USA > Ohio > Historical collections of Ohio, containing a collection of the most interesting facts, traditions, biographical sketches, anecdotes, etc., relating to its general and local history : with descriptions of its counties, principal towns, and villages > Part 85
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Many of the old pioneers entertained towards the Indians an inveterate hatred, and did not consider it really criminal even to murder them. One time, after the last war, a dead Indian was seen floating down the Scioto on two logs, lashed together, having his gun and all his accoutrements with him. He had been shot, and the people believed the murderer was George Shanon, who had been in service considerably during the war, and one time when out, not far from Lower Sandusky, with a small company, fell in with a party of
warriors and had to retreat. He lingered behind till he got a shot, and killed one. As soon as he fired, several Indians sprang forward to catch him alive, but being swift on foot, he could easily keep ahead, when he suddenly came to an open field, across which he had to run or be cut off. The Indians gained the first side just as he was leaping the fence on the other and fired at him, one ball entering his hip. He staunched the blood by stuffing the hole with a portion of his shirt, that they might not track him, and crawled into the brush ; but they gave up the chase, thinking they had not hit him, and being convinced of his su- perior fleetness. Shanon got into camp and was conveyed home, but he was always lame afterwards, and fostered an unrelenting desire for vengeance towards the whole race, not excepting the innocent and harmless. As late as 1820, two Indians were murdered on Fulton's creek. A party came down there to hunt, as was customary with them every fall, and Henry Swartz ordered them off. They replied, " no! the land belongs to the white man-the game to the Indian," and insisted that they were friends and ought not to be dis- turbed. A few days after, two of their number were missing, and they hunted the entire
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ADDENDA.
country over without finding them, and at last found evidence of human bones where there had been a fire, and immediately charged Swartz with killing and burning them. They threatened vengeance on him, and for several years after he had to be constantly on his guard to prevent being waylaid. It was never legally investigated, but the neighbors all believed that Swartz, aided probably by Ned Williams, murdered and disposed of them in the manner the Indians suspected, and at one time talked of driving them out of the settle- ment. They were considered bad men, and never prospered afterwards.
Norton, 10 miles N. of the county seat ; Waldo, 12 do .; Wood- bury, 12 NE .; Westfield, 12 NNE. ; Edin, 6 E .; Sunbury, 12 E .; Lock- win, 16 ssE .; Galena, 12 SE .; Stratford, 3 E .; Williamsville, 10 s. ; Belle Point, 7 sw .; Milleville, 6 w .; Delhi, 8 Nw., and Middletown, 13 miles Nw., are all villages in the county of less than 200 inhabi- , tants, but several of them handsome and thriving.
SIGNIFICATION AND ORIGIN OF THE NAME OHIO.
The Shawanoese called the Ohio river, Kis,ke,pi,la Sepe, i. e., Eagle river. The Wyandots were in the country generations be- fore the Shawanoese, and consequently their name of the river is the primitive one, and should stand in preference to all others. Ohio may be called an improvement on the expression, O,he,zuh, and was no doubt adopted by the early French voyagers in their boat songs, and is substantially the same word as used by the Wyandots : the meaning applied by the French, fair and beautiful, "la belle rivere," being precisely the same as that meant by the Indians- great, grand and fair to look upon .*
GALLIA COUNTY.
The annexed article respecting the Scioto company and its connection with the Ohio company, has been communicated to us by the venerable Ephraim Cutler, of Washington county. Judge Cutler is the son of Rev. Dr. Manasseh Cutler, who was the agent for the New England Ohio company, in making the contract with congress for their lands. His opportunities for accurate information upon this subject, renders his testimony of great his- torical value.
The Scioto land company has been the subject of considerable mystery, and the cause of much misrepresentation. I am not pre- cisely informed concerning its origin. It was probably started during the negociation of Dr. Cutler with the old congress, in 1787, for the Ohio company purchase. Dr. Cutler arrived in New York, July 5th, and carried on his negociations for a week ; he was then absent another week on a visit to Philadelphia, where the convention that formed our federal constitution was sitting. On his return to New York, the project for the Scioto company was broached to him by Col. William Duer, as appears by the following extract from the Dr.'s journal. "Colonel Duer came to me with proposals from a
* Col. John Johnston.
