was for many years known as Tanner's Station, being settled by and
named after Reverend John Tanner, the first Baptist preacher resident
in that part of Kentucky. It has not become a place of any size or
importance.--ED.
The hills on the river lower with round tops. Some tobacco on the
Kentucky side, but none on the other; it is never cultivated on an
extensive scale except in the slave states. In the free states cotton
and tobacco are only raised for home consumption.
{105} 26th. We passed Lories Island, and afterwards a small town of
Kentucky; its name we did not learn. The river banks much lower, and
the bottoms much wider, as the hills were further back. Not many houses
on the banks. We saw some wild ducks, woodpeckers, and snipes. We
advanced twenty-two miles; weather warm.
27th. The country less cultivated. About noon we landed at
Fredericksburg, in Kentucky, a place of about forty log-houses; we
purchased some butter at eighteen cents per pound. At dusk we passed
the Kentucky, a river of the state of the same name, and navigable
some distance up the country. After dark we passed Vevay and New
Switzerland,[122] and soon after got stuck on a sand bank; some of
us got into the water and turned the ark round, and then we floated
off again, and about midnight anchored. This day, twenty-five miles.
I regretted passing Vevay after it was dark, as I much wished to land
to inspect the vineyards belonging to a Swiss colony settled {106}
there, who cultivate the vine on a considerable scale, in the manner
of their native country. In the twilight we had a glimpse of their
vineyards, but too far off to see much of them. I have since learnt
that a few Swiss emigrants settled at New Switzerland in 1805, and in
1810 they had eight acres planted with vines, and in full bearing, and
from which they made two thousand four hundred gallons of wine, then
said to be very good. Since that time their vineyards are considerably
extended, but their wine of an inferior quality. They also cultivate
wheat, Indian corn, hemp, and flax. They are represented to be a sober,
industrious people, and much respected in the country. They speak the
French language, most of them having come from the frontiers adjoining
France.
[122] For the Swiss settlement at Vevay, see Bradbury's _Travels_,
volume v of our series, note 164.--ED.
28th. We landed at Port William,[123] Kentucky, a small place, and
procured some very excellent bread. As we proceeded slowly I landed on
the Indiana side, and went to two or three cottages; at one of {107}
them I got a peck of fine peaches, for which the inhabitants would not
take any money. They were hardly ripe, but made very good puddings; as
the settlements were new, none of the trees were six years old. At one
cabin a man showed me a tree on which there was then growing at least a
bushel of peaches; he had planted the stone from which this tree sprung
in the spring of 1816. We landed at a cabin in Indiana, where there
were a few vines cultivated after the Swiss method; viz. in rows about
six feet each way, and tied up to a stick four or five feet high. I was
told their appearance promised a productive crop, but a heavy shower of
rain prevented my examining them. The soil was rich, but very broken.
Only made sixteen miles; the weather showery, and much colder.
[123] Port William, now Carrollton, is situated at the mouth of the
Kentucky River. In 1789-90, General Scott built a blockhouse at that
point, which was occupied until 1792, when the town of Port William was
laid out.--ED.
29th. Early in the morning we reached the town of Madison in
Indiana,[124] capital of the county of Jefferson, of sixty or seventy
houses, a mixture of brick, frame, and log; {108} it has a steam-mill,
&c. The country less settled, and on the banks a much less number of
horses, cows, sheep, pigs, geese, &c. to be seen. This day we made
thirty miles or upwards.
[124] For the early history of Madison, Indiana, see Flint's _Letters_,
volume ix of our series, note 128.--ED.
30th. Both sides of the river more hilly, and but little land brought
into culture. In the forenoon we passed an island eighteen or twenty
miles above Louisville; the river much wider, the banks lower, with
but little space between them and the hills. We passed another island
twelve miles above Louisville, and, after sun-set, anchored opposite a
small town of Indiana.
Many new places are continually springing up on the bank, and numbers
of them soon go to decay, having nothing to recommend them except the
opinion of the proprietors. These are often a set of speculators, who
purchase land and attempt to puff it off as one of the best spots in
the western country; in short, in the whole world. A speculator like
those is a nuisance wherever he sets his foot.
{109} 31st. Passed six mile islands; keeping between them we got
sight of Louisville, which at that distance had a fine appearance.
