USA > Ohio > Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume II > Part 27
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A STAGE COACH JOURNEY ACROSS OHIO IN 1834.
About the year 1834 a deputation was sent by the Congregational Union of Great Britain on a visit to America. It consisted of Rev. Messrs. Read and Matthewson. Mr. Read published their experiences of travel under the title of " Visit to American Churches." He rode, without his companion, across the State from Sandusky, which he reached by boat from Buffalo, and passed through Marion on his way to Cincinnati. The observations of an intelligent gentleman and an accomplished descriptive writer at that early date render his narrative un- usually instructive. As the county was then largely a wilderness and he passed through the grand solemn forests and by the cabins of the new-comers in the little clearings, his account makes a profound woodsy impression upon the reader :
In the middle of the day we reached San- dusky. It has not more than seven or eight hundred inhabitants ; but it is, nevertheless, a city with its corporate rights and officers. Sandusky Described .- It is truly a city in a forest ; for the large stumps of the original pines are still standing in the main street, and over the spots that have been cleared for settlement, the new wood is springing up with amazing vigor, as if to defy the hand of man.
I went to the best inn in the town. It had been better had it been cleaner. It was, how- ever, welcome to me, as a heavy thunder- storm was just beginning to put forth its tremendous power. I congratulated myself on my safety, but my confidence was quickly moderated, for the rain soon found its way within the house and came spattering down the walls of the room in strange style. By-the- bye, few things seem to be water-proof here.
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A second time, my luggage soaked through. I had placed it under the upper deck of the vessel as a place of perfect security, but a searching rain came on in the night, the deck leaked and my portmanteau suffered. How- ever, I had made up my mind in starting not to be disturbed by anything that might be injured, lost, or stolen on the way-a pre- caution that had certainly more wisdom in it than I was aware of-for without it I might have had a pretty good share of disturbance. Already, much was injured, and some was stolen ; of the future I could not speak, but if things went on in the same promising manner I had the prospect of being returned to New York in a coatless, shirtless and very bootless condition.
There are two places of worship here : one for the Presbyterians and the other for the Episcopal Methodists. The first is without a minister, and neither of them in a very flourishing state. They stand on the green sward ; they are about thirty feet square and for want of paint have a worn and dirty aspect. The good people here reverse the Dutch proverb : it is not " paint costs noth- ing," but "wood costs nothing," and they act accordingly. They will, however, improve with the town, and at present they offer accommodation enough for its wants, but half the adult population certainly go nowhere.
Rough People .- Indeed, the state of relig- ions and moral feeling was evidently very low here ; and I heard more swearing and saw more Sabbath-breaking than I had before wit- nessed. There were many groceries, as they call themselves here ; groggeries, as their enemies call them ; and they were all full. Manners, which are consequent on religion and morality, were proportionally affected. I felt that I was introduced to a new state of things which demanded my best attention.
Stage Coach Experience .- Having rested here over the Sabbath, I arranged to leave by coach early in the morning for Columbus. I rose, therefore, at two. Soon after I had risen the bar-agent came to say that the coach was ready and would start in ten minutes. As the rain had made the roads bad this was rather an ominous as well as untimely intimation, so I went down to take my place. I had no sooner begun to enter the coach than splash went my foot in mud and water. I exclaimed with surprise. "Soon be dry, sir," was the reply, while he with- drew the light, that I might not explore the cause of complaint. The fact was that the vehicle, like the hotel and the steamboat, was not water-tight, and the rain had found an entrance.
There was, indeed, in this coach, as in most others, a provision in the bottom-of holes- to let off both water and dirt; but here the dirt had become mud and thickened about the orifices so as to prevent escape. I found I was the only passenger ; the morning was damp and chilly; the state of the coach added to the sensation, and I eagerly looked about for some means of protection. I drew up the wooden windows-out of five small
panes of glass in the sashes three were broken. I endeavored to secure the curtains ; two of them had most of the ties broken and flapped in one's face. I could see nothing ; everywhere I could feel the wind draw in upon me ; and as for sounds, I had the call of the driver, the screeching of the wheels and the song of the bull-frog for my enter- tainment.
