About six hundred yards above the mouth of Big Beaver Creek, my skiff ran upon the top of a large mass of stone under water, which the ripplings occasioned by a slight breeze of wind, prevented me from seeing. In attempting to push her off, she upset, so as to admit a gush of water all along the lower side. The hoops over her after part, not allowing me to leap directly upon the stone, I plunged into the water and mounted the stone just in time to catch the bark by the after part, and prevent it from being carried down by the stream. By a considerable exertion, I succeeded in keeping the after end close to the stone, while the fore part sunk obliquely to a great depth in the water. Here the cargo must unavoidably have slipped into the bottom of the river, except for a large box, that wedged itself into the narrow forepart of the boat, and the others, resting on it, were kept in their places. Two black men came in a skiff to my relief. They took me in, and rowed toward the shore, while I still retained my hold of the wreck, and succeeded in getting it safely moored. This interruption happened exactly before the door of a tavern, where I was accommodated with board, and the means of having my baggage dried.
Afternoon. While exposing my books to the wind, a respectable looking man, apparently a farmer, entered into conversation with me. His inquiries {71} respecting the scientific and literary personages of Edinburgh, and his acquaintance with the poetry and provincial dialect of Scotland, were more minute than I could have expected in this part of the world.
October 16. I have discovered that my skiff is too weak for carrying any considerable weight. It is so much strained, that many of the nails have their heads drawn half an inch out of the timber, and others much more. The misfortune of the 15th, has probably saved me from a worse one. The system of boat building at Pittsburg cannot be too strongly reprobated. Defects in caulking, in the number, and in the strength of the nails, were in the case of my boat, disgraceful[42]
October 19. A farmer, in removing Indian corn from an island to his residence, had his flat sunk, and much of the cargo lost, within a few yards of the point where I stopped short. I am resolved on procuring a better skiff, and waiting a few days in hopes of a rise of water. Floods at or before this season of the year, are considered annual occurrences. The oldest residents recollect of only one year in which there was no autumnal rise of the Ohio.
October 20. The mornings and evenings are now cool, usually about 34° of Fahrenheit’s scale. To-day, at two o’clock P.M. the temperature of the sun’s rays was 90°. Thick fogs continue over the river in the mornings, till eight or nine o’clock. These are no doubt occasioned by the water being hotter than the air. The radiant heat passing upward, necessarily carries humidity with it, which is immediately condensed, and rendered visible by the colder air. Whenever the heat of the air is of a temperature equal to that of the water, the phenomenon disappears. The same principle may be {72} very plausibly applied, in explaining the autumnal risings of the Ohio. The great and long continued heats of summer in this country, render the air capable of accumulating a great quantity of moisture. It is not till the sun recedes considerably to the southward, and till a great portion of the atmosphere is cooled, that rains are precipitated over any great extent of the country. The Allegany mountains, and other high parts, are soonest cooled, and first produce a deposition of rain. Hence autumnal floods occur, which proceed from the higher country alone, without corresponding risings in the lower tributaries of the Ohio. In seasons when the heat continues long, the flood occurs late. With such hot days as we now enjoy, a rising in the river is not to be expected.
26th. Went up Beaver Creek.[43] This is a large stream, with a rapid descent over a sandstone bottom. Within three miles of its mouth there are three saw-mills, a grist-mill, an iron furnace and forge, a fulling-mill, a carding-mill, and a mill for bruising flax-seed. At the iron furnace, cast goods are fabricated, the coarsest that I have ever seen. Coal is abundant, but not used in reducing the ores.
It has been suggested, that a navigation connecting Cayahogo, on Lake Erie, with Alexandria on the Potomak, should pass through Big Beaver Creek;[44] but it appears altogether improper that such a communication should descend so low as the mouth of this creek, thereby incurring the ascent of the Ohio to Pittsburg, and the Monongahela to the bases of the Allegany ridge. The longer route to New York seems to be vastly preferable, and, as it is now in progress, it must supersede the Pennsylvanian line.
I saw some people thrashing buck wheat: they had dug a hollow in the field, about twenty feet in {73} diameter, and six or eight inches in depth. In this the grain was thrashed by the flail, and the straw thrown aside to rot in the field. The wheat is cleared of the chaff by two persons fanning it with a sheet, while a third lets it fall before the wind.
Indian corn is separated from the husks or leaves that cover the ear, by the hands. In the evenings neighbours convene for this purpose. Apples are also pared for preservation in a similar way. These are commonly convivial meetings, and are well attended by young people of both sexes.
A respectable English family put ashore with a leaky boat, almost in the act of sinking. They had run foul of a log in a ripple. The craft, called family boats, are square arks, nine or ten feet wide, and varying in length as occasion may require. They are roofed all over, except a small portion of the fore part, where two persons row. At the back end, a person steers with an oar, protruded through a hole, and a small fire-place is built of brick. Such boats are so formed as to carry all the necessaries of new settlers. The plough, and the body of the waggon, are frequently to be seen lying on the roof; and the wheels hung over the sides. The bottom is made of strong plank, not liable to be stove in, except where the water is in rapid motion; and the whole fabric is exempt from the danger of upsetting, except in violent gales of wind. Family boats cost from thirty to fifty dollars at Pittsburg. A great proportion of the families to be seen, are from the northern parts of New York, and Pennsylvania, also from the state Vermont, and other parts. They have descended the Allegany, a river that I have not hitherto mentioned as a thoroughfare of travellers.[45]