banks high and rocky until we passed an island, when the country became
more level and open. In the forenoon the country again more hilly, with
many veins of pit-coal under the rocks; some of them opened, and some
coal lay dug on the sides of the river. In the afternoon we passed the
mouth of the Great Kenhaway; there are some salt-works on this river,
and much salt is sent from thence to many towns on the Ohio.[104]
This river comes from the south, through {84} part of Virginia. Point
Pleasant is situated near the Big Kenhaway; it is a small town, and
does not appear to flourish.[105] A great battle was fought here when
it was first settled, between the Americans and Indians, in which
neither party had much cause for triumph. About four miles below we
came to the town of Galliopolis, in Ohio.[106] It is pleasantly
situated on a high bank that is never overflowed. This town was first
settled by a colony of French, in 1790; but having bought their land
of speculators, their titles were not so good as they wished, and
some of them left it; but many of the inhabitants are still French
and other Europeans, and some Americans. It contains two places of
public-worship, a post-office, a large court-house, a printing-office,
a market-house, some good stores and taverns, and about a hundred
houses of brick, frame, and log. On a green of good land, near the
town, a motley flock of sheep was feeding; many of them had a rotten
appearance. I was told they {85} belonged to the inhabitants, who kept
them in common. The green on which they were was good sound land;
but as they had free access to the river-banks, they often fed on
herbage that was frequently under water. I was much pleased with the
situation of Galliopolis; more so than with any place I had seen west
of the Allegany Mountains. We made thirty-two or three miles; the heat
intense, with a little rain in the evening.
[104] The manufacture of salt in the Kanawha Valley, for more than half
a century its leading industry, is now a thing of the past. The Salt or
Great Buffalo Lick on the Kanawha River, near the mouth of Campbell's
Creek, was visited in succession by buffaloes, Indians, and pioneers to
obtain salt. As early as 1797 a certain Elisha Brooks began in a crude
way to manufacture salt, but it was first established as a profitable
industry by the Ruffner brothers in 1808. In 1817 coal was substituted
for wood as fuel. At that time there were about thirty furnaces and
fifteen or twenty wells in operation, producing between 600,000 and
700,000 bushels annually. The maximum of prosperity was reached about
1850, when the output was 3,000,000 bushels for the year.--ED.
[105] For the Great Kanawha River and the battle of Point Pleasant, see
Croghan's _Journals_, volume i of our series, note 101.--ED.
[106] For an account of the settlement of Gallipolis, see F. A.
Michaux's _Travels_, volume iii of our series, pp. 182-185, and note
34.--ED.
15th. Started by moon-light and got six or seven miles by day-light,
and four or rather more afterwards; till the wind being against us, we
anchored on the Virginia side. I landed, and went through the woods to
a poor log-cabin; but could get no provisions or fruit. The inhabitants
looked extremely miserable; they had a female negro-slave, that
appeared to do what little was done. The soil very rich; but little of
it cultivated, and that little very badly. The trees in the woods I
passed through were sycamore, ash, honey-locust, {86} poplar, buck-eye,
black walnut, beech, and sugar-maple, &c. Many of the trees were
overrun with grape vines. The black walnut and sugar-maple trees were
larger than any I had before noticed. Most of the sugar-maple trees had
places chopped in them to let out the sap, instead of being tapped.
Many of the troughs that were used last Spring were still remaining
under the trees. After dinner the wind shifted, and we proceeded for
a short time; but a thunder-storm coming on we again anchored, as do
most of the flat boats or arks, for fear of being driven on shore,
as the wind is generally high at the commencement of a tempest. We
had but little wind or rain, and therefore again proceeded. We passed
an ark sunk in the river, and also the Little Guyandot river, forty
yards wide; and then went over a very rapid part of the river. After
dark we anchored on the Virginia side, with a store-boat and a light
ark that contained a rather numerous family of English from {87} the
neighbourhood of Manchester, going, like ourselves, to look for a
home in the western country. The master of the store-boat was also a
fellow-countryman; he had been settled a short time at Marrietta, but
now purposed going further westward. He had freighted his boat with
store-goods and fruit, to pay his expenses down the Ohio. He intended
settling in the neighbourhood of Cincinnatti, or of going down to the
State of Indiana. He said that, in April last, near a thousand boats
of different descriptions passed Marietta going westward; most of them
with emigrants, and but few of them Europeans, it being too early for
them to come from Europe, Spring being generally the season they leave
their native countries. We almost daily saw boats with Europeans,
chiefly from England or Ireland. Numerous skiffs had passed us since we
left Wheeling, and we afterwards saw many more. The wind being against
us, we only advanced about twenty-four miles. Weather much colder.
