Part 9

The prevalent strata are of slate clay, bituminous shale, and sandstone. Coal is not known, and probably has not been sought after. Rolled pieces of the latter mineral, and of granite, gneiss, quartz, and flint slate, are mixed with the sandy gravel of the streams. Dr. Drake[61] has pointed out a situation in this State, where large detached masses of granite lie over strata of secondary limestone; and has conjectured that they have been brought from the primitive country north of the lakes, by the agency of water passing from north to south. This hypothesis is countenanced by the vast quantities of alluvial soil which lie far above the level of the present river, and by the almost total absence of primitive rocks, between the eastern side of the Allegany ridge, and the sources of the Missouri. The only exception known is the tract between Lakes Ontario and Champlain,--a field so narrow that we cannot view it as the probable source of fragments profusely scattered over the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky.

In this part of Ohio State, first and second rate lands sell at four or five dollars per acre. The richest ground is in bottoms: the hilly has many {98} parts not accessible to the plough. Buildings are most commonly erected on rising grounds. Such situations are believed to be most salubrious, and abound most in good springs.

Farming establishments are small. Most cultivators do every thing for themselves, even to the fabrication of their agricultural implements. Few hire others permanently, it being difficult and expensive to keep labourers for any great length of time. They are not _servants_, all are _hired hands_: Females are averse to dairy, or menial employments. The daughters of the most numerous families continue with their parents. There is only one way of removing them. This disposition is said to prevail over almost the whole of the United States. A manufacturer at Philadelphia told me, that he had no difficulty in finding females to be employed in his work-shop; but a girl for house-work he could not procure for less than twice the manufacturing wages. Some of the children of the more necessitous families are bound out to labour for other people. The Scotch family, recently mentioned, have a boy and a girl living with them in this way. The indenture of the boy expires when he is twenty-one years of age; that of the girl at eighteen. They are clothed and educated at the expense of the employer. The boy, at the expiry of his contract, is to have a horse and saddle, of value at least 100 dollars; and the girl at the end of her engagement, is to have a bedding of clothes. It is said, that a law of the State of Ohio, forbids females to live in the houses of unmarried men.

The utensils used in agriculture are not numerous. The plough is short, clumsy, and not calculated to make either deep or neat furrows. The harrow is triangular; and is yoked with one of its angles forward, that it may be less apt to take hold {99} of the stumps of trees in the way. Light articles are carried on horseback, heavy ones by a coarse sledge, by a cart, or by a waggon. The smaller implements are the axe, the pick-axe, and the cradle-scythe; by far the most commendable of back wood apparatus.

The figure [page 125] is descriptive of the cradle scythe. AEGB is the shaft. In working, it is held by the left hand with the thumb upward, near A; while the right hand holds the cross handle at H. BD is a post, making an angle of about 78 degrees with the straight line AB. Into this post the five wooden ribs, or fingers, MN, OP, QR, ST, and UV, are fixed. These are round pieces of tough wood, of a curvature resembling that of the back of the blade, as nearly as possible. They are upwards of half an inch in diameter; and are pointed at the extremities MOQSU. FG is another post, fixed in the shaft, parallel to BD, and about seven inches distant from it. ED is a thin piece of wood, let into the shaft at E, for retaining the posts BD, FG, in their positions. IK is a small round post that passes through the fingers at the distance of ten inches from the post BD. This small post passes through broad parts of the fingers, which are left so for the sake of strength, and its lower ends stands on the blade at K. The blade is such as is used in cutting hay; but the point is allowed to stand about nine inches farther out from the handle than the grass scythe. At L is a small iron bolt, rivetted into the blade, near its back; the top of this bolt passes through the lower finger, and is furnished with a hand-screw, which holds the finger down, so that its point shall remain within about half an inch of the blade. The points of the fingers MOQSU are in a straight line, but recline backward, so that the upper finger is about five inches shorter than the under one. Between {100} the posts IK, and FG, are five small connecting stays of iron. Figure 2 is a separate plan of one of the iron stays, shewing the manner in which it is fixed to the upright bars or posts. AB is a part of the finger; C the hole through which the small post (IK of the former figure) passes; and D is the post FG of the former figure. EF is the iron stay; it is about one-sixth of an inch in diameter; and it is thin and crooked near the end E, where it is fastened to the finger by two small nails. From G to F the stay is a small screw. At K, is a female hand-screw that bears against D. At H, is a nut, also bearing against the post D. By this screw the finger is firmly kept in its proper place. The fingers are five inches apart, measuring from the centre of the one to that of the other. The shaft of the scythe is five feet long, and the whole of the parts are as light as is consistent with strength.

