variety to the scenery. Near to the Osage river, in this county, buhrstone has been found, the quality of which is estimated to be little inferior to the French buhr. Near to Bledsoe's, and on the right bank of the Osage, is the site of an old Shawnee village. The Thibaut, a branch of Grand river, has several millsites, and a good mill is built on Cole Camp Creek, a large millstream, that empties into the Osage below Bledsoe's ferry. On Grand river there are several good mill-sites, and this stream furnishes power for manufacturing or for merchant-work throughout the year. Keel-boats of forty tons burden have been taken above the ferry of Bledsoe to the Harmony mission, near the western boundary of the state. The county of Benton is as well timbered as the other new counties; but, in order to settle densely all the rich land within its boundaries, some economy will be requisite in the consumption of this article. There are many excellent springs in the county, and stock-water is everywhere abundant.

POMME DE TERRE, a large tributary of the Osage, runs through the county of Benton, and along its banks some of the richest lauds in Missouri are found, covered with the finest timber for building and fencing (with the exception of pine) that any country produces. Pomme de Terre runs a northwest course, and its waters are discharged into the Osage five miles above Bledsoe's. About twenty miles above Bledsoe's ferry, and probably in the county of Benton, there is a mill-site on the Osage river. This site is made excellent by the peculiar turnings of the river, and by the singular formation of the earth on its shores, with its substratum of rock. The water can be taken out of the river in a race excavated in the earth, and without the expense of a milldam.

OSAGE. This new town is situate on the left and north bank of the river of the same name, near the centre of Benton county. The great road from Palmyra, near the Upper Mississippi, crossing at Booneville, likewise crosses the Osage at this town, over Bledsoe's ferry, by which name the place has been known ever since the settlement of this part of Missouri. This great road continues through Springfield, the county-seat of Green,

where the land-offices are, to Little Rock, the seat of government of Arkansas; thence to the Red river. All the dealers in stock for the southern market cross the Osage river at the town of Osage At this town the seat of justice for Benton county will shortly be located. This point is the head of steamboat navigation of the Osage river; and the merchandise for ten rich counties of the state will be landed here, and their surplus produce will be shipped at Osage. A mile above this town the Grand river and Little Thibaut empty their waters into the Osage river. Five miles above is the confluence of Pomme de Terre river and the Osage. The country that will be tributary to this town is 150 miles long, north and south, by 100 miles wide, east and west. Occasional trips of steamboats may be made as high as the mouth of Sac river, thirty miles above Osage, but this point is inconvenient for the distribution of freight through the country. At Osage the roads leading out are good on both sides of the river. This town is seventy-five miles from Booneville, a little west of south; and from Jefferson city eighty miles. From Osage to Springfield, where the land-office now is, it is likewise seventy-five miles. Thus Osage is a half-way point, where the mail-stages will stop for the night. There is much rich farming-land near the town, and an arm of prairie runs almost to the river, and parallel with the timbered ridge on which the road to Osage runs. The town is situate on table-land, and the site overlooks the river above and below Bledsoe's ferry. The scenery around this town is picturesque and extremely beautiful, and the position is very salubrious. The cedars that take root in the fissures of the rocky cliffs above the town, on the riverbank, add to the beauty of the country, that presents a variety of heavy forest-lands, both in the river-bottoms and high grounds. The river is as clear as the northern streams; and the current presents as little resistance to the navigator as that of the Ohio. The bottom of the stream is composed of gravel; and the banks are firm, and never yield to the action of the current. The present proprietors of the town of Osage, consisting of men of large families, are about to take up their abode in the town, and establish there a seminary of learning, to be conducted by one of the

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best scholars (a graduate of an eastern college) that can be procured. Female teachers from Massachusetts will be likewise employed at the Osage seminary. The proprietors are engaged in the erection of a hotel at the ferry; and a steam saw-mill and flour-mill will be erected next summer on their own account. They will likewise build warehouses, for the commission and forwarding business on the river-bank. The rocky cliffs here, of white limestone, furnish good building rock and material for lime; and the sand of the river is excellent for the composition of cement. The clay of the vicinity is suitable for brick-making. With all the natural advantages of Osage, it is just to conclude that the population of this place will reach several thousand in five years, and ever after be second to St. Louis only, when compared with other towns of the state. The country around the town of Osage is full of lead mineral; and the operations of experienced miners will shortly open rich and inexhaustible leads of this valuable ore. The river at this point

is one hundred and seventy yards in width.

