USA > Ohio > Clinton County > History of Clinton County, Ohio Its People, Industries, and Institutions, with Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families > Part 5
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to this slight extent. .. . In some parts of this district, particularly those which are flat, there does not occur, within the usual range of the wells, much. if any, yellow clay. If it found, it is just below the soil for from three to ten feet, where tine, grained blue clay invariably occurs interstratified with sund.
BOULDERS.
"These are found scattered over the surface and belong above the blue clay deposit. rather than in it. The largest boulder, perhaps, which is found so far south in this state, is found in Clinton county on the county infirmary farm, near Wilmington, and this lies on the fine-grained blue clay, upou which it would seem to have fallen by the washing away of the clay in which it was formerly imbedded, and which, at a higher level, lies near It on all sides. This boulder contains abont one thousand two hundred cubic feet, and weighs upward of ninety tons. . . ยท Smaller ones are found more or less abundanly, especially in the northern half of the county. They are found lying on or near the surface, where they have been left by the removal of the water which carried away the material deposited with then.
GRAVEL AND SAND.
"Mingled with the drift is always found a considerable proportion of these sub- stances, being scattered through the whole mass, or, at most, showing only a slight tendency to be distinct in strata, more or less mixed with soft material. Where the original drift is in quantity and undisturbed. the sand and gravel in it are not avail- able for economic purposes. A few years ago, these counties were thought to he lack- ing in these Important adjuncts to civilization. Previous to 1575, a short time, the
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demand for gravel road material became so exceedingly urgent that thorough and exhaustive, and, as the result proved successful, search was made for it. It is now known that no real deficiency exists People know where to look for It. When the currents of water carried away the lighter materials of the drift deposit, those con- stituents which were heaviest were left behind. We may regard the highest land as the former level of the region we are speaking of. There was then a deposit of loose material, sometimes a hundred feet in thickness, above the bedded stone. This material was manifestly deposited from water, and, to account for the character of the markings upon the rock surface and the promiscuous intermixture of clays, sand and gravel, and sometimes a certain limited measure of stratification. or assorting materials according ' to their weight, and for the evidently remote origin of the stony constituents, requiring that they should have been brought bither, and especially for the numerous boulders, conspicuous both for their size and clear marks of foreign origin, the conclusion I reached, unhesitatingly, that ice in some form contributed to the same end. Water In a liquid state alone could not carry such material so far without having an enormous velocity, sufficient to move before it not only the loose material, but the very stone beneath it. When the water subsided, new lines of drainage appeared, corresponding, more or less, depending upon the physical features of the country, with preexisting ones. The emergence of the land was gradual, and the subdividing water stood for greater or less periods of time at different levels, which may be pointed out today with more or less distinctness. During the emergence of the solld earth, the currents of water carried away some of the material constituting the drift sediment of the former period. The channels of drainage mark the direction of the current.
"Within these channels, the drift deposits were removed sometimes to the bedded rock. The varying force of the current distributed the material as we see It now. Strong currents carried all before them; wenker currents only the more refined sedi- ment. Any current bearing substance will deposit the heavier material first when the current becomes checked. It is thus that matters carried in currents of water became more assorted and distributed. When a current bearing sediment finds a wider chan- nel and expands, the current is checked at the skle upon which it finds room to spread out. Here will be a deposit of the heavier part of its freight. If two currents meet at the point of intersection, they will be retarded, especially if one be more swollen than the other, and the heavier material will be carried out and deposited first. Where how are mere brooks, the ample extent of the washing, the broad valleys, show that rivers once flowed. Whenever the drift clays were not washed. the gravels were inter- spersed through them; but where the elnys are broken, where valleys have been cut In them, on the sides of these cuts, on the escarpment of the broken clay and gravel drifts, the clay bas been removed and the gravel is left in beds. Following the princi- ples referred to before in regard to the laws of sedimentary deposits, the road-maker of today may find the deposits of gravel he needs. Along the declivity, where two former currents met, far back from the meeting point of the diminutive streams of the present time, on a point and looking from the bigber land, he who seeks this useful material need not look in vain. As there were various levels of the water at that far- distant period, so are there several elevations at which gravel is actually found. In addition to these beds on the escarpment of the hills, there are found hillocks or natural mounds of gravel which represent eddies, or places in which, for some ennse, the water was more quiet, and hence unable to carry its load of sediment forward. Beshles these. the soil of the present bottoms is, In many places, underinid with ample deposits of gravel.
