o or three thousand acres, and prepare for that ideal
country home which had been the dream of his college days. Land here was
worth from thirty cents to four dollars an acre. His first purchase was
about one thousand acres, for which he paid one hundred pounds,
Virginia currency. Land speculation was the fever of the time. Savary
was early affected by it, and before the new friends left Philadelphia
for Richmond he bought warrants for one hundred and twenty thousand
acres in Virginia, in Monongalia County, between the Great and Little
Kanawha rivers, and interested Gallatin to the extent of one quarter in
the purchase. Soon after the completion of this transaction the sale of
some small portions reimbursed them for three fourths of the original
cost. This was the first time when, and Savary was the first person to
whom, Gallatin was willing to incur a pecuniary obligation. Throughout
his life he had an aversion to debt; small or large, private or public.
It was arranged that Gallatin's part of the purchase money was not to be
paid until his majority,--January 29, 1786,--but in the meanwhile he
was, in lieu of interest money, to give his services in personal
superintendence. Later Savary increased Gallatin's interest to one half.
Soon after these plans were completed, Savary and Gallatin moved to
Richmond, where they made their residence.

In February, 1784, Gallatin returned to Philadelphia, perfected the
arrangements for his expedition, and in March crossed the mountains,
and, with his exploring party, passed down the Ohio River to Monongalia
County in Virginia. The superior advantages of the country north of the
Virginia line determined him to establish his headquarters there. He
selected the farm of Thomas Clare, at the junction of the Monongahela
River and George's Creek. This was in Fayette County, Pennsylvania,
about four miles north of the Virginia line. Here he built a log hut,
opened a country store, and remained till the close of the year. It was
while thus engaged at George's Creek, in September of the year 1784,
that Gallatin first met General Washington, who was examining the
country, in which he had large landed interests, to select a route for a
road across the Alleghanies. The story of the interview was first made
public by Mr. John Russell Bartlett, who had it from the lips of Mr.
Gallatin. The version of the late Hon. William Beach Lawrence, in a
paper prepared for the New York Historical Society, diff