A PILGRIM ON BRADDOCK'S ROAD
A yellow letter, almost in tatters, lies before me written by one Samuel
Allen to his father, Mr. Jason Allen of Montville, New London County,
Connecticut, from Bellville, Virginia,[28] November 15, 1796. Bellville
is in Wood County, West Virginia, eighteen miles by the Ohio River from
Parkersburg.
This letter, describing a journey from Alexandria and Cumberland to the
Ohio by way of "broadaggs [Braddock's] old road," gives a picture of
certain of the more pathetic phases of the typical emigrant's experience
unequaled by any account we have met in print. Incidentally, there is
included a mention of the condition of the road and, what is of more
interest, a clear glimpse into the Ohio Valley when the great rush of
pioneers had begun after the signing of the Treaty of Greenville, the
year before, which ended the Indian War.
"Bellville W. Va November the 15^{th} 1796.
"Honoured Parents
Six months is allmost gone since I left N. London [New London,
Connecticut] & not a word have I heard from you or any of the family I
have not heard wheather you are dead or alive, sick or well. When I
heard that Mr. Backus had got home I was in hopes of recieving a letter
by him. but his brother was here the other day and sayes that he left
his trunk and left the letters that he had in the trunk, so I am still
in hopes of having one yet. There is an opertunity of sending letters
once every week only lodge a letter in the post-offis in N. London & in
a short time it will be at Belleville. The people that came with me has
most all had letters from their friends in New England Mr Avory has had
two or three letters from his Brother one in fiften dayes after date all
of whitch came by the waye of the male.
"General Putnam of Muskingdom [Marietta on the Muskingum] takes the New
London papers constantly every week
"When we arrived to Allexandria [Alexandria, Virginia] Mr Avory found
that taking land cariag from there to the Monongehaly would be less
expence then it would be to go any farther up the Potomac & less danger
so he hired wagoners to carry the goods across the mountains to
Morgantown on the Monongahaly about one hundred miles above Pittsburg Mr
Avorys expence in comeing was from N London to Allexndria six dollars
each for the passengers and two shillings & six pence for each hundred
weight. from Allexandria to Morgantown was thirty two shillings and six
pence for each hundred weight of women & goods the men all walked the
hole of the way. I walked the hole distance it being allmost three
hundred miles and we found the rode to be pritty good untill we came to
the Mountaing. crossing the blue Mountain the Monongehaly & the Lorral
Mountains we found the roads to be verry bad.
"You doubtless remember I rote in my last letter that Prentice was
taken ill a day or two before he continued verry much so untill the
10^{th} of July when he began to gro wors the waggoner was hired by the
hundred weight & could not stop unless I paid him for the time that he
stoped & for the Keeping of the horses that I could not affoard to do So
we were obliged to keep on We were now on the Allegany Mountain & a most
horrid rode the waggon golted so that I dare not let him ride So I took
him in my arms and carried him all the while except once in a while Mr
Davis would take him in his armes & carry him a spell to rest me. a
young man that Mr Avory hired at Allexandria a joiner whose kindness I
shall not forgit he kep all the while with us & spared no panes to
assist us in anything & often he would offer himself. our child at this
time was verry sick & no medecal assistance could be had on this
mountain on the morning of the 13^{th} as we was at breackfast at the
house of one Mr Tumblestone [Tomlinson?] the child was taken in a fit
our company had gone to the next house to take breakfast which was one
mile on our way we were alone in the room & went & asked Mrs
Tumblestone to come into the room she said she did not love to see a
person in a fitt but she came into the room Polly ask her if she new
what was good for a child in a fitt she said no & immediately left the
room & shut the door after her & came no more into the room when that
fitt left him there came on another no person in the room but Mr
Tumblestone who took but little notis of the child tho it was in great
distress Polly said she was afraid the child would die in one of them
fitts Mr Tumblestone spoke in a verry lite manner and sayes with a smile
it will save you the trouble of carrying it any farther if it does die
We then bundled up the child and walked to the next house ware we come
up with our company I had just seated myself down when the child was
taken in a fitt again when that had left it it was immediately taken in
another & as that went off we saw another coming on the Man of the house
gave it some drops that stoped the fitt he handed me a vial of the
dropps--gave directions how to use them the child had no more fitts but
seemed to be stuped all day he cried none at all but he kept a whining
& scouling all the while with his eyes stared wide open his face and his
eyes appeared not to come in shape as before When we took dinner it was
six mile to the next house the waggoners said they could not git through
thro that night we did not love to stay out for fear our child would die
in the woods so we set off & left the waggons I took the child in my
arms and we traveled on Mr Davis set off with us & carried the child
above half of the time here we traveled up & down the most tedious hills
as I ever saw & by nine oclock in the evening we came to the house the
child continued stayed all the night the next morning at break of day I
heard it make a strange noise I percieved it grew worse I got up and
called up the women [who] ware with us the woman of the house got up &
in two hours the child dyed Polly was obliged to go rite off as soon as
his eyes was closed for the waggoners would not stop I stayed to see the
child burried I then went on two of the men that was with me were
joiners & had their tools with them they stayed with me & made the
coffin Mr Simkins [Simpkins] the man of the house sent his Negroes out &
dug the grave whare he had burried several strangers that dyed a
crossing the mountain his family all followed the corps to the grave
black & white & appeared much affected.
