WHEELING, VIRGINIA July 23d.
Although weary of the constant jar of these high pressure steamboats,
and glad once more to step upon firm land, yet, when told Wheeling was
in sight, I felt regret that I must now turn my back upon the beautiful
Ohio and the charming western land. I ought not to leave the fair State
of Ohio without saying a few words to give you an idea of its extent and
condition--matters which you may perhaps extract from Gazateers
yourself, but this will save you the trouble. Gazateers and tourists
guides, however, are of little use in a region which so rapidly changes
its appearance, and increases its population. Where you are directed to
remark the beauty of a grand forest, you find a large town, and where,
when the book was written, spread out a fair prairie, you find a country
covered with farm houses, cornfields, fences and orchards. Along the
coast of Ohio we have sailed over an hundred miles on lake Erie, and
upon the Ohio river, four hundred miles. From Cincinnati here, which is
all that distance, except twenty or thirty miles we paid twelve
dollars, six each; which, with board for three days, is not expensive
travelling. The State of Ohio is nearly square, being two hundred and
twenty-two miles long by two hundred broad, and with Indiana and
Illinois, are parts of a great plain which inclines to the Mississippi,
through which the rivers have cut their way into their deep beds. The
geology of these States is very much the same, they being based upon
that great secondary limestone formation which reaches from the eastern
States to the Chippewayan mountains, and from the great lakes to the
alluvion of the southern States. This is doubtless the deposite of the
primitive ocean, as it occurs ‘in layers of chrystaline and sedimentary,
or in broken pieces cemented together.’[26] It is of all shades, from
the dark brown ferruginous, to the light grey, the blue fœtid, the
yellow silecious, and magnesian, the argillaceous, earthy, chrystaline
oolitic, etc. In this limestone formation is a variety of fossil shells
of many species, as the ammonites, spiriferi, encrini, producti,
corallines, gryphea, madrepores, and various others. Its thickness is
enormous, for it has been penetrated one thousand feet without reaching
the primitive rocks.[27] Above this is the sandstone, and slate, and
clay of the coal measures, and muriatiferous rocks. These sandstones are
generally white ash color, or brown; a very little red has been
discovered in this valley. One of our western friends, who has well
studied the geology of that region, was of opinion that all the groups
of fossiliferous secondary strata recognized and determined by European
geologists have not been discovered here; but that they claim the upper
new, red sandstone and oolites, that have not been subdivided; that
above the oolites they have unconsolidated strata of great extent and
thickness, which do not abound in fossils, and have not been
sufficiently observed to justify and attempt to confer names upon them.
Several of the groups of the European secondary are thought to be
wanting here. The chalk group is certainly wanting; nor have any of the
four received divisions of the supercretaceous, or tertiary, been
identified in the western valley. The older pliocene, and it is thought
the newer, have been observed in Alabama. The recent pliocene is here
established; the accumulation of gigantic fossil remains; of mammalia at
Big Bone Lick, Kentucky; at Bucyrus, Ohio; at Pomme de Terre, Missouri;
and at Rocky Spring, near St. Louis, identify this group with certainty.
The recent pliocene is not horizontal, it having been seen fifteen
hundred feet or more above the level of the sea. Its remains of
elephants, tetracaulidons, and other fossils identical with existing
genera upon the earth demonstrates its geological era to be near us.
There are several remarkable deposites in Ohio and the surrounding
States--the sileceous, ferruginous, muriatiferous, and the coal. The
sileceous deposite, sometimes called ‘Flint ridge,’ runs nearly through
the State of Ohio, in a south-westerly direction from the Tuscarawas
river, to the Sciota, near the Ohio. Its greatest width is four or five
miles, being strewed over the ground in broken masses; beneath the soil;
or, which is its most common situation, upon the tops of the hills;
doubtless thrown up from the ocean in a fluid and heated state. This
deposite occurs generally white, but is occasionally streaked with
various hues, and is compact, cellular, and vermicular. The aboriginal
inhabitants made great use of it for arrow heads; and the present
settlers find it very valuable as whet-stones, hones, and mill-stones.
