76

HOME IN THE WILDERNESS.

[CHAP. I. tween Simpson and one of the Pringles; and notwithstanding that peace and harmony were so necessary to their mutual safety and comfort, yet each so far indulged the angry passions which had been excited as at length to produce a separation.

Simpson crossed over the Valley river, near the mouth of Pleasant creek, and passing on to the head of another water course, gave to it the name of Simpson's creek. Thence he went westward, and fell over on a stream which he called Elk: at the mouth of this he erected a camp, and continued to reside for more than twelve months. During this time he neither saw the Pringles nor any human being; and at the expiration of it went to the south branch, where he disposed of his furs and skins and then returned to, and continued at, his encampment, at the mouth of Elk, until permanent settlements were made in its vicinity.

The Pringles kept up the Valley river till they observed a large right hand fork, (now Buchanan,) which they ascended some miles; and at the mouth of a small branch, (afterwards` called Turkey run,) they took up their abode in the cavity of a large sycamore tree. The stump of this is still (1831) to be seen, and is an object of no little veneration with the immediate descendants of the first settlers.

The situation of these men, during a residence here of several years, although rendered somewhat necessary by their previous conduct, could not have been very enviable. Deserters from the army, a constant fear of discovery filled them with apprehension. In the vicinity of a savage foe, the tomahawk and scalping knife were ever present to their imaginations. Remote from civilized man, their solitude was hourly interrupted by the frightful shrieks of the panther, or the hideous howlings of the wolf. And though the herds of buffalo, elk and deer which sported around, enabled them easily to supply their larder, yet the want of salt, of bread, and of every species of vegetable, must have abated their relish for the otherwise delicious loin of the one and haunch of the others. The low state of their little magazine, too, while it limited their hunting, caused them, from a fear of discovery, to shrink at the idea of being driven to the settlements for a supply of ammunition. And not until they were actually reduced to two loads of powder, could they be induced to venture again into the vicinity of their fellow-men. In the latter part of the year 1767 John left his brother, and

1768.]

THE LONELY MAN.

77

intending to make for a trading post on the Shenandoah, appointed the period of his return.

Samuel Pringle, in the absence of John, suffered a good deal. The stock of provisions left him became entirely exhausted-one of his loads of powder was expended in a fruitless attempt to shoot a buck-his brother had already delayed his return several days longer than was intended, and the other was apprehensive that he had been recognized, taken to Fort Pitt, and would probably never get back. With his remaining load of powder, however, he was fortunate enough to kill a fine buffalo; and John soon after returned with the news of peace, both with the Indians and French. The two brothers agreed to leave their retirement.

Their wilderness habitation was not left without some regret. Every object around had become more or less endeared to them. The tree, in whose hollow they had been so frequently sheltered from storm and tempest, was regarded with so great a reverence that they resolved, so soon as they could prevail on a few others to accompany them, again to return to this asylum of their exile.

In a population such as then composed the chief part of the south branch settlement, this was no difficult matter. All of them were used to the frontier manner of living; the most of them had gone thither to acquire land; many had failed entirely in this object, while others were obliged to occupy poor and broken situations off the river; the fertile bottoms having been previously located. Add to this the passion of hunting, (which was a ruling one with many,) with the comparative scarcity of game in their neighborhood, and it need not excite surprise that the proposition of the Pringles to form a settlement, in such a country as they represented that on Buchanan to be, was eagerly embraced by many.

In the fall of the ensuing year, (1768,) Samuel Pringle, and several others who wished first to examine for themselves, visited the country which had been so long occupied by the Pringles alone. Being pleased with it, they repaired thither, with a few others, in the following spring, with the view of cultivating as much corn as would serve their families the first year after emigrating. Having examined the country, some of them proceeded to improve the spots of their choice. John Jackson, (who was accompanied by his sons, George and Edward,) settled at the mouth of Turkey run, where his daughter, Mrs. Davis, now (1831) lives-John Hacker,

78

SOME OF THE FIRST SETTLERS.

[CHAP. I. higher up on Buchanan river, where Bush's fort was afterwards established-Alexander and Thomas Sleeth, near to Jackson's, on what is now known as the Forenash plantation. The others of the party, (William Hacker, Thomas and Jesse Hughes, John and William Radcliff and John Brown,) appear to have employed their time exclusively in hunting, neither of them making any improvement of land for his own benefit. Yet were they of very considerable service to the new settlement. Those who had commenced clearing land, were supplied by them with abundance of meat, while in their hunting excursions through the country a better knowledge of it was obtained than could have been acquired had they been engaged in making improvements.

