OHIO VALLEY

The Ohio River drains into a fertile basin that measures 203,000 square miles (528,101 square kilometers)—stretching across Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky. The river is formed by the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. From there the Ohio flows southwest, forming the border between Ohio and West Virginia. The river then turns west-northwest to form the border between Ohio and Kentucky before turning southwest again between Indiana and Kentucky, and between Illinois and Kentucky. Navigable by barges its entire length of 975 miles (1,569 kilometers), the Ohio River empties into the Mississippi River at Cairo, Illinois. The region surrounding the Ohio River is rich farmland. Commercial cities—trade centers that grew as transportation along the principal waterway increased—also dot the region.

The Ohio was first seen in 1669 by a European, French explorer Sieur de La Salle (1643–1687). In the first half of the 1700s, traders traveled the Ohio River, finding the surrounding valley a plentiful hunting ground. The fur trade flourished, making the region a coveted possession for both the French and the British. Numerous battles were fought in the valley, including the French and Indian War (1754–1763), the last major conflict in North America before the American Revolution (1775–1783).

The Ohio River Valley passed to British control (from the French) in 1763. In 1783 it became part of the new republic of the United States. Four years later the U.S. government established the Northwest Territory (the present-day states of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota). Soon many settlers traveled the Ohio River westward. By 1820, more than 60 steamboats plied the Ohio, which remained the main westward route into the region until 1825. Settlement of the Ohio River Valley was aided by the federally built National Road (completed 1852), New York's Erie Canal (1825), and by Pennsylvania's Main Line Canal (1837).

Two companies also helped develop the region. The first was the Ohio River Valley Company (sometimes called the Ohio Company of Virginia), formed in 1747 when England's King George II granted London merchants and landed Virginians 200,000 acres (81,000 hectares) west of the Allegheny Mountains. But conflicts with the French stymied British efforts to settle the region and the company failed. The Ohio Company of Associates was organized in 1786 in Boston, Massachusetts. Shares were sold to raise enough money to petition the Congress of the Confederation to purchase land beyond the Ohio River. Congress sold the company 750,000 acres (304,000 hectares) in what is today southeastern Ohio. In 1787 Congress passed the Northwest Ordinance, which set guidelines by which territories became states. The first settlement founded under the Northwest Ordinance was Marietta, Ohio, which was named the capital of the Northwest Territory in 1788. Within a year three more settlements were made in the territory. Ohio was admitted to the Union in 1803.