The latter are thought equal to the French buhr stone, and are sold to
the amount of twenty thousand dollars a year. Those from the deposite
upon Raccoon creek, are very celebrated. In this silecious material
occurs marine shells, beautiful and limpid quartz chrystals, veins of
chalcedony, sulphate of barytes, flint, hornstone, and various other
minerals.
The ferruginous deposite crosses the State from north-east to
south-west, commencing at the division line between Ohio and
Pennsylvania, upon lake Erie, to the mouth of the Sciota, and thence
continues into Kentucky, to the Cumberland mountains, its average width
being from fifteen to twenty miles. The iron occurs in several
varieties, as a brown oxide, an argillaceous ore, pure, highly
carbonated ore, etc. Its forms are also various; the ore occurring
lamellated, disseminated in kidney shaped masses, columnar, stalactitic,
cubic, in rhombic fragments, nodules, etc. It is extensively worked in
many furnaces of Ohio and Kentucky. In this iron are marine shells and
plants of a tropical climate.
I have spoken of the muriatiferous rocks, and I will now pass on to the
coal measures. The quantity of coal found in these western States is
wonderful. The valley of the Ohio, and it now appears the valley of the
Mississippi are underlaid with coal. The Alleghany mountains are filled
with it; at their bases it is heaped up in masses, probably of
antediluvial vegetation, by the eddies of the currents. These mountains
seem to divide the anthracite from the bituminous coal. There is enough
of this article in Ohio to last thousands of years, twelve thousand
square miles being underlaid with it in one grand basin. In Indiana,
according to Dr. Owen, the coal formation occupies seven thousand seven
hundred and eighty square miles; in Pennsylvania, the bituminous coal
embraces an area of twenty-one thousand square miles; while in the
States west of these, coal is found in considerable quantities, but it
has not been thoroughly examined. The richest deposit of coal in the
valley of the Ohio, is the basin through which runs the Monongahela
river; it is two hundred miles in length and one hundred in breadth.[28]
It occurs extensively in layers across the hills--that of Coal hill at
Pittsburg, supplies the city, which it uses in its great manufactories.
The coal consumed in this city and its suburbs is estimated at ‘seven
millions six hundred and sixty-five thousand bushels.’ This useful
article is easily procured throughout the west and is consequently very
cheap, being two, four, or eight cents a bushel in different places. The
iron and salt furnaces, and manufactories of the west owe their present
flourishing trade to the abundance of this material. This coal is black
bituminous generally; burns freely, and in some deposits, forms very
good coke which is used in the furnaces. In Licking Co., Ohio is a
deposit of Canal coal, and another in Guernsey Co. Beside these
interesting minerals there are numerous others in the Ohio valley which
are very valuable; upon Wills creek Ohio is a deposit of fine lias
limestone--and there are in the State various other stones suitable for
building,--sandstones of fine quality used for architectural
purposes,--gypsum, lead, copper &c. The coal measures abound in organic
remains; some of them belonging to the tropical palms and ferns are very
beautiful and perfect. When we see how important these articles are to
the western land, and how profusely they are scattered and how easily
obtained, one cannot think they are thus arranged by accidental
convulsions of nature. We know that the greatest coal deposits are above
the thirtieth degree of latitude, and is not this because the
inhabitants below this degree do not so much require it, while the
colder countries would be almost deserts without it, so good and
beneficient is our great Father. You will say I am like the old woman
who praised the goodness of God for making rivers flow by the side of
cities. I think there is double enjoyment in every gift when we feel it
is from His compassionate hand. Ohio is one of the finest agricultural
countries in the world. Her productions are justly celebrated for their
goodness and quantity. Her exports in flour last year is said to be
seven million five hundred thousand dollars. The land belonging to the
government sells here, as in the other States for one dollar and
twenty-five cents an acre. Around large towns the owner of the lots asks
of course more. We must bid Ohio now adieu and look around us a little.
