v^ A '/ PUBLISHER'S NOTICE. The articles which we now offer to the public, in hook Arm. are selected from the numerous Essays written by Mr. WhjttleS-Y, and published, during a series of years, in magazines and periodicals. We have thought them too valuable to be lost, and believe that we are per- forming an acceptable service to the community in reproducing them at this time in a permanent form. Many of the pei-iodicals in which they appeared are but little known, having unfortunately, like most western monthlies, enjoyed only a brief existence and limited circulation. Mr. Whittlesey's liberal contributions to them have, although requiring much research and labor, added nothing to his purse, and very little to his reputation. We offer them to our readers for the solid information they contain. Much of it belongs to our home history, and nearly all relates to the West as it is now, or has been since the advent of white men within its 1. >rders. It is quite natural that a gentleman, reared in the western forests, and whose life has been spent in surveys and explorations throughout the territory north- west of the Ohio, should feel an ardant interest in every thing that relates to it, in natural or local history, statistics, agriculture, biography, or general condition. These articles are given as first composed, not rewritten or retouched. Most of them were written in haste, in the interval of active field duties, and sent to press without revision. A professional author would probably have polished his phrases, expunged and inserted words, and made some preparation to meet criticism, before permit- ting his works to appear before the public. The style is condensed a»d brief, with but little of that ornament which characterizes model literature ; but those who read for the purpose of obtaining information will excuse this wan> of finish in recompense for the compact form in which that information is presented. This selection is made from about as much more printed matter ^f a similar kind, published by the author, in a transient form, during the last n\een years. An equal amount of the same cast is yet in manuscript, consisting of lectures de- livered before literary associations, and never printed. There may be discovered in the articles on early western history. S( -io repeti- iions, which, however, could not be stricken out without injuring the wl? >le piece. If it shall appear that subjects are introduced, not in every respect agreeing with the present state of knowledge, the reader will remember, that it 5* many years since the series was commenced; and he can determine the date of eech ar tida by reference to the caption. SCHEDULE OF SUBJECTS. Akticlk I. Review of the " Historical Transactions" of Ohio. Akticlk II. Justice to the Memory of John Fitch. Article III. Early Discoveries in the Mississippi Valley. Article IV. Rights of Authors outside of Copyrights. Article V. Elevation of places in Ohio, with reference to the Geological beds. Article VI. On the Origin of Bituminous Coal. Article VII. Lord Dunmore's Expedition to the Scioto Towns in 1774. Article VIII. Antiquitiei of America.— Delafield's Enquiry into their Origin. — Lokey'i Appendix. SCHEDULE OE SUBJECTS. Article IX. On the Natural Terraces and Ridges of the Lake country. Article X. The Age of the Material Universe. Article XI. Settlement and Progress of the City of Cleveland.— Rise and Fall of Water in Lake Erie. Article XII. The Coal and Iron trade of the Ohio Valley. Article XIII. Boquet's Expedition into the Muskingum Country, October 1764. Article XIV. Two months in the Copper region. Article XV. On the Agricultural Interest and Condition of Ohio. — Yield of Wheat in Hamilton County, Ohio. Article XVI. Relation of the Indian Tribes to the Whites, in 1776. Article XVII. Indian Treaties and Grants of Title for the Territory of Ohio. FUGITIVE ESSAYS, UPON INTERESTING AND USEFUL SUBJECTS, RELATING TO THE EARLY HISTORY OF OHIO, ITS GEOLOGY AND AGRICULTURE, BIOGRAPHY OF THE FIRST SUCCESSFUL CONSTRUCTOR OF STEAMBOATS; A DISSERTATION UPON THE ANTIQUITY OF THE MATERIAL UNIVERSE, AND OTHER ARTICLES, BEING A REPRINT FROM VARIOUS PERIODICALS OP THE DAY J BY CHARLES WHITTLESEY, OP THE LATE GEOLOGICAL CORPS OF OHIO AND OF THE UNITED STATES. HUDSON, OHIO: SAWYER, INGERSOLL AND CO, 1852. FfTJ Wt Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, by Sawyer, Ingersoll & Co., in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the District of Ohio. WILLIAM II. SHUN. HUDSON STZKEOTYPI FOCNDKT. PENTAGON STEAM PKEM. REVIEW OF THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF OHIO, VOLUME FIRST, PART SECOND. [Hesperian, October 1839.] The appearance of this second part of the first volume will relieve the society from an unfavorable impression produced by the publication of part first, about a year since. We do not understand that every paper which may find its way to the files of the Society is therefore entitled to publication in a permanent form ; but that the abiding works of the Society are intended to be solid, historical matter. Addresses pro- nounced at its meetings may, or may not, contain matter of that kind ; and if it should be thought a courtesy, due the authors, to give them to the public in print, it may be done with great propriety in pam- phlet form. The object of those compositions is, in general, more to amuse, and keep in action, the spirit of historical research, than to convey to us that kind of information. Of this character, or of a kind widely removed from the subject of history, are the addresses of the Hon. B. Tappan, Mr. J. II. James, Timothy Walker, Esq., and Gen. James I. Worthington, con- tained in the first volume. They are interesting 4 . /fUUJTiVE ESSAYS. paper*, -up! highly- credits ble to the authors and the insutuio;i. afl 1 iterary." productions : but, being evi- dently written, not for the press, but for oral delivery, to instruct and please an audience, rather than to inform the youth of the West, the individual who opens this book, in the reasonable expectation of an historical feast, will be somewhat disappointed to find much of its space occupied by writings upon education, law and political institutions. It is not to the addi • or to their publication, nor to the custom of enlivening annual meetings with essays upon general subjects, that we object : for much of the interest and value of the Society is drawn from this practice. The form and manner of publication hitherto adopted will, however, we fear, destroy the popularity and usefulness of its permanent works. Philosophy is a word associated with history, in the name of incor- poration, and this embraces almost the whole range of human knowledge ; but the main design has been, 18, and Ought to be, the preservation and publication of historical facts. The practice we are noticing is not of so much consequence at present, as it may be in future, when these precedents shall have made it a law. It has been said that Ohio, in common with the new States, would furnish but a meager subject for the historian. ( >ne of this opinion must have reflected little upon the transactions of which the Mississippi Valley has been the scene, since the year 1673, when the Frenchman first made his appearance within its bounds. Fiance, as intimated in the preface to these Transactions, is probably the repository of all the important records of this early period. To the in- habitants of that country, much more is known of the events of the region we inhabit, than by ourselves. It is to be recollected, English dominion was bounded HISTORICAL TRANSACTIONS. 5 in fact by the mountains, but the restless spirit of the Frenchman led him beyond this barrier, into that rich wild, now the seat of the power, wealth and re- sources of the Union. He sailed through the great lakes of the North, traversed the thick wilds of the West, floated with the current of our broad streams, built forts and opened a commerce with the Indians, while the Swiss, English and Dutch, scarcely pene- trated beyond sight of the Atlantic. Improving upon the English scheme of western colonization, France and her enterprising citizens intended to take virtual possession of the North American continent. They effectually encircled the lodgements of their rivals, not only by a line of posts, the innermost of which were Ticonderoga, Stanwix, Niagara, Erie, Ve- nango, Pittsburg, Loramies, Vincennes, Cahokia, and the mouth of the Ohio, .but they formed stations through all the shores of the lakes, and the country between them and the Ohio and Mississippi ; and, what is more than the mere occupancy of this new kingdom, they, by means of priests, presents, liquor and troops, brought the red man to terms of friend- ship. What can be more interesting than a full dis- closure of those events ? At the time of the French war of 1756, there were posts north of the Ohio, in what became, in 1787, the Northwestern Territory, at the following places : French Creek, Pa. ; Du Quesne, at Pittsburg ; Fort Sandusky, at Sandusky City ; on Maumee ; at Detroit (called Ponchartrain) ; Mackinaw ; Fox River of Green Bay ; St. Joseph's, mouth of St. Joseph's River ; Lake Michigan ; Cre- vecceur, and St. Louis ; on the Illinois ; mouth of Mis- souri ; Cahokia ; mouth of Ohio ; Kaskaskia ; Vin- cennes ; mouth of Wabash, and mouth of Scioto. Occasionally a stray Englishman had crept over the Alleghanies and caught a prospect of the rich fields 1* 6 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. beyond ; but until 1749 no general efforts were made by their sovereign, or his authorized agents, to occupy- that country. The charters of the colonies were broad enough, to be sure, and covered the Frenchman completely with a paper title. But the grant of a king three thou- sand miles off, or even the treaties of the six nations between 1684 and 1744, were little cared for by him. France had actual possession from Quebec to New Or- leans ; her citizens, her troops, her traders and mis- sionaries threaded the woods and the streams of the C.tnadas and the Western States, from St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico. Not a moment since this occupation commenced, to this hour, has the West ceased to be a place of interest. There are all the travels of Marquette, La Salle and their confederates, the dangers of the little establishments called forts, the hardships of artisans and farmers who clustered about them for protection, Indian kindnesses, murders and jealousies, upon which our citizens are still mainly uninformed. Then comes the enlargement of Gallic power and influence, till the British crown becomes y, the efforts of the two powers to join the occu- pants of the soil to each party, both of whom were intent upon the destruction of their allies, the warning and suspicion of the Indian, the severe wars of the two rival nations upon a ground to which neither had a complete title, the success of British arms, and a thousand reminiscences of the past, belong to the territory we inhabit. In 1756 came the contest of arms along a frontier line, which then lay within the present limits of Penn- sylvania, New York and the New England States. This decided, ere long we read of the exp< 'Col. Lewis and Lord Dunmore, west of the CWao, in 1774, wherein the colonies fought the aborigines HISTORICAL TRANSACTIONS. 7 under the English rule ; and soon we find the same troops engaged against the same foes, enlisted in the British ranks. Of the period between the domination of France and the close of the American Revolution, we have but little more knowledge than of the prece- ding. The line between historical light and darkness must be drawn near the date of the year 1783. Are the exploits of the previous one hundred years unworthy of remembrance ? We care not whether it is the record of the deeds of the French- man or the Englishman, the white or the red brother. These national distinctions do not impair our desire to know of their daring actions, nor personal antipathies prevent our admiration of their bravery and their en- terprise. And can it be truly said, that the West is barren of materials for substantial history ? Ohio does not embrace all the ground on which these inter- esting things occurred ; but prior to the occupation of Marietta, in 1788, the progress of events, beyond the Alleghanies, was so connected with our territory, that without the whole any story would be incom- plete. As usual, the subject seems to attract more atten- tion abroad than at home. The North American Review (Boston) has of late thrown open to our view many hidden sources of information, which it becomes us to turn to account. In the annual address of J. H. Perkins, Esq., 1838, it is stated that the manu- script journal of the first (or English) " Ohio Com- pany," organized in 1748, is in existence, and in possession of the Hon. Charles F. Mercer, of Virginia. The author of the articles upon the French and En- glish discoveries in the West, attaches in a note full references to his authorities, some of which we name : — Meraoirea Ilistoriques Sur Louisianie, Paris, 1753, Present State of North America, London, 1755. 8 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. Pownall's Memorial, or Service in North America, 1756, London. The Contest in America, London, 1757. Boquet's Expedition, London, 1776. Charle- voix, La Hontan, Hennepin, Tonti, etc., Paris, prior to 1744. Plain Facts, etc., Philadelphia, 1781. Major Roger's Journal, and Concise Account, etc., London, 1765. Mr. Sparks, in the Life and Corres- pondence of Washington and Franklin, has performed the highest service to the cause of Western annals. His opportunity was a fortunate one, having access to volumes of old magazine manuscripts, and to public records in America, France and England. Of the above works, some may be had in this country, and the remainder abroad, without incurring a very heavy expense. The papers relating to the Symmes' Purchase we said to be in existence. Those of the second "Ohio Company" are at Marietta, and the Connecticut Land Company at Hartford. Is not the collection of these precious relics of the early day a proper duty of the Historical Society of Ohio ? The narrative of Judge Burnet, which occupies one hundred and eighty pages of this part of the first volume, is of high interest. Since 1796, this astute ami venerable man has lived in the city of Cincinnati, leuteness of observation, tenacity of memory, and the practice of taking occasional notes, in connection with the fact of his long standing at the bar, and al- most continual exercise of some public trust, munici- pal, legislative, or judicial, must give unusual value to these letters. Nothing could be more appropriate, both to the society and the individual. The Latter has fulfilled a pleasing duty to the community through the proper channel ; its execution, also, may be Baid to be equally happy with the other circumsta The habits, manners, ami weaknesses of the ptOIfc are set forth with life and interest; and substantial mat- HISTORICAL TRANSACTIONS. ters relating to legislation, the organization and the progress of government, agreeably interspersed with anecdote and recital. We shall give the substance of some of the most characteristic passages. His ac- quaintance with the military of the West was of course intimate, of whom it is said, page 12, a The vices of idleness, drinking, and gambling, were carried to a greater extent in the army at that time .than at any period since. A very large proportion of the officers of General Wayne's army were hard drinkers, Gen- eral Harrison, Governor Clark, Colonel Shornberg, and a few others, being the only exceptions." These lamentable consequences are attributed to the absence of libraries, of men of refined taste and learning with whom to associate, yet more particularly to the want of accomplished female society. Since that period, much improvement has been observed in the moral character of our frontier posts. Education, a strong barrier to dissipation, has become universal among the commissioned officers ; libraries are provided at al- most every station, and the devoted wife accompanies her husband to those remote and forgotten spots, far up the Mississippi, the Missouri, and the Arkansas, to enliven the loneliness of his retreat. Judge Burnet's opinion of the French traveller, Volney, who spent some time in Cincinnati and vicin- ity, in the fall of 1796, did not seem to be very ex- alted. " He was retiring, unsociable, and unusually credulous. Some officers, who travelled with him from this place to Detroit, availed themselves of this weak- ness, much to their amusement. One of the results of this play upon his weakness (no small thing in a traveller) was a conviction that the Ohio river in floods had been known to set back to the foot of the rapids, in a creek near Fort Greenville, now Greenville Court House, in Darke county, a point two hundred and 10 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. twenty-two foot above Lake Erie, and three hundred and fifty-five feet higher than the river at Cincinnati." Next follows a succinct account of the lir»t legisla- tive and judicial system of the North-western- terri- tory. Of this too much is known to need remark, being a system more thoroughly anti-republican than military rule itself. A just tribute is rendered to the memory of General Rufus Putnam of Marietta. A fine illustration of the phrase, " great effects flow from small causes," is recorded on page 17, in relation to the establishment of the city of Cincinnati. North Bend was the ground selected and surveyed for the town of the Symmes' Purchase, by the proprietor. It lies at the neck of the peninsula, between the great Miami and the Ohio. It appears in every view to have been a good location, and the present passage of this neck by a tunnel of the Whitewater canal, and the construction of this work thence twenty miles up stream, along the margin of the Ohio to reach Cin- cinnati, is evidence of the good judgment of Judge Symmes. The city of North Bend was laid out, and the troops from Fort Harmar landed at the place, for the purpose of erecting works. The commanding officer, somehow, became enamored of a black-eyed female, who, however, had ■ hsttband on the spot. To avoid consequences, the discreet lord removed to Cin- cinnati, taking the bright eyes of his wife along, which placed a half day's journey between them and the epaulets of the officer. The latter soon found the position of North Bend too weak for successful de- fence, and determined to reconnoitre the neighborhood of Cincinnati. The retail wai a confirmed opinion that the site of Fort Washington, somewhere in the vicinity of Mrs. Trollope'e folly, on Third street, was a Stronger military point than the heights of the pe- ninsula at North Bend, and the forces were trans- HISTORICAL TRANSACTIONS. 11 ferred thither. Protection thus withdrawn from the mouth of the Miami, its fate was sealed, and the des- tiny of the Queen City settled in a manner that, without the evidence before us, would have been con- sidered fabulous. As usual, in early settlements, one of Judge Lynch's courts of final jurisdiction was established in the colony. Patrick Grimes paid the penalty of the law provided for the case of stealing cucumbers, by receiving twenty-nine lashes on the naked back. But at the next sitting of the judge, the culprit disregard- ing process, fled to the garrison. Mr. McMillan, who personated Judge Lynch, was next called upon, by a sergeant and two men, to attend upon the commandant of the fort. A pitched battle followed, lasting about twenty minutes, in which there were none killed on the spot ; but four (all present) were seriously wounded. A Court of Quarter Sessions was soon organized. " In my early intercourse with the officers of General Wayne's army, I could not but feel surprised at the levity and calm indifference with which they spoke of exposures and hair-breadth es- capes. I was certain that this did not proceed from any want of natural tenderness or sympathy. It seems to be a beneficent provision of nature, that men, who are timid, sensitive to danger, and disposed to sympathy, would cease to be influenced by such feel- ings, when duty brings them into scenes of peril and cruelty." The difficulty between General Wilkinson and General Wayne was a cause of much disagreeable feeling in the army at the time, and each party had strong partisans. General Wilkinson went so far as to prefer charges against his Commander-in-Chitf, and omitted few opportunities of degrading him with his officers. This notorious person is represented as a 12 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. most fascinating and polished individual, calculated to attract friends to himself, and any cause he chose to advocate. Gen. Wayne's death on Lake Erie saved this agitator the ignominy of a defeat upon his own charges. A strong example of the exaltation of mili- tary feeling is related of Major Guion, the most un- compromising enemy of the General. News came of his decease. "What!" says he, " General Ways* (lend ! dead ! then let enmity die with him." We pass over much interesting matter to notice a statement of the author relative to some curious fossil stumps, or roots of trees, found beneath the surface, at Cincinnati. And to give our eastern friends a speci- men of the veracity of writers and travellers, we in- sert the account given by Mr. Priest, in his " discov- eries in the West," page 130. "In 1826, more than eighty feet under ground, there was found, on the banks of the Ohio (Cincinnati), the stump of a tree, three feet in diameter, and ten feet high, cut down with an axe, the blows of which are yet visible." The deductions of the author are, first, that it was ante- diluvian. Second, that the Ohio river did not exist before the flood. Third, America was peopled before the flood. Fourth, The antediluvian Americans knew the use of iron. Hear Judge Burnet upon the facts of the case ; the inferences we leave to take care of themselves. " The facts are simply these: in sinking a well in 1802, at the depth of ninety-three feet, I found two .stumps, one about one foot, and the other eighteen inches in diameter, standing in the position in which they grew. Their roots were sound, and extended from them horizontally on every side. The tops were so decayed and mouldered that no opinion could be formed of the process by which the trunks had been severed from the bodies." HISTORICAL TRANSACTIONS. 13 It is well known that the British did not fully ex- ecute the treaty of 1783, until the year 1796. They retained Mackinaw, Detroit, and Maumee, till after Wayne's victory over the Indians, at the Rapids, in 1794 ; and without the expedition, and the success which followed, resulting in the treaty of Greenville, it is doubtful when possession of those posts would have been given to us. The North-western Territory was divided into four counties, prior to the surrender, and their respective capitals were, Kaskaskia, Vin- cennes, Cincinnati, and Marietta. The county of Wayne was erected soon after the delivery of Detroit, and the latter place became the seat of justice. Lawyers from Cincinnati practised at Marietta and Detroit, and sometimes at Vincennes. This circuit of the first three counties was regularly made by Judge Burnet, and his brethren of the bar, till 1803. A graphic description of the customs of Detroit will be found on page 50, quite equal to the style and manner of Washington Irving's Sketch of the Mackinaw Fur Traders. "Like men disposed to enjoy life, while it might be in their power to do so, they provided in great abundance the delicacies and luxuries of every climate, and as often as they re- turned from the cold regions of the North and West, to their families and comfortable homes, they did not spare them. No genteel stranger visited the place without an invitation to their houses, and their sump- tuous tables ; and, what is remarkable, they competed with each other for the honor of drinking the most and best wine, without being intoxicated themselves; and of having the greatest number of intoxicated guests." It appears that most of the British mer- chants of Detroit eventually crossed over to Sandwich and established themselves in business; but a friendly intercourse was continued. As evidence of this feel- 2 14 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. ing, we have a full account in the celebration of the king's birth-day, in which the Americans joined. Af- terwards, the members of the bar fulfilled an engage- ment, contracted on the spot, to spend a day and night at Maiden. On these occasions, the English fashion of crowding wine upon their guests in profusion was not forgotten, and we are told that "although more Mine was drank" than the writer had ever witnessed at such times, no animosity or bad feeling was exci- ted. The British extolled George III. to their hearts' content ; the President of the United States came next in order, and his name occasioned as copious draughts upon the tumbler as the king's. We know of a much stronger case of personal comity, which occurred du- ring the last war, on the Ontario frontier, though it ftraa with some difficulty the British officers persuaded themselves to swallow the compliment. Major Lo- lnax had been sent from Sackett's Harbor, or that vi- cinity, to the British Head Quarters in Canada, with a flag. They received him very hospitably, but as a precaution, kept him very close, perhaps not more so than usual in such cases. The dinner and wine fol- lowed, of course, and with them abundance of toasts. An English officer, rather mellow with port, gave, President Madison, dead or alive." Major Lomax felt called upon to reply, and offered the health of the Prince Jiegcnt, "(trunk or sober." Judge Burnet's relation of the incidents of these journeys, from one court-house to another, three hun- dred miles distant, through a trackless forest, is often intensely interesting ; but the reader must look to the work itself, we can retail but one. It would seem that Mr. St. Clair, son of Gen. St. Clair, the Gover- nor ami warrior, either through the influence of per- sonal appearance, or official relationship, wui much more caressed by the squaws of an Indian village, HISTORICAL TRANSACTIONS. 15 where they stopped, than the author. "An old wrinkle-faced squaw was extremely officious ; her at- tentions, however, were principally confined to Mr. St. Clair ; she kissed him once or twice, exclaiming, you big man, Governor Son, and turning to us, said, with some disdain, you m&wh~" A just tribute is paid to the character of General George Rogers Clarke, of Kentucky. "When I was induced to visit him by the veneration I felt for his talents and services, his health was much impaired by intemperance, but his majestic and dignified deport- ment, and strong features, bore the impress of an in- telligent and resolute mind, and immediately brought to my recollection the personal appearance of Wash- ington, to which it seemed to approximate." In 1798, the North-western Territory contained five thousand inhabitants, and of right proceeded to establish the second grade of government. Of the legislative council of five, provided as advisers of the Governor, Judge Burnet was one during the continu- ances of this form of administration, or till 1803. Many of the early laws appear to have been drawn by him. The election of William Henry Harrison, as first Territorial Delegate to Congress, took place Oc- tober 3d, 1799, by a majority of one vote. The next session of the legislature took place at Chillicothe, November 3d, 1800. During the sitting of the sec- ond General Assembly, a mob came together for the purpose of annoying the Governor (St. Clair), who seems to have been unpopular. This assemblage was renewed on a second night, and in consequence a law was passed restoring the seat of government to Cin- cinnati. There are many points connected with the origin of our present government and constitution, not satisfactory to the author. He seems to consider the 16 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. application for admission into the Union, before we attained a population of sixty thousand, and when, as a matter of right under the ordinance, we should have taken a stand upon the footing of the old States, as the cause of many evils. As it was in the power of Congress to grant or refuse the request, they imposed upon us terms which he considers unjust. In a sub- sequent address to the Society, this subject is ampli- fied, and fully discussed. The principal objection is the relinquishment of the right of taxation on govern- ment lands, and for a period of five years after sale. The steps required by the ordinance and republican usage to compose a constitution were not followed, and the proceeding is considered illegal. It never came before the people, and the convention which framed it was ordered by Congress, and not the peo- ple, and so constituted as to make the instrument binding when completed by them. Of Governor St. Clair, a few words must suffice, "lie was plain and simple in his dress and equipage, frank and open iQ his manners, and accessible to per- sons of any rank. IJe retained a large share of pop- ular favor till the close of the first session of the leg- islature. Soon after that body commenced its legis- 1m tive functions, he exhibited a disposition to extend his power. The construction he gave to the ordinance was such as confined the will of the legislature within very narrow limits." The ordinance giving him an unqualified reto, he considered himself as authorized and required to de- cide upon the expediency of all their acts. Of thirty bills, eleven were cut off" in this way. This accidental state of things, occurring when the convention were -sion, is thought to be the cause of their stripping the Executive of almost every respectable power, by the terms of tin- constitution. HISTORICAL TRANSACTIONS. 17 " St. Clair was a man of superior talents, exten- sive information, and great uprightness of purpose. The course he pursued, though destruction to his own popularity, was the result of an honest exercise of judgment." The object in examining a work of this kind is not so much to present the contents, or even its sub- stance, as to carry a general idea of its merits, and if worthy of attention to induce its perusal. We find it necessary, to avoid extreme length, in this instance, to pass by much important matter, and for the remainder merely touch at occasional points. We are told, page 90, that Ohio led the way, in hallowing that memorable day, the anniversary of the Declaration, by recognizing the free enjoyment of per- sonal liberty, through all its sacred forms, except in certain cases of crime. Page 100 has an address of the legislature of 1799, to John Adams, President of the United States, embracing terms of strong compliment. The ex- planatory note discloses an important proposition, made to our commissioners at the treaty of Paris, 1782, not generally known. The Ohio and Mississippi were insisted upon as our western boundary. Dr. Franklin listened to the proposition, the Count de Vergennes favored it, and Mr. Adams at first stood alone in opposition to the measure, threat- ening to retire from the negociation. Mr. Jay soon sided with Mr. Adams, and Eranklin finally con- curred. The history of some of the members of that legis- lature (1799) is given in brief. Judge Sibley of Detroit, Gen. Darlington of West Union, and Judge Burnet, are the only survivors. The most extended biographical notice is that of John Smith, afterward* 2* 18 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. a Senator in Congress, and finally implicated with Burr in his supposed conspiracy. Mr. Smith stated to the author, that his journey to Florida and Louisi- ana in 180(5, was, by private request of Mr. Jefferson, to ascertain the feeling of the Spanish citizens and officers, in reference to the expected war with Spain. The prosecutions of the Government against him, in the next year, however, brought him to ruin. In selecting members of the legislature in those days, " party influence was scarcely felt, and I can say with confidence, that since the establishment of the State Government, I have not seen a legislature containing such a large proportion of aged, intelligent, and discreet men." Pursuing the history of the forma- tion of our State Government, we find, page 112, the reason of that novelty in judicature, a travelling court of dernier resort. The members of the convention could not decide upon the county or town in which the Su- preme Court should be fixed, and to satisfy all sent them on horseback to every county in the State once a year. Letter V, containing twenty-five pages, is mostly taken up with a novel discussion upon the right of the State to tax Congress lands. The author belonged to the minority upon the question of erecting a State Government, at the period of 1802, and still conceives that the people lost much by the terms of that ad- mission. The excitement of those times upon this question was equal to that of any subsequent period, and the victors then, as now, exulted over their suc- cess. The remembrance of the strife of the occasion is not wholly effaced from the mind of the writer, who still expresses himself with some feeling. But it would be difficult to answer the argument advanced in sup- port of our right to taxation over unsold government lands. It seems to be quite clear, that unless tin terms of the relinquishment of the tax upon the HISTORICAL TRANSACTIONS. 19 of Congress lands, for the space of five years, in- cludes the assent to relinquishment, or implies an ac- knowledgment of the non-existence of the tax right, the power is still vested in the State. The seventh and last letter is occupied with des- ultory recollections of a highly instructive cast. The project of constructing a canal around the Falls of the Ohio, on the Indiana side, was attempted, and some advance made towards its completion in 1817-18. In August, 1819, the river is stated to have been so low that its whole breadth at the Falls was only twenty-four feet, the water passing through a deep channel like a canal, with a division of rock in the center, and extending one-third of the length of the rapids. The old system of government sales upon credit, is shown to have threatened the ruin of western settlers; there being, in 1821, twenty-two millions of dollars due the G-overnment, and an al- most entire inability to meet it. The plan of allowing a relinquishment of the unpaid portions of the land in certain cases (proposed by Judge Burnet) finally prevailed in Congress, and the West was relieved. A short history of the canal donations of the General Government, and a brief notice of Simon Kenton, brings us to the close of these invaluable essays. Taking so conspicuous a part as the author did in the doings of the Territory and the State, much that is personal necessarily occurs in the narration, but this is not the least interesting portion of its matter. We must pass over the remainder of the book, not of an historical character, and confine ourselves to those which are. The discourse of General Harrison upon the aboriginies of the valley of the Ohio occupies fifty-seven pages. In this case we are equally fortu- nate, in the fitness of the individual who undertakes to enlighten us. No person living has had as thor- 20 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. ough acquaintance with the North-western Indians, as the gentleman whose name is just written. As a citi- zen and officer, in war and in peace, as a guest or a governor, in all conditions and circumstances, he has observed their anomalous character. A portion of the discourse is taken up with a ref- erence to the ancient race once occupying our valley in immense numbers, and whose habitations and tem- ples still remain. Gen. Harrison supposes them to have been strictly agricultural ; and most of these constructions dedicated to residence and religion ; that the works on the river Ohio were of a different char- acter, and were the result of necessity, intended aa defences against a concerted invasion, from both the north and south, and that here they made resistance ; but gradually retired down the river under defeat, making the last stand at a strong point near the mouth of the Great Miami. Of all speculations upon the design of these works, none are satisfactory to us, and none less so than those which give to them a mili- tary object. When a full collection and description of those interesting remains is obtained, perhaps some rational theory may be formed. At present, we have merely light enough to produce confusion. It would be easy to occupy several pages with reasons against the defensive character of these works, applicable as well to those on the Ohio, as elsewhere.* But we hasten to consider the main discussion of this pamphlet ; being the early history of the Indian occupants of Ohio, at the commencement of the white settlements ; an occurrence which, it is worth remark, took place much later here than in the newer States west of us. They were composed of the Wyandots, Mia mis, Shawanees, Delawares, a remnant of the Mo- * See "Monuments of the Mississippi Valley," by K. (3 Squier and E. 11. Davis. — Smithsonian Contributions, vol. i. lb-itf. HISTORICAL TRANSACTIONS. 21 liijrans connected with the Delawares, and a band of Otto was. Although the Six Nations claimed the north-east- ern portion of this State, but few, if any, resided there. It is and has been disputed, whether the Six Nations ever conquered or occupied the country wa- tered by the Scioto and Great Miami. Gen. Harrison says, their eastern boundary was certainly east of the Scioto, when the whites came to this country. Frank- lin, Clinton, and Colden, assert, and endeavor to prove, that the Iroquois once conquered and colonized even to the Mississippi. The English claim to the territory north-west of the Ohio, as opposed to the French, rests upon a grant of the Six Nations, as early as 1684. A profound antiquary, in an article upon the English discoveries in the West, North American Re- view, July 1839, concurs with the statements of De Witt Clinton and others, that they had, prior to 1680, overrun most of the modern north-western Territory. Gen. Harrison opposes this opinion, and does not admit that they ever possessed lands west of the Scioto. It is an interesting examination, beyond our limits to transcribe. We merely improve the opportunity to add an item of evidence in favor of Gen. Harrison's belief. In 1796, when the agents of the Connecticut Land Company proceeded to make surveys of the Western Reserve, the Indian title was not fully se- cured. Gen. Cleveland held a council with the Six Nations, or a part of them at Buffalo, for the purpose of taking quiet possession. At this time they claimed nothing beyond the Cuyahoga and Tuscorora rivers, and the " old Portage path," or Portage, connecting these streams across the Akron summit. They con- sidered this line as the boundary between them and the western Indians, and gave no rights beyond the Cuyahoga. These streams and the old Portage path 22 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. were used in common by the Indians on both sides, for transportation, of which so much took place, that the trail or path, from one to the other, is still visible. The company took possession of the land east of the agreed boundary, and surveyed to it ; the Indians on the west of it occupying their side, and not molesting the occupation of the whites. It was not until 1806 that the Land Company, or Congress, obtained full possession from the Indians of the western shore of the Cuyahoga. The discourse locates the different tribes at about 1650, as follows : the Iroquois confederacy remained in their original position between Labrador and the Delaware, or great Lenape nation, whose northern limit was somewhere in southern Pennsylvania. The Wvandots or Hurons occupied both shores of western Lake Erie, and extended southward to the Ohio. The Miami confederacy, the most powerful of the Indian combinations, lay along the Ohio, from the Scioto westward, around Lake Michigan to the Mississippi. The Iroquois fought and conquered the Delawares on the south, took possession of their land, and forced them to assume the name of women. Some time during the seventeenth century, those warlike and generous tribes moved upon the Wvandots, and de- feated them. This battle is said to have been fought in canoes, upon the waters of Lake Erie, and great fatality resulted. The Wvandots withdrew Westward for a time, but returned again in the eighteenth cen- tury, when it is probable the Cuyahoga was mutually agreed upon as their eastern border. The Miamis, possessing most of western Ohio, are thought never to have been at war with the Six Na- . or at least never to have been conquered by th i ni. With the Cherokees and Chicksaawa they were at war. Gen. Harrison considers Sandusky as HISTORICAL TRANSACTIONS. 23 the western limit of occupation by the Iroquois, and that possession a temporary one. The Shawanese In- dians were emigrants from Georgia and Florida, within an hundred years. They first came to the country of the Miamis, low down on the Ohio, and afterwards moved to the Scioto. Black Hoof, their chief, died not long since, and he was born in Florida. The Indians engaged against the United States in open war, from 1790 to the peace of 1794, were the "VYyandots, Delawares, Shawanese, Chippawas, Otto- was, Potawatamies, Miamis, Eel river Indians, and the Weas. Three thousand warriors constituted their strength at this time ; while the Miamis alone could have mustered that number a short time before. As late as 1793, they had determined to have the Ohio as their boundary. The battle of the Rapids, a year after, forced them to the Greenville line, and for many years awed them into quietness. We are compelled to take leave of this elegant and instructive production, and recommend its style and contents to the perusal of every western man. It was our intention to treat of the historical parts of the address of Mr. James H. Perkins. Those portions relate to the remote doings of the French, and the early occupancy of the English, of which we have given some slight outline in the commencement of this article. Mr. Perkins can not fail to be read through by every reader of any portion of this work. An address delivered at Marietta, on the forty-eighth anniversary of the settlement of that place, closes the volume. It is confined to the transactions of that re- gion, and filled with matter of great value. Arius Nye, Esq., is the author, a gentleman bred within sight of the " Campus Martius," of the first settle- ment in Ohio. This post became a prominent point of attack, by the hostile Indians. Its history thrills 24 FUGITIVE BSBAYB. with interest, but the most exalted sentiments con- nected with its recital arise on the Consideration of the nature of those men who first broke in upon the forest- world of the West, and successfully planted civilization in the midst of the fiercest barbarism. Their like is never to be known again. In the pro- gress and mutations of human affairs, such a con- course of circumstances will never arise. ' There can never be another such revolution as that of 1776. If that was possible, will there be again such patriots, such men V Then came the weakness of their coun- try, and their own impoverishment ; afterwards the offer of western lands, in compensation for military service, but requiring the protection of military force. The never-lessening patience, perseverance, and piety 6f those stern characters, has no parallel. With ail these traits we behold the hourly exercise of courage, the cool contemplation of danger, acuteness of de- sign, and vigor of execution. In dismissing this work, we must express our ex- treme regret that no index or even contents of chap- ters can be found on its pages. s JUSTICE TO THE MEMORY OF JOHN FITCH, Who in 1785 invented a steam engine and steamboat — planned, constructed, and put in operation the steamboat "Perseve- rance," of sixty tons, moving at the rate of eight miles an hour, in 1788. [Western Literary Review, Feb. 1844.] Upon the urgent request of John F. Watson, Esq., Of German town, l\i., the writer about two years since undertook an examination of the claims of John Fitch, MEMORY OF JOHN FTTCII. 2d of Philadelphia, as an inventor and improver of steam engines and steamboats. I had long been of the opinion, which* now pervades the civilized world, that mankind owed to Robert Fulton, not only the improve- ment but the invention of steamboats. And to ward off a smile, which those well versed in the history of the steam engine and its applications may be inclined to indulge at my expense, the following quotations are made. They show that, however erroneous my opinions were in regard to the real author of that con- trivance which now rides on every navigable river inhabited by civilized man — defying the elements and exacting the admiration of all — there are very respect- able persons entertaining the same opinions. In 1838, Judge Tannehill writes: "When Fulton first conceived the idea of navigating our rapid stream with boats propelled by steam,"* &c. Judge Story, in charging the jury in the case of Washburn & Brown vs. Gould, Boston, 1844, remarks: "Next after Fulton's wonderful invention of the steamboat, whose incalculable benefits," &c. Still later, a writer in the American Review for January, 1845, says: "A few years more saw the spirit of Fulton arise, and call into existence what has proved perhaps the most important of the manifold agencies of steam, "f It will be impracticable, in the space at our com- mand, to return through the space of one hundred and seven years to the days of the Hulls of England, who in the year 1737 obtained a patent "for a new inven- ted machine for carrying vessels out of or into any harbor, port, or river, against wind and tide, or in a calm," with wheels at the sides of the vessels, and buckets on the periphery, and exhibit to our readers * Hesperian, vol. ii, p. 106. f Am. Review, Art., Steam Navigation, p. 22. VJ FUGITIVE ESSATS. the various contrivances in the nature of self-moving craft that hare been thought of by mechanics. It is not clear that the Hulls Lad a steam engine in contemplation as a moving power, although a huge chimney arises from the deck of their vessel which pours forth abundance of smoke, Solomon Do Caus had written of the power of steam more than one hundred years before this patent was obtained from George II., and from 1012 to 102£ had experimented upon its forces and application. In 1003 the Marquis of Worcester, an Englishman, wrote of his hundred inventions, and mentioned "an admirable and forcible way to drive up water by fire." Dennis Papin, like De Caus, a native of France, had lived and experimented upon steam in 1098; Savary in 1098 ; and Newcomen and Caliey, or Cawley, had constructed a rude but improved engine in IT 1 1. But James Watt, though living, had arrived at the age of only one year when Jonathan Hull applied for his patent; and the engine was sleeping in the philo- sophical rooms at the University of Glasgow, as awk- ward and cumbrous thing. It had hitherto been applied merely as a lifter, acting in a right line. It had been taught to open and shut some of the valves of the condenser; yet its energy was communicated only in one direction, relying upon the atmosphere to bring the piston back to its place. If the Hulls had at this early day an idea of an engine with a rotary motion fit t f'd to revolving wheel*, immortal honors are due to their names. The proof of this knowledge ia so far deficient as to preclude this idea. It appears to be a Well-established fact, that John Bournouilli, in France, described a method of pro- pelling a boat in water by means of a pump, and his conception was made public before the French Acad- MEMORY OF JOHN FITCH. 27 emy in 1753. The power of steam was not relied upon to work the pump, but that of animals or men. Even in the clays of Papin and Savary, a boat was worked by animals on the Thames, which had wheels at the side, and was constructed by Prince Rupert. Some accounts, ascending to the time of the Punic war, mention a boat moved by oxen, which the Romans used for the transportation of soldiers across an arm of the sea. The Spanish nation has lately produced a manu- script, said to have been found at Barcelona, and ac- cording to it, Blasco De Garay gave the velocity of a league an hour to a vessel of 209 tons, on the 17th of* June, 1543, in the presence of Charles V. and his cabinet. But without resorting to fabulous or uncertain stories, we continue our abstract of the progress of the development of the idea of steam navigation. Next after Bernouilli came Genevois, in 1759 ; the Count D'Auxirron, of France, in 1774 ; the elder Perrier, also a Frenchman, in 1775. The Marquis De Jouffioy turned his attention that way in 1778 and 1781 ; built a boat to be moved by steam at Bourne le Dimes, which he described in 1783 to the Academy. Jouffroy experimented many years, and his model boats obtained a considerable velocity. In America, Oliver Evans states that he reflected upon steam vessels as early as 1772-3, but made no public declaration of his views. Mr. Henry, of Lan- caster, and Andrew Ellicot, as appears from conver- sations with Mr. Fitch, had, during the progress of the American Revolution, secretly conceived of some plans for effecting the same object. In France, the Abbe Raynal had projects of the Same kind in 1781. This rapid view of inventors and improvers in 28 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. steam power brings us to the time when experiments began to be made upon the same subject in America* The first with which we are acquainted in this country took place in secret, in presence of a few friends near Shepherdstown, Va., during the fall of 1784.* It was made by James Rumsey, a native of Maryland, and resident of Virginia, who had conceived of the project in 1783. Rumsey 's boat had a capacity of six tons, and was first set in motion privately during the darkness of night, the first public experiment having been made in the year 1786 f or 1787. 1 Mr. Fitch conceived of a plan to move water craft in April, 1785. Returning one Sunday from church, in the township of Warminster, Buck's county, Pa., a cliair y a riding vehicle with wheels, passed along the road. Reflecting upon its motion, he supposed that it might be made to traverse the country by the force of steam. After a short time he concluded this to be impracticable, and turned his thoughts upon a scheme of propelling vessels in water by the same agency. I deem it unnecessary to proceed farther in the chro- nological notice of improvements in steamboats. The reference to inventors will be made hereafter without much regard to the order of time. There were in Scotland, Miller, of Dalwinston, 1787; Lord Stanhope, 1793; and Hunter and Dickin- son, 1801 ; in France, Des Blancs, 1802; in America, John Stevens, Jun., 1700-1, and R. R. Livingston, 1798. This crowd of inventors labored, experimented, and suffered before Mr. Fulton's boat was constructed at Plombieres, in 1803. Their several machines had * Reports of Congress Committees, 1888 7, Vol. ii. No. 317. Letters of Wjushin-ton, Jan. 31, 1788, and Nov. 2$, 17 f Reports of Committees, 1838-0, No. 265; aud 183G-7, No. 317. % Virginia Gazette of Nov. or Dec, 1787 MEMORY OF JOHN FITCH. 29 produced a speed of two or three miles an hour, which was not of sufficient practical importance to attract the attention of commercial men. But these facts show incontestably how little room there was for the exercise of original invention in the conception of a steamboat in the year 1793. They also show how little had been done towards perfecting the boat in the year 1783-5, when the American improvers took up the subject. My object is to establish some points wherein it appears that public sentiment has been misled from the truth. The passages above quoted, and numberless expressions uttered in conversation, whenever the subject of the achievements of steam is introduced ; in fact, the universal sentiment of man- kind has placed the era of steam navigation in the year 1807, when the Clermont made her first trip along the Hudson, at the rate of four and seven-tenths miles per hour. This opinion so well fixed and so prevalent has descended from the generation which was astonished by the appearance of tins boat, and of the Paragon, Oar of Neptune, and their consorts, to another who have inherited the belief of their ancestors. Opinions derived from our forefathers require but little con- firmatory proof. They are often received, not only without evidence, but without the desire of it ; with- out research, without question. They amount to more than belief. They may be regarded as a prejudice, a condition of mind where contradiction is disagreeable, and of investigation not only disagreeable but forbid- den. I have felt this bias, and can appreciate its force. My investigations have however driven me, step by step, from my original conclusions in regard to the date of the great impulse which inland naviga- tion received by steam. A thousand circumstances have conspired to conceal from the public experiments 3* 30 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. made and results obtained at Philadelphia in the last century. An examination of those experiments may be tedious, but may also be interesting. It will intro- duce, in a new light, a man of extraordinary charac- ter, a man without education or property, struggling against adversity, against ridicule, neglect, want, and an accumulation of misfortunes, to perfect an inven- tion which his age could not comprehend. The investigation will exhibit a mechanical genius, so far absorbed in its great idea as to abandon self, suffer wrong, and perform astonishing labors, to ac- complish a stupendous undertaking, in advance of the times in which he lived. I think it will be acknowl- edged, that the undertaking ivas accomplished. If the improvement of an engine to work on land upon fixed machinery was an act of sufficient merit to im- mortalize the name of James Watt, in England, will not the construction of an engine by John Fitch, in America, at the same time, and capable of driving a vessel upon water, ensure his name a place among those who have acquired reputation and honor as im- provers upon Savary and Newcomen ? How many have added valuable parts to the engine since it came from the hands of De Caus? Two centuries and a quarter of time have been expended in perfecting, increment by increment, a machine which, at this day, possesses the manual facilities of man, and the strength of many thousands. One man, one age, was insuffi- cient to produce this result. The ingenious of many generations have spent the force of their mechanical talents in the study and improvement of the engine alone. Hundreds and thousands have wasted life and patrimony, during the last three quarters of a century, upon the improvement of the boat to be moved by its expanding powers. All this sacrifice, this thought, this loss of case, peace, money, friends, and human MEMORY OF JOHN FITCH. 31 life, was necessary to and worthy of the result. Every individual who made an advance upon his pre- decessors has been added to the list of fame, except the obliterated and forgotten name of John Fitch. How many of all those who ride over the waters of the earth, impelled by the force of steam, ever heard it pronounced ? What boat of all the seas and rivers of the two continents has his name upon her sides ? And among the scattered reminiscences which his surviving friends here and there publish to the world, how few are credited or even received in memory. Among those who have charge of the engine, now performing its delicate and wonderful duties in every city, town, and village of importance within the range of manu- facturing enterprise, can ten men be found who are aware that John Fitch lived, and obtained the first regular rotary movement of its part in America? Oliver Evans, probably the most extensive improver of the engine in the new world, is well known to his country- men. His name is familiar, and his exalted merits as a mechanic are acknowledged, not only in the United States, but on the other shore of the Atlantic. But from the imperfect biographical notices within our reach, it does not appear that in 1785 Mr. Evans had constructed any of his projected improvements upon engines and steam carriages. Before Mr. Fitch had devoted his talents to the subject, Mr. Evans undoubtedly arrived at conclusions in regard to steam machinery ; for in 1781 he had asserted that by the "power of steam he could drive anything, wagons, mills, or vessels." But if any of these conceptions were, at this time, reduced to prac- tice, and made visible to the world, his historians are not in possession of the facts. His petition to the Legislature of Pennsylvania for a monopoly is dated in the year 1786. At this time, Mr. Fitch had con- $2 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. structed a working model with a cylinder, at first of one inch in diameter, and afterwards of three inches, in which continuous rotary motion was effected. Of his first attempts at an engine, he makes the following assertions : " What I am now to inform you of, I know will not he to my credit, but so long as it is the truth I will insert it, viz : that I did not know there was a steam engine on earth when I proposed to gain force by steam. I leave my first draft and descriptions be- hind, that you may judge whether I am sincere or not. A short time after drawing my first draft for a boat, I was amazingly chagrined to find at Parson Irwin's, in Bucks county, a drawing of a steam engine, but it had the effect to establish me in my principles, as my doubts lay at that time in the engine only."* This was in April, 1785. The improvements of Watt were some of them patented in 1769 ; but his patents for rotary motion, four in number, bear date from 1782 to 1785. For parallel motion he received a patent in 1784. If Mr. Rumsey had at this time constructed an engine, it was such an one as, without rotary motion, would work a pump by a right line movement. For locomotives, for machinery in general, and for vessels, this continuous regular revolving appa- ratus is not only necessary, but indispensable. The uses of the engine, without the faculty of unceasing revolution, would be limited and insignificant, as they were before the time of Watt. Mr. Fitch constructed a rotary engine and put it in operation. Did he invent as well as construct this rotation? Had the improvements made in England within the three previous years reached him in Penn- sylvania ? Were they generally known even in Eng- land at that time? were they published ? were they sent to America ? Had Evans communicated with * Fitch's Manuscript Writings. MEMORY OF JOHN FITCH. 33 Fitch? Had Rumsey? and if he had, was there any- thing in the pumping engine that could be applied to the revolving engine ? To sustain the affirmative of these queries, we know of no proof. The American col- onies were at war with England, and intercourse was unfrequent until after the peace of 1783. The pre- sumption is in favor of the negative to them all. Uumsey's machine was kept a secret until within a few months of April, 1785. Communication was irregular and slow, mails and newspapers few, and not within the means of poor mechanics like Fitch and Rumsey. Fitch himself was in the wilds of Ohio and the north- west; a prisoner among savages from 1782 to 1783, an 1 from 1783 to 1785 remained in the obscure vil- 1 \ dered wretched; and he was bound apprentice to a watchmaker, without, howeyer, having acquired a 36 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. knowledge of the trade. An unfortunate marriage crowned the misery of his condition, and in 1769 he became the adventurer of fortune. After many wander- ings, he became a resident watchmaker at Trenton, New Jersey, where he exercised his trade at the commence- ment of the Revolution. The demand for arms induced him to undertake the business of a gun-smith for the American forces, which exposed his property to destruc- tion, when the British entered that village, in December, 1776. He joined the troops of New Jersey and en- dured the rigors of a winter camp at Valley Forge. Retiring from camp, he recommenced the trade of a silversmith, in Bucks county, Pa., occasionally traversing the county on foot to repair the clocks and watches of the inhabitants. Having procured an appointment as deputy surveyor from the State of Virginia, he started for Kentucky with a knapsack upon his back and a compass in his hand, in the spring of 1780. In the fall of 1781, he returned to Philadelphia, having made extensive surveys between the Kentucky and Green rivers. In the spring of 1782, collecting the fragments of $4000 which had been received in continental money, he was barely able to raise <£150 Pennsylvania currency as a capital for Western adven- ture. At the mouth of the Muskingum this remnant of his fortune, invested in flour and goods, was cap- tured and destroyed by Indians, two of the party killed, and nine taken prisoners. Fitch had the ad- dress to conciliate Capt. Buffaloe, the leader of the band, and the physical endurance to sustain the rigors of Indian slavery. After various adventures he reached "Warminster in the winter of 1782-3, penniless and dejected. Here he resided when the "unfortunate" inspiration came across his mind in regard t<> steam. MEMORY OP JOHN FITCH. 