James's Account of S. H. Long's Expedition, 1819-1820, part 1

by Edwin James; Stephen H. Long; Thomas Say

It was long since remarked by Mr. Schulz,[032] and considered by him as an inexplicable circumstance, that the reflection, by night, of the image of the banks of the Ohio, does not furnish an infallible guide to the middle of[pg071] the bed of the river. Nothing is more manifest than that the banks at different places, having different degrees of elevation, and being sometimes naked, and sometimes covered with very tall trees, must, of necessity, cast shadows of different lengths, upon the surface of the water; consequently that the luminous stripe along the middle of the river, from the surface of which the sky and the stars are reflected, must be greatly subject to irregularities in position and direction. This circumstance often proves very annoying to inexperienced pilots, who attempt to navigate the Ohio, or any other river of similar character, by night, as we have had occasion in many instances to experience.

On the morning of the 19th we arrived at Louisville[033] having passed, in the night, the boats containing {24} the sixth regiment of infantry, then on their way to the Missouri. At Louisville, we stopped to procure a pilot to conduct our boat over the rapids. Two or three pilots appointed pursuant to an act of the legislature of Kentucky, reside at Louisville, always holding themselves in readiness to go on board such boats as are about to descend the rapids, and leaving them again at Shippingsport; for which service they are entitled to receive two dollars for each ark or raft.

At these rapids, called usually the falls of the Ohio, the river descends about twenty-two feet, in a distance of less than two miles. At times of high water an acceleration of current, not usual in other parts of the river, is all that is perceived in passing down this descent: at other times the water is dashed and broken upon the rocky and uneven bed of the channel, called the Indian chute, through which[pg072] a great part of the water passes. The magnificence of a cataract is, however, at no time displayed here; and it is only in peculiar conditions of the atmosphere, that the noise of the fall can be heard at the distance of one-fourth of a mile from the bank of the river.

Large boats ascend the rapids at the time of the spring floods, by the aid of a cable made fast to a tree, or some other object above, and taken in by the capstan. In 1821, the Maysville, a steam-boat of about two hundred tons, was taken up, and had nearly reached the head of the rapid, when the cable broke; and the boat swinging round, was thrown against the rocks, in the bed of the river, and placed in such a situation as to render hopeless all attempts to get her off before the next annual rise of the water. Arks and small barges descend, by the aid of skilful pilots, for great part of the year. It is expected that the navigation of this dangerous rapid will soon be rendered more convenient, by canaling, which can be accomplished at a very inconsiderable {25} expense. The direction of the Ohio, above and below the rapids, is nearly from north-east to south-west, but where the stream passes the rocky obstruction occasioning the fall, it is a little deflected from its course, making a bend towards the west. Thus a point is formed on the south-eastern side projecting from the elevated bank, which, from its present position, would seem to indicate that the bed of the river had changed its place, having formerly traversed the point from north-east to south-west, in a direct line. In times of high floods the water is, in part, discharged through this old channel, and large boats are said to have ascended by that route within a few years past.

On this point stands the small town of Shippingsport,[pg073] at the foot of the rapids.[034] The proposed canal will traverse the point in the rear of this village. The obstacles to be encountered in opening a canal at this place are but trifling. The soil is firm and gravelly, being based on horizontal strata of compact limestone, and fine argillaceous sandstone.[035]

The sandstone, which is the rock of most common occurrence about the rapids, very closely resembles that of Pittsburgh. It is commonly of a compact texture, having an argillaceous cement, with a laminated structure. At Shippingsport, and at Clarksville,[036] in Indiana, it is succeeded by bituminous clay-slate. While we were waiting at the rapids, several of the party made an excursion to visit the boiling spring, at the foot of the Silver Creek hills, in Indiana, at a little distance from New Albany.[037] This spring is small, discharging no water above the surface of the ground. It is an artificial excavation in the clayey bank of a small stream, called Fountain Creek. It is filled to the level of the water in the creek, the spring itself evidently discharging very little, if any water. That which fills the basin is turbid, being kept in constant agitation by the bubbles of inflammable air which rise through it. The {26} smell of sulphuretted hydrogen is perceptible at considerable distance about the spring; and a piece of silver, held near the surface of the water, was quickly tarnished.[pg074] The Silver Creek hills are of argillaceous sandstone, and secondary clay-slate; and this spring seems to be placed near the meeting of the two strata.

In the bed of the Ohio, opposite Shippingsport, is a tabular mass of rocks, visible above water for great part of the year, and called Corn Island.[038] On the highest parts of this, are remaining some small portions of the limestone stratum, which appears in many places to have been worn through, and removed by the river. Five or six acres of the surface of this island are of the smooth compact argillaceous sandrock before mentioned, lying horizontally, and divided into squares and parallelograms by the natural fissures. These fissures contain some soil which supports, in the summer, a dense growth of herbaceous plants. Among these, we noticed the hypericum sphæcrocarpum of Michaux, (apparently not the plant mentioned by Nuttall, under that name, which has been noticed near Philadelphia, by Collins and others, but without doubt that originally described by Michaux). Two species of andropogon, the panicum virgatum, solanum nigrum, polygala verticillata, leplanthus gramineus, chenopodium botrys, &c. The lower part of the island is covered with loose sand; bearing some small cotton-wood and willow trees.

The unenclosed grounds, about Louisville and Shippingsport,[pg075] are extensive, and afford pasturage to great numbers of domestic animals. They are, however, much overrun with luxuriant weeds. The datura strammonium, which is common in every part of Ohio, is sometimes eaten by sheep; and the spiny capsules of the seed, when about half ripened, we have seen eaten with apparent avidity by cows. In addition to this loathsome plant, the common May-weed (anthemis cotula) has become abundant {27} in all the waste-grounds, to the exclusion of the native plants. A few of these, which keep their places with the greatest obstinacy by the road sides, are the sida abutilon and S. spinosa, and the verbena hastata; while the thistles, chrysanthemums and Johnsworts, so common about old fields in New England, are not to be met with. The eleusine mucronata, of Pursh, is one of the most frequent grasses along the streets.

The Silver Creek hills are elevated about one hundred and fifty or two hundred feet above the level of the country in the rear of Jeffersonville.[039] They form a continuous range, crossing the country from north to south. On the Kentucky side they constitute the commencement of a rugged and barren district, called the Knobs, and extending far to the south.[040] At some remote period this range may have formed a barrier, extending across what is now the immediate valley of the Ohio, and retarding the retreat of the waters from the tract above the falls.[041] Coal[pg076] occurs frequently in this range of hills, on the north side of the Ohio; quarries have been opened near the Blue river, in Indiana, about the two Pidgeons, opposite the mouth of Green river, and in various other places.[042]

The larger steam-boats which run on the Mississippi, and the Ohio, ascend usually no farther than Shippingsport; and several of them remain at this place, during several months of the summer, while the water is too low to admit their passing up and down the rivers. This time it is often necessary to spend in repairs of various kinds. The high steam-engines require frequent repairs, and in the difficult navigation of the Mississippi the hulks of vessels are often injured. It frequently happens that the boats built at Pittsburgh, and other places near the sources of the Ohio, are, within three or four years after they {28} are launched, in a condition to require the planking of the hulk to be replaced with new timber. These boats are usually planked with the upland white oak: we have been informed that such as are built lower down on the river, and of timber found in the low grounds, are more durable. [pg077]