We were approaching Wheeling when I thus digressed. It appears very well
from the water; you see a circle of swelling green hills with the bright
river encircling a large island in the midst. The town runs in a long
line across the slope of one of the hills, while a group of steamboats
looking wonderfully like a flock of geese were floating upon the water
beneath. People are busy taking out coal from the hills, and trundling
it down a wooden rail-way into the vessels below. The hills are between
two, and three hundred feet high; the coal stretches along their face
for fifteen miles and then dips into the earth. It is a kind valuable
for cooking, and some of it is beautifully irridescent. The
manufactories of Wheeling are supplied with it and it is extensively
sold down the river, at the cost of three cents a bushel when delivered
to the boat. One million five hundred thousand bushels of coal are
exported from Wheeling every year. Wheeling is a second Pittsburg
blackened with coal; while the smoke is rising from forge, and furnace,
and chimney, in every direction. Here we found the best landing of any
town upon the river, as the steep bank was walled up, and we ascended by
a long flight of steps. When upon the top of the wharf we found
ourselves before a range of shops and hotels, while before us was the
‘United States,’ where we deposited ourselves and luggage. After tea we
set out for a stroll through the town accompanied by a very agreeable
party who had left the boat with us, the remainder of our passengers
going on to Pittsburg, about ninety miles farther. We had been through
so many new towns that this looked quite antique, it being settled in
seventeen hundred and seventy by Col. Zane and his brothers, who
afterwards founded Zanesville. The streets here run along the face of
the hill, and contain many shops, manufactories, a large court-house,
hotels, banks and dwellings. Among the buildings are seven churches, an
academy, iron and brass founderies, flint glass works, paper and saw
mills, steam engine and machinery works, nail factory, cordage, wire
floorcloth factories &c. Eight stages arrive and depart each day,
Sundays excepted, and various steamboats stop here--so if you know of
any mechanics or trades-people complaining of want of work in your
crowded city tell them to wend their way hitherward. All kind of
laborers will find business enough in the west. I think a society for
exporting over the Alleghanies the poor European emigrants who are
suffering in our large cities, would be of great service to them and to
us. The population we were told nearly numbered ten thousand. Among the
houses we observed one quite large and handsome; this we were told was
built by Col. Zane, when the town was first settled and his descendants
have resided there since. He was an active pioneer of the wilderness,
and encountered many difficulties, and fought many battles with the
Indians ere he was permanently settled in his beautiful abode. In these
attacks the females of Wheeling showed much heroism and took an active
part in the affray. The little settlement was once attacked by three
hundred and eighty Indians when Col. Zane had with him but thirty-three
men, but the women shouldered their rifles, joined in the battle and did
much execution. Once, in despair, the garrison inclined to a surrender,
but a young girl named Betsey Wheat, answered them in such an eloquent
and indignant burst of irony that they rallied and defeated the enemy.
In a second attack Elizabeth, the sister of Col. Zane, saved the fort by
bringing into it a quantity of powder, braving, but passing unhurt
through the whizzing balls directed against her by the Indians. Some of
the buildings here are of the light sandstone of the country.
