diff options
Diffstat (limited to '41103.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 41103.txt | 4260 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 4260 deletions
diff --git a/41103.txt b/41103.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 1369f0f..0000000 --- a/41103.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4260 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Historic Highways of America (Vol. 9), by -Archer Butler Hulbert - -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 www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: Historic Highways of America (Vol. 9) - Waterways of Westward Expansion - The Ohio River and its Tributaries - -Author: Archer Butler Hulbert - -Release Date: October 18, 2012 [EBook #41103] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORIC HIGHWAYS OF AMERICA *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Bergquist and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) - - - - - - - - - -HISTORIC HIGHWAYS OF AMERICA - -VOLUME 9 - - - - - HISTORIC HIGHWAYS OF AMERICA - VOLUME 9 - - Waterways of Westward Expansion - - THE OHIO RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES - - BY - ARCHER BUTLER HULBERT - - _With Maps_ - - [Illustration] - - THE ARTHUR H. CLARK COMPANY - CLEVELAND, OHIO - 1903 - - - - - COPYRIGHT, 1903 - BY - THE ARTHUR H. CLARK COMPANY - - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED - - - - -CONTENTS - - - PAGE - PREFACE 9 - I. OUR FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE OHIO 15 - II. THE INDIAN SIDE 48 - III. "THE NAVIGATOR" 73 - IV. THE EVOLUTION OF RIVER CRAFT 100 - V. THREE GENERATIONS OF RIVERMEN 151 - VI. THE NAVIGATION OF THE OHIO 189 - - - - -ILLUSTRATIONS - - - I. BONNECAMPS'S MAP OF THE OHIO RIVER; 1749 24 - II. CAPTAIN GORDON'S MAP OF THE OHIO; 1766 _facing_ 48 - III. RUFUS PUTNAM'S MAP OF THE OHIO RIVER AND SETTLEMENTS; 1804 71 - - - - -PREFACE - - -In the study of Waterways of Westward Expansion, the Ohio River--the -"Gateway of the West"--occupies such a commanding position that it must -be considered most important and most typical. Such is its situation in -our geography and history that it is entitled to a most prominent place -among Historic Highways of America which greatly influenced the early -westward extension of the borders and the people of the United States. -Not until a late period in the expansion era--the day of steam -navigation--did the Great Lakes rise to importance as highways of -immigration, and south of the Ohio River Basin there was no westward -waterway of importance. The day of the keel-boat and barge was of moment -in the broadening of the American sphere of influence on this continent, -and nowhere is the study of these ancient craft made to so good -advantage as on the Ohio and its tributaries. - -This monograph is devoted, therefore, to the part played by this -waterway as a road into the West. The two introductory chapters, -concerning Celoron and the first occupation of the Old Northwest, added -to previous volumes of this series (iii, iv, v, and vi), complete the -legendary and historical setting necessary for a proper view of the Ohio -in the first momentous years of the nineteenth century. The occupation -and filling of the southern shores of the Ohio was the story of Volume -VI; the story of the filling of the northern shore is outlined in the -second chapter of this book. With the position of the first colonies and -settlements in the great valley well comprehended, and a conception of -the origin of the different colonies and their varied types, the next -logical step in our study is the rise of the river trade and its -evolution. - -It is hardly necessary to point out to any reader of these volumes that -the Ohio River was the highway upon which all of the great early -continental routes focused. Washington's Road, Braddock's Road, -Forbes's Road, and Boone's Road--like the Indian and buffalo trails -they followed--had their goal on the shores of this strategic waterway. -The westward movement was by river valleys (a fact perhaps never -sufficiently emphasized) and not until the Tennessee, Monongahela, -Kanawha, and Kentucky Rivers were reached were any waters found to run -parallel with the social movement itself. - -When this goal of half a century was reached, then followed a half -century of river travel that is being forgotten with remarkable -rapidity. This cannot be realized until one marks out for himself the -task, for instance, of learning how a keel-boat was made and how it was -operated. The echo of the steersman's voice and the tuneful note of the -bargeman's horn have faded from our valleys; and with this music has -passed away a chapter of our history of vital importance and -transcendant human interest. - -For the sum and substance of Chapter III, the author is indebted, as -the title indicates, to the painstaking labor of one Zadoc Cramer, a -statistical hero of a time when a man who could "earn his salt" was -making a good day's wage, and when it seemed likely that Pittsburg might -become one of the principal cities of the West. - - A. B. H. - -MARIETTA, OHIO, July 23, 1903. - - - - -Waterways of Westward Expansion - - - - -CHAPTER I - -OUR FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE OHIO - - -The Ohio River is a greater and more important stream than is generally -realized. It drains a vast and rich territory; its northern source is in -latitude 42 deg. 20['], while its mouth, thirteen hundred miles away, is in -latitude 37 deg. north. Its eastern tributaries are in longitude 78 deg., while -its outlet is in longitude 89 deg. 20[']. It thus comprises 5 deg. 2['] of -latitude and 11 deg. 20['] of longitude. The Ohio drains a greater area than -the Mississippi above the mouth of the Missouri; nearly one quarter of -the waters which flow into the Gulf of Mexico come from it. The lower -Mississippi and Missouri, only, drain more territory than the Ohio; but -the downfall of rain in the Missouri drainage is not so great in actual -water supply as that which falls within the 214,000 square miles drained -by the Ohio. Moreover, in the district drained by the two heads of the -Ohio, the Allegheny and the Monongahela (20,000 square miles), it has -been estimated that the ratio of discharge to downfall is much greater -than on any of the tributaries of the Mississippi. In 1868, -1,342,605,725,800 cubic feet of water passed Pittsburg, and in 1869, -1,634,846,499,200 cubic feet. At the same time the annual downfall of -rain in the entire Ohio drainage was twenty and one-half trillion cubic -feet, while the discharge of the Ohio into the Mississippi at Cairo was -five trillion cubic feet. The ratio of discharge to downfall therefore -was 0.24. - -These estimates, which undoubtedly approximate the truth, are of moment -to our study. Nature cast, with a lavish hand, her waters where they -would count tremendously in the opening of this continent: for the -waters that fell here flowed into the West and the social movement was -to be westward. The Ohio, more than any river, was to influence the -flood-tides of immigration. The provision of water was, comparatively, -abundant; that was the first necessity. A large proportion of the water -that fell flowed away; that was the second necessity. It flowed -approximately west; that was the third necessity. Thus it is that this -river, of all rivers, has a place among the Historic Highways of America -which were controlling forces in the early days of our national -expansion westward. - -There are various theories concerning the name Ohio, the most popular -and generally acceptable being that Ohio was the English way of spelling -and pronouncing the name Oyo, "beautiful" which the Indians had given to -the river. The French, who usually translated Indian names, called the -Ohio River La Belle Riviere. Later came the English, and the Iroquois -name Oyo was Anglicized to Ohio, the modern name of the river. This -makes a very satisfactory explanation of La Belle Riviere, were it not -that the Reverend John Heckewelder affirmed that the French name Belle -Riviere was not a translation from the Indian, since there was no such -Indian word meaning "beautiful." Mr. Heckewelder felt dissatisfied with -the theory that Ohio meant "beautiful," and while yet associated with -the Indians and familiar with their language, made a study of their -names for the Ohio River with interesting and enlightening results. In -tracing the derivation of the word Ohio he shows that, in the Miamis -language, O'hui or Ohi, when prefixed, meant "very," while Ohiopeek -meant "very white" (caused by froth or white caps) and Ohiopeekhanne -meant "the white foaming river." He further states: "The Ohio river -being in many places wide and deep and so gentle that for many miles, in -some places, no current is perceivable, the least wind blowing up the -river covers the surface with what the people of that country call -'white caps;' and I have myself witnessed that for days together, this -has been the case, caused by southwesterly winds (which by the by are -the prevailing winds in that country) so that we, navigating the canoes, -durst not venture to proceed, as these white caps would have filled, and -sunk our canoe in an instant. Now, in all such cases, when the river -could not be navigated with canoes, nor even crossed with this kind of -craft--when the whole surface of the water presented white foaming -swells, the Indians would, as the case was at the time, say, 'juh -Ohiopiechen, Ohiopeek Ohiopeekhanne;' and when they supposed the water -very deep they would say, 'kitschi Ohiopeekhanne,' which means, 'verily -this is a deep white river.'"[1] - -The traders who penetrated the Indian country were commonly careless of -the pronunciation of names; any word which bore a fragment of similarity -to the true name was satisfactory. There is, however, great excuse for -this, as it was impossible for white men to acquire the "Indian ear" and -pronounce the gutturals of the Indian language. Thus the abridgement of -many words was carried to such an extent that nothing significant of the -original Indian name remains. The newcomer learned of his predecessor -and the "nick-names" were adopted and handed down leaving the true names -to pass out of memory and existence. For instance Pittsburg was commonly -called "Pitt" by the traders; Youghiogheny, "Yough;" Hockhocking, -"Hocken." Our word Lehigh has no signification but was shortened from -the original Indian name Leehauhanne. In this same manner, the traders -adopted the first syllables of the word Ohiopeekhanne, thus obtaining an -easier name to pronounce and remember. - -The Reverend Mr. Heckewelder is probably the best authority on Indian -names and customs, so that, presumably, his version of the derivation -and meaning of the name Ohio is the most authentic; but, the question -remains, why should the French have called it La Belle Riviere? One -cannot pass, however, without noting that in the Onondaga language there -was a word ojoneri--the j being pronounced like our y. The Reverend -David Zeisberger, who compiled a copious dictionary of the Onondaga -language, asserted that ojoneri meant "beautiful" but in an adverbial -sense, describing the manner in which something is done--synonymous with -our word well. If the French translated an Indian name La Belle Riviere, -it was the first syllables of this word, ojoneri, that they -translated--about as correctly as Washington translated Illinois when he -first heard it "Black Island" (Ile Noire) or Lieutenant-governor -Hamilton of Detroit translated Riviere d'Anguille (Eel River, as the -Indians called it) as if it were Riviere d'Anglais. - -It is believed that the famous La Salle was the discoverer of the Ohio; -three years of his life are unaccounted for at a moment when, as Fate -would have it, we would like most to know where the brave explorer went. -Suddenly we lose sight of La Salle near Niagara--searching earnestly for -a great western river. Where he went we do not know but there is -evidence that he came to what the French later knew as La Belle Riviere -and descended it to "the Falls," or Louisville, Kentucky, about 1670. - -The earliest actual description of the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers is -contained in the narratives of two men who came to the Ohio about the -middle of the eighteenth century. Here we find the earliest authentic -experience of travelers on this great water highway. This first glimpse -of the Allegheny and Ohio is alluring in its suggestiveness; there is so -much to be noted, between the lines. No story of the Ohio can be written -without presenting the faintly filled-in pictures of Celoron and -Bonnecamps: of the rugged hills, the rapid waters, the humorous -scattering of the Loups and Renards; the solemn proclamations "in a loud -voice" of sovereignty; the flotilla of canoes sweeping around the hill -and out of sight. But almost all of this is left to the imagination; -lacking this, the story is but a meaningless record of landings and -departures, harangues and horrors. To every reader the story must appear -differently, but to all it must be a first glimpse of the primeval Ohio. - -[Illustration: BONNECAMPS'S MAP OF THE OHIO RIVER (1749)] - -On the afternoon of the fifteenth day of June in the year 1749 a gallant -company of French, with savage allies, under the direction of Monsieur -Celoron de Bienville, embarked on the St. Lawrence in twenty-three -canoes at La Chine near Montreal. Progress was slow for, in addition to -the passengers, provisions, and camp necessities, the weight of a number -of leaden plates caused the canoes to glide deeply in the clear waters. -It is to the journals of Celoron and Father Bonnecamps, both of which -are preserved in the archives of the Department of the Marine, in Paris, -that we owe our knowledge of this first recorded voyage down La Belle -Riviere, and with this expedition of 1749 begins the authentic -history of the Ohio River.[2] - -Celoron and his detachment, with M. de Contrecoeur as captain, -proceeded up the St. Lawrence and into the lakes. After coasting the -southern shore of Lake Erie, he arrived at the Chautauqua portage--now -known as Barcelona or Portland--on the sixteenth of July; and with the -dawn of the following day began the ascent of Chautauqua Creek, called -by the French Riviere aux Pommes. Much patience and labor was expended -on this unnavigable stream, and it was not until the twenty-second of -the following month that the band entered Chautauqua Lake, having spent -six days of this time in toiling over the six-mile portage which -connects Chautauqua Creek with the lake. Celoron now voyaged down the -lake and on the morning of the twenty-fourth of July entered Conewango -Creek. The water was low and, borrowing the words of Celoron: "On the -29th at noon I entered 'la Belle Riviere' I buried a plate of lead at -the foot of a red oak on the south bank of the river Oyo and of the -Chauougon, not far from the village of Kanaouagon, in latitude 42 deg. 5['] -23['']."[3] Of this same occasion Father Bonnecamps wrote: "Finally, -overcome with weariness, and almost despairing of seeing the Beautiful -River, we entered it on the 29th at noon. Monsieur de Celoron buried a -plate of lead on the south bank of the Ohio; and, farther down, he -attached the royal coat of arms to a tree. After these operations, we -encamped opposite a little Iroquois village, of 12 or 13 cabins; it is -called Kananouangon.[4] - -It is an ancient custom of the French people to assert claim to lands in -their possession by burying leaden plates at the mouths of all streams -that drain that territory. When Celoron started upon his memorable -journey he carried with him six leaden plates. These plates were about -eleven inches long, seven and a half inches wide, and one-eighth of an -inch thick. Each was engraved with an appropriate inscription, leaving a -blank space for date and name of place of deposit at the mouths of the -various streams.[5] A _Proces Verbal_, similar in nature to the -inscription on the plate, was drawn up and signed by the officers -present. To the nearest tree was tacked a plate of sheet-iron stamped -with the royal arms. The officers and men of the expedition were drawn -up in battle array and the chief in command shouted "Vive le Roi," -declaring possession in the name of the King of France. La Salle -established this custom on this continent in the latter part of the -seventeenth century and now this chevalier of the order of St. Louis -penetrates the half-known Central West to make good the precedent -established fifty years and more ago. - -Although the treaty of Aix la Chapelle ended a tedious war in Europe, -many points of controversy remained unsettled in the New World. At the -conclusion of the war, England lost no time in taking measures to occupy -the disputed territory. The Ohio Company was formed and the crown -granted half a million acres to this association on the condition that -settlements protected by forts be made upon the granted lands. These -demonstrations on the part of their rivals had aroused the French to -action. The Marquis de la Galissoniere, Governor of Canada, dispatched -Celoron and his company with orders to descend La Belle Riviere and take -possession of all the territory drained by it and its tributaries, in -the name of the King of France. In order to reach the field of action he -has come a forty-four days' journey filled with bitter lessons. Today -his first leaden plate has been buried, and tonight his weary "soldiers" -have, for the first time, pitched their camp on the bank of the river in -question. The first act of the real mission he has come to perform took -place this afternoon with the interment of the plate--but that is only -one of six! They rest in disputed territory and already has Celoron sent -his right-hand man, M. de Joncaire, on to La Paille Coupee,[6] to -reassure the suspicious savages. - -On the thirtieth the expedition moved on to Paille Coupee. Here a -council was conducted by Joncaire whom the Indians addressed as "our -child Joncaire." He had previously been adopted by the Indians and -consequently had a great influence over them.[7] The "speech" of the -Marquis de la Galissoniere, brought and presented by Celoron to the -Iroquois, is especially interesting and to the point, as it plainly -shows the French attitude with reference to the English: - -"My children, since I have been at war with the English, I have learned -that that nation has deceived you; and not content with breaking your -heart, they have profited by my absence from this country to invade the -land which does not belong to them and which is mine. This is what -determined me to send to you Mr. Celoron, to inform you of my -intentions, which are, that I will not suffer the English on my land; -and I invite you, if you are my true children, to not receive them any -more in your villages. I forbid, then, by this belt, the commerce which -they have established lately in this part of the land, and announce to -you that I will no longer suffer it. If you attack them you will make -them retire and send them home; by that means you will be always -peaceable in your village. I will give you all the aid you should expect -from a good father. If you come to see me, next spring, you will have -reason to be satisfied with the reception which I will give you. I will -furnish you with traders in abundance, if you wish for them. I will even -place here officers, if that will please you, to govern you and give you -the good spirit, so that you will only work in good affairs. The English -are more in the wrong in coming to this land, as the Five Nations have -told them to fly from there to the mountains. Give serious attention, my -children, to the words which I send you; listen well, follow it, it is -the way to see always in your villages a haven beautiful and serene. I -expect from you a reply worthy of my true children. You see the marks to -be respected which I have attached along La Belle Riviere, which will -prove to the English that this land belongs to me and that they cannot -come here without exposing themselves to be chased away. I wish for this -time to treat them with kindness and warn them; if they are wise they -will profit by my advice."[8] - -The result of this council was not entirely satisfactory to the French. -It was too plainly evident that there existed a feeling in favor of the -English. Bonnecamps writes in his journal: "... and in the evening he -received their reply, that every one had been satisfied--if one could -believe it sincere; but we did not doubt that it was extorted with -fear."[9] Such fears, however, did not alter the determination of the -French. On July 31, Celoron writes: "I sojourned at this village, -[Paille Coupee] having been stopped by the abundance of rain, which -pleased us much. The water rose three feet during the night."[10] - -The expedition left Paille Coupee on the first of August and journeyed -all day "between two chains of mountains, which bordered the river on -the right and left." Father Bonnecamps notes that "the Ohio is very low -during the first twenty leagues; but a great storm, which we had -experienced on the eve of our departure, had swollen the waters, and we -pursued our journey without any hindrance."[11] Under date of August 1, -Father Bonnecamps, tourist-like, recounts a snake story, accompanying it -by the impressions of a newcomer into the Ohio Basin: - -"Monsieur Chabert on that day caught seven rattlesnakes, which were the -first that I had seen. This snake differs in no way from others, except -that its tail is terminated by seven or eight little scales, fitting one -into another, which makes a sort of clicking sound when the creature -moves or shakes itself. Some have yellowish spots scattered over a brown -ground, and others are entirely brown, or almost black. - -"There are, I am told, very large ones. None of those which I have seen -exceed four feet. The bite is fatal. It is said that washing the wound -which has been received, with saliva mixed with a little sea-salt, is a -sovereign remedy. We have not had, thank God, any occasion to put this -antidote to the test." - -After having marched nearly four leagues on this first day of August, -the party reached a village of Loups and Renards--clans of the Delaware -Nation.[12] Having been informed of the approach of this expedition, all -except one man had fled. Celoron explained to this solitary individual -that he did not mean to harm the Indians, and invited them "to go to the -village lower down, which was but four or five leagues distant, where he -would speak to them." Proceeding on down the river he passed another -Loup village of about the same size, six cabins. To these inhabitants he -also addressed himself and requested them also to go to the most -considerable village, where he promised to "speak to them on the part -of their Father Onontio." They arrived there a little after the -travelers. - -At this "considerable village" of Loups, after having progressed eight -or nine leagues in the hot August sun, the tired company rested during -the night. The second of August was spent at the village, and Celoron -spoke, conciliating the assembled savages. - -Under date of August 3, Father Bonnecamps writes: "We continued our -route, and we marched, as on the first day, buried in the somber and -dismal valley, which serves as the bed of the Ohio." During this day's -journey, two Indian villages were passed. The first village was -abandoned by its inhabitants in favor of the woods, at the approach of -the expedition. The second village, Venango,[13] consisted of but nine -or ten cabins. Celoron disembarked here and spoke to the inhabitants -"nearly as I had spoken to the Loups, and reembarked immediately. This -evening I buried a lead plate and the arms of the king by a tree, and -drew up the Proces Verbal."[14] This second plate was buried "near" or -"underneath" a large boulder upon which were numerous Indian -hieroglyphics. Following the course of the river, this rock was about -nine miles below the mouth of French Creek, then called Riviere aux -Boeufs by the French. According to Bonnecamps: "we buried a 2nd plate -of lead under a great rock, upon which were to be seen several figures -roughly graven,"[15] while Celoron himself informs us: "I ... have -buried on the south bank of the Ohio, four leagues below the River aux -Boeufs, opposite a bald mountain and near a large stone, on which are -seen several figures, rather roughly engraved, a lead plate and attached -in the same place to a tree the arms of the king."[16] This plate has -never been found. - -On the morning of the fourth, a conference was held, it being decided -that Joncaire with the chiefs should precede the party to Attique and -inform the inhabitants of the good intentions of the approaching band, -and to beg them not to flee from their village. Of this day Father -Bonnecamps writes: - -"The 4th. We continued our route, always surrounded by -mountains--sometimes so high that they did not permit us to see the sun -before 9 or 10 o'clock in the morning, or [after] 2 or 3 in the -afternoon. This double chain of mountains stretches along the Beautiful -River, at least as far as riviere a la Roche ('Rocky River'). Here and -there, they fall back from the shore, and display little plains of one -or two leagues in depth." Celoron seems to have had his mind too full of -serious matters to notice his surroundings or, at least, to have given -us the benefit of any observations; and Father Bonnecamps's eyes are the -first through which we can gaze upon the primeval Ohio. - -On the fourth the expedition made about fifteen leagues. Camp was broken -at an early hour on the fifth, and after having journeyed three or four -leagues the _voyageurs_ passed a river, the confluence of which with the -Allegheny, Celoron describes as "very beautiful;" a league further down -they passed another. "They are both south of la Belle Riviere. On the -heights there are villages of Loups and Iroquois of the Five Nations. I -encamped early to give time to Mr. de Joncaire to arrive at the village -Atticke."[17] - -After having journeyed about five leagues on the sixth they reached -Attique where they found Joncaire and his chiefs awaiting their arrival; -all the inhabitants of the village had fled to the woods. "I reembarked -and I passed the same day the ancient village of the Chaouanons -[Shawanese], which has been abandoned since the departure of Chartier -and his band, who were removed from this place by the orders of the -Marquis de Beauharnois, and conducted to the river Vermillon, in the -Wabash, in 1745."[18] At this place Celoron "encountered" six English -traders with fifty horses and about one hundred and fifty packs of -peltry with which they were returning to Philadelphia. Celoron warned -these Englishmen against intruding upon the territory of the French king -and gave them a letter to deliver to the governor of Pennsylvania at -Philadelphia.[19] - -On the seventh they passed a village of Loups where only three men -remained--"the rest of their people had gone to Chinique, not daring to -remain at home. I invited these three men to come with me to Chinique to -hear what I had to say to them." Celoron tells us that they reembarked -and proceeded on down to "Written Rock" which was inhabited by the -Iroquois and governed by an old woman[20] who is "entirely devoted to -the English." All the savages had fled in alarm from the village and -"there only remained ... six English traders, who came before me -trembling.... I made them the same summons as to the others, and I wrote -to their governor.... This place is one of the most beautiful that -until the present I have seen on the Belle Riviere."