HISTORIC HIGHWAYS OF AMERICA
VOLUME 9
HISTORIC HIGHWAYS OF AMERICA
VOLUME 9
Waterways of Westward Expansion
THE OHIO RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES
BY
ARCHER BUTLER HULBERT
_With Maps_
[Illustration]
THE ARTHUR H. CLARK COMPANY
CLEVELAND, OHIO
1903
COPYRIGHT, 1903
BY
THE ARTHUR H. CLARK COMPANY
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE 9
I. OUR FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE OHIO 15
II. THE INDIAN SIDE 48
III. "THE NAVIGATOR" 73
IV. THE EVOLUTION OF RIVER CRAFT 100
V. THREE GENERATIONS OF RIVERMEN 151
VI. THE NAVIGATION OF THE OHIO 189
ILLUSTRATIONS
I. BONNÉCAMPS'S MAP OF THE OHIO RIVER; 1749 24
II. CAPTAIN GORDON'S MAP OF THE OHIO; 1766 _facing_ 48
III. RUFUS PUTNAM'S MAP OF THE OHIO RIVER AND SETTLEMENTS; 1804 71
PREFACE
In the study of Waterways of Westward Expansion, the Ohio River--the
"Gateway of the West"--occupies such a commanding position that it must
be considered most important and most typical. Such is its situation in
our geography and history that it is entitled to a most prominent place
among Historic Highways of America which greatly influenced the early
westward extension of the borders and the people of the United States.
Not until a late period in the expansion era--the day of steam
navigation--did the Great Lakes rise to importance as highways of
immigration, and south of the Ohio River Basin there was no westward
waterway of importance. The day of the keel-boat and barge was of moment
in the broadening of the American sphere of influence on this continent,
and nowhere is the study of these ancient craft made to so good
advantage as on the Ohio and its tributaries.
This monograph is devoted, therefore, to the part played by this
waterway as a road into the West. The two introductory chapters,
concerning Céloron and the first occupation of the Old Northwest, added
to previous volumes of this series (iii, iv, v, and vi), complete the
legendary and historical setting necessary for a proper view of the Ohio
in the first momentous years of the nineteenth century. The occupation
and filling of the southern shores of the Ohio was the story of Volume
VI; the story of the filling of the northern shore is outlined in the
second chapter of this book. With the position of the first colonies and
settlements in the great valley well comprehended, and a conception of
the origin of the different colonies and their varied types, the next
logical step in our study is the rise of the river trade and its
evolution.
It is hardly necessary to point out to any reader of these volumes that
the Ohio River was the highway upon which all of the great early
continental routes focused. Washington's Road, Braddock's Road,
Forbes's Road, and Boone's Road--like the Indian and buffalo trails
they followed--had their goal on the shores of this strategic waterway.
The westward movement was by river valleys (a fact perhaps never
sufficiently emphasized) and not until the Tennessee, Monongahela,
Kanawha, and Kentucky Rivers were reached were any waters found to run
parallel with the social movement itself.
When this goal of half a century was reached, then followed a half
century of river travel that is being forgotten with remarkable
rapidity. This cannot be realized until one marks out for himself the
task, for instance, of learning how a keel-boat was made and how it was
operated. The echo of the steersman's voice and the tuneful note of the
bargeman's horn have faded from our valleys; and with this music has
passed away a chapter of our history of vital importance and
transcendant human interest.
For the sum and substance of Chapter III, the author is indebted, as
the title indicates, to the painstaking labor of one Zadoc Cramer, a
statistical hero of a time when a man who could "earn his salt" was
making a good day's wage, and when it seemed likely that Pittsburg might
become one of the principal cities of the West.
A. B. H.
MARIETTA, OHIO, July 23, 1903.
