USA > Ohio > Butler County > A history and biographical cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio, with illustrations and sketches of its representative men and pioneers. Vol. 1 > Part 33
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SHEEP .- At a very early period in the agricultural history of Butler County, John Reily, Daniel Millikin, and possibly one or two others, strongly imbibed the mania, which prevailed at that time, for raising Merino sheep. This variety of sheep was not generally introdneed among our farmers, owing to the high prices they thet commanded. They therefore constituted a very small portion of the few sheep then in the county. "Common sheep," as they were called, were the predominant breed. They possessed no very desirable quality, save that of a high capacity to eudare excessive bad treatment. Their wool was coarse and hairy, and only suitable for the mann- facture of such goods as were denominated " home-span."
From the introduction of the Merinos, a few years previous to 1820, some change in some localities was at- fected in the quality of the wool. A very few appre- ciated the value of having a better grade of woo! than that furnished by the common sheep, and hence the in- troduction of the Merino blood was very limited indeed.
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AGRICULTURE.
135
Subsequently new breeds of sheep were sparingly in- troduced, and were received with greater favor. Some Southdowns were introduced as early as 1830, and sub- seurently Leicesters, Cotswolds, and their crosses were oc- catsionally seen. At this time we bave creditable flocks of " improved Spanish Merinos," of Southdowns, of Leices- ters, and Cotswolds. Considering the little interest which bad existed for many years in sheep husbandry, the pres- ent prospect for increased attention to that interesting and profitable branch of the farmer's business is very encour- aging indeed. Our contiguity to the Cincinnati market, and the rapidly increasing consumption of choice mutton, which exceeds the increase of population, has induced many farmers to give more attention to maising sheep which are esteemed to be best for mutton, quality and quantity- considered. Here, as elsewhere, great difference of opinion exists as to the best breed of sheep for making mutton. Some prefer the Southdowns, while others pre fer the larger breeds.
Those who prefer the Merino rely upon the superior quality and quantity of wool, claiming that for a given quantity of food they realize more money on their small sheep than can be made with the larger breeds. It is probably best that this diversity of opinion should prevail as to the relative value of the several breeds of sheep. It excites more interest, and a rivalry that is neither unpleasant nor unprofitable, and thereby our manufacturers are furnished with a better variety of wool, and our markets are more abundantly supplied with mut- ton of an improved quality.
Recently a new breed of sheep has been introduced, which attains a mammoth size, and which promises to be a great addition to the stock of this county. It is known as the Oxfordshire Downs.
The condition of sheep husbandry in this county can be seen by an examination of the following table, giving their number and value in the years named :
YEARS.
Number.
Value.
YEARS.
Number.
Value,
1846,
23.535
1864,
10,684
$40,309
19,923
$11,278
1865,
13,625
63,658
1948,
17,358
9,653
1866,
15,834
52,046
1849
16,262
8,956
1867,
13,470
47,666
1550,
12,447
7,597
1868,
13,630
36,557
1851,
9,515
6.043
1860.
9,559
24,878
1552,
8,293
8,918
1870,
7,652
21,849
1854,
10,253
17,145
1872,
5,48S
20,895
1:55,
10,073
14,745
1873,
5,992
21,860
1.86,
7,958
13.323
1874,
10.043
29,571
14.77,
6,364
10.287
1875,
7,009
24.932
1955,
5,356
9,121
1876,
6,653
23,584
1-59, .
5,320
8,830
1877,
7,712
26,975
1860,
5,500
8,523
1878,
.
9,448
28,307
5.135
8.474
1879, .
10,180
34.115
5,558
10,000
1550,
11.328
-14.775
7.114
23.025
1831, .
13,001
54,156
From this statement it will be seen that the number of sheep decreased from 23,535 in 1846, to 5,135 in
---
1861, and that their average values have fluctuated be- tween 55 cents and $4.74 per head. These extreme fluctuations, in numbers and in price, are not credible by those who have not bestowed immediate attention upon such questions. Precisely why such remarkable fluctuations have taken place, it would be difficult to de- termine to the satisfaction of many. Canses have existed which legitimately would tend to affect not only the number but the price of sheep. Yet no adequate reason can be assigned for such extreme changes in numbers or price. The figures show that men have been influenced in their movements as sheep are -- the one follows the bell-wether, while the other regulates his business by the movements of his neighbors. There has been noth- ing which should have produced these violent changes. Sheep husbandry, for the last fifteen years, has, upon an average, been as profitable as the ordinary business of the farm for the same period.
