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 3

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Columbus, Ohio : Henry Howe & Son
Number of Pages: 1200

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 3

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Mr. Cooke has a fine personelle. He is of the blonde type, half an inch less than six feet in stature and turns the seale at one hun- dred and ninety pounds. He is springy, alert in his movements and his mind acts with alike alertness. He has done a great work since that old Indian chief Ogontz carried him a small boy on his shoulders on the streets of Sandusky. Just glance at it.

A Remarkable Career .- In the spring of 1839, when eighteen years old, he went East to seek his fortune; entered as a boy the banking-house of E. W. Clarke & Co., Philadelphia, the largest domestic exchange and banking-house in the country. In a few months he was head-elerk ; in his twentieth year had power of attorney to sign checks for the firm and at twenty-one was taken in as partner.

AR MARKLEY

JAY COOKE.

IN Bradfor

GIBRALTAR, FROM PUT-IN BAY.

OTTAWA COUNTY.

And when the war ensued he was the financial agent of the Government ; and his house of Jay Cooke & Co., of Philadelphia, with branches in Washington, New York and London, did the greatest banking business the world has known. In the year 1865 it amounted to nearly three thousand millions of dollars. In placing the United States bonds he spent not less than a million of dollars in advertising and publications and

took all risks. Being of strong religious con- victions he feels as though he had been an instrument in the hands of Providence to provide the funds for putting down the Re- bellion. And until there is revealed the inner financial history of that stupendous era, the nation will never know how greatly its salvation rested upon the financial genius and patriotism of Jay Cooke, But he knows, and that is for him the best part of it.

THE WINE ISLANDS.

The group of Islands in the western part of Lake Erie, sometimes called the " Wine Islands," lie principally within the State of Ohio, but the largest island- Point Pelce-and a few of the smallest are British possessions. They are as follows :

Ross Island, alias South Bass, alias Put-in-Bay, Floral Isle, alias Middle Bass,

Area 1,500 acres.

Isle St. George, alias North Bass,

Rattlesnake Isle,

Sugar Isle,

Strontian, alias Green Island,

Ballast,

Gibraltar,

Glacial, alias Starve Island,

Area about 2

Buckeye,

The above are the islands forming Put-in-Bay township, Ottawa county. Besides these are Mouse, a small island off Scott's Point, belonging to Ex-President Hayes ; Kelley's Island, belonging to Erie county (see Vol. I, page 585) ; Gull, a small island, just north of Kelley's and West Sister's Island, some eighteen miles west of North Bass. North of the National boundary are Point Pelee Island, Middle Island, the small group known as Hen and Chickens, and East Sister's and Middle Sister's Islands.

Until 1854 these islands were sparsely settled. In that year Mr. J. D. Rivers, a Spanish merchant of New York, having been favorably impressed with their natural attractions purchased five entire islands, viz. : Put-in-Bay, Middle Bass, Ballast, Sugar and Gibraltar, at a cost of $44,000. He at first turned Put-in- Bay into a sheep ranch, having at one time a herd of 2,000, but gradually dis- posed of these and converted the island into a fruit farm.

In 1858 Phillip Vroman, L. Harms, Lawrence Miller and J. D. Rivers com- menced the cultivation of the vine. Their success was so great that others fol- lowed their example and now the principal industry is the growing of grapes. The quality of the soil, natural drainage and climatic influence surrounding the islands is specially favorable to the growing of fruits. The development of this industry is shown by the facts that in 1887 more than one-third of the grape pro- duct and nearly one-half of the wine product of the entire State is credited to Ottawa county, while nearly three times as many peaches were produced as in any other county in the State.

The varieties of grapes grown are mainly Catawba, Delaware and Concord, with some Ives, Norton, Clinton, etc.

At one time the wines from these islands had an extended reputation and were pronounced by the best judges " worthy of being compared to the most prized pro- ductions of France ; " but the alarming extent of wine adulteration and competi- tion of California wines has . seriously affected the industry. Nevertheless, there are several companies that manufacture large quantities of wine of a high grade. One of these has in its cellars two of the largest casks in the United States, cach capable of holding 16,000 gallons of wine.

10 8

750

750 .6

OTTAWA COUNTY.

Some fifteen or twenty years ago Put-in-Bay was a famous summer resort, but the destruction by fire in 1878 of the principal hotel, and in recent years the in- flux of unwholesome characters on excursions from the cities of Cleveland, Toledo and Sandusky, who are encouraged to come here and patronize the numer- ons saloons that have sprung up, has done much to bring the place into disrepute. Happily, within the past year a project has been got under way which may once more bring this historic and picturesque isle again into popular favor as a summer ! resort. A large hotel and cottages are to be erected and efforts made to prevent the lawless element from monopolizing this, Nature's outing place, for the people of Ohio.

