University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER VII.

JOURNEY FROM PITTSBURG TO NEW HARMONY, ON THE WABASH, FROM 8TH TO 19TH OCTOBER, 1832.

The Ohio, called by the French La Belle Rivière, was at this time too shallow at Pittsburg
to be navigated by steam-boats, and we were therefore obliged to go by land to Wheeling, a distance
of fifty-seven miles; by the river, it is ninety-five miles. After taking leave of Dr. Saynisch, who
returned to Bethlehem, we crossed the Ohio, near the town, in a well contrived ferry, the wheels
of which were moved by four horses. Our stage was drawn rapidly, by four good horses, along
the path of the mountains, where the road passed through lofty forests, great part of which was,
however, ruined and cleared. The foliage was adorned with the most beautiful varied tints of
autumn, a circumstance which distinguishes North America, at this season, from all other
countries. In the Brazils, it is the spring, or the transition from the rainy to the dry season, that
adorns the forest with the most beautiful diversity of tints, which, however, are chiefly produced
by the flowers, which frequently appear before the leaves. North America, on the other hand,
has but few such flowering trees; most of them have catkins (amenta), and it is the foliage, which
assumes in the autumn so great a variety of colours.

On the next eminence, the road leaves the river, and turns to the south-west. Strata of
coal appear in some places, and workmen were busy in removing the earth above them. We frequently
met with European emigrants, most of them in their peasant's dress, with faces burnt by
the sun, and carrying their children. The country consists of high hills and forests, and we frequently
saw the robinia, pseud-acacia, which is partly planted for the sake of its timber, potatoes,

clover, and corn, which was now in the ear. A great deal of fruit is cultivated here, and the farmers
were just reaping the maize. The farm-houses are all slightly built of wood, with the chimney on
the outside, to avoid the danger of fire. As the sun shone with intense heat, the birds were all
life, twittering on the high trees, where the loquacious blackbirds flew about in companies. The
woods, presenting a beautiful mixture of yellow, vermilion, purple and green, gave us much
pleasure, and we reached Chattier or Shirtee Creek, which, after numerous windings, falls into the
Ohio, near Wheeling. We proceeded along its valley, where colossal planes and elms, as well as
robinia and willows, afforded a welcome shade. We had passed several covered bridges before
we reached Cannonsburg, eighteen miles from Pittsburg, where we changed horses, and, as usual
in all such places in the United States, were gazed at by the curious and the idle. There is a
college here for young divinity students. We now traversed the valley of the Chattier Creek,
where the plane trees were very lofty and spreading. They were covered with their round fruit,
from which the Americans have given the tree the name of button-wood.

At noon we reached Washington, a village, beyond which the country presented an alternation
of forests and fields, where stumps of trees showed that the whole country east of the
Mississippi was a primeval forest. We found an ample variety in the splendid woods, where the
lime (Tilia grandifolia), with its colossal leaves, was not uncommon, and the willow-leaved oak
(Quercus phellos), was likewise in great abundance, the foliage of which resembles our white
willow, but the bark and fruit are exactly like those of the oak. After passing a village called
Alexandria, or more properly Alexander, we reached the boundary of the state of Pennsylvania,
and entered Virginia, which last state has a narrow strip of land on the eastern bank of the Ohio.
The land here is said to be fruitful, and very well cultivated, though we did not immediately perceive
this in the narrow valley of the Wheeling Creek, through which we drove. We saw
numbers of young oxen, all brought for sale from the state of Ohio, where the breeding of cattle
is very extensive. Many of these oxen had uncommonly large horns, others none at all. It was
a beautiful moonlight evening when we passed the Mean Creek, which joins that above-mentioned,
and both together forming Wheeling Creek. At this place, not far from the road-side,
there is a pillar erected in honour of Mr. Henry Clay, who had been very instrumental in the
opening of this road. The night prevented our taking a view of it. From an eminence we saw
before us numerous lamps in Wheeling, and the Ohio sparkling in the light of the moon, and then
took up our quarters at an inn at that place. Wheeling is a rapidly improving town, containing 5,200
inhabitants, where at this time they were building whole streets, and is situated on a ledge of the
mountain, on the bank of the Ohio. On the summit there is not much more than one broad,
unpaved street, with footpaths of bricks: shops of all kinds were already opened. The Ohio at
this place is about as broad as the Moselle near its mouth. The banks are moderately high
wooded mountains, the uncultivated places in which are often overgrown with Datura. Two

