USA > Pennsylvania > Early history of western Pennsylvania, and of the West, and of western expeditions and campaigns, from MDCCLIV to MDCCCXXXIII > Part 89
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31st .- I sent the canoe down about five miles, to the junction of the two rivers, that is, the Kenhawa with the Ohio, and set out upon a hunting party to view the land. We steered nearly east for about eight or nine miles, then bore southwardly and westwardly, till we came to our camp at the confluence of the rivers. The land from the rivers ap- peared but indifferent, and very broken ; whether these ridges may not be those that divide the waters of the Ohio from the Kenhawa, is not certain, but I believe they are ; if so, the lands may yet be good; if not, that which lies beyond the river bottoms, is worth but little.
November 1st .- Before eight o'clock we set off with our canoe up the river, to discover what kind of lands lay upon the Kenhawa. The land on both sides of this river, just at the mouth, is very fine: but on the east side, when you get towards the hills, which I judge to be about six or seven hundred yards from the river, it appears to be wet, and bet- ter adapted for meadow than tillage. This bottom continues up the east side for about two miles ; and by going up the Ohio, a good tract might be got of bottom land, including the Old Shawnee Town, which is about
Z.
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APPENDIX-NO. XXXVIII.
three miles up the Ohio, just above the mouth of a creek. We judged we went up the Kenhawa about ten miles to-day. On the east side, appear to be some good bottoms, but small, neither long nor wide, and the hills back of them rather steep and poor.
2nd .- We proceeded up the river with the canoe about four miles farther, and then encamped, and went a hunting ; killed five buffaloes, and wounded some others, three deer, &c. This country abounds in buffaloes, and wild game of all kinds, as also in all kinds of wild fowl, there being in the bottom a great many small, grassy ponds, or lakes, which are full of swans, geese, and ducks of different kinds.
Some of our people went up the river four or five miles higher, and found the same kind of bottom on the west side ; and we were told by the Indians, that it continued to the falls, which they judged to be fifty or sixty miles higher up. This bottom, next the water, in most places is very rich ; as you approach to the hills, you come to a thin white- oak land, and poor. The hills, as far as we could judge, were from half a mile to a mile from the river, poor and steep in the parts we saw, with pine growing on them. Whether they are generally so or not, we cannot tell, but I fear they are.
3rd .- We set off down the river, on our return homewards, and en- camped at the mouth. At the beginning of the bottom, above the junc- tion of the rivers, and at the mouth of a branch of the east side. I marked two maples, an elm, and a hoop-wood tree, as a corner of soldiers' land, if we can get it, intending to take all the bottom from hence to the rapids in the Great Bend, in one survey. I also marked at the mouth of an- other run, lower down the west side, at the lower end of the long bot- tom, an ash and hoop-wood, for the beginning of another of the soldiers' surveys, to extend up so as to include all the bottom in a body on the west side. In coming from our last encampment up the Kenhawa, I endeavored to take the courses and distances of the river by my pocket compass, and by guessing.
4th .- After passing these hills, which may run on the river near a mile, there appears to be another pretty good bottom on the east side .- At this place we met a canoe going to Illinois with sheep , and at this place also, that is, at the end of the bottom from the Kenhawa, just as we came to the hills, we met with a sycamore about sixty yards from the river, of a most extraordinary size ; it measuring three feet from the ground, and forty-five feet round, lacking two inches ; and not fifty yards from it was another, thirty-one feet round. After passing this bottom, and about a mile of hills, we entered another bottom and encamped .- This bottom reaches within about a half mile of the rapid, at the point of the Great Bend.
5th .- I sent off the canoe with our baggage, and walked across the neck on foot, with Captain Crawford; the distance, according to our walking, about eight miles, as we kept a straight course under the foot of the hills, which run about south-east, and we were two hours and a half in walking it. This is a good neck, the soil being generally good, and in places rich. There is a large proportion of meadow ground, and the land as high, dry, and level as one could wish ; the growth in most places, beech intermixed with walnut, but more especially with poplar,
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WASHINGTON'S JOURNAL-1770.
of which there are numbers very large. The land towards the upper end is black oak, and very good. Upon the whole, a valuable tract might be had here, and I judge the quantity to be about four thousand acres. After passing this bottom and the rapid, as also some hills, which jut pretty close to the river, we came to that bottom before remarked on the 29th ultimo. A little above this bottom we encamped; the after- noon being rainy, and the night wet.
