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diff --git a/29306-h/29306-h.htm b/29306-h/29306-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6be9570 --- /dev/null +++ b/29306-h/29306-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,11579 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Afloat on the Ohio, by Reuben Gold Thwaites</title> + <style type="text/css"> + <!-- + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + p {text-align: justify;} + blockquote {text-align: justify;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center;} + h1 {padding: 10%;} + h2 {padding: 2%;} + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + hr {text-align: center; width: 50%;} + html>body hr {margin-right: 25%; margin-left: 25%; width: 50%;} + hr.full {width: 100%;} + html>body hr.full {margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 0%; width: 100%;} + hr.short {text-align: center; width: 20%;} + html>body hr.short {margin-right: 40%; margin-left: 40%; width: 20%;} + + span.pagenum + {position: absolute; left: 1%; right: 91%; font-size: 8pt;} + + .poem + {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem p {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem p.i2 {margin-left: 1em;} + .poem p.i4 {margin-left: 2em;} + .poem p.i6 {margin-left: 3em;} + .poem p.i8 {margin-left: 4em;} + .poem p.i10 {margin-left: 5em;} + + + .footnote {font-size: 0.9em; margin-right: 10%; margin-left: 10%;} + + + div.trans-note {border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; + margin: 2em 15%; padding: 1em; text-align: center;} + + + hr.pg { width: 100%; + margin-top: 0em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + border: solid black; + height: 5px; } + pre {font-size: 85%; } + --> + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Afloat on the Ohio, by Reuben Gold Thwaites</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Afloat on the Ohio</p> +<p> An Historical Pilgrimage of a Thousand Miles in a Skiff, from Redstone to Cairo</p> +<p>Author: Reuben Gold Thwaites</p> +<p>Release Date: July 4, 2009 [eBook #29306]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AFLOAT ON THE OHIO***</p> +<p> </p> +<h4>E-text prepared by David Garcia, Alison Hadwin,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net/c/">http://www.pgdp.net></a>)<br /> + from page images generously made available by<br /> + Kentuckiana Digital Library<br /> + (<a href="http://kdl.kyvl.org/">http://kdl.kyvl.org/</a>)</h4> +<p> </p> +<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;" cellpadding="10"> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + Note: + </td> + <td> + Images of the original pages are available through + Kentuckiana Digital Library. See + <a href="http://kdl.kyvl.org/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=kyetexts;cc=kyetexts;view=toc;idno=b92-161-29919559"> + http://kdl.kyvl.org/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=kyetexts;cc=kyetexts;view=toc;idno=b92-161-29919559</a> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +<p> </p> + <div class="trans-note"> + Transcriber's Note:<br /> + <br /> + Spellings and hyphenations are as + in the original document. Hyphenation was inconsistent, + with the following words appearing both with and without + hyphens: saw-mill, tread-mill, drift-wood, back-set, + cotton-wood, farm-house, semi-circular, search-light, + fire-brick, out-door, ship-yard(s), and house-boat(s). + The name "Céleron" is used interchangebly with "Céloron". + </div> +<p> </p> +<hr class="pg" /> +<p> </p> + +<h1>AFLOAT ON THE OHIO</h1> + +<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> +<h1>Afloat on the Ohio</h1> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<h2>AN HISTORICAL PILGRIMAGE,</h2> +<h2>OF A THOUSAND MILES IN A</h2> +<h2>SKIFF, FROM REDSTONE TO</h2> +<h2>CAIRO</h2> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<h2>BY</h2> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<h2>REUBEN GOLD THWAITES</h2> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p><i>Secretary of the State Historical Society of</i></p> +<p><i>Wisconsin, Editor of "The Jesuit Relations,"</i></p> +<p><i>Author of "The Colonies,</i></p> +<p><i>1492-1750," "Historic Waterways,"</i></p> +<p><i>"The Story of Wisconsin,"</i></p> +<p><i>"Our Cycling</i></p> +<p><i>Tour in England,"</i></p> +<p><i>etc., etc.</i></p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<h5>CHICAGO</h5> +<h5>WAY & WILLIAMS</h5> +<h5>1897</h5> + </div> </div> + +<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> +<p><span class="smcap">COPYRIGHT</span></p> +<p><span class="smcap">BY REUBEN GOLD THWAITES</span></p> +<p><span class="smcap">A.D., 1897</span></p> + </div> </div> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="pagev" id="pagev"></a>[pg v]</span> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> +<h5><i>To</i></h5> +<h5>FREDERICK JACKSON TURNER, Ph. D.,</h5> +<p><i>Professor of American History in the University of</i></p> +<p><i>Wisconsin, who loves his native West</i></p> +<p><i>and with rare insight and gift of phrase</i></p> +<p><i>interprets her story,</i></p> +<p><i>this Log of the "Pilgrim" is cordially inscribed.</i></p> + </div> </div> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="pagevi" id="pagevi"></a>[pg vi]</span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="pagevii" id="pagevii"></a>[pg vii]</span> + + + +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> +<p class="i10"> </p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p><span class="smcap">Preface.</span> <a href="#pagexi">xi</a></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p><span class="smcap">Chapter I.</span></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>On the Monongahela—The over-mountain path—Redstone +Old Fort—The Youghiogheny—Braddock's defeat. <a href="#page1">1</a></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p><span class="smcap">Chapter II.</span></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>First day on the Ohio—At Logstown. <a href="#page22">22</a></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p><span class="smcap">Chapter III.</span></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Shingis Old Town—The dynamiter—Yellow Creek. <a href="#page29">29</a></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p><span class="smcap">Chapter IV.</span></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>An industrial region—Steubenville—Mingo Bottom—In +a steel mill—Indian character. <a href="#page39">39</a></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p><span class="smcap">Chapter V.</span></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>House-boat life—Decadence of steamboat traffic—Wheeling, +and Wheeling Creek. <a href="#page50">50</a></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p><span class="smcap">Chapter VI.</span></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>The Big Grave—Washington and Round Bottom—A +lazy man's paradise—Captina Creek—George Rogers +Clark at Fish Creek—Southern types. <a href="#page64">64</a></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p><span class="smcap">Chapter VII.</span></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>In Dixie—Oil and natural gas, at Witten's Bottom—The +Long Reach—Photographing crackers—Visitors in camp. <a href="#page77">77</a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="pageviii" id="pageviii"></a>[pg viii]</span> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p><span class="smcap">Chapter VIII.</span></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Life ashore and afloat—Marietta, "the Plymouth Rock +of the West"—The Little Kanawha—The story of +Blennerhassett's Island. <a href="#page87">87</a></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p><span class="smcap">Chapter IX.</span></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Poor whites—First library in the West—An hour at +Hockingport—A hermit fisher. <a href="#page99">99</a></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p><span class="smcap">Chapter X.</span></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Cliff-dwellers, on Long Bottom—Pomeroy Bend—Letart's +Island, and Rapids—Game, in the early day—Rainy +weather—In a "cracker" home. <a href="#page109">109</a></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p><span class="smcap">Chapter XI.</span></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Battle of Point Pleasant—The story of Gallipolis—Rosebud—Huntington—The +genesis of a houseboater. <a href="#page125">125</a></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p><span class="smcap">Chapter XII.</span></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>In a fog—The Big Sandy—Rainy weather—Operatic +gypsies—An ancient tavern. <a href="#page139">139</a></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p><span class="smcap">Chapter XIII.</span></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>The Scioto, and the Shawanese—A night at Rome—Limestone—Keels, +flats, and boatmen of the olden time. <a href="#page150">150</a></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p><span class="smcap">Chapter XIV.</span></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Produce-boats—A dead town—On the Great Bend—Grant's +birthplace—The Little Miami—The genesis of Cincinnati. <a href="#page168">168</a></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p><span class="smcap">Chapter XV.</span></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>The story of North Bend—The "shakes"—Driftwood—Rabbit +hash—A side-trip to Big Bone Lick. <a href="#page182">182</a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="pageix" id="pageix"></a>[pg ix]</span> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p><span class="smcap">Chapter XVI.</span></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>New Switzerland—An old-time river pilot—Houseboat +life on the lower reaches—A philosopher in +rags—Wooded solitudes—Arrival at Louisville. <a href="#page202">202</a></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p><span class="smcap">Chapter XVII.</span></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Storied Louisville—Red Indians and white—A night on +Sand Island—New Albany—Riverside hermits—The +river falling—A deserted village—An ideal camp. <a href="#page218">218</a></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p><span class="smcap">Chapter XVIII.</span></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Village life—A traveling photographer—On a country +road—Studies in color—Again among colliers—In +sweet content—A ferry romance. <a href="#page233">233</a></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p><span class="smcap">Chapter XIX.</span></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Fishermen's tales—Skiff nomenclature—Green River—Evansville—Henderson—Audubon +and Rafinesque—Floating shops—The Wabash. <a href="#page251">251</a></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p><span class="smcap">Chapter XX.</span></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Shawneetown—Farm-houses on stilts—Cave-in-Rock—Island nights. <a href="#page267">267</a></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p><span class="smcap">Chapter XXI.</span></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>The Cumberland and the Tennessee—Stately solitudes—Old +Fort Massac—Dead towns in Egypt—The +last camp—Cairo. <a href="#page280">280</a></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p><i>Appendix A.</i>—Historical outline of Ohio Valley settlement. <a href="#page296">296</a></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p><i>Appendix B.</i>—Selected list of Journals of previous travelers +down the Ohio. <a href="#page320">320</a></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p><span class="smcap">Index.</span> <a href="#page329">329</a></p> + </div> </div> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="pagex" id="pagex"></a>[pg x]</span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="pagexi" id="pagexi"></a>[pg xi]</span> + + + + +<h2>PREFACE.</h2> + + +<p>There were four of us pilgrims—my Wife, +our Boy of ten and a half years, the Doctor, +and I. My object in going—the others went +for the outing—was to gather "local color" +for work in Western history. The Ohio River +was an important factor in the development +of the West. I wished to know the great +waterway intimately in its various phases,—to +see with my own eyes what the borderers saw; +in imagination, to redress the pioneer stage, +and repeople it.</p> + +<p>A motley company have here performed +their parts: Savages of the mound-building +age, rearing upon these banks curious earthworks +for archæologists of the nineteenth century +to puzzle over; Iroquois war-parties, +silently swooping upon sleeping villages of the +Shawanese, and in noisy glee returning to the +New York lakes, laden with spoils and captives; +La Salle, prince of French explorers +and coureurs de bois, standing at the Falls of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="pagexii" id="pagexii"></a>[pg xii]</span> +the Ohio, and seeking to fathom the geographical +mysteries of the continent; French and +English fur-traders, in bitter contention for +the patronage of the red man; borderers of +the rival nations, shedding each other's blood +in protracted partisan wars; surveyors like +Washington and Boone and the McAfees, clad +in fringed hunting-shirts and leathern leggings, +mapping out future states; hardy frontiersmen, +fighting, hunting, or farming, as occasion +demanded; George Rogers Clark, descending +the river with his handful of heroic Virginians +to win for the United States the great Northwest, +and for himself the laurels of fame; +the Marietta pilgrims, beating Revolutionary +swords into Ohio plowshares; and all that +succeeding tide of immigrants from our own +Atlantic coast and every corner of Europe, +pouring down the great valley to plant powerful +commonwealths beyond the mountains. +A richly-varied panorama of life passes before +us as we contemplate the glowing story of +the Ohio.</p> + +<p>In making our historical pilgrimage we might +more easily have "steamboated" the river,—to +use a verb in local vogue; but, from the +deck of a steamer, scenes take on a different +<span class="pagenum"><a name="pagexiii" id="pagexiii"></a>[pg xiii]</span> +aspect than when viewed from near the level +of the flood; for a passenger by such a craft, +the vistas of a winding stream change so rapidly +that he does not realize how it seemed to +the canoeist or flatboatman of old; and there +are too many modern distractions about such +a mode of progress. To our minds, the manner +of our going should as nearly as possible +be that of the pioneer himself—hence our skiff, +and our nightly camp in primitive fashion.</p> + +<p>The trip was successful, whatever the point +of view. Physically, those six weeks "Afloat +on the Ohio" were a model outing—at times +rough, to be sure, but exhilarating, health-giving, +brain-inspiring. The Log of the "Pilgrim" +seeks faintly to outline our experiences, +but no words can adequately describe the +wooded hill-slopes which day by day girt us +in; the romantic ravines which corrugate the +rim of the Ohio's basin; the beautiful islands +which stud the glistening tide; the great affluents +which, winding down for a thousand +miles, from the Blue Ridge, the Cumberland, +and the Great Smoky, pour their floods into +the central stream; the giant trees—sycamores, +pawpaws, cork elms, catalpas, walnuts, +and what not—which everywhere are in view +<span class="pagenum"><a name="pagexiv" id="pagexiv"></a>[pg xiv]</span> +in this woodland world; the strange and lovely +flowers we saw; the curious people we met, +black and white, and the varieties of dialect +which caught our ear; the details of our +charming gypsy life, ashore and afloat, during +which we were conscious of the red blood +tingling through our veins, and, alert to the +whisperings of Nature, were careless of the +workaday world, so far away,—simply glad to +be alive.</p> + +<p>For the better understanding of the numerous +historical references in the Log, I have +thought it well to present in the Appendix +a brief sketch of the settlement of the Ohio +Valley. To this Appendix, as a preliminary +reading, I invite those who may care to follow +"Pilgrim" and her crew upon their long journey +from historic Redstone down to the Father +of Waters.</p> + +<p>A selected list of Journals of previous travelers +down the Ohio, has been added, for the +benefit of students of the social and economic +history of this important gateway to the continental +interior.</p> + +<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> +<p>R. G. T.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p><span class="smcap">Madison, Wis.</span>, October, 1897.</p> + </div> </div> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page1" id="page1"></a>[pg 1]</span> + + + + +<h2>AFLOAT ON THE OHIO</h2> + + + + +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> + + +<h4>On the Monongahela—The over-mountain +path—Redstone Old Fort—The Youghiogheny—Braddock's +defeat.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">In camp near Charleroi, Pa.</span>, Friday, +May 4.—Pilgrim, built for the glassy lakes +and smooth-flowing rivers of Wisconsin, had +suffered unwonted indignities in her rough +journey of a thousand miles in a box-car. But +beyond a leaky seam or two, which the Doctor +had righted with clouts and putty, and +some ugly scratches which were only paint-deep, +she was in fair trim as she gracefully lay +at the foot of the Brownsville shipyard this +morning and received her lading.</p> + +<p>There were spectators in abundance. +Brownsville, in the olden day, had seen many +an expedition set out from this spot for the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page2" id="page2"></a>[pg 2]</span> +grand tour of the Ohio, but not in the personal +recollection of any in this throng of +idlers, for the era of the flatboat and pirogue +now belongs to history. Our expedition is a +revival, and therein lies novelty. However, +the historic spirit was not evident among our +visitors—railway men, coal miners loafing +out the duration of a strike, shipyard hands +lying in wait for busier times, small boys +blessed with as much leisure as curiosity, and +that wonder of wonders, a bashful newspaper +reporter. Their chief concern centered in the +query, how Pilgrim could hold that goodly +heap of luggage and still have room to spare +for four passengers? It became evident that +her capacity is akin to that of the magician's +bag.</p> + +<p>"A dandy skiff, gents!" said the foreman +of the shipyard, as we settled into our seats—the +Doctor bow, I stroke, with W—— and the +Boy in the stern sheets. Having in silence +critically watched us for a half hour, seated on +a capstan, his red flannel shirt rolled up to his +elbows, and well-corded chest and throat bared +to wind and weather, this remark of the foreman +was evidently the studied judgment of an +expert. It was taken as such by the good-natured +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page3" id="page3"></a>[pg 3]</span> +crowd, which, as we pushed off into +the stream, lustily joined in a chorus of "Good-bye!" +and "Good luck to yees, an' ye don't +git th' missus drowndid 'fore ye git to Cairo!"</p> + +<p>The current is slight on these lower reaches +of the Monongahela. It comes down gayly +enough from the West Virginia hills, over +many a rapid, and through swirls and eddies +in plenty, until Morgantown is reached; and +then, settling into a more sedate course, is at +Brownsville finally converted into a mere mill-pond, +by the back-set of the four slack-water +dams between there and Pittsburg. This +means solid rowing for the first sixty miles of +our journey, with a current scarcely perceptible.</p> + +<p>The thought of it suggests lunch. At the +mouth of Redstone Creek, a mile below Dunlap +Creek, our port of departure, we turn in to +a shaly beach at the foot of a wooded slope, +in semi-rusticity, and fortify the inner man.</p> + +<p>A famous spot, this Redstone Creek. Between +its mouth and that of Dunlap's was +made, upon the site of extensive Indian fortification +mounds, the first English agricultural +settlement west of the Alleghanies. It is unsafe +to establish dates for first discoveries, or +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page4" id="page4"></a>[pg 4]</span> +for first settlements. The wanderers who, +first of all white men, penetrated the fastnesses +of the wilderness were mostly of the +sort who left no documentary traces behind +them. It is probable, however, that the first +Redstone settlement was made as early as +1750, the year following the establishment of +the Ohio Company, which had been chartered +by the English crown and given a half-million +acres of land west of the mountains and south +of the Ohio River, provided it established +thereon a hundred families within seven years.</p> + +<p>"Redstone Old Fort"—the name had reference +to the aboriginal earthworks—played +a part in the Fort Necessity and Braddock +campaigns and in later frontier wars; and, +being the western terminus of the over-mountain +road known at various historic periods as +Nemacolin's Path, Braddock's Road, and +Cumberland Pike, was for many years the +chief point of departure for Virginia expeditions +down the Ohio River. Washington, who +had large landed interests on the Ohio, knew +Redstone well; and here George Rogers Clark +set out (1778) upon flatboats, with his rough-and-ready +Virginia volunteers, to capture the +country north of the Ohio for the American +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page5" id="page5"></a>[pg 5]</span> +arms—one of the least known, but most momentous +conquests in history.</p> + +<p>Early in the nineteenth century, Redstone +became Brownsville. But, whether as Redstone +or Brownsville, it was, in its day, like +most "jumping off" places on the edge of +civilization, a veritable Sodom. Wrote good +old John Pope, in his Journal of 1790, and in +the same strain scores of other veracious chroniclers: +"At this Place we were detained about +a Week, experiencing every Disgust which +Rooks and Harpies could excite." Here thrived +extensive yards in which were built flatboats, +arks, keel boats, and all that miscellaneous +collection of water craft which, with their +roisterly crews, were the life of the Ohio before +the introduction of steam rendered vessels of +deeper draught essential; whereupon much of +the shipping business went down the river to +better stages of water, first to Pittsburg, thence +to Wheeling, and to Steubenville.</p> + +<p>All that is of the past. Brownsville is still +a busy corner of the world, though of a different +sort, with all its romance gone. To the +student of Western history, Brownsville will +always be a shrine—albeit a smoky, dusty +shrine, with the smell of lubricators and the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page6" id="page6"></a>[pg 6]</span> +clang of hammers, and much talk thereabout +of the glories of Mammon.</p> + +<p>The Monongahela is a characteristic mountain +trough. From an altitude of four or five +hundred feet, the country falls in sharp steeps +to a narrow alluvial bench, and then a broad +beach of shale and pebble; the slopes are +broken, here and there, where deep, shadowy +ravines come winding down, bearing muddy +contributions to the greater flood. The higher +hills are crowned with forest trees, the lower +ofttimes checkered with brown fields, recently +planted, and rows of vines trimmed low to +stakes, as in the fashion of the Rhine. The +stream, though still majestic in its sweep, is +henceforth a commercial slack-water, lined +with noisy, grimy, matter-of-fact manufacturing +towns, for the most part literally abutting +one upon the other all of the way down to +Pittsburg, and fast defiling the once picturesque +banks with the gruesome offal of coal mines +and iron plants. Surprising is the density of +settlement along the river. Often, four or five +full-fledged cities are at once in view from our +boat, the air is thick with sooty smoke belched +from hundreds of stacks, the ear is almost +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page7" id="page7"></a>[pg 7]</span> +deafened with the whirr and roar and bang of +milling industries.</p> + +<p>Tipples of bituminous coal-shafts are ever +in sight—begrimed scaffolds of wood and iron, +arranged for dumping the product of the mines +into both barges and railway cars. Either +bank is lined with railways, in sight of which +we shall almost continually float, all the way +down to Cairo, nearly eleven hundred miles +away. At each tipple is a miners' hamlet; a +row of cottages or huts, cast in a common +mold, either unpainted, or bedaubed with that +cheap, ugly red with which one is familiar in +railway bridges and rural barns. Sometimes +these huts, though in the mass dreary enough, +are kept in neat repair; but often are they +sadly out of elbows—pigs and children promiscuously +at their doors, paneless sash stuffed +with rags, unsightly litter strewn around, +misery stamped on every feature of the homeless +tenements. Dreariest of all is a deserted +mining village, and there are many such—the +shaft having been worked out, or an unquenchable +subterranean fire left to smolder in neglect. +Here the tipple has fallen into creaking +decrepitude; the cabins are without windows +or doors—these having been taken to some +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page8" id="page8"></a>[pg 8]</span> +newer hamlet; ridge-poles are sunken, chimneys +tottering; soot covers the gaunt bones, +which for all the world are like a row of skeletons, +perched high, and grinning down at you +in their misery; while the black offal of the +pit, covering deep the original beauty of the +once green slope, is in its turn being veiled +with climbing weeds—such is Nature's haste, +when untrammeled, to heal the scars wrought +by man.</p> + +<p>A mile or two below Charleroi is Lock No. +4, the first of the quartet of obstructions between +Brownsville and Pittsburg. We are +encamped a mile below the dam, in a cozy +little willowed nook; a rod behind our ample +tent rises the face of an alluvial terrace, occupied +by a grain-field, running back for an hundred +yards to the hills, at the base of which is +a railway track. Across the river, here some +two hundred and fifty yards wide, the dark, +rocky bluffs, slashed with numerous ravines, +ascend sharply from the flood; at the quarried +base, a wagon road and the customary railway; +and upon the stony beach, two or three rough +shelter-tents, housing the Black Diamond +Brass Band, of Monongahela City, out on a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page9" id="page9"></a>[pg 9]</span> +week's picnic to while away the period of the +strike.</p> + +<p>It was seven o'clock when we struck camp, +and our frugal repast was finished by lantern-light. +The sun sets early in this narrow trough +through the foothills of the Laurel range.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="smcap">McKeesport, Pa.</span>, Saturday, May 5th.—Out +there on the beach, near Charleroi, with +the sail for an awning, Pilgrim had been converted +into a boudoir for the Doctor, who, +snuggled in his sleeping-bag, emitted an occasional +snore—echoes from the Land of Nod. +W—— and our Boy of ten summers, on their +canvas folding-cots, were peacefully oblivious +of the noises of the night, and needed the kiss +of dawn to rouse them. But for me, always +a light sleeper, and as yet unused to our airy +bedroom, the crickets chirruped through the +long watches.</p> + +<p>Two or three freighters passed in the night, +with monotonous swish-swish and swelling +wake. It arouses something akin to awe, this +passage of a steamer's wake upon the beach, +a dozen feet from the door of one's tent. +First, the water is sucked down, leaving for a +moment a wet streak of sand or gravel, a dozen +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page10" id="page10"></a>[pg 10]</span> +feet in width; in quick succession come heavy, +booming waves, running at an acute angle with +the shore, breaking at once into angry foam, +and wasting themselves far up on the strand, +for a few moments making bedlam with any +driftwood which chances to have made lodgment +there. When suddenly awakened by +this boisterous turmoil, the first thought is +that a dam has broken and a flood is at hand; +but, by the time you rise upon your elbow, the +scurrying uproar lessens, and gradually dies +away along a more distant shore.</p> + +<p>We were slow in getting off this morning. +But the dense fog had been loath to lift; and +at first the stove smoked badly, until we discovered +and removed the source of trouble. +This stove is an ingenious contrivance of the +Doctor's—a box of sheet-iron, of slight weight, +so arranged as to be folded into an incredibly +small space; a vast improvement for cooking +purposes over an open camp-fire, which Pilgrim's +crew know, from long experience in far +distant fields, to be a vexation to eyes and soul.</p> + +<p>Coaling hamlets more or less deserted were +frequent this morning—unpainted, windowless, +ragged wrecks. At the inhabited mining +villages, either close to the strand or well up +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page11" id="page11"></a>[pg 11]</span> +on hillside ledges, idle men were everywhere +about. Women and boys and girls were stockingless +and shoeless, and often dirty to a degree. +But, when conversed with, we found +them independent, respectful, and self-respecting +folk. Occasionally I would, for the mere +sake of meeting these workaday brothers of +ours, with canteen slung on shoulder, climb the +steep flight of stairs cut in the clay bank, and +on reaching the terrace inquire for drinking +water, talking familiarly with the folk who +came to meet me at the well-curb.</p> + +<p>There are old-fashioned Dutch ovens in +nearly every yard, a few chickens, and often +a shed for the cow, that is off on her daily +climb over the neighboring hills. Through +the black pall of shale, a few vegetables struggle +feebly to the light; in the corners of the +palings, are hollyhocks and four-o'clocks; and, +on window-sills, rows of battered tin cans, +resplendent in blue and yellow labels, are the +homes of verbenas and geraniums, in sickly +bloom. Now and then, a back door in the +dreary block is distinguished by an arbored +trellis bearing a grape-vine, and furnishing for +the weary housewife a shady kitchen, <i>al fresco</i>. +As a rule, however, there is little attempt to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page12" id="page12"></a>[pg 12]</span> +better the homeless shelter furnished by the +corporation.</p> + +<p>We restocked with provisions at Monongahela +City, a smart, newish town, and at Elizabeth, +old and dingy. It was at Elizabeth, +then Elizabethtown, that travelers from the +Eastern States, over the old Philadelphia Road, +chiefly took boat for the Ohio—the Virginians +still clinging to Redstone, as the terminus of +the Braddock Road. Elizabethtown, in flatboat +days, was the seat of a considerable boat-building +industry, its yards in time turning out +steamboats for the New Orleans trade, and +even sea-going sailing craft; but, to-day, coal +barges are the principal output of her decaying +shipyards.</p> + +<p>By this time, the duties of our little ship's +company are well defined. W—— supervises +the cuisine, most important of all offices; the +Doctor is chief navigator, assistant cook, and +hewer of wood; it falls to my lot to purchase +supplies, to be carrier of water, to pitch tent +and make beds, and, while breakfast is being +cooked, to dismantle the camp and, so far as +may be, to repack Pilgrim; the Boy collects +driftwood, wipes dishes, and helps at what he +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page13" id="page13"></a>[pg 13]</span> +can—while all hands row or paddle through the +livelong day, as whim or need dictates.</p> + +<p>Lock No. 3, at Walton, necessitated a portage +of the load, over the left bank. It is a +steep, rocky climb, and the descent on the +lower side, strewn with stone chips, destructive +to shoe-leather. The Doctor and I let Pilgrim +herself down with a long rope, over a shallow +spot in the apron of the dam.</p> + +<p>At six o'clock a camping-ground for the night +became desirable. We were fortunate, last +evening, to find a bit of rustic country in which +to pitch our tent; but all through this afternoon +both banks of the river were lined with +village after village, city after city, scarcely a +garden patch between them—Wilson, Coal +Valley, Lostock, Glassport, Dravosburg, and +a dozen others not recorded on our map, which +bears date of 1882. The sun was setting behind +the rim of the river basin, when we +reached the broad mouth of the Youghiogheny +(pr. Yock-i-o-gai'-ny), which is implanted +with a cluster of iron-mill towns, of which +McKeesport is the center. So far as we could +see down the Monongahela, the air was thick +with the smoke of glowing chimneys, and the +pulsating whang of steel-making plants and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page14" id="page14"></a>[pg 14]</span> +rolling-mills made the air tremble. The view +up the "Yough" was more inviting; so, with +oars and paddle firmly set, we turned off our +course and lustily pulled against the strong +current of the tributary. A score or two of +house-boats lay tied to the McKeesport shore or +were bolstered high upon the beach; a fleet of +Yough steamers had their noses to the wharf; +a half-dozen fishermen were setting nets; and, +high over all, with lofty spans of iron cobweb, +several railway and wagon bridges spanned +the gliding stream.</p> + +<p>It was a mile and a half up the Yough before +we reached the open country; and then only +the rapidly-gathering dusk drove us ashore, +for on near approach the prospect was not +pleasing. Finally settling into this damp, +shallow pocket in the shelving bank, we find +broad-girthed elms and maples screening us +from all save the river front, the high bank in +the rear fringed with blue violets which emit +a delicious odor, backed by a field of waving +corn stretching off toward heavily-wooded +hills. Our supper cooked and eaten by lantern-light, +we vote ourselves as, after all, +serenely content out here in the starlight—at +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page15" id="page15"></a>[pg 15]</span> +peace with the world, and very close to Nature's +heart.</p> + +<p>There come to us, on the cool evening +breeze, faint echoes of the never-ceasing clang +of McKeesport iron mills, down on the Monongahela +shore. But it is not of these we +talk, lounging in the welcome warmth of the +camp-fire; it is of the age of romance, a hundred +and forty odd years ago, when Major +Washington and Christopher Gist, with famished +horses, floundered in the ice hereabout, +upon their famous midwinter trip to Fort Le +Bœuf; when the "Forks of the Yough" became +the extreme outpost of Western advance, +with all the accompanying horrors of frontier +war; and later, when McKeesport for a time +rivaled Redstone and Elizabethtown as a center +for boat-building and a point of departure +for the Ohio.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pittsburg</span>, Sunday, May 6th.—Many of +the trees are already in full leaf. The trillium +is fading. We are in the full tide of +early summer, up here in the mountains, and +our long journey of six weeks is southward and +toward the plain. The lower Ohio may soon +be a bake-oven, and the middle of June will +be upon us before far-away Cairo is reached. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page16" id="page16"></a>[pg 16]</span> +It behooves us to be up and doing. The river, +flowing by our door, is an ever-pressing invitation +to be onward; it stops not for Sunday, +nor ever stops—and why should we, mere +drift upon the passing tide?</p> + +<p>There was a smart thunder-shower during +breakfast, followed by a cool, cloudy morning. +At eleven o'clock Pilgrim was laden. A south-eastern +breeze ruffled the waters of the Yough, +and for the first time the Doctor ordered up +the sail, with W—— at the sheet. It was not +long before Pilgrim had the water "singing at +her prow." With a rush, we flew past the +factories, the house-boats, and the shabby +street-ends of McKeesport, out into the Monongahela, +where, luckily, the wind still held.</p> + +<p>At McKeesport, the hills on the right are of +a relatively low altitude, smooth and well +rounded. It was here that Braddock, in his +slow progress toward Fort Duquesne, first +crossed the Monongahela, to the wide, level +bottom on the left bank. He had found the +inner country to the right of the river and +below the Yough too rough and hilly for his +march, hence had turned back toward the +Monongahela, fording the river to take advantage +of the less difficult bottom. Some +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page17" id="page17"></a>[pg 17]</span> +four miles below this first crossing, hills reapproach +the left bank, till the bottom ceases; +the right thenceforth becomes the more favorable +side for marching. With great pomp, he +recrossed the Monongahela just below the +point where Turtle Creek enters from the east. +Within a hillside ravine, but a hundred yards +inland, the brilliant column fell into an ambuscade +of Indians and French half-breeds, +suffering that heart-sickening defeat which will +ever live as one of the most tragic events in +American history.</p> + +<p>The noisy iron-manufacturing town of Braddock +now occupies the site of Braddock's defeat. +Not far from the old ford stretches the +great dam of Lock No. 2, which we portaged, +with the usual difficulties of steep, stony banks. +Braddock is but eight miles across country +from Pittsburg, although twelve by river. We +have, all the way down, an almost constant +succession of iron and steel-making towns, +chief among them Homestead, on the left +bank, seven miles above Pittsburg. The great +strike of July, 1892, with its attendant horrors, +is a lurid chapter in the story of American industry. +With shuddering interest, we view the +famous great bank of ugly slag at the base of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page18" id="page18"></a>[pg 18]</span> +the steel mills, where the barges housing the +Pinkerton guards were burned by the mob.</p> + +<p>To-day, the Homesteaders are enjoying +their Sunday afternoon outing along the town +shore—nurses pushing baby carriages, self-absorbed +lovers holding hands upon riverside +benches, merry-makers rowing in skiffs or +crossing the river in crowded ferries; the electric +cars, following either side of the stream +as far down as Pittsburg, crowded to suffocation +with gayly-attired folk. They look little +like rioters; yet it seems but the other day +when Homestead men and women and children +were hysterically reveling in atrocities akin to +those of the Paris commune.</p> + +<p>Approaching Pittsburg, the high steeps are +everywhere crowded with houses—great masses +of smoke-color, dotted all over with white +shades and sparkling windows, which seem, in +the gray afternoon, to be ten thousand eyes +coldly staring down at Pilgrim and her crew +from all over the flanking hillsides.</p> + +<p>Lock No. 1, the last barrier between us and +the Ohio, is a mile or two up the Monongahela, +with warehouses and manufacturing +plants closely hemming it in on either side. +A portage, unaided, appears to be impossible +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page19" id="page19"></a>[pg 19]</span> +here, and we resolve to lock through. But it +is Sunday, and the lock is closed. Above, a +dozen down-going steamboats are moored to +the shore, waiting for midnight and the resumption +of business; while below, a similar +line of ascending boats is awaiting the close +of the day of rest. Pilgrim, however, cannot +hang up at the levee with any comfort to her +crew; it is necessary, with evening at hand, +and a thunder-storm angrily rising over the +Pittsburg hills, to get out of this grimy pool, +flanked about with iron and coal yards, chimney +stacks, and a forest of shipping, and to +quickly seek the open country lower down on +the Ohio. The lock-keepers appreciated our +situation. Two or three sturdy, courteous +men helped us carry our cargo, by an intricate +official route, over coils of rope and chains, +over lines of shafting, and along dizzy walks +overhanging the yawning basin; while the +Doctor, directed to a certain chute in midstream, +took unladen Pilgrim over the great +dam, with a wild swoop which made our eyes +swim to witness from the lock.</p> + +<p>We had laboriously been rowing on slack-water, +all the way from Brownsville, with the +help of an hour's sail this morning; whereas, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page20" id="page20"></a>[pg 20]</span> +now that we were in the strong current below +the dam, we had but to gently paddle to glide +swiftly on our way. A hundred steamers, +more or less, lay closely packed with their +bows upon the right, or principal city wharf. +It was raining at last, and we donned our +storm wraps. No doubt yellow Pilgrim,—thought +hereabout to be a frail craft for these +waters,—her crew all poncho-clad, slipping +silently through the dark water swishing at their +sterns, was a novelty to the steamboat men, for +they leaned lazily over their railings, the officers +on the upper deck, engineers and roustabouts +on the lower, and watched us curiously.</p> + +<p>Our period of elation was brief. Black +storm-clouds, jagged and portentous, were +scurrying across the sky; and by the time we +had reached the forks, where the Monongahela, +in the heart of the city, joins forces with +the Alleghany, Pilgrim was being buffeted +about on a chop sea produced by cross currents +and a northwest gale. She can weather an +ordinary storm, but this experience was too +much for her. When a passing steamer threw +out long lines of frothy waves to add to the +disturbance, they broke over our gunwales; +and W—— with the coffee pot and the Boy +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page21" id="page21"></a>[pg 21]</span> +with a tin basin were hard pushed to keep the +water below the thwarts.</p> + +<p>Seeking the friendly shelter of a house-boat, +of which there were scores tied to the left +bank, we trusted our drenched luggage to the +care of its proprietor, placed Pilgrim in a snug +harbor hard by, and, hurrying up a steep flight +of steps leading from the levee to the terrace +above, found a suburban hotel just as its office +clock struck eight.</p> + +<p>Across the Ohio, through the blinding storm, +the dark outlines of Pittsburg and Allegheny +City are spangled with electric lamps which +throw toward us long, shimmering lances of +light, in which the mighty stream, gray, mysterious, +tempest-tossed, is seen to be surging +onward with majestic sweep. Upon its bosom +we are to be borne for a thousand miles. Our +introduction has been unpropitious; it is to be +hoped that on further acquaintance we may +be better pleased with La Belle Rivière.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page22" id="page22"></a>[pg 22]</span> + + + + +<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h4>First day on the Ohio—At Logstown.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Beaver River</span>, Monday, May 7th.—We +have to-day rowed and paddled under a cloudless +sky, but in the teeth of frequent squalls, +with heavy waves freely dashing their spray +upon us. At such times a goodly current, +aided by numerous wing-dams, appears of +little avail; for, when we rested upon our oars, +Pilgrim would be unmercifully driven up +stream. Thus it has been an almost continual +fight to make progress, and our five-and-twenty +miles represent a hard day's work.</p> + +<p>We were overloaded, that was certain; so +we stopped at Chartier, three miles down the +river from Pittsburg, and sent on our portly +bag of conventional traveling clothes by express +to Cincinnati, where we intend stopping +for a day. This leaves us in our rough boating +costumes for all the smaller towns <i>en route</i>. +What we may lose in possible social embarrassments, +we gain in lightened cargo.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page23" id="page23"></a>[pg 23]</span> + +<p>Here at the mouth of Chartier's Creek was +"Chartier's Old Town" of a century and a +third ago; a straggling, unkempt Indian village +then, but at least the banks were lovely, and +the rolling distances clothed with majestic +trees. To-day, these creek banks, connected +with numerous iron bridges, are the dumping-ground +for cinders, slag, rubbish of every degree +of foulness; the bare hillsides are crowded +with the ugly dwellings of iron-workers; the +atmosphere is thick with smoke.</p> + +<p>Washington, one of the greatest land speculators +of his time, owned over 32,000 acres +along the Ohio. He held a patent from Lord +Dunmore, dated July 5, 1775, for nearly 3,000 +acres lying about the mouth of this stream. +In accordance with the free-and-easy habit of +trans-Alleghany pioneers, ten men squatted on +the tract, greatly to the indignation of the +Father of his Country, who in 1784 brought +against them a successful suit for ejectment. +Twelve years later, more familiar with this +than with most of his land grants, he sold it +to a friend for $12,000.</p> + +<p>Just below Chartier are the picturesque +McKee's Rocks, where is the first riffle in the +Ohio. We "take" it with a swoop, the white-capped +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page24" id="page24"></a>[pg 24]</span> +waves dancing about us in a miniature +rapid. Then we are in the open country, and +for the first time find what the great river is +like. The character of the banks, for some +distance below Pittsburg, differs from that of +the Monongahela. The hills are lower, less +precipitous, more graceful. There is a delightful +roundness of mass and shade. Beautiful +villas occupy commanding situations on +hillsides and hilltops; we catch glimpses of +spires and cupolas, singly or in groups, peeping +above the trees; and now and then a pretty +suburban railway station. The railways upon +either bank are built on neat terraces, and, far +from marring the scene, agreeably give life to +it; now and then, three such terraces are to +be traced, one above the other, against the +dark background of wood and field—the lower +and upper devoted to rival railway lines, the +central one to the common way. The mouths +of the beautiful tributary ravines are crossed +either by graceful iron spans, which frame +charming undercut glimpses of sparkling waterfalls +and deep tangles of moss and fern, or by +graceful stone arches draped with vines. There +are terraced vineyards, after the fashion of the +Rhineland, and the gentle arts of the florist +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page25" id="page25"></a>[pg 25]</span> +and the truck-gardener are much in evidence. +The winding river frequently sweeps at the +base of rocky escarpments, but upon one side +or the other there are now invariably bottom +lands—narrow on these upper reaches, but we +shall find them gradually widen and lengthen +as we descend. The reaches are from four to +seven miles in length, but these, too, are to +lengthen in the middle waters. Islands are +frequent, all day. The largest is Neville's, five +miles long and thickly strewn with villas and +market-gardens; still others are but long sandbars +grown to willows, and but temporarily in +sight, for the stage of water is low just now, +not over seven feet in the channel.</p> + +<p>Emerging from the immediate suburbs of +Pittsburg, the fields broaden, farmsteads are +occasionally to be seen nestled in the undulations +of the hills, woodlands become more +dense. There are, however, small rustic towns +in plenty; we are seldom out of sight of these. +Climbing a steep clay slope on the left bank, +we visited one of them—Shousetown, fourteen +miles below the city. A sad-eyed, shabby +place, with the pipe line for natural gas sprawling +hither and yon upon the surface of the +ground, except at the street crossings, where +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page26" id="page26"></a>[pg 26]</span> +a few inches of protecting earth have been laid +upon it. The tariff levied by the gas company +is ten cents per month for each light, and a +dollar and a half for a cook-stove.</p> + +<p>We passed, this afternoon, one of the most +interesting historic points upon the river—the +picturesque site of ancient Logstown, upon +the summit of a low, steep ridge on the right +bank, just below Economy, and eighteen miles +from Pittsburg. Logstown was a Shawanese +village as early as 1727-30, and already a +notable fur-trading post when Conrad Weiser +visited it in 1748. Washington and Gist +stopped at "Loggestown" for five days on +their visit to the French at Fort Le Bœuf, +and several famous Indian treaties were signed +there. A short distance below, Anthony +Wayne's Western army was encamped during +the winter of 1792-93, the place being then +styled Legionville. In 1824 George Rapp +founded in the neighborhood a German socialist +community, and this later settlement survives +to the present day in the thriving little +rustic town of Economy.</p> + +<p>At four o'clock we struck camp on a heavily-willowed +shore, at the apex of the great northern +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page27" id="page27"></a>[pg 27]</span> +bend of the Ohio (25 miles).<a id="footnotetag1" name="footnotetag1"></a><a href= + "#footnote1"><sup>A</sup></a> Across the +river, on a broad level bottom, are the manufacturing +towns of Rochester and Beaver, +divided by the Beaver River; in their rear, +well-rounded hills rise gracefully, checkered +with brown fields and woods in many shades +of green, in the midst of which the flowering +white dogwood rears its stately spray. Our +sloping willowed sand-beach, of a hundred feet +in width, is thick strewn with driftwood; back +of this a clay bank, eight feet sheer, and a +narrow bottom cut up with small fruit and +vegetable patches; the gardeners' neat frame +houses peeping from groves of apple, pear and +cherry, upon the flanking hillsides. A lofty +oil-well derrick surmounts the edge of the terrace +a hundred yards below our camp. The +bushes and the ground round about the well +are black and slimy with crude petroleum, that +has escaped during the boring process, and the +air is heavy with its odor. We are upon the +edge of the far-stretching oil and gas-well region, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page28" id="page28"></a>[pg 28]</span> +and shall soon become familiar enough +with such sights and smells in the neighborhood +of our nightly camps.</p> + +<p>No sooner had Pilgrim been turned up against +a tree to dry, and a smooth sandy open chosen +for the camp, than the proprietor of the soil +appeared—a middling-sized, lanky man, with +a red face and a sandy goatee surmounting a +collarless white shirt all bestained with tobacco +juice. He inquired rather sharply concerning +us, but when informed of our innocent errand, +and that we should stay with him but the +night, he promptly softened, explaining that +the presence of marauding fishermen and house-boat +folk was incompatible with gardening +for profit, and he would have none of them +touch upon his shore. As to us, we were welcome +to stop throughout our pleasure, an invitation +he reinforced by sitting upon a stump, +whittling vigorously meanwhile, and glibly +gossiping with the Doctor and me for a half-hour, +on crop conditions and the state of the +country—"bein' sociable like," he said, "an' +hav'n' nuth'n 'gin you folks, as knows what's +what, I kin see with half a eye!"</p> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1" name="footnote1"></a><b>Footnote A:</b><a href="#footnotetag1"> (return) </a><p>Figures in parentheses, similarly placed throughout the +volume, indicate the meandered river mileage from Pittsburg, +according to the map of the Corps of Engineers, U.S.A., +published in 1881. The actual mileage of the channel is a +trifle greater.</p></blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page29" id="page29"></a>[pg 29]</span> + + + + +<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> + + +<h4>Shingis Old Town—The dynamiter—Yellow +Creek.</h4> + + + +<p><span class="smcap">Kneistley's Cluster, W. Va.</span>, Tuesday, +May 8th.—We were off at a quarter past seven, +and among the earliest shoppers in Rochester, +on the east bank of the Beaver, where supplies +were laid in for the day. This busy, prosperous-looking +place bears little resemblance to +the squalid Indian village which Gist found +here in November, 1750. It was then the +seat of Barney Curran, an Indian trader—the +same Curran whom Washington, three years +later, employed in the mission to Venango. +But the smaller sister town of Beaver, on the +lower side of the mouth,—or rather the western +outskirts of Beaver a mile below the mouth,—has +the most ancient history. On account +of a ford across the Beaver, about where is +now a slack-water dam, the neighborhood became +of early importance to the French as a +fur-trading center. With customary liberality +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page30" id="page30"></a>[pg 30]</span> +toward the Indians, whom they assiduously +cultivated, the French, in 1756, built for them, +on this site, a substantial town, which the +English indifferently called Sarikonk, Sohkon, +King Beaver's Town, or Shingis Old Town. +During the French and Indian War, the place +was prominent as a rendezvous for the enemies +of American borderers; numerous bloody forays +were planned here, and hither were brought to +be adopted into the tribes, or to be cruelly +tortured, according to savage whim, many of +the captives whose tales have made lurid the +history of the Ohio Valley.</p> + +<p>Passing Beaver River, the Ohio enters upon +its grand sweep to the southwest. The wide +uplands at once become more rustic, especially +those of the left bank, which no longer is +threaded by a railway, as heretofore all the +way from Brownsville. The two ranges of +undulating hills, some three hundred and fifty +feet high, forming the rim of the basin, are +about a half mile apart; while the river itself +is perhaps a third of a mile in width, leaving +narrow bottoms on alternate sides, as the +stream in gentle curves rebounds from the +rocky base of one hill to that of another. +When winding about such a base, there is at +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page31" id="page31"></a>[pg 31]</span> +this stage of the water a sloping, stony beach, +some ten to twenty yards in width, from which +ascends the sharp steep, for the most part +heavily tree-clad—maples, birches, elms and +oaks of goodly girth, the latter as yet in but +half-leaf. On the "bottom side" of the river, +the alluvial terrace presents a sheer wall of +clay rising from eight to a dozen feet above the +beach, which is often thick-grown with willows, +whose roots hold the soil from becoming too +easy a prey to the encroaching current. Sycamores +now begin to appear in the bottoms, +although of less size than we shall meet below. +Sometimes the little towns we see occupy a +narrow and more or less rocky bench upon the +hill side of the stream, but settlement is chiefly +found upon the bottoms.</p> + +<p>Shippingsport (32 miles), on the left bank, +where we stopped this noon for eggs, butter, +and fresh water, is on a narrow hill bench—a +dry, woe-begone hamlet, side-tracked from +the path of the world's progress. While I was +on shore, negotiating with the sleepy storekeeper, +Pilgrim and her crew waited alongside +the flatboat which serves as the town ferry. +There they were visited by a breezy, red-faced +young man, in a blue flannel shirt and a black +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page32" id="page32"></a>[pg 32]</span> +slouch hat, who was soon enough at his ease +to lie flat upon the ferry gunwale, his cheeks +supported by his hands, and talk to W—— and +the Doctor as if they were old friends. He +was a dealer in nitroglycerin cartridges, he +said, and pointed to a long, rakish-looking +skiff hard by, which bore a red flag at its prow. +"Ye see that? Thet there red flag? Well, +thet's the law on us glyser<i>een</i> fellers—over five +hundred poun's, two flags; un'er five hundred, +one flag. I've two hundred and fifty, I have. +I tell yer th' steamboats steer clear o' me, an' +don' yer fergit it, neither; they jist give me a +wide berth, they do, yew bet! 'n' th' railroads, +they don' carry no glyser<i>een</i> cartridge, they +don't—all uv it by skiff, like yer see me goin'."</p> + +<p>These cartridges, he explained, are dropped +into oil or gas wells whose owners are desirous +of accelerating the flow. The cartridge, in +exploding, enlarges the hole, and often the +output of the well is at once increased by several +hundred per cent. The young fellow had +the air of a self-confident rustic, with little experience +in the world. Indeed, it seemed +from his elated manner as if this might be his +first trip from home, and the blowing of oil +wells an incidental speculation. The Boy, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page33" id="page33"></a>[pg 33]</span> +quick at inventive nomenclature, and fresh +from a reading of Robert Louis Stevenson, +called our visitor "the Dynamiter," and by +that title I suppose we shall always remember +him.</p> + +<p>The Dynamiter confided to his listeners that +he was going down the river for "a clean +hundred miles, and that's right smart fur, ain't +it? How fur down be yees goin'?" The Doctor +replied that we were going nine hundred; +whereat the man of explosives gave vent to +his feelings in a prolonged whistle, then a horse +laugh, and "Oh come, now! Don' be givin' +us taffy! Say, hones' Injun, how fur down air +yew fellers goin', anyhow?" It was with some +difficulty that he could comprehend the fact. A +hundred miles on the river was a great outing +for this village lad; nine hundred was rather +beyond his comprehension, although he finally +compromised by "allowing" that we might +be going as far as Cincinnati. Wouldn't the +Doctor go into partnership with him? He had +no caps for his cartridges, and if the Doctor +would buy caps and "stan' in with him on the +cost of the glyser<i>een</i>," they would, regardless +of Ohio statutes, blow up the fish in unfrequented +portions of the river, and make two +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page34" id="page34"></a>[pg 34]</span> +hundred dollars apiece by carrying the spoils +in to Wheeling. The Doctor, as a law-abiding +citizen, good-naturedly declined; and upon my +return to the flat, the Dynamiter was handing +the Boy a huge stick of barber-pole candy, +saying, "Well, yew fellers, we'll part friends, +anyhow—but sorry yew won't go in on this +spec'; there's right smart money in 't, 'n' don' +yer fergit it!"</p> + +<p>By the middle of the afternoon we reached +the boundary line (40 miles) between Pennsylvania +on the east and Ohio and West Virginia +on the west. The last Pennsylvania settlements +are a half mile above the boundary—Smith's +Ferry (right), an old and somewhat +decayed village, on a broad, low bottom at the +mouth of the picturesque Little Beaver Creek;<a id="footnotetag2" name="footnotetag2"></a><a href= + "#footnote2"><sup>A</sup></a> +and Georgetown (left), a prosperous-looking, +sedate town, with tidy lawns running down to +the edge of the terrace, below which is a shelving +stone beach of generous width. Two high +iron towers supporting the cable of a current +ferry add dignity to the twin settlements. A +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page35" id="page35"></a>[pg 35]</span> +stone monument, six feet high, just observable +through the willows on the right shore, marks +the boundary; while upon the left bank, surmounting +a high, rock-strewn beach, is the +dilapidated frame house of a West Virginia +"cracker," through whose garden-patch the +line takes its way, unobserved and unthought +of by pigs, chickens and children, which in +hopeless promiscuity swarm the interstate +premises.</p> + +<p>For many days to come we are to have +Ohio on the right bank and West Virginia on +the left. There is no perceptible change, of +course, in the contour of the rugged hills which +hem us in; yet somehow it stirs the blood to +reflect that quite within the recollection of all +of us in Pilgrim's crew, save the Boy, that left +bank was the house of bondage, and that right +the land of freedom, and this river of ours the +highway between.</p> + +<p>East Liverpool (44 miles) and Wellsville +(48 miles) are long stretches of pottery and +tile-making works, both of them on the Ohio +shore. There is nothing there to lure us, however, +and we determined to camp on the banks +of Yellow Creek (51 miles), a peaceful little +Ohio stream some two rods in width, its mouth +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page36" id="page36"></a>[pg 36]</span> +crossed by two great iron spans, for railway +and highway. But although Yellow Creek +winds most gracefully and is altogether a +charming bit of rustic water, deep-set amid +picturesque slopes of field and wood, we fail +to find upon its banks an appropriate camping-place. +Upon one side a country road closely +skirts the shore, and on the other a railway, +while for the mile or more we pushed along +small farmsteads almost abutted. Hence we +retrace our path to the great river, and, dropping +down-stream for two miles, find what we +seek upon the lower end of the chief of Kneistly's +Cluster—two islands on the West Virginia +side of the channel.</p> + +<p>It is storied ground, this neighborhood of +ours. Over there at the mouth of Yellow +Creek was, a hundred and twenty years ago, +the camp of Logan, the Mingo chief; opposite, +on the West Virginia shore, Baker's Bottom, +where occurred the treacherous massacre of +Logan's family. The tragedy is interwoven +with the history of the trans-Alleghany border; +and schoolboys have in many lands and tongues +recited the pathetic defense of the poor Mingo, +who, more sinned against than sinning, was +crushed in the inevitable struggle between +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page37" id="page37"></a>[pg 37]</span> +savagery and civilization. "Who is there to +mourn for Logan?"