Hydrologic and Historical Overview

Hydrologic Significance of the Tuscarawas River, from Ohio Environmental Protection Agency: 

"The Tuscarawas River drains more than 2,500 square miles in northeastern and eastern Ohio. The mainstem originates southeast of the City of Akron and flows for nearly 130 miles, then joins the Walhonding River to form the Muskingum River. There are several large tributaries (Sugar Creek, Sandy Creek, Conotton Creek, and Stillwater Creek)…The upper portion of the watershed has significant urban, commercial and industrial development. The southern and eastern portions are less populated with far fewer industries in a largely forested landscape that has steeper topography. Pastureland and cattle operations are interspersed throughout the hills and forests as are some abandoned mine lands. The distribution of land covers for the entire Tuscarawas River watershed is 34 percent forest, 31 percent pasture/hay, 19 percent cropland, 12 percent urban, and 4 percent open water." (epa.ohio.gov)

Historical Significance of the Tuscarawas River, from Ohio History:

"In 1785, the Confederation Congress sent George Rogers Clark, Arthur Lee, and Richard Butler to the Ohio Country to negotiate a treaty with several of Ohio's American Indian nations: the Wyandot, the Lenape (Delaware), the Ottawa, and the Ojibwa (Chippewa). The treaty negotiations took place at Fort McIntosh [modern-day Beaver, PA]. Most of the American Indian representatives were younger leaders who did not have the authority to negotiate a treaty. Despite this, the American commissioners pressed for a treaty. After several weeks of negotiations and after some of the American Indians delegates had become drunk on alcohol provided by the Americans, the assembled delegates signed the Treaty of Fort McIntosh on January 21, 1785. The tribal leaders agreed that they lived under the American government and could not form alliances with any other powers. Ohio's American Indians were to relinquish their lands in southern and eastern Ohio. They were confined to the western corner of modern-day Ohio with a border consisting roughly of the Cuyahoga River on the east. A southern border extended from modern-day Akron westward to the Tuscarawas River, southward to Fort Laurens, then westward to Pickawillany on the Miami River. A western border ran north from Pickawillany to the St. Mary's River, and then to what is now Ft. Wayne, Indiana. A northern border from Fort Wayne to Lake Erie followed the shore of the lake east to the Cuyahoga River. The Americans promised that they would prevent squatters from settling on the stipulated Indian reservation.

Most American Indians in the Ohio Country rejected the treaty -- especially the Shawnee, because they lost their claim to all of their lands in southwestern Ohio. Ohio's American Indian groups also protested that the people who signed the treaty did not have permission from their respective tribes to do so. Moreover, while the Americans, under the terms of the Treaty of Fort McIntosh, claimed that they would prevent white settlement of the new American Indian reservation land, government officials failed to do so. The Treaty of Fort McIntosh only increased tensions between the Ohio Country American Indians and the Americans settlers who continued to flock there." (ohiohistorycentral.org)