[21] - -This village was commonly known throughout the pioneer period as -Shannopin's Town; it was about four miles above the junction of the -Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers. There could be nothing more singular -than the omission of any references to the Monongahela River, but -neither Celoron nor Bonnecamps refer in any wise to it. As they did not -travel at night and as, from the Ohio River, the Allegheny does not now, -and did not then, appear to be so important a stream as the Monongahela, -there can be but one explanation for this astounding omission. As no -mention whatever is made of the Monongahela, and as no plate was buried -here, either Celoron's party did not see it, or, believing it took its -rise in Pennsylvania and was already settled by the English, they -tacitly omitted to claim it for their king. The first supposition is -absurd; the formation of the country is particularly significant and -would attract the attention of the most unobserving; the meeting of the -river tides, the difference in the color of the waters--everything would -attract the attention of the _voyageur_. The second supposition is -inexplicable; the only possible shred of evidence that the French ever -intended that the English should have even a chance to claim any land in -the Monongahela Valley is in the Sixth Article of the capitulation -signed by Washington at Fort Necessity in 1754.[22] - -The company spent the night of the seventh about three leagues below -"Written Rock," and as Chiningue was but two leagues below the camp they -easily reached this town, which was one of the "most considerable on the -Belle Riviere," the following day. Celoron informs us that this village -consisted of fifty cabins of Loups, Iroquois, and Shawanese, and Father -Bonnecamps records that they called it Chiningue from its close -proximity to a river of that name.[23] This place (a few miles below -the present Economy, Pennsylvania) has figured prominently in later -Indian history as Logstown. Croghan's _Journal_ under date of August, -1749, says that "Monsieur Celaroon with two hundred French soldiers" had -passed through Logstown just before his arrival. Inquiring of the -inhabitants the object of "Celaroon's" expedition, he was told that "it -was to drive the English away, and by burying iron plates, with -inscriptions on them at the mouth of each remarkable creek, to steal -away their country."[24] - -Upon reaching Chiningue Celoron compelled several English whom he found -established there to leave and sent by them a letter, similar to the one -previously spoken of, to Governor Hamilton. The Indians were very -suspicious of Celoron, and here his Iroquois and Abenaki allies deserted -him. They treated his speech with contempt and tore down the plates -which had been nailed upon the trees. - -Celoron left Chiningue on the eleventh and at noon of the thirteenth -interred a plate of lead "at the entrance of the river and on the south -bank of the Kenawah, which discharges itself to the east of the river -Ohio."[25] According to Bonnecamps's journal, the plate was interred at -the mouth of the Kanonouaora. This third plate was probably buried at -the mouth of Wheeling Creek in West Virginia, though the descriptions of -the place as given by both Celoron and Bonnecamps are so vague that it -is quite impossible to identify positively the site.[26] - -At seven o'clock on the morning of the fourteenth, the expedition was -again on its way down the river. They passed two rivers, the entrances -of which, Celoron tells us, were very beautiful. On the fifteenth the -route was continued, and a leaden plate was interred "at the foot of a -maple, which forms a tripod with a red oak and a cone pine, at the -entrance of the river Yenanguekouan, on the west shore of this river ... -and in the same place attached to a tree the arms of the King."[27] -Father Bonnecamps gives, as the name of this river, Jenanguekoua. This, -the fourth plate, was interred at the mouth of the Muskingum River in -Ohio, on the site of old Fort Harmar and within the present city of -Marietta. This plate, found in 1798 by some boys bathing in the -Muskingum, was presented to the Antiquarian Society of Massachusetts in -the library of which it is now preserved. - -On the sixteenth at nine o'clock, the party resumed its journey, making -nearly twelve leagues. On the seventeenth Celoron makes record of having -seen two "beautiful" rivers the names of which he says he does not know. -"I disembarked early to hunt, being altogether reduced to a diet of -bread."[28] - -The journey was resumed at an early hour the next day, but the party was -forced to camp at noon, as the rain prevented their continuing. On this -day, the eighteenth of August, the fifth leaden plate was "buried, at -the foot of a tree, on the southern shore of the Ohio and the eastern -shore of Chiniondaista."[29] Father Bonnecamps gives the name of this -river, the Great Kanawha, Chinodaichta. The spelling of the name on the -plate, which was found in 1846 and has been preserved by the Virginia -Historical Society, differs somewhat from that of the _Journal_, that on -the plate being Chinodahichetha. This place, where the fifth plate was -interred, was named Point Pleasant, West Virginia, by the early settlers -and still bears that name. - -At this point the expedition was delayed on account of rain, but all -reembarked on the twentieth, and during the day encountered a Loup, who, -upon being asked how many inhabitants there were at St. Yotoc,[30] -replied there were eighty or a hundred cabins. On the following day -Joncaire, two chiefs of the Sault de St. Louis, three Abenakis chiefs, -and M. de Niverville were sent ahead to St. Yotoc "to tranquilize the -nations and restore their spirits, in case any carrier of news had -troubled them." - -Celoron gave his envoys a start of several hours before resuming his -journey. By embarking early on the morning of the twenty-second, they -were enabled to reach St. Yotoc that day, and encamped opposite the -village. The next three days were spent in holding councils. The -Chaouanons (Shawanese) inhabitants of "St. Yotoc" were very suspicious -of the French and their intentions. Bonnecamps says: "Monsieur the -Commandant had great difficulty to reassure them." "The situation of the -village of the Chaouanons is quite pleasant--at least, it is not masked -by the mountains, like the other villages through which we had passed. -The Sinhioto river, which bounds it on the West, has given it its name. -It is composed of about sixty cabins. The Englishmen there numbered -five. They were ordered to withdraw, and promised to do so." - -The expedition embarked on the morning of the twenty-sixth of August and -reached Riviere la Blanche[31] that night at ten o'clock. Here they -waited two days for Le Baril, the chief, and his band of Miamis, to join -them and proceed to La Demoiselle to hear Celoron's speech. "Finally, on -the morning of the 31st, they appeared, followed by their women, their -children, and their dogs. All embarked, and about 4 o'clock in the -afternoon we entered Riviere a la Roche, after having buried the 6th and -last leaden plate on the western bank of that river,[32] and to the -north of the Ohio."[33] "I ... have buried on the point formed by the -right shore of the Ohio, and the left of the River la Roche, a plate of -lead, and attached to a tree the arms of the king."[34] - -With the burial of this sixth and last leaden plate, which, so far as -known, has never been discovered, Celoron's voyage on La Belle Riviere -ended, and on the morning of the first of September the canoes began the -ascent of the shallow Riviere a la Roche en route to Quebec by way of -Lake Erie. - -Through the eyes of these travelers the Governor of New France looked -upon the great valley of the Ohio and realized its extent and strategic -value. The many large rivers entering it, the Indian villages which -dotted its banks and, more than all else, the avidity of English traders -for the fur trade of these villages, were the items in the report of -these first _voyageurs_ which led quickly to the French fort-building -here and precipitated the old French War. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -THE INDIAN SIDE - - -The campaign of General John Forbes in 1758, which ended French rule on -the Ohio, gave the Ohio Valley to the English. From this time on, the -entire sweep of territory between the Atlantic Ocean and the present -Pittsburg may be termed English territory. While England now nominally -came into possession of all of this portion of New France, the lands on -either side of the Ohio River below Pittsburg were claimed by the Indian -nations inhabiting them, and the Crown attempted, in the Proclamation of -1763, to preserve these lands for the Indians by prohibiting the -migrations of the colonists. The Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1768, and the -expansion of Virginia into the vast tract south of the Ohio have been -recounted.[35] It is sufficient to recall here that this treaty gave to -Virginia the entire southern bank of the Ohio and all the territory -southward to the banks of the Tennessee. The treaty was made with the -Iroquois, the conquerors of half a continent, not with the Delawares and -Shawanese and Southern Nations, who camped and hunted there. These -dependents of the Iroquois contested the treaty stoutly and not until -1774 did the Shawanese even pretend to agree to its stipulations. This -agreement was secured by what is known as Dunmore's War and was the -direct result of General Andrew Lewis's bloody victory over the allied -Indians at the mouth of the Great Kanawha River, October 10, 1774. It is -not less than significant that this decisive battle which assured the -Old Southwest to the Americans, should have been fought practically over -the burial place of Celoron's fifth leaden plate which claimed the land -for France. By the time of the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, the -entire southern shore of the Ohio had been abandoned by Indians, though -for many years they continually invaded the pleasant country which was -fast filling with a scattered white population. - -[Illustration: CAPTAIN GORDON'S MAP OF THE OHIO RIVER (1766) -_From original in Library of Congress_] - -The story of the conquest and occupation of the northern side of the -Ohio River is as bitter and bloody a tale as that of the southern side. -The artificial division of the Middle West into states has resulted in -some very artificial historical distinctions; the Ohio River has perhaps -never been considered a mighty boundary line on the brink of which -civilization paused for many critical years. The northern bank of the -Ohio was, through many years, known as the "Indian Side;" and while -western Virginia and Kentucky were counting their tens of thousands, the -"Indian Side" was forbidden territory. The Ohio River was the western -boundary of the colonies and of the United States for seventeen years: -from 1768 until 1785. When, in 1783, the United States by the Treaty of -Paris came into possession of the territory between the Alleghenies and -the Mississippi, the "men who wore hats" had not purchased an acre of -land north and west of the Ohio River from its bareheaded inhabitants. - -In 1785 at the Treaty of Fort McIntosh the United States secured from -its actual possessors (the Iroquois claims having been satisfied at a -second treaty at Fort Stanwix, October 1784) the first grant of land -north of the Ohio. The western boundary line of the United States now -began on Lake Erie, ascended the Cuyahoga, descended the Tuscarawas to -the site of Fort Laurens, ran west to the portage between the Miami and -St. Mary Rivers; ascending the Maumee to Lake Erie it followed the lake -shore to the starting point. The lands south, east, and west of this -line were given to the United States so far as the Indians "formerly -claimed the same." This was the first of a long series of treaties each -of which gave the northwest side of the Ohio River to the United States. - -Thus in 1785 the Ohio Valley legally became a part of the territory of -the United States. - -By an ordinance immediately passed by Congress, this tract of land north -of the Ohio River was ordered to be surveyed, the lots to be sold by the -Government in order to create a fund to pay the war debt. A geographer -and surveyors were appointed to survey and plat seven ranges of -townships westward from the Pennsylvania boundary. These were to be -sold by townships by commissioners of the loan office of the several -states after proper advertisement. - -Thus, at the stroke of a pen, the Ohio River became a division line -between empires differing wholly from each other. The "Virginia Side" -was peopled by southerners according to the Virginia system, which -allowed a man to take and mark for himself unappropriated lands. Thus -the entire southern shore of the Ohio had been occupied by Virginians, -Pennsylvanians, and North Carolinians. By act of Congress the New -England system was extended to the land lying north of the Ohio; the -land was to be properly surveyed and sold. The Ohio River at once became -the western projection of Mason and Dixon's Line. In some such way as -Chevalier has suggested, the Ohio River became a division fence between -Roundhead and Cavalier. South of the river, lands were taken up by -southerners in the old Virginia way; north of the river the New England -system obtained, as though prophesying that the dominant race was to be -of New England stock. It was a momentous turning point in the history -of the Central West when Congress made the New England system operative -on the "Indian Side" of the Ohio, banishing at once and forever from -that great area the strife and suffering caused by the thousand -conflicts of overlapping "tomahawk claims" and incorrect and confusing -"surveys." - -But these acts of Congress were far more easily passed than enforced. In -the first place, even before the land north of the Ohio was purchased by -the United States, white settlers began crossing the Ohio and settling -on the "Indian Side." By the year 1780 the Indian Side of the river had -been quite wrested from the savages, at least from Pittsburg down to the -Scioto. Mclntosh had built Fort Laurens on the Tuscarawas and, with the -help of others, the Delawares had been driven from the Muskingum Valley. -Clark had captured Illinois and it was now a part of Virginia. Many -invasions from Kentucky had passed up the Scioto and the Miamis, In all -these campaigns the soldiery was largely made up of the border settlers -of western Pennsylvania and Virginia, and they somehow conceived the -notion that they were as much entitled as any one to the splendid lands -from which they had driven the Indians. Heretofore the states and the -Government had done everything in reason to encourage the western -movement and protect it. No one perhaps realized that the Ohio River was -to be considered, in any sense, a boundary line. Yet the United States -recognized the Indian right and took such means as were possible to -accomplish an utterly impossible thing. The lands on the northern side -of the Ohio River were to be preserved to the Indians until purchased -from them. It was even decreed that retaliatory raids of the whites -should not cross the Ohio. As early as 1779 "trespassers" of a law as -inherently impossible as the Proclamation of 1763, made settlements on -the Indian Side of the Ohio "from the river Muskingum to Fort Mclntosh, -and thirty miles up some of the branches of the Ohio river."[36] Colonel -Brodhead at Fort Pitt immediately despatched Captain Clark to drive off -the intruders. - -The commissioners at the Fort Mclntosh treaty (1785) were not blind to -such possibilities, and took occasion to forward the following -instructions to Colonel Harmar at Fort Pitt, January 24, 1785: -"Surveying or settling the lands not within the limits of any particular -State being forbid by the United States, in Congress assembled, the -commander will employ such force as he may judge necessary in driving -off persons attempting to settle on the lands of the United States."[37] -The task laid upon Colonel Harmar was a most unpopular and impossible -one. By this time the country south of the Ohio was teeming with a great -restless population. - -There were, by 1785, a hundred thousand people in what we know as West -Virginia and Kentucky. The first comers had fallen upon the very best -lands and appropriated them. There is no doubt that all the fertile -"bottoms" along the southern shore of the Ohio River had been "staked -out" and more or less "improved" by this time. Washington alone, through -his agents Crawford and Freeman, had secured not less than sixty -thousand acres on the Ohio and Little and Great Kanawha before this -time. Other far-sighted, enterprising men, like Patrick Henry, had -secured other tracts of land. It must be remembered, too, that this was -a day of no roads; lands lying away from the immediate river valleys -could be reached and improved only with the greatest difficulty. - -It is therefore no wonder that the southern shore of the Ohio was -crowded at this time with a swarm of pioneers whose uncouth faces and -unkempt appearance suggested plainly the labor they had endured to reach -and hold the river--their goal. They looked across to the fertile -bottoms on the Indian Side and the splendid stretches of land in the -valleys of the Muskingum, Hocking, Scioto, and Miami Rivers. They and -their children had conquered that land; under a score of fierce leaders -they had flung themselves upon the upper Muskingum and driven the -Delawares away to the Lakes, or upon the Scioto and sent the Shawanese -scurrying up the Sandusky or Maumee. Yet there on the trees on the other -side were nailed proclamations from the commanding officer at Fort Pitt -warning them against settling on those lands. - -Little wonder they defied the proclamation. In less than two months -after Colonel Harmar had received the instructions to drive off all -settlers from these lands of the United States, he sent a force under -Ensign Armstrong down the river from Pittsburg. His report was most -alarming;[38] he affirmed that there were three hundred families at the -falls of the Hocking and an equal number on the Muskingum; on the Miami -and Scioto Rivers the number of "intruders" was placed at fifteen -hundred. "From Wheeling to that place [Miami]," he wrote, "there is -scarcely one bottom on the river but has one or more families living -thereon." These settlers "were equal to self-government," writes William -Henry Smith, "and, if undisturbed, would soon have laid the foundations -of a State on the Ohio."[39] Indeed, a call was issued by these pioneers -March 12, 1785, for an election of members to a convention for the -framing of a constitution for the government of a new state; elections -were to be held at the mouths of the Miami, Scioto, and Muskingum Rivers -and one at the house of Jonas Menzons in the present Belmont County, -Ohio. The advertisement of these elections was signed by John Emerson -and its final paragraph denied the right of Colonel Harmar to dispossess -the settlers on the Indian Side, in the following terms: - -"I do certify that all mankind, agreeable to every constitution formed -in America, have an undoubted right to pass into every vacant country, -and there to form their constitution, and that from the confederation of -the whole United States, Congress is not empowered to forbid them, -neither is Congress empowered from that confederation to make any sale -of uninhabited lands to pay the public debts, which is to be by a tax -levied and lifted [collected] by authority of the Legislature of each -State."[40] - -On January 31, 1786, a treaty was concluded at the mouth of the Great -Miami with the Shawanese. The United States received from that dangerous -nation a title to the lower Ohio Valley. But the general government was -by this time at its wits' end to keep the acquired territory from the -restless inhabitants of its own impoverished colonies. Colonel Harmar -wrote the Secretary of War now that he had, by force of arms, driven off -all intruders for a distance of seventy miles below Pittsburg, but that -the number beyond "was immense" and that nothing could prevent the lands -being occupied in the old Virginia way "unless Congress enters into -immediate measures." Congress took the cue and resolved that if troops -stationed at Pittsburg could not enforce its commands, a new garrison -must be established on the lower Ohio. Accordingly Colonel Harmar was -ordered to take post on the north side of the Ohio between the Muskingum -and the Miami Rivers, where he could successfully keep the front ranks -of the immigration army from crossing the river, and where he could also -protect the surveyors of the seven ranges from any insults of the -Indians.[41] Under this order Fort Harmar was erected at the mouth of -the Muskingum River (Marietta, Ohio) in 1785. Fort Harmar and Fort -Finney, erected at the mouth of the Miami, nominally accomplished the -purposes for which they were erected; the immigration movement across -the Ohio was stopped until preparations had been made for it. They were -the first legal homes of Americans north of the Ohio River after the -Revolutionary War. - -In the meantime propositions for the government of this great region -north of the Ohio River were being debated in Congress; and finally it -was declared to be the "Territory Northwest of the River Ohio" by the -Ordinance of 1787. This famous act had been pending three years in -Congress, but was passed within twelve days of the arrival in New York -of Dr. Manasseh Cutler, hero-preacher and skilled diplomat; he came as -the authorized agent of an Ohio Company of Associates which had been -formed by Revolutionary veterans under the leadership of General Rufus -Putnam in Boston in 1786 with special reference to the western land -bounties promised by Congress in 1776 to faithful soldiers. The -Ordinance organized from the lands ceded to the government by the -several states the magnificent territory now occupied by the states of -Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. The act itself was -conceived in a petition signed by these Revolutionary soldiers composing -the Ohio Company of Associates, and forwarded by General Putnam to -General Washington, praying that the Government redeem its worthless -scrip by grants of western land. - -This a grateful government was willing to do. The difficulty was that it -would be hazardous to organize a territory, to be suckled and protected -at great expense, unless a considerable fraction of the area thus -organized should be populated and developed by worthy citizens. The Ohio -Company of Associates offered to take a million and a half acres. This -was not satisfactory to the delegates in Congress. It was a mere -clearing in all that vast stretch of territory between the Ohio, the -Mississippi, and the Great Lakes. It was, therefore, on a momentous -mission of reconciliation that Dr. Cutler hurried to New York. The -"Territory Northwest of the River Ohio" could not be erected unless the -Ohio Company took a considerable part of the lands. The Ohio Company, on -the other hand, could not take land without the assurance that it was to -be an integral part of the United States. The Ohio Company would make -the Ordinance possible; the Ordinance made the Ohio Company's purchase -possible. - -In order to realize the hopes of his clients, and, at the same time, -satisfy the demands of the delegates at Congress, Dr. Cutler added to -the grant of the Ohio Company an additional grant of three and a half -million acres, taken by a Scioto Company on behalf of Colonel Duer and -others. Thus by a stupendous speculation, unhappy in its results but -compromising in no way the Ohio Company or its agent, and by shrewdly, -though without dissimulation, announcing his determination to obtain -lands from the individual states if Congress would not now come to -terms, Dr. Cutler won a signal victory. The famed Ordinance was passed, -corrected almost to the letter of his amendments, and Congress entered -into the greatest private contract it had ever made. It was signed by -Dr. Cutler and Major Winthrop Sargent for the Ohio Company and Samuel -Osgood and Arthur Lee for the Treasury Department, October 27, 1787. - -Speaking in general terms, therefore, the Ohio Valley from the -Pennsylvania line to the mouth of the Muskingum was, in 1785-86, -surveyed into the "Seven Ranges;" southwest of this, down the valley, -came the Ohio Company grant of 1787. This embraced the lands from the -seventh through the seventeenth range. The earnestness of these New -Englanders is suggested by the immediate payment of half a million -dollars down, when the contract was signed with the United States, and -by the immediate arrival on the Ohio of the Ohio Company's vanguard of -settlers. These forty-eight "Pilgrims of Ohio," under the leadership of -the noble Putnam, reached the Youghiogheny by way of the Old Glade Road -through Pennsylvania in the midwinter of 1787-88. On the seventh of the -following April they landed at the mouth of the Muskingum. Here, across -the Muskingum from Fort Harmar, they built their pioneer castle, around -which grew up Marietta--named in honor of Marie Antoinette, whom its -founders, old Revolutionary veterans, had learned to love. In July, -General Arthur St. Clair, the newly-appointed governor of the Territory -Northwest of the River Ohio arrived, and with imposing ceremony, the -administration of the great Territory was inaugurated. Within two years -five colonies had been planted by the Ohio Company, four in the -Muskingum Valley and one on the Ohio, opposite the mouth of the Little -Kanawha River. The "Indian Side" of the "white foaming river" had now -received its first permanent quota of white settlers.