328 



WESTERN STATES. 



watermen, also, of the party say, that the Pawnees and Ricaras give the same account of a 

 similar noise made in the Black Mountains to the west of them." These noises, however, 

 seem to be owing to other causes. 



3. Valleys. This portion of the United States includes that great region known as the 

 Valley of the JMississippi. This valley is drained by the Mississippi, Missouri, and their nu- 

 merous tributary streams, and may be considered as bounded north by the great lakes of Brit- 

 ish America ; east by the Appalachian Mountains ; south by the Gulf of Mexico, and west by 

 the Rocky Mountains. The name of valley has little propriety if applied to it in the common 

 signification, and denoting a tract of territory depressed in the central parts and rising by suc- 

 cessive elevations towards the heights which inclose it. The Mississippi valley is a wide ex- 

 tent of level country, in which the various rivers inclosed between 2 chains of mountains 3,000 

 miles apart find a common centre, and discharge their waters into the sea by a single channel. 

 This valley extends from the 29th to the 49th parallel of north latitude, and exhibits every va- 

 riation of temperature, from the climate of Canada to that of Louisiana. 



4. Rivers. The Mississippi, which drains all the eastern and southern part of this country, 

 rises in about 47° north latitude, in a number of head streams, and flows in a southerly course 

 into the Gulf of Mexico, in latitude 29° 6' north. Its length by its windings is above 3,000 

 miles. Its waters are augmented by the immense stream of the ^Missouri from the West, 

 which is both longer and carries a greater bulk of water than the IMississippi, yet loses its name 

 in the inferior stream. Further onward it receives the Ohio from the e?st, and nearer the sea, 

 it is further augmented by tlie addition of the great streams, the Arkansas and Red Rivers. 

 In many places it deposits immense heaps of drift wood upon the sand-bars, which become as 

 dangerous to the navigator as shoals and rocks at sea. These obstructions are called snags, 

 sawyers, and planters. They are so common, that the steamboats upon the river are generally 

 constructed with a species of water-tight forecastle, called a snag-room, by which precaution 

 the bows may be stove in without sinking the vessel.* 



The Missouri, in regard to its length, may be considered the main stream of the Mississippi, 



and, in connexion with thai stream, it is 

 the longest river in the world. From 

 its source in the Rocky Mountains to 

 the Gulf of Mexico, its extreme length 

 is 4,420 miles. It is navigable from 

 the Great Falls to the sea, 4,000 miles. 

 These great streams have been de- 

 scribed under the head of United 

 States. 



5. Soil. The most extensive dis- 

 tricts of fertile land in the United 

 States are contained in this section, and 

 the productiveness of the soil fits it for 

 becoming the granary of the whole con- 

 tinent. In the wild territories of the 

 west, are great tracts of sterile country, 

 o. Vegetable Productions. The largest tree of the western forest is the sycamore, or the 

 button-wood of the Eastern States. It grows in every part of the Mississippi valley, and rises 

 in the most graceful forms, with spreading lateral branches, and a trunk of brilliant white. It 

 grows to the greatest perfection on the river alluvions, and the trunk is sometimes more than 

 15 feet in diameter. The yellow poplar is next in size, and is a very stately tree. The 



Scene on the Missouri. 



Indians, and supported by the opinion of some of the men 

 belong-injT to the Hudson Bay Company, confirms him in 

 the belief, thnt they are the head waters of the river Bue- 

 naventura. To the north and nortlnveet from the Grand 

 Lake, the country is represented as abounding in salt. 

 The Indians west of the mountains arc remarkably well 

 disposed towards the citizens of the United States. The 

 Eutaws and Flatheads are particularly so, and express a 

 great wish that the Americans should visit them frequently. 

 Most of the opinions and conjectures of General Ashley 

 have been confirmed by later travelers, and this part of 

 the country has, since his first visit, been prettv thoroug;h- 

 \y scoured by iHe American himter?. 



* The attention of the government has lately been di- 

 rected towards the removing of these numerous obstruc- 

 tions, and there is reason to hope, that the western waters 

 will in a few years be completely cleared of them. Seve- 

 ral steamboats employed for this purpose, under the direc- 

 tion of a " Superintendent of Snags," have removed from 

 the channel of^ the Mississippi and Ohio, numerous snags, 

 besides effecting other improvements in the navigation. 

 Boats now pass safely down the IMississipp- at night, an 

 attempt never ventured upon formerly. 



