by funnel-shaped hollows, not unlike those where the sides of coal-pits
have fallen in. These inverted cones are evidently excavated by the
infiltration of water, and indicate that the strata abounds with large
fissures or caverns.
In travelling over the last forty miles, limestone is the only
stratified mineral that I have seen. It lies in a position nearly
horizontal, and is literally conglomerated with organic remains.
Amongst these, the most remarkable is a species of terebratula, which
is very abundant, and varies from the size of a walnut to that of
a pin’s head. In addition to the concentric striated character, so
frequent amongst bivalve shells, it has large radiated grooves; the
grooves on one valve opposite to ridges on the other. The superior
margin is, of course, a zig-zag line, resembling the base of {103}
polyhedral crystals, where the sides of one pyramid are set on the
angles of another.
For some days past I have found the expense of travelling to be
uniformly three shillings and elevenpence farthing per day.
Limestone, sometimes called Maysville,[63] is a considerable landing
place on the Kentucky side of the river Ohio. The houses stand above
the level of the highest floods. There is a rope-walk, a glass-house,
several stores and taverns, and a bank, in the town.
On the 26th, I left Limestone by the road for Lexington, which is
sixty-four miles distant. The roads, hitherto scorched by drought,
were in a few minutes rendered wet and muddy by a heavy shower of rain.
The roads in this western country are of the natural soil.
The high grounds every where seen from the river, are called the river
hills; they are in reality banks, the ground inland of them being high.
To the south of Limestone it is a rich table land, diversified by
gentle slopes and moderate eminences.
At four miles from Limestone is Washington, the seat of justice in
Mason County. The town is laid out on a large plan, but is not thriving.
May’s Lick is a small village, twelve miles from Limestone. A rich
soil, and a fine undulated surface, unite in forming a neighbourhood
truly delightful. The most florid descriptions of Kentucky have never
conveyed to my mind an idea of a country naturally finer than this.
I lodged at a tavern twenty miles from Limestone. Before reaching that
place the night became dark and the rain heavy. As the tops of the
trees overhung the road, I had no other indication than the miry feel
of the track, to prevent me from wandering into the woods.
{104} _November 27._ Crossed the river Licking in a boat, at a small
town called Blue Licks, from the springs in its neighbourhood, from
which great quantities of salt were formerly procured. The adjoining
timber is exhausted, and the salt-works are abandoned.
After coming to a flooded creek, where there was neither bridge nor
boat, I waited a few minutes for the mail coach. The road is in several
parts no other than the rocky bed of the stream. It also crosses the
same creek four or five times. After riding a few miles, I left the
coach. There is no great degree of comfort in travelling by this
vehicle; stowed full of people, baggage, and letter bags; the jolting
over stones, and through miry holes, is excessively disagreeable: and
the traveller’s head is sometimes knocked against the roof with much
violence. A large piece of leather is let down over each side, to keep
out the mud thrown up by the wheels. The front was the only opening,
but as the driver and two other persons occupied it, those behind them
were almost in total darkness. A peep at the country was not to be
obtained.
Millersburg is a very small town, with several large grist-mills and a
bank.
To-day I have seen a number of young women on horseback, with packages
of wool, going to, or returning from, the carding machine. At some of
the houses the loom stands under a small porch by the door. Although
Miss does not wear the produce of her own hands, it is pleasant to see
such abundant evidence of family manufacture.
I lodged at Paris, the head town of Bourbon county. A cotton-mill, and
some grist-mills, are the manufactories of the place. The population
is considerable. Several of the taverns are large, and, like many of
the others in the western country, {105} have bells on the house-tops,
which are rung at meals.
