History of Wheeling City and Ohio Co. WV - Chapter X-A 



CHAPTER X. WHEELING AS A TOWN AND CITY. PART A
INCORPORATED--ORIGINAL SURVEYS--DESCRIPTION OF EARLY WHEELING--
TOPOGRAPHICAL, GEOGRAPHICAL AND CLIMATIC CHARACTERISTICS OF WHEELING IN 
1803--DISEASES INCIDENT TO THE NEW SETTLEMENT--IDENTIFIED LOCALITIES IN 
1815--OUR MARKET HOUSE--EARLY RACING AND RACE COURSES--THE CITY AS A U. S. 
PORT OF ENTRY--CUSTOM HOUSE--CITY WATER WORKS--TOWN CLOCK--MILITARY 
COMPANIES--WASHINGTON HALL--TRANSIT BETWEEN THE CITY AND ISLAND--WHEELING 
& BELMONT BRIDGE COMPANY--THE GAS COMPANY--KNOW NOTHING PARTY--PRINTING 
ESTABLISHMENTS--THE PRESS--PANHANDLE RAILROAD--OLD RESIDENTS. 

Wheeling was laid out into town lots in the year 1793 and in December, 
1795, was established as a town, the following persons being names as 
trustees, viz: Andrew Woods, Archibald Woods, John McIntyre, James Nelson, 
Henry Smith, William Waddle and Absalom Martin. It was incorporated on the 
16th of January, 1806, and became the county seat, which was removed from 
West Liberty. The first court held in Wheeling was convened in the inn of 
John Gooding, May 7, 1798. 

At a court held on this date, James Caldwell, Ebenezer Zane, John Boggs, 
Robert Woods, Benjamin Biggs, Robert McLure, William Skinner and Andrew 
Woods, a majority of the justices of the county being present in pursuance 
of an Act of the General Assembly passed December 27, 1797, "it is ordered 
that the Town of Wheeling be henceforth the place for holding Courts in 
this county, it is also ordered that Ebenezer Zane, Andrew Woods and Henry 
Smith be appointed Commissioners to determine upon and purchase a proper 
site whereon to erect public buildings for the use of the said county, and 
that until such public buildings shall be made the house of said Henry 
Smith in the occupation of Mr. John Gooding, innkeeper, in the said Town 
of Wheeling, be the place for the meeting of this Court." 

At the following term of the court, the said commissioners made their 
report, and at the same time it was ordered "that Andrew Woods, Moses 
Chapline, John McIntyre, Moses Shepherd and George Knox be appointed, and 
any three of them be authorized to act, to contract with any person or 
persons as they shall appoint to erect a Court House, Jail, stocks and 
whipping post on the ground as has been purchased and laid off in the Town 
of Wheeling by Ebenezer Zane, Andrew Woods and Henry Smith, Commissioners 
appointed for that purpose and admitted to record by this Court." 

In obedience to the order of the court, the persons named therein selected 
a site on Tenth street about midway the square between Main and Market 
streets and erected thereon a two-story building of square free stone 
blocks, some of which were hewn and others in their rough state. It was 
surmounted with a small square box out of proportion to the remainder of 
the building, reminding one, as was affirmed by a Kentuckian - a traveler 
passing through the city, and who was struck with its oddity - of a 
chicken coop, which had been placed there in a mischievous prank. 

The first record of the proceedings of the officers of the town of 
Wheeling appears to have been on Tuesday, the 15th day of April, 1806, on 
which date, pursuant to a call issued by the mayor, recorder, Joseph 
Caldwell and William Irwin, aldermen, and Noah Linsly, William McConnell, 
Frederick Beymer and John Gooding, councilmen. 

"On motion of the Recorder, it was Resolved, that a Committee be appointed 
to examine the documents containing a statement of the election of the 
officers and to report to the Council whether the election had been 
regularly holden, and whether the respective officers have taken the oaths 
according to law, and thereupon Mr. Linsly from the Committee appointed to 
examine the same made a report to the effect, that on the 17th of March, 
1806, the majority of the freeholders and housekeepers of the Town did 
meet at the Court House in said town and appointed Mordecai Yarnall, Moses 
Shepherd and George Miller to receive the votes. That having balloted for 
12 freeholders and housekeepers of said Town to be Mayor, Recorder, 
Aldermen and Common Councilmen for the same, it appeared that 84 votes had 
been cast, of which the following persons received, respectively, the 
number opposite their names, to-wit: Noah Linsly 74, George Miller 54, 
William Miller 53, Dennis Capat 53, William McConnell 50, John Carr 49, 
Joseph Caldwell 49, Charles Hammond 48, James Ralston 45, Frederick Beymer 
46, John White 45, and William Perrine 44. 

"That said George Miller, William Miller, Dennis Capat, William McConnell, 
Charles Hammond, Frederick Beymer, Joseph Caldwell and William Perrine did 
on the 22nd day of March, 1806, meet at the house of Frederick Beymer in 
said Town, and proceeded to ballot for Mayor, Recorder and four Aldermen, 
and upon counting the ballots it appeared that George Miller was elected 
Mayor, Charles Hammond, Recorder, and Dennis Capat, who had eight votes, 
and William Irwin, who had seven votes, Joseph Caldwell, who had six 
votes, and John Carr, who had six votes for aldermen, were declared duly 
elected. 

"That on the 24th day of March, 1806, the said George Miller took the oath 
of office as Mayor before Joseph Kerr, one of the Justices of the Peace 
for Ohio County. On the same day Hammond, Capat, Carr, Perrine and Beymer 
took the oath of their respective offices before the Mayor. On the 25th 
day of March, Linsly took the oath and on the 29th of the same month 
McConnell did the same. Ralston and White having declined to act as 
Councilmen, on the following 12th of April, John Gooding and Andrew Woods 
were duly elected to act as Councilmen. 

"George Pannell was appointed by the Mayor, Recorder and Aldermen Town 
Sergeant. On the 7th of May following, Andrew Woods having declined to act 
as Councilman, Samuel Beall was unanimously chosen in his stead." 

At this time Wheeling was a small town, comparatively, having a population 
in the neighborhood of 400, nor did it make much progress in growth for 
several years thereafter. When it did start to grow, it was not by reason 
of any "boom", but on account of its advantages as a manufacturing point, 
hence its progress may not have been so rapid as that of other places, yet 
if slower, it has been more steady and permanent. For the first fifteen or 
twenty years of its existence, it was compelled to meet many obstacles and 
difficulties of various sorts, which at last it happily surmounted. 

The original surveys show that from what is known as Jonathan's ravine, 
the northern limit of the city at the present time, and then down to 
Seventh street, was in a settlement containing 140 acres, made by Jonathan 
Zane. 

South of this survey of Jonathan Zane's and bounded by the creek on the 
south and east, and to the Ohio River on the west, was the settlement of 
Ebenezer Zane containing 400 acres. Two surveys were made of the Island 
for Ebenezer Zane, the first containing 285 acres, and the second 
containing 54 acres, made several years after that of the first survey. 

James Smith claimed the Peninsula, the Carter and Reyman Long farms. 

Caldwell claimed two 400-acre tracts, bounded by the hills on the east, 
and extending from the mouth of Wheeling Creek along the line of the river 
bank southward to what is commonly known as Caldwell's run. 

William Bogg's and John Bogg's, his father, claimed the present Eighth 
ward of the city and a portion of Marshall county, extending as far south 
as the Riverside mills. 

The original town consisted of 120 lots. We have looked in vain for a plat 
of the original town, but the records show nothing of such an one. 

