on
produced war, and Pittsburgh became the strategic key of the great
Middle West. The French made early endeavors to win the allegiance of
the Indians, and felt encouraged to press their friendly overtures
because they usually came among the red men for trading or exploration,
while the English invariably seized and occupied their lands. In 1731
some French settlers did attempt to build a group of houses at
Pittsburgh, but the Indians compelled them to go away. The next year the
governor of Pennsylvania summoned two Indian chiefs from Pittsburgh to
say why they had been going to see the French governor at Montreal; and
they gave answer that he had sent for them only to express the hope that
both English and French traders might meet at Pittsburgh and carry on
trade amicably. The governor of Pennsylvania sought to induce the tribes
to draw themselves farther east, where they might be made to feel the
hand of authority, but Sassoonan, their chief, forbade them to stir. An
Iroquois chief who joined his entreaties to those of the governor was
soon afterward killed by some Shawanese braves, but they were forced to
flee into Virginia to escape the vengeance of his tribe.

Louis Celeron, a French officer, made an exploration of the country
contiguous to Pittsburgh in 1747, and formally enjoined the governor of
Pennsylvania not to occupy the ground, as France claimed its
sovereignty. A year later the Ohio Company was formed, with a charter
ceding an immense tract of land for sale and development, including
Pittsburgh. This corporation built some storehouses at Logstown to
facilitate their trade with the Indians, which were captured by the
French, together with skins and commodities valued at 20,000 francs; and
the purposes of the company were never accomplished.

III

Washington's first visit to Pittsburgh occurred in November, 1753, while
he was on his way to the French fort at Leboeuff. He was carrying a
letter from the Ohio Company to Contrecoeur, protesting against the
plans of the French commander in undertaking to establish a line of
forts to reach from Lake Erie to the mouth of the Ohio River. The winter
season was becoming very severe, in despite of which Washington and Gist
were forced to swim with their horses across the Allegheny River. On the
way they fell in with a friendly Indian, Keyashuta, a Seneca chief, who
showed them much kindness, and for whom a suburban town, Guyasuta, is
named.

Washington, in wri