Allen County, Ohio - Chapter 2: The Famous Maumee Valley, 1906

Chapter 2: The Famous Maumee Valley

Valleys of the World - Valley of the Maumee - Its Great Fertility - First Attempt at Settlement in Ohio - General Harmar Sent Against the Miamis - St. Clair's Defeat - Fort Defiance - Battle of the Fallen Timber , General Wayne's Great Victory - Siege of Fort Meigs - Col. George Croghan and the Defense of Fort Stephenson - End of the War of 1812 - Early Struggle for Possession - Wild Game an Alluring Prize - The Economic Work of the Beaver - The Ohio Company - France Attempts to Take Possession of the Ohio Valley - The French and Indian War - The Fertility, IVcalth,

In all ages and countries man has sought the river valley. In the valley man first advanced from barbarism to civilization. The first nations to gain power and to become enlightened were those whose homes were on fertile soil and beside cool water.

The great and fertile basin between the Alps and the Apennines - that garden of the ancient world - through which flows the Po, was the abiding place of millions of inhabitants, and the source of Italy's wealth.

Of this valley Dr. Thomas Arnold says: "Who can wonder that this large and richly watered plain should be filled with flourishing -cities or that it should have been contended for so often by successful invaders?"

The Greek historian Herodotus proclaims : "Egypt is the gift of the Nile." The annual overflow of that giant stream has kept the valley of Egypt a garden of richest alluvium for untold centuries. Here have uncounted millions of the human race "lived, loved and died." The great river valleys of Russia have long supported her teeming population, and to-day her sluggish rivers carry Russia's wealth to the sea. In America the Hudson flows through a valley so rich, and so beautiful, that it has long been the theme of the historian, and the inspiration of the bard. But to the inhabitants of the Old Northwest, and especially of Ohio, no valley has a greater charm than that of the Maumee. The name is Indian, and it falls softly on the ear when it is pronounced, for it has more vowels than consonants. The beauty of the name introduces you to the beauty of the valley.

The source of this stream is generally regarded as St. Mary's River, which rises in Auglaize County, Ohio, near the county seat, and flows in a northwesterly direction through Mercer and Van Wert counties; then it enters Indiana, passing through Adams and Allen counties of that State. At Fort Wayne it receives the St. Joseph from the north. Here the Maumee proper begins, and turning northeast it continues its course through Paulding, Defiance and Henry counties, and along the line between Wood and Lucas, falling into Maumee Bay at Toledo.

The richness of this valley attracted the Indian long years before the coming of the white man. Here he roamed unmolested, and here he "wooed his dusky mate.'' The fauna and flora were most abundant, and life for both the white and the red man was made easy and happy, for game was found on every hand, and the God of nature had clothed the forest like a vineyard.

Into this valley immigrants came in large numbers. They felled the forest, and bridged the stream, and they made the wilderness blossom like the rose. Prosperous villages appeared at every turn of the road, or bend of the stream, and some of them soon became cities.

Along the banks of the stream, betimes, was heard the dreadful war-whoop of the Shawnees or the Hurons, the shrill whistle of the rifle ball and the roar of cannon. At Fort Wayne, Defiance and Toledo once stood massive forts where was heard the din of battle and there was seen the death grapple between "Mad Anthony" Wayne and his foes, or the long-drawn combat -between General Harrison and the English general Proctor, aided by his devoted Indian ally, Tecumseh.

The story of these old struggles is ever new and this chapter would be sadly wanting in interest should the recital of them be omitted here.

The Governor of Canada, Count de Frontenac, anxious for France to gain possession of the rich country to the south of the chain of Great Lakes, sent out trading parties with authority from the King of France to erect stores and military posts, and to take possession of the country in the name of the government of France. One of these trading parties erected a post on the Maumee, near the present site of Maumee City in Lucas County, in 1680. This was an important trading post for a number of years. This post was removed to a more advantageous position at the head waters of the Maumee, where the city of Fort Wayne now stands. On the very site of the old post at

Maumee City, the British erected, in 1794, Fort Miami. The above-named post or stockade, at Maumee City, is believed to have been the first attempt at settlement, or occupation by white men, within the present limits of Ohio. These statements are made, says the historian Knapp, on the authority of records at Montreal and Quebec, and papers at Albany and Harrisburg.

