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HISTORY OF PUTNAM COUNTY 1887
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
3 1833 01704 2182
Gc 977.201 P9863
BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL RECORD OF PUTNAM COUNTY, THO.
BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL
RECORD
OF
PUTNAM COUNTY, INDIANA.
CONTAINING PORTRAITS OF ALL THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES FROM WASHINGTON TO CLEVELAND, WITH ACCOMPANYING BIOGRAPHIES OF EACH; A CONDENSED HISTORY OF THE STATE OF INDIANA; PORTRAITS AND BIOGRAPHIES OF SOME OF THE PROMINENT MEN OF THE STATE; ENGRAVINGS OF PROMINENT CITIZENS, WITH PERSONAL HISTORIES OF MANY OF THE LEADING FAMILIES, AND A CONCISE HISTORY OF THE COUNTY AND ITS CITIES AND VILLAGES.
Reprinted 1967 by Eastern Indiana Publishing Co. Box 57, Knightstown, Ind. (extra copies available)
:
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY, 113 ADAMS STREET, CHICAGO.
1887.
NOTICE
Pages 1 through 178 were not re-printed in order to keep selling price at a minimum These pages include history on Presidents and Prominent men of Ind. and no Putnam County history.
PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES.
George Washington 9
Johı. Adams ... 14
Thomas Jefferson 20
James Madison. 26
James Monroe ..
23
John Quincy Adams
Andrew Jackson. 47
Martin Van Buren. .
52
William Henry Harrison. 50
Jolin Tyler. . 60
James K. Polk 61
Zachary Taylor 68 Millard Fillmore. 78 Franklin Pierce 72
Jones Buchanan.
80
Abraham Lincoln.
84
Andrew Johnson
93
Ulysses S. Grant. 96
Rutherford B. Hayes 102
James A. Garfield 109
Chester A. Arthur. 118
Grover Cleveland.
117
HISTORY OF INDIANA.
Former Occupants. 123
Pre-Historie Races. 123
Explorations by the Whites. 195
National Policies.
126
Expeditions of Colonel George R. Clark. .127
Government of the Northwest. 129 Expeditions of St. Clair and
Wayne 182
Organization of Indiana Terri- tory 133
Governor Harrison and the In-
dians. 134
Civil Matters.
136
1397061
General Review. 136
Organization of the State ..... 187 Indiana in the Mexican War. .. 188 Indiana in the War for the Union 188
Financial
148
Internal Improvements
149
Geology .
150
Agricultural
151
Educational.
151
Benevolent and Penal Institu- tions .. . . .154
PROMINENT MEN OF INDIANA.
Oliver P. Morton .161
Thomas A. Hendricks.
165
Schuyler Colfax
169
James D. Williams
173
Robert Dale Owen
117
HISTORY OF PUTNAM COUNTY, BE
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
1. Allee, Pleasant. 479
Adams, E. C. 387
Ade:, Adam
441
Ader, David. 347
Akers. Christopher 488
Albh , F. G .. 399
Alexander, F. M. 494
Allee, F. M. 424
See, John 417 Arnold, F. A .. 332
Allee, W. N. 447 1
Allen, Archibald. 373
Allen, C. A. 445
Allen, G. T .. 366
Allen, J. R. M. 406
Aller, William
Allen, W. W. 439
Anderson, Josephus 515
Pence, G. W.
Bicknell, George 889
D.
Badger, O. P 504
Baird, J. K .. 516
Batman, W. F. 461
Baumunk, Peter 500
Bavne, Thomas 307
Beadle, W. R
CONTENTS.
Bicknell, J. W. 371
Bicks, William 475
Biddle, Richard. 497
Bishop, J. B. 455
Bishop, S. C
454
Black, G. M.
507
Blue, D. A. 484
Bine, H. C.
483
Boardman, W. W 385
Bond, Austin.
363
Boone, Daniel ..
330
Bowen, Henry
424
Bowen, J. B ..
