from the shores of Lake Superior. At the mouth of the Wisconsin they entered the Mississippi, and extended their voyage to the mouth of the Arkansas. Their account is the first which gave to the world any accurate knowledge of the great. valley of the Mississippi river. Their perilous voyage was made in the summer of 1673. The account was read with avidity by the missionaries and others about Lake Superior, and soon after a young Frenchman named La Salle set out with a view of adding further information in relation to the wonderful valley of the great river. His expedition was followed by other voyages of exploration on western rivers, but the narratives of the explorers are mostly lost, so that very little of interest remains from the voyage of La Salle to the latter part of the eighteenth century, when the French, then holding Fort Du Quesne, contemplated the establishment of a line of forts which would enable them to retain possession of the vast territory northwest of the Ohio river. Regular navigation of the Ohio and Mississippi, however, was not attempted until after the Revolution, when the United States had assumed control of the western waters. Trade with New Orleans did not begin until near the close of the century. A few flat boats were employed in the trade between Pittsburg and the new settlements along the Ohio river. The settlement of Kentucky gradually increased the trade on the Ohio, and caused a demand for increased facilities for convey: ance of freight. Boatmen soon found it profitable to extend their voyages to the Spanish settlements in the South. Freight and passengers were conveyed in a species of boat which was sometimes called a barge, or bargee by the French. It was usually from 75 to 100 feet long, with breadth of beamn from 15 to 20 feet, and a capacity of 60 to 100 tons. The freight was received in a large covered coffer, occupying a portion of the hulk. Near the stern was an apartment six or eight feet in length, called "the cabin", where the captain and other officials of the boat quartered at night. The helmsman was stationed upon an elevation above the level of the deck. The barge usually carried one or two masts. A large square sail forward, when the wind was favorable, sometimes much relieved the hands. The work of propelling the barges usually required about fifty men to each boat. There were several modes of propelling the barges. At times all were engaged in rowing, which was often a waste of labor on such a stream as the Mississippi. Sometimes the navigators resorted to the use of the cordelle, a strong rope or hawser, attached to the barge, and carried along the shore or beach on the shoulders of the crew. In some places this method was impracticable on account of obstructions along the shores. Then what was known as the "warping" process was resorted to. A coil of rope was sent out in the yawl, and fastented to a tree on the shore, or a "snag" in the river. While the hands on board were pulling up to this point, another coil was carried further ahead, and the "warping" process repeated. Sometimes it was expedient to use setting poles, but this method was used chiefly in the Ohio. During a period of about twenty-five years, up to 1811, the mode of conveyance on our western rivers was by flat-boats and barges. It required three or four months to make a trip from Pittsburg to New Orleans. Passengers between these points were charged from $125 to $150, and freight ranged from $5 to $7 per 100 pounds. It cannot be supposed that under such circumstances, the commerce of the West was very extensive.

Previous to the introduction of steamers on western waters, attempts were made to use brigs and schooners. In 1803 several ships were built on the Ohio, and in 1805 the ship "Scott" was built on the Kentucky river, and

