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- Herausgeber: Charles River Editors
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018
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TRAVELS IN THE INTERIOR OF AMERICA IN THE YEARS 1809-1811
John Bradbury
LACONIA PUBLISHERS
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TRAVELS IN THE INTERIOR OF AMERICA,
PREFACE
SECOND EDITION
TRAVELS IN THE INTERIOR OF AMERICA,
IN THE
YEARS 1809-1811;
Including
A Description of Upper Louisiana,
together with
The States of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee
with the
Illinois and Western Territories,
and containing
Remarks and Observations
useful to
Persons Emigrating to those Countries.
Second Edition
BY JOHN BRADBURY, F.L.S. LONDON,
Corresponding Member of the Liverpool Philosophical Society, and Honorary Member of the Literary and Philosophical Societies, New York, United States of America
LONDON: PUBLISHED BY SHERWOOD, NEELY, AND JONES,
1819.
PREFACE
WHEN I UNDERTOOK TO TRAVEL in Louisiana, it was intended that I should make New Orleans my principal place of residence, and also the place of deposit for the result of my researches. This intention I made known to Mr. Jefferson, during my stay at Monticello, when he immediately pointed out the want of judgment in forming that arrangement, as the whole of the country round New Orleans is alluvial soil, and therefore ill suited to such productions as were the objects of my pursuit. In consequence of his representations, I changed my intentions, and proceeded to St. Louis, one thousand four hundred miles above Orleans by the course of the Mississippi, where I employed myself, during the winter of 1810, in making such preparations as I deemed necessary for the preservation of what might be collected during the ensuing summer. In my subsequent journey up the Missouri, although every facility was afforded me that the nature of the expedition would allow, yet the necessity of conforming to the rules laid down to secure the safety of the party during the voyage, added to the known or supposed proximity of the hostile Indians, during a considerable part of our route, caused me to lose a great many opportunities, which, had my exertions been free, I should not have done. Besides these impediments, I lost the opportunity of collecting a great number of new plants on my return, through the breach of faith towards me by Mr. Lisa, who agreed that his boats should land me at different places; which promise he neither did, nor intended to, perform. For these reasons, I am persuaded that much yet remains to be done in that interesting country. When the whole of my collection was embarked on the Missouri, at the Aricara nation, it was extensive; but being then two thousand nine hundred miles from New Orleans, the losses by the way, and during my subsequent sickness at St. Louis, greatly diminished it. Immediately after my return to the United States, and before I could make any arrangement, either for my return to England, or for the publication of the plants I collected, the war broke out with this country:-I waited for its termination, and made some arrangements which caused a necessity for my stay some time longer.
I have made the above statement, because I think, that whoever undertakes a mission of the nature which I did, where the duty is to be performed in a wilderness, ought to give an account how he performed it, even in his own defence; as it often happens that men are found, who, from interested or malignant motives, will vilify his character. I had intended that this should have been accompanied by a description of the objects collected, that had not been before discovered; but on my return to England, I found that my design was frustrated, by my collection having been submitted to the inspection of a person of the name of Pursh, who has published the most interesting of my plants in an appendix to the Flora Americae Septentrionalis.
As my chief object has been to convey information and to write the truth, I have not been particular in the choice of words; if, therefore, the style meets with criticism, I shall neither be surprised nor disappointed. A catalogue of some of the more rare plants in the neighbourhood of St. Louis, and on the Missouri, is added, together with their habitats. To many it will be of no value; but as it may be of some use to naturalists who may visit those parts hereafter, I have thought proper to insert it. In what relates to the country west of the Alleghanies, I have been brief, because a more dilated account would have swelled the work much beyond the limits I had prescribed to myself. A second visit to those parts, in which my movements shall be less circumscribed, may enable me to give a more finished picture. In what has been said on those countries, I disclaim any design to encourage emigration; and may be credited in the assertion, because I can have no possible interest in promoting it. I have told the truth, and I can see no reason why it should have been suppressed.
Liverpool, August 1, 1817
SECOND EDITION
SHORTLY AFTER THE PUBLICATION OF the first Edition of this Work, Mr. Bradbury returned to America, and is now residing at St. Louis. The rapid sale of the first Edition, and its favourable reception by the Public, have induced the publication of a second, to which a Map of the United States has been added, carefully collated from the one published by Mr. Mellish.
Mr. Bywater’s ingenious speculations on animalculae, which were published in the first Edition, in a letter addressed by him to Mr. Bradbury, are omitted in the second, at the request of the author, who, on reconsidering the subject, wishes to make some alterations, that he does not feel himself at liberty to publish in Mr. Bradbury’s Work, without previously consulting him.
