USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > The Cincinnati miscellany, or, Antiquities of the West, and pioneer history and general and local statistics. Volume II > Part 7
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we made a raft and crossed the stream, having the misfortune to lose all our guns in the pas- sage. We proceeded up to where Hamilton now is, and made improvements wherever we found bottoms finer than the rest, all the way down to the mouth of the Miami. I then went up the Ohio again to Buffalo, but returned the same fall, and found Gens. Clarke, Butler, and Parsons at the mouth of the Big Miami, as com- missioners to treat with the Indians. Major Fin : ney was there also. I was in company with Symmes when he was engaged in taking the meanders of the Miami river at the time John Filson was killed by the Indians. "
Kentucky.
Kentucky has a State character sui generis .--- When we cross the Ohio river from Cincinnati, a people is found of temperament, habits, pur- suits and taste, as different from the population of Ohio as can be found, if we were to travel five hundred miles in any other direction. In early days the Kentuckian was half horse, half alligator, and a slight sprinkle of the snapping turtle. Now he is all horse. He realises the fa- ble of the centaur, being inseparable from his steed. Every man there ought to receive the given name of Philip -- , a lover of horses. Accordingly wherever one of our citizens trav- els through Kentucky, horse-bills and advertise-
Apropos of races. The Oakland races near Louisville came off, in jockey phrase, last week. This leads me to notice another characteristic trait of these people.
It is well known that Rev. N. L. Rice now of our city, held a public theological debate last year at Lexington, Ky ., with a distinguished opponent, Alexander Campbell, of Bethany. That such a discussion should attracts crowds will not surprise those who recollect the dense masses which blocked up the Tabernacle a few weeks since during the debate between Messrs. Rice and Pingree, but I suspect no where else than in Kentucky, could the sporting fraternity have found in such controversics, materials for the long odds. Bets were made on the speed and bottom of the debatants, as they would have been at the race ground, begining with three to one on Campbell, the odds equalizing in the progress of the debate, and finally two to one that Rice would drive his opponent out of the field in the course of debate. As the judges who presided there were not authorized to decide, and popular vote was taken on the merits of the debate, I presume the shareholder in each case was allowed to determine which had won or lost, in the exercise of his own personal judg- ment. 5
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That debate was conducted with ability on both sides, no doubt. I never heard Mr Camp- bell make a public address, but his reputation is established in the whole west. Mir. Rice, al- though comparatively young in years, is, as is well known, of great intellectual power, and oth- erwise admirably qualified for oral discussion, and as he was a Kentuckian, and the debate held on the soil of the State, it is probable much State pride and feeling was excited in the breasts of many, who cared little for the subjects in dispute. This feeling was exhibited afterwards, in a shape which could hardly have been shown any where else. One of the running horses at the Oakland races I have referred to, bore the name of Nathan L. Rice, in honor of the cham- pion of Kentucky. He was, indeed, beaten with great ease, which is more than can ever have been said of his name-sake. The name was at any rate as much out of character for the horse, as the race ground would have been for the man.
CORRESPONDENCE.
The Mammoth Cave -- No. I.
