulties opposed to the successful progress of mining in that country, by the removal of which, the amount would be greatly augmented. Some of these difficulties arise from the peculiar nature of the business, from a want of skill, or of mining capital in those by whom mining operations are conducted; but by far the greatest obstacle results from the want of a systematic organization of the mining interest by the United States, or from defects in existing laws on the subject.

Immediately after the occupation of Louisiana by the United States, inquiry was made into the situation and extent of the mines; and a law was pa.s.sed, reserving all mines discovered on the public lands, and authorizing the territorial executive for the time being to lease out such mines for a period of three years. A radical defect in this law appears always to have been, that there was not, at the same time, authorized the appointment of a specific agent for the general management and superintendence of mines. Such an officer has long been called for, not less by the public interest, than by the intelligent inhabitants of the western country, who feel how nearly a proper development of its mineral wealth is connected with their individual prosperity and national independence. The superintendent should reside in the mine country, and such a salary should be attached to the office as to induce a man of science to accept it. His duty should be to report annually to Congress the state of the mines, their produce, new discoveries, and proposed alterations in existing laws. He should lease out and receive rents for the public mines--prevent the destruction of timber on mineral lands, and the working of mines without authority, and should be charged with the investigation of the physical and geographical mineralogy of the country. At present, the most flagrant violations of the laws are practised--mines are worked without leases--wood is destroyed on lands which are only valuable for the wood and the lead-ore they contain; and the government derives but a small revenue from those celebrated mines, which, whether we consider their vast extent, the richness of the ore, or the quant.i.ty of metal they are capable of annually producing, are unparalleled by any other mineral district in the world.

There is another feature in the existing law, which is not beneficial in its operation. It is that clause restricting the terms of leases to three years. To embark in mining operations with profit, it is necessary to sink shafts and galleries, build engines, and erect other necessary works, which are, in some degree, permanent in their nature, and require much time and expense in their completion. A considerable part of the period must, therefore, elapse before the mine can be put in a state for working; and no sooner is that done, and it begins to afford a profit, and promises a reward for the expense incurred, than the expiration of the lease throws all these works into the hands of some new adventurer, or more successful applicant. This prevents many from engaging in mining on the public lands, and especially those who would be best able to prosecute the business; and of the number who take leases, a great proportion continue to pursue the desultory method of mining in alluvial[20] ground, introduced at an early period by the French, but which is attended with very great uncertainty.

Improvements remain also to be introduced in regard to the processes of mining, the furnaces employed, and the method of raising the ore.

Inseparable from this subject is the distribution of more enlarged practical and scientific views of mining and minerals generally, which might, in a great degree, be effected by the dissemination of practical treatises on the subject, or by the employment of experienced and skilful miners from Europe.

When such improvements shall be effected, with others to which it is not necessary here to advert--when miners are properly secured in the object of their pursuit, either by permanent purchases from government, or by leases for a long period of years--and when the facilities for transportation which that country is destined to afford, by the improved navigation of its streams, and by the introduction of turnpikes, roads, and bridges, are introduced, there is reason to conclude that the annual amount of lead produced will far surpa.s.s the proceeds of those mines under the present arrangement, and, indeed, it is impossible to calculate the extent to which it may be carried. It is, perhaps, a moderate estimate to say, that they are capable of being made to yield, by judicious management, six millions of pounds of lead per annum, and that they will furnish employment to three thousand hands.

During my late tour throughout the western country, including nearly a year's residence in the interior of Missouri, I devoted much time to this interesting subject, and have been enabled to collect a body of facts on the physical resources and character of that country, and particularly of its mines and minerals, which it is my design to lay before the public. I must, therefore, refer you to this work, which is now in press, for further details on this subject, and, in the mean time, I beg your indulgent perusal of this hasty outline.

With respect, Sir, Your obedient servant, HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT.

FOOTNOTE:

[20] This word is used in its common acceptation in 1819.

GEOGRAPHY.

MISSOURI.

When Louisiana was admitted into the Union as an independent State, all that part of the territory situated north of 33 north lat.i.tude, and formerly known as Upper Louisiana, was erected into a separate territorial government, under the name of Missouri. This term is the name of a tribe of Indians who formerly dwelt near the Missouri river.

The Territory also included those boundless plains and unexplored countries stretching from north to south, at the foot of the Rocky mountains, and which pa.s.s into the province of Texas on the south, and are bounded by the western line of Louisiana on the east. In the month of March of the present year, the southern part of Missouri Territory, including the unincorporated regions on the west and south-west, was erected into a separate Territory, under the name of Arkansas. The regions to the north-west may be considered as an unincorporated wilderness, where the authority of the United States, so far as the Indian t.i.tle has been extinguished, is maintained in detached posts and garrisons, under the immediate government of military commandants. The bounds of Missouri, as designated in the late law respecting that country, are as follows: beginning on the Mississippi river, in lat.i.tude 36 north, and running due west on the lat.i.tude line to the river St.

