Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1867-08-02

England without her needed supply.
l have stood on the spurs of the AL
leghany and Cumberland Mountains,
and turned to the west, and the spurs
of the Rocky Mountains, and turned
to the south and east, and looked over
the vast plain between, 800 miles
in width, and, as | wondered and ad-
mired, was thankful that this was my
native country. have stood, in my
boyhood's rambles, on the nights of
the Kentucky cliffs, 1000 feet above
the river in some places, and scram-
bled up and down them to count their
strata and wonder at their formation.
| have stood on the iron peak of
the Iron Mountain, and on that still
greater wonder, the Pilot Knob, a
solid mass of iron, and the horn of
granite of the Shutin Mountain, the
projecting terminus of the Ozark
ridge from the Rocky Mountains, in
the centre of the great valley, and
the only mountain in it. | have ram
bled through its caves, the Mammoth
Cave, the more wonderful labyrinth
Missouri, one mile below Hannibal,
and have searched Europe as well as
America for wonders, but of all the
sublime objects in nature the greatest
wonder of the world is the mountains
of iron in Missouri. To sleep in sight
of Pilot Knob, and see the morning
sun gild its iron peak in his rising, and
linger upon it even, as if in admiration
and fondness, and as We contemplate
Gods benefcence to man in humble
thankfulness for all his gifts to US as
people. The central, and probably
the last upheaval in the Mississippi
Valley, was singular l.. its results
1t has driven the waters from its peak
north to the Merrimac, one hundred
miles north and parallel with the
Mississippi, and south and southwest
into the St. Francis and White Rivers
whose courses are southwest, and
four hundred miles below enter the
Mississippi River,
When the American traveller wand
ers around the stupendoua wonders
of the Nile, and explores the cata
combs of Egypt, and asks history and
the hieroglyphics Of departed ages
who these people were who built the
lofty, the eternal pyramids, and left
behind such marked evidences of al
immense population; and in greater
astonishment he asks, was it from the
short and contracted Valley of the
Nile that the teeming millions who
have occupied it received their daily
sustenance, its fertile land not more
than twenty miles at its greates
width, and not more than four hundred
miles long, susceptible Of irrigation
and the highest cultivation? Then
turning to his native valley, asks
with exultant pride and hope, Of wha
it is not capable, if SO small space
of arabic soil could support so vas
population-a population who, il
their history, have left records ol
their superior knowledge Of govern
ment, a model for the rest of man
kind, ard the basis Of all civil law
In science they laid the substratun
of the knowledge of the civilize,
world, lighted the lamp and held j
up for ages to the benighted wander
er, in thought and conjecture search
ing after the truth.
We now turn to the mighty Vale,
Of the Amazon, and consider it as
land for cultivation, its resources, it
! wealth, its climate, its soil, and it
prospects of colonization in tutur
development. The great valley, sal,
/, to contain more square acres thai
any other on the globe, including al
its tributaries, all its vast mountain;
its wild and sterile plains, It's vas
salt meadows fit only for cattle grow
! ing, has not half the soil for cultiva
ton the Mississippi Valley has. Lieu
', Henderson, an officer in the Unite
State Navy, in most interestin
= volume, gives an account OF his travel
> over this valley with Mr.. Roman
: one Of them taking a great tributar
= and another the other, until the
= reached the lower Amazon. Bot
: bear witness that there are vast tract
of fertile land in its area, but as til
~ river runs with its main stream rigl
under the equinoxial line, and
y scorched in its entire length by
= tropical sun, its only diversity OF cl
mate and of products must depen
upon the elevation of its mountain
Cotton can be grown in the lowlanG
. of the Amazon, but under a burnin
sun and in companionship with tt
:, ferocious beasts of the jungles an
;, the innumerable reptiles and insec
! that infest it. To compare our bea
I tiful valley with that of the Amaze
is to draw parallel between I'll
: Elysian fields and Tophet. In trut
= the Mississippi Valley has no equ'
. in areable area, none in navigable W
ters, none in mineral and agriculture
: resources, none in salubrity of cl
= mate. Our rivers and bayous nav
= gable for steamboats,, have an aggr
: gate length of not less than six
= thousand miles, and our railroa'
= : checker its surface in every dire
: ton, and the rising population is rus
= ing to it in numbers unequaled in Il
history of man. "
| Tho Indians in Tayau hava odd.