THE UNKNOWN REGIONS OF THE WEST.

One hundred and three years had passed away since the founding of Jamestown, and the little colony of one hundred and five souls had grown to nearly one hundred thousand. Hardy pioneers had extended the domain of civilization far into the interior. There were now twentyfour counties in Virginia, and settlements were approaching the eastern base of the Blue Ridge, but of the country beyond the "rocky barrier" nothing whatever was known, The most daring adventurer had not dared to penetrate this unknown wilderness. But the conquest of the wilderness was the mission of those determined spirits who had fled from oppression in the Old World to find a home of freedom on the shores of the New. Governer Spotswood determined to know something more of this region, and accordingly equipped a company of horsemen, and heading it in person began his march from Williamsburg through a dense wilderness inhabited by wild beasts and savage men. Toiling on for several days, the expedition at last reached the base of the Alleghanies, and pushing upward through the narrow defiles the intrepid governor and his little party reached the summit and stood upon one of the loftiest peaks of the Appalachian range. What a spot! Never before, perhaps, had the footsteps or the voice of civilized man been heard amid this mountain fastness. As that little band stood there gazing westward into an illimitable wilderness, they there resolved that its vast extent should be peopled, redeemed from the sway of savage men, and the forest be made to blossom as the rose. How well that resolution has been carried into effect, let the fifteen millions of happy and prosperous people who now throng the great valley of the Mississippi answer.

The party returned to Williamsburg and gave the most glowing description of the country which they had visited. Amid forests of fragrant trees and perfumed alcoves, spots more enchantingly beautiful than were ever graced by Calypso and her nymphs, they had discovered those mysterious hygeian fountains from which flowed these life-giving waters which have since obtained a world-wide fame. In order to induce emigration to the West, the governor established the "Transmontane Order, or Knights of the Golden Horseshoe," giving to each of those who accompanied him a miniature golden horseshoe bearing the inscription, Sic Jurat transcendere Montes" (thus he swears to cross the mountains). These were given to whoever would accept them, with the understanding that he would comply with the inscription. (See De Hass, page 35.)

Panunkies!

SILVER MEDAL PRESENTED THE INDIAN POTENTATE, THE

"KING OF PAMUNKIE,"

By the Colonial Authorities of Virginia.

FIRST SETTLEMENTS WEST OF THE MOUNTAINS "WESTWARD THE STAR OF EMPIRE TAKES ITS WAY."

Many daring adventurers crossed the rocky barrier during the succeeding years, but it was not until the year 1732 that a permanent setlement was made west of the mountains. In this year sixteen families from Pennsylvania came over and began a settlement near where Winchester now stands. They were guided to the location by a gentleman named Joist Hite, and to them is due the credit of having first planted the standard of civilization in Virginia, west of the mountains. (Kerchevel, page 65.)

The second settlement was made in 1734 by Benjamin Allen and three others on the north branch of the Shenandoah, about twelve miles south of the present town of Woodstock. Other adventurers pushed on and settlements gradually extended west, crossing the Capon river, North Mountain and the Alleghany range, until finally they reached the tributaries of the Monongahela (MS. volume of Dr. Ruffner). For twenty years after the settlement about Winchester, the natives inhabiting the mountains and intervening vales remained in a state of comparative quiet; but about this time a circumstance occurred which led to a much better acquaintance with the vast and unexplored regions of the West. Two men, Thomas Morlen and John Salling, determined to explore those unknown regions, and accordingly set out from Winchester. They journeyed up the Shenandoah, crossed the James river near the Natural Bridge, and had progressed as far as the Roanoke, when they were attacked by a party of Cherokees, and Salling was made prisoner. Morlen made his escape from them and returned in safety to the settlement. Salling was carried captive into what is now called Tennessee, where he remained with them for several years. While on a hunting expedition with some of his tribe, they were attacked by a party of Illinois Indians, who were the deadly enemies of the Cherokees, and Salling was a second time borne off a prisoner.

This occurred in what is now the State of Kentucky, which was at that time the favorite hunting-ground of all the tribes of the Mississippi Valley. Salling was taken by his new captors to Kaskaskia, and was afterward sold to a company of Spanish traders on the Lower Mississippi, who in turn sold him to the governor of Canada, and he transferred him to the Dutch authorities at Manhattan; thence he succeeded in reaching Williamsburg, after an absence of more than six years. (De Hass, page 38.)

