MISSOURI, one of the United States of North America, is situated between 88° 17' and 94° 30 ’ of west longitude, and 36° and 40° 30' of north latitude. It is 270 miles in length by 220 in breadth, and contains an area of about 60,000 square miles. I fis bounded on the north and west by the Missouri territory; on the east and northeast by the Mississippi, which separates it from Illinois; on the south-east by the Mississippi, which separates it in this quarter from Kentucky and Tennessee; and on the south by Arkansas territory.

A large portion of this state, situated in the south-east quarter, is low, swampy, full of lakes, and in many places liable to inundation. Beyond this region, which is generally marked by a bold line of rolling and fertile high lands, the country gradually becomes mountainous, and continues so to the Osage and its tributaries. It then becomes broken and hilly, until it opens upon the boundless belt of prairies which spreads beyond the western limits of the state. The best land is situated between the Missouri and the Mississippi; and no part of this vast tract is mountainous, consisting chiefly of alluvial and hilly prairies of a very rich soil. The importance of large navigable rivers to a civilized and commercial people is well known; and no quarter of the globe is so amply provided in this respect as Missouri, the greater part of rich and easily cultivated soil stretching along the banks of majestic streams. The Mississippi sweeps along its eastern border 550 miles, receiving in its course the great river from which the state derives its name. The Missouri, entering the western boundary, traverses the state, receiving on either side tributaries, which, if, not contrasted with the stream into which they empty their waters, would deserve the title of fine rivers. The Osage, rising in the angle between Arkansas and Kansas Rivers, on the vast plains west from the state of Missouri, carries its serpentine but navigable volume into Missouri River, near the centre of the state. The St Francis and White Rivers rise in this state, and flowing southward, connect it with the Arkansas. A great many large and beautiful rivers enter the Missouri as tributaries. Some of these have a course in the state, but most of them belong to the territory of Missouri.

The soil of this state is as varied as the surface, every quality being found, from the most productive and inexhaustible alluvium, to tracts of sterile clay or siliceous sand. According to Mr Flint, there is a specific difference between the alluvium of the two rivers Mississippi and Missouri; the bottoms of the latter being more loamy and sandy, and those of its rival more clayey and sub [7:15:302]stantial. On the eastern border, and near the streams generally, a dense forest covered Missouri; although in some parts naked prairie encroaches upon the streams. Speaking in general terms, the south-east section is alluvial, and liable to a partial annual inundation; the southwestern is mixed prairie and “flint hill” land; the northern section, west from the Mississippi and north from the Missouri, contains, as we have already said, the choicest land in the state. The soil of the upland prairies is far inferior to that of the alluvial prairies. Upon the whole, the good lands of this country have in general a great degree of fertility; and thère is scarcely any part sufficiently level for cultivation which does not produce good crops of corn without manure, whilst in many instances the poorer lands are found to be better for wheat than the richer. The prairies are in general level, and of an intermediate character between the richer and poorer uplands; and the bottoms of all the water-courses are rich. The geographical extent of Missouri, and its great diversity of soil, admit of a corresponding variety of vegetable productions. Wheat and Indian corn have been the staples of this state during the comparatively short period that any part of it has been cultivated. Its soil also produces the other kinds of grain in perfection. Cotton is raised in the south-eastern section; tobacco thrives well; and flax and hemp are likely to become largely cultivated. Turnips and bulbous-rooted vegetables grow to a great size. Pumpkins, squashes, and melons, are nowhere raised in greater abundance; and sweet as well as Irish potatoes thrive sufficiently well. Cultivated grasses have hitherto not succeeded so well as the other articles of culture. At present the fodder provided for the stable in winter is chiefly corn, its leaves and husks, with what is called prairie grass. This is a coarse and tall grass, covering the prairies in the greatest abundance. All the fruits of the northern and middle states thrive in an uncommon degree. Three species of vine are common in all parts of the country; whilst the warmth of summer, and the dryness of the atmosphere, peculiarly fit this state for the cultivation of the medicinal plants, rhubarb, palma Christi, and the poppy. Indeed many parts of it are likely to rival the best tracts east of the Mississippi in the abundance of their productions. “This state,” says Mr Flint, “has lands already, fit for the plough, sufficient to produce wheat enough for the whole United States. Prairies of hundreds of thousands of acres of first-rate wheat-lands, covered with grass, and perfectly free from shrubs and bushes, invite the plough; and if the country were cultivated to a proper extent it might become the granary of the world.” “Above all countries,” says the same writer, “this is the land of flowers. In the season, every prairie is an immense flower garden. In the early stages of spring rises a generation of flowers, whose prevalent tint is peach-blossom; the next is a deeper red; then succeeds the yellow, and. to the latest period of autumn the prairies exhibit a brilliant golden hue.” Apiculture in all its forms, either as an art or as a science, is yet in its infancy in Missouri, as it may be supposed to be in any newly-settled country where nature has done so much. The climate is extremely fickle and variable, and the changes of temperature are very great. During three winters in five the Mississippi is passable on the ice at St Louis. Receding from the Atlantic, it is in this state that the frigid winds of the north-west are first experienced in all their force. The prevailing winds follow the direction of the Mississippi Valley; those from the northward are cold, but the southern winds are warm. The winter commences about Christmas, and is frequently severe; but the summers are very warm, and as the country is bare, and open to the sun’s influence, whilst the soil is of a warm and sandy texture, calculated to admit the solar rays, a great quantity of caloric is imbibed. Less rain falls here than in New England, or the southern states, and the atmosphere is much drier and more bracing. It is, however, cold and windy; but successive years vary so much that a general rule can scarcely be laid down. Uncertain as are the revolutions in meteorology elsewhere, they are proverbially variable in the state of Missouri and the adjacent regions. In regard to health, this state has a somewhat suspicious character; but in course of time, by cultivation, draining, and similar operations, it is likely to become as salubrious as any other in the Union. Although but a few years since a tenement in any degree superior to a temporary log-hut was a very rare object, the progress of civilization is marked by the rapid disappearance of those primitive structures, and the substitution of brick and stone houses. Bears, wolves, panthers, buffaloes, elks, deer, the mole called gopher, the bite of which is said to be poisonous, the prairie dog, rattle snakes, and other reptiles, are found in this state. Great varieties of watergame swarm on the lakes, ponds, and rivers during certain seasons of the year. Generally speaking, the hunter will find in no country a finer field for his pursuits. The domestic animals are the same as in other parts of the United States.

