The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1881-12-16
ohio's FIRST Capital.



Chllicothe is classic ground. 1t was here
that the FIRST State northwest Of the Ohio
was uskered into organic being; and
upon the heights Of Cemetery Hill re-
pose the remains of four famous men who
have been It's chief executives. Two his
toric houses, rich in associations which re-
call the bravest of pioneers, men who were
among the founders Of the State, stand
stately and sentinel-like upon a high plateau
overlooking the tswn. The academy, which
was the alma mater Of generation of men
who have grown gray since they passed over
its threshold, is still q place of learning for
the youth Of the town. Famous Ohio states
men, men who have made their mark In
high places, have been school boys here.
Not far away, in quiet street, is plain old
house, which Is pointed out as the birth.
place of the wife of an Ohio President, and
scattered through the town are several hum
bic places which have been the homes Of
men whose names were widely known Ia
literature, politics and law.
Chillicothe Is charmingly environed. The
broad valley through which the Scioto flows
southwark TO the Ohio is bordered by high
bluff banks upon the west, and by chain Of
mountain-like hills upon the east, the high
est of which lifts It's timbered crest six hum
dred feet above the river which washes Its
base. The lover Of the beautiful can here
find elements OF the rugged, wild, and pie
turesque In precipitous height and rocky for
nations or, II he more admires the gentler
aspects Of nature, his eye may be guided
along the far-sweeping slopes of green pas
ture land or from the crest Of the valley wall
be may let his vision wander from one fair
feature Of the landscape TO another, through
an infinite variety Of form and wealth of
color, to the dim blde hills miles away, or
the valley fading TO the horizon. This val
ley was the center of the densest population
of the prehistoric race, and perhaps the seat
Of empire, for nowhere else do memorial
mounds exist In such numbers rs upon Its
bottoms and uplands; nowhere else 10 so
many defensive works appear, or such .
number and variety of sacred enclosures. The
Indians, too, regarded this as favored land,
and II was undoubtedly for centuries the abode
Of either the Delaware or Shawanese nation.
The river was the war-way down which the
braves Of these tribes foated silently and
stealthily to strike their implacable enemy
the Creeks-and In later years the isolated
stations Of the whites In Kentucky. Logan,
the hingo, whose pathetic eloquence and sad
story have stirred the hearts Of 90 many mod
ern sympathizes with his woe, delivered the
impassioned speech upon which his fame
rests, before Lord Dunmore's interpreter,
only few miles north Of the site of Chilli
cothe, aud his name has been hone'ed. not
by the rearing Of any memorial, but by its
application TO the grandest Of natures mon
uments upon the Scioto--Mount Logan. The
country Ia rich In legend Of the dusky race,
and history has preserved the annals of many
. battle and skirmish in which the Indian
sought to preserve favorlte hunting ground
from the encroachments of his pale-face |
brother. "t.