Carroll County, Missouri - The whole text, 1881 (part 2 of 19)

May 10. - A body of " State guards," under command of Gen. D. M. Frost, acting under Governor Jackson's authority, had established a camp near St. Louis, called "Camp Jackson." Capt. Lyon, who had been since February in charge of the U. S. arsenal at St. Louis, with a few soldiers of the regular army (less than 500), discovered that the Camp Jackson men were receiving arms and ammunition by steamboats from the south, in boxes marked " marble. " Accordingly, on the morning of May 10th, he with his regulars, and Col. Blair with his Missouri volunteers, surrounded, surprised and captured the camp, taking as prisoners of war 639 privates and 50 officers. The arms captured consisted of 20 cannon, 1200 new rifles, several chests of muskets, and large quantities of shot, shell, cartridges, etc.

May 12. - Gen. Wm. S. Harney took command of the Union forces in Missouri. Meanwhile the legislature had passed an act making every able-bodied man subject to military duty. All public revenues for 1860-61 (about $3,000,000) were authorized to be used by the governor for military purposes.

'June I. - The president repudiated Gen. Harney's truce with Price; also removed him from his command and gave it to Gen. Lyon, who had on May 17th been appointed a brigadier-general of volunteers.

yune jj. - Governor Jackson issued a call for 50,000 state militia, to repel federal invasion ; referred to the president as " the military despotism which has introduced itself at Washington;" and said to the people, "your first allegiance is due to your own state." He appointed ex-Governor Sterling Price as major general; and M. L. Clark, John B. Clark, Parsons, Slack, Harris, Rains, McBride, Stein and Jeft'. Thomson, as brigadiergenerals. The state militia were called to rendezvous at Boonville and Lexington. The governor and other officers left Jefferson City for Boonville this day,* while at the same time General Lyon was embarking with 1,500 men at St. Louis, to take and hold the state capital.

June ij. - General Lyon arrived at Jefferson City. yune i6. - Re-embarked his troops for Boonville. yune ij. - Battle of Boonville. Colonel Marmaduke defeated. State troops retreated to Warsaw, with loss of fifty killed. Federal loss, two killed.

yune i8-ig. - Colonel O'Kane, with 350 state militia, surprised in the night, a half-formed Union regiment at Cole Camp, in Benton county, under Capt. Cook. Pollard's " Southern History " says, in this affair the Unionists lost 206 killed, a large number wounded, and over 100 taken prisoners, beside 362 muskets captured; O'Kane lost 15 killed and 20 wounded.

yuly j-6. - Battle of Carthage (or Dry Fork), in Jasper county; union loss, 13 killed and 31 wounded; state troops, under Price and Jackson, lost about 300 killed and wounded. Gen. Seigel, the union commander, fell back sixty miles, to Springfield and joined Gen. Lyon.

yuly 8. - A small fight occurred at Bird's Point, in Mississippi county. Confederates lost 3 killed and 8 wounded. Federal loss, if any, not reported.

yuly 22. - The state convention, which had adjourned subject to the call of its committee on federal relations, re-convened at Jefferson City.

yuly 25. - Maj. Gen. Fremont arrived at St. Louis, as commander of the western department, which comprised Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas, and the territories westward.

yuly JO. - State convention, by a vote of 56 to 25, declared the state offices and seats in legislature vacant, by reason of their occupants being engaged in treasonable and armed hostilities against the lawfully consti-

" capture of Camp Jackson and the flig^bt of the chief executive from the capital, was the occasion of a partial destruction of the Osage and Gasconade bridges [railroad], as well as those over Gray's creek, west of Jefferson City." - Annual report of state commis sioner of statistics, 1866, p. 255.

tuted federal authorities, and that aU legislative and executive acts in pur suance of such treason or armed hostility, pretended to be done in the name and by authority of the state of Missouri, tvcrc null and void. They dected to fill the stale office vacancies, H. R. Gamble, governor; W. P. Hall, lieutenant governor; Mordecai Oliver, secretary of state; and appointed the first Monda}' of November as a day of general election.

yuly ji. - Lieut. Governor Reynolds, whose office had been declared vacant by the state convention, issued a proclamation, dated at New Madrid, July 31, in which he said: " I return to the state, to accompany in my official capacity, one of the armies which the warrior statesman [Jefferson Davis], whose genius now presides over the affairs of our half of the Union, has prepared to advance against the common foe. * * *

You behold the most warlike population on the globe, the people of the lower Mississippi valley, about to rush with their gleaming bowie-knives and unerring rifles, to aid us in driving out the abolitionists and their Hession allies. * * The road to peace and internal security is only

August 2. - Battle of Dug Springs, in Lawrence county. General McCulloch, of Arkansas, in command of Confederates, marching to attack Springfield, was checked, and fell back to Sarcoxie; loss, 40 killed, 44 wounded. General Lyon fell back to Springfield; loss, 8 killed, 30 wounded.

August j. - Confederate troops under Col. Martin E. Green, attacked Missouri state militia, under Col. Moore, at Athens, in Clark county, and were defeated with a loss of 43 killed.

August 6. - Governor Jackson, being now at Carthage, and just hearing of the action of the state convention, also issued a proclamation, declaring the union between Missouri and the other states totally dissolved, and proclaiming the state of Missouri to be " a sovereign., free and independent republic^'

August 70. - Battle of Wilson's Creek. Gen. Lyon, Federal, had 5,500 infantry, 400 cavalry, and 18 cannon. Gen. McCulloch, Confederate, says that his "effective force was 5,300 infantry, 15 pieces of artillery, and 6,000 horsemen." (The Union officers imagined and reported more than double this number against them; one said 23,000, and another 24,000.) The Confederates lost 421 killed, 1,317 wounded and 30 missing. The Federals reported 223 killed, 721 wounded and 292 missing, and 5 cannon lost. Gen. Lyon was killed in this engagement.

*Early in March the confederate congress had adopted the " stays and bars" as the flag of their confederacy. The state seal of Missouri has two grizzly bears among its emblems.

August ji. - Gen. Fremont issued a general order proclaiming martial law in Missouri; the property of all persons who had taken up arms against the* United States was declared to be confiscated, and "///«> slaves to be free men.''' (President Lincoln at once annulled this last clause.)

September ij. - Siege of Lexington commenced by Gen. Price. His force has been variously estimated from 22,000 to 28,000, with 13 cannon. Col. Mulligan, Federal, had 2,780 troops, with six brass cannon, two howitzers, and forty rounds of ammunition. The same day, at Boonville, the Confederates, led by Col. Brown, attacked the Federal garrison in command 6f Col. Eppstein, and were repulsed with a loss of 12 killed and 30 wounded; Federal loss, 1 killed and 4 wounded.

September ly. - Battle of Blue Mills Landing, or Missouri Bottom, in Clay county. A body of Confederates, variously estimated at 600 to 1,000 men, were on their way to join Gen. Price, at Lexington; and being pursued by a body of 700 Iowa and Missouri Unionist volunteers, they laid in ambush, and were attacked. The Federals lost 16 killed and 80 wounded ; the Confederates lost 10 killed and 60 wounded, repulsed their assailants, and then crossed over to Blue Mills, in Jackson county, on the south side of the Missouri, and marched on to Le^fington.

September 20. - Col. Mulligan surrendered. Gen. Price honorably recognized the pluck and splendid heroism of his opponents, who were out of both provisions and ammunition, and for two days had had no water except the night dews which settled in their blankets and was wrung out into camp dishes in the morning. He released the privates on parole, but retained the officers as prisoners. Of the Federals there were 42 killed and 108 wounded. Gen. Price reported 25 killed and 72 wounded, from his regular muster rolls. But nearly half the men there with him were not formally enrolled as soldiers, and the losses among them could never be ascertained with any certainty, though known to be pretty large.

September 2y. - Gen. Fremont left St. Louis for Jefferson City, in pursuit of Price, with an army of 15,000 infahtr}'-, 5,000 cavalry, and 86 pieces of artillery; his chief officers were Generals Hunter, Pope, Siegel, McKinstry and Asboth. But Price was too good a general to be caught at a disadvantage; he however skillfully managed to lead the Federals on wild goose chases after him all over southern Missouri.

On the same day the Federal garrison at Lebanon, in LaClede county, was attacked unsuccessfully by Confederates, who lost 2T killed, 12 wounded, and 36 taken prisoners. Federal loss, 1 killed and several wounded.

They were all hunting for Gen. Price, to give him battle ; he was not yet ready for a pitched battle, but he worried the Federals a great deal by decoying them into many a long'and fruitless march.

About this time several small fights occurred in different jjarts of the state, but of which few particulars can be obtained. The " American Annual Cyclopedia," for 1861, gives the following statistics: Oct. 15, Big River bridge. Federal loss, 1 killed, 7 wounded, 52 missing; Confederate loss, 20 killed, 4 wounded. October 16, Bolivar* Heights [in Polk county]. Federal loss, 7 killed; Confederate loss, 150 killed. Oct. 17, Pilot Knob, Federal loss, 1 killed, 10 wounded; Confederate loss, 36 killed. Oct. 19, Big Harrison Creek, Federal loss, 2 killed, 14 wounded; Confederate loss, 14 killed, 8 missing. Oct. 23, West Liberty [in Putnam county],Federalloss, 2 wounded; Confederate loss, 15 killed, 30 wounded.*

October 21. - Battle of Fredericktown, in Madison county. Confederate Col. Jeff Thompson was defeated with loss of 200 killed, and made a hasty retreat, leaving 60 of his dead behind him. Federal loss, .30 killed.

October 2^. - Battle of Springfield. Major Zagonyi, with 300 cavalry, known as "Fremont's Body Guard, " attacked an irregular force estimated at 1,200 foot and 400 horsemen, and defeated them, losing 84 of his men killed or wounded; 100 of his troops were Kentuckians. The Confederate loss was known to be considerable, but could never be fully ascertained; their dead were buried the next day, under a flag of truce.