Missouri is rich in minerals and metals, and it has become celebrated for immense deposits of lead ore, chiefly of galena. It is dug out in various parts of the state; but there is a district extending nearly a hundred miles in length and forty in width, which is particularly distinguished for its lead mines. The centre of the district is about seventy miles south-west from St Louis, and about half as far from Herculaneum on the Mississippi. The ore is found in imbedded masses, and appears evidently to be a deposit. Coal in immense strata also exists in Missouri, and iron ore forms no inconsiderable part of many of the hills. The other minerals discovered are plaster, manganese, zinc, antimony, cobalt, various kinds of ochre, common salt, nitre, plumbago, porphyry, jasper, calcedony, and marble. There are as yet but few public roads, although Congress has paid attention to the construction of railways and other public works. A railroad from Marion city to Palmyra has been commenced; and it is intended to continue it to New York, the capital of Shelby county, and thence to the Missouri, near Chariton. Another has been projectéd extending from St Louis to Fayette, upwards of a hundred miles in length; and another leading from St Louis to the lead mines in Washington and Franklin counties. With a few exceptions, the habitable parts of Missouri constitute one vast plain, so that roads are easily constructed, and those which have been made are remarkably good, and passable at all seasons of the year. In 1825, commissioners of the United States laid out a road through the wilderness, leading from Missouri to Mexico and the Osages, by treaty, in consideration of 800 dollars, granted the right of making and using the road through their lands.

In reference to trade, it is not to be supposed that Missouri, so recently settled, can have much, excepting in such articles as are immediately supplied by nature. Accordingly, lead and fur constitute the staples of commerce. The lead annually smelted exceeds three millions of pounds, a considerable quantity certainly, but nothing compared with what might readily be obtained. There is doubtless ore enough of the best quality to supply the whole world with lead. The commerce in this article, therefore, is likely to increase rapidly; for the mines are rich, and the part of the country in which they are situated is remarkable for its salubrity, as well as for the fertility of its soil, and its fine streams. Shot-towers are erected at Herculaneum and other places; and great quantities of shot are exported. St Louis is the centre of the fur trade. Boats are continually passing between this town and New [7:15:303]Orleans. Since Mexicoachieved its independence, considerable commercial intercourse has been established with the interior provinces of that republic, by means of the road above mentioned. Amongst other companies incorporated by the legislature within these few years are, the Missouri Insurance Company, capital one hundred thousand dollars, and the privilege to increase it to four hundred thousand; the St Louis Marine Railway Company; the St Louis Hospital; the St Louis Water-Works; and the St Louis Marine and Fire Insurance Company. The bank of the United States has an office of discount and deposit at St Louis. There are various other companies established throughout the state, amongst which may be mentioned an iron foundery on a respectable scale in the vicinity of St Louis, and one or two large establishments at Bellevue, in the mine country, which smelt their own iron from mines in the immediate vicinity.