Waterways of Westward Expansion
CHAPTER I
OUR FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE OHIO
The Ohio River is a greater and more important stream than is generally
realized. It drains a vast and rich territory; its northern source is in
latitude 42° 20['], while its mouth, thirteen hundred miles away, is in
latitude 37° north. Its eastern tributaries are in longitude 78°, while
its outlet is in longitude 89° 20[']. It thus comprises 5° 2['] of
latitude and 11° 20['] of longitude. The Ohio drains a greater area than
the Mississippi above the mouth of the Missouri; nearly one quarter of
the waters which flow into the Gulf of Mexico come from it. The lower
Mississippi and Missouri, only, drain more territory than the Ohio; but
the downfall of rain in the Missouri drainage is not so great in actual
water supply as that which falls within the 214,000 square miles drained
by the Ohio. Moreover, in the district drained by the two heads of the
Ohio, the Allegheny and the Monongahela (20,000 square miles), it has
been estimated that the ratio of discharge to downfall is much greater
than on any of the tributaries of the Mississippi. In 1868,
1,342,605,725,800 cubic feet of water passed Pittsburg, and in 1869,
1,634,846,499,200 cubic feet. At the same time the annual downfall of
rain in the entire Ohio drainage was twenty and one-half trillion cubic
feet, while the discharge of the Ohio into the Mississippi at Cairo was
five trillion cubic feet. The ratio of discharge to downfall therefore
was 0.24.
These estimates, which undoubtedly approximate the truth, are of moment
to our study. Nature cast, with a lavish hand, her waters where they
would count tremendously in the opening of this continent: for the
waters that fell here flowed into the West and the social movement was
to be westward. The Ohio, more than any river, was to influence the
flood-tides of immigration. The provision of water was, comparatively,
abundant; that was the first necessity. A large proportion of the water
that fell flowed away; that was the second necessity. It flowed
approximately west; that was the third necessity. Thus it is that this
river, of all rivers, has a place among the Historic Highways of America
which were controlling forces in the early days of our national
expansion westward.
There are various theories concerning the name Ohio, the most popular
and generally acceptable being that Ohio was the English way of spelling
and pronouncing the name Oyo, "beautiful" which the Indians had given to
the river. The French, who usually translated Indian names, called the
Ohio River La Belle Rivière. Later came the English, and the Iroquois
name Oyo was Anglicized to Ohio, the modern name of the river. This
makes a very satisfactory explanation of La Belle Rivière, were it not
that the Reverend John Heckewelder affirmed that the French name Belle
Rivière was not a translation from the Indian, since there was no such
Indian word meaning "beautiful." Mr. Heckewelder felt dissatisfied with
the theory that Ohio meant "beautiful," and while yet associated with
the Indians and familiar with their language, made a study of their
names for the Ohio River with interesting and enlightening results. In
tracing the derivation of the word Ohio he shows that, in the Miamis
language, O'hui or Ohi, when prefixed, meant "very," while Ohiopeek
meant "very white" (caused by froth or white caps) and Ohiopeekhanne
meant "the white foaming river." He further states: "The Ohio river
being in many places wide and deep and so gentle that for many miles, in
some places, no current is perceivable, the least wind blowing up the
river covers the surface with what the people of that country call
'white caps;' and I have myself witnessed that for days together, this
has been the case, caused by southwesterly winds (which by the by are
the prevailing winds in that country) so that we, navigating the canoes,
durst not venture to proceed, as these white caps would have filled, and
sunk our canoe in an instant. Now, in all such cases, when the river
could not be navigated with canoes, nor even crossed with this kind of
craft--when the whole surface of the water presented white foaming
swells, the Indians would, as the case was at the time, say, 'juh
Ohiopiechen, Ohiopeek Ohiopeekhanne;' and when they supposed the water
very deep they would say, 'kitschi Ohiopeekhanne,' which means, 'verily
this is a deep white river.'"[1]
The traders who penetrated the Indian country were commonly careless of
the pronunciation of names; any word which bore a fragment of similarity
to the true name was satisfactory. There is, however, great excuse for
this, as it was impossible for white men to acquire the "Indian ear" and
pronounce the gutturals of the Indian language. Thus the abridgement of
many words was carried to such an extent that nothing significant of the
original Indian name remains. The newcomer learned of his predecessor
and the "nick-names" were adopted and handed down leaving the true names
to pass out of memory and existence. For instance Pittsburg was commonly
called "Pitt" by the traders; Youghiogheny, "Yough;" Hockhocking,
"Hocken." Our word Lehigh has no signification but was shortened from
the original Indian name Leehauhanne. In this same manner, the traders
adopted the first syllables of the word Ohiopeekhanne, thus obtaining an
easier name to pronounce and remember.
