July 22nd.—Off Gallipolis, a town settled by French people, who came here to avoid the excesses of the revolution. These persons, brought up in a delicate, luxurious manner, were obliged to plunge at once into all the hardships of a woodland life, and suffered much ere their houses were erected, and all things in order. Upon the opposite shore the Kenawha enters the Ohio, after coming from the iron mountain in North Carolina, through Kentucky three hundred miles. It has dug for itself a deep bed in the limestone rocks, and upon its banks is the most rugged and picturesque scenery in Kentucky. Coal, and salt springs abound along its shores. The rapids of the Ohio came in sight after this, and looked cool and pretty, as the water curled and foamed over the ledges of rocks and pebbles. The water was very clear and we seemed sailing upon the bottom; but being so unusually low, our boat, as small as she was, grounded several times. In these extremities recourse was had to cordelling. A rope was carried ahead by a small boat, and fastened to a rock, or anchored; and a windlass brought the boat up to the rock. After passing the rapids, the river becomes shallower and more narrow; but as our boat only drew twenty inches, we succeeded in going on, while some larger ones which had accompanied us thus far, were left in the river, or at some village. The islands are more frequent, and some of them very lovely, mazes of beautiful forest trees woven together in natural bowers by pea vines in blossom, scarlet creeper, and many other pretty and new plants. The island of the unfortunate Blennarhasset, is the largest and loveliest, containing seven hundred acres. Through the circle of forest trees which border it, we caught glimpses of the centre which was level, and once highly cultivated. Here he created a paradise of lawns and groves, and gardens, surrounding a dwelling, the residence of his charming family, to which were attached green and hot-houses, libraries and music rooms. Ambition has rendered this fair spot a desert; he never rose to the empire which he and his tempter, Burr, had hoped to create. After all, the saddest part of Herman Blennarhasset’s fate is, that every tourist who passes the island, must mention his name and utter an effecting sentimentality about ambition; it seems like dragging him out of his resting place, to hear our taunts; if you travel this way, let me beg of you—
“Breathe not his name, let it sleep in the dust,
Where cold and unhonored his ashes are laid.”
Parkersburgh at the mouth of the little Kenawha, is a quaint old fashioned town in Virginia; embosomed in hills. Here we intended to land and take the mail stage to Winchester, but it had just departed, and rather than remain there two days, until another stage, we concluded to go on in the Agnes to Wheeling. Accordingly we and our trunks were again on board, and we resumed our rambles. At sunset we stopped, at the town of Marietta, the first spot settled in Ohio. Its name was very prettily given in honor of the fair and unfortunate Maria Antoinette of France; in gratitude for the support she gave our cause. The town was laid out in 1788. The streets are wide, and adorned with forest trees, and parks. The houses are solidly built, having each its ornamented court and garden. The exchange, court-house, college, churches, and other public buildings are handsome structures. It is principally settled by New Englanders, whose love of good order and morality has not been left behind, for the motto upon the town seal pledges their ‘support of religion and learning.’ Marietta is upon the Muskingum, which is between two and three hundred yards wide, and navigable for one hundred miles with large boats. It is a remarkably pure, healthy, bright stream, ‘rolling its limpid waves over a sandy and pebbly bottom, variegated in summer months with the open valves of thousands of red and white shells scattered among the sand, rivalling in beauty the richest tessellated pavement of the Romans.’ Upon its banks stands Zanesville, a large and handsome town, and in the county through which this river and its branches flow, are quantities of iron, coal, salt, limestone, and many other useful productions. There are also ancient mounds and fortifications upon its shores. Marietta appears beautifully as we approach, seated upon an elevated bank, at the foot of a range of the picturesque Ohio hills. These are about three hundred feet high, formed of ‘argillacious earth, based upon sandstone.’ The scenery this afternoon is of a grander cast than any we had yet seen upon the Ohio. The hills which have generally risen at some distance from the shore, now come close down to the water, so that, as we ride along we can look far up into their recesses. They have the same gracefully regular appearance, except that now and then a ledge of sandstone or limestone, breaks the smooth green side.
