It would be a very interesting solution to detertnine the relative extent of the vatious natural sections or ohio. Such an estimate would be so vag,ue, upon the. uncertain data we possess, that no satisfactory result can be obtained. It may be observed that the three sec tions, hilly, rolling, and level, are nearly of equal ex tent, or about 13 300 square miles each ; and that the whole state is, though unequally SO, habitable. The le sult of the settlement of this state proves its general pioductiveness.
I have been myself over a large part of the southern and northern frontiers of Ohio, and have every where found the soil favourable to the put poses of agriculture. No part of what is called barrens, or swarnps, in Ohio, are so irreclaimable as the sandy shores of the Cavoli nas and Florida, the sea marshes ol Louisiana and Texas ; or so unproductive as the interminable pine tracts which reach from the Roanoke to Red river.
In point of position, its local is in many respects fa vourable ; but its advantages are more approptiate to an interior than exterior communication. Tile quantity of its arable soil will, no doubt, combined as it is by many moral causes, superinduce a very dense population in Ohio ; circumstances, however, common to all, will pro duce in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and 'Michigan, a mass of population by far exceeding that of any other equal continuous extent in the United States.
The most common ntineral productions of Ohio are, coal and iron. Coal is found along the Ohio and Mus kingum rivers, and iron ore in various parts of the state. Water intpregnated with muriate of soda, common salt, has been found, but not in any quantity to render the manufacture of salt an object of any considerable value.
The staples of this state are numerous and itnportant, consisting of wheat, rye, oats, Indian corn, whiskey, ap ples, cider, live stock, and salted provisions. The most frequented commercial outlets arc, by the Ohio, and Mississippi iiver, to New-Orleans ; by Lake Erie and Detroit river, to Detroit ; lakes Erie and Ontario, and St. Lawrence river, to Montreal ; and by land, to Pittsburg, New York, Philadelphia, ancl Baltimore.
The seat of government is at Columbus, but by far the largest town in the state, is the city of Cincinnati, containing, at present, above 10,000 inhabitants. Steu benville, Zanesville, Cleaveland, and several others, are flourishing places, containing a population of from 500 to 1300.
The civil and political subdivisions of,phio are the fol lowing, with the result of the census of 1820 annexed.
— Ohio is calculated by Mr. Kilbourn, in his Gazetteer, to contain 40,000 square miles. That calculation is, no doubt, neatly correct : therefore, allowing for water surface, irreclaimable swamps, and other uncultivable tracts, the aggregate of the counties will approach very closely to the real arable land of Ohio.
The counties of Crawford, Hancock, Hardin, Henry, Marion, Paulding, Putnam, Seneca, Vanwert, and Wil liams, have been formed subsequent to the last census, and, being mostly' in the new purchase, remain in great part uninhabited. These counties, taken together, amount to 5427 square miles. The aggregate of the census of 1820 was but little influenced in its amount by the few inhabitants then upon this surface ; an area approaching one-seventh part of the superficies of the st2.te, Deducting 5427 square miles front 38,260, leaves 32,833, as the really uninhabited surface of Ohio. The latter area has, therefore, at present, if we make but a moderate allowance for the augmentation since the cen sus was closed, upwards of 18 to the square mile. Thc uninhabited, or thinly, peopled counties, more than equal, in point of fertility of soil, the general aggregate sur face of the state, and will consequently admit, at least, an equal density. of population, or permit the addition of nearly 100,000 inhabitants to the state.
The progressive population of Ohio is an unmatched phenomenon in the history of colonization. In 1733, the ground now emlaraced 1%ithin its limits was one wide waste. In 1790, 3000 civilized inhabitants were cnlv found on its sutface. In 1800, they had increased to 42,156. In 1310, the ct.nsus presented an abstract con taining 227,843. In 1820, the state possessed 581,434 inhabitants. It demands a very limited knowledge of the relations of Ohio, its admirable pnsition, its exube rant soil, and above all, the effects which must ensue from opening the westcin canal of New-York, to fore see an augmentation of people on Ohio more rapid in the next ten years than in any equal antecedent period.
Ohio, in 1820, contained 576,572 white inhabitants, and 4723 free coloured persons. In point of classifica tion, the inhabitants were composed cf: Poi eigners not naturalized, 3,495 Number or persons engaged in ag,riculture, 110.921 Ditto do. manufactures, 18 956 Ditto do. COM MC PCP, 1,459 Ohio became a state of the United States in 1803. 01110, a river of the United States. Sec Itssissrp PI basin, section Ghia; and NAVIGATION INLAND, frOrrI page 325 to 332.