The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1888-02-17

| veterans of the
revolution, with miscellaneous assortment
| OF young men, women and children.
lney at once proceeded to lay out town.
| and the best scholars of the comDonv were
| called on for an appropriate name Just then
| the Americans were warmly attached tn
france and her young king and queen, Louis
~ and Marie Antoinette, 50 they took the
1rst and last sections Of the queens name
and called their town Marietta.
The territory was soon legally organized
and III 1903 Ohio became state.
And these events, with all the mighty con-
sequences following a few years after. with
the early history and subsequent develop-
ment OF the northwest territory, are to be
celebrated at Cincinnati this year in grand
centennial exhibition of the central western
states from July to Oct. q.
Marietta was the first permanent settle
ment, aside from military posts, in the pres
ent state OF Ohio; and almost every acre of
the citys area contained some object of in
terest. The pioneers had located on the Mecca
or Jerusalem of that mysterious race we call
the mound builders. The whole country was
dotted with their memorials; in Marietta
may still be seen the great rectangular
mound, and III the graveyard is the lofty cone
Shaped mound composed of many different
eartils, brought, as archmologists conjecture.
by various tribes in baskets from their dis
tant homes when they came up to the yearly
sacrifice.
In laying off the new town the question
was raised whether the back water from the
Ohio woiild ever flood certain hollow and
low tract; SO they appealed to the Oldest In
dian in the vicinity. He pointed to an old
sycamore in the valley, the forks of which
were some twenty feet high, and said: "When
l was boy, my father padded his canoe
through the forks of that tree" AS near as
they could estimate this was in 1882.
They laughed at the old Indian; but in
1652-100 years after tho Indians flood-the
water rose above the forks of the sycamore.
Fifty more years passed, and then came the
great flood which submerged so many Ohio
river towns The old sycamore had long
since fallen but the water was little higher
than in 1882
The descendants of Gen. Putnam and many
other pioneers still live in Marietta, which is
a handsome college town and the home of
many cultured people. Gen. Putnam died
there May l, 1924. He was a cousin of
"Wolf Killer QsraeD Putnam, and born in
Sutton, Mass, April 8, 1733S; he served in the
French and Indian war, entered the Conti-
mental army in 1775 as lieutenant colonel,
and rose to the rank of brigadier As gov
ernment surveyor he became familiar with
eastern Ohio, and early in 1876 assisted in
organizing the Ohio company in Massa-
chusetts The company bought ,500,O 600
acres OF government land, and proceeded to
lay solid foundation for the new common
wealth. III 1870 Washington appointed him
judge for the territory and in 1896 surveyor
general; Jefferson removed him from that
Office in 1903, while he was member of the
first Ohio constitutional convention.
Between the years 1880 and 1857 all the
northwest was ceded to the United States by
the states which claimed it under original
grant, and the territory was organized by
the celebrated ordinance, passed July Is,
1857. Thomas Jefferson had drafted form
of organization dividing all tho region into
nine states, with the somewhat pedantic
titles of Chersonesus, Metropotamia, Sara
toga, Assenisipia, Polypotamia, Washington,
Pellisipia, Michigania and Illinoia. The
people very sensibly retained the general
form of his scheme and rejected the 'frills,"
SO we have Ohio, Indiana, etc., names ap-
propriately adopted from the aborigines in
stead of coined from Greek; but that part of
the territory in the present state of Mime
sofa did not get into the Union till 1885, The
donating states reserved small tracts for
specific purposes, most noted of which are
'sClarke's grant, in Indiana and the ''western
reserve" in Ohio, the former retained by
Virginia for the soldiers of Gen. George
Rogers Clarke and the latter held by Con
necticut. Other reserves are known as the
sire lands,' Indemnity lands,' etc.
Cincinnati is certainly the place to fifty
celebrate all the events in the early history
of the northwest territory, and her citizens
took hold of the matter SO enthusiastically
that in few days they raised 81 ,050, 600 as
guarantee fund The legislature Of Ohio
passed joint resolution authorizing the
governor to appoint five commissioners for
the state, and invite the cooperation of the
federal government and the states of West
Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennes-