On the following day I received a visit from one of the German patriots who had entered the society, of the name of Schmidt, who wished to have been considered as first lieutenant in the Prussian artillery, at Erfurt. He appeared to have engaged in one of the political conspiracies there, and to have deserted. Mr. Owen brought him from England last autumn as a servant. He was now a member of the society, and had charge of the cattle. His fine visions of freedom seemed to be very much lowered, for he presented himself to me, and his father to Mr. Huygens, to be employed as servants.
Towards evening, an Englishman, a friend of Mr. Owen, Mr. Applegarth, arrived, who had presided over the school in New Lanark, and was to organize one here in all probability. After dinner I went to walk with him in the vineyard and woods. We conversed much concerning the new system, and the consequences which he had reason to expect would result, &c. and we discovered amongst other things, that Mr. Owen must have conceived the rough features of his general system from considering forced services or statutory labour; for the labour imposed upon persons for which they receive no compensation, would apply and operate much more upon them for their lodging, clothing, food, the education and care of their children, &c. so that they would consider their labour in the light of a corvee. We observed several labourers employed in loading bricks upon a cart, and they performed this so tedious and disagreeable task, as a statutory labour imposed on them by circ.u.mstances, and this observation led us to the above reflection. I afterwards visited Mr.
M"Clure, and entertained myself for an hour with the instructive conversation of this interesting old gentleman. Madam Fretageot, who appears to have considerable influence over Mr. M"Clure, took an animated share in our discourse. In the evening there was a ball in the large a.s.sembly room, at which most of the members were present. It lasted only until ten o"clock, in dancing cotillions, and closed with a grand promenade, as before described. There was a particular place marked off by benches for the children to dance in, in the centre of the hall, where they could gambol about without running between the legs of the grown persons.
On the 19th of April, a steam-boat came down the Wabash, bound for Louisville on the Ohio. It stopt opposite Harmony, and sent a boat through the overflow of water to receive pa.s.sengers. I was at first disposed to embrace the opportunity of leaving this place, but as I heard that the boat was none of the best, I determined rather to remain and go by land to Mount Vernon, to wait for a better steam-boat there.
We took a walk to the community, No. 3. The work on the house had made but little progress; we found but one workman there, and he was sleeping quite at his ease. This circ.u.mstance recalled the observation before mentioned, concerning gratis-labour, to my mind. We advanced beyond into the woods, commencing behind No. 3: there was still little verdure to be seen.
On the succeeding day, I intended to leave New Harmony early; but as it was impossible to procure a carriage, I was obliged to content myself.
I walked to the community No. 2, or Macluria, and farther into the woods. They were employed in hewing down trees to build log houses. The wood used in the brick and frame houses here is of the tulip tree, which is abundant, worked easily, and lasts long. After dinner I walked with Mr. Owen and Madam Fretageot, to community No. 3. There a new vegetable garden was opened; farther on they were employed in preparing a field in which Indian corn was to be sown. This answers the best purpose here, as the soil is too rich for wheat; the stalks grow too long, the heads contain too few grains, and the stalks on account of their length soon break down, so that the crop is not very productive. The chief complaint here is on account of the too great luxuriancy of the soil. The trees are all very large, shoot up quickly to a great height, but have so few, and such weak roots, that they are easily prostrated by a violent storm; they also rot very easily, and I met with a great number of hollow trees, in proportion. I saw them sow maize or Indian corn, for the first time. There were furrows drawn diagonally across the field with the plough, each at a distance of two feet from the other; then other furrows at the same distance apart, at right angles with the first.
A person goes behind the plough with a bag of corn, and in each crossing of the furrows he drops six grains. Another person with a shovel follows, and covers these grains with earth. When the young plants are half a foot high, they are ploughed between and the earth thrown up on both sides of the plants; and when they are two feet high this operation is repeated, to give them more firmness and to destroy the weeds. There is a want of experienced farmers here; the furrows were badly made, and the whole was attended to rather too much _en amateur_.
