Part 18

All who have paid attention to the progress of new settlements, agree in stating, that the first possession of the woods in America, was taken by a class of hunters, commonly called backwoodsmen. These, in some instances, purchased the soil from the government, and in others, placed themselves on the public lands without permission. Many of them, indeed, settled new territories before the ground was surveyed, and before public sales commenced. Formerly pre-emption rights were given to these squatters; but the irregularities and complicacy that the practice introduced into the business of the land-office, have caused its being given up, and squatters are now obliged to make way for regular purchasers. The improvements of a backwoodsman are usually confined to building a rude log cabin, clearing and fencing a small piece of ground for raising Indian corn. A horse, a cow, a few hogs, and some poultry, comprise his live-stock; and his farther operations are performed with his rifle. The formation of a settlement in his neighbourhood is hurtful to the success of his favourite pursuit, and is the signal for his removing into more remote parts of the wilderness. In the case of his owning the land on which he has settled, he is contented to sell it at a low price, and his establishment, though trifling, adds much to the comfort of his successor. The next class of settlers differ from the former in having considerably less dependence on the killing of game, in remaining in the midst of a growing population, and in devoting themselves more to agriculture. A man {207} of this class proceeds on a small capital; he either enlarges the clearings begun in the woods by his backwoodsmen predecessor, or establishes himself on a new site. On his arrival in a settlement, the neighbours unite in assisting him to erect a cabin for the reception of his family. Some of them cut down the trees, others drag them to the spot with oxen, and the rest build up the logs. In this way a house is commonly reared in one day. For this well-timed assistance no immediate payment is made, and he acquits himself by working to his neighbours. It is not in his power to hire labourers, and must depend therefore on his own exertions. If his family is numerous and industrious, his progress is greatly accelerated. He does not clear away the forests by dint of labour, but girdles the trees.[120] By the second summer after this operation is performed, the foliage is completely destroyed, and his crops are not injured by the shade. He plants an orchard, which thrives and bears abundantly under every sort of neglect. His live-stock soon becomes much more numerous than that of his back-wood predecessor; but, as his cattle have to shift for themselves in the woods, where grass is scanty, they are small and lean. He does not sow grass seeds to succeed his crops, so that his land, which ought to be pasturage, is overgrown with weeds. The neglect of sowing grass-seeds deprives him of hay; and he has no fodder laid up for the winter except the blades of Indian corn, which are much withered, and do not appear to be nutritious food. The poor animals are forced to range the forests in winter, where they can scarcely procure any thing which is green, except {208} the buds of underwood on which they browse.--Trees are sometimes cut down that the cattle may eat the buds. Want of shelter in the winter completes the sum of misery. Hogs suffer famine during the droughts of summer, and the frosts and snows of winter; but they become fat by feeding on the acorns and beech nuts which strow the ground in autumn. Horses are not exempted from their share in these common sufferings, with the addition of labour, which most of them are not very able to undergo. This second rate class of farmers are to be seen in the markets of towns, retailing vegetables, fruits, poultry, and dairy produce. One of them came lately into this place on horseback, with ten pounds of butter to sell; but as he could not obtain a price to his mind, he crossed the river to Louisville market. In going and returning he must have paid twenty-five cents to the ferryman--a considerable expense, when it is considered that he had travelled twelve miles with his little cargo. Another, who lives at the distance of eight miles from this place, brought a barrel of whisky, containing about thirty-three gallons. He employed neither horse nor vehicle in the transportation, but rolled the cask along the road, which, by the by, is none of the smoothest. Incidents of this kind may, perhaps, cause you to suppose that the condition of the second rate settler is similar to that of subtenants in the north of Scotland, or in Ireland; but the high price of labour in America explains the apparent parity. Men perform offices for themselves that, in Britain, would be done by hiring others. The American farmer, it must be observed, is commonly the proprietor of the land he occupies; and, in the _hauteur_ of independence, is not surpassed by the proudest freeholders of Britain. The settler of the grade under consideration, is only able to bring a {209} small portion of his land into cultivation, his success, therefore, does not so much depend on the quantity of produce which he raises, as on the gradual increase in the value of his property. When the neighbourhood becomes more populous, he in general has it in his power to sell his property at a high price, and to remove to a new settlement, where he can purchase a more extensive tract of land, or commence farming on a larger scale than formerly. The next occupier is a capitalist, who immediately builds a larger barn than the former, and then a brick or a frame house. He either pulls down the dwelling of his predecessor, or converts it into a stable. He erects better fences, and enlarges the quantity of cultivated land; sows down pasture fields, introduces an improved stock of horses, cattle, sheep, and these probably of the Merino breed. He fattens cattle for the market, and perhaps erects a flour-mill, or a saw-mill, or a distillery. Farmers of this description are frequently partners in the banks; members of the State assembly, or of Congress, or Justices of the Peace. The condition of the people has necessarily some relation to the age and prosperity of the settlements in which they live. In Pennsylvania, for instance the most extensive farmers are prevalent. In the earliest settled parts of Ohio and Kentucky, the first and second rate farmers are most numerous, and are mixed together. In Indiana, backwoodsmen and second rate settlers predominate. The three conditions of settlers described, are not to be understood as uniformly distinct; for there are intermediate stages, from which individuals of one class pass, as it were, into another. The first invaders of the forest frequently become farmers of the second order; and there are examples of individuals acting their parts in all the three gradations.

