On or near this date, Lewis and his crew pass the Little Miami River. Contemporary traveler Thomas Rodney describes that river and the Ohio River from there to Cincinnati.[1]Because we have no journal entry from Lewis for this day, his exact location is unknown. In a letter, he said he arrived in Cincinnati the next day, so a reasonable conjecture is that he stopped for … Continue reading
Old Baptist Church at Columbia
c. 1835
From Henry Howe, Historical Collections of the Ohio, 1847.
Baptist Church in Columbia
Columbia and its church (see figure) existed when Lewis traveled down the Ohio in 1803. O. M. Spencer, who attended the church and lived in the town as early as 1790, describes the town’s unfilled promise:
It is, perhaps, unknown to many, that the broad and extensive plain stretching along the Ohio from the Crawfish to the mouth, and for three miles up the Little Miami, and now divided into farms, highly cultivated, was the ancient site of Columbia, a town laid out by Major Benjamin Stites, its original proprietor ; and by him and others once expected to become a large city, the great capital of the west.
—O. M. Spencer[2]Henry Howe, Historical Collections of Ohio; Containing a Collection of the Most Interesting Facts, Traditions, Biographical Sketches, Anecdotes Etc… (Cincinnati: Derby, Bradley & Co., … Continue reading
Little Miami River
At half past 3 P.M. we passed the mouth of the Little Miama. This is a handsome river about 70 or 80 yds. wide. There is a large sand bar at the mouth.
—Thomas Rodney[3]7 October 1803. Dwight L. Smith and Ray Swick, ed., A Journey Through the West: Thomas Rodney’s 1803 Journal from Delaware to the Mississippi Territory (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1997), … Continue reading
Rapids above Cincinnati
It is 8 miles from Little Miama to Licking, 7 from Cullumbia to Cincinnati. The river winds from the mouth of Miama round to SW in its course to Lycking and is at this time a rapid almost all the way.
—Thomas Rodney[4]Ibid., 102.
Notes
| ↑1 | Because we have no journal entry from Lewis for this day, his exact location is unknown. In a letter, he said he arrived in Cincinnati the next day, so a reasonable conjecture is that he stopped for the night somewhere above Cincinnati. The settlement at the Little Miami River is a likely candidate and would enable a Cincinnati arrival at a reasonable time of day. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | Henry Howe, Historical Collections of Ohio; Containing a Collection of the Most Interesting Facts, Traditions, Biographical Sketches, Anecdotes Etc… (Cincinnati: Derby, Bradley & Co., 1847), 229. |
| ↑3 | 7 October 1803. Dwight L. Smith and Ray Swick, ed., A Journey Through the West: Thomas Rodney’s 1803 Journal from Delaware to the Mississippi Territory (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1997), 101–102. |
| ↑4 | Ibid., 102. |
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- The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Day by Day by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). The story in prose, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
- The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery (abridged) by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2003). Selected journal excerpts, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
- The Lewis and Clark Journals. by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 1983–2001). The complete story in 13 volumes.
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Unless otherwise noted, journal excerpts are from The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, edited by Gary E. Moulton, 13 vols. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983-2001).