Early Western Travels, 1748-1846, Volume XII Part 14

STATE OF OHIO

On entering the state of Ohio by this route we find little to interest; a wild uncleared hilly country,[22] which with little alteration continues {59} till you approach St. Clairsville: the soil then is clay; the town well placed and its buildings good and neat; land hereabouts, a good grazing soil, is worth about twenty dollars per acre. We bought here, out of a waggon load, half a peck of peaches for six cents, (3d.) the peach and apple orchards are literally breaking down with fruit; every morning we stop at the first orchard to take in as many apples as we want for the day.

My man experienced an accident, in coming down one of these steep hills, which might have proved worse in its consequence than it did; not seeing him behind as usual I waited sometime for his coming up, and began to feel uneasy about him, when we heard his waggon wheels approaching: one of the horses had broke the hame-strap, which, throwing the pole on one side, had precipitated the waggon and driver into some brush-wood on the road side;--while in this situation, unable to extricate himself, a country waggon luckily came past, and he applied to the fellows with it for aid, which the human brutes refused without _first_ being paid for their trouble.--From such contemplations let us turn for relief to the variety of foliage so highly pleasing in this part of the wilderness; we now see the Tulip tree for the first time; the Sa.s.safras grows thickly, and a great variety of other plants and shrubs of which, {60} for want of botanical knowledge, I know not the names.

Several people clothed something like Jews with long beards have pa.s.sed us at different times on horseback; these, I was told, are a Christian sect of charitable pilgrims styling themselves Dunkards.[23]

30th. The weather has been for some days past cooler owing to the falling of some rain, but is again becoming warm. The sudden and violent changes of temperature are at least as frequent on this side of the mountains as on the eastern sh.o.r.es, whatever may have been a.s.serted to the contrary, and rain is almost always succeeded by cold. On the 24th of August in the early morning the thermometer of Fahrenheit was at 46, it has since been above 80, but again this morning has sunk to 56.

31st. The road is covered with dust arising from the great number of horses, waggons, &c. conveying people from a methodist camp-meeting just held in the neighbourhood, at which it was calculated that nearly four thousand attended; the convocation had continued for several days, during which these people had slept upon the ground in the intervals between praying and preaching.

_September_ 2d. At Chillicothe,[24] Ohio. Watson's {61} hotel; the wit's mode of spelling it (Hoth.e.l.l) is more significant, for the beds swarm with bugs, and the thermometer is at 86 in the shade. I called at the land office and was shewn the map of the district; most of the sections, except those south-east of the town, (a poor mountainous tract,) are entered, and to my surprize, in general paid for; so this considerable part of the state is in the hands of land speculators, under whose baneful influence a chief part of the country remains a wilderness, which otherwise would have been under cultivation, if open to real settlers at the government price per acre. The British government have in Canada acted more wisely, in offering the lands only to those who will build, clear, and settle upon them.

5th. At Col. Woods' Log tavern, nine miles east of the town of West Union, Ohio. The road has lately led us through a fine fertile tract of vale, beautifully skirted by the high rocky woodland, from whence is quarried a good hard granite for building and other purposes. The town in this tract called Bainbridge is a new settlement,[25] but already possesses some neat and good houses; the value of land of the district may be estimated by the price of town lots, containing sufficient s.p.a.ce for a house and garden, which are as high in best situations as two hundred dollars (forty-five {62} pounds;)--the out-field lots are from twenty to twenty-five dollars per acre. This tract throughout appears well watered; the only objection I heard of to it, and that perhaps no small one to a settler, is, there being many disputed t.i.tles.

Among the growth in the wood we have lately noticed the _Papaw_, a bushy elegant shrub with large leaves; its fruit not yet ripe. The Tulip tree becomes more common, also more Elm and Beech, Sycamore and b.u.t.tonwood; all these are found here of immense size, towering high in air with stems perfectly straight. Near to Chillicothe, which is in north lat.i.tude about 39 15', we saw the first tobacco cultivation; it looked well notwithstanding the drought which now begins to be felt every where.

