TRIP
TO THE
WEST AND TEXAS.
COMPRISING
A JOURNEY OF EIGHT THOUSAND MILES,
THROUGH
NEW-YORK, MICHIGAN, ILLINOIS, MISSOURI, LOUISIANA AND
TEXAS, IN THE AUTUMN AND WINTER OF
1834-5.
INTERSPERSED WITH ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS
AND OBSERVATIONS.
WITH A BRIEF SKETCH
OF THE
TEXIAN WAR.
BY A.A. PARKER, ESQ.
Second Edition.
CONCORD, N.H.:
PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM WHITE.
BOSTON:
BENJAMIN B. MUSSEY.
1836.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1835,
BY WHITE & FISHER,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of New-Hampshire.
PREFACE.
The author of this work, unknown to fame, and unacquainted with the art
of book-making, has endeavored, in the following pages, to give some
account of the great WESTERN AND SOUTHERN COUNTRY. In performing this
task, he has not attempted the regions of fancy and fiction; but has
told his own story--"a plain unvarnished tale," in his own way. And
although it may not indicate much depth of research, or possess all the
graces of polished diction and charms of novelty, yet he hopes it may
be found to contain information sufficient to repay a perusal.
He spent five months on his journey, and examined the country through
which he passed, as much as time would permit:--Its soil, climate and
productions--the manners, customs and health of the inhabitants--the
animals, reptiles and insects--in short, all things favorable and
unfavorable in the NEW WORLD. He has freely spoken of the country
just as it appeared to him; and he believes the information this work
purports to give, may be safely relied upon. But if it should be found
to contain errors of fact, or of opinion, he is confident they will be
deemed unintentional.
It would have been quite easy to make a much larger book of the
author's travels; and had he followed the example set him by some of
the journalists of the day, he should have done so. But his object was
not to make a large and expensive volume. He has given in a concise
form, such descriptions, incidents and anecdotes only, as he believes
may instruct and amuse, and enable the public to form a correct opinion
of the country. How he has succeeded in his undertaking, others, of
course, will judge for themselves; he hopes this little work may be
found not entirely destitute of useful and entertaining matter, and
prove an acceptable offering to his friends and fellow-citizens.
In the appendix, will be found a particular description of MICHIGAN,
and a BRIEF SKETCH of the TEXIAN REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
In this sketch, the author has consulted all the accounts given of this
sanguinary war, and he believes it will be found correct in all its
essential particulars: but he does not wish to conceal the fact, that
amidst the hurry and bustle of a Revolution perfect accuracy is hardly
attainable.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Objects of the Trip--Albany, situation and appearance--Erie canal
basin--western travellers--rail road--canal boats, packets, line
boats and scows--accommodations--number of boats--mode of passing
each other--tow-pathbridges--accident in crossing--Erie
canal--Villages and grog-shops--Trenton falls--Ithaca falls--Taghcanic
falls--Rochester--canal aqueduct--Genesee falls--Sam Patch's last
leap--flouring mills--Lockport--double canal locks--deep cut--arrival
at Buffalo. Page, 13
CHAPTER II.
The city of Buffalo--steamboat on the Niagara river--Fort
Erie--Black Rock--visit to Niagara falls--Canada
shore--Manchester--State of New-York--emigration--return to
Buffalo--different routes to the West--passage in
steamboat--Cleaveland--Maumee--Monroe--number of emigrants--vessels
on the lake--Detroit--the Canada shore--ferry boats. 25
CHAPTER III.
Travelling by stage to the mouth of St. Joseph river--miry
roads--Ann Arbor--Upsilanti--oak openings--prairies and
woodland--Michigan, level, clear water, but not
pure---Jackson--Marshall--Gull lake and prairie--Kalamazoo
river--Bronson--Pawpaw river--St. Joseph village--lake
Michigan--misfortune of an emigrant--crossing the lake--Michigan
city--stage road on the beach. 35
CHAPTER IV.
Chicago, a general description thereof--Pottawattomie tribe
of Indians, their appearance and actions--the land back of
Chicago--the lakes and their original outlet through the
Illinois river--character of the inhabitants of Chicago--house
rent and provisions. 43
CHAPTER V.
Trip to Fox river--fellow travellers--river Oplane--Du Page river
and Naper's settlement--big and little woods--pleasant settlement
of emigrants--Fox river--upper house--lost in a prairie at night--log
house--travelling towards Rock river--gravel hills--Walker's
grove. 51
CHAPTER VI.
