OCR Text |
Show 116 OBSERVATIONS Made in a voyage commencing at St. Catharine's landing, on. the east bank of the Mississippi, proceeding downwards to the month of Red riYer, and from thence ascending that river, the Black river, and the \IVashita river, as high as the hot springs in the proximity of the last mentioned river, extracted from the journals of William Dunbar, esquire, and doctor llunler. MR. DUNBAR, doctor Hunter, and the party employed by the United States to make a survey ?f, and explore the co~mtry tra~crsed by the. \yash1t.a river left St. Cathanne's landmg, on the MisSISSippi, in la{itude 31°. 26'. 3(/'. N. and lon gitude 6h. 5'. 56". W . from the 1neridian of Greenwich, on Tuesday the 16th o[ O ctober, 1804. A li1tle distance below St. Catharine's creek, and five leagues fron1. N atches, they pas~ed the \\Thite Cliffs, con1poscd chiefly of sand, surmounted by pine, and frmn one hundred t~ t:vo h undred kct high. \Vhcn the watc.r~ ?f the MlSSlS· sipppi arc low, the b:t~'c of the chft 1s uncovered, which consi~Jts of different coloured clays, and son1c beds of ochre, over which tbc:rc lies, in s?me pL.lces, a thin latnin'l of iron ore. Small spnngs l)os~cssino- a l >etl if\ ino· <1nal it,· flow over the clay and b • b .J • • b ochre, and numerous logs and pieces of t1m cr, c..? n· vcrted into slone, arc srrc"·ed about the beach. lj u~e pnrr at gil of various colors, chiefly ·white and red, IS found here. . On the 17th they arri 'Cd at the mouth of Red nver, the confluence of ~Yhid1 \\'ith the Mississippi, a_grcc~bly to th(· o b!:lc rv:.tioiiS o[ lVI.,r. de Ferrer, lies mlatttude 31 o . 1'. 1 ~,,. N, :.md longitude 611 • 7'. 11". \rest of Greenwich. Heel ri,·er is here about five hundred yard~ "ide, a~1d without 'my sc1~sible. current. The banks of the nver arc clothed \Vlth \\ tllow; the land 117 • low and subject to inundation, to the height of thirty feet or n1ore abo\·e the level of the water at this time. The n1outh of the Reel river is accounted to be se,·cntv five leagues fron1 N cw Orleans, and three miles highc~~ up than the Chafalaya, or Opelousa river, which was probably a continuation of the Red river when its waters did not unite wilh those of the Missi:.,sippi but during the: inundation. On the 18th the survey of the Red river was cmnme~ 1ced, and on the evening of the 19th the party arnved at the mouth of the Black river in latitude 31 °· 15'. 48". N . and about 26 n1iles fr01n' the l\1ississippi. 1'he Heel river derives its nmne fr01n the rich fat earth, or 1narlc, ?f tl~at colour, borne down by tl:e floods; tl~c last of which appeared to hav~ depoSlt~ d on. the ?1gh bank .a stratmn o~· upwards of half an m~h. 111 th1cki1e~s. f he vegetatiOn on its banks is ~~~~·pnsmgly luxun?nt ; .no doubt owing to the deposttwn of 1narle clunng 1ts annual floods. The willows grow to a t?;oocl size ; but other forest trees arc mnch smaller than those seen on the banks of tho ~Vlississippi. ~s Y?U advance up the river, it g radually narrows; 111 latitude 31 o. 08). N . it is about two hundr cl yards " ·ide, which width is continued to the mouth of Black river, where each of them appc~rs one ~lllndrcd and fifty yards across. 'I'hc banks of the nver are covered \Vith pea vine and several sort~ of grass •. bearing seed, " ·hich geese and ducks cut very ~recdtly; and there arc generally seen willows gro"~mg on one side, and on the other a small growth of black oak, paclun\ n, hickory, chn, &c. T'he cnrre~ 1: in ti:e Rc~ river is. so ;11odcrate as scarcely to a flo, d an Impedinlcnt to Its ascent. On sounding the Black river a little above its mouth there \Vas found twenty feet of \rater, with a botton~ of black sand. rfhe water of Black river is rather clearer than that of the Ohio, and of a warm tempe. :atur~, which it IllllY receive fron1 the water flo"·in()' mto It fron1 the valley of the 1\rlississip}Ji, particularly |