Liverpool, 1819.
ON the 31st December, 1809, I arrived at St. Louis, in Upper Louisiana; intending to make that town or neighbourhood my principal place of residence, whilst employed in exploring the interior of Upper Louisiana and the Illinois Territory, for the purpose of discovering and collecting subjects in natural history, either new or valuable. During the ensuing spring and summer, I made frequent excursions alone into the wilderness, but not farther than eighty or a hundred miles into the interior. In the autumn of 1810, I dispatched for Orleans, in seven packages, the result of my researches; but had the mortification, soon after, to hear that the boat containing my collection had been driven ashore and damaged, on an island near St. Genevieve, sixty miles below St. Louis. As soon as I received this information I went thither, but learned that the boat had been repaired, and had proceeded on her voyage. On my return to St. Louis, I was informed that a party of men had arrived from Canada, wit an Intention to ascend the Missouri, on their way to the Pacific Ocean, by the same route that Lewis and Clarke had followed, by descending the Columbia River. I soon became acquainted with the principals of this party, in whom the manners and accomplishments of gentlemen were united with the hardihood and capability of suffering, necessary to the backwoodsmen. As they were apprised of the nature and object of my mission, Mr. Wilson P. Hunt, the leader of the party, in a very friendly and pressing manner invited me to accompany them up the River Missouri, as far as might be agreeable to my views. I had intended to remove from St. Louis to Ozark, (or more properly Aux-arcs) on the Arkansas, and to spend the remaining summer on that river; but considering this opportunity for exploring the Missouri too valuable to be lost, I gladly accepted the invitation, to which an acquaintance with Messrs. Ramsey Crooks and Donald M’Kenzie, also principals of the party, was no small inducement. As it would not be practicable to ascend the Missouri until the breaking up of the ice in spring, Mr. Hunt concluded, that to avoid the expense of supporting his party at St. Louis, it would be better to station them during the winter on some part of the Missouri, at a considerable distance above its mouth, as, at any point on that river above the settlements, five or six hunters can easily provide for forty or fifty men. The party therefore quitted St. Louis, and proceeded to the mouth of the Naduet, which falls into the Missouri 450 miles from the Mississippi. In the beginning of March Mr. Hunt returned to St. Louis in a boat with ten oars, and on the morning of the 12th, having completed his arrangements, he again embarked for the Missouri. As the post was expected to arrive the morning following, I put my trunks on board the boat, and determined to wait until that time, and meet the party at St. Charles. I must here observe, that the post to St. Louis is dispatched from Louisville, in Kentucky, a distance of more than 300 miles, through a wilderness, and from various causes is often retarded for several weeks, as had been the case at that period. In the evening I was informed by a gentleman in St. Louis, that a writ for debt had been taken out against Dorion, (whom Mr. Hunt had engaged as interpreter) by a person whose object was to defeat the intentions of the voyage. Knowing that the detention of Dorion would be of serious consequence to the party, I left St. Louis at two O’clock the following morning, in company with a young Englishman of the name of Nuttall, determined to meet the boat previous to its arrival at St. Charles, which I effected; and Dorion was sent into the woods, his squaw accompanying him. We arrived at St. Charles about noon, and soon after Mr. Samuel Bridge, a gentleman from Manchester, then living at St. Louis, arrived also, with letters for me from Europe, the post having come in as was expected. We slept on board the boat, and in the morning of the 14th took our departure from St. Charles, the Canadians measuring the strokes of their oars by songs, which were generally responsive betwixt the oarsmen at the bow and those at the stem: sometimes the steersman sung, and was chorused by the men.(1) We soon met with Dorion, butwithout his squaw, Whom it was intended should accompany us. They had quarrelled, and he had beaten her, in consequence of which she ran away from him into the woods, with a child in her arms, and a large bundle on her back. A Canadian of the name of St. Paul was sent in search of her. The day was very rainy, and we proceeded only nine miles, to Bon Homme Island, where we encamped, and St. Paul arrived, but without the squaw. I observed in the broken banks of this island, a number of tuberous roots, which the Canadians call pommes de terre. They are eaten by them, and also by the Indians, and have much of the consistence and taste of the Jerusalem artichoke: they are the roots of glycine apios.
15th.-About two hours before day, we were hailed from the shore by Dorion’s squaw, who had been rambling all night in search of us. She was informed, that we would cross over to her at daybreak, which we did, and took her on board. I walked the greater part of this day on the north side of the river, which is partly bounded by rocks of secondary lime-stone; at the foot of which I observed crystals of quartz and calcarious spar, or carbonate of lime. We encamped opposite the remains of the village of St. Andrew, which is now abandoned.