After we returned to Madam Fretageot"s, Mr. Owen showed me two interesting objects of his invention; one of them consisted of cubes of different sizes, representing the different cla.s.ses of the British population in the year 1811, and showed what a powerful burden rested on the labouring cla.s.s, and how desirable an equal division of property would be in that kingdom. The other was a plate, according to which, as Mr. Owen a.s.serted, each child could be shown his capabilities, and upon which, after a mature self-examination, he can himself discover what progress he has made. The plate has this superscription: scale of human faculties and qualities at birth. It has ten scales with the following t.i.tles: from the left to the right, self-attachment; affections; judgment; imagination; memory; reflection; perception; excitability; courage; strength. Each scale is divided into one hundred parts, which are marked from five to five. A slide that can be moved up or down, shows the measure of the qualities therein specified each one possesses, or believes himself to possess.
I add but a few remarks more. Mr. Owen considers it as an absurdity to promise never-ending love on marriage. For this reason he has introduced the civil contract of marriage, after the manner of the Quakers, and the French laws into his community, and declares that the bond of matrimony is in no way indissoluble. The children indeed, cause no impediment in case of a separation, for they belong to the community from their second year, and are all brought up together.
Mr. M"Clure has shown himself a great adherent of the Pestalozzian system of education. He had cultivated Pestalozzi"s acquaintance while upon his travels, and upon this recommendation brought Mr. Neef with him to Philadelphia, to carry this system into operation. At first it appeared to succeed perfectly, soon however, Mr. Neef found so many opposers, apparently on account of his anti-religious principles, that he gave up the business, and settled himself on a farm in the woods of Kentucky. He had just abandoned the farm to take the head of a boarding-school, which Mr. M"Clure intended to establish in New Harmony.
Mr. Jennings, formerly mentioned, was likewise to co-operate in this school; his reserved and haughty character was ill suited for such a situation, and Messrs. Owen and M"Clure willingly consented to his withdrawing, as he would have done the boarding-school more injury, from the bad reputation in which he stood, than he could have a.s.sisted it by his acquirements. An Englishman by birth, he was brought up for a military life; this he had forsaken to devote himself to clerical pursuits, had arrived in the United States as a Universalist preacher, and had been received with much attention in that capacity in Cincinnati, till he abandoned himself with enthusiasm to the _new social system_, and made himself openly and publicly known as an ATHEIST.[II-21]
[Footnote II-21: [He is at this time advertising a boarding-school in the Western country, on his own account, which is to be under his immediate superintendence!]--TRANS.]
I pa.s.sed the evening with the amiable Mr. M"Clure, and Madam Fretageot, and became acquainted through them, with a French artist, Mons. Lesueur, calling himself uncle of Miss Virginia, as also a Dutch physician from Herzogenbusch, Dr. Troost, an eminent naturalist. Both are members of the community, and have just arrived from a scientific pedestrian tour to Illinois and the southern part of Missouri, where they have examined the iron, and particularly the lead-mine works, as well as the peculiarities of the different mountains. Mr. Lesueur has besides discovered several species of fish, as yet undescribed. He was there too early in the season to catch many snakes. Both gentlemen had together collected thirteen chests of natural curiosities, which are expected here immediately. Mr. Lesueur accompanied the naturalist Perron, as draftsman in his tour to New South Wales, under Captain Baudin, and possessed all the illuminated designs of the animals which were discovered for the first time on this voyage, upon vellum. This collection is unique of its kind, either as regards the interest of the objects represented, or in respect to their execution; and I account myself fortunate to have seen them through Mr. Lesueur"s politeness. He showed me also the sketches he made while on his last pedestrian tour, as well as those during the voyage of several members of the society to Mount Vernon, down the Ohio from Pittsburgh. On this voyage, the society had many difficulties to contend with, and were obliged often to cut a path for the boat through the ice. The sketches exhibit the originality of talent of the artist. He had come with Mr. M"Clure in 1815, from France to Philadelphia, where he devoted himself to the arts and sciences. Whether he will remain long in this society or not, I cannot venture to decide.[II-22]
[Footnote II-22: [He has left it some time since, as well as Dr.
Troost.]--TRANS.]
CHAPTER XXII.
