Personal Memoirs of a Residence of Thirty Years with the Indian Tribes On The American Frontiers Part 7

CHAPTER VIII.

New-Yearing--A prospect opened--Poem of Ontwa--Indian biography--Fossil tree--Letters from various persons--Notice of Ontwa--Professor Silliman--Gov. Clinton--Hon. J. Meigs--Colonel Benton--Mr.

d.i.c.kenson--Professor Hall--Views of Ex-presidents Madison, Jefferson, and Adams on geology--Geological notices--Plan of a gazetteer--Opinions of my _Narrative Journal_ by scientific gentlemen--The impostor John Dun Hunter--Trip up the Potomac--Mosaical chronology--Visit to Mount Vernon.

1822. _Jan. 1st_.--I spent this day a New-Yearing. Albany is a dear place for the first of January; not only the _houses_ of every one, but the _hearts_ of every one seem open on this day. It is no slight praise to say that one day out of the three hundred and sixty-five is consecrated to general hospitality and warm-hearted cordiality. If St.

Nicholas was the author of this custom, he was a social saint; and the custom seems to be as completely kept up on the banks of the Hudson as it ever could have been on the banks of the Rhine.

_Jan. 5th_.--My experience is that he who would rise, in science or knowledge, must toil incessantly; it is the price at which success sells her favors. During the last four years, I have pa.s.sed not less than ten thousand miles, and in all this time I have scarcely lain down one night without a feeling that the next day's success must depend upon a fresh appeal to continued effort. My pathway has certainly not lain over beds of gold, nor my pillow been composed of down. And yet my success has served to raise the envy and malignity of some minds. True, these have been small minds; while a just appreciation and approval have marked the course of the exalted and enlightened. A friend writes from Was.h.i.+ngton, this day, a.s.suring me that I am not forgotten in high quarters. "The occupation," he says, "of the _Sault_ has been decided on, and I have but little doubt of your appointment to the agency. Make your mind easy.

I am certain the government will not forget you, and I never can. I shall not lose sight of your interest a moment."

Thus, while an envious little clique here has, in my absence, clandestinely thrown most uncandid censure upon me and my labors, a vista of honor is presented to my hopes from a higher source.

While recovering from the prostrating effects of my Chicago fever, I had drawn up a memoir for the American Geological Society, which had made me a member, on the fossil tree observed in the stratification of the Des Plaines, of the Illinois, and took the occasion of being detained here in making my report, to print it, and circulate copies. It appeared to be a good opportunity, while calling attention to the fact described, to connect it with the system of secondary rocks, as explained by geologists. In this way, the occurrence of perhaps a not absolutely unique phenomenon is made a vehicle of conveying geological information, which is now sought with avidity in the country. This step brought me many correspondents of note.

Mr. Madison (Ex-President United States) writes (Jan. 22): "The present is a very inquisitive age, and its researches of late have been ardently directed to the primitive composition and structure of our globe, as far as it has been penetrated, and to the processes by which succeeding changes have been produced. The discoveries already made are encouraging; but vast room is left for the further industry and sagacity of geologists. This is sufficiently shown by the opposite theories which have been espoused; one of them regarding water, the other fire, as the great agent employed by nature in her work.

"It may well be expected that this hemisphere, which has been least explored, will yield its full proportion of materials towards a satisfactory system. Your zealous efforts to share in the contributions do credit to your love of truth and devotion to the cause of science, and I wish they may be rewarded with the success they promise, and with all the personal gratifications to which they ent.i.tle you."

Mr. Jefferson (Ex-President United States) sends a note of thanks (Jan.

26th) in the following words: "It is a valuable element towards the knowledge we wish to obtain of the crust of the globe we inhabit; and, as crust alone is immediately interesting to us, we are only to guard against drawing our conclusions deeper than we dig. You are ent.i.tled to the thanks of the lovers of science for the preservation of this fact."

