CHAPTER XV 
EXPERIMENTS IN TRADE ON THE FRONTIER 
The Ohio a hundred years ago—Hardships of the pioneer trader—Audu- 
bon’s long journeys by overland trail or river to buy goods—The 
“ark” and keelboat—Chief pleasures of the naturalist at Louisville— 
The partners move their goods by flatboat to Henderson, Kentucky, 
and then to Ste. Geneviéve, (Missouri)—Held up by the ice—Adventures 
with the Indians—Mississippi in flood—Camp at the Great Bend— 
Abundance of game—Breaking up of the ice—Settle at Ste. Geneviéve— 
The partnership dissolved—Audubon’s return to Henderson—Rozier’s 
successful career—His old store at Ste. Geneviéve. 
At the beginning of the nineteenth century the banks 
of the Ohio River were but thinly settled, and over vast 
areas the virgin forest still reigned in undisturbed vigor 
and beauty. Yet traders were eagerly pushing west- 
ward in ever growing numbers, and by 1810 Audubon 
and Rozier found that competition at Louisville was 
already keen. This city, wrote Alexander Wilson in 
describing his experiences in the spring of that year, 
was as large as Frankfort, and possessed a number of 
good brick buildings and valuable shops; it would have 
been salubrious, he thought, “but for the numerous 
swamps and ponds that intersect the woods in its neigh- 
borhood,” and the indifference of the people, whom he 
found too intent upon making money to give any heed 
to the drainage and sanitation of their town. 
The prosperity of the partners, as already intimated, 
was shortlived. Audubon was doubtless right in ad- 
mitting that his business abandoned him because he 
could not bear to give it the necessary attention. The 
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