Departure from Pittsburgh--Autumnal Scenery--Georgetown--The
unfortunate emigrant--Steubenville--Picturesque
Scenery--Wheeling--Little Grave creek, and the Great
Mound--Other Aboriginal remains--Marietta--Belpré
settlement--Other ancient remains--Coal--Galliopolis--Ancient
level of the alluvial forest--Misletoe--Aboriginal
remains--Big Sandy creek and commencement of
Cane-land--Corn-husking--Salt creek--Maysville--Organic
remains--Cincinnati--Lawrenceburgh--The French
emigrant--Vevay--Madison--Louisville--Prevalence of particular
winds on the Ohio--Falls of the Ohio.
21ST.] To-day I left Pittsburgh in a skiff, which I purchased for six
dollars, in order to proceed down the Ohio. I was fortunate enough to
meet with a young man who had been accustomed to the management of
a boat, and who, for the consideration of a passage and provision,
undertook to be my pilot and assistant. We set out after 11 o’clock,
and made 19 miles. Here we were overtaken by a thunder-storm,
accompanied by very heavy rain, which continued during most part of
the ensuing night. We had no choice, and therefore took up our abode
for the night in the first cabin which we came to, built of logs,
{21} containing a large family of both sexes, all housed in one room,
and that not proof against the pouring rain. Provided, however, with
provision and beds of our own we succeeded in rendering ourselves
comfortable, and were pleased with the hospitable disposition of our
landlord, who would scarcely permit any of his family to receive from
us the moderate compensation which we offered.
22d.] At day-break we again betook ourselves to the voyage; but after
proceeding about nine miles, the strong south-west wind forced us to
a delay of several hours.
In this distance from Pittsburgh the Ohio meanders through a
contracted alluvial flat, thickly settled, and backed with hills,
which are often peaked and lofty, fringed, at this season, by a
forest of the diversified, but dying hues of autumn. The water was
extremely low, and we passed through several rapids, in which bare
rocks presented themselves in such quantity, as to deny the passage
of any thing but boats drawing 9 or 10 inches of water.
After proceeding about two miles below Beavertown[18] we landed in
the dark, and went to the tavern to which accident had directed
us, but finding it crowded with people met together for merriment,
we retired to a neighbouring hovel, in order to obtain rest and
shelter from the weather, which was disagreeably cold. Our
prospect of repose was soon, however, banished, as our cabin,
being larger than the tavern, was selected for a dancing room, and
here we were obliged to sit waking spectators of this riot till
after one o’clock in the morning. The whiskey bottle was brought
out to keep up the excitement, and, without the inconvenience and
delay of using glasses, was passed pretty briskly from mouth to
mouth, exempting neither age nor sex. Some of the young ladies
also indulged in smoking as well as drinking of drams. Symptoms
of riot and drunkenness at length stopped {22} the dancing, and
we now anticipated the prospect of a little rest, but in this we
were disappointed by the remaining of one of the company vanquished
by liquor, who, after committing the most degrading nuisance, at
intervals disturbed us with horrid gestures and imprecations for
the remainder of the morning. On relating in the neighbourhood our
adventure at this house, we were informed that this tavern was
notorious for the assemblage of licentious persons.