* * * * *
_July 24th._--We were aroused early by the trampling of steeds and upon
looking out beheld several fine stages each having four horses which
were soon to start upon their different roads. Our breakfast over we
with the party mentioned above entered a large convenient coach and just
as the clock struck seven left the hotel. Upon reaching the top of the
hill above the town we looked down upon as fair a scene as any we had
seen in our travels. The town was strewed over the hill below us, while
the beautiful Ohio lay like a circlet of silver around a pretty island
covered with waving corn and dotted with farm-houses, and then glided
away in its course winding among the soft green hills until it
disappeared behind one of them. The island is Zane’s island, containing
three hundred and fifty acres. We had now looked our last upon the
lovely valley of the Ohio, and its beautiful river the Belle riviere of
the French, and Ohio Peekhanne of the Indian. This valley is from the
sources of the Ohio to the Mississippi eleven hundred miles in length,
and nearly three hundred miles in breadth. It sweeps down from the
Alleghanies at an elevation of two thousand two hundred and thirty feet
to the Ohio and then ascends gently four hundred feet to the ridge which
divides its waters from those which flow into the gulf of St. Lawrence,
a distance of nearly three hundred miles. Through this valley winds in
graceful bends the noble Ohio eleven hundred miles from its source, and
nine hundred and forty-eight from its junction with the Monongohela at
Pittsburg. It divides the valley in two unequal portions, having one
hundred and sixteen thousand square miles upon the south-east side, and
eighty thousand upon the north-west. This valley enjoys a pleasant
temperature not too cold to paralyze exertion, and not so warm as to
enervate. Its soil is capable of yielding fruits, vegetables, and
grains, of the finest quality and in great profusion, and mineral
products of the utmost importance to man; and it is settled by a free,
virtuous, and enlightened people; add to this the scenery is beautiful
and varied, and I think you will look far to find a region of country
uniting so many advantages. The dark clouds of slavery which shadow its
borders is the only spot in its fair horizon. The valley of the Ohio is
in the centre of a great plain, which as the Appalachian chain was
elevated raised up that portion, and consequently the rivers which flow
over that division come with more impetuosity and dig for themselves
deep trenches in the earth. Many who have carefully examined this region
are of opinion the regular hills which border the Ohio and many of its
tributaries, are parts of the primitive plain, which the streams have
worn down into their present shapes. In this valley lies that great coal
basin which is so ably described by Dr. Hildreth in the American Journal
of Science. It extends over four or five degrees of latitude, and as
many of longitude. A circle drawn from the head waters of the Muskingum
to the sources of the Alleghany, and from thence to those of the
Monongohela and Kenawha would mark the extent of this deposit,
comprising portions of Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky.
Adieu to the fair Ohio! It has carried us for nearly nine hundred miles
in safety upon its bosom, unharmed by snag or sawyer; and I say with
Milton,
“May thy brimmed waves for this,
Their full tribute never miss,
From a thousand petty rills,
That rumble down the snowy hills;
Summer drought or singed air,
Never reach thy tresses fair;
Nor wet October’s torrent flood,
Thy molten crystal fill with mud.”
Our day’s journey was very delightful. The country is rolling, and
alternately pretty hill and dale scenery, and winding rivulets. The
first part of our ride was through Virginia, but in a short time at the
village of Alexandria, we entered Pennsylvania. We drove over the
national road, which runs from Cumberland, in Maryland, and passes
through the intervening States to Vandalia, Illinois, from whence it is
expected to be finished to Alton. This is a firm McAdamized road, eighty
feet broad, carried over mountains, vallies and rivers, crossing the
latter as well as every ravine and depression by well built stone
bridges. This very useful and well executed work was done by government,
at the suggestion of our statesman, Henry Clay. We passed a neat farm
house, before which stood a bronze statue of Clay, placed there by a
widow lady, owner of the place, in gratitude for the benefit this road
had produced to her property. We of course were in duty bound to admire
the statue, while rolling so rapidly and smoothly over this excellent
road. At Washington, Pa., we dined; a pretty town, having three
churches, hotels, and shops, with a college, a large building, in the
centre of pleasant grounds. A large court-house, of brick, was in
progress. The dinner was good, but plain. The hills which we passed in
the afternoon, were covered with rich pasture land, where sheep and
cattle were making a fine feast. These grassy hills are famous for the
‘glade butter,’ which is celebrated around the country, and which we
found very sweet and fresh. While descending the side of one of these
hills, we were told Brownsville, Pa., was in sight, and looking down, we
beheld a town in the valley, with the pretty Monongohela glistening in
the bright sun, as it wound its way around the hills. Rattling over a
fine, strong, covered bridge, we stopped to change horses before the
principal hotel. This is a large manufacturing town, containing five
thousand inhabitants. Steamboats are here built, and completely fitted
up; and when the river is high, they run to Pittsburg, sixty miles
distant. The hills are high around, abounding in bituminous coal, and
laid with strata of limestone and sandstone. The coal here is very rich.