But the worst of my solitary situation was to come. All that had been intimated about bad roads now came upon me. They were not only bad, they were intolerable ; they were rather like a stony ditch than a road. The horses on the first stages could only walk most of the way ; we were frequently in up to the axle-tree, and I had no sooner recovered from a terrible plunge on one side than there came another in the opposite direction. I was literally thrown about like a ball. Let me dismiss the subject of bad roads for this journey by stating, in illustration, that with an empty coach and four horses, we were seven hours in going twenty-three miles ; and that we were twenty-eight hours in getting to Columbus, a distance of one hundred and ten miles. Yet this line of conveyance was adver- tised as a "splendid line, equal to any in the States, "
Russell's Tavern .- At six o'clock we ar- rived at Russell's tavern, where we were to take breakfast. This is a nice inn ; in good order, very clean, and the best provision. There was an abundant supply, but most of it was prepared with butter and the frying- pan ; still there were good coffee and eggs, and delightful bread. Most of the family and the driver sat down at table, and the two daughters of our host waited on us. Mr. Russell, as is commonly the case in such dis- tricts, made the occupation of innkeeper sub- sidiary to that of farming. You commanded the whole of his farm from the door, and it was really a fine picture, the young crops blooming and promising in the midst of the desert.
Pious Family .- From the good manners of this family, and from the good husbandry and respectable carriage of the father, I hoped to find a regard for religion here. I turned to the rack of the bar and found there three books; they were, the Gazetteer of Ohio, Popular Geography and the Bible ; they all de- noted intelligence ; the last was the most used.
The Grand Prairie .- Things now began to mend with me; daylight had come; the atmosphere was getting warm and bland. I had the benefit of a good breakfast ; the road was in some measure improved; it was possible to look abroad and everything was inviting attention. We were now passing over what is called the Grand Prairie, and the prairies of this Western country are conspic- uous among its phenomena. The first im- pression did not please me so much as I expected. It rather interests by its singularity than otherwise. If there be any other source of interest it may be found in its expansion over a wide region.
Land here is worth about two dollars and a
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half per acre ; and you may get a piece of five acres, cleared, and a good eight-railed fence round it for fifty dollars.
German Settlers .- Most of the recent settlers along this road seem to be Germans. We passed a little settlement of eiglit families who had arrived this season. The log-house is the only description of honse in these new and scattered settlements. I passed one occupied by a doctor of medicine, and another tenanted by two bachelors, one of them being a judge.
Grandeur of the Forests .- The most inter- esting sight to me was the forest. It now ap- peared in all its pristine state and grandeur, tall, magnificent, boundless. I had been some- what disappointed in not finding vegetation develop itself in larger forms in New England than with us; but there was no place for disappointment here. I shall fail, however, to give you the impression it makes on one. Did it arise from height, or figure, or group- ing, it might readily be conveyed to you ; but it arises chiefly from combination. You must see in it all the stages of growth, decay, dissolution and regeneration ; you must see it pressing on you and overshadowing you by its silent forms, and at other times spreading itself before you like a natural park ; you must see that all the clearances made by the human hand bear no higher relation to it than does a mountain to the globe; you must travel in it in solitariness, hour after hour, and day after day, frequently gazing on it with solemn delight, and occasionally casting the eye round in search of some pause, some end without finding any, before you can fully understand the impression. Men say there is nothing in America to give you the sense of antiquity, and they mean that, as there are no works of art to produce this effect, there can be nothing else. You cannot think that I would depreciate what they mean to extol ; but I hope you will sympathize with me when I say that I have met with nothing among the most venerable forms of art which impresses you so thoroughly with the idea of indefinite distance and endless continuity of antiquity shrouded in all its mystery of soli- tude, illimitable and eternal.
The Clearances, too, which appeared in this ride, were on so small a scale as to strengthen this impression, and to convey a distinct impression of their own. On them the vast trees of the forest had been girdled, to prevent the foliage from appearing to over- shadow the ground ; and the land at their feet was grubbed up and sown with corn, which was expanding on the surface in all its luxuriance. The thin stems of Indian-corn were strangely contrasted with the huge trunks of the pine and oak, and the verdant surface below was as strangely opposed to the skeleton trees towering above, spreading out their leafless arms to the warm sun and the refreshing rains, and doing it in vain. Life and desolation were never brought closer together.