steam-boats were expected on the 9th of October, and at noon we embarked on board the Nile, a
small vessel, because steamers of a large size cannot come so high up the river. Our large or
lower cabin had sixteen beds, the upper cabin being appropriated to the women. The river was,
at this time, very low, and its banks, from forty to fifty feet high, consisted of yellowish red clay
and strata of sand.

The traces of the great inundation of the preceding spring were everywhere visible in
uprooted trees, thrown one over the other. The water at that time overflowed the lower stories
of the houses of Wheeling; whereas it was now so low, that our boat was obliged to stop for
the night. Early on the following morning, however, the 10th of October, we passed Elizabeth
Town. On the banks of the river lay pirogues, composed of the trunk of a tree hollowed out, like
those in Brazil, and small habitations were scattered in the lofty and picturesque forests. A little
field of maize generally surrounded these dwellings, and the recently felled trees indicated that it
was a new settlement. The eminences on the banks of the Ohio are, in general, rounded, steep,
wooded hills, separated by valleys or ravines. In many places stacks of wood were piled up for
the steam-boats, and some was already in boats. We arrived at New Town, on the right bank, at
the mouth of the Sunfish Creek, a village with only eight houses, which was not yet marked on
Tanner's map. Near Fishing Creek, which falls into the Ohio, we saw the white-headed eagle soaring
in the air, while the kingfishers flew about the banks, and the note of the black crow sounded
in the tall forests. Near the village of Sistersville, on the right bank, in the state of Ohio, the
sand-banks in the river were covered with the yellow blossoms of some plant, which, however, I was
not able clearly to distinguish; but it was an autumnal flower, and the wind reminded us of the
approach of the cold season, blowing quantities of leaves from the forest, in some places entirely
covering the surface of the water with them. Towards noon, the sun shone bright, and the gay
tints of the forest appeared more lovely than ever; colossal planes, maples, tulip trees, beeches,
elms, ashes, limes, walnuts, and other trees, grow to a great height, and beneath their shade we saw
many rustic bridges, or planks, thrown picturesquely across the little brooks. The trunks of the trees,
covered with the Hedera quinquefolia, which made them look like scarlet columns, and the varied
tints of the foliage, charm the beholder. All along the Ohio, Mississippi, and Lower Missouri, the
papaw tree (Asimina triloba Dunal) grows as underwood. Its fruit, resembling a small cucumber,
was now ripe, and great quantities were brought on board our steamer. This tree has a
beautiful light green, large, smooth leaf, and violet brown flower, which grows isolated, but it does
not attain a greater height than between twenty and thirty feet. The fruit has a pleasant taste,
but the smell is disagreeable. It contains a whitish, juicy pulp, and twelve thick black kernels.

A heavy fall of rain was very welcome to us, the water in the river being so low that our boat
frequently grounded. At a narrow part of the river we came to the village of Newark, and then
to the mouth of the Muskingum River, at the town of Marietta, which was founded in 1788. This

place is small, but it has neat brick buildings, some of which looked like churches. We have
read much about the ancient Indian remains and ramparts, between the Ohio and the Muskingum.
Smith Barton, Attwater, Schultz, and especially Warden, have written on this highly
interesting subject, and given ground plans of the Indian ramparts, which are met with at many
places in the state of Ohio, at Cincinnati, Wheeling, Chillicothe, as well as in all the States west
of the Alleghanys, and respecting which Warden has collected everything that is known;
but most of these interesting remains have been entirely annihilated by the love of devastation, or
the negligence of the new settlers. Thus Marietta is built just on the fore part of the Indian
works, and many of them are no longer to be seen. It is much to be lamented that the government
of the United States suffers all this to be done without any attempt to prevent it. It looks
on unmoved, while the plough continues from year to year the destruction of these remains of
ages long since past, the only historical monuments of this country. Schultz gave, in 1820, a
ground plan of the ramparts near Marietta, as Smith Barton and Warden did more recently;
and Mr. Thomas Say made a sketch of them in 1815, which he communicated to me. A great
part of them has been since ploughed over.