Upon admiring a large strong dog the other day, his owner told me he was very necessary on account of the wolves which are yet numerous: the dogs here are as mixed a breed as the people, and a thorough-bred is not to be seen. Deer are plentiful, also rackoons and squirrels; the wild Turkey we saw yesterday, which seemed to resemble exactly our dark tame breed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Ferry at Maysville, on the Ohio]

5th. Several parties on horseback have pa.s.sed us on the road, making inquiries of the way to a methodist _preachment_, and to judge from the {63} immense numbers that collect on these occasions fanaticism seems to have taken deep root here.

6th. Started with my host on an expedition through the woods to visit a farm belonging to him. We took our guns uselessly for we saw no game of any kind, but, on arriving at the farm, got some good peaches and drank the pure water of a fine spring; being warm, he directed me to let the water run upon my wrists for some time before drinking, to prevent the effects of suddenly taking cold water while heated; these sort of cautions have probably been handed down from the native hunters. We pa.s.sed a kind of vine which has a poisonous quality,[26] the leaves being rubbed on the skin will raise irritating blisters. The Poplar tree, my host observed, made better shingles for covering roofs, if painted, than the Cedar, which is commonly used unpainted; perhaps any of the poplar tribe may do, and where a light covering is required might be advantageously employed in England.

A large party of settlers from the state of Illinois came by, they are returning to that of New York, to the same spot they quitted a year and a half ago. The account they give is that a fine fertile tract of land about forty miles from the river Illinois, and not far from its confluence with the Mississipi, was purchased by them, and they {64} settled upon it last summer; since which period they had lost eight of their party by dysentery, fever and ague, and that the remainder had determined to quit the purchase, and return with the loss of all their time and nearly all their money. These are facts much lessening our sanguine expectations as to the western paradise; however, I am resolved to proceed and endeavour to ascertain the truth on all the points for which I undertook the journey. One of the above party told me, that when ill he had paid a fee of twenty-five dollars for one visit of a Physician, the distance being about twenty miles; if this be true the medical science at least must meet with sufficient encouragement.[27]

The state of Ohio took a rough leave of us down a rocky precipitous hill, at the foot of which we found ourselves safe on the bank of the river; and driving down to the water's edge into a _team-boat_ lately established, were, about dark landed on the other side, and comfortably received at a good family inn at Maysville kept by Mr. Chambers, a sensible clever man, who came to it from Jersey State about seventeen years ago, and {65} who has, by judgment in the purchase of land &c., made a good fortune for himself and family: some lots about the town, which he bought for four hundred dollars six years since, are now worth some thousands; such is the rapid increase in the value of property in this country when a man makes a _good hit_.

On quitting this State, through which we have travelled from Wheeling in a south-west direction to Maysville or Limestone, (Kentucky,) the impression it has made is not so favourable as I had been led to expect; though our course comprehended but a small part of it, yet we pa.s.sed through the most populous districts, if we except that around Cincinnati. Instead of a garden, I found a wilderness; land speculators have got a considerable part in their baleful clutches to make their market on the wants of the poor settler; but I am apt to think have been themselves outwitted, owing to the superior attraction of the more distant western country: yet is Ohio a desirable one, as it contains within itself most articles of the first necessity and perhaps more; coals in abundance, lime, stone for building, iron and other metals, with fine rivers for transporting commodities of all kinds. The face of {66} that part which I saw, is exceedingly hilly, in some places approaching to mountains; but the soil in general well adapted to grazing, and the whole strongly resembling our county of Derby upon a gigantic scale. The northwest part of the State, an immense tract of country, has been lately ceded by the natives to the United States,[28]

and I believe has been surveyed, allotted, and is now offering to the public at one and a quarter dollar per acre ready money: of its fertility much is reported, and its communication with Lake Erie, and by it with the other lakes and the eastern markets, will render it perhaps more desirable than the part we have travelled over.

The roads at present are altogether in a state of nature, the trees only just chopped off about a foot from the ground, and rocks, and stones, and gullies left to be got over as we can; no wonder then, that you see a blacksmith's shop every two or three miles, and tavern by the side of it to put up and spend your money while the repairs are doing; for which, however trifling, Vulcan cannot form his mouth to any word less than a dollar, and his friend the tavern-keeper charges an "_elevenpenny bit_" if you have but two cents _worth_ of whisky.

