Geography of Ohio 
177 
the tributary valleys in that part of the state. If he came from 
the south by the old Wilderness road^ from the Coast colonies, 
he probably crossed the Ohio at Maysville or farther west, and 
prospected northward through the valleys in that locality. The 
earliest party of all was attracted by the fertile lowlands where the 
Muskingum flows into the Ohio. 
Almost contemporaneous with the founding of this agricul- 
tural colony, Marietta, was the planting of a colony at Columbia 
near Cincinnati, located conveniently on the Ohio, and adjacent 
to two broad fertile areas extending toward the north, the valleys 
of the Great Miami and the Little Miami rivers. The Scioto 
also attracted early settlers, but disastrous experiences with the 
Indians checked the founding of permanent settlements near its 
mouth, as well as at some other points along the Ohio. 
Early importance of Cincinnati, The richest agricultural areas 
of the state, during the early decades of its settlement, were found 
in the southwest. The most rapid growth made by any town in 
the state was naturally associated with this center of agriculture. 
Accordingly, Cincinnati grew faster than any other of Ohio’s 
pioneer villages. The reactions that always follow prosperous 
farming tended to make Cincinnati the metropolis of the state, 
and so long as Ohio was known to the outside world as purely an 
agricultural commonwealth, Cincinnati continued to be its lead- 
ing city; when the dependence was placed later on other sources 
of wealth also, Cincinnati lost its position as the metropolis, 
giving place to Cleveland, 
ZanCs Trace, The condition which accounts for the settle- 
ment of agricultural areas extending north from the Ohio valley 
did not universally prevail during the pioneer days, because of 
another factor which came into operation when the Federal Con- 
gress decided to make a post-road across the state, from the vicin- 
ity of Wheeling to , a point on the Ohio opposite Maysville, Ken- 
tucky. Zane’s Trace started from opposite the present site of 
Wheeling, bore directly west to the vicinity of Cambridge, thence 
a little south to Zanesville, west again to Lancaster, thence south, 
crossing the Scioto at Chillicothe, and continuing southwestward 
to Maysville. This road led some pioneers to ignore the valleys, 
and to take up homesteads along its course. Accordingly, agri- 
cultural villages developed at an early date at the places named 
above. One other factor in the location of these villages is found 