About 1797 Jonathan Zane laid out an addition, extending from Fifth street 
to Seventh street, a plat of which a few years since was placed on record. 
Other aditions are as follows, viz: Noah Zane, East Wheeling Company, 
Michael Graham, Israel Updegraff, North Wheeling Company, Bedlaire, 
Shriver, Chapline & Eoff, Eoff, Bushfield & McMechen, John McLure, Jr., 
John McLure, Sr., Daniel Steenrod, Parker Brothers, Baker & Carrol, Emily 
A. Zane, Trustee, J.& C. Ritchie, J.& J. R. Baker, W. W. Shriver, Beverly 
M. Eoff, Executor, Sprigg & Ritchie, M. W. Chapline's Heirs, Thomas Oman, 
Z. Jacob, J. & J. R. Baker, Philip Reilly, Jno. P. Gilchrist, Henry Moore, 
Trustee, Armstrong & Coen, Daniel Zane, Orloff A. Zane, John A. Armstrong, 
C. L. Zane, A. G. Robinson, William Armstrong, Armstrong & Hunter, 
Theodore Fink, J. W. Zane, Baker, McCortney and others, and Paunell 
Laughlin & Handlam. 

We give the impressions of an English traveler by the name of Faux, who 
about this time visited Wheeling, whose observations and remarks were 
published in the London Quarterly Review, and who was endorsed by that 
periodical as being an "honest man," who tells the truth, and who produces 
good authority for every word and fact that he utters, but in our 
researches we have failed to find any authority for his scurrilous attack, 
except his own unsupported vile vituperations. 

But to his statement; he says: "The pasengers met with in the pockets and 
stages are all comical creatures, of uncleanly habits, and grossly 
indelicate in language." 

"The ladies will not look at a dark complexioned man lest he should have a 
dash of black blood in him." (Perhaps his complexion was of the color he 
mentions.) 

He thus continues: "The American considered as an animal is filthy, 
bordering on the beastly. All vices and imperfections seem natural, - 
those of the semi-barbarian, - and he is ashamed of none of them." 

The very oldest settlers on the Western side of the Alleghanies, those of 
Kentucky and along the banks of the Ohio River who occupy the largest and 
choicest tracts of land can do no more with all their industry than barely 
exist." (How flattering a picture this "honest?" and "truthful?" 
individual draws.) 

Again we quote from this veracious observer and truth teller; he says, 
"Soap is nowhere seen or found. Hence dirty hands, heads and faces 
everywhere." 

And yet again: "A corpse is no sooner laid in the earth, than it appears 
to be forgotten. There is no tear of sorrow shed for the friend, the 
parent or the relation." It is exasperating to read such bare-faced 
falsehoods. He out-Trollopes Trollope. Such, however, were the expressions 
of a professedly intelligent Englishman concerning our Western settlers 
and people generally in the earlier part of the last century. 

We now resume the continuation of the history of Wheeling. One hundred and 
twelve years ago the number of people living in what is now the city of 
Wheeling was between 200 and 250. It was then composed of cabins and log 
houses covering the streets in scattered positions. The only house south 
of Tenth street at that time was the house of Col. Ebenezer Zane. By the 
close of the last century, some changes had been made. The frontier at 
this time had been removed a long distance westward. With the consequent 
increase of population, new clearing and improvements were made. 

The first brick building erected in Wheeling was built by Jacob Gooding, 
and occupied the site of the present Windsor Hotel. It was known as 
Gooding's Inn. In a few years Zachariah Sprigg became its proprietor and 
was known as Sprigg's Tavern. 

In the year 1815 there were about 300 houses of Wheeling and a population 
amounting to about 1,500. The first house north of the corner of Main and 
Union (now Eleventh) streets was a frame house with a porch on the south 
side, occupied by Thomas Conard, who carried a cigar shop and factory in a 
portion of the lower story. Then the ground was vacant as far north as 
Market alley, on the corner of which stood a log building, which was used 
as a Friends' meeting house. Above this was an open space, and then came a 
frame building belonging to Josiah Updegraff, Next was a large frame 
building belonging to Mr. Chapline, the father of Judge Chapline. Next to 
this were other frame buildings, and in the corner one, being the nearest 
one to the old Court House where the old Virginia House stood, was the 
shop and dwelling of Moses Thompson, a tailor. The Court House, as already 
stated, occupied the middle of the street, and some distance back was the 
jail, and back of that near the base of the hill flowed a spring already 
mentioned, to which many of the people resorted for water. North of the 
present Tenth street, where Mr. McClellan had a shoe store, was a large 
frame store, then there were two or three small frames and then came the 
store of John McLure, and near it was Samuel Irwin's house. Next to this 
last was Mr. Harkin's hat store and the tinshop of William Dulty; then a 
log house in which an old woman kept a bakery. "Black Rachel" had a 
millinery shop in a small house, with a large lot adjoining, in which was 
an abundance of fruit of different kinds. Her son, James, played the 
fiddle for all the dances. Next was the residence of Neil McNaghten, then 
a large brick store in which Peter Yarnell carried on business, and next 
the store of Mr. Caldwell, the father of Judge Joseph Caldwell. The next 
was a gunsmith shop located in a log house. Then a person by the name of 
Goldenberg had a bakery in a large frame house. Then came another hat 
shop. The next house on that side was a large frame one in which Noah 
Linsly, the distinguished lawyer and the generous donor to the cause of 
education, lived and died. In a two-story brick above this, Thomas 
Johnston conducted a grocery store. Next to this was Mr. Sockman's 
residence and butcher shop, and next was a large log house, in which Mr. 
Burkett, an Englishman, lived, and carried on cabinet-making. He was for 
some reason offensive to the patriots of the day, probably on account of 
his nativity. After Perry's victory on Lake Erie, Captains Dulty, Irwin 
and McLure, together with a large crowd, gave him a mock serenade, and 
fired a cannon in front of his house. This cannon was taken from the river 
bank of Fort Henry, having been thrown from the Fort after the cessation 
of the Indian wars. It was quite rusty, but the first fire broke all the 
windows in Burkett's house. There were bonfires all over the town and a 
general frolic was engaged in. Soon after these happenings, Burkett 
committed suicide by hanging. Next came a bakery and cake store kept by 
"Granny Ralston," as she was familiarly called, which was a great resort 
for the boys who had pennies. On the opposite corner of Main street and 
the "pike" was a large frame house, property of William Miller. Then above 
this was a brick house in which Jonathan Zane lived. Then came the place 
of Mr. Cott, a heavy coal dealer. Then Mr. Greathouse's tannery. Mr. 
Vennum lived near here. There was also a hatter by the name of Joseph Carr 
and a Mr. Woods, who kept a large store. 

