The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1830-05-05
THE GREAT WEST.

Extract Of letter from a distinguished citi-
zen Of Missouri to has friend IN Maryland.
Long as have lived in the West, had
little idea of the glorious country which
borders the Mississippi, on both sides, in this
upper region. No calculation can be made,
and hardly an adequate conception formed,
of the grandeur and power of its future des-
tiny. 1t is replete with minerals, lead, iron,
and some copper. After rising the river
hills (which are the highest lands) the
country is, am told, in almost every direc-
ton, for hundreds of miles, gently undu-
lating plain, for the most part prairie, but
interspersed with beautiful groves, and
many parts delightfully."- watered with
springs and rivulets. All the creeks and
lesser rivers of which there are many, are
skirted with timber, and afford every facil-
ity for agricultural pursuits. The soil lex
cept in broken places and some sandy bot
toms subject to inundation) is of inexhaust-
IDLE depth-a black vegetable mould, with
silicious mixture sufficient to impart a
quick and vivifying character. The great
proportion of prairie will of course render
the full settlement of the country the work
OF many generations but the day will
come when the Valley of the Mississippi,
from the mouth of the Missouri to the falls
of st. Anthony, will contain the densest
population that ever lived by tilling the
soil. Above the cataract (which is some
$50 or 300 miles above this) the Mississippi
proper mot st. Peter's) can hardly be said
to have valley. The river tumbles over
its common bluff, and above is all one
plain, without hills, without even banks to
the streams, and yet is navigable for a
great distance, perhaps into the very lakes
and swamps from which its first supply of
waters sluggishly oozes. Congress must
have labored under a mistake when the
boundaries of Illinois were established, or
she never would have been allowed 700
miles of 'front.' on the Mississippi. The
northern line is not yet established, but it
must strike the river within As or so miles
below this, and will take in the town of
Galena, which already contains some 1900
inhabitants. The country is settling rapid
ly. for Ito say nothing of the mere diggerS
OF lead, who, like buffaloes, are migratory
the whole coast of Illinois, up to the mouth
OF Fever River, is beginning to be spotted
with farms. The Indians, are PROSTATE
and crushed. We take their land first,
and cheat them out of it afterwards. We
have already done so on the left bank,
and the right bank is too good country
to expect different fate. The whites
have now no fears of them they are cowed
and subdued, and yet exhibit touch of
their condition that would awaken the bet
ter feelings of any man, not hardened as
partly am. by the frequent recurrence of
the spectacle. They meet their fate like a
trapped wolf, with sort of sheepish feroc-
ity. An overwhelming fear and the abso-
lutte certainty of perditien, have deprived
them of that proud spirit of resistance which
marked their primitive character, and de-
stroyed even the hope ofrevenge. But this
ls subject too long to be treated of in a
letter. 1t is only few years since they
were powerful and comparatively happy,
and in few years more they will be heard
Of only in tradition.