General description of the north part of Illinois--various kinds
of trees--prairies--excellent coal--government grant of
land--unsurveyed land settled upon--pre-emption right--not subject
to fever and ague--wild game--prairie wolves and mode of killing
them--prairie rattle snakes, blackbirds and squirrels--manner of
judging of a new country--anecdote of a Vermont emigrant--New-Hampshire
emigrant--statements of settlers and landholders not always to be
credited. 57
CHAPTER VII.
Holderman's Grove--Ottawa--junction of Fox and Illinois
rivers--Hennipen--Princeton--present and past situation of an
emigrant--massacre of Elijah Philips by the Indians, and the
fortunate escape of his companions. 66
CHAPTER VIII.
Peoria--beauty of the surrounding country--fever and ague--scholars
studying aloud in school--stages from Peoria--anecdote of a tavern
keeper--Illinois river--passage down it in a steamboat--narrow
lakes--high bluffs--Pekin--Beardstown--Naples--arrival at upper
Alton. 74
CHAPTER IX.
General description of the state of Illinois--streams skirted
with timber--more than half prairie--a level State--generally
rich soil--American bottom--military bounty lands--beautiful
region of Sangamon river--the best tracts of land in the
State--more good land than any other State--cause of the existence
of prairies--country once inhabited by a civilized race anterior
to the Indians--its rivers, Kankakee, Oplane, Du Page, Fox,
Illinois, Rock, Spoon, Kaskaskia, Wabash, &c.--lead
mines--productions--milk-sickness--chief towns--schools, &c. 79
CHAPTER X.
Burning of the prairies--backwoodsmen--society--meeting-houses
and school-houses--what kind of goods an emigrant ought to take
with him--cheapness of provisions--manner of commencing a
settlement--ploughing the prairies--guarding the improvements
against the prairie fires--junction of the Missouri with the
Mississippi--arrival at St. Louis--a description of the
town--steam ferry boat. 92
CHAPTER XI.
General description of the state of Missouri--south part
generally barren, or wet and unhealthy--soil not muddy--prairie
on the Mississippi--banks of the Missouri--large prairies
destitute of wood and water--productions--prairie blossoms--wild
animals, snakes, &c.--dryness and purity of the
atmosphere--diseases--mildness of the winter--lead mines and
minerals--chief towns. 99
CHAPTER XII.
Voyage down the Mississippi in a steamboat--high bluffs--screw
auger grist mills--shot towers--curiosities--dangers of the
Mississippi navigation--narrow escape--run aground on a sand
bar--mouth of the Ohio--cargo of the boat--amusements on
board--history of one of the ladies--"Queen of the Nile"--description
of the steamboat--price of passage--wooding the boat--ludicrous
fracas on board--noise of the boats, &c.--peculiarities of expression
of the western people--names of money. 107
CHAPTER XIII.
Independent frankness of the western people--eastern people--towns
on the river--great earthquake at New Madrid--bluffs on the
river--woodcutters--serpentine course of the Mississippi--negro
slaves on board--one died of the cholera--benefit of steamboat
navigation--flat boats still in use. 119
CHAPTER XIV.
Arrival at Natchez--description of the city--starts for Texas
with another traveller--cotton plantations--description of the
cotton plant--passage through the great Mississippi swamp--cypress
knees, water and mud--Tensaw river--overtaken by night in the
swamp--gloomy situation--lake Lovelace--planter's house on Indian
mound--mildness of the weather--good accommodations--travelling
in a right spirit--anecdote of a testy traveller. 125
CHAPTER XV.
Outlet of the lake--Washita river--Harrisonburg--pine
woods--description of a planter--Red River rightly named--changes
at its mouth--arrival at Alexandria and description of the
place--race-course and horses--death of a gambler--fruit trees and
vegetables--moschetoes. 134
CHAPTER XVI.
Bayou Rapide--fine cotton plantations--stream running in opposite
directions--accompanied by another traveller--pine woods--planter's
house--price of meals, &c.--Spanish moss--bottom land covered
with dense forest--pine woods--the widow's house--manner
of lodging travellers--inquisitiveness of the people--emigrants to
Texas--Sabine river. 139
CHAPTER XVII.
