USA > Ohio > Sketches and statistics of Cincinnati in 1859 > Part 15
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The county of Hamilton lies between the two Miami rivers. Just below the mouth of the Little Miami, is a garrison called Fort Mi- ami; at a small distance below this garrison is the town of Colum- bia. About six miles from Columbia is the town of Cincinnati, which is the county-seat of Hamilton county, and here is erected Fort Washington, the headquarters of the Federal army. This fort is pleasantly situated on the banks of the Ohio river. Seven miles below this is a settlement, of eighteen or twenty families, called South Bend. About seven miles from this, also on the Ohio river, is the city of Miami, founded by the Hon. John Cleves Symmes. Twelve miles up the Great Miami is the settlement called Dunlap's Station; and twelve miles up the Little Miami is a settlement called Covalt's Station. The number of militia in these places, according
1
154 ·
EARLY ANNALS.
to the best accounts I have received, are, at Columbia, two hun- dred; Cincinnati, one hundred and fifty; South Bend, twenty; city of Miami, eighty; Dunlap's, fifteen; and at Covalt's, twenty.
The First Currency of the West .- In the early days of Cincin- nati, as throughout the whole west, considerable difficulty existed in making change. The first currency was raccoon and other skins. This lasted but a short time, the establishment of the gar- rison and the campaigns against the Indians bringing a fair supply of specie into the country. This being, however, either gold or Spanish dollars, did not relieve the natural difficulty of making change in the same currency. In this perplexity, the early set- tlers coined cut money-that is to say, the dollar was cut into four equal parts, worth twenty-five cents each, or again divided for twelve and a half cent pieces. This was soon superseded by a new and more profitable emission, from the same mint, which formed an additional quarter, or two additional eighths to pay the expence of coinage. This last description of change, which was nicknamed sharp shins, from its wedge-shape, became speedily as redundant as were the dimes of 1841, when they ceased to pass eight and nine for a dollar, and of course equally unpopular. I remember, as late as 1806, that the business house in Philadelphia in which I was apprentice, received over one hundred pounds of cut silver, brought on by a Kentucky merchant, which went up on a dray, under my care, to the United States mint for re-coinage, greatly to the loss and vexation of the western merchant. Smaller sums than twelve and a half cents were given out, by the retailers of goods, in pins, needles, writing paper, etc. Bartle, who kept store on the site of the Cincinnati Hotel, had a barrel of copper coins, brought out in 1794, which so exasperated his brother store- keepers that they had almost mobbed him; and the same feeling of contempt for copper money existed here in those days, which even yet exposes a store-keeper to insult in offering them to a cer- tain description of customers.
All kinds of merchandise were high in price, and in demand at Fort Washington. The army was cantoned at Hobson's Choice, just below where Park street now is. Money plenty ;- the cur- renes, with the exception of some specie, was all of the paper of the old Bank of the United States. A great proportion of the circulation was in bills of three dollars, three dollars being then the monthly pay of a private soldier. It was a common expression,
155
EARLY ANNALS.
with the troops, to call the bank bills oblongs. This was more especially the case at the gambling tables. Gambling was much practiced among the officers and retainers of the army.
Early Navigation of the Ohio .-- Colonel James Ferguson, who survived his cotemporary pioneer associates of 1791 and 1792 to a recent date, conversing on this subject, observed: In 1790, I was trading on the Ohio river, and made several trips, up and down, from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati. In 1791, 1792, 1793, and 1794, I made two trips each year, being, at these latter periods, keeping store in Cincinnati. Produce and goods were brought down from Pittsburg and Redstone in Kentucky boats-a small keelboat, with sharp roof cover over the principal part, leaving a small section of the boat for oars, which were used, as in a skit, below, the steep- ness of the roof not permitting the use of oars above-more gener- ally, however, the transportation was in flatboats. We went up in a canoe, poling where the water was shallow enough, and bush- whacking or poling along the shore by the bushes, as opportunity served, and paddling the canoe in the intervals of deep water. We usually made thirty miles a day in this mode. As soon as we got to Wheeling, we went on foot to Pittsburg, it being less fatiguing and costing less time to walk fifty-seven miles, the land distance, than to pole and paddle ninety miles, the distance by the river.
