Flagg's The Far West, 1836-1837, part 1. Flagg Edmund

44

Hurricane Island, four miles below Cave-in-Rock, is more than five miles in length. The "Wilson gang" for some time used this island for a seat of operation. – Ed.

45

Golconda is the seat of Pope County, Illinois. See Woods's English Prairie, in our volume x, p. 327, note 77.

On or just before Christmas, 1806, Aaron Burr came down the Cumberland River from Nashville and joined Blennerhasset, Davis Floyd, and others who were waiting for him at the mouth of the river, and together they started on Burr's ill-fated expedition (December 28, 1806). Their united forces numbered only nine batteaux and sixty men. See W. F. McCaleb, Aaron Burr's Conspiracy (New York, 1903), p. 254 ff.

For a short account of Paducah, see Maximilian's Travels, in our volume xxii, p. 203, note 110. – Ed.

46

It has since been nearly destroyed by fire. – Flagg.

47

On Fort Massac, see A. Michaux's Travels, in our volume iii, p. 73, note 139. – Ed.

48

Wilkinsonville, named for General James Wilkinson, was a small hamlet located on the site of the Fort Wilkinson of 1812, twenty-two miles above Cairo. Two or three farm houses are today the sole relics of this place; see Thwaites, On the Storied Ohio, p. 291.

Caledonia is still a small village in Pulaski County, Illinois. Its post-office is Olmstead. – Ed.

49

For account of the attempt at settlements at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi, see Maximilian's Travels, in our volume xxii, p. 204, note 111. – Ed.

50

For America see Ogden's Letters, our volume xix, p. 44, note 30, and Woods's English Prairie, our volume x, p. 327, note 77.

The scheme known as the "Internal Improvement Policy" was authorized over the governor's veto by the Illinois general assembly on February 27, 1837, in response to the popular clamor for its adoption. The object was to open the country for immigration and hasten its natural development by constructing railroads and canals as yet not needed commercially. Ten million two hundred thousand dollars were appropriated by the act, including two hundred thousand dollars to be given directly to the counties not favored. Surveys were made, and speculation was rife. Then followed a collapse, and six million five hundred thousand dollars were added to the state debt. The scheme was later referred to as the General Insanity Bill. – Ed.

51

The English Island of 1836 is probably the Power's Island of today. It is three miles long, and forms a part of Scott County, Missouri, more than twenty miles above Cairo. – Ed.

52

Herbert. – Flagg.

53

For a sketch of Cape Girardeau, see A. Michaux's Travels, in our volume iii, p. 80, note 154. – Ed.

54

A superior quality of kaolin, or china clay, is mined in large quantities in Cape Girardeau County. Marble ninety-nine per cent pure, is procured in abundance. – Ed.

55

"Muddy River," usually called "Big Muddy," is the English translation of the French Rivière au Vase, or Vaseux. Formed by the union of two branches rising in Jefferson County, Illinois, it flows in a southwesterly direction and empties into the Mississippi about twenty-five miles above Cape Girardeau. It is one hundred and forty miles long. – Ed.

56

Fountain Bluff is six miles above the mouth of the Big Muddy. Flagg's descriptions are in the main accurate. – Ed.

57

Grand Tower, seventy-five feet high, and frequently mentioned by early writers, is a mile above the island of the same name, at the mouth of the Big Muddy, and stands out some distance from the Missouri side. Grand Tower Island was an object of much dread to boatmen during the days of early navigation on the Mississippi. A powerful current sweeping around Devil's Oven, frequently seized frail or unwieldy craft to dash it against this rock. Usually the boatmen landed, and by means of long ropes towed their vessels along the Illinois side, past this perilous rock. – Ed.

58

The Mississippi between the mouth of the Kaskaskia River and Cape Girardeau offered many obstructions to early navigation. As at Grand Tower, the boatmen frequently found it necessary to land and tow their boats past the dangerous points, and here the Indians would lie in ambush to fall upon the unfortunate whites. The peril of these places doubtless lent color to their nomenclature. Flagg's descriptions are fairly accurate except in the matter of dimensions, wherein he tends to exaggeration. – Ed.

59

$105,000. – Flagg.

60

For Red River raft, see James's Long's Expedition, in our volume xvii, p. 70, note 64. – Ed.

61

In reference to the American Bottom, see Ogden's Letters, in our volume xix, p. 62, note 48. – Ed.

62

For an account of Ste. Genevieve, see Cuming's Tour, in our volume iv, p. 266, note 174.

According to Austin, cited below, La Motte (or La Mothe) Cadillac, governor of Louisiana, went on an expedition (1715) to the Illinois in search of silver, and found lead ore in a mine which had been shown him fifteen miles west of the Mississippi. It is believed by some authorities that this was the famous "Mine la Mothe," at the head of the St. Francis River. Schoolcraft, however, says that Philip Francis Renault, having received mining grants from the French government, left France in 1719, ascended the Mississippi, established himself the following year near Kaskaskia, and sent out small companies in search of precious metals; and that La Mothe, who had charge of one of these companies, soon discovered the mine that still bears his name. It was operated only at intervals, until after the American occupation, when its resources were developed. Under the Spanish domination (1762-1800), little was done to develop the mine. In 1763, however, Francis Burton discovered the "Mine à Burton," on a branch of Mineral Fork. Like the "Mine la Mothe," it was known to the Indians before the discovery by the whites, and both are still operated. Burton was said to have been alive in 1818, at the age of a hundred and six; see Colonel Thomas Benton's account of him in St. Louis Enquirer, October 16, 1818.

For an account of primitive mining operations, see Thwaites, Wisconsin Historical Collections, xiii, pp. 271-292; Moses Austin, "Lead Mines of Ste. Geneviève and St. Louis Counties," American State Papers (Public Lands), iii, pp. 609-613; and H. R. Schoolcraft, Lead Mines of Missouri (New York, 1819). – Ed.

63

From 1738 to 1744, the mines were considered as public property: but in the year last mentioned François Vallé received from the French government a grant of two thousand arpents of land (1,666 acres) including "Mine la Mothe," and eighteen years later twenty-eight thousand arpents (23,333 acres) additional. At Vallé's death the land passed to his sons, François and John, and Joseph Pratt, a transfer confirmed by Congress in 1827. The next year it was sold to C. C. Vallé, L. E. Linn, and Everett Pratt. In 1830 it was sold in part and the remainder leased. In 1868 the estate passed from the hands of the Vallés. – Ed.

64

Pilot Knob is a conical-shaped hill, a mile in diameter, in Iron County, Missouri, seventy-five miles southwest of St. Louis, and is rich in iron ore. In the War of Secession it was the scene of a battle between General Sterling Price and General Hugh B. Ewing (September 26, 27, 1864).

Iron Mountain is an isolated