History of Crawford County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 23

Author: Hopley, John E. (John Edward), 1850-
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago,Ill., Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1302

USA > Ohio > Crawford County > History of Crawford County, Ohio, and representative citizens > Part 23

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stances. We were nine persons and a child, within. Of course, after being tossed about in an empty coach all day, like a boat on the ocean, I was not unwilling to have the pros- pect of sitting steadily in my corner; but when I got fairly pinned inside, knees and feet, the hard seat and the harder ribs of the coach be- gan to search out my bruises, and I was still a sufferer. However, there were now some qualifying considerations. The road was im- proving, 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 undu- lated. My company, too, though there was something too much of it, was not objection- able; some of it was pleasing.

"There were among them the lady of a judge and her daughter. The mother was af- fable 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 be- came a judge's lady of refinement and educa- tion; but she did it in broken grammar, and in happy ignorance that it was broken. As the night shut in, she, without the least embarrass- ment, 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, and, as I think, pious.

"At nearly one o'clock we arrived at Dela- ware. Here I was promised a night's rest. You shall judge whether that promise was kept or broken. There was no refreshment of any kind prepared or offered, so we demanded our lights to retire. 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 was no dressing accommodations. I required them, and was told that these things were 'in common' below. I refused to use them; and at length, by showing a little firmness and a lit- tle kindness obtained soap, bowl and towel. I

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HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY

dressed. By this time it was nearly two o'clock. I was to be called at half past two; and I threw myself on the bed to try to sleep, with the soothing impression that I must awake in half an hour.

"At half past two I was summoned, 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 Whet- stone, 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 nine o'clock.

"The inn at which we stopped is the rendez- vous of the stages. Among these 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 the 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 persons inside. In this jour- ney we had but three.

"In demanding to go by the fast line I was not aware of all the effects of my choice. It is certainly a delightful 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. In- stead, therefore, of finding a lounge, or 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 amusement to see us laboring to keep our places.

"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 re- past, 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?' 'Twenty-three months, Sir; then the first house was built.'

"There are now about five hundred 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.

"On leaving Jefferson we again plunged into the forest, and toward evening we got on the greensward, or natural road. This was mostly good and uncut and we bowled along in serpen- tine lines, so as to clear the stumps with much freedom. The scenery now, even for the for- est, was becoming unusually grand. 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. Springfield is a flourishing town, built among the handsome hills that abound in this vicinity. It is one of the clean- est, brightest and most inviting that I have seen. But all the inhabitants were as noth- ing compared with the forest. I had been traveling through it for two days and nights, and still it was the same. Now you came to a woodman's hut in the solitude ; 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 set- tlement; and then again you plunged into the wide, everlasting 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.

"The early morning found me still traveling and getting seriously unwell. I thought I must have remained in Lebanon, a town about twenty miles from Cincinnati, to sicken and suffer without a friend; and then all the lone- liness 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 re- gard as a resting place.

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AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

"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 white suburbs put on a cheerful and beautiful aspect. At last we drove into the Western metropolis. I had traveled 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 the day I spent in my chamber."

From Sandusky to Cincinnati, three days and three nights through the forests and ford- ing the streams, over the worst of roads and traveling first-class at that. Today he could make the same trip, never deviating more than a few miles from exactly the same route, in a palatial car, with "soap, and bowl and towel," and tasty, well served meals on the train, and reach his journey's end rested and refreshed, at less than half the price he paid for his discomforts and inconveniences, and if he were to start from Sandusky at two in the morning he would reach Cincinnati in time to transact his business and return home in the evening. Or he could take exactly the same route in an automobile today, go over exactly the same road the entire distance to Cincinnati, and every foot of that road macad- amized; pass farming lands on every hand in the highest state of cultivation; through thriving villages and towns and cities, each a hive of busy industry, and in the entire dis- tance not a log hut to be seen, not a stream to be forded, and of the forests he so much ad- mired not one spared in the remorseless march of civilization.

Times, indeed, have changed, for the route he took marked an era of progress in those days, as witness the following from the Ohio State Journal of June 28, 1827: "From the encouragement offered, the tri-weekly line of stages through this place, between the city of Cincinnati and Sandusky, on Lake Erie, has been changed by its enterprising proprietors into a daily line. This offers an important ad- vantage to travelers between these places, who may pursue their journey without the delay in most cases of a single hour. The fare has

been reduced to twelve dollars, which is like- wise something of a consideration."

