USA > Kentucky > Historical sketches of Kentucky : embracing its history, antiquities, and natural curiosities, geographical, statistical, and geological descriptions with anecdotes of pioneer life, and more than one hundred biographical sketches of distinguished pioneers, soldiers, statesmen, jurists, lawyers, divines, etc. > Part 25
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Licking river washes the entire north-east boundary of the county, and it is watered by several fine streams, flowing through various portions of it. The surface is diversified -- hilly, undnikt- ting, and level. The soil north and west of Slate creek, is roch and fertile, being based upon limestone: south and east the county abounds in iron and coal. and the soil is not so good. bu- mediately around Sharpsburg, for several miles, the surface gently undulating, and the lands highly cultivated, rich. and very productive. The principal articles of production and commerce. are cattle, mules. hogs, corn, and wheat. There are two iron furnaces and one forge in the county, manufacturing about two thousand tons of iron per year.
The towns of the county are, Owingsville, Sharpsburg. Will- ning, and Bethel. OWINGSVILLE is the seat of justice, and con- ttins two churches, two taverns, a fine court house, post office, five stores and groceries, three doctors, seven lawyers, two schools 12
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BATH COUNTY.
one blacksmith shop, one tailor, one saddler, &c. Incorporated in 1829, and named in honor of Col. Thomas Dye Owings. Pop- ulation three hundred.
SHARPSBURG is situated on the Maysville and Mount Sterling turnpike road, thirty-eight miles from the former, and twelve from the latter place, and twelve miles west of Owingsville. It contains three churches, one tavern, four stores, six doctors, two saw mills, one bagging factory, one male and one female school. two wool factories, and ten mechanical shops. Established in 1825, and named for Moses Sharp.
WYOMING, a small village at the mouth of Slate creek, contains two stores, two taverns, two cabinet shops, one blacksmith shop, two grist and saw mills.
BETHEL, a small village on the main route from Maysville to Mount Sterling, contains a post office, one store, one tavern, two saddler's shops, blacksmith and hat shops-thirty inhabitants.
The following interesting incident in the early settlement of Bath county, is related in McClung's " Sketches of Western Adventure," a work published by the author of these notes in the year 1832 :
"In the month of August, 1786. Mr. Francis Downing, then a mere lad, was living in a fort, where subsequently some iron works were erected by Mr. Jacob Myers, which are now known by the name of State creek works, and are the property of Colonel Thomas Dye Owings. About the 16th, a young man be- longing to the fort. called upon Downing. and requested his assistance in hunting for a horse which had strayed away on the preceding evening. Downing readily complied, and the two friends traversed the woods in every direction, until at length, towards evening, they found themselves in a wild valley, at the distance of six or seven miles from the fort. Here Downing became alarmed, and repeat- edly assured his elder companion. (whose name was Yates). that he heard sticks cracking behind them, and was confident that Indians were dogging them. Yates. being an experienced hunter, and from habit grown indifferent to the dangers of the woods, diverted himself freely at the expense of his young companion, often inquiring, at what price he rated his scalp, and offering to ensure it for a six- pence.
" Downing, however, was not so easily satisfied. He observed, that in what- ever direction they turned, the same ominous sounds continued to haunt them, and as Yates still treated his fears with the most perfect indifference, he deter- mined to take his measures upon his own responsibility. Gradually slackening his pace, he permitted Yates to advance twenty or thirty steps in front of him. and immediately afterwards descending a gentle hill, he suddenly sprung aside, and hid himself in a thick cluster of whortleberry bushes. Yates, who at that time was performing some woodland ditty to the full extent of his lungs, was too much pleased with his own voice to attend either to Downing or the Indians. and was quickly out of sight. Scarcely had he disappeared, when Downing, to his unspeakable terror. be held two savages put aside the stalks of a canebrake. and look out cautiously in the direction which Yates had taken.