344
Bowers, Peter
520
Bowman, J. M.
414
Bridges, C S.
429
Bridges, J. C.
893
Bridges, J W.
497
Bridges, William
393
Briggs, Howard. 326
Broadstreet, J. C.
451
Broadstreet, Quinton 469
Brown, W. F.
432
Browning, Isaac
344
Buis, L. M.
472
Buis, W. I
455
Bois, W. R.
500
Burnett, Isaac. 867
Burnside, W. A.
397
Butcher. Ellen
473
Butler, John
331
C.
Campbell, L. L.
487
Carver, J. W.
462
Catberwood, Samuel, 345
Chamberlain, A. E.
522
Chamberlain, Benjamin
519
Chamberlain, J. W.
521
Chastain, W. R.
439
Cline, Jacob. 515
Coffman, A. II. 480
Collings, Archibald. 360
Cooper, W. M.
449
Couchman, J. N
491
Cowgill, E. P.
328
Cox, S. A. 420
Cox, W. M 339
Cox, W. S.
380
Cromwell, J. Q. 388
Crosby, Jacob.
363
Cross, J. B. 333
Crow, E. H.
451
Cully, J. F
401
Curtis, J. A 399
D.
Daniel, Alexander. 423
Darnall, D. T. 358
Darnall, H. C ... 450
Darnall, Samuel.
325
Davis, R. S
409
Dawson, W. R. 463
Day, I. M
489
Denny, James,
433
Denny, J. T.
435
Detrick, John 465
Dickerson, Henry. 332 Hathaway, R. L. 338
Dicks, Enoch. 518 Heavin, Joel. 381
Dills, William.
431
Hendrix, G. W
484
Hendrix. J. II.
495
Henry, D. L. 478
Hennon. H. E 40S
Herod, J. II 180
Hill, James 50%
Hillis, A. T 498
Hillis, G. B. :48
Hillis, J. L. 350
Hood, Robert
355
Hope, J. A
361
Horn, J. T .. 502
Iloskins, A. A
Houck, David.
336
Hubbard, P. L 485
Huffman, J. A.
404
Hunter, Henry 509
Hurst, Calvin 419
Hurst, Jackson
478
Hurst, Jefferson 464
Hurst, J. H 375
Farmer, W. A. 334 Hurst, Levi 441
Farrow, D. P. 470 Hurst, M. M. 474
Fordice, A. O.
472
Fordice, Rebecca. 483
Fosher, John 354
Foster, C. T.
474
Foster, E. C.
456
Foster, J. P ..
444
Frakes, Jane B.
422
Fyffe, J. T.
436
Fyffe, Thomas 353
G.
Gardner, F. B.
459
Gardner. G. W. 478
Gardner, W. 11.
359
Garnell, C. T ..
452
George, A. W
460
Gibson, J. M. 476
Gillespey, Thomas 445
Girton, J. A .. 376
Glidewell, W. K 503
Gordon, G. C ..
463
Gorham, Alexander 364
Gorham, J. W 371
Goulding, W. O. 361
Grubb, G. W. 473
H.
ITaddan, J. W
329
Haines, D. W. 368
Hamilton, H. L 497
Hamrick, J. R. M
514
Hargrave, C. T
373
Harlan, J. S. 518
Harris, W. C .. 430
Hartman, G. D.
416
Hasty, Levi 498
Hathaway, George 349
Ingram, Aaron
469
Ingram, J. A.
468
Irwin, S. D.
45 #
J.
Jackson, J. A.
448
Jackson, Thomas
370
James, S. P. 407
Job, T. N
510
Job, Thomas. 340
Johnson, Susan M
427
Jones, Benjamin 405
Jones, J. C 334
Glazebrook, L. D 443 Jones, P. A. 41,5
Jones, R. T.
496
Jones, S. T.
398
K.
Keller, S. L
337
King, J. R.
400
Knetzer, F. M
505
L.
