19th.—We decamped at six in the morning, and sailed
to a place called the Three Islands, being about fifteen
miles from our last encampment; here the highlands come
close to the river banks, and the bottoms for the most
part—till we come to the Muskingum (or Elk)[1] river—are
but narrow: this river empties itself into the Ohio
about fifteen miles below the Three Islands; the banks of
the river continue steep, and the country is level, for
several miles back from the river. The course of the
river from Fat Meat Creek to Elk River, is about southwest
and by south. We proceeded down the river about
fifteen miles, to the mouth of Little Conhawa River, with
little or no alteration in the face of the country; here we
encamped in a fine rich bottom, after having passed
fourteen islands, some of them large, and mostly lying
high out of the water.[2] Here buffaloes, bears, turkeys,
with all other kinds of wild game are extremely plenty.
————
- ↑ The French called the Muskingum Yanangué-kouan - the river of the Tobacco (Petun-Huron) Indians. Céloron (1749) left at the mouth of this river, one of his plates, which was found in 1798, and is now in possession of the American Antiquarian Society, at Worcester, Massachusetts. Croghan had frequently been on the Muskingum, where as early as 1750, he had a trading house. The inhabitants at that time appear to have been Wyandots; but after the French and Indian War the Delawares retreated thither, and built their towns on the upper Muskingum. Later, the Moravian missionaries removed their converts thither, and erected upon the banks of this river their towns, Salem, Schönbrunn, and Gnadenhütten. In 1785, Fort Harmar was placed at its mouth; and thither, three years later, came the famous colony of New England Revolutionary soldiers, under the leadership of Rufus Putnam, which founded Marietta.—Ed.
- ↑ The Little Kanawha was the terminus of the exploring expedition of George Rogers Clark and Jones in 1772. They reported unfavorably in regard to the lands; but settlers soon began to occupy them, and they were a part of the grant given to Trent, Croghan, and others at the treaty of Fort Stanwix (1768) as a reparation for their losses in the previous wars. About the time of Croghan's visit, Captain Bull, a well-known Delaware Indian of New York, removed to the Little Kanawha, and in 1772 his village, Bulltown, was the scene of a revolting massacre of friendly Indians by brutal white borderers.—Ed.
