were anticipated by the savages, who attacked them furiously in the night. Temple, Cole, Patton, and Gooch were killed at the first onset; Murdock slipped under the bank of Spencer Creek, near by, leaving Stephen Cole alone to contend with the enemy. Two stout Indians closed upon him; one of them stabbed him from behind, near the shoulder, the other encountered him in front. Cole, being a very powerful man, wrenched the knife out of the hand of the Indian in front, and killed him; but having to contend with such odds, he was fortunate enough to make his escape, favoured, of course, by the darkness of the night. Having reached home, he collected a party of men, and returned to bury the dead. Murdock, not being acquainted with the roads, did not reach home for several days.

"In the year 1812 the rangers were called out, and traversed the country to protect it from the incursions of the Indians. In the spring of 1813 a party of Sacs and Pottawatomies made an attack on Loutre Lick, where Mr. Massey had settled. Young Massey, while ploughing in the field, was shot by an Indian. His sister, hearing the report, and seeing the Indian pursuing her brother, blew the horn, which the Indians mistaking for the bugle of the rangers, made off.

"In the spring of 1814 the Sacs and Foxes stole horses in the neighbourhood of Loutre Island. Some fifteen rangers, commanded by Captain James Callaway, being out on duty, accidentally fell upon their trail, and followed it. They arrived at the encampment of the Indians, at the head of Loutre Creek. The horses were there, but the enemy was out, probably on some other excursion. The rangers retook the horses, and proceeded on towards the island without molestation, until they arrived at the Prairie fork, at the crossing, about one hundred yards from its junction with main Loutre. Captain Callaway, wishing to relieve some of the men that were driving the horses, intimated his intention to his lieutenant, Riggs, and at the same time requested him to take command of the company. The company then proceeded, and were crossing the creek, Captain Callaway and the horses being some distance behind, when the latter was fired on by a large body of Indians, estimated at from eighty to

a hundred, who had lain in ambush, and completely invested the passage, from a deep ravine to an adjacent steep hill. Callaway, finding himself severely wounded, broke the line of the Indians, in order to join his men, calling out to them to form upon the opposite bank of the creek. His order was of no avail; the survivers sought security in flight; and Callaway, now endeavouring to make his escape, proceeded with his horse to the main creek, which could at that place only be crossed by swimming. There he was again intercepted by the enemy; and, being mortally wounded, fell into the stream and, expired. The names of the others who fell in the skirmish are McDermot, Hutchinson, McMillin, and Gilmore. The latter was at first taken prisoner, but eventually killed by the Indians. A part of the Callaway rangers made good their retreat to the island; the remainder to Woods' fort.

"The remains of McDermot, Hutchinson, and McMillin were subsequently buried by a company of rangers, under the command of Captain (now Major) Vanbibber. The bodies of those three men were horribly mutilated and disfigured, and presented to those employed in the interment an appalling spectacle of savage ferocity. The body of Captain James Callaway was taken out of the creek, and honourably interred on a high, steril, gloomy hillside, facing the scene of his defeat and death. His grave is enclosed with a rough stone wall; over which is laid a flat limestone, with his name inscribed in rude but legible characters.

"On the same day that the skirmish on Prairie fork happened, the Indians attacked J. Groom and J. Stuart. The enemy, being superior in numbers, pursued Messrs. Groom and Stuart, wounding the latter in the heel, and likewise both horses. Stuart's horse having fallen from exhaustion and loss of blood, Groom generously gave his horse to Stuart, whose life was thus preserved. Groom, likewise, made his escape unhurt. A man, whose name was Dougherty, was killed by the Indians at the same time, in the vicinity of Mr. Groom's farm.”

MORGAN COUNTY is bounded as follows: beginning on the range line between ranges fifteen and sixteen, at the northeast corner of section twelve, township sixty-five, range sixteen;

