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Two Years' Residence, &c. &c.
June 5th, 1820.
As I was much pressed to write to many of my friends in England, to give them my opinion of emigrating to America, and as I promised to write to several, to give them my sentiments of America, and of my situation here; I will now endeavour to give them the best description in my power of our voyage and journey to this place, and how I am now situated, and of my future prospects.
As to the propriety of any person's leaving England, I must decline giving any advice on the subject.
[2] As I was conscious but little information could be conveyed in the short space of a letter to any particular friend, I shall, therefore, present them, (that is, all those who requested me to write to them,) with some extracts from my Journal.
We left Killinghurst about noon, on April 29, and arrived at Portsmouth in the evening. Our party consisted of nine persons, including Mr. C. and a female servant.
30th. Our luggage, in a waggon, arrived at Portsmouth at noon, and we got a permit from the Custom-House, and embarked it on board a vessel for East Cowes, in the Isle
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of Wight, where it arrived in the evening, but too late to enter it at the Custom-House. We slept at East Cowes.May 1st. Entered our luggage at the Custom-House, and were ourselves examined, [3] and afterwards put our luggage on board the brig Resolution, of Newcastle, Captain Clarke. From that time till the 9th, we were employed in procuring provisions and conveniencies for our voyage, and in stowing our luggage, &c. When about noon, the wind and tide being favourable, we sailed from East Cowes; but before we reached the Needles' rocks, the wind and tide both failed, and we cast anchor for a short time; but the wind again rising, we passed them, and before dark got a few miles to the westward. The pilot left us as soon as we had passed the Needles, and so did some friends of the passengers. They gave us three cheers at parting, which was returned by firing a salute with some small arms on board. The same was done at West Cowes, when we heaved our anchor.
The brig Resolution was of five hundred tons, and had seventy-one passengers on board, a small cargo of salt, the luggage of the passengers, to a considerable amount, [4] with the following live stock: a bull, two cows, a calf, three horses, with pigs, dogs, fowls, and ferrets. Mr. Pittis, who chartered the Resolution, with Mr. Edney, his son-in-law, and their families, occupied the cabin, but their young man slept in the fore part of the steerage, with the young men of the other parties. The females of my family, with myself, and some other passengers, occupied the hind part of the steerage, divided into ten separate births, with two bed-places in each birth; they were six feet square, and about five feet nine inches high.
l0th. In the afternoon, part of the coast of Dorsetshire in sight.
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11th. A great swell of the tide, and much sea-sickness on board; Berry-Head in Devonshire in sight in the morning, and land near Plymouth seen in the evening.
12th. Land seen in the morning, the last we saw of England; as the wind was north and north-west we stood to the southward, and it prevented our touching [5] at the Land's End, as our captain intended.
13th. We supposed ourselves opposite to the Land's End about noon.
15th. A good wind from the south-east, but the ship rolling much during the night; most of the passengers got but little rest. Weather fine, but cold.
16th. Being Sunday, two of the passengers read some chapters from the Testament, and a sermon.
22d. A good shower of rain, just as we had got our bedding on deck to air it. In the evening, I observed, for the first time, the water at the bows of the vessel to look like sparks of fire.
23d. Being nearly in the latitude of the Western Isles, many on board were on the look-out for them, in the hopes of getting some fish and fruit, and sending letters to England; but we were disappointed, as we saw nothing of them.
24th. The ship's carpenter tried a girdle [6] made of tin, and water tight, called a life-preserver; he found he could not sink, but at the same time he could not make any way in the sea with it on.
25th. Early in the morning we got sight of the island of St. Mary's; it was seen at a great distance. We had seen no land since the 12th, when we last saw the coast of Cornwall. In the afternoon, we passed the island 15 or 18 miles to the north of us, so we did not get any fruit, to the great disappointment of many on board.
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27th. The sea ran high, and once cleared the fore-part of the vessel of every thing that was moveable. When the waves broke over the deck, some of the passengers generally got a wetting, which caused a hearty laugh from those who escaped.
29th. At noon, by observation, we were in latitude 33 deg. 58 min. north, which is three degrees south of Cape Henry, at the entrance of Cheasepeake Bay, to which we were bound. The weather warm, though not more so than a fine May-day in [7] England, although we were upwards of a thousand miles south of it.
30th. Some of the passengers bathed, till one of them got stung in the leg by a sea-nettle, or what the sailors called a Portuguese man of war; he was in great agony, but by rubbing it with vinegar, the pain abated.
June 6th. There were four ships in sight in the morning, and in the afternoon another was seen, and, at four o'clock, she sent a boat, with an officer and five men. They proved to be Russians, from a frigate of thirty-six guns, the Kamtschatka, from Kamtschatka, and the north-west coast of America; they had been round Cape Horn in their way out, and returned by Manilla, the Cape of Good Hope, and St. Helena, where only the captain was suffered to land. The inhabitants know but little of Bonaparte, as the governor was extremely jealous of all intercourse with his prisoner; most that they knew of him was from the English newspapers. [8] The officer eagerly enquired for news from Europe, they having been out two years. We gave him some English newspapers, and he in return took some letters for our English friends, as they intended to touch at some port in England, before they proceeded to Russia. The officer was regaled in the captain's cabin, and the men were treated with
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plum-pudding and strong beer, but they refused to taste it, till one of the passengers had first partaken of it; they then seemed to relish it extremely well. Some large fish and porpoises were seen round the ship, and two rifles were fired at them, without effect. A sea-snake was also seen in the evening, it appeared to be six or seven feet long.7th. We saw some sea-weed that had much the appearance of the tops of dead juniper bushes, with many small berries on them; we took some pieces out of the sea, and found many little crabs in them, and a few small shrimps; the crabs from a quarter to two inches long. Most of the [9] passengers were now in good health. A pleasant evening, and the young people had a dance on the deck.
8th. Some dolphins taken by the sailors, with hooks and lines; they were from 18 to 30 inches long, and very beautiful fish. I bought one of the small ones, it weighed six or seven pounds, and proved very good eating.
9th. A small Swedish brig, the Dryade, sent a boat to enquire for a surgeon, their captain being ill; our surgeon went on board, and afterwards sent some medicines, for which, through a speaking trumpet, their captain thanked ours. They took some letters from us for England, as they proposed going thither, before they proceeded to Copenhagen. Our water being got very bad, it caused a little commotion on board, as there was but little water belonging to the captain. The passengers were found water by the person who chartered the Resolution; and the badness of [10] the water appeared to be occasioned by its being put into foul casks.
13th. Many flying fish seen; they flew from twenty to thirty yards at a time, some of them about the size of a herring, and others not larger than a chafer; when they
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rose near the vessel, the water that ran from them, had the appearance of a white string behind them; and when it ceased, they dropt into the sea again.14th. We made 186 miles in 24 hours, being a great deal more than we had sailed, in the same space of time, since we left Cowes.
23d. We had a strong gale that blew down one of our sails.
26th. In the evening the main-sail boom broke, and spoiled a dance just began on deck. The accident was owing to the sailor at the helm being intoxicated, and letting the vessel get out of her course.
27th. All eagerly looking out for the gulf stream. In the evening we saw a sea-gull; [II] these birds are said never to fly far from land.
30th. We had a rough windy night, and it continued stormy through the day, and about six o'clock we had a tempest that split one of our sails. About noon we saw a ship that proved to be the Commodore Rogers, a pilot vessel of Baltimore, and from her we received a pilot, who informed us that Cape Henry, at the entrance of Cheasepeake Bay, was distant 23 miles. But a storm coming on, the wind changed just as we had sight of land, supposed to be Smith's Island, just at the entrance of the bay; this was the first land we saw after we lost sight of the island of St. Mary's.
July 1st. A wet night: we got upwards of 20 miles from Cape Henry. In the evening we again stood out to sea, the wind against us.
2d. In the evening, it being calm, we anchored two miles from Cape Henry light-house, and one mile and a half from the shore; which was very low land and covered [12] with trees to the water's edge, mostly pines of a barren
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appearance, resembling a furze hedge in the poor heaths of England. We had a good view of the shores for several miles. The weather being pleasant, there was a dance on deck; and as the night was calm and the moon shone brightly, it was kept up till a late hour.3d. The captain and some passengers went on shore in a boat; when they returned, they brought on board a branch of wild vine, with some small grapes on it, a bough of myrtle, and some honeysuckles like the trumpet one in leaf and flower. They likewise brought some crab fish, of different sorts, unlike any I had ever seen before; one of them had a long tail, and was much larger than the rest; this the pilot called a sea-crab. They also brought a few sea-shells. The land, near the light-house, very sandy and barren, mostly covered with woods, composed chiefly of pines and a few oaks. The very little that was cultivated, was Indian corn.
[13] Cape Henry light-house is built of wood, and stands on the west side of the bay of Cheasepeake, and is in latitude 37 degrees north, longitude 85 degrees west. The bay, at its entrance, is upwards of 20 miles wide. On the opposite side is Cape Charles. At one o'clock we entered the bay opposite the mouth of James River.
4th. In the night there was a riot with the sailors; they quarrelled amongst themselves and with the captain; it was owing to the former having drank too freely; it was happily made up without any effusion of blood: I was in bed at the time, and heard nothing of it. We were much disappointed in not reaching Baltimore by this day, as it was the anniversary of American independence, and, as such, is always kept as a high holiday. We much wished to see their manner of celebrating it, but, for this year, we were disappointed in so doing.
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5th. A little before day-break the mate discovered a comet. The bay much narrower, and both banks full in view, the land [14] much higher than before, and covered with trees. Early in the morning, the captain and some passengers went on shore, on the west side of the bay. They went four miles through the woods; but little cultivated land; wheat mostly harvested; Indian corn just come into ear; tobacco in a green state. The land poor, the woods mostly pines with a few oaks, &c. The country round was thinly peopled, no towns, villages, churches, or mills, for many miles. It is in Maryland, and the land is mostly cultivated by negro slaves, of whom they saw several, and their habitations. They shot a sea-eagle, as large as a goose, with very long wings, the quills of which were too hard for pens. They also shot a bird something like an English blackbird, except that the wings were crimson. They likewise killed a small dove, and were informed many wild ducks frequented the creeks in winter; and heard of two men killing a hundred and ten in one day. They brought on board some ripe cherries, and some apples nearly so; they saw great quantities [15] of the latter; also peaches and nectarines in a green state. They saw a few sheep, oxen, and cows, but no horses, oxen being worked instead of horses.
6th. We anchored near Kent Island, said to be good land, but we could see but little of it. At eight o'clock we again proceeded, and at ten got sight of Baltimore, eight or ten miles distant. As we approached Baltimore the bay became narrower, and the land, on both sides, so very low, the trees seemed to grow out of the water. The country more cultivated, and the people employed in getting in their harvest. We met a large steam vessel, and passed her at about twenty yards distance. There were
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two chimnies, from which issued a large quantity of smoke, a wheel on each side forced her forward; the forecastle was much like a common ship; the stern was covered with a canvas awning, to shelter the passengers from sun or rain; it was open on the sides: she moved along very majestically.[16] Shortly after, a surgeon came on board, to examine the health of the passengers and crew; he expressed much satisfaction at their appearance. He was a venerable looking old man, of about 70 years of age, and a native of Britain.
At three o'clock we anchored near Fell's Point, Baltimore, and in the evening went on shore; but returned on board to sleep. The weather fine and very hot.
7th. At noon we went to the Custom-House to enter our luggage; in the afternoon some of our fellow-passengers, with ourselves, engaged a house at Fell's Point, at 10 dollars per month.
8th. We removed to our house, and hired a cart to take our luggage from the vessel, at 25 cents a load. Paid at the Custom-House, 37 dollars, 75 cents; expences, one dollar, 40 cents.
Trade at Baltimore extremely dull, and paper credit very bad, except some few banks.
Accounts are kept in dollars and cents; [17] a dollar is of the value of 4s. 6d. English; but in Maryland and Pennsylvania, it is called 7s. 6d.; in New York, 8s., and in all the western country, 6s.; but it is of equal value in all the states; it is the shilling that differs; 100 cents make a dollar; a cent is a trifle more than an English half-penny. Dollars are divided into halves, quarters, eighths, and sixteenths, thus 100 cents make a dollar, 50 cents half a dollar, 25 cents a quarter of a dollar, 12Ë cents the eighth
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of a dollar, and 6ź cents the sixteenth of a dollar. The shillings are different, as follows: —| 1s is | The dollar | |
| Illinois, Virginia, Kentucky, &c | 16 2/3 cents | 6s. 0d. |
| Pennsylvania, Maryland, &c | 13 1/3 cents | 7s. 6d. |
| New York, &c | 12Ë cents | 8s. 0d. |
These different denominations of the parts of a dollar are troublesome to strangers, and might be avoided, by counting in dollars and cents only; as there are no shillings in America, but only dollars, halves, quarters, eighths, and sixteenths, mostly Spanish coin, and some 10 and 20 cent [18] pieces of American and Spanish coin. Cents and half cents of copper are used in the eastern, but not in the western states; few cents being to be found west of the mountains.
The morning after we were settled at Baltimore, we opened some of our packages, and found them in good order. In the afternoon, I took a walk with a person I had known in England; he went to purchase some milch cows; we went three or four miles through the woods, to a Mr. Slater's, who had a 100 oxen and cows, of good size and shape, but of different sorts; his stock ran mostly in the woods, as he had but little cleared land. When we arrived, we found Mr. Slater with his men cutting wheat in a field of 25 or 30 acres; the wheat was of good quality, but not a large crop, not more than 14 or 16 bushels per acre. They cut it with scythes, some follow to tie it up and set it up in heaps, rather than shocks; the cutting, binding, and setting up, all done in a very slovenly manner. The wheat, [19] after Indian corn, was ploughed in ridges of about four feet wide, and sown before the Indian corn was got in, a practice very common in America; and the stalks of Indian corn cut down in the winter or spring, and
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left in the wheat. The land, a poor clay, very wet in winter. As Mr. Slater purposed bringing his cows to Baltimore market, the next day we returned, and passed his house, a very good brick building, pleasantly situated, having a fine view of the bay of Baltimore, a quarter of a mile distant. The out-houses and negroes' houses much out of repair. The manure was but little attended to, being scattered in all directions, although the soil stood so much in need of it. We saw one field of very poor oats and some weak Indian corn. The orchard contained much fruit, apples, peaches, and late cherries, the early ones were over. We had a fine view of the bay and part of the city; and the mouth of the Patapses River and a fort near it;We passed a fishing party of ten or twelve; they were taking some refreshment on the shore; one of the gentlemen was a native of England; but his parents left Cornwall when he was an infant: we took some whiskey and water with them. The woods we passed resembled English pleasure grounds, except there was a greater variety in the trees and shrubs. In this walk a greyhound dog that accompanied us, attracted much notice from all we met; few of whom had ever seen one before. One of the passengers in the Resolution brought over some ferrets; they also excited much attention, and a person wished to purchase one, to go into a collection of animals, and offered
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a great price for it; but no bargain was made when we left Baltimore. I have never seen or heard of any other ferrets in America.There are many new buildings in Baltimore, and some now going on. Baltimore [21] street is a noble one, wide, straight, and of great length, crossed at right angles by many other good streets; Baltimore-street running east and west, the cross streets north and south. As the city was planned before the buildings had made much progress, it is very regular, and should the plan ever be completed, it will be a large and noble city. There are some good shops, (in America called stores), but not equal to those of London.
As no burial grounds, butcher's shops, or slaughter houses, are allowed in the city or at Fell's Point, many of them are on a hill, north east of Fell's Point. There are three burial grounds, all badly kept, one belonging to the catholics; I did not learn to what sects the other two belonged. The butcher's shops are on the top of the hill, in an airy situation; here they kill their meat, and carry it to the daily markets. At some distance from the burial grounds, there is a noble looking hospital, some rope walks, and brick yards.
[22] Across the top of the hill, some intrenchments were thrown up during the late war, to stop the progress of the British troops when they landed near Baltimore, but they did not advance so far as these intrenchments.
A man on the hill with porter for sale recommended it as of good age, it having been brewed three whole days. Malt liquor not much drank, except by the English.
Towards the north-west, the land better than to the north-east, but still poor and rocky. Yet there is a great variety of soils in and near Baltimore. I was informed
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by a person who belonged to the society of Friends, that he had lived here a great many years, and had been concerned in most of the buildings; he said he believed there was not so convenient a place for building a city in the universe, as far as regards the finding the materials on the spot. Trees of many sorts grew where the city now stands, fit for building; [23] free-stone in great plenty; also shells and lime-stone for mortar; abundance of sand and clay, that made excellent bricks. The land being uneven, it required some labour to form the streets, but as most of the little hills were composed of sand or free-stone, a great part of them came into use, and the remainder served to raise the streets against the bay.I was informed, there were thirty thousand inhabitants or upwards, but the number did not increase as during the war.
Trade being bad, most of the new buildings at a stand, to the great disappointment of many of the emigrants from Europe. But to those who came in the Resolution, it was of no great moment, as we most of us intended going westward before we left England, and not to stop in the sea-ports; and there were but few mechanics on board. Several vessels with emigrants arrived a short time before us, and there were three a few days after us; amongst them, one small American vessel from Havre with a [24] hundred and sixty-nine English, chiefly from Portsmouth and its neighbourhood; fifty-four days from Havre to New York, where some of them landed; the remainder came on to Baltimore, which place then contained many emigrants in want of work; some without money to take them up the country; and some with no inclination to go up; and some without either. A person who comes to America is most likely to succeed by moving from the
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sea-ports, they being very full of people. Labourers in agriculture, and many trades, are sure of work in the western country; but some from Europe have very erroneous opinions of America, in thinking that, when they arrive, they shall find every thing without any trouble; others think they cannot ask too much for their labour. I have known men dissatisfied with 6s. per day, who in England must have worked much harder for 2s.Many hackney-coaches and one-horse carts for hire, with very fine horses in [25] them, much better than the horses for the same purposes in England. The horses have much blood in them, and would not disgrace a nobleman's carriage; those that bring provisions to market are of the same description, light and active, and would make good hunters. The hackney-coaches are open on the sides, on account of the heat of the climate, with leather curtains, to let down in wet weather; the drivers principally negroes. But the carmen mostly English, Scotch, or Irish, but most of the latter.
The person with whom I went to Mr. Slater's, purchased of him at the market two cows and calves for 71 dollars, (15l. 19s. 6d.), the cows young and very kind, and when fat, might weigh about 560 lbs. each; the calves eight or ten days old.
There is a market for horses and beasts, &c. twice a-week at Baltimore, and one every day, except Sunday, there and at Fell's Point, but there are two on Saturday, one in the morning, the other in the [26] evening, at each place, for the sale of flour, meal, meat, fish, butter, cheese, vegetables, and fruit, consisting of pine-apples and cocoa-nuts from the West Indies. Sweet and water-melons, apricots, peaches, prunes, plums, limes, lemons, oranges, cherries, currants, whortleberries, blackberries, fox-grapes,
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apples, pears, earth-nuts, and walnuts. The fruit in general good and reasonable; and vegetables the same, with the exception of cabbages, and they were very dear, owing to the dry season. Pine-apples 3źd.Fell's Point has many pumps, but few of them possess good water; there was one near us a very good one, called Jackson's pump. The badness of the water, its low situation, and the quantity of stagnant water, were, I think, the chief, if not the only causes of the fatal fever that broke out soon after we left it; nay, I rather suppose it had commenced before we quitted it, as many people were ill, and some died most days during our stay. But the city [27] standing higher, with good springs, it is much healthier.
The first Sunday after our arrival, we went to the episcopal church, the building was lofty, light, and airy, with five stoves to warm it in winter; the pews were painted a light colour, with mahogany coloured rails. The service much as in England. The psalms for the day, or a selection at the choice of the minister. Prayers for the president and general government, instead of the king, &c. There was a fine organ. The congregation was a very genteel one, and as the heat was great, all the ladies used fans, mostly made of feathers. In the afternoon there was a thunder-storm and some rain, preceded by a very high wind, for about ten minutes; and as the weather had been extremely dry, the dust was driven in such clouds, as almost to make it totally dark. Much colder in the evening; and some of us went to the Methodist meeting; it was numerously attended, the manner much the same as in [28] England; the preacher, who had a strong voice, made the most of it. Towards the close of the service, two men, each with a bag at the end of a long stick, made a
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collection for the minister, &c.; and while they were so employed, a man with a long beard, and a leather girdle about his loins, (as the prophet Elijah), stood up, and begged to say a few words. First, he reproved the minister for taking money, and then declared himself a preacher sent from God to warn the world of its wickedness, and to inform the people, that before the crop of the year 1818 was consumed, "Time should be no more." I sat very near him, and he stood on one of the seats, that he might be heard the better, but he spoke so rapidly, I could not hear all he said, but I heard him reprove the minister, and all present; at length he was persuaded to sit down, and the preacher again went on. It being late we went home, as did some others. This man was deranged, constantly attending the markets, preaching and [29] prophesying the end of the world. He was often surrounded by a large concourse of people, to hear him; but few, if any, gave any credit to his testimony. He often got insulted by the crowd, but the magistrates did not interfere, but left him to do or say what he pleased. Some of our party went to the African meeting. There are many different religions in Baltimore, and all appear to live together in great harmony. As there is no religion established by law, all are equal in this respect, except the poor negroes, who are not allowed to attend divine worship with the white inhabitants. And although I disapprove of slavery in every point of view, in none so much as in their not being allowed to worship the Almighty with the other inhabitants, I think the treatment of the slaves at Baltimore was mild, but still they were slaves, and at the mercy of their owners, if fellow-creatures and Christians can be called the property of others. But thank God, I never yet considered any person had that right; [30] and as that was my opinion,195
I could not settle in a slave state, to disgrace myself and family by the horrid practice of slave keeping.On the 15th there was a very heavy thunder-storm, the thunder was extremely loud, attended by heavy rain, the streets near us looked like rivers; indeed, when the rain ceased, the boys waded in the one before our house for some time. I was informed by several of the inhabitants, that they had seldom heard such thunder, or seen such rain before. This evening, and two other evenings, we had a very disagreeable scene in an alley near us. It was that of an Irish howl or wake, in which the mourners made a dreadful noise, crying and howling; we could hear them enquire, "Why their dear sister died;" "whether she wanted any thing;" "whether her friends were unkind to her," &c. &c. As the mourners made pretty free with whiskey, the noise increased as the night advanced. The watch several times [31] ordered them to be quiet, and they always obeyed for a short time, but soon began again.
Many of the principal people in Baltimore are Catholics, as well as numbers of the lower order of Irish, many of whom were recently arrived from Ireland. Irishmen are numerous every where in the States, but I am informed generally of a higher description than those in Baltimore and in the sea-ports.
One of our company, going out one morning before it was light, to call some of his fellow-passengers to go for a day's shooting, was taken into custody by the city-watch, and taken to the watch-house, but finding he was a stranger, he was liberated; he staid till day-light, and then called his companions and went out, but found no game.
The Americans are not reserved in their manners, they do not scruple asking a stranger any question, nor do they appear to mind answering any that may be asked [32]
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them. Many of them seemed to like the English amongst them very well, others are more jealous of strangers. On the 14th, I put some letters in the post for England, for which I paid 18ź cents., about 10d. each. I saw a beggar in Baltimore street, the first I saw in America. We did not purchase any fruit, although it was very cheap, on account of its being unwholesome for people just arrived from Europe.As I could not settle all my business, several who came over with us, and had been residing in the same house, left us on the 17th for Pittsburg; they hired a waggon to take them and their luggage, for four dollars and a quarter per hundred pounds weight. As they purposed going to the English settlement in the state of Illinois, we expected to see them when we got there; but they stopped at Evansville in Indiana, and hearing of an English settlement ten miles distant,
[33] In one of my walks, I saw upwards of twenty very fine red and white oxen, belonging to a butcher on the hill above Fell's Point, fine and clear in their horns, though most of the beasts I have seen in America are rather thick in their horns; they were very fat, and might weigh from 600 lbs. to 700 lbs. each, of the value of from 30 to 35 dollars each.
As we understood it was difficult for large boats to go from Pittsburg to Wheeling, the water being low, we agreed with a Mr. Merchant, for the carriage of ourselves
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and luggage to the latter place, a distance of 280 miles, for the sum of 350 dollars, (78l. 15s.); this was for nine people, and upwards of 6000 lbs. of luggage. We had two waggons, with six horses and one driver to each waggon; the manner of travelling in them is very different from that of England. Here they are hired to take passengers, luggage, goods, &c. to any part of the United States, by the 100 lbs. weight. The drivers look after their own horses, — [34] buying hay, Indian corn, chopped straw, ground rye, &c. at the taverns. Looking after their own horses prevents their setting out early in the morning, so they take their breakfasts before they commence their journey. They then travel till noon, when they stop for a short time, and then go on till sun-set or after; therefore they have no time in an evening to clean their horses. The waggons are lighter than English waggons, with a pole instead of shafts. The drivers ride the left-wheel horse, with reins to the other two pair; they seldom walk, and when they do, they always mount should a bad piece of road, or a difficult log-bridge come in their way, as they can see to guide their horses much better than when on foot. A trough is screwed behind the waggon, containing a small mattress, a blanket or two rolled up, and a water-pail. When stopping to bait, or for the night, the trough is placed on the pole of the waggon, and the horses are tied up to it, where they stand in all weathers. They mostly water [35] their horses out of their pails, seldom letting them go into the water to drink, if ever so convenient.Having settled all my money transactions, and got our luggage ready, we took leave of our fellow-passengers, not expecting ever to see them again; and in the afternoon of the 22d of July we left Baltimore. The country but
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little cultivated, but many fruit trees; for some distance from Baltimore, the land poor and stony; we first took a turnpike road, but soon quitted it. We saw many waggons to and from Baltimore to the westward. We had our own bedding with us, which we generally made use of at the taverns, never hiring more than one or two beds. The weather very hot.23d. Breakfasted at the tavern, charge for nine breakfasts, a gallon of tea the evening before, beds, &c. 4 dollars 31ź cents., nearly (19s. 6d.) We passed this day a poor, rocky, hilly country, many huckleberries in the woods, 23 miles to a [36] tavern, where we slept. Wheat and rye mostly harvested. Hay, some housed, and some cutting; it was timothy grass, and extremely ripe; it was put up in very small ricks, and not thatched. The fences were of rails, laid on each other in a zig-zag form, thus, having laid one row, they begin again on the first, and rise up from six to nine rails high; which make a strong fence against all sorts of cattle. The expense of a rail fence is not great where timber is plentiful. The price of cutting and splitting rails is from 3s. to 4s. 6d. a hundred. Generally a hundred, laid eight rails high, will make about six rods of fence, so that including cutting, casting, and putting up, the expense may average at 14d. a rod.
