344 Expedition to the 



commencing at the river Le Mine, six miles above Franklin, 

 and extending upward along the Missouri, with occasional 

 interruptions, to the Council BlufF. Such is the extent of this 

 tract, that it comprises almost the whole of the country situa- 

 ted between the assumed meridian line and the Missouri, 

 from Fort Osage, upward. On the head waters of the Osage 

 river, and on those of its principal tributaries, the country is 

 said to be of a similar character also. To these may be ad- 

 ded large portions of country situated on the Verdigris ri- 

 ver, upon the Arkansa above Grand river, and upon the 

 Canadian from its mouth upward, to the distance of about 

 two hundred miles. The tracts here designated, exhibit 

 broad and elevated swells of land, separated from each other 

 by deep and spacious vallies. 



These portions of country are chequered with woodlands 

 and prairies, in many instances alternating with each other 

 in due proportion for the accommodation of settlers with 

 farming and woodlands. On the Missouri, above Fort Osage, 

 and on the Osage river, however, the proportion of wood- 

 land is very inconsiderable, and the timl)er it affords, of a 

 scrubby character. The prairies here, as on the north of 

 the Missouri, occupy at least nineteen-twentieths of the 

 whole surface. Some portions of the Red river country are 

 also deficient in the quantum of woodlands attached to them; 

 but in general it may be observed, that the more southerly 

 regions are better supplied with timber than those farther 

 north. The growth of the woodlands interspersed among 

 the prairies, is mostly post oak, hickory, black-jack, and white 

 oak upon the high lands, and cotton wood, sycamore, black 

 and white walnut, maple, bur-oak, and several other trees 

 common to the western bottoms, in the vallies. The bow- 

 wood, or as it is sometimes called the Osage Orange, is 

 found upon the southerly tributaries of the Arkansa, and 

 upon the Red river, and its tributaries. This tree is deser- 

 ving of particular notice, in as much as it affords a timber ex- 

 tremely compact and elastic — its trunk and roots may prove 

 very useful in dying yellow, and its fruit of importance in 

 medicine. 



The residue of this section, with the exception of the ri- 

 ver bottoms and tracts of valley land scattered in various di- 

 rections throughout the whole, is extremely hilly, broken, and 

 mountainous, the hills and mountains risingfromfive to fifteen 

 hundred feet above the water table of the country in which 

 they are situated. They are exceedingly numerous, and are di- 



