however undisputed that he reached Fort Duquesne and from Camp at Fort Duquesne November 28, 1758, wrote to Gov. Farqueiur who had succeeded Gov. Dinwiddie in these words. "I have the pleasure to inform you that Fort Duquesne, or the ground upon which it stood, was possessed by his majesty's troops on the 25th inst." and adds "This fortunate, and indeed, unexpected success of our arms will be attended with happy effects." When this was written he no doubt was filled with joy when he recalled Fort Necessity and Braddock's defeat in 1758 and his disappointment in the campaign of 1754.

The fifth call to the western country came to him in 1770. It was primarily to inspect and mark out bounty lands on the Ohio for the men of his Virginia Regiment, but later developments justify the belief that the great question of inland water ways was burdening his mind at the time.

'He left Mount Vernon on October 5th, in company with Dr. Craik, three servants and a led horse carrying baggage. We are told that on the 14th he was at Captain Crawford's at Stewart's Crossing (Connellsville) all day, and that he went to see a coal mine, not far from Crawford's house, on the bank of the river, and that the coal seemed of the very best kind, burning freely and abundance of it.

On October 17, 1770, for the third time he reached Pittsburgh. It is interesting to note that Col. Burd had opened a road to Redstone Creek, and in his journal we are told that near Dunbar's camp in Fayette County, he marked two trees at the place of beginning thus "The road to Redstone Col. J. Burd 1759, The road to Pittsburgh 1759." From this it would appear that Fort Pitt was at that early date known as Pittsburgh, although there were, by best accounts, only a few bark and log cabins scattered about the fort.

In his journal of this trip Washington says: "Lodged in what is called the town, distant about three hundred yards from the fort at one Mr. Semple's who keeps a very good house of entertainment." We are told that this house was at the present Ferry and Water Streets, built in 1764 by Col. George Morgan and that it was the first shingle roofed house and also that it was in this house that Aaron Burr stopped on his way to Blennerhasset Island. On the 18th the narrative continued, "Dined in the fort with Col. Croghan and

officers of the garrison; supped there also, meeting with great civility from the gentlemen, and engaged to dine with Col. Croghan the next day at his seat about four miles up the Allegheny." We are told by Craig in his recollection of the location of this place that it was "on the east side of the Allegheny River nearly opposite to where Mr. McCandless is now residing. To be more precise, it was on the lot which is on our right when we first reach the Allegheny, when going from Lawrenceville up towards Sharpsburg." To him at that time it may have been precise, but after the lapse of years, it is an explanation that does not explain.

At this place on the 19th through an appointment made with Col. Croghan he was met at eleven o'clock by White Mingo and other chiefs, and after the customary gift of a string of wampum was addressed, in part, as follows, according to the journal. "That I was a person whom some of them remember to have seen when I was sent on an embassy to the French, and most of them have heard of, they were come to bid me welcome to this country, and desire that the people of Virginia would consider them as friends and brothers, and further stated their fears that we did not look upon them with so friendly an eye as they could wish."

Washington answered this address in his customary tactful manner, in which he gave assurance of Virginia's desire for friendship with them and that he would convey their desires to the Governor.

After dining with Col. Croghan, he returned with his party, including his host, to Pittsburgh, no doubt to Semple's tavern and completed arrangements for his journey down the Ohio. On the 20th he embarked in a large canoe as he tells us

"With sufficient stores of provisions and necessaries, and the following person besides Dr. Craik and myself, to wit; Captain Crawford, Joseph Nicholson, Robert Bell, William Harrison, Charles Morgan and Daniel Rendon, a boy of Captain Crawford's and the Indians who were in a canoe by themselves. From Fort Pitt we sent our horses and boys back to Captain Crawford's with orders to meet us there again on the 14th day of November. Colonel Croghan Lieutenant Hamilton and Magee (evidently McKee) set out with us. At two we dined at Magee's and encamped ten miles below and

four miles above Logstown. We passed several large islands which appeared to be very good, as the bottoms, also did on each side of the river alternately; the hills on one side being opposite the bottoms on the other, which seem generally to be about three or four hundred yards wide, and so vice versa.”

This description fits accurately the topography of the hills and bottoms as we see them today as we descend that part of the Ohio of which he was writing. It is another evidence of the accurate and comprehensive observations that he made in his several journeys to the western country.