Arrival in Texas--oak openings and prairies--plantations of corn
and cotton--St. Augustine--arrival at Nacogdoches--its grotesque
appearance--Indian trade in deer pelts--Galveston bay and Texas
land company--four leagues of land for a dog--pine woods--Indian
mounds--mounds in Ohio, Missouri and Illinois--Monastery near
a mound--their origin and use--Neches river--new made bridge. 149
CHAPTER XVIII.
Leave the pine woods--wet prairie--Trinity river--planter's
house--death of an emigrant's wife--perplexities of
emigration--an emigrant lost his money--breach of trust in
a hired man--beautiful prairies--muddy streams--red cedar--petrified
wood--mode of grinding corn--living from hand to mouth--beautiful
prospect--Indians on horseback--massacre of twenty Polanders--muddy
swamp--Brazos river--Spanish trader--Indians more friendly to Americans
than Spaniards--prairie country--Cole's settlement--live oak--Colorado
river. 160
CHAPTER XIX.
GENERAL VIEW OF TEXAS--herds of buffalo and wild
horses--mustangs, manner of catching--seacoast flat--Galveston
bay and Texas land company--burning of the prairies--fine
grazing country--wildgame--deer-hunting--shooting deer in the
night--productions of the soil--list of forest trees--Spanish
moss--health of the country and climate. 169
CHAPTER XX.
Rivers of Texas--seacoast--mill-seats--land grants--number of
inhabitants--exports--inhabitants indolent--cheapness of
land and manner of obtaining it--reptiles and
animals--panther--flies--moschetoes--Indian tribes--water
too warm. 182
CHAPTER XXI.
Towns in Texas--Spanish villages--Mexican
garrisons--Texas--mechanics--Texas and Cohahuila united--courts
of law--professional men--unlawful punishments--salt lake--negroes
indented--boundaries of Texas--general appearance of the
country--rainy season--roads and carriages--emigration. 196
CHAPTER XXII.
Emigrants unhappy--Mexican republic unsettled--Col.
Austin--imprisonment--Texians slandered--healthy portions
of the country--what an emigrant ought to take with him--price
of stock--mail routes--currency--best spot in Texas--emigrant
puzzled--how property may be acquired. 204
CHAPTER XXIII.
Arrival at San Felipe--billiard room--gambler shot--bloody affray
about a lady--ten men to one woman in the country--arrival at Columbia
and Bell's landing--started down river in a canoe--Brazoria--went
on board a vessel--hunting excursion of the mate--Brazos
river--Velasco--sandy beach. 213
CHAPTER XXIV.
Passed over the bar and left Texas--reasons for emigrating
in the fall--means for going to Texas--speculation--passengers
on board--sea sickness--vessel run aground--Mississippi steam
tow-boats--sugar plantations and negroes--making sugar. 222
CHAPTER XXV.
City of New-Orleans--vessels in port--muddy streets and filthy
gutters--houses of dissipation--character of the inhabitants--resort
of knaves and vagabonds--ship yards--canal and railroad--no wharves. 228
CHAPTER XXVI.
Start down the river--nunnery--battle-ground--negro slavery--the
situation of the negroes--general views on the subject. 235
CHAPTER XXVII.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION of the MISSISSIPPI RIVER--its
source--its tributaries--Wisconsin and Illinois--Missouri, its
source and tributaries--gates of the Rocky mountains--Ohio
river, its general character and appearance--White, Arkansas
and Red rivers--outlets of the Mississippi--falls of St. Anthony--Dacota
Indian woman--river banks--width of the stream and depth of
water--Mississippi swamp--serpentine course--color of the waters--the
most interesting river in the world. 246
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Sail for Boston--sea voyage disagreeable to a landsman--change of
scenery--Chatham, Boston--arrival at home. 262
CHAPTER XXIX.
RETROSPECTIVE GLANCE at the GREAT MISSISSIPPI
VALLEY--character, appearance and natural
productions--conclusion. 266
APPENDIX.
MICHIGAN, 285--population, 285--face of the country,
286--Wayne county, 292--Monroe county, 294--Washtenaw county,
295--Macomb county, 297--Oakland county, 299--St. Clair
county, 301--St. Joseph county, 302--Cass county, 304--Berrien
county, 306--Lapeer and Saginaw counties, 308--Shiawassee
county, 309--Calhoun county, 309--Kalamazoo county, 310--Branch
and Hillsdale counties, 311--Lenawee county, 312--Barry, Eaton
and Ingham counties on grand river, 312.
TEXIAN REVOLUTION.
FIRST CAMPAIGN.
