Jenks' Portland Gazette

WASHINGTON, NOV. 30.

Extract of a letter from Thomas T. Davis Esq. dated
Kaskaskias, Indiana Territory, Oct 18, 1803.

"Since I saw you in Kentucky, I have
travelled through this territory, and visited
our new acquired country on the west
side of the Mississippi. This country does
not equal the fame which common report
gives it; it is greatly inferior to Kentucky
in point of fertility. From the falls of the
Ohio to St. Vincennes the land is rich
and well watered, though broken.
From Vincennes, which stands on the
bank of the Wabash, to this place, is a
poor country, nine tenths of it is prairie,
or, as we would call it, old field. The
water is scarce and bad: the distance is
160 miles without inhabitants, though
it is said that on each side of the road at
some distance, the land is good. From
this to Cahokia is 60 miles, a fine rich
country, and settled: but there is room
in this country for millions of inhabitants.
To this country every young man who is
without a fortune ought to repair. The
best of land here is to be had on the lowest
terms.

"On the other side of the Mississippi the
land is rich near the river, but becomes
poor and broken as you leave it. The
French all live in villages: the Americans
go on farms. In upper Louisiana
there are about ten thousand souls--about
half of which are said to be Americans.

"I think the soil and climate here well
adapted to the growth of cotton and
hemp; but as a great proportion of the
people have newly settled no great
experiment has yet been made. If persons
migrating here are not permitted to bring
their negroes with them, it will be many
years before we become a state. Persons
wishing to hold slaves will go on the Spanish
side; those who are against it will
settle in the state of Ohio, where the point
is settled.

"The Indians are all peaceable; many
of them live in this village, and the village
of St. Vincennes. This place exhibits
some remains of former grandeur--a
great number of chimneys are standing, to
which houses were formerly annexed.
The Jesuits College is quite down, the
vaults alone remain entire. This depopulation
is said to be owing to the extension
of the American government here--
the former inhabitants were all slave holders,
and the adoption of the ordinance induced
them to believe their negroes would
be liberated, and they immediately quit
this place and went on the Spanish side of
the Mississippi--they left their houses which
have fallen down for the want of some
person to take care of them. This alarm
now exists among the inhabitants on the
other side of the Mississippi, for they are
large slave holders, and the sooner some
act of the government removes those fears
the better. I wish Congress would make
provision by law for granting appeals and
writs of error from the general court of
this territory to the supreme federal court.
Before the last general court a verdict was
obtained for thirteen thousand dollars.
and it involves a doubtful legal question."