uture equal.

It was now the 27th of July, and the river, which had been swollen by
the Missouri flood, was rapidly falling, and almost diminished to its
summer minimum. It left a heavy deposit of mud on its immediate shores,
which, as it dried in the sun, cracked into fragments, which were often
a foot thick. These cakes of dried sediment consisted chiefly of sand
and sufficient aluminous matter to render the whole body of the
deposit adhesive.

I was kindly received by R. Pettibone, Esq., a townsman from New York,
from whom I had parted at Pittsburgh. This gentleman had established
himself in business with Col. Eastman, and as soon as he heard of my
arrival, invited me to his house, where I remained until I was ready to
proceed to the mines. I examined whatever seemed worth notice in the
town and its environs. I then descended the Mississippi in a skiff about
thirty miles to Herculaneum, and the next day set out, on foot, at an
early hour, for the mines. I had an idea that every effective labor
should be commenced right, and, as I purposed examining the mineralogy
and geology of the mine tract, I did not think that could be more
thoroughly accomplished than on foot. I ordered my baggage to follow me
by the earliest returning lead teams. True it was sultry, and much of
the first part of the way, I was informed, was very thinly settled. I
went the first day, sixteen miles, and reached the head of Joachim
Creek. In this distance, I did not, after quitting the environs of the
town, pass a house. The country lay in its primitive state. For the
purpose of obtaining a good road, an elevated arid ridge had been
pursued much of the way. In crossing this, I suffered severely from heat
and thirst, and the only place where I saw water was in a rut, which I
frightened a wild turkey from partaking of, in order to stoop down to it
myself. As soon as I reached the farm house, where I stopped at an early
hour, I went down to the creek, and bathed in its refreshing current.
This, with a night's repose, perfectly restored me. The next day I
crossed Grand River, and went to the vicinity of Old mines, when a
sudden storm compelled me to take shelter at the first house, where I
passed my second night. In this distance I visited the mining station of
John Smith T. at his place of Shibboleth. Smith was a bold and
indomitable man, originally from Tennessee, who possessed a marked
individuality of character, and being a great shot with pistol