Mr. John Adams (Ex-President United States, Jan. 27th) says: "I thank you for your memoir on the fossil tree, which is very well written; and the conjectures on the processes of nature in producing it are plausible and probable.

"I once lay a week wind-bound in Portland road, in England, and went often ash.o.r.e, and ascended the mountain from whence they get all the Portland stone that they employ in building. In a morning walk with some of the American pa.s.sengers from the Lucretia, Captain Calehan, we pa.s.sed by a handsome house, at the foot of the hill, with a handsome front yard before it. Upon the top of one of the posts of this yard lay a fish, coiled up in a spiral figure, which caught my eye. I stopped and gazed at it with some curiosity. Presently a person, in the habit and appearance of a substantial and well-bred English gentleman, appeared at his door and addressed me. 'Sir, I perceive that your attention is fixed on my fish. That is a conger eel--a species that abounds in these seas; we see them repeatedly, at the depth of twelve feet water, lying exactly in that position. That stone, as it now appears, was dug up from the bowels of this mountain, at the depth of twenty feet below the surface, in the midst of the rocks. Now, sir,' said he, 'at the time of the deluge, these neighboring seas were thrown up into that mountain, and this fish, lying at the bottom, was thrown up with the rest, and then petrified, in the very posture in which he lay.'

"I was charmed with the eloquence of this profound philosopher, as well as with his civility, and said that I could not account for the phenomenon by any more plausible or probable hypothesis.

"This is a lofty hill and very steep, and in the road up and down, there are flat and smooth rocks of considerable extent. The commerce in Portland stone frequently calls for huge ma.s.ses, from ten to fifteen tons weight. These are loaded on very strong wheels, and drawn by ten or twelve pair of horses. When they come to one of those flat rocks on the side of the hill where the descent is steep, they take off six or eight pair of horses, and attach them behind the wagon, and lash them up hill, while one or two pair of horses in front have to drag the wagon and its load and six or eight pair of horses behind it, backwards.

"I give you this history by way of comment on Dr. Franklin's famous argument against a mixed government. That great man ought not to have quoted this as a New England custom, because it was an English practice before New England existed, and is a happy ill.u.s.tration of the necessity of a balanced government.

"And since I have mentioned Dr. Franklin, I will relate another fact which I had from his mouth. When he lived at Pa.s.sy, a new quarry of stone was opened in the garden of Mr. Ray de Chaumont, and, at the depth of twenty feet, was found among the rocks a shark's tooth, in perfect preservation, which I suppose my Portland friend would account for as he did for his conger eel, though the tooth was not petrified."

Thus, my memoir was the cause of the expression of opinions and facts from distinguished individuals, which possess an interest distinct from the bearing of such opinions on geology.

Mr. Carter, who has just transferred the publication of the _Statesman_ from Albany to New York, writes (Jan. 10th) from the latter city, urging me to hasten my return to that city.

_Poem on the theme of the Aborigines_.--"I have," he remarks, "read Ontwa, the Indian poem you spoke to me about last summer. The notes by Governor Ca.s.s are extremely interesting, and written in a superior style. I shall notice the work in a few days."

_Geology of New York Island_.--"I wish you to give me an article on the mineralogy and geology of Manhattan Island, in the form of a letter purporting to be by a foreign traveler. (See Appendix, No. 2.) It is my intention to give a series of letters, partly by myself and partly by others, which shall take notice of everything in and about the city which may be deemed interesting. I wish to begin at the foundation by giving a geographical and geological sketch of the Island."

_Indian Biography_.--"Colonel Haines also wishes you to unite with him and myself, in writing a series of sketches of celebrated Indians."

Professor Silliman writes (Jan. 20th), acknowledging the receipt of a memoir on the fossil tree of the River Des Plaines, which was prepared for the American Geological Society. He requests me to furnish him a copy of my memoir on the geology of the regions visited by the recent expedition, or, if it be too long for the purposes of the _American Journal_, an abstract of it.