As to the general want of cleanliness in the {67} taverns, of which so much has been said _and so justly_, though the keepers of them have no doubt a large share of the blame, yet much may be said in their defence; the fact is, their customers are of so filthy habits that to have a house clean is almost impossible; and though bugs swarm it is true in the bed-rooms, beyond an English imagination, it is extremely difficult in this warm climate to keep free from them, particularly at inns, as they are constantly carried in the cloaths, luggage, &c., from one house to another until many a bug, it may happen, has been as great a traveller as Mr. Birkbeck himself. Yet do the people deserve reprehension, for while "such things are," and sundry other unseemly appearances are constantly, in their bed-rooms and other parts, existing in full force; while their gardens (ill deserving the name) are over-run with weeds, and cropped in the most slovenly manner; while a thousand disagreeables are around them, these--what shall I call them?--slaves to sloth, and worshippers of an idle deity of independence, will sit lounging against the wall with arms across smoking cigars; or you shall see the female part, lolling out of their windows gazing at nothingness.

{68} KENTUCKY MAYSVILLE, OR LIMESTONE

Here at Mr. Chamber's, we staid two days, received more like guests than as travellers at an inn; his conversation was amusing and his anecdotes conveying much information: in his garden which is s.p.a.cious and well-managed, we ate the first ripe grapes we had met with. The town, which seems to be fast increasing in size and importance, stands high from the level of the river, and is screened by towering hills, affording in the immediate neighbourhood and also up the river situations for building that few places can surpa.s.s: the view from above the town looking down the river is beautiful and extensive; a considerable part of the buildings are of brick; gla.s.s works are established, and other manufactories requiring machinery. All these advantages however will hardly compensate with most people for its being within the territories of a slave state. Of the determined obstinacy and turpitude of a black boy we were here witnesses; a silver fruit-knife had been left upon the table, and he had secreted it, the knife was soon missed, and search made for it in vain; at length, suspicion falling upon him, he was sent for and {69} questioned, but denied all knowledge of the knife with an air of the greatest innocency; he was offered half a dollar and to be screened from punishment if he would give it up, but continued to deny that he had taken it, wishing, "his flesh might rot if he had"--his pockets were at length examined; and the knife and an apple dropt together from one of them, upon which the young rogue declared that the person who searched him had put it there, and a terrible beating which I fear he got, did not in the least make him prevaricate.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Maysville, on the Ohio, Kentucky]

We took leave of our host and hostess not without some regret, and, as we slowly paced up the long hill which rises immediately from the town, looked back frequently to view the beautiful river scenery from the different points it offered: a turn at the top suddenly presented on all sides a cleared, well cultivated, and inclosed country; the road was good, the day beautiful, and we bowled along through plentiful crops of Indian corn, rejoicing that we had escaped the wilderness, and thinking we had really entered upon the garden of the United States. After a few miles of good road however these pleasant ideas were shaken out by an absolute rock, upon which with but little intermission we rattled for near twenty miles, pa.s.sing through a place called Blue Licks.[29] At its salt springs {70} the deer and buffaloe used formerly to be found in immense herds; it is now a watering place, the resort of invalids: yet let not the English reader here picture to himself either Bath, Cheltenham, or Tunbridge Wells, but a few dispersed log huts and two taverns of the same description. Many of the men here wear, instead of a coat, a short cloak, a little resembling that part of the old English dress, which if they knew how to carry with any grace would look well.

The drought is now exceedingly great, and we have reports of much stock dying to the south of this state for want of water; we therefore see the country at as unfavourable a time as possible; yet, under these disadvantages, the gra.s.s is really green, a circ.u.mstance which proves the strong natural fertility of the soil, also shewn by the spontaneous growth of the white clover among the trees of the uncleared forest land where it has been grazed. Of this grazed forest the farmers a.s.sert that it will not, when cleared, broke up and sown, produce so much corn by one third per acre as that which has not been grazed, and many of them consequently shut up their forest land from all cattle and even from pigs.