I have said very little about the cooking and victuals upon these western boats. The latter are very good, and finer beef, fish, bread, etc., cannot be found any where; the most fastidious palate might here be satisfied were it not for one thing—our western brethren are so fond of fat. Almost every dish of animal food is swiming in a greasy liquor. Doubtless I should be used to it in time and like it as well as our young southern friend who used to expatiate upon the delights of hominy and ‘possum fat.’ However, I cannot expect persons, wherever I may choose to travel, to shape their table to please me, so I make a point of taking things as quietly as if I had ordered every thing. I generally succeeded, by declining gravey, to obtain a piece tolerably dry, and this, with their excellent vegetables, Indian bread, good butter, and nice stewed dried peaches, the unfailing accompaniment to every meal, to secure a pleasant and healthful repast. Tea and coffee we have met, of all shades and varieties, but none so unique as the prairie coffee, of which I wrote you. The accommodations are comfortable, and in the ladies apartment, towels, basins, and water enough, and leave to use your own brushes. The gentlemen were confined to tin washbowls upon deck, but if any one chose to ask, he might always have a basin and towel in his cabin. We found nothing to complain of as serious annoyances, but received every attention and politeness from captains and servants.
LETTER XI.
Wheeling, Virginia July 23d.
Although weary of the constant jar of these high pressure steamboats, and glad once more to step upon firm land, yet, when told Wheeling was in sight, I felt regret that I must now turn my back upon the beautiful Ohio and the charming western land. I ought not to leave the fair State of Ohio without saying a few words to give you an idea of its extent and condition—matters which you may perhaps extract from Gazateers yourself, but this will save you the trouble. Gazateers and tourists guides, however, are of little use in a region which so rapidly changes its appearance, and increases its population. Where you are directed to remark the beauty of a grand forest, you find a large town, and where, when the book was written, spread out a fair prairie, you find a country covered with farm houses, cornfields, fences and orchards. Along the coast of Ohio we have sailed over an hundred miles on lake Erie, and upon the Ohio river, four hundred miles. From Cincinnati here, which is all that distance, except twenty or thirty miles we paid twelve dollars, six each; which, with board for three days, is not expensive travelling. The State of Ohio is nearly square, being two hundred and twenty-two miles long by two hundred broad, and with Indiana and Illinois, are parts of a great plain which inclines to the Mississippi, through which the rivers have cut their way into their deep beds. The geology of these States is very much the same, they being based upon that great secondary limestone formation which reaches from the eastern States to the Chippewayan mountains, and from the great lakes to the alluvion of the southern States. This is doubtless the deposite of the primitive ocean, as it occurs ‘in layers of chrystaline and sedimentary, or in broken pieces cemented together.’[26] It is of all shades, from the dark brown ferruginous, to the light grey, the blue fœtid, the yellow silecious, and magnesian, the argillaceous, earthy, chrystaline oolitic, etc. In this limestone formation is a variety of fossil shells of many species, as the ammonites, spiriferi, encrini, producti, corallines, gryphea, madrepores, and various others. Its thickness is enormous, for it has been penetrated one thousand feet without reaching the primitive rocks.[27] Above this is the sandstone, and slate, and clay of the coal measures, and muriatiferous rocks. These sandstones are generally white ash color, or brown; a very little red has been discovered in this valley. One of our western friends, who has well studied the geology of that region, was of opinion that all the groups of fossiliferous secondary strata recognized and determined by European geologists have not been discovered here; but that they claim the upper new, red sandstone and oolites, that have not been subdivided; that above the oolites they have unconsolidated strata of great extent and thickness, which do not abound in fossils, and have not been sufficiently observed to justify and attempt to confer names upon them. Several of the groups of the European secondary are thought to be wanting here. The chalk group is certainly wanting; nor have any of the four received divisions of the supercretaceous, or tertiary, been identified in the western valley. The older pliocene, and it is thought the newer, have been observed in Alabama. The