_Travels to Louisville, and Stay in that City._
On the 21st of April, we left New Harmony, after taking a cordial leave of Mr. Owen, and availed ourselves of the mail stage, which leaves here once a week for Mount Vernon, to make this pa.s.sage. Besides our company, there was only a single traveller in the stage, a Mr. Riley, from Cincinnati, and a native of Ireland. One mile from New Harmony, we were forced to alight from the carriage, as the horses would not draw us up a steep hill. One-half mile farther, we got out again on account of a similar dilemma, and we had hardly done so, when it was overturned by the unskilfulness of the driver. We unloaded our baggage, left it under the care of Bottner, my servant, permitted the driver to his chagrin and mortification to go on alone, and returned back on foot to New Harmony, to look about for another method of conveyance. I paid a visit to Messrs. M"Clure, Lesueur, &c. They told me that about ten o"clock a cart under the direction of a Mr. Johnson would leave this place for Mount Vernon, in which our baggage would find a place. As to our own conveyance, I saw plainly that it would be the wiser plan to confide mine to my own trustworthy legs. I a.s.sumed therefore the pilgrim"s staff, left my slower moving travelling companions something behind, and accomplished the sixteen miles to Mount Vernon, over a very hilly road, in five hours.
I did not pa.s.s through Springfield, saw only two solitary log-houses, and encountered but few people. The herbage had advanced very much during a week; many trees were in blossom, and the young green leaves, particularly those of the tulip trees, produced a very pleasing effect.
I pa.s.sed by many sugar-maples, which were perforated, to draw the sugar juice from them. When the trees are completely in leaf, the natural scenery of these forests, of which the ground is very hilly, must be extremely beautiful, especially to the eyes of a northern European, who is not accustomed to the grandeur of the colossal sycamores, tulip trees and maples. In noticing these trees, I may add the remark that Mr. Rapp had planted the Lombardy poplar in the streets of New Harmony; that these poplars had succeeded very well at first, but when their roots struck a stratum of reddish sand lying under the good fertile soil, they died. Mr. Rapp then subst.i.tuted mulberry trees, which have thriven well, and Mr. Owen has it in design, to make an experiment in raising silk-worms.
I reached Mount Vernon, tolerably fatigued, about three o"clock, P. M.
I met Dr. Clark again. Mr. Huygens and Mr. Riley made their appearance after some time. Towards evening the expected cart arrived, but without Bottner and my baggage. The carter said in his own excuse, that they had given him so much freight in New Harmony, that his horses could hardly draw it, and that there was no room left for my effects. After having made a survey of the localities in person, I was obliged to admit the cogency of his reasons, in spite of my vexation; and of course to find a remedy in patience.
In this state of affairs, I solaced myself with Major Dunn"s society.
He and his countryman Riley, belonged to the better cla.s.s of Irish, and possessed a good deal of shrewdness, so that the time pa.s.sed very pleasantly. In the evening we went to the court-house, to hear a Presbyterian preacher, travelling from the eastern states. He was quite a young man, of the name of Stewart, whom I had met in New Harmony; he had, however, only looked about, without announcing himself as a clergyman, probably from his knowing the anti-religious opinions prevailing there. In the little new settled places of the western states, they do not build churches before houses, as is the practice in the north-eastern section, but a dwelling and clearing of land is their first object. Nevertheless, divine service is not lacking; for many clergymen, who are not located, seek after a situation; in so doing are accustomed to preach, where they can be heard. In most of the public houses, and ferry-boats, no pay is required from these clergymen, and thus they can take pretty long journies, the descriptions of which are often published, at a very cheap rate. From the want of a church in Mount Vernon, the meeting was held in the court-house. It was a temporary log-house, which formed but one room. The chimney fire, and two tallow candles formed the whole illumination of it, and the seats were constructed of some blocks and boards, upon which upwards of twenty people sat. The singing was conducted by a couple of old folks, with rather discordant voices. The preacher then rose, and delivered us a sermon. I could not follow his discourse well, and was very much fatigued by my day"s walk. In his prayer, however, the minister alluded to those who despise the word of the Lord, and prayed for their conviction and conversion. This hint was evidently aimed at the community in New Harmony and the new social system. In the sermon there was no such allusion. Probably the discourse was one of those, which he knew by heart; which he delivered in various places, and admitted of no interpolations. The service lasted till ten o"clock at night.
