Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume II, Part 17

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio
Number of Pages: 916

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A handsome soldiers' monument is there to attest the heroism of the sons of Oberlin. The foundation idea of Oberlin had con-

quered. Through agony, through blood, the great question, "Am I not a man, and a brother?" had been answered in the affirm- ative.

As I left this unique place to resume my seat in the cars, I passed a young woman of regular features, refined and thoughtful ex- pression, although of full black complexion. She was one of the transformations of Ober- lin. Its founders had got the best they could find from a very old book and applied it direct in the line of humanity, and lo !- songs of gladness for the clank of chains.

NORTH AMHERST is six miles northwest from Elyria, on the L. S. & M. S. Railroad. Newspaper : Reporter, Independent, H. K. Clock, editor and publisher. Churches : one Baptist, one Catholic, one Congregational, one Evangelical, one Evangelical Reformed, one Lutheran. Population in 1880, 1,542.

One of the most important quarry districts in the United States mainly lies in the counties of Lorain, Cuyahoga and Erie. The sandstone goes under the gen- eral name of Berea grit. These quarries are now mainly under the control of the Cleveland Stone Company. (See pages 525-6.) North Amherst has grown almost entirely from the development of its stone industry. "The whole northern and western part of the township, and extending in Brownhelm, may be said to fairly bristle with heavy, iron-rigged derricks, which, worked by powerful engines, swing ponderous blocks of stone from the deep, rugged-walled caverns, to the ground above, and deposit them upon railroad cars or swing them to the saw-mill and turning-lathe. Hundreds of men, assisted by the giant slave-steam-are toiling in the ledges and pits, taking out the rough stone to be modelled into shapes of grace, beauty and strength, to lend majesty to the buildings in the great marts of the world."

Vast amounts of stone have been taken out of these quarries at Amherst, Brownhelm and vicinity. The material obtained goes under the general name of the Amherst build- ing stone, and is regarded as the best building stone upon the earth. The supply is practi- cally inexhaustible. Estimating the thickness of the stone at an average of fifty feet-and good authorities say it must be nearer 100- the number of cubic feet in an acre would be over 2,000,000, which to quarry out would take 100 men ten years. The stone lies almost entirely above the ground, and above the drainage level, and the huge blocks sent to all parts of the United States and Canada, and even South America, are quarried with- out any of the obstructions found in other parts of the country. The close proximity of the great railroads gives another great ad- vantage for transportation.

The texture of the stone is fine and homo- geneous, usually without iron and with very few flaws or breaks. Its strength is equal to 10,000 pounds to the square inch, four times that of the best brick, and much stronger than the best marble or granite, and, as was illustrated in the great Chicago fire, it will resist the action of fire where limestone, marble and granite are entirely destroyed. Its durability is greater than any other sedi- mentary rock ; being nearly pure silex it resists the erosive action of the atmosphere to a wonderful degree, equalling the very best Scotch granite.

The foregoing facts are from Jay Terrell's articles in Williams' "County History." Or- ton's "Geological Report" supplies the re- mainder.

The Amherst quarries, in Lorain county, are located in a series of ledges, which were once the shore cliffs of Lake Erie. The ele- vated position of these is a very great advan- tage, since the light and uniform color is due to the fact that this elevation produces a free drainage, and the stones have been traversed by atmospheric waters to such a degree that all processes of oxidation which are possible have heen nearly completed.

An idea of the arrangement of the strata in quarries can be obtained from the following section, which is exhibited in the Holderman quarry at Amherst :

Drift material 1 to 3 feet.

Worthless shell-rock 6 10

Soft rock, for grindstones only 12

Building stone 3

Bridge stone 2

Grindstone 2

Building stone or grindstone 10

Building stone

4 " 7

Building stone or grindstone 12

The floor of the quarry, moreover, consists of good stone, which has been drilled for twelve feet, indicating a still greater thickness of stone which could be extracted.

The other quarries of the region exhibit a

J. N. Bradford, del., Chio State University.

CENTRAL VIEW IN WELLINGTON.

From a picture in possession of Col. Frank C. Loveland, U. S. Pension Agent, New York.

SCENE IN THE AMHERST QUARRIES.

