Thus with the French on the west and the English on the east of the Alleghanies, the two rival forces were slowly creeping toward each other, and were bound soon to meet, when the supreme struggle for possession of the North American continent would open. By-and-by, the French hunters and traders, as they climbed the western slope of the mountains, met the English trappers moving in their direction. Being the advance skirmishers of their respective armies, they often exchanged shots, and then fell back to report what they had seen and done to their countrymen. The fertile lands of the Great West had long attracted attention, and many efforts had been made to buy them at a cheap price to sell again to settlers. In 1749, the Ohio Company was formed by a number of London merchants and several prominent Virginians. The lands they bought lay in western Pennsylvania, which Virginia claimed as part of her territory. This company proved its earnestness by sending out surveyors, opening roads, and offering tempting inducements to settlers. The French were equally prompt and took possession of the country between the Alleghanies and their main chain of forts. They built a fort at Presq' Isle, on the site of the present city of Erie, and began erecting a new chain of forts southward toward the Ohio. Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia saw the danger of permitting this encroachment, and he wrote a letter of remonstrance to the French commander, which was placed in the hands of GEORGE WASHINGTON, to be carried five hundred miles through wilderness, across mountains and dangerous rivers, to the point in western Pennsylvania where the French officer was building his forts upon disputed ground. [Illustration: YOUNG WASHINGTON RIDING A COLT. One summer morning, young George, with three or four boys, was in the field looking at a colt, given him by his mother, and when the boys said that it could never be tamed, George said: "You help me get on its back, and I'll tame it."] The journey was a long and perilous one, but Washington, who was a magnificent specimen of vigorous young manhood, performed it in safety, and brought back the reply of the French commander, which notified Governor Dinwiddie that he not only refused to vacate the territory, but would drive out every Englishman he found within it. This meant war, and Virginia made her preparations. She raised about 400 men and placed them under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Washington, who was more familiar with the country than anyone else. The Ohio Company at that time were putting up a fort on the present site of Pittsburg, and Washington hurried forward to protect it. The Frenchmen understood the value of a post at the junction of the Alleghany and Monongahela Rivers, and also started on a race for it. They arrived first, captured the fort, strengthened it, and gave it the name of Fort Duquesne. That done, they set out to meet Washington, who was descending the Monongahela. OPENING OF THE WAR.