</p> + +<p>We are high and dry on our willowed island. +Above, just out of sight, are moored a brace +of steam pile-drivers engaged in strengthening +the dam which unites us with Baker's Bottom. +To the left lies a broad stretch of gravel strand, +beyond which is the narrow water fed by the +overflow of the dam; to the right, the broad +steamboat channel rolls between us and the +Ohio hills, while the far-reaching vista downstream +is a feast of shade and tint, by land and +water, with the lights and smoke of New Cumberland +and Sloan's Station faintly discernible +near the horizon. All about us lies a beautiful +world of woodland. The whistle of quails innumerable +broke upon us in the twilight, succeeding +to the calls of rose-breasted grosbeaks +and a goodly company of daylight followers; in +this darkening hour, the low, plaintive note of +the whip-poor-will is heard on every hand, +now and then interrupted by the hoarse bark +of owls. There is a gentle tinkling of cowbells +on the Ohio shore, and on both are human +voices confused by distance. All pervading is +the deep, sullen roar of a great wing-dam, a +half mile or so down-stream.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page38" id="page38"></a>[pg 38]</span> + +<p>The camp is gypsy-like. Our washing lies +spread on bushes, where it will catch the first +peep of morning sun. Perishable provisions +rest in notches of trees, where the cool evening +breeze will strike them. Seated upon the +"grub" box, I am writing up our log by aid of +the lantern hung from a branch overhead, +while W——, ever busy, sits by with her mending. +Lying in the moonlight, which through +the sprawling willows gayly checkers our sand +bank, the Doctor and the Boy are discussing +the doings of Br'er Rabbit—for we are in the +Southland now, and may any day meet good +Uncle Remus.</p> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2" name="footnote2"></a><b>Footnote A: </b><a href="#footnotetag2"> (return) </a><p>On this creek was the hunting-cabin of the Seneca +(Mingo) chief, Half King, who sent a message of welcome to +Washington, when the latter was on his way to Great Meadows +(1754).</p></blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page39" id="page39"></a>[pg 39]</span> + + + + +<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + + +<h4>An industrial region—Steubenville—Mingo +Bottom—In a steel mill—Indian +character.</h4> + + + +<p><span class="smcap">Mingo Junction, Ohio</span>, Wednesday, May +9th.—We had a cold night upon our island. +Upon arising this morning, a heavy fog enveloped +us, at first completely veiling the sun; +soon it became faintly visible, a great ball of +burnished copper reflected in the dimpled flood +which poured between us and the Ohio shore. +Weeds and willows were sopping wet, as was +also our wash, and the breakfast fire was a +comfortable companion. But by the time we +were off, the cloud had lifted, and the sun +gushed out with promise of a warm day.</p> + +<p>Throughout the morning, Pilgrim glided +through a thickly settled district, reminding +us of the Monongahela. Sewer-pipe and vitrified-brick +works, and iron and steel plants, +abound on the narrow bottoms. The factories +and mills themselves generally wear a prosperous look; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page40" id="page40"></a>[pg 40]</span> +but the dependent towns vary in +appearance, from clusters of shabby, down-at-the-heel +cabins, to lines of neat and well-painted +houses and shops.</p> + +<p>We visited the vitrified-brick works at New +Cumberland, W. Va. (56 miles), where the +proprietor kindly explained his methods, and +talked freely of his business. It was the old +story, too close a competition for profit, +although the use of brick pavements is fast +spreading. Fire clay available for the purpose +is abundant on the banks of the Ohio all the +way from Pittsburg to Kingston (60 miles). +A few miles below New Cumberland, on the +Ohio shore, we inspected the tile works at +Freeman, and admired the dexterity which the +workmen had attained.</p> + +<p>But what interested us most of all was the +appalling havoc which these clay and iron industries +are making with the once beautiful +banks of the river. Each of them has a large +daily output of debris, which is dumped unmercifully +upon the water's edge in heaps from +fifty to a hundred feet high. Sometimes for +nearly a mile in length, the natural bank is +deep buried out of sight; and we have from +our canoe naught but a dismal wall of rubbish, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page41" id="page41"></a>[pg 41]</span> +crowding upon the river to the uttermost limit +of governmental allowance. Fifty years hence, +if these enterprises multiply at the present +ratio, and continue their present methods, the +Upper Ohio will roll between continuous banks +of clay and iron offal, down to Wheeling and +beyond.</p> + +<p>Before noon we had left behind us this industrial +region, and were again in rustic surroundings. +The wind had gone down, the +atmosphere was oppressively warm, the sun's +reflection from the glassy stream came with +almost scalding effect upon our faces. We +had rigged an awning over some willow hoops, +but it could not protect us from this reflection. +For an hour or two—one may as well be +honest—we fairly sweltered upon our pilgrimage, +until at last a light breeze ruffled the +water and brought blessed relief.</p> + +<p>The hills are not as high as hitherto, and +are more broken. Yet they have a certain +majestic sweep, and for the most part are +forest-mantled from base to summit. Between +them the river winds with noble grace, continually +giving us fresh vistas, often of surpassing +loveliness. The bottoms are broader now, +and frequently semicircular, with fine farms +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page42" id="page42"></a>[pg 42]</span> +upon them, and prosperous villages nestled in +generous groves. Many of the houses betoken +age, or what passes for it in this relatively new +country, being of the colonial pattern, with +fan-shaped windows above the doors, Grecian +pillars flanking the front porch, and wearing +the air of comfortable respectability.</p> + +<p>Beautiful islands lend variety to the scene, +some of them mere willowed "tow-heads" +largely submerged in times of flood, while +others are of a permanent character, often +occupied by farms. We have with us a copy +of Cuming's <i>Western Pilot</i> (Cincinnati, 1834), +which is still a practicable guide for the Ohio, +as the river's shore lines are not subject to so +rapid changes as those of the Mississippi; +but many of the islands in Cuming's are not +now to be found, having been swept away in +floods, and we encounter few new ones. It +is clear that the islands are not so numerous +as sixty years ago. The present works of the +United States Corps of Engineers tend to permanency +in the <i>status quo</i>; doubtless the government +map of 1881 will remain an authoritative +chart for a half century or more to come.</p> + +<p>W——'s enthusiasm for botany frequently +takes us ashore. Landing at the foot of some +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page43" id="page43"></a>[pg 43]</span> +eroded steep which, with ragged charm, rises +sharply from the gravelly beach, we fasten +Pilgrim's painter to a stone, and go scrambling +over the hillside in search of flowers, bearing +in mind the Boy's constant plea, to "Get only +one of a kind," and leave the rest for seed; +for other travelers may come this way, and +'tis a sin indeed to exterminate a botanical +rarity. But we find no rarities to-day—only +solomon's seal, trillium, wild ginger, cranebill, +jack-in-the-pulpit, wild columbine. Poison +ivy is on every hand, in these tangled woods, +with ferns of many varieties—chiefly maidenhair, +walking leaf, and bladder. The view +from projecting rocks, in these lofty places, is +ever inspiring; the country spread out below +us, as in a relief map; the great glistening +river winding through its hilly trough; a +rumpled country for a few miles on either side, +gradually trending into broad plains, checkered +with fields on which farmsteads and rustic +villages are the chessmen.</p> + +<p>At one o'clock we were at Steubenville, +Ohio (67 miles), where the broad stoned wharf +leads sharply up to the smart, well-built, substantial +town of some sixteen thousand inhabitants. +W—— and I had some shopping to do +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page44" id="page44"></a>[pg 44]</span> +there, while the Doctor and the Boy remained +down at the inevitable wharf-boat, and gossiped +with the philosophical agent, who bemoaned +the decadence of steamboat traffic in +general, and the rapidly falling stage of water +in particular.</p> + +<p>Three miles below Steubenville is Mingo +Junction, where we are the guests of a friend +who is superintendent of the iron and steel +works here. The population of Mingo is +twenty-five hundred. From seven to twelve +hundred are employed in the works, according +to the exigencies of business. Ten per cent +of them are Hungarians and Slavonians—a +larger proportion would be dangerous, our host +avers, because of the tendency of these people +to "run the town" when sufficiently numerous +to make it possible. The Slavs in the iron +towns come to America for a few years, intent +solely on saving every dollar within reach. +They are willing to work for wages which from +the American standard seem low, but to them +almost fabulous; herd together in surprising +promiscuity; maintain a low scale of clothing +and diet, often to the ruin of health; and +eventually return to Eastern Europe, where +their savings constitute a little fortune upon +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page45" id="page45"></a>[pg 45]</span> +which they can end their days in ease. This +sort of competition is fast degrading legitimate +American labor. Its regulation ought not to +be thought impossible.</p> + +<p>A visit to a great steel-making plant, in full +operation, is an event in a man's life. Particularly +remarkable is the weird spectacle +presented at night, with the furnaces fiercely +gleaming, the fresh ingots smoking hot, the +Bessemer converter "blowing off," the great +cranes moving about like things of life, bearing +giant kettles of molten steel; and amidst it +all, human life held so cheaply. Nearer to +mediæval notions of hell comes this fiery scene +than anything imagined by Dante. The working +life of one of these men is not over ten +years, B—— says. A decade of this intense +heat, compared to which a breath of outdoor +air in the close mill-yard, with the midsummer +sun in the nineties, seems chilly, wears a man +out—"only fit for the boneyard then, sir," +was the laconic estimate of an intelligent boss +whom I questioned on the subject.</p> + +<p>Wages run from ninety cents to five dollars +a day, with far more at the former rate than +the latter. A ninety-cent man working in a +place so hot that were water from a hose turned +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page46" id="page46"></a>[pg 46]</span> +upon him it would at once be resolved into +scalding steam, deserves our sympathy. It is +pleasing to find in our friend, the superintendent, +a strong fellow-feeling for his men, and +a desire to do all in his power to alleviate their +condition. He has accomplished much in +improving the <i>morale</i> of the town; but deep-seated, +inexorable economic conditions, apparently +beyond present control, render nugatory +any attempts to better the financial +condition of the underpaid majority.</p> + +<p>Mingo Junction—"Mingo Bottom" of old—was +an interesting locality in frontier days. +On this fertile river beach was long one of the +strongest of the Mingo villages. During the +last week of May, 1782, Crawford's little army +rendezvoused here, en route to Sandusky, a +hundred and fifty miles distant, and intent on +the destruction of the Wyandot towns. But +the Indians had not been surprised, and the +army was driven back with slaughter, reaching +Mingo the middle of June, bereft of its commander. +Crawford, who was a warm friend +of Washington, suffered almost unprecedented +torture at the stake, his fate sending a thrill +of horror through all the Western settlements.</p> + +<p>Let us not be too harsh in our judgment of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page47" id="page47"></a>[pg 47]</span> +these red Indians. At first, the white colonists +from Europe were regarded by them as +of supernatural origin, and hospitality, veneration, +and confidence were displayed toward +the new-comers. But the mortality of the +Europeans was soon made painfully evident +to them. When the early Spaniards, and +afterward the English, kidnaped tribesmen +for sale into slavery, or for use as captive +guides, and even murdered them on slight +provocation, distrust and hatred naturally succeeded +to the sentiment of awe. Like many +savage races, like the earlier Romans, the Indian +looked upon the member of every tribe +with which he had not made a formal peace +as a public enemy; hence he felt justified in +wreaking his vengeance on the race, whenever +he failed to find individual offenders. He was +exceptionally cruel, his mode of warfare was +skulking, he could not easily be reached in the +forest fastnesses which he alone knew well, +and his strokes fell heaviest on women and +children; so that whites came to fear and unspeakably +to loathe the savage, and often +added greatly to the bitterness of the struggle +by retaliation in kind. The white borderers +themselves were frequently brutal, reckless, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page48" id="page48"></a>[pg 48]</span> +lawless; and under such conditions, clashing +was inevitable. But worse agents of discord +than the agricultural colonists were the itinerants +who traveled through the woods visiting +the tribes, exchanging goods for furs; these +often cheated and robbed the Indian, taught +him the use of intoxicants, bullied and browbeat +him, appropriated his women, and in +general introduced serious demoralization into +the native camps. The bulk of the whites +doubtless intended to treat the Indian honorably; +but the forest traders were beyond the +pale of law, and news of the details of +their transactions seldom reached the coast +settlements.</p> + +<p>As a neighbor, the Indian was difficult to +deal with, whether in the negotiation of treaties +of amity, or in the purchase of lands. Having +but a loose system of government, there was +no really responsible head, and no compact +was secure from the interference of malcontents, +who would not be bound by treaties +made by the chiefs. The English felt that the +red men were not putting the land to its full +use, that much of the territory was growing up +as a waste, that they were best entitled to it +who could make it the most productive. On +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page49" id="page49"></a>[pg 49]</span> +the other hand, the earlier cessions of land +were made under a total misconception; the +Indians supposed that the new-comers would, +after a few years of occupancy, pass on and +leave the tract again to the natives. There +was no compromise possible between races +with precisely opposite views of property in +land. The struggle was inevitable—civilization +against savagery. No sentimental notions +could prevent it. It was in the nature of +things that the weaker must give way. The +Indian was a formidable antagonist, and there +were times when the result of the struggle +seemed uncertain; but in the end he went to +the wall. In judging the vanquished enemy +of our civilization, let us not underestimate his +intellect, or the many good qualities which +were mingled with his savage vices, or fail to +credit him with sublime courage, and a tribal +patriotism which no disaster could cool.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page50" id="page50"></a>[pg 50]</span> + + + + +<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> + + +<h4>Houseboat life—Decadence of steamboat +traffic—Wheeling, and Wheeling +Creek.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Above Moundsville, W. Va.</span>, Thursday, +May 10th.—Our friends saw us off at the +gravelly beach just below the "works." There +was a slight breeze ahead, but the atmosphere +was agreeable, and Pilgrim bore a happy crew, +now as brown as gypsies; the first painful effects +of sunburn are over, and we are hardened in +skin and muscle to any vicissitudes which are +likely to be met upon our voyage. Rough +weather, river mud, and all the other exigencies +of a moving camp, are beginning to tell upon +clothing; we are becoming like gypsies in raiment, +as well as color. But what a soul-satisfying +life is this gypsying! We possess +the world, while afloat on the Ohio!</p> + +<p>There are, in the course of the summer, so +many sorts of people traveling by the river,—steamboat +passengers, campers, fishers, house-boat +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page51" id="page51"></a>[pg 51]</span> +folk, and what not,—that we attract little +attention of ourselves, but Pilgrim is indeed a +curiosity hereabout. What remarks we overhear +are about her,—"Honey skiff, that!" +"Right smart skiff!" "Good skiff for her +place, but no good for this yere river!" and +so on. She is a lap-streak, square-sterned +craft, of white cedar three-eighths of an inch +thick; fifteen feet in length and four of beam; +weighs just a hundred pounds; comfortably +holds us and our luggage, with plenty of +spare room to move about in; is easily propelled, +and as stanch as can be made. Upon +these waters, we meet nothing like her. Not +counting the curious floating boxes and +punts, which are knocked together out of +driftwood, by boys and poor whites, and are +numerous all along shore, the regulation +Ohio river skiff is built on graceful lines, +but of inch boards, heavily ribbed, and is a +sorry weight to handle. The contention is, +that to withstand the swash of steamboat +wakes breaking upon the shore, and the rush +of drift in times of flood, a heavy skiff is necessary; +there is a tendency to decry Pilgrim +as a plaything, unadapted to the great river. +A reasonable degree of care at all times, however, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page52" id="page52"></a>[pg 52]</span> +and keeping the boat drawn high on the +beach when not in use,—such care as we +are familiar with upon our Wisconsin inland +lakes,—would render the employment of such +as she quite practicable, and greatly lessen the +labor of rowing on this waterway.</p> + +<p>The houseboats, dozens of which we see +daily, interest us greatly. They are scows, or +"flats," greatly differing in size, with low-ceilinged +cabins built upon them—sometimes +of one room, sometimes of half a dozen, and +varying in character from a mere shanty to a +well-appointed cottage. Perhaps the greater +number of these craft are afloat in the river, +and moored to the bank, with a gang-plank +running to shore; others are "beached," having +found a comfortable nook in some higher +stage of water, and been fastened there, +propped level with timbers and driftwood. +Among the houseboat folk are young working +couples starting out in life, and hoping ultimately +to gain a foothold on land; unfortunate +people, who are making a fresh start; men +regularly employed in riverside factories and +mills; invalids, who, at small expense, are +trying the fresh-air cure; others, who drift up +and down the Ohio, seeking casual work; and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page53" id="page53"></a>[pg 53]</span> +legitimate fishermen, who find it convenient to +be near their nets, and to move about according +to the needs of their calling. But a goodly +proportion of these boats are inhabited by the +lowest class of the population,—poor "crackers" +who have managed to scrape together +enough money to buy, or enough energy and +driftwood to build, such a craft; and, near or +at the towns, many are occupied by gamblers, +illicit liquor dealers, and others who, while +plying nefarious trades, make a pretense of +following the occupation of the Apostles.</p> + +<p>Houseboat people, whether beached or afloat, +pay no rent, and heretofore have paid no taxes. +Kentucky has recently passed, more as a police +regulation than as a means of revenue, an act +levying a State tax of twenty-five dollars upon +each craft of this character; and the other +commonwealths abutting upon the river are +considering the policy of doing likewise. The +houseboat men have, however, recently formed +a protective association, and propose to fight +the new laws on constitutional grounds, the +contention being that the Ohio is a national +highway, and that commerce upon it cannot +be hampered by State taxes. This view does +not, however, affect the taxability of "beached" +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page54" id="page54"></a>[pg 54]</span> +boats, which are clearly squatters on State +soil.</p> + +<p>Both in town and country, the riffraff of +the houseboat element are in disfavor. It is +not uncommon for them, beached or tied up, +to remain unmolested in one spot for years, +with their pigs, chickens, and little garden +patch about them, mayhap a swarm or two of +bees, and a cow enjoying free pasturage along +the weedy bank or on neighboring hills. Occasionally, +however, as the result of spasmodic +local agitation, they are by wholesale ordered +to betake themselves to some more hospitable +shore; and not a few farmers, like our friend +at Beaver River, are quick to pattern after the +city police, and order their visitors to move on +the moment they seek a mooring. For the +truth is, the majority of those who "live on +the river," as the phrase goes, have the reputation +of being pilferers; farmers tell sad tales +of despoiled chicken-roosts and vegetable gardens. +From fishing, shooting, collecting chance +driftwood, and leading a desultory life along +shore, like the wreckers of old they naturally +fall into this thieving habit. Having neither +rent nor taxes to pay, and for the most part +not voting, and having no share in the political +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page55" id="page55"></a>[pg 55]</span> +or social life of landsmen, they are in the +State, yet not of it,—a class unto themselves, +whose condition is well worthy the study of +economists.</p> + +<p>Interspersed with the houseboat folk, although +of different character, are those whose +business leads them to dwell as nomads upon +the river—merchant peddlers, who spend a +day or two at some rustic landing, while scouring +the neighborhood for oil-barrels and junk, +which they load in great heaps upon the flat +roofs of their cabins, giving therefor, at goodly +prices, groceries, crockery, and notions,—often +bartering their wares for eggs and dairy +products, to be disposed of to passing steamers, +whose clerks in turn "pack" them for the +largest market on their route; blacksmiths, +who moor their floating shops to country beach +or village levee, wherever business can be had; +floating theaters and opera companies, with +large barges built as play-houses, towed from +town to town by their gaudily-painted tugs, on +which may occasionally be perched the vociferous +"steam piano" of our circus days, +"whose soul-stirring music can be heard for +four miles;" traveling sawyers, with old steamboats +made over into sawmills, employed by +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page56" id="page56"></a>[pg 56]</span> +farmers to "work up" into lumber such logs +as they can from time to time bring down to +the shore—the product being oftenest used in +the neighborhood, but occasionally rafted, and +floated to the nearest large town; and a miscellaneous +lot of traveling craftsmen who live +and work afloat,—chairmakers, upholsterers, +feather and mattress renovators, photographers,—who +land at the villages, scatter abroad +their advertising cards, and stay so long as the +ensuing patronage warrants.</p> + +<p>A motley assortment, these neighbors of ours, +an uncultivated field for the fiction writers. +We have struck up acquaintance with many +of them, and they are not bad fellows, as the +world goes. Philosophers all, and loquacious +to a degree. But they cannot, for the life of +them, fathom the mystery of our cruise. We +are not in trade? we are not fishing? we +are not canvassers? we are not show-people? +"What 'n 'tarnation air ye, anny way? Oh, +come now! No fellers is do'n' th' river fur +fun, that's sartin—ye're jist gov'm'nt agints! +That's my way o' think'n'. Well, 'f ye kin +find fun in 't, then done go ahead, I say! But +all same, we'll be friends, won't we? Yew bet +strangers! Ye're welcome t' all in this yere +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page57" id="page57"></a>[pg 57]</span> +shanty boat—ain't no bakky 'bout yer close, +yew fellers?" We meet with abundant courtesy +of this rude sort, and weaponless sleep +well o' nights, fearing naught from our comrades +for the nonce.</p> + +<p>We again have railways on either bank. +The iron horse has almost eclipsed the "fire +canoe," as the Indians picturesquely styled the +steamboat. We occasionally see boats tied +up to the wharves, evidently not in commission; +but, in actual operation, we seldom meet or +pass over one or two daily. To be sure, the +low stage of water,—from six to eight feet +thus far, and falling daily,—and the coal strike, +militate against navigation interests. But the +truth is, there is very little business now left +for steamboats, beyond the movement of coal, +stone, bricks, and other bulky material, some +way freight, and a light passenger traffic. The +railroads are quicker and surer, and of course +competition lowers the charges.</p> + +<p>The heavy manufacturing interests along the +river now depend little upon the steamers, +although originally established here because +of them. I asked our friend, the superintendent +at Mingo, what advantage was gained by +having his plant upon the river. He replied: +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page58" id="page58"></a>[pg 58]</span> +"We can get all the water we want, and we +use a great deal of it; and it is convenient to +empty our slag upon the banks; but our chief +interest here is in the fact that Mingo is a railway +junction." By rail he gets his coal and +ore, and ships away his product. Were the +coal to come a considerable distance, the river +would be the cheaper road; but it is obtained +from neighboring hill mines that are practically +owned by the railways. This coal, by the +way, costs $1.10 at the shaft mouth, and +$1.75 landed at the Mingo works. As for the +sewer-pipe, brick, and pottery works, they are +along stream because of the great beds of clay +exposed by the erosion of the river.</p> + +<p>It is fortunate for the stability of these +towns, that the Ohio flows along the transcontinental +pathway westward, so that the +great railway lines may serve them without +deflection from their natural course. Had +the great stream flowed south instead of west, +the industries of the valley doubtless would +gradually have been removed to the transverse +highways of the new commerce, save where +these latter crossed the river, and thus have +left scores of once thriving communities mere +'longshore wrecks of their former selves. This +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page59" id="page59"></a>[pg 59]</span> +is not possible, now. The steamboat traffic +may still further waste, until the river is no +longer serviceable save as a continental drainage +ditch; but, chiefly because of its railways, +the Ohio Valley will continue to be the seat +of an industrial population which shall wax fat +upon the growth of the nation's needs.</p> + +<p>By the middle of the afternoon, we were at +Wheeling (91 miles). The town has fifty +thousand inhabitants, is substantially built, of +a distinctly Southern aspect; well stretched +out along the river, but narrow; with gaunt, +treeless, gully-washed hills of clay rising abruptly +behind, giving the place a most forbidding +appearance from the water. There are +several fine bridges spanning the Ohio; and +Wheeling Creek, which empties on the lower +edge of town, is crossed by a maze of steel +spans and stone arches; the well-paved wharf, +sloping upward from the Ohio, is nearly as +broad and imposing as that of Pittsburg;<a id="footnotetag3" name="footnotetag3"></a><a href= + "#footnote3"><sup>A</sup></a> +houseboats are here by the score, some of them +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page60" id="page60"></a>[pg 60]</span> +the haunts of fishing clubs, as we judge from +the names emblazoned on their sides—"Mystic +Crew," "South Side Club," and the like.</p> + +<p>For the first time upon our tour, negroes +are abundant upon the streets and lounging +along the river front. They vary in color from +yellow to inky blackness, and in raiment from +the "dude," smart in straw hat, collars and +cuffs, and white-frilled shirt with glass-diamond +pin, to the steamboat roustabout, all +slouch and rags, and evil-eyed.</p> + +<p>Wheeling Island (300 acres), up to thirty +years ago mentioned in travelers' journals as a +rare beauty-spot, is to-day thick-set with cottages +of factory hands and small villas, and +commonplace; while smoky Bridgeport, opposite +on the Ohio side, was from our vantage-point +a mere smudge upon the landscape.</p> + +<p>Wheeling Creek is famous in Western history. +The three Zane brothers, Ebenezer, +Jonathan and Silas,—typical, old-fashioned +names these, bespeaking the God-fearing, +Bible-loving, Scotch-Presbyterian stock from +which sprang so large a proportion of trans-Alleghany +pioneers,—explored this region as +early as 1769, built cabins, and made improvements—Silas +at the forks of the creek, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page61" id="page61"></a>[pg 61]</span> +Ebenezer and Jonathan at the mouth. During +three or four years, it was a hard fight +between them and the Indians; but, though +several times driven from the scene, the Zane +brothers stubbornly reappeared, and rebuilt +their burned habitations.</p> + +<p>Before the Revolutionary War broke out, +the fortified home of the Zanes, at the creek +mouth, was a favorite stopping stage in the +savage-haunted wilderness; and many a traveler +in those early days has left us in his journal +a thankful account of his tarrying here. The +Zane stockade developed into Fort Fincastle, +in Lord Dunmore's time; then, Fort Henry, +during the Revolution; and everyone who +knows his Western history at all has read of +the three famous sieges of Wheeling (1777, +1781, and 1782), and the daring deeds of its +men and women, which help illumine the +pages of border annals. Finally, by 1784, the +fort at Wheeling, that had never surrendered, +was demolished as no longer necessary, for the +wall of savage resistance was now pushed far +westward. Wheeling had become the western +end of a wagon road across the Panhandle, +from Redstone, and here were fitted out many +flatboat expeditions for the lower Ohio; later, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page62" id="page62"></a>[pg 62]</span> +in steamboat days, the shallow water of the +upper river caused Wheeling to be in midsummer +the highest port attainable; and to this +day it holds its ground as the upper terminus +of several steamboat lines.</p> + +<p>Below Wheeling are several miles of factory +towns nestled by the strand, and numerous +coal tipples, with their begrimed villages. +Fishermen have been frequent to-day, in +houseboats of high and low degree, and in +land camps composed of tents and board shanties, +with rows of seines and tarred pound-nets +stretched in the sun to dry; tow-headed children +abound, almost as nude as the pigs and +dogs and chickens amongst which they waddle +and roll; women-folk busy themselves with +the multifarious cares of home-keeping, while +their lords are in shady nooks mending nets, +or listlessly examining trout lines which appear +to yield but empty hooks; they tell us +that when the river is falling, fish bite not, and +yet they serenely angle on, dreaming their +lives away.</p> + +<p>A half mile above Big Grave Creek (101 +miles), we, too, hurry into camp on a shelving +bank of sand, deep-fringed with willows; for +over the western hills thunder-clouds are rising, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page63" id="page63"></a>[pg 63]</span> +with wind gusts. Level fields stretch back of +us for a quarter of a mile, to the hills which +bound the bottom; at our front door majestically +rolls the growing river, perhaps a third +of a mile in width, black with the reflection of +the sky, and wrinkled now and then with +squalls which scurry over its bubbling surface.<a id="footnotetag4" name="footnotetag4"></a><a href= + "#footnote4"><sup>B</sup></a></p> + +<p>The storm does not break, but the bending +tree-tops crone, and toads innumerable rend +the air with their screaming whistles. We +had great ado, during the cooking of dinner, +to prevent them from hopping into our little +stove, as it gleamed brightly in the early dusk; +and have adopted special precautions to keep +them from the tent, as they jump about in the +tall grass, appeasing their insectivorous appetites.</p> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3" name="footnote3"></a><b>Footnote A:</b><a href="#footnotetag3"> (return) </a><p>Upon the Ohio and kindred rivers, the term "wharf" +applies to the river beach when graded and paved, ready for +the reception of steamers. Such a wharf must not be confounded +with a lake or seaside wharf, a staging projected into +the water.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4" name="footnote4"></a><b>Footnote B:</b><a href="#footnotetag4"> (return) </a><p>It was in this neighborhood, a mile or two above our +camp, where the bottom is narrower, that Capt. William +Foreman and twenty other Virginia militiamen were killed +in an Indian ambuscade, Sept. 27, 1777. An inscribed stone +monument was erected on the spot in 1835, but we could not +find it.</p></blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page64" id="page64"></a>[pg 64]</span> + + + + +<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + + +<h4>The Big Grave—Washington, and Round +Bottom—A lazy man's Paradise—Captina +Creek—George Rogers Clark at +Fish Creek—Southern types.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Near Fishing Creek</span>, Friday, May 11th.—There +had been rain during the night, with +fierce wind gusts, but during breakfast the +atmosphere quieted, and we had a genial, +semi-cloudy morning.</p> + +<p>Off at 8 o'clock, Pilgrim's crew were soon +exploring Moundsville. There are five thousand +people in this old, faded, countrified +town. They show you with pride the State +Penitentiary of West Virginia, a solemn-looking +pile of dark gray stone, with the feeble +battlements and towers common to American +prison architecture. But the chief feature of +the place is the great Indian mound—the "Big +Grave" of early chroniclers. This earthwork +is one of the largest now remaining in the +United States, being sixty-eight feet high and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page65" id="page65"></a>[pg 65]</span> +a hundred in diameter at the base, and has for +over a century attracted the attention of travelers +and archæologists.</p> + +<p>We found it at the end of a straggling street, +on the edge of the town, a quarter of a mile +back from the river. Around the mound has +been left a narrow plat of ground, utilized as +a cornfield; and the stout picket fence which +encloses it bears peremptory notice that admission +is forbidden. However, as the proprietor +was not easily accessible, we exercised +the privilege of historical pilgrims, and, letting +ourselves in through the gate, picked our way +through rows of corn, and ascended the great +cone. It is covered with a heavy growth of +white oaks, some of them three feet in diameter, +among which the path picturesquely +zigzags. The summit is fifty-five feet in diameter, +and the center somewhat depressed, like +a basin. From the middle of this basin a +shaft some twenty-five feet in diameter has +been sunk by explorers, for a distance of perhaps +fifty feet; at one time, a level tunnel +connected the bottom of this shaft with the +side of the cone, but it has been mostly obliterated. +A score of years ago, tunnel and shaft +were utilized as the leading attractions of a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page66" id="page66"></a>[pg 66]</span> +beer garden—to such base uses may a great +historical landmark descend!</p> + +<p>Dickens, who apparently wrote the greater +part of his <i>American Notes</i> while suffering +from dyspepsia, has a note of appreciation for +the Big Grave: "... the host of Indians who +lie buried in a great mound yonder—so old that +mighty oaks and other forest trees have struck +their roots into its earth; and so high that it +is a hill, even among the hills that Nature +planted around it. The very river, as though +it shared one's feelings of compassion for the +extinct tribes who lived so pleasantly here, in +their blessed ignorance of white existence, +hundreds of years ago, steals out of its way to +ripple near this mound; and there are few +places where the Ohio sparkles more brightly +than in the Big Grave Creek."</p> + +<p>There is a sharp bend in the river, just +below Moundsville, with Dillon's Bottom +stretching long and wide at the apex on the +Ohio shore—flat green fields, dotted with little +white farmsteads, each set low in its apple +grove, and a convoluted wall of dark hills +hemming them in along the northern horizon. +Then below this comes Round Bottom, its +counterpart on the West Virginia side, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page67" id="page67"></a>[pg 67]</span> +coursing through it a pretty meadow creek, +Butler's Run.</p> + +<p>Writes Washington, in 1781, to a correspondent +who is thinking of renting lands in +this region: "I have a small tract called the +round bottom containing about 600 Acres, +which would also let. It lyes on the Ohio, +opposite to pipe Creek, and a little above Capteening." +Across the half mile of river are +the little levels and great slopes of the Ohio +hills, through which breaks this same Pipe +Creek; and hereabout Cresap's band murdered +a number of inoffensive Shawanese, a tragedy +which was one of the inciting causes of Lord +Dunmore's War (1774).</p> + +<p>We crossed over into Ohio, and pulled up +on the gravelly spit at the mouth of Pipe. +While the others were botanizing high on the +mountain side, I went along a beach path +toward a group of whitewashed cabins, intent +on replenishing the canteen. Upon opening +the gate of one of them, two grizzly dogs came +bounding out, threatening to test the strength +of my corduroy trousers. The proprietor cautiously +peered from a window, and, much to +my relief, called off the animals. Satisfied, +apparently, that I was not the visitor he +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page68" id="page68"></a>[pg 68]</span> +expected, the fellow lounged out and sat upon +the steps, where I joined him. He was a tall, +raw-boned, loose-jointed young man, with a +dirty, buttonless flannel shirt which revealed +a hairy breast; upon his trousers hung a variety +of patches, in many stages of grease and decrepitude; +a gray slouch hat shaded his little +fishy eyes and hollow, yellow cheeks; and the +snaky ends of his yellow mustache were stiff +with accumulations of dried tobacco juice. +His fat, waddling wife, in a greasy black gown, +followed with bare feet, and, arms akimbo, +listened in the open door.</p> + +<p>A coal company owns the rocky river front, +here and at many places below, and lets these +cabins to the poor-white element, so numerous +on the Ohio's banks. The renter is privileged +to cultivate whatever land he can clear on the +rocky, precipitous slopes, which is seldom +more than half an acre to the cabin; and he +may, if he can afford a cow, let her run wild +in the scrub. The coal vein, a few rods back +of the house, is only a few inches thick, and +poor in quality, but is freely resorted to by the +cotters. He worked whenever he could find +a job, my host said—in the coal mines and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page69" id="page69"></a>[pg 69]</span> +quarries, or on the bottom farms, or the railroad +which skirts the bank at his feet.</p> + +<p>"But I tell ye, sir, th' <i>I</i>talians and Hungarians +is spoil'n' this yere country fur white +men; 'n' I do'n' see no prospect for hits be'n' +better till they get shoved out uv 't!" Yet he +said that life wasn't so hard here as it was in +some parts he had heard tell of—the climate +was mild, that he "'lowed;" a fellow could go +out and get a free bucket of coal from the hillside +"back yon;" he might get all the "light +wood 'n' patchin' stuff" he wanted, from the +river drift; could, when he "hankered after +'em," catch fish off his own front-door yard; +and pick up a dollar now and then at odd jobs, +when the rent was to be paid, or the "ol' +woman" wanted a dress, or he a new coat.</p> + +<p>This is clearly the lazy man's Paradise. I +do not remember to have heard that the South +Sea Islanders, in the ante-missionary days, +had an easier time of it than this. What new +fortune will befall my friend when he gets the +Italians and Hungarians "shoved out," and +"things pick up a bit," I cannot conceive.</p> + +<p>A pleasing panorama he has from his doorway—across +the river, the fertile fields of +Round Bottom, once Washington's; Captina +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page70" id="page70"></a>[pg 70]</span> +Island, just below, long and thickly-willowed, +dreamily afloat in a glassy sea, reflecting every +change of light; the whole girt about with the +wide uplands of the winding valley, and overhead +the march of sunny clouds.</p> + +<p>Captina Creek (108 miles) is not far down +on the Ohio bank, and beside it the little +hamlet of Powhattan Point, with the West +Virginia hills thereabout exceptionally high +and steep, and wooded to the very top. Washington, +who knew the Ohio well, down to the +Great Kanawha, wrote of this creek in 1770: +"A pretty large creek on the west side, called +by Nicholson [his interpreter] Fox-Grape-Vine, +by others Captema creek, on which, eight miles +up, is the town called Grape-Vine Town." +Captina village is its white successor. But +there were also Indians at the mouth of the +creek; for when George Rogers Clark and his +missionary companion, Jones, two years later +camped opposite on the Virginia shore, they +went over to make a morning call on the natives, +who repaid it in the evening, doubtless +each time receiving freely from the white men's +bounty.</p> + +<p>The next day was Sunday, and the travelers +remained in camp, Jones recording in his journal +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page71" id="page71"></a>[pg 71]</span> +that he "instructed what Indians came +over." In the course of his prayer, the missionary +was particularly impressed by the attitude +of the chief of Grape-Vine Town, named +Frank Stephens, who professed to believe in +the Christian God; and he naively writes, "I +was informed that, all the time, the Indians +looked very seriously at me." Jones appears +to have been impressed also with the hardness +of the beach, where they camped in the open, +doubtless to avoid surprises: "Instead of +feathers, my bed was gravel-stones, by the +river side ... which at first seemed not +to suit me, but afterward it became more +natural."</p> + +<p>In those days, traveling was beset with difficulties, +both ashore and afloat. Eight years +later (spring of 1780), three flatboats were +descending the Ohio, laden with families intending +to settle in Kentucky, when they suffered +a common fate, being attacked by Indians +off Captina Creek. Several men and a child +were killed, and twenty-one persons were carried +into captivity—among them, Catherine +Malott, a girl in her teens, who subsequently +became the wife of that most notorious of border +renegades, Simon Girty.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page72" id="page72"></a>[pg 72]</span> + +<p>On the West Virginia shore, not over a third +of a mile below Captina Creek, empties Grave +Yard Run, a modest rivulet. It would of itself +not be noticeable amid the crowd of minor +creeks and runs, coursing down to the great +river through rugged ravines which corrugate +the banks. But it has a history. Here, late +in October or early in November, 1772, young +George Rogers Clark made his first stake west +of the Alleghanies, rudely cultivating a few +acres of forest land on what is now called +Cresap's Bottom, surveying for the neighbors, +and in the evenings teaching their children in +the little log cabin of his friend, Yates Conwell, +at the mouth of Fish Creek, a few miles +below. Fish Creek was in itself famous as +one of the sections of the great Indian trail, +"The Warrior Branch," which, starting in +Tennessee, came northward through Kentucky +and Southern Ohio, and, proceeding by way +of this creek, crossed over to Dunkard Creek, +thence to the mouth of Redstone. Washington +stopped at Conwell's in March or April, +1774; but Clark was away from home at the +time, and the "Father of his Country" never +met the man who has been dubbed the "Washington +of the West." Lord Dunmore's War +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page73" id="page73"></a>[pg 73]</span> +was hatching, and a few months later the Fish +Creek surveyor and schoolmaster had entered +upon his life work as an Indian fighter.</p> + +<p>At Bearsville (126 miles) we first meet a +phenomenon common to the Ohio—the edges +of the alluvial bottom being higher than the +fields back of them, forming a natural levee, +above which curiously rise to our view the +spires and chimneys of the village. Harris' +<i>Journal</i> (1803) made early note of this, and +advanced an acceptable theory: "We frequently +remarked that the banks are higher at +the margin than at a little distance back. I +account for it in this manner: Large trees, +which are brought down the river by the inundations, +are lodged upon the borders of the +bank, but cannot be floated far upon the +champaign, because obstructed by the growth +of wood. Retaining their situation when the +waters subside, they obstruct and detain the +leaves and mud, which would else recoil into +the stream, and thus, in process of time, form +a bank higher than the interior flats."</p> + +<p>Tied up to Bearsville landing is a gayly +painted barge, the home of Price's Floating +Opera Company, and in front its towing-steamer, +"Troubadour." A steam calliope is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page74" id="page74"></a>[pg 74]</span> +part of the visible furniture of the establishment, +and its praises as a noise-maker are +sung in large type in the handbills which, with +numerous colored lithographs of the performers, +adorn the shop windows in the neighboring +river towns.</p> + +<p>Two miles farther down, on a high bank at +the mouth of Fishing Creek, lies New Martinsville, +West Va. (127 miles), a rather shabby +town of fifteen hundred souls. As W—— and +I passed up the main street, seeking for a +grocery, we noticed that the public hall was +being decorated for a dance to come off to-night; +and placards advertising the event were +everywhere rivaling the gaudy prints of the +floating opera.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, a talkative native was interviewing +the Doctor, down at the river side. +It required some good-natured fencing on the +part of our skipper to prevent the Virginian +from learning all about our respective families +away back to the third generation. He was +a short, chubby man, with a Dixie goatee, his +flannel shirt negligée, and a wide-brimmed +straw hat jauntily set on the back of his head. +He was sociable, and sat astride of our beached +prow, punctuating his remarks with squirts of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page75" id="page75"></a>[pg 75]</span> +tobacco juice, and a bit of lath with which he +meditatively tapped the gunwale, the meantime, +with some skill, casting pebbles into the +water with his bare toes. "Ax'n yer pardon, +ma'm!" he said, scrambling from his perch +upon W——'s appearance; and then, pushing us +off, he bowed with much Southern gallantry, +and hat in hand begged we would come again +to New Martinsville, and stay longer.</p> + +<p>The hills lining these reaches are lower than +above, yet graceful in their sweeping lines. +Conical mounds sometimes surmount them, +relics of the prehistoric time when our Indians +held to the curious fashion of building earthworks. +We no longer entertain the notion +that a separate and a prouder race of wild +men than we know erected these tumuli. +That pleasant fiction has departed from us; +but the works are none the less interesting, +now that more is known of their origin.</p> + +<p>Two miles below New Martinsville, on the +West Virginia shore, we pitch camp, just as +the light begins to sink over the Ohio hills. +The atmosphere is sweet with the odor of +wild grape blossoms, and the willow also is in +bloom. Poison ivy, to whose baneful touch +fortunately none of us appear susceptible, grows +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page76" id="page76"></a>[pg 76]</span> +everywhere about. From the farmhouse on +the narrow bottom to our rear comes the melodious +tinkle-tinkle of cow bells. The operatic +calliope is in full blast, at Bearsville, its +shrieks and snorts coming down to us through +four miles of space, all too plainly borne by +the northern breeze; and now and then we +hear the squeak of the New Martinsville fiddles. +There are no mosquitoes as yet, but burly May-chafers +come stupidly dashing against our tent, +and the toads are piping merrily.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page77" id="page77"></a>[pg 77]</span> + + + + +<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + + +<h4>In Dixie—Oil and natural gas, at Witten's +Bottom—The Long Reach—Photographing +crackers—Visitors in camp.</h4> + + + +<p><span class="smcap">Above Marietta</span>, Saturday, May 12th.—Since +the middle of yesterday afternoon we +have been in Dixie,—that is, when we are on +the West Virginia shore. The famous Mason +and Dixon Line (lat. 39° 43' 26") touches the +Ohio at the mouth of Proctor's Run (121½ +miles).</p> + +<p>There was a heavy fog this morning, on +land and river. But through shifting rifts +made by the morning breeze, we had kaleidoscopic, +cloud-framed pictures of the dark, jutting +headlands which hem us in; of little white +cabins clustered by the country road which on +either bank crawls along narrow terraces between +overtopping steeps and sprawling beach, +or winds through fertile bottoms, according to +whether the river approaches or recedes from +its inclosing bluffs; of hillside fields, tipped at +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page78" id="page78"></a>[pg 78]</span> +various angles of ascent, sometimes green with +springing grain, but oftenest gray or brown or +yellow, freshly planted,—charming patches of +color, in this somber-hued world of sloping +woodland.</p> + +<p>At Williamson's Island (134 miles) the fog +lifted. The air was heavy with the odor of +petroleum. All about us were the ugly, towering +derricks of oil and natural gas wells—Witten's +Bottom on the right, with its abutting +hills; the West Virginia woods across the river, +and the maple-strewn island between, all covered +with scaffolds. The country looks like a +rumpled fox-and-geese board, with pegs stuck +all over it. A mile and a half below lies Sistersville, +W. Va., the emporium of this greasy +neighborhood—great red oil-tanks and smoky +refineries its chiefest glory; crude and raw, like +the product it handles. We landed at Witten's +Bottom,—W——, the Boy, and I,—while +the Doctor, philosophically preferring to take +the oily elephant for granted, piloted Pilgrim +to the rendezvous a mile below.</p> + +<p>Oil was "struck" here two or three years +ago, and now within a distance of a few miles +there are hundreds of wells—"two hun'rd in +this yere gravel alone, sir!" I was told by a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page79" id="page79"></a>[pg 79]</span> +red-headed man in a red shirt, who lived with +his numerous family in a twelve-foot-square +box at the rear of a pumping engine. An engine +serves several wells,—the tumbling-rods, +rudely boxed in, stretching off through the +fields and over the hills to wherever needed. +The operatives dwell in little shanties scattered +conveniently about; in front of each is a vertical +half-inch pipe, six or eight feet high, +bearing a half bushel of natural-gas flame +which burns and tosses night and day, winter +and summer, making the Bottom a warm corner +of the earth, when the unassisted temperature +is in the eighties. It is a bewildering +scene, with all these derricks thickly scattered +around, engines noisily puffing, walking-beams +forever rearing and plunging, the country cobwebbed +with tumbling-rods and pipe lines, the +shanties of the operatives with their rude lamp-posts, +and the face of Nature so besmeared +with the crude output of the wells that every +twig and leaf is thick with grease.</p> + +<p>Just above Witten's commences the Long +Reach of the Ohio—a charming panorama, for +sixteen and a half miles in a nearly straight +line to the southwest. Little towns line the +alternating bottoms, and farmsteads are +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page80" id="page80"></a>[pg 80]</span> +numerous on the slopes. But they are rocky +and narrow, these gentle shoulders of the hills, +and a poor class of folk occupy them—half +fishers, half farmers, a cross between my +Round Bottom friend and the houseboat nomads.</p> + +<p>A picturesquely-dilapidated log house, with +whitewashed porch in front, and a vine arbor +at the rear, attracted our attention at the foot +of the reach, near Grape Island. I clambered +up, to photograph it. The ice was broken by +asking for a drink of water. A gaunt girl of +eighteen, the elder of two, with bare feet, her +snaky hair streaming unkempt about a smirking +face, went with a broken-nosed pitcher to +a run, which could be heard splashing over its +rocky bed near by. The meanwhile, I took a +seat in the customary arcade between the +living room and kitchen, and talked with her +fat, greasy, red-nosed father, who confided to +me that he was "a pi'neer from way back." +He occupied his own land—a rare circumstance +among these riverside "crackers;" had +a hundred and thirty acres, worth twenty dollars +the acre; "jist yon ways," back of the +house, in the cliff-side, there was a coal vein +two feet thick, as yet only "worked" for his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page81" id="page81"></a>[pg 81]</span> +own fuel; and lately, he had struck a bank of +firebrick clay which might some day be a +"good thing for th' gals."</p> + +<p>On leaving, I casually mentioned my desire +to photograph the family on the porch, where +the light was good. While I walked around +the house outside, they passed through the +front room, which seemed to be the common +dormitory as well as parlor. To my surprise +and chagrin, the girls and their dowdy mother +had, in those brief moments of transition, contrived +to arrange their hair and dress to a degree +which took from them all those picturesque +qualities with which they had been invested at +the time of my arrival. The father was being +reproved, as he emerged upon the porch, for +not "slick'n' his ha'r, and wash'n' and fix'n' +up, afore hay'n' his pictur' taken;" but the old +fellow was obdurate, and joined me in remonstrance +against this transformation to the commonplace, +on the part of his women-folk. +However, there was no profit in arguing with +them, and I took my snap-shot with a conviction +that the film was being wasted.</p> + +<p>We were in several small towns to-day, in +pursuance of the policy of distributing our +shopping, so as to see as much of the shore +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page82" id="page82"></a>[pg 82]</span> +life as practicable. Chief among them have +been New Matamoras (141 miles) and St. +Mary's (154 miles), in West Virginia, and +Newport, in Ohio (155 miles). Rather dingy +villages, these—each, after their kind, with a +stone wharf thick-grown with weeds; a flouring +mill at the head of the landing; a few +cheap-looking, battlemented stores; boys and +men lounging about with that air of comfortable +idling which impresses one as the main +characteristic of rustic hamlets, where nobody +seems ever to have anything to do; a ferry +running to the opposite shore—for cattle and +wagons, a heavy flat, with railings, made to +drift with the current; and for foot passengers, +a lumbering skiff, with oars chucking noisily +in their roomy locks.</p> + +<p>Every now and then we run across bunches +of oil and gas wells; and great signs, like those +advertising boards which greet railway travelers +approaching our large cities, are here and +there perched upon the banks, notifying steamboat +pilots, in letters a foot high, that a pipe +line here crosses the river, the vicinity being +consequently unsafe for mooring.</p> + +<p>Our camp, to-night, is on a bit of grassy +ledge at the summit of a rocky bank, ten miles +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page83" id="page83"></a>[pg 83]</span> +above Marietta, on the Ohio side. A rod or +so back of us is the country road, which winds +along at the foot of a precipitous steep. It is +narrow quarters here, and too near the highway +for comfort, but nothing better seemed to +offer at the time we needed it; and the outlook +is pleasant, through the fringing oaks and elms, +across the broad river into West Virginia.</p> + +<p>We had not yet pitched tent, and all hands +were still clambering over the rocks with Pilgrim's +cargo, rather glad that there was no +more of it, when our first camp-bore appeared—a +middling-sized man, florid as to +complexion, with a mustache and goatee, and +in a suit of seedy black, surmounted by a +crushed-in Derby hat; and, after the fashion +of the country, giving evidence, on his collarless +white shirt, of a free use of chewing tobacco. +I have seldom met a fellow with better +staying qualities. He was a strawberry grower, +he said, and having been into Newport, a half +dozen miles up river, was walking to his home, +which was a mile or two off in the hills. Would +we object if, for a few moments, he tarried +here by the roadside? and perhaps we could +accommodate him with a drink of water? Patiently +did he watch the preparation of dinner, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page84" id="page84"></a>[pg 84]</span> +and spice each dish with commendations of +W——'s skill at making the most of her few +utensils.</p> + +<p>Right glibly he chattered on; now about the +decadence of womankind; now about strawberry-growing +upon these Ohio hills—with the +crop just coming on, and berries selling at a +shilling to-day, in Marietta, when they ought +to be worth twenty cents; now on politics, and +of course he was a Populist; now on the hard +times, and did we believe in free silver? He +would take no bite with us, but sat and talked +and talked, despite plain hints, growing plainer +with the progress of time, that his family needed +him at nightfall. Dinner was eaten, and dishes +washed; the others left on a botanical round-up, +and I produced my writing materials, with +remarks upon the lateness of the hour. At +last our guest arose, shook the grass from his +clothes, with a shake of hands bade me good-night, +wishing me to convey his "good-bye" +to the rest of our party, and as politely as possible +expressed the great pleasure which the +visit had given him.</p> + +<p>Some farmer boys came down the hillside +to fish at the bank, and talked pleasantly of +their work and of the ever-changing phases of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page85" id="page85"></a>[pg 85]</span> +the river. Other farmers passed our roadside +door, in wagons, on buckboards, by horseback, +and on foot; in neighborly tone, but with ill-disguised +curiosity in their eyes, wishing me +good evening. When the long twilight was +almost gone, and the moon an hour high over +the purple dusk of the West Virginia hills, the +botanists returned, aglow with their exercise, +and rich with trophies of blue and dwarf larkspur, +pink and white stone-crop, trailing arbutus, +and great laurel.</p> + +<p>And then, as we were preparing to retire, a +sleek and dapper fellow, though with clothes +rather the worse for wear, came trudging along +the road toward Marietta. Seeing our camp, +he asked for a drink. Being apparently disposed +to tarry, the Doctor, to get him started, +offered to walk a piece with him. Our comrade +staid out so long, that at last I went down +the road in search of him, and found the pair +sitting on a moonlit bank, as cozily as if they +had been always friends. The stranger had +revealed to the Doctor that he was a street +fakir, "by perfesh," and had "struck it rich" +in Chicago during the World's Fair, but somehow +had lost the greater part of his gains, and +was now associated with his brother, who had +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page86" id="page86"></a>[pg 86]</span> +a junk-boat; the brother was "well heeled," +and staid and kept store at the boat, while +the fakir, as the walking partner, "rustled +'round 'mong th' grangers, to stir up trade." +The Doctor had, in their talk, let slip something +about certain Florida experiences, and +when I arrived on the scene was being skillfully +questioned by his companion as to the probabilities +of "a feller o' my perfesh ketch'n' on, +down thar?" The result of this pumping process +must have been satisfactory: for when we +parted with him, the fakir declared he was +"go'n' try't on thar, next winter, 'f I bust me +bottom dollar!"</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page87" id="page87"></a>[pg 87]</span> + + + + +<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<h4>Life ashore and afloat—Marietta, "the +Plymouth Rock of the West"—The +Little Kanawha—The story of Blennerhassett's +Island.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Blennerhassett's Island</span>, Sunday, May +13th.