Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1886-09-14

reached the mouth of the Great Kanawha
river (nOw Point Pleasantly. This was a
body Of French soldiers under the COM
mand of Captain Bienville de Celeron, sent
out from Canada for the purpose of depos-
lting leaden plates along the banks of the
"Oyo' or La Belle Ripiere. These plates
were suitably inscribed, and asserted the
claims of France to the lands on both sides
of the river, even to the source Of its trib-
utaries.
The expedition left Montreal on the 18th
of June 1749, and on the 18th reached the
present site of P~ittsburg. where the first
plate wa buried. Thence the expedition
descended the Ohio, depOsiting plates at
the mouths of the principal tributaries and
on the 18th of August reached the mouth
of the Great Kanawha, where, on the point
between the two rivers, the fifth plate was
buried. 1t was found in 1916 by a son Of
Mr.. John Beale, of Mason county w. Va,
and atterward passed into the possession
of the Virginia Historical Society. The
following is a
TRANSLATION
of the inscription which it bore.
In the year Of1749, reign OfLOuis Nv,
King of France, we, CelerOn, commandant
of a detachment sent by Monsieur the
Marquis de Ia GaiSOmere, commandant-
general of New France, tore-establish tran
guilty in some Indian villages of these
c%antOns, have buried this plate at the
mouth of the river ChinOdaShichetha, the
18th of August, near the river Ohio, other
wise Beautiful River, as a monument of
TAnnNCAI nf rAnl1a15rnnn u.haAb NHn h. Va
taken of the said river Ohio, and of all
those which fall into it, and of all the land
on both sides rs far rs to the sources OfSaid
rivers, the same Us were enjoyed, or ought
to have been enjoyed, by the preceding
Kings Of France, and that they have main
tanned it by their arms and treaties, eSpe-
cially by those of Ryswick Utrecht and
Aix-la-Chapelle."
From the mOuth of the Great Kanawha
the voyage was continued down the Ohio,
and On the Both day of August the eXpedi-
ton reached the mouth OF the Riviere-a-
la-ROche, Great Miami, and thence returned
to Canada, reaching Montreal on the 10th
of November.
Thetirst Englishman who reached the Ka-
nawha Valley, of (which there is any record,
was Christopher Gist, the agent and sur
yeyOr of the Ohio Land Company, in the
year l7l9, he set out on a tour of explOra-
ton north of the Ohio, where the lands of
his employers were located and in 1850,
when on his return, reached the mouth Of
the great Kanawha, and made Il thorough
exploration of the country on the north
side Of that river. His journal is now in
the possession OF the Massachusetts His
tOrical Society.
The fifth decade of the last century was
the period of the French and Indian war,
during which the savage allies of France
waged a wal of determination against the
frontiers of Virginia and Pennsylvania.
This, for the time, put a stop to Western
exploration, and from 1850 TO 1850, with
the exception of some surveys made on the
upper waters of New river, by Captain
Wood, in 1854, it does not appear that any
white man visited any portion of the Val
ley.
During this period. however, several
prisoners who were carried away by the In
dams from the settlements along the James
and Roanoke rivers were taken down the
Kanawha when on their way to spend 4
hopeless captivity beyond the Ohio. One
OF these, Mrs. Mary IngleS, was the first
white who saw the Kanawha. In
1854 she was taken prisoner by Il band OF
Shawnee Indians at lngles' Ferry on New
river. now in Montgomery county, Nir-
GINA. They fastened down the river I'M
I'll they reached the Salt Licks, ten miles
above the present site of Charleston, where
they halted for several days to make salt.
This is the first mention OF salt making
west of the Alleghanies of which there is
any record. Long atterward Mrs. lnglcs
made her escape and returned to her
The second white woman who saw the
Kanawha WAS Mrs. Hannah Dennis. who
was carried away by the SavaGeS from the
James river settlement in 1861. She WAS
taken to the ChillicOthe towns. where she
remained more than two years. Finally
making her escape, she reached the Ohio
river. which she crossed on 4 drift lOg.
Then iOurncying up the kanawha many
she reached the mouth of G]Teenhrier
river, where she was met by three scouts
who conducted her to Fort Young, on
JackSOn'S river, whence she was taken to
her relatives on the James.
d.. 1t appears that Captain William Ar
buckle, one Of the noted pioneers OF the
west, the companion of Boone kenton and
Clark. visited the mouth of the Kanawha
in l76l; and this would seem TO be true,
Tor ten years later he was chosen to guide
the army of General Lewis to that place.
In June 1865 Major Grogan and party
when defending the Ohio spent a night at
the mouth OF the Kanawha. His journal
has been published as an appendix to
Buffers History of Kentucky
In our next we shall notice the battle of
Point Pleasant, erection of forts, founding
of Charleston etc. TTCKAHOE.