At this point, however,
in a land of great and lesser rivers, with a network of creeks, the boat
provided the chief means of communication. Behind all, enveloping all,
still spread the illimitable forest, the haunt of Indians and innumerable
game.
Virginians were already preparing for an expansion to the north. There was
a man in Virginia named William Claiborne. This individual--able,
determined, self-reliant, energetic--had come in as a young man, with the
title of surveyorgeneral for the Company, in the ship that brought Sir
Francis Wyatt, just before the massacre of 1622. He had prospered and was
now Secretary of the Province. He held lands, and was endowed with a bold,
adventurous temper and a genius for business. In a few years he had
established widespread trading relations with the Indians. He and the men
whom he employed penetrated to the upper shores of Chesapeake, into the
forest bordering Potomac and Susquehanna: Knives and hatchets, beads,
trinkets, and colored cloth were changed for rich furs and various articles
that the Indians could furnish. The skins thus gathered Claiborne shipped
to London merchants, and was like to grow wealthy from what his trading
brought.
Looking upon the future and contemplating barter on a princely scale, he
set to work and obtained exhaustive licenses from the immediate Virginian
authorities, and at last from the King himself. Under these grants,
Claiborne began to provide settlements for his numerous traders.
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