CHAPTER IV.
Sit down to write an account of the mines--Medical properties of the Mississippi water--Expedition to the Yellow Stone--Resolve to visit Washington with a plan of managing the mines--Descend the river from St.
Genevieve to New Orleans--Incidents of the trip--Take passage in a ship for New York--Reception with my collection there--Publish my memoir on the mines, and proceed with it to Washington--Result of my plan-- Appointed geologist and mineralogist on an expedition to the sources of the Mississippi.
1819.

I now sat down to draw up a description of the mine country and its various mineral resources.

Having finished my expedition to the south, I felt a strong desire to extend my observations up the Mississippi to St.Anthony's Falls, and into the copper-bearing regions of that latitude.

Immediately I wrote to the Hon.

J.B.Thomas, of Illinois, the only gentleman I knew at Washington, on the subject, giving him a brief description of my expedition into the Ozarks.