24th. We were charged for breakfasts, beds, &c. 3 dollars 31ź cents. We passed through a country similar to that on the preceding day, till near the town of Liberty, 40 miles from Baltimore, a small neat place, of fifty or sixty houses. This was [37] the first town or village we had passed, by the road we came. From Liberty to Frederic town, a much better country; Frederic town is a
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large place, with many good brick buildings in it.[38] 25th. We travelled, a hilly country, to Trap town, a very small place, mostly of log-houses. From near Trap town, to the Potomac river, it still continued rocky. We passed 2 or 3 miles, up the side of the river, along a very sandy road, the river to our left, and some very high rocks on our right; many of which had, at different times, rolled down into the river. On the south side of the river, was a high ridge of rocky hills, and the sun shining on them; and, as we were passing through a deep sandy road, the heat was more intense than I had ever felt it before. The Potomac river is upwards of 250 yards wide, but shallow at the time we passed it, and full of large rocks. We saw some people fishing, in canoes, but what kind of fish they were fishing for, we did not learn. Many papaw trees on the banks of the river: as we approached near to Harper's Ferry, the rocks on our right rose to an immense
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height; we passed close under one, much larger and higher than St. Paul's church, London. [39] We were told it was a quarter of a mile high; but this, I think, was an exaggeration. Some small pines and cedars grew on these rocks; the cedars, on the highest points of them. We crossed the Potomac at Harper's Ferry,26th. We proceeded 4 miles, through a hilly country, to Charles town,
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hundred houses, mostly of wood, but some good brick ones. A small creek, at the end of the town, then nearly dry; the land tolerably good. Here I saw a small piece of flax; it was the first I saw; but we had passed three or four small pieces of tobacco, very well cultivated, being planted in squares, at eighteen or twenty inches apart. At noon, we stopped at Cook's tavern, during a storm of thunder and rain, and afterwards proceeded up a rocky hill, of good limestone land, [41] on which there were the best farmhouses and out-buildings, and the most manure we had hitherto seen. Dung, in this country, is but little attended to in general; indeed, they seem to try who shall get rid of it with the least trouble. At Brick Mill, the stable was placed over the mill stream, the horses standing on a plank floor; indeed, where there are stables, the horses stand on plank floors, without litter; but generally, through the country we passed, they tied them up in the open air in a road, or any other place. As this hill lies high, the corn on it was rather backward; the wheat and rye were cut, but not harvested; the former, as fine as any I ever saw. The road from Harper's Ferry is situated high, and we were now on what is called the South, or Blue Mountains.202
bad. On some of our party complaining, the landlord told us, he was sorry we came to his house, as he liked people to be satisfied or stay away. This was, by far, the most filthy tavern we ever met with; in fact, it was but little preferable to an English pig-sty. This day we only travelled 15 or 16 miles.27th. We provided the greater part of our breakfast, not much wishing to partake of the landlord's accommodations. We then went forward, through a poor country, till we passed some woods, and then into some good limestone land, but much encumbered with large rocks; some of them upwards of 100 yards long, many yards wide, and [43] some feet above the surface of the earth. What with these rocks, and the stumps of trees, full one-fourth part of the land could not be cultivated. A great deal of very stout wheat and rye cut, but remaining on the ground; it was cut very high from the ground, in a very slovenly manner, and set up in large heaps, almost without form. We had seen but few oats, and no barley, since we left Baltimore; the oats not good. Indian corn in general slight, owing to the drought. The after-crop of clover short, but well set, the first cut had been mostly stout and very ripe; the meadow grass now cutting, and also very ripe. The hay ricks, we had passed, extremely small, with little or no covering. Small ricks are most convenient to the Americans, as they do not cut their hay, but begin at the top, and so continue taking off till the rick is gone, a little waste not being much regarded. We passed a little fallow land, but it is not common to make fallows for wheat, as by keeping the Indian corn [44] ploughed between, it is left in a good state for wheat or rye. A negro was ploughing for turnips, on some land, where a slight crop of flax had grown this summer; the land very kind for once
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ploughing. This negro said, some very elegant potatoes grew on this land last year. They plough with a light swing-plough, and use two horses, except when ploughing between their Indian corn, and then they only use one. They do not generally use harrows, but when they do, they are made with wooden teeth; nor have I any where in America seen iron tined ones, except in the English Prairie. They use a large hoe to cover in their corn: I have not seen a roller in this country.Near this, we saw some mulberry and plum-trees. We then passed a creek, and afterwards some hilly pine woods; soil very barren till near Pew's town, a small place, mostly log houses. Here we saw some buck wheat just come up; we had seen some before equally backward, and [45] we were told, it was common to sow it after a crop of wheat or rye was taken off the ground. The gardens here better kept than most we had seen, but these were far from neat. In the afternoon, we met two droves of fat beasts, from the south branch of the Potomac river, going to Baltimore. The first, a drove of handsome fat oxen and heifers; the other, a larger one, all oxen, young and handsome, but not so fat as the first, some of which were too fat for the hot weather. These beasts only travel mornings and evenings, often stopping to graze, and going but a short distance in a day; they do not lose so much flesh as might be expected in so long a journey. Just as we had passed the last drove, we had a heavy storm of thunder and rain, so that we got wet through, but our clothes were nearly dry by the evening, when we stopped at Mr. Dent's tavern, at a place called, "the Pine Hills." Here our accommodations were excellent; our progress [46] this day was 16 miles; the weather warm in the morning, but colder after the rain.
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28. Early in the morning I looked over Mr. Dent's garden. It was pretty good land, though most that lay round it was very barren. This garden was kept in tolerable good order, and had a little manure bestowed on it. There was some fine water-melons, nearly ripe, a few small horse-beans; I had not seen any before, and these were very weak; but there were some turnips, just come up, that looked well.
The evening before, a poor old man begged for a lodging. Mr. Dent ordered him into the house, and gave him a hot supper, and provided a bed for him; and on his going off early in the morning, Mr. Dent seemed to blame himself for not giving him a dram before he started. This was the second beggar we saw in America. After breakfast, we paid 3 dollars 31ź cents, and left the tavern well pleased with our accommodations and our landlord; [47] and then proceeded through a steril mountainous country. There were pines and cedars on the hills, and large oaks and chesnuts in the valleys. We afterwards went down a long rocky valley, with a small stream of water running in it, which we crossed ten or twelve times in our progress down. We then came to a more open country, and the stream was lost in a larger one, thirty or forty yards wide; very shallow at that time, and the bed of it full of rocks. In the afternoon, we met a drove of 120 oxen, from the State of Kentucky, for the Baltimore and Philadelphia markets. They were large kind beasts, mostly young, not over fat, except two or three, which were very fat indeed; one was equal to any beast I ever saw, and might weigh upwards of 1200lbs. weight. But most of them would weigh from 600 to 500lbs.; they were chiefly red and white, but not all of one breed.
We saw a partridge fly from a tree, the first game we saw,
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though we had now advanced [48] 120 miles into the country. We were told pheasants, turkeys, and deer, were plentiful in many places, but we had not seen any. We saw many huckleberries, and some fern; this was the first fern we saw, but we afterwards saw much of it on the mountains: some of this fern had stalks of a bright mahogany colour. The fern on the east of the mountains, grew like the English, on poor land; but in the State of Illinois, at least, where I have been, it generally denotes a good soil; and the same may be said of beech trees, on the banks of the Ohio, the richer spots are often covered with a heavy growth of them; and in the western country, beech land is called excellent. In the evening, we reached Mr. Vannosdeln's tavern, in a poor high country; his garden was in a much better state than any we had seen before. He gave us a fine water-melon, but none of us relished it much, as it was the first we had ever tasted, nor was it quite ripe.29th. We paid at Mr. Vannosdeln's [49] excellent tavern, 3 dollars 33 cents.; and went on to Springfield town,
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in England. The red or water-maple most resembles the sycamore of England, but scarcely any tree or plant is exactly the same. Cedars and pines grow mostly on the tops of rocky hills; the latter are of several sorts, pitch, spruce, and white; the first a little like the Scotch fir; the last, much resembles the Weymouth pine; but the spruce bore but little [50] similarity to any I had ever seen. There was a large sort of berry that our drivers called gooseberries, but totally unlike the fruit of that name I had been accustomed to; but as they were not ripe, we did not taste them. Leaving the banks of the river, we passed a small mill, and followed the course of its stream up a valley till we reached Springfield town, a place of forty log-houses, and stopped at Mr. Piper's tavern. The weather being extremely hot, the country hilly, and the roads bad, we only travelled 16 or 17 miles.30th. Early in the morning I walked round the town, and went into a tan-yard; the owner was an old man, 48 years since from Ireland. He told me he was not troubled with excisemen. He bought his bark mostly by the cord, but sometimes by the hundred pounds weight, price half a dollar. Only the body and the large limbs are barked. The bark is shaved, but not chopped, before it is sold to the tanners; it is ground in a kind of coffee-mill.
[51] At this place, I saw a few sheep of the Leicestershire breed, very poor. Mr. Piper's tavern was a neat log-house, lined with pine boards, and ceiled with the same. We left this place for Frankfort, a small place of near forty log-houses. We then passed Patterson's Creek,
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it much overrun with pennyroyal, of which we had seen much during our journey, and also a great deal of mint; in many of the small streams which we passed, it grew in a very luxuriant manner; we frequently gathered some of the latter, and put it into the water we drank, to take off its rawness, and found it far more palatable for so doing. Most of the briers we had passed were of the scented kind, and they continued from Baltimore to the Allegany Mountains, a distance of more than 150 miles; but on the mountains, and on the west side of them to Wheeling, and from thence to the Prairies, a distance of 1100 miles, I did not see one scented one, but [52] many that were not. From Patterson's Creek, a short distance, to Crisepsburg's town, a very small place of log-houses;208
hilly. The road west from Union town to Wheeling, was begun in many places, and many men were employed on [53] it when we passed along it. This grand national road is intended to connect all the western country with the seat of government, as there is water communication from Cumberland to the city of Washington, on the east by the Potomac, and from Wheeling on the Ohio, with the States of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and all the western country, by the means of the Ohio, Mississippi, Missouri, Cumberland, Tennessee, and other rivers. This national road is free, as there are no gates on it; for as it was made by the nation, so it is to be kept in repair by it. We entered this road, five miles west of Cumberland, and soon after stopped at Mr. Carter's tavern, called "the Travellers' Rest," at the foot of the Allegany Mountains.We had lately seen fewer fruit-trees, and much less fruit on them, except on the apple-trees, these being generally well hung. Blackberries had been very plentiful all the way, and so they continued over the mountains. [54] I ate large quantities of them, liking them much better than I did the cherries, of which we often had plenty given us: these blackberries were much better than any I had before tasted.
We saw but few birds on our journey; woodpeckers of several sorts, a handsome yellow bird, something like a goldfinch, a few crows, and some small birds, much like tom-tits. As my youngest daughter was carrying some flowers in her hand, a humming bird settled on them, it made her start, thinking it was a large insect; it was not larger than a chafer, but a beautiful bird.
The country, from Harper's Ferry, mostly rocky to the mountains, generally of slate, but some limestone, free
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stone, and coarse marble. Most of the valleys had streams of water and good springs. The soil, chiefly poor, but well watered. But little cultivated land, and much of that only partly cleared of trees. They grub up the underwood, and most of the small [55] trees; they then either cut down the large ones, within three feet of the ground, and leave the stumps standing, or else chop them round the stems, and take off a small strip of bark, which kills them, leaving them to decay, and fall down of themselves. It is common to see eight or ten acres of land, in cultivation, with some hundreds of dead trees standing in it. They collect the small trees, underwood, and roots, into heaps, and then burn them; and thus the fire often communicates itself to the standing trees, running up to the top of the highest of them, leaving them half burnt. These trees have a very dismal appearance at first, but people get reconciled to it in time. It is much the quickest method of clearing land for corn, as it enables a man to begin with very little strength of money, men, and horses. The hogs, on the mountains, were not so handsome as those nearer Baltimore, being in general badly kept.In our journey thus far, we had seen but [56] few gardens, and those indifferently kept; they contained a few peas, parsnips, carrots, onions, shalots, sweet, and other potatoes, lettuce, and a large flat sort of cabbage, with a few sorts of herbs. Our landlord, Mr. Carter, had a farm of 700 acres; 100 cleared, the rest in a state of nature.
31st. We proceeded, by the turnpike road, up a valley of the mountains; the road good. As we ascended, we found vegetation much later; the blackberries not ripe, a little rye not cut, oats quite green, no wheat or Indian corn to be seen. A few gooseberry-bushes, no fruit on
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them; some strawberry-plants; I had noticed a few raspberry-bushes, the fruit small and hard, of a dark red colour. A great variety of wild flowers, almost all new to me. Much timber in the hollows of the mountains, oak, chesnut, and pine; the pines of an immense height. I measured one that was cut in making the turnpike; it was 102 feet to the broken top, and there it was seven inches in diameter. [57] Some that were standing appeared much longer; I thought the highest, at least, 140 feet high. The oaks and chesnuts were also very high, but they grew too close together to be very large, but many of them might contain from 50 to 150 feet of solid timber. Many thousands of trees, that were cut for making the turnpike, lay rotting by the sides of it, besides the vast quantities of dead trees in the woods. This day only, we passed some thousand loads of timber, thus decaying. I believe I have seen more timber in this wasting state, than all the growing timber I ever saw in my life in England. We saw no heath on the mountains, nor have I ever seen or heard of any in America.In the forenoon, we passed a village of good houses, most part of them lately built: a flour and saw mill, and a noble tavern, the Globe; it equalled many English inns in outward appearance. We stopped to dinner at a poor log-tavern, but the landlord was building a new log one, on a large scale. Here we saw a poor little negro [58] boy, he was a cripple; the landlord had bought him some months before, out of a drove of negroes going westward for sale. The landlord treated him with great humanity, and the child seemed as much attached to him, as he could have been to his own relations. I was much pleased to see a poor negro child so well treated, but as to buying or
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selling human beings, I utterly abhor it. In the evening we arrived at Mr. Kimberley's tavern; here we took our supper, our provisions being now exhausted. In the forenoon, it was extremely hot; in the afternoon, a little thunder and rain, and afterwards much colder: we travelled seventeen miles, mostly up hill, the road good, but rough, the stones being laid on rather large.August 1st. Having breakfasted, and paid five dollars, we set out and crossed the little Yougany or Crossing river,
We called at a cabin, to get some bread, where we found a woman with six small children; she said her husband worked 40 miles off, and only came home once in two or
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three weeks; they lived in this place [60] before the turnpike was begun, four years since; no stores nearer than six or seven miles. They procured most of their tea, coffee, whiskey, and other necessaries from the waggons, that traded to, and from Baltimore, to the westward. She said, she had never been molested in this lonely situation. She was born in the state of Jersey, but near Philadelphia. Her great grandfather of the name of Wood, emigrated from England, being oppressed with tithes, he being a Quaker; he founded a small town in the state of Jersey, and called it Woodbury, after his own name, and the place he left in England, which was Bury. But whether it was a town, village, or farm, she did not know, only, that it was in Gloucestershire.Sixteen miles from the Little Crossing or Yougany, we came to the Big Crossing, and the small town of Smithfield, placed in a very romantic situation.
At noon this day, we passed the line between the states
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of Pennsylvania and Maryland,2d. We advanced up a valley for a great distance, and passed a mine of coal; it lay twelve or fifteen feet below the surface of the earth; the veins about three feet thick; several hundred bushels lay dug; it had a strong sulphureous smell. We afterwards passed over a large flat, of thin, weak, black, wettish soil, covered with dwarf alders and large weeds; a little of this land cleared and planted with potatoes, they looked well. What little timber there was, was short and scrubby.
We now again ascended, and at length reached the top of Laurel Hill, the last ridge of the mountains. Much laurel on this eminence, resembling the Portugal laurel. Here we had the first, and a most extensive view of the west side of the mountains. [63] As the air was clear, we could see objects distinctly; much cleared land in sight, and many fine springs; indeed, they were numerous all
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over the mountains, but there were but few houses. This day we descended gently down the hill; the road was steep and winding. As we advanced, the timber increased in size, mostly oak, and towards the bottom it was immensely large. From the summit to the town of Monroe,3d. We had now entered the western country, but we were still in the old settled part of it, Union town having been built more than thirty years. It is a large place, mostly of brick buildings; it has a bank, twelve or fourteen
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taverns, a flour, a saw, and a carding mill, on a small stream near the town. On this stream there were some good meadows, but in a bad state, there being many docks and other weeds in them. The Indian corn luxuriant; a great many orchards, with a good show of apples in them. Paid charges for supper, beds, and breakfast, 4 dollars 75 cents, 1l. 1s. 4Ëd. sterling.)From Union town, the turnpike was only begun at different places, but many men were employed on it. Near the town, the [65] land was of good quality. We afterwards passed a rocky ridge of hills, perhaps a spur of the mountains. Here the land was rather poor, a clay on a slate-rock; but many fine orchards well stored with good apples, and some morello-cherries still on the trees. A woman, at a small cabin, offered us some, if we would take the trouble to gather them; we took two or three pounds; they were small but palatable, being very ripe. But cherries, in general, are not so good as in England, as the Americans seldom bud or graft any fruit-trees, only planting the stone. Land better as we approached Brownsville, on the Monongahela.
From the river we went six miles, mostly through woods, to the Golden Lion Tavern. [66] A woman milking her cow, on the side of the road, gave us some milk, and offered us some apples, of which there were large quantities in their orchard. She said they purchased their farm for
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2700 dollars, 900 of which they paid down at the time, and the remainder by instalments, most of which were now paid; and when the whole were paid, she would not give a cent to call King George her uncle. A large wooden building, by the side of the road, in ruins, and a new stone-chapel, belonging to the Methodists, built to supply the place of the old one. Here the Methodists are numerous: we passed a wood on the east side of the mountains, where a camp-meeting had recently been held; these meetings often continue four or five days, during which they have prayers four times a day.4th. I proceeded on foot to Pittsburg, having some business to transact there, the rest went on towards Wheeling; I should have left the national road at Brownsville, as I was there at an equal distance from [67] Pittsburg. I went five or six miles through a poor country, to Bentleyville;
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a great improvement: I have seen but few water-meadows since. I slept at a tavern, five or six miles from Pittsburg. This day I travelled twenty-five miles.[68] 5th. I reached Pittsburg at nine o'clock in the morning, after having crossed the Monongahela in a ferryboat, for which I paid three cents. Having concluded my business at the bank, I took a walk round the town: it is a large place with upwards 7000 inhabitants. It is well situated for trade on the Ohio, at the junction of the Monongahela and Allegany rivers. A large bridge is nearly finished over the Monongahela, and another partly built over the Allegany; both these bridges have stone-piers above high water-mark, but the remainder of them is of wood. The bridge, that was nearly finished, was divided into four passages; two for carriages and horses, the other two for foot passengers. Contrary to the English practice, each takes the right-hand side; so there is no meeting on the bridge, as there are two passages for coming out, and two for going into Pittsburg. These passages are covered over, with holes in the sides to admit air and light. As the whole is covered, the bridge is kept dry in [69] all weathers, and the timber is prevented from rotting. They are longer and higher than London-bridge, at least at the ends, being quite level. The streets are laid out in straight lines, from the Monongahela to the Allegany rivers, and crossed by others mostly at right angles. There are many handsome brick-buildings, but there are also a great number of log and frame-houses. There are several places of public worship, a large market house, several banks, numerous taverns, and large stores; yards for building steam and other boats. Several steam ones were building, and others laid up, the water being too
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low for them or large flat-bottom boats to get down the river, when I was there. Trade of all kinds extremely dull. Owing to the quantity of iron-works, it has a black and dismal appearance; and from the account I had heard of it, I was, on the whole, rather disappointed in Pittsburg. It was a desert until about the year 1756, when the French, from Canada, built a fort near it.Having purchased a new rifle for 18 dollars, and taken a place in the Wheeling stage for Washington, for which I paid 2 dollars 50 cents; I supped and slept at [71] the Pittsburg Hotel; charge for supper and bed 50 cents.
August 6th. I left Pittsburg, in the stage, before daylight, and crossed the Monongahela, by the new bridge. Then up a very steep hill, the passengers all walking; we passed a very rough country, for nine or ten miles, to a tavern, kept by the driver of the stage, where we breakfasted;
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they charged us 2s. 3d. each, instead of the usual charge of 1s. 1Ëd., yet our fare was very indifferent. From this tavern to Cannonsburg,Wishing to rejoin my family at Wheeling, I set off on foot; the afternoon was excessively hot. The road was
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good for [73] the first ten miles, to Claysville, a new town.7th. From my lodgings, in the stable, I proceeded up a valley to some houses, and enquired the way to Wheeling. I found I [74] was in the right road, and that it was only seven miles distant. I found much excellent land on the sides of a creek; the meadows were particularly so: I saw twelve small hay-ricks in one large meadow. The Indian corn was much larger than any I had before seen.
I met the two men who had driven our waggons; from them I learnt where my family were, and that they had settled with them for the carriage of our luggage. It is but justice to them to say, we had every reason to be satisfied with their conduct during our journey; Marchant, in
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particular, was in his manners much above his station in life. At seven o'clock I reached Wheeling.After breakfast we entered into an agreement with Messrs. Knox and Pemberton, of Wheeling, for the conveyance of ourselves and luggage to Louisville, in Kentucky, 600 miles, for 50 dollars, on condition we should help to navigate the boat down the river. We hired a horse and dray, for a dollar and [75] a half, to convey our luggage on board, and paid one dollar for the room where our goods were lodged. We laid in some provisions for our voyage, as we expected to sail in the afternoon, but a thunder storm coming on, we stopped till the next morning: we slept in the ark or flat boat. There were twelve tons of store-goods, for Cincinnatti and Louisville, besides our luggage of about three tons. The ark was about 36 feet long and 10 feet wide, with a fire-place in the centre; it was covered with boards, as a protection from the weather.
Wheeling is a thriving place, with some iron-works. As the national road is to terminate at this place, it bids fair to rival Pittsburg in the trade of the western country. In a dry time it has greatly the advantage of Pittsburg, being nearly a 100 miles lower down, and below the shallowest parts of the Ohio. At any rate, the great road for all the western country, crossing the Ohio at this place, will always add much to its importance. The country round [76] Wheeling is very fine, and I have seen no part of America I should like better than the valley above it. But all the land is taken up, and sells for a high price; and, what is still worse, it is situated in a slave-state, where every thing is done by the negroes, while the whites look on.
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8th. At break of day we sailed, or rather floated, from Wheeling; Mr. Pemberton went part of the way with us, and a Mr. Ferris had the charge of the boat and the store-goods: these two gentlemen boarded with us. The wind being against us, we made but little progress, although we rowed the greater part of the day. We passed several islands in the river: the banks were steep and high, the country very hilly, and mostly covered with timber; the flats of the river generally cleared, and planted with Indian corn. The land would be too rich for wheat, were it not flooded in the winter and spring. We passed many small cabins, several of them were on the banks. We only advanced 20 miles this day, [77] and anchored on the Ohio side: the right, or north-west side of the river, is the state of Ohio; the state of Virginia lies on the left, or south-east side. The weather very warm.
9th. The land much as yesterday, except that the hills lay farther back. In the evening we anchored on the same side, 46 miles from Wheeling. We landed, and went to a cabin for some milk, where we purchased five chickens for fifty cents.
10th. We proceeded with caution, the morning being misty, as there are many sunk trees in the river sometimes. A man we had seen the evening before, came to us and offered to sell his skiff, as he was near his journey's end; I purchased his skiff, and an old iron shovel, for two dollars; Mr. C. bought of him a hand-saw, for thirty-seven and a half cents. As soon as we had paid him, he went off into [the] woods; from that, and other circumstances, we then concluded he had stolen them. Mr. Pemberton took the skiff and followed [78] him on shore, but could see nothing of him. Mr. Pemberton purchased five large melons for half a dollar, but as we had not been accustomed
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to melons, we could eat but little of them; but after a few days, most of us could eat them without sugar as well as the Americans. We passed Sistersville, a small place of Virginia.11th. We passed the mouth of the Little Muskingham river, thirty or forty yards wide, but very low. About four miles lower down we anchored at the Great Muskingham, close by the town of Marietta,
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miles, when Mr. Ferris landed, and went to see his mother and brothers, who lived two or three miles back from the river. Whilst he was gone, I landed, with one of my sons, on the Ohio side; we walked a short distance into the [80] country; the soil excellent, but not much of it cultivated. Some apple and peach orchards, containing vast quantities of fruit; there were more peaches than I ever saw before; single trees had bushels on them. In the afternoon we passed the town of Parkersburg, in the state of Virginia, at the mouth of the Little Kenaway, fifty or sixty yards wide.12th. Passed the mouth of the Little Hockhocking, near thirty yards wide.
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the banks of the river, there was either a skiff or a canoe. We saw some large wild ducks. About noon we passed the mouth of the great Hockhocking river, fifty or sixty yards wide; this river runs through the State of Ohio, between the Scioto and Muskinghum rivers. It is said to be navigable to Athens, forty miles up. I landed and went to a cabin to purchase provisions. The owner told me a bad fever prevailed at Cincinnatti, and cautioned me against going there: being newly settled, he had nothing to spare. In the afternoon we passed the town of Belleville, in Virginia, a very small old place. This evening we anchored on the Ohio side. Some of my [82] family crossed over to the other side, and bought six chickens for 50 cents (2s. 3d.) This day we advanced twenty-five miles; weather extremely hot.13th. We were detained some time by anchoring on some rocks over-night, and the water had fallen a few inches in the night; we got out of the boat, and pushed it into deep water. The banks were high and rocky, some of the rocks had the appearance of an old castle. We passed several islands and sand-banks, the current always much brisker near them than where the river is wider. The country more settled at some distance back than on the banks of the river, as it is said to be more healthy. In the afternoon we passed the falls of Letart;
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We could not procure any flour, they being fully employed in grist-work. We afterwards landed at several cabins to get some butter; but there was not any to be had, being almost all new settlers, many of them in the Spring. Seven or eight miles below the falls, we anchored for the night, after making about twenty-six miles.14th. The moon shining brightly, we started soon after midnight; the banks high and rocky until we passed an island, when the country became more level and open. In the forenoon the country again more hilly, with many veins of pit-coal under the rocks; some of them opened, and some coal lay dug on the sides of the river. In the afternoon we passed the mouth of the Great Kenhaway;
there are some salt-works on this river, and much salt is sent from thence to many towns on the Ohio.
