Mount Vernon—Mouth of the Wabash—Shawneetown—Battery Rock—Cave-in-Rock—Cumberland River—Tenessee River—Mouth of the Ohio—Cape Girardeau—Grand Tower—St. Genevieve—Merrimack River—Vide Poche—Kahokia—St. Louis—Sac and Fox Indians—Meeting of the Black Hawk with his Countrymen at Jefferson Barracks—The American Fur Company—Preparations for the Journey up the Missouri.
After taking leave of our friends at Harmony, who, during a residence of four months, had given us unvarying proofs of kindness and hospitality, we set out on horseback early in the morning of the 16th of March, leaving our baggage to be conveyed by the Ohio. The day was fine, and, rejoicing in the warm spring sun, we reached the hills that bounded the valley of the Wabash. We were immediately surrounded by lofty forests, and cast a farewell look on the cheerful country which had so long sheltered us. Perched on the top of the maple, oak, and tulip tree, the robin poured forth his morning song. The turtle-dove was cooing with her sweet low moan, and the shrill voice and hammering of the woodpeckers resounded on every side. In Europe the soft note of the turtle is not heard till spring is more advanced, and the trees are clothed with verdure. Many trees were covered with buds; those of the dog-wood were particularly forward, the beautiful white flowers of which appear before the leaves; this is the case with many of the trees of this country. We passed Rush Creek, on the eminences near which grow many sugar-maple trees, the juice of which was tapped, and had in some of them already ceased to flow. At the lower part of all the trunks, we found small tubes of elder inserted, from which the insipid sweetish juice ran into the troughs placed below them. It is said to flow in great abundance, when hot spring days are succeeded by cold frosty nights. We soon reached what is called a sugar camp in the forest; it is a hut, in the floor of which four kettles are fixed for boiling the juice. This 94 hut contains likewise large troughs, in which the juice from the smaller, placed at the trees, is collected. Such a hut, with the maples growing around it, is called a sugar camp, and the quantity of sugar produced depends on the number of maples in the vicinity. Many camps furnish in one spring 300, 500, or even 1000 lbs. of sugar, which is crystallized in loaves. It is brown, but very sweet, and has no disagreeable flavour. We refreshed ourselves with the juice in the small troughs, which our horses drank greedily.
The people in the isolated dwellings in the forest were partly engaged in burning the timber. Many of the small wooden houses of these peasants were without windows; glass windows are quite a luxury, and the only light enjoyed in the daytime is admitted by the open door. We saw in all these dwellings, very wide, large beds. We crossed the Big Creek, a considerable stream, with rising banks, by a wooden bridge; here we saw many piles of oak bark, which is sold to the tanneries. At noon, the weather being excessively hot, we reached Mount Vernon, on the Ohio.
In this little scattered place, with about 600 inhabitants, among whom there are five medical men, about one third of the buildings are of brick; the town-hall stands in an open square. The Ohio, which we immediately visited, had now a much more striking appearance than at our first visit in the autumn. It is considerably broader than the Rhine, and it is said that it often rises thirty feet higher—up to the very thresholds of the buildings standing on the bank. The view both up and down the river was beautiful. The immediate environs of Mount Vernon consist of damp marshy forests; hence the water is very bad, and the inhabitants prefer even that of the Ohio. The temperature at noon was now very warm; 14° Reaumur.
We were obliged to wait a couple of days in this little town for a steam-boat, to go down the river. The rushing noise of the steamers often called us to the river, but they were mostly going up, and disappeared at Diamond Island. At last, on the 18th of March, about ten in the morning, two steam-boats appeared, of which the largest, the Napoleon, did not stop; while the smaller one, the Conveyance, took us in.[105] We proceeded rapidly, reached before noon Wabash Island, near the mouth of that river, and after dinner landed at Shawneetown.