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ADDENDA.
number of the principal characters in the city, to extend our contract, and take in another company."*
The arrangements of Dr. Cutler with the government, made room for another company. But this other association was entirely dis- u'oct from the Ohio company. Yet it has been represented that the Ohio company was concerned in the alledged wrongs towards the French emigrants of 1790, who were induced to come over in ex- pectation of beneficial acquisitions of land in this quarter, by the agency of Joel Barlow. But this imputation is entirely groundless. What were the actual regulations and doings of the Scioto company previous to or connected with that agency, I have never learned. Dr. Cutler contracted for a million and half acres for the Ohio com- pany. In connection with his negociation, the "board of treasury" were empowered to sell all west of the 7th range, up to the north- west corner of T. X, to the Scioto, and south to the Ohio. This would have included Zanesville and Columbus. It was estimated at five million acres-much below the actual amount.
The arrangements and objects of the Ohio company and the Scioto company are believed to have been very different. The aim of the Ohio company was, actual settlement by shareholders. The lands obtained were ultimately to be allotted in shares, of which no one was to hold more than five shares.
The object of the Scioto company seems to have been, solely and simply, land speculation ; to purchase of congress-nominally, at two-thirds of a dollar per acre-paying mostly in continental paper money, at that time passing at enormous d'scount-so that, in fact, the actual cost, per acre, might not be more than eight or ten cents, then to sell at prices which would yield them enormous profits.
That any dishonest intention was entertained by Colonel Duer, or the other associates of the Scioto company, I have no belief. Dr. Cutler speaks of the association as comprising "some of the first characters in America." Their object, no doubt, was to make large profits by the purchase and sale of public lands.
It is understood that Joel Barlow was by them authorized to offer lands in France, and to invite French emigrants; but of his au- thority or instructions, we have no specific information. In this matter, the Ohio company had as little concern as in the South Sea bubble.
But the splendid project of the Scioto company was blighted. Probably they expected to purchase public securities, to pay for their purchase of congress, at the excessively low rates of 1787. But the adoption of the federal constitution, and the successful estab- lishment of the federal government, under Washington and his com- patriots, raised the credit of those securities and blasted the hopes of speculation. Meantime, the French emigrants were coming.
* The reader will find in the article " Ohio," in the North American Review for Oct., 1841, all that transpired between Dr. Cutler and Colonel Duer, at the time he made the purchase for the Ohio company, extracted from the private journal of the former.
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ADDENDA.
The Scioto company purchase was not effected, and where should these emigrants go ?
Certain persons, who styled themselves "trustees to the propri- etors of the Scioto lands," applied to Gen. Rufus Putnam and Dr. Manasseh Cutler, two of the directors of the Ohio company, for +'e purchase of certain interests in this company. The persons who thus styled themselves "trustees," were William Duer, Royal Flint, and Andrew Cragie. They bargained with General Putnam and Dr. Cutler for 148 " forfeited shares" in the Ohio company. The 8, 3, and 160 acre lots, and the town lots, had been already allotted and drawn. The undrawn portions-equal to 100, 262 and 640 acres to each share, were to be located in a body, in the southwest corner of the purchase, viz. :
Townships 1, 2, 3, in range 14.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, " 15.
1, 2, 3, 16. 66 1, 2, 3, 4, 17.
And so much of south of T. 4-R. 16, and T. 5-R. 17,
as would make up in all 196,544 acres, in this compact body.
This contract was ratified by the Ohio company. The lands for the French settlement of Gallipolis, (which is in the 14th range,) were located and occupied, I suppose, in consequence of this arrange- ment. General Putnam, as agent for Duer & Co., provided, at some $2,000 expense, for the accommodations of the French emigrants there, and by the failure of Duer & Co., had to lose most or all of it.
The Scioto company not only failed in securing the large purchase contemplated, but did not succeed in obtaining the interest for which they stipulated in the lands of the Ohio company. They did not pay, and the contract with Putnam and Cutler became a nullity. All that was required by the contract was, that the Scioto company associates should pay as much proportionably, as the Ohio company were to pay congress, and relinquish to the Ohio company the pre- emption right, which the Scioto company was understood to have in reference to lands lying north of the Ohio company's location. All was failure on the part of the Scioto company. The French emi- grants were planted at Gallipolis, and General Putnam was left to pay some $2,000 expended in behalf of the Scioto company.