Present pecuniary profits should not be regarded as the only motive which should influence the operations of the careful and considerate farmer. The cleanliness of his farm, the preservation, if not the increased prodluerive capacity, of his soil should not be lost sight of in deciding in what manner he should conduet his farming business. If experienced English farmers are content to farten sheep for the butcher, only asking the manure made as their clear profit, then surely our farmers ought to con- sider whether they will not be able to enrich their farms to so great an extent by feeding sheep that they will be content with a small profit for the grain and labor ex- pended.
Our shcep bear no proper proportion to the number of acres of land which we have, nor to our population.
These comparisons show that we in Butler County are greatly behind in the number of sheep. Our population, our acreage, and our ability to raise and keep sheep, all suggest that we should give more attention to sheep hus- bandry, and should speedily increase our flocks. If other countries, or other parts of our own State, less favorably situated, find it profitable to keep so large a number of sheep, surely this county, in such proximity to Cincin- nati, where good mutton always finds ready sale at a fair price, can find abundant warrant for increasing their flocks of sheep, and for improving their quality.
Thus far no serious disease has prevailed among our sheep. They have been exempt from ailments of almost every kind. Their only enemy has been found in the four thousand ravenous dogs which infest the county, and which not only aunoy aud disturb the quietude of whole communities, but which do, annually, injuries exceeding in value all the dogs of the conuty one hundred fold.
Butter and cheese must not be passed unnoticed. As to the latter article, neither the quantity monde nor its quality give it any special elaitos upon our attention. We do not aim to make enough cheese for donesite ase. The amount manufactured is consequently very inconsiderable,
1
.
9,095
12,730
1871.
6,005
17,224
136
HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.
and its quality is pot such as to give it a high marketable value.
Butter making, however, has grown to be an impor- tant business. In no branch have we made greater int- provements than in this domestic department. Formerly good butter was a rare commodity in our markets. Now they are pretty well supplied with a fair quality, in many cases a superior quality, of butter. Our housewives, in this department, as in most others over which they have special supervision, have made most commendable prog- ress in improving the value of their products.
There are other topics connected with the agricultural interests of this county which most probably should have received attention. In considering the multitude of the more important questions, they have been overlooked.
In conclusion, it affords us great pleasure in being able to bear favorable testimony to the general progress which has been made in the intellectual, moral, and social culture of our agricultural population. This im- provement has been more general and more marked among females than among males. In substantial edu- cational attainments, in moral culture, and in social ac- complishments, our young women of the county are far in advance of our young men. Even in the same fam- ilies, the daughters have more refinement and more pro- priety of deportment than the sons. It is greatly to be desired that there will be no abatement of effort on the part of our young women to attain a high position, and that, by increased manly exertions, our young men may make more rapid progress, so that they may soon occupy a like honorable position in the good opinion of worthy men and women everywhere.
THE MIAMI CANAL.
THE navigation of the Miami River did not please our forefathers. They could go down the stream, but not up, except with so much difficulty that it was practically never tried. Enlarging and digging out its bed was dis- cussed for many years, as is related in a preceding ebap- ter; but nothing ever came of the project. No canal of great size had been made in this country when the ilea was first entertained of uniting Lake Erie and the Ohio River by digging a navigable channel from the one to the other. But it was not long after the second war with Great Britain that New York began its surveys from the Hudson River, along the channel of the Mo- hawk, to the eastern extremity of Lake Erie, under the leadership of De Witt Clinton. The result of the labors of the surveyors of this route was before the people of the world when, on the 14th of December, 1819, Gov- ernor Ethan Allen Brown, the chief magistrate of the State, incited by the example set him by a long list of
worthies, from Christopher Colles and Eliakim Watson down to the latest advocates of internal communication. sent a message to the Legislature of Ohio, in which he called their attention to the necessity of improving our highways of travel, and the importance of constructing canals.
His words did not fall on unwilling ears. They were repeated year by year, and inquiries were made of those who had gained experience by the construction of these water-ways in New York, as well as of capitalists and money-lenders in the great commercial centers of the East. It was necessary not only to find out that canals were practicable, but that they would pay; and not only this, but that money enough could be borrowed by the State in its corporate capacity to arrange for their con- struction .. All these questions were in the end answered satisfactorily.
Before making any recommendation on the subject, Mr. Brown had had an extended correspondence on the subject with De Witt Clinton, then the head of the Board of Canal Commissioners of New York State. This was in 1816. In February, 1820, an act was passed by the Ohio Legislature appointing three commissioners to locate a route for a navigable canal between Lake Erie and the Ohio River, and providing for its location through the Congress lands, then lately purchased of the Indians. This act also proposed to ask of Congress a grant of one or two millions of acres of land. The enactment was not thoroughly carried into effect by reason of some failure to appoint commissioners or to have a suitable survey made.
