Day-by-Day / August 19, 1803

August 19, 1803

Monongahela and Allegheny rivers

Pittsburgh, PA Lewis waits for the barge to be completed so that he can head down the Ohio River. Here, the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers that join to form the Ohio are described by François André Michaux.

Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers

Pittsburgh, 1759

Black and white artists' rendition of Pittsburgh between the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers

Unknown artist, Pittsburgh Photo Engraving Co. Digitized by Historic Pittsburgh.[1]Original source: Edward White and De Witt B. Lucas, 150 years of unparalleled thrift: Pittsburgh Sesqui-centennial chronicling a development from a frontier camp to a mighty city; official history … Continue reading

Monongahela River

The river Monongahela derives its source in Virginia, at the foot of Laurel Mountain, which comprises a part of the chain of the Alleghanies; bending its course toward the west, it runs into Pennsylvania, and before it reaches Alleghany it receives in its current the rivers Chéat and Youghiogheny, which proceed from the south west.
—François André Michaux[2]François André Michaux, Travels to the West of the Alleghany Mountains (1805 reprint from London edition), p. 65 in Reuben G. Thwaites, Travels West of the Alleghanies (Cleveland: The Arthur H. … Continue reading

Allegheny River

Let the weather be what it will, the stream of the Alleghany is clear and limped; that of the Monongahela, on the contrary, grows rather muddy with a few days incessant rain in that part of the Alleghany Mountains where it derives its source.
—François André Michaux[3]François André Michaux, Travels to the West, p. 67 in Reuben G. Thwaites, Travels West of the Alleghanies, p. 163.

 

Notes

Notes
↑1 Original source: Edward White and De Witt B. Lucas, 150 years of unparalleled thrift: Pittsburgh Sesqui-centennial chronicling a development from a frontier camp to a mighty city; official history and programme. 1908, p. 2.
↑2 François André Michaux, Travels to the West of the Alleghany Mountains (1805 reprint from London edition), p. 65 in Reuben G. Thwaites, Travels West of the Alleghanies (Cleveland: The Arthur H. Clark Co., 1904), p. 161.
↑3 François André Michaux, Travels to the West, p. 67 in Reuben G. Thwaites, Travels West of the Alleghanies, p. 163.

Discover More

  • The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Day by Day by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). The story in prose, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
  • The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery (abridged) by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2003). Selected journal excerpts, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
  • The Lewis and Clark Journals. by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 1983–2001). The complete story in 13 volumes.

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Unless otherwise noted, journal excerpts are from The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, edited by Gary E. Moulton, 13 vols. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983-2001).