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situated on a high bank that is never overflowed. This town was first settled by a colony of French, in 1790; but having bought their land of speculators, their titles were not so good as they wished, and some of them left it; but many of the inhabitants are still French and other Europeans, and some Americans. It contains two places of public-worship, a post-office, a large court-house, a printing-office, a market-house, some good stores and taverns, and about a hundred houses of brick, frame, and log. On a green of good land, near the town, a motley flock of sheep was feeding; many of them had a rotten appearance. I was told they [85] belonged to the inhabitants, who kept them in common. The green on which they were was good sound land; but as they had free access to the river-banks, they often fed on herbage that was frequently under water. I was much pleased with the situation of Galliopolis; more so than with any place I had seen west of the Allegany Mountains. We made thirty-two or three miles; the heat intense, with a little rain in the evening.15th. Started by moon-light and got six or seven miles by day-light, and four or rather more afterwards; till the wind being against us, we anchored on the Virginia side. I landed, and went through the woods to a poor log-cabin; but could get no provisions or fruit. The inhabitants looked extremely miserable; they had a female negro-slave, that appeared to do what little was done. The soil very rich; but little of it cultivated, and that little very badly. The trees in the woods I passed through were sycamore, ash, honey-locust, [86] poplar, buck-eye, black walnut, beech, and sugar-maple, &c. Many of the trees were overrun with grape vines. The black walnut and sugar-maple trees were larger than any I had before noticed. Most of the sugar-maple trees had places chopped in
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them to let out the sap, instead of being tapped. Many of the troughs that were used last Spring were still remaining under the trees. After dinner the wind shifted, and we proceeded for a short time; but a thunder-storm coming on we again anchored, as do most of the flat boats or arks, for fear of being driven on shore, as the wind is generally high at the commencement of a tempest. We had but little wind or rain, and therefore again proceeded. We passed an ark sunk in the river, and also the Little Guyandot river, forty yards wide; and then went over a very rapid part of the river. After dark we anchored on the Virginia side, with a store-boat and a light ark that contained a rather numerous family of English from [87] the neighbourhood of Manchester, going, like ourselves, to look for a home in the western country. The master of the store-boat was also a fellow-countryman; he had been settled a short time at Marrietta, but now purposed going further westward. He had freighted his boat with store-goods and fruit, to pay his expenses down the Ohio. He intended settling in the neighbourhood of Cincinnatti, or of going down to the State of Indiana. He said that, in April last, near a thousand boats of different descriptions passed Marietta going westward; most of them with emigrants, and but few of them Europeans, it being too early for them to come from Europe, Spring being generally the season they leave their native countries. We almost daily saw boats with Europeans, chiefly from England or Ireland. Numerous skiffs had passed us since we left Wheeling, and we afterwards saw many more. The wind being against us, we only advanced about twenty-four miles. Weather much colder.[88] 16th. Started two hours before sun-rise; the hills lower, and lay farther back from the river. We passed the
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mouth of the Great Guyandot,17th. Towards noon we reached Greenup, in Kentucky, a small place;
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the greater part of the new States the country is first surveyed, and then laid out in sections of a mile square; but this I shall mention hereafter. We left this place late in the afternoon, and anchored a few miles below, on the Ohio side. We ran twenty-two or three miles. Weather temperate.18th. Passed the Little Sciota, a small stream of Ohio. At noon we reached the town of Portsmouth, in Ohio, at the mouth of the Big Sciota;
19th. We passed a very swift rime without any danger. About three miles farther on, we were in danger of losing our boat on Twin Riffle, by not going towards the Kentucky side soon enough; but by hard rowing, we got over with only five or six inches to spare. These riffles are occasioned by the water's running rapidly over [91] a rough hard bottom; they resemble the Falls, only they are much less. We saw many wild ducks while passing this riffle; I believe they often feed on these sharp runs, as I
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noticed they generally frequented them. A little below, we saw three hunters with several dogs; they had just killed a fine young deer in the river, and were skinning it on the bank. We bought a hind-quarter, it weighed fifteen or sixteen pounds, for 50 cents, (2s. 3d.) sterling. The quarter was as much as we could consume while good, the weather being so extremely hot, or we might have had the whole deer for a dollar. In the afternoon we passed a bad riffle, called Bush Riffle, opposite a creek of the same name. This riffle was full of sunk logs, that made it difficult to pass, as the river was so low; at high water these riffles are not perceptible. We passed Salt Creek, Ohio. Some saline-works here; also a small town, of which I did not learn the name. As we floated after dark, the ark got stuck on a sand-bank, [92] in the middle of the river; but some of us getting out into the water, we pushed it off, and then anchored on the Ohio side.This day we made about twenty-six miles, according to the "Pittsburg Navigator,"
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measurement of the [93] banks of this river cannot be accurate, in the distance it takes to navigate it.20th. Passed the Manchester Islands;
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place. We sent a letter from here, that reached Godalming, in Surrey, in fifty-seven days; but letters from England are usually three months in reaching the Prairies, and sometimes much longer. This day twenty miles: the weather sultry, with much thunder, but no rain. The river falling very fast.21st. Passed Ripley, a new town of Ohio: it seems likely to thrive.
We afterwards passed a small place, on the Ohio side, of only seven or eight houses, although laid out before Ripley. In the afternoon we passed the town of Augusta in Kentucky; it appears a flourishing place.
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of log-houses. At dark we anchored on [96] the Kentucky side; our progress twenty-five or six miles.22d. Much rain during the night; and as the ark was far from being weather-proof, we got very wet in our beds. At noon we anchored near the towns of Richmond
23d. At dawn the fishers offered us some cat-fish, of between thirty and forty pounds weight each, for 25 cents a piece, but as we had a store of provisions we did not purchase any. They then started for Cincinnatti with their fish. At sun-rise we also proceeded, the wind much against us. After going four miles we passed a large steam-boat a-ground, and had been for some time, and must so remain till the water should rise three or four feet; this did not occur till after Christmas. Soon after we passed a new town, of a few houses, its name I did not
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learn. We then went over some sand-bars where the water was very shallow; the wind rising, we put in close to the Kentucky side, where the water was deeper, and most of us going on shore, we hauled our boat along, with a towing line, for about two miles. We passed the town [98] of Columbus, at the mouth of the Little Miami.236
close to the water; the walls of this noble mill are of stone; it contains nine stories, and is upwards of a 100 feet high. The machinery is said to be good, and will manufacture 700 barrels of flour weekly, that is, upwards of 500 sacks. It is represented to have cost 120,000 dollars, or 27,000l. sterling in erecting.The streets of Cincinnatti are very wide; and the stores well stocked with European, East and West Indian, and American merchandize, but in general dear. Articles of dress are much dearer than at Baltimore; yet the principal inhabitants are very gay in their appearance, particularly the ladies, who are equally so with those of London. But the females of the middle and lower orders, though gaily dressed, often go without shoes and stockings; indeed, most of the [100] females in the western country go without them, at least in the summer, and some of the English women, of the lower class, follow their example.
Trade very dull and paper credit extremely low, the banks issue notes as low as 6ź cents, less than 3Ë d; but these notes are far from being current with strangers, nor were the large ones in good credit, being much below the value of state notes or specie. No copper money to be seen here. There are two large market houses, one in the upper, and one in the lower part of the town; there is a daily market held alternately at one of them. It was the upper market day when we were there; it was well supplied, and most articles were good and cheap, but the tradesmen perfect Jews in their dealings. Meat from 6 to 10 cents per pound; bacon from 8 to 12Ë cents a pound; flour from 4 to 5 dollars per barrel, of 196 lbs., average less than 6s. a bushel; very fine peaches for 6žd. per peck; melons in vast quantities, both sweet and [101] water, the
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latter of immense size, weighing from ten to twenty pounds each, for 6žd. Poultry and eggs very reasonable.The number of inhabitants supposed to be upwards of 12,000, from every part of the Union, and from most of the countries of Europe. Many English, Irish, and Scotch amongst them. I heard of some being there, that I knew, but I did not see any of them. There is a ferry-boat, worked by horses, between Cincinnatti and the towns of Newport and Coverly;
There is a fort at Newport, with an [102] arsenal of arms, and a magazine for gun-powder; and a garrison of the states' troops are kept here in case of a war with the Indians, as the Indian territories are within 100 miles to the north. We saw some of these troops, they were good looking; their uniform blue.
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Newport contains some good houses, and near it there is a large building, in the castle style, belonging to General Taylor, the proprietor of the town.
Coverly is newly laid out, the building but just begun: these two towns may contain about 100 houses.
24th. In the afternoon, having laid in a few provisions for our voyage, we prepared to go off, but found some honest person had made free with the oars belonging to our skiff, and also with a skiff belonging to some person of Cincinnatti. We saw two men go off, about 10 o'clock the night before, with a skiff, but supposed it belonged to them, nor did we know they had borrowed our oars; but this did not detain us [103] long, as we made some more with some boards we had on board. We went about eight miles, and then anchored on the Ohio side of the river. I found myself troubled with very bad boils, that continued for several days; in other respects I was in perfect health, as was the whole of our party. The gentleman, who joined us at Maysville, left us at Cincinnatti.
25th. We passed the mouth of the Big Miami, a considerable stream of Ohio, the boundary between that state and Indiana, at least at its mouth; as a meridian line runs from the middle of the mouth of this river north, to a parallel line, from the south end of Lake Michigan. This river is 200 yards wide at its mouth, and is navigable for a considerable distance up the country. We saw a waggon with four horses, also six or seven men and women fording it, the water up to their middles, and the current so strong they could hardly stand against it. We passed Petersburg,
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town of Indiana, its name unknown to us. We only made 20 miles. Mr. C. shot two turkey-buzzards at one shoot. These birds are of great utility in a warm climate, as they live on carrion; and should you see several of these birds hovering about, you may be certain something is dead near. I understand, that on the Mississippi river, people are liable to a fine of several dollars for killing one of them. Nor is there any temptation to destroy them, having so strong a scent as scarcely to be bearable, and any thing only just touching them retains a very strong smell for some time. The quills of their wings are larger than those of a goose, and too hard to write with.The hills on the river lower with round tops. Some tobacco on the Kentucky side, but none on the other; it is never cultivated on an extensive scale except in the slave states. In the free states cotton and tobacco are only raised for home consumption.
[105] 26th. We passed Lories Island, and afterwards a small town of Kentucky; its name we did not learn. The river banks much lower, and the bottoms much wider, as the hills were further back. Not many houses on the banks. We saw some wild ducks, woodpeckers, and snipes. We advanced twenty-two miles; weather warm.
27th. The country less cultivated. About noon we landed at Fredericksburg, in Kentucky, a place of about forty log-houses; we purchased some butter at eighteen cents per pound. At dusk we passed the Kentucky, a river of the state of the same name, and navigable some distance up the country. After dark we passed Vevay and New Switzerland,
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round, and then we floated off again, and about midnight anchored. This day, twenty-five miles. I regretted passing Vevay after it was dark, as I much wished to land to inspect the vineyards belonging to a Swiss colony settled [106] there, who cultivate the vine on a considerable scale, in the manner of their native country. In the twilight we had a glimpse of their vineyards, but too far off to see much of them. I have since learnt that a few Swiss emigrants settled at New Switzerland in 1805, and in 1810 they had eight acres planted with vines, and in full bearing, and from which they made two thousand four hundred gallons of wine, then said to be very good. Since that time their vineyards are considerably extended, but their wine of an inferior quality. They also cultivate wheat, Indian corn, hemp, and flax. They are represented to be a sober, industrious people, and much respected in the country. They speak the French language, most of them having come from the frontiers adjoining France.28th. We landed at Port William,
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Swiss method; viz. in rows about six feet each way, and tied up to a stick four or five feet high. I was told their appearance promised a productive crop, but a heavy shower of rain prevented my examining them. The soil was rich, but very broken. Only made sixteen miles; the weather showery, and much colder.29th. Early in the morning we reached the town of Madison in Indiana,
30th. Both sides of the river more hilly, and but little land brought into culture. In the forenoon we passed an island eighteen or twenty miles above Louisville; the river much wider, the banks lower, with but little space between them and the hills. We passed another island twelve miles above Louisville, and, after sun-set, anchored opposite a small town of Indiana.
Many new places are continually springing up on the bank, and numbers of them soon go to decay, having nothing to recommend them except the opinion of the proprietors. These are often a set of speculators, who purchase land and attempt to puff it off as one of the best spots in the western country; in short, in the whole world. A speculator like those is a nuisance wherever he sets his foot.
[109] 31st. Passed six mile islands; keeping between them we got sight of Louisville, which at that distance had a fine appearance. We could see far beyond it, as
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the country below the falls is very flat for many miles. The wind rising, we anchored four miles above it, and some of us went to it by land. Louisville is a considerable town of Kentucky, at the head of the Falls of the Ohio.The best boat channel to pass the Falls is on the Indiana side, it is called the Indian shoot; the next is called the middle, and the other the Kentuckian shoot; the last was dry when we were there. In high water they may all be passed without danger, but in a dry season, as when we passed, it requires a skilful pilot, and even then is attended with some danger. Some English from Puttenham in Surrey, near Godalming, passed these Falls during the
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night in a small skiff, without perceiving any of them, the water being then very high. In the morning they enquired how far they had to the Falls, and could hardly [in] be persuaded they had passed them. There is an opposition between the towns of Louisville and Jeffersonville, as to making a canal for vessels to pass the Falls by the means of locks, each wanting it on their side, as most of the traffic would of course be on that side where the canal was.As we returned to our boat, we passed the stump of a sycamore, lately cut, that three feet from the ground measured eleven feet one way and ten feet the other; the tree was gone, so we could not ascertain the length of it, but the trees on the banks were of an immense size. In the evening we anchored within a mile of Louisville. Made only seven miles; weather very warm.
Sept. 1st. Early in the morning we anchored at the mouth of Bear Grass Creek, that joins the Ohio on the upper side of Louisville. The store goods were here unloaded, to the amount of ten thousand pounds weight. I purchased the ark of Mr. Ferris for twenty-five dollars, and [112] hired two men for eighteen dollars and their board, to take us to Shawnestown, in Illinois, a distance of near three hundred miles. One man was an Englishman, the other a Scotchman. Having trimmed our boat, we expected to go over the Falls in the evening, but the pilot having another boat to take over first, he did not return till too late for us to go over, so we remained at Louisville all night. We purchased a few articles for our voyage, but we should have done better, if we had bought more at Cincinnatti, instead of afterwards doing it at Shawnestown; but the difference was not very material. The heat very oppressive, and in the evening, for the first
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time, we were annoyed by mosquitoes. We saw great quantities of rats; the quay where we lay was much infested with them. They were most likely brought from Europe, as they are the same as the English rat. I have not seen one at the Prairies, but there being plenty on the Ohio; and I suppose on the Wabash, [113] most likely we shall soon receive a visit from them.2d. Soon after sun-rise our boat proceeded to go over the Falls. Mr. Ferris was so kind as to go with it; Mr. C. and my eldest son also went. We hired two more men, besides the two going to Shawneetown, as our boat drew twelve inches of water, and there were only fifteen or sixteen inches for some distance over the Falls in the middle, and less, if ever so little on either side. The rest of us walked to below the Falls. They rowed the ark some distance up the stream on the Kentucky side, and they then crossed into the middle shoot, and proceeded to Shippingport, a small town of Kentucky, at the end of the Falls.
We started, and soon passed an island where we got a hard rap on some rocks; we now found we had lost our pilot with Mr. Ferris; both our new men were much
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intoxicated, and this they most times continued to be afterwards, whenever they could get liquor; Thomas, the Englishman, in particular. We landed at New Albany,3d. We found our ark had sprung [115] a-leak from hitting on the rocks yesterday, so that we were obliged to be frequently pumping. The country below New Albany less settled than above, but most on the Indiana side.
4th. At ten o'clock, we reached the town of Northampton, in Indiana; a place of twenty-five or thirty log-houses. We landed for some whiskey; for our men would do nothing without, and but little with too [116] much of it.
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The river narrower than above Louisville, and the current brisker; this was generally the case where the river was narrow, as by islands, sand-banks, &c. In the evening we passed Little Blue river and two islands. Thirty miles this day.5th. At nine o'clock we passed the Big Blue river, sixty or seventy yards wide; it rises in the north of Indiana, and runs south and south east, till it enters the Ohio, eighty-seven miles below Louisville. The country much resembles that below Wheeling, rocky, and the hills close to the river, first on one side then on the other. We landed at several cabins to procure provisions, but found them very scarce, most of the settlements being new. We met a keel-boat, the people on board greatly in want of provisions; they applied to us, but our stock was too low to supply them with any. At dark we passed Flint island, without any difficulty; this is said to be a bad place. We made about thirty miles.
6th. At nine o'clock we reached Rome, [117] the capital of Perry county,
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a few small potatoes, and some ears of green Indian corn, (here called roasting ears,) but we boiled them; they ate something like green peas, but not quite so good. We bought an old skiff for a dollar, to supply the place of the one we lost on the Falls. Our progress nearly seventeen miles.7th. We started at sun-rise, as we generally did, but the wind was so much against us we were obliged to anchor at eight [118] o'clock, at Clover creek. We landed in Indiana, and got near a bushel of peaches for ten-pence. Here we saw some children setting off to school; one boy came to the cabin to light his segar, that he might take a whiff going along to school. The men smoke segars, and many of the women (at least the married ones) pipes; we frequently saw women nursing their children with pipes in their mouths. And we often saw them washing on the banks of the rivers, as there is plenty of drift-wood. It saves the trouble of carrying fuel and water; and it is colder on the banks of rivers than near their cabins. Most of the women were surrounded by a number of young children; indeed, the first thing that strikes a traveller on the Ohio is the immense number of children, many of them almost naked. They do not appear healthy; but they look happy, rolling in the water and dirt. We often saw very little boys swimming in the river, sometimes leading others that could not walk: thus [119] the dread of water wears off while they are very young: I never heard of any of these children being drowned.
At ten o'clock we again set forward till two o'clock, when we passed Doe creek; the wind still getting higher, we anchored till near sun-set, when we again floated on. We found it was often the case for the wind to rise or sink
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with the sun; and that it was almost always from the south, south west, or west; and very seldom from the north, or east; and as the Ohio runs towards the south west, it was but seldom in our favour. And from what I have heard and read, the wind is generally the same as we found it; and this is the reason why vessels are so long descending the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, at least in low water. At high water they descend much more rapidly, as the current is then a great deal swifter, and the wind makes but little difference. But vessels with sails, often proceed as quickly up the Ohio as those do that float down; so that the advantage that is lost one way is [120] gained the other. This day only seven miles.8th. At day light we grounded on a sand bar for a few minutes; and at eight o'clock reached Troy, a small town of Indiana; and afterwards passed Anderson's river, from fifty to sixty yards wide.
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and between the corn, all very luxuriant; in short, much larger than I ever [121] saw before or since. I then went to the next cabin; most of the way very rocky, but there the country more open; the owner was winnowing wheat, by the wind without any fan. The wheat was very coarse; it was sown in the spring; he said the land on the river was too rich for wheat, and subject to floods in the winter and spring; and when sown in the spring subject to rust or blight. But Indian corn came to high perfection. I saw a bear skin hanging up to dry; he informed me the country some distance back was rough and unsettled, and abounded with bears, wolves, deer, racoons, opossums, polecats, and other wild animals; and that they had frequently hunting parties. I asked him if a wounded bear was not a dangerous animal; he said he had frequently wounded them, and never saw one attempt to turn. He had, during the course of his life, killed more than a hundred. In their hunting parties they have always some stout dogs with them; but, he said, it was common for one man to [122] go alone, but never without dogs. Here I tasted the ripe fruit of the pawpaw or papaw, an extremely rich fruit, in flavour something like a pine-apple. I did not relish it; this they told me was often the case at first tasting it, but when accustomed to it people were fond of it. We did not see any more of these trees on the Ohio, but my son and Mr. C. saw a great many of them on the Wabash, in their voyage up that river. From this cabin I walked two miles, mostly through woods, to another; no provisions to be procured here, the people being newly settled. In this walk I passed fourteen or fifteen wild turkeys, in a field. As they only gently walked into the woods, I did not suspect they were wild ones; but mentioning them at the cabin, I was told there250
were no tame turkeys for many miles, but plenty of wild ones.We returned to our ark, but/the wind continuing high, we could not proceed. At sunset we had a heavy tempest; the storm increased after we were a-bed. The [123] thunder and lightning, and the wind equally strong, and afterwards the rain poured down in torrents; and, driven on by the winds, came into our ark in every direction; so that most of us got completely wet in our beds. It continued for an hour, and was, by far, the most awful storm I ever knew. It made our ark shake very much, as we lay in shallow water, the wind driving us against the sand; but we were in no danger of being driven on shore, as the water shallowed very gradually, and we were a considerable distance from the bank. We had no large trees near us; and indeed it is advisable to avoid anchoring, during a thunder storm, near heavy timbers, as old trees frequently then fall.
9th. In the morning we set forward; afterwards some of us landed in Kentucky, and went about a mile to a horse-mill, where we procured some flour and vegetables. We continued on the river banks for near five miles; the country mostly in a state of nature. In the afternoon we [124] went to a cabin, and purchased some provisions; here we saw a small piece of land planted with cotton, just beginning to ripen. The person who belonged to it was from South Carolina; he said this cotton was as good, if not better, than that in Carolina. But most I have heard speak on the subject, say that the southern cotton is much better than that on the Ohio; and that it will not pay for raising in Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois, except a little for home use. In the evening we passed some very high rocks named "The Lady Washington," and near them
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the small town of Rockport, in Indiana.10th. Soon after day-light we passed Yellow Banks, but we did not see the town. We afterwards passed an island, called in the "Pittsburg Navigator," number seventy. In the evening the men landed, at a small place [125] in Indiana, to get some whiskey, but none to be had, to the great disappointment of our two men, who did not stay to learn the name of the place, but came away in a great rage because there was no whiskey to be had. This was pleasing intelligence to us, as they had been very troublesome when in liquor, especially Thomas. About thirty miles this day.
11th. We had a little rap from a log sunk in the river, and twice we got a-ground before sun-rise. Very early in the morning we passed Green river, 200 yards wide, navigable for many miles; it rises far up in Kentucky; it runs west and south west. At sun-rise we passed Green island, and at eight o'clock reached Evansville,
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passengers [126] in the Resolution had reached it about a week before, and are now settled there. This morning I first noticed cane growing on the banks; it is an evergreen, and much sought after by cattle in the winter. In the afternoon we reached the town of Hendersonville, or Red Banks, capital of Henderson county, Kentucky.12th. At ten o'clock the wind obliged us to anchor a little above Diamond island. We landed in Indiana, but found no cabins. The woods mostly oak, sugar-maple, hiccory, with but little underwood; a few hazels without nuts; we had seen but few hazels on the river or any where else, except once near the mountains. Near mid-night, one of the men and myself being up, we discovered something near us, which we took for a log, and began pulling from it, when we found our mistake; it was a bear swimming in the river; he came close to that part of the boat where I was standing, and then made off up the river in
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great haste. We could hear him blow in the water longer than we could see him. Made this day 16 or 17 miles. We continued floating till near two o'clock, when we stuck on the top of a fallen tree, and we were obliged to cut off a bough before we could extricate the ark.[128] 13th. Passed Straight island, and afterwards Slim island; near it we saw a large flock of pelicans, perhaps near eighty; they were on a sand bar; they were larger than a swan, and of a heavy appearance. Some of us went on shore, in Indiana, and purchased some peaches, pompions, and three fowls for 2s. 6d., which were paid for in English silver, with which they seemed much pleased, saying they should keep it for a curiosity. They said two little boys, a short time before, killed a large bear in the river, with the paddles of their canoe, having first almost drowned him by rowing round him. At seven o'clock we grounded close to the Wabash island, one mile above the mouth of the Wabash, after coming about 24 miles.
14th. At day-light we got off the sand-bar and passed the mouth of the Wabash, a large river that separates the states of Indiana and Illinois for many miles.
15th. In the morning we moved opposite to
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Shawneetown, and anchored close to some rocks, amongst keel-boats, arks, &c., some of them for sale. Many disembark here to go by land to Kaskaskia, and St. Louis, on the Mississippi river; and some for the English settlement at the Prairies. It is subject to floods, and that retards its growth. It is the nearest inhabited spot below the mouth of the Wabash, and in the neighbourhood of the United States Saline works, where about 300,000 bushels of salt are made annually. It is the county town of Gallittin, and has a land office for the [130] sale of the government lands, situated in the south east part of the state of the Illinois; extending 80 or 90 miles from the Ohio river towards the north; these united causes draw many to it, and make it a brisk place. There is a bank called the "Bank of Illinois," in good repute, many stores, and several taverns; the principal one, the Steam-boat Hotel, kept by Mr. Hobson from the north of England. There are about 80 houses, mostly of wood, and a wooden jail. The situation of the town is handsome; but being surrounded by low land, that is liable to be inundated, it is rather unhealthy, at least it was so when we were there. We paid off our two men, who soon hired themselves to go with a keel-boat to Nashville, in Tennessee, 200 miles up the Cumberland.16th. We still remained in our ark, but landed to get some beef, but were too late except for the head and tongue, for which they charged 1s. 1Ëd.; they killed three beasts the evening before, but all the beef [131] was gone by seven o'clock in the morning; price from three to four and a half cents a pound: the beasts young but not half fat.
Having thus completed our second voyage in safety, we set out to look for a conveyance to the English Prairie, but could not hear of any. I forgot to mention, that, on
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the ninth of September, whilst I was on shore, those in the ark were offered peaches at 25 cents per bushel, or if they would take five bushels they should have them for a dollar.17th. In the morning we agreed with Captain Hagan, master of a keel-boat belonging to Vincennes, to take our luggage to the mouth of the Bonpas, about 11 miles from the English Prairie; for the sum of 37Ë cents per hundred weight. He agreed to take it at 6000 lbs. without weighing, which came to 5l. 1s. 3d. We could not agree for a waggon to convey us to the Prairies, as I thought they demanded too much.
We took a walk, and just above the town [132] saw a cypress swamp. The cypress is a singular tree, having a great many conical knobs growing round it, at some distance from the stem; they are called cypress knees, and are sometimes used for pails and bee-hives. This tree, at a distance, resembles the yew, but it is not an evergreen. The country round not much settled.
18th. We purchased a few articles to take with us, as we understood they were difficult to be procured at the Prairies; they consisted of an iron oven, some articles of grocery, &c. Many of the store-keepers were very obliging, but the boatmen the very reverse; a rough set of men, much given to drinking whiskey, fighting, and gouging, that is, they fight up and down, trying to put out each others eyes with their fingers and thumbs, and sometimes biting off each others noses or ears. A man, who resides near me, had the top of his nose bitten off, in one of these brutal frays, some years since. This is their common manner of fighting; but it is said that the neighbourhood [133] is improving in buildings and manners.