Introductory remarks, 323--causes of the war, 324--parallel
case, 326--Col. Austin released and sent to Texas, 329--capture
of the armed schooner Correo, 330--first battle on land at
Gonzales, 331--capture of Goliad, 333--Col. Milam, 335--army
marched towards San Antonio, 339--San Antonio besieged,
340--Commissioners to the United States appointed, 340--San
Antonio stormed and taken, 341--the brave Col. Milam killed,
and sketch of his life, 342.
Gen. Mexia's expedition, 345--28 men shot at Tampico,
347--volunteers from the United States--Col. Stanley's regiment,
348--General Council convened, and citizens of Goliad make a
declaration of independence, 349--state of affairs in Mexico,
decree of Santa Anna, 351--embargo laid, 352--Indians called to
aid Santa Anna, 353--flag of Texas, 354--post-offices and mail
routes, 354--Mexicans preparing for another campaign, 355--situation
of Texas, 356.
SECOND CAMPAIGN.
The Mexican army arrive in Texas, commanded by Santa Anna
in person, 358--Situation of San Antonio, 359--capture and
massacre of Col. Johnson's party, 360--second attack upon
the fort, 361--the fort attacked at midnight, taken and the
garrison all slain, 362--Gen. Cos, 365--Declaration of
Independence, 366--officers of the government, 368--Goliad
abandoned, and Col. Fanning party attacked in the prairie,
369--Col. Fanning surrenders, and his party massacred, 370.
Gen. Houston retreats to the Brazos, 371--the inhabitants become
alarmed and flee, 371--massacre at Copano, 372--skirmish at sea,
372--Gen. Gaines marches to the frontier of Texas, 372--Indians on
the western prairies, 373--CAPTURE OF SANTA ANNA, 375--the
Independence of Texas certain, 378--Texian Independence agitated
in U.S. Congress, 378--Table of the Chief Towns in Texas and
distances from San Felipe, 380.
ADVERTISEMENT.
The public approbation of this work, so fully manifested by a rapid
and entire sale of the first edition, has induced the publishers to
issue another, much enlarged and improved edition. The broad expanse
of country, stretching from the Alleghany mountains to the Pacific
ocean, much of which is unsurveyed, unsettled and unexplored, is
an interesting portion of the United States. It is believed, there
are two hundred million acres of public lands yet unsurveyed in
Wisconsin Territory--fifty millions in Michigan--and 800 millions in
Missouri, Mississippi, and Arkansas. To all these, are to be added
the illimitable tracts, hardly yet trodden by the foot of civilized
man, which lie in the unpeopled immensity, on both sides of the rocky
mountains. The value of this vast domain, at the minimum government
price, defies all calculation. What a source of revenue for the present
and the future!
But when the boundless resources that now lie hidden in its hills and
mountains shall have become developed--when the vast plains shall have
been settled--and towns, villages and farm houses arise in the lonely
wilderness, and the teeming soil be cultivated--who then will be able
to estimate the value of this great territory of the West? In ten
years, the West will have a majority in the United States Congress; in
a century, a large portion of it will contain a population as dense,
perhaps, as that of the Atlantic States. Public attention, within a few
years, has been directed to this section of our country--emigration has
received a new impulse--government lands are sought for with avidity,
and the whole country is rapidly settling. To the emigrant, speculator,
and indeed, the whole people of the United States as joint owners of
the public domain, any book giving information upon this subject, must
be acceptable and of real value. The publishers, therefore, anticipate
a rapid sale of the present edition.
TRIP
TO THE
WEST AND TEXAS.
CHAPTER I.
In September, 1834, I left Exeter, New-Hampshire, for the purpose of
visiting the Western States and Texas. Although public attention had
been for some time directed thither, by various published sketches and
frequent emigration, yet so little was definitely known, that I was
induced to travel through these sections of the country to learn their
actual situation and condition. My object was not to visit the settled
regions of the country, a full knowledge of which may be obtained from
books, but to see some portion of the unknown and unsettled regions
of the West and the South. My particular attention was, therefore,
directed to Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Louisiana and Texas.
But so rapidly are some portions of this new country settling; so
constantly are new villages springing up in the wilderness; and so
continually are improvements making, that history must continue to
lag behind the reality. To keep any thing like an even pace with
population, and the public constantly informed of the actual condition
of the country, would require, like an almanac, an annual revision and
publication of its history.
