Travels Through North America, During the Years 1825 and 1826. v. 1-2

Upon the following day we still contemplated no object but low and inundated shores. The human dwellings, the most miserable that could be conceived, were placed along in a scattered manner. As we took in wood towards evening, we were obliged to fasten to the wood-pile, as the whole plantation was under water. The lights on the left shore, which may rise about forty feet, are called the Chickesa Bluffs, of which there are reckoned four in a stretch of about sixty miles.

Before we reached the fourth Chickesa Bluff, we passed a large island, called President’s Island. The river changes its course almost every year, and constantly washes the sand-banks away, while it makes others, so that the chart of the stream made a few years back, is not to be depended upon as a guide. The passage in which we sailed along, was at times rather narrow on account of the island, when the river was at least an English mile broad. Upon the fourth Chickesa Bluff stood the quondam Fort Pickering, consisting of a stockade, as were the forts, as they were called in the Creek nation. The two block houses of this fort are still visible, of which a plantation house has been made. A short mile above the fort, stands a group of rather miserable houses: it is the town of Memphis. It is seven hundred and sixty-three miles from New Orleans, and three hundred and eighty-seven from St. Louis.

Above this town of great name, the Wolf river discharges itself into the Mississippi. The state of Mississippi has its boundary here, and the state of Tennessee commences. It is reported, that Miss Wright, of whom notice has been taken before, has settled herself near Memphis, bought several negroes, and located a plantation. During her travels in the northern states, she expressed so great a disgust towards slavery, that she could not be persuaded to cross the Potomac, to go into Virginia. And now, she has even purchased negroes! It is said, however, that she has acted thus from a philanthropical designs, to follow a proposed plan of setting the negroes free, and giving them their liberty by degrees. I have already given my sentiments at Boston, concerning Miss Wright. All that I have since heard respecting her, confirms the unfavourable judgment which I then communicated. A respectable person, who had become acquainted with her in Philadelphia, said, that she stretched herself on a sofa, spoke little, and gave herself little or no trouble about any one, now and then breaking out in detached sentences, such as this, for example; I believe that bears are of more value than men. At Memphis, she will, I have no doubt, enjoy many opportunities of confirming herself in practical experience of the truth of this maxim. In the evening, we were amused again with the great numbers of fire flies, which filled the woods.

On the 3rd of April, we were embarrassed by our fire wood giving out. The banks were overflowed, and there was no regular landing place to be obtained. At the place called the new cut-off, we had a very powerful current against us, which we overcame with great trouble and waste of time. The wood was so far gone, that old barrels were broke up, and a mast and several boards were obliged to be sawed for a supply. This new cut had formed itself in February 1822, and saves the vessels a circuit of thirteen miles. It may be observed on the chart, what a large bend the Mississippi makes here. By degrees it washed the small isthmus of land, which intervened between the bends, and formed itself a new bed directly through. This neck of land, through which this new cut passes, is hardly half a mile wide. It is but a short time since the steam-boats first ventured to take this short route: for the remains of the trees washed away are still visible, and this admonishes the navigator to be on his guard.

After we had passed this strait, which is distant eight hundred and sixty-nine miles from New Orleans, we stopped on the right bank, to provide ourselves with wood. We embraced this opportunity to go ashore for a walk, and into the woods. A young man of our vessel, killed a very handsome snake in the forest. It was one and a half foot long, whitish, with coal-black, edged spots on the back, the belly white with black stripes.50 Farther on, a black eagle with white head and tail was shot. We saw a similar one in the afternoon fly long before our boat, he had found a snake which he held in his talons. We met with several plovers also. After sunset, we stopt at the right bank for the second time, to obtain more wood for the night. This place was called Point Pleasant, and there were about it several small plantations; one of which served as a trade-deposit with the Indians. The Indians bring deer, buck, muskrat and other skins, and barter them for arms, ammunition, woollen blankets, stamped calicoes, &c. one of our travelling companions, Mr. Vallais employed himself in this trade. We accompanied him to the depôt, whence he brought a whole cart-load of pressed skins to the boat, to take up with him.

