A New Guide For Emigrants To The West Part 23

_Education._--The same provision has been made for this as other Western States, in the disposal of the public lands. The section numbered sixteen in each towns.h.i.+p of land, is sold upon pet.i.tion of the people within the towns.h.i.+p, and the avails const.i.tute a permanent fund, the interest of which is annually applied towards the expenses, in part, of the education of those who attend school, living within the towns.h.i.+p.

A school system, in part, has been arranged by the legislature. The peculiar and unequal division of the country into timber and prairie lands, and the inequality of settlements consequent thereupon, will prevent, for many years to come, the organization of school districts with _defined geographical boundaries_. To meet this inconvenience, the legislature has provided that any number of persons can elect three trustees, employ a teacher in any mode they choose, and receive their proportion of the avails of the school funds. _In all cases, however, the teacher must keep a daily account of each scholar who attends school, and make out a schedule of the aggregate that each scholar attends, every six months_, and present it, certified by the trustees of the school, to the school commissioner of the county, who apportions the money accordingly.

This State receives three per cent. on all the net avails of public lands sold in this State, which, with the avails of two towns.h.i.+ps sold, makes a respectable and rapidly increasing fund, the interest only of which can be expended, and that only to the payment of instructers.

Good common school teachers, both male and female, are greatly needed, and will meet with ready employ, and liberal wages. Here is a most delightful and inviting field for Christian activity. Common school, with Sunday school instruction, calls for thousands of teachers in the West.

Several respectable academies, are in operation, and the wants and feelings of the community call for many more. Besides the colleges at Jacksonville and Alton already noticed, others are projected, and several have been chartered. The Methodist denomination have a building erected, and a preparatory school commenced, at Lebanon, St. Clair county. The Episcopalians are about establis.h.i.+ng a college at Springfield. One or more will be demanded in the northern and eastern portions of the State; and it may be calculated that, in a very brief period, the State of Illinois will furnish facilities for a useful and general education, equal to those in any part of the country.

_Government._--The Const.i.tution of Illinois was formed by a convention held at Kaskaskia, in August, 1818. It provides for the distribution of the powers of government into three distinct departments,--the legislative, executive, and judiciary. The legislative authority is vested in a general a.s.sembly, consisting of a senate and house of representatives. Elections are held biennially, as are the ordinary sessions of the legislature. Senators are elected for four years.

The executive power is vested in the governor, who is chosen every fourth year, by the electors for representatives; but the same person is ineligible for the next succeeding four years. The lieutenant governor is also chosen every four years.

The judicial power is vested in a supreme court, and such inferior courts as the general a.s.sembly from time to time shall establish. The supreme court consists of a chief justice and three a.s.sociate judges.

The governor and judges of the supreme court const.i.tute a council of revision, to which all bills that have pa.s.sed the a.s.sembly must be submitted. If objected to by the council of revision, the same may become a law by the vote of a majority of all the members elected to both houses.

The right of suffrage is universal. All white male inhabitants, citizens of the United States, twenty-one years of age, and who have resided within the State six months next preceding the elections, enjoy the right of voting. Votes are given _viva voce_. The introduction of slavery is prohibited. The Const.i.tution can only be altered by a convention.

GENERAL REMARKS.

1. Farms somewhat improved, are almost daily exchanging owners, and a considerable spirit of enterprise has been awakened within a year or two past. The prices of farms and improvements vary greatly, and are influenced much by fact.i.tious and local circ.u.mstances. From St. Clair county northward, they average probably from five to ten dollars per acre, and are rising in value. In some counties, farms will cost from 2 to 5 dollars per acre. A _farm_ in Illinois, however, means a tract of land, much of it in a state of nature, with some cheap, and, frequently, log buildings, with 20, 40, 60, 80, or 100 acres, fenced and cultivated.

Good dwellings of brick, stone, or wood, begin to be erected. Amongst the older residents, there have been but few barns made. The want of adequate supplies of lumber, and of mechanics, renders good buildings more expensive than in the new countries of New England or New York.

2. Merchant's goods, groceries, household furniture, and almost every necessary and comfort in house-keeping, can be purchased here; and many articles retail at about the same prices as in the Atlantic States.

3. The following table will exhibit the cost of 320 acres of land, at Congress price, and preparing 160 acres for cultivation or prairie land:

Cost of 320 acres at $1,25 per acre, $400 Breaking up 160 acres prairie, $2 per acre, 320 Fencing it into four fields with a Kentucky fence of eight rails high, with cross stakes, 175 Add cost of cabins, corn cribs, stable, &c. 250 ----- Making the cost of the farm, $1145

In many instances, a single crop of wheat will pay for the land, for fencing, breaking up, cultivating, harvesting, thres.h.i.+ng, and taking to market.

