History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley, Part 79

Author: Caldwell, J. A. (John Alexander) 1n; Newton, J. H., ed; Ohio Genealogical Society. 1n
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Wheeling, W. Va. : Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 728

USA > Ohio > Jefferson County > History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley > Part 79
USA > Ohio > Belmont County > History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley > Part 79

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Sandstone .- Sandstone is chiefly used for building purposes and for paving. Belmont county has ample supplies of sand- stones well adapted to both these purposes, and more than suffi- cient for home use. Yet it is hardly to be expected that any considerable commerce can ever be established in the building stones of this region, in the face of the fact that the Waverly Sandstone bas almost monopolized the business of supplying those cities and districts within our range, which require foreign supplies. The stratum of flagstone between Coals No. 10 and No. 11, in Goshen township, may sometime be the source of a considerably more general supply for paving purposes than at present.

The Soils .- In level countries, where the soils are not greatly varied, the range of crops is necessarily more or less liniited. In Belmont county we have a great variety of soil. These soils, formed by the disintegration of the rock-strata, consist of five principal kinds: limestone, sandstone, clay, marl and allu- vial lands. The lowest of these soils is, of course, the alluvial, formed along the valleys. It consists of materials washed down from the higher lands, and consequently contains almost all the

"As a hint to the young geologist, it may be remarked that coal seams may be traced all over our country by the springs and land slides of which the underground streams of their accompanying fire-clays are the cause. Dwellings, too, being often located with reference to springs, may help to enable the observer to follow the horizon of a coal bed. The author has frequently been enabled by these means to trace scams of coal for miles, while mercly enjoying a pleasant drive.

iron.

9,586

1,866

185

Cuyahoga

173

Jefferson1.

300

Mahoning.

24,697

9.000

Scioto ..

2,580

road chairs.

iron.

steel.

Hocking

4,513,365

Jackson

1,714,831

3,922,403

Meigs

72,9.54

328.962

Guernsey .

223

HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES.

various elements of our rock formations. For this reason our bottom lands will produce almost any kind of crop that will thrive in a valley climate, and will bear farming continuously without rest for many years. The next variety of soil, lime- stone land, is found principally in this county, below the hori- zon of Coal No. 9. The crumbling nature of the great belt of magnesian limestone. of the horizon between Coals No. 8 and No. 9, sufficiently explains this fact. There are some thin belts of limestone soil along the ridges; but, as the carbonate lime- stones are not easily disintegrated by the action of the weather, these belts are, as we would expect, limited : so much so. that it is not uncommon to find both limestone and sandstone soils in the same field. Sandstone soil is found in almost all the higher lands above Coal No. 9. It is best developed in the ridge sec- tions of Warren, Goshen and the northern parts of Wayne and Somerset townships, where the sandstone belt between Coals No. 12 and No. 13 forms the surface. The timber of this hori- zon is varied in kind and of good quality. The oaks seem to attain greater perfection here than in any other horizon. The chestnut may be considered the characteristic tree of this for- mation in Belmont county, The sandstone soils are favorable to the production of almost all the common cereals, and are especially adapted to fruits, berries, and garden vegetables. They are not so favorable for corn as the limestone soils, nor so favorable to wheat as the marl lands ; but they have perhaps a wider range of productions than either of the other soils, except the alluvial; while their higher altitudes render them much better adapted to gardening and the production of fruits. The fourth variety of soil occurs where the clay belt (see section) forms the surface. It is found in limited belts along hillsides in the southeastern portion of the county, sometimes forming the surface of a ridge locality over a small area; but it has nei- ther range nor quality to entitle it to any important place. The last kind of soil, which, for want of a better name, is here called the "marl belt," is formed by the weathering of two principal beds of red shale lying over the clay-belt, each varying from 5 to 8 feet, and separated by a deposit of sandstone shale. Where this red soil forms the surface, as it does along the ridges of Smith township, and on some of the ridges in townships west, east and south of Smith, we generally find good wheat crops : 80 much so that this might properly be called the wheat horizon. The soil above this belt, on the high ridges of York, Washing- ton and Mead townships, is a compact sandstone soil.

ORES AND MINERAL DEPOSITS.

