A New Guide for Emigrants to the West. John Mason Peck

ceded all the country west of the Mississippi, and including New Orleans, to Spain, who held possession till 1803, when it was delivered to the French government under Napoleon, and by him ceded to the United States for 15,000,000 of dollars.

      The English held possession of the military posts, and exercised jurisdiction over the country of Illinois, and the adjacent regions, till 1778, during the revolutionary war; when by a secret expedition, without direct legislative sanction, but by a most enterprising, skilful, and hazardous military manœuvre, the posts of Kaskaskia, Cahokia, Fort Chartres and Vincennes were captured by Gen. George Rogers Clark, with a small force of volunteer Americans, and that portion of the Valley fell under the jurisdiction of Virginia.

      The legislature of Virginia sanctioned the expedition of Clark, which the Executive, Patrick Henry and his council, with Thomas Jefferson, George Wythe, and George Mason, by written instructions, had agreed should be done, and a county called "Illinois" was organized the same year.

      In 1784, Virginia, in conjunction with other states, ceded all claims to the Great West, to the United States, reserving certain tracts for the payment of revolutionary claims. This cession laid the foundation for five new states northwest of Ohio, when each district should have 60,000 inhabitants, and even a less number, by consent of Congress. Two restrictions were peremptorily enjoined—that each state should adopt a constitution with a republican form of government, and that slavery or involuntary servitude, should be forever prohibited.

      It is unnecessary here to enter into details of the settlement of each particular state—the incessant attacks from the Indians—the border wars that ensued—the adventures of Boone and his associates in settling Kentucky—the unfortunate campaigns of Harmar and St. Clair—the victorious one of Wayne—or the reminiscences and events of the war of 1812, and its termination in 1815. Some historical notices of each state may be found in their proper place.

Prospective increase of Population. For a long period, in the states of the west, the increase of population was slow, and retarded by several causes. Difficulties of a formidable character had to be surmounted. The footsteps of the American emigrants were everywhere drenched in blood, shed by infuriated savage foes, and before 1790 more than 5,000 persons had been murdered, or taken captive and lost to the settlements. "It has been estimated, that in the short space of seven years, from 1783 to 1790, more than fifteen hundred of the inhabitants of Kentucky were either massacred or carried away into a captivity worse than death, by the Indians; and an equal number from Western Pennsylvania and Virginia, in the same period, met with a similar fate. The settlers on the frontiers were almost constantly, for a period of forty years, harassed either by actual attacks of the savages, or the daily expectation of them. The tomahawk and the scalping knife, were the objects of their fears by day and by night."[4]

      Hence, in suggesting reasons showing why the population of this Valley must increase in future in a far greater ratio than in the past, it will appear:

      1. That the most perfect security is now enjoyed by all emigrants, both for their families and property.

      By the wise and beneficent arrangement of government, the Indian tribes have nearly all removed to the Territory specially allotted for their occupancy west of Missouri and Arkansas. The grand error committed in past times in relation to the Indians, and which has been the source of incalculable evils to both races, has been the want of definite, fixed and permanent lines of demarcation betwixt them. It will be seen under the proper head, that a system of measures is now in operation that will not only preserve peace between the frontier settlements and the Indian tribes, but that to a great extent, they are becoming initiated into the habits of civilized life. There is now no more danger to the population of these states and territories from Indian depredations, than to the people of the Atlantic states.

      2. The increased facilities of emigration, and the advantage of sure and certain markets for every species of production, furnishes a second reason why population will increase in the western Valley beyond any former period.

      Before the purchase of Louisiana, the western people had no outlet for their produce, and the chief mode of obtaining every description of merchandize—even salt and iron—was by the slow and expensive method of transportation by wagons and pack-horses, across almost impassible mountains and extremely difficult roads. Now, every convenience and luxury of life is carried with comparative ease, to every town and settlement throughout the Valley, and every species of produce is sent off in various directions, to every port on earth if necessary. And these facilities are multiplying and increasing every hour: Turnpike roads, rail roads, canals, and steamboat navigation have already provided such facilities for removing from the Atlantic to the Western States, that no family desirous of removing, need hesitate or make a single inquiry as to facilities of getting to this country.

      3. The facilities of trade and intercourse between the different sections of the Valley, are now superior to most countries on earth, and are increasing every year. And no country on earth admits of such indefinite improvement either by land or water. More than twenty thousand miles of actual steamboat navigation, with several hundred miles of canal navigation, constructed or commenced, attest the truth of this statement. The first steamboat on the western waters was built at Pittsburg in 1811, and not more than seven or eight had been built, when the writer emigrated to this country in 1817. At this period, (January 1836,) there are several hundred boats on the western waters, and some of the largest size. In 1817, about twenty barges, averaging about one hundred tons each, performed the whole commercial business of transporting merchandize from New Orleans to Louisville and Cincinnati. Each performed one trip, going and returning within the year. About 150 keel boats performed the business on the Upper Ohio to Pittsburg. These averaged about 30 tons each, and were employed one month in making the voyage from Louisville to Pittsburg. Three days, or three days and a half is now the usual time occupied by the steam packets between the two places, and from seven to twelve days between Louisville and New Orleans. Four days is the time of passing from the former place to St. Louis.

      4. A fourth reason why population will increase in future in a greater ratio than the past is derived from the increase of population in the Atlantic states, and the greater desire for removal to the west. At the close of the revolutionary war the population of the whole Union but little exceeded two millions. Vast tracts of wilderness then existed in the old states, which have since been subdued, and from whence thousands of enterprising citizens are pressing their way into the Great Valley. Two thirds of the territory of New York, large portions of New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine, an extensive district in middle Pennsylvania, to say nothing of wide regions in the southern states, were comprised in this wilderness. These extensive regions have become populous, and are sending out vast numbers of emigrants to the west. Europe is in commotion, and the emigration to North America, in 1832, reached 200,000, a due proportion of which settle in the Western Valley.

      5. A fifth reason will be founded upon the immense amount of land for the occupancy of an indefinite number of emigrants, much of which will not cost the purchaser over one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. Without giving the extravagant estimates that have been made by many writers of the wide and uninhabitable desert between the Indian Territory west of Missouri and Arkansas, and the Rocky mountains, nor swampy and frozen regions at the heads of the Mississippi river, and around lake Superior, I will merely exhibit the amount of lands admitting of immediate settlement and cultivation, within the boundaries of the new States and organized Territories.

According to the report of the Secretary of the Treasury up to the 30th day of September, 1831, the estimated amount of unsold lands, on which the foreign and Indian titles had been extinguished, within the limits of the new States and Territories, was 227,293,884 acres;—and that the Indian title remained on 113,577,869 acres within the same limits.[5] The Commissioner of the General Land Office in December, 1827, estimated the public domain, beyond the boundaries of the new States and Territories, to be 750 millions of acres. Much of this however, is uninhabitable.

      According to the Report of 1831, there had been granted to Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Alabama for internal Improvements,