Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/178

 118 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI dustries besides agriculture. Some of the in- habitants depended in part upon hunting and trapping, but the greater number of them were almost entirely dependent upon agricul- ture. It was this fact that led the American settlers to open up farms and to scatter out over the country iipon these farms, rather than to gather together in larger towns and villages. We find that in the Cape Girardeau district there were settlements in a large num- ber of places extending over quite a part of the territory of the district. Nearly all the pojiulation of the district was to be found on scattered farms. This was, in part, due to that intense spirit of independence which rendered the American impatient of restraint and unwilling to be hampei'ed or hindered in his activities within the towns. The inhabitants of the district of Ste. Gene- vieve were, by no means, so entirely depend- ent upon agriculture. This was the district that contained the mineral region. ^lany of the settlers were engaged in mining; in fact, it seems true that more than half the people of the district were supported in part, at least, by the mines. It should be remembered that mining was carried on in a most primi- tive way. Thej' were all surface mines, there having been no deep shafts sunk in the district. There was little use of machinery, so that the production of even relatively small quantities of lead required the work of a large number of persons. We find around each one of the larger mines a group of houses, a little settlement, where there were trading posts for the exchange of goods. We find, too, that considerable numbers of the inhabitants were engaged in transporting the lead from the mines to the river and on 'the river to the various places to which it was .shipped. There were a number, too, who were engaged in trading. Commercial en- terprises were developed more extensively in the district of Ste. Genevieve than any other part of the territory. Another striking difference between the Ste. Genevieve disti'ict and the others, lay in the greater concentration of the population in the towns and villages. Travelers were struck by the contrast in this respect. This grouping of the inhabitants was a result of the French character. The Fi-ench emi- grants to America were in a great majority of cases industrious, hard working people. They were perfectly willing to undergo hard- ships and dangers in their attempts to gain wealth, but the French are a distinctly social people, and, while these settlers here were willing to endui-e privation and to face the dangers of the wilderness and to toil unceas- ingly for the accomplishment of their pur- poses, they were not willing to give up that social life which they loved. It was this so- cial part of their nature which prevented them from scattering over the country and developing farms as did the Americans. The American family was satisfied to live upon a farm a long distance removed from others. Not so with the French family. There must be society and intermingling of the people. While the French developed agriculture and carried on farms in a considerable way, we find them living not on their farms but grouped together in towns. It was this fact that accounts for the common fields attached to the Freijch towns. The people who lived in the town of Ste. Genevieve, many of them, were farmers. They were perfectly willing to cultivate the soil, provided it could be done without causing them to endure the isolation of farming life. A great tract of fertile land which lies just south of the town of Ste. Genevieve, which is now known as the Big