October 2j. - Gen. Siegel reached Springfield with his division. Fremont was concentrating his army at Springfield, to fortify and hold it as

^rtillery than the Confederates, and men better skilled in its use; and this is why the tosses on the Confederate side so often seem out of proportion.

November 2. - A sharp fight occurred on Bee Creek, between Westoni and Platte City, in Platte county ; the Confederate loss is given as 13 killed! and 30 missing; Federal loss not known.

November 7. - Gen. Hunter evacuated Springfield and fell back to Rolla. This same da}' the battle of Belmont occurred; Federal loss, 84 killed,, 388 wounded, and 285 taken prisoners. Pollard's "Southern History" says the Confederate loss in this battle was 632. But the National Hand- Book reports the Confederate losses as 261 killed, 427 wounded, and 278 missing.

November 21. - Gen.Halleck issued an order that no fugitive slaves .should be permitted to enter the lines of any camp, nor of any forces on the march. (President Lincoln had some time before this annulled Gen. Fremont's order declaring certain slaves free.)

November and December. - During these months there occurred several irregular conflicts of no great importance, but still deemed worthy of casual mention in Horace Greely's History of the' War, because they served to show how the Missouri people were divided among themselves, and thereby suffered the more. The village of Warsaw was burned Nov. 19,. and Platte City, Dec. 16, by guerillas; a small fight occurred at Salem^ Dec. 3, at Rogers' mill Dec. 7, and at or near Glasgow, Potosi, Lexington, Mount Zion, and Sturgeon, on Dec. 28th.

December j. - Col. Freeman with a regiment of Confederate cavalry,, made a night attack on Federal troops under Col. Bowen, near Salem, in Dent county, and was defeated, with a loss of 16 killed, 20 wounded and 10 prisoners. Federal loss, 3 killed, 8 wounded, 2 missing. Col. Freeman had suffered a sore defeat near Springer's mill, in the east part of the county, in August; but no further particulars could be obtained.

December 15. - Gen. Pope captured 300 recruits and 70 wagons loaded with supplies, going from Lexington to join Gen. Price, who was then at Osceola with 8,000 men.

December 18. - Col. J. C. Davis, of Pope's army, surprised a Confederate camp at Milford, and captured 3 colonels, 17 captains, 1,300 soldiers,. 1,000 stand of arms, 1,000 horses, besides all their tents, baggage and supplies. Federal loss, 2 killed, 17 wounded.

December 20. - By a concerted night attack, the Hannibal & St. Joe railroad was broken, and bridges destroyed lor about a hundred imiles.* -

March j. - Price and McCulloch, at Boston Mountain, Arkansas, were joined by Maj. Gen. Van Dorn, Confederate commander of the Trans- Mississippi department, and by Gen. Pike, with a brigade of Indians from the Indian Territory. This army now numbered about 20,000, all under Gen. Van Dorn.

March j~8. - Battle of Pea Ridge. Although Pea Ridge is really in Arkansas (just over the line), the battle was fought by the Confederates to regain a foothold in Missouri, and it properly belongs to the history of Missouri military operations. The Federal forces under Gen. Curtis engaged in this battle were 10,500 men and 49 cannon. Gen. Van Dorn's army is variously given by different southern authorities, all the way from 16,000 to 30,000. The Federal lo.ss was 203 killed, 972 wounded, 176 missing. Count Paris' history states that the Confederates "left more than one thousand men in killed and wounded upon that long-contested battle-field." 'The Confederate Generals McCulloch and McIntosh were mortally wounded in this battle, and Gen. Buckner was captured. The Confederates lost 1,100 killed, 2,500 wounded, and 1,600 taken prisoners.

August 6. - Battle of Kirksville. Col. Porter, with 2,000 or 3,000 Confederates, mostly raw recruits who had been destroying bridges, was attacked by Col. McNeil with 1,000 cavalry and 6 cannon. Battle lasted four hours. Confederates retreated, with loss of 180 killed and 500 wounded, and some wagon loads of arms and other supplies. Federal loss, 28 killed and 60 wounded.

August 10. - Federals attacked 1,200 Confederates under Col. Poindexter while crossing the Chariton river. After a running fight of three or four daj's. Col. Poindexter's troops were all killed, captured or dispersed, and himself taken prisoner.

August /y. - Battle of Lone Jack, in Jackson county. Col. Coffey and Col. Hughes, with 4,500 men, attacked the Federals under Major Foster, wounding him, capturing his two cannon, and compelling him to retreat to Lexington. The victorious Confederates were in turn pursued by

''*By order of Gen. Sterling Price, it [the North Missouri Railroad] was partially aestroyed in June and July, 1861; and on the 20th of December, 1861, for a hundred miles, fridge and culvert was broken down, and a perfect wreck made of e^'erything that wuid be destroyed. In September and October, 1864, two trains of cars and seven depots were burned, and several engines injured." - Annual Report State Commissioner of Statis- <»«, 1866 ; p. 258. & J r , J

October /. - Battle of Newtonia, in Newton county. Gen. Salomon, of Wisconsin, was defeated by Confederate cavalry. Losses not known. Gen. Hindman was advancing from Arkansas with iy,00b to 20,000 Confederates, poorly armed. Gen. Schofield came up with 10,000 troops to attack him at Newtonia, but he retreated back into Arkansas, closely pursued by the Federals.

December y. - Battle of Prairie Grove, Ark. This, being just over the line, was practically a Missouri battle ; it was fought between the same armies which had been so long contending for the mastery in this state. Our own state Generals, Marmaduke, Parsons and Frost, were in command, under Gen. Hindman. The Federal commanders were Generals Blunt and Herron. Federal loss, 495 killed, 600 wounded; the Confederates lost 1,500 in killed and wounded, and suffered a defeat.

January 8. - Battle of Springfield. General Brown with 1,200 Missouri State militia, was attacked by Gen. Marmaduke with 1,870 Confederate troops. The battle lasted eight hours. Federal loss, 14 killed, 145 wounded, 5 missing. Confederates lost, 41 killed and 160 wounded, 80 of the latter being left as prisoners.

'January //. - Battle of Hartsville. Firing commenced at 11 A. m., and continued until 4:30 p. M. Confederates under Generals Marmaduke and Porter lost 300 killed and wounded, and 29 taken prisoners. Among the killed were Gen. McDonald and Col. Porter, besides six other officers. The Federals were under Col. Samuel Merrill, (afterward Governor of Iowa), and lost 7 killed, 64 wounded and 7 missing. The Confederates retreated back into Arkansas.

April The Federal garrison at Cape Girardeau under Gen. Mc- Neil was attacked by Gen. Marmaduke with 10,000 men, and a battle of five hours ensued, in which the assailants lost 60 killed and over 300 wounded. They retreated back into Arkansas, being pursued to the state line by Missouri militia, and a few more were killed or captured.

October i j. - Battle near Arrow Rock, Saline county. Confederates reported 2,600 in number, under Gols. Shelby and Coffey, were attacked by Missouri state militia under Gen. E. B. Browm, and defeated with a loss of 300 in killed, wounded and prisoners, besides all their artillery and baggage. Fight lasted five hours. Federal loss not known, though reported as " also large."

June - .The Belgian Consul, who was state commander of the secret order of "American Knights, " or "Sons of Liberty, " was arrested, with forty of the most prominent members, and held as hostages, because proof had been discovered that they were plotting against the Federal authorities.

September 26. - Gen. Price, with 10,000 men, attacked the Federal garrison at Ironton (near Pilot Knob\ in command of Gen. Thomas Ewing, jr., with 1,200 men. After a day's hard fighting the Federals spiked their fort guns and retreated in the night to Rolla, having lost 200 killed and wounded. The Confederates lost 1,500.

October 7. - Battle or skirmish of Moreau creek, in Cole county, which Gen. Price crossed, and formed his arm}'^ in line of battle about four miles long around Jefferson City. But finding the Federal garrison intrenched, he marched on west without attacking them. (The Federals had 6,700 men there).

October ^5. - Battle on little Osage Creek in Vernon county. Gen. Price was defeated, the Federals under Gen. Pleasonton capturing eight cannon, and Generals Marmaduke and Cabell, besides five colonels and 1,000 men, with all equipments, supplies, etc. The fighting had been almost continuous by some part of the troops, all along the march from Independence to the Little Osage; and reports at this point give the Federal loss at 1,000 killed and wounded, and about 2,000 taken prisoners; Confederate loss, 900 killed, 3,800 wounded and prisoners, and ten cannon captured from them.

October 28. - Gen. Price again made a stand at Newtonia, in Newton county, and had a sharp fight with the Federals under Gens. Blunt and Sanborn, but was defeated and escaped into Arkansas. And this was the last encounter that can be called a "battle" within the bounds of our state. The numbers engaged on either side, and their losses in this last fight are not reported.

Men And Money Eor The War

Under President Lincoln's first call, April 15, 1801, for . 75,000 volunteers, Missouri furnished 10,501 men; and she furnished a total of 108,773 Federal or Union soldiers during the war. The total number of citizens of Missouri who took up arms on the Confederate side cannot be ascertained.

. , During the war. the state issued its. indebtedness .called. "Defense Warrants" and "Union Military Bonds," for equipping and maintaining the militia organizations of the state; the total amount was $7,876,575. All of the defense warrants and one-half of the Union military bonds were made receivable for state taxes; and a special fund was created for the redemption of the balance. The United States paid to the state of Missouri a total of $6,440,323.95, to reimburse her for military expenses incurred.