19th. This was the Sabbath, but not much observed at
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Shawneetown, there being no place of public worship. The Methodists sometimes hold meetings in a private house, but they are not well attended. There was much drinking and fighting, nor was work wholly laid aside, as we saw several teams out.20th. I sold our ark for 14 dollars, but gave our skiff in the bargain; the purchaser was going to New Orleans, with fruit and vegetables.
21st. We removed our luggage from the ark, to Mr. Hagan's keel-boat. Captain Hagan had been waiting for some salt from the Saline, but as it did not arrive he would not wait any longer for it; as the water kept falling, he was afraid he should not get up the Wabash if he staid much longer. They went off at three o'clock with our luggage, and a small quantity of salt. Mr. C. and my second son went [134] with them. They took some provisions with them. The rest of us took our dinner and supper at Mr. Hobson's hotel, and slept there. The next day we intended to commence our journey on foot towards the Prairies, although the news just received from thence was unfavourable, that of three deaths, the wife of an Irish gentleman, and two Englishmen. Report said, much sickness prevailed at the Prairies, but this we had heard all the way from Wheeling, of most of the places in advance of us; but, except at Shippingport and Shawneetown, we found none at any place we called at. We, therefore, concluded this might be the case at the Prairies; and, even should the report be correct, we should be no better off by remaining where we were, as many of the inhabitants at Shawneetown were ill.
22d. Having procured some directions from Mr. Hobson concerning our road, at ten o'clock we commenced our journey; we first went through some low rich land,
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[135] mostly woods. The country not much settled; after walking 10 miles, we stopped at a cabin, and procured some water to make us some tea; this we had brought with us. From this cabin the soil not so good, and but few habitations. On the right of the road there was a marsh; this, most probably, had formerly been the bed of the Wabash. The heat being very great, and the road close, my daughters were greatly fatigued, and their feet being very sore they nearly gave out. In the evening we reached Robinson's or Boon's Mill, otherwise Newhaven, 18 miles from Shawneetown. We found the people at the tavern too ill to take in travellers, but we procured a lodging at the mill. The master and mistress from home on account of ill health; some servants were left at home to take care of the house and business; however, we fared pretty well. Newhaven is situated on the Little, and three miles from the Great Wabash. There is a grist and saw mill, and another large one building, [136] but for what purpose I did not learn; a tavern, and three or four other houses, comprise the whole of the town. The situation is unhealthy, owing to the mills penning back the water so much as to make it stagnant, the land being low between Newhaven and the Great Wabash.23d. We passed the Little Wabash on the mill dam, it was only a few inches wide on the top, but slanting two or three feet to the water on the upper side, and ten feet or more on the lower side to the water. The water was low, and I did not much like crossing a river, near 100 yards wide, on so narrow a bridge; besides, some of the top was broken away, and there we had to crawl on the slanting timber. But most of my family did not appear to be alarmed. We proceeded slowly, my daughters' feet being very tender. At noon we stopped at the Rev. Samuel
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Slacum's to dinner; here we met four English and Scotch gentlemen, who had left Shawneetown the afternoon before. After dinner [137] we proceeded with them to the Big Prairies, 12 miles from Newhaven. At the entrance of the Prairies we separated, there being too many of us to hope to be accommodated at one tavern; we procured a lodging at the house of Mr. Hamilton, in the middle of the Prairie. The Big Prairie is a fine-looking place; and as we had been travelling generally surrounded by woods, it looked pleasant to see an open plain, of several miles extent in each direction. Just as we reached Mr. Hamilton's, I found a small land tortoise of about five inches over; the shell was strong, and beautifully clouded. I had never seen one before, or heard there were any in America; but I have seen several since.Mr. Hamilton had only Indian corn bread, and as we had not been accustomed to it, we did not relish it; but he gave us some good fresh pork, and we had every reason to speak well of our treatment. Mr. Hamilton did not keep a tavern or boarding-house, but only occasionally lodged [138] travellers. It is customary, when travelling in America, to get a lodging at the first house we come to in an evening, for which a charge, (generally a reasonable one,) is made. Mr. Hamilton informed me, this Prairie had been settled eight or nine years; that the soil was very fertile but unhealthy, being surrounded by ponds and swamps. Warm, but no musquetoes.
24th. We arose before day-light, intending to go some distance to breakfast, and to travel leisurely in the middle of the day. We went two miles, through the Prairie, and joined the company we had parted with the preceding evening, and proceeded to the house of Captain Phillips, eight miles to breakfast. Our road was chiefly through
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woods, and part of it lay through the Hurricane-track, that is where a strong wind, some years back, opened a passage through the woods for a mile in breadth, and some hundred of miles in length; I have heard, from the upper part of the state of Ohio, to the Mississippi river, or [139] beyond it. This Hurricane-track is a great harbour for wild animals and game, as it keeps a large tract of country unoccupied. But as the hunters generally set fire to the weeds, &c. in the autumn, many of the trees are burnt; but, in other places, they lie on each other, and mostly in one direction. Mr. Phillips is a native of Ireland, an officer in the American service, a distiller of whiskey, a farmer, and a cattle dealer. After breakfast our road lay through woods, the country not much cultivated, to Mr. Paine's tavern at Bonpas, a place of six or seven houses, a quarter of a mile from the Big Wabash. The land fertile, and the timber extremely fine near the Bonpas; but much of the land we had passed this day was of very middling quality. Walked 17 miles, the weather not so warm, and no mosquetoes. Here we were informed, that the three deaths we had heard of at the Prairies all proceeded from different causes, and not from any prevalent disorder raging there.[140] The town of Bonpas not likely to thrive, at least at present, as Oxford is laid out about a mile from it, at the mouth of the Bonpas, on the banks of the Big Wabash;
and thus it is better situated for the trade of the Wabash, and equally so for that of the country; for should the Prairies ever be fully settled, their spare produce must find a market by this river, and one of these towns is the only place they can get to it.
25th. After breakfast we went on towards the Prairies; after walking two miles we took the wrong road, being
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deceived by the marks on the trees, viz. three notches, the road to Palmyra being marked the same. We afterwards inquired and got into the right road; passing through the woods we found many dwarf hazles, with vast quantities of nuts on them; and we soon loaded ourselves with them. We called at a cabin, and there found the gentlemen who had been our companions for the last two days, but we left them there. Two [141] of them are since settled in the English Prairie. About half a mile from the cabin we passed a small Prairie, and soon entered the woods again, and then some barrens. A barren is land nearly destitute of timber, but much overrun with scrubby underwood. A great deal of the land we had passed from Bonpas was good, and some of the timber very fine: I thought these barrens a poor sample of the country. After passing these barrens for more than a mile, we got sight of the Prairies. We first entered the long Prairie, and crossed one corner of it; then passed a small strip of timber, and then entered the English Prairie towards the east corner. Here we had a fine view towards the south-west and north-west, and it was extremely pleasant to see so much open land, with a few trees scattered over it. As we advanced, we saw some men making hay for Mr. Flowers, of Albion; the grass was coarse, and very ripe. We saw some large hay-ricks made in the English manner. Mr. Flowers's [142] flock, of more than 200 hundred sheep, were feeding near the road. I went and looked at them; they were poor and coarse, of different sorts, having been collected from the several places, and on the whole an indifferent flock. We saw the houses of Mr. Flowers and Mr. Birkbeck, and we entered the enclosures of the latter, about a mile from his house. There was a good deal of his land fenced in, but a piece of fallow, of upwards of 20261
acres, was all I saw of cultivation. It was towards evening when we reached Mr. Birkbeck's house; we met with a friendly reception from him and his family; we supped with them, and slept at a cabin near.Having arrived at the end of our journey, I have ceased to keep a regular journal.
On reviewing a journey of this length, we find we have much to thank the Almighty for, in conducting us in safety to the end of it, and in preserving us in health through such changes of climate and difference [143] of diet. As we did not leave England till the 9th of May, it was late in the season for crossing the Atlantic ocean; our ship sailed badly too, and the wind, as is usual in the summer, was from the south and west; and thus it took us 58 days to reach Baltimore from Cowes. Yet, with the exception of sea-sickness, we were all in perfect health. At Baltimore, we remained 16 days; here most of us had a slight bowel-complaint, but we left it perfectly recovered; yet at Fell's Point, where we resided, a very malignant fever broke out while we were there, or, at least, very shortly after we left it. In our journey, of 16 days, from Baltimore to Wheeling, 280 miles, we met with no accident of any kind, and our health continued equally good. In 38 days, from Wheeling to Shawneetown, 906 miles, we had no accident or sickness of any kind, although, from Louisville to Shawneetown, we had two very drunken and troublesome boatmen [144] to deal with. At the latter place we staid seven days, and still continued well, though many of the inhabitants were ill. Four days more took us to the Prairies, where we had the satisfaction of arriving well, and of finding the settlement was healthy, there being only two or three people unwell with agues. In our journey, if we asked the road, we received the best information
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in the power of the person of whom we inquired to give us. The Custom-house officers, who did not neglect their duty, behaved with great civility. Mr. Macgan, a native of Ireland, of whom we took a house in Baltimore, behaved in a most friendly manner, as did his wife also. The men who drove our waggons I have before spoken highly of, but not more so than they deserved. The same is due to Mr. Ferris, and his employer, Mr. Pemberton. The tavern-keepers were very civil, but not so polite as in England, but I must not forget Mr. Dent and Mr. Vannosdein; [145] in short, we met with as good treatment as we should in a tour through England; but the manners of the Americans are more rough than those of Englishmen.For several days I looked over the surrounding land with the intention of purchasing some. I found there were several quarter-sections belonging to the Congress, (as the public land is here called,) but these quarters were not in very good situations; and I had the offer of some entered land, some on which there were a few improvements, and some in its natural state. The first I had offered was at Birks' Prairie, four miles south-west of Wanborough. It belonged to Mr. Jeremiah Birks, the first settler in that prairie, and named after him.
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wood-land; this land drier than the other, but not so well timbered; that enclosed was partly wood-land and partly prairie, with some dead trees on it. He also offered me his crop and stock, and on the 30th of September I purchased it for nine hundred and forty dollars — two hundred and eleven pounds ten shillings; he received seven hundred of the dollars, and two hundred and forty were due at the land-office. My purchase included on the land two cabins, a stable, a well partly dug, nine acres of Indian corn, from which I had upwards of four hundred bushels; more than three hundred bushels of pomp ions; a small quantity of cotton; some shalots, and some small beans, much like French beans.[147] Mr. C. and my son arrived on the first of October with our luggage, in three waggons, from the mouth of the Bonpas river, or rather creek; for in a dry time it hardly runs, but in the winter it is a tolerably large stream. By their account they had rather a rough trip up the Wabash. The day they left Shawneetown they did not reach the Wabash, but entered it the next day; the water was so low they proceeded very slowly. The crew of the keel-boat were mostly Canadian Frenchmen from Vincennes; they soon consumed their own provisions, likewise those belonging to Mr. C. and my son; and as there were but few habitations on the river banks, they were forced to land and hunt for a living; they killed a few geese and some turkeys; these they were obliged to eat without bread, but once they procured a few potatoes at a cabin. In four or five days they reached Harmonic in
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Indiana, and procured a fresh supply of provisions and some whiskey, of which the crew made pretty free till it was [148] gone. Two days from Harmonie took them to the Bonpas, and in two more they arrived at the prairies, in health, and the luggage in good order. They described the Frenchmen as much the same as those of Europe, merry, good-natured, and thoughtless, enjoying the present moment, with but little thought for to-morrow. They lived on their provisions till they were gone, and then, in a manner perfectly good-natured, gave part of that they procured in hunting to their companions.On the second of October, there was a game of cricket played at Wanborough by the young men of the settlement; this they called keeping Catherine Hill fair,
On the third of October, I set out to walk to Shawneetown; I lost my way in the course of the day, by taking the road to [149] Carmi,
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was from home, Mr. Collins was forced to sign the transfer of the land to me before a justice, (here called an esquire,) and also to get the county clerk's signature, and the county seal put to it, signifying the magistrate is a regular one for that county. But its being done before the register of the land-office saves all this trouble and expense. I returned [150] to Newhaven to sleep. The next morning I bought of my landlord a horse for seventy dollars; I applied to a store for a saddle and bridle, but neither was to be procured; at length the landlord found the bit of an old bridle, and we made a rein with some tow; so I mounted and set forward. Towards evening it began to rain very fast, and I stopped at the house of Mr. M., sixteen miles from Wanborough. He was one of the first settlers in this part of the country; he had lived nine or ten years in the Illinois; most part of the time where he now resides; but he had been driven off three times by the Indians. He was once shot through the thigh by a rifle-ball, as he was in a house one evening with seven or eight others. One of his companions was killed: the Indians fired through the holes between the logs; they soon put out their light, and the Indians did not enter the house, of which, he said, they were very glad, as they were not well armed to receive them; having only three rifles and as [151] many axes. The reason why so many of them were together was, they had sent off their wives and children, and they were met to shell some corn to take with them, intending to remove the next day. These back-woodsmen have a strong dislike to the Indians, and having been brought up with sentiments of antipathy towards them from their childhood, many of them declare they should not mind shooting an Indian more than a wild cat or racoon. Some of the back-woodsmen have been following266
the Indians from the frontiers of Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia, through the States of Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, without being much more settled than the Indians themselves. Mr. M. said, the Indians had not disturbed him for some years, and he did not think he should go again to molest them.About a week afterwards I made a purchase of 162 acres, of Mr. Samuel Anderson, for 480 dollars, 108l. sterling. This [152] land was also at Birks' prairie, one mile north from the other; it was all prairie, except 40 or 50 acres of wood-land. It lies well to cultivate, and by some is called as good a quarter section as any on the prairie ; but I prefer my first purchase, and think it was much cheaper. On the 13th I settled at the land-office at Shawneetown, but not having the transfer signed by the county clerk of Edwards county, I could not send the certificate on to Washington for the President's signature. A certificate, with the land-office receipt, being sent to Washington, a patent is made out, and signed by the President of the United States, which is a complete title. I sent the transfer from Mr. Anderson to me to Palmyra,
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the hunters always set fire to the grass and weeds, for the benefit of hunting. These fires do much damage to the woods, and sometimes to the plantations; but clear the country of weeds, and destroy much of the harbour for wild beasts.Thus having purchased all the land I intend to buy at present, and having taken the cabin we lodged in on our arrival at Wanborough, I purpose to remain here at least for some time, and to take in a few boarders, as such a house is much wanted. But part of my family have removed to Birks' prairie.
I shall now take a short survey of the state of Illinois, and the country round the prairies; with some account of its animal and vegetable productions, agriculture, &c. &c.
The state of Illinois, where I have [154] pitched my tent, is one of the youngest of the states, as it has been a state only about two years. But some parts of it have been settled upwards of 100 years; near Vincennes, the town of Kaskaskia, and a few other places near the Mississippi river. These settlements were formed by the French, from Upper Canada.
In 1783 it was settled this part of the country belonged to the United States; from that time till within a very few years, the Americans made but few settlements in Illinois, but of late many have been formed. And the inhabitants amounting to more than 60,000, it was raised into a state; and admitted into the union, as the 21st state. Three others have since been admitted, viz. Missouri, Alabama, and Main, so that the union now consists of 24 states, whereof 13 were the original ones, and two formed from
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them, Vermont and Main; and nine new ones, namely, Kentucky, Tenessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, [155] Missouri, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois; also a large tract of country equal in extent to all the 24 states, under the names of Michigan, North Western, Mississippi, and Missouri territories. These immense territories extend from the gulf of Mexico towards the Spanish territories; and north and westward to the rocky mountains and the Pacific Ocean; north eastward towards Canada and the Lakes.The state of Illinois had its boundaries established by an act of congress. The Ohio river washes its southern border for 160 miles, from the mouth of the Wabash to the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and separates it from the state of Kentucky. The Mississippi river bounds its western side to the rocky hills, in latitude 41 deg. 50 min. north, a distance, by the river, of 600 miles; and separates it from the state of Missouri. The Wabash washes its eastern border, from its mouth to near Fort Harrison,
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36 deg. 57 min. north. It is calculated to contain 52,000 square miles, or 33,280,000 acres, which is nearly as large as England and Wales. Its present population is estimated at 70,000, but it is fast increasing. It is well situated as to navigation, the Wabash running on its eastern side 240 miles. The Ohio, on its southern, 160; and the Mississippi, on its western side, upwards of 600 miles. The noble river, the Illinois, runs through the state upwards of 300 miles, and the Kaskaskia 150; besides many other considerable streams, as the Mine, Sagamond, Demi Quain, Seseme Quain, Fox River, Plein, and Theakaki; these two last [157] form the Illinois river.270
and some others.This state contains more prairie land (prairie means meadow-land) than any, if not as much as all the other states east of the Mississippi, but very little, if compared with the west side of that river. The land on the Missouri being mostly prairie for many hundred miles. The prairies of Illinois vary in size from a few acres, to one called the Grand Prairie, which is upwards of 200 miles in length, and from 20 to 30 in breadth. I have been informed, by a person who lives in the Long Prairie, an arm of the grand one, that he has been 25 miles along his own prairie, but had never seen the Grand Prairie; but understood he was near it. The arm comes within 10 miles of the English prairie, but on the other side of the Little Wabash, to the north-west of the English prairie. The English prairie was first called Boltinghouse prairie, from a young man of that name, who was killed by the Indians a few [159] years ago. It is situated towards the east side of the state, about 45 miles, almost due north, from the mouth of the Big Wabash; so that it lies about 38 deg. 26 min. north latitude; and about five miles east of the Little Wabash, and about 10 miles north-west, from the nearest
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point of the Big Wabash, which is at the mouth of the Bonpas. It may, I suppose, be five miles by four, but of a very irregular figure, and may contain 16 square miles, that is, about 10,000 acres. It is one of the largest prairies near which the English are settled, but there are some in many others, namely, Village, Long, Bonpas, Burnt, Bushy, French Creek, and some others, and Birks: this last is long and narrow, with several arms to it, and, I suppose, it may contain nearly 4000 acres. The irregular form of the prairies makes it difficult to ascertain accurately their size; but the prairies enumerated above, take one with another, are, I suppose, as large as Birks. Long Prairie, here mentioned, is not the arm of [160] the Grand Prairie noticed before. All these prairies are situated between the Bonpas to the east, and the Little Wabash to the west, and are separated from each other by woods; but in many places are nearly contiguous, and some of them, I believe, do join. They are destitute of timber, except a few strips on the water-courses, and a few groves in them. They produce a coarse grass, which although full of weeds, and the stalks of many large flowers, the cattle seem fond of it: it is made into hay, and eaten by them during the winter.Mr. Birkbeck's settlement, called Wanborough, is situated at the north-west corner of the English Prairie, and contains 25 cabins, a tavern, a store or two, and several lodging houses; and several carpenters, bricklayers, brickmakers, smiths, wheelwrights, and sawyers; also a taylor and butcher.
A horse or ox mill is building, a malt-house planned out, and a new brick building for a tavern, and several new houses [161] began. As water is scarce, there are some more wells digging. Mr. Birkbeck, in July, found a tolerable good spring, by digging only six feet,
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about 300 yards from his house; but several of the wells lately dug have but little water in them.Mr. Birkbeck's house is situated south of the village, a frame and log building of good size; it stands pleasantly, and commands a fine view of the prairie.
The building lots, at Wanborough, are some of five, and others of two and a half acres, laid out, like most of the American towns, in streets that cross each other at right angles, running north and south; the cross ones east and west. The lots are in the woods, but a considerable quantity of the wood is now cleared.
Albion, Mr. Flower's settlement, lies two miles east of Wanborough; it is also situated in the woods, a little north of the English Prairie. It has about 20 cabins, a place of worship, a market-house, two taverns, two stores, a surgeon, several carpenters, brick-makers, [162] bricklayers, wheelwrights, smiths, sawyers, and a shoemaker. Several wells have lately been dug in and near it, but water is still scarce.
Mr. Flower's house is to the south-east of Albion, a large log-building, well placed to enjoy the prospect of the prairie.
Many cabins are built round the prairies, but mostly just in the woods. The English that do not reside in the two villages, are scattered round the different prairies, mostly in single cabins.
About four miles to the east of Albion, at Bonpas-bridge, there is a saw-mill lately built, but it is not yet got to work, having had the mill-dam carried away by a flood in February. I believe it is a place very short of water; it is the property of Messrs. Le Serre and Grutt, late of Jersey or Guernsey, I do not know which: it has a tavern and store also.
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The country round us is not well watered but very healthy. The creeks in the woods and prairies dry up in a dry season, [163] except a few deep holes that are shaded by trees; nor are there many of the wells that possess good springs. As the weather has been very dry ever since the first of April, water is now (August the sixth) extremely low in most of the wells and creeks; but there are some wells that still afford a good supply; and some of the large holes in the creeks have plenty of water in them. The soil found in digging wells, is, first, a vegetable mould, next loamy clay, then sand-stone, and lastly clay-slate, through which no one has yet penetrated, though some have dug 50 or 60 feet without finding water. Many are of an opinion, that, if the clay-slate was once dug through, water would be found in great abundance underneath; others, that pit-coal lies below the clay-slate. I am rather of the latter opinion, and my reason for so thinking is, that very thin veins of coal have frequently been found in the clay-slate; and on the bank of the Little Wabash, where the country is considerably lower, there are [164] large mines of coal. The water that is found in the wells, mostly rises between the sand-stone rocks, but often in too small quantities to be of much service for domestic uses. I have dug two; one at Wanborough, the other at Birks' Prairie; the first is n feet deep, it has but little water: the latter is quite without, though 23 feet down to the slate-rock. As most of the wells dug out in Birks' Prairie have produced water, I have begun another, at some distance from the cabin, that promises to afford a good supply: the two I have finished cost me about 15 pounds. I have stopped a creek at Wanborough that has supplied us with water for many uses. Our well, though very short of water, has been very convenient; we let meat
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down in the bucket, it prevents the flies getting at it, and keeps it much better than any safe in this hot climate.The clay-slate lies from 5 to 30 feet below the surface of the earth. No lime-stone near us; a little free and soap [165] stone; but sand-stone is the prevailing stone for many miles round us. A well at Birks' Prairie is strongly tinctured with glauber salts, and another with sulphur. And there are several salt-licks: a salt-lick is a place where the earth is strongly impregnated with salt; horses, cattle, and pigs often frequent them, and the earth is worn away in a great degree by their licking it. It is supposed by some, that salt-water might be obtained by digging at these places, from which salt might be made, but no one has yet attempted it. These places were first used by the buffaloes, that some years ago used to frequent the prairies: a man, who resides at Birks' Prairie, informed me, that eight or nine years since, he often visited the Prairies, as he was then employed, with many others, during a war with the Indians, to be on the look-out for them, and then he often saw both elks and buffaloes, but they were not numerous. As the country became settled, they moved off to the large prairies, to the [166] north and west. Deer at that time were in vast quantities, and in these expeditions they lived mostly on venison; sometimes for a fortnight or three weeks at a time without any bread. And I have been told, by the first English settlers, that deer were much more numerous in 1818, than they now are 1820.
The buildings round us being chiefly of logs, I will give the best description in my power of a log-cabin; as I could form no idea of it till I saw one, that was at all like it. They are of various widths, lengths, and heights, but generally only one story high. The usual shape a long square, some are made of round, and others of hewn logs.
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In building a cabin, suppose 30 feet long and 20 wide; first, two logs, 30 feet long, are placed on the ground on a level, and about 18 feet from each other, these two logs are then notched in, near their ends, fora few inches; and then two more logs of 20 feet long, having their undersides also notched, are laid on the two first, forming [167] a long square of the following figure, about 26 feet long, and 16 feet wide on the inside. One square being thus formed, they next proceed to place on two more of the longest logs on the sides, notched as before, and then two of the shortest, as before; this they continue till the building is nine or ten logs high on each side, when the two last cross-logs are laid on three or four feet longer than the other cross ones; this is to form a sort of eaves to drip the logs; two more of the longest logs are then laid on, and this completes the upright of the building. Two cross-logs, cut slanting at the ends, are next placed on, just the length of the width of the building, and then two more of the side-logs on the cross-logs, but not to the end of them by some distance; then two more, cut slanting at the ends, are placed just to reach to the last side-logs; thus drawing in the sides, till the side-logs meet in a point at the top of the building. [168] A cleft piece of a tree is next placed on the outer end of the long cross-logs, and pegged on to prevent the cleft boards from sliding off, this is done on each side of the building. The whole is then covered with cleft-boards, (here called clap-boards;) they are about four feet long and six inches wide, laid on nearly double, so as to cover the joints; the boards at the top of the cabin on one side come a little over those on the other. When the roof is thus covered, some poles are laid along the building to keep the boards on; these poles are kept
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at about three feet distance from each other, by some short pieces of wood placed on the boards, to keep up the weight-poles as they are called. When they have done thus far, they call the cabin "raised." But no door-place, window, fire-place, floor, or ceiling is yet made, nor is the house very close on the sides, but looks something like a bird-cage. Next a door-place, of the usual size, is cut through the logs, and two pieces of wood are nailed or pegged up to the ends of the sawed logs, to keep them in [169] their places, and to serve for door-posts; frequently two doors are made opposite to each other. The windows are made in the same manner as the door-places. The chimney is generally placed at the end of the building, and is made as follows: first, four or five logs are cut out the same as for a door-place, of what width people chuse, and then some logs are cleft and placed in the following form on the outside, so that the ends of them are let in between the ends of the end-logs of the cabin that were sawed. The cleft-logs are thus continued, till they rise as high as the logs that were sawed out. The chimney is then carried up thus, exactly in the form of the cabin, but of much smaller logs, till it rises above the roof of the building; it is drawn in and made smaller from the bottom to the top. It is then chunked, that is, cleft pieces of wood are driven in between the logs, to fill up the open places. The next thing to be done, is to mud the cabin on the outside [170] between the logs; that is, it is plastered with loam or clay: this is sometimes done on the inside also, but more frequently cleft boards are pegged on to cover the joints on the inside. A few pieces of timber are next laid to lay the floor on, which is most commonly made of cleft-logs, hewn smooth on one side,277
and notched a little on the under side to lie level on the sleepers or joists. A ceiling is then made; some small saplings are cut and put in between the side-logs of the building, just under the roof, about three feet apart; and these ceiling joists are then covered with cleft boards, beginning at one end of the cabin, and laying a line across the end on the two joists, and then another row with their ends just resting on the first; and this is continued till the whole is covered. Most times the chimney is walled up several feet on the inside, the stones are laid in loam or clay instead of mortar; and above the wall it is plastered on the inside, and sometimes on the outside to the top of the chimney. The hearth is [171] made of stone or clay. The doors are generally made of cleft boards, nailed or pegged on some ledges, with wooden hinges, made in the following manner. A piece in the back part of the door is left longer than the door, and enters a hole in the sill; and at the top of the door a piece is also left to rest against the top of the door-place, which is covered with a piece of wood, either nailed or pegged over it. The windows are always sash ones; the usual size of the glass is eight inches by ten; the windows are sometimes made to open with hinges, and others to slide backwards and forwards, while others take out and in. When the doors are made of sawed boards they have eight or ten panes of glass in them, and then it is seldom there is any other window in the cabin. A porch is often made before the cabin, the whole length of it, and covered with cleft boards; which cost seventy-five cents a hundred, cutting the trees and cleaving out; they are always made from large trees, mostly the black [172] oak. Cabins are frequently made double; that is, two are built from 10 to 20 feet a-part, with a roof laid over the space between278
them. A shelter like this is very convenient, and, in the summer, it is more comfortable than a close room in so warm a country.Many cabins, belonging to the Americans, have no ceiling nor windows, and some of them have no floor, nothing but the bare earth; and some are not mudded, but open on all sides. Locks to doors are nearly unknown, but wooden bolts are common with the English: many of the American houses have only a latch, and some have not even that.