16th.-We this day passed the Tavern Rocks, so called from a large cave therein, level with the surface of the river. These rocks are nearly three hundred feet high, and are of the same nature as those we passed yesterday, but more abundantly filled with organ remains, consisting of anomiae and entrochii. 0 the islands which we passed there is abundance of equisetum hyemale, called rushes by the settlers, by whom this plant is held in high estimation, on account of its affording winter food for their cattle. On the first settlement of Kentucky, the borders of the river were found to be thickly set with cane, (arundinaria macrosperma of Michaux) and it was one of the strongest inducements with the first settlers to fix on a spot if cane was abundant. On the Missouri, the rushes are equally valuable, affording to the first settler winter food for his cattle for several years, after which they perish, being destroyed if fed on during the winter. We this night arrived at Point L’Abaddie, where we encamped.
17th.-Early this morning I walked along the river, and was much struck with the vast size to which the cotton wood tree(2) grows. Many of those which I observed this day exceed seven feet in diameter, and continue with a thickness very little diminished, to the height of 80 or 90 feet, where the limbs commence. After breakfast, we crossed to the north side of the river, and in the afternoon landed at a French village, name Charette. In the woods surrounding this place I observed a striking instance of the indolence of the inhabitants. The rushes in the neighbourhood had been already destroyed by the cattle, and from the neglect of the owners to provide winter food for their horses, they had been reduced to the necessity of gnawing the bark off the trees, some hundreds of which were stripped as far as these animals could reach. The cotton wood, elm, mulberry, and nettle trees (celtis crassifolia) suffered the most. On leaving Charette, Mr. Hunt pointed out to me an old man standing on the bank, who, he informed me, was Daniel Boone, the discoverer of Kentucky. As I had a letter of introduction to him, from his nephew Colonel Grant, I went ashore to speak to him, and requested that the boat might go on, as I intended to walk until evening. I remained for some time in conversation with him. He informed me, that he was eighty-four years of age; that he had spent a considerable portion of his time alone in the back woods, and had lately returned from his spring hunt, with nearly sixty beaver skins. On proceeding through the woods, I came to the river Charette, which falls into the Missouri about a mile above the village, and was now much swelled by the late rains. As the boat had disappeared behind an island, and was at too great a distance to be hailed, I got across by swimming, having tied my clothes together, and inclosed them in my deer skin hunting coat, which I pushed before me. I overtook the boat in about three hours, and we encamped at the mouth of a creek called Boeuf, near the house of one Sullens. I enquired of Sullens for John Colter, one of Lewis and Clarke’s party, whom General Clark had mentioned to me as being able to point out the place on the Missouri where the petrified skeleton of a fish, above forty feet long, had been found. Sullens informed me that Colter lived about a mile from us, and sent his son to inform him of our arrival; but we did not see him that evening.
18th.-At day-break Sullens came to our camp, and informed us that Colter(3) would be with us in a few minutes. Shortly after he arrived, and accompanied us for some miles, but could not give me the information I wished for. He seemed to have a great inclination to accompany the expedition; but having been lately married, he reluctantly took leave of us. I walked this day along the bluffs, which were beautifully adorned with anemone hepatica. We encamped near the lower end of Lutre (Otter) Island.
The 19th commenced and continued rainy.-When we had passed the lower settlements, we began to see the river and its borders in a state of nature. The rushes, equisetum hyemale, were so thick and tall, that it was both painful and difficult to walk along, even at a very slow pace.
20th.-The river on the south side, during this day’s travel, is mostly bounded by bluffs, or rocks, of whitish limestone: their appearance is very picturesque; the tops are crowned with cedar, and the ledges and chinks are adorned with mespilus Canadensis, now in flower. We encamped this night seven miles above the mouth of Gasconade River.
21st.-The rain, which had been almost incessant since our departure from St. Charles, had now ceased.
I went ashore, after breakfast, intending to walk along the bluffs, and was followed by Mr. Nuttall. We observed that the boat immediately passed over to the other side of the river, on account of its being more easy to ascend. As this sometimes happened several times in a day, we felt no concern about it, but proceeded on our researches. In the forenoon we came to a creek or river, much swelled by the late rains: I was now surprised to find that Mr. Nuttall could not swim. As we had no tomahawk, nor any means of constructing a raft, and were certain that the boat was before us, we looked for no alternative but to cross the creek by fording it. We therefore continued to ascend, and in about half an hour arrived at a place where a tree had fallen in on the opposite side of the river, which reached about half way across it. I stripped, and attempted to wade it, but found it impracticable. I then offered to take Nuttall on my back, and swim over with him; but he declined, and we continued our route. About a league further up, we found a raft of drift-wood, which had been stopped by a large tree that had fallen into the river; this we crossed and with some difficulty overtook the boat. We arrived at a French village, called Cote sans Dessein, about two miles below the mouth of Osage River. After we had formed our camp, the interpreter went into the village, where he had some acquaintance. On his return, he informed us thatthere was a war party of Indians in the neighbourhood, consisting of the Ayauwais, Potowatomies, Sioux, and Saukee nations, amounting to nearly three hundred warriors.
