History of Madison County, Ohio : its people, industries and institution with biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the old families, Part 5

Author: Bryan, Chester Edwin
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : Bowen
Number of Pages: 1150

USA > Ohio > Madison County > History of Madison County, Ohio : its people, industries and institution with biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the old families > Part 5

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In primitive times the geographical position, extent and surface diversities were but ieagerly comprehended. In truth, it may be asserted they could not have been more at variance with actual facts had they been laid out "haphazard." The Ordinance of 1787 represented Lake Michigan far north of its real position, and even as late as 1812 it's size and location had not been definitely ascertained. During that year Amos Spafford addressed a clear, comprehensive letter to the governor of Ohio relative to the boundary lines between Michigan and Ohio. Several lines of survey were laid ont as the first course, but either Michigan or Ohio expressed disapproval in every case. This dispute came to a climax in 1835, when the party beginning a "permanent" survey began at the northwest corner of the state and was attacked by a force of Michigan settlers, who sent them away badly routed and beaten. No effort was made to return to the work until the state and varions parties had weighed the subject, and finally the interposition of the government because necessary. A settlement resulted in the establishment of the present boundary line between the two states, Michigan being pacified with the grant of a large tract in the northern peninsula.

Ohio is situated between the 38° 25' and 42º north latitude, and SOº 30' and 84º 50' west longitude from Greenwich. or 3º 30' and 7º 50' west from Washington. From north to south it extends over two hundred and ten miles, and from east to west two hundred and twenty miles -- comprising thirty-nine thousand nine hundred and sixty-four square miles.

The state is generally higher than the Ohio river. In the southern counties the surface is greatly diversified by the inequalities produced by the excavating power of the Ohio river and its tributaries. The greater portion of the state was originally covered with timber, although in the central and northwestern sections some prairies were fonnd. The crest, or watershed. between the waters of Lake Erie and those of the Ohio is less elevated than in New York of Pennsylvania. Sailing upon the Ohio the country appears to be mountainous, bluffs rising to the height of two hundred and fifty to six hundred feet above the bed of the river. Ascending the tributarios of the Ohio. these precipitous hills gradually lessen until they are resolved into gentle undulations and toward the sources of these streams the land becomes low and level.

Although Ohio has no inland lakes of importance. it possesses a favorable river system, which gives the state a convenient water transportation. The lake on the northern boundary, and the Ohio river on the south afford convenient outlets by water to important points. The means of communication and transportation are superior in every respect, and are constantly being increased by railroad and electric lines.

CHAPTER II.

TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY.

Madison county is bounded on the north by Union, on the east by Franklin and Pickaway. on the south by Fayette, and on the west by Greeue, Clark and Champaign counties. It is divided into fourteeu towuships, six of which were erected on April 30, 1810, viz., Darby. Jefferson, Deercreek, Union, Pleasant and Stokes. They embraced all of Madison county as well as a portion of what is now Union and Clark counties. In the course of time, other townships became a necessity, and were erected in the fol- lowing order: Range, December 7, 1812; Pike, September 5, 1814; Monroe, Marchi 16, 1819: Phelps, which title was subsequently changed to Canaan, June 7, 1819; Fairfield, Juue 2, 1835; Somerford, March 4, 1839; Paint. June 7, 1853, and Oak Run, March 5, 1856. The county contaius an area of four hundred and seventy square miles, and is divided into four principal watersheds by Big Darby, Little Darby, Deer creek and Paiut creek. The headwaters of Big Darby creek are located in the northeast part of Champaign county and southeast portion of Logan. Taking a southeast direction across Union county, it enters Madison at Plaiu City; passiug thence through Darby and Cauaan townships, it forms the boundary line between Madisou aud Frankliu counties along the greater portion of Canaan and Jefferson townships; leaving the latter at its southeast corner. it passes on through Franklin and Pickaway counties and empties into the Scioto river near Circleville. Little Darby creek rises in the northeastern part of Champaign county and southwestern part of Union; flowing thence in a southeasterly direction throughout Pike, Monroe and Jefferson townships, leaving the latter sub- division near its southeast corner and formiug a junction with Big Darby at Georges- ville, iu Frauklin county. The fountainhead of Deer creek is, we might say, in Somer- ford township, although it exteuds across the line into Clark county. Taking a south- eastern course, it drains the townships of Somerford, Deercreek, Union, Oak Run, Fair- field aud Pleasaut ; thence, passing through the counties of Fayette and Pickaway, empties into the Scioto in the northern part of Ross county. Paint creek, which drains the southwesteru portion of Madison county, takes its rise in the southeast part of Clark. Meandering in its southern course through Paint and Stokes townships, it flows ou through Fayette, Highland and Ross counties, discharging its waters in the Scioto river below Chillicothe. Big Darby creek was called after a Wyandot chief named Darby, who dwelt upon its banks, and the smaller stream of that name derives its title from the same source. Deer creek traces the origin of its name back to the time when the Indians camped upon its banks and the white race had uot yet disturbed their free- dom or encroached upon their domains. Upon the bauks of Deer creek grew a moss which was a favorite food of the deer, and here they came in herds to feed upon this succulent growth of provident nature, only to meet death from the arrow or the uner- ring rifle of the red man. After the coming of the whites the deer still frequented this stream and the Indian name was retained. Paiut creek was named by Nathaniel Mas- sie, on account of certain clay which the Indians found along its banks or in its bed and used in painting or bedaubing their bodies.

