The next day I was early on my way; and I soon began to discover, in the face of the country, evidences of its metalliferous character. Twelve miles brought me to the valley of Grand or Big river, one of the principal tributaries of the Maramec. In descending the high grounds, I observed numerous specimens of the brown oxide of iron; and after crossing the ferry, the mineral locally called mineral blossom, (radiated quartz,) of which I had noticed slight traces before, developed itself in fine specimens. The first mining village I came to, bore the name of Shibboleth. At this place there was a smelting furnace, of the kind called a log-furnace. Here I first saw heaps of the ore of lead commonly found. It is the sulphuret, of a broad glittering grain, and cubical fracture. It is readily smelted, being piled on logs of equal length, and adjusted in the before-named furnace, where it is roasted till the sulphur is driven off; when desulphurated, it melts, and the metal is received on an inclined plane and conducted into an orifice, from which it is ladled into moulds. From fifty to sixty per cent, is obtained in this way. Shibboleth is the property of John Smith T.; a man whose saturnine temper and disposition have brought him into collision with many persons, and given him a wide-spread notoriety both in Missouri and Tennessee.
I lingered along so leisurely, and stopped so often to examine objects by the way, that my progress was not rapid. I obtained some corn-bread and milk at a house, and pursued my journey to Old Mines, where a heavy storm of rain arose. I took shelter at a neighboring house, where I remained during the night. The next morning I walked into Potosi, and took lodgings at Mr. William Ficklin's. This gentleman was a native of Kentucky, where most of his life had been passed in the perils and adventures attending the early settlement of that State. His conversation was replete with anecdotes of perilous adventures which he had experienced; and I was indebted to him for some necessary practical points of knowledge in forest life, and precautions in travelling in an Indian country.
The day after my arrival was a local election day, for a representative from the county in the territorial legislature, to which Mr. Austin the younger was returned. This brought together the principal mining and agricultural gentlemen of the region, and was a circumstance of some advantage to me, in extending my acquaintance, and making known the objects of my visit. In this, the Austins, father and son, were most kind and obliging. Indeed, the spirit with which I was received by the landed proprietors of the country generally, and the frankness and urbanity of their manners and sentiments, inspired me with high hopes of success in making a mineralogical survey of the country.