23d.] After an hour or two of interrupted repose we again embarked,
and found that there had been a slight fall of snow. The wind
was still adverse, and so strong as perfectly to counteract the
current; with some labour we got down to Georgetown,[19] and warmed
ourselves by a comfortable fire of coal. The tavern was very poorly
accommodated, a mere cabin without furniture, of which its owner was
from habit scarcely sensible. About two o’clock in the afternoon we
again landed at a poor log-cabin to warm ourselves, and were very
kindly welcomed by the matron of the house, who, without the benefit
of education, seemed possessed of uncommon talents. I had read, in
the first settlement of Kentucky, of remarkable instances of female
intrepidity, brought forward by the exigencies of a residence on a
dangerous frontier, and our hostess appeared to be equally an Amazon,
modest, cool, and intrepid. I listened to her adventures with much
interest. She and her husband, with a small family, had some years
ago followed the tide of western emigration to the banks of the
little Miami, near Cincinnati. Here, after a tedious and expensive
journey, they had settled on a piece of alluvial land, and might
probably have prospered, but for the dreadful effects of continued
sickness (ague and bilious fever), which urged them to sacrifice
every other interest for that of their emaciated offspring, and to
ascend the Ohio in search of a situation which might afford them
health. She pointed to some remains of decent furniture {23} which
the cabin scarcely sheltered, saying, with an affectionate look at
her poor children, “we once had a decent property, but now we have
nothing left; emigration has ruined us!” With six children around
her, and accompanied by another family, ascending the Ohio in a
flat-boat, they were struck by a hurricane. She herself and one of
her children had taken their regular turn at the oar, the master of
the boat, who had also his family around him, became so far alarmed
and confused as to quit his post in the midst of the danger which
threatened instantly to overwhelm them, tremendous waves broke into
the boat, which the affrighted steersman knew not how to avoid. This
woman seized the helm which was abandoned, and by her skill and
courage saved the boat and the families from imminent destruction.
24th.] The wind still south-west, but abating a little. We proceeded
at 11, and about 18 miles from Steubenville, landed and took up
our lodging on an island, with no other shelter than the canopy of
heaven; but we slept comfortably, with our feet to a warm fire,
according to Indian custom.
25th.] This evening we arrived at Steubenville,[20] which appears to
be a place of industry and manufacture. Two miles below the town we
lodged in the cabin of a poor tenant farmer.
The banks of the river are exceedingly romantic, presenting lofty
hills and perpendicular cliffs of not less than 300 feet elevation,
every where covered or fringed with belts of trees in their autumnal
foliage, of every bright and varying hue, more beautiful even than
the richest verdure of summer. The uplands being calcareous are found
to be exceedingly fertile, and we consequently perceive houses and
fences on the summits of the loftiest hills which embosom the river.
From 50 to 70 dollars per acre was demanded for these lands, which
are better for wheat than the {24} alluvial soils. Flour was here
four dollars per barrel, and beef six cents per pound.
26th.] This evening we arrived at Wheeling,[21] consisting of
a tolerably compact street of brick houses, with the usual
accompaniment of stores, taverns, and mechanics. It is also the
principal depot for the supply and commerce of the interior of this
part of Virginia. A number of boats had been fitted out here this
season, which could not navigate from Pittsburgh in consequence of
the lowness of the water. At this place the great national road into
the interior, from the city of Washington, comes in conjunction with
that of Zanesville, Chillicothe, Columbus, and Cincinnati. At the
northern extremity of the town there is a very productive bed of
coal, and equally horizontal with that of Pittsburgh; its thickness
is about six feet, and as it occurs _beneath_ the limestone it
must of course be considered as a _second_ bed. Every where along
the banks of the river, particularly at this low stage we perceive
adventitious boulders and pebbles of sienite, which cannot have
originated nearer than the mountains of Canada, situated beyond the
lakes. Proceeding about four and a half miles from Wheeling, we took
up our night’s residence at a cabin near to the outlet of M’Mahon’s
creek.[22]
27th.] To-day I again observed a bed of coal in the bank of the Ohio,
worked _beneath_ the limestone, situated nearly opposite to Little
Grave creek.[23] This superincumbent limestone does not appear to
abound with organic remains, and is nearly horizontal, with a slight
dip, perhaps 10°, to the south-east. Ten or 12 miles further, the
same coal bed still bassets out from beneath the calcareous rock,
and so near to the present low level of the river as not to admit
of being worked at any other stage of the water. The shale (or
bituminous slate clay) above and below the coal {25} is extremely
superficial, being only a few inches in thickness, and interspersed
with small masses of bitumen and reliquiæ which imitate charred wood,
but are destitute of the characterizing cross grain.
