History of Crawford County and Ohio, Part 28

Author: Perrin, William Henry, [from old catalog] comp; Battle, J. H., [from old catalog] comp; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852- [from old catalog] comp; Baskin & Battey, Chicago, pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Baskin & Battey
Number of Pages: 1034

USA > Ohio > Crawford County > History of Crawford County and Ohio > Part 28

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As early as 1824, several persons in the State began taking the temperature in their respective localities, for the spring, summer, autumn and win- ter, averaging them for the entire year. From time to time, these were gathered and published, inducing others to take a step in the same direction. Not long since, a general table, from about forty local-

ities, was gathered and compiled, covering a period of more than a quarter of a century. This table, when averaged, showed an average temperature of 52.4º, an evenness of temperature not equaled in many bordering States.

Very imperfect observations have been made of the amount of rainfall in the State. Until lately, only an individual here and there through- out the State took enough interest in this matter to faithfully observe and record the averages of several years in succession. In consequence of this fact, the illustration of that feature of Ohio's climate is less satisfactory than that of the temperature. "The actual rainfall of different months and years varies greatly," says Mr. Blod- get. "There may be more in a month, and, again, the quantity may rise to 12 or 15 inches in a single month. For a year, the variation may be from a minimum of 22 or 25 inches, to a maxi- mum of 50 or even 60 inches in the southern part of the State, and 45 to 48 inches along the lake border. The average is a fixed quantity, and, although requiring a period of twenty or twenty- five years to fix it absolutely, it is entirely certain and unchangeable when known. On charts, these average quantities are represented by depths of shading. At Cincinnati, the last fifteen years of observation somewhat reduce the average of 48 inches, of former years, to 46 or 47 inches."

Spring and summer generally give the most rain, there being, in general, 10 to 12 inches in the spring, 10 to 14 inches in the summer, and 8 to 10 inches in the autumn. The winter is the most variable of all the seasons, the southern part of the State having 10 inches, and the northern part 7 inches or less-an average of 8 or 9 inches.

The charts of rainfall, compiled for the State, show a fall of 30 inches on the lake, and 46 inches at the Ohio River. Between these two points, the fall is marked, beginning at the north, 32, 34, 36 and 38 inches, all near the lake. Farther down, in the latitude of Tusearawas, Monroe and Mercer Counties, the fall is 40 inches, while the south- western part is 42 and 44 inches.

The clearing away of forests, the drainage of the land, and other causes, have lessened the rain- fall, making considerable difference since the days of the aborigines.

CRAWFORD COUNTY COURT HOUSE.

PART II. HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

CHAPTER I.

PRIMITIVE GEOLOGY -PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE COUNTY-GEOLOGICAL CAUSES AND CON- DITIONS-TOPOGRAPHY -METEOROLOGY.

THERE is nothing within the scope of hu- man attainments more beneficial and en- chanting to mankind, than to look back through the mists and shadows of past years to the morning of creation, and to trace through the lapse of time the numberless achievements of the genius of man. How strangely real and ominous have been the quiet whispers of prophecy from departed years, and how the radiant figure of the Future has ever stood beckoning with fairy hands to the world from the fleeting shadows of coming years, with the glad promise of "Peace on earth, good will to- ward men !" Out from the gloom of the past, troop the sorrowing specters of desolate and utterly ruined lives, and wander away in lone- liness before the visions of the mind, like the shadows of a dream. From the dark depths of ages, long since dead, there comes the warn- ing voice of a sad experience, directing human life and endeavor to fountains of joy far sweet- er than ambrosial streams in the happy islands of the West. Thrice blessed is the man whose depth and purity of heart and mind enable him to see and enjoy the beautiful in nature, literature or art. The archæologist wanders with patient step through storm and sunshine in distant lands, searching with mingled pleas-

ure and toil for crumbling mementoes of pre- historic man. The soldier, following his flag on the red field of war, recalls the courage of the Trojan during the Heroic Age, and emu- lates his daring in the heat of battle. The orator, glowing with the inspiration of elo- quence, loves to dwell upon the grandeur of Oriental nations. The tireless sculptor moets his conception of artistic genius in the sublime marble of Phidias or Praxiteles. The genius of the mathematician is delighted, though baffled, by the profound problems of Euclid and Archimedes. The Christian looks back with joy over the toiling years to the pensive vales and winding streams of Judea, and the simple story of the lowly Nazarene cheers many a weary heart with the glad promise of eternal life. The gray-haired philosopher looks with mingled awe and pleasure upon the pro- found logic of the Peripatetics. The song of the poet, immeasurably beautiful and sweet, is but the glad refrain of the divine measure sung by the bards in Eastern climes, long years before the earth was vexed with the sub- lime spectacle of a crucified Savior, looking in pity upon the world He was dying to redeem. There is not a legend or poetic tale coming to us from the distant shore of the Dead Sea

