208 



THE ILLINOIS FAKMER. 



July 



bulletin board. The Taylor came in twenty-four 

 hours behind time, and so heavily loaded that we 

 concluded to take our chances on the Evansville, 

 which got up a steam and rang ber bells to save 

 the passengers, a trick that often takes in others 

 besides the' green one?. It is said that all things 

 must have an end, or at least new things must have 

 a beginning, and eight hours later the Evansville 

 swung her head to the current of the Ohio. 

 About the middle of the night the river was shut 

 in from shore and headland with such an impend 

 etrable fog that the anchor was thrown out and 

 steam shut off. The morniDg sun came up strug- 

 gling through the fog a short time before we 

 reached Metropolis. The site of the town is a 

 pretty one on the Illinois side of the river, and 

 just below the site of old Fort Massac. A night 

 cu the Ohio, at this season, will give one some 

 idea of the immense amount of water taken up in 

 the form of vapor from the surface of our west- 

 ern rivers, giving to their borders a maratine 

 climate, and of course without the healthy ef- 

 fect of the sea air subject to miasmetic diseases 

 where the sun changes this air thus saturated 

 with an excess of ammonia from the immense 

 amount of decaying vegetable and animal matter 

 that is exposed on the subsiding of high water. 

 "Were it not for the overflow to which the bot- 

 toms are so subject, these river dwellers could al- 

 most feed ilie world, but as it is, life is a con- 

 tinued struggle along their margins', and until 

 we reach the higher lands above the influence of 

 floods, but little progress is made in their social 

 relations. 



XATER. 



It is now nine o'clock A. M., and the lazy mist 

 hangs over the river, though the eun is out in 

 full splendor, shining through the wreathes of 

 mist and t nd' avoring to disperse them, but thus 

 far with oTil,> partial success. It is no wonder 

 that fruits f all kinds should do well along this 

 stream when they are not damaged by high 

 water ; tro-ii^ c>-unot injure them, being thus pro- 

 tected bv iti heavy fogs that shut out the frost. 

 The wlii-tl i now sounding for Paducah, which 

 is glitte' lit" irough the river mist. We reach 

 the wViJ*!-! a I find the city soltary and without 

 the appeiir I of business. The site is s good 

 one, aixi 'i> ice must have done a good busi- 

 nesB at n<> l-^ lay, but now the stores are most- 

 ly unocct.|i r .e residence of the rebel Gen. 

 Tilghm n ' smtly - ituated on the bank of 

 the riv . upper part of the city, being 

 surrou. a fine lot of shade trees, it 



makes a pleasant and valuable retreat for th^ 

 eiok soldier. Ripe apples, blackberries, and the 

 Morillo cherry were sold freely to the passen- 

 gers. With this river climate an! fine soil, al- 

 most all of the finest fruits can be grown, but 

 want of enterprise is the bar to progress. After 

 the war, this part of the Sou' h must, of necessi- 

 ty, receive an infusion of Northern en rgy which 

 wiil leave the whole body pol tic and make these 

 river towns points of no small importance. To- 

 ward sunset we reach Fort Henry, but can only 

 examine its -round walls from the d ek of the 

 steamer. The country thus far has presented a 

 very even appearacc : the soil is evidently from 

 an impure limestone strata, and is rica in all the 

 elements of a good soil. The whole country 

 along the river only lacks the energy of free la- 

 bor to develop its rich resources, when it would 

 be among the most desirable in the West. With 

 the skies of Italy and the mild zephyrs that 

 come up from the gulf; with its rich calavous 

 soil and gentle rolling surface, this part of Ken- 

 tucky should be carved out ioto thousands of 

 happy homes ; but the cause of slavery is over 

 all, and along the banks of thi- beautiful river; 

 there is novillages,no comfortable barns, no school 

 houses, but long tangled forests, with here and 

 there the log house of the poc white trash, who 

 get a penurious living by furnishing wood to the 

 boats. Now and then a farmhouse with no great 

 pretensions to comfort, a few apple trees, a do- 

 zen, perhaps, of Morelio cherries, and a few 

 peaches, sum up the orchard The soil and the 

 climate both conspire to make it almost the seat 

 of Pomono, but the indolence and want of ener- 

 gy of the former eo ably seconded by the negroes 

 leaye them with but a precosious supply of all 

 this health giving food. But the time cannot 

 be far distant when the banks of this beautiful 

 stream will be lined with happy homes, and 

 school houses and churches like mile stones mark 

 the way. Soon after we pass iuto Tennessee the 

 country along the river becomes more broken and 

 the hills encroach upon the river and the over- 

 hanging trees brush the deck of our steamer. The 

 soil has somewhat changed, and we see small leads 

 of gravel here and there, with strata, of blue 

 clay. Oecasionally the soil is colored with iron, 

 similar to that of our own grand chain, of which 

 these ridges form the south-eastern < ztension. 



JiTNa 20. — The river fog again arrested our 

 progress and the boat lay at the shore for some 

 hours. The weather, which has been very cool 

 for the season the past three or four days, is 

 again fine and rather warm ; woolen is coming 



