History of Licking County, Ohio: Its Past and Present, Part 25

Author: N. N. Hill, Jr.
Publication date: 1881
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 826

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" We charge the living to preserve that Constitution we have died to defend."

The close of the war and return of peace brought a period of fictitious values on the country, occa- sioned by the immense amount of currency afloat. Property rose to unheard-of values, and everything with it. Ere long, however, the decline came, and with it " hard times." The climax broke over the country in 1873, and for awhile it seemed as if the country was on the verge of ruin. People found again, as preceding generations had found, that real value was the only basis of true prosper- ity, and gradually began to work to the fact. The Government established the specie basis by gradual means, and on the 1st day of January, 1879, began to redeem its outstanding obligations in coin. The effect was felt everywhere. Busi- ness of all kinds sprang anew into life. A feeling of confidence grew as the times went on, and now, on the threshold of the year 1880, the State is en- tering on an era of steadfast prosperity ; one which has a sure and certain foundation.

Nearly four years have elaped since the great Centennial Exhibition was held in Philadelphia ; an exhibition that brought from every State in the Union the best products of her soil, factories, and all industries. In that exhibit Ohio made an ex- cellent display. Her stone, iron, coal, cereals, woods and everything pertaining to her welfare were all represented. Ohio, occupying the middle ground of the Union, was expected to show to foreign na- tions what the valleys of the Mississippi.and Ohio

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could produce. The State nobly stood the test and ranked foremost among all others. Her cen- tennial building was among the first completed and among the neatest and best on the grounds. During the summer, the Centennial Commission extended invitations to the Governors of the several States to appoint an orator and name a day for his

delivery of an address on the history, progress and resources of his State. Gov. Hayes named the Hon. Edward .D. Mansfield for this purpose, and August 9th, that gentleman delivered an address so valuable for the matter which it contains, that we here give a synopsis of it.

CHAPTER XIII.

OHIO IN THE CENTENNIAL-ADDRESS OF EDWARD D. MANSFIELD, LL. D., PHILADELPHIA, AUGUST 9, 1876.

O NE hundred years ago, the whole territory, from the Alleghany to the Rocky Mountains was a wilderness, inhabited only by wild beasts and Indians. The Jesuit and Moravian missionaries were the only white men who had penetrated the wilderness or beheld its mighty lakes and rivers. While the thirteen old colonies were declaring their independence, the thirteen new States, which now lie in the western interior, had no existence, and gave no sign of the future. The solitude of nature was unbroken by the steps of civilization. The wisest statesman had not contemplated the probability of the coming States, and the boldest patriot did not dream that this interior wilderness should soon contain a greater population than the thirteen old States, with all the added growth of one hundred years.

Ten years after that, the old States had ceded their Western lands to the General Government, and the Congress of the United States had passed the ordinance of 1785, for the survey of the pub- lic territory, and, in 1787, the celebrated ordinance which organized the Northwestern Territory, and dedicated it to freedom and intelligence.

Fifteen years after that, and more than a quarter of a century after the Declaration of Independ- ence, the State of Ohio was admitted into the Union, being the seventeenth which accepted the Constitution of the United States. It has since grown up to be great, populous and prosperous under the influence of those ordinances. At her admittance, in 1803, the tide of emigration had begun to flow over the Alleghanies into the Valley of the Mississippi, and, although no steamboat, no railroad then existed, nor even a stage coach helped the immigrant, yet the wooden "ark " on the Ohio, and the heavy wagon, slowly winding over

- the mountains, bore these tens of thousands to the wilds of Kentucky and the plains of Ohio. In the spring of 1788-the first year of settlement- four thousand five hundred persons passed the mouth of the Muskingum in three months, and the tide continued to pour on for half a century in a widening stream, mingled with all the races of Europe and America, until now, in the hundredth year of America'sindependence, the five States of the North western Territory, in the wilderness of 1776, contain ten millions of people, enjoying all the blessings which peace and prosperity, freedom and Christianity, can confer upon any people. Of these five States, born under the ordinance of 1787, Ohio is the first, oldest, and, in many things, the greatest. In some things it is the greatest State in the Union. Let us, then, attempt, in the briefest terms, to draw an outline portrait of this great and remark- able commonwealth.