At the mouth of Little Grave creek we landed, to view the famous
mound,[24] said to be 75 feet high. The ascent is extremely steep: it
is indeed a pyramid, and of an elegant conic figure; at the summit
there is a circular depression indicative of some excavation, and it
is surrounded by a shallow ditch, across which, there are left two
gateways. It appears to be elevated at about an angle of 60°, and
the earth, as in many other similar monuments, has evidently been
beaten down to resist the washing of rains. It is remarkably perfect
and compleat, and would probably continue a monument as long as the
walled pyramids of Egypt. Amongst other trees growing upon it, there
was a white oak of not less than two centuries’ duration. In the
immediate vicinity, there is likewise a small ditched circle with two
entrances, and a smaller ditched mound.
At this place, I took in a young man going down to Big Sandy creek,
who assisted in working his passage with us. At dark we landed on the
Ohio shore, and lodged with a poor but hospitable resident.
28th.] Tired of the boat, I got out and walked 10 or 12 miles, on
the Virginia side of the river. Many of the settlers here appear
to be Yankees, from Vermont and Connecticut, and in prosperous
circumstances. A mile and a half above Sistersville, and 35 from
Marietta, in Virginia, there is a small aboriginal station,
consisting of five or six low mounds, and a circle containing an area
of about an acre.
29th.] Twenty-six miles above Marietta, on the Virginia side, on the
estate of Mr. Cohen, there was on the platform of the third, or most
ancient alluvial bottom, a large, but low mound, grown over with
brambles; and, at the distance of about a quarter of a {26} mile
below, a small square embankment containing near an acre, with only
one or two openings or entrances.
Most part of the afternoon, I continued walking along the Ohio bank,
and observed, as I have done for near 30 miles above, the alluvial
lands to be more extensive, occupying often both banks of the river,
and a sensible diminution in the elevation of the hills. The bottoms
here abound with elm, and there are also extensive and undrainable
tracts covered with beech.
30th.] At day break, we again betook ourselves to our laborious
journey, which, in consequence of the adverse wind, was nearly as
toilsome as a voyage up, in place of down the stream; in addition to
which, we had also to encounter the severe and benumbing effects of
frost. We passed Marietta,[25] remarkable for its aboriginal remains,
and in the evening, encamped on the beach of the river, but did not
rest very comfortably, in consequence of the cold.
31.] Passed Belpré[26] settlement, an extensive portion of fertile
alluvial land, and thickly settled. All the prevailing rock here, for
some distance, is a massive sandstone, either brownish, greenish,
or grayish, fine grained and micaceous, and occasionally exposing
something like impressions of alcyonites, but appearing in no place
indicative of coal. This evening we lodged at a house, four miles
above the mouth of Shade river, where the bottoms are extensive and
fertile. In a rocky situation, I found abundance of the _Seymeria
macrophylla_, near six feet in height; also a new species of _Aster_,
in full bloom, at this advanced season.
_November_ 1st.] We proceeded about 19 miles without any material
hindrance, when the south-west wind, which had so constantly opposed
our descent, blew up a thunder-storm with rain, which detained us
for the remainder of the day. Below Marietta, the {27} alluvial
lands become still more extensive, and appear to be held at a price
considerably above their real value by speculators, who thus prevent
the population from accumulating. We scarcely, indeed, see any thing
in this quarter but the miserable log cabins of tenants so poor and
ill provided, even with the common necessaries of life, that, had we
not taken the precaution of providing ourselves with provision, we
must often have had either to fast, or sit down to nothing better
than mush and milk; which, though an agreeable, is not a sufficiently
nourishing diet for a traveller.
In descending the river, we uniformly find rapid water along the
islands and bars; a circumstance appearing to indicate the former
union of such islands with the land. Nearly all the sugar here
made use of by the inhabitants, is obtained from the maple (_Acer
saccharinum_), which, by more careful management, might be refined
equal to muscovado.
2d.] We were again detained a considerable part of the day by the
contrary wind, and, during the delay, fell in with a descending
family, which had passed us the preceding day. In a short time after
meeting, two hounds belonging to our companion, which had been let
loose in the woods, chased a buck to the river: my companion and the
old migratory hunter instantly launched the skiff in the pursuit, and
succeeded in shooting the unfortunate deer in the water; a method
commonly resorted to in this country, where the chase is more a
matter of necessity than amusement.
