of the forks of Salt river, near the eastern line of the county. The Elk fork of Salt river is next. This is likewise a good mill-stream, and during four months of each year affords four horse-power, or perhaps more. We come next to long branch of Salt river, which heads in Boone county. This will answer for milling five months in the year. Young's fork of the south fork is the next, about the size of Otter and Crooked Creeks, already described. After passing these, in the route southwardly is the south fork. This is a good mill-stream, and there are two mills already erected on it, and in operation. All these streams form a junction before reaching the east line of Monroe, and make Salt river; on the bank of which, near the confluence, the town of FLORIDA is situate.

This new flourishing place has now sixty families. Steamboat navigation can be extended to this point, a distance by water of eighty-five miles. There is nothing peculiar in the soil or its productions in this county. The timber of Monroe consists of oak, hickory, ash, elm, hackberry, walnut, buckeye, sugar-tree, maple, sycamore, linn, and birch. The proportion of timber to prairie is two thirds of the former to one third of the latter. This is more than a sufficient quantity of timber for the cultivation of all the prairie; and the distribution of streams, branches of Salt river, on which timber is always found, shows that the timber is fairly distributed. The south line of this county runs through the edge of Grand prairie. There are two flour-mills in Monroe that do merchant-work. There are four or five distilleries, that produce about ten thousand gallons of whiskey annually, and from one to three thousand gallons of brandy and gin. On Otter Creek there is found sand and clay, suitable for stoneware, and "a potter, who hath power over the clay, is there making one vessel to honour, and another to dishonour," as a temperance devotee would insist; but vessels for milk as well as jugs are all manufactured by him. Without entering into a spirited discussion of the great question, it may be remarked, incidentally, that as there are many excellent springs in Monroe, the citizens of the county who now reside' there, and those who may migrate thither, are at liberty to fill

their jugs with that pure element, milk, or whiskey, as they may think advisable; and their neighbours will feel so sensibly the force of the polite education they have received, that no remonstrances will be made or improper questions asked. At Florida an extensive hemp-manufactory is nearly completed, and will be in operation in the autumn of this year. There are two tobaccomanufactories in Monroe, one of which is located at Jonesborough. The farming products of Monroe are tobacco, hemp, corn, wheat, rye, oats, barley, blue timothy, and Hurd's-grass, to all of which the soil and climate are well adapted. The stock of the country consists of horses, horned cattle, sheep, hogs, mules, and asses. There are annually sold in this county from two to five hundred mules, and these are thus disposed of by the farmers as soon as they have weaned them. Their farms are not yet in such an advanced state of improvement as to justify holding their stock of this description until they can realize its rapid increase in value, which may be estimated at thirty per cent. per annum for the first two years. Stock of every description is in demand in a home market.

Within the county of Monroe, on a stream called Sweet lick, there is a battle-field so thickly covered with the bones of the combatants slain there, as to deserve a high place in the annals of blood-letting. The conflict was between the Sac and Fox Indians, and the Sioux. Tradition does not particularize the battle, nor are we able to determine to which nation of these red warriors victory was awarded by the Great Spirit. But "the master of life" was there, as the long list of skeletons, silent but veracious witnesses, emphatically tests! The same powerful incentive, the love of glory, that strewed the field of Waterloo, governed the whirlwind of passion on this field of savage slaughter; and a like cause of war, the ambition of rival chiefs, governed in both instances. It may be presumed, likewise, that some impatient leader may have exclaimed, at some dubious stage of the conflict, as Wellington did: "Will the day never end! will" Black Hawk " never come !" If another attempt should be made by these red-skins to do a wholesale or retail killing business on Sweet lick, now that the country around the

old battle-field is settled with a spirited white population, the intrusive warriors will get "rowed up Salt river."

The threat to row an antagonist up Salt river, in the western country, is understood to be equivalent to crossing a stray soul over the river Styx; or something like an involuntary voyage in a leaky boat on the river Phlegethon.