A double cabin, with a 20-feet porch between, with floor and ceiling, finished as above described, may be built for the sum of 150 dollars, 33l. 15s., or something less. But with ceiling, floor, and doors, made of sawed boards, will come, I suppose, to near 50l. Sawing comes very high, being 9s. per hundred feet; but the sawyers cut [173] down the trees and go with the horses that draw them to the pit.
The cabin I inhabit first consisted of a double one, with a porch 20 feet wide between them: this I have since converted into two rooms; the end rooms are of logs, the centre ones of frame and board, with a brick chimney. At the back of the cabin I have added a cellar, &c. Smoke-houses are very common, and built much as dwelling-houses, only slighter, and not often mudded. Some cross-pieces are put on the joists to hang the bacon on. I have built one; it cost 23 dollars; it is about eighteen feet square and nine feet high. We are obliged to cut our flitches asunder, as we have not sufficient height above the fire. Old wood, nearly rotten, is best for drying bacon, as it makes much smoke and but little strong fire. The fires are kept burning a considerable length of time, as bacon, in this warm climate, requires to be well
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dried, to keep. The Americans, do not, in general, I think, allow sufficient [174] salt. The average price of salt near three pence per pound; bacon from eight to twelve and a half cents per pound; in summer it is sometimes rather higher; now (August) from ten to twelve and a half cents.Farm-buildings are not yet numerous. Corn-cribs are built the same as cabins, except that they are placed on logs, so as to stand hollow for some distance from the earth; the bottom is made of cleft pieces, laid pretty close. They are built of different lengths and widths, but about six feet on the inside is deemed wide enough, as corn will dry in them better than if wider. The roof is only drawn in on one side, which two lengths of boards will cover. As they lay the top pretty flat, they most times take off the greater part, or the whole of the boards, when filling them with Indian corn ears, as they only gather the ears. When full, or the whole growth of the year is put in, the boards are put on, and the weight poles again laid on. Should a heavy [175] shower, or even a set rain, come on whilst the corn-crib is filling, as the bottom and sides are not close, not being mudded, it will soon dry out again without damaging the corn. I had one built, for 15 dollars, that will hold upwards of 600 bushels of corn in the ear. I suppose, it would hold near 1000 bushels of cleared corn. The Americans never shell theirs till it is wanted for use or market; but most of what is sold, is in the cob or ear. They measure it by barrels; that is, they fill an old flour-barrel, then shell and measure it, and from the produce of it they calculate on the whole number of barrels sold.
Cow and pig pens, with cart and waggon lodges, are yet scarce. When pigs are shut up for fatting, it is common to
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make a fence for them of rails, in the same manner as for fields; sometimes one comer is covered over for a lodging place for them, but it is more common for them to be left to the mercy of the winds and weather. But as they are hardy animals, and accustomed [176] to hard living and lodging, it does not appear to hurt them. There are but few cattle-yards and sheds; and the cattle are mostly left abroad in winter, with no shelter but what the leafless trees afford. I have seen no barn in any part of the English settlement, although several of our American neighbours grew some wheat last year. A person at Birks' Prairie has built a threshing-floor, to which he purposes adding a barn. Mr. Birkbeck, Mr. Flower, and other wheat-growers of this year, have put up their wheat, in the fields where it grew, in very small stacks, with little or no covering; this I think hazardous to the wheat, but the Americans say no: but they do not stand on trifles; however, time will show.I have seen barns at a distance from the English settlement, that would hold, perhaps, six loads of wheat, (forty bushels to the load,) in the straw, supposing it to yield tolerably well; with a large threshing-floor, for threshing or treading out the [177] grain with horses. One similar to these might be built for a hundred dollars (twenty-two pounds ten shillings).
There are no granaries or store-houses except corn-cribs, a few poultry-houses, mostly built the same as the cabins; as are stables also, but they are sometimes carried higher, to allow room for a hay-loft; some have a rack, but this is not common among the Americans, as, generally, they only have a manger, which is frequently made out of a hollow tree, the ends being stopped with wood or clay.
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I shall now proceed to give a short description of the domestic and wild animals. Most of the horses are of Spanish origin; they are light and clean, but not very handsome; their coats are fine, when kept up and well cleaned, but this is seldom the case; active, but not good in the collar, being too light for heavy draught. I have bought three since my arrival, for two hundred and ten dollars (forty-seven pounds five shillings): the first [178] was six years old, for which I gave seventy dollars; the second eight years, sixty dollars; and the last four years old, eighty dollars. The first and the last very good bargains, but the other a very indifferent one, as she has given me much trouble, for she will leap any rail-fence like a greyhound dog. Times being dull, horses are getting cheaper; but still they are much dearer than any other kind of stock. Oxen and cows are now more plentiful, but hitherto they have been fetched from the states of Indiana and Kentucky. They are of various sorts, but on the whole pretty good; some of them are handsome, and with a little care and expense an excellent breed might be raised. The price of beef from four to six cents a pound; it is now selling at five cents, but expected to be soon cheaper. Calves are not often killed. Cows are generally suffered to run in the woods, and return to their calves mornings and evenings, when they are partly milked, and the calves have the remainder of the milk. If [179] calves are killed or die, the cows often go dry for the remainder of the season, as it is very difficult to get the cows to come home to be milked; and as many of them take a long range, it is troublesome to find them. The price of veal nearly the same as beef. A good cow and calf may be had for from sixteen to twenty dollars.
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Besides the cows and calves I bought of Mr. Collins, I purchased nine beasts of a drover from Kentucky, for eighty-four dollars and a half (2l. 2s. 3d. each); my stock now consists of sixteen beasts, of different ages, and three calves. I shall not increase my number till we get water in the fall, as new cattle are apt to stray for want of it. We often give them salt; a handful will do for twelve or fifteen. If given twice a-week, it is said to be wholesome for stock of all kinds, and I concur in this opinion. The reason I have heard why stock require salt in this country, is, that being at so great a distance from the ocean, there is no salt in the air, as in countries nearer the sea. I [180] believe they give their beasts salt on the shores of the Atlantic; and as it is there said to be serviceable to them, perhaps salt is beneficial to cattle in all situations, at least in hot climates. Beasts are much lighter here than in England, as their flesh is not so firm as in a colder country; the difference, perhaps, one-sixth or one-seventh part, in two beasts of the same size.
No great quantity of butter, and but little cheese, has been made in this settlement. Mr. Birkbeck has lately begun a dairy of twenty cows; he intends to make cheese; the dairy is managed by a woman from the New England States. He has weaned fourteen or sixteen of his calves, and his cows appear to keep well together. As Mr. Birkbeck has much land under fence, and some of it sown with timothy grass, and several good wells, and some creeks running through his enclosures, I hope he will soon establish a good cheese-dairy. The present price of butter is twelve cents and a half; but during the [181] winter it was twenty-five cents, and difficult to be procured. Cheese is now sixteen cents.
Beasts, sheep, and pigs are all marked in their ears, by
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cutting and notching them, in all possible directions and forms, to the great disfigurement of many of them; yet these marks are absolutely necessary in this wild country, where every person's stock run at large; and they are not sometimes seen by their owners for several months, so that without some lasting mark it would be utterly impossible to know them again. Most people enter their marks with the clerk of the county in which they reside, and no person is then allowed to use the same marks, if living in the same county, and within five miles of the person who has previously entered the same marks. The county clerk's fee for entering a mark is twelve cents and a half. And no person is allowed to dispute his marks with another of the same marks, unless his are also entered at some county office.[182] The sheep of this country, and indeed of the whole of America, as far as I have seen, are mean, when compared to those of England. They are of different sorts, but much mixed. If I can judge of their origin, I think the Lincolnshire and Welch sheep are the nearest to their original breeds; but many of them have had a little Merino blood mixed with them of late years. I have seen no sign of the South-down sheep. There are but few sheep at the prairies, and the greater part of them are very mean ones. But there a few good Merinoes, and some few others tolerable; but in general they are coarse, with very hollow coarse wool; and there are some that have a hairy kind of wool. Nor do I think sheep will be of much service in this part of the country, till more land is brought into culture, and laid down in cultivated grasses, as prairie grass is of a coarse nature, and will not bear much feeding, as it is apt to die if eaten down very bare.
Few of the American flocks exceed [183] twenty; but
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most of those who keep a few, shut them up at night to protect them from the wolves. Bears, I believe, never destroy sheep, at least I never heard of it.The Americans keep sheep for the sake of their wool, which is manufactured into various articles of clothing;
and at most of their cabins you may see carding, spinning, and weaving going forward; for to give the American women their due, many of them are truly industrious, as they manufacture most parts of their dress; and as they grow the cotton, flax, and wool, it comes reasonable.
These Americans hold mutton in the utmost contempt, and I have heard them say, people who eat it belong to the family of wolves. And many of them, who in the summer are sometimes short of meat, when their bacon is exhausted, would live on corn-bread for a month, rather than eat an ounce of mutton, veal, rabbit, goose, or duck. Their dislike arises from prejudice, [184] as many of them have never tasted these things. But I have heard a few of them say they like mutton; but even if fond of it, they will never purchase it, for fear of the scoffs of their neighbours. I do not intend to keep any sheep till I am better prepared for them. Wool sells, on a small scale, for half a dollar a lb., without much regard to its fineness, which is the reason why sheep are higher than mutton, as a sheep of fifty lbs. weight will fetch from two dollars fifty cents to three dollars; whereas, at five cents per lb., the very top price for mutton, the same sheep would only fetch two dollars fifty cents. Very few sheep are therefore killed here, as the butcher cannot afford to sell for five cents per lb., the same as beef, as their skins are of little or no value. Fat for candles sells high, ten cents a lb., twice the price of meat.
Pigs are numerous, being easily raised: they are of
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various sorts; but many of them [185] are of a sandy colour, and some with wattles; that is, a piece of flesh, about two inches long and half an inch thick, growing out on their cheeks. They are of middling size, but from very hard keep, they do not rise to much weight. It is not uncommon for one person to have from sixty to a hundred running in the woods, and left to shift for themselves, except giving them now and then a little salt. During the summer, when grass and herbs are dry, and before the masts begin to fall, it is almost impossible to describe how excessively poor they are. Most of them run till they are two, and sometimes three years old, before they are killed; and, in general, they have but little fattening. Some years, when there is a large quantity of acorns, hiccory-nuts, &c., they are said to get good pork. A hog of two hundred lbs. weight is here called a fine chunk of a fellow, and few exceed that weight; though many, if well kept and made fat, would weigh three hundred lbs. weight, [186] and some of them are large enough to weigh four hundred lbs. weight. They do not, in general, produce many at a time; I do not recollect I ever saw more than nine, and this number is very unusual. We frequently lose some, as the bears and wild cats make free with them. Many of the Americans tie a bell round the neck of one of their old hogs, to keep the gang, as they call it, together. It is also common to bell horses and cows, when running at large. The price of pigs varies very much: it is generally very low; but much dearer in September and October than in any other part of the year, as the masts are then near falling. Pork last year from four to five dollars per hundred lbs. weight, which, on an average, is less than two-pence halfpenny a lb.; and in Indiana it was cheaper than with us. Pigs are generally killed by the seller, and286
after they are scalded, they are carried to the buyer, as it is very difficult to drive wild pigs in a country like this. And as to the fattening bestowed on them, it only [187] enables them to run much faster than ever they could before.A farrier and cow-leech are here nearly unknown, as most people doctor their own horses and cattle; they are subject to many disorders unknown in England, particularly to sore mouths; it first comes in the tongue, and proceeds towards the throat. The first mare I purchased was taken with it soon after I had her; I was on a journey; I found it first by her foaming much at the mouth; I examined her tongue, and found it was getting a little sore. I had heard of a remedy for this complaint, and I determined to apply it as soon as possible. I called on Mr. Slocum, whom I knew, and procured some alum and copperas, and pounding a small quantity of each, I tied it in a rag round the bit of my bridle, and when I got home I renewed the application. As horses with this disease can seldom eat corn, I tied mine up out of doors on a piece of timothy grass, and gave her as many pompions as [188] she would eat. Once a-day I put on her bridle, as before, and kept it on an hour. She soon got well, without losing any flesh; but many horses that have had it have been reduced almost to skeletons before they were cured, and some have died of it. I think it is a very dangerous disorder if neglected at first; and it is catching, by horses eating at the same manger. Some cows and pigs have caught it by eating the remainder of the corn left by horses. Some geese likewise had it. The fret is sometimes fatal. I have not seen one broken-winded, and but very few blind horses in America.
The poultry are — fowls, geese, and ducks; I have seen
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but few turkeys or guinea-fowls. Fowls are in very great abundance, and now sell for 12Ë cents, (6ž d.) A dozen of eggs is, generally, the price of one chicken. Geese and ducks are kept by the Americans for the sake of their feathers, and not for sale or to eat. They pick them six or eight times in a year, nearly naked [189] except their wings; they look extremely bad for some time after they are picked, but, in the summer, they get full feathered in about a month. I last year saw some very naked late in November. We have not picked ours, at which the Americans express much surprise, as the feathers are their only motive for keeping them. The geese are, I think, finer flavoured than in England, as they are not so strong tasted.Fowl-feathers the Americans do not save, but scald their fowls to fetch them off. Geese and duck feathers are 50 cents per pound. We brought several beds with us, and we have purchased three since we have been here; they cost us 5l. 12s. 6d. each; it is, therefore, cheaper to buy them here than to bring them from England; but a person might, perhaps, have some time to wait before any could be procured, as, I believe, not ten beds have been offered for sale, in this settlement, since September last.
I have now given an account of all the [190] live stock, with the exception of dogs and cats; the latter we find very useful, having plenty of mice; and as to dogs we have a numerous collection of every size, sort, and colour, lap-dogs, I believe, only excepted; and as we have no dog-tax in this country, we much miss that useful thing.
The woods and prairies contain the following wild animals (but there are but few of those that are most dangerous); — viz. bears, wolves, panthers, wild-cats, foxes, opossums, racoons, ground-hogs, ground-squirrels,
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tree or common squirrels, deer, buffaloes, elks, beavers, otters, and rabbits. Bears and wolves are not numerous; but the latter, sometimes, kill pigs and sheep; a person at Birks' Prairie lately lost several sheep by the wolves. I have never heard of a wolf being killed, but I have frequently heard them howl of a night, and sometimes near us. Parties are frequently formed to hunt the bears, and some are often killed; yet I have never seen one, except that one in the Ohio. Their skins sell from one to two [191] dollars. Of panthers I have seen nothing, and heard but little; a noted hunter told me, he had followed hunting steadily (an American phrase) for twenty years, and had never seen one; but that others, who had hunted but little, had sometimes killed one. It is said to be a very fierce animal.Wild cats are often destructive to young pigs; it is a bold animal, about twice the size of the common cat. Foxes are very scarce; I saw one near Robertson's Mill, it was much like an English fox. Racoons are numerous, and frequently destroy poultry; my sons have killed several; they are larger than a large cat; their skins, when good, sell for 25 cents each. Opossums are plentiful, and also destructive to poultry. They are easily taken, as they will not run away; but they are hard to kill, and often get away after they are left for dead.
The pole-cat is an offensive animal, and some dogs will not touch them, and those that do are frequently obliged to put their noses into the earth to get rid of the scent; [192] they are not so numerous as the two last mentioned. Ground-hogs are scarcer; I have seen but one; it was larger than a large cat; it had a large head, that a little resembled the head of a pig; in colour like an English badger; the legs very short, with long strong claws. It
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was fat, and said to be good eating; the person who had it did not eat it, but stripped it for the sake of its skin, which he was going to tan, to make shoes for his wife. He put it into some very strong lie, to take off the hair, and afterwards he intended to put it into a vat with some oak-bark. I have seen several of the Americans tanning hides and skins, in a trough made from a large tree, the inside hollowed out, and the skins put in and covered with some small pieces of oak-bark and water. These troughs are covered to keep off the sun and rain. I do not know how long they are in tanning their skins, but I have not, any where in America, seen any good leather of their own manufacturing.[193] Ground-squirrels are handsome little animals, mostly running on the earth, fallen trees, and rails, and are as mischievous as rats. Tree-squirrels are of two or more sorts, and are eaten here. A party of eight Americans, in May this year, had a squirrel hunt, for a trifling wager. They were equally divided, and started at day-light with their rifles; and that party which produced most squirrels by the middle of the next day, was to win the wager. They each took a different ground to hunt on, each had a man to attend him to see all was fair. Three of them hunted on and near my land. I knew them all; and I saw one of them several times during the hunt; he was of the winning side, he killed 41; the whole number killed by his party was 152; by the other, 141; total 293. Although more than 100 squirrels were killed on my farm and near it, it did not appear greatly to lessen them.
Deer are not very numerous. I suppose, I have seen about 100, but never more than [194] five or six together. I bought several in the winter, the greater part without their skins, at one dollar each, but one or two higher; one
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weighed more than 100 lb. weight. They generally weigh from 60 lb. to 100 lb. A good skin is worth 50 cents: their horns, though large, are of no value here.To the north of us there are buffaloes and elks; also beavers and otters on the rivers.
Rabbits are tolerably plentiful, smaller than the English rabbit; their skins are weaker, and their flesh is not so white, but it is more moist and tender. They do not burrow in the earth, but when hunted run into the hollow trees, so that an axe is necessary in rabbit hunting. The weakness of their claws is, I suppose, the reason they do not burrow in the earth.
I before mentioned picking up a land-tortoise in my journey to the Prairies, but tortoises are not numerous by any means. I have never seen one more than seven [195] inches over. Their shells are hard, strong, and beautifully clouded. I kept one several days in a tub; it had a young one, about an inch over; but somebody overturned the tub, and I lost my tortoises. There are a few moles, much like the English.
We have the following reptiles; namely, rattle-snakes, copper-heads, black, garter, and water-snakes; and a great quantity of frogs in wet places, and they make a great noise in a warm evening, but in a dry season we see or hear but little of them.
A few rattle-snakes and copper-heads are sometimes seen, but I have not heard of any person or animal being hurt by them.
The black, water, and garter-snakes, all said to be harmless: the black snakes are often six feet long. I have heard of their twining themselves round a man's leg so hard that he could scarcely move. I have seen many of them, and two dead rattle-snakes. But wild beasts
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and reptiles are but little more thought of or dreaded than in England.[196] The birds are turkeys, turkey-buzzards, prairie-fowls, quails, pigeons, doves, wild-geese, wild-ducks, wood-cocks, snipes, blackbirds, mocking-birds, red-birds, yellow-birds, humming-birds, wipperwills, blue-jays, paroquets, larks, wood-peckers, black-martins, and a few other small birds. But birds are not so numerous as in England; some of them have very beautiful plumage, but not many of them are birds of song.
Turkeys are of a large size; we bought many during the winter for 25 cents each. At that time they were, in general, thin, but in the spring they get very fat; we bought one in April that weighed more than 20 lb. for Is. 8ź d. Prairie-fowls visit us in cold weather, but go to the north in the summer. They are nearly as large as a pheasant, and quite as heavy; they are short legged, their colour brown, with some feathers that look like ears. They are sometimes difficult to get near, but in severe weather they are very dull; their flesh is dark, but extremely palatable: they are a kind of grouse.
[197] Quails are here called partridges; they are small, and uncommonly fine flavoured. Pigeons are sometimes in immense flocks, smaller than the wild pigeons, but larger than the tame ones of England. A great number of doves, much like turtle doves.
Wild geese frequent the Prairies in a wet season; they much resemble some I saw at the Earl of Egremont's, at Petworth, in Sussex. Wild ducks also, in a wet season, larger than English wild-ducks. There are woodcocks and snipes on the creeks.
Blackbirds, — often seen in large flocks, much like starlings. Mocking-birds; — all I know of them is, they mock
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the notes of others. Red-bird, — a most beautiful scarlet bird, the size of a blackbird. Yellow-bird, — a handsome yellow bird with dark wings. Humming-birds are scarce;I mentioned one on our journey. Wipperwill, or whip-poor-will, or wippervill, — a brown bird that is named from the cry it makes, of "whip-poor-will;" it is generally heard of an evening in spring and summer.
[198] Paroquets are the same as are seen in cages in England, — a mischievous bird.
The Americans frequently fix boxes on poles, or on the cabin, in which the black-martins build. I have seen them begin their nests in a few minutes after the boxes were fixt up.
Having given a short account of the animal, I shall now proceed to the vegetable, productions of this country; and, first, begin with the different sorts of natural grasses. Prairie-grass, — a very coarse strong grass; cattle are fond of it, but feeding or mowing it soon destroys it. Nimble-will, — a kind of fiorin-grass, or running couch-grass; it springs up in land that is fed bare of prairie-grass; cattle do not much like it.
Crab-grass comes on ground that is cultivated, (a soft kind of meadow-grass,) [199] likely to succeed as a meadow-grass for hay.
Yard-grass comes on land that has been much trodden; it is something like cock's-foot-grass, except the seed. Horses and cattle are fond of it, and, I think, it will answer as a cultivated grass, as it bears drought. Buffalo-clover resembles white-clover, but does not run on the
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ground; the leaf as large as red-clover. Cattle will eat it, if cut and given them, but they are not fond of it, as I have often seen bunches of it left where the other wild grasses have been eaten bare. The seed, like clover-seed, but chiefly of a pale yellow. There are a few other sorts of wild grasses, but I do not know their names or qualities; I believe they are of no great value.Red or white-clover I have not seen; but I have heard there are some small patches of the latter in the prairies. Both sorts are said to be extremely pernicious to horses, cattle, and pigs. I have not seen trefoil, rye-grass, saintfoin, and cock's-foot, [200] or any English grass, with the exception of a little lucern, just come up, which I think likely to succeed. Saintfoin and cock's-foot are, in my opinion, most likely to answer, and bear the heat of the climate, of any English grasses.
The grass that is most commonly cultivated here, is timothy-grass. It belongs to the English meadow-grass, but grows here to a larger size; it does not appear to be a good pasture-grass.
Blue-grass is highly prized, but as a pasture-grass is, I believe, unknown in England. It resembles young rye-grass more than any other English grass; the seed is much like florin seed: cattle are fond of it. It comes early in the spring, and dies early in the fall. Timothy and blue-grass are the only sorts cultivated near us; but I think yard-grass would improve our pastures, as it keeps green much longer than blue-grass. In my opinion, crab-grass would answer well for pasture-grass in moist situations.
[201] But little cultivation amongst the English settlers took place till this year, but most of the Americans raised some Indian corn from their first settling; and this year a little wheat, oats, &c. This year, perhaps, 200 acres of
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wheat have been harvested in the different prairies; that which was sown in good time, and with good seed, produced a productive crop, and of good quality; but as good seed-wheat was difficult to be obtained last season, many were forced to put up with such as they could procure, and some from Vincennes and Indiana turned out very bad: those who sowed it had but little come up; and the wheat at spring being very thin on the ground, it branched out in a very extraordinary manner. I heard from several people, to whom I think credit might be given, that, in cutting a piece of wheat, they found a root that had 66 ears of corn on it; and that 40 and upwards were very common. I went over the field, after the wheat was cut, and saw many of the stems [202] of an immense size, but I did not count any of them. The wheat was, however, much too thin; it was blighted with the black and red blight, and of little value. I have been much surprised with the smallness of the quantity of wheat and oats sown per acre, and yet found the corn, (or as it is here called, grain,) thick enough on the ground. One bushel of wheat, or two of oats, is the quantity usually sown, and I have seen wheat thus sown too thick. I suppose the dryness of the seed, newness of the land, and its kindness in working, are the causes of so much less seed being required than I had been accustomed to.Most of the wheat sown in 1819 by the Americans, was after Indian corn: it was sown before the corn was gathered, and plowed in between the rows of corn; it was sown in September or early in October. They sowed some after oats or flax, and for some they made fallows. That they sowed after the three last, was generally better than that after Indian-corn, when sown in [203] good time. Most of the backward wheat was touched with the blight, more
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or less, chiefly according to its thickness on the ground. I have not yet heard of any being thrashed for sale near us; but 75 cents per bushel is expected to be the price for good wheat. Most of that sown by the English, was after fallows; they having, in general, no other land to sow it on. The price given for reaping this year was about 11s. 3d. an acre, where paid in money; but some was cut to receive three bushels of wheat per acre, and some was cut by the day. The Americans usually help each other to cut their wheat, as they are fond of company when at work: this they return at some future time in the same way.I believe much more wheat will be sown this autumn than last, possibly a double quantity. As I did not buy my land till October, and none of it being prepared for wheat, I could not sow any with a prospect of success if I could have [204] obtained seed wheat. This year, I think of sowing a few acres; probably, six or seven. I have bespoke some seed-wheat of the bearded kind; this is generally sown in this neighbourhood, and said to answer the best of any sort.
But few oats sown, as seed was not to be procured for money for many miles; but I think sufficient to raise seed for another year. I did not try much to get any seed, as I wished to see how they succeeded, particularly on new prairie-land. I have bespoke some seed for next year. The oats I have seen this year were but indifferent; they were much hurt by the dry weather, and the quality of them was bad. I think they will never be much cultivated in this country, unless it be on new prairie-land; and that for the sake of mellowing it, to prepare it for a crop of wheat or Indian corn another year.