In a communication sent by Governor Brown to the House of Representatives in the preceding month he treated at some length the idea of a canal through the two Miami valleys. In the valley of the Mad River little more than excavation and a few locks would be required. Following down the route of the Great Mi- ami no obstacle would be met with until the hills at Franklin were reached. Near Hamilton there was the choice of two routes-one by the valley of the Great Miami down the stream, or the other following the line of Mill-creek, the valleys of both coming together in Fairfield Township.
On the 3d of January, 1822, Micajah T. Williams, of Cincinnati, a representative from Hamilton County, and chairman of a committee to whom the report had been referred, made au elaborate report, discussing the ques- tion at length. He said :
" It is a well-established faet that man has not yet devised a mode of conveyance so sate, easy, and cheap as canal navigation ; and although the advantage of cheap and expeditions transportation is not likely to be per- ceived when prices are high and trade most profitable, !! the truth is familiar to every person of observation that the enormous expense of land carriage has frequently consumed nearly, and sometimes quite, the whole price of
:
137
THE MIAMI CANAL.
provisions at the place of embarkation for a distant mar- ket. This is essentially the case in relation to all commod- ities of a cheap and bulky nature, most of which will not bear a land transportation many miles, and consequently are rendered of no value to the farmer, and are suffered to waste on his hands. The merchant who engages in the exportation of the produce of the country, finding it a losing commerce, abandons it, or is ruined; and crops in the finest and most productive parts of the State are left to waste on the fields that produce them, or be dis- tilled, to poison and brutalize society."
The valuable report of Mr. Willianis concluded with the introduction of a bill authorizing an examination into the practicability of connecting Lake Erie with the Ohio River by a canal, which was read the first time, and finally passed January 31, 1822. The second seetion appointed Benjamin Tappan, Alfred Kelley, Thomas Worthington, Ethan Allen Brown, Jeremiah Morrow, Isaac Miner, and Ebenczer Buckingham, Jr., eommis- missioners, " whose duty it shall be to cause such exam- inations, surveys, and estimates io be made by the en- gineer as aforesaid as may be necessary to ascertain the practicability of connecting Lake Erie with the Ohio River, by a canal through the following routes, viz. : from Sandusky Bay to the Ohio River; from the Ohio River to the Maumee River: from the lake to the river aforesaid by the sources of the Cuyahoga and Black Rivers and the Muskingum River; and from the lake by the sources of the Grand and Mahoning Rivers to the Ohio River." .
In a letter addressed to Micajah T. Williams, one of the Ohio canal commissioners, by De Witt Clinton, gov- ernor of New York, on the 8th of November, 1823, in response to inquiries from Mr. Williams, Governor Clin- ton thus refers to the project of constructing a canal from the lake to the Ohio River :
"The State of Ohio, from the fertility of its soil, the benignity of its climate, and its geographical position. must always contain a dense population, and the products - and consumptions of its inhabitants must forever form a lucrative and extensive inland trade, exciting the powers of productive industry, and communicating aliment and energy to external commerce. But when we consider that this canal will open a way to the great rivers that fall into the Mississippi; that it will be felt, not only in the immense valley of that river, but as far west as the Rocky Mountains and the borders of Mexico; and that it will communicate with our great inland seas and their tributary rivers, with the ocean iu various routes, and with the most productive regions of America,-there can be no question respecting the blessings that it will pro- Juve, the riches it will create, and the energies it will call into activity."
Jaunes Geddes, one of the most honored names in the State of New York, was employed as engineer, on the recommendation of the governor and canai commiis-
sioners of that State. He retired within the year, and was succceded in September, 1824, by Mr. David S. Bates, also of New York, who remained here as princi- pal engineer until March, 1829. The engineer in charge of the preliminary work upon the Miami Canal from the first, Samuel Forrer, was superintending engineer of the line from Cincinnati to Dayton. Mr. Forrer is still alive, as are also three of the other engineers, Jesse L. Williams, Francis Cleveland, and Richard Howe.
In the second annual report of the commissioners they say :
"The unhealthiness of the season, and other causes which have operated to retard the prosecution of the sur- veys and examinations, have prevented the location of . a line of eanal on the Western or Miami route.