Col. Ferguson recollected the Wetzels, who, with Jacob Fowler, and other pioneers, more than once accompanied him on his river passages. Fowler, he remarked, poled his canoe with great vigor and skill.
These voyages, as late as 1793, were attended with considera- ble danger from the Indians, who, up to that period, were hostile to the whites. Ferguson had repeatedly to camp out on shore, building a tire, when the nights were so cold as to render it abso- lutely necessary to do so for health, and not daring to stay by it more than a few minutes at a time to obtain warmth sufficient, and then retreating to the spot selected for sleeping at such a distance off as not to expose him to the view of an enemy who might cautiously steal up and, directed by the light of the fire, obtain a full and dis- tinct view of his person as an aim by which to direct his rifle.
In 1794, T. Greene, of Marietta, carricd the mail between Pitts- burg and Cincinnati in a pirogue or large canoe, propelled also by poles and paddles. This boat, in her downward passage, carried some little freight and occasionally, for a slight compensation,
158
EARLY ANNALS.
passengers. My informant, a resident of this city, states that he has taken passage thus from Marietta to Wheeling. The only use of the paddle was to take the boat across the river fiom deep to shoal water, the force of paddling not being sufficient to propel a boat up stream with passengers.
The first regular and periodical line of packets, between these named places, was formed January 11, 1794, by the establishment of four keelboats, of twenty tuns each, as appears by the following advertisement in the "Centinel of the Northwestern Territory," printed at Cincinnati, by William Maxwell. Two things, in this notice, will strike the reader forcibly. Four boats, which could not, in the aggregate, have carried half the load which is now taken, in a single trip, on one of our smallest Maysville boats, were supposed to suffice for a month's transportation business for the whole country between Pittsburg and Cincinnati. And these boats were provided with arms and ammunition to protect the passengers from apprehended danger from the savages:
OHIO PACKET BOATS .- Two boats, for the present, will start from Cincinnati to Pittsburg, and return to Cincinnati, in the fol- lowing manner, viz :
First boat will leave Cincinnati, this morning, at eight o'clock, and return to Cincinnati; so as to be ready to sail again in four weeks from this date.
Second boat will leave Cincinnati on Saturday, the 30th instant, and return to Cincinnati as above.
And so, regularly, each boat performing the voyage to and from Cincinnati to Pittsburg, once in every four weeks.
Two boats, in addition to the above, will shortly be completed and regulated in such a manner that one boat of the line will set out weekly from Cincinnati to Pittsburg, and return to Cincinnati in like manner.
The proprietor of these boats having maturely considered the many inconveniences and dangers incident to the common method hitherto adopted of navigating the Ohio, and being influenced by a love of philanthropy, and a desire of being serviceable to the public, has taken great pains to render the accommodations ou board the boats as agreeable and convenient as they could possibly be made.
No danger need be apprehended from the enemy, as every per- son on board will be under cover, made proof to rifle or musket
157
EARLY ANNALS.
balls, and convenient port-holes for firing out. Each of the boats is armed with six pieces, carrying a pound ball; also a good number of muskets, and amply supplied with plenty of ammuni- tion, strongly manned with choice hands, and the master of ap- proved knowledge.
A separate cabin, from that designed for the men, is partitioned off in each boat for accommodating ladies on their passage. Con- veniences are constructed on board each boat so as to render land- ing unnecessary, as it might, at times, be attended with danger.
Rules and regulations for maintaining order on board, and for the good management of the boats, and tables accurately calculated for the rates of freightage for passengers, and carriage of letters to and from Cincinnati to Pittsburg; also a table of the exact time of the arrival and departure to and from the different places on the Ohio, between Cincinnati and Pittsburg, may be seen on board . cach boat, and at the printing office in Cincinnati.
Passengers will be supplied with provisions and liquors of all kinds, of the first quality, at the most reasonable rates possible. Persons desirous of working their passage, will be admitted, on finding themselves subject, however, to the same order and direc- tions, from the master of the boats, as the rest of the working hands of the boat's crew.
