speech of Thomas H. Benton, in Congress, in January, 1855, on the subject of the Pacific Railroad, advocating what was called the great central route for the road, and giving grand and graphic outlines of the general features of the regions between Missouri and California, according to the researches of Fremont and other explorers, closing with an eloquent and patriotic appeal for the construction of the great thoroughfare across the continent, which should ring in the ears of the American people and their rulers till the road is completed and in running order.

The Mormons now claim attention. A lively, condensed, and entertaining narrative traces the rise and progress of this modern politicoecclesiastical movement, embracing a biographical sketch of its founder, Joseph Smith; his pretended discovery of the "Golden Bible;" the early missionaries and apostles of the Mormon sect; their preaching and success; the organization of the Mormon Church; the settlement at Kirtland, Ohio; removal to Jackson County, Missouri; the troubles and persecutions the "Saints" endured; their migration to Hancock County, Illinois; the founding of the city of Nauvoo, and the building and consecration of the Temple; formation of the Nauvoo Legion, and the civil war that ensued; the death of the Mormon Prophet at the hands of a mob, and the exodus of the "Latter Day Saints" out of Illinois and Missouri over desert plains and frowning mountains to the valley of the Great Salt Lake, and their reorganization under the leadership of Brigham Young, then and now the supreme head of the Mormon Church.

The interesting and important explorations of John C. Fremont, in 1842, were given in his report of the famous expedition to the Rocky Mountains and the South Pass. This is followed by his report of the expedition in 1843, to examine the line of travel between Missouri and the country bordering on the Columbia, as well as the entire region between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. These reports are replete with interesting details and descriptions, which every one should read who desires an intimate acquaintance with the vast regions which these expeditions traverse.

The second part of our work gives a minute and detailed description of the country north of 35° of latitude, lying east of and bordering on the Mississippi River, including, also, the States of Indiana and Michigan, and of the whole of our great national domain west of the Mississippi and extending to the Pacific Ocean, with the exception of the small fraction in the north-east corner included in the State of Louisiana. The whole of this vast region, except the country reserved for the Indians, and called the Indian Territory, is now organized into States and Territories. These States and Territories are taken up and described separately-the States in the order of their admission into the Union, and the Territories in the order of their organization. A minute and detailed geographical, statistical, and historical account is given of each, embracing, in general, its boundaries and position; its geology and minerals; its lakes and rivers; the objects of interest to the traveler and tourist; the forest trees and wild animals; the climate, soil,

productions, and agricultural statistics; manufactures and commerce; the state of public education; the counties and county towns, and the population of each county; the population of the State or Territory, and the aggregate vote cast at important elections; a description of the principal cities and towns; the government and internal improvements, and such other matters as have been deemed of general and permanent interest. In making up these details, official documents and the latest and best authorities have been consulted.

Wherever any thing has been found in the history or features of any particular State, of special interest or importance, and not coming under any of the general heads alluded to, such matter has been incorporated and made part of the general description. We specify some instances of this:

In the account given of Michigan, the Lake Superior region, its scenery, climate, soil, and productions, with its geological features and great mineral wealth, developed and in prospect, are particularly set forth, together with a description of Lake Huron, taken from Appleton's American Cyclopedia. Under the head of Wisconsin, is a description of Lake Michigan, from the same source.

California's mines and mining, its wine-making, and big trees afford topics of interest, and are treated of at considerable length, while the romantic and wonderful valley of the Yosemite is described in the language of an accurate, scientific, and admiring observer.

We have embraced in Minnesota's history a full and reliable account of the terrible Indian massacre and war of 1862.

The new State of Nevada, since the great rush, a few years ago, to what were then known as the Washoe mines, has been a point of great attraction. We have, therefore, been diffuse in its description, giving the statistics of counties, so far as the same appeared in the latest accessible official reports. The Nevada mines, and their development, are treated of at length, and with minuteness, particularly the discovery and working of the great Conestock Lode, or ledge, which may almost be said to constitute the State.

Such changes have been made, from time to time, in the boundaries and area of the Territories, that it has been found impossible to follow out fully, in their descriptions, the plan generally adopted in regard to the States; but, so far as practicable, that plan has been rigidly adhered to in the case of the Territories. Some of the striking peculiarities that have been specially noted are these:

As part of the history of Utah, and by far the most interesting and important, we have continued the account of the Mormon organization, from its first location in the Great Salt Lake Valley, to the present time, with a detailed statement of the present novel politico-ecclesiastical government of the Mormon Church.

The Pike's Peak region, the original scene of attraction for explorers and gold-seekers, is specifically and minutely described in the account given of Colorado, with a most interesting, lively, and graphic narrative of a tour through Colorado in the summer of 1865, and a sketch of the development, working, and richness of its gold mines.

The mines, mining operations, and great mineral resources of Idaho are set forth in so full and complete a manner that the inquiring reader can not fail to be interested and gratified.

Arizona is deserving of far more attention than it has received from the people and Government of the United States. Considerable space has, therefore, been allotted to the history and description of this new and interesting Territory. It will be found full of important and instructive details. Striking, startling, personal adventures, and incidents are related, and among them the story of the Outman family-a tale of massacre by, and of captivity among, the Bedouins of the south-westthe Apache Indians. Interesting accounts are given of the Pinio and other Indians, of remarkable ancient ruins, the principal mines in the Territory, and its great agricultural and mineral resources and promise.