[42] - -In the same year, 1787, John Cleves Symmes and associates, largely from -New Jersey, entered into correspondence with Congress for the purchase -of a million acres of land north of the Ohio, lying between the Little -and Great Miami Rivers. This "Symmes" or "Miami" purchase was achieved, -and the Marietta pioneers saw the Miami settlers passing down the Ohio -late in 1788 en route to their lands two hundred miles away. In point of -daring no pioneer movement in America, save only the founding of -Boonesborough, Kentucky, was more plucky than the founding of what is -now Cincinnati. In December, Losantiville (Cincinnati) was settled, -opposite the mouth of the Licking River. The Symmes company also settled -Columbia, at the mouth of the Little Miami, and North Bend (Indiana) a -little to the west. Each of the three settlements vied with the others -for supremacy. Judge Symmes located at North Bend, but Fort Washington -was erected at Losantiville and, the name being changed to Cincinnati, -that settlement became the metropolis of the Ohio River below Pittsburg; -the seat of government of the Northwest Territory was moved hither in -1790. - -Therefore in 1790, when the Indian War broke out, the northern bank of -the Ohio was settled, in a certain sense, between the mouths of the -Muskingum and Scioto and the mouths of the Little and the Great Miami. -But these light spots in all the darkness of the Black Forest, as the -West was familiarly called, were, after all, but one shade lighter than -the surrounding wilderness. The population of the Ohio Company -settlements was only a few score; Cincinnati, six years after its -founding, could only number, garrison and all, an equal number of -hundreds. The founders of Cincinnati, like those of Marietta, were of -the best of colonial and revolutionary stock; but, because of the -contaminations of the rough frontier, their settlements became what -Pittsburg was throughout its early history. General Richard Butler, had -he lived, might well have written Governor St. Clair at Cincinnati in -1800 the same words he penned General Irvine at Pittsburg in 1782--"am -happy to find you can manage the d--ls of that country and the b--tes -of the garrison." Of Pittsburg in 1782 General Irvine wrote his wife: -"There never was, nor I hope will there ever be, such a wretched, -villainous place as this." Of Marietta, equally disagreeable pictures -were drawn by contemporaneous writers. It was a question whether or not -the leaven of New England could leaven the whole lump. It did--with the -help of good Virginian blood. - -The next tract of land to be opened was that lying between the Ohio -Company's purchase and Judge Symmes's, a six thousand square mile tract -bounded on the east by the Scioto and on the west by the Little Miami. -This was the Virginia Military District. The Old Dominion had voted her -soldiers upon continental and state establishment bounties in western -lands. The land that was granted (practically the old Henderson purchase -between the Green and Tennessee Rivers) did not prove large enough. -Virginia, guarding against this very contingency, had reserved the tract -between the Scioto and Little Miami for bounty lands when she ceded her -county of Illinois to the Government in 1784. Therefore in 1790 -Congress passed a law "directing the Secretary of War to make return to -the Governor of Virginia of the names of the Virginia officers and men -entitled to bounty-lands, and the amount in acres due them." The same -act authorized the agents of the said troops to locate and survey for -their use, between the two rivers, apparently in the wretched Virginia -fashion, such a number of acres of land as, together with the number -already located on the waters of the Cumberland, would make the amount -to which they were entitled; these locations and surveys to be recorded, -together with the names of those for whom they were made, in the office -of the Secretary of State. The President was then directed to issue -letters patent for these lands to the persons entitled to them, for -their use or the use of their heirs, assigns, or legal representatives. -The Secretary of State should forward these deeds to the executive of -Virginia, to be delivered to the proper persons. It will be seen that -the national Government issued the deeds, but did not make the -surveys.[43] - -The Indian War which raged from 1790 to 1795 was fought almost wholly -north of the Ohio River basin with Fort Washington as the base of -supplies.[44] The conflict delayed the pioneer movement into the Ohio -Valley but, after the treaty of Greenville (1795), the movement was -renewed with a rush. The Virginia Military District now (1796) began -filling with Virginians, and under good and great men such as General -Nathaniel Massie and Duncan McArthur, subsequently governor of Ohio, -became a power in the old Northwest. - -We have intimated that the original Ohio Company purchase and the -Virginia Military District adjoined; upon the utter failure of the -Scioto Company, which had been a party with the Ohio Company in its -first contract, the additional lands taken by Colonel Duer came again -into the possession of the United States and were known as Congress -Lands. This tract embraced about four thousand square miles and -stretched over the twenty odd miles on the Ohio between the Ohio Company -lands and those of the Virginia Military District. - -Thus at the opening of the actual pioneer period, about 1800, we find -both shores of the Ohio dotted with settlements. In Virginia and -Kentucky there are Pittsburg, Charleston, Wheeling, Limestone -(Maysville), and Louisville; and on the old-time Indian Side are Beaver -(Fort Mclntosh), Wellsburg, Marietta (Fort Harmar), Gallipolis, -Manchester, Columbia, Cincinnati; and Madison and Clarksville, Indiana. -By 1800 there are forty-five thousand inhabitants in the entire -Northwest Territory, of which probably twenty-five thousand are in the -Ohio Valley. Kentucky contains a population of over two hundred -thousand; not such a large fraction are on the Ohio however, as is true -in the Northwest Territory. The question of conquest is past, though -still for a decade the British, who have sullenly withdrawn across the -Detroit River, will continue to incite the Indians until Harrison shall -annihilate Tecumseh's confederacy at Tippecanoe in 1811. But so far as -the Ohio Valley is concerned the question is one of occupation; and now -come the streams of immigration from all easterly points of the compass -to this great waterway. - -[Illustration: PUTNAM'S MAP OF THE OHIO RIVER AND SETTLEMENTS (1804)] - - - - -CHAPTER III - -"THE NAVIGATOR" - - -As the eighteenth century neared its close the great highways converging -upon Pittsburg and its neighboring towns on the Youghiogheny and -Monongahela became the routes of the great flood-tide of immigration -which in a day filled the Middle West with towns and cities. The -emigrant reached navigable waters at Pittsburg, if he came over Forbes's -Road or the Pittsburg Pike; if he followed Braddock's Road he found -himself on navigable waters at Brownsville, or, continuing the land -journey, he reached Wheeling on the Ohio. If he came over the Genesee -Road through New York he would reach the Allegheny waters at Warren or -Watertown, Pennsylvania. - -At any of these points he would, perhaps, provide himself with a -handbook of information concerning his prospective route. One of these, -_The Navigator_, was published in Pittsburg in the first year of the -nineteenth century by Zadok Cramer. Its title-page (fifth edition) -affirms the book to be "the trader's useful guide in navigating the -Monongahela, Allegheny, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers; containing an ample -account of these much admired waters, from the head of the former to the -mouth of the latter; a concise description of their towns, villages, -harbours, settlements, &c with particular directions how to navigate -them, in all stages of the water, pointing out their rocks, ripples, -channels, islands, bluffs, creeks, rivers &c and the distances from -place to place."[45] - -Perhaps the typical emigrant would not secure such a guide book but the -information for which he made eager inquiry at his port of embarkation -is contained here and is of great interest to the student of the times -because of the variety of matters treated. Of the Ohio and its two great -tributaries let us quote the following information: - - -"MONONGAHELA - -"This river rises at the foot of the Laurel Mountain, in Virginia, -thence meandering in a N. by E. direction, passes into Pennsylvania, and -receives Cheat river from the S.S.E. Thence winding to a N. by W. -direction, separates Fayette and Westmorland from Washington county, and -passing into Allegheny county receives the Youghiogheny river at -Pittsburgh, fifteen miles below the mouth of the former, and by land, -fifty-five below Cheat. The Monongahela is about 450 yards wide at its -mouth, measuring from the top of bank to bank, and in the fall and -spring freshes has water enough to carry ships of 400 tons burthen; -these, however, subside quickly and render the navigation for such -vessels very precarious. One great difficulty attending the navigation -of vessels of burden down this river arises from the almost -impossibility of keeping them in the proper channel, it being in many -places very narrow, and full of short turns around points of islands -which are numerous. This observation will also apply to the Ohio, -especially as low down as Wheelen [Wheeling], ninety miles below -Pittsburgh." - -The waters of the Monongahela River, in those days as in these, were -very muddy, and had it not been for the magnificent trees which -abundantly lined the firm banks, the stream could not have been termed -very beautiful. These trees were chiefly walnuts, black-oaks, hickories, -maples, and button-woods, and afforded a bountiful supply of logs for -the many sawmills which the pioneers had already erected along the river -at the mouths of the various tributaries. Mr. Cramer tells us that the -lumber obtained from these logs was floated down to Pittsburg, Wheeling, -or some more remote point, and sold for a price ranging from a dollar to -a dollar and a half per hundred feet. The country of the Monongahela -was, even at this early day (1806), well populated; the land along the -river was fertile and productive, and sold at any price from twelve to -thirty dollars an acre. The "bottoms" contained many valuable -sugar-maples and Cramer estimated that, if properly managed, each tree -would yield four pounds of maple-sugar per annum--about one dollar a -tree each season. - -"The mean velocity of the current of this river is about two miles an -hour, and is in a middling state of the water, uninterrupted with falls, -impeding the navigation, from Morgantown to its mouth, a distance of one -hundred miles; thence upwards the navigation is frequently interrupted -by rapids, but is navigable however for small crafts for fifty or sixty -miles further. The west branch in high water is navigable for fifteen -miles, and communicates with a southern branch of the Little Kenhawa, by -a portage of eight miles." - -According to _The Navigator_, such cereals as wheat, oats, barley, rye, -and buckwheat were already raised to "great perfection" in the valley of -the Monongahela. It was a soil especially adapted to raising exceptional -wheat crops and Mr. Cramer informs us that the flour made from -Monongahela Valley wheat sold for two dollars more per barrel in New -Orleans than Kentucky flour. Apples and peaches were staple fruit crops -of the Monongahela country and these fruits were not infrequently made -into brandy. Peach brandy was a luxury in the South and sold at a dollar -a gallon. - - -"ALLEGHENY - -"This is a beautiful, large and navigable river, taking its rise in -Lycoming county, P. within a few miles of the head waters of -Sinemahoning creek, a navigable stream that falls into the Susquehanna -river, to which there is a portage of 23 miles. Thence pursuing a N. -course passes into New-York state, winding to the N. W. about 20 miles, -turns gradually to the S. W. enters Pennsylvania, and meandering in -about that direction 180 miles, joins the Monongahela at Pittsburgh. - -"Few rivers and perhaps none excel the Allegheny for the transparency of -its waters.... - -"Its mean velocity is about two miles and a half an hour. In its course -it receives many large and tributary streams; among these are the -Kiskimenetas, Mohulbuckitum, Tobas, French creek, &c. French creek is -navigable to Waterford; thence to Lake Erie is but fifteen miles -portage. To render the communication more complete the legislature of -Pennsylvania have passed a law for the erection of a turnpike between -Waterford and Erie. Another communication to lake Erie is by way of -Chataughque creek and lake; here is a portage of only nine miles, and -affording ground for an excellent waggon road. We understand a -ware-house is already established at Chautaughque lake. The navigation -by this route is said to be the best of the two. At the mouth of a -creek, also called Chautaughque emptying into lake Erie, a town has been -recently laid off called Portland nine miles from Chataughque lake. This -town is about thirty miles below the town of Erie, and ten below the -line between Pennsylvania and New-York, John M'Mahon proprietor." - -The trade between the Allegheny River and the Lakes was at this time -well established and, it was predicted, would become of great -importance. Pittsburg was receiving from Onondaga salt works in New York -State two thousand barrels of salt annually. Immense quantities of -timber were also constantly being hurried toward their destinations by -the current of the Allegheny. Quite an extensive trade in salt fish from -Lake Erie was carried on in 1806, and Mr. Cramer expresses an earnest -hope that this trade would be encouraged to the extent of superseding -the importing of fish from beyond the mountains, for the fish brought -over the mountains then cost twelve cents while those from Lake Erie -could be offered for four cents and perhaps less per pound. - -"In return we could send up whiskey, bar-iron, castings, cider, bacon, -apples, glass, nails, &c. and this would be keeping trade among -ourselves, which is always preferable to the sending away specie for -articles of home consumption. It has been suggested that merchandize -could be bro't to Pittsburgh from New-York, by way of the lake and down -this river, for about three cents a pound, which is one half less than -is given from Philadelphia. By this route, there would be a portage of -fifteen miles from Albany on the Hudson to Schenectada on the Mohawk, 10 -miles around the falls of Niagara, and fifteen between Erie and -Waterford, making in all forty miles land carriage from New-York to -Pittsburgh. The Pennsylvanians, however, are struggling for a turnpike -road all the way over the mountains, which when compleated, will no -doubt tend to lessen the very heavy carriages that are now paid on -merchandize of all kinds." - -The current of the Allegheny River is much more rapid than that of the -Monongahela; and in the days of _The Navigator_, as now, the clear, -transparent waters of the Allegheny marked their course across the -yellow, muddy waters of the Monongahela. And even three miles below the -junction, the waters of the Allegheny were to be distinguished from the -Monongahela. "Here [at the junction of the two rivers] the Allegheny is -about 450 yards wide, and when an island lying to the right is -completely washed away, which is accomplishing rapidly, the river here -will be at least 800 yards wide. Will not the inquiring mind, on -examination, have cause to entertain an opinion with us, that the bed of -this river has greatly shifted its situation; and that it once washed -the hill now a considerable distance to the east; and that the ground on -which Pittsburgh now stands has been made by its withdrawing, through -time and accident, from that hill to its present channel? - - -"OHIO - -"This river commences at the junction of the two above mentioned rivers, -and here also commences its beauty. It has been described, as 'beyond -all competition, the most beautiful river in the universe, whether we -consider it for its meandering course through an immense region of -forests, for its clean and elegant banks, which afford innumerable -delightful situations for cities, villages and improved farms: or for -those many other advantages, which truly entitle it to the name -originally given it by the French, of La Belle Riviere.' This -description was penned several years since, and it has not generally -been thought an exaggerated one. Now, the immense forests recede, -cultivation smiles along its banks, towns every here and there decorate -its shores, and it is not extravagant to suppose that the day is not far -distant when its whole margin will form one continued village." - -Mr. Cramer further states that his reasons for such a supposition are -numerous. Among those which he gives are: the large tracts of fertile -lands that are connected with the Ohio River by means of the navigable -waters that empty into it; the high, dry and usually healthy river -bottoms of exceptional extent, fertility and beauty; and the -extraordinarily superior navigation of the Ohio, by means of whose -waters the abundant products of these extensive and fertile lands must -eventually be distributed. - -"At its commencement at Pittsburgh, it takes a N.W. course for about 30 -miles, then turns gradually to W.S.W. and pursuing that course for about -500 miles, winds to the S.W. for nearly 160 miles, then turns to the W. -for about 276 miles, then S.W. for 160 miles, and empties into the -Mississippi in a S.E. direction, about 1100 below Pittsburgh, and nearly -the same distance above New-Orleans, in lat. 36. 43 m. N. It is -amazingly crooked, so much so indeed, that in some places a person -taking observations of the sun or stars, will find that he sometimes -entirely changes his direction, and appears to be going back again; but -its general course is S. 60 d. W. Its general width is from 500 to 800 -yards, but at the rapids and near the mouth, it is considerably wider." - -We can easily agree with Mr. Cramer that the numerous islands, found in -the Ohio River, added greatly to its picturesque grandeur; yet, he -reminds us, they caused many shoals and sandbars and greatly embarrassed -navigation. Some of these islands contain several acres of rich and -fertile soil and, _The Navigator_ tells us, were covered with a -luxuriant growth of timber; when cleared and planted with fruit trees -the orchards thrived amazingly, bearing the choicest fruit and the crop -seldom failing. This was also the case when fruit trees were planted on -the river bottoms, the excellent crops, in both instances, being due to -the same cause: a sandy, fertile soil. - -"In times of high freshes, vessels of almost any tonnage may descend, -and it is never so low, but canoes and other light crafts can navigate -it. Many of the impediments that are now met with while the water is -low, might in a dry time be got rid of, and that at a very -inconsiderable expense: at least the expense would be by no means -inadequate to the advantages accruing from the undertaking, if properly -managed. - -"Rocks that now, during the dry season, obstruct or render dangerous the -navigation of the large flat bottomed, or what are called Kentucky -boats, might be blown, even a considerable depth under water; channels -might be made through the ripples, and the snags and the fallen timber -along the banks entirely removed. - -"These improvements together with many others that might be enumerated -will undoubtedly, sooner or later, be carried into effect, as they -appear to be a national concern of the first importance. - -"The Ohio has on its left in descending a part of Pennsylvania, -Virginia, Kentucky, and the S. W. territory; on the right, Pennsylvania, -Ohio and Indiana territory. It receives in its course many large, -navigable streams, the principal ones are, Big Beaver, Muskingum, Little -and Great Kenhawa, Sandy, Scioto, Little and Great Miami, Licking, -Kentucky, Salt, Green, Wabash, Cumberland and Tennessee; these will be -more particularly mentioned in their proper places." - -It is of interest to note what Mr. Cramer has to say of the fish of the -Ohio River. He tells us they were numerous and of various kinds: the -catfish, weighing from three to eighty pounds; the buffalo, from five to -thirty; the pike, from four to fifteen pounds; the sturgeon, from four -to ten; the perch, from one to twenty-five; the sucker, from one-half a -pound to six pounds; and occasionally a few herring were caught. A -fisherman, drawing in his seine in the spring of 1805, found among other -fish, it is said, a few shad of three or four pounds. These were caught -at Pittsburg. A great many felt disposed to dispute that these were salt -water shad considering the great distance from the sea, but all who -tasted of them positively identified them, in taste and shape, as the -shad which were caught in the Delaware River. Eels and soft-shell -turtles, though occasionally caught, were not plentiful in 1806. The -numerous and various kinds of wild ducks and the few geese which -frequented the river often furnished food for pioneers descending the -Ohio; for the purpose of shooting ducks and geese, turkeys, and -occasionally a deer or bear, the boats were always well supplied with -fire-arms. - -"We should be glad could some method be devised to ascertain annually -the state of the trade of our rivers--could not houses for this purpose -be established, say at Pittsburg and Louisville, to take an account of -all cargoes that descend the Ohio? A statement of this kind published -yearly would show the growing increase of our exportations, and no doubt -would be interesting to the trading part of the community, and perhaps -have a tendency to rouse the spirits of the more indolent and careless. - -"To the vast quantities of produce and articles of our own manufacture -that are sent down this river, consisting of flour, whiskey, peach -brandy, cider, beer, bar-iron, hollow-ware, earthern-ware, cabinet -works, boots, hoes, plow-irons, mill-irons, chairs, biscuit, bread, -cheese, bacon, beef, pork, lumber, linen, &c. &c. we must not forget to -mention a part of the articles which are brought up in return, viz. -large quantities of cotton, furs, peltries, lead and hemp. As the -articles of cotton and lead can be brought up in this way much cheaper -than by bringing them over the mountains, and as they are in great and -constant demand in this country, we hope that those concerned will use -all due exertion in pushing this part of our trade, which in time we may -presume will become a very considerable object to those engaged in it." - -The "Instructions" in _The Navigator_ to emigrants afford a very clear -idea of the nature and needs of river travel in the first half-decade of -the eighteenth century: The first thing to be attended to by emigrants -was to secure a boat, and be on the alert to take advantage of the first -flood. Mr. Cramer speaks with emphatic indignation concerning the -dishonesty often manifested by the builders of the river boats. He -asserts that a great per cent of the accidents which happened on the -Ohio and Mississippi Rivers were due either to unpardonable carelessness -or stinginess of the builder, who either slighted his work or used unfit -timber. He earnestly recommends the appointment of boat-inspectors to be -stationed wherever boats were built, thereby avoiding many serious -accidents caused by unsafe boats. Mr. Cramer attempts to impress upon -all who were purchasing Kentucky boats that those intended for -navigating the Mississippi must necessarily be constructed differently -and of much stronger timber; he suggests and urges that the owner have -them narrowly examined, before embarkation, by one who understands the -form and strength of a boat suitable for navigating the Mississippi -River. - -"Flat and Keel boats may be procured at New-Geneva, Brownsville, -Williamsport, Elizabethtown, M'Keesport, on the Monongahela, and perhaps -several places on the Youghiougheny; at Pittsburgh, Beaver, Charlestown, -and Wheelen, Marietta, Limestone, Cincinnati, the Falls, &c. and at most -of the above places vessels of considerable burden are built and -freighted to the Islands, and to different ports in Europe, their -principal cargoes consisting of flour, staves, cordage, cotton, hemp, -&c." - -The spring and autumn were the two seasons when the Ohio could be most -advantageously navigated. The spring season began at the breaking up of -the ice, about the middle of February, and lasted for three months. The -fall season generally began in October and lasted until the advent of -winter, or about the first of December. At this time the forming ice -prevented navigation. These spring and fall freshets, however, could not -be called periodical, as they entirely depended upon the rainfall and -the earliness or tardiness of the beginning and ending of winter. Nor -were these seasons of high water entirely confined to the spring and -autumn. It commonly occurred that in the summer season a heavy rainfall -in the Appalachian ridges, where the creeks and rivers that flow into -the Monongahela take their rise, would cause a considerable freshet in -the Ohio; or a swelling of the current of the Allegheny and other rivers -often happened in the summer months and occasioned a sufficient amount -of water, if taken immediate advantage of, to render the navigation of -the Ohio perfectly possible. These out-of-season freshets, however, -subsided rapidly and if the owner of a boat wished to take advantage of -one and go down the river, he had to embark immediately. - -"When provided with a good boat and strong cable of at least 40 feet -long there is little danger in descending the river in high freshes, -when proper care is taken, unless at such times as when there is much -floating ice in it. Much exertion with the oars is, at such times, -generally speaking of no manner of use; indeed it is rather detrimental -than otherwise, as such exertion frequently throws you out of the -current which you ought to continue in, as it will carry you along with -more rapidity, and at the same time always takes you right. By trusting -to the current there is no danger to be feared in passing the islands as -it will carry you past them in safety. On the other hand, if you row, -and by so doing happen to be in the middle of the river on approaching -an island, there is great danger of being thrown on the upper point of -it before you are aware, or have time to regain the current. In case you -get aground in such a situation, become entangled among the aquatic -timber, which is generally abundant, or are driven by the force of the -water among the tops or trunks of other trees, you may consider yourself -in imminent danger; nothing but the presence of mind and great exertion -can extricate you from this dilemma. - -"As frequent landing is attended with considerable loss of time and some -hazard, you should contrive to land as seldom as possible, you need not -even lie by at night, provided you trust to the current, and keep a good -look out; if you have a moon, so much the better. When you bring to, the -strength of your cable is a great safe-guard. A quantity of fuel and -other necessaries, should be laid in at once, and every boat ought to -have a canoe along side, to send on shore when necessary. - -"Though the labour of navigating this river in times of fresh is very -inconsiderable to what it is during low water, when continual rowing is -necessary, it is always best to keep a good look out, and be strong -handed.--The wind will sometimes drive you too near the points of the -islands, or on projecting parts of the main shore, when considerable -extra exertion is necessary to surmount the difficulty. You will -frequently meet with head winds, as the river is so very crooked that -what is in your favour one hour, will probably be directly against you -the next, and when contrary winds contend with a strong current, it is -attended with considerable inconvenience, and requires careful and -circumspect management, or you may be driven on shore in spite of all -your efforts. One favourable circumstance is, that the wind commonly -abates about sunset, particularly in summer. - -"Boats have frequently passed from Pittsburgh to the mouth of Ohio in 15 -days, but in general 10 days from Pittsburgh to the falls is reckoned a -quick passage. - -"Descending the river when much incommoded with floating ice, should be -as much as possible avoided, particularly early in the winter, as there -is a great probability of its stopping your boat; however, if the water -is high, and there is an appearance of open weather, you may venture -with some propriety, if the cakes are not so heavy as to impede your -progress, or injure your timbers; the boat will in such case, make more -way than the ice, a great deal of which will sink and get thinner as it -progresses, but on the other hand, if the water is low, it is by no -means safe to embark on it when anything considerable of ice is in it. - -"If at any time you are obliged to bring to on account of the ice, great -circumspection should be used in the choice of a place to lie in; there -are many places where the shore projecting to a point, throws off the -cakes of ice towards the middle of the river, and forms a kind of -harbour below. By bringing to in such a situation, and fixing your canoe -above the boat, with one end strongly to the shore, and the other out in -the stream sloping down the river, so as to drive out such masses of ice -as would otherwise accumulate on the upper side of your boat, and tend -to sink her and drive her from her moorings, you may lie with a -tolerable degree of safety.