6th .- We left our encampment a little after daylight, and after about five miles we came to Kiashuta's hunting camp, which was now removed to the mouth of the creek, noted October 29th, for having fallen timber at the mouth of it, in a bottom of good land. By the kindness and idle ceremony of the Indians, I was detained at Kiashuta's camp all the re- maining part of the day ; and having a good deal of conversation with him on the subject of land, he informed me that it was further from the mouth of the Great Kenhawa to the fall of the river, than it was between the two Kenhawa's ; that the bottom on the west side, which begins near the mouth of the Kenhawa, continues all the way to the falls without the interposition of hills, and widens as it goes, especially from a pretty large creek that comes in about ten or fifteen miles higher up than where we were; that in the fork there is a body of good land, and at a con- siderable distance above this, the river forks again at an island, and there begins the reed, or cane to grow ; that the bottoms on the east side of the river are also very good, but broken with hills ; and that the river is easily passed with canoes to the falls, which cannot be less than one hundred miles, but further, it is not possible to go with them ; that there is but one ridge from thence to the settlements upon the river above, on which it is possible for a man to travel, the country between being so much broken with steep hills and precipices .- [ Here, for the want of the legibility of the MSS. Journal, a hiatus of ten days occurs.]
17th .- By this morning the river had fallen in the whole, twenty-two or twenty-three feet, and was still lowering. About eight o'clock we set out, and passing the lower Cross creek, we came to a pretty long and tolerably wide and good bottom, on the east side of the river : then came in the hills, just above which is Buffalo creek. About three o'clock we came to the Mingo town, without seeing our horses, the Indian who was sent express for them, having passed through only the morning be- fore ; being detained by the creeks, which were too high to ford.
Here we resolved to wait their arrival, which was expected to-mor- row ; and here then will end our water voyage along a river, the general course of which from Beaver creek to the Kenhawa is about southwest, or near as I could determine ; but, in its windings through a narrow vale, extremely serpentine ; forming on both sides of the river alternate- ly necks of very good bottoms, some exceedingly fine, lying for the most part in the shape of a half moon, and of various sizes.
There is very little difference in the general width of the river from Fort Pitt to Kenhawa; but in the depth I believe the odds are consider- ably in favor of the lower parts, as we found no shallows below the Mingo town, except in one or two places where the river was broad, and there, I do not know but there might have been a deep channel in some parts of it. Every here and there are islands, some larger and
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APPENDIX-NO. XXXVIII.
some smaller, which, operating in the nature of locks or steps, occasions pretty still water above, but for the most part strong and rapid water alongside of them. However, none of these so swift but that a vessel may be rowed or sent up with poles.
When the river is in its natural state, large canoes, that will carry five or six thousand weight or more, may be worked against the stream by four hands, twenty or twenty-five miles a day ; and down a good deal more, The Indians who are very dexterous, even their women, in the management of canoes, have their hunting camps and cabins all along the river, for the convenience of transporting their skins to market. In the fall, so soon as the hunting season comes on, they set out with their families for this purpose ; and in hunting will move their camps from place to place, till by the spring they get two or three hundred or more miles from their towns ; then catch beaver on their way up, which frequently brings them into the month of May, when the women are employed in planting. 'The men are at market, and in idleness, till the autumn again, when they pursue the same course. During the sum- mer months they live a poor and perishing life.
The Indians who reside upon the Ohio, the upper parts of it at least, are composed of Shawanese, Delawares, and some of the Mingoes, who, getting but little part of the consideration that was given for the lands eastward of the Ohio, view the settlements of the people upon their river with an uneasy and jealous eye, and do not scruple to say, that they must be compensated for their right if the people settle thereon, notwithstanding the cession of the Six Nations. On the other hand, the people of Virginia and elsewhere are exploring and marking all the Jands that are valuable, not only on the Redstone and other waters on the Monongahela, but along the Ohio as low as the Little Kenhawa; and by next summer I suppose they will get to the Great Kenhawa, at least.
How difficult it may be to contend with these people afterwards, is easy to be judged, from every day's experience of lands actually settled, supposing these settlements to be made ; than which nothing is more probable, if the Indians permit them, from the disposition of the people at present. A few settlements in the midst of some of the large bot- toms, would render it impracticable to get any large quantity of land together ; as the hills all the way down the river, as low as I went, come pretty close, are steep and broken, and incapable of settlement, though some of them are rich, and only fit to support the bottoms with timber and wood. The land back of the bottoms, as far as I have been able to judge, either from my own observations or from information, is nearly the same, that is, exceedingly uneven and hilly ; and I presume there are no bodies of flat, rich land to be found, till one gets far enough from the river to head the little runs and drains that come through the hills, and the sources of the creeks and their branches. 'T'his, it seems, is the case with the lands upon the Monongahela and Youhiogheny, and I fancy holds good upon this river, till you get into the flat lands, be- low the falls. The bottom land differs a good deal in quality. 'That highest up the river in general, is richest, though the bottoms are neither so wide nor so long, as those below. Walnut, cherry, and some other
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WASHINGTON'S JOURNAL-1770.
kind of wood, neither tall nor large, but covered with grape-vines, with the fruit of which this country at this instant abounds, are the growth of the richest bottoms ; but on the other hand, these bottoms appear to me to be the lowest and most subject to floods. The soil of this is good, but inferior to either of the other kinds ; and beech bottoms are objec- tionable on account of the difficulty of clearing them, as their roots spread over a large surface of ground, and are hard to kill.