37 "From that time (1785) I have," he says, " pur- sued the idea to this day (1792) with unremitted assiduity, yet do frankly confess that it has been the most imprudent scheme that I ever engaged in. The perplexities and embarrassments through which it has caused me to wade, far exceeded anything that the common course of life ever presented to my view." To comprehend more clearly what ground Mr. Fitch occupied as an inventor we must revert to the engine and the boat. An engine having long been known, it was not the subject of conception, as a new and unheard of thing. The idea of a boat to be moved by steam having been known and discussed, could not at that day have been thought of as a first invention. The proof, it appears to me, is conclusive that, in re- gard both to the engine and boat, Mr. Fitch had formed a connected plan before it was known to him that they existed ; that he was therefore an original, but not a new or first inventor. The field then open to the speculator in boats and engines embraced only the improvements and appli- cations. The knowledge of this fact struck down his rising hopes of renown and usefulness. He had seen the rivers of the West, and had heard from the Indians of many lakes and streams far away in the north and north-west. He had trod the rich soil of the Kentucky, the Sciota, and the Miami rivers, and foresaw the capacity of the regions watered by those streams for the support of life and commerce. His brain was fired with the thought that the navigation of those rivers might be effected by his agency, and for a time luxuriated in the delusion that no mortal had conceived of a similar project. But stripped of those lofty anticipations, he persevered as an improver, in what he commenced as an inventor. What ground was yet unoccupied? The experiments of Rumsey, 4 33 FUC1TTIVE ESSAYS. though unknown to Fitch, had heen made. A hoat had been moved upon the Potomac, with a velocity of three miles an hour, and afterwards increased to "four or five." It is said that Jouffroy had procured a mo- tion of three miles an hour likewise, unknown to Fitch. The abstract question of a boat was no longer open to invention, nor was the first construction of a self- moving craft to be made twice. There was room, however, for the invention and construction of such a boat as should, by different arrangements, machinery and apparatus, be an im- provement upon all known steam vessels. And it is not of so much importance in estimating the value of an invention, to know all that has been done, as to regard what has been thought of or made which is identical. The fact that the end to be at- tained is the same, by no means precludes the idea of arriving at it by different methods. That meritorious mechanic Rumscy, selected owe mode, Jouffroy another, and Fitch a third. The name of all these contri- vances was the same, and the object the same. In each case there was a floating vessel and an internal power, the whole called by a common name, the " Steamboat." Between the central force and the water, or medium on which it must be applied, there was a gap not filled. The boat of our day has re- ceived a connecting apparatus, which transfers the power of the steam cylinder to the surface of the water by means of cranks, shafts, wheels, and buckets. It is this boat as reduced to practice, that has re- ceived so much admiration, ana been of such vast utility. At that day it did not exist, now it does ; who made it what it is f The discussion is naturally confined to such a boat, and does not range through ull manner of boats that have ever been thought of or tried. MEMORY OF JOHN FITCH. 39 To compare more directly the methods adopted by the two American competitors, and to compress the presentation of the subject as much as possible, I have postponed the description of these respective boats, and here introduce them side by side: Description of the boat of James Rumscy. "Rumsey's boat was about fifty feet in length; was propelled by a pump worked by a steam engine, which forced a quantity of water up through the keel ; the valve was then shut by the return stroke, which at the same time forced the water through a channel or pipe, a few inches square, lying above and parallel to the kelson out at the stern under the rudder. The impetus of this water forcing the square channel against the exterior water acted as an unfailing power upon the vessel. The reaction of the effluent water propelled her at the rate above mentioned (four or five miles an hour), when loaded with three tons, in addition to the weight of her engine, or about one- third of a ton. The boiler was quite a curiosity, hold- ing no more than five gallons of water, and needing only a pint at a time. The whole machinery did not occupy a space greater than that required for four barrels of Hour. The fuel consumed was not more than four to six bushels of coal in twelve hours. Rum- sey's other project was to apply the power of a steam engine to long poles, which were to reach the bottom of the river, and by that means push a boat against the current."* Description of the boat of John Fitch, Published by himself in the Columbian Magazine, Dec. 1788. " The cylinder is to be horizontal, and the steam to work with equal force at both ends. The mode by * Stuart's Anecdotes of the Steam Engine. 40 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. which we obtain a vacuum is, we believe, entirely new, as is also the method of letting the water into it, and throwing it off against the atmosphere without any friction. It is expected that the cylinder, which is twelve inches in diameter, will move with a clear force of eleven or twelve hundred weight after the frictions are deducted ; this force to be directed against a wheel eighteen inches in diameter. The piston is to move about three feet, and each vibration of it is to give the axis (or shaft) forty revolutions. Eacli revolution of the axis moves twelve oars or paddles, five and a half feet. They work perpendicularly, and are repre- sented by the strokes of the paddle of a canoe ; as six of the paddles are raised from the water, six more are entered (three on a side), and the two sets of paddles make their strokes of about eleven feet at each revolu- tion. The cranks of the axis set upon the paddles, about one-third of their length from their lower ends, on which part of the oar the whole force of the axis is applied. The engine is placed in the bottom of the boat about one-third from the stern, and both the ac- tion and reaction turn the wheel the same way." Such are the two schemes of navigation which oc- cupied the minds of Rumsey and Fitch, which became the ruling passion of their souls, and continued to employ their mental and physical energies until the ]a>t hours of life. It was in respect to these projects, so widely different, that between them an Animated personal controversy arose during their lives for the honor of the priority and value of their respective machines. It would seem that they were pursuing paths so far asunder that no collision of this kind was necessary. It would be difficult to point out a single article common to the two boats, except the boiler and the floating craft. Whatever merit belongs t<> either may be shared in its fullest extent without derogating MEMORY OF JOHN FITCH. 41 from the other. Rumsey invented in 1783, experi- mented in 1784, and more fully in 1786 or 1787. Fitch invented in 1785, experimented in 1786, and performed on a large scale in 1788. Both began as original inventors, but both had the mortification to learn that they were not prior inventors. For llum- sey's propelling arrangement, Bernoulli had pre-occu- pied the ground fifty years before, and as to the en- gine, the invention had been known more than a century. In this respect, however, the engine of Fitch is to the engine as an improved machine what Watt is to Newcomen. The latter was without circular motion, without, therefore, a complicated connecting series, without axles or shaft crank or cogwheels. The en- gine of the former appears to have included the " double-acting" principle, by which the old atmos- pheric engine was made a true and real steam engine, working, as he says, "with equal force at both ends." This improvement, like that of a good rotary mo- tion, was likewise introduced by Watt about the same time. We have no account of the precise time when Mr. Fitch made this addition, or whether it was origi- nal with him or not. Neither am I able at this time to ascertain the exact period when Mr. Watt first made known to the world his invention of the double-acting cylinder. It is reported that he retained it as a secret a long time after his own conceptions were matured. If made public in 1785-6, whether it had reached Mr. Fitch, at Warminster, is also involved in doubt. For this, as for the rotary apparatus, I refer to his own statement made, many years after, to the American Congress. His first model was completed in brass in August, 1785, having its machinery perfect, and bear- ing at the sides wheels instead of paddles. The pad- dles were adopted in 1786, after experimenting upon the wheels. 4* 42 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. Dr. Franklin, in the fall of 1785, had written an essay upon navigation, discarding the use of the wheels, and adopting the plan of Bernoulli. The buckets of the wheels were found to labor too much in the water, entering, as they did, at a consider- able angle, and departing at the same. They lost power by striking the surface, and afterwards by lift- ing themselves out of the water. This led to the sub- stitution of oars or paddles, which e nt ered almost perpendicular, and left the water inclined a little towards the stern. The construction of such a boat became to Fitch the highest object of his ambition. He applied to the Continental Congress for aid, rep- resenting the immense advantage its success would be to the western lands lately conquered by the American arms. He petitioned the legislature of Pennsyl- vania for money, representing in high wrought figure of the imagination the splendid consequences of the project, if carried into effect. He portrayed in the pri- vate ear of the Western and Virginia members of Con- gress, the achievements in reserve for steam through the agency of his contrivance. He wrote to Franklin in October, 1786, affirming the practicability of sea navigation by steam vessels, and every where, and at all times, boldly asserted as a prediction what we ob- serve as facts. But none of his fervid representations produced the money, and he acquired the reputation of an insane man. Finally, by the construction, en- graving, and sale of a map of the north-western terri- tory, all of which was done with his own hands, in the workshop of his friend Cobe Scout of Warininster, and the impression taken in a cider press, he raised about $800, and in February, 1787, formed a company of forty shares, and commenced a boat of sixty tons. After innumerable vexations and delays, principally occasioned by the formation of the engine, the boat MEMORY OF JOHN FITCH. 43 was put in motion, and made only three miles an hour. The machinery was so rough that the expected power of a cylinder of twelve inches was not realized. The company was discouraged, but another rally was effected, the shares doubled, and the improvements commenced. "I was," says Dr. Thornton, "among the number (shareholders), and in less than twelve months Ave were ready for the experiment." The day was appointed. A mile was measured on Front street (now Water street), Philadelphia, and the bound projected at right angles as exactly as could be to the wharf, where a flag was placed at each end, and also a stop-watch. The boat was ordered under way at dead water, or when the tide was found to be with- out movement. As the boat passed one flag it was struck, and at the same instant the w r atches were set oft'. When the boat reached the other flag it was also struck, and the watches instantly stopped. Every pre- caution was taken before witnesses, the time was shown to all, and the experiment declared to be fairly made. The boat was proved to go at the rate of eight miles an hour, or one mile in seven minutes and a half, upon which the shares were signed over with great satisfaction by the rest of the company. It after- wards made eighty miles in one day.* This was in October, 1788, and the boat was called the "Perseverance.' 1 '' On the 12th of the same month, she ascended the Delaware to Burlington, with thirty passengers, a distance of twenty miles, in three hours and twenty minutes. She had as yet no cabins, but ran as a passenger boat for some time on the Dela- ware. If Dr. Thornton means by "a day" twelve hours, running time, her speed was six and two-thirds miles per hour. Her trip to Burlington was made at six and one-third miles an hour. But Mr. Fitch had * Lives of Eminent Mechauics, p. o'2. 44 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. calculated upon a regular rate of eight miles, and was therefore not satisfied with her performances. The success already obtained gave him pleasure, but he looked forward to greater results. He was well aware that along the level roads of the Delaware, where stages could make five or six miles an hour, a passen- ger boat of six miles could never be profitable. It was necessary to exhibit a speed which should astonish the beholder, in order to induce the public to travel upon a craft that had more the appearance of an infernal machine than of a quiet, comfortable, and safe con- veyance. He therefore abandoned the company to make new and more enlarged efforts, and the Perse- verance was laid up for the winter. Although no money could be obtained from Con- gress, the States, or from various corporations ad- dressed on the subject, the legislatures of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, had granted him valuable but indefinite mo- nopolies for a term of years. His dissatisfaction with the company arose from repeated interference on the part of the members, upon which he was dependent for money, in the con- struction of the machinery. In the winter of 1788-9, old scores were settled, and in the coming spring new arrangements were made for a more perfect and en- larged boat. She was completed in the fall, and made an experiment which was satisfactory. That night she took fire and burned to the water's edge. In the spring of 1790, the second boat was repaired, a consolidated company formed, and a third steamer constructed during the summer. These were destined to fulfil the conditions of the grant from Virginia, re- quiring the presence of two working boats within her waters before the expiration of four years. The law expired November 7th, 1790, and the two boats were MEMORY OF JOHN FITCH. 45 lying in the Delaware ready for a movement, when a furious storm arose and drove one of them upon Pet- ty's Island, where it lay until after the statute expired. Deprived of every hope of relief from the grants of the States, he turned to the new Congress and the patent laws under the constitution. On application to the Congress of the Confederacy in. 1788, he used the following expressions : " We have overcome every difficulty which can cause doubts to arise, having done what was never done before. We have exhibited to the world a vessel going against strong winds and tides, the vessel carrying the engine, the engine pro- pelling the vessel, and all moving together against the current. If we never carry it to any greater degree of perfection, we have, I presume, merited a generous reward." In the petition of July 2d, 1790, from which we have already quoted, he recapitulates the history of his enterprise, and observes that, "Having at length fully succeeded in his scheme, he trusts he now comes forward not as an imaginary projector." The year 1791 was principally wasted in securing a patent from the United States, which bear date August 26th of that year. This patent is not to be found in the Commissioner's office, having been de- stroyed by fire with the public buildings in 1886. Its terms, therefore, can not be quoted. But in 1817, a committee of the legislature of New York, before whom it was shown, with drawings, models, and testimony, make the following official statement respecting it : "In Fitch's boat, the cranks of the axle beam were connected with a frame, from which paddles were sus- pended, acting in an elliptical line upon the water ; while in Fulton's boat, the axle was attached to verti- cal wheels, with paddles or buckets permanently fixed in the periphery, and in both the motion of the axis 46 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. was rotary. The boats built by Livingston and Fulton were, in substance, the invention patented to John Fitch in 1791, and that Fitch, during the time of his patent, had the exclusive right to use the same in the United States."* This committee had before them written statements of Dr. Rittenhouse, Andrew Ellicott, John Ewing, and Oliver Evans, who certified to the performances of the Perseverance and other boats on the Delaware. General Bloomfield appeared in person, and stated that he had passed up and down the Delaware as a passenger on the boat, and regarded her as in success- ful operation. The patent system was then so loosely executed, that he regarded his parchment from the United States as calculated rather to involve him in useless litigation than to give him valuable protection. He had been in communication with the Spanish minister at Phila- delphia, and the Governor at New Orleans, respecting a right to the use of the Mississippi. Mr. Vail, the United States Consul at L'Orient in France, was desirous to propose the matter to the National Assembly. Although the permission relative to the Mississippi was at length granted, Mr. Fitch concluded to visit France, and did so in the year 1793. But the civil disorders of that kingdom prevented the accomplishment of his desires. He withdrew to Lon- don, and by working his passage as a sailor regained America, broken down in body and dejected in mind, and disgusted at the stupidity of a generation who could not, like him, comprehend the immeasurable benefits of the application of steam to water-craft. In 1796, lie withdrew to his lands near IJardstmvn, Kentucky, which he found in the occupation of others. In 1798 he took a fatal poison, and died in the cham- * New York ltevi'.'w, Vol. iv. No. 7, \>. 1 I- MEMORY OF JOHN PITCH. 47 ber of a tavern, attended by no relative or friend (his landlord excepted), and was buried in the corner of the grave yard, in presence of six or seven persons, ■without a stone or other monument to mark the spot. The fulfilment of our design, to do justice to this child of misfortune and forgetfulness, would require an examination of the claims of subsequent inventors to works evidently the property of Fitch. Fulton had an eulogist, who, while the earth was still fresh upon his grave, sounded his praises to the world. They are known wherever a steamboat cleaves the water, on every shore which has echoed with the sound of its engine. But Fitch had none. It was even doubtful, until within about two years, whether his grave could be identified. His manuscripts were sealed up in the year 1792, with directionsnot to be broken until thirty years after his death. He had withdrawn from the scene of his sorrows and his triumphs to an obscure village of the remote West. He was in his grave, and his relatives were ignorant of the time, place, and manner of his death. The first model of his boat at Warminster was destroyed or lost. The patent was buried in the ar- chives of the office, until it was consumed by fire. His contemporaries and friends, though retaining a cher- ished remembrance of his genius and integrity, were scattered throughout the land, advanced in life, or, already like him, in the grave. In 1805, a model, made by him in Bardstown, was burnt in the house where he died. In 1842, the pamphlets and papers left to one of his executors, the Honorable John Rowan, were likewise consumed by fire. Oblivion in every form seems to have settled upon his memory in a cloud of thick darkness, which we hope is about to be dispersed. In 1828, the Honorable Robert Wickliffe, then a 48 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. member of the Senate of Kentucky, who had seen Mr. Fitch while at Bardstown, and knew the impor- tant services he had rendered to mankind, proposed a resolution authorizing a plain monument to be erected over his mortal remains. It was referred, on the 8th of February, 1828, to a select committee, who made no report, and the project was allowed to remain with- out farther notice until the winter of 1843-4. At the time of Mr. Wickliffe's resolution the manuscripts at Philadelphia were not opened. Little or nothing ma- terial was known of the history of the man whose name it was proposed to distinguish. It is not strange that no interest was excited, no action had, and that the shades of forgetfulness were suffered to gather again about his memory. At the last session of the legislature of the State of his adoption, a memorial, embracing an abstract of his inventions, successes, eccentricities, and trials, was presented at the last moment of their sitting, reviving the subject of a monumental notice. This will be found on the print- ed Journals of the House for 1844, p. 588, having received no action for want of time. With Mr. Fitch ir was a favorite desire that his bones might be laid on the banks of the Ohio. In a moment of despon- dency, while pursuing his gigantic undertaking at Philadelphia, he exclaims: "Why these earnest soli- citations and excruciating anxieties? Why not leave them, and retire to rest under the shady elms on th» fair banks of Ohio, and there eat my coarse but sweet bread of industry and eontcnt, and, when I have done, to have my body laid in the soft, warm, and loamy soil of the banks, my name inscribed on a neighbor- ing poplar, that future generations, when traversing the mighty waters of the West, may find my grassy turf." And still later he breaks forth in the same poetical strain, referring to the position of his grave, MEMORY OP JOHN FITCTI. 49 and hoping that it may be made on the shores of some of the waters of the West, in order that the "song of the boatman might enliven the stillness of his resting place, and the music of the steam engine sooth his troubled spirit." In case the efforts to secure monumental honors for his remains by the act of public bodies shall fail, there is a band of surviving friends who are prepared to do, and have resolved that it shall be done. The rubbish of forty-five years has almost oblite- rated his grave, and the tide of time has carried the principal part of his contemporaries into the same eternity with himself. But a few still live, and with them the sense of his merits, the remembrance of his achievements, and the bitter sorrows that were his rewards, are not obliterated or even dimmed by age. It is expected that, before many years have passed, justice, though tardy in its arrival, will be at last ren- dered, and his genius will receive the homage, as his misfortunes will the commiseration, of his country- fnen ; that those who navigate the noble rivers of the West will, from the decks of numberless boats, yet witness upon some commanding headland of the Ohio a neat, white, and conspicuous column which shall mark the repose of Fitch. Delay, instead of operating as a bar to the per- formance of such a duty, instead of precluding by limitation the obligations of justice, gives new force to those obligations. Other men have been rewarded for similar inventions 'by the enjoyment of universal celebrity, Fitch by universal neglect. In the Congress of the United States and in public orations, in State legislatures, and even in foreign countries, how often and how honorably has the name of Fulton been pro- nounced ! His is but one of a crowd of inventors whose names rush upon the memory when the steam 5 f>0 rttdiTTVE essays. engine or the steamboat engages our thoughts. There are those of Savary and Newcomen, of Watt and Bol- ton, the elder and the younger Stevens, of Rumsey and Franklin 1 , Stanhope and tivingston, — these are fa- miliar ; but where is the name of Fitch? While the friends of Rumsey, Evans, and Fulton have offered encomiums upon those gifted mechanics, those public benefactors, — while the legislature of the nation has been moved in their behalf as meritorious citizens and inventors, and the treasury of the nation has respond- ed her gratitude in a substantial form,- — where is the orator, the voice, or the petition, that has presented the claims of Fitch? The reality of these claims will appear in a stronger light by comparing more closely the nature of his ma- chine and that of his successors. Practical minds will at once enquire why his boat was not brought into immediate use. This will be made at first view the test, the sole test, of the value of his invention. We are now tolerably well informed of what that in- vention was ; we have a knowledge of what in it was borrowed, and what was originated. I have endea- vored to present fairly what had been done up to April, 1785. From every thing which was invented by him at fliat time ? Bernouilli, Rumsey, and Frank- lin, were as far as possible ; Raynal and Jouffroy were almost as far. Before Watt the engine was but poorly adapted to any machinery : Watt had never adapted it to a boat. Twenty years after, Watt and Pulton undertook the work, and found it a most diffi- cult and doubtful application. This adaptation was effected by Fitch in 1788. A quarter of a century afterwards, the workshops of America could not furnish an engine of any kind. Pitch made <»nc, and put it it operation in 1 T < s 7 8, In 1807 a steambat was run from New York to MEMORY OP JOHN FITCH. 51 Albany, at the rate of four and seven-tenths miles an hour, by Robert Fulton, and returned at the rate of Jive miles an hour. In 1788 a steamboat ran upon the Delaware eighty miles in a "day," and twenty miles in three hours and ten minutes, which was built by John Fitch. Both had an engine and crank mo- tion, and both had shafts or axles. At the end of the shafts of one were paddles, at the end of the other wheels. Both the wheels and the paddles projected in an equally cumbrous manner over the sides of the boat. The Perseverance, with thirty passengers, made six and one-third miles an hour ; the Clermont made four and seven-tenths. How circumstances and times alter cases ! The trade and transportation of the Delaware in 1788 were limited, and the roads along her banks were level. The Perseverance and her consorts paid no dividends. The trade and travel of the Hudson in 1807 were important, and the journey along her shores rough, tedious, and forbidding. The Clermont, at a speed almost one^third less, procured freight and passengers, and by the test of profit and loss, has been declared successful, more successful than her predecessor upon the Delaware. Had they started together, over the same course, at the same time, the Perseverance, gain- ing one mile and six-tenths an hour, would have reached Albany fifty-two^miles in advance.. Her performances on the Delawa*£e had been equal to that nineteen years before, and on trial in the harbor had shown a speed of three miles greater than the Clermont. But. the Perseverance is forgotten, and the day of her triumph also, while mankind everywhere within the scope of civilization remember the month of August, 1807. The North River boats continued to run, pay dividends, and improve during the life of the monopoly of Livingston and Fulton ; but at its expiration their -")- FUGITIVE ESS.W> steamers had but just acquired the speed of eight miles an hour. Stevens put them up at once to thir- teen or thirteen and a half, being a gain of five miles an hour, or a greater increase than the actual speed of the first class of boats. In the contemplation af Fitch something equal to, or exceeding eight miles, was necessary to success. In practice upon the Hud- son, five miles secured an immortal name. Was it for the invention? Mr. Fulton, a modest and just man, never claimed it. Was it for the engine? This was the work of Watt. Was it for the crank, the shaft, or the axle? The New York committee Bay they were all found in Mr. Fitch's Patent of 1791, and Noah Webster, Esq,, says that in 1793 Mr. Vail presented all of Mr. Fitch's papers to Mr. Fulton for examination.* Was it for the wheels? They had been seen and attached to boats more than half a cen- tury, and had been tried repeatedly within a quarter of a century.t Was it for speed? In this important particular there was a retrograde of one-third. For convenience or strength ? These were subsequent im- provements. For perceiving in advance of his day • (Inihani's Magazine, July, 1S-1 >, p. 108. f The Philadelphia inventor 1i:kI tried them, unci found that a given power acting upon paddles produced more velocity. The paddles fulfilled the conditions now obtained by an enlargement of the wheel. It saved the expenditure of power, which was lost by forcing the buckets fiat-wise into the water, and lifting them from it. It is remarkable that the angle of Fitch's paddles with the water, as they were dropped into it, correspond very nearly with that of the buckets of a thirty foot wheel. The principles of his conclusions upon this angle are thus verified to be more correct than those of the early wheel-boat builders. His results and the results of the best constructed modern boats were the same, — they produced the greatest velocity with the least power. The difference in construction is not a change of the principle. The wheel is more firm, and less liable therefore to injury, but the force of the resisting surface is the same, applied In all small wheels at a less advantageous angle. The first boats of the Hud- son had wheels of twelve to sixteen feet in diameter MEMORY OF JOHN FITCH. 53 the advantages to commerce, and especially the com- merce of western rivers? This subject had been pre- sented to the public in every form, to an incredulous Congress, to city authorities, and State legislatures, by Mr. Fitch, during ten long years of importunity and disregard. Was it for predicting a future navi- gation of the sea by "packets and armed vessels ? " Fitch had recorded that prophecy in his letter to Franklin, October 12, 1785,* and to Rittenhouse in 1792.f As an inventor Mr. Fulton's genius shone most conspicuously, not in ordinary steamboats, but in sub- marine and marine warfare, — a display measurably forgotten by his countrymen. It was upon torpedoes and submerged batteries, upon steam frigates and cable cutters, that his mechanical talents and his science exerted itself with most splendid effect. Cir- cumstances beyond the control of man rendered the other branch of his study most conspicuous. But why did not Fitch and his companions occupy the Hud- son ? He was not compelled by the New York sta- tute of 1788 to put boats in motion within that State, as he was in Virginia. His efforts and hopes were first directed to the latter State, and we have seen how sadly they were frustrated by the loss of one of two boats, required by law, at the last moment, when they could not be replaced. We have seen how, at this hour of trial, his resources, his health, en- couragement, and future prospects, all failed at once. For all valuable purposes this was the death of Fitch. His prolonged existence was of no further benefit to his invention, yet it was a continuous scene of grief so intense that it can not be recited without exciting sympathy in every breast, * Life and Writings of Franklin Vol. x. f Lives of Eminent Mechanics, p. 33. 54 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. EARLY DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. [Cincinnati Directory, 184-1.] In the historical details of the separate cities of the West it would be necessary, in case we should ascend to its remotest occupation, to repeat many events, some of them many times. For instance, a perfect history of the city of Pittsburgh would em- brace the annals of the early French discoverers ; New Orleans is in the same condition, having been first occupied by the same people in their early enter- prises in North America ; Natchez and St. Louis, Vincennes and Detroit, have the same origin. From all these places we shall procure a compact yet sub- stantially complete record of their annals and their advance, through the lapse of many generations, to the rank of important commercial cities. To avoid as much as possible the necessity of a tedious repetition, we offer a condensed view of these discoveries, as they are said to have been made, in the Mississippi Valley. This rapid sketch will em- brace all the region now called by the name of the West, through which trade has established its chan- nels, and will therefore answer for reference in all cases where the reader is desirous to trace the history of the city of his residence back to the first appear- ance of civilized man upon its shores. EARLY DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 55 THE SPANISH ADVENTURERS. The Spanish nation, among other recollections of the days of their pride and power, refer to the dis- covery of the Mississippi as the result of their enter- prise and courage. They relate the fact that Fer- dinand De Soto, a companion of Pizarro, and emulous of his fame, — a man who had been Governor of Cuba, — landed at Espirito Santo, in Florida, in May, 1539, with nine hundred men and three hundred horses. With a part of this force he penetrated the forests so far as to strike the Mississippi at the lower Qhick- asaw Bluffs, in 1541. They cross the river, and journey up along its western shore in search of wealthy cities and rich mines of gold, probably as far as New Madrid. Parties of Spaniards went onwards towards the Missouri, but found nothing of the wealth of which they were in search. The little army struck into the country on the west, and finally rested for the winter on the banks of the Washita. In 1542 they returned to the river Mississippi, at the mouth of Red river, called the country of the G-uachoya. On the 21st of May De Soto died, and his body, as some authors say, wrapped in a cloak, and others enclosed in an oak log, was sunk in the waters of the Missis- sippi. The Spaniards liberated their slaves, and in the next spring had prepared barges for descending the river. A large number of these warlike adventurers perished miserably in combats with the Indian tribes, by starvation, and by the fatality of the climate ; but enough of them survived to relate their travels, and to furnish their countrymen with a description of the Lower Mississippi. Whether this relation was known in France at the 56 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. moment when her people took up the cause of west- ern discovery, we can not at this remote day satisfac- torily determine. Her foremost and most enthusiastic travellers in the new world leave us to infer that their first knowledge of the existence of that river was de- rived from the natives who inhabited the Upper Lakes. But it is a rational supposition that they may have heard of the great river of the Spaniards, aid yet regarded the stream which the Indians of Lake Huron marked out in their rude style upon the ground as another river, occupying a more westerly position, of greater length, and having a different connection with the ocean. The French therefore claim the honor of discovering the Mississippi. THE FRENCH DISCOVERERS. This people approached the Gulf of Mexico by way of the St. Lawrence and the lakes. In the fall of the year 1535, in the reign of Francis I, a Frenchman by the name of Cartier ascended the river St. Lawrence as far as the island of Montreal. Six years afterwards, a fort or trading post was estab- lished at Quebec, destined to abandonment in a short time. The site of the old fort was re-visited by Chain- plain in 1603, and in 1608 an association of merchants of Rouen, St. Malo, and La JiocheUr, commenced the city which lias since risen to such commercial im- portance. In 1620 it was well established, and a good fort erected there. During the year 1625 the Jesuit missionaries, who had already appeared on the banks of the St. Law- rence, carried the cross to the shores of Lake Huron, and in 1634 Daniel and Brebeauf established a per- manent missionary station upon its shores. In 1641 two missionaries, llamboult and Juugcs, EA11LY DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 57 arrived at the Falls of St. Mary's, and found there two hundred Wadowessies, or Sioux, disposed to re- ceive the gospel. i From thence, these devoted ministers of the \cross pressed, in considerable numbers; into the In- dian country ; offering the rites of the Catholic re- ligion, baptism and absolution, to all such as would receive them. The French traders travelled in company with the Holy Fathers, gathering rich cargoes of northern furs from the native tribes along the lakes. The Abbe Mesnard preached repentance to the Sioux, at Kewena Bay, on Lake Superior, in 1660 ; but, desirous to spread his faith still farther along these inhospitable shores, he departed for Chegoime- gon, and perished in the woods near Portage Lake. Five years afterwards, Father Allouez reached Chegoimegon, and erected a chapel there. The Chip- pew T as, Hurons (or Wyandots), the Sioux, — the Illi- nois and the Ottawas, inseparable allies of the Hu- rons, — were at this time (October, 1665) in grand council at this place. They spoke of a great river, which they called Mcssipi. Nicholas Perrot, a layman, and authorized by the French Intendant of Canada, assembled the nations at St. Mary's, in 1671. After much friendly inter- course at St. Mary's, Perrot, Marquette, and Dablon proceed to explore the western shore of Lake Michi- gan ; and Perrot succeeds in reaching the present site of the city of Chicago. Joliet, a French officer, was commissioned to find the " great river ;" and in 1763, being accompanied by Father Marquette, two Indian guides, and five voyageurs, they ascended the Fox river of Green Bay. On the tenth of June, they drew their canoes across the Winnebago portage, and launched them ripon the current of the " Ouisconsin." 58 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. The aborigines depicted this stream as dangerous in the extreme ; not only by reason of its quicksands, whirlpools, and rapids, but there, and in the great river itself, dreadful demons had taken up their abode, who caught up all passengers in their horrid embrace. The adventurers persisted, however, in their voyage, and, in seven days, floated out into the broad channel of the Mississippi, unhurt. Here, having accomplished the glorious object of their mis- sion in safety, they offer thanks to Almighty God for his protection, standing on the banks of the mightiest river of the world. On its shores, and especially along the borders of the Wiskonsin, they beheld such scenery as no traveller had seen before them — the rolling upland prairie, spread out beyond the sweep of vision, on every side a meadow clothed in the deep- eft green. They saw every variety of game feeding on the hill sides, which was easily brought down by their muskets ; and having feasted their bodies upon the fish, fowl, and wild meat of the region, and their eyes with the surpassing beauty of the great valley, the threshhold of which only was passed, they com- mitted themselves to the guidance of the newly found river of their desires. They floated onward to the mouth of the Ohio, which they call the " Ouabache" where they found a band of the Shawnees residing. They even continued to sail downward, to the mouth of the Arkansas ; but here the expedition terminate 1. Joliet returned to Quebec, by way of the Illinois river and Chicago creek, to lay the results of the journey before his patron, the Intendant Talon. Ta- lon was overjoyed to learn that his Xouvelle France, in addition to lakes of greater extent and purer water than any in the known world, embraced a luxuriant domain, equal to all Europe, ami rivers un«>n a scale EARLY DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 59 of greater magnificence thati the other displays of nature in this hidden world. Marquette remained with the Miamies about tho south end of Lake Michigan until May, 1675, incul- cating the precepts of the Gospel. He was already advanced in life, and exhausted by travel and expo- sure. Coasting along the eastern shore of the lake, he steered his canoe into the mouth of a creek which now bears his name. He landed upon the shore and retired amid the trees, fragrant with the buds and flowers of spring, to pray in secret, knelt down upon the ground, and was soon after found dead at the same place. But mankind have awarded to the Chevalier La Salle the merit of making the first thorough explora- tion of the Mississippi, and of establishing settle- ments upon its waters. He constructed the first vessel which spread her white wings upon the waters of Lake Erie. The Griffin, a sail-craft of sixty tons, was launched at the mouth of Tonewanda Creek, on the 7th of August, 1679. She pursued her course through the lake, the Detroit river, and the Lake of the Hurons, to Mackinaw, on the peninsula of Michi- gan, where a trading post and fort were established. The Griffin was loaded with furs on her return, to the great joy of Monsieur La Salle. In her were the results of many years of incredible exertion, his en- tire fortune, and with it the resources that were to sustain his enterprise. She foundered on Lake Mi- chigan. The adventurer took canoes, and coasted down the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. He as- cended the St. Joseph's, and finding a low swampy tract which communicated with a southern stream, he transported their light vessels into the Kankakee, and down it to the Illinois. On its banks, they built the fort of Oreveeceur, or the "broken heart j" signi- 60 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. fying the forlorn state of their feelings at the time. Here they winter in 1679-80, and await the return of the Griffin. It was not until 1682 that La Salle himself de- scended the river, and determined to find its discharge into the ocean. At the Chickasaw Bluffs he erected a cabin, at the mouth of the Arkansas raised a cross, and, sailing with the principal channel, on the 9th of April he saw the Gulf of Mexico. Here he planted the arms of France in token of possession, and returned by way of Crevecoeur and the lakes to the city of Paris. To the French court the affair appeared to be of high importance. It was determined that the " Mes- cliasebe" should become the residence of Frenchmen, and La Salle was provided with/o^r vessels, one hun- dred soldiers, and one hundred and eighty artisans, to effect this object. They reach the Gulf of Mexico, but pass the mouths of the Great River without being able to find them, and landing finally at the Bay of Matagorda, erect Fort St. Louis, in June, 1685. After suffering at this post a year and a half, the Chevalier departs by land in search of the "fatal river," with a com- pany of sixteen men. Twenty-four, the remnant of his armament, remain at the Fort. On the Trinity River one of his men kills his nephew, and when La Salle inquires after the young man, they strike him to the earth, where he dies. But the system of colonization was not abandoned on account of the loss of its pioneer. La Salle had established a fort and a trading post on the St. Jo- seph's of Lake Michigan, called Fort Miami : and his party, soon after his arrival on the Illinois, located a station on the Kaskaskias. Monsieur D'IbemUe reached the mouth of the Mississippi in 1699, as the EARLY DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 61 successor of La Salle, built a fort, and ascended to fche village of the Natchez. As he crossed the low ground after landing, and walked up the hill in view of the Indian town, he was so much delighted with the beauty of the spot that he immediately traced out a fort, and called it Rosalie, after the Duchess of Pontchar train. In returning he met an English ship of twelve guns, claiming for the crown of Great Britain the entire region which the French had traversed. They (the English) insisted that Cabot had discovered the entire coast of Florida, as this region was then called. But being at once ordered to depart, they did so, threatening, as they went, to return in the following year with force, and drive away these French inter- lopers. But they did not come, and the next year more Frenchmen arrived,, who made the first settle- ment at the Isle of Dauphin. In 1712 this place was abandoned, but "Maubile" and Biloxi continued. This was the year of Orozafs grant, bounded on the north by the Illinois. Crozart resigned his monopoly in 1717, and John Law's great " Company of the Indies" take posses- sion of Louisiana, as Monsieur D'Iberville chose to call it. The Governor, M. Bienville, selected New Orleans as a post of trade and defence. In 1719, France and Spain being at open war, the French fall upon Pensacola, a Spanish town, which they capture and occupy ; but the Spaniards repossess themselves of the place, and the French colonial troops again invest and carry the fort. Hitherto the Council Gen- eral of the colony had been fixed at Biloxi, but in 1721 the officials and their attaches removed to New Orleans, a place which, from that hour, has not ceased to be a capital. New France was therefore divided into two pro- 6 62 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. vinces,— Canada and Louisiana ; but what constituted New France, geographically considered, was by no means reduced to a certainty. By the treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, the French king had yielded New- foundland and Hudson's Bay to the English. The latter colony began at a point or promontory of the Atlantic, in latitude 58° 30' north, thence to Lake Mistassin, thence south-west to the 49th parallel, and with it west indefinitely. New York claimed all north of the 40th degree, and west of New England and the Ottawa river, even to the 49th parallel, Vir- ginia all between 36|° and 40°. The French had planted a colony at Port Royal, on the Carolina coast, in 1652, which, being aban- doned, was revived in 1654, as a refuge for the per- secuted Huguenots or Calvinists. But Melendez D'Aviles of Spain, armed with a commission to destroy all heretics, fell upon Fort Carolina and took it, Sep- tember 25, 1655. Because Melendez had massacred all the Protes- tants taken at Fort Carolina, Dominic De G-ourges, a Calvinist of Gascony, determined upon revenge, and providing himself with three ships and one hundred and fifty men, he sailed to Florida, and surprised three Spanish ships at the mouth of the St. Matheo, by us called St. Johns. He repaired thence to Fort Carolina, and took possession of the post. Melendez having massacred the Huguenots, as he said, not as Frenchmen, but as Calvinists, De Gourges hung his prisoners upon a tree, and attached to it a notice that they were not executed as Spaniards or mariners, but as pirates, robbers, and murderers. But France formally relinquished the whole South Atlantic coast, and Spain resumed it as far north as Cape Fear. In 1748 the French insisted upon the following line as dividing them from the British colonies: — Begin- EARLY DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 63 ning at the mouth of the Apalachicola river and the Gulf of Mexico, thence up the same to its source, and with the Allegheny ridge to the sources of the Susquehannah, thence in a straight line to Fort Co- hasser on the Connecticut river, near Long Falls, and from this point north-eastward, parallel to the St. Lawrence, to the Kennebec, with it to the sea, and across the Bay of Fundy to Cape Canso. The English offered to accept of a boundary, — for the north the lakes and St. Lawrence, and the west a line from Presque Isle on Lake Erie, through French Creek to the Apalachian range, as claimed by the French themselves. But the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was signed, and by it nothing was settled respecting their colonial limits. Thus the war of 1754 came on without any fixed understanding of boundary ; in fact, it occurred prin- cipally in consequence of the common title set up by the two nations to the Ohio country. The " Ohio Company" was authorized by the British Parliament, in 1749, to locate 600,000 acres on the Ohio and its waters ; and to have an exclusive trade with the Indians. Christopher Gist, their principal agent, with his surveyors, entered the country in 1751, and explored the Great Miami. In 1752 he established a trading post and temporary defences on this river, at the mouth of Loramie's Creek, of which the French soon had information, and came with an armed force to capture the station. This they accomplished very easily, took the English prisoners, killed fourteen Piankcshaws who sustained them, and carried the goods collected there to their forts on the Miami of the lakes. And to prevent the Ohio Company real- izing their expectations, they took possession of a new route, covering it with posts. From Presque Isle 64 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. they made a portage to French Creek, and erected a fort upon it. At its mouth, on the Allegheny, they construct Fort Venango, and provided it with a L r ;»r- rison. The Governor of Virginia, regarding those posts as clearly within his colony, considered the proceeding as nothing less than an invasion, and, to to enquire into the matter, sent George Washington, in the fall of 1753, with a letter to St. Pierre, the commandant at Fort Du Beuf, on French Creek. In the spring Governor Dinwiddie raised a few men, and ordered them to construct a fort at the mouths of the Monongahela and the Allegheny rivers. Ensign Ward and forty soldiers had scarcely begun to cut pickets when Monsieur Contreceur descended the Allegheny, accompanied by a formidable body of Indian and French troops. They took possession of the Virginians as prisoners, and built Fort Du Quesne. The war may now be said to have commenced. It resulted in the treaty of Paris, in 1763, by which France ceded to England .all her claims and terri- tories in North America east of the Mississippi to the river Iberville and Lake Pontchartrain. At the beginning of the war the French had in possession^rthirty-eight garrisons and trading posts, located as follows: — Beginning at the north, at the head of the Bay of Fundy, Fort Clrignccto. A fort at the head of Bay Verte, on the opposite side of the Peninsula of New Brunswick. Fort St. John, mouth of St. John's river. Cohasset, on the Connecticut, below Long Falls. Fortifications around Quebec. Fort Sorel, on the St. Lawrence, at the mouth of Sorel River, west side. Fort Chambli, on Lake Champlain, at the head of Sorel river. Fort Frederick, or Crown Point. EARLY DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 65 Frontenac, near Kingston, and a fort at the portage between the Ottawa river and Lake Abbit- tibis, near Lake Simcoe. At Niagara, mouth of Niagara river, east side. Fort Erie, opposite Buffalo ; a fort at Presque Isle, now Erie, Pa. ; another at the end of the portage to French Creek, called Le Beuf ; Fort Venango, at its mouth on the Allegheny, then called the Ohio. Fort Du Quesne, at the forks of the Ohio. Fort Sandusky, near Sandusky city. Fort of the Miamihas (Miamies) on the Maumee, not far from Defiance ; Fort Pontchartrain, at De- troit ; St. Joseph's, on the river St. Joseph's, of Lake Michigan, some miles from the Lake ; one at Mack- inaw, on the main-land, south of the island ; one at St. Francis Xavier, a short distance above Green Bay, on the Fox River ; Fort La Roche, and fort of the Miamies on the Illinois, near each other on op- posite sides of the river, above Lake Peoria ; Fort Orleans, on an island in the "Missuri," above Grand river. Fort St. Louis, nearly opposite Cahokia. Fort Chartres, a permanent work near Kaskas- kias. A stockade at the mouth of the Wabash and mouth of the Ohio. Fort Massac, on the Ohio, and Fort Vincents, on the Wabash; the fort of the "Ouatanons," at the portage from the Wabash to the Miami of the lakes, above Eel river. Some authorities place a post at the mouth of the Scioto, on the Kentucky side. There was a station near St. Mary's, in the county of Mercer, Ohio, at the portage between the St. Mary's and the Great Miami. Fort Kappa, at the mouth of the St. Francis, Mississippi (southern bank), at the mouth of the Arkansas, on the north bank, 6* 66 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. and stations up the river. Fort Rosalie at Natchez, Fort Balise at the mouth of the Mississippi, a fort on Isle Dauphin, Fort Canada at the head of Mobile Bay, and Fort Toulouse on the Alabama, latitude 32° 20' north. An English author, writing in 1747, says of these works, that many of them are mere "extempore stockades," which the French, "by way of ostenta- tion," call forts, and they "are a great nuisance to our American colonies." Of their troops, he observes, there are twenty-eight marine companies, composed principally of " racaille or gaol-birds" from France, who can not be depended upon." In 1760 the English were in possession of Oswego, a post which had been a French establishment. We have thus given a cursory sketch of the dis- coveries and occupation of the French in the Valley of the Mississippi to 1763. The English, like the Spaniards and French, have pretensions to the dis- covery of the same region. EARLY ENGLISH DISCOVERIES. The British, whose vessels sailed into the Missis- sippi in 1698 and 1699, based their right upon the discovery of John Cabot, and Sebastian his son, who saw and explored the Atlantic coast of the northern States, in 1497. The son spent twenty years in these explorations, but always at the north, and is not known to have entered the Gulf of Mexico. In 1583, Secretary Woolsingham dispatched vessels of dis- covery that entered the river St. Lawrence, and Douglass insists that their flag was seen on its shores as early as 1527. Captain Thomas Hutchins, of the 60th regiment of foot, in his accourft of Florida and Louisiana, asserts that Colonel Woods traversed the EARLY DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 67 mountains, from Virginia in 1654, and reached the Mississippi ; and also, that Captain Bolt performed the same journey in 1670. Colonel Spotswood crossed the Alleghenies in 1710, for the purpose of establishing a land company in the colony of Virginia, of which he was Governor, A Virginian, Doctor Thomas Walker, passed the Cumberland Gap in 1750, who was followed by Eng- lish traders descending the Ohio, during the next year. This was the year of the occupation and sur- veys of the London "Ohio Company." In Coxe's " Collection of Voyages" (A. D. 1741), there is a map of the " Sakagoula, " or a Mescha" (great) " Cebe" river of the West; and in "Douglass' Summary," published in 1760, Mr. Hushes has placed a map of the West, embracing not only the Mississippi and Missouri, but a large river heading near the latter, and leading with a navigable current to the Western Ocean. In 1752, Lewis Evans published a map of Kentucky ; but none of those geographers appear to have explored the regions portrayed upon their plans. The details of the visits of Woods, Bolt, and Walker, were wanting ; and, consequently, much doubt is thrown upon their statements. But Gist and Washington kept regular journals of their travels, which are still preserved. The Iroquois, who were in alliance with the colonies of New York and Virginia, effectually prevented the French from passing from Lake Erie to the head waters of the Ohio, until 1739, when Monsieur De Longeuil reached the Allegheny, and descended the river in a pirogue. Gist's survey of the Ohio, and of the Great Miami to Loramies in 1751, and the establishment of a post there in 1752, are the first substantial acts of English occupation west of the mountains. The second was the arrival of Ensign Ward and forty-one men at the 68 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. site of Pittsburgh, two years after. Both Loramies and Pittsburgh were immediately captured by the French. The possession of the Ohio country was, however, finally secured to the English, by the recap- ture of Fort Duquesne in 1758, under General Forbes. As to their rights by discovery on the St. Law- rence, although Charles I. had authorized David Kerkte, a protestnnt refugee from France, to invade Canada ; and, although in 1629 he captured Quebec, the principal city, it was restored by treaty in 1632. Yet, in 1711, Queen Anne contended that the French held of her &a fiefs', and in 1712, a heavy expedi- tion of sixty-eight vessels and six thousand men ad- vanced against the city of Quebec. A tempest destroyed many ships and one thousand men in the St. Lawrence river, and the enterprise was aban- doned. Thus the real basis of their claims to the St. Law- rence, the Lakes, and the Mississippi, is that of con- quest in war from the French ; an achievement com- pleted by Wolfe in his last victory at Quebec. We are thus again at that period when so many political changes occurred in North America, the year 1763. THE ENGLISH AND SPANISH DOMINION. The treaty of Paris, February 13, 1763, trans- ferred Canada and most of Louisiana to England. England, at the same time, relinquished Havana to Spain. Spain, in return, ceded Florida to England ; and, in April, France, by a secret treaty, yielded Louisiana to Spain. It was more than a year before the French on the Mississippi were informed of this transfer; and five years passed before the arrival of the Spanish Captain- EARLY DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 69 General, Don Antonio D'Ulloa. The colonists were so much displeased, that his successor, O'Reilly, thought it necessary to have three thousand troops at New Orleans, to hang six of the principal citizens, and shoot five of the crown officers. There were, besides the Captain-General, a civil officer, called an Intendant, who appears to have been a kind of court of appeals from the commandants and vice-governors. A Sub or Deputy Governor resided at St. Louis. The military commandant of each post exercised, in the absence of the Governor, supreme, civil, and military authority. On complaint, he notified the defendant that he must forthwith do justice. This being disre- garded, the offender was ordered to appear, and sub- mit to judgment. If he failed to answer that sum- mons, a file of soldiers brought him into the presence of the Commandant, who administered justice accord- ing to his own ideas of right, and the laws of Spain. Writers differ as to the equity with which this system operated on the inhabitants. Mr. Breckenbridge as- serts, that the system was mild, just, and acceptable to the people. Mr. Flint remarks, that the Command- ant was, in general, an ignorant and despotic man, whose legislation and execution centered in his cane ; that the government may be summed up in a few words, viz : a commandant, a priest, a file of soldiers, and a " calaboosa." On the left bank of the Mississippi and the Lakes, the colonial institutions of Great Britain were in ope- ration, so far as inhabitants were found, over whom their sway could be exercised. The French, at their villages, forts, and trading posts, generally retired to Canada or the Spanish towns. A few still prosecuted their trade among the Indian tribes. In 1760, two hundred persons had collected about Fort Pitt. On the Monongahcla, a settlement had been formed prior 70 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. to 1758, called the Decker Settlement, which being cut off by the Indians, restrained the frontier adven- turers until 1765. In 1773, a company of discharged soldiers from the Virginia militia descended the Ohio to the Falls, and located their bounty lands. A grant of Indiana had been made in 1768, to Samuel Wharton, William Treat, and George Morgan. But what constituted Indiana does not distinctly ap- pear. Wheeling had been established about sixteen years, and was becoming a place of consequence in western affairs in 1774. Colonel George Rogers Clarke, and three hundred soldiers, the troops of Virginia, reached Corn Island, at the Falls of the Ohio, in the spring of 1778, which resulted in a settlement and cultivation of land. The war of the Revolution then raging on the east of the mountains justified Colonel Clarke in making an as- sault upon the English posts at Kaskaskia and Vin- cennes, in the succeeding fall and winter. He took both these garrisons, and kept possession of them till the peace of 1783. The colonial troops had, in the mean time, garri- soned Fort Pitt, Fort M'Intosh, Fort Laurens, and the Fort at Point Pleasant; expeditions had been made against the Indians in alliance with Great Britain ; and a virtual conquest of the country, bor- dering the Ohio on the north, had been made in the name of the Colonies or of the Confederation of tho States. This was acknowledged and confirmed by tho treaty with England, January 10, 1783, twenty years after she had acquired the country ceded from France. From that moment, one-half of the Valley of the Mi-sissippi, shaking oft' the monarchial principal, be- came republican soil. The right bank of that stream retained its feudal and absolute character twenty years longer. In 1789, the Spanish minister, Count EARLY DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 71 D'Aranda, proposed to make three kingdoms in America, one for each of the infants. By this scheme, her territories were to cease to be colonies ; but mon- archy, in its odious form, was to be made hereditary on the banks of the Mississippi. Another of the Spanish projects in America had been made known the year before ; and it was a proposition to the Americans, west of the mountains, to form a separate empire, in consideration of the free navigation of the Mississippi. These designs all failed of execution. At the close of the eighteenth century, Bonaparte began to form projects relative to America, and persuaded Spain to cede Louisiana to France. The Spanish forces had made a conquest of Florida, from England, during the American war, and now held an immense territory in North America. On the first of October, A. D. 1800, a treaty or convention was signed by France and Spain at St. Ildefonso, by which Louisiana passed into the hands of Napoleon. It was confirmed and reiterated in the treaty of Ma- drid, March 21, 1801 ; but it was stipulated, that in case of a disposal of the territory by France, Spain should have the refusal of it. France thus became possessed a second time of the fruits of her early dis- coveries on the Gulf of Mexico. THE SECOND DOMINION OF FRANCE. New circumstances arising, gave rise to changes in the policy of the Consul in regard to Louisiana. The assumption of civil authority was delayed. Laussat and perfect and Aymi the chief judge, at last arrived at New Orleans, in the winter of 1803 ; but the Captain-General Victor was prevented from leaving the Dutch coast with his armament, by the war with England breaking out afresh after the peace of Amiens. 