19th. This was the Sabbath, but not much observed at Shawneetown, there being no place of public worship. The Methodists sometimes hold meetings in a private house, but they are not well attended. There was much drinking and fighting, nor was work wholly laid aside, as we saw several teams out.
20th. I sold our ark for 14 dollars, but gave our skiff in the bargain; the purchaser was going to New Orleans, with fruit and vegetables.
21st. We removed our luggage from the ark, to Mr. Hagan's keel-boat. Captain Hagan had been waiting for some salt from the Saline, but as it did not arrive he would not wait any longer for it; as the water kept falling, he was afraid he should not get up the Wabash if he staid much longer. They went off at three o'clock with our luggage, and a small quantity of salt. Mr. C. and my second son went {134} with them. They took some provisions with them. The rest of us took our dinner and supper at Mr. Hobson's hotel, and slept there. The next day we intended to commence our journey on foot towards the Prairies, although the news just received from thence was unfavourable, that of three deaths, the wife of an Irish gentleman, and two Englishmen. Report said, much sickness prevailed at the Prairies, but this we had heard all the way from Wheeling, of most of the places in advance of us; but, except at Shippingport and Shawneetown, we found none at any place we called at. We, therefore, concluded this might be the case at the Prairies; and, even should the report be correct, we should be no better off by remaining where we were, as many of the inhabitants at Shawneetown were ill.
22d. Having procured some directions from Mr. Hobson concerning our road, at ten o'clock we commenced our journey; we first went through some low rich land, {135} mostly woods. The country not much settled; after walking 10 miles, we stopped at a cabin, and procured some water to make us some tea; this we had brought with us. From this cabin the soil not so good, and but few habitations. On the right of the road there was a marsh; this, most probably, had formerly been the bed of the Wabash. The heat being very great, and the road close, my daughters were greatly fatigued, and their feet being very sore they nearly gave out. In the evening we reached Robinson's or Boon's Mill, otherwise Newhaven, 18 miles from Shawneetown. We found the people at the tavern too ill to take in travellers, but we procured a lodging at the mill. The master and mistress from home on account of ill health; some servants were left at home to take care of the house and business; however, we fared pretty well. Newhaven is situated on the Little, and three miles from the Great Wabash. There is a grist and saw mill, and another large one building, {136} but for what purpose I did not learn; a tavern, and three or four other houses, comprise the whole of the town. The situation is unhealthy, owing to the mills penning back the water so much as to make it stagnant, the land being low between Newhaven and the Great Wabash.
23d. We passed the Little Wabash on the mill dam, it was only a few inches wide on the top, but slanting two or three feet to the water on the upper side, and ten feet or more on the lower side to the water. The water was low, and I did not much like crossing a river, near 100 yards wide, on so narrow a bridge; besides, some of the top was broken away, and there we had to crawl on the slanting timber. But most of my family did not appear to be alarmed. We proceeded slowly, my daughters' feet being very tender. At noon we stopped at the Rev. Samuel Slacum's to dinner; here we met four English and Scotch gentlemen, who had left Shawneetown the afternoon before. After dinner {137} we proceeded with them to the Big Prairies, 12 miles from Newhaven. At the entrance of the Prairies we separated, there being too many of us to hope to be accommodated at one tavern; we procured a lodging at the house of Mr. Hamilton, in the middle of the Prairie. The Big Prairie is a fine-looking place; and as we had been travelling generally surrounded by woods, it looked pleasant to see an open plain, of several miles extent in each direction. Just as we reached Mr. Hamilton's, I found a small land tortoise of about five inches over; the shell was strong, and beautifully clouded. I had never seen one before, or heard there were any in America; but I have seen several since.