Let us observe its physical aspects. Ohio is just one-sixth part of the Northwestern Territory -40,000 square miles. It lies between Lake Erie and the Ohio River, having 200 miles of navigable waters, on one side flowing into the Atlantic Ocean, and on the other into the Gulf of Mexico. Through the lakes, its vessels touch on 6,000 miles of interior coast, and, through the Mississippi, on 36,000 miles of river coast; so that a citizen of Ohio may pursue his navigation through 42,000 miles, all in his own country, and all within naviga- ble reach of his own State. He who has circumnavi- gated the globe, has gone but little more than half the distance which the citizen of Ohio finds within his natural reach in this vast interior.

Looking upon the surface of this State, we find no mountains, no barren sands, no marshy wastes, no lava-covered plains, but one broad, compact

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body of arable land, intersected with rivers and streams and running waters, while the beautiful Ohio flows tranquilly by its side. More than three times the surface of Belgium, and one-third of the whole of Italy, it has more natural resources in proportion than either, and is capable of ultimately supporting a larger population than any equal sur- face in Europe. Looking from this great arable surface, where upon the very hills the grass and the forest trees now grow exuberant and abundant, we find that underneath this surface, and easily accessible, lie 10,000 square miles of coal, and 4,000 square miles of iron-coal and iron enough to supply the basis of manufacture for a world ! All this vast deposit of metal and fuel does not in- terrupt or take from that arable surface at all. There you may find in one place the same machine bringing up coal and salt water from below, while the wheat and the corn grow upon the surface above. The immense masses of coal, iron, salt and freestone deposited below have not in any way diminished the fertility and production of the soil.

It has been said by some writer that the char- acter of a people is shaped or modified by the character of the country in which they live. If the people of Switzerland have acquired a certain air of liberty and independence from the rugged mountains around which they live; if the people of Southern Italy, or beautiful France, have ac- quired a tone of ease and politeness from their mild and genial clime, so the people of Ohio, placed amidst such a wealth of nature, in the tem- perate zone, should show the best fruits of peace- ful industry and the best culture of Christian civilization. Have they done so? Have their own labor and arts and culture come up to the ad- vantages of their natural situation? Let us exam- ine this growth and their product.

The first settlement of Ohio was made by a colony from New England, at the mouth of the Muskingum. It was literally a remnant of the officers of the Revolution. Of this colony no praise of the historian can be as competent, or as strong, as the language of Washington. He says, in answer to inquiries addressed to him: "No col- ony in America was ever settled under such favor- able auspices as that which has just commenced at the Muskingum. Information, prosperity and strength will be its characteristics. I know many of the settlers personally, and there never were men better calculated to promote the welfare of such a community;" and he adds that if he were a young man, he knows no country in which he

would sooner settle than in this Western region." This colony, left alone for a time, made its own government and nailed its laws to a tree in the vil- lage, an early indication of that law-abiding and peaceful spirit which has since made Ohio a just and well-ordered community. The subsequent settlements on the Miami and Scioto were made by citizens of New Jersey and Virginia, and it is cer- tainly remarkable that among all the early immi- gration, there were no ignorant people. In the language of Washington, they came with " infor- mation," qualified to promote the welfare of the community.

Soon after the settlement on the Muskingum and the Miami, the great wave of migration flowed on to the plains and valleys of Ohio and Ken- tucky. Kentucky had been settled earlier, but the main body of emigrants in subsequent years went into Ohio, influenced partly by the great ordinance of 1787, securing freedom and schools forever, and partly by the greater security of titles under the survey and guarantee of the United States Government. Soon the new State grew up, with a rapidity which, until then, was unknown in the history of civilization. On the Muskingum, where the buffalo had roamed; on the Scioto, where the Shawanees had built their towns; on the Miami, where the great chiefs of the Miamis had reigned ; on the plains of San- dusky, yet red with the blood of the white man ; on the Maumee, where Wayne, by the victory of the " Fallen Timbers," had broken the power of the Indian confederacy-the emigrants from the old States and from Europe came in to cultivate the fields, to build up towns, and to rear the insti- tutions of Christian civilization, until the single State of Ohio is greater in numbers, wealth, and education, than was the whole American Union when the Declaration of Independence was made.