The most numerous denominations of Christians in Missouri are Methodists, Presbyterians, and Catholics. Accörding to the American Almanac for the year 1837, the United Brethren or Moravians had thirty-three ministers, twenty-four churches or congregations, and two thousand communicants; whilst the Catholics had thirty-nine ministers. Religious instruction and good schools are less esteemed and less common in this new state than in most others in the Union. St Louis College, a Catholic institution, was founded in 1829: in 1836 there were fifteen instructors, nine alumni, two hundred students, and 7500 volumes in the library attached to it. Corporations have been formed for a number of academies, colleges, and seminaries of education; and the legislature has passed an enactment to sell all the lands appropriated to the interests of education, and apply the funds thence arising to the purpose for which it was intended. There are a number of convents in the state, to which young females are sent to be educated. In 1810 there was only one newspaper in the state, butin 1836 the number had increased to fifteen.

Population of the Counties and County Towns in 1830.
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Of this population 24,990 are slaves. In 1836 it was estimated at 210,000, being an increase of 70,000 in less than six years.

The commercial capital of Missouri, and the principal town west of the Mississippi, is St Louis. It is situated on the western bank of the above-named river, eighteen miles by water below the junction of the Missouri, fourteen above that of the Maramac, thirty below that of the Illinois, and 200 above that of the Ohio, being in long. 89.36. W., and lat. 38. 36. N. The situation of the town is elevated, pleasant, healthy, and admirably adapted for commerce. The ground upon which it stands rises gradually from the first to the second bank, which is forty feet above the place upon which St Louis is chiefly built. On this bank are the fortifications erected in early times for the defence of the place.
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The town extends two miles along the river, in three parallel streets, which are intersected by others crossing them at right angles. It contains several places of public worship, amongst which is a Catholic cathedral. It has also a spacious town-house, a theatre, a land office, a bank, a museum, two or three printing offices, a brewery, and several mills. Many of the houses are built of stone, but not a few are entirely constructed of wood. It is in a state of rapid improvement, and fast increasing in population and trade. Its situation is advantageous and interesting, being more central with regard to the whole territory belonging to the United States than any other considerable town; and, uniting the advantages of the three great rivers Mississippi, Missouri, and Illinois, with their numerous branches, whilst it possesses unrivalled facilities for trade, it will in all likelihood become a great city, and the centre of a very extensive commerce. An idea of the present state of the trade of St Louis, and the rate at which it increases, may be formed from the following abstract made from the steam-boat register.
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The country around and to the west of St Louis, for a distance of fifteen miles, is an extended prairie of a very luxuriant soil. This town was settled, principally by French emigrants from Kaskaskias, soon after the peace of 1763, when France ceded to Great Britain her right to all the country eastward of the Mississippi. It came to the United States by the cession of Louisiana in 1803. The population at that time was below 1000; in 1830 in had risen to 5852; and at present (1837), judging from the increase of trade, it cannot amount to less than 10,000 or 12,000.

The other towns in the state of Missouri are, with a few exceptions, of but small size and little importance. Herculaneum is situated on the western bank of the Mississippi, thirty miles below St Louis, upon a narrow alluvial plain, hemmed in on all sides but that facing the river by high and romantic bluffs, rendered still more imposing by a number of shot-towers planted on their summits. This is the chief place of deposit for the lead of the lead mines. St Genevieve is situated at the upper extremity of a beautiful alluvial prairie about a mile westward of the Mississippi. The town is finely situated, and has some trade, most of the lead for exportation being brought to it. The population amounts to about 1500. New Madrid is situated on the Mississippi, about fifty miles below the mouth of the Ohio. Next to Natchez, it is the most noted landing place for steam-boats on the Mississippi above New Orleans. It is chiefly deserving of mention from having, along with the country around it, been visited, in 1811 and the following year, by two of the most terrible and destructive earthquakes which ever laid waste the works of man and nature. Jefferson, a new town above the mouth of the Osage, on the south side of the Missouri, has become, since the seat of government was removed there, the position of the public buildings; but not being a fortunate selection, it has not greatly prospered. Franklin is situated on the northern bank of the Missouri, 150 miles by land above St Louis. It is estimated to contain above 200 houses, and about 1200 inhabitants. It is surrounded by the largest body of rich land in the state, and is the centre of a°populous region of opulent and respectable farmers. Potosi, the county town of Washington, is the centre of the mine district. It is situated in a pleasant valley surrounded by hills, sixty-five miles south-west from St Louis. St Michael is an old French village amongst the mines, and there are a number of other small villages in the same district. St Charles, on the Missouri, is a pleasant village, containing about 1200 inhabitants. It was for a number of years the political metropolis of the state; and no place in the western territory has a more interesting country adjoining it than this village. The other places are too small to require particular description.

