History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. I, Part 43

Author: Williams, L.A., & Co., Cleveland
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : L. A. Williams & Co.
Number of Pages: 814

USA > Ohio > History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. I > Part 43

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In 1790 he petitioned Congress to grant him a patent for his invention. He sought aid in vain from England, France, and Spain. Discouraged and poverty-stricken, he retired to his Kentucky farm and gave himself up to habitual intoxication. He deposited in the Philadelphia library large volumes of manuscript, sealed up, with directions that they should not be opened for thirty years. When opened they were found to contain a full history of his trials, embarrassments, and disappointments. He confidently predicted the final success of his plan. He said : "The day will come when some more powerful man will get fame and fortune from my invention. But nobody will believe that poor John Fitch can do anything worth attention." This prediction was verified before the thirty years expired.

In 1813, when Robert Fulton brought suit in New York to enforce his claim as the inventor of steam navigation, he was defeated by the production in court of one of John Fitch's pamphlets. A committee of the Legislature of New York after a thorough investigation, decided that the boats built by Livingston and Fulton were in substance the invention of John Fitch. Judge Rowan, of Kentucky, Fitch's executor, says : " I was convinced from his statements, explanations, and papers, that Fitch was the inventor of steamhoats."

The last days of poor Fitch were sad enough. When his farm was reduced to three hundred acres he contracted with a tavern-keeper to give him one-half of his farm to board him while he lived and furnish him with a pint of whiskey per day. He afterward increased the land-grant on condition that he should have a double supply of liquor. At the age of fifty-five, defeated in his plans, disappointed and demor- alized by drink the poor fellow died, "unwept, unhonored, and unsung." He had no family. His ashes repose in the old graveyard al Bardstown. No stone marks the spot ; but many years ago, when the precise locality was known, a survey was made and recorded in the county clerk's office by which the exact spot is ascertained. Within the past few years some correspondence has been had with reference to the removal of his dust and the erection of a suitable me- morial.

The first steamer to vex the waters of the Ohio, however, was the New Orleans, built at Pittsburg in the summer and fall of this year, and started down the river in October. The Ohio and Mississippi rivers, as will appear more fully below, had been carefully prospected, with a view to this enterprise; and it is believed that

Robert Fulton himself, at this time or subse- quently, also passed down. A tradition exists at Louisville that while on his way to New Or- leans the reputed hero of the first steamboats purchased lots at the principal commercial points on the rivers, with a view to the erection of warehouses and the transaction of a large commission and storage business. In this place it is said he bought the northeast corner of Third and Water streets; but, when his proposed monopoly of the invention was broken, and his magnificent schemes ended in failure, he was unable to make his payments, and the property reverted to its former owners.

The New Orleans was built for Mr. Fulton, who had then the renowned Chancellor Living- ston for a partner. Mr. Charles Joseph La- trobe, of the celebrated family of engineers, in the first volume of his Rambler in North Ameri- ca (1832-33), has left an exceedingly readable and intelligent account of its first voyage, which is well worth extracting in full:

Circumstances gave me the opportunity of becoming ac- quainted with the particulars of the very first voyage of a steamer in the West ; and their extraordinary character will be my apology to you for filling a page of this sheet with the following brief relation :

The complete success attending the experiments in steam navigation made on the Hudson and the adjoining waters previous to the year 1809, turned the attention of the prin- cipal projectors to the idea of its application on the Western rivers ; and in the month of April of that year, Mr. Roose- velt, of New York, pursuant to an agreement with Chan- cellor Livingston and Mr. Fulton, visited those rivers, with the purpose of forming an opinion whether they ad- mitted of steam navigation or not. At this time two boats, the North River and the Clermont, were running on the Hudson. Mr. Roosevelt surveyed the river from Pitts- burg to New Orleans, and, as his report was favorable, it was decided to build a boat at the former town. This was done under his direction, and in the course of 1811 the first boat was launched on the waters of the Ohio. It was called the " New Orleans," and intended to ply between Natchez, in the State of Mississippi, and the city whose name it bore. In October it left Pittsburgh, for its experimental voyage. On this occasion no freight or passengers were taken, the object being merely to bring the boat to her station. Mr. Roosevelt, his young wife and family, a Mr. Baker, the engineer, Andrew Jack, the pilot, and six hands, with a few domestics, formed the whole burden. There were no woodyards at that time, and con- stant delays were unavoidable. When, as related, Mr. Roosevelt had gone down the river to reconnostre, he had discovered two beds of coal, about one hundred and twenty miles below the rapids at Louisville, and now took tools to work them, intending to load the vessel with the coal and to employ it as fuel, instead of constantly detamning the boat while wood was procured from the banks.