Landes, Christian.
Lane, E. T
365
Lane, O. F
357
Langsdale, G. J $59
Larkin, G. N. .
519
Latham, Stephen.
429
Layman, D. W.
494
E.
Eggers, J. W. 356
Elliott, II. C. 513
Elliott. J. M. 498
Elliott, Franklin 349
Ellis, Joseph
481
Ellis, O. W ... 356
Epperson, Daniel 368
Evans, Sylvester 372
Evens, A. W
376
F.
Bryan, A. J.
460
Farmer, Aleany
516
Dobbs, H. H.
431
Dobbs, Joel
374
Donald, John.
416
Donnoline, J. M. 466
Farver, G. W.
506
Hurst, S. J.
390
Hurst, William.
398
Hutelison, Dudley 343
I.
Gardner, Samuel.
509
James, Thomas
403
Horn, A. II.
519
CONTENTS.
Leachman, F. M. 415
Leachman, James 409
Lee, Joseph. 346
Lee, Noah. 508
Lee, William. 482
Long, Thomas.
327
Lucas, II. W. 487
M.
Macy, D. W. 372
Mahan, J. R 418
Mason, Wickliffe 414
Mayhall, Rev. A. S.
471
McCammack, Robert.
511
McCarty, William
382
McCarty, W. T 451
McClary, James 382
McCorkle, Milton 40.5
McCormick, W. C. 404
McCoy, A. T 440
McCoy, Willis 448
McCray, Fleming.
McCray, William
McElroy, W. R.
520
McFadden, W. A. 329
McGinniss, J. T 419
McGinniss, Reuben 517
McLean, F. E.
476
McMurtry, J. A
340
McNary, J. W
407
McPheeters, Jesse.
440
McVay, James.
495
Mc Vay, J. S.
377
McVay, W. H.
386
Merrick, W. T.
501
Miller, Martin
514
Millman, J. S. 496 490
Mills, L. B ..
Moore, T. A.
346
Morlan, A. J
467
Mullinix, Prementer
493
N.
Naugle, W. E 412
Neff, W. G. 453
Nelson, F. P. 413 Sharp, J. M. 387
Nelson, J. H. C 374
Newnam, William
395
Nutgrass, James 452
0.
('Hair, J. E 441
O'Hair, J. E. M. 411
Oliver, M. HI 501
P.
Parker, H. H. 384
Pearcy, S. O. 410
l'eck, Daniel 380
Perry, H. H.
354
Perry, I. S. 485
Perry, J. S 475 Swindle, Elijahı 481
T.
Talbott, J. E.
479
Tennant. J. G 410
Tennant, W. E.
493
Thomas, Willia
456
Tolin, A. B.
508
Trucksess, Theodore.
449
Tucker, Ephraim ..
333
V.
Van Cleve, S. B. 41
Vaughan, J. L 416
Vaughan, S. P. 471
Vermillion, Rev. Joel
386
Vermillion, T. S.
384
W.
Walker, W. O.
494
Wallace, Elijah
400
Waln, John.
489
Walsh, Thomas.
283
Watkins, J. H.
485
Wells, W. A 427
Wems, G. R. 521
Weesner, Jacob. 378
Williams, W. B.
335
Williamson, D. E. 343
Wilson, Abel. 364
Wilson, H. C 461
Wilson, J. Il. 468
Wilson, John.
357
Wimmer, W. P.
488
Wood, Elisha.
486
Wright, A. F. 396
Wright, A. M. 421
Wright, Ezekiel .. 352
Wright, Rev. Nelson 49G
Sandy, John.
504
Wright, P. W.
390
Wright, William
469
Wysong, B. G .. 390
Yeates, W. W
369
Young, W. M.
482
HISTORY OF PUTNAM COUNTY.
Introductory.
183
Scientific
187
Indians
202
Early and Civil History .208
Township Sketches. 215
Pioneer Life. 238
Political .. .265
The Civil War 272
The Press ... 294
Courts and Bar. 297
Educational 302
Miscellaneous
.308
Towns
313
S.
