The history of Clark County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its cities, towns, etc.; general and local statistics; portraits of early settlers and prominent men, V. 1, Part 1

Author: Steele, Alden P; Martin, Oscar T; Beers (W.H.) & Co., Chicago
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : W. H. Beers and Co.
Number of Pages: 1010


USA > Ohio > Clark County > The history of Clark County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its cities, towns, etc.; general and local statistics; portraits of early settlers and prominent men, V. 1 > Part 1


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61



GENEALOGY 977.101 C54H V. 1


M


REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION


5


ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY


3 1833 00827 0446


GENEALOGY 977.101 C54H V.1


Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016


https://archive.org/details/historyofclarkco01stee


i


THE


HISTORY


OF


CLARK COUNTY


OHIO,


CONTAINING


A History of the County; its Cities, Towns, etc .; General and Local Statistics; Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men ; History of the Northwest Territory; History of Ohio ; Map of Clark County; Constitution of the United States, Miscellaneous Matters,


etc., etc.


Y.I


ILLUSTRATED.


CHICAGO : W. H. BEERS & CO. 1SSL


-


-------------


F 89213,4


1634129


F89213.4 PREFACE.


0 NE hundred and one years have passed since the smoke of battle cleared from about the City of the Shawnees (Piqua) and the victorious army of Gon. Clark had formed in line of march for Kentucky. The stronghold of the red man was no more, and the dusky warriors had fled with their squaws and papooses, leaving this Territory tenable for the adventurous pioneers, who made their appearance some fifteen years later. Year succeeded year, and the little band that had sought a home amid the waving forests had received such accessions, that, in 1814, a petition was presented to the Legislature for the erection of a new county to be called Clark. The new county increased rapidly in population; and being the birthplace of inventive genius, manufacturing inter- ests grew in an astonishing degree; great wealth has been the natural outcome, and, to-day, we witness the grand production of an industrious and enlightened and refined people.


In this volume we have attempted to portray the changes that have taken place since this county was first settled, and to give to future generations, as well as the present, a faint idea of what has been the cost in developing this fair land, and also to familiarize them with the names of those who braved the storms of early days and helped transform this county from a wilderness to one of the most populous and wealthy in the Buckeye State.


We have been assisted in this undertaking by efficient local historians, who have been in a greater or less degree associated with the early rise and progress of the county up to this time. The general history of the county was prepared by Alden P. Steele. Oscar T. Martin edited the article he del City of Spring- field. F. M. McAdams wrote the history of Springfield, Harmony and Madison Townships. The history of Pleasant Township is by James Arbogast. Paper on Pike Township is by Madison Over. Bethel Township is from the pen of Dr. H. H. Young. Daniel Baker compiled history of Mad River Township. Green Township was written by Perry Stewart. To Dr. John Ladlow, E. G. Dial, Thomas F. McGrew, R. C. Woodward, to the county officials, city officers, members of the bar, press and pulpit, bankers, manufacturers and merchants, and the citizens of Clark County in general, we are greatly indebted for inter- esting and valuable information, which we herewith present after careful com- pilation, trusting that our efforts may be duly appreciated by our patrons.


THE PUBLISHERS.


Acoust, 1881.


R-


20608


4


CONTENTS.


PART I.


HISTORY OF THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.


PAGE ..


PAGE.


PAGE.


Geographical Positivr 13 ments.


34


Tecumseh and the War of 1812 ......


Early Explorations 20 American Settlements ....... ... 59 Black Hawk and the Black Frank War 73


English Explorations and Settle- t


tory 05


PART II.


JUSTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.


PAGE. !


PAGE.


PACE.


History of Ohis ..


93 | Organization of Countiss


A' Pref Mention of Prominent


Fretich History


96, Description of Counties. 137


Olio Gene.sl: 131


Ordinance of 1757, No. 32 105 ! Early Events. .15"


The War of 1812 ..


