Public Lands. From this statement it appears, that the debt in the course of the two last years has nearly doubled, and it must continue to increase, not only in proportion to the increase of sales, but from an accumulation of arrears arising from failure in punctuality of payment. By a letter and statement received from the Secretary of the Treasury, and which are hereunto annexed, and to be considered as part of this report, it appears that there was due on the 1st day of January last, on account of purchases made prior to the first day of January, 1801, upwards of $229,000, which, according to law, must be paid in the course of the present year, or the lands be exposed to sale. This sum, as appears by the Secretary's letter, is due from three hundred and nine persons. Although no sales have yet taken place, there is no doubt but some must be made, or the lands revert to the United States, if the law is rigidly executed. A very large proportion of the debtors whose lands are thus to be sold, or to revert, in the course of the present year, are no doubt inhabitants of the State of Ohio. It appears doubtful whether under these circumstances an attempt to sell would be attended with success. Judging from what has happened in similar cases in other States, a strong presumption arises, that a sale of the lands cannot be effected so as to raise the money. Few men are willing to incur the resentment of their neighbors by bidding for their property at public vendue, even when other neighbors are the creditors; and when the public is concerned, scarcely a man will be found hardy enough to do it. The lands will, therefore, in many instances revert to the Government, encumbered by the occupancy of a tenant, who ought to be evicted before another sale should be made. It might be added, that few strangers would run the risk of bidding for property at a vendue, when the united interest of the whole neighborhood was opposed to the sale. Should this, on experience, prove to be the case, and the increase of the number of debtors bear any proportion to the increase of debt, as under the temptation held out by the present system of credit it no doubt will, there is reason to apprehend, that in a few years more there will be serious cause of alarm, not only on account of the debt due, but even from the lands which may remain unsold in that section of the Union. Strongly impressed as the committee are with this opinion, and believing, as they do, for the reasons assigned by the Secretary of the Treasury in his letter herewith submitted, that, in abolishing the credit given by the present system, and hereafter selling the public lands for ready money only, the actual receipts into the Treasury from this source would be very little, if at all reduced, and the revenue of course but little affected, they feel themselves constrained to adopt the opinion that it would be expedient to abolish the present system. In expressing this opinion, the Committee feel some diffidence. The present system was adopted on mature deliberation, so far has succeeded very well in its operation; but, by the accumulation of debts, the evils which were dreaded, now begin to unfold themselves, and certainly wear an unpleasant aspect. It is not believed that the proposed change of system will operate any serious inconvenience to persons whose circumstances furnish them any prospect of becoming purchasers. The small tracts in which the lands are now offered for sale, place them in the reach of every person who emigrates to that country with a view of purchasing; and unless the price should be greatly reduced, moneyed capitalists will not be induced to engage in that extensive speculation in land, which some years since prevailed so generally in every part of the country, and from which so many mischiefs have resulted. The committee, on a full consideration of the subject, are induced respectfully to submit the following resolution: Resolved, That it is expedient to repeal all such parts of the laws respecting the sale of the public lands, as authorize a credit on any part of the purchase money. [The following letter, from the Secretary of the Treasury accompanies the above report.] TREASURY DEPARTMENT, Mar. 28, 1806. SIR: I had the honor to receive your letter of yesterday, requesting such information as may be connected with the proposition to repeal so much of the existing laws as authorizes a credit on any part of the purchase money of the public lands. It will be seen by recurrence to the report made by this Department, on the 10th December, 1805, (statements G and C,) that the balance due by purchasers of public lands, in the State of Ohio, amounted, exclusively of interest, on the 1st October, 1803, to 1st October, 1804, to - $1,092,390 1,434,212 2,094,305 1st October, 1805, to The debt has, therefore, been increased one million of dollars, or nearly doubled in two years; and it will every year be augmented, not only in proportion to the increase of sales, but also on account of the