We left Washington at Logstown, in describing his expedition in 1753, so we now leave him in the vicinity of the same town, without undertaking to describe his interesting trip to the lower Ohio and tributaries but content ourselves by picking him up, so to speak, as he reached Fort Pitt, November 21st, upon his return. He tells us again, quoting from his journal.

"22nd. Stayed at Pittsburgh all day. Invited the officers and some other gentlemen to dinner with me at Semple's"; and of the next day he says, "After settling with the Indians and the people that attended us down the river, and defraying the sundry expenses accruing at Pittsburgh 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".

The rest of the trip was made without special incident and ended on December 1, 1770.

We have thus far engaged your attention by an outline of the several expeditions of the young man who was soon to be called into a field of service that has rendered his name immortal, and to some of the incidents of the several journeys. These trips are of interest from an historical standpoint. We hope to show that they were of interest and had a strong influence upon subsequent commercial activities of this section of the country.

That he had great confidence in the possibilities of this new and hitherto undeveloped country, there can be no reasonable doubt; that he realized the importance of an adequate inland waterway system as most effective in such development is equally certain; and that he did more than any other

man of his day in centralizing the attention of others as to the great possibilities is equally true.

His marked interest in navigation and transportation is shown to us in his writings immediately after the Revolutionary War, some of which, at least, are preserved to us. To Richard Henry Lee, he writes from Philadelphia on July 19, 1797. "I have been of opinion that the policy of the Atlantic States, instead of contending prematurely for the free navigation of that river______ (one of those on the Eastern coast)___ would be to open and improve natural communications with the western country through which the produce of it might be transported to our markets."

He says to Thomas Jefferson in a letter of January 1, 1788.

"I received your favor of the 14th of August and am sorry that it is not in my power to give any further information relative to the practicability of opening a communication between Lake Erie and the Ohio, than you are already possessed of. I have made frequent inquiries since the time of your writing at Annapolis, but could never collect anything that was decided or satisfactory, and flatter myself with better prospects.

The accounts generally agree as to its being a flat country between the waters of Lake Erie and the Big Beaver, but differ much with respect to the distance between their sources, their navigation, and the inconvenience which would attend the cutting of a canal between them." We might observe, at this point, that were we to consult those who have been making an heroic struggle for a ship canal from Pittsburgh to Lake Erie, in recent years, we would undoubtedly learn that opinions still differ. The letter continues. "From the best information I have been able to obtain of that country, the source of the Muskingum and Cayahoga approach nearer to each other than the Big Beaver, but a communication through the Muskingum would be more circuitous and difficult The distance between the Lake Erie and the Ohio through the Big Beaver is however so much less than the route through the Muskingum, that it would in my opinion operate more strongly in favor of opening a canal between the sources of the nearest water of Lake Erie and the Big Beaver, although the distance between them should be

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much greater and the operation more difficult than to Muskingum, as it is the direct line to the nearest shipping port on the Atlantic".

Another letter to Jefferson dated February 13, 1789, dwells on the same subject and refers to the fact that his utmost endeavors had failed to produce, as he says, "precise information respecting the nearest and best communication between the Ohio and Lake Erie" but the determination within the man to procure the desired information, from reasonably authentic sources is best shown in a letter to Richard Butler written from Mt. Vernon and bearing date of January 10, 1788 in which he says:

"As you have had opportunities of gaining extensive knowledge and information respecting the western territory, its situation, rivers, and the face of the country, I must beg the favor of you, my dear sir, to resolve the following queries, either from your knowledge or certain information, as well to gratify my own curiosity, as to enable me to satisfy several gentlemen of distinction in other countries who have applied to me for information upon the subject.

"1. What is the face of the country between the sources of canoe navigation of the Cayahoga, which empties itself into Lake Erie, and the Big Beaver, and between the Cayahoga and the Muskingum?

"2. The distance between the waters of the Cayahoga to each of the two rivers above mentioned?

"3. Would it be practicable, and not very expensive, to cut a canal between the Cayahoga and either of the above rivers, so as to open a communication between the waters of Lake Erie and the Ohio?

"4. Whether there is any more direct, practicable, and easy communication than these between the waters of Lake Erie and those of the Ohio, by which the fur and peltry of the upper Ohio can be transported?"

We have outlined the several journeys made to the Western Country by this brave and farsighted youth. We have outlined his views with relation to the development of the territory at and adjacent to Pittsburgh.