Beginning in the northern portion of the county, the main streams are fed by many tributaries throughout their entire course, principal among which are Spring fork, Bar- ron run, Sweeueys run, Mammoth run, Three Mile run, Georges creek, Oak ruu, Glade

MADISON COUNTY, OHIO.

run. Crooked run, Coniac run, Prices run. Walnut run, Opossum run. Sugar run, Brad- fords fork. Thompsons fork. Mud run, Willow Spring branch, East, West and North forks of Paint creek and Duffs fork. In the southwestern corner of the county the south branch of Massie's creek, a tributary of the Little Miami, assists the drainage in that direction, but as nearly all these tributaries are local, the reader is referred to the histories of the different townships, where a fuller description of them will be found.

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.

In 1878, Prof. Edward Ortou, assistant state geologist. made a geological survey of Madison county, and in that article gives the following description of its topography. He says: "Its surface is comparatively level. Its lowest land is found in the south- eastern corner, near Monnt Sterling, in the valley of Deer creek. Its highest land lies to the west and northwest of London, and is about 1.100 feet above the level of the sea. The range of the county does not probably exceed 300 feet. The altitude of a few of the principal points in the county are subjoined : London, 1,010 feet above tidewater; West Jefferson, SSO feet: Mount Sterling. 865 feet; Midway, 950 feet ; county infirmary. 1.100 feet ; county line on Xenia pike, west of London, 1,100 feet, and Ohlinger's hill, west of Summerford. 1.100 feet above the water. Of these altitudes, all but the first were obtained by the barometer, and must be taken as approximations only. They suť- fice to show, however, the very great degree of uniformity that prevails in the surface of the county. A very large part of its area lies at altitudes varying between 950 feet and 1,050 feet above the sea. Notwithstanding this uniformity of level. there is but very little swamp land in Madison county. The slopes, though very gradual, are so distributed that the water always finds the way to go, Between those sources of Little Darby creek that lie within the county and the point where the creek crosses the county line. there is a fall of scarcely less than two hundred feet. The distance is about fifteen miles and the average descent is between thirteen and fourteen feet to the mile. Deer creek descends from its headsprings near Summerford, three hundred feet. in its diagonal course of twenty miles across the county-an average fall of fifteen feet to the mile. The surface of the county, however, has been greatly relieved by drains and ditches and is susceptible of almost indefinite improvement by such agencies. None of the streams have deep valleys. but the surface lies in gentle undulations between the channels of contiguous watercourses. In the northeastern corner of the county the low summit that divides the waters of Little Darby from that of Big Darby extends in the broad and productive tract known as the Darby Plains, one of the most famous grazing districts of the state."

DESTRUCTIVE PRAIRIE FIRES.

