Departure from Pittsburgh--The Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio
rivers--Brunot’s island--unfortunate death of two gentlemen--
Baldwin’s mill--Neville’s island--Middletown--Logstown--Beaver
creek--Beaver town--Fort M’Intosh.
On the 18th July, 1807, accompanied by my intelligent and valuable
friend A----, I departed from Pittsburgh, in a batteau, or flat
bottomed skiff, twenty feet long, very light, and the stern sheets
roofed with very thin boards, high enough to sit under with ease, and
long enough to shelter us when extended on the benches for repose,
should we be benighted occasionally on the river, with a side curtain
of tow cloth as a screen from either the sun or the night air. We
had a pair of short oars, or rather long paddles, for one person to
work both, and a broad paddle to steer with; and a mast, and a lug or
square sail to set when the wind should favour us; we had a good stock
of cold provisions and liquors. The river being neither flooded, nor
very low, was just in that state, to promise a pleasant passage to its
navigators. The current running between two and three miles an hour,
allowed time to examine every thing worthy of curiosity, and the water
was sufficiently high to prevent delays through grounding on any of the
numerous flats, which impede the navigation of the first two hundred
miles, during the principal part of the summer and fall, and yet not so
high as to prevent our being able to see and remark all the shoals or
rocks of any consequence, which gave us an opportunity {73} of proving
Mr. Cramer’s Navigator which we had with us, of correcting it in a few
places, and of adding to it a sketch of the river, in its very winding
course, between Pittsburgh and Limestone or Maysville, in Kentucky.[43]
In a quarter of an hour after embarking on the Monongahela we passed
its confluence with the Allegheny, and entered the Ohio formed by the
other two.
The Allegheny rises between two and three hundred miles following
its different meanders, N. E. of Pittsburgh. Its current runs about
three miles an hour except in floods, when it is sometimes impelled
at the rate of six or seven. Its banks were uninhabited except by the
aborigines, and a line of distant posts fortified by the French, to
preserve the communication by this route between Canada and Louisiana,
previous to the conquest of the former country by the British in 1759;
also to prevent the extension of the Anglo-American settlements to
the westward of this river; and to command the friendship and trade
of the Indians; and to prevent as much as possible the English from
participating with them in those advantages. Within the last twenty
years, the Indians disliking the extension of the American settlements
into their neighbourhood, have abandoned this whole tract of country,
and have retired to Sandusky, about three hundred miles further west,
with the exception of a tribe under a celebrated chief called the
Cornplanter, which has a town and settlement near the Allegheny about
120 miles from Pittsburgh,[44] and which is gradually falling into an
agricultural life.[45]
{74}The Europe-American settlements (as I call them from their
consisting principally of emigrants from Britain, Ireland, and Germany,
particularly the two latter) now extend not only to the banks of the
Allegheny, but crossing that river, the country has become {75}
populous, and many thriving towns have been erected throughout the
whole country south of lake Erie, not only in Pennsylvania, but in
the adjoining new state of Ohio, which latter has been settled in
that tract, by emigrants from the state of Connecticut,[46] to whom
Pittsburgh is indebted for a good supply of cheese[47] not inferior to
English.
The navigation of the Allegheny is easy for boats called _keels_ from
fifty to seventy feet long, sharp at both ends, drawing little water,
carrying a good burthen, and calculated to be set against the stream,
so as to surmount it from eight to twenty miles a day in proportion
to the strength of the current operating against them. The water of
this river is uncommonly clear, occasioned by its gravelly bottom and
the rapidity of its current; and the fish are harder, firmer, and
more delicious, than those caught in the Monongahela, which rising in
the Laurel mountain in Virginia, pursues a northern course about two
hundred miles, (the last half of which is through a rich and populous
country) until it unites with the Allegheny at Pittsburgh. Flowing
generally through a more level country than the Allegheny, its current
{76} is much more placid, but its waters are always muddy, from which
circumstance it derives its name, which in the Indian dialect signifies
_muddy from the mouldering in of banks_. Both it and the Allegheny
abound in fish, of which the white salmon, the perch, the pike and the
cat-fish are most esteemed; there are however several other species.[48]
The Ohio into which we had now entered, takes its name from its
signifying _bloody_ in the Indian tongue, which is only a modern
appellation bestowed on it about the beginning of the last century
by the five nations, after a successful war, in which they succeeded
in subjugating some other tribes on its banks.[49] It was called by
the French _La belle Riviere_, which was a very appropriate epithet,
as perhaps throughout its long course it is not exceeded in beauty
by any other river. It was always known before as a continuation of
the Allegheny, though it more resembles the Monongahela, both in the
muddiness of its waters, and its size: the latter being about five
hundred yards wide, whereas the former is only about four hundred yards
in breadth opposite Pittsburgh.
Leaving the glass house on the left, we passed on the same hand
Saw-mill run, a mill stream with a long wooden bridge crossing it to
Elliot’s mills, the bridge forming a handsome object in the view.
Elliot has here a delightful spring, bubbling its cool pelucid water
from the side of the rocky bason which receives it, from which it is
conveyed by a pipe through his spring-house, the roof of which joins
the shed which covers the spring.
