CHAPTER XII
New town and settlement of Warren—Roland’s ferry—Comfortable situation, the effect of industry—Wheeling—Walk by moonlight—New state road—Wheeling island—Canton.
New town and settlement of Warren—Roland’s ferry—Comfortable situation, the effect of industry—Wheeling—Walk by moonlight—New state road—Wheeling island—Canton.
We proceeded after dinner from Charlestown, three and a half miles to a ferry, and two miles further, we passed a point and a tavern on the right, a mile and a half below which on the same hand, is the straggling town and fine settlement of Warren, laid out by Mr. Kimberly, the proprietor, five years ago, but it is only within two years that it has began to assume the appearance of a town. It contains thirty-eight dwelling houses, charmingly situated on an extensive bottom, the largest I had noticed since leaving Pittsburgh, with Indian Short creek emptying into the Ohio at its southern extremity.
Three miles lower, we passed Pike island, which is about three quarters of a mile long, and seems capable of cultivation, though perhaps rather low. Opposite to it is the boundary line between Jefferson and Belmont counties in Ohio.
Two miles further, at six o’clock we landed at Roland’s ferry, on the left, and found Roland and his son employed building a boat on the bank. He had removed from Pittsburgh last April, and now rents {94} a small farm from Mr. Woods, the county surveyor, who has a handsome house in sight, a little remote from the river where he resides, another on the bank a little lower down, and a cottage amongst the woods on the highest neighbouring hill, intended for a banqueting house during summer, and commanding an extensive prospect. At Roland’s invitation, we walked to his cottage a little distant from the river bank. His wife and avery fine girl his eldest daughter were spinning cotton, while a younger one was attending the ferry, who though a delicate and pretty girl, paddled the skiff backwards and forwards as well as a man could do. He has been very industrious, as besides having built several skiffs since his removal, he had planted and cultivated twelve acres of the finest corn I ever saw, some of it now twelve feet high, just beginning to ear. He had also a large garden well stocked with useful roots and vegetables.
At seven we left Roland’s, and three miles and a half below, passed between the north end of Wheeling island on the right, and the principal part of the town of Wheeling on the left,[73]which is situated on so high a cliff, with the avenues from the river so steep, that on account of the apparent difficulty of getting our baggage carried up, we preferred going on to where the cliff was considerably lower, landing just under Sprigg’s tavern near the ship-yards, a little above the confluence of Wheeling creek with the Ohio.
This being a great thoroughfare, on account of its situation where the great post roads from Philadelphia, Baltimore, and the northern part of Virginia unite, and cross the river, on the route through the states of Ohio and Kentucky, to Tennessee and New Orleans, we found several travellers of various descriptions in the house, and after partaking with them of a good supper, we went out to saunter until bed time through the town, into which we had to {95} ascend a steep but short hill. It appeared very lively, the inhabitants being about their doors, or in the street, enjoying the fresh air of a clear moonlight evening, while two flutes were playingen duothe simple but musical Scots ballad of Roy’s wife of Aldwalloch, the prime part very tastily executed.Yet notwithstanding appearances, our impression of the town was not the most favourable, nor after tolerable beds and a good breakfast next morning, had we reason to alter our opinion when we examined it by day light.
It contains one hundred and twenty houses of all descriptions from middling downwards, in a street about half a mile long, parallel to the river, on a bank of about one hundred feet perpendicular, which the face of the cliff almost literally is, of course the avenues to the landings are very steep and inconvenient. The court-house of stone with a small belfry, has nothing in beauty to boast of. The gaol joins it in the rear.
It is probable that Mr. Zanes, the original proprietor, now regrets that he had not placed the town on the flat below, at the conflux of the Wheeling and Ohio, where Spriggs’s inn and the ship-yards now are, instead of cultivating it as a farm until lately, when a resolve of congress to open a new publick state road from the metropolis through the western country, which will come to the Ohio near the mouth of Wheeling creek, induced him to lay it out in town lots, but I fear he is too late to see it become a considerable town to the prejudice of the old one, notwithstanding its more advantageous situation.—The present town does not seem to thrive, if one may judge by the state of new buildings, two only of which I saw going forward in it. The stores also appeared rather thinly stocked with goods, and the retail prices are high. When the new road is finished, it will doubtless be of great use to Wheeling, as it will be a more direct route to the western states, {96} than any of the others hitherto used, and besides there are no material impediments to the navigation of the Ohio with the usual craft, below that town in the driest seasons, when the river is at the lowest.
The surrounding country in sight is hilly and broken,but I am informed that it is very rich and plentiful at a short distance from the river.
Wheeling island in front of the town, is about a mile long, and half a mile wide in its broadest part. It is very fertile, and is all cultivated as a farm by Mr. Zanes. The post and stage road to Chilicothe in Ohio, goes across it, which occasions two ferries, an inconvenience which will be remedied by the new state road crossing by one ferry below the island.
Indian Wheeling creek, a fine mill stream joins the Ohio from the N. W. opposite the middle of the island, and Mr. Zanes has lately laid out a new town there named Canton, which has now thirteen houses, but from its proximity to Wheeling, it never can become considerable.[74]
FOOTNOTES:[73]On the early history of Wheeling and its importance as a terminus for overland travel from Redstone and Fort Pitt, see Michaux’sTravels, vol. iii of this series, p. 33, note 15; also Thwaites,On the Storied Ohio.—Ed.[74]The use of the terms Indian Wheeling Creek, Indian Kentucky, etc. for streams flowing into the Ohio from its northern and western side is a reminiscence of the days when the Ohio was a boundary between the white settlements and Indian territory. The Indian title to these lands was not extinguished, and the danger of attack from this side of the river was not removed until after the Treaty of Greenville (1795).The town laid out opposite Wheeling was not the nucleus of the well-known Canton (Stark County), Ohio; but a place that perished, according to Cuming’s prediction.—Ed.
[73]On the early history of Wheeling and its importance as a terminus for overland travel from Redstone and Fort Pitt, see Michaux’sTravels, vol. iii of this series, p. 33, note 15; also Thwaites,On the Storied Ohio.—Ed.
[73]On the early history of Wheeling and its importance as a terminus for overland travel from Redstone and Fort Pitt, see Michaux’sTravels, vol. iii of this series, p. 33, note 15; also Thwaites,On the Storied Ohio.—Ed.
[74]The use of the terms Indian Wheeling Creek, Indian Kentucky, etc. for streams flowing into the Ohio from its northern and western side is a reminiscence of the days when the Ohio was a boundary between the white settlements and Indian territory. The Indian title to these lands was not extinguished, and the danger of attack from this side of the river was not removed until after the Treaty of Greenville (1795).The town laid out opposite Wheeling was not the nucleus of the well-known Canton (Stark County), Ohio; but a place that perished, according to Cuming’s prediction.—Ed.
[74]The use of the terms Indian Wheeling Creek, Indian Kentucky, etc. for streams flowing into the Ohio from its northern and western side is a reminiscence of the days when the Ohio was a boundary between the white settlements and Indian territory. The Indian title to these lands was not extinguished, and the danger of attack from this side of the river was not removed until after the Treaty of Greenville (1795).
The town laid out opposite Wheeling was not the nucleus of the well-known Canton (Stark County), Ohio; but a place that perished, according to Cuming’s prediction.—Ed.