History of Logan County and Ohio, Part 28

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Battle, J. H; O.L. Baskin & Co
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, O.L. Baskin
Number of Pages: 798

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

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As early as 1824, several persons in the State legran 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 stop 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 1.5 inches, of former years, to 10 or 47 inches."

Spring and summer generally give the most rain, there being, in general, 10 to 12 inches in the spring, 10 to It inches in the summer, and $ 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 & 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 Tuscarawas, Monroe and Mereer 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.

PART II.

HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.

CHAPTER I .*

INTRODUCTORY-TOPOGRAPHY-GEOLOGICAL SURVEY-EARLY BEGINNINGS AND GROWTH OF THE AGRICULTURAL SYSTEM-PHYSICAL AND MATERIAL RESOURCES OF THE COUNTY.

L OGAN County lies just north of the western half of the State, and is bounded on the north by Auglaize and Hardin Counties, on the east by Union, on the south by Champaign, and on the west by Shelby and Auglaize. Its form is that of a rectangle, lying east and west, its southern line being broken by the absence of a tier of lots in the southern margin of Miami and Union townships. The area according to the latest available appraisement report, that of 1870, is 281,296 acres, of which 101,127 acres are arable or plow land, 59,346 acres, pasture or meadow land, and 120,823 acres are uneulti- vated or wood land. The forthcoming report of the present year will show some changes in these figures indicating the extent to which the reelaiming of uncultivated lands has been carried, especially in the townships of Stokes

*' For the Topographical and Geological features of this chapter, the writer is principally indebted to the brief paper of Franklin C. Hill, found in the report of the State Geologi- cal Survey. In the division of the Legislative appropriation for the purposes of this survey, among the several counties of the State in accordance with their geological importance, but a small part was devoted to Logan County, and the re- port is, therefore, less exhaustive than might have been de- sired. The scope of the present work, however, does not contemplate original researches in this department, and the paper is embodied in this chapter essentially as it appears in the volume issued by the State.

and Bokes Creek. The average assessed val- uation of farming lands by the last report, exclusive of buildings. was $29.66 per aere.

The boundary lines of the county are all nearly level, and hold an elevation of be- tween 1,000 and 1,200 feet above tide-water, falling where the Miami River goes out on the west to about 975 feet, but the centre las been upheaved until the summit, on John W. Hogue's farm, one and one-half mile ; east of Bellefontaine, has reached the height of 1,540 feet, which equals 1,108 feet above low water at Cincinnati, and 975 feet above Lake Erie, and is the highest point yet measured in Ohio. This point lies upon the great arch that traverses the State from Cincinnati to the lake shore between Sandusky and Toledo, and was probably the highest peak in what was originally a low chain of mountains.

The general form of the county is that of a flat cone, about 500 feet in height, from which the water-fall drains off in all direc- tions; the county is situated, however, just south of the great water-shed, and the streams ultimately find their way into the Seioto or Miami rivers. This cone has been cleft from north to south to the depth of some 300 feet by the valley of Mad River, leaving a summit

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HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.

on the east at Wickersham's Corners (called " Jerusalem, " on the county map) only twen- ty-five feet lower than the one on Hogue's farm; the valley thus formed is drained prin- cipally by the Mad River, which rises in Jef- ferson Township and flows southwesterly through the county. The character of this stream is accurately discribed by its name, and in its headlong course furnishes an inex- haustible water-power for the numerous flour- ing mills that are located on its banks. The upper part of the valley is drained by Rush Creek, which finds its way into the Scioto in a northeastwardly direction, receiving in its course through Mill Creek and the Darby, the drainage of the eastern edge of the coun- ty. The waters falling on Ilogue's summit, and flowing through the streets of Bellefon- taine, as "Possum Run," fall into Blue Jacket, thence into Buckongehelas, and so into the Great Miami, whence they are taken at Port Jefferson, into the summit-level of the Miami canal, and there are divided, part flow- ing southward into the Ohio and the Mexican Gulf, and part going northward to Lake Erie and the St. Lawrence. The Great Miami, ris- ing in the southern part of Hardin County, flows southwardly through the western half of Logan, until within two and a-half miles of the southern boundary, and suddenly turning to the west by north, flows out into Shelby County.