"When we returned to the house I asked Mr Simkins to give me his name &
the name of the place he asked me the name of the child I told him he
took his pen & ink & rote the following lines Alligany County Marriland
July the 14^{th} 1796 died John P Allen at the house of John Simkins at
atherwayes bear camplain broadaggs old road half way between fort
Cumberland & Uniontown.[29] I thanked him for the kindness I had
received from him he said I was verry welcome & he was verry sorry for
my loss
"We then proceeded on our journey & we soon overtook the waggons & that
nite we got to the foot of the mountain We came to this mountain on the
11^{th} of the month and got over it the 19^{th} at night We left the
city of Allexandria on the Potomac the 30^{th} day of June & arrived at
Morgantown on the Monongahely the 18^{th} day of July
"Thus my dear pearents you see we are deprived of the child we brought
with us & we no not whather the one we left is dead or alive. I beg you
to rite & let me no Polly cant bear her name mentioned without shedding
tears if she is alive I hope you will spare no panes to give her
learning.
"When we arrived at Morgantown the river was so lo that boats could not
go down but it began to rain the same day that I got ther I was about
one mile from there when it began to rain & from the 22^d at night to
the 23^d in the morning it raised 16 feet the logs came down the river
so that it was dangerous for boats to go & on Sunday the 22^d in the
evening the boats set off three waggons had not arrived but the river
was loreing so fast that we dare not wate the goods was left with a
Merchant in that town to be sent when the river rises they have not come
on yet one of my barrels & the brass Cittle is yet behind
"Mr Avory said while he was at Morgantown that Cattle were verry high
down the river & them that wanted to by he thought had better by then he
purchased some & I bought two cows and three calvs for myself & three
cows for Mrs Hemsted & calves & a yoke of three year old stears. The
next morning after the Boats sailed I set off by land with the cattle &
horses with John Turner & Jonathan Prentice & arrived at Bellvill the
9^{th} of August & found it to be a verry rich & pleasant country We
came to the Ohio at Wheeling crick one hundred miles belo Pittsburg &
about the same from Morgantown We found the country settled the hole of
the way from Morgantown to Wheeling & a verry pleasant road we saw some
verry large & beautiful plantations here I saw richer land than I ever
saw before large fields of corn & grane of a stout groath From Wheeling
to Bellville it is a wilderness for the most of the way except the banks
of the river this side----which is one hundred miles we found it verry
difficult to get victules to eat. I drove fifty miles with one meal of
victules through the wilderness & only a foot path & that was so blind
that we was pestered to keep it we could drive but a little wayes in a
day whenever night overtook us we would take our blankets & wrap around
us & ly down on the ground We found some inhabitance along the river but
they came on last spring & had no provisions only what they brought with
them
"The country is as good as it was represented to be & is seteling verry
fast families are continually moveing from other parts into this
beautiful country if you would give me all your intrest to go back there
to live again it would be no temtation if you should sell your intrest
there & lay your money out here in a short time I think you would be
worth three or four times so much as you now are. it is incredible to
tell the number of boats that goes down this river with familys a man
that lives at Redstone Old fort on the Monongehaly says that he saw last
spring seventy Boats go past in one day with familys moveing down the
Ohio. There is now at this place a number of familys that came since we
did from Sesquehanah There is now at this place eighty inhabitance. Corn
is going at 2.^s pr bushel by the quantity 2.^s 6-^d by the single
bushel. There has been between two & three thousand bushels raised in
Bellville this season & all the settlements along the river as raised
corn in proportion but the vast number of people that are moveing into
this country & depending upon bying makes it scerce & much higher than
it would be
"There is three double the people that passes by here then there is by
your house there is Packets that passes from Pittsburg to Kentucky one
from Pittsburg to Wheeling 90 miles one from that to Muskingdom 90 miles
One from that to Gallipolees 90 miles the french settlement opisite the
big Canawa [Kanawha] & from that there is another to Kentucky----of
which goes & returns every week &----loaded with passengers & they carry
the male Mammy offered me some cloath for a Jacket & if you would send
it by Mr Woodward it would be very exceptible for cloaths is verry high
here Common flanel is 6^s per yard & tow cloth is 3^s 9^d the woolves
are so thick that sheep cannot be kept without a shephard they often
catch our calvs they have got one of mine & one of Mrs Hemstid the
latter they caught in the field near the houses I have often ben awoak
out of my sleep by the howling of the wolves.