accumulation of arrears which may not be punctually paid. It also appears, by the enclosed statement, that the sum due on the 1st of January last, for purchases made prior to the year 1805, and which ought to have been discharged before the end of the year 1805, is, exclusively of interest, $207,409 82. The interest due on that sum is estimated at about $22,000; the number of persons by whom it is due, is three hundred and nine; and it is estimated that the sum, including interest, which is due by persons who have paid only the first instalment, is - $166,000 By persons who have paid the two first instalments 28,000 Expedition of Lewis and Clarke. less injurious than a continuation of the present 35,000 mode. - $229,000 In every case where those arrears will not be paid at the end of five years from the date of the purchase, (which, for the above sum, will be at various dates, but all in the course of this year) the land will, according to law, be sold or revert to the United States; but there is little danger of that contingency taking place in cases where the two or three first instalments have already been paid. The revenue will not be affected by the change; for, although a less quantity of lands will be sold, the actual receipts will continue to be in propor tion to the existing means of payment; for such is the demand for the public lands, that the sales are limited only by the resources of the inhabitants and emigrants. I will only add, that if credits shall not be allowed hereafter, some indulgence, in point of time, may be given to those former purchasers, whose lands will otherwise be sold during the course of this year, on account of their not having completed the payments within five years of the time of purchase. Should the present system be continued, a more rigid enforcement of the law will be necessary. I have the honor to be, &c. ALBERT GALLATIN. Hon. ANDREW GREGG, Chairman, &c. EXPEDITION OF LEWIS AND CLARKE. [Communicated to Congress, February 19, 1806.] To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: I feel no hesitation in repeating the opinion which was expressed two years ago, to a committee of the House, that sales for cash only would in every respect be preferable to the present mode. Although no symptoms of that kind have yet appeared, the accumulation of a debt of $2,000,000, In pursuance of a measure proposed to Condue by more than two thousand heads of families, gress by a Message of January 18th, one thousand and which is every day increasing in amount, and eight hundred and three, and sanctioned by their extending to a greater number of persons, may approbation for carrying it into execution, Capultimately create in that section of the Union a tain Meriwether Lewis, of the first regiment of powerful interest, hostile to the Federal Govern-infantry, was appointed, with a party of men, to ment, and which would endanger both the out- explore the river Missouri, from its mouth to its standing debt and the lands unsold. source, and, crossing the highlands by the shortest portage, to seek the best water communication thence to the Pacific ocean, and Lieutenant Clarke was appointed second in command. They were to enter into conference with the Indian nations on their route, with a view to the establishment of commerce with them. They entered the Missouri May fourteenth, one thousand eight hunNor is it believed that the measure will ulti-dred and four, and on the first of November took mately be injurious to the persons who become up their winter quarters near the Mandan towns, purchasers. Although some may thereby be pre- 1,609 miles above the mouth of the river, in lativented from purchasing, the number of actual tude 47° 21′ 47′′ north, and longitude 99° 24′ 45′′ delinquents shows that the credit allowed often west from Greenwich. On the eighth of April, induces individuals to make purchases beyond one thousand eight hundred and five, they protheir means, and not less prejudicial to themselves ceeded up the river in pursuance of the objects than to the public. It must also be observed, that, prescribed to them. A letter of the preceding though the nominal price on which lands are sold day, April seventh, from Captain Lewis, is hereon credit, be two dollars per acre, the cash price, with communicated. During his stay among the supposing the whole payment to be made at the Mandans, he had been able to lay down the Mistime of the purchase, is only (on account of the souri, according to the courses and distances taken discount of eight per cent. a year on the three last on his passage up it, corrected by frequent obserinstalments, which is allowed for prompt pay-vations of longitude and latitude; and to add to ment,) one dollar and sixty-four cents per acre. A quarter section, containing one hundred and sixty acres, will, therefore, cost only two hundred and sixty-two dollars and forty cents. Prior to the act which authorized the sales of land in quarter sections, no man could become a purchaser, unless he paid, within