_Animal Impressions in Limestone_.--"I am much obliged to you for your kind intention of furnis.h.i.+ng me with a paper on the impressions in limestone, and I hope you will bear it in mind, and execute it accordingly.

"I have observed the appointment which the newspapers state that you have received from the government, and regret that it carries you so far south,[11] into an unhealthy climate; wis.h.i.+ng you, however, health and leisure to pursue those studies which you have hitherto prosecuted so successfully."

[Footnote 11: This is evidently an allusion to St. Mary's, in Georgia, instead of Michigan.]

Professor Frederick Hall, of Middlebury College, addresses me (Jan.

14th) on the same subject. He alludes to my treatise "On the Mines, Minerals, &c., of the western section of the United States;" a work for which our country and the world are deeply indebted to your enlightened enterprise and unrelaxing zeal. Before reading it, I had a very inadequate conception of the actual extent and riches of the lead mines of the West. It seems, according to your account, that these mines are an exhaustless source of wealth to the United States. "I should feel glad to have them put under your superintendence; and to have you nurture up a race of expert mineralogists, and become a Werner among them."

Professor Silliman writes (Jan. 25th): "When I wrote you last, I had not been able to procure your memoir on the fossil tree. I read it, however, immediately after, and was so much pleased with it, that I extracted the most important parts in the _American Journal_, giving credit, of course, to you and to the Geological Society."

_Jan. 29th_. Chester Dewy, Professor, &c., in Williams College, Ma.s.s., writes a most kind and friendly letter, in which he presents various subjects, in the great area of the West, visited by me.

_Chalk Formation_.--"Mr. Jessup, of Philadelphia, told me that he believed you doubted respecting the _chalk_ of Missouri, in which you found nodules of flints. I wish to ask if this be fact. From the situation, and characters and uses, you might easily be led into a mistake, for such a bed of any other earth would be far less to be expected, and be also a far greater curiosity."

_Petrosilex, &c._--"By the way, I received from Dr. Torrey a curious mixture of petrosilex and prehnite in radiating crystals, which was sent him by you, and collected at the West. He did not tell me the name, but examination showed me what it was."

_Tufa from Western New York_.--"To day, a Quaker from Semp.r.o.nius, New York, has shown me some fine tufa. I mention it, because you may, in your travels, be able to see it. He says it covers an acre or more to a great depth, is burned into excellent lime with great ease, and is very valuable, as no good limestone is found near them. Some of it is very soft, like agaric mineral, and would be so called, were it not a.s.sociated with beautiful tufa of a harder kind."

_Geology of America_.--"You have explored in fine situations, to extend the knowledge of the geology of our country, and have made great discoveries. I congratulate you on what you have been able to do; I hope you may be able, if you wish it, to add still more to our knowledge."

_Jan. 29th_. Mr. McNabb says: "I have just received a specimen of excellent pit-coal from Tioga county, Pennsylvania, near the head of the south branch of the Tioga River, and about twenty miles south from Painted Post, in Steuben County. The quant.i.ty is said to be inexhaustible, and what renders it of still greater importance is, that arks and rafts descend from within four or five miles of the mines."

_New Gazetteer of New York_.--Mr. Carter writes (Feb. 5th) inauspiciously of the course of affairs at Was.h.i.+ngton, as not favoring the spirit of exploration. He proposes, in the event of my not receiving the contemplated appointment, the plan of a Gazetteer of New York, on an enlarged and scientific basis. "I have often expressed to you my opinion of the Spafford Gazetteer of this State. It is wholly unworthy of public patronage, and would not stand in the way of a good work of the kind; and such a one, I have the vanity to believe, our joint efforts could produce. It would be a permanent work, with slight alterations, as the State might undergo changes. My plan would be for you to travel over the State, and make a complete mineralogical, and geological, and statistical survey of it, which would probably take you a year or more.

In the mean time, I would devote all my leisure to the collection and arrangement of such other materials as we should need in the compilation of the work."