We could see far beyond it, as the country below the falls is very
flat for many miles. The wind rising, we anchored four miles above
it, and some of us went to it by land. Louisville is a considerable
town of Kentucky, at the head of the Falls of the Ohio.[125] Many
boats unload here for the back country, others stop here to get a
pilot to take them over the Falls, and sometimes at low water to get
part of their lading carried by land to below the Falls. It possesses
some manufactories, and is a place of considerable trade, and with
the exception of Cincinnatti, is by far the best town I have seen in
the western country. It is seven hundred and six miles by water from
Pittsburg, and by the course of the river near fourteen hundred miles
from New Orleans. The river, opposite Louisville, is a mile wide, being
bent back by an island and a chain of rocks that runs {110} through the
river. These rocks are the cause of the Falls, as they pen back the
water about twenty-two feet above the level of the flat country below.
The town of Jeffersonville lies opposite,[126] on the Indiana side, and
many boats stop there for a pilot. We did not visit it, but we were
informed it was an elegant place, of a hundred and forty houses.
[125] Consult Croghan's _Journals_, in volume i of our series, note
106, for the history of Louisville.--ED.
[126] A brief account of Jeffersonville may be found in Flint's
_Letters_, volume ix of our series, note 80.--ED.
The best boat channel to pass the Falls is on the Indiana side, it
is called the Indian shoot; the next is called the middle, and the
other the Kentuckian shoot; the last was dry when we were there.
In high water they may all be passed without danger, but in a dry
season, as when we passed, it requires a skilful pilot, and even then
is attended with some danger. Some English from Puttenham in Surrey,
near Godalming, passed these Falls during the night in a small skiff,
without perceiving any of them, the water being then very high. In the
morning they enquired how far they had to the Falls, and could hardly
{111} be persuaded they had passed them. There is an opposition between
the towns of Louisville and Jeffersonville, as to making a canal for
vessels to pass the Falls by the means of locks, each wanting it on
their side, as most of the traffic would of course be on that side
where the canal was.
As we returned to our boat, we passed the stump of a sycamore, lately
cut, that three feet from the ground measured eleven feet one way and
ten feet the other; the tree was gone, so we could not ascertain the
length of it, but the trees on the banks were of an immense size. In
the evening we anchored within a mile of Louisville. Made only seven
miles; weather very warm.
Sept. 1st. Early in the morning we anchored at the mouth of Bear Grass
Creek, that joins the Ohio on the upper side of Louisville. The store
goods were here unloaded, to the amount of ten thousand pounds weight.
I purchased the ark of Mr. Ferris for twenty-five dollars, and {112}
hired two men for eighteen dollars and their board, to take us to
Shawnestown, in Illinois, a distance of near three hundred miles. One
man was an Englishman, the other a Scotchman. Having trimmed our boat,
we expected to go over the Falls in the evening, but the pilot having
another boat to take over first, he did not return till too late for
us to go over, so we remained at Louisville all night. We purchased
a few articles for our voyage, but we should have done better, if we
had bought more at Cincinnatti, instead of afterwards doing it at
Shawnestown; but the difference was not very material. The heat very
oppressive, and in the evening, for the first time, we were annoyed
by mosquitoes. We saw great quantities of rats; the quay where we lay
was much infested with them. They were most likely brought from Europe,
as they are the same as the English rat. I have not seen one at the
Prairies, but there being plenty on the Ohio; and I suppose on the
Wabash, {113} most likely we shall soon receive a visit from them.
2d. Soon after sun-rise our boat proceeded to go over the Falls. Mr.
Ferris was so kind as to go with it; Mr. C. and my eldest son also
went. We hired two more men, besides the two going to Shawneetown,
as our boat drew twelve inches of water, and there were only fifteen
or sixteen inches for some distance over the Falls in the middle,
and less, if ever so little on either side. The rest of us walked to
below the Falls. They rowed the ark some distance up the stream on
the Kentucky side, and they then crossed into the middle shoot, and
proceeded to Shippingport, a small town of Kentucky, at the end of
the Falls.[127] They passed them with perfect safety, except that the
rocks cut the rope of the skiff by which it was tied to the ark, and
it was lost on them. We breakfasted at Shippingport, in company with
Mr. Ferris, with whom we settled all accompts; he then took leave of
us, and {114} returned to Louisville on foot, purposing to walk to
Wheeling. It is but justice to Mr. Ferris to say, he was very obliging
during the time he was with us, and most attentive to the care of the
boat and the store goods committed to his charge.