Dark, heavy masses, after we had left this place, began to appear in the
horizon, and we were rejoiced to hear they were the celebrated Alleghany
mountains. We took tea at Uniontown, Pa., at the foot of the chesnut
ridge, and soon after began to ascend the mountain. Our mountain ride
was delightful, and when near the summit we all descended from the stage
coach, to enjoy the views. What a glorious thing to stand upon the top
of a mountain! How exultingly you gaze upon the world below! You feel so
proud of the great feat you have performed; you breathe freer; the
heavens seem nearer and brighter, and the earth--but do not let me speak
against the earth, for never had it looked more enchanting than when
looking upon it from the summit of the Alleghanies. The fair fields of
Pennsylvania, were spread out below, varied with herbage of every shade;
with groves and villages, and streams, whose waters were tinted with
rose from the setting sun; around in every direction was a green ocean
of hill tops, robed in a vesture of purple haze. You will smile at my
heroics upon the summit of so small a mountain as one of the
Alleghanies, scarcely three thousand feet above the earth, and think it
better applied to the Chimborazo, Popocatapetl, or even Rocky Mountains;
but fortunately, I have never been upon higher ground, and enjoy the
view from the Appalachian range, as much as if I stood upon the Nevados
of our southern continent, twenty-five thousand feet above the sea.
Depend upon it, those who have seen every thing, who have been rowed
down the Nile; climbed the rocks of Petra; worshipped at Jerusalem;
toiled up the Himalayas; and frozen in Siberia, are no happier than we,
who have been creeping about the circle of our home. To everything you
call upon them to admire they answer, ‘J’ai vu;’ they have seen
everything. If you praise a song, they turn away with scorn and speak of
the opera at Naples; if you ask them to visit our springs or our cities,
they talk of the spa’s of Europe, of Paris, of London, and Petersburgh.
They have nothing to do but fold their hands, grumble at the present,
and live upon the past. I have not seen, and therefore may be allowed to
expatiate upon the beauties of the Alleghanies. All that night we drove
up the hills and down the hills, shut up in the stage coach. We were
glad of our cloaks, for it was very cold, and at every stopping place we
found fires, although at the foot of the mountains the thermometer
stood at eighty. We talked merrily at first and kept up each others
spirits, but towards midnight we grew cold and weary, and one after
another sank into silence. There was much nodding and dozing, but little
sleeping; for as soon as one fell into a doze another was sure to ask
you if you could sleep, or how you came on, a question sure to put to
flight your endeavors. At last, hopeless of sleep, we gave it up by
mutual consent, and tried to amuse each other by stories. One of our
party was a western merchant who had frequently travelled over these
mountains, and met with numerous adventures. He told us of an adventure
which befel him twenty years since, when the mountains were little
travelled, and only accessible on horseback. He was carrying a large sum
of money in his saddle-bags, which he feared had been discovered by two
ill looking men whom he had seen in the tavern where he had stopped just
at dusk. He for some time felt a little fear, but the night had nearly
worn away and he had not seen any one; when, soon after midnight, as he
was pacing slowly along, he fancied he caught a glimpse of a man
standing by the road side just before him. He gazed intently through the
darkness and saw distinctly two men who drew farther out of the
moonlight into the shade of the trees as he approached. He knew not what
to do; he was not armed, no house was near, and if he left the road he
must be lost in the pathless woods. Go on he must, and he determined to
put spurs to his horse and dart past them. He gazed forward to see if
his path were clear; a deep silence reigned around, when ‘Dismount and
give up your money!’ resounded like thunder in his ears, echoing away
among the silent aisles of the mountain forest. Two men were before him;
his whip was wrenched from his hands; he was dragged to the ground; the
robbers mounted his steed and rode away. ‘Well, there I was in a pretty
fix, anyhow,’ he said, ‘sitting upon a mound of snow all alone, in a
wild wood at midnight, my two hundred dollars and my horse all gone. I
might have said with Shakspeare’s queen, ‘Here I in sorrow sit,’ etc.,
but I was not in a poetical mood anyhow. Besides, I could blame no one
but myself, for I ought to have kept my eye skinned, and not have been
