Box 1, Folder 4: Diary 1811-1832

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...sketches of Louisville 28th April - Worked a little on the canal - Stayed the rest of my time in my room - Received a letter from Pazzi 29th - Worked on the canal most of the time today - we layed out the curve at the lower end of the canal 30th - In the forenoon I done some work for the canal and afternoon I went to the woods with Darius & William, with a gun - killed several birds 1st May - Went up the canal in the morning to get the time lists of the different bosses or managers & spent the rest of the time in copying them 2d - In the forenoon I was in Mr. Henry's office copying Mr. Henry's Reports, Estimates & Orders - Worked on the canal in the afternoon. 3d - Went to Louisville with Darius in the forenoon - In the afternoon I read the Transactions of the Amer. Antiquarian Society Vol. I. 4th Sunday - A very hot day, thermometer above 90 - Stayed in my rooms. Pazzi has left his place at Newark & gone to Cincinnati. 5th - In the forenoon Darius & myself at the request of Mr. Henry - staked out the [curve?] on the south side of the canal with Mr. Henry & Bartlow - got caught in a [illegible] storm of wind & rain from the S.W.

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6th May - Went to Louisville in the morning & lent Mr. Goodwin 'Long's Exped. to the Rocky Mts.' Worked on the Canal 7th - Went to Louisville on canal business 8th - Got the time lists from the overseers & drew a plan of the bridge for Mr. [Layne?] the builder who arrived a few days ago. 9th - We finished our reports &c. in a hurry this morning in order to give Mr. Bentham (president of the canal company) an opportunity of waiting on Capt Hall who is to dine with him today - Afternoon I went to Louisville to present Fathers account for making pattern for iron gates 10th Stayed at home - Daruius wrote to David Thomas. I wrote to Alfred Barrett a few days ago. 11th Sunday - Rainy & windy - stayed at home - Father wrote a letter to Mr. Henry concerning th Iron gate patterns 12th - Done no work on the canal 13th - Drew a lock plan - Done a little work on the canal & then went to Louisville with Father who started for Ohio to get some business on the Ohio canal 14th - Capt Hall left here for St. Louis - Worked on the canal in the forenoon & in the afternoon I went to Louisville to get a paper for Mr. Henry 15th - Worked nearly all the time on the canal - Mr. [Illegible] White an engineer & several other stock holders from Philadelphia arrived

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16th May - Spent the forenoon at Mr. Henry's Office and the afternoon in my own room. Mr. White is likely to blow up the [boiler?] iron lock gates - 17th - Spent time drawing plans of a common lack 8 feet lifts 18th - Sunday stayed in my room 19th - Mr. White & Mr. Henry & Myself took levels of the earth excavation to ascertain whether the minutes left by King & Bates were correct 20th - Completed the levels about noon - Afternoon I drew a plan of the locks & bridge for Mr. White 21st - Completed the plan & went to Louisville to present it to Mr. White which Mr. Henry done for me - Sold a plan belinging to the directors for $5.00 22d - Got the check rolls from different bosses & fixed them before noon. In the afternoon Mr. Henry brought in a plan of a wooden gate and a map of the upper and of the canal & I was requested to copy them within two hours for Mr. White 23d - Mr. White left for Ohio. After copying the Reports &c. I worked on the canal 24th - Commenced making a 'table of excavation' for this canal - Wrote a letter to Pazzi - Darius wrote to Father & to Mr. Douglas of Indianapolis 25th Sunday - Stayed at home 26th - Worked on the canal with Mr. [D' Etiste?]