[127] For the early history of Shippingport, consult Cuming's _Tour_,
volume iv of our series, note 171.--ED.
We started, and soon passed an island where we got a hard rap on some
rocks; we now found we had lost our pilot with Mr. Ferris; both our
new men were much intoxicated, and this they most times continued to
be afterwards, whenever they could get liquor; Thomas, the Englishman,
in particular. We landed at New Albany,[128] a small town of Indiana,
and procured a few provisions which were short at Louisville and
Shippingport, and at every other place we touched at till we reached
Shawneetown, most of the bacon, pork, &c. having been sent off to New
Orleans in the spring. We came thirteen or fourteen miles. In the
evening the mosquitoes were very troublesome.
[128] A note on the settlement of New Albany is given in Hulme's
_Journal_, _ante_, note 15.--ED.
3d. We found our ark had sprung {115} a leak from hitting on the
rocks yesterday, so that we were obliged to be frequently pumping.
The country below New Albany less settled than above, but most on the
Indiana side.[129] At noon we passed Salt river; it crosses Kentucky
from north to south, and in a wet season, at least, it is navigable a
good distance. We afterwards passed Otter creek, and found the country
more cultivated; and at dusk, Doe creek; our progress thirty miles. We
purchased at Louisville "The Pittsburg Navigator," to serve instead
of a pilot. We found much difference, in regard to distances, between
the book and the accounts we received on the river; but the directions
respecting sand-banks and islands we found pretty correct; and these
were of some use to us.
[129] Salt River, Kentucky, rises in Mercer County, and flowing
northward and then westward, enters the Ohio at West Point, twenty
miles below Louisville. Fifteen miles from its mouth, it receives a
branch nearly as large as itself, called the Rolling Fork.--ED.
4th. At ten o'clock, we reached the town of Northampton, in Indiana; a
place of twenty-five or thirty log-houses. We landed for some whiskey;
for our men would do nothing without, and but little with too {116}
much of it. The river narrower than above Louisville, and the current
brisker; this was generally the case where the river was narrow, as by
islands, sand-banks, &c. In the evening we passed Little Blue river and
two islands. Thirty miles this day.
5th. At nine o'clock we passed the Big Blue river, sixty or seventy
yards wide; it rises in the north of Indiana, and runs south and south
east, till it enters the Ohio, eighty-seven miles below Louisville. The
country much resembles that below Wheeling, rocky, and the hills close
to the river, first on one side then on the other. We landed at several
cabins to procure provisions, but found them very scarce, most of the
settlements being new. We met a keel-boat, the people on board greatly
in want of provisions; they applied to us, but our stock was too low
to supply them with any. At dark we passed Flint island, without any
difficulty; this is said to be a bad place. We made about thirty miles.
6th. At nine o'clock we reached Rome, {117} the capital of Perry
county,[130] a town of Indiana, laid out in 1818; about twenty houses
built, and building; a stone jail begun, the second floor laid with
solid logs, ten or twelve inches thick, the roof not put on. We
purchased sixteen pounds of very lean beef for a dollar; it was killed
the evening before, and salted immediately, yet such was the heat of
the weather it was scarcely eatable. No bacon, pork, or vegetables
to be procured. A garden is the last thing that is thought of by the
generality of the Americans. We landed at several cabins and procured
a few small potatoes, and some ears of green Indian corn, (here called
roasting ears,) but we boiled them; they ate something like green
peas, but not quite so good. We bought an old skiff for a dollar, to
supply the place of the one we lost on the Falls. Our progress nearly
seventeen miles.
[130] This town, a hundred miles below Louisville, was settled in 1808
by two pioneers named William Taylor and Joseph Wright. For many years
it was the seat of Perry County, but in half a century did not acquire
more than two hundred inhabitants.--ED.
