Page:Notes on the State of Virginia (1853).djvu/21

Rh Rappahanock affords 4 fathom water to Hobb's Hole, and 2 fathom from thence to Fredericksburg.

Patowmac is 7½ miles wide at the mouth; 4½ at Nomony Bay; 3 at Aquia; 1½ at Hallooing Point; 1¼ at Alexandria. Its soundings are, 7 fathom at the mouth; 5 at St. George's Island; 4½ at Lower Matchodic; 3 at Swan's Point, and thence up to Alexandria; thence 10 feet water to the falls, which are 13 miles above Alexandria. These falls are 15 miles in length, and of very great descent, and the navigation above them for batteaux and canoes is so much interrupted as to be little used. It is, however, used in a small degree up the Cohongoronta branch as far as Fort Cumberland, which was at the mouth of Wills's Creek, and is capable, at no great expense, of being rendered very practicable. The Shenandoah branch interlocks with James River about the Blue Ridge, and may perhaps in future be opened.

The Missisipi will be one of the principal channels of future commerce for the country westward of the Alleghaney. From the mouth of this river, to where it receives the Ohio, is 1,000 miles by water, but only 500 by land, passing through the Chickasaw country. From the mouth of the Ohio, to that of the Missouri, is 230 miles by water, and 140 by land. From thence to the mouth of the Illinois River is about 25 miles. The Missisipi, below the mouth of the Missouri, is always muddy, and abounding with sand bars, which frequently change their places. However, it carries 15 feet water to the mouth of the Ohio, to which place it is from one and a half to two miles wide, and thence to Kaskaskia, from one mile to a mile and a quarter wide. Its current is so rapid, that it never can be stemmed by the force of the wind alone, acting on sails. Any vessel, however, navigated with oars, may come up at any time, and receive much aid from the wind. A batteau passes from the mouth of Ohio to the mouth of Missisipi in three weeks, and is from two to three months getting up again. During its floods, which are periodical, as those of the Nile, the largest vessels may pass down it if their steerage can be ensured. These floods begin in April, and the river returns into