Unluckily for me, my port-folio also remained behind among my other baggage. I suffered therefore, the whole forenoon of the next day the most excessive tedium, and was obliged to remain in n.o.ble idleness.
I went to walk in the woods, gaped about at the pretty flowers, and the amazing variety of b.u.t.terflies; came back, seated myself in Mr. Dunn"s store, and viewed the steam-boats going down the river. At length in the afternoon, Bottner arrived, with my baggage in a one-horse cart, splashed all over with mud, as he had been obliged to lead the restive horse all the way by the bridle. The poor fellow bivouacked in the woods yesterday, from one o"clock in the morning till four in the evening, when by chance the shepherds of New Harmony pa.s.sed by, and gave Mr. Owen an account of Bottner"s situation, upon which old Dr. M"Namee had come out with his one-horse vehicle, and brought back the baggage and its guard. By Mr. Owen"s kindness, the cart was on this day sent on, with my effects.
Now my earnest desire was to get away as quickly as possible. To be sure, the splendid view of the Ohio and its banks by the light of the moon, regaled me in the evening; but the residence in this place was too inhospitable and uninteresting; besides I suffered the whole afternoon and evening with tooth-ache, and symptoms of fever. But how were we to get away? During the night a steam-boat pa.s.sed, going up the river, but she kept to the left bank where the deepest water was, and took no notice of Mount Vernon. About nine o"clock on the 23d of April, another steam-boat, the General Wayne, came up, bound in the same direction.
A flag was hoisted, to give notice that pa.s.sengers wished to come on board, we waved our handkerchiefs, but the vessel did not regard us, and pa.s.sed on. To kill time, I went with Mr. Riley to Major Dunn"s store, where we told stories about steam-boats to keep off ennui as well as we could, but in vain. In the evening I heard much concerning Rapp"s society, from a German mechanic, who had belonged to it, and who had left it as he said, because Rapp refused to let him have the inheritance of his father-in-law. We heard psalmody in the court-house, for the religious inhabitants of the place, mostly methodists, hold Sunday evening prayer meetings without a clergyman. The day was upon the whole quite warm, and towards evening we had to contend with numbers of mosquetoes. To prevent in some measure their coming from the woods, where they harboured, fires were kindled about the place, and likewise before the houses. The situation here must be an unhealthy one, for not only was I annoyed during the night with head-ache and fever, but Messrs. Huygens, Riley, and Johnson, complained of being unwell. With the exception of some miserable, filthy lodgings in Canada, I do not recollect in any part of the United States, even among the Creek Indians, to have found myself so wretchedly situated in every respect, as here. The food, furnished in small quant.i.ty as it was, was hardly fit to be eaten; the only beverage was water, which it was necessary to mix with ordinary whiskey; the beds very bad; and the whole house in a state of the most revolting filthiness.
On the morning of the 24th of April, came the hour of our deliverance.
The steam-boat General Neville came up the river after seven o"clock.
We dispatched a boat to tell them that several _cabin pa.s.sengers_ waited for them in Mount Vernon. Immediately the vessel steered for our sh.o.r.e, and took us in.
We were extremely rejoiced at our escape from this disagreeable place.
The boat had come from St. Louis, and was bound for Louisville. She was but small, containing sixteen births in her cabin, and had a high-pressure engine. Luckily, however, we found but three cabin pa.s.sengers on board. We started immediately, and the banks of the river here and there low and subject to inundation, gratified us very much by the fresh green of the trees. We pa.s.sed by some considerable islands.
One of them, Diamond Island, is about three miles and a half long and above a mile broad, and must contain several thousand acres of excellent land. Afterwards we saw upon the left bank, here pretty high, the little town of Henderson, in Kentucky. Eleven miles and a half higher, we saw Evansville upon an eminence on the right sh.o.r.e, still an inconsiderable place, but busy; it being the princ.i.p.al place in the county of Vandeburg, in the state of Indiana, lying in the neighbourhood of a body of fertile land, and is a convenient landing place for emigrants, who go to the Wabash country. Upon the same sh.o.r.e are seen several dwellings upon the fresh turf, shaded by high green trees. Close below Evansville, a small river called Big Pigeon creek falls into the Ohio. In its mouth we saw several flat boats, with apparatus similar to pile-driving machines. These vessels belong to a contractor, who has entered into an engagement with the government, to make the Ohio free and clear of the snags and sawyers lying in its current. This work was discharged in a negligent manner, and the officer to whom the superintendence was committed, is censured for having suffered himself to be imposed upon.