A traveller has just returned from attending the sales of public lands
in the Missouri country.--They are exposed by auction, in quarter
sections of 160 acres each. A considerable part of them sold at from
three to six dollars per acre. Lots, not sold at auction, may be
subsequently bought at the land-office for two dollars per acre, on
paying half a dollar in ready money, and the remainder within five
years. Land dealers are very vigilant in securing for themselves great
quantities of the best land. It is not uncommon for reconnoitring
parties of them to lodge in the woods for a whole week. By such means
much of the best land, mill-seats, and other local advantages, are
withdrawn from the market at the first public sales. This gentleman
describes the Missouri country as one possessing a fine climate, and
containing many extensive prairies of a rich soil, but destitute of
timber and stone. The most advantageous purchases are considered to
be those on the edges of prairies, with a part of the open land, and
a part of the woods. Many of the settlers that I have seen by the
river, and elsewhere, were on their way for the Missouri territory. The
Illinois country, according to the account given by this traveller,
is a very unhealthy one. He travelled twenty days in that State, and
on his return home, found that many of the people were afflicted with
bilious fevers and agues. He affirmed that he had seen more sick people
during these twenty days than during the whole of his preceding life in
Kentucky. Other reports corroborate his statement, so that there can be
no doubt that the autumn has been a sickly one in that low country.
{106} The best taverns in town charge higher than those in the country,
where accommodation is inferior. At Paris I paid 62¹⁄₂ cents (2s.
9³⁄₄d. English) for supper and lodgings.
In this western country there is a great diversity of paper money.[64]
Small bills are in circulation of a half, a fourth, an eighth, and
even a sixteenth part of a dollar. These small rags are not current at
a great distance from the places of their nativity. A considerable
proportion of the little specie to be seen is of what is called cut
money.--Dollars cut into two, four, eight, or sixteen pieces. This
practice prevents such money from being received in banks, or sent
out of the country in the character of coin, and would be highly
commendable were it not for the frauds committed by those who clip the
pieces in reserving a part of the metal for themselves.
_November 28._ To-day I have crossed several flooded creeks: one by
a tree which has accidentally fallen across it, and one has a tree
that has been felled intentionally for a bridge; one I crossed on
an accumulated heap of driftwood; and _once_ by a horse, where a
farmer allows a Negro boy to derive a perquisite from carrying over
travellers.--Goods are now carried from Limestone to Lexington for a
dollar per hundred pounds weight.--This is somewhat lower than the
usual rate. Waggoners are occasionally interrupted by flooded streams.
Between the river Ohio and Lexington, limestone is the only rock
which I have observed. Like that noticed in Ohio State, it is crowded
with organic remains. The variety of the surface, in this part of the
country, is pleasant. The eminences are gentle swells rather than
hills, and the intervals between them are smooth, rich, and dry {107}
ground. Marshy land is scarcely to be seen.--These are convincing marks
of the excellence of the subsoil.
FOOTNOTES:
[55] Piketown, first settled about 1796 by pioneers from Pennsylvania
and Virginia, and laid out about 1814, is on the Scioto River
sixty-four miles south of Columbus, and about thirty miles from the
Ohio.--ED.
[56] Paint Creek, a stream about sixty miles long, empties into the
Scioto from the west, five miles below Chillicothe.--ED.
[57] For a brief description of Chillicothe, see F. A. Michaux’s
_Travels_, volume iii of our series, note 35.--ED.
[58] Flint travelled from Chillicothe to Limestone over Zane’s Trace.
For an account of this road, see Cuming’s _Tour_, volume iv of our
series, note 135.--ED.
[59] The Virginia Military District, reserved by that state when she
ceded her possessions north of the Ohio River to the United States
Government, was a triangular tract, with the Ohio River shore between
Little Miami and Scioto rivers as its base, and the apex at the sources
of the Huron River. Large portions were given as bounty lands to
Virginia soldiers of the Revolution; the remainder was ceded to the
Federal Government in 1852. In 1871 the government retroceded this
district to the state of Ohio, which, in turn, donated it to Ohio State
University. See Hinsdale, _Old Northwest_ (New York, 1888), p. 292.--ED.
[60] For a brief account of the battle of Tippecanoe, see Evans’s
_Tour_, volume viii of our series, note 131.--ED.
[61] Dr. Daniel Drake, a native of Plainfield, New Jersey, whose
boyhood was spent in Kentucky, came to Cincinnati in 1800 to study
medicine. Graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1816,
he interested himself in establishing the Ohio Medical College, at
Cincinnati, and became its first president. From that time until his
death in 1852, he was connected with some medical college, either in
Ohio or Kentucky. In addition to his writings on medical subjects, he
published (1815) the book several times mentioned by Flint, _Pictures
of Cincinnati and the Miami Country_.--ED.
