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Indiana; Louisville, Shippingport, and Portland, in Kentucky* 
Among these is Louisville, the principal, with a population of 
three thousand souls; while new Albany contains about one thou¬ 
sand, Shippingport six hundred, and Jeffersonville five hundred 
inhabitants; all these are thriving situations. Inclusive of the 
towns and neighbourhood, there is a population of ten thousand 
people in this vicinity. In the year 1810, Louisville contain¬ 
ed only thirteen hundred and fifty-seven inhabitants; it exceeds 
beyond a doubt its present estimate of five thousand, and will 
still increase. It is the seat of justice for Jefferson county, Ken¬ 
tucky, contains a prison, court-house, and the other essential 
buildings, besides a theatre, three banks, of which one is a branch 
of the United States Bank, a market, several places of worship, 
and three printing-offices. Louisville lies in 38° 18' north lati¬ 
tude, and 5° 42' west longitude from Washington.” 
Louisville, at least the main street of it, running parallel with 
the Ohio, has a good appearance. This street is rather broad, 
paved, and provided with foot-walks; it contains brick buildings 
and several considerable stores. In our hotel, I renewed my ac¬ 
quaintance with Major Davenport, of the sixth regiment of in¬ 
fantry, whom, together with his lady, I had known in Washing¬ 
ton, at General Brown’s, and who is here on recruiting duty. It 
fell out luckily enough, that the post-master here, Mr. Gray, had 
just married his daughter, and in compliment to her gave a splen¬ 
did party, to which I received an invitation. I repaired to it 
with Major Davenport, and found an extremely numerous, and, 
contrary to my expectations, even an elegant society. It was a 
real English rout, so full that many of the guests were obliged to 
remain on the steps. I was introduced to most of the ladies and 
gentlemen, was forced to talk a good deal, and found myself very 
much annoyed by the heat prevailing in the rooms. About eleven 
o’clock, I reached home heartily fatigued. 
In former years, when the state of Kentucky was an integral 
part of Virginia, Louisville consisted of a stockade, built as a 
protection against the hostile Indian tribes, who then still in¬ 
habited the banks of the Ohio. It received its name as a mark of 
respect for the unfortunate King, Louis XVI. This is attributa¬ 
ble to the Canadian traders, who established this post to secure 
their trade. By degrees white settlers joined them, and thus the 
town commenced, which at first suffered much from the Indians. 
It is five hundred and eighty miles distant from Pittsburgh, one 
hundred and thirty-one from Cincinnati, and thirteen hundred 
and forty-nine from New Orleans. I took a walk with Major 
Davenport through the town, and to the new canal. It consists 
of three streets running parallel with the Ohio, of which only the 
first or front one is built out completely and paved ; and of several 
Vol. II. 17 