It is a well-authenticated fact that a great portion of Madison county was originally covered with water most of the year. The first settlers called these lands "barrens" and looked upon them as utterly unfit for farming purposes. The pioneers located upon the streams, where the lands were elevated and dry, and the best of timber grew in abundance. Land speculators cared little for the prairie lands; therefore all the first warrants were laid upon the territory adjacent to the streams. The prairies consisted of level stretches of country covered with sedge-grass, and dotted here and there with patches of scrubby bur-oak growing upon the highest points of land. The sedge-grass grew to an enormous height. sometimes sufficient to hide man and horse when traveling through it; but it proved a blessing to the first settlers, being very nutritious food for stock, which had extensive ranges where now stand some of the finest producing farms in Madison county. The pioneers would cut this grass in June and July, and upon it the stock were fed throughout the winter months. Nearly every autumn prairie fires swept over the country, destroying everything in their path, endangering the lives and

MADISON COUNTY, OHIO.

property of the pioneers, as well as the existence of the denizens of the forest that fled before the devouring elements to places of safety; but with the gradual settlement of the country these fires grew less frequent, until at last they became a thing of the past. We have been told that the timber on the east bank of the streams was always the largest, as these fires generally ran from west to east, and, being checked by the intervening waterways, the trees on the east bank were generally spared the wither- ing destruction that befell those upon the opposite side of the stream. The growth of the bur-oak on the prairies was impeded by these periodical fires, and the greater amount of the present timber of Madison county has grown up since the first settle- ment of the country. There was then little or no spice-brush growing on the flat prairie lands. as the seed scattered by the wind and carried by the birds was destroyed by the fires ere it took root in the soil. Dr. Converse says: "It was majestically grand to see these prairies on fire, fifty years ago. The blaze of the burning grass scemed to reach the very clouds; or. when driven by a fierce wind, would leap forty or fifty feet in advance of the base of the fire. Then add to all this a line of devouring element three miles in length, mounting upward and leaping madly forward with lapping tongue, as if it were trying to devour the very earth. and you have a faint idea of some of the scenes that were witnessed by the early settlers of this country. In order to save the dwellings, fences, hay stacks and other property from these devastating raids, it was necessary to resort to what was called 'back firing.' which was done by selecting a still day, or evening, and burning a strip of grass twenty or thirty feet wide around the entire premises."

LUXURIANT FLORA OF OTHER DAYS.

The same writer, in speaking of the physical appearance of the county during the pioneer times, says: "This whole country was a sea of wild grass and flowering herbs. Upon the lower portions of the prairies grew a kind of grass that came up in single stalks, very thick on the ground. with a large. round straw, very tough, long, broad blades, and on top a head somewhat resembling barley. This species grew from six to eight feet in height, but was of no value for grazing purposes, except when it first came up in the spring. There were two other varieties that grew upon the more ele- vated portions of the prairie, the 'limber-will' and 'sedge-grass.' The former of these came up in single stalks, very thick on the ground, with long, drooping blades and slightly sickle-edged. The latter variety grew in bunches, or tufts, very compact, with fine blades, and center stalks very tall, smooth and round, like rye. These latter varie- ties were very nutritious, not only in a green state, but equally so when cut and made into hay. There were some other varieties, but not of sufficient importance to attract attention. It would be almost impossible to give a full and accurate description of the flowering portion of its vegetation, but I will allude to a few, among which was the 'prairie dock,' with large, brittle roots, long, broad leaves, and every alternate year large center stalks. It grew to a height of six or eight feet, and very branching near the top, upon each of which was a beautiful yellow blossom. When the stalks were cut near the ground. or the leaves punctured, a thick, gummy exudation took place. which soon became semi-solid, and was gathered by the young people for 'chewing gum, it being far superior to the manufactured article of the present day. The wild sun- flower was a kind of weed that grew with large, strong stalks, very high, with numer- ous branches, having a yellow blossom on each about three inches in diameter, and drooping like the cultivated species. All of the ponds were surrounded with the wild 'blue flag,' and on the top of each center stalk was a large blue blossom, very pretty in appearance, but its odor was of an offensive and sickening character. There were many other varieties that grew upon the prairies besides those that were found skirt- ing, and in the oak-openings, such as the daisies, buttercups, wild pink, coxcomb, lilies

MADISON COUNTY, OHIO.

and many others equally beautiful. It was, indeed, a grand sight to a nature-loving mind to look over these extensive prairie fields and behold them mantled with so luxu- riant a growth of vegetation, and decorated so lavishly with an almost endless variety of flowers, variegated with all the colors of the rainbow, and so blended in beauty that the inmost sont would almost involuntarily praise God for the grandeur of His omnipo- tent wisdom and power; but to that class of persons who cannot appreciate any loveli- ness or beauty in the works of nature, it might appear as a Godforsaken wilderness, and not intended as a home for civilized humanity."