Sallust, John 470
Sandy, A. H. 347
Sandy, P. M 499
Sandy, W. B
351
Schultz, Nicholas
360
Scobee, Robert. 517
Shannon, I. F. 381
Shields, E. W.
423
Shields, Henry 362
Shields, Jacob . 362
Shoemaker, D. E 332
Shoptangb, G. P 521
Slavens, John 447
Smith, A. A. 385
Smith, L. B 400
Smyth, G. C. 402
Staley, Sampson. 491
Stanley, J. W. 420
Stanley, Logan. 499
Stewart, L. H. 432
Stoner, Jonathan. 513
Stoner, J. W. 464
Stoner, P. S .. 507
Stranghan, N. S. 401
Summers, G. L .. 492
Sutherlin, G. W
898
Q.
Quinn, J. E. 358
R.
Ragan, Reuben 378
Raines, C. G 336
Rambo, D. H. 345
Randel, II. M
467
Reat, J. ( ..
426
Reel, D. M. 428
Reeves, Stacy L. 438
Reeves, Stacy 519
Renick, Gasper 375
Riggle, Spencer 501
Risk, J. W. 412
Robinson, J. HI 430
Robinson, Samuel 150
Rogers, Dudley
390
Rogers. J. C.
450
Rollings, Robert
369
Ross, J. B. 506
Ross, W. W. 446
Ruark, T. J ..
510
Rudisill, M. B 366
Rule, Jacob.
512
Rule, Thomas 512
Pickel, A. H 435
Preston, J. L 465
Prichard, W. K. 328
Purcell, W. M.
394
Pursell, William
428
388
358
CONTENTS.
PORTRAITS.
Anams. John. 15
Adams, John Quincy 39
Harrison, William Henry. 57
Pierce, Franklin 7:
Arthur, Chester A. 112
Hayes, Rutherford B. 103
Polk, James K. 65
Taylor, Zachary 6
Bridges, William 392
Jackson, Andrew 46
Buchanan, James 81
Cleveland, Grover 116
Colfax, Schuyler 108
Lincoln, Abraham. 85
Fillmore, Millard 73
Madison, James 27
Garfield, James A. 108
Monroe, James. . 33
Morton, Oliver P 160
Grant, Ulysses S 97
Grubb, G. W. 478
Owen, Robert Dale. 176
Van Buren, Martin 5%
Washington, George. 8
Williams, James D. 179
Williamson, D. E.
Bence, G. W. 458
Hendricks, Thomas A 164
Tyler, John. 6
Jefferson, Thomas 21
Johnson, Andrew. 92
GENERAL
HISTORYY
$164049
183
INTRODUCTORY.
** INTRODUCTORY. **
ITHIIN two brief genera- ; profit by citizens of other regions, will com- tions a wild waste of pare favorably with the narrative of the his- tory of any county in the Northwest; and. considering the extent of territory involved, it is as worthy of the pen of a Bancroft. as even the story of our glorions Republic. While our venerable ancestors may have said and believed unbroken wilderness has been transformed into a cultivated re- gion of thrift and pros- perity, by the untiring zeal and energy of an enterprising peo- ple. The trails of hunters and " No pent up Utica contracts our powers, trappers have given place to rail- For the whole boundless continent is ours," roads and thoroughfares for vehicles of every description; the cabins and garden patches of the pioneers have been succeeded by comfortable houses and broad fields of waving grain, with school-houses, churches, mills, postoffices and other institutions of conven- ience for each community. Add to these the prosperous city of Greencastle, and nu- merous thriving villages, with extensive bnsi- ness and manufacturing interests. and the result is a work of which all concerned may well be proud.
