The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1857-06-19


PuTSAM, a Brigadier.Genera OF the
Revolutionary Army, who possessed !
and fully deserved the entire conf
dence Of Washington---came the
first settles Of Ohio--noble souls
devoted patriots--braee soldiers
who, having gallantIy aided in
achieving the independence of their
country, now consccrated their Ell.
ergies to the establishment of new
homes for frcemen, aud a new Em.
pire of Freedom in the western will.
dcrness.
Here they found in singular pres.
ervation, those remarkable and eX-
tensive earth. works, existing, though
in somewhat impaired condition,
to this day, the purpose Of which,
whether civil or military, secular or
ecclesiastical. battles antiquarian re.
search, though all agree that they
must have been constructed in re-
mote antiquity and by race of men
that have long since disappeared.
Here, too, they found the success.
ors Of that race, the red men OF the
forest, still resentful of their defeat
in PoEtiac's war, and Jealous Of the
encroachments ef the white man.
With characteristic energy and
promptitudc. on the very next day
Of their arrival, they commenced the
work Of dividing the land, and pre-
pared at once for cultivation and de.
tense. Hope pointed for them
bright though distant future, but not
even the magic pencil of hope could
have pictured the magnificent reali-
ty. From this germ in the wilder
ness has already sprung a state as
rich in resources and as powerful in
arms as were the whole United Col
onies at the era of the Revolution
Westward and still Westward the
Star Of Empire has taken its way,
carrying by its mighty attraction
Anglo-SaXnn dominion and Anglo.
Saxon civilization, in the form of
Republican institutions and Repub.
lican States, across the Mississippi,
across The prairics, across the noun.
tains, till it pauses at last ut the very
gates Of evening to look down over
tic Pacific, now veXed by the keels
of an unwonted commerce, upon the
latest accession to the Republic,
young, brilliant, go!len.robcd Cal
iiornia. To what spot, then, in
Ohio, gentlemen, could l welcome
you-to what spot in the great con-
trail valley of the Republic can yon
be welcomed--morc fraught with
historic interest or moro suggestive
of the grand, hopeI.for future than
this:
And what an event it is, gentle
men, which we here unite in cele-
bratingl What thoughts it, too,
awakcns OF the past, and what hopes
for the time to come! Three distinct
periods seem to mark the progress OF
means Of communication between
the Eastern AMI Western--W Western,
once, but Western no longer--scc.
tons of our country. Our fathers
were Glad t. avail themselves of the
Indian trails and buffalo paths on
land anil OF canoes and broad horns
upon the water. Eighty seven years
ago a Red Man, standing here on
the shore Of the Ohio, might have
remarked, floating downward with
the stream, q rude canoe, manned
10y two Indians and bearing three
white men, of whom one, in the
prime OF noble manhood, was easily
distinguished from the others by his
dlgnified bearing and by his athletic
proportions. 1t was Washington,
who had crossed the mountains on
horseback, by the rough paths Of the
period, and was now on his way to
establish the pre-. clnption claims in
behalf Of himscl and his fellow sol.
diers in the French and Indian wars,
by marking trees and setting mp
monuments on tho lands south OF
the Ohio just ccded by the Six Ma
tions. Here. and not very far from
where we now stand, he landed to
exchange tokens Of amity, and smoke
the pipe Of peace with an Indian
Chief, whose friendship he had gain
cd seventeen years before when he
had visited the tribes as the youth
lul envoy of Dinwiddie.
But the day Of canoes aud broad.
horns, of lnlian trails and Buffalo
paths passed away. Steamboats,
made their appearance on the riv.
crs, canals furnished new channels
of water communication, and turn
pixies and macadamized roads facili.
tatod and quickcned intercourse by
land. Over the Alleghsnies and
westward as far as Springfield, Ohio,
tho National Road was built for the
accommodation Of the traveller and
the einigrant, and to secure the
means OF prompt communication in
times OF peril. The traveller on
this road may still see, standing by
the waysidc, not far from tho city oil
Wheeling, n simple monument which
commemorate the services Of Hen
ry Clay, in the formation OF this then
important bond and ligament Of un-
ion between the Atlantic States and
the Interior.-The monument will
crumble-the road itself may be dc.
serted and torgotten--but the name
of CLAY will live while patriotism is
honored and genius finds a shrine in
the hearts OF men.
Turnpikes and macadamizcd roads,
rivers and canals still supply indis
| nnueihln facilitiaa oc ;ntaroour,a