18 Beaver Town. — Fort Mcintosh. 



tain the number of their enemies. Wetzel, as soon as he saw that he 

 was discovered, discharged his rifle at random, in order to draw them 

 from their covert. Hearing the report, and finding themselves un- 

 hurt, the Indians rushed upon him before he could again reload : 

 this was as he wished : taking to his heels, Wetzel loaded as he ran, 

 and suddenly wheeling about, discharged his rifle through the body 

 of his nearest, but unsuspecting enemy. The remaining Indian, see- 

 ing the fate of his companion, and that his enemy's rifle was unloaded, 

 rushed forward with all energy, the prospect of prompt revenge be- 

 ing fairly before him. Wetzel led him on, dodging from tree to tree, 

 until his rifle was again ready, when suddenly turning, he shot his 

 remaining enemy, who fell dead at his feet. After taking their 

 scalps, Wetzel and his friend, with their rescued captive, returned 

 in safety to the settlement. Like honest Joshua Fleeheart, after 

 the peace of 1795, Wetzel pushed for the frontiers on the Missis- 

 sippi, where he could trap the beaver, hunt the buffalo and the deer, 

 and occasionally shoot an Indian, the object of his mortal hatred. 

 He finally died as he had always lived, a free man of the forest. 



Beaver town, Pa., May 8. — The boat arrived at the mouth of the 

 Beaver* river, at 12, midnight, and landed me at " the point;" from 

 this place it is about a mile to the town of Beaver, situated on an 

 elevated plain, from seventy to eighty feet above the Ohio bottoms. 

 This plain is about a mile in length and half a mile in width ; and is 

 an ancient alluvion, deposited by the Ohio river, at some remote pe- 

 riod. The main body of it is composed of gravel and pebbles, with 

 an argillaceous earth, at or near the surface, affording a tolerably 

 good soil for cultivation and the growth of forest trees. Great num- 

 bers of sandstone bowlders are scattered over its surface, rounded 

 and water worn by attrition ; they are far more numerous than I have 

 seen at any other place. The tillage of Beaver town, stands near 

 the western side of the plain. It is the county seat for Beaver coun- 

 ty, Pa., and contains about eight hundred inhabitants. A new town 

 called Bridgewater, has been laid off on the canal, a short distance 

 above the outlet, which is destined to take precedence in mercantile 

 business of the present village of Beaver town. 



Fort Mcintosh. — Fort Mcintosh, one of the earliest, if not the 

 very first fort, built by the Americans on the right bank of the Ohio, 



* According to Mr. Heckewelder, the Big Beaver river, was called by the Del- 

 aware Indians, Kaskask-sipee, from the Indian town of Kuskuschki, 