From Marietta we came to the Island of Muskingum, and then to Vienna Island; opposite to
which, on the left bank, lies the village of Vienna. Swallows, which had long since left Pennsylvania,
were still flying about here. We everywhere heard accounts of the great flood in the
Ohio, when the steam-boats were on a level with the second story of the houses in Marietta.

We saw tall forest trees, among the thick branches of which the river had deposited beams
and other pieces of wood.[1] Below Parkersburg, a village on the southern side, the little Kenhava
River issues from the high bank opposite Belpie, a settlement of a few houses. A steam-boat,
which had been entirely crushed by the ice, proved how violent the effects of the breaking up
of the ice in the Ohio sometimes are. Our captain lay to for the night, on the right bank, which
was necessary, on account of the unfavourable weather; the rain being so heavy, that it drenched
the upper row of beds in the large cabin.

On the 11th October the weather was fairer, but very cool. The appearance of the bank
was the same as before—an unbroken, thick forest, with here and there some little settlements.
We reached, at an early hour, the Little Hocking River, which comes from the state of Ohio.
Ducks, particularly teal, flew past us, and we observed, also, many other birds of passage on
their flight. Near Shade Creek, the banks of the river consisted of stratified, rocky walls, which
appeared to be Grauwacke slate; we observed, in the forest, trees of remarkable forms and
colours; the trunks, covered with the scarlet foliage of the five-leaved ivy, were particularly
beautiful. We frequently met, in the river, with flat boats, which are built all along the banks

of the Ohio, from Pittsburg, and are sent with the produce of the country to New Orleans.
These boats are large four-cornered chests, composed of beams and planks, are often heavily laden,
draw much water, and, having neither masts nor sails, proceed very slowly. They are propelled
with large oars, and can only go down the river; they are many months on the voyage to New
Orleans, and the rowers are commonly new European emigrants, hired for low wages, and often
merely for a free passage. Many of these boats are wrecked, and they are, therefore, frequently
insured; at New Orleans they are sold for lumber.

The woods in the valley of the Ohio are more lofty and luxuriant than on the other side of
the Alleghany Mountains; vines twine round the trees, and present a faint image of the woods of
warmer countries. The kingfisher was common; the swallows had not yet taken their flight, and
in some places the sandpiper was seen upon the bank. In the vicinity of the houses were cattle,
horses, swine, large sheep, and numerous flocks of European geese and ducks; here, too, the
papaw tree was sometimes planted in rows. The river increased in breadth, but not in depth, of
which we had the proof before us, for a flat boat had run aground, and the people stood in the
water, trying to get it afloat. In this part of the country there are, in the state of Ohio, many
Swiss colonists, who are much commended for their industry. The soil is extremely fruitful, and
needs no manure. The dwellings of these people are small log-houses, exactly like the huts in
Switzerland. Towards noon, before we reached Point Pleasant, we saw, in many places on the
Ohio, considerable coal-pits, the sulphureous smell of which was perceptible in the steamer;
many boats lay ready to take in cargoes; negro children were sitting in groups on the bank,
near their extensive plantations of maize. These people are free in the state of Ohio. After
we had passed Point Pleasant, a village on the left bank, where fine forests cover the low
bank of the great Kenhava River, which here falls into the Ohio, we reached, in about twenty
minutes, Gallipolis, on the right bank, an old French colony, the inhabitants of which still speak
the French language. Immediately below that town, there is a fine forest of beech trees; on the
water-side, thickets of plane, and between them the papaw tree took the place which, in Pennsylvania,
is occupied by the Rhododendron maximum; willows grew in front of the planes.

The sun disappeared behind the hills on the bank; the evening sky was clear and serene,
and the bright mirror of the Ohio extended unruffled near Racoon Creek, where we saw large flocks
of ducks. We intended to continue our voyage during the night; but, about nine o'clock, we
struck violently on a sand-bank, near the Indian Guyandot River, where there is a small village
of the same name, and, as a thick fog arose, we lay to, six miles below Guyandot.

