{128} CHAPTER XIX

Galliopolis—A Canadian boat’s crew—Menager’s store and tavern—Mons. and Madame Marion—A family migrating from Baltimore—Red Birds—Meridian creek—Mercer’s and Green’s bottoms—Hanging rock—Federal creek—Bowden’s.

On Sunday 26th July, we left Point Pleasant, and passing Great Kenhawa river on our left, and Galliopolis island, half a mile long on the right, at 7 we landed on the Ohio side, at Galliopolis four miles below Point Pleasant.

We found at the landing a keel loaded with lead from Kaskaskias on the Mississippi;[98]It was worked by eight stout Canadians, all naked, except a breech clout. They are the descendants of the original French settlers, and they resemble the Indians both in their manners and customs, and complexion; which last is occasioned by their being exposed naked to all weathers from their infancy; which also renders them very hardy, and capable of enduring much fatigue. They are temperate in the use of spiritous liquors, while engaged in any laborious employment, but they must be fed with double the quantity of food which would suffice American or English labourers. The meat which they prefer is bacon or salt pork, of which they use daily about four pounds each man, besides bread and potatoes.

They are preferred to any other description of people for navigating the craft on the rivers in this country, being patient, steady, and trusty, and never deserting their boats until their engagement is fulfilled, which the American boatmen frequently do.

We got an excellent breakfast at Mr. Menager’s, a French emigrant, who keeps a tavern and a store of very well assorted goods, which he goes yearly to Baltimore to purchase.He is a native of Franche {129} Comté, and his wife is from Burgundy. They are very civil and obliging, and have a fine family. It is fifteen years since they arrived in this country, together with nearly 800 emigrants from France, of whom only about twenty families now remain at Galliopolis; the rest having either returned to France, descended the Ohio to French Grant, proceeded to the banks of the Mississippi, or fallen victims to the insalubrity of the climate, which however no longer, or only partially exists, as it has gradually ameliorated in proportion to the progress of settlement.[99]

Menager has a curious machine for drawing water from his well forty or fifty feet deep, and which will answer equally well for any depth. He got the model from Mr. Blennerhasset. As I am not mechanick enough to give an adequate description of it, I shall only remark, that it is equally simple and ingenuous, and saves much labour; the full bucket flying up and emptying itself into a small wooden cistern, while the empty bucket sinks at the same time into the well, and that without being obliged to work a winch as in the common mode, where wells are too deep for pumps.

In Galliopolis there are about fifty houses all of wood, in three long streets parallel to the river, crossed at right angles by six shorter ones, each one hundred feet wide. A spacious square is laid out in the centre, on which they are now making brick to build a court-house for Gallia county.

During a walk through the town after breakfast, we were civilly accosted by an old man at the door of the most western house, who invited us to enter and rest ourselves. He wasnamed Marion, and with his old wife, reminded me of Baucis and Philemon, or of Darby and Joan. They came here with the first emigrants from Burgundy—bought some town lots, on which they planted fruit trees, and converted into corn fields, as they could not procure tenants {130} nor purchasers to build on them. They have no children—they seem much attached to each other, and are healthy, and content with their situation.—They insisted with much hospitality on our tasting the old lady’s manufacture of cherry bounce, before they knew that we could converse with them in their native tongue; but, when they found that we could not only do so, but that I could make a subject of conversation of their own country, and even of their own province, from having visited it long since they had bid it a final adieu—it was with difficulty they would permit us to leave them, before we had spent at least one day with them. Indeed I never saw the amor patriæ more strongly manifested, than in the fixed and glistening eyes, which they rivetted on my face, whilst I described the present state of their provincial capital Dijon.

Galliopolis abounds with fruit, to the planting of which, French settlers always pay great attention; but the town does not thrive, although very pleasantly situated on an extensive flat.

Pursuing our voyage at ten o’clock, half a league below Galliopolis, we passed a skiff containing a family, the head of which was a carpenter and farmer from Baltimore, going to Green river about five hundred miles lower down.