The Reverend Mr. Heckewelder is probably the best authority on Indian
names and customs, so that, presumably, his version of the derivation
and meaning of the name Ohio is the most authentic; but, the question
remains, why should the French have called it La Belle Rivière? One
cannot pass, however, without noting that in the Onondaga language there
was a word ojoneri--the j being pronounced like our y. The Reverend
David Zeisberger, who compiled a copious dictionary of the Onondaga
language, asserted that ojoneri meant "beautiful" but in an adverbial
sense, describing the manner in which something is done--synonymous with
our word well. If the French translated an Indian name La Belle Rivière,
it was the first syllables of this word, ojoneri, that they
translated--about as correctly as Washington translated Illinois when he
first heard it "Black Island" (Île Noire) or Lieutenant-governor
Hamilton of Detroit translated Rivière d'Anguille (Eel River, as the
Indians called it) as if it were Rivière d'Anglais.
It is believed that the famous La Salle was the discoverer of the Ohio;
three years of his life are unaccounted for at a moment when, as Fate
would have it, we would like most to know where the brave explorer went.
Suddenly we lose sight of La Salle near Niagara--searching earnestly for
a great western river. Where he went we do not know but there is
evidence that he came to what the French later knew as La Belle Rivière
and descended it to "the Falls," or Louisville, Kentucky, about 1670.
The earliest actual description of the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers is
contained in the narratives of two men who came to the Ohio about the
middle of the eighteenth century. Here we find the earliest authentic
experience of travelers on this great water highway. This first glimpse
of the Allegheny and Ohio is alluring in its suggestiveness; there is so
much to be noted, between the lines. No story of the Ohio can be written
without presenting the faintly filled-in pictures of Céloron and
Bonnécamps: of the rugged hills, the rapid waters, the humorous
scattering of the Loups and Renards; the solemn proclamations "in a loud
voice" of sovereignty; the flotilla of canoes sweeping around the hill
and out of sight. But almost all of this is left to the imagination;
lacking this, the story is but a meaningless record of landings and
departures, harangues and horrors. To every reader the story must appear
differently, but to all it must be a first glimpse of the primeval Ohio.
[Illustration: BONNÉCAMPS'S MAP OF THE OHIO RIVER (1749)]
On the afternoon of the fifteenth day of June in the year 1749 a gallant
company of French, with savage allies, under the direction of Monsieur
Céloron de Bienville, embarked on the St. Lawrence in twenty-three
canoes at La Chine near Montreal. Progress was slow for, in addition to
the passengers, provisions, and camp necessities, the weight of a number
of leaden plates caused the canoes to glide deeply in the clear waters.
It is to the journals of Céloron and Father Bonnécamps, both of which
are preserved in the archives of the Department of the Marine, in Paris,
that we owe our knowledge of this first recorded voyage down La Belle
Rivière, and with this expedition of 1749 begins the authentic
history of the Ohio River.[2]
Céloron and his detachment, with M. de Contrecoeur as captain,
proceeded up the St. Lawrence and into the lakes. After coasting the
southern shore of Lake Erie, he arrived at the Chautauqua portage--now
known as Barcelona or Portland--on the sixteenth of July; and with the
dawn of the following day began the ascent of Chautauqua Creek, called
by the French Rivière aux Pommes. Much patience and labor was expended
on this unnavigable stream, and it was not until the twenty-second of
the following month that the band entered Chautauqua Lake, having spent
six days of this time in toiling over the six-mile portage which
connects Chautauqua Creek with the lake. Céloron now voyaged down the
lake and on the morning of the twenty-fourth of July entered Conewango
Creek. The water was low and, borrowing the words of Céloron: "On the
29th at noon I entered 'la Belle Rivière' I buried a plate of lead at
the foot of a red oak on the south bank of the river Oyo and of the
Chauougon, not far from the village of Kanaouagon, in latitude 42° 5[']
23['']."[3] Of this same occasion Father Bonnécamps wrote: "Finally,
overcome with weariness, and almost despairing of seeing the Beautiful
River, we entered it on the 29th at noon. Monsieur de Céloron buried a
plate of lead on the south bank of the Ohio; and, farther down, he
attached the royal coat of arms to a tree. After these operations, we
encamped opposite a little Iroquois village, of 12 or 13 cabins; it is
called Kananouangon.[4]
It is an ancient custom of the French people to assert claim to lands in
their possession by burying leaden plates at the mouths of all streams
that drain that territory. When Céloron started upon his memorable
journey he carried with him six leaden plates. These plates were about
eleven inches long, seven and a half inches wide, and one-eighth of an
inch thick. Each was engraved with an appropriate inscription, leaving a
blank space for date and name of place of deposit at the mouths of the
various streams.[5] A _Procès Verbal_, similar in nature to the
inscription on the plate, was drawn up and signed by the officers
present. To the nearest tree was tacked a plate of sheet-iron stamped
with the royal arms. The officers and men of the expedition were drawn
up in battle array and the chief in command shouted "Vive le Roi,"
declaring possession in the name of the King of France. La Salle
established this custom on this continent in the latter part of the
seventeenth century and now this chevalier of the order of St. Louis
penetrates the half-known Central West to make good the precedent
established fifty years and more ago.