72 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. Bonaparte to prevent the English from making I conquest of the territory, and to procure money for his vast civil undertakings, determined at once to sell this province to the United States. Without knowing of his determination, Mr. Jefferson, President of the United States, dispatched a special envoy (Mr. Mon- roe), to negociate for the Island of Orleans. The population of the American side of the valley had expanded to the number of eight hundred thousand, and the free use of the river became indispensable. On the 27th of October, 1795, the Spanish gov- ernment had granted a right of depot for three years ; and by mutual consent it had continued without repeal until the 16th of October, 1802, when the Intcndant Morales suddenly brought it to a termination. There was a party in the country, particularly at the West, who were for taking military possession at once. Mr. Jefferson had no farther design than to secure the remaining portion of the left bank, and instructed Mr. Monroe to offer $2,000,000. A motion was made in the Senate, that $5,000,000 and 50,000 troops be placed at the disposal of the President, to take possession of New Orleans; but it n the 20th of May, 1804, and the northern territory W&B attached to Indiana. On the 22d of January. 1812, the State of Louisiana was formed by n < 1 * ; j > t republican constitution. In J8Q">, Oovcrnor Harrison of Indiana, dr Upper Louisiana irijto six districts or counties. Tips'.' RIGHTS OF AUTHORS OUTSIDE OF COPYRIGHTS. 75 districts had, in 1810, the following population, of whom 8,011 were slaves: St. Charles, .... 3,505 St. Louis, .... 5,667 St. Genevieve, .... 4,620 Cape Girardeau, . . . 3,888 New Madrid, .... 3,313 Arkansas, .... 1,067 Total, 21,845 Both banks of the river, under the impulse of our people, who derive their enterprise from the happy and free nature of their government, are now occu- pied by constitutional States, as far north as the lati- tude of the lakes. Population has spread itself to its source, and com- merce enlivens its entire length. In 1712, there were supposed to be but twenty-eight families resident on the Mississippi and its waters. Now, there are 6,000,000 of souls. RIGHTS OF AUTHORS OUTSIDE OF COPY- RIGHTS. [Hesperian, September, 1839.] We know of no proceedings in State Courts, rela- tive to the rights of authors and inventors, since the Constitution went into operation in 1789. It appears 76 ruGlrivE essays. to have been generally believed, that a provision of the 8th section of the 1st article of that paper, with- drew from the respective States all control over the subject ; that the grant to Congress of a power " to promote the progress of science and the useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries," vested in that body exclusive authority in those matters ; and, through it, in the federal courts, exclusive jurisdiction of cases relating to those rights. Chief Justice Kent advanced a contrary doctrine, in Livingston vs. Van Ingen, 9th Johnson 's Reports ; but we know of no legislative action corresponding with the suggestion put forward in that case. He said, "that if an author or inventor, instead of resort- ing to the Act of Congress, should apply to the State Legislature for an exclusive right to his production, there is nothing to prevent the State from granting such exclusive privilege, provided it be confined in its exercise to their particular jurisdiction." We pro- pose, however, to view the subject of literary proj» rty in the United States, in a different aspect, as coming under the judicial, and not the legislative power. If an author, or inventor, in Ohio, or other State, enters the proper court with a complaint that his book, or invention, has been pirated by a person within its jurisdiction, can such State Court refuse cognizance of the injury ? Our Constitution asserts, that courts of justice shall always be open for redress of injuries to the person, or property, or reputation of any indi- vidual ; and to disclaim consideration of the case we have just put, a clear exception must be furnished by the court, showing a want of jurisdiction over the sub- ject matter. The excuse should designate another tribunal or authority, having the power and the dispo- RIGHTS OF AUTHORS OUTSIDE OF COPYRIGHTS. 77 sition to entertain the case or the existence of a pro- hibition by a law superior to the State Constitution. There is still another ground of refusal, which is, a denial that the work of our author is property. If such productions are property, and no restrictions are placed upon the States in guarding and protecting it, by the language we have quoted from the eighth section of the first article of the Constitution of the United States, authors and inventors can no more be driven from the seat of justice unheard, than the creditor, or the slandered man. A review of the subject and the discussion will almost necessarily mingle the consid- eration of a right of property with that of jurisdic- tion. The first English statute upon the subject is the 9th of Anne, c. 19, enacted in the year 1709. It provided, that within a certain period (fourteen years) the author "shall have the sole right and liberty of printing, vending, etc.," his work. The penalties of the act were, that every copy should be forfeited, to be destroyed, and a penny a sheet paid to the informer who should prosecute. The existence of a common law right, and the effect of this statute upon it, may be gathered from the English cases. The King's Bench in 1770, decided, "that any author had a common law right in perpetuity, to the exclusive printing and publishing his original compo- sitions." 2 Kent's Com., 307 ; 4 Burr owes Hep., 2203 ; Taylor vs. Miller. Injunctions to prevent the publication of manuscripts without copyrights were frequently granted upon the ground that there was a property independent of the statute. Eden on In- junctions, 199, 200; 2 Eden, 329; 2 Merivale, 435 ; 2 Atlc., 342 ; 2 Ves. $ Bea., 19. In 1774, the House of Lords reversed the decision iU Taylor vs. Miller, by deciding that the common 7 * 78 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. law right^ if any existed, could not be exercised beyond the time limited by the statute of Anne. Donaldson ys. Becket; 7 Bro. P. O. 88, and Burrowes, 2408. This case turned upon the question, whether the sta- tute abridged or took away the common law right. And to allow this case only the force to which it is entitled, the circumstances attending these leading decisions will be given. In Miller vs. Taylor, all the judges, except Justice Yates, subscribed to the exist- ence of a common law right expressed in the decision above quoted, and Lord Mansfield was one of the court. Four years afterwards, in Donaldson vs. Becket, the Lords referred the question, how far the statute affected the common law right, if it existed, to the twelve Judges of England. Lord Mansfield declined giving an opinio'n, but adhered, in sentiment, to the case of Miller vs. Taylor. Eight of the re- maining eleven agreed, that a common law right existed before the statute. Six were of opinion that the statute abridged or took away that right; and five that it did not, who, with Mansfield, would have divided the Bench. Upon this authority rests the right of "property," under the statute of Anne, from which, as will be shown hereafter, the act of Con- gress of 1790 was almost copied. But, twenty-four years after, in Beckford vs. Hood, the King's Bench declared (all the judges concurring) that the statute confirmed, for the time named in it, the common law right, and that the penalties, instead of barring the common law remedy, constituted an accumulative right of action. 7 Term. Rep., 623. At this period, 1798, our statute had been in ex- istence eight years, and may be said, therefore, to be interpreted by the King's Bench, so far as it agrees with the English statute of that day. It is now pro- posed to give the American statutes in substance, and RIGHTS OF AUTHORS OUTSIDE OF COPYRIGHTS. 79 we will confine ourselves to those parts bearing upon this discussion. The words corresponding, in the first section of the law of Congress, of April 31, 1790, with those of Anne, are these : " Shall have the sole right of printing, re-printing, publishing and vending," books, maps and charts, for fourteen years, and at the ex- piration, if the author is living, renewable for four- teen years, in addition. Section second gives a penalty of fifty cents a sheet, one-half to the lawful author who prosecutes, and one-half to the Government. It also forfeits all the copies, for the purpose of destruction. Section sixth relates to piracy of a manuscript, and says, the author may sue for damages, in any court having jurisdiction, in an " action on the case." The act specifies no particular jurisdiction, and there- fore relates to the Federal Courts generally ; and were it not for the division of powers between the States and the National Government, by our Consti- tution, there would be very little difficulty in adopt- ing, almost entire, the English practice, under the statute of Anne. What, then, was the effect of the Constitution, as adopted in 1789, and the laws enacted in pursuance to it, April, 1790, upon the rights of authors ? Prior to the revolution, British North America was doubtless governed on this point by the English law. Between the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and the Constitution, the States, though freed from the political rule of the mother country, in gen- eral, adopted her methods of administering justice and expounding and enforcing private rights. We may safely conclude, that this subject stood, at the adoption of the Constitution, upon the same basis as it did in England. The words of that instrument are 80 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. intended to secure, and not to create, a right of prop- erty. The cases of Taylor vs. Miller, and Donaldson vs. Beckct, were before the Convention of 1787. una all the law and the arguments connected with those prominent decisions were familiar to the delegation. By thorn a common law right existed in the author before the statute, and the judicial exponent of law in England was equally divided upon the question whether it existed under or during the statute. Every decision recognized the right to a common law remedy under the statute; and the necessity of pursuing it in that way was apparent, from an absence of statutory pro- vision respecting the form of action. The act of Anno, then, according to Beckwith vs. Hood, secured more fully to authors this property in books, by ordaining forfeitures and penalties, in addition to the usual rem- edy for injuries to their interests. The acts of Parliament are, in such matters, in England, like our American Constitution here, the supremo law of the land. The phraseology of our law, made in pursuance to the Constitution, is almost identical with the enactment of Parliament. Is there anything in circumstances to give the same terms creator scope on this side the Water than they had on the other? If not, where is the remaining right, as yet untouched by the Constitution or the law? The Federal Government took nothing, in any of its branches, but what the people bestowed in the Constitution. They gave Congress the power, the ability, to promote the useful arts and general science. This is the prerogative yielded up to the Union, and it was either concurrent or exclusive. The exercise of it by Congre-- was not compulsory, but voluntary, which seems to give it the character of a concurrent power, that the S.ate Legislatures might exercise in the absence of, or in subordination to, the General Congress. RIGHTS OF AUTHORS OUTSIDE OF COPYRIGHTS. 81 The manner and also the extent or mode of the encou- ragement to be given, was pointed out in the same con- nection in the eighth section, viz : by securing to authors, etc., exclusive rights. Could Congress, under such a wording, say to the people of the States, that, not com- plying with the terms of our law, you shall have no right or interest in your literary productions ? The National Legislature is empowered to secure, not to abrogate a known, existing, and well-defined right. This would prove a great contradiction to the avowed objects of the Constitution, and would obtain its introduction in a very insiduous manner. The case would form an exception to the professed intention of that document, which is the protection, not the destruction of property. Apply the doctrine to a literary work in being at the adoption of the new form of Government in 1789. The author considers the common law right, or the State authority, a sufficient protection for his book, and does not think it necessary to assume the trouble and expense of a copyright. At the moment when the new Government came into existence, according to a construction of this kind, his rights all fail, and the product of his pen is at the mercy of any invader. And in searching for the clause which has produced such an unexpected change in his property, it is dis- covered to be a phrase for the promotion of learning and art, by farther securing for limited times, to the author, the sole use of his book. Assuming then, that Congress can create no right of property, but only more effectually protect, for a time, what is in nature and by common law already in existence, the inquiry occurs, where is the remnant of authority and jurisdic- tion not delegated to the federal power? Can it be any where but in the people of the States? or, if by them delegated to the Local Governments, then in some branch of the State authority? OZ FUGITIVE ESSAYS. But to bring forward the proceedings of Congress to a late period, the acts subsequent to 1790 should be here introduced. Upon the 8th of Anne, similar to the first American law, Lord Kenyon had remarked, in Beekwith vs. Hood, "Nothing can be more incom- plete as a remedy, than these penalties; for, without dwelling upon the incompetency of the sum, the right of action is not given to the party grieved." Our statute differed from this, in giving one-half the pen- alty to the party grieved, if prosecuted within one year. The expense and trouble of prosecution would consume most of the author's share of the judgment ; and conceding this to be the only remedy in the United States, the progress of a year in time, without suit, leaves him without relief. April 28, 1802, another act was passed, relative to historical and other prints, with forfeitures and penalties, like the law of 1790, but in no manner altering or affecting that act. The limitation in this act is two years. The next Legisla- tion was perfected February 3, 1831, forty-one years after the original action of Congress, a period in which the property in books, maps, and charts, in the United States, was apparently subject to similar common law incidents, with the same things in England. The first section extends the subjects of copyright, including with books, maps, and charts, musical compositions, prints, cuts, and engravings. Section six creates the penalties for printing, publishing, vending, importing, or offering for sale, any of the articles enumerated in the first section, without the consent of the author. The books are here forfeited to the lawful owner, and a fine of fifty cents a sheet is recoverable, one-half to the author or owner who prosecutes. The maps, charts, etc., are forfeited to the same use, and also the plates, with a fine of one dollar per sheet or copy, one-half to the RIGHTS OF AUTHORS OUTSIDE OP COPYRIGHTS. 83 owner. Limitations to prosecutions, two years. The changes or amendments here adopted are in favor of the author, by bestowing the surreptitious copies upon him in full, instead of ordering their destruction. Section nine has the following provision: "If any unauthorized person shall publish or print i any manu- script whatever/ he shall pay all damages, in an action on the case, in any court having jurisdiction ; and the United States Courts are empowered to grant injunc- tions against the issue of such publication." We do not know the judicial construction to this section. The other parts of the act quoted do not differ in principle from the acts of 1790 and 1802, which are nearly equivalent to the 8th Anne, chapter 19. The language of the section seems to intend to bestoiv a general jurisdiction by an action for damages, and a particular authority in cases of injunction arising out of a wrongful publication or printing of a manu- script ; and the inference is, that Congress conceived themselves authorized to allow a suit for damages, in the cases of books, maps, and charts, but did not choose to do so. On the 15th of February, 1819, a law of Congress was passed, giving to the Circuit Courts of the United States original cognizance of suits at law and in equity, arising under the laws of the United States, respecting writings, inventions, etc. This act is a mere disposal of jurisdiction among the federal courts, creating no fresh rights of action. At the same time it had been decided, in Robinson vs. Campbell, 3 Wheaton, 221, " that, by the laws of the United States, the Circuit Courts have cognizance of all suits of a civil nature, at common law and in equity, in cases which fall ivithin the limits prescribed by those laws." And remedies in the federal courts were declared to be 4 - according to the principles of common law and equity, 84 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. ^ as distinguished and defined in that country, from which we derive our knowledge of those principles." And afterwards, Chancellor Kent, 2d vol. Com. p. 380, adopts the language of "Du Ponceau on Juris- diction," reading as follows: "The courts (federal) can not derive their right to act from the common law. They mu3t look for that right to the Constitution and laws of the United States. On the other hand, the common law, considered merely as a means or instru- ment of exercising jurisdiction, does exist, and forms a safe and beneficial system of national jurispru- dence." Should we, therefore, adopt the construction given to the 8th of Anne, by the House of Lords, and also in Beckwith vs. Hood, K. B., that the acts of 1790, 1802, and 1831, give a statutory right, can the federal courts, like the English tribunals, take juris- diction without express enactment by Congress ? In England, the author or inventor has his action on the case for damages ; here, the statute in terms grants no such right of action, except in the case of manu- scripts; and if the right is inferred, can the Circuit Court take cognizance under the act of 1819 ? We do not feel bound to admit the statute as the origin of an author's right to a property in his production; but if it should prove otherwise, and the federal court should maintain a claim to jurisdiction, in an action on the case for damages, are citizens bound to proceed in that court exclusively of others? Concerning the exclusive exercise of legislative power in the Federal Government, the extent of such authority is well defined by the Supreme Judicial Bench of the Union, in Sturges vs. Crowningshield, 4 Wheaton, 193. " The mere grant of a power by Congress does not imply a prohibition on the States to exercise the same power." And, in Houston ?>#. Moore, 5 Wheaton, 1, "The mere grant of a power. RIGHTS OP AUTHORS OUTSIDE OP COPYRIGHTS. 85 in affirmative terms to Congress, does not per se transfer exclusive sovereignty on such subjects." " The doctrine of the court is, that when Congress exercise their powers upon any given subject, the States can not enter upon the same ground and provide for the same objects." And the well-known general rule is this : where a grant is made to Congress, and in ex- press terms prohibited to the States, or a power is bestowed upon the General Government exclusive by the letter of the Constitution, or a grant is proved, in which, from its nature, the exercise of the same au- thority in the States would be incompatible with the use of it by Congress, and Congress have exercised it in all these cases, the States have no remaining power. Admitting that Congress might have invested the United States Courts with jurisdiction of cases for damages claimed by authors, has it been granted? Perhaps it was discretionary w r ith the National Legis- lature to give such further security, and in their own courts; but they do not seem to have done it; and if they had, could exclusive cognizance thereof have been claimed by them ? The question, whether the States may or may not promote science and the useful arts, by still further securing to authors and inventors exclusive rights, is yet unsettled. It is clearly asserted, by Chancellor Kent, that they may to a certain extent. But the claim of a power to legislate by the States, and thus to provide encouragement, which Congress can not or will not afford, is quite different from the retention of an original right in a State to protect the existence and preserve the use of the property of its citizens. The latter, if yielded, was a sale of natural right for the purchase of political security; and the strongest and clearest evidence of the exchange is to be de- manded. 8 86 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. It must have been parted with, if at all, on an under- standing that the General Government, empowered by the grant to secure, would faithfully attend to its duty and guard the rights of the author, as the States had heretofore done. The former grant involves nothing but policy. The people of the States truly imagined that an uniform rule, embracing at once all the territory of the- United States, would be preferable to the nu- merous and varied laws of the local Legislatures. They, therefore, gave Congress the power to secure, for limited times, the rights of authors, etc., in such manner, and by such penalties, as they should think wise and proper. Let us conceive of a period when special protection to this species of property shall be unnecessary. Since the year 1789, half a century has passed away. The art of book-making has be- come a business, like the manufacture of merchandise* In the times of Queen Anne, learning had just escaped from the walls of the monasteries, and a calling so elevated did not promise to become common among men. A particular encouragement was given to the production of books, as had often been the case with other commodities ; and the public, after the author was well compensated, had the work at cost, by a re- version or resumption of the special protection. Times had not so far changed when the Government of the United States first considered the subject, eighty years afterwards, as to render encouragement useless. But we. at the close of the succeeding fifty years, are ae customed to think the human genius equal to the accomplishment of such things, unaided by law. And it may be asked, even now, whether the author desires more than the ordinary protection of his property? In such a state of things, would it be necessary for Congress to repeal its laws, in order to place writings and inventions within ike guardianship of the RIGHTS OF AUTHORS OUTSIDE OF COPYRIGHTS. 87 State law? If it would not, may not the author now rely at discretion upon the ordinary remedies of local courts, neglect to procure his copyright, and bring an action for damages when his work or invention is pub- lished by another without consent? We have seen that it is at least doubtful whether he can prosecute for such an injury in a civil form, except for the pen- alty while holding a copyright. In most cases, an or- dinary remedy would be preferable to one-half the penalty. If it can be pursued in the local courts, it would be decidedly more advantageous. The uncer- tainties and technicalities of patents would be avoided in the case of inventions. A course of State legisla- tion would be unnecessary, for the State Courts have already jurisdiction, if the Federal Courts have not. The odious exclusion of foreigners from the protection of law, as recently enforced according to the letter of the statute, in the case of the "Phantom Ship," Marryatt vs. Collyer, would be done away, and the necessity of an international copyright law avoided. If, then, we have fully examined the premises, the following points are unsettled, and worthy of atten- tion by those concerned : 1. Whether the Constitution vested in Congress an exclusive power of legislation over writings and inventions. 2. Whether there existed a common law right prior to the Constitution, capable of enforcement in the State Courts, without legislation. 3. Whether the laws of Congress are, at present, the sole basis of right, in property of that kind. 4. Whether the lawful jurisdiction of the Federal Courts is co-extensive with the existing rights of au- thors. 5. Whether it is exclusive. Here is a broad and untrodden field of inquiry and 00 FUGITIVE E8SAYS. litigation, which the rapid advance of literature may soon render it necessary to cultivate. Some instruc- tion on these points may be drawn from the legislation of Congress, and the action of the Federal Courts, in the matter of patents. The grant of the Constitution is to "authors and inventors," and, therefore, the con- trol of the General Government is the same over each. The first patent law, dated April 10, 1790, section four, gives to the injured patentee his actual damages, and forfeits the machine to him. February 21, 1793. This law was repealed, and an infringement of the patent visited with damages, equal to treble the price of the invention, as sold to other persons. See section five. By section seven, if patents had been granted by the States, before the Constitution, they must be surrendered, in order to have the benefit of the act. Jurisdiction is conferred upon the Circuit Courts of the United States. An act of the year 1800 (April 17) enlarges the law of 1793, in regard to persons. By the third section of this statute, the fifth section of the then existing law is repealed, and treble the actual dama- ges given to the patentee or his assigns, who is in- jured. The Circuit Courts take jurisdiction. On the fourth of July, 1836, another law came into existence, which in the fourteenth section, pro- vides, that the court may render judgment for a sum not exceeding three times the actual damage, as found by the jury. Here, as in the case of manuscripts, in the copy- right law, Congress allows the recovery of damages in the Federal Circuit Courts, and adds a severe penalty. If these enactments are considered as bestowing dama- ges as separate from the penalty, it is ttt mp & te nt for Congress to give to the authors of maps, charts, etc., RIGHTS OF AUTHORS OUTSIDE OF COPYRIGHTS. 89 a right of action entirely civil and compensatory in its character. In fact, the law of manuscripts can not well be viewed in a different light. In reference to the extent of the judicial power of the Courts of the United States, something may be gathered from the following decisions: In the Bank of the United States vs. Deveaux, et al, 5 Cranch, 85, Supreme Court, 1809, it was agreed, that the judiciary act conferred no jurisdiction on the Circuit Courts arising from the nature of the case, but only from the character of the parties ; and when citizens of the same State could enter that court, it must by under claims deduced from grants of lands by different States. And prior to the law of 1819 above referred to, as distributing the jurisdiction in copyrights and patents to the several courts, a case occurred in the year 1811, upon an infraction of the rights of Fulton and Livingston, relative to steamboats on the Hudson, of great hardship, where the Circuit Court for New York refused an injunction, on the ground that neither the patent law or the judiciary act specially conferred upon them equity powers. This was in Livingston vs. Van Ingen, HalVs Am. Laiv Journal, 56; and the Court say, "There being no law conferring on this court a right to take cognizance, as a Court of Equity, of cases of this nature, between citizens of the same State, our opinion is, that we can not entertain the present bill." In this spirit, the Supreme Court have ever disclaimed jurisdiction, un- less specially given by the Constitution and laws pur- suant thereto. And the subordinate Federal Courtis are equally cautious in assuming judicial authority. Recurring, then, to the case of authors, is it proba- ble that the Supreme Court of the United States would entertain a suit for damages, brought by a copyright holder, for books, maps, etc. ? If they would 8* 90 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. not, where is the law bestowing such a power upon the Circuit or District Courts ? Again, is the instance here given cognizable by the United States Judiciary, aside from the statute, or in the absence of a copy- right ? that is, have any of the Federal Courts a claim to enforce the common law right, by a common law remedy V Granting that they have not, the import- ance of our first query is manifest. A negative an- swer to that throws a duty at once upon the State Legislatures ; and we are disposed to claim from the State Courts a point, which the answer to the second query will settle. If the third question is decided in the affirmative, more legislation is due from Congress, as it is also if the fourth is found in the negative. But if the negative of the fifth and more important query is true — also, the affirmative of the second, and the negative of the third; it rests alone with the authors themselves to claim of the local courts that justice which is guarantied to them, in all cases of property, by the State Constitutions. A STATEMENT OF ELEVATIONS IN OHIO, With reference to the Geological Formations, and also the Heights of various points in this State and elsewhere. [American Journal of Science, Vol. xlv, No. 1, 1843.] In giving the levels for Ohio, it should be under- stood that they have been taken with reference to Lake Erie, as a zero. The surface of Lake Eric has ELEVATIONS IN OHIO. 91 generally been considered as five hundred and sixty- four feet above tide-water at Albany ; see the Report for Michigan, 1839-40. The topographer of that State, S. W. Higgins, Esq., puts it at 565,333 feet. If this last number represents the levelage of the Erie Canal, it is probably good for the surface of the Lake, as it was when the surveys were made for that work, twenty-five years since. The surface, however, fluctuates in the extreme about six feet, thus rendering all measurements based upon the Lake as a starting point, liable to an error of that amount. The Ohio Canal was explored in 1824-5, and of course its ele- vations are noted with regard to the stage of water at that time. The difference between 1816 and 1824 in the surface of the Lake, will render all our levels along the Ohio Canal, w T hen referred to the ocean, inaccurate by that amount. In the latter part of the year 1815, and all of the year 1816, the Lake was high, about four feet above the point of greatest known depression. From 1819 to 1822 it was low, and in 1825 was still but about two feet above the lowest known point. The error in adopting the Lake surface, in 1824, as a starting point, may therefore be two feet, making its general surface above the tide-water at Albany, in 1824-5, five hundred and sixty-three feet, and at the time of the great rise in June, 1838, five hundred and sixty-seven feet. In estimating the heights given below, I have used the commonly re- ceived number of 564, to express the surface of the Lake. Both upon the Erie and the Ohio canals and other works, the slopes sometimes given to the bottom are rejected, because unknown: where there is more than one summit they counteract each other in some degree. Where there are fractional feet they are rejected. In some cases there are short intervals not measured, or the minutes of a portion of the 92 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. heights are wanting, or the authorities are contradic- tory ; these are designated by an interrogation, and will go for what they are worth. Information de- rived from so many sources, and transcribed many times from one note book to another by different persons, must of course be subject to errors. But it has been drawn from the best authorities, viz: the profiles and reports of the engineers in the public employ. For location of points I have adopted Columbus, the capital of Ohio, in latitude 39° 57' north, longi- tude 83° 3' west, as the center of reference. The general course and distance from Columbus being given, the courses and distances of the different places among themselves may easily be found. The order of stratification in Ohio is as follows, beginning at the lowest of our explored rocks, the limestone. 1. Limestone; thickness unknown, not exceeding 1000 feet; subdivided as follows by Dr. Locke: (1.) Blue limestone and blue limestone marls, over 500 feet in thickness; (2.) Marl, 25 feet; (3.) Flmty limestone, 52 feet; (4.) Marl, 106 feet; (5.) Cliff limestone, 89 feet. This limestone is the surface rock over about two-fifths of the western part of Ohio, and extending into Indiana. 2. Bituminous slate, or black shale, 250 to 350 feet. 3. Fine-grained or Waverly sandstone, 25 to 350 feet. 4. Conglomerate or pebbled sand-rock, 100 to 600 feet. 5. Coal measures, say 2000 feet. ELEVATIONS IN OHIO 93 Formation No. I. — Elevation of some points at the surface of the limestone formation and at the bottom of the slate. Place. Course and distance from Columbus. Height above the ocean. Local dip per mile. Columbus. Bloomingville. Erie Co., deep cut of railroad Dublin, Franklin Co N. 8UE.100 m. N. 36° W. 11 " S.12U°W. 52 - S.U]4°W. 80 " S.76-%°W. 62 « FEET. 761 724? 831 744 934 868 S. 81°52'E., 22%ft. S. 80}4 o E., 37. 4 ft. N. 14° E.. 6 feet. West Union Adams Co.. Three miles S. E. of Day- ton, bottom of cliff lime- stone With the exception of Dayton, these locations are at or near the outcrop of the overlapping slate, and consequently in or near the line of bearing. No. II. -Points on the surface of the black shale and under face of the fine-grained sandstone. Place. Course and distance. Height. Dip. Newburg village, Cuyaho- N. 41° E., 154 miles. N.7^°E., 62 " N. 84° E., 8 " South, 43 " S. 3l<° E., 83 •' FEBT. 764 948? 804 814 518 S. S. E., very slight. S. E., and slight. f nearly E., — about \ 30 feet per mile. S. 83° E., 31. 99 feet. Samlusky township, Craw- ford Co. (east line,) Big Walnut Creek, Na- Head of Paint Creek Ca- Morse mill, on canal, near The last station is about fifteen miles east of the outcrop, which accounts for its being low r er in natural level than the others. This formation occupies a nar- row belt of about twenty miles in width along the Sci- ota valley, widening as it extends northward to the Lake. It is here about sixty miles in breadth, east and west, and extends eastward in form of a narrow strip along the southern shore, to and beyond the State line. 94 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. No. III. — Points on the surface of the fine-grained sandstone, corres- ponding tcith the inferior face of the conglomerate. Place. Old Forge, Portage township. Summit County. Near Chagrin Falls. Cuyahoga County Newton Falls, Trumbull County _ Narrows of Licking, Ohio Canal Jackrion township, Jackson County, near J Stinson's Course and distance. N.45-V°E.,ll0miles N. 39?i° E., 153 M N. 5152° E., 140 " N.77° E., 44 «• 3. 16*4° E., 65 " Elevation. FEET. no 894 764 The fine-grained sandstone region immediately succeeds the slate, and occupies a tract similar in form, though not quite as extensive. Next to it, on the east, the conglomerate is the surface rock, and from a narrow strip at the south, enlarges, after passing the line of the Reserve, to a width of fifty miles, spread- ing over the north-eastern counties. No. V. — Some points in the lowest bed of coal. Place. Bearing from Columbus. Elevation. Dip. Brookficld, Trumbull Co., N. 65%° E., 164 m. N. 45-%° E., 112 " N. 85° E., 38J^ " S. 22K°E.. 69 « FEET. 990 1069 1014 760? f Nearly S., — about 1 20 f««t. S. 33%°E.,1&'., f-i-t / S. 87° ■,— ahonl I 35 feet {«r mile. Eastly and variable. Tallmadgc. Summit Co.... National Road, between J.icktown and Gratiot... Lick township. Jackson County A line drawn from the Portage summit north- easterly, and parallel to the Lake shore, will be a gen- eral boundary of the coal region on the north in Ohio ; and continued from this summit to the Licking sum- mit, and thence south to the river; it will form the western limit of this great field extending to the Allc- ghanios. ELEVATIONS IN OHIO. 95 Elevation of placet in Ohio. Ft ACE. ELEVATION— FEE*, 6URF ACE ROCK. Little Mountain, Lake County 1164 Conglomerate. Mantua, Portage County, summit of Cha- grin and Cuyahoga rivers 1140 " Mahoning summit, Champion, Trumbull County 908 Fine-grained sandstone Brookfield, Trumbull County 1164 Coal measures. Portage, Summit Lake -. 958 Top of Conglomerate. High land adjacent 1150? Ravenna summit, Penn. and Ohio Canal ... 1068 Coal measures. Hanover, Columbiana County, Sandy and Beaver Canal summit 1123 " Huron summit, swamp, S. E. corner of (Near junction of slate county 978 (and limestone. Harrisvillc, Medina County. Kilbuck sum- mit 901 Conglomerate. Tyamochtee summit, T. 5, S., It. 16, E. Marion County '. 898 Limestone. Blanchard's fork of Anglaise, 2% miles E. of Fort Findlay, Hancock County 1052 " Loramies suuimit, Miami extension canal 9i2 " Somerset, Perry County 1159 Border of coal measures. Zanesville— river, at bridge 679 " hill. E. of town 801 Coal measurefl. Hillsborough, Highland County 1124 Limestone. Greenville. Darke County 1014 " Summit between Seiota and Mad rivers, near Mechanicsburg. Champagne County 1007 " Summit of Great Miami and Seiota, Logan County 1350? " Height of places in Michigan, above the ocean. FEET. Head waters of Rclle Itiver, Lapeer County 992 Summit between waters of Saginaw Bay and Lake Michigan 673 Poutiac summit, Clinton and Kalamazoo Canal 914 Hillsdale t ouuty, seven miles east of Jonesville 1211 Suinm.t of i entral Railroad, on the line between Jackson and Washtenaw Counties 1015 Fort Holmes, Mackinaw 797 Height of Lakes. FEET. Ontario 232 Er.e '. 565,333 St. Clair 570,005 Huron and Michigan 578,008 Superior 596,180 Height of points on the Ohio. FEET. Pittsburg 705 Marietta 5(>7 Portsmouth 479 Cincinnati 432 Summit of Wabash and Erie Canal, near Fort Wayne, Indiana 810 Jl> FUGITIVE ESSAYS. FEFf. SumriiK of Chicago Creek and Illinois River 696 Portage, Fox, and Wiskonsan Rivers, Fort Winnebago 609 Elevations in Pennsylvania. Conneaut Lake 1074 Alleghany summit, northern route of Schlatter's surveys 2002 Sugar Run summit, two miles north of Portage Railroad summit 2183 ( he*tnut Ridge, National Road 3612 K-yscr's " " " 2843 West Alexandria IT'.'T Washington 1400 Elevations in New York. Chatauque Lake 1291 Franklinville, Chatauque County, (in a valley) - 1588 Summit between Elm i re^k aud little Valley Creek, Cattaraugus County ... \~2b Summit between Big and Little Valley Creeks "JlM) *■ '* Cayuga Lake and Sunquehanna River >.<>1 " " Seneca Lake and Chemung River ,s the mouth of the Great Hockhocking, established a dep6t, and erected some defences called Fort Gower. From this point he probably started the express directed to Lewis at the mouth of Kcnhawa, about fifty miles below, and immediately commenced his march up the Hockhocking into the Indian country ; for the next that is known of him he is in the vicinity of Camp Charlotte, on the left bank of Sippo Creek, about seven miles south-east of Circleville, where he arrived before Lewis reached the station on Congo, as above stated. Camp Charlotte was situated about four and one half miles north-east of Camp Lewis, on the farm now owned by Thomas J. Winship, Esq., and was consequently farther from the villages than the position occupied by the left wing. There has been much diversity of opinion and statement respecting the location of the town, and also in regard to the positions of Camp Charlotte and Camp Lewis. The associations connected with these places have given them an interest which will never decline. This is probably a sufficient excuse for presenting here in detail the evidence upon which the positions of these several points are established. It was at the town that Logan delivered his famous speech. It was not made in council, for he refused to attend at Camp Charlotte, where the talk LORD DUNMORE ? S EXPEDITION. 143 was held, and Dunmore sent a trader, by the name of John Gibson, to inquire the cause of his absence. The Indians, as before intimated, had made propo- sitions to the Governor for peace, and probably before he was aware of the result of the action at Kenhawa. When Gibson arrived at the village, Logan came to him, and by his (Logan's) request, they went into an adjoining wood, and sat down, Here, after shedding abundance of tears, the honored chief told his pathetic story.* Gibson repeated it to the officers, who caused it to be published in the Virginia Gazette of that year. Mr. Jefferson was charged with making im- provements and alterations when he published it in his Notes on Virginia ; but from the concurrent testi- mony of Gibson, Lord Dunmore, and several others, it appears to be as close a representation of the ori- ginal as could be obtained under tbe circumstances. The only versions of the speech that I have seen are here contrasted in order to show that the substance and sentiments correspond, and that it must be the production of Logan or of John Gibson, the only white man who heard the original. WlLLiAMSBtmon, Va„ New York, Feb. 16. 1775. Feb. 4, 1775. Extract of a letter from Vir- The following is said to be a ginia : — message from Captain Logan, an Indian warrior, to Gov. Dun- " I make no doubt the follow- more, after the battle in which ing specimen of Indian eloquence Colonel Charles Lewis was slain, and mistaken valor will please delivered at the treaty: — you, but you must make allow- ances for the unskilfulness of "I appeal to any white man the interpreter : — to say that he ever entered Lo- gan's cabin but I gave him meat, " ' I appeal to any white man that he ever came naked but I to say if ever he entered Lo- clothcd him. gan's cabin hungry and 1 gave * Affidavit of John Gibson, Jefferson's Notes. Appendix, p. 16. 144 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. "In the course of the last war Logan remaiiied in his cabin an advocate for peace. I had such an affection for the white people, that I was pointed at by the rest of my nation. I should have ever lived with them had it not been for Colonel Cresap, who last year cut off, in cold ) lood, all the relations of Lo- j an, not sparing my women and children. There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any human creature. This called upon me for revenge. I have sought it. 1 have killed many, and fully glutted my revenge. I am glad there is a prospect of peace on account of the nation ; but I beg you will not entertain a thought that any thing I have said proceeds from fear. Logan disdains the thought. He will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan? Not one." him not meat ; if ever he came cold or naked and I gave him not clothing. "'During the course of the last long and bloody war Logan remained in his tent an advocate for peace. Nay, such was my love for the whites, that those of my own country pointed at me as they passed by, and said, — 'Logan is the friend of white man.' I had even thought to live with you but for the injuries of one man. Colonel Cresap the last spring, in cool blood and unprovoked, cut off all the rela- tives of Logan, not sparing even my women and children. There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any human crea- ture. This called on me for revenge. I have sought it I have killed many. I have fully glutted my vengeance. For my country I rejoice at the beams of peace ; yet do not harbor the thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt mr. He will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan? Not one.'" The right hand translation is literally the same as the copy given in Jefferson's Notes, page 124, and is doubtless the version given out by himself at the time. The authenticity of the ideas, and, if not the words, at all events the style, is in some degree sus- tained by another piece of Logan's composition, which was found tied to a war-club at the house of one Robertson, in Fincastle county, Va., after a massacre of his family by the Indians. Logan had previously caused it to be written with a burnt stick, by a prisoner named William Robinson, saying he would kill somebody, and leave the letter in the house. LORD DUNMORE'S EXPEDITION. 145 " Captain Cresap, what did you kill my people on Yellow Creek for ? The white people killed my kin at Conestoga a great while ago, and I thought nothing of that ; but you killed my kin again at Yellow Creek, and took my cousin prisoner. I thought I must kill too. I have been three times to war since ; but the Indians are not angry, only myself. "July 21, 1774. Capt. John Logan." I have shown elsewhere that Logan was mistaken as to the connection of Cresap with the murders at Baker's. It was repeated throughout the North American colonies as a lesson of eloquence in the schools, and copied upon the pages of literary journals in Great Britain and the Continent. This brief effusion of mingled pride, courage, and sorrow, elevated the character of the native American throughout the intelligent world, and the place where it was delivered can never be forgotten so long as touching eloquence is admired by men. Camp Charlotte was situated on the south-west quarter of section 12, town 10, range 21, upon a pleasant piece of ground, in view of the Pickaway plains. It was without permanent defences, or at least there are no remains of intrenchments, and is accessible on all sides. The creek in front formed no impediment to an approach from that quarter, and the country is level in the rear. Camp Lewis is said to be upon more defensible ground on the north-east quarter of section 30, same township and range. The two encampments have often been confounded with each other. The testimony which I shall here introduce was developed in the year 1330, in a case in the Supreme Court of Ohio for Pickaway county, where questions relating to the position of Camp Charlotte and the Chillicothe towns were involved. It was furnished 13 ?4() FUGITIVE ESKAV- me by J. D. Calwell, Esq., of Chill icothe, counsel for defendants, in the suit of John Gibson's heirs vs. Duncan Mc Arthur, and others. It consists of depo- sitions taken upon the ground at Camp Charlotte, for the purpose of sustaining the description of a Virginia military warrant, which reads thus: — "August 2d, 17 ST — Entry No. 450. John Jolliff's (heir) enters 3,666J acres; a military -warrant No. 825, on the Sciota river, at the first fork above the old Chillicothe town, which town is about seven miles from a place called Camp Charlotte," etc. Caleb Evans deposes and says that he was here thirty-two years ago, and noticed these stumps, and old John Hargus told me it was Camp Charlotte. Hargus said he was a captain of iii's with Dunmore, and when they came here the Indians crowd- ed them so that Dunmore and six or seven others, myself included, went across to meet Lewis, who was encamped on Congo (Greek) on some knolls where Judge Barr now lives. We met Lewis just after he had left his camp to give battle to the Indians, and or- dered him back. I was here when there were no marks of an axe in these parts except at these two camps. Hargus and myself were the only persons then in this vicinity. The cattle of the army were kept on a prairie across the creek. Thomas Barr. — Deponent was here thirty-two years ago. I went back to Pennsylvania and saw Colonel Williamson, who was with Dunmore. We differed about the appearance of Camp Char- lotte, and after I saw this place the next season, and I went bac x again, we agreed in every particular. There was a spring and five or six trees deadened by him in a drain. Lewis' camp is about five miles west of this, on Congo. One Boggs came through the coun- try about that time, who was at the camp, and said this is the spot Boggs told about Dunmore overtaking Lewis, and ordering him to stop, and not attack the Indian towns. I saw Mr. Mclntvre, of Zanesville, soon after that place was settled. Mr. Mclntyre and Mr. Zane were to lay out a road from Wheeling through Zanes- ville, Standing Stone (now Lancaster), Chillicothe (meaning the settlement in Ross county), to Limestone (now Maysville). 1 bey took an Indian Pilot to lead them to Chillicothe. Be led them to the place now called Westfall, and said that was Chillicothe, the the only Chillicothe he knew of. This was about twenty-nine years ago. George Wolf. — I live near Camp Lewis, and came here thirty- LORD DUNMORE'S EXPEDITION. 147 three years ago. I heard John Hargus and John Boggs talk about this place, and call it Camp Charlotte. James Moore. — I came to Chillicothe (in Ross county) in 179G. In 1797 or 1798 I went upon the ground where Westfall now is. I moved there in 1799, and it appeared to have been an Indian town. The Indians who were about there said the inhabitants called themselves Chillicothe^, and their town Chillicothe^. They had a town on the north fork of Paint Creek of the same name, and an- other on Mad River. They called this at Westfall Old Chillicothee. These Indians were Shawanese, Delawares, and Wyandots, and said the reason the Chillicothees left was the prevalence of the small pox. Describing the disease, the Indians said the people die — die — die — some day one, some day two ; and they bury — bury — bury, and pointed out the graves. Fergus Moore testified to same as James Moore, and added that in digging the Ohio canal bones were found in great numbers at the places shown to them as graves. This evidence will probably be considered as con- clusive in relation to the position of Old Chillicothe and the two camps. Before Lord Dunmore reached the vicinity of the Indian towns he was met by a flag of truce, borne by a white man named Elliot, desiring a halt on the part of the troops, and requesting for the chiefs an inter- preter with whom they could communicate.* To this his Lordship, who, according to the Virginians, had an aversion to fighting, readily assented. They fur- thermore charged him with the design of forming an alliance with the confederacy to assist Great Britain against the colonies in the crisis of the revolution, which every one foresaw. He, however, moved for- ward to Camp Charlotte, which was established rather as a convenient council ground than as a place of security or defence. The Virginia militia came here for the purpose of fighting, and their dissatisfaction * Gibson's Affidavit. 148 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. and disappointment at the result amounted almost to mutiny. Lewis refused to obey the order for a halt, considering the enemy as already within his grasp, and of inferior numbers to his own. Dunmore, as we have seen, went in person to enforce his orders, and, it is said, drew his sword upon Colonel Lewis, threatening him with instant death if he persisted in farther disobedience. The troops were concentrated at Camp Charlotte, numbering about 2,500 men. The principal chiefs of the Scioto tribes had been assembled, and some days were spent in negotiations. A' compact or treaty was at length concluded and four hostages put in possession of the Governor to be taken to Vir- ginia.* We know very little of the precise terms of this treaty, nor even of the tribes who gave it their assent. It is said the Indians agreed to make the Ohio their boundary, and the whites stipulated not to pass beyond that river. An agreement was entered into for a talk at Pitts- burgh in the following spring, where a more full treaty was to be made.f At what precise time the British standard left the Pickaway plains, we are not informed, nor by what route, after passing Fort Gower, or whether in a body or in detachments, the troops made their way home to the settlements. It is said that they reached Vir- * The following extract of a letter from Arthur St. Clair to Governor Penn, dated Ligonier, Dec. 4, 1774, needs confirmation. It is but one of many instances of the contradictory statements which embarrass our conclusions in reference to the important doings of the year 1774: — " The Mingoes that live on the Scioto did not appear to treat, and a party was sent to destroy their towns, which was effected, and there arc (12) twelve of them prisoners in Fort Pitt." — Amer- ican Archives, Vol. I, p. 1018. f American Archives, Vol. I, p. 12i'_ LORD DUN MORE' S EXPEDITION. 149 ginia highly dissatisfied with the Governor and the treaty; but this dissatisfaction does not appear to have been general. Dunmore had assumed the credit of the battle at Point Pleasant. The Virginians, who participated in that action, denied that it was an event in which he had the remotest concern ; and not only was not aware of the affair till after it had occurred, but had neither anticipated or desired its occurrence.* The troops were not paid, and they represented the whole proceeding as a method of forming an alliance with the western confederacy, of which fighting formed no part in his Lordship's plan. His position was one of difficulty, and he seems to have been deficient in the qualities of prudence, determination, and self-com- mand, so necessary to one thus situated. He is represented as a haughty, wayward, and unapproach- able person, with a selfish, hesitating, and overbear- ing mind. In addition to the scattered items of this expedi- tion here given, I will add a statement which comes very well authenticated, but seems to contradict other well known facts. It is in relation to another cam- paign to the Indian country by Dunmore in the year following, or 1775. It was related to me by Walter Curtis, Esq., of Belpre, Washington county, Ohio, and I think transmitted by him in substance to the Secretary of this Society. Mr. Curtis received it from General Clark, an eminent citizen of Missouri, a brother of General George Rogers Clark, of Ken- tucky. In 1831 a steamboat was detained a few hours near the house of Mr. Curtiss, on the Ohio, a short distance above the mouth of the Hockhocking, and * Burke's History of Virginia, Vol. HI, p. 406. 150 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. General Clark came ashore. He inquired respecting the remains of a fort or encampment at the mouth of the Hockhocking river, as it is now called. He was told that there was evidence of a clearing of several acres in extent, and that pieces of guns and muskets had been found on the spot ; and also that a collec- tion of several hundred bullets had been discovered on the bank of the Hockhocking, about twenty-five miles up the river. General Clark then stated that the ground had been occupied as a camp by Lord Dun- more, who came down the Kenhawa with 300 men in the spring of 1775, with the expectation of treating with the Indians here. The chiefs not making their appearance, the march was continued up the river twenty-five or thirty miles, where an express from Virginia overtook the party. That evening a council was held, and lasted till very late at night. In the morning the troops were disbanded, and immediately requested to enlist in the British service for a stated period. The contents of the dispatches had not trans- pired when this proposition was made. A major of militia, by the name of McCarty, made an harangue to the men against enlisting, which seems to have been done in an eloquent and effectual manner. - He referred to the condition of the public mind in the colonies, and the probability of a revolution, which must soon arrive. He represented the suspicious cir- cumstances of the express, which was still a secret to the troops, and that appearances justified the con- clusion that they were required to enlist in a service against their own countrymen, their own kindred, their own homes. The consequence was that but few of the men re-enlisted, and the majority, choosing the orator as a leader, made the best of their way to Wheeling. The news brought out by the courier proved to be an account of the opening combat of the LORD DUNMORE's EXPEDITION. 151 Revolution at Lexington, Mass., April 20, 1775. General Clark stated that himself (or his brother) was in the expedition. Lord Dunmore is said to have returned to Virginia by way of the Kenhawa river. There are very few historical details sustained by better authority than the above relation. Desirous of reconciling this statement with history, I addressed a letter to General Clark, requesting an explanation, but his death, which happened soon after, prevented a reply. It would be as difficult to pronounce it an entire error as to give it full belief. On the 20th of April, Dunmore had lost all influ- ence in Virginia, entrenched himself in his house at Williamsburg, and removed the powder from the magazine on board the Fowey, a British vessel of war. The people were then in arms, not for the pur- pose of organizing war parties against the Indian country, but intending to assault the troops and marines of England, which the Governor had posted on his premises to ensure the safety of, or to prevent access to, his person. Before the 17th of July he had abandoned the capital, and removed to the Fowey with his family and papers. There is no mention of more than one expedition in the history of Virginia, and he is stated to have been there when the battle of Lexington was first known, and is accounted for from that time until August of the subsequent year. I leave it for further information to refute or establish the truth of this narrative, and offer it here because no shadow of evidence respecting the trans- actions of that interesting period in the west ought to be neglected. For the same reason I attach the following copies of resolutions^ etc., taken from the "American Archives," a most valuable publication, issued and issuing at the expense of the United States. 