The Portsmouth inquirer. [volume] (Portsmouth, O. [Ohio]) 1849-1855, 1851-05-12
For the Daily Dispatch. /

! narped upon 10 leave any room lOr me /. or
thing, however, think has thus far bee
: omitted. "a Wholesale grocer Of that. plac
amonga long list of articles, has poste
upon his sign, Family Whiskey, which
quite characteristic Of the place. That stor
wall which is said to be built around III
) place, four miles long, with a base Of % fee
f narrowing down to l8 feet on the top, bein
five feet higher than The water was In l844
!. allow me 10 say, is another as complete
humbug as ever existed.
!, We entered the Mississippi on the morn
| ing of the 10th inst, and with about 4 usu
a al trip, arrived at Memphis on the 18th.
was Sunday, to which day. due respect
paid in Memphis. Instead of the gamblir
! houses and tipling shops, the doors Of tn
several churches were thrown open, and il
lieu Of profanity end bacchanalian, tn
sound of the gospel and the chantiog melod
of sacred hymns echoed through the tower
ing and massive walls Of that pious place
But it is not to be presumed that this ex
treme is an every Sundays occurrence, a
there was great revival Of religion through
out the several denominations. An owe
large amount of capital and immense wealth
are to be found here, toge ether with rich anC
gaudi!y dressed, yet familiar and sociable
citizens, The aspect of the place is more
pleasing and impressive from the river, than
elsewhere the streets, although the height
would allow OF it, are neither leveled. paved
or drained, but abound in frog ponds and
hog wallows. Two miles below Memphis,
at Fort Pickering, new steamboat is on
the stocks, buil1ing in the place of the Do
main. It's more than probable that this is
the first steamer tina; was ever built at this
poiut. If, in addition to the natural gifts,
Navy Yard and other public and private
Improvements in and about Memphis, there
should be good Ship Yard established, it is
bound 10 become place Of great impor-
tance. But there are seldom, If ever, many
sweets existing, without being interspersed
with b;tters the too numerous drug stores,
the large amount of tombstones, and the
many undertakes shops, show it to be the
case here.
We reached and landed at Vicksburgh on
the Goth. Again, it was Sunday, but the
scene had changed, things were different
from that of Memphis, especially in reli-
gious matters. This place seems 10 be de-
scending the ladder of prosperity and i'm
provement more rapidly than ever it as
cended ii; and instead Of men Of persever-
ence, industry, spirit and animation, the
business men seem to be set of indolent
lounging louts, who are never to be found
until after 8 in the morning, and then have
to breakfast before entering on the business
of the day.
Natchez-but the lack OF space prohibits
a comment upon every town oa the river.
AS we passed the first lett hand point be-
low 78, the steamer Hard Times," with a
barge on either side, all these deeply loaded
with railroad Iron, lay fast aground. l tho't
her name, while in this condition, at least,
very appropriate. Her chance for getting
off was very good.
We passed the Terapin Neck" on the
18th. The account given of it in the New
Orleans papers, was entirely erroneous. This
place is the point of 100. The noted Capt.
Shreeves deadened the timber, and cut a
small trench across this point, when the
natives became enraged, took up arms against
him, and be beat retreat, leaving his work
unfinished. A party lately tried again to
execute it, but as was Shreeves, they were
driven away, and constant guard is now
kept over it, to prevent it from being cut
through. This place is very similar to many
Others on the Mississippi, among which may
be classed the Horse Shoe Bed, il is about
IL miles around, and a half mile across.
The Mississippi has again made great in
roads upon the plantations along its banks
in many places, more crevasses existing
than ever have known before, the most
prom inent of which are to be found as fol-
lows one in Morgan's bend; one in the
right hand bend below Waterloo (this is
the place where the steamer Wave went
over the bank, and still lies there, and the
place also that l., last year, run in the woods
with flat-boat. but after camping there
three days, l succeeded in releasing her from
thraldom,) one opposite Prophets Islands;
one at Bayou Manchac; one at Bayou Gou-
ly, and two at Ciaybourn's Island Several
more have existed, which have been stop
ped.
The river at Memphis was rising 12 inches
every "a hours, and many anticipate the
worst overflow of the season. Would the
.enth one of your numerous readers believe
that / have frequently seen herds of cattle
brow sing in cane brake mid-side in water,
and on the highest ground near them? Yet,
such is the fact. Many stories are related
respecting the wild beasts on such occasions.
1t seems that here and there knowls similar
to the mounds and thrown up ridges which
are so numerously dotted over our State,
upon which they all assemble, from the fu-
rious panther, the surly bear, tn, prowling
wolf and the timid deer, down to the vari-
GUS kinds of smaller animals. Here then,
is bowling and growling, screaming and
blood streaming, biting and fighting, crying
and dying, all jumbled up together. The
channel of the water has been torn up full
as much as the banks and levees, which will
afford an excellent opportunity of issuing a
new edition of Conclin's Western Pilot.
The Ohio has also been deviating from her
usual course, the most material change being
just below Shawneetown. After coming
into the right hand shore, never leave it un-
til down alongside Of Saline bar; then make
long crossing to the left, coming in at a
prominent house just above the point.
Much excitement has been created even
among some of our own townsmen, with re-
spect to the State of Arkansas donating land
to her actual settlers, which has diverted no
little emigration to that direction. Some is
years ago, that State suddenly became some
what populated, but il was not long until
vacated tenements, newly made graves, and
Igrown up potatoe patches, were more COM
mon than good farms. Ispeak of that NOR.