At two o’clock we had rowed fourteen miles, having passed Racoon island and creek on the right, during which the bottom was so extensive on each side, that we could not see the tops of the river hills over the banks. We were here charmed with the melody of the red birds responding to each other from the opposite banks, particularly on passingRacoon island. Our exercise having given us an appetite, we landed and dined under a shady bank on the right, opposite to a creek, which from that circumstance, and its not being noticed in our chart or Navigator, we named Meridian creek.

{131} Here we began to see again the tops of the low river hills on the right, but on the left the extensive bottom still continued, notwithstanding which the settlements are very thinly scattered, especially for the last eight miles.

At half past two we were abreast of Eighteen mile creek on the right, so called from its being that distance from Point Pleasant.

Five miles from where we dined is Swan creek, a handsome rivulet on the right, and Mercer’s bottom, a fine settlement on the left, and a mile further, it is separated from Green’s bottom by the Little Guiandot, a beautiful small river.

Green’s bottom settlements, which are very fine and populous, extend along the left bank three miles, and a mile beyond them the river hills approaching within a quarter of a mile of the bank, a remarkable cliff called the Hanging rock, impends from about half their height, and they again recede. On the right opposite to Hanging rock, is a bank of clay under which is a substratum of fine potter’s clay.

It is two miles from Green’s bottom to the next settlement. A gust threatening, we stopped to shelter at it—but the house was locked up, and no one at home. Every thing here testified to its being an honest neighbourhood, as the smoke-house was left open, with a quantity of fine bacon in it—a crib was full of corn, and shirts and jackets were left drying on the garden fence.

After the shower, we went on three miles to Miller’s farm house at the mouth of Federal creek on the right,where we landed and bought some salt pork for stores, and some milk for supper. Miller seems to be active and industrious, and keeps a keel boat for freighting on the river, but he says he gets very little encouragement.[100]

It was now half past six, and in an hour and three quarters we rowed eight miles further, when it coming {132} on dark, and I not being willing to lose the view of any part of the river, we stopped at Joel Bowden’s tavern and farm on the right, contrary to A——’s wish of letting the boat float down the current all night. Though we had provided our supper, yet we preferred ordering one at Bowden’s, for the sake of whiling away a little time, and gaining information about the country.

He had removed his family here from Marietta in April 1806, and had to begin to clear away the forest to make room for a cabin, and he now has twelve acres completely cut, grubbed and smooth, and eight acres cut, but not grubbed, all planted and under fence, besides a natural orchard of sugar maple of seven acres, out of which he has cleared every thing else except about four hundred sugar trees, which will be enough to supply his family with sugar.[101]

{133} He has also planted an apple and peach orchard and a nursery, and will cut six tons of hay this year. Such instances of industry and perseverance are frequently seen in this country amongst the New England settlers, of which Bowden is one, who are generally remarkably enterprising, and judiciously economical. His house not promising superior accommodation for sleep to our skiff, we re-embarked after supper, and on our platform enjoyed undisturbed repose, until five o’clock next morning, when we loosed from the bank, and proceeded at our usual rate of from three to four miles an hour.

