Ohio History Journal

  • 1
  •  
  • 2
  •  
  • 3
  •  
  • 4
  •  
  • 5
  •  
  • 6
  •  
  • 7
  •  
  • 8
  •  
  • 9
  •  
  • 10
  •  
  • 11
  •  
  • 12
  •  
  • 13
  •  
  • 14
  •  
  • 15
  •  
  • 16
  •  
  • 17
  •  
  • 18
  •  
  • 19
  •  
  • 20
  •  
  • 21
  •  
  • 22
  •  
  • 23
  •  
  • 24
  •  
  • 25
  •  
  • 26
  •  
  • 27
  •  

DE CELORON'S EXPEDITION TO THE OHIO IN 1749

DE CELORON'S EXPEDITION TO THE OHIO IN 1749.

 

BY 0. H. MARSHALL

The extensive territory lying between the Ohio River and

Lake Erie has been the theatre of many remarkable historical

changes.  Its earliest inhabitants left no record of their origin

or history, save in the numerous tumuli which are scattered over

its surface, bearing trees of the largest growth, not distinguish-

able from the adjacent forest.  Measured by the extent and

character of those vast structures, the race that built them must

have been intelligent and populous.  When and how they dis-

appeared we know not. Whether they were directly succeeded

by the present race of Indians, or by an intermediate people, are

questions to which history gives no answer. When LaSalle dis-

covered the Ohio he found it in the occupation of the red man,

who claimed possession and ownership over the territory com-

prised within the limits of Western Pennsylvania, Ohio and In-

diana, until the close of the last century.  His villages were on

every stream, and his hunting grounds embraced every hill and

valley.

The attractions of the fur trade stimulated eastern adven-

turers to penetrate, from time to time, the forest recesses of the

west, and glowing descriptions were reported of the fertile soil,

mineral wealth and the abundance of the fur-bearing animals.

It was not until England and France, the two great rival powers

of Europe, became impressed with the prospective growth and

value of the territory, and each prepared to grasp the coveted

prize, that the native owners of the soil began to take serious

alarm. On the one side, England claimed to the northern lakes,

while France asserted ownership not only as far south as the

Ohio, but over all the lands drained by its extensive tributaries.

The treaty of Aix la Chapelle, to which both of those powers

were parties, while it terminated a long and sanguinary war in

 

* Republished from The Magazine of American History vol. 2, pages

130-150.

(424)