Iron .- There are some considerable deposits of iron ore in Bel- mont county, but no bed that pays for working at the present state of the trade : not that our ores are not good, but that others are better. There is a seam of iron-bearing limestone in Pease township, which was worked at one time, but never to any great extent. Immediately under coal No. 13, at several points, there is a stratum of black-band ore, often reaching a thickness of ten feet. The iron concretions in this formation have a good degree of purity, and would probably be used were it not for the vast stores of this mineral elsewhere over the country, so pure and so easily accesible as to defy competition. With whole mountains of excellent ore in Missouri, and vast stores, of the purest quali- ty, in Michigan, besides goodly stores elsewhere in our own state, Belmont county seems destined to take a small part in furnishing the ores from which the world's supplies of iron are to be drawn. But in the working of the metal she stands a bet- ter show. With good smelting coal and excellent slagging limestone, both easily accessible in the same hillside, and with good railroad facilities for bringing in the ore and for putting the manufactured iron into market, she is in fine condition to demand her share of the iron industry.

Lead .- A great deal has been said as to the existence of de- posits of lead in various parts of Belmont county. It is confi- dently alleged that lead veins were known and mined by the Indians at several points : on Brushy creek, in Wayne town- ship; ou Piney, near Beallsville ; and in the hills along the river between Bellaire and Bridgeport. Considerable time has been spent in searching for these imaginary deposits. A few extracts from the reports of our state geologists will show how little im- portance should be attached to those traditions. Mr. M. C. Read, in his report on Hohnes county, says : "Almost every county has its local traditions of lead mines formerly worked by the Indians; and the testimony is often as positive as second- hand testimony can bo, pointing to a definite location from which the Indian hunters obtained their supply of this metal. The Indians were no architects, and erected nothing deserving

the name of buildings, either for residences or store-houses ; and it is probable that all these traditions have their origin in the fact that they were compelled to insure safety of all their sur- plus supplies by burying them in the earth. Such deposits of lead, known only to a few, and visited by stealth, would readily give rise to the traditions of lead mining."-(Ohio Geology, vol. III., p. 560.) Prof. Stevenson, in his report on Harrison coun- ty, says : "The lead tradition is strong in several localities, and one enthusiastic individual expended a good deal of time and some money in exploration, but without success. No lead. silver, zinc, tin, copper, or gold will ever be found in economical quantities among the rocks of the coal measures. Where lead has been found, it belonged to stores accumulated by the Indians and is no evidence of lead deposits in the vicinity, for lead never occurs in metallic conditions."-(1b., p. 218.)

Petroleum .- Several oil wells have been sunk in Belmont conn- ty, but with little success. There are very evident indications of the existence of petroleum and there is nothing in the geo- logical structure of our sedimentary rocks to contradict the theory of its existence in the Devonian strata underlying our carboniferous deposits. But it does not, as yet, appear that any part of the county lies over a belt of oil-fissures resembling that so extensively worked on Oil creek, Pennsylvania, or any of those known to exist in Ohio. Oil is supposed, by good author- ity, to have been distilled from the vegetable deposits of the Hul- ron shales (a division of the Devonian formation) and to have been forced upwards by hydrostatic pressure through the crevices of the overlying rocks, and collected in the fissures along the ridges of upheaved and broken strata. "No oil is found in the horizontal rocks," says an accurate student of this subject .* "but it occurs along the disturbed and broken tilted strata." For this reason, oil belts in this locality would be expected to trend northeast and southwest, parallel with the Cincinnati axis, and the Allegheny mountains. But no such belt has yet been discover- ed within the county, nor any without the county which trends towards it. Slight deposits of petroleum we undoubtedly have : hut whether in paying quantities remains, as yet, to be proved. If such do occur, they would most probably occur along the line of the Quincy anticlinal, and that axis which brings coal No. 8c to the surface at Horeb church, in Wayne township.

GEOLOGY AND MORALS.