In one of these expeditions, they discovered and gave name to Stone-coal creek, which, flowing westwardly, induced the supposition that it discharged itself directly into the Ohio. Descending this creek, to ascertain the fact, they came to its confluence with a river, which they then called, and which has since been known as the West Fork. After having gone some distance down the river, they returned by a different route to the settlement, better pleased with the land on it and some of its tributaries than with that on Buchanan.

Soon after this, other emigrants arrived under the guidance of Samuel Pringle. Among them were John and Benjamin Cutright, who settled on Buchanan, where John Cutright, the younger, now lives, and Henry Rule, who improved just above the mouth of Fink's run. Before the arrival of Samuel Pringle, John Hacker had begun to improve the spot which Pringle had chosen for himself. To prevent any unpleasant result, Hacker agreed that if Pringle would clear as much land on a creek which had been recently discovered by the hunters, as he had on Buchanan, they could then exchange places. Complying with this condition, Pringle took possession of the farm on Buchanan, and Hacker of the land improved by Pringle on the creek, which was hence called Hacker's creek. John and William Radcliff then settled on this stream. These comprise all the improvements which were made on the upper branches of the Monongahela in the years 1769 and 1770.

At the close of the working season of 1769, some of these adventurers went to their families on the south branch; and when they returned to gather their crops in the fall, found them entirely destroyed. In their absence the buffaloes, no

1770.]

RAPID EMIGRATION.

79

longer awed by the presence of man, had trespassed on their enclosures, and eaten their corn to the ground-this delayed the removal of their families till the winter of 1770.1

In 1770, emigrants began to reach the Monongahela and Ohio rivers in considerable number. During this year, Capt. Cresap erected a cabin at the mouth of Nemocalling creek, (now Dunlap's,) which at that time was the initial point of the great trail over the Alleghanies, a route pursued by Braddock, and afterwards with but few changes, and those for the worse, adopted for the Cumberland or National road.3 This point continued for many years the principal place of embarkation for the whole western and southern country.

The Horse-shoe bottom on Cheat river was settled about this time by Capt. Parsons, while other portions of that very productive region were located by a number of enterprising men, among whom we may mention Cuningham, Fink, Goff, Minear, Butler, &c. &c.

The spirit of emigration seemed now effectually aroused, and as the fertility of the soil, salubrity of the climate, and apparently inexhaustible supply of game became more generally known to those east of the mountains, the rush of emigrants up to the breaking out of the Indian war, in 1774, was very great. They spread over the fine alluvion of the upper Monongahela; along West Fork, Elk, and Simpson's creek. Of those who settled about this time in the neighborhood of Clarksburg, we find the names of Nutter, Cotrial, Beard, Patton, Davisson, etc.

I Withers.

2 The reader of taste, cannot but deplore the substitution of AngloAmerican names, for the beautiful, poetic, aboriginal ones by which every hill, dale, and glen,—every mountain stream and bounding river were known. What a wretched spirit of change, or a contemptible desire to honor one's little self, that could have induced the earlier adventurers and first settlers, to substitute for the Indian names, so full of beauty and expression, the common and unmeaning ones now in use.

80

FIRST SETTLEMENT AT WHEELING.

[CHAP. II.

CHAPTER II.

FIRST SETTLEMENTS AT AND NEAR WHEELING.

A NEW impulse to Western emigration seemed given with the commencemeut of the seventh decade of the eighteenth century.

A spirit of inquiry and enterprise was awakened in many parts of the East, and men of indomitable courage and great energy of character pushed out into the illimitable wilderness, to explore the country and find themselves homes in the outspread bosom of the great west.

It was in this year that the Zanes first settled at the mouth of Wheeling creek, and the elder Tomlinson broke the silence of the wilds at Grave creek by the shrill echo of his neverfailing rifle.

The number, however, of those who ventured to the Ohio were few, indeed. It was considered extremely unsafe for the self-protecting hunter, but would have been deemed madness to expose a family to so much hazard. Along the upper branches of the Monongahela settlements were made at several points. Of those who thus early struck for a home in the beautiful and highly fertile vallies of Western Virginia, were James Booth and John Thomas. They settled on what is now known as Booth's creek.

Previous, however, to the actual settlement of the country, above the forks of the Monongahela, some few families (in 1767) had establishsd themselves in the vicinity of Fort Redstone, now Brownsville, Pennsylvania. At the head of these were Abraham Tegard, James Crawford, John Province and John Harden. The latter of these gentlemen afterwards removed to Kentucky, and became distinguished in the early