OCR Text |
Show OHIO CANAL-EUROPEAN EMIGRANTS----CINCINNATI. 69 with Big Sandy Creek, then Hanging Rock, a small village, where most of the iron utensils for the whole of Ohio are shipped. The situation of the place is picturesque, surrounded with forests and rocks. On the left, or Kentucky bank, we passed Greenupsburg, a row of seventeen or eighteen small houses, on the high bank. The inhabitants, in order to attract the notice of the vessels that pass by to their public-houses, stores, or shops, have set up posts, with boards painted white, on which their trade, &c, is described in very large letters. The beech woods on this part of the river were remarkably fine, their foliage green and yellow. On our right hand was the little Scioto River; we then came to the village of Portsmouth, at the mouth of the Scioto River, on the Ohio bank, where the celebrated Ohio Canal begins, which connects that river with lake Erie. At this place we took on board a number of European emigrants, among whom were many Germans, with their baggage, beds, and other effects, and many children. The negroes brought provisions for sale ; one of them had a number of fowls, all of which escaped, and caused no little amusement. From this place, fine forests covered the bank, in which were tall poplars (Populus Angulata, or Canadensis), which I had not before observed. Here, too, I noticed some interesting forms of mountains, which in general are very rare in this country. Most of the summits are round, some broad, but very few pointed. Towards evening we came to the village of Rockville, on the right bank, which was not marked on our map, and lay to, at nightfall, when we learned that our vessel had caught fire, but happily it was already extinguished. On the bank near the steam-boat, a large fire was burning, the reflection of which, on the dark forest, had a fine effect, and so had the steamers that hastened past us, which were brightly lighted up inside, and emitted sparks of fire as they rushed along in the dark night. On the 13th, at daybreak, the landscape was obscured by rain. We had passed, during the night, Adamsville, Manchester, Aberdeen, Ripley, Vanceburg, Maysville, and Augusta, and were now off the village of Neville, where the Helen Mar steam-boat lay near us, to take in wood. We then came to Moscow, then to Point Pleasant, and on the right bank to New Richmond. Near the little Miami River, six miles from Cincinnati, the Ohio was so shallow, that we saw the shells at the bottom, and our boat struck several times. The Miami River was nearly dry. At Columbia, in the state of Ohio, the valley becomes rather wider, but the hills soon close in again upon the river, and we come to the beginning of the great town of Cincinnati. Cincinnati, the most important and flourishing town of the West, with more than 36,000 inhabitants, was at this time visited by the cholera, which, as we were assured by a physician who came to our vessel, carried off, on an average, forty persons daily. I therefore resolved not to stop now, but to visit this town on my return; our baggage was transferred to the Portsmouth steamer, which was just about to depart; and at noon we reached the mouth of Big Miami River. On the 14th of October, we had pleasant sunshiny weather. The river had become considerably broader, when we came to Six-miles Island, a beautiful island six miles from Louisville. ¦ |