Part 10 (1/2)
{14} Thebeautifully forth from the blue eastern heavens when I mounted my horse for a visit to that celebrated spot, ”_Les Mah the forest-path beneath the bluffs brought me at sunrise to the spot
Every tree reathed with the wild rose like a rainbow; and the breeze was laden with perfuular, the difficulty hich visiters usuallyother dignitaries, when on his tour of the West several years since, tells us that he lost his way in the neighbouring prairie by pursuing the river road instead of that beneath the bluffs The natural eminences which have obtained the appropriate appellation of Ma resemblance to the fehty to one hundred feet altitude, swelling up perfectly naked and sin of that celebrated prairie which owes to them a name
So beautifully are they paired and so richly rounded, that it would hardly require a Frenchnated, re upon objects in natural scenery significant na those artificial earth-heaps which for feature of the West, these mounds are, doubtless, but a broken continuation of the Missouri bluffs, which at this point terminate fro at the sales to the west {15} The , elliptical outline, parallel to each other, in i the range of highlands by a curved elevation soht They are coly uniforush out fro objects can hardly be conveyed by the pen; at all events, without somewhat ift of e _spur_, in fashi+on somewhat like to that of aoff to the south, and the heel-bow rounding away to the northeast and northwest, terine all this spread out in the h inadequate idea of the outline of the Mamelles is obtained The semicircular area in the bow of the spur between the led underbrush of hazels, suhlands croith forest goes back in the rear This line of heights extends up the Missouri for soe to the height of two hundred feet, rough and ragged, but generally leaving a heavily-timbered bottom severaloff into high, undulating prairie The bluffs of the Mississippi extend to the ard in a similar {16} manner, but the prairie interval is broader and more liable to inundation The distance from the Mas, about twenty or thirty miles, and is very nearly divided into prairie and timber The extrerowth of forest is enormous
The view fro over the landscape his ruddy dyes, was one of e loveliness It is celebrated, indeed, as the most beautiful prairie-scene in the Western Valley, and one of the ht extends the Missouri Bottoers, and the river-bank ined with trees which conceal the stream from the eye Its course is delineated, however, by the blue line of bluffs upon the opposite side, gracefully curving towards the distant Mississippi until the trace fades away at the confluence In front is spread out the lovely Ma ocean of rich flowers of every for out into its bosoe In one direction the view is that of a boundless plain of verdure; and at intervals in the deep elassy surface of a lake, of which there arethe northern horizon, curving away in a nificent sweep of forty miles to the west, rise the hoary cliffs of the Mississippi, in the opposite state, like towers and castles; while {17} the windings of the strea the prairie's edge It is not many years since this bank of the river was perfectly naked, with not a fringe of wood
Tracing along the bold facade of cliffs on the opposite shore, enveloped in their misty mantle of azure, the eye detects the embouchure of the Illinois and of several ss To the left extends the prairie for seventywhich, for most of the distance, it stretches Here and there in the smooth surface stands out a solitary sycaantic limbs like a monarch of the scene Upward of fifty thousand acres are here laid open to the eye at a single glance, with a soil of exhaustless fertility and of the easiest culture
The whole plain spread out at the foot of the Maed The depth of the alluvion is upward of forty feet; and fros, leaves, coal, and a stratuwaters, have been thrown up Through the middle of the prairie pass several deep canals, apparently ancient channels of the rivers, and which now forular lake called _Marais Croche_; there is another lake of considerable extent called _Marais Temps Clair_[170] This beautiful prairie once, then, formed a portion of that immense lake which at a remote period held possession of the Araceful {18} Maled their waters, and then rolled onward to the gulf That ages have since elapsed, the aetableupon some portions of the surface, leave no room for doubt[171] By heavy and continued deposites of alluvion, the vast peninsula gradually rose up from the waters; the Missouri was forced back to the bluff La Charbonniere, and the rival stream to the Piasa cliffs of Illinois
_St Charles, Mo_
XXIV
”Westward the star of empire holds its way”
BERKELEY
”Travellers entering here behold around A large and spacious plain, on every side Streith beauty, whose fair grassy ground, Mantled with green, and goodly beautified With all the orna flowers”
”Ye are the stars of earth”
Ten years ago, and the pleasant little village of St Charles was regarded as quite the frontier-post of civilized life; now it is a flourishi+ng town, and an early stage in the traveller's route to the Far West Its origin, with that of most of the early settlements in this section of the valley, is French, and {19} some few of the peculiar characteristics of its founders are yet retained, though hardly to the extent as in soes which date back to the saular costume, the quick step, the dark complexion, dark eyes and dark hair, and the merry, fluent flow of a nondescript idioer, and indicate a peculiar people St
Charles was settled in 1769, and for upward of forty years retained its original name, _Les Petites Cotes_ For soovernment with the rest of the territory, and from this circumstance and a variety of others its population is eneous mass of people, from almost every nation under the sun
Quite a flood of Gerration has, within six or seven years past, poured into the county That wizard spell, however, under which all these early French settle for more than a century, St Charles has not, until within a few years past, possessed the energy to throw off, though now the inroads of As is too palpable to be unobserved or h and healthy, upon a bed of li the stream, and upon a narrow _plateau_ one or twobluffs
Upon this interval are laid off five streets parallel with the river, only the first of which is lined with buildings Below the village the alluvion stretches along thethe terhlands at the Mamelles, it spreads itself out to the north and west into the celebrated prairie I have described St Charles has long been a great thoroughfare to the vast region west of the Missouri, and must always continue so to be: a railroad froh the place, as well as the national road now in progress