The Americans reap and bind their oats the same as wheat, and stack them in very small stacks, without any
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covering. I have [205] heard no price for oats lately, but 37Ë cents was the price per bushel some time ago. Wheat was begun cutting this year about the 20th of June, and oats the 26th of July. I believe no barley has yet been cultivated near us, nor have I seen any growing any where in America; but I saw some winter barley in a barn, at Harmonie, in Indiana, and I understood some was cultivated by the Harmonic society, for the purpose of making malt. I hope to procure a little seed barley and rye the next time I go to Harmonie.I have seen no rye or peas near us, except garden peas, which do not grow so strong as in England, but yield well. I saw some fit to gather on the 10th of May; how early they were planted I do not know. Vegetation is much quicker here than in England. Some peas I planted on the 1st of April, were quite ripe for seed by the middle of June; and French-beans were also fit for seed in June. There was some snow and a smart frost, with scarce [206] any thing green on the 1st of April, yet on the 6th of May there were ripe strawberries in Birk's Prairie.
Flax is cultivated, on a small scale, by most of the Americans near us, for home-use. It is sown in April; and after the flax is pulled, the land is often ploughed and sowed with turnips, about the end of July or the beginning of August: this year, the land was too dry to plough it at that time.
I have seen no buck-wheat at the Prairies, with the exception of about 20 rods of my own. I dug a piece of prairie-land to sow it on; part of it had some hazle-brush on it; and where it was grubbed, it looks well, but where it was only dug it is but indifferent; however, I hope to raise enough for seed another year: I sowed it the 5th of July.
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Cotton is planted in rows, near four feet apart, the end of April or the beginning of May. It soon comes up, and at first looks much like buck-wheat, except that the [207] leaves are larger, and it continues to grow much like it, only it has a larger blossom. Some round pods are afterwards formed, as large as a fine walnut in its husk. When ripe, the pods burst open, and the cotton then appears like white wool. When they gather it, the cotton contains many seeds, about the size of a large pea, either blue or green. The seeds are so light, it is very troublesome to separate them from the cotton by hand. Where it is cultivated on a large scale, they have machines to clear it from the seeds, which, I believe, are of no value only to plant again. I planted a little this year, but rather too late, and, as the weather was dry at the time, but little of it came up. It now looks pretty well, and is in full blossom. Here it seldom exceeds two feet in height, but in the southern states, it grows much higher. A dry soil is said to suit much better than richer land. I have heard, from those who came from South Carolina and Georgia, that it is there common to see several hundred [208] acres of it in one field; and from one to six hundred negroes working together, in the planting and gathering season. One thousand pounds of cotton, in the seed, is a good average crop. I suppose it will lose half of its weight in getting out the seeds; therefore, about 500 lbs. of cleaned cotton is thus raised per acre. I think half that quantity is as much as we can raise, as we are not warm enough for cotton.
Some few Americans, near us, raise tobacco in small quantities, for home consumption. It is thought the land round us is as good for tobacco as in any part of the United States. I have a little of it in my garden; but, as
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the first I sowed failed, it is rather backward. The seed is sown in February or March, and transplanted in June, in rows like cabbages; it requires to be kept very clean. I know but little of the manner of curing it, but understand it is attended with some difficulty, at least to strangers.[209] Hemp is cultivated in this country, but I have not seen any in this neighbourhood, with the exception of a few rods of my own; I brought the seed from the Big Prairie, as I thought a small quantity would be useful for lines, &c.
I now come to the most important article of this country's growth, I mean Indian corn, which, with the Americans, is cultivated on a far more extensive scale than any thing else; and, I believe, it is rising much in the estimation of the Europeans, except as a bread corn. The corn I took of Mr. Collins was on new Prairie-land, thin on the ground, had been badly cultured, and much injured by cattle and pigs getting into it; yet I had very near 50 bushels per acre. I have heard of 132 bushels per acre, but from 60 to 80 is considered a good crop. The husks that cover the corn-ears, and the flags or leaves, are all good for fodder. Horses, cattle, and sheep, all seem as fond of it as of the best [210] hay. Horses and cattle will eat part of the stalk after the corn is ripe; but in a green state, they, and pigs, will eat it all up. Horses and pigs will eat the corn, and leave the cob or inside of the ear; but cattle will eat inside and all. The time of planting is from April to the middle of June; the middle of May is considered the most proper season. It is planted in rows, of about four feet in each direction; and after it is up they plough between the rows, first one way, and in a week or two in the other direction; a third ploughing is
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sometimes given to it. An extremely light plough, drawn by one horse, is used. Between the corn they hoe up the weeds left near the corners that escape the plough; so that the land is made very clean. Generally two or three plants are left at each angle. Pompions are often planted at the angles with the corn, but only in every fifth or sixth row, and at some distance apart in the rows. They also plant a small [211] kind of French-bean with part of their corn, the stalks serving instead of sticks for the beans to run on.There are several sorts of Indian corn, and of different colours; namely, white, red, yellow, mixt, &c. A small sort of yellow corn is ripe much sooner than most of the other sorts, but yields a smaller produce. White and yellow are the most common sorts, but there are several kinds of these. A good ear of corn contains from 14 to 20 rows, and from 40 to 50 grains of corn in each row. A hundred middling ears of corn will yield a bushel of clear corn. The Americans live mostly on corn-bread; the English eat but little of it. I have now growing 12 acres of it; it is in general very stout, but, from the dryness of the season, I do not expect it will yield well. I planted some of it six feet between the rows, and the plants near three feet apart, as I wished to keep it particularly clean and in good order for wheat; and so ploughed it all one way, and ran a harrow [212] between the rows. I do not see but it comes on as well as that I planted on the square. I have not seen any corn near us so large as mine; much of it is upwards of twelve feet high. It was planted between the 10th and 20th of May, but the weather being dry, it did not come up very soon.
The green ears are eaten boiled or roasted, the latter mostly by the Americans, who call all green ears roasting
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ears. The price of corn last fall was mostly 50 cents a bushel delivered, and now 50 cents in the place. But near us there is very little to be procured at any price. On the Wabash, where the country has been longer settled, it is lower and plentiful. It is gathered in October and November, when they only take off the ears; but as the ears are covered with a large husk, they carry them as they are to the corn-crib, and then all the neighbours collect together to help to husk it, and put it into the corn-crib. This is a high day with the Americans, and is called a Husking Frolic; plenty of whiskey [213] is generally to be found at one of these frolics. I never was present but at one; I suppose there were near forty people present; I did not stop, but I understood it concluded with a dance. We did not make any frolic in husking our corn, but did it ourselves; but the Americans seldom do any thing without having one. Thus, they have husking, reaping, rolling frolics, &c. &c. Among the females, they have picking, sewing, and quilting frolics. Reaping frolics, are parties to reap the whole growth of wheat, &c. in one day. Rolling frolics, are clearing wood-land, when many trees are cut down, and into lengths, to roll them up together, so as to burn them, and to pile up the brushwood and roots on the trees. I think this one is useful, as one man or his family can do but little in moving a large quantity of heavy timber. Picking cotton, sewing, and quilting frolics, are meetings to pick cotton from the seeds, make clothes, or quilt quilts; in the latter, the American women pride [214] themselves. Whiskey is here too in request, and they generally conclude with a dance.Raisings, are a number of men getting together to raise a piece of building, that is, to lift the logs on each other;
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this is practised by the English as well as the Americans; nor is whiskey here omitted.Pompions, or pumpkins, is another highly prized production of this country; they often grow to an immense size, and weigh from 40 to 60 lbs. I have heard of a single vine that, in 1818, grew a load of pumpkins. It grew in the Big Prairie, about 30 miles to the south of us, on some rotten chaff, where some wheat had been trodden out the year before. I find they do best where the ground is moved or very mellow to run on, as they strike root at every joint as they run. A load is forty bushels; I have never seen them measured, but I judge from the waggons I have seen them in. I last year sold three waggon loads, in the place, at four dollars [215] a-load. Cattle of all descriptions, pigs, and poultry, are fond of them; but all prefer the inside and seeds to the outside. They make good sauce and excellent pies, and are much eaten here; they are sliced and dried for winter use, for pies and sauce. They will keep till the frosts come, but will soon rot when frozen. At Major Phillips's, I once tasted some molasses made from them, and liked them very much, not being so sweet as the real molasses, but very pleasant flavoured.
Swede turnips but little known here; a person who resides at Birk's Prairie, sowed an acre in May, on a piece of land that had been in cultivation for two or three years; they are thin on the ground, but seem likely to be of a good size, notwithstanding the dryness of the season. They have been twice hoed, but were sown on one ploughing only.
Common turnips are sometimes sown after a crop of flax; the time of sowing the beginning of August, but many of the [216] Americans are very particular as to the age of the moon, in this and many other things; and if they
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should be put by in doing it, they will not do it that year, as many of them are very superstitious, having great faith with regard to the moon's age, &c. Hoeing turnips is not practised by them.Broom-corn; the seed is much like the seed of crop-weed: it is planted in rows on the sides of corn-fields, and is frequently ploughed between. It resembles Indian corn, but is slighter. I have seen it upwards of ten feet high, the corn comes on the top of it, on long slender fibres that unite at the stalk. The corn is useful for poultry, and the stalks or fibres make excellent brooms, the same as carpet-brooms. I have a large quantity of it growing at Birk's Prairie. Many of the English have none; and as brooms are much wanted, I shall soon dispose of all I have to spare.
We have some uncommonly fine hops in the woods, and in some of the prairies; [217] we found them very convenient for making yeast. They are of the white-bine sort, like the grape-hop of England. I intend to plant a few hills in the spring, as I can get plenty from the woods; and I have saved a few seeds, to see if it will improve them or not. They usually grow on the sides of creeks, and on low rich bottoms that are not liable to be flooded, that is always on the best soil.
The wild flowers of the prairies are numerous, and many of them are beautiful; and there is a succession of them from April to October or November. Most of them are new to me, and as I am no botanist I can give but a poor description of them. I have noticed the following, but not exactly like those of England: sun-flowers, golden-rod, larkspurs, sweet-williams, pinks, lilies, blue cowslips, roses, briers, persicaries, and violets, white, blue, and yellow, but without scent.
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My daughters brought some flower-seeds from England, but few of them grew; [218] some of them came up, but did not in general flourish. Stocks, sweet-peas, &c. were weak; on the contrary, princes-feathers and convolvulus grew stronger than in England. Mignonette grew, but not very strong, nor was the scent so fine or powerful; which, I believe, is generally the case with flowers in America: this I attribute to the heat of the climate. But the prairie-roses, balm, here called bergamot, and sassafras-wood, are exceptions, and have all powerful scents.
I have seen sun-flowers near twelve feet high, and I have heard in Ohio they plant them for the seed, from which they extract oil; and there are some in the prairies, from which turpentine distils, in the same manner as from fir-trees. I have also seen growing, in some gardens near us, a plant from which an oil may be extracted, like castor-oil. I had some marigold plants that came into blossom, of a very pale colour, and did not produce any seed.
[219] There are many small flowering shrubs that are new to me, in the woods and prairies.
The herbs I have met with are balm, horehound, pennyroyal, fennel, coriander, peppermint, and spearmint; but the last two are scarce; sage is extremely plentiful, but unlike English sage of any kind. I have not seen any thyme or wormwood.
The following trees and herbs are used in medicine — snake-root, gentian, genseng, Columbia-root, and sumach, and sassafras trees.
We found many morels in the spring, but the weather has been too dry for mushrooms, and I have seen but few.
Most of the weeds are new to me; and I believe to most of the Americans they are but little known, as this part
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of the country is almost as little known to the American settlers as to the European, and many of its productions differ from those to the eastward or southward. I have seen a few docks, sow-thistles, plaintain, dunghill-weed, [220] and water-pepper; but land in cultivation here is easily kept clear of weeds.I have seen no sweet potatoes; but Irish, or common potatoes, grow tolerably in a wet season, but in a dry summer come to little. The early ones are planted in April, but those intended for winter use not till June; but neither will answer this season. In this year, at different times, I have planted about sixty rods, but I shall have but little more than the seed again. They are not so good here as in England; their present price is fifty-five cents a bushel, and not many to be procured for that. Last fall they were from thirty-three to fifty cents. Very few parsnips or carrots; but they are said to be good in a wet season. Indian corn ears, I have before said, are eaten as a vegetable.
Small beans, of the kidney kind, are cultivated by the Americans; they are generally planted to climb on the corn, and are of many sorts, and different colours. There are some dwarf ones, [221] called bunch-beans, and they all appear to do better than in England. I brought some scarlet-runners, and some dwarf ones with me; the climate appears too warm for the former, the latter succeeded much better. Beans and vegetables require to be planted thinner here than in England, that the earth may be moved between them, as they then receive much more benefit from the heavy dews of this country than when the ground is hard. Here are a few Indian peas in growth, leaf and blossom, much like a kidney-bean; the pods are very long, and contain from nine to sixteen peas in each;
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but they resemble but little either peas or beans. I had a very few given me; and when first planted they grew but slowly, but afterwards rapidly.Cabbages grow well; the Americans plant a large backward sort, and make but one sowing and planting out in a year. In the fall they dig them up and bury them in the ground, or rather, they plant them underneath [222] it; as they dig a deep trench, and set a row of cabbages with their roots in it, then, bending the outward leaves over the top of the cabbage, cover them with earth, and thus preserve them, in the most severe frosts of this country. I believe, the great heat of the sun in the day, falling on the frozen vegetables, is the principal cause of their dying, as it completely scorches every thing that is green. Broad-beans fail in a great measure; they may sometimes succeed, but, I believe, the seed again is the usual crop.
Onions are two years coming to perfection; the first year they are sown very thick, and the next they are transplanted, at about eight inches apart, when they grow to a middling size. Prairie onions are common in moist situations, and are very good early in the spring, but soon get hard; the root is very small. As they come up early in the spring before other vegetables, cows eat them with great [223] avidity, and it gives their milk and butter a disagreeable flavour; this lasts for two or three weeks.
Shalots grow to great perfection, and are planted by the Americans in preference to onions.
I have a few asparagus plants that look well; I have heard they succeed admirably more to the eastward. Here the plants are all young. Squashes are a sort of gourd frequently boiled for sauce, and much relished by many. There are a variety of gourds, but, I believe, of little use, except one sort, which has a hard rind or shell,
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which serves for many uses; as bottles, pans, ladles, and tunnels. Their form is round, tapering off towards the tail. By cutting off the end next the tail, a bottle is formed; the pulp and seeds may be easily shaken or washed out, and the top being flat, it will stand upright. By cutting off the neck, a pan or jar is made. By cutting a slice from one side it makes a ladle, much used to lade water with, and to drink out [224] of; and, lastly, by cutting off the top, and the end of the neck near the tail, a tunnel is formed: they hold water well, and will last a considerable time.Cucumbers grow well, and, I believe, are more wholesome than in England, and far more productive.
Parsley and radishes thrive; and, I believe, lettuce, but I have seen but few of them; horse-raddish is very scarce. Capsicum is cultivated for seasoning soups, &c.
The woods round the prairies are not so thick, nor the timber so large, as on the river bottoms, but they contain a great variety of trees; viz. oak of many sorts, as, white, black, red, post, swamp, laurel, pin, Spanish, and black-jack, and some others; three kinds of hiccory; two of ash; two of elm; two of maple; black-walnut, cherry, sycamore, persimon, gum, hack-berry, cotton-wood, mulberry, serve, honey-locust, sassafras, dog-wood, crab, &c. On the creek bottoms, coffee-berry, poplar, pecon, white walnut, &c. &c. The undergrowth [225] in the woods is, hazel, spice-wood, red-bud, haws, sumach, plum, and brambles. Willows grow on the water-courses.
The woods and prairies produce many fruits; some of them excellent, others but indifferent: I will briefly describe them. The grape-vines run over the tallest trees in a very extraordinary manner, sometimes reaching from the ground to the boughs of trees forty or fifty feet high, without
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touching the bodies of the trees. I suppose they must have first fixed to the boughs when the trees were very young, and continued growing with them; otherwise I cannot think how they could reach so great a height without support. These vines are of so strong a nature, that I have frequently seen them fixed on a high sweep to draw water from wells, some of them 30 feet deep, and they seem to answer as well as a rope. This method of drawing water is common with the Americans near us, and is the same that is practised by the market-gardeners in the neighbourhood of London. [226] There are several sorts of grapes, but not in general very good; soon after our arrival we found some, nearly dried to raisins, good eating, and we used some for tarts and sweet-sauce. I suppose they would make wine, with sugar; but I do not know that any one has tried the experiment. Pomegranates grow on a vine much like a cucumber, the size of an orange or rather larger: a beautiful fruit, of a yellow or orange colour, of a most fragrant smell, but I have never tasted one; they are said to be most delicious when preserved. There are many sorts of sweet melons, and much difference of size in the various kinds. I have only noticed musk, of a large size; and nutmeg, a smaller one; and a small pale-coloured melon of a rich taste; but there are other sorts with which I am unacquainted. Watermelons are also in great plenty, of vast size; some, I suppose, weigh twenty pounds: they are more like pumpkins, in outward appearance, than melons; they are round or oblong, generally green, [227] or a green and whitish colour on the outside, and white or pale on the inside, with many black seeds in them; very juicy; in flavour, like a rich water; not sweet and mawkish, but cool and pleasant. After people are accustomed to them, they generally prefer308
them to sweet melons; they are considered extremely wholesome in warm climates, as they quench thirst, and are not feverish.Persimon is a fruit many people are fond of; it is something like a medlar. Papaws, or pawpaws, grow in clusters of three or four on a shrub 20 feet high; the fruit is three inches long and about an inch thick; in shape something like a cucumber, of a yellow colour; in flavour something like a pine, but not so rich. Strawberries nearly the same as scarlets, excellent, and in some places in great abundance. We one day gathered more than a peck of beautiful strawberries in my orchard, and we got a great many at other times: they made excellent pies. Raspberries are small and [228] dry. Cherries grow in bunches, the same as currants, very small and bitter. May-apple is a yearly plant, of only two leaves; the stalk one foot high; the fruit the size of a small apple, of a straw-colour, with some small seeds; very pleasant tasted. Plums are mostly small and sour; but there are some whose flavour resembles that of a gooseberry. I have before remarked on the excellence of the blackberries. The elderberries are fine, but generally eaten by the birds as soon as coloured. Pecan is a sort of walnut, said to be the finest nut in this country. White-walnut, or butternut, and black-walnut, are not so good as the English walnut. Hazel-nuts are in vast quantities; the shells hard, but the kernels good. I have some earth-nuts growing in my garden; the green of them something like clover, or rather lucem; they blow with a small yellow blossom: I planted them in rows, and earthed them like potatoes; they have two kernels inclosed in a husk, about one inch long, and as large round.
[229] Fruit, and all other trees, are of much more rapid
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growth here than in England. There are not many orchards yet planted, and none of them yet come to bear much, as the oldest settlement round the prairies has not been made more than four years. I planted, in March and April, a hundred and twenty apple, twenty-five peach, and eight cherry trees; the summer having been so dry, it has killed many of my apple and cherry trees, but my peach-trees are all alive. I suppose, I have about hundred live trees. I have some peach-trees, two years old, to put out in the autumn.Having thus fulfilled my promise, by a brief description of the animal and vegetable productions, I will now mention a few particulars respecting the land. The soil is a light vegetable mould, of no great depth in general; the under soil is a fat loam or clay, of considerable depth, that retains moisture, and prevents the land from burning. The land is easy of culture, much more so than any I was ever accustomed [230] to, and dry enough to plough in a day after heavy rain; this is the case with most of the land round the prairies. Prairie land is hard to break up the first time, and requires four horses to do it effectually, it being so full of strong roots; in particular, one, called red-root, that runs a great deal: and, in moist places, there is a small shrub, named white-root, which must be grubbed up before it can be ploughed; and sometimes there is a little brushwood, of different sorts, to clear off. Land planted with corn is attended with some trouble the first year of breaking it up, as the furrows are too tough to work with a plough, but it is managed with a hoe. When it has been thoroughly broken up, in a wet or dry season, it will work well; but it is injurious to work it in very wet weather. The land differs, in several particulars, from any I ever saw before: if used with wheel-carriages, in wet
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weather, it retains no sign of ruts for any length of time;and, although the soil is light, it is firm to walk on; as it contains but [231] little sand, and that little of so fine a grain, as scarce to be found to grit, if handled ever so closely.
The roads are all natural roads, yet always free from ruts, and perfectly smooth when dry. I have heard the land round us is much like some in Lincolnshire; but of this I cannot judge, as I never was there. I never found any land in Surry that hoed or dug so light as this does, when it has once been well broken up. The colour of it is rather brown, but much blacker when wet; and in appearance it bears the most resemblance to peat-mould, of any soil I ever saw in England.
Many of the people here have been extensive travellers;
and to have resided in three or four states, and several places in each state, is not uncommon. A man, who boarded a short time at my house, said, he was born in Old Virginia; that he removed, with his father, over the mountains into New Virginia, but left his father before he was twenty; that he married, and took up [232] his abode in the wild parts of South Carolina, and built a cabin, the first in that part of Carolina. People settling round him, he sold his land, and removed into Kentucky; and on the land he disposed of in Carolina, a town soon sprang up of 300 houses and seven large stores. In Kentucky he staid some years; but settlers arriving and seating themselves near him, he again moved off into the wild part of Indiana, near Rockport, where he now resides; but expressed a wish to come into the Illinois, as, he said, the country round him was not healthy for cattle.
A person who lives in Birks' Prairie, who has been there four years, and who has planted a small orchard, had
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a few apples last year, the first he ever grew, although he had planted six orchards before the present one. His wife says she has had twelve children, but never had two born in one house; and does not remember how many houses they have inhabited since they were married: yet they think they are now fixed [233] for life; but several of their sons are gone to the Red River, 700 miles to the south-west. Since I have been here, I have travelled more than I ever did in the same space of time in England. In a journey I took to Palmyra, to record my own and my sons cattle-marks, I saw a muster of Edwards' county militia, near Bonpas bridge. They amounted to several hundred men, under the command of Colonel Jourdan; there were five or six companies, but much the largest one was from our township, under Captain Cadwalleder Jones. The militia, at this muster, did not cut a very warlike appearance, being all drest in their customary clothes, except some of the officers, who had uniforms. They all find their own arms, mostly rifles; a few had fowling-pieces, and a very few only sticks. There are four musters, besides this general yearly one, of the whole county. Captain Jones's company mustered in the English Prairie, on the 1st of April, upwards of one hundred strong, from a township, where, [234] four years before, there were not six families in the whole township.I have been several times to Shawneetown, and in these journeys I have lodged at the houses of a clergyman, a judge, a colonel, a justice, and a captain. First, at the Reverend S. Slocum's, a clergyman and justice; next, at Major Pomeroy's, late a judge in the state of Indiana; at Captain, now Major Phillips's; and lastly, at Colonel Williams's, a native of Wales, but he left it when an infant, with his father. He is a colonel in the militia.
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In February, accompanied by my wife and two gentlemen from the English Prairie, I paid a visit to Harmonic. We set out late in the day, and only reached Bonpas that night; here we found the waters of the Big Wabash so much out we could not get to the ferry, but were told we might go to another, 10 miles lower down the river. This we did, by passing a slue, or bayou (that is, where the water breaks out over a low place, and again enters the river several [235] miles lower down), on a drift-wood bridge, formed of fallen trees and drifted together; our horses swimming the bayou: two of the horses ran away, as soon as they were over the bayou, and obliged our companions to walk three or four miles before they could catch them. Mrs. W. and myself were well loaded with their saddles, bridles, great coats, blankets, and saddle-bags. We caught their horses near the ferry, and passed the Big Wabash, in the ferry-boat, and had a watery road to Harmonie, which we reached at dark. In passing some woods, we saw some sugar-maple trees that were tapped, with the liquor then running into some troughs; we dismounted, and had a good draught or two of the liquor; it was pleasant-tasted.
Harmonie belongs to a society of Germans, here called Dutch, under the direction of Mr. Rapp. This society first took its rise in Germany, but being opposed by the Lutheran clergy, they emigrated to America, and settled in Pennsylvania; but [236] removed to this place, in Indiana, five or six years since. Here they have purchased some hundred acres of land: much is now cleared, but a great deal still remains in a state of nature. This society now consists of upwards of eight hundred members; they carry on many branches of business; amongst which are carpenters, wheelwrights, smiths, tanners, sadlers and
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harness-makers, shoe-makers, linen and woollen manufacturers, curriers; distilleries, malt and brew-houses, two water-mills, and one steam one.They have planted a considerable number of acres with apple and peach trees; and several acres of vineyards, from which they make a small quantity of wine, not of the best quality. They have 2000 sheep, and a large quantity of stock of every description. Their store-goods are of very considerable value, and report estimates their property at 1,000,000 of dollars: this belongs to the society in general, as they have all things in common, like the Apostles; [237] and their society is said to be formed on that part of Scripture. Each lives at his own house; but all dine at the same hour, and, I believe, all take their meals in the same manner. Most of them only speak German, and divine service is performed in that language: the Reverend George Rapp is their priest; but their business is carried on in the name of his son Mr. Frederick Rapp; all accompts being made in the name of F. Rapp only. Many of the buildings are of logs; but there are some good brick houses, and a neat frame-church painted white, with a large clock. There are many brick-buildings going on; and the log-cabins are so placed, that they will serve for outhouses to the new brick-houses. Each cabin has a small garden to it; most of them are in good order, much more so than American gardens generally are. I understand brick-houses are built for those to whom the lot falls, without any regard to persons; with the exception of Mr. Rapp, who has a [238] large one. The tavern, stores, and a few others, are also brick.
The next day the tavern-keeper showed us the manufactories, distilleries, malt and brew-houses, steam, corn, and fulling mills; also a large barn, in which was a powerful
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eight-horse threshing-machine, with a winnowing one attached to it, so that the grain was cleaned at one operation. Many men were employed putting up the wheat and taking away the straw. Near the barn there was a capacious granary, that would contain some thousand quarters of grain. We saw more than fifty women and girls breaking flax in the streets, and all seemed fully employed. They are a most industrious people; but the greater part of them are not very enlightened. We staid two nights, and on the third morning set out for the prairies; one of the gentlemen, who accompanied us to Harmonie, we left there; and on our return a fine journey we had of it. As the water had risen much, we could [239] not reach the ferry by the same road we went by, but were forced to climb a steep hill much over-run by brush-wood; nor was the descent on the other side much better. We reached and passed the ferry: here we found the water had risen so much, as to have carried away the drift-wood bridge we had crossed in our road out, so that we could not proceed home that way. We then had the choice of returning to Harmonie, and remaining there till the water abated, which might be a fortnight or more; or agree with the ferryman to take us and our horses, nine miles down the river, and land us on the side of a pond, below the bayou, and just above another that there runs out of the river and continues out some miles. For this the man demanded eight dollars, and with this extravagant demand we were under the necessity of complying. We proceeded briskly down the river, and soon reached the entrance of the pond; where we found some large trees stumped down to keep back the fish. It took us two hours [240] to move the trees before we could enter the pond; but we at length got in, and rowed up above the bayou; where we landed,315
and proceeded through a wild country for some miles. We passed many small slues, and an hour after sunset reached the house of Major Phillips, only five miles west of Harmonie; but, I think, we made thirty miles of it, as we left Harmonie at eight o'clock in the morning. Here we slept, and the next day reached home, having only twenty-two miles to go. In March I visited it a second, and in May a third time, when I took a nearer road; the water was now low; it was not any where deep enough to swim my horse, but in two places nearly so.The Wabash, at the ferry, is, I think, as wide as the Thames at London Bridge. In my two journeys I saw a great number of wild-ducks and pigeons on the banks of the Wabash; although a bad shot, I think if I had had a gun, I could have killed a great many. I was much pleased with the appearance of the gardens at this season, [241] at Harmonie. They were in excellent order, and filled with a variety of vegetables and fruit-trees; and some of them contained some beautiful flowers. Among the fruit-trees, I observed wild plum-trees grafted with prunes.