Mr. Hamilton had only Indian corn bread, and as we had not been accustomed to it, we did not relish it; but he gave us some good fresh pork, and we had every reason to speak well of our treatment. Mr. Hamilton did not keep a tavern or boarding-house, but only occasionally lodged {138} travellers. It is customary, when travelling in America, to get a lodging at the first house we come to in an evening, for which a charge, (generally a reasonable one,) is made. Mr. Hamilton informed me, this Prairie had been settled eight or nine years; that the soil was very fertile but unhealthy, being surrounded by ponds and swamps. Warm, but no musquetoes.
24th. We arose before day-light, intending to go some distance to breakfast, and to travel leisurely in the middle of the day. We went two miles, through the Prairie, and joined the company we had parted with the preceding evening, and proceeded to the house of Captain Phillips, eight miles to breakfast. Our road was chiefly through woods, and part of it lay through the Hurricane-track, that is where a strong wind, some years back, opened a passage through the woods for a mile in breadth, and some hundred of miles in length; I have heard, from the upper part of the state of Ohio, to the Mississippi river, or {139} beyond it. This Hurricane-track is a great harbour for wild animals and game, as it keeps a large tract of country unoccupied. But as the hunters generally set fire to the weeds, &c. in the autumn, many of the trees are burnt; but, in other places, they lie on each other, and mostly in one direction. Mr. Phillips is a native of Ireland, an officer in the American service, a distiller of whiskey, a farmer, and a cattle dealer. After breakfast our road lay through woods, the country not much cultivated, to Mr. Paine's tavern at Bonpas, a place of six or seven houses, a quarter of a mile from the Big Wabash. The land fertile, and the timber extremely fine near the Bonpas; but much of the land we had passed this day was of very middling quality. Walked 17 miles, the weather not so warm, and no mosquetoes. Here we were informed, that the three deaths we had heard of at the Prairies all proceeded from different causes, and not from any prevalent disorder raging there.
{140} The town of Bonpas not likely to thrive, at least at present, as Oxford is laid out about a mile from it, at the mouth of the Bonpas, on the banks of the Big Wabash; and thus it is better situated for the trade of the Wabash, and equally so for that of the country; for should the Prairies ever be fully settled, their spare produce must find a market by this river, and one of these towns is the only place they can get to it.
25th. After breakfast we went on towards the Prairies; after walking two miles we took the wrong road, being deceived by the marks on the trees, viz. three notches, the road to Palmyra being marked the same. We afterwards inquired and got into the right road; passing through the woods we found many dwarf hazles, with vast quantities of nuts on them; and we soon loaded ourselves with them. We called at a cabin, and there found the gentlemen who had been our companions for the last two days, but we left them there. Two {141} of them are since settled in the English Prairie. About half a mile from the cabin we passed a small Prairie, and soon entered the woods again, and then some barrens. A barren is land nearly destitute of timber, but much overrun with scrubby underwood. A great deal of the land we had passed from Bonpas was good, and some of the timber very fine: I thought these barrens a poor sample of the country. After passing these barrens for more than a mile, we got sight of the Prairies. We first entered the long Prairie, and crossed one corner of it; then passed a small strip of timber, and then entered the English Prairie towards the east corner. Here we had a fine view towards the south-west and north-west, and it was extremely pleasant to see so much open land, with a few trees scattered over it. As we advanced, we saw some men making hay for Mr. Flowers, of Albion; the grass was coarse, and very ripe. We saw some large hay-ricks made in the English manner. Mr. Flowers's {142} flock, of more than 200 hundred sheep, were feeding near the road. I went and looked at them; they were poor and coarse, of different sorts, having been collected from the several places, and on the whole an indifferent flock. We saw the houses of Mr. Flowers and Mr. Birkbeck, and we entered the enclosures of the latter, about a mile from his house. There was a good deal of his land fenced in, but a piece of fallow, of upwards of 20 acres, was all I saw of cultivation. It was towards evening when we reached Mr. Birkbeck's house; we met with a friendly reception from him and his family; we supped with them, and slept at a cabin near.
Having arrived at the end of our journey, I have ceased to keep a regular journal.