The Rivers
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from " Notes on Virginia" written by
Thomas Jefferson in answer to inquiries propounded
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| The
Ohio is the most beautiful river on earth: Its current gentle,
waters clear, and bosom smooth and unbroken by rocks and rapids, a
single instance only excepted. It is one-quarter of a mile wide at
Fort Pitt, five hundred yards at the mouth of the Great Kanhaway,
one mile and twenty-five poles at Louisville, one quarter of a mile
on the rapids three or four miles below Louisville, half a mile
where the low country begins, which is twenty miles above Green
river, a mile and a quarter at the receipt of the Tennessee, and a
mile wide at the mouth. ...
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| The Great Kanhaway is a river of considerable note for the fertility of its lands, and still more, as leading towards the head waters of James river. Nevertheless, it is doubtful whether its great and numerous rapids will admit a navigation, but at an expense to which it will require ages to render its inhabitants equal. The great obstacles begin at what are called the Great Falls, ninety miles above the mouth, below which are only five or six rapids, and these passable, with some difficulty, even at low water. ... |
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1796 Ohio River Map -- Collot, George Henri Victor ; Tardieu, P.F. |
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