{101} _November 22._ About a mile distant from the house where I lodged, the woods were on fire. It was supposed that the conflagration had been begun by some mischievous person, who had kindled the dry leaves, now strewed over the ground. In the evening, the glare of light extending along a ridge for a mile and a half, was astonishingly grand. Large decayed trees were converted into luminous columns of fire; when these fell the crashing noise was heard within doors. Fires in the woods usually excite alarm in their neighbourhood. People watch them by night, their rail fences and wooden habitations being in danger.

[Illustration]

Some parts of this neighbourhood were purchased twelve or fourteen years ago. Then proximity to Chillicothe was little regarded. The increased population and trade of the town has now made it the market of almost every disposable product. The lands near that place are consequently much increased in value, and town lots sell at high prices.

_November 23._ I again resumed my way for Limestone. By the road side are many conical mounds of earth, called Indian graves. About a mile east of Bainbridge is a large camp.[62] The ditch is in every part visible. One side is inclosed by a bend of Paint Creek, where the opposite bank forms high and strong ground. I conjectured that the fort contained nearly one hundred acres. It is not understood that the aborigines have constructed any such works since Europeans became acquainted with them. It is therefore a natural inference, that the country must have been antecedently inhabited by a more civilized and more powerful people.

From Bainbridge to Middletown the land is hilly; a small portion of it is cleared, and it is much less {102} fertile than the grounds by the river Scioto, and Paint Creek.

_November 24._ The ground west of Middletown is of clay, with a mixture of siliceous particles, and the oxide of iron. Wheat is the most prevalent crop. The health enjoyed on these high lands, is an ample compensation for the lack of a few bushels. Wheat sells at a dollar per bushel; Indian corn at thirty-three one-third cents; beef and pork at four cents a-pound; labourer’s wages, fifty cents; joiners, a dollar, with provisions.

_25th._ At ten miles from Limestone, the soil is good, but broken with irregularities of surface. There was a little frost in the morning, but the forenoon was warm. I observed several insects of the genus Vanessa, (painted butterflies,) flying about in full vigour. The autumn is said to be fine, almost beyond former example.

Near the river Ohio the soil is light, but much broken on the surface by funnel-shaped hollows, not unlike those where the sides of coal-pits have fallen in. These inverted cones are evidently excavated by the infiltration of water, and indicate that the strata abounds with large fissures or caverns.

In travelling over the last forty miles, limestone is the only stratified mineral that I have seen. It lies in a position nearly horizontal, and is literally conglomerated with organic remains. Amongst these, the most remarkable is a species of terebratula, which is very abundant, and varies from the size of a walnut to that of a pin’s head. In addition to the concentric striated character, so frequent amongst bivalve shells, it has large radiated grooves; the grooves on one valve opposite to ridges on the other. The superior margin is, of course, a zig-zag line, resembling the base of {103} polyhedral crystals, where the sides of one pyramid are set on the angles of another.

For some days past I have found the expense of travelling to be uniformly three shillings and elevenpence farthing per day.

Limestone, sometimes called Maysville,[63] is a considerable landing place on the Kentucky side of the river Ohio. The houses stand above the level of the highest floods. There is a rope-walk, a glass-house, several stores and taverns, and a bank, in the town.

On the 26th, I left Limestone by the road for Lexington, which is sixty-four miles distant. The roads, hitherto scorched by drought, were in a few minutes rendered wet and muddy by a heavy shower of rain. The roads in this western country are of the natural soil.

The high grounds every where seen from the river, are called the river hills; they are in reality banks, the ground inland of them being high. To the south of Limestone it is a rich table land, diversified by gentle slopes and moderate eminences.

At four miles from Limestone is Washington, the seat of justice in Mason County. The town is laid out on a large plan, but is not thriving.

May’s Lick is a small village, twelve miles from Limestone. A rich soil, and a fine undulated surface, unite in forming a neighbourhood truly delightful. The most florid descriptions of Kentucky have never conveyed to my mind an idea of a country naturally finer than this.

I lodged at a tavern twenty miles from Limestone. Before reaching that place the night became dark and the rain heavy. As the tops of the trees overhung the road, I had no other indication than the miry feel of the track, to prevent me from wandering into the woods.

{104} _November 27._ Crossed the river Licking in a boat, at a small town called Blue Licks, from the springs in its neighbourhood, from which great quantities of salt were formerly procured. The adjoining timber is exhausted, and the salt-works are abandoned.