3d.] This morning I walked up the right bank of the river, to view
an aboriginal station, said to be situated on the present estate
of Mr. Warf, on Park’s bottom; but, on proceeding about two miles
through an enswamped beech forest, I relinquished the undertaking,
finding it to be more than three miles above Mill creek, which I had
crossed the preceding day. {28} I understood that this work was a
circular embankment, including an area of three or four acres; and
in the vicinity of which, were several inconsiderable mounds. Beech
woods, flanked by elevated cliffs, still continued for four miles on
the Virginia side, to Le Tart’s rapids,[27] where the boat was to
wait my arrival. On the way I found abundance of the _Dracocephalum
cordifolium_ with long slolons like ground ivy, also _Hesperis
pinnatifida_, but I was more particularly gratified in finding
the _Tilia heterophylla_. Nothing is here more abundant than the
_Stylophorum_ (_Chelidonium._ MICH.). This evening, we were 16 miles
above Galiopolis;[28]
4th.] About 11 miles from which, I observed a bed of coal, now worked
on the bank of the river, some distance above the base of a high
cliff, and overlaid by a massive micaceous sandstone, constituting
the main body of the hill, and, as usual, horizontally stratified.
Beneath the coal appeared a laminated limestone. Not many miles from
hence, nitre is also obtained in caves.
The wind still continued against us, and with considerable labour
we got five miles below Galiopolis, at which and Point Pleasant[29]
there are several mounds and aboriginal remains.[30]
5th.] This evening we had proceeded about 26 miles below Galiopolis.
Yesterday and to-day, I remarked, parallel with the present level of
the river, and often surmounted by a lofty and friable bank of earth,
beds of leaves compressed and blackened, giving out ferruginous
matter to the water which oozed through them. On examination, they
proved to be the same kind of foliage as that of the trees which
compose the present alluvial forest; as platanus, beech, oak, poplar,
&c.
About Steubenville I observed the first occurrence {29} of misletoe
(the _Viscum verticillatum_ of the West Indies), which now appears
very prevalent and conspicuous. The fruit of the popaw (_Porcelia
triloba_) here comes to perfection, and is rich and finely flavoured,
while above, and in a few localities where it exists in Pennsylvania,
it is scarcely eatable.
I was again informed of the existence of aboriginal mounds and
entrenchments on the fertile alluvial lands called Messer’s Bottom,
which are of several miles extent, commencing almost immediately
below Galiopolis on the Virginia side, but after several unsuccessful
inquiries, the ignorance and supineness of the settlers, though
numerous, prevented me from discovering them.
6th.] We proceeded about nine miles, and were as usual prevented from
continuing further by the reiterated violence of the pertinacious
south-west wind, accompanied by a haze, which made every object
appear as if enveloped in smoke.
7th.] This evening, we passed the mouth of Big Sandy creek, the
boundary of Kentucky. Near to this line commences the first
appearance of the cane (_Arundinaria macrosperma_), which seems to
indicate some difference in the climate and soil. The settlements
are here remote, the people poor, and along the river not so
characteristically hospitable as in the interior of Kentucky. Landing
rather late, we took up our lodging where there happened to be a
corn-husking, and were kept awake with idle merriment and riot till
past midnight. Some of the party, or rather of the two national
parties, got up and harangued to a judge, like so many lawyers,
on some political argument, and other topics, in a boisterous and
illiberal style, but without coming to blows. Is this a relic of
Indian customs?
The corn-fields, at this season of the year, are so overrun with
cuckold-burs (_Xanthium strumarium_), and the seeds of different
species of Bidens or Spanish-needles, {30} as to prove extremely
troublesome to woollen clothes, and to the domestic cattle, which are
loaded with them in tormenting abundance. In consequence of these
weeds, the fleece of the sheep is scarcely worth the trouble of
shearing. The best remedy for checking the growth of these noxious
plants, would be to plow them in about the time of flowering, which
would exterminate them, and improve the crop of corn.