St. Louis In The War-Time

Notwithstanding the strenuous competition of other cities, the superior advantages of St. Louis for distribution, and a due regard for its own interests, compelled the government to make St. Louis the western base of supplies and transportation. During the war the transactions of the government at this point were very large. Gen. Parsons, chief of transportation in the Mississippi Valley, submits the following as an approximate summary of the operations in his department from 1860 to 1865:

Amount Of Transportation

. Gen. Parsons thinks that full one-half of all the transportation employed by the government on the Mississippi and its tributaries was furnished by St. Louis. From September, 1861, to December 31, 1865, Gen. Haines, chief commissary of this department, expended at St. Louis for the purchase of subsistence stores, $50,700,000. And Gen. Myers, chief quartermaster of the department, disbursed for supplies, transportation, and incidental expenses, $180,000,000.

Hospital Service

As a part of the war history of Missouri, the military hospitals of St. Louis claim at least a brief mention. After the battle of Wilson's Creek It became apparent that the government provision for hospitals was entirely inadequate to the emergency. A voluntary organization, called the Western Sanitary' Commission, was formed, consisting of James E. Yeatman (now of the Merchant's National Bank), Rev. Wm. G. Eliot, D. D., (now Chancellor of Washington University), George Partridge, (recently Vice President of Trustees of State Blind Asylum), Carlos S. Greeley and John B. Johnson. Their purpose was to receive and distribute hospital supplies furnished by the people, and in ever}' practicable way aid and co-operate with the military .authoriiies in the care of the sick and wounded. The first woman regularly mustered into the United States service as a hospital nurse, in Missouri, was Mrs. F. R. H. Reid, M. D., from Wisconsin, (now resides at Des Moines, Iowa). She was the woman coadjutor of U. S. Surgeon, Dr. Mills, in opening and starting the first large volunteer hospital, which was known as the Chestnut street hospital; and afterward she took the same part in the Fourth street hospital; and also with Dr. Melchior in the Marine hospital; also in a temporary post hospital at Su'phur Springs.

To give an idea of the largeness of the hospital work, we quote from a circular printed at St. Louis, Nov. 22, 1861,* which says: "There are ten military hospitals in St. Louis alone, with a maximum capacity for 3,500 patients. The number of patients varies every day, but on Wednesday, November 20th, they reported patients under treatment as follows:

" ( This does not include the company, regiment and brigade hospitals, of which there are several.) The average mortality has been about four per cent. A hospital car, properly fitted up and manned, passes daily over the railroad to the interior, to bring in the sick and wounded. The arrangements for decent burial, registration of deaths, identification, etc., are very complete. The body of any soldier who may die in any of the hospitals may be identified, and removed for other obsequies or burial by relatives or friends. There are no hospital chaplains; but nurses are instructed by the sanitary commission, that every patient who asks for it, will be visited by a clergyman of his own choice, at any hour."

There were hospitals also at Jefferson City, Rolla and fronton at this time. This circular contained a classified list, prepared by Mrs. Reid, of over a hundred different articles needed for the care, comfort and welfare of the soldiers in hospital, beyond what the general government could furnish; the whole document was reprinted by state authority at Madison, Wisconsin, and widely circulated. In a letter dated St/ Louis, Jan. 14, 1862, Mr. Yeatman said: "Wisconsin has contributed most largely towards supplying comforts for the sick in camps and hospitals in this department, second to but one other state - Massachusetts. "

There was- a prison hospital for sick Confederate prisoners, to whom supplies were furnished from the stores of the sanitary commission, the same as to the Union soldiers; 'and wounded Confederates were cared for in the general hospitals the same as those of the Federal troops. The writer hereof was an eye-witness to this fact; and is glad to record it as a testimony of the true Christian spirit of the sanitary commission and the magnanimity of the Federal authorities.

The War-Time State Government

The civil authority of the state remained vested in the state convention from July, 1861, until July, 1863. This provisional body held the following sessions: civil proceedings were again possible, and the regular fall elections were held this year, 1863. On the 13th of February, 1864, the general assembly convened, and passed an act to authorize the election of sixty-six members to a state convention, "to consider such amendments to the constitution of the state as might by it be deemed necessaiy^ for the emancipation of slaves;* to preserve in purity the elective franchise to loyal citizens, and for the promotion of the public good."

* President Lincoln's emancipation proclamation, January 1, 1863, only applied to slaT - within such states or parts of states as were then controlled by the Confederate power.

the same month it passed, by a vote of sixty ayes to four noes, an ordinance emancipating all slaves within the state, and providing that it should take effect immediately. The convention also framed a new constitution, in many respects quite different from the old one. The final vote in convention on the new instrument stood thirty-eight for, to thirteen against it. - The convention adjourned April 10, sine die. In June the people voted on the new constitution, and the vote stood 43,670 for, to 41,808 against it.

The following are some of the most notable new features embodied in the organic law of the state, and will readily explain why there was such a large vote against its adoption: It established an oath of loyalty to the United States; and those who would not take the oath it excluded from the right to vote or hold any civil office whatever, or act as a teacher in any public school, or to solemnize marriage as a clergyman, or to practice law in any of the courts. It limited the amount of land which any church or religious society might hold to five acres of land in the country, or one acre in town or city; provided for taxing church property; and declared void any will bequeathing property to any clergyman, religious teacher or religious society as such. There was a section designed to prevent the state from giving public property, lands or bonds, to railroad companies. It provided that after January 1, 1876, no one could become a lawful voter who was not sufficiently educated to be able to read and write.

July 1, 1865, the governor, Thomas C. Fletcher, made proclamation that the new constitution had been duly ratified by a lawful majority of the people, and was thenceforth the organic law of the state. A few amendments have been since adopted; but in all important points it remains the same to this day.

Geology And Minerals

The geological history of Missouri commences at the very bottom of the scale, or, in what may be termed 'the Jire-crust period of geologic time. (See chart on page 67). Dana's " Manual of Geology " is the great standard work all over the United States on this subject. In his chapter on Archaean Time he gives a' map and brief sketch of our North American continent as it existed at that remote period, which was, according to a calculation made for the Royal Society of London in 1879,* about 600,000,000 years ago. And as this is where Missouri first comes to light, we quote Prof. Dana's account of the very meagre areas and points of our continent which stood alone above the primeval ocean that then enveloped the entire globe with its bubbling,^ seething, sputterinjj wavelets - an enormous caldron of boiling, steaming silicious lye, rather than water. Dana says:

" The principal of the areas is The Great JVorthern^ nucleal to the continent, lying mostly in British America, and having the shape of the letter V, one arm reaching northeastward to Labrador, and the other northwestward from Lake Superior to the Arctic. The region appears to have been for the most part out of water ever since the Archsean era.f To this area properly belong the Adirondack area, covering the larger part of northern New York, and a Michigan area south of Lake Superior, each of which was probably an island in the continental sea before the Silurian age began.

" Beside this nucleal area, there are border-mountain lines of Archasan rocks: a long Appalachian line^ including the Highland Ridge of Dutchess county. New York, and New Jersey, and the Blue Ridge of Pennsylvania and Virginia; a long Rocky Mountain series^ embracing the Wind River mountains, the Laramie range and other summit ridges of the Rocky Mountains. In addition, in the eastern border region, there is an Atlantic coast ran^e, consisting of areas in New Foundland, Nova Scotia and eastern New England. In the western border region, a Pacific coast range in Mexico; and several more or less isolated areas in the Mississippi basin^ west of the Mississippi, as in Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, and the Black Hills of Dakota." - Danah Manual, p. 150.

fThe "Archsean era," as used by Prof. Dana, in 1874, (the date of his latest revision) included both the "Azoic Age,'' and "Age of Zooliths,'' as shown on the chart, p. 67. When Prof. Dana wrote, it was still an open question whether the "cozoon'' was of animal or mineral origin; but the highest authorities are now agreed that it was animal ; and Prof. Reid has, therefore, very properly given it a distinct place in his "Zoic Calendar."

Incladlng the Rock Scale of Geological Periods and the "Zoic Calendar of Creation." Compiled from the works of Agassla, Lyell, Hnxley, Hceokel, Dsns, lioConte, and other first rank authorities in Science at the present time. By Hibam A. Reid, Secretary State Academy of Sciences at Dos Moines, Iowa. [Published by permission of the Author.]

Explanation. - The side line at the left shows what portions of eeolozical time are comprehended in the terms "eozolc," " paleozoic " etc - The first column shows the periods or "Ages" of geological time during which the different successive types of animal life predominated, or were the highest types then in existence. And these two dlvtslons form the "Zoic Calendar of Creation."

The second column shows, the great general groupings of rock strata, in which are found the fossil remains of the corresponding animal types named in the first column. But, at the "Age of Rep, tiles" occurs a grand divergement, for it was during this age that animal life pushed out into its most wonderful developments; and there came Into existence strango and marvelous forms of swimming reptiles, four-footed and two-footed walking reptiles, and two-footed and four-footed flying reptiles. Here olso the thue birds began to appear, though with reptilian peculiarities; and likewise the marsupial animals, which are a transitional type, between rentiles that produce their young by laying eggs and the true mammals, that bring forth their young well matured and then suckle them.

The third column shows the lesser groupings of rock beds as classiUed by our American geologists: but many minor subdivisions and local groups are omitted fur want of space. At the top of this column are shown the geological periods of first appearance ot races of man, so far as now authenticated by competent scientific authorities.*

This Chart is the most comprehensive and thorough in its details, and yet the most systematically and graphically presented to the eye, of anything in its line that has ever yet been published. Here is the whole story of geology and the ascent of life condensed into the space of a few inche*. yet so plainly set forth as to readily fix itself in the memory like an outline map. Scientific terms in newspapers and magazines often catch the reader at a disadvantage: but a reference to this chart will at once show the relative place or period in creational progress to which the best authorized geological terms apply. It reaches, like a Jacob's ladder, frera the lowest inklings to the highest ideals of life on the earth, as taught by modem science and the ChrisUan Bible.

