Page:A Topographical Description of the State of Ohio, Indiana Territory, and Louisiana.djvu/53

45 Orleans in keel boats, which return laden with foreign goods. The passage of a boat of forty tons down to New Orleans is computed at about twenty-five, and its return to Cincinnati at about sixty-five days.

From Cincinnati to North Bend, on the Ohio, is sixteen miles; and to the mouth of the Great Miami, where the west boundary line of the State meets the Ohio, is seven miles further. This tract of land, which extends some distance from the Ohio, is interval of the first quality; well settled, and in a high state of cultivation. Receding farther back from the Ohio, the land is hilly, the soil indifferent, and thinly settled. The road up the Great Miami leaves the Ohio at Cincinnati, and comes to the Miami at Hamilton, fourteen miles distant. Hamilton is the spot where fort Hamilton formerly stood. It is situated on a large plain, well cultivated, but does not contain more than ten or fifteen houses. It has been a considerable village, but since Cincinnati has so rapidly increased, Hamilton has been on the decline. Thirty-five miles above Hamilton is Franklin, on the Great Miami, containing about sixty houses, built on one street. The lands in its vicinity are level and rich, and have some of the best cultivated farms in the State. Dayton is thirty miles above Franklin; the country more level than below, and the lands well settled and improved. The town is situated on the east branch of the Great Miami at the mouth of Mad