Although the treaty of Aix la Chapelle ended a tedious war in Europe,
many points of controversy remained unsettled in the New World. At the
conclusion of the war, England lost no time in taking measures to occupy
the disputed territory. The Ohio Company was formed and the crown
granted half a million acres to this association on the condition that
settlements protected by forts be made upon the granted lands. These
demonstrations on the part of their rivals had aroused the French to
action. The Marquis de la Galissonière, Governor of Canada, dispatched
Céloron and his company with orders to descend La Belle Rivière and take
possession of all the territory drained by it and its tributaries, in
the name of the King of France. In order to reach the field of action he
has come a forty-four days' journey filled with bitter lessons. Today
his first leaden plate has been buried, and tonight his weary "soldiers"
have, for the first time, pitched their camp on the bank of the river in
question. The first act of the real mission he has come to perform took
place this afternoon with the interment of the plate--but that is only
one of six! They rest in disputed territory and already has Céloron sent
his right-hand man, M. de Joncaire, on to La Paille Coupée,[6] to
reassure the suspicious savages.
On the thirtieth the expedition moved on to Paille Coupée. Here a
council was conducted by Joncaire whom the Indians addressed as "our
child Joncaire." He had previously been adopted by the Indians and
consequently had a great influence over them.[7] The "speech" of the
Marquis de la Galissonière, brought and presented by Céloron to the
Iroquois, is especially interesting and to the point, as it plainly
shows the French attitude with reference to the English:
"My children, since I have been at war with the English, I have learned
that that nation has deceived you; and not content with breaking your
heart, they have profited by my absence from this country to invade the
land which does not belong to them and which is mine. This is what
determined me to send to you Mr. Céloron, to inform you of my
intentions, which are, that I will not suffer the English on my land;
and I invite you, if you are my true children, to not receive them any
more in your villages. I forbid, then, by this belt, the commerce which
they have established lately in this part of the land, and announce to
you that I will no longer suffer it. If you attack them you will make
them retire and send them home; by that means you will be always
peaceable in your village. I will give you all the aid you should expect
from a good father. If you come to see me, next spring, you will have
reason to be satisfied with the reception which I will give you. I will
furnish you with traders in abundance, if you wish for them. I will even
place here officers, if that will please you, to govern you and give you
the good spirit, so that you will only work in good affairs. The English
are more in the wrong in coming to this land, as the Five Nations have
told them to fly from there to the mountains. Give serious attention, my
children, to the words which I send you; listen well, follow it, it is
the way to see always in your villages a haven beautiful and serene. I
expect from you a reply worthy of my true children. You see the marks to
be respected which I have attached along La Belle Rivière, which will
prove to the English that this land belongs to me and that they cannot
come here without exposing themselves to be chased away. I wish for this
time to treat them with kindness and warn them; if they are wise they
will profit by my advice."[8]
The result of this council was not entirely satisfactory to the French.
