A New Guide for Emigrants to the West

J. M. P.

Rock Spring, Illinois, January, 1836.

CHAPTER I.

GENERAL VIEW OF THE VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI.

Its extent,--Subdivisions,--Population,--Physical features,--Animal, Vegetable and Mineral productions,--History,--Prospective increase of Population.

The Valley of the Mississippi, in its proper geographical extent, embraces all that portion of the United States, lying between the Alleghany and Rocky Mountains, the waters of which are discharged into the gulf of Mexico, through the mouths of the Mississippi. I have embraced, however, under that general term, a portion of the country bordering on the northern lakes, including the north part of Ohio, the north-eastern portions of Indiana and Illinois, the whole of Michigan, with a considerable territorial district on