USA > Ohio > Historical collections of Ohio in three volumes ; an encyclopedia of the state : with notes of a tour over it in 1886 contrasting the Ohio of 1846 with 1886-90, Vol. III > Part 11
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A late writer states : Piketon was surveyed and platted by Peter Dunnon, a Virginian and a good surveyor-as surveyors went in those days. The court- house was not built at Piketon until about 1817, and prior to its completion court was held in a stone building near Piketon, owned by John Chenoweth. The court-house built at Piketon, which is still standing, was of brick. Among the earliest settlers in and about Piketon, were Jonathan Clark, Charley Cissna, Major Daniels, Joseph J. Martin --- who was for years Lord High Everything of Pike county-the Brambles, Moores, Browns, Sargents, Praters, Nolans, Guthries and the Lucases. Most of these families first came into "the prairie " about 1797, but the Lucas brothers came later. Robert Lucas, one of these pioneers, after- ward became Governor of Ohio. His brother founded the town of Lucasville. About 1820 Robert Lucas was conducting a general store at Piketon, which he afterward sold to Duke Swearingen. In 1829 Lucas was elected to the Legisla- ture from Pike county, and thus began his political career.
THE GRADED WAY AT PIKETON.
Among the many examples of ancient earthworks in Ohio occurs a most remarkable one about one mile below Piketon, described as follows in Squier & Davis's "Ancient Mon- uments of the Mississippi Valley : " It con- sists of a graded ascent from the second to the third terrace, the level of which is here seventeen feet above that of the former. The way is 1,080 feet long, by 215 feet wide at one extremity, and 203 feet wide at the other, measured between the bases of the banks. The earth is thrown outward on either hand, forming embankments varying upon the outer sides from five to eleven feet in height; yet it appears that. much more earth has been excavated than enters into these walls. At the lower extremity of the grade the walls upon the interior sides meas- ure no less than twenty-two feet in perpen- dicular height. The easy ascent here afforded has been rendered available in the construc- tion of the Chillicothe and Portsmouth turn-
pike, which passes through it. The walls are covered with trees and bushes, and re- semble parallel natural hills, and probably would be regarded as such by the superficial observer. Indeed, hundreds pass along with- out suspecting that they are in the midst of one of the most interesting monuments which the country affords, and one which bears a marked resemblance to some of those works which are described to us in connection with the causeways and aqueduets of Mexico.
A singular work of art occurs on the top of a high hill, standing in the rear of the town of Piketon, and overlooking it, which it may not be out of place to mention here. It consists of a perfectly circular excavation, thirty feet in diameter, and twelve feet deep, terminating in a point at the bottom. It contains water for the greater part of the year. A slight and regular wall is thrown up around its edge. A full and very distinct view of the graded way just described is commanded from this point.
To the foregoing account of the "Graded Way " we append the conclusions of Mr. Gerard Fowke on this work. Mr. Fowke was for years connected with the
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THE GRADED WAY, PIKETON.
E. P. Miller, Photo., Waverly, 1886.
WAVERLY.
The view is from the west on the road to the Quarry ; the hills are those bounding the Scioto valley on the east.
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Smithsonian Institution, and has done much to explode many absurd theories and notions on archeology promulgated by authors ignorant of their subject and writing only to strike the popular mind and pocket.
It may be well to state that the celebrated "Graded Way " near Piketon, whose use has caused much speculation, is not a graded way at all in the sense usually employed. The point cannot be made elear without a diagram, but the depression is simply an old waterway or thoroughfare of Beaver creek, through which, in former ages, a portion of its waters were discharged, probably in times of flood. It is not just "1,080 feet in length," but reaches to the ereck, nearly half a mile . away. The artificial walls on either side are not " composed of earth excavated in forming the ascent," for the earth from the ravine or cut-off went down the Scioto before the lower
terraees were formed, but are made of earth scraped up near by and piled along the edge of the ravine, just as any other earth walls are made. The walls are of different lengths, both less than 800 feet in length along the top ; neither do they taper off to a point, the west wall in particular being considerably higher and wider at the southern extremity, looking, when viewed from the end, like an ordinary conical mound. - The earth in the walls thus built up, if spread evenly over the hollow between them, would not fill it up more than two feet, and that for less than a third of its length.
CONFLICT FOR THE COUNTY-SEAT.
