THE MISSOURI RIVER JOURNALS l8l 



borders with high hills, or bluffs. Above and below, at 

 the distance of two hundred yards commence the points, 

 or bottoms,- of the Missouri, which contain great quantities 

 of Cottonwood, ash, and elm, supplying the fort with fuel, 

 boat and building timber. The fort itself was begun in 

 the fall of 1829, under the superintendence of Kenneth 

 McKenzie, Esq., an enterprising and enlightened Scotch- 

 man, and now a well known and successful merchant in 

 St. Louis. As the immense deal of work about such an 

 undertaking had but few men to accomplish it, it was not 

 wholly completed till after the expiration of four years, 

 and indeed since then has been greatly improved by the 

 other gentlemen who subsequently took charge of the 

 fort. The plan of the fort is laid nearly due north and 

 south, fronting 220 feet and running back 240 feet. This 

 space is enclosed by pickets or palisades of twenty feet 

 high, made of large hewn cottonwood, and founded upon 

 stone. The pickets are fitted into an open framework in 

 the inside, of sufficient strength to counterbalance their 

 weight, and sustained by braces in the form of an X, 

 which reaches in the inside from the pickets to the frame, 

 so as to make the whole completely solid and secure, 

 from either storm or attack. On the southwest and north- 

 east corners, are bastions, built entirely out of stone, and 

 measuring 24 feet square, over 30 feet high, and the wall 

 three feet thick ; this is whitewashed. Around the tops of 

 the second stories are balconies with railings, which serve 

 for observatories, and from the tops of the roofs are two 

 flag-staffs 25 feet high, on which wave the proud Eagle of 

 America. Two weathercocks, one a Buffalo bull, the 

 other an Eagle, complete the outsides. In the interior of 

 the northeast bastion are placed opposite their port-holes 

 one three-pounder iron cannon and one brass swivel, both 

 mounted, and usually kept loaded, together with a dozen 

 muskets in case of a sudden attack from the Indians. 

 Balls, cartridges, and other ammunition are always in readi- 