Next to the influence of climate there is nothing which so powerfully affects the character of a people as the geological structure of the territory which they occupy. This determines their occupations, and their occupations determine their char- acter. We all recognize the difference, socially and politically, be- tween manufacturing and agricultural districts-a difference so striking in the United States that political economists have no difficulty in tracing its influence among the causes which led to the late war-so striking as to give rise to serions apprehen- sions in the minds of some philosophical statesmen as to the po- litical future of our country. A manufacturing district, with its smoky atmosphere, its noise, its busy. bustling, floating pop- ulation, now strung up to the extreme of exertion, now relaxed into the other extreme of listless, langnid inaction, must neces- sarily have a social character and political interest widely dif- ferent from those induced by the even, easy-going life of an agricultural district. Ohio has agricultural and manufacturing interests both well developed; and consequently is in a good position to maintain the balance ot political power which she now holds. Both interests are well developed in Belmont county; and this it is which has given to our population the motley character which distinguishes it so widely from those parts of the state which are distinctively agricultural. Our di- versity of character depends upon our diversity of occupation, our diversity of occupation upon the diversity of our geological structure: so that it may well be said of the sandstones, lime- stones, shales and coals of Belmont county what Newberry says of the clays which underlie the Western Reserve: "That they have not only determined the occupation of a large portion of our people, but have affected all their modes of thought and action, and they may almost be said to underlie our manners and morals as they do onr farms and towns."

CURIOUS PHENOMENA.

Caves .- True caves are found only in limestone formations. The property which water containing carbonic dioxide possesses, of dissolving limestone, gives an easy explanation of the whole

$Prof. 11. B. Cornwall in "The Popular Science Monthly," June, 1876.

224

HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES.

theory of caves. "Such water passes down through the crevices. and along the partings and cracks in the limestones, and dix- solves away the edges and sides of the rocks, thus making, in the course of ages, large passage ways."-(Andrews.) Psendo-caves, or caverns, often occur in sandstone formations, caused by the crumbling away of soft roek, and the consequent falling in, and irregular piling of the harder rocks above. The "Cat Den," in Goshen township, lying in the sandstone horizon between coals No. 12 and No. 13, is an example of this. In the same horizon, in various parts of the southern tier of townships, there are enri- ous results from the same cause. The "Raven Rocks," on Piney, in Wayne township, are in this same formation. For grandeur and rugged, picturesque beauty, this little glen can scarcely be excelled. All along Piney, below the "Raven Rocks," great massive fragments of sandstone, disconnected by the disinte- gration of the rocks upon which they once rested, may be seen strewn along the tops of the hills, on both sides of the creek. In Washington township, near Armstrong's Mills, the scenery of the same horizon is quite picturesque. The "Alum Rocks" in "Wayne township," and "The Devil's Tea Table" in Warren, belong to the same formation.

Concretions, -- Curious shapes are sometimes formed by the gath- ering together of rock-substance into variously-shaped masses. The kidney-shaped masses of iron ore found in the black-band deposits, are concretions. Sometimes these are found to con- tain beautiful crystals of rhomb spar, or of iron pyrites, and sometimes they contain beautiful fern-leat impressions. Lime- stone concretions are some times found which have the appear- ance of petrified turtles. "When a flattened spheroidal con- cretion was cracked after it was formed, and the cracks were subsequently filled with other material or the same, the effect is quite turtle-like."-(Dana.) Several very interesting specimens of this nature were found, a few years ago, by Mr. L. P. Bailey, of Warren township.

Petrifications .- Pieces of "petrified wood" are frequently found, in various parts of the country. These petrifications are usually silica, and are more properly called silicified wood. It is conve- nient to speak of them as petrifactions, but it must not be under- stood that the wood has actually turned to stone. The change is brought about by the slow decomposition of wood in water charged with rock-substance in solution, the particles of mineral replacing the decaying particles of wood so slowly, and in such order, that every appearance of the wood is preserved. Mounds, pictured rocks, and other curious phenomena of that class, are subjects which do not belong to the science of geology, and hence do not come within the scope of this sketch.

CONCLUSION.