We passed Robinson’s point on the right with a fine level, or bottom,
as I shall in future according to {77} the language of the country
call all the flats between the hills and the banks of the river. This
bottom well settled and cultivated, extends to about four miles below
Pittsburgh, having Brunot’s island opposite its lower extremity. This
island contains near three hundred acres of a most luxuriant soil,
about half of which has been cleared by Dr. Brunot, a native of France,
who adds hospitality and sociality to the abundance which he derives
from his well cultivated farm.[50] He has judiciously left the timber
standing on the end of the island nearest Pittsburgh, through which,
and a beautiful locust grove of about twelve acres, an avenue from his
upper landing is led with taste and judgement about half a mile to his
house, which is a good two story cottage, with large barns, and other
appropriate offices near it, and an excellent garden and nursery. He
has fenced the farm in such a way, as to leave a delightful promenade
all round it, between the fences, and the margin of the river, which
he has purposely left fringed with the native wood about sixty yards
wide, except where occasional openings are made either for landings,
or views, the latter of which are very fine, particularly that of
M’Kee’s romantick rocks opposite, impending over the narrow rapid which
separates them from the island. M’Kee’s fine farm between the rocks
and the mouth of Chartier creek, and the creek itself, which meanders
through a great part of the rich and plentiful county of Washington,
affording also fine subjects for the landscape painter.[51]
On entering the channel to the right of Brunot’s island, I could not
avoid a sensation of melancholy, from its reminding me of the death of
my valued friend George Cochran, esq. of Natchez, who about three years
ago was drowned here together with a Mr. M’Farlane of Elizabethtown, by
the skiff, in which they were going from the shore to a brig belonging
to the latter, being carried by the current {78} against the brig’s
cable, and overset. In his death, his friends had cause to lament the
loss of a warm hearted, benevolent, generous, and properly conducted
man in every sense of the word, and the world was deprived of one of
those characters, which is occasionally but rarely allowed it, to
prevent that general obloquy to which it would otherwise be subjected
from the natural depravity of mankind.
I was not acquainted with Mr. M’Farlane, but from the manner in which
I have heard him spoken of by those who were, he merited a longer
enjoyment of this probationary life. They were found two days after, a
few miles below, brought to Pittsburgh, and interred in two adjoining
graves, in the burying ground of the new Presbyterian meeting-house.
Passing his garden, we gave and received an adieu from Dr. Brunot,
and the recollection of a social and agreeable day, which I enjoyed
with a party at his house on the 4th of this month, when he had a few
friends to commemorate that anniversary of a new era in the annals of
history, _the Independence of the United States of America_, aided to
dispel those gloomy, selfish ideas, which we who remain behind can
seldom avoid indulging, when we think on our being for ever deprived
of society which was dear to us--even though we have every reason to
be certain that they were prepared for whatever fate may await them in
futurity, and though we know that longer continuance here, might have
subjected the subject of our regret to some of those casualties in the
affairs of men, which might have embittered their future life.
The course of the river is generally about N. N. W. from Pittsburgh
to Beaver, about twenty-eight miles. We continued to descend it, our
attention occupied by frequent changes of prospect, caused by its
winding course. From the point below Brunot’s island, is a fine vista
of the river with hills on the right and {79} a bottom on the left; a
very high hill in front cultivated on the top, Baldwin’s mill on the
right three miles distant, reflected by the water to double its size;
the well frequented road to Beaver on the same hand, and farms and
farm houses in view of each other; the scenery enlivened by multitudes
of fish sporting near the surface of the glassy element. Baldwin’s
mill-house is well built of stone over a dam in the river, which
conveys the water to the wheel, from whence it runs out under the arch
which supports the house.
We had passed a small island of about three acres, called Cow island,
separated from Neville’s or Long island by a channel of one hundred and
fifty yards. This latter takes its name of _Long_ from its extending
six miles down the river from opposite Baldwin’s mill, it is narrow,
but its soil being of the first quality, it might be divided into
several good farms; there is however but one on it as yet, cultivated
for the proprietor, major Craig of Pittsburgh, who has on the middle of
the island a large but very plain wooden farm house of two stories, and
about sixty feet long.[52]
We here overtook a covered flat, with two families of the name of
Frazey, migrating from the neighbourhood of Elizabethtown in New
Jersey, to Cincinnatti in Ohio. They had embarked at Redstone on the
Monongahela.[53] The father of one of the families was dangerously ill
with a nervous fever and deranged in his intellects.
Hog island on the left just below Neville’s island, is very small, and
immediately below it also on the left we passed Middletown, lately laid
out, containing ten houses including barns, and opposite to it, a Mr.
White’s finely situated house.
From a point two miles below Middletown, the river opening gradually
into a long reach, has a fine effect to the eye. A little below the
point, a charmingly situated farm on the right exciting our inquiry,
{80} we were informed that it was squire Ways. The squire however,
was badly lodged, if he had no better house than the small log hovel
we saw on the bank. Deadman’s island a little below is small, covered
with aquatick shrubs and plants, and so low, that it must always be
inundated in moderate risings of the river, which is not _here_ more
than a hundred and fifty yards wide, and in general not exceeding two
hundred. The banks on each side abound with partridges whose responsive
calls are continually heard, interrupted by the buzz of multitudes
of large horse flies, which probably attracted by the odour of our
provisions, seemed much more pleased with our boat than we were with
them.
Eight miles below Middletown, we passed Logstown on the left: This is
a scattering hamlet, of four or five log cabins, in the neighbourhood
of which, on the opposite side of the river, a considerable tribe of
Indians resided, until after the reduction of Fort Du Quesne, now
Pittsburgh, by general Forbes in 1758.[54]
From Logstown a mile and a half to Crow’s island which is small, the
banks are very pleasant, rising gradually from the water’s edge,
and having a fine bottom on the right. Here we met two large keel
boats loaded with cotton in bales, from Nashville in Tennessee bound
to Pittsburgh, out twenty-six days. They had nine men in each--one
steering, six poling, and two resting.