18th .- Agreed with two Delaware Indians to take up our canoe to Fort Pitt, for the doing of which I was to pay six dollars, and give them a quart tin can.
19th .- The Delawares set off with the canoe, and our horses not ar- riving, the day appeared exceedingly long and tedious. Upon convers- ing with Nicholson, I found he had been two or three times to Fort Chartres, on the Illinois, and I got from him an account of the lands between this place and that, and upon the Shawanese river, on which he had been hunting.
20th .- About one o'clock our horses arrived, having been prevented from getting to Fort Pitt by the freshets. At two we set out and got about ten miles ; the Indians travelling with us.
21st .-- Reached Fort Pitt in the afternoon; distance from our last encampment, about twenty-five miles, and as near as I can guess, thirty- five from the Mingo town. The land between the Mingo town and Pittsburgh, is of different kinds. For four or five miles after leaving the first mentioned place, we passed over steep, hilly ground, covered with white oak, and a thin shallow soil. This was succeeded by a lively white oak land, less broken ; and this again by rich land, the growth of which was chiefly white and red oak, mixed; which lasted with some interval of different ridges, all the way to Pittsburg. It was very observable, that as we left the river, the land grew better, which is a confirmation of the accounts I had before received, that the good bo- dies of land lie upon the heads of the runs and creeks ; but in all my travels through this country, I have seen no large body of level land .-- On the branches of Raccoon creek, there appears to be good meadow ground ; and on Sharter's creek, over both of which we passed, the land looks well. The country between the Mingo town and Fort Pitt, appears to be well supplied with springs.
22d .- Stayed at Pittsburg all day. Invited the officers and some other gentlemen to dinner with me at Semple's, among whom was one Dr. Connelly, nephew to Col. Croghan, a very sensible and intelligent man, who had travelled over a good deal of this western country both by land and water, and who confirms Nicholson's account of the Shaw- nee river, up which he had been near four hundred miles. This country, I mean on the Shawnee river, according to Dr. Connelly's description, must be exceedingly desirable on many accounts. 'The climate is fine, the soil remarkably good ; the lands well watered with good streams, and level enough for any kind of cultivation. Besides these advantages from nature, it has others not less important to a new settlement, partic- ularly game, which is so plentiful as to render the transportation of provisions thither, bread only excepted, altogether unnecessary. Dr. Connelly is so much delighted with the lands and climate on that river,
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that he wishes for nothing more, than to induce one hundred families to go there and live, that he might be among them. A new and most de- sirable government might be established there, to be bounded, according to his account, by the Ohio northward and westward, by the ridge that devides the waters of the Tennessee or Cherokee river southward and westward, and by a line to run from the Falls of the Ohio, or above, so as to cross the Shawnee river above the fork of it. Dr. Connelly gives much the same account of the land between Fort Chartres, in the Illinois country, and Post St. Vincent, that Nicholson does, except in the article of water, which the Doctor says is bad, and in the summer scarce, there being little else than stagnant water to be met with.
23rd .- After settling with the Indians and people that attended me down the river, and defraying the sundry expenses accruing at Pitts- burg, I set off on my return home; and, after dining at the widow Mier's, on 'Turtle creek, reached Mr. John Stephenson's in the night.
24th .- When we came to Stewart's crossing at Crawford's, the river was too high-to ford, and his canoe gone adrift. However, after waiting there two or three hours, a canoe was got, in which we crossed and swum our horses. The remainder of this day I spent at Capt. Craw- ford's ; it either raining or snowing hard all day.
25th .- I set out early in order to see Lund Washington's land ; but the ground and trees being covered with snow, I was able to form but an indistinct opinion of it; though, upon the whole, it appeared to be a good tract of land. From this I went to Mr. Thomas Gist's and dined, and then proceeded to the Great Crossings at Hogland's, where I arrived about eight o'clock.
26th .- Reached Killman's, on George's creek, where we met several families going over the mountain to live ; some without having any places provided. The snow upon the Allegheny mountains was near knee deep.