so blind as not to see the danger of travelling in wild parts with so
much gold. Still, if the parts were wild, we had never heard of any
robbery committed here, and did not expect it.’ ‘Did you ever discover
the robbers?’ we asked. ‘Oh, yes! I went back to the village, and every
one turned out to help me. There was snow on the ground and we were thus
able to track them. I was forced to go all the way to Buffalo, however,
ere one was caught by the police. He had lived like a prince all along
the road and spent his share of the money.’ ‘What became of the other
man?’ ‘Why, ma’am, as I was one day walking through Pratt street, in
Baltimore, some months after, whom should I meet but my man, dressed in
the newest style, parading along as proud as a prairie cock, with a
grand lady upon each arm. I knew him, as I had remarked him at the
tavern, and by the bright moonlight. He also remembered me, and when he
saw my eye so eagerly fixed upon him, without saying good bye to the
ladies, or even waiting upon them home, he scattered at once down the
street, and I after him. If you had seen the ladies stare! Away he went,
up street, down street, along the wharves, in the vessels, out again. At
last, thinking he had dodged me, he sprang into an empty hogshead. But I
wasn’t to be did that way anyhow; so I flung a board over the top, and
standing on it, clapped my arms and crowed in such a tone of triumph,
that all the cocks in the neighboring yards crowed in concert. In short
my man was treed and imprisoned, but my money was gone.’
* * * * *
_July 25th._--At day-break I lifted the curtain, and by the uncertain
light of dawn, beheld at my side a wide river, whose opposite shores
were green and hilly. ‘Are we over the mountains already? What river can
this be?’ I asked. With a smile, one of the party informed me we were on
the summit of a high mountain, and the deep valley filled with mist,
with the opposite summits for a shore, made my river. A bright sun soon
dispersed the mist, and we were never tired of the variety of views we
beheld upon every hand. That the mountains are not very high adds to the
beauty of the scene; their heads are not lost in the clouds, and we
frequently see the whole mass at once. While descending one Alleghany we
beheld another before us, like a high green wall reaching to the
heavens, while a line across the summit showed the road we were to
travel; so high and precipitous it seemed, that we wondered how we ever
should reach the road. Descending again this ridge, we gazed out over a
great extent of country, or down into deep valleys, brightened by
winding streams, while trees, and flowers, and vines of every tint and
form, adorned the path. The laurels were out of bloom, but their deep
green glossy leaves shone out continually from the foliage. The chesnut
was also frequent; these two giving names to the two ridges we had
passed, Laurel and Chesnut ridges. We also remarked the pretty striped
maple, whose green bark is striped with black. This is sometimes called
moose wood, as the moose-deer always seeks with avidity its tender
leaves and bark. The box elder also occurs upon these slopes, with the
holly, and varieties of the magnolia, the turpelo, gum tree, besides
noble forests of many other trees. The road although leading over
mountain ridges and passes, is not a lonely one, as stages loaded with
passengers, were continual passing, and huge Pennsylvanian waggons with
the large Normandy horses, high collar, and jingling a bell to give
notice of their approach. The women of the country we often met upon
horseback, sitting upon their gaily embroidered saddles. The fine broad
smooth National road over which we were passing enabled the drivers to
keep their horses upon a very quick trot. I am fond of rapid driving,
but sometimes it made me rather nervous to dash at the rate of eight
miles an hour, within two feet of a precipice down which we looked upon
the tops of trees a thousand feet below. There is, however, very little
danger, as where the descent is steep, the driver can, in a moment, by
putting his foot upon a spring at his side, cramp the wheel, and check
our speed. After ascending a high mountain, we found a tavern, whose
sign bore the hospitable words ‘Welcome from the west.’ We were much
pleased with this kind reception, until upon looking back, perceived
upon the other side of the sign ‘welcome from the east.’ I wish the
good lady who erected a statue to Clay, would place a monument upon the
Alleghanies, to commemorate honest Daniel Boon, who claims to be the
first who discovered the fair western plains. Sir Alexander Spotswood, a
governor of Virginia, penetrated part of the way through the mountains.