The sanitary conditions of these islands are unsurpassed, and although there is nothing striking or grand in the scenery, yet taken altogether they form a scene of great beauty, while the morning and evening breezes that blow from the waters of Lake Erie are bracing and invigorating. Rock bass and perch abound in the water; better boating could not be desired. Propellers ply between the islands and steamers make several daily round trips to Sandusky.

These islands are favorite places of resort for clubs from the larger cities. Ballast Isle is owned by the Cleveland Club; they have a fine club-house and numerous cottages are occupied in season by their Forest City owners. On Floral Isle the Toledo and Lake Erie Boating and Fishing Association have a fine club- honse surrounded by the cottages of the club members.

Near the centre of Put-in-Bay Island is a subterranean cavern that is quite an object of interest. It is 200 feet long, 150 feet wide and has an average height of 7 feet. At the farther end is a lake, whose pure, limpid waters are ice cold and said to be fifty feet deep in one place and to extend under the rocks to regions and depths.unknown.

Early in this century these islands were overrun with rattlesnakes. The caves, crevices of the limestone rocks, afforded secure retreats at all times, and in the spring season they were wont to come out and lie upon the warm rocks and bask in the sunshine. The name of this horrid reptile is perpetuated in Rattlesnake Island, so called because its line of rocky humps suggested to its christener the rattles of rattlesnakes.

JAY COOKE was born in Sandusky, Ohio, August 10, 1821, and went in 1838 to Phila- delphia, where he entered the banking-house of E. W. Clarke & Co. as a clerk, and when twenty-one years of age became a partner. In 1840 he wrote the first money article that appeared in Philadelphia, and for a year edited the financial column of the Daily Chronicle.

In 1858 he retired from the finn of E. W. Clarke & Co., and in 1861 established a new finn of which he was the head. In the spring of 1861, when the Government called for subscription loans, the firm of Jay Cooke & Co. at once organized and carried into operation the machinery to obtain and for- ward to Washington large lists of subscribers. This was done without compensation.

In 1862 Mr. Cooke was appointed by Secretary Chase the special agent of the government to negotiate the five hundred million five-twenty loan. In this great trans- action the government assumed no risks. If the loan failed the agent was to receive noth- ing, and with full success the remuneration was not one-twentieth of the amount which European bankers are accustomed to receive from a foreign power, in addition to absolute

security from loss. The enormous negotia- tions of the great war loans of the United States were taken by the subscription agent, with the possible prospect of receiving no benefit therefrom, and the chance of ruining his own fortune and those of his partners.

The loan was sold, but even its remarkable success did not save Mr. Chase and Mr. Cooke from the detractions and accusations of the political enemies of the Secretary, who sought to damage his Presidential aspi- rations by charges of favoritism.

Whitelaw Reid, from whose Ohio in the War this sketch is abridged, says : The clamor of the opponents of Mr. Chase in- creased and finally succeeded. The treasury attempted to negotiate its own loans and failed. The consequence was that the Re- bellion, which might have been suppressed in the later part of 1864, was defiant when the first of January, 1865, came. The force of financial success would have defeated the Richmond conspirators, but, familiar with the condition of National finances, the rebels waited confidently for the relapse of the Union effort to subdue them. The prospect was dark and dreary. The treasury was in debt for vouchers for the Quartermaster's

خـ

OTTAWA COUNTY.

department, the armies were unpaid and heavy arrearages due, and a debt of three hundred millions of dollars stared the new Secretary in the face, while the financial burden steadily accumulated at the rate of four millions of dollars a day.

This was the condition of affairs when Mr. Fessenden was at the head of the Treasury Bureau. The government could only pay in vouchers and these were selling in every part of the country at a discount of twenty-five to thirty per cent. and gravitating rapidly downward. This was known to the Confed- erate authorities and excited the hopes of the Rebel armies at home and their sympa- thizers abroad. Had this condition continued gold would have reached a much higher premium, the vouchers of the government become unsaleable and ruin resulted. The government then tried to obtain money with- out the aid of a special agent. The endeavor was made, backed by the assistance of the National banks, but proved entirely abortive. With all this powerful machinery the receipts of the treasury averaged but seven hundred thousand per day, one-sixth of the regular expenditure. Mr. Chase and the leading friends of the government earnestly advised Mr. Fessenden to employ Mr. Cooke as the special agent of the Treasury Department, and the Secretary sent for the banker.

