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is an old waggon road, cut by the French in the war of 1755. The lands on French Creek are very fertile, and mostly cleared, which is an evidence that its former Indian inhabitants were numerous. Fourteen miles from the mouth of this creek is a gentle rapid, thence to its mouth, it is flow, deep and fmooth.

Before we leave this interefting head concerning rivers, we cannot omit inferting the observations of Mr. Charles Thomson, secretary of Congrefs. • Befides the three channels mentioned (page 45) between the western waters, and the Atlantic, there are two others, to which the Pennsylvanians are turning their attention; one from Prefque ifle, on Lake Erie, to Le Boeuf, down the Allegany to Kishiminitas, then up the Kishiminitas, and from thence, by a fmall portage, to Juniatta, which falls into the Sufquehannah: The other from Lake Ontario to the east branch of the Delaware, and down that to Philadelphia. Both these are faid to be very practicable; and, confidering the enterprifing temper of the Pennsylvanians, and particularly of the merchants of Philadelphia, whose object is concentered in promoting the commerce and trade of one city, it is not improbable but one or both of these communications will be opened and improved *.'

There is faid to be ftill another communication equally as practicable as either of the others; and that is between the fouthern branch of the Tyoga and a branch of the Allegany, the head waters of which, are but a short distance from each other. The Seneca Indians fay, they can walk four times in a day, from the boatable waters of the Ohio, to those of the Tyoga, at the place now mentioned. And between the Sufquehannah, juft before it croffes into Pennsylvania the first time, and the Delaware, is a portage of only twelve miles.

One remark must not be omitted here, and that is, that in all the back country, waters of this ftate, even in those high up in the mountains, marine petrifactions may be found in great abundance.

Swamps.] The only fwamps worth noticing, are, the Great Swamp, between Northampton and Luzerne counties, and Buffaloe fwamp in the north-western parts of Northumberland county, near the head waters of the weft branch of the Sufquehannah. Thefe fwamps, on examination and furvey, are found to be bodies of rich farm land, thickly covered with beach and fugar maple.

Mountains, face of the country, foil and productions.] As much as nearly one third of this ftate may be called mountainous; particularly the counties of Bedford, Huntingdon, Cumberland, part of Franklin, Dauphin, and part of Bucks and Northampton, through which pass, under various names, the numerous ridges and fpurs, which collectively form what we chufe to call, for the fake of clearness, the GREAT RANGE OF ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS. The principal ridges in this range, in Pennsylvania, are the Kittatinny, or Blue mountain, which pass north of Nazareth in Northampton county, and purfue a fouth-weft course, across the Lehigh, through Dauphin county, just above Louisburgh, thence on the weft fide of the Sufquehannah through Cumberland and Franklin counties. Back of these, and nearly parallel with them, are Peters, Tufcarora and Nescopek mountains, on the east of the Sufquehannah; and on the west,

See Appendix to Mr. Jefferson's Notes on Virginia, No. I.

Shareman's

Shareman's hills, Sideling hills, Ragged, Great Warriors, Evits and Wills mountains; then the great Allegany ridge, which being the largest, gives its name to the whole range; weft of this are the Laurel and Chefnut ridges. Between the Janiatta and the weft branch of the Sufquehannah are Jacks, Tuffes, Nittiny and Bald Eagle mountains. The vales between these mountains are generally of a rich, black foil, fuited to the various kinds of grain and grafs. Some of the mountains will admit of cultivation almost at their tops.

There is a remarkable difference between the country on the eaft and weft fide of the range of mountains we have just been defcribing. Between these mountains and the lower falls of the rivers which run into the Atlantic, not only in this but in all the fouthern ftates, are several ranges of ftones, fand, earths and minerals, which lie in the utmost confufion. Beds of stone, of vaft extent, particularly of lime-ftone, have their feveral layers broken in pieces, and the fragments thrown confufedly in every direction. Between thefe lower falls and the ocean, is a very extenfive collection of fand, clay, mud and fhells, partly thrown up by the waves of the fea, partly brought down by floods from the upper country, and partly produced by the decay of vegetable fubftances. The country weftward of the Allegany mountains, in these respects, is totally different. It is very irregular, broken and variegated, but there are no mountains; and when viewed from the most western ridge of the Allegany, it appears to be a vaît extended plain. All the various ftrata of ftone appear to have lain undisturbed in the fituation wherein they were first formed. The layers of clay, fand and coal, are nearly horizontal. Scarcely a fingle inftance is to be found to the contrary. Detached rocks are indeed found here in all fituations, as well as eastward of the mountains; but these are only such as lie near the surface, and being undermined by the waters, have tumbled from their original places. Every appearance, in fhort, tends to confirm the opinion, that the original cruft, in which the ftone was formed, has never been broken up on the weft fide of the mountains, as it evidently has been eastward of them. The irregularity and unevennefs of the country weftward of the mountains, appear to have been the effect of water descending in heavy fhowers of rain. Many thousands of fquare miles are cut by innumerable deep drains for carrying off water, and nothing is left between them but high, fteep and narrow ridges. The prodigious rains which produced this furprifing effect, probably filled up the intervals between the mountains, and the preffure of the water in time, may have become fo great as to have, at length, broken through the lowest and weakest parts of them; and in fuch places have carried away the rocks which formed the ridges, down nearly as low as the present beds of the rivers; part of the water running eastward, and part weftward, fo that the principal ridge, the proper Allegany, only was left unbroken. The rocks, thus torn from their beds, appear to have been lodged within a few miles of the mountains, where at this day we find them; and the gravel, fand and earth, carried far below, and depofited in the lower country, in fucceffion, according to their respective gravities *.

