Geography of Ohio 421 



acy, because it was impossible to successfully guard the region 

 against invasion, except on the east ; even on that side the French 

 were not able to hold Ft. DuQuesne against the British. The 

 St. Lawrence and the Mississippi rivers aided European explorers 

 in penetrating the continent; citizens of France were the first to 

 investigate the St. Lawrence, and their activity centered in its 

 basin till the whole region was won by England. 



Any people inhabiting the northern colonies eventually would 

 be enticed westward through the Mohawk gap, thence along Lakes 

 Ontario and Erie into the Ohio country. The Appalachian 

 barrier checked the youthful energy of the early English explorers 

 and nurtured the coast settlements into the nucleus of a strong 

 nation. The more difficult passes, and broader wilderness belt 

 south of New York did not permanently restrain the hardy 

 frontiersmen. 



Because of its geographic environment, the land between Lake 

 Erie and the Ohio river has supported a succession of inhabitants, 

 and been subject to several rulers: 



L The Ohio area was first occupied by people of whom we 

 know nothing; books simply speak of them as '' prehistoric." 

 Ownership must have been well established by this unknown 

 people ; there is scarcely a county of the state in which their works 

 are not found, representing great labor. Whoever these early 

 inhabitants were, they worked. Whatever may have been their 

 purpose, this labor represents some motive that must have 

 actuated them as a people. The great earth structures that 

 abound, adjacent to, and in many of the wide fertile valleys of 

 Ohio, less frequently on the intervening hills, represent more than 

 individual ambition. This must have been an ambitious people; 

 their mute testimonials will long endure. The location of their 

 more extensive works reflects the influence of topography; later 

 inhabitants have ver}- often selected the same sites. Possibly 

 these prehistoric settlers had to contest the ground with earlier 

 inhabitants, or to repel invasion. 



2. After these came the American Indians, who were scattered 

 about the state when the first white man visited the area. Their 

 ownership was based on ''squatter sovereignty" which, under 

 some restrictions, has usually been a sufficient title among Eng- 

 lish peoples. The Indians of Ohio never occupied the territory 

 long in peace; they were frequently harassed by the strong Iro- 



