Schuyler County, Illinois, Manlove Diaries

Submitted by LindaManlove
[email protected]

 
Mark D. Manlove age 23
John N. Manlove  age22
Two brothers who made theoverland trip to California, were asked to write an account of this tripfifty-five years later. They each wrote in their own style, neither havingmade any notes as he made the journey so long ago. The older brother Jonathanmade the trip at the same time in the same company but was unable at thistime to write, being in poor health.

Selma, Calif.

Feb. 25, 1904

Dear Niece,
    As requestedI will now give you a brief outline of the trip across the plains to California.In the year 1849 we left Shawnee the last of March, took a steam boat toAttica and went to Evansville, there changed to another boat and went toSt. Louis. We stayed there a week or two, bought our mules and other outfitfor the Plains, then went up the Missouri River by boat, which had manymishaps on the way, but were finally safely landed at St. Joe, Mo. It wastoo early in the spring to start across the plains, so we camped therefor several weeks. St. Joe was a lively town that year. There were hundredsof people camped there a month before the grass was good on the plains.There were all kinds of people from all parts of the country; gamblers,thieves and a few honest men. Large droves of mules were landed there,and all matter of fitting material for the plains. Old trappers, Indiantraders and fighters were there and you would hear the plains talked ofmorning, noon and night. A great many went back from there. Some got discouragedover the prospect of a hard trip. Some got drunk and fooled away theirmoney and some went back to their sweethearts. There were some companiesthat had been made up in eastern cities that had never been used to handlingmules and breaking them, it was better than a theatre. I recollect onecompany in particular that had been made up in Cinncinati, they each paid$300.00 dollars and three men were to take the money, manage the wholeaffair, pay all the bills and have whatever was left for their trouble.They bought a boatload of unbroken mules to commence with, then quarrledand the company broke up, most of them losing their $300.00. People neverfully know each other until they have lived in camp together.

Finally the time came tostart. There were three brothers of us, and one wagon, three men from St.Louis, splendid fellows that we had got acquainted with. They had a firstclass outfit. So we started together. They were loaded too heavy and couldn’thandle their team very well, so they stuck in the mud at every slough wecame too. We helped them the best we could, but at night we were only fourmiles from where we had started in the morning. The next day they got onbut a little better. In the afternoon they stuck in the mud, let the teamswing around and broke their wagon. So they told us to go on and they wouldgive up and not go to California. So, we went on alone up the  MissouriRiver, on the north side of Savannah Landing, fourteen miles below CouncilBluff. We crossed the river on a good ferry, from there on we were in thered man’s country and had to watch our mules continually to keep the Indiansfrom stealing them.

Fifty miles out from theriver, we joined a company from St. Louis that we had arranged to go with.They had started from another point on the frontier. It was now the 17thof May, 1849. Here we took into our mess Harvey MELVANY, later he was JudgeMelvany, and was a man of much notoriety in southern Illinois in the “sixties”.There were now four of us to one wagon. We had made the mistake of nearlyeverybody. That of buying twice as much as we needed of everything andmany things we did not need at all which made our load too heavy. We werenow in a company of fifty or sixty men. We organized by electing a captain,and started promptly the next morning. All were heavily loaded, the roadswere bad. We went very slow. Some one’s team would stick in the mud inalmost every slough. We had frequent rains. After we had been out abouta week there came a violent storm at night. It blew down the tents andwet things generally. Next morning the thermometer was down to freezingand the wind blew at a rate of thirty-five miles per hour. There was nowood in camp and no timber in sight. We didn’t have the least bit of awind break and the mules and horses were almost chilled to death. Theywere so cold they could hardly eat. There were many long faces and no comfortsin camp. About nine o’clock six of us volunteered to go after wood. Wewent off on foot six miles to a cedar canyon and got back to camp abouttwo o’clock each of us carrying a big load of dry cedar. The wind had slackeneda little so we fixed up a wind break, built a big fire, had a good dinner.Everyone got dry and all felt better. Next morning we started off in goodshape and spirits, about ten o’clock we came to a stream that in ordinarytimes was so small that our printed guide book did not mention it, butthe first team that crossed had two horses drowned. We pulled the otherfour out and saved them. That afternoon we were able to cross and go on.We were now traveling up Platte River on the south side. The Platte bottemsare from one to ten miles wide and as level as a floor. The river is aswide as the Mississippi, very shallow, swift and muddy. The water seemedto be full of moving sand. We were now in sight of Chimney  Rock whichcan be seen from a long distance. That evening a lone buffalo crossed theriver in sight of our camp. Some of the boys chased him round two or threemiles and finally killed him close to camp. Game was very plentiful. Weseen antelope and wolves every day and buffalo signs continuously.

