網頁圖片
PDF
ePub 版

about 120 miles, and the journey can be performed with horses and loaded waggons in eight days. The first who attempted this route was Mr Crumb, a merchant of Huntsville. The boat, thirty-five feet in length, drawing two feet water with her cargo, ascended, in twenty days, from Mobile bay to the falls of the Black Warrior stream, including five or six days of accidental delay.*

*

Canals. To procure a shorter communication, by water, between the northern parts of this state and the ocean, it is proposed to open a canal from a point on the Mussel Shoals, or great southern bend of the Tennessee river, to the waters of the Tombigbee. From Thompson creek, near Fort Deposit, to the extreme navigation of the Black Warrior river, is about forty miles; and here the stream is gentle, and between forty and fifty yards wide. Below this the shoals extend to the distance of thirty miles; but boats pass when the waters are high, and the rapid current does not exceed four miles. Along this portage there is a fine level and well timbered country.

Roads. In 1810, the country between the waters of the Tombigbee and those of the Alabama and Cahawba was explored by General Gaines, for the purpose of marking a road along the dividing ridge from St Stephen's to the Tennessee river, and across its channel to Knoxville; but, after proceeding 125 miles from St Stephen's, he was surrounded by a large body of Creek Indians, and obliged to return. As far as

Western Gazetteer, p. 238.

he went, the country will admit of a good road. From the place where he was stopped, the distance is estimated at about seventy miles to Turkeytown, in the Cherokee country, north of the Alabama, through a beautiful level valley of rich land; and from Turkeytown to Kingston on the Tennessee, it is about 150 more. The elevated surface which divides the waters of the Alabama from those of the Conecah and Escambia, will, it is believed, afford a good route from the town of Mobile to Fort Claiborne, and thirty miles shorter than by that which leads through St Stephen's. It is conjectured, that the main road from Georgia to New Orleans will strike the point at the mouth of the Tensaw, where the village of Blakely is situated.

Fortresses, or places of arms, established for the protection of the country against the inroads of the Indian tribes.-Fort Bowyer, at the entrance of Mobile bay. Fort Concle, at the mouth of the western channel of Mobile river. Fort Stoddart, on the western side of Mobile river, six miles above the thirty-first degree of latitude. Fort Montgomery, at the junction of the Alabama and Tombigbee, on the eastern side. Fort St Stephen's, above the former, on the western side of the Tombigbee. Fort Jackson, on the Alabama, at the junction of the Tallapoose and Coose. Fort Decatur, on the eastern bend of the Tallapoose. Fort Toulouse, on the Coose river, above its junction. Fort Stroders, at the junction of the eastern branch.

Books and Documents relating to this Territory. 1708. Survey by Captain Mairn of Carolina.

1763. Roberts's (William) Account of the first Discovery and

Natural History of East Florida, in Svo, London. Annexed to Roberts's Description of Florida, there is a plan of the bay and island of Mobile.

1769. Stark's (William) Description of East Florida, in 4to,

London.

1773 and 1778. Bartram's (William) Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida. American edition, Philadelphia, 1791.

1816. A Description of the Country situated on the Alabama and its waters, was furnished by Judge Toulmin, who has resided long in that country. It was first published in the Georgia Journal, in August 1816.

1817. Barnett's (one of the commissioners for the purchase of the Creek lands) Report, dated March.

1817. Brown's Western Gazetteer, or Emigrant's Directory, article Alabama Territory, which also contains a Description of the Lands occupied by the Creeks, on the east side of the Chatahouche River, by the late Colonel Hawkins, American agent of Indian affairs.

1817. Letter from Colonel Parmentier, one of the commissioners of the French Vine Company, 14th July 1817, published in the "National Intelligencer" of Washington.

1817. (October.) Letters from St Stephen's, containing a Description of this Country, first published in the "Kentucky Monitor."

Maps.

Chart of the sources of the Mobile and of the river Yazoo, including a part of the course of the Mississippi, from the river Margot to the Natchez. Engraved by Tardien L'Ainé, Rue de Sorbonne,

[blocks in formation]

SITUATION AND BOUNDARIES.-This country was established as a territory with a separate government in 1809, and by an act passed on the 18th April 1818, the inhabitants were authorized to choose representatives for a convention, to frame a constitution and state government, in order to their being admitted into the union. The boundaries of the territory, as laid down in this last act, are: From the confluence of, and up the river Wabash, and along the Indiana line of demarcation to the north-west corner of this state; thence east along the line of its limits to the middle parts of Lake Michigan; thence north along the middle of said lake to the latitude of 42° 30′; thence west to the middle of the Mississippi river, following its channel to the confluence of the Ohio, and up this river along its northwestern shore to the mouth of the Wabash. It is situated between 36° 57', and 42° 30′ north latitude, and contains an area of 58,000 square miles, or 37

* A name which in the Indian language signifies a man in the vigour of age. The country included by the French under the name of Illinois was more extensive than the present territory.

millions of acres. Its length from north to south is 380 miles, and its breadth from east to west 206 miles. It has the north-west territory on the north; the state of Kentucky and the Missouri territory on the south and west; and the state of Indiana on the east.

Aspect of the Country, and Nature of the Soil.The southern part of this territory between the Mississippi and the Ohio is very level, and is, in some parts, subject to inundation. This increases the depth and fertility of the soil, and renders it even too rich for many agricultural purposes. A tract extending from the mouth of the Wabash, and along the Mississippi, eighty miles in length and five in breadth, is of this description, and is very unhealthy. The rest of the country is very similar to Indiana, but more picturesque, particularly between Vincennes and St Louis, where rich meadows and beautiful woods alternately present themselves. Along the Little Wabash, the soil of the prairies is a rich fine black mould, inclining to sand, from one to three or four feet deep, lying on sandstone or clayey loam, and remarkably easy of cultivation.* Between the Kaskaskias and Illinois rivers, eighty-four miles distant, the surface is level till within fifteen miles of the latter, where it terminates in a high ridge. Charlevoix describes the north-western parts which he visited as rich, beautiful, and well watered. Near the old French settlement of Fort Chartres, he informs us the country is open, consisting

* Birkbeck's Letters from Illinois, p. 17.

« 上一頁繼續 »