120\ NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 



deposit oi lead ore. The soil is excellent ; but by reason 

 of the broken and uneven surface, some portions of it are not 

 well adapted to the plough. It has a fair proportion of tim- 

 ber, and is a w^ell-watered tract. Beside the two principal 

 boundary rivers, it has the Grant, the Platte, consisting of 

 two principal branches, one of wdiich is called Little Platte, 

 uniting about twenty-five miles from the mouth, and other 

 smaller streams passing through it. CassAfille is a small 

 village on the Missisippi. It has the advantage of a hand- 

 some site, and will probably increase in importance as the 

 country to the north and east shall become settled. Lead 

 ore has been found in the vicinity, and the lands behind it 

 present external indications of containing mineral. 



Platteville is a more populous town, and there is a good 

 business done at it. It has a pleasant interior situation near 

 the Little Platte River, and is surrounded by a rich mineral 

 and agricultural reo-ion. The Platte and Grant Rivers afford 

 good water power, but are navigable for a short distance 

 only. In mere business, Platteville has a rival in Potosi. 

 In other particulars, especially in what is pleasing to the eye, 

 Platteville has the advantage. Potosi has a larger popula- 

 tion, is near the Missisippi, and the centre of very profitable 

 "diggings." There is, in all the mining towns, a mixed 

 population, the miners, as well as others who follow them for 

 supplying their wants, and for making a subsistence from 

 them in various ways, being from all parts of the world, and 

 some of the last class especially, of rather a " miscellaneous 

 character." Among the miners there is a good portion of 

 shrewd men, true men and enterprising. Potosi is strongl^^ 

 marked with the characteristics of a mining town. Lancas- 

 ter, a small interior village, on an elevated ridge, is the county 

 seat. It has around it an inviting agricultural country. 



The broken lands of Grant county are, for the most part, 



