VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. WESTERN AND SOUTHWESTERN STATES AND STATE OF OHIO. Situation, Boundaries, and Extent. THIS fine state is situated between 38° 30′ and 42° N. lat. and 3° 32′ and 7° 43′ W. long.; bounded north by Michigan territory and lake Erie; south and south-east by the river Ohio, which separates it from Kentucky and Virginia; east by Pennsylvania and the Ohio river; and west by Indiana. Its length from north to south is, according to the latest and best geographers, 228 miles, and its breadth from east to west 200 miles; containing an area of 40,000 square miles, or 25,000,000 acres. Rivers, hills, minerals, &c.-The principal rivers of this state are the Ohio, Great Miami, Little Miami, Scioto, Hockhocking, Muskingum, Cayahoga, Ashtabula, Sandusky, Grand river, and Miami-of-the-lakes. The Ohio forms the south-eastern boundary of the state, from Georgetown in Pennsylvania, to the mouth of the Great Miami, a distance of 412 miles by the windings of the river, viz. from Georgetown to Big Sandy river, the Ohio river divides Virginia from the state of Ohio; and from the mouth of Big Sandy river to that of the Great Miami, it separates Kentucky from the state of Ohio. That part of this beautiful stream which we are now describing, contains the most pleasing part of its scenery, and the most fertile of its shores. It is in reality difficult to conceive of any river in the world winding through a valley more rich in the bounties of nature, or more elegantly chequered with hill and dale; and many charming islands contribute not a little to the beauty of the scene. In a distance of upwards of 400 miles, not one bend of the river but what presents a new landscape entirely different from any other. The bottoms are from a quarter to a mile wide, having generally a perceptible slope backwards to the base of the hills. There are various modes of travelling on this river, which the traveller must attend to, according to the state of the weather. In spring and fall the river is high, and can be navigated with ease by any vessel; the spring freshes commence about the end of February, and continue for upwards of three months: in the fall, the water begins to rise in October, and continues high till near the end of December; but considerable variations take place in different years, according to the wetness or dryness of the seasons. The principal vessels used for descending the Ohio are canoes, Kentucky and New Orleans boats, keel-boats, barges, and latterly, steam-boats. Canoes are the most simple of all vessels, and consist of a large log of wood shaped into a long boat, and excavated in the middle, so as to accommodate passengers and their baggage; these sell from one to three dollars each. Skiffs are built of all sizes, and used with or with out sails, and can be had from five to thirty dollars. Kentucky and New Orleans boats are flats, with sides boarded like a house, about six or seven feet high, over which there is an arched roof. They are of various sizes, but generally large enough to contain 400 barrels of flour; and sell from 4s. 6d. to 6s. 9d. sterling a foot in length. Keel-boats are constructed to draw but little water, are strongly manned, and ply both upwards and downwards; next to the steam-boats, they are the best passage vessels on the Ohio. Barges are well known, and also sail up and down the river; but they are principally used below Cincinnati and the falls of Louisville. Steam-boats have been already described, pages 377 and 382, and those employed upon the western rivers are nothing inferior in convenience and elegant accommodation, though several of them are much larger in size; one in particular, measur ing 700 tons burden. The Great Miami waters a large portion of this state; it is 200 yards wide at its mouth, but 75 miles in the interior it is contracted to thirty yards, though it is navigable for canoes fifty miles above this, in all 125 miles: its entire length is about 130 miles, above 100 of which are among the settlements. It is bounded by some of the finest lands in the state, has a brisk current, pure water, and affords numerous mill-seats. Little Miami rises in Green county, in this state, and after running upwards of 120 miles, by the windings of the river, enters the Ohio seven miles above Cincinnati, and at high water is 150 yards wide. Its course is nearly parallel with the Great Miami, being no where more than twenty miles distant. The channel of this river is very precipitous, affording an immense number of mill-seats; many of which are already improved: two or three paper mills are erected on its banks, The Scioto river falls into the Ohio at the town of Portsmouth, 393 miles (by water) below Pittsburgh, and 132 above Cincinnati. It is navigable for large keel-boats to Columbus, nearly 200 miles from its mouth, with a portage of only four miles to the Sandusky, a boatable water which falls into lake Erie. Towards the source of the Scioto the country is marshy, in the middle level, with much fertile soil; towards the Ohio the country becomes very hilly and broken, The Hockhocking rises in Fairfield county, in this state, and enters the Ohio at the town of Troy, 190 miles (by the river) above the Scioto, and is navigable to Athens, forty miles from its mouth, for large keel-boats: six miles above Athens are rapids which prevent the ascent of boats. The Muskingum rises near the Cayahoga river of lake Erie, and falls into the Ohio 195 miles (by water) below Pittsburgh, where it is 250 yards wide. It is navigable for large keels