[62] The remains of the mound-building Indians on Paint Creek, near
Bainbridge, are among “the largest works in the Scioto valley.” See
Fowke, _Archæological History of Ohio_ (Columbus, 1902), p. 206; see
also Cuming’s _Tour_, volume iv of our series, note 76.--ED.
[63] For notes on the following places, see A. Michaux’s _Travels_,
volume iii of our series: Limestone, note 23; Paris, note 29. F. A.
Michaux’s _Travels_, volume iii of our series: Washington, note 37;
May’s Lick, note 38; Millersburg, note 38. Cuming’s _Tour_, volume iv
of our series: Blue Licks, note 117.--ED.
[64] The supply of specie in the Western country had always been
inadequate. Until the numerous state banks began to flood the country
with paper money, about the second decade of the century, barter was
regularly employed. Flint was in the West when the financial stringency
that followed the War of 1812-15 was beginning to be felt in that
region, and the reaction against the worthless state banks had set in.
See _post_; also McMaster, _History of the United States_, iv, pp.
484-487.--ED.
LETTER IX
Lexington--Depreciated Paper Currency, and Fraudulent Bankers--Excess
of Paper Money destructive to American Manufactures--Aversion
to Menial Service--Atheneum--Dirking, Gouging, Kicking, and
Biting--Prices of Live-stock--Provisions, &c.--Slavery--Effects
of Slave-keeping on the White Population--Illiberal
Reflections of British Tories against the Americans and
against Free Government--Leave Lexington--Descend the Ohio to
Cincinnati--Occurrences and Reflections intermixed.
_Cincinnati, Ohio, 30th Dec. 1818._
Lexington, the county town of Fayette, was the capital of the state of
Kentucky, before the government was transferred to Frankfort.[65] It
is situated in north latitude, 38° 8′, and in west longitude 80° 8′.
The town is surrounded by a fertile and pleasant neighbourhood, and is
regularly built of brick and frame houses. It has a university, seven
places of worship, (three Presbyterian, one Episcopalian, one Baptist,
one Methodist, and one Roman Catholic.) Three printing offices,
where three weekly newspapers are published; a branch of the United
States Bank, and two other banking houses; {108} seven small cotton
factories; two paper-mills, two woollen factories, five rope-walks,
three grist-mills, many mercantile houses, and some good taverns. The
population is supposed to be about seven thousand; but the increase has
been slow for several years past.
There is here much trouble with paper money. The notes current in one
part, are either refused, or taken at a large discount, in another.
Banks that were creditable a few days ago, have refused to redeem
their paper in specie, or in notes of the United States’ Bank. In
Kentucky, there are two branches of the United States’ Bank; thirteen
of the Kentucky bank, and a list of fifty independent banks, some of
which are not in operation. In the state of Ohio, there are thirty
chartered banks, and a few others which have not obtained that
pernicious distinction. In Tennessee, the number of banks, including
branches, is fourteen. The total number of these establishments in
the United States, could not, perhaps, be accurately stated on any
given day. The enumeration, like the census of population, might be
affected by births and deaths. The creation of this vast host of
fabricators, and venders of base money, must form a memorable epoch in
the history of the country.--These craftsmen have greatly increased
the money capital of the nation; and have, in a corresponding degree,
enhanced the _nominal_ value of property and labour. By lending, and
otherwise emitting, their engravings, they have contrived to mortgage
and buy much of the property of their neighbours, and to appropriate
to themselves the labour of less moneyed citizens. Proceeding in
this manner, they cannot retain specie enough to redeem their bills,
admitting the gratuitous assumption that they were once possessed of
it. They {109} seem to have calculated that the whole of their paper
would not return on them in one day. Small quantities, however, of it
have, on various occasions, been sufficient to cause them to suspend
specie payments.
So long as a credulous public entertained full confidence in the banks,
bankers gave in exchange for their paper, that of _other banks, equally
good with their own_. The same kind of exchanges are still offered
now, when the people are very suspicious of the circumstances and
intentions of money manufacturers; and bankers console their creditors
by professing to be _as solvent as their neighbouring institutions_.