—The day broke without fog, at our +camp on the rocky steep above Marietta. The +eastern sky was veiled with summer clouds, all +gayly flushed by the rising sun, and in the +serene silence of the morning there hung the +scent of dew, and earth, and trees. In the +east, the distant edges of the West Virginia +hills were aglow with the mounting light before +it had yet peeped over into the river trough, +where a silvery haze lent peculiar charm to +flood and bank. Up river, one of the Three +Brothers isles, dark and heavily forested, +seemed in the middle ground to float on air. +A bewitching picture this, until at last the sun +sprang clear and strong above the fringing +hills, and the spell was broken.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page88" id="page88"></a>[pg 88]</span> + +<p>The steamboat traffic is improving as we +get lower down. Last evening, between landing +and bedtime, a half dozen passed us, up +and down, breathing heavily as dragons might, +and leaving behind them foamy wakes which +loudly broke upon the shore. Before morning, +I was at intervals awakened by as many +more. A striking spectacle, the passage of a +big river steamer in the night; you hear, fast +approaching, a labored pant; suddenly, around +the bend, or emerging from behind an island, +the long white monster glides into view, +lanterns gleaming on two lines of deck, her +electric searchlight uneasily flitting to and +fro, first on one landmark, then on another, +her engine bell sharply clanging, the measured +pant developing into a burly, all-pervading +roar, which gradually declines into a pant +again—and then she disappears as she came, +her swelling wake rudely ruffling the moonlit +stream.</p> + +<p>We caught up with a large lumber raft this +morning, descending from Pittsburg to Cincinnati. +The half-dozen men in charge were +housed midway in a rude little shanty, and +relieved each other at the sweeps—two at +bow, and two astern. It is an easy, lounging +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page89" id="page89"></a>[pg 89]</span> +life, most of the way, with some difficulties in +the shallows, and in passing beneath the great +bridges. They travel night and day, except +in the not infrequent wind-storms blowing up +stream; and it will take them another week to +cover the three hundred miles between this +and their destination. Far different fellows, +these commonplace raftsmen of to-day, from +the "lumber boys" of a half-century or more +ago, when the river towns were regularly +"painted red" by the men who followed the +Ohio by raft or flatboat. Life along shore +was then more picturesque than comfortable.</p> + +<p>Later, we stopped on the Ohio shore to chat +with a group of farmers having a Sunday talk, +their seat a drift log, in the shade of a willowed +bank. They proved to be market gardeners +and fruit-growers—well-to-do men of their +class, and intelligent in conversation; all of +them descendants of the sturdy New Englanders +who settled these parts.</p> + +<p>While the others were discussing small fruits +with these transplanted Yankees, who proved +quite as full of curiosity about us as we concerning +them, I went down shore a hundred +yards, struggling through the dense fringe of +willows, to photograph a junk-boat just putting +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page90" id="page90"></a>[pg 90]</span> +off into the stream. The two rough-bearded, +merry-eyed fellows at the sweeps were setting +their craft broadside to the stream—that "the +current might have more holt of her," the chief +explained. They were interested in the kodak, +and readily posed as I wished, but wanted to +see what had been taken, having the common +notion that it is like a tintype camera, with +results at once attainable. They offered our +party a ride for the rest of the day, if we +would row alongside and come aboard, but I +thanked them, saying their craft was too slow +for our needs; at which they laughed heartily, +and "'lowed" we might be traders, too, anxious +to get in ahead of them—"but there's +plenty o' room o' th' river, for yew an' we, +stranger! Well, good luck to yees! We'll see +yer down below, somewhar, I reckon!"</p> + +<p>Just before lunch, we were at Marietta, at +the mouth of the Muskingum (171 miles), a +fine stream, here two hundred and fifty yards +wide. A storied river, this Muskingum. We +first definitely hear of it in 1748, the year the +original Ohio Company was formed. Céloron +was here the year following, with his little +band of French soldiers and Indians, vainly +endeavoring to turn English traders out of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page91" id="page91"></a>[pg 91]</span> +Ohio Valley. Christopher Gist came, some +months later; then the trader Croghan, for +"Old Wyandot Town," the Indian village at +the mouth, was a noted center in Western forest +traffic. Moravian missionaries appeared in due +time, establishing on the banks of the Muskingum +the ill-fated convert villages of Schönbrunn, +Gnadenhütten, and Salem. In 1785, +Fort Harmar was reared on the site of Wyandot +Town. Lastly, in the early spring of 1788, +came, in Ohio river flatboats, that famous body +of New England veterans of the Revolution, +under Gen. Rufus Putnam, and planted Marietta—"the +Plymouth Rock of the West."</p> + +<p>We smile at these Ohio pilgrims, for dignifying +the hills which girt in the Marietta bottom, +with the names of the seven on which +Rome is said to be built—for having a Campus +Martius and a Sacra Via, and all that, out +here among the sycamore stumps and the wild +Indians. But a classical revival was just then +vigorously affecting American thought, and it +would have been strange if these sturdy New +Englanders had not felt its influence, fresh +as they were from out the shadows of Harvard +and Yale, and in the awesome presence of +crowds of huge monumental earthworks, whose +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page92" id="page92"></a>[pg 92]</span> +age, in their day, was believed to far outdate +the foundations of the Eternal City itself. +They loved learning for learning's sake; and +here, in the log-cabins of Marietta, eight hundred +miles west of their beloved Boston, among +many another good thing they did for posterity, +they established the principle of public +education at public cost, as a national principle.</p> + +<p>They were soldier colonists. Washington, +out of a full heart, for he dearly loved the +West, said of them: "No colony in America +was ever settled under such favorable auspices +as that which has just commenced at the Muskingum. +Information, property, and strength +will be its characteristics. I know many of +the settlers personally, and there never were +men better calculated to promote the welfare +of such a community." And when, in 1825, +La Fayette had read to him the list of Marietta +pioneers,—nearly fifty military officers among +them,—he cried: "I know them all! I saw +them at Brandywine, Yorktown, and Rhode +Island. They were the bravest of the brave!"</p> + +<p>Yet, for a long time, Marietta met with +small measure of success. Miasma, Indian +ravages, and the conservative temperament of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page93" id="page93"></a>[pg 93]</span> +the people combined to render slow the +growth of this Western Plymouth. There +were, for a time, extensive ship-building yards +here; but that industry gradually declined, +with the growth of railway systems. In our +day, Marietta, with its ten thousand inhabitants, +prospers chiefly as a market town and +an educational center, with some manufacturing +interests. We were struck to-day, as we +tarried there for an hour or two, with the remarkable +resemblance it has in public and +private architecture, and in general tone, to a +typical New England town—say, for example, +Burlington, Vt. Omitting its river front, and +its Mound Cemetery, Marietta might be set +bodily down almost anywhere in Massachusetts, +or Vermont, or Connecticut, and the +chance traveler would see little in the place +to remind him of the West. I know of no +other town out of New England of which the +same might be said.</p> + +<p>Below Marietta, the river bottoms are, for +miles together, edged with broad stretches of +sloping beach, either deep with sand or naturally +paved with pebbles—sometimes treeless, +but often strewn with clumps of willow and +maple and scrub sycamore. The hills, now +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page94" id="page94"></a>[pg 94]</span> +rounder, less ambitious, and more widely separated, +are checkered with fields and forests, +and the bottom lands are of more generous +breadth. Pleasant islands stud the peaceful +stream. The sylvan foliage has by this time +attained very nearly its fullest size. The horse +chestnut, the pawpaw, the grape, and the +willow are in bloom. A gentle pastoral scene +is this through which we glide.</p> + +<p>It is evident that it would be a scalding day +but for the gentle breeze astern; setting sail, +we gladly drop our oars, and, with the water +rippling at our prow, sweep blithely down the +long southern reach to Parkersburg, W. Va., +at the mouth of the Little Kanawha (183 miles). +In the full glare of the scorching sun, Parkersburg +looks harsh and dry. But it is well built, +and, as seen from the river, apparently prosperous. +The Ohio is here crossed by the once +famous million-dollar bridge of the Baltimore +& Ohio railway. The wharf is at the junction +of the two streams, but chiefly on the shore of +the unattractive Little Kanawha, which is +spanned by several bridges, and abounds in +steamers and houseboats moored to the land. +Clark and Jones did not think well of Little +Kanawha lands, yet there were several families +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page95" id="page95"></a>[pg 95]</span> +on the river as early as 1763, and Trent, +Croghan, and other Fort Pitt fur-traders had +posts here. There were only half-a-dozen +houses in 1800, and Parkersburg itself was not +laid out until ten years later.</p> + +<p>Blennerhassett's Island lies two miles below—a +broad, dark mass of forest, at the head +joined by a dam to the West Virginia shore, +from which it is separated by a slender channel. +Blennerhassett's is some three and a half +miles long; of its five hundred acres, four hundred +are under cultivation in three separate +tenant farms. We landed at the upper end, +where Blennerhassett had his wharf, facing the +Ohio shore, and found that we were trespassing +upon "The Blennerhassett Pleasure +Grounds." A seedy-looking man, who represented +himself to be the proprietor, promptly +accosted us and levied a "landing fee" of ten +cents per head, which included the right to +remain over night. A little questioning developed +the fact that thirty acres at the head +of the island belong to this man, who rents +the ground to a market gardener,—together +with the comfortable farmhouse which occupies +the site of Blennerhassett's mansion,—but +reserves to himself the privilege of levying toll +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page96" id="page96"></a>[pg 96]</span> +on visitors. He declared to me that fifteen +thousand people came to the island each summer, +generally in large railway and steamboat +excursions, which gives him an easily-acquired +income sufficient for his needs. It is a pity +that so famous a place is not a public park.</p> + +<p>The touching story of the Blennerhassetts +is one of the best known in Western annals. +Rich in culture and worldly possessions, but +wildly impracticable, Harman Blennerhassett +and his beautiful wife came to America in +1798. Buying this lovely island in the Ohio, +six hundred miles west of tidewater, they built +a large mansion, which they furnished luxuriously, +adorning it with fine pictures and +statuary. Here, in the midst of beautiful +grounds, while Blennerhassett studied astronomy, +chemistry, and galvanism, his brilliant +spouse dispensed rare hospitality to their many +distinguished guests; for, in those days, it was +part of a rich young man's education to take a +journey down the Ohio, into "the Western +parts," and on returning home to write a book +about it.</p> + +<p>But there came a serpent to this Eden. +Aaron Burr was among their visitors (1805), +while upon his journey to New Orleans, where +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page97" id="page97"></a>[pg 97]</span> +he hoped to set on foot a scheme to seize +either Texas or Mexico, and set up a republic +with himself at the head. He interested the +susceptible Blennerhassetts in his plans, the +import of which they probably little understood; +but the fantastic Englishman had suffered +a considerable reduction of fortune, and +was anxious to recoup, and Burr's representations +were aglow with the promise of such +rewards in the golden southwest as Cortes and +Coronado sought. Blennerhassett's purse was +opened to the enterprise of Burr; large sums +were spent in boats and munitions, which were, +tradition says, for a time hid in the bayou +which, close by our camp, runs deep into the +island forest. It has been filled in by the +present proprietor, but its bold shore lines, all +hung with giant sycamores, are still in evidence.</p> + +<p>President Jefferson's proclamation (October, +1806) shattered the plot, and Blennerhassett +fled to join Burr at the mouth of the Cumberland. +Both were finally arrested (1807), and +tried for treason, but acquitted on technical +grounds. In the meantime, people from the +neighboring country sacked Blennerhassett's +house; then came creditors, and with great +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page98" id="page98"></a>[pg 98]</span> +waste seized his property; the beautiful place +was still further pillaged by lawless ruffians, +and turned into ignoble uses; later, the mansion +itself was burned through the carelessness +of negroes—and now, all they can show us are +the old well and the noble trees which once +graced the lawn. As for the Blennerhassetts +themselves, they wandered far and wide, everywhere +the victims of misfortune. He died on +the Island of Guernsey (1831), a disappointed +office-seeker; she, returning to America to seek +redress from Congress for the spoliation of her +home, passed away in New York, before the +claim was allowed, and was buried by the Sisters +of Charity.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page99" id="page99"></a>[pg 99]</span> + + + + +<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + + +<h4>Poor whites—First library in the West—An +hour at Hockingport—A hermit +fisher.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Long Bottom</span>, Monday, May 14th.—Pushing +up stream for two miles this morning, the +commissary department replenished the day's +stores at Parkersburg. Forepaugh's circus +was in town, and crowds of rustics were coming +in by wagon road, railway trains, and +steamers and ferries on both rivers. The +streets of the quaint, dingy Southern town +were teeming with humanity, mainly negroes +and poor whites. Among the latter, flat, +pallid faces, either flabby or too lean, were +under the swarms of blue, white, and yellow +sunbonnets—sad faces, with lack-luster eyes, +coarse hair of undecided hue, and coarser +speech. These Audreys of Dixie-land are the +product of centuries of ill-treatment on our +soil; indented white servants to the early coast +colonists were in the main their ancestors; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page100" id="page100"></a>[pg 100]</span> +with slave competition, the white laborer in the +South lost caste until even the negro despised +him; and ill-nurture has done the rest. Then, +too, in these bottoms, malaria has wrought its +work, especially among the underfed; you see +it in the yellow skin and nerveless tone of +these lanky rustics, who are in town to enjoy +the one bright holiday of their weary year.</p> + +<p>Across the river, in Ohio, is Belpré (short +for Belle Prairie, and now locally pronounced +Bel'pry), settled by Revolutionary soldiers, on +the Marietta grant, in 1789-90. I always +think well of Belpré, because here was established +the first circulating library in the +Northwest. Old Israel Putnam, he of the +wolf-den and Bunker Hill, amassed many +books. His son Israel, on moving to Belpré +in 1796, carried a considerable part of the +collection with him—no small undertaking +this, at a time when goods had to be carted +all the way from Connecticut, over rivers and +mountains to the Ohio, and then floated +down river by flatboat, with a high tariff for +every pound of freight. Young Israel was +public-spirited, and, having been at so great +cost and trouble to get this library out to the +wilderness, desired his fellow-colonists to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page101" id="page101"></a>[pg 101]</span> +enjoy it with him. It would have been unfair +not to distribute the expense, so a stock company +was formed, and shares were sold at ten +dollars each. Of the blessings wrought in +this rude frontier community by the books +which the elder Israel had collected for his +Connecticut fireside, there can be no more +eloquent testimony than that borne by an old +settler, who, in 1802, writes to an Eastern +friend: "In order to make the long winter +evenings pass more smoothly, by great exertion +I purchased a share in the Belpré library, +six miles distant. Many a night have I passed +(using pine knots instead of candles) reading +to my wife while she sat hatcheling, carding +or spinning." The association was dissolved +in 1815 or 1816, and the books distributed +among the shareholders; many of these volumes +are still extant in this vicinity, and several +are in the college museum at Marietta.</p> + +<p>There are few descendants hereabout of the +original New England settlers, and they live +miles apart on the Ohio shore. We went up +to visit one, living opposite Blennerhassett's +Island. Notice of our coming had preceded +us, and we were warmly welcomed at a substantial +farmhouse in the outskirts of Belpré, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page102" id="page102"></a>[pg 102]</span> +with every evidence about of abundant prosperity. +The maternal great-grandfather of +our host for an hour was Rufus Putnam, an +ancestor to be proud of. Five acres of gooseberries +are grown on the place, and other +small-fruits in proportion—all for the Parkersburg +market, whence much is shipped +north to Cleveland. Our host confessed to a +little malaria, even on this upper terrace—or +"second bottom," as they style it—but "the +land is good, though with many stones—natural +conditions, you know, for New Englanders." +It was pleasant for a New England +man, not long removed from his native soil, +to find these people, who are a century away +from home, still claiming kinship.</p> + +<p>At the Big Hockhocking River (197 miles), +on a high, semicircular bottom, is Hockingport, +a hamlet with a population of three +hundred. Here, on a still higher bench, a +quarter of a mile back from the river, Lord +Dunmore built Fort Gower, one of a chain of +posts along his march against the Northwest +Indians (1774). It was from here that he +marched to the Pickaway Plains, on the Scioto +(near Circleville, O.), and concluded that +treaty of peace to which Chief Logan refused +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page103" id="page103"></a>[pg 103]</span> +his consent. There are some remains yet left +of this palisaded earthwork of a century and +a quarter ago, but the greater part has been +obliterated by plowing, and a dwelling occupies +a portion of the site.</p> + +<p>It had been very warm, and we had needed +an awning as far down as Hockingport, where +we cooled off by lying on the grass in the +shade of the village blacksmith's shop, which +is, as well, the ferry-house, with the bell hung +between two tall posts at the top of the bank, +its rope dangling down for public use. The +smith-ferryman came out with his wife—a +burly, good-natured couple—and joined us in +our lounging, for it is not every day that +river travelers put in at this dreamy, far-away +port. The wife had camped with her +husband, when he was boss of a railway construction +gang, and both of them frankly envied +us our trip. So did a neighboring storekeeper, +a tall, lean, grave young man, clean-shaven, +coatless and vestless, with a blue-glass +stud on his collarless white shirt. Apparently +there was no danger of customers +walking away with his goods, for he left his +store-door open to all comers, not once glancing +thitherward in the half-hour he sat with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page104" id="page104"></a>[pg 104]</span> +us on a stick of timber, in which he pensively +carved his name.</p> + +<p>Life goes easily in Hockingport. Years +ago there was some business up the Big +Hocking (short for Big Hockhocking), a stream +of a half-dozen rods' width, but now no steamer +ventures up—the railroads do it all; as for the +Ohio—well, the steamers now and then put +off a box or bale for the four shop-keepers, +and once in a while a passenger patronizes +the landing. There is still a little country +traffic, and formerly a sawmill was in operation +here; you see its ruins down there below. +Hockingport is a type of several rustic hamlets +we have seen to-day; they are often in +pairs, one either side of the river, for companionship's +sake.</p> + +<p>We are idling, despite the knowledge that on +turning every big bend we are getting farther +and farther south, and mid-June on the Lower +Ohio is apt to be sub-tropical. But the sinking +sun gives us a shadowy right bank, and +that is most welcome. The current is only +spasmodically good. Every night the river +falls from three to six inches, and there are +long stretches of slack-water. The steamers +pick their way carefully; we do not give them +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page105" id="page105"></a>[pg 105]</span> +as wide a berth as formerly, for the wakes +they turn are no longer savage—but wakes, +even when sent out by stern-wheelers at full +speed, now give us little trouble; it did not +take long to learn the knack of "taking" +them. Whether you meet them at right angles, +or in the trough, there is the same delicious +sensation of rising and falling on the +long swells—there is no danger, so long as +you are outside the line of foaming breakers; +within those, you may ship water, which is +not desirable when there is a cargo. But the +boys at the towns sometimes put out in their +rude punts into the very vortex of disturbance, +being dashed about in the white roar +at the base of the ponderous paddle wheels, +like a Fiji Islander in his surf-boat. We heard, +the other day, of a boatload of daring youngsters +being caught by the wheel, their craft +smashed into kindling-wood, and they themselves +all drowned but one.</p> + +<p>The hills, to-day, sometimes break sharply +off, leaving an eroded, often vine-festooned palisade +some fifty feet in height, at the base of +which is a long, tree-clad slope of debris; +then, a narrow, level terrace from fifty to a +hundred yards in width, which drops suddenly +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page106" id="page106"></a>[pg 106]</span> +to a rocky beach; this in turn is often lined +along the water's edge with irregularly-shaped +boulders, from the size of Pilgrim to fifteen +or twenty feet in height, and worn smooth +with the grinding action of the river. The +effect is highly picturesque. We shall have +much of this below.</p> + +<p>At the foot of one of these palisades lay a +shanty-boat, with nets sprawled over the roof +to dry, and a live-box anchored hard by. +"Hello, the boat!" brought to the window +the head of the lone fisherman, who dreamily +peered at us as we announced our wish to become +his customers. A sort of poor-white +Neptune, this tall, lean, lantern-jawed old +fellow, with great round, iron-rimmed spectacles +over his fishy eyes, his hair and beard +in long, snaky locks, and clothing in dirty tatters. +As he put out in his skiff to reach the +live-box, he continuously spewed tobacco juice +about him, and in an undertone growled garrulously, +as though used to soliloquize in his +hermitage, where he lay at outs with the +world. He had been in this spot for two +years, he said, and sold fish to the daily Parkersburg +steamer—when there were any fish. +But, for six months past, he "hadn't made +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page107" id="page107"></a>[pg 107]</span> +enough to keep him in grub," and had now +and then to go up to the city and earn something. +For forty years had he followed the +apostles' calling on "this yere Ohio," and the +fishing was never so poor as now—yes, sir! +hard times had struck his business, just like +other folks'. He thought the oil wells were +tainting the water, and the fish wouldn't +breed—and the iron slag, too, was spoiling +the river, and he knew it. He finally produced +for us, out of his box, a three-pound +fish,—white perch, calico bass, and catfish +formed his stock in trade,—but, before handing +it over, demanded the requisite fifteen +cents. Evidently he had had dealings with a +dishonest world, this hermit fisher, and had +learned a thing or two.</p> + +<p>Perfect camping places are not to be found +every day. There are so many things to +think of—a good landing place; good height +above the water level, in case of a sudden +rise; a dry, shady, level spot for the tent; +plenty of wood, and, if possible, a spring; and +not too close proximity to a house. Occasionally +we meet with what we want, when +we want it; but quite as often, ideal camping +places, while abundant half the day, are not +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page108" id="page108"></a>[pg 108]</span> +to be found at five o'clock, our usual hour for +homeseeking. The Doctor is our agent for +this task, for, being bow oar, he can clamber +out most easily. This evening, he ranged both +shores for a considerable distance, with ill +success, so that we are settled on a narrow +Ohio sand-beach, in the midst of a sparse +willow copse, only two feet above the river. +Dinner was had at the very water's edge. +After a time, a wind-storm arose and flapped +the tent right vigorously, causing us to pin +down tightly and weight the sod-cloth; while, +amid distant thundering, every preparation +was made for a speedy embarkation in the +event of flood. The bellow of the frogs all +about us, the scream of toads, and the heavy +swash of passing steamers dangerously near +our door, will be a sufficient lullaby to-night.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page109" id="page109"></a>[pg 109]</span> + + + + +<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2> + + +<h4>Cliff-dwellers on Long Bottom—Pomeroy +Bend—Letart's Island and Rapids—Game +in the early day—Rainy +weather—In a "cracker" home.</h4> + + + +<p><span class="smcap">Letart's Island</span>, Tuesday, May 15th.—After +we had gone to bed last night,—we in +the tent, the Doctor and Pilgrim under the fly, +which serves as a porch roof,—the heavenly +floodgates lifted; the rain, coming in sheets, +beat a fierce tattoo on the tightly-stretched +canvas, and visions of a sudden rise in the +fickle river were uppermost in our dreams. +Everything about us was sopping at daybreak; +but the sun rose clear and warm from a bed +of eastern clouds, and the midnight gale had +softened to a gentle breeze.</p> + +<p>Palisades were frequent to-day. We stopped +just below camp, at an especially picturesque +Ohio hamlet,—Long Bottom (207 miles),—where +the dozen or so cottages are built close +against the bald rock. Clambering over great +water-worn boulders, at the river's brink, the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page110" id="page110"></a>[pg 110]</span> +Doctor and I made our way up through a +dense tangle of willows and poison ivy and +grape-vines, emerging upon the country road +which passes at the foot of this row of modern +cliff-dwellings. For the most part, little gardens, +with neat palings, run down from the +cottages to the road. One sprawling log house, +fairly embowered in vines, and overtopped by +the palisade rising sheer for thirty feet above +its back door, looked in this setting for all the +world like an Alpine chalet, lacking only stones +on the roof to complete the picture. I took a +kodak shot at this, also at a group of tousle-headed +children at the door of a decrepit shanty +built entirely within a crevice of the rock—their +Hibernian mother, with one hand holding +an apron over her head, and the other shielding +her eyes, shrilly crying to a neighboring +cliff-dweller: "Miss McCarthy! Miss McCarthy! +There's a feller here, a photergraph'n' +all the people in the Bottom! Come, quick!" +Then they eagerly pressed around me, Germans +and Irish, big and little, women and +children mostly, asking for a view of the +picture, which I gave all in turn by letting +them peep into the ground-glass "finder"—a +pretty picture, they said it was, with the colors +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page111" id="page111"></a>[pg 111]</span> +all in, and "wonderfully like," though a wee +bit small.</p> + +<p>Speaking of color, we are daily struck with +the brilliant hues in the workaday dresses of +women and children seen along the river. Red +calico predominates, but blues and yellows, +and even greens, are seen, brightly splashing +the somber landscape.</p> + +<p>After Long Bottom, we enter upon the +south-sweeping Pomeroy Bend of the Ohio, +commencing at Murraysville (208 miles) and +ending at Pomeroy (247 miles). It is of itself +a series of smaller bends, and, as we twist +about upon our course, the wind strikes us +successively on all quarters; sometimes giving +the Doctor a chance to try his sail, which he +raises on the slightest provocation,—but at +all times agreeably ruffling the surface that +would otherwise reflect the glowing sun like a +mirror.</p> + +<p>The sloping margins of the rich bottoms are +now often cultivated almost to the very edge +of the stream, with a line of willow trees left +as a protecting fringe. Farmers doing this +take a gambling risk of a summer rise. Where +the margins have been left untouched by the +plow, there is a dense mass of vegetation—sycamores, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page112" id="page112"></a>[pg 112]</span> +big of girth and towering to a hundred +feet or more, abound on every hand; the +willows are phenomenally-rapid growers; and +in all available space is the rank, thick-standing +growth of an annual locally styled "horse-weed," +which rears a cane-like stalk full +eighteen or twenty feet high—it has now attained +but four or five feet, but the dry stalks +of last year's growth are everywhere about, +showing what a formidable barrier to landing +these giant weeds must be in midsummer.</p> + +<p>We chose for a camping place Letart's +Island (232 miles), on the West Virginia side, +not far below Milwood. From the head, where +our tent is pitched on a sandy knoll thick-grown +to willows, a long gravel spit runs far +over toward the Ohio shore. The West Virginia +channel is narrow, slow and shallow; +that between us and Ohio has been lessened +by the island to half its usual width, and the +current sweeps by at a six-mile gait, in which +the Doctor and I found it difficult to keep our +footing while having our customary evening +dip. Our island is two long, forested humps +of sand, connected by a stretch of gravel beach, +giving every evidence of being submerged in +times of flood; everywhere are chaotic heaps +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page113" id="page113"></a>[pg 113]</span> +of driftwood, many cords in extent; derelict +trees are lodged in the tops of the highest willows +and maples—ghostly giants sprawling in +the moonlight; there is an abandon of vegetable +debris, layer after layer laid down in sandy +coverlids. Wild grasses, which flourish on all +these flooded lands, here attain enormous size. +Dispensing with our cots for the nonce, we +have spread our blankets over heaps of dried +grass pulled from the monster tufts of last +year's growth. The Ohio is capable of raising +giant floods; it is still falling with us, but there +are signs at hand, beyond the slight sprinkle +which cooled the air for us at bedtime, of +rainy weather after the long drouth. When +the feeders in the Alleghanies begin to swell, +we shall perch high o' nights.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="smcap">Near Cheshire, O.</span>, Wednesday, May +16th.—The fine current at the island gave us +a noble start this morning. The river soon +widens, but Letart's Falls, a mile or two below, +continue the movement, and we went +fairly spinning on our way. These so-called +falls, rapids rather, long possessed the imagination +of early travelers. Some of the chroniclers +have, while describing them, indulged in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page114" id="page114"></a>[pg 114]</span> +flights of fancy.<a id="footnotetag5" name="footnotetag5"></a><a href= + "#footnote5"><sup>A</sup></a> They are of slight consequence, +however, even at this low stage of +water, save to the careless canoeist who has +had no experience in rapid water, well-strewn +with sunken boulders. The scenery of the +locality is wild, and somewhat impressive. +The Ohio bank is steep and rugged, abounding +in narrow little terraces of red clay, deeply +gullied, and dotted with rough, mean shanties. +It all had a forbidding aspect, when viewed in +the blinding sun; but before we had passed, an +intervening cloud cast a deep shadow over the +scene, and, softening the effect, made the +picture more pleasing.</p> + +<p>Croghan was at Letart (1765), on one of +his land-viewing trips for the Ohio Company, +and tells us that he saw a "vast migrating +herd" of buffalo cross the river here. In the +beginning of colonization in this valley, buffalo +and elk were to be seen in herds of astonishing +size; traces of their well-beaten paths through +the hills, and toward the salt licks of Kentucky +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page115" id="page115"></a>[pg 115]</span> +and Illinois, were observable until within recent +years. Gordon, an early traveler down +the Ohio (1766), speaks of "great herds of +buffalo, we observed on the beaches of the +river and islands into which they come for air, +and coolness in the heat of the day;" he commenced +his raids on them a hundred miles +below Pittsburg. Hutchins (1778) says, "the +whole country abounds in Bears, Elks, Buffaloe, +Deer, Turkies, &c."<a id="footnotetag6" name="footnotetag6"></a><a href= + "#footnote6"><sup>B</sup></a> Bears, panthers, +wolves, eagles, and wild turkeys were indeed +very plenty at first, but soon became extinct. +The theory is advanced by Dr. Doddridge, in +his <i>Notes on Virginia</i>, that hunters' dogs introduced +hydrophobia among the wolves, and +this ridded the country of them sooner than +they would naturally have gone; but they were +still so numerous in 1817, that the traveler +Palmer heard them nightly, "barking on both +banks."</p> + +<p>Venomous serpents were also numerous in +pioneer days, and stayed longer. The story is +told of a tumulus up toward Moundsville, that +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page116" id="page116"></a>[pg 116]</span> +abounded in snakes, particularly rattlers. The +settlers thought to dig them out, but they came +to such a mass of human bones that that plan +was abandoned. Then they instituted a blockade, +by erecting a tight-board fence around +the mound, and, thus entrapping the reptiles, +extirpated the colony in a few days.</p> + +<p>Paroquets were once abundant west of the +Alleghanies, up to the southern shore of the +Great Lakes, and great flocks haunted the +salt springs; but to-day they may be found +only in the middle Southern states. There +were, in a state of nature, no crows, blackbirds, +or song-birds in this valley; they followed +in the wake of the colonist. The honey +bee came with the white man,—or rather, just +preceded him. Rats followed the first settlers, +then opossums, and fox squirrels still later. +It is thought, too, that the sand-hill and whooping +cranes, and the great blue herons which +we daily see in their stately flight, are birds of +these later days, when the neighborhood of +man has frightened away the enemies which +once kept them from thriving in the valley. +Turkey buzzards appear to remain alone of +the ancient birds; the earliest travelers note +their presence in great flocks, and to-day there +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page117" id="page117"></a>[pg 117]</span> +are few vistas open to us, without from one to +dozens of them wheeling about in mid-air, +seeking what they may devour. Public opinion +in the valley is opposed to the wanton killing +of these scavengers, so useful in a climate as +warm as this.</p> + +<p>Three miles below Letart's Rapids, is the +motley settlement of Antiquity, O., a long row +of cabins and cottages nestled at the base of a +high, vine-clad palisade, similar to that which +yesterday we visited at Long Bottom. Some +of these cliff-dwellings are picturesque, some +exhibit the prosperity of their owners, but +many are squalid. At the water's edge is that +which has given its name to the locality, an +ancient rock, which once bore some curious +Indian carving. Hall (1820) found only one +figure remaining, "a man in a sitting posture, +making a pipe;" to-day, even thus much has +been largely obliterated by the elements. But +Antiquity itself is not quite dead. There is a +ship-yard here; and a sawmill in active operation, +besides the ruins of two others.</p> + +<p>We also passed Racine (240 miles), another +Ohio town—a considerable place, no doubt, +although only the tops of the buildings were, +from the river level, to be seen above the high +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page118" id="page118"></a>[pg 118]</span> +bank; these, and an enticing view up the +wharf-street. Of more immediate interest, +just then, were the heavens, now black and +threatening. Putting in hurriedly to the West +Virginia shore, we pitched tent on a shelving +clay beach, shielded by the ever-present willows, +and in five minutes had everything under +shelter. With a rumble and bang, and a great +flurry of wind, the thunder-storm broke upon +us in full fury. There had been no time to +run a ditch around the tent, so we spread our +cargo atop of the cots. The Boy engineered +riverward the streams of water which flowed +in beneath the canvas; W——, ever practical, +caught rain from the dripping fly, and did the +family washing, while the Doctor and I prepared +a rather pasty lunch.</p> + +<p>An hour later, we bailed out Pilgrim, and +once more ventured upon our way. It is a +busy district between Racine and Sheffield +(251 miles). For eleven miles, upon the Ohio +bank, there are few breaks between the +towns,—Racine, Syracuse, Minersville, Pomeroy, +Coalport, Middleport, and Sheffield. +Coal mines and salt works abound, with other +industries interspersed; and the neighborhood +appears highly prosperous. Its metropolis is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page119" id="page119"></a>[pg 119]</span> +Pomeroy, in shape a "shoe-string" town,—much +of it not over two blocks wide, and +stretching along for two miles, at the foot of +high palisades. West Virginia is not far behind, +in enterprise, with the salt-work towns +of New Haven, Hartford, and Mason City,—bespeaking, +in their names, a Connecticut +ancestry.</p> + +<p>The afternoon sun gushed out, and the face +of Nature was cleanly beautiful, as, leaving +the convolutions of the Pomeroy Bend, we +entered upon that long river-sweep to the +south-by-southwest, which extends from Pomeroy +to the Big Sandy, a distance of sixty-eight +miles. A mile or two below Cheshire, +O. (256 miles), we put in for the night on the +West Virginia shore. There is a natural pier +of rocky ledge, above that a sloping beach of +jagged stone, and then the little grassy terrace +which we have made our home.</p> + +<p>Searching for milk and eggs, I walked along +a railway track and then up through a cornfield, +to a little log farm-house, whose broad +porch was shingled with "shakes" and shaded +by a lusty grape-vine. Fences, house, and outbuildings +had been newly whitewashed, and +there was all about an uncommon air of neatness. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page120" id="page120"></a>[pg 120]</span> +A stout little girl of eleven or twelve, +met me at the narrow gate opening through +the garden palings. It may be because a gypsying +trip like this roughens one in many +ways,—for man, with long living near to Nature's +heart, becomes of the earth, earthy,—that +she at first regarded me with suspicious +eyes, and, with one hand resting gracefully on +her hip, parleyed over the gate, as to what +price I was paying in cash, for eggs and milk, +and where I hailed from.</p> + +<p>With her wealth of blond hair done up in a +saucy knot behind; her round, honest face; +her lips thick, and parted over pearly teeth; +her nose saucily <i>retrousse</i>; and her flashing, +outspoken blue eyes, this barefooted child of +Nature had a certain air of authority, a consciousness +of power, which made her womanly +beyond her years. She must have seen that I +admired her, this little "cracker" queen, in +her clean but tattered calico frock; for her +mood soon melted, and with much grace she +ushered me within the house. Calling Sam, +an eight-year-old, to "keep the gen'lem'n comp'ny," +she prettily excused herself, and scampered +off up the hillside in search of the cows.</p> + +<p>A barefooted, loose-jointed, gaunt, sandy-haired, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page121" id="page121"></a>[pg 121]</span> +freckled, open-eyed youngster is Sam. +He came lounging into the room, and, taking +my hat, hung it on a peg above the fireplace; +then, dropping into a big rocking-chair, with +his muddy legs hanging over an arm, at once, +with a curious, old-fashioned air, began "keeping +company" by telling me of the new litter +of pigs, with as little diffidence as though I +were an old neighbor who had dropped in on +the way to the cross-roads. "And thet thar +new Shanghai rooster, mister, ain't he a beauty? +He cost a dollar, he did—a dollar in silver, +sir!"</p> + +<p>There was no difficulty in drawing Sam +out. He is frankness itself. What was he +going to make of himself? Well, he "'lowed" +he wanted to be either a locomotive engineer +or a steamboat captain—hadn't made up his +mind which. "But whatever a boy wants +to be, he will be!" said Sam, with the decided +tone of a man of the world, who had seen +things. I asked Sam what the attractions +were in the life of an engine driver. He +"'lowed" they went so fast through the world, +and saw so many different people; and in +their lifetime served on different roads, maybe, +and surely they must meet with some excitement. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page122" id="page122"></a>[pg 122]</span> +And in that of a steamboat captain? +"Oh! now yew're talk'n', mister! A right +smart business, thet! A boss'n' o' people +'round, a seein' o' th' world, and noth'n' 't all +to do! Now, that's right smart, I take it!" +It was plain where his heart lay. He saw the +steamers pass the farm daily, and once he +had watched one unload at Point Pleasant—well, +that was the life for him! Sam will +have to be up and doing, if he is to be the +monarch of a stern-wheeler on the Ohio; but +many another "cracker" boy has attained +this exalted station, and Sam is of the sort to +win his way.</p> + +<p>Soon the kine came lowing into the yard, +and my piquant young friend who had met +me at the gate stood in the doorway talking +with us both, while their brother Charley, an +awkward, self-conscious lad of ten, took my +pail and milked into it the required two +quarts. It is a large, square room, where I +was so agreeably entertained. The well-chinked +logs are scrupulously whitewashed; +the parental bed, with gay pillow shams, +bought from a peddler, occupies one corner; +a huge brick fireplace opens black and yawning, +into the base of a great cobblestone +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page123" id="page123"></a>[pg 123]</span> +chimney reared against the house without, +after the fashion of the country; on pegs +about, hang the best clothes of the family; +while a sewing-machine, a deal table, a cheap +little mirror as big as my palm, a few unframed +chromos, and a gaudy "Family Record" +chart hung in an old looking-glass +frame,—with appropriate holes for tintypes of +father, mother and children,—complete the +furnishings of the apartment, which is parlor, +sitting-room, dining-room, and bedroom all in +one.</p> + +<p>My little queen was evidently proud of her +throne-room, and noted with satisfaction my +interest in the Family Record. When I had +paid her for butter and eggs, at retail rates, +she threw in an extra egg, and, despite my +protests, would have Charley take the pail out +to the cow, "for an extra squirt or two, for +good measure!"</p> + +<p>I was bidding them all good-bye, and the +queen was pressing me to come again in the +morning "fer more stuff, ef ye 'lowed yew +wanted any," when the mother of the little +brood appeared from over the fields, where +she had been to carry water to her lord. A +fair, intelligent, rather fine-looking woman, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page124" id="page124"></a>[pg 124]</span> +but barefooted like the rest; from her neck +behind, dangled a red sunbonnet, and a +sunny-haired child of five was in her arms—"sort +o' weak in her lungs, poor thing!" she +sadly said, as I snapped my fingers at the +smiling tot. I tarried a moment with the +good mother, as, sitting upon the porch, she +serenely smiled upon her children, whose eyes +were now lit with responsive love; and I +wondered if there were not some romance +hidden here, whereby a dash of gentler blood +had through this sweet-tempered woman been +infused into the coarse clay of the bottom.</p> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote5" name="footnote5"></a><b>Footnote A:</b><a href="#footnotetag5"> (return) </a><p>Notably, Ashe's <i>Travels</i>; but Palmer, while saying that +"they are the only obstruction to the navigation of the Ohio, +except the rapids at Louisville," declares them to be of slight +difficulty, and, referring to Ashe's account, says, "Like great +part of his book, it is all romance."</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote6" name="footnote6"></a><b>Footnote B:</b><a href="#footnotetag6"> (return) </a><p>The last buffalo on record, in the Upper Ohio region, +was killed in the Great Kanawha Valley, a dozen miles from +Charleston, W. Va., in 1815. Five years later, in the same +vicinity, was killed probably the last elk seen east of the Ohio.</p></blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page125" id="page125"></a>[pg 125]</span> + + + + +<h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + + +<h4>Battle of Point Pleasant—The story of +Gallipolis—Rosebud—Huntington—The +genesis of a house-boater.</h4> + + + +<p><span class="smcap">Near Glenwood, W. Va.</span>, Thursday, May +17th.—By eight o'clock this morning we were +in Point Pleasant, W. Va., at the mouth of +the Great Kanawha River (263 miles). Céloron +was here, the eighteenth of August, 1749, +and on the east bank of the river, the site of +the present village, buried at the foot of an +elm one of his leaden plates asserting the claim +of France to the Ohio basin. Ninety-seven +years later, a boy unearthed this interesting +but futile proclamation, and it rests to-day in +the museum of the Virginia Historical Society.</p> + +<p>The Great Kanawha Valley long had a +romantic interest for Englishmen concerned +in Western lands. It was in the grant to +the old Ohio Company; but that corporation, +handicapped in many ways, was practically +dead by the time of Lord Dunmore's war. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page126" id="page126"></a>[pg 126]</span> +It had many rivals, more or less ephemeral, +among them the scheme of George Mercer +(1773) to have the territory between the Alleghanies +and the Ohio—the West Virginia of +to-day—erected into the "Province of Vandalia," +with himself as governor, and his capital +at the mouth of the Great Kanawha. +Washington owned a ten-thousand-acre tract +on both sides of the river, commencing a +short distance above the mouth, which he +surveyed in person, in October, 1770; and in +1773 we find him advertising to sell or lease +it; among the inducements he offered was, +"the scheme for establishing a new government +on the Ohio," and the contiguity of his +lands "to the seat of government, which, it is +more than probable, will be fixed at the +mouth of the Great Kanawha." Had not the +Revolution broken out, and nipped this and +many another budding plan for Western colonization, +there is little doubt that what we +call West Virginia would have been established +as a state, a century earlier than it +was.<a id="footnotetag7" name="footnotetag7"></a><a href= + "#footnote7"><sup>A</sup></a> +</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page127" id="page127"></a>[pg 127]</span> + +<p>A few days ago we were at Mingo Bottom, +where lived Chief Logan, whose family were +treacherously slaughtered by border ruffians +(1774). The Mingos, ablaze with the fire of +vengeance, carried the war-pipe through the +neighboring villages; runners were sent in +every direction to rouse the tribes; tomahawks +were unearthed, war-posts were planted; messages +of defiance sent to the Virginians; and +in a few days Lord Dunmore's war was in full +swing, from Cumberland Gap to Fort Pitt, +from the Alleghanies to the Wabash.</p> + +<p>His lordship, then governor of Virginia, was +full of energy, and proved himself a competent +military manager. The settlers were organized; +the rude log forts were garrisoned; +forays were made against the Indian villages +as far away as Muskingum, and an army of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page128" id="page128"></a>[pg 128]</span> +nearly three thousand backwoodsmen, armed +with smooth-bores and clad in fringed buckskin +hunting-shirts, was put in the field.</p> + +<p>One division of this army, eleven hundred +strong, under Gen. Andrew Lewis, descended +the Great Kanawha River, and on Point Pleasant +met Cornstalk, a famous Shawnee chief, +who, while at first peaceful, had by the +Logan tragedy been made a fierce enemy of +the whites, and was now the leader of a thousand +picked warriors, gathered from all parts +of the Northwest. On the 10th of October, +from dawn until dusk, was here waged in a +gloomy forest one of the most bloody and stubborn +hand-to-hand battles ever fought between +Indians and whites—especially notable, too, +because for the first time the rivals were about +equal in number. The combatants stood behind +trees, in Indian fashion, and it is hard to +say who displayed the best generalship, Cornstalk +or Lewis.<a id="footnotetag8" name="footnotetag8"></a><a href= + "#footnote8"><sup>B</sup></a> + When the pall of night +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page129" id="page129"></a>[pg 129]</span> +covered the hideous contest, the whites had lost +one-fifth of their number, while the savages +had sustained but half as many casualties. +Cornstalk's followers had had enough, however, +and withdrew before daylight, leaving +the field to the Americans.</p> + +<p>A few days later, General Lewis joined +Lord Dunmore—who headed the other wing +of the army, which had proceeded by the way +of Forts Pitt and Gower—on the Pickaway +plains, in Ohio; and there a treaty was made +with the Indians, who assented to every proposition +made them. They surrendered all +claim to lands south of the Ohio River, returned +their white prisoners and stolen horses, +and gave hostages for future good behavior.</p> + +<p>Here at Point Pleasant, a year later, Fort +Randolph was built, and garrisoned by a hundred +men; for, despite the treaty, the Indians +were still troublesome. For a long time, +Pittsburg, Redstone, and Randolph were the +only garrisoned forts on the frontier. The +Point Pleasant of to-day is a dull, sleepy town +of twenty-five hundred inhabitants, with that +unkempt air and preponderance of lounging +negroes, so common to small Southern communities. +The bottom is rolling, fringed with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page130" id="page130"></a>[pg 130]</span> +large hills, and on the Ohio side drops suddenly +for fifty feet to a shelving beach of gravel and +clay. Crooked Creek, in whose narrow, winding +valley some of the severest fighting was +had, empties into the Kanawha a half-mile up +the stream, at the back of the town. It was +painful to meet several men of intelligence, +who had long been engaged in trade here, to +whom the Battle of Point Pleasant was a +shadowy event, whose date they could not fix, +nor whose importance understand; it seemed +to be little more a part of their lives, than an +obscure contest between Matabeles and whites, +in far-off Africa. It is time that our Western +and Southern folk were awakened to an appreciation +of the fact that they have a history +at their doors, quite as significant in the annals +of civilization as that which induces pilgrimages +to Ticonderoga and Bunker Hill.</p> + +<p>Four miles below, Pilgrim was beached for +a time at Gallipolis, O. (267 miles), which has +a story all its own. The district belonged, a +century ago, to the Scioto Company, an offshoot +of the Marietta enterprise. Joel Barlow, +the "poet of the Revolution," was sent to +Paris (May, 1788) as agent for the sale of +lands. As the result of his personal popularity +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page131" id="page131"></a>[pg 131]</span> +there, and his flaming immigration circulars +and maps, he disposed of a hundred thousand +acres; to settle on which, six hundred French +emigrants sailed for America, in February, +1790. They were peculiarly unsuited for colonization, +even under the most favorable conditions—being +in the main physicians, jewelers +and other artisans, a few mechanics, and +noblemen's servants, while many were without +trade or profession.</p> + +<p>Upon arrival in Alexandria, Va., they found +that their deeds were valueless, the land never +having been paid for by the Scioto speculators; +moreover, the tract was filled with hostile Indians. +However, five hundred of them pushed +on to the region, by way of Redstone, and +reached here by flatboat, in a destitute condition. +The Marietta neighbors were as kind as +circumstances would allow, and cabins were +built for them on what is now the Public Square +of Gallipolis. But they were ignorant of the +first principles of forestry or gardening; the +initial winter was exceptionally severe, Indian +forays sapped the life of the colony, yellow +fever decimated the survivors; and, altogether, +the little settlement suffered a series of disasters +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page132" id="page132"></a>[pg 132]</span> +almost unparalleled in the story of American +colonization.</p> + +<p>Although finally reimbursed by Congress +with a special land grant, the emigrants gradually +died off, until now, so at least we were +assured, but three families of descendants of +the original Gauls are now living here. It was +the American element, aided by sturdy Germans, +who in time took hold of the decayed +French settlement, and built up the prosperous +little town of six thousand inhabitants which +we find to-day. It is a conservative town, +with little perceptible increase in population; +but there are many fine brick blocks, the stores +have large stocks attractively displayed, and +there is in general a comfortable tone about +the place, which pleases a stranger. The +Public Square, where the first Gauls had their +little forted town, appears to occupy the space +of three or four city blocks; there is the customary +band-stand in the center, and seats +plentifully provided along the graveled walks +which divide neat plots of grass. Over the +riverward entrance to the square, is an arch of +gas-pipe, perforated for illumination, and bearing +the dates, "1790-1890,"—a relic, this, of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page133" id="page133"></a>[pg 133]</span> +the centennial which Gallipolis celebrated in +the last-named year.</p> + +<p>It was with some difficulty that we found a +camping-place, this evening. For several +miles, the approaches were nearly knee-deep in +mud for a dozen feet back from the water's edge, +or else the banks were too steep, or the farmers +had cultivated so closely to the brink as to +leave us no room for the tent. In one gruesome +spot on the Ohio bank, where a projecting +log fortunately served as a pier, the Doctor +landed for a prospecting tour; while I ascended +a zigzag path, through steep and rugged land, +to a nest of squalid cabins perched by a shabby +hillside road. A vicious dog came down to +meet me half-way, and might have succeeded +in carrying off a portion of my clothing had +not his owner whistled him back.</p> + +<p>A queer, dingy, human wasp-nest, this dirty +little shanty hamlet of Rosebud. Pigs and +children wallowed in comradeship, and as every +cabin on the precipitous slope necessarily has +a basement, this is used as the common barn +for chickens, goats, pigs, and cow. It was +pleasant to find that there was no sweet milk +to be had in Rosebud, for it is kept in open +pans, in these fetid rooms, and soon sours—and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page134" id="page134"></a>[pg 134]</span> +the cows had not yet come down from the +hills. Water, too, was at a premium. There +was none to be had, save what had fallen from +the clouds, and been stored in a foul cistern, +which seemed common property. I drew a +pailful of it, not to displease the disheveled +group which surrounded me, full of questions; +but on the first turning in the lane, emptied +the vessel upon the back of a pig, which was +darting by with murderous squeal.</p> + +<p>The long twilight was well nigh spent, when, +on the Ohio side a mile or two above Glenwood, +W. Va. (287 miles), we came upon a +wide, level beach of gravel, below a sloping, +willowed terrace, above which sharply rose +the "second bottom." Ascending an angling +farm roadway, while the others pitched camp, +I walked over the undulating bottom to the +nearest of a group of small, neat farmhouses, +and applied for milk. While a buxom maid +went out and milked a Jersey, that had chanced +to come home ahead of her fellows, I sat on +the rear porch gossiping with the farm-wife—a +Pennsylvania-Dutch dame of ample proportions, +attired in light-blue calico, and with +huge spectacles over her broad, flat nose. +She and her "man" own a hundred and fifty +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page135" id="page135"></a>[pg 135]</span> +acres on the bottom, with three cows and other +stock in proportion, and sell butter to those +neighbors who have no cows, and to houseboat +people. As for these latter, though they +were her customers, she had none too good an +opinion of them; they pretended to fish, but +in reality only picked up a living from the +farmers; nevertheless, she did know of some +"weakly, delicate people" who had taken to +boat life for economy's sake, and because an +invalid could at least fish, and his family help +him at it.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="smcap">Near Huntington, W. Va.</span>, Friday, May +18th.—Backed by ravine-grooved hills, and +edged at the waterside with great picturesque +boulders, planed and polished by the ever-rushing +river, the little bottom farms along our +path to-day are pretty bits. But the houses +are the reverse of this, having much the aspect +of slave-cabins of the olden time—small, one-story, +log and frame shanties, roof and gables +shingled with "shakes," and little vegetable +gardens inclosed by palings. The majority of +these small farmers—whose tracts seldom exceed +a hundred acres—rent their land, rather +than own it. The plan seems to be half-and-half +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page136" id="page136"></a>[pg 136]</span> +as to crops, with a rental fee for house +and pasturage. One man, having a hundred-and-twenty +acres, told me he paid three dollars +a month for his house, and for pasturage a +dollar a month per head.</p> + +<p>We were in several of the small towns to-day. +At Millersport, O. (293 miles), while +W—— and the Doctor were up town, the Boy +and I remained at the wharf-boat to talk with +the owner. The wharf-boat is a conspicuous +object at every landing of importance, being a +covered barge used as a storehouse for coming +and going steamboat freight. It is a private +enterprise, for public convenience, with certain +monopolistic privileges at the incorporated +towns. This Millersport boat cost twelve hundred +dollars; the proprietor charges twenty per +cent of each freight-bill, for handling and storing +goods, a fee of twenty-five cents for each +steamer that lands, and certain special fees +for live stock. Athalia, Haskellville and +Guyandotte were other representative towns. +Stave-making appears to be the chief industry, +and, as timber is getting scarce, the communities +show signs of decay.</p> + +<p>We had been told, above, that Huntington, +W. Va. (306 miles), was "a right smart chunk +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page137" id="page137"></a>[pg 137]</span> +of a town." And it is. There are sixteen +thousand people here, in a finely-built city +spread over a broad, flat plain. Brick and +stone business buildings abound; the broad +streets are paved with brick, and an electric-car +line runs out along the bottom, through +the suburb of Ceredo, W. Va., to Catlettsburg, +Ky., nine miles away. Huntington +is the center of a large group of riverside towns +supported by iron-making and other industries—Guyandotte +and Ceredo, in West Virginia; +Catlettsburg, just over the border in +Kentucky; and Proctorville, Broderickville, +Frampton, Burlington, and South Point, on +the opposite shore.