Maumee express. [volume] (Maumee City, Ohio) 1837-1838, 1837-07-01

Bulwer, or the racy pens, Of Scott, Ir-
wing or Cooper, with all their exhaust
less store of fancy, elegance and wit,
would be excited into a description of
that part of the beautiful sceneryin the
Maumee Valley, surrounding our city.
Were we permitted to choose an author
whose business it should be to inscribe
its character upon the undying pages of
fiction, our choice would be Simms. His
taste, associated with an acute knowl-
edge ofcharacter, a comprehensive mind
I and somewhat Of the horrible, withal,
engrafted into work, of which our
valley should be the scene, and some of
the chiefs of olden times the heroes, void
be of as much or more interest to his adj
mirers, than Guy Rivers or the Yema-
see.
We boast not OF the rugged display
Of natures furniture, found in the High
lands, Catskils and throughout New
England. We claim no affinity to the
balmy orange groves, and beautiful plan-
tations ofthe south. Nor does our cat
alogue Of beauties include any cataracts,
volcanoes, or prairies, and yet we live
in most delightful country, People
living at distance, who have associated
our river with putridity and disease, its
banks with low sunken marsh, filled
with poisonous reptiles, obscurcd from
vision by cloud ofmusquitoes, and en-
veIoped in dense cutting mist, and
our climate with every thing unhealthy
and disagreeable, are always agreeably
disappointed on coming here to find that
there is not the least basis for such un-
worthy suppositlons. The bold and
magnificent banks, which rise like walls
on either side of broad and majestic
stream, covered with herbage, and
crowned with the beautiful foliage of a
wilderness which has perpetuated itself
from century to century for thousands
of years-the projecting bluffs, the splen-
did curvatures, the deep indentures,
awaken the visitor TO contemplation,
for which he was wholly unprepared by.
previous monitions. We would advise
all wishing to obtain favorable impress
sion of our scenery, to visit the point in
front of the large brick hotel. From
this position, the prospect down the riv-
er opens with the projecting breast
works of old Fort Miami, around whose
foot the river makes a graceful curve,
and is lost in the wilderness beyond
Directly beneath, and almost within
jumping distance, lies Ewing's island,
covered with vegetation, and all around
it clusters Of small islands whose green
surface interspersed with occasional
shrubs and trees, renders their appear
ance delightfully."- picturesque. On eli
ther side Of this fascinating group, arc
the broad and deep channels Of the river
indented in the shore of either bank, SO
as TO form long and graceful bend, on
which schooners, steamboats,, and YES
sells Of the heaviest burden ride without
the least interruption. Perched on the
very top of these delightful banks, and
almost opposite to each other, stand the
two cities of Maumee and Perrysburg,
twins nearly in point of beauty, and in
whatever contributes to enterprise, CON-
merce, and business facilities, unequal
ed by any Of the newtowns in the thea
tire of western achievements.
After the stranger has drank in all the
beauties of this scene, many of which we
are obliged to omit, let him look up the
river. On the opposite bank the flown
ing bastions, and formidable breastworks
ofold Fort Meigs, reminds him Of IIar-'
rison, and the perils Of our last struggle
with Britain, and afar up the space Or
namented with the varied scenery of is
lands, bluffs, points and rapids, the hill Of
Presque Isle, ,Wayne's last battle ground,
bounds the vision. Thus surroundedby,
the monuments of revolution and in
dependence, and implicitly acknowledge
ing their protection in times past, we
have settled down in their midst to raise
more enduring pyramid TO the memo
ry of our country's heroes, from whose
summit and around whose base, shall be
proclaimed in the strong language Of ac-
cumulating improvements and in con-
junction with our own, their labors,
who fought for The inheritance, which it
/ IS our privilege thus obeautify:
Our readers will bear with us while in
connection with this, we attempt to de-
/ lineate some Of the more substantial fea-
tures Of this little compass Of VISION
No more majestic sight can beimagined
i than from three to five steamboats, puff