"Drifted wood is found in the blue clay In all our districts. The Instances in which wood has been found in the clay beds, penetrated in well digging, are by no means few, nearly every neighborhood furnishing one or more. A kind of jointed grass, or rush, was obtained from a well, near Reesville, In Clinton county.
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BONES.
"The gravel which lay so long hidden from the knowledge of the present inhabitants was almost uniformly made use of as places of interment by some former race of people. Scarcely a gravel bed has been extensively worked in which abundance of human bones have not been found. The skeletons are usually discovered within two or three feet of the surface. We are left to conjecture, in giving any reason why this material was used lu which to make Interments of the dead. Triukets of any descrip- tion are extremely rare in such graves, although not entirely unknown. In none of which I heard were there any Indications of unusual care or elaborateness in the inter- ments. Possibly, the ease in excavating a grave in such material may have deter- mined the choice. But It is not a little singular that the inhabitants of a long ago ' should have known the position of these beds of gravel, covered as they were with a dense forest, while two generations of the Intelligent people of this age have not thought of their existence until within half a dozen years.
STONE IMPLEMENTS.
"Flint arrow and lance points, stone hammers, bark peelers, hematite fishing bobs or sinkers, and other articles of this class are found, especially along the water courses. As no value and but a passing interest have been attached to them, they have not been preserved. but most of them have been broken up or lost. Many are still found by persons working the soil. No one locality has furnished more than the borders of Deer creek, but they are common on all the streams, and, indeed, over the whole surface of the county are they found. As the soil in Fayette and parts of Clinton has not been subject to the plow as much as in other places, and, of course, some of it not plowed at all, there perhaps remain more still to be gathered than have ever been found. Some persons, seeing in these articles the story of a former race of human beings, who have left but little else to tell of their manners of civilization, are gathering them up. to preserve from destruction. Nothing more amazes one in contemplating these relles of n people of a long past age than the immense number of them senttered over the surface of the earth. Perhaps no single acre of ground in central or southern Ohlo but has furnished at least one flint arrow point; but the average would be greater than one to the acre, and it is not too much to say that every farm, at least, has at some time given up a stone hatchet or bark peeler.
HEMATITE BOULDER.
In Clinton county a hematite boulder was found. It weighed about two hundred and fifty pounds. This was extremely hard, and seemed to be of the same material from which the siukers referred to in the last paragraph were made. This is the only boulder of this kind found in the county.
BOUNDARY LINE OF THE CINCINNATI GROUP.
"The line separating the blue limestone and the Clinton white limestone is easily distinguished. It may be distinguished in all the streams In the western part of Clinton county, which all cut abruptly through the Clinton and into the blue limestone. The line where this runs can be easily indicated, beginning just outside the county. on Anderson's fork, near Ingall's dam, where the upper beds of the Cincinnati group and the Clinton formation are seen at one glance. To the west a mile or two, ou Cliff run, as well as on Buck run, the Clinton stone may be seen forming low cliffs, cut off from the main body of the formation; but the true line is on Anderson's fork, as men- tioned before. On Todd's fork, just above the crossing of the Lebanon road, near the line which divides the surveys 1554 and 1558, the same formations are seen in juxta- position. Farther south, on Lytle's creek, it was not seen, but on the next stream, Cowan's creek, the line of the Clinton sweeps around to the east and appears above the
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village of Antioch, but it does not here rise above the surface of the earth. The next point in the line is back to the west, about one mile northeast of Martinsville, where it is quarried, and then its next appearance is at a point about one mile south of Farmer's Station, on the Baltimore & Ohio railroud, and on a tributary stream of the east fork of the Little Miami. The last point at which the blue limestone is seen on the east fork of the Little Miami is on the edge of White's survey, not far from where the Pitzer meeting house stood.
