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Show TRAVELS THROUGH NORTil A 1ERIC with the c·ty, will mofl: prol>:1bly b ctermined by other circnmJl.anccs than that of ditlancc alone; it may dt: Jcnd upon the demand there may be at one cr t1 cr port f, r particu Llr articles, &c. &c. ; it m~ Y alfo d.cp nd upon thc: fcafon; for at regular periods there ar~ floods ~ n the Miff11lippi, :~ncl alCo in the Ohio, which m:Jl c a great ddfcrcnce 111 the tine of af cndi1 g and defcending thcfc rivers. The floods 111 the l\Iifliflippi arc 0 ccall.o1 ed by the diilolution of the immenle bodies of fnow allli ice accumulated during wint r in thofc northern re o-ions throu h \\hich the river pafics; they are alfo very regnlar, beginning in the month of March and fubfiding in July. Thofe in the Ohio take place between briflmas and May; but they arc not regular a d fle:-~dy like thofc of t1 e Mifi1ffippi, for the water rifcs and falls many times in the courfc of the fcafon. Thefe floods arc occafioncd by heavy falls of rain in the bcginnning of winter, as well as by the thawing o · the icc. The Miffiffippi has a very winding courfe *·, :tnd at every bend thcr is an cd ly in the water. Thdc cddi ' S arc alway fl:rongcfi. during the inundation , conf<.:qucntly it is then a much 1 fs ditticult tafk to afccnd the river. With the Ohio, however, it is directly the revcrfe; there arc no eddies in the river; wherefore floods arc found to facilitate the paii:gc. downwards, but to n.:nder that againfl: the flrcam difl1cult. SuppoGng, however, the fcafon favourable for the navigation of the Miff,fTippi, and alfo for the navigation of the Ohio, which it might well be at the n11ne time, then Lonifvillc, it Kentucky, is the place through which tht: line may be de wn that will feparatc :ts nearly as po{li.blc the CO~t~t:-y naturally connected with Wafhington from that appertaining . to ·pc,~ 0 . It · takes twenty days, on an average, at the moD: favourable feafon, to go from Louifvillc to New Orleans, and to return, • In the year 1721., as a party of Canadians land for curiofity-The foil bordering upon the 1 wetr go:ng down the river, they found at one Miffiflippi is rcmatbbly rich :md foft, and the p!.tce (uch ., bend in it, that although the diflance current being flrong, the river in a fhort time acrofs l.tnd, f.·om one part of the liver to the forc ed a new paflitg<: f(>r itfdf, and the Canaothcr, w.1s not more perhaps than two hundred dians took their boat through it. This place is y~rd s , ~'·.t by, wat~r it was no lcfs than forty called .Pointe _Coupcc. There arc many fimilar nlllc>-1 he Canadians cut a tn:nch acrofs the bcnd.s mthc nvcr at prcfcnt, but none fo great. forty 3 P R013Al3LE TRADE OF vVASlTING 'ON. 45 forty; \ •hie 1 in the wh lc m ~d:es fixty days. From the rapiJs in the Ohio, cloL to w 1ich Louifvillc is J1tuatc 1, to Pitdbm"h, the Jiibnce j-; ieven hnndrcd :1lld three miles; fo thlt ~lt th..: rat-: ( r thir.; miles a. day, which is a moderate computation, .it would rc<ptirc t vcnty-four days to go tht:rl'. I• rom Pittihurgh to th' J>.ltOI?In:tc the difLtncc is one hundred and fi.,ty miles arrainfl: the i1: re~111, w 11ich ·1t the fame rate, and :t1lowi11g time for the portages, woulJ t tke k vcJt d tys I•10rc, and two hundrccl and ninety n.iks down the P .tto\ 1ac, at fixty n ilcs per day, would rL 1uirc five d.ty : thi; i·; allo\\in·~ thirty-five d1ys for goi1w, and con r Jting th' timt: for n .. l't rnillf.; at the Jame l .tt ·, tlut is thirty miles againfl: the ihcam, an l 1i ·ty miles with th<.: {helm, each d.ty, i. would arnounl to twcr:ty-.fi.vc d.1ys, which, added to th-.; ti111e oC !!Oinrr make.)' l..J ~ ' in the whole fifty-ni.tc cl•ys ; if the odd tl:ty be at < ved fo r ontingcn-cies, the pa1Iu~e to a.,d fro.n the two p :1.ccs wo dJ then b< ·.·aC.l:ly ald<c. It is fJir th n to cone utL:, th .1t if th dctnan l at the f,~c.l<.:ral Lity f<>r count-y pro 'uce b~ c ptally g reat as at ~ \:w Orkan3, an1 th ' n.: is no r ·afon to f.ty why it fhould not, t 1c \\' wle [ t ,le produc-.; of that country, which he ontic,uons to th Ohio, and tl1c ri .crs (tllinrr 0 into it, a far down as Loui1.vill i:1 Kcntucl y, will be fcnt to t 1~ former of th..:fe pla es. T his trat1: i~ ft:vcn hund.cd 11 ilcs in length, and from one hundred o two hut1dred miles · n brca 'Lh. Added to this, the whole of that country lying ncar the A ·lcg 1any Piver, and the flrcam that run into it, n ufl: natura ly be fu pplicd from the city; a grca part of the country bordering upon Lake E ric, ncar Prcfqu' lOe, may likcwi[e be included. 'onfidering the vaflnc (s of the territory, whi h ·s thus opened to the federal city by mea ns of a water conHnunication ; confidcring that it i C'pablc, fron . the fcrti Lty of i s {; i , of main ai11irw tl rc.c times the number of inhabitants th.lt : rl.! to b..: found at prdcnt mall the United States; and that it is ad an ing at· the prdcnt time more rapidly in popnl.ttion han any o t:h·r part t · the whole CL• tinent; there is 1 good fonndation for thin!·tng that tl H~ fcd..:ra l city, ,\s foon as the nav1gation is perf; c ~.:d, will jncr -. t!\; moil rapidly; and th,u at a future day, tf the aff.1irs of the United Staws go 011 a profpcroully ~1s they have done, it will |