Late at night, on the fourth day after quitting Pittsburgh,

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they arrived in safety at Louisville, having been but seventy hours descending upwards of seven hundred miles. The novel appearance of the vessel, and the fearful rapidity with which it made its passage over the broad reaches ot the river, excited a mixture of terror and surprise among many of the settlers on the banks, whom the rumor of such an invention had never reached ; and it is related that on the unexpected arrival of the boat before Louisville, in the course of a fine, still, moonlight night, the extraordinary sound which filled the air, as the pent-up steam was suffered to escape from the valve on rounding-to, produced a general alarm, and the multitudes in the town rose from their beds to ascertain the cause. I have heard that the general impression among the good Kentuckians was that the comet had fallen into the Ohio ; but this does not rest on the same foundation as the other facts which I lay before von, and which I may at once say I had directly from the lips of the parties themselves. The small depth of water in the rapids prevented the boat from pursuing her voyage immediately, and during the con- sequent detention of three weeks in the upper part of the Ohio, several trips were successfully made between Louisville and Cincinnati. In one the water rose, and in the course of the last week in November the voyage was resumed, the depth of water barely admitting their passage.

When they arrived about five miles above the Yellow Banks they moored the boat opposite to the first vein of coal, which was on the Indiana side, and had been purchased in the interim of the State government. They found a large quan- tity already quarried to their hand and conveyed to the shore by depredators, who had not found means to carry it off ; and with this they commenced loading the boat. While thus engaged our voyagers were accosted in great alarm by the squatters of the neighborhood, who inquired if they had not beard strange noises on the river and in the woods in the course of the preceding day, and perceived the shores shake, insisting that they had repeatedly felt the earth tremble.

Hitherto nothing extraordinary had been perceived. The following day they pursued their monotonous voyage in those vast solitudes. The weather was observed to be op- pressively hot ; the air misty, still, and dull; and though the sun was visible, like a glowing ball of copper, his rays hardly shed more than a mournful twilight on the surface of the water. Evening drew nigh, and with it some indications of what was passing around them became evident. And as they sat on deck, they ever and anon heard a rushing sound and violent splash, and saw large portions of the shore tearing away from the land and falling into the river. "It was," as my informant said, "an awful day, so still that you could have heard a pin drop on the deck." They spoke little, for every one on board appeared thunderstruck. The comet had disappeared about this time, which circumstance was noticed with awe by the crew.

The second day after their leaving the Yellow Banks, the sun rose over the forest the same ball of fire, and the air was thick, dull, and oppressive as before. The portentons signs of this terrible natural convulsion continued and increased. The pilot, alarmed and confused, affirmed that he was lost, as he found the channel everywhere altered; and where he had hitherto known deep water, there lay numberless trees with their roots upwards. The trees were seen waving and nodding on the bank, without a wind; but the adventurers had no choice but to continue their route. Towards evening they found themselves at a loss for a place of shelter. They had usually brought to under the shore, but everywhere they saw the high banks disappearing, overwhelming many a flat-

boat and raft, from which the owners had landed and made their escape. A large island in mid-channel, which was selected by the pilot as the better alternative, was sought for in vain, having disappeared entirely. Thus, in doubt and terror, they proceeded hour after hour till dark, when they found a small island, and rounded to, mooring themselves to the foot of it. Here they lay, keeping watch on deck during the long autumnal night, listening to the sound of the waters which roared and gurgled horribly around them, and hearing from time to time the rushing earth slide from the shore, and the commotion as the falling mass of earth and trees was swallowed up by the river. The mother of the party, a deli- cate female, who had just been confined on board as they lay off Louisville, was frequently awakened from ber restless slumber by the jar given to the furniture and loose articles in the cabin, as, several times in the course of the night, the shock of the passing earthquake was communicated from the island to the bows of the vessel. It was a long night, but morning dawned and showed them that they were near the month of the Ohio. The shores and the channel were now equally unrecognizable; everything seemed changed. About noon that day they reached the small town of New Madrid, on the right bank of the Mississippi. Here they found the inhabitants in the greatest distress and consternation; part of the population had fled in terror to the higher grounds; others prayed to be taken on board, as the earth was opening in fissures on every side, and their houses hourly falling around them.