An office of insurance will be kept at Cincinnati, Limestone, and Pittsburg, where persons, desirous of having their property insured, may apply. The rates of insurance will be moderate.
The Pioneer Periodical Press .- The first newspaper started here was " The Centinel of the Northwest Territory." William Maxwell, editor and publisher. It bore as a motto, "Free to all parties, but influenced by none." The first number was issued November 9, 1793. The postoffice having been recently estab- lished, Maxwell was commissioned postmaster. . The paper was in size one-half what would form a sheet of royal, hardly larger than one of our modern window panes of glass in first class dwell- ings. If the paper was small, it sufficed for the advertisements and news. It was nominally a weekly paper, but owing to the dif- ficulty of obtaining regular supplies of printing paper, was not re- markably regular in its issue. ITis issue of April 12, 1794, gave Marietta dates to the 4th; from Lexington, Ky., to the £2d March; from Nashville to the 10th March; from New York to the 15th February; and from London to the 25th of November of the
158
EARLY ANNALS.
preceding year! Two or three extracts, which follow, may be accepted as giving something of the form and pressure of pioneer times.
LEXINGTON, March 22.
On the 16th instant the Indians stole ten horses on Lecompt's run, and on Tuesday night last stole a number more from the same neighborhood.
Last week the Indians killed four persons in one family on the Rolling Fork of Salt river.
Extract of a letter from Nashville, dated March 10.
.
The Indians are very troublesome in our country; they have killed a number of persons, and in the ensuing summer we much dread, as they appear to be on all quarters of our frontiers, though we have had success with them lately. They killed a man not far from this place, and a party pursued them as far as the Tennessee, where they came up with them and encamped, and killed eleven fellows and took two squaws prisoners, which was the whole of the party; since which we have lost eleven men on our frontiers within about four weeks.
CINCINNATI, April 12.
On Tuesday, the 11th instant, the General Court opened at this place agreeably to adjournment, from October last, before the IIon. Judge Turner. The procession from the Judge's chambers to the public ground was in the following order:
Constables, with Batons,
Sheriff and Coroner, with White Wands,
Goaler, The Honorable Judge, Clerk, with a Green Bag,
Judges of the Common Pleas,
Justices of the Peace,
Attorneys, Messengers, etc.
-
159
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS.
11. PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS.
SITE.
CINCINNATI, the largest and most important city in the United States west of the Atlantic slope, is nearly central to the popula- tion of the Republic, the exact centre being a point in the State of Ohio just below Marietta. It is also central to the great valley of the Ohio, comprehending 220,000 square miles of area.
The plain on which the city rests, forms a portion of the Ohio valley, about twelve miles in circumference, bisected by the Ohio river, which passes through it in a course from northeast to south- west. On the right side of the river is Cincinnati, and on the left, immediately opposite, are the towns of Brooklyn and Jamestown, and the cities of Newport and Covington, the latter two places separated by the river Licking. This great plain is entirely sur- rounded by hills, three hundred feet in height, forming one of the most beautiful natural amphitheatres to be found anywhere on the continent, from whose hill-tops may be seen the splendid panorama of Cincinnati, Covington, and Newport, with the winding Ohio, its steamers and barges, and all the incessant movement along its shores. While Philadelphia, New Orleans, Chicago, Buffalo, and even New York, are built on level ground, and afford scarcely any distinct variety of position, the site of Cincinnati is one on which the eye of taste might rest with delight, while the various natural advantages, which the city and its environs present, attract the at- tention of the man of business or the mere resident.
Cincinnati occupies a front on the river Ohio of six miles, with an average depth for its northern limits of one and one-fifth mile, embracing an area of 4521 acres, of which 1126-nearly one- fourth of the whole-are not yet sub-divided into city lots. The space within its corporate limits, thus left vacant, is more than made up by adjacencies east, west, and north, many of which are as compactly built up as the average of Cincinnati itself.