He had learned, that this party were going against the Osages; but having discovered that there was an Osage boy in the village, they were waiting to catch and scalp him. He also informed us, that we might expect to fall in with other war parties crossing the Missouri higher up. This was unpleasant news to us, as it is always desirable that white men should avoid meeting with Indian war parties: for if they are going to war, they are generally associated in larger parties than can subsist by hunting, from which they refrain, to prevent being discovered by their enemies, wherefore they are almost certain to levy contributions of provisions or ammunition on all they meet. When they return from war, the danger is still greater; for, if successful, they often commit wanton ravages; and if unsuccessful, the shame of returning to their nation without having performed any achievement, often induces them to attack those whom they would, in other circumstances, have peaceably passed. As we were sixteen men, well armed, we were determined to resist any act of aggression, in case of a rencontre with them.
22nd, 23rd, and 24th.-Almost incessant rain. Our bread was now becoming very mouldy, not having been properly baked. Mr. Hunt anxiously waited for a fine day to dry it, together with the rest of the baggage.
25th.-Met a boat with sixteen oars coming from Fort Osage to St. Louis, for supplies: news had arrived at the fort, that the Great Osages had lately killed an American at their village.
26th.-It rained nearly the whole of this day: the flats near the river still continue to be so thickly covered with rushes, that it is almost impossible to travel over them.
27th.-The north bank of the river now assumes a most interesting appearance: it consists of a range of rocks, nearly perpendicular, from 150 to 300 feet high; they are composed of a very white limestone, and their summits are covered to the edge with cedar. The length of this range is about six miles, and at the upper end they assume a semi-circular form. These are called the Manitou Rocks, a name given to them by the Indians, who often apply this term Manitou to uncommon or singular productions of nature, which they highly venerate. On or near these Manitous, they chiefly deposit their offerings to the Great Spirit or Father of Life. This has caused some to believe that these Manitous are the objects that they worship; but this opinion is erroneous. The Indians believe that theGreat Spirit either inhabits, or frequently visits, these manifestations of his power; and that offerings deposited there, will sooner attract his notice, and gain his auspices, than in any other place. These offerings are propitiatory, either for success in war or in hunting, and consist of various articles, of which the feathers of the war eagle (falco melanoetos) are in the greatest estimation. On these rocks several rude figures have been drawn by the Indians with red paint: they are chiefly in imitation of buffaloe, deer, &c. One of these, according with their idea of the Great Spirit, is not unlike our common representation of the devil. We encamped this night a little above the mouth of the Bonne Femme, a small river on the north side, where the tract of land called Boone’s Lick settlement commences, supposed to be the best land in Western America for so great an area: it extends about 150 miles up the Missouri, and is near fifty miles in breadth.
28th.-I left the boats early, intending to walk to the Lick settlements, which are the last on the river, excepting those occupied by one or two families near Fort Osage. After travelling eight or ten miles, I was surprised in the woods by a severe thunder storm. Not knowing whether I could reach the settlements before night, I returned to meet the boat, and found our two hunters, who had sheltered themselves in a hollow tree: they had killed a buck, on a part of which we dined, and carried the remainder to the boat, and soon after we arrived at the first house, belonging to a planter named Hibband. This evening we had a most tremendous thunder storm; and about nine o’clock, a tree, not more than fifty yards from our camp, was shivered by lightning. Mr. Hunt, Mr. Nuttall, and myself, who were sitting in the tent, sensibly felt the action of the electric fluid.
29th.-As Mr. Hunt had some business with one of the settlers, we walked to his house, where we heard that war had already commenced between the Osages and the confederate nations, and that the former had killed seven of the Ayauways. This determined us to continue our practice of sleeping on our arms, as we had done since the 21St. We slept this night about a league above the settlements.
30th.-We were now beyond all the settlements, except those at Fort Osage, and Mr. Hunt resolved to send the hunters out more frequently, as game might now be expected in abundance. I accompanied them, and we killed a buck and a doe. I found the country, three or four miles from the river, very broken or stony. The almost incessant rains had now raised the Missouri to within a few feet of its annual flood, which rendered the navigation very difficult.