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similar diversity of material, although the arrangement is not often the same. As re gards color, the stones may be divided into two classes, called buff and blue. The buff stone is above the line of perfect drainage, and in the section above given, this extends as far down as the two feet of bridge stone, forming a total depth of twenty-three to twenty-seven feet. In most of the Amherst quarries the relative amount of buff stone is greater.

As will be noted from this section, the dif- ferent strata are not applicable alike to the same purposes, and the uses for which the different grades of material can be employed depend principally upon the texture and the hardness of the stone. The softest and most uniform in texture is especially applicable for certain kinds of grinding, and is used for grindstones only, and the production of these forms an important part of the quarry in- dustry.

The stone which is especially applicable for purposes of construction is also variable ; that which is of medium hardness and of uniform texture is used for building pur- pases or for grindstones ; some is too hard or not sufficiently uniform in texture for grind- stones, and is used for building purposes only ; and the material, sometimes found, which is difficult to quarry and to dress, is used for bridge-building purposes only.

As regards appearances, there is much di- versity in the material produced in this region.

There are differences due to the diversity of textures, of colors, and of methods of strati- fication ; yet these are seldom recognized by the casual observer. Differences in color give rise to the terms "blue " and " buff," pre- viously referred to, and differences in meth- ods of stratification give rise to the terms "split-rock," "spider-web," and "liver- rock." The regularly and evenly stratified stone is classified as split-rock ; that in which the stratification is irregular and marked by fine, transverse and wavy lines is classified as spider-web : the homogeneous stone, which exhibits little or no stratification, is classified as liver-rock.

When first taken from the quarry it eon- tains several per cent. of water, and as long as this is retained the stones cut easily ; upon its loss they harden. The stone is extracted during only eight months of the year, since it is injured by being quarried in the winter and subjected to hard freezing while contain- ing this quarry water. The winter months are, therefore, occupied in stripping and channelling.

Many very fine buildings, both in the United States and Canada, have been built of the so-called Amherst stone, among which may be mentioned the Canadian Parliament buildings, and most of the public buildings in Toronto ; and there is no city in the Union in which stone is extensively used where examples cannot be found in which this stone is used for trimmings and ornamental work.

WELLINGTON is thirty-six miles southwest from Cleveland, fifteen miles south- west of Elyria, on the C. C. C. & I. R. R. & L. E. & W. R. R. City officers, 1888 : W. R. Wean, Mayor ; R. N. Goodwin, Clerk; Wm. Cushing, Jr., Treasurer ; Edw. Hackett, Marshal. Newspaper : Enterprise, Republican, J. B. Smith, editor and publisher. Churches: 1 Methodist, 1 Baptist, 1 Catholic, 1 Congregational. Bank : First National, S. S. Warner, president ; R. A. Horr, cashier. Population, 1880, 1811. School census, 1888, 592; R. W. Kinnison, school superintendent.

This county is the greatest cheese-producing county in Ohio. Its annual pro- duction about enough for a pound to every man, woman and child in the State, while Wellington bears with Little Falls, New York, the reputation of being one of the two greatest cheese-producing places in the Union.

The greatest event in the history of Wellington is that widely known as

THE OBERLIN-WELLINGTON RESCUE CASE.

About the last attempt to recover a fugitive in Northern Ohio, under the fugitive slave law of 1850, occurred September 13, 1858. John Price, a fugitive slave from Kentucky, had been some time in Oberlin, when by a ruse he was seized by United States Marshal Lowe and his deputy, Samuel Davis, of Colum- bns, accompanied by two Kentuckians, Messrs. Mitchell and Jennings, and driven over to Wellington, eight miles, to Wadsworth's Hotel, with the design of taking him south by the first train.

There was a large crowd in Wellington, drawn by the occurrence of a fire, and soon word was received of the fact, and being joined by a large body from Oberlin, they surrounded the hotel and rescued the fugitive.

The Grand Jury of the United States Dis- trict Court found bills of indictment against

thirteen persons in Wellington and twenty- four in Oberlin, leading citizens, for aiding

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in the rescue, and arrested them. On April 5 their cases were called at Cleveland before the United States Court, when the Welling- ton defendants, with a single exception (Matthew Gillet), entered a plea of nolle con- tendre, were fined each twenty dollars and costs and sent to jail for twenty-four hours.

