THE "THREE FORKS"-MADISON, GALLATIN AND JEFFERSON RIVERS, FORMING THE MISSOURI, NEAR STERLING, MONTANA. THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY, AND PREHISTORIC EVENTS: GIVING AN ACCOUNT OF THE ORIGINAL FORMATION AND EARLY ITS MINERAL TREASURES AND AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENTS. ALL FROM AUTHENTIC SOURCES. By C. B. WALKER. R. T. ROOT, PUBLISHER. BURLINGTON, IOWA. PREFACE. F351 1881 The object of this book is to supply the means of acquiring a clear idea of the Origin, Extent, Resources, and Development of the Mississippi Valley. No work before the public embraces this information. Can a subject apparently so familiar in its general features as the development of the Valley of the Mississippi be clothed with fresh interest? A brilliant and durable prosperity must have an extraordinary cause; and a region that has reacted with such happy effect on the character and destinies of a great nation must be worthy of close study. That study will show that the Valley is only beginning to make itself felt in the country and the world, that its natural advantages are wholly unequaled by any section of the globe, and that its People and Institutions are equally superior. Scientific studies on its original formation have been principally confined to learned books. Presented in a condensed and popular form, they will be found of fascinating interest; while a complete view of its surface features, its vast area, its variety of climate and soil, its agricultural and mineral resources, its rivers, lakes, and plains, and wide expanding rim, with the peculiar course and significance of its human history, show it to be the grandest and most desirable region in the world. It is to be a mighty element in a wonderful Future. The works of the Mound Builders, before authentic history began, furnish evidence that it was M363071 |