During this uneventful time the little colony grew, and the settlers enjoyed a moderate degree of prosperity. A contented population of about two thousand whites,[73] to whom grants of land had been freely made for purposes of settlement or cultivation, was mainly engaged in agricultural pursuits. Side by side with them the natives were gathered in villages in which were established Jesuit missions. The fertile soil readily yielded to their efforts at cultivation more than they could consume, and each year the surplus products were floated down to New Orleans. Bossu asserted that all the flour for the lower country came from Illinois. Vaudreuil, before leaving the colony for Canada, reported[74] that boats came down the river annually with provisions; but as late as 1744 he still harped on the discovery of new copper and lead mines. Of the real agricultural value of the country there could not at that time have been any just appreciation. As a mining region it had proved to be a failure. [Illustration: PLAN OF FORT CHARTRES. [Taken from Lewis C. Beck’s _Gazetteer of the States of Illinois and Missouri_, (Albany, 1823). The plan was draughted from the ground in 1823. Key: _a,a,a_, etc., exterior wall (1447 feet); _B_, gate; _C_, small gate; _D,D_, houses of commandant and commissary, 96×30 feet each. _E_, well; _F_, magazine; _G,G_, etc., barracks, 135×36 feet; _H,H_, storehouse and guard-house, 90×24 feet. _I_, small magazine; _K_, furnace; _L,L_, etc., ravine. Area of fort, 4 acres.—ED.]]