Its

"Its annual range, from low to high water, is above 50 feet; the extreme range nearly 10 more.- -When lowest it may be forded in several places above Louisville. The greatest depressions are generally in August, September, and October; the greatest rises, in December, March, May, and June. Near Pittsburg, it is almost every winter frozen over for several weeks: this has even been the case more than 400 miles below that city. Generally, the navigation upwards, is suspended by floating ice, during eight or ten weeks in the winter. current, when of mean height, is estimated at three miles an hour; when higher, and rising, it is more: when very low, it does not exceed two miles. The Ohio contains about 100 islands, or one to every nine miles; however, between the states of Kentucky and Ohio there are none. A few of these islands are cultivated; many are too small and barren for advantageous improvement, and a large proportion are liable to occasional inundation. They form no serious obstruction to the navigation of the river, except in low water, when the bars and ripples connected with them, are somewhat dangerous.

Steam boats have been found, by actual experiment, to be peculiarly well adapted for its navigation. A change in the course of foreign trade, has been, partially wrought by this mode of navigating the western waters; by diverting it from the tedious, expensive and troublesome conveyance by land, across the Alleghany mountains, and transfering it, by way of New Orleans, with water carriage, throngh the channel of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.

FACE OF THE COUNTRY, SOIL & PRODUCTIONS.-The interior and northern parts of the country bordering upon lake Erie, are generally level, and, in some places marshy. About one quarter or a third of the eastern and southeastern part of the state bordering on the Ohio river, is very hilly and broken. The hills are not, however, generally so large and rocky, as properly to be termed mountains; notwithstanding they are almost infinitely numerous. But immediately upon the banks

ous tracts of interval or meadow land of most exuberant fertility. In the interior parts, bordering on both sides of the Scioto river, which divides the state into two -nearly equal parts, and on the two Miamies, are perhaps the most extensive bodies of rich, fertile and level land of any other in the state.

In many places are extensive prairies, particularly on the head waters of the Muskingum and Scioto, and between the sources of the two Miami rivers. On these prairies no timber grows, except occasionally a few scattering trees; sometimes, however, they grow in small groves. Several of these prairies are low and marshy, others again are high and elevated. The latter are frequently called barrens; but are not always so called from their sterility; for they are often tolerably fertile. The latter produce a trifling quantity of grass, and the former spontaneously yield a large quantity of coarse grass, from two to five feet in height.Some of this grass is of a tolerable good quality.

Among the forest trees, are black walnut, oak of various species, hickory, maple, of different kinds, beech, birch, poplar, sycamore, ash of several species, pawpaw, buckeye, and cherry, besides numerous other kinds, whose beauteous foliage, or variegated hues of their flowers present a delightful prospect to the lover of rural scenery. Among the cultivated productions of the soil, are fruit trees, ard grain of various kinds. From 70 to 100 bushels of corn are said to have been frequently produced in a year, on an acre of ground. Among the animals of the forest, are the bear, wolf and deer. The domestic animals, the birds and fish, are similar to those of other states in corresponding latitudes.

MINERALS.-Of mines which have yet been discovered, Ohio has not much to boast. The free born citizens have found a much more certain source of wealth, in the abundant productions of the fertile soil. Salt springs, however, have been discovered and wrought, to a very considerable extent, on Yellow creek, in Jefferson county; on the waters of Kilbuck, in Wayne county; on Muskingum river, near Zanesville; on Salt creek, in

and at various other places. Coal is obtained in great quantities, in the eastern parts. Iron ore is likewise, discovered and wrought pretty extensively, in several places; particularly at the falls of Licking river, four miles westerly from Zanesville; and on Brush creek in Adams county.

To ascertain the mineral region of stone coal, iron ore, and salt springs; imagine a line drawn from the wes tern limits of Pennsylvania, at Williamsfield in the southeast corner of Ashtabula county, to Northampton in the western part of Portage county, thence southwesterly through Wooster to Mt. Vernon, thence due south through Granville to Lancaster, and from thence southwesterly to Hillsborough, thence southwardly to the mouth of Eagle creek, in Brown county; then all that region, lying east and southeasterly from this line, to the Ohio river, will embrace the coal, iron, and salt region of the state.

One particular, which is worthy of remark, in the conformation of the land in this state, as well as throughout the western country generally, is the circumstance of the height of land between the large rivers and other principal water courses, being the wetest and most marshy, and of the most miry quality of any other in the state; while the driest land lies along the margins of the various streams; whereas, concerning the land in the eastern states, the reverse is true.

CLIMATE.-The summers are warm, and pretty regular, although somewhat subject to tornadoes. The winters are generally mild. In some parts, near marshes, and stagnated waters, fevers and agues frequently prevail; especially during some of the first years after the inhabitants settle around them. But the climate, in general, may be called healthy.

The general temperature of the weather is supposed to be several degrees warmer than that of places situated in corresponding latitudes, on the Atlantic coast. This is particularly true, as respects four fifths of the state, which slopes southwardly toward the Ohio river. Concerning the smaller portion, sloping northwardly toward lake Erie, this remark may not be applicable. In the

E

Miami country, particularly in Cincinnati, the people have new peas, and other vegetables, generally, between the first and 20th of May; not merely as a rarity, but as regular articles of diet, so long as wanted. This circumstance, incontestibly, proves the general warmth of the climate.

In the counties bordering upon lake Erie, and for 50 miles back, the inhabitants, often, have several weeks of good sleighing, in the winter; while south of that region of country, we very seldom have snow enough for sleighing: and even when there is enough, it seldom lasts more than a day or two. Although, we generally have a few days, in January and February, nearly or quite as cold as any in New England.

The winds, whether high or low, almost uniformly, blow from the west and southwest, during the whole year.

CHAPTER III.

PUBLIC LANDS.

In most of the states and territories, lying west of the Alleghany mountains; the United States, collectively, as a nation, owned, or did own, the soil of the country, after the extinguishment of the aboriginal Indian title. This vast national domain, comprises several hundred millions of acres; which is a bountiful fund, upon which the general government can draw, for centuries, to supply, at a low price, all its citziens with a freehold estate.

When Ohio was admitted into the federal union as an independent state, one of the terms of admission was, that the fee simple to all the lands within its limits, excepting those previously granted or sold, should vest in the United States. Different portions of them have, at

bodies of the lands are designated, on account of these different forms of transfer; namely:

Congress Lands are so called, because they are sold to purchasers, by the immediate officers of the general government, conformably to such laws as are, or may be from time to time, enacted by Congress. They are all regularly surveyed into townships of six miles square each; under authority, and at the expense of the national government. In the eastern half of the state; that is, east of the Scioto river, and of a meridian line drawn three miles within the eastern limits of Marion and Crawford counties, the ranges are counted from east to west; and the numbers of the townships from south to north, beginning on the Ohio river as a base. But in the west half of the state, the ranges begin on the state line of Indiana, and are counted eastwardly, until they reach the other ranges, which are numbered westwardly, as above mentioned; excepting between the two Miami rivers, where the ranges run from south to north, and the numbers of the townships from west to east, that is, from the Great Miami river as a base. In the purchase made in 1818 north of the Greenville treaty line, however, a "base line" is made, in about the middle of the tract, on the parallel of the 41st degree of north latitude, from which the townships are numbered, both north and south.

The townships are again subdivided into sections of one mile square, each containing 640 acres, by lines running parallel with the township and range lines. The sections are numbered in two different modes, as exhibited in the two following figures, or diagrams.