The history of every new State is replete with the conflicts between towns for county-seats. That between Waverly and Piketon is thus told in the Chillicothe Leader :
A Strange Fatality has overhung Piketon from its earliest day. A town of fair promise, it has "just missed " everything good but the county-seat, and that was taken from her. . When the course of the great Ohio & Erie canal was first laid out, it passed through Piketon. When the survey was completed, the people of that town were jubi- lant ; they believed the future success of their town was assured, and that the death-war- rant of Waverly-its rival-was written and sealed. It so chanced that Hon. Robert Lucas was in the Legislature at this time- Speaker of the House. Mr. Inicas owned large tracts of land about the present town of Jasper, and so it happened that after a while the people of Piketon were startled by. the information that another survey was be- ing made, with the view of running the canal down on the Waverly and Jasper side of the river, completely cutting them off. The hand of Robert Lucas was plainly discernible in this new deal, and his influence was great enough to secure the location of the canal through his Jasper lands. This was a blow between the eyes for Piketon-a most fortu- nate circumstance for Waverly.
The canal gave Waverly water-power for her mills, an advantage that was of great importance to any town in the days before steam-power was introduced. Waverly very promptly felt the impetus that this advantage gave her, and began to exhibit a vigorous growth.
About 1850 a project was gotten up to build a railroad from Columbus to Ports- mouth, down the valley, which was to pass through Piketon. Every county along the line voted $100,000 or more to this railroad, but Pike, and there the road was refused an appropriation by the people at the polls.
Pike's refusal to do anything was the result of the work of the Waverly people, who did not want Piketon to get a road, to carry away the trade they were building up. The proj- ect was thus defeated, although a part of the road, from Portsmouth to Jackson, was built. This piece of road is now the C., W. & B.'s "Portsmouth Branch." This was another blow at Piketon's prosperity-one more link in her chain of calamity.
When the Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad was projected, it was to run from Cincinnati to Hillsboro, thence on down to Chillicothe and on to Marietta. The road was built to Hillsboro, but for some reason, best known to the managers of the road and the schem- ers who were hand-in-glove with them, the line stopped right there, and the road shot off at a tangent and struck ont for Chillicothe from Blanchester. This left Hillsboro stuck out at one end of a railroad's arm, without direct connection with anybody or anything. Mr. Mat. Trimble, the brother of Dr. Carey A. Trimble, was the soul of the scheme for getting Hillsboro into connection with the world, and he was enraged at this treachery of the M. & C. people toward that city. So, to get even with Hillsboro's enemies. he set to work to organize a company to build a road-an air-line-from Hillsboro to a point on the river near Gallipolis. This company was organized, the line surveyed and work commenced at both ends of the road. The roadway was built, culverts and abutments for bridges put in, immense levees built, a great tunnel through the hills near Jasper started, the heaviest kind of stone-work was done wherever required ties were bought and laid along the road, iron was imported from England, and everything was getting into nice shape, when the company bursted, after
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sinking two million dollars, The road was a very expensive one, as the engineers wouldn't get out of the way for anything. Ifa house was in the way, they bought it. "Brown's Mill," Pike county, was purchased and razed . to the ground. Ifa hill was encountered, they cut right through it, rather than go around it. This sort of "air-line " work ate up capital rapidly and ruined the company-and Pike- ton's chance for a railroad.
If Piketon had gotten this railroad, the fate of Waverly would have been sealed. But she didn't get it.
Waverly had always boasted that she would capture the county-seat, and " down" Pike- ton. The towns were always jealous of each other, and as early as 1836 the county-seat question became a political issue. In 1836 the Democrats nominated James McLeislı,
of Waverly, for the Legislature. The people of Piketon took alarm at this, and set to work vigorously to beat him. Some of the leading Whigs-Dr. Blackstone, James Row and others-came up to Chillicothe and had a lot of circulars printed with a cut thereon, showing a man with a house on a wheelbarrow, and labelled, "Jimmy MeLeish moving the Court-house from Piketon to Waverly." That circular settled the political aspirations of Jimmy McLeish. His defeat so enraged him that he left Waverly and removed to Sharonville.
From that time on, the "county-seat ques- tion " grew in prominence. But it was not until 1859 that Mr. Emmitt inaugurated the great "war" that resulted in Waverly cap- turing the desired plum.