recent pliocene is here established; the accumulation of gigantic fossil remains; of mammalia at Big Bone Lick, Kentucky; at Bucyrus, Ohio; at Pomme de Terre, Missouri; and at Rocky Spring, near St. Louis, identify this group with certainty. The recent pliocene is not horizontal, it having been seen fifteen hundred feet or more above the level of the sea. Its remains of elephants, tetracaulidons, and other fossils identical with existing genera upon the earth demonstrates its geological era to be near us. There are several remarkable deposites in Ohio and the surrounding States—the sileceous, ferruginous, muriatiferous, and the coal. The sileceous deposite, sometimes called ‘Flint ridge,’ runs nearly through the State of Ohio, in a south-westerly direction from the Tuscarawas river, to the Sciota, near the Ohio. Its greatest width is four or five miles, being strewed over the ground in broken masses; beneath the soil; or, which is its most common situation, upon the tops of the hills; doubtless thrown up from the ocean in a fluid and heated state. This deposite occurs generally white, but is occasionally streaked with various hues, and is compact, cellular, and vermicular. The aboriginal inhabitants made great use of it for arrow heads; and the present settlers find it very valuable as whet-stones, hones, and mill-stones. The latter are thought equal to the French buhr stone, and are sold to the amount of twenty thousand dollars a year. Those from the deposite upon Raccoon creek, are very celebrated. In this silecious material occurs marine shells, beautiful and limpid quartz chrystals, veins of chalcedony, sulphate of barytes, flint, hornstone, and various other minerals.
The ferruginous deposite crosses the State from north-east to south-west, commencing at the division line between Ohio and Pennsylvania, upon lake Erie, to the mouth of the Sciota, and thence continues into Kentucky, to the Cumberland mountains, its average width being from fifteen to twenty miles. The iron occurs in several varieties, as a brown oxide, an argillaceous ore, pure, highly carbonated ore, etc. Its forms are also various; the ore occurring lamellated, disseminated in kidney shaped masses, columnar, stalactitic, cubic, in rhombic fragments, nodules, etc. It is extensively worked in many furnaces of Ohio and Kentucky. In this iron are marine shells and plants of a tropical climate.
I have spoken of the muriatiferous rocks, and I will now pass on to the coal measures. The quantity of coal found in these western States is wonderful. The valley of the Ohio, and it now appears the valley of the Mississippi are underlaid with coal. The Alleghany mountains are filled with it; at their bases it is heaped up in masses, probably of antediluvial vegetation, by the eddies of the currents. These mountains seem to divide the anthracite from the bituminous coal. There is enough of this article in Ohio to last thousands of years, twelve thousand square miles being underlaid with it in one grand basin. In Indiana, according to Dr. Owen, the coal formation occupies seven thousand seven hundred and eighty square miles; in Pennsylvania, the bituminous coal embraces an area of twenty-one thousand square miles; while in the States west of these, coal is found in considerable quantities, but it has not been thoroughly examined. The richest deposit of coal in the valley of the Ohio, is the basin through which runs the Monongahela river; it is two hundred miles in length and one hundred in breadth.[28] It occurs extensively in layers across the hills—that of Coal hill at Pittsburg, supplies the city, which it uses in its great manufactories. The coal consumed in this city and its suburbs is estimated at ‘seven millions six hundred and sixty-five thousand bushels.’ This useful article is easily procured throughout the west and is consequently very cheap, being two, four, or eight cents a bushel in different places. The iron and salt furnaces, and manufactories of the west owe their present flourishing trade to the abundance of this material. This coal is black bituminous generally; burns freely, and in some deposits, forms very good coke which is used in the furnaces. In Licking Co., Ohio is a deposit of Canal coal, and another in Guernsey Co. Beside these interesting minerals there are numerous others in the Ohio valley which are very valuable; upon Wills creek Ohio is a deposit of fine lias limestone—and there are in the State various other stones suitable for building,—sandstones of fine quality used for architectural purposes,—gypsum, lead, copper &c. The coal measures abound in organic remains; some of them belonging to the tropical palms and ferns are very beautiful and perfect. When we see how important these articles are to the western land, and how profusely they are scattered