On the west side of Main Street was a brewery, and a hop field extended 
down to the river. Mr. Pannell, father of Alexander and Jack, had his home 
and carpenter shop below here. A fat shoemaker named Reed followed, - he 
was a good story teller. Then came Mr. Ryan, an English Quaker; then Mr. 
Irwin, a captain of a light horse company, - he was a blacksmith as was 
his son. Samuel. He was a member of the Legislature in 1811, and saw the 
theater burned at Richmond; he often talked of the terrible scene, and of 
the shrieks of the dying. Thomas Hughes lived on the corner of the "pike" 
and his gunshop stood below his house. There was the main ferry across the 
river. Mr. Clarke, tailor, lived and had a shop on the other corner, below 
which was some open space and the residence of Mr. List, grandfather of D. 
C. and Eugene Henry. He, and afterwards his son, John, kept school in a 
log house farther down. Mr. Mandale lived in a frame here. He died and his 
wife and daughter became milliners. A saddler shop was in a large frame 
below, name forgotten. There also was a small paper mill, run by a Mr. 
Armstrong. In this square was also the residence of Mr. John McLure, a 
fine brick for those days. There was also a large frame business house. 
There a street ran down to another ferry, and then came the Beymer House. 
Sam Beymer, who was in the War of 1812 and was surrendered under Hill, 
came home, with another man down the Alleghany River; for three days in 
this journey their only food was a squirrel. Such incidents of the war 
were numerous. There was a vacant space, and then came the old burying 
ground, where were many Indian and some white persons' graves. The remains 
of the white were removed in 1814 to the East Wheeling ground, where the 
Hempfield depot now is. Among them a Mr. Gill and wife are remembered. In 
this ground was built the Northwestern Bank, which was rebuilt in 1835-36 
and had the sperm candles (as they were called) in front. Next below was a 
log building kept as a postoffice by Richard McLure. He remained 
postmaster until 1837. Below this was a tavern, kept by the father of 
Charles Knox. His grandmother was quite blind, and yet could do the work 
all over the house as well as if her sight were perfect. Below the tavern 
lived an Englishman named Fox, who had a large family. There were a few 
small log houses between his and the street where the bridge is, and where 
the anchorage of the bridge now is stood the Market House, with six brick 
pillars, - great resort for pigs and cows. All the country west and north 
of the river was covered with old forest trees. Where Peter Zinn's 
confectionery was, on the corner of Tenth and Main Streets, stood Dilley's 
Tavern, and my informant was sometimes employed by Mrs. Dilley to aid in 
bringing passengers across the river in a skiff. There were sundry vacant 
lots and another tavern kept by a Mr. Jones and at his house were 
quartered officers and soldiers, prisoners taken by Perry on Lake Erie, 
who were being taken to Staunton, - one of them played a bag-pipe for the 
amusement of the boys. This was a little above where Colonel Knox's house 
stood. A vacant space, and then came a three-story frame, owned by a Mr. 
Whitehead. He had a son, long and think shanked, who, when mustering as a 
soldier, filled out his calves with cotton and the boys called him cotton 
legs. The boys are more polite now and don't make any fun of the ladies 
who use cotton in that way. The space from there to the road to the river 
opposite Zane's was all locust trees, and from there to the old Sprigg 
House, now the St. James, there were two forwarding and commission houses, 
one long and one frame. The wings of the old Sprigg were built afterwards. 
For some distance below the Sprigg House was the boat yard of Mr. Palmer, 
who built flat and keel-boats, one schooner and told anecdotes; also kept 
tame bears for general amusement. There was but one small frame between 
the boat yard and the mouth of the creek, where stood the old log 
garrison, a building over 100 feet long with 100 rooms. In 1812-13 a 
wooden bridge was built across the creek, where the stone bridge is now. 
It was built by Peter Yarnall, Noah Zane and a man named Shreve, who then 
went to Louisville and was engaged in removing the rafts from the Red 
River. From him Shreveport derives its name. Right below this bridge, the 
steamer "Washington" was built, in 1814, among the first on the Upper 
Ohio. My informant says he cannot be mistaken, for he often crawled into 
the boilers before they were put aboard. He went down to Marietta for a 
raft used in building it, and helped some men bring her up. The whole 
people of the town, men, women and children, were down to see her fired up 
and such a "skedaddling" as there was when the steam was let off he never 
saw. They thought her boilers had burst, sure. He does not remember 
whether the first steamer arrived before he left or not. I believe the one 
that brought up the dry hides and mosquitoes came in 1813. The Ohio became 
famous for boats at an early day. In 1801 Miller experimented with steam 
on a boat on the Thames. Nothing was done in England, after that, until a 
Mr. Bell put a boat on the Clyde in 1813, and ran her for some years. But 
in this country Fulton ran up the Hudson from August 1807, onward, and he 
came next in 1811 and built the "New Orleans," at Pittsburg. 

As a matter of local as well as general interest connected with Wheeling's 
early days, we make some excerpts from "Sketches of a Tour of the Western 
Country through the States of Ohio and Kentucky. A Voyage Down the Ohio 
and Mississippi, and a Trip Through the Mississippi Territory, and part of 
West Florida. Commenced at Philadelphia in the Winter of 1807 and 
Concluded in 1809 by F. Cuming." 

The author says: "On the 8th day of January, 1807, I left Philadelphia on 
foot, accompanying a wagon which carried my baggage. I preferred this mode 
of travel for several reasons. Not being pressed for time, I wished to see 
as much of the country as possible; the roads were in fine order, and I 
had no incentive to make me desirous of reaching any point of my intended 
journey before my baggage. With respect to expenses, there was little 
difference in my traveling in this manner, or on horseback, or in the 
stage, had I been unincumbered with baggage; for the delay on the road, 
awaiting the slow pace of a loaded wagon whish is not quite three miles an 
hour, and not exceeding 26 miles on a winter's day, will occasion as great 
expense to a traveler in a distance exceeding two such day's journey as 
the same distance performed otherwise in less than half the time, 
including the charge of horse or stage hire." 

He traveled but a few days on foot, for he tells us that when he reached 
the mountains, where he became lame and his foot pained his badly, he "met 
a traveler who had two horses at the door, one of which he had offered to 
my fellow pedestrian, on condition of his being at the expense of feeding 
him on the road. He was declining the offer as I entered, so I embraced it 
gladly, and the young man agreed to take me up as soon as he should 
overtake me on the road, as he had to await his brother who was to 
accompany him, and I expressed a wish to walk before over the Tuscarora 
mountain, both to enjoy the scenery and to avoid the danger of riding over 
it three miles, with the road in many parts like glass from the freezing 
of the snow after a partial thaw. 

"At the western foot of the mountain I stopped at Ramsey's, an inn-keeper, 
farmer, saddler and distiller. It was noon and Mr. Ramsey, with a 
stranger, was seating himself to dinner. I contented myself with a tumbler 
of egg punch, which I had just swallowed as my horsemen rode past, calling 
out that they would await me at the distillery, where I accordingly joined 
them, drank a dram of new whiskey with the hospitable distiller, mounted 
my mare, threw away my cudgel and trotted off briskly with my new 
companions. We stopped to feed our horses at an inn about six miles from 
Ramsey's, which was the residence of an old man named Hull. The large 
fire, cleanliness and air of plenty which I found within was the more 
enjoyed from the contrast with the wretched appearance without. 

"On remounting, my mare started and a bag of rye for provender which was 
on the saddle under me falling off, I fell with it. One of my companions 
checked his horse suddenly and threw himself off to assist me, and I was 
under both horses' feet for some seconds, but seizing the fore feet of the 
horse from which I apprehended the most danger I pulled them towards me, 
threw him down and at the same time scrambling from under him I 
providentially escaped with only a slight bruise on my left leg and a rent 
in my pantaloons. My gun, which was loaded and which I carried slung at my 
back, was thrown some distance from me without injury." 