{88} 16th. Started two hours before sun-rise; the hills lower, and
lay farther back from the river. We passed the mouth of the Great
Guyandot,[107] and the town of Bordenton, a small place which is
situated near it. At dusk we passed Big Sandy river, 200 yards wide,
it rises in the Allegany Mountains, and runs east and north-east,
separating the States of Virginia and Kentucky for more than 200 miles.
This day we made twenty-six miles.
[107] The Guyandotte River rises in Logan County, West Virginia, and
flowing northwestward for about one hundred and fifty miles, joins the
Ohio a few miles above the Kentucky line.--ED.
17th. Towards noon we reached Greenup, in Kentucky, a small place;[108]
here we staid some hours to get our pump repaired. Here I conversed
with a native of Kent, who had resided fourteen years in America, three
or four of which he had spent at this place. He said he was doing well
in his business as a cabinet-maker and carpenter. He informed me much
confusion prevailed here in regard to the titles of land, owing to the
lots having been entered without the boundaries of each individual
being distinctly marked out; so that land was often {89} claimed by
two or more individuals.[109] Indeed disputes frequently occur in the
old States of America, in regard to the titles of land, as the first
settlers often took it without any title. Others obtained grants for a
certain space from some river, or other given mark; but as the country
was but little known at the time of these grants, they often clash
with each other, and many boundaries yet remain to be settled. In
the greater part of the new States the country is first surveyed, and
then laid out in sections of a mile square; but this I shall mention
hereafter. We left this place late in the afternoon, and anchored a
few miles below, on the Ohio side. We ran twenty-two or three miles.
Weather temperate.
[108] Greenup, the seat of the county of that name, is seventy-two
miles above Maysville. It was incorporated in 1818, and named in honor
of Governor Greenup.
Christopher Greenup, born in Virginia, about 1750, served throughout
the Revolutionary War, and in 1783 came to Kentucky to practice law.
He was elected a member of Congress (1792), and in 1804 governor of
Kentucky. At the expiration of his gubernatorial term, he represented
Franklin County in the legislature, continuing in public life until his
death, in 1818.--ED.
[109] For further information on this point, see Flint's _Letters_,
volume ix of our series, note 89.--ED.
18th. Passed the Little Sciota, a small stream of Ohio. At noon we
reached the town of Portsmouth, in Ohio, at the mouth of the Big
Sciota;[110] a considerable stream, said to be navigable upwards of two
hundred miles towards the north. Portsmouth {90} is an improving place,
containing a court-house, a bank, several good taverns and stores, with
more than one hundred houses, many of them of brick: we could get but
few provisions here. Alexandria is situated opposite, on the other side
of the Sciota; it is a small place. We found change at these towns very
scarce; what there was, was mostly cut-money; that is, when change is
wanted they often cut dollars, half-dollars, and quarter-dollars, into
smaller pieces, with an axe or chisel; and some of them are so expert
and _honest_, as to make five quarters out of a dollar. We advanced
twenty-two or three miles this day.
[110] For the early history connected with the Scioto River, see
Croghan's _Journals_, volume i of our series, note 102.--ED.
19th. We passed a very swift riffle without any danger. About three
miles farther on, we were in danger of losing our boat on Twin Riffle,
by not going towards the Kentucky side soon enough; but by hard rowing,
we got over with only five or six inches to spare. These riffles are
occasioned by the water's running rapidly over {91} a rough hard
bottom; they resemble the Falls, only they are much less. We saw many
wild ducks while passing this riffle; I believe they often feed on
these sharp runs, as I noticed they generally frequented them. A
little below, we saw three hunters with several dogs; they had just
killed a fine young deer in the river, and were skinning it on the
bank. We bought a hind-quarter, it weighed fifteen or sixteen pounds,
for 50 cents, (2_s._ 3_d._) sterling. The quarter was as much as we
could consume while good, the weather being so extremely hot, or we
might have had the whole deer for a dollar. In the afternoon we passed
a bad riffle, called Bush Riffle, opposite a creek of the same name.
This riffle was full of sunk logs, that made it difficult to pass, as
the river was so low; at high water these riffles are not perceptible.
