In a country where “George Washington Slept Here” is almost a cliche
I was tickled to learn about a petroglyph panel along the Ohio River that he probably witnessed on a trip into the Ohio Territory in 1770.
Smith's Ferry petroglyphs, Ohio River, Langdon, 1912.
“More than a decade after he left the army to become a gentleman farmer, George Washington traveled back to the frontier that figured so prominently in his early life. In the fall of 1770, Washington traveled westwards with his friend Dr. James Craik and three servants, traversing for nine weeks and one day. The trip was organized so Washington could view the lands that he earned in return for his service during the French and Indian war.” (Thompson) In other words his reward for serving the British Crown during the French and Indian War was a land grant that he was interested in visiting.
Washington’s actual journal entry on the day that he would have been by the petroglyphs was:
“21st. - Left our encampment about six o’clock, and breakfasted at Logstown, where we parted with Colonel Croghan and company about nine o’clock. At eleven we came to the mouth of the Big Beaver Creek, opposite to which is a good situation for a house, and above it, on the same side, that is the west, there appears to be a body of fine land. About five miles lower down, on the east side, comes in Raccoon Creek, at the mouth of which and up it appears to be a body of good land also. All the land between this creek and the Monongahela, and for fifteen miles back, is claimed by Colonel Croghan under a purchase from the Indians, which sale he says is confirmed by his Majesty. On this creek, where the branches thereof interlock with the waters of Shurtees Creek, there is, according to Colonel Croghan’s account, a body of fine, rich, level land. This tract he wants to sell, and offers it at five pounds sterling per hundred acres, with an exemption of quitrents for twenty years; after which, to be subject to the payment of four shillings and two pence sterling per hundred acres; provided he can sell it in ten-thousand-acre lots. At present the unsettled state of this country renders any purchase dangerous. From Raccoon Creek to Little Beaver Creek appears to me to be little short of ten miles and about three miles below this we encamped; after hiding a barrel of biscuit in an island to lighten our canoe.” (Sparks 1846)
Although Washington did not mention the petroglyphs he apparently explored the area as he designated one section as good for a house and others as fine cropland. Given Washington’s attention to the detail of the land it seems safe to assume that my would have had every opportunity to notice the petroglyph panel on horizontal sandstone in that area.
Smith's Ferry petroglyphs, Ohio River, Langdon, 1912.
The petroglyphs had been reported in 1755 by French travelers. “East Liverpool, Ohio - Chaussegros de Lery awoke on the morning of April 3, 1755, to find his encampment crusted with snow on what was to be a very cold day. About 10 a.m. the French Officer and his party moved across the Ohio Valley, navigating the terrain and streams as they made their way toward Fort Duquesne, then a French garrison at modern-day Pittsburgh. Around 3 p.m., de Lery recorded in his journal that the party crossed a river with which he was already familiar - he had encountered it 16 years earlier during a 1739 expedition under the command of Charles Le Moyne to Louisiana against the Chickasaw. ‘The river we left is called Riviere au Portrait, because at the mouth where it flows into the Belle Riviere, there are many signs and figures of men and animals chiseled on the rocks,’ he wrote. De Lery’s account presents one of the earliest written references to Native American carvings on a large, flat sandstone expanse at the confluence of the Ohio (Belle) River and Little Beaver Creek, which de Lery in 1739 named Riviere au Portrait, or ‘pictures in the river.’ ” (O’Brien 2020)
“For centuries, hundreds of these Native American carvings - or petroglyphs - stretched for about 10 miles along the Ohio River from Midland, Pa., through Wellsville, Ohio, to the Yellow Creek. - During the 1920s, a series of dams and locks was constructed along the Ohio, causing water levels along this part of the river to rise. By the 1950s, ‘super’ dams were added on the Ohio and the river rose even higher. Today, the petroglyphs are inundated under about 15 feet of water.” (O’Brien 2020)
Smith's Ferry petroglyphs, Ohio River, Langdon, 1912.
“The local site is actually located about a mile north of Beaver Creek on the same shoreline of the Ohio. The town that was once there was known as Smith’s Ferry. A local historian in 1908 from East Liverpool pioneered research on this site and four others around the East Liverpool and Wellsville areas. His name was Harold Barth. Seventy years later the director of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History James Swauger wrote two major books documenting petroglyph’s up and down the Ohio river. It wasn’t until these books were published that things really came to light. Swauger used most of Harold Barth’s research, drawings, and photographs because they were the only available information known of any of the five sites. Most of the sites have been partially destroyed or covered over by 20 feet of river when dams were installed on the Ohio.” (Langdon 1912)
Smith's Ferry petroglyphs, Ohio River, Langdon, 1912.
“On three occasions in 1940, 1948 and 1958, water levels along this part of the Ohio receded to a point where these images were exposed for the first time since the 1920s. For weeks, thousands of onlookers visited the stone outcrop near Smith’s Ferry, where the Little Beaver spills into the Ohio. The petroglyphs haven’t been viewed since. Yet many imprints of these markings survive. While some early photographs of the petroglyphs exist, the vast majority of the carvings are preserved thanks to the work of Harold Barth, and East Liverpool resident who in 1908 spent a year transferring the carvings onto large tracts of paper.” (O’Brien 2020)
Smith's Ferry petroglyphs, Ohio River, Langdon, 1912.
Barth’s method of recording petroglyphs was quite unorthodox by today’s standards. He had a crew of helpers clearing the rock surfaces of mud, silt, and other debris. They then poured printers ink and a liquid dryer into the outline of each petroglyph, after which the large sheets of paper were pressed onto the surface. This process was followed at sites at Midland, Brown’s Island, Babb’s Island, Smith’s Ferry and Wellsville. The resulting collection of images is today in the possession of the Museum of Ceramics in East Liverpool, Ohio. (O’Brien 2020)
So, did George Washington see these petroglyphs? He certainly could have, he was there, but he apparently wrote nothing about them. As absorbed as he was in inventorying his land and dreaming about future wealth he probably was not very interested in something as mundane as the carvings of so-called “primitives.”
REFERENCE:
Langdon, Jeff, 1912 The Indian Rocks, The Petroglyphs of Smith’s Ferry, Keramos Vol. III, May 1912, East Liverpool, Ohio, reproduced in http://eastliverpoolhistoricalsociety.org/indianrocks.htm
O’Brien, Dan, 2020 Learn the Mystery of the Ohio River Petroglyphs,The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio, https://businessjournaldaily.com/mystery-of-ohio-river-petroglyphs/
Sparks, Jared, 1846 Journal of George Washington written during an expedition along the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers, extracted from The writings of George Washington, Volume II, Charles Tappan publ., Boston, pages 516-534
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