There was no National road then, and the hills were almost impassable.
To stimulate discovery, he instituted the order of the golden
horse-shoe, for those who could pass the Blue Ridge. He was anxious to
counteract the influence of the French upon the Mississippi. There
should also be a statue to good old Father Marquette, upon the shore of
Lake Michigan, as, before him, no white man had penetrated farther in
the wilderness. He persevered and discovered the Mississippi. We passed
several towns, as Smythfield, Petersburg, Frostburg, Cumberland, &c.
This last town is in Maryland, upon a branch of the Potomac, one hundred
and forty miles from Baltimore. The scenery around it is beautiful. It
lies in a valley, through which glistens the Potomac river, surrounded
by mountains. We reached it this morning, after descending a slope which
seemed to rise one mass of rocks above us. The town has several large
hotels, a college, court-house, and many shops. We stopped here to
change horses. Here commences the transition formations, the Appalachian
range, dividing the transition from the secondary formations of the
western valley. So clear and distinct is this division, that the
celebrated geologist, Dr. Aikin, fixed upon the ground between
Cumberland and Hancock, forty miles distant, as the spot where the
Appalachian chain emerged from beneath, upheaved by igneous action. The
mountain which we descended to Cumberland, is called the Alleghany by
pre-eminence, it being the highest elevation, and is the ridge which
divides the waters which flow into the Ohio, from those which reach the
Atlantic. The rocks which we had observed upon our road, were the usual
limestone, marl, and conglomerates of the west, mixed with much
bituminous coal, while now we remarked with them, grey wacke and
transition slates. The Baltimore and Ohio railroad will pass through
Cumberland, and the Chesapeake and Ohio canal. Here also the National
commences, and we there left it, but found a very good one which
continued, with some failures, during the day. We dined at Pine Grove, a
small village. Near the hotel is a sulphur spring, which we were obliged
to taste, to gratify the landlord, and which was as nauseous as one
could desire. This afternoon we passed some very pretty mountain
scenery; none so high as those we had left behind, for we were only upon
the steps which lead down from the ridge to the plains below. From
Sidling Hill we looked down into a large valley surrounded by a circle
of hills, through which a river winding its way formed several islands.
In the centre, was a high rounded knoll covered with fields of ripened
grain, its bright yellow contrasting well with the dark woods which
surround it. They have a curious way here of laying the grain when cut,
in squares or circles, which looks very pretty at a distance. We took
tea at Hancock, a town upon the banks of the Potomac. The Chesapeake and
Ohio canal is finished as far as this place. We were but little over
half way to Baltimore here, having come, we were told, one hundred and
sixty miles from Wheeling. Another night was passed in the stage, only
varied by occasional stoppages to change horses. About day-break we
stopped at Hagarstown, a very large, thriving place, containing
churches, academies, and many handsome private dwellings. The hotel
which we entered while the horses were changed, was large, and seemed
very commodious. After leaving it, we found the valley in which it
stands, was very highly cultivated. It is underlaid with a dark blue
limestone; the soil is very rich, and the wheat which it produces, is
sent to Baltimore, and highly esteemed. We saw some of this limestone
which occasionally cropped out; veins of calcareous spar crossed the
blue, in some instances. Quartz pebbles, and large nodules were spread
over the country for miles, between this town and Frederic, as if a
storm of enormous hail had spent its fury over the land. Rounded pieces,
as large as a man’s fist, and white as milk, lay against the fences, or
were piled up by the husbandman. The county to Frederic is very pretty,
undulating, cultivated, and well settled, while dark masses in the
distant horizon told us our pretty mountains were far behind us.