The city is nearly central by river navigation to Pittsburg, at the head of the Ohio, and to Cairo, its outlet, being about 438 miles, by water, from each. It is a point in the direct line from Balti-
160
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS.
more to St. Louis, as well as a centre from which radiate in all directions a great diversity as well as great extent of railways.
The following table gives the levels of Cincinnati and its vicinity. They are calculated from low-water mark in the Ohio river:
FEET.
Extreme flood in 1832, 61.61
Surface of Whitewater Canal,.
Average height of Lower Level of City, 54.00
Average height of Upper Level of City, .. 57.00
Surface of Upper Level of the Miami Canal, 116.00
110.00
Height of Base of the Reservoir, 149 65
Surface of the Reservoir,
175.65
Mt. Adams, at Observatory,.
Walnut Hills, Montgomery and Madison roads,.
414.00
Mt. Auburn, at Reeder's residence, 396.00 459.00
Jackson Hill,. 426.00
Vine street Hill, west of Vine street, 453.00
Ross Hill or Riddle's Woods,. 418.00
Mt. Harrison, west of Millcreek, 460.00
The platform of the city was originally formed of three levels or terraces, all sloping from the Ohio northwardly. The first of these extended from the bluff bank of the river to the base of the gravelly bill, which ranged nearly parallel with what is now Third st. The second of these terraces stretched to the hills north of the corpora- tion line; and the third embraced the yet higher elevations which form the city boundary at its northern edge or line. The grade of these terraces has been for years changed, to conform to the gen- eral improvement of the city, and now affords the safe and facile ascent and descent required for heavy draughts, as well as the con- venient discharge of water from the upper table of Cincinnati.
Cincinnati stands in Lat. 39º 6' N., and Long. 84º 29' 30" W. The elevation of the surface of the river, at low water, above the level of the sea, is four hundred and thirty-one feet; that of the lower plain, about four hundred and ninety; that of the upper, five hundred and forty-three; that of the surrounding hills, on an aver- age, not far from eight hundred and fifty feet.
CLIMATE.
The following synopsis has been compiled from notices furnished me by the late Dr. D. Drake, whose name is sufficient to attest the accuracy and value of the statistics. It was intended for publica- tion in " Cincinnati in 1851," but reached ine too late for that pur-
161
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS.
pose. The lapse of time since, however, detracts nothing from the appropriateness of the article.
MEAN TEMPERATURE OF THE YEAR AND SEASONS.
Mean Heat
of the year.
Coldest
year.
Hottest
year.
Difference.
Greatest
Cold.
Greatest
Heat.
Extreme
Range.
Mean Heat
of Winter.
Mean Heat
of Spring.
Mean Heat
of Summer.
Mean Heat
of Autumn.
Number
of years.
5.42: 510
570
6º
180
1000
1183
3.30
540
730|
530
21
MEAN HELT OF THE MONTHS.
Jan. | Feb. ,
Mar.
Apr. ]
May.
Juue:
July.
Aug.
Sep.
Oct .:
Nov. Dec.
33ª
330
430
55°
63.
710
750
730
650
520
420
330
GREATEST CHANGE IN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS.
35º 380
430
430
1 46°
380
399
350
370 |410 44º 360
MEAN HEIGHT OF THE BAROMETER FOR FOURTEEN YEARS.
Year.
Winter.
Spring.
29.352
29.333
29.285
MEAN MONTHLY PREVALENCE OF THE WIND, FOR SIX YEARS: . TWO OBSERVATIONS A DAY.
Months.
S. E.
S. S. W. | N. E.|
N.
N. W. | E.
W. Calin. Wind.
January.
6
2
13
8
1
21
3
6
6
N. W.
February.
5
1
13
8
1
14
0
5
8
March.
10
1
16
11
1
10
0
5
4
S. W.
April.
7
0
24
10
1
8
1
3
5
May.
7
1
19
10
0
10
1
4
6
June.
9
1
23
12
5
7
1
2
3
July.
6
1
19
11
2
11
1
4
4
August.
6
I
23
10
1
12
1
1
6
Septe'ber.
6
1
23
9
0
8
2
3
3
October.