122 , Governors of Ohio. .200


...


Banking


1:6 | Ancient Works ...


IT! : Comments upon the Ordinance of


The Canal System


1:2 , Some General Characteristics


: 1787, fron, the Statutes of Obi»,


Ohio Land Tracts 129 | Outline Ceclogy of ohio .. .. 179 ! Edited Ly Salmon P. Chase, and


Improvements


132 ; Obio's Rand During the War 182 Published in the year 1:35. .. .. .. .. 20 1


State Boundaries. 130


1


PART III.


HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY.


PART. 1


PAGE.


PAGE.


Iutreduction 213 | Ccuuty Recorders


.204 | The Spelling of the name ChF.C"


The Battle of Piqua. 214


¡Conity Sheriff's. 267 | Simon Fenton .


The Siege of the Old Indian Town


i County Coronels. .267 ; John Kompbrevs.


cf Pigna, August 8. 178% ....... .214 ! County Surveyors .. .. 967


David Lowry, Jr ..


Notes of the Zattierf Piqua. .218 ! Clerks cf Cours .26%


Jongthali Doorel


Tecamach and Piqua.


220 ! Prosecuting Attorneys 268 Israel Lu flow


Indian Occupancy ..


2:21 | Fr mate Judges


268


The Shawnet Indians.


223 ; County Infirmary


Extinction et the In lion Title. .. 233 . Children's Home.


Original Land Sarreys.


.254 Sketch of the Beach and Dar of Clark County


The Erection of Clark Couctr. Physical Festures. 2.0


The Beach The Bir ..... 273


The National Road


Now Deion .....


Moun 1., Renes, r'ic.


Anti-Slavery Seuthreats


John E. Laytve and the Gre,ne County Regne Cage (f 1877 ...... 287 The Military History of Clark Connty. .990


Training- Day Period


Table of Distances from Springfield.


Oblo. to, several in. portant Chics Of the United States ..


Population of Clark County.


Tanh of Distances in Clark Com.ry. i.' Decennia! Appraiserient of Loxt Property, Clark County ..


County Commissioners


County Auditiva.


603 : Bio raphical sketch of Gen George Rogers Clark ...


Valuation of Real Property in Towns and Villages ..


Quety Towers


255


The First White Max 253 John ing:


The Mexican Wir ...


County Buildings ..


County MMilitary Comnitt .e .......


Fenster Manhal's Department from


Representatives to Compress Representatives to State Le


And Martin 297


Sketch of Clark Conuty Agricult- ural Socioty. .344 Officers of Clark County Agricult.


Extentand Boundiry. .2. 7


ural society. from 1:49 to 1651, except Manager. .549


Miscellaneous Statistics for the year ending Jun 1, 1480.


Log Cabin Song ...


The Homes and Hewihs of the P .- onvers 24.


The Click County Medical Society OF Clark County Bible Society .. .331 2.0 : (nrk Courtyaalbath S :hoci Unior ;The Granze in clark County ......... 36) 2h Mac liver Valley Pioneer and Historical Assocheti .............. Clark-Shawnee Centennial .............. C. The History of Short- tiors and other Citi -...


275 ! Clark County's Ex-Folding


3.2 Division of the Northwest Terri- --


Some Discussed Subjects .....


-


-


iy


CONTENTS.


PART IV.


ATT. CITTY OF SPRINGFIELD.


PAGE.


City of Springfield .. .425 | The First Schcel. .449


La Ohonda .... .420 The First Settlement ... 42G


birsi Church Building. 4:0 Reception: to Returned Setlists ..... 451 A Seat of Justice ... 150 Reture of Peace ........ 481


Treaty with the Indians. 450


The First Brick House. .452


Additional Church Edifices .. 453


Volunteers for Harrison .. .453


Smith's Academy. 454


Springfield as a County Heat ......... 434


"O !!! Virginia " and " Sicopy Ifol-


The First Tareil. .435


Picnic to Vellow Springs .483


Improvement:, Tills, etc .. .433


Dayton & Springfild Road. 434


The City in IS). 434


The First Census.