The people here, living upon exigencies, and given to rambling about
instead of attending to their farms, are very poor and uncomfortable
in every respect; but few of them possess the land on which they
live. Having spent every thing in unsuccessful migration, and
voluntarily exiling themselves from their connections in society,
they begin to discover, when too late, that industry would have
afforded that comfort and independence which they in vain seek in the
solitudes of an unhealthy wilderness. We found it almost impossible
to purchase any kind of provision, even butter or bacon, nothing
appearing to be cultivated scarcely but corn and a little wheat.
I was again informed of the existence of aboriginal remains in the
vicinity of the place where we arrived this evening.
8th.] We were delayed nearly the whole of the day by the usual
adverse wind.
9th.] To-day, however, we were fortunate enough, at last, to obtain
the breeze in our favour, and proceeded about 28 miles, encamping
three miles below the town of Portsmouth.[31]
10th.] The wind still continuing in our favour, accompanied by a
considerable current, we proceeded about 32 miles, and encamped 12
miles below Salt creek, and 17 above Maysville.[32] In this course
the river appears very meandering, and from Portsmouth, the hills,
which are considerable, come up diagonally to the margin of the river
and present serrated {31} or conic summits. At the lowest stage of
the water we perceive horizontal ledges of calcareous rock filled
with terebratulites, &c. The salt at Adamsville appears to be made
from water issuing out of the alluvial argillaceous soil near to
the outlet of Salt Creek, but in many parts of the Western country
coring for salt water is frequently continued some hundreds of feet,
(sometimes as much as 400 feet) below the surface, through calcareous
and sand-stone rocks, and occasionally through beds of coal.
11th.] We proceeded seven miles below the thriving town of Maysville,
formerly called Limestone from the rock in its neighbourhood, and
experienced heavy rains during the whole day, which in our open skiff
proved very unpleasant, and, to augment our uncomfortable situation,
we encamped at a late hour on a very disagreeable muddy shore, where
it was not possible to kindle a fire.
The farmers along the river for many miles down appear to be in
thriving circumstances. Their houses are very decent in external
appearance, but so badly finished and furnished that many of the
rooms are unoccupied, or merely serve the purposes of a barn, and
the family are commonly found living in the kitchen. Most of these
ostentatious shells of frame houses are the work of the New-England
settlers, who are very industrious, and not without more or less of
their usual economy and sagacity.
12th.] We were again retarded by the south-west wind. The shore on
which we landed was thickly strewed with fragments of calcareous rock
filled with terebratulites, alcyonites, flustras, encrinal vertebrae,
&c. &c. Some specimens which I here collected of the encrinal
vertebrae were coated with a cellular epidermis, in appearance
resembling a millepore; they are also remarkably dichotomous. In one
of the calcareous fragments which I broke occurred the _Trilobites
paradoxus_.
{32} The wind abating, we passed down to Augusta,[33] and with
our emigrant companions encamped on the opposite shore. Here the
insolence of my companion rendered our separation absolutely
necessary. It is to be regretted, that so many of those wandering
New-Englanders (who, like the Jews in Europe, are to be met with
in every part of the union), should prove so disgraceful to their
country. My impression now was, that this young man was a refugee
from justice or deserved infamy, and in all probability I narrowly
escaped being robbed.
13th.] To-day I arrived at Cincinnati,[34] and was again gratified
by the company of my friend Doctor I. Drake,[35] one of the most
scientific men west of the Alleghany mountains.
The town appeared to have improved much, both in appearance and
population, since my last visit; it is, indeed, by far the most
agreeable and flourishing of all the western towns. Here I had the
good fortune, through Dr. D., to be introduced to Mr. H. Glenn,
lately sutler to the garrison of Arkansa; from whom I had the
pleasure to learn something more explicit concerning the probable
progress of my intended journey.
A medical college was, I understood, about to be established in
Cincinnati. Dr. D., who delivered a very appropriate introductory
oration, will, probably, be the principal of the institution. But
such undertakings are yet rather premature, and the student would
derive many exclusive advantages by acquiring a medical education in
the universities already established.
17th.] About 12 o’clock I left Cincinnati in my skiff, and was
accidentally joined by two strangers going to Lawrenceburgh,[36] 25
miles distant, where we arrived this evening. This is a neat and
thriving town, situated near the estuary of the Great Miami, and on
the line of the state of Indiana.
