Christopher Gist

In 1750 and 1751 Christopher Gist, an agent of the Ohio Company of Virginia, explored the greater portion of the region now included within the boundaries of Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia, along with portions of western Maryland and southwestern Pennsylvania. These explorations were the earliest made so far west for the sole object of examining the country, and the first of which a regular journal was kept. It was on these two journeys that he made his greatest contribution to history.