</p> + +<p>We are camping to-night in the dense willow +grove which lines the West Virginia beach +from Huntington to the Big Sandy. Above +us, on the wide terrace, are fields and orchards, +beyond which we occasionally hear the gong +of electric cars. A public path runs by the +tent, leading from the lower settlements into +Huntington. Among our visitors have been +two houseboat men, whose craft is moored a +quarter of a mile below. One of them is tall, +thick-set, forty, with a round, florid face, and +huge mustaches,—evidently a jolly fellow at +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page138" id="page138"></a>[pg 138]</span> +his best, despite a certain dubious, piratical +air; a jaunty, narrow-brimmed straw hat is +perched over one ear, to add to the general +effect; and between his teeth a corn-cob pipe. +His younger companion is medium-sized, slim, +and loose-jointed, with a baggy gait, his cap +thrown over his head, with the visor in the +rear—a rustic clown, not yet outgrown his +freckles. But three weeks from the parental +farm in Putnam County, Ky., the world is as +yet a romance to him. The fellow is interesting, +because in him can be seen the genesis +of a considerable element of the houseboat +fraternity. I wonder how long it will be before +his partner has him broken in as a river-pirate +of the first water.</p> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote7" name="footnote7"></a><b>Footnote A:</b><a href="#footnotetag7"> (return) </a><p>Washington was much interested in a plan to connect, +by a canal, the James and Great Kanawha Rivers, separated +at their sources by a portage of but a few miles in length. +The distance from Point Pleasant to Richmond is 485 miles. +In 1785, Virginia incorporated the James River Company, +of which Washington was the first president. The project +hung fire, because of "party spirit and sectional jealousies," +until 1832, when a new company was incorporated, under +which the James was improved (1836-53), but the Kanawha +was untouched. In 1874, United States engineers presented +a plan calling for an expenditure of sixty millions, but there +the matter rests. The Kanawha is navigable by large +steamers for sixty miles, up to the falls at Charleston, and +beyond almost to its source, by light craft.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote8" name="footnote8"></a><b>Footnote B:</b><a href="#footnotetag8"> (return) </a><p>Hall, in <i>Romance of Western History</i> (1820), says +that when Washington was tendered command of the Revolutionary +army, he replied that it should rather be given to +Gen. Andrew Lewis, of whose military abilities he had a +high opinion. Lewis was a captain in the Little Meadows +affair (1752), and a companion of Washington in Braddock's +defeat (1755).</p></blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page139" id="page139"></a>[pg 139]</span> + + + + +<h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + + +<h4>In a fog—The Big Sandy—Rainy weather—Operatic +gypsies—An ancient tavern.</h4> + + + +<p><span class="smcap">Ironton, O.</span>, Saturday, May 19th.—When +we turned in, last night, it was refreshingly +cool. Heavy clouds were scurrying across the +face of the moon. By midnight, a copious +rain was falling, wind-gusts were flapping our +roof, and a sudden drop in temperature rendered +sadly inadequate all the clothing we +could muster into service. We slept late, in +consequence, and, after rigging a wind-break +with the rubber blankets, during breakfast +huddled around the stove which had been +brought in to replace Pilgrim under the fly. +When, at half-past nine, we pushed off, our +houseboat neighbors thrust their heads from +the window and waved us farewell.</p> + +<p>A dense fog hung like a cloud over land and +river. There was a stiff north-east wind, +which we avoided by seeking the Ohio shore, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page140" id="page140"></a>[pg 140]</span> +where the high hills formed a break; there +too, the current was swift, and carried us +down right merrily. Shattered by the wind, +great banks of fog rolled up stream, sometimes +enveloping us so as to narrow our view to a +radius of a dozen rods,—again, through the +rifts, giving us momentary glimpses on the +right, of rich green hills, towering dark and +steep above us, iridescent with browns, and +grays, and many shades of green; of whitewashed +cabins, single or in groups, standing +out with startling distinctness from sombre +backgrounds; of houseboats, many-hued, +moored to willowed banks or bolstered high +upon shaly beaches; of the opposite bottom, +with its corrugated cliff of clay; and, now and +then, a slowly-puffing steamboat cautiously +feeling its way through the chilling gloom—a +monster to be avoided by little Pilgrim and her +crew, for the possibility of being run down in +a fog is not pleasant to contemplate. On +board one of these steamers was a sorry company—apparently +a Sunday-school excursion. +Children in gala dress huddled in swarms on +the lee of the great smoke-stacks, and in imagination +we heard their teeth chatter as they +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page141" id="page141"></a>[pg 141]</span> +glided by us and in another moment were engulfed +in the mist.</p> + +<p>We catch sight for a moment, through a +cloud crevasse, of Ceredo, the last town in +West Virginia—a small saw-milling community +stuck upon the edge of the clay cliff, with +the broad level bottom stretching out behind +like a prairie. A giant railway bridge here +spans the Ohio—a weird, impressive thing, as +we sweep under it in the swirling current, and +crane our necks to see the great stone piers +lose themselves in the cloud. But the Big +Sandy River (315 miles), which divides West +Virginia and Kentucky, was wholly lost to +view. In an opening a few moments later, +however, we had a glimpse of the dark line of +her valley, below which the hills again descend +to the Ohio's bank.</p> + +<p>Catlettsburg, the first Kentucky town, is at +the junction, and extends along the foot of +the ridge for a mile or two, apparently not +over two blocks wide, with a few outlying +shanties on the shoulders of the uplands. +Washington was surveying here, on the Big +Sandy, in 1770, and entered for one John Fry +2,084 acres round the site of Louisa, a dozen +miles up the river; this was the first survey +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page142" id="page142"></a>[pg 142]</span> +made in Kentucky—but a few months later +than Boone's first advent as a hunter on the +"dark and bloody ground," and five years +before the first permanent settlement in the +State. Washington deserves to be remembered +as a Kentucky pioneer.</p> + +<p>We have not only steamers to avoid,—they +appear to be unusually numerous about here,—but +snags as well. With care, the whereabouts +of a steamer can be distinguished as it steals +upon us, from the superior whiteness of its column +of "exhaust," penetrating the bank of +dark gray fog; and occasionally the echoes +are awakened by the burly roar of its whistle, +which, in times like this, acts as a fog-horn. +But the snag is an insidious enemy, not revealing +itself until we are within a rod or two, +and then there is a quick cry of warning from +the stern sheets—"Hard a-port!" or "Starboard, +quick!" and only a strong side-pull, +aided by W——'s paddle, sends us free from the +jagged, branching mass which might readily +have swamped poor Pilgrim had she taken it +at full tilt.</p> + +<p>At Ashland, Ky. (320 miles), we stopped +for supplies. There are six thousand inhabitants +here, with some good buildings and a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page143" id="page143"></a>[pg 143]</span> +fine, broad, stone wharf, but it is rather a dingy +place. The steamer "Bonanza" had just +landed. On the double row of flaggings leading +up to the summit of the bank, were two +ant-like processions of Kentucky folk—one, +leisurely climbing townward with their bags +and bundles, the other hurrying down with +theirs to the boat, which was ringing its bell, +blowing off steam, and in other ways creating +an uproar which seemed to turn the heads of +the negro roustabouts and draymen, who +bustled around with a great chatter and much +false motion. The railway may be doing the +bulk of the business, but it does it unostentatiously; +the steamboat makes far more disturbance +in the world, and is a finer spectacle. +Dozens of boys are lounging at the wharf +foot, watching the lively scene with fascinated +eyes, probably every one of them stoutly possessed +of an ambition akin to that of my +young friend in the Cheshire Bottom.</p> + +<p>A rain-storm broke the fog—a cold, raw, +miserable rain. No clothing we could don +appeared to suffice against the chill; and so at +last we pitched camp upon the Ohio shore, +three miles above the Ironton wharf (325 +miles). It is a muddy, dreary nest up here, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page144" id="page144"></a>[pg 144]</span> +among the dripping willows. Just behind us +on the slope, is the inclined track of the Norfolk +& Western railway-transfer, down which +trains are slid to a huge slip, and thence ferried +over the river into Kentucky; above that, on a +narrow terrace, is an ordinary railway line; and +still higher, up a slippery clay bank, lies the +cottage-strewn bottom which stretches on into +Ironton (13,000 inhabitants).</p> + +<p>We were a sorry-looking party, at lunch this +noon, hovering over the smoking stove which +was set in the tent door, with a wind-screen +in front, and moist bedding hung all about in +the vain hope of drying it in the feeble heat. +And sorrier still, through the long afternoon, +as, each encased in a sleeping-bag, we sat upon +our cots circling around the stove, W—— reading +to us between chattering teeth from Barrie's +<i>When a Man's Single</i>. 'Tis good Scottish +weather we're having; but somehow our +thoughts could not rest on Thrums, and we +were, for the nonce, a wee bit miserable.</p> + +<p>Dinner degenerated into a smoky bite, and +then at dusk there was a council of war. The +air hangs thick with moisture, our possessions +are in various stages from damp to sopping +wet, and efforts at drying over the little stove +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page145" id="page145"></a>[pg 145]</span> +are futile under such conditions. It was demonstrated +that there was not bed-clothing +enough, in such an emergency as this; indeed, +an inspection of that which was merely damp, +revealed the fact that but one person could +be made comfortable to-night. Our bachelor +Doctor volunteered to be that one. So we +bade him God-speed, and with toilet bag in +hand I led my little family up a tortuous path, +so slippery in the rain that we were obliged in +our muddy climb to cling to grass-clumps and +bushes. And thus, wet and bedraggled, did +we sally forth upon the Ironton Bottom, seeking +shelter for the night.</p> + +<p>Fortunately we had not far to seek. A +kindly family took us in, despite our gruesome +aspect and our unlikely story—for what manner +of folk are we, that go trapesing about in +a skiff, in such weather as this, coming from +nobody knows where and camping o' nights in +the muddy river bottoms? Instead of sending +us on, in the drenching rain, to a hotel, three +miles down the road, or offering us a ticket on +the Associated Charities, these blessed people +open their hearts and their beds to us, without +question, and what more can weary pilgrims +pray for?</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page146" id="page146"></a>[pg 146]</span> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sciotoville, O.</span>, Sunday, May 20th.—After +breakfast, and settling our modest score, we +rejoined the Doctor, and at ten o'clock pulled +out again; being bidden good-bye at the landing, +by the children of our hostess, who had +sent us by them a bottle of fresh milk as a +parting gift.</p> + +<p>It had rained almost continuously, throughout +the night. To-day we have a dark gray +sky, with fickle winds. A charming color +study, all along our path; the reds and grays +and yellows of the high clay-banks which edge +the reciprocating bottoms, the browns and +yellows of hillside fields, the deep greens of +forest verdure, the vivid white of bankside +cabins, and, in the background of each new +vista, bold headlands veiled in blue. W—— +and the Boy are in the stern sheets, wrapped +in blankets, for there is a smart chill in the air, +and we at the oars pull lively for warmth. In +our twisting course, sometimes we have a +favoring breeze, and the Doctor rears the sail; +but it is a brief delight, for the next turn brings +the wind in our teeth, and we set to the blades +with renewed energy. In the main, we make +good time. The sugar-loaf hills, with their +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page147" id="page147"></a>[pg 147]</span> +castellated escarpments, go marching by with +stately sweep.</p> + +<p>Greenup Court House (334 miles) is a bright +little Kentucky county-seat, well-built at the +feet of thickly-forested uplands. At the lower +end of the village, the Little Sandy enters +through a wooded dale, which near the mouth +opens into a broad meadow. Not many miles +below, is a high sloping beach, picturesquely +bestrewn with gigantic boulders which have in +ages past rolled down from the hill-tops above. +Here, among the rocks, we again set up a rude +screen from the still piercing wind; and, each +wrapped in a gay blanket, lunch as operatic +gypsies might, in a romantic glen, enjoying +mightily our steaming chocolate, and the +warmth of our friendly stove—for dessert, +taking a merry scamper for flowers, over the +ragged ascent from whence the boulders came. +Everywhere about is the trumpet creeper, but +not yet in bloom. The Indian turnip is in +blossom here, and so the smaller Solomon's +seal, yellow spikes of toad-flax, blue and pink +phlox, glossy May apple; high up on the hillside, +the fire pink and wintergreen; and, down +by the sandy shore, great beds of blue wild +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page148" id="page148"></a>[pg 148]</span> +lupin, and occasionally stately spikes of the +familiar moth mullein.</p> + +<p>With the temperature falling rapidly, and a +drizzling rain taking the starch out of our enthusiasm, +we early sought a camping ground. +For miles along here, springs ooze from the +base of the high clay bank walling in the wide +and rocky Ohio beach, and dry spots are few +and far between. We found one, however, a +half mile above Little Scioto River (346 +miles),<a id="footnotetag9" name="footnotetag9"></a><a href= + "#footnote9"><sup>A</sup></a> with drift-wood enough to furnish us +for years, and the beach thick-strewn with fossils +of a considerable variety of small bivalves, +which latter greatly delighted the Doctor and +the Boy, who have brought enough specimens +to the tent door to stock a college museum.</p> + +<p>Dinner over, the crew hauled Pilgrim under +cover, and within prepared for her sailing-master +a cosy bed, with the entire ship's stock +of sleeping-bags and blankets. W——, the Boy, +and I then started off to find quarters in Sciotoville +(1,000 inhabitants), which lies just +below the river's mouth, here a dozen rods +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page149" id="page149"></a>[pg 149]</span> +wide. Scrambling up the slimy bank, through +a maze of thorn trees, brambles, and sycamore +scrubs, we gained the fertile bottom above, all +luscious with tall grasses bespangled with wild +red roses and the showy pentstemon. The +country road leading into the village is some +distance inland, but at last we found it just +beyond a patch of Indian corn waist high, and +followed it, through a covered bridge, and +down to a little hotel at the lower end of town.</p> + +<p>A quaint, old-fashioned house, the Sciotoville +tavern, with an inner gallery looking out +into a small garden of peaches, apples, pears, +plums, and grapes—a famous grape country +this, by the way. In our room, opening from +the gallery, is an antique high-post bedstead; +everywhere about are similar relics of an early +day. In keeping with the air of serene old +age, which pervades the hostelry, is the white-haired +landlady herself. In well-starched +apron, white cap, and gold-rimmed glasses, +she benignly sits rocking by the office stove, +her feet on the fender, reading Wallace's +<i>Prince of India</i>; and looking, for all the world, +as if she had just stepped out of some old +portrait of—well, of a tavern-keeping Martha +Washington.</p> + + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote9" name="footnote9"></a><b>Footnote A:</b><a href="#footnotetag9"> (return) </a><p>Two miles up the Little Scioto, Pine Creek enters. Perhaps +a mile and a half up this creek was, in 1771, a Mingo +town called Horse Head Bottom, which cuts some figure in +border history as a nest of Indian marauders.</p></blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page150" id="page150"></a>[pg 150]</span> + + + + +<h2>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + + +<h4>The Scioto, and the Shawanese—A night +at Rome—Limestone—Keels, flats, and +boatmen of the olden time.</h4> + + + +<p><span class="smcap">Rome, O.</span>, Monday, May 21st.—At intervals +through the night, rain fell, and the temperature +was but 46° at sunrise. However, +by the time we were afloat, the sun was fitfully +gleaming through masses of gray cloud, +for a time giving promise of a warmer day. +Dark shadows rested on the romantic ravines, +and on the deep hollows of the hills; but elsewhere +over this gentle landscape of wooded +amphitheatres, broad green meadows, rocky +escarpments, and many-colored fields, light +and shade gayly chased each other. Never +were the vistas of the widening river more +beautiful than to-day.</p> + +<p>There are saw-mill and fire-brick industries +in the little towns, which would be shabby +enough in the full glare of day. But they are +all glorified in this changing light, which +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page151" id="page151"></a>[pg 151]</span> +brings out the rich yellows and reds in sharp +relief against the gloomy background of the +hills, and mellows into loveliness the soft +grays of unpainted wood.</p> + +<p>At the mouth of the Scioto (354 miles), is +Portsmouth, O. (15,000 inhabitants), a well-built, +substantial town, with good shops. It lies +on a hill-backed terrace some forty feet above +the level of the neighboring bottoms, which +give evidence of being victims of the high +floods periodically covering the low lands +about the junction of the rivers. Just across +the Scioto is Alexandria, and on the Kentucky +side of the Ohio can be seen the white hamlet +of Springville, at the feet of the dentated hills +which here closely approach the river.</p> + +<p>The country about the mouth of the Scioto +has long figured in Western annals. Being a +favorite rendezvous for the Shawanese, it naturally +became a resort for French and English +fur-traders. The principal part of the +first Shawanese village—Shannoah Town, in +the old journals—was below the Scioto's +mouth, on the site of Alexandria; it was the +chief town of this considerable tribe, and here +Gist was warned back, when in March, 1751, +he ventured thus far while inspecting lands for +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page152" id="page152"></a>[pg 152]</span> +the Ohio Company. Two years later, there +was a great—perhaps an unprecedented—flood +in the Ohio, the water rising fifty feet above +the ordinary level, and destroying the larger +part of the Shawanese village. Some of the +Indians moved to the Little Miami, and others +up the Scioto, where they built, successively, +Old and New Chillicothe; but the majority +remained, and rebuilt their town on the higher +land north of the Scioto, where Portsmouth +now stands. An outlying band had had, from +before Gist's day, a small town across the +Ohio, the site of Springville; and it was here +that George Croghan had his stone trading +house, which was doubtless, after the manner +of the times, a frontier fortress. In the +French and Indian war (1758), the Shawanese, +tiring of continual conflict, withdrew from +their Ohio River settlements to Old (or Upper) +Chillicothe, and thus closed the once important +fur-trade at the mouth of the Scioto. +It was while the Indian town at Portsmouth +was still new (1755), that a party of Shawanese +brought here a Mrs. Mary Inglis, whom +they had captured while upon a scalping foray +into Southwestern Virginia. The story of the +remarkable escape of this woman, at Big +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page153" id="page153"></a>[pg 153]</span> +Bone Lick, of her long and terrible flight +through the wilderness along the southern +bank of the Ohio and up the Great Kanawha +Valley, and her final return to home and kindred, +who viewed her as one delivered from +the grave, is one of the most thrilling in Western +history.<a id="footnotetag10" name="footnotetag10"></a><a href= + "#footnote10"><sup>A</sup></a></p> + +<p>Although the Shawanese had removed from +their villages on the Ohio, they still lived in +new towns in the north, within easy striking +distance of the great river; and, until the +close of the eighteenth century, were a continual +source of alarm to those whose business +led them to follow this otherwise inviting +highway to the continental interior. Flatboats +bearing traders, immigrants, and travelers +were frequently waylaid by the savages, +who exhausted a fertile ingenuity in luring +their victims to an ambuscade ashore; and, +when not successful in this, would in narrow +channels, or when the current swept the craft +near land, subject the voyagers to a fierce fusilade +of bullets, against which even stout plank +barricades proved of small avail.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page154" id="page154"></a>[pg 154]</span> + +<p>Vanceburgh, Ky. (375 miles), is a little town +at the bottom of a pretty amphitheatre of +hills. There was a floating photographer +there, as we passed, with a gang-plank run +out to the shore, and framed specimens of his +work hung along the town side of his ample +barge. Men with teams were getting wagon-loads +of sand from the beach, for building +purposes. And, a mile or two down, a floating +saw and planing-mill—the "Clipper," +which we had seen before, up river—was +busied upon logs which were being rolled down +the beach from the bank above. There are +several such mills upon the river, all seemingly +occupied with "tramp work," for there +is a deal of logging carried on, in a small and +careful way, by farmers living on these wooded +hills.</p> + +<p>Vanceburgh was for the time bathed in +sunlight; but, as we continued on our way, a +heavy rain-cloud came creeping up over the +dark Ohio hills, and, descending, cut off our +view, at last lustily pelting us as we sat encased +in rubber. We had been in our ponchos +most of the day, as much for warmth as +for shelter; for there was an all-pervading +chill, which the fickle sun, breaking its early +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page155" id="page155"></a>[pg 155]</span> +promise, had failed to dissipate. Thus, amid +showers alternating with sunbeams, we proceeded +unto Rome (381 miles). An Ohio +village, this Rome, and so fallen from its once +proud estate that its postoffice no longer bears +the name—it is simply "Stout's," if, in these +degenerate days, you would send a letter +hither.</p> + +<p>It was smartly raining, when we put in on +the stony beach above Rome. The tent went +up in a hurry, and under it the cargo; but by +the time all was housed the sun gushed out +again, and, stretching a line, we soon had our +bedding hung to dry. It is a charming situation; +in this melting atmosphere, we have +perhaps the most striking effects of cloud, hill, +bottom, islands, and glancing river, which +have yet been vouchsafed us.</p> + +<p>The Romans, like most rural folk along the +river below Wheeling, chiefly drink cistern +water. Earlier in our pilgrimage, we stoutly +declined to patronize these rain-water reservoirs, +and I would daily go far afield in search +of a well; but lately, necessity has driven us +to accept the cistern, and often we find it +even preferable to the well, on those rare occasions +when the latter can be found at +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page156" id="page156"></a>[pg 156]</span> +villages or farm-houses. But there are cisterns +and cisterns—foul holes like that at Rosebud, +others that are neatness itself, with all manner +of grades between. As for river water, +ever yellow with clay, and thick as to motes, +much of it is used in the country parts. This +morning, a bevy of negroes came down the +bank from a Kentucky field; and each in turn, +creeping out on a drift log,—for the ground is +usually muddy a few feet up from the water's +edge,—lay flat on his stomach and drank +greedily from the roily mess.</p> + +<p>At dusk, there was again a damp chill, and +for the third time we left the Doctor to keep +bachelor's hall upon the beach. It was raining +smartly by the time the tavern was reached, +nearly a mile down the bank. Our advent +caused a rare scurrying to and fro, for two +commercial "drummers," who were to depart +by the early morning boat, occupied the +"reg'lar spar' room," the landlady informed us, +and a bit of a cubby-hole off the back stairs +had to be arranged for us. Guests are rarities, +at the hostelry in Rome.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="smcap">Near Ripley, O.</span>, Tuesday, May 22nd.—There +was an inch of snow last night, on the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page157" id="page157"></a>[pg 157]</span> +hills about, and a morning Cincinnati paper +records a heavy fall in the Pennsylvania +mountains. The storm is general, and the +river rose two feet over night. When we set +off, in mid-morning, it was raining heavily; +but in less than an hour the clouds broke, and +the rest of the day has been an alternation of +chilling showers and bursts of warm sunshine, +with the same succession, of alluring vistas, +over which play broad bands of changing light +and shade, and overhead the storm clouds torn +and tossed in the upper currents.</p> + +<p>Our landlord at Rome asserted at breakfast +that Kentucky was fifty years behind the Ohio +side, in improvements of every sort. Thus far, +we have not ourselves noticed differences of +that degree. Doubtless before the late civil +war,—all the ante-bellum travelers agree in +this,—when the blight of slavery was resting +on Virginia and Kentucky, the south shore of +the Ohio was as another country; but to-day, +so far as we can ascertain from a surface view, +the little villages on either side are equally +dingy and woe-begone, and large Southern +towns like Wheeling, Parkersburg, Point +Pleasant, and Maysville are very nearly an +offset to Steubenville, Marietta, Pomeroy, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page158" id="page158"></a>[pg 158]</span> +Ironton, and Portsmouth. North-shore towns +of wealth and prominence are more numerous +than on the Dixie bank, and are as a rule +larger and somewhat better kept, with the +negro element less conspicuous; but to say +that the difference is anywhere near as marked +as the landlord averred, or as my own previous +reading on the subject led me to expect, is +grossly to exaggerate.</p> + +<p>After leaving Manchester, O. (394 miles), +with a beautiful island at its door, there are +spasmodic evidences of the nearness of a +great city market. A large proportion of the +hills are completely denuded of their timber, +and patched with rectangular fields of green, +brown, and yellow; upon the bottoms there +are frequent truck farms; now and then are +stone quarries upon the banks, with capacious +barges moored in front; and upon one or two +rocky ledges were stone-crushers, getting out +material for concrete pavements. When we +ask the bargemen, in passing, whither their +loads are destined, the invariable reply is, +"The city"—meaning Cincinnati, still seventy +miles away.</p> + +<p>Limestone Creek (405 miles) occupies a large +space in Western story, for so insignificant +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page159" id="page159"></a>[pg 159]</span> +a stream. It is now not over a rod in width, +and at no season can it be over two or three. +One finds it with difficulty along the mill-strewn +shore of Maysville, Ky., the modern +outgrowth of the Limestone village of pioneer +days. Limestone, settled four years before +Marietta or Cincinnati, was long Kentucky's +chief port of entry on the Ohio; immigrants +to the new state, who came down the Ohio, +almost invariably booked for this point, thence +taking stage to Lexington, and travelers in the +early day seldom passed it by unvisited. But +years before there was any settlement here, +the valley of Limestone Creek, which comes +gently down from low-lying hills, was regarded +as a convenient doorway into Kentucky. +When (1776) George Rogers Clark was coming +down the river from Pittsburg, with powder +given by Patrick Henry, then governor of +Virginia, for the defence of Kentucky settlers +from British-incited savages, he was chased +by the latter, and, putting into this creek, +hastily buried the precious cargo on its banks. +From here it was cautiously taken overland +to the little forts, by relays of pioneers, through +a gauntlet of murderous fire.</p> + +<p>About twenty-five miles from Limestone, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page160" id="page160"></a>[pg 160]</span> +too, was another attraction of the early time,—the +great Blue Lick sulphur spring; here, in a +valley surrounded by wooded hills, formerly +congregated great herds of buffalo and deer, +which licked the salty earth, and hunters soon +learned that this was a royal ground for game. +The Battle of the Blue Lick (1782) will ever +be famous in the annals of Kentucky.</p> + +<p>The Ohio was a mighty waterway into the +continental interior, in the olden days of Limestone. +Its only compeer was the so-called +"Wilderness Road," overland through Cumberland +Gap—the successor of "Boone's trail," +just as Braddock's Road was the outgrowth of +"Nemacolin's path." Until several years after +the Revolutionary War, the country north of +the Ohio was still Indian land, and settlement +was restricted to the region south of the river; +so that practically all West-going roads from +the coast colonies centered either on Fort +Pitt or Redstone, or on Cumberland Gap. On +the out-going trip, the Wilderness Road was +the more toilsome of the two, but it was safer, +for the Ohio's banks were beset with thieving +and often murdering savages. In returning +east, many who had descended the river preferred +going overland through the Gap, to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page161" id="page161"></a>[pg 161]</span> +painfully pulling up stream through the shallows, +with the danger of Indians many times +greater than when gliding down the deep current. +The distance over the two routes from +Philadelphia, was nearly equal, when the windings +of the river were taken into account; but +the Carolinians and the Georgians found +Boone's Wilderness Road the shorter of the +two, in their migrations to the promised land +of "Ol' Kaintuck." And we should not overlook +the fact, that of much importance was +still a third route, up the James and down the +Great Kanawha; a route whose advantage to +Virginia, Washington early saw, and tried in +vain to have improved by a canal connecting +the two rivers.<a id="footnotetag11" name="footnotetag11"></a><a href= + "#footnote11"><sup>B</sup></a></p> + +<p>Even before the opening of the Revolution, +the Ohio was the path of a considerable emigration. +We have seen Washington going +down to the Great Kanawha with his surveying +party, in 1770, and finding that settlers +were hurrying into the country for a hundred +miles below Fort Pitt. By the close of the +Revolution, the Ohio was a familiar stream. +Pittsburg, from a small trading hamlet and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page162" id="page162"></a>[pg 162]</span> +fording-place, had grown by 1785 to have a +thousand inhabitants, chiefly supported by +boat-building and the Kentucky carrying trade; +and boat-yards were common up both the +Monongahela and the Youghiogheny, for a +distance of sixty miles. Nevertheless, it was +not until 1792 that there were regular conveniences +for carrying passengers and freight down +the Ohio; the emigrant or trader, on arrival +at Pittsburg or Redstone, had generally to +wait until he could either charter a boat or +have one built for him, although sometimes he +found a chance "passenger flat" going down.<a id="footnotetag12" name="footnotetag12"></a><a href= + "#footnote12"><sup>C</sup></a> +This difficulty in securing river transportation +was one of the reasons why the majority chose +the Wilderness Road.</p> + +<p>"The first thing that strikes a stranger from +the Atlantic," says Flint (1814), "is the singular, +whimsical, and amusing spectacle of the +varieties of water-craft, of all shapes and +structures." These, Flint, who knew the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page163" id="page163"></a>[pg 163]</span> +river well, separates into seven classes: (1) +"Stately barges," the size of an Atlantic +schooner, with "a raised and outlandish-looking +deck;" one of these required a crew of +twenty-five to work it up stream. (2) Keel-boats—long, +slender, and graceful in form, +carrying from fifteen to thirty tons, easily propelled +over the shallows, and much used in +low water, and in hunting trips to Missouri, +Arkansas, and the Red River country. (3) +Kentucky flats (or "broad-horns"), "a species +of ark, very nearly resembling a New England +pig-stye;" these were from forty to a hundred +feet in length, fifteen feet in beam, and carried +from twenty to seventy tons. Some of +these flats were not unlike the house-boats of +to-day. "It is no uncommon spectacle to see +a large family, old and young, servants, cattle, +hogs, horses, sheep, fowls, and animals of all +kinds," all embarked on one such bottom. (4) +Covered "sleds," ferry-flats, or Alleghany +skiffs, carrying from eight to twelve tons. (5) +Pirogues, of from two to four tons burthen, +"sometimes hollowed from one big tree, or +the trunks of two trees united, and a plank +rim fitted to the upper part." (6) Common +skiffs and dug-outs. (7) "Monstrous anomalies," +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page164" id="page164"></a>[pg 164]</span> +not classifiable, and often whimsical in +design. To these might be added the "floating +shops or stores, with a small flag out to indicate +their character," so frequently seen by +Palmer (1817), and thriftily surviving unto this +day, minus the flag. And Hall (1828) speaks of a +flat-bottomed row-boat, "twelve feet long, with +high sides and roof," carrying an aged couple +down the river, they cared not where, so long +as they could find a comfortable home in the +West, for their declining and now childless +years.</p> + +<p>The first four classes here enumerated, were +allowed to drift down stream with the current, +being steered by long sweeps hung on pivots. +The average speed was about three miles an +hour, but the distances made were considerable, +from the fact that in the earliest days +they were, from fear of Indians, usually kept +on the move through day and night,—the +crew taking turns at the sweeps, that the craft +might not be hung up on shore or entangled +in the numerous snags and sawyers. In going +up stream, the sweeps served as oars, and in +the shallows long pushing-poles were used.</p> + +<p>As for the boatmen who professionally propelled +the keels and flats of the Ohio, they +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page165" id="page165"></a>[pg 165]</span> +were a class unto themselves—"half horse, +half alligator," a contemporary styled them. +Rough fellows, much given to fighting, and +drunkenness, and ribaldry, with a genius for +coarse drollery and stinging repartee. The +river towns suffered sadly at the hands of this +lawless, dissolute element. Each boat carried +from thirty to forty boatmen, and a number +of such boats frequently traveled in company. +After the Indian scare was over, they generally +stopped over night in the settlements, and the +arrival of a squadron was certain to be followed +by a disturbance akin to those so familiar +a few years ago in our Southwest, when the +cowboys would undertake to "paint a town +red." The boatmen were reckless of life, +limb, and reputation, and were often more +numerous than those of the villagers who cared +to enforce the laws; while there was always +present an element which abetted and throve +on the vice of the river-men. The result was +that mischief, debauchery, and outrage ran +riot, and in the inevitable fights the citizens +were generally beaten.</p> + +<p>The introduction of steamboats (1814) soon +effected a revolution. A steamer could carry +ten times as much as a barge, could go five +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page166" id="page166"></a>[pg 166]</span> +times as fast, and required fewer men; it traveled +at night, quickly passing from one port +to another, pausing only to discharge or receive +cargo; its owners and officers were men +of character and responsibility, with much +wealth in their charge, and insisted on discipline +and correct deportment. The flatboat +and the keel-boat were soon laid up to rot on +the banks; and the boatmen either became +respectable steamboat hands and farmers, or +went into the Far West, where wild life was +still possible.</p> + +<p>Shipment on the river, in the flatboat days, +was only during the spring and autumnal +floods; although an occasional summer rise, +such as we are now getting, would cause a +general activity. In the autumn of 1818, +Hall reports that three millions of dollars' +worth of merchandise were lying on the shores +of the Monongahela, waiting for a rise of water +to float them to their destination. "The +Western merchants were lounging discontentedly +about the streets of Pittsburg, or moping +idly in its taverns, like the victims of an ague." +The steamers did something to alleviate this +condition of affairs; but it was not until the +coming of railways, to carry goods quickly and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page167" id="page167"></a>[pg 167]</span> +cheaply across country to deep-water ports +like Wheeling, that permanent relief was felt.</p> + +<p>But what of the Maysville of to-day? It +extends on both sides of Limestone Creek for +about two miles along the Kentucky shore, at +no point apparently over five squares wide, +and for the most part but two or three; for +back of it forested hills rise sharply. There +is a variety of industries, the business quarter +is substantially built, and there are numerous +comfortable homes with pretty lawns.</p> + +<p>On the opposite shore is Aberdeen, where +Kentucky swains and lasses, who for one reason +or another fail to get a license at home, +find marriage made easy—a peaceful, pleasant, +white village, with trees a-plenty, and romantic +hills shutting out the north wind.</p> + +<p>We are camped to-night on a picturesque +sand-slope, at the foot of a willow-edged bottom, +and some seven feet above the river level. +We need to perch high, for the storm has been +general through the basin, and the Ohio is +rising steadily.</p> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote10" name="footnote10"></a><b>Footnote A:</b><a href="#footnotetag10"> (return) </a><p>See Shaler's <i>Kentucky</i> (Amer. Commonwealth series), +Collins's <i>History of Kentucky</i>, and Hale's <i>Trans-Alleghany +Pioneers</i>. Shaler gives the date as 1756; but Hale, +a specialist in border annals, makes it 1755.</p></blockquote> + + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote11" name="footnote11"></a><b>Footnote B:</b><a href="#footnotetag11"> (return) </a><p>See <i>ante</i>, p. 126.</p></blockquote> + + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote12" name="footnote12"></a><b>Footnote C:</b><a href="#footnotetag12"> (return) </a><p>Palmer (1817) paid five dollars for his passage from Pittsburg +to Cincinnati (465 miles), without food, and fifty cents +per hundred pounds for freight to Marietta. Imlay (1792) +says the rate in his time from Pittsburg to Limestone was +twenty-five cents per hundred. In 1803, Harris paid four +dollars-and-a-half per hundred for freight, by wagon from +Baltimore to Pittsburg.</p></blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page168" id="page168"></a>[pg 168]</span> + + + + +<h2>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + + +<h4>Produce boats—A dead town—On the +Great Bend—Grant's birthplace—The +Little Miami—The genesis of Cincinnati.</h4> + + + +<p><span class="smcap">Point Pleasant, O.</span>, Wednesday, May +23rd.—The river rose three feet during the +night. Steamers go now at full speed, no +longer fearing the bars; and the swash upon +shore was so violent that I was more than +once awakened, each time to find the water +line creeping nearer and nearer to the tent +door. As we sweep onward to-day, upon an +accelerated current, the fringing willows, +whose roots before the rise were many feet up +the slopes of sand and gravel, are gracefully +dipping their boughs in the rushing flood. +With the rise, come the sweepings of the +beaches—bits of lumber, fallen trees, barrels, +boxes, 'longshore rubbish of every sort; sometimes +it hangs in ragged rafts, and we steer +clear of such, for Pilgrim's progress is greater +than that of these unwelcome companions of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page169" id="page169"></a>[pg 169]</span> +the voyage, and we wish no entangling alliances.</p> + +<p>Much tobacco is raised on the rounded, +gently-sloping hills below Maysville. Away +up on the acclivities, in sheltered spots near +the fields in which they are to be transplanted, +or in fence-corners in the ever-broadening +bottoms, we note white patches of thin cloth +pinned down over the young plants to protect +them from untoward frosts. There are many +tobacco warehouses to be seen along the +banks—apparently farmers coöperate in maintaining +such; and in front of each, a roadway +leads down to the water's edge, indicating a +steamboat landing. On the town wharves are +often seen portly barrels,—locally, "puncheons,"—filled +with the weed, awaiting shipment +by boat; most of the product goes to +Louisville, but there are also large buyers in +the smaller Kentucky towns.</p> + +<p>Occasionally, to-day, we have seen moored +to some rustic landing a great covered barge, +quite of the fashion of the golden age of Ohio +boating. At one end, a room is partitioned +off to serve as cabin, and the sweeps are operated +from the roof. These are produce-boats, +which are laden with coarse vegetables +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page170" id="page170"></a>[pg 170]</span> +and sometimes live stock, and floated down +to Cincinnati or Louisville, and even to St. +Louis and New Orleans. In ante-bellum +days, produce-boats were common enough, +and much money was made by speculative +buyers who would dispose of their cargo in +the most favorable port, sell the barge, and +then return by rail or steamer; just as, in +still earlier days, the keel or flatboat owner +would sell both freight and vessel on the +Lower Mississippi,—or abandon the craft if +he could not sell it,—and "hoof it home," as +a contemporary chronicler puts it.</p> + +<p>Ripley, Levanna (417 miles), Higginsport +(421 miles), Chilo (431 miles), Neville (435 +miles), and Point Pleasant (442 miles) are the +Ohio towns to-day; and Dover (417 miles), +Augusta (424 miles), and Foster (435 miles), +their rivals on the Kentucky shore. Sawmills +and distilleries are the leading industries, +and there are broad paved wharves; but a +listless air pervades them all, as if once they +basked in the light of better days. Foster is +rather the shabbiest of the lot. As I passed +through to find the postoffice, at the upper +edge of town, where the hills come down +to meet the bottom, I saw that half of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page171" id="page171"></a>[pg 171]</span> +store buildings still intact were closed, many +dwellings and warehouses were in ruins, and +numerous open cellars were grown to grass +and weeds. Few people were in sight, and +they loafing at the corners. The postoffice +occupied a vacated store, evidently not swept +these six months past. The youthful master, +with chair tilted back and his feet on an old +washstand which did duty as office table, was +listlessly whittling a finger-ring from a peach-stone; +but shoving his feet along, he made +room for me to write a postal card which I +had brought for the purpose.</p> + +<p>"What is the matter with this town?" I +asked, as I scratched away.</p> + +<p>"Daid, I reck'n!" and he blew away the +peach-stone dust which had accumulated in +the folds of his greasy vest.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I see it is dead. What killed it?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! just gone daid—sort o' nat'ral daith, +I reck'n."</p> + +<p>We had a pretty view this morning, three +or four miles below Augusta, from the top of +a tree-denuded Kentucky hill, some two hundred +and fifty feet high. Hauling Pilgrim +into the willows, we set out over a low, cultivated +bottom, whose edges were being lapped +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page172" id="page172"></a>[pg 172]</span> +by the rising river, to the detriment of the +springing corn; then scrambling up the terrace +on which the Chesapeake & Ohio railway +runs, we crawled under a barb-wire fence, +and ascended through a pasture, our right of +way contested for a moment by a gigantic +Berkshire boar, which was not easily vanquished. +When at last we gained the top, by +dint of clambering over rail-fences and up +steep slopes bestrewn with mulleins and boulders, +and over patches of freshly-plowed +hardscrabble, the sight was well worth the +rough climb. The broad Ohio bottom, opposite, +was thick-dotted with orchard clumps, +from which rose the white houses and barns +of small tillers. On the generous slopes of +the Kentucky hills, all corrugated with wooded +ravines, were scores of fertile farmsteads, +each with its ample tobacco shed—the better +class of farmers on the hilltops, their +buildings often silhouetted against the western +sky, and the meaner sort down low on the +river's bank. Through this pastoral scene, +the broad river winds with noble sweep, until, +both above and below, it loses itself in the +purple mist of the distant hills.</p> + +<p>We are now upon the Great Bend of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page173" id="page173"></a>[pg 173]</span> +Ohio, beginning at Neville (435 miles) and +ending at Harris's Landing (519 miles), with +North Bend (482 miles) at the apex. The +bend is itself a series of convolutions, and our +point of view is ever changing, so that we +have kaleidoscopic vistas,—and with each new +setting, good-humoredly dispute with each +other, we at the oars, and the others in the +stern-sheets, as to which is the more beautiful, +the unfolding or the dissolving view.</p> + +<p>Our camp to-night is beside a little hillside +torrent on the lower edge of Point Pleasant. +We are well up on the rocky slope; an abandoned +stone-quarry lies back of us, up the hill +a bit; and leading into the village, half a mile +away, is a picturesque country road, overhung +with sumacs and honey locusts—overtopped +on one side by a precipitous pasture, and on +the other dropping suddenly to a beach thick-grown +to willows, maples, and scrub sycamores.</p> + +<p>The Boy and I made an expedition into the +town, for milk and water, but were obliged to +climb one of the sharpest ascents hereabout, +before our search was rewarded. A pretty +little farmstead it is, up there on the lofty hill +above us, with a wealth of chickens and an +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page174" id="page174"></a>[pg 174]</span> +ample dairy, and fat fields and woods gently +sloping backward into the interior. The good +farm-wife was surprised that I was willing to +"pack" commodities, so plentiful with her, +down so steep a path; but canoeing pilgrims +must not falter at trifles such as this.</p> + +<p>Point Pleasant is the birthplace of General +Grant. Not every hamlet has its hero, hereabout. +Everyone we met this evening,—seeing +we were strangers, the Boy and I,—told +us of this halo which crowns their home.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cincinnati</span>, Thursday, May 24th.—During +the night there were frequent heavy downpours, +during which the swollen torrent by our side +roared among its boulders right lustily; and +occasionally a heavy farm-wagon crossed the +country bridge which spans the ravine just +above us, its rumblings echoing in the quarried +glen for all the world like distant thunder. +Before turning in, each built a cairn upon the +beach, at the point which he thought the +water might reach by morning. The Boy, +more venturesome than the rest, piled his +cairn highest up the slope; and when daylight +revealed the fact that the river, in its four-feet +rise, had crept nearest his goal, there was +much juvenile rejoicing.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page175" id="page175"></a>[pg 175]</span> + +<p>There is a gray sky, this morning. With a +cold headwind on the starboard quarter, we +hug the lee of the Ohio shore. The river is +well up in the willows now. Crowding Pilgrim +as closely as we may, within the narrow +belt of unruffled water, our oars are swept by +their bending boughs, which lightly tremble +on the surface of the flood. The numerous +rock-cumbered ravines, coursing down the +hills or through the bottom lands, a few days +since held but slender streams, or were, the +most of them, wholly dry; but now they are +brimming with noisy currents all flecked with +foam—pretty pictures, these yawning gullies, +overhung with cottonwoods and sycamores, +with thick undergrowth of green-brier and +wild columbine, and the yellow buds of the +celandine poppy.</p> + +<p>The hills are showing better cultivation, as +we approach the great city. The farm-houses +are in better style, the market gardens larger, +prosperity more evident. Among the pleasing +sights are frequent farmsteads at the summits +of the slopes, with orchards and vineyards, and +gardens and fields, stretching down almost to +the river—quite, indeed, on the Ohio side, but in +Kentucky flanked at the base by the railway +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page176" id="page176"></a>[pg 176]</span> +terrace. Numerous ferries connect the Kentucky +railway stations with the eastern bank; +one, which we saw just above New Richmond, +O. (446 miles), was run by horse power, a +weary nag in a tread-mill above each side-paddle. +Although Kentucky has the railway, +there is just here apparent a greater degree of +thrift in Ohio—the towns more numerous, +fields and truck-gardens more ample, on the +whole a better class of farm-houses, and frequently, +along the country road which closely +skirts the shore, comfortable little broad-balconied +inns, dependent on the trade of fishing +and outing parties.</p> + +<p>Just below the Newport waterworks are +several coal-barge harbors—mooring-grounds +where barges lie in waiting, until hauled off +by tugs to the storage wharves. In the rear +of one of these fleets, at the base of a market +garden, we found a sunny nook for lunch—for +here on the Kentucky side the cold wind has +full sweep, and we are glad of shelter when at +rest. Across the river is a broad, low bottom +given up to market gardeners, who jealously +cultivate down to the water's edge, leaving the +merest fringe of willows to protect their domain. +At the foot of this fertile plain, the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page177" id="page177"></a>[pg 177]</span> +Little Miami River (460 miles) pours its muddy +contribution into the Ohio; and beyond this +rises the amphitheater of hills on which Cincinnati +(466 miles) is mainly built. We see +but the outskirts here, for two miles below us +there is a sharp bend in the river, and only a +dark pall of smoke marks where the city lies. +But these outlying slopes are well dotted with +gray and white groups of settlement, separated +by stretches of woodland over which play +changing lights, for cloud masses are sweeping +the Ohio hills while we are still basking in +the sun.</p> + +<p>Above us, crowning the Kentucky ascents, +or nestled on their wooded shoulders, are many +beautiful villas, evidently the homes of the +ultra-wealthy. Close at hand we have the +pleasant chink-chink of caulking hammers, for +barges are built and repaired in this snug harbor. +Now and then a river tug comes, with +noisy bluster of smoke and steam, and amid +much tightening and slackening of rope, and +wild profanity, takes captive a laden barge,—as +a cowboy might a refractory steer in the +midst of a herd,—and hauls it off to be disgorged +down stream. And just as we conclude +our lunch, German women come with hoes to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page178" id="page178"></a>[pg 178]</span> +practice the gentle art of horticulture—a characteristic +conglomeration, in the heart of our +busy West; the millionaire on the hill-top, the +tiller on the slope, shipwright on the beach, +and grimy Commerce master of the flood.</p> + +<p>Setting afloat on a boiling current, thick +with driftwood, we soon were coursing between +city-lined shores—on the Kentucky +side, Newport and Covington, respectively +above and below Licking River; and in an +hour were making our way through the labyrinth +of steamers thickly moored with their +noses to land, and cautiously creeping around +to a quiet spot at the stern of a giant wharf-boat—no +slight task this, with the river "on +the jump," and a false move liable to swamp +us if we strike an obstruction at full gait. No +doubt we all breathed freer when Pilgrim, too, +was beached,—although it be only confessed +in the privacy of the log. With her and her +cargo safely stored in the wharf-boat, we +sought a hotel, and, regaining our bag of +clothing,—shipped ahead of us from McKee's +Rocks,—donned urban attire for an inspection +of the city.</p> + +<p>And a noble city it is, that has grown out +of the two block-houses which George Rogers +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page179" id="page179"></a>[pg 179]</span> +Clark planted here in 1780, on his raid against +the Indians of Chillicothe. In 1788, John +Cleves Symmes, the first United States judge +of the Northwest Territory, purchased from +Congress a million acres of land, lying on the +Ohio between the two Miami Rivers. Matthias +Denman bought from him a square mile +at the eastern end of the grant, "on a most +delightful high bank" opposite the Licking, +and—on a cash valuation for the land, of two +hundred dollars—took in with him as partners +Robert Patterson and John Filson. Filson +was a schoolmaster, had written the first history +of Kentucky, and seems to have enjoyed +much local distinction. To him was entrusted +the task of inventing a name for the settlement +which the company proposed to plant +here. The outcome was "Losantiville," a +pedagogical hash of Greek, Latin, and French: +<i>L</i>, for Licking; <i>os</i>, mouth; <i>anti</i>, opposite; +<i>ville</i>, city—Licking-opposite-City, or City-opposite-Licking, +whichever is preferred. This +was in August. The Fates work quickly, for +in October poor Filson was scalped by the +Indians in the neighborhood of the Big Miami, +before a settler had yet been enticed to Losantiville. +But the survivors knew how to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page180" id="page180"></a>[pg 180]</span> +"boom" a town; lots were given away by +lottery to intending actual settlers; and in a +few months Symmes was able to write that +"It populates considerably."</p> + +<p>A few weeks previous to the planting of +Losantiville, a party of men from Redstone +had settled Columbia, at the mouth of the +Little Miami, about where the suburb of California +now is; and, a few weeks later, a third +colony was started by Symmes himself at +North Bend, near the Big Miami, at the western +extremity of his grant; and this, the +judge wished to make the capital of the new +Northwest Territory. At first, it was a race +between these three colonies. A few miles +below North Bend, Fort Finney had been +built in 1785-86, hence the Bend had at first +the start; but a high flood dampened its prospects, +the troops were withdrawn from this +neighborhood to Louisville, and in the winter +of 1789-90 Fort Washington was built at Losantiville +by General Harmar. The neighborhood +of the new fortress became, in the ensuing +Indian war, the center of the district.</p> + +<p>To Losantiville, with its fort, came Arthur +St. Clair, the new governor of the Northwest +Territory (January, 1790); and, making his +headquarters here, laid violent hands on +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page181" id="page181"></a>[pg 181]</span> +Filson's invention, at once changing the name +to Cincinnati, in honor of the Society of the +Cincinnati, of which the new official was a +prominent member—"so that," Symmes sorrowfully +writes, "Losantiville will become +extinct." Five years of Indian campaigning +followed, the features of which were the crushing +defeats of Harmar and St. Clair, and the +final victory of Mad Anthony Wayne at Fallen +Timbers. It was not until the Treaty of +Greenville (1795), the result of Wayne's brilliant +dash into the wilderness, that the Revolutionary +War may properly be said to have +ended in the West.</p> + +<p>Those were stirring times on the Ohio, both +ashore and afloat; but, amidst them all, Cincinnati +grew apace. Ellicott, in 1796, speaks +of it as "a very respectable place," and in +1814, Flint found it the only port that could +be called a town, from Steubenville to Natchez, +a distance of fifteen hundred miles; in +1825 he reports it greatly grown, and crowded +with immigrants from Europe and from our +own Eastern states. The impetus thus early +gained has never lessened, and Cincinnati is +to-day one of the best built and most substantial +cities in the Union.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page182" id="page182"></a>[pg 182]</span> + + + + +<h2>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + + +<h4>The story of North Bend—The "shakes"—Driftwood—Rabbit +Hash—A side-trip +To Big Bone Lick.</h4> + + + +<p><span class="smcap">Near Petersburg, Ky.</span>, Friday, May +25th.—This morning, an hour before noon, as +we looked upon the river from the top of the +Cincinnati wharf, a wild scene presented itself. +The shore up and down, as far as could be +seen, was densely lined with packets and +freighters; beyond them, the great stream, +here half a mile wide, was rushing past like a +mill-race, and black with all manner of drift, +some of it formed into great rafts from each of +which sprawled a network of huge branches. +Had we been strangers to this offscouring of a +thousand miles of beach, swirling past us at a +six-mile gait, we might well have doubted the +prudence of launching little Pilgrim upon such +a sea. But for two days past, we had been +amidst something of the sort, and knew that +to cautious canoeists it was less dangerous +than it appeared.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page183" id="page183"></a>[pg 183]</span> + +<p>A strong head wind, meeting this surging +tide, is lashing it into a white-capped fury. +But lying to with paddle and oars, and dodging +ferries and towing-tugs as best we may, Pilgrim +bears us swiftly past the long line of steamers +at the wharf, past Newport and Covington, +and the insignificant Licking,<a id="footnotetag13" name="footnotetag13"></a><a href= + "#footnote13"><sup>A</sup></a> and out under +great railway bridges which cobweb the sky. +Soon Cincinnati, shrouded in smoke, has disappeared +around the bend, and we are in the +fast-thinning suburbs—homes of beer-gardens +and excursion barges, havens for freight-flats, +and villas of low and high degree.</p> + +<p>When we are out here in the swim, the +drift-strewn stream has a more peaceful aspect +than when looked at from the shore. Instead +of rushing past as if dooming to destruction +everything else afloat, the debris falls behind, +when we row, for our progress is then the +greater. Dropping our oars, our gruesome +companions on the river pass us slowly, for +they catch less wind than we; and then, so +silent the steady march of all, we seem to be +drifting up-stream, until on glancing at the +shore the hills appear to be swiftly going down +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page184" id="page184"></a>[pg 184]</span> +and the willow fringes up,—until the sight +makes us dizzy, and we are content to be at +quits with these optical delusions.</p> + +<p>We no longer have the beach of gravel or +sand, or strip of clay knee-deep in mud. The +water, now twelve feet higher than before the +rise, has covered all; it is, indeed, swaying the +branches of sycamores and willows, and meeting +the edges of the corn-fields of venturesome +farmers who have cultivated far down, taking +the risk of a "June fresh." Often could we, +if we wished, row quite within the bulwark of +willows, where a week ago we would have +ventured to camp.</p> + +<p>The Kentucky side, to-day, from Covington +out, has been thoroughly rustic, seldom broken +by settlement; while Ohio has given us a succession +of suburban towns all the way out to +North Bend (482 miles), which is a small manufacturing +place, lying on a narrow bottom at +the base of a convolution of gentle, wooded +hills. One sees that Cincinnati has a better +and a broader base; North Bend was handicapped +by nature, in its early race.</p> + +<p>When Ohio came into the Union (1803), it +was specified that the boundary between her +and Indiana should be a line running due +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page185" id="page185"></a>[pg 185]</span> +north from the mouth of the Big Miami. But +the latter, an erratic stream, frequently the +victim of floods, comes wriggling down to the +Ohio through a broad bottom grown thick to +willows, and in times of high water its mouth +is a changeable locality. The boundary monument +is planted on the meridian of what was +the mouth, ninety-odd years ago; but to-day +the Miami breaks through an opening in the +quivering line of willow forest, a hundred yards +eastward (487 miles).