{210} In the district of Jeffersonville, there has been an apparent interruption of the prosperity of the settlers. Upwards of two hundred quarter sections of land are by law forfeited to the government, for non-payment of part of the purchase money due more than a year ago. A year’s indulgence was granted by Congress, but unless farther accommodation is immediately allowed, the lands will soon be offered a second time for sale. Settlers seeing the danger of losing their possessions, are now offering to transfer their rights for less sums than have already been paid; it being still in the power of purchasers to retain the lands on paying up the arrears due in the land office. This marks the difficulty that individuals at present have, in procuring small sums of money, in this particular district.

FOOTNOTES:

[119] Fearon.--FLINT.

_Comment by Ed._ Henry Bradshaw Fearon, a London surgeon born about 1770, was sent to the United States by an association of English families to investigate suitable sites for their residence. He found little that pleased him, as appears from his account, _Sketches in America_ (London, 1818).

[120] The process of cutting the bark round trees, to destroy their growth, is called girdling, or deadening.--FLINT.

LETTER XVIII

Passage to Cincinnati--Depression of Trade--Population--Manufactures--Institutions--Banks--Climate-- Temperature--Springs--Quantity of Rain--Thunder--Lightning--Aurora-Borealis--Tornadoes--Earthquakes--The Ohio unusually low in 1819--Meeting of the Citizens of Cincinnati--Notice of three Indian Chiefs on their way for Washington City--Remarks on the Pacific Disposition of Indians, and their motives for wars.

_Cincinnati, (Ohio,) June 26, 1820._

I have come from the Falls of the Ohio to this place, by a steam-boat in twenty-nine hours, the average rate of sailing being about 6¹⁄₄ miles per {211} hour. The downward passage is performed by the same vessel in about fifteen hours, (nearly at the rate of twelve miles an hour.) From this it appears that the current moves at the rate of about 2⁷⁄₈ miles each hour. The late M. Volney[121] estimated the hourly velocity of this river in very low stages of water, at two miles. His result is probably a little more than the mean rate along the whole length of the river. The steam-boat is one built exclusively for the accommodation of passengers. She measures one hundred feet on the keel, twenty-five feet on the beam, and draws only three feet and three inches of water. The cabin is an elegant apartment, forty feet long, and eighteen feet wide. Adjoining to it are eight very neat state rooms. The water wheel is situated in an aperture astern, where it is protected from coming in contact with logs, which are numerous in the river.

Cincinnati suffers much from the decline in business. The town does not now present any thing like the stir that animated it about a year and a half ago. Building is in a great measure suspended, and the city which was lately over crowded with people, has now a considerable number of empty houses. Rents are lowered, and the price of provisions considerably reduced. Many mechanics and labourers find it impossible to procure employment. The same changes have taken place in the other towns of the western country. Numbers of people have deserted them, and commenced farming in the woods. They will there have it in their power to raise produce enough for their families, but, with the present low markets, and the probability of a still greater reduction, they can have no inducement but necessity for cultivating a surplus produce.

{212} In 1819, the Cincinnati Directory, a small book containing a list of the citizens, and many historical particulars, was published. Some extracts from that work will give a condensed view of the present magnitude and business of the place.

The enumeration of houses, made in March, 1819, was as follows:

Of brick and stone, two stories and upwards, 387 Do. Do. of one story, 45 Of wood, two stories and upwards, 615 Do. one story, 843 ---- 1890

====

Occupied as separate dwelling houses, 1003 Mercantile stores, 95 Groceries, 102 Druggists’ stores, 11 Confectionaries, 4 Auction and commission stores, 5 Printing offices, 5 Book and stationery stores, 4 Places of public worship, 10 Banks, 5 Mechanics’ shops, factories, and mills, 214 Taverns, 17 College, court house, and jail, 3 Warehouses and other buildings, 412 ---- Total 1890 ====

_Population, as taken in July, 1819_

White males, 5402 White females, 4471 ---- 9873 Male persons of colour, 215 Females of colour, 195 ---- 410 ---- 10283 =====