"Apropos of traveling - A European, who had not experienced it, could form 
no proper idea if the manner of it in this country. The travelers are 
wagoners, carrying produce to and bringing back foreign goods from the 
different shipping ports of the Atlantic, particularly Philadelphia and 
Baltimore; packers with from one to 20 horses selling or trucking their 
wares through the country; countrymen, sometimes alone, sometimes in large 
companies, carrying salt from McConnelstown and other ports of navigation 
on the Potomac and Susquehanna for the curing of their beef, pork, 
venison, etc.; families removing further back into the country, some with 
cows, oxen, horses, sheep and hogs, and all their farming implements and 
domestic utensils, and some without; some with wagons, some with carts, 
and some on foot, according to their abilities. The residue, who make use 
of the best accommodations on the roads, are country merchants, judges and 
lawyers attending the courts, members of the legislature, and the better 
class of settlers removing back. All the first four descriptions carry 
provisions for themselves and horses, live most miserably, and wrapped in 
blankets occupy the floor of the bar-rooms of the taverns where they stop 
each night, which the landlords give them the use of with as much wood as 
they choose to burn in consideration of the money they pay them for 
whiskey, of which they drink great quantities, expending foolishly for 
that which poisons them as much money as would render them comfortable 
otherwise. So far do they carry this mania for whiskey that to procure it 
they in the most niggardly manner deny themselves even the necessaries of 
life; and as I was informed by my landlord, an observing and rational man, 
countrymen while attending the courts (for they are generally involved in 
litigation, of which they are very fond) occupy the bar-rooms of taverns 
in the country towns for several days together, making one meal serve them 
each day, and sometimes two or even three days, - but drinking whiskey 
without bounds during the same time." 

While prosecuting his journey from Somerset, Pennsylvania, he did so in a 
sleigh, and says "one of my companions was a Mr. McKinley, of West 
Liberty, near Wheeling, in Virginia, one of the representatives in the 
state assembly, retuning home from Richmond." In the early part of 
February he reached Pittsburg, from which place, accompanied by a friend, 
he departed July 18, 1807, "in a batteau or flat-bottomed skiff, 20 feet 
long, very light, and the stern sheets roofed with very thin boards, high 
enough to sit under with ease, and long enough to shelter us when extended 
on the benches for repose, should we be benighted occasionally on the 
river, with a side curtain of tow cloth as a screen from either the sun or 
the night air. We had a pair of short oars, or rather long paddles, for 
one person to work both, and a broad paddle to steer with, and a mast and 
a lug or square sail to set when the wind should favor us; we had a good 
stock of cold provisions and liquors." Our traveler reached Wheeling July 
21, 1807, in his descriptions of which he says Wheeling is situated on so 
high a cliff, with the avenues from the river so steep, that on account of 
the apparent difficulty of getting our baggage carried up we preferred 
going on where the cliff was considerably lower, landing just under 
Sprigg's Tavern, near the shipyards, a little above the confluence of 
Wheeling Creek with the Ohio. 

"This being a great thoroughfare on account of its situation, where the 
great post roads from Philadelphia, Baltimore and the northern part of 
Virginia unite and cross the river on the route through the states of Ohio 
and Kentucky to Tennessee and New Orleans, we found several travelers of 
various descriptions in the house, and after partaking with them of a good 
supper we went out to saunter until bedtime through the town, into which 
we had to ascend a steep but short hill. It appeared very lively, the 
inhabitants being about their doors or in the street enjoying the fresh 
air of clear moonlight evening, while two flutes were playing en duo, the 
simple but musical Scot's ballad of Roy's wife of Aldwallock, the prime 
part very tastily executed. Yet, notwithstanding appearances, our 
impression of the town was not the most favorable, nor after tolerable 
beds and a good breakfast next morning had we reason to alter out opinion 
when we examined by daylight. 

"It contains 120 houses of all descriptions from middling downwards, in a 
street about half a mile long, parallel to the river, on a bank of 100 
feet perpendicular, which the face of the cliff almost literally is; of 
course the avenues to the landing are very steep and inconvenient. The 
court house of stone, with a small belfry, has nothing in beauty to boast 
of. The jail joins it in the rear. 

"It is probable that Mr. Zane, the original proprietor, now regrets that 
he had not placed the town on the flat below at the conflux of the 
Wheeling and Ohio, where Sprigg's Inn and the shipyards now are, instead 
of cultivating it as a farm until lately, when a resolve of Congress to 
open a new public state road from the metropolis through the western 
country, which will come to the Ohio near the mouth of Wheeling Creek, 
induced him to lay it out in town lots, but I fear he is too late to see 
it become a considerable town to the prejudice of the old one, 
notwithstanding its more advantageous situation. The present town does not 
seem to thrive, if one may judge of the state of new buildings, two only 
of which I saw going forward in it. The stores also appear rather thinly 
stocked with goods, and the retail prices are high. When the new road is 
finished it will doubtless be of great use to Wheeling, as it will be a 
more direct route to the western states than any of the others hitherto 
used, and besides there are no material impediments to the navigation of 
the Ohio with the usual craft below that town in the driest seasons, when 
the river is at the lowest. 

"The surrounding country in sight is hilly and broken, but I am informed 
it is very rich and plentiful at a short distance from the river. 

"Wheeling Island, in front of the town, is about a mile long and half a 
mile wide in its broadest part. It is very fertile and is all cultivated 
as a farm by Mr. Zane. The post and stage road to Chillicothe in Ohio goes 
across it, which occasions two ferries, an inconvenience which will be 
remedied by the new state road crossing by one ferry below the island. 

"Indian Wheeling Creek, a fine mill stream, joins the Ohio from the 
northwest, opposite the middle of the island, and Mr. Zane has lately laid 
out a new town there named Canton, which has now 13 houses, but from its 
proximity to Wheeling it never can become considerable." On his return 
from his southern tour he makes some further observations concerning 
Wheeling and its neighborhood, as follows: "On the banks of the Ohio" 
(already mentioned by him) "is a new town called Canton(*) laid out by Mr. 
Zane last year, which has now 13 houses. We have crossed a ferry of a 
quarter of a mile to Zane's Island, which we walked across, upwards of 
half a mile through a fertile, extensive and well cultivated farm, the 
property of Mr. Zane, some of whose apples, pulled from the orchard while 
passing, were very refreshing to us while we sat on the bank nearly an 
hour awaiting the ferryboat. At last the boat came and we crossed the 
second ferry of another quarter of a mile, to Wheeling. 

(* The name has been changed to Bridgeport)

"Here my fellow traveler took leave of me, purposing to go five or six 
miles further ere night, though it was now five o'clock and we had already 
walked upwards of 30 miles since morning. 

"I stopped at Knox's Inn, where I asked for some beer, not daring to drink 
wine or spirits. They had none, so I walked out to a small house where I 
had observed on a sign, "Beer and Cakes." On entering, I found my 
traveling companion making a hearty meal on a cent roll and a pint of 
beer. He appeared as glad to see me again as if we had been old 
acquaintances and had been long parted, and was easily prevailed on to 
make a second libation with me to the prosperous termination of our 
journeys in that humble, wholesome and refreshing beverage. I then 
returned to Knox's, where I supped and slept. Next morning at dawn I took 
a plunge in the river, and after breakfast, finding my strength 
invigorated and my spirits renovated by my cold bath, I continued my 
journey on foot by the most direct road to Washington, Pennsylvania, 
instead of waiting for the stage, according to my first intention, as it 
had to go 10 miles out of the direct road to deliver the mail at 
Charlestown.(*)

(* Wellsburg) 

"I set out at half part nine o'clock and soon gained the top of the hill 
immediately over Wheeling, from which there is a handsome birds-eye view 
of that town, Zane's Island in fine cultivation, the two ferries across 
the Ohio and the village of Canton beyond, while on the left the Ohio is 
seen winding among hills five or six miles below, and the view is bounded 
in that direction by one ridge rising behind another to a great distance. 
Turning round on the ridge over which the narrow road leads, I had 
Wheeling Creek directly under me at the foot of the precipice, it running 
in such a manner as to make the site of the town with the hill behind 
almost a peninsula between it and the Ohio. 