The interview was successful. Mr. Cooke asked the amount of the daily sales which would meet the urgent demands upon the treasury. The reply was "Two million five hundred thousand dollars ; can you raise the money ?" "I can," was the ready reply. "When will you commence ?" 'On the first of February," and the conference ended. This was on the 24th of January, 1865. His commission was sent to Mr. Cooke ; he organized his staff of agents and by the first

of February was in full operation. Innumer- able assistants were appointed ; special and travelling agents were set at work ; advertis- ing was ordered by hundreds of thousands of dollars, and in a few days money began to flow into the depleted treasury and cash instead of vouchers paid the purchases for the main- tenance of the government and the subsistence of the army.

From the first organization of Mr. Cooke's machines for popularizing the loan the daily sales averaged from two to three millions of dollars and steadily increased, until at the close of the loan the receipts averaged five millions of dollars per day. In about five months the last note was sold, fifteen or sixteen millions of dollars being sold occasion- ally in one day, and once forty-two millions. The result of these grand successes was the speedy collapse of the hopes of the Rebels. The vouchers of the government were paid off and new purchases were paid for promptly at a saving of from thirty to fifty per cent. on former prices. Since the close of the war Mr. Cooke has continued to act for the government in connection with other parties in many important matters. He was also the most efficient assistant in the establishment of the National banking system.

It should be added that Mr. Cooke's profits from the per centage allowed by the govern- ment were far less than has been generally supposed ; they were three-eighths of one per cent. There are on file in the Treas- ury Department letters from him making re- peated offers to give up the per centage and do the work for nothing if the government would release him from his liabilities for loss through any of his thousands of agents-a risk which constantly threatened him with ruin. The department always refused this offer.

TRAVELLING NOTES.

A VISIT TO LAKESIDE.

An Ohio Chautauqua-Lakeside is a peculiar place, a summer resort on the northeast shore of the Peninsula, about ten miles from Sandusky, with which there is constant communication by steamers passing to and from the islands. It is modelled after Chautauqua, and is owned by an association of gentlemen con- nected with the Methodist Episcopal church. It was founded in 1873 for the renovation of health and moral and religious instruction.

The location is in a forest, on a level site, with an expansive lake view, the nearest prominent visible object being Kelley's Island, rising from the water four miles farther out in the lake. The grounds contain 175 acres, fronting the lake with a wharf. It is enclosed by a high barb fence, the entrance gates guarded, and it is under stringent police regulations. Neither tobacco nor liquors are allowed to be sold.

The visitor is taxed for the use of the grounds ; it is 25 cents for a single day, $1 for a week, and $2 for the season. I came here Saturday, by steamer, from Sandusky, to rest over the Sabbath. In the evening the police brought into the business office a

neighboring farmer who had evaded paying entrance fee by crawling, snake-like, under the fence. The tongue-lashing he received from the gentleman in charge showed " the way of the transgressor is hard " -- that is, when caught.

٠٠

OTTAWA COUNTY.

A Wholesome Community .- The place has a large hotel, a business office with a post-office, bathing houses on the shore, about 400 cottages, and an auditorium-a huge open shed with seats for 3,000. The cottages are scattered about in the woods, generally are inere shells, externally painted, internally not so ; built usually at a cost of from $350 to $100 each ; some, from $1,000 to $1,600. Then, tents are brought here and some go into camp. On rare occasions 6,000 have slept on the grounds. The visitors are largely school marms, mothers with children, and boys camping out. The cost of living and boarding is cheap. Some females hire cot- tage rooms and do their own cooking. I felt it good to pass a Sabbath in a place from whence unwholesome people were exeluded, and the moral air was so good. The Meth- odists, from their eminently social nature, are the best of all religionists to manage such a retreat,

On my trip over we passed Marblehead light-house, which is about two miles from Lakeside. Near that point are the famed Marblehead limestone quarries, which supply the best of limestone. The light-houses on the lakes are largely built with it, while a large portion of northern Ohio gets its lime from there.

Preaching to the Wyandots .- On the boat with me was an old gentleman, Rev. William Runness, a superannuated Methodist minis- ter, who began his life in Portland, Maine, in 1802. He preached among the Wyandots once a quarter the last four years they re- mained in Ohio, he being the presiding elder in the district embracing them. As the Wy- andots had no written language, he preached to them through an interpreter. 'This was Jonathan Pointer, a colored man, taken pris- oner when a youth in the war of 1812 and adopted by them.