" Fearful that they had seen him step aside, he determined to fire upon then ;. and trust to his heels for safety, but so unsteady was his hand. that in raising hi- gun to his shoulder. she went off before he had taken aim. He lost no time in following her example, and after running fifty yards, he met Yates, who. alarmed at the report, was hastily retracing his steps. It was not necessary to inquire what was the matter. The enemy were in full view. pressing forward with grant rapidity, and " devil take the hindmost," was the order of the day. Yates would not outstrip Downing, but ran by his side, although in so doing he risked both of their lives. The Indians were well acquainted with the country, and soon took a path that diverged from the one which the whites followed, at one point. and rejoined it at another, bearing the same relation to it, that the string does to the bow
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BOONE COUNTY.
"The two paths were at no point distant from each other more than one hun- dred yards, so that Yates and Downing could easily see the enemy gaining rap- idly upon them. They reached the point of re-union first, however, and quickly came to a deep gully which it was necessary to cross, or retrace their steps. Yates cleared it without difficulty, but Downing, being much exhausted, fell short, and falling with his breast against the opposite brink, rebounded with vio- lence, and fell at full length upon the bottom. The Indians crossed the ditch a few yards below him, and eager for the capture of Yates, continued the pursuit, without appearing to notice Downing. The latter, who at first had given himself up for lost, quickly recovered his strength, and began to walk slowly along the ditch, fearing to leave it, lest the enemy should see him. As he advanced, how- ever, the ditch became more shallow, until at length it ceased to protect him at all.
" Looking around cautiously, he saw one of the Indians returning, apparently in quest of him. Unfortunately, he had neglected to reload his gun, while in the ditch, and as the Indian instantly advanced upon him, he had no resource bat flight. Throwing away his gun, which was now useless, he plied his legs man- fully in ascending the long ridge which stretched before him, but the Indian gained on him so rapidly that he lost all hope of escape. Coming at length to a large poplar which had been blown up by the roots, he ran along the body of the tree upon one side, while the Indian followed it upon the other, doubtless expect- ing to intercept him at the root. But here the supreme dominion of fortune was manifest.
" It happened that a large she bear was suckling her cubs in a bed which she had made at the root of the tree, and as the Indian reached that point first, she instantly sprung upon him, and a prodigious uproar took place. The Indian yelled, and stabbed with his knife; the bear growled and saluted him with one of her most endearing " hugs ;" while Downing, fervently wishing her success, ran off through the woods, without waiting to see the event of the struggle. Downing reached the fort in safety, and found Yates reposing after a hot chase, having eluded his pursuers, and gained the fort two hours before him. On the next morn- ing, they collected a party and returned to the poplar tree, but no traces either of the Indian or bear were to be found. They both probably escaped with their lives, although not without injury."
BOONE COUNTY.
BOONE county was formed in 1798, and named in honor of Colonel Daniel Boone. It is situated in the most northern part of the state, in a well known bend of the Ohio river, called North Bend. The average length of the county is about twenty miles, from north to south, and its average breadth about four- teen miles. It is bounded on the east by Kenton, on the south by Grant and Gallatin counties, and on the north and west by the Ohio river, which flows along its border about forty miles, dividing it from the states of Ohio and Indiana. The surface of the county is generally hilly, but still there is a considerable quantity of level land in it, and nearly all the land is tillable. On the Ohio river there are found considerable bodies of level land called bottoms, the soil of which is very productive ; farther out from the river the land is good second rate. The taxable property in this county in 1846 was $3,332,138 ; number of acres of land, 153,330 ; average value of land per acre $14,39 ; white males over 21 years of age 1,959; children between 5 and 16
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BOONE COUNTY.
years of age, 2,104 : population in 1830, 9,012 ; in 1810, 10,034. The staple productions are Indian corn, tobacco, oats, wheat whisky, flour, apples, and hogs; timothy and blue grass grow luxuriantly in almost all parts of the county. The Covington and Lexington turnpike road runs about ten miles through this county. The principal streams and creeks are Woolper, Middle creek, Gunpowder and Big Bone creek, which is at its mouth and some distance up the south boundary of the county.
The principal towns are Burlington, the seat of justice, situated six miles S. S. W. from the nearest point of the Ohio river ; Flo- rence, on the Covington and Lexington turnpike road; Union ; Walton ; Verona : Hamilton, on the Ohio river ; Petersburg, on the Ohio, and Francisville.
