Betty Zane | Page 4

was destined to
overcome all difficulties and make a home in the western world.
But fifty years and more passed before a white man penetrated far
beyond the purple spires of those majestic mountains.
One bright morning in June, 1769, the figure of a stalwart, broad
shouldered man could have been seen standing on the wild and rugged
promontory which rears its rocky bluff high above the Ohio river, at a
point near the mouth of Wheeling Creek. He was alone save for the
companionship of a deerhound that crouched at his feet. As he leaned
on a long rifle, contemplating the glorious scene that stretched before
km, a smile flashed across his bronzed cheek, and his heart bounded as
he forecast the future of that spot. In the river below him lay an island
so round and green that it resembled a huge lily pad floating placidly
on the water. The fresh green foliage of the trees sparkled with
glittering dewdrops. Back of him rose the high ridges, and, in front, as
far as eye could reach, extended an unbroken forest.
Beneath him to the left and across a deep ravine he saw a wide level
clearing. The few scattered and blackened tree stumps showed the
ravages made by a forest fire in the years gone by. The field was now
overgrown with hazel and laurel bushes, and intermingling with them
w ere the trailing arbutus, the honeysuckle, and the wild rose. A
fragrant perfume was wafted upward to him. A rushing creek bordered
one edge of the clearing. After a long quiet reach of water, which could
be seen winding back in the hills, the stream tumbled madly over a
rocky ledge, and white with foam, it hurried onward as if impatient of

long restraint, and lost its individuality in the broad Ohio.
This solitary hunter was Colonel Ebenezer Zane. He was one of those
daring men, who, as the tide of emigration started westward, had left
his friends and family and had struck out alone into the wilderness.
Departing from his home in Eastern Virginia he had plunged into the
woods, and after many days of hunting and exploring, he reached the
then far Western Ohio valley.
The scene so impressed Colonel Zane that he concluded to found a
settlement there. Taking "tomahawk possession" of the locality (which
consisted of blazing a few trees with his tomahawk), he built himself a
rude shack and remained that summer on the Ohio.
In the autumn he set out for Berkeley County, Virginia, to tell his
people of the magnificent country he had discovered. The following
spring he persuaded a number of settlers, of a like spirit with himself,
to accompany him to the wilderness. Believing it unsafe to take their
families with them at once, they left them at Red Stone on the
Monongahela river, while the men, including Colonel Zane, his
brothers Silas, Andrew, Jonathan and Isaac, the Wetzels, McCollochs,
Bennets, Metzars and others, pushed on ahead.
The country through which they passed was one tangled, most
impenetrable forest; the axe of the pioneer had never sounded in this
region, where every rod of the way might harbor some unknown
danger.
These reckless bordermen knew not the meaning of fear; to all, daring
adventure was welcome, and the screech of a redskin and the ping of a
bullet were familiar sounds; to the Wetzels, McCollochs and Jonathan
Zane the hunting of Indians was the most thrilling passion of their lives;
indeed, the Wetzels, particularly, knew no other occupation. They had
attained a wonderful skill with the rifle; long practice had rendered
their senses as acute as those of the fox. Skilled in every variety of
woodcraft, with lynx eyes ever on the alert for detecting a trail, or the
curling smoke of some camp fire, or the minutest sign of an enemy,
these men stole onward through the forest with the cautious but dogged
and persistent determination that was characteristic of the settler.
They at length climbed the commanding bluff overlooking the majestic
river, and as they gazed out on the undulating and uninterrupted area of
green, their hearts beat high with hope.

The keen axe, wielded by strong arms, soon opened the clearing and
reared stout log cabins on the river bluff. Then Ebenezer Zane and his
followers moved their families and soon the settlement began to grow
and flourish. As the little village commenced to prosper the redmen
became troublesome. Settlers were shot while plowing the fields or
gathering the harvests. Bands of hostile Indians prowled around and
made it dangerous for anyone to leave the clearing. Frequently the first
person to appear in the early morning would be shot at by an Indian
concealed in the woods.
General George Rodgers Clark, commandant of the Western Military
Department,