This Sandusky Pike was a very good road- in the summer and fall and in dry weather, as all well traveled dirt and clay roads are. And the road was well traveled from the start; on busy days as many as fifty teams being in sight at one time, those from the south taking their grain and other farm products to the Sandusky market, and also large droves of cattle and other stock passing over the road on their way to the Lake. The teams returning brought the goods needed by the people, which had reached Sandusky by water from the east- ern market over the newly-completed Erie Canal. The easier access to a market at San- dusky gave the farmers a better price for their produce and equally the goods they purchased were reduced in cost owing to the cheaper ex- pense and better means of transportation. In all the little villages and every few miles along the road were taverns, where accommodation, more or less good, was furnished to the trav- eler, and these places were crowded. Many a farmer made extra and needed cash by fur- nishing accommodation to the traveler or drover who passed over the road. Along the road at night could be seen the camp-fires of those drovers who carried their cooking uten- sils with them, prepared their own meals and slept in the open air. Notwithstanding the traffic and the heavy toll charges, for some rea- son the road was not a profitable investment, and the stockholders never received any divi- dends; neither were there sufficient funds to make the road bed what it should have been, and what the charter called for. As a result, from Bucyrus to Delaware, a large amount of the travel and even the stages, went by Ma- rion, and although the distance was four miles further, the road was better and they escaped the excessive toll. In the spring of the year so bad was this toll road that four horses were necessary to pull a wagon with the lightest of loads. And many a disgusted traveler, strug- gling through the mire and mud found him- self stalled and compelled to seek help from some neighboring farmer to pull him to higher and dryer ground, and after paying for this assistance proceed a few miles further and be held up for toll charges for the privilege of passing over this route. There were similar

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HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY

roads to this all over northwestern Ohio, some so bad that rights to mud holes were recog- nized, and many an enterprising farmer found a handsome addition to his income in furnish- ing aid and assistance to the unfortunate trav- eler stalled by the bad roads. One young man had started with a wagon drawn by a team of mules, and with $100 in cash contemplated buying land in the new country. Before he reached his destination he had been compelled to use all his capital in paying for assistance to get him over the worst places. He was not discouraged, however, and was something of a philosopher, so he went into camp at his last mud hole and by the relief of other trav- elers in distress soon had his hundred dollars back .*

It was in these days that profanity reached its highest range, and many indignantly re- fused to pay, and there were cases where the angry driver in passing managed to get a hitch on the toll-gate, and drag it a mile or two down the road. The court records of those days show many cases against travelers for "malicious destruction of property," the prop- erty being these toll-gates, and as the jury were men who knew these roads and had suffered, but were at the same time conscientious, they always brought in verdicts for the company, fixing the damages, however, at one cent, which followed the law and expressed their opinion at the same time. The turnpike company le- gally continued to make their charges, and when possible collected them, and the people finally demanded the abrogation of the char- ter on the ground of non-compliance with its provisions. Proceedings dragged their way through the legislature and through the courts, with "nothing doing," until one night the people along the line from Columbus north for thirty miles made a raid on the toll-gates and morning found every one of them de- stroyed. This act brought the matter so forci- bly before the legislature that at their next session in 1843 the act creating the company was repealed. The company asked a hearing and asked reimbursement, and for ten years in one form or another the matter was before the legislature, until in 1856 it came up for the last time, when the Senate passed a bill au- thorizing the company to bring suit against the

* "The Sandusky River."-Lucy Elliot Keeler.

State, but the bill failed to pass the House, and from that time to the present the discouraged owners seem to have dropped the matter. Which means that the heirs of the original stockholders in this and other counties along the line have still something coming from the State of Ohio.

Besides this road, in the early days another stage line ran through this county from Col- umbus to the Lake; it was authorized by the legislature in 1820, and was known as the Col- umbus and Portland road. It entered the present Crawford in the southeastern part of the county, from Mt. Gilead (then in Marion county) passed north, just west of Galion, through where now stands Middletown, Lees- ville and West Liberty, following the route of the first road cut through the woods by the pioneers. Col. Kilbourne was also the sur- veyor for this road, and when he reached where Galion now is it was his desire to have the road pass over the high ground where the public square is now located. He made over- tures to Leveridge who owned the land to have the road pass here and the two would lay out a town, but Leveridge objected to having his nice farm spoiled by cutting it up into town lots, so when the road was located it was in what is now the western part of Galion, cross- ing the road from Mansfield to Bucyrus just east of the Whetstone, and at the junction a few houses were soon located, with a black- smith shop and a tavern and later a store and post office, and when the present city of Galion was laid out some ten years later, the owner of the new village with its two or three houses looked west half a mile to the "Crossing" where at times as many as fifty teams were sta- tioned, stopping on their journey over one or the other of the roads. The Portland road fell off in business after the western route to San- dusky was established through Bucyrus, but the Mansfield road continued to be a stage line until driven out of business by the railroads, and the little town of Galion became the cen- tral point and the cluster of houses at the crossing were abandoned.