FOOTNOTES:[98]For the history of the French settlement of Kaskaskia, see Michaux’sTravels, vol. iii of this series, p. 69, note 132.—Ed.[99]For a history of the settlement of Gallipolis and the French Grant, see Michaux’sTravels, vol. iii of this series, pp. 182-185.Claudius R. Menager, one of the original emigrants, had been a baker, and made use of his skill both as a merchant and tavern-keeper. He became the richest man in the colony, and died much respected.—Ed.[100]Miller removed from Washington County, Pennsylvania, and was one of the first Methodists of this part of West Virginia. Upon his petition a preacher was sent to the backwoods settlements in 1803. Bishop Morris, an eminent divine of the same denomination, was born here in 1798, and passed his early years in this vicinity.—Ed.[101]Would it not be a wise and prudent foresight in the present generation, in order that posterity might continue to enjoy the product of this invaluable tree, to plant orchards of them on the sides of untillable hills and other vacant grounds of little or no use? They might become a source of considerable wealth, in the course of twenty or thirty years, when the country gets thickly populated, and the trees made scarce from the present plan of destroying them in clearing of the lands. The expense of setting out an orchard of 500 or 1000 trees on each plantation, might cost, say, twenty-five cents each tree, together with the interest of the money for thirty years, at which period they would be worth about one dollar per year for about fifty or a hundred years thereafter. The following observations on the Maple tree, we copy from Dr.Mease’s“Geological account of the United States:”“The genusacer, or maple, is useful for various purposes. Thea. negundo, or white or ash leaved maple, is much used in cabinet work, being firm and smooth, takes a fine polish, and stain. Thea. rubrum, or scarlet maple, when sawed into boards, exhibits the most beautiful waving appearance, and makes articles of furniture equal to satin wood. A species of maple abounds in Nova Scotia, and no doubt, farther south, called bird-eye maple, which also is very beautiful. But thea. saccharinum, or sugar maple, ranks in the first importance among our forest trees. This valuable native is peculiarly dear to the citizens of this country, as it furnishes an article of the first necessity, by the labour of free men, and of equal quality, to that produced by the sugar cane; and the timber is highly useful for various mechanical purposes, particularly for saddle trees. From the maple may also be made a pleasant molasses, an agreeable beer, a strong sound wine, and an excellent vinegar.“The following facts upon the flowing of maple-juice, are curious, and deserve investigation.“The flowing of maple-juice is as completelylocked upby continued warmth as by frost, and only flows by the alternate operation of these agents. Yet the same degrees of heat, even after frost, have not always the same effect. Thus, a warm south wind stops the flowing more than a cool north-west wind. To judge from sensations, generally a bracing wind facilitates the discharge, and a relaxing wind acts to the contrary. Whether, or how far, electricity may operate in this case, must be left for future inquirers to determine. The juice flows for about twenty-four hours after a frost; but, when a tapped tree has ceased, tap a new tree, and it will flow considerably, as if a certain quantity was discharged by the frost. The juice flows from all sides of the incision.“Cut a sugar maple early in the morning, if the night has been cold, and it will appear comparatively dry and devoid of juice, in every part of the tree. Cut it a few hours after, if the day is moderately warm, and the juice will issue almost in streams.”—Cramer.

[98]For the history of the French settlement of Kaskaskia, see Michaux’sTravels, vol. iii of this series, p. 69, note 132.—Ed.

[99]For a history of the settlement of Gallipolis and the French Grant, see Michaux’sTravels, vol. iii of this series, pp. 182-185.Claudius R. Menager, one of the original emigrants, had been a baker, and made use of his skill both as a merchant and tavern-keeper. He became the richest man in the colony, and died much respected.—Ed.

[99]For a history of the settlement of Gallipolis and the French Grant, see Michaux’sTravels, vol. iii of this series, pp. 182-185.

Claudius R. Menager, one of the original emigrants, had been a baker, and made use of his skill both as a merchant and tavern-keeper. He became the richest man in the colony, and died much respected.—Ed.

[100]Miller removed from Washington County, Pennsylvania, and was one of the first Methodists of this part of West Virginia. Upon his petition a preacher was sent to the backwoods settlements in 1803. Bishop Morris, an eminent divine of the same denomination, was born here in 1798, and passed his early years in this vicinity.—Ed.