152 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. In this publication the government has spared no pains to obtain correspondence in all the States, and in foreign countries, illustrating our history prior to the close of the Revolution. The first extract has some relation to the statement of General Clark of a meeting of the officers under Dunmore, but in a different year. ** At a meeting of the officers under the command of His Ex- cellency Rt. Hon. Earl of Dunmore, convened at Fort Gower, Nov. 5, 1774, for the purposes of considering the grievances of British America, an officer present addressed the meeting in the following words : — " « Gentlemen: Having now concluded the campaign, by the assistance of Providence, with honor and advantage to the colony and ourselves, it only remains that we should give our country the stronger assurance that we are ready at all times, to the utmost of our power, to maintain and defend her just rights and privi- leges. We have lived about three months in the woods, without any intelligence from Boston, or from the Delegates at Philadel- phia. It is possible, from the groundless reports of designing men, that our countrymen may be jealous of the use such a body would make of arms in their hands at this critical juncture. That we are a respectable body is certain, when it is considered that we can live weeks without bread or salt, — that we can sleep in the open air without any covering but that of the canopy of heaven, — and that we can march and shoot with any in the known world. Blessed with these talents, let us solemnly engage to one another, and our country in particular, that we will use them for no purpose but for the honor and advantage of America, and of Virginia in particular. It behoves us, then, for the satisfaction of our country, that we should give them our real sentiments by way of resolves, at this very alarming crisis.' "Whereupon the meeting made choice of a committee to draw up and prepare resolves for their consideration, who immediately withdrew, and after some time spent therein, reported that they had agreed to and prepared the following resolves, which were read, maturely considered, and agreed to nem. con. by the meet- ing, and ordered to be published in the Virginia Gazette: — " ' Resolved, That we will bear the most faithful allegiance to His Majesty King George the Third, whilst His Majesty delights to reign over a brave and a free people; that we will, at the ex- pense of life and every thing dear and valuable, exert ourselves LORD DUN MORE' S EXPEDITION, 153 in the support of the honor of his crown and the dignity of the British Empire ; but as the love of liberty and attachment to the real interests and just rights of America outweigh every other consideration, we resolve that we will exert every power within us for the defence of American liberty, and for the support of her just rights and privileges, not in any precipitous, riotous, or tumultuous manner, but when regularly called forth by the unani- mous voice of our -countrymen. "'Resolved, That we entertain the greatest respect for His Excellency theRt. Hon. Lord Dunmore, who commanded the expe- dition against the Shawanese, and who, we are confident, underwent the great fatigue of this singular campaign from no other motive than the true interests of the country.' "Signed, by order and in behalf of the whole corps, "Benjamin Ashby, Clerk." These resolutions bear date only ten days after the arrival of Lewis at Camp Charlotte. Of this time at least four days must have been occupied in the march, which must have exceeded eighty miles in distance, and we may infer that the troops moved from the Indian towns about the 1st of November, 1774. We are not able to determine whether Lord Dun- more was present when these resolutions were adopted. On the 12th instant he is found at fort Burd, near Pittsburg, sitting in judgment upon one of the refrac- tory Pennsylvanians, for violating the. Virginia pro- clamation. ' He arrived at Williamsburg, Va., on the 4th of December, and received the attentions and congratulations of the public authorities. (American Archives, Vol. I, p. 1018.) It is highly probable that the army was disbanded at Fort Gower, and came home in different parties, and by such routes as were nearest and most con- venient. The hostages had not arrived at Williams- burgh at the above date ; in fact (12) twelve of them were left at Fort Dunmore, as the Virginians called Fort Pitt. 154 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. The delivery of white prisoners and horses in pos- session of the Indians appears to have taken place at Point Pleasant early in February. " Williamsbotg, Va., Feb. 10, 1775. " A private letter from the frontiers gives an account that the Cornstalk King of the Shawanese nation, a few days ago, arrived at the mouth of the Great Kenhawa, where Captaiu Russell is sta- tioned, and delivered to him several of the old white prisoners, and a number of horses, agreeable to Lord Dunmore's desire. The Cornstalk informs that every thing at present is peaceable and quiet in the quarter he left, but that he would not undertake to say how long that pacific disposition would last, as the Fennsylvanians have sent some of their traders there, who were endeavoring all they could to persuade them that Lord Dunmore's view, in bringing the hostages to Williamsburg, was to deceive them, and that when- ever it was in his power to raise another army he would immeili- ately take every advantage and cut them off. This kind of reasoning had no material effect, it seems, as the Indians throughout the different tribes entertain the highest opinion of his Lordship's con- duct with respect to his late manoeuvres on the frontiers. 44 This morning we received information from a gentleman at the Ohio that the Mingo Indians have killed three of the Dclawares, which gives much concern to the neighboring white people. The Pennsylvanians, it appears, are greatly blamed, as they use every artifice in their power to create discontent and jealousy among the Indians. Our correspondent says they took one of our constables and immediately confined him in one of their jails, upon which Uco companies of the Virginians assembled, being determined to rescue him, which they did, together with some others which they served in the same manner, and also polled down the jail. The Mingoes, we are likewise informed, are very desirous to see Lord Dunmore, in order fully to comply wirh his terms, and to make a lasting peace with him." — American Ar- chives, p. 1226. ANTIQUITIES OF AMERICA. 155 ANTIQUITIES OF AMERICA.* [Hesperian, July; 1839.] That a work full of learned research, executed in a pure and pleasing style of language, abounding in college lore, arranged with logical accuracy, and expressed with argumentative force, should make its appearance at the West, excites extreme wonder among the salt-water literati. Hear the North American : — " A quarto volume, from what, when we - studied geography, used to be known by the instruc- tive name of the * territory north-west of the Ohio,' is something to attract attention. And when we open it, and find it printed in a style which emulates the London press, and is seldom even attempted in Amer- ica, we turn to the title-page again, to see if we did not mistake its birth-place. That one of the commu- nity in that great pork-mart (Cincinnati) should write a work upon a subject requiring long study and deep thought, is to us a pleasing fact." Heretofore speculations relative to the objects and origin of our ancient works have made their ap- pearance at the east, and far from the interesting * Notice of an Inquiry into the origin of the Antiquities of America. By John Delafield, Jr. With an Appendix, containing notes, and a "View of the Causes of the Superiority of the Men of the Northern over those of the Southern Hemisphere." By James Lakey, M. D. Cincinnati : published by N. G. Burgess & Co. Stereotyped by Glezen & Shepard. 1830. 156 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. remains so profusely discussed. The American Anti- quarian Society at Worcester, Massachusetts, made the first attempt at a regular exploration, by em- ploying Mr. Atwater to survey and describe them in 1819. The first volume of their Archaelogea Amer- icana contains the results of this gentleman's labors ; and, considering the time of its appearance, and the means appropriated to the design, much information was thus spread before the world. The work, how- ever, contains but a portion of these ruins, and some of the most remarkable are still undescribed. Sub- sequent examinations have, moreover, thrown dis- credit upon some of the representations made in the Archaelogea, and in points upon which theories have been erected, both by the author and others. About 1833 Mr. Joseph Priest, of Albany, issued the third edition of a book composed apparently from the relations of travellers, or the publications of Mr. Atwater and the Rev. Mr. Harris. The last-named gentleman came very early to Ohio, and located with the Ohio company at Marietta. In 1803 his " Tour " was published, and is worthy of credit. But the production of Mr. Priest, though highly amusing as a collection of wonders, will rank more properly with the tales of the "Tongo Islands," as a work of autho- rity. He has, fortunately, enlightened us in some cases as to the source from whence these fictions were derived. An Englishman, by the name of Ash, lias palmed upon him at least two entire descriptions of his own manufacture. We refer to the grave near Marietta, with mats and hieroglyphics, and the cavity near Zanesville, containing metallic spheres. So far as we know there does not exist such a descrip- tion or descriptions as will convey to non-residents a proper and full idea of the ancient works that remain ANTIQUITIES OP AMERICA. 157 among us.* And, consequently, the numerous specula- tions hazarded abroad in regard to their design, an- tiquity, and present appearance, rest upon false, or at least, uncertain premises. How proper it is, then, that those who discuss the subject should be eye wit- nesses. And, aside from the assistance thus gained to truth, who can enter upon the investigation with the ardor of one standing upon the tumulus itself, the sacred altar of that by-gone race, whose origin is so deeply obscured by the mists of unrecorded ages. To wander along lines of embankment, thrown up in every variety of form and dimension, parallels and squares, circles and ellipess, and every combination of curve and right line, is not the gratification of a mere idle curiosity. The observer catches an inspira- tion from the associations of the place. There, in the solitude of the forest, lie the uudoubted works of human hands ; but, by whom erected ? When ? For what purpose ? What language once sounded through the air? What feats of war, devotions of religion, acts of wisdom, or deeds of cruelty were enacted here ? All is unknown ; wrapt in inscrutable myste- ry ; not a line carved, nor a record left, nor even a tradition transmitted whereby we can form a satisfac- tory conclusion. A strong enthusiasm comes upon the mind, and every step along the ditches, over the mounds, or down the excavations, raises the intensity of interest awakened by such a presence. Mr. Delafield, acting under the full weight of those exciting mysteries, and feeling all the ambition natu- ral to an inquisitive observer, to work out a solution where the world was lost in wonder, applied himself unremittingly to an examination of the authors upon * This deficiency is now supplied by the publication in 1848, of Vol. I, of the Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge. 14 158 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. the antiquities of Asia and South America. We know not whether the idea that the race of the mounds might be identical with the Caucasian race was origi- nal with him or not. It was a bold thought, and though apparently a wild one, he has led us from fact to fact, and deduction to deduction, till we are more surprised at the clearness of the proof than the gran- deur of the conception. And whatever may be the truth in regard to the originality of this doctrine, when we consider the nature and obscurity of the case, there can be but one opinion as to the merits of the researches of the author, gathering from the four quarters of the globe corroborative testimony of as- tonishing force. The work may be considered as an abstract of the heretofore scattered facts, bearing up- on that question. In addition to a most judicious se- lection of evidence, Mr. D. has fortunately obtained some striking auxiliary facts not before public, and which fell within his reach as a resident of the coun- try where the works are found. Blumenbach divides the human race into three families, because he found three marked classes of crania, and refers the origin of our race to the East- ern Continent. In viewing the head or skull from above, looking downwards, a method of comparison called norma verticalin, he could arrange all crania in three parcels, from a similarity of outline or horizon- tal projection. The original families are called the Caucasian, of Southern Asia, the Mongolian, of North- ern Asia, and the Ethiopian. Whether this anatomi- cal distinction is traced to the three sons of Noah, as the head of each grand division of the human family, we are unable to state. It has been remarked above, that the book under consideration is written to sustain the theory that the race of the mound* came from Asia. The first propo- ANTIQUITIES OF AMERICA. 159 sltion advanced is this: The Peruvians came from Mexico. Second : The Mexicans were from the North. Opposite page seventeen, is a lithographic representa- tion of an ancient Peruvian skull, taken from the tem- ple of the Sun ; and in the same plate, two crania, obtained near Bogota, with a fourth taken from" a mound in Cincinnati. The coincidence of form in these heads goes to sustain both propositions. Vega, book 3, chap. 7, says : The Peruvians built bridges of withes. Clavigero, Vol. I, p. 389, says, the Mexicans did the same thing. Ulloa, who spent ten years in Peru, Mexico, and Colombia, says : " If we have seen one American, we have seen all, their color and make are so nearly alike. ' Chronica Del Peru, part 1, chap 19. Copan, a country between Mexico and Pe- ru, was settled by Toltecas, an ancient Mexican tribe. Letter of J. Gulindo, Archaelogea Americana, Vol. II. When the Spaniards gained a footing in South Ameri- ca they found the mountain ranges of the Cordilleras " were the abodes of a high state of civilization — the residences of nations dwelling in cities, skilful in the texture of cloths, ingenious in the mechanical arts, and possessing no small acquaintance with astronomy and general science." "Among these people have been found national annals and records which go back to a period corresponding with our sixth century, and relate the name of the illustrious emperor Citin, who led from the unknown regions of Azatlan and Teocol- huacan, the northern nations into the plains of Ana- huac," p. 15. Azatlan means " near water," and Teocolhuacan " in the midst of the houses of God." The comparison of crania also establishes a plain dif- ference between the present North American Indian and the race of the mounds. The same examination farther gives an identity of the North American In- dian, with the Mongolian, or Tartar race, showing a 100 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. successive emigration of the two Asiatic families to the American Continent. But we allow the author to state his own case. As this essay is a chain of facts, collected from many authors, and each forms a link in the concatenation, the loss of one of which may break at once the argument to be de- duced, it were well to state the position we now occupy, viz : That we have traced the descendants of that race which con- structed our ancient works, by the following train of argu- ment : I. The extension of tumuli, &c, through Western North America and Mexico to Peru, induces a belief that the race which constructed the memigrated thither ; and their termi- natinii there leads to the conclusion that the nation went no farther. II. The traditions of the North American Indians assort distinctly their ejectment of a people from the present region of Western North America, who correspond with the native Mexicans, and who emigrated hence. III. On the discovery of America, a tract of country oc- cupying the present limits of Mexico, Colombia, and Peru, was in a high state of civilization, while all around them was shrouded in mental darkness. IV. National annals have been found among the Mexi- cans, expressly stating that a period corresponding to our sixth century, their ancestors emigrated from the north, un- der the guidance of their illustrious Emperor, Citin, or Votan. V. Traditions assert that the introduction of civilization into Peru was by the emigration of certain wise men from Mexico. VI. Anatomical research exhibits a striking coincidence between the crania of the race of the mounds, and of the ancient Peruvians, differing from all others in the world, and proving conclusively that they were a distinct race from the ancestors of our present Indian tribes. We propose now an investigation of the inquiry, ANTIQUITIES OF AMERICA. 16 1 u whence is this family descended, and where were their an- cient homes?" In pursuing systematically the chain of evidence, it is proposed to divide the argument into the following branches : 1. The evidence from comparative philology. 2. That drawn from anatomy. 3. That deduced from their mythology. 4. That arising from their hieroglyphical writings. 5. That drawn from their astronomy. 6. The evidence derived from their architecture and dec- orations. 7. That deduced from their manners and customs. To give the proof or the arguments belonging to the several heads of discussion would be a compila- tion of the book. It is already so much compressed as not to admit of an abstract. The sub-division called " Philological Evidence," traces first the resemblance in orthography, between words having the same meaning in the Asiatic and North American tongues. There are eighteen words which have a most per- fect resemblance. The inquiry may be made, " What number of words, found to resemble one another in different languages, will warrant our concluding them to be of common origin ? " The learned Dr. Young applied to this subject the mathe- matical test of the calculus of probabilities, and says, " it would appear therefrom that nothing whatever could be in- ferred with respect to the relation of any two languages, from the coincidence of sense of any single word in both of them ; the odds would be three to one against the agree- ment of any two words ; but if three words appear to be identical, it would be then more than ten to one that they must be derived in both cases from some parent language, or introduced in some other manner ; six words would give more than seventeen hundred chances to one j and eight, 14* 102 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. near one hundred thousand : so that in these cases the evi- dence would be little short of absolute certainty/* Applying the same method of calculation to the terms used by the southern Asiatics, and the South Americans, a considerable list is found to be common to both. " Cami" is the term for the god in Japan ; "Cemi" that of the deities of Mexico. In Sanscrit "indre" is the sun, "manya" love, " vipulo" great ; in the language of the Incas of Peru, "inti" the sun, " munay " love, " veypul " great. The next division relates to anatomy, and here the connection of the Northern American, and the North- ern Asiatic, is first introduced. "The portrait painter, Mr. Smibert, who accompanied Dr. Berkeley, then Dean of Derry, afterwards Bishop of Cloyne, from Italy to America, in 1728, was employed by the Grand Duke of Florence to paint two or three Siberian Tartar?, presented to the Duke by the Czar of Russia. Mr. Smibert, on his landing at Narragansett Bay with Dr. Berkeley, in- stantly recognized the Indians to be the same people as the Siberian Tartars whose pictures he had taken. I shall show that the language of the Siberian Tartars and that of the Tongousi have an extensive range in North America/' f The Mongolian race, as the American, contains several sub-divisions, many tribes possessing dissimilar customs, habits, and languages. But throughout the whole north of Asia we find this family leading a nomadic or roving and savage life. Equally given to war and to the chase, they both reject the light of civilization gleaming over their southern borders. Illustrative of this branch, a lithograph of the cranium of an Egyptian Mummy is given, and con- * Philosophical Transactions, CIX, for 1818, p. 70. f Dr. S. B. Barton, pp. XVI, XVII. ANTIQUITIES OF AMERICA. 163 trasted with another, from an ancient burying ground near Lima. The sketches are taken from originals now in Cincinnati, and are doubtless correct. The resemblance, however, is not strong enough to give great support to the anatomical argument. We come now to the " Mythological Evidence." Here, again, is a coincidence between the aborigines of America and the southern Asiatics, that we cannot fairly at- tribute to mere chance. " The Mexicans had some ideas of a supreme God, to whom they gave fear and adoration. They did not repre- sent him by any visible form, calling him ' Teotl/ or God, to whom they applied expressions highly characteristic of his nature. They also believed in an evil spirit, called ' 77a- catecolotl,' or ' rational owl.' " * This quotation bears more directly upon the con- nection between the race of the mounds and the Mexicans. It is part of a statement showing a belief in the metempsychosis, or transmigration of souls, common to the Hindoo and the Mexican, that follows the description of a painting which is copied in the work. The opposite plate is the copy of a Mexican painting taken from the Codex Vaticanus, at Rome, whither it ar- rived from the new continent, shortly after the early conquests in New Spain. It will be found in the Paris folio edition of * The Mexicans were in the habit of -worshipping rude sculp- tures of this evil spirit, to prevent his anger, and consequent dangerous power. One of these images was dug out of a large tumulus in the city of Columbus, the capital of Ohio, and was ex- hibited to the Historical Society when an abstract of this essay was read by the author. It is an owl rudely carved out of a block of sand-stone, on the back of which are two holes apparently bored by a conical instrument, and in such a direction as to meet at the points, so that a thong can be passed through by which the idol can be suspended." 164 FUGITIVE E8SAYS. Baron Humboldt's "Vues des Cordilleres." The lafgt figure represents the celebrated " serpent woman/' Cihuaco- huatl, called, also, Tonacacihua, " woman of our flesh." The Mexicans considered her the mother of the human race. She is always represented with a great serpent j but for this no reason is assigned, as though, in process of time, part of the tradition were lost. Behind the serpent, who appears to be speaking to Eve, are two naked figures, of different color, and in the attitude of contention. The serpent woman was considered at Mexico as the mother of twin children, and which are here represented. This part of the painting is entirely unexplained. Baron Humboldt supposes they represent Cain and Abel, of Semitic tradition He con- siders the other figures, however, merely as vases, re- specting which a quarrel may have ensued. I would re- spectfully suggest that (if so much be conceded, as is neces- sarily true, that the chief figures are Eve, the serpent, Cain and Abel) then the others are the two altars, one of which, standing erect, bears the offering of Abel, viz : a ram, the horns of which arc rudely delineated ; while the other is the altar of Cain, rejected by the Almighty, and therefore painted upside down, containing his offering, viz : the fruits of the earth. Baron Humboldt thinks the difference of the color of Cain attributable perhaps to fancy or chance. >Ia v we not consider it typical of the mark set on the murderer by Jehovah for the heinousness of his guilt? For it will be noticed that Abel is represented with the same tint as Eve ; and from the general care in the distribution of colors through the piece, we can not infer want of design. A tradition exists among the native Mexicans beating close analogy to the Semitic account of the flood, the >»nil< I- ing of the tower of Babel, and its destruction ; and which corresponds with the early traditions of Xisthurus of the Hindoos. One or two copious extracts from this division of the subject seems to be necessary. The following description of the Mexican cosmogony is ANTIQUITIES OF AMERICA. 165 condensed from the valuable work of Baron Humboldt, " des anciens monumens de Y Amerique." The sacred books of the Hindoos, especially the Bhaga- vita Pourana, speak of the four ages, and of the pralayas, or cataclysms, which at different epochs have destroyed the human race. Gomara, in his C&nqnista, fol. 119, says that the natives of Culhua, believe according to their hieroglyph- ical paintings, that, previous to the sun which now enlight- ens them, four had already been extinguished. These four suns are as many ages, in which our species has been anni- hilated by inundations, by earthquakes, by a general confla- gration, and by the effect of destroying tempests. The Co- dex Vaticanus, at Rome, No. 8738, contains the drawings which are represented on the annexed pages, being copies of native hieroglyphic paintings, made by the Dominican monk, Pedro de los Rios, A. I)., 1566. They illustrate the destruction of the world at the expiration of each age, and are described in a very curious history, written in the Aztec tongue, fragments of which have been preserved by the native Mexican, Fernando de Alvar Ixtlilochitl. The testi- mony of a native writer, and the copies of Mexican paint- ings, made on the spot, merit, undoubtedly, more confidence than the recital of the Spanish historians. The four hieroglyphical paintings are given in full. The four cycles, or ages, are four thousand to five thousand years each, called the " age of Justice " (five thousand two hundred and six years); "age of fire/' (four thousand eight hundred and four years) ; " age of wind," (four thousand and ten); "the age of the flood," (four thousand and eight.) A man and a woman escapes from each cataclysm, indicating a coincidence with the Jewish Scriptures, and also with the Hindoo belief. Hieroglyphic*. — Our knowledge of hieroglyphical writing is confined to the Egyptian productions, of late years so fully elucidated by the Champollions. There are three kinds or degrees of this method of making records : the phonetic, figurative, and symbol- 166 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. ical. The first expresses sound like an alphabet, and constitutes much of the Egyptian writing. Cham- pollion read the names of Ptolemy and Cleopatra, on the Ilosetta monument, by a resort to this method. Humboldt says (vues des Cordilleres, pp. 64-5), " There are, in Mexico, remains of those hieroglyph- ics, called phonetic, having relation not to the thing, but to the spoken name. The phonetic system of the Toltecans is intelligible at first glance. The head of a Toltecan king appears, along with others, in the pyramidal tower of Palenque." The name is inscribed over it in a rectangle or cartouche, after the Egyp- tian fashion, and reads Acatla Potzin. The second method, the figurative, " was in common use among the Mexicans, and forms no small portion of their scriptural remains," p. 45. As to the third, or sym- bolical, " the Mexicans not only represented the sim- ple images of objects, but they had some characters, answering, like the signs of algebraists, for things devoid of figure, or difficult of representation," p. 45. Astronomical Evidence. — u The civil year of the Aztecs is a solar year of three hundred and sixty- five days. It was divided into eighteen months of twenty days, making three hundred and sixty days, to which they added five days, and began the year anew. The Peruvian year was divided, as is customary in south- ern Asia, into twelve moons [guilla], the synodical revolu- tions of which end at three hundred and fifty-four days, eight hours and forty-eight minutes. To correct the lunar year, and make it agree with the solar, they added, accord- ing to an ancient custom, eleven days, which, after an ed : v< n d with them ; one of their principal temples having been there, where the kings and caciques of Quito were bill Mb" * In the North American tumuli, various articles are found buried with the occupant, such as idols, clay masks, mica, * Ulloa, Vol. I, p. 3C6. Gent's Ma^., Vol. XXII, p. Z1& ANTIQUITIES OF AMERICA. 169 stone axes, silver and copper rings and rosaries. Precisely similar articles are discovered in the sepulchres of Mexico and Peru. " In the tombs of Siberia, and the deserts which border it southward, arc found thousands of cast idols of gold, sil- ver, copper, tin and brass. Some of the tombs are of earth, and raised as high as houses, and in such numbers upon the plain, that at a distance they appear like a ridge of hills/' * The most ancient pyramids of the Mexicans are those of Teotlihuacan, and are said to have been built by the Tol- tec race. " The group of Teotlihuacan is eight leagues north-east of Mexico, in a plain called Micoatl, or the " Path of the Dead." -There are two large ones dedicated to the sun, (Tonitiuh), and to the moon, (Metzli), they are surrounded by several hundreds of small pyramids, which form streets, in exact lines from north to south and from east to west. One is fifty-five, the other forty-four metres in perpendicular height. The basis of the first is two hundred and eight metres in length. It is, according to Mr. Oteyza's measure- ment, made in 1803, higher than the Myceninuns, the third of the great pyramids of Greiza, in Egypt; and the length of the base is nearly equal to that of the Cephren. The small ones are nine or ten metres high, and are said to be burial places of the chiefs of the tribes. The two large ones had four principal stories, each sub-divided into steps. Tiie nucleus is composed of clay, mixed with small stones, and incased by a thick wall of porous amygdaloid. This construction recalls to mind that of one of the Egyptian pyramids of Sakhara, which has six stories, and which, ac- cording to Pococke, is a mass of pebbles and yellow mortar, covered on the outside with rough stones." f The pyramids of Dgizeh, in Egypt, it will be borne in- mind, are also surrounded by smaller edifices in regular or- der, and closely correspond in arrangement to what has been here described. * Rankin's Conquest of Peru, p. 238. f Rankin's Conquest of Peru, p. 350. 15 170 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. " The greatest; most ancient, and most celebrated <■; pyramidal monuments of Anabuac is the teocalli of Cholula. At a distance it has the aspect of a natural hill covered with vegetation. It has four stories of equal height. It appears to have been constructed exactly in the direction of the four cardinal points. The base of this pyramid is twice as broad as that of the Cheops in Egypt, but its height is very little more than that of Mycerinus. On comparing the dim tnsions of the house of the Sun, in Peru, with those of the pyramid of Cholula, we see that the people who con- structed these remarkable monuments intended to give them the same height, but with bases of length in proportion of one to two. The pyramid of Cholula is built of unburnt bricks, alternating with layers of clay." * This edifice, it would appear, closely corresponds with the great temple of Bel, or Belus, at Babylon, as described by Herodotus. From this may we not learn the intention of the em- bankment around the large tumuli of North America : for instance at Circleville and Marietta ? And do we not clearly *ee that this race continued the same manner of construct- ing their " high places" in Mexico and Peru, with the im- provements incident to their permanent location there ? Another feature presents great analogy. Their build- ings, particularly the sacred houses, were covered with hieroglyphics. Each race, Egyptian, .Mexican, and Peruvian, recorded the deeds of their gods upon the walls of their temples. Nay, science was also sculptured thereon, in both countries, in the form of zodiacs and planispheres, corres- ponding even in signs. This section upon architecture, from which we have so freely taken, concludes with a lithograph of an image which Humboldt considers as an Aztec princess. It was taken from the ruins of a teocalli. at Tenochtitlan, destroyed by Cortez, and with the * Essai Politique sur la Nouvelle Espagne. ANTIQUITIES OF AMERICA. 171 exception of a string of beads across the forehead, is a tolerable copy of the Egyptian Isis. Manners and Customs, — In the valley of the Scioto, in Ohio, and at several places in Kentucky, in the vicinity of ancient works, the " pyrula perversa " has been found in numbers exceeding one hundred, and generally at some depth in the ground. It is a shell, in size varying from six to fourteen inches in length, and when not injured is entire, and without artificial openings and marks. No such shell is known on the American coast, except a small specimen in the Gulf of Mexico ; but they are said to exist as a ma- rine production on the shores of Hindoostan, and arc there used in the performance of religious ceremonies. Many other similarities are pointed out as having ex- isted in Egypt, Hindoostan, China, and Peru. A few lines may be well introduced here to connect Hindoostan and Egypt. " The sepoys who joined the British army in Egypt under Lord Hutchinson, imagined that they found their own temples in the ruins of Dendera, and were greatly exaspera- ted at the natives for their neglect of the ancient deities, whose images arc still preserved. So strongly, indeed, were they impressed with this identity, that they proceeded to perform their devotions with all the ceremonies practised in their own land. " But the most striking point of resemblance between the inhabitants of Egypt and India is the institution of castes — that singular arrangement which places an insupe- rable barrier between different orders of men in the same country, and renders their respective honors, toils, and deg- radation strictly hereditary and permanent." The author ought by no means to omit to state that pre- cisely the same division of caste prevailed among the an- cient Mexicans and Peruvians. Here terminates the comparison between the an- 172 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. cicnt inhabitants of southern Asia, and south and cen- tral America, for the purpose of sustaining their iden- tity. The next step is to trace a connection by emigration^ from Babylon to Egypt, Scythia, Siberia, North America, Azatlan (western States), Anahuac, Mexico, and Peru. Our object is less to criticise than to present an outline of this extraordinary work ; ex- traordinary, not so much on account of originality, as iudicious and extensive research ; as presenting an ac- cumulation of sensible matter relevant to this inter- esting question ; as embodying all the learning extant, which has a rational bearing upon the origin, super- stitions, and general character of a race whose deeds are so thoroughly obscured by the lapse of time. On page sixty-eight, the author says, " we now enter the most difficult, yet the most interesting part of our subject, the endeavor to trace the origin and history of the aboriginal race of America. Cuth, Cush, or Chus, the grandson of Noah, and son of Ham, was the ancestor of the Cuthites, who built Babel. This took place under Nimrod, the fourth from Noah, and after the dispersion consequent upon the confusion of tongues, he founded the Ancient Scythian Empire; Scythian being the Greek style for Cuthite. It appears the warlike subjects of Nimrod and their descendants gave their names to all countries conquered or occupied by them, and that the same name has, since their departure or emigration and from the time of Herodotus to this day, been used to desig- nate a different race and country. The Tartars and northern Asiatics, or Mongolians, who occupied Dacia, and the Caspian, are also called Scythians. This is an important distinction. After the confusion of lan- guage, " the country about Babel was evacuated. A large body of the fugitives betook themselves to Egypt, and are commemorated under the name of the Shep- ANTIQUITIES OF AMERICA. 173 herds." — Bryant's Ancient Mythology, Vol. Ill, p. 262. u These Cuthites, then, obtained the mastery of Egypt, established a noble empire, under the title of " the Shep- herd Kings," and constructed, as they did in €haldea, large cities, pyramids, obelisks, and other massive buildings, the remains of which still furnish testimony to the magnifi- cence and power of the race, " The Shepherds arc said to have maintained themselves in this situation for five bun- dred and eleven years. At last the natives of Upper Egypt rose in opposition to them, and defeated them under the conduct of King Halisphragmuthosis. They afterwards be- leaguered them in their stronghold, Avaris, which seems to have been a walled province, containing no less than ten thousand square arourae. Here they maintained themselves for a long space ; but at last, under Thummosis, the son of the former king, they were reduced to such straits as to be glad to leave the country/' * " Wearied out by the length and straitness of the seige, they at last came to terms of composition, and agreed to leave the country, if they might do it unmolested. They were permitted to depart, and ac- cordingly retired, to the amount of two hundred and forty thousand persons. Amosis, upon this, destroyed their fortifications and laid their city in ruins." Early writers notice the journeyings of this banished race in a north easterly direction as far as Palestine. Here all historical traces are lost of them, and their name is buried in oblivion. On page seventy-five will be found the following paragraph, relative to various emigrations from Egypt: There were no less than three exodi from Egypt. The first was the one just named, viz : the expulsion of two hun- dred and forty thousand Cuthites by Halisphragmuthosis ; this occurred about two hundred years before the entrance of * Bryant. Vol. HI, p. 237. 15* 174 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. the Israclitish shepherds into Egypt. The second exodus was that of this once holy people, under the guidance of the Almighty, through his servant Moses, the account of which we have in profane history, substantiated in the minut- est particulars by the sacred writings given us through the in- spiration of the Holy Spirit, which protected and preserved the race. But the third is not so generally known. We pro- pose to give a statement thereof and show the authority on which it rests. The author deems it necessary this should be kept in view, in order to prevent doubt as to the course taken by the first emigrants from Egypt. And at page eighty it is said : From what has here been related, then, it is thought that little or no doubt can arise as to the destination of the three expelled races, on their departure from Egypt : The first, in a north-easterly direction through Palestine ; the second, under Jehovah's guidance, into the land of Canaan ; and tJie third through Greece, westwardly through Europe, to their final destination in Great Britain. Here, then, we return to the subject matter of our investigation, viz : the progress of this first migratory race of Cuthite " shepherds/' after they journeyed from Egypt to Palestine. Pursuing the chain of reasoning with the closeness of a legal argument, the author says : It will be recollected, perhaps, that in the argument ex- hibiting the Anatomical analogy between the aboriginal race of America, and that of Southern Asia, a close affinity was marked between the characteristic traits of the North Ameri- can Indian, and the Mongul or Tartar race, in their nomadic life, and their rejection of civilization. We find in North America, tumuli, ramparts, etc., which the Indians know nothing about; and from what has thus far been shown, these works prove to be the remains of some other, and a more civilized race. The Mongolian family are equally rude ANTIQUITIES OP AMERICA. 175 with the Indian, and as little disposed to exert a talent for mechanical ingenuity. If, then, we find in Tartary and Si- beria monuments like the American, displaying industry and talent, unknown to and unpractised by those nations, we must necessarily conclude they are the works of some ancient and great people once occupying the land so enriched by the remnants of former greatness and power. That these exist, it is proposed to show : " In the museum at St. Petersburgh, are preserved a multitude of vessels, diadems, weapons, military trophies, ornaments of dress, coins, etc., which have been found in the Tartarian tombs, in Siberia, and on the Volga. They are of gold, silver, and copper. " In the tombs of Siberia, and the deserts which border it southward, are found thousands of cast idols of gold, sil- ver, copper, tin, and brass. " Some of the tombs are of earth, and raised as high as houses, and in such numbers upon the plain that at a dis- tance they appear like a ridge of hills; some are partly of rough hewn stones or of free-stone, oblong and triangular; others of them are built entirely of stone." When, then, we find history pointing us to an exiled race, slowly travelling in a northwardly direction, through hosts of foes, whose animosity, revenge for past tyranny, and spirit of self preservation, would constantly drive them forward and onward ; and when we see this race possessed of the very genius, which, in no other in those days, pro- duced a similar degree of excellence, enabling them to raise pyramids and cities, and ramparts for protection, preserving their dead with scrupulous care, and interring with them such animals and relics as were supposed to be of use in a future world; are we not irresistibly led to the conclusion that this family arrived at this land, and for a season held dominion over it ? From the analogies comprised in the early portion of this work, we also clearly see that some ancient race came from the southern parts of Asia, and, wandering southwardly through America, resumed their ancient customs, pre- served in some degree their language, built ramparts, 176 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. pyramids, and cities as of old, and established their primi- tive systems of mythology and astronomy. History, too, points out clearly the emigration from Babylon to Egypt, Egypt to Caucasus, and Caucasus to Siberia, of a learned, war-like, and great nation. We also know they were driven hence, but here we lose all traces of them, and their only vestiges are the walls and ramparts, tumuli and medals, yet discoverable in the latter country, where, since their time, a nomadic race, and one partaking in no degree of the excel- lence of that driven away, has held dominion. From the analogical evidence alluded to, there is some probabil- ity they went to America from Siberia, and founded the civilized empire there discovered. It is deserving of inqui- ry, whether this probability can be made a matter of cer- tainty. In order to do this satisfactorily, it were well first distinctly to understand the position and distance of that very narrow passage of water dividing Asia from America, usually known as Behring's Straits. The practiced) ility, then, of a passage across these straits is made certain. They are only fifty-two miles across, and that distance is divided by three islands. To establish, then, the probability that emigration followed this route, the fol- lowing considerations are worthy of attention : And here a new piece of evidence unexpectedly presents itself, consisting of a hieroglyphical map, obtained in Mexico by Chevalier Botturini about 1780. The Chevalier was imprisoned, lost his papers and died in confinement, of a broken heart. Mr. Bullock, formerly of London, now of Cincinnati, afterwards vis- ited Mexico as a traveller and antiquary, and was suffici- ently fortunate to recover the " Aztec Map" of Bot- turini, which is engraved and prefixed to Mr. Dela- field's work, with the remarks and notes of Botturini in fac simile. If it is authentic, — and its correspondence with this kind of Mexican representation, the character of those who vouch for it, the manner in which it was ANTIQUITIES OP AMERICA. 177 obtained, leave, it seems, no doubt upon that point, — a most striking corroboration of the supposed jour- neyings of this people is then presented. The native Mexicans stated it to be a chart delineating the entrance into America of the Aztec race, and a narra- tive of their slow and polemic journey southwardly into Anahuac. It commences, as they alleged, with the departure of their ancestors from an island. The drawing begins by exhibiting an enclosure, intended to designate the boundary of a narrow passage of water, in the centre of which is an island, and from this island they reached the main land in a boat, as is here portrayed. On the island are six hieroglyphics each, denoting the word "colli" or " house," surrounding the emblem of a tumulus erected for worship. Beneath are two figures, male and female, the latter being distinguished by the two small tres- ses resembling horns, as in the mythological painting of the age of famine. Attached to the female is an emblem used heraldically, and points her out as one of the " children of the sun," — a title claimed equally by the Hindoos, ancient Egyptians, and Peruvian Incas. Here it were well to notice how distinctly it is shown that the emigration into America of this civilized family, was from an island in a narrow passage of water. Search the continent on all its coasts, and no such place is to be found except at Behring's Straits, which have been already described. Is there not, then, additional proof in confirma- tion of the opinion, that this passage was that which facili- tated the peopling of America from the nations of Asia. For a full idea of this map, as describing the pro- gress of the ancestors of the Mexicans, we can only refer to the work itself. It were impossible at the present day to exhibit the po- sitions of the various towns, which we find delineated on 178 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. this map. No doubt the traveller through the north-western part of the United States passes them constantly. Here he meets the ruins of an ancient city, of which nought re- mains, save its ramparts and "high places," and there the lofty tumulus and range of walls point out to him the spot where sacrifices were once offered, or beacon fires were lighted. The names, however, and glory of those places have departed, and they are an enigma to the world. This map, no doubt, gives us the appellation of the most prominent cities, but to locate them with certainty were beyond the power of the present age. "The author concludes the book by an abstract of the points made and the testimony offered in sup- port of them, and at the finis thus takes leave of his readers. Do these incidents form a well connected chain f The evidence adduced is no kypotkens. It is based on the testimony of the most credible witnesses, whose names and works have been cited in their respective places. The author omits any argument on the premises, and deems it unnecessary. With the simple statement, then, of recorded incident, he submits the case to the candid and courteous consideration of the reader; and to him he tenders a res- pectfully and probably a final farewell. We have already extended this notice so far, that comment will render it tiresome. It is not every po- sition of the work that will bear examination ; in fact it would be very strange, if, in the prosecution of an inquiry where all ordinary lights are put out and the darkness of at least twenty centuries has succeeded, one-half or one-fourth of our author's propositions were not open to doubt. As an instance, it is highly improbable that a people who knew the use *>\' iron, as it seems the descendants of Cuth did, would ever NATURAL TERRACES AND RIDGES ON LAKE ERIE. 179 lose it- The stone tumuli and walls of the Nortft exhibit no evidences of having been wrought, and the universal belief is contrary to the supposition that this metal was known here. But we cannot too much admire the soundness of manner and the logical pre- cision with which the subject is treated. It contrasts in this with many similar productions of antiquaries. In endeavoring to penetrate the obscurity which shrouds the transactions of the past, most men become bewildered, and indulge in speculations which require more credulity than reason to be received as truths. ON THE NATURAL TERRACES AND RIDGES OF THE COUNTRY BORDERING LAKE ERIE. [American Journal of Science, July, 1850.] Through the assistance of the engineers, engaged at various times in surveys for railroads and canals in Northern Ohio, I have been enabled to determine the elevation of our "Lake ridges" at numerous points between the Pennsylvania line and Sandusky Bay, a distance of 130 miles. I am more particularly in- debted for these levels to J. H. Sergeant. Esq., who has run several lines west of Cleveland, and to Messrs. Harback and Smith, engineers for the Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula Railroad Company. When these surveys do not cross the ridges and terraces, they have still been the basis upon which by short cross levels, taken with a pocket instrument, I 180 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. have obtained the elevations ; and the results, I think, cannot be wide of the truth. There may be an extreme discrepancy of three feet among them, however, arising from changes in the surface of the lake, which is the common plane of reference. My opinion has been for many years, that the "ridges" are not "ancient beaches" of the lake, although some of the terraces may be. It is indispen- sable to a beach that it should at its foot or water line be perfectly horizontal. The lake ridges are not so ; and this fact, taken with the external form which they assume, clearly gives them the character of sub-marine deposits. There are points on this coast where there are four ridges rising in succession from the lake, as in the township of Ridgeville, Lorain County. In other places there are t hree, as from Geneva to Ashtabula ; from Euclid through Painesville to Geneva, two ; and from Cleveland to Euclid, one. There are places where it is difficult to trace any; and in others, as at the city of Cleveland, where there are two or three branches or divisions of one ridge for short distances, all about the same level and liable to terminate sud- denly. The ridges are sometimes upon the crest of a terrace, and sometimes lie, like a highway of water- washed sand, on the gently inclined surface of a plain that descends toward the lake. From a regular and beautiful elevated road-way, the ridge occasionlly breaks into sand knolls, as at Avon Centre, Lorain County ; at Ohio City, near Cleveland, and at Paines- ville, Lake County. Where nothing to the contrary is stated, the height given is that of the summit of the ridge, terrace or knoll. The first ridge, or that nearest the lake, is known in the county as the "North Ridge." The NATURAL TERRACES AND RIDGES ON LAKE ERIE. 181 others have different names at different places ; as the " Middle Ridge," " Chesnut Ridge, " " Butternut Ridge," and "South Ridge." Elevation of the North Ridge, beginning at the Eastern part of the Western Reserve. FEET. Conneaut, Ashtabula Co., above Lake Erie, 120 One mile west, .... 145 Four miles east of Ashtabula village, . 132 ( Base of same for several miles, 85 to 95.) County line between Lake and Ashtabula Co., northern slope of North Ridge . 107 Eight miles west in Lake County, . 125 Centreville, one mile north of village, . 105 Painesville, 120 Mentor — well defined for two miles level, 109 Wiiloughby, 85 Seven miles east of Cleveland, . 112 to 118 Three * " " 113 " 118 Two, " " " " at cross- ing of Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad, 128 Cleveland City, ... 96 to 108 Ohio City, 114 Rockport, Rocky River, . . . .90 One mile west . . . 105, 107 and 126 Avon, Lorain County, east of Centre one mile, .... . 84 u Lorain Co., Centre sand knolls, 105 Russelton, Lyme, Huron Co., . . 120 This table embraces a distance of one hundred and twenty (120) miles, where it appears the lowest sum- mit is 85 feet, and the highest 145, showing a differ- ence in longitudinal direction of 60 feet. I have not 10 182 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. visited all the positions here given, but the greater part of them, and for the rest am informed by the engineers that there is no higher ground between the ridge and the Lake. In all cases there is a smooth uninterrupted plain, on the lake side, over which the water of the lake is every where visible when the for- est timber, which is heavy, is cleared away. It is variously composed of blue marly clay, of coarse drift, called "blue" and "yellow hardpan," and of coarse sandy and gravelly drift ; but the soil is for the most part clayey, and wet between and below the ridges. The streams, little and great, cut deep and steep gullies through the superficial deposits, and also into the rocks below. From the cliff limestone at Sandusky, eastward and to the State line, the superfi- cial matter rests on slates, sandstones and shales, cor- responding to the Hamilton, Chemung and Fortage groups, of the New York reports. Elevation of the second Ridge, called the "South" and "Middle" liidye. FKET. Near Kingsville, Ashtabula County (south ridge), 152 Centrevillc, « • 122 Two miles east of Cleveland, . " . 135 Two miles south-west of Ohio City (middle ridge), 149 Dover Centre, 12 miles West of Cleveland (middle ridge), 163 Rockport, seven miles west of Cleveland (middle ridge), . . . . L30 Ridgeville, Lorain County (middle ridge), . F>8 This ridge is more broken and less continuous than the first, or "north ridge," and is in general heavier. In Rockport, Dover, and Ridgeville, on the northern NATURAL TERRACES AND RIDGES ON LAKE ERIE. 183 or lake slope, it is from 16 to 20 feet above its base or foot, and on the rear 5 to 10 feet. Behind it, as with all the ridges, is flat, swampy land, and small rivulets that drain the low ground, running parallel with the swell, to some creek, or occasionally break- ing through towards the lake. These lands are very rich, and with a moderate expense are drained by ditches cut through the ridge. The slope of the flat lands between and before the ridges is sufficient to carry off all the water in ditches that have a free cur- rent. Most of this land is coming under the plough in this manner, although it is equally well calculated for grass. No country can possess more rural beauty than that along these " ridge roads." The land in a longitudinal view, is apparently level as far as the eye can reach ; and the buildings congregated along the line of the road appear to be arrayed in curved lines, gently waving to the right and left as you pro- ceed. Looking from one of the interior ridges, which are generally perceptibly higher than the next one towards the lake, if the timber is not standing, an- other and rudely parallel row of farm houses, barns, orchards, &c, is seen at the distance of one, two, or three miles ; the intermediate space perfectly smooth and cultivated, and beyond lies the blue w T ater, and the horizon. The composition of one ridge does not materially differ from another. It is formed of coarse, water- washed, yellowish sand, or of fine gravel, principally the comminuted portions of the adjacent rocks. The rocky fragments are not generally worn perfectly round, or oblong, as beach shingle is, but are more flat, with worn edges. There are mingled with the sandstones and shales, that compose this gravel, scat- tered pieces of quartz, flint, also granite, and trap- pean rocks, limestone and ironstone. 184 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. The basis of the ridge corresponding with the im- pervious clayey soil between, gives . rise to a great many springs on the lake or lower side ; and this water frequently deposits bog iron ore that has been used extensively in furnaces along the lake shore. From near Dover centre, west of Elyria, and even to Vermillion River, the second or " middle ridge " rests on a coarse-grained sandstone or "grindstone grit," which farther east in Cuyahoga County rises above the level of the lake ridges. Between the Black and Vermillion rivers I have not succeeded in procu- ring the elevations. Here they are well developed, and show more branches or collateral lines, extending from one ridge to another, than is observed farther cast. By digging shallow wells, the inhabitants find water in abundance, and generally good. In these wells, from 12 to 18 feet deep, there are thrown out as a common occurrence, sticks, timber and leaves, in a decaying state. I have in my cabinet some pieces of this wood, furnished by Dr. Moore of Dover,who took it from a bed of carbonaceous matter in a well of his, twelve feet below the surface. The well is situated on the middle ridge, 163 feet above the lake. Pieces of timber six inches through have been found, repre- sented as being water-worn like drift-wood. Those in my possession are solid, with a very fine grain re- sembling the willow. Dr. Moore, an intelligent physician of my ac- quaintance, says he has seen shells thrown from the the bottom of wells, resembling "perriwinklcs," a corn- common name for Lymnea. Similar shells in frag- ments are said to have been thrown from a pit two miles west of Cleveland, on the north ridge. In the "blue marly clay," beneath this ridge, I have found a Helicina, and a Planorbis, shells characteristic of NATURAL TERRACES AND RIDGES ON LAKE ERIE. 185 the loess of the Rhine, and of St. Louis, and the Wabash in Indiana. The palreontological evidence is therefore, as far as it goes, in favor of the idea of very recent and fresh water deposits. It will be seen from the second table of heights, that the greatest difference is there forty-six feet ; and that the summit of the ridge rises, from Rock- port to Dover, in seven miles, thirty-three feet, but from Dover to Ridgeville, six miles, it is nearly level. Through these two distances, making thirteen miles, the height of the ridge above its base is about the same, from sixteen to twenty feet ; and consequently the base has an equal rise in a longitudinal direction. Two miles west of Ridgeville Centre, the top of the middle ridge has descended from 168 to 149 feet. The foot of the north or first ridge, and of the ter- race on which it is frequently situated, approaches nearer to a horizontal line than the ridge itself, but still differs from a perfect level. It is at F£ET. Conneaut Creek, . . . . . 75 Tour miles east of Ashtabula, . . . 85 Several miles west of " . . . .95 Painesville, . . . . . . 85 East of Willoughby, several miles, . 60 to 65 Three miles west of Willoughby, ... 60 Euclid Creek, 12 miles east of Cleveland, 75 to 85 Seven miles east of " . 105 Two " " " . 