Henri Collott 1796

This narrative was excerpted from “A journey in North America, containing a survey of the countries watered by the Mississippi, Ohio, Missouri, and other affluing rivers, volume 1 and was published in Paris, 1826. Author Georges‑Henri‑Victor Collot, (1750‑1805), former French general and former governor of Guadalupe, made the trip in a secret mission to survey rivers in order to produce maps for possible French military use. He did not note exactly when he reached this area of the Ohio. Collot left Pittsburgh on March 21, 1796 and ended in New Orleans, where he departed on December 27 that year.

These paragraphs demonstrate that the Indian-Kentuck Creek and Indian Creek had already been named, and that Collot used Thomas Hutchins’ map of the Midwest of 1778, and that he read it as showing the course of the Indian-Kentuck Neither Indian Creek nor the Indian-Kentuck were named on Hutchin’s map, but their courses were correctly shown.]

“We passed Indian Creek, leaving on the left a small creek without a name. Six miles lower, and on the same side, is Kentucky River, at the confluence of which is situated Port William. This small town is built on a fine terrace, high enough to be out of the reach of inundations.

The appearance of the country from Indian Creek to Port William changes a little; the right side of the Ohio is lined by a small chain of heights, with gentle slopes; the lands are good, but uninhabited. On the left side, the lands are low, and frequently swampy. The navigation from Indian Creek is excellent, with twelve to eighteen feet of water.

Two miles below Port William we passed on the right Little Kentucky, which is a creek navigable for canoes fifteen miles. Here the heights on the right entirely disappear, leaving a vast plan. On the left a number of small hills close upon the banks of the river.

We proceeded six miles, leaving on the left side, called Battle Creek, and reached Indian Kentucky Creek, situated on the right; beyond this creek the heights on the right side approach the banks, while those on the left run on at a small distance, but parallel with the river We descended four miles between these slopes, and found two creeks, which empty themselves into the Ohio opposite each other. Three-and-half miles below these creeks we reached another creek situated on the right, and which forms a kind of a torrent. At the mouth of the creek is a sand-bank, which we left on the right.

Ten miles lower another creek empties itself on the left side In the space of seventeen and a half miles, that is from Indian Kentucky Creek, we passed on the left three rivulets, of which no mention is made in Hutchins’ Chart, the country is altogether uninhabited.”