The holder of the paper may comply in the barter, or keep the notes,
such as they are; but he finds it too late to be delivered from the
snare. The people committed the lapsus, when they accepted of the
gew-gaws clean from the press. It is altogether surprising that the
people of this country have shut their eyes against the strongest light
of experience. If they had kept sufficiently in recollection the vast
issues, and the ultimate depreciation of continental money during their
revolutionary war, they might have effectually resisted the late influx
of paper. But the farmer, the mechanic, and the labourer, have been,
for a short time, pleased with what was, in name, a greater price, or a
greater hire. As every necessary of life has been proportionally raised
in nominal value, they do not find that their comforts or savings are
substantially enlarged. They are in reality diminished to the amount of
the gains that have arisen to the paper mint, and of the brokers who
deal in depreciated money. The immutable maxim, that productive labour
is the true source of wealth, has been lost sight of. Designing men
{110} have availed themselves of that apathy, and the deluded multitude
have been basely duped.
The baneful consequence of the paper system are not confined to
internal derangements here, but are extended to every department of
foreign intercourse. The merchants and manufacturers of other countries
are enabled to sell their goods, and the produce of their labour,
nominally cheaper than the Americans. Imports are increased, and a
large balance of trade arises. This must be paid in specie. Foreign
capitalists, who engage their funds in American speculations, must also
have the dividends, or profits on their stock, paid in the precious
metals. The grain raised by the American farmer is sent abroad, but the
price is greatly reduced by expense and risk incurred by a voyage, also
by the profits of merchants on both sides of the Atlantic. The cotton
and the wool are sent to Europe under similar disadvantages, and a
repetition of them in reconveying the manufactured goods to America. A
few facts will set this impolicy in a strong light. Cotton, which now
sells in the United States for a few cents per pound, is, in certain
cases, sent to England, and returned to the wearer at nearly as many
dollars. A gentleman from Mount Sterling, about thirty miles east of
this place, told me that a good coat of English manufacture, costs
there thirty-six dollars. Indian corn sells at twenty-five cents per
bushel. The farmer, then, who wears such a coat, must pay a hundred
and forty-four bushels for it,--a quantity sufficient to be bread
for twelve men for a whole year. One pound of good tea costs twelve
bushels,--bread for one man for a year. A chemical manufacturer, at
Pittsburg, buys saltpetre imported from India, cheaper than he can
procure the spontaneous product from the {111} caverns of Kentucky.
Although most of the metallic and earthy substances, useful in
manufacture, are abundant in America, she imports jewellery, cutlery,
glass, crystal, earthen and porcelain wares. By this means the republic
discourages her own artizans, and pays the taxes of foreign monarchies.
Under the present money system it is in vain that nature has diffused
her mineral resources over the New World. In vain will the government
impose the highest restrictive duties on imported goods, while every
crop of flax augments the imaginary money capital to a greater extent,
and while there is the smallest residuum of specie left in the country.
It would be an interesting inquiry to find the number and the names of
legislators in the different states assemblies, who are interested in
banking concerns. The people would then see how the power that grants
chartered privileges to banks is constituted.
Although the convulsion which agitates bankers in the western country,
is but of recent date, their money is in various instances thirty per
cent. under par in the eastern states. Tavern keepers, grocers, and
others, receive the money of the banks nearest to them, although they
know that these banks will not pay specie for them. They see that,
without the rags now in circulation, they could have very little money.
Every one is afraid of bursting the bubble. How the country is to be
delivered from this dilemma, bankers have not yet shewn. They are still
strongly inclined to continue the traffic; but they cannot be expected
to support organized establishments of directors, presidents, cashiers,
clerks, offices, and empty coffers, without committing farther
spoliations on the people. When the sick system dies, the public will
see the full amount of the penance they have to suffer {112} for their
credulity. A smaller, but a more substantial capital, will be resorted
to, one better calculated to “place the manufacturer beside the farmer.”
_December 5._ To-day a shower of rain fell, and was followed by snow.