{33} 18th.] I departed at day-break, but, after descending five
miles, discovered my gun had been forgotten at the tavern where I
lodged. The day was dismal and cloudy, with showers of snow and gales
of wind, undissembled winter. In the evening I arrived at a little
town called the Rising Sun,[37] from its tavern, 13 miles below
Lawrenceburgh.
19th.] A fine morning and but little wind.--I now continued alone to
navigate the Ohio, which is here exceedingly crooked. The alluvial
lands are extensive, with the hills low, and the rock, as usual,
calcareous and filled with organic impressions. I descended about
30 miles, and lodged with a very polite and hospitable Frenchman,
three miles above the Swiss[38] towns of Vevay and Ghent. He informed
me that he had emigrated the last summer from Grenoble, and had
purchased land here at the rate of 10 dollars per acre, including
the house and improvements which he occupied. He complained how
much he had been deceived in his expectations, and that if he was
home again, and possessed of his present experience, he would never
have emigrated. He did not give a very favourable account of the
settlement of Vevay, and he and others, particularly a Swiss whom
I called upon, informed me that the wine here attempted to be made
was of an inferior quality. It sold at 25 cents the bottle, but soon
became too sour to drink, and that instead of obtaining the northern
vines for cultivation, as those around Paris, they had all along
attended to the southern varieties. So the vineyards of Vevay, if not
better supported, will probably soon be transformed into corn-fields.
The wine which they have produced is chiefly claret, sometimes
bordering on the quality of Burgundy, for the preservation of which
their heated cabins, destitute of cellars, are not at all adapted;
we do not, however, perceive any obstacle to the distillation of
brandy, which could be disposed of with great facility and profit.
The quantity of {34} wine said to be yielded to the acre, is about
500 gallons, which, if saleable, ought to produce a considerable
emolument, and materially benefit the country, by diminishing the
foreign demand. Several gentlemen of science, wealth, and patriotism
in Kentucky and Mississippi Territory, are now also beginning to
devote their attention to this important and neglected subject,
and are commencing by the cultivation of improved varieties of the
native species of vine, which promise, above those of Europe, every
requisite of fertility, hardihood, and improved flavour.
20th.] To-day I passed the rising town of Madison,[39] and the outlet
of Kentucky river.--The sun was setting when I arrived, and just
served to disclose the beauty of the surrounding scenery. On one
side of the river rose a lofty fasçade of calcareous rocks, fretted
like net-work; on the opposite extended the low alluvial lands of
Kentucky, thickly lined with an almost unbroken rank of tall poplars,
(_Populus angulisans_,) resembling a magnificent vista planted by the
hand of man.
21st.] Late in the evening I arrived at Bethlehem, a miserable little
hamlet in speculation, containing about half a dozen houses.
22d.] To-day I came within 11 miles of Louisville, and lodged with a
hospitable and industrious Irishman, who had emigrated from Belfast
about 17 years ago.
23d.] At length I arrived at the large and flourishing town of
Louisville, but recently a wilderness. Labour and provision rated
here much above the value which they commonly bore in the state and
the surrounding country. The markets were very negligently supplied,
and at prices little inferior to those of New Orleans. In fact,
the vortex of speculation, this commercial gambling, absorbed the
solid interests of the western states, and destroyed all mercantile
confidence. The whole country was overrun with banks, which neither
deserved confidence nor credit. Not a note in Kentucky {35} commanded
specie, the capital was altogether fictitious, and ought to have been
secured by every species of property possessed by the stockholders.
A more ruinous and fraudulent system of exchange was never devised
in any Christian country; it is truly a novelty to see a whole
community, at least the wealthy part of it, conspiring in a common
system of public fraud.
The love of luxury, without the means of obtaining it, has proved the
bane of these still rude settlements of agriculturists, naturally
poor in money by reason of their remoteness from the emporium of
commerce, and their neglect of manufactures. When one heard a farmer
demand a price for his produce in Kentucky, equal nearly to that
of Philadelphia, we might be certain that he expected payment in
depreciated paper.
