at Pittsburg, is twelve feet. Michaux counted no less than fifty of these islands in the distance of three hundred and ninety miles; some of them only containing a few acres, and others exceeding a mile in length.
The Tennessee rises in the Alleghany Mountains, traverses East Tennessee, and almost the whole northern limit of Alabama, re-enters Tennessee, and crosses almost the whole width of it, into Kentucky, and passes into Ohio, fifty-seven miles above its junction with the Mississippi. It is near twelve hundred miles in length, and is the largest tributary of the Ohio. It has numerous branches, and is navigable for boats one thousand miles; most of the branches rise among the mountains, and are too shallow for navigation, except during the floods, which take place occasionally, at all seasons of the year, and admit flat boats to be floated down to the main stream.
The Muscle Shoals are about three hundred miles from its entrance into the Ohio. At this place the river spreads to the width of three miles, and forms a number of islands. The passage by boats is difficult and dangerous, except when the water is high.
From these shoals to the place called the Whirl or Suck, two hundred and fifty miles, the navigation all the way is excellent, to the Cumberland Mountain; where the river breaks through. This mountain is sometimes so steep, that even the Indians cannot ascend it on foot. In one place, particularly, near the summit of the mountain, there is a remarkable ledge of rocks, of about thirty miles in length, and two hundred feet high, with a perpendicular front facing the south-east, more noble and grand than any artificial fortification in the known world, and apparently equal in point of regularity. The Whirl, as it is called, is about latitude thirty-four degrees. It is considered a greater curiosity than the bursting of the river Potomac through the Blue Ridge.
The river, which above is half a mile wide, is here compressed to one hundred yards, or eighteen rods. Just at the entrance of the mountain, a large rock projects from the northern shore, in an oblique direction, which renders the channel still narrower. This causes a sudden bend, by which the waters are thrown with great force against the opposite shore. From thence they rebound about the point of the rock, and produce a whirl of eighty yards, or two hundred and forty feet in circumference. By the dexterity of the rowers, canoes drawn into this whirl have sometimes escaped without damage. In less than a mile below the whirl, the river spreads to its common width, down to Muscle Shoals; and thence runs in a regular and beautiful stream to its confluence with the Ohio.
The Wabash rises in the north-eastern part of Indiana, and flows south-westerly nearly across the state, when it turns to the south, and flows into the Ohio, forming towards its mouth the western boundary. Its length, from its mouth to its extreme source, exceeds five hundred miles. It is navigable for keel-boats, about four hundred miles, to Ouitanon, where there are rapids. From this village small boats can go within six miles of St. Mary’s river; ten of Fort Wayne; and eight of the St. Joseph’s of the Miami-of-the-lakes. Its current is gentle above Vincennes; below the town there are several rapids, but not of sufficient magnitude to prevent boats from ascending. The principal rapids are between Deche and White rivers, ten miles below Vincennes. White river and Tippecanoe river are branches of the Wabash.
The Cumberland rises in the Cumberland Mountains in Kentucky, and after a course of nearly two hundred miles in that state, passes into Tennessee, through which it makes a circuit of two hundred and fifty miles, when it re-enters Kentucky and falls into the Ohio, about fifty miles above the entrance of that river into the Mississippi. From the source of this river to its conflux with the Ohio, the distance in a direct line is three hundred miles, but by the course and windings of the stream, it is near six hundred miles, five hundred of which it is navigable for batteaux of fourteen or fifteen tons burthen.
The Muskingum rises in the north-eastern part of Ohio, and flows southerly into the Ohio river. It is two hundred miles in length, and is navigable for boats one hundred miles. It is connected by a canal with Lake Erie. The Sciota rises in the western part, and flows southerly into the Ohio. It is about two hundred miles long, and is navigable one hundred and thirty. There are rich and beautiful prairies on the river, and its valley is wide and fertile. A canal passes along this valley, and extends north-easterly to Lake Erie. The Licking and Kentucky rivers take their rise in the Cumberland Mountains, and flow north-westerly into the Ohio. They are each about two hundred miles in length. The latter is navigable for one hundred and fifty miles, and has a width of one hundred and fifty yards at its mouth. The current is rapid, and the shores are high. For a great part of its course, it flows between perpendicular banks of limestone. The voyager passing down this stream experiences an indescribable sensation on looking upwards to the sky from a deep chasm hemmed in by lofty parapets. Among the other tributaries of the Ohio are the Great and Little Miami, Saline,11 Green river, Big Sandy, Kanhawa.
The Illinois rises in the north-eastern parts of the state of that name, not more than thirty-five miles from the south-western extremity of Lake Michigan, and interlocking by a morass with the river Chicago, which empties into that lake. Its two main head-branches are Plein and Kankakee. Thirty miles from the junction of these rivers, enters Fox river from the north. Between this and the Vermilion, enter two or three inconsiderable rivers. The Vermilion is a considerable stream, which enters the Illinois from the south, two hundred and sixty miles above the Mississippi. Not far below this river, and two hundred and ten miles above the Mississippi, commences Peoria lake, which is no more than an enlargement of the river, two miles wide on an average, and twenty miles in length. Such is the depth and regularity of the bottom, that it has no perceptible current whatever. It is a beautiful sheet of water, with romantic shores, generally bounded by prairies; and no waters in the world furnish finer sport for the angler.
On the north side of the Illinois, the rivers that enter on that shore have their courses, for the most part, in mountainous bluffs, which often approach near the river. For a great distance above its mouth, the river is almost as straight as a canal; has in summer scarcely a perceptible current, and the waters, though transparent, have a marshy taste to a degree to be almost unfit for use. The river is wide and deep; and, for the greater part of its width, is filled with aquatic weeds, to such an extent, that no person could swim among them. Only a few yards width, in the centre of the stream, is free from them. It enters the Mississippi through a deep forest, by a mouth four hundred yards wide. Perhaps no river of the western country has so fine a boatable navigation, for such a great distance; or waters a richer and more luxuriant tract of country.
Rock River is one of the most clear and beautiful tributaries of the Mississippi. It has its source beyond the northern limits of Illinois, and in a ridge of hills that separates between the waters of the Mississippi and those of Lake Michigan. On its waters are extensive and rich lead mines. Its general course is south-west, and it enters the Mississippi, not far above the commencement of the military bounty lands. Opposite the mouth of this river, in the Mississippi, is the beautiful island, called from the name of the river, and on which is a military station of the United States.
Kaskaskia River rises in the interior of Illinois, nearly interlocking with the waters of Lake Michigan. It has a course, in a south-west direction, of between two and three hundred miles, for the greater part of which course, in high stages of water, it is boatable. It runs through a fine and settled country, and empties into the Mississippi a few miles below the town of the same name.
The Ouisconsin is the largest river of the North-West territory that flows into the Mississippi. It rises in the northern interior of the country, and interlocks with the Montreal of Lake Superior. It has a course of between three and four hundred miles, has a shallow and rapid current, which is, however, navigable by boats in good stages of the water, and is eight hundred yards wide at its mouth. There is a portage of only half a mile between this and Fox river. It is over a level prairie, across which, from river to river, there is a water communication for periogues in high stages of the water. Fox River has a course of two hundred and sixty miles. It runs through Winnebago lake. It has a fine country on its banks, with a salubrious climate. Chippeway is a considerable river of the Mississippi,
