USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > The Cincinnati miscellany, or, Antiquities of the West, and pioneer history and general and local statistics. Volume II > Part 72
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Kindness.
" What! Mr. Brown a brute! why he writes to his wife every packet!" " Yes, he writes a par- cel of flummery about the agony of absence, but he has never remitted her a shilling. Do you call that kindness?" " Decidedly, unremitting kind- ness."
Juvenile Precocity.
"Boy what is your name?" " Robert, sir." " Yes, that is your christian name, but what is
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Nomenclature.
A survey of the last British Tariff, which I have lately made, suggests some curious statis- tics, as respects names.
Among the articles imported into Great Britain, are,-Acorns, Aristolochia, Asses, Bastropes, Glass Bugles, Singing Birds, Clinkers, Bullrush- es, Caviare, Chillias, Civet, Culm, Codilla, Coir, Coker, Cutch, Divi divi, Flocks, Granilla, Inkle, Jet, Latten, Lentiles, Medlars, Orchal, Orsidew, Safflower, Salep, Stavesacre, Talc, Tarras, Tin- cal, Tornsal, Truffles, Vallonia, Weld, Woad, and Zaffre. All these are subject to duty. Most of these things are as much known to the general reader as if their names were in Arabic; and it must be matter of surprise that many of those which are known should be subjects of duty, or even importation.
How far the cheap luxuries of our country are denied to the mass in Great Britain, may be in- fered from the duty on mead-5s. 6d. per gallon -about one dollar and forty cents; and cider £10 10s., or fifty-two dollars per tun. It may be said these duties are designed as prohibitory, but if even so, they indicate the price at home of these articles, since it is never necessary that a prohibi- tory duty should exceed, or even equal, the value of the domestic article.
Sugar Refinery.
Before twenty years shall have elapsed, a man- ufacturing interest will have sprung into exist- ence in and around Cincinnati, of which we have no example in the U. States. In but the growth of our infancy we have already the great amount of $20,000,000 as an annual product of our me- chanical and manufacturing industry. What we shall become when the manufactures of cotton, woolen, and iron, which are either not now in existence here or which have been in operation only upon a limited scale, shall have reached their utmost capacity of profitable establishment, may be infered from our progress in this line of the last twenty years, at the commencement of which period our manufacturing products reach- ed barely three millions of dollars in value. When capital shall be directed to this point from abroad to such an extent as to enable us to manufacture the bar and sheet iron of the west, and to make cotton sheetings and printed goods for the United States and foreign markets, which will be done here within twenty years, we shall then behold a concentration of business and population at Cincinnati which will surpass the most sanguine expectations of its citizens at this time.
I am aware of the ridicule which men of petty minds and narrow views may cast upon such pre- dictions, but I entrench myself on the fact that the most liberal estimate for the future of the pro-
gress of Cincinnati, made by myself or any other person hitherto, through the medium of the press, has always fallen far short of the reality, when the period to which it refered arrived, and the views I entertain of our ultimate destiny are now being shared by a much larger portion of our in- habitants than had sustained my former anticipa- tions of the progress of Cincinnati.
I shall, therefore, allude now to a branch of productive industry which the lapse of a few years will establish here, and to an extent of which few persons are now aware. I refer to the refi- ning of New Orleans sugar.
It is matter of surprise to me, that in a city now approaching a population of one hundred thousand souls, no sugar refinery exists, while in St. Louis, destitute of our advantages for their establishment, there are four or five. A mere glance at the subject must satisfy almost every one that the demand upon Cincinnati for the ar- ticles of refined sugar and molasses, must be equal to that of St. Louis, at least.
During the past year the whole region east and west of the Lakes has been added to the already extensive markets whichour manufactures and the foreign goods business have supplied to Ohio, In- diana, and parts of Kentucky, Virginia, and Il- linois.
The Miami Extension Canal opens at onco what our Sandusky Rail-Road will more exten- sively effect; since by transporting produce at lower rates, a market to Western New York, Northern Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Southern and Eastern Michigan, for groceries, will be crea- ted which must shortly close the supplies from the Empire City, in that line.