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HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

Past that does not bear to the children of men some sweet lesson of social or moral excel- lence. It is the province of history to gather and record the events from which these beauti- ful lessons and morals are derived.

Since the dawn of intelligence, no field of research has been more fruitful in affording bountiful evidences of the origin of animate and inanimate creation than the testimony of the rocky structure of the earth and the knowl- edge of the natural laws which control the movements of the universe. Written indelibly on the bright page of nature, is the wonderful progress of evolution from the simplest combi- nation of effects to the sublime mechanism that guides the circling spheres. The heavenly bodies are everywhere found to be moving under the guidance and control of immutable laws, many of which have been discovered by the efforts of astronomers and mathematicians. It seems proper, before entering upon the de- tailed geology of Crawford County, to give a brief explanation of what is known as the nebular hypothesis, a beautiful theory framed by Laplace, and one that is now generally accepted. This theory supposes the substance composing all the heavenly bodies, including the earth, to have been diffused in a gaseous or nebular state throughout all space, and that, in revolving and cooling through periods of time, whose length cannot be computed, it gradually threw off vast portions, in obedience to universal physical laws. These vast portions, intensely hot and revolving with frightful rapidity, slowly cooled and contracted, throwing off, in turn, other vast portions, which, by a similar process, formed the present solar systems. So many circum- stances connected with the movements of the celestial bodies point to the truth of the hypothesis, that but few scientific men at present question its correctness. To harmonize with the prevailing theory, there must be found the logical effects inevitably resulting from the relations of matter and law, as laid down in the

terms of the hypothesis. According to the theory, the sun was once an incandescent sphere whose radius extended from the sun's center to an indefinite distance beyond the planet Neptune. The earth was a portion of this inconceivable vast body, and all the com- posing elements-liquids and solids-were in the form of nebulce, and were heated to a degree unknown to present physicists. As this pon- derous body, sweeping onward through space with inconceivable velocity, and on an orbit whose measurement bewilders thought, slowly cooled, there was thrown off, from the outer surface of its equatorial region, a belt, which finally broke, and gathered itself into a ball, still retaining its circular motion around the central body, and gaining a new one on its axis. This body was Neptune, and, in a similar man- ner, all the planets of our solar system, except the satellites, are supposed to have been cast off from the great central body. The planets, when first cast off, were immensely large and in an incandescent state. They, there- fore, in turn, while cooling, threw off other portions, which formed the satellites or moons of the planets. The earth, though first extending beyond the orbit of the moon, sub- sequently threw off that body, and after- ward cooled to its present size and condition of temperature. It is interesting to know at what stage of the cooling process the condi- tions of the constituent elements became such as to form the various compounds, such as air, water, minerals, animal and vegetable life, etc. A crust of rocks glowing with heat was formed upon the surface of the earth. Air and water appeared, and oxygen and hydrogen began forming their wonderful combinations. The earth must have presented a beautiful scene when the sixty-five simple elements began to unite. The thin, rocky crust was broken by incessant volcanic eruptions, and storms of fiery lava lighted the darkness of primeval night with lurid flame. Water, rising in the form of

