appear. His want of learning and sense probably helped out the delusion he has practised so extensively, and aided him in making the impression that he was inspired. He has convinced his followers that he can converse in "unknown tongues." As he made horrible butchery of the English, it was fair to suppose he could speak some language; and the opinion that beasts and birds converse, has gained currency to some extent. In the prosecution of his scheme of reform, to enable him to "remove the deposites" from the pockets of his dupes to his own, in conjunction with two or three confederates, he professed to have found in the earth a book with golden leaves. This book, leaf by leaf, Joe Smith, by aid of inspiration, read to a friend," who held the pen of a ready writer," and it was written out in dull, drawling, oriental style. The reader could only translate and read these golden tablets with the aid of a pair of marble spectacles, strapped to his head with thongs of leather; and this part of the solemn farce was performed in a closet, from which much of the light of heaven was excluded. Mystery is always imposing; and that which is incomprehensible commands the homage of all those who delight in the marvellous. The novelty of miracles sometimes induces us to help the impostor in his efforts to cheat us into a belief in impossibilities. The same corrupt taste assembles crowds around a calf with two heads, and leads to the foot of the gallows, on great "hanging festivals," thousands who might be more profitably employed at home. As Joe Smith had not quite mind enough to be amused with any thing he saw or heard in this world, it was easy for him to look grave; gravity, being an illegitimate half-brother of wisdom, enabled this prophet of Mormon to pass for a sage or a seer, when he was only an impostor and a nincumpoop. Joe had heard, or he had dreamed, that the world was governed by women, sometimes directly, but, where the Salique-law was in force, by indirect means. He therefore began the explanation of his solemn mysteries to the fair daughters of Eve, who look with peculiar pleasure on golden pages. It should be here remarked, that this book, which is a translation, if we may believe Joe, is the most ridiculous farrago of nonsense that, in the press, ever disheartened a printer's devil

in the senseless expenditure of ink. There is not a sentence in it that has point or meaning, or can be made to reach the understanding of any human being, except the reader may have the advantage of being a knave or a fool. The expounders of this Mormon bible have, by much preaching, persuaded a large amount of folly and ignorance to believe, that some city of Zion was to be erected somewhere, and the leaders have determined ☛ that in Jackson county a spot is indicated to them by supernatural agency. To this county, then, this mass of human corruption was moving to an alarming extent, when, in self-defence, the good citizens of Jackson put in execution the good old law, and scattered them abroad into the neighbouring counties. But as good and wise communities rise out of the ashes of martyrdom, so the Mormons have added to their numbers and increased their consequence by the persecutions that they claim to have suffered; and they are supposed to be returning to the charge with the added strength of many recruits, guns, trumpets, &c. Looking calmly on the practices of folly and villany, and the success that uniformly attends the most extravagant pretensions, we should not feel any surprise to find a leader numerously followed, the prominent tenets of whose sect commanded the members to eat raw flesh and walk on "all fours." As an instance of human delusion, reference may be made to the success of the impostor Matthias, whose long beard and white wand led astray rich, well-educated people. We might exclaim with my maiden aunt Abigail, "The Lord deliver us from whiskers of every cut and fashion!"

A large proportion of Jackson is a timbered country, in which the usual varieties of forest-trees are found, with the exception of blue ash and white walnut. The county is likewise well watered, having many springs and small branches; but the Big and Little Blue rivers are streams of great value. These have many mill-sites, and the little branches, tributaries of the Blues, are happily distributed throughout the county for the use of stockraisers. About eight miles eastwardly from the seat of justice of Jackson, at the ford of Little Blue, the Messrs. John, James, and Robert Aulls have erected a saw-mill and merchant flour-mill of '

superior workmanship, and at great cost. The investment is likely to yield a fair remuneration to the proprietors, and the country around will derive singular advantages from this liberal expenditure in a hazardous enterprise, which few would have ventured to undertake. Major Cummings has also completed a valuable merchant-mill on Big Blue river. Besides these, there are three common water-mills in Jackson.