The county is everywhere traversed by a number of bright sparkling runs, that find their origin in the innumerable springs that issue from the gravelly deposit which forms the foundation of the soil. Scattered over the surface are numerous small lakes or ponds that owe their origin to the same source. Of these, Rush Creek Lake, Silver, Black, Dake's, and Twin Lakes are the most important. Several of these are valuable for their ice crop, and some furnish considerable fish. One, the Indian Lake, in Stokes and Rich-

land townships, is now included in the Lewis- ton Reservoir, which was designed to col- leet and hold in reserve the rainfall of that region for the benefit of the State canals.

Although the entire surface of the country is covered deep in drift or its derivaties, yet the upheaval of the centre exposes three for- mations of rock, and there is good reason to suppose that a fourth would be visible but for the immense deposit of gravel in the Miami Valley. These formations are Huron shale, or black slate, shown in the hills about the head of Mad River, the corniferous limestone, best seen in the Bellefontaine, Mackachack and Middleburg quarries, and the water-lime rock, exposed in one place on the Mackachack, and in numerous ones in the neighborhood of Belle Centre and Northwood, while it is the Niagara that is supposed to lie under the the drift in the Miami Valley.

The Huron shale, lying the highest, and being, from its soft, laminated structure, most subject to the wear of the elements, has been cut down by frost and water until only two irregular islands are left. The smaller of these islands, lying directly east of Bellefon- taine, in Rush Creek, Lake and Jefferson townships, is the the last outlier of its forma- tion east of the anticlinal axis of the State, or, rather, is directly on the crown of the arch. Its northern end is hidden under the drift, but must lie somewhere near the village of Harper, and the southern is found about three miles southwest of Zanesfield, where a deep eut was begun through it some years since on the line of the Delaware Railroad, giving a length of about nine miles, with an average width of some two and a half or three miles. The second or larger island lies east of Zanesfield and West Liberty, and un- derlies Piekereltown and Wickersham Cor- ners in Rush Creek, and the townships of Jefferson, Perry, Monroe and Zane, with a span extending into the northern edge of

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HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.

Champaign County. It is about twelve miles long by three wide, and within its limits are to be found the finest and most characteristic expos- ures. The thickness of the slate under Hogue's summit, by actual measurement by the level, is 110 feet, and 136 feet, by careful barometrical estimate, under Wickersham's Corners.

Immediately below these Huron shale islands lies one large island of corniferous limestone, which can be traced through Rush Creek, Jefferson, Perry, Zane, Monroe, Lib- erty, Lake, Harrison and McArthur town- ships. Its thickness is probably between 60 and 100 feet, but nowhere in the county have both top and bottom been exposed at the same place, and the records kept of boring are so imperfect as to be worthless. The largest quarries are those of Messrs. Scarf's at Bellefontaine, of Gen. A. S. Piatt on the Mackachack, in Monroe Township, and Mr. J. B. Sharpe at Middleburg. Messrs. Scarf's quarry has been worked for a depth of over twenty feet, chiefly for lime, 1,000 bushels of which are produced by twenty-five cords of wood. The product is of good quality and color, but difficult to ship, on account of the rapidity with which it air-slacks, only three or four days being required to reduce it. Some courses show hydraulic qualities, but no sys- tematic experiments have been made with it, nor can any estimate be made of the amount of business done. Gen. Piatt's quarry has been worked to about the same depth, and the lime produced by the same expenditure of fuel, and of perhaps rather better quality. The building stone has all been consumed in the neighborhood. It is capable of being work- ed to fine effect, as the General's own mansion abundantly testifies. Mr. Sharpe's quarry at Middleburg has been worked to about the same depth as the others, but with more system, and exposes the rock better. The section may be described as follows, in a descending series :

Feet.

Covering of drift

First course, much broken. G

Second course, solid. 4

Ocherous seam

Third course, firm, thin layers ?