BURLINGTON, the seat of justice, is situated fourteen miles from Cincinnati and seventy miles from Frankfort,-contains four churches : Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian and Reformed ; Mor- gan's Academy, with an endowment of $5,000 and sixty stu- dents ; two schools, seven lawyers, five doctors, five stores, two taverns. one shoe and boot store, one wool factory, eight mechanics' shops, one tobacco factory, and a population of four hundred. It was incorporated in 1824. Florence contains two churches, three doctors, two stores, two taverns, two schools, four mechanics' shops. and a population of two hundred. It was in- corporated in 1830. Francisrille contains one church, one tobacco factory, and one store. Hamilton contains one school, one tavern, three stores, two doctors, and a population of two hundred. Peters- burg contains two schools, one tobacco factory, one steam distil- lery and flouring mill, two churches, one tavern, two doctors, and a population of two hundred and fifty. Springtown, below Cov- ington, is a fishing place with seventy-five inhabitants. Union contains two churches, one store. one doctor, and fifty inhabitants. Walton contains one tavern and two tobacco factories, and has a population of fifty.
Amongst the antiquities of this county is the site of an aboriginal burying ground, whose history is hid in the darkness of past ages, now covered by the flourishing town of Petersburg. In digging cellars for their houses, the inhabil- ants have excavated pieces of earthenware vessels and Indian utensils of stone. some of them curiously carved. A little above the town, on the bank of the river, are the remains of an ancient fortification. All that is now visible is an embankment or breastwork, about Your feet high, and extending from the abrupt bank of the Ohio to the almost precipitous bank of Taylor's creek, including be- tween the river and the creek an area of about twenty or twenty-five acres of ground.
At the mouth of Woolper creek, about twelve miles nearly west from Burling- ton, is a singular chasm in a hill, which has been cleft from top to bottom. The part split off is separated by an interval of ten or twelve feet from the main body of the hill. thus formning a zigzag avenue through it from the low land or bottom on the Ohio river to Woolper creek. The north side of this chasm is a perpendicular wall of rock seventy or eighty feet high, composed of pebble stones.
In this county is situated the celebrated Big Bone Lick, about twelve miles a little west of south from Burlington, and one mile and a half east from Hamil- ton, on the Ohio river. The lick is situated in a valley which contains about
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181
BIG BONE LICK.
one hundred acres, through which flows Big Bone creek. There are two prin- cipal springs, one of which is almost on the northern margin of the crerk ; the other is south of the creek, and at the base of the hills which bound the vatiey. There is a third spring of smaller size some considerable distance north of the creek, which flows from a well sunk many years ago, when salt was manniae- tured at this lick. The valley is fertile, and surrounded by irregular hills of un- equal elevation, the highest being on the west, and attaining an altitude of five hundred feet. The back water from the river, at times, ascends the creek as far as the lick, which, by the course of the stream. is more than three miles from its mouth. At a very early day the surrounding forest had no undergrowth, the ground being covered with a smooth grassy turf, and the lick spread over an arca of about ten acres. The surface of the ground within this area was generally depressed three or four feet below the level of the surrounding valley. This de- pression was probably occasioned as well by the stamping of the countless num- bers of wild animals, drawn thither by the salt contained in the water and im- pregnating the ground. as by their licking the earth to procure salt. There is no authentic account of this lick having been visited by white men before the year 1773. In that year James Douglass, of Virginia, visited it, and found the ten acres constituting the lick bare of trees and herbage of every kind, and large num- bers of the bones of the mastodon or mammoth, and the arctic elephant, scattered upon the surface of the ground. The last of these bones which thus lay upon the surface of the earth, were removed more than forty years ago; but since that time a considerable number have been exhumed from beneath the soil, which business has been prosecuted as zealously by some, as others are wont to dig for hidden treasures. Some of the teeth of these huge animals would weigh near ten pounds, and the surface on which the food was chewed was about seven inches long and four or five broad. A correspondentenforms us that he had seen dug up in one mass, several tusks and ribs, and thigh bones, and one skull, bo- sides many other bones. Two of these tusks, which belonged to different ani- mals, were about eleven feet in length, and at the largest end six or seven inches in diameter : two others were seven or eight