"NEWS FROM THE OHIO!"
Extract of a. letter from a Gentleman at the Muskingum, to the
Printer
of the MASSACHUSETTS SPY, written on the spot where the first city of
that
territory is to be built.1
ADELPHI, May 16th, 1788.
MR. THOMAS,
I embrace the earliest opportunity of
communicating to you such
information as I am capable of giving,
respecting the Western Country
in general, and in particular of that
part purchased by the Ohio Company.
With respect to the country in general,
and even of the greatest part
of our Purchase, I am still obliged to
rest my opinion on that of others,
as I have had opportunity of seeing but
a small part thereof; however,
from what I have seen and been informed
since my arrival, it is my
decided opinion that Mr. Hutchins, in
his pamphlet (republished in the
Massachusetts Spy in February and March, 1786) has given a
very modest
description thereof.
I am much pleased with the Purchase we
have made, and am fully
determined to fix my residence here.
That part of the Purchase I have
been over, far exceeds my expectations;
from our eastern boundry to
the Muskingum (the distance of about
five miles) the intervals, or what
the people of this country call bottoms,
are from one half to three
quarters of a mile wide; these, in
richness, an apparent fertility of soil,
exceed any thing I ever saw east of the
Allegany Mountains; next to
these are what is called second bottoms,
which are elevated plains, and
gentle risings of the richest uplands,
and as free from stone as the low
or first bottom, except in some few
instances, where these elevated plains
consist of a shallow, light, and
sometimes sandy soil, under which appears
an open, loose earth; back of these
commence the hills, which in general
are considerably uneven, and separated
by deep, hollow grounds, which
flow innumerable rivulets, which have
their source from springs which rise
among the hills, the most of which are
free from stone, and consist of
rich and deep soil, suited to the
culture of wheat, grazing, &c. In this
distance fall into the Ohio two
very considerable creeks, called Little
Muskingum and Duck Creek; in the spring
season these are navigable
for boats more than twenty miles, and
afford large tracts of the best
bottoms and uplands for farming.
We have surveyed the lots of one mile
square on both sides the
Muskingum, for 15 miles up; a
description of the lands in this distance
would be only a repetition of that
already given of that on the Ohio.
The timber growing on the land above
described are of the kinds men-
tioned by Mr. Hutchins and others; but I
must confess the trees are
larger and more numerous than I expected
to find.
We have found plenty of lime stone, as
well as fine quarries of
building stone, at a small distance up
the Muskingum, sufficient for
building the city, or any other purpose
for which they may be wanted.
At present we go 20 miles up the river
for pit coal, but there is no doubt
1 Massachusetts Spy: or, The Worcester Gazette, June 19, 1788.
(371)
372 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
plenty will be found nearer; we have
found several salt licks within our
surveys, and are assured there is a salt
spring about 40 miles up the
Muskingum, from which a sufficient
quantity of salt for the supply of
the country may be made: Some gentlemen
at Fort Harmer doubt this
information, but say a sufficient
quantity may be made at a spring on a
branch of the Scioto.
We have had no time yet to go in search
of iron ore, but one of
our people has brought in a small stone,
taken from one of the neighbor-
ing hills, which I found on trial to
contain a rich iron ore. We find
the season here much more forward than
even at Pittsburgh; by the
7th of April there was as good feed for
cattle on the banks of the Mus-
kingum, as you will generally find by
the middle of May in the best
enclosures in the county or Worcester.
To give some idea of beginning a
settlement in this country, com-
pared with Vermont or any new country to
the northward, I state the
following fact:--About a dozen families
removed to this place a year
ago last March, and settled opposite
Fort Harmer, on the Virginia side
of the Ohio; their lands were the same
as ours, and entirely new; they
raised one thousand bushels of corn last
season, and although the last
winter was severe, they wintered,
without any hay, (making use of their
husks and storks [stalks], with
some corn) between 60 and 70 horses and
neat cattle, fatted a sufficient
quantity of pork for their own consumption
besides wintering over a large number of
swine.
