of January, 1788, the other division left Hartford, Connecticut, in charge of General Putnam.

Their journey over the mountains, where the foot of the white man never trod before; their dangerous and painful marches through almost impassable snows, their bravery and privations, have no parallels in the civil annals of American history. The two parties met by pre-arrangement at Simrall's Ferry, a point on the Youghiogheny River, thirty miles above where Pittsburgh now stands. From here their route lay down the Ohio River to the mouth of the Muskingum. For six weeks the pioneers remained at Simrall's, arranging for their passage down the Ohio. They built a boat forty-five feet long and fifteen feet wide, strong, bullet proof, and decked; and true to the memory of their forefathers, they named it the "Mayflower." She was launched on the 2d of April, and, with Captain Jonathan Devol in command, they started on their journey. On the 7th of April, 1787, they landed in the rain at the mouth of the Muskingum River, and thus the foundations of Ohio were laid, and Marietta was commenced.

The settlers who landed there were a law-abiding and conscientious people. Unlike some of the commonwealths of a later date, the primitive citizenship of Ohio was not composed of an outlawed element or mere aimless adventurers. They had a mission, and their course was marked by all the evidences of an improved civilization. The men of Marietta brought with them industry, knowledge, religion, and government. They were the proper pioneers of the great State whose fathers they were.

The

Directors of the Ohio Company at Brackett's Tavern requested the settlers to "pay as early attention as possible to the education of youth," and among the first enterprises of the pioneers was a library. Such were the spirits that founded Ohio. Washington, in a letter written the same year, spoke of them, saying, "No colony in America was ever settled under such favorable auspices as that which has just been commenced at the Muskingum. Information, property and strength will be its characteristics. I know many of the settlers personally, and there never were men better calculated to promote the welfare of such a community. If I were a young man, just preparing to begin life, or had a family to make a provision for, I know of no country where I should rather fix my habitation." If Ohio is great, it is because she was born great.

The site of the new settlement was in the midst of a natural beauty that framed, as in a picture, the substantial richness of the alluvial land of the Muskingum. The settlers had left behind them the snows of New England; here they found a climate as balmy as spring. One of the settlers writing home to Worcester, Massachusetts, six weeks after his arrival, said, "This country, for fertility of soil and pleasantness of situation, not only exceeds my expectations, but exceeds any part of Europe or America that I was ever in. We have already started twenty buffaloes in a drove. Deer are as plenty as sheep with you." Another writing, with true Western enthusiasm, under date of July 9th, said, "The corn has grown nine inches every twenty four hours for two or three days past." We can see from this that

work was the order of the day from the hour of landing. In three months, the colonists had cleared the timber, built houses, erected a fort, laid off streets, plowed the ground and planted their corn. About the first of July, another party of pioneers from Massachusetts joined the colony, adding strength and stability to it. Up to this time no name had been conferred upon the settlement. It was first called Adelphi, then Muskingum; but on the 2d day of July, 1788, the directors and agents present at the settlement christened it, by resolution, "Marietta," after the accomplished but ill-fated Queen of France, Marie Antoinette, whose influences were always with the Americans in their recent struggle for liberty. The first 4th of July on Ohio soil was celebrated in genuine old-fashioned style. Thirteen guns from Fort Harmar ushered in the Republic's natal day, and the same rang through the hills at eventide. A banquet was served on the banks of the Muskingum and toasts were drunk. General James M. Varnum delivered the oration, which was the first one delivered within what is now Ohio.

Until the arrival of Governor St. Clair, the laws of the colony were made by the resident directors, and they were published by being posted up on a beach tree. It stands as a credit to the good name and good humor of the early settlers, that during this time but one dispute among them is recorded, and that was settled without the intervention of the law.

On the 2d day of September, the first court ever held on Ohio territory was opened with formal ceremonies at Marietta. The sheriff, with drawn sword, headed the procession of the people to the blockhouse

of Campus Martius, where the sessions of the court were held. Governor St. Clair and the other territorial officers were present. A group of Indian chiefs were invited guests to this important event. Little did they dream that this initial pomp of the reign of law meant the beginning of the end of the red man in the West.

General Rufus Putnam and General Benjamin Tupper were the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas by appointment of the Governor. There being no suits, civil or criminal, the session was purely formal. Paul Fearing was admitted to the bar, and thus became the first lawyer of the new settlement and territory.

Immediately upon arriving, Governor St. Clair and the Judges of the Territory commenced their work of framing the proper legislation for the limits of their jurisdiction. The first law published was concerning the organization of a militia, and was adopted July 25, 1788. Besides this, they legislated on crimes, courts, marriages, coroners, officers, and also erected Washington County, which at that time included nearly half of Ohio. The close of the year 1788 saw the colony of Marietta in a safe and flourishing condition. The settlement numbered nearly two hundred souls, and was receiving acquisitions monthly. In fact many were turned away because they could not get land. In a letter written this year to the Massachusetts Spy, General Putnam, referring to travel westward on the Ohio River, states that "upwards of seven thousand have gone down since we began our settlement." Thus early did the western emigration begin.

The second settlement in Ohio was made at Columbia, about five miles above Cincinnati. The land between the Great and Little Miamis, and extending northward far enough to make a tract of a million of acres, was sold by Congress to John Cleves Symmes, of Morristown, New Jersey, in 1787, very soon after Dr. Cutler had secured the Ohio Company's purchase. Major Benjamin Stites, of Pennsylvania, purchased from Judge Symmes 10,000 acres near the mouth of the Little Miami River. On the 18th of November, 1788, twenty-six hardy Pennsylvanians located at this point erected a block house, laid off a little town, and called it Columbia. The settlement prospered admirably for several years. The pioneers gathered here were men of grit and character, and before long it had a population much in excess of the settlements of the neighborhood.

While Major Stites was building the town of Columbia, Mathias Denman, with Robert Patterson and Israel Ludlow, laid off a town on the high north bank of the Ohio River opposite the mouth of the Licking River. Denman had purchased 800 acres from John Cleves Symmes, for which he paid thirty cents an acre. About the 28th of December, 1788, Denman and his companions, fifteen in number, landed at the site of the proposed town, which has since grown to be the Queen City of the West. The settlement was first known as "Losantiville," but very soon after was changed to Cincinnati; in fact the settlement was always officially known as Cincinnati.

The third settlement in the Symmes Purchase was made under the immediate supervision of Judge Symmes himself. On the twenty-ninth of January,