BOONE COUNTY is one of the old, well-settled counties, and lies between Howard and Callaway, and on the Missouri river. Its boundaries, as defined in the Revised Statutes of Missouri, are as follows: Beginning in the middle of the main channel of the Missouri river, at the southeast corner of Howard county, and running thence with the eastern boundary of said county to the northeast corner; thence due east with the township line between townships fifty-one and fifty-two, to the main dividing ridge between the waters of the river Mississippi and Missouri; thence along said dividing ridge to the sectional line, one mile west of the east boundary-line of range eleven west, in township fifty-one north; thence south with said sectional line to the south boundary-line of township fifty; thence west with said township line one and a half miles, to the middle of the main fork of Cedar Creek; thence down Cedar Creek, in the middle of the main channel thereof, to where the range line between eleven and twelve crosses said creek the second time; thence with said line to the middle of the main channel of the Missouri

river; thence up said river, in the middle of the main channel thereof, to the beginning."

A large proportion of Boone county is well timbered, and the soil is uniformly good farming-land, producing hemp, tobacco, wheat, corn, rye, oats, and the grasses. These productions are all cultivated with success, and Boone is likewise a considerable stock county. The Two-Mile Prairie has great celebrity as a farming tract of country, and much of it is beautifully cultivated. There is other good prairie in this county.

The county is inhabited to a great extent by farmers, whose enterprise and industry have already placed them in easy circumstances; and many of them are acquiring, while others are laying the foundations of, great wealth. The good landings in the county, on the Missouri, for receiving merchandise and for the shipment of produce, are numerous. Among these are one at Rocheport, one at Nashville, where Tuttle's warehouses are situated, and another is beginning to acquire notoriety at Ramsey's Bluff. At this point a town is laid off, and the proprietors have great reason to promise themselves pecuniary advantage from the excellence of the site; while the county will derive benefit from the enterprise and active exertion towards improvement of those interested in the new town. The streams in Boone are Roche Percée (Pierced Rock), Petite Bonne Femme (Little Good Woman), and Cedar, that forms an eastern natural boundary between this county and Callaway. These streams have some good mill-sites on them; but the water-power of this county is limited to an inconsiderable amount.

Steam-power has been employed in grinding in Boone, and must be resorted to extensively, before all the facilities within reach of farming communities are compassed.

COLUMBIA is the seat of justice of Boone county, and its location was made central with a view to the convenience of the inhabitants of the county. Its situation is happily chosen, in a healthy and pleasant country. The town has had a steady growth, and is now improving. The place is made attractive to strangers by the business bustle within it, as well as the good taste evinced in the structure of the business houses and the

private dwellings of Columbia. The public buildings are good, and the college is a valuable institution, made so by the ability of the professors, and the interest taken in their highly-important and arduous pursuits. The good society found in Columbia forms a considerable inducement for emigrants to settle in Boone. There is a valuable public journal published in Columbia, with the appropriate name of "PATRIOT." Near to the town there is a paper-mill.

The "Patriot," having the raw material at hand, will be suspected of deficiency in love of country, if intelligence is ever withheld from the reading community. There are twelve stores in Columbia, and three churches. The great western mailroute runs through Columbia, and the post-coaches pass triweekly through this town. A railway has likewise been projected from Louisiana to Columbia, and thence to Rocheport. The projectors are of that spirited class of citizens who are not deterred from a just and rational pursuit on account of the expense, after having deliberately counted the cost.

The town of Rocheport, situate on the Missouri, at the mouth of Manitou, and in the southwest corner of Boone county, is attracting the attention of business men by its local advantages, and the activity of business operations at present carried on in this new town. In the original sale of lots, eighty-four were disposed of, and all these are improved or being improved, except twelve or fourteen.

There are in Rocheport eight stores, two blacksmiths' shops, two tailors' shops, two carding-machines, one wholesale and two retail groceries. There were one hundred and forty arrivals of steamboats, ascending and descending, at Rocheport, from spring, the opening of navigation, up to the eighth September, 1836. There is a steam saw-mill and five brick-yards in this town. There are also two rope-walks, two tan-yards, one tavern, and a large hotel commenced. There is likewise a tobacco-manufactory in Rocheport. There is a good horseboat employed at the ferry. Stone coal is found from two to four miles from the town. Thirty buildings are being erected this year. The Manitou spring is a curious, and probably a valuable production of