Centennial history. Troy, Piqua and Miami county, Ohio, Part 3

Author: Harbaugh, T. C. (Thomas Chalmers), 1849-1924, ed. and comp
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold publishing co
Number of Pages: 882

USA > Ohio > Miami County > Troy > Centennial history. Troy, Piqua and Miami county, Ohio > Part 3
USA > Ohio > Miami County > Piqua > Centennial history. Troy, Piqua and Miami county, Ohio > Part 3

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

network of drainage throughout the coun- ty. Nearly all of them are subject to sud- den rises, which help to enrich the land and stimulate fertility. On the whole the topography of Miami County is conducive to agriculture in all its forms. There is little waste land; the forest area is grad- ually disappearing, many farms being en- tirely treeless-a striking contrast to the physical geography of the country a few years back.

The fertility of our soil is equal to that of any county in the State. The bottom lands on both sides of the Miami are high- ly productive, and the uplands bring forth abundant crops. The lands cleared by the first settlers now constitute the best farms in the county, which proves that the pio- neer was a person of discrimination. He came from an older country east of the Al- leghanies and sought among the forests of the Miami a home which promised to rival the one he had left. While the soil of this county varies in depth and produc- tiveness, there has never been anything to discourage the farmer, and this accounts for the small numbers who have emigrated from this region. There is to-day no farm within our borders that is not convenient to market, and the numerous good roads that spread in every direction facilitate the delivery of our agricultural products. A few years ago a piece of land in Staunton Township, known locally as the "Shaking Prairie," was considered wholly untillable, but to-day it produces excellent crops. To- bacco of late years has become a staple crop in the county, which still further dem- onstrates the fertility of the soil.

Usually the character of the surface de- pends upon its geological formation. To a large extent the development of natural

HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY

conditions is dependent on the drainage. The farm lands of Miami County are gen- erally supplied with good water, which is furnished by natural springs and creeks. In the early days homes were built at or near springs, and running water was a desideratum. The larger waterways of the county have numerous "arms" or tribu- taries, which flow into them from various directions. These creeks are the natural drainage of the localities through which they flow. The Stillwater is the largest of the streams that enter the Miami. It finds its source in Darke County on our northern border and, after traversing Union, Newton and Newberry Townships, debouches into the Miami a short distance north of Dayton. This important tribu- tary of the parent stream takes its name from the tranquillity of its current, which cannot be called rapid at any place. Still- water is the drainage of the western side of the county. It is noted for the absence of abrupt banks on the west side, while on the east for nearly its whole course through Union Township the land slips level from the bed of the stream, receding like the trend of a prairie. Stillwater has many tributaries, chiefest among which is Ludlow Creek, which is celebrated for its "Falls," one of the most romantic places within the borders of the county. Other creeks of less importance to the Stillwater region are Greenville, Trotter and Panther.

The main tributaries of the Miami enter it from the east. These are Lost Creek, Spring Creek and Honey Creek. Flowing into these are a perfect network of lesser streams, some of which have local names, while others are too small to have an ap- pellation. The natural water system of the

county is most excellent, supplying as it does the needs of agriculture and enrichi- ing the several communities in more ways than one. The larger streams afford sites for mills, but the introduction of improved milling machinery has of late years done away with the old system. The Miami eventually receives all the drainage. The county itself has a slope from north to south. In regard to the drift, as mani- fested within its borders, I quote from the State Geological Survey :

"The entire surface of Miami County is covered with loose material, composed of gravel, sanded clay, with a great num- ber of granite and other rocks of similar origin. The commonly received opinion is that these materials have been drifted hither by the agency of water, either fluid or ice, and the facts observed all tend to point to the north, mostly beyond the chain of the great lakes, as the source from whence it has been brought. The Miami, which enters the county at the north, ents through a perpendicular thickness of about seventy-five feet of drift clay, gravel and bowlders, and all the water courses which intersect the northern por- tion of the county cut through the drift to the depth of thirty feet."

