Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II PIONEERS ATTRACTED TO OHIO The closing years of the eighteenth century and the opening years of the nineteenth century were especially marked by a broadcast emigration from the older States into the newly opened "Northwest Territory." This movement was one of the most remarkable in modern times in view of its wide range and its spontaneity, in spite of adverse conditions. It seemed unnatural for people widely scattered, having limited means of communication and of acquiring information, and having pleasant social surroundings and the comforts of life easily accessible, to suddenly break these ties and take upon themselves the hardships and dangers of a pioneer life, that required the scaling of rugged mountains, crossing of unbridged rivers, and the subduing of a trackless forest inhabited by wild beasts and savage men. But the general infatuation was sufficient for the emergency. Pack horses and moving wagons were courageously fitted up in widely scattered localities, and all were headed for the perilous journey to the new El Dorado of the West. This vast region, out of which were soon to be carved five great States, was bounded on the north by the Great Lakes, on the east by the Allegheny Mountains, and on the south and west by the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. This whole territory and a boundless region beyond was claimed by four States. In the minds and imaginations of many people in the East and Souththis virgin territory was not even limited by the above generous boundaries, so it was easy for the typical land agent of that day to expand the great territory into still more gorgeous limits, somewhat as follows: Bounded on the east by the Alleghenies, on the south by the Gulf of Mexico, on the north by the Aurora Borealis, and on the west by the setting sun. ...