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 replenishing 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, Lew