167

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

vapor to vast heights, became condensed, and was swept in great storms of wind and light- ning along the surface of the earth, and precip- itated on the red-hot rocks beneath, only to hiss and boil, and again rise as vapor to lofty aerial heights. Slowly the rocks cooled, and the water could finally rest upon the surface without boil- ing. The air was saturated with vapor, which continued to rise under the combined heat of the sun above and the earth beneath. After a time, though the air was hot and poisonous, the water became fitted for the simpler forms of animal and vegetable life. Geologists have bestowed the name Azoic upon those rocks which were formed prior to the appearance of life upon the earth, except, perhaps, the lowest forms. From the Azoic Age to the present, innumerable species of animals and plants have sprung into existence, and lived as long as the conditions under which life was possible re- mained, after which they became extinct, new and improved varieties taking their place. The casts of fossiliferons plants taken from the rocks indicate that vegetable life began with the sim- plest forms, such as algæ and lichens. Afterward, at different periods, came liver-worts, mosses, ferns, ground-pines, conifers, cycads, sigillarias, endogens and finally angiosperms. Vegetation reached its greatest perfection during the Car- boniferous Age, when the conditions of heat and moisture were suitable for the luxuriant growth of timber, which was afterward trans- formed into inexhanstible beds of coal. Fos- siliferous casts indicate that animal life began with the lowest protozoans. Afterward came radiates, mollusks, articulates and vertebrates, ending with man, the highest type of all earthly life. These facts are reasonably conclusive from the language written indelibly on the rocky formations of the earth. If the surface were level, it would be covered with water ; but since, among other causes, lateral pressure and volcanic eruptions have elevated portions and lowered others, the area of water is confined to

the low land. That almost or quite all the surface was at some time or times under water, is not disclaimed by any man familiar with geological evidences. The soil, wherever exam- ined and at whatever depth, is found to exhibit unmistakable indications of having been covered with water. There is scarcely a square yard of earth, stratified or nnstratified, that does not contain the casts of vegetation and of animals whose life was possible only beneath the water. By carefully comparing the casts found in strata of rocks in different parts of the globe, reason- ably accurate conclusions are reached regarding the time when the different species of animals and plants existed, and when the various strata were formed. Strata of rock were formed by layers of the heated interior of the earth becoming cooled and cohering to the under surface of the solid crust, by streams of melted lava which overspread the country in the neigh- borhood of volcanoes, and by the more universal process of deposition while covered with water. During the irregular and comparatively frequent upheavals and subsidences, the surface became covered with alternate growths of vegetation and strata of sand, clay or solid rock. Thus it is that, in digging wells or other deep excava- tions, those materials are passed through in strata which vary in thickness and relative po- sition .*

The lower strata of earth in Ohio were first formed, as shown by excavations in different parts of the State, near the commencement of the Lower Silurian, but it was subsequently, during the Devonian and Carboniferous Ages that almost all the valuable beds of limestone sandstone and coal, were deposited. Near the close of the Carboniferous Age, the Alleghany Mountains were raised from the ocean, and all the area of country lying between the Mississippi and the Atlantic was raised above the water, and was never afterward submerged. This ac-

*The historian is indebted to Prof. N. II. Winchell, in the Geo- logical Survey of Ohio, for much of the material contained in the following pages.

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HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

counts for the fact that, with the exception of a small area in the southern part of the State, no representative formations of the Permian, Tri- assic, Cretaceous or Tertiary systems, appear in Ohio. During the Quaternary Age, large quan- tities of sand, gravel, clay and bowlders, were transported from Northern localities, and de- posited over almost the entire surface of the State, often hundreds of feet in depth. Since that period, the only changes made in the sur- face soil have been constant erosion and disin- tegration through the agency of alternate heat and cold and varying degrees of moisture, to- gether with the change made by the addition of large quantities of vegetation in various stages of decay. This is the condition of the present soil.

" Crawford County lies north from the center of the State, and about midway between that point and Lake Erie. It is bounded north by Seneca and Iluron, east by Richland, south by Morrow and Marion, and west by Wyandot, and lias an area of about eleven Congressional towns, situated so as to give it nearly the forin of a square. Its total area of taxable land is 250,- 491 acres, of which 123,649 are arable ; 59,871 meadow and pasture lands, and 66,971 uncul- tivated or woodland. The average value, ex- clusive of buildings, is $31.15 per acre, and the valuation ofreal property, exempt from taxation, is $454,213.

" The county lies on the summit of the great water-shed, embracing the head-waters of some of the principal rivers of the State, that leave it in opposite directions. In the northeastern corner of the county are a few small tributaries, that join the Huron River in a northerly direc- tion. Those of the Scioto and Olentangy, have a general southwesterly direction, until they are well off the water-shed and on the southern slope. The upper waters of the Sandusky River, including its tributaries, the Sycamore Creek, Cass Run and Broken Sword Creek, have a noticeable flow southwestwardly and

westwardly, along the direction of the general water-shed, until they are outside of the limits of the county; they then turn nearly at right angles northwesterly and unite with that river. The streams are generally small. yet large enough to afford, in favorable situations, ample water-power for flouring and manufactures. The flatness of the county, generally, except in the eastern tier of towns, is unfavorable for the production of water-powers. The rivers rarely strike the bed-rock, and hence, rarely have water-falls or rapids, that can be so utilized.

