A New Guide for Emigrants to the West

CHAPTER I.. General View of the Valley of the Mississippi.

GENERAL VIEW OF THE VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI.

Its extent,--Subdivisions,--Population,--Physical features,--Animal, Vegetable and Mineral productions,--History,--Prospective increase of Population.

The Valley of the Mississippi, in its proper geographical extent, embraces all that portion of the United States, lying between the Alleghany and Rocky Mountains, the waters of which are discharged into the gulf of Mexico, through the mouths of the Mississippi. I have embraced, however, under that general term, a portion of the country bordering on the northern lakes, including the north part of Ohio, the north-eastern portions of Indiana and Illinois, the whole of Michigan, with a considerable territorial district on the west side of lake Michigan, and around lake Superior.

Extent. This great Valley is one of the largest divisions of the globe, the waters of which pass one estuary.

To suppose the United States and its territory to be divided into three portions, the arrangement would be, the Atlantic slope--the Mississippi basin, or valley--and the Pacific slope.

A glance on any map of North America, will show that this Valley includes about two thirds of the territory of the United States. The Atlantic slope contains about 390,000; the Pacific slope, about 300,000; which, combined, are 690,000 square miles: while the Valley of the Mississippi contains at least 1,300,000 square miles, or 833,000,000 acres.

This Valley extends from the 29° to the 49° of N. latitude, or about 1400 miles from south to north; and from the 3° to the 35° of longitude west from Washington, or about 1470 miles from east to west. From the source of the Alleghany river to the sources of the Missouri, following the meanderings of the streams, is not less than 5000 miles.

Subdivisions. The states and territories included, are a small section of New York watered by the heads of the Alleghany river, western Pennsylvania, western Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Michigan, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Territory of Arkansas, Indian Territory, the vast unsettled regions lying to the west and north of this Territory, the Wisconsin Territory including an extensive country west of the Mississippi and north of the state of Missouri, with the vast regions that lie towards the heads of the Mississippi, and around lake Superior.

Population. The following table, gives a comparative view of the population of the Valley of the Mississippi, and shows the proportional increase of the several States, parts of States, and Territories, from 1790 to the close of 1835, a period of 45 years. The column for 1835 is made up partly from the census taken in several states and territories, and partly by estimation. It is sufficiently accurate for general purposes.

States, parts of | 1790 | 1800 | 1810 | 1820 | 1830 | 1835 States and | | | | | | Territories. | | | | | | ====================+=======+=======+=========+=========+=========+========== Western Pennsylvania| 75,000|130,000| 240,000 | 290,000| 380,000| 490,000 and a fraction of | | | | | | New York.} | | | | | | Western Virginia | 45,000| 75,000| 100,000| 147,178| 204,175| 230,000 Ohio | [a]45,000| 230,760| 581,434| 937,679|1,375,000 Indiana | | | 24,520| 147,178| 341,582| 600,000 Illinois | | | 12,282| 55,211| 157,575| 272,427 Missouri | | [b]20,845| 66,586| 140,074| 210,000 Michigan | | | 4,762| 8,896| 31,000| 83,000 Kentucky | 73,677|220,959| 406,511| 564,317| 688,844| 748,844 Tennessee | 35,691|105,602| 261,727| 422,813| 684,822| 735,000 Mississippi | [c]8,850| 40,352| 75,448| 136,806| 300,000 Louisiana | | | 76,556| 153,407| 214,693| 270,000 Arkansas Territory | | | | 14,273| 30,608| 51,809 [e]Wisconsin Ter. | | | | | | and New purchase | | | | [d]3,608| 15,000 --------------------+-------+-------+---------+---------+---------+--------- Total |229,368|585,411|1,418,315|2,526,741|3,951,466|5,381,080 ====================+=======+=======+=========+=========+=========+========= a Including Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan.

b Including Arkansas.

c Including Alabama.

d Included with Michigan in the census of 1830.

e: The country west of the Mississippi, and north of the State of Missouri, was ceded by the Sauk Indians, Sept. 1832. It now contains about 6000 inhabitants.

Probably there is no portion of the globe, of equal extent, that contains as much of soil fit for cultivation, and which is capable of sustaining and supplying with all the necessaries and conveniences, and most of the luxuries of life, so dense a population as this great Valley. Deducting one third of its surface for water and desert, which is a very liberal allowance, and there remains 866,667 square miles, or 554,666,880 acres of arable land.

