this expedition of 1749 begins the authentic history of the Ohio River.[1]
Céloron and his detachment, with M. de Contrecœur as captain, proceeded up the St. Lawrence and into the lakes. After coasting the southern shore of Lake Erie, he arrived at the Chautauqua portage—now known as Barcelona or Portland—on the sixteenth of July; and with the dawn of the following day began the ascent of Chautauqua Creek, called by the French Rivière aux Pommes. Much patience and labor was expended on this unnavigable stream, and it was not until the twenty-second of the following month that the band entered Chautauqua Lake, having spent six days of this time in toiling over the six-mile portage which connects Chautauqua Creek with the lake. Céloron now voyaged down the lake and on the morning of the twenty-fourth of July entered Cone-
- ↑ Bonnécamps's journal was accompanied by a MS. map drawn by himself upon which were marked all the places mentioned in his journal of this expedition (1749). This map was preserved in the archives of the Department of the Marine with his journal but disappeared between 1892 and 1894 and its location today is unknown.