These circuible site for coion, and the quantities of coal and iron it is believed to contain, must render St Charles, before many years have passed away, a place of considerablei-mill in constant operation; and to such an extent is the cultivation of wheat carried on in the surrounding country, for which the soil is pre-eminently suited, that in this respect alone the place must become important About six miles south of St Charles, upon the Booneslick road, is situated a considerable settleentlely beautiful, healthy, and fertile; the farh cultivation, and the tone of society is distinguished for its refineence
The citizens of St Charles are many of them Catholics; and a e are in successful operation, to say nothing of a nunnery, beneath the shade of which such institutions invariably repose ”St Charles College,” a Protestant institute of two or three years' standing, is well supported, having four professors {21} and about a hundred students[173] Its principal building is a large and elegant structure of brick, and the se, become an ornament to the place At no distant day itof its elder brothers east of the Alleghanies; and the e-hall , wilderness Missouri
Aeneous population of St Charles are still nu spirits, whose lives and exploits are so intimately identified with the early history of the country, and most of whose days are now passed beyond the border, upon the broad buffalo-plains at the base of the Rocky Mountains Most of them are trappers, hunters, _couriers du bois_, traders to the distant post of Santa Fe, or _engages_ of the American Fur Company Into the company of one of these re my visit at St Charles; and not a little to my interest and edification did he recount many of his ”hairbreadth 'scapes,” his ” accidents by flood and field”
All of this, not to e ite _deer_, _bar_, _buffalo_, and _painters_, I must be permitted to waive I am no tale-teller, ”but your mere traveller, believe me,” as Ben Jonson has it The proper home of the buffalo seems now to be the vast {22} plains south and west of the Missouri border, called the Platte country, compared hich the prairies east of the Mississippi are ion was, doubtless, once a favourite resort of the anirazing-grounds; but the onward march of civilization has driven hi sun Upon the plains they now inhabit they rove in herds of thousands; they regularlyrivers, many are squeezed to death Dead bodies are so upon the Missouri far down its course
With the village and county of St Charles are connected ion west of the Mississippi; and during the late ith Great Britain, the atrocities of the savage tribes were chiefly perpetrated here Early in that conflict the Sacs and Foxes, Miamis, Pottawattae warfare upon the advanced settleallant ”rangers” during the two years in which, unaided by governainst a crafty foe, are almost unequalled in the history of warfare[174] St Charles county and the adjoining county of Booneslick were the principal scene of a conflict in which boldness and barbarity, courage and cruelty, contended long for the mastery The latter county to which I have alluded {23} received its na deprived, by the chicanery of law, of that spot for which he had endured so much and contended so boldly in the beautiful land of his adoption, we find hi onward towards the West, there to pass the evening of his days and lay away his bones Being asked ”_why_ he had left that dear Kentucke, which he had discovered and won from the wild Indian, for the wilderness of Missouri,” hisfeature of his character, the _primum mobile_ of the man: ”Too crowded! too crowded! I want elbow-room!” At the period of Boone's arrival in 1798, the only forion was that of the ”Regulators,” a sort of military or hunters' republic, the chief of which was styled _commandant_ To this office the old veteran was at once elected, and continued to exercise its rather arbitrary prerogatives until, like his former home, the country had become subject to other laws and other councils He continued here to reside, however, until the death of his much-loved wife, partner of all his toils and adventures, in 1813, when he removed to the residence of his son, soe and productive salt-lick, long and profitably worked, and which still continues to bear his na country To this lick was the old hunter accustoed days, when his sineere unequal to the chase, and lie in wait for the deer {24} which frequented the spring In this occupation and in that of trapping beavers he lived comfortably on until 1818, when he calmly yielded up his adventurous spirit to its God[176] What an eventful life was that! How varied and wonderful its incidents! How nue the varieties of natural character it developed! The na as this Western Valley remains the pride of a continent, and the beautiful strea tribute to the ocean!
Of the Indian tribe which forave a nae is now to be seen The only associations connected with the savages are of barbarity and perfidy Upon the settlers of St Charles county it was that Black Hawk directed his first efforts;[177] and, until within a few years, a stoccade fort for refuge in e a variety of traditionary matter related to me relative to the customs of the tribe which for anecdote fro
”Many years ago, while the Indian yet retained a cru foothold upon this pleasant land of his fathers, a certain Cis-atlantic naturalist--so the story goes--overfloith laudable zeal for the advance the wilds of Missouri in pursuit of his favourite study Early one sunny e {25} attire was perceived by the si about their prairie with uplifted face and outspread palht flies and insects, which, when secured, were deposited with irdle Surprised at a spectacle so novel and extraordinary, a fleet runner was despatched over the prairie to catch the curious anie A council of sober old chiefs was called to _sit upon_ theattentively to all the phenoaciously and decidedly pronounced the pale-face a _fool_ It was in vain the unhappy ed upon the assembled wisdom of the nation the distinction between a _natural_ and a naturalist The council grunted to all he had to offer, but to them the distinction ithout a difference; they could comprehend not a syllable he uttered 'Actions speak louder than words'--so reasoned the old chiefs; and as the custom was to _kill_ all their own fools, preparation was forthwith commenced to administer this summary cure for folly upon the unhappy naturalist At this critical juncture a prudent old Indian suggested the propriety, as the fool belonged to the 'pale faces,' of consulting their 'Great Father' at St Louis on the subject, and requesting his presence at the execution The sentence was suspended, therefore, for a few hours, while a deputation was despatched to General Clarke,[178]
detailing all the circu the fool as soon as possible {26} The old general listened attentively to the matter, and then quietly advised them, as the _fool_ was a _pale face_, not to kill hiht dispose of him himself This proposition was readily acceded to, as the only wish of the Indians was to rid the world of a _fool_ And thus was the worthy naturalist relieved from an unpleasant predicas; a loss he is said to have bewailed as bitterly as, in anticipation, he had bewailed the loss of his head”