406 Frank Carney 



Hudson and Mohawk valleys, on the other hand, tempted emi- 

 grants to stop at every point; consequently the New York route 

 itself was found attractive and was settled almost completely 

 by the Dutch, whereas later colonists had to push on farther west. 

 Emigrants from the southern settlements, after crossing the 

 Blue Ridge mountains, sometimes proceeded southward through 

 the Great Valley to Fort Chiswell; at this point they turned to 

 the west across the Holston and Clinch valleys, and through the 

 Cumberland Gap into the 'Svestern" country. 



Early Efforts to Reach the Ohio 



In recent decades immigration to Ohio has been very active, 

 drawing people mostly from two extremes of social and financial 

 standing. Her numerous and evergrowing industries are attract- 

 ing laborers from Europe, and capitalists from other states. 

 These two sources are making valuable contributions to her list 

 of citizens. 



La Salle. It is doubtful, however, whether any man who has 

 come into Ohio since the French and Indian War sought the area 

 more eagerly than did La Salle in the seventeenth century. La 

 Salle was an intrepid explorer, and gifted with much diplomacy 

 in dealing with the Indians; he sojourned for some time among the 

 Iroquois in central New York. While he and his two Sulpitian 

 companions were with the Iroquois, they frequently heard of a 

 mighty river lying towards the west, which the Indians called 

 ''Hohio;" naturally La Salle wished to see it. They told him 

 that one could march many days along this beautiful river, and 

 at last would come to the dropping-off place, the Indian's designa- 

 tion for the seashore. La Salle saw the possibility of this being the 

 river that leads on westward to the '^ South Sea" which laves the 

 shores of India, consequently he decided to locate the ''Hohio," 

 and determine its relations. 



The three Frenchmen set out on a journey of exploration, 

 but this trip shortly came to an end, in a way least expected. ^ In 

 the wilderness, as they moved towards the west, they were very 

 much surprised at meeting a Frenchman, Joliet, who for years 

 had been wandering about the upper Mississippi basin making 



1 Parkman, La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West, \)p, 12-27. Boston, 1884. 



