Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1854-06-08
[FrOm the ohio State Journal. !
CANES TRACE

- - = - @--~
Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and region
adjacent, was an almost unbroken vii
derness-there being but feeble settle
ments of whites at Marietta, Detroit
Vincennes, and possibly few other iso
I lated points upon the border, and re
mote from each otherl Lord Dunmore
the Colonial Governor of Virginia, haC
penetrated this wilderness with an army
as far as to "Camp Charlotte % sil
miles south-easterly from the presehi
city of Circleville, and there dictated
the terms of peace with the savage
ibes. It was to the council which
made this treaty that Logan, the friend
of the white men, and celebrated Min
go chief, was invited, and refused to be
present-though, for his country he re-
joiced at the beams of peace From
that time we may date the destiny oi
the race of white men to be the posses
sors of this vast region; and their
march has been constantly onward at a
rapid pace. There were then no roads
penetrating the interior; and Dunmore's
army returned by the same route it
came-via the Falls of Hockhocking,
and thence to Kanawha.
Some years subsequently to the date
OF Dunmore's treaty, the necessity for
some means to penetrate the interior
became not merely apparent but indis-
pensable. So urgent was this necessi-
ty, that the government contracted with
Mr.. Noah Zane to give him his choice
of three sections Of Land-not for con-
structing a road, but-to mark trace
through the wilderness, from the Ohio
river at Wheeling. to Old Town or
Chillicothe, on the Scioto, near where
the city of that name now stands. Mr..
Zane having secured some expert In
dians as guides, proceeded TO mark his
trace by blazing the trees in the for
est-which was the guide for future
travellers, and was for many years the
main thoroughfare of travel through
that portion of the country. evon after
the organization of the State govern
ment. 'Zane's Trace was beyond doubt
the first great work of public Improve
ment within the borders of the present
proud State of Ohio-and as the pion-
eer work, its importance can hardly be
Mr. Zane selected one
of his sections of land near Wheeling,
where his descendants now reside; an
other at the crossing of the Muskingum
river. the site of the city OF Zdnesville,
is derived the name; and the
third, at the point where his trace
crossed the Hockhocking--on which the
beautiful town of Lancaster is situated.
Time and experience abundantly vindi-
catedAhe wisdom of these selections. :
Though portions of 'Zane's Trace
have been obliterated and lost by nom
user, and other portions have been su-
perseded by more modern and direct
thoroughfares, yet there are portions
still in use. The GAINESVILLE and Mays
vile Turnpike from the Muskingum to
Chillicothe, does not depart very widely |
in its location from 'Zane's Trace
Every traveller who made his adven-
turous journey through the wilderness,
guided by this Trace returned but to
inspire new adventures by his glowing
Inscription of the beauty and fertility Of |
he country. Such was Ohio, in the
of its primitive Lords. The
white man, impelled BY destiny and |
ured by the prospect of so goodly an
heritage, trenched upon the hunting
grounds of the aboriginal noblemen, and
fequent and sanguinary conflicts were
he result. The races were arrayed in
guerrilla warfare, each goad-
ID to desperation. The one stimulated
,y a thirst for empire and extended
,ule;;' the other, defending their hearth
tones, and the graves of their fathers.
Victory coquetted with the combatants
giving alternate hope and dependency
o each. BY degrees, however, the
White man pushed his frontier farther,
md farther, into the wilderness; and
reaties were made, and concessions
granted to his demands, conducted sue
by Col. Buoquet, on the Mus
,ingum; by Lord Dunmore, at Camp
and by General Wayne. at
ireenville. From the date of the lat
er, Indian Sovereignty and jurisdiction
las died out, leaving the country to the
Indisputed possession of the Anglo
saxon destiny-man.
A peaceable possession of the eoun-
ry being thus conquered, scarcely
ess formidable task remained-namely,
he subsiding this vast wilderness, and
transforming it to the uses Of civiliza-
ion. The wisdom of the men of that
lay recognized two elements as indis-
'ensable to this undertaking, both of {
which were to be introduced from
broad; they were population and mon
Y. And from the first settlement at
iarietta, down to the advent of locofo-
oism in our State, 1t was our policy to
neenrage, by all proper means, the in S
omission of both So long as this poll {
81 was wisely and prudently followed,
VT State continued to advance in its [
laroh of prosperity and aggrandize- '
lent. But at length there arose among s
S a race of statemsni who knew not .
oseph;' whose distinguishing merit
1nsisted-having no capital, moral or 8
nsncial, of their own-in waging fierce L
arfare upon those who in this respect c
iffered from themselves. II was to &
en a pretty safe warfare; for, hayingl .
~