Willmar tribune., 1915-02-17
WASHINGTON FOR EXPANSION

Urged Acquisition Of Western Territory
to Keep Foreigners From Getting It.
Very interesting to all students Of
American history is letter from
George Washington to Jacob Read of
South Carolina. who served as major
of volunteers during the Revolution,
was taken prisoner and was confined
for four years at st. Augustine, Fla.
He was afterward a member of the
Continental congress and United States
| senator.
The letter Is dated Mount Vernon,
Nov. 3, 1884, and deals with various
matters intimately connected with the
future prosperity of this country.
Washington complains that specula-
tors are recklessly seizing lands on
the northwest side of the Ohio and
thereby making war with the Indians.
he then proposes remedy:
Purchase. if possible, as much land of
them Immediately back of us as would
make one or two states according to tho
extent congress would design or would
wish to have them of and which may bs
FULLY adequate to all our present purposes.
Fix such price upon the lands so pur-
chased as would not be too exorbitant and
burthensome for real occupiers, but high
enough to discourage monopolizers. De-
clare all steps heretofore taken to pro-
cure lands on the N. W. side of the Ohio
contrary to the prohibition of congress
to be null and void and that any person
thereafter who shall presume to mark,
survey or settle lands beyond the limits
OF the new states and purchased lands
shall not only be considered an outlaw,
but fit subject for Indian vengeance
BE then discusses with vigor the
vital Importance of opening up the
western territories to American enter
prise and colonization by means of wa
terways and roads He adds:
1t Is to prevent the trade of the west
ern territory from settling in the hands
either Of the Spaniards or British-if
either Of these happen there is line of
separation at once drawn between the
eastern and western country, the conse-
Quences Of which may be fatal To tell
any man Of information how fast the lat
ter Is settling how much more rapidly It
will settle by means of foreign emigrants,
who can have no particular prediction
for US. Of the vast fertility of the soil and
the population the country is competent
to. would be futile and equally nugatory
to observe that it ts by the cement of
interest only we can be held together. II,
then. the trade Of that country should
flow through the Mississippi or St. Law
renee. II the inhabitants thereof should
form commercial connections which lead,
we Know. to intercourse of other kinds,
they would In a few years be as uncon-
nected with US. indeed more SO. than We
are with South America and would soon
oa alienatad from Us
Washinston's Good Work.
George Washington's surveying done
In 1851. when as lad Of nineteen he
ran lines through the Virginia wilder.
ness for Lord Fairfax, was checked up
recently by government surveyors,
who found the work perfect. Washing
ton. running his lines with primitive
instruments and bonfires on hilltops,
left monuments and boundaries to
which technically educated surveyors,
using accurate modern methods, have
been able to find no variation.
From the top Of Middle mountain. in
the Massanutten range, the old Fair.
TAX line may be distinguished without
the use of instruments and can be fol-
lowed by boundary fences dating from
the earliest days and by blocks of tim
ber. Washington survey blazes, cut
into the trunks of trees and long grown
over, have been rediscovered. and all
are several feet higher from the ground
than those wOodsmen Of today make.