The chief village of the Miami Indians was at the junction of the St. Mary's and St. Joseph rivers, where Fort Wayne now stands. In 1791 General Harmar was sent against them, to punish them for their continued attacks upon the white settlers. But he was led into an ambuscade and routed.

General St. Clair, a Revolutionary officer of note and Governor of the territory northwest of the Ohio, was then sent to attack the Miamis in the same year. But he was surprised and signally beaten. Every school boy knows the story of his defeat. It was the most disastrous of all the early conflicts with the Indians. The battle was fought along a branch of the Wabash, a little south of the St. Mary's, at Fort Recovery, in Mercer County, Ohio, November 4, 1791.

After a careful examination of the records and ability of various officers, Washington assigned to Gen. Anthony Wayne the difficult task, and in June, 1792, he was sent into the Indian country in the Northwest. He was called by the Indians the "Chief Who Never Sleeps." He spent about two years in building forts, enlisting troops, and in gaining the confidence of some of the Indians. They left Fort Washington (now Cincinnati), October 7, 1793, and established Fort Greenville, on the present site of the county seat of Darke County. On Christmas Day, 1793, Wayne reoccupied the ground where St. Clair had been so badly beaten three years before, and erected a stockade, which was very appropriately named "Fort Recovery." As the fort was in process of erection, 600 human skulls were found and buried under one of the blockhouses - relics of the awful carnage of St. Clair's defeat.

to gain the favorable consideration of terms of peace, but the Indians, flushed with success, refused to accept any terms, however favorable, and even murdered Trueman, Freeman and Colonel Hardin, the three ambassadors sent to treat with them. Back of this action was the influence of the British, who urged the Indians on to further deeds of violence.

On July 28, 1794, General Wayne, after being joined on the 26th by Colonel Scott, with 1,600 mounted Kentuckians, started on his victorious march against his foes. They fled at his advance, and he soon found himself in the fertile country about the junction of the Auglaize with the Maumee. There were extensive gardens and highly cultivated fields extending for many miles above and below the junction of the two rivers. All this indicated the work of many people - an evidence of the number of the enemy.

Explanations: - At each angle of the fort was a block-house. The one next the Maumee is marked A, having port-holes B, on the three exterior sides, and door D, and chimney C, on the side facing to the interior. 1 here was a line of pickets on each side of the fort, connecting the block-houses by their nearest angles. Outside of the pickets and around the blockhouses was a glacis, a wall of earth eight feet thick, sloping upwards and outwards from the feet of the pickets, supported by a log wall on the side of the ditch and by fascines, a wall of fagots, on the side next the Auglaize. The ditch, fifteen feet wide and eight feet deep, surrounded the whole work except on the side toward the Auglaize; and diagonal pickets, elevet. feet long and one foot apart, were secured to the log wall and projected over the ditch. E and E were gateways. F was a bank of earth, four feet wide, left for a passage across the ditch. G was a falling gate or drawbridge, which was raised and lowered by pulleys, across the ditch, covering it or leaving it uncovered at pleasure. The officers' quarters were at H, and the storehouses at I. At K, two lines of pickets converged towards L, which was a ditch eight feet deep, by which water was procured from the river without exposing the carrier to the enemy. M was a small sand-bar at the point. - From Knapp's "History of the Maumee Valley."

Wayne was eight clays in building Fort Defiance ; began on the 9th of August and finished on the 17th. After surveying its block-houses, pickets, ditches and fascines, Wayne exclaimed : "I defy the English, Indians and all the devils in hell to take it." Colonel Scott, who happened at that instant to be standing at his side, remarked: "Then call it Fort Defiance." And so Wayne, in a letter to the Secretary of War, written at this time, said : "Thus, sir, we have gained possession of the grand emporium of the hostile Indians of the West without loss of blood. The very extensive and highly cultivated fields and gardens show the work of many hands. The margin of those beautiful rivers, the Miamis of the Lake (or Maumee) and Auglaize, appear like one continued village for a number of miles both above and below this place; nor have I ever before beheld such fields of corn in any part of America from Canada to Florida. We are now employed in completing a strong stockade fort, with four good block-houses, by way of bastions, at the confluence of the Auglaize and the Maumee, which I have called Defiance."