The Forly Sattters of Springfield ... 436 ; Mitle Societich. .455


Robert Rennich ...


435 : Public Buildings.


Jorah baldwin ....


436 : Lighting the Streets


Walter Smallwusd 434


Sningfield & Towa .... 4611


429 | The Paper Mill ...


spring Cell Publis Library. 559


Y. M. C. A. 570


Secret Societies: 572


.464 | Fice Departinent.


406 | Police Drariment 5.5


94 & Visit trom Henry Clay .. .465 | The Tolozraph.


Littie D:dBy Vicory


James Wallice


Ductor Nocdhar .. 419 Liljoh Bear bley


Maddox Fisher.


44 | Springfield a City .......


ira laize .... 141 Manufacturing Interests. 47.


Jamies Johnson ... 4-15


Major Christie .. 415


Atlantic Cabl ..


The Money Des i .... 607


SpringBeid in the War. 170 Officers and Tax Levy. .593


PART V.


TOWNEND HISTORIES.


PAGE.


SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP ... 5


The Daily Offcinis of Sp ... Towarhin ...


Pioneste et Sprie faid Town-


Poli Pool .69: PIRR NOWNSHIP ...


Votes .. 635


Springfield Township Officials 633 Ceviches.


Cemeteries an J G-avevard.s


Topas


Di dion .693


lloteix .....


Toll Pikeq.


Physicians :00


Schools :03


Generg1


Harmony Village ... .01


Bethel Baptist Courch.


The Lisbon Baptist Church.


Fletcher Chapel ( Methodist Lois. Churri .. 849


Matsburg Christian Church. ...... 65)


Hormery Methodist Post. stunt Church


Vienna Christian Church .... ..... 663


Methodist Fpisicpal


Church .. ..


ViacDa Lodge. No. 345, 1. 0. 0. 8.033 Harpiony in the War.


Schools of Harmony Township ... Che


School Etati'ics. 1.504


Rara. Hotels.


Th, Tady Elections, Po. ka od


Ciark: Ce,, ohio, April 5, 1118 ... 755 .750


Leif-l': M !!!


Giri-so's Mill, 6: Rock Point


Political RecipientesAn In-


Reminiscence of the Post


Robert's MU


Parents Wiele Factory. .....


cidens of the Campaign of 1800 ..


Cabin Song. 637


PEASANT TOWNSHIP 658


Sinking Creek Cemetery ... 6 .... The Perrio Cemetery .. .623 . MEJORAFIRED TOWNSHIP .....


Justices of the Pesce. 6,33


.6,5


Karl; Sacriommeats ....


Lag soda .. .: 15 1


Lagonda United Breth's Church.617


Fre: - Will Puntis.


Sundry Items .. 636 Church .. 618


Pioneers of IL umiony Township .. 6.6 Cemet ries. 63


Lisbon ..


. Brighton ..


School Notes ot Springfield Town- ship by biscricta, 18ag ... ... 625 Prattsbury ...


Engar Grove


Edwardsville 027


Fast Socioghe !!!


Corseterie: 716


Physician :..


As incilent


WAD RIVEL TOWN SHCP


GAUYA TOWNSHIP


IVERA's LAMP Works.


Hoiromb's Lane Works.


Janchor MIis


Porig Township Official


Seats Charleston Ag icultural Society .. .. ...


The Soldiers of 18o1-85 ..


Unprecedented Commercint Activ. ity. 181


The Hard Times ....


The Wordens' Crusads ...


The Contencia! Celebration .450


Mit Lin improviset .... .4.6


The Fine Arts .. .489


Frankenstein Famil: .483 S. crome Ch !...


