Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-03-08

that IN this house George Washington
stopped for night when he was on his way
as an envoy from Governor Dinwiddie, of
Virginia, to the French then quartered at
Forts Venango and La Beouf. If this
statement is correct, the house must be
nearly lac years old. 1t certainly looks it.
1t stands on the Fox estate, nearly opposite
the mouth of the Clarion river, commanding
awide sweep of the Allegheny. both north
and south. The hills there are rugged and
the scenery is yet very wild.
The accompanying illustration is from a
photograph which l took of the old house on
the occasion of visit to it not long ago.
The snow lay deep on and about the house
and L could almost imagine what the scene
was like when Young Washington stopped
there in the same month almost a century
and half before. 1t was described as
frightfully stormy. For weeks he under
went terrible struggles in pushing forward
his expedition, twice coming within an ace
o. losing his life. Now the same hills were
covered deep with snow, the same river was
half frozen across. or floating with huge ice
fields, and up the same valley the wind
howled hurricane.
Only Fragmentary Story.
There is no connected story in the neigh
borhood of Foxburg, nor in the annals of
Clarion county, by which the history of the
old stone house can be progressively traced
back to dates. There is only the general
tradition in all that section of the Allegheny
Valley that Washington really did lodge in
the place over night when, as boy, he was
| acting as commissioner to effect a settle
ment of the disputed question of the occu-
pancy of the Ohio country. The property
has been in the hands of the Fox family for
over 80 years, and was simply occupied as a
dwelling when they purchased the and.
1t has now been long since abandoned as
a residence, and part of 1t is now used bv
a tenant in an adjacent frame dwelling as a
COW stable. The windows are all out and
in some instances are replaced with boards.
| 1t is built in the colonial style of archi-
lecture, with huge ireplaces within and
great chimneys without. One of these
chimneys has now all tumbled to pieces.
There is big crack down one of the end
walls, but in a general way the stone work
is still remarkably solid. This stone work
has the color and wear of great age, GER
tainly, and everything about the structure
indicates its antiquity. 1t evidently was a
hotel long years ago, and before that must
have been sort of redoubt or stronghold
for group of the pioneer settlers against
| Indian lncursions
The story of Washington's expedition in
| the interests of the Virginia Government
strikingly confirms this tradition about the
old stone house. When he was only 81
years OF age Dinwlddie sent him out from
Virginia to ascertain the state of affairs
among the French invaders of the Ohio
Valley. His experience in Woodcraft and
his courage won him the appointment. He
left Virginia late in 1853, and it was the
latter part of November before he arrived at
the mouth of Turtle Creek on the Monon-
gahela. He had secured the services OF the
famous trapper, Christopher Gist, and five
other men, all OF whom accompanied him.
The streams were now nearly impossible,
and he even experienced great hardship in
reaching the junction of the Monongahela
and Ohio rivers (Pittsburg).
His enforced leisure here resulted in his
LAYING out the site of fort and writing the
entry III his journal, recognizing the STRAIT
egic Importance of the site of Pittsburg.
Proceeding on to McKee's Rocks, young
Washington had an interview with King
Shingiss, of the Delaware tribe. Shingiss
ccompanied the party down to Logstown,
where Washington induced the Indians to
tell him some inside facts about the French
men.
Interview With the Half-King.
To describe the route then taken by WASH
ington in continuing his journey into the
wilderness, an extract from I. j. Cha pman's
excellent little volume; "The French in the
Allegheny Valley" will serve better than
condensation. 1t says of this Logstown con-
ference:
The half-King informed Washington that