436 INDIANA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS 



Jan. 27th. A warm spring-like rain detained me 

 nearly all the forenoon. This is the first "sprinkle" since 

 I left home, which proved rather a hard one in the course 

 of the day; for lured by false appearances, I undertook 

 to drive a dozen miles over a road that the very thoughts 

 of is enough to make the bones ache, of one who is ac- 

 customed only to the smooth prairie roads. But patience 

 and perseverance accomplished the task and before the 

 next morning, the rain turned to snow, and for the first 

 time this winter, coated all nature in a white mantle 

 about two inches deep, that soon melted in the morning 

 sun, making as fine a compound of snow and mud and 

 water as ever was mixed together. At Old mines, I saw 

 as fine a young apple orchard as ever grew, proving what 

 might have been proved long before, that the country is 

 well adapted to raising fruit as well as lead. The owner 

 also showed me the benefits of manure as well as lime, 

 upon this limestone soil. By the use of lime, the finest 

 crops of grass can be raised, and many of the hill sides 

 could be set with fruit trees, that are unfit for cultiva- 

 tion. 



Potosi is the county seat of Washington county, built 

 of course like all other towns, upon seven hills ; for here 

 there is not level ground enough to build scarcely one 

 house, much more a town upon. At this place I was 

 shown a well dug through a bed of lead ore, and was 

 assured that this mineral never injures the water, all of 

 which must come more or less in contact with it. Near 

 Potosi, I visited the farm of John Evans, a good English 

 farmer, who has proved that fruit trees, grass and sheep, 

 will flourish in this part of Missouri, if they can have a 

 chance. At a Frenchman's where I staid over night, I 

 learned a new way to build a barn in a country where 

 saw mills are few and very far between, as is the case 

 here. I will describe it for the benefit of new settlers in 

 general, and some folks in particular. 



A row of cedar posts, being first grooved on each side, 

 are set in the ground about five feet apart, and in these 



