Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 9).djvu/243



Passage to Cincinnati—Depression of Trade—Population—Manufactures—Institutions—Banks—Climate—Temperature—Springs—Quantity of Rain—Thunder—Lightning—Aurora-Borealis—Tornadoes—Earthquakes—The Ohio unusually low in 1819—Meeting of the Citizens of Cincinnati—Notice of three Indian Chiefs on their way for Washington City—Remarks on the Pacific Disposition of Indians, and their motives for wars.

Cincinnati, (Ohio,) June 26, 1820.

I have come from the Falls of the Ohio to this place, by a steam-boat in twenty-nine hours, the average rate of sailing being about 6-1/4 miles per {211} hour. The downward passage is performed by the same vessel in about fifteen hours, (nearly at the rate of twelve miles an hour.) From this it appears that the current moves at the rate of about 2-7/8 miles each hour. The late M. Volney[121] estimated the hourly velocity of this river in very low stages of water, at two miles. His result is probably a little more than the mean rate along the whole length of the river. The steam-boat is one built exclusively for the accommodation of passengers. She measures one hundred feet on the keel, twenty-five feet on the beam, and draws only three feet and three inches of water. The cabin is an elegant apartment, forty feet long, and eighteen feet wide. Adjoining to it are eight very neat state rooms. The water wheel is situated in an aperture