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27th May - Worked on the canal in the forenoon the rest of the day was spent in calculating the 'table of excavation' 28th - Worked on the table 29th - Went up the canal to get the time lists - Darius went to Knob Creek quarry with Mr. Goodwin & Mr. Hewit of Phila. 30th - Copied the reports in the forenoon - Went to Louisville to give them to the board of directors. Saw Capt. Bassel Hall R.N.F.R.S. &c.-He showed me the Camera Lucida & explained the mode of using it. The river is now so high that the contractors are obliged to make dams at each end of the canal to keep out the water. 31st - Worked on the canal at the bridge in the forenoon & in the afternoon on the table of excavation

1st June Sunday - Done some leveling for the canal in consequence of high water 2d - Worked nearly all the time on the 'table of excavation' - the river is 20 feet up in the guard lock 3d - Finished the 'table' & Mr. Henry sent a copy of it to Mr. White in a letter - Went to Louisville with Darius 4th - Felt a little unwell stayed in my room 5th - Mr. Henry went after the two lists this morning after copying them I stayed at home 6th - copied the estimates reports &c. in the forenoon - got an order for $42.25 for...

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...services & stationary - Father returned from Ohio - has got a job on the Ohio Canal 10 miles above Cincinnati - It is a half mile section [No 120] with a wooden aqueduct of three reaches over Yellow Bend Creek - He intends to move the family within two weeks - Commenced drawing plan of the locks 7th - Spent time at home drawing 8th Sunday - Finished the plan of the locks & took a walk with Darius. Father left a letter with me for Judge Bates stating that the Directors had determined to dispense with his services & advising him to resign. 9th - Went to Louisville this morning & bought 3 shirts & a coat &c. - Mr. Henry wrote a letter to the directors enumerating certain charges made against the contractors & recommends that the contract be declared abandoned. In the after noon I went in search of the cow 10th - Examined the timber for the canal 11th Rainy - Packing up goods preparatory to the journey to Ohio - Darius wrote to David Burr Canal Commissioner, Indiana & sent his letter to J. Douglass Ed. Indiana Journal 12th - Went to Louisville in the forenoon to see the family start. They got off about 120' clock in the steam boat Native. I am to remain here on the canal. I took quarters at Mon. D'Etiste Inn & moved my trunk &c. in the afternoon.

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13th June - In the forenoon I copied Mr. Henry's reports &c. as is usual on my Frydays and went to Louisville in the afternoon bought a toothbrush hair comb &c 14th - Read in Schoolcrafts 'Travels in the Mississippi Valley' - Took a long walk in the afternoon in search of our lost cow but did not find her. 15th - Stayed in my room in the forenoon, afternoon I waded over to Rock Island & collected some shells & petrifactions. 16th - Worked a little on the lock - the rest of the time was spent in reading & writing 17th - Went down to Knob Creek (where stones for the lock are quarried) in the steam boat Triton which is now engaged in towing stone from that place - Had scarcely time to see the quarry before a shower of rain came on which lasted till night. The boat did not get back to Shippingsport that night but 'lay by' about 7 miles below 18th - Got into town early in the morning spent most of the time drawing a plan of the bridge on a large seal shoing the courses of stone 19th - Went up the canal & got time lists of the men employed & fixed our copies of them - Judge Bates arrived - In the afternoon we went to the head of the canal to...

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...to examine the proposed alteration in the route - I went to the city to get the answer for boring the earth - bought some tape 20th June - Worked in the office in the forenoon after dinner I went to the upper end of the canal where some men were working borings on the new route. Afternoon I done some work on the canal with M. D'Eatiste, Mr. Henry having gone to Louisville to deliver his reports &c. 21st - Got a later from Darius dated at Cincinnati - Went up to the upper end but there came on a shower of rain which compelled us to return. Spent most of the time drawing a plan for a wooden gate 22d - Sunday. Wrote a letter to Darius - Took a walk to the woods, picked some blackberries. 23d - Hot day. Done a little work at the lock & then went to the upper end to take the levels of the new route - Made out the plans & calculations in the afternoon. 24th - Drew a wooden gate in the forenoon & then went to Louisville. Got 'Longs Expedition' 25th - Judge Bates & Mr. Henry were long in making calculations of the new routes - I went up the canal & counted the number of men at work. 26th - Got a letter from Darius dated at Chillicothe detailing the particulars of his journey. Went up the canal & got the time lists & copied them, & regulated our copies