Near the Platte River isa large Pawnee village. They built the best winter quarters of any Indianon the Plains using timbers and covering them with dirt. There was a patchof cornstalks here, which was the only sign of Indian farming that I sawthe whole trip. The village was deserted as the Pawnees were all hidingfrom a large number of Sioux warriors who were scouring the country braggingthat they were going to kill all the Pawnees that were left. The Pawneesand Sioux have always been enemies but both claim friendship for the Whites.Some of the immigrants found a young Pawnee that was nearly starved todeath. They tried to feed it, but it would not eat but tried to get awayall the time, the same as a wild animal.

Chimney Rock is several milesoff, south of the road . When we got opposite it one morning, I, with severalothers went out there. It is composed of soft rock, the seams running straightup and down. It has once been a high mountain peak that has raised outof the plains and the side have tumbled down and left the center standing.

By hard traveling we reachedcamp that night. Some men from an Iowa company went out to Chimney Rock,and as they were almost to return to camp a storm came up. One man stoppedand took off his clothes to take a shower bath. It turned out to be hailinstead of rain, and as he was in sight of the camp he went by the name”Shower Bath” from that time on. We got across the south Platte withoutmuch trouble and traveled on the south side of the North Platte. The roadswere good. In fact, there was no mud on the road to California except onthe first part. Fort Laramie is the next point of note, which we reachedwithout anything of consequence taking place.

Fort Laramie is a Trader’sfort, built by traders and trappers for protection against the Indians.It is built of sun-dried brick eight or ten feet high, four square likea Mexican Hacienda taking on ground enough so that the dwellings and storesare all built on the inside. The stock also is penned outside when thereis no danger The stock at the Fort had been  grazed on the range,had not been fed and were in good condition. Going next from the Mississippione comes to grass of different kind and quality from the grass in Illinois.It contains it’s strength better through the winter. From the MissouriRiver to this point the road is strewn with flour, bacon, mining tools,cooking utensils, sheet iron, stoves, horseshoes, kegs of powder, quantitiesof lead and all other things connected with an outfit. People are justbeginning to be in traveling shape. There are still lots of people turningback. The company that we started with had split up and separated a fewdays after we started, our part consisting of three wagons, of these threehad dropped out at different times, our three staying together from FortLaramie to South Parr.

After we left Fort Laramiewe went over thirty or forty miles of country different from anything wehad ever seen. Old trappers called it Black Hills. It is rolling, the hillscovered with small pines and no underbrush with rattling streams, betweenthe hills running over graveled beds, the prettiest place in America. Whenwe got to the place to cross the North Platte, the chances for crossingwere not so good. The water was deep, swift, and cold and there was noferry.

Finally we hired a big canoefor the use of which we paid three dollars apiece for each wagon. We tookthe wagons to pieces; took them, the harness and the other outfit acrossin the canoes; floated the wagon beds and swam the horses. We got to thecrossing about 10 o’clock and as there was no grass there for our horsesand mules, two others and myself took them off south about two miles tograze and were to fetch them back the next day. About sundown a young mancame out from camp and said they had sent him to stay with the horses andthey wanted me to come in and help them to cross the river. He broughtno gun and I had to let him have mine. It clouded up and rained soon afterI started and was very dark. After awhile I could hear a footstep behindme in the puddles of water. I had a first class hunting knife and was holdingit in my hand. Finally a big wolf howled about fifty yards away and thenthey howled all around me, five or six of them. That partly relieved thestrain for I knew wolves are not dangerous unless they were starving.,but it is not nice to have them around in the dark. Three wagons traveledtogether up the North Platte. We passed a curiosity and that was coveredoverwith a yellow moss six inches deep. Under that was ice six  inchesthick. The weather was quite warm, but still the ice remained and probablywould remain all the year. We saw some signs of mountain sheep on the NorthPlatte, but they kept out of sight. I never saw but one mountain sheepon the whole trip. It was killed and much larger than a domestic sheep.It looked like it would weigh three hundred pounds. We left North Platteand followed up Sweetwater to the summit of the Rocky Mountains. We wentabout a mile further and camped at what is called Pacific Springs.