I remembered having seen models in the patent-office at Washington, of machines which were intended to effect this purpose. Seven miles and a half higher up, Green river unites itself to the Ohio on the left bank.
Of this the Western Navigator says: "that it is a considerable river in Kentucky, navigable about two hundred miles, and rises in Lincoln county." On board our boat we did not find ourselves comfortable, either in respect to lodging, or the table. All was small and confined, and in the evening we were much annoyed by the mosquetoes. My mosqueto bar, purchased in New Orleans, a.s.sisted me very much as a defence during the night.
During the night, we stopped several times to take in wood, and once to repair the engine. An overhanging tree, which we approached too nearly, gave us a powerful blow, and did much damage to the upper part of the vessel. I had no state room, and therefore obtained no sleep during the constant uproar. The banks became constantly higher, and more picturesque in their appearance. They were frequently rocky: in several rocks we observed cavities, which with the houses built in front of them, produced a pleasing effect. Upon the right bank, was a little place called Troy; several settlements, composed of frame houses, instead of logs. Towards evening we saw upon the left bank, the mouth of a little stream, Sinking creek. Upon the right sh.o.r.e of this creek, is a group of houses called Rome, and on the left a little place, named Stevensport; both places are united by a wooden bridge, resting upon one high pier. I spent nearly the whole day on deck, to regale myself with the beautiful landscapes surrounding us. Between several turns of the river the country is so shut in, that one would suppose himself sailing on a lake. The agreeable sensations caused by the beautiful country, and the mild spring temperature which surrounded me, upon the whole compensated for many of our privations. We indeed were in want of every thing but absolute necessaries. I met an acquaintance indeed; one of our fellow travellers who had formerly been a clerk of the English North West Company, and had remained three years at the posts of the company in the Rocky Mountains, and on the Columbia river; but this person had acquired so many of the habits of the savages, that his company was in no wise an acquisition. I was also, as well as all the other gentlemen who had been in that unlucky Mount Vernon, tormented with constant pains in the limbs, and our coa.r.s.e food was so bad, that it was hardly possible to consume it. There was neither wine nor beer on board, nor any acids, so that water and whiskey, were the beverages to which we were reduced. For many years I had never undergone such gastronomic privations, as in the western parts of America. The Ohio appears to contain many good and well tasted fish, but it seems that the people here prefer the eternal hog meat, and that mostly salted, to every thing else, for until now I had seen no fish in these regions, at least none procured for eating. In the night, we advanced on our voyage without stop or accident.
On the morning of the 26th of April, we saw the mouth of Salt river, which, as the Western Navigator says, is a considerable river of Kentucky, about one hundred and thirty yards wide at its mouth, and navigable one hundred and fifty miles. Twenty miles above this, the little town of New Albany lies on the right bank, which promises to be a flourishing place. It has a factory of steam-engines, which finds good employment here. On the bank, a newly-built steam-boat was lying, waiting for her engine. These engines must be built very strong, proportionably too powerful for the tonnage of the vessel, on account of the stiffness of the current. They of consequence suffer a violent shock from it, and can only be used about three years. An island in the river divides it into two narrow channels, in which there are rapid currents.
Above the island is the foot of the Falls of Ohio. At the present high stage of water, the descent does not strike the eye, and vessels are able to pa.s.s up or down the river over the falls. Ours, which went no farther up, stopped on the left bank at Shippingport, opposite New Albany, two miles below Louisville.
