St. Louis must, at some future period, become decidedly the most important town in the western country, from its local and relative situation.  It is seated on the most favourable point below the mouths of two noble rivers, the Missouri and the Illinois,[5] having at its back an immense tract of fertile country, and open and easy communication with the finest parts of the western and north-western territories.  These advantages, added to the constant and uninterrupted intercourse which it enjoys with the southern ports, must ultimately make St. Louis a town of wealth and magnitude.

We visited General Clarke’s museum, which chiefly contains Indian costumes and implements of war, with some minerals and fossils, a portion of which he collected while on the expedition to the Rocky mountains with Lewis; and also, two sods of good black turf, from the bogs of Allen, in Ireland.  A sight which was quite exhilarating, and reminded me so strongly of the fine odour which exhales from the products of illicit distillation, that guagers and potteen, like the phantoms of hallucination, were presenting themselves continually to my imagination for the remainder of that day.

General Clarke is a tall, robust, grey-headed old man, with beetle-brows, and uncouthly aspect:  his countenance is expressive of anything but intelligence; and his celebrity is said to have been gained principally by his having been the companion of Lewis to the Rocky mountains.

The country around St. Louis is principally prairie, and the soil luxuriant.  There are many excellent farms, and some fine herds of cattle, in the neighbourhood:  yet the supply of produce seems to be insufficient, as considerable quantities are imported annually from Louisville and Cincinnati.  The principal lots of ground in and near the town are at the disposal of some five or six individuals, who, having thus created a monopoly, keep up the price.  This, added to the little inducement held out to farming people in a slave state, where no man can work himself without losing caste, has mainly contributed to retard the increase of population and prosperity in the neighbourhood of St. Louis.

There are two fur companies established here.  The expeditions depart early in spring, and generally return late in autumn.  This trade is very profitable.  A person who is at present at the head of one of those companies, was five years ago a bankrupt, and is now considered wealthy.  He bears the character of being a regular Yankee; and if the never giving a direct answer to a plain question constitutes a Yankee, he is one most decidedly.  We had some intention of crossing to Santa Fe, in New Mexico, and we accordingly waited on him for the purpose of making some inquiries relative to the departure of the caravans; but to any of the plain questions we asked, we could not get a satisfactory answer,—­at length, becoming tired of hedge-fighting, we departed, with quite as much information as we had before the interview.