! Prasent Prospects


Churches .500


Education


The Springfield High School. 520


.400 : Wittenberg College


461 | Industriel Interests. .540 The Printing Press ... 659


Rev. Soul Herhle 101


Joha An bler. .469 410 : The First Mayor ..


440 A Daily Mail


Pearson Spinning


411 |


...... ......


412 , The First Book Store-Nichols. ... .... 05 438 | The Cholera. 405


Railroads ..


Fire .. .553


.470 : Drinks.


443 ! Political Excitement


| Home for Aged Women .. 695


13 ! The Old Graveyard ... .595 Greenmonat Cfuktery ......


Celebration of the Laying of the


Fern Clif Cemetery.


Steady Growth of the Village 446


PAGE.|


James Dewint, the Founder of Springfield. 126 Original Plat of Springfield. 4:29


Beauty of Location. 130 First Commercial Enterprise .431 Character of Demint. .431


Grithin Foox' Arrival .. .432


1:5


A Relic of the Monn! Builders ... .. 455


A Temperance Organization ....


Werden's Tavethi ... ..: 50


PACE.


Assassination of Lincoln ......


PAGE.


HARMONY TOWNSHIP ... St: mais. .. 606 Villages. .835


The Tnice M. ading House. .. 613 Borhel Methodist Episcopal Church. .. 628 Emery Chapel ( Methodist Episco-


Ric ville ..


Chambersburg ..


suburna Dasinees.


St. John sewir; Machine Com- rar.y ....


Saying's Mals Taylor's Mlini


For-lack of an Election bald i Hun !Madison. Township.


--------


The Lord Cemetery ..


The Market House ..


Str .. et Railways .. .056


V


CONTENTS.


1


TOWNSHIP HISTORIES-Continued.


PAGE.


Churches of Madison Township .. 758 Sulma ....


Church (Selma) .. 767 The Underground Railroad .767


Green Plain Monthly Meeting ( Friend.) ... .765 South Charleston .768


Orthodox. 705 Green Plain Monthly Meeting tory


(Hichsites). 765 Selma Methodist Episcopal


706


Secret Societies ... 769


South Charleston Cemetery 770


PART VI.


BIOGRAATHICAL SKETCHES.


PAGE. :


PAGE.


PAGE.


Springfield Township 779


Gemmer Township ..


35: Green Tywishif .. .......... ...... 1619


Harmony Township


954 : Pike Township.


.1011 | Mielisos Township .1059


Pleasant Township ...


941 ' Bethel Township ... .1026


Dovreteld Township,


981 | Mad River Township. 1039


PORTRAITS


PAGE.


FAGE. |


PAU6.


Gen. George Rogers Clark Front. | Ross Motelell .. 405


William Comrie.


David Lowry (deceased)


115 | Jaunes 1. Leci ... 418


George Croft (deceased ;...


123 | Mr .. Flizabeth Loffel (deceased) ...


437 : David T. Colvin .... 621


5 .hn T. Stenar: (1-cease!) 131


421 : Presley Jonas ...


169


Anthony Byrd


Rev. i. tuy Williams


Salanel Wolf. 417


711


Thomas Mille (deceased)


Toomas V. Oratiil 457


John fadiox


Hurri on Rice


107 : James ANA POL.


J. S. Christie ..


WITAM! Perim


17:


W. Brand Jod !!.


J.S. Mais y (Beerased).


437


! Abraham Kitchen


J. L. Torient (dena 100)


Mo. Xatia Kitchen heller.


763


J. S. Goude ..


I. S.


J. Warrer Keifer


527


Roter. .. lol!


George Spence. 5337 :A. O. 3


793


295


Nathan Feel. 5.17


FHim B. Henter.


$75


Andrew Vachulcom (dede: 30


3.J. farti ...


577 ! Heraf o Banco ! decoared


E. G. Dial 335


532 | Joceiai. h Ypazell (decorrer


585 ! Cheries 3. Chuck


500


Ou ras W. Hasdags ...