The foregoing gives one an idea of the understratum of our soil. In some places the drift is composed of sand and gravel, with a sprinkling of clay, in others the clay is absent. The fine gravel for which the county is noted affords material for the excellent roads that bisect it every- where. The gravel supply seems exhaust- less and much of this material has never been uncovered. I shall not go into details concerning the various strata of rock that underlie our surface. It is sufficient to

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

say that we have within the county three distinct geologieal formations. These are the Niagara, the Clinton Roek and the BIne Limestone of the Cincinnati group. The Niagara formation is exposed at vari- ous places, notably along Greenville Creek, at the Piqua and other quarries. From the Niagara most of our quarried stone comes. The Clinton Rock is seen in the Honey Creek region and is prominent along Lost Creek. The builders of the Troy hydraulic found between that city and Piqua several hundred feet of solid Clinton Rock, through which they were obliged to eut. The Blue Limestone lies below the base of the Clinton. It is thus observed at the base of the Charleston cliffs, as well as on the Stillwater near West Milton. It would only weary the general reader to detail the numerous classes of roek which enter into the geolog- ical history of the county. The descrip- tion would prove interesting only to the student and he is referred to the various surveys which have been made of this region.

Again recurring to pre-historie relics, it is well to say they are not abundant in this county. True, some have been found at various times, but the archæologist has not been paid for his researches. We have within our borders no partienlar earth- works such as are found at Newark and in other parts of the state. Sinee several discoveries of mastodon remains have been made in the county, it is natural to suppose that the mastodon was co-existent with early man. Scientists place the pre- historie man in advance of the Mound Builder, yet beyond some pottery and im- plements of the latter race we know noth- ing of them. It is therefore not unlikely

that in this county, ages before the first moceasin crinkled the leaves, the two strange raees referred to lived and van- ished.

The coming of the Indian is well known. He appeared along the banks of the Miami and in the adjacent region. He made this locality his hunting ground. He drifted hither from the Miami of the Lakes or from the fastnesses of Kentucky, south of the Ohio. It is said that the Shawnee came from the far South, moving gradu- ally northward till he established himself in the Valley of the Miami. The Indian considered the land he inhabited his own. Hle erected his wigwam, planted a little maize, and where to-day are farms and cities of this county, he hunted the wild game or engaged his red rivals in battle. It is useless to attempt to locate all the red tribes that frequented this locality at different times. They will be referred to further along in this work. Fortunately the pioneer, who was a person of wide ob- servation, has left us many accounts of the Indian. He had excellent opportunities for seeing the red man at home, on the warpath and in the chase. It was the rich- ness of this region, not only in natural beauty, but in game of every description. that filled the Indian with a desire to figlit for it. He had nothing in common with the palefaces, and from the moment the first white settler penetrated the forests of the Miami he had a natural and vin- dictive enemy in the Indian hunter.

During the Indian occupancy of Miami County and for years thereafter, game was abundant. There was sustenance here for wild animals of every deseription. The streams were stocked with fish and the forests afforded shelter for birds and

HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY

beasts. The Indian, who was a natural hunter, spent much time in the chase. Be- fore the advent of the settler he killed with the arrow or by laying snares for the wild tenants of the woods. Throughout the country deer, bears, wolves, wildcats, turkeys, pheasants and wild pigeons were to be found. There is authority for the statement that in 1749 buffalo were seen along the Miami. Bears were plentiful. They grew fat on berries and wild honey, which abounded in the Miami forests. It is stated as a matter of record that David Loury during his lifetime, killed one thou- sand bears on Mad River, which is an in- dication of the numbers to be found within the confines of this county. In the autumn of 1816, nine years after the formation of the county, Henry Kerns killed a bear whose quarters weighed four hundred pounds. As the bear vanished deer seemed to increase. The cool water courses and the wild and luxuriant pasture lands, un- touched by the hand of man, formed their favorite habitat. John Knoop, one of the first settlers of the county, saw nine deer at one time where the hamlet of Staunton now stands.

In fact, deer were so numerous at one time that they could be shot from the doors of the cabins, and more than one pioneer woman brought down the antlered lord of the forest from her window. The wolf was for a long time the sneaking, sleep- disturbing element of the county. He roamed the forests in bands, ever on the alert for the sheepfold and the unpro- tected lamb. Ilis long howls awoke the echoes of the night and he became the set- tler's most annoying enemy. At last the

Legislature offered a bounty of three dol- lars for his scalp, and thereafter he was pursued untiringly and at last destroyed.