They were, Matthew Gillet, Matthew De Wolf, Loring Wadsworth, Eli Boise, John Mandeville, Henry Niles, Walter Soules, Lewis Hines, William Siples and Abner Love- land : a son of the latter is Col. Frank C. Loveland, successor of Gen. Sigel in the highly responsible position of United States Pension Agent in New York.

Two of the Oberlin men, Simeon Bushnell and Charles H. Langston, were convicted and sentenced : Bushnell to sixty days imprison- ment and a fine of six hundred dollars ; Langston, a colored man, who made a strong speech for his course, was fined one hundred dollars and sentenced for twenty days. Twelve of the Oberlin men remained in the jail in Cleveland.

The prisoners on the whole had a rather enjoyable time. On the 24th of May an immense mass meeting was held at Cleveland, attended by people from all parts of Northern Ohio, to express their intense hatred of the fugitive slave law. There was great enthu- siasm ; an immense procession with banners marched through the streets and gathered in front of the jail. They were addressed by Joshua R. Giddings, Gov. Chase and others. The first was bold and defiant, Mr. Chase wary and circumspect ; but the resolutions were decided and radical, savoring strongly of "State rights." Visitors came in throngs to see the prisoners, and letters of sympathy and funds to meet expenses poured in upon them.

Mr. Fitch, of Oberlin, one of the prisoners, had been superintendent of the Sabbath- school there for sixteen years. The children, numbering four hundred, came over in a body to visit him by invitation, and as guests of the Sabbath-school children of Plymouth Church, Cleveland. Then they filed into the jail, filling all its corridors and open spaces, when brief addresses, interspersed with music, were given.

When the prisoners were released, after an imprisonment of months, it was a day of jubilee. They were escorted from the prison to the train by several hundred citizens, headed by Hecker's band playing "Home, Sweet Home," and the firing of a hundred guns on the public square.

On their arrival at Oberlin they were escorted to the great church where, until midnight, the pent-up feeling of the people found expression in song and prayer and familiar talk over the experiences of the pre- ceding weeks. A Cleveland administration paper that evening said : "So the govern- ment, at last, has been beaten, with law, justice and facts all on its side, and Oberlin with its rebellious higher law creed triumph- ant. "

President James H. Fairchild, of Oberlin,

describes an attempt to obtain relief during this imprisonment, by an appeal to the State Courts. Its possible consequences are of great historic interest :

"A writ of habeas corpus was granted by one of the judges of the Supreme Court, commanding the sheriff to bring Bushnell and Langston before that court, that the reason of their imprisonment might be con- sidered. The case was ably argued before the full bench, at Columbus, for a week ; but the court, three to two, declined to grant a release. This was a severe blow to the men in jail. They had counted with much con- fidence upon relief from that quarter. It is idle to speculate upon the possible results if a single judge had held a different opinion. Salmon P. Chase was governor at that time, and it was well understood that he would sustain a decision releasing the prisoners by all the power at his command ; and the United States government was as fully com- mitted to the execution of the fugitive-slave law. This would have placed Ohio in conflict with the general government in defence of State rights, and if the party of freedom throughout the North had rallied, as seemed probable, the war might have come in 1859, instead of 1861, with a secession of the Northern instead of the Southern States. A single vote apparently turned the scale, and after a little delay the party of freedom took possession of the government, and the party of slavery became the seceders."

There was no sufficient proof of title to John as his slave, in the claimant who issued the power of attorney, and on the 6th of July the prisoners were all released. The four men who had seized him had been indicted on the charge of kidnapping in Lorain county, became alarmed, and so, by mutual consent, all further proceedings on both sides were stopped.

LOST IN THE WOODS.

The county history gives several instances of persons being lost in the woods at an early day. One, the case of Mrs. Terrell Tillotson, who came in 1810 with her husband and three children from Waterbury, Conn. Mr. Tillot- son put up the first cabin in Ridgeville. One morning Mrs. Tillotson went to a spring some thirty rods from her cabin to get a pail of water, and then concluded to go a little far- ther to see how her husband was progressing with a new cabin he was building. She started, as she supposed, in the right direc- tion, but soon became bewildered and lost in the dense woods, and could find neither hus- band nor home where she had left little chil- dren. After wandering about in the woods nearly all day through brush and over logs, she came by chance npon the Indian trail which led to the mouth of Black river. This she took and finally arrived at home in a wretched and terribly worn condition.