Shippingport, is an insignificant place, which is supported by the lading and unlading of vessels. We found several hackney coaches, which carried us and our baggage by land to Louisville, where we took up our abode in a large and respectable inn, called Washington Hall, kept by a Mr. Allen. The Western Navigator has the following remarks upon this neighbourhood: "The rapids of the Ohio are, in a natural as well as a political regard, a point well deserving of attention. In low states of the water, they are the termination of navigation by steam-boats, and the last place in the descent of the Ohio, where any considerable impediment occurs in its course. A number of infant towns have already sprung up on both sh.o.r.es of the Ohio, in the neighbourhood of this point, Jefferson, Clarksburg, and New Albany, in Indiana; Louisville, Shippingport, and Portland, in Kentucky. Among these is Louisville, the princ.i.p.al, with a population of three thousand souls; while new Albany contains about one thousand, Shippingport six hundred, and Jeffersonville five hundred inhabitants; all these are thriving situations. Inclusive of the towns and neighbourhood, there is a population of ten thousand people in this vicinity. In the year 1810, Louisville contained only thirteen hundred and fifty-seven inhabitants; it exceeds beyond a doubt its present estimate of five thousand, and will still increase. It is the seat of justice for Jefferson county, Kentucky, contains a prison, court-house, and the other essential buildings, besides a theatre, three banks, of which one is a branch of the United States Bank, a market, several places of worship, and three printing-offices. Louisville lies in 38 18" north lat.i.tude, and 5 42"
west longitude from Washington."
Louisville, at least the main street of it, running parallel with the Ohio, has a good appearance. This street is rather broad, paved, and provided with foot-walks; it contains brick buildings and several considerable stores. In our hotel, I renewed my acquaintance with Major Davenport, of the sixth regiment of infantry, whom, together with his lady, I had known in Washington, at General Brown"s, and who is here on recruiting duty. It fell out luckily enough, that the post-master here, Mr. Gray, had just married his daughter, and in compliment to her gave a splendid party, to which I received an invitation. I repaired to it with Major Davenport, and found an extremely numerous, and, contrary to my expectations, even an elegant society. It was a real English rout, so full that many of the guests were obliged to remain on the steps. I was introduced to most of the ladies and gentlemen, was forced to talk a good deal, and found myself very much annoyed by the heat prevailing in the rooms. About eleven o"clock, I reached home heartily fatigued.
In former years, when the state of Kentucky was an integral part of Virginia, Louisville consisted of a stockade, built as a protection against the hostile Indian tribes, who then still inhabited the banks of the Ohio. It received its name as a mark of respect for the unfortunate King, Louis XVI. This is attributable to the Canadian traders, who established this post to secure their trade. By degrees white settlers joined them, and thus the town commenced, which at first suffered much from the Indians. It is five hundred and eighty miles distant from Pittsburgh, one hundred and thirty-one from Cincinnati, and thirteen hundred and forty-nine from New Orleans. I took a walk with Major Davenport through the town, and to the new ca.n.a.l. It consists of three streets running parallel with the Ohio, of which only the first or front one is built out completely and paved; and of several cross streets which cut the former at right angles. It has several churches, tolerably well built; a new one was began, but on rather too large a scale. The pious funds were exhausted; therefore a lodge of freemasons undertook the finishing of this grand house, and kept it for their own use. The ca.n.a.l is destined to light vessels over the Ohio, when they cannot pa.s.s the falls on account of low water, and are obliged to discharge their cargo. It is apprehended however, that the money invested in the ca.n.a.l will not yield a great interest, as the time of service, for which the ca.n.a.l is required does not extend beyond three months. During six months of the year the Ohio is so low, that not a solitary boat can navigate it, and when it rises, it becomes so high, that the rocks which produce the rapids are covered, so that vessels can go up and down without danger. The labour on the ca.n.a.l has been commenced about six weeks. The banks in the neighbourhood of the ca.n.a.l are high, and present a beautiful prospect over the rapids, and the adjacent region, which is well cultivated and bounded by woody hills.
A second walk with Major Davenport, was directed to the north side of the town, where several respectable country houses are situated, all built of brick; and then to a handsome wood, through which a causeway runs, which is used by the inhabitants as a pleasure walk. The wood contains very handsome beech trees, sugar maples, sycamores and locust trees, also different species of nut-bearing trees.