On the 12th of October, in the morning, a dense fog covered the river, and the thermometer
was, at half-past six o'clock, at 10° Reaumur, above zero. We passed the mouth of
Symes Creek, and then Burlington, a small scattered village in Lawrence County, where our boat
struck upon some stones, and was thrown a little on one side. On the left bank was Cadetsburg,

with Big Sandy Creek, then Hanging Rock, a small village, where most of the iron utensils for the
whole of Ohio are shipped. The situation of the place is picturesque, surrounded with forests
and rocks. On the left, or Kentucky bank, we passed Greenupsburg, a row of seventeen or
eighteen small houses, on the high bank. The inhabitants, in order to attract the notice of the
vessels that pass by to their public-houses, stores, or shops, have set up posts, with boards painted
white, on which their trade, &c., is described in very large letters. The beech woods on this part of
the river were remarkably fine, their foliage green and yellow. On our right hand was the
little Scioto River; we then came to the village of Portsmouth, at the mouth of the Scioto River,
on the Ohio bank, where the celebrated Ohio Canal begins, which connects that river with lake
Erie. At this place we took on board a number of European emigrants, among whom were many
Germans, with their baggage, beds, and other effects, and many children. The negroes brought
provisions for sale; one of them had a number of fowls, all of which escaped, and caused no little
amusement. From this place, fine forests covered the bank, in which were tall poplars (Populus
Angulata, or Canadensis), which I had not before observed. Here, too, I noticed some interesting
forms of mountains, which in general are very rare in this country. Most of the summits are
round, some broad, but very few pointed. Towards evening we came to the village of Rockville,
on the right bank, which was not marked on our map, and lay to, at nightfall, when we
learned that our vessel had caught fire, but happily it was already extinguished. On the bank
near the steam-boat, a large fire was burning, the reflection of which, on the dark forest, had a
fine effect, and so had the steamers that hastened past us, which were brightly lighted up inside,
and emitted sparks of fire as they rushed along in the dark night.

On the 13th, at daybreak, the landscape was obscured by rain. We had passed, during the
night, Adamsville, Manchester, Aberdeen, Ripley, Vanceburg, Maysville, and Augusta, and were
now off the village of Neville, where the Helen Mar steam-boat lay near us, to take in wood. We
then came to Moscow, then to Point Pleasant, and on the right bank to New Richmond. Near
the little Miami River, six miles from Cincinnati, the Ohio was so shallow, that we saw the shells
at the bottom, and our boat struck several times. The Miami River was nearly dry. At Columbia,
in the state of Ohio, the valley becomes rather wider, but the hills soon close in again upon the
river, and we come to the beginning of the great town of Cincinnati.

Cincinnati, the most important and flourishing town of the West, with more than 36,000
inhabitants, was at this time visited by the cholera, which, as we were assured by a physician who
came to our vessel, carried off, on an average, forty persons daily. I therefore resolved not to
stop now, but to visit this town on my return; our baggage was transferred to the Portsmouth
steamer, which was just about to depart; and at noon we reached the mouth of Big Miami River.

On the 14th of October, we had pleasant sunshiny weather. The river had become considerably
broader, when we came to Six-miles Island, a beautiful island six miles from Louisville.

We had passed several places during the night, and likewise the celebrated Big-bone Lick, where
colossal bones of the mammoth have been dug up at the foot of a hill of black earth. I would
gladly have stopped at this spot, but some of our passengers, who were well acquainted with the
country, assured me that there was now nothing to be seen there, nor was anything more found.
All that had been obtained had been sold to England and the American museums.

Fossil bones[2] of animals are still found in the United States, but the possessors having learnt
the value of such things, ask so high a price for them that it is difficult to obtain them; they
are, besides, frequently presented, out of patriotism, to the American museums.