The volume closes with an article on the Pacific Railroad, extracted from the excellent work of Samuel Bowles, of the Springfield (Massachusetts) Republican, entitled "Across the Continent," and published in 1865. The article on the great theme of the day-the railroad to the Pacific-is entertaining and instructive, and of great and absorbing interest.

By way of an appendix, we have added to the work an accurate copy of the Constitution of the United States, as originally adopted, with the amendments made to that instrument, from time to time.

OUR WESTERN EMPIRE.

IN

HISTORICAL SKETCH.

IN May, 1539, Ferdinand de Soto, the governor of Cuba, landed at Tampa Bay with six hundred followers. He marched into the interior, and on the 1st of May, 1541, discovered the Mississippi; being the first European who had ever beheld that mighty river.

Spain for many years claimed the whole of the country bounded by the Atlantic to the Gulf of St. Lawrence on the north, all of which bore the name of Florida. About twenty years after the discovery of the Mississippi, some Catholic missionaries attempted to form settlements at St. Augustine and its vicinity; and a few years later a colony of French Calvinists had been established on the St. Mary's, near the coast. In 1565 this settlement was annihilated by an expedition from Spain, under Pedro Melendez de Aviles, and about nine hundred French, men, women and children, cruelly massacred. The bodies of many of the slain were hung from trees, with the inscription, "Not as Frenchmen, but as heretics." Having accomplished this bloody errand, Melendez founded St. Augustine, the oldest town by half a century of any now in the Union. Four years after, Dominic de Gourges, burning to avenge his countrymen, fitted out an expedition at his own expense, and surprised the Spanish colonists on the St. Mary's, destroying the ports, burning the houses, and ravaging the settlements with fire and sword, finishing the work by also suspending some of the corpses of his enemies from trees, with the inscription, "Not as Spaniards, but as murderers." Unable to hold possession of the country, De Gourges retired to his fleet. Florida, excepting for a few years, remained under the Spanish crown, suffering much in its early history from the vicissitudes of war and piratical incursions, until 1819, when, vastly diminished from its original boundaries, it was ceded to the United States, and in 1845 became a State.

In 1535 James Cartier, a distinguished French mariner, sailed with an exploring expedition up the St. Lawrence, and taking possession of the country in the name of his king, called it "New France." In 1608 the energetic Champlain created a nucleus for the settlement of Canada by founding Quebec. This was the same year with the settlement of Jamestown, Virginia, and twelve years previous to that on which the Puritans first stepped upon the rocks of Plymouth.

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To strengthen the establishment of French dominion, the genius of Champlain saw that it was essential to establish missions among the Indians. Up to this period "the far west" had been untrod by the foot of the white man. In 1616 a French Franciscan, named Le Caron, passed through the Iroquois and Wyandot nations to streams running into Lake Huron; and in 1634, two Jesuits founded the first mission in that region. But just a century elapsed from the discovery of the Mississippi ere the first Canadian envoys met the savage nations of the northwest at the Falls of St. Mary's, below the outlet of Lake Superior. It was not until 1659 that any of the adventurous fur traders wintered on the shores of this vast lake, nor until 1660 that Rene Mesnard founded the first missionary station upon its rocky and inhospitable coast. Perishing soon after in the forest, it was left to Father Claude Allouez, five years subsequent, to build the first permanent habitation of white men among the northwestern Indians. In 1668 the mission was founded at the Falls of St. Mary's, by Dablon and Marquette; in 1670 Nicolas Perrot, agent for the intendant of Canada, explored Lake Michigan to near its southern termination. Formal possession was taken of the northwest by the French in 1671, and Marquette established a missionary station at Point St. Ignace, on the main land north of Mackinac, which was the first settlement in Michigan.

Until late in this century, owing to the enmity of the Indians bordering the Lakes Ontario and Erie, the adventurous missionaries, on their route west, on pain of death, were compelled to pass far to the north, through "a region horrible with forests," by the Ottawa and French Rivers of Canada.

As yet no Frenchman had advanced beyond Fox River, of Winnebago Lake, in Wisconsin; but in May, 1673, the missionary Marquette, with a few companions, left Mackinac in canoes, passed up Green Bay, entered Fox River, crossed the country to Wisconsin, and, following its current, passed into and discovered the Mississippi; down which they sailed several hundred miles, and returned in the autumn. The discovery of this great river gave great joy in New France, it being "a pet idea" of that age that some of its western tributaries would afford a direct route to the South Sea, and thence to China. Monsieur La Salle, a man of indefatigable enterprise, having been several years engaged in the preparation, in 1682 explored the Mississippi to the sea, and took formal possession of the country in the name of the King of France, in honor of whom he called it Louisiana. In 1685 he also took formal possession of Texas, and founded a colony on the Colorado; but La Salle was assassinated, and the colony dispersed.

The descriptions of the beauty and magnificence of the Valley of the Mississippi, given by these explorers, led many adventurers from the cold climate of Canada to follow the same route, and commence settlements. About the year 1680 Kaskaskia and Cahokia, the oldest towns in the Mississippi Valley, were founded. Kaskaskia became the capital of the Illinois country, and in 1721 a Jesuit college and monastery were founded there.

A peace with the Iroquois, Hurons, and Ottawas, in 1700, gave the