{71} AN ODD MISTAKE

A little black boy was playing upon the ground, at the tavern-door with a dog; I pointed to them and said to the landlord, (a very civilized man,) "Do you make christians of these?" "Oh no."--"You name them without the clergyman?" "Oh yes; we sometimes give them one name and then alter it for another:"--"And does not your church find fault with you sometimes for such neglect?"

"No, they never think of such things."

"And when they die you throw them into the ground without further ceremony?"

_Answer_,--Always let them lie just where it happens--I suppose, you do not do so in your country; do you?

_Self_,--Certainly not; we think very differently upon the subject; that child would there be free, the moment it set foot upon our sh.o.r.es.

_Landlord_,--"Oh, you mean the _negre_; I thought you were speaking of the dog all the time. Yes; we christen _them_; but we do not let them eat with us, only the Quakers let them eat with them!"

This man's kitchen presented a picture which is general with some exceptions throughout the {72} slave country, a description of it will therefore serve for all the rest. Behold, a dark log building with a floor of mud, upon which a number of little black children are at all times to be seen crawling, while others are perhaps lying without the door sunning themselves; all mostly without any covering whatever: these are the progeny of the cook and other slaves, and are destined for sale or to supply the places of others. A quick lively little black girl, of about nine years of age, waited here with such spirit and so cleverly upon the guests that she attracted our notice; and upon praising her dexterity to her master he told us, that he had more than once refused three hundred dollars which had been offered for her.--The kitchen, besides being made the daily black-nursery, is also their general dormitory: at night, they creep round the warm embers and huddled together sleep in the contaminated atmosphere of this Augean stable, in the midst of the dirt and abominations of which the traveller's meat is prepared, and served more decently than might be expected; after escaping (_perhaps_) the fingers of the poor little creatures, who, watching their opportunity, rise from under the dressers, pilfer the meat and dip their fingers in gravies.

The ovens are, very conveniently for this warm {73} climate, built apart from the house in the open air. Mine host, notwithstanding the above mistake, was a man of very respectable manners, and his wife, a lady-like woman, presided at the supper which was even elegantly set out to a company most heterogeneous. Opposite to me, a young fellow seated himself, without his coat and in his dirty shirt sleeves of at least seven days' wear, and, not shewing the least of that shyness which such a man would experience in England, played away with his knife and fork perfectly at his ease: indeed, the clumsy gait and bent body of our peasant is hardly ever seen here, every one walks erect and easy; a plainness of dress and coa.r.s.eness of the texture amounting to vulgarity, blunt discourse, in short, the manners of the herd, are _affected_ by the few, and all mix without any seeming distinction. To have objected to the company of the dirty fellow just mentioned would have probably ended in a "_rough and tumble_," and the loss of an eye, as it is not an uncommon accomplishment to be a good hand at "_gouging_." This brings to mind a story of a fellow who had been so terribly mauled at a "rough and tumble" that a man, compa.s.sionating his condition, said, "you have come off badly this time I doubt?" "Have I," says he; triumphantly shewing from his pocket {74} at the same time an eye, which he had extracted during the combat, and preserved for a trophy.

LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY[30]

The approach to this town is for several miles along good road, and through a country much improving in natural advantages and cultivation.

Lexington has been often enough described; thirty-five years ago, it is said to have contained but one hundred houses; it has now several thousands, and many of them very handsome; more to say, it has some good and wide streets, with well-paved broad foot-ways of brick, and a market street, only in part finished, upon the model of that at Philadelphia: its Court-house, a miserable brick building, stands well and airy in a large square which may some time or other be neat: in and near the town is a manufactory or two. The College or public seminary[31] is well situated at the eastern entrance of the town; it is a handsome building but within in a bad state; at present there are about one hundred pupils. The inn, or tavern to which I was recommended, and where I met with much civility and attention; had any thing rather than cleanliness or comfort, {75} but the charges as high as if both had been to the utmost wish;[32] myriads of bugs as usual; we literally found rest in getting up, and much mental relief in quitting the town, though strongly persuaded to stay that we might behold the horsemanship of a Mr. West and his troop from England!