We passed Salt Creek, Ohio. Some saline-works here; also a small town,
of which I did not learn the name. As we floated after dark, the ark
got stuck on a sand-bank, {92} in the middle of the river; but some of
us getting out into the water, we pushed it off, and then anchored on
the Ohio side.
This day we made about twenty-six miles, according to the "Pittsburg
Navigator,"[111] also by our pilot's account; but I believe the Ohio
has never been surveyed or measured, except that on the Ohio side the
land has been surveyed and laid out into sections, from the upper part
of the State of Ohio to the mouth of the Ohio river. But the lines
running north and south, and east and west, make many small fractions
on the edge of the river that have never been measured very correctly,
so as to know the exact length of it. We often went in a very circular
direction; much more so than the banks; and as the river is full half
a mile wide, we sometimes stood nearly right across it, as an ark is
difficult to keep out of the current, should it get too near it when
the draught is strong. Thus the measurement of the {93} banks of this
river cannot be accurate, in the distance it takes to navigate it.
[111] For the Pittsburg _Navigator_, see Cuming's _Tour_, volume iv of
our series, note 43.--ED.
20th. Passed the Manchester Islands;[112] and a little below a town of
the same name, a small place of about thirty houses. Two of our company
landed, opposite the islands, on the Kentucky side. A woman, where they
went for milk, gave them some peaches, nearly ripe; she told them they
had only apples and peaches for their pigs, a hundred and forty in
number. She said they did not get fat on this diet, nor did they expect
them to thrive much till the beech-masts fell. Beech the prevailing
timber, except on the banks of the river; there mostly sycamore,
water-maple, and willows. In the afternoon we reached the town of
Maysville, in Kentucky;[113] it is frequently called Limestones, from
a small creek of that name that here empties itself into the Ohio.
Maysville is a considerable place, and enjoys a good trade with the
back country. It lies high; but part of it is subject to floods from
the {94} creek. Much good building going forward. A large ferry-boat,
worked by horses, plies between Maysville and a small town opposite;
it takes over passengers, horses, carriages, and stock; as a road on
the opposite side takes most of the land-travellers through the state
of Ohio,[114] that cross so low down as this place. We sent a letter
from here, that reached Godalming, in Surrey, in fifty-seven days; but
letters from England are usually three months in reaching the Prairies,
and sometimes much longer. This day twenty miles: the weather sultry,
with much thunder, but no rain. The river falling very fast.
[112] In 1790, Nathaniel Massie, the surveyor of the Virginia military
tract, who played so prominent a part in early Ohio history, contracted
with twenty-one Kentuckians to settle a town which he would lay out
on his land along the Ohio River. The following year a stockade was
built on the mainland, ten miles above Maysville, and one of the three
islands opposite was cleared and planted with corn. He called the
settlement Manchester, but for years it was known in Kentucky and Ohio
as Massie's Station.--ED.
[113] For the early history of Maysville, see A. Michaux's _Travels_,
volume iii of our series, note 23.--ED.
[114] This road was Zane's trace. See Cuming's _Tour_, volume iv of our
series, note 135.--ED.
21st. Passed Ripley, a new town of Ohio: it seems likely to
thrive.[115] A gentleman who had joined us at Maysville, and my eldest
son, went on shore near this place. My son purchased two quarts of
milk, for which they charged him 25 cents: he demanded his money again,
and offered to return the milk; this they refused; {95} he then gave
them, as he called it, a good _blowing up_, and came on board in a very
bad humour, not being at all pleased with his bargain.
[115] Ripley, in Brown County, fifty-five miles above Cincinnati, was
platted about the year 1812 by Colonel James Poage of Virginia. It
continued to thrive in a mild way; twenty years after Woods's visit the
inhabitants numbered about seven hundred.--ED.
We afterwards passed a small place, on the Ohio side, of only seven
or eight houses, although laid out before Ripley. In the afternoon
we passed the town of Augusta in Kentucky; it appears a flourishing
place.[116] It was built to rival Maysville in the back-country trade,
and it is likely to come in for a full share of it, as the roads are
said to be much better than in the rear of Maysville. A considerable
deal of land brought into cultivation in its neighbourhood: some round
hills cleared quite to their tops, and planted with Indian corn, the
growth of which seemed to bespeak a good soil. These hills have a
fine appearance from the river. In the evening we passed the town of
Mechanicsburg (Ohio), a small place, mostly of log-houses. At dark we
anchored on {96} the Kentucky side; our progress twenty-five or six
miles.
