I was introduced to Mr. Austin, the elder, who, on learning my intention
of visiting the mines, offered every facility in his power to favor my
views. Mr. Austin was a gentleman of general information, easy and
polite manners, and enthusiastic character. He had, with his
connections, the Bates, I believe, been the founder of Herculaneum, and
was solicitous to secure it a share of the lead trade, which had been so
long and exclusively enjoyed by St. Genevieve. He was a man of very
decided enterprise, inclined to the manners of the old school gentlemen,
which had, I believe, narrowed his popularity, and exposed him to some
strong feuds in the interior, where his estates lay. He was a diligent
reader of the current things of the day, and watched closely the signs
of the times. He had lived in the capital of Virginia, where he married.
He had been engaged extensively as a merchant and miner in Wyeth county,
in the western part of that State. He had crossed the wilderness west of
the Ohio River, at an early day, to St.
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