It is rather surprising that any complaint should have been made against the Ohio company for selling the lands in and about Galli- polis to the French, for $1.25 per acre. It was, in truth, an act of favor and courtesy, in deference to the misfortunes of the French. The Ohio company was under no obligation to them. They had no agency in inviting or deceiving them. How much blame there was in the case, and to whom it belonged, we are not now able to decide. Barlow was poetic-but we know not that he was intentionally faise. Most probably the emigrants were greatly beguiled by their own vivid imaginations. We may well enough suppose there was inoro poetry than truth in the whole concern.
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OUTLINE SKETCH OF THE GEOLOGY OF OHIO.
COMMUNICATED FOR THIS WORK BY CHARLES WHITTLESEY, OF THE LATE GEOLOGICAL CORPS OF OHIO.
IN the state of Ohio, no primitive rocks are found in place. Her rocks are all sedimentary and stratified, and as they are nearly horizontal, the strata that appear at the surface are few. Her geology is, therefore, very simple and easily understood, especially when we compare it with that of Penn- sylvania and New York, where a much greater variety of formations is seen.
The lowest visible rock in Ohio is the " blue limestone" of Cincinnati, which is also the lowest in a physical, as well as in a geological sense.
The bed of the Ohio river, near Cincinnati, is 133 feet below the level of Lake Erie, and is the most depressed portion of the state of Ohio, being only 431 feet above tide water. Here the blue limestone is seen, with its beds of " dun" and "blue" marl. The strata dip in all directions from the south- western angle of the state, which occupies a crown, or geological summit, rather than a synclinal axis.
Any one would be convinced of this by travelling from thence in any direc- tion and observing the rocks. If he should go up the Ohio river, he would perceive that the surface of the blue limestone descends, and finally passes beneath its channel at a distance of less than 100 miles. In the same way, on descending the river, he would discover the hills about Madison, in -county, capped by a different rock, the " cliff limestone," which overlies the " blue," and arriving at the falls of the Ohio, at Louisville, the " cliff," continually sinking, reaches the bed of the river and causes the falls. Go up the Great Miami to Dayton, and the cliff makes its appearance, although the descent in this direction is slight. A part of the disappearance of the blue is here owing to the rise of the country. In the same way, if one passes up the valley of the Licking or the Kentucky rivers, the overlying cliff settles down into the level of the blue, and apparently occupies its place in the horizon.
We have no means of ascertaining the thickness of the blue limestone, for we have not penetrated through it to the rocks beneath ; yet it is estimated at more than 1000 feet, 600 to 700 of which are visible.
If we group the rocks of Ohio according to their lithological characters, there are five distinct divisions, that any person will discover on examination. The difference in appearance, hardness, color and composition is so marked that no more natural division could be made.
1st. Limestone, visible thickness in Adams county, according
to Dr. Locke, · 772 feet.
2d. Black shale, thickness at the same place, . 251
3d. Fine grained sandstone, thickness, 343 ·
4th. Conglomerate, .
200 "
5th. Coal series, estimated, . . 2000
Thickness in Ohio,
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578
GEOLOGY OF OHIO.
This is dividing the rocks, not according to strict geological rules, but according to external characters.
A person travelling from the west line of Adams county eastward, to the Little Scioto, in Scioto county, would pass over the outcropping edges of all these rocks, and would see all the formations of Ohio.
They here plunge in the direction south 803º east, and sink to the eastward at the rate of 37 4-10 feet per mile ;* consequently, the cliff limestone, the upper member of the great limestone deposit, which, at West Union, Adams county, is 600 feet above the river at Cincinnati, at Brush Creek, 6 miles east, is found only about 350 feet above the same level.
And the fine grained sandstone which caps the hills east of Brush Creek, and west of the Scioto, as we approach the Little Scioto, sinks to the base of the hills and appears beneath the conglomerate. This inclines continually to the river surface, and plunges beneath the coal.
In other parts of the state, as will be seen hereafter, although the same rocks prevail, and always in the same order, their thickness, mass and dip will be different. There is no place where they can all be seen in so short a space as in Adams and Scioto counties, and here Dr. Locke made his sec- tion in 1838.
As we proceed along the outcrop of these strata, by which is meant the irregular line of junction between the faces of the strata, we find that, in a level country, it coincides with a horizontal line separating one rock from another ; and following the union of these rocks-for instance, the black shale and the fine grained sand stone-to the northward, we shall observe a change in the direction of the line of bearing, and also of the dip or plunge.