Of the smaller game, squirrels inhabited the county in vast numbers. In a few years they became great pests, destroying whole fields of corn in a short time. Their depredations resulted in the formation of organized bands of squirrel hunters and special days were set apart for the destruc- tion of the litle pests. During one of these famous "hunts," which took place a few miles south of Troy, one hundred and fifty bushels of corn were awarded to Elias Ger- ard, who within six days brought in 1,700 squirrel scalps. A like amount of corn was given Charles Wolverton, whose tro- phies numbered 1,300. The great squirrel migration took place in this county in 1828 when thousands of the little animals traveled from west to east permitting noth- ing to swerve them from their course. Countless numbers were killed with clubs by the pioneer youth during this strange hegira. Such was the great game preserve of this county at the dawn of its history. The large game which survived the skill and rapacity of the Indian hunter suc- cumbed to the settler. War was made on the wildcat, wolf and panther on account of their destructiveness, and the wild tur- key was killed for food. The boys of the pioneer families were early taught the use of the rifle and became skilled with it. They could bring down the squirrel from the topmost branches of the oak and did not fear the panther. It was the descendants of these young pioneers who in after years became the marksmen of the armies of Grant and Sherman.

CHAPTER II.

FIRST WHITE MAN IN THE COUNTY

The Call of the West-The Pioneer Settler-De Bienville's Expedition of 1749-At- tack on Pickawillany-Expedition of Christopher Gist-Location of Pickawillany -Washington's Journey-Expeditions of George Rogers Clarke-Experiences of Abram Thomas-Battle on the Johnston Farm-Beauty of the Country at the Time of Clarke's Expedition-Coming of John Knoop, 1797-Pioneer Settlers.

It is an interesting fact that the trend of discovery, invasion, and immigration from the earliest times has been westward. The adventurous prows of the Columbian fleet pointed toward the occident; the call of the western wild lured the ill-fated De Soto to his grave beneath the waters of the Mississippi; Coronado marched toward the setting sun in search of the "Seven Cities of Cibola," and the Chevalier La Salle carried the sacred symbol of the Nazarene to the forests of the Illinois. The virgin woods, reflected in the limpid waters of the Miami, echoed only to the howl of the predatory wolf and the battle-cry of the contending tribes. Long before the coming of the white man the skulking In- dian, decked in the paraphernalia of the warpath, sought his red rival within the present boundaries of this county, or hunted wild game through its primeval thickets.

The trading-post, that forerunner of civ- ilization, had not yet set up its stockade. The only craft that cut the western waters

were the lithe canoes of the scarlet legions. From the Miami-of-the-Lakes to the shores of the Ohio the only pathways of the woods were the Indian and buffalo trails. It was the age of shadow and savagery. No axe awoke the echoes of the forests and every- where, unbroken and in its pristine beauty, lay the vast hunting grounds of the red man. What must have been the thoughts of the Boones and Kentons when for the first time they beheld a scene like this? One naturally wonders if they dreamed of the opening up of the region of the Miami by the hand of civilization, of the day, not far remote, when the cabin of the settler should rise upon the wigwam's site and trade and traffic send up their clarion calls where ran the woodland trails.

It seems a far cry back from the busy present to the distant past. Yet a century is but a milestone on the highway of Prog- ress. It is man and man alone who makes history. The song of the first pioneer women has not been wholly lost in the noise of the myriad wheels of trade. The

HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY

hand that reared the first cabin on the banks of the Miami builded better than it knew.

Let us turn the early pages of history and trace from the beginning the opening up of this county. It is well that reliable records of our birthright have come down to us. The settler who first penetrated the wilderness of the Miami has left for us his footprints so that we can trace him unerringly. As a rule he was not a man of seholastic lore. He was a person of brain and brawn who, deterred by no diffi- culties, came from beyond the Alleghanies and passed with high hopes the portals of the "new Canaan." All hail the memory of the little band of pioneers who sealed the mountain barrier and saw the wolf flee from the light of his campfires!

I shall not deal with tradition, which has been aptly termed "the unwritten or oral transmission of information," and it is not reliable. As early as 1749 Celeron de Bienville was sent out by the Marquis de la Gallissoniere, Governor of Canada, to take possession for France of the Ohio Valley and prevent the English Ohio Com- pany from acquiring it by right of settle- ment. Gallissoniere was governor of Can- ada when the peace of Aix-la-chapelle was signed. He was a naval officer and, like all the early governors of that province, had a very exalted opinion of his abilities. Despite his physical deformity-he was a lunchbaek-he was animated by a bold spirit and strong and penetrating intellect. Parkman says that "he felt that, cost what it might, France must hold Canada and link her to Louisiana by chains of forts strong enough to hold baek the British col- onies and cramp their growth within nor- row limits." The treaty had really done

nothing to settle the boundaries between France and England. Slowly but surely the English had been crossing the Alle- ghanies, sedueing the Indian from his alle- giance to France and ruining the fur trade which even then flourished in the Ohio Valley.