7th. We started at sun-rise, as we generally did, but the wind was so
much against us we were obliged to anchor at eight {118} o'clock, at
Clover creek. We landed in Indiana, and got near a bushel of peaches
for ten-pence. Here we saw some children setting off to school; one boy
came to the cabin to light his segar, that he might take a whiff going
along to school. The men smoke segars, and many of the women (at least
the married ones) pipes; we frequently saw women nursing their children
with pipes in their mouths. And we often saw them washing on the banks
of the rivers, as there is plenty of drift-wood. It saves the trouble
of carrying fuel and water; and it is colder on the banks of rivers
than near their cabins. Most of the women were surrounded by a number
of young children; indeed, the first thing that strikes a traveller
on the Ohio is the immense number of children, many of them almost
naked. They do not appear healthy; but they look happy, rolling in the
water and dirt. We often saw very little boys swimming in the river,
sometimes leading others that could not walk: thus {119} the dread of
water wears off while they are very young: I never heard of any of
these children being drowned.
At ten o'clock we again set forward till two o'clock, when we passed
Doe creek; the wind still getting higher, we anchored till near
sun-set, when we again floated on. We found it was often the case for
the wind to rise or sink with the sun; and that it was almost always
from the south, south west, or west; and very seldom from the north, or
east; and as the Ohio runs towards the south west, it was but seldom in
our favour. And from what I have heard and read, the wind is generally
the same as we found it; and this is the reason why vessels are so long
descending the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, at least in low water.
At high water they descend much more rapidly, as the current is then
a great deal swifter, and the wind makes but little difference. But
vessels with sails, often proceed as quickly up the Ohio as those do
that float down; so that the advantage that is lost one way is {120}
gained the other. This day only seven miles.
8th. At day light we grounded on a sand bar for a few minutes; and at
eight o'clock reached Troy, a small town of Indiana; and afterwards
passed Anderson's river, from fifty to sixty yards wide.[131] The wind
rising, obliged us to anchor a short distance below. I landed on the
Indiana side, and walked three or four miles down the bank. I found a
little cabin, situated on a small plantation, surrounded on all sides
with high rocks, except against the river. The soil was so rich that
the Indian corn was the largest I have ever seen; the owner said, it
was eighteen feet high, but I think he made the most of it. I picked
up a stick about six feet long, and, by measuring it with that and
my own height, I should judge the highest of it was from fourteen to
sixteen feet. There were great quantities of beans, pompions, and
melons, running on and between the corn, all very luxuriant; in short,
much larger than I ever {121} saw before or since. I then went to the
next cabin; most of the way very rocky, but there the country more
open; the owner was winnowing wheat, by the wind without any fan. The
wheat was very coarse; it was sown in the spring; he said the land on
the river was too rich for wheat, and subject to floods in the winter
and spring; and when sown in the spring subject to rust or blight.
But Indian corn came to high perfection. I saw a bear skin hanging up
to dry; he informed me the country some distance back was rough and
unsettled, and abounded with bears, wolves, deer, racoons, opossums,
polecats, and other wild animals; and that they had frequently hunting
parties. I asked him if a wounded bear was not a dangerous animal; he
said he had frequently wounded them, and never saw one attempt to turn.
He had, during the course of his life, killed more than a hundred.
In their hunting parties they have always some stout dogs with them;
but, he said, it was common for one man to {122} go alone, but never
without dogs. Here I tasted the ripe fruit of the pawpaw or papaw, an
extremely rich fruit, in flavour something like a pine-apple. I did not
relish it; this they told me was often the case at first tasting it,
but when accustomed to it people were fond of it. We did not see any
more of these trees on the Ohio, but my son and Mr. C. saw a great many
of them on the Wabash, in their voyage up that river. From this cabin
I walked two miles, mostly through woods, to another; no provisions to
be procured here, the people being newly settled. In this walk I passed
fourteen or fifteen wild turkeys, in a field. As they only gently
walked into the woods, I did not suspect they were wild ones; but
mentioning them at the cabin, I was told there were no tame turkeys
for many miles, but plenty of wild ones.
[131] Anderson's Creek, rising in Crawford County, serves in the latter
part of its course as the dividing line between Spencer and Perry
counties. In high water it is navigable for flatboats for about thirty
miles. Thomas Lincoln came with his family to Anderson's Creek in 1815,
and with the help of Abraham ran a ferry until the fall of 1817.
