Even in this state of nature, the county of Ontario " shows every sign of future respectability. No man has put the " plough in the ground without being amply repaid : and, through " the mildness of the winter, the cattle brought into the country " the year before, are thriving well on very slender provision for " their subsistance. The clearing of land for spring crops is going " on with spirit. I also found the settlers here abundantly " supplied with venison."

Such, it appears, was the situation of the county of Ontario in the year 1792. Its present appearance, contrasted with what it

WESTERN NEW- YORK. 1133

was at that period. I intend for the subject of another letter

from,

Dear Sir

Yours &c.

LETTER II.

Dear Sir,

Messrs. Phelps and Gorham having sold, to Robert Morris, Esq. of Philadelphia, nearly two thirds of their Lands, Mr. Morris resold them in England ; and the purchaser of Mr. Morris having arrived in America, began, early in the summer of 1792, to put in execution the plan he had formed for the improvement of the country. This gentleman having landed in Baltimore, was, at an early period, impressed with the idea that this new country, situated immediately north of the centre of Pennsylvania and Maryland, must reap great advantages from opening a communication across the Alleghany Mountains ; and his first attempt at improving the Genesee Country was to examine, in person, the possibility of opening the communication. Not discouraged by the inforuiation he had received of the impracticability of the object, with four companions, on the third day of June, 1792, he left the settlement at the mouth of Lycoming Creek, on the west branch of the Susquehannah, and entered the wilderness, taking a northerly course.