Bloomington herald. [volume] (Bloomington, I. T. [Iowa]) 1840-1849, 1842-02-18

The Missouri river is, perhaps, different in
annearance and character from all other rivers
in the world; there is terror IN Its manner
which is sensbly felt the moment we enter It's
muddy waters from the Mississippi. From
the mouth of the Yellowstone river, which is
the place where am now writing, TO Its juno
ton with the Mississippi, distance OF two
thousand miles, the Missouri with It's boiling,
turbid waters, sweeps off III one increasing
current; and in the whole distance there is
scarcely an eddy or resting-place for canoe:
Owing TO the continual falling-in OF lis rich
aliuvial banks, its waters are always turbld
and opaque, having at all seasons of the year
the color of a cup Of chocolate or coffee, with
sugar and cream stirred into 1t. 10 give
better dihntion of its density and opacity,
have tried a number of simple experiments
J with i, at this place, and at other points below,
| at the result, of which was exceedingly sur
prised. By placing piece Of silver (and after
ward piece Of shell, which is a much whittier
subs,ance,) in tumbler of this water, and
| looking through the side Of the glass, ascer-
| ned that those substances could not be seen
| through the eighth part OF an inch.
| This, however is the spring OK the year,
when the freshet is upon the river, rendering
| the water undoub,Iy much more turbid than it
would be at other seasons-through II Is al
| ways muddy and yellow, and from It's boiling
| character and uncommon color, stranger
| wouId think, even in its lowest state, that
there was freshetupon it. For distance OF
one thousand miles above ST. Louis, the shores
of this river, and in many places the whole
| heG Of the stream, are filled with snags and
RATS, formed Of trees of the largest size, which
| have been undermined with the falling banks
and cast into the stream-their roots becoming
fastened IN the river, with their tops floating
upon the surface of The water, and pointing
down the stream, forming the most frightfu
rnd discoJragng prospect for the adventurous
! voyaeer. Almost every island and sand-bar
is covered with huge piles of these floating
trees; and when the river is flooded, It's sur
face is almost literally covered with floating
raft and drift wood, which bids positive def
ance TO keel boats ard steamers on their way
up the river. The scene is not. however, all
so droary; there is redeening beauty in the
green and carpe,ed shores, which hem in this
huge and terrible deformi,y of waters. There
is much of the way, through, where the nigh
,y forests Of stately cotton wood stand and
frown in dark and horrid GOODNESS over the
filthy abyss beiow--into which they are ready
10 plunge headlong men the mud and soil IN
which they are gemmed and reared has been
washed OUT from underneath them. and is with
the rolling current mixed, and on its way to
the ocean. The greater part of the shores of
| this river, however, are without timber, where
the eye is delightfully."- relieved by wandering
over beautiful praries-most Of the way grace
fully sloping down the waters edge, carpeted
with the deepset green, and in the distance,
softeninp into velvet of the richest hues, en-
| trely beyond the reach of the artists pencil.
Such is the character Of the upper part of the
! river especially--and as one advances to its
source, and through its upper has. it becomes
more pleasing 10 the eye, for snags and RATS
are no longer to be seen. yet the current holds
its stiff and onward turbid character. 1t has
been. heretofore, very enormously represented
to the world, that the scenery on this river was
mono.onous, and wanting in picturesque beau
iy. This intelligence is surely incorrect, and
that because il has been brought perhaps by
men who are not the best judges in the world
of natures beautiful works; and if they were
they always pass them by, in pain or desperate
distress, in tolls and trembling fear for the
safety of their furs and pel,res, or for their
| lives, which are at the mercy of the yelling
| savages who inhabit this delightful country.
! One thousand miles or more Of the upper
part Of this river was, to my eyes. like fairy
land-and, during our transit through that part
of our voyage, was most Of the time rivited
TO the deck of the boat, indulging my eyes in
the boundless and tireless pleasure of roaming
over the thousand hills, and bluffs, and dales,
and ravnes, where the astonislled herds Of buff
faloes, of elks, of antelopes, and sneaking
wolves, and mountain goats, were to be seen
bounding up and down and over the green
fields; each one and each tribe, band, and gang
taking their own way, and using their own
means 10 the greatest advantage possible, to
lose sight and sound ofthe puffing Of our boat,
which was for the first time salu,ing the green
wild shores Of the Missouri, distance Of two
thousand six hundred miles in one continued
prairie, with the exception of a few Of the bot
toms formed along the banks of the river, and
the streams which are falling into it, which
are often covered with the most luxuriant gro'th
of fores: timber. The summit level Of the great
praires, stretching off to the west and the east
from the river, TO an almost boundless extent,
is from two to three hundred feet from the riv-
er-which has formed bed or valley varying
in width from two totwen,y miles. This chan
mel or valley has been evidently produced by
the force Of the current, which has gradually
excavated, in its floods and gorges, this i'm
mense space, and sen: its debris into the ocean.
BY the continued OVERLOOKING Of the river, its
deposies have been left and lodged with hor-
izontal surface, spreading the deepest and rich-
est alluvion over the surface of its meadows on
either side, through which the river winds
its serpentine course, alternately running
from one bluff 10 another, which present
themselves to i,sushores in all the most pic
turesque aud beautiful shapes and colors inn
aginable-some with their green sides grace.
fully sloped down in the most lovely groups
10 the waters edge; whilst others, divested
of their verdure, present themselves in inn
mense masses of clay, of different colors which
arrest the eye Of the traveller with the most