Francis, thence up that river to 36 30' north lat.i.tude, thence west to a point due south of the mouth of the river Kanzas, thence north to a point opposite the mouth of the river Desmoines, thence east to the Mississippi river, and down the middle of that river to the place of beginning.

It embraces some of the most prominent geographical features of the western country, and, from the meeting of such mighty streams on its confines, and its relation to all the country situated north and west of it, must become the key to all the commerce of those regions, and is destined to have a commanding influence on the surrounding States, and on the political character and mutations of that country. It is bounded by the States of Illinois and Kentucky, from which it is separated by the Mississippi river on the east and north-east, and by the Territory of Arkansas on the south.

The country west of the Mississippi differs, in some respects, from any other section of the western country, and affords a variety in its physical aspect which is nowhere else to be met with. A great proportion of the lands in this Territory are of the richest kind, producing corn, wheat, rye, oats, flax, hemp, and tobacco, in great abundance, and in great perfection. The lands bordering on the Missouri river, as far as the Territory extends, are rich beyond comparison. They consist of black alluvial soil, of unknown depth, and partaking largely of the properties of marl; and the heavy growth of forest trees by which it is covered, indicates the strength of the soil. As you recede from the banks of the rivers, the land rises, pa.s.sing, sometimes by almost imperceptible gradations, and sometimes very abruptly, into elevated barrens, flinty ridges, and rocky cliffs. A portion of the Territory is, therefore, unfit for cultivation, but still serves as the matrix of numerous ores, which are distributed abundantly in the hills and mountains of the interior. There is very little land of an intermediate quality. It is either very rich or very poor; it is either bottom-land or cliff, prairie or barren; it is a deep black marl, or a high bluff rock; and the transition is often so sudden, as to produce scenes of the most picturesque beauty. Hence, the traveller in the interior is often surprised to behold, at one view, cliffs and prairies, bottoms and barrens, naked hills, heavy forests, rocks, streams, and plains, all succeeding each other with rapidity, and mingled with the most pleasing harmony. I have contemplated such scenes, while standing on some lofty bluff in the wilderness of Missouri, with unmixed delight; while the deer, the elk, and the buffalo, were grazing quietly on the plains below.

Situated between the 36th and 40th degrees of north lat.i.tude, the Territory enjoys a climate of remarkable serenity, and temperate warmth.

That clear blue sky, so much admired by the aborigines, is characteristic of the country; and an atmosphere of unusual dryness, exempts the inhabitants from those pulmonary complaints which are more or less the consequence of a humid atmosphere. A country so situated cannot fail to prove genial to the vegetable kingdom. It would be difficult to point out a section of country which affords a more interesting field for the botanist. Its prairies and barrens are covered with a profusion of wild flowers, shrubs, and plants; and its cultivated fields yield to the hands of the planter, a great proportion of the useful vegetables of the earth. Corn succeeds remarkably; no country surpa.s.ses the banks of the Missouri for the vigor of its crops. Wheat, rye, oats, flax, and hemp, are also raised with advantage. Tobacco is an article recently introduced, but is found to succeed well, and the lands are said to be well adapted to its growth. Cotton is raised in the southern part of the Territory for family use, but is not an advantageous crop for market. The climate and soil are also adapted to the growth of the sweet or Carolina potato, and to fruit-trees of various kinds. The peach and the apple are most generally cultivated. Of wild fruits, the woods afford abundance; among which, the grape, persimmon, papaw, pecan, and filbert, are conspicuous. Some varieties of the grape are delicious, and they are very common at the mines, where the inhabitants prepare a wine from them, which has a pleasant flavor.

The population of the Territory, exclusive of the aborigines, has been stated at 46,000, the greatest proportion of whom have emigrated into it within the last five years. They consist of people from various parts of the United States and Europe. A large number are from Tennessee, Kentucky, New York, and New England. The original inhabitants were French and Spanish. There are few of the latter remaining; but the former const.i.tute a respectable proportion of the population.

The princ.i.p.al towns of Missouri are St. Louis, St. Genevieve, St.

Charles, and Franklin. Of a lesser size, are Herculaneum, Potosi, New Madrid, Cape Girardeau, Jackson, Chariton, Florissant, and Carondelet.

St. Louis is the capital of the Territory, and by far the largest town west of Cincinnati, Ohio. It consists of about 550 houses and 5000 inhabitants, and has two banks, three houses for public wors.h.i.+p, a post-office, theatre, land-office, and museum, including forty stores, with several mills, manufactories, &c. It is eligibly situated on the western bank of the Mississippi river, eighteen miles below the junction of the Missouri, and, from its commanding situation, is destined to become the emporium of the western country.

Franklin, at Boon's Lick, on the Missouri, has 150 houses, is the thoroughfare for emigrants to that quarter, and is surrounded by one of the richest bodies of land west of the Alleghany mountains, to which emigration is flowing with unexampled rapidity.

St. Charles, situated twenty-one miles above St. Louis, on the Missouri, is also a handsome and flouris.h.i.+ng town. The same may be said of Chariton, one hundred and eighty miles above, at the mouth of Chariton river.