History of Madison County Ohio: Its People, Industries and Institutions, Part 32

Author: Chester E. Bryan
Publication date: 1915
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1207

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In 1878, the Springfield Southern railroad was built through South Solon. This is the only town in Madison county which this line accommodates. The road was later leased by the Dayton, Toledo & Ironton Railroad Company and is at present a part of that system. This road accommodates the southern part of the county with east and west shipping. Springfield and the coal fields of the southeastern Ohio are opened up to the people along this line.

BALTIMORE & OHIO RAILROAD.

The Baltimore & Ohio railroad passes through the southeast corner of the county. There is only one station of this line in Madison county, that being at Mt. Sterling.

OHIO ELECTRIC RAILROAD.

On March 8, 1901, the London city council granted permission to the Columbus, London & Springfield Railway Company, its successors and assigns, to construct, operate and maintain a line of street railway within said village and along the following route, to wit: Beginning on Lafayette street at the northeastern corporation line of said vil- Jage; thence to the intersection of Maple street; thence south on Maple to First; thence on First to Main; thence on Main to the northwest corporation line; thence westerly to Springfield.

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It being expressly provided in, said ordinance that if the village at any time should order the improvement of said streets, or any of them, by laying gravel, stone or other material thereon, or pave the same, or change the grade of the same, the said railway company, its successors and assigns, shall, at its own expense, in like manner improve such portion of said street or streets as is occupied by its tracks and two feet outside of the outer rails thereof, and then use a rail to be approved by the council of said village.

On March 9, 1901, the Columbus, London & Springfield Company duly accepted the provisions of said ordinance; immediately thereafter entered upon the work of con- structing the said railway, and continued to maintain and operate the same as an inter- urban and street railway until about January 1, 1905, when it became insolvent and was on February 28, 1906, sold to A. E. Locke, who on June 29, 1906, assigned and transferred the property to the Indiana, Columbus & Eastern Traction Company, which operated it until August 31, 1907, when it transferred, assigned and conveyed it by lease for nine hundred and ninety-nine years to the defendant, The Ohio Electric Railway Company, which still owns and operates it.

This is a branch line of the main road from Springfield to Columbus It branches off from Summerford on the west, entering London from the northwest side of town, and returns to the main line at Lafayette. Only the local cars pass through London, the limited cars using the direct route from Columbus to Springfield and passing through Jefferson, Lafayette and Summerford in Madison county. The cars to Columbus leave London hourly, twenty minutes after the hour, the first car going out at 6:20 a. m., and the last one at 12:20 a. m. The cars to Springfield leave on the half hour, the first at 6:30 a. m., and the last at 12:40 a. m.

GENERAL RAILWAY STATISTICS. .

The following statistics are taken from the last report of the district assessor com- piled in July, 1915: Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis-Cincinnati division- miles of main line, 19.05; second track, 19.05 miles; sidings, 8.17 miles. Value of all real estate, $7,850; value of right-of-way, $22,010; buildings, $16,860; second track. $200,030; sidings, $48,610; value of all other property, $1,345,820; total value, $1,641,180. Indianapolis division of the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis, 4:5 miles of main track ; 4.5 miles of second track ; . 93 miles of siding; value of all real estate used in operation, $370; value of right-of-way, $6,640; value of buildings, $850; value of second track, $47,250; value of sidings, $5,530; value of all other property, $317,910; total value, $378,550. Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis railroad-Columbus, Spring- field and Cincinnati division, 16.02 miles of main track in Madison county; 4.9 miles of sidings; value of real estate, $650; value of right-of-way, $14,620; value of buildings, $6,760; value of sidings, $20,830; value of all other property, $656,520; total value, $699,380. Delaware branch of the same line, .29 miles of track in Madison county; right-of-way valued at $200; all other property, $11,880, making a grand total of $12,080. Baltimore & Ohio railroad-Columbus and Cincinnati Midland division, 3.6 miles of main line; 1.125 miles of siding; real estate valued at $250; right-of-way, $2,740; buildings, $1,170; sidings, $6,750; value of all other property, $109,530; total, $120,440. Figures for the Toledo & Ohio Central Railroad in this county show, main line .6 miles; yards, .17 miles; sidings, .16 miles; real estate, $150; right-of-way, $330; buildings, $300; yard tracks, $1,080; sidings, $940; all other property, $29,530; total, $32,330. The Dayton, Toledo & Ironton Railroad has 3.85 miles of main line; 2.20 miles of branches; 1.25 miles of sidings; value of real estate, $70; value of right-of-way, $3,160; buildings, $900; sidings, $1,960; branch sidings, $140; value of all other property, $46,110; total, $52,240. This includes the Sedalia & Kingman branch, which alone is valued at $12,380.