Rockville, Waverly, Chillicothe, Reynoldsburg, Mansfield and Newburg, are towns in or near the western edge of the " fine grained sandstone," or at its " outcrop," forming a continuous, but crooked line from the Ohio river to Lake Erie. By the attached map of the state, the fine grained sandstone will be seen to occupy an irregular belt about 10 miles wide, embracing those places. Next, westerly, is a strip of the black shale accompanying the fine grained sandstone, somewhat broader, and bounded by it on the east. On the west of the whole, and covering about one-third of the state, in the west and north- west, is the cliff or buff-colored limestone.
In the southwest corner, is the blue limestone, occupying a circular space from West Union, by way of Dayton, to the state line.
On the east of the line of towns above given, is the conglomerate, bending around from Cuyahoga falls to Benton, in Geauga county, and then eastward into Pennsylvania. Adjacent to this line of outcrop, are the coal bearing rocks, occupying the east and southeastern part of Ohio, within a line from Sharon, on the Pennsylvania line to Ravenna, Akron, Wooster, Dover, Browns- ville, on the National road, Logan and Hanging Rock. If we examine any of these rocks over large tracts of country, at points 10, 40, or 100 miles apart, we soon discover that the line of outcrop changes in direction, and with it the line of greatest dip or plunge, which is at right angles to the line of bearing.
Thus, from Rockville to Chillicothe, the course is north, about 10° east, and corresponds very nearly with the line of outcrop of the fine grained sand- stone fer that distance. The dip at Rockville is given at s. 80}º east, al- most a right angle, and the rate of dip 37 feet per mile. At the other end of
* 2d vol. Ohio Geo. Report, page 238.
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GEOLOGY OF OHIO.
579
the line, at Chillicothe, the general dip, rejecting fractions, is south 70° east, 30 feet to the mile, the line of bearing thus makes a curve to the eastward, and the line of dip a corresponding change to the southward. This is the universal law; consequently, when we course around the edge of the coal basin to the northward, and the line of bearing changes to an almost easterly direction, the dip is nearly south. It would be thus, if we should make the
MICHIGAN
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leveland
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WAVER
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Sandusky City
BLACK
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Flysia
STONE
GL
OMER
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Ravenna
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TONE
Wooster
Mansfield'
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SH
SAND
ROAD
NATIONAL
·Zanesville
Daytonyo
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Washingtoni
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Chillicothe
L
Chciunati
LIMESTONE
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West Union
Madison
Mayville
Portsmouth
VIRGINIA
KENTUCKY
Outline Map of the Geological Formations of Ohio.
entire circuit of the great Alleghany coal field. Pursuing its northern boun- dary through Meadville, in Pennsylvania, we should soon turn southward, and, arriving at the Portage summit railroad, should observe the lowest bed of coal there at the door of the station-house, on the summit of the Alleghanies, 2500 feet above the ocean, it would be found plunging rapidly to the west- ward. Following down the Alleghanies to the southwest, through Pennsyl- vania, Virginia and Tennessee, to the southern termination of this great coal bason, the rocks and the coal strata are found to dip more and more to the northward, and finally, at the flexure of the course, when we turn back to the north, the dip changes from north to northeast. Continuing on northward, on the west side of the coal field, through Tennessee, across the Cumberland and Kentucky rivers to the Ohio, we come to the starting point, the dip be- ing northeasterly, easterly, and finally south of east.
These lines of dip point to a common centre, or depression in the strata, at the foot of the western slope of the Alleghanies, in Virginia.
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o
GLOMERATE
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CO A
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580
GEOLOGY OF OHIO.
In farther illustration of the geological map, it should be said that the scale is too small to give the exact outlines of the formations, even if they were exactly known. In the northeastern part, I have attempted to show the limits of the strata, but without success, owing to the limited scale of the map. For instance, much of the county of Medina is represented as being a con- glomerate rock at the surface ; but the streams, particularly the south branch of Rocky river, cut through the conglomerate and reach the fine grained sand- stone beneath. It is the same with Rocky, Cuyahoga, Chagrin and Grand rivers, and Ashtabula and Conneaut creeks. The shale and this sandstone, therefore, extend in narrow bays up the valleys of these streams and their branches. Between the fine grained sandstone and the conglomerate, is a mass of coarse grained sandstone, without pebbles, which furnishes the grind- stones of Lake Erie, extending from the Vermillion river, through Lorain county and Cuyahoga, into Lake county ; but where it terminates I do not know. At Newburg, Warrensville and Chagrin falls, the section of this intermediate mass is as follows-beginning at the top of the fine grained sandstone :
Ist. Black shale, with thin layers of sandstone, . 10 feet.
