MISSOURI TERRITORY, a tract of country belonging to the United States, which is bounded on the north by the British possessions, on the east by the North-west Territory, Illinois and Missouri, on the south and south-west by the territories of the Mexican republic, and on the west by the Rocky Mountains. It is 900 miles in length by 800 in breadth. The belt of land on the western bank of the Mississippi, which is partially wooded, is generally from 200 to 400 in breadth. Then commence the vast prairies which constitute so striking and impressive a feature in the immense country stretching beyond the Mississippi and the Missouri. It is for the most part a plain, more or less covered with grass, and in many places fertile; but in others it presents only an ocean of moving sand. Countless multitudes of buffaloes, elk, and other wild animals, graze upon it. The principal sources of the Missouri, Arkansas, and Red River, are found in this territory; and several large branches of the Mississippi, above the Missouri, come from the north-western part of the same vast country. Of the Rocky Mountains, which are as yet but imperfectly known, Mr. Flint, in his Geography of America, gives the following account.
"The Rocky Mountains commence in the unexplored regions to the north-west of the United States, and, ranging across the sources of the Missouri, the Roche Jaune, Platte, Arkansas, and Red River, in the Mexican states of Texas and Coahuila, they diverge and unite with the ranges of Mexican mountains. They separate the waters of the great tributaries of the Mississippi from those that fall into the Columbia or Multnomah, the great lake of Buenaventura, and other waters of the Pacific. They
have a far greater extent than the Alleghany Mountains, are of a wider range, and for the most part run, like them, in parallel ridges, though generally more ragged, detached, and broken, and are by no means so regular. They are also of a character decidedly more primitive. Their black, precipitous, and frowning appearance has probably given them the name of the Rocky Mountains. Their bases have an elevation of between 3000 and 4000 feet above the level of the sea. James's or Pike's Mountain has been given as about 12,000 feet in height. As this vast range of mountains is as yet but very imperfectly known, there is little reason to doubt that many of the peaks, when more fully explored and more accurately measured, will be found to approach much nearer in height to the highest ranges in Mexico than has been commonly supposed. Most of the more elevated summits are above the limit of perpetual congelation. In one respect they resemble the Alleghanies. In numerous places the waters that run into the Pacific rise near those that fall into the tributaries of the Mississippi. Thus has nature kindly provided points of easy transit from the eastern to the western side of these frowning and apparently impassable barriers of nature. By communications of unquestionable veracity, from persons engaged in the Missouri Fur Company, we learn that, following up the valleys of the sources of the Platte to the opposite valleys of waters that fall into the Great Lake of Buenaventura, on the other side, a good road was found, and easily passable by loaded waggons. "This vast inland sea is one hundred miles in length by from sixty to eighty in breadth, and its waters are much saltier than those of the ocean."
There are other ranges of mountains, which traverse different parts of this territory; as the Black Hills, the Ozark Mountains, the Masserne, and others. There are also fertile belts of land on the margins of most of the rivers, and some of them have a great extent of rich country. As we recede from the rivers, the soil becomes poor, and extensive deserts are found in the southern regions. In such a vast extent of level country, naked and open, the climate must of course in a great measure depend upon latitude. Immediately beyond the state of Missouri and the Arkansas territory, the climate is mild and temperate; but it gradually becomes similar to that of Canada. There are very few settlements of whites in this vast country, and none so considerable as to have any established government. At Council Bluffs there is a military post, having one regiment of infantry. Many tribes of Indians still possess vast tracts of country. The Sioux are the most numerous; and the whole number has been estimated at about 140,000.