In 1800 there were about twelve hundred French Creoles and from eight hundred to one thousand Americans living in Illinois about nine-tenths of the State being occupied by the Indians.[161] The first colony of Europeans who formed a settlement in Illinois were Irish, and located on the Ohio River in 1804 or 1805.[162] From 1805-1809 the whole country on the margin of the Ohio, Wabash, and Mississippi Rivers, from where Alton now stands to Vincennes, commenced to improve.[163] The population of the States increased during this period as follows:[164] _1790_ _1800_ _1810_ West Virginia 90,000 11,000 132,000 Ohio 45,000 230,760 Indiana 24,520 Illinois 12,282 Kentucky 73,677 220,959 406,511 Missouri (1799) 6,005 20,845.[1] [1] Hall, J., The West, 248. In the early part of the great era of westward emigration the most important thoroughfare from the New England and Middle States to the Ohio Valley was the Pennsylvania Road, or "Pittsburg Pike" built in 1785-1787 by Act of the Pennsylvania Legislature. It extended 197 miles from Carlisle to Pittsburg. Even after the construction of the Cumberland 1806-1818, from Cumberland, Maryland to Wheeling, Virginia, (and subsequently as far west as Vandalia, Illinois), the majority of traders and travelers from Baltimore and Washington, as well as from more northern points, made use of this route, coming into it generally from McConnellstown, 130 miles from Pittsburg.[165] The few roads that crossed the mountains, were so wretchedly bad that wagons toiled over them with great difficulty, and a large portion of the merchandise was carried on the backs of horses.[166] The emigrants came out in wagons covered with tow cloth,[167] and drawn by oxen[168], or by two and four horse teams.[169] Upon reaching Pittsburg, the horses and wagons were sold at a great sacrifice,[170] or were carried down the Ohio River to the new home of the emigrant.[171]