The Yale expositor., 1901-02-15
ALONG THE OLD OHIO.
a Yale Attorney in the Hoosier
State.

The following is an extract from
letter received by +. III. Drake from
Attorney Jesse A. Rapley who is at
present collecting for the Champion
Machine Co. in southern Indiana
Il have been working in a strip of
territory lying along the north shore of
the Ohio river, and as l once told you,
this river is revelation to me. The
traffic upon it is something wonderful
and they navigate it as far as Pitts
burg, Pa. 1t is sight to see the coal
fleets coming down. They do not tow
them as they do the lake craft, the
business of the steamer in charge be-
ing simply to steer these unwieldY,
shallow, flat bottom scows, while the
current does the rest. They generally
go in large fleets, four or five wide, all
dashed firmly together, making acres OF
floating coal. At Louisville, KY, there
is quite a fall and there these fleets
have to break up for the time being,
and singly go through the canal.
Louisville is across the river from jeff
ersonville, Ind, at which place the In
diana States Prison is situated. These
towns in the southern part of the state
have been great manufacturing centers
on account of their easy access to the
coal regions of Pennsylvania and Ohio,
but they have all been seriously injur-
ed by the wonderful development Of
the gas belt, further north.
This country is very billy and it is
sometimes hard for stranger to UNI
derstand how they can farm these
miniature mountains whose precipitOus
sides put one in mind of the story of
the fowls said to be raised in Vermont,
which have a four inch leg on one side
and twenty-si inch extremity on the
other, all caused from walking so much
on side hill. But gentleman who
owns 300 acres of this kind of land told
me that the hills were the most to be
depended upon, of any class of land in
that section. They always produce
crop and never over-flowed as the low
er lands often did. The Ohio, like its ia
ther the Mississippi, often over-flows
its banks and destroys property along
its shores. For this reason all docks
are floating docks, moored to the shore
and arranged TO rise and fall with the
water. The hills in this vicinity are
the largest elevations of land / ever
saw, and it seems to me, as though
some of them might be, very properly,
dignilied with the name OF mountain"
The Air Line r.. Il. runs along the top
of these hills, or rather on the top of
some of them and through great
many of them. 1t is said that there
are 50 tunnels between Louisville and
st. Louis. On this road they keep the
lights lit all day on account of the fire.
quent darkness of the tunnels.
The people here differ greatly from
the people in st. Clair county, i'll their
mannerism and quaint expressions.
They are kindly and hospitable but
little inclined toward being shiftlesS.
The hotels in this country are far from
being as good as they are in Michigan.
The two-dollar per day houses compare
with the one-dollar per day house in
our state. In many of the towns the
hotels appear to be large dwelling
houses. Their rates run from $1.3O to
$500 per day. The best hotels are old
fashioned in serving food, everything
is brought in at once, and heaped
around the plate of the guest, for him
to take or leave as he sees fit. If you
go into one of these places late and
happen TO be the only one to be served,
the waiter who is often the clerk and
general utility man, will shout down
the dumb waiter" take up one" and
you get all there is on the menu.
was in the Marengo cave, last We'd
nesday, and | can assure you that it
was quite an experience. This "hole
in the ground was discovered in 1886
by young boy and girl. who noticed
a small crevice in the ground and went
in short distance. 1t has since been
visited by many tourists and curiosity
seekers yearly. 1t extends under many
acres of land and it took us over two
hours to go through it. / am unable
to write you description of this
wonderful work of nature, but will try
to tell you something of it at some
future time" Yours truly,
Jesse A. Rapley.