Proceeding thence, they found the Mississippi, at all times a fearful stream, now unusually swollen, turbid, and full of trees; and, after many days of great danger, though they felt and perceived no more of the earthquakes, they reached their destination at Natchez, at the close of the first week in Jan- uarv, 1812, to the great astonishment of ali, the voyage of the boat having been considered an impossibility.

At that time you floated for three or four hundred miles on the rivers, without seeing a human habitation.

Thus ended the voyage of the first steamer.

THE EARTHQUAKES

which prevailed throughout the Western country during the closing days of this year were very distinctly felt at Louisville, though not with so disastrous effects as elsewhere, and in no case extending to loss of life. Mr. Jared Brooks, then resident here, kept a careful and detailed scientific record of the shocks, which is pub- lished as an appendix to Dr. McMurtrie's Sketches of Louisville. We copy his initial statements:

The first of those tremendous concussions that shook a great part of the Western Hemisphere during the years 1811- 12 was first perceived at Louisville on the 16th December, 1811, 2h. 15m. A. M., commencing with about half the strength to which it gradually increased in about one minute; held at tremendous about one minute, then gradually subsi- ded. Whole duration, from three and one-half to four min- · utes; other slight motions follow-2h. 35m. A. M .- moderate motion fifteen seconds.

7h. 20m. A. M .- Sudden; violent about one minute, then moderated by lessening throes through the second and third minutes to slight tremor; this followed by small and placid

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motion of about ten minutes; then severe, stood at that ten seconds; gradually subsided, but not to perfect rest; six con- siderable shocks are felt during the succeeding thirty min- utes: then became constant, and strengthened at a dreadful rate to tremendous, so as to threaten the town with total de- struction; duration of greatest violence, one and one-half minutes; moderated in reverse order of approach, but at- tended with a jarring or strong, brisk tremor. It is doubt- ful if the earth is at rest from these troubles ten minutes dur- ing the day and succeeding night. Action generally vibra- tory, horizontal, gentle by northwest and southeast; time about eighty returns to same point per minute, and uniforni, no matter how much the stretch of motion varies. It seemed as if the surface of the earth was afloat and set in motion by a slight application of immense power, but when this regularity is broken by a sudden cross shove, all order is destroyed and a boiling action produced, during the continuance of which the degree of violence is greatest and the scene most dread- ful; houses and other objects oscillate largely, irregularly, and in different directions. The greatest stretch of motion, whilst regular, was from four to five inches. A great noise was produced by the agitation of all the loose matter in town, but no other strange sound was heard; the general conster- nation is great, and the damage done considerable; gable ends, parapets, and chimneys of many houses are thrown down. Weather calm, cloudy, some mist; temperature little above freezing.

December 17, 1811, 5h. A. M .- Shock of considerable force; character of the floating motion before described, du- ration of greatest strength about one minute; moderate rain.

IIh. 40m. A. M. - Sudden, and for an instant violent; dura- tion three minutes; weather cloudy, dark, some little rain in the course of the day; also frequent tremors at irregular pe- riods; evening chilly; wind flawy; direction unfixed.

Eighty-seven shocks in all were enumerated by Mr. Brooks as occurring during the week De- cember 16-22-three of the first-rate, two of the second, three of the third, one of the fourth, twelve of the fifth, and sixty-six of the sixth. The next week, the last of the month and year, one hundred and fifty-six shocks were observed, nearly all of the sixth-rate, and none of the first, second, third, or fourth. The following is the scale adopted by Mr. Brooks for the rating of the concussions or tremors :

First-rate-most tremendous, so as to threaten the destruc- tion of the town, and which would soon effect it, should the action continue with the same degree of violence; buildings oscillate largely and irregularly and grind against each other, the walls split and begin to yield, chimneys, parapets, and gable-ends break in various directions and topple to the ground. .