Half a mile from hence on the right, is a good log house with a sign
of a white horse, kept by James Knox; in passing, it, a young woman
answered several questions we asked her very civilly; which I mention
as a rare circumstance, as the inhabitants of the banks of the Ohio,
have too generally acquired a habit, of either not deigning an answer
to the interrogatories of the numerous river travellers, or of giving
them a short and boorish one, or of turning {81} their questions into
ridicule; which proceeds from the impertinent manner in which they are
generally hailed and addressed by the people in the boats.
Two miles lower we passed a good house and a saw mill in a beautiful
rural situation on the left bank, and here we met a decent looking man,
polling a skiff against the current: He was going to Pittsburgh and had
come upwards of twenty miles since morning.
At half past four in the afternoon we were abreast of Big Beaver creek
or river on the right, five miles below the saw mill. It empties
through a level, and is about fifty yards wide at its mouth, with a
gentle current.
Some boys on the beach mischievously misinformed us respecting the
proper landing, to the town of Beaver, which is but a little way beyond
the creek, instead of which we rowed a mile lower down, and then had to
set our skiff across a bar, which extends above a mile in front of the
right bank. After landing, we had to climb a precipice to a log cabin,
on the top and edge of the cliff, near two hundred feet above the
surface of the river: Here we got directions for our path, and after a
walk of half a mile, we reached the town of Beaver.
It stands on a stony plain on the top of the high cliff which conceals
it from the river, and contains about thirty indifferent houses,
much scattered, on three parallel streets. There is a stone gaol not
quite finished, which was the only publick building we noticed.[55]
The inhabitants not finding water at a convenient depth, have, in
preference to digging very deep wells, led it by wooden pipes from
a hill near a mile from the town, and have placed publick wooden
fountains in the streets at convenient distances.
{82} We were shewn the scite of Fort M’Intosh, of which no vestige
remains except the hearth of the officers’ fire place: It is on the
edge of the cliff commanding the river. Altogether, Beaver seems to
be very badly situated on the high plain, when it ought to have been
placed at the confluence of Beaver creek with the Ohio, where there
is a bottom with room enough for a town, and an excellent landing,
and where are now two good looking houses with tavern signs. The
neighbouring high situation notwithstanding its inconveniences, was
probably preferred, on account of the superior salubrity of the air.[56]
On entering Beaver, we refreshed ourselves with six cents worth
of whiskey and water at general Lacock’s tavern. He is one of
the representatives in the assembly of the state, and has both
considerable influence and abilities. I had heard him in the house of
representatives when I was at Lancaster in the winter, and was much
entertained by the wit and humour he displayed in the course of a
debate on fixing a permanent seat of government.[57] We had not the
pleasure of seeing the general now, and proceeded from his house to
Mr. Wilson’s, one of the best in the place, conformably to a promise I
had given him in Pittsburgh. Mrs. Wilson, a very pretty woman, told us
that her husband was absent in Philadelphia:--We left our names, walked
across the street to Hemphill’s tavern, got some information respecting
the country; and then returned to our boat, meeting on our way the
constable crying at publick sale, a poor horse attached for debt, for
which the last bid was thirteen dollars twenty-five cents. It is seven
years since Beaver was laid out for a town.
FOOTNOTES:
[43] The _Navigator or Trader’s useful Guide to Navigating the
Monongahela, Allegheny, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers_ ... was published
by Zadok Cramer at Pittsburg--the same house that produced Cuming’s
_Western Tour_. Cuming doubtless had the fifth edition, issued in 1806.
The work was useful and popular, and ran through twelve editions.--ED.
[44] The former villages of the Shawnees and Delawares in the vicinity
of Pittsburg were removed at the close of the French and Indian War to
the neighborhood of the Muskingum.
Cornplanter, the chief of a large band of Senecas, was for many years
a much dreaded hostile. He is known to have been with the French at
Braddock’s defeat; later, influenced by the British agents, he took
part in the massacre at Wyoming and in many border raids. Brodhead led
out an expedition in 1779, which burned the towns of this chieftain;
and at the close of the Revolution, becoming impressed with the growing
power of the Americans, the wily warrior professed peace, assisted in
securing the treaties of Fort Stanwix (1784) and Fort Harmar (1789),
and had an interview with Washington in 1790. His professions secured
him a large reservation in the present county of Warren, Pennsylvania,
where he lived quietly until his death in 1836.--ED.
[45] In 1798, the Quakers of Philadelphia sent out a committee of three
or five, men and women, among the Cornplanters Indians, with implements
of husbandry, to instruct the poor natives in the arts of agriculture
and comfortable living. In these, with much good example, industry,
and perseverance, they have succeeded wonderfully in bringing their
red brethren to a considerable advanced state of civilization, to a
knowledge of agriculture, the mechanick arts, and a practice of the
social virtues. I had the pleasure of conversing with _Joel Swain_,
one of the members of the committee not long since, who observed,
that the farms of the natives extended several miles on both banks
of the Allegheny river, well stocked with cattle, horses, and hogs.