Though this sketch has already exceeded the bounds origi- nally intended, the author feels that he ought not to let it go to the public without a few words of acknowledgment of indebted- uess to the various friends who have assisted in the collection of the materials which he has used. His thanks are due to Prof. Leo Lesquereux, of Columbus, for explanations and illustrations kindly furnished; to the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C., for a copy of the valuable hypsometric tables of Deleros, Loomis and Guyot ; to Mr. J. B. Ryan, of the State School Com- missioner's office, for copies of valuable works of the Ohio Geo- logical Survey; to Dr. Close, of St. Clairsville; Mr. Chalkley Dawson, of Barnesville, and many other friends, for kind assist- ance and interest in the work. His thanks are also due to the publishers for their liberality in furnishing the means of illus- tration. In the preparation of the sketch free use has been made of the works of Prof. Dana, and of the excellent "Elementary Geology" of Prof. Andrews. The Ohio Reports, have been freely used, as has Prof. Lesquereux' Coal Flora Atlas, recently published by the Second Pennsylvania Geological Survey.

To the readers it should be said, that the unsatisfactory char- acter of the work is partly due to the fact that the study of our local geology is yet in its infancy. A dozen men or fewer, in a territory so large as the State of Ohio, working on limited time and still more limited appropriations, may do-and have done -a great work. But they cannot descend into the minute struc- ture of each locality. Local observation, and that alone, can develop all the details of the science. Yet local observation is about the last step in the development of a science. We are prone to study that which is distant and curious, rather than that which is near and plain. Man learned to decipher the strange inscriptions on the tombs of Egypt long enough before he thought to read the plain handwriting of God on the coarse stone at his own doorstep. The former were strange and

enrious ; the latter unpretensions and common-too common to attract attention-hidden by its very commonness-like the stars at noon-day, lost in light. The same silent forces which wrought ont the varied features of our beautiful landscapes are acting to-day. Change, perpetual change, is carved on every precipice, and written on every slope. Itis the story which the breeze whispers and the little brook murmurs. It may be heard as plainly in sparkling music of the little cascade in the quiet dell, as in the thunders of "dread Niagara." Let us hope that these voices of nature will at length be heard and understood by all: that our beautiful out-door science may soon eease to be wholly a thing of books and schools; and that our people, like true students of nature, may

"Find tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything." St. Clairsville, O., August 13th, 1879.

CHAPTER XXI.

HISTORY OF THE TOWNS AND TOWNSHIPS OF Belmont County.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE.

The location of St. Clairsville is on an elevated and beautiful site, overlooking a rieh agricultural scope of country, undula- ting in surface, but very picturesqne in appearance. It is on the line of the National Road, eleven miles west of Wheeling, and one hundred and sixteen cast of Columbus. Its elevation above sea level is about 1180 feet, and above the Ohio river at Bridgeport, 560 feet. It was made the seat of justice for Belmont county in 1804, Before the days of railroads it formed quite a business centre, although it yet remains an active trading point.

This town was laid out by David Newell and surveyed by Mr. Israel. The original town contained 65 acres, 2 rood, 18 perches, In 1803, William Mathers laid ont an addition of ahout eight acres on the south side of town. What is known as Barnes' addition, on the east, was laid out Angust 31, 1805, by James Barnes, Notley Hays and William Brown, and contains 19 acres and 20 perches. In 1839, William Booker laid out an addition of eight lots to the west end of the town.

The founder of St. Clairsville was of Scotch extraction and migrated from Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, along in 1795-6. Little of his history is known. Soon after the town was laid out, he (Newell) named it in honor of his cousin, who was then governor of the territory. It was locally known as Newellstown for some years, but the court records call it St. Clairsville in 1802. A sketch is herewith subjoined of the old hero after whom the town was named :

GENERAL ARTHIER ST. CLAIR

was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1735. IIe received a clas- sical education in one of the most celebrated universities of his native country. After completing his collegiate course he studied medicine, but being of a military turn of mind, he soon abandoned the notion of physics. Early in May, 1755, he mi- grated to North America with Edward Boscawen, an English Admiral, obtained a subaltern's appointment, and was with Wolfe in the storming of Quebec. After the peace of 1763 he was assigned the command of Fort Ligonier, in Pennsylvania, and received there a grant of one thousand acres, Prior to the revolutionary war he held several civil offices. At the breaking out of said war he was appointed Colonel of Continentals. Served as Brigadier General, to which rank be had been pro- moted at the battles of Trenton and Princeton in the winter of 1776-7. In February, 1777, he was appointed a Major General and ordered to repair to Ticonderoga, where he commanded the garrison. When Burgoyne, with more than ten thousand men,

