On or near this date, the expedition passes the Blue River Hills and goes around the big bend of the Ohio near present Leavenworth, Indiana. Because of all the bends, going twenty miles by boat makes only six miles by land.
Big Bend, Ohio R.
Leavenworth, Indiana
From the sketchbook of Steve Ludeman
Colorized from an original sketch by Steve Ludeman © 30 August 2022, www.steveludemanfineart.com. Used by permission.
Blue River Hills
[C]ame to Blue river, on the right, fifty yards wide.
The river hills, which are generally a considerable distance behind the banks below Louisville, now approached quite close on each side.
—Fortescue Cuming, 13 May 1808[1]Fortescue Cuming, Sketches of a Tour to the Western Country: Through the States of Ohio and Kentucky, a voyage down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and a trip through the Mississippi territory, and … Continue reading
Slower River
at 10 oClock made fast to the shore for the night for fear of geting aground as there are many sand bars in the course of a few mile[s.] the river is low which will lengthen our voyage very much we go but 30 miles in a day and above the Falls we went 50—
—Eliza House Trist, 5 June 1784[2]The Travel Journal of Eliza House Trist 1783–84, Karen A. Chase, ed. (Richmond, Virginia: 2024), 42.
Winding River
At sundown we called at a settlement on Kentucky shore and got pint of cream and 3 cabbages. The woman told us that it was 20 miles by water and only 6 by land.
—Thomas Rodney, 21 October 1803[3]Dwight L. Smith and Ray Swick, ed., A Journey Through the West: Thomas Rodney’s 1803 Journal from Delaware to the Mississippi Territory (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1997), 129.
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Notes
| ↑1 | Fortescue Cuming, Sketches of a Tour to the Western Country: Through the States of Ohio and Kentucky, a voyage down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and a trip through the Mississippi territory, and part of West Florida, commenced at Philadelphia in the winter of 1807 . . . (Pittsburgh: Cramer, Spear, & Eichbaum, 1810), 237. |
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| ↑2 | The Travel Journal of Eliza House Trist 1783–84, Karen A. Chase, ed. (Richmond, Virginia: 2024), 42. |
| ↑3 | Dwight L. Smith and Ray Swick, ed., A Journey Through the West: Thomas Rodney’s 1803 Journal from Delaware to the Mississippi Territory (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1997), 129. |
