Rocky Mountains. 99 



liver Cut-Off, so thickly set with snags as to be almost im- 

 passable. The distance by the Cut-Off, to the head of the 

 island, is three fourths of a mile; by the course of the river, 

 to the same point, it is six miles. We followed the old chan- 

 nel, which is much obstructed by trunks of trees and sand 

 bars, and after a few hours succeeded in ascending this dan- 

 gerous pass. Compact limestone, and argillaceous sandstone, 

 occur frequently along the Missouri, above the mouth of 

 Grand river, and indications of coal are often met with. In 

 a country affording but«an insufficient supply of timber for the 

 consumption of a dense population^ these extensive beds of 

 fossil coul will be considered of great value, and the neces- 

 sities of the inhabitants will lead to their early exploration. 

 Whenever the dominion of man is sufficiently established in 

 these vast plains, to prevent the annual ravages of fires, trees 

 will spring up; but we may expect that before forests, ori- 

 ginating in this manner can arrive at maturity, the popula- 

 tion along the banks of the Missouri will become so dense, 

 as to require the greater part of the soil for the purposes of 

 culture. 



The beds of coal, in this district, lie horizontally, varying 

 much in thickness, and occuring often at an elevation of a 

 few feet above the surface of the water, in the Missouri. 



On the first of August we arrived at Fort Osage, one hun- 

 dred and five miles above the mouth of Grand river. Here 

 Mr. Say and his party had been some days encamped, hav- 

 ing arrived on the 24th July, from their pedestrian journey, 

 across the country from Franklin. After leaving that place on 

 the 19th, they passed through a fine bottom on the left side 

 of the river, closely covered with forests of oaks, elms, hack- 

 berry, walnut, the mulberry, the gleditschia, the guilandina 

 and the other trees common on the Missouri, for twelve 

 miles, when they arrived at Arrow Rock, where is a ferry 

 by which they crossed the Missouri. In this walk they pas- 

 sed a field of corn, containing seven hundred acres. The 