EARLY NEED OF DRAINAGE.

. The only portion of Madison county that was entirely covered with timber is Somer- ford township, no prairie land lying within that subdivision. Along the stream the tim- ber is principally white and black oak. beech, hickory, ash, maple and elm, interspersed with basswood, sycamore, white elm and walnut. The lands contiguous to the streams are generally rolling or hilly, and in many places broken, with here and there rich bot- toms, which are much prized by the agriculturist. There is very little diversity in the topographical appearance of the county, the prairies and timbered lands being about the same in every portion thereof. For a more minute description of the several localities the reader is referred to the township histories in this volume. in each of which will be found a topographical outline of the same.

As the county began to be settled more thickly. it became evident that if the pioneers intended to remain they would be compelled to drain the prairies and wet lands. which they soon recognized as a necessity, and ditches began to appear in different portions of this county. In the course of time the Legislature passed drainage laws, which, together with private enterprise. soon changed the face of the country by gradually draining these wet lands, until today they are among the most valuable in the county, yet the work goes steadily forward fostered and encouraged by the state. This one enactment, with its subsequent amendments. has done more toward the development of the agricultural wealth of Madison county than all other laws combined. During the first years of pioneer life there was a vast amount of malarial sickness, which retarded the general progress of the settlement. but the prospective advantages of the country, with its rich soil. fine stock ranges and abundance of all classes of game, sus- tained the spirit of the wavering settlers and reanimated them with a firm resolution to make this their future home. So they remained and erected their cabins beside the beautiful streams that traversed the surface of the county : here their children were born, lived and died. blessing the foresiglit and enterprise of these sturdy pioneers who did so inuch for the coming generations.

GEOLOGICAL SURVEYS.

The history of geology in Madison county was compiled a few years ago by Prof. Edward Orton, under the supervision of the state, and as the survey made by him is official, we cannot do better than to give a verbatim copy of his report. He says : "The geological scale of the county is very much contracted. But two formations beside the drift occur here, viz., the Helderberg and the Corniferons limestones. There are in the county two exposures of the former and but a single one of the latter. The Helderberg limestone (water lime) has been quarried in small amounts for many years on the farm of Asa Hunt, Pike township (Survey 6965). A branch of the Spring fork of Little Darby, known as Barron run, has cut its bed down to the limestone for a number of rods, and the stone is raised from the quarry at such times as the water is lowest. It has been used for lime and also for building stone. The first purpose it is very well adapted to; the second, it answers but indifferently well, as the stone is thin and shelly. It holds its characteristic fossils, which, however, are not necessary for its

MADISON COUNTY, OHIO.

identification, as the lithological characters are too plain to be mistaken. The second exposure of this limestone is much more considerable. It occurs on the Stoner farm in Jefferson township, two miles south of the village of West Jefferson. A section of fifteen feet of this formation is shown in the banks of Little Darby, very near the point where the stream leaves the county. The ledge is resorted to for the same purposes as the exposures first mentioned, viz., for lime and building stone. The same remarks as to quality will apply in this case as before. The lime has an excellent reputation, being much milder than the Columbus lime.

TIIE STATE-QUARRY LIMESTONE.

"The principal interest of this locality, however, lies in the fact that it furnishes the junction of the Silurian and Devonian formations. A few rods from the exposure of the Helderberg limestone just mentioned, ten feet of another formation comes in, which it is easy to identify by all tests as the Corniferous limestone, known in this por- tion of the state as the Columbus or State-quarry limestone. The beds furnish quite serviceable building stone, and are brought into neighborhood use. On the opposite side of the creek, and a mile or two farther down, there is a still more extended sec- tion of the same elements. It is found on the farm of the Roberts Brothers. It does not deserve to be called a new exposure, as the outerop of the rock is scarcely inter- rupted from one point to the other.