Something had to be done to counteract the aggressions of the English in this par- tienlar locality and this determined Gallis- soniere to send Celeron de Bienville west- ward with the region embraced within the borders of Miami County as his objective point. De Bienville was a loyal officer of France, but a man of haughty, disobedient character. As the first Frenchman who entered the forest in this locality at the head of an armed force he deserves a brief mention. In some ways the Governor of Canada could not have entrusted the expe- dition to a better man, but De Bienville had ideas of his own and was inclined, when beyond the power of his superior, to exercise them. He was thoroughly famil- jar with the Indian character, and his in- tense hatred of the English led Gallisso- niere to expect great things of him. Bred among the frivolities and corruptions of a licentious court, Celeron brought his gay habits into the wilderness, and these, with his innate stubbornness, threatened to elothe the expedition withi failure.

The expedition left Lachine on the 15th of June, 1749, and having ascended the St. Lawrence, swept across Lake Ontario and from Niagara skirted the southern shore of Lake Erie and at last gained the head- waters of the Alleghany. Celeron descend- ed that river and the Ohio. Already the English trader had penetrated this wilder- ness, but the Freneliman claimed it in the name of his king. At different places De

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

Bienville buried six leaden tablets upon which he described his acts. The first of these plates which marked his route was buried at the foot of a tree immediately after crossing the Alleghany. A great ceremony preceded the burial, calculated to impress the French and Indians with the importance of the expedition. Four leagues below French Creek, by a rock covered with Indian inscriptions, they bur- ied another plate, and at the mouth of the Muskingum two more were placed. Fifty years later a party of boys, bathing in the river, discovered one of these plates pro- truding from the bank, and, after melting half of it into bullets, they gave the last half away and it is still in existence. Cel- eron or "The plate planter," as he is called, buried still another plate at the mouth of the Great Kenawha and this plate was found by a boy in 1846. Three of Celeron's plates have been found. One which was never buried was found in pos- session of some Indians who brought it to Col. Johnson on the Mohawk and the scheming Colonel interpreted the inserip- tions in a manner to incense the savages against the French.

The last plate was buried at the mouth of the Great Miami, after which the little band erossed to Lake Erie and gained Fort Niagara October 19th, 1749. Celeron reached the old Indian town of Pickawill- any on the site of the state dam two miles north of Piqua. In order to show the as- surance and pomposity of the French I transcribe the inscription of the tablet buried at the mouth of the Great Miami :

"In the year 1749-the reign of Louis XV, King of France-we, Celeron, commandant of a detachment sent by Monsieur the Marquis of Gallissoniere, Commander in Chief of New France, to establish tranquillity in certain Indian villages in these cantons, have buried this plate at the confluence of the Ohio and of To-Ra-Da-Koin, this

29th July-near the river Ohio, otherwise Beautiful river, as a monument of renewal of possession, which we have taken of the said river and all its tributaries and of all the land on both sides, as far as the source of said rivers-inasmuch as the preceding kings of France bave enjoyed and maintained it by their arms and treaties, especially by those of Ryswick, U'treebt and Aix-la. Chapelle.'

Parkman avers that Celeron was ordered to attack the English who had established themselves at Pickawillany, but he was loath to obey. At this place the English traders had often gathered to the number of fifty and Longueill, Governor of Can- ada, characterized them as "the instiga- tors of revolt and the source of all our woes." De Bienville was charged with disobedience and forced to attack. A French trader named Langlade, who had married a squaw, led a force of 200 Ojibwa war- riors from Michillimackinac and advanced through the forest to attack Old Britain of the "Demoiselle," who was the controll- ing spirit of the English at Pickawillany. This force of savage furies burst upon the English in the month of June, 1752. The Indian women fled from the maize fields to the protection of the traders. There were but eight traders in the fort at the time. Old Britain was killed with fourteen of his Miamis and the chief was eaten by his cannibalistie enemies. The traders cap- tured at Pickawillany were cruelly treated. They were plundered of everything; even their clothes were taken from them and Langlade carried them in triumph to Du- quesne, the new governor, who recom- mended him to the Minister for reward, saying: "As he is not in the King's serv- ice and had married a squaw, I will ask for him only a pension of two hundred franes, which will flatter his vanity."