That one or two of the Indians had already learnt how to make their
own plough-irons, axes, hoes, &c. while others were learning to make
tubs and buckets, and that he expected to learn an ingenuous boy to
make spinning wheels the ensuing year, for which he was then hunting
irons. That a tanyard was about to be sunk for the purpose of learning
them the art of tanning. That the Indian women had spun and wove about
seventy yards of flaxen linen that year, 1808, and was able to knit
their own stockings. That they, the committee, had got both men and
women to quit the habit of drinking whiskey, or any other kind of
ardent spirits, either at home or abroad--This circumstance has been
frequently witnessed among those who came down to Pittsburgh with
skins, trading, and who uniformly refuse _whiskey_ when offered to them
by those to whom they sell their skins, shaking their heads, saying,
_too scos, too scos_, meaning, _not good_, repeating in broken English,
“may be _scos_, good, for white man, but _too scos_, bad, for Indian.”
The Quakers of Baltimore, under the same Christian, and highly laudable
spirit, sent out in 1805, a deputation among the _Shawaneese_,
_Delawares_, and _Wyandots_, and such other tribes as they could find
it practicable to visit, to see what might be wanting to forward the
interests and happiness of the natives, to some of whose tribes they
had forwarded a few articles of farming utensils in 1798, particularly
to those situated on the banks of the Tuskarowas river; since which,
ploughs, hoes, axes, &c. have been forwarded to Fort Wayne as presents
to the Indians on the Wabash, where considerable clearings and
improvements have been made under the particular direction of PHILIP
DENNIS, agent of the Friends’ society.
The Western Missionary society are also laudably engaged in this
Christian like work, and we hope and flatter ourselves, that much good
will be done, and the poor natives be advanced to a state of rational
life. The Rev. Joseph Badger resides on the Sandusky, where no doubt
his indefatigable industry will be turned to the best advantage for the
welfare of the Indians in that quarter. He has one farm already stocked
with cattle, &c. a tolerable crop was raised last year--and a school
is kept to teach the children the English language. Divine service
is also held among them frequently, where men, women, and children
attend, to receive the instruction of their worthy pastor. Mr. Badger
was among us not long ago, and he gives a flattering account of the
aptness of the Indian children, and their willingness and desire for
learning, and states that they do not want for capacity.--This subject
opens a wide field for the humane and philosophick citizen, and we hope
the minds of many will be drawn to pay it that attention it so richly
merits.--CRAMER.
[46] This refers to the Western Reserve, often called New Connecticut.
By the terms of her charter, Connecticut claimed the land west of
her boundaries to the Mississippi; upon her cession of this claim to
Congress (1786), she reserved a tract of 3,250,000 acres on the shores
of Lake Erie, in which settlement was begun (1796) at Cleveland. In
1800 this reserve was surrendered to the United States, and finally
incorporated in the state of Ohio.--ED.
[47] It is not an uncommon thing for some of our New Connecticut
farmers to make from two to three tons of good cheese in one
season, for which they generally get at our market twelve cents per
pound.--CRAMER.
[48] Such as the sucker, sturgeon, buffaloe, missouri, eel, herring,
and sometimes the flat soft shelled turtle are caught--The branches of
the Allegheny, especially French creek, abound in fine trout.--CRAMER.
[49] Cuming is following the _Navigator_ in his signification of the
term “Ohio,” which in its turn quotes from Brackenridge’s _Gazette
Publications_ (Carlisle, 1806). Both are incorrect, as philologists now
agree that the word Ohio signifies “beautiful stream.”--ED.
[50] Dr. Felix Brunot was a foster brother of Lafayette. Embarking
in the latter’s enterprise to aid the American colonists, he served
efficiently in the Revolution, especially at the battle of Brandywine.
At the close of the war he settled at Annapolis, Maryland; but in 1797
removed to Pittsburg, where he developed the island estate which Cuming
describes. Dr. Brunot died in 1838; his descendants have been equally
public-spirited--his grandson, Felix Brunot, being an eminent Pittsburg
philanthropist.--ED.
[51] The original owner of the farm from which McKee’s Rocks took their
name was the notorious Tory Indian agent, Alexander McKee. This tract
he bought of Bouquet in 1764, and lived upon his property until the
outbreak of the Revolution. McKee had (1772) been appointed by Sir
William Johnson, deputy for Indian affairs, and was listed by Lord
Dunmore (1775) as one whose loyalty to the British could be relied
upon. He became, therefore, an object of suspicion to his neighbors,
and General Hand, commandant at Fort Pitt, placed him upon parole.
The night of March 28, 1778, McKee with Matthew Elliot and Simon
Girty, broke his parole and fled to the British at Detroit. There
he was rewarded with a captaincy, and employed in leading Indian
raiding parties against the American settlements. After Hamilton’s
capture (1778) he was made Indian agent for the Western department,
and throughout the Revolution, and the entire period of Indian wars,
his influence with the savages was exerted to maintain their enmity
to the Americans. After the battle of Fallen Timbers (1794), Wayne
burned the store-house and goods of McKee at the Maumee Rapids, the
renegade having himself retired to Detroit, where he received a letter
of commendation from the governor-general of Canada, and promotion in
the British service. When the latter evacuated Detroit (1796), McKee
retired to Sandwich, where he continued his official duties until his
death (January 14, 1799). His services had been rewarded by large
grants of land on the Canadian side of the Detroit River, upon which
his descendants established themselves. His Pittsburg property passed
into the hands of a brother, whose descendants were living thereon in
1847.--ED.
