a great stream, increasing with gradual and majestic progression, and affording to man and brute, due notice of its approach. In so large a volume of water, it will also be readily understood that the force of the current will be near its centre, the portion that rolls in contact with the banks will have a retarded motion, while that which overflows the flat lands, will be stagnant, or flow gently backward in eddies. Such in fact is the invariable operation of these great causes; and although domestic animals which linger on the higher spots of the shore until the surrounding lands are immersed, and their retreat is cut of, are sometimes drowned, and although fences are floated off, there is never, on any of the overflowed lands, a strength of current great enough to sweep away permanent dwellings, or to endanger the lives of men or cattle, where ordinary prudence is used.

As the waters rise, trade and navigation are quickened into activity. The largest vessels now float in safety; the steam boat of six hundred tons burthen, is as secure from the dangers of the rivér navigation as the lightest skiff; and it is a noble sight to behold these immense vessels, darting along with the current, with all the additional velocity which can be given by a powerful engine, or stemming with apparent ease the rolling torrent, whose immense bulk seems to give it a fearful energy, which no human means might attempt to overcome.

At this season the spectator who is stationed upon the shore, perhaps at a spot where no, human dwelling is within sight, and where the wilderness is untamed and unaltered, sees these vessels passing in rapid succession, -not unfrequently several at the same time being visible -laden so heavily that the whole hull is immersed, and it would seem as if the least additional weight would sink them.

The flat bottomed boats are also numerous at this seaThese are built along the shores of the river, but

son.

more frequently on its tributary streams, and often on the smaller rivers and creeks, far inland, and at points beyond the reach of all ordinary navigation. Here they lie, with their cargoes, waiting until the annual rise of water shall afford them the means of proceeding upon their voyages; when they are floated off, with their immense freights, consisting chiefly of the heavier articles of the produce of the country.

The highest rise of water which has been known for many years, was the great flood of 1832, with regard to which our friend Dr. John Locke of Cincinnati, has been kind enough to furnish us with the following memoranda, of observations made by himself at that city, and which are rendered valuable, by the undoubted accuracy and skill of that gentleman in his philosophical investigations. The section of the river opposite to Walnut street, Cincinnati, at low water, would be 1006 feet wide at the surface, and 7 feet deep, at the deepest place. The area would be 4774 square feet.

The rise of water which commenced early in February 1832, reached its greatest elevation on the 18th day of that month, when it was 63 feet perpendicular above the low water mark; and the sectional area became 91,464 square feet, without including its extension over the lower parts of Cincinnati and Covington. The number of cubic feet discharged per hour, was 2,998,529,714 The number of cubic feet discharged per

minute, was

48,308,828

805,147

The velocity of the stream was ascertained to be 61 miles per hour.

Such a stream would fill a lake, presenting an area of one square mile, 107 feet deep, in one hour.

Having ascertained the quantity of water discharged, the next inquiry was in relation to the sources of the

flood. The first point to be examined was in reference to the area of the valley of the Ohio, and its waters, above Cincinnati, or in other words, the extent of the surface drained by the tributaries which are into the Ohio, above our city.

This valley includes about

of Ohio,

discharged

Square Miles. 27,000

By calculation it appears that a depth of four inches only, over this immense space of seventy seven thousand square miles, was sufficient to maintain the river at the above uncommon height and velocity for fourteen days.

The winter of 1831-2 had been unusually severe, and the ground was frozen to a great depth, when there suddenly fell, according to the register of Dr. Hildreth of Marietta, eight inches of rain. Ordinarily, most of the water which falls to the earth, is absorbed by it; but in this instance the surface being completely sealed, the whole of the water which fell, was suddenly thrown into the channels of the rivers. This appears to be a probable and sufficient cause, for the inundation which destroyed so much property, and caused so much distress and alarm. If it be the true theory, it follows that no such flood can happen in the temperate months, nor at any season, except upon a conjunction of circumstances, so rarely occurring in combination, as to render its recurrence probable only at remote periods-perhaps not more frequently than once in a century.

A general law in relation to freshets in rivers, is, that the water attains its greatest elevation at a point nearly

The rule applies

midway in the length of the stream. usually to each stream proper-each having its separate valley; and would be operative upon the Ohio, within the limits embraced by its name, beginning at Pittsburgh, and ending at its confluence with the Mississippi. The application of such a law, cannot however be very exact, as it will be modified by a variety of circumstances. It can only be assumed as a fact of usual occurrence, growing out of very obvious reasons, that, the causes which produce a freshet, act with powerful and rapidly aúgmenting force, to a point somewhere nearly midway of the course of the stream, from which point the counteracting causes begin to operate, and the volume becomes diminished in depth by the greater width of the channel, by absorption upon the overflowed grounds, by evaporation, and by other means. Assuming Cincinnati to be sufficiently near a central position, as regards the length of the Ohio, to satisfy this rule, we may suppose that the greatest periodical accumulation of water is at this point, and adopting the data afforded by the great rise in the spring of 1832, the height of sixty three feet may be safely given, as the maximum perpendicular increase above low water mark.

f

The mass of water occasioned by these causes, comes loaded with floating logs and drift wood,-not however in such quantities as to impede the navigation-and with alluvial soil, and silicious particles, swept from the shores; and as the waters which spread over the bottom lands, soon become nearly stationary, the earthy matter held in suspension settles down, and adds a rich coat to the soil, while the floating wood is left in the same position by the subsiding of the flood. Hence the annual accumulation of the alluvion lands; and the regular formation, in consequence of which the surface is always found to be most elevated, near the margin of the stream, where the first

and most abundant deposite is made, as the water flows outward over the banks.

In lower water the navigation of this river is impeded, in its upper portions by ledges of rock, and lower down, by snags and sandbars. These obstructions might undoubtedly be removed; and as there is scarcely any subject of so much importance, it seems to us that there has been a singular apathy in the public mind in relation to it. The Ohio and Mississippi rivers stretch from one end to the other, of this great valley, and extend their larger tributaries throughout its whole breadth. The Atlantic itself does not, within our empire, wash so extensive a line of coast, or bear the freights of commerce to so many ports. Thirteen states and territories, embracing half the members of the union, and a still larger proportion of its surface, lie in contact with these waters, and are directly interested in their navigation. It is therefore as much a matter of national concern, and as important to the American people, to improve the natural avenues of intercommunication afforded by those rivers, as the protection of our commerce on the ocean by a naval force, or the construction of harbors and light-houses for its convenience. The one is a national commerce, not because it embraces an intercourse with foreign countries, but on account of its general utility, and of the numbers who enjoy its benefits; and the other is equally national for the same reasons. Like the ocean too, this great thoroughfare is common to all. It is difficult to say which state is most interested in its trade and navigation,, or where the line of demarkation would be drawn, which should separate the direct interest of one from another, or shew where one ended and the other commenced.

But these are precisely the kind of public improvements which have been, least of all, pressed upon the consideration of the general government. The western states, very properly, consider themselves entitled to a liberal share