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The main railroad depots in the county are valued as follows: Ohio Electric at London, valued at $3,000, a brick structure. thirty years old; Summerford depot, frame, $500; Deer Creek township depot, frame, $500; West Jefferson depot, frame, $1,000; Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis depot at London, $6,760; Baltimore & Ohio depot at Mt. Sterling, $1,000; Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis depot at London, $4,000.

TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANIES.

There are fourteen telephone and telegraph companies, with lines in Madison county. The Western Union Telegraph Company has 869.20 miles of wire, valued at $52,080; the Franklin County Telephone Company has 17.50 miles, $610; the Receivers Union Telephone Company, 956 miles, $57,020; the Ohio Postal Telegraph-Cable Company, 340.5 miles, $16,750; the Resaca Farmers Telephone Company, 210 miles, $5,680; the South Charleston Home Telephone Company, 14.5 miles, $4,730; the United States Telephone Company, 382 miles, $33,329; the Farmers (West Jefferson) Telephone Company, 136 miles, $5,456; the Washington Home Telephone Company, 212.2 miles, $5000; the Home Telephone Company (Plain City), 903.46 miles, $20,870; the London Home Telephone Company, 1,392.31 miles, $53,3 0; the Mechanicsburg Telephone Com- pany, 38 miles, $2,420; the Ohio Telegraph and Telephone Company, 782.88 miles, $78,220; the Mt. Sterling Telephone Company, 508 miles, $25,530.

GAS COMPANIES.

Madison county has within its limits the following natural gas companies which operate in the county : The Logan Natural Gas and Fuel Company, which operates in Pleasant, Range and Stokes townships, has property valued at $296,080; Miami Valley Gas and Fuel Company, in Pleasant, Range and Stokes townships, property valued at $85,670; Midway Gas Company, Pleasant, Range and Stokes townships and Midway corporation, $93,500; Central Gas Company, of Mt. Sterling, $30,490; Ohio Fuel and Supply Company, Deer Creek township, West Jefferson, Jefferson, Union and Paint townships and London corporation, $596,790.

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CHAPTER XXI. AGRICULTURE, GRANGES, ETC.

By reference to the topographical description of the county in another chapter, the reader will readily infer that, although covering a small area of territory compared with other counties, few counties possess finer agricultural advantages. In the earlier set- tlement of this section, ponds, marshes and swamps abounded where today are found fertile and well-cultivated fields. The low and flat places were avoided for the higher grounds, not only on account of the water, but for hygienic reasons. The proximity of a spring, also, had much to do with the location of a cabin; but in the selection of places for the erection of other buildings, convenience was the ordinary test. The corn- crib, made of rails or poles, and covered with prairie hay or clapboards, as convenience suggested, was as likely to be in close proximity to the front door as at the rear of the building, or near the stable. In the matter of stables and corncribs, very little improve- ment took place until long after material changes had been made in the dwellings, the want of consideration shown, not only in the general arrangement of these outbuildings, but of many things connected with the household work, which now are considered of prime importance, being today a cause for wonder. Agricultural implements were, at the first, necessarily rude, and the state of agriculture of a corresponding nature .. Even had such a thing been known, there was little need for "scientific" agriculture. The soil was new and productive, and it was a question simply of Home supply, while for many years the markets within reasonable distance scarcely repaid the labor of hauling. The methods and implements employed fully answered the purpose for which they were intended.