THE CLINTON FORMATION.
"This is seen on Anderson's fork, at Oglesby's quarry and in Todd's fork, from the point of its first appearance near the Lebanon road to Babb's quarry in the base of the Niagara. At either of these localities the whole of the formation may be studied. The lower strata have the distinctly sand constitution characteristic of this formation, from which the stone is frequently called sandstone. These strata are good fire-stones, and resist the action of fire as a back wall in fireplaces for generations without softening or crumbling. But the strata a few feet higher are burned into lime, and make a medium quality for building purposes, and no doubt a very good quality of caustic lime for softening straw in the manufacture of paper. Some part of the ten feet of massive stone furnishes good building material. This stone has been obtained in Todd's fork, but is expensive, on account of the superincumbent stone of a poor quality, which must be removed before a good quality of stone can be reached. On Anderson's fork, at Oglesby's quarry, the same stone is more accessible, and is the best building stone obtained from this formation. The quality of this stone at Oglesby's has led some to prefer it to the Niagara; but it has the hardness and gritty character of the Clinton, and on surfaces which have been exposed in the quarry to the action of the atmospheric conditions and agencies for several years, it is seen to be composed almost wholly of a solid mass of broken encrinitie stems. Aside from lithological characters, this stone at Oglesby's is in the Clinton horizon, about midway from top to bottom. exclusive of the iron ore in the upper part. In this part the Imbedded fossils are deeply covered by the iron. The twelve feet from the top of the Clinton is well seen from the under strata at Babb's quarry, on Todd's fork, down stream to the locality of the iron fur- nace, formerly erected to work the ore. This twelve feet is highly fossiliferous throughout, but it is only In a few feet at the bottom that the portion of iron is large enough to entitle it to the name of iron ore. For some reason the furnace erected here (about 1850) did not prove a success and was abandoned, although the quality of iron was regarded as very smooth. The rich ore is a brittle stone, mostly composed of small, exteriorly smooth and shiny lenticular grains, reminding one of flax seed. The ore is easily crumbled in the hand, and contains numerous disjointed crinoldal disks. partially eroded. The species of fossils become more numerous as we approach the higher strata. Sometimes the stone is highly granular or crystaline, while still crumb- ling easily in the fingers, and is less ferruginous and the imbedded fossils become light colored. The iron ore occurs in considerable quantities, being exposed in an outerop along the slopes for several miles, and large quantities could be obtained by stripping. If it were more convenient. or nearer furnaces in operation. it might become valuable to mix with other ores in making certain qualities of iron, particularly if it should be found to serve likewise as a flux. The fossils in the upper beds are better preserved than in the lower, but good cabinet specimens are difficult to obtain. That locality alluded to as Grubb's quarry, In the southern part of the county, abounds in fossils, and is a promising feld for palaeontological research. It was but little opened at that time, but as the stone obtained seemed to answer well for building purposes, it will probably furnish muy fossils.
CLINTON COUNTY, OHIO.
NIAGARA FORMATION.
"The Niagara formation is not exposed very extensively in Clinton county and dips far under the surface in Fayette. It les immediately on the iron stone, or ore, just referred to at Babb's quarry, on Todd's fork. Here, proceeding from the upper strata of Clinton, thence upward : Blue clay, with purple tint, four inches; blue clay, four inches; stone stratum, one inch ; purple or red clay, unctuous feeling, four inches; blue clay, four inches. Here is the best Niagara building stone in the county-smooth, fine grained, even bedded limestone --- approaching in quality sume kinds of marble.