The state of Kentucky is involved at this period in considerable confusion. A son of Governor Desha, was arrested on a charge of having robbed and murdered a traveller the year before; was tried and found guilty by two different juries. For the purpose of screening his son, as was reported, the governor had changed the whole court, and filled it anew with his own creatures. There was a prodigious excitement through the state at this arbitrary stroke of authority. It was torn by parties; I was a.s.sured that political struggles, often terminating in sanguinary conflicts, were the order of the day; nay, that this division had already given occasion to several a.s.sa.s.sinations. It is said to be almost as dangerous to speak upon the political relations of the state, as to converse upon religion in Spain.
A merchant from Lexington, Mr. Wenzel, a native of Bavaria, made me acquainted with an architect, Barret, from New York, who has the superintendence over the ca.n.a.l that is going forward. I received some more particular intelligence from this person concerning the work. The expense was estimated at three hundred and seventy-seven thousand dollars. The labour on it began this March, and is to be concluded in the month of November of the following year. The length of the ca.n.a.l amounts to nearly two miles. It commences below Louisville in a small bay, goes behind Shippingport, and joins the Ohio between that place and Portland. Its descent was reckoned at twenty-four feet. Three locks, each at a distance of one hundred and ninety feet from each other, will be located not far from the mouth near Shippingport, and the difference of level in each will be eight feet. The breadth of the locks was fixed at fifty feet, to admit of the pa.s.sage of the broadest steam-boat, on which account also the interval from one lock to the other was made one hundred and ninety feet. Above the highest lock on both sides of the ca.n.a.l, dry docks will be constructed for steam-boats to repair in. The sides of the ca.n.a.l are only walled with masonry between the locks. The banks above are in a terrace form. One advantage this ca.n.a.l has, is that the bottom consists of rock; the depth to which it is hewed or blown out, must be throughout fifty feet wide. The rock, however, which is broke out here is a brittle limestone, which is not fit for water masonry, and of course does not answer for locks. The rock employed for this work is a species of blue stone, brought out of the state of Indiana, and a bulk of sixteen square feet, four feet deep, costs four dollars delivered at the ca.n.a.l. To dig this ca.n.a.l out, twenty-seven feet of yellow clay at its thickest part, then seven feet thick of yellow sand; from here fifteen feet thick of blue clay, must be pa.s.sed through before you come to the rock, where there are ten feet thickness still to be dug away. As for the lock gates, they were to be made only of timber, and none of the improvements introduced in England, either the elliptical form of the gates, or the iron frames were to be employed.
Moreover, I observed from the profile of the work, the incredible height of the river, which often raises itself fifty feet over places fordable in the last of summer.
Upon the following day I took a walk with Dr. Croghan and Major Davenport, down the ca.n.a.l to Shippingport, and witnessed the labour in removing the earth for the ca.n.a.l. The soil intended to be dug out, was first ploughed by a heavy plough, drawn by six oxen. Afterwards a sort of scoop drawn by two horses was filled with earth, (and it contained three times as much as an ordinary wheel-barrow,) it was then carried up the slope, where it was deposited, and the scoop was brought back to be filled anew. In this manner much time and manual labour was saved.
Several steam-boats lie at Shippingport, among them was the General Wayne, which had arrived at New Orleans in five days voyage from this place; had stopt there five days on account of unloading, and reloading, and had made her return trip from New Orleans to Louisville in ten days; consequently had moved against the stream one hundred and thirty-five miles daily. Several hackney coaches waited here from Louisville, expecting the arrival of the steam-boat George Washington, which was looked for every minute. The country is highly romantic. We found ourselves on an eminence upon the bank, where a large substantial warehouse had been built jutting over the river. Before us was the foot of the falls; opposite an island overgrown with wood, to the right the falls, and Louisville in the back ground; to the left on the other sh.o.r.e, New Albany, and all around in the rear, a green forest of the finest trees.
On our return we pa.s.sed by a large deserted brick building. It is called the Hope Distillery, and was established by a company of speculators to do business on a large scale. After the company had invested about seventy thousand dollars, several of the stockholders stopped payment.
One of them procured the whole at auction for three thousand dollars, and would now let any one have it for less. In the year 1817, the desire to buy land and build upon it, had risen to a mania in this place. Dr.