I took passage on board the stage, through Brattleborough and
Bennington, to Albany. About twelve years ago, I travelled over this
route, and was gratified to find so many improvements in the villages,
farms, and especially in the stage road, since I had travelled it
before. In passing through Vermont, I found a new road had been made
to avoid the high hills over which it formerly passed, so that now, I
believe this is the easiest and safest route across the Green Mountains.
Two opposition turnpikes were almost completed from Bennington to
Troy--one entering at the upper, the other at the lower part of the
city. The public have been badly accommodated in this quarter. The
old road is rough, hilly and circuitous. One of the turnpikes would
have been abundantly sufficient; but if Troy chooses to make two, the
travelling public will not probably object. Opposition seems to be
the order of the day; and although it has caused much improvement in
the ease and facility of travelling, yet it is often troublesome and
annoying. As we drove up to the door of the stage house in Albany,
an agent of one of the steamboats, thrust in his head and gave us
a handbill of a boat--enquired if we were going down the river, and
without waiting for an answer, said it was a good boat, swift, low
pressure engine, start at nine in the morning, fare to New-York city
only _fifty cents_. In the bar-room, we had to pass through the same
ceremony with the agent of another boat; and I had to take a third
edition in the street next morning.
The Erie canal terminates in a large basin, immediately on the banks
of the Hudson river, so that the freight of the canal boats can be
conveniently transferred to the river boats. Western travellers can
here take passage on board the canal boat, or go on the railroad to
Schenectady and take a boat there. But as the canal is twice the
distance of the railroad, travellers generally choose the latter.
Travellers from the North, when accompanied by their families and
baggage, usually stop at Troy, and take a canal boat there, for the
West.
The ancient city of Albany has the appearance of much business and
wealth; and some portions of it are pleasant, especially in the region
of the State House and other public buildings. From the river, the
ground rapidly rises, so that the city stands upon the side of a hill,
and makes a fine appearance, when viewed from the opposite shore.
The railroad commences in State street, a short distance below the
State House yard; and so steep is the ascent, that the cars are drawn
for a mile by horses. Here a steam engine was hitched on, and we
started off at a rapid rate. The distance from Albany to Schenectady
is sixteen miles, and we travelled it over in less than an hour. Here
we were assailed by the agents and captains of the canal boats, and
those who could make the most noise and bustle, and obtain the most
passengers, were the best fellows.
There are three kinds of boats in general use on the canal. The Packet
boats, drawn by three horses, and go at the rate of about five miles
an hour. They are fitted up in good style, intended exclusively for
passengers and their baggage--having elegant cabins, drawing-rooms,
berths, &c. Fare, five cents a mile and found.
The Line boats--designed for freight and passengers also. These are
drawn by two horses, and travel at the rate of two and a half or three
miles an hour. The fare is one cent a mile for passage only; and one
and a half cents addition per mile, for board. Families travelling to
the West, generally take the Line boats. They can travel much cheaper
than in any other mode. They furnish their own provisions, and have
the privilege of cooking on board the boat. Provisions are plenty and
cheap, and can be bought at almost every stopping place, along the
whole line of the canal.
And the Scows, used exclusively for grain, flour, lumber, &c., which
are employed by the farmers to carry their own produce to market. These
are drawn by two horses; and many of them have two sets of horses, and
stalls made on board to keep one set, while the other draws the boat;
and at regular intervals, relieve each other. By this means, they keep
the boat continually going, night and day.
The Packet boats ply between the large towns on the canal, from
Schenectady to Utica; from Utica to Rochester, &c., so that a
traveller, in going through the whole route, must shift his baggage
and himself from one boat to another, three or four times. But the
Line boats run the whole length of the canal, from Albany or Troy to
Buffalo.--These boats are furnished with horses by a company, who have
them stationed at regular intervals of about twelve miles the whole
distance.
All the boats, at night, carry two brilliant lights in the bow, so
as to enable the helmsman to steer, and avoid other boats when they
meet. I took passage on board one of the Troy and Erie line. I found
good accommodations, and good company. In the forward part of the
boat, were the gentlemen's and ladies' cabins; in the stern, the
dining and cook rooms; and in the centre the place for freight. It was
about seventy feet long, and twelve or fourteen feet in width. Three
other passengers, besides myself, went the whole route; a lady and
her daughter from Pennsylvania, and a Dr. Warren of Rhode Island; and
way-passengers were continually coming aboard, and leaving the boat, at
our several stopping places. I found travelling on the canal pleasant,
and in fine weather, delightful. We were continually passing villages,
farms, locks, viaducts, or boats; and these, with the company aboard,
afforded an agreeable variety. When I wished for exercise, I would jump
ashore, and take a walk along the hard trod tow-path.