MR. CIST :
The natural curiosities of our coun- try are many and wonderful, and each day, al- most, brings with it some new discovery. The falls of the great Niagara, our burning and hot springs, the Natural Bridge of Virginia, as well as our caverns and grottoes, have their visiters in countless numbers, seeking the gratification of a laudable curiosity, or to regain lost health. The most singular and most wonderful of all, is allowed to rest, nearly in its original beauty and grandeur, scarcely attracting a tithe of the great stream of travels, that courses yearly from one end of our Union to the other. I would call the attention of those who desire to have their curiosity satisfied, or knowledge added to, to the Mammoth cave of Kentucky. Itis within two days travel of Cincinnati, being 95 miles south and west of Louisville, in Edmonson coun- ty, Ky., one fourth of a mile from Green river. There is a steamboat running regularly past the Cave, affording every facility to travellers. Up- on their arrival they will find the "Cave House" to be neat and clean, with fine piazzas for prom- enading, and a table sufficiently well supplied to satisfy the palate of the most dainty. The surface of the country, in the region of the Cave is peculiarly diversified, and will attract the at- tention of the naturalist in an eminent degree. But the external of the country, however singu- lar it may be, yields in interest, to the internal of the Cave, which all visiters are anxious to en- ter the moment of their arrival. At least I found it so with myself. Five of us, with the guide in advance, left the house for the entrance, which isin a little ravine called "Cave Hollow,"
and is 200 feet above Green river, and 100 feet below the general level of the table land above. It is thickly shaded by forest trees, that serve as a sort of screen, to hide the mouth which is yawning to receive you. Turning short round a mass of rock, you stand instantly in the very breath of the cave, which is stcadily passing out, condensing as it strikes you. In summer you experience a chilly damp, and feel as if you were entering some long-shut-up and uninhabited old house. The thermometer, in the heat of suminer varies some 30 degrees, by being rais- ed or lowered at this point some five or six feet. Fifty feet below, and at an angle of 30 degrees from where you stand, you see, in the dim light of the Cavern, a large hopper, capable of hold- ing 20 cart loads, which was used during and previous to the last war, for leaching the earth of the Cave, by the saltpetre workers. You be- come used to the chiil in a few moments, and start down the steps, which lead around the side of the immense opening-at the bottom you find level and good walking, and after advan- cing a few rods, your torches become of use .- About a hundred yards from the entrance, at the "narrows," you come to a door, above which a rude Æolian harp is fixed, that is forever "dis- coursing sweet sounds," as the cool air of the Cave is constantly rushing out to the warmer atmosphere above, with a current of four miles per hour. Near this place and beyond, the tracks of oxen and carts remains as perfect as when made 30 years ago, and being protected from heat and frost, drought and rain, why should they change in a thousand years? You now gradually descend until the Cave opens out into immense proportions, and you come to the first branch, called after the ornithologist, Audubon, being the only place where birds of any kind have ever beeu found, and they were bats. At this point is what is called the Grand Dome, being 80 feet high, and near a hundred feet in diameter. We lit it so as to have a fine view, witlı Bengal lights, when we stood enchainod by wonder and admiration. "Gothic Avenue," next received us after climbing up a long flight of steps, running out and up, from the side of the main Cave. The purity of the air is now felt by all; the chill has now left us, and the thermometer stands at 57, never varying either winter or summer. Our curiosity was now rav- enous, and we proceeded to gratify it at all haz- ards. Forward was the order for the time, each one seeing something to wonder at, and exclaim about. "Stalagmite Hall,"' is the first place of great interest in this avenue. It is a spacious enlargement of the Cavern, the roof of which is curiously supported by column's of all shapes
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and dimensions; being formed by the stalag- mite ascending, and the stalactite descending, until they meet, and form a single piece. They are sometimes in rows, and sometimes isolated, producing a most singularly beautiful effect, as all beyond the reach of our lights was in utter darkness, and left the imagination free as air, to fill up the distance in whatever manner the in- tense excitement of the moment could conjure up. A few hundred yards farther on, we stop- ped and refreshed ourselves at a sulphur spring, which lay directly in our path. All this dis- tance we had fine walking, and we began now to act more like boys just let loose from school than any thing else. Certain it is we were not sober and sedate men, for we ran, jumped, ho !- lowed, screamed, and laughed as if we were mad !