History is indebted to biography for the greater part of its interest and value. It is not so much what a man thinks or believes as what he does, that gives him character. It was physical strength and a fearless spirit

that distinguished the brave and the bold in the heroic ages. It was these traits of character that gave Lorenzo Carter his renown as a valiant pioneer in the early settlement of the Western Reserve.

Lorenzo Carter, familiarly known as Major Carter, was born in Rutland, Vt., in 1767. He received but a limited education, but was endowed by nature with sound sense and a ready mother wit. At the age of twentytwo he married Miss Rebecca Fuller, a worthy young lady of his native town. The marriage took place on the twenty-eighth of January, 1789. Within a few years after the marriage, the happy pair conceived the idea of making themselves still happier by removing to the "far west "—the mystic land of golden promise. In accordance with this resolution young Carter and family, accompanied by Ezekiel Hawley, bade adieu to Rutland, early in the year 1796, with a view to a permanent settlement at some eligible point in the unbroken wilderness of the Western Reserve. When they reached Lake Erie they crossed over with their families and spent the winter in Canada. Hawley was the brother-in-law of Carter, and both were desirious of selecting permanent homes near each other.

In the spring of 1797 both Carter and Hawley, with their families, recrossed the lake, and arrived in Cleveland on the second of May. They were highly pleased with the appearance of the country, and especially with the beautiful valley of the Cuyahoga river. Hawley and family settled on the elevated land bordering this river, and about a mile from the lake. Carter preferred the eastern hillside near the mouth of the river, where he erected a log cabin, which was located a little north of the present viaduct or bridge at the terminus of Superior street. Here he and his family commenced their career in the wilds of the Western Reserve, amid wild beasts and still wilder men. The Indians at this time were numerous in the region of the Cuyahoga. Its valley was in fact the "Indians' paradise." The river that winds so gracefully along the vale abounded with fish, ducks and geese, while the adjoining forests afforded countless numbers of deer, bears, wild turkeys and other game, all of which were regarded by the Indians as their natural inheritance, and hence they viewed the encroachment of white men with suspicion.

The Cuyahoga originally ran through what is now called the old river. bed, and discharged its waters into the lake at a point west of the new breakwater. At that early day there stood a huge Indian mound near the mouth of the river where it now runs, which, it is said, must have had originally a diameter at the base of one hundred and fifty feet, and an

elevation of seventy-five feet. When the river left its old bed it ploughed a new channel in a direct line to the lake, and ran so near the east side of the mound that it soon undermined it and swept it away. The existence of the mound was well known to the early settlers. Several large trees, of a hundred years' growth or more, were standing on the top of the mound in 1796; but the natives of the forest who were found here at that date knew nothing of the origin of the mound, or of the race who built it. In all probability it was built by the ancient Eries, who occupied the southern shore of the lake east of the Cuyahoga, in an age that has no written record. The time has been, doubtless, when the lake shore at Cleveland extended several miles into the lake north of its present boundary. It is well known that the lake has encroached on the land, at Cleveland, nearly half a mile within the last eighty years. The mound was doubtless the sepulchre of some acknowledged chief who, in the lost ages, was the sovereign of the beautiful valley of the Cuyahoga.

In the fall of 1796 the original site of the city of Cleveland was surveyed into town lots by Moses Cleaveland and staff. The surveyors erected at that time two or three log cabins for their own accommodation. These cabins constituted the nucleus of what has now become a great and beautiful city. The cabin built by Carter in the following year was much more pretentious in its size and style of architecture than the humble cabins erected by the surveyors. It had two apartments on the ground floor, and a spacious garret for lodgers. Near the cabin flowed a spring of pure water, cool and clear as a crystal.

Thus provided with a rustic but happy home for himself and family, Carter felt that he must engage in some employment that would afford him a livelihood. The first thing he did was to built a boat and establish a ferry across the river at the foot of Superior street for the accommodation of public travel. In connection with this he kept in his house a small stock of goods adapted to the Indian trade, including whiskey. When a boy he became an expert hunter, and knew that he could rely on his rifle in an emergency, and hence he devoted more or less of his time to hunting for the purpose of obtaining valuable furs and peltries, and securing a supply of wild meat for his family. He soon distinguished himself as a successful hunter in all the region round about him. The Indians found in him an overmatch as a marksman, and a superior in physical strength. He had the muscular power of a giant, and not only knew his strength but knew when and how to use it. He stood six feet in his

boots, and was evidently born to command. His complexion was somewhat swarthy, and his hair long and black. He wore it cut square on the forehead and allowed it to flow behind nearly to the shoulders.

Roman nose, and the courage of a Roman. Yet he was as amiable in spirit and temper as he was brave. He dressed to suit himself and as occasion required. In times of danger he always found in his rifle a reliable friend. He not only enjoyed life in the wilderness, but soon became master of the situation. He loved adventures and encountered dangers without fear.

On one occasion, as tradition says, he returned from a hunting excursion and found that the Indians had broken into his warehouse, knocked in the head of a barrel of whiskey and imbibed so freely as to become drunk and dangerously belligerent. He marched in among them, drove them out, kicked and cuffed them about in every direction, and rolled several of them, who were too drunk to keep their legs, into the marshy brink of the river. The Indians did not relish this kind of treatment, and meditating revenge, held a council the next day and decided to exterminate Carter. They selected two of their best marksmen and directed them