Battle Of The Fallen Timber

The Ind ians and their British allies did not, however, risk a battle here, but selected an elevated plain above the rapids of the Maumee, on the left bank of the river. This place they thought greatly favored their plan of battle, for it was covered by fallen timber which had been recently hurled to the ground by a tornado, thus preventing the action of cavalry. Undaunted by this plan, Wayne moved on to the place of conflict, and on August 20th, about 8 o'clock in the morning, he began the attack upon the combined forces of Indians and British. The battle began at "Presque Isle" - a hill about two miles south of Maumee City, and four south of the British fort, Miami.

"General Wayne had about three thousand men under his command, and the Indians are computed to have been equally numerous. This is not improbable, as the hostile league embraced the whole Northwestern frontier. As he approached the position of the enemy he sent forward a battalion of mounted riflemen, which was ordered, in case of an attack, to make a retreat in feigned confusion, in order to draw the Indians on more disadvantageous ground. As was anticipated, this advance soon met the enemy, and being fired on fell back and was warmly pursued toward the main body. The morning was rainy, and the drums could not communicate the concerted signals with sufficient distinctness. A plan of turning the right flank of the Indians was not. therefore, fulfilled. But the victory was complete, the whole Indian line, after a severe contest, giving way and flying in disorder. About one hundred savages were killed."

Before leaving this valley, so gloriously gained, General Wayne erected a fort where Swan Creek joins the Maumee, which was held until Jay's treaty, 1793, when Great Britain surrendered its Northern posts.

"On the 27th the troops took up their march, devastating every village and field on the line to Fort Defiance, which they proceeded to render more substantial. September 14th the legion moved on to the Miami villages, where the long contemplated fort was constructed/and October 22, 1794, placed under, command of Lieutenant Colonel Hamtramck, who, after firing fifteen rounds of cannon, gave the name, which the city now bears, of Fort Wayne."

Siege Of Fort Meigs, May, 1 8 1 3

Of all the military operations along the Great Lakes during the War of 1812, none is more interesting than the siege of Fort Meigs, near the present site of Toledo. The fort stood upon high ground, about 60 feet above the Maumee, on the margin of the bank. The surface is quite level. The site is well preserved, and a station called "Fort Meigs" is now seen along the line of the electric railway. One may yet see the well-defined outline of the old fort - the grand traverse yet arises six or eight feet above the ground. The place is famous, and many people visit it each year.

"In an excursion of the veterans of the War of 1812, made to Fort Meigs in June, 1870, Mayor Tyler, in his address of welcome to the soldiers, remarked, with regard to the present condition of this consecrated ground : " 'On to-morrow you will be escorted to the old fortifications of Fort Meigs. There you will find its earthworks faithfully preserved, safe, only as far as the hand of time has marred its former war-frowning front. No instrument of agriculture has torn clown or plowed up any part of the old fort. Two of the original pickets, placed there in i8r2, are there yet. There you will find, marked by stones long since placed over them, the graves - of your fallen comrades, there the trenches, there the magazine, there all the outlines of the ancient warfare. Mr. Michael Hayes and his brothers, who own the soil of the old fort, have faithfully performed their duty in guarding this landmark of history from destruction or desolation. They have preserved many of the relics of the battle-field - grape shot, canister, bayonets, and many other evidences of the conflict.'

"So far the military operations of the Northwest had certainly been sufficiently discouraging; the capture of Mackinac, the surrender of Hull, the massacre at Chicago, and the overwhelming defeat at Frenchtown, are the leading events. Nothing had been gained, and of what had been lost, nothing had been retaken. The slight successes over the Indians by Hopkins, Edwards and Campbell had not shaken the power or confidence of Tecumseh and his allies; while the fruitless efforts of Harrison through five months, to gather troops enough at the mouth of the Maumee to attempt the reconquest of Michigan, which had been taken in a week, depressed the spirits of the Americans, and gave new life and hopes to their foes.

