To Thomas Jefferson from Amos Stoddard, 16 June 1804
From Amos Stoddard
St. Louis, June 16, 1804.
Sir,
In consequence of a request made me by captain Lewis, before he left this, I now do myself the honor of enclosing you a copy of a dissertation on the Lead Mines in Upper Louisiana, furnished me by Moses Austin, Esq. This gentleman owns an extensive mine, situated about thirty-eight miles back of St Genevieve, which he has worked for some years past; and from his education and experience, I conceive him to be better calculated to give correct information on the subject than any other man in this quarter.
I am, sir, with sentiments of high respect, Your very humbe servant,
Amos Stoddard,
Captain and first civil commandant of Upper Louisiana.
Printed as part of Document No. III in Message from the President of the United States to Both Houses of Congress. 8th November, 1804 (Washington, D.C., 1804); at foot of text: “The President of the United States.” Not recorded in SJL. Enclosed in Annual Message to Congress, 8 Nov. 1804. Enclosure: Memorandum by Moses Austin, 13 Feb. 1804, on the “number, extent and situation of the Lead Mines in Upper Louisiana” west of Ste. Genevieve; Austin also reports that several additional discoveries have been made in the area, which he believes indicate the existence of “an inexhaustible quantity” of easily obtained lead mineral (printed in same). Stoddard’s letter and Austin’s report were also published separately as A Summary Description of the Lead Mines in Upper Louisiana: Also, An Estimate of their Produce for Three Years Past (Washington, D.C., 1804).
Amos Stoddard (1762-1813) was born in Connecticut and raised in Massachusetts. He served in the American Revolution and later practiced law in Maine before reentering the army as a captain in 1798. He represented both France and the United States at the transfer of upper Louisiana from Spanish control in March 1804, and thereafter served as the region’s interim civil and military commandant. While stationed in the west, Stoddard diligently collected information regarding all aspects of Louisiana, publishing Sketches, Historical and Descriptive, of Louisiana in 1812 (; “Transfer of Upper Louisiana: Papers of Captain Amos Stoddard,” Glimpses of the Past, 2 [1934-35], 78-122; Vol. 42:55n, 491n, 570n; TJ to Dearborn, 29 June; Notes on Upper Louisiana, [before 14 July 1804]).