On the right hand shore the Arkansas territory ceases, and the new state of Missouri begins. This was first received into the Union two years since, and with truly great difficulty, and after long debate; as congress was at issue whether the state should be suffered to permit slavery within its limits or not. The state at length, however, obtained that privilege.

Six miles below Point Pleasant, the little town of New Madrid lies upon the right bank, nine hundred and twelve miles from New Orleans. We past by it in the night, to my great regret; for I should have liked to have seen the remains of the violent earthquake, which prevailed here in the years 1811 and 1812. There are great sink-holes to be seen here yet, in which trees are buried. The soil upon which the town itself stood, has sunk many feet, and the place has suffered very much. New Madrid was a Spanish settlement, and so long as the whole right bank of the Mississippi, that is, from 1763 to 1803, belonged to the Spaniards, under the name of Louisiana, there was a Spanish military post there. On the left bank of the river this evening, we left the jurisdiction of Tennessee, and entered that of Kentucky.

On the 4th of April, it was exactly one year, since I left the city of Ghent, and my family. The time has passed over rapidly with me, I have seen many remarkable things, my mind has been kept on a constant stretch; nevertheless, that which passed more than a year ago is as present, as if performed but a few days since. If the great Architect of the universe shall conduct me in health home to those I love, which I have prayed for, then shall the 4th of April be a festival-day in my family as long as I live.

Both shores of the river, appeared in the forenoon just as they appeared during the last days. Only we remarked two elevations on the left bank, of which one was called Chalk Bank, the other Iron Bank. About one o’clock in the afternoon we found ourselves opposite the mouth of the Ohio river. The river is here very broad, and both streams with their low banks, grown thick with wood, puts one in mind of the Mecklenburg lakes.

The Western Navigator says, in a note concerning the Ohio: “The Ohio arises from the junction of the Alleghany with the Monongahela at Pittsburgh, the first is about three hundred and seventy, the latter near five hundred yards broad at their mouths. After a west-south-westerly course of nine hundred and fifty-two miles the Ohio empties itself into the Mississippi about in the degree of north latitude thirty-seven. It changes its breadth from four hundred to fourteen hundred yards. At Cincinnati it is eight hundred and forty-seven yards wide, which may be considered its medium. Its course is gentle, not broken by falls or rapids, except at Louisville. It is inferior to few streams in the convenience of communication from one part to the other, especially if the operation of canaling the falls, and erecting of locks, which has long been contemplated, be carried through with success. The height of the falls is estimated at twenty-two and a half feet, the length of the descent two miles. The greatest extremes of falling in the height of the river, are between Pittsburgh and the Mississippi; they lessen as the river is descended, and the medium height is from twenty-five to thirty feet. At the lowest state of water, the river is fordable in many places above the falls. ”

The mouth of the Ohio is nine hundred and seventy-seven miles from New Orleans, and one hundred and seventy-three from St. Louis. Two steam-boats, the Friendship and Philadelphia, which had remained near us all the way from New Orleans, here left us, and ascended the Ohio. The Mississippi continues still very broad above the Ohio, and contains many islands. From the mouth of the Ohio, the left shore of the river belongs to the state of Illinois, the right, as already observed, to the state of Missouri. The banks of the Mississippi begin to be something higher, and at times still more rocky. We stopt at a couple of solitary houses on the right bank for wood. During this halt I went into the wood lying back, to walk, and remarked several sycamores of an uncommon height and stoutness; I believe I can affirm that one of them was twenty feet in circumference. We observed from the cooler air, and the less precocious vegetation, that we were again in a more northern climate. A few of the trees were in leaf, others were blossoming, which in New Orleans, occurred six weeks ago. Near the dwellings were large orchards, in which the apple-tree was in blossom. On the bank grew arbres de judée, whose blossoms resemble those of the peach-tree, and near them blossoming white-thorns.

