6
Other geologists, following Hutton's ideas, produced stratigraphic maps and developed dating techniques using fossil deposits. Featherstonhaugh was familiar with the work of leading geologists on both sides of the Atlantic, and was personally acquainted with several. He was elected to membership in the geological Society of London in 1827, and in 1834 was appointed "principal geologist" for federally financed surveys conducted by the United States Bureau of Topographical Engineers (7).
It was as a geologist, then, working for the federal government, that Featherstonhaugh arrived in Arkansas in November 1834, accompanied by his son, a Dearborn wagon, and a horse he had named Missouri. He stayed two months, and crossed the entire state from northeast to southwest before returning to Little Rock and taking a boat for New Orleans.
From the beginning, his comments are overwhelmingly negative, especially when he turns his attention from the region's scenic attractions (which he praises) to describe the manners and appearance of the citizens. A pioneer cabin is a "sorry hovel," the village of Jackson "a wretched place which passes for the county town," and his hostess one evening in a cabin near the Strawberry River is described as possessing "an extraordinary dark, bony, hairy face, and trimmings to match." Featherstonhaugh reports her height as six feet two inches and compares her to "some South American Grenadier in women's clothes (8)."
Such emphasis upon the shortcomings of Arkansas women is typical, and seems intended as a comic touch. Later in their journey, the substantial brick home of Jacob Barkman near the Caddo River crossing was a delightful surprise to the weary travelers, but the "excellent meal" they received from Mrs. Barkman did not exempt her from an especially brutal portrait. "She chewed tobacco, she smoked a pipe, she drank whiskey, and cursed and swore as heartily as any backwoodsman," Featherstonhaugh wrote, adding that Mrs. Barkman then had the reputation of being "comparatively refined."
- ______________________
- 7. The foregoing biographical sketch owes much to William E. Lass, "Introduction to the Reprint Edition," of
- Featherstonhaugh's A Canoe Voyage Up the Minnay Sotor (2) vols., St. Paul, Minn., 1970). For James Hutton and the origins of scientific geology see George P. Merrill, The First One Hundred Years of American Geology (New York, 1964), and, more readably, John McPhee, Basin and Range (New York, 1981).
- 8. George W. Featherstonhaugh, Excursion Through the Slave States (2 vols., London, 1844), II, 3, 7.
Words
Study Questions
Related Sites