After crossing Big or Grand River, I was fairly within the mine country,
and new objects began to attract my attention on every hand. The third
day, at an early hour, I reached Potosi, and took up my residence at Mr.
W. Ficklin's, a most worthy and estimable Kentuckian, who had a fund of
adventurous lore of forest life to tell, having, in early life, been a
spy and a hunter "on the dark and bloody ground." With him I was soon at
home, and to him I owe much of my early knowledge of wood-craft. The day
after my arrival was the general election of the (then) Territory of
Missouri, and the district elected Mr. Stephen F. Austin to the local
legislature. I was introduced to him, and also to the leading gentlemen
of the county, on the day of the election, which brought them together.
Mr. Austin, the elder, also arrived. This gathering was a propitious
circumstance for my explorations; no mineralogist had ever visited the
country. Coming from the quarter I did, and with the object I had, there
was a general interest excited on the subject, and each one appeared to
feel a desire to show me attentions.
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