This state adopted its present constitution, and was admitted into the Union, in 1820. In its general features it resembles those of the other states. The senators are elected for four years, and the representatives for two. The governor is elected for four years. The judicial power is vested in a supreme*court, a chancellor’s court, and circuit, and other subordinate courts, the judges of which hold their offices during good behaviour. Every free citizen who has resided a year in the state, and the last three months preceding the election in the district, is entitled to a vote in that district. The legislature meets at Jefferson every second year, on the first Monday of November. The article which allowed the existence of slavery in the state was long and bitterly contested in the national legislature; but the admirers of the whip and chain prevailed. There is nothing, either interesting or remarkable in the history of Missouri. It formed a part of the extensive country of Louisiana which was purchased from France by the United States in the year 1803. Although French settlements were commenced at St Louis and St Genevieve as early as 1764, yet, at the time when the country was purchased, this portion of it contained but few inhabitants. In 1804 this country was separated from the rest of Louisiana, and erected into a territorial government by the name of the Territory of Louisiana, which was afterwards altered to the Territory of Missouri, and lastly to the State of Missouri. Immigration at first proceeded rapidly, but received a check in the year 1811 from the sickliness of the season; and the late war also effectually repressed for a time the increase of the country. In 1817 various causes conspired to retard the advancement of this state. Improvements of every description not only came to a dead pause, but seemed to retrograde. This continued for several years; but in the year 1824 prosperity advanced anew, the tide of immigration once more set towards Missouri, and it has ever since continued to improve.

Missouri Territory, a tract of country belonging to the United States, which is bounded on the north by the British possessions, on the east by the North-west Territory, Illinois and Missouri, on the south and south-west by the territories of the Mexican republic, and on the west by the Rocky Mountains. It is 900 miles in length by 800 in breadth. The belt of land on the western bank of the Mississippi, which is partially wooded, is generally from 200 to 400 in breadth. Then commence the vast prairies which constitute so striking and impressive a feature in the immense country stretching beyond the Mississippi and the Missouri. It is for the most part a plain, more or less covered with grass, and in many places fertile; but in others it presents only an ocean of moving sand. Countless multitudes of buffaloes, elks, and other wild animals, graze upon it. The principal sources of the Missouri, Arkansas, and Red River, are found in this territory; and several large branches of the Mississippi, above the Missouri, come from the north-western part of the same vast country. Of the Rocky Mountains, which are as yet but imperfectly known, Mr Flint, in his Geography of America, gives the following account.

“The Rocky Mountains commence in the unexplored regions to the north-west of the United States, and, ranging across the sources of the Missouri, the Roche Jaune, Platte, Arkansas, and Red River, in the Mexican states of Texas and Coahuila, they diverge and unite with the ranges of Mexican mountains. They separate the waters of the great tributaries of the Mississippi from those that fall into the Columbia or Multnomah, the great lake of Buenaventura, and other waters of the Pacific. They [7:15:305]have a far greater extent than the Alleghany Mountains, are of a wider range, and for the most part run, like them, in parallel ridges, though generally more ragged, detached, and broken, and are by no means so regular. They are also of a character decidedly more primitive. Their black, precipitous, and frowning appearance has probably given them the name of the Rocky Mountains. Their bases have an elevation of between 3000 and 4000 feet above the level of the sea. James’s or Pike’s Mountain has been given as about 12,000 feet in height. As this vast range of mountains is as yet but very imperfectly known, there is little reason to doubt that many of the peaks, when more fully explored and more accurately measured, will be found to approach much nearer in height to the highest ranges in Mexicothan has been commonly supposed. Most of the more elevated summits are above the limit of perpetual congelation. In one respect they resemble the Al-Jeghanies. In numerous places the waters that run into the Pacific rise near those that fall into the tributaries of the Mississippi. Thus has nature kindly provided points of easy transit from the eastern to the western side of these frowning and apparently impassable barriers of nature. By communications of unquestionable veracity, from persons engaged in the Missouri Fur Company, we learn that, following up the valleys of the sources of the Platte to the opposite valleys of waters that fall into the Great Lake of Buenaventura, on the other side, a good road was found, and easily passable by loaded waggons.” This vast inland sea is one hundred miles in length by from sixty to eighty in breadth, and its waters are much salter than those of the ocean.