"This is a fine place for Eunice they ask 1^s per yard for weaving tow
cloth give my respects to Betsey & Eunice & tell them that I hope one of
them will come with Mr Woodward when he comes on Horses are very high in
this country & if you have not sold mine I should be [glad] if you would
try to send him on by Mr. Woodward. I dont think Mr Avory will be there
this year or two & anything you would wish to send you nead not be
affraid to trust to Mr. Woodwards hands for he is a verry careful & a
verry honest man & what he says you may depend upon.
"Land is rising verry fast Mr Avory is selling his lots at 36 dollars
apeace he has sold three since we came here at that price we was so long
a comeing & provisions so verry high that I had not any money left when
I got here except what I paid for the cattle I bought I have worked for
Mr Avory since I came here to the amount of sixteen dollars I paid him
80 dollars before we left N London I am not in debt to him at preasent
or any one else I have sot me up a small house and have lived in it
upwards of a fortnight we can sell all our milk and butter milk at 2^d
per quart Mr Avory will give me three shillings per day for work all
winter & find [furnish] me with victules or 4^s & find myself I need not
want for business I think I am worth more then I was when I came We have
ben in verry good health ever since we left home.
"General St Clair who is now govener of the western teritoryes & General
Wilkinson with their Adicongs [Aid-de-camps] attended by a band of
soldiers in uniform lodged at Bellvill a few nights ago on their way
from headquarters to Philadelphia with Amaracan coulours a flying
"Please to give my respects to George & James & tell them that if they
want an interest this is the country for them to go to make it Please to
except of my kind love to yourselves & respects to all friends who may
enquire do give my love to Mr Rogers & family & all my brothers and
sisters & our only child Lydia Polly sends her love to you & all her old
friends & neighbors
Your affectionate son
Samuel Allen"
The following is a translation of a letter written twelve years after
Washington's journey of 1784, by Eric Bollman, a traveler through
Dunkard's Bottom, to his brother Lewis Bollman, father of H. L. Bollman
of Pittsburg:
"From Cumberland we have journeyed over the Alleghany Mountains in
company with General Irwin, of Baltimore, who owns some 50,000 acres in
this vicinity. The mountains are not so high and not so unproductive as
I had imagined them to be. Several points are rocky and barren, such as
the Laurel Ridge, but even this with proper attention and ... European
cultivation could be made productive. There are proportionately few such
ranges as this, and for the greater part, the mountains are covered with
fine timber.
"We spent the first night at West Port. Up to this point, at the proper
seasons, the Potomac is navigable and could be made so quite a distance
further. But even in the present state the land journey to the
Monongahela, which is navigable and flows into the Ohio, is but a
distance of 60 miles....
"The road is not in a bad condition and could be made most excellent.
This will, without doubt, be accomplished just as soon as the country is
sufficiently inhabited, since there is no nearer way to reach the
Western waters.
"The next day we dined with Mr. M. McCartin, still higher up in the
mountains. There are many settlements in this vicinity. We were
entertained in a beautiful, cool, roomy house, surrounded by oat fields
and rich meadows, where the sound of the bells told that cattle were
pasturing near by. We dined from delicate china, had good knives, good
forks, spoons, and other utensils. Our hostess, a bright, handsome,
healthy woman, waited upon us. After dinner, a charming feminine guest
arrived on horseback; a young girl from the neighboring farm, of perhaps
15 years of age, with such bashful eyes and such rosy cheeks, so lovely
and attractive in manner that even Coopley, our good mathematician,
could not restrain his admiration.
