is no want of space for a town of any magnitude. The prairie runs back from the river about one mile; and in rear of that again there is open woods for several miles. Fine white limestone, approaching marble, is found abundantly in this bluff; and a saw-mill at hand affords lumber convenient for building. There is a good ferry already established; and the mineral and agricultural resources of the contiguous region are attracting many emigrants. The town was laid out in 1835, and immediately after several houses were erected, and lots sold at prices varying from one to two dollars per foot. It must soon be a place of much trade. CATFISH. This is a little place laid out in 1832, on a piece of flat ground, containing about fifteen acres, and hemmed in on all sides by a precipitous rocky bluff, the Mississippi, and the creek of the same name. It possesses great advantages in the richness of the contiguous mines, has a good landing, a mill near at hand, and is withal a very busy little place. It takes its name from the quantities of catfish that are found in the sluggish water at the mouth of the creek. RIPROW. Here are mines along the sloping hill side; where, as you sweep along the Mississippi on the noisy steamer, you may see the hardy miners, as they tear the lead from the bowels of the earth. Here, too, are some of the finest smelting establishments in the world. The landing is good, and fuel and building materials are convenient. Several stores are already established about the furnaces, though no grounds have yet been laid off for sale as town lots. DU BUQUE. This is the centre of the Mining Region of the Iowa District. The operations in these mines were commenced in the year 1832, when the country was still in the possession of the Indians; and in 1833, after the acquisition of the District by the United States, the town was laid out and permanently settled. It contained in the autumn of 1835, about twenty-five dry good stores, numerous groceries, four taverns, a court-house, a jail, and three churches. One of these, the Catholic, is a beautiful little building. Ten steam-boats, which run between this and Saint Louis, are partly owned here; and there is also here a steam-ferry-boat. The site of the town is very handsome, and building materials and fuel are convenient. The surrounding country is as fertile in grain and grass as productive in mineral. In the autumn of 1835, the population was about 1,200 and was rapidly increasing. The people of this town are exceedingly active and enterprising, carrying on an extensive trade in the products of their mines, and in supplying the miners with the necessaries and comforts of life. Every thing here is in a flourishing condition, for all labour is well paid. As the lands yet belong to the United States, and no regulations have been made in relation to the working of the mines, they are subject to the occupation of any one who may think proper to take possession. New deposits are discovered daily, and there are doubtless others yet to be found as rich as any already explored. The miners here pay no tribute, as they do at the mines about Galena; nor will they be called on to do so, until the country shall be surveyed and brought into market; and in the meantime, the settler may make money enough to pay for many quarter sections of land. THE ART OF MINING is said to be more skilfully practised at these mines than in any other part of the world. Here are capital, western enterprise, foreign experience, and Yankee ingenuity combined; and they have brought to their assistance the powers of both water and steam. The smelting establishments have recently been much improved, and are now conducted with scientific accuracy, yielding seventy or eighty per cent of lead from the native sulphuret. PERU. On the south of the Little Nequoquetois, a 4* strip of low ground, about a mile wide and covered with timber, separates the high ground from the Mississippi; but boats readily run up the stream to the heights, where is beautifully situated, on rolling ground, the town of Peru, so named from the richness of the mines by which it is surrounded. It has beauty of situation, richness of surrounding soil, great mineral wealth in its vicinity, convenience of wood, stone and lumber, and every thing that could be desired for a town in this climate, except that it is not exactly on the Mississippi. Nevertheless, Peru must be a place of much trade in the products of the contiguous mines. There are many smaller towns, and sites for towns in expectation, not mentioned in these notes. Some of these places deserve a particular description; but it is not in the power of the author to give it, for want of sufficient information. ROADS. The natural surface of the ground is the only road yet to be found in Iowa District; and such is the nature of the soil, that in dry weather we need no other. The country being so very open and free from mountains, artificial roads are little required. A few trees taken out of the way, where the routes much travelled traverse the narrow woods, and a few bridges thrown over the deeper creeks, is all the work necessary to give good roads in any direction. A post-route has been established from Saint Louis to Du Buque, passing by the west side of the Mississippi; and it is quite probable, that by the first of September next, post coaches, drawn by four horses, will be running regularly through that route. It may appear to some unacquainted with the character of our western people, and not apprized of the rapid growth of this country, that some of my descriptions and predictions are fanciful; but if there be error in them, it is rather that the truth is not fully expressed than that it is transcended. |