As far as possible, disaster is guarded against by an elaborate system of reservoirs and levees, but a year seldom passes in which the river does not break through at some point and flood many miles of the Valley. The increased volume of the annual floods is ascribed to the fact that the forests which originally lined the banks of the Ohio and its tributaries have been cut down, with the result that the excess of water is not absorbed by the soil, but comes pouring down from the hills. NOTE 3 (PAGE 9) Pontiac, a powerful chief of the Ottawa Indians, is famous as the one Indian who succeeded in uniting the numerous tribes along the frontier in a well-organized confederacy for the purpose of driving the English from the country. The uprising took place in 1763 and the war continued for three years, during which period the Indians captured practically every frontier fort except Detroit, which was besieged by them for many months, but succeeded in holding out against them. The war is one unending succession of massacres and Indian outrages, but the Indians were finally overcome, chiefly through their inability to persist in an enterprise unless immediately successful, joined to the jealousies among the tribes themselves. Throughout the war Pontiac was a most romantic figure, brave and able, and with all those characteristics which go to make up "the noble Red Man." Pontiac was assassinated in 1769 by a Delaware brave who had been bribed to do the deed by an English trader who had a personal grudge against the great Chief. NOTE 4 (PAGE 55) Every one has heard of Boone and Kenton; but history has but little to tell of James Harrod, surveyor, pioneer and scout. It is known that, even before Boone penetrated into Kentucky, Harrod had built himself a cabin on the site of the present city of Harrodsburg. Under a gentle and mild exterior, he seems to have been one of the bravest and most resourceful of the group of pioneers who contributed so much to the settling of Kentucky and the Valley of the Ohio. About the only anecdote of him which has come down to us is of the time when, single-handed, he tracked five Indian braves who had destroyed a frontiersman's home and carried off two of his daughters. It seems almost incredible; but, without aid, he killed four and wounded the fifth Indian, and returned the girls to their father. His fate is shrouded in mystery. While in the prime of life he one day disappeared into the forest, and never returned, and just how he met his end will never be known. NOTE 5 (PAGE 62)