Azoic Age

Thus, then, with the very first emergence of dry land out of the heavily saturated and steaming mineral waters of the primeval ocean, we have Pilot Knob, Shepherd Mountain, and a few smaller peaks in their vicinity, forming an island in the vast expanse. The next nearest island was a similar one at the Black Hills, in Dakota. There is no reason as yet known Sor believing that any form of life, either animal or vegetable, had yet appeared in our Missouri region. The ocean water was still too hot, and still too powerfully surcharged with mineral salts, alkalis and acids to admit of any living tissues being formed ; and the atmosphere was in like manner thickly loaded with deadliest acids in the form of vapors, which would partially condense as they arose, and fall upon the ironheaded islands to form a mineral crust, and then be broken and washed back into the sea. But this process being kept up and incessantly repeated for millions of years (see Prof. Helmholtz's estimate at bottom of the chart), both sea and air became gradually purified of its excess of minerals and acids; and the water sufficiently cooled to admit of living tissues being formed; and meanwhile the condensing and crust-forming elements precipitated from the vapor-laden air or deposited directly from the bulk waters of the shoreless sea, were busily forming the solid earth. The diflferent incrustations would each be a little diflferent in their component elements; and then being broken up and mixed together and recombined, partly in the form of rough fragments, partly in the form of dust or sand ground into this state by mechanical attrition, partly in the form of fluidized or vaporized solutions, and partly in the form of molten masses produced directly by the earth's internal fires, the process of combining and recombining, with continual variation in the proportions, went on through the long, dreary, sunless and lifeless Azoic Age.

But as soon as the great ocean caldron got cooled down to about 200 degrees Fahrenheit, it was then possible for a very low form of vegetation to exist; and although no fossil remains of the first existing forms of such vegetation have yet been found, or at least not conclusively identified as such, yet graphite or plumbago, the material from which our lead pencils are made, is found in connection with the transition rocks between the Azoic and the Zoolithian ages. Graphite is not a mineral at all, but is pure vegetable carbon, and is supposed to be the remnant carbon of these first and lowest forms of tough, leathery, flowerless sea-weeds. Some small deposits of graphite are reported to have been found in connection with the iron and metamorphic granites of our Pilot Knob island; and that would indicate the first organic forms that came into existence within the boundaries of what now we call the state of Missouri. Just think of it! All North America, except a dozen widely scattered spots or islands, was covered with an ocean that spread its seamy expanse all around tlie globe; no simlight could penetrate the thick, dense cloud of vapors that filled the enveloping atmosphere ; according to our English author before cited, this was 600,000,000 years ago, a period which the human mind cannot grasp; but the Almighty Maker of worlds had even then commenced to make the state of Missouri and its living occupants.

The earliest known forms of animal life, a kind of coral-making rhizopod (root-footed) called Eozoon Canadense, are not found in Missouri, but are found abundantly in what are called the Laurentian rocks, in Canada and elsewhere. (See chart). It is not to be supposed, however, that the enormous period called the " Age of Zooliths " passed, with forms of animal life existing in Canada, but none in our iron island region, unless we assume that the mineral acidity of the waters coming in contact with this island was so intense as to require all that vast period for its purification sufficiently to permit the existence of the lowest and most structureless forms of protoplasmic matter known to science. Prof. Swallow says, in writing on the Physical Geography of Missouri, " below the magnesian limestone series we have a series of metamorphosed slates, which are doubtless older than the known fossilifcrom strata; whether they belong to the Azoic, the Laur6ntian or Huronian, I am unable to say."

The labors'^of our different state geologists have not discovered any fossil remains in Missouri lower down in the rock scale than what is called the " Lower Silurian " formations, which form the first half of the "Age of Invertebrates " in the zoic-calendar portion of Prof. Reid's chart. The term " Invertebrates " includes all forms of animal life that do not have a back-bone, such as polyps, mollusks, worms, insects, crustaceans, infusoria, etc. By the time this age (Silurian) had commenced, our lone island had been joined by large areas northward, southwestward, eastward and northwestward, so that there began to be a continent; and several hundred species of animals and plants have been found fossil in the rocks of this period, but they are all marine species - none yet inhabiting the dry land. Our chart shows the Lower Silurian epoch sub-divided into Cambrian, Canadian and Trenton formations; but there are, other local sub-divisions belonging to this period, the same as to all the other general periods named on the chart. The animals of this period were polyps or coral- makers; worms, mollusks, trilobites, asterias (star-fishes), all of strange forms and now extinct. The trilobite, some species of which are found in Missouri, was the first animal on the earth which had eyes, although there were likewise a great many eyeless species of them; but the fact that any of them had eyes during this age is considered by some scientists to prove that the atmosphere had by this time become sufficiently rarefied to let the sunlight penetrate clearly through it and strike the earth. On the other hand, others hold that this did not occur until after the atmosphere had laid down its surcharge of carbonic acid and other gases, in the forms of limestone from animal life and coalbeds from vegetable life; that

», there was nothing which we would now consider as clear sunshine until the carboniferous period. At any rate, Prof. Dana says of the Lower Silurian, "there was no ^een herbage over the exposed hills; and no sounds were m the air save those of lifeless nature, - the moving waters, the tempest and the earthquake." Having thus given the reader some idea of the beginnings of land and the beginnings of life in our old, old state, space will not permit us to linger with details upon the remaining geological periods. We have compiled the following table from various writings of our able state geologist, Prof. G. C. Swallow, of the State University:

Rock Formations Of Missouri

Igneous Rocks. - Granite, porphyry, syenite, greenstone, combined with those wonderful beds of iron and copper which are found in the Pilot Knob region.

Azoic Rocks. - Silicious and other slates, containing no remains of organic life, though apparently of sedimentary and not of igneous origin.

When the reader remembers that these were all formed successively by the slow process of the settling of sediment in water, he will get some idea of how it is that geolog}'^ gives such astounding measurements of time.

In this formation there are from eight to ten good worlcable veins of coal; and the Missouri basin coal-bearing area is the largest in the world.

Cretaceous. - The Triassicand Jurassic formations have not been found m this state ; but Prof. Swallow has classed as probably belonging to the Cretaceous epoch, six different formations which comprise a total thickness of 158 feet. He says no fossils have been found to certainly identify these beds, but their geological horizon and lithological characters determine their place in the scale.

Tertiary. - The beautiful variegated sands and clays and shales and iron ores, which skirt the swamps of southeast Missouri along the bluffs from Commerce to the Chalk Bluffs in Arkansas, belong to this system.

That brings the succession of geological formations consecutively from their beginning up to the present time; and now our own eyes behold every day the processes of nature going on very much the same as they have gone along through all the unthinkable lapse of time that has passed since Pilot Knob first pushed its brazen brow up above the strange desolation of waters when "darkness was upon the face of the deep." And now our next consideration must be, the present aspects of the land surface of our state, together with its streams, its woodlands and its wonderful mineral wealth and resources.

Mineral Resources

In the extent, variety, and practical value of her stores of mineral wealth, Missouri is not excelled by any other state in the Union. In the fall of 1880 the New York Economist published an article on Missouri, in which it said:

"The state of Missouri is one of the most remarkable pieces of this earth's surface. Surface indeed ! Missouri goes far enough under the surface to furnish mankind with one hundred million tons of coal a year for thir- , teen hundred years. Think of 26,887 square miles of coal beds - nearly half the state - and some of the beds nearly fifteen feet thick. With regard to iron, it is not necessary to penetrate the surface for that. They have iron in Missouri by the mountain. Pilot Knob, 581 feet high, and containing 360 acres, is a mass of iron; and Iron Mountain, about six miles distant from it, is 228 feet high, covers 500 acres, and is estimated in the last surveys, to contain 230,000,000 tons of ore, without counting the inexhaustible supply that may reasonably be supposed to exist below the level. There is enough iron lying about loose in Missouri for a double track of railroad across the continent.

" The lead districts of Missouri include more than 6,000 square miles, and at least five hundred points where it can be profitably worked. In fifteen counties there is copper in rich abundance. There are large deposits of zinc in the state. There is gold, also, which does not yet attract much attention, because of the dazzling stores of this precious metal farther west. In short, within one hundred miles of St. Louis the following metals and minerals are found in quantities that will repay working: gold, iron, lead, zinc, copper, tin, silver, platina, nickel, emery, coal, limestone, granite, marble, pipe-clay, fire-clay, metallic paints, and salt." found in faying quantity as yet, although they are known to exist in some of our mining districts, in combinations with other minerals. Our state board of immigration has published many well prepared and judicious papers on the various advantages and resources of our state, which carefully avoid making any extravagant or overdrawn statements. They give the real facts as accurately as they could be ascertained up to 1879- 80, and form the most reliable body of knowledge on many matters of state interest, that is now accessible; and from this source we gather the more essential points.

Coal. - The Missouri coal fields underlie an area of* about 26,000 square miles. The southern outcrop of the coal measures has been traced from the mouth of the Des Moines through the counties of Clark, Lewis, Shelby, Monroe, Audrain, Boone, Cooper, Pettis, Henry, St. Clair, Bates, Vernon and Barton, into the Indian Territory, and every county northwest of this line is known to contain more or less coal. Outside of the coal fields given above, coal rocks also exist in Ralls, Montgomery, Warren, St. Charles, Callaway and St. Louis counties, and local or outlying deposits of bituminous and cannel coal are found in Moniteau, Cole, Morgan,. Crawford, Lincoln and Callaw'ay counties..

The exposed coal in Missouri includes upper, middle and lower coal measures. The upper coal measures contain about four feet of coal, in two seams of about one foot each and other thin seams and streaks. The area of their exposure is about 8,400 square miles.

The middle coal measures contain about seven feet of coal, including two workable seams, twenty-one and twenty-four inches thick, respectively, and one of one foot, which is worked under favorable circumstances, and six thin seams. The exposure of the middle measures covers an area of over 2,000 square miles.

