BLENNERHASSETT'S ISLAND.
Nearly every person who knows anything at all about the history of the
United States has heard of Blennerhassett's Island.
This island is one hundred and ninety miles from Pittsburg, and two
hundred and eighty-seven from Cincinnati. It is a beautiful island; but
has at present an appearance of desolation, that forcibly reminds the
traveler what it once was.
Blennerhassett, the owner, was a man of great taste, and, till his
connection with Burr, quite an inoffensive man, and a good citizen. But
no one could be long in peace and quiet who had anything to do with the
seditious, ambitious, and treasonable Aaron Burr. It is true he was not
legally convicted of treason, but he was finally ruined in character and
property, as a cause of his evident wrong doing.
Instead of a beautiful mansion fifty-four feet square, two stories
high, and well proportioned, with two wings, and a charming little
garden, with every delicacy of fruit, vegetables, and flowers which
could be made to grow in that climate, with the most beautiful walks,
and shrubbery--nothing now is seen but a heap of ruins.
All day long, this second of our days on the river, we were hoping the
boat would reach Blennerhassett's Island before night, or at least
before bedtime. But we were doomed to disappointment. At the latest hour
which it was proper for us to be awake, the boat was some thirty to
fifty miles below.
We passed the next day the mouths of two beautiful rivers on the
Virginia side, the Big Sandy and the Great Kanawha. It was curious to
see the line formed by the junction or union of the two rivers--the one
with its blue clear waters, the other with its turbid, milky current.
They seemed as if made of entirely different materials. We also passed,
besides the coaling places I have named, several considerable villages,
among which were Point Pleasant, Murraysville, and Belleville,
Virginia; and Gallipolis and Millersburg in Ohio.
We also lost sight, during the night, of Marietta, at the mouth of the
Muskingum River, now quite a large and pleasant village, near which are
several very remarkable ancient fortifications and mounds of earth,
supposed to have been the depositories of the dead, by some now unknown
people.