</p> + +<p>Garrison Creek is a modest Kentucky affluent, +just above the Miami's mouth. At the +point, a group of rustics sat on a log at the +bank-top, watching us approach. Landing in +search of milk and water, I was taken by one +of them in a lumbersome skiff a short distance +up the creek, and presented to his family. +They are genuine "crackers," of the coarsest +type—tall, lean, sallow, fishy-eyed, with tow-colored +hair, an ungainly gait, barefooted, and +in nondescript clothing all patches and tatters. +The tousle-headed woman, surrounded by her +copies in miniature, keeps the milk neatly, in +an outer dairy, perhaps because of market +requirements; but in the crazy old log-house, +pigs and chickens are free comers, and the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page186" id="page186"></a>[pg 186]</span> +cistern from which they drink is foul. Here +in this damp, low pocket of a bottom, annually +flooded to the door-sill, in the midst of vegetation +of the rankest order, and quite unheedful +of the simplest of sanitary laws, these +yellow-skinned "crackers" are cradled, wedded, +and biered. And there are thousands +like unto them, for we are now in the heart of +the "shake" country, and shall hear enough +of the plague through the remainder of our +pilgrimage. As for ourselves, we fear not, for +it is not until autumn that danger is imminent, +and we are taking due precaution under the +Doctor's guidance.</p> + +<p>Two miles beyond, is the Indiana town of +Lawrenceburg, with the unkempt aspect so +common to the small river places; and two +miles still farther, on a Kentucky bottom, +Petersburg, whose chiefest building, as viewed +from the stream, is a huge distillery. On a +high sandy terrace, a mile or so below, we +pitch our nightly camp. All about are willows, +rustling musically in the evening breeze, +and, soaring far aloft, the now familiar sycamores. +Nearly opposite, in Indiana, the little +city of Aurora is sparkling with points of light, +strains of dance music reach us over the way, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page187" id="page187"></a>[pg 187]</span> +and occasional shouts and gay laughter; while +now and then, in the thickening dusk of the +long day, we hear skiffs go chucking by from +Petersburg way, and the gleeful voices of men +and women doubtless being ferried to the ball.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="smcap">Near Warsaw, Ky.</span>, Saturday, May 26th.—Our +first mosquito appeared last night, but he +was easily slaughtered. It has been a comfort +to be free, thus far, from these pests of +camp life. We had prepared for them by +laying in a bolt of black tarlatan at Wheeling,—greatly +superior this, to ordinary white +mosquito bar,—but thus far it has remained +in the shopman's wrapper.</p> + +<p>The fog this morning was of the heaviest. +At 4 o'clock we were awakened by the sharp +clanging of a pilot's signal bell, and there, +poking her nose in among our willows, a dozen +feet from the tent, was the "Big Sandy," one +of the St. Louis & Cincinnati packet line. +She had evidently lost her bearings in the +mist; but with a deal of ringing, and a noisy +churning of the water by the reversed paddle-wheel, +pulled out and disappeared into the +gloom.</p> + +<p>The river, still rising, is sweeping down an +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page188" id="page188"></a>[pg 188]</span> +ever-increasing body of rubbish. Islands and +beaches, away back to the Alleghanies on the +main stream, and on thousands of miles of +affluents, are yielding up those vast rafts of +drift-wood and fallen timber, which have continually +impressed us on our way with a +sense of the enormous wastage everywhere in +progress—necessary, of course, in view of the +prohibitive cost of transportation. Nevertheless, +one thinks pitifully of the tens of thousands +who, in congested districts, each winter +suffer unto death for want of fuel; and here is +this wealth of forest debris, the useless plaything +of the river. But not only wreckage of +this character is borne upon the flood. The +thievish river has picked up valuable saw-logs +that have run astray, lumber of many sorts, +boxes, barrels—and now and then the body of +a cow or horse that has tumbled to its death +from some treacherous clay-cliff or rocky terrace. +The beaches have been swept clean by +the rushing flood, of whatever lay upon them, +be it good or bad, for the great scavenger exercises +no discretion.</p> + +<p>The bulk of the matter now follows the +current in an almost solid raft, as it caroms +from shore to shore. Having swift water +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page189" id="page189"></a>[pg 189]</span> +everywhere at this stage, for the most part we +avoid entangling Pilgrim in the procession, +but row upon the outskirts, interested in the +curious medley, and observant of the many +birds which perch upon the branches of the +floating trees and sing blithely on their way. +The current bears hard upon the Aurora +beach, and townsfolk by scores are out in +skiffs or are standing by the water's edge, engaged +with boat-hooks in spearing choice +morsels from the debris rushing by their +door—heaping it upon the shore to dry, or +gathering it in little rafts which they moor +to the bank. It is a busy scene; the wreckers, +men, women, and children alike, are so engaged +in their grab-bag game that they have +no eyes for us; unobserved, we watch them +at close range, and speculate upon their respective +chances.</p> + +<p>Rabbit Hash, Ky. (502 miles), is a crude +hamlet of a hundred souls, lying nestled in a +green amphitheater. A horse-power ferry runs +over to the larger village of Rising Sun, its +Indiana neighbor. There is a small general +store in Rabbit Hash, with postoffice and +paint-shop attachment, and near by a tobacco +warehouse and a blacksmith shop, with a few +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page190" id="page190"></a>[pg 190]</span> +cottages scattered at intervals over the bottom. +The postmaster, who is also the storekeeper +and painter, greeted me with joy, as +I deposited with him mail-matter bearing +eighteen cents' worth of stamps; for his is one +of those offices where the salary is the value +of the stamps cancelled. It is not every day +that so liberal a patron comes along.</p> + +<p>"Jemimi! Bill! but guv'm'nt business 's +look'n' up—there'll be some o' th' rest o' us +a-want'n this yere off'c', a ter nex' 'lection, I +reck'n'."</p> + +<p>It was the blacksmith, who is also the ferryman, +who thus bantered the delighted postmaster,—a +broad-faced, big-chested, brown-armed +man, with his neck-muscles standing +out like cords, and his mild blue eyes dancing +with fun, this rustic disciple of Tubal Cain. +He sat just without the door, leather apron on, +and his red shirt-sleeves rolled up, playing +checkers on an upturned soap-box, with a jolly +fat farmer from the hill-country, whose broad +straw hat was cocked on the back of his bald +head. The merry laughter of the two was infectious. +The half-dozen spectators, small +farmers whose teams and saddle-horses were +hitched to the postoffice railing, were themselves +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page191" id="page191"></a>[pg 191]</span> +hilarious over the game; and a saffron-skinned, +hollow-cheeked woman in a blue sunbonnet, +and with a market-basket over her arm, +stopped for a moment at the threshold to look +on, and then passed within the store, her +eyes having caught the merriment, although +her facial muscles had apparently lost their +power of smiling.</p> + +<p>Joining the little company, I found that the +farmer was a blundering player, but made up +in fun what he lacked in science. I tried to +ascertain the origin of the name Rabbit Hash, +as applied to the hamlet. Every one had a +different opinion, evidently invented on the +spur of the moment, but all "'lowed" that +none but the tobacco agent could tell, and he +was off in the country for the day; as for themselves, +they had, they confessed, never thought +of it before. It always had been Rabbit Hash, +and like enough would be to the end of time.</p> + +<p>We are on the lookout for Big Bone Creek, +wishing to make a side trip to the famous Big +Bone Lick, but among the many openings +through the willows of the Kentucky shore we +may well miss it, hence make constant inquiry +as we proceed. There was a houseboat in +the mouth of one goodly affluent. As we hove +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page192" id="page192"></a>[pg 192]</span> +in sight, a fat woman, whose gunny-sack apron +was her chief attire, hurried up the gang-plank +and disappeared within.</p> + +<p>"Hello, the boat!" one of us hailed.</p> + +<p>The woman's fuzzy head appeared at the +window.</p> + +<p>"What creek is this?"</p> + +<p>"Gunpowder, I reck'n!"—in a deep, man-like +voice.</p> + +<p>"How far below is Big Bone?"</p> + +<p>"Jist a piece!"</p> + +<p>"How many miles?"</p> + +<p>"Two, I reck'n."</p> + +<p>Big Bone Creek (512 miles), some fifty or +sixty feet wide at the mouth, opens through a +willow patch, between pretty, sloping hills. +A houseboat lay just within—a favorite situation +for them, these creek mouths, for here +they are undisturbed by steamer wakes, and +the fishing is usually good. The proprietor, a +rather distinguished-looking mulatto, despite +his old clothes and plantation straw-hat, was +sitting in a chair at his cabin door, angling; +his white wife was leaning over him lovingly, +as we shot into the scene, but at once withdrew +inside. This man, with his side-whiskers +and fine air, may have been a head-waiter or +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page193" id="page193"></a>[pg 193]</span> +a dance-fiddler in better days; but his soft, +plaintive voice, and hacking cough, bespoke +the invalid. He told us what he knew about +the creek, which was little enough, as he had +but recently come to these parts.</p> + +<p>At an ordinary stage in the Ohio, the Big +Bone cannot be ascended in a skiff for more +than half a mile; now, upon the backset, we +are able to proceed for two miles, leaving but +another two miles of walking to the Lick itself. +The creek curves gracefully around the bases +of the sugar-loaf hills of the interior. Under +the swaying arch of willows, and of ragged, +sprawling sycamores, their bark all patched +with green and gray and buff and white, we +have charming vistas—the quiet water, thick +grown with aquatic plants; the winding banks, +bearing green-dragons and many another flower +loving damp shade; the frequent rocky palisades, +oozing with springs; and great blue +herons, stretching their long necks in wonder, +and then setting off with a stately flight which +reminds one of the cranes on Japanese ware. +Through the dense fringe of vegetation, we +have occasional glimpses of the hillside farms—their +sloping fields sprinkled with stones, their +often barren pastures, numerous abandoned +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page194" id="page194"></a>[pg 194]</span> +tracts overgrown with weeds, and blue-grass +lush in the meadows. Along the edges of +the Creek, and in little pocket bottoms, the +varied vegetation has a sub-tropical luxuriance, +and in this now close, warm air, there is a rank +smell suggestive of malaria.</p> + +<p>These bottoms are annually overflowed, so +that the crude little farmsteads are on the +rising ground—whitewashed cabins, many of +them of logs, serve as houses; for stock, there +are the veriest shanties, affording practically +no shelter; best of all, the rude tobacco-drying +sheds, in many of which some of last year's +crop can still be seen, hanging on the strips. +We are out of the world, here; and barefooted +men and boys, who with listless air are fishing +from the banks, gaze at us in dull wonder as +we thread our tortuous way.</p> + +<p>Finally, we learned that we could with profit +go no higher. Before us were two miles of +what was described as the roughest sort of hill +road, and the afternoon sun was powerful; so +W—— accepted the invitation of a rustic fisherman +to rest with his "women folks" in a little +cabin up the hill a bit. Seeing her safely +housed with the good-natured "cracker" farm-wife, +the Doctor, the Boy, and I trudged off +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page195" id="page195"></a>[pg 195]</span> +toward Big Bone Lick. The waxy clay of the +roadbed had recently been wetted by a shower; +the walking, consequently, was none of the +best. But we were repaid with charming +views of hill and vale, a softly-rolling scene +dotted with little gray and brown fields, clumps +of woodland, rail-fenced pastures, and cabins +of the crudest sort—for in the autumn-tide, +the curse of malaria haunts the basin of the +Big Bone, and none but he of fortune spurned +would care here in this beauty-spot to plant +his vine and fig-tree. Now and then our path +leads us across the winding creek, which in +these upper reaches tumbles noisily over ledges +of jagged rock, above which luxuriant sycamores, +and elms, and maples arch gracefully. +At each picturesque fording-place, with its +inevitable watering-pool, are stepping-stones +for foot pilgrims; often a flock of geese are +sailing in the pool, with craned necks and +flapping wings hissing defiance to disturbers +of their sylvan peace.</p> + +<p>The travelers we meet are on horseback—most +of them the yellow-skinned, hollow-cheeked +folk, with lack-luster eyes, whom we +note in the cabin doors, or dawdling about +their daily routine. On nearing the Lick, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page196" id="page196"></a>[pg 196]</span> +two young horsewomen, out of the common, +look interestedly at us, and I stop to inquire +the way, although the village spire is peering +above the tree-tops yonder. Pretty, buxom, +sweet-faced lassies, these, with soft, pleasant +voices, each with her market-basket over her +arm, going homeward from shopping. It +would be interesting to know their story—what +it is that brings these daughters of a +brighter world here into this valley of the living +death.</p> + +<p>Two hundred yards farther, where the road +forks, and the one at the right hand ascends +to the small hamlet of Big Bone Lick, there is +an interesting picture beneath the way-post: a +girl in a blue calico gown, her face deep hidden +in her red sunbonnet, sits upon a chestnut +mount, with a laden market-basket before her; +while by her side, astride a coal-black pony, +which fretfully paws to be on his way, is a +roughly dressed youth, his face shaded by a +broad slouched hat of the cowboy order. +They have evidently met there by appointment, +and are so earnestly conversing—she +with her hand resting lovingly, perhaps deprecatingly, +upon his bridle-arm, and his free +hand nervously stroking her horse's mane, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page197" id="page197"></a>[pg 197]</span> +while his eyes are far afield—that they do not +observe us as we pass; and we are free to +weave from the incident any sort of cracker +romance which fancy may dictate.</p> + +<p>The source of Big Bone Creek is a marshy +basin some fifty acres in extent, rimmed with +gently-sloping hills, and freely pitted with +copious springs of a water strongly sulphurous +in taste, with a suggestion of salt. The odor +is so powerful as to be all-pervading, a quarter +of a mile away, and to be readily detected at +twice that distance. This collection of springs +constitutes Big Bone Lick, probably the most +famous of the many similar licks in Kentucky, +Indiana, and Illinois.</p> + +<p>The salt licks of the Ohio basin were from +the earliest times resorted to in great numbers +by wild beasts, and were favorite camping-grounds +for Indians, and for white hunters +and explorers. This one was first visited by +the French as early as 1729, and became +famous because of the great quantities of remains +of animals which lay all over the marsh, +particularly noticeable being the gigantic bones +of the extinct mammoth—hence the name +adopted by the earliest American hunters, +"Big Bone." These monsters had evidently +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page198" id="page198"></a>[pg 198]</span> +been mired in the swamp, while seeking to +lick the salty mud, and died in their tracks. +Pioneer chronicles abound in references to the +Lick, and we read frequently of hunting-parties +using the ribs of the mammoth for tent +poles, and sections of the vertebræ as camp +stools and tables. But in our own day, there +are no surface evidences of this once rich +treasure of giant fossils; although occasionally +a "find" is made by enterprising excavators,—several +bones having thus been unearthed only +a week ago. They are now on exhibition in +the neighboring village, preparatory to being +shipped to an Eastern museum.</p> + +<p>As we hurried back over the rolling highway, +thunder-clouds grandly rose out of the west, +and great drops of rain gave us moist warning +of the coming storm. W—— was watching us +from the cabin door, as we made the last +turning in the road, and, accompanied by the +farm-wife and her two daughters, came tripping +down to the landing. She had been +entertained in the one down-stairs room, as +royally as these honest cracker women-folk +knew how; seated in the family rocking-chair, +she had heard in those two hours the social +gossip of a wide neighborhood; learned, too, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page199" id="page199"></a>[pg 199]</span> +that the cold, wet weather of the last fortnight +had killed turkey-chicks and goslings by +the score; heard of the damage being done to +corn and tobacco, by the prevalent high water; +was told how Bess and Brindle fared, off in +the rocky pasture which yields little else than +mulleins; and how far back Towser had to go, +to claim relationship to a collie. "And +weren't we really show-people, going down +the river this way, in a skiff? or, if we weren't +show-people, had we an agency for something? +or, were we only in trade?" It seems a difficult +task to make these people on the bottoms +believe that we are skiffing it for pleasure—it +is a sort of pleasure so far removed from their +notions of the fitness of things; and so at last +we have given up trying, and let them think +of our pilgrimage what they will.</p> + +<p>The entire family now assembled on the +muddy bank, and bade us a really affectionate +farewell, as if we had been, in this isolated +corner of the world, most welcome guests who +were going all too soon. In a few strokes +of the oars we were rounding the bend; and +waving our hands at the little knot of watchers, +went forth from their lives, doubtless +forever.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page200" id="page200"></a>[pg 200]</span> + +<p>The storm soon burst upon us in full fury. +Clad in rubber, we rested under giant trees, or +beneath projecting rock ledges, taking advantage +of occasional lulls to push on for a few +rods to some new shelter. The numerous +little hillside runs which, in our journey up, +were but dry gullies choked with leaves and +boulders, were now brimming with muddy torrents, +rushing all foam-flecked and with deafening +roar into the central stream. At last +the cloud curtain rolled away, the sun gushed +out with fiery rays, the arch of foliage sparkled +with splendor—in meadow and on hillside, the +face of Nature was cleanly beautiful.</p> + +<p>At the creek mouth, the distinguished mulatto +still was fishing from his chair, and standing +by his side was his wife throwing a spoon. +They nodded to us pleasantly, as old friends +returned. Gliding by their boat, Pilgrim was +soon once more in the full current of the swift-flowing +Ohio.</p> + +<p>We are high up to-night, on a little grass +terrace in Kentucky, two miles above Warsaw. +The usual country road lies back of us, a rod +or two, and then a slender field surmounted +by a woodland hill. Fortune favors us, almost +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page201" id="page201"></a>[pg 201]</span> +nightly, with beautiful abiding-places. In no +place could we sleep more comfortably than +in our cotton home.</p> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote13" name="footnote13"></a><b>Footnote A:</b><a href="#footnotetag13"> (return) </a><p>So called from the Big Buffalo Lick, upon its banks.</p></blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page202" id="page202"></a>[pg 202]</span> + + + + +<h2>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> + + +<h4>New Switzerland—An old-time river +pilot—Houseboat life, on the lower +reaches—A philosopher in rags—Wooded +solitudes—Arrival at Louisville.</h4> + + + +<p><span class="smcap">Near Madison, Ind.</span>, Sunday, May 27th.—At +supper last night, a houseboat fisherman, +going by in his skiff, parted the willows fringing +our beach, and offered to sell us some of +his wares. We bought from him a two-pound +catfish, which he tethered to a bush overhanging +the water, until we were ready to dress it; +giving us warning, that meanwhile it would be +best to have an eye on our purchase, or the +turtles would devour it. Hungry thieves, these +turtles, the fisherman said; you could leave +nothing edible in water or on land, unprotected, +without constant fear of the reptiles—which +reminds me that yesterday the Doctor +and the Boy found on the beach a beautiful +box tortoise.</p> + +<p>Our fish was swimming around finely, at +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page203" id="page203"></a>[pg 203]</span> +the end of his cord, when the executioner arrived, +and when finally hung up in a tree was +safe from the marauders. This morning the +fisherman was around again, hoping to obtain +another dime from the commissariat; but +though we had breakfasted creditably from +the little "cat," we had no thought of stocking +our larder with his kind. So the grizzly +man of nets took a fresh chew of tobacco, and +sat a while in his boat, "pass'n' th' time o' +day" with us, punctuating his remarks with +frequent expectorations.</p> + +<p>The new Kentucky houseboat law taxes each +craft of this sort seven-and-a-half dollars, he +said: five dollars going to the State, and the +remainder to the collector. There was to be +a patrol boat, "to see that th' fellers done +step to th' cap'n's office an' settle." But the +houseboaters were going to combine and fight +the law on constitutional grounds, for they had +been told that it was clearly an interference +with commerce on a national highway. As +for the houseboaters voting—well, some of +them did, but the most of them didn't. The +Indiana registry law requires a six months' +residence, and in Kentucky it is a full year, so +that a houseboat man who moves about any, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page204" id="page204"></a>[pg 204]</span> +"jes' isn't in it, sir, thet's all." However, our +visitor was not much disturbed over the practical +disfranchisement of his class—it seemed, +rather, to amuse him; he was much more concerned +in the new tax, which he thought an +outrageous imposition. In bidding us a cheery +good-bye, he noticed my kodak. "Yees be +one o' them photygraph parties, hey?" and +laughed knowingly, as though he had caught +me in a familiar trick. No child of nature so +simple, in these days, as not to recognize a +kodak.</p> + +<p>Warsaw, Ky. (524 miles), just below, has +some bankside evidences of manufacturing, but +on the whole is rather down at the heel. A +contrast this, to Vevay (533 miles), on the +Indiana shore, which, though a small town on +a low-lying bottom, is neat and apparently +prosperous. Vevay was settled in 1803, by +John James Dufour and several associates, +from the District of Vevay, in Switzerland, +who purchased from Congress four square +miles hereabout, and, christening it New Switzerland, +sought to establish extensive vineyards +in the heart of this middle West. The Swiss +prospered. The colony has had sufficient vitality +to preserve many of its original +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page205" id="page205"></a>[pg 205]</span> +characteristics unto the present day. Much of the +land in the neighborhood is still owned by the +descendants of Dufour and his fellows, but the +vineyards are not much in evidence. In fact, +the grape-growing industry on the banks of +the Ohio, although commenced at different +points with great promise, by French, Swiss, +Germans, and Americans alike, has not realized +their expectations. The Ohio has proved +to be unlike the Rhine in this respect. In the +long run, the vine in America appears to fare +better in a more northern latitude.</p> + +<p>Three miles above Vevay, near Plum Creek, +I was interested in the Indiana farm upon +which Heathcoat Picket settled in 1795—some +say in 1790. In his day, Picket was a notable +flatboat pilot. He was credited with having +conducted more craft down the river to New Orleans, +than any other man of his time—going +down on the boat, and returning on foot. It is +said that he made over twenty trips of this character, +which is certainly a marvelous record at a +time when there were only Indian trails through +the more than a thousand miles of dense forest +between Vevay and New Orleans, and when a +savage enemy might be expected to lurk behind +any tree, ready to slay the rash pale-face. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page206" id="page206"></a>[pg 206]</span> +Picket's must have been a life of continuous +adventure, as thrilling as the career of Daniel +Boone himself; yet he is now known to but a +local antiquarian or two, and one stumbles +across him only in foot-notes. The border +annals of the West abound with incidents as +romantic as any which have been applauded +by men. Daniel Boone is not the only hero +of the frontier; he is not even the chief hero,—he +is but a type, whom an accident of literature +has made conspicuous.</p> + +<p>The Kentucky River (541 miles) enters at +Carrollton, Ky.,—a well-to-do town, with +busy-looking wharves upon both streams,—through +a wide and rather uninteresting bottom. +But, over beyond this, one sees that it +has come down through a deep-cut valley, +rimmed with dark, rolling hills, which speak +eloquently of a diversified landscape along its +banks. The Indian Kentucky, a small stream +but half-a-dozen rods wide, enters from the +north, five miles below—"Injun Kaintuck," it +was called by a jovial junk-boat man stationed +at the mouth of the tributary. There are, on +the Ohio, several examples of this peculiar +nomenclature: a river enters from the south, +and another affluent coming in from the north, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page207" id="page207"></a>[pg 207]</span> +nearly opposite, will have the same name with +the prefix "Indian." The reason is obvious; +the land north of the Ohio remained Indian +territory many years after Kentucky and Virginia +were recognized as white man's country, +hence the convenient distinction—the river +coming in from the north, near the Kentucky, +for instance, became "Indian Kentucky," and +so on through the list.</p> + +<p>Houseboats are less frequent, in these +reaches of the river. The towns are fewer +and smaller than above; consequently there +is less demand for fish, or for desultory labor. +Yet we seldom pass a day, in the most rustic +sections, without seeing from half-a-dozen to +a dozen of these craft. Sometimes they are +a few rods up the mouths of tributaries, half +hidden by willows and overhanging sycamores; +or, in picturesque little openings of the willow +fringe along the main shore; or, boldly planted +at the base of some rocky ledge. At the +towns, they are variously situated: in the +water, up the beach a way, or high upon the +bottom, whither some great flood has carried +them in years gone by. Occasionally, when +high and dry upon the land, they have a bit +of vegetable garden about them, rented for a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page208" id="page208"></a>[pg 208]</span> +time from the farmer; but, even with the +floaters, chickens are commonly kept, generally +in a coop on the roof, connected with the +shore by a special gang-plank for the fowls; +and the other day, we saw a thrifty houseboater +who had several colonies of bees.</p> + +<p>There was a rise of only two feet, last night; +evidently the flood is nearly at its greatest. +We are now twenty feet above the level of ten +days ago, and are frequently swirling along +over what were then sharp, stony slopes, and +brushing the topmost boughs of the lower +lines of willows and scrub sycamores. Thus +we have a better view of the country; and, +approaching closely to the banks, can from +our seats at any time pluck blue lupine by the +armful. It thrives mightily on these gravelled +shores, and so do the bignonia vine, the +poison ivy, and the Virginia creeper. The +hills are steeper, now, especially in Indiana; +many of them, although stony, worked-out, +and almost worthless, are still, in patches, +cultivated to the very top; but for the most +part they are clothed in restful green. Overhead, +in the summer haze, turkey-buzzards +wheel gracefully, occasionally chased by audacious +hawks; and in the woods, we hear the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page209" id="page209"></a>[pg 209]</span> +warble of song-birds. Shadowy, idle scenes, +these rustic reaches of the lower Ohio, through +which man may dream in Nature's lap, all +regardless of the workaday world.</p> + +<p>It was early evening when we passed Madison, +Ind. (553 miles), a fairly-prosperous factory +town of about twelve thousand souls. +Scores of the inhabitants were out in boats, +collecting driftwood; and upon the wharf was +a great crowd of people, waiting for an excursion +boat which was to return them to Louisville, +whence they had come for a day's outing. +It was a lifeless, melancholy party, as excursion +folk are apt to be at the close of a gala +day, and they wearily stared at us as we paddled +past.</p> + +<p>Just below, on the Kentucky shore, on my +usual search for milk and water, I landed at a +cluster of rude cottages set in pleasant market +gardens. While the others drifted by with +Pilgrim, I had a goodly walk before finding +milk, for a cow is considered a luxury among +these small riverside cultivators; the man who +owns one sells milk to his poorer neighbors. +Such a nabob was at last found. The animal +was called down from the rocky hills, by her +barefooted owner, who, lank and malaria-skinned, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page210" id="page210"></a>[pg 210]</span> +leaned wearily against the well-curb, +while his wife, also guiltless of hose and shoes, +milked into my pail direct from the lean and +hungry brindle.</p> + +<p>By the time the crew were reunited, storm-clouds, +thick and black, were fast rising in the +west. Scudding down shore for a mile, with +oars and paddle aiding the swift current, we +failed to find a proper camping-place on the +muddy bank of the far-stretching bottom. +Rain-drops were now pattering on our rubber +spreads, and it was evident that a blow was +coming; but despite this, we bent to the work +with renewed vigor, and shot across to the lee +shore of Indiana—finally landing in the midst +of a heavy shower, and hurriedly pitching +tent on a rocky slope at the base of a vertical +bank of clay. Above us, a government beacon +shines brightly through the persistent +storm, with the keeper's neat little house and +garden a hundred yards away. In the tree-tops, +up a heavily-forested hill beyond, the +wind moans right dismally. In this sheltered +nook, we shall be but lulled to sleep with the +ceaseless pelting of the rain.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="smcap">Louisville</span>, Monday, May 28th.—At +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page211" id="page211"></a>[pg 211]</span> +midnight, the heavens cleared, with a cold north +wind; the early morning atmosphere was +nipping, and we were glad of the shelter of +the tent during breakfast. The river fell eight +inches during the night, and on either bank is +a muddy strip, which will rapidly widen as +the water goes down.</p> + +<p>Below us, twenty rods or so, moored to the +boulder-strewn shore, was a shanty-boat. In +the bustle of landing, last night, we had not +noticed this neighbor, and it was pitch-dark +before we had time to get our bearings. I +think it is the most dilapidated affair we have +seen on the river—the frame of the cabin is +out of plumb, old clothes serve for sides and +flap loudly in the wind; while two little boys, +who peered at us through slits in the airy walls, +looked fairly miserable with cold.</p> + +<p>The proprietor of the craft came up to visit +us, while breakfast was being prepared, and remained +until we were ready to depart—a tall, +slouchy fellow, clothed in shreds and patches; +he was in the prime of life, with a depressed +nose set in a battered, though not unpleasant +countenance. None of our party had ever +before seen such garments on a human being—old +bits of flannel, frayed strips of bagging-stuff, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page212" id="page212"></a>[pg 212]</span> +and other curious odds and ends of fabrics, +in all the primitive colors, the whole +roughly basted together with sack-thread. He +was a philosopher, was this rag-tag-and-bob-tail +of a man, a philosopher with some mother-wit +about him. For an hour, he sat on his +haunches, crouching over our little stove, and +following with cat-like care W——'s every movement +in the culinary art; she felt she was under +the eye of a critic who, though not voicing his +opinions, looked as if he knew a thing or two.</p> + +<p>As a conversationist, our visitor was fluent +to a fault. It required but slight urging to +draw him out. His history, and that of his +fathers for three generations back, he recited +in much detail. He himself had, in his best +days, been a sub-contractor in railway construction; +but fate had gone against him, and +he had fallen to the low estate of a shanty-boatman. +His wife had "gone back on him," +and he was left with two little boys, whom he +proposed to bring up as gentlemen—"yaas, +sir-r, gen'lem'n, yew hear me! ef I <i>is</i> only a +shanty-boat feller!"</p> + +<p>"I thote I'd come to visit uv ye," he had +said by way of introduction; "ye're frum a +city, ain't yer? Yaas, I jist thote hit. City +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page213" id="page213"></a>[pg 213]</span> +folks is a more 'com'dat'n' 'n country folks. +Why? Waal, yew fellers jist go back 'ere in +th' hills away, 'n them thar country folks +they'd hardly answer ye, they're thet selfish-like. +Give me city folks, I say, fer get'n' long +with!"</p> + +<p>And then, in a rambling monologue, while +chewing a straw, he discussed humanity in +general, and the professions in particular. "I +ain't got no use fer lawyers—mighty hard show +them fellers has, fer get'n' to heaven. As fer +doctors—waal, they'll hev hard sledd'n, too; +but them fellers has to do piles o' dis'gree'bl' +work, they do; I'd jist rather fish fer a liv'n', +then be a doctor! Still, sir-r, give me an eddicated +man every time, says I. Waal, sir-r, +'n' ye hear me, one o' th' richest fellers right +here in Madison, wuz born 'n' riz on a shanty-boat, +'n' no mistake. He jist done pick up his +eddication from folks pass'n' by, jes' as yew +fellers is a passin', 'n' they might say a few +wuds o' information to him. He done git a +fine eddication jes' thet way, 'n' they ain't no +flies on him, these days, when money-gett'n' +is 'roun'. Jes' noth'n' like it, sir-r! Eddication +does th' biz!"</p> + +<p>An observant man was this philosopher, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page214" id="page214"></a>[pg 214]</span> +had studied human nature to some purpose. +He described the condition of the poor farmers +along the river, as being pitiful; they had no +money to hire help, and were an odd lot, anyway—the +farther back in the hills you get, the +worse they are.</p> + +<p>He loved to talk about himself and his lowly +condition, in contrast with his former glory as +a sub-contractor on the railway. When a +man was down, he said, he lost all his friends—and, +to illustrate this familiar phase of life, +told two stories which he had often read in a +book that he owned. They were curious, old-fashioned +tales of feudal days, evidently written +in a former century,—he did not know the +title of the volume,—and he related them in +what evidently were the actual words of the +author: a curious recitation, in the pedantic +literary style of the ancient story-teller, but in +the dialect of an Ohio-river "cracker." His +greatest ambition, he told us, was to own a +floating sawmill; although he carefully inquired +about the laws regulating peddlers in our State, +and intimated that sometime he might look +us up in that capacity, in our Northern home.</p> + +<p>As we approach Louisville to-day, the settlements +somewhat increase in number, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page215" id="page215"></a>[pg 215]</span> +although none of the villages are of great size; +and, especially in Kentucky, they are from +ten to twenty miles apart. The fine hills continue +close upon our path until a few miles +above Louisville, when they recede, leaving +on the Kentucky side a broad, flat plain several +miles square, for the city's growth. For +the most part, these stony slopes are well +wooded with elm, buckeye, maple, ash, oak, +locust, hickory, sycamore, cotton-wood, a few +cedars, and here and there a catalpa and a +pawpaw giving a touch of tropical luxuriance +to the hillside forest; while blackberry bushes, +bignonia vines, and poison ivy, are everywhere +abundant; otherwise, there is little of +interest to the botanist. Redbirds, catbirds, +bluebirds, blackbirds, and crows are chattering +noisily in the trees, and turkey-buzzards +everywhere swirl and swoop in mid-air.</p> + +<p>The narrow little bottoms are sandy; and +on lowland as well as highland there is much +poor, rock-bewitched soil. The little whitewashed +farmsteads look pretty enough in +the morning haze, lying half hid in forest +clumps; but upon approach they invariably +prove unkempt and dirty, and swarming with +shiftless, barefooted, unhealthy folk, whom +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page216" id="page216"></a>[pg 216]</span> +no imagination can invest with picturesque +qualities. Their ragged, unpainted tobacco-sheds +are straggling about, over the hills; and +here and there a white patch in the corner of +a gray field indicates a nursery of tobacco +plants, soon to be transplanted into ampler +soil.</p> + +<p>It is not uncommon to find upon a hillside +a freshly-built log-cabin, set in the midst of a +clearing, with bristling stumps all around, reminding +one of the homes of new settlers on +the far-away logging-streams of Northern +Wisconsin or Minnesota; the resemblance is +the closer, for such notches cut in the edge of +the Indiana and Kentucky wilderness are often +found after a row of many miles through a +winding forest solitude apparently but little +changed from primeval conditions. Now and +then we come across quarries, where stone is +slid down great chutes to barges which lie +moored by the rocky bank; and frequently is +the stream lined with great boulders, which +stand knee-deep in the flood that eddies and +gurgles around them.</p> + +<p>On the upper edge of the great Louisville +plain, we pitched tent in the middle of the +afternoon; and, having brought our bag of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page217" id="page217"></a>[pg 217]</span> +land-clothes with us in the skiff, from Cincinnati, +took turns under the canvas in effecting +what transformation was desirable, preparatory +to a visit in the city. In the early twilight +we were floating past Towhead Island, +with its almost solid flank of houseboats, +threading our way through a little fleet of +pleasure yachts, and at last shooting into the +snug harbor of the Boat Club. The good-natured +captain of the U. S. Life Saving Station +took Pilgrim and her cargo in charge for +the night, and by dusk we were bowling over +metropolitan pavements <i>en route</i> to the house +of our friend—strange contrast, this lap of +luxury, to the soldier-like simplicity of our +canvas home. We have been roughing it for +so long,—less than a month, although it seems +a year,—that all these conveniences of civilization, +these social conventionalities, have to +us a sort of foreign air. Thus easily may man +descend into the savage state.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page218" id="page218"></a>[pg 218]</span> + + + + +<h2>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> + + +<h4>Storied Louisville—Red Indians and +white—A night on Sand Island—New +Albany—Riverside hermits—The river +falling—A deserted village—An ideal +camp.</h4> + + + +<p><span class="smcap">Sand Island</span>, Tuesday, May 29th.—Our +Louisville host is the best living authority on +the annals of his town. It was a delight and +an inspiration to go with him, to-day, the +rounds of the historic places. Much that was +to me heretofore foggy in Louisville story was +made clear, upon becoming familiar with the +setting. The contention is made that La +Salle was here at the Falls of the Ohio, during +the closing months of 1669; but it was over a +century later, under British domination, before +a settlement was thought of. Dr. John +Connolly entertained a scheme for founding a +town at the Falls, but Lord Dunmore's War +(1774), and the Revolution quickly following, +combined to put an end to it; so that when +George Rogers Clark arrived on the scene with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page219" id="page219"></a>[pg 219]</span> +his little band of Virginian volunteers (May, +1778), en route to capture the Northwest for +the State of Virginia, he found naught but a +savage-haunted wilderness. His log fort on +Corn Island, in the midst of the rapids, served +as a base of military operations, and was the +nucleus of American settlement, although later +the inhabitants moved to the mainland, and +founded Louisville.</p> + +<p>The falls at Louisville are the only considerable +obstruction to Ohio-River navigation. +At an average stage, the descent is but twenty-seven +feet in two-and-a-half miles; in high +flood, the rapids degenerate into merely swift +water, without danger to descending craft. +At ordinary height, it was the custom of pioneer +boatmen, in descending, to lighten their +craft of at least a third of the cargo, and thus +pass them down to the foot of the north-side +portage (Clarksville, Ind.), which is three-quarters +of a mile in length; going up, lightened +boats were towed against the stream. With +the advent of larger craft, a canal with locks +became necessary—the Louisville and Portland +Canal of to-day, which is operated by the general +government.</p> + +<p>The action of the water, hastened by the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page220" id="page220"></a>[pg 220]</span> +destruction of trees whose roots originally +bound the loose soil, has greatly worn the +islands in the rapids. Little is now left of +historic Corn Island, and that little is, at low +water, being blasted and ground into cement +by a mill hard by on the main shore. To-day, +with a flood of nearly twenty feet above +the normal stage of the season, not much of +the island is visible,—clumps of willows and +sycamores, swayed by the rushing current, +giving a general idea of the contour. Goose +Island, although much smaller than in Clark's +day, is a considerable tract of wooded land, +with a rock foundation. Clark was once its +owner, his home being opposite on the Indiana +shore, where he had a fine view of the river, +the rapids, and the several islands. As for +Clarksville, somewhat lower down, and back +from the river a half mile, it is now but a +cluster of dwellings on the outskirts of New +Albany, a manufacturing town which is rapidly +absorbing all the neighboring territory.</p> + +<p>Feeling obliged to make an early start, we +concluded to pass the night just below the +canal on Sand Island, lying between New +Albany and Louisville's noisy manufacturing +suburb, Portland. An historic spot is this +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page221" id="page221"></a>[pg 221]</span> +insular home of ours. At the treaty of Fort +Charlotte, Cornstalk told Lord Dunmore the +legend familiar among Ohio River savages—that +here, in ages past, occurred the last great +battle between the white and the red Indians. +It is one of the puzzles of the antiquarians, +this tradition that white Indians once lived in +the land, but were swept away by the reds; +Cornstalk had used it to spur his followers to +mighty deeds, it was a precedent which Pontiac +dwelt upon when organizing his conspiracy, +and King Philip is said to have been +inspired by it. But this is no place to discuss +the genesis of the tale. Suffice it, that on +Sand Island have been discovered great quantities +of ancient remains. No doubt, in its +day, it was an over-filled burying-ground.</p> + +<p>Noises, far different from the clash of savage +arms, are in the air to-night. Far above +our heads a great iron bridge crosses the Ohio, +some of its piers resting on the island,—a busy +combination thoroughfare for steam and electric +railways, for pedestrians and for vehicles, +plying between New Albany and Portland. +The whirr of the trolley, the scream and rumble +of locomotives, the rattle of wagons; and +just above the island head, the burly roar of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page222" id="page222"></a>[pg 222]</span> +steamboats signaling the locks,—these are the +sounds which are prevalent. Through all this +hubbub, electric lamps are flashing, and just +now a steamer's search-light swept our island +shore, lingering for a moment upon the little +camp, doubtless while the pilot satisfied his +curiosity. Let us hope that savage warriors +never o' nights walk the earth above their +graves; for such scenes as this might well +cause those whose bones lie here to doubt +their senses.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="smcap">Near Brandenburg, Ky.</span>, Wednesday, +30th.—We stopped at New Albany, Ind. (603 +miles), this morning, to stock the larder and +to forward our shore-clothes by express to +Cairo. It is a neat and busy manufacturing +town, with an excellent public market. A gala +aspect was prevalent, for it is Memorial Day; +the shops and principal buildings were gay +with bunting, and men in Grand Army uniforms +stood in knots at the street corners.</p> + +<p>The broad, fertile plain on both sides of the +river, upon which Louisville and New Albany +are the principal towns, extends for eight or +nine miles below the rapids. The first hills +to approach the stream are those in Indiana. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page223" id="page223"></a>[pg 223]</span> +Salt River, some ten or twelve rods wide, enters +from the south twenty-one miles below +New Albany, between uninteresting high clay +banks, with the lazy-looking little village of +West Point, Ky., occupying a small rise of +ground just below the mouth. The Kentucky +hills come close to the bank, a mile or two +farther down, and then the familiar characteristics +of the reaches above Louisville are resumed—hills +and bottoms, sparsely settled +with ragged farmsteads, regularly alternating.</p> + +<p>At five o'clock we put in at a rocky ledge +on the Indiana side, a mile-and-a-half above +Brandenburg. Behind us rises a precipitous +hill, tree-clad to the summit. The Doctor +found up there a new phlox and a pretty pink +stone-crop, to add to our herbarium, while here +as elsewhere the bignonia grows profusely in +every crevice of the rock. At dark, two ragged +and ill-smelling young shanty-boat men, +who are moored hard by, came up to see us, +and by our camp-fire to whittle chips and +drone about hard times. But at last we tired +of their idle gossip, which had in it no element +of the picturesque, and got rid of them +by hinting our desire to turn in.</p> + +<p>The towns were few to-day, and small. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page224" id="page224"></a>[pg 224]</span> +Brandenburg, with eight hundred souls, was +the largest—a sleepy, ill-paved, shambling +place, with apparently nobody engaged in any +serious calling; its chief distinction is an architectural +monstrosity, which we were told is +the court-house. The little white hamlet of +New Amsterdam, Ind. (650 miles), looked +trim and bright in the midst of a green thicket. +Richardson's Landing, Ky., is a disheveled +row of old deserted houses, once used by lime-burners, +with a great barge wrecked upon the +beach. At the small, characterless Indiana +village of Leavenworth (658 miles), I sought +a traveling photographer, of whom I had been +told at Brandenburg. My quest was for a +dark-room where I might recharge my exhausted +kodak; but the man of plates had +packed up his tent and moved on—I would +no doubt find him in Alton, Ind., fifteen miles +lower down.</p> + +<p>We have had stately, eroded hills, and +broad, fertile bottoms, hemming us in all day, +and marvelous ox-bows in the erratic stream. +The hillsides are heavily wooded, sometimes +the slopes coming straight down to the stony +beach, without intervening terrace; where +there are such terraces, they are narrow and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page225" id="page225"></a>[pg 225]</span> +rocky, and the homes of shanty-men; but +upon the bottoms are whitewashed dwellings +of frame or log, tenanted by a better class, +who sometimes have goodly orchards and extensive +corn-cribs. The villages are generally +in the deep-cut notches of the hills, where the +interior can be conveniently reached by a +wagon-road—a country "rumpled like this," +they say, for ten or twelve miles back, and +then stretching off into level plains of fertility. +Now and then, a deserted cabin on the terraces,—windowless +and gaunt,—tells the story +of some "cracker" family that malaria had +killed off, or that has "pulled up stakes" +and gone to seek a better land.</p> + +<p>At Leavenworth, the river, which has been +flowing northwest for thirty miles, takes a +sudden sweep to the southwest, and thenceforward +we have a rapid current. However, we +need still to ply our blades, for there is a stiff +head-wind, with an eager nip in it, to escape +which we seek the lee as often as may be, +and bask in the undisturbed sunlight. Right +glad we were, at luncheon-time, to find a +sheltered nook amidst a heap of boulders on +the Kentucky shore, and to sit on the sun-warmed +sand and drink hot tea by the side of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page226" id="page226"></a>[pg 226]</span> +a camp-fire, rejoicing in the kindness of Providence.</p> + +<p>There are few houseboats, since leaving +Louisville; to-day we have seen but three or +four—one of them merrily going up stream, +under full sail. Islands, too, are few—the +Upper and Lower Blue River, a pretty pair, +being the first we have met since Sunday. +The water is falling, it now being three or +four feet below the stage of a few days since, +as can readily be seen from the broad dado of +mud left on the leaves of willows and sycamores; +while the drift, recently an ever-present +feature of the current, is rapidly lodging +in the branches of the willows and piling up +against the sand-spits; and scrawling snags +and bobbing sawyers are catching on the bars, +and being held for the next "fresh."</p> + +<p>There is little life along shore, in these lower +waters. There are two lines of ever-widening, +willowed beach of rock and sand or mud; +above them, perpendicular walls of clay, which +edge either rocky terraces backed by grand +sweeps of convoluted hills,—sometimes wooded +to the top, and sometimes eroded into palisades,—or +wide-stretching bottoms given over +to small farms or maybe dense tangles of forest.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page227" id="page227"></a>[pg 227]</span> + +<p>In the midst of this world of shade, nestle +the whitewashed cabins of the small tillers; +but though they swarm with children, it is not +often that the inhabitants appear by the riverside. +We catch a glimpse of them when +landing on our petty errands, we now and +then see a houseboater at his nets, and in the +villages a few lackadaisical folk are lounging +by the wharf; but as a rule, in these closing +days of our pilgrimage, we glide through what +is almost a solitude. The imagination has +not to go far afield, to rehabilitate the river +as it appeared to the earliest voyagers.</p> + +<p>Late in the afternoon, as usual wishing +water and milk, we put ashore in Indiana, +where a rustic landing indicated a settlement +of some sort, although our view was confined +to a pretty, wooded bank, and an unpainted +warehouse at the top of the path. It was a +fertile bottom, a half-mile wide, and stretching +a mile or two along the river. Three +neat houses, one of them of logs, constituted +the village, and all about were grain-fields +rippled into waves by the northwest breeze.</p> + +<p>The first house, a quarter of a mile inland, +I reached by a country roadway; it proved to +be the postoffice of Point Sandy. Chickens +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page228" id="page228"></a>[pg 228]</span> +clucked around me, a spaniel came fawning +for attention, a tethered cow mooed plaintively, +but no human being was visible. At +last I discovered a penciled notice pinned to +the horse-block, to the effect that the postmaster +had gone into Alton (five miles distant) +for the day; and should William Askins call +in his absence, the said Askins was to remember +that he promised to call yesterday, but +never came; and now would he be kind enough +to come without fail to-morrow before sundown, +or the postmaster would be obliged to +write that letter they had spoken about. It +was quite evident that Askins had not called; +for he surely would not have left that mysterious +notice sticking there, for all Point Sandy +to read and gossip over. It is to be hoped +that there will be no bloodshed over this +affair; across the way, in Kentucky, there +would be no doubt as to the outcome.</p> + +<p>I looked at Boss, and wondered whether in +Indiana it were felony to milk another man's +cow in his absence, with no ginger jar at +hand, into which to drop a compensatory +dime. Then I saw that she was dry, and concluded +that to attempt it might be thought a +violation of ethics. The postmaster's well, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page229" id="page229"></a>[pg 229]</span> +too, proved to be a cistern,—pardon the Hibernicism,—and +so I went farther.</p> + +<p>The other frame house also turned out to +be deserted, but evidently only for the day, +for the lilac bushes in the front yard were +hung with men's flannel shirts drying in the +sun. A buck goat came bleating toward me, +with many a flourish of his horns, from which +it was plain to be seen why the family wash +was not spread upon the grass. From here I +followed a narrow path through a wheat-field, +the grain up to my shoulders, toward the log +dwelling. A mangy little cur disputed my +right to knock at the door; but, flourishing +my two tin pails at him, he flew yelping to +take refuge in the hen-coop. To my summons +at the portal, there came no response, +save the mewing of the cat within. It was +clear that the people of Point Sandy were not +at home, to-day.</p> + +<p>I would have retreated to the boat, but, +chancing to glance up at the overhanging hills +which edge in the bottom, saw two men sitting +on a boulder in front of a rude log hut on +the brink of a cliff, curiously watching my +movements on the plain. Thankful, now, +that the postmaster's cow had gone dry, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page230" id="page230"></a>[pg 230]</span> +that these observant mountaineers had not +had an opportunity to misinterpret my conduct, +I at once hurried toward the hill, hopeful +that at the top some bovine might be +housed, whose product could lawfully be acquired. +But after a long and laborious climb, +over shifting stones and ragged ledges, I was +met with the discouraging information that +the only cow in these parts was Hawkins' +cow, and Hawkins was the postmaster,—"down +yon, whar yew were a-read'n' th' notices +on th' hoss-block." Neither had they +any water, up there on the cliff-top—"don' use +very much, stranger; 'n' what we do, we done +git at Smithfield's, in th' log-house down yon, +'n' I reck'n their cistern's done gone dry, anyhow!"</p> + +<p>"But what is the matter down there?" I +asked of the old man,—they were father and +son, this lounging pair who thus loftily sat in +judgment on the little world at their feet; +"why are all the folks away from home?"</p> + +<p>He looked surprised, and took a fresh chew +while cogitating on my alarming ignorance of +Point Sandy affairs: "Why, ain' ye heared? +I thote ev'ry feller on th' river knew thet +yere—why, ol' Hawkins, his wife's brother's +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page231" id="page231"></a>[pg 231]</span> +buried in Alton to-day, 'n' th' neighbors done +gwine t' th' fun'ral. Whar your shanty-boat +been beached, thet ye ain' heared thet yere?"</p> + +<p>As the sun neared the horizon, we tried +other places below, with no better success; +and two miles above Alton, Ind. (673 miles), +struck camp at sundown, without milk for our +coffee—for water, being obliged to settle and +boil the roily element which bears us onward +through the lengthening days. Were there +no hardships, this would be no pilgrimage +worthy of the name. We are out, philosophically +to take the world as it is; he who is not +content to do so, had best not stir from home.</p> + +<p>But our camping-place, to-night, is ideal. +We are upon a narrow, grassy ledge; below +us, the sloping beach astrewn with jagged +rocks; behind us rises steeply a grand hillside +forest, in which lie, mantled with moss and +lichens, and deep buried in undergrowth, boulders +as large as a "cracker's" hut; romantic +glens abound, and a little run comes noisily +down a ravine hard by,—it is a witching back-door, +filled with surprises at every turn. +Beeches, elms, maples, lindens, pawpaws, +tulip trees, here attain a monster growth,—with +grape-vines, their fruit now set, hanging +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page232" id="page232"></a>[pg 232]</span> +in great festoons from the branches; and all +about, are the flowers which thrive best in +shady solitudes—wild licorice, a small green-brier, +and, although not yet in bloom, the +sessile trillium. We are thoroughly isolated; +a half-mile above us, faintly gleams a government +beacon, and we noticed on landing that +three-quarters of a mile below is a small cabin +flanking the hill. Naught disturbs our quiet, +save the calls of the birds at roosting-time, and +now and then the hoarse bellow of a passing +packet, with its legacy of boisterous wake.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page233" id="page233"></a>[pg 233]</span> + + + + +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + +<h4>Village life—A traveling photographer—On +a country road—Studies in color—Again +among colliers—In sweet content—A +ferry romance.</h4> + + + +<p><span class="smcap">Near Troy, Ind.</span>, Friday, June 1st.—Below +Alton, the hills are not so high as above. +We have, however, the same thoroughly rustic +landscape, the same small farms on the bottoms +and wretched cabins on the slopes, the +same frontier-like clearings thick with stumps, +the same shabby little villages, and frequent +ox-bow windings of the generous stream, with +lovely vistas unfolding and dissolving with panoramic +regularity. It is not a region where houseboaters +flourish—there is but one every ten +miles or so; as for steamboats, we see on an +average one a day, while two or three usually +pass us in the night.</p> + +<p>A dry, unpainted little place is Alton, Ind., +with three down-at-the-heel shops, a tavern, a +saloon, and a few dwellings; there was no +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page234" id="page234"></a>[pg 234]</span> +bread obtainable here, for love or money, and +we were fain to be content with a bag of +crackers from the postoffice grocery. The +promised photographer, who appears to be a +rapid traveler, was said to have gone on to +Concordia, eight miles below.</p> + +<p>Deep Water Landing, Ind. (676 miles), is a +short row of new, whitewashed houses, with a +great board sign displaying the name of the +hamlet, doubtless to attract the attention of +pilots. A rude little show-case, nailed up +beside the door of the house at the head of the +landing-path, contains tempting samples of +crockery and tinware. Apparently some enterprising +soul is trying to grow a town here, +on this narrow ledge of clay, with his landing +and his shop as a nucleus. But it is an unlikely +spot, and I doubt if his "boom" will develop +to the corner-lot stage.</p> + +<p>Rono, Ind., a mile below, with its limewashed +buildings set in a bower of trees, at the base +of a bald bluff, is a rather pretty study in gray +and green and white. The most notable feature +is a little school-house-like Masonic hall +set high on a stone foundation, with a steep +outer stairway—which gives one an impression +that Rono is a victim of floods, and that the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page235" id="page235"></a>[pg 235]</span> +brethren occasionally come in boats to lodge-meetings.</p> + +<p>Concordia, Ky. (681 miles), rests on the +summit of a steep clay bank, from which men +were loading a barge with bark. Great piles +of blocks, for staves, ornamented the crest of +the rise—a considerable industry for these +parts, we were told. But the photographer, +whom we were chasing, had "taken" every +Concordian who wished his services, and moved +on to Derby, another Kentucky village, which +at last we found, six miles father down the +river.</p> + +<p>The principal occupation of the people of +Derby is getting out timber from the hillside +forests, six to ten miles in the interior. Oak, +elm, and sycamore railway-ties are the specialty, +these being worth twenty cents each +when landed upon the wharf. A few months +ago, Derby was completely destroyed by fire, +but, although the timber business is on the +wane here, much of the place was rebuilt on +the old foundations; hence the fresh, unpainted +buildings, with battlement fronts, which, with +the prevalence of open-door saloons and a +woodsy swagger on the part of the inhabitants, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page236" id="page236"></a>[pg 236]</span> +give the place a breezy, frontier aspect now +seldom to be met with this side of the Rockies.