ime, red, white
and yellow flowers; at a distance each tree resembling in aspect so many
large bunches of flowers every where dispersed in the woods." This was
the Belle Riviere, or the beautiful river of the French, which they long
and valiantly sought to hold against the advancing tides of English
traders and land hunters. This was that glorious gate to the west,
through which floated the rafts and keel-boats of the American settlers
who took possession of the great northwest.

But notwithstanding the beauty and grandeur of this stream, there was
not, at the close of the French and Indian War, on the tenth of
February, 1763, a single habitation of either white man or savage on
either the Ohio-Indiana side, or on the Kentucky side of this river.
Says General William Henry Harrison: "The beautiful Ohio rolled its
'amber tide' until it paid its tribute to the Father of Waters, through
an unbroken solitude. Its banks were without a town or village, or even
a single cottage, the curling smoke of whose chimney would give the
promise of comfort and refreshment to a weary traveler."

The reason for this solitude is apparent. To the south of the Ohio lay
the "Dark and Bloody Ground" of Kentucky; "Dark," because of its vast
and almost impenetrable forests; "Bloody," because of the constant
savage warfare waged within its limits by roving bands of Miamis,
Shawnees, Cherokees, and other tribes who resorted thither in pursuit of
game. Says Humphrey Marshall, the early historian of Kentucky: "The
proud face of creation here presented itself, without the disguise of
art. No wood had been felled; no field cleared; no human habitation
raised; even the redman of the forest, had not put up his wigwam of
poles and bark for habitation. But that mysterious Being, whose
productive power, we call Nature, ever bountiful, and ever great, had
not spread out this replete and luxurious pasture, without stocking it
with numerous flocks and herds; nor were their ferocious attendants, who
prey upon them, wanting, to fill up the circle of created beings. Here
was seen the timid deer; the towering elk; the fleet stag; the surly
bear; the crafty fox; the ravenous wolf; the devouring panther; the
insidious wildcat; the haughty buffalo, besides innumerable other
creatures, winged, four-footed, or creeping."

This was the common hunting ground of the wild men of the forest. None
took exclusive possession, because none dared. The Ohio was the common
hig