"This is the 'backwoods' of America, which the Philadelphian is pleased
to describe as a rough wilderness--while in many parts of Europe, in
Westphalia, in the whole of Hungary and Poland, nowhere, is there a
cottage to be found, which, taking all things together in consideration
of the inhabitant, can be compared with the one of which I have just
written.
"Four miles from this we reached the Glades, one of the most remarkable
features of these mountains and this land. These are broad stretches of
land of many thousand acres, covered with dense forests; beyond this
there is not a tree to be found, but the ground is covered knee-deep
with grass and herbs, where both the botanist and the cattle find
delicious food. Many hundred head of cattle are driven yearly, from the
South Branch and other surrounding places, and entrusted to the care of
the people who live here. What can be the cause of this strange
phenomenon! One can only suppose that at one time these glades were
covered with timber, which, overthrown by a mighty hurricane, gradually
dried and fell into decay. But it would take too long to give the many
reasons and arguments both for and against this supposition.
"Only lately have the Indians ceased roving in this vicinity; which has
done much to delay its cultivation, but now it is being cleared quite
rapidly, and in a short time will, without doubt, become a fine place
for pasturage. We spent the second night with one named Boyle, an old
Hollander. Early the next morning we could hear the howling of a wolf in
the forest.
"We breakfasted with Tim Friend, a hunter, who lived six miles further
on. If ever Adam existed he must have looked as this Tim Friend. I
never saw such an illustration of perfect manhood. Large, strong and
brawny; every limb in magnificent proportion, energy in every movement
and strength in every muscle, his appearance was the expression of manly
independence, contentment and intelligence. His conversation satisfied
the expectations which it awakened. With gray head, 60 years old, 40 of
which he had lived in the mountains, and of an observing mind, he could
not find it difficult to agreeably entertain people who wished for
information. He is a hunter by profession. We had choice venison for
breakfast, and there were around the house and near by a great number of
deers, bears, panthers, etc. I cannot abstain from believing that the
manly effort which must be put forth in the hunt, the boldness which it
requires, the keen observation which it encourages, the dexterity and
activity which are necessary to its success, act together more forcibly
for the development of the physical and mental strength than any other
occupation.
"Agriculture and cattle-raising, in their beginning produce careless
customs and indolence; the mental faculties remain weak, the ideas
limited, and the imagination, without counterpoise, extravagant.
Therefore we admire the wisdom and penetration of the North American
Indian, his sublime eloquence and heroic spirit in contrast to the
Asiatic shepherd, from whom we receive only simple Arabic fables. The
man, of whatever color he may be, is always that which the irresistible
influence of his surroundings has formed him. We left our noble hunter
and his large, attractive family unwillingly and followed a roadway to
Duncard's Bottom, on Cheat river.
"We had ridden along uneventfully for about two hours. I was in advance,
when Joseph, who rode behind me, cried: 'Take care, sir. Take care.
There is a rattlesnake.' It lay upon the road and my horse had almost
stepped upon it, which would have proved a disastrous thing. Joseph, a
good active fellow, sprang instantly from his horse in order to kill it.
The snake disappeared in the bushes and rattled. It sounded so exactly
like the noise of a grasshopper that I did not think it could be
anything else. Joseph armed himself with a stout stick and heavy stone,
followed the snake, found it, and killed it, but then jumped quickly
back, for he saw close by another rattlesnake, which had coiled itself
and was ready to spring at him. He hurried back again and killed the
second. They were 3-1/2 feet long and nine inches in circumference, in
the thickest part of the body; one had nine rattles and the other five.
We examined the poisonous fangs, took the rattles with us and hung the
bodies on a tree. I had thought until now that the principle of life was
as stubborn in a snake as in an eel, but found to my astonishment that a
slight blow was sufficient to destroy it in this dangerous specimen.
Other observations touching upon natural history I must keep for future
discussion.
"We dined at Duncard's Bottom, crossed the Cheat river in the afternoon,
reached the Monongahela Valley, spent the night in a very comfortable
blockhouse with Mr. Zinn, and arrived the next day at Morgantown, on
the Monongahela. We spent a day and a half here and were pleasantly
entertained by Mr. Reeder and William M. Clary, and received much
information, especially concerning sugar, maple trees and sugar making.