*See Col. Mag. Vol. I. P.

49.

In this connection, in confirmation of what we have now been fay ing, and alfo of what was observed, page 48, I beg leave to introduce the remarks of the fecretary of Congrefs, whom we juft now quoted, which were fuggefted on his reading Mr. Jefferfon's description of the paffage of the Patomak through the Blue ridge. The reflections I was led into on viewing this paffage of the Patomak through the Blue ridge were, that this country must have suffered fome violent convulfion, and that the face of it must have been changed from what it probably was fome centuries ago; that the broken and ragged faces of the mountain on each fide the river; the tremendous rocks, which are left with one end fixed in the precipice, and the other jutting out, and feemingly ready to fall for want of fupport; the bed of the river for feveral miles below obstructed, and filled with the loofe ftones carried from this mound; in fhort, every thing on which you caft your eye, evidently demonftrates a difrupture and breach in the mountain, and that, before this happened, what is now a fruitful vale, was formerly a great lake or collection of water, which poffibly might have here formed a mighty cafcade, or had its vent to the ocean by the Sufquehannah, where the Blue ridge feems to terminate. Befides this, there are other parts of this country which bear evident traces of a like convulfion. From the best accounts I have been able to obtain, the place where the Delaware now flows through the Kittatinny mountain, which is a continuation of what is called the North ridge, or mountain, was not its original course, but that it paffed through what is now called the Wind-gap,' a place several miles to the weftward, and above an hundred feet higher than the prefent bed of the river. This wind-gap is about a mile broad, and the ftones in it fuch as feem to have been wathed for ages by water runn ng' over them. Should this have been the cafe, there must have been a large lake behind that mountain, and by fome uncommon fwell in the waters, or by fome convulfion of nature, the river must have opened its way through a different part of the mountain, and meeting there with lefs obftruction, carried away with it the oppofing mounds of earth, and deluged the country below with the immenfe collection of waters to which this new paffage gave vent. There are ftill remaining, and daily difcovered, innumerable inftances of fuch a deluge on both fides of the river, after it pafied the hills above the falls of Trenton, and reached the champaign. On the New Jersey fide, which is flatter than the Pennfylvania fide, all the country below Crofwick hills feems to have been overflowed to the diftance of from ten to fifteen miles back from the river, and to have acquired a new foil by the earth and clay brought down and mixed with the native fand. The fpot on which Philadelphia ftands evidently appears to be made ground. through which they pafs in digging to water, the acorns, leaves, and fometimes branches, which are found above twenty feet below the furface, all feem to demonftrate this. I am informed that at York town in Virginia, in the bank of York river, there are different ftrata of fhells and earth, one above another, which feem to point out that the country there has undergone feveral changes; that the sea has, for a fucceffion of ages, occupied the place where dry land now appears; and that the ground has been fuddenly raised at various periods. What a

The different ftrata

change

change would it make in the country below, fhould the mountains at Niagara, by any accident, be cleft afunder, and a paffage fuddenly opened to drain off the waters of Erie and the Upper Lakes: While ruminating on these subjects, I have often been hurried away by fancy, and led to imagine, that what is now the bay of Mexico, was once a champaign country; and that from the point or cape of Florida, there was a continued range of mountains through Cuba, Hifpaniola, Porto-Rico, Martinique, Gaudaloupe, Barbadoes, and Trinidad, till it reached the coast of America, and formed the fhores which bounded the ocean, and guarded the country behind: that, by fome convulfion or fhock of nature, the fea had broken through these mounds, and deluged that vast plain, till it reached the foot of the Andes; that being there heaped up by the trade-winds, always blowing from one quarter, it had found its way back, as it continues to do, through the gulph between Florida and Cuba, carrying with it the loom and fand it may have fcooped from the country it had occupied, part of which it may have depofited on the fhores of North America, and with part formed the banks of Newfoundland. But these are only the vifions of fancy *'

In addition to what we have already faid refpecting the face of the country in Pennsylvania, it may be obferved, that, excepting the Allegany range of mountains, which croffes the ftate in an oblique direction, and is from twenty to fifty miles wide, the state is generally level, or agreeably diverfified with gentle hills and vales.

