trader, was also an envoy from the Government of Pennsylvania-distributing, on one occasion, goods to the value of a thousand pistoles among the Indians settled on the Ohio and Miami rivers. Licenses to trade with the Indian tribes even to the Mississippi, were also granted by the Governor of Pennsylvania.3 As early as June, 1744, the colonies of Pennsylvania, Virginia and Maryland, went through another ceremonial of receiving from a deputation of Iroquois, at Lancaster, "a deed recognizing the King's right to all lands beyond the mountains.” Still stimulated by a sense of danger from the French and their Indian allies, Pennsylvania, at the instigation of Benjamin Franklin, organized her militia.

We have now reached, in order of time, the organization of the Ohio Land Company of 1748, the exploration of Christopher Gist, and our first item of circumstantial evidence as to the period when Fort Sandusky was built and occupied by the French. In 1748, Thomas Lee, with twelve other Virginians, among whom were Lawrence and Augustine, brothers of George Washington, and also Mr. Hanbury, of London, formed an association which was called the "Ohio Company," and petitioned the King for a grant of lands beyond the mountains. This petition was approved by the monarch, and the government of Virginia was ordered to grant the petitioners half a million of acres within the bounds of that colony, beyond the Alleghanies, two hundred thousand of which were to be located at once. This portion was to be held for ten years free of quit-rent, provided the company would put there one hundred families within seven years, and build a

3) In 1749, La Jonquiere, the governor of Canada, learned to his great indignation, that several English traders had reached Sandusky, and were exerting a bad influence upon the Indians of that quarter; and two years later he caused four of the intruders to be seized near the Ohio and sent prisoners to Canada.”—Parkman's Pontiac, 64.

fort sufficient to protect the settlement; all of which the company proposed, and prepared to do at once, and sent to London for a cargo suited to the Indian trade, which was to come out so as to arrive in November, 1749. This grant was to be taken principally on the south side of the Ohio river, between the Monongahela and Kanawha rivers.4

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In the autumn of 1750, the agents of the Ohio Company employed Christopher Gist, a land surveyor and familiar with the woods, to explore their contemplated possessions on the Ohio River, as well as the adjacent country. He kept a journal of his proceedings, which was published, and is entitled : A journal of Christopher Gist's journey, began from Colonel Cresap's, at the old town on the Potomac River, Maryland, October 31, 1750, continued down the Ohio within fifteen miles of the falls thereof; and from thence to Roanoke River in North Carolina, where he arrived in May, 1751."5 Mr. Craig, in his notes on the early history of Pittsburgh, thinks, from what he can ascertain, that he ascended the Juniata, after crossing over from the Potomac, and descended the Kiskeminetas to the Alleghany, which stream he crossed about four miles above Pittsburgh, and passed on to the Ohio. From the mouth of Beaver creek he passed over to the Tuscarawas, or Muskingum River, called by him and by the Indians Elk Eye creek; striking it on the 5th of December, or thirty-five days after leaving the Potomac, at a point about fifty miles above the present town of Coshocton, probably within the county of Stark. On the 7th, he crossed over the Elk Eye to a small village of Ottawas, who were in the French interest. He speaks of the land as broken, and the

4) Perkins' Writings, ii, 191. Sparks' Washington, ii, 478.

5) S. P. Hildreth's Pioneer History, 26-a valuable publication of the Ohio Historical Society.

bottoms rather narrow on this stream. On the 14th December he reached an Indian town, a few miles above the mouth of Whitewoman creek, called Muskingum, inhabited by Wyandots, who, he says, are half of them attached to the French and half to the English, containing about one hundred families. “When we came in sight of it, we perceived English colors hoisted on the King's house and at George Croghan's. Upon inquiring the reason, I was informed that the French had lately taken several English traders, and that Mr. Croghan had ordered all the white men to come into this town, and had sent expresses to the traders of the lower towns, and among the Piquatiners, and that the Indians had sent to their people to come to council about it.”

