Bowen 1855

Title: Rambles in the path of the steam-horse.: An off-hand olla podrida [These are the words in the online title], embracing a general historical and descriptive view of the scenery, agricultural and mineral resources, and prominent features of the travelled route from Baltimore to Harper's Ferry, Cumberland, Wheeling, Cincinnati, and Louisville.

Author: Bowen, Eli, b. 1824.

Publication Info: Philadelphia,, Baltimore,: W. Bromwell and W. W. Smith;, S. B. Hickcox, agent, 1855.

Some twenty-five miles below Lawrenceburg, in Kentucky, the Big Bone Lick empties into the Ohio river. This is a celebrated spot-being within a short distance of the Great Bone Lick Springs. The water is thoroughly impregnated with salt; and the place is so called because of the great quantity of bones of the mastodon and of elephants found scattered around the vicinity, in the alluvial surface of the earth. "The first account of the visit of any white man to this place was by Douglass, of Virginia, in 1773, who made use of the rib bones of the animals for tent poles!" These animals, as appears from their remains, were much larger than any existing, or more recent species of which we have any knowledge, and their bones are scattered all over the western country, thus showing that they once constituted a numerous race. Two tusks found at this spot measured eleven feet in length, and at the large end over six inches in diameter. A collection of these bones was made in 1803, by Dr. Goforth; another in 1805, by order of President Jefferson; and various others have been made since, from time to time, by different parties. This is the place where, according to the tradition of the Delaware Indians, as related by Mr. Jefferson, such herds of the Mammoth came to destroy the game of the Red Man, that the Great Spirit took pity on him, and, seizing his lightning, descended to a rock on a neighbouring hill, (where his seat and the print of his feet are still to be seen,) and hurled his bolts among them until all were slain except the Big Bull, who presented his forehead to the shafts and shook them off as they fell; missing one, at last, it wounded him in his side, whereupon, springing round, he bounded over the Ohio, the Wabash, the Illinois, and finally over the great lakes, where he is still living. The village of Warsaw, with its pork-houses, its tobacco factories, its groceries, its flour-mills, and twelve hundred live population, looks very sprightly in its nest among the hills. It is the countyseat of Gallatin, and belongs to " Old Kentuck." Warsaw is only one mile from New York. New York [Modern Florence] is in Switzerland county , in Indiana. It contains about five hundred inhabitants. It is no relation, we suspect, to the pompous New York on the Hudson river.

The town of Vevay is the seat of Switzerland county, Indiana. It was settled some fifty years ago by Swiss emigrants, who subsequently received a grant of land from Congress, and commenced the cultivation of the grape on an extensive scale. Wine now constitutes a principal item of the productions of the vicinity. The flavor and quality are similar to claret. Population about three thousand.

Carrollton is ten miles below Vevay, and forty-five from Frankfort, the capital of Kentucky. It is the county-seat for Carroll, in that state, and has a population of one thousand. It was first settled in 1784, by a Mr. Elliott, whose house was shortly after burned by the Indians, and himself killed. In 1786 a block-house was put up, but the inmates were driven off by the savages. Some time subsequently, however, the post was fortified by Gen. Charles Scott, and was occupied until 1792, when the present town was laid off. The Kentucky river here empties into the Ohio. It is navigable for flat-boats about one hundred and fifty miles; but by means of slack-water, it has been rendered navigable for steamboats as high up as Frankfort.

Madison is the seat of justice of Jefferson count, in Indiana. It is beautifully situated in a valley of a few miles in length, enclosed by steep and rugged hills, and occupies a position sufficiently high to protect it from the high-water encroachments of the river. It is ninety miles below Cincinnati, forty-four from Louisville, and eighty-six from Indianapolis, the capital of the State, with which it is connected by a railroad which has been in operation several years. Its situation for extensive trade, is splendid and advantageous, a fact simply demonstrated in the extraordinary increase of the city from a population of less than four thousand, in 1840, having reached some thirteen thousand up to the present time.

It is connected by the numerous steamboats, owned by its citizens, with all the towns on the Ohio and Mississippi; while it enjoys communication with every section of the interior by means of numerous railways which seek it, it is the nearest and most desirable outlet for produce.

The city is paved, and lighted with gas, and comprises some of the finest houses and manufactories to be found in the state. Pork-packing is probably the leading feature of its trade; but it has also numerous factories of cotton, oil, wool, iron and machinery, besides others of smaller extent. The scenery, in this vicinity, is very fine, and presents more of the picturesque and wildness of nature than usually characterises the Ohio.