Pittsburgh. At Olean, the river has a breadth of twenty rods.

In consequence of its high latitude, the clear waters of the Alleghany
usually freeze over by the 25th of December, after having transported
upon its current the season's work, from the numerous saw-mills of the
great wilderness through which it flows, in the form of rafts
consisting of two hundred million feet of excellent lumber.

The Ohio River has a width of about half a mile below Pittsburgh, and
this is its medial breadth along its winding course to its mouth at
Cairo; but in places it narrows to less than twenty-five hundred feet,
while it frequently widens to more than a mile. A geographical writer
says, that, "In tracing the Ohio to its source, we must regard the
Alleghany as its proper continuation. A boat may start with sufficient
water within seven miles of Lake Erie, in sight sometimes of the sails
which whiten the approach to the harbor of Buffalo, and float securely
down the Conewango, or Cassadaga, to the Alleghany, down the Alleghany
to the Ohio, and thence uninterruptedly to the Gulf of Mexico."

There are grave reasons for doubting that part of the statement which
refers to a boat starting from a point within seven miles of Lake
Erie. It is to be hoped that some member of the New York Canoe Club
will explore the route mentioned, and give the results of his
investigations to the public. He would need a canoe light enough to be
easily carried upon the shoulders of one man, with the aid of the
canoeist's indispensable assistant--the canoe-yoke.

It will be seen that the Ohio with its affluents drains an immense
extent of country composed of portions of seven large states of the
Union, rich in agricultural wealth, in timber, iron, coal, petroleum,