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27th June - Copied the Report &c. - Wrote a letter to Pazzi - Judge Bates made a long communication to the directors in which he expressed a wish to resign his office as Engineer of the Canal - Got an order for 21 dollars for my wages 28th - After drawing some I went to Louisville to get the money on my order - Bought 'Comstock's Mineralogy'. In the afternoon the Directors held a meeting at Mr. Bentham's for the purpose of ascertaining whether the charges made against the contractors by Mr. Henry were correct 29th Sunday - Stayed at home - Judge Bates left 30th - After drawing two plans of the bridge centres I went up the canal - Mr. Henry went up to Louisville to show his proofs of the correctness of the 'charges' several persons went with him who are to swear to what they knew on the subject - I went over the river searched Indiana shore for mineral specimens - The board of directors held a meeting & excepted Mr. Bates resignation & offered his place to Mr. Henry! 1st July - Made out the meteorological table for June - Did a little work on the canal - Went to Louisville gave the table to the printer - Got a letter from Pazzi & one from D. Thomas for Darius which I sent to him. When I returned I wrote a letter to Darius giving an account of the method of going small streams. 2d - Weather so cold that Mr. D'etiste had a fire built...

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in his bar room which felt quite comfortable! Worked on the canal nearly all day. Drew a plan of the courses of stone in the bridge in the evening for Mr Henry who has made some alterations in the plan 3d July - The board of Directors met today & we were required to make the estimates - Accordingly I went up the canal & got the timelists & they were [made?] [out?] At the bottom of the Report Mr Henry says - "I beg leave of the Board to offer [/strike myself \strike] services as Principal Engineer together with the Assistant at $2500 per year. Mr Henry went to Louisville to see the directors - I done some work at the bridge and the then stayed at home until night. Mr H was appointed Engineer Salary $1500. 4th Got a letter from Darius requesting me to send 50 cart iron wheel-barrow wheels - Went to Louisville & spoke for them. Saw an Egyptian Mummy & other curiosities & paintings. When I returned I made out the copies of the time lists. Spent the rest of the time at home. The day was celebrated by Military Companies Ha Ha 5th Very little work to do. Dr [Dolton?] gave me some Elixr of Vitriol - 6th Sunday - Got a horse of Mr Perrine & rode to Utica a small town about 6 miles above the Falls to see the rock which is there laid open. found it the same as exists here. 7th Assisted Mr Henry in laying out the patterns for the segments on which the gates open. It occupied the principal part of the day.

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8th July. Wrote a letter to Darius mentioning my late ride to Utica, and the canal - After which I assisted Mr Henry in taking an estimate of a [new?] job of 2 stations & set back stakes. After noon I went to Louisville and Mr Goodwin gave me the dimensions of 5 of the largest steam boates now running on the river. 9th Set some tall bank stakes then took levels on the rock alone with lower angle. Set some [stoches] on the curve. 10th Went up the canal and got the check lists from the different homes, which I no longer have to copy - Spent the afternoon in writing for Mr Henry. Recieved a letter from Darius being on [easy?] on spelling words properly 11th Copied the reports in the morning - Went up the canal in the afternoon. 12th Not much work to be done on the canal Mr Henry wen to Louisville. Wrote a letter to Darius - giving certain reasons why I wish to leave the canal and get a place in Ohio. 13th Sunday Took [some?] Calomel which operated today. Stayed in the house all day. 14th Went to Louisville to see about the wheel barrow wheels. Calculated the length of the arch of the bridge & the then went to Portland to get some Paddle gate frames - 15th Got a letter from Parri & a member of the Western Filler Spent time in writing 16th Done some work on the canal - Went to Louisville & tooke a walk up Bear Graf Creek.