It was too plainly evident that there existed a feeling in favor of the
English. Bonnécamps writes in his journal: "... and in the evening he
received their reply, that every one had been satisfied--if one could
believe it sincere; but we did not doubt that it was extorted with
fear."[9] Such fears, however, did not alter the determination of the
French. On July 31, Céloron writes: "I sojourned at this village,
[Paille Coupée] having been stopped by the abundance of rain, which
pleased us much. The water rose three feet during the night."[10]
The expedition left Paille Coupée on the first of August and journeyed
all day "between two chains of mountains, which bordered the river on
the right and left." Father Bonnécamps notes that "the Ohio is very low
during the first twenty leagues; but a great storm, which we had
experienced on the eve of our departure, had swollen the waters, and we
pursued our journey without any hindrance."[11] Under date of August 1,
Father Bonnécamps, tourist-like, recounts a snake story, accompanying it
by the impressions of a newcomer into the Ohio Basin:
"Monsieur Chabert on that day caught seven rattlesnakes, which were the
first that I had seen. This snake differs in no way from others, except
that its tail is terminated by seven or eight little scales, fitting one
into another, which makes a sort of clicking sound when the creature
moves or shakes itself. Some have yellowish spots scattered over a brown
ground, and others are entirely brown, or almost black.
"There are, I am told, very large ones. None of those which I have seen
exceed four feet. The bite is fatal. It is said that washing the wound
which has been received, with saliva mixed with a little sea-salt, is a
sovereign remedy. We have not had, thank God, any occasion to put this
antidote to the test."
After having marched nearly four leagues on this first day of August,
the party reached a village of Loups and Renards--clans of the Delaware
Nation.[12] Having been informed of the approach of this expedition, all
except one man had fled. Céloron explained to this solitary individual
that he did not mean to harm the Indians, and invited them "to go to the
village lower down, which was but four or five leagues distant, where he
would speak to them." Proceeding on down the river he passed another
Loup village of about the same size, six cabins. To these inhabitants he
also addressed himself and requested them also to go to the most
considerable village, where he promised to "speak to them on the part
of their Father Onontio." They arrived there a little after the
travelers.
At this "considerable village" of Loups, after having progressed eight
or nine leagues in the hot August sun, the tired company rested during
the night. The second of August was spent at the village, and Céloron
spoke, conciliating the assembled savages.
Under date of August 3, Father Bonnécamps writes: "We continued our
route, and we marched, as on the first day, buried in the somber and
dismal valley, which serves as the bed of the Ohio." During this day's
journey, two Indian villages were passed. The first village was
abandoned by its inhabitants in favor of the woods, at the approach of
the expedition. The second village, Venango,[13] consisted of but nine
or ten cabins. Céloron disembarked here and spoke to the inhabitants
"nearly as I had spoken to the Loups, and reëmbarked immediately. This
evening I buried a lead plate and the arms of the king by a tree, and
drew up the Procès Verbal."[14] This second plate was buried "near" or
"underneath" a large boulder upon which were numerous Indian
hieroglyphics. Following the course of the river, this rock was about
nine miles below the mouth of French Creek, then called Rivière aux
Boeufs by the French. According to Bonnécamps: "we buried a 2nd plate
of lead under a great rock, upon which were to be seen several figures
roughly graven,"[15] while Céloron himself informs us: "I ... have
buried on the south bank of the Ohio, four leagues below the River aux
Boeufs, opposite a bald mountain and near a large stone, on which are
seen several figures, rather roughly engraved, a lead plate and attached
in the same place to a tree the arms of the king."[16] This plate has
never been found.
On the morning of the fourth, a conference was held, it being decided
that Joncaire with the chiefs should precede the party to Attiqué and
inform the inhabitants of the good intentions of the approaching band,
and to beg them not to flee from their village. Of this day Father
Bonnécamps writes:
"The 4th. We continued our route, always surrounded by
mountains--sometimes so high that they did not permit us to see the sun
before 9 or 10 o'clock in the morning, or [after] 2 or 3 in the
afternoon. This double chain of mountains stretches along the Beautiful
River, at least as far as rivière à la Roche ('Rocky River'). Here and
there, they fall back from the shore, and display little plains of one
or two leagues in depth." Céloron seems to have had his mind too full of
serious matters to notice his surroundings or, at least, to have given
us the benefit of any observations; and Father Bonnécamps's eyes are the
first through which we can gaze upon the primeval Ohio.