thence west to the northwest corner of section seven, township forty-five, range nineteen; thence south with the range line to the centre of the main channel of the Osage river; thence down said river, in the middle of the main channel thereof, to the point where the range line between ranges fifteen and sixteen crosses said river, within township forty; thence north with said line to the beginning. This county has running through it the Gravois, a stream of about twenty-five miles in length, that empties into the Osage river, ninety miles from its mouth. The Gravois is made up by springs, which furnish a steady, useful stream, with a uniform volume of water. The county is generally well watered with springs, several of which afford at their sources water sufficient for grist-mills, and these have been erected, and are in operation. There is only one county (Cooper) lying between Morgan and the Missouri river; and having the Osage river on the south, it is happily located with reference to the shipment of produce. A considerable portion of this county is rich prairie, situated in the vicinity of timber. The poor land on the ridges near the Osage and Gravois is filled with lead ore, which is found in the branches, and picked up on the hill-tops. The limestone of Morgan is good, and abundant in quantity. The sandstone is, in some instances, wrought into grindstones, and thus advantageously used. Only two grist-mills and one saw-mill have yet been erected in Morgan. There are fifteen mill-sites on the Gravois, and these, with the spring branches of the county, furnish as much water-power as the farmers could wish, to encourage them in making wheat a staple product. The soil of Morgan, likewise, invites the cultivation of wheat. The riverbottoms in this county are very rich, and suitable for tobaccoplantations. As stock-raising here, as well as in all the counties of Missouri, is profitable, much of the ground in cultivation. is covered with corn-fields, as productive as the land from which the children of Israel drew their supplies, when afflicted with famine. The timber of Morgan consists of oak of the various kinds, hickory, and black and white walnut of the most thrifty growth, particularly on the Osage river. The cherry-tree, of suitable size for furniture, and sugar-trees in great abundance,

grow in Morgan. The advantage derived from this last timber is very great, and the saving to the country, by the annual manufacture of sugar for domestic use, is an important item in the economy of new settlements. There is something peculiar in the timber, twelve or fifteen miles from the mouth of the Gravois, in the existence there of a fine grove of black locust. The timber and prairie of Morgan are about equally divided. There is a company of miners engaged in digging lead mineral on the Gravois. Morgan is one of the best stock counties of Missouri; and much expense of wintering cattle, horses, and hogs, is saved by the use of the herbage of spontaneous growth found on the bottoms of the Osage; and stock is thus wintered there without feeding. There is a cave in this county, near the Gravois, which opens at the base of a hill, and extends beneath and through it, a distance of two hundred yards. A person on horseback can ride through it with perfect convenience. A crucible has been found in this cave, and preserved in the neighbourhood. It can be seen, on application, by the curious. It is said to have been used by a French mining-company, in testing the silver ore they had dug somewhere on Lamine river, about fifty miles from this place. This, being a traditionary account, may be imperfect, or altogether incorrect. It is possible the crucible may have been employed in some of the alchymy of the Niangua counterfeit banking-company. The parent banking-house was located at no very great distance from this cave.

VERSAILLES is the seat of justice for Morgan county, and there merchandise is vended in five stores; and mechanics' shops are clustering around them in the town. But, while it is in contemplation to divide and form a new county out of Morgan and the adjoining county of Pulaski on the south, business arrangements, at this location or elsewhere in the county, will remain a little unsettled.

NEW MADRID COUNTY. The boundaries of this county begin in the middle of the main channel of the Mississippi river, opposite the mouth of James's Bayou; thence in a northwesterly course to a point in the swamp, two miles east of the northern boundary-line of a tract of land situate in the upper end of Big

prairie, originally granted and confirmed to Moses Henly; thence west to the White Water; thence with the Stoddard county line to the state line; thence east to the river Mississippi; thence up the same, following the middle of the main channel thereof,, to the beginning.

There is not a rock of any description to be found in this county. There are three steam saw and grist mills in the county of New Madrid: one at the town of New Madrid; one at Point Pleasant, six miles below New Madrid; the third at Ruddle's Point, seven miles below Point Pleasant; and a fourth steam sawmill is now being erected in the town of New Madrid. The county of New Madrid is one entire level plain of alluvial land; consequently, the water-courses passing through it are dull, sluggish streams, and are unlike the creeks in the upland. On Bayou St. John, which empties into the Mississippi at the upper part of the town of New Madrid, some three or four miles above its mouth, a grist-mill was erected, and answered a valuable purpose for grinding wheat and corn, while the country was in possession of the Spanish government, and until the great earthquakes of 1811 and '12; since which time, from the injury done: to the lands generally in this county, the only mill-site, perhaps, in New Madrid, has been permitted to pass unnoticed; and it is, very doubtful whether, from the want of tenacity in the earth, a mill can now be built..

The soil of New Madrid is peculiar only in its richness, and level, alluvial character. By the ravages of the earthquakes of 1811 and '12, at least one half of the present county has been sunk from one to four feet, leaving that portion (a large part of which was, previous to 1811, the most fertile land in the west) now covered with water. In those sunken lands, which are on both sides of what is called Little river, or the east branch of the St. François river, varying in width from ten to eighteen miles,. large quantities of muskrat, otter, mink, rackoon, some beaver,、 bear, deer, elk, and wild cattle are taken annually by hunters, who devote their whole time to trapping, hunting, &c. The value of the above-named furs and peltries per annum, to those engaged in this sort of life, varies from 15,000 to 20,000 dollars.