The first substantial inclosures were constructed of rails in the form still used, called the worm fence in a new country, with abundance of timber, the cheapest, most substantial and durable fence that may be built. After the sod was broken with oxen, the ground was mellow. The plow in common use was a long wooden one, somewhat after the shape of the plow now in use, with an iron sole and point and an iron cutter. The immigrant usually brought his plow with him, but many a settler did not own one until he made it, or had it made by some mechanic of the settlement. If the field was too full of stumps and roots, the mattock and the hoe were required to do good service before the field was planted in corn. The corn was dropped by hand-in which work the girls took part-and was covered and cultivated with the hoe. Many farmers in the later days continued to follow this same method, but the shovel hoe, drawn by a horse, soon began to be used, and gradually worked its way into use, to mark out the rows and crss-furrows for the "dropper," and to follow after to cover the seen. Finally the "double-shovel" plow drove the hand hoe from the corn field while the horse, with the changes in implements, superseded the ox. Invention has kept pace with the demand for better improved machinery, but, after the lapse of more than three quarters of a century, the science of corn raising is still far from perfect. Though great changes have been made in modes of planting and culture, as well as in the style of the imple- ments used, it is questionable whether larger corn crops are raised than were produced fifty years ago. The future will probably show material changes in the use, rather than in the form of the machinery, and the past ten years have made great changes in both respects. Today the use of machinery enters into every process, a machine being in use for cutting, husking and loading corn at the same time. Invention has come to

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the assistance of the farmer, as it has come to all other industries, and lifted from his life the drudgery of toil.

THE. WHEAT HARVEST.

. In the cultivation of wheat, greater changes have, perhaps, taken place than in the planting and gathering of corn. In pioneer days the land was plowed the same as for corn, and was harrowed with a wooden-tooth harrow, or smoothed by dragging over the ground a heavy brush, weighted down, if necessary, with a stick of timber. It was then sown broadcast, by hand, at the proportion of a bushel to a bushel and one-half per acre, and "harrowed in" with a brush. Though corn-meal was the main reliance for bread, and continued to be for many years, yet wheat was raised at an early day. .Occasionally a field was grown producing what was called "sick wheat," so named from its tendency to cause vomiting. Various devices were adopted to obviate this diff- culty, but none of any avail; but this class of grain was usually converted into whiskey. The cause of this poison in the wheat has never been definitely ascertained; whether it was on account of the malarial locality in which it was grown, the variety of wheat, or simply caused by the wheat getting wet and sprouting, is yet a matter of dispute. The grain has been described as differing little or none from the wheat now grown, except in the appearance of a red spot on the grain indicating a sprout; but whatever the cause, the taint has totally disappeared.

The wheat harvest ripened in the earlier part of July, and farmers expected to be pretty fairly in the field by the "Glorious Fourth." The implement. used for cutting the wheat was either the sickle or cradle, and, not infrequently, both in the same field. The sickle was at first the only implement; but soon the cradle came into common use, and finally superseded altogether the more primitive implement. The reaper followed in the course of time, and has now as effectually displaced the cradle as the latter did the sickle. Life on the farm necessarily compels the husbandman to be a "jack-of-all- trades," and there were many farmers over the country who not only could make a tub or a barrel, but the frame work and fingers for the cradle. Sometimes an ingenious backwoodsman made a business of repairing all classes of farm implements and manu- facturing new ones. When such a man lived in the neighborhood, he was usually well patronized.

There were few farmers who did not know how to swing the scythe and the cradle, and there was no more pleasant picture on the farm than a gang of workmen in the harvest. field, nor a more hilarious crowd. Three cradlers would cut about ten acres a day, and one binder was expected to keep up with each cradler. Barns for the storage of . the unthreshed grain are a comparatively modern invention, and, as soon as the shock was supposed to be sufficiently cured, it was hauled to some place on the farm convenient for threshing and feeding and was there stacked. Prior to the introduction of threshing-machines, the work was performed by flail, or tramping with horses, but generally the latter plan was adopted. The flail was used in stormy weather, on the sheltered floor, or when other farm work was not pressing, the threshing by tramping, commonly in clear weather on a level and well-tramped clay floor, or, in later days, if the space was sufficiently large, on the barn floor .. . When sufficiently tramped, the refuse straw was thrown into a stack, and the wheat cleaned by a fanning-mill, or, prior to the use of these mills, by letting it fall from a height of several feet, subject to the action of the wind. Other modes were also in vogue, with which the descendants of the pioneers are familiar.

MARKET AND LABOR CONDITIONS.