The record of this marvelous change is history, and the most important that can be written. For sixty five years the people of Putnam County have been making a history that for thrilling interest, grand practical re- sults, and lessons that may be perused with
they were nevertheless for a long time con- tent to occupy and possess a very small cor- ner of it; and the great West was not opened to industry and civilization until a variety of canses had combined to form, as it were, a great heart, whose animating principle was improvement, whose impulses annually sent westward armies of noble men and women, and whose pulse is now felt throughout the length and breadth of the best country the sun ever shone upon -- from the piperies of Maine to the vineyards of California, and from the sugar-canes of Louisiana to the wheat fields of Minnesota. Long may this heart beat and push forward its arteries and veins of commerce.
Not more from choice than from enforced necessity did the old pioneers bid farewell to the play-ground of their childhood and the
I
HISTORY OF PUTNAM COUNTY.
graves of their fathers. One generation after another had worn themselves out in the ser- vice of their avaricions landlords. From the first flashes of daylight in the morning till the last glimmer of the setting sun, they had foiled mecasingly on, from father to son, carrying home each day on their aching shoulders the precious proceeds of their daily labor. Money and pride and power were handed down in the line of succession from the rich father to his son, while unceasing work and continuons poverty and everlasting obscurity were the heritage of the working- man and his children.
Their society was graded and degraded. It was not manners, nor industry, nor educa- tion, nor qualities of the head and heart that established the grade. It was money and jewels, and silk and satin, and broadeloth and imperious pride that triumphed over honest There was a time when pioneers waded through deep snows, across bridgeless rivers, poverty and trampled the poor man and his children under the iron heel. The children : and through bottomless sloughs, a score of of the rich and poor were not permitted to : miles to mill or market, and when more time mingle with and to love each other. Court- was required to reach and return from mar- ship was more the work of the parents than ket than is now required to eross the conti- of the sons and daughters. The golden calf was the key to matrimony. To perpetuate a self-constituted aristocracy, without power of brain, or the rich blood of royalty, purse was united to purse, and cousin with consin, in bonds of matrimony, until the virus boil- ing in their blood was transmitted by the law of inheritance from one generation to another, and until nerves powerless and man- hood dwarfed were on exhibition everywhere, and everywhere abhorred. For the sons and daughters of the poor man to remain there was to forever follow as our fathers had fol- lowed. and never to lead; to submit, but never to rule: to obey, but never to command.
Without money. or prestige, or influential friends, the old pioneers drifted along one by : to sunset. one, from State to State, until in Indiana- -
the garden of the Union-they have found inviting homes for each, and room for all. To seenre and adorn these homes more than ordinary ambition was required, greater than ordinary endurance demanded, and unflinch- ing determination was, by the force of neces- sity, written over every brow. It was not pomp, or parade, or glittering show that the pioneers were after. They sought for homes which they could call their own, homes for themselves and homes for their children. How well they have succeeded after a strng- gle of many years against the adverse tides let the records and tax-gatherers testify; let the broad cultivated fields and fruit-bearing orchards, the flocks and the herds, the pala- tial residences, and places of business, the spacious halls, the clattering car-wheels and ponderons engines all testify.
ment or traverse the Atlantic. These were the times when our palaces were constructed of logs and covered with " shakes " rived from the forest trees. These were the times when our children were stowed away for the night in the low. dark atties, among the horns of the elk and the deer, and where through the elinks in the "shakes " they could count the twinkling stars. These were the times when our chairs and bedsteads were hewn from the forest trees, and tables and bureans constructed from the boxes in which their goods were brought. These were the times when the workingman labored six and sometimes seven days in the week, and all the hours there were in a day from sunrise
Whether all succeeded in what they under-
185
INTRODUCTORY.
