﻿8S9 



MISSOURI. 



MITCHELSTOWX. 



830 



I 



in caverns near the Maramec, Gasconade, and one or two other rivers 

 in vast quantities. 



Climate, Soil, and Productions. — The climate of Missouri is cold 

 and very variable. The winters are severe and long. The Mississippi 

 can in some years be crossed on the ice at St. Louis, and sometimes 

 it is frozen for two months and more. The summers are often hot, 

 but sudden and frequent changes of temperature occur during the 

 north-western winds, whose chilling blasts are ciperienced over all 

 the countries west of the Alleghany Mountains, but in this state are 

 felt in all their force. They are however dry and bracing. 



The soil in most of the uplands is formed by the disintegration of 

 sandstones and limestones ; and the richer bottom lands suffer from 

 the sand washed down by the floods. A good deal of the sandy land 

 is mainly adapted for the growth of the yellow pine, of which it 

 supports a vast quantity of great value for lumber. The arenaceous 

 soils in the rolling prairies of the north are often very fertile ; and so 

 are the soils formed from the decomposition of the carboniferous 

 limestones, especially in the vicinity of streams. In the southern 

 districts along the river bottoms where clay abounds, au excellent 

 soil is found. 



Maize, wheat, oats, and tobacco appear at the present time to form 

 the staple productions of Missouri. Ilye, barley, and buckwheat are 

 raised, but not very largely. Cotton waa formerly grown in three or 

 four places, but its culture appears to have been nearly abandoned. 

 Hemp and flax are cultivated succeasfully. A little rice is grown. 

 Both common and sweet potatoea are grown in considerable quautitiei<. 

 The peach, nectarine, apple, pear, and most of the other fruits of 

 England ripen well; and orchard producta generally are raised 

 extensively. Nearly all the ordinary vegetables likewise flourish. 

 The wild grape abounds in parts. Some wine, and a considerable 

 quantity of maple sogar are made. The river bottoms are heavily 

 timbered ; oak, ash, elm, hickory, white and black walnut, and cotton 

 wood being the most abundant. On the barrens are extensive forests 

 of yellow pine. 



The prairies form excellent pasture-grounds, and cattle abound 

 where the bottoms and prairies are near one another. In summer the 

 cattle feed on the grass of the prairies, and in winter on the cane and 

 rushes of the alluvial soiL Horses are numerous. Sheep have largely 

 increased in number during the last few years ; and a great deal of 

 attention is now given to the preparation of wool, which has come 

 to be regarded as one of the staples of the agriculturists of Missouri. 

 Swine are very numerous, being readily raised in the forests. A very 

 large quantity of bees' -wax and honey is annually obtained. Wild 

 aniinals still abound. BuQaloes, elk, and deer are met with in large 

 herds on the prairies east and west of the Ozark Mountains. The 

 animals which are killed for their skins only are beavers, otters, 

 bears, foxes, cats, racoons, martens, and lynxes: but the fnr trade 

 has decreased of fate years. 



The manufactures of Missouri are at present very limited. There 

 are only three or four cotton- and wooUen-factories, and those not on 

 a large scale in the state. Iron-works are increasing in number and 

 importance. Qrist- and saw-mills, tanneries, and the establishments 

 connected with an agricultural and pastoral country are numerous. 

 The manufactories are chiefly concentrated aronnd St Louis. The 

 mining capabilities of the state are only beginning to be developed ; 

 and their progress will probably for some time be slow. 



Commerce is almost limited to the export of maize, tobacco, and 

 live stock, with hemp and flax in a moderate quantity ; and lead and 

 copper. Furs still form an article of export The imports chiefly 

 consist of manufactured goods, with some colonial goods and wine. 

 In 1852 they amounted in value to 914,826 dollars. The shipping 

 owned in the state amounts to about 25,000 tons, all employed in the 

 river trade, and nearly all propelled by steam. Ship-building is 

 carried on to a small extent 



Divitiont, Towm, ic. — Missouri is divided into 100 counties. 

 Jefferson City is the capital of the state ; but St. Louis is the com- 

 mercial centre, and by far the most populous city in the state. 

 Few other towns are of much extent ; the following are the more 

 important : the population is that of 1850 :— 



Jrfferton City, the capital, is built on elevated ground on the right 

 bank pf the Missouri, 137 miles from iU mouth, in 38* 36' N. lat, 

 92' 8' W. long., 980 miles W. from Washington : population about 

 2500. Some of the state buildings are handsome, and the little city 

 has a pleasing appearance. It b a place of inconsiderable trade. 



St. Lou4t, a city, port of entry, and the commercial and manufac- 

 turing centre of Missouri, stanils on the Mississippi, 20 miles below 

 the mouth of the Missouri, and 157 miles W. from Jefferson. ITie 

 rise of this city in population has been remarkably rapid. It contained 

 only 1600 inhabitants in 1810 ; 16,469 in 1840 ; and 77,860, of whom 

 40,114 were natives of foreign countries, in 1850, when it had risen to 

 be the eighth city in the Union in regard to population. By a state 

 camoK, taken in 1852, the population was found to be 94,819. It is 

 now the principal port on the Mississippi after New Orleans, and the 

 commercial de|>6t of the Upper Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio rivers 

 with their tributaries. As a manufacturing town it possesses extra- 

 ordinary oil vantages, lying as it does in close contiguity to unboimded 

 supplies of coal and iron, aiiil of scarcely inferior supplies of lead, 

 copper, and other metals. The city, which stretches for two miles 



along the Mississippi, reaches back nearly three miles, and is built on 

 uneven ground, rising in terraces from the river. In the older part 

 the streets are narrow ; but in the newer portion they are wide, regu- 

 larly laid out, and lined with numerous handsome public, commercial, 

 and private edifices. Besides the county buildings, court-house, jails, 

 market-houses, &c., there are a large and costly Koman Catholic cathe- 

 dral, and fifty other churches ; numerous academies and schools ; 

 literary institutions ; hospitals, orphan asylums, and other charitable 

 institutions; a United States arsenal, barracks, land-office, &c. ; several 

 very large commercial and trading establishments; and numerous 

 hotels on a scale of great magnificence. The St. Louis University, 

 which in 1854 had 10 professors, 225 students, a library of 15,000 

 volumes, a museum, &c., is situated about 3 miles from the city. 