[52] Major Isaac Craig was one of the most prominent of the early
citizens of Pittsburg. Coming from Ireland to America in 1766, he
settled at Philadelphia as a carpenter, and being commissioned first
lieutenant of marines (1775) took part in the expedition to the West
Indies. His command was later transferred to the infantry and then
to the artillery branch of the service, wherein Craig was wounded
at Brandywine, and performed gallant services in Sullivan’s Indian
Campaign. Having taken command of Fort Pitt in 1780, he was ordered the
next year to reinforce George Rogers Clark with stores and artillery
for an expedition to Detroit. This proving abortive, Craig continued
at Pittsburg, strengthening its defenses, and securing it against
attack. In 1783, he bought the first land sold within the city of
Pittsburg, and shortly formed a partnership for general business
with Colonel Bayard, a Revolutionary officer. During the Indian
campaigns Craig acted as military storekeeper, forwarding provisions
to Wayne, and erecting defensive works at Pittsburg (Fort Fayette),
Wheeling, and Presqu’ Isle; but as a noted Federalist he was removed
(1802) by Jefferson from official position. Major Craig also aided
in preparations for the War of 1812-15, but at its close retired to
Neville’s Island (his wife’s property) and resided thereon until his
death in 1826.--ED.
[53] For a sketch of Redstone, see Michaux’s _Travels_, vol. iii of
this series, p. 158, note 23.--ED.
[54] For a sketch of Logstown, see Weiser’s _Journal_, vol. i of this
series, p. 24, note 17.--ED.
[55] A small brick market-house has been since built, and after many
trials, a well sunk from which the inhabitants are supplied with
water.--CRAMER.
[56] With regard to the Indian towns at the mouth of the Big Beaver,
see Weiser’s _Journal_, vol. i of this series, p. 26, note 22.
The present town of Beaver was laid out in 1792, and eight years later
made the county town for the newly-erected Beaver County. Fort McIntosh
was a Revolutionary post erected (1778) by General Lachlin McIntosh,
who had been chosen to succeed General Hand at Fort Pitt. It was the
first military post in the Indian territory beyond the Allegheny and
Ohio rivers. An important Indian treaty was held at this place in 1784;
but four years later the fort was demolished, the erection of lower
posts on the Ohio having rendered it superfluous.--ED.
[57] The career of General Abner Lacock is illustrative of the ability
and force of character that rendered so many pioneers eminent. Of
Virginia birth, he had but slight education, migrating to Washington
County, Pennsylvania, at an early age. When the town of Beaver was
erected he bought some of the first lots, and served as justice of the
peace as well as tavern-keeper. His entry into general politics was
signalized (1801) by election to the Pennsylvania assembly, and in 1808
he was chosen state senator. National affairs claimed him when elected
United States Senator (1813), in which position he championed internal
improvements and popular education. Having incurred the resentment of
Jackson by his services on the committee to investigate the Seminole
War, his retirement ensued; whereupon he returned to Beaver, whose
citizen he remained until his death in 1837.--ED.
{83} CHAPTER X
Thunder storm--Hospitable reception at Potts’s--Georgetown--Little
Beaver creek--State division line--Faucetstown--Croxton’s--Squire
Brown’s.
A ferry two miles below Beaver is a handsome situation, beyond which
the banks are high on both sides, and the river does not exceed one
hundred and fifty yards wide.
About half past seven, it began to rain with heavy thunder and sharp
lightning. We huddled into the stern under the awning, and I sculled
with one oar to keep the boat in the channel, in hopes of getting to
Georgetown; but the storm increasing, we judged it more prudent to stop
at nine o’clock where we saw a light on the left bank. We were received
very hospitably in their small log house by Mr. and Mrs. Potts.[58] Our
landlady gave us bread and milk, which after changing our wet clothes,
we supped on sumptuously. We then made some milk punch, which our
landlord partook of with us with great gout, entertaining us with some
good songs, and long stories about his travels. Time thus passed away
while the storm pelted without, and it was not until eleven o’clock
that we stretched ourselves on the floor, with our feet to the fire,
and enjoyed a good nap, resisting the kind importunities of the Potts’s
to take their own bed, their other one being filled with their five
children. And here I must remark that throughout this whole country,
wherever you see a cabin, you see a swarm of children.
At six o’clock on Sunday morning the 19th July, we left Potts’s, after
having recompensed them for their hospitality. This was ten miles below
Beaver, and two and a half above Georgetown. There are three small
islands in that distance called First, Second, and Grape island.
{84} I landed at Georgetown on the left, which contains about thirty
houses in a fine situation, on a narrow plain extending from the high
river bank, to the hills which surround it like an amphitheatre. Though
it is a post town, and a considerable thoroughfare of travellers, it
is nevertheless on the decline, there being only twenty-five houses
inhabited.[59] A shower coming on, I took shelter in the house of a
very communicative elderly man, whose wife was young and very handsome,
though an half blood Indian.
Little Beaver creek[60] nearly opposite to Georgetown, is a handsome
little river, about thirty yards wide; half a mile below which, we
saw the division line between Pennsylvania and Virginia on the left,
{85} and between the former and Ohio on the right, which were cleared
of wood forty feet wide in their whole length some years ago; a new
growth of trees, bids fair to obliterate very shortly these temporary
boundaries.[61]
Near this on the left bank opposite a small island, is a curious
stratum of slate, covering a substratum of coal, which also shews
itself.
A mile below this is Custard’s island, a mile long, opposite the lower
end of which on the left, is the very pleasantly situated house and
farm of Mr. Stewart, in passing which we were asked by some people at
the landing, if we had seen a man polling up a skiff yesterday on his
way to Pittsburgh, and they pointed out his house on the opposite bank,
which he had left yesterday; which was matter of astonishment to us,
how the man we hailed in this skiff above Beaver, could have surmounted
so many ripples and rapids in so short a time; it evinced uncommon
strength, activity, and perseverance.
