June 20, 1834
Early in the morning, [we had] a view of the chain of beautiful green, forested mountains that stretches along the river. The mountains are cone-shaped. Everything everywhere—the whole area, far and wide, just like Brazil—[is] covered uniformly with tall forest in which [there are] individual cleared places with settlements.
Large, flat, square boats loaded with cut timber await the steamboats everywhere on the river. If the skipper finds it necessary to buy wood, the [flatboat] is attached [to the steamer and] unloaded while the journey is continued; it is released as soon as the wood is transferred. Such boats usually carry a slate where the price of the wood is written.
At about noon we reached the mouth of the Scioto River on the right bank [of the Ohio]. The town of Alexandria, which amounts to only three or four dilapidated houses, is located next to [the confluence]. After half an hour, we put ashore at Portsmouth.
Before the mouth of the river, we came to a fairly substantial raft, about 100 paces long [and] 40 paces wide, planked with boards. On it [were] three huts made of boards and [?] at the end but smaller than the ones on the Rhine.
Portsmouth is a rather unprepossessing town located directly on the riverbank with low houses; some [seem] scattered about, but there are nonetheless a few good brick buildings. [The town] has a few long streets. [It] is located in the angle between the Scioto and the Ohio [rivers]. I found Dreidoppel here with our bears. Mr. Astor disembarked to follow the canal with us, but he became ill and we had to leave him behind. Dreidoppel had already spent almost a week here and was delighted about his [imminent] deliverance. Because the inn was miserable, I hurried to [book] the first [available] canal boat and found an opportunity to do that, even today. The boats leave not far from town and reach Lake Erie in five days.
To get to the point of embarkation, we had to cross the Scioto and then drive a few hundred paces over sandy ground to a saloon [on] the canal, in front of which several boats were moored, including ours. These boats are built like the former Rhine diligences (covered sloops). Their length [is about] 77′ to 80′, their width 14′. The lady
There are two kinds of boats: freight boats and packet boats, the latter for passengers only, the former for freight. The former are pulled by three horses and go fast; the latter are slower, since they have only two horses. However, this system [applies only to] the Erie Canal, which [goes] from Buffalo to Albany; on the Ohio Canal, [the boats] are of one type only. These take passengers and freight together and are pulled by only two horses, upon [which] the driver rides. The Ohio Canal boats are not furnished as well as the ones on the Erie Canal. They have a long space in the middle for freight; at the back front, [there are] two small cabins—the front rear one with four beds for ladies; the one in back closest to the helm front for gentlemen. There are upholstered benches on the walls, where beds are made up for the night; if there are more passengers than space, the floor is made use of. The deck of the boat is smooth, and at the front part of the vessel back of the vessel, near the helm, is a small room where meals are taken.
The entrance to the canal was not yet completely finished. The boats therefore lay a little higher up, and [I could see] four or five of them together. There are perhaps about [——] of them on the canal. In recent times, many have been neglected, because the traffic has not been as heavy as expected. We brought our live bears and the luggage onto a boat 77 feet long. [We] paid 18 dollars for the bears up to Lake Erie. Our passage (three persons with much luggage) amounted to [——]. Among the passengers, we again found Dr. Pitcher (physician in the United States Army) and his family, whom we had met on the steamboat from Cincinnati to Portsmouth. He was an informed man [and] engaged in natural history. He was coming from Fort Gibson on the Arkansas [River] [and] had seeds from interesting plants and other natural history specimens with him.
I received from him the horned lizard ([——]) and the [——], described by Say, as well as seeds of Maclura aurantiaca and Sapindus saponaria. He gave me letters of recommendation to Dr. Edwin James of Albany and Dr. Morton in Philadelphia.
Our voyage began at approximately six o’clock in the evening, and the most beautiful weather favored us. Before night fell, we reached four locks while we enjoyed pleasant cooling after a hot day. The banks of the canal were covered with lovely, tall forests where sugar maples were particularly frequent. People in this area make a great deal of sugar from the sap of these beautiful, strong trunks. We saw several turtles, and the canal also contained fish. Before nightfall, we reached a mill where the whitish gray rock ([——]), [found] broken everywhere in this area, is cut with more than seventy saws and processed for building stones, gravestones, etc.