31st.-The morning was rainy, and was succeeded by a strong north wind, which caused a sudden change in the temperature of the weather: the 30th had been warm, but this night the water, in a tin cup of a pint measure, that had been left full in the boat, was found to be nearly all solid ice on the morning of the first of April.
April 1st.-After breakfast I went ashore with the two hunters, Harrington and Mears, but soon separated from them in order to visit the bluffs. In the evening I descended into the valley, and on my way to find the boat, observed a skunk(4), (Viverra mephitis) and being desirous of procuring the skin, fired at it, but with shot only, having that day taken out my fowling-piece instead of my rifle. It appeared that I had either missed entirely, or only slightly wounded it, as it turned round instantly, and ran towards me. Being well aware of the consequence if overtaken, I fled, but was so closely pursued, that I was under the necessity of re-loading whilst in the act of running. At the next discharge I killed it; but as it had ejected its offensive liquor upon its tail, I could not touch it, but cut a slender vine, of which I made a noose, and dragged my prize to the boat. I found that the Canadians considered it as a delicacy, and were desirous of procuring it to eat: this enabled me to obtain the skin without having to perform the disgusting operation of taking it off myself. Soon after my arrival, Harrington came in, and brought the intelligence that they had killed a large bear about four miles off. He had left Mears engaged in skinning it, and came to request that one or two men might be sent to assist in fetching it in. As it was near night, Mr. Hunt determined to stop, and two of the Canadians were sent along with Harrington; I also accompanied them. Although our course lay through a very thick wood, Harrington led us with great precision towards the place, and when he supposed himself near it, he stopped, and we gave a shout. In a few seconds afterwards we heard the discharge of a rifle, and also a shout from Mears, who was within two hundred yards of us. On joining him we were surprised to find that he had two bears. He informed us, that after the departure of Harrington he re-loaded his rifle, and laid it beside him whilst he was skinning and cutting up the bear: he had nearly completed this operation, when he heard a rustling, as if an animal was coming towards him. To defend himself, he seized his piece, and at the moment we shouted, a bear appeared in view. Not seeing Mears, he laid his fore paws on the trunk of a fallen tree, and turned his head to look back. Mears could not have wished for a better opportunity; he shot him through the head. The bears were very large, and as the night had set in before the latter was skinned and cut up, it was too late to send to the boat for assistance: I therefore offered to carry a part, provided they would allot to me the skins, as they were the only clean part of the spoil. This proposition was agreed to, and we set out. Before we had proceeded far, it became quite dark, which caused us to take a wrong direction, that led to a swamp. In addition to our difficulties, the underwood consisted chiefly of the prickly ash, (zanthoxylon clava Hercules) by which our faces and hands were continually scratched: there was also an abundance of small prickly vines entwined among the bushes, of a species of smilax. These were easily avoided during day-light, but they were now almost every instant throwing some of us down. Whilst we were deliberating whether it would not be advisable to stop, make a fire, and remain there during the night, we heard the report of a gun, which we thought proceeded from the boat: we therefore steered our course in the direction of the sound. Shortly afterwards we perceived before us a light glimmering through the trees, and in less than half an hour we had a full view of it. Mr. Hunt, from our long delay, had become apprehensive of what had really happened, viz. that we had lost our way, and having observed near the camp a very large cotton-wood tree, which was dead, and evidently hollow, he caused a hole to be cut into the cavity near the root, and a quantity of dry weeds being put in, it was set on fire. The trunk was at least seventy or eighty feet in length before the broken limbs commenced; several of these projected eight or ten feet, and were also hollow. The flames, impelled by so long a column of rarefied air, issued from the top, and from the ends of the limbs, with a surprising force, and with a noise equal to that of a blast furnace. Although smarting with pain, weary, wet, and hungry, not having eaten any thing since morning, I sat down to enjoy the scene, and have seldom witnessed one more magnificent. On relating to the hunters this evening that I had been pursued by a skunk, they laughed heartily, and said it was no uncommon thing, having been often in the same predicament themselves.
2nd.-We this day passed the scite of a village on the north-east side of the river, once belonging to the Missouri tribe. Four miles above it are the remains of Fort Orleans, formerly belonging to the French; it is 240 miles from the mouth of the Missouri.” We passed the mouth of La Grande Riviere, near which I first observed the appearance of prairie(5) on the alluvion of the river. Our hunters went out, but soon returned without attempting to kill any thing, having heard some shots fired, which they discovered proceeded from Indians in pursuit of elk. The navigation had been very difficult for some days, on account of the frequent occurrence of, what is termed by the boatmen, embarras