About noon we arrived at a little town and stopped at an inn, which was announced as
the dining-place. My very early breakfast, and my violent exercise, had not indisposed me for dinner. The dinner was a very poor affair. The chief dish was ham fried in but- ter-originally hard, and the harder for fry- ing. I tried to get my teeth through it, and failed. There remained bread, cheese and cranberries ; aud of these I made my repast. While here, a German woman, one of the recent settlers, passed by on her way home. Her husband had taken the fever and died. She had come to buy a coffin for him, and other articles of domestic nse at the same time. She was now walking home beside the man who bore the coffin ; and with her other purchases under her arm. This was a sad specimen either of German phlegm or of the hardening effect of poverty.
Mormon Emigrants .- Here, also, was a set of Mormonites, passing through to the "Far West." They are among the most deluded fanatics. A gentleman inquired of one of them, why they left their own coun- try ? "Oh," he said, " there is ruin coming on it." "How do you know ?" "It was re- vealed to me." "How was it revealed to you ?" "I saw five letters in the sky." Indeed ! what were they ?" "F-A-M- I-N." was the reply ; a reply which created much ridicule and some profanity.
Passengers Aboard .- We now took in three persons who were going on to Marion. One was a colonel, though in mind, manners and appearance among the plainest of men ; another was a lawyer and magistrate; the third was a considerable farmer.
All of them, by their station and avocation, ought to have been gentlemen; but if just terms are to be applied to them, they must be the opposite of this. To me they were always civil ; but among themselves they were evidently accustomed to blasphemous and corrupt conversation. The colonel, who had admitted himself to be a Methodist, was the best, and sought to impose restraints on himself and companions ; but he gained very little credit for them. I was grieved and disappointed ; for I had met with nothing so bad. What I had witnessed at Sandusky was from a different and lower class of per- sons ; but here were the first three men in respectable life with whom I had met in this State; and these put promiscuously be- fore me-and all bad. It was necessary to guard against a hasty and prejudiced conclu- sion.
Marion .- On reaching Marion I was re- leased from my unpleasant companions. I had to travel through most of the night ; but no refreshment was provided. I joined in a meal that was nearly closed by another party, and prepared to go forward at the call of the driver. I soon found I was to be in different circumstances. We were nine persons and a child, within. Of course, after having been tossed about in an empty coach all day, like a boat on the ocean, I was not unwilling to have the prospect of sitting steadily in my corner ; but when I got fairly pinned inside, knees and feet, the hard seat and the harder
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ribs of the coach began to search out my bruises, and I was still a sufferer. However, there were now some qualifying considera- tions. The road was improving, and with it the scenery. I had come for fifty miles over a dead flat, with only one inclination, and that not greater than the pitch of Ludgate hill ; the land was now finely undulated. My company, too, though there was something too much of it, was not objectionable ; some of it was pleasing.
There were among them the lady of a judge and her daughter. The mother was affable and fond of conversation. She was glad we had such agreeable society in the stage, as "that did not always happen." She talked freely on many subjects, and sometimes as became a judge's lady of refinement and edu- cation ; but she did it in broken grammar, and in happy ignorance that it was broken. As the night shut in, she, without the least embarrassment, struck up and sang off, very fairly, "Home, Sweet Home." This was all unasked, and before strangers; yet none were surprised but myself. I name this merely as a point of manners. The lady herself was unquestionably modest, intelli- gent, and, as I think, pious.
Delaware .- At nearly 1 o'clock we arrived at Delaware. Here I was promised a night's rest. You shall judge whether that promise was kept or broken. There was no refresh- ment of any kind prepared or offered ; so we demanded our lights to retirc. The judge's lady and daughter were shown into a closet, called a room. There was no fastening to the door, and she protested that she would not use it. I insisted that it was not proper treatment. All the amendment that could be gained was a proposition "to fetch a nail, and she could nail herself in, and be snug enough."