Fourth course, solid 4

Fifth course, solid.

Total. 25

Numerous small quarries have been opened all around the edges of the island, both for stone and for lime, but they are only worked occasionally, and for local purposes.

The geological scale of the State calls for a bed of Oriskany sandstone under the cornif- erous, and of Hamilton above it, but there are no traces of either to be found in Logan County. Remains of the former are found scattered about the country in the form of huge boulders, from which, at an early date, grindstones were formed; and in the clay are found small fragments with corners sharply defined, as though but recently broken. A popular explanation is, that from the combined action of the upheaval and the glacier, this formation was crushed into fragments and pushed bodily from its position, leaving only these fragments to mark its early existence. Dr. Newberry, in Vol. I., p. 141, speaks of Oriskany sandstone at West Liberty, but this is most probably a mistake. In Gen. Piatt's quarry, on the Mackachack, a bed of fine sand- stone exists, that has been quarried and re- duced to sand for plastering, with excellent suc- cess, but it is only a local deposit in the upper lavers of the corniferous, fifty-five feet above the top of the Helderberg, in the same field. These small sandstone deposits are quite com- mon in that neigborhood, and, in fact, the whole appearance of the rocks is so sandy that Mr. George G. Shumard reported the following section in the prospectus of the " Logan and Champaign Petroleum Compa- ny," in 1865 :

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HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.

1 Drift, gravel and boulders of sienite, gneiss, red feldspar, bornblende and mien schist quartz, grindstone, etc .. 20 feet

2 Black and dark brown bituminous sinte ......... 40 4

3 Hard, fine grained, light-gray, silicious sand- stone (ns far as exposed ).

4 Black and dark brown bituminous slate ........ 60 « 5 Hard, Light-blue, tine-grained selicions sand- stone. 4 .

€ Black and dark brown bituminous slate, con- taining large septarian segregations and nodules of iron pyrites ..... 150 «

7 Hard, light -gray calenreo-silicious sandstone, thickness as far as exposed .. .20 4

277

Mr. J. H. Inskeep, who worked the drill for the said company, reports the section obtained on B. Ewing's land, in the southern part of Monroe Township, as follows :

Slate .. 6 feet

Flint .. 5

Sandstone. 639

Red Slate 12

Blue Limestone. 43

705

At that point patience, hope and funds failed, and the project was abandoned. It is much to be regretted that a more careful or more skillful record was not kept of this bor- ing. The "flint five feet " evidently was the upper course of the Corniferous, but it is dif- ficult to understand what could be included in " 639 feet of sandstone." Mr. Shumard's second, third and fourth divisions evidently refer to the Huron-shale, and his fifth to the upper courses of the Corniferous, but his sixth and seventh would seem to be purely imagi- mary or very much confused. There are tra- ditions of a former sandstone quarry on the hill-top east of Zanesfield, from which the neighborhood was supplied with grindstones, and some still hope that it will be re-discov- ered. There is now a large mass of Waverly sandstone lying on the side of a slate valley on the Mackachack, half buried in gravel and the debris of slate, and it has been proposed to open a quarry in it. It would doubtless

yield fine blocks of beautiful stone, but as soon as fairly opened it would probably fail from exhaustion. From all that has been dis- covered, therefore, the Oriskany sandstone should be dropped from the Logan County scale.

Below the corniferous lies the great sheet of Helderberg, or water-lime, the lowest for- mation yet seen in the county. It has been worked on Gen. A. S. Piatt's land, on the Mackachack, and at Northwood, Huntsville, Richland and Belle Centre. At the latter point, in Anderson's quarry, probably the best and largest in the county. Much of the stone in this quarry is in thin and smooth courses, and makes excellent flagging. The yield of stone is stated at about 1,000 porches annual- ly, worth $1.25 per perch in Belle Centre. Some of it is shipped on the Sandusky Rail- road, but local demand consumes the greater part of it, and all of the lime burned. At the depth of fifteen feet a course is reached that is of so little value that it is avoided. As there is only two feet of "stripping," it is easier to extend the work sideways than downwards.