On the fourth the expedition made about fifteen leagues. Camp was broken
at an early hour on the fifth, and after having journeyed three or four
leagues the _voyageurs_ passed a river, the confluence of which with the
Allegheny, Céloron describes as "very beautiful;" a league further down
they passed another. "They are both south of la Belle Rivière. On the
heights there are villages of Loups and Iroquois of the Five Nations. I
encamped early to give time to Mr. de Joncaire to arrive at the village
Attické."[17]
After having journeyed about five leagues on the sixth they reached
Attiqué where they found Joncaire and his chiefs awaiting their arrival;
all the inhabitants of the village had fled to the woods. "I reëmbarked
and I passed the same day the ancient village of the Chaouanons
[Shawanese], which has been abandoned since the departure of Chartier
and his band, who were removed from this place by the orders of the
Marquis de Beauharnois, and conducted to the river Vermillon, in the
Wabash, in 1745."[18] At this place Céloron "encountered" six English
traders with fifty horses and about one hundred and fifty packs of
peltry with which they were returning to Philadelphia. Céloron warned
these Englishmen against intruding upon the territory of the French king
and gave them a letter to deliver to the governor of Pennsylvania at
Philadelphia.[19]
On the seventh they passed a village of Loups where only three men
remained--"the rest of their people had gone to Chinique, not daring to
remain at home. I invited these three men to come with me to Chinique to
hear what I had to say to them." Céloron tells us that they reëmbarked
and proceeded on down to "Written Rock" which was inhabited by the
Iroquois and governed by an old woman[20] who is "entirely devoted to
the English." All the savages had fled in alarm from the village and
"there only remained ... six English traders, who came before me
trembling.... I made them the same summons as to the others, and I wrote
to their governor.... This place is one of the most beautiful that
until the present I have seen on the Belle Rivière."[21]
This village was commonly known throughout the pioneer period as
Shannopin's Town; it was about four miles above the junction of the
Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers. There could be nothing more singular
than the omission of any references to the Monongahela River, but
neither Céloron nor Bonnécamps refer in any wise to it. As they did not
travel at night and as, from the Ohio River, the Allegheny does not now,
and did not then, appear to be so important a stream as the Monongahela,
there can be but one explanation for this astounding omission. As no
mention whatever is made of the Monongahela, and as no plate was buried
here, either Céloron's party did not see it, or, believing it took its
rise in Pennsylvania and was already settled by the English, they
tacitly omitted to claim it for their king. The first supposition is
absurd; the formation of the country is particularly significant and
would attract the attention of the most unobserving; the meeting of the
river tides, the difference in the color of the waters--everything would
attract the attention of the _voyageur_. The second supposition is
inexplicable; the only possible shred of evidence that the French ever
intended that the English should have even a chance to claim any land in
the Monongahela Valley is in the Sixth Article of the capitulation
signed by Washington at Fort Necessity in 1754.[22]
The company spent the night of the seventh about three leagues below
"Written Rock," and as Chiningué was but two leagues below the camp they
easily reached this town, which was one of the "most considerable on the
Belle Rivière," the following day. Céloron informs us that this village
consisted of fifty cabins of Loups, Iroquois, and Shawanese, and Father
Bonnécamps records that they called it Chiningué from its close
proximity to a river of that name.[23] This place (a few miles below
the present Economy, Pennsylvania) has figured prominently in later
Indian history as Logstown. Croghan's _Journal_ under date of August,
1749, says that "Monsieur Celaroon with two hundred French soldiers" had
passed through Logstown just before his arrival. Inquiring of the
inhabitants the object of "Celaroon's" expedition, he was told that "it
was to drive the English away, and by burying iron plates, with
inscriptions on them at the mouth of each remarkable creek, to steal
away their country."[24]
Upon reaching Chiningué Céloron compelled several English whom he found
established there to leave and sent by them a letter, similar to the one
previously spoken of, to Governor Hamilton. The Indians were very
suspicious of Céloron, and here his Iroquois and Abenaki allies deserted
him. They treated his speech with contempt and tore down the plates
which had been nailed upon the trees.