The Wyandots were very emotional and excellent singers. Some of their members were prone to prolixity in speaking,, and "sometimes," said he, "they had to choke them off. On one occasion I saw one of the sisters get very much excited during one of their meetings, when 'Between-the-Logs,' an ordained minister of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, a native Wyandot, struck up a tune and put her down. Then several speakers spoke and without interruption. 'Between-the-Logs' followed them, and had uttered but a few words, when the squelehed sister, who had a loud, ringing voice, began, at the top of her register, singing-

" How happy are they Who their Saviour obey."

' Between-the-Logs' was fairly drowned out, and took his seat, as much overcome by the merriment as the music."

Saved Enough to Bury Himself .- On the boat with us was an old gentleman whose talk was lugubrious. He was lamenting the de- generaey of the young men. "In old times," said he, "boys were bound out to trades,

and boarded with their employers, who looked after their habits, required them to keep good hours, and watched them with a father- like interest. With the introduction of machinery this is now all gone by. The young men are largely careless of money and dissolute. In my village of 1,000 people there are not three young men who do not drink and smoke ; not one who has saved enough money to pay his funeral expenses, and yet there is not one who could not have saved enough to bury himself three times over."

Considering the profession of my inforin- ant, his illustration was exactly in his line, and shows how prone mankind are, when they open their mouths, to introduce the shop-he was the village undertaker.

When the old gentleman thus spoke, it was doubtless under a dreadful sense of great depression from the memory of unpaid bills. He had my sympathy.

Soldiers' Reunion .- At Lakeside was re- cently held one of those soldiers' reunions that have been so frequent since the war. These, with thinning, dissolving ranks of the old veterans-now fast getting into the sere and yellow leaf-will soon pass away and be held no more. Photography will preserve for posterity views of many of these meet- ings, and so help to keep alive and cherish the memory of those brave men who perilled all to save our beautiful country. The re- union that was lately held here was that of the Twenty-third Ohio, Gen. Hayes' old regiment. I have recently seen a photograph of it by Mr. Oswald, photographer, of To- ledo. In the background. near together, are Mrs. Hayes, Stanley Matthews, Gen. Comly and Gen. Hayes. And it is a sad reflection that the ex-president is the only one of the four named at this present writing living.

Mrs. Hayes' Sympathy for the Soldier .- On their left is the drum-major, a very old man, then up in the eighties, having enlisted at the age of 60 years. Mr. Oswald himself is shown in the foreground, holding a child. The interest in this picture is greatly enhanced by the presence of Mrs. Hayes. Indeed, with- out her, it could not be the Twenty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Mr. Oswald tells me that when the regiment went into winter- quarters the general was wont to put his fam- ily into a hired house near by, when Mrs. Hayes became a sort of mother to the boys. Whenever any of them were siek her sympa- thies were keenly aroused and she was all at- tention.

It isa precious time to the old soldiers-these reunions-the last of which, alas, is too near. The careless thinker, or observer, can have, no conception of the sad joy of these men when they meet with more than brotherly af- fection and talk over their mutual expe- riences in that period of stupendous events- of bloody fields and agonizing hearts. The influence of these meetings upon these patri- otie men, and the power of comradeship in the scenes through which they passed are beautifully delineated in a speech of Gen. Hayes at Cincinnati, August 10, 1889, before

1 2

SCALE OF MILES

NORTH HARBOR

ISLAND

EAST SISTER

ISLAND

DEN ISLAND

POINT PELEE ISLAND

BIG CHICKEN ISLAND

LITTLE CHICKEN ISLAND

41.45'

12.17

PERRY'S VICTORY

NORTH BASS ISLAND

SEPT 10, 1813

SUGAR ISLAND

PODLE BASS ISLAND

MIDDLE ISLAND

RATTLESNAKE PLANEN

ALLAST ISLAND

09,10

07.15

GREEN 1

SOUTH BASS ISLAND

STARVE ISLAND

OTTAWA CA

MOUSE TOLAND

TIP SCOTT'S POINT

41 35

MOORE'S POUR

CATAWBA ISLAND

LAKE IOF

MARBLEHEAD

OTTAWA

COUNTY

L. S & M S. M . R

.05.15

SAN

CITY for SANDUSKY

ERIE

COUNTY

82 50"

82 .43

82 40

THE PUT-IN BAY AND OTHER ISLANDS IN LAKE ERIE.

JOHNSON'S ISLAND

DAR

KELLEY'S ISLAND

OTTAWA COUNTY.

the Ohio Commadery of the Loyal Legion. From it we make this extract :

SPEECH OF GEN. HAYES.

