History of Mingo Junction

History Of Mingo Junction Let us go back in history and follow the trail English claimed their charters granted them all the that emerges out of the dim past of the 1600's. The land from "sea to sea." first steps can be guided only by a misty thread of During this conflict, the Indian tribes had their legend. From the shores of the Great Lakes to the claims to the Ohio Valley and were also fighting North were the homes of many Indian tribes. among themselves. Before the English arrived at Data has been obtained as to the race of people Jamestown, the Iroquois had completely subjugated inhabiting what now constitutes the state of Ohio. the Delawares, who, with other tribes of Pennsyl- This territory, between Lake Erie on the north and vania, were ruled by a chief sent by the Iroquois the Ohio River on the south, was a vast wilderness for that purpose. Among them was the Cayuga chief covered with deep, dense wooded hills and great Skikellmus, father of the famous Chief Logan, who rivers. was born at Shomokin on the Susquehanna. With the discovery of America by Columbus in One writer says, "At the commencement of the 1492 and then nearly two hundred years later the eighteenth century, the territory now Ohio was English settlement at Jamestown in 1607, these derelect except for the indomitable Indians of the English colonies grew and prospered along the North, who made it a trail of further hostilities or Atlantic Coast from Massachusetts to the tip of roamed its hunting grounds." But it is certain that Florida to the south. The Appalachian Mountains by 1750 they had fully settled in Ohio. kept the colonists from exploring the Ohio Valley, In fact, the Ohio country was a favorable site the gateway to the West. for rapid development of a vigorous population just The French claimed Quebec in 1608. Although as it has been ever since. these colonies were hundreds of miles apart, they were in constant conflict over the fertile Ohio INDIAN FOOD Valley. They were chiefly interested in fur trading There were openings along the river banks and with the Indians. It is said that Elienne Brule, a in the dense green forests for a moderate cultivation French trader, in 1615, wanted the Erie Indians to desired by the Indians for village sites. Wild game join the French against the Iroquois. If this is true, and fruits were abundant. The white settlers de- he is believed to be the first white man to' enter pended on the Indians for these supplies to avert what is now Ohio. Yet Robert LaSalle, a French famine. explorer, in 1669, is credited as being the first Authority states that Indian corn, or maize, white man to really explore the upper Ohio Valley. could be prepared in thirty different ways, each with Friendly Indians converted by French mis- its own name. The early settlers and Indians had sionaries spoke to LaSalle of the "Oyo (O-hu-yah)." pumpkins, sweet potatoes, wild potatoes, turnips, The French called it "La Belle Rivieri," the Beau- different kinds of nuts, paw-paws, strawberries, tiful River. blackberries, raspberries, maple sugar, plums, His journey through the Ohio Valley is import- persimmons, grapes, wild honey, oil from walnuts, ant. He left Montreal in the summer of 1669, but the bears, fish, wild turkey, elk, and deer. They also route he followed is not known, as part of his diary cultivated tobacco. "As the towns developed, a store was lost. He traveled up the St. Lawrence to the without the statue of an Indian would hardly be re- east end of Lake Ontario, then overland to the cognized." So if Ohio country was not a Garden of Allegheny, 'and down the Allegheny to the Ohio Eden, it was a settler's paradise. River in 1670. The banks of the river at the time were covered RELIGION AND MYTHOLOGY with snow, and the canoe floated out on to the swift Religion and mythology among the tribes were current of the "Beautiful River" or the beautiful different. In the Indian's conception of a God, Ohio River as we know it today. At this time, morals had no part. The Good Spirit gave good luck, LaSalle's twenty companions and an Indian guide necessities, and desires. The Evil Spirit is simply left him alone in the wilderness many miles from the agent of disease, death, and mischances. In no home, but with the help of friendly Indians, he made Indian language could the early missionaries find a the entire trip back to Montreal on foot. This leaves word to express the idea of God. little doubt that he discovered the historic river. "Manituo" and "Oki" meant anything endowed In preparing this brief history of early settlers with supernatural powers. The Jesuit priests used of Ohio country, we have aimed to give only an the "Great Chief of Man" and "He who lives in the outlined picture of the conditions and character of Sky" to help them to understand that God rules over the settlers who controlled the Ohio wilderness at men and animals and is the "Master of All other the advent of the white man; this outline will give a Spirits." Thus, in that way they believed-if not in better understanding of what follows. immortality-in their happy hunting grounds. THE AMERICAN INDIAN INDIAN CLOTHING The Allegheny Mountains were to have been the Indian clothing consisted of blankets made of boundary between the French and English-yet the beaver and racoon skins with frocks, skirts, petti- - 14 -.

Load more