"A somewhat anomalous fact meets us in this section. There is interpolated in the Corniferous series a few inches of a very pure, saccarhoidal sandstone. The occur- rence of such a deposit at about this point in the scale is not, however, named here for the first time. Rev. H. Herzer reported several years since a similar deposit in the Corniferous at West Liberty, Logan county, and Mr. Franklin. C. Hill, in his report for the survey on this county, shows that sandstone holds the same relation there that it has in Madison county. It is not found at the base of the Corniferous series in either instance, but it occurs in thin beds distributed through five or more feet of the limestone at an elevation of about fifteen feet above the base of the series. It is under- laid by undoubted beds of Corniferous limestone and cannot, therefore, in these instances, be considered as the southward extension of the Oriskany sandstone. It is rather the. counterpart of the Hillsboro sandstone, which, in like manner, is interjected into the Niagara series-in the southern part of the state. These two aberrant sandstones fur- thermore agree very closely in lithological character. The sand from the Roberts quar- ries has long been known throughout the adjacent country and has even found its way as far as Columbus. Whenever plastering of unusual excellence is attempted in this vicinity, recourse is had to this deposit. The sandstone is nowhere more than six inches in thickness and it lies between ledges of rock so heavy that it cannot be profitably obtained except when the quarry is worked for other purposes. Its interest, in other words. is geological rather than economical.

"These are the only known localities in Madison county in which the bedded rock is exposed to view. On the extreme eastern edge of the county, in Jefferson township, it has been ascertained in the driving of wells that the rock lies about forty feet below the surface. There are a few 'other points in the county in which the underlying rocky floor has been, in like manner, reached. but these cases are of very rare occurrence. Borings of fifty or even sixty feet are often made which do not exhaust the drift beds. There is no region of the state in which the basement rock makes a more insignificant show or exerts less influence upon the present surface of the country. Even the details of the topography are seen to depend very largely on the modification of the drift sur- faces, and these details can, in many cases, be very well explained without any recourse to the underlying beds. All of the questions which concern the county, whether relat-

MADISON COUNTY, OHIO.

ing to its topography, its soil, or its water supply, connect themselves with the origin and history of the deep drift-deposits, by which its entire surface is now covered.

DRIFT AND SON.S.

"The subject of the drift has been taken up so many times, and from so many points of view in the reports of the survey already published, that it is unnecessary here to treat of it from a general or theoretical point of view. The deposits of the drift in Madison county fall under the ordinary heads. The lowest and oldest of these deposits is a heavy bed of boulder clay, which covers the face of the country univer- sally. It is a tough, waxy, dark-blue clay, in which scratched and striated pebbles and boulders are abundantly distributed and occasionally seams of sand and gravel. vary- ing in thickness from one inch to two feet are found. but without regularity or con- stancy. This member of the drift series exceeds the rest very largely in volume and also in the importance of its offices. As has been before stated, borings of sixty feet are sometimes made without exhausting the boulder clay. These facts seem to indicate that the average thickness of this member of the series is not less, certainly. than sixty feet.

"In considerable areas of the county, the boulder clay forms the present surface, or rather the boulder clay as modified by the action of the atmosphere and of vegetable growth. and other organic agencies upon it. These areas constitute the coldest and most untractable lands of the county. The soil formed from their weathered surfaces is a black clay, one foot or a foot and a half in thickness. The action of the atmos- phere is shown to have reached below the surface in the conversion of one or two additional feet of the blue clay into yellow clay. These weather deposits pass by insen- sible gradations into the underlying deposit. The lands of this description are less varied in the natural forest growth than the other lands of the county. They are sus- ceptible, however, of considerable amelioration by underdraining. and possess all the elements necessary for long continued productiveness.

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History of Madison County, Ohio : its people, industries and institution with biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the old families, Part 5

Author: Bryan, Chester Edwin Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : Bowen Number of Pages: 1150

Author: Bryan, Chester Edwin
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : Bowen
Number of Pages: 1150