9
1
24
6
1
10
2
4
3
Nove'ber.
9
3
13
6
1
10
2
7
5
Dece'ber.
7
1
11
5
0
15
2
6
9
N. W.
Year.
87
14
221
106
14
136
16
50
62
S. W.
NUMBER OF CLEAR AND CLOUDY DAYS-MEAN OF FOURTEEN YEARS.
Jan. | Feb. Mar.
Apr.
Ma. Ju'e. J'ly.
A'st
Sep. Oct.
Nov. ( Dec. |To'].
Clear d's.
15
15
17
18
15
18
21
19
20
19
14
13
2017
Cloudy "
16
13
14
12
13
1
12
10
12
10
12
16
18
155
QUANTITY OF SNOW AND RAIN, IN INCHES, TENTHS, AND HUN- DREDTHS: MEAN OF THIRTEEN YEARS.
3.19
3.00
3.27 3.50 5.12 |5.75 4.28 4.58 3.42 3.64 In the year 47.2 inches-least in Feb., most in June .!
3.72
3.72
Summer. 29.319
Autumn. 29.356
Inches and Decimals.
162
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS.
Cincinnati occupies a position in the valley of the Ohio river which makes its climate, in some degree, a representative of all the climates of the valley. In going south from this city, the mean heat of the year rises, about a degree and two-thirds, for every de- gree of latitude; and sinks at nearly the same rate in going north. The pleasantest and perhaps, also, the healthiest periods of the year in this city are in spring, from the first of April to the first of June; in autumn, from the last week of September to the middle of November. The western precincts of the city and the surround- ing country, are, however, more or less affected with bilious fever in the latter period. Those who go into the country, in summer, would do well, therefore, to return to the city early in September. I have been told, by physicians, that nearly all the bilious fevers which occur in the central parts of the city, are contracted by re moving into the country after the first of that month.
Dr. Drake's observations give the mean annual amount, for thir- teen years, of rain and melted snow here at 47.02 inches. Prof. Ray, of Woodward College, made the same calculation, for sixteen years, with an average of 48.42 inches. This included three years, 1835, 1836, and 1837, with more of a rainy average than that of the thirteen later years constituting Dr. Drake's table.
It may be interesting to compare our climate, in this respect, with that of Philadelphia, which lies in a latitude not differing greatly from ours. €
By the journal kept at the Pennsylvania Hospital, for thirteen years, comprehending the same period embraced in Dr. Drake's table, it appears that the mean annual fall of rain in Philadelphia, during that period, was 45.24 inches. It will be found, on the ex- amination of the daily registers, that a fall of six inches of rain, in as many successive days, is no uncommon circumstance in the rainy seasons. This is equal to five hundred tons in weight, or more than one hundred and twenty thousand gallons, in measure, to the acre.
The average amount of rain at St. Petersburg is 19 inches; at Paris and at Rome, 21 inches; at London, 27, and as an average for England, 30 inches; at Naples, 37 inches. In tropical coun- tries 60 inches have fallen in a month, and 200 inches, almost, In a year.
I have ascertained and recorded these facts to correct the uni versal impression prevalent, that more rain falls in the British isles,
163
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS.
for example, than in the United States. That there are more cloudy and rainy days there is doubtless true, but these tables show that nearly twice as much rain falls at Cincinnati as at Lon- don-the difference between the two climates being that our rains are of a more drenching character, and fall in less space of time than theirs. As a consequence the earth does not drink up the rain as fast as it falls, and the heavy showers after saturating the earth, pass off to and swell our water-courses. The rains of Philadelphia are nearly embraced in forty-five days, and those of Cincinnati in thirty-eight days of the entire year. It is the extreme heat of summer, and the long period of intermission between rains in this country, which constitute the great cause of the aridity of our cli- mate, and the great difference in richness of pastures and crop- product to the acre, that exists between us and England.
TIME TABLE.
DIFFERENCE IN TIME BETWEEN CINCINNATI AND THE PRINCIPAL CITIES OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADAS.
FAST. M. S. Dunkirk. N. Y., 20 33 Philadelphia, P., 37 20: SLOW. M. S.