About the time that Salling returned to Williamsburg, a considerable addition was made to the population of Virginia by the arrival of emigrants at Jamestown, among whom were John Lewis and John Mackey, both of whom were desirous of securing land in the West. Struck with Salling's description of the country which he had traversed, where mighty rivers, flowing from unknown sources amid the icy fountains of the far North, rolled their transparent waters in majestic grandeur to the South; where stretched away vast plains fringed with primeval for

VIRGINIA AND VIRGINIANS.

ests which seemed to be the culminating point of the plant regions of the Northern Hemisphere, they determined to visit it, having first engaged Salling as a guide. The three crossed the mountains, and descending the western declivities, they were so much pleased with the country that they decided to locate and take up their final abode. Accordingly they both set about finding a suitable location. Lewis selected as the place of his future residence a site on a stream which still bears his name. Mackey chose a spot on the Shenandoah; and Salling, having concluded to remain, chose a tract of land on the waters of the James, where he built his cabin.

Lewis made application for and received a grant of one hundred thousand acres of land; and while in Williamsburg perfecting his claim, he met with Benjamin Burden, who had just arrived from England as the agent of Lord Fairfax, to whom James II. had granted five hundred thousand acres of land to be located west of the Blue Ridge, and prevailed upon him to accompany him to his home. Burden remained at Lewis' the greater part of the summer, and on his return to Williamsburg took with him a buffalo calf which he and Andrew Lewis (afterward General Lewis) had caught and tamed. He presented it to Governor Gooch, who was so much pleased with his mountain pet that he entered on his journal a patent authorizing Burden to locate any quantity of land not exceeding five hundred thousand acres on any of the waters of the Shenandoah or James rivers west of the Blue Ridge. One of the conditions of this grant was that he should settle one hundred families in ten years within its limits, and for this purpose Burden sailed for Europe in the year 1737, and upon his return to Virginia brought with him upward of one hundred families of adventurers to settle upon his grant. Among these emigrants were many who became the founders of some of the most distinguished families of Virginia. Of these were the Alexanders, Crawfords, McDowells, McLures, Moores, Matthews, Pattons, Prestons, Tolfords, Archers and others.

ORGANIZATION OF THE FIRST COUNTIES OF THE BLUE RIDGE.

In the year 1738 the Colonial Legislature of Virginia passed a bill providing for the organization of a new county west of the Blue Ridge, and accordingly Orange county was divided into two parts, and the new county named Augusta. The pioneers of this county were so much distinguished for their heroism, which struck terror and dismay into the Indians, that during the darkest days of the Revolution, when the Pennsylvania and New Jersey troops had mutinied, and it seemed that all was lost, Washington was heard to exclaim: "Leave me but a banner to place upon the.mountains of West Augusta, and I will rally around me the men who will lift our bleeding country from the dust and set her free."

THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.

ENGLAND AND FRANCE CLAIMS OF THE TWO NATIONS TO THE OHIO VALLEY.

As has been seen, France had taken possession of that part of the continent lying far away towards the Arctic Circle, and had planted settlements along the St. Lawrence; her discoverers, Jolliette and Marquette, had explored the country from the extreme north-east to the Gulf of Mexico, and upon these discoveries she based her claim to all that part of the continent drained by the Mississippi river and its tributaries. And when the English crossed the rocky barrier and began to penetrate into the Ohio Valley, she viewed these encroachments upon her soil with a jealous eye, and at once determined to oppose them at all hazards. France rested her claim to the Ohio and Kanawha valleys upon the recognized law of nations that "The discovery of the mouth of the river should entitle the nation making the discovery to the country drained by that river and its tributaries." The claim thus set up by France and resisted by Great Britain is exactly the same as that upon which the United States subsequently based their claims to the Territory of Oregon. England claimed that aside from her title by purchase, she held, under the discovery of John and Sebastian Cabot (1498), the entire region lying between the 38th and 64th parallels of north latitude, a zone extending across the continent from ocean to ocean. She also set up another claim-priority of discovery, a claim uttterly absurd and entirely untenable.

France, convinced of the justness of her claims, after addressing an appeal to the nations of the world, determined not to yield before the threatening attitude of her powerful rival, and immediately set about adopting the most effective measures for maintaining her claim to the great Valley of the West, and accordingly began the erection of a cordon of forts extending from the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico, the most important of which were those at Fontinac, Niagara, Detroit, Green Bay, Vincennes, Kaskaskia, Natchez and Biloxi. In the year 1720 she erected Fort Chatres, in what is now Illinois. It was constructed by an engineer of the Vauben school, and was one of the strongest fortifications ever erected on the continent of North America.

In 1748 the British parliament passed laws authorizing the formation of many new settlements and issued many land grants, in which the interests of British commerce were consulted, rather than the articles of