On or near this date, the expedition passes or stops at an Ohio River settlement near present Uniontown, Kentucky. The settlement provides a good harbor full of catfish, and the Native Americans here supply the settlers with fine venison.[1]Neither captain appears to be keeping a journal as the expedition travels between Louisville and Fort Massac and their precise location on this date is unknown.
Good Harbor
[G]ot to the settlement where we found the best and nicest harbor we have met with in the Ohio. Two muscle bars of sand and pebbles crossed a small part of the cove of the river with a gap to go in and 6 ft. water over the bason inclosed by them.
—Thomas Rodney, 28 October 1803[2]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), 144.
Ohio River near Uniontown, 1920
Kentucky Geological Survey Photographs, Courtesy Kentucky Historical Society, www.kyhistory.com/cdm/compoundobject/collection/PH/id/7711/rec/131.
Rodney’s settlement is likely Francisburg which later joined with Locust Port to become Uniontown.[3]Ibid., 239n4.
Settlers
I went on shore and bought three cabages and went to Mr. Johnsons to git other things. There is 5 families at this place. Mr. Johnson is the principa[l] settler here and has 9 children and 2 step children.
—Thomas Rodney, 28 October 1803[4]Rodney, Journal, 144.
Good Hunting
The Indians are near and supply them with venison. Here I saw venison as fat as mutton but our people tire of fresh provision.
—Thomas Rodney, 28 October 1803[5]Ibid.
Poor Fishing
[T]he cove we are now in being full of catfish as we discoverd by their swiming with fins above water, we cast ankor to fish awhile . . . . but could not git a bite tho the cats were playing around us.
—Thomas Rodney, 28 October 1803[6]Rodney, Journal, 143–144.
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Notes
| ↑1 | Neither captain appears to be keeping a journal as the expedition travels between Louisville and Fort Massac and their precise location on this date is unknown. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | 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), 144. |
| ↑3 | Ibid., 239n4. |
| ↑4 | Rodney, Journal, 144. |
| ↑5 | Ibid. |
| ↑6 | Rodney, Journal, 143–144. |