Let us now look at the statistics of this growth and magnitude, as they are exhibited in the cen- sus of the United States. Taking intervals of twenty years, Ohio had : In 1810, 230,760; in 1830, 937,903 ; in 1850, 1,980,329; in 1870, 2,665,260. Add to this the increase of population in the last six years, and Ohio now has, in round numbers, 3,000,000 of people-half a million more than the thirteen States in 1776; and her cities and towns have to-day six times the population of all the cities of America one hund- red years ago. This State is now the third in numbers and wealth, and the first in some of those institutions which mark the progress of

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mankind. That a small part of the wilderness of 1776 should be more populous than the whole Union was then, and that it should have made a social and moral advance greater than that of any nation in the same time, must be regarded as one of the most startling and instructive facts which attend this year of commemoration. If such has been the social growth of Ohio, let us look at its physical development; this is best expressed by the aggregate productions of the labor and arts of a people applied to the earth. In the census statistics of the United States these are expressed in the aggregate results of agriculture, mining, manufact- ures, and commerce. Let us simplify these statis- tics, by comparing the aggregate and ratios as between several States, and between Ohio and some countries of Europe.

The aggregate amount of grain and potatoes- farinaceous food, produced in Ohio in 1870 was 134,938,413 bushels, and in 1874, there were 157,- 323,597 bushels, being the largest aggregate amount raised in any State but one, Illinois, and larger per square mile than Illinois or any other State in the country. The promises of nature were thus vindicated by the labor of man ; and the industry of Ohio has fulfilled its whole duty to the sustenance of the country and the world. She has raised more grain than ten of the old States together, and more than half raised by Great Britain or by France. I have not the recent statistics of Europe, but McGregor, in his statistics of nations for 1832-a period of pro- found peace gives the following ratios for the leading countries of Europe: Great Britain, area 120,324 miles ; amount of grain, 262,500,000 bushels; rate per square mile, 2,190 to 1; Austria-area 258,603 miles ; amount of grain, 366,800,000 bushels; rate per square mile, 1,422 to 1; France-area 215,858 miles ; amount of grain, 233,847,300 bushels ; rate per square mile, 1,080 to 1. The State of Ohio-area per square miles, 40,000; amount of grain, 150,000,000 bushels ; rate per square mile, 3,750. Combining the great countries of Great Britain, Austria, and France, we find that they had 594,785 square miles and produced 863,147,300 bushels of grain, which was, at the time these statistics were taken, 1,450 bushels per square mile, and ten bushels to each one of the population. Ohio, on the other hand, had 3,750 bushels per square mile, and fifty bushels to each one of the population; that is, there was five times as much grain raised in Ohio, in proportion to the people, as in these great countries of Europe.

As letters make words, and words express ideas, 80 these dry figures of statistics express facts, and these facts make the whole history of civilization.

Let us now look at the statistics of domestic animals. These are always indicative of the state of society in regard to the physical comforts. The horse must furnish domestic conveyances; the cattle must furnish the products of the dairy, as well as meat, and the sheep must furnish wool.

Let us see how Ohio compares with other States and with Europe: In 1870, Ohio had 8,818,000 domestic animals ; Illinois, 6,925,000; New York, 5,283,000; Pennsylvania, 4,493,000; and other States less. The proportion to population in these States was, in Ohio, to each person, 3.3; Illinois, 2.7; New York, 1.2; Pennsylvania, 1.2.

Let us now see the proportion of domestic ani- mals in Europe. The results given by McGregor's statistics are : In Great Britain, to each person, 2.44; Russia, 2.00; France, 1.50; Prussia, 1.02; Austria, 1.00. It will be seen that the proportion in Great Britain is only two-thirds that of Ohio; in France, only one-half; and in Austria and Prussia only one-third. It may be said that, in the course of civilization, the number of animals diminishes as the density of population increases ; and, therefore, this result might have been ex- pected in the old countries of Europe. But this does not apply to Russia or Germany, still less to other States in this country. Russia in Europe has not more than half the density of population now in Ohio. Austria and Prussia have less than 150 to the square mile. The whole of the north of Europe has not so dense a population as the State of Ohio, still less have the States of Illinois and Missouri, west of Ohio. Then, therefore, Ohio showing a larger proportion of domestic ani- mals than the north of Europe, or States west of her, with a population not so dense, we see at once there must be other causes to produce such a phenomenon.