Waverly in 1846 .- Waverly, four miles above Piketon, on the Scioto river and I Ohio canal, was laid ont about the year 1829 by M. Downing. It contains one Presbyterian and one Methodist church, four stores, and had, in 1840, 306 inhab- itants .- Old Edition.
WAVERLY, county-seat, about eighty-five miles cast of Cincinnati, sixty miles south of Columbus, is on the west bank of the Seioto river, on the Ohio canal, and the S. V. & O. S. Railroads.
County Officers, 1888 : Auditor, Snowden C. Sargent ; Clerk, George W. Eager; Commissioners : George W. Brodbeck, John Motz, Jacob Gehres ; Coroner, John R. Heath ; Infirmary Directors, Henry Shy, Thomas Markham, Jacob Butler ; Probate Judge, Branson Holton ; Proscenting Attorney, Stephen D. MeLaughlin; Recorder, Newton E. Givens ; Sheriff, James H. Watkins ; Surveyor, Henry W. Overman ; Treasurer, Frank Ehrman, City officers, 1888 : Mayor, Philip Ga- belman ; Clerk, George Baringer ; Treasurer, George Hoeflinger ; Marshal, Jas. R. Bateman. Newspapers : Pike County Republican, Republican, H. R. Snyder, editor and publisher ; Watchman, Democratic, John H. Jones, editor and pub- lisher. Churches : 1 Methodist Episcopal, 1 German Methodist Episcopal, 1 Presbyterian, 1 German Lutheran, 1 German United Brethren, and i Catholic. Bank : Emmitt & Co., James Emmitt, president, John F. Masters, cashier.
Manufactures and Employees .- James Emmitt, doors, sash, etc., 6 hands ; Gehres Brothers, doors, sash, ete., 5; James Emmitt, flour and high wines, 15; James Emmitt, lumber, 4; Pee Pee Milling Co., flour and feed, 8; M. D. Scholler & Co., oak harness leather, 3; Waverly Spoke Works, wagon spokes, 12 .- State Report, 1888.
Population, 1880, 1,539. School census, 1888, 522 ; James A. Douglass, school superintendent. Capital invested in industrial establishments, $120,200. Valne of annual product, $145,500. . In addition to the handling of grain and stock, ties, bark and hoop-poles are largely shipped, and, although the place is largely known as a whiskey town, local option is in force. Census, 1890, 1,514.
RECOLLECTIONS OF HON. JAMES EMMITT.
In 1886 the Chillicothe Leader published a series of valuable and interesting articles on the pioneer history of Pike county- and the surrounding region. These articles were largely the recollections of the Hon. James Emmitt, whose , father settled in Pike county when all about was a wilderness. James Emmitt, then a small boy, developed with the country, and his career is largely identified with the history of the Scioto Valley. We quote the following from this series of articles.
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Why Pioneers Settled in the Hills .- It is often canse for wonderment to people now- a-days why the pioneers of the Scioto Valley, as a rule, settled in the hills, some distance away from the river, instead of in the rich bottoms, which are now on most prized lands, said Mr. Emmitt. But if they had seen this country about here as it was when I first saw it, they would understand why the first settlers took to the high ground. Vege- tation in the bottoms, in those days, was absolutely rank. Sycamore, black walnut and hack berry trees grew abundantly and to splendid proportions, and the vines of the wild grape clambered up in a dense and tangled mass to their very tops, interlacing their branches, and often uniting many trees in a common bond of clinging vines. The growth of weeds and underbrush was wonder- fully dense, and when the floods would come and cover the bottoms, several inches of water would remain in those brakes of weeds for months after it had receded from less densely overgrown ground. As a matter of fact, the water would stand almost the year around, in lagoons, over a large portion of the bottoms, converting them into hnge marshes, and causing them to closely resemble munch of the swamp land now so abundant in the South.
Poison Breeding Land .- The bottoms, under the conditions that then existed, were nothing more than immense tracts of poison- breeding land, marshy in nature, and wholly unfit for the agreeable habitation of man. The atmosphere of the bottoms was fairly recking with malaria, and it was simply im- possible to live in the low lands without suf- fering constantly with fever and ague. And the agne of those far-off days was of an en- tirely different type from that with which we now have acquaintance. It took on a form, at times, almost as malignant as yellow fever. When a man was seized with the "shaking ague," as it manifested itself in 1818-20, he imagined that a score of fiends were indulging in a fierce warfare over the dismemberment of his poor person.
