They paused at the edge of Jacksonville only long enough to view the few scattered cabins on the hillside, the lone "general store" and the newly erected Baptist Church.

"Transportation," Murray seemed to be talking to himself, "transportation you gotta have. No use raisin' a thousand bushels of wheat if you gotta carry it on your bEck two bushels at a time all the way to Dayton or Cincinnati to sell it. You know, men, that's what makes Saint Marys such a good spot for us. We got the transportation now, and we'll even be better when the canal is built. Imagine what it will be like, a man made river fifty feet wide and straight as an arrow for miles, no rapids, no fallen trees, no zig zagging around and an evenflow of water all the time. Even going up stream, they say that there's hardly any difference. We've had the Saint Marys River and it's been good travel much of the time, but it goes for miles to get such a short distance and you can't depend on an even flow. It goes from flood to stale."

As to the time and volume of commerce on the Saint Marys River at this early date, Howe's stated:

Paul D. Butler, on the 21st of August, 1809 gives notice in the (Dayton) Repertory of his intention to navigate on the Miami River.... He and Henry Desbrow soon after proceeded to build two keel boats.

"They were built during the winter of 180910 in the street in front of the courthouse, and when finished were moved on rollers up Main St. to the river and launched. They ascended the Miami to the Loramie portage.... One of the boats was taken out of the river and drawn across to the Saint Marys. For some time this boat made regular trips on the Maumee and the other on the Miami. The portage between them being about twelve miles across. A freight line which did a good business was thus established between Dayton and Lake Erie.

"In 1819 a second line of keel boats was established for carrying grain and produce up the Miami. At Loramie it was transferred after a portage between the two rivers, to other boats hence down to the Rapids of the Maumee (todays Grand Rapids, Ohio). There it was loaded aboard lake vessels. At the Rapids there was a large warehouse for storage of cargoes."

This commerce was greatly encouraged in 1818 when "Walk-in-the-Water" became the first steamboat to ply the waters of Lake Erie carrying the products of the new west to the markets of the east. It was indeed as Charles Murray had declared "the transportation we got to have."

The summer sun was sinking slowly as the three horsemen splashed across Greenville Creek and up the gentle rise of ground toward the village. Greenville itself was a far cry from the hustling, bustling place it had been in the days of C.eneral Wavne.

Remnants of the old stockade enclosing the parade ground were still in evidence, as were the old block houses standing like lone sentinels against the passage of time. Broadway, as it's name implied, was a wide dusty cut in the prairie sod. Along its course lay a string of log cabins centering around several stores, shops and the solitary inn. The inn, itself, as had several of the other business houses, been recently refaced with wide cut boards, their laps had been sealed with narrow batons to keep out the wintry blasts and to protect the much chinking of the log structure from being washed out in seasonal rains. The stable lying at the rear of the inn was of newer construction being erected entirely of cut or hewn timbers and sided with oak planks. They reined up at the hitching rack along side the stable, tethered their mounts and eased their saddles to the ground.

Houston volunteered, "I'll take care of the horses. I used to know the livery man here. you fellows see about lodging. Anything's alright with me."

"That's fine," Murray spoke. "McCorkle, you get us a room for tonight and a good hearty meal. If you don't mind, I'm gonna slip over to the store yonder and talk a little trading See you soon." With that he strode off.

McCorkle turned to Houston. "Do you think it's alright to get a room 0 tonight? I don't care about the loft. It costs a little more, but we won't have ; everybody stirring around all night."

With an affirmation from his companion, he entered the inn. Although the sun hadn't set yet, a couple of candles flickered from atop the long common table.

A short plump woman of middle age looked up from the fireplace where she was gently turning potatoes so they would bake on the other side close to the glowing coals.