Commander and Companions : Among our most cherished associations we have come to know that comradeship in the Union Army holds a place in the very front rank. It has given us a host of army societies, great and small. For us and those who are nearest and dearest to us, what an addition the war for the Union has contributed to the attractiveness of our American society ! Strike out from each of our lives, since the grand review at Washington, in May, 1865, all en- tertainments whose chief satisfaction, happi- ness and glory can be fairly traced to the comradeship of the war, and who does not see how meagre and barren those years would become ?

Memory's Review .- The interest which the war has imparted to our lives is not to be measured by the contemplation merely of assemblages that are marked by the turmoil and blare of multitudes marching with ban- ners and gathered by music and cannon ; but we must reckon, also, the ever-recurring hours of domestic and other quiet seenes,

when in narrow and noiseless circles the tre- mendous events of our recent history, with their countless incidents, sometimes humor- ous, sometimes tragic and pathetic, are re- called, and pass and repass before us in never- ending review. The pictures on our walls, the books we read with most delight, the magazines and newspapers, the collections of mementos and relies gathered in those golden years, all do their part to keep in fresh remem- brance the good old times when we were comrades, and almost all seemed and were, true and brave.

Soldiers' Friendships-It is often said that, outside of the family, no tie is stronger, more tender, and more lasting than that of com . radeship. This is not the time nor place to compare as critics or philosophers the various sorts of friendship which grow up between men according to occupation and other eir- cumstances. The faet we do know, and rejoice to know, is that to meet our old commander, or the brave, good men we com- manded, or the trusted comrade of many a camp and march and battle, is always like good news from home, and fills the heart to overflowing with happiness which no words can fully tell.

ELMORE is nineteen miles west of Port Clinton, seventeen miles southeast of Toledo, on the L. S. & M. S. Railroad and Portage river. Newspapers : Inde- pendent, Independent, W. L. Foulke & Co., editors and publishers; the Elmore Tribune, Independent, Bradrick Bros., publishers. Churches : 1 Presbyterian, 1 Disciples, 1 German Methodist, 1 Methodist Episcopal, 1 United Brethren, 1 German Lutheran, 1 German Reformed, and 1 Catholic. Bank : Bank of El- more, Jolin H. McGee, president, Thomas E. Baynes, cashier. Population, 1880, 1,044. School census, 1888, 414.

OAK HARBOR is ten miles west of Port Clinton, on the L. S. & M. S. Rail- road and the W. & L. E. Railroad. Newspapers : Ottawa County Exponent, Democratic, J. H. Kraemer, editor ; Press, Democratic, George Gosline, editor and publisher. Churches : 1 Disciples, 1 Methodist, 3 Lutheran, and 1 Catholic.

Manufactures and Employees .- Charles A. Leow, carriages, etc., 6 hands ; H. HI. Mylander, staves and headings, 33; J. Watts, planing mill, 5; Ampach Bros., saw mill and hoop factory, 55; Wash. Gordon, planing and saw mill, 25; C. Roose, staves and headings, 42 ; Portage Mills, flour, etc., 2 .- State Report, 1887.

Population, 1880, 987. School census, 1888, 551. Capital invested in man- ufacturing establishments, $127,000 ; value of annual product, $181,000 .- Ohio Labor Statistics, 1888.

Tile and brick are manufactured here of an excellent quality, and it is in a natural gas field.

CARROLL, P. O. Lacarne, is six miles west of Port Clinton, on the L. S. & M. S. Railroad. School census, 1888, 227.

GENOA is twenty-two miles west of Port Clinton, thirteen miles southeast of Toledo, on the L. S. & M. S. Railroad. It has six churches. Population, 1880, 930. School census 1888, 373; I. N. Sadler, school superintendent.

PUT-IN-BAY is on an island in Lake Erie, twelve miles north of Port Clinton, twenty two miles northwest of Sandusky. It is a famous summer resort, with daily steamers from Sandusky and Detroit during the summer season. Popula- tion, 1880, 381. School census, 1888, 231.

LAKESIDE is a summer resort on Lake Erie, and on the L. S. & M. S. Rail- road, ten miles north of Sandusky.

Inc

PAULDING COUNTY.

PAULDING.

PAULDING COUNTY was formed from old Indian Territory, April 1, 1820. It was named from John Paulding, a native of Peekskill, N. Y., and one of the three militia men who captured Major Andre in the war of the Revolution ; he died in 1818. The surface is level and the county covered by the Black Swamp.

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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 3

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893 Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Columbus, Ohio : Henry Howe & Son Number of Pages: 1200

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Columbus, Ohio : Henry Howe & Son
Number of Pages: 1200