Physical Suffering .- Every member, every merve, every fibre of his wretched body was on the rack, and the sufferer thought that surely something must give way and permit his being shaken into bits. Oh, what torture it was ! After the terrible quaking eeased then came the racking, burning fever, that scorched the blood, parched the flesh, and made one pray for death. Torture more absolute and prostrating could not well be conceived of. And when it is remembered that no one who dared brave the dangers of the bottoms was exempt from ague, in some one of its many distressing forms, during the entire spring and summer seasons, and often year in and out, it is not surprising that the early settlers shunned what was to them a plague-stricken district. The consequence was, that the hill country bordering the bot- toms was first settled up, and the bottom lands were gradually conquered by working into them from their outer boundaries and
clearing away timber, vines, underbrush, debris and weeds. When land was cleared of timber, the sun speedily converted it into workable condition. Fever nd ague grow less prevalent as the land was cleared up.
Floods Eurich the Land .- Nothing could be richer than these bottom lands when first turned up by the pioneer's plow. Before the timber was cleared away, as has been said, there was so much underbrush and debris- logs and limbs and all forms of flotsam and jetsam-covering the lands adjacent to the river, that a flood could not quickly recede, having so many impediments. As a conse- quence, at every rise in -the river, the water was held on the bottoms until they had become enriched by a heavy deposit of the soil carried down from the hill-tops. There is a point here worthy of consideration. Our bottoms are now almost entirely cleared of timber, and. as a result, they yearly receive less bene- fit from the floods that sweep over them. They are, in many instances, impoverished, instead of being enriched by the high water, which now flows over them with a strong current, and carries away tons of the finest soil.
Blacksmith Shop in a Tree .- Some idea of the size of the sycamores that were then so abundant in the bottoms may be had when I tell you that the trunk of one of these trees, not far from Waverly, was used as a blacksmith shop. The hollow of the tree was so large that a man could stand in the middle of it, with a ten-foot rail balanced in his hand, and turn completely around without either end of the rail striking the sides of the trunk. Both the hackberry and wahmt trees made splendid rails. They were favorite woods for this purpose, as they split so nice and straight.
Dangerous Plowing .- A man took his life in his hands when he went out into the newly cleared field to plow, in those days. Stumps and roots and rocks were but trifles compared with what they had to contend with. Mr. Emmitt says that he has followed the plow, when, at an average of twenty feet, a nest of bees-yellow-jackets, with a most terrible sting-would be turned up. Enraged at the destruction of their homes, these bees-and the air was full of them from morning until night-would keep up an incessant warfare on the plowmen and attack them at every ex- posed point. Their sufferings from the sting- ing of bees was really frightful.
Their danger was even increased when harvest time came. When the reapers, wield- ing sickles, would enter a wheat field, they would find the ground fairly full of snakes- . vipers and copperheads and black snakes- which uot only threatened human life, but dealt great destruction among the cattle.
"Squirrel Plagne."-The invasion of squirrels was one of the most remarkable events of that period, and spread the widest devastation over the land. There had not been an unusual number of squirrels in the woods the year before, and only an average number were observable the year following.
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But the year of the "squirrel plague," the bushy-tailed pests came like an irresistible army of invasion, laying waste every foot of territory they invested. They spared nothing. They utterly annihilated the erops of every kind. Nothing comparable to this invasion can be pointed to in our later history, save the grasshopper plague, that a few years ago almost impoverished Kansas and Mis- souri.
Squirrels Set the Fashions .- The squirrel invasion had an important effect upon the "fashions " of the day. Fur became so plentiful that everybody decorated their clothing with it, and every man in this section of country wore a Davy Crockett outfit. A jaunty coon-skin cap, with squirrel-fur trim- ming was just the thing at that time ; and if a young man was particularly anxious to do the swell act, he would decorate his fur- trimmed buckskin shirt with brightly polished pewter buttons, made by melting down a piece of pewter plate, or the handle of a . water pitcher or tea-pot, and moulding it into the desired form.
Locusts and Crows .- Then later came the dreaded locusts to eat up the crops and blight
the trees and make life unbearable with their hideous and never-ceasing singing ; and with all the other afflictions, the pioneer had to constantly battle with his smaller foes-the birds, crows, rabbits and squirrels.