"About the time that Harrison's unsuccessful campaign drew to a close, a change took place in the War Department, and General Armstrong succeeded his incapable friend, Dr. Eustis. Armstrong's views were those of an able soldier. In October, 1812, he had again addressed the government, through Mr. Gallatin, on the necessity of obtaining command of the Lakes, and when raised to power determined to make naval operations the basis of the military movements in the Northwest. His views in relation to the coming campaign in the West were based on two points, viz : The use of regular troops alone, and the command of the Lakes, which he was led to think could be obtained by the 20th of June.

plan of merely standing on the defensive until the command of the Lakes was secured, was persisted in, although it was the 2nd of August, instead of the 1st of June, before the vessels on Lake Erie could leave the harbor in which they had been built. Among these defensive operations in the spring and summer of 1813, that of Fort Meigs, the new post taken by Harrison at the foot of the rapids, and that at Lower Sandusky, deserve to be especially noticed, as they form historical wealth which the whole country, and especially the inhabitants of the Maumee Valley, will ever regard with feelings of pride and interest. It had been anticipated that, with the opening of spring, the British would attempt the conquest of the position upon the Maumee, and measures had been taken by the General to forward reinforcements, which were detained, however, as usual, by the spring freshets and the bottomless roads. It was no surprise, therefore, to- General Harrison, that on the breaking up of the ice in Lake Erie, General Proctor, with all his disposable force, consisting of regulars and Canadian militia from Malden, and a large body of Indians under Tecumseh, amounting in the whole to 2,000 men, made him a hostile visit, and laid siege to Fort Meigs. To encourage the Indians, he had promised them an easy conquest, and assured them that General Harrison should be delivered up to Tecumseh. On the 26th of April the British columns appeared on the other bank of the river and established their principal batteries on a commanding eminence opposite Fort Meigs. On the 27th the Indians crossed the river and established themselves in the rear of the American lines. The garrison, not having completed their wells, had no water except what they obtained from the river, under a constant firing from the enemy." Below is an extract from an article on the siege of Fort Meigs, by Rev. A. M. Lorraine, originally published in the "Ladies' Repository'' for. March, 1845. -

"One afternoon, as numbers were gathered together on the 'parade,' two strangers, finely mounted, appeared on the western Lank of the river, and seemed to be taking a very calm and deliberate survey of our works. It was a strange thing to see travelers in that wild country, and we commonly held such to be enemies, until they proved themselves to be friends. So one of our batteries was cleared forthwith, and the gentlemen were saluted with a shot that tore up the earth about them and put them to a hasty flight. If that ball had struck its mark, much bloodshed might have been prevented, for we learned subsequently that our illustrious visitors were Proctor and Tecumseh. The garrison was immediately employed in cutting deep traverses through the fort, taking down the tents and preparing for a siege. The work accomplished in a few hours, under the excitement of the occasion, was prodigious. The on both sides. It was, however, more constant on the British side, because they had a more extensive mark to batter. We had nothing to fire at but their batteries, but they were coolly and deliberately attended to ; and it was believed that more than one of their guns were dismounted during the siege. One of our militiamen took his station on the embankment, and gratuitously forewarned us of every shot. In this he became so skillful that he could, in almost every case, predict the destination of the ball. As soon as the smoke issued from the muzzle of the gun, he would cry out 'shot' or 'bomb,' as the case might be. Sometimes he would exclaim 'Block-house No. i,' or. 'Look

Explanations. - The map above shows about eight miles of the country along each side of the Maumee, including the towns of Perrysburg, Maumee City and Waterville.