I was really surprised to find so many boats on the canal. We met them
almost every mile, and sometimes, three or four together. The Line
boats are owned by companies; and the captain told me that forty-five
boats belonged to his line. When one happens to run aground, which
is sometimes the case, when deeply laden and the water low, it is of
course, in the centre of the canal; so that boats cannot pass on either
side; in such an event, twenty or thirty boats will be congregated in a
few hours.
The boats pass each other on the left hand side, and without trouble
or delay. The whole process of passing belongs to the outside boat; or
the one the farthest from the tow-path. All the inside boat has to do,
is to steer near the tow-path, and keep on as usual. The outside boat
hauls one way, and their horses the other, and lets the tow-rope slack,
so that the inside horses and boat can pass over it, between them. The
tow-path sometimes changes from one side to the other of the canal; and
the horses are transferred by means of a bridge. They pass underneath
the bridge, and turn up on to it the further side; so as to keep the
tow-rope clear of it. The riders display their horsemanship by whipping
over these bridges at full speed. Accidents, however, sometimes occur.
One day, the Packet boat passed us, a short distance from a tow-path
bridge; and as the horses were going at full speed across it, the
forward one slipped, fell over the railing, and drew the others after
him. The rider saved himself by leaping from the horse to the bridge.
The two forward horses fell into the water, and came out uninjured; but
the rear one fell across the edge of the tow-path and was killed on the
spot.
The Erie canal is a great and noble work; and has gained a niche in
the temple of fame, for its great founder. It has been of incalculable
benefit to New-York, and the rising States in the West; and must
continue to be, in all time to come. Now it is completed, and in
successful operation, men may cease to wonder; but so improbable was it
generally thought to be, to make such a long line of canal, on a route
so difficult and expensive, that an intelligent gentleman informed me,
when he was asked by one of the surveyors, if he should not admire
to see boats passing before his door; emphatically replied, if life
were guaranteed till that event, he would then willingly resign it. A
few years only passed, before the event did happen, but he is not yet
_quite_ willing to die.
It was indeed a great undertaking. None but a man of a gigantic mind,
of steady purpose and firm resolution, could have conceived, planned
and executed it. It all along bears the marks of so much labor and
expense, that a common mind would have been deterred from making the
attempt. The canal passes over an extent of country much more rough,
broken and hilly than I had supposed. Long levels of canal are found
to be sure; but they are made at great expense, by filling up deep
gullies, winding round the side of hills, or deep cuts through them;
and by walling up the side of streams, or aqueducts over them.
Every few miles, the canal passes through a village. Many of these
have sprung into existence, since the completion of the canal; and
others have much increased in size, wealth and beauty. They are all
_ornamented_ with grog-shops, containing, among other miscellaneous
matter, an abundant supply of "boat-stores."
New-York has a great variety of romantic scenery. It has more beautiful
and stupendous water-falls than any other State in the Union; and the
lover of nature's choicest works might very pleasantly spend months in
viewing them. Trenton Falls, on the West Canada Creek, a large stream
that empties into the Mohawk, are situated about twenty-four miles
above its mouth. They consist of several _chutes_ for the distance
of two miles, commencing near Black river road, and terminating at
Conrad's mills. The upper fall is about twenty feet; and the descent
above, for two miles, is not less than sixty feet. The water, here
compressed into a narrow space, is received into a large basin, rolls
down a precipitous ravine a hundred feet in depth, and presents to
the eye the most romantic peculiarities.--Some of the topmost crags
overhanging the stream; and here and there, a hardy tree, having gained
a foot-hold in the crevices of the rock, throws its branches athwart
the abyss. There are six distinct falls. The next below, are two
pitches, called the Cascades; where the water falls eighteen feet--the
Mill Dam Fall, of thirteen feet.
The High Falls, consisting of three pitches--one of forty-eight, the
second of eleven, and the third, of thirty-seven feet--Sherman's Falls,
of thirty-five feet. The last fall is at Conrad's mills, and is only
six feet; but the descent of water, from the top of the upper fall
to the lower one, is three hundred and eighty-seven feet--and the
whole forms as wild and romantic a scene as the enthusiastic lover of
nature's most eccentric works could desire. Organic remains have been
found in the ravine in abundance, and Mr. Sherman has a cabinet of
them, which are exhibited to the curious.