three months thereafter, three hundred and twenty dollars if he had purchased an entire section, and one hundred and sixty dollars, if his purchase was for a half section. This shows that under the proposed alteration, it will require only one hundred dollars more in hand to become a purchaser, than was necessary under the former system. Should, however, that be considered as a formidable objection, I would think a moderate reduction of the price of lands the actual survey of this portion of the river, a general map of the country between the Mississippi and Pacific, from the thirty-fourth to the fiftyfourth degrees of latitude. These additions are from information collected from Indians with whom he had opportunities of communicating, during his journey and residence with them. Copies of this map are now presented to both Houses of Congress. With these I communicate also a statistical view, procured and forwarded by him, of the Indian nations inhabiting the Territory of Louisiana, and the countries adjacent to its northern and western borders; of their commerce, and of other interesting circumstances respecting them. In order to render the statement as complete as may be, of the Indians inhabiting the country Expedition of Lewis and Clarke. west of the Mississippi, I add Dr. Sibley's account of those residing in and adjacent to the Territory of Orleans. I communicate also, from the same person, an account of the Red river, according to the best information he had been able to collect. Having been disappointed, after considerable preparation, in the purpose of sending an exploring party up that river in the Summer of one thousand eight hundred and four, it was thought best to employ the Autumn of that year in procuring a knowledge off an interesting branch of the river called the Washita. This was undertaken under the direction of Mr. Dunbar of Natchez, a citizen of distinguished science, who had aided, and continues to aid us, with his disinterested and valuable services in the prosecution of these enterprises. He ascended the river to the remarkable hot springs near it, in latitude 34° 31′ 4′′ 16, longitude 92° 50′ 45′′ west from Greenwich, taking its courses and distances, and correcting them by frequent celestial observations. Extracts from his observations, and copies of his map of the river, from its mouth to the hot springs, make part of the present communications. The examination of the Red river itself, is but now commencing. FEBRUARY 19, 1806. TH. JEFFERSON. Extract of a letter from Captain Meriwether Lewis, to the President of the United States, dated and seven of them do, to whom in this respect we give every assistance in our power. I have transmitted to the Secretary at War, every information relative to the geography of the country which we possess, together with a view of the Indian nations, containing information relative to them, on those points with which I conceived it important that the Government should be informed. By reference to the muster rolls forwarded to the War Department, you will see the state of the party; in addition to which we have two interpreters, one negro man, servant to Captain Clarke; one Indian woman, wife to one of the interpreters, and a Mandan man, whom we take with a view to restore peace between the Snake Indians, and those in this neighborhood, amounting in total with ourselves to thirty-three persons. By means of the interpreters and Indians, we shall be enabled to converse with all the Indians that we shall probably meet with on the Missouri. I have forwarded to the Secretary at War my public accounts, rendered up to the present day. They have been much longer delayed than I had any idea they would have been, when we departed from the Illinois; but this delay, under the circumstances which I was compelled to act, has been unavoidable. The provision perogue and her crew, could not have been dismissed in time to have returned to St. Louis last Fall, without evidently, in my opinion, hazarding the fate of the enterprise in which I am engaged; and I therefore did not hesitate to prefer the censure that I may have incurred by the detention of these papers to that of risking in any degree the success of the expedition. To me, the detention of these papers has formed a serious source of disquiet and anxiety, and the recollection of your particular charge to me on this subject, has made it still more poignant. I am fully aware of the inconvenience which must have arisen to the War Department, from the want of these vouchers, previous to the last session of Congress, but how to avert it was FORT MANDAN, April 7th, 1805. DEAR SIR: Herewith enclosed you will receive an invoice of certain articles, which I have forwarded to you from this place. Among other articles you will observe, by reference to the invoice, sixty-seven specimens of earths, salts, and minerals, and sixty specimens of plants; these are accompanied by their respective labels, expressing the days on which obtained, places where found, and also