{213} _Manufactures_

Work shops Workmen

Two iron and brass founderies, 132 Blacksmiths, 80 or 90 Tin ware manufactories, 6 32 Copper, Do. 4 14 Nail factories, 2 13 Silver smiths, (watch repairers included,) 9 22 White smiths, 3 Gunsmiths, 2 Fire engine maker, 1 1 Copperplate engraver, 1 1 Gilder, 1 1 Maker of sieves and lattice-work, from wire, 1 1 Cabinet work, 15 84 Coopers, 16 50 Coach and waggon makers, 9 33 Chair makers, 4 31 House carpenters and joiners, from 80 to 100 and employing about 400 Boat builders, employing 60 or 70 Ivory and wood clock factory, 14 Saddle tree makers, 9 A plough maker; pump and block maker; a spinning wheel factory; a window maker; two turners of fancy wood-work; and one fanning mill maker. Shoemakers, 26 116 Tailors, 23 83 Saddlers, 11 32 Tan-yards, 6 25 Tobacconists, 6 70 Bakers, 15 38 Hatters, 5 37 Soap boilers, and tallow chandlers, 7 19 Distilleries, 9 20 Rope-walks, 3 10 Breweries, 2 20 Potteries, 3 14 Stone cutters, 2 15 Brick-yards, 25 200

There are some other manufacturers, mechanics, &c. such as the following, viz. Five book-binders; five painters and glaziers; two brush-makers; one {214} comb-maker; two upholsterers; one bellows-maker; two last-makers; one whip-maker; one hundred bricklayers; thirty plasterers; fifteen stone masons; eighteen milliners; one dyer; ten barbers and hair-dressers; ten street pavers; one burr millstone factory.

Cincinnati has a city court, occasional sittings of the Supreme and Federal Courts, and a court of common pleas; a museum of natural history; a library; a reading room; a theatre; three newspapers; five banks; an insurance company; three fire engines; a humane society for the resuscitation of persons submersed in water; an agricultural society; two Bible societies; two tract societies, (one of them for distributing Bibles and tracts amongst boatmen on the river;) four Sunday school societies; and three charitable societies. There are twenty-five lawyers and twenty-two doctors in town.

Of four provincial banks in town, the paper of three is reduced to about one-third part of the specie sums on the face of their notes, and the people are making a brisk run on the fourth. This paper shop is not paying in specie, but merely giving _money like its own_. When the barter can be no longer continued, the house must be shut, and the holders of the _pictures_ find them of no value.

The laws of the country, as formerly explained to you, give no redress.

The balance of trade in favour of England and India, together with the exorbitant premiums to be paid in exchanging bad money for specie, or bills of the United States Bank, are quite unfavourable to commerce with foreign countries. The debts due to the merchants of England, and to those in the Eastern States, might give little {215} annoyance, if creditors were indulgent as to the past, and as liberal as usual in future transactions. Property laws give full security in the meantime, and the bankrupt laws of some States form a complete protection against foreign claims. It is only to be feared, that foreign merchants will not be sufficiently accommodating hereafter. The increasing numbers of their agents in the seaports of America, augur no good to enterprizing traders in this part.

The climate of this country, like that of other parts of North America, is subject to extremes of heat and cold. We experience something like the summer of tropical regions; the winter of Russia; the spring of England; and the autumn of Egypt. The range of the thermometer is well exemplified by a compilation from the register kept by Colonel Mansfield, near Cincinnati, for eight years; 1806 and 1813 included.

_Lowest_ _Highest_ _Range_ 1806, 9° 94 85° 1807, 11° below zero, 95 106 1808, 4 do. 98 102 1809, 2 do. 94 96 1810, 7 do. 91 98 1811, 8 do. 96 104 1812, 5 do. 96 101 1813, 10 do. 97 107 Mean range nearly 100°.

The greatest range known at Cincinnati is 116°. At Salem, in Massachussets, a range of 100° was long ago deducted from observations.

At Jeffersonville, in Indiana, a range of 96¹⁄₄° appears on the register for six months past. The third column in the following table shows the greatest change of temperature that occurred in each month, between eight o’clock A.M. and two P.M.; a period of six hours.

{216} _Maximum_ _Minimum_ _Range_ January, 50° 2° above zero, 30° February, 78 4 do. 38 March, 70 23 do. 35 April, 92 20 do. 24 May, 79 50 do. 27 June, 98¹⁄₄ 50 do. 36

As the above observations extend only to a space of six months, no accurate determination can be derived from them. The most prominent occurrence is a transition of 38° in six hours. Dr. Ramsay has observed elsewhere a change of 50°, in the space of fifteen hours. These sudden alterations are disagreeable to the sense of feeling, and injurious to the health.

It is the popular belief that the greatest cold usually occurs about sunrise, and the greatest heat about 3 P.M. The most sudden changes are from cold to heat, the transition from heat to cold not being so instantaneous. Except for the gradual progress of this change, it would be more sensibly felt, and more dangerous.

