All the settlements suffered a hard winter. At Marietta the Ohio was frozen over from December until March and the settlers could not get to Pittsburgh for provisions. Their crops were not large the first year, and the Indians had driven the game away. Many lived on meat and boiled corn or coarse meal ground in a hand mill. Here again was demonstrated the heroism of peace.
Isaac and Rebecca Williams, living in Virginia, directly across the Ohio River from Marietta, had raised a goodly supply of corn, which, because of scarcity, had reached two dollars a bushel in the markets. Yet they chose to sell it to the hungry settlers at fifty cents per bushel, and proportioned it out according to the number of members of each family.
In order to raise larger crops to provide adequate food supply for the future, two branch settlements were made early in the spring. Fifteen miles below Marietta a farming community called Belpre was formed by 40 associates who had spent the winter in Marietta. Extending for five miles along the Ohio, the settlement consisted of upper, middle and lower divisions called respectively Stone’s Fort, Farmers’ Castle, and Newbury. Farmers’ Castle was a fortification containing 13 cabins built for safety during the Indian War. Soon after Belpre was settled, 39 associates moved 20 miles up the Muskingum to establish themselves at Plainfield, later called Waterford. Fort Frye was constructed as a place of refuge when the Indian War started. About a mile away a mill was built on Wolf Creek by some families who lived in the vicinity. Hearing of the growth of the Ohio Company settlement, the Virginia House of Burgesses appropriated money for a road from Alexandria to the Ohio River opposite Marietta. Merchandise was hauled over this road for many years.
FORT WASHINGTON, CINCINNATI
Drawn by Junior Vahle, Quincy, Illinois
The Ohio Company assisted settlers in establishing themselves. Surveyors went out to lay off the lots at times when it was necessary to maintain a guard of soldiers against Indian attacks. The Ohio Company’s Land Office in which the surveys were recorded, is now the oldest building in Ohio. Liberal grants of land were made to persons who constructed mills for the convenience of settlers. The first flour mill in Ohio was erected about a mile from the mouth of Wolf Creek in 1789 by Major Haffield White, Colonel Robert Oliver, and Captain John Dodge. In 1797 a brickyard and tannery were established on land provided by the Ohio Company. In December of the same year Peletiah White started a small earthenware pottery, which according to Samuel P. Hildreth “was probably the first establishment of the kind north of the Ohio.” The directors provided for the fencing and ornamentation of the public squares in Marietta. For example, Marie Antoinette Square was leased to Rufus Putnam on condition that he plant mulberry, elm, honey locust, and evergreen trees in a specified design.
Near the end of the year 1788 the directors of the Ohio Company had become worried over the fact that thousands of immigrants floated past Marietta to settle in Kentucky. To attract some of these people to remain in the Ohio Company purchase the directors offered 100 acres to men who would agree to build a dwelling house 24 by 18 feet within five years, plant 50 apple or pear trees and 20 peach trees within three years, cultivate five acres, and provide themselves with arms and ammunition for defense. Settlements on donation lands were expected to serve as outposts of defense against Indian attack. After granting some free tracts, the Ohio Company found the practice too expensive and successfully petitioned Congress in 1792 for a tract of 100,000 acres for donation purposes. Located in the northeastern part of the Ohio Company Purchase, the donation tract was approximately 22 miles long and seven miles wide. In the autumn of 1790 a group of 36 men established a settlement on donation land 30 miles up the Muskingum from Marietta, at a place called Big Bottom.
The first town meeting in the territory was held in Marietta on February 4, 1789. Colonel Archibald Crary presided as chairman, and Ebenezer Battelle was elected clerk. A committee was appointed to draft an address to St. Clair, and report a plan for a police system. The police board appointed under this plan consisted of Putnam, Oliver, Griffin Green, and Nathaniel Goodale. In addition to their police duties, these men appointed a sealer of weights and measures, fence viewers, and a registrar of births and deaths. Laws were passed for the government of the community. Many of the regulations provided for defense against the Indians by completing Campus Martius and by securely bolting the gates at sunset. It was ordered “that the main Street leading from Campus Martius to Corey’s bridge, so called, should be cleared of logs and other woods that may obstruct it.” Residents of Campus Martius were ordered to construct walks of hewn logs along their cabins and to provide troughs or gutters to drain water from the eaves. Wagons, horses, cattle, and swine were not permitted inside the fort. One resolution prohibited the purchase of wild meats for the purpose of monopolizing the supply and charging extravagant prices.