The conformation of the surface of Logan County indicates that under Miami, Pleasant, and Bloomfield townships perhaps the Hel- derberg stone has been scoured off, and that, were the masses of drift penetrated, the first. fixed rock found would be the Niagara. But the highest point where the Niagara has been worked is Tremont, in Clarke County, and the location of that formation in the Logan Coun- ty geological map is a matter of pure conjee- ture. It follows then, that, though attaining a high barometrical elevation, Logan County is geologically very low, and any attempts to find coal or petroleum are likely to be disappoint- ed. The geological formations that are found here are older than the coal deposits, and while the latter might be found above such forma- tions it cannot be found below them.

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HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.

The resources stored in the geological form- ations of Logan County are numerous and im- portant. The rocks yield building stone in sufficient quantities and quality for all local demands, although peculiar circumstances and a freak of fashion at present bring stone from distant counties for the more important strue- tures. Lime is supplied for building and farming purposes in such quantities and at such prices as to defy competition from abroad. It is thought that the islands of Huron shale are capable of supplying hydraulie lime, though it is at present entirely undeveloped. Beds of clay exist in every township, suitable for brick, tile, and coarser pottery, and are now worked to some extent. In 1876, eleven tile works were reported whose combined product for the year reached to about 100,000 rods of drain tile of various sizes, and with a demand that was equal to the supply. Un- derlying the marsh, at the head of Rush Creek Lake, is an immense deposit of white shell marl, that would be of great value to the poorer lands of the hills, and doubtless simi- lar beds exist in other parts of the county. The vast beds of gravel scattered over most of the townships furnish an inexhaustible sup- ply for the construction of the admirable pikes which are found everywhere throughout the county. The chief source of wealth in Logan County, however, is its rich and varied soil, which, in common with the whole valley of the Miami, has acquired a widespread reputa- tion for its luxuriant production. The soil is almost wholly derived from the drift-gravel and clays. Although much of it is at first wet and heavy, it proves, under proper drainage and tillage, rich and generous in its yield. In the valleys of the Miami and Mad Rivers, oaks and hickories prevail, but on the higher lands sugar-maples take their place, mixed with, and, on the flat clay lands, overpowered and driven out by, the beeeh. Tulip, or, as it is often called, poplar or white wood, elmn, ash,

sycamore, basswood, dogwood, sassafras, and other trees are found in large numbers, but oaks and hickories, sugar and beech largely prevail and give character to the forests. At no time of the year is this so apparent as in the early spring, when, in passing from an oak region to a maple one, as in going from West Liberty to Zanesfield, points of view may be chosen so that the landscape on one side will appear bleak and bare as midwinter, while on the other, the hills are clothed with the ver- dure of June, and the dividing lines will be as sharp and well defined as if the woods had been laid out and planted by the art of the landscape gardener.

The settlers found here a heavily tim- bered country, with here and there little patches of prairie that bore a heavy growth of rank grass. These open spots were probably the site of sunken lakes, some of them showing unmistakable signs of the watery foundation beneath them. The whole country, notwithstanding its high elevation, was wet and swampy. To erect here a home and render the land subject to an annual tribute for the maintenance of the family, taxed the powers of the pioneers to their ut- most. It was an even-handed struggle for subsistence, and anything accomplished might safely be set down as an improvement. This was practically true for the first fifteen years in the history of a settlement. An average of from three to five years were consumed be- fore the frontier farm could be relied upon to furnish a support, and in the meanwhile the fare furnished by the abundance of game and wild fruits was eked out by economical pur- chases of corn from the older settlements. After erecting a cabin with the aid of hospit- able neighbors, from five to ten acres were felled and " chopped over." After this come the universal bee for rolling, and then the burning. The latter required close atten- tion, and it was no unusual thing for the

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HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.