"MONTGOMERY COUNTY is bounded on the south by the Missouri river, which separates it from Gasconade and Franklin counties; on the east by Warren and Lincoln counties; on the north by an unorganized county called Audrain, and on the west by Callaway. The county stretches about twelve miles on the Missouri river, on which there are rich bottoms, heavily timbered. A portion of Loutre Island is in this county, and contains a number of fertile farms. A considerable range of bluffs extends parallel with the river. Loutre Creek runs through the western part of this county, and several branches of the same drain the northwestern part of the county. Upon the waters of this stream are situated a number of farms and a considerable population. Loutre Prairie extends from the creek of the same name to the eastern limit of the state, more than twenty miles, and through it passes the Booneslick road. In the northern and northeastern part of the county there is much prairie. The soil of this county is in some places good, in others thin; but in many parts there are good situations for farms, much good timber, and many fine springs. A large proportion of the land in this county still belongs to the United States, and many valuable entries might still be made. The streams afford some good mill-sites. On Loutre Creek there have been discovered extensive bodies of valuable stone coal, that has been used to some extent in smiths' shops. On the bluffs south of Lexington, in many places, are large bodies of iron ore, believed to be valuable, and it is said that there are also indications of the existence of lead ore. Lead has been manufactured by the Indians on Lead Creek, a branch of Cuivre, in former years. There are in different parts of the county limestone and freestone, suitable for building purposes. There is a saline, or salt lick, called Loutre Lick. Wheat,

corn, tobacco, and live stock are the staple productions of the county.

LEWISTON, the former county-seat, is defunct. DANVILLE, the present county-seat, was laid out about three years ago. It is pleasantly and advantageously situated on the Booneslick road, in Loutre Prairie, and is a thriving village, having a handsome new brick courthouse, a jail, several stores, groceries, and mechanic establishments. Montgomery and Danville are increasing in wealth and population, and still offer higher inducements for emigration than many other places that are much more resorted to. It is convenient to market. If a railroad be made from St. Louis to the western part of the state, it must traverse the county. The population are principally emigrants from Kentucky and Virginia. There is much good land upon Little Loutre, Elkhorn, Lead Creek, Rackoon Creek, and other streams, branches of Cuivre and Loutre. There were a number of adventures and fights with the Indians in this county in early times, an accurate account of which would be highly interesting. In one of these, Captain Callaway, a brave and worthy ranger of St. Charles county, and a number of his men, were killed while crossing Loutre."-(Campbell's description.)

To the polite attention of Dr. M. M. MAUGHAS, the compiler is indebted for the following additional interesting particulars relative to the county of Montgomery.

"The mineral resources of this county have not been developed, but the substratum of the whole country appears to be strongly impregnated with iron. Some very rich lumps of ore have been found on the surface, of several hundred pounds weight. Small specimens of genuine galena have been picked up in the broken grounds of the county, and abundance of miners' tiff, of almost diamond lustre and hardness, has been discovered in this county. The rivulets abound in ochreous pebbles, with every variety and shade of silicious stones, and slaty soapstone. Loutre Lick is situate in this county, where salt was made by some of the early settlers; but the water, as it flows from the earth here, mixed with fresh veins, is too weak to be worked profitably. The bituminous coal that has been found in

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Montgomery has been used in the furnaces of the blacksmiths, with and without coking. Several varieties of limestone and sandstone exist in this county, and the rock called millstone grit, or the lost rock, is found in detached masses, apparently rounded by attrition, of foreign aspect, and half imbedded in the earth. Although the soil of Montgomery may lack some constituent principle necessary to the production of heavy crops of corn, tobacco of a superior quality is here produced, and such as might be mistaken by an experienced inspector for the James river leaf. Hemp, wheat, and the grasses are cultivated with uniform success in Montgomery. The farmers of this county find stock-raising a profitable pursuit, and in this operation horses, horned cattle, and hogs are produced for a foreign market.

"The vicinity of Loutre belonged originally to the Missouris, a tribe which appears to have been in possession of a large tract of country; owing, however, to their wars with the Osages, Ioways, Ottos, Omahas, Puncas, and other tribes, the country in this vicinity frequently changed masters; and, at the time that the narrator (Major Vanbibber) emigrated to this country, was in possession of the Sacs and Foxes. The claim of the Sacs and Foxes, however, was merely nominal: the Spanish government allowed no Indian claims within the limits of the king's domain; and the Sacs and Foxes claimed the country as their huntinggrounds only, the right to which they obtained from the Spanish government.

"Of the earliest settlements of this country, Loutre Island may be considered as one of the first; and among the first settlers of that part of the country were Temple and Stephen Cole (two brothers), Patten, Gooch, and Murdock. About the year 1806 or 7, a small party, consisting of seven or eight Indians, Sacs and Pottawatomies, stole the horses of these settlers, and committed sundry depredations in the neighbourhood. In consequence of this foray they were pursued by the Coles, Patten, Gooch, and Murdock, who came in sight of them one evening on the Salt river prairies. Towards night the men made their encampment, kindled a fire, &c., probably with the intention of dealing with the Indians next morning; but in this they