Second-rate-less violent, but severe.

Third-rate-moderate, but alarming to people generally.

Fourth-rate-perceptible to the feeling of those who are still, and not subject to other motion or sort of jarring that might resemble this.

Sixth-rate-although often causing a strange sort of sensa- tion, absence, and sometimes giddiness, the motion is not to be ascertained positively, but by the vibrators placed for that purpose, or accidentally.

Some comical incidents are related of the oc- currences of the earthquake in Louisville. Dur- ing the first shock, an affrighted and himself, prob- ably, suddenly penitent person rushed in upon a group of card-players with the exclamation, "Gentlemen, how can you be engaged in this way when the world is so near its end?" The party rushed terror-stricken into the street, while the earth was indeed rocking as 'if in the throes of dissolution. " Almost every one of them," says a narrator, "believed that Mother Earth, as she heaved and struggled, was in her last agony." There was at least one philosopher among them, however, who found calmness and breath enough to say, as he looked up at the glittering stars, which by the motion of sublunary things seemed to be falling from their spheres, "What a pity that so beautiful a world should be thus de- stroyed !"

During these times when earthquakes were of hourly occurrence, it was customary to suspend some object to act as a pendulum in every room, and judge from the rapidity and length of its vibrations the degree of danger. When thus warned that the walls might tumble on their heads, flight alone secured safety. The higher and more magnificent the edifice, the greater the danger. And, strange is it may seem, the public morals were improved by these oft-repeated calamities. This effect, however, seems not to have been of permanent value, if we may judge from a communication in the Bedford, Pennsyl- vania, Gazette, in the year 1814. The writer is evidently amused at the "paroxyms of piety" with which he credits the good citizens of this place. Among other things he says:

At Louisville, in the State of Kentucky, a town about four times as large as Bedford, they have no church. When the earthquake gave them the first shock, they grew very devout in one night, and on the next day, with long faces, they sub- scribed a thousand dollars to build a house of public worship. Thus the matter rested until the second shock came, when another devout paroxysm produced another thousand dollars. It rested again till a third earthquake and devout fit produced another subscription to the same amount. There was no more of the matter. The earthquake did not return, and the Louisvillians concluded the devil would not send for them for a few years more, and in the meantime determined to be merry. They immediately built a theater, which cost them seven thousand dollars, and employed a company of actors, the offscourings of maritime city theaters. To this company they gave about five hundred dollars per week, till at length the actors, instead of raising the curtain, broke through it and broke each other's heads with sticks, and the heads of some of the auditors who interfered. The earthquakes have

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lately begun to shake Louisville again, but whether they laugh or pray I have not heard.

The Western Courier, of Louisville, after copy- ing this communication, publishes some cutting things concerning its authorship. The article probably was written, according to the Courier, by some actor whose attempts on the stage had not received the praise merited, from his view of the matter, and who took this occasion to return, in part, the injuries he thought himself to have received. The author of the article cer- tainly has drawn on his imagination for his facts, for it will be remembered that the building of the theater was before the commencement of the earthquakes. It is equally true that the theater was completed a number of years before any church edifice belonging to any denomination was even a matter of contemplation.

Mr. Collins says, in the History of Kentucky:

For several months the citizens of Louisville were in con- tinual alarm. The earth seemed to have no rest, except the uneasy rest of one disturbed by horrid dreams. Each house generally had a key suspended over the mantel-piece, and by its oscillations the inmates were informed of the degree of danger. If the shock was violent, brick houses were imme- diately deserted. Under the key usually lay a Bible. In the opinion of a distinguished citizen of Louisville, who has related to us many incidents of those exciting times, the earthquake had a beneficial influence upon public morals. Usually, we believe, times of great danger and excitement have had a contrary effect.

THE EARTHQUAKE ORDINANCE.

An interesting reminiscence of the earthquake has been preserved in the following ordinance, passed by the Trustees of the village:

Dec. 18, 1811. Whereas, It being represented to the Board, by a number of citizens, that the chimney (lately dam- aged by the earthquake or shock) of the house in which Dennis Fitzhugh, Esquire, now lives, and which is propped up with plank, is dangerous-

It is ordered, That the same be taken down by said Fitz- hugh within 24 hours, under the penalty of $15.