pioneer to continue his labors far into the night -the husband chopping by the light of the blaze and the wife tending the fires. The great advantage seemed to be in getting ready for the rolling bee as early as possible, for when the season onee set in there was a constant demand for the services of the pioneer in the fields of his neighbors for upwards of three months. It was no unusual thing for a neigh- borhood to be engaged every working day for six weeks in " rolling bees " without any in- termission. Many were thus called upon when they could least afford the time, but from the necessities of the situation there was no re- fusal possible, and large as this demand ap- pears, it will not be considered exorbitant when it is remembered that the neighborhoods covered an area of from ten to fifteen miles square. At this day the reckless destruc- tion of timber in that early period seemed wasteful in the extreme, and the tendency, under the circumstances which surrounded the pioneer, was to underrate the value of timber, and to carry the work of clearing to the very verge of denuding the land of this important aid to agriculture. This tendency has not been so marked in Logan County as in some of the northern and northeastern counties of the State. In some parts of this county, owing to the low, swampy character of the land, the original forests have not yet been disturbed and each year considerable timber is cut off for the purpose of clearing the land. Wood is still the principal article in use for fuel in the country districts. In the older portions of the county the scarcity of timber is beginning to attract attention and less of it is sacrificed to supply the villages with fuel. Here coal is beginning to be pretty generally used, partly ou urcount of its con- venience and partly on account of the cost.

The prevailing system of agriculture in Lo- gan County may properly be called that of mixed husbandry. Specialties find httle favor

among the farmers. The practice is to culti- vate the various kinds of grain and grasses, and to raise, keep and fatten stock, the latter business engaging, however, hardly more than a tenth of the farmers. Writing as carly as 1840, of the agriculture of Logan County and the rest of the Miami Valley, Dr. Drake says : " The agriculture of this, as of other new coun- tries, is not of the best. Too much reliance is placed on the extent and fertility of their fields, by the farmers, who in general, consid- er these a substitute for good tillage. They frequently plant double the quantity they can properly cultivate, and thus impoverish their lands, and suffer them to become infested with briars and noxious weeds. The kind of cer- eals generally cultivated are Indian corn, wheat, rye, oats, and barley. The first is found on every plantation, but flourishes best in a calcareous soil, where, with good culture, it will yield from sixty to one hundred bushels per aere. Wheat is raised almost as generally as Indian eorn, and is perhaps better adapted to the soil of most parts of the Miami country. Twenty-two bushels may be stated as the average produce per aere, though it sometimes amounts to forty. Its medium weight is sixty pounds per bushel. The bearded wheat with reddish chaff seems latterly to be pre- ferred, as least liable to injury from the wee- vil and Hessian fly. Before the settlement of this country, the woods abounded in grass and herbage, proper for the subsistence of cattle, but these have long since disappeared, ex- cept in the remote situations. In the prairies, however, when the whole energy of the soil is employed in producing grasses and herbaec- ous plants instead of trees, the pasture is still luxuriant, and the business of grazing ex- tremely profitable. It is chiefly in Champaign and Greene Counties that this remark is true. In the former $100,000, it is estimated, are annually received for fat cattle. The prairies are likewise found to support hogs, which

JJJ

WARMUN.

LOGAN COUNTY COURT HOUSE.

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HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.

grow and fatten on the numerous fleshy roots with which those tracts abound. Sheep, both domestic and foreign, are already diffused ex- tensively through the Miami country. They are in general healthy, and rather prone to excessive fatness. Their flesh is said to be superior in flavor to that of the sheep of the Atlantic States." The criticisms of Dr. Drake upon the agriculture of 1820, are not entirely out of place to-day. Provided with a rich and varied soil, the average farmer has not felt the need of studying the principles of such branches of learning as relates to agriculture, and frequently hesitated to receive or reject the teachings of science. A few persons, how- ever, were found at a comparatively early day, who brought to the business of farming that amount of patient investigation which the greatest interest of this country demands. Farmers are becoming more and more solicit- ous to learn from others, and the husbandry of the country has made a marked advance during the last sixty years, and is still rapidly improving in every respect.

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History of Logan County and Ohio, Part 28

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Battle, J. H; O.L. Baskin & Co Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago, O.L. Baskin Number of Pages: 798

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Battle, J. H; O.L. Baskin & Co
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, O.L. Baskin
Number of Pages: 798