4. All kinds of mechanical labor, especially those in the building line, are in great demand; and workmen, even very coa.r.s.e and common workmen, get almost any price they ask. Journeymen mechanics get $2 per day. A carpenter or brick mason wants no other capital, to do first rate business, and soon become independent, than a set of tools, and habits of industry, sobriety, economy and enterprise.

5. Common laborers on the farm obtain from $12 to $15 per month, including board. Any young man, with industrious habits, can begin here without a dollar, and in a very few years become a substantial farmer. A good cradler in the harvest field will earn from $1,50 to $2 per day.

6. Much that we have stated in reference to Illinois, will equally apply to Missouri, or any other Western State. Many general principles have been laid down, and particular facts exhibited, with respect to the general description of the State, soil, timber, kinds of land, and other characteristics, under Illinois, and, to save repet.i.tion, are omitted elsewhere.

FOOTNOTES:

[11] Beck.

CHAPTER XII.

MISSOURI.

Length, 278; medium breadth, 235 miles: containing 64,500 square miles, and containing 41,280,000 acres.

Bounded north by the Des Moines country, or New Purchase, attached to Wisconsin Territory, west by the Indian Territory, south by Arkansas, and east by the Mississippi river. Between 36 and 40 37' N. lat.i.tude, and between 11 15' and 17 30' west longitude.

_Civil Divisions._--It is divided into 50 counties, as follows:--Barry, Benton, Boone, Callaway, Cape Girardeau, Carroll, Chaviton, Clay, Clinton, Cole, Cooper, Crawford, Franklin, Gasconade, Green, Howard, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnson, La Fayette, Lewis, Lincoln, Madison, Marion, Munroe, Montgomery, Morgan, New Madrid, Perry, Pettis, Pike, Polk, Pulaski, Randolph, Ralls, Ray, Ripley, Rives, St. Francois, St.

Genevieve, St. Charles, St. Louis, Saline, Scott, Shelby, Stoddart, Van Buren, Warren, Was.h.i.+ngton, and Wayne.

POPULATION AT DIFFERENT PERIODS.

_Population._ _Increase._ 1810, (including Arkansas,) 19,833 From 1810 to 1820, 46,753 1820, 66,586 " 1820 " 1824, 14,500 1824, 80,000 " 1824 " 1830, 60,455 1830, 140,455 " 1830 " 1832, 35,820 1832, 176,276 " 1832 " 1836, 33,724 1836, (estimated for Jan'y) 210,000

The Const.i.tution is similar to that of Illinois, in its broad features, excepting the holding of slaves is allowed, and the General a.s.sembly has no power to pa.s.s laws for the emanc.i.p.ation of slaves, without the consent of their owners, or paying an equivalent. It is made the duty of the General a.s.sembly "to oblige the owners of slaves to treat them with humanity, and to abstain from all injuries to them extending to life or limb." "Slaves shall not be deprived of an impartial trial by jury." In 1832, there were in the State, 32,184 slaves, and 661 free colored persons. Every free white male citizen has the right of suffrage, after a residence in the State of one year.

_Surface, Soil and Productions._--The surface of this State is greatly diversified. South of Cape Girardeau, with the exception of some bluffs along the Mississippi, it is entirely alluvial, and a large proportion consists of swamp and inundated lands, the most of which are heavily timbered. From thence to the Missouri river, and westward to the dividing grounds between the waters of the Osage and Gasconade rivers, the country is generally timbered, rolling, and in some parts, quite hilly. No part of Missouri, however, is strictly mountainous. Along the waters of Gasconade and Black rivers the hills are frequently abrupt and rocky, with strips of rich alluvion along the water courses. Much of this region abounds with minerals of various descriptions. Lead, iron, coal, gypsum, manganese, zinc, antimony, cobalt, ochre of various kinds, common salt, nitre, plumbago, porphyry, jasper, chalcedony, buhrstone, marble, and freestone, of various qualities. The lead and iron ore are literally exhaustless, and of the richest quality. To say there is probably iron ore enough in this region to supply the United States with iron for one hundred thousand years to come, would not be extravagant.

Here, too, is water power in abundance, rapid streams, with pebbly beds, forests of timber, and exhaustless beds of bituminous coal. The only difficulty of working this vast body of minerals is the inconvenience of getting its proceeds to the Mississippi. The streams that rise in this region, run different courses into the Missouri, the Mississippi, and the Arkansas, but they are too rapid and winding in their courses to afford safe and easy navigation.