When our rail-road shall extend to the Lake. forty thousand additional hogsheads New Or- leans sugar, and molasses in proportion, will be needed for the region alluded to. The basis of this estimate is found in the fact that Louisi- ana sugar can be put down at the terminus of - the canal and rail-road, for at least one cent per pound less than it can be supplied via New York. The figures which establish this are few and ea- sily comprehended. The freight from plantation to Cincinnati is # cent per pound; from Cincin- nati to the Lake è cent. Contracts for any amount of freight can be made at this price now, the toll being but 124 cents per hundred, or $1.25 per thousand. Now the average of freight from plantation to New York is all of fifty cents per hundred, or five dollars per hogshead. Freight, including tolls, from New York to Buffalo, } cent additional; and the insurance requisite to pass it by way of New York, equal to 3-8 cent. Here are then 1} cent per pound charges via N. York, against } cent via Cincinnati. And the market for the article is principally west of Buf-
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falo, which will make a further difference in fa- 1 vour of the Ohio route of at least # cent per lb. to take it as far west as the terminus of ourcanal or rail road. All these calculations serve to show that sugar, molasses, &c., can be sent as far as Utica, N. Y., before New York City can fairly compete with us in prices, and the consumption of sugar in the region west of Utica is known to exceed fifty thousand hogsheads annually.
In these estimates the expenses of tranship- ment by both routes are assumed to be equal, but it might easily be shown that the charges here are always lighter than at New York, where the expense in every shape of carrying on busi- ness is greater than in Cincinnati.
All that has been thus exhibited of superior access with crude sugar to western and northern markets, applies with still greater force to refined sugar, as an article in which less bulk and weight to higher valne has an important bearing in charges of transportation.
When we recollect that every item of expense in manufacturing is less costly here than at St. Louis, it becomes evident that sugar and molas- ses, refined from crude sugar, with which we are now extensively supplied from that place, will be manufactured in this city in the course of a year or two.
Alligator Killing.
In the dark recesses of the loneliest swamps, in those dismal abodes where decay and produc- tion seem to run riot; where the serpent crawis from his den among the tangled ferns and luxu- riant grass, and hisses forth its propensities to de- stroy unmolested; where the toad and lizard spend the live-long day in their melancholy chirp- ings; where the stagnant pool festers and fer- ments, and bubbles up its foul miasma; where the fungi seems to grow beneath your gaze; where the unclean birds retire after their repast, and sit and stare with dull eyes in vacancy for hours and days together; there originates the alligator; there, if happy in his history, he lives and dies. The pioneer of the forest invades his home; the axe lets in the sunshine upon his hiding places: he frequently finds himself, like the Indian, sur- rounded by the encroachments of civilization, a mere intruder in his original domain, and under such circumstances only does he become an ob- ject of rough sport, the incidents of which deserve a passing notice.
" The extreme southern portions of the United States are exceedingly favourable to the growth of the alligator: in the swamps that stretch over a vast extent of country, inaccessible almost to man, they increase in numbers and size, live un- disputed monarchs of their abodes, exhibiting but little more intelligence, or exerting but little more volition than the decayed trunk of the tree, for which they are not unfrequently taken. In these swamp regions, however, are frequently found high ridges of land, inviting cultivation. The log cabin takes the place of the rank vegetation; the evidences of thrift appear; and as the running streams display themselves, and are cleared for navigation, the old settler, the alligator, becomes
exposed, and daily falls a victim to the rapacity of man. Thus hunted, like creatures of higher organization, he grows more intelligent, from the dangers of his situation; his taste grows more delicate, and he wars in turn upon his only ene- my; soon acquires a civilized taste for pork and poultry, and acquires also a very uncivilized one for dogs.
An alligator in the truly savage state is a very happy reptile: encased in an armour as impene- trable as that of Ajax, lie moves about unharmed by surrounding circumstances. The fangs of the rattlesnake grate over his scales as they would over a file; the constrictor finds nothing about him to crush; the poisonous moccasin bites at him in vain; and the greatest pest of all, the musqui- to, that fills the air of his abode with a million stings, that burn the flesh like sparks of fire, buzz out their fury upon his carcass in vain. To say that he enjoys not these advantages, that he crawls not forth as a proud knight in his armour, that he treads not upon the land as a master, and moves in the water the same, would be doing in- justice to his aetions, and his habits, and the phi- losophical example of independence which he sets to the trembling victims that are daily sacrificed to his wants.