Croghan showed me a lot of ground, which he had then purchased for two thousand dollars, and for which, at present, no one would hardly offer him seven hundred. He has hired a German gardener, who has laid out a very pretty vegetable garden on this spot, which will yield considerable profit by his industrious management.
Dr. Ferguson, a physician here, carried us to the hospital. This edifice lies insulated upon a small eminence. The building was commenced several years ago, and is not yet finished. The state of Kentucky gave the ground as a donation, and bears a part of the expenses of building. As the establishment is princ.i.p.ally used for the reception of sick seamen, congress has given the hospital a revenue from the custom-house in New Orleans. The hospital consists of a bas.e.m.e.nt story, three stories above, and wings, which each have a bas.e.m.e.nt and two stories. In the bas.e.m.e.nt of the centre building, are the kitchen, wash-house, the store-rooms, &c., and in the upper story, the chamber for the meeting of the directors, the apothecary"s room, the steward"s dwelling, and the state rooms for patients paying board and lodging. In the third story a theatre for surgical operations will be arranged. In the wings are roomy and well aired apartments for the white patients, and in the bas.e.m.e.nt, those for the negroes and coloured persons. Slavery is still permitted in Kentucky. There has been until now only one apartment habitable, in which twelve patients are lying. These have cleanly beds, but only wooden bedsteads. When the building is thoroughly finished, it will contain at least one hundred and fifty persons with comfort. Such an establishment is extremely necessary for such a place as Louisville, which is very unhealthy in summer.
I made with Major Davenport an excursion into the country, to the very respectable country-seat, Locust Grove, six miles from Louisville, belonging to Dr. Croghan and a younger brother, and inherited from their father. Close by the town we crossed a small stream, which falls here into the Ohio, and is called Bear Gra.s.s creek. This serves the keel and flat boats as a very safe harbour. From the bridge over this, the road goes several miles through a handsome wood on the banks of the Ohio, past country-seats, and well cultivated fields, behind which fine looking hills arose. The wood consisted mostly of sycamores. We observed five that sprung from one root; two are quite common. The trees are very thick. We measured the bulk of the thickest sycamore, and found it twenty-seven feet four inches in circ.u.mference. I never recollect to have seen such a mammoth tree. Locust Grove itself lies about a mile from the river, and is, as appears from its name, surrounded by those trees. We found here the doctor, his brother William Croghan, with his young wife, a native of Pittsburgh, and a fat, lovely little boy, who strikingly reminded me of my sons.
At a party in the house of Mr. Use, a rich merchant and president of the branch of the United States Bank here, we met a very numerous and splendid society. Cotillions and reels were danced to the music of a single violin, and every thing went off pleasantly. We remained till midnight, and the company were still keeping up the dance, when we left them.
Dr. Ferguson was very much occupied in vaccination. The natural small-pox had made its appearance within a few days, under a very malignant form, in the town. On this account every one had their children vaccinated as speedily as possible; even those who were prejudiced against vaccination. In the evening, I went with Major and Mrs. Davenport to the house of Mrs. Wilson, to tea, whose daughter, fifteen years of age, had been married above a month. The young females marry much too early here, quite as early as in Louisiana.
There were two pieces represented at the theatre for the benefit of a Mrs. Drake; Man and Wife, a favourite English drama, and a farce called Three Weeks after Marriage. We were present on this occasion. The proscenium is very small; a confined pit, a single row of boxes, and a gallery. It was well filled; as Mrs. Drake was very much a favourite with the ladies here, all the boxes were full of the fashionables of the place. The dramatic corps was very ordinary with the exception of Mrs.
Drake. Most of the actors were dressed very badly, had not committed their parts, and played in a vulgar style. One actor was so intoxicated, that he was hardly able to keep his legs.
I was furthermore witness to a revolting spectacle in Louisville, from which I escaped as quick as I was able. A pregnant mulatto woman was offered for sale at public auction, with her two children. The woman stood with her children on a bench at a coffee-house; the auctioneer standing by her side, indulged himself in brutal jests upon her thriving condition, and sold her for four hundred dollars!