62 :


Marv J. Ma quert.


s. L. rome Thi ..


375 | Mrs. Wiebach Cherce (decare). 221 ; R. Rector (deceased) 285 ! I. W Tim. ghey €31 Eliza J Ri fardie ....


T. J. Kikpatrick


Joseph L. Richards


5.07


Jileon Ralmond 395 | R. D M:Colum .. 1.51


ILLUSTRATIONS.


PAGE.


LAGT.


Nonter of the Miscarringi ..


High Bridg .......


Loke Bluff .. 1?


i.+ saHo iandipg on the Shores of


Tantie, the Ottawa Ckivitrin ....... 12 Technisch. the Shawaoo Christian. he


Faltane Attaching Frontiersowen ... 56 | Indian . Arterking a Steckato .....


Black Hawk. the Sac Chieftain ......


Trappir ... ..


58 . Perryi. Monument, Cleveland ....


60 | Taget Filis


MISCELLANEOUS.


P.s : .. .


Hup of fark Com.ty ..


14 & 15 | Arev of the Principal Countries in


Allies of Railrond in Operation ..... 33


"sition of the United States ... ?!!


the World. .203


Poportion of Obio ..... 502


fre cuing of the United States .... and


Popniation of the Principi Coua-


Formation of Clara County ...... li !


Fries is the World. ...... .203, Designas Reforvices .... 1075


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ar vot Site fotky street Bridge. Chicago, 1533 ..


Month of the Mis-iscippi ... 31 A Linear Dwelling.


FAGF.


Statistics of the Special Schoo!


District of South Charioston


in Madison Township. Clark Co., Ohio. for the year erding Angus: 31, 1880 ..


Schoot Statistics of Madison Township for the year ending August 21, 1880 .... ...


Church


Green Plain Baud of Hope ...... 767


PAGE. African Methodist Episcopal


South Charleston Official Direc-


Madison Township Official Di- rectory 769


Educational Reminiscencea Fur- nished


Villion Whits 055


Lewi, Stalling ( Jeeraved;


John H. Their .....


2.1- Divs. Sarah MY. Band "deceased;


J. S. Crowell ..


PAGE. :


PARE ..


+ホー+ #+


Pulverpa


hoyne 22


SPRINTER 118 8, 126 JEC MROE ST


CHIRICO C.


-


-


PART I. -


THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.


1


-


THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.


GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION.


When the Northwestern Territory was ceded to the United States by Virginia in 1781, it embraced only the territory lying between the Ohio and the Mississippi Rivers, and north to the northern limits of the United States. It coincided with the area now embraced in the States of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and that portion of Minnesota lying on the east side of the Mississippi River. The United States itself at that period extended no farther west than the Mississippi River ; but by the purchase of Louisiana in 1805, the western boundary of the United States was extended to the Rocky Mountains and the Northern Pacific Ocean. The new territory thus added to the National domain, and subsequently opened to settlement, has been called the "New Northwest," in contradistinction from the old " Northwestern Territory."


In comparison with the old Northwest this is a territory of vast magnitude. It includes an area of 1,887,850 square miles ; being greater in extent than the united areas of all the Middle and Southern States, including Texas. Out of this magnificent territory have been erected eleven sovereign States and eight Territories, with an aggregate popula- tion, at the present time, of 13,000,000 inhabitants, or nearly one third of the entire population of the United States. .


.Its lakes are fresh-water seas, and the larger rivers of the continent flow for a thousand miles through its rich alluvial valleys aud far- stretching prairies, more acres of which are arable and productive of the highest percentage of the cereals than of any other area of like extent on the globe.


For the last twenty years the increase of population in the North- west has been about as three to one in any other portion of the United States.


(19)


--


---


1


20


THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.


EARLY EXPLORATIONS.