Shawneetown or Shawaneetown is a hamlet lying along the banks of the river, and containing from 600 to 700 inhabitants. The best buildings are some inns, shops, and the post-office. The tribe of the Shawnee Indians formerly dwelt in this country, and were succeeded by some Delawares, who have been long since expelled or extirpated. Arrow-heads of flint, as well as the bones, &c., of these people, are frequently found in the neighbourhood. The Shawnees were said to have previously dwelt on the Savaney River, on the coast of Florida, and afterwards lived for about sixty-five years in the state of Ohio. They consisted, according to Dr. Morse, of four tribes:—1. The Piqua; 2. The Maguachake; 3. The Kiskopokoke, to which the celebrated prophet, Elsquataway, and his distinguished brother, Tecumseh, belonged. They were very warlike. In 95 1806 they settled near Greenville, in the State of Ohio, and their subsequent history is well known. They afterwards went to the country about Tippecanoe. 4. The Chillicothes, who live in the vicinity of the town of that name; these, and further accounts of these people, are to be found in Dr. Morse, and other writers.[106]
Twelve miles inland from Shawneetown are the celebrated salt works on Saline River,[107] near Equality; much salt is annually manufactured there, and sent to Shawneetown, on the Ohio, where it is embarked. Here, as at Mount Vernon, the environs of the place consist of damp forests, with many marshes, from which noxious exhalations arise. The weather was chilly, windy, and rainy, especially towards evening, so that a fire was very welcome. Coals are found about seven miles from the town, and seem to be of a good kind. There were many negroes in Shawneetown; whereas, in Harmony and Mount Vernon, there were only two or three families of that race.
On the morning of the 19th, the weather being warm, and the sky clouded, we embarked in the Paragon steamboat.[108] The fine broad river shone brightly; on the banks the summits of the forest formed an even line parallel to the shore, as even as if they had been cut, the snow-white stems of the planes glistening among the sombre mass. The kingfisher, the wild duck, and red-breasted goose, were numerous in the wild, romantic willow islands. The banks of the Ohio now began to be higher; the rocks are of limestone, which forms, in many parts of the forests, romantic masses of rock, partly yellow, partly of a grey colour. The river was at this time nearly of the same colour as the Rhine, when clear. After passing the mouth of the Saline River, we reached, on the right, or Illinois bank, the long flat bank of rocks known by the name of Battery Rock.[109] This wall of rock, at the lower part of the bank, is marked with horizontal strata, or stripes, from sixty to eighty feet high, covered with whitish or bluish green and bright green lichens and mosses, rent by several ravines, and crowned with woods, and a small house or cottage on the very summit. From this place we saw, on the rocky banks, some red cedars here and there, from twenty to thirty feet in height. I observe, for the botanist, that this tree is not found except where the bank consists of rocks. After passing Cave-in-Rock Island, a long, wooded island, we glided past Cave-in-Rock,[110] a cavern which traverses from side to side a steep rock in Illinois, and has been drawn by Lesueur. The rocky wall, in which this well-known opening is situated, is marked with regular, narrow, yellowish grey or reddish strata of limestone, and is crowned with cedars and other trees. It is twenty-five miles below Shawneetown. Calcareous petrifactions, or rather impressions, are very numerous. Above the larger mouth of the cavern, towards the Ohio, is a smaller chamber, which is said to have formerly been the retreat of banditti and coiners. The rock is hard limestone, with sea shells and animal remains scattered in it, but no fossil bones have ever been found there.
Towards noon we reached Golconda Island, twenty and a half miles from Cave-in-Rock, 96 and then Golconda in Illinois, a small town, with a few white buildings, in which they were erecting a court-house, and which is the seat of the tribunals of Pope County. Near Sister Islands we met the Brunswick steamer, which had in tow two large flat boats, full of horses, which were being conveyed from Mount Vernon to New Orleans. The owners of the horses have to pay above 500 dollars for the voyage. Opposite Cumberland Island is the mouth of the Cumberland River, which comes from Kentucky, and falls into the Ohio, at an acute angle. This river is not so large as the Wabash. A small village, called Smithland, is built at the mouth, which reminded me of a little Brazilian villa, the houses, mostly one story high, lying in a row by the water-side.[111]
At this place the Paragon took in wood and provisions. Not far from Smithland is the mouth of the Tenessee River, which is said to be more considerable than the Cumberland, and to have a course of 1,200 miles. The little village, Paduca, on the left bank of the Ohio, appeared to have much traffic, and a number of new shops had been built. The Western Pilot of the year 1829 does not mention this place—a proof of its recent origin. From hence we came to the spot where Fort Massac formerly stood, stones of which are still found.[112] We lay to some hundred paces below to take in wood, of which our vessel consumed twelve cords daily. The grass on the banks was already of a bright green colour, and a race of large long-legged sheep were grazing on it. We lay to for the night.