The water in the Ohio had risen very much for some days, and poured with force into the Mississippi; this circumstance assisted our progress, since above the junction we had a weaker stream to contend with. At ten o’clock at night we reached a little town on the right bank, Gape Girardeau, where Mr. Vallais had some goods to land. This place is situated on a high bank, and appears to be thriving and well built, in a fruitful and tolerably populous district. On account of the numerous snags under water and the sawyers, the navigation during the night would have been dangerous, we therefore spent the night at Cape Girardeau. There are here several examples of unlucky steam-boats. The place is one hundred and thirty-two miles from St. Louis.

On the 5th of April we were set in motion before daybreak, and stopped towards morning at a group of five wooden houses, called the town of Bainbridge, one hundred and twenty-two miles from St. Louis, on the right bank. Again goods were landed, and wood taken in. In the outset of our day’s trip, the shores became higher. Upon the right side we saw sandstone rock, probably forty feet high; they were partly worn with water, and had singular forms. One of these rocks, which stands alone, is called the Devil’s tea-table. Farther the river is compressed in its course between two ledges of rock, of which one is called the Devil’s bake-oven, where several steam-boats have gone down. The current is here very strong. On the right bank rises a solitary rock named the Tower, resembling very much an old fortress. It must be about one hundred feet in circumference, and one hundred and fifty feet high. The river became by degrees narrower. The vegetation continued still more backward. Towards evening, we encountered a very heavy storm, that lasted, with severe thunder, rain and hail, for a couple of hours. On this account we could advance no farther without danger, and remained during the night on the right bank near the Saline River’s mouth, sixty-nine miles and a half distant from St. Louis. On this river considerable and profitable salt works are established.

On the sixth of April, we moved again before daybreak. The storm of yesterday had cooled the air very perceptibly. After we had advanced five miles farther, we stopt on the left bank. An establishment was placed there, Simonton’s Warehouse, where the goods intended for Kaskaskia were landed, which is a town in the state of Illinois, lying on the river Ouwa or Kaskaskia, two miles from the warehouse: we soon got under way again. The country on the right bank was very well cultivated. On a small eminence we beheld the little town of St. Genevieve. This place is one mile distant from the river, on a little stream called Gabane creek. Mr. Vallais, and another of our fellow travellers, Mr. Rozier, a native of Nantes, and established as a merchant in St. Genevieve, landed their goods purchased in New Orleans here, and took leave of us.

We stopped several hours. The river takes a new direction against the right bank, wears it out in hollows, and often tears away whole fields, by which the left bank profits. We accompanied our fellow voyagers to the town, which contains about two thousand inhabitants, of both complexions. The road ran between fields of Indian corn, and then over a bridge on Gabane creek. The place has regular streets, but has rather a poor appearance. I remarked only three substantial houses: one of them stands on an open square, and is the court-house. Not far from this is the prison, a box framed of strong timbers. Upon the eminence on which the place slopes down, stands a massive edifice, which indeed had a roof upon it, but was without doors or windows, and threatened to fall in. It was destined for an academy, but for want of funds the plan was not completed. The place receives great advantage from the neighbouring lead mines. The navigation near St. Genevieve is extremely dangerous, from the snags lying under the water. Two steam-boats have been sunk here, the Franklin and the Cincinnati. The accident of the last took place when Prince Paul of Wirtemburg was on board. I noticed here several pieces of a very brittle sandstone, found in the vicinity of St. Genevieve, and sent as an article of trade to Pittsburgh, where it is used in the manufacture of glass.

Before we proceeded on our voyage, we received the visit of a Shawnee Indian on board, a well looking man of about thirty years of age, who spoke tolerably good English. He travelled on horse-back with his gun, hunted on the way, and sold his venison. His dress was very similar to that of the Creek Indians. Between twelve and one o’clock, we were again under way. The right bank continued rocky, and contained below very singular shapes and excavations, which reminded me of the rocks on the Inn, and the one called Buckfarth Castle.