Here is the celebrated SouthPass which was discovered by Lewis and Clark. It is considered a greatnatural curiosity. It is a plain thirty miles wide that extends over thesummit of the Rocky Mountains. It is level enough for farming land. Weleft our wagons here, bought another mule and packed the balance of ourtrip. We took pieces of the wagons and rigged up pack saddles, also suchthings as we were obliged to have and left the rest. We stayed at the springsone day to make our saddles. Next morning they all started on account ofthe scarcity of grass. Mark and I remained to sort the things, pack themules and follow. Among other things to be thrown away was a keg of powder. Someone had been taking our powder and had spilled some aroundand under the keg and the keg was left open. While we were sorting andpacking, a green Missourian came along. He bothered around and asked questionsand finally got some fire and touched off the spilled powder. It flashedover the ground and connected with that under the keg. The keg went rollingoff across the plain at high speed. One mule bucked off his pack [in] theexcitement. Mark told him that if he didn’t leave he would kick him inhalf a minute. He left.

After we packed six of ustraveled together. We three brothers, Mr. Melvany and two men from EastSt. Louis. We traveled about two hundred miles a week and rested on Sundays.Green River was the next bad river that we had to cross. It was swift,cold and deep with square banks. A horse or man couldn’t swim very longin it. Our horses would swim part way across and then come back. Finallythey they swam across but missed the landing place. They swam about a mileto where there was a gap in the bank and all got out, which was a greatstreak of luck as we thought they were going to drown. We went by FortBridger. Mr Bridger was an Indian Trader of great notoriety. He had builta fort two or three hundred miles west of Salt Lake. He seemed to be anice shrewd man. We didn’t see anyone around there except himself, hissquaw and an Indian boy. He said he had a bunch of Indians hired to prepareand bring in buffalo robes and they were camped about forty miles southeastfrom them hunting buffaloes. A short time after that we left Fort Bridger,we came to the foothills of the Wasach Mountains. They ascend graduallyon the east side but come down very steep on the west in to Salt Lake Valley.In crossing the Wasach Mountains we traveled through the deepest canyonon the whole trip. We could see young eagles on shelving rocks, hundredsof feet up the face of the wall. When we got to the summit we could seethe Salt Lake Valley. It took til the next evening to get to the city.We stayed there three days and were treated well. They were glad to seeemigrants for they were short of rations and had been since they firstgot to the valley. The emigrants had grub to spare, they had some smallfarms opened but the years harvest had not come off. They were very industrious,working every day at something. They had the Temple laid, some of the emigrantssaid that the Mormon boys sold their lariats in the day and stole themback in the night. I think there are some other boys that would do thesame. We started north from the city and went around the Lake on the northside. The road was good and hot springs numerous. We had a fine view ofthe lake. There is a large island in the lake which the Indians and someWhite people have a superstitious fear of. I saw one man that had beenon the island. He said there were a great many rattle snakes there andthat you could see a rattle snake every few steps. The Mormons had madefriends with the Indians in that part of the country. There was one smallband of Utes that they had to fight. Soon after they went there, they killednearly all the warriors, captured the squaws and children, took them homeand divided them among the Mormon families for servants. They work welland pretended to be satisfied, but ran away the first chance they got.There was a large band of Snake Indians camping near us while we were inthe city. They had been on bad terms with the Utes. One day while I wasin the Indian camp a delegation of  Utes came up to make a treaty.The squaws gathered up their children and left in a great hurry. We wereat Salt Lake. On Sunday the Mormons had an open air meeting. Brigham Youngpreached a rattling red hot sermon. There were twelve women sat on a benchnear the pulpit. A young man told me that there were Brigham’s wives. Hewas said to have twelve wives at that time. After we rounded the lake weturned west over a country that had a great deal of small brush on it ofvarious kinds, but none of it like the brush of Indiana. The ground waswhite with alkali and looked worthless. There were plenty of sage hens.Some of them as large as a small turkey, nearly black in color and verygood eating.