</p> + +<p>Here at last was the traveling photographer. +His tent, flapping loudly in the wind, occupied +an empty lot in the heart of the village—a +saloon on either side, and a lumberman's +boarding house across the way, where the +"artist" was at dinner, pending which I waited +for him at the door of his canvas gallery. He +evidently seeks to magnify his calling, does +this raw youth of the camera, by affecting +what he conceives to be the traditional garb +of the artistic Bohemian, but which resembles +more closely the costume of the minstrel +stage—a battered silk hat, surmounting flowing +locks glistening with hair-oil; a loose velveteen +jacket, over a gay figured vest; and a +great brass watch-chain, from which dangle +silver coins. As this grotesque dandy, evidently +not long from his native village, came +mincing across the road in patent-leather slippers, +smoking a cigarette, with one thumb in +an arm-hole of his vest, and the other hand +twirling an incipient mustache, he was plainly +conscious of creating something of a swell in +Derby.</p> + +<p>It was a crazy little dark-room to which I +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page237" id="page237"></a>[pg 237]</span> +was shown—a portable affair, much like a +coffin-case, which I expected momentarily to +upset as I stood within, and be smothered in a +cloud of ill-smelling chemicals. However, +with care I finally emerged without accident, +and sufficiently compensated the artist, who +seemed not over-favorable to amateur competition, +although he chatted freely enough about +his business. It generally took him ten days, +he said, to "finish" a town of five or six hundred +inhabitants, like Derby. He traveled on +steamers with his tenting outfit, but next season +hoped to have money enough to "do the +thing in style," in a houseboat of his own, an +establishment which would cost say four hundred +dollars; then, in the winter, he could +beach himself at some fair-sized town, and +perhaps make his board by running a local +gallery, taking to the water again on the earliest +spring "fresh." "I could live like a +fight'n' cock then, cap'n, yew jist bet yer bottom +dollar!"</p> + +<p>The temperature mounted with the progress +of the day; and, the wind dying down, +the atmosphere was oppressive. By the time +Stephensport, Ky. (695 miles), was reached, +in the middle of the afternoon, the sun was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page238" id="page238"></a>[pg 238]</span> +beating fiercely upon the glassy flood, and our +awning came again into play, although it +could not save us from the annoyance of the +reflection. The barren clay bank at the mouth +of Sinking Creek, upon which lies Stephensport, +seemed fairly ablaze with heat, as I went +up into the straggling hamlet to seek for supplies. +There were no eggs to be had here; +but, at last, milk was found in the farther end +of the village, at a modest little cottage quite +embowered in roses, with two century plants +in tubs in the back-yard, and a trim fruit and +vegetable garden to the rear of that, enclosed +in palings. I remained a few minutes to chat +with the little housewife, who knows her roses +well, and is versed in the gentle art of horticulture. +But her horizon is painfully narrow—first +and dearest, the plants about her, +which is not so bad; in a larger way, Stephensport +and its petty affairs; but beyond that +very little, and that little vague.</p> + +<p>It is ever thus, in such far-away, side-tracked +villages as this—the world lies in the basin of +the hills which these people see from their +doors; if they have something to love and do for, +as this good woman has in her bushes, seeds, +and bulbs, then may they dwell happily in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page239" id="page239"></a>[pg 239]</span> +rustic obscurity; but where, as is more common, +the small-beer of neighborhood gossip is +their meat and drink, there are no folk on the +footstool more wretched than the denizens of +a dead little hamlet like Stephensport.</p> + +<p>We are housed this night on the Kentucky +side, a mile-and-a-half above Cloverport, +whose half-dozen lights are glimmering in the +stream. In the gloaming, while dinner was +being prepared, a ragged but sturdy wanderer +came into camp. He was, he said, a mountaineer +looking for work on the bottom farms; +heretofore he had, when he wanted it, always +found it; but this season no one appeared to +have any money to expend for labor, and it +seemed likely he would be obliged to return +home without receiving an offer. We made +the stranger no offer of a seat at our humble +board, having no desire that he pass the night +in our neighborhood; for darkness was coming +on apace, and, if he long tarried, the +woodland road would be as black as a pocket +before he could reach Cloverport, his alleged +destination. So starting him off with a biscuit +or two, he was soon on his way toward +the village, whistling a lively tune.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page240" id="page240"></a>[pg 240]</span> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="smcap">Crooked Creek, Ind.</span>, Saturday, 2d.—We +had but fairly got to bed last night, after our +late dinner, when the heavens suddenly darkened, +fierce gusts of wind shook the tent violently, +and then rain fell in blinding sheets. +For a time it was lively work for the Doctor +and me, tightening guy-ropes and ditching in +the soft sand, for we were in an exposed +position, catching the full force of the storm. +At last, everything secured, we in serenity +slept it out, awakening to find a beautiful +morning, the grape-perfumed air as clear as +crystal, the outlines of woods and hills and +streams standing out with sharp definition, +and over all a hushed charm most soothing to +the spirit.</p> + +<p>Cloverport (705 miles) is a typical Kentucky +town, of somewhat less than four thousand +inhabitants. The wharf-boat, which runs up +and down an iron tramway, according to the +height of the flood, was swarming with negroes, +watching with keen delight the departure of +the "E. D. Rogan," as she noisily backed out +into the river and scattered the crowd with +great showers of spray from her gigantic stern-wheel. +It was a busy scene on board—negro +roustabouts shipping the gang-plank, and singing +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page241" id="page241"></a>[pg 241]</span> +in a low pitch an old-time plantation melody; +stokers, stripped to the waist, shoveling +coal into the gaping furnaces; chambermaids +hanging the ship's linen out to dry; passengers +crowded by the shore rail, on the main deck; +the bustling mate shouting orders, apparently +for the benefit of landsmen, for no one on +board appeared to heed him; and high up, in +front of the pilot-house, the spruce captain, +in gold-laced cap, and glass in hand, as immovable +as the Sphinx.</p> + +<p>At the head of the slope were a picturesque +medley of colored folk, of true Southern plantation +types, so seldom seen north of Dixie. +Two wee picaninnies, drawn in an express +cart by a half-dozen other sable elfs, attracted +our attention, as W—— and I went up-town +for our day's marketing. We stopped to take +a snap-shot at them, to the intense satisfaction +of the little kink-haired mother of the +twins, who, barring her blue calico gown, +looked as if she might have just stepped out +of a Zulu group.</p> + +<p>Cloverport has brick-works, gas wells, a +flouring-mill, and other industries. The streets +are unkempt, as in most Kentucky towns, and +mules attached to crazy little carts are the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page242" id="page242"></a>[pg 242]</span> +chief beasts of burden; but the shops are well-stocked; +there were many farmers in town, +on horse and mule back, doing their Saturday +shopping; and an air of business confidence +prevails.</p> + +<p>In this district, coal-mines again appear, +with their riverside tipples, and their offal defiling +the banks. In general, these reaches +have many of the aspects of the Monongahela, +although the hills are lower, and mining is on +a smaller scale. Cannelton, Ind. (717 miles), +is the headquarters of the American Cannel +Coal Co.; there are, also, woolen and cotton +mills, sewer-pipe factories, and potteries. +W—— and I went up into the town, on an errand +for supplies,—we distribute our small +patronage, for the sake of frequently going +ashore,—and were interested in noting the +cheery tone of the business men, who reported +that the financial depression, noticeable elsewhere +in the Ohio Valley, has practically been +unfelt here. Hawesville, Ky., just across the +river, has a similarly prosperous look, but we +did not row across to inspect it at close range. +Tell City, Ind., three miles below, is another +flourishing factory town, whose wharf-boat +was the scene of much bustle. Four miles +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page243" id="page243"></a>[pg 243]</span> +still lower down lies the sleepy little Indiana +village of Troy, which appears to have profited +nothing from having lively neighbors.</p> + +<p>From the neighborhood of Derby, the environing +hills had, as we proceeded, been lessening +in height, although still ruggedly beautiful. +A mile or two below Troy, both ranges suddenly +roll back into the interior, leaving broad +bottoms on either hand, occasionally edged with +high clay banks, through which the river has +cut its devious way. At other times, these +bottoms slope gently to the beach and everywhere +are cultivated with such care that often +no room is left for the willow fringe, which +heretofore has been an ever-present feature of +the landscape. Hereafter, to the mouth, we +shall for the most part row between parallel +walls of clay, with here and there a bankside +ledge of rock and shale, and now and then a +cragged spur running out to meet the river. +We have now entered the great corn and +tobacco belt of the Lower Ohio, the region of +annual overflow, where the towns seek the +highlands, and the bottom farmers erect their +few crude buildings on posts, prepared in case +of exceptional flood to take to boats.</p> + +<p>The prevalent eagerness on the part of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page244" id="page244"></a>[pg 244]</span> +farmers to obtain the utmost from their land +made it difficult, this evening, to find a proper +camping-place. We finally found a narrow +triangle of clay terrace, in Indiana, at the +mouth of Crooked Creek (727 miles), where +not long since had tarried a houseboater engaged +in making rustic furniture. It is a pretty +little bit, in a group of big willows and sycamores, +and would be comfortable but for the +sand-flies, which for the first time give us annoyance. +The creek itself, some four rods +wide, and overhung with stately trees, winds +gracefully through the rich bottom; we have +found it a charming water to explore, being +able to proceed for nearly a mile through +lovely little wide-spreads abounding in lilies +and sweet with the odor of grape-blossoms.</p> + +<p>Across the river, at Emmerick's Landing,—a +little cluster of unpainted cabins,—lies the +white barge of a photographer, just such a +home as the Derby artist covets. The Ohio +is here about half-a-mile wide, but high-pitched +voices of people on the opposite bank are plainly +heard across the smooth sounding-board; and +in the quiet evening air comes to us the "chuck-chuck" +of oars nearly a mile away. Following +a torrid afternoon, with exasperating headwinds, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page245" id="page245"></a>[pg 245]</span> +this cool, fresh atmosphere, in the long +twilight, is inspiring. Overhead is the slender +streak of the moon's first quarter, its reflection +shimmering in the broad and placid stream +rushing noiselessly by us to the sea. In blissful +content we sit upon the bank, and drink +in the glories of the night. The days of our +pilgrimage are nearing their end, but our enthusiasm +for this <i>al fresco</i> life is in no measure +abating. That we might ever thus dream and +drift upon the river of life, far from the labored +strivings of the world, is our secret wish, to-night.</p> + +<p>We had long been sitting thus, having +silent communion with our thoughts, when +the Boy, his little head resting on W——'s +shoulder, broke the spell by murmuring from +the fullness of his heart, "Mother, why cannot +we keep on doing this, always?"</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="smcap">Yellowbank Island</span>, Sunday, June 3d.—Pilgrim +still attracts more attention than her +passengers. When we stop at the village +wharfs, or grate our keel upon some rustic +landing, it is not long before the Doctor, who +now always remains with the boat, no matter +who goes ashore, is surrounded by an admiring +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page246" id="page246"></a>[pg 246]</span> +group, who rap Pilgrim on the ribs, try to +lift her by the bow, and study her graceful +lines with the air of connoisseurs. Barefooted +men fishing on the shores, in broad straw +hats, and blue jeans, invariably "pass the +time o' day" with us as we glide by, crying +out as a parting salute, "Ye've a honey skiff, +thar!" or, "Right smart skiff, thet yere!"</p> + +<p>We have many long, dreary reaches to-day. +Clay banks twelve to twenty feet in height, +and growing taller as the water recedes, rise +sheer on either side. Fringing the top of +each is often a row of locusts, whose roots in +a feeble way hold the soil; but the river cuts +in at the base, wherever the changing current +impinges on the shore, and at low water great +slices, with a gurgling splash, fall into the +stream, which now is of the color of dull gold, +from the clay held in solution. Often, ruins +of buildings may be seen upon the brink, that +have collapsed from this undercut of the fickle +flood; and many others, still inhabited, are in +dangerous proximity to the edge, only biding +their time.</p> + +<p>This morning, we passed the Indiana hamlets +of Lewisport (731 miles) and Grand View +(736 miles), and by noon were at Rockport +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page247" id="page247"></a>[pg 247]</span> +(741 miles), a smart little city of three thousand +souls, romantically perched upon a great +rock, which on the right bank rises abruptly +from the wide expanse of bottom. From the +river, there is little to be seen of Rockport +save two wharves,—one above, the other below, +the bold cliff which springs sheer for a +hundred feet above the stream,—two angling +roads leading up into the town, a house or +two on the edge of the hill and a huge water-tower +crowning all.</p> + +<p>A few miles below, we ran through a narrow +channel, a few rods wide, separating an +elongated island from the Indiana shore. It +much resembles the small tributary streams, +with a lush undergrowth of weeds down to the +water's edge, and arched with monster sycamores, +elms, maples and persimmons. Frequently +had we seen skiffs upon the shore, +arranged with stern paddle-wheels, turned by +levers operated by men standing or sitting in +the boat. But we had seen none in operation +until, shooting down this side channel, we +met such a craft coming up, manned by two +fellows, who seemed to be having a treadmill +task of it; they assured us, however, that +when a man was used to manipulating the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page248" id="page248"></a>[pg 248]</span> +levers he found it easier than rowing, especially +in ascending stream.</p> + +<p>Yellowbank Island, our camp to-night, lies +nearest the Indiana shore, with Owensboro, +Ky. (749 miles), just across the way. We +have had no more beautiful home on our long +pilgrimage than this sandy islet, heavily grown +to stately willows. While the others were +preparing dinner, I pulled across the rapid +current to an Indiana ferry-landing, where +there is a row of mean frame cabins, like the +negro quarters of a Southern farm, all elevated +on posts some four feet above the level. A +half-dozen families live there, all of them +small tenant farmers, save the ferryman—a +strapping, good-natured fellow, who appears +to be the nabob of the community.</p> + +<p>Several hollow sycamore stumps house sows +and their litters; but the only cow in the +neighborhood is owned by a young man who, +when I came up, was watering some refractory +mules at a pump-trough. He paused +long enough to summon Boss and milk a +half-gallon into my pail, accepting my dime +with a degree of thankfulness which was quite +unnecessary, considering that it was <i>quid pro +quo</i>. Tobacco is a more important crop than +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page249" id="page249"></a>[pg 249]</span> +corn hereabout, he said; farmers are rather +impatiently waiting for rain, to set out the +young plants. His only outbuilding is a monster +corn-crib, set high on posts—the airy +basement, no better than an open shed, serving +for a stable; during the few weeks of +severe winter weather, horses and cow are +removed to the main floor, and canvas nailed +around the sides to keep out the wind. Even +this slight protection is not vouchsafed stock +by all planters; the majority of them appear +to provide only rain shelters, and even these +can be of slight avail in a driving storm.</p> + +<p>Later, in the failing light, W—— and I pulled +together over to the "cracker" settlement, +seeking drinking-water. A stout young man +was seated on the end of the ferry barge, +talking earnestly with the ferryman's daughter, +a not unattractive girl, but pale and thin, as +these women are apt to be. Evidently they +are lovers, and not ashamed of it, for they +gave us a friendly smile as we knotted our +painter to the barge-rail, and expressed great +interest in Pilgrim, she being of a pattern new +to them.</p> + +<p>We are in a noisy corner of the world. +Over on the Indiana bottom, a squeaky fiddle is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page250" id="page250"></a>[pg 250]</span> +grinding out dance-tunes, hymns and ballads +with charming indifference. We thought we +detected in a high-pitched "Annie Laurie" +the voice of the ferryman's daughter. There +seems, too, to be a deal of rowing on the +river, evidently Owensboro folk getting back +to town from a day in the country, and country +folk hieing home after a day in the city. +The ferryman is in much demand, judging +from the frequent ringing of his bell,—one on +either bank, set between two tall posts, with +a rope dangling from the arm. At early dusk, +the cracked bell of the Owensboro Bethel resounded +harshly in our ears, as it advertised +an evening service for the floating population; +and now the wheezy strains of a melodeon +tell us that, although we stayed away, doubtless +others have been attracted thither. The +sepulchral roars of passing steamers echo +along the wooded shore, the night wind rustles +the tree-tops, Owensboro dogs are much +awake, and the electric lamps of the city +throw upon our canvas screen the fantastic +shadows of leaves and dancing boughs.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page251" id="page251"></a>[pg 251]</span> + + + + +<h2>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> + + +<h4>Fishermen's tales—Skiff nomenclature—Green +River—Evansville—Henderson—Audubon +and Rafinesque—Floating +trade—The Wabash.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Green River Towhead</span>, Monday, June +4th.—We were shopping in Owensboro, this +morning, soon after seven o'clock. The business +quarter was just stirring into life; and +the negroes who were lounging about on every +hand were still drowsy, as if they had passed +the night there, and were reluctant to be up +and doing. There is a pretty court-house in +a green park, the streets are well paved, and +the shops clean and bright, with their wares +mostly under the awnings on the sidewalk, for +people appear to live much out of doors here—and +well they may, with the temperature 73° +at this early hour, and every promise of a +scorching day.</p> + +<p>I wonder if a fisherman could, if he tried, +be exact in his statements. One of them, +below Owensboro, who kept us company for +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page252" id="page252"></a>[pg 252]</span> +a mile or two down stream, declared that at +this stage of the water he made forty and fifty +dollars a week, "'n' I reck'n I ote to be contint." +A few miles farther on, another complained +that when the river was falling, the +water was so muddy the fish would not bite; +and even in the best of seasons, a fisherman +had "a hard pull uv it; hit ain't no business +fer a decent man!" The other day, when the +river was rising, a Cincinnati follower of the +apostle's calling averred that there was no use +fishing when the water was coming up. As +the variable Ohio is like the ocean tide, ever +rising or falling, it would seem that the thousands +in this valley who make fishing their +livelihood must be playing a losing game.</p> + +<p>There are many beautiful islands on these +lower reaches of the river. We followed the +narrow channel between Little Hurricane and +the Kentucky shore, a charming run of two or +three miles, with both banks a dense tangle +of drift-wood, weeds and vines. Between +Three-Mile Island and Indiana, is another interesting +cut-short, where the shores are undisturbed +by the work of the main stream, +and trees and undergrowth come down to the +water's edge; the air is quivering with the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page253" id="page253"></a>[pg 253]</span> +songs of birds, and resonant with sweet smells; +while over stumps, and dead and fallen trees, +grape-vines luxuriantly festoon and cluster. +Near the pretty group of French Islands, two +government dredges, with their boarding +barges, were moored to the Kentucky shore—waiting +for coal, we were told, before resuming +operations in the planting of a dike. I +took a snap-shot at the fleet, and heard one +man shout to another, "Bill, did yer notice +they've a photograph gallery aboard?" They +appear to be a jolly lot, these dredgers, and +inclined to take life easily, in accordance with +the traditions of government employ.</p> + +<p>We frequently see skiffs hauled upon the +beach, or moored between two protecting +posts, to prevent their being swamped by +steamer wakes. The names they bear interest +us, as betokening, perhaps, the proclivities of +their owners. "Little Joe," "Little Jim," +"Little Maggie," and like diminutives, are +common here, as upon the towing-tugs and +steam ferries of broader waters—and now and +then we have, by contrast, "Xerxes," "Achilles," +"Hercules." Sometimes the skiff is named +after its owner's wife or sweetheart, as +"Maggie G.," "Polly H.," or from the rustic +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page254" id="page254"></a>[pg 254]</span> +goddesses, "Pomona," "Flora," "Ceres;" on +the Kentucky shore, we have noted "Stonewall +Jackson," and "Robert E. Lee," and +one Ohio boat was labeled "Little Phil." +Literature we found represented to-day, by +"Octave Thanet"—the only case on record, +for the Ohio-River "cracker" is not greatly +given to books. Slang claims for its own, +many of these knockabout craft—"U. Bet," +"Git Thair," "Go it, Eli," "Whoa, Emma!" +and nondescripts, like "Two Doves," "Poker +Chip," and "Game Chicken," are not infrequent.</p> + +<p>In these stately solitudes, towns are far between. +Enterprise, Ind. (755 miles), is an +unpainted village with a dismal view—back +of and around it, wide bottom lands, with +hills in the far distance; up and down the +river, precipitous banks of clay, with willow +fringes on that portion of the shore which is +not being cut by the impinging current. Scuffletown, +Ky. (767 miles), is uninviting. Newburgh, +on the edge of a bluff, across the river +in Indiana, is a ragged little place that has +seen better days; but the backward view of +Newburgh, from below Three-Mile Island, +made a pretty picture, the whites and reds of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page255" id="page255"></a>[pg 255]</span> +the town standing out in sharp relief against +the dark background of the hill.</p> + +<p>Green River (775 miles), a gentle, rustic +stream, enters through the wide bottoms of +Kentucky. We had difficulty in finding it in +the wilderness of willows—might not have +succeeded, indeed, had not the red smokestack +of a small steamer suddenly appeared +above the bushes. Soon, the puffing craft debouched +upon the Ohio, and, quickly overtaking +us, passed down toward Evansville.</p> + +<p>Green River Towhead, two miles below, +claimed us for the night. There is a shanty, +midway on the island, and at the lower end +the landing of a railway-transfer. We have +our camp at the upper end, in a bed of spotless +white sand, thick grown to dwarf willows. +Entangled drift-wood lies about in monster +heaps, lodged in depressions of the land, or +against stout tree-trunks; a low bar of gravel +connects our home with Green River Island, +lying close against the Indiana bank; sand-flies +freely joined us at dinner, and I hear, as +I write, the drone of a solitary mosquito,—the +first in many days; while upon the bar, at sunset, +a score of turkey-buzzards held silent +council, some of them occasionally rising and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page256" id="page256"></a>[pg 256]</span> +wheeling about in mid-air, then slowly lighting +and stretching their necks, and flapping +their wings most solemnly, before rejoining +the conference.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cypress Bend</span>, Tuesday, 5th.—The temperature +had materially fallen during the night, +and the morning opened gray and hazy. +Evansville, Ind. (783 miles), made a charming +Turneresque study, as her steeples and factory +chimneys developed through the mist. It is +a fine, well-built town, of some fifty thousand +inhabitants, with a beautiful little postoffice +in the Gothic style—a refutation, this, of the +well-worn assertion that there are no creditable +government buildings in our small American +cities. A railway bridge here crosses the +Ohio, numerous sawmills line the bank; altogether, +there is business bustle, the like of +which we have not seen since leaving Louisville.</p> + +<p>Henderson (795 miles) is a substantial Kentucky +town of nine thousand souls, with large +tobacco interests, we are told, ranking next +to Louisville in this regard. Through the +morning, the mist had been thickening. +While we were passing beneath the railway +bridge at Henderson, thunder sounded, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page257" id="page257"></a>[pg 257]</span> +the western sky suddenly blackened. Pulling +rapidly in to the town shore, shelter was found +beneath the overhanging deck of a deserted +wharf-boat. We had just completed preparations +with the rubber blankets and ponchos, +when the deluge came. But the sheltering +deck was not water-tight; soon the rain came +pouring in upon us through the uncaulked +cracks, and we were nearly as badly off in our +close-smelling quarters as in the open. However, +we were a merry party under there, with +the Doctor giving us a touch of "Br'er Rabbit," +and the boy relating a fantastic dream +he had had on the Towhead last night; while +I told them the story of Audubon, whose name +will ever be associated with Henderson.</p> + +<p>The great naturalist was in business at +Louisville, early in the century; but in 1812, +he failed in this venture, and moved to Henderson, +where his neighbors thought him a +trifle daft,—and certainly he was a ne'er-do-well, +wandering around the woods, with hair +hanging down on his shoulders, a far-away +look in his eyes, and communing with the +birds. In 1818, the botanist Rafinesque, on +the first of his several tramps down the Ohio +valley,—he had a favorite saying, that the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page258" id="page258"></a>[pg 258]</span> +only way for a botanist to travel, was to +walk,—stopped over at Henderson to visit this +crazy fellow of whom he had heard. Rafinesque +had a hope that Audubon might buy +some of his colored drawings; but when he +saw the wonderful pictures which Audubon +had made, he acknowledged that his own were +inferior—a sore confession for Rafinesque, who +was an egotist of the first water. Audubon +had but humble quarters, for it was hard work +in those days for him to keep the wolf from +the door; nevertheless, he entertained the distinguished +traveler, whom he was himself +destined to far eclipse. One night, a bat flew +into Rafinesque's bedroom, and in driving it +out he used his host's fine Cremona as a club, +thus making kindling-wood of it. Two years +later, still steeped in poverty, Audubon left +Henderson. It was 1826 before he became +known to the world of science, when little of +his life was left in which to enjoy the fame at +last awarded him.</p> + +<p>We had lunch on Henderson Island, three +miles down, and for warmth walked briskly +about on the strand, among the willow clumps. +It rained again, after we had taken our seats +in the boat, and the head-wind which sprang +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page259" id="page259"></a>[pg 259]</span> +up was not unwelcome, for it necessitated a +right lively pull to make headway. W—— and +the Boy, in the stern-sheets, were not uncomfortable +when swathed to the chin in the +blankets which ordinarily serve us as cushions.</p> + +<p>Ten miles below Henderson, was a little fleet +of houseboats, lying in a thicket of willows along +the Indiana beach. We stopped at one of +them, and bought a small catfish for dinner. +The fishermen seemed a happy company, in +this isolated spot. The women were engaged +in household work, but the men were spending +the afternoon collected in the cabin of one of +their number, who had recently arrived from +Green River. While waiting for the fish to +be caught in a live-box, I visited with the little +band. It was a comfortable room, furnished +rather better than the average shore cabin, +and the Green River man's family of half-a-dozen +were well-kept, pleasant-faced, and +polite. Altogether it was a much more respectable +houseboat company than any we +have yet seen on the river. But the fish-stories +which that Green River man tells, with +an honest-like, open-eyed sobriety, would do +credit to Munchausen.</p> + +<p>The rain, at first spasmodic, became at last +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page260" id="page260"></a>[pg 260]</span> +persistent. Two miles farther down, at Cypress +Bend (806 miles), we ran into an Indiana +hill, where on a steep slope of yellow +shale, all strewn with rocks, our tent was hurriedly +pitched. There was no driving of pegs +into this stony base, so we weighted down the +canvas with round-heads, and fastened our +guys to bushes and boulders as best we might. +Huddled around the little stove, under the fly, +the crew dined sumptuously <i>en course</i>, from +canned soup down to strawberries for dessert,—for +Evansville is a good market. It is not +always, we pilgrims fare thus high—the resources +of Rome, Thebes, Bethlehem, Herculaneum, +and the other classic towns with +which the Ohio's banks are dotted, being none +of the best. Some days, we are fortunate to +have aught in our larder.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="smcap">Brown's Island</span>, Wednesday, 6th.—This +morning's camp-fire was welcome for its +warmth. The sky has been clear, but a sharp, +cold wind has prevailed throughout the day, +quite counteracting the sun's rays; we noticed +townsfolk going about in overcoats, their hands +in their pockets. In the ox-bow curves, the +breeze came in turn from every quarter, sometimes +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page261" id="page261"></a>[pg 261]</span> +dead ahead and again pushing us swiftly +on. In seeking the lee shore, Pilgrim pursued +a zigzag course, back and forth between the +States,—now under the brow of towering clay +banks, corrugated by the flood, and honeycombed +by swallows, which in flocks screamed +and circled over our heads; again, closely +brushing the fringe of willows and sycamores +and maples on low-lying shores. Thus did +we for the most part paddle in placid water, +while above us the wind whistled in the tree-tops, +rustled the blooming elders and the tall +grasses of the plain, and, out in the open river, +caused white-caps to dance right merrily.</p> + +<p>We met at intervals to-day, several houseboats, +the most of them bearing the inscription +prescribed by the new Kentucky license law, +which is now being enforced, the essential +features of which inscription are the home and +name of the owner, and the date at which +the license expires. The standard of education +among houseboaters is evinced by the +legend borne by a trader's craft which we +boarded near Slim Island: "Lisens exp.rs +Maye the 24 1895." The young woman in +charge, a slender creature in a brilliant red +calico gown, with blue ribbons at the corsage, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page262" id="page262"></a>[pg 262]</span> +had been but recently married to her lord, +who was back in the country stirring up trade. +She had few notions of business, and allowed +us to put our own prices on such articles as +we purchased. The stock was a curious medley—a +few staple groceries, bacon and dried +beef, candies, crockery, hardware, tobacco, +a small line of patent medicines, in which +blood-purifiers chiefly prevailed, bitters, ginger +beer, and a glass case in which were displayed +two or three women's straw hats, gaudily-trimmed. +The woman said their custom was, +to tie up to some convenient shore and "buy +a little stuff o' the farmers, 'n' in that way +trade springs up," and thus become known. +Two or three weeks would exhaust any neighborhood, +whereupon they would move on for +a dozen miles or so. Late in the autumn, +they select a comfortable beach, and lie by +for the winter.</p> + +<p>Mt. Vernon, Ind. (819 miles), is on a high, +rolling plain, with a rather pretty little court-house +set in a park of grass, some good business +buildings, and huge flouring-mills, which +appear to be the leading industry. Another +flouring-mill town, with the addition of the +characteristic Kentucky distillery, is Uniontown +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page263" id="page263"></a>[pg 263]</span> +(833 miles), on the southern shore—a +bright, neat little city, backed by smooth, +picturesque green hills.</p> + +<p>The feature of the day was the entrance, +through a dreary stretch of clay banks, of the +Wabash River (838 miles), which divides Indiana +from Illinois. Three hundred and sixty +yards wide at the mouth, about half the width +of the Ohio, it is the most important of the +latter's northern affluents, and pours into the +main stream a swift-rushing body of clear, +green water, which at first boldly pushes over +to the heavily-willowed Kentucky shore the +roily mess of the Ohio, and for several miles +exerts a considerable influence in clarification. +The Lower Wabash, flowing through a soft +clay bottom, runs an erratic course, and its +mouth is a variable location, so that the +bounds of Illinois and Indiana, hereabout, +fluctuate east and west according to the exigencies +of the floods. The far-reaching bottom +itself, however, is apparently of slight +value, giving evidence, in the dreary clumps +of dead timber, of being frequently inundated.</p> + +<p>An interesting stream is the Wabash, from +an historical point of view. La Salle knew +of it in 1677, and was planning to prosecute +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page264" id="page264"></a>[pg 264]</span> +his fur trade over the Maumee and the Wabash; +but the Iroquois held the portage, and +for nearly forty years thereafter forbade its +use by whites. Joliet thought the Wabash +the headwaters of what we know as the Lower +Ohio, and in his map (1673) styled the latter +the Wabash, down to its mouth. Vincennes, +an old Wabash town, was one of the posts +captured so heroically for the Americans by +George Rogers Clark, during the Revolutionary +War. In 1814, there was established at +New Harmony, also on the Wabash, the communistic +seat of the Harmonists, who had +moved thither from Pennsylvania, to which, +dissatisfied with the West, they returned ten +years later.</p> + +<p>Numerous islands have to-day beautified +the Ohio. Despite their inartistic names, +Diamond and Slim are tipped at head and +foot with charming banks and willowed sand, +and each center is clothed in a luxurious forest, +rimmed by a gravelly beach piled high +with drift and gnarled roots: the whole, with +startling clearness, inversely reflected in the +mirrored flood. Wabash Island, opposite the +mouth of the great tributary, is an insular +woodland several miles in length.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page265" id="page265"></a>[pg 265]</span> + +<p>Among the prettiest of these jewels studding +our silvery path, is the upmost of the +little group known as Brown's Islands, on +which we are passing the night. It was an +easy landing on the hard sand, and a comfortable +carry to a level opening in the willows, +where we have a model camp with a +great round sycamore block for a table; an +Evansville newspaper does duty as a tablecloth, +and two logs rolled alongside make +seats. Four miles below, the smoke of Shawneetown +(848 miles) rises lazily above the +dark level line of woods; while across the +river, in Kentucky, there is an unbroken forest +fringe, without sign of life as far as the +eye can reach. A long glistening bar of sand +connects our little island home with the Illinois +mainland; upon it was being held, in the +long twilight, that evening council of turkey-buzzards, +which we so often witness when in +an island camp. Sand-pipers went fearlessly +about among them, bobbing their little tails +with nervous vehemence; redbirds trilled their +good-nights in the tree-tops; and, daintily +wading in the sandy shallows, object lessons +in patience, were great blue herons, carefully +peering for the prey which never seems to be +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page266" id="page266"></a>[pg 266]</span> +found. As night closed in upon us, owls dismally +hooted in the mainland woods, buzzards +betook themselves to inland roosts, herons +winged their stately flight to I know not +where, and over on the Kentucky shore could +faintly be heard the barking of dogs at the +little "cracker" farmsteads hid deep in the +lowland forest.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page267" id="page267"></a>[pg 267]</span> + + + + +<h2>CHAPTER XX.</h2> + + +<h4>Shawneetown—Farm-houses on stilts—Cave-in-Rock—An +island night.</h4> + + + +<p><span class="smcap">Half-Moon Bar</span>, Thursday, June 7th.—A +head-breeze prevailed all day, strong enough +to fan us into a sense of coolness, but leaving +the water as unruffled as a mill-pond; thus did +we seem, in the vivid reflections of the early +morning, to be sailing between double lines of +shore, lovely in their groupings of luxuriant +trees and tangled heaps of vine-clad drift. It +was a hazy, mirage-producing atmosphere, the +river appearing to melt away in space, and +the ever-charming island heads looming unsupported +in mid-air. From the woods, the +piercing note of locusts filled the air as with +the ceaseless rattle of pebbles against innumerable +window-panes.</p> + +<p>At a distance, Shawneetown appears as if +built upon higher land than the neighboring +bottom; but this proves, on approach, to be +an optical illusion, for the town is walled in by a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page268" id="page268"></a>[pg 268]</span> +levee some thirty feet in height, above the top of +which loom its chimneys and spires. Shawneetown, +laid out in 1808, soon became an important +post on the Lower Ohio, and indeed +ranked with Kaskaskia as one of the principal +Illinois towns, although in 1817 it still only +contained from thirty to forty log dwellings. +During the reign of the Ohio-River bargemen,<a id="footnotetag14" name="footnotetag14"></a><a href= + "#footnote14"><sup>A</sup></a> +it was notorious as the headquarters of the +roughest elements in that boisterous class, and +frequently the scene of most barbarous outrages—"the +odious receptacle," says a chronicler +of the time, "of filth and villany."</p> + +<p>In those lively days, which lasted with more +or less vigor until about 1830,—by which time, +steamboats had finally overcome popular prejudice +and gained the upper hand in river +transportation,—the people of Shawneetown +were largely dependent on the trade of the +salt works of the neighboring Saline Reserve. +The salt-licks—at which in early days the +bones of the mammoth were found, as at Big +Bone Lick—commenced a few miles below +the town, and embraced a district of about +ninety thousand acres. While Illinois was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page269" id="page269"></a>[pg 269]</span> +still a Territory, these salines were rented by +the United States to individuals, but were +granted to the new State (1818) in perpetuity. +The trade, in time, decreased with the decadence +of river traffic; and Shawneetown has +since had but slow growth—it now being a +dreary little place of three thousand inhabitants, +with unmistakable evidences of having +long since seen its best days.</p> + +<p>The farmers upon the wide bottoms of the +lower reaches now invariably have their dwellings, +corn-cribs, and tobacco-sheds set upon +posts, varying from five to ten feet high, according +to the surrounding elevation above +the normal river level. At present we are, as +a rule, hemmed in by banks full thirty or forty +feet in height above the present stage. After +a hard climb up the steps which are frequently +found cut into the clay, to facilitate access +to the river, it is with something akin to awe +that we look upon these buildings on stilts, +for they bespeak, in times of great flood, a +rise in the river of between fifty and sixty feet.</p> + +<p>Three miles above Saline River, I scrambled +up to photograph a farm-house of this character. +In order to get the building within the +field of the camera, it was necessary to mount +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page270" id="page270"></a>[pg 270]</span> +a cob-house of loose rails, which did duty as a +pig-pen. A young woman of eighteen or +twenty years, attired in a dazzling-red calico +gown, came out on the front balcony to see +the operation; and, for a touch of life, I held +her in talk until the picture was taken. She +was not at all averse to thus posing, and +chatted as familiarly as though we were old +friends. The water, my model said, came at +least once a year to the main floor of the house, +some ten feet above the level of the land, and +forty feet above the normal river stage; "every +few years" it rose to the eaves of this story-and-a-half +dwelling, when the family would +embark in boats, hieing off to the back-lying +hills, a mile-and-a-half away. An event of +this sort seemed quite commonplace to the +girl, and not at all to be viewed as a calamity. +As in other houses of the bottom farmers of +this district, there is no wall-paper, no plaster +upon the walls, and little or nothing else to be +injured by water. Their few household possessions +can readily be packed into a scow, +together with the live-stock, and behold the +family is ready, if need be, to float away to +the ends of the world. As a matter of fact, if +they carry food enough with them, and a rain-proof +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page271" id="page271"></a>[pg 271]</span> +tent, their season on the hills is but a +prolonged picnic. When the waters sufficiently +subside, they float back again to their +home; the river mud is scraped out of the +rooms, the kitchen-stove rubbed up a bit, and +soon everything is again at rights, with a fresh +layer of alluvial deposit to fertilize the fields.</p> + +<p>Few of these small farmers own the lands +they till; from Pittsburg down, the great majority +of Ohio River planters are but tenants. +The old families that once owned the soil are +living in the neighboring towns, or in other +parts of the country, and renting out their +acres to these cultivators. We were told that +the rental fee around Owensboro is usually in +kind,—fourteen bushels of good, salable corn +being the rate per acre. In "Egypt," as +Southern Illinois is called, the average rent is +four or five dollars in money, except in years +when the water remains long upon the ground, +and thus shortens the season; then the fee is +correspondingly reduced. The girl on the +balcony averred, that in 1893 it amounted to +one-third the value of the average yield.</p> + +<p>The numerous huge stilted corn cribs we +see are constructed so that wagons can drive +up into them, and, after unloading in bins on +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page272" id="page272"></a>[pg 272]</span> +either side, descend another incline at the far +end. Sometimes a portion of the crib is +boarded up for a residence, with windows, +and a little balcony which does double duty +as a porch and a landing-stage for the boats +in time of high water. Scattered about on +the level are loosely-built sheds of rails, for +stock, which practically live <i>al fresco</i>, so far +as actual storm-shelter goes.</p> + +<p>Usually the flooded bottoms are denuded of +trees, save perhaps a narrow fringe along the +bank, and a few dead trunks scattered here and +there; while back, a third or a half-mile from +the river, lies a dense line of forest, far beyond +which rises the low rim of the basin. +But just below Saline River (857 miles), a +lazy little stream of a few rods' width, the +hills, now perhaps eighty or a hundred feet in +height, again approach to the water's edge; +and henceforth to the mouth we are to have +alternating semi-circular, wooded bottoms and +shaly, often palisaded uplands, grown to scrub +and vines much in the fashion of some of the +middle reaches. A trading-boat was moored +just within the Saline, where we stopped for +lunch under a clump of sycamores. The +owner obtains butter and eggs from the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page273" id="page273"></a>[pg 273]</span> +farmers, in exchange for his varied wares, and +sells them at a goodly profit to passing steamers, +which will always stop when flagged.</p> + +<p>Approaching Cave-in-Rock, Ill. (869 miles), +the right bank is for several miles an almost continuous +palisade of lime-stone, thick-studded +with black and brown flints. In the breaking +down of this escarpment, popularly styled +Battery Rocks, numerous caves have been +formed, the largest of which gave the place +its name. It is a rather low opening into the +rock, perhaps two hundred feet deep, and the +floor some twenty feet above the present level of +the river; in times of flood, it is frequently so +filled with water that boats enter, and thousands +of silly people have, in two or three generations +past, carved or painted their names upon the +vaulted roof.<a id="footnotetag15" name="footnotetag15"></a><a href= + "#footnote15"><sup>B</sup></a> From this large entrance hall, +a chimney-like hole in the roof leads to other +chambers, said to be imposing and widely +ramified—"not unlike a Gothic cathedral," +said Ashe, an early English traveler (1806), +who appears to have everywhere in these +Western wilds sought the marvellous, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page274" id="page274"></a>[pg 274]</span> +found it. About 1801, a band of robbers made +these inner recesses their home, and frequently +sallied thence to rob passing boats, +and incidentally to murder the crews. As for +the little hamlet of Cave-in-Rock, nestled in +a break in the palisade, a few hundred yards +below, it was, between 1801 and 1805, the +seat of another species of brigandage—a land +speculation, wherein schemers waxed rich +from the confusion engendered by conflicting +claims of settlers, the outgrowth of carelessly-phrased +Indian treaties and overlapping French +and English patents. From 1804 to 1810, a +Congressional committee was engaged in +straightening out this weary tangle; and its +decisions, ratified by Congress, are to-day the +foundation of many land-titles in Indiana and +Illinois.</p> + +<p>We are in camp to-night upon the Illinois +shore, opposite Half-Moon Bar (872 miles), +and a mile above Hurricane Island. Towering +above us are great sycamores, cypress, +maples, and elms, and all about a dense jungle +of grasses, vines, and monster weeds—the +rank horse-weed being now some ten feet high, +with a stem an inch in diameter; the dead +stalks of last year's growth, in the broad rolling +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page275" id="page275"></a>[pg 275]</span> +fields to our rear, indicate a possibility of +sixteen feet, and an apparent desire to out-rival +the corn. Cane-brake, too, is prevalent +hereabout, with stalks two inches or more +thick. The mulberries are reddening, the +Doctor reports on his return with the Boy +from a botanizing expedition, and black-caps +are turning; while bergamot and vervain are +among the plants newly added to the herbarium.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="smcap">Stewart's Island</span>, Friday, 8th.—We arose +this morning to find the tent as wet from dew +and fog as if there had been a shower, and +the bushes by the landing were sparkling with +great beads of moisture. The bold, black +head of Hurricane Island stood out with startling +distinctness, framed in rolling fog; through +a cloud-bank on the horizon, the sun was +bursting with the dull glow of burnished copper. +By the time of starting, the fog had +lifted, and the sun swung clear in a steel-blue +sky; but there was still a soft haze on land +and river, which dreamily closed the ever-changing +vistas, and we seemed to float through +an enchanted land.</p> + +<p>The approach to Elizabethtown, Ill. (877 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page276" id="page276"></a>[pg 276]</span> +miles), is picturesque; but of the dry little +town of seven hundred souls, with its rocky, +undulating streets set in a break in the line of +palisades, very little is to be seen from the +river. Quarrying for paving-stones appears +to be the chief pursuit of the Elizabethans. +At Rose Clare, Ill., a string of shanties three +miles below, are two idle plants of the Argyle +Lead and Fluor-Spar Mining Co. Carrsville, +Ky., is another arid, hillside hamlet, with +striking escarpments stretching above and below +for several miles. Mammoth boulders, a +dozen or more feet in height, relics doubtless +of once formidable cliffs, here line the riverside. +The palisaded hills reappear in Illinois, +commencing at Parkinson's Landing, a dreary +little settlement on a waste of barren, stony +slope flanking the perpendicular wall.</p> + +<p>Just above Golconda Island (890 miles), on +the Illinois side, we were witness to a "meet" +of farmers for a squirrel-hunt, a favorite amusement +in these parts. There were five men +upon a side, all carrying guns; as we passed, +they were shaking hands, preparatory to separating +for the battue. Upon the bank above, +in a grove of cypress, pawpaw, and sycamore, +their horses were standing, unhitched from the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page277" id="page277"></a>[pg 277]</span> +poles of the wagons in which they had been +driven, and, tied to trees, feeding from boxes +set upon the ground. It was pleasant to see +that these people, who must lead dreary lives +upon the malaria-stricken and flood-washed +bottoms, occasionally take a holiday with a +spice of rational adventure in it; although +there is the probability that this squirrel-hunt +may be followed to-night by a roystering at +the village tavern, the losing side paying the +score.</p> + +<p>We reached Stewart's Island (901 miles) at +five o'clock, and went into camp upon the +landing-beach of hard, white sand, facing +Kentucky. The island is two miles long, the +owner living in Bird's Point Landing, Ky., +just below us—a rather shabby but picturesquely-situated +little village, at the base of +pretty, wooded hills. A hundred and fifty +acres of the island are planted to corn, and +the owner's laborers—a white overseer and +five blacks—are housed a half-mile above us, +in a rude cabin half-hidden in a generous maple +grove.</p> + +<p>The white man soon came down to the +strand, riding his mule, and both drank freely +from the muddy river. He was a fairly-intelligent +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page278" id="page278"></a>[pg 278]</span> +young fellow, and proud of his mount—no +need of lines, he said, for "this yer mule; +ye on'y say 'gee!' and 'haw!' and he done git +thar ev'ry time, sir-r! 'Pears to me, he jist +done think it out to hisself, like a man would. +Hit ain't no use try'n' boss that yere mule, +he's thet ugly when he's sot on 't—but jist pat +him on th' naick and say, 'So thar, Solomon!' +and thar ain't no one knows how to act better +'n he."</p> + +<p>As we were at dinner, in the twilight, the +five negroes also came riding down the angling +roadway, in picturesque single file, singing +snatches of camp-meeting songs in that weird +minor key with which we are so familiar in "jubilee" +music. Across the river, a Kentucky +darky, riding a mule along the dusky woodland +road at the base of the hills, and evidently +going home from his work in the fields, was singing +at the top of his bent, apparently as a stimulus +to failing courage. Our islanders shouted +at him in derision. The shoreman's replies, +which lacked not for spice, came clear and +sharp across the half-mile of smooth water, +and his tormentors quickly ceased chaffing. +Having all drunk copiously, men and mules +resumed their line of march up the bank, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page279" id="page279"></a>[pg 279]</span> +disappeared as they came, still chanting the +crude melodies of their people. An hour later, +we could hear them at the cabin, singing +"John Brown's Body" and other old friends—with +the moon, bright and clear in its first +quarter, adding a touch of romance to the +scene.</p> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote14" name="footnote14"></a><b>Footnote A:</b><a href="#footnotetag14"> (return) </a><p>See Chapter XIII.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote15" name="footnote15"></a><b>Footnote A:</b><a href="#footnotetag15"> (return) </a><p>"Scrawled over by that class of aspiring travelers who +defile noble monuments with their worthless names."—Irving, +in <i>The Alhambra</i>.</p></blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page280" id="page280"></a>[pg 280]</span> + + + + +<h2>CHAPTER XXI.</h2> + + +<h4>The Cumberland and the Tennessee—Stately +Solitudes—Old Fort Massac—Dead +towns in Egypt—The last +camp—Cairo.</h4> + + + +<p><span class="smcap">Opposite Metropolis, Ill.</span>, Saturday, June +9th.—As we were dressing this morning, at +half-past five, the echoes were again awakened +by the vociferous negro on the Kentucky +shore, who was going out to his work again, +as noisy as ever. One of our own black men +walked down the bank, ostensibly to light his +pipe at the breakfast fire, but really to satisfy +a pardonable curiosity regarding us. The +singing brother on the mainland appeared to +amuse him, and he paused to listen, saying, +"Dat yere nigger, he got too loud voice!" +Then, when he had left our camp and regained +the top of the bank, he leaned upon his hoe +and yelled: "Say, niggah, ober dere! whar +you git dat mule?"</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page281" id="page281"></a>[pg 281]</span> + +<p>"Who you holl'rin' at, you brack island +niggah?" was the quick reply.</p> + +<p>"You lan' niggah, you tink you smart!"</p> + +<p>"I'se so smart, I done want no liv'n' on +island, wi' gang boss, 'n not 'lowed go 'way!"</p> + +<p>The tuneful darky had evidently here +touched a tender spot, for our man turned +back into the field to his work; and the other, +kicking the mule into action, trotted off to the +tune of "Dar's a meet'n' here, to-night!"</p> + +<p>We went up into the field, to see the laborers +cultivating corn. The sun was blazing +hot, without a breath of air stirring, but the +great black fellows seemed to mind it not, +chattering away to themselves like magpies, +and keeping up their conversation by shouts, +when separated from each other at the ends +of plow-rows. A natural levee, eight and ten +feet high, and studded with large tree-willows, +rims in the island farm like the edge of a basin. +We were told that this served as a barrier +only against the June "fresh," for the regular +spring floods invariably swamp the place; but +what is left within the bowl, when the outer +waters subside, soon leaches through the sandy +soil.</p> + +<p>After passing the pretty shores of Dog Island, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page282" id="page282"></a>[pg 282]</span> +not far below, the bold, dark headland +of Cumberland Island soon bursts upon our +view. We follow the narrow eastern channel, +in order to greet the Cumberland River (909 +miles), which half-way down its island name-sake,—at +the woe-begone little village of +Smithland, Ky.—empties a generous flood +into the Ohio. The Cumberland, perhaps +a quarter-of-a-mile wide, debouches through +high clay banks, which might readily be melted +in the turbulent cross-currents produced by +the mingling of the rivers; but to avoid this, +the government engineers have built a wing-dam +running out from the foot of the Cumberland, +nearly half-way into the main river. +This quickly unites the two streams, and +the reinforced Ohio is thereafter perceptibly +widened.</p> + +<p>Tramp steamers are numerous, on these +lower reaches. We have seen perhaps a dozen +such to-day, stopping at the farm landings as +well as at the crude and infrequent hamlets,—mere +notches of settlement in the +wooded lines of shore,—doing a small business +in chance cargoes and in passengers who +flag them from the bank. A sultry atmosphere +has been with us through the day. The +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page283" id="page283"></a>[pg 283]</span> +glassy surface of the river has, when not lashed +into foam by passing boats, dazzled the eyes +most painfully. The hills, from below Stewart's +Island, have receded on either side, generally +leaving either low, broad, heavily-timbered +bottoms, or high clay banks which stretch +back wide plains of yellow and gray corn-land—frequently +inundated, but highly productive. +Now and then the encroaching river +has remained too long in some belt of forest, +and we have great clumps of dead trees, which +spring aloft in stately picturesqueness, thickly-clad +to the limb-tips with Virginia creeper. +A bit of shaly hillside occasionally abuts upon +the river, though less frequently than above; +and often such a spur has lying at its feet a +row of half-immersed boulders, delicately carpeted +with mosses and with clinging vines.</p> + +<p>The Tennessee River (918 miles), the largest +of the Ohio's tributaries, is, where it enters, +about half the width of the latter. Coming +down through a broad, forested bottom, with +several pretty islands off its mouth, it presents +a pleasing picture. Here again the government +has been obliged to put in costly works +to stop the ravages of the mingling torrents +in the soft alluvial banks. The Ohio, with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page284" id="page284"></a>[pg 284]</span> +the united waters of the Cumberland and the +Tennessee, henceforth flows majestically to +the Mississippi, a full mile wide between her +shores.</p> + +<p>Paducah (13,000 inhabitants), next to Louisville +Kentucky's most important river port, +lies on a high plain just below the Tennessee. +It is a stirring little city, with the usual large +proportion of negroes, and the out-door business +life everywhere met with in the South. +Saw-mills, iron plants, and ship-yards line the +bank; at the wharf are large steamers doing +a considerable business up the Cumberland +and Tennessee, and between Paducah and +Cairo and St. Louis; and there is a considerable +ferry business to and from the Illinois +suburb of Brooklyn.</p> + +<p>Seven miles below the Tennessee, on the +Illinois side, we sought relief from the blazing +sun within the mouth of Seven Mile Creek, +which is cut deep through sloping banks of +mud, and overhung by great sprawling sycamores. +These always interest us from the +generosity of their height and girth, and from +their great variety of color-tones, induced by +the patchy scaling of the bark—soft grays, +buffs, greens, and ivory whites prevailing. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page285" id="page285"></a>[pg 285]</span> +When sufficiently refreshed in this cool bower, +we ventured once more into the fierce light of +the open river, and two miles below shot into +the broader and more inviting Massac Creek +(928 miles), just as, of old, George Rogers +Clark did with his little flotilla, when <i>en route</i> +to capture Kaskaskia. Clark, in his Journal +written long after the event, said that this +creek is a mile above Fort Massac; his memory +failed him—as a matter of fact, the +steep, low hill of iron-stained gravel and clay, +on which the old stronghold was built, is but +two hundred yards below.<a id="footnotetag16" name="footnotetag16"></a><a href= + "#footnote16"><sup>A</sup></a></p> + +<p>The French commander who, in October, +1758, evacuated and burned Fort Duquesne +on the approach of the English army under +General Forbes, dropped down the Ohio for +nearly a thousand miles, and built "a new +fort on a beautiful eminence on the north bank +of the river." But there was a fortified post +on this hillock at a much earlier date (about +1711), erected as a headquarters for missionaries, +and to guard French fur-traders from +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page286" id="page286"></a>[pg 286]</span> +marauding Cherokees; and Pownall's map notes +one here in 1751. This fort of 1758 was but +an enlarged edition of the old. The new +stronghold, with a garrison of a hundred men, +was the last built by the French upon the Ohio, +and it was occupied by them until they evacuated +the country in 1763. England does not +appear to have made any attempt to repair +and occupy the works then destroyed by the +French, although urged to do so by her military +agents in the West. Had they held Fort +Massac, no doubt Clark's expedition to capture +the Northwest for the Americans might easily +have been nipped in the bud; as it was, the +old fortress was a ruin when he "reposed" on +the banks of the creek at its feet.