Boats suited to the navigation of both rivers above the bars here specified, should be of inferior size; those for the Mississippi not exceeding one hundred tons burden, and those for the Ohio from fifty to seventy-five tons.
Any position on the Mississippi in the neighbourhood of the Ohio would be objectionable, for the following reasons:—First, The rapidity of the current, which renders it difficult to find a safe and commodious landing, there being no rocky-bound shore within thirty miles above and a far greater distance below the point. The Iron Banks,[052] seventeen miles below the mouth of the Ohio, have been thought by some an eligible position for the extensive business, {36} which, it is admitted by all, must centre in this neighbourhood. But at this place there is no safe landing; and besides, the banks are composed of layers of sand and clay alternating with each other, of an acclivity nearly perpendicular, and annually wearing away by the current of the river, which sets strongly against them. These banks are elevated about one hundred and thirty feet above the common level of the river, and are insurmountable, except by a circuitous route, leading from the river a considerable distance above and below them. [pg087]
Second, There are no positions on the Mississippi, except the Iron and Chalk Banks, for a great distance below the Ohio, secure from inundation. The bottom directly opposite the mouth of the Ohio, on the west side of the Mississippi is elevated a little above high water; but as it is an alluvial shore, having no permanent foundation, and the banks often falling in, it affords no conveniences or security as a place of business.
Third, No places of anchorage for boats of heavy burden are to be found, except in the main channel of the river, where they would be exposed to drift-wood, great quantities of which are brought down in times of freshet; and when borne along with the rapid current of the river, occasion serious danger to boats lying in its way.
The town of America is almost entirely exempt from any of these objections;—although it has not a rocky foundation, (which may be said of most of the towns on the Ohio,) the current of the river is so gentle, that no such guard against the undermining and wasting away of the banks is required. In case of an excessive flood, or an unusual quantity of floating ice (which may possibly be apprehended in remarkably cold seasons), the mouth of Cash river, five miles below the town, is a harbour in which boats may lie in perfect security.[053]
We would not encourage the idea, that the site {37} now fixed upon as a town is exclusively the point where business[pg088] is to be done; but that the town will eventually extend along on that side of the river about four miles, to the Big Chain above described.
In view of the great extent of inland navigation centring at this place, and the incalculable amount of products to be realized, at no distant period, from the cultivation of the rich vallies and fertile plains of the west, a great proportion of which must find a market here, no doubt can be entertained that it will eventually become a place of as great wealth and importance as almost any in the United States.
In the afternoon of the 30th we arrived at the mouth of the Ohio.
This beautiful river has a course of one thousand and thirty-three miles, through a country surpassed in fertility of soil by none in the United States. Except in high floods, its water is transparent, its current gentle, and nearly uniform. For more than half of its course its banks are high, and its bed gravelly. With the exception of about two miles at the rapids, at Louisville, it has sufficient depth of water, for a part of the year, to float vessels of 300 tons burthen to Cincinnati. The country which it washes may, with propriety, be considered under two divisions. The first, extending from its head at Pittsburgh to the little town of Rockport,[054] about 150 miles below the falls or rapids at Louisville, is hilly. This district forms a portion of one of the sides of that great formation of secondary rocks, which occupies the basin of the Mississippi and its tributaries. This formation, like others of the same period, is rough, with small elevations, which are most[pg089] considerable on its borders, and diminish in proportion as we approach nearer its central parts.
Compact limestone, and sandstone of several varieties, are the rocks which invariably occur along that portion of the Ohio we are now considering. Sandstone of a light gray or ashen colour, of a compact {38} texture, an argillaceous cement, and a slaty or lamellated structure, is the most abundant, and occupies the lowest points which we have hitherto been able to examine. This rock frequently contains alternating beds of coal, bituminous shale, and its accompanying minerals. The beds of compact limestone, which occur in this region, usually rest upon the sandstone just mentioned. Considered as a stratum, its distribution is the reverse of that of the sandstone. It occupies the central and least elevated portions of the formation; and on the borders where the sandstone is most abundant, the limestone is of less extent and of more uncommon occurrence. These remarks are applicable to the hilly district on the upper portion of the Ohio river. From Pittsburgh to Cincinnati, the prospect from the river is that of hills of moderate elevation, sometimes rocky and abrupt, but often sufficiently gradual in their ascent to admit of cultivation to their summits. Their character, as to extent, direction, &c. seems to be determined by the number, direction, and magnitude of the streams which traverse them. They are the remains of what was formerly a continuous and nearly horizontal stratum, with a large deposit of superincumbent soil, which the flowing of water, during the lapse of ages, has channelled and excavated to its present form. These hills diminish in altitude as you approach the falls from above; there they again rise to a height nearly equal to what they attain at the head[pg090] of the river, and from thence gradually diminish, until they disappear, a little above the confluence of the Ohio and Green[055] rivers. Here commences the low country, which extends west to the Mississippi. It is characterized by the great extent of the river alluvion, the increased width and diminished velocity of the stream. The river banks are low, but thickly wooded with sycamore, cotton-wood, river maple, the planera aquatica, cypress, &c. The river hills, which terminate the alluvial district, {39} are distant and low; and it often happens that the surface descends on both sides, from the immediate banks of the river to these hills. Hence, when the waters of the river are sufficiently swollen to flow over its banks, they inundate extensive tracts; from which they cannot return to the channel of the river, and are left stagnant during the summer months, poisoning the atmosphere with noxious exhalations. Many of these inundated tracts have a soil of uncommon fertility, which it is probable will hereafter be recovered from the dominion of the river by dikes or levees.