"I had proceeded about a mile, when, meeting a traveler of whom I 
inquired, I found I had taken a wrong road, in consequence of which I had 
to descend a steep precipice on my right, letting myself down with my 
hands from one tree to another to the bottom. Here I got into the right 
road, which follows the meanders of the creek up a fine valley, which has 
been settled about thirty years, and is now in a state of excellent 
cultivation. 

"At two miles from Wheeling I passed a very handsome house, a fine farm 
and a mill of a Mr. Woods on the left. Here I could not help being struck 
with the difference of appearance of this wooden house painted white, with 
green jalousie window shutters and red roof, and the stone and brick 
houses of Ohio and Kentucky, much in favor of the former, however, better 
in reality the latter may be. A mile farther I passed Mr. Chapline's fine 
merchant mill, and about a mile and a half beyond that, where the valley 
narrows, I observed on the left some very remarkable large loose rocks, 
which seem to have fallen from a rocky cliff which impends above. 

"Half a mile beyond this I stopped at a Mr. Eoff's neat cottage and good 
farm, where everything had an air of plenty and comfort. Four or five 
genteel looking young women were all engaged in sedentary domestic 
avocations, and an old lady served me with some milk and water which I had 
requested, after which I resumed my walk. 

"A Mile up the side of the creek brought me to Mr. Shepherd's mill and 
elegant house of cut stone. Here the creek forks and the road also, one of 
the forks called Big Wheeling coming down from the southeast and the right 
hand road leading along it to Morgantown; the left fork, called Little 
Wheeling, which forms Mr. Shepherd's mill race, coming from the eastward, 
and my road towards Washington leading along it through a narrow valley 
with small farms, wherever a bottom or easy declivity of the hills would 
permit. 

"I was here overtaken by a man on horseback, who very courteously insisted 
on my riding his horse while he walked about a mile. He was a County 
Tyrone man on the North of Ireland, settled twelve years in America, the 
last six of which has been in this neighborhood, where he cultivated a 
farm with good success. Indeed industry and sobriety is all that is 
necessary in any part of the United States to the westward of the 
mountains to insure a comfortable independence in a very few years. 

"My companion stopping at a house on the road, I again proceeded alone to 
McKinley Tavern, four miles from Shepherd's. I here left the creek on the 
left, crossing a smaller one which falls into it from the right, and I 
then ascended a steep and high hill, called Roney's point, from its being 
the point of a ridge, and first owned by one Roney. It was about half a 
mile to the top of the hill, from which a fine, thickly settled and well 
cultivated but very hilly country broke on my view, beautifully variegated 
with cornfields in tassel, wheat and oat stubble, meadows, orchards, 
cottages and stacks of hay and grain innumerable, with a small coppice of 
wood between every plantation. 

"Descending a little, a mile and a half further brought me to William 
Trusdale's cottage, where I rested and refreshed with some buttermilk and 
water, and then went on through the same kind of country four miles from 
Trusdale's to the Virginia and Pennsylvania boundary line, half a mile 
beyond which I entered the village of Alexandria(*) A gust approaching 
fast, I stopped about half an hour at John Woodburn's Tavern. This village 
is named from a Mr. Alexander, the proprietor of the soil, and is 
nicknamed Hardscramble, either from the hilly roads by which one arrives 
at it or from the difficulty experienced by the first settlers to obtain a 
subsistence. It contains about a dozen houses and cabins, a meeting house 
and three taverns, but it does not seem to thrive.

(* West Alexander)

"I would not mention so often my mode of living and treating myself while 
on this journey only to show the good effects of temperance and 
cleanliness which enabled me, though in so warm a season, to travel either 
on foot or on horseback without fatigue or injury to my constitution." 

We quote as follows from a letter to a medical periodical published in New 
York in the year 1805, written by Dr. Gideon C. Forsyth, a physician who 
located in Wheeling about the year 1803, concerning the topographical, 
geological and climatic conditions of this place. 

He says: "The town of Wheeling, where I now live, stands on a very high 
bank of what is called made ground, and was once no doubt the bed of the 
river; so that we are obligated to sink our wells as low as the river in 
order to have permanent water. We find mud, logs and petrified substances, 
with rolled pebbles as far as the made ground extends downwards, say 
upwards of 40 feet. The river water is generally pure, as the bottom is 
sand and rolled pebbles, and seldom muddy. The earth is so light that if 
the bank falls in by the undermining of the water the light sand and earth 
are soon carried away, and nothing is left but pebbles and course sand. 
Our climate is much more mild in the same degrees of latitude than 
eastward of the Alleghany mountains. This is caused by the winds, which 
are mostly up the river, or from the southward and westward. I have rarely 
known a northeast storm here; that wind seems to know that its bounds are 
the Alleghany mountains. 

"The soil on the north side of our hills is by far the richest. this is no 
doubt owing to the winds blowing so constantly from the southward, 
carrying the leaves and lodging them on the north side, which by rotting 
have at length made the soil rich. This you know is quite the reverse of 
what is the case in New England, where the north sides of the hills are 
cold and frequently unproductive. Although the climate is more mild, yet 
it is much more unsteady, and you can never prognosticate what the weather 
will be twelve hours beforehand." 

In the same year in which the above letter was written we quote from the 
"Journal of a Tour into the Territory Northwest of the Alleghany 
Mountains, by Thaddeus Mason Harris." 

Mr. Harris, who was a minister, being in poor health, thinking it would be 
conducive to the restoration of same, started from Boston in March, 1803, 
in his own conveyance, to make a tour of the Western country. He took the 
Post road from Boston through New York and Philadelphia to Lancaster, 
Pennsylvania and thence through Carlisle and Shippensburg to Strasburg at 
the foot of the Alleghany mountains. On the 12th of April he left Fort 
Ligonier, which was built by General Forbes, of His Majesty's forces, in 
the year 1759, and named for Mr. Pitt's beautiful but erratic daughter - 
Lady Ligonier. Passing the mountains, he followed the road down the 
Youghiogheny River and speaks of Williamsport, 19 miles below Redstone, 
now Brownsville, as being the direct road from Philadelphia to Wheeling 
after some days spent at Pittsburg, of which he gives a short account with 
a paragraph describing Seneca oil, or, as he says, petroleum, and calls 
attention in connection to Pliny Liber 11, Chapter 105. 

On Thursday, April 19th, he crossed the ferry over the Monongahela 
opposite the glass houses, dined at Canonsburg, then to Washington to 
lodge and on the 20th he dineD at Shepherd's mills on Wheeling Creek, 
"having traveled along a most romantic valley, between high mountains, and 
repeatedly crossed (17 times in five miles) the beautiful stream (Little 
Wheeling) running through it. The proprietor of these mills resides in one 
of the best built and handsomest stone houses we saw on this side of the 
mountains. 

"Quitting the secluded vale, we passed over a high chain of mountains, 
when we overlooked the town of Wheeling and enjoyed fine and extensive 
views of a hilly and well-wooded country, intersected by the Ohio River. 

"And in passing I may say that Louis Phillipe, King of the French, said to 
General Lewis Cass, when Minister to his Court, that when he and his 
brothers were on their way down the river in a keel-boat from Pittsburg to 
Louisiana, about this time, they were stopped by the ice, and were for 
three days in Wheeling. On the third day, tired of their forced inaction, 
they went for a walk on the hill and soon saw the ice giving way, and 
joyfully they hastened down and reembarked." 

Mr. Harris continues, "Wheeling is a post town, in Ohio county, Virginia, 
healthy and pleasantly situated on the sloping sides of a hill gracefully 
rising from the Ohio. It is laid out principally on one street, and most 
of the houses are handsome, several being built of brick and some of faced 
stone. It is 12 miles southwest of West Liberty and 54 miles from 
Pittsburg, 332 from Philadelphia and 12 miles above Grave Creek. 