and how easily obtained, one cannot think they are thus arranged by accidental convulsions of nature. We know that the greatest coal deposits are above the thirtieth degree of latitude, and is not this because the inhabitants below this degree do not so much require it, while the colder countries would be almost deserts without it, so good and beneficient is our great Father. You will say I am like the old woman who praised the goodness of God for making rivers flow by the side of cities. I think there is double enjoyment in every gift when we feel it is from His compassionate hand. Ohio is one of the finest agricultural countries in the world. Her productions are justly celebrated for their goodness and quantity. Her exports in flour last year is said to be seven million five hundred thousand dollars. The land belonging to the government sells here, as in the other States for one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre. Around large towns the owner of the lots asks of course more. We must bid Ohio now adieu and look around us a little. We were approaching Wheeling when I thus digressed. It appears very well from the water; you see a circle of swelling green hills with the bright river encircling a large island in the midst. The town runs in a long line across the slope of one of the hills, while a group of steamboats looking wonderfully like a flock of geese were floating upon the water beneath. People are busy taking out coal from the hills, and trundling it down a wooden rail-way into the vessels below. The hills are between two, and three hundred feet high; the coal stretches along their face for fifteen miles and then dips into the earth. It is a kind valuable for cooking, and some of it is beautifully irridescent. The manufactories of Wheeling are supplied with it and it is extensively sold down the river, at the cost of three cents a bushel when delivered to the boat. One million five hundred thousand bushels of coal are exported from Wheeling every year. Wheeling is a second Pittsburg blackened with coal; while the smoke is rising from forge, and furnace, and chimney, in every direction. Here we found the best landing of any town upon the river, as the steep bank was walled up, and we ascended by a long flight of steps. When upon the top of the wharf we found ourselves before a range of shops and hotels, while before us was the ‘United States,’ where we deposited ourselves and luggage. After tea we set out for a stroll through the town accompanied by a very agreeable party who had left the boat with us, the remainder of our passengers going on to Pittsburg, about ninety miles farther. We had been through so many new towns that this looked quite antique, it being settled in seventeen hundred and seventy by Col. Zane and his brothers, who afterwards founded Zanesville. The streets here run along the face of the hill, and contain many shops, manufactories, a large court-house, hotels, banks and dwellings. Among the buildings are seven churches, an academy, iron and brass founderies, flint glass works, paper and saw mills, steam engine and machinery works, nail factory, cordage, wire floorcloth factories &c. Eight stages arrive and depart each day, Sundays excepted, and various steamboats stop here—so if you know of any mechanics or trades-people complaining of want of work in your crowded city tell them to wend their way hitherward. All kind of laborers will find business enough in the west. I think a society for exporting over the Alleghanies the poor European emigrants who are suffering in our large cities, would be of great service to them and to us. The population we were told nearly numbered ten thousand. Among the houses we observed one quite large and handsome; this we were told was built by Col. Zane, when the town was first settled and his descendants have resided there since. He was an active pioneer of the wilderness, and encountered many difficulties, and fought many battles with the Indians ere he was permanently settled in his beautiful abode. In these attacks the females of Wheeling showed much heroism and took an active part in the affray. The little settlement was once attacked by three hundred and eighty Indians when Col. Zane had with him but thirty-three men, but the women shouldered their rifles, joined in the battle and did much execution. Once, in despair, the garrison inclined to a surrender, but a young girl named Betsey Wheat, answered them in such an eloquent and indignant burst of irony that they rallied and defeated the enemy. In a second attack Elizabeth, the sister of Col. Zane, saved the fort by bringing into it a quantity of powder, braving, but passing unhurt through the whizzing balls directed against her by the Indians. Some of the buildings here are of the light sandstone of the country.