Historic Highways of America (Vol. 9)

teen 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° 2

ads 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,

ocial 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 wa

e 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 h

dian 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 com

guage 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

d 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 d

ggestiveness; 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

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Map of the Oh

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

ing 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 fa

ved 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 wer

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 h

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 a

e 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

ning 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

tes 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 jo

xcept that its tail is terminated by seven or eight little scales, fitting one into another, which makes a sort of clicking sound when the

fatal. It is said that washing the wound which has been received, with saliva mixed with a little sea-

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 abou

es in the hot August sun, the tired company rested during the night. The second of A

the inhabitants "nearly as I had spoken to the Loups, and re?mbarked 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 B?ufs by the French. According to Bonnéc

s should precede the party to Attiqué and inform the inhabitants of the good intentions of the app

ntains 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 hav

ed 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

nese], 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

on tells us that they re?mbarked 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 onl

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 attrac

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 w

ilar to the one previously spoken of, to Governor Hamilton. The Indians were very suspicious of Céloron, and here his Iroquois an

f 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 Wh

ch 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

he seventeenth Céloron makes record of having seen two "beautiful" rivers the names of which he say

hern 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 Virg

y 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 A

ouanons (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 mas

r 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 leade

ered, Céloron's voyage on La Belle Rivière ended, and on the morning of the first of September 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 th

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s Map of the Oh

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