Mr. Emmitt says that the crows would follow the plow in such numbers, to gather the worms turned up to the surface, that the furrows would be absolutely black with them. After the eorn was planted, two or more of the older children, and often men, would be compelled to watch the fields from morning until dark, to keep the cawing, black thieves from scratching up and eating the grain, and destroying the sprouting corn.
Phenomenal Fog .- About 1820 the pioneers were overawed by one of the strangest phenomenons of their experience. A great fog or smoke came up, about midsummer, so dense that one could not see a light ten feet away, or a man or a tree even a few feet dis -! tant. The sun appeared as a great fiery ball in the heavens, and had a rather fearful aspect. All-enveloping and dense as was this fog, it did not in anyway interfere with one's breathing.
In the days of flat-boating on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, the mysterious disappearance of men who had started for New Orleans with cargoes of produce, was no uncommon occurrence. It was the custom to take a cargo down the rivers, and if the pioneer merchant had escaped the perils of the river and successfully disposed of his cargo, he had a still greater peril to face when, with his gold on his person, he journeyed on horseback toward home. The Mississippi country was infested with robbers and murderers, ever on the lookout for unwary victims.
The Swearingen Mystery .- A black mys- tery to this day enshrouds the fate of Duke Swearingen, who succeded Gov. Lucas in his mercantile business at Piketon. About 1823 Swearingen started for New Orleans with a flat-boat load of flour and meat. After he passed out of the Ohio into the Mississippi he was never again heard of. When the time had passed when he was due at home, his friends at Piketon became uneasy about him. Weeks and months passed, and no word was received from him. A search was made for him up and down the river, and at New Or- leans, and he was advertised for, but Duke Swearingen was never again heard from. Shortly after Mr. Swearingen's disappearance another merchant of Piketon, Mr. Willard, forever disappeared after a manner identical with the circumstances surrounding Swearin- gen, becoming lost to the knowledge of his friends.
Opening of the Canal .- The canal was opened in 1832. It was announced that the water would reach Waverly on the morning of September 6th, of that year, and prepa- rations had been made to welcome its ndvent. Almost the entire population of the sur- rounding country had flocked into Waverly " to see the water come down the big ditch." The citizens had arranged to give a grand public dinner in the open air, and Governor
Lucas and Governor McArthur-who were opposing each other in the race for the gov- ernorship-were present.
The Water does not Come .- The canal banks were packed for a long distance on either side with people eagerly awaiting the advent of the water. But it didn't come- although it was struggling bravely to reach the point where hundreds of people were waiting to greet, with ringing cheers and noisy salutes, its advancing, incurving amber wave.
The trouble was, the canal was for long distances cut through gravelly land, and as a matter of course, when the water reached these gravel-bottomed channels, it was ab- sorbed, as though by a huge sponge. It was not until such places had become well water- logged that the south-bound tide made much progress toward Waverly, but at noon a mighty shout announced its arrival at that point.
The First Canal Boat .- Following close in the wake of the advancing tide was a boat bearing a party of jolly Chillicotheans -. among them Gen. James Rowe, Dr. Coates, JJames Campbell and Edward Edwards-to whom the odd little craft belonged. They were the first navigators of the waters of the canal south from Chillicothe to Waverly. Their badly-built and leaky boat had an cc-
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centrie fashion of sinking every night, while they were afloat, and they were forced to annse themselves every morning by " raising the craft " and pumping her ont. The first regular passenger and freight-boat that reached Waverly, and it came down with the water too, was the "Governor Worthington," owned by Michael Miller and Martin Bow- man, of Chillicothe. It brought down quite a number of passengers from Chillicothe, and was a great curiosity. The owners had mounted a little brass cannon on the "Gov. Worthington's" deck, and fired it off at brief
intervals on the way down, attracting the widest attention.
All those who came, either by land or water, were feasted at the great public dinner, bountifully served by a rejoicing people. Both Governor Lucas and Governor MeAr- thur made after-dinner speeches-McArthur addressing himself directly to the Whig ele- ment present, and Lucas to the Democrats ; but both joined in prophesying the incalenla- ble blessings and wonderfully increased pros- perity that would follow close upon the opening of travel and traffic on the the. great waterway.
The great developments of the past few years in the direction of combination and consolidation of financial enterprises, give historic interest to this combination of an carly day.
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