I was kindly received by R. Pettibone, Esq., a townsman from New York, from whom I had parted at Pittsburgh.  This gentleman had established himself in business with Col.  Eastman, and as soon as he heard of my arrival, invited me to his house, where I remained until I was ready to proceed to the mines.  I examined whatever seemed worth notice in the town and its environs.  I then descended the Mississippi in a skiff about thirty miles to Herculaneum, and the next day set out, on foot, at an early hour, for the mines.  I had an idea that every effective labor should be commenced right, and, as I purposed examining the mineralogy and geology of the mine tract, I did not think that could be more thoroughly accomplished than on foot.  I ordered my baggage to follow me by the earliest returning lead teams.  True it was sultry, and much of the first part of the way, I was informed, was very thinly settled.  I went the first day, sixteen miles, and reached the head of Joachim Creek.  In this distance, I did not, after quitting the environs of the town, pass a house.  The country lay in its primitive state.  For the purpose of obtaining a good road, an elevated arid ridge had been pursued much of the way.  In crossing this, I suffered severely from heat and thirst, and the only place where I saw water was in a rut, which I frightened a wild turkey from partaking of, in order to stoop down to it myself.  As soon as I reached the farm house, where I stopped at an early hour, I went down to the creek, and bathed in its refreshing current.  This, with a night’s repose, perfectly restored me.  The next day I crossed Grand River, and went to the vicinity of Old mines, when a sudden storm compelled me to take shelter at the first house, where I passed my second night.  In this distance I visited the mining station of John Smith T. at his place of Shibboleth.  Smith was a bold and indomitable man, originally from Tennessee, who possessed a marked individuality of character, and being a great shot with pistol and rifle, had put the country in dread of him.

After crossing Big or Grand River, I was fairly within the mine country, and new objects began to attract my attention on every hand.  The third day, at an early hour, I reached Potosi, and took up my residence at Mr. W. Ficklin’s, a most worthy and estimable Kentuckian, who had a fund of adventurous lore of forest life to tell, having, in early life, been a spy and a hunter “on the dark and bloody ground.”  With him I was soon at home, and to him I owe much of my early knowledge of wood-craft.  The day after my arrival was the general election of the (then) Territory of Missouri, and the district elected Mr. Stephen F. Austin to the local legislature.  I was introduced to him, and also to the leading gentlemen of the county, on the day of the election, which brought them together.  Mr. Austin, the elder, also arrived.  This gathering was a propitious circumstance for my explorations; no mineralogist had ever visited the country.  Coming from the quarter I did, and with the object I had, there was a general interest excited on the subject, and each one appeared to feel a desire to show me attentions.