I was shown into a similar closet. There were no dressing accommodations. I re- quired them, and was told that those things were in common below. I refused to use them ; and at length, by showing a little firmness and a little kindness, obtained soap, bowl and towel. I dressed. By this time it was nearly 2 o'clock. I was to be called at half-past : and I threw myself on the bed to try to sleep with the soothing impression that I must awake in half an hour.
Worthington .- At half-past 2. I was sum- moned, and having put myself in readiness, and paid for a night's lodging, I was again on my way. The day broke on us pleasantly, and the country was very beautiful. We forded the Whetstone, a lively river, which ornamented the ride. We passed through Worthington, a smart town, prettily placed, and having a good college, and arrived at Columbus, the capital, at 9 o'clock.
Columbus has a good location in the heart of the State. It contains about 4,000 per- sons, and is in a very advancing condition. This indeed is true of all the settlements in this State, and you will hardly think it can be otherwise when I inform you that forty years ago there were only 500 persons in the
whole territory, and that now there are about a million.
The inn at which we stopped is the rendez- vous of the stages. Among others there were two ready to start for Cincinnati. On seeking to engage my place the inquiry was, " Which will you go by, sir ? the fast or slow line?" Weary as I was of the slow line, I exclaimed, "Oh, the fast line, certainly !"' I quickly found myself enclosed in a good coach, carrying the mail, and only six per- sons inside. In this journey we had but three.
Rough Travelling .- In demanding to go by the fast line I was not aware of all the effects of my choice. It is certainly a de- lightful thing to move with some rapidity over a good road; but on a bad road, with stubborn springs, it is really terrible. For miles out of Columbus the road is shamefully bad ; and as our horses were kept on a trot, however slow, I was not only tumbled and shaken as on the previous day, but so jarred and jolted as to threaten serious mischief. Instead, therefore, of finding a lounge, 01 sleep, as I had hoped, in this comfortable coach, I was obliged to be on the alert for every jerk. And after all I could do, my teeth were jarred, my hat was many times thrown from my head, and all my bruises bruised over again. It was really an amuse- ment to see us laboring to keep our places.
Jefferson .- About noon we paused at the town called Jefferson. We were to wait half an hour ; there would be no other chance of dinner ; but there were no signs of dinner here. However, I had been on very short supplies for the last twenty-four hours, and considered it my duty to eat if I could. I applied to the good woman of the inn, and in a very short time she placed venison, fruit- tarts and tea before me; all very clean and the venison excellent. It was a refreshing repast, and the demand on my purse was only twenty-five cents.
"How long have you been here ?" I said to my hostess, who stood by me fanning the dishes to keep off the flies. "Only came last fall, sir." "How old is this town ?" "Twen- ty-three months, sir-then the first house was built."
There are now about 500 persons settled here, and there are three good hotels. There is something very striking in these rapid movements of life and civilization in the heart of the forest.
Noble Forests .-- On leaving Jefferson we plunged agam into the forest, and towards evening we got on the greensward or natural road. This was mostly good and uncut, and we bowled along in serpentine lines, so as to clear the stumps with much freedom. The scenery now, even for the forest, was becom- ing unusually grand. It repeatedly broke away from you, so as to accumulate the ob- jects in the picture, and to furnish all the beauties of light, shade and perspective. The trees, too, were mostly oak, and of finest growth. Their noble stems ran up some hundred feet above you, and were beautifully
MARION COUNTY.
feathered with verdant foliage. There, they ran off in the distance, park-like, but grander far. in admirable grouping, forming avenues, galleries and recesses, redolent with solemn loveliness ; and here, they stood before you like the thousand pillars of one vast imper- ishable temple for the worship of the Great Invisible. Well might our stout forefathers choose the primitive forests for their sanc- tuaries. All that art has done in our finest Gothic structures is but a poor, poor imi- tation !
