EXTRACTS FROM [PRELIMINARY] REPORT. 9 
pure and unfailing water. Its fertile prairies are frequently cut into gentle ridges and valleys, 
like the most favored portion of New England. Timber of superior quality abounds upon the 
whole of the route. The highlands are chequered with groves of various oaks, while dense 
forests in the wide bottoms of the streams afford a great variety of excellent timber—ash, oak, 
white elm, black walnut, and pecan. To a considerable extent, this country is already cultivated 
by the Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, and Shawnees, that possess it. Their fields of wheat and 
maize are luxuriant. Potatoes, tobacco, and rice are produced. Cattle, horses, and sheep 
thrive upon the wild grass prairies that nature has so strangely alternated with forests, adding 
to the beauty of the landscape and the wants of the Indian farmer. 
Fruits, especially peaches, melons, and grapes, grow in profusion. Many fine settlements 
already exist in this region ; that called Little River, on the opposite hank of the Canadian, 
is particularly flourishing. Having passed the large and beautiful basin fertilized by the 
branching waters of the river Boggy, which flows through a pleasant valley towards the south¬ 
west to unite with Red river, we ascended the ridge which terminates in Delaware mount, and 
forms the eastern boundary of the great prairies. 
The ascent is about sixty feet within the distance of a mile. 
Beyond, the face of nature was changed, and the undulating grassy plains appeared as if 
deposing upon the waves of ocean. 
The carboniferous group has now given place to the extensive red sandstone formation, 
affording continually building material and quicklime. White amorphous gypsum also 
begins to appear. The soil, however, formed of red clay and argillaceous sandstone, continues 
fertile and well watered. 
Crossing Topofki creek, a small stream with gravel bed, thirty feet wide, and numerous 
smaller branches flowing towards the Canadian, we arrived at old camp Arbuckle, where now 
exists a flourishing settlement of Delaware Indians. Here we had hoped to obtain a guide; 
■ but the river Canadian being remarkably low, and the season unusually dry, the Indians 
feared lest we might suffer for want of water, and declined the service. 
Leaving the last vestige of semi-civilization, we crossed rolling prairies, which divide the 
waters of the Canadian from the affluents of Red river, and encamped on a tributary to Walnut 
creek. Various springs were passed during the day, affording plenty of water, while grass 
was everywhere abundant. 
A few miles northeast from our camp, near the confluence of Walnut creek with the 
Canadian, is Chouteau’s old Indian trading post, where, since the tragic death of the pro¬ 
prietor, Kichai Indians have sought a resting place, to form the connecting link between the 
quiet Delawares and the murderous wild bands of Kioways and Comanches. 
From this point the famous forest of Cross Timbers commences. Captain Marcy remarks 
that “this extensive belt of woodland, which forms one of the most prominent and anomalous 
features upon the face of the country, is from five to thirty miles wide, and extends from the 
Arkansas river in a southwesterly direction to the Brazos, some four hundred miles.” 
Our route for about sixty miles, following the delightful valleys of Walnut and Deer creeks, 
skirted the edge of this forest. The timber which it furnishes—post oak and blackjack— 
though small, is exhaustless, and would serve for railroad ties. The wide and fertile bottom 
lands that line the creeks, however, furnish timber of larger size—oak, elm, black walnut, and 
hackberry abounding throughout the region. 
Bountiful nature has here supplied all the advantages that the agriculturist would require— 
abundant crystal steams of purest water, luxuriant valleys for cultivation, extensive prairies of 
nutritious grama for pasturage, and unfailing forests of oak for fuel. 
Passing the headwaters of Deer creek, in longitude 98|°, we leave the big north bend of the 
Canadian to our right, and pursue a course nearly west. Soon, rising upon the swelling 
2 