" A general division of the county may be made into three nearly equal belts, running north and south. The most easterly of these belts may be described as rolling and stony, with frequent gravel beds and bowlders ; yet in the townships of Vernon and Jackson, the sur- face is decidedly flat. The streams throughout this belt have greatly increased the original un- evenness of the drift surface, and in some cases their channels are dug, not only through the drift, but also into the rock, to the depth of forty or sixty feet. At the quarry of James Morrow, Jackson Township, the banks of the Sandusky have a height of sixty-eight feet, six inches, rising abruptly from the water with a further ascent of ten feet, within a few rods. Thirty-five feet of this excavation is in the Berea grit of the Waverly sandstone. Under this stone is a shale, probably belonging to the Bedford, which is not bituminous. The second, or middle belt, affords a strong contrast to the last, being usually quite flat. It is very dis- tinetly marked off by a series of knobs or gravelly hills pertaining to the Drift. East of this rolling upland, the surface is apt to con- tinne more or less broken, producing the fea- tures already described, while toward the west, the surface becomes very soon a monotonous flat, with a tough and heavy clay soil. This distinction is very marked in the central and southern portions of the county. In the north- ern, its uniformity is disturbed by the influence

169

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

of a series of ridges which intersect it; and the whole northern portion of the second belt, as in the vicinity of New Washington and Annapo- lis, is undulating, with a gravelly clay soil. This middle belt is underlain by the black slate and the shale beds above and below it. The streams in this middle belt, though deeply cut in the drift, very rarely expose the underlying rock. The third belt lies along the west side of the county, and is about co-extensive with the area underlain by the upper member of the corniferous limestone. The surface here varies from flat to undulating. In the southern part of the county, it is flat and marshy. Extensive prairies prevail in Dallas and Whetstone Town- ships. But the northern portion of this belt is more broken, and characterized by broad surface swells or ridges, which cross the belt obliquely. The features of these three belts seem to be coin- cident with, and doubtless are dependent on the nature of, the underlying rock. They are all confined to the surface deposits. If these de- posits were brought about by a uniform force. acting equally on all parts of the county, such as submergence beneath the ocean, the charac- ter of the underlying rock would produce no ef- fect on the distribution and character of the drift, especially in a county so level as Craw- ford is. The force, whatever it was, must hence have been something that came some way in contact with the rock, in order to receive different impressions from it.

" As has already been remarked, the uni- formity of the characters of these belts is inter- rupted by a series of ridges, equally pertaining to the Drift, which cross them in a direction northeast and southwest. A very prominent ridge of drift materials enters the county from Wyandot County, in Section 1, Todd Town- ship, and runs along the north side of Broken Sword Creek, serving in Crawford County, as in Wyandot, as a barrier to the westward flow of that stream to the valley of the Sandusky, driving it far to the southwest before it is able

to pass it. The farm and residence of J. A. Klink, Section 6, Liberty Township, are located upon it. This ridge of drift can be traced, with some interruptions, as far as the Indiana State line. It has been named the Wabash Ridge, from the Wabash River, which is diverted over forty miles from its course. In Crawford County, the drift accumulations belonging to this ridge are not always heaped up in one ridge, but are spread out into a succession of ridges, having the same direction and made up of similar ma- terials. This is particularly noticeable north from Bucyrus, in the township of Chatfield. This series of parallel ridges crosses the north- ern portion of Todd and Holmes Townships. In Cranberry Township, as it enters upon the rolling tract due to the underlying Waverly sandstone, it becomes confused, and cannot cer- tainly be identified. It lies on the north side of the water-shed of the State, and pertains to the Lake Erie Valley.

