Schoolcraft crossed Southeast Missouri 200 years ago

By Bill Eddleman

Two hundred years ago today, a 25-year-old adventurer and his companion spent the day south of present-day Dora, Missouri, grinding corn and making moccasins. The young man was Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, his companion Levi Pettibone. The two had left Potosi, Missouri, on Nov. 6, 1818, with the goals of surveying mineral deposits, geology, and geography of the Missouri and Arkansas Ozarks. Their route took them southwest to the area that is now Springfield, then to the White River, and finally to Poke Bayou (Batesville, Arkansas) by Jan. 18. While their trip was not "high adventure," it is remembered for detailed descriptions of the Ozarks prior to substantial settlement.

The two walked back on the Southwest Trail, or Arkansas Road (later known as the Military Road or Texas Trail), re-entering Missouri in present-day Ripley County. Schoolcraft injured his ankle, so he and Pettibone parted ways two days from Poke Bayou. Schoolcraft crossed the St. Francis River at Bettis's Ferry (old Greenville) in Wayne County on Jan. 28, describing it as "a village of 10 or 15 houses, including a grist-mill." Over the next several days, he observed the geology of the St. Francois Mountains -- obviously he was fascinated by the area.

He tried to re-cross St. Francois River on Feb. 2 to return via the Bellevue Valley, but high water forced him to continue on the road. He reached the recently-designated county seat of the new Madison County, St. Michael's (now part of Fredericktown), which had "...60 houses...three stores and a post-office." Further on, he reached Cook Settlement, then Murphy's Settlement (Farmington). Murphy's he described as a "...large and flourishing neighborhood of industrious farmers...[with some] framed dwelling houses, clap-boarded in the eastern style...a post-office, a schoolhouse, and a physician resident." Schoolcraft arrived back in Potosi after a 90-day trip on Feb. 4.

Schoolcraft's descriptions of the natural world and wildlife in early Missouri are unique. For example, on Nov. 21 in Douglas County, Missouri, "We have passed innumerable flocks of turkeys in the course of this day: also bear, deer, pigeon, duck and squirrel." Pigeons were the now-extinct passenger pigeon, and the account also often mentions prairie hens. The latter, the greater prairie chicken, is also nearly extinct in Missouri. Generally, Schoolcraft described uplands as open grassy habitat with scattered oaks. River bottoms were densely forested and covered with impenetrable cane.

Schoolcraft and Pettibone were "greenhorns" when it came to travel in the pioneer Ozarks. They came ill-equipped, brought almost no provisions, and had little ammunition for their rifle. They depended on the charity of backwoods settlers, yet often derided their lifestyles and morality.

Henry Rowe Schoolcraft published an account of his travels in the Ozarks, "Journal of a Tour into the Interior of Missouri and Arkansaw in 1821." He became an authority on American Indian culture, publishing a six-volume account of Indian tribes, and was the discoverer of the source of the Mississippi River at Lake Itasca, Minnesota.