When Bodmer passed by Smithland in January, 1833, he noted that large areas of the adjoining forest had already been cleared for agriculture. About three miles below Smithland on the left bank of the Ohio stood the remains of the original settlement; this had been abandoned in favor of the site at the mouth of the Cumberland, which was more elevated and less subject to flooding

Approximately twenty-five miles below Cave-In-Rock lay Golconda Island, and beyond it the settlement of Smithland at the mouth of the Cumberland River. Passing by in March, 1833, Maximilian described the Cumberland as smaller than the Wabash and Smithland itself as similar to the small Brazilian villages he had seen on his travels in South America more than ten years before. Bodmer's sketch of an Ohio steamer, identified by its inscription as having been observed near Smithland, appears to have served as the model for the riverboat illustrated in Vignette VII of the aquatint series.