"The canal line south from the suinmit woukt prob- ably cross Mad River near its mouth, thence pursuing the valley of the Great Miami to a point where it may be thrown into the valley of Mill Creek : thence along that valley to Cincinnati. The waters of Mad River . may be thrown into this line near Dayton, and those of the Great Miami below, and, being conducted in suffi- cient quantities to the termination of the canal at Cincin- nati, would afford power for extensive and valuable hy- draulie works, which are there much needed.
" This line of canal would pass through a section of country inferior to none in America in the fertility of its soil or the quantity of surplus productions it is capable of sending to market. That part of the canal between Dayton and Cincinnati may be with great ease supplied with water, could probably be constructed for a moderate expense, and would become a source of immediate and extensive profit."
In their next report the commissioners say :
" From Dayton to Cincinnati this line, sixty-six miles seventy-one ehains in length, assumes generally a very fa- vorable aspect. To Middletown, a distauce of about twenty-three miles, it is of the most favorable character, with the exception of two points. The first is situated about three miles below Dayton ; the second at and in- mediately below the mouth of Clear Creek, below Frank- lin. The first of these ditheulties is occasioned by the contact of the river (the Miami) aod the highlands fr the distance of forty-eight chaius. To pass this will re- quire a wall of stone-work at low-water line, or an em- bankment of earth and loose fragments of stone, pro- tected from the outside from abrasion by the floods, by loose stones. This wall or embankment must be raised of sufficient height to protect the canal from the floods of the river, which rises from twelve to fifteen foer. It is believed that such a work can be built and sustained without difficulty. The bottom of the river is composed of detached masse- of-rock, and at this point the river is very shoal. The adjoining hills and bank are composed of loose masses of stones, gravel, and other materials I necessary for the construction of the embankment or wall.
18
13S
HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.
The second of these difficulties is of a character very sim- ilar to that of the first, though of an aspect somewhat less formidable. The river does not bear so hard upon the hill as at the first point. A wall or embankment will be required to pass this difficulty very similar to that above described. This line, as far as Middletown, can be supplied with water without any cost on account of feeders. The crossing of Mad River above Dayton with the line of canal by means of a dam will afford any supply of water from that stream which may be required for the purposes of navigation, and an additional quan- tity may be drawn from it for the supply of hydraulic. works along the line below, without injury to the valua- ble works already in operation at Dayton.
" From Middletown to the Ohio River at Cincinnati, a distance of about forty-four miles by the line of location, there are few serious obstructions, With the exception of half a mile of side-hill near Irwin's mill on Mill Creek, which has a tendency to ship, and three or four miles in the same vieinity of side-lying ground, and a few points of inconsiderable difficulty on the Miami between Mid- dletown and Hamilton, this line is of the most favorable character. It presents nothing but proper cutting of the easiest character. The line follows the immediate valley of the Miami River to Hamilton, and then bears off from the river ou a level plain, with proper cutting, and passes into the valley of Mill Creek along the margin of some ponds and swamps, which in flood-time flow into that stream. The excavation to get into the valley of Mill Creek from that of the Miami does not exceed five feet depth at any point. There is not in the whole a half- "mile of the line which amounts to that depth. Down the valley of Mill Creek there are no obstructions until the line reaches the side-lying grounds near the Ohio, These, though presenting difficulties, are not of the most serious character.
