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Show XS36- IS37] Flagg's Far West 117 stretching inland from the point heavily wooded, lies the broad and beautiful prairie of the " Mamdles." 80 Directly fronting the confluence stand a range of heights upon the Illinois shore, from the summit of which is spread out, like a painting, one of the most extraordinary views in the world. Tfe^ Mississippi, above its junction with its turbid tributary, is, as has been remarked, a clear, sparkling, beautiful stream; now flashing in silvery brilliance over its white sand- bars, then retreating far into the deep indentations of its shady banks, and again spreading out its waters into a tranquil, lakelike basin miles in extent, studded with islets. The far- famed village of Alton, situated upon the Illinois shore a few miles above the confluence, soon rose before us in the distance. When its multiform declivities shall have been smoothed away by the hand of enterprise and covered with handsome edifices, it will doubtless present a fine appearance [ 89] from the water; as it now remains, its aspect is rugged enough. The Penitentiary, a huge structure of stone, is rather too prominent a feature in die scene. Indeed, it is the first object which strikes the attention, and reminds one of a gray old baronial castle of feudal days diers to St Louis in 1767. Later, these troops were transferred to the south bank of the Missouri, a few miles above its mouth, where " Old Fort St. Charles the Prince " was erected. General Wilkinson built Fort Bellefontaine on this site in 1805. From 1809 to 1815 this was the headquarters of the military department of Louisiana ( including Forts Madison, Massac, Osage, and Vincennes). It was the starting point of the Pike, Long, and Atkinson expeditions. On July zo, 1826, it was abandoned for Jefferson Barracks, but a small arsenal of deposits was maintained here until 1854. The land was eventually sold by the government ( 1836). See Walter B. Douglas's note in Thwaites, Original Journals 0/ the Lewis and Clark Expedition ( New York, 1905), v, pp. 39a, 393.- ED. 19 North of Missouri River, twenty miles above its confluence with the Mississippi, where the bluffs of the two streams unite, two smooth, treeless, grass- covered mounds stand out from the main bluffs. These mounds, a hundred and fifty feet in height, were called by the early French " mamelles " from their fancied resemblance to the human breast.- ED. |