About ten miles above St. Genevieve an island lies on the left shore, called Fort Chartres, where at the time of the first French establishment, a fort of this name was standing. It was nevertheless partly torn away by the current, and at present, has vanished entirely. We passed several islands, of which three are called the Plattan islands. In the woods on these we saw many birds with parti-coloured feathers, the largest among them were cormorants. About 5 o’clock in the evening, we reached Herculaneum, a little town on the right shore. The river Joachim, which has been turned into Owashing creek, which here flows into the Mississippi, divides the place into two parts. Herculaneum is thirty miles from St. Louis, is very small, but contains several decent houses, and supports itself by the lead establishments, furnished by the mines in the neighbourhood, and by two shot factories. The rocks, which form the right bank of the river, open themselves here to let the Owashing pass through, which flows in a narrow, truly picturesque valley, which again recalled the Ilmthal to my mind. Looking from the river, Herculaneum is situated between two high crags of rock, in the back ground woody heights crowned with rocks, and appears very handsome. On each summit of the rocks, stands what is called a shot tower. The material of the rock here is wacke, in which there are many flints. We stopt here to take in wood.

The 7th of April, we continued our voyage about five o’clock, and reached St. Louis about eleven o’clock forenoon. Thus had we accomplished a distance of 1150 miles in less than thirteen days against the current, which before the introduction of the steam-boat required at least three months, a new testimony of the importance of this noble discovery, so honourable to the human intellect.

We enquired in several houses for accommodation, but found the most of them too bad; and remained at length in the Missouri Hotel, a tolerably moderate kind of an inn, where we were obliged to house ourselves very narrowly.

St. Louis has existed since the year 1763, and was settled by French and Canadians. In that year when Canada with the left bank of the Illinois and Mississippi were ceded to England, these people were not willing to be English subjects, and withdrew to the right bank of the Mississippi, which then was under the dominion of France, but soon after was given up to Spain. The emigrants built St. Louis and St. Charles on the Missouri, as well as several other little places: they lived a long time cut off from the civilized world, and surrounded by Indians. They effected but little in the cultivation of the soil, had almost no agriculture, and supported themselves by hunting. They would at length have become savages, had not this territory, with Louisiana, in the year 1803, came into the possession of the United States. Since that time communication and roads have been opened between the United States and St. Louis; many Americans and foreigners removed here, and brought their property and their industry with them: and by the introduction of the use of steam-boats, a new and easy intercourse was opened with the shores of the Ohio, and with New Orleans, that important depôt of the western states. A glance at the map of the United States shows what an interesting place St. Louis is destined to become, when the white population has spread itself more westwardly from the Mississippi, and up along the Missouri river. Perhaps it may yet become the capital of a great nation.

St. Louis lies upon a rather high rocky foundation on the right bank of the Mississippi, and stretches itself out, nearly a mile in length, in the direction of the river. The most of the houses have a garden towards the water, the earth is supported by walls, so that the gardens form so many terraces. The city contains about four thousand inhabitants. It consists of one long main street, running parallel with the river, from which several side streets run to the heights behind the city. Here single houses point out the space, where another street, parallel with the main street can one day be built. The generality of the houses are new, built of brick two stories high; some are of rough stone, and others of wood and clay in the Spanish taste, resembling the old houses in New Orleans. Round the city, along the heights, formerly ran a wall, but it is now taken away. At the corners stood massive round guard-towers, the walls of which one still can see.

In a northern direction from the city, are seven artificial hillocks, in two rows, which form a parallelogram. They belong to the much talked of Indian mounds and fortifications, of which numbers are found on the shores of the Ohio and Mississippi, and which are dispersed over these regions from Lake Erie to New Mexico. There exists neither documents nor traditions concerning the erection of these works, or of the tribe of people who erected them. In some, a great quantity of human bones have been discovered, in others, on the contrary, nothing. This double row near St. Louis has not yet been examined.

Soon after our arrival, we made some visits to deliver the introductory letters given me by Bishop Dubourg. We called first upon General Clark, governor of the state of Missouri. The general was absent in Washington. We were, however, received in a very friendly manner by his wife and daughters. Governor Clark is moreover the well-known fellow traveller of the late Governor Lewis, in the expedition to the mouth of Columbia river, on the Pacific ocean, in the years 1804, 1805, and 1806. We afterwards went to visit Mr. Choteau, who was one of the founders of St. Louis, who was not at home.