The low^er measures cover an area of about 15,000 square miles, and* have five workable seams, varying in thickness from eighteen inches to four and a half feet, and thin seams of six to eleven inches.

Iron. - It has been said by experts that Missouri has iron enough " to run a hundred furnaces for a thousand years;" and the ores are of every variety known to metallurgical science. Iron Mountain is the largest body of specular iron and the purest mass of ore in the world. It was forced up through the crust of the earth in a molten state during the Azoic Age of geology. The diderent ores of the state are classed as red hematite, red oxide, specular or glittering ore, brown hematite or limooite, hydrous oxide, magnetic ore, and spathic or spar-like ore (carbonate of iron). Many other names are used to indicate different combinations of iron with other minerals. Some of the iron deposits, instead of coming 'ip in a fused mass from the bowels of the earth, as Pilot Knob, Shep- herd Mountain and Iron Mountain evidently did, were formed by the steam that attended those fiery upheavals, carrying its load of gaseous - matter until it condensed and settled down at different points, and gradually cooled or crystalized. This would occur sometimes in water and sometimes in the air, thus producing the great variety of ferruginous or irony compositions which we now find and utilize. And this mineral steam method of depositing iron and other products from subterranean gases must have occurred in Missouri at different periods of geologic time, and not all during the Azoic. The red ores are found in 21 counties; the brown hematite or limonite iron ores extend over 94 counties, and in 31 of them it occurs in vast quantity.

Shepherd Mountain is 660 feet high. The ore, which is magnetic and specular, contains a large percentage of pure iron. The hight of Pilot Knob above the Mississippi river is 1,118 feet. Its base, 581 feet from the summit, is 360 acres. The iron is known to extend 440 feet below the surface. The upper section of 141 feet is judged to contain 14,000,000 tons of ore. The elevation of Iron Mountain is 228 feet, and the area of its base 500 acres . The solid contents of the cone are 230,000,000 tons. It is thought that every foot beneath the surface will yield 3,000,000 tons of ore. At the depth of 180 feet, an artesian auger is still penetrating solid ore. Dr. Litton ^inks that these mountains contain enough iron above the surface to afford for two hundred yehrs an annual supply of 1,000,000 tons. The ore is almost exclusively specular. It yields 56 per cent, of pure iron. The iron is strong, tough and fibrous.

Profs. Schmidt and Pumpelly, in their very learned work on the iron ores of Michigan, and Missouri, have classified the iron-bearing region of our state as follows:

Eastern Ore-Region. - 1. Ore-district along the Mississippi river. 2. Iron Mountain district. 3. Southeastern limonite district. 4. Franklin county district. 5. Scotia district.

Central Ore-Region. - 1. Steelville district. 2. Ore-district on the upper Meramec and its tributaries. 3. Salem district. 4. Iron Ridge district. 5. St. James district. 6. Rolla district. 7. Middle Gasconade district. 8. Lower Gasconade district. 9. Callaway county district.

Lead. - The annual lead product of Missouri is said now to exceed that of any other state or country; and it is conceded that its lead deposits are the richest in the world. The lead region all lies south of the Missouri river; the mineral is found chiefly in the magnesian limestone rocks, which are the great lead-bearing rocks of the world; but it is also found in ferruginous clays, in slates, in gravel beds, and in cherty masses in the clays.

Mr. R. O. Thompson, mining engineer, of St. Louis, has written a sketch of the mode of origin of our lead and some other mineral deposits, which is plain, concise, and a clear statement of the teachings of science on this very interesting portion of Missouri's geological and mineralogical history. We quote:

"The Azoic rocks in this region, when the great Silurian system began to be-formed,-were so.many islan.dsvtheir.,hea.ds only, elevated above the vast sedimentary sea. The beds upon which the limestones and sandstones were deposited consisted of the weatherings of the Azoic rocks, which naturally sought the valleys and. became a base for the sedimentary rock. This boundless sea held in solution lime, magnesia, alumina, manganese, lead, copper, cobalt, nickel, iron, and other mineral substances. In this chemical condition gases were evolved and the work of formation' ' commenced. The two gases forming the great creative power, and aiding solidification, were carbonic acid ana sulphuretted hydrogen; the former seeking its affinity in lime and forming limestone ; the sulphur in the latter naturally combining with the other metals, forming sulphates, or sulphurets. The work of depositipn and solidification being in harmony, it is easy to understand how those minerals exist in a disseminated condition in these rocks. The slates that we find so rich in galena, presenting the myriad forms of lingula, must also have been formed in the Silurian Age- The distribution among the magnesian limestones of these decomposing slates can be most easi^ accounted for. The decomposed feldspar produced by the weathering of the porphyry became in its change a silicate of alumina, and the sulphur, combining with the lead, disseminated the same in the slate as readily as in the limestone."

I. The Southeastern Lead District, embraces all or parts of Jefferson, Washington, _ Franklin, Crawford, Iron, St. Francois, St. Genevieve, Madison, Wayne, Reynolds, and Carter counties, with some mines in the western portion of Cape Girardeau county. Mining has been longest carried on in this district, and the aggregate of the production has been very great, although the work has been chiefly surface mining. Mine-

II. The Central Lead District^ comprises, as far as known, the counties of Cole, Cooper, Moniteau, Morgan, Miller, Benton, Maries, Camden* and Osage. Much of the mining done here, again, has been near the surface, the lead first being found in clays, in caves, and in masses in clay but a few inches below the surface. Shafts, however, sunk in the magnesian limestone, find rich deposits in lodes and pockets.

rV. The Western Lead District embraces Hickor)\ Dallas, Polk, St. Clair, Cedar, and Dade counties. Some rich deposits have been found in this district, especially in Hickory county,

V. The Southwestern Lead District Jasper, Newton, Lawrence, Stone, Barry, and McDonald. Here verj' extensive mining has beerf done, more especially in the two counties first named, which have, for the last few years, produced more than one-half of the pig-lead mined in. the state.

For several years past more than one-half the lead production of the United States has been from Missouri mines. Besides the numerous smelting works supported by them, the manufacture of white lead, lead pipe, sheet lead, etc., contributes materially to the industries and commerce of the state.

COPPER. - Several varieties of copper ore exist in Missouri mines. Deposits of copper have been discovered in Dent, Crawford, Benton, Maries, Greene, Lawrence, Dade, Taney, Dallas, Phelps, Reynolds and W right counties. Some of the mines in Shannon county are now profitably worked, and mines in Franklin county have yielded good results.

Zinc. - Sulphuret, 'carbonate and silicate of zinc are found in nearly all the lead mines of southwestern Missouri; and zinc ores are also found in most of the counties along the Ozark range. What the lead miners call "black-jack," and throw away, is sulphuret of zinc. Newton and Jasper counties are rich in zinc ores; and Taney county has an extensive vein of calamine, or carbonate of zinc.

Cobalt. - Valuable to produce the rich blue colors in glass and porcelain, and for other purposes in the arts, is foimd in considerable quantities at Mine-La-Motte.

Building Stone

Missouri abounds in solid, durable materials for buildings; she has quarries of red and gray granites, and very fine limestones, sandstones and marbles. In Crawford, Washington and Franklin counties there are workable beds of " on3rx marble," a stalagmite formation found in caves, and very rich and valuable for mantles, table-tops, vases, ornaments, etc. This marble is not foimd anywhere else in the United States, and has been imported from Algiers and Mexico, at great cost. As an illustration of the high repute abroad, and substantial home value ot Missouri products in the stone line, we give a case in point.

The new state capitol at Des Moines, Iowa, which will cost $3,000,000, and is said to be the largest and finest public edifice in the United States outside of Washington city, is built mostly of materials from Missouri, except the rough masonry and brickwork. The Missouri stones and their cost is as follows:

Other examples of Missouri building stone will be of interest. The Archimedes limestone is used for the U. S. custom house in. , St Louis.- The encrinital limestone is used for the State University building, and court house at Columbia. The Trenton limestone is used in the court house at St. Louis. A stratum called " cotton rock " in the magnesian limestone formation, is used for the state house and court house at Jefferson City. Encrinital marble is found in Marion county, and other varieties occur in Cooper, Cape Girardeau, St. Louis, Iron and Ozark counties. In the bluffs on the Niangua, a marble crops out tw'enty feet thick, which is a fine-grained, crystaline, silico-magnesian limestone, of a light drab color, slightly tinged or clouded with peach blossom. Some of the beautiful Ozark marbles have been used in ornamenting the national capitol at Washington.

Earths, Clays, Ochres, Etc

Kaolin, or decomposed feldspar, is a clay for making porcelain ware, and is found in and shipped from southeastern Missouri. Fine pottery clays are found in all the coal bearing region. North of the Missouri nver many beds of best fire-clay are found, which is extensively manufactured at St. Louis into fire brick, gas retorts, metallurgists' crucibles, etc.

Yellow and red ochres, ferru^nous clays, and sulphate of baryta, all valuable in the mannfacture of mineral and fire-proof paints, are found in great abundance all through the iron districts. Near St. Genevieve there is a bank of saccharoidal sand which is twenty feet in height, and miles in extent. The mass is inexhaustible. Two analyses give the following

The sand is very friable, and yearly as white as snow. It is not oxydized or discolored by heat, and the glass made from it is clear and imstained. One firm in St. Louis has annually exported more than 3,500 tons of this sand to the glass manufactories of Wheeling, Steubenville and Pittsburg.'

Geography Of Missouri Location And Area

The state of Missouri (with the exception of the Pan-Handle, in the southeast corner, which extends 34 miles further south), lies between the parallels 36 degrees 30 minutes and 40 degrees 30 minutes north latitude, and between longitudes 12 degrees 2 minutes, and 18 degrees and 51 minutes west from Washington. Its southern boundaVy line, extended eastward, would pass along the southern boundaries of Tennessee and Virginia. The line of the northern boundary, extended in the same direction, would pass north of the centers of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, and near the centers of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Extending these lines westward, they would embrace the entire state of Kansas, and a considerable portion of Nebraska on the north and of the Indian Territory south.

