THE BURIED PLATES.--Paddling up the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario, these men carried their canoes around Niagara Falls, coasted along Lake Erie to a place near Chautauqua Lake, and going overland to the lake went down its outlet to the Allegheny River. There the men were drawn up, the French king was proclaimed owner of all the region drained by the Ohio, and a lead plate was buried at the foot of a tree. The inscription on the plate declared that the Ohio and all the streams that entered it and the land on both sides of them belonged to France. The party then passed down the Allegheny to the Ohio, and down the Ohio to the Miami, burying plates from time to time. [13] THE FRENCH FORTS.--Formal possession having been taken, the next step of the French was to build a log fort at Presque Isle (on Lake Erie where the city of Erie now is), and also Forts Le Boeuf and Venango, on a branch of the Allegheny. THE OHIO COMPANY.--But the English colonists likewise claimed the Mississippi valley, by virtue of the old "sea to sea" grants, and the same year that Céloron came down the Allegheny, they also prepared to take possession of the Ohio valley in a much more serious way. The French were burying plates and about to build forts; the English were about to plant towns and make settlements. Already in Pennsylvania and Virginia population was pushing rapidly westward. Already English traders crossed the mountains and with their goods packed on horses followed the trails down the Ohio valley, going from village to village of the Indians and exchanging their wares for furs. [Illustration: EARLY FORDS IN THE OHIO VALLEY.] Convinced that the westward movement of trade and population was favorable for a speculation in land, some prominent men in Virginia [14] formed the Ohio Company, and obtained from the British king a grant of five hundred thousand acres in the Ohio valley on condition that within seven years a hundred families should be settled on it and a fort built and garrisoned. GOVERNOR DINWIDDIE ALARMED--When, therefore, Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia heard that the French were building forts on the Allegheny, he became greatly alarmed, and sent a messenger to demand their withdrawal. But the envoy, becoming frightened, soon turned back. Clearly a man was wanted, and Dinwiddie selected George Washington, [15] a young man of twenty-one and an officer in the Virginia militia. WASHINGTON'S FIRST PUBLIC SERVICE.--Washington was to find out the whereabouts of the French, proceed to the French post, deliver a letter to the officer in command, and demand an answer. He was also to find out how many forts the French had built, how far apart they were, how well garrisoned, and whether they were likely to be supported from Quebec. [Illustration: WASHINGTON AT FORT LE BOEUF.]