TOPOGRAPHY. 1^5 



good, for this portion of the country. The county contains 

 iron, coal, and it was formerly supposed that there was copper 

 on the creek, which the French, from that belief, named 

 Cuivre. Some marble also exists, and potter's clay and 

 Spanish brown, of good quality. The county is divided, 

 politically, into five townships, and has several towns laid 

 out, the principal of which is St. Charles, a very pretty town 

 on the left bank of the Missouri. The settlement of St. 

 Charles was commenced in 1780, while that country belonged 

 to Spain :— and soon after emigrants began to go there from 

 the United States. Emigration was encouraged by the 

 Spanish policy of granting lands to settlers. It is about 

 twenty miles from St. Louis, has increased very greatly in 

 twelve or fifteen years past, and now contains probably about 

 7,000 inhabitants. Portage des Sioux, an old French village 

 on the Missisippi, contains about 400 inhabitants. 



Lincoln county is on the Missisippi, next to St. Charles on 

 the north. A considerable portion of the lands of this county 

 are covered with old Spanish grants. The quality of the 

 land generally is not good, along the river counties from the 

 Missouri to the north line of the state. There is a wide strip 

 of bottom land, part of which is low and subject to overflow. 

 Along the travelled road through this county, and for some 

 distance north of it, water is very scarce. Troy is the county 

 seat, and a well-built town, twelve miles from the Missi- 

 sippi. 



Pike county, the next on the north, was originally mostly 

 a timbered tract of land, and has many streams passing 

 through it. The largest of these is Salt River, which runs 

 through the northern part of the county. It is said to be of 

 good soil, compared to some of the neighboring country. 

 There are several mills in the county. Bowling Green is 