The part that lies unmelted is about an inch thick.
Among the succession of people at the tavern, many are polite
and obliging in their behaviour. Some are interesting in their
conversation, and some talk of horses and horse-racing. The latter
kind of discourse is mixed with swearing.
Lexington is still considered the capital of fashion in Kentucky.
There are here many genteel families, a few of which keep coaches.
The town, on a whole, exhibits a well-dressed population. The menials
are nearly all slaves. Free blacks detest every thing that they think
resembling their former condition. White people are still more averse
to live as hired people in families. Females, however idle, and however
great their difficulties may be, remain with their parents, till
removed by that great change that all hope for. In many cases, it is
said that their repugnance to support themselves, by the earnings of
hired labour, induces them here, as in other places, to lead a life of
profligacy and ruin.
_December 9._ For several days past the temperature has remained
steadily a few degrees below the freezing point. This morning the snow
disappeared, and through the day, the heat seemed to be much greater
than ever I felt at this season of the year.
_12._ The Atheneum, or reading-room, is much frequented. It is well
furnished with newspapers, and with the most distinguished periodical
publications; scientific journals, army and navy lists of {113}
Britain; Rees’ Cyclopædia, and some other books. Attached to the
institution is a small collection of objects in Natural History; and
some articles of the dress, arms, and tools of the Indian people. I
cannot omit mentioning some particulars:--A bowl of unglazed earthen
ware found along with a mummy in a cave in Tennessee. In shape it
resembles a modern cast iron pot; and is a specimen of manufacture
superior to that executed in some of the coarser works of the kind
amongst civilized people: an Indian register from the west of the
Mississippi, which is cut on a small piece of white marble. The subject
of it is a record of their wars. Those of long duration, or of great
extent, are represented by larger holes bored in the stone. Seven
great, and fourteen inferior wars, are indicated. When the nation
migrates, or when the tablet is filled with spots, they enter the
register on a black stone, and part with the white one. The tribe has
now five black stones in keeping. The solidity and wax colour of the
specimen rank it equal with the famous Parian marble.
To-day I saw a young man buy a dirk. The number of these weapons
exhibited in the jewellers’ shops show that a great sale of them
must be expected. The dirk has a pointed blade, four or five inches
long, with a small handle. It is worn within the vest, by which it is
completely concealed. The advocates for private arms openly declare
that they are for defence, but the dissipated, the passionate, and
the freebooter, urge a similar pretext for carrying the stilleto.
Quarrels must be conducted in a dangerous form; and murder must be made
a prelude to robbery, amongst a people who use concealed arms. Spain
exemplifies this truth--and it is from her colonists probably that the
southern and western Americans have learned this practice.
{114} Fights are characterized by the most savage ferocity. Gouging,
or putting out the antagonist’s eyes, by thrusting the thumbs into the
sockets, is a part of the _modus operandi_. An extension of the optic
nerve occasions great pain to the sufferer. Kicking and biting are also
ordinary means used in combat; I have seen several fingers that had
been deformed, also several noses and ears, which have been mutilated,
by this canine mode of fighting.
_December 13._ To-day a crowd of people were out witnessing the
immersion of seven Baptists in a pool near the town. Many of them have
a genteel and gay appearance; a slight shade of the ruddy complexion
makes me suppose that the climate of this place is the best that I have
known on this side of the Atlantic.
_Dec. 15._ Last night a man took the Sheriff of Fayette county aside,
on pretence of business, and immediately commenced an attack on him.
The officer of the law drew a dirk, and wounded the assailant.
I note down the prices of live stock, labour, some of the necessaries
of life, &c.
_Dollars_ _Cents_
Price of a young male negro, arrived at puberty, 800 --
Hire of ditto per annum, with provisions and
clothes, 100 to 150 --
Price of a young female ditto, 600 --
Hire of ditto, per annum, with provisions and
clothes, 120 --
Price of a work-horse, from 100 to 120 --
Price of a fine saddle horse, 200 to 300 --
Hire of a four horse team and driver, without
provisions, 4 --
Hire of a saddle horse per day, 1 --
Mechanics per day, with board, ³⁄₄ to 1 --