The next step was to get the wheat to market, but in the early days there was little surplus after the home demands were satisfied. This, howver, did not continue many

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years, as each year added to the number of producers, and, as early as 1890, the hauling of wheat and other products to distant markets was the general practice. The markets of Chillicothe, Columbus, Sandusky, Springfield, Dayton and Cincinnati were all patron- ized by the pioneers of Madison county, the custom being for several farmers to go in company. The roads were heavy and full of marshy places, and the frontiersman's skill with the ax, and ingenuity in "fixing up" a "breakdown" were always in regulai- l'on. When heavy loads were hauled, it was not unusual to take relays of horses, with provender, for the trip, the exchange of horses being made at about the half-way house on the road. Teamsters carried their own provisions, and camped out whenever night- fall came on, or, if the corn and hay taken for the trip had been consumed, to turn into the yard of one of the inns to be found along the line of all the great thoroughfares, "for man and beast." After the completion of the national road through this county, much of the hardest work on these trips disappeared, as heavy loads could be hauled with ease without constant fear of breakages and long delays caused by the terrible state of the muddy roads.

Laborers were abundant, and the farmer had little or no dimculty in supplying himself with "hands." either for the season or for an emergency. Almost everyone could swing the scythe or cradle, or perform any other work on the farm. The rule was. not only with the hired laborer. but with the farmer and his boys, to be at work with the early light. A day's work on the farm was the labor that might be performed between "sun and sun," and this was understood and accepted on the part of the em- ployer and employee, though it was usual to perform the chores after the return from the field. . The price of labor was fifty cents a day, which was also the wages of a harvest hand. A good farm hand could be hired at from eight dollars to ten dollars per month. There was no fixed price for produce or stock. Old settlers said that they sold whent as low as twenty-five cents per bushel, and stock at correspondingly low prices. In 1830, wheat hauled to Cincinnati brought thirty-seven and one-half cents per bushel ; a cow and calf twelve dollars, and a brood sow. five dollars. A load of flour, containing eight barrels, was exchanged at Cincinnati, in 1815, for two barrels of salt.

HOGS OF OTHER DAYS.

The swine of the early settler, compared with the hogs of today, would present as wide a contract as it is possible to conceive. Whatever the breed may have previously been called, running wild, as was customary, the special breed was soon lost in the mixed swine of the country. They were long and slim, long-snouted and long-legged, with an arched back, and bristles erect from the back of the head to the tall, alab- sided, active and healthy. The "sapling-splitter" and "razor-back," as he was called, was ever in the search of food, and quick to take alarm. He was capable of making a heavy hog, but required two years or more to mature, and until a short time before butchering or marketing, was suffered to run at large, subsisting mainly as a forager, and in the fall, fattening on the "mast." Yet this was the hog for a new country, whose nearest and best markets were in Cincinnati and Baltimore, to which places they were driven on foot. Persons then, as now, engaged in the purchase and driving of swine or cattle as a special occupation, and, by means of trustworthy agents, visited distant sections to buy up large droves. It was not uncommon to see a drove of hogs driven to a certain place to be weighed ere starting them on their long journey. As each porker was caught, it was thrust into a kind of leather receptacle, which was suspended to steel yards. As soon as the hog was fairly in the contrivance the whole was lifted from the ground, and thus, one by one the drove was weighed and a minute made of each. and with a pair of shears, a patch of bristles was cut from the hind-quarters, or some other mode of marking followed, as evidence of the fact that the hog had been

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weighed. Two or three days' drive made the hogs quiet enough to be driven along the highway without much trouble, moving forward at an average gait of from eight to ten miles a day. Whenever the animals were wilder than usual, they were enticed into a pen, there caught, and their eyelids "stitched," or this was done during the weigh- ing process. Thus blinded the hog seemed instinctively to keep the road, and, reaching their destination, a clip of the scissors or knife made all things right again.

Almost every farmer raised a few hogs for market, which were gathered up by drovers and dealers. The delivery of hogs began usually in September, and the busi- ness was carried on past the middle of winter. The price ranged at about one dollar and twenty-five cents per hundred pounds, though at times running up to three dollars and twenty-five cents or three dollars and fifty cents, with a fair margin after driving to Cincinnati or Baltimore. About 1840, the hog trade was brisk, and speculation ran high. Many men along about that time laid the foundations of subsequent fortunes, while doubtless others lost all in wild speculation. In no stock of the farm have greater changes been effected than in the hog. From the characteristics of this wild animal, long-legged, slab-sided, roach-backed, muscular, tall, long, active and fierce, it has been bred to be almost as square as a storebox, quiet as a sheep, taking on two hundred and fifty pounds of flesh in ten months. They are now ranked into distinctive breeds, which, as far as Madison county is concerned, has mainly narrowed to the Berkshire and Pcland-China, though other breeds are found here.

