[20] For Rome, see Maximilian's Travels, in our volume xxii, p. 160, note 77.—Ed.
[21] Green River, rising in central Kentucky, flows west through the coal fields to its junction with the Big Barren; thence it turns north, and empties into the Ohio nine miles above Evansville, Indiana. Beginning with 1808 the state legislature expended large sums of money for improving navigation on Green River. As a consequence small steamboats may ascend it to a distance of more than a hundred and fifty miles. The length of the stream is estimated at three hundred and fifty miles.—Ed.
[22] Diamond Island, densely wooded, is located thirty-six miles below the mouth of Green River, and seven miles above Mount Vernon. Its name is perhaps derived from its shape, being five miles long and one and a half wide.—Ed.
[23] For note on Hendersonville, see Cuming's Tour, in our volume iv, p. 267, note 175.—Ed.
[24] John J. Audubon, born in Louisiana (1780), was a son of a wealthy French naval officer; his mother was a Spanish Creole. Educated in France, he returned to America (1798) and settled near Philadelphia, devoting his time to the study of birds. In 1808 he went west and until 1824 made fruitless attempts to establish himself in business in Kentucky and Louisiana. He issued in London (1827-38) his noted publication on the Birds of America, which was completed in eighty-seven parts. During 1832-39 he published five volumes entitled Ornithological Biographies. Audubon died in 1851. See M. R. Audubon, Audubon and his Journals (New York, 1897).—Ed.
[25] For the historical importance of the Wabash River, see Croghan's Journals, in our volume i, p. 137, note 107.—Ed.
[26] The Wabash and Erie Canal, which connects the waters of Lake Erie with the Ohio River by way of the Maumee and Wabash rivers, has played an active rôle in the development of Indiana, her most important cities being located upon its route. The Ohio section was constructed during the years 1837-43, and the Indiana section as far as Lafayette in 1832-40; the canal being later continued to Terre Haute and the Ohio River near Evansville. Although the federal government granted Indiana 1,505,114 acres for constructing the canal, the state was by this work plunged heavily in debt. After the War of Secession the canal lost much of its relative importance for commerce. June 14, 1880, Congress authorized the secretary of war to order a survey and estimate of cost and practicability of making a ship canal out of the old Wabash and Erie Canal. The survey and estimate were made, but the matter was allowed to drop. See Senate Docs., 46 Cong., 3 sess., iii, 55.—Ed.
[27] For an account of New Harmony and its founder, George Rapp, see Hulme's Journal, in our volume x, p. 50, note 22, and p. 54, note 25.—Ed.
[28] Flagg is evidently referring to Robert Owen, the active promoter of the scheme. A brief history of his activities is given in Hulme's Journal, in our volume x, p. 50, note 22.
For Robert Dale Owen see Maximilian's Travels, in our volume xxiv, p. 133, note 128.—Ed.