* * * * *
_July 26th._--At eleven o’clock, we reached Frederick city, where we
breakfasted. This is a very pretty city, having an air of antiquity; as
we now had arrived in an old settled country, and the newly painted
towns were giving place to what are called old, although not what an
European would deem aged. I was almost too sleepy to see much of it, but
as we rattled over paved streets, and looked upon rows of houses, we
seemed quite at home again.
We bade adieu to the stage-coach, and after a good breakfast, entered
the rail-road car, and were whirled along with a rapidity which was
frightful, after our stage-coach pace. The cars were handsomely
finished, having an apartment appropriated to the ladies, where
reclining upon the blue satin sofas we relieved our cramped limbs. The
country, between Frederick and Baltimore, is very pretty. I think it is
about sixty miles from the one place to the other. We passed many good
houses, surrounded with fine farms, having the shining Monocasy river,
winding among them. We crossed this and the Petapsco, over several
bridges. The latter river flows between high banks of granite. Fifteen
miles, from Baltimore, are the celebrated Ellicots mills, built of the
granite of the cliffs, upon which they stand, where is ground the
excellent Baltimore flour, raised from the fertile country around
Frederick and Hagarstown. Some of the deep cuts of the rail-road seem to
be through a mass of debris, of all colours, red, white, and blue, mixed
with talcose slate, and blue limestone, until near Baltimore, when we
entered that granitic belt, which stretched through the Atlantic, border
to Georgia, and which is supposed once to have been the original
Atlantic coast, before the band of alluvion was formed. After passing
many fanciful country seats, and the fine viaduct which leads to
Washington, we beheld Baltimore, an enormous mass of brick and stone
lying upon the shore of Petapsco bay. Our western friends were delighted
and surprised at the sight of so large a city while driving through the
street. We arrived at Barnham’s large and elegant hotel just as they
were eating dinner. We had infringed upon our Sabbath thus far, without
intending it, as we were told we should arrive in Baltimore in time for
morning services. In the afternoon and evening, however, there was
opportunity of joining in public worship, which my husband and some of
the party embraced, leaving us, the weaker part, at home to rest.
* * * * *
_July 27th._--As we did not leave Baltimore until half-past nine, we
were enabled to see much of it. Its monuments to Washington, and to the
heroes of the last war, are handsome, and the fountain with its cool
canopy of shadowy elms, pretty; its churches and public buildings very
good, but as you are so well acquainted with it, I will not trouble you
with any details. We entered the rail-road car at half-past nine, and
reached New York at eleven that night, a distance of two hundred miles,
for which we paid eight dollars each. Several long bridges carried us
over Bush creek, Gunpowder river, and the noble Susquehanna. Our western
friends, who had been boasting of their great rivers, seemed surprised
at the little use we made of them in travelling. ‘It seems,’ said our
fair Missouri lady, ‘rivers here are of no consequence--indeed, are in
the way, as you make bridges and drive over them.’
At one o’clock we reached Wilmington, the capitol of Delaware. This
State was a Swedish settlement, named by Gustavus Adolphus, Nova Suecia,
since which time, Dutch, English and Americans, have successively owned
it.
We dined at Wilmington, and then hastening on, passed through Chester,
and a rich level country, to the beautiful city of Philadelphia. Leaving
our railroad at the depot, we drove through the whole length of the
city, where, at five o’clock, we entered the cars again, turned our
faces towards New York, which we reached, as I said, at eleven o’clock,
the road being along the Delaware, and through some rich farms, with
elegant mansions and huge Pennsylvania barns; through Bristol and
Trenton, in New Jersey, when darkness spread over the land and we saw no
more. And now farewell to the
“Land of the west! green forest land.”