INTRODUCTION.

.CHAPTER I.

Louisville is situated in the state of Kentucky and county of Jefferson, in latitude 38°. 10' north, upon an elevated and beautiful plain, on the south bank of the Ohio, in a great southern bend of that river, and immediately opposite its falls, being at or near the South West corner of an extensive tract of low country, somewhat of an oblong figure, that reaches to the lakes.

By casting an eye over a connected map of the states of Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, and the Miami Country, the boundaries of this immense valley (if so it may be termed) will readily be perceived to consist of two elevated, though broken ranges of highlands, one of which is known in the vicinity of the falls by the name of the Knobs, the other by that of the Silver Creek Hills. The former commencing a little below the mouth of Salt-River, run South East about

B

one hundred and twenty miles to the eastern boundary of Madison county, thence north east the same distance to the Ohio above Maysville, where, crossing the river they are seen a little east of the Pickaway Plains, pursuing the same course; the latter, rising in a high cliff, within a few hundred yards of the Ohio and adjoining the Town plat of Albany, (whose western boundary they constitute) stretch out in nearly a north easterly direction,to the Michigan territory, forming a paralel line with the one described by the Knobs in their progress to Lake Erie.

The whole of this tract, with few exceptions, is extremely similar in its general appearance whether it be viewed, with the inquisitive and searching eye of the Geognost or the more superficial glance of the common traveller. The one, every where, beholds the same formation characterized, by the nature and position of the Rock, the paucity of its metalic productions, the abundance of its saline ones, and the existence of those alluvial deposits, the debris of former ages, which together, with other circumstances, carry the most inestable conviction to his mind, that he is now treading on a spot once occupied

by the deep and placid waters of a Lake bounded by the Knobs and Silver Creek Hills, then doubtless much higher than at present: The other gazes with delight upon the number of beautiful streams, which interrupting his passage, are every where seen rolling their tribute to the Ocean, bearing on their foaming bosoms, the products of the lovely country through which they pass. If accident or design should lead him into the surrounding high country, how is he struck with admiration at the sight of meadows containing from five, to a hundred thousand acres lying on one uninterrupted level, covered with a profusion of Flora's most favorite gifts, and composed of the richest soil that any people under the canopy of Heaven can boast of! He sees that nothing more is requisite to prepare the Prairie* for the reception of that seed which it is sure to return him a thousand fold, than to burn up the grass and set in his plow: all the toil of cutting down trees and clearing away the stubborn relics of forests, in which the greater part of those who migrate to a new

The name by which these extensive natural meadows are generally known in the Western Country. In the state of Kentucky alone it is calculated there are upwards of half a million of acres of this description, which are now rapidly settling.