Expedition, &?c. 109 



Between Fort Osage and the mouth of the Konzas river, 

 a distance of about fifty-two miles, are many rapid places in 

 the Missouri. We were able to ascend all these, except one, 

 without towing. It was with some difficulty we supplied our 

 furnace with wood of a suitable quality. The forests of the 

 Missouri, though limited in extent, are deep and shady, and, 

 though the atmosphere is perceptibly less humid than in the 

 forests of the Mississippi, fallen trees, whose wood is soft 

 and porous like that of the linden and cotton tree, absorb 

 much moisture from the ground. It was only when we were 

 so fortunate as to find a dry mulberry, ash, or cotton-wood 

 still standing, that we could procure fuel well adapted to our 

 purpose. Much time was of necessity expended in cutting 

 and bringing on board our supplies of this article, and the 

 additional delay occasioned by the numerous obstacles to the 

 easy navigation of the river, made our ascent somewhat te- 

 dious. 



The mouth of the Konzas river was so filled with mud, 

 deposited by the late flood in the Missouri, as scarcely to 

 admit the passage of our boat, though with some difficulty 

 we ascended that river about a mile, and then returning drop- 

 ped anchor opposite its mouth. The spring freshets subside 

 in the Konzas, the Osage, and all those tributaries that do 

 not derive their sources from the Rocky Mountains, before 

 the Missouri reaches its greatest fulness ; consequently the 

 waters of the latter river, charged with mud, flow into the 

 mouths of its tributaries, and there becoming nearly stagnant 

 deposit an extensive accumulation of mud and slime. The 

 Konzas river has a considerable resemblance to the Mis- 

 souri ; but its current is more moderate and the water less 

 turbid, except at times of high floods. Its valley, like that 

 of the Missouri, has a deep and fertile soil, bearing similar 

 forests of cotton-wood, sycamore, &c. interspersed with mea- 

 dows ; but in ascending, trees become more and more scat- 



