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Show .. 25G EMIGRAN'l''S GUlDE. stream, as has been noticed. At a di stance of ict~ .or hvclve t:'iles from the Ch stnut ri dge, tbe Monongt-thcJa, ~fte r recc J~mg Chefl~ n~er, pursues a north course of about se.venty miles, fi">!lowmg the ~wmJmgs of the str am to its junction with the Youghwgheny. '1 he .latt.er river is the longest and largest branch of the .Mon o nF~hc l ~, hav~n g 1ts source lwarly as far south as that of Cheat n ve r. l be Y ou~hrogheny rises in 1\la ry lnnd, between .the head streams o~ the n o~· t h bra.ncb of Potomac ::md those of Cheat nver,-flows nor1h, ftfly or s1x ty miles, (•nters Pennsylvania, anJ continuing north along the valley be tw.een Alegha ny mount~dR and Chestnut r idge, rece ives a large lmmch from the neil)"bbot~rllOod of the town of Somerse t, then tums northwe~t, pas es Chestnut ridge by Ohiopyle. falls~ and ~on t. inu ing that course ::;ixty or ~ v .nty miles, fo rms a JllllC~ron wrt~ tl Mon~mg ahela, eighteen miles by water auove t 1e crty ?f P1ttshur g. Below the mouth of Youghiogheuy, tbe M.o wngabela Js a gentle current, about 480 yards wide. . Comparing the two rivers t?gethcr, th~ Aleghany 1s no. doubt t?e main br nch ; at the junction, Its current rs much tr.ore raprd t?a~l 1ts Ji val. The physiognomy of the two rivers are also very cltstmct. The wattr of tltc Monongahela i turbid, of a brown colour·; tha t of the Alevbany extremely I impid and pure. . Though derivirw, perhaps, two- thirds of its water from the Alegh:.t- 11Y, the Ohio evidently pre~erves the features of the M.onongahela river. Tile junctiou of these two streams, and .the pecuk~r range. of their respective sources, render Pittslmr~ one ot the ~1ost mterestm~ position in the interior •of ~ ort_h Amen~a.-?t r e~ch m g through four degrees of latitude, and flowmg m opposrte dnect10ns, the Alegbany and 1.\'lonotwahela open lil~c two immense arms to en?;rasp the cumI 1erce of th~ whole of West-Pennsylvania, part of Virginia, Mary Inn~, ~~ 1d ew-York. They do so in fact, and since the beginning oft~liS entnry, Pittsburg hJs become~ from an incowiderable viilage , .a c1ty nmtainincr from twelve to 15,000 inhabitants, and couce ntr a tm ~.an irn to nse ~commercial and manufacturing capital , the detail of wh1ch 'ril l be givE>n under the article t.owns. L ittle J( cnhawa, rises west of the Chestnut ridge, or more correctly, Cumbcrl:md n1ountain; it is a stream of no conside ral.Jie consequence, ialli ng into the Otlio at Parkersburg. How far this st ream could b,c J<;nd rcu s uL~en i nt to form a connexion between the east anJ we~l ~ · e of the AI' ' huny lllOtllltains, has never been shown uy any publiC tl·, t·un ent that lr· :) re acbc~d our hand . Urei.Lt 1\t:nhti/i:~a, is a ltnge, and from its position, :1 very important 1 :\ er. A rcrr ark ~ ule re~etnblance exists in the physical structure of 1hc ( c hen' a and th at of the Ohio ; though the former is on a much ~ rn~d er sc ale than tbc latte r. T lte Gre~ ( r Cl bawa is formed by two branches, the Kenhawa p101Pr, and Green · hri ar ri\·er. . , 'h Keul1awa ris0s ill North Carolina ::1t 36° north latitude. 1 1 e sources of this 1 ivcr are t~ciu aU y f'ast of the Aleghany mountain. ts cour~c is first nearly nortl, passinv the nJOunt81ns into the AI gbaJ~Y valiey ouliqndy. Ncar Ashe court-bouse, this ti ver nssur.nes t e range of the latler valley, and, at a distance of about forty miles, en· • • EMIGRANT'S GUIDE. 257 ters Virgihia, and continuing sixty miles northeast to Inglisvi11e, there tums northwest by north, passes the Alegbany mountains, and enters • Cumberland vaJ1ey, over which it meanders about seventy miles, and receives from the northeast Green Briar river. The latter river rises in Cumberland, or Green Briar valley, and flows southwest by west in all its length of about one hundred miles. Jackson's river, the northwest branch of James's river, approaches to within a very ~hort distance of Green Briar river; the two streams indeed flow nearly parallel to each other, having only the Aleghany mour1tain be ~ tween them, and what is remarkable, Jackson river as~umes its direct course towards the Chesapeake Bay, nearly opposite to the great bend of Kenhawa, the two rivers flowing in nearly the same line, though in contrary directions. Below its junction with Green Briar the 'Great Kenbawa flows northwe~t forty or fifty miles, passes Cumberland mountain by con! iderable falls ; below which the stream, upwards of three hundrod yards wide, pursues nearly a north course of one hundred miles, falls into the Ohio at Point Pleasant 38° 55' north latitude. Elk river rises near the 50tHces of the Monongahela and Little Kenhawa, and flowing ~outhwest by west one hundred miles, joins the Great Kenhawa at Charleston. From its geographical position, no branch of the Ohio is so favoura· bly situated as the Great Kenhawa to become part of the channel of connexion between the Atlantic Ocean and the basin of Ohio. None of the rivets whose sources are dr4wn from the Aleghany valleys, are more navigable, with the exception of the falls in passing the mountains. In tha various projects for uniting the two great parts of our country, this stream has arrested great attention.-(See articles ca~ nals, and also .!lppendix No. X.) · Great Sandy river forms the boundary between Virginia and Kentucky ; it is about one hundred and thirty miles in length, rising in Cumberland mountain. One half the course of this river is naviga~ ble for batteaux of considerable burden. It is upon the Great Sandy that the reed cane ( arundo gigantea) is first found in large quantities advancing from north to south ; this grass is found, though in less quantity, on the Great Kenhawa. • Cities,-towns,-productions,-proposed canals.-PlTTSBURG is m every respect the principal town, not only of the Ohio valley, but, New-Orleans except6d, of the whole waters of the Miss issippi. It was created a city by the legislature of Pennsylvania, at the session of 1815-16. · Travellers ~re almost always di!appointed on entering this city ; there is but one point of approach that affords a gooJ view of the place; that is the ;Jpex of the coal hill, io the road from 'Yashingtou m Pennsylvania. The city is built upon the pellinsula between the Aleghany anu lVIonon·gahela rivers; the grounJ plan is neatly in form of a tri angle. The bottom upon ' hicb the town of Pittsburg was originally laid out, is now nearly filled with hou es ; a sub urb hail baen laid out upGn the Aleghany called the northern liberties, and another upon the .Monongahela. The former, from the width of th~ hettom from the riYer to the hill, and frotu tbe circu mstance af the 33 |