225

HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES.

invested the fortress on July 2nd, he abandoned it, for which act he was charged with cowardice, incapacity, &c. He was tried by a conrt-martial, but acquitted honorably. The facts were that the works were incomplete, and not capable of being defended against that force, and an attempt would have resulted in the loss of many of his men. He served until the close of the war with reputation,

Whilst residing on his farm at Ligonier in 1785 he was elected a member of the Continental Congress, and chosen president of that august body in 1787. In 1789 he was appointed Governor of the Northwest Territory. He commanded an army which was sent against the Miami Indians, and was defeated near the Miami river, with heavy loss November, 1791. Ceased to be governor in the winter of 1802-3.

The following sketch of Gen. St. Clair is extracted from the notes of Judge Burnet, who was personally acquainted with him, and will be read with interest by the people :

"During the continuance of the first grade of that imperfect gov- ernment of the territory he enjoyed the respect and confidence of every class of the people, He was plain and simple in his dress and equipage, open and frank in his manners, and accessible to persons of every rank. In these respects he exhibited a striking contrast with the secretary, Colonel Sargent, and that contrast, in some measure, increased his popularity, which he retained unimpaired till after the commencement of the first session of the legislature. During that session he manifested a strong de- sire to enlarge his own powers and restrict those of the assem- bly, which was the more noticed, as he had opposed the usurpa- tions of the legislative council, composed of himself, or in his absence the Secretary and the Judges of the General Court, and had taken an early opportunity of submitting his views on that subject to the General Assembly. -X *

"The effect of the construction he gave, of his own powers, may be seen in the fact that of the thirty bills passed by the two Houses during the first session and sent to him for his approval, he refused his assent to eleren, some of which were supposed to be of much importance. and all of them calculated, more or less, to advance the public interest. Some of them he rejected, be- cause they related to the establishment of new counties; others, because he thought they were unnecessary or inexpedient. Thus more than a third of the fruits of the labor of that entire session was lost by the exercise of the arbitrary discretion of * * one man. *

"This, and some other occurrences of a similar character, which . were manifest deviations from his nsual course, not easily ac- counted for, multiplied his opponents very rapidly and rendered it more difficult for his friends to defend and sustain him. They also created a state of bad feeling between the legislative and executive branches, and eventually terminated in his removal from office before the expiration of the territorial government.

"The governor was unquestionably a man of superior tal- ents, of extensive information, and of great uprightness of purpose, as well as suavity of manners. His general course, though in the main correct, was in some respects injurious to his own popularity, but it was the result of an honest exercise of his judgment. He not only believed that the power he claimed belonged legitimately to the executive, but was convinced that the manner in which he exercised it was imposed on him as a duty, by the ordinance, and was calculated to advance the best interests of the territory. * * * * *

"Soon after the governor was removed from office he returned to the Ligonier valley, poor, and destitute of means of subsist_ ence ; and unfortunately, too much disabled by age and infirmi- ty to embark in any kind of active business. During his admin- istration of the territorial government, he was induced to make himself personally liable for the purchase of a number of pack- horses and other articles necessary to fit out an expedition against the Indians, to an amount of some two or three thou- sand dollars, which he was afterwards compelled to pay. Hav- ing no use for the money at the time, he did not present his claim to the government. After he was removed from office, he look- ed to that fund as his dependence for future subsistence ; and, under a full expectation of receiving it, he repaired to Washing- ton City and presented his account to the proper officer of the treasury. To his utter surprise and disappointment it was re- jected, on the mortifying ground, that, admitting it to have been originally correct, it was barred by the statute; and that the time which had elapsed, afforded the highest presumption that it had been settled, although no voucher or memorandum to that effect could be found in the department. To counteract the al- leged presumption of payment, the original vouchers, showing the purchase, the purpose to which the property was applied and 29-B. & J. Cos.

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History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley, Part 79

Author: Caldwell, J. A. (John Alexander) 1n; Newton, J. H., ed; Ohio Genealogical Society. 1n Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Wheeling, W. Va. : Historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 728

Author: Caldwell, J. A. (John Alexander) 1n; Newton, J. H., ed; Ohio Genealogical Society. 1n
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Wheeling, W. Va. : Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 728