Soon after we passed wherethe Nevada line is now, we came to the Humboldt River. We had not seenany signs of buffalo since we left Salt Lake and there were no live onesthere now. The Indians said there had been a sleet storm eleven years beforewhich covered the ground for two weeks and the buffaloes had all starved.It seemed as if this were so, for we saw plenty of old horns and bonesalong the road, but no fresh ones. Humboldt River runs west to where itspreads out and evaporates. This is in a great basin and all the rain thatfalls into the Great Basin has to evaporate to get away. The last threedays we traveled along it, it seemed to grow smaller and to be sinkinginto the ground. About forty miles before we came to the lake, I stayedbehind to hunt a mule which took most of the day. After they had gone tenmiles Mark stopped to wait for me. It was moonlight at night and they wereto camp close enough to the road for us to see them. Mark and I traveledmost of the night and passed them without knowing it. The next day stillthinking they were ahead we pushed on to the Sink. Not finding them there,we packed a bunch of grass on each mule and when night came we startedacross the desert which was sixty-five miles the way the road ran then.When we were about out forty miles the road forked. Each one looked plainand we didn’t know which one to take, but that they came together furtheron. We took to the right which led into the Truckee River route. We traveledthat night and the next day and at night were in about two miles of theriver. There is a natural curiosity on the desert south of the road. Aboutten o’clock in the morning we saw steam like someone killing hogs. We sentover there and it turned out to be a geyser, but different from most geysers.There was a little round hill about six feet high and fifty yards across.There were about a dozen holes, eighteen inches in diameter, away downabout one hundred feet, we could hear water boiling and about once in twentyminutes the water would come to the top and boil over. The water lookedlike bluing and was said to be poison. The other part of our company tookthe left turn, which went to the Carson River. They crossed the mountainsmore than fifty miles south of the Trucker route. There were four of them,Jonathan and the three men from St. Louis. Trucker River was the firstwater we came too, plenty of grass and the place looked fine. A man fromNew York got on his horse and traveled with us the rest of the way. Hewas an eccentric, disagreeable and cowardly man and seemed to be afraidall the time. We traveled up Truckee Canyon which in most places is abouthalf a mile wide. The river is small and very crooked running first toone bluff and then to another. The trail crossed it thirty times. Whenwe got to the summit of the Sierra Nevada Mountains , we had passed allthe emigrants on the road, except a company of fur traders with about adozen mules. One day when we were not far from the summit we lost the trail.There were mule tracks all around but not on the trail. We hid our mulesand started out to hunt the trail. It was bushy and looked wild. The oldman stayed with the mules. After awhile he got scared and started to comeover to us. He came within forty yards of us without seeing us and holleredquite loud. We could not answer for laughing. He then yelled very loudand got off a couple of the most doleful yells that I had ever heard. Hethought he was lost in a wild country. When we were about halfway throughthe canyon, one evening we saw tracks where there had been a band of Indians.We had fallen in with a party of four packers and thought we had bettertravel until after dark so they could not locate our camp. As luck wouldhave it, we came to a  camp of twelve men and camped with them andtherefore were not molested. There was said to be a band of Utes in thatpart of the country. A few miles after we passed the summit we came tothe place where the Donner party had been closed in, and so many of themstarved to death in ’46 Their camp was strung out along the road for threemiles. The stumps were about twelve feet high, where they had cut the treesabove the snow. At one place they had made winter quarters by the sideof a fallen redwood, which was fifteen inches thick and leaning it up againsta log. Redwood bark leaned up against a twelve foot log makes a good camp.The Donners went from McLain County, Illinois. I used to know some of theirfolks. The trail passed on the north side of Dormer Lake. Nothing of notehappened on the west slope of the mountains, only it was a rough
road to travel. We saw butone Indian and he was cunning. He was not bothered with any apparel.

We got to the Johnson Ranchthe fifteenth of August. It is noted for being the first place reachedby the starving Donner party. At the Johnson Ranch there were some oldadobe buildings which made it look as though it had been settled for along time. A man by the name of Nichols was keeping it the. He had a storeand stock ranch and there was a camp of half-civilized Indians. I recollectthat he sold flour, sugar and bacon, all at the same price-$0.40 per pound.There was a boat landing on the Sacramento River near Sutters Fort aboutfifty-five miles from there, where he said they were landing supplies forthe mines. They called it Barcadow [Note: embarcadero (Sacramento)]. Thenext evening, about an hour by sun, we walked every step of the way toBarcadow and got there the next morning by 10 o’clock. Our mules were thinand we could walk as far and fast and long as they could. We went to workand helped some men clear away the little sycamores and mount it on a frameof a Hotel. They bought the frame from a ship and gave them nine hundreddollars for it. It had been framed in Oregon and was the third frame buildingin the place. They paid us ten dollars per day and board and were gladto get help. There were about six hundred houses there all made of canvas.Lots of businesses were going on. More goods were going landed every dayand gold suckers coming by land and by sea. Each day you could see thatthe town was bigger than it was the day before. About this time someonewas heard to say Sacramento City and the name stayed. About August 10thJonathan and the three men from St. Louis got there, they had come by theCarson River route and had a hard time of it. Four of their horses gaveout on the desert, and in order to get any of them through they had totake the packer off and drive the last sixteen miles without a lot. Thenthey went back after the packs, the Indians had taken everything exceptone gun.

