During the dry season which usually prevailed during August and September, the Ohio was so low that a loaded boat could not descend from Pittsburg. Accordingly, when the boatmen found that they would not be able to reach Pittsburg in time, they ordered their goods sent to Wheeling, where the water was deep enough at all seasons.[102] The merchants of Ohio at this time, 1807, received their goods overland from Philadelphia and Baltimore, and some small supplies from Alexandria. Payments were made to them in the bulky produce of the country, which they sent to New Orleans.[103] From the American Bottom in Illinois, great quantities of corn, pork, and other produce were sent to New Orleans.[104] Schultz in his voyage down the Mississippi in 1808, met two boats from Green River loaded with tobacco; four with flour and whiskey from Cincinnati; two with horses from Limestone; two with cotton and tobacco from Cumberland; two with lime in bulk from Virginia;[105] three from Pittsburg with flour, whiskey and pork;[106] five from Kentucky loaded with horses and tobacco;[107] besides a great number of boats whose cargoes he does not mention.[108] Floating stores with a various assortment of merchandise, among which were to be found copper stills, used for distilling peach and apple brandy, and rye whiskey, floated down the Ohio from Wheeling, stopping wherever they could find a market for their goods.[109] Tobacco was exported down the Cumberland to Baltimore.[110]
During the years 1807-10 we find advertised in the New Orleans papers, Monongahela and Kentucky flour,[111] Kentucky beef and pork,[112] Kentucky tobacco,[113] Monongahela whiskey,[114] Kentucky bogging,[115] Kentucky cordage, Kentucky ham,[116] and Kentucky packing cloth.[117] From the first of the year to May 16, 1808, 112 boats arrived in New Orleans by way of the Ohio.[118] Schultz in 1808, says of New Orleans, "the levee in front is crowded with large vessels from every part of the world. They generally lie three deep, in a line extending from near the center of the town to ¼ of a mile below. The same distance at the upper end is always lined with one or two hundred Kentucky boats and New Orleans boats, from the interior of the States of New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee, as well as from the Territory of Mississippi, Louisiana, and Missouri. Two of those present along the levee I recognized as my own statesmen (New York). One of them was loaded with cherry plank from Chatoque Lake, and the other with ice, the latter of which they sold at 25 cents a pound."[119]
Sugar was exported from New Orleans and sold along the river.[120] West India goods were sent in barges by way of New Orleans to Louisville and Cincinnati.[121] In the early part of the year 1811, sugar, hides, logwood crates, and other articles were shipped to Cincinnati from New Orleans.[122] Nashville exported bales of cotton to Pittsburg in large keel boats requiring nine boatmen.[123] Lead prepared at the mines was deposited at St. Genevieve, Louisiana, from whence it was sent up the Ohio as far as Pittsburg, and down the Mississippi to New Orleans, and distributed from these places through out the United States.[124]
CHAPTER III.
EMIGRATION. GROWTH OF THE RIVER TOWNS.
One of the greatest hindrances to the early settlement of the western territory was the continued hostility of the Indian tribes living in that portion of the country. The two leading causes of disquiet among the western people during the years 1787-1788 were due to this cause, and to the Spanish possession of the Mississippi.[125] At Fort Harmar, January 9, 1789, one treaty was made with the Iroquois, confirming the previous one of October 22, 1784, at Fort Stanwix,[126] and another with the Wyandots, Delawares, Ottawas, Pottawatomies, and Sacs, confirming and extending the treaty of Fort McIntosh, made in January 21, 1785.[127]
These treaties were not respected, and the year 1790 saw the old frontier troubles renewed. The Wabash Indians, especially, who had not been bound by any treaty as yet, kept up incursions against the Kentucky settlers, and the emigrants down the Ohio.[128] Three boats descending the Ohio River in March, 1790 were attacked by twenty-two Indians, above the Falls, and twenty-six horses, merchandise valued at from twelve to fifteen pounds, and several saddlebags containing cash were lost by being left in the two abandoned boats.[129] "The pioneers who descended the Ohio on their way westward, will remember while they live, the lofty rock standing a short distance above the mouth of the Scioto, on the Virginia shore, which was occupied for years by the savages, as a favorite watch-tower, from which boats ascending and descending, could be discovered at a great distance. The murders and depredations committed in that vicinity at all periods of the war were so shocking as to attract universal notice, and letters were written to General Harmar, from various quarters, calling his attention to the subject. They informed him that scarcely a boat passed the rocks without being attacked, and in most instances captured; and that unless something were done without delay, the navigation of the river would necessarily be abandoned."[130] September 19, 1790 Governor St. Clair notified the War Department that the depredations continued on the Ohio and Wabash; that nearly every day brought an account of some new robbery or murder; and that shortly before this, a boat belonging to Colonel Vigo of Post Vincennes, was fired upon near the mouth of Blue River, and three men killed, and later, in attempting to ascend the Wabash, the boats were attacked and the crew's personal baggage and arms stolen. As the boat was navigated by Frenchmen, the Indians suffered them to depart with the peltries.[131] Pope, in 1791, speaks of being frequently alarmed at the hostile appearance of Indians onboth sides of the Ohio, who suspecting that the number of white men was greater than their own, were deterred from attacking them.[132]
The savages who assailed the new settlements in the West, resided chiefly on the northwest side of the Ohio River. The British government, alarmed at the advance of the United States westward, had established agencies among them for the sole purpose of keeping alive their hatred against the American people.[133] The frequent, predatory movements of the savages, following in such rapid succession, produced universal alarm throughout the country, and the sttlers began to think that they would be obliged to abandon it.[134] The glorious campaign of General Wayne with his defeat of the western savages at the Battle of the Miami, 1794, put an end to this warfare.[135] The Treaty of Greenville,[136] signed by the various Indian nations, on August 3, 1795, and ratified by the Senate on December 22, closed the old Indian Wars of the West. In 1796, after some delay, the British government surrendered the northern posts,[137] thus removing the danger from that quarter.
On July 13, 1787 the Ordinance of 1787 was passed;[138] which because of its wise provisions and liberal terms, may be considered as one of the most important documentsin our history. The whole territory lying north and west of the Ohio, extending to the Mississippi, and to the northern lakes, was comprehended within one district, for temporary government. The act contained a provision for the creation of not less than three, nor more than five States, each State to have at least 60,000 free population.[139] The prohibition of slavery probably aided in attracting settlers to this region The fourth article provided that "thenavigable waters leading into the Mississippi and St. Lawrence, and the carrying places between the same, shall be common highways and forever free, as well to the inhabitants of the said territories, as to the citizens of the United States, and those of other States that may be admitted to the Confederacy without any tax, import, or duty therefor."[140]