Yellow Springs and Springfield. - I passed in this day's ride the Yellow Springs and Springfield. The former is a watering-place. There is a fine spring of chalybeate and an establishment capable of receiving from 150 to 200 visitors ; it is resorted to for the pur- poses of health, hunting and fishing. Spring- field is a flourishing town, built among the handsome hills that abound in this vicinity. It is one of the cleanest, brightest, and most inviting that I have seen. But all the habitations were as nothing compared with the forest. I had been travelling through it for two days and nights, and still it was the same. Now, you came to a woodsman's hut in the solitudes ; now to a farm ; and now to a village, by courtesy called a town or a city ; but it was still the forest. You drove on for miles through it unbroken ; then you came to a small clearance and a young settlement ; and then again you plunged into the wide, ever- lasting forest to be with nature and with God. This night I had also to travel and, weary as I was, I was kept quite on the alert.
A Thunderstorm .- I had longed to witness a storm in the forest, and this was to happen earlier than my anticipations. The day had been hot, but fine ; the night came on sultry, close and silent. The beautiful fire-flies ap- peared in abundance; summer lightning began to flash across the heavens. All this time clouds were moving from every part of the circumference to the centre of the sky. At length they formed a heavy, dense, black canopy over our heads, leaving the horizon clear and bright. The lightnings, which at first appeared to have no centre, had now consolidated their forces behind this im- mense cloud, and were playing round its whole circle with great magnificence and brilliancey ; continually the prodigious cloud was getting larger and darker, and descending nearer to us, so as powerfully to awaken expectation. The splendid coruscations which played round its margin now ceased and all was still. In an instant the forked lightning broke from the very centre of the cloud ; the thunder, deep and loud, shook the earth, and rolled and pealed through the heavens ; the heavy rain dashed in unbroken channels to the ground, and the mighty winds burst forth in their fury and roared and groaned among the giant trees of the wood. There were we, in the deep forest and in the deep night and in the midst of a storm such as I had never witnessed. Oh, it was grand ! God's own voice in God's own temple ! Never did I see
so much of the poctic truth and beauty of that admirable ode, "The voice of the Lord," etc. It ceased as suddenly as it began. The winds which bore the cloud away left all behind calm ; and the fire-fly, which had been eelipsed or affrighted, reappeared and sparkled over us in the profound darkness, and pres- ently the stars of a higher sphere looked forth benignantly on the lower elements and all was peace.
Lebanon .- The early morning found me still travelling, and getting seriously unwell. I thought I must have remained at Lebanon. a town about twenty miles from Cincinnati, to sicken and suffer without a friend ; and then all the loneliness of my situation came over me. The stage halted here an hour ; this allowed me some time to recover, and I resolved, if it were possible, to go forward to what I might regard as a resting-place.
Happily, everything was now improving. The road was not unworthy of MacAdam, and we bowled over it at the rate of nine miles an hour. The country was covered with hills, finely wooded, and all about them were spread farms, in a handsome and thriving state of cultivation. Many ornamental cottages now appeared, and the whole suburbs put on a cheerful and beautiful aspect. At last we drove into the Western metropolis. I had travelled three days and three nights, and was so wearied, bruised and hurt that I could not, with comfort, sit, lie, or walk. The remainder of this day I spent in my chamber.
Cincinnati is really worthy to be styled a city, and it is a city " born in a day and in the wilderness." It has a population of 30,000 persons, and is not more than thirty- six years old. Its streets are composed of transverse lines ; the straight lines are broken by the undulating surface of the ground ; the surrounding hills stand up beautifully at the head of all the streets, and the Ohio runs off finely at its feet. There are several good streets ; some enlivened by business, and others ornamented by comfortable dwellings and the spreading acacia, but there are no very striking objects.
Some of the churches are good, but not remarkable, except the old Presbyterian church in the main street, which is large and Dutch-built, with a brick face, with two brick towers projecting on it, which towers have turrets as heavy as themselves, and which turrets are chiefly remarkable for two dials which exactly agree. When I saw them they both wanted three minutes to six, and I doubt not if I could see them now they still want just three minutes to six. Besides this there is, as it is called, "Trollope's Folly," an erection in which that lady, thus compli- mented, exhausted her means and certainly did not show her taste.
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