The character of an alligator's face is far from being a flattering letter of recommendation. It suggests a rude shovel; the mouth extends from the extreme tip of the nose backwards until it passes the ears; indeed, about one- third of the whole animal is mouth, with the exact expression of a tailor's shears; and this mouth being orna- mented with a superabundance of rows of white teeth, gives the same hope of getting out of it, sound in body and mind, if once in, as does the hopper of a bark-mill. Its body is short and round not unlike that of a horse; its tail is very long and flattened at the end like an oar. It has the most dexterous use of this appendage, pro- pelling along, swiftly, and on land it answers the purpose of a weapon of defence.
The traveler through the lonely swamp at nightfall often finds himself surrounded by these singular creatures, and if he is unaccustomed to their presence and'habits, they cause great alarm. Scattered about in every direction, yet luidden by the darkness, he hears their huge jaws open and shut with a force that makes a noise, when num- bers are congregated, like echoing thunder. Again, in the glare of the camp-fire, will some- times be seen the huge alligator crawling within the lighted circle, attracted by the smell of food -perchance you have squatted upon a nest of eggs, encased with great judgment in the centre of some high ground you yourself have chosen to pass the night upon. Many there are, who go unconcernedly to sleep with such intruders in their immediate vicinity; but a rifle-ball, effect- ively fired, will most certainly leave you unmo- lested, and the dying alligator, no doubt com- forts itself that the sun will not neglect its ma- ternal charge, but raise up its numerous young as hideous and destructive as itself.
The alligator is a luxurious animal, fond of all the comforts of life, which are, according to its habits, plentifully scattered around it. We have watched them, enjoying their evening nap in the shades of tangled vines, and in the hollow trunk of the cypress, or floating like a log on the top of some sluggish pool. We have seen them sport- ing in the green slime, and catching, like a dainty gourmand, the fattest frogs and longest snakes;
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but they are in the height of their glory, stretched out upon the sand-bar, in the meridian sun, when the summer heats pour down and radiate back from the parched sand, as tangibly as they would from red hot iron. In such places will they bask and blow off, with a loud noise, the inflated air and water, that would seem to expand within them as if confined in an iron pipe, occasionally rolling about their swinish eyes with a slowness of motion, that, while it expresses the most per- fect satisfaction, is in no way calculated to agi- tate their nerves, or discompose them by too sud- denly taking the impression of outward objects. While :hus disposed of, and after the first nap is taken, they amuse themselves with opening their huge jaws to their widest extent, upon the inside of which, instinctively settle, thousands of mus- quitoes and other noxious insects that infest the abode of the alligator. When the inside of the mouth is thus covered, the reptile brings his jaws together with inconceivable velocity, gives a gulp or two, and again sets his formidable trap for this small game.
Some years since, a gentleman in the southern part of Louisiana, " opening a plantation, " found, after most of the forest had been cleared off, that in the centre of his land was a boggy piece of low soil, covering nearly twenty acres. This place was singularly infested with alligators. Among the first victims that fell a prey to their rapacity, were a number of hogs and fine poultry; next followed most of a pack of fine deer hounds. It may be easily imagined that the last outrage was not passed over with indifference. The leisure time of every day was devoted to their extermi- nation, until the cold of winter rendered then torpid, and buried them up in the mud. The fol- lowing summer, as is naturally the case, the swamp, from the heat of the sun, contracted in its dimensions; a number of artificial ditches drained off the water, and left the alligators little else to live in than mud, about the consistency of good mortar: still the alligators clung, with singu- lar tenacity, to their native homesteads as if per- fectly conscious that the coming fall would bring them rain. While thus exposed, a general at- tack was planned, carried into execution, and nearly every alligator of any size was destroyed. It was a fearful and disgusting sight to see them rolling about in the thick mud, striking their im- mense jaws together in the agony of death. Dreadful to relate, the stench of these decaying bodies in the hot sun produced an unthought-of evil. Teams of oxen were used in vain to haul them away; the progress of corruption under the sun of a tropical climate made the attempt fruit- less. On the very edge of the swamp, with noth- ing exposed but the head, lay a huge monster, evidently sixteen or eighteen feet long; he had been wounded in the melee, and made incapable of moving, and the heat had actually baked the earth around his body as firmly as if imbeded in cement. It was a cruel and singular exhibition, to see so much power for destruction so help- less. We amused ourselves in throwing things into his great cavernous mouth, which he would grind up between his teeth. Seizing a large oak rail, we attempted to run it down his throat, but it was impossible; for he held it for a moment as firmly as if it had been the bow of a ship, thon with his jawy crushed and ground it to fine splint- ers. The odd fellow, however, had his revenge; the dead alligators were found more destructive than the living ones, and the plantation for a sea- son had to be abandoned.