Other stage lines in the early days prior to railroads were from Bucyrus to Bellefontaine, and on to Indianapolis; from Bucyrus to Mt. Vernon; from Bucyrus to Tiffin and on to Perrysburg. The condition of this latter road

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was such in the spring of the year that it could have been better utilized by steamboats than by stages; it was mostly under water during the entire spring season. This was also true of many of the early coach roads in this county. The roads south of Bucyrus were through water for miles. There were no fences, and the driver frequently found better ground by leaving the road and picking his way along the higher spots across the plains.

There was no difficulty in laying out roads in those days. All the road makers had to do was to avoid the worst swamps, and the larg- est trees, and find the easiest crossings of the smaller streams. The first road the pioneer had was only a path which he made through the woods to his nearest neighbors, blazing the trees so his family would not miss the way in making neighborly visits a mile or two away. When it came to a road to secure an outlet to market, there were no county commissioners to petition; no thirty days' notice was necessary; besides there was no one to object to the road ; they appointed no viewers and had no sur- veyor; one or two expert woodsmen started out on a clear day, when they could be guided by the sun and take their course in the intended direction, keeping on the highest and dryest ground and winding in and out to avoid the larger trees and all obstructions, cutting down the underbrush as they passed, and a road was ready for passage on foot or on horseback. Later the pioneers at their leisure cut down the small trees in the roadway, removed the fallen logs and other obstructions, and the road, such as it was, was completed. Neither was it ex- pensive to lay out a state road. When Col. Kilbourne was a member of the Legislature he introduced a bill to pay himself and others for the laying out of the first state road in Craw- ford county, the old Portland road, through Polk, Jefferson, Vernon and Auburn town- ships. The section of the bill showing the cost is as follows :

"Section 12 .- That there shall be paid to Luther Coe and James Kilbourne from the fund aforesaid for their services as road commissioners and the services of the surveyor and other assistants by them employed in lay- ing out and establishing a state road from Worthington in Franklin county, by the salt reserve section in the county of Delaware, to New Haven, in Huron county, the following sums, viz .: For that part of said road which is in the county of Marion, to be charged to said Marion in the next general appropriation of said fund,

sixty-three dollars; for that part of said road which is in Crawford county, to be charged to said Crawford as aforesaid, five dollars; and for that part of said road which is in said Huron county, twelve dollars, to be charged to said county in the next general appropriation of said fund; making in all the sum of $80 chargeable to the said three counties. The part of said road which is in the said counties of Franklin and Delaware hav- ing been heretofore paid for; and the remaining part thereof, which is in Richland county, amounting to $76.50, not having been paid or provided for by this act ; but the same is left for future settlement."

This road was about twenty-one miles in Richland county, the same in Marion, and only two miles in Crawford. When Crawford was given four miles from Richland county in 1845, twenty-five years after the road was built, it was the territory through which this road passed.

The first attempt at improved roads in the county was made as early as 1852, when in January of that year, the citizens of Oceola met, and decided to organize a company to build a plank road from Tiffin to Oceola, R. G. Perry, John Bair and Lewis Tannehill being the committee appointed to receive and confer with other towns. Tiffin was the objective point, it being the nearest large town on a railroad, and an outlet was wanted for the products, which were then grain, pot and pearl ashes, lumber, staves, etc.

Later in the year Oceola endeavored to se- cure the Ohio and Indiana road, but the cost of construction was so much heavier, that it went to the south of them. But as Bucyrus was certain to secure the road, the matter of a plank road was taken up with the Bucyrus people.

A meeting was called for Bucyrus on De- cember 18, 1852. It was held at the court- house, and Zalmon Rowse was chairman and D. W. Swigart, secretary. It was decided to incorporate as the Oceola and Bucyrus Plank Road Company, with a capital stock of $12,000. The second meeting was at the of- fice of Franklin Adams, and books for sub- scription opened. Rodney Pool, Seneca Leon- ard, Lewis Tannehill and Samuel Osborn having charge of the subscriptions at Oceola, and Zalmon Rowse, C. Fulton, John Sims and P. S. Marshall at Bucyrus. Rodney Pool, Samuel Osborn and John Sims were commit- tee to secure the right of way.

