An “Emigrant’s Guide,” printed in 1817 gives the following intelligence of localities along the Ohio River, at that time:
Ironton Register Feb. 14, 1878
“Gallipolis, Ohio is delightfully situated on the bank of the Ohio River, fourteen feet above the highest rise of the river, three miles below the Great Kenhaway (sic). This town was settled by a colony of five hundred French in 1790, but the present number of inhabitants is considerably short of that number.
There are about seventy houses, a Courthouse, a church, and a printing office. They make good wine from a species of native grape. There is a vineyard of six acres which is expected the present year to produce one thousand gallons of wine.”
“Lawrence County, Ohio, [in 1817] had recently been laid out, was not yet organized, and no mention is made of any towns in it. The first steamboat that went down the Ohio river landed a little below where A. P. Kouns Landing now is, and did not land again within this county.”“Portsmouth, Ohio, the seat of justice of Scioto County, stands on a peninsula formed by the confluence of the Scioto with Ohio. Its site is pleasant, gently inclining to the south. It contains about one hundred houses, mostly new.”
“Alexandria is situated on the margin of Ohio, two miles below Portsmouth, and immediately below the Scioto. It was formerly the county seat but was abandoned as a consequence of an inundation caused by an extraordinary rise in Ohio. The water rose four feet above the level of the plain on which it is built.
I measured the bank at this place last June and found it to be seventy feet above the surface of the water, which was then an ordinary height. There are fifteen old buildings, and a tavern, well supported by the votaries of Bacchus. Indolence and dissipation characterize the inhabitants. They have a constant supply of excellent fish. I saw a catfish caught at the mouth of the Scioto weighing seventy-four pounds.”
“Manchester stands near the lower end of Massie’s Island, fifteen miles above Maysville. It is pleasantly situated, and commands a view of Ohio, but appears stationary. It has about forty old houses.”
“Adamsville is about eight miles above Manchester, which it resembles in appearance and size.”
“Maysville contains about 400 houses, a glass factory, and a printing office. It is a brisk place, being the principal river port for the northeast half of the State, as Louisville is for the southwest.
Boats and wagons are continually arriving and departing and great numbers of emigrants cross at this place for Ohio and Indiana. The taverns are well-kept and charge reasonably. The great road from Lexington to Chillicothe crosses at Maysville. Several vessels have been built above the town.”
Brown County, Ohio, was then embraced in Clermont. No mention is made of Ripley, which must at that time have been a place of considerable importance.
“At Augusta, the margin of the river is beautifully ornamental with a double row of locust trees, and the streets and yards are also shaded by locust and poplar. The day I arrived there was very hot and sultry.
The neighboring fields were filled with Negroes, bareheaded, toiling beneath the rays of a scorching sun, while the well-dressed whites sat in groups beneath refreshing shades, engaged in reading newspapers, and beguiling the hours in the vivacity of colloquial intercourse. This town has a particular air of neatness, but its trade is not very extensive. There are about seventy-five houses, a Courthouse, and a meetinghouse.”
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