[116] For a brief account of Augusta, see Flint's _Letters_, volume ix
of our series, note 69.--ED.
22d. Much rain during the night; and as the ark was far from being
weather-proof, we got very wet in our beds. At noon we anchored near
the towns of Richmond[117] and Susanna (Ohio); they are rising places,
containing several taverns and stores. A great deal of land round these
towns laid down in grass: the soil rich. But few gardens, and these
much neglected; the weeds seven or eight feet high, and completely
concealed the vegetables. This day we only made thirteen or fourteen
miles, and anchored on the Kentucky side. The weather much colder.
After we got to bed, two men and a boy came close to us, and began
fishing, by torch-light, striking the fish with a gig, or grig, like a
dung-prong, with barbed points: I believe they had also some hooks and
lines over the sides of their canoe. After fishing about two hours,
they anchored, and hung their fish over the {97} side of their canoe,
and went on shore and made a fire to dry themselves; then spreading
some small boughs under a tree, they laid down till daylight.
[117] On the founding of New Richmond, consult Flint's _Letters_,
volume ix of our series, note 70.--Ed.
23d. At dawn the fishers offered us some cat-fish, of between thirty
and forty pounds weight each, for 25 cents a piece, but as we had a
store of provisions we did not purchase any. They then started for
Cincinnatti with their fish. At sun-rise we also proceeded, the wind
much against us. After going four miles we passed a large steam-boat
a-ground, and had been for some time, and must so remain till the
water should rise three or four feet; this did not occur till after
Christmas. Soon after we passed a new town, of a few houses, its name
I did not learn. We then went over some sand-bars where the water was
very shallow; the wind rising, we put in close to the Kentucky side,
where the water was deeper, and most of us going on shore, we hauled
our boat along, with a towing line, for about two miles. We passed the
town {98} of Columbus, at the mouth of the Little Miami.[118] This
river crosses the state of Ohio, from the north, and is sometimes
upwards of 100 yards wide. Columbus is a small old place, with but
few good buildings. Late in the afternoon we reached the city of
Cincinnatti; and, with great difficulty, anchored close to four
steam-boats that were laid up, the water being too shallow for them
to go up and down the river. We had about 14,000 lbs. weight of store
goods, on board the ark, to be left at this place. Cincinnatti is the
capital of the state of Ohio,[119] and is situated in the richest part
of the state, seven miles below the Little Miami, and twenty miles
above the Great Miami. Much of the country, between these rivers,
brought into culture for a considerable distance from the Ohio; and
land sells very high, from five to a 100 dollars per acre. The city is
extensive and the buildings are increasing. It is a noble looking town,
by far the best I have seen in the western country. It is built on
{99} ground rising to a great height from the river. The streets cross
each other at right angles. It has several large woollen and cotton
manufactories; some glass and iron-works, also a steam-mill, built on a
limestone rock, close to the water; the walls of this noble mill are
of stone; it contains nine stories, and is upwards of a 100 feet high.
The machinery is said to be good, and will manufacture 700 barrels of
flour weekly, that is, upwards of 500 sacks. It is represented to have
cost 120,000 dollars, or 27,000_l._ sterling in erecting.
[118] This was Columbia, not Columbus. It was the first settlement in
the Symmes Purchase, Major Stiles of Brownsville, Pennsylvania, and
twenty-five others having established a blockhouse there in 1789. For
several years it rivalled Cincinnati in importance.--ED.
[119] Cincinnati was no longer the capital. Columbus, then a complete
wilderness, was in 1812 made the capital by legislative enactment. For
the early history of Cincinnati, see Cuming's _Tour_, volume iv of our
series, note 166.--ED.
The streets of Cincinnatti are very wide; and the stores well stocked
with European, East and West Indian, and American merchandize, but in
general dear. Articles of dress are much dearer than at Baltimore;
yet the principal inhabitants are very gay in their appearance,
particularly the ladies, who are equally so with those of London. But
the females of the middle and lower orders, though gaily dressed, often
go without shoes and stockings; indeed, most of the {100} females in
the western country go without them, at least in the summer, and some
of the English women, of the lower class, follow their example.