"The supply of this building stone, however, is limited and much below the demand. In the inferior strata, no trace of organic remains was found, their flue, even texture suggesting that they may have been deposited as calcareous mud in quiet water. In no part of the twelve or fifteen feet here exposed were organic remains found, except in the most meager quantity. Here and there occurs a small mass of coral which is completely Incorporated in the substance of the stone, being broken and standing upright as it was formed, having been silted up by fine sedimentary deposits. Above this build- Ing stone, the system assumes that loose and porous character so often observed in this formation, full of casts of large Pentamerous oblongus and other fossils, with numerous small cavities stained with carbonaceous matter. At Port Willlam, the exposure on Anderson's fork was perfectly characteristic of this formation, the jagged and cavern- ous masses being worn and corroded by the elements into fantastic shapes. But the most interesting exposure of this formation in the county is that known as Black's quarry, nenr Suow Hill, where the strata belong to the upper portion of the Niagara. This is a highly fossiliferous stone, but unsuitable for building purposes, as it is soft and porons and can be crumbled in the hand. The stone used in constructing the New Vienna and Wilmington turnpike was obtained here. The fossils are difficult to obtain without being broken, but many of them are very good specimens, the most deliente mark- ings being preserved. The stone is so fragile that the specimens are greatly injured by handling, and can not be packed in the usual manner without detriment. The paleon- tologists can surely find some valuable material in this district."
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CHAPTER III. ORGANIZATION OF CLINTON COUNTY.
The General Assembly of the state of Ohio, on February 19, 1510, passed an act establishing the county of Clinton. The boundaries of the county as set forth in the act were as follow :
"Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Oblo, That all those parts of the counties of Warren and Highland within the following boundaries be and the same are hereby erected into a separate county, to be known by the name of Clinton : Beginning at the southeast corner of Greene county, running enst five miles; thence south to Highland county line; thence west with said line within four miles of the eastern line of Warren county; thence southwardly so far as to intersect a line one mile east from the southeast corner of Warren county ; thence west, and from the beginning west so far that a line south will leave Warren county a constitutional boundary.
The county received the name of Clinton in honor of George Clinton, a distinguished citizen of New York and at that time vice-president of the United States. The territory described above was taken in almost equal portions from Warren and Highland counties, the old division line passing through the present town of Wilmington.
At that time the state constitution contained the following clause: "No new county shall be established by the General Assembly which shall reduce the county or counties, or either of them, from which it shall be taken, to less contents than four hundred square miles; nor shall any county be laid off of less contents." The area of Clinton county, through some error, probably in estimate, fell short of the requisite four hun- dred square miles. When the deficiency was finally discovered is not known, but the state Legislature took the matter in hand and on the 4th of February, 1813, passed an act as follows, entitled, "An act to attach a part of Highland county to the county of Clinton":
"Section 1. Be It enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That all that part of Highland county within the following boundaries be and the same is hereby attached to and shall remain the county of Clinton: Beginning at the south- east corner of Clinton county. adjoining Fayette county, thence running a line in a southwesterly direction to strike the line of Clinton county at such a point as to include four hundred square miles in the county of Clinton.
"Sec. 2. That the county surveyor of Ross shall, within thirty days after being duly notified by the commissioners of Clinton county, proceed to survey said county of Clinton and annex thereto so much of the county of Highland as shall make snid county of Clinton contain four hundred square miles, agreeable to the provisions of the first section of this act ; and said surveyor shall take to his assistance chainmen and axmen who are not Inhabitants either of the counties of Warren, Clinton or Highland, and who have no interest therein, who shall be duly sworn as the law directs; and said surveyor shall make out two accurate surveys, or plats thereof, one of which he shall return to the court of common pleas for said county of Clinton, who shall record the same in the records of the court of said county, and the other he shall deposit in the office of the secretary of state, who shall preserve the same with this act; which survey. when made and recorded, shall be the perpetual boundaries of the said county of Clinton, and said surveyor shall receive two dollars per day and said chainmen and axmen shall each
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receive one dollar per day for all the time they are respectively employed in such service, to be paid out of the treasury of the county of Clinton."
We quote from the manuscript of the late Judge R. B. Harlan: "The records of the commissioners of Clinton county show that, in conformity with the above act, they did, on March 3, 1813, issue a notification to the surveyor of Ross county to proceed and survey the county of Clinton and annex thereto so much of the county of Highland as would make the county of Clinton contain the requisite number of square miles.