In July, I went again, and crossed the Big Wabash, by a new ferry, near the mouth of the Bonpas. The land on the Indiana side is extremely low, and I went four miles through the woods, before I saw a house, or any kind of cultivation. Some cane, an evergreen, grew the greater part of the way; it is the only evergreen in this part of the State, save mistletoe; but I have heard there are pines in the north of the Illinois. I saw in these wilds numbers of turkeys. As I approached Harmonie, I met their plow-teams, sixteen in number, just entering a field of wheat-stubble; I was much pleased with their appearance, all the horses looking well; nor did I see one blemish in the thirty-two horses.
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I took a look at their vineyards; part [242] of the vines were trained on frames, and part tied up to small poles; there was a good show of grapes on many of them. The vineyards are on a steep hill, and planted round the hill, so as to have several different aspects. Trees are laid to keep the earth from washing down. The paths between the trees are sown with blue-grass.
As I returned from the vineyards to the town, I met their milch-cows going out to field; I counted eighty-seven, most of them were but indifferent cows, with a few good ones mixed with them. The dress of the Harmonites is uncommonly plain, mostly of their own manufacturing. The men wear jackets and pantaloons, with coarse hats. The women a kind of jacket and petticoat, with a particular kind of skull-cap, and a straw hat made peculiarly flat.
There is a hat-manufactory, both of fur and wool hats; they also make their straw ones. As this society do not marry, I suppose they must depend on emigration from Germany to keep up their number; as the [243] Americans are not likely to join them, as most of them regard them with jealousy, on account of their engrossing most of the business of this part of the country.
I will now give a slight and very brief sketch of the American character; but in speaking of our American neighbours, it must be recollected, that the greater part of them are backwoodsmen. Mr. Collins, of whom I bought some land, behaved in the most honourable manner, for which I shall ever respect him. Mr. Anderson, of whom I purchased my other farm, I never saw; Mr. Birkbeck transacting the business while I was at Shawneetown. My family have several American neighbours at Birks' Prairie, from whom they have received the most
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friendly treatment; and those with whom I have had dealings, have been uniformly civil and obliging. As we live at the entrance of Wanborough, we have frequently the first offer of game and other provisions brought for sale, and whether we buy or not, we never receive the [244] slightest incivility from them. In selling, they always take care to ask enough, as they can fall their price with a good grace; in short, they are Jews in this respect, nor are they very punctual in their payments.Most of them are well acquainted with law, and fond of it on the most trifling occasions: I have known a law-suit brought for a piggin or pail, of the value of 25 cents. (1s. 1Ëd.) Another failing in their character is drunkenness; and they are extremely quarrelsome when intoxicated. Many of them are sometimes truly industrious, and at other times excessively idle. Numbers of them can turn their hands to many things, having been accustomed to do for themselves in small societies. They are a most determined set of republicans, well versed in politics, and thoroughly independent. A man who has only half a shirt, and without shoes and stockings, is as independent as the first man in the States; and interests himself in the choice of men to serve his country, as much as the [245] highest man in it, and often from as pure motives, — the general good, without any private views of his own. Most of them are from the south, from North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee; and though now living in a free State, they retain many of the prejudices they imbibed in infancy, and still hold negroes in the utmost contempt; not allowing them to be of the same species of themselves, but look on negers, as they call them, and Indians, as an inferior race of beings, and treat them as such.
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Those of whom I purchased my farms, and some others, are moved off to the Red River, 700 miles to the south-west, and, as I have said before, many of our neighbours are true backwoodsmen, always fond of moving: there are others, who wish to sell their land, with its improvements, to go to the Sagamond river, 150 miles towards the northwest. This river runs into the Illinois river, and the country near it is highly spoken of, as to soil, timber, and water. [246] They have but few diversions amongst them except hunting and shooting, here both called hunting; they use rifles, and many of them are excellent shots. In this employment or amusement, they spend much of their time, and depend partly on what they kill in making a livelihood.
I will now mention something of the religion of this part of the United States. At Albion, there is a place of worship in part of the market-house, in which divine service is performed every Sunday in the forenoon; prayers and a sermon are read by one of the inhabitants. I twice attended; the service was from the church of England, with some variations: I think they style themselves Unitarians. At Wanborough, a Baptist held meetings at his own house, but few of the inhabitants attended them. An American of the Methodist persuasion, who resides near Wanborough, holds meetings at his house; but none of the English, and but few of the Americans ever frequent them. Many [247] people wished for a place of worship; but being of different religions, it was some time before there was one established; but in April 1820, it was agreed to have public worship at Wanborough; and on Sunday, the 25th of April, divine service was first held in a log-cabin, that was built for a school-room. Prayers from the service of the church of England, with a few omissions,
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were read by one of the inhabitants, and a sermon by another. This meeting was well attended, and has been continued every Sunday, in the forenoon, at eleven o'clock; and those of the church of England and Quakers both frequent it. It was proposed to erect a brick meetinghouse, and a subscription was set on foot, in May, but falling short of the estimate, it was agreed to continue the use of the present room, till a sufficient sum can be collected for a brick one. There is a piece of ground set apart for a burial-ground, and several persons have been interred in it; three since I have been here.[248] There have been four or five weddings, and five or six births, so that the English have rather increased, exclusive of new arrivals from Europe.
At Albion there have been several marriages, births, and deaths.
The Americans most commonly bury their dead near the place where they die, and erect a small pale fence round the grave, to prevent its being disturbed. I believe it is seldom they have any service read over them, except the Methodists, who have prayers at their funerals.
As there is no church established by law, of course there are no tithes. I was much struck at Baltimore, to find in what harmony people of different religions lived together, and I have since had no reason to alter my opinion. I have had much conversation with Baptists, Methodists, and Quakers. They all expressed much charity for those of other sects, although most of them seemed to have a high opinion of their own.
I will now give a few of my reasons for [249] my fixing in the Illinois. I set out with the intention of visiting it, and had my luggage with me. In my journey, from Baltimore to Wheeling, I saw but few places I should like to
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settle at, till near Wheeling. I was much pleased with the country a few miles above it, but that being in a slave State, I could not think of settling there; besides, the land was taken up: this was the case with many of the most desirable situations on the Ohio river; and I had no opportunity of seeing the interior of the States of Ohio and Indiana, but, I understood, much of the best parts of them were occupied.When I reached the Prairies, I was greatly pleased to find myself in an open country, with a great deal of pretty good land for sale, at a low rate, and not very distant from water-carriage: and having the offer of some of the first selected quarter-sections, at a small advance of price, in an extremely healthy situation, containing both wood and prairie, with [250] some of it brought into cultivation, I took a situation much to my satisfaction, and still remain well pleased with it.
Our land is not so rich, nor the timber so large as on the river-bottoms; but it will bear as good wheat, corn, and grass, as a person would wish; besides having that great advantage, health. It is true we are not so well watered as in some situations, yet through an unusually dry and hot summer, our stock have found plenty of water, in some creeks, about a mile below us, and have done uncommonly well. Our having plenty of open prairieland, for pasture or breaking up, is, in my estimation, far preferable to clearing of woodland, which is attended with much trouble and expence. Had I removed to the west side of this State, on the Mississippi river, I might, perhaps, have found as good or better land, and nearer water-carriage; but, by all accounts, not so favourable to health. Then the expence of getting my luggage there would have been considerable, and I should, [251] most probably
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have been surrounded by total strangers: it is true, I knew but few at the prairies, but I had heard of many of them; and here my family were not quite in the midst of people they had never seen or heard of, as they would have been, in almost every other part of America.There is an English settlement in Indiana, about ten miles back from Evansville, I have heard, better watered, and nearer markets than we are; but it is in the woods, and the land is inferior to ours. This is the account I have received of it, but I know nothing, only from the report of those who had no interest in either settlement. I have no personal knowledge of Mr. Hornbrook, or Mr. Maidlow, the heads of that settlement; and should any person see my account of this part of the country and come to America, I would advise him to see both settlements before he fixed in either. But I do not invite any one to leave England and come hither; for, although well pleased with the exchange of countries myself, another [252] might not be so. And many Englishmen, if they were to come here, would be much disappointed, as there is no want of tradesmen. A man with some property, and a large family, may, perhaps, do better here than in England; and a person with a considerable property might here lay the foundation of a noble fortune for his descendants, provided he laid out his money with caution, and lived on a moderate establishment. But this is not the country for fine gentlemen, or those who live in a grand style, nor for tradesmen at present; but hard-working people, who are sober, may do well, and settle their families in a plain way.
On the 7th August we had an election in this county, for the following offices, (in conjunction with Wayne
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county, formerly part of Edwards county):[253] The State of Illinois returns one member to congress, but it is supposed it will shortly return two; the number of the members depending on the population of the State. There were two candidates for congress, namely, Daniel P. Cooke, the present member, and Mr. K. Kane;
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Three judges are appointed by the magistrate to receive the votes, which each person delivers in writing to the judges, who have two assistants to record the names of the voters, as they deliver in their lists, as the voters do not sign their names to the lists. When a list is delivered to the judges, it is folded up and put into a locked box, by a hole in the lid, and there remains till six o'clock in the evening, when the election closes; and afterwards the box is opened, and the votes are counted up.
There were three candidates for the senate, seven or eight for the assembly, and the same number for county commissioners, two for sheriff, also two for coroner.
The voters for a member of congress are from all the counties of the state of Illinois; but for the senate and assembly, from the counties of Edwards and Wayne only; and for county commissioners, sheriff, and coroner, from Edwards county [255] only; Wayne county choosing its own coroner, &c.
I think there are about twelve districts in Wayne and Edwards county where elections were held. I was present, in the evening, at the opening of the box and counting up the votes. The two assistants to the judges had each a paper with the names of the several candidates written thereon, one of the judges took out a list, and proclaimed aloud the names of the candidates mentioned therein, and then delivered the list to the other judges, who retained the same. And the assistants each entered the votes against the name of the candidate voted for, in the following form: —
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When a vote is told out, one of the assistants calls out "One," "two," "three," "four," or "tally," and so continues till the whole number is counted out. When the box that contains the lists is empty, the [256] number of names of the voters kept by the assistants is compared with the lists, to see if they agree. And then all the lists, and one of the papers with the candidates' names, and the number of voters, are again locked up in the box, and kept by the judges in case of a scrutiny. But the other papers with the names of the voters, &c. are sent to the county seat; where all the districts send their lists, and from these a general one is made out, and those candidates who have the highest number of votes are elected to their respective trusts.
The election was held at the house of Alien Emerson, Esq., a mile west of Wanborough, in an arm of Birks' Prairie.
One unpleasant circumstance is the paper currency of this part of the United States, and it requires some experience to know what notes to take. The paper money is of two kinds, called land-office and current money; land-office money is bank paper that will pass at the land-office, but this money frequently changes. Current-money [257] is bank-paper that will pass in trade, but is not payable at the land-office, and is often from 10 to 20 per cent. below the value of land-office money. It is common to make a price according to the sort of money
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to be paid, and there are some articles in most stores that are only sold for land-office money.The United States bank notes and silver are mostly sought for, as the credit of that bank is better than that of any other, and they will sometimes bear a premium of two per cent. above the price of silver, as notes are more convenient to send to the eastern states to pay for merchandise, &c.
But there are many people who prefer silver, and I find I can purchase many articles a great deal more reasonable with silver than with the best paper money.
I have never yet lost but one dollar-note, nor have I discounted a single one. Discounting of notes is called shearing, and is sometimes much practised.
As I have before described the boundaries [258] of the state of Illinois, and mentioned most of the rivers in it, I will now attempt to show you our situation with regard to other places; but having no map of the Illinois, I shall place them according to the best accounts I have heard of them, but I do not pretend to be exact as to distances, &c. I have, however, been more particular on the east side of the state, as that shows our situation with regard to the Wabash rivers, and also our road to Shawneetown on the Ohio, to Harmonie and Princetown in the state of Indiana. And northward, by Palmyra, the seat of justice for Edward's county, to Vincennes in Indiana. My map should extend much further to the left or west side, as Kaskaskai town is upwards of 100 miles west, and Coffee Island only 18 miles east of Wanbro'; but the country between Wanbro' and Kaskaskai is but little settled, and much of it is prairie or open land.
Kaskaskai is at present the seat of the legislature of
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Illinois; but its next meeting [259] is expected to be at the town of Vandalia,Vandalia, by the Ochka, Kaskaskai, and Mississippi rivers, has a water communication with New Orleans, the grand outlet of all the western country.
I will now mention a few of the places of most note at present, and those reported likely to rise into notice.
Kaskaskai is at this time of most consequence in the state, and is said to be situated in the richest spot of land in the United States, called the American Bottom, but is said to be unhealthy; and the [260] removing the seat of government to Vandalia has much checked the growth of the town. It has a land-office for the sale of public land: it is six miles in a direct line from the Mississippi river. A road from it runs through the state of Illinois, to Vincennes in Indiana: this lies higher than it is placed in my map.
The inhabitants are many of them of French origin, as it was first settled by the French from Lower Canada. There are also several villages on the Mississippi river, that were also settled by the French many years ago; and
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the inhabitants still speak the French language, and profess the Roman Catholic religion. But within the last ten years, many Americans are settled amongst them, and the English language begins to be spoken.By an order of congress a road is to be surveyed from Wheeling, on the Ohio, through the states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, to the mouth of the Illinois river, or near it, and to the town of St. Louis on [261] the Missouri river.
Shawneetown, I have noticed before, as a place likely to be of some consideration, notwithstanding its low situation.
Golconda is a town, on the Ohio river, upwards of 30 miles below Shawneetown; said to be a thriving place, as many people cross the Ohio from the lower parts of the states of Kentucky and Tennessee, for St. Louis, and the Missouri states.
America is a new town, near the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers; being out of the reach of the floods, and in a good situation for trade; it is a rising place, and people are fast settling at it.
Edwardsville, near the Mississippi river, has a land-office. I never heard the place highly spoken of.
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Carmi, on the Little Wabash, is an unhealthy place, and so is Newhaven, a few miles further down the same river; and, I [262] believe, most low situations on sluggish streams are so.
Palmyra, though placed on a high sandy bank of the Wabash, a county town, and settled six years since, does not contain more than twelve houses, and not more than half of them inhabited, owing to its being so unhealthy; this arises from some rocks that lie in the bed of the river, some distance below it, and by thus penning the water back it becomes stagnant. I saw a man who said he came there six years before, with several others; that most of them were taken ill soon after their arrival; that they then removed about three miles into the fork, between the Wabash and White rivers, but their illness increasing, they returned to Palmyra, and continued there for twelve months, during which time most of his family continued very unwell; he then removed with them into a prairie, a few miles to the north, where he had remained ever since; where they recovered, and continued in good health.
[263] Oxford is a fine situation for a town, being on a high bank of the Wabash, that is never inundated; the land good, and the timber fine, with some springs of excellent water. The road from it to the prairies is a good natural road, there being no creeks of any account between them and Oxford; as it is on the Wabash, and near the Bonpas river; it is well situated for trade; but this I have mentioned before. Bonpas possesses many of the same advantages, and is near a mile from it.
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Carslisle is a town on the road from Shawneetown to Kaskaskai; its inhabitants are mostly English. The greater part of the land round it is rich prairie land, and report says it is likely to succeed well.
In the state of Illinois there are a great number of other towns of late date, but I know nothing of them. Towns are often rising up in this new country, as almost every person, who imagines he has a good site for one on his land; has it surveyed and laid out for a town, and offers the lots [264] for public sale. Many of these speculations are extremely wild, and often fail, but those that succeed are a source of great profit to the proprietors. As a lot of half an acre of land, that cost the purchaser one dollar, frequently sells from 50 to 500 dollars, and in a few instances much higher.
As Edwards' county is very large, it is expected to be divided; and should a division take place, it is supposed the county-town will be near the prairies, for the southern division; and for the northern division, in some of the prairies to the north of Palmyra, as most of the inhabitants dislike Palmyra for the county seat, as it is situated on the eastern side of the county, besides its being so unhealthy.
Shawneetown, is the seat of justice for Gallatin county.
Carmi, for White county.
Fairfield, for Wayne county.
Palmyra, for Edward's county.
Many of the American towns are named [265] from Scripture, Ancient and Modem History; and many of them are French, viz. Mount Carmel, Lebanon, Galliopolis, Athens, Herculaneum, Troy, Greece, Paris, Madrid,
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Vienna, Newport, York, Venice, Terre Haute, St. Louis, Vincennes, Illinois, &c. &c.In surveying the land on the north side of the Ohio river, a point was taken on the river, and a line run from that point due north, till it reached the north side of the United States, as far as the Indian title to the land was extinct. This line was called the first principal meridian, and was begun somewhere in the state of Ohio. The second principal meridian, I believe, was in the state of Indiana; and the third principal meridian, in the state of Illinois, at the mouth of the Ohio. This third meridian was first run north till it reached the Indian boundary line, about seven miles to the north of the English Prairie. And the land was laid out into ranges of six miles wide, on the east and west side of the meridian [266] line; these ranges running from the Ohio river to the Indian boundary line, and the ranges are called first, second, third; and range east or west, as the case may be.
Next the ranges were ran into townships, six miles wide, beginning at the Indian boundary, called the base line, the townships running the width of the ranges, and the first line of townships from the base line is called town one. The second line town two, and so on to the Ohio river.
The townships are then laid out in sections of one mile square; thus a township contains six square miles, and thirty-six sections in each township: they are named section one, two, three, and so on. If the sections are in the woods, they are marked near the corners on the trees, and if in the prairies by stakes.
They are offered for sale in quarter sections, of a hundred and sixty acres; and are called north-east, north-west, south-east, and south-west quarters.
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[267] When a part of the country is surveyed and offered for sale, notice is given in the public papers, for some months previous, with the time and place of sale. At the sale the lots are put up, beginning with the lowest number, at two dollars per acre; and if there be no bidder, another lot is put up, and so continued till the sale is ended. If a bidding be made the lot is sold; if more than one bidder, then the highest is the purchaser. He must then pay down one fourth part of the purchase money, one fourth more at the end of two years, one fourth more at the end of three years, and the remaining fourth at the end of four years; and if it be not then paid the land reverts to the government, and the money paid down forfeited. At the time of sale the purchaser receives a certificate of the quarter purchased, and of the money paid thereon, with the times of payment of the other instalments. These instalments bear interest, from the day of purchasing, at six per cent., but if they be paid on or [268] before they respectively become due, no interest is demanded thereon. But should the payment be delayed, only one day, after it becomes due, interest is demanded from the day of sale. If a person at the time of sale should pay the whole of the instalments, after the first, he receives eight per cent. discount on the sum so paid, according to the length of time of each instalment; or if at any time before the instalments are due, discount is allowed according to time.
As many people, who have speculated in land, have let their interest run, much will be due at the end of four years; but should the instalments and interest be paid on the day the last instalment becomes due, the interest will be saved on the fourth instalment; but four years' interest are due on the second and third instalments, that is 38
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dollars 40 cents, but one day later will make it 57 dollars 60 cents.If not paid at the end of four years, I have reason to think some time is allowed [269] before the land reverts to the government. But the interest still runs on till the day of payment; and if the arrears be not paid, the land and all its improvements, if any, return to the government.
The above was the plan on which the public lands were disposed of; but by an act of congress passed last spring,
I have every reason to conclude, that much remains due on the land entered in most of the western states, and some will, most probably, be forfeited to government, as much of it was entered on speculation, and still remains in a state of nature.
The alteration in the price of land, the large quantities lately offered for sale, with the shortness of money, will, I think, prove [270] extremely hurtful to some of the large speculators; but, in my opinion, will in the end be beneficial to the country at large, as it will oblige those who enter land to bring it into cultivation, instead of taking up large quantities, as it will now require a greater capital to speculate than it has hitherto done. Many of the speculators calculate to sell again without paying any of the instalments, after the first deposit, but some of them are now greatly dispirited, and would be happy to dispose of their land on almost any terms, at least to recover what it at first and since has cost them.
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I will now endeavour to give a small sketch of the plan of the survey of the country near us, and likewise of the township in which we live.
From the third principal meridian, which begins at the mouth of the Ohio river, and runs north to the Indian boundary, called the Base Line, there is one range to [271] the west called Range 1, West of the 3d Principal Meridian; eleven ranges east, called Range 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7; 8, 9,10, 11, East of the 3d Principal Meridian; and three ranges, called Range 12, 13, 14, West of the 2d Principal Meridian; this survey was continued from the State of Indiana, and met the survey from the 3d Meridian at Range II East, which was the reason Range II was so narrow, and is called a fractional range.
The townships run from east to west, beginning at the Base Line; the upper line of townships, called Town 1, the second line Town 2, and so on down to Town 15, near the mouth of the Ohio; and the Townships and Ranges are called as follows; suppose at Albion, as marked in the map, in looking on the top is seen Range 10 and Town 2, East of the 3d Principal Meridian: or at Carmi, on the Little Wabash, Range 10, Town 5, East of the 3d Principal Meridian: or at Golconda, on the Ohio River, Range 6, Town 12, [272] East of the 3d Principal Meridian. The Townships are each six miles square, and are divided in sections of one mile square, 36 of which make a Township, and are marked and numbered as in the plate.
The Township, Range 10, East of the 3d Principal Meridian, Town 2, South of the Base Line, contains the whole of the English Prairie, most of Birks' Prairie, and a small part of Burnt and Long Prairie.
I live near the corner of section ten, the place marked
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J. W., and the dots from thence through section three and two, show the road to Albion; and those through sections nine, eight, seventeen, and nineteen, mark the road to my farm, in the south east quarter of section nineteen. My other farm is in the north-west quarter of section eighteen. Albion is in sections one and two; Wanborough is in section three.Sections two, five, twenty, twenty-three, thirty, and thirty-three, in all townships, may be entered in half quarter-sections, [273] that is, in eighty acres; but in the other sections not less than a quarter can be entered. Owing to the land being uneven, some sections will a little exceed 640 acres, and the overplus is always put to the north-west quarter. The sixteenth section, in every township, is not sold, but reserved for the support of a public school. But this section in Town 2, is of little value, as much of it is very wet; but let the sixteenth section be good or bad, it is always reserved for school-land, because it is nearly central, should a school ever be opened in that township.
A few years back the United States obtained, by treaty with Indiana,
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not remarkably well watered, and remote from water-carriage. It is represented as too much settled for backwoodsmen, and too remote for Europeans.In our journey, I frequently mentioned the state of the weather: I will now give a short account of it, from recollection, since our residence here. It was generally dry and hot till the end of October; November dry, temperate, and pleasant; this continued till the 14th of December, then wet and cold. January intensely cold, except from the 6th to the loth, the thermometer sometimes as low as eight degrees below zero, or forty degrees below the freezing point; but this was only when the sun was set, as it is much warmer in the day than night; in this respect, much more so than in England. The Americans told us, it was the toughest spell of cold they ever knew. The snow was at least eighteen inches on a level. The middle and end of February warm and showery; March generally [275] dry, but colder than the preceding month. On the first of April a heavy fall of snow, and a few following days cold, the rest of April dry; and after the middle as warm as July in England. May variable, hot, temperate, and even cold, but mostly dry. June hot and dry, except a few thunder showers. On the 4th of July a moderate rain, the rest of the month extremely hot and dry; and now, (August the 15th,) the thermometer stands nearly up to 100 degrees. The Americans say, they never knew so little rain as in the last thirteen or fourteen months.
With a few remarks on the country I left, and the one I reside in, I shall now conclude.
England has the advantage in climate, both in summer and winter; and people of large property may have better attendance in England than here. Clothing, furniture,
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and many articles of convenience and comfort are cheaper, and in greater abundance in England than with [276] us. And, it is true, many young men, who have visited the western country, have been dissatisfied at first, for want of society and amusements, and the difficulty of procuring comfortable places to board and lodge at; with the inconveniences attending getting their clothes made, washed, &c.: females being scarce with the European settlers, as three or four men have arrived to one woman. But after a short time, the greater part of them get reconciled to the country.I should like to see the climate of this country more temperate, both in summer and winter, particularly the latter; as the cold is extremely severe, but of short duration. And if we had some running streams, it would be much pleasanter in the summer to us, and more beneficial to the cattle.
With regard to water for the stock, during the summer; in some places there has been great want of it, as most of the creeks have been dried up, and some of the cattle of the English Prairie went off to the Bonpas [277] and Little Wabash. But at Birks' Prairie they have done well for water, as most of the creeks of English and Birks' Prairie unite a mile below the south-end of the latter in the woods, and it is there called the big creek, and it is never dry; and from this creek some of the inhabitants of Birks' Prairie fetch all their water in a dry season. But few of these Americans will ever dig a well, and some of those that do soon lose it again for want of welling up. Among the English, there are now a number of wells, and many of them have now a good supply of water. When there are a few more dug, and a few ponds made, I think the prairies will be pretty well supplied with water, both for
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domestic use and cattle; but it will be difficult to extend it to any manufacturing purpose. This year, great drought has prevailed, from the 1st of April to the 20th of August; but in the last week we have had three good showers, each of several hours' continuance, so that the creeks run again, and the earth is got [278] well soaked; and, I hope, there will be plenty of water for the remainder of the summer. As the first part of it was so dry, we had no buffalo gnats, and but few prairie flies or musquetoes; but a great quantity of common flies, and they, I believe, are numerous all over America, at least we found them so all the way from Baltimore.When better cabins are built, and we get a little accustomed to the climate, I hope much of the inconveniences we feel from the difference will be over, as we continue to enjoy as good health as we ever did in England. We here take three meals a day, — breakfast of bacon, beef, eggs, butter, honey-bread, with tea and coffee: dinner, some sort of pudding, with meat or game, and water to drink: supper the same as breakfast. I never liked my living in England better than I do here, and I am quite reconciled to the loss of beer or cider at dinner. But I expect beer will be plentiful enough in a few years, and cider at some future period. Brandy, rum, [279] and wine can be procured, and whiskey is in great plenty; and too much of it is drank by many. Beer, peach-brandy, and persico, are also frequently to be purchased. Tea, coffee, sugar, spices, &c. &c. to be procured at the stores, and most articles of clothing; the latter dear. We have most kinds of mechanics, so that we can have many sorts of furniture made; and we have black walnut and cherry-tree wood to make it with; these trees are in great abundance, and we have other sorts for building.