102 Ohio City, 75 Rockport, .70 Avon, 70 It is not easy to determine with precision where the base or foot of a ridge graduates into the plain ; and consequently there is not that accuracy in the 16* 186 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. elevations for the base just given, that we attain when measuring the summit or crest. But they are a close approximation, and although remarkably uniform, arc by no means equal as they should be if the base of the ridge represented an ancient coast line ; the great- est difference being forty-five feet, or about the same as the variation along the top of the second ridge. There are but few measurements in my reach of the third and fourth ridges. In Huron County, south of Ilusselton, there are two low swells of land paral- lel with the shore, apparently about on a level with each other, and not much above the main ridge at Russelton, which is reported at 120 feet. The third ridge, in Ridgeville, Cuyahoga County, is one mile southerly from the second or " middle ridge," and is not very prominent, rising six to ten feet above the low ground. At this place it is 186 feet above the lake, or eighteen feet above the middle ridge, and eighty-one above the highest part of the north ridge in Avon, five miles north. The fourth or last and highest well defined Ridge. FIKT. 2£ miles southwest of Ohio City, . . 173 \\ miles south-east of Ridgeville Centre, . 203 West bank of west fork of Black River, Elyria, 195 Distance embraced, twenty-five miles. The materials of the most southerly or interior ridge are in general coarser than in others, showing a more violent or less lasting aqueous action. This is observed everywhere at the west. The more ele> the drift, the more does it exhibit the effects of strong curtentt in the transportation of large pieces of rock, in the shape of coarse gravel. The lower portions, NATURAL TERRACES AND RIDGES ON LAKE ERIE. 187 especially those that lie near the surface of the great lakes, not only on Lake Erie, but on Michigan and Supe- rior, are fine, argillaceous or marly, laminated, and with few pebbles. The terraces have not been as much noticed as the ridges, and consequently their height is not as well known. From Rockport to Avon, the north ridge is upon the edge of a terrace, the foot from seventy feet above the lake, down to sixty feet ; its crest from one hundred and five down to eighty-five. Directly opposite this, about five miles more inland, a conside- rable portion of the fourth or south ridge, (known as the " Butternut,") is also on a terrace of about twenty feet, on its northern face; in fact all the ridges par- take of the nature of terraces, in places ; the north- ern slope being generally the longest. But the geological composition of the terrace on which the ridge rests is different, and either a rock or a drift of more compact and resisting kind. Between Newburg and Euclid, nine miles, the north- ern face of the terrace is very bold, its base from 120 to 150 feet, and its crest 200 to 225 feet. It is here composed of fine-grained sandstone (Waverly), and blue and red shales. East of Euclid, the terrace sometimes divides into two, the lower one supporting the north ridge. It is the same for several miles east of Willoughby, the crest of the first or lowest terrace being about one hundred feet and its base seventy to eighty feet, and formed of blue hardpan, resting on shales. In Erie County, on the line of the Mansfield railroad, it is composed of cliff limestone supporting black slate ; its base about 130, and its summit 180 feet. It will be interesting now to compare the eleva- tions above given, for ridges in Western Ohio, with those of the great lakes in other States. In Michigan, at the east line of Washington County east of Ann 188 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. Arbor, is a well-defined ridge running nearly north and south, whose summit is 140 feet above Detroit River, at Detroit. Around Monroe, in "Wa yne County, Michigan, are some irregular sand ridges, not more than thirty feet. They are also visible on the north shore of Lake Erie, in the flat country between Brie and Huron; their elevation is not known, but they are apparently as high as 200 feet. Mr. Roy, a Canadian engineer, has made a section across the ridges back of Toronto to Lake Simcoe, as reported by Mr. Lyell, and has given their respective elevations as follows : FEET. No. 1. — one mile north of Toronto, 20 to 30 feet high — base above Lake Ontario, . . 108 No. 2.— 2J miles from Toronto, 50 to 70 feet high — base above Lake Ontario, 208 No. 3. — 5 miles from lake — 10 feet high — summit, 288 Five other ridges or terraces are given by Mr. Hall, in the geology of the 4th district of New York; also on the authority of Mr. Hoy, referring appa- rently to the elevation of their base. FEET. No. 4. — above Lake Ontario, . . . 308 " 5. " " " . . . . 344 " 6. " " " 420 "7. " " "'..'.! 680 " 8. " " " . 7H2 Mr. Lyell observed eleven ridges between the lake and the summit for Lake Simcoe, the elevation of the eleventh, or last and highest, corresponding with N<>. 7. of the New York Report. The elevation of Lake Eric above Ontario is generally stated at 332 feet, so NATURAL TERRACES AND RTDGES ON LAKE ERIE. 189 that the three first ridges or terraces, in rear of To- ronto, are below the surface of Lake Erie. Mr. Barrett, a New York engineer, furnished Mr. Hall with the height of some points on the Lockport ridge, south of Lake Ontario and opposite Toronto. The j are as follows : FEET. At Lockport, 158 Middleport, 10 miles east, . . . 185 Albion, Orleans County, . . . 188 Brockport, Monroe County, . . . 188 None of these correspond in height with those on the north shore, as they should do if they were the result of littoral action at a beach, for the surface of the water would be level. If we suppose them to have been formed in that manner, when the water stood at the base of a ridge, the rivers must have dis- charged at the same level. Here should, on that hy- pothesis, be found deltas, and evidence of bays or lagoons. The waters having settled away, at the pres- ent period the streams discharge at a lower level, their channels being worn deeper and larger, cutting through the ridges and terraces that lie between the present and the ancient level. If the ancient mouth was at a point different from that where the present channel cuts a ridge, it should be visible in the pres- ent form of the ridge. If it was at the same point, there should be marks of such action as always ac- companies the meeting of running currents with dead water. But our streams appear to cut the ridges as though they were barriers preexisting, and broken through by the current. Terraces, composed of the rocks or other general deposits of a country, appear to be much stronger proof of ancient shores than limited sand ridges. 190 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. When we rise above 240 feet from Lake Erie, the well defined terraces disappear ; and from that line to 600 to 650 feet, the general elevation of the table land in north-eastern Ohio, the surface presents a con- fused arrangement of heavy drift, covering the rocks at various depths, in long massive knolls, without ranges or parallelism. Towards the west, the summits of the lake streams are lower, and the present surface of north-western Ohio and northern Indiana, of Illi- nois, Michigan, New York and Canada West, with much of Wisconsin and Iowa, would be submerged by a sea rising 250 feet above Lake Erie, or 815 above the ocean. The Wabash and Maumee summit, at Fort Wayne, Indiana, is 246 feet above Lake Erie. The summit between the waters of FEET ABOVE LAKK ERIE. Saginaw Bay and of Lake Michigan, . . 108 Summit between Pishtaka and Rock River in Illinois, ...... 218 Lake Winnebago, 167 Summit between Lake Ontario and Lake Simcoe, Canada, .... 197 Mouth of St. Peter's River, Fort Snelling, Minesota, ...... 179 Missouri River at Fort Leavenworth, west line of State of Missouri, . . . 181 If, therefore, the relative level of the land was the same as now, when the diluvial sea existed at high levels, its extent must have been very great, at the supposed stage of 250 feet above Lake Erie. At this or any other supposable stage, if it remained station- ary long enough to form cliffs and banks at onephuv, it would produce the same effects, in kind if not in degree, at another; and we should bo able to trace NATURAL TERRACES AND RIDGES ON LAKE ERIE. 191 beaches or shores over all the vast west, for such cliffs are due to the action of winds and waves, always in operation on bodies of water. But under-surface cur- rents are not universal, or in such general operation as to form everywhere bars and longitudinal banks or spits. If the Atlantic Ocean should suddenly set- tle one hundred feet, or any other distance, would there not remain a distinct shore, well defined and traceable its entire length ? At the mouth of some rivers and bays or inlets would be seen limited sand ridges, their bases upon an exact level. On the an- cient bed of the sea opposite sandy coasts, like North Carolina and New Jersey, would appear long and nar- row and rudely parallel ridges, of such materials as are easily moved by currents, that would not be level longitudinally. The evidence of the existence of ancient currents acting upon the drift, regularly and irregularly, is abundant. They have acted at all elevations, as well on the highest lands in Ohio, at 1350 feet above the tide, as at the sources of the Mississippi, 1680 feet. The evidence is that they were powerful, and in gene- ral erratic or irregular and fitful. Such currents would not leave ridges, but rounded elevations. For this discussion it is immaterial whether the relative change in the level of land and water was due to sub- sidence or upheaval. The change has taken place, and before that period there were at great depths cur- rents of water, both gentle and strong, giving form to the present exposed surface of the earth. It is to this wide-spread power that we must resort, to explain most of the diluvial phenomena which are observed. What can be reasonably assigned to the wearing action of waves along a coast line is limited and not pervading; not an universal, but a local, tar- dy, and inefficient geological agent. THE AGE OF THE MATERIAL Ux\IVEHSE. [Western Quarterly Review, 1849, Vol. I, No. 3 ] Until within thirty years the general belief of mankind was, that the earth had been in existence only about six thousand years. The researches of geologists, and the astonishing discoveries of astron- omers have, within that time, entirely changed the opinions of those conversant with natural philosophy, and the natural sciences, on this point. Men who have become proficients in the physical sciences now agree, the world over, that our earth and the solar system, and the yet unfathomed "stellar world," have existed hundreds of thousands of years. The great past duration of the universe is an idea that new developments go continually to increase, and not to diminish, so that we may safely estimate its age at millions of years, instead of hundreds of thousands. I shall exhibit some of the facts upon which this belief is founded. I may not succeed in causing so difficult a subject to be comprehended at once, but may give some as- sistance in your future contemplations upon it. The periods of time with which it is necessary to deal are so vast, compared with our own earthly exist- ence or even compared with the historic periods, that it is only by the use of our imagination that we can em-" AGE OP THE UNIVERSE. 193 brace the idea. Just as in Astronomy we are well convinced of the immense distance of the stars, but do not realize by comparison the length of a line ex- tending from the earth to them, or even from the sun to the earth, 95,000,000 miles. The distances which we travel on the earth, and over which ships sail on the ocean, being at most only 24,000 miles — or the circumference of the earth — be- come as nothing when applied to the heavenly bodies. The evidence of our senses in reference to space must be left behind, and the conclusions of the mind must be received as true. I doubt whether any individual has a rational con- ception of the length of a line reaching to our moon, the nearest heavenly body, and distant only about ten times the circumference of the earth. In contemplating the existence of the universe, we must accustom ourselves to grasp long periods of time, as in astronomy we do great extension of lines and spaces. There is another difficulty in the discussion of the longevity of the earth, which arises from our prior convictions and opinions, and particularly from a fear on the part of some, and a belief on the part of oth- ers, that the doctrine here taught is contrary to the Holy Scriptures. This branch of the subject is purely theological, and one the discussion of which belongs to theologians, and not to philosophers. But it is so interesting, and the apprehensions of Christians it seems to me so un- founded, that I am tempted to digress a little for the purpose of noticing its connection with revelation. And in the outset I should observe — as I shall show before I close — that the science of astronomy presents far greater difficulties to be reconciled than that of geology, and the arguments in favor of the 17 194 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. extreme past duration of our planet, drawn from our knowledge of the stars, are the most conclusive of all. And I should add, moreover, that among the ge- ologists and astronomers of my acquaintance, and those with whose personal history I am acquainted, there are proportionally more devout and pious men than there are among civilized mankind at large, or the secular professions. The arguments which have been drawn from ge- ology, unfavorable to the truths of Christianity, have originated not with learned men. I know of no ex- ception among the living geologists, of a man who does not believe the earth to be more than an hundred thousand years old ; yet at least one half of them are exemplary, professing Christians, who assert that their confidence in the scripture revelations is unimpaired. There was issued in England a few years since, a work which attracted much attention, entitled " Ves- tiges of Creation." This book made pretensions to being an exponent of modern geology. But geolo- gists of reputation in America and Europe regard the author's ideas as in the main contradictory, and not in harmony with science — the vagaries of a diseased or a half-instructed mind. It is an exemplification of the words of the old English poet and philosopher, that a " little learning is a dangerous thing." I know of no standard work on geology that at- tempts to throw discredit on revelation, although nearly all of them date the creation of the world tar back of the historic period of 6,000 years. The first and the most popular difficulty arises from confounding the era of the appearance of man upon the earth with the crpation of the world. There is no geological evidence, so far as I know, showing that man has been more than 6,000 years in existence. AOE OF THE UNIVERSE. 195 But the fact of a long prior existence of the earth itself is a separate idea, and should not be mixed with the peopling of the world by human beings. There has been a great deal written upon the question of reconciling the Mosaic account of the cre- ation with the present state of science. The qualifi- cations necessary to discuss this question are possessed by few men living, if they are by any. It requires a mind free from every external and improper bias. The man, or the men who enter upon the discussion, must be linguists of the first class, to scan the Mosaic account thoroughly in all the languages through which it has passed, from the Hebrew to the English. They should be masters of modern science, and here it is doubtful whether the progress of learning is yet such as to render it safe to make a final conclu- sion of the matter. The translators of the Septuagint had only the astronomical light of the era of Ptolemy. The translators of the English Bible were a little better informed, but even then the Copernican system was not universally received. Great strides in scientific discovery have been made since the days of James the Second. But I have not forgotten my resolution to express some of the modern views entertained upon the sup- posed discrepancy. It will be of course principally a repetition of what may be seen by you all in publica- tions upon geology, theology, and astronomy. The first chapter of Genesis does not appear to have been intended as a piece of natural history, and should not be regarded as such. There is no doubt but he who made all things knows all about them, and could give us, if he chose, at once the laws of matter and the most perfect history of the manner in which they were originated. In our researches we should 196 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. first divide the act of creation from the acts of change to which matter has been subject since its creation. The absolute creation of matter is an idea beyond our comprehension. The prevailing theory is that the first or primeval state of the planets was that of a vitrified mass, which would naturally become round by motion on its axis. l>ut how that mass was brought into being is not as yet a subject of human speculation, it is referred di- rectly to the incomprehensible power of God. The observations of man have disclosed abundant evidence of change in the condition of our plauet ; and the laws, the number, and the nature of these changes, consti- tute the science of geology. I conceive it is only the first verse of the first chapter of Genesis that may be truly said to refer to the creation, technically speaking : " In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." The next verse describes the condition of the earth after creation. " And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep," &c. The succeeding verses are chiefly taken up by a statement of the changes introduced in the earth, which had already been made. The dry land appears — oceans of water result from the emergence of the land — plants spring up — the waters bring forth things that have life. Here is past creation, and past modification of what was cre- ated. The animals, plants, and fishes were originated ; the mountains and seas were the consequence of a rise of the solid materials of the globe, that is, its r portions, thus driving its waters into the great prime- val valleys forming oceans and lesser bodies of water. AGE OF THE UNIVERSE. 197 But I do not think there is an attempt in the first chapter of Genesis — or anywhere in the Bible — to give a full, clear, and detailed description of these stu- pendous events. The revelation is a moral and not a scientific one; what there is in it of science, history, or political law, is incidental to the morality and religion there communicated, and goes no farther. What is purely secular is merely illustrative, and to be understood must have been made in terms in use, and in accord- ance with the state of intelligence of the people to whom it was addressed ; if not, it was to them no revelation — it would be merely nothing. The He- brews had seen by night a revolving heaven filled with stars, and had so often watched these mysterious ob- jects as they presented themselves anew each evening that they had discovered some which had a relative motion among the others. Here their knowledge of the planets and the plan- etary system ended. The people of Israel could neither read nor write. The priests were the de- positories of knowledge, and they were not much in advance of the people. What did Moses, their prophet and legislator, know of astronomy or of geology ? Was he inspired in matters of science above the learning of his day ? There is no evidence that he was. Had that been the case, it must have been with reference to the moral revelations he was to make to his people, and in them we should have found expressions relating to science. W T as such a revela- tion necessary to sustain and support the moral and religious law ? If it was, how much of it ? If it was regarded by the Deity as of consequence to his pur- poses, that mankind should be provided with an easy way to secular knowledge, would he not have intro- duced such subjects in his revelation ? 17* 198 FUGITIVE KsSbtB. If it was necessary for his prophets to possess this knowledge, he would have imparted it to them, and they, recording his communications, must inevitably have made use of expressions that would show us that they had this knowledge. The result would have been that a moral subject would at one time require or connect itself with math- ematics, at another with natural philosophy, then with chemistry, and so on through the range of the sciences and the arts, not merely as known to us, but as shall be known through the progress of time, and as fully as known to the Divine mind. Mankind would not have been in ignorance, till the days of Copernicus, that the sun occupies the centre of our system, and that the earth does not stand still in space. It would not have remained for Kepler to show that the planets describe equal spaces of their orbits, in equal times nor to teach that the other great law of astronomy, that the cubes of their times of revolu- tion are proportional to the squares of their mean dis- tances ; Archimides could have developed no new ideas on mechanical forces ; Sir Humphrey Davy no discoveries in chemistry ; Franklin, in electricity ; or Morse, in telegraphs. We should have known of the existence of the planet Uranius before the days of Herschel ; of Neptune, before Leverrier and Adams ; we should probably know whether there is beyond the orbit of Neptune more than 4,000,000,000 of miles from our sun, another member, or other mem- bers of the solar system. But these developments, not forming any part of the written revelation, I conclude that a knowledge of the sciences or of natural history was purposely kept from the books of revelation. A query might be started, whether there are not AGE OF THE UNIVERSE. 193 in fact some such matters contained in the sacred re- cords ? and whether, if there are, they must not agree with true science ? So far as I am acquainted, I know of no subject purely scientific — no phrases that appear to be intended merely to give such information upon the pages of the Bible. If knowledge of this kind is anywhere advanced, it should, when fully un- derstood, certainly correspond with our ideas on the same subject, where we understand it correctly and fully. The divine reason and human reason are the same mental perception ; and when humanity can reach the truth, its ideas correspond to those of the Deity on the same subject. Thus the mathematical principle, that the sum of the squares of a right-angled triangle are equal to the square of the hypothenuse, is an idea comprehensible alike to the divine and the human intellect. So with the property of gravitation ; with Kepler's astronomi- cal laws ; chemical affinity ; geological principles, and all other knowledge. Our powers are limited to the discovery of God's laws ; they are not equal to the origin of laws in nature or science. When the two grades of intellect unite, in the understanding of a subject, human reason, as far as it sees correctly, must be the same in quality, though infinitely less in quantity, as divine reason. The difference is, that we are continually subject to error ; he is not: we are always learning ; he never learns. It is on such grounds that I regard the Bible as forming no part of our " natural history," or of our science ; and that the first chapter of Genesis should not be regarded as a description or an attempt at a description of the mode or manner of the creation. For such a purpose it is too meagre, too confused, and too blind ; it would have required, not merely one 200 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. short chapter, but many large volumes, to disclose as much respecting the act of forming and peopling the solar system, as we already know. The most that can be drawn from that chapter, as bearing upon the modus operandi, is a succinct, un- qualified statement — brief as it is sublime — that in some remote, undiscovered period God made the uni- verse. After the lapse of an indefinite period, a succes- sion of changes and modifications took place, accom- panied by additional acts of creation which may still be going on. The intervals between these periods are unequal and indefinite, or as yet not known. The most learned theological commentators teach us that the Hebrew word, translated day, should be regarded as meaning epoch, era, period, generation, or time, and not a natural day of twenty-four hours; nor does it mean periods of equal duration. This construction is evidently necessary to accord with ob- served facts. The loA\er animals lived, died; and whole species disappeared and ceased to exist before others were created or brought into being. They could not, therefore, have been made simultaneously in the same day, unless they were also cut off instantly, and new forms of life put in their place through num- berless repetitions. This would be a mere act of cre- ative sport, without design or beneficial purpoe act of which no one supposes the Creator capable. Dr. John Pye Smith says, the first verse refers to an "indefinite epoch in past eternity ;" also that the term translated "created' 1 maybe used for the words " adjusted " and " finished." Dr. Jenks says, the Hebrew word "erets," or earth, "implies everything relating to the terraqueo, serial globe; that is all that belongs to the solid and llu id parts of our world, and its surrounding atmos- phere." AGE OP THE UNIVERSE. 201 The expression " And the evening and the morn- ing were the first day " has been rendered " and there was evening and there was morning the first day," and also, " and there was dusk and there was dawn the first day." I said the description was too confused to convey a clear idea of the process, taking the order of nar- ration for the order of events. There is day and night spoken of before the firm- ament, and before the sun, moon, and stars. In the original the firmament is not created, but made to ap- pear. On the sixth day man and woman are said to have been created, male and female. But in the sec- ond chapter, the creation of man, the formation of the garden of Eden, and afterwards the creation of woman, appear to have taken place, if it was in the order as mentioned after the seventh, or day of rest. This want of order and perspicuity is common to an- cient writings and to the Scriptures, where rhetoric and the grammatical structure of sentences give way to the native vigor of untutored and imaginative wri- ters. Plants are said to have been created before ani- mals and the inhabitants of the seas. As to land plants, the researches of geology, in its present state, give a contrary order, and show us that the mollusca existed long before these vegetables, but future inves- tigations may show facts to change the received opin- ions of geologists. Not long since marine plants were supposed to be more recent than the mollusca, but the New York geologists found and recently published- sketches of marine vegetables in the Potsdam sand- stone, the oldest rock of the New York system. I present these apparent discrepancies to show that there are difficulties in reconciling the various parts of the narration to itself, considered as a piece 202 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. of natural history. And to enforce my belief that it was not so intended. Any enlightened human mind which should understand such a memoir, would study to make it clear, orderly and consistent, much more the divine mind. Geology, however, discloses a good general resem- blance in the order of the changes and creations to those set forth in Genesis. Almost the lowest fossil remains, which must of necessity be almost the oldest in the order of chron- ology, have eyes fitted to receive light. This is the case with trilobites found low down in the " silurian system," though the lenses composing the eye are constructed of great power, adapted to a very dim light. These creatures crawled on the bottom of an- cient seas, and of course were made after the creation of light, or their eyes would be useless. Light must also have preceded the growth of plants. Fossil remains prove that animals inhabiting the waters were in existence before those that walk on land. The fossil elephant, mastodon, buffalo, megatheri- um, &c, are more recent than the fossil saurians, or water lizards, which were of great size. Geology establishes the position that the first con- dition of this planet is aptly described by the Si ment that it was "without form and void." The crystalline rocks, sometimes called the " prim- itive rocks," such as granite, sienite, and gneiss, arc regarded as the cooled crust or exterior of the earth. its central portions still remaining in a liquid or vol- canic state. The surface of the earth before the "sedi- mentary" or stratified rocks were formed would present the appearance of confused heaps of fractured angular primitive rocks, now represented by the peaks Ot the Andes, the Rocky Mountains, the Granite Hills of AGE OP THE UNIVERSE. 203 New England, the Alps, and the Himalayas. In the "Plutonic " or primitive rocks, there are no fossils ; no evidences that during the long interval between the time when our planet took its place in the solar sys- tem, and the period when the sedimentary rocks were deposited, any living, moving, or breathing thing ex- isted upon the earth. A change then took place, and a new class of rocks began to be formed by the agency of water. Those rocks which we call the "sedimentary " rest upon the Plutonic, and contain everywhere the preserved bodies of living organized creatures. Those that are first in point of time, or lowest in the system, are a small shell-fish called the " Lingula." As we ascend in the geological structure, the fossil remains become more numerous, and new forms of animal life constantly appear, such as fishes, reptiles, and birds. Again, geology teaches that the animals adapted to the use of man, and at the same time to live on dry land, did not come into being till the geological chan- ges were nearly complete. It shows that they were made near the last act of creation, and either contem- porary or closely connected with the production of man. The remains of the ox, horse, elk, deer, &c, are found in the last deposit of all the "drift," or as it is sometimes called the "diluvium." This is the mixture of sand, gravel, bowlders, clay, and earth, which covers the surface of the indurated rocks. But even here no remains of man are found of a fossil char- acter, showing that he appeared after all the organic changes had been made, and the surface of the earth had taken, in general, its present form. Thus it may be shown that geology finds in the progress of the creative acts, an order corresponding in a general way, with the Mosaic Books, and that the descrepancies are not greater than would be anticipated 204 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. when we consider that it was no part of the sacred historians duty to teach cosmogony. I now dismiss the subject of discrepances, to re- turn to the main question — that of the proofs of great age in our ^arth. An entire volume would not be too much space to devote to it. I begin with our own re- gion. If you look about from the upland of this village,* you observe a plain, the general level of which ex- tends from the Summit Lake northerly to old Portage and Cuyahoga Falls. On each side of this space are rocky highlands, in the township of Portage on the west, and Tallmadge to the east. The Cuyahoga riv- er comes in from the north-east, the Little Cuyahoga on the south-east, and on the south the branch which runs from the Summit Lake through this village. These streams have worn channels or gulfs into the plain, from fifty to one hundred and fifty feet deep, and the inquiry arises at once, how long would it take their waters to do this work ? The present course of our streams was marked out as the ancient waters receded, and the dry land ap- peared. Our streams are merely the conduits for water falling from the clouds upon the surface of the earth. As the land emerged from the ocean, there would be at first short rivulets like those of an island, and as the waters fell the length and number of streams would be increased. These would unite, always ta- king the lowest ground, forming great trunks like the Ohio, and finally like the Mississippi. The mouths of course changing position, and advancing as the level of the sea into which they discharged, became lower and lower. This is on the supposition of a gradual * Akron, Ohio, -where this discourse was delivered as 1 Lecture before the Lyceum, March 7. L849. AGE OP THE UNIVERSE. 205 subsidence of the waters, or a gradual rise of the land, both of which may have taken place. In some parts of the world, these movements were convulsive and not gradual. Imagine the level of the water to be at the sum- mit of the bluffs at the old Portage ; and, as it settled away, the Cuyahoga beginning its work of excavation upon the drift which occupied its immediate valley. The deposits of sand, clay, and gravel, would be rapidly removed, as many of you have witnessed, in the artificial grades effected by means of water, at the sand bluffs of the Little Cuyahoga, north of this town. But beneath this drift, there is a rock to which the streams soon come ; and after that their progress in excavation must be slow, depending upon the na- ture of the rock for hardness. The surface rock here is called " conglomerate," or the " pebbly sandstone," being a coarse-grained sand rock, with white silicious pebbles imbedded. It is on the average about one hundred feet thick, and may be seen in the street just north of the Court House, at the canal quarry, at the point of rocks, the old forge, Middlebury, and in both banks of the Cuyahoga, from the Valley Forge to Cuyahoga Falls. The rock below it is composed of alternate layers of soft shale, and close-grained sandstone, and iron ore. The fall or descent of the two Cuyahogas is about one hundred and sixty feet in two miles along the rap- ids : more than half of which is in chutes, and tumbles over the conglomerate rock. The fine-grained sand- stone, and shale beneath, in which the channel is formed below the edge of the conglomerate, is easily worn away by the force of the current and by frost. On the contrary, the conglomerate is a very dura- ble rock, not easily disintegrated by weather or by 18 206 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. water. The characteristic features are those of cliffs, standing out sharp cut to the day, while softer rocks form rounded and earth-covered bluffs. Wherever this rock is found, there are water-falls, and a rude, wild scenery. When the waters of the great Cuyaho- ga begin to fall over the edges of this rock, at the lower end of the gorge at Valley Forge, the shale be- neath would be torn up rapidly by the force of the de- scent : but the conglomerate, acting as a protection, prevented the channel from wearing up stream as fast as it would have done if the rock had been all shale. The undermining process would go on below, and at the same time the wearing process above. There is now presented a chasm two miles in length, at the lower end about 200 feet deep, at the upper 25 or 30 ; its width but little greater than its depth. How many years must have elapsed during the formation of this gulf? Along the upper half the water has not yet cut through the hard conglomerate rock, which there forms the bed as well as the walls of the gulf. Since the occupation of white men, no per- ceptible gain has been observed upon the rocky chan- nel of the river by the action of the elements. It is a rock, which, when quarried and put in buildings, bridges, and walls, is regarded as proof against weath- er and climate. Its constituents are silicious crystals and pebbles, cemented by a little iron. And yet the never-ceasing flow of the Cuyahoga is eating a path- way through its mass at a slow but certain rati'. If we could, by long observation, determine how much was gained in a period of years, as they have at the falls of Niagara, we could give the estimate a math- ematical form and certainty. At the Niagara river, the chasm is seven miles in length, and the most eminent geologists have made computations upon the rate of its advance. They AGE OF THE UNIVERSE. 207 have a map of the figure of the Fall, made by Hen- nepin, about 1680, and have studied the character of the rocks which lie beneath. There, as here, there is a substratum of shale, easily torn away ; the lime rock at the crest of the Falls being of better resisting power. They have also discovered an ancient channel which leaves the present one at the whirlpool, and reaches Lake Onta- rio some miles west of the present mouth of the Niag- ara river. This channel is now filled with drift ; but that the river, or-at least a part of it, once discharged there, is well established by Sir Charles Lyell. The geologist of New York, Mr. James Hall, has made close surveys of the Fall as it now is, and in addition to the map has fixed copper pins in the rocks, by which means future examiners may judge of the recession of the Falls. After all these investigations, I believe no geolo- gist fixes the period that must have been occupied by the Niagara river in excavating its present channel below the Falls, at less than 43,000 years. Considering the resisting nature of the conglome- rate as compared with the Niagara limestone, which is slightly soluble in water, the less mechanical power of the stream, and the apparent stability of the rock since the settlement of this country by whites, I am inclined to regard the time necessary to wear out the gulf of the Falls of Cuyahoga as great as that for Niagara, or say 50,000 years. This is one item in our computation, and applies only to the lapse of time, since the deposition of the sedimentary rocks, and the emergence of the conti- nents from the ancient seas. Another item of the account, founded on geo- logical investigation, is the period between the drift and the igneous or plutonic rocks, heretofore known as £08 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. the primary. This was occupied in the slow deposit of the " sedimentary " or aqueous rocks, having a thickness of two to five miles. Every stone-mason and quarry -man knows that the rocks split in the hori- zontal much easier than they break in the vertical line. This is owing to the mode of deposition by very gradual subsidence, such as we see when muddy water is allwed too settle and become clear. Tbe mud at the bottom forms in thin layers or la- mina, and when the waters retire as in floods of the Ohio and Mississippi, and the residuary matter be- comes dry in the sun. it peels up in thin distinct beds like slate or shale. The secondary shales are the best example of Laminated rocks, but the sandstones and conglomerates are stratified, internally, in a less de- gree. It is this universal feature which distinguishes the aqieous from the igneous rocks, of which there are none in Ohio. The aqueous, or sedimentary, con- tain fossils, and from these facts we can deduce their great age. In this State we may examine about 4000 feet in thickness of the fossilliferous, stratified, and lamina- ted rocks. Their order and relative thickness may be seen in the Ohio Reports, extending from the low- er silurian, or blue limestone of Cincinnati, up to the top of the coal series. Now the fact of one bed, or stratum, lying above another in the aqueous rocks, is conclusive as to its relative age. The upper one must be the most recent. The coal series must be newer than the conglomerate, the con- glomerate newer than the fine-grained sandstone, the line-grained sandstone newer than the black shale, and this newer than the cliff limestone, which is be- neath it. Carry the same reasoning into superposition of lamina, and each definable portion of the bed or AGE OP THE UNIVERSE. 209 stratum, not thicker sometimes than stout paper, is more recent than the lamina below it. How many hundreds of thousands of these may there be in 4000 feet? You will then inquire what is the evidence that these thin plates of rock were deposited slowly, and not in a short space of time. If they are closely ex- amined, there will be seen enclosed within the mass the forms of animals and plants, which retain their form and minutest markings in all the perfection of life. The marine animals, the testacea and the Crustacea, must have lived and grown near where they are now found, for they are not constructed for travel. The rate of deposition must therefore have been such as to allow a quiet existence, not disturbed by a rapid flux and reflux of the waters. In agitated and highly turbid waters, their dead bodies would soon be injured, if not destroyed ; and at least the delicate markings of these shells would be worn off. The same reasoning may be applied to the vegetable remains of the coal series. If they were not deposited in quiet waters, the leaves and fine fibres of the stems would certainly be lost ; but there is not a flower or shrub growing on the face of the globe more perfect than the coal plants that adorn the roofs of our mines. We know, too, that the de- position now going on in the bottom of our lakes and seas is comparatively slow. When the schooner Acorn was sunk in Lake Erie, in the fall of 1843, in 68 feet of water, and ten miles from shore, the sediment on her decks at the expiration of two months was about one quarter of an inch, or at the rate of one and a half inches per year, or twelve and a half feet in a century. If we suppose the sedimentary rocks of the globe 18 * 210 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. to be three miles in thickness, and I have seen them where they are much thicker, we have 15,840 feet. Allowing a rate of deposition twice as rapid as that upon the deck of the Acorn, or twenty-five feet in a century, and we have 63,200 years for a period occu- pied in the formation of the sedimentary rocks, and to be added to the period of recession in Niagara and Cuyahoga Falls, making 113,000 years. It may be said that this mode of calculation is very indefinite — that it is founded on speculation, and does not com- mand belief. I think, however, without pursuing the geological evidence farther, every one must admit, that whether we can estimate the existence of the world correctly in this way or not, there are proofs on one side of an antiquity for greater than 6000 years, and on the other no contradictory evidence, even in the Scriptures. But there is a method of calculation that is liable to no objection, and capable of being made in exact mathematical terms. It is based on a knowledge of the velocity of light. This substance, although it travels very fast, is not, like electricity, endowed with the faculty of instantaneous transit through space. It is eight minutes and thirteen seconds coming to us from the sun. Astronomers were many weary years trying to find out the distance of the fixed stars. Their re- moteness was so great, that when viewed from opposite sides of the earth's orbit, that is to say, at opposite extremities of a line, 190,000,000 of miles in length, no "parallax" or angle at the star was observed. The most they could say was. that if the angle was only tme second, they should have been able to find it. and that the distance of the star with a paral- lax .>f ,,,(<■ second would be twenty billions (i2<>,000,- 000,000) of miles, and its light would be about ten years in coming t j us. This distance is, to our minds. AGE OF THE UNIVERSE. 211 absolutely incomprehensible, but is less than the near- est fixed stars, and therefore less than the space be- tween the outside of our system, and the inside of the starry universe beyond. In comparison with such distances, the orbit of Leverrier's planet becomes a mere line ; yet we must tax our imaginations to mount still higher, and try and grasp the idea of objects many times more remote than Sirius or any of the visible stars. By a process that it would be difficult at this time to make intelligible, Professor Bessel, of Koningsburg, in Prussia, has at last actually solved the problem of the true distance of a fixed star. By years of obser- vation upon a double star in the constellation of the Swan, commonly called "61 cygni," he has found a parallax, by which a mathematical computation, un- erring in its result, gives a distance about three times greater than the least limit just noticed, or 63,000,- 000,000 of miles instead of 20,000,000,000— its light being thirty years in making a journey to us, at the rate of 12,000,000 of miles per minute. Astronomers take this fixed quantity as a unit, and with it go on with their examinations of the depths where the remoter stars are seen. This is done by comparing their relative brightness, on the supposition that they are of equal magnitude, and decrease in brilliancy on account of distance. Applying this rule, Sir Wm. Herschel's great telescope brought into view stars that were 500 times farther off than 61 cygni, and thus about 1500 years of our reckoning must pass while their rays are travelling to our system. But we can not rest here, although our minds may stagger at the thought of another forward movement in space. The power of a telescope is its capacity to make a body appear to be nearer to us than it appears to the eye. 212 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. Sirius, or the "Dog Star," might be seen by the naked eye, if removed twelve times farther from us than it is. If from the last point where it would be thus visi- ble, it was removed again one hundred times farther, and a telescope of the power of 100 applied to it, the observer would bring back Sirius to his vision. The number of stars which we behold in walking out of a clear evening is but few compared to those which the astronomer sees when looking through his telescope, and the higher the power of his instrument, the more numerous do they appear. Instruments of low power disclose nebula that are imperceptible to the unaided vision, which, on in- creasing the telescopic power, are found to be not ne- bula but clusters of stars, so distant that at first they appear like a fleece or cloud of light resting upon the sky. The Milky Way is an instance of a visible ne- bula. Their distance is estimated by the power used in their discovery, supposing the intensity of their light to be the same as other and nearer stars. Now William Herschel examined nebula, that his telescope did not resolve, or separate into stars, and its power was such that, had they been within a dis- tance from where their light would come to us in 350,- 000 years, he would have detected the separate stars. Lord Rosse has resolved some of these nebula with his 52 feet reflecting telescope, whose known penetrating power is estimated at t> n times that of Herschel's. The last-named astronomer supposes that there are luminous bodies within the telescopic range whose rays reach us only after a flight of more than a mil- lion of years. Such is the scale upon which the universe is built. Its remote luminaries are no longer measured by miles, or by diameters of the earth's orbit. These standards AGE OF THE UNIVERSE. 213 of measure, though scarcely comprehensible to our senses — they are so .great — when applied to the dis- tant fixed stars, are so small that they do not convey the ideas which astronomers possess and desire to communicate. When they spoke of the comparative distance of the stars among themselves, they state how many years the light of the various stars will occupy in traversing the space between them. The distance of a star of the first magnitude, like Sirrus, Aldebaran, or Betelgeuse, in the shoulder of Orion, they say is seventeen (17) years away from the sun. Stars of the second magnitude, thirty (30) years ; and those of the sixth magnitude, being the most re- mote that are visible to the naked eye, are (130) one hundred and thirty years from the sun. Those that lie so far out in the ocean of the sky, that Herschel's great telescope could just discover them, require 3541 years to make known their exist- ence to us. We may be overwhelmed by such conside- rations, our finite minds may be strained and fatigued by them, but w r e must go farther still. The sun itself is in motion, bearing along w T ith it the whole train of planets, satellites and comets, which constitute our system. You will ask where is it travelling to ; and moving as it does 33,350,000 miles each year ? how long be- fore it will encounter some other system, and produce confusion there ? Its movement is now towards the constellation of ITi'veides. We should consider here, w r hat I have sta- ted before, that betAveen the outside of our solar sys- tem, — which as now defined, is the planet of Leverrier, and the nearest fixed star, or sun, or other system, — there is a space which it takes light — moving 12,000,- 000 of miles every minute of time — ten years to cross ; 214 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. and would require 105,882 years for our earth, going on an errand in space as fast as it does in its own or- bit, to reach our nearest celestial neighbor. The star H in Hercules, to which the sun is direct- ing his course, is much more distant ; its light instead of being ten years is forty-six years in reaching us. The annual rate at which the sun moves, as I have just stated, or 33,350,000 miles, is such that it will require from this time about 1,800,000 years for us to reach Hercules ; provided he remains at rest. But not only the constellation " Hercules," but all the constellations and all the stars have a motion, and revolve around a centred -point, which is called the "centre of gravity" of the stellar universe. This point is near the star Alcyone, one of the Pleaides, so far from the earth that its light is 537 years in its flight from there to us. As a right line motion is not known in nature, and since it is well settled that all the planets, satellites, and comets, move in curves, we must conclude from analogy, that the sun and all the stars move in curves also, such as circles or ellipses; which curves return to themselves, and constitute an orbit like those of the planets, but inconceivably larger. On this hypothesis how long must time flow on, before our sun will com- plete one journey around Alcyone, and come back to its present position ? Astronomers have computed this period, knowing its present rate of progress, ancl fix it at 18,200,000 years. ! I have introduced these sublime facts to accustom you to the idea of great periods of time, as well afl immense distances in space. By the side of these vast eycles, what is the his- toric period of 6000 years'.' what is • eentury ! what the life of man 1 SKETCH OF CLEVELAND. 215 If the ten millions of suns which the telescope discovers in the heavens have been in existence only 6000 years, our lot is cast in the earliest infancy of the world. For if but 6000 years of the existence of the universe have elapsed, what figures can express the period when its being shall draw to a close ? It is reasonable to consider that a work of such extent and grandeur, should have a length of life in proportion to its dimensions. That it was not made for display but for some useful and protracted purpose ; and if it is true that the stars, like the planets, have their orbits, and periods of revolution, it is no doubt true that they will be permitted to make at least one grand cir- cuit around the universe before they are blotted out. SKETCH OF THE LOCATION, SETTLEMENT, AND PKOGRESS OF THE CITY OF CLEVELAND. [American Pioneer, Vol. II, No. I, January, 1843.] This city is situated on a dry, sandy plain, be- tween Lake Erie and the Cuyahoga river ; sloping gently towards the lake, from which the water view is exquisitely fine. The plain has an elevation of seven- ty-five feet on the lake side, ninety-six at the public square, and about one hundred and fifteen at the high- est point on High street. It appears to have been oc- cupied in ancient times by the "race of the mounds," or a people between them and the present Indian race. 216 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. Within the corporate limits of the city, there were traces of two slight works, or lines of earthen embank- ment, in existence when the white settlement began. One of them is said to have been located on the bluff', west of the Light-house ; another overlooked the river from a point west of the intersection of Kinsman and Pittsburgh streets. A few low mounds of earth are scattered over the plain. In the journeyings of the Indians this seemed to be an important point. It is situated at a great southerly bend in the shore of the lake, though not the most southerly one, which is near the mouth of Huron river. But the Cuyahoga river enabled their canoes to proceed about thirty-five miles inland, to the " old portage path ;" from thence a portage of seven miles brought them to the Tuscarawas, a navigable branch of the Muskingum, which communicated with the Ohio. By land, various well-known trails concen- trated at the mouth of the Cuyahoga. The opposite banks of the stream seem to have been subject to dif- ferent jurisdictions from a remote period. The Six Nations and the Wyandot confederacy, nations (.{'ten engaged in war against each other, both upon land and water, made the Cuyahoga and the "portage path " a part of their boundary. After the war of the revolution, the British refused to yield possession of the lake country west of this stream, and occupied to its shores until 1790. Their traders had a house in Ohio City, standing north of the Detroit road on the point of the hill near the river, when the surveyors first arrived there. By the treaty of Greenville (May, 17'.)")), the -western Indian-. feated at Wayne's battle the season previous, relin- quished all claim to the lands east of the Cuyahoga, the Portage and the Muskingum, as low down as Fort Laurens, which is near Bolivar in Tuscarawas county. SKETCH OP CLEVELAND. 217 At a council, held at Buffalo in 1796, by General Cleveland and the representatives of the Six Nations, the latter people gave the whites peaceable possession of that part of the Reserve east of this river. It thus remained the line of partition between the white and the red men until July 4, 1805, when the general government extinguished the Indian title to the re- mainder of the Reserve, by treaty. When the first county north-west of the Ohio was erected (July 27, 1788), the Cuyahoga was a part of its western boundary, and the lake its northern. Af- ter the delivery of the western posts by the English, the county of Wayne was set off by the territorial government, with the county seat at Detroit, extend- ing north and west as far as the dominions of the Uni- ted States; its eastern limit was defined to be the course of the Cuyahoga, the Muskingum, and the old portage path. From the time when La Salle made the voyage of the. lakes in the " Griffin," until the abandonment of Canada by the French, in 1763, their traders traversed these regions, and are supposed to have established houses a few miles up the river. Af- ter them, the British Fur Companies occupied their place, and kept a few small vessels upon the lake. Some years before the settlement here, a schooner, commanded by Captain Thorn, was wrecked a short distance below town, and the crew wintered on shore near the remains of the vessel. From an early day, the leading Virginia states- men regarded the mouth of the Cuyahoga as an im- portant commercial position. George Washington, in his journey to the French forts, Venango and Le Boeuf, in 1753, obtained information which led him to consider it as the point of divergence of the future commerce of the lakes, seeking the ocean. Virginia being then regarded as the State through which this 19 218 FUGITIVE E88AYS. trade must pass to the Atlantic, Mr. Jefferson, in his notes upon that State, points out the channel through which it will move to the ocean. He considers the Cuyahoga and Mahoning as navigable, and separated only by a short portage, to be overcome by a canal. Once in the Ohio, produce, in his opinion, might as- cend its branches and descend the Potomac to the sea. In 1795, the Connecticut Land Company was or- ganized at Hartford, Connecticut. On the 5th of September, the fifty-six individuals composing it re- ceived a deed from the State of Connecticut of three million of acres, in what was called the Western Re- serve. They sent out forty-three surveyors the next year, who w r ere directed to divide that part lying east of the Cuyahoga into townships of five miles square. On the 16th of September, Seth Pease (a brother of the late Judge Pease of the Supreme Court) and Augus- tus Porter commenced the survey of the " City of Cleveland," as it is called in the minutes. General Moses Cleveland, the agent of the Company, had the honor of furnishing it with a name. This ground had been the source of much controversy between the States, and also the government. Connecticut laid claim to all north of the forty-first degree of north latitude, as far as forty-two degrees two minutes north, and westward to the great South sea, by virtue of a patent from Charles II., king of England. New York procured a patent conflicting with this claim. Penn- sylvania and Virginia had also their paper titles upon parts of the same territory. By deed, dated Septnn- ber 13, 178G, Connecticut released all claim to the w< st- ern lands, excepting and reserving New Connecticut, since called " the Reserve." This embraces that pari of Ohio north of the f<»rt v-iirst degree, and east of the meridian, one hundred and twenty miles west of SKETCH OF CLEVELAND. 219 the Pennsylvania line. By the deed of cession, Vir- ginia had transferred most of her rights north-west of the Ohio to the United States, March 1st, 1784. Notwithstanding the claims of Connecticut to the Reserve, the United States assumed jurisdiction so far as political sovereignty was concerned, by the or- dinance of July 13th, 1787. In 1792, Connecticut made a grant of half a million of acres, on the west end of the Reserve, to the sufferers by fire, and there- lore called the " fire lands." She still claimed, but did not exercise, jurisdiction of her western province. At length on the 30th of May, 1800, the United States having relinquished all claim to the soil of this tract, the State of Connecticut gave up the right of jurisdiction to the Union at large. The members of the Land Company, on the same day they received a deed from the State of that part east of the fire lands, conveying to John Morgan, John Caldwell, and Jonathan Brace, all their lands, in trust, for specified purposes ; and it is through the quit claim deed$ of these trustees that title to lands in this city and throughout the Company's purchase is derived. The Company paid the State one million two hundred thousand dollars for three million acres, each owner being a tenant in proportion to his stock. By the close of 1797, the portion east of the Cuy- ahoga had been laid off into townships. Six of them, including Cleveland, were reserved for private sale, on account of some highly valuable advantages. Four were surveyed into lots of one hundred and sixty acres each, making four hundred in all, to be annexed to the poorer townships, in order to equalize them with Poland, the richest of all. The remaining ninety- three were drawn in a lottery, a township for every Twelve thousand nine hundred and three dollars twenty- three cents interest, and conveyed by the trustees. 1*20 FUGITIVE B8SA . The first drawing took place in February, 1798. In I806, all the trustees first appointed were Living, re- tained their trust, and executed deeds; Mr. Morgan still survives. The original plat of the city represents two hun- dred and twenty lots, seven streets, and four lane- — - Superior street, one hundred and thirty-two feet wide ; Lake, Huron, and Ohio, each one hundred; and all parallel with the lake were original streets. Water street, Ontario, and Erie, perpendicular to the others, and a public square, thirty-eight by forty rod*, were laid out in 1796, and also Mandrake, Union, Vineyard, and Maiden lanes. In November, 1802, Amos Spaf- ford made a re-survey of the streets, altering some and establishing others. Superior lane was laid out by him. The minutes of this survey, in an informal state, were copied into the records of Trumbull county ; but, for the most part, no legal record exists of the streets in Cleveland. With the surveyors, came Mr. Job Stiles and his fa 111- dy, and became the first resident. Judge Kingsbury, now of Newburg in this county, came about the same time, but left his family at Cosne&mt. Mrs. Stiles was the mother of the first, and Mrs. Kingsbury of the second, white child born on the Reserve. Mr. Stiles left the county in 1798, and Mr. Kingsbury re- moved to his present farm in the same year. In 1 7*. >7. Lorenzo Carter became a permanent inhabitant ; ami soon after him, Nathaniel Ooane, who went to Doaite'a Corners in 1798. lietwecn this time ami 1m>j. M-. Hally, Mr. Gunn, Stephen Gilbert, Amos Spa fiord. David Clark, and Samuel Huntingdon, arrived and settled in Cleveland and its vicinity. Mr. Hunting- don afterward removed to Newburg Mills, and theme, in 1807, to Painesville. He was a judge of the Su- preme Court of Ohio, and Governor of the State. SKETCH OF CLEVELAND. 