"He didn't have anything to do with it, but he had something to do with the scouting trip which came later. You see, France and England each had obtained a strong foothold in this country; France, along the Great Lakes and Mississippi River; England, along the Atlantic Coast. Between the Mississippi and the coast stretched a beautiful and fertile country, the valley of the Ohio. When LaSalle made his explorations he took possession of the Mississippi in the name of the king of France. On that account France claimed to own all the land along the Mississippi and along all the rivers which flowed into the Mississippi. That took in a great part of the continent."
"I don't see how because LaSalle stood on a rock and hollered out some words," Hank told him, "that made the whole country belong to France."
"England couldn't see it. Still, the English claim was not much better. Commissioners from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia made a treaty with the Iroquois Indians in 1741. By the terms of that treaty, for something like $2,000, the Indians gave up all right and title to all the land west of the Alleghany Mountains, clear to the Mississippi River. There were all kinds of Indians living in the Ohio Valley but, according to the traditions of the Iroquois Indians, their forefathers once upon a time had conquered it."
"It looks like six of one and half a dozen of the other," I said.
"There wasn't a white settlement in the whole territory. Some hardy fur traders from Pennsylvania had made trips into the valley and this led to the formation of the Ohio Company of Virginia, with the object of getting ahead of the French and colonizing the lands. Then the French began to get busy. France owned Canada at that time, you know. In 1749 the French Governor of Canada sent three hundred men to the banks of the Ohio River with presents for the Indians. They ordered the English traders out of the country and nailed lead plates to trees, telling everybody that the land belonged to France. The Indians liked the presents well enough, but the lead plates made them mad, when they found out their meaning. One old chief exclaimed:
"'The French claim all the land on one side of the Ohio; the English claim all the land on the other. Now, where does the Indian land lie?'
"I have gone into this explanation in order to make it clear to you why Washington was sent on his scouting trip. Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia wanted to send some one whom he could trust to the French commander, to protest against the French coming into the country. At the same time, he thought the messenger would be able to find out how strong the French were, how many canoes they had, and all that. It was a perilous mission to undertake through an unknown wilderness, with winter coming on. Young Washington was only twenty-two years old, but he was selected as the one to make the dangerous trip.
"Major Washington started from Williamsburg, October 31, 1753. On the frontier he procured horses, tents, etc. Later he was joined by a famous woodsman, named Christopher Gist. They took along a white man to act as interpreter and some Indian guides. Chief White Thunder was one. Another was known as the Half King. His friendship was very important to the English.
"I imagine that the mountains which they went through were much like these, except that rains and snow had made them almost impassable. The party pushed on, however, and early in December arrived at the first French outpost. The French captain gave a feast in their honor, in the course of which he drank so much wine that it made him talkative. He began to brag of what the French were going to do. He said that they were going to take possession of the entire Ohio Valley. The young American scout kept his head clear and afterward wrote down in a book all that he had heard.
"Then Washington set out again, and after four more days of weary travel they came to the French fort on the west fork of French Creek, about fifteen miles south of Lake Erie. There he delivered his message, and after a great deal of delay received a sealed reply.