412 HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS i
~ town in his Travels on an Inland Voyage: "At the mouth of Cumber- I pc
land—known by its more ancient name of Shawanese River—is a small { ¢Y
settlement called Smith Town, consisting of only five houses. The ar
situation, however, is extremely eligible for further improvement ....  
Most of the boats descending to New Orleans and Memphis generally
make a halt here, either for hams, provisions, boats or repairs ....
It appears to be a kind of inland port, where run—away boys, idle young C
men, and unemployed boatmen, assemble to engage as hands on board ei
of any boats that may happen to call. An amusement has already been m
introduced at this place, which although excusable in large towns and
cities, yet in a new country, and especially in an infant settlement like bj
this, cannot be too much condemned. You will scarcely believe, that a
in a place just emerging from the woods, which although advantageously S`
situated, can prosper only by dint of industry and care, and where the y H
girdled trees which surround its houses threaten with every storm to sj
crush the whole settlement, you will scarcely believe, I say, that a _
billiard table has been established, which is continually surrounded by it
common boatmen, just arrived from the Salt Works, St. Louis, or St. H
Genevieve, who in one hour lost all the hard-earned wages of a two- S)
months’ voyage." i 0
With the passing of the steamboat era, Smithland, which had approxi- S'
mately 3,000 residents, languished and dwindled. When railroads were  
built in the Ohio Valley, Smithland was missed eight miles. Some old . Sl
houses and taverns still stand on the river front, which is gradually h
being washed away by the encroaching waters. 0
Smithland is at the junction with US 62 (see Tour 14); the two f?
routes are united between this point and Paducah. Vi
US 60 crosses GEORGE Rocmzs CLARK MEMORIAL BRIDGE over the V
Tennessee River (toll 30¢) at 246.9 rn.
At 248.6 rn. is the junction with US 68 (see Tour 15 ). (
PADUCAH, 250.7 m. (341 alt., 33,541 pop.) (see Paducah).
Points of Interest: Paduke Statue, Tilghman Memorial, McCracken County
Courthouse, Noble Park, Marine Ways, Brazelton House, Illinois Central Shops, ,
and others. I
Paducah is at the junction with US 45 (see Tour 9), US 62 (see I i
Tour 14), and US 68 (see Tour 15). I
KEVIL, 269.7 m. (439 alt., 231 pop.), is the home of Mary Lanier , I
Magruder, writer of short stories and poems. I
In BARLOW, 278.8 rn. (614 pop.), a small village, the highway '
makes a right-angle turn. t
Right from Barlow on the Paducah-Cairo Pike to CLEAR LAKE (R), and . (
FISH LAKE (L), 3 rn., part of a chain of lakes that extend across a plain, within -
a great bend of the Ohio River. These lakes, probably part of a former course
of the Ohio River, provide excellent hunting and fishing. Southeast of Fish Lake `
is BUCK LAKE, a watering place of buffalo and deer in the days when the Indian
roamed the forests of Kentucky. AX LAKE, northeast of Clear Lake, is another I
popular fishing resort. South and north of these lie numerous small lakes and r