--This is a much better method than that of -felling a tree on the shore above, so as to fall partly into the river, -for if in felling it, it does not adhere in some measure to the trunk, -or rest sufficiently on the bank, the weight of accumulated ice will be -apt to send it adrift, and bring it down, ice and all, on the boat, when -no safety can be expected for it. The reflection here naturally occurs, -how easy it would be, and how little it would cost, in different places -on the river where boats are accustomed to land, to project a sort of -pier into the river, which inclining down stream, would at all times -insure a place of safety below it. The advantages accruing from such -projection to the places where they might be made would be very -considerable, bring them into repute as landing places, occasion many -boats and passengers to stop there, who otherwise would not, and soon -repay the trifling expense incurred by the erection. - -"The above observations are more particularly applicable to the Ohio; -the following apply to the Mississippi, and point out the greatest -impediments and the most imminent dangers attending the navigation of -this heavy-watered and powerful river: - -"These are, 1st. The instability of the banks. - -2. Planters, sawyers, and wooden islands.[46] - -"We shall endeavor to instruct the unexperienced navigator how to avoid -them. The instability of the banks proceeds from their being composed of -a loose sandy soil, and the impetuosity of the current against their -prominent parts, which, by undermining them unceasingly, causes them to -tumble into the river, taking with them everything that may be above. -And if when the event happens boats should be moored there, they must -necessarily be buried in the common ruin, which unfortunately has been -sometimes the case. For which reason, navigators have made it an -invariable rule never to land at or near a point, but always in the -sinuosity or cove below it, which is generally lined with small willows -of the weeping kind, whence some call them although improperly, willow -points, and which being generally clear of logs and planters, the -landing is easily effected, by running directly into them, the -resistance of the willows destroying a part of the boat's velosity, and -the rest is overcome without much exertion by holding fast to the limbs -which surround you.--In those places the river generally deposits the -surplus of soil, with which it is charged from the continual cavings of -the points, and so forms new land on one side by destroying some on the -other. - -"The banks of this river from where it receives the Missouri to its -mouth, being with a few exceptions below high water mark, an immense -country is inundated, when the river is in its highest state, by which -those extensive swamps are formed and supplied, which prove the -nurseries of myriades of musquitoes and other insects (to the no small -inconvenience of the traveller) and the never failing source of grievous -diseases to the inhabitants. There are also streams, which at all times -sally forth from the main river with astonishing rapidity, and whose -vortex extends some distance into the stream. Boats once sucked into -such bayous are next to lost, it being almost impossible to force so -unwieldy a machine as a flat bottomed boat against so powerful a -current. It will therefore be safest for boats, never to keep too close -to shore, but to keep some distance out in the river. To avoid planters -and sawyers requires nothing more but attention, for they always -occasion a small breaker whereever they are, and if your boat seems to -be hurried towards them row the boat from them, else if you are dilatory -you must abide by the consequence. - -"WOODEN-ISLANDS are more dangerous than real ones the former being an -obstacle lately thrown in the way of the current, and the bed of the -river not having had sufficient time to form that bar or gradual ascent -from the bottom of the river to the island, which divides the current at -some distance from the point of the island above water, the current will -hurry you against them, unless you use timely exertion. From all this it -must be evident how imprudent it is attempting to go after night, even -when assisted by a clear moon; but after you are once arrived at -Natchez, you may safely proceed day and night, the river from that place -to its mouth being clear, and opposing nothing to your progress but a -few eddies into which you may occasionally be drawn and detained for a -short time." - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -THE EVOLUTION OF RIVER CRAFT - - -The evolution of craft on the Ohio River portrays in a remarkable manner -the economic development of the Central West. Being the one practicable -artery in the empire between the Appalachian uplift and the Mississippi, -and the Blue Ridge and the Great Lakes, this river was, from the -beginning of the eighteenth century onward, the main route of -immigration and commerce, and the story of those years is contained in -the story of these craft which carried the freight and fortune of the -millions who came and built homes and labored here. - -The greater the detail with which this study is examined the more -interesting and enlightening it becomes. Of the score and more of -distinctive craft which regularly plied this waterway not one but is -significant of some change in the social order of things, indicative of -some open or secret development which, unnoticed at the time perhaps, -marked a new forward movement in our social evolution. Such an -indication may be thought slight but it was a straw which marked the -direction of the sweeping current of advance, and the swiftness of it. -Compared with the evolution of methods of travel by land, the evolution -on our rivers was rapid and spectacular. The "freighter" or "Conestoga" -of 1790 was practically the same as that of 1840: a half century had -witnessed little change in wagons and stages, save minor improvements. -But compare the craft of 1790 on the Ohio with that of 1840. The canoe, -pirogue, keel-boat, "bark," barge, brig, schooner, galley-boat, batteau, -and dug-out were forgotten--a consequence of the early application of -steam-power to boats rather than to vehicles. When, in 1811, "The -Orleans" went steaming down the Ohio from Pittsburg, and when, six years -later, the "Washington" convinced a desparing public that steamboat -navigation would succeed on "western waters" the new era in western -history dawned. - -In the earliest days the primitive light canoe, the unwieldy pirogue, -and the heavy batteau were the common means of navigation on the Ohio. -The canoe was made from the bark of trees; quickly made and quickly worn -out, if the water was low, by continually coming in contact with the -bottom. The pirogue was likewise quickly made; the canoe was paddled, -the pirogue pushed by oars or setting-poles. The canoe easily glided up -stream; the pirogue ran easily with the current but could not ascend the -stream without the expenditure of much labor. Often the words canoe and -pirogue were used interchangeably of the same craft; in George Rogers -Clark's famous march to Vincennes in 1779, the army, upon arriving at -the Little Wabash, February 13, built a boat which in Bowman's _Journal_ -is called a "canoe," and in Clark's _Memoir_, a "pirogue." The batteau, -better known in the West as the barge, was a square box of any length, -width, and depth. It was distinctively a downstream craft, and in the -early days rarely ascended with a load any river of current. The canoe -and pirogue, compared with the barge, were craft of little burden -though those of generous size would carry the loads of a score of men. -The barge or batteau was the freight craft and could be loaded with any -burden the stage of water permitted. - -These three craft reigned supreme on the Ohio and its tributaries -probably until the close of the Revolutionary War, or about 1785. The -canoe never abdicated and never can so long as man loves the water; at -numerous points along the Ohio today many a tourist may be seen enjoying -the exquisite delight of "paddling his own canoe." The batteau or barge -has its direct descendant in the wooden and magnificent steel barges in -which thousands of tons of coal and ore are transported yearly up and -down the Ohio. The pirogue has been forgotten. But in the era of -exploration and conquest these boats had a story which disproves the -adage that history repeats itself. The history of that last half of the -eighteenth century cannot be repeated here or elsewhere. There is no -other valley in the world that is to be found, explored, conquered, -reconquered and settled like the Ohio Basin. What a line of daring -_voyageurs_ that was from La Salle to Celoron and Washington, who -feasted their eyes upon the virgin beauty of La Belle Riviere, from -their heavily-loaded, long canoes; in these craft came the explorers of -Ohio and Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois; they ploughed the waters of the -Muskingum far back in the distant day when those waters were, as the -name implies, clear as an elk's eye; they forged slowly up the Licking -and Scioto, the Beaver and the Kanawhas. In the early days the canoe was -the customary bearer of two significant kinds of freight: wampum and -Indian goods and presents, and packs of peltry. The history of the canoe -cannot be repeated, for the Indians are vanished who loved the bright -presents brought to them from the East; and the fur bearing animals -which once supplied the eastern markets are gone. We speak of the value -of our cargoes on the Ohio today; it is great, truly; but what would be -the value today of the furs brought in one season down the Wabash, -Licking, Miami, Scioto, Kanawha, Muskingum, and Beaver and up the Ohio -to Pittsburg, in those days when canoes bore their precious tons of -freight? Compared to the number of persons engaged in it, the old trade -(in today's markets) would be considered a hundred per cent more -remunerative. - -The burdens those long canoes could bear should not be underestimated. -When Washington made his journey down the Ohio in 1770 he "embarked in a -large canoe," October 20, at Pittsburg, "with sufficient store of -provisions and necessaries, and the following persons, besides Dr. Craik -and myself, to wit: Capt. Crawford, Joseph Nicholson, Robert Bell, -William Harrison, Charles Morgan and Daniel Rendon, a boy of Capt. -Crawford's...." - -In the era of conquest the canoe played an important part in -transporting small bodies of men swiftly and, which was frequently not -less important, silently, to their destinations. But now it was that the -heavy barge acquired importance as a factor in the making of the West. -It was the quarter-master's and commissariat's sole reliance, and in -these great clumsy hulks which floated with the current, sometimes with -the aid of sails, were transported the armament and stores which made -possible the forts that at once came into existence in the valley--Forts -Mclntosh, Henry, Harmar, Finney, Washington, and others. These boats -were huge boxes, covered and uncovered, square at each end, and -flat-bottomed. A batteau, in distinction from a barge, was widest in the -middle and tapered to a point at each end, of about fifteen -hundred-weight burden and could be managed by two men with oars and -setting-poles.[47] - -The batteau form was more or less adopted by later barges; but the -ordinary early barge was much the shape of the present-day coal barge. -The "canal boat" form, or batteau, was a later development. - -American expansion westward, as elsewhere suggested, was favored more by -the Ohio River than by any and all others: it ran the right way. -Throughout the earlier decades of the pioneer era the greater portion of -traffic was down stream. Even in the later days of steamboating the -downstream traffic was ever heaviest. In 1835 the total tonnage received -and entered at the port of Pittsburg was 63,221 tons; of this, 41,533 -tons was export. In 1837 the total number of boats arriving at Pittsburg -from February 10 to July 1 was five hundred and ninety-three; the total -number departing was five hundred and eighty-two.[48] If the upstream -trade did not equal the downstream trade in the days of steamboats, it -can be readily imagined how great was the difference in the days of -rowed and pushed craft. Upstream traffic began to thrive with the -founding of Pittsburg and other cities in the upper Ohio Valley. A -market was then created, and the product of the lower valley began to -ascend. - -Thus dawned the era of the famous keel-boat, the first craft of burden -that plied to and fro on western waters. True, the name was applied to -craft that came earlier. Colonel Burd, the English officer who led one -of the marauding expeditions from Detroit into Kentucky in the -Revolutionary War, came from the lakes and ascended the Licking in -keel-boats. It is given on good authority that Tarascon, Berthoud and -Company of Pittsburg introduced the use of keel-boats on the Ohio in -1792.[49] - -The keel-boat heralded a new era in internal development, an era of -internal communication never known before in the Central West. As a -craft it is almost forgotten today. Our oldest citizens can barely -remember the last years of its reign; but the cry of the steersman to -"lift" and "set" that once rang in our river valleys, is still one of -the undying memories of their childhood days. It was a long, narrow -craft perhaps averaging twelve to fifteen feet by fifty, and pointed at -both prow and stern. On either side were provided what were known as -"running boards," extending from end to end. The space between, the body -of the boat, was enclosed and roofed over with boards or shingles. A -keel-boat would carry from twenty to forty tons of freight well -protected from the weather; it required from six to ten men, in addition -to the captain, who was usually the steersman, to propel it upstream. -Each man was provided with a pole to which was affixed a heavy socket, -The crew, being divided equally on each side of the boat, "set" their -poles at the head of the boat; then bringing the end of the pole to the -shoulder, with bodies bent, they walked slowly along the running boards -to the stern--returning quickly, at the command of the captain, to the -head for a new "set." "In ascending rapids, the greatest effort of the -whole crew was required, so that only one at a time could 'shift' his -pole. This ascending of rapids was attended with great danger, -especially if the channel was rocky. The slightest error in pushing or -steering the boat exposed her to be thrown across the current, and to be -brought sideways in contact with rocks which would mean her destruction. -Or, if she escaped injury, a crew who had let their boat swing in the -rapids would have lost caste. A boatman who could not boast that he had -never swung or backed in a chute was regarded with contempt, and never -trusted with the head pole, the place of honor among the keel-boat men. -It required much practice to become a first rate boatman, and none would -be taken, even on trial, who did not possess great muscular power."[50] -Under certain circumstances it was serviceable to catch hold of the -bushes and trees on a river's bank and pull a keel-boat upstream; this -was commonly known as "bushwhacking" and was particularly useful in -times of high water. The number of keel-boats on the Ohio was not as -large, probably, as would be supposed. It is on record that from -November 24, 1810 to January 24, 1811--two winter months--twenty-four of -these craft descended the "falls" of the Ohio at Louisville. It is -probable that at this time there were not over three or four hundred -keel-boats regularly plying the Ohio and its tributaries. - -The narrowness of the keel-boat, it will be noted, permitted it to ply -far up the larger tributaries of the Ohio and to a considerable way up -its smaller tributaries--territory which the barge and flat-boat could -never reach. It is probable, therefore, that the keel-boat brought much -territory into touch with the world that otherwise was never reached -save by the heavy freighter and the pack-saddle; indeed it is probable -that this was the greatest service of the keel-boat--to reach the rich -interior settlements and carry their imports and exports. The place of -the keel-boat is now taken by such packets as the Greenwood and Lorena -which bring to Pittsburg the produce of such valleys as the Kanawha and -the Muskingum. In this connection it is proper to emphasize a fact -suggested elsewhere: that the inhabitants of the Central West, from the -earliest times until today, have found the favorite sites of occupation -to be in the interior of the country, beside the lesser tributaries of -the Ohio.[51] Thus as the pioneer settlements spread up on the Licking, -Muskingum, Hockhocking, Scioto, and Miami, a boat like the keel-boat, -which could ply in any season of the year and on the narrow creeks and -"runs," was an inestimable boon. Again, take for instance the salt -industry, which in the day of the keel-boat was one of the most -important, if not the most important, in the Central West; as values -were a century ago the best of men did well to "earn his salt." These -salt springs and licks were found at some distance from the main artery -of travel, the Ohio, and it was the keel-boat, more enduring than the -canoe, and of lighter weight and draught and of lesser width than the -barge, which did the greater part of the salt distribution, returning -usually with loads of flour. The heyday of the keel-boat was also the -day of the portage path--which played a most important part in the -development of the land. These portages or carries were mostly located -far in the interior where rivers flowing in opposite directions took -their rise. The keel-boat was the only craft of burden that could ascend -many of our streams to the carrying-place; they were also less unwieldy -to carry than the old batteau which was used also in the portage -carrying-trade.[52] Mention has been made of Burd's invasion of Kentucky -during the Revolutionary War, in keel-boats. If this was not a misnomer -it is probable that they were brought from the lakes and carried across -the portage, as was done in the case of Hamilton's capture of Vincennes. - -The keel-boat may be considered, therefore, the first upstream boat of -burden which plied the Ohio and its tributaries; its special functions: -first, the upstream trade, second, to touch and connect interior -settlements and do the carrying-trade of the portages. - -The great craft of burden on the Ohio and its larger tributaries were -the barges and the flat-boats, the latter commonly known as the Kentucky -"broad-horns" or Kentucky boats, and New Orleans boats. The Ohio and -Mississippi barge resembled the "West Country" barges of England and the -"wherries" of London. They were great, pointed, covered hulks carrying -forty or fifty tons of freight and manned by almost as many men. They -were the great freighters of the larger rivers, descending with the -current and ascending by means of oars, poles, sails and -cordelles--ropes by which the craft was often towed from the shore. The -following description of a barge journey, from the pen of the famous -naturalist Audubon, is perhaps one of the most accurate left to us: - -"We shall suppose one of these boats under way, and, having passed -Natchez, entering upon what were called the difficulties of their -ascent. Wherever a point projected so as to render the course or bend -below it of some magnitude, there was an eddy, the returning current of -which was sometimes as strong as that of the middle of the great stream. -The bargemen, therefore, rowed up pretty close under the bank, and had -merely to keep watch in the bow lest the boat should run against a -planter or sawyer. But the boat has reached the point, and there the -current is to all appearance of double strength and right against it. -The men, who have rested a few minutes, are ordered to take their -stations and lay hold of their oars, for the river must be crossed, it -being seldom possible to double such a point and proceed along the same -shore. The boat is crossing, its head slanting to the current, which is, -however, too strong for the rowers, and when the other side of the river -has been reached, it has drifted perhaps a quarter of a mile. The men -are by this time exhausted, and, as we shall suppose it to be 12 -o'clock, fasten the boat to a tree on the shore. A small glass of -whiskey is given to each, when they cook and eat their dinner, and -after resting from their fatigue for an hour, recommence their labors. -The boat is again seen slowly advancing against the stream. It has -reached the lower end of a sandbar, along the edge of which it is -propelled by means of long poles, if the bottom be hard. Two men, called -bowsmen, remain at the prow to assist, in concert with the steersman, in -managing the boat and keeping its head right against the current. The -rest place themselves on the land side of the footway of the vessel, put -one end of their poles on the ground and the other against their -shoulders and push with all their might. As each of the men reaches the -stern, he crosses to the other side, runs along it and comes again to -the landward side of the bow, when he recommences operations. The barge -in the meantime is ascending at a rate not exceeding one mile in the -hour. - -"The bar is at length passed, and as the shore in sight is straight on -both sides and the current uniformly strong, the poles are laid aside, -and the men being equally divided, those on the river side take to -their oars, while those on the land-side lay hold of the branches of -willows or other trees, and thus slowly propel the boat. Here and there, -however, the trunk of a fallen tree, partly lying on the bank and partly -projecting beyond it, impedes their progress and requires to be doubled. -This is performed by striking into it the iron points of the poles and -gaff-hooks, and so pulling around it. The sun is now quite low, and the -barge is again secured in the best harbor within reach for the night, -after having accomplished a distance of perhaps fifteen miles. The next -day the wind proves favorable, the sail is set, the boat takes all -advantages, and meeting with no accident, has ascended thirty -miles--perhaps double that distance. The next day comes with a very -different aspect. The wind is right ahead, the shores are without trees -of any kind, and the canes on the bank are so thick and stout that not -even the cordelles can be used. This occasions a halt. The time is not -altogether lost, as most of the men, being provided with rifles, betake -themselves to the woods and search for the deer, the hares or the -turkeys that are generally abundant there. Three days may pass before -the wind changes, and the advantages gained on the previous five days -are forgotten. Again the boat proceeds, but in passing over a shallow -place, runs on a log, swings with the current, but hangs fast with her -lee-side almost under water. Now for the poles! All hands are on deck, -bustling and pushing. At length, towards sunset, the boat is once more -afloat, and is again taken to the shore where the wearied crew pass -another night. - -"I could tell you of the crew abandoning the boat and cargo and of -numberless accidents and perils, but be it enough to say, that advancing -in this tardy manner, the boat that left New Orleans on the 1st of -March, often did not reach the Falls of Ohio [Louisville] until the -month of July, sometimes not until October; and after all this immense -trouble, it brought only a few bags of coffee and at most one hundred -hogsheads of sugar. Such was the state of things as late as 1808. The -number of barges at that period did not amount to more than 25 or 30, -and the largest probably did not exceed one hundred tons burden. To -make the best of this fatiguing navigation, I may conclude by saying -that a barge which came up in three months, had done wonders, for I -believe few voyages were performed in that time."[53] - -This is the story of an Orleans boat in distinction from a Kentucky boat -which was smaller and not so well finished.[54] The heavy up-river loads -of the Orleans boats--sugar and molasses--were very important cargoes -and illustrate the place the barge took in pioneer history; they were -the freighters which carried on the larger rivers the heavy cargoes of a -country fast filling with a new population. They plied, like the -keel-boat, up and down stream but could not ascend the smaller rivers or -reach portages of the larger streams because of their draught and size. -There were, of course, small barges that could go wherever a keel-boat -went; it was these that were common on certain portage path trades.