Saturday, September 13th, 1823
– Early in the morning I wrote to Jos. Sabine Esq., [Secretary of the Horticultural Society
back in London] and then called on Oliver Forward, Esq., a gentleman
of considerable wealth and friend of Governor Clinton. I took a walk around
town and returned to breakfast.
Went on board the steamboat at 9 o’clock am and sailed at
10, and after a pleasant passage of sixty hours landed at Amherstburg. As soon
as I got my trunk on shore I waited on Mr Briscoe, from whom I received great
kindness; he readily pledged his exertions for the furtherance of the Society’s
objects. I spent the [Monday] evening with him and should tomorrow prove a good
day we intend to make an excursion in the woods.
Two things strike me about this latest entry from
Douglas. Firstly, just how hard he is working. He didn't arrive in Buffalo
until midnight Friday. By 9am Saturday he has written to London, walked round
the town, paid a schmoozing call on Oliver Forward, who is actually Judge
Oliver Forward and THE leading citizen of the area, had breakfast and boarded
the steamboat for a voyage down the whole length of Lake Erie. It leaves you
out of breath just reading it.
And secondly, there is an interesting paper in the
US Library of Congress describing the life of Judge Oliver Forward, which gives
an interesting insight into the condition of the territory around Buffalo in
the early 1800s. It's well worth a read. And, incidentally, Amherstburg is on
the now-Canadian side of the Detroit River, directly opposite modern-day
Detroit. Back then, that whole area had only recently been disputed territory
between Britain and the USA.
The paper above gives an interesting description of Buffalo in 1811, only twelve years before Douglas arrived. Although Buffalo had grown to be a settlement of some 2500 souls by 1823 it was doubtless still very similar to the 1811 description:
The difficulties of operating vessels out of Buffalo Creek are well described. In short order they became intolerable and Judge Forward led a Committee charged with constructing a harbour. It was not without difficulties and almost went to the neighbouring settlement of Black Rock:
But, despite last minute problems, the harbour was built, a new steamer - The Superior - was built, and Buffalo's future was secured. It's highly likely that the newly-built Superior is the steamship on which Douglas sailed Lake Erie to Amherstburg.
