What was the significance of the ohio river valley in colonial america?

Question

What was the significance of the ohio river valley in colonial america?

Answer 1

It was both a sort of promised land, and one of the earliest contributing causes of the American Revolution.

The Ohio River Valley was an area to the West of the Colonies, and was rich potential farmland.  During the several wars fought between the British and their colonies and the French in Canada (with the various tribes as their allies), the idea that the Ohio could be taken from the French and would provide land-hungry farmers with the chance to move in and start claiming land was a huge draw.  

With the end of the Seven Years War / French & Indian War, the Colonists expected they had earned the right to settle the Ohio, but Britain passed the Northwest Ordinance, prohibiting British Colonists from settling in the Ohio and claiming lands.  This was probably done to limit the causes of further conflict with the Tribes, and to keep the Colonists dependent on Britain.  The disappointment of the Colonists is one of the main things that contributed to the falling out between Britain and the Colonies which became the American War of Independence.