Trade very dull and paper credit extremely low, the banks issue notes
as low as 6¼ cents, less than 3½_d._; but these notes are far
from being current with strangers, nor were the large ones in good
credit, being much below the value of state notes or specie. No copper
money to be seen here. There are two large market houses, one in the
upper, and one in the lower part of the town; there is a daily market
held alternately at one of them. It was the upper market day when we
were there; it was well supplied, and most articles were good and
cheap, but the tradesmen perfect Jews in their dealings. Meat from 6 to
10 cents per pound; bacon from 8 to 12½ cents a pound; flour from 4
to 5 dollars per barrel, of 196 lbs., average less than 6_s._ a bushel;
very fine peaches for 6¾_d._ per peck; melons in vast quantities,
both sweet and {101} water, the latter of immense size, weighing
from ten to twenty pounds each, for 6¾_d._ Poultry and eggs very
reasonable.
The number of inhabitants supposed to be upwards of 12,000, from every
part of the Union, and from most of the countries of Europe. Many
English, Irish, and Scotch amongst them. I heard of some being there,
that I knew, but I did not see any of them. There is a ferry-boat,
worked by horses, between Cincinnatti and the towns of Newport and
Coverly;[120] these towns, in Kentucky, lie opposite to Cincinnatti,
and are separated from each other by the mouth of the Licking; a
considerable stream, of Kentucky, during the winter, but very low in
dry weather. The streets of these towns are laid out to correspond with
those of Cincinnatti, so that at the upper part of the city you see the
streets of Newport and Coverly, without perceiving the river between
them, and thus the whole appears but one town.
[120] Newport was platted by the proprietor, General James Taylor,
about 1791, and upon the organization of Campbell County was
incorporated (1795) and made the county seat. In 1803 the United States
government established an arsenal at the confluence of the Licking and
Ohio rivers; it consisted of a two-story brick armory, a magazine, and
wooden barracks sufficient for the reception of two or three regiments,
the whole being enclosed with a stockade. General Taylor emigrated to
Kentucky (1791) from Caroline County, Virginia. In the War of 1812-15,
he was quartermaster-general of the Northwestern army, and was present
with Hull at the surrender of Detroit, but refused to assist in drawing
up the articles of capitulation.
Until 1815, the mouth of the Licking below Newport was known as
Kennedy's Ferry. In that year Covington was established by legislative
enactment, and named in honor of General Covington.--ED.
There is a fort at Newport, with an {102} arsenal of arms, and a
magazine for gun-powder; and a garrison of the states' troops are kept
here in case of a war with the Indians, as the Indian territories are
within 100 miles to the north. We saw some of these troops, they were
good looking; their uniform blue.
Newport contains some good houses, and near it there is a large
building, in the castle style, belonging to General Taylor, the
proprietor of the town.
Coverly is newly laid out, the building but just begun: these two towns
may contain about 100 houses.
24th. In the afternoon, having laid in a few provisions for our voyage,
we prepared to go off, but found some _honest_ person had made free
with the oars belonging to our skiff, and also with a skiff belonging
to some person of Cincinnatti. We saw two men go off, about 10 o'clock
the night before, with a skiff, but supposed it belonged to them, nor
did we know they had borrowed our oars; but this did not detain us
{103} long, as we made some more with some boards we had on board.
We went about eight miles, and then anchored on the Ohio side of the
river. I found myself troubled with very bad boils, that continued for
several days; in other respects I was in perfect health, as was the
whole of our party. The gentleman, who joined us at Maysville, left us
at Cincinnatti.
25th. We passed the mouth of the Big Miami, a considerable stream of
Ohio, the boundary between that state and Indiana, at least at its
mouth; as a meridian line runs from the middle of the mouth of this
river north, to a parallel line, from the south end of Lake Michigan.
This river is 200 yards wide at its mouth, and is navigable for a
considerable distance up the country. We saw a waggon with four horses,
also six or seven men and women fording it, the water up to their
middles, and the current so strong they could hardly stand against it.
We passed Petersburg,[121] a small place in Kentucky, and also a little
{104} town of Indiana, its name unknown to us. We only made 20 miles.
Mr. C. shot two turkey-buzzards at one shoot. These birds are of great
utility in a warm climate, as they live on carrion; and should you see
several of these birds hovering about, you may be certain something
is dead near. I understand, that on the Mississippi river, people
are liable to a fine of several dollars for killing one of them. Nor
is there any temptation to destroy them, having so strong a scent as
scarcely to be bearable, and any thing only just touching them retains
a very strong smell for some time. The quills of their wings are larger
than those of a goose, and too hard to write with.