A mile and a half below Stewart’s, we passed Faucetstown, a hamlet
of five or six houses and a ferry, from whence is a road thirty miles
to Warren in Ohio. Here I observed some seines for fishing, made by
fastening bushes together with the tough and flexible stalks of the
wild grape, with which this whole western country abounds.
Two miles below Faucetstown, on the right, is a remarkable rocky cliff,
three hundred feet perpendicular, from which to Baker’s island of a
mile in length, is two miles, and from thence about a mile further, we
passed on the right, Yellow creek,[62] a handsome little river thirty
yards wide, with Mr. Pettyford’s good stone house well situated on its
left bank.[63]
{86} From Yellow creek the appearance of the soil and country is better
than above it, and the river is very beautiful, being in general about
a quarter of a mile wide, interspersed with several islands, which
add much to its beauty; some being partly cultivated and partly in
wood, some wholly in wood, and some covered with low aquatick shrubs
and bushes; and all fringed with low willows, whose yellowish green
foliage, contrasted with the rich and variegated verdure of the
gigantick forest trees, the fields of wheat and Indian corn, and the
dwarf alders, other shrubbery and reeds of the inundated islands, which
they surround, mark their bounds as on a coloured map. First Neasley’s
cluster of small islands, two miles below Yellow creek; then Black’s
island a mile and a half long, two miles below them, and lastly, Little
island close to the west end of Black’s, joined by a sand bar to the
right shore, where Jacob Neasley has a good two story wooden house,
with a piazza.[64]
Four miles further we stopped at Wm. Croxton’s tavern, the sign of
the Black Horse, on the Virginia side, and got a bowl of excellent
cider-oil. This is stronger than Madeira and is obtained from the
cider by suffering it to freeze in the cask during the winter, and
then drawing off and barrelling up the spirituous part which remains
liquid, while the aqueous is quickly congealed by the frost. Croxton
and his wife had a youthful appearance, notwithstanding they had eight
children, seven of whom were living.
He was born in this neighbourhood, lived here during the last Indian
war, and cultivated a bottom opposite, through which flows a rivulet
called Croxton’s run, which turns a grist and saw mill.[65] On the
United States appropriating the N. W. territory, now the state of
Ohio, he lost all that property by its being purchased by others,
before he became informed of the necessity of his securing his tenure
by obtaining a grant from the government. He complained {87} of a
toothache, from the torture of which I relieved him, by burning the
nerve with a hot knitting needle, which however did not prevent him
from charging us for our cider.
On the opposite bank a mile below Croxton’s, a Mr. White of Middleton
in Virginia, is building a fine house of hewn stone; and a mile further
on the same side, we admired the romantick situation of a farm house,
with a garden tastily filled with a profusion of flowers; opposite to
which on the Virginia side, is a remarkable cliff near the top of the
high river hill, occasioned by a large piece of the hill having broken
off and fallen down.
Four miles below Croxton’s we passed Brown’s island, containing three
hundred and fifty acres of first rate land, on the right, and opposite
the lower end of it on the left we stopped for the night at Brown’s,
who is a magistrate, and has a noble farm and a house very pleasantly
situated on a high bank, with a steep slope to the river.
We found the squire weighing sugar, which he had sold to Mr. Sumrall
of Pittsburgh, who owns some regular freighting keel boats, who with
one of them was now on his return from Cumberland river, and had also
stopped here for the night.
The negroes, cattle, offices, and the appearance of every thing here,
indicated the greatest abundance of the produce of this plentiful
country. Neither the old squire nor his wife, ever knew confinement
by accident or bad health, until about two months ago, when by a fall
from her horse, she dislocated her hip, and broke one of her knees. Her
son restored the limbs to their places, and she employed no surgeon,
but is curing herself gradually, though slowly, by an embrocation of
camphorated spirit.
After supping with the old gentleman, near his old wife’s bed side,
on apple pye, bread, butter and milk, he kissed her, and then shewed
us to a room {88} with four beds in it, one of which he occupied
himself, and gave us possession of another, which we were not allowed
to possess in peace, as its indigenous inhabitants, indignant at our
intrusion, assailed us all night with such fury, as to drive us from
their quarters at the first dawn of day. The old man had entertained
us until a late hour, by narrating to us his situation, and that of
his family. His children have all good farms, and he intends making no
will, that they may inherit equally, (according to the very equitable
law of this country respecting intestate inheritance) whatever
he may die possessed of, which he gave us to understand was very
considerable.--One daughter is married to a Mr. Madan, an Irishman, to
whom he gave a farm with her, which Madan sold for a thousand dollars
five years ago, and removed to St. Genevieve on the Mississippi, where
he is now a land surveyor with an income of two thousand dollars per
annum. Two years ago, squire Brown, notwithstanding his age, about
seventy, paid his daughter a visit, a distance of a thousand miles.
Though he does not keep a tavern, he knows how to charge as if he did,
we having to pay him half a dollar for our plain supper, plainer bed,
and two quarts of milk we took with us next morning; which was very
high in a country where cash is very scarce, and every thing else very
abundant.
FOOTNOTES:
[58] The creek at this place is still known as Potts Run.--ED.