Fort Meigs, memorable from having sustained two sieges in the year 1813, is shown on the east side of the Maumee, with the British batteries on both sides of the river, and above the British fort, the position of Proctor's encampment.

grand traverse being completed, each man was ordered to excavate, under the embankment, suitable lodgings, as substitutes for our tents. Those rooms were shot-proof and bomb-proof, except in the event of a shell falling in the traverse and at the mouth of a cave. The above works were scarcely completed before it was discovered that the enemy, under cover of night, had constructed batteries on a commanding hill north of the river. There their artillerymen were posted ; but the principal part of their army occupied the old English fort below. Their Indian allies appeared to have a roving commission, for they beset us on every side. The cannonading commenced in good earnest out, main battery'; 'Now for the meat house'; 'Good-bye, if you will pass.' In spite of all the expostulations of his friends, he maintained his post. One day there came a shot that seemed to defy all his calculations. He stood silent, motionless, perplexed. In the same instant he was swept into eternity. Poor man ! he should have considered, that when there is no obliquity in the issue of the smoke, either to the right or left, above or below, the fatal messenger would travel in the direct line of his vision. He reminded me of the peasant in the siege of Jerusalem who cried out, 'Woe to the city! Woe to myself!' On the most active day of the investment, there were as many as 500 cannon balls and bombs thrown at our fort. Meantime the Indians, climbing up into the trees, fired incessantly upon us. Such was their distance, that many of the balls barely reached us, and fell harmless to the ground. Occassionally they indicted dangerous and even fatal wounds. The number killed in the fort was small, considering the profusion of powder and ball expended on us. About 80 were slain, many wounded, and several had to suffer the amputation of limbs. The most dangerous duty which we performed within the precincts of the fort, was in covering the magazine. Previous to this, the powder had been deposited in wagons, and these stationed in the traverse. Here there was no security against bombs ; it was therefore thought to be prudent to remove the powder into a small block-house and cover it with earth. The enemy, judging our designs from our movements, now directed all their shot to this point. Many of their balls were red-hot. Wherever they struck they raised a cloud of smoke, and made a frightful hissing. An officer, passing our quarters, said: 'Boys, who will volunteer to cover the magazine?' Fool-like, away several of us went. As soon as we reached the spot, there came a ball and took off one man's head. The spades and dirt flew faster than any of us had before witnessed. In the midst of our job, a bombshell fell on the roof, and lodging on one of the braces it spun around for a moment. Every soldier fell flat on his face, and with breathless horror awaited the vast explosion, which we expected would crown all our earthly sufferings. Only one of the gang presumed to reason on the case. He silently argued that, as the shell had not burst as quickly as usual, there might be something wrong in its arrangement. If it burst where it was, and the magazine exploded, there could be no escape; it was death anyhow ; so he sprang to his feet, seized a boat hook, and pulling the hissing missile to the ground, and jerking the smoking match from its socket, discovered that the shell was filled with inflammable matter, which if once ignited would have wrapped the whole building in a sheet of flame. T his circumstance added wings to our shovels and we were right

Defeated in his attempts to capture Fort Meies, Proctor next moved to Lower Sandusky, into the neighborhood of General Harrison's stores and his headquarters, and besieged Fort Stephenson.

Col. George Croghan And The Defense Of Fort Stephenson

George Croghan was born near Louisville, Kentucky, November 15, 1791. He was a boy of manly appearance, and at a very early age developed a strong desire for military life. He was graduated at the College of William and Mary, Virginia, July 4, 1810. In 1811 he served in the battle of Tippecanoe, exhibiting great courage, activity and military skill. He was made captain the following year, and major, March, 1813. On May 5, 1813, he distinguished himself as aide-de-camp of General Harrison in the defense of Fort Meigs.

Col. George Croghan

by and named after Colonel Stephenson, then in command of United States troops. During the month of July, 1813, Major Croghan was placed in command of this fort, upon which an attack by the British was anticipated. Previous to the battle, General Harrison had dispatched messengers to Croghan, advising him that if the enemy appeared in force he should retreat. But the young major wrote back that he had determined to hold the fort at all hazards. General Harrison treated his reply as disobedience of orders, and relieved him of his command. Croghan at once explained to the General's satisfaction, and was returned to his post.