Looking to some of the incidental results of this vast agricultural production, we see that the United States exports to Europe immense amounts of grain and provisions; and that there is manufact- ured in this country an immense amount of woolen goods. Then, taking these statistics of the raw material, we find that Ohio produces one-fifth of all the wool ; one-seventh of all the cheese; one- eighth of all the corn, and one-tenth of all the wheat ; and yet Ohio has but a fourteenth part of the population, and one-eightieth part of the sur- face of this country.

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Let us take another-a commercial view of this matter. We have seen that Ohio raises five times as much grain per square mile as is raised per square mile in the empires of Great Britain, France and Austria, taken together. After making allow- ance for the differences of living, in the working classes of this country, at least two-thirds of the food and grain, of Ohio are a surplus beyond the necessities of life, and, therefore, so much in the commercial balance of exports. This corresponds with the fact, that, in the shape of grain, meat, liquors and dairy products, this vast surplus is con- stantly moved to the Atlantic States and to Europe. The money value of this exported product is equal to $100,000,000 per annum, and to a solid capital of $1,500,000,000, after all the sustenance of the people has been taken out of the annual crop.

We are speaking of agriculture alone. We are speaking of a State which began its career more than a quarter of a century after the Declaration of Independence was made. And now, it may be asked, what is the real cause of this extraordinary result, which, without saying anything invidious of other States, we may safely say has never been surpassed in any country ? We have already stated two of the advantages possessed by Ohio. The first is that it is a compact, unbroken body of arable land, surrounded and intersected by water- courses, equal to all the demands of commerce and navigation. Next, that it was secured forever to freedom and intelligence by the ordinance of 1787. The intelligence of its future people was secured by immense grants of public lands for the purpose of education; but neither the blessings of nature, nor the wisdom of laws, could obtain such results without the continuous labor of an intelligent people. Such it had, and we have only to take the testimony of Washington, already quoted, and the statistical results I have given, to prove that no people has exhibited more steady industry, nor has any people directed their labor with more in- telligence.

After the agricultural capacity and production of a country, its most important physical feature is its mineral products; its capacity for coal and iron, the two great elements of material civiliza- tion. If we were to take away from Great Britain her capacity to produce coal in such vast quanti- ties, we should reduce her to a third-rate position, no longer numbered among the great nations of the earth. Coal has smelted her iron, run her steam engines, and is the basis of her manufactures. But when we compare the coal fields of Great

Britain with those of this country, they are insig- nificant: The coal fields of all Europe are small compared with those of the central United States. The coal district of Durham and Northumberland, in England, is only 880 square miles. There are other districts of smaller extent, making in the whole probably one-half the extent of that in Ohio. The English coal-beds are represented as more important, in reference to extent, on account of their thickness. There is a small coal district in Lancashire, where the workable coal-beds are in all 150 feet in thickness. But this involves, as is well known, the necessity of going to immense depths and incurring immense expense. On the other hand, the workable coal-beds of Ohio are near the surface, and some of them require no ex- cavating, except that of the horizontal lead from the mine to the river or the railroad. In one county of Ohio there are three beds of twelve, six and four feet each, within fifty feet of the surface. At some of the mines having the best coal, the lead from the mines is nearly horizontal, and just high enough to dump the coal into the railroad cars. These coals are of all qualities, from that adapted to the domestic fire to the very best qual- ity for smelting or manufacturing iron. Recollect- ing these facts, let us try to get an idea of the coal district of Ohio. The bituminous coal region de- escending the western slopes of the Alleghanies, occupies large portions of Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. I suppose that this coal field is not less than fifty thousand square miles, exclusive of Western Mary- land and the southern terminations of that field in Georgia and Alabama. Of this vast field of coal, exceeding anything found in Europe, about one- fifth part lies in Ohio. Prof. Mather, in his report on the geology of the State (first Geologi- cal Report of the State) says:

" The coal-measures within Ohio occupy a space of about one hundred and eighty miles in length by eighty in breadth at the widest part, with an area of about ten thousand square miles, extending along the Ohio from Trumbull County in the north to near the mouth of the Scioto in the south. The regularity in the dip, and the moderate incli- nation of the strata, afford facilities to the mines not known to those of most other countries, espe- cially Great Britain, where the strata in which the coal is imbedded have been broken and thrown out of place since its deposit, occasioning many slips and faults, and causing much labor and expense in again recovering the bed. In Ohio there is very

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little difficulty of this kind, the faults being small and seldom found."