After coming to a flooded creek, where there was neither bridge nor boat, I waited a few minutes for the mail coach. The road is in several parts no other than the rocky bed of the stream. It also crosses the same creek four or five times. After riding a few miles, I left the coach. There is no great degree of comfort in travelling by this vehicle; stowed full of people, baggage, and letter bags; the jolting over stones, and through miry holes, is excessively disagreeable: and the traveller’s head is sometimes knocked against the roof with much violence. A large piece of leather is let down over each side, to keep out the mud thrown up by the wheels. The front was the only opening, but as the driver and two other persons occupied it, those behind them were almost in total darkness. A peep at the country was not to be obtained.

Millersburg is a very small town, with several large grist-mills and a bank.

To-day I have seen a number of young women on horseback, with packages of wool, going to, or returning from, the carding machine. At some of the houses the loom stands under a small porch by the door. Although Miss does not wear the produce of her own hands, it is pleasant to see such abundant evidence of family manufacture.

I lodged at Paris, the head town of Bourbon county. A cotton-mill, and some grist-mills, are the manufactories of the place. The population is considerable. Several of the taverns are large, and, like many of the others in the western country, {105} have bells on the house-tops, which are rung at meals.

A traveller has just returned from attending the sales of public lands in the Missouri country.--They are exposed by auction, in quarter sections of 160 acres each. A considerable part of them sold at from three to six dollars per acre. Lots, not sold at auction, may be subsequently bought at the land-office for two dollars per acre, on paying half a dollar in ready money, and the remainder within five years. Land dealers are very vigilant in securing for themselves great quantities of the best land. It is not uncommon for reconnoitring parties of them to lodge in the woods for a whole week. By such means much of the best land, mill-seats, and other local advantages, are withdrawn from the market at the first public sales. This gentleman describes the Missouri country as one possessing a fine climate, and containing many extensive prairies of a rich soil, but destitute of timber and stone. The most advantageous purchases are considered to be those on the edges of prairies, with a part of the open land, and a part of the woods. Many of the settlers that I have seen by the river, and elsewhere, were on their way for the Missouri territory. The Illinois country, according to the account given by this traveller, is a very unhealthy one. He travelled twenty days in that State, and on his return home, found that many of the people were afflicted with bilious fevers and agues. He affirmed that he had seen more sick people during these twenty days than during the whole of his preceding life in Kentucky. Other reports corroborate his statement, so that there can be no doubt that the autumn has been a sickly one in that low country.

{106} The best taverns in town charge higher than those in the country, where accommodation is inferior. At Paris I paid 62¹⁄₂ cents (2s. 9³⁄₄d. English) for supper and lodgings.

In this western country there is a great diversity of paper money.[64] Small bills are in circulation of a half, a fourth, an eighth, and even a sixteenth part of a dollar. These small rags are not current at a great distance from the places of their nativity. A considerable proportion of the little specie to be seen is of what is called cut money.--Dollars cut into two, four, eight, or sixteen pieces. This practice prevents such money from being received in banks, or sent out of the country in the character of coin, and would be highly commendable were it not for the frauds committed by those who clip the pieces in reserving a part of the metal for themselves.

_November 28._ To-day I have crossed several flooded creeks: one by a tree which has accidentally fallen across it, and one has a tree that has been felled intentionally for a bridge; one I crossed on an accumulated heap of driftwood; and _once_ by a horse, where a farmer allows a Negro boy to derive a perquisite from carrying over travellers.--Goods are now carried from Limestone to Lexington for a dollar per hundred pounds weight.--This is somewhat lower than the usual rate. Waggoners are occasionally interrupted by flooded streams.

Between the river Ohio and Lexington, limestone is the only rock which I have observed. Like that noticed in Ohio State, it is crowded with organic remains. The variety of the surface, in this part of the country, is pleasant. The eminences are gentle swells rather than hills, and the intervals between them are smooth, rich, and dry {107} ground. Marshy land is scarcely to be seen.--These are convincing marks of the excellence of the subsoil.

FOOTNOTES:

[55] Piketown, first settled about 1796 by pioneers from Pennsylvania and Virginia, and laid out about 1814, is on the Scioto River sixty-four miles south of Columbus, and about thirty miles from the Ohio.--ED.

[56] Paint Creek, a stream about sixty miles long, empties into the Scioto from the west, five miles below Chillicothe.--ED.

[57] For a brief description of Chillicothe, see F. A. Michaux’s _Travels_, volume iii of our series, note 35.--ED.

[58] Flint travelled from Chillicothe to Limestone over Zane’s Trace. For an account of this road, see Cuming’s _Tour_, volume iv of our series, note 135.--ED.

