When Congress established the Northwest Ordinance in 1787, one provision forbade slavery in any new future state admitted to the Union north of the Ohio River. Congress later added a law making it a federal crime to aid or harbor escaping slaves, punishable by severe fines or imprisonment, while plantation owners also paid rewards to freelance bounty hunters for returned slaves. These conditions made life extremely difficult even in a free state like Ohio and led abolitionists to form secretive networks to help escaping slaves move along routes that were neither advertised nor written down, with most participants knowing only a few other members to protect identities. This network became known as the Underground Railroad. Although such networks existed throughout the country, even in the South, Ohio had the most active network of any state, with around 3000 miles of routes used by escaping runaways. This was partly because Ohio bordered two slave states, Virginia and Kentucky, creating more than 400 miles of boundary between slave and free states, and because Ohio was the closest state involved in these networks to Canada, with only about 250 miles or less from anywhere along the Ohio River to Lake Erie and freedom. Ohio also had a large Quaker population, especially in the east and southeast parts of the state. While Pennsylvania Quakers were largely responsible for initiating the abolitionist movement, Ohio Quakers seemed to be more directly involved in moving escaping slaves north to freedom, particularly those fleeing from Virginia. Around Amesville, several sites were thought to have been part of this network, including the Cutler house on what is now State Route 329 and Elephant Rock on the northeast edge of Amesville, which was thought to be a stopping and overnight location.