HORSES, CATTLE AND BHELP.

In horses, cattle and sheep, Madison county for many years has claimed a high grade. The first sheep were brought into the county by Joshua Ewing, in 1800, and since that time their numbers have gradually increased, until today this county contains thousands of the finest sheep in the state. The breeding of the thoroughbred horses began at a later day. Walter A. Dan and Maj. William A. Nell have done much toward the growth and development of thoroughbred horses in this portion of Ohio. It has not proven remunerative to these individuals, but nevertheless Madison county derived great benefit from their enterprise, as it raised the grade of her horses to a 'high standard. This county being the center of the bluegrass region of Ohio, it. necessarily follows that nature intended it for a great cattle mart, and as such it is recognized throughout the world of trade. The great monthly cattle sales held in London since 1856, as well as the thoroughbred Shorthorns imported from Europe at an earlier day has made the name of "Old Madison" famous. There is no county of this great state where the buying and selling of stock has proved such a grand success as here in the little county of Madison. Her sale days are the great events in the lives of stock men for miles in every direction. Over her broad acres, covered with the succulent blue- grass, roam vast herds of sleek, well-fed cattle, which are ever in demand at the high- est market prices.

THE MADISON COUNTY STOCK IMPORTING ' COMPANY.

The Scioto valley having been settled by many Kentucky and Virginia families, cattle-growing became the leading form of agriculture; hence, as early as 1832, there was formed the Scioto Stock Importing Company, which imported some of the best strains of Shorthorn cattle to be found in the valley at the present day. In the fall of 1852, a meeting was held in London by some leading stockmen, to consider the project of importing thoroughbred stock from Europe. An organization was effected on Janu- ary 1, 1853, and the association was named the Madison County Stock Importing Com- pany. A constitution for the government of the company was adopted, and the follow- ing officers were elected : Jesse Watson, president; Major Richard Cowling, vice-presi-

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dent; Jacob Chrisman, treasurer; J. T. Lacy, secretary; James Fullington, Joseph Chrisman, William H. Creighton and Robert Reed, directora.

The company was organized in shares of one hundred dollars; about ten thousand dollars being the capital stock. Jonathan Farrar and Charles Phellis, of Madison county, and Benjamin Browning, of Clark, were appointed as the purchase commit- tee, and sailed for England in the spring of 1853. The stock came in a mailing vessel, and arrived in very fine condition. The whole lot was kept for some time at the Brown farm, east of London, and was sold on September 27, 1853, which was the day preced- ing the opening of the first fair held by the Madison County Agricultural Society. The following is an exact copy of the report of that sale:

BULLS.

Thornberry-F. W. & H. Renick, Pickaway county 875

Sheffelder-J. W. Robinson, Madison county 1,800

Mario-Robert Reed, Madison county 1,500

Marquis-James Fullington, Union county 8,000

Starlight-Charles Phellis, Madison county 8,000

Beau Clerc-D. M. Creighton, Madison county 750

Symmetry-W. A. Dun, Madison county 1,150

Farmer's Boy-Joseph Rayburn, Madison county 925

Prince Albert-J. F. Chenoweth, Madison county 300

Colonel-W. A. Dun, Madison county 1,850

Sportsman-James Foster, Madison county 700

Prince Edward-M. B. Wright, Fayette county

475

Rocket-David Watson, Union County

Splendor-F. A. Yocum, Madison county 500

Duke of Liverpool-George B. McDonald, Madison county

555

$17,865

OOWS.

Victoria-J. Q. Minshall, Madison county 3 .000

Picotee Jesse Watson, Madison county 1,275

Stapleton Lass Jesse Watson, Madison county 1,350

Princess and Calf-William Watson, Clark county 000

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History of Madison County Ohio: Its People, Industries and Institutions, Part 32

Author: Chester E. Bryan Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1207

Author: Chester E. Bryan
Publication date: 1915
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1207