On the 31st of July the British made their appearance, landing about a mile below the fort. General Proctor, the British commander, at once sent a messenger to the fort with a flag, and a summons for an immediate surrender. To this went back the reply: "The fort will be defended to the last extremity ; no force, however great t can induce us to surrender, as we are resolved to maintain this post or bury ourselves in its ruins." Again was the flag of truce sent to Croghan, advising him to submit, and thereby avoid the terrible massacre that would surely follow. But to this, the cool and defiant answer went out: "When this fort is taken, there shall be none to massacre; it will not be given up while a man is able to resist." Firing immediately commenced by the British gunboats and a howitzer on shore. Croghan had but one piece of artillery, but by shifting its position from place to place, induced the belief that he had several. The British, having made no satisfactory progress, determined to storm the fort, and on the 2nd of August advanced with about 500 regulars, 800 Indians, a howitzer and three six-pounders. They were under command to "give the Yankees no quarter." Croghan, with only 169 men, reserved fire until the "red coats" had approached within easy reach, when he fired with such fatal precision that the British faltered; he then turned his battery, a single gun, a six-pounder loaded with grape and canister, upon them, and the ravine through which they were approaching was shortly filled with the dead and dying enemy. This British loss of dead and wounded was about 120, while Croghan's was only eight.

victory. For this exploit he was brevetted lieutenant colonel by the President of the United States; Congress awarded him a gold medal, and the ladies of Chillicothe, then the capital of Ohio, presented him with a beautiful sword.

"The enemy are not far distant. I expect an attack. I will defend this post till the last extremity. I have just sent away women and children, with the sick of the garrison, that I may lie able to act without incumbrance. Be satisfied. I shall, I hope, do my duty. The example set me by my Revolutionary kindred is before me. Let me die rather than prove unworthy of their name."

Col. George Croghan died in New Orleans, January 8, 1849. And to keep his memory, Fremont, through these passing years, has continued to celebrate the second day of August.

Fort Stephenson, a spot precious to the citizens of Fremont, is now owned and cared for by the city. The old cannon, familiarly known as "Old Betsy," which did such fearful execution in the fight, to-day stands silently upon the fort, a fitting companion of that noble shaft, erected in memory of Colonel Croghan, and of the brave soldiers in the late Rehellion.

Tecumseh's death at the battle of the Thames in Canada, and Perry's victory on Lake Erie, with Jackson's at New Orleans, following the successes of Fort Meigs and Fort Stephenson, closed the War of 1812, or the "Second War of Independence."

Early Struggle For Possession

Prof. B. A. Hinsdale, of the University of Michigan, in his "Old Northwest," writes thus: "Save New England alone, there is no section of the United States embracing several States, that is so distinct an historical unit, and that so readily yields to historical treatment as the 'Old Northwest.' It was the occasion of the final struggle for dominion between France and England in North America. It was the theatre of one of the most brilliant and farreaching military exploits of the Revolution. The disposition to be made of it at the close of the Revolution is the most important territorial question treated in the history of American diplomacy. After the war, the Northwest began to assume increasing importance in the national history. It is the original public domain and the part of the West first colonized under the authority of the national government. It was the first and most important territory ever organized by Congress. It is the only part of. the United States ever, under a secondary constitution like the Ordinance of 1 7S7. No other equal part of the Union has made, in one hundred years, such progress along the characteristic lines of American development."

From the Old Northwest were formed the States of Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and part of Minnesota, and it forms one of the richest and most enterprising regions of America.

Long before the English appeared upon this scene, the French had explored and threaded the great wilderness. They pushed their way into the great regions beyond the source of the Mississippi to the "Land of the Dakotas" and in the opposite direction to the mouth of the Mississippi and to the foot of the Alleghanies. They spread themselves out over half a continent, visiting lakes, forests and rivers, bent on discovery, trade or the reclaiming of souls. The tale of the heroic expeditions of the French voyagcurs, priests and soldiers amid the sublimity and grandeur of the virgin scenes which unfolded to their vision, forms a brilliant and enchanting chapter in American history.