their virtues and properties, when known. By means of these labels, reference may be made to the chart of the Missouri, forwarded to the Se-out of my power to devise. cretary of War, on which the encampment of each day has been carefully marked: thus, the places at which these specimens have been obtained, may be easily pointed out, or again found, should any of them prove valuable to the community on further investigation. You will also receive herewith enclosed, a part of Captain Clarke's private journal; the other part you will find enclosed in a separate tin box. This journal will serve to give to you the daily details of our progress and transactions. I shall despatch a canoe with three, perhaps four persons from the extreme navigable point of the Missouri, or the portage between this river and the Columbia river, as either may first happen. By the return of this canoe, I shall send you my journal, and some one or two of the best of those kept by my men. I have sent a journal kept by one of the sergeants, to Captain Stoddard, my agent at St. Louis, in order as much as possible to multiply the chances of saving something. We have encouraged our men to keep journals, From this place we shall send the barge and crew early to-morrow morning, with orders to proceed as expeditiously as possible to St. Louis; by her we send our despatches, which I trust will get safe to hand. Her crew consists of ten able-bodied men, well armed and provided with a sufficient stock of provision to last them to St. Louis. I have but little doubt but they will be fired on by the Sioux; but they have pledged themselves to us that they will not yield while there is a man of them living. Our baggage is all embarked on board six small canoes, and two perogues; we shall set out at the same moment that we despatch the barge. One, or perhaps both of these perogues, we shall leave at the falls of the Missouri, from whence we intend continuing our voyage in the canoes, and a perogue of skins, the frame of which was prepared at Harper's ferry. This perogue is now in a situation which will enable us to prepare it in the course of a few hours. As our vessels are now small, and the current of the river much more moderate, we calculate upon Expedition of Lewis and Clarke. A. B. A STATISTICAL VIEW isiana and the countries adjacent to its northern and western boundaries. EXPLANATORY REFERENCES. The names of the Indian nations as usually Primitive Indian names of nations and tribes, spelt and pronounced in the English language. English orthography, the syllables producing the sounds by which the Indians themselves C. Nick-names, or those which have generally express the names of their respective nations. obtained among the Canadian traders. travelling at the rate of twenty or twenty-five miles per day, as far as the falls of the Missouri. Be- Of the Indian Nations inhabiting the Territory of Louyond this point, or the first range of Rocky Mountains, situated about one hundred miles further, any calculation with respect to our daily progress, can be little more than bare conjecture. The circumstance of the Snake Indians possessing large quantities of horses, is much in our favor, as by means of horses the transportation of our baggage will be rendered easy and expeditious over land, from the Missouri to the Columbia river. Should this river not prove navigable where we first meet with it, our present intention is, to continue our march by land down the river, until it becames so, or to the Pacific ocean. The map which has been forwarded to the Secretary of War, will give you the idea we entertain of the connexion of these rivers, which has been formed from the corresponding testimony of a number of Indians, who have visited that country, and who have been separately and carefully examined on that subject, I. and we therefore think it entitled to some degree of confidence. Since our arrival at this place, we have subsisted principally on meat, with which our guns have supplied us amply, and have thus been enabled to reserve the parched meal, portable soup, and a considerable proportion of pork and flour, which we had intended for the more difficult parts of our voyage. If Indian information can be credited, the vast quantity of game with which the country abounds through which we are to pass, leaves us but little to apprehend from the want of food. We do not calculate on completing our voyage within the present year, but expect to reach the Pacific ocean, and return as far as the head of the Missouri, or perhaps to this place, before Winter. You may therefore expect me to meet you at Montachello in September, 1806. On our return we shall probably pass down the Yellow Stone river, which, from Indian information, waters one of the fairest portions of this continent. I can see no material or probable obstruction to our progress, and entertain, therefore, the most sanguine hopes of complete succcess. As to myself, individually, I never enjoyed a more perfect state of good health than I have