It was not much of a battle, but it was the initial elash of the two great nations whose supremacy on these shores was aft-

HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY

erward to be settled on the Heights of Abraham. It is rather notable that on the borders of Miami County should be fought out one of the early disputes between Celt and Gaul.

Prior, however, to the assault on the trading post at Pickawillany, the region of the Miami was invaded by a little force intended to spy out the land in the interest of France's great rival, England. In 1750 an association consisting chiefly of Virgin- ians and called the Ohio Company, was formed to settle the western wilderness. In this association weretwo brothers of Wash- ington. The governing committee placed at the head of the exploring band a hardy scout and guide named Christopher Gist, one of the most noted backwoodsmen of the early days. A grant of 500,000 acres was procured from the king on condition that one hundred families should be established upon it within seven years, a fort built and a garrison maintained. The committee un- der whose instructions Gist was to operate in the exploring and selection of the land stipulated that "it must be good, level land. We had rather go quite down the Mississippi than take mean, broken land." Gist turned his face toward what was aft- erward to be the county we now inhabit- Miami. He was beset with dangers from the first. The Scotch-Irish traders told him that he would never return in safety, and it was not until the old backwoodsman declared that he was the bearer of a mes- sage from the King that he was permitted to proceed. Gist had with him as inter- preter a companion named Andrew Mon- tour, who was a character of those times. His mother was the celebrated half-breed, Catherine Montour, who had been carried off by the Iroquois and adopted by them.

Her son Andrew, who became of much service to Gist, is thus described by one who knew him:

"His face is like that of a European, but marked with a broad Indian ring of bear's grease and paint drawn completely around it. He wears a coat of fine cloth of cinna- mon color, a black neck-tie with silver spangles, a red satin waistcoat, trousers, over which hangs his shirt, shoes and stockings, a hat and brass ornaments, something like the handle of a basket sus- pended from his ears." A real forest dandy of the olden time !

After leaving the Muskingum Gist jour- neyed to a village on White Woman's Creek, so called from one Mary Harris, who lived there. She had been captured when young by the Indians, and at the time of Gist's visit had an Indian husband and a family of young half-breeds. Mov- ing west through the vast solitudes of the unbroken forest the little band reached a Shawnee town at the mouth of the Scioto, where they were well received. Soon after leaving this village they struck the trail leading to Pickawillany. The old guide was delighted with the country and in his report to the Ohio Company he says that "it is rich, level land, well timbered with large walnut, ash, sugar and cherry trees ; well watered with a great number of streams and rivulets, full of beautiful meadows, with wild rye, blue grass and clover, and abounding with game, particu- larly deer, elks, wild turkeys and buffaloes, thirty or forty of the latter being seen on one piece of land." Such, no doubt, was the condition of this county at that period.

Gist crossed the Miami on a raft and was hailed by Old Britain. the chief at

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

Pickawillany. At his time the station num- bered 2,000 souls, and the traders were se- cure in a fort of pickets, protected with logs. Here was held in Gist's honor the first wild dance ever performed for white men in this region. It was called the "feather dance" and what it was like let the journal of the old frontiersman say : "It was performed by three dancing mas- ters, who were painted all over of various colors, with long sticks in their hands, upon the ends of which were fastened long feathers of swans and other birds, neatly woven in the shape of a fowl's wing. In this disguise they performed many antic tricks, waving their sticks with great skill, to imitate the flying of birds, keeping exact time with their music. An Indian drum furnished music and each warrior, striking a painted post with his tomahawk, would recount his valorous deeds on the warpath and the buffalo trail."

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Centennial history. Troy, Piqua and Miami county, Ohio, Part 3

Author: Harbaugh, T. C. (Thomas Chalmers), 1849-1924, ed. and comp Publication date: 1909 Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold publishing co Number of Pages: 882

Author: Harbaugh, T. C. (Thomas Chalmers), 1849-1924, ed. and comp
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold publishing co
Number of Pages: 882