The length of the state north and south is 282 miles; iis extreme width^ cast and west, is 348 miles, and the average width, which is represented by a line drawn due west from St. Louis, is 235 miles.

The area of the state is 65,350 square miles, or 41,824,000 acres. In size it is the eighth state in the Union, and is larger than any state east of or bordering upon the Mississippi, except Minnesota. . It occupies almost the exact center of that portion of the United States lying between the Rocky Mountains and the Atlantic, and is midway between the British possessions on the north and the Gulf of Mexico south.

state: The latitude of 38 to 39 degrees north, embraces Annapolis, Maryland; Washington and Georgetown, D. C.; Alexandria, Va.; Portsmouth, Ohio; Lexington, Frankfort and Louisville, Ky.; Madison, New Albany and Evansville, Ind.; St. Louis and Jefferson City, Missouri; Sacramento and Vallejo, California; Yarkand, China; Tabreez, Persia; Smyrna, Turkey;, Messina and Palermo, Sicily; Lisbon, Portugal.

The latitude of 39 to 40 embraces the cities of Philadelphia, Dover, Wilmington, Baltimore, York, Gettysburg, Columbus, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Terre Haute, Springfield, Quincy, Hannibal, Kansas City, St. Joseph, Leavenworth, Denver; Virginia City, . Nevada; Marysville, California; Tientsin, Pekin and Kashgar, in China; Bokhara in Turkestan; Erzroom in Turkey; Valencia in Spain.

The meridian of 90 to 91 degrees west longitude, takes in Grand Portage, Minnesota; Mineral Point, Wisconsin ; also Dubuque, Davenport, Rock Island, Galesburg, St. Louis, Memphis, Vicksburg and New Orleans.

Missouri is half as la;-ge again as New York, and more than eight times the size of Massachusetts. It would make a score of German principalities. Larger than England and Wales, or Scotland and Ireland, it is equal to one-third of the area of France.

Surface Features

As 'explained in the chapter on geology, there occurred away back in the earliest geological ages, some subterranean force which pushed up through the crust of the earth, a series of knobs and irregular ridges and hills in a region extending from St. Genevieve, in a southwest direction, to Shannon and Texas counties, taking in some portions of Madison, St. Francois, Washington, Iron and Reynolds counties. After this, these knobs and ridges were islands in the ocean, which covered the rest of Missouri and adjoining states. On the bottom of this ocean the solid strata of limestone, sandstone, and other rocks, were formed. In course of time the rest of the country was raised above the ocean, and the surface presented a broad, undulating plateau, from which projected the hills and ridges above named. 'The rains descended upon this plateau, and the waters collected into branches, creeks and rivers, and flowed away to the ocean, as now; and during the succeeding cycles, the channels and valleys of the streams were worn into the rocks as they now appear. These facts respecting the formation of our state, give some idea of its surface features. It may be described as a broad, undulating table-land or plateau, from which projects a series of hills and ridges extending from St. Genevieve .to the southwest, and into which the branches, creeks and rivers have worn their deep broad channels and valleys. In that portion of the state north of the Missouri river, the northwest part is the highest, and there is a general descent to the south and east, as shown by the course of the Missouri river and its north side tributaries. In the eastern part of this region there is a high dividing ridge which separates the small east-flowing tributaries of the Mississippi from those flowing southward into the Missouri; the St. Louis, Kansas City and Northern raflro^d follows this highland from Warren and Montgomery counties to Coatsville on the north line of the state, in Schuyler county; and railroad surveys show that in a straight line across the state, the Missouri river at the city of Weston, in Platte county, is 320 feet higher than the Mississippi at Hannibal.

South of the Missouri the highest part is a ma*in ridge extending from Jasper county through Lawrence, Webster, Wright, Texas, Dent, Iron, St. Francois and Perry counties, striking the Mississippi river at Grand Tower. This ridge constitutes what is called the Ozark range, which for three-fourths of its course across Missouri is not mountainous, or composed of peaks, but is an elevated plateau of broad, level, arable land, and divides the northward flowing tributaries of the Missouri from the waters which flow southward into the lower Mississippi. It is a part of that great chain of ridge elevations which begins with Long's Peak, about fifty miles northwest of Denver, in Colorado; crosses the state of Kansas between the Kansas and Arkansas rivers; crosses Missouri through the counties above mentioned; passes into Illinois at Grand Tower and thence into Kentucky opposite Golconda; and is finally merged into the Cumberland Mountains. - This ridge probablyTormed the southern- shore' of that vast inland sea into which the upper Missouri and Platte rivers emptied their muddy waters for a whole geological age, and deposited over the states of Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska, their sediment from the Cretaceous and Tertiary beds of the mountain regions in Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, etc., and the "Bad Lands" of northwestern Nebraska. This great sea or lake had its chiefs outlet at Grand Tower,* where for thousands of years its waters plunged over the rocky limestone ledges and flowed off to the Gulf of Mexico, which then extended nearly or quite up to the mouth of the Ohio river at Cairo. But as it gradually wore down the rocks of this southern high ridge barrier, of course the channel through this narrow pass became gradually deeper and deeper, and as gradually drained off the mighty lake, leaving four great states covered chiefly with a kind of sediment which Prof. Swallow has termed " bluff

Dr. Shumard in his report on a geological section from St. Louis to Commerce, - p. 161, says: "The Grand Tower rises from tlie bed of the Mississippi, an isolated mass of rock, of a truncated-conical shape, crowned at the top with stunted cedars, and situated about Jtifty yards from the Missouri shore. It is eighly-five feet high, and four hundred yards in circumference at the base. During high water, the current rushes around its base with great velocity. * About half a mile below the Tower, near the middle of the river, is a huge mass of chert. * In the next two miles the Missouri shore is bounded by hills from 75 to 200 feet in altitude." It is rocky and blufiy for six miles or more along here, some of the elevations reaching 880 feet.

deposit," thopgh called by other writers loess. At Grand Tower, where the Mississippi has worn for itself this narrow gorge or pass through the rocks, the current rushes and roars and tumbles along at such a mill-flume rate, that the passage by boats either up or down stream, is difficult and dangerous.* And it was here that the river pirates had their stronghold in the early days of keel-boat traffic between St. Louis and New Orleans. They permitted no traders to pass this point without paying such tribute as they chose to levy; and upon the least show of resistance, they would rob, murder and plunder without remedy. If the human history of this place could be written, it would be full of blood-ciu-dling '-incidents, and deeds of violence by rude and murderous men.

It will thus be seen that the top of Pilot Knob, at the eastern end of our south border highlands, is only twenty-eight feet higher than Marshfield, near the western end.

Rivers And Water Courses

The Mississippi river bounds the state on the east for a distance of more than 500 miles. The Missouri washes the western boundary of the state from the northwest corner southwardly, some 250 miles, to the mouth of the Kansas, whence it takes a coiirse south of east, through the heart of the state to its junction with the Mississippi, a distance of nearly 400 miles, presenting a river front from these two majestic streams of 1,550 miles. Besides these mighty streams, are many smaller rivers, more or less navigable for steamboats and barges. On the south, or the right

*A small work published at Davenport, Iowa, in 1856, describes this place as " a gor^e where the river has in some remote geological age burst through a limestone mountain rldec, making a dangerous rocky pass, and washing the cliff into krange, fantastic forms." And a western poet nearly 30 years ago, thus described the spot: bank of the Missouri, the Gasconade, Osage and La Mine are navigable; on the Osage, steamboats make regular trips as high as Warsaw, and barges and keel-boats may pass as high as the state line. On the left bank of the Missouri, the Platte, Chariton and Grand rivers are navigable for keel-boats and barges ; and small steamers have made a few trips on their waters. The other important streams of the state are the Des Moines, Salt, Meramec, St. Francis and White rivers, aU of which on rare occasions have been navigated by steamers. There are large numbers of smaller streams called rivers and creeks.

There are places in all our streams, except the Mississippi and Missouri, where they might be dammed and made to drive the machinery of mills and factories. Rock beds to support dams and make them permanent are to be found in many localities on the Osage, Niangua, Porame du Terre, Sac, Spring river. Big river, Castor, Bourbeuse, Gasconade, St. Francis, Current, White, Grand, La Mine, Meramec, etc. No country is better, supplied with bold springs of pure water. Many pf them are remarkable for their size and volume.

There is, on the whole, no state in the Union better supplied with an abundance of wholesome, living water for stock and domestic uses; and it abounds in springs, splendidly situated for dairy business, with water at a uniform temperature below 60 degrees Fahrenheit. There are no lakes in the state except a few small ones in the extreme southeastern counties.

Mineral Springs occur in every part of the state. There are excellent salt springs in Cooper, Saline, Howard and adjoining counties. Sulphur springs that have become known as places of summer resort, are: The Chouteau springs in Cooper county; Monagan springs in St. Clair county; Elk springs in Pike county; Cheltenham springs in St. Louis county. And Prof. Swallow says there are sulphur springs in half the counties of the state. Sweet springs, on Black water creek, are what are called chalybeate waters, containing some of the salts of iron ; and there are a few others of this class. Petroleum or tar springs occur in Carroll, Ray, Randolph, Cass, Lafayette, Bates, Vernon, and other counties, and furnish a good lubricating oil in large quantities. In the south part of the State there are numerous fresh water springs of such great flowage as to be utilized for water power. One called Bryce's spring, on the Niangua river, which runs through Dallas, Hickory and Camden counties, discharges 10,927,872 cubic feet of water per day, drives a large flouring .mill) and flows away a river 42 yards wide. This is the largest one, of these big springs. The temperature of its water is steadily at 60 degrees Fahrenheit, and the flowage imiform throughout the year.

