Cincinnati was the lands between the

Ohio River, was called Hamilton County. county seat. Knox County embraced the Great Miami and the Wabash, also bordering on the Ohio, with Vincennes for its seat of justice. The County of St. Clair included the settlements on the Illinois and the Kaskaskia Rivers, as well as those on the upper Mississippi, with Kaskaskia for its county seat. Wayne County embraced all the settlements on the Maumee, Raisin, and Detroit Rivers, with Detroit for its seat of justice.

Over this vast region, now teeming with a population so numerous, intelligent, and wealthy, there were then but a few small settlements, widely separated from each other. Often the unbroken wilderness extended for hundreds of miles, unenlivened by a single hut of a white man. The only routes of travel were the rivers, over whose solitary waters the birch canoes could glide, or the narrow trail of the Indian.

Great efforts were now made by land speculators, who had purchased large tracts of territory, to induce emigrants to take up the lots. The Ohio and Scioto Companies had sent Joel Barlow, for this purpose, to Europe. In the following glowing language, he described, to the toiling artisans in the thronged streets of Paris, the new Eden to which they were invited, beyond the Atlantic. It was indeed a picture to allure the toiling, half-famished artisans of that great metropolis.

"The climate of Ohio is wholesome and delightful. Frost, even in winter, is almost entirely unknown. The river, called by way of eminence, 'The Beautiful,' abounds in excellent fish of a vast size. There are noble forests, consisting of trees which spontaneously produce sugar. There is a plant which yields ready-made candles. There is venison in plenty, the pursuit of which is uninterrupted by wolves, foxes, lions, or tigers. A couple of swine will multiply themselves a hundred fold in two or three years, without taking any care of them. There are no taxes to pay, and no military services to be performed."

The distinguished French traveler, Volney, who visited this country in 1795, commenting upon these statements, writes:

"These munificent promisers forgot to say that these forests must be cut down before corn could be raised; that, for a year at least, they must bring their daily bread from a great distance; that hunting and fishing are agreeable amusements, when pursued

for the sake of amusement, but are widely different when followed for the sake of subsistence; and they quite forgot to mention that, though there be no lions or tigers in the neighborhood, there are wild beasts infinitely more cunning and ferocious, in the shape of men, who were at that time at open and cruel war with the whites.

"In truth, the market value of these lands at that time, in America, was no more than six or seven cents an acre. In France, in Paris, the imagination was too heated to admit of doubt or suspicion. And the people were too ignorant and uninformed to perceive where the picture was defective and its colors too glaring. The example, too, of the wealthy and reputedly wise confirmed the popular delusion. Nothing was talked of, in every social circle, but the paradise that was opened for Frenchmen in the western wilderness, the free and happy life to be led on the beautiful banks of the Scioto."

Now and then some remonstrance was uttered. Occasionally some one would warn the excited community that the representations were greatly exaggerated. Unfortunately for the French, about that time a French traveler, just returned from this country, published a book in Paris, entitled "New Travels in America." In this, we know not how influenced, he fully supports the statements of the Ohio and Scioto companies. Alluding to the Scioto organization, he writes:

This company has been much calumniated. It has been accused of selling land which it does not possess, of giving exaggerated accounts of its fertility, of deceiving the emigrants, of robbing France of her inhabitants, and of sending them to be butchered by the savages. But the title of this association is incontestible. The proprietors are reputable men. The descriptions which they have given of the lands are taken from the public and authentic reports of Mr. Hutchins, Geographer of Congress. No person can dispute their prodigious fertility."

Such was the strain of eulogy which pervaded his book. He was regarded as an impartial witness. His endorsement wonderfully increased the confidence of the French community that a new earthly paradise was blooming for them on the banks of the Ohio, with fruit and flowers and bird-songs, which the unblighted garden of our first parents could scarcely have rivaled. The fascinating pages of Brissot completed the delusion. The office of the agency in Paris was thronged with eager buyers. Many of

these were from the better classes of society. They often disposed of their earthly all at a great sacrifice to purchase bowers in the Eden of the Ohio.

About five hundred emigrants were thus induced to leave France for the New World. They were generally entirely unfitted to discharge the labors and grapple with the hardships of the wilderness. The company laid out a town for them on the banks of e Ohio, about four miles below the mouth of the Kanawha River, which was called Gallipolis, or the City of the French.

In anticipation of the arrival of the emigrants, forty men were employed by the Scioto Company in cutting a large clearing from the vast and gigantic forest which entirely covered the region. This clearing, which had the river on its south front, was on the other three sides bounded by the sublime primeval forest. On this large square, still encumbered with stumps, and presenting a very gloomy aspect to artisans from Parisian streets and avenues, eighty log cabins were erected. There were four rows, with twenty in each row. Each cabin contained one room. There were eight blocks, the cabins being united, like the blocks in a city, ten cabins in a block. At the four corners of these blocks, which formed in themselves quite a fortress, was built a strong block-house, two stories in height.

These works were

Above the cabins on the square were two other parallel rows of cabins, with a block-house at each corner. These were surround by a high and strong stockade fence. of the character of a citadel, to which all the population could flee for protection in case of danger.

These upper cabins were constructed ten in each block. They were a story and a-half high, and were intended for the more wealthy families of the emigrants. They were built of hewed logs, and were a little more elaborately constructed than the rest. There was one large apartment finished off for a Council Chamber and a ball room. We will allow one of the emigrants himself, to tell the story of his experience. Let it be remembered, that Gallipolis was commenced two or three years before the campaign of General Wayne. Monsieur Meulette writes:

"I did not arrive until nearly all of the colonists were there. I descended the river in 1791, in flat boats, loaded with troops, commanded by General St. Clair, destined for an expedition against the Indians; some of my countrymen joined that expedi

tion. Among others was Count Malartie, a captain in the French guard of Louis XVI. General St Clair made him one of his aidde-camps in the battle, in which he was severely wounded. He went back to Philadelphia, and thence returned to France.

"The Indians were encouraged to greater depredations and murders by their success in this expedition, but most especially against the American settlements. From their intercourse with the French in Canada, they seemed less disposed to trouble us. Immediately after St. Clair's defeat, Colonel Sproat, who was commandant at Marrietta,appointed four spies or rangers for Gallipolis. Two of these were Americans and two were French, of whom I was one. It was not until after the treaty of Greenville, in 1795, that we were released.

"Notwithstanding the great difficulties, the difference of temper, education and profession, the inhabitants lived in harmony. Having little or nothing to do, they made themselves agreeable and useful to each other. The Americans and hunters, employed by the company, performed the first labors of clearing the township, which was divided into lots. Although the French were willing to work, yet the clearing of an American wilderness and its heavy timber, was far more than they could perform To migrate from the Eastern States to the far West, is painful enough, but how much more must it be for a citizen of a large European town? Even a farmer of the old countries would find it very hard, if not impossible, to clear land in the wilderness.

Few

"Those hunters were paid by the colonists, to prepare their garden ground to receive the seeds brought from France. of the colonists knew how to make a garden; but they were guided by a few books on that subject, which they had brought likewise from France. The colony then began to improve in appearance and comfort. The fresh provisions were supplied by the company's hunters; the others came from their magazines.

"Many of the troops connected with the expeditions of Generals St. Clair and Wayne, stopped at Gallipolis for supplies, which had been deposited there by the government. Every morning and evening parties of the troops would go around the town, in the forest, to see if there were any traces of lurking Indians. The Indians, who doubtless came there often in the night, attacked one of these parties, killing and wounding several. One of the French colonists, who was endeavoring to raise some corn, at a little dis