8:37 AM


Old Newspapers can be the vehicle that brings history to life....just read what the editor of the Evansville Daily Journal printed in August 1, 1853 edition....as he reflects what a modern world we have in 1853.


Old Times

A correspondent of the Cincinnati Register of May 1827 thus writes:
"I have seen the time when the only boat that floated on the surface of the Ohio was a canoe, propelled by poles used by two persons, one in the bow and the other in the stern.
I have seen the day when the introduction of the keel-boat with a single roof was hailed as a mighty improvement in the business of the West.
 I remember the day when a passage of four months from Natchez to Pittsburgh was called a speedy trip.
I remember the time the canoe of a white man dared not be launched on the bosom of the Allegheny.
I remember the day when the borders of the Ohio were wilderness, and New Orleans was literally cut off from the whole world.
I have lived to see the day where a visit to New Orleans and Cincinnati required no more preparation than a visit to a neighboring country town. I remember when it required as much previous arrangement as a voyage to Calcutta.
I have lived to see steamboats of 300 tons arriving in twelve days from New Orleans to Cincinnati, and I calculate upon living to see them arrive in ten days.
I have lived to see a number of splendid cities spring up, where in my boyhood, nothing appeared like civilization but the hut of the soldier or of the settler.
All these things and many more have I seen and yet I feel myself entitled to be still numbered among the young men of the West."
[*Boats of double that tonnage now occasionally arrive at Cincinnati from New Orleans in five days.]