221 Mr. Carter's first cabin stood under the hill, between River street - and Mandrake lane, near St. Clair lane. Mr. Clark died in 1806*, on the farm across Kings- bury run, on the Pittsburgh road. In August, 1805, the Cuyahoga was made a port of entry, and John Walworth appointed Collector. His first official duty was the furnishing a clearance to the schooner *' Good Intent," which was lost imme- diately after, near Long Point, crew, vessel, and car- go. He was also made Postmaster, Clerk of the Court, and Recorder; and died in September, 1812. In July, 1797, the county of Washington was di- vided, and this place fell within the county of Jeffer- son, seat of justice at Steubenville. July 10, 1800, the county of Trumbull was established, county seat at Warren; and embracing ail of the Reserve. De- cember 31, 1805, a new division took place, which left Cleveland in the county of Geauga; organized March 1st, 1806. On the 10th of February, 1808, the county of Cuyahoga was erected; organized May 1st, 1810, with Cleveland as the county seat. The first Court of Common Pleas was holden June 5, 1810. Of this Court, Benjamin Ruggles was presiding judge, Major Nathan Perry, Timothy Doane and Augustus Gilbert, associates. Of the first grand jury, James Kingsbury was foreman ; a place to which, by long usage, he seems to have acquired a kind of prescrip- tive right. The Supreme Court held its first sitting on the 13th of August, 1810 ; judges, William W. Price and Ethan Allen Brown. At the April term, 1812, an Indian of the Chippeway tribe, by the name of John-O-Mic, was indicted for the murder of Daniel Buel, *i white man, at Pipe creek, near Sandusky city. And also as an accomplice with Lemo, an Indian of the same tribe, in the murder of Michael Gibbs, at the same place. It apoears that O-Mic killed Buel with 19* 22fi FUGITIVE ESSAYS. his tomahawk, and Lemo shot Gibbs with a pistol at the same time. Their object was merely the plunder of a few articles of goods and clothing. Lemo re- treated to his tribe, at Cedar Point, for protection. The officers of justice pursued him, and, arriving Ht the camp, found his body stretched upon the ground without life. Through fear of the United States he had been bound, for the purpose of being delivered up to justice. To avoid this, he rolled himself to a tree, against which stood a loaded gun. Though pinioned with his arms behind, he contrived to place the muz- zle to his throat, and discharged the piece with his toe. O-Mic was convicted and sentenced to be hung on the 26*th of June, 1812. He had been confined since the arrest, by a chain and staple, to the floor of Mr. Carter's ball-room, in the old red house, formerly standing beetween Water street and Union lane, near Superior lane, and had grown fat and strong. At the hour of execution, he objected to going upon the scaf- fold ; this difficulty was removed, however, by the promise of a pint of whiskey, which he swallowed, and took his departure for the land of the great spirit. This event was witnessed by large numbers of citizens, from this and adjoining counties, at the centre of the public square. They were assembled with arms, un- der apprehensions of an attempt, on the part of the Indians, to rescue O-Mic. The declaration of war, in June of the same year, placed our city in an important and dangerous posi- tion. In 1813 it became a depot of supplies and ren- dezvous for troops destined for operations farther west. A small stockade was erected at the foot of Ontario street on the bank of the lake, the outlines of which are still visible. A permanent garrison of in- fantry, under Major Jessup, now th, noon 27th noon •5l>th, evening Uth, evening At 3 P. M., 5 ft. 6 in. B May. 1Mb evening and 19th morning Jd, noon jth and 6th noon Junt. -d morning 20th. evening 21st, morning 30th, morning Uth, morning July. 11th, 6 A. M 21st,6A.M August. 18th. noon [average of the 18th, 2 ft. 0,6 in.] 30th, 6 P. M At noon 3 ft. 2 wim^. no, fresh X. W. high S. W.. tneb W. light W.. heavy gale N. E. do. do. do. do. do. do. heavy W •rale X lights light N.E... ftwhN.W. highN gale X. E.... fresh smith . breeze X.... light south, do. do... breeze X , ir. <•/.• N. K. HIGH LOW WATKR WATER MOMTBL1 I flVrenci 3 ft. 10 ; 4 ft 0, 16 ft 1 16 ft. 1 ft 3 1 ft 3 ft. 6 3 ft fil 3 ft 6i 5 ft. 1 ft 6 2 ft 9 2 ft. 6 2 ft. 6 2 ft. 6 2 ft. 6 2 ft 6 lft. 10 3 ft 9 3 ft 9 3 ft. 2 3 ft. 4 3 ft 4 1 ft. Oft 8 Oft. 10 4 ft. 9 2 ft. II It is apparent from this exhibit that north-east winds and gales prevail over those of any other direction, and produce most uniform, effects in heap- ing or raising the waters at this place ; and also that south-west winds have the contrary effect, and drive out and depress the water of the lake. Of twenty-one cases of extreme high water above given, eight arc due to north-east winds, three to south Winds, and three to north-west. Of sixteen instances of low water, two are con- nected with north-east winds, two with westerly, and five with south-west winds. High water occurred oftencr in the morning than LAKE LEVELS. 239 at noon or evening, and the same of low water, which is a consequence of the changes that occur in the land and sea breezes near the commencement and close of the day; The water has been high in the morning (6 A. M.) ten times, in the evening five, at noon twice. It has been low in the morning seven times, at noon six, in the evening twice. The greatest fluctuations take place in the morn- ing ; of which the most extreme case on these records occurred on the morning of November 19, 1845, after two days' light breeze south, changing to high south- west winds. The water then fell 20 inches below the bottom of the stone wall, or to 6 feet 2 inches. It is apparent, from the column of " differences " in the preceding table > how little reliance can be placed on a single measurement, and how necessary it is to have a daily register in order to arrive at the mean surface of the lake. Winds not felt at this point may affect the stage of water materially. Lake Levels. — General Abstract. Messrs. Editors : I am unable to present you at this time a perfect table of the reported stages of wa- ter in Lake Erie, on account of the difficulty of redu- cing observations taken at different points of the lake, at different times, and referred to different lines of level, to one standard of zero. At Detroit, the loiv water of August, 1819, is ta- ken as the line of reference, counting upivard. At Cleveland, we use the high water line of June, 1838, as zero, and count downwards. At Black Rock they reckon from the mitre sill of the guard-lock, and give the depth of water at the lock. There is another zero used at Buffalo harbor, 240 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. which is 5 feet 4 inches below the high water of June, 1838. If we had consecutive observations at all these pla- ces, even for one months a pretty close reduction could be made of the different zeros, or standard lines, to each other ; but as yet I have found only part of a month on which reliance can be placed ; and as the lake is never precisely level, there might be a differ- ence or error in the comparison greater than the mean annual change of surface. I give you, however, a few tables drawn from read- ings at the above places, which serve as well to show the fluctuations at these places as if the absolute average rise and fall of all parts of the lake was known, and reduced to one standard. This is done by taking the stage of water in the same month, through a series of years. Different observers do not agree as to the precise time of either the highest or lowest general state of the water. Here, it was unquestionably the highest about the 25th of June, 1838, when it was 2 feet 5 inches below the surface of the main wall at the south end of the east pier ; 2 feet below the same wall 400 feet from the south end ; 6 feet 4 inches below the coping of the lock at the Cuyahoga river, at Merwin street (on the west wing wall); 3 feet 88-100 below the water table of the Commercial House, corner of Main and river streets, Ohio City ; and was also on a level with the heads of the piles on the river, at the Morocco Factory on the flats. These marks and benches were established by Mr. Howe, the re&ideat engineer of this division of the Ohio canal, by General Ahaz Merchant, by Colonel T. B. W. Stockton, and by myself, independently of each other, and will probably some of them remain for fu- ture reference, through all time. LAKE LEVELS. 241 At Detroit, and Black Rock, the highest stage is stated to have been in August, and not in June, 1838 ; but at Buffalo it is given in the month of June. Some observers place the lowest water in August, and some in the fall of 1819; others .in Autumn, 1820; and at Buffalo there is a tradition that in 1810 it was still lower. COMPARISON Of (lit stage of water in the month of June, for several years at Cleveland. 1832. below, June, 1838 2 ft. 6 inches. 1833, 1834, 1835, 1837, .2 ft. ..2 ft. 7 ,.2 ft. 10 ..2 ft. 7 ,.t) ft. ft. 9 (mean of the month,)..... 2 ft. 10 1850, « «* " (one measurement) ............3 ft. " COMPARISON For the month of June, at Detroit. 1828, below, August, 1838 3 ft. 2 inches. 1830, " " u 4 ft. 2 " 1836, " " " 2 ft. 4 " 1837, " " " 1 ft.14 * 1840, " " " (one measurement) 2 ft. 4 " COMPARISON For the month of August, at Black Rock. 1828, above, August, 1820 2 ft. 6 inches. 1830, " " " 2 ft. 6 " 1836, « " " 3 ft. 6 « 1837, " " " 4 ft. " 1838, « " " 5 ft. 1 " 1839, « « " 3 ft.10 " 1840, « " " 2 ft. 7 " 1841, " « « ft. 9 " In these abstracts we have all of the years from 1828 to 1841, except one, and when the measurements at the several places can be reduced *to one common line or plane of reference, a statement of the abso- lute elevation and depression of the lake for those thirteen years can be made out. 21 242 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. Owing to the form of the shores which approach each other at Buffalo, the greatest temporary fluctua- tions take place there. The greatest measured local range, as given by a correspondent of the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, is fifteen feet six inches ; the highest stage occurred during a furious down-lake storm, October 18 and 19, 1844 ; the lowest, under an up-lake gale, April 18, 1848. Cleveland being near the broadest part of the lake, and towards the middle of its length, is less affected of than places at either extremity, but here a difference more than three feet has been observed in the same day. It should not be forgotten that the preceding ta- ble is not absolute., but only comparative, showing the rise and fall of corresponding months in different years. June is generally a high month, and Februa- ry a low one; but this is not invariably the case; so that the average of years can not be had by knowing how the water stood in the same months. To obtain this*, we want all the months of the year, and daily observations for each month. From the above it will be seen that the greatest well ascertained difference of level at Cleveland is between June, 1838, and June, 1846, 2 feet 10 inches; at Detroit, from August, 1828, to August, 1837, 1 foot 3 inches ; at Black Rock, between August, 1838, and August, 1841, 4 feet 4 inches ; at Buffalo (by single measurement), between May, 1840, and May, 1846, 1 foot 9 inches ; results do not agree very well with each other* January 26, 18olf. Rise and Fall of Water in Lake Erie. Messrs. Editors : You published last spring the details of Colonel Stockton's daily register of lake lev- LAKE LEVELS. 243 els at this place for 1845-6, and some other statistics on the same subject. I then stated that all of the re- corded observations, at various points on the lake, were not in my possession, but at some future time, when they should be collected and compared, I would give you the general result. So far as I have been able to discover, I now have them all ; some taken at Detroit, others at Black Rock and Buifalo, and others here ; but none of the daily observations extending through more than two years at either place. I propose to give them for each of those places, by themselves, in the terms in which they are kept, referring to the local zero or plane of reference. This will occupy about a column of your paper, and will be useful to subsequent ob- servers at those points. From the whole, some gene- ral conclusions can be drawn, showing 1st, the mean annual rise and fall ; 2d, the greatest temporary fluc- tuations known ; 3d, the greatest mean and total yearly fluctuations known. It will be seen from these tables how imperfect these observations have been hith- erto, with the exception of the years 1839 and 1840-41 at Detroit ; the years 1838, 1845-46 and 1851 at Cleve- land, and 1840-41, 1850-51 at Black Rock and Buffalo. It has not been easy to reduce the whole to a com- mon standard, or plane of reference for all parts of the lake, because its surface is very seldom level. The observations at Black Rock present greater dis- crepancies than any other, but should not be discard- ed ; and I mention it because future detailed obser- vations may show some errors in my tables, arising from this cause. The Cleveland and Buffalo zeros have been com- pared by several months' consecutive readings, by Mr. Lothrop and myself in 1851 ; Mr. Lothrop's daily, and mine as often as circumstances would permit. 244 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. The month of July, 1851, was very quiet, and at Cleveland the water did not vary to exceed (2) two inches during the month. The average is (1) one foot 11J inches below zero. The average of about sixty readings at Buffalo is 9 feet 47-100, for the depth of water in the canal ; and if the water line between Cleveland and Buffalo was level, as it should be, if it ever is, during that month of calms, the Cleveland zero is (11) eleven feet 42-100 above the Buffalo zero, or bottom of the Erie enlarged canal. In Detroit, taking the months of July, August, September, and October, 1838, as frequently measured during those months, at both places, the water at Cleveland was at an average of (1) one foot (1) one inch below zero; and at Detroit (4) four feet (6) six inches below the water table of the hydraulic tower ; and therefore the Detroit zero is (if the waters were level and adding the descent of the river) (3) three feet (5) five inches above the Cleveland zero, and (14) four- teen feet (10) ten inches above the bottom of the Erie Canal. By the use of these figures, if readings of the stage of the water are had, at one of the cities above named, say for a month consecutively, and not at the others, and it should be desirable to ascertain the level, it could be arrived at very nearly by calculation. For instance : we have for the summer of 1840 and 1841, the monthly mean at Black Rock, and no register at Cleveland, but could make out a theoretical table for these months, which would be nearer the truth than a few straggling measurements. So for those years in the local tables following, which are wanting ; by a good average or yearly mean, taken at another part of the lake, a close approximation could be made. And hereafter, when the subject shall be more fully investigated, by watching the ruin WATER LEVELS. 245 (juage, and knowing the general quantity of water which falls in the lake region, the stage of the water may be safely predicted for the coming year. It would not be correct to make one or two read- ings in a month, and call these the average, and use them to calculate levels elsewhere. It is in this res- pect that the tables are defective ; but we must take them as they are, and make the most of them ; hoping that for future years they may be more full. If light- house keepers, were required to note the state of the water daily, the object would be sooner accomplished. Instead of traditions, we should have accurate data, and practical benefits as well as scientific in- formation would be cheaply obtained. The construc- tion of harbors, wharves, and warehouses could be planned with intelligence, as to depth of water and elevation above it, as experience should fix, the amount and limit of fluctuation in the lake surface. Water Levels. — Detroit River. — 1819 to 18-jO. Taken from the Register of A. E. Hathan, Esq., Civil Engineer. Zero — the top of Water Table of Hydraulic Works. Date. 1819, June, Lowest known stngi-.... i; 9$, 8,45 lS28and 1830, June ... 1836 " ... 1SI57 " ... 1838, August 21 Highest known stage., ft,45 1,79 3,20 'I Sftl 2.00 2,00 3,66 1,66 4,25 0,59 5,25 1,00 1838, average of live last month?. 4,25 4,2.) H3), average of six masure- ments during the year. 1840. 17 measurements 5,58 ; 2,87: 6.-5! 1,90 tall high LQ5 Aug 1,33 JMj. 21* 6,97 J'ly * Colonel H. Whiting. Feb. Mar. Dee. Jan. '39 Jan. Jan. it-is high 'low 3,20 4.5:; <>.*> 7,68 7.92 C.r. .3,16 •2.09 246 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. Table Continued. Date. 1841. 12 measurements 1842. January 31 June lBt Lowest stage since 1819... July 1st.... October 24.. March 21. May 3d.... 1843. "mi" "1849." jJuly 5., 1850. M T.r.r. T*8 7,80 7,53 6,13 6,28 5,53 5,58 0.90 0>7 o..V.< = -. ~ is E 2 rise fall. high low. high 1,09 ja.fe Aug Mar of 8 years, 120 0,fJ ■:;.;■: •J. 17 2,93 2,87 Ill « ^ s lljj II » 5 6,61 mean of 4 years. low. 7,63 1,02 •J.9«i Abstract of Water Levels at Cleveland, Ohio. 1796 to 1852. The measurements commence at 1826. Prior to this date we have nothing but estimates, which were made by Mr. Alonzo Carter, Leonard Case, Esq., Mr. Levi Johnson, and others of the old settlers. A. Wal- worth, Esq., while government agent for the harbor works, noted the height of water occasionally, from 1826 to 1838, when by his request Mr. George C. Davies kept a daily register, from July to December of that year. The figure for January, 1837, is given by A. Merchant, Esq. From August, 1845, to Au- gust, 1846, we have Colonel Stockton's daily register, WATER LEVELS. 247 and from that time, reading more or less frequent by myself, made as often as circumstances would per- mit. Date and Remarks. if j Mean yearly difference. High and low month. Greatest observed range within the year. rise. fall. high. low. high. low. 1796 low. 5 ft. low. 6 ft. " 5 ft. « 2 ft. "2 ft " 6 ft. "5ft. " 4 ft. 2 ft. 10 slight. slight. 2 ft. 6 3 ft. 1ft. 1ft. 1 ft. 2 slight. 4 to 5 4 ft. Oft. 4 Oft. 3 Fall June. June. June. June. Aug. March 2 ft. 6 2 ft. 8 2 ft. C 3 ft. 2 3 ft. 8 1 4 ft. 8 4f.5,8 2f.6 0f.8 lf.0 Of.6 11 {< 2f.2 1798 1802 1806 1810-11 1813 1814 1815, June f very '• Fall months < wet 1816, Spring (years 1819, late in summer very dry '17-18 Lowest known stage 1822 1825 1826 , 1832 2 ft. 10 ft. 1833 3 ft. 2 2 ft. 7 2 ft. 10 3 ft. 4 3 ft. 1 2 ft. 7 3 ft. 6 1ft. Oft. 4 Oft. 00 Oft. 3 Of.934 1 f.2k 2 ft. 9 2 ft. 5 2 f. 8,3 21 f.14 3f. 16 3 f. 5,6 3 f. 9,5 4 f. 0,6 4 f. 4,8 4 f. 5,8 2 ft. 7 1834, June 1835, * 1839, January 1838, May 10 " June 12 Highest known stage 1838, July 12 " Sept., " « Oct., " ■ 1841, March 11 1842, April 14 " November '' December I ~l 248 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. Table Continued. Date and Remarks. s.a ■2 g 1846, April " May " June " August 1848, October 10 1850, June 20 1851, January 6 " 18 " June 5 " " 15 " July— Mean of eight measurements in a 1 weather " August 3d 7th " September 19th " Octobur— mean of 5 measurements " November — 1 2 mea.. " December — S mea f.1,2 f. 1,6 f. 10 f.0,7 f. 8 f. 11 f. 8 f. 2 f. 11 f. 11 1IU 8* f. 3 f. 5 f. 8 f. 12 Mean yearly difference. rise. f. fall. f. 4,4 High and low month. high. j low. June. Jan. June. July. Aug. Greatest observed range within the year. high. 2 ft. 10ft.l If. 11 tow. 4ft.2 1 77 219 Mean annual difference of level (in four best .ascertained years) 1 ft. 8 in. Greatest annual difference of level 2 ft. 2 in. Least annual difference of level ft. in. Mean of observed fluctuations within the year (four best years) 2 ft. in. Greatest " " " 2 ft. •". in. Least " " « lft.llin. For 1*45-6, the mean of the greatest transient fluctuation for 13 months, as shown by the daily record, arising from winds and storms, within each month is 1 ft. | in. The greatest temporary height from local and sudden causes, such as storms, stood— below zero 1 ft. 10 in. The greatest depression from like causes 6 fi.'i I in. In certain ports of Lake Superior and Lake Michi- gan, such movements take place several times a nearly perpendicular, or upon the summit : all was one bleak pile of sand, yet so clear, so regularly stratified and so beautifully variegated by colors, white and red, that the prospect was not dreary, but rather sublime. Imagine a straight wall of pure sand, four miles long, and four hundred feet high ; the base lashed by a rough sea, its top enveloped in a heavy mist, through which rounded hillocks of white wind-blown drift oc- casionally rise, as the eye reaches, mile after mile, over the country behind. To me this sight was more grand and curious than the Pictured Rocks. Whence came this mass of sand? Its upper portion has ap- parently been moved about by winds, its lower por- tions appear to be too solid to be thus moved. Was it not in remote ages like the low sands we have pass- ed, but extending much farther into the lake ? A prevailing north wind, with sufficient force to move the sand at the surface, would overcome vegetation, and, like the current of a river, transport the parti- cles incessantly in one direction. By this means the sand would pile higher and higher, and the lake, al- TWO MONTHS IN THE COPPER REGIONS. 295 ways encroaching at the foot, would increase the height of the bluff shore. The " Sable " overlies on the west, a variegated sand rock, coarse-grained, and easily broken, pitching slightly to the eastward. This is the first rock west of White-fish Point. The stratification is imperfect, the color an irregular mixture of gray and red. Turning one of the rocky points west of the "Grand Sable," a stiff gale from the west put an end to further progress, and gave warning of a storm. The only expedient in such an emergency is to beach the boat, and 'draw her out of the reach of the waves. It is an operation not always agreeable, because while loaded she cannot be run upon dry ground, and to be unloaded the goods must be taken through the water to the shore. On this occasion the wetting process had been gone through with tAvo hours before, duriug a heavy fall of rain. Our baggage was scarcely safe on land when the wind blew furiously, and our two friends in the sail- boat appeared, endeavoring to make the shore, as the sea had risen so much that a landing was at this mo- ment not only uncomfortable, but a little hazardous. As the storm increased, our fires began to burn brightly. Near the boats was a little dell sheltered by a low ridge of sand, where our tents were pitched, and all made dry and comfortable, while the gale heightened into a tempest. On the next day progress was impracticable, and being well provided, we determined to give an en- tertainment. Our friends were invited at 1, P. M. We had bean soup, boiled ham, tea and coffee, bread, and pickles. The quantity consumed probably ex- ceeded that of ordinary dinners, as much as it does at the annual meals of the Aldermen of New York and London. As to style, there were tin cups and 296 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. pewter platters, knives and spoons. For tables, there were the knees of the guests and a spare box ; for seats, camp-stools and bundles. The entertainment continued with great glee about two hours, and pass- ed oft* with as much sociability and mirth as though it had been given at the Astor. After the first hour had been spent in the en- joyment of this cheer, our guests began to refuse dishes, by way of politeness ; but the ex-Indian .agent put all such hesitation aside, by relating what lie had done and seen in the Indian country. . There was one example of an Indian eating half a bushel of wild rice at a meal. Another, of a half-breed, who was sent out to bring in a deer that had been killed s<>iuo miles from the post. The half-breed lost his way, and slept in the woods one night. The next day in the afternoon he came in without the dacv. lie was asked where lie had left it. " Ugh ! eat him — do you s'posc a man is to starve?" One thing is certain — in this high latitude, with its pure and healthy climate, an here the enervating effects of heat upon digestion are unknown, men may cat with impunity what would be fatal to them at the south. In commemoration of the feast, a little trout brook which empties there was named "Pickle Creek," and the names of the party neatly carved on a neighbor- ing birch. One of our guests is the son of a former sheriff in Canada, who made the journey from St. Marie's to Fort William by land, in the winter of 1816. The object of this trip, through a region so rough and for- bidding in the severity of the cold season, was the execution of a warrant upon Lord Selkirk, then in possession of that post. Fort William is situated about the middle of the north shore, nearly opposite TWO MONTHS IN THE COPPER .REGIONS. 297 the east end of Isle Royal. The warrant was issued from the King's Bench, and had reference to some of those acts of violence that occurred between the "Hud- son's Bay Company" and the North-west Company." The sheriff, whose name was Smith, at last reached the fort, with ten men. Selkirk professed to hold and to fight under the ancient chartered rights of his an- cestors, and when Smith presented his authority for the arrest, Selkirk fell back on his charter. Smith offered the authority of the King's Bench ; Selkirk claimed to be outside of all civil jurisdiction, and re- plied : "If you do not believe in my charter, here is my authority," pointing to about fifty men who were ready to do battle in such emergencies. lie continued : " Instead of my being your prisoner, you are mine. I will treat you and your men well, yet you must take quarters in the block-house till I leave here." Accordingly the sheriff was obliged to remain in custody about five months, until the opening of the season. The timber about Pickle Creek is black and white birch, a few stinted white maples, white and yellow pine, mountain ash, spruce, balsam of fir, balsam of spruce, white cedar, and hemlock, none of it large enough to be valuable. The next morning at 4, with a fair wind, we were on the water, having Grand Island in sight at day- break. This island is high and bold, like the Pic- tured Bocks, which lie on the mainland opposite. It bears sugar-maple in profusion, and has one family (that of Mr. Williams) residing upon it ; he is a thrifty farmer and trader. The variegated sandstone, as well as I could determine, here plunges to the west, and passes under the strata which compose the Pictured Rocks. The fomented \){\ Houghton regarded the red or variegated sandstone of Luke Superior as old- 298 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. cr than the " old red sandstone." The Pictured Rock stratum he considered the equivalent of the u Potsdam sandstone" of the New York Reports. This rock conies to the shore, about twenty miles in length, and has a thickness of at least five hundred feet. Grand Island is an outlier on the north. The following is a section from the water's edge upward, taken by the eye, at the highest point, which, according to Captain Bayfield, is 300 feet. Geological Section of the Pictured Rocks. THICKNESS. 1st — Soft conglomerate, . . . . 10 to 20 feet. 1M ( ompact sandstone, ... 00 to 80 " Sd — Gr:iy s;m? these veins there are various conjectures, which I have not space to notice. When they pass from the conglomerate to the harder and more compact trap rock, they are said to dimin- ish in width, and the material of the vein changes. They carry, in general, beautiful calcareous spar, and also other substances besides copper, such as quartz and barytes. From the Manitou Islands, at the extremity of Point Kewena, to the Portage Lakes, the most elevated mountain range, or rather succession of knobs, is nearer to the north than the south shore, and from 700 to 800 feet in height. It is a very rough region to explore, with precipitous rocks, thick cedar swamps, and tangled evergreens in every part. But Dr. Houghton, with five companies of explorers and sur- veyors, has subdivided all the land east of the Port- age Lakes into sections during the past summer, ex- cept one fractional township. The labor and ex j in- sure attending this work cannot be understood by any except these who hare been upon the ground and its mountains and swamps. This survey was under- TWO MONTHS IN THE COPPER REGIONS. 309 taken to demonstrate the practicability and value of a favorite system of Dr. Houghton's. He had, as geologist of the State of Michigan, spent several years in this desert region, and knew its mineral worth. He felt, as every exploring geologist feels, the necessity of exact topographical and lineal sur- veys, in order to give his reports that character of perfect accuracy of which the science is capable. In truth, a large portion of the results of mineral explo- rations is geographical, topographical, and mathemati- cal matter. The thickness, extent, and dip of rocks, when found, constitute a perfect measurement of the country. Dr. Houghton contracted with the Govern- ment to make the lineal survey of this region, and at the same time a geological one ; and laboring upon it as the great undertaking of his life, had, as 1 have re- marked, nearly completed the most difficult portion — that of Point Kewena. His melancholy fate is well known. By these surveys, Fort Wilkins and Copper Har- bor are situated near the south-west corner of town 59 north, range 28 ivest, or twelve towns north, and twenty-eight west of St. Mary's. The returns of the Government surveys of this region will not only show the coast and water-courses in connection with town and section lines, but will give the elevation and depression (what public surveys hitherto have not) of the country, taken at every change, by the barometer. They will further exhibit the exact limit and character of the mineral region. Such a system introduced into all the public surveys, with modifications suitable to the agricultural districts, such as the analysis of soils, collection of plants and marl 3, would be of immense advantage to the settler, and honorable to the nation. The maps and papers of the mineral agency at 310 FUGITIVE E88AYS. Porter's Island, in Copper Harbor, showed about 500 locations of one mile square each. The War Department has, by usage, the control of the mineral lands of the United States. It is doubtful whether there is any law that covers the case of the copper mines of Lake Superior. The President has, however, reposed the power of leasing these and other mineral lands in the War Department, which confines their management to the Bureau of Ordnance, which acts by local agents. The Secretary of War, or the local agents, grant permits of search and location, and the location being made, a lease is granted to the locator. In this lease there are covenants to render the Gov- ernment six per cent, of the mineral raised for three years, and after that time the Government have pow- er to require ten per cent, for the next six years. At first the permits included three miles square, or nine square miles, but were early last spring re- duced to one square mile, and given upon every appli- cation, without fees. About seventy permits were now laid in the neighborhood of Dead Men's River, and eight or ten about the mouth of Huron River. The Point Kewena .proper, that is to say, that portion east of the Portage Lakes, was mostly covered, and various other large tracts on the waters of Elm River, the Ontonagon, Iron River, Montreal, and even on the Brule, beyond La Pointe. In order therefore to locate our permits, it became necessary to go westward and explore some of the va- cant regions beyond the Portage Lakes. We there- fore left Copper Harbor, touching at Agate Harbor, Ka^le Harbor, and Eagle River, and proceeded to the mouth of Salmon Trout River, in township 55 north, range 85 west. Mr. Bushnell and myself, and two men, here i to the woods, and striking the range line between 84 TWO MONTHS IN THE COPPER REGIONS. 311 and 35, followed it south to the south-east comer of township 53 north, range 35 west, being about seven- teen miles interior. To our surprise instead of find- ing a rugged mineral region, we had passed through a handsome rolling country, tolerably well watered, with a good loamy soil, producing an abundance of sugar-maple. Along the margin of the lake, owing probably to the harsh and moist winds from the water, nothing but birch, balsam, pine, hemlock, spruce, and white cedar is seen ; but at the distance of two to five miles interior the forest growth changes entirely. There is an occasional white pine, with a lofty, straight and majestic trunk, some scattering elms, linns, and black oaks, but the reigning tree is the sugar-maple. On our left lay the valley of the Portage Lakes and of Sturgeon River, which we had just crossed. Turning westward we soon encountered one of those eye-sores to the explorer and surveyor, a cedar swamp, in which a progress of a mile an hour is considered rapid trav- elling. The white cedar lives to a great age before it begins to decline. It finally rots at the root, and is blown down by the northern tempest. But this is by no means its end ; its prostrate trunk sends up live branches, that draw sustenance through the roots of the parent, or new prongs sent by itself below, among the buried trunks of preceding centuries. In after ages, when it has at length matured, and weakened by time has yielded to the winds, another sprout from its side keeps the family stock in perpetual being. Beneath the accumulated bodies of these trees, some dead and some living, the water, in which they delight, stands the year through, flowing gradually towards some stream of the vicinity. What is remarkable, the water of these swamps, so little and slow is the decay of the cedar tree, is clear, pure, and cool. I hope I have been able to convey to the reader 312 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. a just idea of a white cedar swamp, because without a correct conception of this, he will never be able to realize the great difficulty of travelling in this new country. After he has penetrated one of them forty rods, the view is equally extensive in every direction, whether it is only forty rods to the other side, or whether it is two miles. In addition to the net-work of logs, and the thicket of leaves that never fall, it is necessary to think of numberless dry, sharp, and stiff prongs, the imperishable arms and limbs of dead and fallen trees. It is then to be remembered that every man carries more or less of a load upon his back; his blanket, his tin cup, probably some imple ment, a hatchet or a hammer, with specimens, and a few pounds of provisions. The second night found us advanced about one mile into a noble cedar swamp. Climbing a tree ex- tended somewhat the range of the eye, but it met only the sombre and half naked trunks of the white cedar, in every direction. A camp-bed was formed beneath a tall and beautiful larch, or tamarack, and a fire made at its root. The bed was made as usual of branches, kept out of the water in this instance by brush and poles. This white cedar has the merit of burning readily, as well as of durability, and made to-night a bright fire, flaming gaily upwards again*! the straight and stately larch. When had such an il- lumination shone there before? The owl gave utter- ance to his surprise in hideous screams, and ho for his mate. The larch, as it swayed to and fro in the night breeze, seemed to creak and groan because of the lire, which was scorching its sinews and boiling its life-blood in its veins. No doubt before man v sons pass by he will sicken and die, and from a tall prince overlooking the humble cedars, will OOme h< l\ down, perhaps in the stillness of night, and lay his body along side of theirs. TWO MONTHS IN THE COPPER REGIONS. 313 In the morning, after passing a cold and comfort- less night, a few minutes travel cleared the swamp, and rising some very high land we found the stratified sandstone again, and inclined towards the lake. At the south-east coner of township 53 north, range 36 west, the trap-ranges again made their ap- pearance, from whose summits the mountains of the Huron River were visible in the south beyond the Anse. We were now on the head waters of Elm River, on ground located for many miles around. Most of them are what are called office locations, made with- out visiting the spot, and in consequence of some lo- cations made by Mr. Kenzie, of Chicago, from actual observation, of which favorable reports were in cir- culation. That night we should have met two of our men at a rendezvous with supplies ; but neither party had sought the right spot, so indefinite were the descrip- tions given us of localities. As it was some miles from the coast to the mineral ranges, the boat passed slowly along the shore, sending out provisions from time to time to the exploring party. It was not then known how far west the township lines were»surveycd, consequently the points of meeting were fixed at the forks of some stream, or some old camp, and in find- ing these many errors might be committed. In this case a day was consumed in uniting the two parties, which would not have been of so much consequence, had not the stock of eatables began to fail. But most of the disagreeable effects of a short allowance were avoided by the capture of a porcupine, of which we made by long boiling in the camp-kettle, a very pala- table soup. On the 20th of September, at a distance of twen- ty miles from the coast, there were a few flakes of iU4 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. snow, succeeding a cold rain. On the 21st and 22d, rain. The ground passed over during this week is drained by the Salmon Trout River (a creek), Elm River, Misery River, Sturgeon and Flint Steel Rivers. Every member of the party was delighted with its soil, its beautiful and heavy timber, and the unsurpassed purity, plenty, and coldness of its waters. We pass- ed several small clear lakes, the sources of many streams. These streams are in general but few miles in length, enlarging very fast as you follow them downward from the head, alive with the famous speck- led trout, rapid in their descent, and so uniform in the flow of water, that water power is everywhere abundant Many a time did Patrick and Charley select their future farms on the border of some quiet pool, from which a tumbling brook issued, bearing its faithful tribute into the reservoir of the Father of Lakes. The cedar swamps so hateful to the explorer will be necessary to the farmer for his supply of rails: the tall round pines scattered here and there among the sugar trees, now so green and majestic, will sup- ply him with lumber; the straight and beautiful bal- sam with timber. Hitherto the mineral trap rocks that rise occasion- ally through the sandstone Btratum, do not greatly interfere with the use of the land for tillage. This rock, when fully disintegrated, gives a li^lit soil that produces well. In this vicinity the trap rises sudden- ly out of the plain land, sometimes with one perpen- dicular face and one ffenile slope, sometimes like an island with a bluff all around, and flat, rich land on the top, and sometimes in irregular peaks, standing among the timber like cones and pyramids. At the sources of Flint Steel River we saw, interspersed with protruding Bummits of trap, peaks of conglomerate, TWO MONTHS IN THE COPPER REGIONS. 315 shooting up from flat land to the height of fifty, sev- enty, and one hundred feet. Pursuing a south-westerly course, about noon on the 26th we entered the ravines that lead into the Ontonagon. From Elm River to the Ontonagon, the sand rock is covered from ten to four hundred feet in depth with a stratified deposite of red clay and sand, very fine. It is commonly called clay, but contains more silex than alumine, though it is so minutely di- vided as to have the appearance of clay. I saw no- where true clay beds, but it is possible some of this deposite will harden in the fire so as to make bricks. This great sand-bed is easily washed out by run- ning water. From the Falls, the Ontonagon has hol- lowed out for itself a channel 300 to 400 feet deep, and from half a mile to two miles wide. The late- ral gullies are very numerous, deep, and steep. Eve- ry permanent rill, operating for ages, has excavated a narrow trough, the bottom of which descends towards the river, in the inverse proportion to its length, and the sides remain as nearly a perpendicular as the earth will lie. The low grounds not so wet as to cause cy- press and cedar swamps, are everywhere inclined to produce hemlock and balsam. It is the same in the ravines, cold, moisture, and a confined atmosphere, causing the growth of evergreens, and also of cedars. It will now be easy to judge of the facilities of travelling in the region of trie gullies. To cross them, rising one slippery face and sliding down the next, is very exhausting to men loaded with packs. To follow down one of the ravines, so narrow, deep, and shaded, as almost to exclude the sun at noon, is much like the change " from the frying-pan into the fire." The timber of the sides has fallen inward, into and across the contracted pathway of the rivulet, so thick and so much entangled, that the mind is in a 316 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. constant state of exercise, determining whether it is easier to crawl under, or climb over the next log. In such regions, as you approach the common discharge of all these ravines, as a creek, a lake, or r as in this case, a river, the number of lateral gullies diminish, and it is sometimes preferable to take the crest of the gulf and follow it towards the mouth. We did so, and coming along a narrow backbone, scarcely wide enough for two to walk abreast, sud- denly came to its termination, frith the river far be- low us. It was noon of a lovely day, such as are called the Indian summer. In the distance to the north, twelve or fifteen miles, a thick haze covered the lake ; the sides and bottom of the valley of the On- tonagon were brilliant in the mellow sunlight, mot- tled with yellow and green ; the golden tops of the sugar tree mingled with the dark summits of the pine and the balsam. The rough gorges that enter the valley on both sides were now concealed by the dense foliage of the trees, partly gorgeous and partly som- bre, made yet richer by the contrast, so that the sur- face of the wood as seen from our elevation, in fact from the waving top of a trim balsam which I had ascended, lay like a beautifully worked and colored carpet ready for our feet. On this promontory, jutting into the valley, we kindled a fire in the dry and hollow trunk of a hem- lock, as a beacon to our companions, who were to be at the foot of the rapids with the boat. On the left or inland side the valley at some miles distant is seen to divide, corresponding with the two branches of the river. In this direction are elevated peaks, several hundred feet higher than our position, but partly hid in the mist of the atmosphere. We had now spent as much time in scene-gaziag as was profitable, and taking up our packs tumbled down the tWO MONTHS IN THE COPPER REGIONS. 317 bluff to the river. There stood the tents, and there lay the boat, with our comrades lounging about in the sun. The meeting brought forth three hearty shouts all around, and such congratulations of genuine good- will, as none but woodsmen and sailors know. We were now at the foot of the rapids, one mile north of the correction base, which is also the line between towns 50 and 51 north, and one mile east of the range line between ranges 39 and 40 west. On the next day, after washing, drying, and mend- ing some of the most needed garments, Patrick, our faithful Irishman, and myself, crossed the river and went west along the correction line. This course car- ried us constantly nearer the lake, because the direction of the shore is south of west. The timber was, as might have been expected on approaching the lake, more hemlock, birch, and balsam, but the soil appeared as good as that we had passed over from Salmon Trout River in range 35 west. In range 41 west, we turn- ed to the left, and soon found that no surveys had been i»ade south of the correction line. The same day a rain set in that lasted with little intermission four days and five nights. In the J;rap region, the magnetic needle is subject to great fluctuations. When the sky is overcast, as it was in this case from morn- ing to night, the sun, the principal guide, is of course lost. If the traveller loses his confidence in the com- pass, that instrument is the same as lost, and he is compelled to rely upon judgment, or rather the woods- man's instinct. This judgment is sometimes a very uncertain reliance. The streams and ridges of land are so irregular that little information can be drawn from them. There is a great difference in persons in the ac- curacy of their calculations, guided by the " make of the country," as its general topography is called. 27* 318 FUGITIVE tiEf&AYB In this region, none but the oldest hunters and trap- pers feel safe when the compass begins to play false and the sun withdraws himself* If the consumption of provisions could cease for the time, it would always be safer and wiser to stop and encamp until clear weather comes, but the appetite does not seem to know that circumstances alter cases. With the mind in a state of perplexity, the fatigue of travelling is- greater than usual, and excessive fatigue in turn weakens not only the power of exertion, but of reso- lution also. The wanderer is finally overtaken with an indescribable sensation — one that must be experi- enced to be understood — that of lostnes&. At a mo- ment when all his faculties, instincts, and perceptions are in full demand, he finds them all confused, irregu- lar, and weak. When every physical power is required to carry him forward, his limbs seem to be yield- ing to the disorder of his mind ; he is filled with an impressive sense of his inefficiency, with an indefinite idea of alarm, apprehension, and dismay ; he reasons, but trusts to no conclusion; he decides upon the pre- ponderance of reason and fact as he supposes, and is sure to decide wrong. If he stumbles into a trail he has passed before, or even passed within a few hours, he does not recognize it, or if he should at last, and conclude to follow it, a fatal lunacy impels him to take the wrong end. His own tracks are the prints of the feet of some other man, and if the sun should at last penetrate the fogs and clouds that envelop his path, the world seems for a time to be turned end for end ; the sun is out of place — perhaps it is to his ad- dled brain, far in the north, coursing around to the south, or in the west moving towards the east. At length, like a dream, the delusion wears away, objects put on their natural dress, the sun takes up its usual track, streams run toward* their mouths, the eom] TWO MONTHS IN THE COPPER REGIONS. 319 points to the northward ; dejection and weakness give place to confidence and elasticity of mind. I have twice experienced what I. have here at- tempted to describe. It is a species of delirium. It oppresses and injures every faculty, like any other intense and overwhelming action. The greatest pos- sible care should be taken to prevent the occasion for its return. Two men, last summer, were exploring on Elm River, and without compass or food started for a vein a few rods from camp. They got en- tangled among swamps and hills, and wandered forty- eight hours in the woods, bewildered and lost. By accident they struck the lake shore, and their senses returned. It is not prudent to be a moment without the means of striking a fire, without food for a day or two, and a plenty of clothing, or without a compass. Martin and myself went out in the morning from Sal- mon Trout River, intending to go three miles and re- turn. He had neither coat, nor vest, nor stockings, because the weather was mild. A rain soon came on, and a thick mist ; steering for the camp, we struck the creek two miles above the mouth and the camp. The ground in the vicinity of the lake has a low ever- green bush, with a leaf like the. hemlock, which lies fiat on the surface, entangling the feet at every step. It was dark when we struck the creek, and began to follow it down stream. The sloughs, logs, ground hemlock, and cedar brush were so bad, that it would have been difficult to make much progress in daylight, and it was now pitch dark. We took to the water- course to avoid the brush and bluffs of either bank, and waded along the channel. But the waters of these streams are always cold, and Martin, though a stout fellow, and full of resolution, began to be numb with cold and wet. We had nothing to eat, our match- es were wet, the gun could not be fired oft*. There 320 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. was but one course to pursue. The stream would take us to camp, but how far distant that desirable spot lay we could not conjecture. But the chilly wa- ter must be avoided, and the brush and logs, wet, slip- pery, and numberless as they were, must be surmount- ed. '* We have crossed that log before," says Martin. " What, are we lost ? impossible ; we have not left the stream a moment — it cannot be." Crooked and wind- ing as it was, it is not possible that we should travel twice over the same ground. But there was the log, to all appearance the same we had crossed half an hour before. Both of us would swear to the identity of the log — the same timber, the same size, the same splinters at the root, the bark off in the same way ; and still it was more probable that two such logs should be found, than that we had passed twice over the same spot. We crawled onward, filled with the mystery — and it is not to this hour anything else than a mystery. In about two hours my companion gave an exclama- tion of hope and joy. He had been up the creek the day before shooting ducks and fishing for trout. He recognized the spot where the canoe was obstructed by flood-wood, half ajnile from the tents. We now knew where there was a trail, and in a few minutes beheld the sparks of the camp-fire ascending gaily among the trees. With fire works better secured, with more attention to clothing on the part of Martin, and to blankets by both of us, especially with ordinary prudence in re- gard to provisions, the discomfort and exertion, the bruises, chills, and exhaustion of this day, so injurious to the constitution, whether felt immediately or not, might have been entirely avoided. It maybe thought that such vexations might be prevented by a rational foresight, and this is no doubt true ; but in practice TWO MONTHS IN THE COPPER REGIONS 321 they occur frequently to woodsmen, and they are in general as keen in the examination of chances as any class of men. Even Indians and Indian guides be- come bewildered, miscalculate their position, make false reckoning of distances, lose courage, and aban- don themselves to despair and to tears. The maps for the copper region, instead of assist- ing the explorer, were for the interior so erroneous — a fault worse than deficiency — that mistakes equal to a day's travel frequently resulted from a reliance up- on them. On the office map there was noted a lake, not far above the forks of the Ontonagon, on the west fork. Leaving the " correction base " at the south-west cor- ner of town 51 N., range 40 W., we should have struck that lake in the distance of ten miles ; but in- stead of a lake, found ourselves involved in the marshes at the sources of the Cranberry and Iron Rivers, the lake itself being about fifteen miles distant. The forks of the Ontonagon appeared from the map, and the best information within reach, to be about four miles by river above the foot of the rapids. This was made a point in our return, to which a packer was sent with pork and beans. Instead of making the ren- dezvous in one day's travel, as was expected, he re- ports the distance at fifteen miles by river, and seven or eight in a direct line. The delay occasioned by bad weather and mistakes amounted on our part to two days ; the packer, who had at last reached the forks, after spending two nights in a cold rain, with- out fire, had left, and carried back his provisions. Patrick had, by mistake, taken salt pork for three men instead of two. When we arrived at the Forks, only one meal of bread and beans remained, with a little tea and sugar; but the pork was sufficient for ,vo days more. It was necessary to alter our route, 322 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. and employ those two days in reaching the agency at the mouth of the river. This is an instance of haz- ard and disappointment, and it is difficult to see how it could have been avoided. With the greatest saga- city and forethought, small parties, who do not survey and mark their courses and distances, cannot avoid occasional perils. The circumstances in which we were placed did not allow of as much observation upon that interest- ing region, the Falls of the Ontonagon, as I desired. The greatest fall is on the west branch, and occupies a distance of at least two miles, with a descent of about eighty feet. It was at the head of this succes- sion of cataracts, that the " Copper Rock" was found, which is now at Washington City. It lay, when first discovered, on the brink of the river, in the red clay deposite, of which I have spoken, although mountains of trap, sandstone, and conglomerate rise on all sides. The rock was removed from its place upon a tempora- ry railway, constructed through the woods about four miles, to a point on the river where it could be float- ed. This road crossed deep ravines, and a steep mountain 300 feet high. The rock was hauled along on a car, and up the mountain by a capstan and ropes. Its weight is a little over 3,000 pounds. It is now eighty years since this copper rock ob- tained notoriety among white men. Mr. Ah'j-amfrr Henry, an adventurous Englishman and an Agreeable writer, who entered the Indian country immediately after the peace of 1763, gives a description of the rock which is worthy of being repeated. "On the 19th of August (1765) we readied the mouth of the River Ontonagon, one of the largest on the south side of the lake. At the month was an In- dian village, and at three leagues above a fall, at the fool of which sturgeon were at this season BO ahund- TWO MONTHS IN THE COPPER REGIONS. 323 ant, that a month's subsistence for a regiment could have been taken in a few hours. But I found this river chiefly remarkable for the abundance of virgin copper, which is on its banks and in its neighborhood, and of which the reputation is at present (1809) more generally spread than it was at the time of this, my first visit. The copper presented itself to the eye in masses of various weight. The Indians showed me one of twenty pounds. They were used to manufac- ture this metal into spoons and bracelets for them- selves. In the perfect state in which they found it, it required nothing but to be beat into shape. The ' Pi-wa-bie,' or Iron River, enters the lake to the west- ward of the Ontonagon, and here it is pretended sil- ver was found, while the country was in the possession of the French. "—Part I, pp. 194-5. " On my way (1766) I encamped a second time at the mouth of the Ontonagon, and now took the oppor- tunity of going ten miles up the river with Indian guides. The object which I went most expressly to see, and to which I had the satisfaction of being led, was a mass of copper, of the weight, according to my estimate, of no less than five tons. Such was its pure and malleable state, that with an axe I was able to cut off a portion weighing a hundred pounds. On viewing the surrounding surface, X conjectured that the mass, at some period or other, had rolled from the side of a lofty hill which rises at its back." — p. 205. I quote extensively from Mr. Henry's interesting book, because it is now out of print, and very rare. Captain Jonathan Carver, also, travelled in the Lake Superior and Mississippi country in 1766, of whom, after the manner of succeeding travellers, speaking of their predecessors, Mr. Henry says, " and he falls into other errors." The Chippeways told Carver, that being once driven by a storm to the Isle de Man- 324 FUGITIVE KSSAYS. repas (now Michipicoten), they had found large quan- tities of shining earth, 4k which must have been gold dust." They put some of it into their canoes, km had not moved far from the land, when a spirit sixty feet in height strode into the water and ordered them to bring every particle of it back to the island. This of course they did, and never ventured again to the haunted island. In the spring of 1769, Mr. Henry, excited by this ami other reports of the Indians, visited the islands, expecting to find u shining rocks and stones of rare description," but found only a mass of rock rising in- to barren mountains, with veins of spar. The Indians then insisted upon going to another island to the south (Caribeou) as it was the true island of the "golden sands;" but the weather prevented this visit at that time. In 1770, Mr. Baxter, Mr. Bostwick, and Mr. Henry, were constituted members of a com- pany for working mines on Lake Superior. " We passed the winter together at Sault de Sainte Marie, and built a barge fit for the navigation of the lake, at the same time laying the keel of a sloop of forty tons. Early in May, 1771, we departed from Point aux Pins, our shipyard, and sailed for the island of Yellow Sands, promising ourselves to make our fortunes in defiance of the serpents. I was the first to land, carrying with me my loaded gun, resolved to meet with courage the guardians of the gold. " A stay of three days did not enable us to find gold, <>r even yellow sands, and no serpents appeared to terrify us, not even the smallest and most harm- less snake. "On the fourth day, after drying our Caribeou . we sailed t*«»r Nanibojou (on the north shore), which we readied in eighteen hours with a fair bn On the next day the miners examined the coast of TWO MONTHS IN THE COPPER REGIONS. 325 Nanibojou, and found several veins of copper and lead, and after this returned to Point aux Pins, where we erected an air furnace. The assayer made a re- port on the ores which we had collected, stating that the lead ore contained silver in the proportion of forty ounces to the ton ; but the copper ore only in very small proportion indeed.'' The party now start for the Ontonagon, having in company a Mr. Norberg, an officer in the 60th regi- ment then stationed at Mackinaw, old fort. At Point Iroquois he found among the loose stones one "of eight pounds, of a blue color, and semi-transparent," which he deposited in the British Museum at London, and which, it is said, contained sixty per cent of sil- ver. " Hence we coasted westward, but found nothing till we reached the Ontonagon, where, besides the de- tached masses of copper formerly mentioned, we saw much of the same metal imbedded in stone. Propo- sing to ourselves to make a trial on the bill till we were better able to go to work on the solid rock, we built a house and sent to the Sault de Sainte Marie for provisions. At the spot pitched upon for the com- mencement of our preparations, a green colored wa- ter, which tinged iron of a copper color, issued from the hill, and this the miners called a leader. In dig- ging they found frequent masses of copper, some of which were of three pounds weight. Having ar- ranged everything for the accommodation of the miners during the winter, we returned to the Sault. Early in the spring of 1772, we sent a boat-load of provis- ions, but it came back on the 20th day of June, bring- ing with it, to our surprise, the whole establishment of miners. They reported that in the course of the winter they had penetrated forty feet into the hill, but that on the arrival of the thaw, the clay on which, 28 326 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. on account of its stiffness, they had relied, and neg- lected to secure by supports, had fallen in ; that from the detached masses of metal which to the last had daily presented themselves, they supposed there might be ultimately reached some body of the same, but could form no conjecture of its distance. Here our opera- tions tn this quarter §nded. It was never for the ex- portation of copper that our company was formed, but always with a view to the silver which, it was hoped the ores, whether of copper or lead, might in sufficient quantity contain." — pp. 227, 232. " In the following August we launched our sloop, and carried the miners to the vein of copper ore on the north side of the lake (probably at Nanibojou, about one day's sail from Michipicoten). Little was done during the winter, but by dint of labor perform- ed between the commencement of the spring of 1773, and the ensuing month of September, they pene- trated thirty feet into the solid rock. The rock was blasted with great difficulty, and the vein which at the beginning was of the breadth of four feet, had in the progress contracted into four inches. Under these circumstances we desisted, and carried the mi- ners back to the Sault. What copper ore we had col- lected we took to England, but the next season we were informed that the partners there declined enter- ing into further expenses. In the interim we had car- ried the miners along the north shore, as far as the river Pic, making, however, no discovery of import- ance. This year, therefore (1774), Mr. Baxter dis- posed of the sloop and other effects of the company, and paid its debts. The partners in England were his Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester, Mr, Sec- retary Townshend, Sir Samuel Tucket, Baronet, Mr. Baxter, Consul of the Empress of Russia, and Mr. Cruikshank. In America, Sir William Johnson, Bar- TWO MONTHS IN THE COPPER REGIONS. 