27th .- We got to Col. Cressap's at the Old Town, after calling at Fort Cumberland and breakfasting, with one Innis, at the new store opposite.
28th .- The Old Town creek was so high as to wet us in crossing it, and when we came to Cox's the river was impassable; we were obliged therefore, to cross in a canoe, and swim our horses. At Henry Enoch's, at the forks of Cacapehon, we dined, and lodged at Kinker's.
29th .- Set out early, and reached my brother's by one o'clock. Dr. Craik, having business at Winchester, went that way, and was to meet me at Snicker's the next morning by ten o'clock.
30th .- According to appointment the Doctor and I met, and after breakfast at Snickers's, we proceeded to West's, where we arrived at or about sunset.
December 1st .- Reached home ; having been absent nine weeks and one day.
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CONTENTS OF APPENDIX.
NUMBER I.
PAGE.
The Ohio Company of 1748 .- Walpole's Grant of-1770, '76. -
. 3
NUMBER II.
Instructions to Conrad Weiser, Esq., Interpreter for the Province of Pennsylvania, from Anthony Palmer, President of the Council. -
-
10
NUMBER III.
Conrad Weiser's Journal of his Mission to Logstown, and Conference with the Indians, 1748. 13
NUMBER IV.
George Croghan's Letter from Logstown, December 16, 1750. - 25
NUMBER V.
George Croghan's Journal, containing an account of his and Montour's proceedings, in the execution of the Governor's instructions to deliver the Provincial presents to the several Tribes of Indians settled there, 1751. 26
NUMBER VI.
George Washington's Journal of his Mission to the French Command- ant at Fort Le Bœuf, 1753. - 34
NUMBER VII.
George Croghan's Journal of transactions with the Indians, on the Ohio River.
. 50
II
CONTENTS OF APPENDIX.
PAGE.
NUMBER VIII.
King George's Instructions to General Edward Braddock, 1754. 53
NUMBER IX.
General Edward Braddock's and Governor R. H. Morris' Correspond- ence, from February, 1755, to July, 1755. - 57
NUMBER X.
Christian Frederick Post's first Journal from Philadelphia to the Ohio, on a message from the Government of Pennsylvania to the Dela- ware, Shawanese, and Mingo Indians settled there, formerly in alliance with the English, in order to prevail on them to withdraw from the French interest, in the year 1758.
75
NUMBER XI.
Christian Frederick Post's second Journal, on a message from the Governor of Pennsylvania, to the Indians on the Ohio, in the months of October and November, 1758.
99
NUMBER XII.
Colonel Henry Bouquet's Journal of the Conference held with the Chiefs of the Delaware Indians at Fort Pitt, December 4th, 1758. - 172
NUMBER XIII.
Hugh Mercer's Conference with the Indians at Fort Pitt, in January, 1759.
129
NUMBER XIV.
Minutes of Conferences held by George Croghan, Esq., Deputy Agent for Indian Affairs, at Fort Pitt, in July, 1759. 132
NUMBER XV.
Minutes of Brigadier General John Stanwix's Conference with the In- dians, held at Fort Pitt, in October, 1759. - 139
NUMBER XVI.
Colonel Henry Bouquet's Journal, and Conferences with the Western Indians, at Fort Pitt, Tuscarawa, Muskingum, in September and No- vember, 1764. 143
NUMBER XVII.
Journal of the transactions of George Croghan, Esq., Deputy Agent for Indian Affairs, from February 28th to May 12th, 1765. 166
III
CONTENTS OF APPENDIX.
NUMBER XVIII.
Journal of Rev. John Steel, of Carlisle, and others, of transactions at PAGE. Red-Stone, at Gist's, and Turkey Foot, 1768. - 179
NUMBER XIX.
Minutes of Conferences held at Fort Pitt, in April and May, under the direction of George Croghan, Esq., Deputy Agent, with the chief war- riors of the Ohio, and other Western Indians, in 1768. 181
NUMBER XX.
Extracts from Alexander McKee's Journal of Indian transactions with the Indians at Pittsburgh, &c., from the 1st of May to the 10th of June, 1774.
- 203
NUMBER XXI.
Mr. Devereux Smith's Letters, giving an account of Cressap's and Greathouse's treatment of some Indians, and some remarks on the pro- ceedings of Doctor Connolly, in 1774. - 213
NUMBER XXII.
Lord Dunmore's Council with the Indians, in October, 1774. - 219
NUMBER XXIII.
Harmar's Letter to the Secretary of War, giving an account of his Expedition against the Indians, in 1790. - 225
NUMBER XXIV.
