CHAPTER XII
{177} CHAPTER XII
An excursion up Grand River to visit the Osage salt works—Geological observations—Return across the prairie; its general appearance and phenomena.
17th.] To-day I proceeded with two young men in a canoe up Grand river, with an intention of visiting the salt works. We found the water of this stream very clear, and the channel little inferior in breadth to some parts of the Arkansa; also full of rapids, and now so shallow as to admit of no vessel drawing more than 12 inches of water. The islands are very numerous and small, and the bars and bends, except by the predominance of gravel, resemble the Arkansa on a reduced scale. The gravel is entirely composed of lime-stone and chert. In the distance of about seven miles we found the first ridge terminating on the borders of the river to be calcareous. Below this, and about two or three miles from the mouth of the river, the usual dark-coloured slaty sandstone prevails. In the course of the day we killed several large buffaloe fish, which are very abundant in all the shallow and gravelly ripples, apparently a Cyprinus, and very palatable when fried in oil. The boney gar (Esox osseus), and the large grey catfish, are also sufficiently common. We proceeded about 30 miles.
18th.] The morning was fine, and we embarked at sunrise. About eight o’clock we passed a bend called the Eagle’s nest, a mile above which, and its island, a fasçade of calcareous rock appears, inlaid with beds of whitish hornstone. While examining these cliffs, I recognised as new, a large shrub, and to my great surprise found it to be a simple-leaved Rhus, scarcely distinct from the R. Cotinus of the south of Europe and of our gardens. Hills and cliffs, but {178} partly hid in woods, were now of frequent occurrence along the river bank. The neighbouring thickets abounded with game, amongst which two bears made their appearance. The gravel bars were almost covered with Amsonia salicifolia, with which grew also the Sesbania macrocarpa of Florida.
This evening I arrived at Mr. Slover’s, two miles below the saline. The farm which this hunter occupied was finely elevated and productive, and apparently well suited to the production of small grain. Up to this place, which is said to be 50 miles from the Arkansa, the cane continues to be abundant. In this elevated alluvion I still observed the Coffee-bean tree (Gymnocladus canadensis), the overcup white oak (Quercus macrocarpa), the pecan (Carya olivæformis), the common hickory, ash, elm; and below, in places near the margin of the river, the poplar-leaved birch (Betula populifolia).
Mr. S. informed me, that on the opposite side of the river, and two miles from hence, another strong salt spring breaks out through the incumbent gravel; and that there are other productive springs 25 miles above.
19th.] This morning, I walked with Mr. Slover to see the salt works, now indeed lying idle, and nearly deserted in consequence of the murder of Mr. Campbell, by Erhart, his late partner, and two accomplices in their employ. Melancholy as were the reflections naturally arising from this horrid circumstance, I could not but congratulate myself on having escaped, perhaps a similar fate. At the Cadron, I had made application to Childer’s, one of these remorseless villains, as a woodsman and hunter, to accompany me for hire, only about a month before he had shot and barbarously scalped Mr. Campbell, for the purpose of obtaining his little property, and in spite of the friendship which he had uniformly received from the deceased.
{179} But to return to the subject. We proceeded two miles, along the hilly and woody skirts of the river, and through the adjoining prairie to the saline, which appeared to be a gravelly, alluvial basin, of about an acre in extent, and destitute of all vegetation. A small fresh water brook, now scarcely running, passed through this area, and the salt water, quite pellucid, issued copiously to the surface in various directions. In one place it boiled up out of a focus of near six inches diameter, emitting fetid bubbles of sulphuretted hydrogen, which deposited a slight scum of sulphur. All the springs are more or less hepatic, which circumstance is attributable to a bed of bituminous and sulphuretted slate-clay, visible on the margin of the stream, and, probably, underlaid by coal, through which the water rises to the surface. In the adjoining heights, a coarse-grained sandstone occurs, answering the purpose of mill-stones; the stream then contracts at the entrance of a ledge of slaty rocks, and, about a half mile from its immediate outlet, the water is perfectly fresh. The only well dug upon the premises for the salt water, was about five feet deep, and quarried through a bed of dark-coloured limestone, containing shells and nodules of black hornstone, similar to the chert of Derbyshire. This salt appears to be concomitant with a coaly or bituminous formation. No marine plants appear in this vicinity, as at Onondago, where we meet with the Salicornia of the sea marshes. When the works were in operation, 120 bushels of salt were manufactured in a week, and the water is said to be so strong, that after the second boiling, it became necessary to remove the lye. No mother water, or any thing almost but what is volatile, appears mixed with this salt, which is of the purest whiteness on the first boiling, and only takes about 80 gallons of water to produce a bushel. Hitherto these springs have been unaccompanied by any fossil remains of quadrupeds.
{180} This forenoon I was disagreeably surprised by a slight attack of the intermittent fever, which was also beginning to make its appearance in the family of Mr. Slover. In the spring, they were likewise affected by the influenza, which prevailed in the Osage village, and induced several pulmonary consumptions. No medicines being at hand, as imprudently I had not calculated upon sickness, I took in the evening about a pint of a strong and very bitter decoction, of the Eupatorium cuneifolium, the E. perfoliatum or Bone-set, not being to be found in the neighbourhood. This dose, though very nauseous, did not prove sufficient to operate as an emetic, but acted as a diaphoretic and gentle laxative, and prevented the proximate return of the disease.
20th.] This morning I left Mr. Slover’s, and proceeded, by compass, across the Great Osage plain, towards the mouth of the Verdigris. My course was south by west, the distance being about 30 miles. Twenty miles of this route was without any path, and through grass three feet deep, often entangled with brambles, and particularly with the tenacious “saw-brier” (Schrankia horridula). The honey upon the grass, as at Sambo prairie, was so universally abundant, that my mockasins and pantaloons were soaked as with oil. Several insulated eminences, appearing almost artificial, served to diversify the cheerless uniformity of the extensive plain, still wrapt in primeval solitude. Not even a tree appeared, except along the brooks of Grand river and the Verdigris, which rivers, for 25 or 30 leagues, are not more than 12 to 15 miles apart. About a mile from the base of one of those prominent hills, insulated like an aboriginal mound, and towards which I was directed to proceed, passed the path to the Indian village, and the outlet of the Verdigris. It was evening when I arrived at this hill, which had been a prominent object in view, ever since my outset this morning. From {181} its summit, the wide and verdant plain appeared visible for 40 miles. Proceeding about four miles from this eminence, much fatigued, I lay down to sleep in the prairie, under the clear canopy of heaven;—but alone, and without the necessary comforts of either fire, food, or water. The crickets, grashoppers, catidids, and stocking-weavers, as they are familiarly called, kept up such a loud and shrill crepitation, as to prove extremely irksome, and almost stunning to the ears. Every tender leaved plant, whether bitter or sweet, by thousands of acres, were now entirely devoured by the locust grashoppers, which arose before me almost in clouds. I slept, however, in comfort, and was scarcely at all molested by musquetoes. The next day, after spending considerable time in botanizing, I arrived at the trading houses.