There are other ranges of mountains, which traverse different parts of this territory; as the Black Hills, the Ozark Mountains, the Masserne, and others. There are also fertile belts of land on the margins of most of the rivers, and some of them have a great extent of rich country. As we recede from the rivers, the soil becomes poor, and extensive deserts are found in the southern regions. In such a vast extent of level country, naked and open, the climate must of course in a great measure depend upon latitude. Immediately beyond the state of Missouri and the Arkansas territory, the climate is mild and temperate; but it gradually becomes similar to that of Canada. There are very few settlements of whites in this vast country, and none so considerable as to have any established government. At Council Bluffs there is a military post, having one regiment of infantry. Many tribes of Indians still possess vast tracts of country. The Sioux are the most numerous; and the whole number has been estimated at about 140,000.

Missouri, a very large river of the United States, which unites with the Mississippi a little beyond the thirtieth degree of north lat. It originates in the Rocky Mountains, and takes the name of Missouri in lat. 45. 10. north, and in long. 110. west, where the three branches, Jefferson, Gallatin, and Madison unite. These head branches of the Missouri are navigable to a considerable extent before their junction. Where the river makes its escape from the Rocky Mountains, it presents a spectacle of rare sublimity. For a distance of about six miles the rocks rise 1200 feet perpendicularly from the water’s edge. The river is considerably diminished in width where it rushes through these gates of the Rocky Mountains. One hundred and ten miles below this chasm are the stupendous cataracts of the Missouri, one of which has a perpendicular fall of eighty-seven feet, but according to Mr Flint of ninety-eight feet. For about seventeen miles the river may be termed a series of cataracts. Not far below these falls Maria’s River from the north joins the Missouri. Itis a considerable stream, as are also the Dearborn, Fancy, Manoles, Big Dry, and others, which enter still farther down. Below these the Missouri receives the waters of the Roche Jaune or Yellow Stone, probably its largest tributary. It rises in the same ranges of mountains as the main river, and in many respects resembles it. It is a broad, deep, and sweeping stream, and at its junction appears to be the larger of the two, entering from the south by a mouth of 850 yards wide. Its course is commonly calculated at 1600 miles, and its entrance is said to be 1880 miles above the mouth of the Missouri. It was selected by the government as an eligible situation for a military post and an extensive settlement. At the junction of the Yellow Stone, the Missouri has wide and fine bottoms, but unfortunately its banks are almost destitute of timber, which will retard its settlement for a long time. A great many rivers join the Missouri below this. The following are the most considerable: Knife River; Cannon-Ball River, which is 140 yards wide; Chienne, which is boatable 800 miles; Poncas, Qui-Courre, White Stone, Big Sioux, Floyd’s, and many other streams, all enter on the south side. La Platte, which has a longer course than any tributary of the Missouri, comes in from the south side. It rises in the same ranges of mountains which give birth to the parent stream, and, measured by its meanders, is supposed to have a course of 2000 miles before it joins the principal stream. It is nearly a mile in width at its entrance; but, as its name imports, is shallow, and not boatable except at its highest flood. Kansas, a large tributary from the south, has a course of 1200 miles, and is boatable nearly the whole of its course. From the north side, the following, amongst other streams, flow into the Missouri: the Grand River, which is large, long, deep, and boatable for a great distance; the Nowada, Little Platte, Charatous, Bonne Femme, and Manitou.

The whole length of the Missouri, above its junction with the Mississippi, has been estimated at above 3100 miles. Add to this the distance from the mouth of the Missouri to the Gulf of Mexico and the total will be nearly 4400 miles. The Missouri is much longer than the Mississippi before their junction, and has a much greater volume of water. It is about half a mile in breadth at its mouth, but is wider in a great part of its course. (r. r. r.)