An X Marks the Spot on the Ohio

“Twelve miles below the French grant, I came before the Little Sciota, a small rivulet on the same side, from the mouth of which a bar of rocks extends half across the Ohio. The channel at the upper end of the bar is near the Kentuckey shore—at the lower end it is close round the rocks. About half a mile lower down I came to another bar, extending more than half across the river. Opposite the bar on the Kentuckey shore, I found the water so shallow, that I was apprehensive of striking every moment. Working midway between the point of the bar, and the Kentuckey shore, I recovered a good channel, and without sustaining any damage, though for some time my soundings were but from two feet to eighteen inches” ²

1. Tardieu, J. B. (1826). A General Map of the River Ohio, Plate the second [Map]. In A general map of the river Ohio: Plate the second. Paris: Arthus Bertrand.
2. Ashe, T. (1808). Letter XIX. In Travels in America, performed in 1806, for the purpose of exploring the rivers Alleghany, Monongahela, Ohio, and Mississippi, and ascertaining the produce and condition of their banks and vicinity (pp. 175-178). London: Blunt.