We soon reached Louisville, a considerable town, with 12,000 inhabitants, which in 1800
had only 600. It is in the state of Kentucky, and, when seen from the river, does not make nearly
so good an appearance as Cincinnati. Negroes conveyed our baggage to the inn, where we found,
as usual, a great number of gentlemen, for the most part travelling merchants. The merchants
are, in America, the class of people among whom the most idleness is found, and they are
extremely numerous. The least numerous classes are the men of learning, and the military; the
latter, in particular, so very few, that they are not at all remarked. The young men who, in
North America, besiege the doors of the inns, are, doubtless, most of them, traders. Foreigners
are often treated with contempt by these persons, who are usually equally conceited and unpolished,
and make observations, as soon as they discover a foreigner, either by his incorrect pronunciation
of English, or by his dress. This American conceit is to be attributed partly to their excessive
patriotism, and partly to their ignorance, and want of acquaintance with other countries.

When the dinner-hour was come, such a crowd of gentlemen had assembled before the house,
that, at the ringing of the second (dinner) bell, the dining-room was in a manner carried by
storm. All rushed impetuously into the room, every one making good use of his elbows, and in
ten minutes all these people had dined and hastened out again. Mr. Wenzel, a German merchant,
to whom I had letters, had the kindness to show me the town and neighbourhood. Louisville has
the appearance of being likely soon to become an important town, and many new houses were, in
fact, building. The streets are long, broad, and straight, crossing each other at right angles, and
the situation on the Ohio is very favourable for trade. Handsome, showy shops are common
here, as in all the towns of the United States, and elegance of dress characterizes everywhere,
even in the smallest places, the inhabitants of this country, the great object of whose efforts is the
acquisition of wealth. As it was Sunday, the various sects of the population were flocking to
their respective places of worship; afterwards, many of them were driving out in their gigs. There
were already above thirty hackney carriages, partly belonging to negroes, of whom only the far

smaller portion are free in the state of Kentucky. The state of oppression in which the negro
slaves live in North America, makes them corrupt and knavish, which travellers often have occasion
to learn by their own experience. At Louisville, the cholera had already appeared. Five
persons, most of them negroes, were carried off the day before our arrival, and a general panic
had seized the inhabitants.

Mr. Wenzel took us to a spot which was intended for horse-races, an institution quite new
in the Western States. A society had purchased a beautiful level spot of ground, surrounded with
woods, and about four miles in circumference. This place was surrounded with palisades, with
several stands in the centre, and stables in the neighbourhood for the horses. The horses of
Kentucky are considered to be the best in the country; the stallions which were to run,
and some of which had come from a distance, seemed to be mostly of a very good breed, not large,
but well built. The first races were to continue the whole of the next week. This institution
will, doubtless, have a good effect in improving the breed of horses, and afford the inhabitants of
the town and neighbourhood both advantage and amusement.

In the afternoon we left Louisville to embark at Portland, below the town, on account of
the Falls of the Ohio, that now cannot be navigated past the town, and therefore a canal has
been made, where, by the aid of five sluices, the boats are raised twenty-two feet. Those who
land at Louisville embark again at Portland, where there is generally a great number of steamboats,
among which we chose the Water-witch, bound to New Orleans. There were a great
many passengers eager to embark, who drove in carriages into the river to reach the steam-boat,
to which the baggage was conveyed in the same manner. The loading of the vessel not being
completed, we did not set out till the 16th of October. At seven o'clock in the morning of that
day, Reaumur's thermometer was at 5° above zero, while a thick fog covered the river. We put
off at half-past ten, and had a fine view of the magnificent Ohio, with the large town of Louisville in
Kentucky, and New Albany in Indiana, opposite, with numerous steam-boats on both banks. It
was soon discovered that our engine was out of order, and we were forced to lie to, on the
Indiana side, to repair it. As this required much time, we took the opportunity of exploring the
first forest on this State. The bank was fifty feet high, and steep; the upper part of the declivity
was covered with Datura, the seeds of which were now ripe, but very few of the light purple
flowers were to be seen. The beautiful blue flowering Eupatorium cœlestinum and the Lobelia
syphilitica bore their flowers amongst the thorn-apples. On the summit of the bank there was a
noble forest of tall, thick beech, maple, oak, walnut trees, &c., in which there were some plantations
of maize, with their block-houses. The underwood was everywhere the papaw tree, and
on the skirts of the forest the yellow flowering Cassia Marylandica, with ripe seed. Old trunks
lay rotting on the ground, which was partly covered with the falling leaves.