- Dr. Croghan, the proprietor of the Cave, explained all this, for I was anxious to know why our desire to jump, run, and laugh, could not without some exertion be repressed. He said, that the carbon of the blood, that principle which is so abundant in the upper air, and which when the blood is nearly saturated with it, pro- duces that dull and lethargic feeling often ex- perienced, was continually being extracted by the pure air of the Cave when breathed into the lungs; and as aconsequence, your blood was coursing through your veins, red and limpid, and as volatile as quick-silver. Elastic to a won- derful degree in every muscle, and buoyant in feeling from the novelty of our situation it is not to be wondered at, that we made boys of our- gelves for the time. "Devil's Arm Chair" and "Elephant's Head," formed out of the Stalag. mite were the next curiosities. "Haunted Cham- ber" is a place where two mummies werc found in a high state of preservation. The Indians no doubt, have penetrated into this Cavern to a greater distance than we might expect, as there are sundry indications, in other avenues. It is said, there is no principle of decay in the Cave, as the temperature is so uniformly at one point. and so dry. "Lover's Leap," next arrests your footsteps, after getting down which, you find your way through a fissure in the rock, and come into a lower cavern, containing what is termed the "Gothic Chapel," one of the most beautiful places we had yet seen. Talk about the abbeys and pillared halls of the old world! they are nothing to this specimen, in the back- woods of the new. Here is a temple, older than any built with hands, and of an architecture so unique, that it has not to this day, received its appropriate name. A more original pulpit can- not be conceived. It is of the most singular shape, just large enough to hold a man, and is formed about the centre of this part of the Cave, by the drippings from the roof, which is suppor- ted on each side by double rows of columns, leaving it in a half circle, and forming a sort of an amphitheatre, as it were, for the audience. Long did we stop here, and admire the ever va- rying changes produced by each different dispo- sition of our lamps. We left however, and went ,on still farther to the "Cinder-pile," a very ap- propriate name for the spot, as the formation
here, resembles remarkably, the pile of cinders thrown from a blacksmith's forge. We were now four miles from the entranca, and had to re- trace our steps, to the main Cave, our curiosity wonderfully excited by promises made by our guide of what we should see on the morrow .- We had been in the Cave over six hours, which had flown by, as so many minutes. We found a good supper ready for us, and very comforta- ble quarters in the "Cave House." The couch soon received my tired limbs, and slumber came, bringing with it the wildest dreams imaginable. The caverns presented by the excited imagina- tion, were of the most fantastic shape, and per- petually changing. Daylight at last peeped in at my windows and with alacrity I arose, that I might be ready for my under-ground journey .- I found five or six of the gentlemen belonging to our party already on the piazza, preparing for the descent. The guide came at length, with a lamp for each, and a gallon can of oil slung up- on his back. As this was to be a long journey, our host had, with commendable care, paid at- tention to the anticipated wants of seven or eight men, who, no doubt, might be hungry during the day. K.
Seats of Government in Ohio.
It seems by the following letter, that the Ohio Legislature held its session of 1810-11, at Zanes- ville, and that they were then about to deter- mine on a permanent scite for the capital of the State.
SIR :
Zanesville, Jan: 3d, 1811.
I received yours of the 25th ult., since which nothing of importance has transpired, though business is going on more briskly now, but there is too much argument ; six lawyers in the house of Representatives, and two practic- ing lawyers in the Senate. This day the seat. of government comes on the carpet in the House. of Representatives. Sell's farm, which is the place the Commissioners reported, twelve miles above Franklinton, on the west side of the Scio- to is most spoken of; but there is Worthington, Franklinton, Zanesville, a place 'in Delaware, not far from Bixbie's; but this latter place is supposed too much north-it is difficult to say where it will rest yet. Very little is yet said of the resolution, but its friends I fear are the ma- jority. If so, as they are in the habit of sweep- ing, they may sweep away with it, but I find there is no telling how a question will be deter- mined until it is tried.
I cannot tell when an adjournment will take place, but I do not expect to be at home before the last of the month.
Remember me to my old friend Capt. Carpen- er. Capt. Hubbell ate breakfast with me on Monday last, and was on his road to Washing- ton-I think he started on with Worthington
Please remember me to the family.
816462 ours,
AARON GOFORTH.
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Adventure at Iliggins' Block-House.
I give the following narrative from notes of a statement made me a few weeks since, by Mr. E. E. Williams, of Covington, Ky .; probably the only survivor among the actors in the events which he records.
After the battle of the Blue Licks. and in 1786 our family removed to Higgins' block-house on Licking river, 14 miles above Cynthiana. Be- tween those periods my father had been shot by the Indians, and my mother married Samuel Van Hook, who had been one of the party en- gaged in the defence at Ruddle's station, in 17- 80, and on its surrender was carried with the rest of the prisoners to Detroit.