327 ronet, Mr. Bostwick, Mr. Baxter, and myself. A charter had been petitioned for and obtained, but owing to our ill success, it was never taken from the seal office."— pp. 234-5. There is living an old chief who, when a boy, saw this company of English miners at the falls of the Ontonagon. He represents the manager as a stout burly man with a red face. There are near the spot where the great copper rock was found, remains of a chimney, supposed to belong to the house spoken of by Henry. The timber around the spot was of a sec- ond growth, now cut away by Mr. James Paul, who has lived there and located a three-mile permit. He told me that an aspen, eighteen inches in diameter, had blown down near his cabin, and a copper kettle was found flattened and corroded beneath its roots. There are also the remains of ancient pits still visible, and in the sand and clay deposite, by digging, lumps of native copper are now found. There can, therefore, be no doubt but this is the spot visited by the English company before the American Revolution, and now become again an object of hope and notoriety. This region is singularly wild and disordered. The Falls, which are distinct from the "Rapids," are caused by the irregular upheaval of trap, sandstone, and conglomerate, thrown about in grand confusion. To the miner and geologist such points possess not only the greatest interest, but the greatest practical value. Here appears to be one of those great centres of convulsion which raised and tossed about the metal- liferous rocks. Another may be seen to the eastward of the Portage Lakes. From the central point in each direction along the line of action, that is to say, in a north-easterly and south-westerly course, the height of the upheaval and the extent of the distortion 828 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. gradually becomes less on each side. The effect of the subterranean forces being very much the sime upon the overlying sand-rock, as that of a projecting point of rock upon the ice of an estuary of the sea when the tide falls away. The trap-uplifts represent the rock, itself rising instead of the sandstone stratum settling. The resemblance is not perfect, but only illustrative. The field of ice subsiding upon a sharp point of rock, in a bay of quiet waters, will break and crack equally in all directions; but the uprising trap, though it has a centre, does not act equally on all sides ; for there is a line of upheaval, along which the force operates, giving rise to an elevated ridge, which is highest at the centre, or focus. It has a breadth of five to fifteen miles, and a length of fifty or sixty. The trap-rock intruding from below, has within itself a certain regularity, which I have noticed before: throwing up long parallel faces, looking inward to- wards the line of greatest elevation. On this fact, I have from observation a knowledge of only a portion of the northern half of the trap range, from the Manitou Islands to Iron river, a dis- tance of about 120 miles. I did not cross the range far enough to ascertain the position of the southern half, and give this statement of its organization upon the representation of other explorers, whom I have no reason to doubt. These ranges are not in every case parallel to the great anticlinal line, but generally they are so. There are cases of spurs, or lateral ranges, of limited extent, branching off from the main pile. Both the trap and the overlying Conriomfewtia rocks are very hard to work. The trap is the most compact, but is more uniform in its texture. The conglomerate encloses pebbles of all sizes, and of many different rocks, most of them very hard. This want of honiogenity pre- TWO MONTHS IN THE COPPER REGIONS. 329 vents the blast from producing that effect which it would on a close, uniform, tight rock. I think there can be little doubt but Mr. Henry's conjecture res- pecting the source of the copper rock of the Ontonagon, and the many copper boulders, found in the red clay deposite, is correct. That they were loosened from their position in a neighboring vein, by the disenteg- ration of the enclosing rock, and by the force of gra- vity and that agent, whatever it may have been, which brought on the red sand* and clay deposite, they have been scattered around. The red deposite is evidently younger than the sandstone and the trap, for it is horizontal. The sandstone, it is equally evident, is older than the trap, for the latter has shot up through it, tilting it outward from the line of uplift. The cop- per boulders are found imbedded in the red loam, as it may be called, and must have been loosened from the vein at and before the period, when it (the loam) was brought on. The native copper, which is the principal ore of the country, (if metal can be called an ore,) exists in the veins in all sizes and shapes, from the weight of the point of a pin to 20, 40, 100, 1,000 and 1,500 pounds. A boulder was found this season, near the mouth of Elm river, weighing over 1,500 pounds, which is now at New Haven. I saw an irregular mass in a vein near Agate Harbor, about one mile east, which might, with great care, have been taken out, weighing 800 to 1,000 pounds. It was removed in one body, to the amount of 400 pounds ; but to pro- cure such specimens, there is great trouble and ex- pense in securing all the prongs against damage by the blast. These boulders are found in the water- worn pebbles of the shore, and of various sizes, from one to forty and one hundred pounds. They are also found far to the southward, in Wisconsin — giving rise - ! ■ .-.:■ — _. .' J-u i 330 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. to great hopes and speculations — transported by that universal power (whatever it was) which covered the northern hemisphere with drift from the north. It may then be suggested, whether the great cop- per rock and its satellites of the Falls of the Ontona- gon were not carried thither in the same manner. There is certainly room for such a doubt. But no matter how far these masses of copper have been trans- ported, or how short the distance they have been moved, they must have originally been derived from veins. Here we find not the particular veins from which the boulder was extracted, but fiud in the coun- try veins containing exactly such masses. They may have been dragged from regions farther north, where similar veins probably exist, but as there is no neces- sity for going to so great a distance in search of their origin, so there is not as great a probability of finding their original seat far from their present position. The difficulty of transporting such heavy material is a strong reason against distance, though not a con- clusive one. But In the case of the great rock, the number of attending fragments is so numerous — so much more so than is known anywhere else at a distance from the veins, that little doubt remains that they are from a nest not very far off. In the gold region, and in the lead mines, where loose metal is found, the miner be- gins to search in all directions to ascertain from whence it came. If he finds it more abundant on one side than another, he examines more closely the soil of that side ; and if found to increase as he proceeds, he is convinced that he is on the trail. As he follows this, the evidences multiply, and at last he arrives at the parent vein, from which the scattered fragments were driven. It is probable that time, money, and enterprise, will finish what the English company TWO MONTHS IN THE COPPER REGIONS. 331 began, and at last disclose a prominent vein within hearing of the cataracts of the west branch. The mouth of the Ontonagon is one of those com- manding points that strike the observer at first glance. As Henry says, it is the principal river of the south shore, and the only one, except the Chocolate river and Grand Marais, where a vessel can enter. There is now, in a low stage of the lake, six feet water on the bar, and deep water several miles up the stream, which is about 300 feet wide. It is the natural outlet of a large farming region, which the surveyors say, extends fifty or sixty miles interior, and forty or fifty each way along the shore. The mineral belt occupies several miles in width, at this point ten or twelve miles from the shore, and parallel with it ; but at the mouth of Iron, Black, and Montreal rivers, it comes down to the waters of the lake. On each side of this range, and even among the Porcupine Mountains, the agri- cultural resources of the country are only limited by the shortness of the seasons. The soil is good — the climate without an equal for health and strength, and the lake and streams abound in fish. The swamps and the flat lands produce wild grass in abundance, showing the tendency of the soil to that production. Potatoes, turnips, and all roots grow here in the great- est perfection, and oats and barley do well. I have little doubt but it will also be found an excellent wheat region. We found the rich bottom-lands of the Ontonagon already dotted with the cabins of pre-emption claim- ants, for several miles up the river. The Indians have a tradition about the name of Ontonagon, as about almost every thing else, and say it is truly "Nindinagon." That an old woman, long ago, was cooking on the shore at the mouth, and her dish slip- ped into the current and was carried out into the lake. 332 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. She exclaimed, "Oh! there goes my dish," the In- dian of which is said to be Nindinagon. The site at its mouth is rather low and swampy. On the west the Porcupine Mountains rise boldly out of the water, at the distance of twenty miles, present- ing that peculiar outline of the trap uplifts, by which they may be recognised afar off almost as well as by inspection. A cross-section, which would also corre- spond with the end view from the Ontonagon, may be compared to the notches or teeth of a mill-saw laid upon its back, one edge straight and vertical, the other sloping. If the expectations of mineral locators are realized, the prosecution of the mining business will of itself create a place of some importance here. To the farmer of New England there will be great inducements, as soon as the mining operations are placed upon a sure footing; for the products most congenial to the region are such as are bulky, and cost much in their transportation, to wit : potatoes and roots, hay and oats. It is well known that miners never till the soil to much purpose. A garden and a little pasture suffice for them. This must be done by the practical farmer. The mineral and the agricul- tural districts are here so admirably situated, as mu- tually to render to each interest the greatest assist- ance. When the navigation shall be completed around the rapids of the St. Mary's, the emigrant and miner, placing himself at any harbor of any of the lakes, may take his passage to any part of Lake Superior, with his family and effects. The hardy son of Ver- mont and New Hampshire will find here his own cli- mate and mountains, his own trout streams, and a good substitute for the shad and salmon of the ocean ; and a soil, equal to most parts of the West, without the fever and ague of the more southern portions. The facility of making roads to the interior is great, TWO MONTHS IN THE COPPER REGIONS. 333 and along the shore they are practicable. Of course, on the immediate coast, ravines are too frequent to cross without expensive bridges. But a few miles in- land, the country rises, the valleys of the streams diminish, and a very favorable country is found as far east as the Portage Lakes and the Anse. Here the swamps and lakes form the only serious obstacles, and they ,-ire avoided by good selections of routes. The difficulty of making roads in the Ontonagon region is far less than it was in the first settlement of Ohio. Until the night of the 5th of October I had not observed any frost, although the leaves were already colored with the hues of autumn, and falling from their stems, had begun to cover the ground. The winds and rains that occurred between the 5th and the 10th left the branches of the trees almost as naked as in winter, and the snow began to fall. We were received at the Agency house with that liberality of hospitality which can be found nowhere more full and hearty than among the backwoodsmen of the West. Major Campbell, the agent, was absent in search of a copper rock, in the neighborhood of "Lake Vieux Desert," about 150 miles distant. In the even- ing, Mr. Paul, who has been three years in the coun- try, and who had joined in the wild-goose chase after the copper rock, on the faith of an Indian, came in, and amused the company till a late hour by reciting the stratagems and effrontery of their Indian guide. Since the whites have shown such an intense curi- osity about copper rocks, they have sprung up on all sides. Every Indian knows where one may be found. It can be had of any size or shape, and generally for the price of a few dollars and provisions for the trip. It is generally seven, ten, or twelve days' journey to it. The Great Spirit and the tribe will destroy or otherwise injure him who shows it to the white man, 334 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. but they will lead him to the vicinity, and he can do the rest. In this case a monster was to be found, and the price was to correspond; but fifty or sixty dollars was somehow procured in advance. The Indian lived in the neighborhood of the rock and had shown it to but one other mortal, a half-breed, now dead. After great labor and vexation, the party approached the sacred place. There are four trees marked with por- cupines,* done in charcoal, according to the descrip- tion. They were far from any trap ranges, in a low, swampy country. The Indian fixes his eyes in a given direction, and all are elated with a certainty of success. They scour the woods in that direction, but no rock is found. The Indian and his boy wish to be left to pursue the search by themselves, and still the rock hides itself. He is watched, and they find that he only moves around in a limited circle, and returns to the camp. Hesitating between the apprehension that he is duped, and the realization of his hopes, the agent becomes impatient. The Indian at length points his finger to the spot, but the Great Spirit had sunk the rock deep into the earth. The Irrdian is calm and immovable. " Hou, hou — march on iviywam" he says, in the usual tone. " What does he say?" in- quires the agent. " He says, we had better go to his wigwam," replies the interpreter. The scene changes from the highest expectations to the highest rage. " Give him a hundred lashes — break every bone in his body — kill him I" and expressions of this sort are now heard, with gestures to match. The Indian could not understand English, but knew enough to be sen- sible that some cursing was going on, ami that lie was the object. He now began to kindle with wrath. The first motion was to throw down his pack, and in this he was followed by the boy and two <»r three other Indians of the party. What was the a^ent, the TWO MONTHS IN THE COPPER REGIONS. 335 surveyor, and the interpreter to do, here in this wil- derness, deserted by their packers and guides. Paul, who had long known the Indian's cunning, saw at once the position of affairs, laughed at the agent, and offered the Indians a half dollar to take up their packs. They had, in the mean time, proceeded from anger to mockery. They had paraded themselves in advance of the party, strutting along with some small willow sticks on their shoulders, in derision of the heavy loads under which the whites were groaning. The latter were obliged not only to pocket the insult, but to employ the old man, his boy, wife, and canoe, to cross some lakes that lay in their route home. Coming in they met another party of whites, with the usual complement of Indians, also in search of a copper rock, said to exist in the region of Lake Vieux Desert. If such rocks were actually visible, no Indian would show it, sq long as he can get one-half of his yearly support from it as a guide. Those who know them best, say that it matters little to the explorer whether such boulders exist or not, the Indians will never be guilty of showing one to a white man. There is a superstition upon the subject, and it is also a rule that the proceeds of a found rock should be divided, and a large portion go to the chief. In case an In- dian actually knew of one, he would not disclose its position, unless he was sure the fact would never be made known to his tribe. On the morning of the second day the square-sail of our boat, which had been to La Pointe, appeared at the foot of the Porcupine Mountains, bright in the light of the rising sun. At eleven it entered the river, before a bountiful breeze, and the company was once more together. The mining company for which we were acting, is called the "Algonquin," and is composed principally 336 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. of citizens of Detroit. Our locations were made, four in number, upon the waters of Flint Steel River, and we were now on the way thither to make preparations for the men who were to stay through the winter. Towards evening we entered the mouth of Flint Steel River, which is six miles east of the Ontonagon. Drag- ging the boat over the bar, and rowing it two miles up the stream, we landed. From thence to the locations is about twelve miles over a beautiful rolling country of sugar in a pie. The copper found here is chiefly native, and is enclosed in the trap rock. We brought away a piece weighing seven pounds, that lay in a vein near the surface. On the 13th we were again at the boat, working out of the river. For several days there had been snow and indications of the close of the season. The snow was still falling as we proceeded down the lake after dark, with a view of reaching Elm River ; but the water was calm, and the oarsmen were making good speed. A little after nine o'clock we passed the mouth of Misery River, a bleak and desert place with- out firewood, and some of the party fancying they saw a light at the old camp at Elm River, the boat was kept on her course. It was difficult to see the shore at the distance of twenty rods on account of the falling snow. About half-past nine, a light puff came on from the north-west, which aroused the attention of Martin at once. " If the next one (says he) is stift'er than that, we must put about for Misery River." A sharp ilaw followed his words, and the boat was put about. Rut it was searcely before the breeze, when it came in short, irregular blasts, and the water became agi- tated. MarttD was our oracle on the water. He said w •■ must make the shore instantly, and the craft, bounding and splashing, was headed for a light streak TWO MONTHS IN THE COPPER REGIONS. 337 that appeared to be a sand beach, but above which frowned a dark line like a bluff. Before she struck, the sharp, irregular waves combed freely over the sides and the stern of the boat, " Charley, Patrick, Mike, and all hands, throw your oars and jump ashore I" Every man was in the water in a moment, holding her by the head. " Keep her stern off ; heave, ho ! heave, ho I Now she sticks. Throw out the luggage before she fills. Keep her stern off; heave, ho! Now she rests; take a line to that root." It would seem that not more than five minutes had passed since we were quietly moving over that water, from which we were now thankful to seek relief on land. The storm had already become a tem- pest, roaring through the woods and over the waves like a tornado. There stood the giant frame of Char- ley at the stern of the boat, the waves dashing over him, lifting and pushing her towards the shore ; the others grasping her by the sides, assisted to work her farther on, but she was too much loaded with water to be moved by main strength ; Martin soon rigged the halyards into a purchase with two blocks, by which advantage she was drawn beyond the reach of the sea, that seemed to grow more angry as we rescued the boat from that element There is generally within hailing distance a birch tree to be found, and the ragged outside bark, that rolls up like paper in tatters, will burn at the touch of fire. No matter whether the tree is green or dry, or the day has been wet or dry, there is some side of a birch tree from which there can be pulled a handfull of these paper-like shreds, to kindle a fire. These, with a few small dead cedar limbs, will always with due care give the foundation of a camp-fire. But to be more certain, voyageur3 usually carry a roll of peeled birch bark, the remains 29 338 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. of some bark canoe, and this, broken and split into strips, burns at once. Groping about among the bal- sams and pines that stood thick on the beach, no birch could be found. The roll in the boat had been wash- ed out, and though found at last, was coarse and wet. The wind and snow which penetrated every nook and corner added to the difficulty of starting a blaze, and some of the party began to yield to the influence of cold and exhaustion, when we found a piece of dry pine board, and cutting it into shavings, had the satis- faction to see it flame up brightly at the root of a tree. A dish of hot tea revived every one, and at one o'clock the whole party were as sound asleep as ever, in a little hollow, back from the shore. But the storm raged on until the morning after the succeeding day, when we ventured to put ourselves before it, and reached Copper Harbor, sixty miles distant, in eleven hours without landing. As we passed the Eagle River, a number of people were seen along the coast where the spray still dashed over the rocks, in search, as we afterwards learned, of the body of Dr. Houghton, who with two of his men were lost there as the gale arose. It is remarkable that no more persons were shipwreck- ed on that dreadful night. A birch canoe with an Indian and his boy, and a white man, put out from Agate Harbor, and sailed in the height of the storm to Eagle Harbor, several miles. Other boats were ex- posed at various points, but, by seeking the shore in season, escaped the danger. Dr. II. had the misfor- tune to be opposite a forbidding coast, with rocks ex- tending into the water, and shallow for some distance out. It was not his misfortune alone, but that of science and the nation. The boat did not, as it ap- pears from the survivors, cap****, s<> capable is I well- built sail-boat of resisting severe weather, but was MQt end over end, probably by hitting the bottom, while in a trough of the MM. TWO MONTHS IN THE COPPER REGIONS. 339 In September, a boat of about the same size made the passage from Isle Royal to Copper Harbor, direct across the open lake, with a bark canoe in tow, before a severe gale. A party of seven men, among whom was Mr. Hall of the New York survey, were on the island, and short of provisions. The vessel which was expected to take them off had missed the rendezvous, and they were driven to attempt the passage in their open boats. When fairly out on the lake, the wind which was fair increased to a gale, in which they gave themselves up for lost. About midway from the two shores the canoe and two men went adrift, and it be- came necessary to put about and take them again in tow. When it is considered how much the lug of a canoe impedes and endangers a small sail boat in bad weather, it will be regarded as a miracle of preserva- tion that these men completed their voyage in safety. I intended to give a brief notice of the mines now in operation, but have already made a much longer article, as I fear, than will suit a magazine reader. The most extensive works are those belonging to the " Lake Superior Company," at Eagle River, under the superintendence of Colonel C. H. Gratiot. There were here about 120 workmen, and in September near 800 tons of ore ready for the stamping or crushing machine. This machine is a very nice piece of mechan- ism that works by water, and crushes ten tons of the rock in a day. The principal shaft, then seventy feet deep, was in a vein or dyke about eleven feet wide, one-half of which bears native silver in such quanti- ties as to be an object without regarding the copper. Whether it is a true vein, or an irregular mass, I find geologists do not agree ; but for practical purposes it is regular and extensive. About four miles south-west from this, the " Pitts- burg Company" are working a vein about four feet 340 FUGITIVE ESS wide, which bears silver also, but its value is not as well tested as the Lake Superior Company's bed. Eagle River is only a brook coming down from the mountains, which a man may cross by two steps at low water. The shaft and pounding mill are about one and a half miles from the shore, and their landing is five or six miles east. At Eagle Harbor they have a saw-mill and many buildings. The celebrity of the mines, and the scarcity of places of shelter, have caused a great many persons to visit the spot during the past season. The superintendent and his assist- ants hare, however, always shown visitors that atten- tion and hospitality which could nowhere be esteemed more highly. About three miles east of Eagle River is the Ilenshaw location, not as yet much worked. On the west side of Eagle Harbor, at Sprague's loca- tion, I procured a handsome specimen of silver, which appeared to be abundant. On the. east side is the Bailey location, not worked, but which is well spoken of. On Agate Harbor the " New York ami Lake Su- perior Company" had sunk three shafts without hitting the metallic vein. The "Boston Company" have an establishment at the east end of the harbor. Within two miles, on the east, there are two veins, from one of which a piece of native copper, weighing about 400 pounds, was taken by Mr. Hempstead, and in the other a valuable sulphuret of copper has since been discovered. A vein of sulphuret is also known on the waters of Mineral Creek, a few miles west of the On- tonagon. The " Massachusetts Company" have commenced works about a mile west of the extremity of C<> Harbor, where several veins, apparently rich, ami to carry silver, have been opened on the c the Harbor the "Pittsburgh Company" have two shafts, from which they h, em I tons of TWO MONTHS IN THE COPPER REGIONS. 34 1 the rich black oxyde. A mile east is a location of the "Isle Royal Company," under the charge of Mr. Cyrus 3Iendenhall, employing ten or fifteen hands. There are probably now in the country 600 per- sons engaged in mining, as laborers, agents, clerks, superintendents, and mining engineers. Communication is kept up with them during the winter, by a semi-monthly mail from Green Bay, taken on the back of a man by way of the Menominee River and the Anse to the post-office at Fort Wilkins. This does not allow the carriage of newspapers or heavy packages, but only letters. Although the win- ter is severe, it is so uniform that those who have tried it do not complain, and even pursue their jour- neys with more facility by land than they can in sum- mer. If a road were open to Green Bay, the journey would be made in four or five days over a road which, once trod, would be perfect for several months. From the best information derived from mail carriers and gentlemen who have made the trip on snow-shoes, it is not an expensive route for a road. I have spoken frequently of the fluctuations of the needle, and of its variations. The surveys in this re- gion can be made only with the solar compass, or some instrument of that nature. The one used by Judge Burt, who has run all the township lines west of the Sault, is of his own invention. It is now made in England for exportation to this country. This compass is placed in the meridian by an apparatus always directed on the sun, and as it carries a needle, shows the variation every time it is set. At the Sault, the regular variation was given 2° east, which, at every section corner on the town lines, is written with red chalk on the stake. At south-west corner section 19, range 35 west, T. 55 north, varia- tion 7° 15' east ; 6 miles directly south, 5° 15' east. 29* 342 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. One mile north of south-east corner of T. 52 north, range 36 west, variation 5° 5 ; ; one mile west, 6° 5\ At south corner of T. 52, range 37, variation 5° 15J' east ; one mile north, 1° 10'; two miles west, 1° 35'; three miles further west, 8° 15'. At middle of south line of T. 51 north, range 40 west, variation 5° 35' east. For game we saw pheasants, or as some call them partridges, in great numbers, and also red squirrels. No turkeys, deer, or black squirrels. There are bears,, moose, and reindeer ; yet they are not numerous. There is also an animal of the wild-cat species, called a lynx, whose tracks we saw. For reptiles we saw none but a few feeble garter snakes. There are owls, mice, and rabbits in abundance. We saw no insects of consequence, except spiders, and these were suffi- ciently numerous to be troublesome. During the lat- ter part of June and the whole of July, in the woods and low places, there are countless myriads of mos- quitoes and sand-flies. They are said not to be trou- blesome on the coast. Much of the comfort of a trip in this region de- pends on the outfit. Arrangements should be made for a supply of at least two pounds of solid food per day for each man, and a surplus for friends who are less provident. The cheapest, least weighty and bulky, as well as the best for health and relish, are hard bread, beans, and salt pork of the very best quality. Tea, coffee, and sugar are in such cases not necessaries, but are, for the expense and trouble, the greatest and che;i luxuries that can be had under any circui To every two men there must be a email camp-kettle, and if in a boat a large kettle and frying-pan. In the woods, a hatchet to every two men, and a strong tin cup for each, with a surplus of one-half these TWO MONTHS IN THE COPPER REGIONS 343 articles to* make up for losses. Knives, forks, and spoons disappear so fast, that two sets to each man will be none too many. Salt and pepper are indispen- sable for the game you may kill ; and if there are a plenty of horse-pistols, a great many pheasants may be shot without much loss of time. But these are not to be taken into account for supplies. A pocket-compass is necessary to each party. For a pack there is nothing better than a knapsack and straps, without the boards. Ordinary clothing is of no use, for it will disappear in a short time. The sur- veyors wear trousers made of heavy cotton ticking, and a sort of pea-jacket made of the same. This or medium cotton duck will stand wear, and although moisture comes through, the rains do not. It thickens wdien wet, and turns long storms better than any thing except oil-cloth. A supply of thick flannel shirts should be procured without fail, and flannel under- clothes. A vest is unnecessary, and instead of sus- penders the pantaloons are kept up by a broad belt, on which the tin-cup may be strung. A low, round- crowned, white beaver hat is much worn, but perhaps a light cap of oiled silk, made soft and impervious to rain, is better. For the feet, moccasins or light brogans made of good leather, and plenty of woollen stockings. In the wet season, cowhide boots, made of good but not heavy leather, and very large, but in the shape of the foot. A flint and steel for emergen- cies, and matches for ordinary use to strike a fire. Without something water-proof around them, the matches will acquire moisture in long spells of wet weather. If you carry a map case, they may be put in a second case, around which the map is rolled. A belt with a leather pouch and a buckle, to carry the hatchet in, is a very great convenience ; for nothing is so likely to be lost as a hatchet. We were three 344 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. days without one in very bad weather, having dropped it on the route. Tents are not indispensable, but comfortable, espe- cially along the shore, and in very warm weather when musquitoes are plenty. A good, large, heavy Mackinaw blanket is beyond comparison the most necessary article to the voyageur and woodsman. With all these preparations, the lover of exercise and adventure may count upon as much enjoyment on a trip through the Lake Superior coun- try as he will find at home. If he is badly provided, he will be inefficient and uneasy — will suffer many privations, and perhaps injure his health. ON THE AGRICULTURAL INTEREST AND CONDITION OF OHIO, Delivered in the Hall of Representatives at Columbus, Jan. 29, 1845. [Ohio Cultivator, February 1845.] CORRESPONDENCE. To Charles Whittlesey, Esq. Dkar Sir : — The undersigned Committee were appointed at a meeting in the Hall of Representatives, on the evening of the 27th inst., to solicit of you a copy of your able and excellent address, on the subject of an Agricultural Survey of Ohio : and the import- ance of Agricultural improvements generally. Your favorable answer will be thankfully received. SEABURY FORD, ) S. MEDARY, \ Committee. J. RIDGWAY, J January 31, 1845. To Mess-zs. Ford, Medary and Rid g way, Committee, $c. Gentlemen : — The manuscript copy of the address to which your note of yesterday refers is placed at your disposal. If the striking facts which it contains, respecting the paramount importance of the agricultural interests of Ohio, shall serve to awaken and concentrate public opinion, I shall feel amply compen- sated for the labor of collecting and presenting those facts. Very respectfully and truly yours, CHARLES WHITTLESEY. [Owing to the crowded state of our columns, we are compelled to omit the introductory portion of the address, in which the author gives a particular account of the soil and the farming of Hamilton county, where he was engaged in making an agricultural survey, the past year, under the auspices of the County Agricultural So- ciety. — Ed.] 346 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. THE ADDRESS. (The first paragraph is the conclusion of remarks on the county of Hamilton.) I have stated that fifty years only have elapsed since the Miami region came under the axe and plough, and for much of that territory it may be said that it has not been cultivated over thirty years. I have given a particular statement of the kind of soil and subsoil which causes its fertility, and therefore it will be seen that nature has done as much for the Miami country as can be expected of her anywhere. By personal examination, I find many tracts, and indeed entire farms, in this highly favored situation, that are so reduced as no longer to afford a reason- able profit, or even a living compensation for the la- bor and expense of cropping — to say nothing of the original cost or present value of the land ; I mean that a man would not secure a good living, by work- ing it, and paying the taxes, without a change in the system of cultivation. This case is not a common one, but it is a common thing to see a farm that does not produce more than two-thirds of a crop. By this I mean, that the prim- itive capacity of the soil, uninjured by cultvation, as all soil should be, would, with the same labor, seed, and taxation, give a yield one-third greater. It is not necessary to confine ourselves in our expectations to this standard. Yet, in this country, most of our lands are, in their original state, good enough. W<8 are not yet compelled, as the people of Flanders an. I England are, to create soil. W« have it already fur- nished, of a good quality, and are not driven, as t hose- people are, to devise methods of making barren land AGRICULTURAL INTEREST OP OHIO. 347 productive. It will be time enough to consider that question when we are pushed by population from our present happy position, where deserts are not known, to the sandy wilds, at the sources of the Arkansas. The barrenness with which we have to contend is one of our own creating. COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY AND SURVEY. It was with a realizing sense of these facts before them, and with the striking example of a most pro- ductive soil, occasionally broken down and made worthless within the life and remembrance of those who had enjoyed its original profuseness, that the far- mers of Hamilton began to seek the ways and means of restoration. They were aware that the first step to be taken was of an intellectual or mental character. That it was necessary to set the minds of those who make farming a business, at work, not only by calling their attention to the fact of deterioration, but the causes and manner by which it has been brought about. If so many practical men can be brought to reflect upon the subject, an important point has been gained ; for in our intelligent community the action of a multitude of minds directed to one object must result in something valuable. Next in consequence to the consideration of the subject is the mutual com- munication of the results or conclusions of these minds. After this information is collected and circu- lated, it becomes the property of all ; and if it does not bless and improve them, the fault is clearly their own. But while it is not in their possession, they may perhaps be called to an account for their igno- rance, but certainly not for the wilful abuse of knowledge. The initial steps to encourage investigations of 348 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. this kind were taken by the legislature in providing a general lair for county Agricultural Associations in 18:31>. Although this law is in many respects thought to be capable of improvement, it proves to be sufficient for the organization of societies, and under it the Hamilton County Society was formed. In this man- ner, something visible and tangible was constituted to attract the attention and respect of the public, and its published proceedings will show what has been ac- complished.* The survey or examination of the farms of the county may be regarded as one of its most important movements. This having been completed in an imper- fect manner, the society, in their corporate capacity, have recommended, by a formal petition to the legis- lature, the extension of similar surveys to all the counties of the State. A committee or delegation was appointed for the purpose of presenting this petition, and suggesting arguments in favor of the scheme. It is composed of Messrs. Brown and Flinn, mem- bers of the lower house, from that county, of Mr. A. Randall, a director, and myself. It is as a member of that commission, and by its authority, that I present the subject this evening in this form. There is, I am aware, among farmers, an aversion to what is called Book Farming, and to book knowledge on the subject of farming. This is not strange, because soils, climates, and circumstances are so diverse, that what is true of one place may be wholly false and erroneous in another. The fault in such cages is not, however, in the facts, but the application of them. The farmer who takes * A part of this Report relating to wheat, as published iu the Ohio Statesman, February 3d, 1845, is attached to this Address. AGRICULTURAL INTEREST OF OHIO. 349 up a book written upon cultivation in Flanders may obey its direction ever so implicitly, and may not only lose his crop, but injure his land. It requires discretion in the application of knowledge in farming as well as in medicine or any other calling. The soil is a great chemical laboratory, where organic changes are continually going on. The physician, also, deals in compounds of a chemical character ; most of them, when misapplied, are injurious and even fatal. It is not perhaps necessary that the doctor should be a chemist, and be able to combine and originate all the medicines he uses ; but it is necessary that he have a certain degree of information respecting their na- ture, origin, and effects, or he is an unsafe man to have care of our health and life. He must at least know the ingredients and their properties. Until he has this knowledge, he is incapable of exercising an intelligent discretion in the application of remedies, and it will be an equal chance whether he kills or cures. A certain portion of this same knowledge is advantageous, though not perhaps as necessary, in farming. Soil is supposed to be formed entirely by chemical action. ORIGIN AND COMPOSITION OF SOILS. The earth, as it came naked from the creation, was destitute of vegetation. It is supposed to have been a mere mineral mass, containing, it is true, the powers of germination, and a feeble ability to support plants when germinated. When the first plant was grown, it fell into decay, containing within itself vari- ous elements, and combinations of elements, such as oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and various acids, such as phosphoric, acetic, sulphuric, and earths and al- kalies, such as silex, magnesia, potash, soda, and lime. All these have been extracted from the air, the earth, 30 350 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. and the waters of heaven, and, by the mysterious pow- er of vegetable life, fashioned into a beautiful object. The stalk, leaves, and fruit of the plant, with so many substances and compounds of substances, are dissolved, and perish. But the matter of which it is composed does not perish, it only seeks new com- binations. In the earth on which it rots, there are alkalies, earths, and oxides, by which the acids and gases of the decaying weed have, by the law of na- ture, a strong affinity ; a chemical desire so powerful that they immediately reunite. When burnt lime is exposed to the atmosphere, we observe that it soon acquires carbonic acid, and this gas, combining with the caustic lime, causes mortar to harden by age. This is an example of chemical affinity. The operation is silent, and apparently weak and trifling. But it is by a knowledge of this property of lime that mortars are made, and by means of mor- tars that edifices, aqueducts, and fortifications are constructed as solid and lasting as the natural rock. In my opinion, there is no material difference in the mineral constituents of soil in its primitive state and the subsoil or earth beneath it ; that the re MOD why the surface matter is more fertile than that at the depth of 10, 12, or 18 inches, is the chemical change that has been wrought by vegetation, air, heat, frost, and moisture. The solid particles are furnished by the earth ; the acid and gaseous mate- rials by the plant ; and these being brought in con- tact, a lively chemical action commences. By this means, the soil which is naturally red, yellow, or white, gradually becomes blacker ; where it was com- pact, if the operation is well effected, it acquires po- rosity and looseness. This being the manmer in which soil or vegetable mould was originally separated from subsoil, or mere AGRICULTURAL INTEREST OF OHIO. 351 earth, we have only to imitate nature to produce it ourselves. Such is the theory of manures. There are soils that are radically deficient in the alkaline bases ; for these, vegetable manures would be of little avail, be- cause some of the chemical elements are wanting. There are others where the alkalies and salts are abundant, but they want vegetable matter. Furnish it, and a luxuriant crop rewards the husbandman. It is, therefore, upon a judicious mixture of these sub- stances that fertility depends. The exposition of these phenomena is book knowledge. The application of chemistry, showing how soils are constituted, and why certain ingredients are necessary, is book farm- ing, or science brought to the aid of labor. The experience of one is made accessible to every one else, by the means of printed books, and the mis- fortune is that they are not more numerous and more cheap. A farmer, with a soil already sufficiently calca- reous, has no need of lime, and if he expends his money or work in carting it to his premises, will gain nothing by the operation, and may produce a perma- nent injury to his soil. Applying lime to every kind of land would be like giving calomel in every disease. It might with as much propriety be said that the book learning, which shows the powers and benefits of that medicine, was useless or unimportant, as to speak thus of those treatises on agricultural chemis- try which explain the nature of soils. PROCESS OF EXHAUSTION. The first settlers of the West appear to have re- garded our rich lands as possessed of inexhaustible fertility. The people of the new counties of Ohio, where the process of cultivation has not been of long 352 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. duration, still take little interest in agriculture as a science. Those who perform the severe labor of clear- ing the land are impatient to receive their rei and apply their remaining energies to the work of drawing from the soil the most rapid succession of crops. The decline is so gradual as to be impercep- tible for a short number of years, and so long as the bounty of nature holds out, her resources are drawn upon freely. But the old settlers, who have survived half a cen- tury of active life, are enabled to compare the extremes, and to them the contrast between the primitive rich- ness of their farms and their present power of pro- duction is capable of being observed. Those who re- member when corn-land produced seventy-five bushels per acre, and still live to see the same land, with the same labor, give only forty bushels, realize the differ- ence between a state of exhaustion and a state of original vigor. This difference being taken from the profits, and not from the entire product, becomes still more striking. The fact of depreciation is, therefore, well estab- lished as a matter of evidence, but the manner hoio it is brought about is not always so well understood. By throwing light upon this sinking process, the ab- stract idea will become more sensible, and assume a prominence in the mind, equal to its importance in practice. Only about fifteen per cent, of the matter of the western soils produces any direct effect upon v» tion. About eighty-five per cent, is mere sand and clay, and only serves to retain moisture, and supply a foundation or basis for the plant. Of the fifteen per cent., there is in the best BOlll an ftverage bi ten or twelve per cent, ve Matter, but only about one-half of this is in an active state, say six per cent. AGRICULTURAL INTEREST OF OHIO. 353 There is from one to three per cent, of lime in the state of carbonate, sulphate or phosphate. The soil actually contains a minute portion of potash, for we find it in the ashes of timber, and it must come from the earth. So plants and trees contain magnesia and soda, and sometimes the oxides of iron and manganese. The iron is generally appreciable in quantity, and makes its appearance in the analysis, but it is difficult to detect the potash, soda, and magnesia, the quantity is so small. All the valuable mineral constituents amount to only three per cent., and the vegetable to six, making nine per cent., from which all the earthy supplies of vegetation are to be drawn. It is not necessary to extract all the materials of this nine per cent, of the soil, in order to render it unfruitful, or even to exhaust one of them — for if we diminish them, or one of them, so as materially to change their relations, we have effected a disorganiza- tion of the soil. The depth stirred by the plough is ordinarily four inches, sometimes five and even six inches. From this six inches of depth, or from nine per cent, of it, we draw annually of hay, grain or corn, from two to four tons of vegetable substance, or say on an average 6000 pounds. How great a portion of this product is derived from the atmosphere, and how much from the earth, is not a well-settled point. But if one-half is taken from the soil, it amounts in thirty years to 90,000 pounds, or forty-five tons of its very life-blood and sustenance. The weight of a covering of earth, measuring six inches in depth, will vary from 1000 to 1280 tons per acre, and nine per cent, of the same to 90 and 115 tons, of which the forty-five tons taken up by the plants, in thirty years, amounts to fifty and thirty- three per cent. 30* 354 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. I give this more by way of illustration than as well determined proportions, although my opinion is that they are not far from the truth. It is therefore easy to perceive how a soil is exhausted by cropping, and to realize that what ruins it in thirty years must do one-thirtieth part of the injury in one year. PROCESS OF RESTORATION. It also shows that, as the decay is comparatively slow, requiring time and continual cultivation to effect it, so the process of restoration cannot be brought to perfection at once, but will likewise require the lapse of time. This follows from the chemical action which is necessary in order to produce a change in the veg- etables and alkalies present. If the vegetable part is most deficient, and we re- sort to the usual mode of spreading manure upon the soil, it requires some months for this action to com- mence, for the decomposition to be effected, which precedes the new compositions that are to be formed. It may require years for the formation of all the com- pounds that successively appear in the soil after the application of good manure. This merely verifies a general rule of nature, that the reverse process of restoration is not more rapid than the direct one of depreciation. And this principle, well considered, im- presses the fact indelibly upon the mind, that it is easier to maintain than to restore. That it is not only easier, but more profitable, to preserve a soil in its original strength, enabling it to produce its maxi- mum all the while, than to suffer it to run down, lose the product, and then restore it, is a position that does not require an argument. There are methods of manuring which are more rapid than others, and more profitable, but the maxim I have just laid down should he remembered, that quick and powerful stim- AGRICULTURAL INTEREST OF OHIO. 355 ulants are soon themselves exhausted, and cease to operate. ' It would be too tedious, if our discourse was pro- longed so as to present in detail the theory of vegeta- tion and conversion of manures, the analysis of various soils, and of the various vegetables that are produced upon them. The examination of this subject would show a correspondence between the composition of the soil, and the nature and luxuriance of its productions. It would explain why some plants, as clover for in- stance, when turned under as a green crop, produces more fertility than buckwheat or corn-stalks. These investigations are purely chemical, and have been particularly brought about by the influence of agricultural associations. ASSOCIATIONS " THE LONDON BOARD OF AGRICULTURE." The most noted society of this kind, and one which may be regarded as laying the foundation of British husbandry, now reduced to a science, was the " Lon- don Board of Agriculture," established by an Act of Parliament, May 17, 1793, and furnished with £3000 a year from the Treasury. At the close of the Amer- ican Revolution, the island of Great Britain was esti- mated to contain 60,000,000 of acres, exclusive of ci- ties, roads, lakes, &c, of which only 30,000,000, or one-half were in cultivation. Sir John Sinclair had at his own expense travelled in Flanders, Germany, France, and generally through Europe, and observed, that for their surface those countries were producing much more largely than England. He proposed an inquiry into the causes of the striking difference that existed in the agricultural con- dition of the Island and the Continent, and broached the project to the ministry. He was told, that what- 356 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. ever related to commerce and acquisition of territory, to the army and navy, would meet with a ready sup- port in the cabinet, but they never had, and probably never would, bestow that attention upon agriculture. It was expected that the ministry regarding hus- bandry as a mere handicraft, upon a level with the excavation of a cellar, or the raising of an embank- ment, would not descend to consider the proposed scheme. Although George III. had bestowed some attention upon practical farming, the ministry sup- posed it would take care of itself, requiring only the requisite number of laborers. They regarded the muscles of the human arm, the strength of horses, the plough, the mattock, and the spade, as constituting the sum total of agriculture, and that intelligence and science had no more to do with its improvement, than it had with excavating the cellar, or piling earth into the embankment. Mr. Pitt was not really for the project, unless the House manifested some desire for its adoption. Mr. Dundas took favorable ground, and after much per- suasion, and even importunity, Sir John Sinclair at last attained his object. In arguing the question be- fore the officers of government, he proposed to gain six principal ends, of which I think three are appli- cable to this country at this time. 1st. The Central Board would be a general mag- azine of agricultural knowledge. 2d. It should be their duty to collect and circulate this knowledge. 3d. As a part of this duty, to cause a survey of England to be made by counties, giving I statistical view of its present state, wants, and ameliorations. The Board being organized, composed of the principal councillors of State, some eminent clergymen, and thirty members, their first business was the collection, by local agents, of the statistics and agricultural con- AGRICULTURAL INTEREST OF OHIO. 357 dition of the kingdom, which was effected by counties, and printed in about two years. They next laid the foundation of Agricultural Chemistry, by procuring from the father of chemical science, Sir Humphrey Davy, a course of Lectures and analysis. There had been associations for the benefit of agriculture in the kingdom before. In Scotland, as early as 1723, the society of "Improvers in Agricul- ture" was organized, and embraced, for a time, many valuable members. In 1749, in Ireland, the Dublin Agricultural Society was formed and received a grant of <£10,000 from the Irish treasury, for the promotion of its objects. The "Bath and West of England" Society arose in 1777, and the Highland Society of Scotland in 1784. But all these associations were lim- ited, comparatively powerless and temporary. The London Board was composed of men whose interest in the cause was intense, and by a connection with the government, they were enabled to command means to accomplish their designs. The consequence was that, in 1796, the Board report that, 22,350,000 acres of the land had been reclaimed, from a waste or unpro 7 ductive state, and added to the wealth of the nation. Its value was estimated at £905,215,500 sterling. The Board demonstrated that the fears then pre- valent of over population were without foundation, as they might and had been overthrown by over produc- tion of the soil. This striking result in England was not all the advantage resulting to that country and to other na- tions, from the labors of the Board of Agriculture, which continued until 1819. That Board gave rise to works especially devoted to analysis of soils, grain, straw, and all vegetable substances ; attracted the at- tention of the agricultural world to the subject of 358 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. improving soils ; engaged chemists in the work of ex- amination of manures, and laid the foundation of vast improvements. Agriculture is an art which has never been known to recede, but always to advance and improve. The Egyptians, when they cultivated the valley of the Nile, had their ploughs, their yokes for cattle, and their thongs of leather, to attach the team to the plough. But their contrivances were rude and cum- brous. The Greeks of the time of Homer were prac- tical farmers, and had improved upon the implements of the Egyptians. So the Romans of the days of Hesiod had ad- vanced upon the Greeks, the Germans of the Rhine upon the Romans, and the English of the last century gave agriculture an impulse over the Flemish and German standard. In America, this progress is in my opinion to be extended, and another step taken towards perfection — particularly in implements. IMPORTANCE OP AGRICULTURE — STATISTICS. May it not be said that, hitherto, and even now, the general government and the States indulge in too much indifference respecting the advance of agricul- ture. It is, in the language of the petitioners whom I represent, the basis of every other interest. It is the principal and reliable source of taxation among the States. In Ohio the revenue is derived almost entirely from real estate. The commercial interest represents merely the surplus of the agricultural. The property engaged in manufactures is limited, compared with that invested in the soil. The census of 1840 gives $82,201,268 as the capital engaged in forwarding, in the trade of mer- chants, lumber and butchering. AGRICULTURAL INTEREST OF OHIO. 859 The capital engaged in manufactures is repre- sented as $14,905,257. The products of the soil in Ohio, for the same year, were as follows : Wheat, 16,571,661 bush, at 60 cts. $9,942,996 Barley, 212,440 « " 40 " 84,976 Oats, 14,393,103 " " 20 " 2,878,620 Rye, 814,205 " " 40 " 325,682 Buckwheat, 633,139 « " 30 " 189,941 Corn, 33,668,144 " " 30 " 10,100,443 Potatoes, 5,805,021 * " 20 " 1,161,004 Tobacco, 5,942,275 pounds 3 « 178,268 Hay, 1,022,037 tons $6 \ 6,132,222 Hemp Flax, 9,080 " $100 908,000 Hops, 62,195 pounds 10 cts. 6,219 $31,908,371 The above includes only the crops proper for 1840, and not for 1844. I take the produce of the former year, because we have the official report as a basis as to the quantity, and I have given the prices below, rather than above, the market. The wheat crop of 1844 was probably less than that of 1840, on account of a bad season, just as it arrived at ma- turity. But the general increase of production in Ohio, over that above given, may be safely put at one-fifth, or 20 per cent. There are some important additions to be made to this table of articles, the result of agriculture, not properly termed crops. Products of Orchards, for 1840, $475,271 " Dairies, " 1,848,869 " Gardens, " 97,606 " Nurseries, " 19,707 soo FUGITIVE ESSAYS. Wine, 11,524 gallons at $1 $11,524 Silk, 4,317 pounds " 5 21,585 Wood, 272,529 cords " 2 545,058 Sugar, 6,363,386 pounds " 4 cents, 254,535 Wool, 3,685,315 " « 30 " 1,005,594 Wax, 38,139 " " 25 * 9,534 $4,289,283 This sum, in addition to the value of crops, gives $36,197,654. To this should be added the annual increase in value of animals, to wit : 430,527 Horses and Mules, at $50 $21,526,350 1,217,874 Cattle, " 20 24,357,480 2,099,945 Hogs, " 3 6,299,835 2,028,401 Sheep, " 1 2,028,401 $54,212,066 If the annual proceeds of the live stock of the farm is put at one-fourth the value, and mj estimate of that value is correct, the yearly product would have been, in 1840, $13,553,016. This, item united with the annual value of crops and agricultural products, makes $49,750,670. But there are many things not included in this calculation, such as the value of pasturage, straw, turnips, poultry, feathers, &c, which would swell the sum considerably. And although the crop of wheat was this year greatly injured, and the crop of corn rather light, and the product of orchards diminished, there m\\<\ be for \ a materia] increase in production over 1840. I think it would be safe to add B0 per cent on 100 Hint, to the estimate just given, which would AGRICULTURAL INTEREST OP OHIO. 361 give for the agricultural products of Ohio at this time $56,990,197. This sum, it will be remembered, does not fully represent the agricultural interest or capital, but the gross production of that capital. There are upon the tax-list of this State, for 1842, 20,260,526 acres of land, of which the value per acre cannot be less than five dollars. It is not easy to make an estimate of the number of farm houses, buildings, and implements in the State, or their value. In four rural townships of Hamilton county, which in 1840 contained a population of 7411, there are but 243 houses returned for taxation, or about one to thir- ty inhabitants. By law, buildings below a certain value are not put on the duplicate, which deprives us of information from that source. By taking the average price of land in Ohio, as established by the Board of Equalization, $3,68, we can find the value of lands as they stand upon the grand levy, and deducting this sum from the value of houses- and lands, we have $8,835,492, representing buildings, principally farm houses. But the method of assessment, like that of lands, places these build- ings far below their real value. And it should also be remembered, that barns and out-houses are omitted, and manufactures included. I think it reasonable, however, to multiply the amount stated on the duplicate by four, and call the product the real value of farm houses, barns, out- houses and implements, which will be equal to $35,- 341,968, or a little over $100 to each individual engaged in agriculture. The lands of Ohio, aside from town lots, at $5,00 per acre, are worth $101,302,630. Of the live stock, 31 6WA FUGITIVE ESSAYS. I regard one-fourth as annual increase, and three- fourths as capital producing this increase. The agri- cultural investment in Ohio may be considered as the aggregate of lands, buildings, implements, and three- fourths of the stock. My estimates are, of course, only rough approxi- mations to the truth, but these three items make a gross sum of f Stock, $40,647,855 Lands, ------ 101,302,630 Houses, &c, - - - - 35,341,968 $177,292,453 The annual product of which, according to the fore- going estimates, is $56,990,197. The united capital of merchants, forwarders, butchers, of lumbermen and all manufacturers, we have given at $59,106,520, and adding one-fifth for increase to the present time, it gives $90,927,824 capital in trade and manufactures, against $177,292,- 453 invested in agriculture. In other and more com- mercial States, the disproportion would not be so striking, but still, throughout the United States, the agricultural interest, measured by dollars and cents, or by the numbers engaged, or its importance to the na- tion, stands above any other, if not above every other, department of investment and industry. In 1840, when the population of Ohio was 1,519,- 467, her agricultural laborers numbered 272,599. At the same time, the persons engaged in all the other business, callings, trades or professions, amounted to only 84,458. If the farmers have increased in proportion with the population, they now number about 323,000. agricultural interest op ohio. 363 gen. Washington's opinion — general government. Has the legislation of the country, in favor of this overruling interest, been proportioned to its magni- tude ? We have witnessed the extreme attention of the National Congress and of the State Legislatures to the subject of commerce. From 1789, to this day, the Federal Government has not only been interested, but agitated, and that almost without cessation, by dif- ferent schemes for the promotion of manufactures. In the last annual address of President Washing- ton, wherein he lays down the great principles that should govern our statesmen, he does not forget to recommend the protection of agriculture, as well as trade and manufactures, in the following terms : " It will not be doubted that, with reference to either individual or national welfare, agriculture is of primary importance. In proportion as nations ad- vance in population, and other circumstances of ma- turity, this truth becomes more apparent, and renders the cultivation of the soil more and more an object of public patronage. Institutions for promoting it, grow up, supported by the public purse, and to what object can it be dedicated with greater propriety ? " Among the means which have been employed to this end, none had been attended with greater suc- cess than the establishment of Boards, composed of proper characters, charged with collecting and diffus- ing information, and enabled by premiums and small pecuniary aids to encourage and assist a spirit of dis- covery and improvement. This species of establish- ment contributes doubly to the increase of improve- ment by stimulating to enterprise and experiment, and by drawing to a common centre the results every where of individual skill and observation — and spread- 364 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. ing them thence over the whole nation. Experience, accordingly, has shown, that they are very cheap in- struments of immense national benefits."