Report of Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant Wilkinson, to Governor Arthur St. Clair, of an Expedition against L'Anguille, and the Indians on the Wabash, in 1791. 233
NUMBER XXV.
Goneral Arthur St. Clair's Expedition against the Indians, and defeat, in 1791. - 239
NUMBER XXVI.
A Treaty of Peace with the Indian Tribes, called Wyandotts, Dela- wares, Shawanese, Ottawas, Putawatimas, Miamis, Weeas, Kickapoos, Pinkaskaws, and Kaskaskias, held at Greenville, in 1795. 247
NUMBER XXVII.
Topographical description and Statistics of Westmoreland County. 254
NUMBER XXVIII.
Topographical description and Statistics of Washington County. 267
IV
CONTENTS OF APPENDIX.
NUMBER XXIX.
PAGE.
Topographical description and Statistics of Fayette County. - - 281
NUMBER XXX.
Topographical description and Statistics of Allegheny County. - 285
NUMBER XXXI.
Topographical description and Statistics of Somerset County. 331
NUMBER XXXII.
Topographical description and Statistics of Greene County. - 335
NUMBER XXXIII.
Topographical description and Statistics of Armstrong County. - 340
NUMBER XXXIV.
Topographical description and Statistics of Beaver County. - 346
NUMBER XXXV.
Topographical description and Statistics of Butler County. - 367
NUMBER XXXVI.
Topographical description and Statistics of Clarion County. - 383
NUMBER XXXVII.
Extract from Pentland's Journal, whilst performing a tour of twelve months' service as a member of the Pittsburgh Blues, commanded by Captain Butler, in the service of the United States.
389
NUMBER XXXVIII.
Journal kept by George Washington, from October 5th, to December 1st, 1770, on a tour down the Ohio, for the purpose of viewing lands to be apportioned among officers and old soldiers, who had served in the French war. 392
INDEX
TO THE
APPENDIX.
A.
B.
Asserhaztuz, a Seneca speaker, page 18. Brady's adventures, 344-46, 365, 369. Achamanatainn, a Delaware speaker, 20. Alexandria, Va., council held at, 63.
Alexandria West, in Washington county, 271.
Allegheny county, 285. Allegheny river, 288. Allegheny city, 317. Arsenal at Lawrenceville, 318.
Au Miami, or Omee, 225. Alliquippa, an Indian Queen, 49.
Aqueduct across the Allegheny, 389. Assaraquoa, 21.
Armstrong county, 340.
B.
Brown James, an Indian trader, 28. Braddock's General, his instructions, 53; his correspondence with Governor Morris of Pa., 57, 75.
Bouquet's conference with the Indians at Fort Pitt, 127, 143; near Tusca- rowas, 149; at Muskingum, 163.
Brown, a schoolmaster murdered, 153. Brownsville, 284.
Bridgeport, 284.
Bull Captain, accompanies Mr. Post, 99. - Beaver, an Indian King, 79; he invites Post to dine with him, 80.
Birmingham borough, 318. Bakerstown, 320.
Burned district, 315,
Breckenridge participates in the West- ern insurrection, 276.
Bradstreet's letter, 145, 152.
Botetourt Lord, Washington's letter to him, 7.
Big Apple Tree, a noted Indian, 223. Berlin, 334.
Bozarth Mrs. and Indian, 340.
Beaver county, 346. Beaver borough, 349. Bridgewater, 349.
Brighton, 350. Butler county, 367.
Brodhead General, 365. Brugiere and Berthroud, 312. Butler borough, 370.
Bouquet's journal, 127 ; holds a confer- ence with the Indians at Pittsburg, 127; his journal of 1764, 143; his speech to the Delaware chiefs, 143; a speech to him from Onondago and Oneida Indians, 146 ; Bouquet's reply, 147 ; Bouquet's army leaves Fort Pitt and arrives at Tuscarowas, 148; re- ceives a message from Delaware chief warriors, which he, answers, 149; speech of Senecas and Delawares to Bouquet, 149; conference at Tusca- rowas, 150 ; surrender of some prison- ers, 151; conference with the Senecas, Delawares and Shawanese, 152; arrives at the forks of the Muskingum, 155; prisoners brought in, 155, 156; mes- sage sent to the Shawanese to bring in their prisoners, 157; Shawanese send a message by Mr. Smallman, 157; conference with the Indians at camp on Muskingum, 158 ; the Indians offer hostages, 159; conference with the Turkey and Turtle tribes, 159; pri- vate conference with the Delawares, 160 ; conference with the Shawanese, Senecas, Cocknewagaas and Dela- wares, 192; they produce messages and letters, 163 ; Bouquet's speech to the Shawanese, 163; conclusion of the several conferences, 165.
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