Of the galaxy of States formed from this Western region, the territory occupied by Ohio was the last to be discovered and claimed by the French. It lay in the path of the nearest route from Canada to the Mississippi Valley, but the explorers were long barred out by the hostile Iroquois, and not until the year 1680 do we find any important settlements. In that year one of the parties sent out by Frontenac, the Governor of Canada, built a small .stockade just below the site of Maumee City, which wa3 an important trading post for many years. In 1694 it was abandoned for a more favorable location at the head of the Maumee, where Fort Wayne now stands. The next year witnessed the establishment of a trading post at the western end of Lake Erie, which was des- troyed by the Miamis two years later. The Wabash Valley was occupied about the year 1700, the first settlers entering it from the Kankakee. Later the Canadians found a nearer route to the Wabash Valley by way of the- Maumee River and the short portage between the head-waters of the two rivers. About this time, also, the English first established them- selves in Ohio for permanent operations. As early as 1686-87 attempts were made by the Dutch and English traders from New York to penetrate this Western region. The country between Lake Erie and Upper Michigan was one of the great beaver trapping grounds and was therefore a temptation to the traders. "The Hurons, the Chippewas, the Ottawas and even the Iroquois, from beyond Ontario, by turns sought this region in large parties for the capture of this game, from -the earliest historic times. It is a region peculiarly adapted to the wants of this animal. To a great extent level, it is intersected by numerous watercourses, which have but moderate flow. At the headwaters and small inlets of these streams, the beaver established his colonies. Here he dammed the streams, setting back the water over, the flat lands, and creating ponds, in which were his habitations. Not one or two, but a series of such dams were constructed along each stream, so that very extensive surfaces became thus covered permanently with the flood. The trees were killed and the land was converted into a chain of ponds and marshes, with intervening dry ridges. In time, by Nature's recuperative process, the annual growth and decay of grasses and aquatic plants, these filled with muck or peat, with occasional deposits of bog lime, and the ponds and swales became dry again.

"Illustrations of this beaver-made country are numerous enough in our immediate vicinity. In a semi-circle of 12 miles around Detroit, having the river for base, and embracing about 100,000 acres, fully one-fifth consists of marshy tracts or prairies, which had their origin in the work of the beaver. A little farther west nearly one whole township in Wayne County is of this country." (Hubbard, "Memorials of a Half Century.")

Ohio was also invaded by settlers from Virginia, but it is not known who the Englishmen were who first crossed the Alleghanies to the valleys beyond. We have no authentic records of explorations in the region until the year 1714, when Governor Alexander Spotswood of Virginia led an exploring party beyond the Alleghanies. In 1744 the Indians deeded

In 1748 the "Ohio Company," which was composed of 13 prominent Virginians and Marylanders and a London merchant, was formed for the purpose of speculating in lands and trading with the Indians in Ohio. Christopher Gist was sent out by the company to explore Southern Ohio, and from this time there is ' a growing interest in these western lands.

The French, however, were not inactive. Marquis de la Galissoniere, who was Governor of Canada, sent Celeron de Bienville, with 300 men into the Ohio Valley with the purpose of taking possession of the country, of propitiating the Indians and of warning the English traders out of the country. Bienville crossed the portage between Lake Erie and Lake Chautauqua, which was the easternmost crossing from the Great Lakes to the southern rivers used by the French, and made his way down the Allegheny and Ohio rivers to the Miami, returning to Montreal by way of the Maumee and Lake Erie. At important points he buried leaden plates upon which were engraved the arms of France, and bearing an inscription that they had taken the land and buried the plates. Bienville found the valley swarming with English traders and the Indians generally well disposed toward them.

The Marquis Duquesne, in 1753, with a strong force seized and held the northeastern branches of the Ohio. This threw down the gauntlet to the English, and in 1756 war was formally declared between the two countries, which culminated on the Heights of Abraham in 1759. In the treaty of 1763 France surrendered her possessions to the English, and for several years Ohio was controlled by military commandants on the frontiers.

The great valley of the Maumee was, it is seen, a part of this ancient battle-ground between the Indian tribes, the French and the English. It is now the home of millions of people, whose only contest is for advancement. Schools; churches and factories take the place of the camp, the fort and the wigwam. Where once the beaver had his undisputed dam in marsh and swamp, the farmer grows his crops in peace and contentment. The same skies hang above, and the same sun warms the land, but how different the product! Her great men and noble women have made history, have carried the burden and scattered the mists, and to-day no more fitting home can be found on old Earth than the valley of the Maumee.