Western Scenes and Reminiscences: Together With Thrilling Legends and Traditions of the Red Men of the Forest, to Which Is Added Several Narratives of Adventures Among the Indians (Classic Reprint)

Missis sippi valley, with the view of exploring its then but imperfectly known features, geographical and geological. Twenty-two years of this period hnve elapsed since i entered on the duties of an Executive A gent for the United States Government in its higher northern latitudes among the In dian tribes in the west. Having devoted so large a portion of my life man active sphere, in which the intervals of travel left me favourable opportunities of pursuing the languages and history of this branch of the race, it appears to be a just expectation, that, in sitting down to give some account of this people, there should be some preliminary remarks, to apprise the reader how and why it is, that his attention is recalled to a topic which he may have supposed to be well nigh exhausted. This it is pro posed to do by some brief personal reminiscences, beginning at the time above alluded to. The year 1814 constituted a crisis, not only in our political history, but also in our commercial, manufacturing, and industrial interests. The treaty of Ghent, which put a period to the war with England, was a blessing to many individuals and classes in A merica: but, in its conse quences, it had no small share of the effects of a curse upon that class of citizens who were engaged in certain branches of manufactures. It was a peculiarity of the crisis, that these persons had been stimulated by double motives, to invest their capital and skill in the perfecting and establishment of the manufactories referred to, by the actual wants of the country and the high prices of the foreign articles. No pains and no cost had been spared, by many of them, to supply this demand ;and it was another result of the times, that no sooner had they got well established, and were in the high road of prosperity than the peace came and plunged them headlong from the pinnacle of success. This blow fell
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)