One circ.u.mstance however should make me remember Lexington with some satisfaction; with the improvidence very common to travellers my resources had not been calculated properly, and I began to find that the purse would be emptied before we should gain the place of the next expected remittance. In this dilemma I sought the residence of the Cashier of the United States branch Bank, and stated the case to him; upon which he in the most gentlemanly manner cashed my draft: to the same gentleman on my return I was again beholden for a.s.sistance in managing an exchange of notes, and he may rest a.s.sured I shall not soon forget his urbanity.

FRANKFORT

The approach, as well as the country immediately {76} around this capital of Kentucky, is beautiful; the size of the town may be considered about that of one of our better market towns: some of the private houses very well built of brick (the general material here) and very handsomely fitted up within. The building in which the senate of thirty-one Members, and the body of Representatives of about ninety, meet, is a fine object on entering the town from the western bridge; the Court-house is a very neat building and the whole effect renders it a far preferable residence to Lexington, except perhaps with a view to trade; and of that there seems very little. We found here an excellent tavern and hotel for families lately established by Colonel Taylor,[33]

one of the old revolutionary officers: the building and interior would not disgrace our own capital, and our meals were served with every comfort and polite attention from his lady.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Frankfort, Kentucky]

Upon inquiry both at Lexington and Frankfort I find that the price of land is about one-sixth of what it was three years ago; good land which then sold round Lexington for two hundred dollars per acre, may be bought now even for twenty-five,--and considerable tracts lying between the above towns for five and six dollars per acre.

{77} On leaving Frankfort about a mile, the western road leads winding up a considerable hill, from whence we were gratified with a fine view of the town and the surrounding woodland scenery: the day being beautiful, and time allowing, I determined to put up at the first house where we could find shelter for the horses, and return to sketch it: accordingly, we made up to a very respectable looking farm-house and asking permission to put the horses into a stable, it was granted; while this was doing I was in courtesy thanking the owner and expressing hopes that we should not put him to any inconvenience, when the inhospitable brute suddenly stopped me with "you need not be so full of your thanks for I mean to charge you for it!"--To be sure I lost no more time in compliments but, returning to the view, finished the sketch, and after a pleasant walk renewed my journey paying for shelter only above half a dollar; however I first lectured them until they were perhaps a little ashamed, but they took the money and we drove on, descanting upon the virtue of hospitality, to

LOUISVILLE[34]

A handsome town, of which the chief part is in one street. Here are two good hotels at one {78} of which (Allen's, a good family house,) we met with every attention on our return; but now, a cleaner looking house farther on inviting us, and being repelled by a crowd of travellers of all descriptions and variety of dress, smoking and lounging at the doors of the other two, we drove past; forgetting "farther on you may fare worse," which we certainly did.[35]

On settling an innkeeper's account I said that if we might judge by the charges, a man must soon become rich in his business; which he acknowledged would be the case were it not for bad notes and bilking customers, anecdotes of whom he told several: one young man after running a bill of three hundred dollars rode out one morning, as accustomed, to take the air and _forgot to return_; others have watched the departure of the steam vessels and set off to New Orleans, having _reckoned without their host_, so that the losses are immense. These hints and others, I did not unfortunately hear until on my return, or I should not probably have been induced to trust to American honour in way of business so much as I did to my cost.

At all these houses a regular clerk and bar-keeper {79} is maintained with whom the traveller _goes_ to settle, for a bill is never brought as in England; no ringing of the bell here and, when the waiter comes bowing in, "Desire my bill immediately"--no; that would not suit with independence.

The bed of the river is here of vast breadth, and during the spring must afford a grand view when the waters are struggling with and rushing over the extensive rocky falls; at present a very small channel is sufficient for its reduced stream; people are employed on the dry bed in deepening the intended course for the boats, arks, &c. when the waters shall next rise to afford them a pa.s.sage. Travellers of curiosity can now traverse on wheels, with a guide, the greatest part of the rocks over which in a few months a mighty body of waters will roll with tremendous force.