"It is increasing very rapidly in population and in prosperous trade, and 
is next to Pittsburg the most comfortable place of embarkation for traders 
and emigrants any where on the Western waters. During the dry season great 
quantities of merchandise are brought hither, designed to supply the 
inhabitants of the Ohio River and the waters that flow into it, as boats 
can go from hence when they cannot from places higher up on the river. 

"Boat building is carried on in this place to a great extent, and several 
barges, keel-boats and some vessels have been built. 

"Opposite the town is a most beautiful island in the river, containing 
about 400 acres, interspersed with buildings, highly cultivated fields, 
some fine orchards and copses of woods. It appears to great advantage from 
the town, and forms a very interesting part of the prospect. After the 
eyes have been strained in viewing the vast amphitheatre of country all 
around, or dazzled by tracing the windings of the river, they are 
agreeably rested and refreshed by the verdure and beauty of Wheeling 
Island." 

This description of Wheeling, as given by Mr. Harris as it then was, is 
substantially correct. The entire town was all on the bluff or high 
ground. The landing for boats was at the foot of Ninth street near the old 
Beymer House at the corner of Ninth and Main Streets, which was about the 
center of the town. The grade of Main street must have been changed about 
this time, as the log houses on the west side of the street were from two 
to three feet below the road. A spring near the upper part of the Second 
Ward Market House filled with its overflow a small rivulet, which flowing 
along Market Street was lost in a gully just back of the Zane house, which 
stood on the southeast corner of the present Eleventh and Main Streets. 
Between this rivulet and the river the ground ascended in a slight ridge 
until it had its highest point where the fort stood originally. As it was 
in those days all below the hill was fields, principally corn. In the year 
1803 the keel-boats had the river to themselves, all travel going down in 
keel or flat-boats. In returning, many came by horseback, buying horses in 
Kentucky and coming back from Limestone (Maysville, Kentucky) across the 
country to Wheeling, but some came up the river. Keel-boats were at that 
time the only means of locomotion against the current. Slightly built 
flats or broadhorns, so-called, were built on the Monongahela and floated 
down with the emigrants, who founded the broad states of the west and 
after serving the purpose of freighting their owners and belongings were 
broken up into useful lumber. 

In continuation of Mr. Harris' account he says that below the town stands 
an old fort, at the point of land formed by the junction of Wheeling Creek 
and the river. 

This fort stood in a decaying condition for many years. It was built of 
logs and occupied the site of the present Baltimore & Ohio Railroad depot 
and where the cotton mill and iron works afterward stood.(*) It was in 
fair repair until a time when an unruly ox, being led by John Wiseralls 
and Henry Sockman, butchers, started to run from them, the cattle being 
much wilder in those days than now; Sockman held on to the steer with a 
rope until he reached the fort, when he took a hitch on the rope on the 
end of a projecting log. The log was pulled out and soon afterward the 
fort was all a ruin. Some of the logs of this old fort were used in a 
building formerly occupied by William Moyston, now deceased. Henry Sockman 
was in his day quite a character and somewhat the associate of the 
Spriggs, Goods and others, his love of racing sports being shared by them. 

(* The name of this defense was Fort Randolph. It had been erected by the 
government in the latter part of the eighteenth century.)

In a few days Mr. Harris left his carriage and, taking a keel-boat, 
proceeded down the river. He speaks of passing the fort as if considerable 
distance intervened from the landing and the mouth of the creek. There 
were no houses on the lower ground, as malarial fevers were common on all 
the low grounds. "The passage down the river was extremely entertaining, 
exhibiting at every bend a change of scenery. Sometimes we were in the 
vicinity of dark forests which threw a dark shade over us as we glided by; 
sometimes we passed along overhanging banks, decorated with blooming 
shrubs, which timidly bent their light boughs to sweep the passing stream, 
and sometimes around the shore of an island, which tinged the water with 
reflected landscape. The lively carols of the birds which sing among the 
branches entertained us exceedingly and gave life and pleasure to the 
woodland scene. The flocks of wild geese and ducks which swam upon the 
streams, the vast numbers of turkeys, partridges and quails we saw upon 
the shore, and the herds of wild deer or some other animals of the forest 
darting through the tickets, afforded constant amusement." Mr. Harris 
arrived at Marietta on Saturday morning, April 23rd., and remained for a 
fortnight. On May 4th he notes: "There passes the schooner 'Dorcas Sally', 
of 75 tons, built at Wheeling and rigged at Marietta, and on the following 
day there passed down the schooner 'Amity', 103 tons, from Pittsburg, and 
the ship 'Pittsburg', of 275 tons burthen, from the same place, laden with 
1,700 barrels of flour, with the rest of her cargo in a flat alongside; 
and in the evening the brig 'Mary Avery', of 130 tons, built at Marietta, 
set sail, all going out on a 15-foot raise." After some stay at Marietta 
he started on his return by horseback through what was then a wilderness, 
and on June 7th he reached Tomlinson, a small settlement near Grave Creek, 
lodged there that night, and Wednesday June 8th, he started to examine the 
mounds, and commencing with 

"Behind me rise a reverend pile,
 Sole on this desert heath, a place of tombs;
 Waste desolate, where ruin dreary dwells,
 Brooding over sightless skulls and crumbling bones." 

"We went out this morning to examine ancient monuments about Grave Creek. 
the town of Tomlinson is partly built upon one of the square forts. 
Several mounds are to be seen. I think there are nine within a mile. Three 
of them, which stand adjoining each other, are of superior height and 
magnitude to those that are commonly to be met with. In digging away the 
sides of one of them in order to build a stable many curious stone 
implements were found - one resembling a syringe or tube. There were also 
a pestle, some copper arrowheads of an oval shape, and several other 
articles. One of the mounds in Colonel Briggs' garden (the tavern where 
Mr. Harris was entertained) was excavated in order to make an ice house. 
It contained a vast number of human bones, a variety of stone tools, a 
kind of stone signet of an oval shape, two inches in length, with a figure 
in relievo resembling a note of admiration surrounded by two raised rims. 
Captain Wilson, who presented to stone to my companion, Mr. Adams, 
observed that it has exactly the brand used to brand the Mexican horses. 
This singular stone was dispatched to Mr. Turell's cabinet in Boston. One 
of the mounds was surrounded by a regular ditch and parapet, with only one 
entrance. The tunneling was about 12 feet high. The big grave, as it is 
called, is a most astonishing mound. We measured its perpendicular height 
and it was 67 1/2 feet; by the measurement of George Miller, of Wheeling, 
it is 67 feet. Its sides are steep; the diameter of the top is 55 feet, 
but the apex seems to have caved in, for the present summit forms a basin 
three or four feet in depth (all mounds not entirely finished presented 
this appearance); it is overgrown with large trees on all sides; near the 
top is a white oak of three feet in diameter, one still larger grows on 
the eastern side about half way down; the mounds sound hollow and as there 
were no excavations near the mounds and no hills or banks of earth we 
[missing word(s)] must have been formed principally of sods skimmed from 
the surface of the earth, or of earth brought from a great distance." On 
the 9th our traveler went to Wheeling again, stopping at Gooding's, which 
he says is a very good house, and on the 10th of June he took his carriage 
again and went via Washington, Uniontown, Somerset and Chambersburg to his 
home in Washington, Pennsylvania. He has the Indian Queen Hotel and 
Hawkins' Hotel marked best in the itenerancy. On April 20, 1803, at 
Wheeling, the thermometer was at 3 p.m., 70 degrees; at 6 p.m. 68 degrees, 
and on June 9th, at 7 a.m., 64 degrees; at 12 M., 73 degrees, and at 5 
p.m. 72 degrees. Hops grew wild in profusion on the island; he picked up 
native sulphur on some creeks, he does not say which.