We started for the minesin a day or two. Went northeast about eighty miles and stopped on a streamthat empties in the Yuba River from the south side. The first place wetried was a good place to work. The first pan of dirt was good.

A Time Line

1783 – Britain recognizesthe independence of the United States at the Treaty of Paris.
1787 – The Continental Congressexcludes slavery from the Northwest Territory.
1788 – French physicistLagrange publishes his Analytical Mechanics.
1788 – Mozart composes 3symphonies: E-flat, G minor and Jupiter in less than 7 weeks.
1789 – Washington is electedas the first U.S. president; John Adams becomes vice-president.
1789 – Mutinous sailorsseize H.M.S. Bounty and take refuge on Pitcairn Island.
1790 – Leopold II succeedsJoseph II as Holy Roman Emperor.
1790 – Philadelphia replacesNew York as the temporary capital of the U.S.
1791 – Pierre Charles L’Enfantdesigns the new U.S. capital of Washington, D.C.
1791 – Toussaint l’Ouvertureleads a slave revolt in Haiti against the French.
1792 – Kentucky becomesthe 15th state of the Union.
1792 – Mary Wollstonecraftpublishes A Vindication of the Rights of Women.
1792 – The National Conventionproclaims France a Republic.
1793 – Louis XVI and MarieAntoinette are executed; the Reign of Terror begins in France.
1794 – Militia under GeneralHenry Lee suppress the Whiskey Rebellion in Pennsylvania.
1795 – The British captureCape Province (South Africa) from the Dutch.
1795 – Spain recognizesU.S. claims to West Florida (Mississippi).
1796 – English physicianEdward Jenner develops vaccination against smallpox.
1797 – David Thompson surveysthe Mississippi headwaters for the North West Company.
1798 – The territory ofMississippi becomes part of the United States.
1799 – The Rosetta Stone,the key to deciphering hieroglyphics, is discovered in Egypt.
1799 – The Russian-AmericanCompany is founded to administer the Alaskan fur trade.
1801 – Castlereagh securespassage of the Act of Union, which unites Britain and Ireland.
1802 – Napoleon is createdFirst Consul for life.
1804 – Meriwether Lewisand William Clark begin exploring the American north-west.
1804 – Napoleon crowns himselfemperor of France.
1805 – The Shawnee Prophet,brother of Tecumseh, begins planning an Indian uprising.
1806 – Emperor Jacques Iis assassinated; Haiti is divided between Christophe and Petion.
1806 – U.S. explorer ZebulonPike is sent west to descend the Red River.
1807 – Beethoven completeshis Fifth Symphony and begins the Sixth (Pastoral).
1808 – John Jacob Astorfounds the American Fur Company.
1809 – Frenchman NicolasAppert develops the first effective method for canning food.
1809 – John Stevens’ steamboatthe Phoenix makes the first ocean-going voyage.
1810 – American settlersrebel against the Spanish in West Florida.
1810 – Mexican priest MiguelHidalgo y Costilla leads a rebellion against Spanish rule.
1811 – The building of theNational Road, the first U.S. federal highway, begins in Maryland.
1813 – Oliver Hazard Perry’sships destroy the British fleet on Lake Erie.
1814 – Andrew Jackson annihilatesthe Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.
1814 – British forces burnWashington, D.C., but are repulsed at Fort McHenry.
1814 – Coalition armiesinvade France; Napoleon abdicates and is exiled to the island of Elba.
1817 – Construction of theErie Canal begins in New York State.
1818 – Illinois is inauguratedas the 21st state of the Union.
1820 – English poet JohnKeats writes Ode To a Nightingale.
1820 – English poet PercyBysshe Shelley writes Prometheus Unbound.
1820 – Russian Admiral Fabianvon Bellingshausen sights land in the Antarctic.
1820 – The first Americanmissionaries are admitted to Hawaii.
1823 – James Fenimore Cooperpublishes the first volume of The Leatherstocking Tales.
1823 – General Santa Annaleads a coup against Mexican Emperor Agustin I (Iturbide).
1826 – Felix Mendelssohncomposes his overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream at age 17.
1829 – Louis Braille publisheshis braille system of writing for the blind.
1830 – The Women’s magazineGodey’s Lady’s Book is published in the U.S.
1831 – Cyrus McCormick inventsa mechanical reaper.
1832 – George Sand (AuroreDudevant) publishes her first novel Indiana.
1834 – American inventorJacob Perkins patents the first practical ice-making machine.
1835 – American settlersbegin the Texas Revolution against Mexican rule.
1835 – Danish writer HansChristian Andersen publishes Tales Told for Children.
1836 – Texans under SamHouston defeat Santa Anna at the San Jacinto River.
1836 – The Arc de Triomphe,the world’s largest triumphal arch, is completed in Paris.
1837 – William IV dies;Victoria succeeds him as Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland.
1838 – John Deere developsa steel-tipped plow capable of turning heavy prairie soil.
1838 – Samuel F.B. Morsedevelops the Morse code for electric telegraph systems.
1839 – Hungarian composerand pianist Franz Liszt embarks on a concert tour of Europe.
1839 – The Opium Wars beginbetween Britain and China.
1841 – Edgar Allan Poe writesan early detective story The Murders in the Rue Morgue.
1842 – American explorerJohn C. Fremont begins surveying the Oregon Trail.
1842 – American showmanP.T. Barnum discovers the 40-inch midget Tom Thumb.
1843 – Danish philosopherSoren Kierkegaard publishes Either/Or.
1844 – French author AlexandreDumas (Dumas pere) publishes The Three Musketeers.
1845 – Failure of the potatocrop leads to a famine in Ireland.
1846 – The border betweenthe U.S. and Canada is established, settling the Oregon Question.
1847 – Maria Mitchell, thefirst woman astronomer in America, discovers a new comet.
1848 – The Treaty of GuadalupeHidalgo ratifies the cession of California and New Mexico.
1848 – The discovery ofgold at Sutter’s Mill begins the California gold rush.
1848 – The first U.S. women’srights assembly meets at the Seneca Falls Convention.
1849 – Amelia Bloomer publicizesbloomers (baggy trousers for women) in the Lily magazine.
 