[101]Would it not be a wise and prudent foresight in the present generation, in order that posterity might continue to enjoy the product of this invaluable tree, to plant orchards of them on the sides of untillable hills and other vacant grounds of little or no use? They might become a source of considerable wealth, in the course of twenty or thirty years, when the country gets thickly populated, and the trees made scarce from the present plan of destroying them in clearing of the lands. The expense of setting out an orchard of 500 or 1000 trees on each plantation, might cost, say, twenty-five cents each tree, together with the interest of the money for thirty years, at which period they would be worth about one dollar per year for about fifty or a hundred years thereafter. The following observations on the Maple tree, we copy from Dr.Mease’s“Geological account of the United States:”“The genusacer, or maple, is useful for various purposes. Thea. negundo, or white or ash leaved maple, is much used in cabinet work, being firm and smooth, takes a fine polish, and stain. Thea. rubrum, or scarlet maple, when sawed into boards, exhibits the most beautiful waving appearance, and makes articles of furniture equal to satin wood. A species of maple abounds in Nova Scotia, and no doubt, farther south, called bird-eye maple, which also is very beautiful. But thea. saccharinum, or sugar maple, ranks in the first importance among our forest trees. This valuable native is peculiarly dear to the citizens of this country, as it furnishes an article of the first necessity, by the labour of free men, and of equal quality, to that produced by the sugar cane; and the timber is highly useful for various mechanical purposes, particularly for saddle trees. From the maple may also be made a pleasant molasses, an agreeable beer, a strong sound wine, and an excellent vinegar.“The following facts upon the flowing of maple-juice, are curious, and deserve investigation.“The flowing of maple-juice is as completelylocked upby continued warmth as by frost, and only flows by the alternate operation of these agents. Yet the same degrees of heat, even after frost, have not always the same effect. Thus, a warm south wind stops the flowing more than a cool north-west wind. To judge from sensations, generally a bracing wind facilitates the discharge, and a relaxing wind acts to the contrary. Whether, or how far, electricity may operate in this case, must be left for future inquirers to determine. The juice flows for about twenty-four hours after a frost; but, when a tapped tree has ceased, tap a new tree, and it will flow considerably, as if a certain quantity was discharged by the frost. The juice flows from all sides of the incision.“Cut a sugar maple early in the morning, if the night has been cold, and it will appear comparatively dry and devoid of juice, in every part of the tree. Cut it a few hours after, if the day is moderately warm, and the juice will issue almost in streams.”—Cramer.

“The genusacer, or maple, is useful for various purposes. Thea. negundo, or white or ash leaved maple, is much used in cabinet work, being firm and smooth, takes a fine polish, and stain. Thea. rubrum, or scarlet maple, when sawed into boards, exhibits the most beautiful waving appearance, and makes articles of furniture equal to satin wood. A species of maple abounds in Nova Scotia, and no doubt, farther south, called bird-eye maple, which also is very beautiful. But thea. saccharinum, or sugar maple, ranks in the first importance among our forest trees. This valuable native is peculiarly dear to the citizens of this country, as it furnishes an article of the first necessity, by the labour of free men, and of equal quality, to that produced by the sugar cane; and the timber is highly useful for various mechanical purposes, particularly for saddle trees. From the maple may also be made a pleasant molasses, an agreeable beer, a strong sound wine, and an excellent vinegar.

“The following facts upon the flowing of maple-juice, are curious, and deserve investigation.

“The flowing of maple-juice is as completelylocked upby continued warmth as by frost, and only flows by the alternate operation of these agents. Yet the same degrees of heat, even after frost, have not always the same effect. Thus, a warm south wind stops the flowing more than a cool north-west wind. To judge from sensations, generally a bracing wind facilitates the discharge, and a relaxing wind acts to the contrary. Whether, or how far, electricity may operate in this case, must be left for future inquirers to determine. The juice flows for about twenty-four hours after a frost; but, when a tapped tree has ceased, tap a new tree, and it will flow considerably, as if a certain quantity was discharged by the frost. The juice flows from all sides of the incision.

“Cut a sugar maple early in the morning, if the night has been cold, and it will appear comparatively dry and devoid of juice, in every part of the tree. Cut it a few hours after, if the day is moderately warm, and the juice will issue almost in streams.”—Cramer.

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