As we were so near the Missouri, we were unwilling to leave this part of the country, without at least looking at that interesting river; for St. Charles, a little town on the left bank of the Missouri, which empties into the Mississippi some twenty miles above St. Louis, is but twenty miles distant from this city. Not to lose any time, we determined to go there this very day. We therefore hired a little two-horse carriage, and with it, I and Mr. Hottinguer, and Mr. Huygens, began our journey in the afternoon. At first, all went right. The road ran through an uneven prairie, upon which many cattle pastured. After a ride of eight miles, we came into a forest, which lasted all the way to the Missouri. The country was pretty hilly, the forest consisted of green-leaved timber, oaks, and various nut-bearing trees, of Canadian poplars, and much sumach. On most of the trees, climbing plants mounted over them, wild vines, and ivy. There was hardly any sign of the spring here yet: the vegetation was still as backward as at that period of the year in Flanders. This made no very friendly impression upon us, who had just arrived from New Orleans, where it had long been summer. In the woods we found several solitary inclosures, made by worm-fences. Wheat, oats, and Indian corn were raised here. The cattle, and the numerous swine bivouacked in the woods, and were obliged to take care of themselves. There are a number of emigrants from the eastern states, also Germans, established here in Missouri, who have purchased the land from government for one dollar and a half per acre, and made it arable. Most of them, however, repent of this proceeding; on account of the small population of this state, and the want of a market, they cannot dispose of their produce. We also passed a little village “the station,” and afterwards had nearly been lost in the forest, as our coachman knew nothing of the road. The road was marshy and very bad; and to complete our misfortune the night shut in. One of our companions betook himself to his knowledge of astronomy, and wished to steer us by the pole star. I trusted more to my judgment of localities, and opposed all learned demonstrations. My other companion voted with me, and therefore we proceeded by my guidance, and I had the glory of finding the true road, for we arrived at half-past ten o’clock at night, on the right bank of the Missouri, opposite St. Charles, at Chauvin’s ferry.

The way had latterly become so bad, that to prevent accidents, we proceeded on foot. It was too late to cross the river to St. Charles; we therefore had a frugal supper prepared for us at the ferry-house, and passed the night in a little garret-room. The country in the neighbourhood of the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi, cannot in any manner be healthy; in the summer bilious fevers prevail, and in the winter, what they call the influenza, which has shown itself in most of the northern states. It consists of a very severe cough, joined with rheumatic symptoms. If the disease be neglected, death may be the consequence. To my no small alarm and dissatisfaction, one of our chamber associates was very much affected with this influenza, and another stranger, who slept in the next apartment, was visited by this malady likewise; so that we were fated to hear a most annoying cough duett.

On the next morning we crossed early to the left bank of the Missouri, where St. Charles was situated, in a small canoe. The river is here three-quarters of a mile broad, has excessively thick and muddy water, and a very powerful current. The right bank is rather level, yet so high that it experiences no inundation, while the left is pretty hilly. St. Charles, which has the same origin with St. Louis, lies at the foot of a hill; it consists of a single street running parallel with the river, and is mostly built of brick. These houses are for the greater part built by the Americans who have come here in later times, and are inhabited by them as the most respectable portion of the inhabitants. The Canadian, (or as they are called here, from their original parentage and their language, the French,) are less industrious than the Americans, and occupy themselves of preference in hunting; they live in smaller, older houses, at the commencement and termination of the street. The place may contain one thousand inhabitants, who nearly all belong to the Catholic faith, and have a small wooden church. I spoke to the present pastor, Verhegghen, a native of Ghent, a young man, who, with the Abbé Maenhout in Pensacola, and many other young students from Flanders, accompanied Bishop Dubourg on his return from Europe. Abbé Verhegghen told me, that eight Flanders clergymen were appointed either as pastors through the state, or placed in the seminary five miles from St. Genevieve.