Page:A Topographical Description of the State of Ohio, Indiana Territory, and Louisiana.djvu/16

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of Ohio, but made little progress until after the close of the Indian war.

Another very considerable settlement commenced, in 1796, on a tract of land, called the Virginia Reservation, situated between the Scioto and Little Miami rivers. This land was located by army warrants, granted originally to the troops of the Virginia line of the revolutionary army. A part of the settlers were from Virginia, but far the greatest number from the State of Kentucky. The town of Chillicothe was began in the autumn of this year (1796), and so rapid was the increase of inhabitants that it was made an incorporate town in about five years. The Territorial Assembly of the representatives of the people convened in this town for several years, and it continued the seat of government until 1809, when, by act of Assembly, it was moved to Zanesville on the river Muskingum.

On the 13th of April, 1802, the people were authorized, by an act of Congress, to form a constitution and State government, and were accordingly admitted into the Union upon the same footing with the original States. By the same act, the boundaries of the State were established on the following lines, viz. "Beginning on the east by the Pennsylvania line; on the south, by the Ohio river to the mouth of the Great Miami river; on the west by a line drawn due north from the mouth of the Great Miami,