" From a point ou Mill Creek near White's mill, about nine miles from the Ohio, two lines were run, --- one on the principle of keeping up the level so as to comnand the upper plain on which Cincinnati stands, entering the Ohio at the mouth of Deer Creek, above the town ; the other by locking down the valley of Mill Creek as it de- svends, and passing on the west of that plain to the lower plain of the town. The first of these lines, in conse- quence of keeping so high a level, will cost something more than the seeoud or lower level. The difference, however, will not be great, as the lockage, which on the lower line is distributed along the valley of Mill Creek for a distance of seven miles, is on the plan of the upper line thrown into the valley of Deer Creek near the river, where suitable stone for their construction can be had from the bed of the Ohio, without the cost of hauling them from six to seven miles. But should the difference in the cost of these two lines be considerable, the supe- rior value for hydraulic purposes, which the surplus water which might be thrown to that point would have
on the upper plain over its value on the lower plain, will probably more than compensate for the difference in the eost of the two lines. The upper plain is elevated one hundred and eight feet above high water in the Chin. The surplus water that might be conveyed into a basin en the upper plain, with so great a power for its lise, might be made a very considerable source of revenne to the canal without interfering with its usefulness for navi- gation, the primary object of its construction. This sec- tion, from Middletown to Cincinnati, may be supplied with water from the Miami with but very little expense. By a eut of twenty-four chains the mill-race of Abner Enoch, near Middletown, may be turned into the canal. Building a dam, and enlarging this race, will be all that is necessary to command from the river any quantity of water which may be required for the supply of the canal to the Ohio. As much water may be introduced at this point as ean be thrown forward through the canal with- out injury to the navigation, without sensibly affecting the mills on the river below. This surplus water may be very profitably used at several points in the valley of Mill Creek, by throwing it at the heads of locks, on to wheels, and taking it again into the canal on lower levels, losing nothing except the extra evaporation and absorption oceasioned thereby. The surplus water which may be passed through the canal and used for hydraulic purposes. both in the valley of Mill Creek and at Cincin- nati, would unquestionably be a source of considerable revenue to the eanal and of general benefit to the sur- rounding country. It may be remarked, also, that at no points within the State would this hydraulie power be of so great a source of revenue as at these. The surround- ing country sustains a dense population, and is almost entirely destitute of water-power. The same remarks will apply, in some degree, to the line from Dayton to Middletown. Suitable stone for the construction of locks may be obtained near Dayton and in the bed of the Ohio River near Cincinnati. Through the intermediate parts of this line stone of the proper quality for that use has not been discovered convenient to the line. Stone of a good quality may, however, be transported from Dayton and points above that by water, and deposited near the sites of the locks between Dayton and Hamilton."
In their next report the commissioners enter into a ealculation of the revenue to be obtained from the lower section of the Miami Canal. They say :
" The following statement will exhibit the probable rev- enue which may be derived from the proposed canals dur- ing the progress of the work and after their completion. So soon as that part of the line extending from the Mi- ami above Middletown to the Ohio shall have been com- pleted, which will be in three years from the commence- ment of the work, au extensive and valuable water-power at the southern termination of the canat in Cincinnati, where that power is much needed, and as valuable as at. any other place, will be at the disposti of the State.
139
THE MIAMI CANAL.
This power may be estimated as follows: Any quantity of water which can be permitted to pass in the canal without injury to its banks or to its navigation may be taken into the canal at Middletown .. From a close eal- culation, it is thought safe to introduce 8,000 cubic feet per minute. Admitting 4,400 enbic feet per minute of this quantity to be. expendeil on the forty-four miles of canal between Middletown and Cincinnati, equal to 100 cubic feet per minute for each mile, and 600 eubie feet per minute to be used in locking boats from the Ohio River into the canal and from the canal into the river, which will be sufficient to pass eighty boats per day, there will remain a surplus of 3,000 cubic feet per min- ute applicable to hydraulic purposes at Cincinnati. The desceut from the proposed basin, on the upper plain at Cin- cinnati, to high-water mark in the Ohio, is fifty feet, and to low-water mark one hundred and eight feet. This water may, therefore, be applied on three overshot water-wheels of fifteen feet diameter each, in succession, before it reaches the level of high-water mark. It has been ascertained by actual experiment that 300 cubic feet of water per minnte, if applied to the best advantage on an overshot wheel of fifteen feet, will give power sufficient to keep in operation two pairs of four and a half feet mill-stones. Calculating from this datum, twenty pairs of mill-stones could be driven on the first descent of sixteen and a half feet of the surplus water from the basin, the same num- ber on the second descent, and the like number on the third descent of sixteen and a half feet, in all power sufficient to keep in operation sixty pairs of mill-stones in the descent of the surplus water from the basin to the level of high-water mark. Two hundred and fifty dollars would certainly be a moderate rent for water-power suffi- rient to drive a pair of mill-stones, or the same power applicable to any other machinery, in such a place as Cincinnati, especially when it is considered that the power would be constant, not subject to interruption from high or low water. At this rate the water-power from the basin to high-water mark in the Ohio would rent for fifteen thousand dollars per annum. And this rate is much lower than that for which power is rented in other places. The power obtained by descent from high-water to low-water mark would not be as valuable as that above estimated, as it would be subject to occasional in- terruptions from high water. These interruptions on the apper half of the descent from extreme high-water mark would seldom occur; and it will be safe to estimate the rent of water-power from high to low-water mark at five thousand dollars per annum ; making the total amount of water-rents twenty thousand dollars per annum. Much water-power may also be obtained in the descent between Middletown and Cincinnati, which is one hundred and seven feet. The amount of tolls arising front tratispor- tation on the canat extending from Dayton to Cincinnati it is not so easy to estimate. The following, however, is the most correet view we are able to give of the subject.
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