April 1, 1853, the company met and re-

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HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY

ported 115 shares sold at $50 per share, amounting to $5,750. Bucyrus had taken 71 shares, Bucyrus to Oceola 26 shares, and Oce- ola 18 shares. The directors elected were Zalmon Rowse, John Sims, P. S. Marshall and D. W. Swigart of Bucyrus, and Lewis Tanne- hill, Samuel Osborn and Rodney Pool of Oce- ola. Votes were also cast for Franklin Ad- ams, Henry Converse, Benjamin Sears, George Quinby and Willis Merriman. Zalmon Rowse was elected president, D. W. Swigart, secre- tary, and John Sims, treasurer.

On January 6, 1854, the contract was let for building the road, G. W. J. Willoughby and R. G. and A. H. Perry having the contract for the western three miles and Samuel Osborn for the eastern half near Bucyrus. At the an- nual meeting the new directors were John Sims, president, D. W. Swigart, secretary, Rodney Pool, superintendent; P. S. Marshall, William W. Miller, Samuel Osborn and Jo- seph Ream. The road was completted during the year and the first six miles of improved road in Crawford county in operation. Toll gates were erected west of Bucyrus and east of Oceola. At the start the road was good at all seasons of the year and occasional repairs were made on it to keep it in condi- tion, but each season found the plank in worse and worse condition. It was not a profitable investment financially, as in 1864, the report showed the road was "about out of debt," and on the strength of the favorable report they ordered 50,000 feet to repair the worst places. After this, no attempt was made to keep up the road, and it was finally abandoned in July, 1866.

Time passed, and in neighboring counties, pike roads had been built, but the people of Crawford still continued in the spring of each year to haul their loads, sometimes up to the axle, with many a stalled team and many a broken trace that failed to stand the strain. The rich soil of Crawford made the roads worse than in the usual run of counties.

After twenty years most of the roads in spring were as impassible as in the days when the plodding oxen dragged the early pioneer wagon over the roadless virgin soil, and this was the condition of road, where every acre of land was under a high state of cultivation and each year yielding a bounteous harvest.

In 1886 a proposition was submitted to the voters of the county by the commissioners, by which the entire county should be piked by a general tax. It was submitted at the spring of the year, when hardly a road was navigable, and was one of the most singular elections, and the most bitter that ever occurred in the county. Friends of a lifetime became bitter enemies ; newspapers and business men advo- cating the proposition were boycotted; enmi- ties were created that were years in healing. Many humorous events occurred. A farmer stalled in Holmes township, asked assistance of a neighbor. "Are you in favor of pike roads?" was the inquiry. "Not by a d --- sight," was the reply. "Then get out the best way you can," and he was left stalled until a friendly anti-piker lent him the assistance he needed. The election came off with the fol- lowing result :

For Pikes

Against Pikes

Majority For Against

Auburn

226

218

Bucyrus

194

...

172

Chatfield

263

...

261

Cranberry

315

...

Holmes

254

. . .

226

Jefferson

184

152

Liberty

349

...

342

Lykins

216

208

Polk

172

...

172

Sandusky

145

...

143

Texas

105

...

Tod

178

...

152

Vernon

204

...

Crestline, village

307

244

Galion, city .

1003

. ..

983

Totals

1252

4575

534

3857

Majority against

3323

Dallas

...

203

Whetstone

234

219

Bucyrus, city

689

218

471

262

The tax duplicate of 1887, under which the first levy would have been made, showed the townships had a total valuation of $11,854,500, and the three cities of Bucyrus, Crestline and Galion of $5,865,200, so the singular result was obtained of the townships voting down a proposition by which one-third of the cost would have been paid for by the cities.

The question was certainly misunderstood, or regarded with suspicion, as two years later bills were introduced in the legislature author- izing certain townships to build pikes, the cost to be assessed on the townships. Cranberry, Jefferson and Polk were the first to build pikes,

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History of Crawford County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 23

Author: Hopley, John E. (John Edward), 1850- Publication date: 1912 Publisher: Chicago,Ill., Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1302

Author: Hopley, John E. (John Edward), 1850-
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago,Ill., Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1302