Annapolis, Md., 33 02 Dorchester, Mass., 53 42 Pittsburg, Pa.,
17 51 Chicago, I !... 12 :3
Albany, N. Y.,
43 00 Dover. Del., 35 59| Portland, Me., 57 05 Indianapolis. Ia.,
Auburn, N. Y.,
32 07 Erie. Pa., 17 34 Princeton, . ". J., 33 21 Jefferson, Mo,, 3:33
Augusta, Ga ..
10 23 Frederickton, N.B. 70 59 Portsmouth, N. H. 54 56 Jackson. Miss ..
Alexandria, Va.,
99 43 Hartford, Conn., 47 16 Quebec, C. E.,
83 33 Raleigh, N. C.,
22 47 Little Rock, Ark .. 3 .49
Boston, Mass.,
53 42' Huron, O.,
07 4 : Rochester, N. Y., 20 35 Motile, Ala .. 13 37
Burlington, Vt.,
Bangor, Me.,
62 51 Lexington, Ky.,
(0 47 Springfield, O.,
Columbus, O.,
05 47 Montpelier, Vt.,
47 35 salem, Mass.,
54 24 St. Louis, Mo ..
Cambridge, Mass., 53 27 Montreal, C. E.,
43 3: Sandusky City, O. 07 09 Springte.d. Jil ..
Charleston, S.C., 18 0.N. Haven, Conn., 46 12 Toronto, C. W., 2) 33 Tallahassee, Fia , Cleveland, O., 11 18 New York, 41 54|Toledo. O ..
07 :5
Concord. N. H.,
52 03 Newport. R. I.,
59 42 Trenton, N. J., 39 00, Vincennes. Ia., 11 41
Detroit, Mich.,
06 07|Norfolk, Va.,
32 44 Wheeling, Va., 15 11. Milwaukie, Wis., 14 50
Dayton, O., 14.
01 04 Norwich, Conn.,
49 31 |Washington, D.C. 29 59 St. Paul's, Min., 34 22
52 55 Louisville. Ky. 4 .1
Baltimore, Md.,
31 99, Halifax, N. S.,
Buffalo, N. Y.,
22 09 Hudsou, O ..
45 19 Lowell, Mass.,
19 20 Richmond, Va., 28 09 New Orleans. La. *52 43 Springfield, Mass. 47 36 Nashville. Tenn., 02 39 Natebez, Miss, 33
03 53 Tuscaloosa, Alz., 12 49
164
· PERSONAL STATISTICS.
III. PERSONAL STATISTICS.
POPULATION.
THE United States census of 1850 gives the population of Cin- cinnati as 115,438. If Fulton, at that time one of our suburbs, but now included in the city limits, be added, these figures would be raised to 118,761. There can be no doubt, however, that our actual population, at this period, was considerably greater than thus appears. The cholera was raging, with great virulence, here at the time, and its approach or arrival had put to flight great num- bers of the inhabitants. How largely this state of case must have reduced the official census, may be inferred from the result of an enumeration, in 1853, made for a special purpose, when our num- bers were ascertained to be 161,186.
The population, at present, may be reasonably estimated at 225,000, computing by our regular ratio of increase for the past seventeen years, and the census of 1860, if correctly taken, will increase those figures to 250,000.
The following comparative table will afford a contrast of the pro- gress in the population of Cincinnati, with that of other cities in the Ohio and Mississippi valley :
Census of 1800
.
...
2,540
..
4,768
...
1,350
...
17,242
1820
...
9,602
....
7,243
....
....
46,310
1840
..
46,338
...
36,478
....
21,214
....
102,296
1850
118,761*
...
67,871
....
43,277
...
120,951
1853
160,186
57,535+
. ..
The colored population of Cincinnati, in 1826, amounted to 690 persons-the white inhabitants at that date being 15,540. They constituted, therefore, one in twenty-four of the entire population In 1840, they had so far increased as to form one in twenty or more exactly 2,258 of the 46,382 persons returned in the census of Cincinnati at that date. In 1850, they were but 3,172 in
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