early roads

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July 15, 2012

into Lexington and back again

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James Flint appears to have spent several weeks in Lexington, during the winter of 1818.

On December 5, he wrote that “Lexington is still considered the capital of fashion in Kentucky. There are here many genteel families, a few of which keep coaches. The town, on a whole, exhibits a well-dressed population.”

On Christmas Eve, Mr. Flint was on his way again:

“Left Lexington. On this occasion I was the only passenger in the mail coach. Clear frosty weather allowed the sides of the carriage to be kept open, so that I enjoyed a view of the country. The expedition in traveling is great, considering the badness of the roads. The land that was beautifully verdant a short time ago, is now withered by the cold.”

On Christmas Day, 1818, he continued his account:

“The coach stopped at Washington, from seven o’clock, last night, till three this morning. It overset on my way hither, and though I received no injury, I resolved upon going no further with that vehicle in the dark, and over such bad roads. About five o’clock I was awakened by the firing of guns and pistols, in celebration of Christmas day. I heard no one speak of the nature of the event that they were commemorating. So universal was the mirth and conviviality of the people, that I could not procure a person to carry my portmanteau to Limestone. It remained for me to stop all day at Washington, or sling my baggage over my own shoulders. I preferred the latter alternative, and proceeded on my way.”

And so we leave James Flint, walking toward the Ohio River, to make his way back to the East Coast and home again.

 

July 14, 2012

the difficulties of riding in a mail coach

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… Two days later (on November 27, 1818), Mr. Flint wrote:

Crossed the river Licking in a boat, at a small town called Blue Licks, from the springs in its neighborhood, from which great quantities of salt were formerly procured. The adjoining timber is exhausted, and the salt-works are abandoned.

After coming to a flooded creek, where there was neither bridge nor boat, I waited a few minutes for the mail coach. The road is in several parts no other than the rocky bed of the stream. It also crosses the same creek four or five times. After riding a few miles, I left the coach. There is no great degree of comfort in traveling by this vehicle; stowed full of people, baggage, and letter bags; the jolting over stones, and through miry holes, is excessively disagreeable; and the traveler’s head is sometimes knocked against the roof with much violence. A large piece of leather is let down over each side, to keep out the mud thrown up by the wheels. The front was the only opening, but as the driver and two other persons occupied it, those behind them were almost in total darkness. A peep at the country was not to be obtained.

I lodged at Paris, the head town of Bourbon county. A cotton-mill, and some grist-mills, are the manufactories of the place. The population is considerable. Several of the taverns are large, and, like many of the others in the western country, have bells on the house-tops, which are rung at meals.

 

July 13, 2012

and on to Kentucky

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By late November, James Flint had made it to the Ohio River and had crossed over to Kentucky …

November 25, 1818:

Limestone, sometimes [and now] called Maysville, is a considerable landing place on the Kentucky side of the river Ohio. The houses stand above the level of the highest floods. There is a rope-walk, a glass-house, several stores and taverns, and a bank, in the town.

On the 26th, I left Limestone by the road for Lexington, which is sixty-four miles distant. The roads, hitherto scorched by drought, were in a few minutes rendered wet and muddy by a heavy shower of rain. The roads in this western country are of the natural soil.

The high grounds every where seen from the river, are called the river hills; they are in reality banks, the ground inland of them being high. To the south of Limestone it is a rich table land, diversified by gentle slopes and moderate eminences.

At four miles from Limestone is Washington, the seat of justice in Mason County. The town is laid out on a large plan, but is not thriving.

May’s Lick is a small village, twelve miles from Limestone. A rich soil, and a fine undulated surface, unite in forming a neighborhood truly delightful. The most florid descriptions of Kentuckyhave never conveyed to my mind an idea of a country naturally finer than this.

I lodged at a tavern twenty miles from Limestone. Before reaching that place the night became dark and the rain heavy. As the tops of the trees overhung the road, I had no other indication than the miry feel of the track, to prevent me from wandering into the woods.

to be continued …

 

July 12, 2012

more thoughts on the cost of travel

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Later that same year (October 28, 1818, to be exact), Mr. Flint had a bit more to say about the costs of traveling westward, and about the factors involved in deciding whether to travel by land or by waterway.

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Settlers continue to be much retarded in getting down the river. Head winds oblige them to put ashore sometimes for a whole day. Families for the eastern parts of Ohio State, are proceeding by the road. The father may be seen driving the waggon; and the women and children bringing up two or three cows in the rear. They carry their provisions along with them, and wrap themselves in blankets, and sleep on the floors of taverns. The hostess here does not charge any thing for this sort of entertainment.

Traveling by land at this season is, for various reasons, economical. Families by this means avoid delay and expense at Pittsburg; they are not obliged to sell their waggons and horses at an under value there; but take them along, as a necessary stock for their farms; and they are not put to the expense of a boat, which would be ultimately sold for a mere trifle, or left to rot by the waterside. Besides, their rate of traveling is now more speedy than by water. Those who go below Wheeling will have a farther advantage, as the distance from Pittsburg to that place is 38 miles shorter than by the river. The waggons and horses must also be of immediate use to those, who settle at a distance from navigable waters. It is impossible to state the distance to which horses and waggons should be carried from Pittsburg; this wholly depends on the state of the river, the quantity of goods to be transported, the price of freight (if paying passage instead of purchasing a boat is contemplated), the price of a boat, and the certain loss on selling horses and waggons at Pittsburg. Strangers will do well to make strict inquiries, and the most careful calculations, of the expense of both modes of traveling, previous to the adoption of either of them.

 

July 11, 2012

considering the costs of travel

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Later in September 1818, Mr. Flint considered the costs of emigrating from the East to the frontier in Ohio / Kentucky:

Emigrants carry their moveables in one-horse carts, or two- or four-horse waggons, as the quantity of goods may require. They carry much of their provisions from Philadelphia, and other towns, and many of them sleep in their own bed clothes, on the floors of bar-rooms in taverns. For this kind of lodging they usually pay twenty-five cents a family.

It is impossible to say whether it is cheaper to travel with a family, by purchasing a waggon and horses at Philadelphia, or by hiring one of the waggons that pass regularly to Pittsburg. This depends on the price paid for carriage at the particular time, and also on that to be paid for waggon and horses at Philadelphia. In the one case, the waggoner is paid for the weight of the goods, and for that of the persons who ride; and in the other case, the waggon and horses may be expected to sell at, or under, half the price paid for them at the sea-port. The great number of family waggons now on the road, amounts to a presumption that this mode of traveling is now thought to be the cheaper.

 

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