feet long. The thigh bones were four or five feet in length, and a straight line drawn from one end of some of the ribs to the other would be five feet; the ribs were between three and four inches broad. These dimensions correspond with what Mr. Douglass has said of the ribs which he used for tent poles when he visited the lick in 1773. Our corres- pondent thinks the skull above mentioned certainly belonged to a young animal, and yet the distance across the forehead and between the eyes was two feet, and the sockets of the tusks eighteen inches deep. The tusks which have been sta- ted to be seven or eight feet long exactly fitted these sockets. This lick is the only place in which these gigantic remains have been found in such large quan- tities, and deserves to be called the grave yard of the mammoth. The first collec- tion of these fossil remains was made by Dr. Goforth in 1803, and in 1806 was intrusted by him to the English traveler. Thomas Ashe, (the slanderer of our country ), to be exhibited in Europe, who, when he arrived in England, sold the collection and pocketed the money. The purchaser afterwards transferred parts of this collection to the Royal College of Surgeons in London, to Dr. Blake of Dublin, and Professor Monroe of Edinburgh, and a pari was sold at auction. The next collection was made by order of Mr. Jefferson, while he was president of the American Philosophical Society, about the year 1205, and was divided between that society and M. Cuvier, the distinguished French naturalist. A third collection was made in 1819, by the Western Museum society. In the vege 1431 a fourth collection was made by Mr. Finnell. This was first sold to i Mr. Graves for $2,000, and taken by him to the eastern states, and there sold tor $5.000.
It has before been intimated that salt was once manufactured at this lick : bot since the year 1812 no effort of that kind has been made, as it requires five of six hundred gallons of the water to make a single bushel of salt.
The springs at this place have been considerably frequented on account of their medicinal virtues; but at this time no accommodation of any sort for visiters is kent there, and but very inadequate accommodation is to be found any where in the neighborhood.
The distinguished pioneer Colonel DANIEL BOONE, (in honor of whoin Boone
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BOONE COUNTY.
county was named, and who was the first white man who ever made a perma- nent settlement within the limits of the present State of Kentucky), was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, on the right bank of the Delaware river, on the 11th of February, 1731. Of his life, but little is known previous to his emigra- tion to Kentucky, with the early history of which his name is. perhaps, niore closely identified than that of any other man. The only sources to which we can resort for information, is the meagre narrative dictated by himself, in his old age,-and which is confined principally to that period of his existence passed in exploring the wilderness of Kentucky, and which, therefore, embraces but a com- paratively small part of his life ; and the desultory reminiscences of his early as- sociates in that hazardous enterprise. This constitutes the sum total of our knowledge of the personal history of this remarkable man, to whom, as the founder of what may without impropriety be called a new empire, Greece and Rome would have erected statues of honor, if not temples of worship.
It is said that the ancestors of Daniel Boone were among the original Catho- lic settlers of Maryland ; but of this nothing is known with certainty, nor is it, perhaps, important that anything should be. He was eminently the architect of his own fortunes; a self formed man in the truest sense-whose own innate en- ergies and impulses, gave the moulding impress to his character. In the years of his early boyhood, his father emigrated first to Reading, on the head waters of the Schuylkill, and subsequently to one of the valleys of south Yadkin, in North Carolina, where the subject of this notice continued to reside until his fortieth year. Our knowledge of his history during this long interval, is almost a per- fect blank ; and although we can well imagine that he could not have passed to this mature age, without developing many of those remarkable traits, by which his subsequent career was distinguished. we are in possession of no facts out of which to construct a biography of this period of his life. We know. indeed, that from his earliest years he was distinguished by a remarkable fondness for the exciting pleasures of the chase ;- that he took a boundless delight in the unrestrained freedom, the wild grandeur and thrilling solitude of those vast primeval forests, where nature in her solemn majesty, unmarred by the improving hand of man, speaks to the impressionable and unhacknied heart of the simple woodsman, in a language unknown to the dweller in the crowded haunts of men. But, in this knowledge of his disposition and tastes, is comprised almost all that can absolutely be said to be known of Daniel Boone, from his childhood to his fortieth year.
