town and Red Stone Old Fort (Brownsville), on its
course to Pittsburgh. The county seat of Fayette is the borough of Union
or Uniontown. Gallatin's log cabin, the beginning of New Geneva, was on
the right bank of the Monongahela, about twelve miles to the westward of
the county seat. Opposite, on the other side of the river, in Washington
County, was Greensburg, where his friend Badollet was later established.

Again for a long period Gallatin left his family without any word
whatever. His most indulgent friend, Mademoiselle Pictet, could hardly
excuse his silence, and did not hesitate to charge that it was due to
misfortunes which his pride prompted him to conceal. In the early days
of 1786 a rumor of his death reached Geneva, and greatly alarmed his
family. Mr. Jefferson, then minister at Paris, wrote to Mr. Jay for
information. This was Jefferson's first knowledge of the existence of
the young man who was to become his political associate, his philosophic
companion, and his truest friend. Meanwhile Gallatin had attained his
twenty-fifth year and his majority. His family were no longer left in
doubt as to his existence, and in response to his letters drafts were at
once remitted to him for the sum of five thousand dollars, through the
banking-house of Robert Morris. This was, of course, immediately applied
to his western experiment. The business of the partnership now called
for his constant attention. It required the exercise of a great variety
of mental powers, a cool and discriminating judgment, combined with an
incessant attention to details. Nature, under such circumstances, is not
so attractive as she appears in youthful dreams; admirable in her
original garb, she is annoying and obstinate when disturbed. The view of
country which Friendship Hill commands is said to rival Switzerland in
its picturesque beauty, but years later, when the romance of the
Monongahela hills had faded in the actualities of life, Gallatin wrote
of it that "he did not know in the United States any spot which afforded
less means to earn a bare subsistence for those who could not live by
manual labor."

Gallatin has been blamed for "taking life awry and throwing away the
advantages of education, social position, and natural intelligence," by
his removal to the frontier, and his career compared with that of
Hamilton and Dallas, who, like him, foreign born, rose to eminence in
politics, and became secretaries of the treasury of the United St