took is not a question to be asked now. The the great crane hangs the old tea-kettle and proof that as a body they did succeed is all ; the great iron pot. The huge shovel and around us. Many individuals were perhaps : tongs stand sentinel in either corner, while disappointed. Fortunes and misfortunes be- , the great andirons patiently wait for the huge long to the human race. Not every man can back-log. Over the fire-place hangs the trusty rifle. To the right of the fire-place stands the spinning wheel, while in the have a school-house on the corner of his farm: not every man can have a bridge over a stream that flows by his dwelling; not every | farther end of the room is seen the old- man can have a railroad depot on the borders fashioned loom. Strings of drying apples and poles of drying pumpkins are overhead. Op- posite the door in which you enter stands a huge deal table: by its side the dresser whose pewter plates and " shining delf" catch and reflect the fire-place thunes as shields of ar- mies do the sunshine. From the corner of its shelves coyly peep out the relies of former china. In a enrtained corner and hid from casual sight we find the mother's bed. and under it the trundle-bed, while near them a ladder indicates the loft where the older children sleep. To the left of the fire-place and in the corner opposite the spinning wheel is the mother's work-stand. Upon it lies the of his plantation, or a city in its center; and while these things are desirable in some re- speets, their advantages are often times out- weighed by the alnost perpetual presence of the foreign beggar, the dreaded tramp, the fear of fire and conflagration, and the inseeu- rity from the presence of the midnight bur- glar, and the bold, bad men and women who lurk in ambush and infest the villages. The good things of this earth are not all to be found in any one place: but if more is to be found in one than another. that place is in our rural retreats, our quiet homes outside of the clamor and turmoil of city life.
In viewing the blessings which surround . Bible, evidently much nsed. its family record us, then, we should reverence those who have telling of parents and friends a long way off, made them possible, and ever fondly cherish . and telling, too, of children in memory the stardy old pioneer and his "Scattered like roses in bloom, Some at the bridal, some at the tomb." log cabin.
Let us turn our eyes and thoughts back to the log cabin days of a quarter of a cen- tury ago, and contrast those homes with com- fortable homes of to-day. Before us stands the old log cabin. Let us enter. Instinct- ively the head is uncovered in token of rev- erence to this relie of ancestral beginnings, early struggles and final triumphs. To the left is the deep, wide fire-place, in whose . commodious space a group of children may sit by the fire, and up through the chimney may count the stars, while ghostly stories of witches and giants, and still more thrilling stories of Indians and wild beasts, are whis- peringly told and shudderingly heard. On !
Her spectacles, as if but just used, are in- serted between the leaves of her Bible, and tell of her purpose to return to its comforts when cares permit and daty is done. A stool, a bench, well notched and whittled and carved, and a few chairs complete the furni- : ture of the room, and all stand on a coarse but well-scoured floor.
Let us for a moment watch the city visit- ors to this humble cabin. The city bride. immocent but thoughtless. and ignorant of labor and care, asks her city-bred husband, " Pray, what savages set this up?" Honestly confessing his ignorance, he replies, " I do not know." But see the pair upon whom age
186
HISTORY OF PUTNAM COUNTY.
sits " frosty, but kindly." First, as they en- ter, they give a rapid glance about the cabin home, and then a mutual glance of eye to eye. Why do tears start and fill their eyes? Why do lips quiver? There are many who know why; but who that has not learned in the school of experience the full meaning of all these symbols of trials and privations, of loneliness and danger, can comprehend the story that they tell to the pioneer? Within
1
this chinked and mud-daubed cabin we read the first pages of our history, and as we re- tire through its low doorway, and note the heavy-battened door, its wooden hinges and its welcoming latch-string, is it strange that the scenes without should seem to be but a dream? But the cabin and the palace, stand- ing side by side in vivid contrast, tell their own story of this people's progress. They are a history and a prophecy in one.
187
SCIENTIFIC.
SCIENTIFIC.
GEOGRAPHY.