" The soil of Crawford County varies accord- ing to the prevalence of one or the other of the foregoing varieties of surface. In the eastern belt, it is generally gravelly, with some patches of tough clay. In the central belt, it is gener- ally clayey, and needs artificial drainage. In the western belt, it is a clayey soil, but shows more gravel than in the central. The soil of the ridges above described is sufficiently grav- elly, and the surface is sufficiently sloping, to admit of perfect natural drainage. The prairie patches, situated in different parts of the county, are sometimes untillable by reason of poor drainage. The soil is here made up largely of organic matters in process of decay. The county originally was mostly covered with a deciduous forest. The prairies, even in Dallas and Whetstone Townships, have some small oaks and hickories scattered through them on knolls of coarser drift that rise above the com- mon plat. The following-named varieties of timber were observed in the county, although the list cannot be regarded as complete. White

170

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

oak, pin oak, swamp white oak, chestnut oak, chinquapin, red oak, beech, cottonwood, sugar maple, black cherry, butternut, black walnut, shagbark hickory, tulip tree, pepperidge, buck- eye, white ash, swamp maple, sassafras, bass- wood, sycamore, ironwood, blue beech, honey loenst, elm, aspen, willow, thorn, chestnut, mul- berry, papaw, wild apple, wild plum, sumae, flow- ering dogwood, wahoo, hackberry, prickly ash and black haw.

" The strike of the rock formations is north and south across the county, the dip being toward the east. The rocks of the county per- tain to the Devonian and Carboniferous ages, and may be enumerated as follows, in descend- ing order :

Approximate thickness.

Cuyahoga shale and sandstone 50 feet Berea grit. 35 feet Bedford shale. 20 feet.

Cleveland shale

50 feet

Erie shale ..

30 feet

Huron shale. 200 feet

Olentangy shale. 30 feet

Upper Corniferous (Tully and Hamilton lime- stones). 35 feet

Lower Corniferous (Corniferous and Onondaga

limestones) 75 feet

Total approximate thickness.

525 feet

Of these the upper four belong to the Car- boniferous system and the remainder to the Devonian.

" The Cuyahoga shale and sandstone have not been certainly identified by outcrops in Crawford County, but most probably underlie the flat land in the eastern part of Vernon, Jackson and Polk Townships.

"The Berea grit is the most important mem- ber of the Waverly group. Its line of out- crop is marked by a series of quarries which erosses the eastern tier of townships, the most important of which are located in Jackson and Polk Townships. Beginning in Auburn Town- ship, the most northerly outerop of the Berea within Crawford County is on Section 28,

where it is found along a little creek on Sam- uel Hilburn's land and at the highway bridge. It also occurs near De Kalb, in Vernon Town- ship, on the land of James Coruthers. Slight exposures occur also on Section 19, along a small ereek on the land of Barnet Cole and Adam Freeze. It may also be seen on the land of James Campbell and Jacob Myers. In Section 36, Sandusky Township, it is ex- posed in a ravine on the farms of David Wirtz and Fred Beech. In Jackson Township, north- east quarter of Section 1, is James Morrow's quarry, a scetion of which is as follows :

Feet.

Inches.

No. 1. Thin-bedded sandstone.

No. 2.

Heavy-bedded sandstone ..

No. 3.

Shale (Bedford and Cleveland) not

well seen.

Total thickness

This quarry is one of the oldest in the county. The quarries at Leesville are about a miłe north of the railroad station, and in the bluffs of the Sandusky. Those of Jolin Bippus have been constantly worked for thirty or forty years. Others at Leesville are owned by John Haller and John Newman. J. W. Shumaker has also opened a quarry on his land. Mr. Bippus' quarry, near the highway bridge at Leesville, is on the same horizon as that of James Morrow. The exposure is something less, and as follows, in descending order :

No. 1. Thin beds, or flags, 1 to 3 inches. 10 feet No. 2. Heavy-bedded sandstone. 16 feet

The beds have a slight dip eastward. Mr. Haller's quarry has about twelve feet exposed. The upper six feet are in beds of six or eight inehes. The rest is like the upper part of Bippus', and on the same horizon. Mr. New- man's quarry is in stone about the same as Bippus', without exposing the heavy beds. On the southeast quarter of Section 2, Polk Town- ship, Thomas Park's quarry is located just at the point where the river, the two railroads and

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History of Crawford County and Ohio, Part 28

Author: Perrin, William Henry, [from old catalog] comp; Battle, J. H., [from old catalog] comp; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852- [from old catalog] comp; Baskin & Battey, Chicago, pub. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago, Baskin & Battey Number of Pages: 1034

Author: Perrin, William Henry, [from old catalog] comp; Battle, J. H., [from old catalog] comp; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852- [from old catalog] comp; Baskin & Battey, Chicago, pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Baskin & Battey
Number of Pages: 1034