The absence of figured icicles from the insides of windows was mentioned in a former letter. Up to the present time, I have never seen any of these incrustations in America,--a certain proof of the dryness of the atmosphere during frost. In summer, rains are not frequent, but when they do happen, they generally fall in torrents. They are often attended by easterly winds, and are partially distributed, drenching small tracts of country, and leaving adjoining parts dry. During the summer of 1819, some parts of the country suffered under a severe and long continued drought. The blades of the crops of maize became shrivelled, the grass, and afterwards the weeds withered. Latterly, part of the foliage of the woods was very much dried. {217} Travellers were subjected to some inconvenience for want of water to their horses, as were many families who lived in dry situations. Scarcity of water is a calamity that is much aggravated by a hot climate. In taverns, a bucket filled with this indispensable liquid, stands open to every person who chooses to take up the ladle that floats in it, and drink. In schools, churches, and courts of justice, water is provided.

The older settlers of this country affirm, that the quantity of water issuing from springs is greatly augmented, by clearing away the timber from the adjoining lands. From the number and the respectability of the persons agreeing in this particular, the fact seems to be established. This is not, however, to be explained simply by evaporation from the earth, as that evaporation would be promoted by clearing away the woods, which exposes the surface of the ground to the rays of the sun. In this way the soil would absorb a less supply for springs than if it were shaded by trees. It would seem probable, that the moisture intercepted by trees in the shape of rain, dew, snow, and hoar-frost, which is evaporated before reaching the ground, and the water withdrawn from the earth by the organs of trees, are together greater than the additional evaporation from the surface that is induced by removing the trees.

In January last, the rain at Jeffersonville measured 3¹⁄₂ inches; in February 5³⁄₄; in March 3¹⁄₄; in April 2¹⁄₂; and in May, three inches; making an aggregate of eighteen inches in five months, a quantity that is probably a little greater than the mean for any long series of years.

Thunder occurs frequently; sometimes the peals are tremendous, and almost incessant. They are generally accompanied with showers of rain, so copious {218} as to cover flat ground with a sheet of water, and the declivities with a broad stream. Many of the best houses are furnished with rods for conducting the lightning. Judging from notices of accidents from the electric fluid in the newspapers, I am not led to believe that they are much more numerous than in Britain. Although trees are bad conductors of electricity, they are frequently struck, and it seems probable that the great abundance of lofty trees lessens considerably the danger to buildings. An old gentleman, a man of observation, told me that he never knew of a decayed tree that had been struck with lightning. This information is the more worthy of observation, as great quantities of withered trees are found amongst the woods, and as the greater part of the lands of the western country are cleared by deadening the timber, and allowing it to stand till it is easily burnt, or falls by decay. Another person, who is well acquainted with the habits of the Indians, informed me, that during thunder storms, these people take shelter under beech trees, in preference to other kinds of timber. Some comparative experiments on the conducting properties of leaves, bark, and timber, are necessary before the propriety of this practice can be established.

It would be difficult to form a conception of any thing in meteorology, more sublime than the aerial lightning of this climate. In dark nights the phenomenon is highly entertaining to every spectator to whom the appearance is new. The vivid flashes seem to emanate from a point, and diverge from thence in every possible direction. The eye has scarcely time to trace the progress of these coruscations, which seem to sweep round half the expanse of the heavens almost in an instant, and to irradiate {219} the margins of the blackest clouds with a transitory blaze.

I have never seen the aurora borealis in America. Two instances of its appearing in 1814 are mentioned in the Picture of Cincinnati, which are supposed to be the only unequivocal ones observed since the settlement of the western country. This meteor is more frequently seen by the people of the northern States.

The most prominent characteristics of the climate of this country are, the superior transparency of the air in clear weather; the frequency of a light yellow, but translucent tinge that is strongest at the horizon, and fainter upwards, where it is blended with a sky of a fine light blue, at the height of a few degrees. The number of foggy days is small,[122] and the appearance of clouds, previous to rain, sudden. Indeed, on several occasions, I have observed a clear atmosphere transformed into one abounding with dark clouds and rain, in the space of an hour. Changes of this kind are no doubt produced by sudden transitions of temperature.

Severe gales of wind do not appear prevalent in western America, if the two last winters can be admitted as sufficient examples, as these seasons were much less stormy than those of Scotland. But it is necessary to make an exception of the tornadoes, which occasionally blow down houses, lay waste fields, and open avenues through the woods. One of these tempests destroyed some {220} buildings at Cincinnati, on the 28th of May, 1809. It was preceded by a wind from the south, and a higher current blowing from the west, and was understood to commence in the State of Tennessee. It crossed the Allegany mountains “and made its exit from the continent” on the same day.[123]