[55] -The small barge was practically a keel-boat (without running boards) -save only in shape. - -The flat-boat was the important craft of the era of immigration, the -friend of the pioneer. It was the boat that never came back, a -downstream craft solely. The flat-boat of average size was a roofed -craft about forty feet long, twelve feet wide and eight feet deep. It -was square and flat-bottomed and was managed by six oars; two of these, -about thirty feet long, on each side, were known as "sweeps" and were -manned by two men each; one at the stern, forty or fifty feet long -including its big blade, was called the "steering oar;" a small oar was -located at the prow, known as the "gouger," which aided in steering the -boat in swift water. One man only was needed at the steering oar and at -the gouger. - -"Kentucky" and "New Orleans" were the significant names for the old-time -flat-boats, for Kentucky and New Orleans were the destinations of the -large majority. The nominal difference between a Kentucky and New -Orleans boat was that the former was commonly roofed only half over -while the latter was stronger and was entirely covered with a roof. How -to buy or build a "flat" was the first query of the pioneer father as he -finally arrived at one of the ports on the upper Ohio. Often several -families joined together and came down the river on one flat-boat, a -motley congregation of men, women, children and domestic animals -surrounded by the few crude, housekeeping utensils which had been -brought over the mountains or purchased at the port of embarkation. -Perhaps all of the details which engrossed a prospective pioneer's -attention are suggested in the previous quotations from _The Navigator_. - -These Kentucky "broadhorns," or "broadhorn flatboats" as they were also -called, almost invariably carried a tin horn by means of which some one -on board would announce their arrival or make known their whereabouts in -a fog. This weird music, reverberating from hill to hill, was heard far -and wide and was welcomed by the country people. - -The history of the flat-boat comes down within the present generation, -for as late as the beginning of the Civil War flat-boating was common -on the Ohio River. In the early day the flat-boat was the sign of -immigration; not so in the later day. The flat-boats of the fifties bore -cargoes to the southern ports, or cargoes to be retailed along the -Mississippi River plantations. Any enterprising man who owned or could -build a "flat," bought up the crops of his neighborhood, put them -aboard, and was ready to start on the "fall rise." Flat-boats were -loaded at the bow--sometimes through trapdoors in the roof--the cargo -stored away in the hold. For through freight, apples and potatoes were -the staples. If it was intended to "coast" (peddle the cargo to the -plantations) the freight also included cider, cheese, pork, bacon, and -even cabbage. Apple and peach brandy was a most profitable investment; -especially if apple brandy, with a few peaches in it, could be palmed -off on the thirsty darkies as peach brandy. - -A yellow page of an old account-book of 1858 leaves record that the -proprietor of one "flat" purchased the entire product of a neighboring -farm and took it south that fall. The items and their cost price on -shore is interesting: - - 350 bu. wheat @ $1.05 per bu. $367.50 - 208 bbls potatoes @ 2.05 per bbl. 426.40 - 17 bbls seed potatoes @ 1.2 5 per bbl 21.25 - 20 hogs, 6086 lbs. @ 4.33 per hundred 263.52 - 5 bbls beans 15.25 - 9 bbls & 13-1/2 lbs. sauer-Kraut 66.87 - Portion of a flat boat 70.00 - --------- - $1,230.79 - -A yearly cash income of $1,230.79 would make many a farmer of our day -contented. - -The proprietor of the flat-boat left on his three thousand mile trip -taking only a couple of farm hands with him as crew. They lived in the -stern of the boat under the same roof that sheltered the cargo, but -separated by a partition. It was all clear sailing, night and day. -Almost the only work was to keep the craft in the current. Several miles -above the "falls" at Louisville, pilots would be found in skiffs ready -to climb aboard and steer the "flat" down the rapids for ten dollars or -less. If the cargo was intended for the coasting trade, business began -at the first large plantations. This was in the day of overseers who -liberally patronized these "coasters," giving in payment drafts on New -Orleans. The darkies were, in some cases, allowed to make their own -purchases; they did not neglect the liquor, often exchanging molasses -for brandy even, gallon for gallon. - -Upon arriving at his destination, the proprietor sold his remaining -stock and boat, invested his money in sugar and molasses, and embarked -with his freight on a packet for home. Thus two profits were cleared. - -The advent of the Civil War was evident to these latter day boatmen; -watches were always kept on the outlook lest the "lines" be cut. At the -opening of the war flat-boats were frequently fired upon. When the -business was again revived in 1866 it was a new, sad South the flat-boat -men found. The negroes were "free," the overseers gone, the coasting -trade ruined; through freights were found to be the only ones that paid -after 1865. - -Collins asserts that Captain Jacob Yoder took the first flat-boat down -the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans in 1782; "the late Capt. -Jos. Pierce of Cincinnati, Ohio, had erected over the remains of his old -friend Capt. Jacob Yoder, an iron tablet (the first cast west of the -Alleghanies) thus inscribed: - - 'JACOB YODER - - Was born at Reading, Pennsylvania, August 11, 1758; and was | a - soldier of the Revolutionary army in 1777 and 1778. | He emigrated - to the West in 1780; and in May, 1782, from Fort Redstone, | on the - Monongahela river, in the | FIRST FLAT BOAT. | That ever descended - the Mississippi river, he landed in | New Orleans, with a cargoe of - produce. | He died April 7, 1832, at his farm in Spencer County, - Kentucky, and lies | here interred beneath this tablet.'" - -Flat-boats were, both in early and modern times, always used or sold at -their destination for lumber. Thus the early bargemen and flat-boat men -who made down river trips returned largely on foot, until the era of -steamboats. The long journey across country from New Orleans through the -low fever-infested country and into Kentucky was a dangerous and -arduous experience.[56] "A large number of these boatmen were brought -together at New Orleans. Their journey home could not be made in small -parties, as they carried large quantities of specie, and the road was -infested by robbers. The outlaws and fugitives from justice from the -states resorted to this road. Some precautionary arrangements were -necessary. The boatmen who preferred returning through the wilderness -organized and selected their officers. These companies sometimes -numbered several hundred, and a greater proportion of them were armed. -They were provided with mules to carry the specie and provisions, and -some spare ones for the sick. Those who were able purchased mules, or -Indian ponies, for their use, but few could afford to ride. As the -journey was usually performed after the sickly season commenced, and the -first six or seven hundred miles was through a flat, unhealthy country, -with bad water, the spare mules were early loaded with the sick. There -was a general anxiety to hasten through this region of malaria. Officers -would give up their horses to the sick, companions would carry them -forward as long as their strength enabled; but although everything was -done for their relief which could be done without retarding the progress -of their journey, many died on the way or were left to the care of the -Indian or hunter who settled on the road. Many who survived an attack of -fever, and reached the healthy country of Tennessee, were long -recovering sufficient strength to resume their journey home. One would -suppose that men would have been reluctant to engage in a service which -exposed them to such great suffering and mortality without extraordinary -compensation; but such was the love of adventure and recklessness of -danger which characterized the young men of the West, that there was no -lack of hands to man the boats, although their number increased from -twenty-five to fifty per cent yearly. The fact that some of these -boatmen would return with fifty Spanish dollars, which was a large sum -at that day, was no small incentive to others, who perhaps never had a -dollar of their own."[57] - -The "ark" of pioneer days was, as the name implies, the earliest type of -houseboat. "These boats," Mr. Harris records, "are generally called -'Arks;' and are said to have been invented by Mr. Krudger, on the -Juniata, about ten years ago [1795]. They are square, and flat-bottomed; -about forty feet by fifteen, with sides six feet deep; covered with a -roof of thin boards; and accommodated with a fire-place. They require -but four hands to navigate them, carry no sail, and are wafted down by -the current."[58] - -Rafting logs down the Ohio was one of the great employments of the men -of three-quarters of a century ago. "Our raft," testified an old -_voyageur_ who went down the Allegheny and Ohio from Olean, New York in -1821, "was one hundred and twenty feet long and sixty wide and about -two feet deep. It had eight oars. In the center was our cabin, which -was twenty by sixteen, and contained, of course, our provisions and -valuables, ... and our _stove_. This was a patent range peculiar to -those days and quite wonderful in its way. It was made of a wooden box -lined with clay. It had a hole in the top for a kettle, and another -through which the smoke passed to an aperture in the roof of our cabin, -left for that purpose.... Our crew consisted of ten persons, including a -man and his wife and one child, who were going to migrate.... There are -many eddies along the river and at them we tried to tie up at night in -order to be out of the current.... From Pittsburg to Cincinnati, five -hundred miles, the river being broad and deep and free from snags, we -could travel night and day.... At one point in our trip we saw a raft -stranded on an island; but the Captain did not seem to take the matter -very seriously to heart, and answered our salutations by singing and -dancing and lustily waving his hat as we passed by.... At Limestone, -[Maysville] Ky., seventy miles east of Cincinnati, I stopped and sold -some shingles, the raft and the rest of the crew going on. After I had -transacted my business, I took passage on another going to C. -[Cincinnati]. At L. [Limestone] I remember seeing a bell on a tavern for -the first time. This raft had the misfortune to run into a flatboat -loaded with coal, and also the audacity to sneak off before the damage -was discovered to avoid both delay and expense.... Once there [at -Cincinnati] we hired a gang of men to wash the lumber, which was covered -with dirt and weeds; they then drew it to the lumber yard, where we sold -it.... I was not sorry when I reached my home ... on the evening of the -10th of June. I had been away since the middle of February."[59] - -The galley--a model boat with covered deck impelled by oarsmen--was not -an unfamiliar craft in the early river days. It was such a boat as this -that General George Rogers Clark armed as a gunboat on the lower Ohio -and used as a patrolling gunboat during the Revolutionary War. The -famed "Adventure Galley," of the New England pilgrims to Marietta, was a -craft of this pattern. It was forty-five feet long and twelve feet wide, -with an estimated burden of fifty tons. Her bows were raking or curved, -strongly built with heavy timbers and covered with a deck roof.[60] It -is probable that the first mail boats which ran on the Ohio in 1793 were -of similar design. This service, established by Jacob Myers between -Cincinnati and Pittsburg, was advertised on November 16 as leaving -Cincinnati at 8 A. M. every alternate Saturday, requiring one month for -the round trip. The proprietor took great credit to himself, "claiming -to be 'influenced by love of philanthropy and desire of being -serviceable to the public.' He further stated: 'No danger need be -apprehended from the [Indian] enemy, as every person on board will be -under cover, made proof against rifle or musquet balls, and port holes -for firing out of. Each boat is armed with six pieces carrying a pound -ball; also a number of good musquets, and amply supplied with -ammunition, strongly manned with choice hands, and the masters of -approved knowledge. A separate cabin is partitioned off for -accommodating ladies on their passage; conveniences are constructed so -as to render landing unnecessary, as it might, at times, be attended -with danger. Rules and regulations for maintaining order and for the -good management of the boats, and tables of the rates of freightage, -passage, and carrying of letters; also, of the exact time of arrival and -departure at all way places, may be seen on the boat and at the printing -office in Cincinnati. Passengers supplied with provisions and liquors, -of first quality, at most reasonable rates possible. Persons may work -their passage. An office for insuring at moderate rates the property -carried, will be kept at Cincinnati, Limestone, (i. e. Maysville) and -Pittsburgh.' Packet-boat promises then, like steamboat promises -nowadays, were not _always_ kept; instead of on November 30th, the -second boat did not leave until December 10th, 'precisely at 10 o'clock -in the morning.'"[61] - -In the days before steamboats, sails were greatly used on almost every -manner of craft, and were made of every conceivable material. The great -barges of early days were moved by sails when the wind was -favorable.[62] Both barges and keel-boats were "provided with a mast, a -square sail...."[63] Canoes were frequently provided with sails and -their progress was more or less dependent on the winds.[64] - -The story of the building of the first brigs and schooners on the Ohio -and its tributaries, the dreams of their proprietors and masters, and -the experiences of their crews, is a subject worthy of a volume. The -building of these larger craft for the Mississippi and ocean trade -suggests at the outset the long, conflicting story of Mississippi -control which can only be hinted at here. - -This business of building sailing vessels in the Ohio Basin began the -decade before the nineteenth century opened, and grew more and more -important until steam navigation revolutionized the river trade. These -brigs and schooners were, without doubt, distinctively down river craft, -which never returned; they were therefore the export carriers, and the -importance of their place in history may be found in the fact that their -appearance marks the rise of the export business to a position of -prominence, as the use of the keel-boat marked the rise of what may be -called interstate commerce. - -In the year 1792 the company of shipbuilders previously mentioned, -Tarascon, Berthoud, and Company, who put the first keel-boats into -business on the Ohio, built the schooner "Amity" of one hundred and -twenty tons, and the "Pittsburgh," a ship of two hundred and fifty tons. -In 1793 the schooner "was sent to St. Thomas, and the ship to -Philadelphia, both laden with Flour. The second summer, they built the -brig 'Nanina,' of two hundred, and the ship 'Louisiana,' of 350 tons. -The brig was sent direct to Marseilles; the ship was sent out ballasted -with our _stone coal_, which was sold at _Philadelphia_, for 37 1-2 -cents per bushel. The year after they built the ship 'Western Trader' -of 400 tons."[65] By 1800, therefore, cargoes of flour, iron, beef, -pork, glass-ware, furniture of black walnut, wild cherry, and yellow -birch, and beverages of varying character were awaiting the great hulls -of these new ships of several hundred tons. In 1803 Thaddeus Harris -found several of these ships on the stocks at Pittsburg; three had been -launched before April, "from 160 to 275 tons burden."[66] On May 4 he -wrote at Marietta: "the schooner 'Dorcas and Sally,' of 70 tons, built -at Wheeling and rigged at Marietta, dropped down the river. The -following day there there passed down the schooner 'Amity,' of 103 tons, -from Pittsburg, and the ship 'Pittsburg,' of 275 tons burden, from the -same place, laden with seventeen hundred barrels of flour, with the rest -of her cargo in flat-bottomed boats. In the evening the brig 'Mary -Avery,' of 130 tons, built at Marietta, set sail. These afforded an -interesting spectacle to the inhabitants of this place, who saluted the -vessels as they passed with three cheers, and by firing a small piece of -ordnance from the banks."[67] "The building and lading of ships is now -considered as an enterprize of the greatest importance in this part of -the country. The last (1802) there were launched from the ship-yard of -Captain Devol, on the Muskingum river, five miles above its mouth, the -ship 'MUSKINGUM,' of 204 tons, owned by Benjamin Ives Gilman, Esq. and -the brigantine 'ELIZA GREENE,' of 115 tons, owned by Charles Greene, -Esq. merchants at Marietta. At the spring flood of the present year, the -schooner 'Indiana,' of 100 tons, the brig 'Marietta,' of 130 tons, and -another of 150 tons, also built here, were launched and descended the -river for New Orleans and the trade to the West Indies. Good judges of -naval architecture have pronounced these vessels equal, in point of -workmanship and materials, to the best that have been built in America. -The firmness and great length of their planks, and the excellency of -their timbers, (their frames being almost wholly composed of black -walnut, a wood which, if properly selected, has nearly the strength of -white oak, and the durability of the live oak of the south without its -weight) it is believed will give these vessels the preference over any -built of the timber commonly made use of, in any market where there are -competent judges. This part of the country owes much to those gentlemen, -who, in a new and experimental line, have set this example of enterprize -and perseverance."[68] One ship from Marietta is said to have had the -existence of her port of clearance questioned in Italy. - -In 1811 we learn that ship-building was not prospering as might be -supposed; misfortunes and accidents "have given a damp to ships building -at present."[69] On an inland river, where the winds and the amount of -rainfall at any time were very uncertain, it must have been a most -difficult thing to cope successfully with low water and shifting sand -bars and other innumerable obstacles to navigation in the Ohio. The -times were ripe for another power, one which did not require that the -vessels have deep draught, as was the case with sailing vessels. - -The dawning of the new era of steam navigation cannot be introduced -better than by quoting a unique paragraph from _The Navigator_ of 1811: - -"There is now on foot a new mode of navigating our western waters, -particularly the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. This is with boats -propelled by the power of steam. This plan has been carried into -successful operation on the Hudson river at New York, and on the -Delaware between New Castle and Burlington.--It has been stated that the -one on the Hudson goes at the rate of four miles an hour against wind -and tide on her route between New York and Albany, and frequently with -500 passengers on board. From these successful experiments there can be -but little doubt of the plan succeeding on our western waters, and -proving of immense advantage to the commerce of our country. A Mr. -Rosewalt, a gentleman of enterprise, and who is acting it is said in -conjunction with Messrs. Fulton and Livingston of New York, has a boat -of this kind now on the stocks at Pittsburgh, of 138 feet keel, -calculated for 300 or 400 tons burden. And there is one building at -Frankfort, Kentucky, by citizens who no doubt will push the enterprise. -It will be a novel sight, and as pleasing as novel to see a huge boat -working her way up the windings of the Ohio, without the appearance of -sail, oar, pole, or any manual labour about her--moving within the -secrets of her own wonderful mechanism, and propelled by power -undiscoverable!--This plan if it succeeds, must open to view flattering -prospects to an immense country, an interior of not less than two -thousand miles of as fine a soil and climate, as the world can produce, -and to a people worthy of all the advantages that nature and art can -give them, a people the more meritorious because they know how to -sustain peace and live independent, among the crushing of empires, the -falling of kings, the slaughter and bloodshed of millions, and the -tumult, corruption and tyranny of all the world beside. The immensity of -country we have yet to settle, the vast riches of the bowels of the -earth, the unexampled advantages of our water courses, which wind -without interruption for thousands of miles, the numerous sources of -trade and wealth opening to the enterprising and industrious citizens, -are reflections that must rouse the most dull and stupid.... From the -canoe, we now see ships of two or three hundred tons burden, masted and -rigged, descending the same Ohio, laden with the products of the -country, bound to New Orleans,--thence to any part of the world.--Thus -the rise and progress of the trade and the trader on the western waters, -thus the progress of our country from infancy to manhood, and thus the -flattering prospects of its future greatness through the channels of the -Ohio and Mississippi rivers."[70] - -These words came true in a miraculously short space of time. Previous to -the adoption of the steamboat navigation, say in 1817, the whole -commerce from New Orleans to the upper country was carried in about -twenty barges, averaging one hundred tons each, and making but one trip -a year. The number of keel-boats employed on the Upper Ohio could not -have exceeded one hundred and fifty, carrying thirty tons each, and -making one trip from Pittsburg to Louisville and back in two months, or -about three voyages in the season. The tonnage of all the boats -ascending the Ohio and Lower Mississippi was then about sixty-five -hundred. - -In 1811 the first steamboat was constructed at Brownsville, -Pennsylvania, on the Monongahela. Several others were built soon after, -but it was probably fifteen years before steamboats came into such -general use as to cause any diminution in the flat-and keel-boat -navigation. These first boats were built after models of ships, with -deep holds. They also were constructed with low pressure engines and -heavy machinery. Hence they were useless in low water, very hard to -propel against the current, and their carrying capacity was greatly -reduced. In order to attain greater speed, the builders soon made the -boats long and narrow but it was not until they came to the decision -that boats would run faster on the water than in it, and began making -them flat and broad, that they finally got a boat capable of carrying a -thousand tons, when drawing only four feet, and when empty only two and -one-half feet. Then with a high pressure engine at each wheel they could -make unprecedented speed; and these boats afforded traveling and freight -accommodations equal to any. Although the prices of passages did not -exceed hotel rates, yet more bountifully filled tables were not to be -found on land and the boats were marvels of splendor in their -appointments. The chief improvement made in the river steamboats was -placing one large wheel at the stern of the boat entirely behind the -hulk and with long paddles the full length of the beam, operated by -double engines and quartering cranks. This had the advantage of allowing -the wheel to fly in the eddy water of the boat, while it cleared the -boat of the afterdraft. With these improvements rapid currents and -shallow waters could be conquered. - -In 1832 it was calculated that the whole number of persons deriving -subsistence on the Ohio, including the crews of steam- and flat-boats, -mechanics and laborers employed in building and repairing boats, -woodcutters, and persons employed in furnishing, supplying, loading and -unloading these boats, was ninety thousand. At this time, 1832, the -boats numbered four hundred and fifty and their burden ninety thousand -tons. In 1843 the whole number of steamboats constructed at Cincinnati -alone was forty-five; the aggregate amount of their tonnage was twelve -thousand and thirty-five tons, and their cost $705,000. This gives an -average of two hundred and sixty-seven tons for each boat and about -$16,000 for the cost of each. - -The models of these 1843 boats, as well as their finish and -accommodations, evinced a progressive improvement upon earlier boats. -They had more length and less draught, and were faster than those of the -last generation, while the hulls were more staunch, though they -contained less weight of timber. The cabins were not so gaudy and -expensive as those of former years but were greatly superior in comfort -and convenience. - -In 1844 the number of steamboats employed in navigating the Mississippi -and its tributaries was four hundred and fifty. The average burden of -these boats was 200 tons each, making an aggregate of 90,000 tons and -their aggregate value, at $80 per ton, was $7,200,000. Many of these -were fine vessels, affording most comfortable accommodations for -passengers, and compared favorably in all particulars with the best -packets in any part of the world. The number of persons engaged in -navigating the steam-boats at this time varied from twenty-five to fifty -for each boat, or an average of about thirty-five persons, which gives a -total of 15,750 persons employed. - -It appears from the reports of the Louisville and Portland Canal at this -time that more than seven hundred flat-boats passed that canal in one -year. There were, therefore, probably four thousand descending the -Mississippi, and counting five men to a boat there were 20,000 persons -employed in flat-boating. The cost of these boats was in the -neighborhood of $400,000, which, as they did not return, was an annual -expense; the cost of loading, navigating, and unloading them -approximated $900,000, making a total annual expenditure upon this class -of boats $1,300,000. - -If, in 1834, the number of steamboats on western waters was two hundred -and thirty, and they carried 39,000 tons, the expense of running them -could be estimated as follows:[71] - - 60 boats, over 200 tons, 108 running - days, at $140. per day-- $1,512,000. - - 70 boats, 120-200 tons, 240 running - days, at $90. per day-- 1,512,000. - - 100 boats, under 120 tons, 270 running - days, at $60. per day-- 1,620,000. - ----------- - Total yearly expenses $4,645,000. - -In 1844 the calculation was: - - 110 boats, over 200 tons, 180 running - days, at $140 per day-- $2,772,000. - - 140 boats, 120-200 tons, 240 running - days, at $90 per day-- 3,024,000. - - 200 boats, under 120 tons, 280 running - days, at $60-- 3,240,000. - ----------- - Total yearly expenses $9,036,000. - -This sum, reduced to the different items producing it, would be -apportioned as follows: - - For wages, 36% $3,252,960. - For wood, 30% 2,710,800. - For provisions, 18% 1,626,480. - For contingencies, 16% 1,445,760. - ----------- - Total $9,036,000. - -To this should be added: - - Insurance, 15% on $7,200,000 $1,080,000. - Louisville and Portland Canal tolls-- 250,000. - Interest on $7,200,000. Investment at 6% 432,000. - Wear and tear of boats, 20% 1,440,000. - ------------ - Total $12,238,000. - Add for flat-boats, as above, 1,380,000. - ------------ - Total annual cost of transportation $13,618,000. - -There were steadily employed at the Cincinnati shipyards, during the -year 1843, in the heavier portions of the work, 320 hands at the -boatyards, 200 joiners, 200 engine- and foundry-men, 50 painters, making -the total number of persons employed 770. - -Within the same year, there were built at Louisville, New Albany, and -Jeffersonville, 35 boats, of 7,406 tons, which cost $700,000. These -boats cost $20,000 each, averaged 211 tons, and cost about $95 per ton. - -At Pittsburg, the same year, there were built 25 boats, of 4347 tons; -the average tonnage of these boats was about 173 tons. - -The aggregate number of boats built in 1843, is about as follows: - - Cincinnati, 45 boats, 12,035 tons - Louisville, New Albany, and Jeffersonville 35 boats, 7,406 " - Pittsburg, 25 boats, 4,347 " - Add for all other places, 15 boats, 3,000 " - ------ - Total. 26,788 tons - -The whole tonnage of western boats previous to 1843, being 90,000 tons, -and the annual loss by destruction and superannuation being twenty per -cent, the decrease by the latter cause for 1843, was 18,000 tons, and -the increase 26,788 tons, making a net increase of 8,788 tons. - -By the official returns in 1842 it appears that the whole steamboat -tonnage of the United States was 218,994 tons; this was divided as -follows: - -_Southwest_ - - New Orleans, 80,993 tons - St. Louis, 14,725 " - Cincinnati, 12,025 " - Pittsburg, 10,107 " - Louisville, 4,618 " - Nashville, 3,810 " - ------- - Total 126,278 tons. - -_Northwest_ - - Buffalo, 8,212 tons - Detroit, 3,296 " - Presque Isle, 2,315 " - Oswego, 1,970 " - Cuyahoga, 1,859 " - ------ - Total 17,652 tons. - -_Seaboard_ - - New York, 35,260 tons - Baltimore, 7,143 " - Mobile, 6,982 " - Philadelphia, 4,578 " - Charleston, 3,289 " - Newbern, 2,854 " - Perth Amboy, 2,606 " - Apalachicola, 1,418 " - Boston, 1,362 " - Norfolk, 1,395 " - Wilmington, 1,212 " - Georgetown, 1,178 " - Newark, 1,120 " - Miscellaneous, 4,767 " - ------ - Total 76,064 tons. - -At this time the steamboat tonnage belonged to the internal commerce of -the country, as, with the exception of two or three in the Gulf of -Mexico, we had no steam vessels engaged in foreign commerce. Of the -whole 218,994 tons, it appears that two-thirds belonged to the West; and -as a portion of the other tonnage was employed on routes leading to the -West and connecting with our highways, the commerce of the West no doubt -amounted to more than two-thirds of the commerce of the Union. And, -estimating the number of steamboats from their average tonnage, there -must have been in 1842, one thousand in the United States, of which six -hundred belonged to the West. - -The table of tonnage above given, shows where this vast commercial -marine was employed; first, in the Mississippi Basin; next, in the city -of New York; and then on the Lakes. From the port of New York there were -some seventy or eighty steamboats constantly running--on the Lakes there -were hundreds. In the valley of the Mississippi the number of steamboats -they employed was equal to the whole number of those employed in -England. This will appear from the following statement from McCullough's -gazetteer of the steamboat tonnage of Great Britain in 1834: - - _Steam Ships_ _Tonnage_ - England 434 43,877 - Scotland 105 13,113 - Ireland 84 17,674 - British dependencies 49 8,032 - --- ------ - Total, 672 82,696 - -It appears then that the steamboat tonnage of the Mississippi Valley -(1842) exceeded by forty thousand tons the entire steamboat tonnage of -Great Britain (1834). In other words, the steamboat tonnage of Great -Britain was only two-thirds that of the Mississippi Valley. The -magnitude of this fact will be best appreciated by considering that the -entire tonnage of the United States was but two-thirds that of Great -Britain, showing that this proportion is exactly reversed in western -steamboat trade. The influence of the West in pushing the steamboat to -its ultimate use as a common carrier has been most remarkable. