to vast tracts in the unsettled West. For services in the French
and Indian War he was given twenty thousand acres of wild land beyond
the mountains--a cheap mode of reward, for the Ohio region was to all
intents and purposes more remote than Yukon is to-day. Many of his
fellow soldiers held their grants so lightly that he was able to buy
their claims for almost a song. The feeling that such grants were
comparatively worthless was increased by the fact that to become
effective they must be located and surveyed, while doubt existed as to
whether they would be respected owing to conflicting claims,
jurisdictions and proclamations.

[Illustration: The Porter's Lodge]

[Illustration: Driveway from the Lodge Gate]

Washington, however, had seen the land and knew it was good and he
had prophetic faith in the future of the West. He employed his old
comrade Captain William Crawford to locate and survey likely tracts not
only in what is now West Virginia and western Pennsylvania, but beyond
the Ohio River. Settlement in the latter region had been forbidden by
the King's proclamation of 1763, but Washington thought that this was
merely a temporary measure designed to quiet the Indians and was anxious
to have picked out in advance "some of the most valuable land in the
King's part." In other words he desired Crawford to act the part of a
"Sooner," in the language of more than a century later.

In this period a number of companies were scrambling for western lands,
and Washington, at one time or another, had an interest in what was
known as the Walpole Grant, the Mississippi Company, the Military
Company of Adventurers and the Dismal Swamp Company. This last company,
however, was interested in redeeming lands about Dismal Swamp in eastern
Virginia and it was the only one that succeeded. In 1799 he estimated
the value of his share in that company at twenty thousand dollars.

Washington took the lead in securing the rights of his old soldiers in
the French War, advancing money to pay expenses in behalf of the common
cause and using his influence in the proper quarters. In August, 1770,
he met many of his former officers at Captain Weedon's in
Fredericksburg, and after they had dined and had talked over old times,
they discussed the subject of their claims until sunset, and it was
decided that Washington should personally make a long and dangerous trip
to the western region.

In October he set out with his old friend Doctor Jame