At nightfall our engine was repaired, and we proceeded on our voyage, and on the morning

of the 17th reached the village of Brandenburg, on the Kentucky bank, which is here rocky, and
marked with horizontal white stripes, or strata. The mountains were rounded and covered with
wood. In Indiana the forest was cleared in some places for plantations, which afforded a view into
the picturesque interior; for on these cleared spots the tall forest trees stood, as in the primeval
forests in Brazil, like columns crowded together. This dense forest was interrupted for a short
space by the towns of Leavenworth and Rome, in Indiana, and Stevensport in Kentucky; the two
last with some indifferent buildings. From this part the country had no great variety, the forests
being seldom interrupted. The islands were bordered with willow bushes, with tall trees in the
middle. On the bank where the rock was exposed, on account of the low water in the river, we
observed singular forms produced by the action of the stream. They consisted of round or
elliptical stratified masses, which gradually decreased in breadth, so that the whole looked like a
truncated pyramid rising in terraces. Before night we reached Cloverburg, in Kentucky, and
lay to till the stars or the moon should appear. Numerous card parties sat down in the great
cabin, where the heat was intolerable. Our beds swarmed with cockroaches, which ran over
our faces and hands, or fell from the ceiling. These disagreeable animals are as common
here as in Brazil; they gnaw everything, and, being quite soft, are crushed by the slightest
motion.

On the 18th, at half-past six o'clock in the morning, the thermometer was + 16° Reaumur,
with rain, and wind, and a clouded sky. We reached at an early hour the little place of
Rockport, in Indiana, and at half-past eight, Owenburg, or Yellow Banks, in Kentucky, where we
landed many passengers. We saw the Turkey buzzard hovering over the woods—a bird which
we had not observed since we left Cincinnati, and which is not found to the west of the
Alleghanys. The Ohio, though the water was extremely low, was still very broad and beautiful,
its wooded banks rather low. French Island, and some others, covered with bushes and lime
trees, lay quite dry, surrounded with a large sand-bank. It was discovered that we had the
cholera on board. A man from Kentucky had declared himself ill early in the morning, and was
dead before eleven o'clock, though the Captain employed all the remedies in his power. He was
quite well in the evening, had played at cards all night, and did not complain till towards morning.
A coffin was made of some planks; the vessel lay to on the bank, which was steep, and the bell
was rung while the body was conveyed on shore and buried. Many of our passengers landed to
see the funeral; others were extremely alarmed, and, meantime, took a walk.

After the funeral was over, and a white board, with the name of the deceased, had been set
up on the grave, the bell called the passengers on board; in half an hour we reached Evansville
on the Indiana bank; soon afterwards Pigeon Creek; above this, on the other bank, the Green
River, and subsequently the village of Henderson. Here we took in fresh provisions, and, among
the rest, 1000 fowls were offered for sale, of which we took a good supply at a dollar per dozen.

The sun was setting with great splendour as we left this place; the broad, unruffled bosom of the
Ohio shone like a silver mirror, in which the beautiful wooded banks were reflected, and the
magnificent purple and orange hues of the sky tinged the river with their glow.

Towards midnight we reached Mount Vernon, where we landed, intending to proceed, the
next morning, to New Harmony, to visit the naturalists at that place. After passing the night at
an indifferent inn, I set out for New Harmony, on the 19th of October, in the morning. I had
been indisposed, as well as my huntsman, since I left Louisville, and was not in a mood properly
to appreciate the fine, lofty forests of Indiana, the road through which was very bad and rough;
the last part of the forest was remarkably grand and wild: vines and other climbing plants
hung down from the old trees. The Amorpha fruticosa frequently formed the underwood. At
some of the isolated dwellings of the farmers, racoon skins were hung up to dry, and the beautiful
large feathers of the wild turkey were scattered on the ground. After having passed, in the
most oppressive heat, the Big Creek, which flows between the wooded hills, we soon reached the
fertile valley of the Wabash, near to which New Harmony is built.