From Morgantown we went to the mouth of George creek, Fayette county,
Pennsylvania. As it was afternoon when we reached here we were overtaken
by night and compelled to spend the night in a small blockhouse with Mr.
McFarlain. We found Mr. McFarlain a respectable, intelligent farmer,
surrounded as usual, by a large and happy family.
"Directly after our arrival the table was set, around which the entire
family assembled. This appears to be the usual custom in the United
States with all people who are in some measure in good circumstances.
One of the women, usually the prettiest, has the honor of presiding at
table. There were good table appointments, fine china, and the simple
feast was served with the same ceremony as in the most fashionable
society of Philadelphia. Never, I believe, was there in any place more
equality than in this. Strangers who come at this time of day at once
enter the family circle. This was the case with us. Mr. McFarlain told
us much about his farm and the misfortunes with which he struggled when
he first cultivated the place upon which he now lives. He has lived here
30 years, a circumstance which is here very unusual, because the
adventure loving nature, together with the wish to better their
condition and the opportunity, has led many people to wander from place
to place.
"'But,' said Mr. McFarlain, when we made this observation, 'I have
always believed there was truth in the saying, "A rolling stone gathers
no moss." With labor and industry I have at last succeeded, and can
still work as well as my sons.'
"'Oh,' said his wife, a jolly woman, 'he does not do much. The most he
does is to go around and look at the work.'
"'Let him, let him,' interrupted the daughter, an energetic, pretty girl
of perhaps 17 years, who was serving the coffee. 'He worked hard when he
was young.' And no girl of finer education could have said it with more
charming naivete or with the appearance of more unaffected love.
"After the evening meal the eldest son showed us to our bed-room. 'Shall
I close the window?' said he. 'I usually sleep here and always leave it
open; it does not harm me, and Dr. Franklin advises it.'
"The next morning when we came down we found the old farmer sitting on
the porch reading a paper. Upon the table lay 'Morse's Geography,' 'The
Beauty of the Stars,' 'The Vicar of Wakefield,' and other good books. I
have entered into particulars in my description of this family, because
we were then only five miles from the home of Gallatin, where the people
are too often represented as rough, uncultured, good-for-nothings. It is
not necessary to mention that all families here are not as this, yet it
is something to find a family such as this, living on this side of the
mountains, 300 miles from the sea coast. We called upon Mr. Gallatin,
but did not find him at home. Geneva is a little place, but lately
settled, at the junction of George creek and the Monongahela.
"From here we went to Uniontown, the capital of Fayette county, where we
saw excellent land and Redstone creek. We dined the following day in
Redstone or Brownsville; journeyed to Washington, the capital of the
county of the same name, and arrived the following day in Pittsburg.
"Of this city and its magnificent situation between two mighty rivers,
the Monongahela and the Allegheny, I shall write you another time. From
the window where I now sit, I have a view of the first named river, a
half mile long. It is as broad as the Thames in London. The bank on this
side is high, but horizontal and level, covered with short grass, such
as the sheep love, which reminds me of the rock at Brighthelmstein. It
is bordered with a row of locust trees. The bank on the other side is a
chain of hills, thickly shaded with oak and walnut trees. The river
flows quietly and evenly. Boats are going back and forth; even now one
is coming, laden with hides from Illinois. The people on board are
wearing clothes made of woolen bed blankets. They are laughing and
singing after the manner of the French, yet as red as Indians, and
almost the antipodes of their fatherland.
"From here to the mouth of the Ohio it is 1,200 miles and 3,000 to the
mouth of the Mississippi. How enormous! How beautiful it is to see the
dominion of freedom and common sense established. To see in these grand
surroundings the development of good principle and the struggle toward a
more perfect life; to admire the spirit of enterprise as it works toward
a great plan, which seems to be in relation to the great plan which
nature itself has followed, and at last to anticipate by a secret
feeling, the future greatness and prosperity which lies before this
growing country."
Two years later Felix Renick passed this way and includes in his account
a vivid picture of the earliest sort of taverns in the West:
"Some of our neighbors who had served in Dunmore's campaign in 1774,
gave accounts of the great beauty and fertility of the western country,
and particularly the Scioto valley, which inspired me with a desire to
explore it as early as I could make it convenient. I accordingly set out
from the south branch of Potomac for that purpose, I think about the
first of October, 1798, in company with two friends, Joseph Harness and
Leonard Stump, both of whom have long since gone hence. We took with us
what provisions we could conveniently carry, and a good rifle to procure
more when necessary, and further prepared ourselves to camp wherever
night overtook us. Having a long journey before us, we traveled slow,
and reached Clarksburgh the third night, which was then near the verge
of the western settlements in Virginia, except along the Ohio river.