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Although I am well pleased with the exchange of countries, I hope no one will leave England on account of my being favourable to America, as I should be extremely sorry if any person came here, for any thing I have said in praise of this country, as, perhaps, another might not be so fortunate, or so well pleased with it as I am; and the trouble and the expense of moving so many miles is both considerable. It cost us nearly three hundred pounds, for nine people, including our luggage of 6000 lb. [280] weight. We were longer than many in performing our journey, as we took our luggage on with us; whereas many came forward and left their luggage to follow them by different conveyances, and many of them had great difficulty and expense to get it again; and some had it much damaged, and others never received it at all. We lived very economically on our journey; and, on the whole, I cannot find any party came so cheap as we did, considering the quantity of luggage we had: our expenses amounted to thirty-three pounds each.Some few who had no luggage reached this place from England for twenty-seven pounds each; but it cost others, including their luggage, forty pounds and upwards. But of those who came cabin-passengers, I suppose, the expenses exceeded fifty, exclusive of their luggage.
Here a man with a family may get a good living, in a plain way, and leave his children in a situation to do the same. But money is too scarce for a man to get rich by farming, as produce is low and labour high, so that [281] it will not do to hire much; but what a man and his own family do themselves turns to good account; for though produce is low, yet here a man has no rent, tithes, poor-rates, or taxes of any sort worth mentioning. My taxes, for 320 acres of land, amount to the sum of four dollars
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eighty cents, a trifle less than 1l. 1s. 8d. sterling; this for a year's tax to the government and State.I think that partly cultivation, and part raising of stock, will answer much better than sowing a large quantity of corn; as stock is reared without much trouble or expense, but cannot be wintered without some hay and corn at present. Corn is best; but when the country comes to be more cultivated, timothy-hay will hold a high place, in a prairie farmer's estimation, for winter use. I think turnips, carrots, and mangel-wurzel are too expensive in the present state of the country; but pumpkins are of great service for the first part of the winter, and are raised at a [282] trifling expense. I have heard that rye, sown in July, amongst Indian corn, yields much feed after the corn is ripe, and also early in the spring. And that land so sown is in good order for Indian corn, after the rye is fed off in April, but I have not seen any rye near us.
I have now, I think, given an account of every thing that can be interesting to any one, and a great deal more than will be so to many people; but before I left England, I heard numerous enquiries made as to the most minute circumstances; and, having begun an account for the entertainment of a few friends, I have noted many trifling occurrences, to give them an idea of our situation, manner of living, and the customs in this remote country. And as we are among the true back-woodsmen, some of whom are much like the late celebrated Colonel Daniel Boone, always wishing to live remote from society, many customs here must be different from those of my native country, and new to many of [283] my old friends; and I hope the foregoing account will at least give some information, on many subjects they may wish to be acquainted with.
Though I hope no person will leave England to come
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here, from any thing I have said, yet should any one from our old neighbourhood come to us, I will endeavour to give him all the assistance in my power, as to choice of situation, &c.P.S. As I have no opportunity to send this account to England at present, I will add a little more to it.
I have seen some wheat thrashed on the earth in dry weather; it was afterwards put into a cabin, in the chaff;
it seemed to me a very slovenly manner of doing it; but as there was little or no sand where it was thrashed, perhaps the wheat may not be gritty.
Wheat is much easier thrashed here than in England, owing to the dryness of the [284] climate. I saw some thrashed without untying the sheaves, and the straw was quite clean. I was informed a man could thrash fifteen bushels of that wheat a-day; it appeared to yield well. Wheat and other grain damage much sooner, in wet weather, in this country, than in England, from the greater heat of the climate. Indian corn, on the contrary, will remain out the greater part of the winter, and sustain but little damage from the weather. I saw some, near us, that was left out most part of last winter, and was not greatly hurt, except from birds. This field was much frequented by prairie fowls, and some other birds, during a great snow in January last, and the greater part of the corn was eaten by them.
Sept. 1. No bustle to-day as in England, as we have no Game Laws, and the time of sporting lasts from the 1st of January to the last day of December; as every person has a right of sporting, on all unenclosed land, for all sorts of wild animals [285] and game, without any licence or
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qualification as to property. The only qualifications required here are a good rifle and a steady hand and eye. Many of the Americans will hardly credit you, if you inform them, there is any country in the world where one order of men are allowed to kill and eat game, to the exclusion of all others. But when you tell them that the occupiers of land are frequently among this number, they lose all patience, and declare, they would not submit to be so imposed on. Here, if game do a farmer any mischief, he may destroy it by night or by day, in any manner he may choose, without fear of fines or penalties; and he is in no danger of offending his neighbour by so doing. And if he should kill any game, he may dispose of it by public or private sale, if so inclined. Nor are there here any Excise Laws; a person may make beer, leather, spirits, soap, candles, &c. &c. and not be troubled with excisemen; he [286] may likewise turn auctioneer, or any other calling, without a licence.I have just finished walling up my well, at Birks' Prairie; the water rose so fast we had some difficulty to do it. As some of the earth gave way, it took a large quantity of stones, I suppose from twelve to fifteen loads. At the depth of 23 feet, we found a small vein of coal about three inches thick, just above the slate-rock. In digging this well we found no sand-stone above the clay-slate rock, as is generally the case. The water had, in the first place, a slight taste of sulphur, but it wears off, and is now much better flavoured; it stands sixteen feet deep. It cost 100 dollars (221. 10s.)
Some began sowing wheat a fortnight ago, but there is but little sown yet.
We have had large flocks of pigeons, from the north, almost continually passing over us for the last week.
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Sept. 25. This day has completed our [287] first year's residence in the prairies, and between fourteen and fifteen months in America; during which time, my family have been in as good health as I ever knew them, for the same length of time, in England. Although much sickness has prevailed, in many parts around us, among the American settlers, the Europeans, on the contrary, have generally enjoyed very good health, with the exception of a few, who have had agues, from which they are now recovered. This, I think, may be owing to their different manner of living, as many of the Americans eat but two meals a-day, and sometimes but one, while the Europeans eat three times a-day. The change of climate must, of course, be greater to us than to them.
I lately saw a young pointer-dog, belonging to Mr. R. Birkbeck, that had three days before been bitten by a rattle-snake, in two places in the nose. A person present killed the snake, and cut it open, and rubbed some of the fat on the wounds, and afterwards [288] bathed them with sweet oil, and gave the dog some castor-oil. When I saw it its throat was a little swollen, but otherwise the dog was well. This is the only instance I have met with, or heard of, of any thing being hurt by any reptile.
As trade is dull, and money scarce, in America, we find the times at the Prairies also dull. But there are several new buildings going forward at Wanborough; viz. a malt-house, a brewhouse, a horse-mill, on an improved principle, (that is, an inclined plane,) and a distillery for making whiskey; there are likewise half-a-dozen men employed in making bricks for another year.
I have not seen one Indian, although there have been several at Wanborough at different times, since I have resided there, but I have always been from home at the time.
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I see the American settlers understand the culture of this country better than the Europeans, and I mean generally to follow the rules of the former, unless where [289] I see a great defect in their practice; and should I depart from their plan, I shall do it at first on a small scale, to try if my method is preferable to theirs; as I always observed in England, that when a person removed from one part of the country to another, he almost always adopted the practice of that neighbourhood, however different to the one he had before been accustomed to.
An agricultural society was established last year, in the State of Illinois, and Mr. Birkbeck made president. It held its first meeting at Kaskaskia; but whether there has been any other meeting I do not know.
I have just received the patents of my farms, from the city of Washington, where they had been sent for the president's signature. They are complete titles, of a short and simple form. The following is a copy of one of them: —
"To whom these presents shall come, greeting.
"Know ye, that John Woods, assignee of Hugh Collins, of White county, Illinois, having deposited, at the general land office, a certificate of the register of the land office at Shawneetown; whereby it appears, that full payment has been made, for the south-east quarter of section nineteen; in township, two south; of range, ten east; containing 160 acres of the lands directed to be sold at Shawneetown, by the acts of Congress relative to the disposal of the public lands in Illinois. There is granted to the said John Woods, the quarter section of land above described; to
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have and to hold the said quarter section of land, with the appurtenances, unto the said John Woods, his heirs and assigns, for ever. In testimony whereof, I have caused these letters to be made patent, and the seal of the general land office to be hereunto [291] affixed. Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, the eighteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and nineteen, and of the independence of the United States, the forty-fourth.[Seal.] By the President,
JAMES MONROE.
Josiah Meigs, Commissioner of the General Land Office.
Recorded Vol. ii. page 445."
I received the above, from the land office of Shawneetown, free of all expence. By the number 269 at the beginning, is meant the number as it stands in the Shawneetown land-office books; and it is also mentioned where to find the entry of it in the general land office books, so that it is easy to find the title of any land that has been sold at any time by the United States' government.
We have had but few emigrants from England this summer; but there is a family or two on the Ohio coming on, and [292] some more are expected from the eastward. And several at the Prairies intend returning to England, during the winter, to bring back their families with them in the spring.
With regard to the language of this country, I have found no difficulty to understand any of the Americans I have met with, a few words only excepted. I have seen several from England, that came from a distant part from that in which I resided, that I have had far more trouble
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to understand. Yet the manner of discourse among the true Back-woods-men is rather uncouth to an English ear. I will attempt to give a specimen of it, in a conversation between two of them, who meet each other on the road; one an Esquire, the other a Judge.Esq. Well, Judge, how do you do? I hope you are well.
Judge. Well, Squire, I am tolerably bad. How do you do?
Esq. Well, I am a heap better than I was; but I have been powerfully sick lately.
[293] Judge. But, Squire, you have a powerful chance of plunder on your creature. What are you going to do with it?
Esq. Well, I am going to town with a tolerable chance of plunder, to get it carded at the mill.
Judge. Well, so you have got your wool to be carded; I could not calculate what truck you had got.
Esq. Well, I fancy you have been to town. How goes times there?
Judge. Times are dull; I calculated to sell my creature there, and then when I got home, to turn in and earn some money to get me another.
Esq. Well, as you could not trade away your creature, you must turn in and work as well as you can. I also must turn in, and build a cabin or two, to raise a little cash.
Judge. Well, Squire, have you done any hunting lately? I have followed it steadily for some time.
Esq. Well, Judge, I also have hunted [294] steadily; and I calculated to make a heap of money of my truck, but I have got none.
Judge. Well, what truck have you got, to trade away to make money?
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Esq. I have got a few beefs, and a tolerable chance of corn.
Judge. Well, I also have got some beefs, and a powerful chance of corn, and some wool, that I must toat to town and trade away.
Esq. Well, Judge, I must go on and toat my truck to mill, and then get right strait home.
Judge. Well, I must also get on, as my woman is powerfully sick and weak, and I am fetching her some whiskey.
Esq. Well, but Judge, where did you get your creature? It is a powerfully fine looking one.
Judge. Well, Squire, mine is a great little horse, I bought him of our general; but I must be going; farewell.
Well begins most sentences. Plunder [295] and truck include almost every thing. A horse is generally called a creature. Beefs are cows. Toat means to carry any thing. Strait and turn in, are words they frequently use. Woman, — they always call their wives their women. Many of them, instead of saying yes, make a sort of noise, like "him, him," or rather like pronouncing "m, m," with the mouth shut.
In this remote part of America, judges, generals of militia, colonels, captains, and esquires, are not generally men of property or education; and it is usual to see them employed in any common kind of labour. Yet I have seen men among them that possess very good abilities, far from ignorant, and much better informed than could be expected from their appearance.
Oct. 2. This day was kept at Wanborough, as last year, instead of Catherine Hill fair; but as some of the young men were gone to a county court at Palmyra, there was no cricket-match, as was intended, only a game of trap-ball. There have been [296] several cricket-matches this
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summer, both at Wanborough and Birk Prairie; the Americans seem much pleased at the sight of the game, as it is new to them.The acorns of the white-oak are now falling, and very fine indeed they are; but the weather is too hot and dry for the swine to thrive as well as usual. The acorns of the other sorts of oak not yet ripe, nor are they in so large quantities as the white-oak, except on the post-oak. The white-oak acorns are much larger than any I ever saw in England. The post-oak most resembles the English oak in growth, leaf, &c. The acorns of the other sorts of oaks, differ much from each other, in size and quality.
26th. I have finished sowing wheat this day. I have only sown six acres, after Indian corn, potatoes, and buckwheat; but I intend to get ready a larger quantity of land another year. Wheat is always sown dry in this country, and I have never heard of any smut.
I was lately at an auction, of a little live [297] stock and household furniture, belonging to a person leaving this neighbourhood. The auctioneer was no less a person than a justice of the peace, and he was an excellent auctioneer. The terms of sale much the same as in England, except three months' credit on all purchases above three dollars, on giving bond and security. But the most striking contrast in this sale from an English one, was, the auctioneer held a bottle of whiskey in his hand, and frequently offered a dram to the next bidder. As I made some biddings, I was several times entitled to a sip out of the bottle. And though I much dislike the taste of whiskey, I took a sip for the novelty of the thing. But I found the auctioneer had taken good care to keep his company sober, by lowering his whiskey considerably with water. As I only purchased a small lot, under three
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dollars value, I had no need to give bond and security; nor did I stop to see their manner of giving it.Nov. 15. The weather is much colder [298] now than at the same season last year, but it is extremely variable. One day lately, at noon, the thermometer stood at 65 degrees, and the next morning was down to 17 degrees; a difference of 48 degrees in less than 20 hours; almost as great a difference as you experience between July and December. These sudden changes are unpleasant, but I do not find them very unhealthy, as colds are much less frequent here than in England; and, with the Americans, chilblains seem to be unknown.
A short time since, near a dozen of the inhabitants of the Prairies went to a court at Palmyra, and a fewdays after their return, most of them were taken seriously ill, but none of them died; while those who remained at home continued in health.
Dec. 8. Most people are busy getting in their Indian corn; the crop much slighter than last year, as the dry weather injured the early, and the early frosts the late corn. I have housed mine, and shall not have more than 30 bushels per acre; not more than [299] half an average crop, on land of that quality. Nor is the corn so sound and fine as last year.
9th. As I shall have an opportunity to send this to-morrow, I must hasten to conclude, as quickly as possible, with a short statement of the present situation of affairs in this neighbourhood. I have hitherto avoided saying any thing on the disagreement between Mr. Birkbeck and Mr. Flowers. Reports are so contradictory, and I have heard so much on both sides of the question, that I am quite at a loss to judge of the merits of the quarrel. Nor do I think it is an easy thing to get at the true origin of it; and
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could I do so, I have no wish to become a party therein. This unfortunate dispute was the cause of two settlements near each other, and most of those who arrived for sometime either joined one side or the other, which increased the difference. But after a time, as more settlers arrived, they considered they had nothing to do with the quarrel between these two [300] gentlemen, and settled in the prairies round, and in the woods towards the mouth of the Bonpas. Thus this disagreement was the reason of scattering the English emigrants for some miles round. But if this had been the only effect, it had been of no consequence, as many of the settlers so dispersed, have procured as good situations as they would otherwise have done. But the evil of two villages so near each other has been great; for had they been united, there would have been better taverns, stores, &c. In point of situation and water, Wanborough, in my estimation, has the advantage; but Albion, at present, appears most likely to succeed best. Whatever was the origin of this quarrel, it has been the cause of a much worse name being given to the settlement, in the English Prairie, than it really deserves. For the land is in general pretty good, such as in England would be called rich; as it is capable of producing, in abundance, corn, hay, fruit, vegetables, &c. &c.; and the woods and prairies are pleasant and healthy.[301] Bees are numerous in the woods, but mostly at a distance from us; honey is plentiful, and now sells for 75 cents a gallon. There are some bees kept in hives, the same as in England, and the same sort; and so are the wild ones; they are in hollow trees, and when a swarm is found, they cut down the tree to get at the honey, and sometimes a swarm has several gallons. The Americans often go a great distance in quest of bees, camping out for
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many nights together. Six weeks ago a party of sixteen, on horse-back, went through Wanborough, towards the north, and seven or eight days after, two of them came back in the morning, almost dead with cold, as there was a severe frost, and they had camped out. They had been about 40 miles, and had met but poor success, having only found four gallons between the two. They said, they lived on the Ohio river, upwards of 50 miles south-east of us. They had been out ten days, and during that time they had not seen a bed. But others frequently [302] succeed much better, and collect a large quantity of honey in these bee-hunting expeditions.The fires in the fall of 1819 were much greater than usual, as every thing was so excessively dry, and much mischief was done to the woods and plantations; my rail fences caught fire, but the damage was trifling. For several days we could scarcely see the sun at noon-day, the air being so full of smoke, and people, whose eyes were weak, were much annoyed by it.
It was supposed, that these fires extended many hundred miles. This year, on the contrary, there has scarcely been any fires in the woods or prairies, as the weather of late has been much wetter than last year.
Although the last summer was drier than the preceding one, and the number of settlers greatly increased, and a much greater quantity of stock, than in 1819, yet as many more wells were dug, water was not so scarce; and I have every reason to expect, that, should the next, or any future [303] year, prove ever so dry, there will be much less want of water than there was this year.
I mentioned before, one of my son's neighbours had a thrashing-floor, and intended to add a barn to it, which he has now done; and, I believe, it is the only barn within
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some miles of us. I have not yet seen it, but my eldest son informed me, that it is 20 feet square on the inside, about 16 feet high to the roof. It is built of solid logs, and covered with cleft boards. There were between thirty and 40 people employed in raising the logs, as they were uncommonly large, and all lifted up by main strength, without aid from pullies, &c.At Baltimore, I saw one old woman begging in the streets, and in our journey, of upwards of twelve hundred miles, from thence to the prairies, I also saw one old man apply for relief, and the manner of his treatment I have mentioned on the 28th of July. These two are the only beggars I have seen in America; from this I am led [304] to conclude, that there is much less misery in this country than I had been in the habit of seeing in England, at least as to beggars.
We have had some difficulty in getting some of our letters from England, from their being directed near Shawneetown or Princetown, as all letters are left at the post-office of the town where they are directed near. The best direction is, English Prairie, Edward's County, Illinois State, North America.
I would advise those who write to their friends in this remote country, to say but little of public affairs, (unless any thing of great consequence has just occurred,) as such news is always sure to reach us through the public prints; but to fill their letters with local intelligence, as it is extremely interesting to us to hear of our old friends and neighbours, and any little circumstance relating to them.
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Appendix.
july 3d, 1821. I have but little to add to my Journal, and but few alterations to make, except in the article of grasses. I have there mentioned yard-grass as a pasture-grass, I now find it is an annual plant, being killed by the first frosts, and coming up from seed in the spring: it blossoms almost as soon as it comes up, and produces a great deal of small seed. It appears to come upon land that has been much trodden. I spoke of blue-grass as unknown in England, but it much resembles the natural grass with you; with a light fluey seed. There are now several sorts of English and American grasses sown round us, but I have seen too little of them to give any account of them.
The distances in my Journal are computed miles, except on the great national road, over the Allegany Mountains; that is, from Mr. Carter's, at "The Traveller's Rest," to Union Town; which distance is measured miles.
July 16th. We are now harvesting, and in two days, I think, we shall cut all our grain. The wheat is very stout, but somewhat blighted. The oats are good; the barley tolerably so. Indian corn excellent; at the beginning of July some of [306] mine was nine feet high, without any appearance of its coming into ear. Should the weather continue fine, the wheat will be all harvested in a few days. As the summer has been wet, the harvest is ten or fifteen days later than last year. Peas, potatoes, and most garden-vegetables are good. We have no peaches this season, the bloom being all cut off by the severe frosts in the spring. I planted out thirty-two in the
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spring, and I have seventy or eighty more for next year. There are a few apples round us, and a good show for most kinds of wild fruits. Last year our pigs got in excellent condition on acorns, &c. Many of them remained out all the winter. I lost upwards of thirty, from October till May; when, except three, they all returned, and in exceeding good order. Our cattle were very poor early in the spring, but are now got lusty, as cattle thrive much faster here in the spring than in the best English pastures.I have raised a number of hop-plants from seed, and think of planting a small hop-garden. I am also going to make a vineyard, on a small scale. I have had ten vines from Harmonie, and hope to procure a hundred more next year, as they will grow in the open fields, and make wine without sugar. This year some sugar has been made near us, from the white maple, and it appears to answer nearly as well as the sugar-maple. I suppose, another season, it will be made in considerable quantities.
[307] Our country is settling pretty fast, and our county was lately divided into two, when a part of Crawford county was added to the north part of Edwards' county, and called Laurance county. Our part still retains the name of Edwards. Albion is made the county town, since which it is much improved; and many English and American families are now settled at it.
There is a water-mill on the Little Wabash, six or seven miles to the south of my farms; and another is building on the same stream, at nearly an equal distance to the north of them. There is an ox-mill at Albion that commenced work in March. I have before mentioned one building at Wanborough. A Mr. Backhouse, an English gentleman, has a brewery there, and has brewed a considerable quantity of beer this season. As barley is not to
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be procured, he has made his malt of wheat. This beer is far preferable to the Harmonie beer.Mr. Birkbeck has two dairies of about sixty cows, and makes a large quantity of cheese. Mr. Flowers is also going to establish one, on a large scale, so that cheese will soon be plentiful. Butter is so at 12Ë cents, 6žd. per lb. Most kinds of provisions are very cheap: beef, 4 cents per lb.; bacon, 6 to 8 cents per lb.; flour, 4s. 6d. to 5s. per bushel, English weight and money. A good cow and calf from 12 to 14 dollars. Sheep scarce; mutton, 5 to 6 cents per lb. Venison and game in general not so plentiful as last year; prices much the same.
[308] The weather was much milder last winter than the preceding one, with a great deal more rain. The spring backward, and sometimes very cold. May and June generally warm, with many thunder-storms, — I suppose near forty; but none of them very heavy, except one on the 9th of this month (July). The 10th of June, a particularly hot day: the thermometer 98 in the shade.
As the summer has been wet, the grass and weeds are much higher in the prairies than I have before seen them; in some places six feet or higher. We have, therefore, as much prairie hay as we choose to cut.
There was an assize or circuit court held at Albion, on the 7th, 8th, and 9th of June: there was not a great deal of business, — only two criminal causes. One for pig-stealing, found guilty: the sentence a fine of fifty dollars, and twenty-five lashes, which were immediately inflicted by the sheriff. The other was for stealing peach-trees, but was acquitted. Four or five counsellors attended: no particular dress worn by them or the judge. As the heat was great, one of the counsel, who had the most causes, took off his coat and pleaded without it. Although no
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wigs or black gowns are worn, there was no more want of quirks and quibbles than in Westminster Hall; nor were they deficient in eloquence; but not so much tied down to forms, nor perhaps quite so polite as with you.W ---- was of age in January, but his birth-day [309] was not kept till the middle of April, on account of the illness of Mr. S ---- . A party of about thirty young people sat down to supper: and suppose I give you a description of this Illinois entertainment: a round of beef, from an ox of 800 lbs. weight; a turkey that weighed 19 lbs.; a large ham, chickens, rabbits; peach, apple, and pumpkin pies, sweet cakes, &c. &c. As the night was wet, the dance was kept up till late in the morning.
The following is the return of the American militia laid before Congress, Feb. 26th, 1821, in which you will find the State of Illinois stands last, but it is too thin to muster in the greater part of it; and as 1820 was only the first year of its being mustered, it will probably be returned nearly treble another year.
| 1 State of New York | 121,533 |
| 2 Pennsylvania | 115,231 |
| *3 Virginia | 88,915 |
| 4 Ohio | 83,247 |
| *5 Kentucky | 51,052 |
| 6 Massachusets | 48,140 |
| *7 North Carolina | 46,728 |
| *8 Tennessee | 36,146 |
| 9 New Jersey | 33,240 |
| *10 Maryland | 32,189 |
| 11 Maine | 30,990 |
| *12 Georgia | 29,661 |
| 13 New Hampshire | 27,012 |
| *14 South Carolina | 23,729 |
| 15 State of Connecticut | 22,109 |
| [310] 16 Vermont | 20,781 |
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| 17 Indiana | 14,990 |
| *18 Missouri | 12,080 |
| *19 Alabama | 11,261 |
| *20 Louisiana | 10,257 |
| 21 Rhode Island | 8,665 |
| 22 Delaware | 7,451 |
| *23 Mississippi | 5,292 |
| 24 Illinois | 2,031 |
| 25 Michigan Territory | 1,707 |
| Total | 884,457 |
| *26 Arkansaw territory | No return. |
| 27 North-west do. | do. |
| 28 Missouri do. | do. |
In most of the new States and territories the returns are very imperfect, and much short of the number liable to serve. Those marked thus * are slave States; but no slaves are liable to serve. The number of slaves calculated to be upwards of 2,000,000. Whites upwards of 8,000,000. Indians near 300,000. Total supposed to be about 11,000,000, of all colours. The Floridas are not included in this return.
nts
Notes
The site of Parkersburg was held under patent by Adam Parker, who in 1817 laid out the town. Incorporated in 1820, it grew but little until the discovery (1864) of petroleum in the immediate vicinity gave it new life, and it is one of the wealthiest cities in West Virginia. — ED.
Christopher Greenup, born in Virginia, about 1750, served throughout the Revolutionary War, and in 1783 came to Kentucky to practice law. He was elected a member of Congress (1792), and in 1804 governor of Kentucky. At the expiration of his gubernatorial term, he represented Franklin County in the legislature, continuing in public life until his death, in 1818. — ED.
Until 1815, the mouth of the licking below Newport was known as Kennedy's Ferry. In that year Covington was established by legislative enactment, and named in honor of General Covington. — ED.
Troy, near the mouth of the creek, was laid out in 1818. — ED.
Elisha Kent Kane was also a lawyer of Kaskaskia, having removed thither from New York in 1814. He was appointed secretary of state (1818), and elected to the Untied States senate (1824). He died in Washington (1835), near the expiration of his second term. — ED.
America, a few miles farther up the Ohio, was laid out (1818) by a land company. Its situation back from the river proved to be a disadvantage instead of an advantage. In 1821 the Ohio was unusually low and boats could not land near the settlement; this, together with an epidemic of cholera which occurred the same year, dealt a death blow to the prospects of the place.
For Edwardsville, see Flint's Letters, volume ix of our series, note 92. — ED.