XXXII. XXXII
LEWIS TO JEFFERSON
XXXII. [From original MS. in Bureau of Rolls—Jefferson Papers, series 2, vol. 51, doc. 103.]
On board my boat opposite Marietta, September 13th. 1803.
Dear Sir: I arrived here at 7 P.M. and shall pursue my journey
early tomorrow. This place is one hundred miles distant from Wheeling,
from whence in descending the water is reather more abundant than
it is between that place and Pittsburgh, insomuch that I have been
enabled to get on without the necessity of employing oxen or horses to
drag my boat over the riffles except in two instances; tho' I was
obliged to cut a passage through four or five bars and by that means past
them; this last operation is much more readily performed than you
would imagin; the gravel of which many of these bars are formed, being
small and lying in a loose state is readily removed with a spade, or even
with a wooden shovel and when set in motion the current drives it a
considerable distance before it subsides or again settles at the bottom;
in this manner I have cut a passage for my boat of 50 yards in length
in the course of an hour; this method however is impracticable when
driftwood or clay in any quantity is intermixed with the gravel; in such
cases Horses or oxen are the last resort; I find them the most efficient
sailors in the present state of the navigation of this river, altho' they may
be considered somewhat clumsey.
I have the honour to be with much respect, Your Obt. Servt.
Meriwether Lewis,
Capt. 1st. U. S. Regt. Infty.
Thomas Jefferson, President of the U States.