</p> + +<p>When, in 1793-1794, the French agent +Genet was fomenting his scheme for capturing +Louisiana and Florida from Spain, by the aid +of Western filibusters, old Fort Massac was +thought of as a rallying-point and base of supplies; +but St. Clair's proclamation of March +24, 1794, ordering General Wayne to restore +and garrison the place, for the purpose of preventing +the proposed expedition from passing +down the river, ended the conspiracy, and Genet +left the country. A year later, Spain, who had at +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page287" id="page287"></a>[pg 287]</span> +intervals sought to detach the Westerners from +the Union, and ally them with her interests +beyond the Mississippi, renewed her attempts +at corrupting the Kentuckians, and gained to +her cause no less a man than George Rogers +Clark himself. Among other designs, Fort +Massac was to be captured by the adventurers, +whom Spain was to supply with the sinews of +war. There was much mysterious correspondence +between the latter's corruption agent, +Thomas Power, and the American General +Wilkinson, at Detroit; but finally Power, in +disguise, was sent out of the country under +guard, by way of Fort Massac, and his escape +into Spanish territory practically ended this +interesting episode in Western history. The +fort was occupied as a military post by our +government until the close of the War of +1812-15; what we see to-day, are the ruins of +the establishment then abandoned.</p> + +<p>No doubt the face of this rugged promontory +of gravel has, within a century, suffered +much from floods; but the remains of the +earthwork on the crest of the cliff, some fifty +feet above the present river-stage, are still +easily traceable throughout. The fort was +about forty yards square, with a bastion at +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page288" id="page288"></a>[pg 288]</span> +each corner; there are the remains of an unstoned +well near the center; the ditch surrounding +the earthwork is still some two-and-a-half +or three feet below the surrounding +level, and the breastwork about two feet above +the inner level; no doubt, palisades once surmounted +the work, and were relied upon as the +chief protection from assault. The grounds, +a pleasant grassy grove several acres in extent, +are now enclosed by a rail fence, and neatly +maintained as a public park by the little city +of Metropolis, which lies not far below. It +was a commanding view of land and river, +which was enjoyed by the garrison of old Fort +Massac. Up stream, there is a straight stretch +of eleven miles to the mouth of the Tennessee; +both up and down, the shore lines are under +full survey, until they melt away in the distance. +No enemy could well surprise the +holders of this key to the Lower Ohio.</p> + +<p>Our camp is on the sandy beach opposite +Metropolis, and two hundred yards below the +Kentucky end of the ferry. Behind us lies a +deep forest, with sycamores six and eight feet +in diameter; a country road curving off through +the woods, to the sparse rustic settlement lying +some two miles in the interior—on higher +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page289" id="page289"></a>[pg 289]</span> +ground than this wooded bottom, which is annually +overflowed. Now and then the blustering +little steam-ferry comes across to land +Kentucky farm-folk and their mules, going +home from a Saturday's shopping in Metropolis. +Occasionally a fisherman passes, lagging +on his oars to scan us and our quarters; and +from one of them, we purchased a fish. As +the still, cool night crept on, Metropolis was +astir; across the mile of intervening water, +darted tremulous shafts of light; we heard +voices singing and laughing, a fiddle in its +highest notes, the puffing of a stationary engine, +and the bay and yelp of countless dogs. +Later, a packet swooped down with smothered +roar, and threw its electric search-light on the +city wharf, revealing a crowd of negroes gathered +there, like moths in the radiance of a +candle; there were gay shouts, and a mad +scampering—we could see it all, as plainly as +if in ordinary light it had been but a third of +the distance; and then the roustabouts struck +up a weird song as they ran out the gang-plank, +and, laden with boxes and bales, began +swarming ashore, like a procession of black +ants carrying pupa cases.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page290" id="page290"></a>[pg 290]</span> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mound City Towhead</span>, Sunday, 10th.—During +the night, burglarious pigs would have +raided our larder, but the crash of a falling +kettle wakened us suddenly, as did geese the +ancient Romans. The Doctor and I sallied +forth in our pajamas, with clods of clay in +hand, to send the enemy flying back into the +forest, snorting and squealing with baffled +rage.</p> + +<p>We were afloat at half-past seven, under an +unclouded sky, with the sun sharply reflected +from the smooth surface of the river, and the +temperature rapidly mounting.</p> + +<p>The Fort Massac ridge extends down stream +as far as Mound City, but soon degenerates +into a ridge of clay varying in height from +twenty-five to fifty feet above the water level. +Upon the low-lying bottom of the Kentucky +shore, is still an interminable dark line of +forest. The settlements are meager, and now +wholly in Illinois: For instance, Joppa (936 +miles), a row of a half-dozen unpainted, dilapidated +buildings, chiefly stores and abandoned +warehouses, bespeaking a river traffic of the +olden time, that has gone to decay; a hot, +dreary, baking spot, this Joppa, as it lies +sprawling upon the clay ridge, flanked by a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page291" id="page291"></a>[pg 291]</span> +low, wide gravel beach, on which gaunt, bell-ringing +cows are wandering, eating the leaves +of fallen trees, for lack of better pasturage. +Our pilot map, of sixty years ago, records the +presence of Wilkinsonville (942 miles), on the +site of old Fort Wilkinson of the War of 1812-15, +but no one along the banks appears to +have ever heard of it; however, after much +searching, we found the place for ourselves, +on an eminence of fifty feet, with two or three +farm-houses as the sole relics of the old establishment. +Caledonia (Olmstead P.O.), nine +miles down, consists of several large buildings +on a hill set well back from the river. Mound +City (959 miles),—the "America" of our time-worn +map,—in whose outskirts we are camped +to-night, is a busy town with furniture factories, +lumber mills, ship-yards, and a railway +transfer. Below that, stretches the vast extent +of swamp and low woodland on which +Cairo (967 miles) has with infinite pains been +built—like "brave little Holland," holding +her own against the floods solely by virtue of +her encircling dike.</p> + +<p>Houseboats have been few, to-day, and they +of the shanty order and generally stranded +high upon the beach. One sees now and then, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page292" id="page292"></a>[pg 292]</span> +on the Illinois ridge, the cheap log or frame +house of a "cracker," the very picture of desolate +despair; but on the Kentucky shore are +few signs of life, for the bottom lies so low +that it is frequently inundated, and settlement +ventures no nearer than two or three miles +from the riverside. A fisherman comes occasionally +into view, upon this wide expanse of +wood and water and clay-banks; sometimes +we hail him in passing, always getting a respectful +answer, but a stare of innocent curiosity.</p> + +<p>Our last home upon the Ohio is facing the +Kentucky shore, on the cleanly sand-beach of +Mound City Towhead, a small island which +in times of high water is but a bar. The tent +is screened in a willow clump; just below us, +on higher ground, sycamores soar heavenward, +gayly festooned with vines, hiding from +us Mound City and the Illinois mainland. +Across the river, a Kentucky negro is singing +in the gloaming; but it is over a mile away, +and, while the tune is plain, the words are +lost. Children's voices, and the bay of +hounds, come wafted to us from the northern +shore. A steamer's wake rolls along our island +strand, dangerously near the camp-fire; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page293" id="page293"></a>[pg 293]</span> +the river is still falling, however, and we no +longer fear the encroachments of the flood. +The Doctor and I found a secluded nook, +where in the moonlight we took our final +plunge.</p> + +<p>It is sad, this bidding good-bye to the stream +which has floated us so merrily for a thousand +miles, from the mountains down to the plain. +We elders linger long by the last camp-fire, +to talk in fond reminiscence of the six weeks +afloat; while the Boy no doubt dreams peacefully +of houseboats and fishermen, of gigantic +bridges and flashing steel-plants, of coal-mines +and oil-wells, of pioneers and Indians, and all +that—of six weeks of kaleidoscopic sensations, +at an age when the mind is keenly active, and +the heart open to impressions which can +never be dimmed so long as his little life shall +last.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cairo</span>, Monday, 11th.—At our island camp, +last night, we were but nine miles from the +mouth of the Ohio, a distance which could +easily have been made before sundown; but +we preferred to reach our destination in the +morning, the better to arrange for railway +transportation, hence our agreeable pause upon +the Towhead.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page294" id="page294"></a>[pg 294]</span> + +<p>Before embarking for the last run, this +morning, we made a neat heap on the beach, +of such of our stores, edible and wearable, as +had been requisite to the trip, but were not +worth the cost of sending home. Feeling +confident that some passing fisherman would +soon be tempted ashore to inspect this curious +landmark, and yet might be troubled by +nice scruples as to the policy of appropriating +the find, we conspicuously labeled it: "Abandoned +by the owners! The finder is welcome +to the lot."</p> + +<p>Quickly passing Mound City, now bustling +with life, Pilgrim closely skirted the monotonous +clay-banks of Illinois, swept rapidly under +the monster railway bridge which stalks +high above the flood, and loses itself over the +tree-tops of the Kentucky bottom, and at a +quarter-past eight o'clock was pulled up at +Cairo, with the Mississippi in plain sight over +there, through the opening in the forest. In +another hour or two, she will be housed in a +box-car; and we, her crew, having again +donned the garb of landsmen, will be speeding +toward our northern home, this pilgrimage +but a memory.</p> + +<p>Such a memory! As we dropped below the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page295" id="page295"></a>[pg 295]</span> +Towhead, the Boy, for once silent, wistfully +gazed astern. When at last Pilgrim had been +hauled upon the railway levee, and the Doctor +and I had gone to summon a shipping clerk, +the lad looked pleadingly into W——'s face. +In tones half-choked with tears, he expressed +the sentiment of all: "Mother, is it really +ended? Why can't we go back to Brownsville, +and do it all over again?"</p> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote16" name="footnote16"></a><b>Footnote A:</b><a href="#footnotetag16"> (return) </a><p>"In the evening of the same day I ran my Boats into a +small Creek about one mile above the old Fort Missack; Reposed +ourselves for the night, and in the morning took a +Rout to the Northwest."—Clark's letter to Mason.</p></blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page296" id="page296"></a>[pg 296]</span> + + + + +<h2>APPENDIX A.</h2> + + +<h4>Historical outline of Ohio Valley settlement.</h4> + + + +<p>Englishmen had no sooner set foot upon our +continent, than they began to penetrate inland +with the hope of soon reaching the Western +Ocean, which the coast savages, almost as +ignorant of the geography of the interior as +the Europeans themselves, declared lay just +beyond the mountains. In 1586, we find +Ralph Lane, governor of Raleigh's ill-fated +colony, leading his men up the Roanoke River +for a hundred miles, only to turn back disheartened +at the rapids and falls, which necessitated +frequent portages through the forest +jungles. Twenty years later (1606), Christopher +Newport and the redoubtable John Smith, +of Jamestown, ascended the James as far as +the falls—now Richmond, Va.; and Newport +himself, the following year, succeeded in reaching +a point forty miles beyond, but here again +was appalled by the difficulties and returned.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page297" id="page297"></a>[pg 297]</span> + +<p>There was, after this, a deal of brave talk +about scaling the mountains; but nothing +further was done until 1650, when Edward +Bland and Edward Pennant again tried the +Roanoke, though without penetrating the wilderness +far beyond Lane's turning point. It +is recorded that, in 1669, John Lederer, an +adventurous German surgeon, commissioned +as an explorer by Governor Berkeley, ascended +to the summit of the Blue Ridge, in +Madison County, Va.; but although he was +once more on the spot the following season, +with a goodly company of horsemen and Indians, +and had a bird's-eye view of the over-mountain +country, he does not appear to +have descended into the world of woodland +which lay stretched between him and the setting +sun. It seems to be well established that +the very next year (1671), a party under Abraham +Wood, one of Governor Berkeley's major-generals, +penetrated as far as the Great Falls +of the Great Kanawha, only eighty miles from +the Ohio—doubtless the first English exploration +of waters flowing into the latter river. +The Great Kanawha was, by Wood himself, +called New River, but the geographers of the +time styled it Wood's. The last title was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page298" id="page298"></a>[pg 298]</span> +finally dropped; the stream above the mouth +of the Gauley is, however, still known as New. +These several adventurers had now demonstrated +that while the waters beyond the +mountains were not the Western Ocean, they +possibly led to such a sea; and it came to be +recognized, too, that the continent was not as +narrow as had up to this time been supposed.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the French of Canada were +casting eager eyes toward the Ohio, as a gateway +to the continental interior. But the +French-hating Iroquois held fast the upper +waters of the Mohawk, Delaware, and Susquehanna, +and the long but narrow watershed +sloping northerly to the Great Lakes, so that +the westering Ohio was for many years sealed +to New France. An important factor in American +history this, for it left the great valley +practically free from whites while the English +settlements were strengthening on the seaboard; +when at last the French were ready +aggressively to enter upon the coveted field, +they had in the English colonists formidable +and finally successful rivals.</p> + +<p>It is believed by many, and the theory is +not unreasonable, that the great French fur-trader +and explorer, La Salle, was at the Falls +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page299" id="page299"></a>[pg 299]</span> +of the Ohio (site of Louisville) "in the autumn +or early winter of 1669." How he got there, +is another question. Some antiquarians believe +that he reached the Alleghany by way +of the Chautauqua portage, and descended the +Ohio to the Falls; others, that he ascended +the Maumee from Lake Erie, and, descending +the Wabash, thus, discovered the Ohio. It +was reserved for the geographer Franquelin to +give, in his map of 1688, the first fairly-accurate +idea of the Ohio's path; and Father Hennepin's +large map of 1697 showed that much +had meanwhile been learned about the river.</p> + +<p>No doubt, by this time, the great waterway +was well-known to many of the most adventurous +French and English fur-traders, possibly +better to the latter than to the former; unfortunately, +these men left few records behind +them, by which to trace their discoveries. As +early as 1684, we incidentally hear of the Ohio +as a principal route for the Iroquois, who +brought peltries "from the direction of the +Illinois" to the English at Albany, and the +French at Quebec. Two years after this, ten +English trading-canoes, loaded with goods, +were seen on Lake Erie by French agents, +who in great alarm wrote home to Quebec +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page300" id="page300"></a>[pg 300]</span> +about them. Writes De Nonville to Seignelay, +"I consider it a matter of importance to preclude +the English from this trade, as they +doubtless would entirely ruin ours—as well by +the cheaper bargains they would give the Indians, +as by attracting to themselves the French +of our colony who are in the habit of resorting +to the woods."</p> + +<p>Herein lay the gist of the whole matter: +The legalized monopoly granted to the great +fur-trade companies of New France, with the +official corruption necessary to create and perpetuate +that monopoly, made the French trade +an expensive business, consequently goods were +dear. On the other hand, the trade of the +English was untrammeled, and a lively competition +lowered prices. The French cajoled +the Indians, and fraternized with them in their +camps; whereas, the English despised the savages, +and made little attempt to disguise their +sentiments. The French, while claiming all +the country west of the Alleghanies, cared +little for agricultural colonization; they would +keep the wilderness intact, for the fostering of +wild animals, upon the trade in whose furs +depended the welfare of New France—and +this, too, was the policy of the savage. By +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page301" id="page301"></a>[pg 301]</span> +English statesmen at home, our continental +interior was also chiefly prized for its forest +trade, which yielded rich returns for the merchant +adventurers of London. The policies +of the English colonists and of their general +government were ever clashing. The latter +looked upon the Indian trade as an entering +wedge; they thought of the West as a place +for growth. Close upon the heels of the +path-breaking trader, went the cattle-raiser, +and, following him, the agricultural settler +looking for cheap, fresh, and broader lands. +No edicts of the Board of Trade could repress +these backwoodsmen; savages could and did +beat them back for a time, but the annals of +the border are lurid with the bloody struggle +of the borderers for a clearing in the Western +forest. The greater part of them were Scotch-Irish +from Pennsylvania, Virginia, the Carolinas—a +hardy race, who knew not defeat. +Steadily they pushed back the rampart of +savagery, and won the Ohio valley for civilization.</p> + +<p>The Indian early recognized the land-grabbing +temper of the English, and felt that a +struggle to the death was impending. The +French browbeat their savage allies, and, easily +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page302" id="page302"></a>[pg 302]</span> +inflaming their passions, kept the body of them +almost continually at war with the English—the +Iroquois excepted, not because the latter +were English-lovers, or did not understand +the aim of English colonization, but because +the earliest French had won their undying +enmity. Amidst all this weary strife, the Indian, +a born trader who dearly loved a bargain, +never failed to recognize that the goods +of his French friends were dear, and that those +of his enemies, the English, were cheap. We +find frequent evidences that for a hundred +years the tribesmen of the Upper Lakes carried +on an illicit trade with the hated English, +whenever the usually-wary French were +thought to be napping.</p> + +<p>It is certain that English forest traders were +upon the Ohio in the year 1700. In 1715,—the +year before Governor Spotswood of Virginia, +"with much feasting and parade," made +his famous expedition over the Blue Ridge,—there +was a complaint that traders from Carolina +had reached the villages on the Wabash, +and were poaching on the French preserves. +French military officers built little log stockades +along that stream, and tried in vain to +induce the Indians of the valley to remove to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page303" id="page303"></a>[pg 303]</span> +St. Joseph's River, out of the sphere of English +influence. Everywhere did French traders +meet English competitors, who were not to be +frightened by orders to move off the field. +New France, therefore, determined to connect +Canada and Louisiana by a chain of forts +throughout the length of the Mississippi basin, +which should not only secure untrammeled +communication between these far-separated +colonies, but aid in maintaining French supremacy +throughout the region. Yet in 1725 +we still hear of "the English from Carolina" +busily trading with the Miamis under the very +shadow of the guns of Fort Ouiatanon (near +Lafayette, Ind.), and the French still vainly +scolding thereat. What was going on upon +the Wabash, was true elsewhere in the Ohio +basin, as far south as the Creek towns on the +sources of the Tennessee.</p> + +<p>About this time, Pennsylvania and Virginia +began to exhibit interest in their own overlapping +claims to lands in the country northwest +of the Ohio. Those colonies were now +settled close to the base of the mountains, and +there was heard a popular clamor for pastures +new. French ownership of the over-mountain +region was denied, and in 1728 Pennsylvania +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page304" id="page304"></a>[pg 304]</span> +"viewed with alarm the encroachments +of the French." The issue was now joined; +both sides claimed the field, but, as usual, the +contest was at first among the rival forest +traders. In the Virginia and Pennsylvania +capitals, the transmontane country was still +a misty region. In 1729, Col. William Byrd, +an authority on things Virginian, was able to +write that nothing was then known in that +colony of the sources of the Potomac, Roanoke, +and Shenandoah. It was not until 1736 +that Col. William Mayo, in laying out the +boundaries of Lord Fairfax's generous estate, +discovered in the Alleghanies the head-spring +of the Potomac, where ten years later was +planted the famous "Fairfax Stone," the +southwest point of the boundary between Virginia +and Maryland. That very same year +(1746), M. de Léry, chief engineer of New +France, went with a detachment of troops +from Lake Erie to Chautauqua Lake, and proceeded +thence by Conewango Creek and Alleghany +River to the Ohio, which he carefully +surveyed down to the mouth of the Great +Miami.</p> + +<p>Affairs moved slowly in those days. New +France was corrupt and weak, and the English +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page305" id="page305"></a>[pg 305]</span> +colonists, unaided by the home government, +were not strong. For many years, +nothing of importance came out of this rivalry +of French and English in the Ohio Valley, +save the petty quarrels of fur-traders, and the +occasional adventure of some Englishman +taken prisoner by Indians in a border foray, +and carried far into the wilderness to meet +with experiences the horror of which, as +preserved in their published narratives, to +this day causes the blood of the reader to +curdle.</p> + +<p>Now and then, there were voluntary adventurers +into these strange lands. Such were +John Howard, John Peter Salling, and two +other Virginians who, the story goes, went +overland (1740 or 1741) under commission of +their inquisitive governor, to explore the country +to the Mississippi. They went down Coal +and Wood's Rivers to the Ohio, which in Salling's +journal is called the "Alleghany." Finally, +a party of French, negroes, and Indians +took them prisoners and carried them to New +Orleans, where on meager fare they were held +in prison for eighteen months. They escaped +at last, and had many curious adventures by +land and sea, until they reached home, from +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page306" id="page306"></a>[pg 306]</span> +which they had been absent two years and +three months. There are now few countries +on the globe where a party of travelers could +meet with adventures such as these.</p> + +<p>At last, the plot thickened; the tragedy was +hastened to a close. France now formally +asserted her right to all countries drained by +streams emptying into the St. Lawrence, the +Great Lakes, and the Mississippi. This vast +empire would have extended from the comb +of the Rockies on the west—discovered in +1743 by the brothers La Vérendrye—to the +crest of the Appalachians on the east, thus +including the western part of New York and +New England. The narrow strip of the Atlantic +coast alone would have been left to the +domination of Great Britain. The demand +made by France, if acceded to, meant the +death-blow to English colonization on the +American mainland; and yet it was made not +without reason. French explorers, missionaries, +and fur-traders had, with great enterprise +and fortitude, swarmed over the entire +region, carrying the flag, the religion, and the +commerce of France into the farthest forest +wilds; while the colonists of their rival, busy in +solidly welding their industrial commonwealths, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page307" id="page307"></a>[pg 307]</span> +had as yet scarcely peeped over the +Alleghany barrier.</p> + +<p>It was asserted on behalf of Great Britain, +that the charters of her coast colonies carried +their bounds far into the West; further, that +as, by the treaty of Utrecht (1713), France +had acknowledged the suzerainty of the British +king over the Iroquois confederacy, the English +were entitled to all lands "conquered" by +those Indians, whose war-paths had extended +from the Ottawa River on the north to the +Carolinas on the south, and whose forays +reached alike to the Mississippi and to New +England. In this view was made, in 1744, the +famous treaty at Lancaster, Pa., whereat the +Iroquois, impelled by rum and presents, pretended +to give to the English entire control of +the Ohio Valley, under the claim that the former +had in various encounters conquered the +Shawanese of that region and were therefore +entitled to it. It is obvious that a country +occasionally raided by marauding bands of +savages, whose homes are far away, cannot +properly be considered theirs by conquest.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, both sides were preparing to +occupy and hold the contested field. New +France already had a weak chain of waterside +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page308" id="page308"></a>[pg 308]</span> +forts and commercial stations,—the rendezvous +of fur-traders, priests, travelers, and +friendly Indians,—extending, with long intervening +stretches of savage-haunted wilderness, +through the heart of the continent, from Lower +Canada to her outlying post of New Orleans. +It is not necessary here to enter into the details +of the ensuing French and Indian War, +the story of which Parkman has told us so +well. Suffice it briefly to mention a few only +of its features, so far as they affect the Ohio +itself.</p> + +<p>The Iroquois, although concluding with the +English this treaty of Lancaster, "on which, +as a corner-stone, lay the claim of the colonists +to the West," were by this time, as the result +of wily French diplomacy, growing suspicious +of their English protectors; at the same time, +having on several occasions been severely +punished by the French, they were less rancorous +in their opposition to New France. +For this reason, just as the English were getting +ready to make good their claim to the +Ohio by actual colonization, the Iroquois began +to let in the French at the back door. In +1749, Galissonière, then governor of New +France, dispatched to the great valley a party +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page309" id="page309"></a>[pg 309]</span> +of soldiers under Céloron de Bienville, with +directions to conduct a thorough exploration, +to bury at the mouths of principal streams +lead plates graven with the French claim,—a +custom of those days,—and to drive out English +traders, Céloron proceeded over the +Lake Chautauqua route, from Lake Erie to +the Alleghany River, and thence down the +Ohio to the Miami, returning to Lake Erie +over the old Maumee portage. English traders, +who could not be driven out, were found swarming +into the country, and his report was discouraging. +The French realized that they +could not maintain connection between New +Orleans and their settlements on the St. Lawrence, +if driven from the Ohio valley. The +governor sent home a plea for the shipment of +ten thousand French peasants to settle the +region; but the government at Paris was just +then as indifferent to New France as was King +George to his colonies, and the settlers were +not sent.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the English were not idle. The +first settlement they made west of the mountains, +was on New River, a branch of the +Kanawha (1748); in the same season, several +adventurous Virginians hunted and made land-claims +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page310" id="page310"></a>[pg 310]</span> +in Kentucky and Tennessee. Before +the close of the following year (1749), there +had been formed, for fur-trading and colonizing +purposes, the Ohio Company, composed of +wealthy Virginians, among whom were two +brothers of Washington. King George granted +the company five hundred thousand acres, +south of and along the Ohio River, on which +they were to plant a hundred families and +build and maintain a fort. As a base of supplies, +they built a fortified trading-house at +Will's Creek (now Cumberland, Md.), near +the head of the Potomac, and developed a +trail ("Nemacolin's Path"), sixty miles long, +across the Laurel Hills to the mouth of Redstone +Creek, on the Monongahela, where was +built another stockade (1752).</p> + +<p>Christopher Gist, a famous backwoodsman, +was sent (1750), the year after Céloron's expedition, +to explore the country as far down +as the falls of the Ohio, and select lands for +the new company. Gist's favorable report +greatly stimulated interest in the Western +country. In his travels, he met many Scotch-Irish +fur-traders who had passed into the West +through the mountain valleys of Pennsylvania, +Virginia, and the Carolinas. His negotiations +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page311" id="page311"></a>[pg 311]</span> +with the natives were of great value to the +English cause.</p> + +<p>It was early seen, by English and French +alike, that an immense advantage would accrue +to the nation first in possession of what is now +the site of Pittsburg, the meeting-place of the +Monongahela and Alleghany rivers to form the +Ohio—the "Forks of the Ohio," as it was +then called. In the spring of 1753, a French +force occupied the new fifteen-mile portage +route between Presque Isle (Erie, Pa.) and +French Creek, a tributary of the Alleghany. +On the banks of French Creek they built Fort +Le Bœuf, a stout log-stockade. It had been +planned to erect another fort at the Forks of +the Ohio, one hundred and twenty miles below; +but disease in the camp prevented the +completion of the scheme.</p> + +<p>What followed is familiar to all who have +taken any interest whatever in Western history. +In November, Governor Dinwiddie, of +Virginia, sent one of his major-generals, young +George Washington, with Gist as a companion, +to remonstrate with the French at Le Bœuf +for occupying land "so notoriously known to +be the property of the Crown of Great Britain." +The French politely turned the messengers +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page312" id="page312"></a>[pg 312]</span> +back. In the following April (1754), Washington +set out with a small command, by the +way of Will's Creek, to forcibly occupy the +Forks. His advance party were building a +fort there, when the French appeared and +easily drove them off. Then followed Washington's +defeat at Great Meadows (July 4). +The French were now supreme at their new +Fort Duquesne. The following year, General +Braddock set out from Virginia, also by Nemacolin's +Path; but, on that fateful ninth of +July, fell in the slaughter-pen which had been +set for him at Turtle Creek by the Indians of +the Upper Lakes, under the leadership of a +French fur-trader from far-off Wisconsin.</p> + +<p>From the time of Braddock's defeat until +the close of the war, French traders, with +savage allies, poured the vials of their wrath +upon the encroaching settlements of the English +backwoodsmen. Nemacolin's Path, now +known as Braddock's Road, made for the Indians +of the Ohio an easy pathway to the +English borders of Pennsylvania, Virginia, +and Maryland. In the parallel valleys of the +Alleghanies was waged a partisan warfare, +which in bitterness has probably not had its +equal in all the long history of the efforts of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page313" id="page313"></a>[pg 313]</span> +expanding civilization to beat down the encircling +walls of barbarism. In 1758, Canada +was attacked by several English expeditions, +the most of which were successful. One of +these was headed by General John Forbes, +and directed against Fort Duquesne. After a +remarkable forest march, overcoming mighty +obstacles, Forbes arrived at his destination to +find that the French had blown up the fortifications, +some of the troops retreating to Lake +Erie and others to rehabilitate Fort Massac on +the Lower Ohio.</p> + +<p>Thus England gained possession of the valley. +New France had been cut in twain. +The English Fort Pitt commanded the Forks +of the Ohio, and French rule in America was +now doomed. The fall of Quebec soon followed +(1759), then of Montreal (1760); and +in 1763 was signed the Treaty of Paris, by +which England obtained possession of all the +territory east of the Mississippi River, except +the city of New Orleans and a small outlying +district. In order to please the savages of the +interior, and to cultivate the fur-trade,—perhaps +also, to act as a check upon the westward +growth of the too-ambitious coast colonies,—King +George III. took early occasion to command +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page314" id="page314"></a>[pg 314]</span> +his "loving subjects" in America not to +purchase or settle lands beyond the mountains, +"without our especial leave and license." It +is needless to say that this injunction was not +obeyed. The expansion of the English colonies +in America was irresistible; the Great +West was theirs, and they proceeded in due +time to occupy it.</p> + +<p>Long before the close of the French and +Indian War, English colonists—whom we will +now, for convenience, call Americans—had +made agricultural settlements in the Ohio +basin. As early as 1752, we have seen, the +Redstone fort was built. In 1753, the French +forces, on retiring from Great Meadows, burned +several log cabins on the Monongahela. The +interesting story of the colonizing of the Redstone +district, at the western end of Braddock's +Road, has been outlined in Chapter I. +of the text; and it has been shown, in the +course of the narrative of the pilgrimage, how +other districts were slowly settled in the face +of savage opposition. Although driven back +in numerous Indian wars, these American borderers +had come to the Ohio valley to stay.</p> + +<p>We have seen the early attempt of the Ohio +Company to settle the valley. Its agents +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page315" id="page315"></a>[pg 315]</span> +blazed the way, but the French and Indian +War, and the Revolution soon following, +tended to discourage the aspirations of the +adventurers, and the organization finally +lapsed. Western land speculators were as +active in those days as now, and Washington +was chief among them. We find him first interested +in the valley, through broad acres +acquired on land-grants issued for military +services in the French and Indian War; Revolutionary +bounty claims made him a still +larger landholder on Western waters; and, to +the close of the century, he was actively interested +in schemes to develop the region. +We are not in the habit of so regarding him, +but both by frequent personal presence in the +Ohio valley, and extensive interests at stake +there, the Father of his Country was the most +conspicuous of Western pioneers. Dearly did +Washington love the West, which he knew so +well; when the Revolutionary cause looked +dark, and it seemed possible that England +might seize the coast settlements, he is said +to have cried, "We will retire beyond the +mountains, and be free!" and in his declining +years he seemed to regret that he was too old +to join his former comrades of the camp, in +their colony at Marietta.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page316" id="page316"></a>[pg 316]</span> + +<p>As early as 1754, Franklin, in his famous +Albany Plan of Union for the colonies, had a +device for establishing new states in the West, +upon lands purchased from the Indians. In +1773, he displayed interest in the Walpole +plan for another colony,—variously called +Pittsylvania, Vandalia, and New Barataria—with +its proposed capital at the mouth of the +Great Kanawha. There were, too, several +other Western colonial schemes,—among +them the Henderson colony of Transylvania, +between the Cumberland and the Tennessee, +the seat of which was Boonesborough. Readers +of Roosevelt well know its brief but brilliant +career, intimately connected with the +development of Tennessee and Kentucky. +But the most of these hopeful enterprises came +to grief with the political secession of the +colonies; and when the coast States ceded +their Western land-claims to the new general +government, and the Ordinance of 1787 provided +for the organization of the Territory +Northwest of the River Ohio, there was no +room for further enterprises of this character.<a id="footnotetag17" name="footnotetag17"></a><a href= + "#footnote17"><sup>A</sup></a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page317" id="page317"></a>[pg 317]</span> + +<p>The story of the Ohio is the story of the +West. With the close of the Revolution, +came a rush of travel down the great river. +It was more or less checked by border warfare, +which lasted until 1794; but in that year, +Anthony Wayne, at the Battle of Fallen +Timbers, broke the backbone of savagery +east of the Mississippi; the Tecumseh uprising +(1812-13) came too late seriously to affect +the dwellers on the Ohio.</p> + +<p>There were two great over-mountain highways +thither, one of them being Braddock's +Road, with Redstone (now Brownsville, Pa.) +and Pittsburg as its termini; the other was +Boone's old trail, or Cumberland Gap. With +the latter, this sketch has naught to do.</p> + +<p>By the close of the Revolution, Pittsburg—in +Gist's day, but a squalid Indian village, and +a fording-place—was still only "a distant out-post, +merely a foothold in the Far West." +By 1785, there were a thousand people there, +chiefly engaged in the fur-trade and in forwarding +emigrants and goods to the rapidly-growing +settlements on the middle and lower +reaches of the river. The population had +doubled by 1803. By 1812 there was to be +seen here just the sort of bustling, vicious +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page318" id="page318"></a>[pg 318]</span> +frontier town, with battlement-fronts and ragged +streets, which Buffalo and then Detroit +became in after years. Cincinnati and Chicago, +St. Louis and Kansas City, had still +later, each in turn, their share of this experience; +and, not many years ago, Bismarck, +Omaha, and Leadville. From Philadelphia +and Baltimore and Richmond, there were running +to Pittsburg or Redstone regular lines of +stages for the better class of passengers; freight +wagons laden with immense bales of goods +were to be seen in great caravans, which frequently +were "stalled" in the mud of the +mountain roads; emigrants from all parts of +the Eastern States, and many countries of +Europe, often toiled painfully on foot over +these execrable highways, with their bundles +on their backs, or following scrawny cattle +harnessed to makeshift vehicles; and now and +then came a well-to-do equestrian with his +pack-horses,—generally an Englishman,—who +was out to see the country, and upon his return +to write a book about it.</p> + +<p>At Pittsburg, and points on the Alleghany, +Youghiogheny, and Monongahela, were boat-building +yards which turned out to order a +curious medley of craft—arks, flat- and keel-boats, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page319" id="page319"></a>[pg 319]</span> +barges, pirogues, and schooners of +every design conceivable to fertile brain. +Upon these, travelers took passage for the then +Far West, down the swift-rolling Ohio. There +have descended to us a swarm of published +journals by English and Americans alike, giving +pictures, more or less graphic, of the men +and manners of the frontier; none is without +interest, even if in its pages the priggish author +but unconsciously shows himself, and +fails to hold the mirror up to the rest of nature. +With the introduction of steamboats,—the +first was in 1811, but they were slow to +gain headway against popular prejudice,—the +old river life, with its picturesque but rowdy +boatmen, its unwieldy flats and keels and +arks, began to pass away, and water traffic to +approach the prosaic stage; the crossing of +the mountains by the railway did away with +the boisterous freighters, the stages, and the +coaching-taverns; and when, at last, the river +became paralleled by the iron way, the glory +of the steamboat epoch itself faded, riverside +towns adjusted themselves to the new highways +of commerce, new centers arose, and "side-tracked" +ports fell into decay.</p> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote17" name="footnote17"></a><b>Footnote A:</b><a href="#footnotetag17"> (return) </a><p>See Turner's "Western State-Making in the Revolutionary +Era," in <i>Amer. Hist. Rev.</i>, Vol. I.; also, Alden's "New +Governments West of the Alleghanies," <i>Bull. Univ. Wis.</i>, +Hist. Series, Vol. II.</p></blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page320" id="page320"></a>[pg 320]</span> + + + + +<h2>APPENDIX B.</h2> + + +<h4>Selected list of Journals of previous +travelers down the Ohio.</h4> + + + +<p><i>Gist, Christopher.</i> Gist's Journals; with +historical, geographical, and ethnological +notes, and biographies of his contemporaries, +by William M. Darlington. Pittsburg, 1893.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +Gist's trip down the valley, from October, 1750, to May, +1751, was on horseback, as far as the site of Frankfort, Ky. +On his second trip into Kentucky, from November, 1751, to +March 11, 1752, he touched the river at few points. +</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>Gordon, Harry.</i> Extracts from the Journal +of Captain Harry Gordon, chief engineer in +the Western department in North America, +who was sent from Fort Pitt, on the River +Ohio, down the said river, etc., to Illinois, +in 1766.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +Published in Pownall's "Topographical Description of +North America," Appendix, p. 2. +</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>Washington, George.</i> Journal of a tour to +the Ohio River. [Writings, ed. by Ford, vol. +II. New York, 1889.]</p> + +<blockquote><p> +The trip lasted from October 5 to December 1, 1770. The +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page321" id="page321"></a>[pg 321]</span> +party went in boats from Fort Pitt, as far down as the mouth +of the Great Kanawha. This journal is the best on the subject, +written in the eighteenth century. +</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>Pownall, T.</i> A topographical description +of such parts of North America as are contained +in the [annexed] map of the Middle +British Colonies, etc. London, 1776.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +Contains "Extracts from Capt. Harry Gordon's Journal," +"Extracts from Mr. Lewis Evans' Journal" of 1743, and +"Christopher Gist's Journal" of 1750-51. +</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>Hutchins, Thomas.</i> Topographical description +of Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and +North Carolina, comprehending the Rivers +Ohio, Kenhawa, Sioto, Cherokee, Wabash, +Illinois, Mississippi, etc. London, 1778.</p> + +<p><i>St. John, M.</i> Lettres d'un cultivateur +Americain. Paris, 1787, 3 vols.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +Vol. 3 contains an account of the author's boat trip down +the river, in 1784. +</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>De Vigni, Antoine F. S.</i> Relation of his +voyage down the Ohio River from Pittsburg +to the Falls, in 1788.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +Graphic and animated account by a French physician who +came out with the Scioto Company's immigrants to Gallipolis. +Given in "Proc. Amer. Antiq. Soc.", Vol. XI., pp. +369-380. +</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>May, John.</i> Journal and letters [to the +Ohio country, 1788-89], Cincinnati, 1873.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +One of the best, for economic views. May was a Boston +merchant. +</p></blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page322" id="page322"></a>[pg 322]</span> + +<p><i>Forman, Samuel S.</i> Narrative of a journey +down the Ohio and Mississippi in 1789-90. +With a memoir and illustrative notes, by Lyman +C. Draper. Cincinnati, 1888.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +A lively and appreciative account. Touches social life at +the garrisons, <i>en route</i>. +</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>Ellicott, Andrew.</i> Journal of the late commissioner +on behalf of the United States during +part of the year 1796, the years 1797, 1798, +1799, and part of the year 1800: for determining +the boundary between the United States +and Spain. Philadelphia, 1803.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +His trip down the river was in 1796. +</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>Baily, Francis.</i> Journal of a tour in unsettled +parts of North America, in 1796 and +1797. London, 1856.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +The author's river voyage was in 1796. +</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>Harris, Thaddeus Mason.</i> Journal of a tour +into the territory northwest of the Alleghany +Mountains; made in the spring of the year +1803. Boston, 1805.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +A valuable work. The author traveled on a flatboat. +</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>Michaux, F. A.</i> Travels to the west of the +Alleghany Mountains. London (2nd ed.), +1805.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +Excellent, for economic conditions. The expedition was +made in 1802. +</p></blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page323" id="page323"></a>[pg 323]</span> + +<p><i>Ashe, Thomas.</i> Travels in America, performed +in 1806. London, 1808.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +Among the best of the early journals, although abounding +in exaggerations. +</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>Cuming, F.</i> Sketches of a tour to the +Western country, etc., commenced in 1807 +and concluded in 1809. Pittsburg, 1810.</p> + +<p><i>Bradbury, John.</i> Travels [1809-11] in the +interior of America. Liverpool, 1817.</p> + +<p><i>Melish, John.</i> Travels in the United States +of America [1811]. Philadelphia, 1812, 2 vols.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +Vol. 2 contains the journal of the author's voyage down +the river, in a skiff. The account of means of early navigation +is graphic. +</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>Flint, Timothy.</i> Recollections of the last +ten years. Boston, 1826.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +There is no better account of boats, and river life generally, +in 1814-15, the time of Flint's voyage. +</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>Fearon, Henry Bradshaw.</i> Sketches of +America [1817]. London, 1819.</p> + +<p><i>Palmer, John.</i> Journal of travels in the +United States of North America [1817]. London, +1818.</p> + +<p><i>Evans, Estwick.</i> A pedestrian tour [1818] +of four thousand miles through the Western +states and territories. Concord, N. H., 1819.</p> + +<p><i>Birkbeck, Morris.</i> Notes on a journey in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page324" id="page324"></a>[pg 324]</span> +America, from the coast of Virginia to the +Territory of Illinois. London, 1818.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +The author traveled, in 1817, by light wagon from Richmond +to Pittsburg; and from Pittsburg to Cincinnati by +horseback. This book, interesting for economic conditions, +together with the author's "Letters from Illinois," did much +to inspire emigration to Illinois from England. His English +colony, at English Prairie, Ill., was much visited by travelers +of the period. +</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>Faux, W.</i> Journal of a tour to the United +States [in 1819].</p> + +<blockquote><p> +Excellent pictures of American life and agricultural methods, +by an English gentleman farmer. Attacks Birkbeck's +roseate views. +</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>Ogden, George W.</i> Letters from the West, +comprising a tour through the Western country +[1821], and a residence of two summers in +the States of Ohio and Kentucky. New Bedford, +Mass., 1823.</p> + +<p><i>Welby, Adlard.</i> A visit to North America +and the English settlements in Illinois. London, +1821.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +The author went by horseback, occasionally touching the +river towns. +</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>Beltrami, J. C.</i> Pilgrimage in Europe and +America. London, 1828, 2 vols.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +In Vol. II the author describes a steamboat journey in +1823, from Pittsburg to the mouth. +</p></blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page325" id="page325"></a>[pg 325]</span> + +<p><i>Hall, James.</i> Letters from the West. +London, 1828.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +Valuable for scenery, manners, and customs, and anecdotes +of early Western settlement. +</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>Anonymous.</i> The Americans as they are; +described by a tour through the valley of the +Mississippi. London, 1828.</p> + +<p><i>Trollope, Mrs.</i> [Frances M.]. Domestic +manners of the Americans. London and New +York, 1832.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +A lively caricature, the precursor of Dickens' "American +Notes." Mrs. Trollope's voyages on the Ohio were in 1828 +and 1830. +</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>Vigne, Godfrey T.</i> Six months in America. +London, 1832, 2 vols.</p> + +<p><i>Hamilton, T.</i> Men and manners in America. +Philadelphia, 1833.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +Includes a steamboat journey from Pittsburg to New +Orleans. +</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>Alexander, Capt. J. E.</i> Transatlantic +sketches. London, 1833, 2 vols.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +Vol. II. has an account of a trip up the river. +</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>Stuart, James.</i> Three years in North America. +New York, 1833, 2 vols.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +Vol. II. includes a voyage up the Ohio. The author takes +issue, throughout, with Mrs. Trollope. +</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>Brackenridge, H. M.</i> Recollections of persons +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page326" id="page326"></a>[pg 326]</span> +and places in the West. Philadelphia, +1834.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +Describes river trips, during the first decade of the century. +</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>Tudor, Henry.</i> Narrative of a tour [1831-32] +in North America. London, 1834, 2 vols.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +The Ohio trip is in Vol. II. +</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>Arfwedson, C. D.</i> The United States and +Canada, in 1832, 1833, and 1834. London, +1834, 2 vols.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +In Vol. II is a report of a steamboat trip up the river. +</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>Latrobe, Charles Joseph.</i> The rambler in +North America. New York, 1835, 2 vols.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +Vol. II has an account of a descending steamboat voyage. +</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>Anonymous.</i> A winter in the West. By a +New Yorker. New York (2nd ed.), 1835, 2 +vols.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +In Vol. I. is an entertaining account of a stage-coach ride +in 1833, from Pittsburg to Cleveland, touching all settlements +on the Upper Ohio down to Beaver River. +</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>Nichols, Thomas L.</i> Forty years of American +life. London, 1864, 2 vols.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +In Vol. I. the author tells of a steamboat tour from Pittsburg +to New Orleans, in 1840. +</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>Dickens, Charles.</i> American notes. New +York, 1842.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page327" id="page327"></a>[pg 327]</span> + +<blockquote><p> +Dickens, in 1841, traveled in steamboats from Pittsburg to +St. Louis. His dyspeptic comments on life and manners in +the United States, at the time grated harshly on the ears of +our people; but afterward, they grew strong and wise +enough to smile at them. The book is to-day, like Mrs. +Trollope's, entertaining reading for an American. +</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>Rubio</i> (pseud.). Rambles in the United +States and Canada, in 1845. London, 1846.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +A typical English growler, who thinks America "the +most disagreeable of all disagreeable countries;" nevertheless, +he says of the Ohio, "a finer thousand miles of river +scenery could hardly be found in the wide world." +</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>Mackay, Alex.</i> The Western world; or, +travels in the United States in 1846-47. London, +1849.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +Good for its character sketches, glimpses of slavery, and +report of economic conditions. +</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>Robertson, James.</i> A few months in America +[winter of 1853-54]. London, n. d.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +Chiefly statistical. +</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>Murray, Charles Augustus.</i> Travels in +North America. London, 1854, 2 vols.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +Vol. I has the Ohio-river trip. The author is an appreciative +Englishman, and tells his story well. +</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>Murray, Henry A.</i> Lands of the slave and +the free. London, 1855, 2 vols.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +In Vol. I is an account of an Ohio-river voyage. +</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>Ferguson, William.</i> America by river and +rail [in 1855]. London, 1856.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page328" id="page328"></a>[pg 328]</span> + +<p><i>Lloyd, James T.</i> Steamboat directory, and +disasters on the Western waters. Cincinnati, +1856.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +Valuable for stories and records of the early days of river +transportation. +</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>Anonymous.</i> A short American tramp in +the fall of 1864. By the editor of "Life in +Normandy." Edinburgh, 1865.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +An English geologist's journal. Distorted and overdrawn, +on the travel side. He took steamer from St. Louis to Cincinnati. +</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>Bishop, Nathaniel H.</i> Four months in a +sneak-box. Boston, 1879.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +The author, in the winter of 1875-76, voyaged in an open +boat from Pittsburg to New Orleans, and along the Gulf +coast to Florida. +</p></blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page329" id="page329"></a>[pg 329]</span> + + + + +<h2>INDEX.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> +<p>Aberdeen, Ky., <a href="#page167">167</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Albany, N.Y., <a href="#page299">299</a>, <a href="#page316">316</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Alden, George H., <a href="#page316">316</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Alexander, J. E., <a href="#page325">325</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Alexandria, O., <a href="#page151">151</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Alexandria, Va., <a href="#page131">131</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Allegheny City, Pa., <a href="#page21">21</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Alton, Ind., <a href="#page224">224</a>, <a href="#page228">228</a>, <a href="#page231">231</a>, <a href="#page233">233</a>, <a href="#page234">234</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>America, Ill. <i>See</i> <a href="#mound">Mound City, Ill.</a></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Antiquity, O., <a href="#page115">115</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Arfwedson, C. D., <a href="#page326">326</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Ashe, Thomas, <a href="#page114">114</a>, <a href="#page273">273</a>, <a href="#page323">323</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Ashland, Ky., <a href="#page142">142</a>, <a href="#page143">143</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Athalia, O., <a href="#page136">136</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Audubon, John James, <a href="#page257">257</a>, <a href="#page258">258</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Augusta, Ky., <a href="#page170">170</a>, <a href="#page171">171</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Aurora, Ind., <a href="#page186">186</a>, <a href="#page187">187</a>.</p> + </div> +<p> </p> + <div class="stanza"> +<p>Baker's Bottom, W. Va., <a href="#page36">36</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Baily, Francis, <a href="#page322">322</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Baltimore, <a href="#page162">162</a>, <a href="#page318">318</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Barlow, Joel, <a href="#page130">130</a>, <a href="#page131">131</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Bearsville, O., <a href="#page73">73</a>, <a href="#page74">74</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Beaver, Pa.,<a name="Beaver" id="Beaver"></a> <a href="#page27">27-30</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Belpré, O., <a href="#page100">100-102</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Beltrami, J. C., <a href="#page324">324</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Berkeley, Sir William, <a href="#page297">297</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Bethlehem, Ind., <a href="#page260">260</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Big Bone Lick, <a href="#page152">152</a>, <a href="#page153">153</a>, <a href="#page191">191</a>, <a href="#page195">195-198</a>, <a href="#page268">268</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Big Grave Creek, <a href="#page62">62-66</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Bird's Point Landing, Ky., <a href="#page277">277</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Birkbeck, Morris, <a href="#page323">323</a>, <a href="#page324">324</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Bishop, Nathaniel H., <a href="#page328">328</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Bismarck, N. D., <a href="#page318">318</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Bland, Edward, <a href="#page297">297</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Blennerhassett, Harman, <a href="#page95">95-98</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Blennerhassett's Island, <a href="#page95">95-98</a>, <a href="#page101">101</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Blue Lick, <a href="#page160">160</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Boone, Daniel, <a href="#page142">142</a>, <a href="#page206">206</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Boonesborough, Ky., <a href="#page316">316</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Boone's Trail. <i>See</i> <a href="#wilderness">Wilderness Road</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Brackenridge, H. M., <a href="#page325">325</a>, <a href="#page326">326</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Bradbury, John, <a href="#page323">323</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Braddock, Gen. Edward, <a href="#page4">4</a>, <a href="#page16">16</a>, <a href="#page17">17</a>, <a href="#page128">128</a>, <a href="#page312">312</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Braddock, Pa., <a href="#page17">17</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Braddock's Road,<a name="Braddock" id="Braddock"></a> <a href="#page4">4</a>, <a href="#page12">12</a>, <a href="#page160">160</a>, <a href="#page312">312</a>, <a href="#page314">314</a>, <a href="#page317">317</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Brandenburg, Ind., <a href="#page223">223</a>, <a href="#page224">224</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Bridgeport, O., <a href="#page60">60</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Broderickville, O., <a href="#page137">137</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Brooklyn, Ill., <a href="#page284">284</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Brown's Islands, <a href="#page265">265</a>, <a href="#page266">266</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Brownsville, Pa.,<a name="Brownsville" id="Brownsville"></a> <a href="#page1">1-6</a>, <a href="#page8">8</a>, <a href="#page12">12</a>, <a href="#page15">15</a>, <a href="#page19">19</a>, <a href="#page30">30</a>, <a href="#page61">61</a>, <a href="#page129">129</a>, <a href="#page131">131</a>, <a href="#page160">160</a>, <a href="#page162">162</a>, <a href="#page180">180</a>, <a href="#page295">295</a>, <a href="#page314">314</a>, <a href="#page317">317</a>, <a href="#page318">318</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Buffalo, N. Y., <a href="#page318">318</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Burlington, O., <a href="#page137">137</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Burr, Aaron, <a href="#page96">96</a>, <a href="#page97">97</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Butler's Run, <a href="#page67">67</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Byrd, Col. William, <a href="#page304">304</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p> </p> +<p>Cairo, Ill., <a href="#page7">7</a>, <a href="#page15">15</a>, <a href="#page222">222</a>, <a href="#page284">284</a>, <a href="#page291">291</a>, <a href="#page294">294</a>, <a href="#page295">295</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>California, O., <a href="#page180">180</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Caledonia, Ill. <i>See</i> <a href="#Olmstead">Olmstead, Ill.