01 
BOTANICAL INDEX. 
from New Jersey, 10,000aeresof land at tlie month of the Little Miami river, which 
they called Columbia. They arrived at their new purchase in November, 1788 
and as the locality is now within the corporate limits of Cincinnati, we must date’ 
the first settlement to 1788. At the same time and place (Marietta, 1788,) Judge 
Symmes sold to Matthias Denman and associates 10,000 acres of land directly opposite 
the mouth of Licking river, Kentucky, and which was the oldest portion of Cincin- 
nati until Columbia was annexed to it. A small portion of the colony arrived at their 
newly purchased territory, which they named Losanteville, late in December, 1788, 
but no settlement was made until the following year, during which time, at the 
earnest request of Governor St. Clair, Judge Symmes and others, this unmusical 
name was exchanged for the more classical one of Cincinnati. Judge Symmes se- 
lected for his home the western portion of his purchase, at the mouth of the Big 
Miami river, 15 miles below the present city of Cincinnati, and called his settlement 
North Bend. Here he expected to build a large city— possibly, the future em- 
porium ol the West, but fortune ruled otherwise. In 1790 the General Government 
built Ft. Washington, Fig. 191, for the better protection of the settlers, which being 
located at Cincinnati, without doubt influenced the early growth and prosperity of 
that city. 
( incinnati is built on the north half of a natural plateau nearly twelve miles in cir- 
cumference, with an average width of about three miles, comprising an area of 
nearly 24 square miles, and surrounded by a circular horizon of wooded hills 300 
Fig. 194. First Cincinnati Industrial Exposition Building , 1870. 
feet, high. Latitude, 39' 6' 30" north ; longitude, 84° 26' west; altitude, 498 feet above 
the level of the sea. Through this natural amphitheater the Ohio river, entering 
from the east and winding around for about 10 miles, from and including Columbia 
on the east, to Riverside on the south-west, with an average width of about 000 
yards, separates Cincinnati proper from the suburban cities and villages of Coving- 
ton, Newport, Ludlow, Dayton and Bellevue in Kentucky, but which are properly a 
portion of Cincinnati, as the majority of the residents depend upon Cincinnati for 
their living or are doing business in the city, while from choice they reside in a sub- 
urban town or in their country residence. Of course State boundaries will preclude a 
possibility of these detached parts ever being consolidated into one grand whole, but 
it may be well enough to finish our sketch of it all as a portion of one settlement. 
Licking river subdivides the southern half of the plateau into equal parts and forms 
the divide between Covington and Newport. Both plateaus present two terraces or 
river benches, the first (lowest) one being only 50 feet above the river, while the up- 
per one is 58 feet still higher. Originally, Cincinnati was built on the lower terrace, 
while directly back of the village stood Ft. Washington on the second terrace, be- 
tween what is now Third and Fourth street, and east of Eastern Row (now Broad- 
way). The city did not extend to the summit of the hills to any considerable ex- 
tent until within the past few years, or until the new Incline Plane Railroads had 
made their location more easy of access, consequently more desirable. Now, how- 
ever, some of the finest resident and suburban property lies upon the summit of the 
highest hills which command such a magnificent view of the city, river and adjoin- 
ing country. 
