About five miles above Cape Girardeau we found the steam-boat Jefferson, destined for the Missouri. She had been detained some time waiting for castings which were on board the Western Engineer. Several other steam-boats, with stores for the troops about to ascend the Missouri, had entered that river, and were waiting to be overtaken by the Jefferson and the Calhoun, which last we had left at the rapids of the Ohio. On the 3d of June we passed that insular rock in the middle of the Mississippi, called the Grand Tower.[062] It is about one hundred and fifty feet high, and two hundred and fifty in diameter. Between it and the right shore is a {44} channel of about one hundred and fifty yards in width, with a deep and rapid current. In the summer of 1673, Father Marquette and M. Joliet descended the Mississippi, probably as far as the mouth of the Arkansa. Their narrative contains sufficient evidence that they passed the mouth of the Missouri, the Grand Tower, the mouth of the Ohio, &c. As their work may not be easily accessible to many of our readers, we subjoin, in a note, an interesting passage, in which these objects are mentioned.[063] The strata of sandstone containing the extensive beds of coal which have been explored, about the Muddy river of Illinois, are here divided transversely by the bed of the Mississippi. The Grand Tower, the precipice opposite the mouth of the Obrazo,[064] containing the singular cavity called the Devil's Oven, the Cornice Rock, and other remarkable cliffs, are monuments indicating the great extent to which the Mississippi has channelled its bed in these strata of horizontal sandstone. The Grand Tower, from its form and situation, strongly suggests the idea of a work of art. It is not impossible that a bridge may be constructed here, for which this rock shall serve as a pier. The shores, on both sides, are of substantial and permanent rocks, which undoubtedly extend across, forming the bed of the river. It is probable, however, that the ledge of rocks called the Two Chains, extending down to Cape à la Bruche, presents greater facilities for the construction of a bridge than this point, as the high lands there approach nearer the river, and are less broken than in the neighbourhood of the Grand Tower. The Ohio would also admit of a bridge at the chains, which appear to be a continuation of the range of rocks here mentioned, crossing that river fifteen miles above its confluence with the Mississippi. We look forward to the time when these great works will be completed.