— Journals Zd and 4th Congress, page 69. What has been done in pursuance of this recom- mendation, relating to the soil, and what has not been done respecting those that refer to the other great callings ? Is there less constitutional power to favor the greatest interest of the country than for those which are subordinate? When has there been in Congress any direct legislation, avowed and intended to protect the farmer, that was not subordinate and subservient, or at least incidental, to the other branches? The capital invested in commerce in the United States, is estimated at ... $262,000,000 In manufactures at ... 267,000,000 For both . . $529,000,000 How many laws have been passed to protect ma- nufactures and encourage . commerce ? The annual product of the United States, in the article of veg- etable food for man, without including any thing else, is $624,518,510. The value of horses, mules, cattle, sheep, and swine, is $640,000,000, and adding all real products of the land, we may safely put the grand aggregate at $1,000,000,000, or double the capital employed in trade and fabrication. Has this subject been so long overlooked because the farmer needs no encouragement ? The 323,000 men, engaged in cultivation in this State, produce, according to my estimate, $6^,990,197. Their wages, at $15 per month, would amount to $58,140,000. The interest upon the property invested, $177,- 292,453, at six per cent., is $10,637,547. Whe the general profit on agricultural investments ? It is AGRICULTURAL INTEREST OF OHIO. 365 evident, without entering into a calculation, that if farms and farming paid a fair interest upon money, the capitalist would invest money in the business. But he does not — he prefers trade or manufactures ; and experience shows that he realizes more from such an employment of his money than he would by tilling the soil. We have then this anomaly, the most important occupation of man, that in which more persons are employed, will only bear an investment of labor, not of money capital. We find the legislation of the country active, sensitive, untiring, to make this money capital yield a high profit, but find no statute of Con- gress, having for its object a direct, exclusive, par- ticular application to the profit on this great labor capital. Much has been done for it under other names, as an incidental affair; but have we not imitated too closely the indifference of Mr. Pitt and his colleagues, in 1793 ? What encouragement does it require ? The general government having neglected the subject in a great degree, this question is more directly applied to the States. But to answer it, consultation and reflection are both requisite. DUTY OF THE STATE GOVERNMENT. The diffusion of cheap practical books would give agriculture a character and an impulse. It would tend to make the calling more elevated, because more intellectual. Agricultural schools, where labor and learning mingle their benefits, is another mode of advancing the object. A more full analysis of all kinds of soil, and in connection with that work, the analysis of all vegetable 31* 366 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. products, to discover the mineral and gaseous constitu- ents, they take up from, and give back to the earth. Sir Humphrey Davy, Chaptal, and Liebig, have done much, and the American chemists extended the subject, but without a special devotion to this single branch of chemical investigation, we cannot expect a full knowledge of it. The subject of manures, not only in regard to their effects, but their cheapness, requires more examina- tion and experiment, and every country must make them for itself. Results obtained in Germany may not answer in Ohio. Agricultural statistics are indispensable, and in this branch the general government did the country much service in the completion of the census of 1840. A general interchange of the experience of prac- tical farmers appears to me, for its expense, the most useful of all modes of advancing the state of our til- lage. There are men, who with the same soil, labor and expense, produce double the surplus of others. The former class of persons, by a trifling but inces- sant application of some kind of manure, maintain the soil in its original strength. Their crops are sure and heavy. Another drains the soil, until the crop falls away visibly. He cannot cease to till it, for he would starve. He cannot manure it all at once for want of means. If he goes on plowing, sowing, and reaping, as usual, he falls behind annually in hi penses, the tax-gatherer crowds him, and the surplus of his farm is no longer to be found. Let every farmer in the State relapse into this condition, and where is the wealth and happiness of our people? Let every farmer strive to pass this fatal point, where the cost of cultivation is just equal to the pro- ceeds, and what a vast amount of surplus would be at our command. AGRICULTURAL INTEREST OF OHIO. 367 I venture to prolong this discourse to give an example : There are not far from 1,700,000 acres of land in cul- tivation, in wheat, in the State of Ohio. In Hamilton county, the average yield of upland wheat per acre is 16J bushels, and the average price at market, for the past four years, is 67 J cents. The ordinary cost of culti- vation, harvesting, &c, for wheat, I fix at from $7,25 to $7,50, or say the value of 11 bushels at 67 J cents, which is $7,42. If the yield is no greater in other parts of the State than in Hamilton county, there is a surplus of only 4 J bushels, or $2,70, which is not equal to the interest upon the land, implements, and stock, re- quired for its cultivation. Our soil is capable of producing from twenty to twenty-five bushels of wheat, and with extraordinary attention thirty bushels. But with merely good farm- ing, every where introduced, the same land and the same labor will add five bushels per acre to the crop of Ohio, — or 8,500,000 bushels, of the value of $5,737,500 — this, without including other crops. Now, I find by the current report of the Auditor of State, that the property of the State pays a tax of $2,340,663, for all public purposes, and this assessment is considered as unusually heavy, almost oppressive. According to my estimate, the wheat growers of the State alone might, by careful cultivation, with the same quantity of land, enlarge their surplus to more than double this sum. In 1843, the wheat crop of the United States was estimated, by Mr. Ellsworth, at 100,310,856 bushels, of which Ohio furnished about one-fifth, or 18,786,- 705 bushels. The average yield of wheat in England is twenty- eight bushels per acre, in the United States not to exceed fifteen, in Ohio seventeen. It would be pro- 368 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. fitable, in this State, to aim at twenty-five bushels, and easily practicable to attain to twenty-two, thus adding over one-fourth to our surplus in wheat. This subject might be amplified and presented at much greater length, but I have already become te- dious and close at this point. WHEAT CROP OF HAMILTON COUNTY. In passing through the county, it was my prac- tice to note down the remarks of each individual re- specting his farming operations ; and this report will consist, in a considerable degree, of those remarks, arranged under their respective heads. It was an object to obtain the yield — the time and manner of sowing — the system of manure — time and manner of harvesting of each crop ; and also to ascer- tain the kind of timber which grew upon the soil — the length of time in cultivation — rotation and number of crops, and such other information as might be sug- gested at the moment. We know of no better authority on these subjects than the farmers themselves, and do not feel ourselves competent to improve upon their opinions, statements, and suggestions, and therefore merely report, in as clear and methodical a manner as we can, the rela- tions which were given : There is no doubt of a direct connection between the constitution of a soil and the timber it produces ; and from this we may deduce a connection between timber and crops. The heaviest crop of wheat is found on land having sugar tree and oak as the principal timber, as will appear from the following classification : Sugar and oak, 10 cases, average crop 18,40 bs. »»~~ md beech, 19 " " " 17,52 " AGRICULTURAL INTEREST OF OHIO. 169 Beech and oak, 7 cases, Sugar, oak, hickory, 5 " Oak, 21 " Hickory, - 10 " Beech, 12 " average crop 17,14 bs. " " 16,66 " " " 16,00 « " " 14,50 « " « 14,33 " Miscellaneous, 30 " General average of 127 " M 15,50 " " « 16,50 " The mixture of sugar and oak appears to give the best yield, sugar and beech next, and beech and oak the next. If an analysis of these soils and of the wood most congenial to them was carefully made, we should probably discover, not only a resemblance be- tween them and their timber, but between the timber produced and the grain and straw of wheat. The statement of an average yield of wheat ena- bles us to ascertain the number of acres cultivated in wheat in 1839, when the official return gives 213,815 bushels, for the product of that year. If that year gave an average crop, the quantity of ground then in cultivation in wheat was 13,029 acres. The crop since 1840 has been more uncertain in its yield, price lower and demand less, from which we conclude that there has not been an increase in the production of the county since that time. MISFORTUNES TO WHICH THE CROP IS LIABLE. The record we have given, of the remarks made upon wheat, shows that there are three principal evils to which it is subject, viz : rust, fly, and freezing out. The average loss of the crop by these and other causes is once in four years a total failure. EVILS AND SEED. The farmers diner in regard to which of these is the greatest enemy to wheat ; six of those speaking upon the subject regard rust as the difficulty most to 370 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. be avoided ; nine consider freezing out the most inju- rious, and nine suppose the fly to be the worst enemy. In regard to insects that prey upon crops, we have a separate notice of them, to which we refer, merely calling the attention of the reader, here, to the worms observed by Mr. W. W. Cary (30), and Mr. Thorn- dyke Keller (107), with a view to farther discoveries. Respecting the quantity of seed, the farmers of Hamilton vary from three to five pecks. Mr. Smeth- hart (99) considers three pecks to be better calculated to insure a full crop than more. In Flanders, two Winchester bushels are sown to the English acre, which is nearly eight pecks of our measure ; in Eng- land, two and a half to three and a half bushels. The richness and depth of the soil has so much to do with the quantity of seed that it is difficult to es- tablish a rule upon this subject. In England, how- ever, where the dibbling process has been tried and the seed planted in regular squares of six inches on a side, and a seed in the middle of two sides, the quan- tity is reduced to about one and a half bushels to the acre, and the yield increased many fold. TIME OF SOWING PRICES. Among the farmers who gave answers to our in- quiries about the time of sowing, four put in their wheat in August, four in October, nine in September, and one in November ; of those who prefer Septem- ber, six sow during the first ten days, one by the first day, and two in the latter part of the month. Those who cover the seed in the first week expect to harvest between the 25th ;md 30th of June. The following table exhibits the price of wheat at Cincinnati, every six months, for four years past : 1840, July 1st, 56 cents per bushel. 1841, January 1st, 58 " " AGRICULTURAL INTEREST OF OHIO. 371 1841, July 1st, 73 cents per bushel. 1842, January 1st, 1,06 " " " July 1st, 55 " " 1843, January 1st, 50 " " " July 1st, 85 " * 1844, January 1st, 75 " " " July 1st, 60 " " Average price per bushel, 67J cents. Average in January of each year, 72,22. " " July " « 65,80. The method of tilling is very various. In new ground, for the first crop, the seed is generally scat- tered over the fresh surface, and harrowed in without plowing. The rooty condition of the ground fre- quently prevents the use of the plow. In old ground, among farmers, the practice most in vogue is to summer fallow and harrow in upon the sod. In fields that are clear of stumps and stones, and very few farms in Hamilton county are troubled with stone, the plow lays over the sward, very uniform and flat. It is thought that ground made too mellow and fine is more liable to winter-kill the wheat than such as is in the state of clods, provided they are dead and rotting. Some cases will be observed in our abstract where clover has been turned in and wheat sowed upon fur- row immediately, and also where turf land has been broken up a few weeks before seeding. In land where plowing can be done so perfectly, as to turn over all the soil, it is not inclined to send up grass and weeds ; this practice of sowing soon after breaking up is undoubtedly advantageous. It allows the growing plant a chance to absorb more of the volatile portions of the decomposing sward. Upon the whole, this region cannot be said to be well adapted to the culture of wheat. 372 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. UNCERTAINTY OP CROPS. A crop which is liable to be cut off once in four years is too uncertain to be raised with profit for sale, although every good farmer would continue, even un- der this disadvantage, to sow enough for his family use. It is much less sure, and also less abundant in yield, than formerly, when the country was new. This seems to indicate a change of climate, as well as a change in the condition of the soil. The effect of cleared land, and of cultivation, is to cause a greater number of thawings and freezings, which are each of them injurious to the root, and when land becomes heavy by constant use, the effect of frost in that way is different and more destructive. The country is filled with the fly, and there seems to be an increased disposition to rust. Very early sown wheat generally escapes the rust, but appears to be more exposed to the fly. The Alabama wheat has hitherto escaped both, and produces a fine yield of good wheat. It has, however, not been tried long enough to pronounce upon its ultimate success. We should expect a grain from the South to mature earlier, and consequently do better, provided the winters did not injure it. VARIETIES AND COMPOSITION. A kind of wheat, called Virginia wheat, has been tried with that view, as we are told, and gave a good crop, but we have no personal knowledge concerning it. Mr. Frost (64), of Crosby, has tried Saxony wheat, and considers both it and the "blue stem"' M before our common kinds, and even before Alabama. The fact noted by Mr. Brown (65), that the fly wliieh infested the timothy part of his fallow, did not the clover, is worthy of remembrance. In England there are forty-two varieties of culti- AGRICULTURAL INTEREST OF OHIO. 373 vated wheat, winter, spring, and summer ; but as yet they are not well classified in botanical order. The Romans of the days of our Savior sowed the common red and the white wheat in general, but in moist situations they made use of the bearded. Sir Humphrey Davy's analysis of wheat shows that the spring wheat contains the largest amount of gluten, and the Farmer's Encyclopoedia intimates that it is the most nutritious. English wheat, . Sicilian " . . Spring " Blighted " . . Gluten. Starch. Insoluble matter. Total. 19 20 24 13 77 75 70 52 4 5 6 35 100 100 100 100 The substances of a mineral kind, drawn from the earth, are, according to the analysis of Sprengel, for 1000 lbs. of Wheat and Wheat straw I straw, per acre. Wheat. and Wheat. . Ebs. ft)S. ft)S. 285 225 20 Potash. 337 240 29 Soda. 816 96 240 Lime. 186 90 32 Magnesia. 296 26 90 Alumina and iron. 9010 400 2870 Silica. 161 50 37 Sulphuric acid. 550 40 170 Phosphoric acid. 100 10 30 Chlorine. 117,41 11,77 35,18 Weight of ashes. 32 374 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. If we call the weight of straw per acra 3000 lbs., which is near the average, and allow sixteen bushels of grain, or say 1000 lbs. weight, we shall have 4000 ft)s. as the vegetable product, which leaves 117,41 lbs. earthy residue. This result is not strictly exact, and the grain of Germany, where Sprengel operated, may not be com- posed exactly as our own. The most striking fact contained in this table is the discrepancy between the amount of lime in the kernel compared with the stalk. TIME OF HARVESTING. Having given the principal details of our observa- tions among the cultivators of the soil at home, we add some considerations from the experience of farm- ers in other countries^ particularly in relation to the state of Wheat when it is cut. In 1840, Mr. John Hannum, of North Deighton, in Yorkshire, England,* made several experiments upon the relative value of wheat, cut at various stages of ripeness. It should be borne in mind that the harvests of England occur from four to six weeks later than in Southern Ohio: Specimen No. 1, cut green, August 4, " No. 2, cut raw, August 18, " No. 4, cut ripe, September 1, The green specimen had not begun to turn yellow ; the chaff adhered to the kernel, which was green, soft, and full of milk, although perfectly formed. No. 2, or the raw, was quite yellow from the roots about one foot upwards, and the whole stalk, though apparently green, was seen to be, upon close cxami nation, of a yellowish tint. The ears were open, the chaff yellow * Farmer's Encyclopedia, article wheat, p. 1134. AGRICULTURAL INTEREST OF OHIO. 375 and green, and the grain still soft and pulpy, with some fluid matter in the kernel. The specimen No. 3 was ripe, without being dead ripe or brittle, but in what is called harvesting order. bushels. lbs. lbs. straw. The ripe gave 30 of 60 2,688 The raw gave 30,1307 " " 2,352 The green gave 26,1356 " " 2,737 The straw of the green parcel was, as we see, about 385 Sbs. heavier than the raw, and 49 lbs. heavier than the ripe. The price per quarter of 8 bushels, showing the quality in market, was For the ripe, ... 62 shillings. " " raw, ... 64 " " " green, 61 " » The produce in money per acre, including straw, stood as follows : £. s. d. Ripe, . . . . 12 17 3f Raw, . . . . 13 7 3J Green, . . . . 11 11 10J The same gentleman made further experiments in 1842, and derived the following results : He cut grain fully ripe, two days before ripe, two weeks, three weeks, four weeks, which specimens are num- bered 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, beginning with the greenest : 100 lbs. No. 1, gave flour 75 lbs., shorts 7, bran 17. 16. 13. 14. 15. Here No. 3, which is called raw, and was cut two weeks before ripeness, gives 8 per cent, more flour a u a 2, U a 76 " a 7, a it a u 3, it a 80 " it 5, a a a a 4, a tt 77 " a T, a (< a a 5, a a ■ 72 " II 11, u 376 FUGITIVE ESSAY8. than No. 5, cut ripe. The ripe gave least of all ; and No. 4, cut two days before ripeness, the next largest quantity. Of course the bran and shorts of No. 3 were least, and the bran was found to be thin and soft, while No. 5 was coarse and harsh. The average yield per acre of these experiments was 28 bushels ; and the weight of flour in equal measures of wheat was 15 per cent, in favor of the raw over the ripe; the gain in straw, 14 per cent. There was a gain in value of 163 pounds of wheat per quarter, and in the acre yielding 28 bushels a gain of 583 pounds. INDIAN HISTORY: Their Relations to us at the time of the American Revolution. [Western Literary Journal and Review, January 1845.] The British authorities in Canada had, during the progress of the American Revolution, solemnly grant- ed the western domain to the Indians residing upon it. In July, 1744, the Six Nations made a deed of all the lands that were then, or should afterwards be, within the chartered limits of Virginia, to the king of England.* Notwithstanding the numerous charters which the crown of England had granted to her citizens, com- panies, and colonies, overlapping each other, and in some instances covering the soil with many thick- nesses of paper title, the ministry, at the peace of 1763, undertook to confine all previous grants to the waters of the Atlantic, or to the Alleghany ridge. There was much apparent force in this position. Neither the king of England, nor the ministers or the people, regarded the vast regions behind the moun- tains as of much consequence to the nation or her colonies. The home government did not anticipate what Grest and Washington plainly foresaw, that such a soil would be occupied, unless prevented by force. England was ready to give it in exchange for other lands on the north ; but the French, confident of suc- cess in the field, refused to accept the mountain * Bancroft's Ab. Vol. II, p. 305. 32* 378 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. boundary, which was to branch off in Pennsylvania, pass through French Creek, and include the eastern shore of Lake Erie.* The ruling authority of Great Britain, in the early part of the old French war, ap- pears to have viewed the indefinite regions of the Mis- sissippi as destined to remain a savage wild to the end of time. It was therefore of little consequence, whether it was held by the French, Spaniards, or any other nation, provided such nation should be at peace with England. The French still held Lake Cham- plain and its vicinage. The English regarded the possession of its shores, and the southern border of Lake Ontario, as a matter of importance ; with the eastern slope of the Alleghenies, and the plain be- tween them and the sea, and with the Atlantic waters of New England and Nova Scotia, and the regions of Northern New York and Vermont, they would have been content. They had not, like the French, seen the latent resources of what is now styled the West. To them, its value consisted merely in the number of skins it would furnish her traders. The thought of introduc- ing civilization into the dark recesses of the Wabash and the Illinois had not possessed an English brain ; or if it had, no such project was entertained at the English Court. France had a religious order, whose zeal spread throughout her government. England had her schemes of discovery and conquest ; but they were based, not upon an extension of religion or in- telligence, but the advantages of commerce. Her cit- izens, imbibing the same sentiments as her statesmen promulgated, found no sufficient inducements to oc- cupy, or even to explore, the western forests. They were consequently ignorant of the face of the country, * American Annual Register, 1825-0, and Laws of England, Vol. VI, page 3U4 ; Douglass' Summary, Appendix, page 42. INDIAN HISTORY. 379 the number and character of the aborigines, the broad and wonderful rivers which flowed past their wig warns, or the soil, unsurpassed in fertility, which exceeded in quantity all that portion of the continent, occupied by the English emigrants. But with Frenchmen it was different; and in 1750, every important stream, whose sources lay in the nooks of the Alleghenies, or whose waters mingled in the northern lakes, had float- ed the trading barque, cross, and colors of France. She was therefore well acquainted with its unspeak- able resources, and could not think of abandoning it without a struggle. The two nations continued to fight, and fortune decided that France should yield to her rival; the lakes and the left bank of the Missis- sippi. Still the ministers of Great Britain do not appear to have given credit to the descriptions of Joutel, La Salle, Hennepin, and Charlevoix, respecting the amaz- ing fertility of Canada and Louisiana. They very logically drew the conclusion, that it of right belonged to the crown in some sense, separate from the char- tered colonies. Their course of reasoning was thus — when our former kings professed to give away the lands between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the western boundary was remote, unknown, and inde- finite : and for this reason alone, an alteration might be permitted, upon later information, changing the nature of the grant. Although we supposed the British dominions ex- tending across the continent in 1609, and have always claimed that such is the case, yet, long before we ac- quired actual possession beyond *the mountains, our neighbors and competitors had stamped the name of Louis XIV. on the trees of a thousand rivers. Had you, citizens of the new world, been as zealous christ- ians, or as keen discoverers, the banner of St. George 380 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. would have stood in the place of the Lily and the Cross. We must admit, therefore, that although we possessed the waters of the Hudson, Delaware, and Potomac, we did not know whether the South Sea washed the western base of the mountains from which they sprang, or of other and more distant ranges, un- til those Catholic missionaries told us it did not. If the occupation of the Connecticut and Susquehanna at the mouth gave us the territory over which they spread their hundred branches, even to the rising springs which the earth spouts forth, then Cham] .lain, Marquette, and La Salle, by planting posts and set- tlements on the St. Lawrence, and the great river of the West, invested the French crown with an equally good title to the regions drained through their chan- nels. That being acknowledged, your grants were, in part, the property of another nation at the time, and not in our power to yield. And more, the company whose claim is clearest, embracing the plantations of Virginia, has been deprived of her charter, and the unappropriated lands reverted, in 1G24, to the crown. Our own title and that of the French are now united, and the country is at the disposal of King George III. Such were the premises upon which England as- sumed the disposal of the western lands, after the treaty of 1763. This was made manifest by a formal proclamation soon after. * In this document, the British government declares its intention to li- the whole West, for the use and permanent occupa- tion of the aborigines then in possession. All other persons are forbidden to remain or settle within this region; and thus the most civilized nation of the earth decreed the continuance of barbarism over the best portion of North America. ♦American Register, 1825-6; Appendix, page 11. INDIAN HISTORY. 381 This determination could not have arisen from a sense of obligation to the Indians ; for the Hurons, Miamis, and Shawnees, then occupying the Ohio and Lake Erie, had been leagued with the French against them. It was possibly a measure of expediency and humanity, adopted for two reasons — the establishment of peace, and the removal of the Six Nations from New York. Secure in the interposition of a range of mountains, they doubtless considered the abandon- ment of the region beyond, an easy purchase of the future tranquillity of the Atlantic settlements. Here the aborigines might roam in quiet possession of their hunting-grounds, in a wild, where no white man would desire to enter and abide. The desires of the home government were for a time gratified by the colonists. But soon after, Daniel Boone, John Finley, John Stewart, Joseph Holden, James Mooney, and William Cool, passed the Cum- berland Gap, and reached the Kentucky River. Thus, in the summer of 1769, these roving woodsmen found the country east of the mountains too straightened for them, and came to occupy that far-off wilderness which, six years before, the British statesmen imagin- ed would never be disturbed by the sound of the axe. The assignees of William Penn had also settled them- selves around Fort Pitt, with a Gothic determination to remain. Not only the Pennsylvanians, but the Marylanders and Virginians, who accompanied Brad- dock and Forbes in the expeditions against Fort Du Quesne, had seen the flow of the rivers and the lux- uriance of the lowlands beyond the mountains. Those of them who survived to meet their neighbors in the East, did not fail to dwell with eloquence upon the richness of that distant wild, when gathered about the firesides of their homes. The Virginians began to creep cautiously over the 382 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. Blue Ridge, carrying the surveyor's chain and the rifle. They found on the Kanawha and the Ohio some rich bottoms, the counterpart of the James River tobacco fields. The Indians regarded this as an in- vasion. The men bore the deadliest weapons in their hands ; and more, they busied themselves in marking the trees with their axes, and measuring over the country with a mysterious instrument. This looked like war and possession. The western Indians, if they knew of the deed of the Iroquois in 1744, knew also that they did not own the land they pretended to con- vey. No white sachem had obtained permission to send his young men into their hunting-grounds, to lay them out in parcels, drive stakes, write down memo- randa on paper, and to erect a stockade or place of defence. His untutored mind, by degrees, took in the plan of the Virginians, but his tribes were scattered all along the Ohio, the Scioto, Wabash, and Miami, and could not at once make an official remonstrance to their father, the king of England. His dark eye kindled with anger, as he watched the advance of the white man. The frontier man, in his hunting-shirt and moccasins, had planted himself there, with a de- termination to make the occupation a matter of life and death. He neither feared or regarded the blan- keted vagabond, whom he encountered from time to time. They were bold men who were ready to assert possession by mortal combat. Quarrels and murders were inevitable. The red man knew white men only as one band, conspired against his country. When Michael Cresap at Redstone, and Daniel Greathouse at Wheeling, had secured themselves in Forts, he would s lyly D y those advanced stations, and patiently climb the peaks at the heads of the Kanawha, to strike some unsuspecting settler in the western countrv. If INDIAN HISTORY. 383 a horse was seen grazing in the field, he was pressed into the service, and being loaded with plunder, was led back to their towns across the Ohio. In the guilt or innocence of the border difficulties, the colonial government involved itself as well as its citizens. The House of Burgesses, which sprang into existence under the London Company, had gradually acquired the substantial control of the province. When the French war commenced, in 1754, the colo- nies, Virginia in particular, entered into the designs of the crown, and freely raised troops and money for the expeditions in the West. In the poverty of that colony, it became necessary to offer lands in payment of Treasury Warrants, and for military bounties and services. No restrictions were contained in those grants, and the holders were therefore at liberty to spread them upon the soil of any western water within the boundaries claimed by Virginia. These were, as we shall remember, almost without limit on the west and north-west. The crown could not consistently resist these entries, even if they were desirous to protect the Indian in his wild home. The forces, raised by the Virginians, had fought at her (England's) request against her ancient enemy, and conquered for her benefit. They were consequently suffered to enjoy the fruits of the toil, exposure, and danger, that had surrounded them in these campaigns. Such were the circumstances which predisposed the two races, occupying opposite bases of the Laurel Hill, to mutual robbery, retribution, treachery, tor- ture, and death. Another great event was already (1770) in visible approach. The colonies had been animated by a bold spirit of independence, during an entire century. They had by means of a representative assembly, by con- tinual, but almost imperceptible acquisition, assumed 384 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. such a control of their political affairs, that the spirit of republican freedom may be said to have been firm- ly established in America, at the close of the French ■war. Just as the whites were attempting, in defiance of the Proclamation of 1763, to plant themselves on the waters of the Ohio, the spirit of liberty, not satisfied with the substance, determined to achieve the name and insignia of independence. Occasions were not wanting to give an air of justice to this determination : indeed, all people are empowered at all times to as- sert their freedom, and, either with or without cause, to change their form of government. The agitations of the struggle for an avowed na- tional independence, not only deprived the British of the power to enforce their projects in regard to the Indians, but led the ministers and generals of Eng- land to encourage the ferocity of the red man against his white brother. What more was necessary to stim- ulate both parties to deeds of cruelty, injustice, and revenge? Can the imagination invent a case, where the untamed passions of men might be more inflamed V This limited review of Indian affairs is given, in order to elucidate the moral relations of that people to the whites, at the time of the Revolution. * INDIAN TITLES IN OHIO. [Democratic Monthly Magazine, May 1844.] The English acquired their first real interest in western soil, as against civilized nations, by the treaty of 1763, which was based upon conquest. In Sep- tember 1726, the Iroquois ceded to the English crown all their lands west of Lake Erie ; but to these terri- tories their title was only nominal, and of little or no value. At the same time and place, Albany, in New York, they granted a tract, sixty miles in width, along the south shore of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, from Oswego to the Cuyahoga River.* Afterwards, at Lancaster, in Pennsylvania, in July 1744, for the consideration of four hundred pounds sterling, the Six Nations conveyed "all the lands that are, or may be, hereafter, within the Colony of Vir- ginia." It was forty years afterwards, f when the inde- pendence of the United States had been acknowledged, that the American Commissioners, Oliver Wolcott, Richard Butler, and Arthur Lee, held a council with all the tribes of the Six Nations, at Fort Stanwix. These nations relinquished all claim to the coun- try west of a line beginning at Johnson's landing, four miles east of Niagara, on Lake Ontario (by them called Lake Oswego), thence southerly, and always . * 2d Bancroft, 236. f October 22, 1784. 33 380 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. ~- four miles distant from the carrying-path between the lakes, to the mouth of Buffalo Creek: thence south to the Pennsylvania line ; with it westward to her west line, and south to the Ohio River.* The other tribes do not appear to have contested the ownership of the Six Nations to the eastern end of Lake Erie, as far west as the Cuyahoga River. By the peace of 1783, England assigned all her rights to the United Colonies; whether derived from the French, or the Indians ; whether acquired by treaty, or by conquest. By the treaty of Fort Stanwix, the United St.. as a new political body, united in themselves the title of all claimants, civilized and savage, to the north- eastern part of Ohio. It is apparent, that the con- veyances, known by the name of treaties, between the French and English, the English and Americans, and also of the Americans and Indians, are based upon conquest. The possession of the country, acquired by war and force, against the will and resistance of the occupant, is the substantial title. The treaty is the evidence of its extent; procured by the sacoessfu] from the defeated party, upon such conditions as the victorious nation deemed it necessary to impose, or politic to accept. This is particularly the case with Indian treaties. From the peace of Paris to the American Revolution, the English crown exacted nothing from the north- western Indians but peace, and a restoration of pris- oners. At the close of the Revolution, these tribes, having entered into a war-alliance with our enemies, natural- ly suffered with them the effects of lawful conquest. Nothing else would have extorted the treaty of Fort Stanwix from the Iroquois, to whom a lasting peace was thus secured. * American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, Page 10. INDIAN TITLES IN OHIO. 387 The United States, as we shall soon discover, con- tinued its negotiations with all the neighboring tribes, on the west and north. In these conferences, it is true, matters bore the appearance of bargain and sale ; a certain amount of goods and silver for a given tract of land ; but without the previous conquest, such coun- cils would not have been held, or such propositions received. In their talks, the Government Commissioners took the position of conquerors treating with an anta- gonist, whom fortune had abandoned to defeat. The Indians so regarded it, and viewing these treaties as made under durance or over-ruling fear, they assented to them in order to obtain a temporary relief, from policy and necessity. They never regarded them as contracts between parties free and equal, and, therefore, seldom entered into them as measures to be kept in good faith. From 1784 to 1795, they appear to have made the treaty system a part of the strategy of war. By the treaty of Fort Stanwix, the Oneidas and Tuscaroras were secured in the possession of their lands, as then occupied. Having concluded this negotiation, Mr. Butler and Mr. Lee proceeded to Fort Mcintosh, on the Ohio, at the mouth of Big Beaver, and were joined by Mr. George Clark, who acted with them in the place of Mr. Woolcott. There were present delegates and warriors from the Chippewa, Ottowa, Delaware, and Wyandot na- tions. The Delawares and Wyandots agreed to confine themselves within the following territory : Beginning at the mouth of the Cuyahoga, where the Six Nations ended; thence up that stream to the "Portage path," and with it to the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskin- 388 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. gum ; down the same to the forks at the crossing place above Fort Laurens ; thence to the mouth of the creek, where the English fort was situated on the Big Miami, and which was taken by the French, in 1752 ; and thence, with the Portage path, to the Maumee or Omie (St. Mary's River), and with it to the lake, and down along the shore to the Cuyahoga. The lands east, south, and west of these boundaries, they admit to be the property of the United States. From the Chippewa and Ottawa country, a re- servation of six miles square was made at the mouth of the Maumee ; a strip six miles on the west side of the Detroit River, as far north as Lake St. Clair, and twelve miles square at Mackinaw. A mutual peace was concluded with them all ; the "Wyandots delivering three hostages, and the Dela- wares two. as a guaranty for their engagement to re- turn all prisoners, white or black* — concluded Jan- uary 21st, 1785. The Shawnees were not regarded by the other tribes as owning any territory in the north-west. They were, however, so willing and efficient in waging war upon the whites, that a spacious and rich country was allotted them upon the Scioto. A council was held with them at the mouth of the Great Miami, in January, 1786, by Messrs. Butler and Clark, assisted by S. II. Parsons, Esq. Here they acknowledged the United States to be sovereign within the territory relinquished by Great Britain, and promised to deliver up all prisoners. By consent of the other tribes, they were allotted as a hunting- ground a tract on the bead-waters of the two Miamis, about forty miles broad, running westward from the Wyandot and Delaware boundary to the Wabash River — concluded January 31st. * State Papers, Vol. I, page 11. INDIAN TITLES IN OHIO. Three years after this transaction, General Arthur St. Clair convened the Six Nations at Fort Harmar, at the mouth of the Muskingum. The United States were making such rapid acqui- sitions of the Indian territory, that the Mohawk chief Thay-an-da-negea had, in the meantime, like Pontiac, concocted another confederacy, which will receive a separate consideration. * ' The five nations, the Chippewas and Wyandots, the Ottowas, Delawares, Shawnees, Twichteewees or Miamis, Potawotomies and Cherokees, together with the confederation of the Wabash tribes, assembled in convention at the Huron village, near the mouth of Detroit River. This imposing council joined in an eloquent address to the Congress of the United States, declaring all treaties void that were not sanctioned by all the tribes. This production is dated December 18, 1786. But this did not prevent the Six Nations, with the exception of the Mohawks, the tribe of which Brant was chief, from treating with General St. Clair at Fort Hamar. In consideration of $8,000 and certain presents, they confirmed the treaty of Fort Stanwix, and agreed to deliver up horse-thieves, and murderers, to be pun- ished by our laws. The Mohawks had the privilege of assenting to the treaty, in case they should desire to become parties. At the same council-ground appeared the Wyan- dots, Delawares, Chippewas, and Ottowas, who sol- emnly confirmed the treaty of Fort Mcintosh. Also, the Potawotomies and'Sauks, who relinquished their rights to the country east, south, and west, of the old Delaware and Wyandot boundary, and a reserve of six miles square at Fort Sandusky. An universal agreement was made to sell to no power, or person. 33* **. w 3ITIVE ESSAYS. but the United States ; and to deliver up all murder- ers and robbers. They were permitted to inflict such punishment upon intruders on their lands as the sev- eral tribes should see fit. The amount here paid the western Indians was $6,000 in money, together with liberal provisions and certain presents. A complaint was entered by the Wyandots against the Shawnees, whom they said were troublesome, not only to the United States, but to the other tribes, and were mere- ly living by sufferance among them. They threatened that, unless the Sh;n\nees would be at peace, they should be dispossessed of the hunt- ing-ground described at the mouth of the Miami, in 1786, and affirmed that this region, of right, belong- ed to the Wyandots. This treaty was finally assented to on the 9th of January, 1789 ; and the government regarded the title to the State of Ohio, south of the Fort Loramie's and Fort Laurens line, and east of the Cuyahoga, as settled beyond question. During the previous summer and fall, white settle- ments had been formed at the Muskingum and the little Miami, and also at Cincinnati. Public surveys had been commenced north-west of the Ohio, soon after the treaty at Stanwix ; and had now extended over large tracts of country. The mass of the Indians were still fixed in the de- termination that the Americans should remain south of the Ohio. The surveys, and finally the permanent settlements, so rapidly forming on its northern bank, exasperated them to madness. Treaties, signed by chiefs and head-men, had little influence in restraining young men and warriors, who thirsted for the blood of the whites, and murder* were continually perpetrated. The new government of the United States, under the Constitution, soon determined to make serious war INDIAN TITLES IN OHIO. 391 upon them; but its resources were limited, and its generals unsuccessful. It was not until after the ter- rible infliction, at the battle of the Rapids, in 1794, that the Indian concluded to yield to his destiny. The consequence of this action was the ratification of a new treaty, at Greenville, on the 3d of August, 1795. It was signed by the Wyandots, Delawares, Shawnees, Ottowas, Chippewas, Pottawotomies, Mia- mis, Eel-River-Indians, Weas, Kickapoos, Pianke- shaws, and Kaskaskies ; twelve tribes, who had suffer- ed in the engagement the year before. In 1793, when Colonel Hardin and Major True- man were sent into the Wabash country, with offers of peace, they were taken as prisoners and murdered. Other offers were made, by General Wayne, in 1794, before the battle, and had been refused. They were repeated after the victory, but the chiefs and warriors were slow to assent to the formation of a new treaty, which, they were well aware, must be severe upon them. They returned to their villages to consult their tribes, and to confer with the British, who still held possession of the northern posts, and prompted them to the war.* But at length they were assembled before General Wayne and his troops, at Fort Greenville, and agreed upon the following terms of peace, and boundaries. The old Wyandot and Delaware boundary was re-af- firmed, from the mouth of the Cuyahoga to Fort Lor- amie ; from thence it was continued to Fort Recovery, situated on the ground of St. Clair's defeat, in 1792 ; and thence to the Ohio River, opposite the mouth of the Kentucky River. With the exception of some reservations for forts, in the north-west, the United States relinquished to the Indians all claim to the territory north and west of this line. * Major llanitramek's Letter Book, 1795, Forts Wayne and T)efin ** 392 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. JJL The Indians contracted not to sell to any power but the United States, and received $20,000 in goods. An annuity of $9,500 in goods was promised them, which the government regarded as more beneficial to them than money. The reservations in Ohio were, a tract, six miles square, at Fort Sandusky, on the bay of Sandusky; six miles square at Fort Defiance; six rty's town, at the north end of the Miami and St. Mary's Portage; and six at the mouth of Lora- mie's Creek on the Miami. If anything should be found in treaties, made since 1783, conflicting with the terms of the present treaty, such parts were to be considered void.* Ten hostages were taken, to secure the restoration of all prisoners, and the nations re- mained at peace until Tecumseh arose among them, and reorganized the confederacy, in 1811. We come next, in the order of time, to the treaty of purchase, made at Fort Industry on the Miami of the Lakes, July 4, 1805, by Charles Jouett, on the part of the United States, Henry Champion as the representative of the " Connecticut Land Company," and J. Mills for the " Sufferers' land." The Indian tribes represented, were the Wyandots and Delawares, the principal owners; the Cnippew*8 and Ottowas, Shawnees, Munsees, and Pottawotouries, For the consideration of an annuity of $1,000, and the payment in band of $18,916, they ceded to the United States a tract lying south of the Reserve and the Sufferers' land, and west of the Tuscarawas, to the Greenville treaty line, bounded on the we-: by the meridian of the west line of the " Fire " or "Suf- ferers' lands." They relinquished to the Connecticut Land Company all the land between the Cuyahoga River and the Fire lands, or "Sufferers," being the remainder of the Reserve. * State Papere, Vol. I, p. 595. INDIAN TITLES IN OHIO. 393 There remained, therefore, only that portion north of the Greenville line, and west of the meridian of the Reserve, to which the Indian title attached. A portion of this was purchased by General Wil- liam Hull, at Detroit, on the 7th of November, 1807. At that time, the Ottowas, Chippewas, Wyandots, and Pottawotomies, granted as follows : from the mouth of the Miami of the Lakes, up its channel, to the mouth of the Auglaize ; thence north to the latitude of the south end of Lake Huron ; thence north-east to the "white rock," on its western shore, and with the territorial boundary to the mouth of the Maumee. They received in return $10,000, and two "white blacksmiths," to reside among them.* On the 25th of November, 1808, General Hull perfected another purchase, of the Chippewas, Ottowas, Pottawotomies, Wyandots, and Shawnees, at Browns- town, in Michigan, by which they granted a strip two miles in width, for the purpose of constructing a road, from the rapids of the Miami to the west line of the Reserve ; also, one hundred and twenty feet in width, for a road from Lower Sandusky to the Greenville line.f The old grudges of 1786 were now reviving in the breasts of the northern and western tribes, on account of the rapid increase and acquisitions of the whites. The British, in anticipation of a war with the L'nited States, made use of this hostile inclination against us, and the war of 1812 ensued. The main body of the Wyandots, Delawares, Sen- ecas, and Shawnees, remained faithful to the United States. They had engaged, during the war, against the Miamis of the Wabash, on their own responsibility. This warfare was adjusted by Generals Harrison and * State Papers, p. 747. f State Papers, p. 759. 394 FUGITIVE ESSAYS. Cass, at Greenville, July 22, 1814, and these tribes agreed to a mutual peace.* Soon after the peace with Great Britain, other treaties of purchase were made. At one, dated "Spring Wells," near Detroit, September 18, 1815, the Chippewas, Ottowas, Pottawotimies, and those hands of the Wyandots, Delawares, Senecas, Shaw- . and Miamis, who had been with the British during the war, confirmed and renewed the treaty of Greenville, made by General Wayne, in 1795. The Miamis had repented before the close of the war, and had signed a treaty at Greenville, in 1814. The chiefs and warriors of the other tribes present, who had taken up arms against us, were pardoned, and their possessions restored. This negotiation was conducted, on the part of the United States, by Gen- erals Harrison and McArthur, and by John Graham, Esq. The tribes were again assembled by Generals Mc Arthur and Cass, at the Maumee Rapids, on the 29th of September, 1817. The Wyandots, computed at one thousand persons, ceded all their lands west of the meridian of the Re- serve, north of the Greenville line, to Loramie's ; east of the Portage path and the St. Mary's River to Fort Wayne ; thence dow r n the north bank of the Maumee to the meridian of the treaty of Detroit ; thence down the middle of the Maumee to the mouth of the Au- glaize, and so with the channel, as described in the treaty of Detroit, in 1807, to the lake, and thence to the meridian of the Reserve. They received in re- turn ;m annuity of $4,000 in specie, and certain re- servations. The Pottawotimies, Ottawas, and Chippewas, re- linquished a tract on the north of the Maumee, be- * State Papers, p. - INDIAN TITLES IN OHIO. 895 tween the meridian of the west line of Ohio and the meridian of the treaty of Detroit, measuring forty-five miles on the latter meridian northward. The Pottawotimies were granted an annuity of $1,300 for fifteen years ; the Ottowas of $1,000 for the same length of time ; and the Chippewas in like manner, $1,000. The former annuities to the Wyandots, Shawnees, and Delawares, in goods, were changed into specie, and those due the Ottowas and Chippewas, by the treaty of Greenville, were likewise reduced to cash payments. The Delawares were to receive $500, in 1818 ; the Senecas an annuity of $500, and the Shawnees of $2,000 ; principally in consequence of their ad- herence to the government during the war. The friendly tribes were paid for losses the sum of $14,- 478. At the same time, the American Commissioners re- conveyed to the Wyandots twelve miles square, at Upper Sandusky, having Fort Ferree in the centre, and also thirty thousand acres on the Sandusky River. To the Shawnees, ten miles square, with the centre at Wapahkonnetta, and twenty-five square miles on Hog Creek. To the Shawnees and Senecas, forty-eight square miles near Loramie's. To the Ottowas, five miles square, where the trace or trail crosses Blanchard's Fork of the Auglaize. Also, various small grants to meritorious persons and chiefs, as per schedule. The Delawares received nine miles square on the Sandusky, including Captain Pipe's village ; and the Ottowas thirty-four square miles, including McCarty's village, on the south side of the Mauinee.* * State Papers. 396 FUGITIVE ESS The sum total of these grants is three millions, five hundred and eight thousand, seven hundred and sixty acres ; and of the Indian Reserves, one hundred and eighty-five thousand, seven hundred and eighty acres ; making three millions, six hundred and ninety- four thousand, five hundred and forty acres in all. The share conveyed by the Wyandots was three mil- lions, two hundred and thirty-one thousand, five hun- dred and sixty acres, and the amount paid to all the tribes, reduced to present cash payments, $140,893, or three cents and eight mills per acre.* The remaining corner of Indian territory, between the St. Mary's, the Portage path, and the Greenville line, Avas secured to the United States by cession, from the Miamis at the treaty of St. Mary's, October 6th, 1818. The Commissioners, on the part of the United States, were General Lewis Cass, Jonathan Jennings, and Benjamin Parkes.f The Reserves allotted to various tribes in Ohio have been sold by them from time to time, closing with the twelve miles square reservation at Upper Sandusky, which was ceded by the Wyandots in 1842. There were treaties of amity and peace, in addi- tion to those here enumerated, in which nothing is said concerning the acquisition of territory. At the reduction of Fort Du Quesne, in 1758, by General Forbes, the Indians, engaged with the French against the English, concluded a treaty of peace. The north- western Indians did the same at German Flats, in December 1704, the result of Bradstreet's expedition against tlieni. In M*ay of the following year, the Ohio Indians, who had met Colonel Boquet OB the Muskingum, made a treaty with Sir William Johnson. Lord I)unmore, in November 1774, also concluded an amicable arrangement with them at Camp Charlotte, * State Papers, Vol. II, p. 131. INDIAN TITLES IN OHIO. SS5 in the county of Pickaway. The authorities of Penn- sylvania concluded a compact of amity with the ad- jacent tribes, in 1765.* It was thus only after the execution of fifteen treaties of peace and purchase, during the period of sixty years, by means of eleven principal military ex- peditions into their country, not including those of the war of 1812, and after fighting seven important engagements within our own State, at a loss of about twelve hundred men, that our soil was finally relieved from the presence, and our citizens from the dread, of the- Indian race. From the outbreak of the French war, in 1754, to the battle of the Rapids, in 1794, forty years, it is estimated that five thousand perons, men, women, and children, suffered captivity or death, on the western frontiers. The number of whites slain in battle exceeded the number of warriors destroyed by private and public efforts. Yet, in 1811, the five tribes, remaining in Ohio, could muster only about two thousand warriors, or eight thousand souls in all. In 1764, they were estimated at three thousand warriors, and fifteen thousand in the aggregate, the proportion of women and children being greater during peace, and before their difficulties with the whites. * Craig's Discourse on the Boundary of Pennsylvania. 34 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY BERKELEY Return to desk from which borrowed. This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. JUN 2 1955 JUN6-1955LU DEC 13 1357 DEAD 'DEC 2 1981 1 RET'D NOV 2 3 LD 21-100m-9,'46(B3998l6)476 f ^f * M33974 f 491 W4 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY i ... . . .