Higgins' Fort, or block-house, had been built at the bank of Licking, on precipitous rocks, at least thirty feet high, which served to protect us on every side but one. On the morning of the 12th June, at day light, the fort which con- sisted of six or seven houses, was attacked by a party of Indians, fifteen to twenty in number. There was a cabin outside below the fort where William McCombs resided, although absent at the time. His son Andrew and a man hired in the family, named Joseph McFall, on making their appearance at the door to wash themselves were both shot down, McCombs through the knee, and McFall in the pit of the stomach. McFall ran to the block-house, and McCombs fell, unable to support himself longer, just after opening the door of his cabin, and was dragged in by his sisters, who barricaded the door instant- ly. On the level and upon the only accessible side, there was a cornfield, and the season be- ing favorable, and the soil rich as well as new, the corn was more than breast high. Here the main body of the Indians lay concealed, while three or four who made the attack attempted :hereby to decoy the whites outside of their de- fences. Failing in this they set fire to an old fence and corn-crib, and two stables, both long enough built to be thoroughly combustible .-- These had previously protected their approach in that direction. Capt. Asa Reese was in com- mand of our little Fort. "Boys." said he, "some of you must run over to Hinkston's or Harri- son's." These were 13 and 2 miles off, but in different directions. Every man declined. I objected, alleging as my reason, that he would give up the fort before I could bring relief, but on his assurance that he would hold out, I agreed to go. I jumped off the bank through the thick- et of trees which broke my fall while they scratched my face and limbs. I got to the ground with a limb clenched in my hands, which I had grasped unawares in getting through. I recov- ered from the jar, in less than a minute, crossed
the Licking, and ran up a cow-path on the op- posite side which the cows from one of those forts had beat down in their visits for water. As "soon as I had gained the bank, 1 shouted, to as- sure my friends of my safety, and to discourage the enemy. In less than an hour I was back with a relief of ten horsemen, well armed, and driving in full chisel, after the Indians. But they had decamped immediately upon hearing my signal, well knowing what it meant, and it was deemed imprudent to pursue them with so weak a party, the whole force in Higgins' block- house hardly sufficing to guard the women and children there. McFall, from whom the bullet could not be extracted, lingered two days and two nights in great pain, when he died, as did Combs on the ninth day, mortification then ta- king place.
From Higgins' station, we moved in the fall of 1791 to Covington, or rather the mouth of Licking, building a cabin about twenty rods be- low the point. This was the first house put up in what is now Covington.
Before this however, and in the fall of 1790, I had volunteered in Harmar's expedition, and was on my road, when my horse descending a piece of hill ground got one foot entangled a- mong the roots of a tree, and in his efforts to extricate himself, fell and broke his leg. In the fall I was so much hurt as to confine me to bed for two weeks, before 1 could again walk .--- Next year my brother James and myself volun- teered with St. Clair among the troops from Ken- tucky, and continued with him till the defeat. I assisted in building Forts Hamilton and Jeffer- son and Greenville. I was not in the battle, be- ing detached with the troops under Maj. Ham- tramck, back to Fort Hamilton to escort on the provisions, clothing, &c., of which the army stood in want, When we had nearly reached on our return, the place where we had left the army, we met the flying stragglers. I then re- turned to Kentucky. Wayne sent on troops in 1792, and came on himself in 1793, and encamp- ed his entire force at "Hobson's Choice," a strip of dry ground above Mill creek, reaching at its upper range somewhere about the present Gas works, and started thence about the first of Au- gust. James and I were sent for as old Indian fighters, and a corps of ahout 65 scouts was form- ed and put under the command of Captain Ephraim Kibby, of Columbia. We moved on the line of forts already constructed, built Fort Recovery-St. Clair's battle ground,-Fort Wayne in the forks of Maumee, and Fort Defi- ance on the Auglaise. We then went on to the rapids of the Maumee, where Wayne defeated the Indians. Here again I escaped the battle,
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although less danger was incurred in it than usual in Indian fights, the regulars having driv en the enemy with such spirit, and at such a rate, that the volunteers, and especially the moun- ted men who were compelled to take an exten- sive circuit to get round the fallen timbers where the charge was made, were not able to over- take either the pursuers or pursued, who were driven two miles on a run at the point of the bayonet. Capt. Kibby's company had been de- tached across the river to scour the woods, and rouse the Indians, who were supposed to be con- cealed on that side, and likely to endanger the rear of the American troops, as they could ea- sily have crossed by wading the ripple above the rapids. It appeared however, that there were none at that place. I returned home being regularly discharged. There was hardly any money in circulation. A few of the officers drew enough to pay their expenses home, but the private soldiers and volunteers did not get their pay for many months afterwards.
Mill Creek Bridge in 1798.
In one of my lat numbers I published a his- tory of the early Mill and Deer Creek bridges. The following subscription paper drawn up by John Cleves Symmes, supplies a chasm in the early records of Cincinnati. Of theindividuals, signing the subscription, Judge Burnet and Griffin Yeatman of our City, alone survive.
Hamilton County, April 10th, 1798.