Let it become as populous as Massachusetts, which contains 610,014 inhabitants on an area of 7,800 square miles, or seventy-eight to every 640 acres, and the population of this immense region will amount to 67,600,000. The child is now born which will live to see this result. Suppose its population to become equally dense with England, including Wales, which contains 207 to the square mile, and its numbers will amount to 179,400,000. But let it become equal to the Netherlands, the most populous country on the globe, containing 230 to the square mile, and the Valley of the Mississippi teems with a population of 200 millions, a result which may be had in the same time that New England has been gathering its two millions. What reflections ought this view to present to the patriot, the philanthropist, and the christian.

Physical Features. The physical features of this Valley are peculiar.

1. It includes two great inclined planes, one on its eastern, and the other on its western border, terminating with the Mississippi.

2. This river receives all the waters produced on these slopes, which are discharged by its mouths into the gulf of Mexico.

3. Every part of this vast region can be penetrated by steamboats, or other water craft; nor is there a spot in all this wide region, excepting a small district in the vast plains of Upper Missouri, that is more than one hundred miles from some navigable water. A boat may take in its lading on the banks of the Chatauque lake, in the State of New York; another may receive its cargo in the interior of Virginia; a third may start from the rice lakes at the head of the Mississippi; and a fourth may come laden with furs from the Chippewan mountains, 2,800 miles up the Missouri, and all meet at the mouth of the Ohio, and proceed in company to the ocean.

4. With the exception of its eastern and western borders, there are no mountains. Some portions are level, a large part is gently undulating, or what in the west is called "rolling," and the remainder is made up of abrupt hills, flint and limestone ridges, bluffs, and ravines.

5. It is divided into two great portions, the UPPER, and LOWER VALLEY, according to its general features, climate, staple productions, and habits of its population. The parallel of latitude that cuts the mouth of the Ohio river, will designate these portions with sufficient accuracy.

North of this line the seasons are regularly divided into spring, summer, autumn, and winter. In the winter there is usually more or less snow, ice forms and frequently blocks up the rivers, navigation is obstructed, and cotton is not produced in sufficient quantity or quality to make it a staple for exportation. It is the region of furs, minerals, tobacco, hemp, live stock, and every description of grain and fruit that grows in New England. Its white population are mostly accustomed to labor.

South of this line, cotton, tobacco, indigo, and sugar are staples. It has little winter, snow seldom covers the earth, ice never obstructs the rivers, and most of the labor is done by slaves.

Rivers. The rivers are, the Mississippi and its tributaries, or more correctly, the Missouri and its tributaries. If we except the Amazon, no river can compare with this for length of its course, the number and extent of its tributaries, the vast country they drain, and their capabilities for navigation. Its tributaries generally issue either from the eastern or western mountains, and flow over this immense region, diffusing not only fertility to the soil, but affording facilities for commerce a great part of the year.

The Missouri is unquestionably the main stream, for it is not only longer and discharges a larger volume of water than the Mississippi above its mouth, but it has branches, which, for the extent of country they drain, their length, and the volume of water they discharge, far exceed the upper Mississippi.

The characteristics of these two rivers are each distinctly marked. The Missouri is turbid, violent in its motions, changing its currents; its navigation is interrupted or made difficult by snags, sawyers and planters, and it has many islands and sand-bars. Such is the character of the Mississippi below the mouth of the Missouri. But above its mouth, its waters are clear, its current gentle, while it is comparatively free from snags and sand-bars.

The Missouri, which we have shown to be the principal stream, rises in the Chippewan, or Rocky mountains in latitude 44° north, and longitude about 35° west from Washington city. It runs a northeast course till after it receives the Yellow Stone, when it reaches past the 48° of latitude, thence an east, then a south, and finally a southeastern course, until it meets the current of the Mississippi, 20 miles above St. Louis, and in latitude 38° 45' north. Besides numerous smaller streams, the Missouri receives the Yellow Stone and Platte, which of themselves, in any other part of the world, would be called large rivers, together with the Sioux, Kansau, Grand, Chariton, Osage, and Gasconade, all large and navigable rivers.

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