2d. Red shale, very soft,
· 30
3d. Grindstone grit, 40 66
4th. Shale, ash color, and layers of sandstone to lower face of conglomerate,
. 81
In Lorain county, the coarse sandstone grit appears almost to displace the fine grained sandstone and red shale-thickening downwards at Elyria to the black shale. Farther examination is necessary to classify these inter- mediate strata.
The projecting ridges of highland between the Black and Cuyahoga rivers, the Cuyahoga and the Grand and Mahoning rivers, are composed of con- glomerate, as the surface rock, its most northerly point being an outlier, called the little mountain, within 5 or 6 miles of the lake at Kirtland, and elevated 600 feet above it.
The grindstone grit, red shale and ash-colored shale vary much in thick- ness, and at the south of Elyria, owing to the drift, it cannot, without farther examination, be decided where they cease, and where the fine grained sand- stone rock may be first seen. In the valley of the Cuyahoga, they are seen distinctly at Brandywine Mills, and at the Peninsula in Boston ; and between Peninsula and Old Portage, appear to run out and to be lost in the shaly por- tions of the fine grained sandstone.
So with the narrow belt of fine grained sandstone overlying the shale, or black slate formations, and skirting the highlands that overlook the lake, it is not easy to determine the line of division between the two formations, par- ticularly in the valleys of Grand river and the Mahoning.
Returning to the consideration of dip, a few instances more may be given, to show the surprising regularity of the sedimentary rocks of Ohio, and also the change in direction which has just been noticed.
Take the town of Chillicothe, in Ross county, the village of Newburg, in Cuyahoga county, and a point in the west line of Crawford county, all situ- ated at the surface of the " black shale"-these three points form a triangu- lar plane of stratification, of which we know mathematically the relative elevations and the distances. By a trigonometrical calculation, we deduce the " line of bearing" and the "dip" of this rock, or the plane of its superior face. The result is as follows : course of dip s. 593º east ; bearing N. 30}º east.
Great Miami River, at Dayton.
Scioto River, at Columbus.
Muskingum River, at Zanesville.
Ohio River, at Wheeling.
Coal
Measures
Blue Co Liinestoue
Cliff Limestone 126 fect
Shale
Conglomerate
.......
Waverly.
Black Mindstone
Lake Erie Level, 564 feet above the Ocean.
SECTION OF THE ROCKS OF OHIO, ALONG THE NATIONAL ROAD FROM DAYTON TO WHEELING.
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582
GEOLOGY OF OHIO.
Taking three points in the lowest bed of coal, Tallmadge, Youngstown and Sharon, we obtain for the bearing, N. 773º east ; dip, s. 12}º E. ; amount, 20 6-10 feet per mile. These results, therefore, are not surmises and specu- lations, but physical facts, arrived at by measurement.
A "geological section" is an imaginary vertical cut, made through the rocks on a line of dip or greatest inclination ; and since this line, in Ohio as elsewhere, is constantly changing, the section made at any place does not represent the bearing or plunge of the rocks at others, but only their order of superposition.
A general section is here given, extending from Dayton to Columbus, Zanesville and Wheeling, taken from the geological reports of Ohio. It shows all the general formations of Ohio, but on a scale so diminutive, that the subordinate members, or subdivisions of the formations do not appear. This would require a plan many feet long.
To comprehend this section fully, it is necessary to imagine the cut made along the line indicated, and one half of the mass removed, so that the ob- server has a view of the edges of the strata.
On a scale so limited, it is necessary to reject a very important member of the geological column, the " drift," " superficial materials," or "diluvial de- posits," as it is variously named : a coating of earth, gravel, clay, stones and boulders, that overspread the whole country, hiding the rocks from view. This will, however, be touched upon in its place.
The relation between the horizontal and vertical distances must, of course, be disregarded in the scale here adopted ; for if it was obscured, the eleva- tions would be comparatively nothing, and little could be shown. The con- sequence of this disproportion is, to make the angles of dip appear much greater than they really are, bnt this cannot be avoided.
The horizontal line represents the level of the lake, and the irregular line above it, the surface of the earth, the elevations of which are in figures at a few points. As a survey has been made along the National road, this can be done with great accuracy.
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