The foil is of the various kinds; in fome parts it is barren; a great proportion of the ftate is good land; and no inconfiderable part is very good. Perhaps the proportion of first rate land is not greater in any of the thirteen states. The richest part of the state that is fettled is Lancafter county. The richest that is unfettled, is between Allegany river and Lake Erie, in the north-weft corner of the state. Of this fine tract, 100,000 acres, lying on and near French Creek, are for fale by the state. The convenient communications through this creek into the Allegany, and from the Allegany, through various creeks and rivers to the Sufquehannah and Patomak, have already been mentioned.

The north fide of Pennsylvania is the richest and the best fettled land throughout, owing entirely to the circumftance of the western road having been run by the armies, prior to 1762, through the towns of Lancaster, Carlisle and Bedford, and thence to Pittsburgh. For the purpofe of turning the tide of fettlers from this old channel, into the unfettled and more fertile parts of the ftate, the government and landed intereft of Pennsylvania have been, and are ftill bufy in cutting convenient roads. During the last fummer (1788) they run a road north, from the former roads beyond Bethlehem, to the north portage between Delaware and Sufquehannah; and thence north eighty degrees weft to the mouth of the Tyoga; the firft feventy miles, and the laft above fixty. It is now in contemplation to cut a road from Sunbury, at the forks of the east and weft branches of Sufquehannah, weft, 150 miles, to the mouth of Toby's creek, which empties into the Allegany river, from the eaft. This road will be through a tract of rich land, now for fale by

*Jefferson's Notes on Virginia. Appendix, No. II,

X 3

the

the ftate. A road is alfo cutting from the mouth of the Tyoga, fouthward, to the mouth of Loyal, a branch of the weft branch of Sufquehannah. Another road is cutting from Huntingdon-town, on Frankstown branch of the Juniatta, weftward thirty miles, to a navigable branch of the Allegany.

Thus the well-judged policy of this ftate, is paving the way for the fettlement of all their wafte lands. And to evidence their benevolence, and their wishes to have the advantages of education increased, and more extenfively enjoyed, they have allotted 60,000 acres of these wafte lands for the use of public fchools; and above 60,000 more have been granted for that purpose, and to the focieties established for the promotion of knowledge, the arts, religion, &c.

In addition to the common obfervation, that the natural growth of this state is fimilar to that of New-Jerfey and New-York, which is indeed the cafe in most respects, it may be faid, that there are in Pennsylvania great bodies of fugar-maple, particularly in the counties of Northampton, Luzerne, Northumberland and Washington, which yield a well-tasted and wholesome sugar, to profit.

Cumberland and Franklin valley is timbered. principally with locuft, black walnut, hickory and white oak. The mountainous parts are covered with pines, chefnuts, &c.

The produce from culture, confifts of wheat, which is the ftaple commodity of the state, fome rye, Indian corn, buck-wheat, oats, fpeltz *, barley, which is now raised in greater quantities than formerly, occafioned by the vaft comfumption of it by the breweries in Philadelphia, hemp, flax, and vegetables of all the various kinds common to the climate. Pennfylvania is a good grazing country, and great numbers of cattle are fed, and large dairies are kept, but their beef, pork and cheese, are not reckoned fo good as thofe of Connecticut and the other parts of NewEngland; but their butter has been fuppofed fuperior.

Climate, difeafes, longevity, &c.] Nothing different from that of Connecticut; except, that on the weft fide of the mountains, the weather is much more regular. The inhabitants never feel thofe quick tranfitions from cold to heat, by a change of the wind from north to fouth, as thofe fo frequently experience, who live eastward of the mountains, and near the fea. The hot fouthwardly winds get chilled by paffing over the long chain of Allegany mountains.

It has been obferved that Pennfylvania is now more unhealthy than formerly; that bilious and remitting fevers, which a few years ago appeared chiefly in the neighbourhood of rivers, creeks and mill-ponds, now appear in parts remote from them all, and in the highest fituations. This change has been traced to three caufes: First, To the increase of mill-ponds. Till thefe were eftablished, intermittents, in feveral counties in Pennsylvania, were unknown. Secondly, to the clearing of the country. It has been remarked, that intermittents on the shores of the Sufquehannah, have kept an exact pace with the paffages which have been opened for the propagation of marth effluvia, by cutting down the wood which formerly grew in its neighbourhood. A diftinction,

* See this kind of grain defcribed, page 53.

however

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