Among our first inquiries of our apparently good, honest, illiterate
landlord, was whether he could tell us how far it was to Marietta
[Ohio], and what kind of trace we should have? His reply was, 'O yes, I
can do that very thing exactly, as I have been recently appointed one of
the viewers to lay out and mark a road from here to Marietta, and have
just returned from the performance of that duty. The distance on a
_straight line_ which we first run was seventy-five miles, but on our
return we found and marked another line that was much _nearer_.' This
theory to Mr. Harness and myself, each of us having spent several years
in the study and practice of surveying, was entirely new: we however let
it pass without comment, and our old host, to his great delight,
entertained us till late in the evening, with a detailed account of the
fine sport he and his associates had in their bear chases, deer chases,
&c., while locating the road. We pursued our journey next morning,
taking what our host called the nearest, and which he also said was much
the best route. The marks on both routes being fresh and plain, the
crooked and nearest route, as our host called it, frequently crossing
the other, we took particular notice of the ground the straight line had
to pass over, and after getting through we were disposed to believe that
our worthy host was not so far wrong as might be supposed. The straight
line crossing such high peaks of mountains, some of which were so much
in the sugar-loaf form, that it would be quite as near to go round as
over them.
"The first night after leaving the settlement at Clarksburgh, we camped
in the woods; the next morning while our horses were grazing, we drew
on our wallets and saddlebags for a snack, that we intended should pass
for our breakfast, and set out. We had not traveled far before we
unexpectedly came to a new improvement. A man had gone there in the
spring, cleared a small field and raised a patch of corn, &c., staying
in a camp through the summer to watch it to prevent its being destroyed
by the wild animals. He had, a few days before we came along, called on
some of his near neighbors on the Ohio, not much more perhaps than
thirty miles off, who had kindly came forth and assisted him in putting
up a cabin of pretty ample size, into which he had moved bag and
baggage. He had also fixed up a rock and trough, and exposed a clapboard
to view, with some black marks on it made with a coal, indicating that
he was ready and willing to accommodate those who pleased to favor him
with a call. Seeing these things, and although we did not in reality
need any thing in his way, Mr. Harness insisted on our giving him a
call, observing that any man that would settle down in such a wilderness
to accommodate travelers ought to be encouraged. We accordingly rode up
and called for breakfast, horse feed, &c. Then let me say that as our
host had just 'put the ball in motion,' was destitute of any helpmate
whatever, (except a dog or two,) he had of course to officiate in all
the various departments appertaining to a hotel, from the landlord down
to the shoe-black on the one side, and from the landlady down to the
dishwash on the other. The first department in which he had to officiate
was that of the hostler, next that of the bar keeper, as it was then
customary, whether called for or not, to set out a half pint of
something to drink. The next, which he fell at with much alacrity, was
that of the cook, by commencing with rolled up sleeves and unwashed
hands and arms, that looked about as black and dirty as the bears' paws
which lay at the cabin door, part of whose flesh was the most
considerable item in our breakfast fare. The first operation was the
mixing up some pounded corn meal dough in a little black dirty trough,
to which the cleaner, and perhaps as he appeared to think him, the
better half of himself, his dog, had free access before he was fairly
done with it, and that I presume was the only kind of cleaning it ever
got. While the dodgers were baking, the bear meat was frying, and what
he called coffee was also making, which was composed of an article that
grew some hundred or one thousand miles north of where the coffee tree
ever did grow. You now have the bill of fare that we sat down to, and
the manner in which it was prepared; but you must guess how much of it
we ate, and how long we were at it. As soon as we were done we called
for our bill, and here follows the items: breakfast fifty cents each,
horses twenty-five each, half pint of whisky fifty cents. Mr. Harness,
who had prevailed on us to stop, often heard of the wilderness hotel,
and whenever mentioned, he always had some term of reproach ready to
apply to the host and the dirty breakfast, though we often afterwards
met with fare somewhat similar in all respects.
"We camped two nights in the woods, and next day got to Marietta where
the land office was then kept by general Putnam, and from his office we
obtained maps of the different sections of country we wished to
explore."[30]