MISSOURI. 



367 



westerly into the region west of the Arkansas. East of them is a ridge called the Iron JWouii' 

 tains. Some of the peaks of these mountains are said to be 3,000 feet high, but they have 

 been little explored. 



3. Rivers. The JVIississippi washes the whole eastern boundary of this State. The J\Iis- 

 souri passes through it from west to east, and here joins the Mississippi. The Osage enters 

 from the west, and joins the Missouri near the centre of the State ; it has a boat navigation of 

 600 miles. The Gasconade falls into the Missouri below the Osage ; it is navigable for boats 66 

 miles. The JMcrrimack or JMaramec falls into the Mississippi below the Missouri ; it is navi- 

 gable 50 miles. The St. Francis., the Wliile Water, Black and Currant Rivers rise in the 

 south and pass into Arkansas. Grand and Chariton Rivers fall into the Missouri from the 

 north. Salt River is a branch of the Mississippi, in the same quarter ; these are navigable for 

 boats. 



4. Climate. This State is subject to great extremes of temperature. The summer is in- 

 tensely hot, and the winter often so severe, that the Missouri is frozen for weeks so as to be 

 passed by loaded wagons. The sky in summer is clear, and the air generally very dry. 



5. Soil. The soil of this State contains more sand, and is more loamy and friable than 

 that of the lands upon the Ohio. The alluvial prairies are universally rich, and nearly as fer- 

 tile as the river bottoms. The rich uplands have a dark gray soil, except about the lead mines, 

 where the soil is formed of a decomposed pyrites, and is of a reddish color. Nearl}' all the 

 level tracts are sufficiently fertile to produce good crops of maize without manure. The allu- 

 vial borders of the Missouri are generally loamy, with a large proportion of sand. The soil 

 here contains a quantity of marl or lime, and is exceedingly fertile. The richer prairies and 

 bottoms are covered with grass and weeds so tall as to make it difficult to travel on horseback. 

 In the southwestern part are large tracts of poor, sandy soil, covered with yellow pine, and in 

 many parts stony. 



6. Minerals. Perhaps no region in the world surpasses IMissouri in the variety and abun- 

 dance of its mineral resources ; to inexhaustible stores of lead and iron, coal and salt, are to be 

 added zinc, manganese, antimony, plumbago, iron pyrites, arsenic, and copper, nitrous and 

 aluminous earth, potter's clay, marble, freestone, and granite, sulphuretted a id thermal waters, 

 &c., and according to some accounts, indications of silver and cobalt occur. Generally speak- 

 ing, the prevailing rocks are carboniferous limestones and saliferous sandstones : the Ozark 

 Mountains appear to consist mainly of masses of instrusive rocks, granite, sienite, porphyry, 

 &c., and of altered limestones and sandstones. The repository of the lead-ore, which is ga- 

 lena or sulphurec of lead, is magnesian limestone, but the limits and extent of the galeniferous 

 region have never been ascertained ; the ore is known to be abundant, not only in the districts 

 usually called the lead region, and the seat of the oldest and most extensive diggings, but also 

 in several counties west of the Osage, and north of the Missouri. Operations were commenc- 

 ed here by the French as early as 1720. The processes have been of the rudest sort ; 

 wherever indications of the mineral., as the galena is called by the miners, appear on the sur- 

 face, an excavation has been commenced, and the whole surface of the ground has been cut 

 out into pits of various sizes, from 3 or 4 to 20 feet in diameter, and from 10 to 15 feet in 

 depth, the " digging " being abandoned as soon as the depth renders it inconvenient to throw 

 out the earth, or to hoist out the mineral by a simple windlass and bucket ; blasting is also re- 

 sorted to when a rich vein is struck in the metalliferous rock, but much of the ore is found 

 loose in alluvial desposits, in lumps of various sizes. Jn a large way, it yields from SO to 

 85 per cent of pure metal, but by more careful processes might be made to give considerably 

 more. The annual produce of tlie Missouri diggings is at present about 7,000,000 pounds, 

 a portion of which is manufactured into shot and sheet lead. 



Iron-ore is found in numerous localities, but we have no particular account of its character 

 and quantity, except in the case of the enormous masses in Madison and Washington coun- 

 ties. The Iron Mountain, of this district, is a homogeneous deposit of pure, massive, specu- 

 lar iron, containing only in a few cases, crystals of feldspar; and the Pilot Knob, is a mountain 

 made up in large proportion of specular iron, the feldspar often scarcely exceeding the ore 

 with which it is mixed. Although copper and silver are known to exist, and have been suc- 

 cessfully worked, we have no definite account of the situation and extent of the ores. Bitu- 

 minous coal is found in almost every county, except in the mineral district, and the beds are 

 said to be of great extent and of easy access. Salt springs are numerous, but little attention 

 »s paid to the manufacture of salt. 