From this passage, it is evident that the Pennsylvania traders had traversed the Indian villages, and obtained the good will of their inhabitants in a considerable degree. George Croghan was apparently at the head of a trading party, and he and Andrew Montour accompanied Gist in his further exploration. The latter, who acted as interpreter, and was influential among the Delawares and Shawanese, was a son of the famous Canadian half breed, Catharine Montour, whose residence was at the head of Seneca Lake, in New York. Catharine had two sons, Andrew and Henry,

6) Of this woman W. L. Stone (Life of Brant, i, 340) says: "She was a native of Canada, a half-breed, her father having been one of the early French governors-probably Count Frontenac, as he must have been in the government of that country at about the time of her birth. During the wars between the Six Nations and the French and Hurons, Catharine, when about ten years of age, was made a captive, taken into the Seneca country, adopted and reared as one of their own children. When arrived at a suitable age, she was married to one of the distinguished chiefs of her tribe, who signalized himself in the wars of the Six Nations against the Catawbas, then a great nation living southwestward of Virginia. She had several children by this chieftain, who fell in battle about the year 1750, after which she did not marry again. She is said to have been a handsome woman when

who were three-fourths of Indian blood. The late James H. Perkins supposed that the companion of Gist was Henry, who was a chief among the Six Nations, and says that Andrew had been taken by the French in 1749. But Gist gives the name of his interpreter and companion as " Andrew,” and it is unreasonable to suppose him mistaken. It is more likely that Andrew Montour had escaped from his Canadian captors, and was ready to make reprisals on them. Besides Croghan and Montour, Gist was accompanied by Robert Kalender during the latter portion of his journey. We resume the diary of Gist:

"Monday, 17th December, 1750. Two traders belonging to Mr. Croghan came into town and informed us that two of his people had been taken by forty Frenchmen and twenty Indians, who had carried them with seven horse loads of skins to a new fort the French were building on one of the branches of Lake Erie.”

This we claim to have been Fort Sandusky. Bancroft recognizes no doubt on the point, but quotes Gist as stating that the captives were "carried to the new fort at Sandusky." There was certainly no other fort or station on any branch of Lake Erie at the close of 1750. Two years afterwards, or early in 1753, twelve hundred men from Montreal built a fort at Presque Isle, now Erie, and crossing thence to the

young, genteel, and of polite address, notwithstanding her Indian associations. It was frequently her lot to accompany the chiefs of the Six Nations to Philadelphia, and other places in Pennsylvania, where treaties were holden; and, from her character and manners, she was greatly caressed by the American ladies-particularly in Philadelphia, where she was invited by the ladies of the best circles, and entertained at their houses. Her residence was at the head of Seneca Lake." This account is mostly derived from Witham Marshe's Journal of a Treaty with the Six Nations, held at Lancaster in 1744, where Madame Montour (as Marshe calls her) was.

7) History of the United States, iv, 77.

waters flowing south, they established posts at La Boeuf and Venango, the one on French creek, the other on the main stream of the Alleghany. All accounts concur in fixing this date for the posts at Erie, Waterford and Venango. Du Quesne, afterwards Fort Pitt and now Pittsburgh, was occupied in 1754. It is true that Niagara and Detroit commanded the extremities of Lake Erie, but in 1750-1, the only French fort on a branch of the lake was Sandusky. This will appear more distinctly as we proceed with Gist's diary. Tuesday, 18th December. I acquainted Mr. Croghan and Mr. Montour with my business with the Indians, and talked much of a regulation of trade, with which they were pleased, and treated me well."

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"Tuesday, 25th. This being Christmas day, I intended to read prayers, but after inviting some of the white men, they informed each other of my intentions, and being of several persuasions and few of them inclined to hear any good, they refused to come; but one Thomas Barney, a blacksmith, who is settled there, went about and talked to them, and then several of the well disposed Indians came freely, being invited by Andrew Montour." Mr. Gist delivered a discourse, which was interpreted to the Indians, and read the English church service. He then says: "The Indians seem to be well pleased, and came up to me and returned me their thanks and then invited me to live among them," &c.

"Friday, 4th January, 1751. One Taaf, an Indian trader, came to town from near Lake Erie, and informed us that the Wyandots had advised him to keep clear of the Ottawas, (a nation firmly attached to the French, living near the lakes,) and told him that the branches of the lakes were claimed by the French, but that all the branches of the Ohio belonged to them and their brothers, the English, and that the