Excerpt from Missouri: A Bone of ContentionAlthough the F ranch were the first to explore the Mississippi, to map out its course, and to establish per manent settlements upon its banks, they were not its discoverers neither were they the first to ¿oat upon its waters. That honor, if the term can be applied to What was but a lucky incident in a mad search after gold, be longs to the Spaniards, and is usually ascribed to Her nando de_ Soto, though upon what are believed to be insufficient grounds. Without stopping, however, to discuss the point, it is sufficient to say that almost a cen tury and a half before the French explorers launched their frail canoes upon the stream, he stood upon its banks, and whilst it is not possible to make out, with any degree of accuracy, the itinerary of his journey, there is but little hazard in asserting that the spot from which he first gazed upon its turbid waters must have been at or near the place where the city of Memphis now stands.Whether in the course of his wanderings he reached the confines of what is now known as the State of Mis souri is a question that cannot be definitively settled.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.