From the plot of ground laid out for
building the city of Adelphi
we have a most delightful prospect; from
this ground we will have a
full view of the waters in the Ohio
eight or nine miles up that river,
and five below; and of the Muskingum
from its mouth five or six miles
up. The front line of house lots is 95
yards from the Muskingum, and
parallel thereto; all the space between
them and the river is to remain
an open street or common; the course of
this street is north 40 degrees
west, and extends in length one mile;
all the streets are either parallel
or at right angles with that; but from
some hollow ground and rivulets
the city will not be a perfect
parallelogram, although that figure has
been aimed at as much as the situation
would admit; the northeast end
thereof is bordered by a beautiful
brook, which I am informed runs all
the year; the southeast end, and part of
the rear, is bounded by another
creek larger than the former, which will
afford a good canal for boats
to pass up when the waters of the
Muskingum are high. The house lots,
in their nearest approach to the Ohio,
are distant therefrom twenty five
perch, and separated from it by the last
mentioned creek and low interval
land of the first quality; a part of the
house lots toward the rear are
separated from the rest by a deep hollow
ground, through which the last
mentioned creek passes; these lots are
situated in ground gently ascend-
ing towards the northeast, which farther
on terminates in very consider-
able hills, in which rise eight springs,
the sources of the creek last
mentioned; these, with a comparative small
expense, may be collected into
one great reservoir, and conducted to
any part of the city.
The city plot includes the ruins of some
ancient town or works, of
which the world has heard much of late.
I have not had time to take
an accurate survey of them all,
therefore must omit a particular discrip-
tion thereof; but I must confess that I
was greatly surprised in finding
those works so perfect as to put it
beyond all doubt that they are the
remains of a work erected at an amazing
expense, perhaps some thousand
"NEWS FROM THE
OHIO" 373
years since, by a people who had very
considerable knowledge in fortifica-
tions. In laying out our city we have
preserved some of the works
from becoming private property, by
including them within lots or squares
appropriated to publick use, viz. an advanced work,
containing a mound
of earth in the figure of a cone, the
base of which is 376 feet in circum-
ference, and is 30 feet perpendicular,
surrounded by a parapet 586 feet
in circumference and 15 feet thick,
having a ditch 15 feet wide, and at
present about three feet deep, and on
the side next to town or principal
works, an open space without parapet or
ditch, where it is presumed was
the gate or place of entrance. We have
also in the same manner secured
for publick use two elevated mounds of
earth, situate within the walls
of the great oblong square or principal
fortification; one of them is
nearly of a square figure, the sides measuring 153, 45
feet by 135, 7 feet,
is raised about five feet above the
common surface, and on the top a
horizontal plain of the above
dimensions, having on three sides thereof
gentle ascents projecting out, of about
20 feet wide, in the form of
glassee [?], for the convenience of
walking up; and on the fourth side
is an indented ascent of the same width.
The other elevated square is
an oblong of 200 feet by 124, of about
the same height and as level on
the top as the other, and regular
projecting ascents on each side thereof;
these appear to have been the
foundations of some spacious publick build-
ings; but however that may be, they are
very convenient, and now re-
served for that purpose; the rest of the
works can remain, when the city
is built, on paper only.
As to the natives, the ensuing treaty I
trust will be conducted on the
principles of honour and justice, and
end to the satisfaction of that, as
I conceive, much injured people. When we
arrived at this place, we
fortunately found Capt. Pipes, the Chief
of the Delaware Tribe, with
about 70 men, women and children of that and the
Wyandot Tribes, at
Fort Harmer, who had come down to trade;
we were introduced to them
by the Commanding officer; Capt. Pipes some days after,
with about 20
others, came over and dined with me; we
gave them to understand our
business, and that we hoped to live in
friendship, and should be glad to
see them, or any of their friends, at
all times;--Capt. Pipes told us that
they should be happy to live with us,
but did not expect any people would
come on to settle before the treaty; we
told him we had brought no
families, nor would any come on until
after the treaty, when we expected
every thing would be settled to their
satisfaction; in the mean time it
was necessary we should plant some corn;
Capt. Pipes appeared fully
satisfied, and parted with avowing his
friendship should continue as long
as the sun and moon endured. Since
making up this new acquaintance
we have more or less of our Indian
Friends to visit us almost every day,
who appear in perfect good humour, and full as happy as
we in the new
acquaintance; but nothing is said about
our settlement, except one of
their Chiefs, who is now at the fort,
and appears to be a very sensible,
sober old gentleman, on his first visit
to us, told me, that "he thanked
God that the way was cleared so that
they could come down with safety
to trade; that Capt. Pipes told him he and all the
Indians were used
exceedingly well by us; that he was very
glad to see us here, but there
was some things he should not speak of
until they met in the Great
Council," meaning the treaty.