HE county forming the ! Floyd, Franklin, Greencastle, Jackson, Jeffer- son, Madison, Marion, Mill Creek, Monroe, Russell, Warren and Washington. The last 4 named is nine miles north and south by six miles east and west, and is the largest town- ship in the county. Cloverdale is next in size, having a length east and west of twelve miles, and a breadth north and south of four miles. Warren and Jefferson are five miles north and south by five miles east and west. All the other townships are six miles square, except Mill Creek, the smallest in the county. Creek and the line dividing ranges 2 and 3, and south of the line dividing sections 19 and 30 of township 13 north, range 2 west. subject of this volume is located not far from the center of Indiana, and is midway between Indi- anapolis and the west- ern boundary of the State. It is bounded on the north by Montgomery County, on the east by Hendricks and Morgan conn- 1 ties, on the south by Owen and Clay counties, and on the west by Clay and Parke counties. It 'It comprises that territory between Mill contains an area of 497 square miles, embracing a little less than one sixty-eighth part of the entire surface of the State. It contains twelve whole congres- sional townships, numbered 13. 14, 15 and SURFACE AND SOIL. 16 north, in ranges 3. 4, and 5 west, and five In the eastern portion of the county the surface is level or gently undulating, afford- ing vast fields for tillage and for meadows. The flat lands on the divide between the headwaters of Walnut Creek and those of i the tributaries of Sugar Creek, lying princi- pally within Boone County, extend into the fractional townships (12 north, in ranges 3, 4 and 5 west, and 13 and 14 north, range 3 west). In all, the area is not quite that of fourteen congressional townships. For local purposes the county is divided into fourteen civil townships, named Clinton, Cloverdale, !
188
HISTORY OF PUTNAM COUNTY.
extreme northeast corner of Putnam, some- times requiring artificial drainage to render the land productive. The northern and north- western portions of the county are rolling, affording some of the finest pastnrage to be found even in that remarkable belt of pasture. lands lying along the fortieth parallel of. north latitude. The hills along Little Wal- nut, Walnut and Lower Deer Creek at times rise into lofty cliff's, while the valleys along these streams and at the mouths of their tributaries furnish as fine fields for grain as those of the best river bottoms.
The water-shed of the county is to the southwest. It is traversed by Walnut Fork of Eel River, from northeast to southwest, which has for its principal tributaries, on the west Little Walnut, on the east Warford's Branch and Deer Creek. The northwest portion of the county is drained by Raccoon Creek, while the sontheastern portion finds its drainage in Mill Creek. The county is thus divided into three geographical sections. Each of these streams draws supplies from almost innumerable smaller streams, which form a complete net-work of branches throughout the extent of the county, furnish- ing to it a complete system of drainage for almost every part.
TIMBER.
The entire surface of the county was orig- Finally covered with a dense forest of valuable timber. The beauty of these woods could scarcely be surpassed in the world. The trees were tall, straight and symmetrical, and were of great variety. Here grew side by side the majestic poplar, walnut and oak, the sturdy sugar-maple and beech, in com- pany with the tall, lithe hickory. The dif- ferent kinds were not evenly dispersed over the ground, nor yet scattered at random. In one locality one kind prevailed, whilst in
other localities other kinds were more minier- ous. The ridges and the dry limestone land generally produced the sugar-maple, inter- spersed with clumps of poplar and black walnut. The cold, wet lands were covered with the beech, hickory and red oak, while the bluffs along the margins of the creeks were crowned with the huge trunks and spreading tops of the white oak. Besides those named, there was a great variety of other kinds of timber less valuable for pur- poses of manufacture and commerce, but enhancing the grandeur of the solitude that reigned in the midst of their shades. The place of fruit-trees was supplied by the wild phun and the black haw, with an occasional wild crab and persimmon. Some of these ancient monarchs of the woods, maple, pop- lar and oak-guardians of a thousand years, may still be seen around the rim of the farm lands, like sentries of the ages as they fly ...
After the Indians were gone, and the annual burning of the woods "ceased, there grew up a dense undergrowth, and the high- ways of the early settlers consisted of narrow trails through the brush, the thickness of which may be illustrated by the statement of a pioneer that when driving cattle from place to place they often tied hand-spikes across their foreheads, which prevented them from leaving the trail.
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