[59] Georgetown was founded in 1793 by Benoni Dawson of Maryland, who
named it in honor of the city of that name, now in the District of
Columbia. It is “a prosperous-looking, sedate town, with tidy lawns
running down to the edge of the terrace.” See Thwaites, _On the Storied
Ohio_ (Chicago, 1903).--ED.
[60] This is a valuable stream for water works, though wildly and
romantically hemmed in by vast hills on both sides. There are two grist
mills, a saw mill, and a large paper mill, all within two miles of its
mouth; the latter has been lately erected, and is owned by Jacob Bowman
of Brownsville, John Bever of Georgetown, and John Coulter, who resides
at the mill. Over this creek, about a mile from its mouth, a new toll
bridge was erected in the summer and fall of 1809, on the road leading
from Washington county to New Lisbon, Canton, Worster, &c. state
of Ohio. About a mile above Little Beaver, in the bed of the Ohio,
and near the north western side, a substance bubbles up, and may be
collected at particular times on the surface of the water, similar to
_Seneca oil_. When the water is not too high, it can be strongly smelt
while crossing the river at Georgetown: It is presumed to rise from or
through a bed of mineral coal embowelled under the bed of the river.
The virtues of the Seneca oil are similar to those of the _British
oil_, and supposed to be equally valuable in the cures of rheumatick
pains, &c.--Large quantities of the Seneca oil is collected on Oil
creek, a branch of the Allegheny river, and sold at from one dollar and
a half to two dollars per gallon. The mode of collecting it is this;
the place where it is found bubbling up in the creek is surrounded by a
wall or dam to a narrow compass, a man then takes a blanket, flannel,
or other woollen cloth, to which the oil adheres, and spreading it over
the surface of the enclosed pond, presses it down a little, then draws
it up, and running the cloth through his hands, squeezes out the oil
into a vessel prepared for the purpose; thus twenty or thirty gallons
of pure oil can be obtained in two or three days by one man.--CRAMER.
[61] The boundary is now marked by a stone monument. On the historic
controversy concerning this boundary, see Michaux’s _Travels_, vol. iii
of this series, p. 170, note 31.--ED.
[62] A few miles up this creek are several valuable salt springs; at
two of which quantities of excellent salt is made.--CRAMER.
[63] For the historic incidents connected with Yellow Creek and Baker’s
bottom, see Croghan’s _Journal_, vol. i of this series, p. 127, note
93, and Thwaites, _On the Storied Ohio_.--ED.
[64] This group of islands is still known as Kneistly’s Cluster. See
Thwaites, _On the Storied Ohio_.
Jacob Kneistly (or Nessly) was of Swiss origin and emigrated to this
region from Pennsylvania about 1785.--ED.
[65] Croxton’s Run was the scene of one of the last Indian fights in
this vicinity (1787). Fourteen hunters were attacked here by a party of
wandering Shawnees, and four of the whites killed.--ED.
{89} CHAPTER XI
Remarkable bend in the river--Steubenville--Ornamented seats and
farms--Charlestown--Bakewell’s, and other manufacturies--A versatile
professional character--Buffalo creek.
At 6 o’clock on Monday, 20th July, we proceeded on our voyage, and
three miles below Brown’s passed a point or rather a peninsula on the
left, formed by a remarkable turn in the river, which takes a direction
due east for two miles; its general course from Big Beaver to Baker’s
island having been west, and from thence south. On the peninsula is a
well cleared and beautifully situated farm, and there is a remarkable
heap of loose rocks on the opposite shore, where a small creek falls
into the Ohio, with a neat stone cottage at its mouth. At the end of
the easterly reach is a good two story stone house of a Mr. Kelly, just
under a hill on the Ohio side, with a fine bottom opposite.
At a little before eight o’clock we stopped at Steubenville, the
capital of Jefferson county in Ohio, seven miles from Brown’s. This
town has been settled about eight years, chiefly by emigrants from the
state of Jersey. It contains one hundred and sixty houses, including
a new gaol of hewn stone, a court-house of square logs (which it is
said is to be soon replaced by a new one[66] of better materials), and
a brick presbyterian church. There are four or five different sects
of Christians in this town, but no established minister, except a Mr.
Snodgrass to the presbyterians, and a Mr. Doddridge, who comes from
{90} Charlestown in Virginia, every other Sunday, to officiate to the
episcopalians in the court-house, which is occasionally used for the
same purpose by the other sects.
There is a land-office here for the sale of the publick lands, from
which large sums in Spanish dollars are sent annually to the treasury
of the United States in Washington. Perhaps this is one cause of the
town having increased so rapidly. Another may be its very handsome
situation. The first street, which is parallel to the river, is on a
narrow flat, sufficiently raised above the river floods; while the
rest of the town is about twenty feet perpendicular above it, on an
extensive plain, rising gradually with a gentle slope to the foot of
the hills which surround it in a semicircle like an amphitheatre, about
a mile distant. On one of those a Mr. Smith has a house and farm which
seems to impend over the south end of the town, from an elevation of
four hundred feet perpendicular from the bed of the river. Mr. Bazil.