 Twenty-four daily and weekly newspapers, of which three are in 

 German, are published in the city. Iron-foundries, machine, tool, and 

 agricultural implement factories, ship-yards, glass-works, cigar and 

 tobacco factories, distilleries, and numerous other large manufacturing 

 est-iblishments are carried on. The amount of tonnage which entered 

 in 1852 was 681,252 tons; the value of goods imported was 954,946 

 dollars. St. Louis is the starting point for the extensive system of 

 railways projected and commenced in the state. 



Bounrille, on the right bank of the Missouri, 52 miles N.W. from 

 Jefferson, population 2326, is a regular station for steam-boats, and a 

 place of considerable business. Hannibal, on the Mississippi, 90 miles 

 N.E. from Jefferson, population 2557, is one of the chief of the rising 

 commercial towns of the state. Hercvlaneum, on the Mississippi, 102 

 miles E. by S. from Jefferson, population about 600, is the chief port- 

 town of the lead-mining district Several lead- and shot-factories are 

 in the vicinity. Independence, about 4 miles S. from the Misaomi 

 River, and 129 miles W. by N. from Jefferson, population about 1000, 

 is noteworthy as a great station for the overland emigration to the 

 Pacific, and consequently a place of considerable local consequence. 

 Polosi, the capital of Washington county, 80 miles S.E. from Jefferson, 

 population about ICOO, is the chief town of the lead- and iron-mining 

 district, though at present an inconsiderable place. Saint Charles, on 

 the left bank of the Missouri, 87 miles N. by E. from Jefferson city, 

 population about 2000, lies on the line of rpute from St Louis to the 

 northern part of the state, and is a place of much business. It con- 

 tains several churches, academies, and schools, a convent, St Charles's 

 Methodist College, and numerous mills and factories. 



Qovemment, <tc. — The constitution is framed on that adopted on the 

 admission of the state into the Union. By it the right of voting is 

 vested in every free white male citizen of the United States 21 years 

 of age. No law can be passed for the emancipation of slaves without 

 the consent of their owners; or to prevent the importation of slaves 

 with their owners, or otherwise than as merchandise. Free negroes 

 and mulattoes ore not to be permitted to come into the state. The 

 legislature, styled the General Assembly, consists of a Senate of not 

 less than 14 nor more than 33 (at present 18) members, elected for four 

 years ; and a House of Representatives, consisting of not more than 

 100 (at present 49) members, elected for two years. The governor is 

 elected for four years. The annual revenue of the state is about 

 325,000 dollars ; the ordinary expenditure is under 200,000 dollars ; 

 but the legislature of 1852-3 authorised au extraordinary expenditure 

 of 107,000 dollars. The state debt is 802,000 dollars. 



History. — Although this country for more than a century had been 

 visited by the French from Canada, no settlement was formed before 

 1763. In that year St Genevieve was founded, and in 1764 St Louis. 

 But these and a few other places remained in a backward stato up to 

 1 803, when the United States got possession of the country, which 

 was then comprehended in Louisiana. The following year the stato 

 now called Louisiana was separated from it, and the present state 

 became the territory of Missouri. In 1821 it was admitted into the 

 Union, as an independent state. 



(Statistical Gazetteer of the United States ; Warden, A ccount of the 

 United States ; James, A ccount of an Expedition to the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, performed by Major Long ; Pike, Exploratory Travels through 

 the U'e»(em Ta-rilory of North America; Lewis and Clijrke, Travels to 

 the Source of the Missouri; Morcou, Geological Map of the United 

 Stales.) 



MISTLEY. [Essex.] 



MITAU, or MITTAU. [Coubland.] 



MITCHAM. [SOBBEY.] 



MITCHELDEAN. [Gooucestebshiee.] 



MITCHELDEVER. [Hampshire.] 



MITCHELSTOWN, county of Cork, Ireland, a market- and post- 

 town, and the seat of a Poor-Law Union, is pleasantly situated near 

 the river Funchoon on a small tributary, in 52° 17' N. lat, 8° 17' 

 W. long., 30 miles N.N.E. from Cork, 129 miles S.W. by S. from 

 Dublin. The population in 1851 was 3091. Mitchulstown Poor-Law 

 Union comprises 18 electoral divisions, with an area of 86,957 acres, 

 and a population in 1851 of 27,269. The town consists of an exten- 

 sive square, containing some well-built houses, and of two principal 

 streets with several smaller streets intersecting these at right angles. 

 It contains the pari<h church — a handsome building, enlarged in 1880, 

 a spacious Roman Catholic chapel, a National school, and a town library. 

 There arc also a oourt-housp, fever l>osi>ital, dispensary, bridewell, 

 and Union workhouse. Mitchelstown College, a groux' of neat buildings 



