Annals of our ancestors; one hundred and fifty years of history in the ...

312
ANNALS OF OUR ANCESTORS
This place is five miles above Fort Washington. At Round
Bottom, three miles up the valley of the Little Miami, there has
been a fort for the last five years and there is a considerable
settlement.
We shall have to wait here for our cattle and horse. The
only thing worth telling on our trip from the Muskingum down
was the trick which the pilot put on old Allen. We came to a
place called Letart's Falls where there are rapids and a settler
near by makes a living by piloting boats down the rapids tho'
James and mother said there was no need whatever of a pilot.
But we hired him and paid him three dollars and Allen had the
steering oar in the stern. As soon as the boat was in the swift
water he began to shout, "To the right!" and Allen bent to the
oar with all his might, but before the boat could answer the
helm he shouted, "To the left!" and so on all the way down the
falls. Allen tugged and got red in the face and owing to the
cover of the boat could not see but that we were in great danger.
The fact was that we were in the channel current and in no
danger, needed no pilot and the shouting was all a sham.
Monday.
We have found a cabin on shore and moved into it and the
boat is unloaded. When the cattle come we shall go down to
Fort Washington which is a considerable place, tho' there is
only one brick house in it, and will probably settle in the
Millcreek Valley, which Brother Robert thinks is the best
location.