THIRD ROUTE, W. S. W., was one hundred and twentyeight miles to the Forks of the Muskingum, (at Coshocton ;) six to Bullet's Town, on the Muskingum, (probably in Virginia township;) ten to Waukatamike, (near Dresden, Muskingum county, we will suppose ;) twenty-seven to King Beaver's Town, near the sources of the Hockhocking, (see above for the probabilities whether this was the site of Lancaster, Fairfield county;) forty to the lower Shawanese town, on the river Scioto, (Circleville, we presume, but the route must have been circuitous;) twenty to Salt Lick Town, near the sources of Scioto, (this is difficult to understand, but on Hutchins' map, a small pond, situated the proper distance to the northeast, is written "Source," and seems to be the point designated ;) thence one hundred and ninety miles northeast to Fort Miamis (now Fort Wayne, Indiana, on the Maumee River)-the distance from Fort Pitt to Fort Miamis being four hundred and twenty-six miles.

FOURTH ROUTE, DOWN THE OHIO, was twenty-seven miles to mouth of Big Beaver, twelve to Little Beaver; ten to Yellow Creek; eighteen to Two Creeks (just below Wellsburg, on Virginia side;) six to Wheeling; twelve to Pipe Hill (near Pipe Creek, quite likely ;) thirty to Long Reach (probably opposite the township of Grandview, in Washington county, where the Ohio River is without a bend for a considerable distance;) eighteen to foot of Reach (near Newport ;) thirty to mouth of Muskingum; twelve to Little Kanawha River; thirteen to mouth of Hockhocking River; forty to mouth of Letort's creek (opposite Letart township, Meigs county;) thirty-three to Kiskeminetas (an Indian village, otherwise called "Old Town," on the Ohio bank, perhaps in Cheshire township, Gallia county;) eight to mouth of Big Kenawha or New River; forty to mouth of Big Sandy; forty

to Scioto River; thirty to Big Salt Lick River (Brush creek, in Adams county?) twenty to an island (opposite Manchester, in Adams county;) fifty-five to mouth of Little Miami; thirty to Big Miami or Rocky River, (no stoppage at Cincinnati, as now ;) twenty to Big Bones, ("so called from the bones of an elephant found there ;") fifty-five to Kentucky River; fifty to Falls of Ohio; one hundred and thirty-one to Wabash River; sixty to Cherokee (Tennessee) River, and forty to Mississippi. Total, from Fort Pitt, eight hundred and forty.

CHAPTER XII.

SUBMISSION AND FATE OF PONTIAC.

IN the spring of 1765, late in April, Sir William Johnson was seated in council at German Flats, far in the interior of New York, and around him gathered the representatives of all the Western tribes. What the armies of 1764 had accomplished on the waters of Muskingum and Sandusky, was then consummated by the negotiations of the sagacious superintendent. At this meeting, two propositions were made; one to fix some boundary line, west of which the Europeans should not go; and the savages named as this line, the Ohio or Alleghany and Susquehannah; but no definite agreement was made, Johnson not being empowered to act. The other proposal was, that the Indians should grant to the traders who had suffered in 1763, a tract of land in compensation for the injuries then done them, and this the Indians agreed to do.

With the returning deputies of Senecas, Shawanese and Delawares, George Croghan, Sir William Johnson's subcommissioner, embarked at Pittsburgh on the 15th of May, 1765, intending to visit the Wabash and Illinois, secure the allegiance of the French who inhabited their valleys, and conclude a treaty with Pontiac and his Ottawa and Miami adherents, whose submission was yet withheld.1 His voyage down the Ohio in two batteaux was not eventful-the Journal affording a panorama of "rich and fertile bottoms;

1) See Croghan's Journal in Craig's Olden Time, vol. i., p. 403.

hills now withdrawn beyond these bottoms, and anon "pinching close on the river," and "islands mostly lying high out of the water." About a mile below Big Beaver creek, a deserted Delaware town, "built for that nation by the French in 1756," was noticed-some of the stone chimneys yet remaining on the north side of the river. About two miles below where Steubenville stands, still on the north side of the Ohio, and near the mouth of Indian Cross creek, they passed a Seneca village, the chief of which joined the party. This place is usually designated Mingo Town, and although most of the Indians might have been Senecas, yet doubtless many from the other New York tribes were among its inhabitants. Here was afterwards the residence of Logan.

Croghan, on the 19th of May, encamped at the mouth of Little Conhowa River, and "here" he says "buffaloes, bears, turkeys, with all other kind of wild game, are extremely plenty." Five days from Pittsburgh, he came to the "mouth of Hochocen or Bottle River," passing within twenty miles above "five very fine islands; the country being rich and level, with high steep banks to the rivers." From this place, an Indian runner was despatched to the Plains of Scioto, with a letter to the French traders from the Illinois residing there with the Shawanese, requiring them to join him at the mouth of Scioto, that they might take the oath of allegiance to the British crown, be properly licensed to trade, and also accompany Croghan to the French settlements on the Wabash and Illinois.

Thirty miles below Hockhocking, an encampment was made at Big Bend, now within Meigs county. Here was such abundance of buffalo, bears, deer, and all sorts of game, that the party killed whatever was needed "out of the boats;" and still a country fine and level, with high banks, and an

abundance of creeks falling into the Ohio.

They passed “a place called Alum Hill, from the great quantity of that mineral found there by the Indians." Discovering some Cherokees near their encampment on the evening of the 22d, a good guard was kept the first part of the night, but nothing more was seen of them.

At the mouth of Scioto the journalist was enraptured. "The soil on the banks of the Scioto," he writes, "for a vast distance up the country, is prodigious rich, the bottoms very wide, and in the spring of the year, many of them are flooded, so that the river appears to be two or three miles wide. Bears, deer, turkeys, and most sorts of wild game, are very plenty on the banks of the river. On the Ohio, just below the mouth of Scioto, on a high bank, near forty feet, formerly stood the Shawanese town, called the Lower Town, which was all carried away, except three or four houses, by a great flood in the Scioto. I was in the town at the time; though the banks of the Ohio were so high, the water was nine feet on the top, which obliged the whole town to take to their canoes and move with their effects to the hills. The Shawanese afterwards built their town on the opposite side of the river, which, during the French war they abandoned for fear of the Virginians, and removed to the plains on Scioto.

In general, all the lands on the Scioto River, as well as the bottoms on Ohio, are too rich for anything but hemp, flax, or Indian corn."

During the next three days, which were passed in camp at Scioto, the French traders arrived from the Shawanese towns, and on the 28th the party proceeded. The river being wider and deeper, with no islands, they "drove all night." On the 30th, the Great Miami was passed, and about forty miles below, they "arrived at the place where