Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1853-01-20
Whole Number 692
For the G.llipoh. Io,,-n,l.
Extract OF letter from n gensIemnn On a
visit 70 vineennes. 90 n friend In this place.

visit 70 vinccnnes, 90 n friead In this place
: SIR: now sit down TO comply with
my promise. TO write you letter de-
scriptive of Vincennes, and its prospec-
tive improvement. write from Clark's
Hotel, where | am now located. ar
rived here some three days since, and
have rambled two or three times through
and around Vincennes. In point of
beauty Of location. no town in the west
is ahead of it. goa
1t is in high and dry prairie, Of fsome
five thousand acres in extent. The soil
is diluvial, and its adaptation TO the pro-
duction of horticultural and agricultural
crops, is the best I have noticed any,
where in my travels. The town plat,
embracing what is called the corporate
limits, contains 700 building lots; next
outside and adjoining, is $50 acres, SUBJ
divided into 8 acre lots-2, 800 acres
in 10 acre lots.-and 900 acres in 90
acre lots. Although It has been called
old Post Vincennes, You must not sup
pose it has an old appearance.
Il has improved rapidly Of late, and
has some FIVE hundred good houses. A
commodious brick Court House, Jail,
and County offices, Catholic College.
Catholic Church, Dutch Catholic, do,
Presbyterian Church, Episcopal do.
Methodist do, Bank, (branch of the
State Bank two Printing offices. Cot
ton factory, two steam Touring mills.
Land office, Market House and Town
Hall. a number of reputable Hotels,
Pork houses, warehouses, with all ne
cessary mechanic shops and out houses,
with a population Of some four thou
sand. Streets are wide, graded and
gravelled, side walks graded and paved.
The business part of the wharf is gra.
ded and gravelled. The old French in
habitants have some extensive gardens
but TO fault they have crowded them
with fruit trees.
In one of my rambles, | introduced
myself TO an old French settler as about
half a Frenchman; as he could not
speak the English language, | was cJm.
PEELED to talk French or leave him; so
made use Of all the French knew, and
what | lacked made up by signs, by
which got along very well. He told
me the French were greatly IN the mi
nority-that the old inhabitants had died
off, and the younger ones had went to
English schools and mixed among the
Americans in all their habits and Gus.
toms, and now French was seldom spo-
ken, except by the old French in their
families. s-r Feb
In point Of taste and elegance of
structure, the buildings Of Vincennes
will compare favorably with any other
place. | was fully satisfied Vincennes
can boast of society with as much
taste and polish as any other town
was in. Indeed the professional men
possess high order of talent.
Vincennes is destined at an early day
TO become an important place. The
railroad now being made from Evans
vile, on the Ohio, via Princeton, Vim
cennes, Terre Haute, Lafayette, Fort
Wayne, Defiance, and to Toledo, is in
rapid progress, and will soon be COM
pleted to this point. And the Ohio &
Mississippi railroad, which is now being
made also, is to pass Vincennes.-
When those two roads are made, she
will take her stand among the most ia
vored towns of the west. Already a
large amount of hogs are slaughtered
here. An immense amount of wheat
and corn are purchased for foreign con-
sumption; and LET but those tracks be
made, the facilities presented for carry
ing off the products of agriculture, will
give a renewed impetus to agricultural
operations, and the consequent increase
in commercial, manufacturing and mes
chanical enterprise.
In point OF desirableness of locality,
I was delighted. Hundreds of faces
have I seen and examined TO detect
disease, but every one beamed with
health and cheerfuness. No where did
find better we'll wafer. Wells are sup
piled by water from the Wabash river,
percolated through sand and gravel.
Knox county contains 400 square
miles, and is covered with timber and
prairie. The soil is very productive,
and susceptible Of great agricultural i'm
provement. The population may be
reckoned at some $1,000. The Wabash
here is about three hundred yards wide.
In the Spring season, when the tide is
I'D for steamboat navigation, an inn
mense amount of shipping is done here.
Lieutenant Governor Hall is here, ma
king location for the Depot of the Ev-
ansviIie and Vincennes railroad. He is
a talented and business man, true re-
publican in habits and manners. cog
Judge Ellis, President of the Ohio q
Mississippi railroad, resides here.
The farmers in this county are not
sensible of the blessings they enjoy; as
a large portion Of them are willing to
sell their lands and journey westward;
bu; when it is too late, many Of them
will find they have sold their lands fora
mess Of pottage
A master mechanic, named Whit
ney, on the Vermont and Massachu-
setts railroad, was riding on loco.
motive to render assistance to the
cattle train, which was unable to
proceed for the lack OF motive pow