Now, taking into consideration these geological facts, let us look at the extent of the Ohio coal field. It occupies, wholly or in part, thirty-six counties, including, geographically, 14,000 square miles ; but leaving out fractions, and reducing the Ohio coal field within its narrowest limits, it is 10,000 square miles in extent, lies near the surface, and has on an average twenty feet thickness of work- able coal-beds. Let us compare this with the coal mines of Durham and Northumberland (England), the largest and best coal mines there. That coal district is estimated at 850 square miles, twelve feet thick, and is calculated to contain 9,000,000,- 000 tons of coal. The coal field of Ohio is twelve times larger and one-third thicker. Estimated by that standard, the coal field of Ohio contains 180,- 000,000,000 tons of coal. Marketed at only $2 per ton, this coal is worth $360,000,000,000, or, in other words, ten times as much as the whole valuation of the United States at the present time. But we need not undertake to estimate either its quantity or value. It is enough to say that it is a quantity which we can scarcely imagine, which is tenfold that of England, and which is enough to supply the entire continent for ages to come.

After coal, iron is beyond doubt the most val- uable mineral product of a State. As the mate- rial of manufacture, it is the most important. What are called the " precious metals " are not to be compared with it as an element of industry or profit. But since no manufactures can be success- fully carried on without fuel, coal becomes the first material element of the arts. Iron is unquestion- ably the next. Ohio has an iron district extending from the mouth of the Scioto River to some point north of the Mahoning River, in Trumbull County. The whole length is nearly two hundred miles, and the breadth twenty miles, making, as near as we can ascertain, 4,000 square miles. The iron in this dis- trict is of various qualities, and is manufactured largely into bars and castings. In this iron dis- trict are one hundred furnaces, forty-four rolling- mills, and fifteen rail-mills, being the largest num- ber of either in any State in the Union, except only Pennsylvania.

Although only the sevent eenth State in its admis- sion, I find that, by the census statistics of 1870, it is the third State in the production of iron and iron manufactures. Already, and within the life of one man, this State begins to show what must in future time be the vast results of coal and iron,

applied to the arts and manufactures. In the year 1874, there were 420,000 tons of pig iron produced in Ohio, which is larger than the prod- uct of any State, except Pennsylvania. The product and the manufacture of iron in Ohio have increased so rapidly, and the basis for increase is so great, that we may not doubt that Ohio will continue to be the greatest producer of iron and iron fabrics, except only Pennsylvania. At Cincinnati, the iron manufacture of the Ohio Valley is concentrating, and at Cleveland the ores of Lake Superior are being smelted.

After coal and iron, we may place salt among the necessaries of life. In connection with the coal region west of the Alleghanies, there lies in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio, a large space of country underlaid by the salt rock, which already produces immense amounts of salt. Of this, Ohio has its full proportion. In a large section of the southeastern portion of the State, salt is produced without any known limitation. At Pomeroy and other points, the salt rock lies about one thousand feet below the surface, but salt water is brought easily to the surface by the steam engine. There, the salt rock, the coal seam, and the noble sandstone lie in successive strata, while the green corn and the yellow wheat bloom on the surface above. The State of Ohio produced, in 1874, 3,500,000 bushels of salt, being one-fifth of all produced in the United States. The salt section of Ohio is exceeded only by that of Syracuse, New York, and of Saginaw, Michigan. There is no definite limit to the underlying salt rock of Ohio, and, therefore, the production will be proportioned only to the extent of the demand.

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History of Licking County, Ohio: Its Past and Present, Part 25

Author: N. N. Hill, Jr. Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Number of Pages: 826

Author: N. N. Hill, Jr.
Publication date: 1881
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 826