We the under-written subscribers, whose names are hereunto affixed, do promise to pay to Thomas Gibson, George Cullum, John Matson, Sen ., and William H. Harrison, Esqs., or to the order of any three of them, the several sums an- nexed to our names for the express and sole pur- pose of forming and erecting a bridge over Mill creek at its mouth, either of stone or wood,on pil- lars or bents, so high as tobe level with the top of the adjacent banks, and twelve feet wide, cover ed with three-inch plank, and so strong that wag- gons with three tons weight may be safely drove over the same, and so durable that the under- taker shall warrant the bridge to continue, and be kept in repair for passing loaded waggons, seven years after the bridge is finished.
The great advantage of this bridge, as well for supplies going to market, as to the merchants, tradesmen, and other inhabitants of Cincinnati, as for travellers in general, need no illustration.
One year from the date hereof is allowed to fill this subscription, and contract with an un- dertaker to build the said bridge, which if not begun within the year. this present subscription shall be void.
Subscriber's Names.
John Cleves Symmes, One hundred dollars.
Thomas Gibson, Forty dollars, Wm. II. Harrison, Forty dollars, Corn's. R Sedam, Forty dollars, Israel Ludlow, Seventy dollars. Joel Williams, Thirty dollars. Wm, Ramsay, Five dollars. Samuel Dick, Seven dollars. Smith & Findlay, Ten dollars, George Fithian, Three dollars. J. Clarke, Five dollars. Andrew Park, Three dollars. Culbertson Park, Three dollars. Stephen Wood, Ten dollars. David Snodgrass, Two dollars. Aaron Reeder, Three dollars. Burt & Newman, Five dollars, Griffin Yeatman, Five dollars. J. Sellinan, Five dollars. Benjamin Stites, Eight dollars , Thomas Goudy, One dollar. George Gordon, Three dollars. A. St. Clair. jun., Five dollars. Wm. McMillan, Two dollars .
J. & Abijah Hunt, Twenty dollars.
Jacob Burnet, Five dollars .
Joseph Prince, Three dollars.
*Twenty dollars in addition to Wm. Ludlow's subscription, subscribed for him by Wm. H Harrison at Mr, Ludlow's consent:
Great Men not always wise.
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, having received a vol- ume of Scott's Commentary on the Bible from the publisher at Philadelphia, in reply said :-
"With my sincere thanks for your kind at- tention, I must pray you consider me a subscri- ber for the book, and, to save the trouble of re- peated payments, enclose a check for the whole subscription-a general principle of pro- priety interdicting my acceptance of articles of value while I am in the public service."
Mr. Adams does not seem to perceive that by such a course, he is opening wide the door for his becoming an unwilling purchaser of not on- ly books of every description, but various other kinds of goods. He will find his card, or I great- ly mistake, an open letter or authority for eve- ry book publisher to draw on him for the value of one copy of any publication he makes. Nor will this prove the only article he will thus be compelled to buy .
Mr. Clay, on the contrary, has more knowl- edge of the world, that is to say of human nature. Witness his late correspondence with Orlando Fish, of New York.
"EPISTOLARY .- Punch will have to knock under to Orlando Fish. The following corres- pondence is a curiosity :
"Dear Sir : Deprived as we are doomed to be, of the pleasure of having yourself at our head
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for a few ensuing years, will you allow us the minor pleasure of having ourself at yours, for a brief period, by accepting this Hat? and may it afford you, sir, what you have so zealously la- bored to secure to us-Protection.
Very respectfully yonr ob't servant,
ORLANDO FISH. Hon. HENRY CLAY.
REPLY. ASIILAND, 29th Jan., 1845.
My Dear Sir : I offer many and cordial thanks for the Hat which you have kindly presented to me, and for the note which accompanied it. The Hat might have "protected" a better or wi- ser head than mine, but no head was ever cov- ered by a better or more elegant Hat.
Most truly, I am your friend and obedient servant, H. CLAY.
ORLANDO FISH, Esq.
Had Mr. Clay paid for the hat, he would have been supplied with hats sufficient, and more than sufficient to last his natural lifetimc. He treated the subject like a man of sense. Mr. Adams is a learned inan, learned rather than wise. If he had been more practical in his knowledge, he must have perceived that he laid himself under no more obligation by accepting the commentaries than Henry Clay was under to Orlando Fish for the beaver. The publisher and the manufacturer could make more money out of the names of John Q. Adams and Henry Clay, than they could have obtained by the di- rect payment of their articles of which they made presents. These things are tricks of the trade, perfectly understood in the business world.
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