 

Northwest Territory

The Northwest Territory, officiallycalled The Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, was established by theContinental Congress on July 13, 1787, by the Northwest Ordinance. The region was later called the Old Northwest.  Comprising the landwest of Pennsylvania between the Ohio and the Mississippi rivers cededto the U.S.  government by individual states in the 1780s, the territorywas later divided into the new states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan,Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota.  The policies that were devisedfor the sale of land and for the government in this region establishedprecedents for the settlement of the public domain across the whole ofthe United States. The Land Ordinance of 1785 had provided for the surveyand sale of mile-square sections of land.  After the first sales,in the area that is now eastern Ohio, the federal government began to allowland companies to purchase huge areas farther down the Ohio River. Congress passed the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 to provide for the governmentof the entire region.  The Ordinance was based in part on a plan
drawn up by a committeeheaded by Thomas JEFFERSON in 1784.  It stated that no fewer than3 nor more than 5 states were eventually to be formed from the region andset down an orderly procedure for the creation of these new states. In the first stage the entire Northwest Territory would be ruled by a governor,a secretary, and three judges appointed by Congress;  in the secondstage, when the free adult males residing in one of the territories numbered5,000, they could elect a territorial legislature and send a nonvotingdelegate to Congress;  and when the population of any territory reached60,000, it would be eligible to enter the Union as a new state equal tothe original states.  Slavery was prohibited in the territory.

In 1788 the OHIO COMPANYOF ASSOCIATES established Marietta, on the Ohio, and a few groups of settlersfollowed in the late 1780s and early 1790s.  The main settlement ofthe region began after Gen.  Anthony WAYNE’s victory over the Indiansat FALLEN TIMBERS in 1794.

Ohio was the first stateadmitted (1803) to the Union from the Northwest Territory.  U.S. control of the less populous frontier areas was challenged by the presenceof British trading posts in the Northwest and was firmly established onlyin the aftermath of the War of 1812. Reginald Horsman

Bibliography:  Horsman,Reginald, The Frontier in the Formative Years (1970);  Onuf, PeterS., Statehood and Union:  A History of the Northwest Ordinance (1987); Philbrick, Francis S., The Rise of the West, 1754-1830 (1965);  Scheiber,H.  N., The Old Northwest (1969)

Copyright 1999-2001 LindaManlove; all rights reserved. For personal use only. Commercial use ofthe information contained in these pages is strictly prohibited withoutprior permission. If copied, this copyright must appear with the information.
 
 

Return to SchuylerCounty and the California Gold Rush index