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -THREE GENERATIONS OF RIVERMEN - - -The history of the Ohio Basin rivermen, from those who paddled a canoe -and pushed a keel-boat to those who labor today on our steamboats has -never been written. The lights and shades of this life have never been -pictured by any novelist and perhaps they never can be. Even the student -who gleans imperfect pictures from the miscellanies preserved in local -histories, must in the very nature of the case, secure but a poor focus -on realities. Study as you will, you will only make yourself ridiculous -when you attempt to talk to one of the old-time rivermen. Your use and -even pronunciation of words will seem absurd; if the dictionary is on -your side, so much the worse for the dictionary. An attempt will create -in the enthusiast much the same feeling that will be felt on giving a -veteran of Gettysburg a copy of an historical novel describing the -battle; it may have thrilled you but your old soldier friend will say -"That man never was in battle." The old riverman will, by his smile, -make you conscious that you speak in unfamiliar terms, though his manner -may be politeness itself. "You have never been in battle" will be the -gist of his implications. - -The first generation of rivermen, excluding, of course the Indians, -would cover the year from 1750 to 1780 and would include those whose -principal acquaintance with the Ohio and its tributaries was made -through the canoe and pirogue. The second generation would stretch from -1780 or 1790 to 1810, and for our purposes will include those who lived -in the heyday of the keel- and flat-boat. The third generation would -carry us forward from 1810 to about 1850, and in this we would count the -thousands who knew these valleys before the railway had robbed the -steamboat of so much of its business and pride. This classification is -extremely loose; it will help us, however, to place some limits on a -subject as boundless as human ambition. - -For, taken through the years, the human element in the historical phases -of these valleys has remained practically unchanged. Greed of the great -round dollar has been the commanding passion, and nowhere has it burned -more fiercely. All the crimes, treacheries, deceptions, and frauds -practiced under the sun have been repeated on the Ohio between Pittsburg -and Cairo. Some, perhaps unknown elsewhere, have here been committed. -But here, too, that old-time clear love of living for life's sake only, -the thing which makes sailors sing the world over, was deeply felt. In -its lower extremities the river reaches practically southern climes -while its northern arms reach out into New York and Pennsylvania. On its -northwestern shore settled many colonies from New England; on the -south-eastern coast flocked the Virginians. Thus, from the standpoint of -temperament, the Ohio offers a most remarkable field of study of human -types. As said, it was the western projection of Mason and Dixon's Line; -but instead of being a mere geographical technicality, it was a teeming -highway where passion, hate, love, and fraternity were every day -displayed until the great crisis was finally passed. For, be it -remembered, there was civil war on the Ohio long before Fort Sumter -belched its defiance to secessionism. True, western Virginia and -Kentucky were not unbalanced by the fervor that swept the South, but -this river highway between them and Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois (as -loyal as Vermont or Massachusetts) was the meeting-place of hundreds who -could not meet without striking fire. Brought up in this zone where -issues were plain and where it was not derogatory to carry a broken nose -or a blackened eye any time between 1840 and 1860, fired to fast -thinking and faster action by the passionate current in which they -lived, were many of the bravest leaders of the Civil War, such as -Lincoln, Grant, and Sherman. Our study here has nothing to do with the -history of the Civil War, but disclosures made at that time bring out -most plainly the position of the Ohio Valley in the Union, and the -political consequences. It has been in place elsewhere to define the -various stocks of people who entered the Ohio Valley a century ago and -who have been its controlling spirits since their entrance. Of these the -rivermen were a part, moved by one and the same force politically. Some -were of the North and some came up from the South, and they wrangled for -years over the problems solved by the Civil War. - -But now, turning specifically to our classification, let us glance at -the first generation of Ohio rivermen: those who knew these waters -before and during Revolutionary days. At the outset it is clear that -their tasks are as strange to us as the sights upon which their eyes -feasted and the sounds which day and night were sounding in their ears. -They were engaged in the only trade known in the valley then--the fur -trade. At about midsummer, or a little earlier, the fur trade of the -entire Ohio Basin focused at the mouth of the Monongahela for -transportation to Philadelphia and Baltimore or on the lower Ohio for -shipment by canoe down the Ohio and Mississippi. When the curtain of -actual history arose on the Ohio River, the fur traders formed the -motley background in the drama in which Celoron, Contrecoeur, -Villiers, Washington, and Gist stood out clearly in the dark foreground. -Celoron found them here and there in 1750 and sent them back to Virginia -with a sharp letter to Governor Dinwiddie. Indeed it was these first -rivermen who floated on the Ohio in canoes laden with peltry who brought -on apace the Old French War. Nominally, of course, it was that quota of -one hundred families with which the Ohio Company promised to people its -two hundred thousand acre grant between the Monongahela and Kanawha -Rivers which alarmed the Quebec government; but in reality it was the -Virginia and Pennsylvania fur traders in whose canoes thousands of -dollars' worth of beaver skins were being kept from the St. Lawrence. -From village to village these traders passed, securing from the natives -their plunder of river and forest. In their long canoes the packs were -carefully deposited, and payment was made in goods, of which ammunition -and fire-arms were of most worth. Though these were the first rivermen, -they as frequently came by land as by water. But, when in their canoes, -they were the first to ply the western rivers. They, first of white -men, learned the old-time riffles--many of which became known to -millions by the names these first _voyageurs_ gave them. They knew -islands which have long since passed from sight; they knew the old licks -and the old trails. They practiced the lost arts of the woodsman; they -had eyes and ears of which their successors in these valleys do not -know. They did not become white Indians for, it would seem, they did not -mingle as closely with the red-men as did the French; but they became -exceedingly proficient in the Indian's woodland wisdom. Browned by the -sun and hardened by wind and rain and snow they were a strong race of -men; they could paddle or walk the entire day with little fatigue. Yet -their day's work was not such usually that it made mere brute machines -of them. Not as boisterous as the French on the Great Lakes and their -tributaries, these first Americans in the West were yet a buoyant crew; -there were songs to be sung as the canoe glided speedily along beneath -the shadows of those tremendous forest trees; dangers intensified the -joys, and, as everywhere else, added a flavor to living, a romantic -tinge to what otherwise might have been commonplace. There was no caste, -no clique, no faction; even Virginian and Pennsylvanian eyed one another -more considerately on the Ohio than elsewhere; true, the quarrel at last -grew bitter, even here, but it was confined to the possession of -Pittsburg and did not concern the valley as a whole. - -With the deepening of the struggle for the Ohio its first generation of -_voyageurs_ became of great importance. Their knowledge of the river and -the land through which it flowed was of moment to marching armies, -scouts and spies, peace commissioners, military superintendents, -commanders of forts, cohorts of surveyors, land companies, investors, -promoters, and pioneers. With the passing of the fur trade, a score of -remunerative openings was at the command of the rivermen who had learned -well his lesson. Thus with the opening of the new era of the barge and -keel-boat the old-time _voyageur_ could remain upon the scene, or, like -Daniel Boone, paddle away to the West and in a new land live over again -the days when the forests were fresh and green. - -With the filling of the Ohio Valley came the introduction of these heavy -freight craft, the barge and flat-boat, and, almost immediately, the -keel-boat, the first upstream craft. To row or steer a barge or flat or -to pole a keel-boat was work no _voyageur_ of earlier times had -undertaken. It was rougher work than had ever been demanded of men in -the West and it soon developed rougher men than the West had ever seen. -Social conditions, growing spasmodically complex in a new country, made -them worse. Once free of savage red-men, the Ohio Valley became a famous -retreat for criminals of every class from every state; horse thieves, -gamblers, and men guilty of far worse crimes were comparatively safe on -the Ohio by 1800; and, in the descending barge or flat, could pass on -into a new career under new names in Kentucky, Ohio, or beyond. Added to -this scum of the older communities must be counted the hundreds who had -served in the western armies which were now disbanded, many of whom bred -in roughest surroundings now sank quickly to their social level in the -fast-filling West they had freed. This type of hardy but vicious manhood -found hard work awaiting them on the rivers where millions of tons of -freight were waiting to be moved. They laid down a heavy musket and -picked up a heavier oar; but the two forms of occupation were not -dissimilar, for both offered a life of alternate labor and rest. On -these first freight craft in the West the work was severe in the -extreme, but it was not continuous; it was often a desperate pull today -and leisure tomorrow. A writer of a generation ago caught the exact -spirit of this life at this transitional state: - -"The Ohio River being once reached, the main channel of emigration lay -in the water-courses. Steamboats as yet were but beginning their -invasion, amid the general dismay and cursing of the population of -boatmen that had rapidly established itself along the shore of every -river. The early water life of the Ohio and its kindred streams was the -very romance of emigration; no monotonous agriculture, no toilsome -wood-chopping could keep back the adventurous boys who found delight in -the endless novelty, the alternate energy and repose of a floating -existence on those delightful waters. The variety of river craft -corresponded to the varied temperaments of the boatmen. There was the -great barge with lofty deck requiring twenty-five men to work it -up-stream; there was the long keel-boat, carrying from twenty-five to -thirty tons; there was the Kentucky 'broadhorn,' compared by the -emigrants of that day to a New England pig-sty set afloat, and sometimes -built one hundred feet long, and carrying seventy tons; there was the -'family-boat,' of like structure, and bearing a whole household, with -cattle, hogs, horses, and sheep. Other boats were floating tin shops, -blacksmith's shops, whiskey shops, dry-goods shops. A few were propelled -by horsepower. Of smaller vessels there were 'covered sleds,' 'ferry -flats,' and 'Alleghany skiffs;' 'pirogues' made from two tree trunks, or -'dug-outs' consisting of one." - -"The bargemen were a distinct class of people," writes Mr. Cassedy, -"whose fearlessness of character, recklessness of habits and laxity of -morals rendered them a marked people. Their history will hereafter form -the groundwork of many a heroic romance or epic poem. In the earlier -stages of this sort of navigation, their trips were dangerous, not only -on account of the Indians whose hunting-grounds bounded their track on -either side, but also because the shores of both rivers were infested -with organized banditti, who sought every occasion to rob and murder the -owners of these boats. Beside all this the Spanish Government had -forbidden the navigation of the lower Mississippi by the Americans, and -thus, hedged in every way by danger, it became these boatmen to -cultivate all the hardihood and wiliness of the Pioneer, while it led -them also into the possession of that recklessness of independent -freedom of manner, which even after the causes that produced it had -ceased, still clung to and formed an integral part of the character of -the Western Bargeman. It is a matter of no little surprise that -something like an authentic history of these wonderful men has never -been written. Certainly it is desirable to preserve such a history, and -no book could have been undertaken which would be likely to produce more -both of pleasure and profit to the writer and none which would meet with -a larger circle of delighted readers. The traditions on the subject are, -even at this recent period, so vague and contradictory that it would be -difficult to procure anything like reliable or authentic data in regard -to them. No story in which the bargemen figured is too improbable to be -narrated, nor can one determine what particular person is the hero of an -incident which is in turn laid at the door of each distinguished member -of the whole fraternity."[72] - -"The crews were carefully chosen. A 'Kentuck,' or Kentuckian, was -considered the best man at a pole, and a 'Canuck,' or French Canadian, -at the oar or the 'cordelles,' the rope used to haul a boat upstream. -Their talk was of the dangers of the river; of 'planters and sawyers,' -meaning tree trunks imbedded more or less firmly in the river; of -'riffles,' meaning ripples; and of 'shoots,' or rapids (French -_chutes_). It was as necessary to have violins on board as to have -whiskey and all the traditions in song or picture of 'the jolly boatman' -date back to that by-gone day. Between the two sides of the river there -was already a jealousy. Ohio was called 'the Yankee State' and Flint -tells us that it was a standing joke among the Ohio boatmen when asked -their cargo to reply, 'Pitcoal indigo, wooden nutmegs, straw baskets, -and Yankee notions.' The same authority describes this sort of -questioning as being inexhaustible among the river people and asserts -that from one descending boat came this series of answers all of which -proved to be truthful: - -"'Where are you from?' - -'Redstone.' - -'What is your lading?' - -'Millstones.' - -'What's your captain's name?' - -'Whetstone.' - -'Where are you bound?' - -'To Limestone.'" - -"It was the highway of emigration," a pioneer has written of the Ohio in -its early years, "by the old and nearly forgotten flat-boat system.... -I was familiar with the sight of these primitive navigators and their -sluggish moving vessels when in the early spring days they came down.... -I have seen several generations on a single flatboat, from the white -haired grand-sire and his aged helpmate, seated in rude chairs of -domestic manufacture, with split hickory bottoms, down to the infant -babe nestled in its rough hewn cradle, made by the ax of the stalwart -young man, father to a group of little 'towheads' who surrounded the -parents, and their small assortment of household goods. A cow--that -domesticated helpmate to the family of the emigrating poor--was -generally tied near the center of the flatboat, and on the lumber or -planks that were intended, when the voyage terminated, to be made into -flooring, and combine with the broken up flat-boat to make a quickly -constructed home at some point on the forest covered hills of Kentucky -or Ohio, or on the low, flat lands that border the Mississippi.... They -were going to settle in the wilderness, with a cow, a flitch of bacon, a -small coop of chickens, and, generally, a large family of children." - -Among the heroes of the days of the keel-boat, stands Mike Fink who, in -his own words, is described as follows: "I can out-run, out-hop, -out-jump, throw down, drag out and lick any man in the country. I'm a -Salt-river roarer; I love the wimming and I'm chock full of fight." Of -this typical leader of his class an old magazine, the _Western Monthly_, -gives us this description: "His weight was about 180 pounds; height -about five feet, nine inches; broad, round face, pleasant features, -brown skin, tanned by sun and rain; blue, but very expressive eyes, -inclining to grey; broad, white teeth, and square, brawny form, well -proportioned; and every muscle of his arms, thighs and legs, was fully -developed, indicating the greatest strength and activity. His person, -taken altogether, was a model for a Hercules, except as to size." No -plucky adventure or cunning trickery performed by bargemen from the -Hudson to the Mississippi but seems to have been accredited by some one -at some time to Mike Fink. One of these, told of Fink et al., is -sufficiently typical to represent the other ninety-nine. Voyaging down -the Ohio, Fink one day noticed a flock of fine sheep on shore, and, -being out of fresh provisions, he determined to secure a supply of -mutton without the delay and vexation attendant upon any financial -exchange. In his cargo was a number of bladders of Scotch snuff. -Obtaining a quantity of this drug he caught a few sheep, rubbed it on -their heads and faces, and instantly sent a messenger for the owner -whose house was not far distant. - -By the time this man appeared the sheep Fink had dosed were deporting -themselves in a manner at once disgraceful to the remainder of the flock -and prodigiously marvelous to the eyes of their dazed owner. Leaping and -bleating, the distracted animals were pawing their heads, rubbing them -wildly on the ground and acting in general as though possessed of devils -and on the point of dashing down the river bank into the water. - -"What's the matter with my sheep?" exclaimed the alarmed owner. - -"Don't you know?" said Mike, suspiciously. - -"No, I don't!" - -"Didn't you ever hear of black murrain?" - -"Yes," was the terrified reply. - -"Well, that's it--all sheep up the river's got it dreadful--dyin' like -rotten dogs, hundreds daily." - -"You don't tell!" cried the victim; "and what's the cure?" - -"Nothin' but killin' 'em to prevent it's spreadin'; it's dreadful -catchin', is black murrain." - -The riverman was at once begged to kill the infected sheep and throw -their bodies into the current of the river. Mike did not at once agree, -but when a couple of gallons of peach brandy was named as a -consideration, he consented. And that night as his boat left the cove -its freight was increased by many pounds of mutton and something less -than two gallons of peach brandy. The same story is told of other -bargemen in various portions of the Union but, whoever was guilty of the -theft, it is typical of all so far as their attitude to the public is -concerned. - -Such men, being constantly on the move, were hard to place, and as -difficult to bring to justice as a government official. A keel-boat -captain surrounded by a swarthy crew which he had treated liberally to -plunder would not be attacked by any posse in its right mind. On one -occasion--whether or not the story is true, the spirit of it is no -misrepresentation--Mike Fink was so earnestly desired that a reward was -offered for his capture. When his boat was anchored at Louisville an old -friend of Mike's, a constable, approached him and expressed the desire -to bring him to trial in order to obtain the promised reward. At the -same time he assured the culprit that there was no evidence that could -result in conviction. The keel-boat man took pity on his friend and -agreed, after some consideration, to acquiesce on one condition: he -would go if he could be drawn thither in his yawl, surrounded by his -men. - -The condition was agreed to. "Accordingly a long-coupled wagon was -procured, and, with oxen attached, it went down the hill, at Third -Street for Mike's yawl. The road, for it was not then a street, was -very steep and very muddy at this point. Regardless of this, however, -the boat was set upon the wagon, and Mike and his men, with their long -poles ready, as if for an aquatic excursion, were put aboard, Mike in -the stern. By dint of laborious dragging, the wagon had attained half -the height of the hill, when out shouted the stentorian voice of Mike -calling to his men, 'Set poles!'--and the end of every long pole was set -firmly in the thick mud; 'Back her!' roared Mike, and down the hill -again went wagon, yawl, men, and oxen. Mike had been revolving the -matter in his mind and had concluded that it was best not to go; and -well knowing that each of his men was equal to a moderately strong ox, -he had at once conceived and executed this retrograde movement. Once at -the bottom, another parley was held and Mike was again overpowered. This -time they had almost reached the top of the hill, when 'Set poles! Back -her!' was again ordered and again executed. A third attempt, however, -was successful, and Mike reached the court house in safety; and, as his -friend, the constable, had endeavored to induce him to believe, he was -acquitted for lack of sufficient evidence. Other indictments, however, -were found against him, but Mike preferred not to wait to hear them -tried; so, at a given signal he and his men boarded their craft and -again stood ready to weigh anchor. The dread of the long poles in the -hands of Mike's men prevented the posse from urging any serious -remonstrance against his departure. And off they started with poles -'tossed.' As they left the court house yard Mike waved his red bandanna, -which he had fixed on one of the poles, and promising to 'call again' -was borne back to his element and launched once more upon the -waters."[73] - -Our inability to believe such stories is only an additional proof that -those days might as well be a cycle as a century behind us, so far as -catching the genuine atmosphere of them is concerned. It was a rough day -on shore, a day when, so the story goes, a Louis Phillippe could not -treat an Ohio innkeeper with hauteur (after announcing that he would "be -King of France") without being thrown into the street to the -accompaniment of the boast: "We are all Kings over here." English -travelers in the middle West have probably left truer pictures of actual -social conditions in the days of the keel-boat and barge than we have -elsewhere. We think many of these accounts are, like Dickens's _Notes_, -exaggerated. If any of them are true, all might as well be. And, at any -rate, whatever the social average, we can be very certain that the -rivermen had the hardest work and were the hardest type of all laborers -in the new West. - -A hint has been dropped some pages before about the feeling of the -old-time rivermen concerning the introduction of steam navigation. In -this series of monographs it has been in place now and then to refer to -the anger and disgust of every class of men engaged in land -transportation over the introduction of new methods. The old -packhorse-men were intensely incensed at the introduction of wheeled -vehicles on the great routes of trade and immigration, and even opposed -the widening of Indian trails and the building of roads. The first -wagons were assaulted and demolished. In turn the "waggoners" and -teamsters opposed the building of canals and the improvement of the -rivers. Teamsters, tow-boat men, and rivermen were foremost in opposing -the railway. Something of the same spirit exists in certain parts today, -in the struggle which is on, and which is growing more bitter each year, -between railway and electric roads. - -The conflict between the new and the old was probably more fierce on the -rivers than elsewhere, for the reason that one route was common to all. -The canal and highway were not often contiguous, and the railway was yet -further removed, because it followed the waterways which the roads -frequently avoided. On the river the barge and steamboat moved side by -side; they landed at the same ports, and never lost sight of each other. -It was a significant repetition of history, recalling the day when the -wheeled vehicle was introduced on roads never used save by the -packhorse-men. In each instance improved methods of locomotion came into -violent contact with the old. And, as in the case of the struggle -between angry packhorse-men and wagon- and coach-drivers, the new -method was a labor-saving invention. No string of ponies could bear what -a great Conestoga wagon would carry. It took less "hands" to transport a -given amount of freight on wagons than by the old packsaddle system. The -difference in the case of barge and flat-boat and steamboat was much -more marked and the struggle so much more bitter. True it is that in -both cases the amount of business soon increased with improved -facilities--for the wagon was as much in advance of the packsaddle as -the steamer was in advance of the flat-boat--but this did not allay -temporary hostility. - -River life at once underwent a great change with the gradual supremacy -of the steamboat in the carrying trade of the Ohio and its tributaries. -The sounding whistle blew away from our valleys much that was -picturesque--those strenuous days when a well developed muscle was the -best capital with which to begin business. Of course the flat-boat did -not pass from our waters, but as a type of old-time rivermen their lusty -crews have disappeared. The business interests of the new West, growing -to greater proportions each year, demanded all hands "on deck." - -In connection with that first generation of rivermen it was observed -that social equality was a general rule. There were no distinctions; -every man was his own master and his own servant. In the days of -keel-boats and flat-boats conditions changed, as we have observed in the -case of Mike Fink who was "captain" of his boat and the leader of his -own henchmen. This has been touched upon in the consideration of the -evolution of river craft, and may be suggested, only in passing, here; -the second generation of rivermen were accustomed to obey orders of -superiors, and society was divided sharply into two classes, the serving -and the served. With the supremacy of the steamboat this division is -reduplicated over and again; here are found four general classes, the -proprietors, navigators, operators, and deckhands. - -The upper ranks of the steam-packet business have furnished the West -with some of its strongest types of aggressive manhood. Keen-eyed, -physically strong, acquainted with men and equal to any emergency, the -typical captain of the first half century of steamboating in the West -was a man any one was glad to number among his friends and -acquaintances. - -But