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Improvements in the Navigation of the Mississippi. By 

 J. J. AUDDBON, Esq., F. R. S S. & E., &c. 



A HAVE SO frequently spoken of the Mississippi, that an ac- 

 count of the progress of navigation on that extraordinary stream 

 may be interesting even to the student of nature. I shall com- 

 mence with the year 1808, at wliich time a great portion of the 

 western country and the banks of the Mississippi river, from 

 above the city of Natchez particularly, were little more than a 

 waste, or, to use words better suited to my feelings, remained 

 in their natural state. To ascend the great stream against a 

 powerful current, rendered still stronger wherever islands oc- 

 curred, together with the thousands of sand banks, as liable to 

 changes and shiftings as the alluvial shores themselves, which 

 at every deep curve or bend were seen giving way, as if crushed 

 down by the weight of the great forests that every where 

 reached to the very edge of the water, and falling and sinking 

 in the muddy stream, by acres at a time, was an adventure of 

 no small difficulty and risk, and which was rendered more so 

 by the innumerable logs, called sawyers and planters, that 

 every where raised their heads above the water, as if biddino- 

 defiance to all intruders. Few white inhabitants had yet 

 marched towards its shores, and these few were of a class little 

 able to assist the navigator. Here and there a solitary encamp- 

 ment of native Indians might be seen ; but its inmates were as 

 likely to become foes as friends, having from their birth been 

 made keenly sensible of the encroachment of white men upon 

 their lands. 



Such was then the nature of the Mississippi and its shores. 

 That river was navigated principally in the direction of the 

 current, in small canoes, pirogues, keel-boats, some flat-boats, 

 and a few barges. The canoes and pirogues being generally 

 laden with furs from the different heads of streams that feed the 

 great river, were of little worth after reaching the market of 

 New Orleans, and seldom reascended, the owners m.aking their 

 way home through the woods amidst innumerable difficulties. 

 The flat-boats were demolished, and used as fire wood. The 

 keel-boats and barges were employed in conveying produce of 

 different kinds besides furs, such as lead, flour, pork, and other 

 articles. These returned laden with sugar, coffee, and dry 



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