In the year 1541, DeSoto first saw the Great West in the New World. He, however, penetrated no farther north than the 25th parallel of latitude. The expedition resulted in his death and that of more than half his army, the remainder of whom found their way to Cuba, thence to Spain, in a famished and demoralized condition. DeSoto founded no settlements, produced no results, and left no traces, unless it were that he awakened the hostility of the red man against the white man, and disheartened such as might desire to follow up the career of discovery for better purposes. The French nation were eager and ready to seize upon any news from this extensive domain, and were the first to profit by DeSoto's defeat. Yet it was more than a century before any adventurer took advantage of these discoveries.


In 1616, four years before the pilgrims " moored their bark on the wild New England shore," Le Caron, a French Franciscan, had pene- trated through the Iroquois and Wyandots ( Hurons) to the streams which run into Lake Huron ; and in 1634, two Jesuit missionaries founded the first mission among the lake tribes. It was just one hundred years from the discovery of the Mississippi by DeSoto (1541) until the Canadian envoys met the savage nations of the Northwest at the Falls of St. Mary, below the outlet of Lake Superior. This visit led to no permanent result ; yet it was not until 1659 that any of the adventurous fur traders attempted to spend a Winter in the frozen wilds about the great lakes, nor was it until 1660 that a station was established upon their borders by Mesnard, who perished in the woods a few months after. In 1665, Claude Allouez built the earliest lasting habitation of the white man among the Indians of the Northwest. In 1668, Claude Dablon and James Marquette founded the mission of Sault Ste. Marie at the Falls of St. Mary, and two years afterward, Nicholas Perrot, as agent for M. Talon, Governor Gen- eral of Canada, explored Lake Illinois (Michigan) as far south as the present City of Chicago, and invited the Indian nations to meet him at a grand council at Sault Ste. Marie the following Spring, where they were taken under the protection of the king, and formal possession was taken of the Northwest. This same year Marquette established a mission at Point St. Ignatius, where was founded the old town of Michillimackinac.


During M. Talon's explorations and Marquette's residence at St. Ignatius, they learned of a great river away to the west, and fancied -as all others did then-that upon its fertile banks whole tribes of God's children resided, to whom the sound of the Gospel had never come. Filled with a wish to go and preach to them, and in compliance with a


--


---


21


THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.


request of M. Talon, who earnestly desired to extend the domain of his king, and to ascertain whether the river flowed into the Gulf of Mexico or the Pacific Ocean, Marquette with Joliet, as commander of the expe- dition, prepared for the undertaking.


On the 13th of May, 1673, the explorers, accompanied by five assist- ant French Canadians, set out from Mackinaw on their daring voyage of discovery. The Indians, who gathered to witness their departure, were astonished at the boldness of the undertaking, and endeavored to dissuade them from their purpose by representing the tribes on the Mississippi as exceedingly savage and cruel, and the river itself as full of all sorts of frightful monsters ready to swallow them and their canoes together. But, nothing daunted by these terrific descriptions, Marquette told them he was willing not only to encounter all the perils of the unknown region they were about to explore, but to lay down his life in a cause in which the salvation of souls was involved ; and having prayed together they separated. Coasting along the northern shore of Lake Michigan, the adventurers entered Green Bay, and passed thence up the Fox River and Lake Winnebago to a village of the Miamis and Kickapoos. Here Mar- quette was delighted to find a beautiful cross planted in the middle of the town ornamented with white skins, red girdles and bows and arrows, which these good people had offered to the Great Manitou, or God, to thank him for the pity he had bestowed on them during the Winter in giving them an abundant " chase.", This was the farthest outpost to which Dablon and Allouez had extended their missionary labors the year previous. Here Marquette drank mineral waters and was instructed in the secret of a root which cures the bite of the venomous rattlesnake. He assembled the chiefs and old men of the village, and, pointing to Joliet, said : " My friend is an envoy of France, to discover new coun- tries, and I am an ambassador from God to enlignten them with the truths of the Gospel.". Two Miami guides were here furnished to conduct them to the Wisconsin River, and they set out from the Indian village on the 10th of June, amidst a great crowd of natives who had assembled to witness their departure into a region where no white man had ever yet ventured. The guides, having conducted them across the portage, returned. The explorers launched their canoes upon the Wisconsin, which they descended to the Mississippi and proceeded down its unknown waters. What emotions must have swelled their breasts as they struck out into the broadening current and became conscious that they were how upon the bosom of the Father of Waters. The mystery was about to be lifted from the long-sought river. The scenery in that locality is beautiful, and on that delightful seventeenth of June must have been elad in all its primeval loveliness as it had been adorned by the hand of