INDEPENDENCE is the seat of justice for Jackson county, and is a flourishing village. The regular and healthy growth of this place presents strong evidence of the great value of the country around it, as well as its suitable location, with a view to the trade of the farming population. It was here that the Mormons had determined to build their Zion, and wall it in. "The storehouse of the Lord" was actually erected in Independence, and the devotees were beginning to go the whole hog, in order to fill it with critter comforts in the form of joints, and middlings, and sacks of corn, &c. But the Lord waxed wroth with the Mormons, for they had communed with the men-servants and the maid-servants of the people in whose land they were sojourning, seducing them from the obedience and the duty they owed to those who gave them food and raiment; and the Jacksonites, and the Old Dominionites, and the Tennesseeites, and Kentuckites, lifted up their hands and their voices with one accord, and exclaimed, "Depart, ye cursed, to the uttermost parts of the earth, or we'll row you up Salt river!" Independence has become the point of departure for the Santa Fé traders, and at this place much material for the outfit of the caravans is obtained. Here, likewise, the return trading-companies obtain supplies, when coming into port from a sea of prairie. The traders and their hands generally reach Independence destitute of every thing in the list of food and clothing. The necessities of these people bring to this frontier town singular advantages, in a wide range of cash transactions.

FORT OSAGE, formerly a frontier military post, was dismantled many years ago. The United States factory was located here. It was a point where the Osages and Kanzas resorted to trade, when the United States bartered powder, traps, and scalping

knives for furs and peltries with her red children. The site is now the property of Mr. Archibald Gamble, who has laid off a town, to which he has given the name of SIBLEY. The gentleman whose name is given to this town-site was the United States factor for Indian trade there, and whose hospitable mansion and amiable family, at an early period, robbed the wilderness of its terrors and crude aspect, and imposed agreeable surprise on the weary and necessitous traveller. The early setlers around this post must bear in grateful remembrance the charitable aid afforded by the fair hand of Mrs. Sibley, when the chilling sensation of an autumnal disease there preyed upon the illtuned organs of the human system. The settlement and cultivation of the country have everywhere improved the health of the inhabitants; and the well-peopled region of country round about the new town of Sibley is so rich and valuable, that it must contribute to the natural advantages of the high and beautiful site, and make it a place of business. It has already been made a point of landing for Santa Fe goods, and it will probably share largely in the increasing advantages of that trade. The landing and harbour of Sibley are excellent, made so by the eddy-water at the base of the bluff.

Limestone in great masses is found in various places in Jackson; and the lost stone abounds there likewise. The timber of the county is black walnut, hickory, sugar-tree, coffee-bean, hackberry, cottonwood, elm, &c.

Farming products are wheat, corn, oats, grass, and, in some instances, the farmers are cultivating hemp and tobacco, to which the soil of Jackson is well adapted. Mules, cattle, horses, and hogs are raised in this county, and many of the farmers have the advantage of a few sheep, which are the beginning of much greater flocks, that they will find it their interest hereafter to raise.

LIVINGSTON. This position, which is happily chosen for a town-site, is likely to become the landing of Jackson county, and for the town of Independence, its seat of justice. The place has been recently surveyed and laid off into lots; and these will be brought into market when time has been given for those

who may feel desirous to make business locations there to examine the spot. The site is high and healthy, and commands a view of the river above and below, for a distance of five miles in each direction. It is near the centre of the eastern and river boundary of Jackson county. Livingston is backed by a country of great fertility, now in a high state of cultivation, and this is a convenient landing for merchandise designed for the Santa Fé market. Timber is abundant and excellent in the vicinity of this place, and there is a merchant-mill and saw-mill within three miles, on Little Blue river. A continuous ridge extends from the town-site to Independence. The landing is good at all stages of water. Governor Boggs, of Missouri, is one of the proprietors of this property.

JEFFERSON COUNTY boundaries "begin at the southeast corner of St. Louis county; thence with the southern boundary thereof to the line between two and three east; thence south to the northwest corner of township forty-two, range three east; thence direct to the northeast corner of Washington county; thence with the Washington county line to the southern corner of section fifteen, township thirty-eight north, range four east; thence direct to the southeast corner of township thirty-nine north, range five east; thence direct to the southeast corner of section twentythree, township thirty-eight, range six, until it intersects the north fork of the Isle au Bois Creek; thence down said creek to the Mississippi river; thence up the same to the beginning."

"The banks of the Mississippi in this county are in many places high and rocky. Some of them have an elevation of two or three hundred feet, and are so disposed as, on a distant view, to exhibit the appearance of artificial towers. They are solid masses of limestone, deposited in horizontal strata. In the northern and eastern parts of the county the surface is generally level; in the western it is rough and hilly. A prolific soil characterizes the former, whereas the latter is comparatively steril. The principal farming districts are on the banks of the Plattin, Joachim, and Sandy Creeks. The southern shores of the Merrimac, and the eastern banks of Big river, also afford good land."*

* Schoolcraft's View of the Lead-mines of Missouri.

582286