In shooting the alligator, the bullet must hit just in front of the fore legs, where the skin is most vulnerable; it seldom penetrates in other parts of the body. Certainty of aim, therefore, tells, in alligator shooting, as it does in every tning eise connected with sporting. Generally, the alligator, when wounded, retreats to some obscure place; but if wounded in a bayou, where the banks are steep, and not affording any hi- ding-places, he makes considerable amusement in his convolutions in the water, and in his efforts to avoid the pain of his smarting wounds. In shooting, the instant you fire, the reptile disap- pears, and you are for a few moments unable to learn the extent of injury you have inflicted. An excellent shot, that sent the load with almost un- erring certainty through the eye, was made at a huge alligator, and, as usual, he disappeared, but almost instantly rose again, spouting water from his nose, not unlike a whale. A second ball, shot in his tail, sent him down again, but he instantly rose and spouted: this singular conduct prompted a bit of provocation, in the way of a plentiful sprinkling of bits of wood, rattled against his hide. The alligator lashed himself into a fury; the blood started from his month; he beat the water with his tail until he covered himself with spray, but never sunk without instantly rising again. In the course of the day he died and floated ashore; and on examination, it was found that the little valve nature has provided the rep- tile with, to close over its nostrils when under water, had been cut off by the first shot, and thus compelled him to stay on the top of the water to keep from being drowned. We have heard of many since who have tried thus to wonnd them, and although they have been hit in the nose, yet they have been so crippled as to sink and die.
The alligator is particularly destructive on pigs and dogs, when they inhabit places near planta- tions; and if you wish to shoot them, you can never fail to draw them on the surface of the water, if you will make a dog yell, or pig squeal; and that too, in places where you may have been fishing all day, without suspecting their presence. Herodotus mentions the catching of crocodiles in the Nile, by baiting a hook with flesh, and then attracting the reptile towards it by making a hog squeal. 'The ancient Egyptain manner of killing the crocodile is different from that of the present day, as powder and ball have changed the man- ner of destruction; but the fondness for pigs in the crocodile and alligator, after more than two thousand years, remains the same.
Manufactures of Cincinnati.
The productive industry of Cincinnati is em- ployed in manufacturing articles requiring man- ual labour, more than those made by machinery. In this respect it differs greatly from Pittsburgh. The manufactures in wood, iron and other met- als, leather, cotton, wool, linen and hemp, etc., of Cincinnati, amounted in the year 1841, to nearly $17,500,000, and employed 10,640 hands. Of these manufactures there were five steamboat yards producing $592,500 per annum, and em- ploying 306 hands; thirteen foundries and en- gine shops, employing 563 hands, and producing $668,657; four machinists employing 42 hands, and producing $77,000; two rolling mills employ- ing 148 hands, and producing $394,000; five sheet iron works employing 33 hands, and pro- ducing $58,000; eight brass foundries employing 62 hands, and producing $81,000; thirty-two copper, brass, sheet iron, and tin plate shops en-
y 5;
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ploying 208 hands, and producing $311,300; in | view of the South and West," published at New the manufactures of leather, making boots, shoes, Orleans by J. D. B. DeBow, is to hand. The ar- ticle in to-day's Advertiser-" Manufactures in Cincinnati"-is from this publication, and af- fords a striking picture-far short of the reality however-of our business and industry. saddlery, and the material itself, there were 988 hands employed, producing $1,768,000; the man- ufactures of cotton, wool, linen and hemp-con- sisting of awning and sail making, coach lace, fringe and military equipments, cotton-yarn fac- tories, oil cloth factories, cordage and rope fac- tories, etc .- employed 352 hands, and produced $411,190.