Soils And Their Products

As late as 1830 the greater part of Missouri was still marked on common school geography maps as part of the great American desert ; and in 1820, even our own great statesman, Thomas H. Benton, had written: "After you get 40 or 50 miles from the Mississippi, arid plains set in and the country is uninhabitable except upon the borders of the rivers and creeks." But our present knowledge of Missouri's climate, soils and products show how widely mistaken our wisest people were ,on this subject in those early days.

Prof. Swallow, Dean of the State Agricultural College at Columbia (State Urtiversity), has given the soils of the state a classification adapted to the popular understanding, by using names that everybody can read and know what they mean, instead of technical scientific terms known only to a few who have had a college education. And as this history is designed for the masses of the people, and to a large extent for the farmers, we give a condensed statement of Prof. Swallow's classification.

Those known as hackberry lands are first in fertility and productiveness. Upon these lands also grow elm, wild cherry, honey locust, hickory, white, black, burr and chestnut oaks, black and white walnut, mulberry, linden, ash, poplar, catalpa, sassafras and maple. The prairie soils of about the same quality, if not identical, are known as crow foot lands^ so called from a species of weed found upon them, and these two soils generally join each other where the timber and prairie lands meet. Both rest upon a bed of fine silicious marls. They cover more than seven million acres of land. On this soil white oaks have been found twenty-nine feet in circumference and one hundred feet high ; linden twenty-three feet in circumference and quite as lofty; the burr oak and sycamore grow still larger. Prairie grasses, on the crow foot lands, grow very rank and tall, and by the old settlers were said to entirely conceal herds of cattle from the view.

The elm lands, are scarcely inferior to the hackberry lands, arid possess very nearly the same growth of other timber. The soil has about the same properties, except that the sand is finer and the clay more abundant The same quality of soil appears in the prairie known as the resin-weed lands.

Next in order are hickory lands, with a growth of white and shellbark . hickory, black, scarlet and laurel oaks, sugar maple, persimmon and the haw, red-bud and crab-apple trees of smaller growth. In some portions of the state the tulip tree, beech and black gum grow on lands of the same quality. Large areas of prairie in the northeast and the southwest have, soils of nearly the same quality, called mulatto soils. There is also a soil lying upon the red clays of southern Missouri similar to the above. These hickory lands and those described as assimilating to them, are highly esteemed by the farmers for the culture of com, wheat and other cereals. They are admirably adapted to the cultivation of fruits, and their blue grass pastures are equal to any in the state. Their area may be fairly estimated at six millions of acres.

The magnesian limestone soils extend from Callaway county south to the Arkansas line, and from Jefferson west to . Polk county, an area of about ten millions of acres. These soils are dark, warm, light and very productive. They produce black and white walnut, black gum, white and wahoo elms, sugar maple, honey locust, mulberry, chestnut, post, laurel, black, scarlet and Spanish oaks, persimmon, blue ash, and many trees of smaller growth. They cover all the country underlaid by the magnesian limestone series, but are inconvenient for ordinary tillage when they occupy the hillsides or narrow valleys. Among the most fertile soils in the state, they produce fine crops of almost all the staples; and thrifty and productive fruit trees and grape vines evince their extraordinary adaptation and fitness to the culture of the grape and other fruits.

On the ridges, where 'the lighter materials of the soil have been washed away, or were originally wanting, white oak lands are to be foimd, the oaks accompanied by shellbark and black hickory, and trees and shrubs of smaller growth. While the surface soil is not so rich as the hickory lands, the sub-soil is quite as good, and the land may be greatly improved by turning the sub-soil to the surface. These produce superior wheat, good com, and a very fine quality of tobacco. On these lands fruits are abundant and a sure crop. They embrace about ene and a half million of acres. ^

Post oak lands have about the same growth as the white oak lands, and produce good crops of the staples of the country, and yield the best tobacco in the West. Fruits of all kinds excel on this soil. These lands require deep culture.

The black jack lands occupy the high flint ridges underlaid with hornstone and sandstone, and under these conditions are considered the poorest in the state, except for pastures and vineyards. The presence, however, of black jack on other lands does not indicate thin or poor lands.

Pine lands are extensive, embracing about two millions of acres. The pines {phiis mitis^ yellow pine), grow to great size, and furnish immense supplies of marketable lumber. They are accompanied by heavy growths of oak, which takes the country as successor to the pine. The soil is sandy and is adapted to small grains and grasses.

Bisecting the state by a line drawn from the city of Hannibal, on the Mississippi river, to its southwest comer, the half lying to the north and west of this line may be described as the prairie region of the state, with the rare advantage that every county is bountifully supplied with timber and with rivers and smaller streams of water. That which lies east and

The prairie lands are again divided into bottom and upland prairies. The bottom prairies closely resemble in soil the river bottoms. In a certain sense, the formation is identical; each came from accretions, one from the rivers and the other from the higher or upland prairies. The marl formation is the foundation of both and in both it is deeply buried under the modern alluvium.

"The breadth of land from the Red River country of the far North, stretching to the Gulf of Mexico, including Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and Texas is one of the most wonderful agricultural spectacles of the globe! It is one of the few facts that are unthinkable! In this ocean of land, and at nearly its centre, stands the imperial state OF Missouri. Even a Kansas man admits that in natural qualifications it leads all the rest, and is the crown and glory of the Union! It has boundless treasures of coal, iron, lead and other minerals; lands richer there cannot be, nor finer streams ; its forests are more equally distributed all over the state than in any other; its climate, wholesome and delightful, blends the temperature of the northern lakes and the great southern gulf."

Wild Game

Animals. - Missouri has been the feeding ground for vast herds of the choicest of the large game animals up to the present generation. Old hunters and trappers, still living, tell marvelous stories of their exploits with the gun. As civilization and, population advanced westward their numbers decreased, yet Missouri is still furnishing a very large proportion of the game for the markets of all the large cities of the United States. Even London receives large shipments, ever}' w'inter, from St. Louis. From October 1st to February 1st, of every year, there is not an express car arriving in St. Louis which does not bring large consignments of game. The quantity is enormous, and far beyond the knowledge of every one except those engaged in the trade, or whose duties bring them in contact with the facts.

Elk, bufialo, antelope and bear formerly abounded in this state, but are now nearly or quite driven entirely beyond our borders. Red deer are still plentiful in some parts of the state. In fact, the Ozark Mountains and the swamp lands of southeast Missouri constitute a great deer park and game preserve, and will continue to do so until immigration crowds out the game. It is a notorious fact, that venison sells as cheaply as good beef in St. Louis markets, during the winter season.

The rabbit, as it is popularly called here, is a species of hare, and is about the average size of the domestic cat. They are so numerous in Missouri as to be considered a pest; are found in every field and forest in the state. Squirrels are very numerous, especially in the swampy and hilly regions. The two principal varieties are the grey squirrel and the red fox-squirrel. One of these varieties is to be found in every clump of timbered land in the state.

Birds. - Wild turkeys, the finest game birds in the world, abound in the same region. Prairie chickens, or pinnated grouse, are abundant in all the prairie regions of the state, and are shipped from St. Louis to eastern markets by hundreds of barrels during the fall months; but the game laws of the state strictly prohibit their being killed or trapped during the breeding season. Quails, or Virginia partridge, or "Bob-Whites," are found everywhere, so conlmon that partridge pie, or " quail on toast," is no great rarity in thrifty farm houses.

Wild ducks, wild geese, snipe, plover and several species of the rail frequent Missouri during their annual migrations north and south. During March, April and May the migratory birds pass through Missouri, going north to their nesting and brooding places, probably near the Arctic circle. In October, November and December they return, on their journey southward to spend the winter. There is no state in the great Mississippi basin more frequented by these migratory game birds than Missouri.

Fishes. - The early settlers found the rivers and lakes teeming with many fine varieties of game and food fishes, and there is still a bountiful supply. Black bass, perch, catfish, buffalo fish, suckers and pike constitute the leading varieties of native fishes. Black bass of several varieties inhabit every stream of considerable size in the state, and every lake contains them. It is the best game fish in the state. The perch family is represented by several dozen species; and perch of several kinds are found in every body of water in the state, which does not actually dry up in the summer time. The catfish of Missouri are not only numerous, but famous the world over. There are at least a dozen species in the waters of this state. The yellow catfish grows to great size, often reaching a weight of 175 pounds; the black catfish, maximum weight about 45 pounds; blue or forked-tail catfish, reaching 150 pounds and upwards in weight ; the channel catfish, weighing from one to fifteen pounds, and the yellow mud catfish, often weighing as high as 100 pounds. The sucker family includes the buffalo fish, chub, sucker and red horse. The first of these is highly prized, abundant, and grows to a maximum weight of 40 pounds. The last named is very abundant during certain seasons of the year, and valuable; they weigh from 6 ounces to 8 pounds. Pike of sev-

The state board of fish commissioners receives $3,000 annually from the state, to defra}^ expenses of propagating desirable kinds of food fishes, that are not found native in the state. In 1878 Mr. Reid distributed 100,- 000 fry of the California salmon, in the state. In May and June, 1879, the commission distributed 250,000 shad fry in the rivers of southeast, south and southwest Missouri, and planted 5,000 young trout in the springs and sources of the same rivers. Later they have planted 100,- 000 fry of the California salmon in the same sections of the state. In 1880 two or three hundred thousand fry of German carp were planted. All the waters of Missouri are adapted to this fish, more especially the lakes and sluggish streams. The carp can be as easily cultivated as pigs or turkeys, and it is hoped that in a few years all the streams of the state will be stocked with them.

