CHAPTER XVIII. 



General description of the country traversed by the Exploring 

 Expedition^ extracted from a report of Major Long to the 

 Hon. J. C. Calhoun^ Secretary of War^ dated Philadelphia, 

 January 20th, 1821. 



The region to which the attention of the expedition has 

 been directed, occupies a respectable portion of the immense 

 valley situated between the Alleghany and Rocky Mountains, 

 and lies between thirty-five and forty-two degrees of north 

 latitude, and eighty and one hundred and six degrees of west 

 longitude from Greenwich, embracing an extent of about five 

 hundred miles in width from north to south, and 6ne thou- 

 sand three hundred miles in length from east to west. As 

 might be expected in a region of this extent, a great diver- 

 sity of surface is presented to view, exhibiting all the 

 varieties, from the most level and unbroken, to the most 

 rugged and mountainous aspect. 'I'he most broken parts 

 of this region, are those situated along the Ohio, from its 

 source to its confluence with the Mississippi, and on the 

 west of the Mississippi, between Red river and the Ar- 

 kansa, and between the latter and the Missouri, extending 

 westward about four hundred miles from the Mississippi. 

 The whole region, in a geological point of view, is constitu- 

 ted of three varieties of formations, which characterize the 

 surface throughout, viz. transition, secondary, and alluvial. 

 A tract, however, of considerable extent, including the Hot 

 Springs of the Washita, and extending northeastwardly to 

 the Lead Mines back of St. Genevieve, has by some been 

 considered as primitive; but it is believed that the rocks dis- 

 coverable therein, are not of a character to warrant such a 

 decision. 



In order to give a more distinct conception of the country 

 or region under consideration, it may be regarded as divisi- 

 ble into the following sections, viz. 1st. the country situated 

 between the Ohio river and the Alleghany Mountains; 2nd, 

 the country situated between the Ohio, Mississippi, and the 

 lakes; 3d, the country situated between the Mississippi and 

 Missouri rivers; 4th, the country situated between the Red 

 and the Missouri rivers, west of the Mississippi, and east of 