A stranger who descends the Ohio at this season of emigration, cannot
but be struck with the jarring vortex of heterogeneous population
amidst which he is embarked, all searching for some better country,
which ever lies to the west, as Eden did to the east. Amongst the
crowd are also those, who, destitute of the means or inclination of
obtaining an honest livelihood, are forced into desperate means for
subsistence.
In my descent from Pittsburgh to Louisville, I found the wind,
excepting about two days, constantly blowing up the river. The
north-west or south-west winds, in fact, continue almost three
quarters of the year. The deep valley which the river has excavated
forms a vortex, into which the rarified air of the land rushes for
equilibrium. The south-west wind is uniformly, at this season of the
year, attended with a dense and bluish atmosphere, charged with
vapours, which appear like smoke, and sometimes accumulate so as to
obscure the land.
I was detained at Louisville until the 7th of December, {36} trying
various means of descending the river. The lowness of the water
prevented the descent of the steamboats, and the price of passage
to Natchez was now no less than 50 dollars. Wearied by delay, I at
length concluded to purchase a flat-boat, and freighted it nearly at
my own cost, which, for an inexperienced traveller, was certainly an
act of imprudence, as the destruction of the boat, which frequently
happens, would probably have plunged me into penury and distress.
The wealth and population of Louisville[40] are evidently on the
increase, and a canal is now proposed, to obviate the difficulty of
navigating by the Falls.
I perceive no material variation in the soil or river scenery. The
surface is deeply undulated, fertile, and much sunk into circular
depressions or water-swallows. The rock is all calcareous, but
destitute of coal, or indeed any kind of overlaying stratum in this
neighbourhood.
The Falls, at this stage of the water, roar in terrific grandeur;
the descending surges resemble the foaming billows of the sea,
and do not now admit the passage of vessels drawing more than 12
inches of water, though at other seasons there is a sufficiency
for the largest boats on either side of the island which divides
the falls. The calcareous ledge over which the water thus pours is
nearly as horizontal as a floor, and filled with the reliquiæ of
terebratulites, caryophillites, corallines, encrinites, &c. It also
contains an unusual portion of pyrites, illinitions of blende ore of
zinc, and a bluish green pulverulent substance, which is perhaps an
ore of copper, or an oxide of nickel. Wood in a state of petrifaction
has been discovered near the island which divides the cataract, and
that in considerable quantity. The steam-boats, which ascend as far
as Shippingsport,[41] below the Falls, are of no less than 3 to 500
tons burthen, and are handsomely fitted up for {37} the accommodation
of passengers. Sometimes they descend to New Orleans in eight or ten
days, affording a facility of communication heretofore unprecedented.
FOOTNOTES:
[18] For the early history of the site of Beavertown, see Cuming’s
_Tour_, in our volume iv, note 56.--ED.
[19] Georgetown is the last town on the Pennsylvania side, a mile
above the Ohio boundary, on the left bank of the river. _Ibid._, note
59.--ED.
[20] For sketch of Steubenville, see _ibid._, note 67.--ED.
[21] For sketch of Wheeling, see André Michaux’s _Travels_, in our
volume iii, note 15.--ED.
[22] A northern tributary which flows into the Ohio about half a mile
below Bellaire, Ohio--ED.
[23] Little Grave Creek flows into the Ohio from the West Virginia
side, a hundred miles below Pittsburg. The village of Elizabethtown
now lies at its mouth, upon the left bank. A mile below is Big Grave
Creek; and Moundsville, West Virginia, is between the two streams.
Near here, frontiersmen murdered a number of Shawnee, in 1774,
leading to Lord Dunmore’s War. For other historic incidents of this
locality, see Cuming’s _Tour_, volume iv of our series, notes 77,
78.--ED.
[24] Another description of this mound is given in Cuming’s _Tour_,
volume iv of our series, note 76.--ED.
[25] A sketch of the settlement of Marietta will be found in André
Michaux’s _Travels_, volume iii of our series, note 16.--ED.
[26] For Belpré, see Cuming’s _Tour_, volume iv of our series, note
87.--ED.