Mr. David Beebe, a neighbor of Mrs. Til- lotson, was lost in the fall of 1811, and passed four days and three nights in the woods.

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LORAIN COUNTY.

Early in the morning he went in search of his horses, and the day being cloudy he became lost and wandered about all day without the least idea of where he was or the direction he was going. Night overtaking, he crept into a hollow tree, and there passed a sleepless night. The next day he moved about unceas- ingly to discover some object he knew, but in vain, when to his great amazement in looking for a lodging place he discovered the same hollow tree in which he had passed the pre- ceding night.

Convinced by this that he had been travel- ling in a circle, he adopted the plan the fol- lowing day of selecting three or more trees in a range, and in this way was enabled to travel in a direct course. Another night was spent in the woods, making his bed under one of the trees selected in line. On the forenoon of the fourth day he reached the lake shore in Avon, and, making his way westward, reached the cabin of John S. Reid at the mouth of Black river. While in the woods he had subsisted on a few hickory-nuts he had carried in his pockets ; but he was in a weak and almost famished condition. Every pos- sible effort had been made to find the unfor- tunate man, men from adjoining towns assist- ing neighbors in the search. It was common then when parties gathered to search for the lost to go with horns to blow and give notice to the bewildered one. To illustrate the often lonely condition of the first settlers, when the Beebe family emigrated to Ohio Mrs. Beebe was the first white woman that Mrs. Terrell had seen in three months. They had been neighbors in Connecticut, and were so overcome at meeting that neither could for some time speak a word.

The sensation on being lost in the woods is most graphically described by Col. Charles Whittlesey in his essay, "Two Months in the Copper Region," in 1845. He had himself twice experienced it. He says it is a species of delirium. It oppresses and injures every faculty like any other intense and overwhelm- ing emotion. Even the most experienced woodsmen, Indians and Indian guides, fre- quently become subjected to it, become be- wildered, miscalculate their position, make false reckoning of distances, lose courage and abandon themselves to despair and to tears. He thus details the sensation :

"With the mind in a state of perplexity, the fatigue of travelling is greater than usual, and excessive fatigue in time weakens not only the power of exertion but of resolution also. The wanderer is finally overtaken with an indescribable sensation-one that must be experienced to be understood-that of LOST- NESS.

"At a moment when all his faculties, in- stincts and perceptions are in full demand, he finds them all confused, irregular and weak. When every physical power is required to carry him forward, his limbs seem to be yield- ing to the disorders of his mind. He is filled with an oppressive sense of his inefficiency, with an indefinite idea of alarm, apprehension and dismay. He reasons, but trusts to no

conclusions. He decides upon the prepon- derance of reason and fact, and is sure to de- cide wrong.

If he stumble into a trail he has passed before, even within a few hours, he does not recognize it, or if he should at last, and con- clude to follow it, a fatal lunacy impels him to take the wrong end. His own tracks arc the prints or the feet of some other man, and if the sun should at last penetrate the fogs and clouds that envelop his path, the world for a time seems to be turned end for end. The sun is ont of place : perhaps to his addled brain far in the north coursing around to the south, or in the west moving towards the east. At length, like a dream, the delusion wears away, objects put on their natural dress, the sun takes up its usual track, streams run to- wards their mouths, the compass points to the northward ; dejection and weakness give place to confidence and elasticity of mind.

SAND RIDGES.

A very interesting feature of the lake coun- ties are the beautiful sand ridges which run through this country nearly parallel with the lake east and west. Upon these ridges the pioneer built his first cabin ; upon them ran the first roads, and these were the first places cultivated, because of their light sandy soil and easy cultivation. There are three contin- nous sand ridges running through the county beside several local ones, and the belief is by some geologists that they are old beach lines left by the receding waters in their successive stages of rest. They vary from forty to one hundred and fifty rods in width, and are re- spectively three, seven and nine miles from the lake, the highest-Butternut ridge-the one farther inland, being the first formed. It has an altitude of two linndred and four feet above the lake, while North ridge. the one nearest to it and parallel, has an altitude of only from ninety to one hundred feet. Cen- tre ridge, which formed a continuons ridge nearly if not the entire length of the lake, has an altitude of one hundred and sixty-two feet. This ridge was used as the first wagon road in the county, and was the old stage road be- tween Buffalo and Detroit. Jay Terrell says : "The ridges were formed from the sand that was worn from the rocks by the action of water; hence these ridges are only found within the limits of the horizon of sand rock exposure. . .. The main ridges all run par- allel with the lake, and henee presented a natural barrier to the drainage of the land. The water coming down from the higher lands south settled in behind these ridges, forming ponds or small lakes which, as vegetation slowly accumulated, finally became swamps. Hence are found swamps on the north side of all the ridges."

