In February, 1784, Gallatin returned to Philadelphia, perfected the arrangements for his expedition, and in March crossed the mountains, and, with his exploring party, passed down the Ohio River to Monongalia County in Virginia. The superior advantages of the country north of the Virginia line determined him to establish his headquarters there. He selected the farm of Thomas Clare, at the junction of the Monongahela River and George's Creek. This was in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, about four miles north of the Virginia line. Here he built a log hut, opened a country store, and remained till the close of the year. It was while thus engaged at George's Creek, in September of the year 1784, that Gallatin first met General Washington, who was examining the country, in which he had large landed interests, to select a route for a road across the Alleghanies. The story of the interview was first made public by Mr. John Russell Bartlett, who had it from the lips of Mr. Gallatin. The version of the late Hon. William Beach Lawrence, in a paper prepared for the New York Historical Society, differs slightly in immaterial points. Mr. Lawrence says:-- "Among the incidents connected with his (Mr. Gallatin's) earliest explorations was an interview with General Washington, which he repeatedly recounted to me. He had previously observed that of all the inaccessible men he had ever seen, General Washington was the most so. And this remark he made late in life, after having been conversant with most of the sovereigns of Europe and their prime ministers. He said, in connection with his office, he had a cot-bed in the office of the surveyor of the district when Washington, who had lands in the neighborhood, and was desirous of effecting communication between the rivers, came there. Mr. Gallatin's bed was given up to him,--Gallatin lying on the floor, immediately below the table at which Washington was writing. Washington was endeavoring to reduce to paper the calculations of the day. Gallatin, hearing the statement, came at once to the conclusion, and, after waiting some time, he himself gave the answer, which drew from Washington such a look as he never experienced before or since. On arriving by a slow process at his conclusion, Washington turned to Gallatin and said, 'You are right, young man.'" The points of difference between the two accounts of this interview are of little importance. The look which Washington is said to have given Mr. Gallatin has its counterpart in that with which he is also said to have turned upon Gouverneur Morris, when accosted by him familiarly with a touch on the shoulder. Bartlett, in his recollection of the anecdote, adds that Washington, about this period, inquired after the forward young man, and urged him to become his land agent,--an offer which Gallatin declined.