Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1821-03-27


EdwardSville, Feb. %, 1921.
DEAR SIR,
A great portion of our citizen
having emierated from newly settled
states, Astounding in forests, in the mids
Of which they have been accustomed &c
make their farms, by telling and clearing
off the timber, have, from long habit, be-
come so familiar to this kind of labor,
that when they remove to this country,
where the Creator, in the munifcence of
his bounty, has happily diversified wood
with prairie, and prepared a full proper
ton of the land for the plough, and even
for the scythe, they seem to be loath to
avail themselves of the advantages of
their situation. Still, from the force of
habit, in many cases, preferring the Ia
borious task of clearing lands, and cult
sating crops in the midst of stumps and
roots, to cultivating lands already clear
ed, in which there is nothing to obstruct
or impede the plough. You have no
doubt felt, as have often done, mortif-
cation and chagrin at seeing the timber
destroyed in parts of the country, where
from the great size and fertility of the
surrounding prairies, it was particularly
wanted. l think ii is to be deplored as
an evil to the state, the prediction of
many of our settlers for building and
making their improvements in the forest.
For, besides the destruction of timber,
which from its scarcity in places will
soon become peculiarly valuable, situa-
tons in it, bordering on large praries,
are generally much more unfavorable to
health, than those in the prairies. In
general, as, you well know, the prairies
occupy the most elevated grounds, the
timber being confined to the vicinity OF
the creeks, or natural drains of the coun.
try. From these low, and often wet lands
She emulation of the pestilential miasma
the noxious cause of our autumnal fevers
is more abundant, and it being specifi
cally much heavier than atmospheric air
it gravitates and collects in these low
places. In passing them, in the dusk o.
the evening, after warm day in the
summer and fall, you have no doubt otter
encountered the disagreeable smell O
the miasma. Inaddition to there being les
exhalation in the prairies, the air is Their.
aweetened by more free and uninter
rupted circulation; and what adds mucl
TO the healthfulness of the situations i,
the prairie, is the superior purity an,
coolness of the water obtained from tn,
wells sunk i'll elevated ground. 1t is no
uncommon that the water of wells sunl
at the edge Of the timber, in low si,ua
tons, especially in wet post oak lands
has disagreeable bituminous or sui
phurous taste. 1t is seldom, if ever, il
this part Of the country, that large veil
Of water is found in sinking wells; il
general they are supplied by small veins
and often by gentle oozings, which il
dow places frequently come from so nea
the surface of the earth that the wa
ter is not only warmed but tainted by tn
solar heat. This is particularly the cas-
with the stagnant pools in the beds o
creeks, which have ceased to run, an,
with which many of our new settler
content themselves with drinking for ;
considerable time, in preference be
slowing two or three days labor in dig
cling a well. Such water would produc,
disease in the midst of the Alleghan,
mountains. While on this subject