144 
ters I reached Patterson’s saw-mill, where the men working for 
their daily bread, recalled me to human life. Near the saw-mill 
a dam forms an artificial waterfall, making a very handsome effect, 
beingabout twenty feet high. The saw-mill has a horizontal water¬ 
mill of the same description as those which I had previously seen 
in the United States. With a strong fall of water these wheels 
have more effect, and are cheaper than those used in other coun¬ 
tries. The road from the mill to Springfield was bad, mostly 
by causeways, and I was again compelled to walk a greater part 
of the way. Springfield is the chief town of Clark county, and 
lies partly at the foot of a hill and partly upon it, at the conflu¬ 
ence of two creeks, the shores are so marshy that I believe it 
would be possible to cut turf there. The town contains fifteen hun¬ 
dred inhabitants, nearly all the houses are built of brick, the 
streets are wide and right-angled, they are not paved; the prin¬ 
cipal street has a side-walk of brick. In the centre of this little 
town is a court-house built of brick, and having the form of an 
octagon; next to it stands a jail. The place is surrounded with 
orchards, meadows and well cultivated fenced fields. A chain of 
hills end in a point behind the town, not far from the confluence 
of both creeks. On this point are four insulated hills, which are 
said to be Indian mounds, three stand on the edge of one of the 
creeks, and at some distance is the fourth, which is quite de¬ 
tached from the others. The latter is the highest, its elevation 
is more than one hundred feet above the level of the valley; from 
this hill the eye commands a view over Springfield, the whole 
surrounding valley, the union of both valleys and the woody 
heights encircling the whole, there are clusters of blooming and 
high black thorn bushes growing in the meadows, which produce 
a good effect. This place seems to be opulent, it contains seve¬ 
ral good stores, and depends chiefly on the breeding of cattle and 
agriculture. We were very comfortably lodged at the inn at 
which we stopped. 
On the 7th of May, at nine o’clock, we left Springfield on a 
beautiful Sunday morning, and curiosity had assembled a crowd 
of people before our inn, to gaze at such wonders as we were. 
We went twenty-three miles on the road to Columbus, until we 
arrived at a single tavern, called Pike’s. The country was less 
cultivated than we had seen since leaving Cincinnati; we saw 
however, several fine orchards and fields ; all the settlements are 
new, and the habitations mostly consist of log-houses; we met 
several carts filled with well-dressed country people and several 
of both sexes on horseback, they were all going to church at 
Springfield. The road was generally very bad, and over many 
log causeways, kept in bad order. Beyond the woods, we saw 
vast tracts of meadow ground, on which only a few trees could 