since we commenced our voyage. My inestimable friend and companion, Captain Clarke, has also enjoyed good health generally. At this moment every individual of the party is in good health and excellent spirits, zealously attached to the enterprise, and anxious to proceed; not a whisper of discontent or murmur is to be heard among them; but all in unison act with the most perfect harmony. With such men I have everything to hope, and but little to fear. Be so good as to present my most affectionate MERIWETHER LEWIS, D. The language they speak. If primitive, mark- G. F. Number of tents or lodges of the roving bands. J. K. L. The rivers on which they rove, or on which their villages are situated. The names of the nations or companies with The amount of merchandise necessary for N. The species of peltries, furs, and other articles Q. The names of the Indian nations with whom R. The names of the Indian nations with whom A NOTATIONS. over a denotes that a sounds as in caught taught, &c. over a denotes that it sounds as in part, dart, &c. a withont notation, has its primitve sound, as in ray, hay, &c., except only when it is followed by ror w, in which case it sounds as â. " set underneath, denotes a small pause, the word being divided by it into two parts. THE INDIAN TRADE.-The sums stated under and opposite "L." are the amounts of merchandise annually furnished the several nations of Indians, including all incidental expenses of transportation, &c., incurred by the merchants, which generally averages about one-third of the whole Expedition of Lewis and Clarke. amount. The merchandise is estimated at an advance of one hundred and twenty-five per cent. on the sterling cost. It appears to me that the amount of merchandise which the Indians have been in the habit of receiving annually, is the best standard by which to regulate the quantities necessary for them in the first instance they will always consume as much merchandise as they can pay for and those with whom a regular trade has been carried on have generally received that quantity. The amount of their returns stated under and opposite the amount "M." are estimated by the peltry standard of St. Louis, which is forty cents per pound for deer-skins; i. e., all furs and peltries are first reduced by their comparative value to pounds of merchantable deer-skins, which are then estimated at forty cents per pound. These establishments are not mentioned as being thought important, at present, in a Governmental point of view. N. Principally skins of the small deer, black bear, some beaver, and a few otters and raccoons. O. Small deer-skins, black bear, and a much larger proportion of beaver, otter, raccoon, and muskrat. P. About the three forks of the Arkansas river, six hundred miles from its junction with the Mississippi. Q. With all their Indian neighbors, except the Little Osage, until the United States took possession of Louisiana. R. With the Little Osage only. lent timber; the western and middle country high prairies. It embraces within its limits four salines which are, in point of magnitude and excellence, unequalled by any known in North Americathere are also many others of less note. The principal part of the Great Osage have always resided at their villages, on the Osage river, since they have been known to the inhabitants of Louisiana. About three years since, nearly one-half of this nation, headed by their chief, The Big Track, emigrated to the three forks of the Arkansas, near which, and on its north side, they established a village, where they now reside. The Little Osage formerly resided on the southwest side of the Missouri, near the mouth of Grand river; but being reduced by continual warfare with their neighbors, were compelled to seek the protection of the Great Osage, near whom they now reside. There is no doubt but their trade will increase. They could furnish a much larger quantity of beaver than they do. I think two villages on the Osage river might be prevailed on to move to the Arkansas, and the Kansas, higher up the Missouri, and thus leave a sufficient scope of country for the Shawnees, Dille wars, Miames, and Kickapoos. The Osages cultivate corn, beans, &c. S. Claim the country within the following limits, viz: commencing at the mouth of a south branch of the Osage river, called Neangua, and with the same to its source, thence southwardly to intersect the Arkansas about one hundred miles below the three forks of that river; thence up the principal branch of the same, to the confluence of a large northwardly branch of the same, lying a considerable distance west of the Great Saline, and with that stream nearly to its source; thence north wardly towards the Kansas river, embracing the waters of the upper portion of the Osage river, and thence obliquely approaching the same to the beginning. The climate is delightful, and the soil fertile in the extreme. The face of the country is generally level and well watered; the eastern part of the country is covered with a variety of excel |