Besides these, there are manufactories of white lead, oil for machinery etc., paper, flour, clothing, (the clothing stores alone employ 813 hands, and produce $1,223,800 per annum,) hats, soap, can- ales, powder, etc., etc.
From the above statement we are struck with the great extent to which the productive industry of Cincinnati has arrived. Many other articles might have been added to it, but we have only selected those which are most required for mili- tary and naval forces.
The manufactures of Cincinnati are noted throughout the west for their superiority of workmanship, and their excellence of material; hence they command better prices than those from the east. This city is also famed for its steamboat building; some of the finest and largest boats on the western waters have been construct- ed there. In 1840 there were thirty-three steam- boats of 5631 tons built, at a cost of $592,000.
Albert and Victoria.
The present Royal Family of England consists of six persons; Alexandria Victoria, twenty-six years of age; and Albert Francis Augustus Charles Emanuel -- we delight, like the good Vi- car of Wakefield, in giving the full name-her royal husband, who is three months younger than the lady; his wife and Queen. The eldest child, will be five years old in November, and rejoices in the mellifluous appellative of Victoria Adelaide Mary Louisa. The next child is a boy, and will be four years old the 9th of November. He will be the king hereafter, if he outlives his mother, and the Kingdom endures; the boy taking prece- dence of the sister, although younger. His name is Albert Edward, and his style the Prince of Wales. The second Princess Royal-two years old-is Alice Mand Mary. The Royal Prince born the 6th of August last, is named Alfred Ernst Albert.
Advantage of Advertising.
A lady in Providence, R. I., having ordered an advertisement of "money lost," in one of the papers, returned home and found it in the drawer of her work-table.
To Readers.
There is an admirable publication of T. B THORPE, called " The Mysteries of the Back- woods," which affords a more accurate idea of the manners, habits and sports of the west than any thing else I recollect seeing. The chapter on Alligator killing in the southwest is a specimen of the sort, and I shall publish one or two more on other subjects. The book is for sale at Rob- inson &. Jones', on Main street.
The March number of " The Commercial Re-
Chronological Table.
March 27th .- Embargo, 1794. Peace of Ami- ens, 1802.
28th .- Gen. Abercrombie, died, 1801. Raphael, born, 1483.
29th .- The planet Vesta, discovered by Dr. Olbers of Bremen, 1807. Swedenborg, died, 1772. Siege of Acre, 1799.
30th .- Dr. Hunter, died, 1783. The Allied Sovereigns entered Paris 1814.
31st .- Beethoven, died, 1827.
Western Literature.
It is not often that western talent is recognised in our Atlantic Cities, and western literature finds a market there. Geo. W. Cutter, of our neighbouring city of Covington, however, has found a publisher in New York for his poems, in one of the first houses there, and the handsome compensation of one thousand dollars as the price of the copy right. The volume is in course of preparation for the press, and will make its ap- pearance in the course of a few months.
Vicissitudes.
The following is a picture of human life. Mr. William A. Welles, a journeyman printer, at a late typographical celebration in Rochester, New York, gave a synopsis of his ups and downs through life, to this effect:
He commenced active life in the office of Al- derman Seymour, of New York. His associates were Commissary Gen. Chandler, Mr. Mayor Harper, and Gen. Geo. P. Morris. Here he pulled the first sheet of the New York American; set the early numbers of Salamagundi and the Sketch Book of Washington Irving. He went thence to Boston, where he set from manuscript, Gibbs' Hebrew Lexicon, which included nineteen different languages, living and dead. Tired of such employment, and obtaining a midshipman's warrant, he then went to sea on board the Brandy- wine, Com. Morris, in which Gen. Lafayette re- turned to France, from his visit to America, in 1825. After leaving Lafayette at home, on board the Brandywine, he makes the circumnavigation of the Globe, almost.
As a printer he had worked in almost every city in the United States; besides building a saw mill, and mill dam across Bear Lake, Western Michigan. He has acted in every capacity in a
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printing office, from devil to editor and publisher of a city daily press.
Among other vicissitudes, he was incarcerated at Buenos Ayres, in the same dungeon of the Carcal with Don Manuel Rosas, now President of the Argentine Republic, although for different offences. Rosas was confincd for treason-in all ages a gentlemanly crime-at least in despotic governments; Welles for slipping a dirk be- tween the ribs of a Gaucho, who attempted his life.
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