DISEASES INCIDENT TO THE NEW SETTLEMENTS 

We gather the following additional particulars from a letter addressed to 
a friend by a physician residing in Wheeling in the year 1808, on the 
diseases incident to the new settlement. 

"WHEELING, NOVEMBER 24, 1808

"In the first settlement of this country the inhabitants were under the 
necessity of living in small log cabins, say 12 to 15 feet wide and 
perhaps 16 feet long, with a small hole which served as a window, and one 
door; the floor of split logs or puncheons, and the side walls filled in 
with mud. In these large families were crowded together like so many sheep 
in a pen. The living was principally fresh meat and vegetables. Several 
years would pass before a sufficient improvement could be made to let the 
sun have its necessary influence, and winds to pass off freely. Under such 
circumstances, where vegetables grow so luxuriantly, their sudden 
decomposition must afford much miasma, which could not be carried off by 
the winds sufficiently to keep the air pure; so that by day they were 
exposed to this unfriendly air; and at night confined to their own 
effluvia in those unventilated cabins. Add to this the unreconciled state 
of their minds by coming so far from their native homes and settling among 
strangers created a degree of home-sickness, as it is called, could not 
otherwise than have a sensible effect on their diseases. All these causes 
have a tendency to give a typhous state to them. 

"For the four first years after I came here I found fevers of the nervous 
type, and very obstinate. Whole families would be laid up frequently from 
four to eight weeks before any symptoms of convalescence appeared, except 
those who called for medical aid in the forming state of their fever. The 
difficulty of procuring comfortable clothing, food, necessary wine and 
almost every comfort combined to render the efforts of the physician 
unsuccessful, and it was only by changing the action by powerful 
stimulants that success could ensue. Calomel, opium, camphor, bark, 
valerian, epispasticks and smapisms, often venesection, emeticks and 
catharticks, and changing the linen frequently were the principal and 
almost only remedies. Much benefit likewise arose, in many instances, by 
diverting their attention from their present situations to the 
anticipation of their future ease and prosperity; contrasting these 
prospects with those they had left; telling them how much easier they 
would live in a few years, than on the other side of the mountains. Here 
they could raise 40 or 50 bushels of corn and 25 or 30 of wheat per acre, 
and where they formerly lived one-half of that quantity would have been 
considered good crops and require double the labor; that this was only a 
seasoning to the country, etc. These and other similar ideas suggested to 
them would seem to cheer their desponding spirits and almost drive away 
their pains. 

"But in proportion as the country has become cultivated, the inhabitants 
better clothed and fed, their houses enlarged and a more free circulation 
of air the diseases are less frequent and their type materially changed. 

"In all newly settled countries, I believe, the practice of drinking 
ardent spirits to excess is common; at any rate it has been the case here. 
The low price of whiskey and peach brandy favors it very much; so that 
while we are getting, in some measure, rid of the diseases consequent to a 
new settlement another more formidable evil is growing. So common is this 
practice that many heads of families will rise in the morning, bring out 
their bottle and call all their families around them to taste the potent 
liquor as regularly as the good man does his family to join in their 
morning devotions. 

"We have no wells; so that the people use spring and river water; the 
former is called hard, as it does not wash well. The lower class of women 
wear no shoes for a considerable part of the year; of course they are 
liable to frequent obstructions of the catamenia, and perhaps for the same 
cause to hysteria. Smoking tobacco is a common habit among the country 
women; their reasons for it are various, but the most common is 'to drive 
away sorrow.' 

"On account of the very damp and changeable atmosphere cynache trachealis, 
cholera infantum and hydrocephalus internus are very common complaints 
among children; and I have frequently seen each of these diseases 
alternate with each other in the same patient, which has induced a belief 
that there is a great affinity between them. In the neighborhood of the 
river we are peculiarly liable to catarrhs and colds. There is, perhaps, 
no river in the United States so subject to sudden rising and falling of 
its waters as the Ohio and the rivers which form it; sometimes it can be 
forded with ease; and again will admit of large vessels to pass with 
safety. I have observed that its sudden rise is generally attended with 
affections of the lungs. The influenza appeared general in this country 
twice last year, viz., May and October. In my note book of May 20, 1807, I 
find the following remark; 'For several weeks past the influenza had 
prevailed in this and the adjacent counties, supposed to be caused by the 
sudden melting of the snows in the mountains, which produced a very great 
rise of water in the Ohio; the air very damp and cold, wind north and 
northwest. Its symptoms are cold and shivering pain in the head, generally 
across the eyes, full nose, sore throat, an ichorous discharge from the 
nose and eyes, cough, and pain in the limbs. The chronick diseases which 
followed, phthisis pulmonalis and swellings of the tonsils.' 

"Goitre is likewise a very common and endemick complaint here, but 
especially at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers. Its 
cause appears to be a particular state of the atmosphere in this district 
of country. 

"May not those causes which so frequently produce affections of the 
tonsils, trachea and throat, likewise produce by long application an 
enlargement of the thyroid gland? I am induced to believe that all those 
causes which have a tendency to bring on obstructions in other parts have 
also a tendency to cause the disease of goitre. 

"I must now close my remarks on the disease of this country. They have 
necessarily been short, but still I hope you will find some of them 
interesting; and if you ever should be induced to remove to a new 
settlement they may be of service in directing your practice. 

"In my last letter I mentioned the valerian plant growing here. Last year 
I procured several pounds of it; and although it was not quite so strong 
as the imported on account of its being gathered in the low grounds, yet 
it answered equally well by giving it in larger quantities. 

"In my last I mentioned that our hills run sometimes in the direction and 
sometimes at right angles with the rivers; but I neglected to observe that 
the dividing ridges always run parallel to the Alleghany mountains. I 
would further observe that the bark of the common maple was found at the 
depth of 57 feet below the surface in digging a well in this town. I have 
also been informed that there is in one spot in the state of Ohio a large 
body of flint stone. The river bank and hills on each side uniformy 
correspond to each other, and if we have a large bottom on one side, on 
the other the hill comes near the river." 


INDENTIFIED LOCALITIES 

A further identification of certain locations we are able to give as they 
were in the year 1815. At this last named date from the present stone 
bridge up Main street, there was a frame house, then Miller's pottery, a 
log house, and another frame house about where the National Bank of West 
Virginia now is, and on the east side was a brick house, afterward 
occupied by John McCortney as a tavern. Mr. Sockman had a brick yard not 
far from the creek. East of this and near a small ravine was a brewery, of 
which Mr. Updegraff was proprietor, and near it a brick house built in the 
year 1814. Mr. Graham had a rope walk near the old graveyard. This 
graveyard occupied the site of the old Hempfield yards. Between there and 
where McCortney's Tavern was situated a Mr. Hall lived in a log house. 
These were the only houses then on the bottom or south of Zane's house, 
which stood at the corner of the present Main and Eleventh streets. The 
balance was corn, grass and woodland. Some distance from the corner of the 
present Chapline and Twelfth streets in a northerly direction and near the 
hill was McConnell's tanyard, his house, and further back a log house. 
Where the Second Ward Market House now stands was a pond which was 
supplied from a spring on the side of the hill. Wild ducks often settled 
there and many were shot by Hugh Nichols and other young men, who also 
hunted foxes and squirrels on the hill. 

