1748-1753.] MISSION OF WASHINGTON. 97 



a series of forts and settlements.^ His proposal 

 was coldly received, and his plan fell to the 

 ground. The time at length was come when the 

 danger was approaching too near to be slighted 

 longer. In 1748, an association, called the Ohio 

 Company, -was formed with the view of making 

 settlements in the region beyond the AUeghanies ; 

 and two years later. Gist, the company's surveyor, 

 to the great disgust of the Indians, carried chain 

 and compass down the Ohio as far as the falls at 

 Louisville.^ But so dilatory were the English, that 

 before any effectual steps were taken, their agile 

 enemies appeared upon the scene. 



In the spring of 1753, the middle provinces 

 were startled at the tidings that French troops had 

 crossed Lake Erie, fortified themselves at the point 

 of Presqu'-Isle, and pushed forward to the northern 

 branches of the Ohio.^ Upon this, Governor Din- 

 widdle, of Virginia, resolved to despatch a message 

 requiring their removal from territories which he 

 claimed as belonging to the British crown; and 

 looking about him for the person best qualified to 

 act as messenger, he made choice of George Wash- 

 ington, a young man twenty-one years of age, adju- 

 tant general of the Virginian militia. 



Washington departed on his mission, crossed the 

 mountains, descended to the bleak and leafless 

 valley of the Ohio, and thence continued his jour- 



1 Smollett, III. 370 (Edinburgh, 1805). 



2 Sparks's Life and Writings of Washington, II. 478. Gist's Journal. 



3 Olden Time, II. 9, 10. This excellent antiquarian publication con- 

 tains documents relating to this period which are not to be found else- 

 where. 



7 