between the pilot house and the deck lay a gulf--not impassable, for -it was very frequently spanned by the worthy--deep, and significant. -Until the Civil War "deckoneering" was, largely, the pursuit of whites. -A few plantation owners rented out slaves to steamboat owners, but -negroes did not usurp the profession until they were freed. This was -contemporaneous with the general introduction of steam railways. - -A heterogeneous population--not touched in the foregoing -generalizations--has made the waters of the Ohio Basin its home. They -may be classed as vagrants, gamblers, and banditti. The first class -would include both the indolent and the vicious population that has -swarmed the Ohio and its tributaries from times immemorial. In all sorts -of conceivable craft, resembling each other only in the sole particular -of buoyancy, these vagrants have been floating our waters and mooring -their boats along our shores for a hundred years or more. In house-boats -of all possible sizes, shapes, heights, depths, and stenches these -idlers and triflers have lived and trained their sons and daughters to -live. Their staple means of existence has been fishing and filching, -and, while living, are seemingly the happiest of people and no questions -asked. To dig a few hills of potatoes and snatch a few ears of corn or a -melon, to conciliate and lead away a watch-dog, to "run" the trot-line, -to barter stolen articles in a contiguous county, makes up the happy -round of their useless lives. If it is true that every man is as lazy as -he dare be the Ohio River can boast the most daring set of men in the -world. It is interesting to note that at the beginning of the last -century those who were engaged in legitimate business on western waters -were not considered as holding a respectable social position. "This -voyage performed," we read in _The Navigator_ for 1818, "which generally -occupies three month ... the trader returns [from New Orleans] doubly -invigorated, and enabled to enlarge his vessel and cargo, he sets out -again; this is repeated, until perhaps getting tired of this mode of -merchandizing, he sets himself down in some town or village as a -wholesale merchant, druggist or apothecary, practicing physician, or -lawyer, or something else, that renders him respectable in the eyes of -his neighbors, where he lives amidst wealth and comforts the remainder -of his days--nor is it by any known that his fortune was founded in the -paddling of a canoe, or trafficking in apples, cider-royal, -peach-brandy, whiskey, &c. &c. &c." - -This refers to the early trader; the house-boater of the later day was -not, primarily, engaged in any trade, though many were. Nearly every -kind of a shop known on land has floated on the Ohio. As a class, -however, the proprietors of these craft were, and are, fishermen. "Queer -people you meet on the river," wrote a correspondent who recently -journeyed down the Ohio by canoe, "but perhaps the most interesting of -all are the 'shanty-boat' tribe. We had had a long, hard morning's pull -against head winds and had made little progress, were behind time and -were discouraged. We were passing the lone shanty-boat of a river -tradesman, tied up on shore, waiting for the wind 'to lay.' Chris hailed -him and asked leave to boil coffee on his stove. I expected a rebuff, -but the trader cordially invited us to 'walk in, gentlemen; you seem -ruther fagged. Set down, set down. I seen you uns a passin' us above -t'other day, but this old tortus runs night and day and gits ahead of -the rabbit sometimes while you're taking a nap.' And so the loquacious -old chap ran on. Glad of a rest, we stayed and drifted with him some ten -or twelve miles that night, bunking on a pile of bags in a corner. To be -sure the wily old fox turned our visit to his profit. He proved to us -plainly, by river logic, what our experience had already shown--that we -had certain cumbrous baggage that ought to be disposed of, and he bought -it of us for a song, 'jest to accommodate you uns, you know; I'm allers -a-buyin' a lot o' no-account truck, jest to help folks out.' Very -likely! But the information he gave proved so valuable, his bacon tasted -so good, that night spent with him drifting and resting was so -pleasant--what did I care if it was all a scheme to strike a trade. Long -into the night I sat with him as he steered his clumsy craft and shouted -his queerly quavered songs. Finally he lapsed into silence. The frogs -took up the song and had a monopoly, except for the gurgling of the -water and the distant baying of a hound. I was just ready to feel -romantic and silently soliloquizing the moon, when I heard a loud -whisper from the other end of the shanty-boat, as one of the trader's -young hopefuls said to his brother, 'Say, Bill, let's take the skiff and -go ashore and steal that hound barking.' 'Shet up, you young rascal,' -said the old man, never losing his good humor. 'You've got dogs enough -a'ready to start a Noah's Ark. What do yer want with any more? You roll -in.' Many kinds of people inhabit these shanty-boats. These boats are -built at a cost of from twenty dollars up to two or three hundred. The -ground to build on is free. There is no rent to pay. There is change of -air and scenery. One house serves for winter and summer residences--the -current and towboat carrying you back and forth. You can always be -traveling, yet always at home. Your livelihood is gained sometimes one -way, sometimes another--who questions? A man builds such a home, puts -his family aboard; or, if he has no family, gets a cook if he -chooses.... Then he drifts lazily during the summer, fishing, trapping, -stealing and making his way to warmer climes as winter approaches. Far -down at New Orleans or elsewhere, spring finds him and he sells out to -return, or tows back with some fleet of barges, to begin again. Or a -trader will load up at Pittsburg or Cincinnati with dry-goods, trinkets, -queensware, everything, and make his way trading with the farmers or -trappers, until at the end of the journey he has a rich store of -bartered goods to sell ere his northward return. They are a careless, -happy-go-lucky tribe of migrants--caring little for the morrow. 'Do you -see this little chap?' said a big rough-bearded fellow to me one day, as -he squeezed between his knees a fat, freckled, chuggy, grinning little -cub. 'Well, he's five year old, born on the river, and he likes it -better'n any other place. Don't you, hey, Johnny?' And so they eat -their day's food, sleep in their floating homes, saw their old broken -fiddles or pump wheezy accordeons, and are happy. Or sometimes as we -often saw, an honest mechanic will build a cozy floating house, furnish -it in comfortable style and moor it near his factory, saving rent and -owning his home." - -Several significant social changes wrought by the Civil War have been -noted; it put an end to the days of the "coasting" trade of the -flat-boats and to the "deckoneering" of white men. It also marked the -passing of the old gambling days in the steam-boat business. The three -previous decades were famous days for a swarm of recognized banditti -which may be said to have almost lived upon the Ohio-Mississippi boats. -The opulence and chivalry of Southern planters who traveled largely by -steam-packets made gambling a source of immense revenue to such as -always won. - -It was always cards, and the steamboat is the ideal hunting-ground of -the gambler and card-sharp; here is money, and those who have it are -utterly at leisure. Back in the days of the third generation of -rivermen, gambling, like drinking intoxicants, was not a social -disgrace; many men of national reputation "sat in" on games of chance -which are now outlawed. In such a social atmosphere and in such -environment little wonder that the river-boats gained most unenviable -reputation, until at last boat-owners were compelled to prohibit all -such pastimes. Gamblers at times took possession of steamers and -captains and clerks had almost no way to protect the passengers. It is -said that sometimes as high as ten thousand dollars and more has changed -hands in one night in games played between sporting men and rich -planters. - -The story of one gambler's night is probably typical of the roughest of -this phase, with the exception of actual murder which was, all too -frequently, the climax of a night's gaming. - -"Coming up on the 'Sultana' one night," a gambler leaves record, "there -were about twenty-five of the toughest set of men as cabin passengers I -believe I ever met. They were on their way to Napoleon, Ark. which at -that time was a great town and known as the jumping off place. In those -days these Napoleon fellows were looked upon as cut-throats and robbers, -and thought nothing of murdering a fellow simply to make them appear big -men with their gang. I had for a partner a man named Canada Bill, as -game a party as ever strode the deck of a steamboat, and one of the -shrewdest gamblers I ever encountered. As soon as supper was over this -gang of Arkansas toughs got in the cabin and of course wanted to play -cards. Bill had opened up business in the main hall, and a great crowd -had gathered about him. I saw that most of these devils had been -drinking, and gave Bill the nod, which he of course understood. He only -played a short while and left the game, pretending to be broke. Then we -fixed it up that I should do the playing and he would watch out for any -trouble. Well, the result was I got about everything the twenty-five men -had, including their watches, and beat some seven or eight other -passengers. The men all took it apparently good-natured at the time, but -as the night wore on and they kept drinking from their private flasks I -made a sneak to my room and changed my clothes. By the back stairs I -slipped down into the kitchen and sent a man after my partner. I had -blackened my face, and looked like one of the negro rousters. I only had -time to warn him, when a terrible rumpus upstairs told me the jig was -up, and with their whiskey to aid them they were searching for me, and -if they caught me it would be good day to me. I paid the cooks to keep -mum, and Bill made himself scarce. They had their guns out, and were -kicking in the state-room doors hunting for me. Some of them came down -on deck, and were walking back and forth by me, cursing and threatening -vengeance. I heard one of them ask a roustabout if he had noticed a -well-dressed man down on deck lately. He of course had not, as Bill had -gone back up the kitchen stairs, and with these devils was raising Cain, -looking for me, and my disguise had not been discovered under the -darkness of the night. The boat was plowing her way along up the coast. -The stevedores were shouting to the darkies, hurrying them along with -the freight for a landing soon to be reached. The boat's whistle blew, -and soon she was heading in for the shore. A crowd of these fellows -were waiting for me, as they suspected I would try and get off. They -were looking, mind you, for a well-dressed man. As soon as the boat -landed about ten of them, guns in hand, ran out over the stage to shore -and closely scanned the face of every person that came off. There was a -stock of plows to be discharged from the boat's cargo, and noting the -fact, I shouldered one and with it followed the long line of 'coons' -amid the curses of the mates, and fairly flew past these men who were -hunting me. I kept on up the high bank and over the levee, and when I -threw my plow in the pile with the others, made off for the cotton -fields and laid flat on my back until the boat got again under way, and -the burning pine in the torches on deck had been extinguished. It was a -close call, I can assure you. Bill met me at Vicksburg the next day and -brought the boodle, which we divided. He said the crowd took lights and -searched the boat's hold for me after we left the landing. Bill must -have played his part well, as he told me afterward that they never -suspicioned him. Yes, I could tell many of my exploits. The river was -for the greater portion of my gambling career my strongest hold. But -it's all over now. Even should a man strike a big winning, there are -always too many smart Alecks about, and you would have to whack up with -so many that there would be little left for the winner." - -The days of gambling on the river boats are not altogether gone but the -days of the inland-water pirate are days of the distant past. In the -time of the keel- and flat-boat the Ohio, and its tributaries to a -certain extent, were infested with gangs of cut-throats and robbers -whose exploits challenge the pen of a Scott. In certain portions of the -river boatmen never dared to tie up at night, but kept their craft -fairly in the swiftest current in order to hasten by these haunts. It -was the common tradition among boatmen that their craft floated faster -at night than in daylight; whatever the ground for this belief, it is -certain the fastest current was all too slow if night found a -_voyageur_, for instance, in the neighborhood of the notorious Hurricane -Island between Illinois and Kentucky. Near here one Wilson, according -to the Kentucky historian Collins, fitted up a "home" in famed -Cave-in-Rock on the Illinois shore. This great cavern measures two -hundred feet in length, eighty in width, the entrance being twenty-five -feet high. Wilson's "place" was known as "Liquor Vault and House of -Entertainment." "Its very novelty attracted the attention of the boats -descending the river, and the crews generally landed for refreshments -and amusements. Idle characters after awhile gathered here, and it soon -became infamous for its licentiousness and blasphemy. Wilson ... formed -a band of robbers, and laid plans of the deepest villainy...."[74] - -Some of the gang escaped when they found public vengeance aroused -against them, but some were taken prisoners; Wilson himself lost his -life at the hands of one of his own gang, tempted by the large reward -offered for his head. Not long after, in the upper part of this -mysterious cavern, were found sixty skeletons, confirming the tale of -systematic confidence, betrayal, and murder. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THE NAVIGATION OF THE OHIO - - -The neglect of the Ohio River by the United States government cannot be -better suggested than by comparing the expenditures on that river with -the appropriations for the great land thoroughfare--the Cumberland Road. -In thirty-two years (1806-1838) the government spent $6,823,559.52 on -the Cumberland Road. In seventy-five years (1827-1902) $6,752,042.04 was -appropriated for the Ohio River and much of that was portioned out to -the Mississippi, Missouri, and Arkansas. - -It is impossible to determine with absolute assurance when and where the -first prominent movement looking toward the improvement of the Ohio -River originated. With the burst of population into the West came the -realization that the great waterway was a priceless possession. - -It would be interesting to know in detail the actual condition of the -Ohio, say at the dawning of the eighteenth century. That it was greatly -clogged with sunken logs and protruding reefs and bars, of course, goes -without saying. Perhaps the average stage of water was less than it is -today; and yet the vast amount of water that stood in the tangled -forests and open swamps and meadows drained off so slowly as to maintain -a more uniform stage of water than is true in our day of alternate flood -and drought. If less water flowed in the Ohio's bed a century ago the -volume was at least more uniform than it is today. - -As early as January 1817 a resolution was passed by the Legislature of -Ohio inviting the cooeperation of Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and -Indiana for the improvement of their great waterway. Virginia, -Pennsylvania, and Kentucky promptly responded, and in 1819 a preliminary -examination was made by General Blackburn of Virginia, General John -Adair of Kentucky, General E. W. Tupper of Ohio and Walter Lowrie, Esq. -of Pennsylvania who made reports to their several legislatures under the -date of November 2, 1819. But during the generation following, each of -these commonwealths became absorbed in internal improvements. Ohio, for -instance, between 1819 and 1844, built seven hundred and sixty-five -miles of canals costing nearly ten millions and almost as many miles of -turnpike at a cost of four millions. Ohio also built seventy miles of -railway, and in 1836 began to improve her most valuable river, the -Muskingum, for slackwater navigation. Thus there was reason enough why -Ohio could not undertake the improvement of the Ohio River. Her sister -states were equally engaged with internal affairs, and though some steps -were taken toward surveying the Ohio along the shores of several states -the matter was left, as should have been the case, to the general -Government. - -This meant a long delay, but at last, in 1825, the great work was -undertaken; since 1836 there has been a continual struggle to compel the -Government to do its duty by the Ohio River and its great commerce. In -1837 the Government commenced a system of surveys and an improvement of -the low-water channels by means of riprap stone dams, arranged so as to -prevent the spread of the water by guiding and maintaining it in -comparatively narrow channels. The work was put under the direction of -Captain Sanders of the War Department. This system was continued at -intervals until 1844, when, the appropriation being exhausted, the work -suddenly ceased, not to be resumed until 1866. - -Something of the difficulties of the old engineers may be estimated from -the records left by them concerning the various obstructions in the Ohio -River. "Thirty years ago," wrote an engineer in 1866, "there were -considerable tracts of woods abounding the stream ... forming dangerous -obstructions to navigation. Gradually, since that period, the number of -settlers along the river valley has greatly increased, and the bottom -lands ... have been cleared; so that comparatively few trees remain that -are liable to fall into the stream. And the same is true of most of the -principal tributaries. I refer to this to show the probability that when -the present snags and logs are removed, a slight expenditure annually -will keep the river clear of this character of obstructions." The snags -and logs of generations had been almost untouched by the -government--"left to the uncertain and unpaid-for attention of private -individuals." The plan now (1866) to rid the valley entirely of these -great impediments to navigation marks a new era in the history of the -Ohio. It was found, upon examination, that in the six hundred odd miles -between Pittsburg and Louisville there were seventy-five separate points -where there were snags, forty-nine "logs and loggy places," twenty-eight -wrecks and seventy-two "sunken boats &c." Between Louisville and Cairo -there were some sixty additional obstructions of similar nature--a total -of two hundred and eighty-five obstruction points. A schedule of these -obstructions, between Pittsburg and Wheeling for instance, will be found -interesting. The asterisks refer to obstructions in or near the channel -at comparatively low water: - - _Distance_ - _from_ _Snags,_ _Wrecks, etc._ _Remarks._ - _Pittsburg._ _etc._ - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- - 2-1/2 Wreck. In the right channel of - Brunot's island below the - point on the left side. - - 3 Wreck. Same side as last, half mile - below. - - 3-1/3 Sunken barge. Left channel Brunot's island, - first below point. - - 4 2 wrecks.* Sunken in main channel near - old pork-house; one of them - has lately washed ashore. - - 9-3/4 Sunken barge. In shore on left side in way - of good landing; above - Hamilton's house, on Neville - island, a large coal barge - has stranded just below, but - may be gotten off. - - 13 2 wrecks.* Above Boyle's landing; first, - on right side, across - channel, is very dangerous; - second, in above, left. - - 15 Wreck. Near Shousetown, left side, - close in shore. - - 16 Snag. Opposite Sewickley, a little - below Boyle's landing. - - 16-1/2 Sunken barge. Right shore below Sewickley, - in way of boats at high - water. - - 18-1/2 Stranded Coal barge stranded, Logtown - barge.* bar, below Economy. - - 19-1/2 Sunken barge.* In channel of two boats, - Logtown creek. - - 21 Snag. Below foot of Crow island, - right side. - - 23-2/3 Snag. One-third mile above Freedom, - Penn., right side. - - 24 Snag. Close in shore at Freedom. - - 24-1/4 Snag. In main channel, very large, - below landing. - - 30-1/3 Sunken boat. Close in to right; not - dangerous below Raccoon - creek. - - 30-1/4 Sunken boat. In channel below last; - dangerous. - - 33-1/2 Snag. Opposite Industry, below Safe - Harbor landing. - - 33-2/3 Sunken boat.* Left side below last. - - 41 Snag. Sunken barge. Left channel of Line island - there is a snag. - - 42-1/2 Wreck. Wreck of steamer Winchester, - burnt, left channel of - Babb's island, Va., shore; - not much in the way. - - 49-3/4 Sunken boat.* In channel foot of Baker's - island; dangerous. - - 63 Snag. Foot of Brown's island; old. - - 63-1/4 Snag. Center of River, head of cable - eddy. - - 67 Wreck and Left channel, pier Pittsburg - cofferdam. and Steubenville railroad - bridge. - - 67-1/2 Sunken barge. Left side above Steubenville; - dangerous. - - 68 Sunken barge. Opposite Steubenville landing, - center of river. - - 70-3/4 Snags.* Several in the vicinity of the - Virginia and Ohio cross - creeks. - - 73-1/4 Sunken boats.* Two, right side, above - Wellsburg, Va. - - 76 Sunken boats.* Left, below block-house run. - - 76-1/2 Snag. Right side, below last; - should come out. - - 78-3/4 Wreck. Old, opposite brick house, - close on left shore. - - 81-1/2 Snags. Two, right of channel, above - Warren. - - 81-3/4 Snag.* Old, right side, near - white frame house. - - 83 Ice breaker. Head of Pike island, at coal - shaft. - - 84 Sunken Edge of bar, not dangerous, - barge.* opposite brick house. - - 87 Logs, Left and center, bottom of - etc. river, one mile below - Burlington. - - 88 Sunken boat. Sunken ferry-boat, close in - right side, Martinsville. - - 89-1/4 Sunken At ship-yard, Wheeling, - barge.* dangerous.[75] - -Captain Sanders, in the forties, had estimated that it cost about -fifteen dollars to remove each ordinary snag from the Ohio. In the -Mississippi the roots of snags could be thrown into the deep pools where -they would soon become buried in mud; but on the Ohio such pools were -not frequent and it was usually necessary to carry the roots ashore and -destroy them with gunpowder. Sanders reported that up to September 1837 -there had been three thousand three hundred and three obstructions -removed from the Ohio. In 1839 there had been about ten thousand -removed; at which time the work ceased. Some of the snags were six feet -in diameter at the butt and over one hundred feet in length. In a report -in 1835, on Mississippi improvement, Lieutenant Bowman stated: "It is a -well-established fact that snags do not move far from where they first -fall in, the weight of the earth attached to their roots serving as an -anchor. It is also well established that trees which once float seldom -form snags. Admitting this, it is sufficiently evident that if the banks -are once cleared, there can be no subsequent formation of snags." - -Second only to such obstructions was the "Falls of the Ohio," the one -spot in all its course of nearly a thousand miles where steamboat -navigation was impossible until the construction of a canal, which -followed the route of the ancient portage path two and one-half miles in -length between the present sites of Louisville and Shipping-port, -Kentucky. In this distance the Ohio makes a fall of about twenty-five -feet caused by a ledge of rocks extending across the river. Steamboating -is impracticable here save only when the river is at flood-tide. - -A company was incorporated by the legislature of Kentucky to cut a canal -around the falls in 1804, but nothing was done until January 12, 1825, -when the Louisville and Portland Canal Company was organized, with a -capital of $600,000. The stock was taken by about seventy persons, -residing in Kentucky, Ohio, Missouri, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New -York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, the United States holding 2,335 -shares, and 1,665 issued to private individuals. Many difficulties -attended the construction of the work, which was not completed until -December 5, 1830. During the year 1831 406 steamboats, 46 keel-boats, -and 357 flat-boats, measuring 76,323 tons, passed through the locks.[76] - -The venture was highly successful from a financial point of view thanks -to outrageous tolls that were charged. A twenty-four thousand dollar -boat of three hundred tons running between Cincinnati and St. Louis -expended in tolls in the Louisville and Portland Canal in five years a -sum equal to her entire cost. "A boat of one hundred and ninety tons, -owned at Cincinnati, has been in the habit of making her trips from this -city to St. Louis and back, in two weeks, and has passed the canal -_four_ times in one month. Her toll, each trip, at $60 per ton, was -$114, and her toll for one month was $456, or at the rate of $5,472 per -year, which is nearly half the value of such a boat."[77] - -From 1831 to 1843, 13,756 steamboats passed through the Canal, and 4,701 -keeland flat-boats, with a total tonnage of two and a half million -tons, netting a toll of $1,227,625.20.[78] On the stock owned by the -United States a cash dividend (to 1843) of $258,378 was earned--$23,378 -more than the Government's original investment. Other stockholders fared -equally well from this systematic highway robbery. Such a drain on the -public purse as was the Louisville-Portland Canal in the "good old days" -would not be countenanced a moment today. The canal was rebuilt and -enlarged in 1872, and in 1874 it passed into the control of the United -States by the authority of Congress. - -Following is a synopsis of the expenditures on account of the canal -previous to June 11, 1874, the date when the United States assumed -complete control and management: - - "Expended by the canal company on original canal. $1,019,277.09 - - Expended by the canal company on subsequent - improvements and construction 120,000.00 - - Expended by the canal company for enlargement of - canal 1,825,403.00 - - Expended by the United States for enlargement of - canal, from appropriations 1,463,200.00 - - Expended by the United States from funds derived - from toll collections 150,000.00 - -------------- - Total cost $4,577,880.09 - - -_Cost of the canal to the United States._ - - Original stock $ 233,500 - - Total appropriations for enlargement 1,463,200 - - Canal bonds paid 1,172,000 - ------------- - Gross cost $2,868,700 - - Amount of dividends paid by the canal company to the - United States 257,778 - ------------- - Net cost $2,610,922"[79] - -The following table shows the traffic, in tons, of the canal since 1886: - - _Articles._ _1886 to 1901_ _Fiscal year_ _Total for 16_ - _inclusive._ _1902._ _years._ - - Coal 22,365,240-3/4 1,019,947-1/2 23,385,188-1/4 - Salt 124,363-3/4 5,760-1/4 130,124 - Oil 60,944-1/4 1,211-1/2 62,155-3/4 - Whiskey 21,442-1/4 1,117 22,559-1/4 - Tobacco 90,270-1/2 1,705 91,975-1/2 - Cotton 140,213 2,299-1/2 142,512-1/2 - Lumber 3,401,021 85,305-1/2 3,486,326-1/2 - Corn and wheat 151,621 5,933-1/2 157,554-1/2 - Iron: ore and - manufactured 518,642-1/2 34,634-1/2 553,277 - Steel rails 685,182 183,016 868,198 - Produce 84,396-1/2 4,864 89,260-1/2 - Hay and straw 198,523-1/2 6,224-1/4 204,747-3/4 - Flour 19,830-1/2 510-1/2 20,341 - Stock 98,954 4,233-3/4 103,187-3/4 - Sugar and molasses 125,746-3/4 11,022-1/2 136,769-1/4 - Staves and shingles 475,310-3/4 34,405-1/2 509,716-1/4 - Cement 40,568-3/4 835-3/4 41,404-1/2 - Miscellaneous 1,319,552 69,518-1/2 1,389,070-1/2 - -------------- ------------- -------------- - Total 29,921,823-3/4 1,472,545 31,394,368-3/4[80] - -Since 1825, when the first step toward improving the Ohio was taken, the -general plan has been to secure additional low-water depths at islands -and bars by the construction of low dams across chutes, by building -dikes where the river was wide and shallow, by dredging and by the -removal of rocks and snags. Various plans of improvement were seriously -mooted. Among these Charles Ellet's plan of supplying the Ohio with a -regular flow of water by means of reservoirs was strongly urged upon the -Government about 1857.