Rocky Mountains. 34i 



variegated with gentle swells and broad vallies. Within this 

 section are numerous small rivers and creeks, with vallies of 

 a character similar to that of the Mississippi or Missouri, 

 but not so fertile. These vallies expand to a great width, 

 compared with the magnitude of the streams upon which 

 they are situated, but are not bounded by abrupt bluffs, like 

 those of the two rivers just mentioned. They are generally 

 covered with a luxuriant growth of grass and other herbage, 

 and occasionally present copses of wood land of moderate 

 extent. The timber growth of the bottoms is similar to that 

 of the Mississippi bottoms, cotton wood, blue and white 

 ash, hackberry, black walnut, cherry, mulberry, hickory and 

 several varieties of the oak being the prevailing timber trees. 

 The hills or high lands are in some instances covered with a 

 scrubby growth of timber and furze, consisting of post oak, 

 black jack, hazle, green briar, &c. 



The soil of this section is probably equal if not superior to 

 that of any other tract of upland of equal extent, within our 

 territory. But the scarcity of timber, mill-seats and springs 

 of water, defects that are almost uniformly prevalent, must 

 for a long time prove serious impediments in the way of set- 

 tling the country. 



The population of this section of country is located almost 

 exclusively within the vallies of the Mississippi and Mis- 

 souri, and in their immediate neighbourhoods; extending up- 

 ward along the former about one hundred and sixty, and 

 along the latter, about three hundred and twenty miles above 

 their confluence. The most populous parts of the country, 

 are the county of St. Charles, situated near the junction of 

 these two rivers. Cote Sans Des-sein and its vicinity — that 

 part usually denominated the Boon's Lick country, extending 

 from the mouth of Osage river upward, along the Missouri 

 to the river Charaton, and the country on the Mississippi, 

 including the Salt river settlements, which have become nu- 

 merous and pretty widely diffused. 



Along the vallies, both of the Mississippi and Missouri, 

 there are still innumerable vacancies for settlements, holding 

 forth inducements for emigrants to occupy them, equally as 

 strong, as any of the positions already selected. The inha- 

 bited portions of this section have, in many instances, proved 

 unhealthy, owing, in all probability, to the same causes that 

 have been herein assigned, in relation to the country east of 

 the Mississippi, which operate with equal force and effect 

 upon the inhabitants of this section. 