"John Evans, Esq., the surveyor of Ross county, on the 6th day of April, 1813, pro- ceeded to make the survey required by the above act, and July 10, 1813, returned to the clerk of the court of common pleas of Clinton county a report of his proceedings under said act. In this report he said that, on the 6th day of April, 1813, he proceeded to survey the county of Clinton, agreeably to the provisions of the act of February 4, 1813. He began at four gums, two elms, two burr oaks and one maple, a corner of Clinton and Highland counties, standing north eighty-nine and one-quarter degrees east, one mile from the northeast corner of Clermont county; thence with the line of Highland and Clermont counties south eighty-nine and one-quarter degrees west nine miles and two hundred and sixteen poles, passing the corner of Highland county at one mile, with the variation of forty-five seconds from the cardinal point, to a red elm, two maples and a white oak, a black oak and thorn bush, southeast corner of Warren county, as it was then run, to contain its constitutional bounds; thence with the line of Warren county, allowing the aforesald variation of forty-five seconds west. twenty-one miles and one hundred and fifty-eight poles to a large ash tree, two sugar trees, and two thorn bushes, northeast corner of Warren county, and In the line of Greene county, which was form- erly run and marked: thence with said line east twenty miles and two hundred and thirty-one poles, passing the corner of Fayette county at fifteen miles and two hundred and thirty-one poles, to a large maple tree, marked as a corner and with the letters C. C. F. C., being a coruer of Fayette county ; thence with the line of said county south eleven miles and ninety poles to two oaks and an elm in the line of Highland county; thence I ran a line to attach a part of Highland county to the county of Clinton, viz., south four degrees, forty-five seconds west fourteen miles, two hundred and twenty- three poles, to the first place of beginning, being the most eastwardly end of the line of Clinton county called for in the first section of the aforesaid act ( February 4, 1813). in which bounds there is only contained three hundred and eighty-five square miles and six hundred and twenty-two acres. Therefore, I find it impossible with all the provisions of the aforesaid law; for, by striking or Intersecting the line of Clinton county, a deficiency of fourteen square miles and eighteen acres exist, and to Include four hundred square miles in the county of Clinton, the line strikes a point considerably to the east of the line of Clinton county, which the aforesnid law contemplated for the line to strike. I then run and marked the following lines, which include the constitutional bounds in Clinton county : Commencing at the same corner, from which the aforesaid line is run: thence south forty degrees west twelve miles and one hundred and ninety-seven poles to two jack oaks, hickory and gum, all marked as a corner ; and this line is repre- sented on the plat as running from A (east corner of Clinton county), to C, two miles and three hundred poles, the beginning corner of Highland and Clinton counties, in which is contained four hundred square miles. Finding this conflict in the law and the express provision for including four hundred square miles in the county of Clinton. I perceive no better mode to reconcile the difficulty than the one adopted, which shows the relation which each of these lines bears to the law under which I am bound to act.'
"The same day on which Mr. Evans flied this report, he produced to the commis- sloners of Clinton county, his account for his services as such surveyor, amounting to the sum of seventy-two dollars and fifty cents, and also an account for the services of chain bearers and markers upon said survey, amounting to the sum of sixty-six dollars, which
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accounts being Inspected, were allowed on July 10, 1813; vouchere 514, 515, 516, 517, 518. The chainmen were Abel Crossley, Philip Hartman and William Clevenger.
"To make up the deficiency thus ascertained, the Legislature, on January 30, 1815, provided that eleven square miles of the territory of Warren county lying upon the eastern boundary of the county of Warren, and extending parallel to the said eastern boundary line along the whole length of it from north to south, should be and the same were attached to and made a part of the county of Clinton; and it was made the duty of the surveyor of Ross county, within thirty days after being notified by the commis- sioners of Clinton county, to proceed and survey and set off to the county of Clinton the eleven square miles as aforesaid, by running a straight line from north to south through the county of Warren, parallel to the eastern boundary thereof, a strip about one-half mile wide, so as to Include the eleven square miles aforesaid. The act also prescribed the manner in which the survey should be made, the qualifications of the chainmen and axmen, with other necessary details.
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