50 HISTORY OF OHIO. 



are as healthful, and their people as good, and live in as easy 

 an independence, as any farmers in this state. Towards the 

 head of this river are some remarkable falls and rapids. 



Descending the Ohio river, thirty miles below the mouth of 

 the Little Miami, we come to the mouth of the 



GEEAT MIAMI. 



It rises on the same summit, as the Muskingum and Scioto, 

 in wet, marshy grounds, or in ponds, and small lakes. 



Tlic main branch of this river, rises in Hardin county, and 

 some of its waters interlock with the Au Glaize, a tributary of 

 the Maumee, so that by a portage of only five miles, we may 

 pass from the waters of the Mississippi, to those of the St. Law- 

 rence. The Cincinnati and Dayton canal is progressing north- 

 wardly, and Avill soon make a line of communication, by canal 

 navigation, from the Ohio river to Lake Erie. 



MAD EIVEE, 



A tributary of the Great Miami, rises in some ponds, from 

 which, not only the Great Miami flov/s but the Scioto also. Mad 

 river empties its waters into the Miami, at Dayton, a thriv- 

 ing town of 5000 people. The Miami valley has always been 

 admired for its beautifully variegated and fertile surface. Its 

 valley may be estimated at one hundred and ten miles from 

 north to south, and forty miles, or more, from east to west, 

 ^orhe'of it lies in Indiana. This is called the Miami country, 

 fthd "takeit, all in all, for soil, climate, water-power, but more 

 still, for its improvements in agriculture, and for its denseness 

 01 population, compared with any part of this state, and it is 

 unsurpassed. Cincinnati is a large city, with all the arts 

 of one— all the institutions which are calculated to enoble, exalt 

 polish, refine and render happy, the human family. 



'i)a\)^t6ri, Xenia, Hamilton, Springfield, Urbana, Troy, Piqua 

 and Rossville arc thriving towns, in this region. 



Bu(, we'niust leave for awhile these towns, and the waters 