[27] Letart Falls are at the northward turn of the river in the
so-called “Pomeroy Bend” between Meigs County, Ohio, and Mason
County, Kentucky. The rapids are of slight consequence, but were
exaggerated into importance by some of the early travellers.--ED.
[28] For sketch of Gallipolis and the unfortunate French colony of
which it was the centre, see F. A. Michaux’s _Travels_, in our volume
iii, note 34.--ED.
[29] Point Pleasant is at the mouth of Great Kanawha River. For
history of the site, see Croghan’s _Journals_, volume i of our
series, note 101; also Bradbury’s _Travels_, in our volume v, note
156.--ED.
[30] A more particular account of these monuments is given in the
latter part of this work.--NUTTALL.
[31] Portsmouth is situated at the mouth of the Scioto, on the east
bank. On the west bank was the chief Shawnee village, in the days of
rivalry between French and English fur-traders. Gist, exploring for
the Ohio Company, was here in 1751. Two years later a flood drove the
Indians across the river to the higher ground on which Portsmouth
was afterwards built; but a part of them removed to the upper Scioto
and the Little Miami, founding the Old and New Chillicothe towns.
Portsmouth was the place of captivity of Mrs. Mary Ingles, in 1755;
the site was abandoned by the Indians in 1758. The present town was
platted (1803) by Henry Massie, on land bought by him in 1801. It was
named for Portsmouth, Virginia.--ED.
[32] For the history of Maysville (formerly called Limestone), see
André Michaux’s _Travels_, in our volume iii, note 23.--ED.
[33] Augusta is forty-two and a half miles above Cincinnati. It was
formerly seat of justice of Bracken County, Kentucky, and is still,
on account of its good harbor, an important point for shipping
tobacco.--ED.
[34] For a sketch of the early history of Cincinnati, see Cuming’s
_Tour_, in our volume iv, note 166.--ED.
[35] Nuttall mistook the name. Dr. Daniel Drake came to Cincinnati
from Kentucky in 1800, at the age of fifteen, and clerked in a drug
store while privately studying medicine. He was graduated from the
medical school of Pennsylvania University, in 1816, and the next
winter lectured at Transylvania University. The plan for a medical
college, referred to in the text, was successfully carried out. The
charter was obtained in December, 1818, the college being opened the
following November, with twenty-five students. Drake was president.
This was the beginning of the Ohio Medical College. In 1821, Drake
secured from the legislature a grant which laid the foundation for
the Cincinnati hospital. For many years he was the leader of his
profession in Ohio and Kentucky, and was influential in numerous
progressive movements. He died in 1852, a member of the faculty of
the college founded in 1818–20. See biographical sketch by his son,
prefixed to a collection of his letters, _Pioneer Life in Kentucky_
(Cincinnati, 1870).
Hugh Glenn, mentioned in the succeeding paragraph, soon afterward
established a trading-post near the mouth of the Verdigris River, in
what is now Indian Territory. He was one of the first to succeed in the
Santa Fé overland trade.--ED.
[36] Lawrenceburgh is the seat of justice of Dearborn County,
Indiana. The town was laid out in 1802 by Samuel C. Vance, United
States surveyor at Cincinnati, who bought the site in 1801. He named
the town for his wife, whose maiden name was Lawrence. The site is
low, and subject to inundations.--ED.
[37] Founded in 1813.--ED.
[38] For an account of the founding of the Swiss settlements in
Indiana, see Bradbury’s _Travels_, in our volume v, note 164.--ED.
[39] Madison, first settled about 1808, is the seat of justice of
Jefferson County, Indiana.--ED.
[40] For description of the Falls of the Ohio and the early history
of Louisville, see Croghan’s _Journals_, in our volume i, note 106. A
company was chartered in 1818 to build a canal around the falls, but
the work was not completed until December, 1830, under the direction
of the Louisville and Portland Canal Company, organized in 1825.
After 1845, the stock was gradually purchased by the United States,
which eventually became entire owner.--ED.
[41] For sketch of Shippingsport, see Cuming’s _Tour_, in our volume
iv, note 171.--ED.