The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1857-01-08
From the Cincinnati Gazette.
The Ohio Valley. r.s.r

hardy on his rugged mountains and from b,
free air on their tops breathes the inspirs.
tion OF liberty. So the thrifty HoIlandel
grows rich on his low and fertile plains. Sc
the Island Englishman makes the sea hi.
home and carries his commerce round the
earth. The inhabitants Of the Ohio Valley
have a fuirer and better home than either
The hills sink into softer forms, the rivers
seem grander and deeper, the soil is enrich.
ed with the alluyial deposits Of countless
ages, the foliage deepens with the warmer
sun OF milder cline, and the eye roams
in vain to seek boundary which can limit
the growth, the expansion and enterprise oi
man. In such country, il settled by civ
ilized people, we might reasonably expect a
most rupid development in all the essential
elements of a rich and vigorous society
Such is clearly the fact, and if such be the
fact in the very beginning OF our historical
period, what may We not expect from the lu-
turc!
It's now only half century since Aaron
Burr was descending the Ohio River with
some mysterious object of ambition in view.
II may have been the settlement of the Wa
shita lands, the conquest of Mexico, or the
dismemberment Of the Western Territory
The latter, or, in other words, dsunop, was
the opulur idea Of his plans. In the Mari.
| g.. . 4.
etta paper, Gone Of only four published in the
Ohio Valley) appeared a series Of articles in
ftvor of q separation. They were rep lied to
by another writer, and thus disuDion was
discussed in that early day. The fate Of
PprF and his plans are well known. But.
let ps tnrn for q moment from the West as a
theatre ofsavage and muruuding expeditions.
to the Ohio Valley as it is, and as its future
looms up from the horizon OF time. Let US
first pOte when the Ohio Valley commenced
it's historical peried, and what il was half II
century SINCE, ''' r'.-'
Our historical period commences one hun
dred and seven years ago with certain
lead plate found at the mouth OF the Kanaw-
hu river, (another was found at the mouth OF
the Muskingum,) purPorting to tOke pos.
session Of the Ohio Valley in the nams Of
his Majesty, Louis XIV, of France. This
was deposited on the 18th of August, l749.
Il declared that Celeron, by order Of Mar
quis of Galiponirie, Captain General OF New
Fraace, and ut the mouth Of the Chi. nc. do.
kich-e that (Kanawha,) took possession oi
| the rivcr Ohio, "otherwse beautiful river"
by virtue of the Treaties Of Reywich, AK
la Chapelie and Utrech,-two days prior he
deposited similar plate at the mouth Of the
Muskingum. The whole proceeding was a
formal one. A prQces perdal, as it is called,
was written down aud sent to France. We
notice this transaction because it il the true
historical epoch of the Ohio Valley. There
is no evidence that La Sale visited It, and
no record of the Virginia hunters, who may
possibly have entered the Wiley. The set
tlement Of Vincennes on the Wabash, is da-
ted by some as far back as 1875, but there
is no record of The time, and at any rate
there is no such formal connection with the
Ohio as that Of which we speak. Let US 60
back now more than hundred years, when
Celeron stood amidst the dark and mighty
forests Of the West, dating from what ht
called the Chouan (Shuwnee) villages, anu
| LaloEt ~ t.ocas 80 c;y;l;1,t;cpts ba.rd n,
sound of the coming chariots Of commerce
saw no light bursting through the veiled fp.
ture. Let US stand, then, on the banks o.
the beautiful Ohio, and ask ourselves who
could have anticipated this living present
filled with peucc, prosperity and plenty, glow
ing with the fires of his aud glorious civ
ilization! Who would have imagined the
naughty Bourbons, who planted their flag or
the Ohio, overturned, humbled in the dust
Who would have imagined the wouderfu
course Of British power sipce then! Wht
would have imagined the Anglo American
casting aside even the power Of britain, ant
raising his country to imperial Greatness!-
An hundred years wasnot very long his
'torical period, but what wonderful events
have been accomplished in the hundred year
past! Let us now see what the Ohio Val
ley was fifty years ago. The defeat of the
French, the Revolution, the Constitution, the
FIRST settlement Of Ohio and Kentucky. hat
| i. n haen accomnlished and the first yvave,