Some few days before you reach Fort Laramie this complaint will appear among your oxen, and perhaps cows. Some cases will be bad, and perhaps you will find it difficult to get some of your lame cattle along. Do not be alarmed, nor suffer any one at Laramie to make a bargain out of you. If they become bad, clean out the tender place and pour in boiling hot tar. Some nail on pieces of sole leather, others tie on a sort of moccasin made of green hide, while others nail on shoes. Perhaps it would not be amiss to take along a few ox shoes and nails. This lameness is caused by two causes principally; first by the rains, which keep the hoof soft, and therefore more subject to abrasion; and, secondly, to the peculiarity of the sand this side of Laramie, it being very sharp and flinty. Soon after you leave Laramie you will discover an improvement in your lame stock, and it will gradually disappear, not to return again during the trip. So soon as you get out of the regions of rain into the hot sands of the Black hills, the hoofs become seared and hard again as before. In concluding this letter, gentlemen, I must ask you to make some allowance for its many imperfections, by reason of the haste with which I have written it. It goes to the printer in its primal manuscript, without alteration or amendment. To its want of order and systematic arrangement you will please bestow the apology, that I looked into your letters and wrote as the order of your many questions seemed to direct me. Besides, you will bear in mind that we who live in the backwoods, whose duty it is to grapple with roughness, are not expected, either in the choice of language, purity of diction, or order of arrangement, to vie with the best models of literary circles or the Glaucuses of the learned world. But we can think, and thinking, act, and action moves the world. I hope, gentlemen, to meet you and all your neighbours in Oregon, where, co-operating in that genial clime, on that fertile soil, and at the base of that placid ocean, we may lay the foundations of another sister, not to be outshone for beauty, intelligence, or worth by either of that sparkling galaxy that now constitutes the sisterhood of the republic. SAMUEL R. THURSTON. AREAS OF THE TERRITORIES AND STATES OF THE UNION. The following compilation was made by Senator Downs, from the documents annexed to the last message of President Polk. It is stated, by him, to be authentic and correct. We insert it, as useful for future reference, and supplemental to similar tables at p. 381 of our 2d vòl. Table showing the estimated surface of the Territories of the United States, north and west of the regularly organized States of the Union, and the portions of Territory thereof, situated north and south of the parallel of 36 deg. 30 min. north latitude. TERRITORIES. Square miles south of the Total square miles. Oregon Territory, bounded on the north by the par- Territory in Upper California and New Mexico,* sit- Total, This estimate excludes all that part of Texas which lies outside of its limits, as designated by the yellow shaded lines on Disturnel's map of Mexico. That part of Texas which lies east of the Rio Grande and west of the Nueces river, from the mouth of the former river up to a line drawn from a point a short distance north of Paso to the source of the Ensenada river, is estimated at, And the part which lies north of Paso and the Ensenada river, up to latitude of 42 deg. north,.... Making, together, 43,537 133,414 176,951 + This estimate, as will be seen, limits our acquisitions of territory from Mexico by the late treaty exclusively to those portions of country lying west of the Rio Grande. TEXAS IN THREE DIVISIONS. 1st. Between the Sabine and Nueces rivers, south of Ensenada river (Texas proper), 28. Between the Nueces and Rio Grande, south of Ensenada river, 3d. North of Paso and the Ensenada river, (Santa Fe country), . Total, 1st. Number of miles of coast acquired by the annexation of Texas, from the mouth of the Sabine to the Rio Grande, 2d. Number of miles of coast on the Pacific, including Oregon and California. In California, 970; Oregon, 500; Straits of Juan de Fuca, 150, ... Total, including Texas, Sq. miles. 148,469 52,018 124,933 325,520 400 1,620 2,020 Table exhibiting the areas of the several States and Territories of the United States in square miles and acres. Territory north and west of the Mississippi river and east of the Rocky mountains. Territory exclusive of old territory east of the Rocky mountains. 1,450 450 1,200 3,100 Length of the Atlantic coast to the mouth of St. Mary's river, Total,.. The new states are larger than some of the old ones. So you see there has been something like uniformity in the new states; and this uniformity should be kept up. Missouri is the largest state at present, except Texas, which is to be divided into four states. But here is an application for the admission of one three times as large as Missouri. The area of the state of California, according to an estimate made on Preuss's map of 1848, is 158,500 square miles. The average distance of the sea coast from the eastern boundary of the new state of California, is Total length from north to south, Length of sea coast, The surface of Deseret, estimated on Preuss's map, is as follows: Total, T* 430,270 THE PUBLIC LANDS. The annual progress of the United States in the settlement and cultivation of land. To one who reads the annual reports of our land commissioners, assuring us that we have thousands of millions of acres of land, it may seem useless to inquire how fast it is settled, for it seems inexhaustible. But there is another and different aspect, in which to view this subject. Though land is almost inexhaustible, available fertile land is in every country settled and occupied in a few generations. In this country the standard lands are corn lands for food, and coal lands for minerals. Corn lands are in a great measure bottom lands, and therefore but a small part of the whole. Of the coal fields in the United States, there is as yet but a small part accessible to markets. It follows, then, and we know the fact from actual observation, that the best lands in the whole United States are sold and mostly occupied in a single generation. In consequence of this it is that we find improved farms in New York and Pennsylvania sold, not unfrequently, at $100 per acre. In another generation, the best lands of Ohio will command more than that price. It is of importance to all men, who either hold or expect to hold lands, to ascertain, if possible, the progress of actual settlement and cultivation. This problem seems to be difficult, but may be solved with a sufficient accuracy to afford a very clear view of the actual progress of the American nation in the settlement of new lands. It is only necessary to know the proportion of agriculturists to the whole people, the amount of emigration, the sales of the public lands, and the annual increase of the inhabitants. All these we know. The population increases 3 per cent. each year. Taking the year 1848 as the basis of calculation, the white population was about 18,000,000. The increase in 1849, at 3 per cent., was 600,000. The average emigration for three or four years (which is the true basis) was about 250,000. The increase of population is thus made up : Increase of native born, 66 foreign born, 350,000 250,000 The number of persons employed in agriculture is 77 per cent., or rather more than three-fourths of the whole people. Of the increase of the two elements of population stated above, the numbers of farming and planting people (at three-fourths of the whole) stand thus: |