Wells, who is joint proprietor of the soil with Mr. James Ross of
Pittsburgh, has a handsome house and finely improved garden and farm
on the bank of the Ohio, a quarter of a mile below the town.[67]
We remained about an hour in Steubenville, (which is named in honour
of the late major-general baron Steuben, the founder of the present
American military tacticks): We then pursued our course down the river,
passing at half a mile a point on the left, where is a tavern with a
fine extensive bottom behind it; and four and a half miles further, we
left Mingo bottom island (very small) on the left; half a mile below
which on the right is Mr. Potter’s handsome square roofed house, and
a quarter of a mile lower down is Mr. Pratt’s neat frame cottage,
ornamented like Potter’s with weeping willows and Lombardy poplars. A
mile and a quarter from hence we passed two small creeks called Cross
creeks, one on {91} each hand, and a mile and a half below them, on
turning a point on the left, we saw Charlestown, half a league before
us, on the Virginia side, making a handsome appearance, with the white
spire of the court house, and several good looking private houses,
which are distinctly seen from the river, on account of the situation
being on a lower bank than that of Steubenville.
At eleven we landed in Charlestown,[68] went to the inn where the mail
stage between Pittsburgh and Wheeling stops, and ordered dinner, during
the preparation of which, we amused ourselves with walking through the
town. It was laid out about fourteen years ago, and now contains about
eighty houses of various materials--brick, stone and wood, principally
in one street parallel to the Ohio. In the middle is a convenient
little court-house of stone, with a small, light cupola spire. The gaol
is behind it, and in front is the pillory,[69] on a plan differing
from any I ever saw elsewhere: A large, round wooden cover, like an
immense umbrella, serving as a shade for the criminal in the stocks,
or for a platform for one in the pillory to stand on, or for a shelter
from sun or rain to the inhabitants who meet on business in front of
the court-house, the place generally used as a sort of exchange in
the small towns in this country. A Col. Connel, who is a farmer, and
clerk of the county courts of Brooke county, has a very large but
unfinished house of hewn stone near the court-house. The academy is
a good brick building on the ascent of the hill behind the town, and
was a good school until broken up by some political division among the
inhabitants, which induced Mr. Johnston, the last master, to remove
to Beaver {92} in Pennsylvania, where he now keeps the county clerk’s
office.[70]
Mr. Bakewell from England, who has been established here about two
years, politely shewed us his manufactury of pottery and queensware.
He told us that the business would answer very well, could workmen
be got to be depended upon; but that those he has hitherto employed,
have always quit his service before the term of the expiration of
their contracts, notwithstanding any law to the contrary; and two
of them have actually set up small manufacturies in Charlestown, one
of queensware in opposition to him, and the other of tobacco pipes.
Bakewell’s ware is very good, but not so fine, nor so well glazed as
that manufactured in England, owing probably to the difference of
materials, as the process is the same.
Mr. Doddridge who officiates alternately here and at Steubenville, to
the episcopal congregations, first practised law, then physick, and now
adds the trade of a tanner to the profession of divinity.[71]
The wells here are dug forty to fifty feet deep before water is come
at, but that inconvenience might be easily remedied by conveying water
to the town in pipes from the surrounding hills, which will doubtless
be the case, should it ever become a manufacturing town; which a few
more inhabitants of equal spirit and enterprize with Bakewell would
soon effect.
Buffalo creek falls into the Ohio at the south end of the town,
after a course of forty or fifty miles through Washington county
in Pennsylvania, and {93} the narrow tongue of Virginia in which
Charlestown is situated. It had a wooden bridge about forty yards in
length across the mouth of it, on the post road to Wheeling, which was
carried away last spring by a flood.[72]
FOOTNOTES:
[66] A handsome brick court-house has since been erected, and the
inside work nearly completed. An original bank was established at
Steubenville in 1809, by a law of the state, with a capital of 100,000
dollars, with power to increase it to 500,000 dollars. Bazaleel Wells
president, W. R. Dickinson, cashier.--CRAMER.
[67] Steubenville was founded (1797) upon the site of Fort Steuben, one
of the earliest blockhouses built in Ohio by the Federal government
(1786-87).
Bezaleel Wells was the son of Alexander Wells, a well-known West
Virginia pioneer who founded the town of Wellsburg, dying there in
1813. The son was considered the best surveyor in the region, and
laid out and speculated in town lots at Canton, Ohio, as well as at
Steubenville.--ED.
[68] The present town of Wellsburg, West Virginia, was first laid out
(1791) under the name of Charlestown, in honor of Charles Prather, its
earliest proprietor. In 1816 its name was changed by action of the
legislature.--ED.
[69] The pillory punishment, a few years ago, prevailed throughout
several of the states, but has been wisely abolished by all but
Virginia.--CRAMER.
[70] Mr. David Johnston was removed from his office in Beaver county
after the election of Mr. Snyder as governor. Before he went to
Charlestown he taught in the Canonsburgh college, and was elected in
that county, Washington, to a seat in the Pennsylvania legislature. He
now teaches a private school in Brownsville.--CRAMER.
[71] Cuming here refers to Rev. Dr. Joseph Doddridge, whose _Notes on
the Settlement and Indian Wars of the Western Parts of Virginia and
Pennsylvania_ (Wellsburgh, 1824; second edition, Albany, 1876) is a
mine of antiquarian lore. Doddridge, the son of a well-known pioneer,
was born (1769) in Bedford County, Pennsylvania; but at an early age
his father removed to Washington County and the family experienced
backwoods life. Young Doddridge was first a Methodist itinerant, but
later ordained in the Protestant Episcopal church. He also studied
medicine under Dr. Rush in Philadelphia, and settled at Wellsburg,
where he was a useful and influential citizen. His brother Philip was a
well-known Virginia lawyer and statesman. See _West Virginia Historical
Magazine_, January, 1902, on the Doddridges.--ED.
[72] This bridge has since been rebuilt.--CRAMER.