The Climate

For nearly forty years Dr. George Engelmann, of St. Louis, kept systematic records of the meteorology of St. Louis and vicinity; and by compiling similar records kept during long or short periods, by other persons in difTerent parts of the state, he has been able to report pretty correctly the dates and weather-facts which go to furnish a comprehensive estimate of the general nature of the climate, at each season of the year, in different parts of the state. The following facts of great practical interest and value are gathered from the doctor's work:

Our winters, taken in the usual sense, from the first of December to the last of February, have in the city an average temperature of 33.3 degrees, and may be estimated for the surrounding country at 32 degrees; but they vary in different seasons between 25 degrees (winter of 1855-6 and 1872-3) and 40 degrees (winter 1844r-5). Our summers (from June 1st to August 31st) have in the city a mean temperature of 76.8 degrees, and are calculated to reach in the country 75 degrees, ranging between the coolest summer, 71.5 degrees mean temperature (1835, 1839 and 1848), and the warmest of 80 degrees mean temperature, (1838, 1850 and especially 1854).

The last frosts in spring occur between March 13th and May 2d, on an average about April 5th, and the earliest autumnal frosts between October 4th and November 26th, on an average about October 27th; the period between these two. terms extends in different years from 184 to 252 days, on an average 205 days. In the southeast part of the state these limits of the freezing point will, of course, be much wider apart, and in the northwest they are narrowed down considerably. Our spring opens in March, though in some favored seasons vegetation breaks through its wintry bounds already in the latter part of February, while in a few very late springs it cannot be said to have fairly commenced before the middle of April. * * * We find the first in bloom is the alder and the hazel; next - not rarely retarded by intervening cold spells - the soft or silver leaf maple; our common white elm blooms a few days after this, between February 24th and April 15th, on an average, March 1 9th. During the next following days, roses, syringas, gooseberries and many other bushes, and the weeping willows, show their young leaves. About two weeks after, the elm - between March 18th and April 25th, on an average about April 3d - the peach trees open their first blossoms, and are, one week later, in full bloom. Plum and pear trees and sweet cherries blossom about the same time, or a few days later, and then sour cherries and the glory of our rich woods, the red buds, get in bloom. Between March 21st and May 1st,, (mean, April 14th) the early apple trees begin to abloom, and between March 28th and May 10th, (mean, April 20th) they may be said to be in full bloom.

The maturity and harvest of winter wheat immediately succeeds the catalpa blo'om, between June 10th and July 1st, usually about June 20th. The mean summer temperature varies but little throughout the state. In the summer of 1873 the mean temperature in the southeast was found only one-half degree higher than that of the northeast, and the difierence between St. Louis and the west was even lessw Winter temperatures, however, show a wide range. The mean temperature of the southeastern part of the state is 2^ to 3 degrees higher than at St. Louis, and 5^ degrees higher than in the northeastern angle, and the mean temperature of Leavenworth, and the adjacent parts of Missouri, is fully 2 degrees less than that of the region about St. Louis.

In connection with our winter temperature it must be mentioned that the Mississippi at St. Louis freezes over about once in four or five years, partly, no doubt, m consequence of the heavy ice floating down from the north; and it then remains closed for one or two, or even four or six weeks, sometimes passable for the heaviest teams. Our river has been knowm to close as early as the first week in December, and in other years, to be open as late as ihe last week in February, w'hile the running ice may impede or interrupt navigation between the end of November and the end of February, sometimes as low down as the southeast corner of the state ; the river is said, however, never to freeze over below Cape Girardeau. The Missouri river is sometimes closed in the latter

Our summer rains mostly descend with great abundance, and in a comparatively short time, so that the average (13 inches) of summer rain falls iu 70 hours, distributed over twenty-four days, while the 7 inches of winter rain (and snow) descend in 160 hours and on 22 days. The days ori which it rains vary between 68 and 115 in the year. On the average we have 92 days in the year on which it rains. Our rains last from a fraction of an hour to a few hours, and very rarely extend through the 24 hours.

Snow is rather scarce in our climate, and rarely continually covers the ground for more than a few days or a week. In some years, it amounted, when melted to 5^ inches; in others to only one-half inch; the average is about 2^ inches.

The atmospherical pressure (indicated by the stage of the barometer) is with us, in summer, more uniform and regular than on the Atlantic coast, while in winter it fluctuates considerably, and often very rapidly. The average barometrical pressure is highest in January, falls till May, and gradually rises again until January; it is most variable from November to March, and least so from June to August.

Healthfulness Of The State

Authentic reports to the Health Board of St. Louis is have shown that the annual sickness rate of the city of St. Louis about seventeen and a half days to each member of the population. Dr. Boardman, of Boston, has ascertained the sickness rate of the city of Boston to be about twentyfour days of annual sickness to each individual. The general correctness of these conclusions are further substantiated by army statistics. Dr. Playfair, of England, after careful inquiry, computed the ratio of one death to twenty-eight cases of sickness in a mixed population.

The state of Massachusetts has for many years had a state board of Health, by whom sanitary improvements have been diligently and scien tifically prosecuted, under state authority; and the annual death-rate has thereby been somewhat reduced. In 1870 Massachusetts had a population of 1,457,351 and there were during the same period 25,859 deaths from all causes. A mortality equal to 1.77 per cent of the population. At the same time Missouri had a population of 1,721,295, and there were during that year 27,982 deaths from all causes. A mortality rate equivalent to 1.63 per cent, of the population. It thus appears, if the calculation is made and the relative proportion between the populations and the death rates of the two states maintained, that vital security is greater* in Missouri, as compared with Massachusetts, to an extent represented by the annual saving of 2,474 lives. But this is not all. The authorities on vital statistics estimate that two persons are constantly sick for every one that dies; and Dr. Jarvis shows, from the experience of health-assurance companies in this country, that on an average each person loses from 19 to 20 days per year by sickness. Then we have this result: Two persons sick to one death, equal 4,948, multiplied by 20, gives 98,960 days per year less of sickness in Missouri than in Massachusetts, in proportion to population. Then reckon the amount of care and anxiety and suffering and the loss of time, and cost for nursing and medicines and doctor's bills - and you will begin to get some idea of what these figures really mean, in favor of our state, with its dry, salubrious climate, in comparison with Massachusetts, the only other state for which the figures were at hand to make the comparison.

Agriculture

The Missouri state board of agriculture was created a body corporate by statute, in 1877, and it was provided that the governor, the state superintendent of schools, the president of the state university and the dean of the state agricultural college, should be ex-officio members of the board. The officers of the secretary and treasurer are required to be at the agricultural college, at Columbia, in Boone county; and the annual meetings are to be held there, on the first Wednesday of November in each year. The presidents or duly authorized delegates of county agricultural societies, are rightful members of the state board, "for deliberation and consultation as to the wants, prospects and condition of the agricultural interests of the state, to receive the reports of district and county societies, and to fill by elections all vacancies in the board."

The law further provides that, " It shall be the duty of all agricultural and horticultural societies, organized and established in accordance with the laws of this state, to make a full report of their . transactions to the Missouri state board of agriculture, at each annual- meeting thereof."

The state board is required " to make an annual report to the general assembly of the state, embracing the proceedings of the board for the past year, and an abstract of the reports and proceedings of the several agricultural and horticultural societies, as well as a general view of the condition of agriculture and horticulture throughout the state, accompanied by such recommendations, including especially such a system of public instruction upon those subjects as may be deemed interesting and useful." Provision is then made for printing fourteen thousand copies (two thousand in the German language), for distribution to all who will use them.

Our Staple Crops

First of all the crops grown in the state, in amount and value, is Indian corn. There is not a county in the state in which it is not successfully and profitably grown. The broad alluvial bottoms along our great rivers yield immense crops of this valuable cereal, and our fertile prairies are but little, if any, behind them in their yield.

Next in importance among the cereals is wheat., which grows and yields well in every part of the state. Except in a few northern counties, spring wheat is but little grown, the main attention being bestowed \ipon the winter varieties, which are especially a favorite crop upon the and clay loams, and upon the oak uplands of the state. The well known fact that the best flour to stand transportation and exposure in hot and humid climates, is made from w'heat grown toward the southern border of the wheat zone, has made Missouri flour a favorite for' shipment to South American markets^ . Flour made in Missouri, from Missouri wheat, won the Medal of Merit zt the World's Exposition, at Vienna, in 1873. The average yield and the certainty of the wheat crop in Missouri, give the state a high rank among the states producing this cereal.

Oats grow and yield well in the state, producing heavy straw, plump and heavy grains; but the crop does not figure very largely in our markets, being mainly grown for home consumption.

Tobacco, of two or three varieties, grows well, and Missouri tobacco enjoys a fine reputation for excellence. The state embraces some of the best tobacco lands in the country. It is a staple in nearly every county in the state, and some of the counties make it a leading crop. Missouri ranks sixth in its production.

Cotton, except in small patches- for home use, is raised only' in the southern counties of the state. Stoddard, Scott, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Dunklin, Mississippi and Lawrence, all raise more or less for shipment, and, in some of the counties named, it is an important crop.

Sweet Potatoes grow upon our sandy soils to great size and excellence, and our farm.ers raise a great abundance for home use, and the city markets are always well supplied.

Sorghum, and other varieties of the Chinese sugar cane, are extensively grown, and many' thousands of gallons of syrup are annually made for home use. Recent improvements in manufacturing sugar from these

Broom Corn is extensively grown in Missouri, and the brush being longer and finer than that grown in the eastern states, commands a much better price in market.

Garden Vegetables are produced in great profusion and variety, and the more arid regions of western Kansas and New Mexico, and the mining districts of Colorado, afford an ever-increasing market for these and other agricultural products from our state. Watermelons, muskmelons, etc., grow to great perfection, and are shipped in large quantities from some portions of the state to cities farther north.

The U, S. forestr}'^ statistics of 1875, give Missouri 21,707,220 acres of land in farms; 20,110,786 acres not in farms; of wood land in farms there were 8,965,229 acres, and the total woodlands in the state was reported as 19,623,619 acres.