in the fall of that year made her first trip to the falls of the Ohio. While there two other vessels, built by Berthone & Co., arrived. All of them were coinpelled to remain three months, awaiting a sufficient rise in the river to carry them over the falls. In 1807 Mr. Dean built and launched a vessel at Pittsburg. This vessel made a trip to Leghorn, and when making her entry at the custom house there, her papers were objected to on the ground that no such port as Pittsburg existed in the United States. The captain called the attention of the officer to the Mississippi river, traced it to its confluence with the Ohio, thence following the latter stream past Cincinnati and Marietta, to the new city in the wilderness, more than two thousand miles by water from the Gulf of Mexico! All these vessels were found inadequate for the purpose of trading on the western rivers, and were soon abandoned. They could not stem the current of the Mississippi. They were transferred to the gulf, and the commerce of the rivers was abandoned to Mike Fink and his followers, remaining with them until 1811. In this year Fulton and Livingston opened a ship-yard at Pittsburg, and built the small propeller "Orleans", which was also furnished with two masts. She was a boat of one hundred tons burthen, and the first steamer that was launched on western waters. In the winter of 1812 she made her first trip to New Orleans in fourteen days. As she passed down the river, the settlers lined the banks, and the greatest excitement prevailed. The flat-boatmen said she never could stem the current on her upward trip. After her first trip, the "Orleans" engaged in the Natchez and New Orleans trade, and paid her owners a handsome profit on their investment. The next steamer was the "Comet", and she was built by D. French. She carried but twenty-five tons, and made her first trip to New Orleans in the spring of 1814. Soon after she was taken to pieces, and her engine used in a cotton factory. The "Vesuvius", of 48 tons burthen, was launched at Fulton's ship-yard in the spring of 1814, made a trip to New Orleans, and on her return was grounded on a sand bar, where she remained until the next December. This boat remained on the river until 1819, when she was condemned. The "Enterprise" was the fourth steamboat, and was built by Mr. French, who built the "Comet." The "Enterprise" carried seventy-five tons, and made her first trip to New Orleans in the summer of 1814. When she arrived at her destination she was pressed into the service of the army, under Gen. Jackson, then at New Orleans. She was very efficient in carrying troops and army supplies from the city to the seat of war, a few miles below. During the battle of the 8th of January she was busily engaged in supplying the wants of Jackson's army. On the 5th of May following she left New Orleans, and arrived at Louisville in twenty-five days.

In 1816 Captain Henry Shreve built the "Washington" with many improvements in construction. The boilers, which had hitherto been placed in the hold, were changed by Captain Shreve to the deck. In September, 1816, the "Washington" successfully passed the falls of the Ohio, made her trip to New Orleans, and returned in November to Louisville. On the 12th of March, 1817, she departed on her second trip to New Orleans, the ice then running in the Ohio slightly retarding her progress. She made the trip successfully, and returned to the foot of the falls in forty-one days-the upward trip being made in twenty-five days. By this time it was generally conceded by the flat-boatmen that Fitch and Fulton were not visionary fools, but men of genius, and that their inventions could be turned to immense advantage on the rivers of the West. Steamboats from this time on rapidly

multiplied, and the occupation of the old flat-boatmen began to pass away On Captain Shreve's return to Louisville the citizens gave him a public re ception. Toasts and speeches were made, and the "Washington " declared to be the herald of a new era in the West. Captain Shreve in his speech asserted that the time would come when the trip to New Orleans would be made in ten days. His prediction was more than verified, for as early as 1853, the trip was made in four days and nine hours.

While these festivities were going on in Louisville, the "General Pike" was stemming the current of the Mississippi for a new port in steamboat navigation. With a heavy load of freight and passengers she left New Orleans for St. Louis. On her arrival at the latter city several thousand people greeted her as she slowly approached the landing.

Steam navigation commenced on the Missouri in 1819, the first boat being the "Independent", commanded by Captain Nelson. She ascended as far as Chariton and Franklin, at which points she received a cargo of furs and buffalo hides, and returned with them to St. Louis.

In 1816 Fort Armstrong was erected at the lower end of Rock Island. On the 10th of May of this year Col. Lawrence, with the Eighth Regiment and a company of riflemen, arrived here in keel boats. Col. George Davenport

resided near the fort and supplied the troops with provisions, and also engaged in trading with the Indians. Most of his goods were brought from “Mackinaw" through Green Bay, thence up Fox river to the "Portage", where they were packed across to the Wisconsin river, and carried down the Mississippi in what were called "Mackinaw Boats." The navigation of the upper Mississippi was confined to keel-boats until 1823, when the first steamboat-the "Virginia"-from Wheeling ascended with provisions to Prairie du Chien. This boat was three or four days in passing the rapids at Rock Island. After this, up to 1827, steamboats continued to ascend the upper Mississippi occasionally with troops and military stores. In this year Capt. James May, of the steamboat "Shamrock", made the first voyage with her from Pittsburg to Galena. This was the first general business trip ever made on the upper Mississippi by a steamboat. Capt. May continued as master of a steamboat on this part of the river until 1834.