In the July number of Silliman's Journal, 1850, Col. Whittlesey says : "My opinion has been for a number of years that the ridges are not 'ancient beaches' of the lake, although some of the terraces may be. It is indispen- sable to a beach that its foot or water line should

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be perfectly horizontal. The lake ridges are not so ; and this fact, taken in connection with the external form which they assume, clearly gives them the character of sub-marine de- posits."

There are points on this coast where there are four ridges rising in succession from the lake, as in the town of Ridgeville, Lorain county. In other places there are three, as from Geneva to Ashtabula ; from Enclid through Painesville to Geneva, two; and from Cleveland to Euclid, one. There are places where it is difficult to trace any ; and

in others, as in the city of Cleveland, where there are two branches or divisions of one ridge for short distanees, all about the same level and liable to terminate suddenly. The ridges are sometimes on the crest of a terrace, and sometimes lie like a highway of water- washed sand, on the gently inclined surface of a plain that descends towards the lake. From a regular and beautiful elevated road- way the ridge occasionally breaks into sand- knolls, as at Avon Centre, Lorain county ; at Ohio City, near Cleveland, and at Paines- ville, Lake county.

BIOGRAPHY.

QUINCY ADAMS GILLMORE was born in Black River (now Lorain), Lorain county, O., February 25, 1825, and died in Brooklyn, N. Y., April 11, 1888. His early life was passed on a farm. In 1849 he graduated at West Point at the head of his class.

His first great distinction was achieved in the siege and capture of Fort Pulaski, Georgia, February 19 to April 11, 1862. As commander of the forces engaged in this siege, he boldly discarded the traditions of attack upon fortified places, and planting his breaching batteries at distances never thought of before, succceded in less than two days' bombardment in rendering untenable a work which the most eminent engineers had, in view of its peculiar situation, pronounced impreg- nable.

In fact, General Gillmore's cannonade and capture of Fort Pulaski revolutionized the uaval gunnery of the world, and extended his fame throughout Europe as well as America.

For this service he received the brevet of lieutenant-colonel, and was made brigadier- general of volunteers, April 28, 1862.

GENERAL Q. A. GILLMORE.

His next notable success was with the noted "Swamp Angel," a gun used in the siege of

Charleston. The gun was apparently planted in the edge of the sea, but really in the shal- low marsh between Morris and James islands. There a firm foundation was laid, a low breast- work put up in a cirele around the gun, and one-hundred-pound shells were "dropped" into Charleston. But it was only fired thirty- six times, exploding at the last discharge. Other guns soon after did as effective work, but the "Swamp Angel" is remembered be- cause it first proved the practicability of the method.

Later, with his (Tenth) corps, he took part in the final operations of the army on the James river. He received brevets of briga- dier-general and major-general for services be- fore Charleston, resigning his volunteer com- mission as major-general in December, 1865.

After the war he was engaged upon im- portant engineering works, and his name is most intimately associated with the improve- ment of the harbors at Charleston and Savan- nah, with other like works along the Atlantic coast, and as president of the Mississippi River Commission with the great works which have been projected for the rectifica- tion of that important water-way. Outside of his military record, General Gillmore gained a high reputation by his published studies in cements and mortars, concretes and building stone, and road-making and paving, and his treatises on these subjects are regarded as of the highest authority.

ASA MAIIAN was born in Vernon, N. Y., November 9, 1800. Graduated at Hamilton

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College in 1824, and at Andover Theological Seminary in 1827. In 1831 he was pastor of a Presbyterian church at Cincinnati, and four years later accepted the presideney of Oberlin College, which he held for fifteen years. After leaving Oberlin he was president of Cleveland University, and later, Adrian Col- lege, Michigan. He received the degrees of D. D. and LL. D., and after 1871 resided in England. He is the author of a number of theological works.

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Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume II, Part 17

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893 Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio Number of Pages: 916

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio
Number of Pages: 916