The only house between the pond and the hill was a frame in which queer 
noises were heard at night, and no one would live in it. Groans, grunts 
and screams were heard in the cellar until some one more brave than the 
others made a desperate charge on it, and found that the hogs had turned 
it into a rooting place. A few stones were laid upon it and the ghosts 
were laid also. 

Market street was not graded and there was no other dwelling house except 
that of Mr. Church at the corner where the National Bank turns to the 
river. He burnt lime, and, as was the custom, sold a half bushel for a 
bushel, but was brought up with a round turn when he made a contract to 
furnish a large amount to the road for they demanded full bushels. Mr. 
Steenrod was then a large contractor on the National Road and did his 
farming besides. The hill close to the road from which McCulloch leaped 
was all woods, with only a horse-path to West Liberty. 

South of the creek was all farmed except Dr. Eoff's stone house near the 
Belmont Mill. There was a little ferry house at the bridge over the creek 
at the stone quarry. Daniel Zane's brick house was commenced about 1815. 
That was for many years the only house upon the Island. There was no other 
in 1835. 

The Cumberland or National Road first gave Wheeling an impetus, and it 
grew very rapidly from 1815 to 1837. It would have grown much more rapidly 
in subsequent years if the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad had built their road 
through the sand-patch, but there is yet much undeveloped mineral wealth 
on that road and its connections that promises well for Wheeling if she 
only had the creek and hill out of the way, giving her room to build. 
Thaddeus Stevens used to say, "Your members vote so _____ badly. You will 
change that when your people in the interior find that it is more 
profitable to raise sheep than dogs, and that a plow is more valuable as 
an agricultural implement than a shot gun." In this year (1825) wheat 
could be bought for 25 cents per bushel on a year's credit, and the best 
of farm hands could be hired at $5 per month. Those were the days when 
people worked hard and lived very poorly. Coffee was not seen in every 
poor man's house as it is now. Instead of it an imitation drink was made 
out of burned bread, and many families for lack of sugar sweetened it with 
molasses. Genuine coffee was worth 37 1/2 cents per pound, and calico 50 
cents per yard. This, too, when wages were down to zero compared with the 
present. 

In 1828 there stood on the creek bank a cotton factory. It was first owned 
or controlled by a gentleman of the name of Hull, but in later days and 
different times Robert Woods and George R. Tingle operated it and had more 
success than the earlier proprietor because at a more favorable period. At 
any rate, Mr. Hull and his supporters had to succumb to the times and 
financial difficulties. Farther up the creek were the brick yards of John 
Galley. 

The reader will pardon us for digressing to relate an incident that 
occurred here about this time. At the time of which we write there was a 
covered wooden bridge across the creek near its mouth, where it empties 
into the Ohio. One dark night a wiry Irishman was riding a large black 
horse, humming a tune as he rode, when he was suddenly attacked by two 
able-bodied men who had concealed themselves on the bridge. He, however, 
resisted so successfully as to get the better of them, as they each threw 
up the sponge and ignominiously fled, notwithstanding the Irishman fought 
at a disadvantage from the fact that one of his feet was mashed and he 
carried two China pigs in the respective ends of a grain sack, but he also 
carried in his hand a peacemaker - a shillalah - to the use of which he 
was no stranger, and therefore he used it upon his assailants in the most 
loving and caressing manner and with such effect as to result in his 
promoting peace and harmony amid the dangers and darkness of the gloomy 
bridge. 

Sometime previous to this battle on the bridge, "Sam", a slave and 
lifelong playmate and faithful servant of William Chapline, Esq., had run 
away to Canada on account of ill usage suffered by him, not from his 
master but from some member of the family, and had left behind him a free 
wife and a free family. This wife and family after a time desired to move 
to Mount Pleasant, Ohio, or a short distance beyond that place, and the 
Irishman had busied himself in collecting money to aid them in so doing, 
and had given his own team for the purpose of removing them. This 
exasperated a certain class in the community who swore vengeance on him, 
which in a boomerang kind of way had exploded on the bridge in the manner 
related, to the discomfiture of his assailants, as aforesaid. Some time 
after it leaked out that the head upon which he had played his tune with 
his shillalah was none other than that of Josiah Chapline, a son of the 
salve's master. 

But times have changed since then and men have changed with them, and many 
of those who were in the majority then, and especially their descendants 
since, now shout for freedom and human rights. 

But to resume our reminiscences of fifty-eight years with which we started 
out before making the foregoing digression, we remark that beyond the 
brick yards of Mr. Galley up to the intersection of Linsly (Nineteenth) 
street was the training ground for race horses, of which "Dolly Piper" and 
others belonging to a man named Victor were the favorites of most of the 
boys in that section. 

Following the line of Linsly street westward along the creek bottom, about 
midway between Sixth and Seventh (Woods and Jacob) streets there was an 
abrupt rise to about the present grade of the street, and a short distance 
beyond and to the south lived John Galley; further west beyond Sixth 
(Jacob) street, but on the north side of Linsly street, were two small one-
story brick houses then belonging to John Gilchrist. 

There are but few of the old citizens who cannot recall the tenements of 
Jacob Amick, who for many years was the street commissioner of the city, 
but who at the era of which we write was engaged in the manufacture of 
brick and also in dealing in ice, with a yard immediately in front of his 
residence and an ice house at the north end of the first lot east of Fifth 
(now Eoff) street, his dwelling being located about the middle of the lot 
eastward of that. 

On Clay (now Eighteenth) street Thomas Smith kept a shoemaker's shop in 
the brick house on the second lot from the corner, and this house and the 
two which belonged to Daniel Gilchrist on the first lot east of the alley, 
together with the James Campbell and Otto Hess tenements, was the only 
ones westward of Sixth (now Jacob) street and north of Clay (now 
Eighteenth) street. 

Eastward of Sixth (now Jacob) street, not regarding the side of the 
street, were the swellings of Martin, Haley, Huseman, Robinson, Simpson, 
Thomas Hogg, Reppeto and Smith, and the Lutheran church. 

Many of the houses on Seventeenth (formerly Zane) street were built before 
the street was graded and were perched above the level of the 
thoroughfare. 

On Main street about where John Bishop afterward built, there formerly 
appeared the names of J. & C. Ritchie, Ritchie & Wilson, Plunkett & Miller 
and others, but it was in East Wheeling, where the Fourth Ward School 
building now stands, that the life of their business was manifest. The 
flint works, as they were called, stood near the corner of Zane and Sixth 
(now Seventeenth and Jacob) streets, and the crown works were farther west 
and near the alley line. The flint glass was not, as now, made of lime and 
the cheaper materials that characterize the modern, but was what was 
called "lead glass",: and was not molded as now, but largely produced by 
blowing and more dexterous handling, and consequently more skilled and 
practical labor. To produce anything like the quantity now turned out 
required a greater number of master workmen, as well as assistants 
thereto. 

The flint glass has only been referred to by way of contrast, but in the 
crown there is a remoteness and an antiquity. I had almost said which 
"makes it of the past," in nearly every phase in which it may be viewed. 
It was said that only two works had been put in operation for making crown 
glass within the United States, one of these being in Boston and the other 
in Wheeling, and therefore its processes were among the novelties of that 
time. 

The double brick structure just westward of the Fourth Ward School 
property, was built by Messrs. Dare & Hoge, the old-time hatters, who kept 
their store in the building which occupied the site of the now Pittsburg, 
Wheeling & Kentucky Railroad passenger depot, and the frame building in 
the rear of their same half lot was then occupied by a family named 
Westwater. 

The old East Wheeling Company's wooden bridge spanned the creek where the 
recently erected affair now does duty, but the street leading toward it 
was not then graded to it.