Troy, near the mouth of the creek, was laid out in 1818.--ED.
We returned to our ark, but, the wind continuing high, we could not
proceed. At sunset we had a heavy tempest; the storm increased after
we were a-bed. The {123} thunder and lightning, and the wind equally
strong, and afterwards the rain poured down in torrents; and, driven on
by the winds, came into our ark in every direction; so that most of us
got completely wet in our beds. It continued for an hour, and was, by
far, the most awful storm I ever knew. It made our ark shake very much,
as we lay in shallow water, the wind driving us against the sand; but
we were in no danger of being driven on shore, as the water shallowed
very gradually, and we were a considerable distance from the bank.
We had no large trees near us; and indeed it is advisable to avoid
anchoring, during a thunder storm, near heavy timbers, as old trees
frequently then fall.
9th. In the morning we set forward; afterwards some of us landed in
Kentucky, and went about a mile to a horse-mill, where we procured
some flour and vegetables. We continued on the river banks for near
five miles; the country mostly in a state of nature. In the afternoon
we {124} went to a cabin, and purchased some provisions; here we saw
a small piece of land planted with cotton, just beginning to ripen.
The person who belonged to it was from South Carolina; he said this
cotton was as good, if not better, than that in Carolina. But most I
have heard speak on the subject, say that the southern cotton is much
better than that on the Ohio; and that it will not pay for raising in
Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois, except a little for home use. In the
evening we passed some very high rocks named "The Lady Washington," and
near them the small town of Rockport, in Indiana.[132] We met with a
bad sand-bar, that took us two hours strong exertion to get over. This
day twenty-five miles. Weather warm and pleasant; mosquitoes a little
troublesome.
[132] As Woods intimates, Rockport, known also as Hanging Rock,
received its name from an immense boulder which projected into the
Ohio, since removed as an impediment to navigation. The settlement of
Rockport began about 1808, and it is now the seat of Spencer County,
and the only Indiana town which Woods has mentioned for some pages
past, which is of any importance at the present time.--ED.
10th. Soon after day-light we passed Yellow Banks, but we did not see
the town. We afterwards passed an island, called in the "Pittsburg
Navigator," number seventy. In the evening the men landed, at a small
place {125} in Indiana, to get some whiskey, but none to be had, to
the great disappointment of our two men, who did not stay to learn the
name of the place, but came away in a great rage because there was no
whiskey to be had. This was pleasing intelligence to us, as they had
been very troublesome when in liquor, especially Thomas. About thirty
miles this day.
11th. We had a little rap from a log sunk in the river, and twice we
got a-ground before sun-rise. Very early in the morning we passed
Green river, 200 yards wide, navigable for many miles; it rises far
up in Kentucky; it runs west and south west. At sun-rise we passed
Green island, and at eight o'clock reached Evansville,[133] Indiana;
it is the county town of Vanderburg; it is not three years old. It
is situated near Pigeon creek, a middling size stream in winter, but
nearly dry in summer. There is a settlement of English emigrants
eight or ten miles back from Evansville, called Saundersville.[134]
Several of our fellow-passengers {126} in the Resolution had reached
it about a week before, and are now settled there. This morning I
first noticed cane growing on the banks; it is an evergreen, and much
sought after by cattle in the winter. In the afternoon we reached the
town of Hendersonville, or Red Banks, capital of Henderson county,
Kentucky.[135] There are about 100 houses, a jail, a court-house, some
large tobacco warehouses, and a steam-mill, &c. &c. Here we procured
some bread, but no meat to be had. It is situated on a high bank, above
high-water mark. The size of the apple-trees showed it had been settled
some years. There is much tobacco cultivated in the country to the back
of it, and sent to distant markets; but I saw none on the banks of the
river. This day 26 miles by water, but very few by land, the river
making nearly a circle. The weather extremely hot at night, and much
tormented with sand-flies and mosquitoes; the stings of the latter made
some of my family swell, and produced great {127} itching, which, if
rubbed, occasioned small sores, and made them much worse.
[133] For the history of Evansville, see Hulme's _Journal_, _ante_,
note 16.--ED.
[134] See _ante_, note 2. Saundersville, which was platted by John
Ingle, did not contain an inhabitant by 1830. Inglefield now occupies
the same site.--ED.