The New Hampshire Gazette

TRENTON, (N. J.) SEPTEMBER 1.

A letter from Dr. JOHN GARRISON, to his Friend in New Jersey.

NEW-ORLEANS, Jan. 16, 1805.

SIR,

Agreeably to your request, I transmit to you a sketch of my journey to this place. I passed through Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky, from whence I proceeded down the Ohio to the Mississippi and Louisiana: through which I made some excursions; and after a very fatiguing journey through the Floridas and the Spanish settlements, I arrived at this place in good health.

The state of Ohio is settled chiefly by New-England and Jersey people, and they retain much of their ancient customs—what gives this state the preference, the people are all freemen; no slave marting beneath the iron hand of a relentless tyrant is seen here. The soil of Ohio, and Kentucky, generally speaking is similar; but a scarcity of water in dry seasons through the whole. Salt sells from two to five dollars as you travel nearer or farther from the salt works, grain and pork is low, horses and cows high, and the people generally live rough and coarse.

The Mississippi country including Louisiana is great and diversified; abounding with large natural meadows, excellent timber, fertile soil, good water, fish and water fowl in abundance—Buffaloe, Elk, Deer, wild Horses, wild Cattle, and Turkeys in abundance stock the groves. Iron, lead, copper, and silver ore interspersed through the soil, and salt springs spout through the surface.

The upper and lower part of Louisiana is settled and improving very fast, but Indians of various tribes inhabit the middle and exterior parts. I travelled and traded with several different nations, all of whom appeared friendly and much attached to Jefferson. They call him their great Father. and a friend to the human race, that with such a head Americans cannot help being happy, and the Indians bleed by having such a philanthropist their friend. I received a very curious pair of moccasins as a present from one of their chiefs as a token of friendship to Americans.

The banks of the Mississippi are exceedingly rich and for two hundred miles up from Orleans are thickly settled, and well cultivated: and the most beautiful part of the world I ever saw, here is sugar cane, cotton and rice in abundance, and the planters rich beyond description.

The Floridas are a large tract of country extending east from Orleans along the gulph of Mexico, for several hundred miles—and at present under the Spanish Government, tho a great many Americans are settled here, this is a very fertile country, and abounds with the necessaries of life, with excellent streams good navigations, and much trade.—Coffee is thought to grow here equal to any other place. A part of the country abounds in pine timber a very necessary article in ship building, for masts, tar, &c.

The people of this excellent country generally would be very glad of a change of government, they have high notions of liberty, and envy their neighbors of Louisiana their happy change from tyranny to liberty.—

How advantageous would it be to have this part of the continent annexed to our Union, nay it seems the Union could hardly be complete without it, and I cannot but hope that some means will yet be devised to bring about so desirable an object, though it might be opposed by a few whose creed is to oppose every thing that appears beneficial to the Union, yet the penetrating genius of a Jefferson, assisted by the councils of a phalanx of worthies, have achieved unparalleled blessings for their country, and it is yet to be hoped that this excellent part of the continent will yet be engrafted into our Union under the auspices of our most worthy chief magistrate; but these things are for government and we need not doubt but what every thing will be done best, and most conducive to the general good of the whole.

The acquirement of Louisiana,with the possession of New-Orleans,and free navigation of the Mississippi, are of unspeakable advantage to the western country—and the sum paid for this extensive territory, and advantages in trade, is but a trifle compared to the benefits receiving and to be received therefrom. I have spent thus much of the winter season in travelling thro the Floridas and have now returned to Orleans, from which place I expect to set sail in about four weeks for the West Indies, on a trading voyage, and expect to return home sometime in the spring.