Note 333 — Chapter XVII · FROM TIDEWATER TO THE MOUNTAINS.

He understood that from Swift Run Gap it was but three days’ march to a tribe of Indians living on a river which emptied into Lake Erie; also that from a distant peak, which was pointed out to him, Lake Erie was distinctly visible; so he estimated the total distance as five days’ march. The river route thus vaguely indicated was probably down the Youghiogheny or the Monongahela to the site of Pittsburgh, then up the Alleghany and so on to the site of Erie, distant in a straight line about 300 miles from Swift Run Gap. Braddock in 1755 was a month in getting over less than one fourth of the actual route. But, in spite of the false estimate, Spotswood’s general idea was sound.