Sixth Day's Instruction.
UNITED STATES CONTINUED.
Narrative of an Expedition from Pittsburg into the Illinois territory. From Notes on a
Journey in America, by Morris Birkbeck.
Leaving Mr. Fearon at Pittsburgh, we will thence accompany Mr. Birkbeck on his tour into the western settlements of the United States. About the end of May, 1817, this gentleman and his family, consisting of nine persons, five male and four female, arrived at Pittsburgh; and, on the 5th of June, well mounted, and well furnished with saddle-bags and blankets, they set out on their journey westward, in search of a place where they might form an advantageous settlement. Each person had a blanket under his saddle, another upon it, and a pair of saddle-bags, with a great coat and an umbrella strapped behind.
In this manner, says Mr. Birkbeck, even women, and those of advanced age, often take long journeys without inconvenience. The day before he left Pittsburgh, he was told of a lady who was coming from Tenessee to Pittsburgh, twelve hundred miles; and, although she had with her an infant, she preferred travelling on horseback to boating up the river.
Seventeen miles of the ride from Pittsburgh on to Cannonsburg, was chiefly over clayey hills, well adapted for grass; but, in the present circumstances of the country, too stiff for profitable cultivation under the plough. From Cannonsburg to Washington, in Pennsylvania, eight miles, is a very desirable tract, containing much excellent land, with fine meadows.
Washington is a pretty, thriving town, which contains about two thousand five hundred inhabitants. It has a college, with about a hundred students; but, from the dirty condition of the schools, and the loitering habits of the young men, Mr. Birkbeck suspected it to be an ill-regulated institution.
From Washington, Mr. Birkbeck and his family proceeded still westward, and, on entering the State of Ohio, they found themselves in a country beautiful and fertile, and affording, to a plain, industrious, and thriving population, all that nature has decreed for the comfort of man. It contains rich land, good water, wholesome air; limestone, coal, mills, and navigation. It is also fully appropriated, and thickly settled; and land is worth from twenty to thirty dollars per acre: an advance of a thousand per cent. in about ten years!
A heavy fall of wet had rendered the roads muddy and unpleasant. On the 10th of June, the party arrived at Wheeling, a considerable but mean-looking town, of inns and stores, on the banks of the Ohio. Here they baited their horses, and took a repast of bread and milk. At this place the Ohio is divided into two channels, of five hundred yards each, by an island of three hundred acres.