Artery and Border: The Ambiguous Development of the Ohio Valley in the Early Republic

Artery and Border: The Ambiguous Development of the Ohio Valley in the Early Republic Andrew R. L. Cayttin My c(, 1 league Jack Tempic Kirby frequently reminds me that " drainage is destiny." As usual, lie has an excellent point.' If we ccinsider the Ohio Valley as 111 the terrain from whjch water runs we. t, se,uth, . 111( 1 1101,11 hitc) the 0]· tic) River zind ther[ Ce intli the Mississippi River, it is a huge area, running well into the intericir of Pennsylv:inin, West Virginia, Tennessee, Keiiticky, C) hic),Indi:11111, , ind Illinc,is. The trihutaries (, f the () hit),starting with the Allegheny and the Monong; ihcla and includin, g the Muskingum, the Kanawha, the Sciotci, the Licking, the Great and Little Miami, the Wahash, and the Kentucky rivers, extend the d)main (, f tile valley fc,r n radius of frc, m 311C to two hundred nlileS. Drain: ge delines the () hic) Valley; it makes the citizens of Nashville and Columbus, Indi: inapcilis and Charlest(in, residents ok a cc, herent whc)] c. The great chrillenge in writing the hist(, ry o[ the Ohic, Valley, horveve!,is t]!, 11 icw people have ever seen it as a cciherent whole. 1& use mcire t: ishionable vei·bs, iew pole have " imagincil" ti· " c(nstrleteil" it as : 1 regic)11. 11 places are as much mental lanciscapes ilt they are tangible ones, then the ohit)Valley barely qualifies as a place. Being tri,m the Ohic) Valley has never been a particularly salient dimension of identity . Instead, its residents have defined themselves in terms of race, i·cligicin, gender, : 11191 ethnicity or in terms ( 11 11: iti( 11111, st: itc, Mind city li, yalties. A pers, in is Lii· more likely to say they : ire irt, in Pittsburgh „ r Lciuisville, Illint)is i)r West Virginia, th: in they : irc tc) CIENcribc theill. scives as a pers(, 11 w]1(, lives iii the Ohih, Valley. Andrew Cayton, Professor of History at Miami University, received his Ph.D. from Brown University. His current project is a cultural history of Ohio to be published in conjunction with the bicentennial anniversary of statehood in 2003. Great rivers throughout the history of the worldthe Nile is the most obvious examplehave united . ind nzirturci! the civilizatioiis that have grt)wn LIp around them. They kire considered arteries rather ilian borders, stream: s that unite ncit iust water and sod but hits and pieces of hum: in landscapes on hc,th sides. Why ncit ille Ohic) River:'Tc)begin to answel that questicin, we need to examine the i,rigins of a critic: i] disillnctic)11 that emerged in the Early American Republic. The ccinstructicin n a ilivisic) 11. The economic structures of the Ohili Valley tended tc,ward sceingthe rivei as:in:irtery while its re. ident, were ccinstructing it as a border. Economic Artery Iii the E, 11 ly Republic, the Ohic, River was } itc ot the great highways oi North America. Tens of thousands of people flciated down frt,m the Appalachi: iii Mountains into tile interior of the ci,ntinent. Only some (, f thein were going to destinations in the valleyi tlic 111121(, rity, esliccially by tlic [Sios, were iust passing thri)ugh on their way ti) new lives in tile Itiver Mississippi Valley t) r the C;reilt Plains. Not All 11 them sti,pped in places along the lianks of the () hic, tc) rest, stretch their legs, buy supplies, or satisfy their curiosity. But a great many did. The carly settlements of the Ohio Valley thrived because () 1 the river trade. Pittsburgh, Marietta, Cincinnati, Maysville, Wheeling, and Li,uisville depended lc) one degree or anc, ther on n seemingly endless stream of people in need of bc): ils, 1,)( KI, guide boc, ks, : ind diversic)n. Lciuisville hail the added bonus of its location ; it the Falls of the () Iiic); travelers had ti) disembark to get around the rapids and more than : few lingered awhile and spent sc,ine money. Cities faced the Ohio Winter 100 I Artery . inc! 11(11· del 19 River; clcise hy their landings were taverns, hi, tels, br ats were wc, rking the Ohio and...