Box 2, Folder 7: Typewritten Letters, 1811-1828

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1827.

-tanical name is probably Asculus Glabra.***

Are there no appearances of a deluge or any circumstances that will tend to throw light on that subject in your neighborhood Examine the face of the country, hillsides, and their formations &c. Any such I am your affectionate brother,

Darius Lapham.

Increase A. Lapham.

Shippingsport, Ky. Sept. 23rd, 1827.

Dear Brother:

I have received your two letters of June 1st and July 30th.***

I suppose you have got the book of Wymmes "Theory of Concentric Circles". It has probably made you a convert to his theory; and indeed the arguments he makes use of, are considered by many persons to be plausible, if not convincing; some of them, however, are considered absurd. I will give you some of the worst of them. The principle of projectile force, which he thinks would throw off first heavy and then lighter masses, to form mountains, for one.*** What he says of the Esquimaux living within the sphere can not be true, for the place they pointed to, to the north, was not far distant from where the conversation took place and was visited and described by Capt. Ros.*** A party of Esquimaux built their huts in the vicinity of Capt.Perry's ship on his second voyage, and in the spring they went to the northwest to fish and kill deer and returned in the winter. The corners of their migration was the reverse of that indicated by the new theory.***

And there are many other of his arguments considered absurd in the North American Review, particularly his astronomical proofs.*** Dr. Hildreth says he visited the Ohio canal at Newark and made observations on the different formations over which he trav-

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-eled. He says: "But the most singular feature of all is the abundance of detached fragments and blocks of primitive rocks with which this region is filled. All are rounded and worn by attrition and lie in that confused state which they might be supposed to exhibit if brought there by an immense current of water. Some of the blocks of granite, are large enough to make a pair of mill stones and are used for that purpose". He also passed over Flint Ridge, so called, the dividing ridge between the waters of Licking and Jonathan's creek.*** The surface of the earth is covered with quartz rock to the depth of six or eight feet and abounds in beautiful rose colored and liquid crystals. It is full of excavations made by the aborigines, in search of flint for arrow heads. At the east end of the ridge, twelve miles from Zanesville fine mill stones are made of cellular quartz "equal to or better than French Burr." I write this supposing you have not read it.*** The reason why you have not heard from me before is because I have been engaged in preparing a description of the canal here, a specimen of which you may expect to see in my next.***

I have fifty steam engines about me while you have not one. I will give you a pretty complete and minute descriptiopn of the principal ones as I find leisure.

I remain your affectionate brother,

Increase A. Lapham.

Darius Lapham.

Eng. Welland canal U.C.

Oct. 6. Saturday. After doing a small job on the canal this morning I went to Louisville to see about some books that were to be sold at auction. After dinner I went out with Mr. Victor's gun, but killed nothing.

I went to the cave on the Indiana side of the river but found

*Victor G. Audobon.

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-it full of earth so it could not be entered.

Oct. 8 Light rains all day. Went to Louisville and bought the following at auction.

The Animal Dictionary. Morse's Gazeteer. Mechanics Magazine and a Pocket Dictionary.

[Extract from a letter from Darius]Sept. 23rd, 1927.

Dear Brother,

"I presume you saw the Aurora Borealis which appeared on the evening of Tuesday the 28th day of August, 1827. in an arch from east to west over the zenith [of the heavens] it commenced rising in the east and rose first in a spiral form, the horizon was a little clouded which gave it a russet hue but after rising above the clouds it was translucent. It gradually expanded in width, that is it was wider overhead than at the bottom: it remained stationary from nine till ten o' clock, then slowly disappeared in the north after breaking up into columns and balls, the moon in the south, and brilliant lights in the north streaming towards the zenith remained a scene awful beyond description.

If you are ever "again" to write to me again, I wish you would begin soon.

Your affectionate brother,

Darius Lapham.

Increase A. Lapham.

Shippingsport, Ky.

Oct. 17. A very heavy frost this morning.

Went to Louisville and came back in the rain. Mr. Henry came here from Rochester: he visited Niagara Falls as he came: he has made the following remarks: "The survey of these falls is the best calculated to give a man an idea of the superior works of

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nature and of his own inferiority, of any place [he have ever seen."?]

Oct. 23. A rainy day: the rain last night did considerable damage to the canal.

Oct. 23.*** Mr. John R. [Henry?] late of Rochester, N.Y., has now taken the office of Resident Engineer formerly filled by John Bates, who has consented to go to [Chicago] Ohio with his father. The steamboat Triton left here on Sunday for the mouth of the river with a full load of passengers. She got as far as Knob Creek, where she broke the shaft and the leg of her engineer.

Oct. 24. A smoky day. Mr. [Henry?] the engineer, is of the opinion that the smoke occasioning our Indian summer, as the smoky weather is called, does not originate in the burning of the prairies in the west, or in other extensive fires: but that it is from the decay of vegetation. (If it is possible for vegetables to be converted into smoke without combustion this will appear very probable:::)

He relates an instance of a very smoky day at New Madrid being followed by an earthquake: this he supposed to be the smoke that had risen through the ground. I told him that I supposed it was owing to a peculiar state of the atmosphere which was unfavorable to the decomposition of smoke: to this he made no reply.

Shippingsport, Oct. 31, 1827.

Dear Brother:--

*** You want some Buckeyes, and as you seem to have some doubts as to the specific name I will give some explanation taken from Dr. Drake's Cincinnati.

The common Buckeye is not Esculus glabra, but E. Pavia of Linn. E. Pavia lutes of Michaux and E. Flava. There are two species here, the other is called E. maxima by Dr. Drake, from

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its being the largest of the genus and having no name. It differs from E. Pavia by the following characters, flowers larger, corolla commonly red, rarely orange,- the lateral petals concave and enclosing corolla,-stamens shorter than the petals and concealed, capsules smooth; leaves larger than E. Pavis, declining, lanceolate wedged towards the base unequally serrate and generally viscous underneath. It frequently rises to the height of 100 ft. diameter 4 ft. I have not yet seen this species to know it but will now hunt for it in my walks and procure seeds of both species if required.***

Your affectionate brother,

Increase.

Darius Lapham.

Welland Canal U.C.

Nov. 28.

Went over the river to day with Mr. Bates and J.L. Brown, We went to see the boiling spring about a mile from new Albany. It is in the clay bank of a small creek, called Fountain Creek. A gas continually issues from it which has the smell of sulphureted hydrogen. A gentlemen from New Albany has bored 300 ft. near there for salt or coal, but unsuccessfully. He intends to continue boring next season.

Shippingsport, Ky. Nov. 1st, 1827.

Prof. B. Silliman.

Respected Sir:

[Sketch No. 1.] 243

I have deferred answering yours of July 22nd purposely that I might have time to collect in mass, such matter respecting the Louisville and Portland canal as my humble capacity and circumstances would admit.

My age, which is 16 years, and my opportunities for intellectual improvement only common, are my only excuses for not arrang