Ithaca Falls are situated at the head of Cayuga Lake. The high fall
of Fall river is the first that strikes the eye, in going from the
steamboat landing to the village, and is one hundred and sixteen feet
in height. Two immense piles of rocks enclose the stream. On the right
hand high up the bluff, a mill-race is seen winding around a point in
the bank, suspended in mid air; and sometimes an adventurous visitor,
may be seen cautiously wending his way along the dizzy path on the
verge of the abyss. The mill-race was built, by letting a man down over
the giddy steep by a rope fastened to a tree above, who dug holes in
the bluff, in which to fasten its principal supports. A short distance
from this, up the rocky bed of the creek, is another splendid fall--not
so high as the first, but more wild and beautiful. Above these, are
three more falls, the upper one of which is the highest fall of water
of any, and is the most grand and imposing. These four falls have a
descent of four hundred and thirty-eight feet in the short distance of
a mile, and present to the eye as great a variety of the romantic and
beautiful in nature, as earth affords.
There are Cascadilla, Six Mile Creek, Buttermilk Creek, &c. &c. many
romantic scenes and splendid falls; but it would interfere with the
design of this work to stop to describe them. I cannot, however, leave
the high falls on Taghcanic Creek without a passing notice. They are
eight miles from Ithaca, near a landing place called Goodwin's point;
and are two hundred and thirty-eight feet perpendicular! Who shall
attempt to describe such a magnificent exhibition as this; or the
effect it produces on the mind! This is said to be the favorite resort
of parties of pleasure and lovers of the picturesque. And who, but the
real invalid, would ignobly spend his time at Saratoga, when scenes
like these await him in the interior of New-York.
After passing many fine villages, we at last arrived at the city of
Rochester. It is indeed, a large and flourishing city. It is situated
on both sides of the Genesee river, is well built, mostly of brick,
and contains over thirteen thousand inhabitants. Near the upper part
of the city, the canal crosses the river, by a splendid aqueduct of
red free-stone, eight hundred and four feet in length, having eleven
arches, and elevated fourteen feet above the common level of the water.
While the boat stopped, I went down the river to see the great falls.
They are about eighty rods below where the canal crosses, and are
ninety-seven feet perpendicular. Here _Sam Patch_ made his last leap in
the autumn of 1829. In the centre of the river, and at the verge of the
precipice over which the water falls, is a ledge of rocks, called Table
Rock, about six or seven feet in height above the water. On this Table
Rock, a scaffold was erected, about twenty-five feet high, so that from
the top of the scaffold to the bottom of the falls, the perpendicular
height was one hundred and twenty-five feet. From this giddy height,
Sam Patch made his "last jump," in the presence of a vast multitude
of people, who had assembled to witness this daring feat, and, as it
proved, fatal leap. Sam never rose from the boiling flood below; but
his body was carried by the current to the mouth of the river at the
lake, and was there found, the next spring. Who will be the biographer
of _Sam Patch_? What a pity it is some phrenologist had not examined
his head. He must have had a tremendous _jumping bump_. For myself, I
could not stand on the dizzy brink of the river, and look down into
the awful chasm below, with any tolerable degree of composure. These
things, however, much depend upon practice. A sailor would have thought
nothing of standing on the most projecting rock; or of walking along
the highest precipice.
In 1811, the site of Rochester was a wilderness; now it is a large
city. Its great staple of trade is flour. It contains eleven flouring
mills with fifty-three run of stones; and can grind twelve thousand
bushels of wheat in twenty-four hours.
After travelling from this place sixty-three miles, we found ourselves
at Lockport, on the _mountain ridge_. At this place, the canal has a
double row of locks adjacent to each other; five for ascending, and
five for descending; each twelve feet deep, making the ascent sixty
feet. This is the most admirable work of the whole canal. Between
the two rows of locks, are stone steps, guarded on each side by iron
railings. In 1821, there were here but two houses; now, it contains
four hundred, and is a pleasant village.
Passengers for Niagara Falls, leave the canal here, as they are as near
them, at this place, as they would be at Buffalo. After travelling
nineteen miles, the first three of which, was through a deep cut of
limestone, from twenty to thirty feet in depth, we came in full view
of the majestic Niagara river. On the margin of this stream, the canal
passes by the village of Black Rock, to its termination at the city of
Buffalo.