Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/617

 OHIO RIVER 603 26,967 of barley, 46,748 of potatoes, 120,135 Ibs. of butter, 175,124 of wool, and 8,389 tons of hay. There were 1,637 horses, 1,585 milch cows, 1,493 other cattle, 47,201 sheep, and 4,153 swine ; 23 manufactories of iron in vari- ous forms, and many other manufacturing es- tablishments, chiefly at the capital, Wheeling. II. A W. county of Kentucky, bounded S. by Green river, which is here navigable by steam- boats, and intersected by Rough creek ; area, about 500 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 15,561, of whom 1,393 were colored. It has an undulating sur- face and a fertile soil, and contains iron ore and coal. The Elizabeth and Paducah railroad passes through it. The chief productions in 1870 were 40,321 bushels of wheat, 577,371 of Indian corn, 96,268 of oats, 28,033 of Irish and 16,870 of sweet potatoes, 177,229 Ibs. of butter, 42,567 of wool, 3,392,633 of tobacco, and 3,564 tons of hay. There were 5,325 horses, 3,801 milch cows, 6,329 other cattle, 21,308 sheep, and 30,646 swine. Capital, Hartford. III. A S. E. county of Indiana, bounded E. by the Ohio river, which separates it from Ken- tucky, and N. W. by Laughery creek; area, about 90 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 5,837. The surface rises in some places into high hills, but in very few places is it too much broken for cultivation. The soil, resting mainly on blue limestone, is fertile. The chief productions in 1870 were 61,833 bushels of wheat, 12,231 of rye, 221,565 of Indian corn, 10,224 of oats, 13,581 of barley, 89,379 of potatoes, and 6,489 tons of hay. There were 1,234 horses, 1,150 milch cows, 1,286 other cattle, 2,742 sheep, and 4,342 swine. Capital, Rising Sun. OHIO RIVER, the largest branch of the Mis- sissippi river from the east, known to the early French settlers as la "belle riviere, and famed for the uniform smoothness of its current as well as for the beauty and fertility of its val- ley. It is formed in the "W. part of Pennsyl- vania by the junction at Pittsburgh of the Monongahela and Alleghany rivers. By the latter the drainage valley of the Mississippi is extended into the S. W. part of New York, and in Potter co., Pa., reaches a point where over an extent of a few acres it is a mere chance whether the water that falls upon the surface reaches the ocean by the gulf of Mexi- co, the gulf of St. Lawrence, or Chesapeake bay. The course of the Ohio and of all its tributaries, from their sources W. of the Alle- ghanies to the outlet of the river in the Mis- sissippi, at Cairo, 111., is through a region of stratified rocks, little disturbed from the hori- zontal position in which they were deposited, and nowhere intruded upon by uplifts of the azoic formations, such as in other regions im- part grandeur to the scenery and variety to the valleys of the rivers. Over an area of drainage of the Ohio and its branches estimated at 214,- 000 sq. m., the topography is uniform in its principal features, and, though often beautiful, still for the most part tame. The valleys are depressions below the general summit level of the country ; all of them were eroded by cur- rents of water, and the piles of strata present- ing no portions that could resist the action of these, the descent of the river beds is gentle, with no sudden breaks or precipitous falls. The banks, however, are often steep, and in many places, especially upon the smaller rivers, the waters have worn a narrow passage be- tween vertical cliffs of limestone to the depth of several hundred feet from their summits. Generally the rivers spread out to considerable width, and in dry seasons become shoal to the serious impediment of navigation. An inter- esting feature in the banks of the Ohio is the succession of terraces often noticed rising one above another at different elevations, and some- times spreading out in broad alluvial flats. Though they are often 75 ft. or more above the present mean level of the river, they were evidently formed by fluviatile deposits made in distant periods, when the river flowed at these higher levels. Evidence is altogether wanting to fix the date of these periods. Upon the lower branches of the river, at the level of present high water, are mounds and earth- works wonderful in their numbers and extent, which were constructed, as far as can be ascer- tained from various proofs, full 2,000 years since, the fact being thus established that the river must have flowed at its present level at least so far back. The city of Cincinnati stands upon two of these terraces, the upper one 52 ft. above the lower, and this 60 ft. above low water of the river. In the gravel of the upper one have been found the teeth of an extinct species of elephant. Shells which have been found at corresponding elevations are of recent species, such as are still com- mon to the waters in the neighborhood. The total length of the Ohio river is 975 m. ; but from Pittsburgh to the mouth of the river in a straight line it is less than three fifths of that distance. Its course till it passes out of Pennsylvania is N. N. W. to Beaver, and thence W. S. W. to the line of the state of Ohio. It then flows S. and S. W. between Ohio and West Virginia, passing Wheeling, 86 m. below Pittsburgh. The general course of the river is W. S. W. After passing between Ohio and West Virginia, it borders the whole length of Kentucky, separating that state from Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois on the north. The width of the upper third of the river, between Pitts- burgh and Point Pleasant, is 1,000 ft. at low water and 1,200 ft. at high water, thence gradually increasing till near the mouth, where it is 3,000 ft. Its depth at different seasons is very fluctuating, the range between high and low water being often 50 and sometimes 60 ft., and the usual range throughout the entire river is 45 ft. During portions of the summer and in the autumn, when the water is low, the larger steamboats ascend no further than Wheeling, and even below this point they pass with diffi- culty, or are arrested by the sand bars, which, with the low sandy islands, called towheads,