The first navigation of any considerable portion of the Missouri river was that of Captains Lewis and Clarke, when in 1804 they ascended that river in keel-boats, or barges, from its mouth almost to its source. Of late years

steamboats have navigated it regularly to Fort Benton. Steamboat navigation has also been employed on many of the smaller rivers of the West, including the Des Moines and Cedar rivers in Iowa. The introduction of railroads has superseded the necessity of depending upon the uncertain navigation of the smaller rivers for carrying purposes. The great water-courses, however, will doubtless always remain the indispensible commercial highways of the nation.

ARCHEOLOGY OF THE NORTHWEST.

Ancient Works-Conjectures - Works of the Mound Builders in Ohio - Different forms and Classes-Mounds at Gallipolis, Marietta, and Chillicothe-Relics Found-Ancient Fortifications at Circleville and Other Places-Pre-historic Remains in Other States-In IowaExcavation of Mounds-Elongated and Round Mounds-Their Antiquity-Who were the Mound Builders?

SCATTERED all over the great Northwest are the remains of the works of an

ancient people, who must have been infinitely more advanced in the arts than the Indian tribes who inhabited the country at the time of the advent of the European. The question as to whether the Indians are the descendants of that people, the Mound Builders, is a subject of antiquarian speculation. One thing, however, is certain, that a people once inhabited all this vast region who possessed some considerable knowledge of the arts and even the sciences; a people of whom the Indians possessed no knowledge, but whose works have survived the mutations of hundreds, and perhaps thous ands of years, to attest that they lived, and acted, and passed away. There have been various conjectures of the learned concerning the time when, by what people, and even for what purpose, these monuments of human ingenuity were erected. Their origin is deeply involved in the obscurity of remote antiquity. Neither history, nor authentic tradition, afford any light by which to conduct inquiries concerning them, and it is probable that no certainty upon the subject will ever be attained. Brief mention of some of these ancient works cannot fail to interest the reader. They are found distributed over the country generally from the Alleghany Mountains to the Rocky Mountains. They are more numerous and more remarkable, however, in some parts of the country than in others.

Some of the most remarkable fortifications in Ohio are at Worthington, Granville, Athens, Marietta, Gallipolis, Chillicothe, and Circleville; also, on Paint Creek, 18 miles northwest of Chillicothe, and on a plain three miles northeast of the last named city. In some localities there are both mounds and fortifications, while in others there are mounds only. The mounds vary in magnitude, and also somewhat in shape. Some are conical, ending sharply at the summit, and as steep on the sides as the earth could be made to lie. Others are of the same form, except that they present a flat area on the top, like a cone cut off at some distance from its vortex, in a plane coincident with its base, or with the horizon. Others again, are of a semi-globular shape. Of this description was that standing in Gallipolis. The largest one near Worthington is of the second kind, and presents on the summit a level area of forty feet in diameter. There is one at Marietta of this kind, but the area on top does not exceed twenty feet in diameter. Its perpendic ular height is about fifty feet, and its circumference at the base twenty rods. Those in Worthington and Gallipolis are each from fifteen to twenty feet in circumference at their bases. A large mound once stood in the heart of the city of Chillicothe, but was leveled forty or fifty years ago to make room for the erection of a block of buildings, and in its destruction a number of relics were exhumed. Several smaller mounds were located in the same vicinity. They are found scattered in profusion in the vallies of the Miamis, Scioto, Hocking and Muskingum rivers, as well as south of the Ohio river. of the largest is near the Ohio river, 14 miles below Wheeling. This is about 33 rods in circumference, and consequently between ten and eleven rods in diameter at its base. Its perpendicular height is about seventy feet. On the summit is an area of nearly sixty feet in diameter, in the middle of which is a regular cavity, the cubical content of which is about 3,000 feet. Within a short distance of this mound are five smaller ones, some of which are thirty feet in diameter. Some of the mounds mentioned, and others not referred to, have been excavated, either by the antiquarian or in the construction of public works, and in most of them human bones have been discovered. Most of these bones crumble in pieces or resolve into dust shortly after being exposed to the air; except in some instances, wherein the teeth,

One