</a></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Cannelton, Ind., <a href="#page242">242</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Captina, O.,<a name="Captina" id="Captina"></a> <a href="#page70">70</a>, <a href="#page71">71</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Captina Creek, <a href="#page67">67</a>, <a href="#page70">70-72</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Captina Island, <a href="#page69">69</a>, <a href="#page70">70</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Carrollton, Ky., <a href="#page206">206</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Carrsville, Ky., <a href="#page276">276</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Catlettsburg, Ky., <a href="#page137">137</a>, <a href="#page141">141</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Cave-in-Rock, Ill., <a href="#page273">273</a>, <a href="#page274">274</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Céleron de Bienville, <a href="#page90">90</a>, <a href="#page125">125</a>, <a href="#page309">309</a>, <a href="#page310">310</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Ceredo, W. Va., <a href="#page137">137</a>, <a href="#page141">141</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Charleroi, Pa., <a href="#page5">5</a>, <a href="#page8">8</a>, <a href="#page9">9</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Charleston, W. Va., <a href="#page115">115</a>, <a href="#page127">127</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Chartier, Pa., <a href="#page5">5</a>, <a href="#page8">8</a>, <a href="#page9">9</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Chartier's Creek, <a href="#page23">23</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Cherokee Indians, <a href="#page286">286</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Cheshire, O., <a href="#page119">119</a>.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page330" id="page330"></a>[pg 330]</span> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Chesapeake & Ohio railway, <a href="#page172">172</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Chicago, <a href="#page318">318</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Chillicothe, O., <a href="#page152">152</a>, <a href="#page179">179</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Chilo, O., <a href="#page170">170</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Cincinnati,<a name="Cincinnati" id="Cincinnati"></a> <a href="#page88">88</a>, <a href="#page157">157</a>, <a href="#page159">159</a>, <a href="#page162">162</a>, <a href="#page170">170</a>, <a href="#page177">177-184</a>, <a href="#page217">217</a>, <a href="#page252">252</a>, <a href="#page318">318</a>, <a href="#page324">324</a>, <a href="#page328">328</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Circleville, O., <a href="#page102">102</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Clark, George Rogers, <a href="#page4">4</a>, <a href="#page5">5</a>, <a href="#page70">70</a>, <a href="#page72">72</a>, <a href="#page73">73</a>, <a href="#page94">94</a>, <a href="#page159">159</a>, <a href="#page178">178</a>, <a href="#page179">179</a>, <a href="#page218">218-220</a>, <a href="#page264">264</a>, <a href="#page285">285-287</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Clarksville, Ind., <a href="#page219">219</a>, <a href="#page220">220</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Cloverport, Ky., <a href="#page239">239-242</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Coal Valley, Pa., <a href="#page13">13</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Collins, Richard H., <a href="#page153">153</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Columbia, O., <a href="#page180">180</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Concordia, Ky., <a href="#page234">234</a>, <a href="#page235">235</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Conewango Creek, <a href="#page304">304</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Connolly, Dr. John, <a href="#page218">218</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Conwell, Yates, <a href="#page72">72</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Corn Island, <a href="#page219">219</a>, <a href="#page220">220</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Cornstalk, Shawanee chief, <a href="#page128">128</a>, <a href="#page129">129</a>, <a href="#page221">221</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Covington, Ky., <a href="#page178">178</a>, <a href="#page183">183</a>, <a href="#page184">184</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Crawford, Col. William, <a href="#page46">46</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Creek Indians, <a href="#page303">303</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Cresap, Michael, <a href="#page67">67</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Cresap's Bottom, <a href="#page72">72</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Croghan, George, <a href="#page91">91</a>, <a href="#page95">95</a>, <a href="#page114">114</a>, <a href="#page152">152</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Crooked Creek, <a href="#page130">130</a>, <a href="#page244">244</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Cumberland, Md., <a href="#page310">310</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Cumberland Gap, <a href="#page127">127</a>, <a href="#page160">160-162</a>, <a href="#page317">317</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Cumberland Island, <a href="#page282">282</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Cumberland Pike. <i>See</i> <a href="#Braddock">Braddock's Road</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Cuming, F., <a href="#page322">322</a>, <a href="#page323">323</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Curran, Barney, <a href="#page29">29</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Cypress Bend, <a href="#page260">260</a>.</p> + </div> +<p> </p> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Darlington, William M., <a href="#page320">320</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Doddridge, Joseph, <a href="#page115">115</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Deep Water Landing, Ind., <a href="#page234">234</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>De Léry, Gaspard Chaussegros, <a href="#page304">304</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Denman, Matthias, <a href="#page179">179</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>De Nonville, Gov. Jacques René de Brisay, <a href="#page300">300</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Derby, Ky., <a href="#page235">235-237</a>, <a href="#page243">243</a>, <a href="#page244">244</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Detroit, Mich., <a href="#page287">287</a>, <a href="#page318">318</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>De Vigni, Antoine F. S., <a href="#page321">321</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Diamond Island, <a href="#page264">264</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Dickens, Charles, <a href="#page66">66</a>, <a href="#page325">325</a>, <a href="#page326">326</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Dillon's Bottom, <a href="#page66">66</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Dinwiddie, Gov. Robert, <a href="#page311">311</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Dog Island, <a href="#page281">281</a>, <a href="#page282">282</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Dover, Ky., <a href="#page170">170</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Draper, Lyman C., <a href="#page321">321</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Dravosburg, Pa., <a href="#page13">13</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Dufour, John James, <a href="#page204">204</a>, <a href="#page205">205</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Dunkard Creek, <a href="#page72">72</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Dunlap Creek, <a href="#page3">3</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Dunmore, Lord, <a href="#page23">23</a>, <a href="#page61">61</a>, <a href="#page102">102</a>, <a href="#page103">103</a>, <a href="#page125">125-129</a>, <a href="#page218">218</a>, <a href="#page221">221</a>.</p> + </div> +<p> </p> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>East Liverpool, O., <a href="#page35">35</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Economy, Pa., <a href="#page26">26</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Elizabeth, Pa., <a href="#page12">12</a>, <a href="#page15">15</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Elizabethtown, Ill., <a href="#page275">275</a>, <a href="#page276">276</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Ellicott, Andrew, <a href="#page181">181</a>, <a href="#page322">322</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Emmerick's Landing, Ky., <a href="#page244">244</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>English Prairie, Ill., <a href="#page324">324</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Enterprise, Ind., <a href="#page254">254</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Erie, Pa., <a href="#page311">311</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Evans, Estwick, <a href="#page323">323</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Evans, Lewis, <a href="#page321">321</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Evansville, Ind., <a href="#page255">255</a>, <a href="#page256">256</a>, <a href="#page260">260</a>, <a href="#page265">265</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Fairfax, Lord, <a href="#page304">304</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Fallen Timbers, <a href="#page181">181</a>, <a href="#page317">317</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Falls of Ohio. <i>See</i> <a href="#Louisville">Louisville, Ky.</a></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Faux, W., <a href="#page324">324</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Fearon, Henry Bradshaw, <a href="#page323">323</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Ferguson, William, <a href="#page327">327</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Filson, John, <a href="#page179">179-181</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Fish Creek, <a href="#page72">72</a>, <a href="#page73">73</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Fishing Creek, <a href="#page74">74</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Flint, Timothy, <a href="#page162">162</a>, <a href="#page163">163</a>, <a href="#page181">181</a>, <a href="#page323">323</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Forbes, Gen. John, <a href="#page285">285</a>, <a href="#page313">313</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Forks of the Ohio. <i>See</i> <a href="#Pittsburg">Pittsburg</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Forman, Samuel S., <a href="#page322">322</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Foreman, Capt. William, <a href="#page63">63</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Fort Charlotte, <a href="#page221">221</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Duquesne, <a href="#page16">16</a>, <a href="#page17">17</a>, <a href="#page285">285</a>, <a href="#page312">312</a>, <a href="#page313">313</a>. <i>See</i> <a href="#Pittsburg">Pittsburg</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Fincastle, <a href="#page61">61</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Finney, <a href="#page180">180</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Gower, <a href="#page102">102</a>, <a href="#page103">103</a>, <a href="#page129">129</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Harmar, <a href="#page91">91</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Henry, <a href="#page61">61</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Le Bœuf, <a href="#page15">15</a>, <a href="#page26">26</a>, <a href="#page311">311</a>, <a href="#page312">312</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Massac, <a href="#page285">285-288</a>, <a href="#page290">290</a>, <a href="#page313">313</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Necessity, <a href="#page4">4</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Pitt, <a href="#page127">127</a>, <a href="#page129">129</a>, <a href="#page160">160-162</a>. <i>See</i> <a href="#Pittsburg">Pittsburg</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Randolph, <a href="#page129">129</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Washington, <a href="#page180">180</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Wilkinson, <a href="#page291">291</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Foster, Ky., <a href="#page170">170</a>, <a href="#page171">171</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Frampton, O., <a href="#page137">137</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Frankfort, Ky., <a href="#page320">320</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Franklin, Benjamin, <a href="#page316">316</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Franquelin, Jean B. L., <a href="#page299">299</a>.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page331" id="page331"></a>[pg 331]</span> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Freeman, O., <a href="#page40">40</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>French, in Ohio valley, <a href="#page15">15</a>, <a href="#page17">17</a>, <a href="#page29">29</a>, <a href="#page30">30</a>, <a href="#page90">90</a>, <a href="#page125">125</a>, <a href="#page131">131</a>, <a href="#page132">132</a>, <a href="#page197">197</a>, <a href="#page205">205</a>, <a href="#page285">285</a>, <a href="#page286">286</a>, <a href="#page298">298-313</a>, <a href="#page321">321</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>French Creek, <a href="#page311">311</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>French Islands, <a href="#page253">253</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Fry, John, <a href="#page141">141</a>.</p> + </div> +<p> </p> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Galissonière, Count de, <a href="#page308">308</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Gallipolis, O., <a href="#page130">130-133</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Garrison Creek, <a href="#page185">185</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Genet, Edmund Charles, <a href="#page286">286</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>George III., king, <a href="#page309">309</a>, <a href="#page310">310</a>, <a href="#page313">313</a>, <a href="#page314">314</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Georgetown, Pa., <a href="#page34">34</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Germans, in Ohio valley, <a href="#page26">26</a>, <a href="#page132">132</a>, <a href="#page205">205</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Girty, Simon, <a href="#page71">71</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Gist, Christopher, <a href="#page15">15</a>, <a href="#page26">26</a>, <a href="#page29">29</a>, <a href="#page91">91</a>, <a href="#page151">151</a>, <a href="#page152">152</a>, <a href="#page310">310</a>, <a href="#page311">311</a>, <a href="#page317">317</a>, <a href="#page320">320</a>, <a href="#page321">321</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Glassport, Pa., <a href="#page13">13</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Glenwood, W. Va., <a href="#page134">134</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Gnadenhütten, <a href="#page91">91</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Golconda Island, <a href="#page276">276</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Goose Island, <a href="#page220">220</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Gordon, Harry, <a href="#page115">115</a>, <a href="#page320">320</a>, <a href="#page321">321</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Grand View, Ind., <a href="#page246">246</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Grant, Gen. Ulysses S., <a href="#page174">174</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Grape Island, <a href="#page80">80</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Grape-Vine Town. <i>See</i> <a href="#Captina">Captina, O.</a></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Grave Yard Run, <a href="#page72">72</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Great Meadows, <a href="#page312">312</a>, <a href="#page314">314</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Green River Island, <a href="#page255">255</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Green River Towhead, <a href="#page255">255</a>, <a href="#page256">256</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Greenup Court House, Ky., <a href="#page147">147</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Greenville. O., treaty of, <a href="#page181">181</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Gunpowder Creek, <a href="#page192">192</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Guyandotte, W. Va., <a href="#page136">136</a>.</p> + </div> +<p> </p> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Hale, John P., <a href="#page153">153</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Half King, <a href="#page34">34</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Half-Moon Bar, <a href="#page274">274</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Hall, James, <a href="#page117">117</a>, <a href="#page128">128</a>, <a href="#page164">164</a>, <a href="#page325">325</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Hamilton, T., <a href="#page325">325</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Harmar, Gen. Josiah, <a href="#page180">180</a>, <a href="#page181">181</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Harmonists, <a href="#page264">264</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Harris, Thaddeus Mason, <a href="#page162">162</a>, <a href="#page322">322</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Harris's Landing, <a href="#page173">173</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Hartford, W. Va., <a href="#page119">119</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Haskellville, O., <a href="#page136">136</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Hawesville, Ky., <a href="#page242">242</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Henderson, Ky., <a href="#page256">256-259</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Henderson, Richard, <a href="#page316">316</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Henderson Island, <a href="#page258">258</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Hennepin, Father Louis, <a href="#page299">299</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Henry, Patrick, <a href="#page159">159</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Herculaneum, Ind., <a href="#page260">260</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Higginsport, O., <a href="#page170">170</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Hockingport, O., <a href="#page102">102-104</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Homestead, Pa., <a href="#page17">17</a>, <a href="#page18">18</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Horse Head Bottom, <a href="#page148">148</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>House-boat life, <a href="#page50">50-57</a>, <a href="#page62">62</a>, <a href="#page134">134</a>, <a href="#page135">135</a>, <a href="#page203">203</a>, <a href="#page204">204</a>, <a href="#page207">207</a>, <a href="#page208">208</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Howard, John, <a href="#page305">305</a>, <a href="#page306">306</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Hungarians, in Ohio valley, <a href="#page44">44</a>, <a href="#page45">45</a>, <a href="#page69">69</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Huntington, W. Va., <a href="#page136">136-139</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Hurricane Island, <a href="#page274">274</a>, <a href="#page275">275</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Hutchins, Thomas, <a href="#page115">115</a>, <a href="#page321">321</a>.</p> + </div> +<p> </p> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Imlay, Gilbert, <a href="#page162">162</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Inglis, Mrs. Mary, <a href="#page152">152</a>, <a href="#page153">153</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Ironton, O., <a href="#page143">143-146</a>, <a href="#page157">157</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Iroquois Indians, <a href="#page264">264</a>, <a href="#page298">298</a>, <a href="#page299">299</a>, <a href="#page302">302</a>, <a href="#page307">307</a>, <a href="#page308">308</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Irving, Washington, <a href="#page273">273</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Italians, in Ohio valley, <a href="#page69">69</a>.</p> + </div> +<p> </p> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Jamestown, Va., <a href="#page296">296</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Jefferson, Thomas, <a href="#page97">97</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Joliet, Louis, <a href="#page264">264</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Jones, Rev. David, <a href="#page70">70</a>, <a href="#page71">71</a>, <a href="#page94">94</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Joppa, Ill., <a href="#page290">290</a>, <a href="#page291">291</a>.</p> + </div> +<p> </p> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Kansas City, <a href="#page318">318</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Kaskaskia, Ill., <a href="#page268">268</a>, <a href="#page285">285</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>King Philip, <a href="#page221">221</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Kingston, O., <a href="#page40">40</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Kneistly's Cluster Islands, <a href="#page36">36-39</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>La Fayette, Marquis de, <a href="#page92">92</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Lake Chautauqua, <a href="#page299">299</a>, <a href="#page304">304</a>, <a href="#page309">309</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Lake Erie, <a href="#page299">299</a>, <a href="#page304">304</a>, <a href="#page309">309</a>, <a href="#page313">313</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Lancaster, Pa., <a href="#page307">307</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Lane, Ralph, <a href="#page296">296</a>, <a href="#page297">297</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>La Salle, Chevalier de, <a href="#page218">218</a>, <a href="#page263">263</a>, <a href="#page264">264</a>, <a href="#page298">298</a>, <a href="#page299">299</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Latrobe, Charles Joseph, <a href="#page326">326</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>La Vérendrye Brothers, <a href="#page306">306</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Lawrenceburg, Ind., <a href="#page186">186</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Leadville, Colo., <a href="#page318">318</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Leavenworth, Ind., <a href="#page224">224</a>, <a href="#page225">225</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Lederer, John, <a href="#page297">297</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Letart's Falls, <a href="#page113">113</a>, <a href="#page114">114</a>, <a href="#page117">117</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Letart's Island, <a href="#page112">112</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Levanna, O., <a href="#page170">170</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Lewis, Gen. Andrew, <a href="#page128">128</a>, <a href="#page129">129</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Lewisport, Ind., <a href="#page246">246</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Lexington, Ky., <a href="#page159">159</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Limestone Creek, <a href="#page158">158</a>, <a href="#page159">159</a>, <a href="#page162">162</a>, <a href="#page167">167</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Little Beaver Creek, <a href="#page34">34</a>.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page332" id="page332"></a>[pg 332]</span> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Little Hurricane Island, <a href="#page252">252</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Little Meadows, <a href="#page128">128</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Lloyd. James T., <a href="#page328">328</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Logan, Mingo chief, <a href="#page36">36</a>, <a href="#page37">37</a>, <a href="#page102">102</a>, <a href="#page103">103</a>, <a href="#page127">127</a>, <a href="#page128">128</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Logstown, Pa., <a href="#page26">26</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Long Bottom, O., <a href="#page109">109-111</a>, <a href="#page117">117</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Long Reach, <a href="#page79">79</a>, <a href="#page80">80</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Losantiville. <i>See</i> <a href="#Cincinnati">Cincinnati</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Lostock, Pa., <a href="#page13">13</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Louisa, Ky., <a href="#page141">141</a>, <a href="#page142">142</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Louisville, Ky.,<a name="Louisville" id="Louisville"></a> <a href="#page114">114</a>, <a href="#page169">169</a>, <a href="#page170">170</a>, <a href="#page180">180</a>, <a href="#page209">209</a>, <a href="#page214">214-223</a>, <a href="#page226">226</a>, <a href="#page256">256</a>, <a href="#page284">284</a>, <a href="#page298">298</a>, <a href="#page299">299</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Lower Blue River Island, <a href="#page226">226</a>.</p> + </div> +<p> </p> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Mackay, Alex., <a href="#page327">327</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>McKee's Rocks, <a href="#page23">23</a>, <a href="#page178">178</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>McKeesport, Pa., <a href="#page13">13-16</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Madison, Ind., <a href="#page209">209-214</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Madison County, Va., <a href="#page297">297</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Malott, Catherine, <a href="#page71">71</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Manchester, O., <a href="#page157">157</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Marietta, O., <a href="#page83">83-85</a>, <a href="#page87">87</a>, <a href="#page90">90-93</a>, <a href="#page130">130</a>, <a href="#page131">131</a>, <a href="#page157">157</a>, <a href="#page159">159</a>, <a href="#page162">162</a>, <a href="#page315">315</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Mason and Dixon line, <a href="#page77">77</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Mason City, W. Va., <a href="#page119">119</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Massac Creek, <a href="#page285">285</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>May, John, <a href="#page321">321</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>May, Col. William, <a href="#page304">304</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Maysville, Ky., <a href="#page157">157</a>, <a href="#page159">159</a>, <a href="#page167">167</a>, <a href="#page169">169</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Melish, John, <a href="#page323">323</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Mercer, George, <a href="#page126">126</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Metropolis, Ill., <a href="#page288">288</a>, <a href="#page289">289</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Miami Indians, <a href="#page303">303</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Michaux, F. A., <a href="#page322">322</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Middleport, O., <a href="#page118">118</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Millersport, O., <a href="#page136">136</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Milwood, W. Va., <a href="#page112">112</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Minersville, O., <a href="#page118">118</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Mingo Bottom, <a href="#page127">127</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Mingo Indians, <a href="#page36">36</a>, <a href="#page37">37</a>, <a href="#page46">46</a>, <a href="#page127">127</a>, <a href="#page148">148</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Mingo Junction, O., <a href="#page44">44-50</a>, <a href="#page57">57</a>, <a href="#page58">58</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Monongahela City, Pa., <a href="#page8">8</a>, <a href="#page12">12</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Montreal, <a href="#page313">313</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Moravian missionaries, <a href="#page91">91</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Morgantown, Pa., <a href="#page3">3</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Mound builders, <a href="#page3">3</a>, <a href="#page4">4</a>, <a href="#page64">64-66</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p><a name="mound" id="mound"></a>Mound City, Ill., <a href="#page290">290-292</a>, <a href="#page294">294</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Mound City Towhead, <a href="#page292">292-295</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Moundsville, W. Va., <a href="#page64">64-66</a>, <a href="#page115">115</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Mt. Vernon, Ind., <a href="#page262">262</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Murray, Charles Augustus, <a href="#page327">327</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Murray, Henry A., <a href="#page327">327</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Murraysville, W. Va., <a href="#page111">111</a>.</p> + </div> +<p> </p> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Natchez, Miss., <a href="#page181">181</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Nemacolin's Path, <a href="#page160">160</a>, <a href="#page310">310</a>, <a href="#page312">312</a>. <i>See</i> <a href="#Braddock">Braddock's Road</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Neville, O., <a href="#page170">170</a>, <a href="#page173">173</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Neville's Island, <a href="#page25">25</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>New Albany, Ind., <a href="#page220">220-223</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>New Amsterdam, Ind., <a href="#page224">224</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>New Barataria, <a href="#page316">316</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Newburgh, Ind., <a href="#page254">254</a>, <a href="#page255">255</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>New Cumberland, W. Va., <a href="#page37">37</a>, <a href="#page40">40</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>New Harmony, Ind., <a href="#page264">264</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>New Haven, W. Va., <a href="#page119">119</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>New Martinsville, W. Va., <a href="#page74">74-77</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>New Matamoras, W. Va., <a href="#page82">82</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>New Orleans, <a href="#page12">12</a>, <a href="#page96">96</a>, <a href="#page97">97</a>, <a href="#page170">170</a>, <a href="#page205">205</a>, <a href="#page305">305</a>, <a href="#page309">309</a>, <a href="#page313">313</a>, <a href="#page325">325</a>, <a href="#page328">328</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Newport, Christopher, <a href="#page296">296</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Newport, Ky., <a href="#page176">176</a>, <a href="#page178">178</a>, <a href="#page183">183</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Newport, O., <a href="#page82">82</a>, <a href="#page83">83</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>New Richmond, O., <a href="#page176">176</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Nichols, Thomas L., <a href="#page326">326</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Nicholson, interpreter, <a href="#page70">70</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Norfolk & Western Railway, <a href="#page144">144</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>North Bend, O., <a href="#page173">173</a>, <a href="#page180">180</a>, <a href="#page181">181</a>, <a href="#page184">184</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Northwest Territory, <a href="#page316">316</a>.</p> + </div> +<p> </p> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Ogden, George W., <a href="#page324">324</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Ohio Company, <a href="#page4">4</a>, <a href="#page90">90</a>, <a href="#page114">114</a>, <a href="#page125">125</a>, <a href="#page152">152</a>, <a href="#page310">310</a>, <a href="#page314">314</a>, <a href="#page315">315</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Old Wyandot Town, <a href="#page91">91</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Olmstead, Ill.,<a name="Olmstead" id="Olmstead"></a> + <a href="#page291">291</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Omaha, Nebr., <a href="#page318">318</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Owensboro, Ky., <a href="#page248">248-251</a>, <a href="#page271">271</a>.</p> + </div> +<p> </p> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Paducah, Ky., <a href="#page284">284</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Palmer, John, <a href="#page114">114</a>, <a href="#page115">115</a>, <a href="#page162">162</a>, <a href="#page164">164</a>, <a href="#page323">323</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Parkersburg, W. Va., <a href="#page94">94</a>, <a href="#page95">95</a>, <a href="#page99">99</a>, <a href="#page100">100</a>, <a href="#page102">102</a>, <a href="#page157">157</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Parkinson's Landing, Ill., <a href="#page276">276</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Parkman, Francis, <a href="#page308">308</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Patterson, Robert, <a href="#page179">179</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Pennant, Edward, <a href="#page297">297</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Petersburg, Ky., <a href="#page186">186</a>, <a href="#page187">187</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Philadelphia, <a href="#page12">12</a>, <a href="#page161">161</a>, <a href="#page318">318</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Pickaway Plains, <a href="#page102">102</a>, <a href="#page103">103</a>, <a href="#page129">129</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Picket, Heathcoat, <a href="#page205">205</a>, <a href="#page206">206</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Pine Creek, <a href="#page148">148</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Pipe Creek, <a href="#page67">67</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p><a name="Pittsburg" id="Pittsburg"></a>Pittsburg, <a href="#page3">3</a>, <a href="#page5">5</a>, <a href="#page6">6</a>, <a href="#page8">8</a>, <a href="#page17">17-22</a>, <a href="#page24">24</a>, <a href="#page25">25</a>, <a href="#page27">27</a>, <a href="#page40">40</a>, <a href="#page59">59</a>, <a href="#page88">88</a>, <a href="#page129">129</a>, <a href="#page159">159</a>, <a href="#page166">166</a>, <a href="#page271">271</a>, <a href="#page311">311-313</a>, <a href="#page316">316-318</a>, <a href="#page320">320</a>, <a href="#page321">321</a>, <a href="#page323">323</a>, <a href="#page324">324</a>, <a href="#page326">326</a>, <a href="#page328">328</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Plum Creek, <a href="#page205">205</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Point Pleasant, W. Va., <a href="#page125">125</a>, <a href="#page127">127-130</a>, <a href="#page157">157</a>, <a href="#page170">170</a>, <a href="#page173">173</a>, <a href="#page174">174</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Point Sandy, Ind., <a href="#page227">227-231</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Pomeroy, O., <a href="#page111">111</a>, <a href="#page118">118</a>, <a href="#page119">119</a>, <a href="#page157">157</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Pomeroy Bend, <a href="#page111">111</a>, <a href="#page119">119</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Pontiac, Indian chief, <a href="#page221">221</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Pope, John, <a href="#page5">5</a>.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page333" id="page333"></a>[pg 333]</span> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Portland, Ky., <a href="#page219">219-221</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Portsmouth, O., <a href="#page151">151-153</a>, <a href="#page157">157</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Power, Thomas, <a href="#page287">287</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Powhattan Point, W. Va., <a href="#page70">70</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Pownall, T., <a href="#page286">286</a>, <a href="#page320">320</a>, <a href="#page321">321</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Presque Isle, <a href="#page311">311</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Proctor's Run, <a href="#page77">77</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Proctorville, O., <a href="#page137">137</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Putnam, Israel, Jr., <a href="#page100">100</a>, <a href="#page101">101</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Putnam, Israel, Sr., <a href="#page100">100</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Putnam, Gen. Rufus, <a href="#page91">91</a>, <a href="#page102">102</a>.</p> + </div> +<p> </p> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Quebec, <a href="#page299">299</a>, <a href="#page313">313</a>.</p> + </div> +<p> </p> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Rabbit Hash, Ky., <a href="#page189">189-191</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Racine, O., <a href="#page117">117</a>, <a href="#page118">118</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Rafinesque, Constantine S., <a href="#page257">257</a>, <a href="#page258">258</a></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Rapp, George, <a href="#page26">26</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Redstone Creek, <a href="#page3">3-5</a>, <a href="#page72">72</a>, <a href="#page310">310</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Redstone Old Fort. <i>See</i> <a href="#Brownsville">Brownsville, Pa.</a></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Richardson's Landing, Ky., <a href="#page224">224</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Richmond, Va., <a href="#page296">296</a>, <a href="#page318">318</a>, <a href="#page324">324</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Ripley, O., <a href="#page170">170</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Rising Sun, Ind., <a href="#page189">189</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>River Alleghany, <a href="#page20">20</a>, <a href="#page299">299</a>, <a href="#page304">304</a>, <a href="#page305">305</a>, <a href="#page309">309</a>, <a href="#page311">311</a>, <a href="#page318">318</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Beaver, <a href="#page27">27-30</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Big Hockhocking, <a href="#page102">102-104</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Big Miami, <a href="#page179">179</a>, <a href="#page180">180</a>, <a href="#page185">185</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Big Sandy, <a href="#page119">119</a>, <a href="#page137">137</a>, <a href="#page141">141</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Cherokee, <a href="#page321">321</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Coal, <a href="#page305">305</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Cumberland, <a href="#page97">97</a>, <a href="#page282">282</a>, <a href="#page284">284</a>, <a href="#page316">316</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Delaware, <a href="#page298">298</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Gauley, <a href="#page298">298</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Great Kanawha, <a href="#page70">70</a>, <a href="#page115">115</a>, <a href="#page125">125-130</a>, <a href="#page153">153</a>, <a href="#page161">161</a>, <a href="#page297">297</a>, <a href="#page309">309</a>, <a href="#page316">316</a>, <a href="#page321">321</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Great Miami, <a href="#page304">304</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Green, <a href="#page255">255</a>, <a href="#page259">259</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Illinois, <a href="#page321">321</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Indian Kentucky, <a href="#page206">206</a>, <a href="#page207">207</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">James, <a href="#page126">126</a>, <a href="#page127">127</a>, <a href="#page161">161</a>, <a href="#page296">296</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Kentucky, <a href="#page206">206</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Licking, <a href="#page179">179</a>, <a href="#page183">183</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Little Kanawha, <a href="#page94">94</a>, <a href="#page95">95</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Little Miami, <a href="#page152">152</a>, <a href="#page177">177</a>, <a href="#page179">179</a>, <a href="#page180">180</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Little Sandy, <a href="#page147">147</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Little Scioto, <a href="#page148">148</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Maumee, <a href="#page264">264</a>, <a href="#page299">299</a>, <a href="#page309">309</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Miami, <a href="#page309">309</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Mississippi, <a href="#page284">284</a>, <a href="#page294">294</a>, <a href="#page303">303</a>, <a href="#page306">306</a>, <a href="#page307">307</a>, <a href="#page313">313</a>, <a href="#page321">321</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Mohawk, <a href="#page298">298</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Monongahela, <a href="#page1">1-20</a>, <a href="#page39">39</a>, <a href="#page162">162</a>, <a href="#page166">166</a>, <a href="#page310">310</a>, <a href="#page311">311</a>, <a href="#page318">318</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Muskingum, <a href="#page90">90</a>, <a href="#page91">91</a>, <a href="#page127">127</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">New,<a name="New" id="New"></a> <a href="#page297">297</a>, <a href="#page298">298</a>, <a href="#page309">309</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Ottawa, <a href="#page307">307</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Potomac, <a href="#page304">304</a>, <a href="#page310">310</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Roanoke, <a href="#page296">296</a>, <a href="#page297">297</a>, <a href="#page304">304</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">St. Joseph's, <a href="#page303">303</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">St. Lawrence, <a href="#page306">306</a>, <a href="#page309">309</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Saline, <a href="#page269">269</a>, <a href="#page272">272</a>, <a href="#page273">273</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Salt, <a href="#page223">223</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Shenandoah, <a href="#page304">304</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Scioto, <a href="#page102">102</a>, <a href="#page103">103</a>, <a href="#page151">151-153</a>, <a href="#page321">321</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Susquehanna, <a href="#page298">298</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Tennessee, <a href="#page283">283</a>, <a href="#page284">284</a>, <a href="#page288">288</a>, <a href="#page303">303</a>, <a href="#page316">316</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Wabash, <a href="#page127">127</a>, <a href="#page263">263</a>, <a href="#page264">264</a>, <a href="#page302">302</a>, <a href="#page321">321</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Wood, <a href="#page305">305</a>. <i>See</i> <a href="#New">New</a>.</p> +<p class="i2">Youghiogheny, <a href="#page13">13-16</a>, <a href="#page162">162</a>, <a href="#page318">318</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Robertson, James, <a href="#page327">327</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Rochester, Pa., <a href="#page27">27-30</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Rockport, Ind., <a href="#page246">246</a>, <a href="#page247">247</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Rocky Mountains, discovery of, <a href="#page306">306</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Rome, O., <a href="#page155">155-157</a>, <a href="#page260">260</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Rono, Ind., <a href="#page234">234</a>, <a href="#page235">235</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Roosevelt, Theodore, <a href="#page316">316</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Rosebud, O., <a href="#page133">133</a>, <a href="#page134">134</a>, <a href="#page156">156</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Rose Clare, Ill., <a href="#page276">276</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Round Bottom, <a href="#page66">66</a>, <a href="#page69">69</a>.</p> + </div> +<p> </p> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>St. Clair, Gen. Arthur, <a href="#page180">180</a>, <a href="#page181">181</a>, <a href="#page286">286</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>St. John, M., <a href="#page321">321</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>St. Louis, <a href="#page170">170</a>, <a href="#page284">284</a>, <a href="#page318">318</a>, <a href="#page326">326</a>, <a href="#page328">328</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>St. Mary's, W. Va., <a href="#page82">82</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Salem, O., <a href="#page91">91</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Saline Reserve (Illinois), <a href="#page268">268</a>, <a href="#page269">269</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Salling, John Peter, <a href="#page305">305</a>, <a href="#page306">306</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Sand Island, <a href="#page220">220-222</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Sandusky, O., <a href="#page46">46</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Sarikonk. <i>See</i> <a href="#Beaver">Beaver, Pa.</a></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Schönbrunn, <a href="#page91">91</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Scioto Company, <a href="#page130">130-132</a>, <a href="#page321">321</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Sciotoville, O., <a href="#page148">148-150</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Scotch-Irish, in Ohio valley, <a href="#page60">60</a>, <a href="#page61">61</a>, <a href="#page301">301</a>, <a href="#page310">310</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Scuffletown, Ky., <a href="#page254">254</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Seignelay, Marquis de, <a href="#page300">300</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Seneca Indians, <a href="#page34">34</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Seven Mile Creek, <a href="#page284">284</a>, <a href="#page285">285</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Shaler, Nathaniel S., <a href="#page153">153</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Shannoah Town, <a href="#page151">151</a>, <a href="#page152">152</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Shawanee Indians, <a href="#page26">26</a>, <a href="#page67">67</a>, <a href="#page128">128-130</a>, <a href="#page151">151-153</a>, <a href="#page307">307</a>.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page334" id="page334"></a>[pg 334]</span> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Shawneetown, Ill., <a href="#page267">267-269</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Sheffield, O., <a href="#page118">118</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Shingis Old Town. <i>See</i> <a href="#Beaver">Beaver, Pa.</a></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Shippingsport, Pa., <a href="#page31">31-34</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Shousetown, Pa., <a href="#page25">25</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Sinking Creek, <a href="#page238">238</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Sistersville, W. Va., <a href="#page78">78</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Slavonians, in Ohio valley, <a href="#page44">44</a>, <a href="#page45">45</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Slim Island, <a href="#page261">261</a>, <a href="#page264">264</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Sloan's Station, O., <a href="#page37">37</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Smith, John, <a href="#page296">296</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Smithland, Ky., <a href="#page282">282</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Smith's Ferry, Pa., <a href="#page34">34</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Sohkon. <i>See</i> <a href="#Beaver">Beaver, Pa.</a></p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>South Point, O., <a href="#page137">137</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Spaniards, Western conspiracy, of, <a href="#page286">286</a>, <a href="#page287">287</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Springville, Ky., <a href="#page151">151</a>, <a href="#page152">152</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Spotswood, Gov. Alexander, <a href="#page302">302</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Steamboats, first on Ohio, <a href="#page165">165</a>, <a href="#page166">166</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Stephens, Frank, <a href="#page71">71</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Stephensport, Ky., <a href="#page237">237-239</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Steubenville, O., <a href="#page5">5</a>, <a href="#page43">43</a>, <a href="#page44">44</a>, <a href="#page157">157</a>, <a href="#page181">181</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Stewart's Island, <a href="#page277">277-281</a>, <a href="#page283">283</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Stuart, James, <a href="#page325">325</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Swiss, in Ohio valley, <a href="#page204">204</a>, <a href="#page205">205</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Symmes, John Cleves, <a href="#page179">179-181</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Syracuse, O., <a href="#page118">118</a>.</p> + </div> +<p> </p> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Tecumseh, Indian chief, <a href="#page317">317</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Tell City, Ind., <a href="#page242">242</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Three Brothers Islands, <a href="#page87">87</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Three-Mile Island, <a href="#page252">252</a>, <a href="#page254">254</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Transylvania, <a href="#page316">316</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Treaty, of Lancaster, Pa., <a href="#page307">307</a>, <a href="#page308">308</a>;</p> +<p class="i2">of Paris, <a href="#page313">313</a>;</p> +<p class="i2">of Utrecht, <a href="#page307">307</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Trent, William, <a href="#page95">95</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Tudor, Henry, <a href="#page326">326</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Turner, Frederick J., <a href="#page316">316</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Turtle Creek, <a href="#page17">17</a>, <a href="#page312">312</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Trollope, Frances M., <a href="#page325">325</a>, <a href="#page327">327</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Troy, Ind., <a href="#page243">243</a>.</p> + </div> +<p> </p> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Uniontown, Ky., <a href="#page262">262</a>, <a href="#page263">263</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Upper Blue River Island, <a href="#page226">226</a>.</p> + </div> +<p> </p> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Vandalia, Province of, <a href="#page126">126</a>, <a href="#page316">316</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Vanceburgh, Ky., <a href="#page154">154</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Venango, <a href="#page29">29</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Vevay, Ind., <a href="#page204">204</a>, <a href="#page205">205</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Vigne, Godfrey T., <a href="#page325">325</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Vincennes, Ind., <a href="#page264">264</a>.</p> + </div> +<p> </p> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Wabash Island, <a href="#page264">264</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Walpole, Thomas, <a href="#page316">316</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Walton, Pa., <a href="#page13">13</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Warrior Branch, <a href="#page72">72</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Wars, French and Indian, <a href="#page15">15</a>, <a href="#page17">17</a>, <a href="#page29">29</a>, <a href="#page30">30</a>, <a href="#page90">90</a>, <a href="#page91">91</a>, <a href="#page152">152</a>, <a href="#page153">153</a>, <a href="#page285">285</a>, <a href="#page286">286</a>, <a href="#page308">308</a>, <a href="#page314">314</a>, <a href="#page315">315</a>;</p> +<p class="i2">Pontiac's, <a href="#page221">221</a>;</p> +<p class="i2">Lord Dunmore's, <a href="#page36">36</a>, <a href="#page37">37</a>, <a href="#page61">61</a>, <a href="#page67">67</a>, <a href="#page72">72</a>, <a href="#page73">73</a>, <a href="#page102">102</a>, <a href="#page103">103</a>, <a href="#page125">125-129</a>, <a href="#page218">218</a>, <a href="#page221">221</a>;</p> +<p class="i2">Revolution, <a href="#page61">61</a>, <a href="#page63">63</a>, <a href="#page91">91</a>, <a href="#page92">92</a>, <a href="#page100">100</a>, <a href="#page126">126</a>, <a href="#page128">128</a>, <a href="#page130">130</a>, <a href="#page151">151-161</a>, <a href="#page181">181</a>, <a href="#page182">182</a>, <a href="#page264">264</a>, <a href="#page315">315</a>, <a href="#page317">317</a>;</p> +<p class="i2">of 1812-15, <a href="#page287">287</a>, <a href="#page291">291</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Warsaw, Ky., <a href="#page200">200</a>, <a href="#page204">204</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Washington, George, <a href="#page4">4</a>, <a href="#page15">15</a>, <a href="#page23">23</a>, <a href="#page26">26</a>, <a href="#page29">29</a>, <a href="#page34">34</a>, <a href="#page46">46</a>, <a href="#page67">67</a>, <a href="#page69">69</a>, <a href="#page70">70</a>, <a href="#page72">72</a>, <a href="#page92">92</a>, +<a href="#page126">126-128</a>, <a href="#page141">141</a>, <a href="#page142">142</a>, <a href="#page161">161</a>, <a href="#page310">310-312</a>, <a href="#page315">315</a>, <a href="#page320">320</a>, <a href="#page321">321</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Wayne, Anthony, <a href="#page26">26</a>, <a href="#page181">181</a>, <a href="#page286">286</a>, <a href="#page317">317</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Weiser, Conrad, <a href="#page26">26</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Welby, Adlard, <a href="#page324">324</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Wellsville, O., <a href="#page35">35</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>West Point, Ky., <a href="#page223">223</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Wheeling, W. Va., <a href="#page5">5</a>, <a href="#page41">41</a>, <a href="#page59">59-62</a>, <a href="#page155">155</a>, <a href="#page157">157</a>, <a href="#page167">167</a>, <a href="#page187">187</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Wheeling Creek, <a href="#page59">59-61</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Wheeling Island, <a href="#page60">60</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Wilderness Road, <a name="wilderness" id="wilderness"></a><a href="#page160">160-162</a>, <a href="#page317">317</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Wilkinson, Gen. James, <a href="#page287">287</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Wilkinsonville, Ill., <a href="#page291">291</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Williamson's Island, <a href="#page78">78</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Wills Creek, <a href="#page310">310</a>, <a href="#page312">312</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Wilson, Pa., <a href="#page13">13</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Witten's Bottom, <a href="#page78">78</a>, <a href="#page79">79</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Wood, Abraham, <a href="#page297">297</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Wyandot Indians, <a href="#page46">46</a>, <a href="#page91">91</a>.</p> + </div> +<p> </p> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Yellowbank Island, <a href="#page248">248-250</a>.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Yellow Creek, <a href="#page35">35</a>, <a href="#page36">36</a>.</p> + </div> +<p> </p> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Zane Brothers, <a href="#page60">60</a>, <a href="#page61">61</a>.</p> + </div> +<p> </p> +</div> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page335" id="page335"></a>[pg 335]</span> + +<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> +<p><span class="smcap">THIS BOOK HAS BEEN PRINTED</span></p> +<p><span class="smcap">DURING OCTOBER, 1897, BY THE</span></p> +<p><span class="smcap">BLAKELY PRINTING COMPANY.</span></p> +<p><span class="smcap">CHICAGO, FOR WAY & WILLIAMS.</span></p> + </div> </div> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="pg" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AFLOAT ON THE OHIO***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 29306-h.txt or 29306-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/9/3/0/29306">http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/3/0/29306</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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