Céloron left Chiningué on the eleventh and at noon of the thirteenth
interred a plate of lead "at the entrance of the river and on the south
bank of the Kenawah, which discharges itself to the east of the river
Ohio."[25] According to Bonnécamps's journal, the plate was interred at
the mouth of the Kanonouaora. This third plate was probably buried at
the mouth of Wheeling Creek in West Virginia, though the descriptions of
the place as given by both Céloron and Bonnécamps are so vague that it
is quite impossible to identify positively the site.[26]
At seven o'clock on the morning of the fourteenth, the expedition was
again on its way down the river. They passed two rivers, the entrances
of which, Céloron tells us, were very beautiful. On the fifteenth the
route was continued, and a leaden plate was interred "at the foot of a
maple, which forms a tripod with a red oak and a cone pine, at the
entrance of the river Yenanguekouan, on the west shore of this river ...
and in the same place attached to a tree the arms of the King."[27]
Father Bonnécamps gives, as the name of this river, Jenanguékoua. This,
the fourth plate, was interred at the mouth of the Muskingum River in
Ohio, on the site of old Fort Harmar and within the present city of
Marietta. This plate, found in 1798 by some boys bathing in the
Muskingum, was presented to the Antiquarian Society of Massachusetts in
the library of which it is now preserved.
On the sixteenth at nine o'clock, the party resumed its journey, making
nearly twelve leagues. On the seventeenth Céloron makes record of having
seen two "beautiful" rivers the names of which he says he does not know.
"I disembarked early to hunt, being altogether reduced to a diet of
bread."[28]
The journey was resumed at an early hour the next day, but the party was
forced to camp at noon, as the rain prevented their continuing. On this
day, the eighteenth of August, the fifth leaden plate was "buried, at
the foot of a tree, on the southern shore of the Ohio and the eastern
shore of Chiniondaista."[29] Father Bonnécamps gives the name of this
river, the Great Kanawha, Chinodaichta. The spelling of the name on the
plate, which was found in 1846 and has been preserved by the Virginia
Historical Society, differs somewhat from that of the _Journal_, that on
the plate being Chinodahichetha. This place, where the fifth plate was
interred, was named Point Pleasant, West Virginia, by the early settlers
and still bears that name.
At this point the expedition was delayed on account of rain, but all
reëmbarked on the twentieth, and during the day encountered a Loup, who,
upon being asked how many inhabitants there were at St. Yotoc,[30]
replied there were eighty or a hundred cabins. On the following day
Joncaire, two chiefs of the Sault de St. Louis, three Abenakis chiefs,
and M. de Niverville were sent ahead to St. Yotoc "to tranquilize the
nations and restore their spirits, in case any carrier of news had
troubled them."
Céloron gave his envoys a start of several hours before resuming his
journey. By embarking early on the morning of the twenty-second, they
were enabled to reach St. Yotoc that day, and encamped opposite the
village. The next three days were spent in holding councils. The
Chaouanons (Shawanese) inhabitants of "St. Yotoc" were very suspicious
of the French and their intentions. Bonnécamps says: "Monsieur the
Commandant had great difficulty to reassure them." "The situation of the
village of the Chaouanons is quite pleasant--at least, it is not masked
by the mountains, like the other villages through which we had passed.
The Sinhioto river, which bounds it on the West, has given it its name.
It is composed of about sixty cabins. The Englishmen there numbered
five. They were ordered to withdraw, and promised to do so."
The expedition embarked on the morning of the twenty-sixth of August and
reached Rivière la Blanche[31] that night at ten o'clock. Here they
waited two days for Le Baril, the chief, and his band of Miamis, to join
them and proceed to La Demoiselle to hear Céloron's speech. "Finally, on
the morning of the 31st, they appeared, followed by their women, their
children, and their dogs. All embarked, and about 4 o'clock in the
afternoon we entered Rivière à la Roche, after having buried the 6th and
last leaden plate on the western bank of that river,[32] and to the
north of the Ohio."[33] "I ... have buried on the point formed by the
right shore of the Ohio, and the left of the River la Roche, a plate of
lead, and attached to a tree the arms of the king."[34]
With the burial of this sixth and last leaden plate, which, so far as
known, has never been discovered, Céloron's voyage on La Belle Rivière
ended, and on the morning of the first of September the canoes began the
ascent of the shallow Rivière à la Roche en route to Quebec by way of
Lake Erie.
Through the eyes of these travelers the Governor of New France looked
upon the great valley of the Ohio and realized its extent and strategic
value. The many large rivers entering it, the Indian villages which
dotted its banks and, more than all else, the avidity of English traders
for the fur trade of these villages, were the items in the report of
these first _voyageurs_ which led quickly to the French fort-building
here and precipitated the old French War.