_Feb. 18th_. Professor Dewy writes, vindicating my views of the Huttonian doctrines, respecting the formation of secondary rocks, which he had doubted, on the first perusal of my memoir of the fossil tree of Illinois.

_Feb. 20th_. Caleb At.w.a.ter, Esq., of Circleville, Ohio, the author of the antiquarian papers in the first volume of _Archaeologiae Americana_, writes on the occasion of my geological memoir. He completely confounds the infiltrated specimen of an entire tree, in the external strata, and of a recent age, which is prominently described in my paper, with ordinary casts and impressions of organic remains in the elder secondary rock column.

_Feb. 24th_. Mr. McNabb communicates further facts and discoveries of the mineral wealth, resources, and prospects of Western New York and Pennsylvania.

_Narrative Journal_.--Professor Silliman (March 5th) communicates an extract of a letter to him from Daniel Wadsworth, Esq., of Hartford, to whom he had loaned my _Narrative_.

"I have been very much entertained with the tour to the western lakes. I think Mr. Schoolcraft writes in a most agreeable manner; there is such an entire absence of affectation in all he says, as well as his manner of saying it, that no one can help being exceedingly pleased, even if the book had not in any other respect a great deal of merit. The whole seems such real and such absolute matter of fact, that I feel as if I had performed the journey with the traveller.

"All I regret about it is that it was not consistent with his plans to tell us more of what might be considered the _domestic_ part of the expedition, the character and conduct of those who were of the party, their health, difficulties, opinions, and treatment of each other, &c.

&c. As his book was a sort of official work, I suppose he thought this would not do, and I wish he now would give his friends (and let us be amongst them) a ma.n.u.script of the particulars that are not for the public. Mrs. W. has also been as much pleased as myself."

Under the date of March 22d, Sir Humphrey Davy, in a private letter to Dr. Hosack, says:--

"Mr. Schoolcraft's narrative is admirable, both for the facts it develops and for the simplicity and clearness of the details; he has accomplished great things by such means, and offers a good model for a traveler in a new country. I lent his book to our veteran philosophical geographer, Major Rennel, who was highly pleased with it; copies of it would sell well in England."

Dr. Silliman apprises me that Professor Dougla.s.s expects my geological report as part of his work.

Having now finished my geological report, I determined to take it to Was.h.i.+ngton. On reaching New York, I took lodgings at the Franklin House, then a private boarding-house, where my friends, Mr. Carter and Colonel Haines, had rooms. While here, I was introduced one day to a man who subsequently attracted a good deal of notice as a literary impostor.

This was a person named Hunter. He said that he derived this name from his origin in the Indian country. He had a soft, compliant, half quizzical look, and appeared to know nothing precisely, but dealt in vague accounts and innuendoes. Having gone to London, the booksellers thought him, it appears, a good subject for a book, and some hack was employed to prepare it. It had a very slender basis in any observations which this man was capable of furnis.h.i.+ng; but abounded in misstatements and vituperation of the policy of this government respecting the Indians. This fellow is handled in the Oct. No. of the _North American Review_, for 1825, in a manner which gives very little encouragement to literary adventurers and cheats. The very man, John Dunn, of Missouri, after whom he affected to have been named, denies that he ever heard of him.

I had, thus far, seen but little of the Atlantic, except what could be observed in a trip from New Orleans to New York, and knew very little of its coasts by personal examination. I had never seen more of the Chesapeake than could be shown from the head of that n.o.ble bay, and wished to explore the Valley of the Potomac. For this purpose, I took pa.s.sage in a coasting vessel at New York, and had a voyage of a novel and agreeable kind, which supplied me with the desired information. At Old Point Comfort, I remained at the hotel while the vessel tarried. In ascending the Potomac one night, while anch.o.r.ed, a negro song was wafted in the stillness of the atmosphere. I could distinctly hear the following words:--

Gentlemen, he come from de Maryland sh.o.r.e, See how ma.s.sa gray mare go.

Go, gray, go, Go, gray, go; See how ma.s.sa gray mare go.