Were the rafts now lodged in the St. Francois, removed by the agency of government, as they have been in Red river, the lower section of the mineral country could be reached by steamboat navigation. The citizens of St. Louis, very recently, have entered upon the project of a railway from that city, through the heart of this country, to the fine farming lands in the south-western part of the State. Such a project, carried into effect, would open a boundless field of wealth in Missouri.

The western part of the State is divided into prairie and forest land, much of which is fertile. Along the Osage, it is hilly, and the whole is undulating, and regarded as a healthy region, abounding with good water, salt springs, and limestone. North of the Missouri the face of the country is diversified, with a mixture of timber and prairie. From the Missouri to Salt river, good springs are scarce, and in several counties it is difficult to obtain permanent water by digging wells. Artificial wells, as they may be called, are made by digging a well forty or fifty feet deep, and replenis.h.i.+ng it with a current of rain water from the roof of the dwelling house. Much of the prairie land in this part of the State is inferior to the first quality of prairie land in Illinois, as the soil is more clayey, and does not so readily absorb the water.

Between Salt river and Des Moines, is a beautiful and rich country of land. The counties of Ralls, Marion, Monroe, Lewis and Shelby, are first rate. The counties of Warren, Montgomery, Callaway, Boone, Howard, and Chaviton, all lying on the north side of the Missouri river, are rolling,--in some places are bluffs and hills, with considerable good prairie, and an abundance of timbered land. Farther west, the proportion of prairie increases to the boundary line, as it does to the northward of Boone, Howard and Chaviton counties. After making ample deductions for inferior soil, ranges of barren hills, and large tracts of swamp, as in the south, the State of Missouri contains a vast proportion of excellent farming land. The people generally are enterprising, hardy and industrious, and most of those who hold slaves, perform labor with them. Emigrants from every State and several countries of Europe, are found here, but the basis of the population is from Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia. The natural productions of Missouri are similar to those States already described, and the agricultural productions are the same as in Illinois, except that more tobacco is produced in the middle, and considerable quant.i.ties of cotton in the southern counties.

_Towns._--The city of Jefferson is the political capital of the State.

It is situated on the right bank of the Missouri, a few miles above the mouth of the Osage, and about 138 miles from St. Louis. It is a small town, with little business, except what pertains to the government of the State. A state house, governor's house and penitentiary have been erected.

St. Louis is the commercial capital, and the most important place in all this portion of the Valley of the Mississippi. It stands on the western bank of the Mississippi, 180 miles above the junction of the Ohio, 18 miles below that of the Missouri, and 38 miles below that of the Illinois. It is beautifully situated on ascending and elevated ground, which spreads out into an undulating surface to the west for many miles.

Two streets are parallel with the river on the first bank, and the rest of the city stands on the second bank; but very little grading is necessary, to give the streets running back from the river, their proper inclination. The old streets, designed only for a French village, are too narrow for public convenience, but a large part of the city has been laid out on a liberal scale. The Indian and Spanish trade, the fur and peltry business, lead, government agencies, army supplies, surveys of government lands, with the regular trade of an extensive interior country, makes St. Louis a place of great business, in proportion to its population, which is about 10,000.

The following, from the register of the wharf master, will exhibit the commerce for 1835:

STEAMBOAT REGISTER.

Number of different boats arrived, 121 Aggregate of tonnage, 15,470 Number of arrivals, 803 Wharf.a.ge collected, $4,573.60

_Wood and Lumber, liable to Wharf.a.ge._

Plank, joist, and scantling, 1,414,330 feet.

s.h.i.+ngles, 148,000 Cedar posts, 7,706 Cords of fire-wood, 8,066

The proportionate increase of business will be seen by reference to the following registry for 1831:

Different steamboats arrived, 60 Average amount of tonnage, 7,769 Number of entries, 532

The morality, intelligence and enterprise of this city is equal to any other in the West, in proportion to its size. The American population is most numerous, but there are many French, Irish and Germans. About one third of the inhabitants are Roman Catholics. The Presbyterians, Methodists, and Episcopalians have large congregations and houses of wors.h.i.+p: the Baptists and Unitarians are rather small, and without public edifices. The Roman Catholic cathedral is a costly pile of buildings of freestone, and has a splendid chime of bells, sent over from Europe. St. Louis is a pleasant and healthy situation, and surrounded with a fertile country.

We have not s.p.a.ce to give particulars respecting many interesting and flouris.h.i.+ng towns in Missouri.

Cape Girardeau is a commercial depot for the southern part of the State.

St. Genevieve stands a little back from the river, and is known only as an old French village.