22


THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.


Nature. Drifting rapidly, it is said that the bold bluffs on either hand "reminded them of the castled shores of their own beautiful rivers of France." By-and-by, as they drifted along, great herds of buffalo appeared on the banks. On going to the heads of the valley they could see a country of the greatest beauty and fertility, apparently destitute of inhab- itants yet presenting the appearance of extensive manors, under the fas- tidious cultivation of lordly proprietors. -


----


SOURCE OF THE MISSISSIPPI.


On June 95, they went ashore and found some fresh traces of men upon the sand, and a path which led to the prairie. The men remained in the boat, and Marquette and Joliet followed the path till they discovered a village on the banks of a river, and two other villages on a hill, within a half league of the first, inhabited by Indians. They were received most hospitably by these natives, who had never before seen a white person. After remaining a few days they re-embarked and descended the river to about latitude 339, where they found a village of the Arkansas, and being satisfied that the river flowed into the Gulf of Mexico, turned their course


4


23


THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.


up the river, and ascending the stream to the mnouth of the Illinois, rowed up that stream to its source, and procured guides from that point to the lakes. " Nowhere on this journey," says Marquette, " did we sce such grounds, meadows, woods, stags, buffaloes, deer, wildcats, bustards, swans, ducks, parroquets, and even beavers, as on the Illinois River." The party, without loss or injury, reached Green Bay in September, and reported their discovery-one of the most important of the age, but of which no record was preserved save Marquette's, Joliet losing his by the upsetting of his canoe on his way to Quebec. Afterward Marquette returned to the Illinois Indians by their request, and ministered to them until 1675. On the 18th of May, in that year, as he was passing the mouth of a stream-going with his boatmen up Lake Michigan --- he asked to land at its mouth and celebrate Mass. Leaving his men with the canoe, he retired a short distance and began his devotions. As much time passed and he did not return, his men went in search of him, and found him upon his knees, dead. He had peacefully passed away while at prayer. He was buried at this spot. Charlevoix, who visited the place fifty years after, found the waters had retreated from the grave, leaving the beloved missionary to repose in peace. The river has since been called Marquette.


While Marquette and his companions were pursuing their labors in the West, two men, differing widely from him and each other, were pre- paring to follow iu his footsteps and perfect the discoveries so well began by him. These were Robert de La Salle and Louis Hennepin.


After La Salle's return from the discovery of the Ohio River (see the narrative elsewhere), he established himself again among the French trading posts in Canada. Here he mused long upon the pet project of those ages -- a short way to China and the East, and was busily planning an expedition up the great lakes, and so across the continent to the Pacific, when Marquette returned from the Mississippi. At once the vigorous mind of LaSalle received from his and his companions' stories the idea that by fol- lowing the Great River northward, or by turning up some of the numerous western tributaries, the object could easily be gained. He applied to Frontenac, Governor General of Canada, and laid before him the plan, dim but gigantic. Frontenac entered warmly into his plans, and saw that LaSalle's idea to connect the great lakes by a chain of forts with the Gulf of Mexico would bind the country so wonderfully together, give un- measured power to France, and glory to himself, under whose adminis- tration he earnestly hoped all would be realized.




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