to the Three Legs, 110 miles from its mouth, and from thence for small boats to within a few miles of the Cayahoga. The current of the Muskingum and all its branches is very rapid. Several large creeks water that part of the state lying. between the Muskingum and the Pennsylvania boundary line; such as Will's creek, Pawpaw, Little Muskingum, Wheeling, Capteena, Stoney, and Sunfish creeks. The following streams water the northern portion of the state, and pay their tribute to lake Erie. Miami-of-the-lakes, rises in the Indian country, and is formed by the junction of the St. Mary's and Little St. Joseph's; it is 165 miles in length, and is navigable for large boats throughout its whole extent, and for vessels of sixty tons to the rapids at Fort Meigs, eighteen miles from its mouth in Miami bay. At these rapids fish swarm in such prodigious quantities, that they are often killed with sticks and stones, and even caught with the hands. The lands which are watered by this stream are represented to be extremely fertile; much of the surface, however, is either priarie or marshy. The Sandusky rises in the same swamp with the Scioto, and flows north sixty miles into Sandusky bay. This river receives but few tributaries, and is a very rapid stream, little impeded by shoals or falls; the land which it waters is a great part priarie, and much of it marshy. The other rivers falling into lake Erie are the Touissant, Portage river, Huron, Vermillion, Black river, Chagrin, Rocky river, Ashtibula, Conneaut, and Grand river; but they have little to distinguish them from each other, and nothing to render a particular description necessary. Aspect of the country, soil, &c.-The face of the country will be noticed in describing the several counties; it will therefore only be necessary here to observe, that throughout the state of Ohio there are no mountains, but bordering on the Ohio river the land is extremely hilly and broken. Most of these hills have a deep, rich soil, and are capable of being cultivated to their very summits; and they abound in coal, lying in horizontal strata. Except coal, this state does not appear to be very rich in minerals; salt springs have been found upon Scioto, some of which are now in operation. Iron has been discovered near the river Ohio in many places, and limestone of excellent quality abounds; the most abundant rock, however, is sandstone slate, which may be considered the basis of the whole country. The bottoms of the Ohio are of very unequal width; the bases of some of the hills approach close to the river, while others recede to the distance of two or three miles. There are usually three bottoms, rising one above the other like the glacis of a fortification; and they are heavily timbered with such trees as denote a very fertile soil. The hills are also covered with oak, chesnut, sugar maple, &c. In such parts of these bottoms as have been cleared and settled, the soil is uniformly fertile in a high degree; producing in great abundance wheat, Indian corn, rye, oats, barley, and indeed every product necessary to buman subsistence, that the climate will admit. Fruits are also produced in great quantity, and of excellent quality, particularly apples and peaches; many of the former will measure eighteen inches in circumference,, and the Ohio bottoms are supposed to produce the latter fruit in greater perfection than any other part of North America. In the western counties, and in the north-western and northern portions of the state, there is a leveller surface, and a moister soil, interspersed with tracts of dry priarie, and forests of a sandy or gravelly soil. The north-western corner of the state contains a considerable district of level, rich land, too wet and swampy to admit of healthy settlements: the soil is a black, loose, friable loam, or a vegetable mould, watered by sluggish and dark-coloured streams. Civil divisions, towns, population, &c.-This state is divided into ten districts, and forty-eight counties, containing, by the census of 1815, 322,790 inhabitants. In 1817, the population was calculated at 380,000, of whom 61,938 were enrolled in the militia. Both the foregoing accounts fall much short, no doubt, of the actual numbers at the times assumed. In describing some of the western states by counties, with a view to afford the fullest information on that por- · tion of the United States towards which the attention of all Europe is now directed, the geographical order has been adopted in preference to an alphabetical arrangement. The county of Hamilton, being the oldest settled part of the state, will be first described: those counties which have not much unsettled land, to invite the attention of emigrants, will be briefly noticed. HAMILTON COUNTY is situated in the south-western corner of the state, has the Ohio river south, Clermont county east, Butler, north, and the state of Indiana west. It is about thirty miles long, and twenty wide, and is watered by the Ohio, Whitewater, Great and Little Miami, Mill, Deer, Taylor's and Dryfork creeks, and contained by the census, 18,700 inhabitants. It has a hilly surface in the vicinity of the large streams; in other parts it is level or gently waving: the valleys are broad and rich, and generally cultivated. The price of unimproved land is from ten to twenty-five dollars; cultivated farms near Cincinnati, from thirty to seventy. Mills are numerous on Mill creek and the Little Miami. There are few unsettled lands in this state, and those are of a second quality. Cincinnati is the chief town, which from its present im |