THE FIRST CATHOLIC CHURCH

in Louisville was put up this year-a small one, about what would now be regarded as a mere chapel, in the Gothic style of architecture. The Rev. Father Badin, the Catholic priest then here, had charge of its erection. Mr. Tarascon, one of the traders at Shippingport, gave the lot for it, at the corner of Eleventh and Main streets. It was used also for a cemetery, and when it was vacated the ground was not entirely cleared of human remains, so that when it canie to be improved many years afterwards, numbers

of bones and some skulls were exhumed in the course of the excavations.

TIPPECANOE.

Louisville had no special concern in the canı- paign of General Harrison against the Indians this year, which resulted in the battle of Tippe- canoe, save this, that the commander of the Fourth regiment of infantry in that action was a native of Jefferson county, Colonel George Rogers Clark Floyd, son of Colonel John Floyd, the famous pioneer surveyor and soldier. Others from this region were also in the action, but their individual deeds remain unstoried and unsung.

MR. JOHN MELISH,

an English traveler of some distinction, took Louisville in his tour this year, and in his sub- sequent book, Travels through the United States of America, included the following notice :

Louisville is situated opposite the Falls of the Ohio, on an elevation of 70 feet above the river, and extends along it from Beargrass Creek, nearly half a mile. Its breadth is about half that distance. It is regularly laid out, with streets crossing one another at right angles ; but the principal build- ings are confined to one street. It consists of about 250 houses, many of them handsome brick buildings, and con- tains 1,357 inhabitants, of whom 484 are slaves. Being a place of great resort on the river, it has an ample number of taverns and stores. Except the manufacture of ropes, rope- yarn, and cotton-bagging, which are carried on with spirit, there are no other manufactures of importance at Louisville, and the tradesmen are such as are calculated for the country. The price of labor here is nearly the same as at Cincinnati. Some articles of provision are dearer, this being a more con- venient port for shipping than any above it. When I was there, flour sold for 5 dollars 50 cents per barrel ; meal 50 cents per cwt. Boarding was from I dollar twenty cents to 2 dollars per week.

Louisville being the principal port of the western part of the State of Kentucky, is a market for the purchase of all kinds of produce, and the quantity that is annually shipped down the river is immense. A few of the articles, with the prices at the time that I was there, may be noticed. Flour and meal have been quoted. Wheat was 621/2 cents per bushel ; corn 50 ; rye 42 ; oats 25 ; hemp 4 dollars so cents per cwt .; tobacco 2 dollars. Horses 25 to 100 dollars ; cows, 10 to 15 dollars ; sheep, 1 dollar 25 cents to 5 dollars ; negroes, about 400 dollars ; cotton bagging, 3114 cents per yard.

As to the state of society, I cannot say much. The place is composed of people from all quarters, who are prin- cipally engaged in commerce, and a great number of traders on the Ohio are constantly at this place, whose example wil be nothing in favor of the young ; and slavery. is against so- ciety everywhere. There are several schools, but none of them are under public patronage, and education seems to be but indifferently attended to. Upon the whole, I must say that the state of public morals admits of considerable im- provement here ; but, indeed, I saw Louisville at a season when a number of the most respectable people were out of

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the place. Those with whom I had business were gentlemen, and I hope there are a sufficient number of them to check the progress of gaming and drinking, and to teach the young and the thoughtless that mankind without virtue and indus- try cannot be happy.

The country round Louisville is rich, but it is not well drained nor cultivated, and is consequently subject to fever and ague in the fall. There are a great many ponds in the neighborhood of the town; at one of them 1 observed a rope-walk erecting, and the people were draining the pond by sinking a deep well and letting the water run into it, which answered the purpose remarkably well. It would ap- pear hence that the water filtrates to the river below ground, and perhaps this plan might be generally adopted. I am persuaded that nothing but draining is wanted to render Louisville quite healthy, and one of the most agreeable situ- ations on the Ohio River.

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History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. I, Part 43

Author: Williams, L.A., & Co., Cleveland Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : L. A. Williams & Co. Number of Pages: 814

Author: Williams, L.A., & Co., Cleveland
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : L. A. Williams & Co.
Number of Pages: 814