In 1767, the return of Findley from his adventurous excursion into the unex- plored wilds beyond the Cumberland mountain, and the glowing accounts he gave of the richness and fertility of the new country, excited powerfully the curiosity and imaginations of the frontier backwoodsmen of Virginia and North Carolina, ever on the watch for adventures : and to whom the lonely wilderness, with all its perils, presented attractions which were not to be found in the close confinement and enervating inactivity of the settlements. To a man of Boone's temperament and tastes, the scenes described by Findley, presented charms not to be resisted ; and, in 1769, he left his family upon the Yadkin. and in com- pany with five others, of whom Findley was one, he started to explore that country of which he had heard so favorable an account.
Having reached a stream of water on the borders of the present State of Ken- tucky, called Red river, they built a cabin to shelter them from the inelemency of the weather. (for the season had been very rainy), and devoted their time to hunting and the chase, killing immense quantities of game. Nothing of particu- lar interest occurred until the bed December, 1769, when Boone, in company with a man named Stuart, being out hunting, they were surprised and captured by Indians. They remained with their captors seven days, until having by a rare and powerful exertion of self-control, suffering no signs of impatience to escape them, succeeded in disarming the suspicions of the Indians, their escape was et- fected without difficulty. Through life, Boone was remarkable for cool, collected self-possession. in moments of most trying emergency, and on no occasion was this rare and valuable quality more conspicuousty displayed than during the time of this captivity. Ou regaining their camp, they found it dismantled and deserted. The fate of its inmates was never ascertained, and it is worthy of remark, that this is the last and almost the only glimpse we have of Findley, the first pioneer.
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DANIEL BOONE.
A few days after this, they were joined by Squire Boone, a brother of the great pioneer, and another man, who had followed them from Carolina, and accidentulv stumbled on their camp. Soon after this accession to their numbers, !... . Boone and Stuart, in a second excursion, were again assailed by the Indians, and Stuart shot and scalped ; Boone fortunately escaped. Their only remaining r .. o- panion, disheartened by the perils to which they were continually exposed, to- turned to North Carolina ; and the two brothers were left alone in the wilderness, separated by hundreds of miles from the white settlements, and destitute of every- thing but their rifles. Their ammunition running short, it was determined that Squire Boone should return to Carolina for a fresh supply, while his brother re- mained in charge of the camp. This resolution was accordingly carried into effect, and Boone was left for a considerable time to encounter or evade the teem- ing perils of his hazardous solitude alone. We should suppose that his situa- tion now would have been disheartening and wretched in the extreme. He him- self says, that for a few days after his brother left him. he felt dejected and lonesome, but in a short time his spirits recovered their wonted equanimity, and be roved through the woods in every direction, killing abundance of game and finding an unutterable pleasure in the contemplation of the natural beauties of the forest scenery. On the 27th of July, 1770, the younger Boone returned from Carolina with the ammunition, and with a hardihood almost incredible, the brothers continued to range through the country without injury until March, 1;71, when they retraced their steps to North Carolina. Boone had been absent from his family for near three years, during nearly the whole of which time he had never tasted bread or salt, nor beheld the face of a single white man, with the exception of his brother and the friends who had been killed.
We, of the present day, accustomed to the luxuries and conveniences of 1 highly civilized state of society-lapped in the soft indolence of a fearless seca- rity-accustomed to shiver at every blast of the winter's wind, and to tremble at every noise the origin of which is not perfectly understood-can form but an im- perfect idea of the inotives and influences which could induce the early pioneers of the west to forsake the safe and peaceful settlements of their native States, and brave the unknown perils, and undergo the dreadful privations of a savage and un- reclaimed wilderness. But, in those hardy hunters, with nerves of iron and sinews of steel, accustomed from their earliest boyhood to entire self-dependence for the supply of every want, there was generated a contempt of danger and a love for the wild excitement of an adventurous life, which silenced all the suggestions of timidity or prudence. It was not merely a disregard of danger which distin- guished these men, but an actual insensibility to those terrors which paisy the nerves of men reared in the peaceful occupations of a densely populated country. So deep was this love of adventure, which we attribute as the distinguishing characteristic of the early western hunters, implanted in the breast of Boone, that he determined to sell his farm, and remove with his family to Kentucky.
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