[81] Near the same time Herman Haupt proposed a -plan of improvement by means of a system of longitudinal mounds and -cross dams so arranged as to make a canal on one side of the river some -two hundred feet wide, or a greater width, and reducing the grade to -nearly an average of six inches per mile between Pittsburg and -Louisville.[82] A few years later Alonzo Livermore secured a patent for -a combination of dams and peculiar open chutes through the dams, -arranged so as to retard the flow and lessen the velocity of the water -from higher to lower pools without interfering with the free passage of -the boats through the chutes; chutes were substituted for locks. - -In 1866 the condition of the river improvements and the great change in -the river trade--which loudly called for improved methods--is tersely -summed up by Engineer W. Milnor Roberts as follows: - -"For the purpose intended, namely, the making of an improved low-water -navigation, looking to a depth not exceeding two and one-half feet, the -general plan designed, and in part executed, under the superintendence -of Captain Sanders, was judicious; and if all the proposed dams had been -finished in accordance with his plans there would have been a better -navigation, especially for low-water craft, than there has been during -the twenty-two years which have elapsed since the works were left, many -of them, in a partly finished condition. Some of these wing dams, as -might reasonably have been anticipated, have, in the course of years, -been gradually injured by the action of floods, and in some cases -portions of the stone have been removed by persons without authority, -for their own private purposes. It is important to note the change which -has taken place in the coal trade, not only on account of its great and -increasing magnitude, but on account of the altered system upon which it -is conducted. Formerly, and at the time when the riprap dams were -constructed, the coal business was carried on by means of floating coal -barges, drawing at most four feet water, which were not assisted in -their descending navigation by steamers, and which never returned, but -were sold as lumber at their point of destination. The increasing demand -down the river for the Pittsburg coal, the increase in the value of -lumber, and the general systematizing of the trade, all combine to -revolutionize the mode of transportation. It is now [1866] carried on by -means of large barges, each containing ten to twelve, some as high as -sixteen thousand bushels of coal, which are arranged in fleets, -generally of ten or twelve barges, towed by powerful steamers built and -employed for that special purpose. Enough of these barges are owned by -the coal operators to enable them to leave the loaded barges at their -various points of coal delivery, down the Ohio, or on the Mississippi -and other rivers, while they return to Pittsburg with a corresponding -fleet of empty barges, to be again loaded, ready for the next coal-boat -freshet. As these barges, when loaded draw from six feet to eight feet -of water, it is obvious that they can only descend when there is what is -now called a 'coal-boat rise' in the river--that is, a flood giving not -less than eight feet water in the channels. - -"This coal shipment from Pittsburg, which in 1844 only amounted to about -2,500,000 bushels per annum, now amounts to about 40,000,000 bushels per -annum. I have, in the special report mentioned, referred to the -construction of railroads as having affected the business which was -formerly carried on the Ohio river during the comparatively low water. -The lower the water, the higher the rates of freight and passenger -travel, when there was no railroad competition; but now, when the prices -on the river during very low water approach the railroad prices, the -freight, whenever it can, will of course take the railroad, on account -of the saving of time and greater certainty of delivery; and thousands -of passengers always prefer the railroad to the river. But in this -connection it is proper to note that since 1844 a large local business -between various points on the Ohio, both freight and passenger, has -gradually sprung up and become important, which scarcely had existence -at that time. The population along the river and in the counties in the -several States bordering upon it, and tributary to the river business, -has wonderfully increased. So that although a portion of the river -business has been attracted to the railroad, the business of steamboats, -as a whole, independently of the coal trade, has become much greater -than it was in 1844. Meanwhile the coal business has more than kept pace -with the increase of population and wealth along the Ohio, in -consequence of a steadily augmenting demand for the Pittsburg coal on -the Mississippi and other western rivers."[83] - -The method of inland navigation by means of slackwater formed by dams -passable by locks was early proposed for the Ohio River after the first -experiment made of this method on the Green River, Kentucky, in 1834-36 -by Chief Engineer Roberts. The successful operation of this system on -the Monongahela and Muskingum Rivers exerted a powerful influence in its -favor, and for many years its adoption on the Ohio was urged patiently -though unsuccessfully. At last the important matter was advocated with -success, and in 1885 the first of a series of locks and movable dams was -erected at Davis Island, four and one-half miles below Pittsburg. The -work now is rapidly being completed, the plan being to give a minimum -depth of six feet of water in the Ohio by means of thirty-eight dams and -locks between Pittsburg and the mouth of the Great Miami, below -Cincinnati. This form of improvement will of course be extended in time -to the mouth of the Ohio. - -From past experience with dams in the river, the cost of locks is -estimated as follows: - -For an average lock of six hundred feet length and one hundred and ten -feet width, with navigable pass of six hundred feet length, and with -weirs of two hundred and forty feet available openings, all arranged to -provide six feet navigable depth in the shoalest parts of the improved -channels of the pools, with an average lift at each dam of seven and -two-tenths feet: - - Lock, including cofferdam, excavations, foundations, - masonry, timber, and ironwork of fixed and movable - parts, power plant, machinery, and accessories $350,000 - - Navigable pass; same items as above 150,000 - - Weirs, piers, abutments; same items as above 170,000 - - Miscellaneous, including local surveys, purchase of - sites, embanking, retaining, riprapping, and paving - of banks, lock employees' houses, storehouses, - other buildings, dredging of approaches to locks - and passes, dredging of shoals and removal of - obstructions in pools, engineering work of - location, construction, and inspection, office - work of engineering and disbursements, and other - contingencies 200,000 - -------- - Total $870,000 - -But the extra width and height of lock esplanade filling, extra length -of weirs, and extra channel dredging, incident to the individual -locations of the dams, increase the above estimates to final totals of -from nine hundred and fifty thousand dollars to one million, one hundred -thousand dollars at the individual dams. - -The expenditures of the Government on the Ohio River from 1827 to 1902 -are as follows: - - _Act of Congress._ _Appropriation._ _Remarks._ - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- - March 3, 1827, $30,000.00 - March 3, 1835, 50,000.00 - July 2, 1836, 20,000.00 - March 3, 1837, 60,000.00 - July 7, 1838, 50,000.00 - June 11, 1844, 100,000.00 - March 3, 1847, 6,479.25 - August 30, 1852, 90,000.00 - June 23, 1866, 172,000.00 Allotment of money already - appropriated, for improving - Mississippi, Missouri, - Arkansas, and Ohio Rivers. - June 23, 1866, 80,000.00 Allotment for snag boats and - apparatus for improving - western rivers. - March 2, 1867, 100,000.00 - July 25, 1868, 85,000.00 Allotment for repair, - preservation, extension, - and completion of - river and harbor works. - July 11, 1870, 50,000.00 - March 3, 1871, 50,000.00 - June 10, 1872, 200,000.00 - March 3, 1873, 200,000.00 - June 23, 1874, 150,000.00 - March 3, 1875, 300,000.00 - August 14, 1876, 175,000.00 - June 18, 1878, 300,000.00 - June 18, 1878, 50,000.00 Harbor of refuge at or near - Cincinnati. - March 3, 1879, 250,000.00 - June 14, 1880, 250,000.00 - March 3, 1881, 350,000.00 - March 21, 1882, 100,000.00 Continuing work on Davis - Island dam. - August 2, 1882, 350,000.00 - August 2, 1882, 16,000.00 Harbor of refuge near - Cincinnati, Ohio. - July 5, 1884, 600,000.00 - July 5, 1884, 17,000.00 Same. - August 5, 1886, 375,000.00 - August 11, 1888, 380,000.00 - September 19, 1890, 300,000.00 - January 19, 1891, 2,128.87 Relief of Stubbs & Lackey. - Treasury settlement No. 2593. - July 13, 1892, 360,000.00 - August 18, 1894, 250,000.00 - June 3, 1896, 250,000.00 - July 1, 1898, 15,000.00 Allotment for restoring levee - and banks of Ohio River at - or near Shawneetown, Ill. - March 3, 1899, 375,000.00 - June 13, 1902, 359,000.00 Amount appropriated, $400,000; - $41,000 being for Falls of - Ohio River, at Louisville, Ky. - ------------- - Total, $6,565,608.12 - - - Total of appropriations, 1827-1902, $6,565,608.12 - Total of allotments, 1827-1898, 352,000.00 - Received from sales, 1866-1893, 7,790.50 - ----------- $6,925,398.62 - Appropriations not drawn, 1827, 1852, 5,023.47 - Allotments not drawn, 1866, 1868, 43,134.60 - Returned by Treasury settlements, 30.07 - Amounts transferred to other works, 125,168.44 - -------------- 173,356.58 - ------------- - Total, $6,752,042.04[84] - - - - -FOOTNOTES: - - -[1] _Transactions American Philosophical Society_ (new series), vol. iv, -pp. 369-370. - -[2] Bonnecamps's journal was accompanied by a MS. map drawn by himself -upon which were marked all the places mentioned in his journal of this -expedition (1749). This map was preserved in the archives of the -Department of the Marine with his journal but disappeared between 1892 -and 1894 and its location today is unknown. - -[3] Warren, Pennsylvania; O. H. Marshall's "Celoron's Expedition," -_Magazine of American History_, vol. 2, no. 3, (March 1878). - -[4] _Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents_, vol. lxix, p. 165. - -[5] _Historic Highways of America_, vol. iii, pp. 71-72. - -[6] Brokenstraw Creek. - -[7] Celoron's Journal in Darlington's _Fort Pitt_, p. 17. - -[8] Celoron's Journal in Darlington's _Fort Pitt_, pp. 18-19. - -[9] _Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents_, vol. lxix, p. 165. - -[10] Celoron's Journal in Darlington's _Fort Pitt_, p. 21. - -[11] _Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents_, vol. lxix, p. 167. - -[12] For a sketch of Indian occupation of the Allegheny Valley see -_Historic Highways of America_, vol. iii, pp. 59-62. - -[13] Franklin, Pennsylvania. - -[14] Celoron's Journal in Darlington's _Fort Pitt_, p. 24. - -[15] _Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents_, vol. lxix, p. 169. - -[16] Celoron's Journal in Darlington's _Fort Pitt_, p. 25. - -[17] _Id._, p. 25. Parkman places Attique on the site of Kittanning, -Pennsylvania (See Parkman's _Montcalm and Wolfe_, vol. i, p. 45). This -view is supported by Lambing (_Catholic Historical Researches_, January -1886, pp. 105-107, note 6). - -[18] Celoron's Journal in Darlington's _Fort Pitt_, p. 26. - -[19] This letter, dated August 6, with two others, all bearing the -signature of Celoron, has been preserved in the archives of the State of -Pennsylvania. For copy of translation see Rupp's _Early History of -Western Pennsylvania_, p. 36. - -[20] Queen Alliquippa. - -[21] Celoron's Journal in Darlington's _Fort Pitt_, p. 27. - -[22] Toner's _Journal of Colonel George Washington, 1754_, pp. 157-158. -In this article it was demanded that the English should not return -across the Alleghenies _for one year_. - -[23] Shenango, in English accounts. - -[24] O. H. Marshall's 14 Celoron's Expedition,' _Magazine of American -History_, vol. 2, no. 3, (March 1878). - -[25] Celoron's Journal in Darlington's _Fort Pitt_, p. 39. - -[26] The location of the burial places of Celoron's leaden plates as -given in Darlington's _Fort Pitt_, which would naturally be considered -authoritative, are inexplicably contradictory. - -[27] Celoron's Journal in Darlington's _Fort Pitt_, p. 40. - -[28] _Id._, p. 40. - -[29] _Id._, pp. 40, 41. - -[30] St. Yotoc was probably a corruption of Scioto. Father Bonnecamps -calls it Sinhioto. It was near the present site of Alexandria, Ohio, at -the mouth of the Scioto River. - -[31] Riviere Blanche was a name given by the French to several streams -which contained unusually clear waters. From distances mentioned this -was probably the Little Miami. Dunn (_History of Indiana_, p. 65, note -1) thinks it was the present White Oak Creek. - -[32] Riviere a la Roche (Rocky River) was the present Great Miami. It -was called the "Rocky River" because of its numerous rapids. - -[33] _Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents_, vol. lxix, p. 183. - -[34] Celoron's Journal in Darlington's _Fort Pitt_, p. 52. - -[35] _Historic Highways of America_, vol. vi, ch. i. - -[36] _The St. Clair Papers_, vol. ii, p. 1. - -[37] _Id._, p. 3, note 1. - -[38] _Id._, vol. ii, p. 4, note. - -[39] _Id._, p. 5, note. - -[40] _Id._, p. 5, note. Legally John Emerson had no rights northwest of -the Ohio River; but as an exponent of the American idea he had a sort of -justification; see Professor Frederick J. Turner's studies, _American -Historical Review_, vol. 1, pp. 70-87, 251-268. - -[41] _The MS. Harmar Papers_; _St. Clair Papers_, vol. ii, p. 7, note 1. - -[42] The rights to certain lands on the upper Muskingum Valley, where -David Zeisberger had located the Moravian towns in 1773, were vested in -the Moravian Church. Gnadenhutten, Ohio, was, technically, the first -white settlement in Ohio after the French locations along the Lakes. -King's _Ohio_, p. 119. - -[43] Hinsdale's _Old Northwest_ (1888), pp. 290-292. - -[44] _Historic Highways of America_, vol. viii. - -[45] _The Navigator_ (fifth edition), Pittsburg, 1806. - -[46] "Planters are large bodies of trees firmly fixed by their roots in -the bottom of the river, in a perpendicular manner, and appearing no -more than about a foot above the surface of the water in its middling -state. So firmly are they rooted, that the largest boat running against -them, will not move them, but they frequently injure the boat. - -"Sawyers, are likewise bodies of trees fixed less perpendicularly in the -river, and rather of a less size, yielding to the pressure of the -current, disappearing and appearing by turns above water, similar to the -motion of a saw-mill saw, from which they have taken their name. - -"Wooden-Islands, are places where by some cause or other, large -quantities of drift wood, has through time, been arrested and matted -together in different parts of the river." - -[47] Harris's _Tour_ (1805), p. 38. - -[48] Harris's _Pittsburgh Business Directory for the year 1837_, pp. -178, 287. - -[49] _Id._, p. 277. - -[50] _The American Pioneer_, vol. ii, p. 271. - -[51] _Historic Highways of America_, vol. i, p. 57. - -[52] See note 55. - -[53] Cassedy's _History of Louisville_, pp. 64-67. - -[54] _American Pioneer_, vol. ii, p. 63. - -[55] _Wisconsin Historical Collections_, vol. iv, p. 183; xii, p. 400; -vii, p. 371. - -[56] An itinerary of the route from New Orleans northward is given in -_The Navigator_ (1817), p. 306. For a description of the journey see -_American Pioneer_, March, 1842. - -[57] _American Pioneer_, vol. ii, pp. 163-164. - -[58] Harris: _Tour_, pp. 30-31; cf. p. 139 where the author states the -historical succession of river craft as: canoe, pirogue, keel-boat, -barge, and ark. - -[59] Interview with William DeForest published in the Cincinnati -_Commercial Gazette_, May, 1883. - -[60] Dr. S. P. Hildreth's _Pioneer History_, p. 205. - -[61] Collins's _History of Kentucky_, vol. ii, pp. 113-114. - -[62] Burner's _Notes_, p. 400. - -[63] Cassedy's _History of Louisville_, p. 64. - -[64] Butler's Journal for October 9, 1785, _The Olden Time_, vol. ii, p. -442. Cf. _Wisconsin Historical Collections_, vol. xi, p. 13, note. - -[65] Harris's _Pittsburgh Business Directory (1837)_, pp. 276-277. - -[66] Harris: _Tour_, p. 43. - -[67] _Id._, pp. 52-53. - -[68] _Id._, pp. 140-141. - -[69] _The Navigator_ (1811), p. 69. - -[70] _The Navigator_, (1811), pp. 31-33. - -[71] The authority for these and many of the following facts is derived -from a _Memorial of the Citizens of Cincinnati to the Congress of the -United States Relative to the Navigation of the Ohio and Mississippi -Rivers_, Cincinnati, 1844. - -[72] Cassedy's _History of Louisville_, pp. 62-63. - -[73] Cassedy's _History of Louisville_, pp. 78-79. - -[74] Collins's _History of Kentucky_, vol. ii. p. 147. - -[75] _Id._, p. 251. - -[76] _House Reports_ 39th Congress, Second Session, Ex. Doc. 56, part 2, -p. 323. - -[77] _Memorial of the Citizens of Cincinnati to the Congress of the -United States_, 1844, p. 39. - -[78] _Id._, p. 38. - -[79] _Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers, U. S. Army_, 1902, -Appendix H. H., p. 1978. - -[80] _Id._, p. 1980. - -[81] _House Records_, 41st Congress, Third Session, Ex. Doc. no. 72, p. -4. - -[82] _Id._, p. 5. - -[83] House Reports 39th Congress, Second Session, Ex. Doc. 56. Part II, -p. 262. - -[84] _Report of the Chief of Engineers U. S. Army_, 1902, Appendix D. -D., p. 1846. - - - * * * * * - - -Transcriber's Notes: - -1. Passages in italics are surrounded by _underscores_. - -2. Obvious errors in spelling and punctuation have been corrected. - -3. Footnotes have been moved to the end of the main text body. - -4. Images have been moved from the middle of a paragraph to the closest -paragraph break. - -5. Certain words use an oe ligature in the original. - -6. For longtitude and latitude, the minutes and seconds are placed as -single quotes within brackets. For example: 38 deg. 47['] 20['']. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Historic Highways of America (Vol. 9), by -Archer Butler Hulbert - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORIC HIGHWAYS OF AMERICA *** - -***** This file should be named 41103.txt or 41103.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/1/1/0/41103/ - -Produced by Greg Bergquist and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -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. Special rules, -set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to -copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to -protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project -Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you -charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you -do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the -rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose -such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and -research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do -practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is -subject to the trademark license, especially commercial -redistribution. - - - -*** START: FULL LICENSE *** - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project -Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at -http://gutenberg.org/license). - - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy -all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. -If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the -terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or -entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement -and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" -or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the -collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an -individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are -located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from -copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative -works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg -are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project -Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by -freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of -this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with -the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by -keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project -Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in -a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check -the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement -before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or -creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project -Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning -the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United -States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate -access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently -whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, -copied or distributed: - -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 www.gutenberg.org/license - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived -from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is -posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied -and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees -or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work -with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the -work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 -through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the -Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or -1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional -terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked -to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the -permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any -word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or -distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than -"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version -posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), -you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a -copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon -request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other -form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided -that - -- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is - owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he - has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the - Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments - must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you - prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax - returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and - sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the - address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to - the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." - -- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or - destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium - and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of - Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any - money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days - of receipt of the work. - -- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set -forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from -both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael -Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the -Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm -collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain -"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or -corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual -property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a -computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by -your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with -your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with -the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a -refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity -providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to -receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy -is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further -opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER -WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO -WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. -If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the -law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be -interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by -the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any -provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance -with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, -promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, -harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, -that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do -or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm -work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any -Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. - - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers -including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists -because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from -people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. -To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 -and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. - - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive -Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at -http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent -permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. -Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered -throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at -809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email -business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact -information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official -page at http://pglaf.org - -For additional contact information: - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To -SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any -particular state visit http://pglaf.org - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. -To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate - - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm -concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared -with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project -Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. - - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. -unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily -keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. - - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: - - http://www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |