GENERAL DESCRIPTION 
OF 
TIIE BOTANICAL CHARACTER OF TI1E COUNTRY. 
BY J. M. BIGELOW, M. D. 
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS ALONG THE ROUTE 
TRAVERSED. 
Washington, D. C., August, 1854. 
Sir : In compliance with your instructions, I have the honor to submit to you a report on the 
forest trees, the productions of the soil, and its capacity for sustaining a civilized population, 
upon the railroad route near the 35th parallel, over which you had command. 
Very respectfully, 
JOHN M. BIGELOW. 
Lieut. A. W. Whipple, Topographical Engineer, U. S. A., 
in charge of exploration for railroad route near the 35th parallel. 
Section I. Napoleon, on the Mississippi, to Fort Smith, Arkansas. —From Napoleon to Fort 
Smith, our way being on steamboat, I could, of course, give but a limited account, either of 
its forests or of its soil. The banks of the river were densely lined with timber-trees of great 
variety. Among the kinds observed we particularly noticed the black walnut, sweet-gum, 
(liquid ambar styraciflua,) pecan, white ash, three kinds of elms, five or six species of oaks, 
Osage orange, and sassafras, with their dark green foliage ; all most luxuriant and beautiful. 
At Little Rock, among some of those just mentioned, we saw the American holly, (Ilex opaca,) 
spice-wood, and June berry, (Amelanchier canadensis.) Near Piney Point, at the Sugar-loaf 
mountain, as well as on our route in the Indian Territory, was found what was considered to 
be Pinus mitis, the common yellow pine of the southern States, quite different from the one in 
New Mexico, known there by the same common name. We also observed, in passing, witch- 
hazel, hop-horn beam, birch, Kentucky coffee-bean, honey-locust, black locust, sour-gum, red¬ 
bud, box-elder, mulberry, dogwood, blackberry, &c., &c., all indicating a soil of the utmost 
fertility. It is unnecessary to extend the list beyond the few seen from the boat, as the botany 
of this country has been described and is well known, having been visited by Nuttall, and 
other eminent naturalists and botanists. 
Section II. Fort Smith to Valley river. —The range of country embraced between these two 
points is about four hundred and sixty miles. The western limit of this section is some 
distance west of the line between Texas and the Indian reservation. Consequently, it embraces 
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