[59] The Virginia Military District, reserved by that state when she ceded her possessions north of the Ohio River to the United States Government, was a triangular tract, with the Ohio River shore between Little Miami and Scioto rivers as its base, and the apex at the sources of the Huron River. Large portions were given as bounty lands to Virginia soldiers of the Revolution; the remainder was ceded to the Federal Government in 1852. In 1871 the government retroceded this district to the state of Ohio, which, in turn, donated it to Ohio State University. See Hinsdale, _Old Northwest_ (New York, 1888), p. 292.--ED.

[60] For a brief account of the battle of Tippecanoe, see Evans’s _Tour_, volume viii of our series, note 131.--ED.

[61] Dr. Daniel Drake, a native of Plainfield, New Jersey, whose boyhood was spent in Kentucky, came to Cincinnati in 1800 to study medicine. Graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1816, he interested himself in establishing the Ohio Medical College, at Cincinnati, and became its first president. From that time until his death in 1852, he was connected with some medical college, either in Ohio or Kentucky. In addition to his writings on medical subjects, he published (1815) the book several times mentioned by Flint, _Pictures of Cincinnati and the Miami Country_.--ED.

[62] The remains of the mound-building Indians on Paint Creek, near Bainbridge, are among “the largest works in the Scioto valley.” See Fowke, _Archæological History of Ohio_ (Columbus, 1902), p. 206; see also Cuming’s _Tour_, volume iv of our series, note 76.--ED.

[63] For notes on the following places, see A. Michaux’s _Travels_, volume iii of our series: Limestone, note 23; Paris, note 29. F. A. Michaux’s _Travels_, volume iii of our series: Washington, note 37; May’s Lick, note 38; Millersburg, note 38. Cuming’s _Tour_, volume iv of our series: Blue Licks, note 117.--ED.

[64] The supply of specie in the Western country had always been inadequate. Until the numerous state banks began to flood the country with paper money, about the second decade of the century, barter was regularly employed. Flint was in the West when the financial stringency that followed the War of 1812-15 was beginning to be felt in that region, and the reaction against the worthless state banks had set in. See _post_; also McMaster, _History of the United States_, iv, pp. 484-487.--ED.

LETTER IX

Lexington--Depreciated Paper Currency, and Fraudulent Bankers--Excess of Paper Money destructive to American Manufactures--Aversion to Menial Service--Atheneum--Dirking, Gouging, Kicking, and Biting--Prices of Live-stock--Provisions, &c.--Slavery--Effects of Slave-keeping on the White Population--Illiberal Reflections of British Tories against the Americans and against Free Government--Leave Lexington--Descend the Ohio to Cincinnati--Occurrences and Reflections intermixed.

_Cincinnati, Ohio, 30th Dec. 1818._

Lexington, the county town of Fayette, was the capital of the state of Kentucky, before the government was transferred to Frankfort.[65] It is situated in north latitude, 38° 8′, and in west longitude 80° 8′. The town is surrounded by a fertile and pleasant neighbourhood, and is regularly built of brick and frame houses. It has a university, seven places of worship, (three Presbyterian, one Episcopalian, one Baptist, one Methodist, and one Roman Catholic.) Three printing offices, where three weekly newspapers are published; a branch of the United States Bank, and two other banking houses; {108} seven small cotton factories; two paper-mills, two woollen factories, five rope-walks, three grist-mills, many mercantile houses, and some good taverns. The population is supposed to be about seven thousand; but the increase has been slow for several years past.

There is here much trouble with paper money. The notes current in one part, are either refused, or taken at a large discount, in another. Banks that were creditable a few days ago, have refused to redeem their paper in specie, or in notes of the United States’ Bank. In Kentucky, there are two branches of the United States’ Bank; thirteen of the Kentucky bank, and a list of fifty independent banks, some of which are not in operation. In the state of Ohio, there are thirty chartered banks, and a few others which have not obtained that pernicious distinction. In Tennessee, the number of banks, including branches, is fourteen. The total number of these establishments in the United States, could not, perhaps, be accurately stated on any given day. The enumeration, like the census of population, might be affected by births and deaths. The creation of this vast host of fabricators, and venders of base money, must form a memorable epoch in the history of the country.--These craftsmen have greatly increased the money capital of the nation; and have, in a corresponding degree, enhanced the _nominal_ value of property and labour. By lending, and otherwise emitting, their engravings, they have contrived to mortgage and buy much of the property of their neighbours, and to appropriate to themselves the labour of less moneyed citizens. Proceeding in this manner, they cannot retain specie enough to redeem their bills, admitting the gratuitous assumption that they were once possessed of it. They {109} seem to have calculated that the whole of their paper would not return on them in one day. Small quantities, however, of it have, on various occasions, been sufficient to cause them to suspend specie payments.