Deep snow. -Table of temperature for twenty-seven years.—Amount of APPENDIX. Oration of General Varnum. -Of Dr. Drown.- Address of Governor St. PIONEER HISTORY. CHAPTER I. The shores of the Ohio river without inhabitants.-Watch towers. -Jesuit› Missionaries on the Lakes in 1668.— Mississippi discovered in 1673. — La Salle's discoveries. Iroquois Indians.-Lake and river of the Illinois. Iroquois invade the Illinois..- La Salle embarks on the Mississippi, February, 1682. Arrives at the mouth, 7th April. - Returns to Michillimackinac in September. Returns to France, and sails with men to take possession of the country. His Death. For many years before the white man had any knowledge of that beautiful region of country which borders the Ohio river from Pittsburgh to the mouth of the Big Miami, and perhaps still lower down, it was destitute of any fixed inhabitants-a belt of country from forty to sixty miles in width, on both the north and south banks of the river, seems to have been appropriated by the tribes who laid claim to the territory, almost exclusively, as hunting grounds. Few villages were built near its shores,* nor were many of its rich alluvions planted with cornfields; although a country affording more bountifully all the articles needed for the well being of savage life, could not be found. The rivers teemed with fish, and the valleys and hill sides abounded in animals of the chase. A soil more produc * Logstown and the Shawanee village near the mouth of Scioto were exceptions. tive of corn, beans and squashes, could hardly be imagined; and yet no fire was kindled along its borders, save that of the warrior or the hunter. The mirth and revelry of "the feast of new corn," echoed not through its groves; and the silence of the forest was only broken by the moaning of the wintry winds, or the howling of wild beasts. This having been the condition of the country, we are led to inquire, why was it so? and what could have produced this abandonment of so desirable a region? There doubtless was a period, soon after the removal or destruction of that half-civilized race, who filled the country with mounds and fortified cities, when their conquerors occupied the land, and lined the shores of the Ohio with their wigwams and villages, and nothing but some potent and irresistible cause could have led them to abandon it. From the traditions of the Indians themselves we find that cause to have been, the repeated and sanguinary invasions of a merciless enemy. Year after year the savage and warlike inhabitants of the north invaded the country of the more peaceable and quiet tribes of the south. Fleets of canoes, built on the head waters of the Ohio, and manned with the fierce warriors of the Iroquois, or Five Nations, annually floated down this quiet stream, carrying death and destruction to the inhabitants who lived along its borders. All the fatigue and trouble of marching long distances by land was thus avoided; while the river afforded them a constant magazine of food in the multitude of fishes which filled its waters. The canoe supplied to the Indian the place of the horse and wagon to the white man, in transporting the munitions of war. These they could moor to the shore, and leave under a guard, while the main body made excursions against tribes and villages, living at one or more day's march in the interior. If defeated their canoes afforded a safe and ready mode of securing a retreat, far more certain than it could be by land. When invading a country, they could travel by night as well as by day, and thus fall upon the inhabitants very unexpectedly; while in approaching by land, they could hardly fail of being discovered by some of the young hunters in time to give at least some notice of their approach. The battles thus fought along the shores of the Ohio, could they have been recorded, would fill many volumes. That much of the ancient warfare carried on by that race of men, who occupied the country prior to the modern Indians, was done on and by means of the Ohio river, is rendered probable from the mounds, or watch towers, built on the tops of the highest hills near the shores. They almost invariably occupy points commanding an extensive view of the river, both up and down the stream. From these elevations the watchman could often give notice of the approach of a fleet, for some time before its arrival, merely by his eye; and if signal fires by night, and smoke by day, were used, the notice could be extended to many hours, or even days. That many of the river hill mounds were built for this purpose, there can be but little doubt. These repeated invasions of the Iroquois discouraged the inhabitants of the valley of the Ohio from occupying its borders; and for many years before it was visited by any white man, they had retired to the distance of forty or sixty miles from its banks. Nearly all their villages and permanent places of abode were located at least thus far from the Ohio. This abandoned region was, however, still of use to them as hunting grounds, and probably more abounded in game from this circumstance. The country bordering the Ohio river was in this condition, when the almost unknown regions of the West were visited by La Salle, the first traveler who has given us any valuable account of the climate, soil, and productions of the great valley of the Mississippi. As early as the year 1668, fathers Marquette, and Allouez, Jesuit Missionaries, prepared a map of lake Tracy, or Superior, and parts of Huron and Michigan, or "lake of the Illinois." In 1673, |