USA > Ohio > History of Ohio; from the glacial period to the present time > Part 4
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Along the shores of the ocean were exposed headlands from which the older coal formations protruded. Here the waves pounded up beds of sandstone, shale and coal. The sands were de- posited along the seashore. The finer and lighter materials were floated away to a quiet retreat in bays and inlets. In a later age, this deposit of coal and clay and particles of decayed wood, became beds of cannel coal.
The land continued to oscillate as long as the atmosphere remained impure. Time after
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time, the forest resumed its work, and bed after bed of peat was stored away beneath ocean sedi- ments to await the end. When the work had been accomplished, the forces which had endured the enormous strain that had been accumulat- ing under the prolonged contraction of the in- terior, yielded with a collapse which shook the entire hemisphere. Massive folds of the huge crust uprose far above the clouds. This was the birth of the Appalachian mountains, and the end of the long Paleozoic Age. Only the bases of those folds remain to-day; but they stand as monuments to the age whose death prepared the world for man and civilization.
Chapter V
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GAS AND PETROLEUM
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C ONTRARY to a general belief, petroleum and natural gas are widely distributed. The drill can scarcely descend for even a few hundred feet in any part of Ohio without giving evidence of the presence of one or both of them. In the three predominant series of rocks, viz. : sandstone, shale and limestone, petroleum is found in varying quantities. The Ohio shale throughout, is petroliferous, and while the per- cent is small, the aggregate is very large. Prof. Lord, of the State Survey, found but two-tenths of one per cent. of petroleum present in this shale, but some was lost in the process employed.
Estimating the petroleum at two-tenths of one per cent., the amount contained in each square mile of the Ohio shale is three million one hundred and twenty thousand barrels; a larger amount than was ever obtained from any square mile in the Pennsylvania fields. The Lower Hel- derberg limestone contains approximately, the same amount. While all pervious rocks con- tain traces of petroleum, sandstones seem best adapted for its subterranean reservoirs.
We will now give some of the scientific facts 6
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governing the formation and accumulation of petroleum :
First. Oil is produced by a chemical change, or a spontaneous disintegration of the substances which formed a part of the oceanic deposits.
Second. Being composed of carbon, hydro- gen and oxygen, it must be of organic origin, either animal or vegetable.
Third. As it is lighter than water, it must rise through the water which saturates all rocks. Thus the origin of oil can in no case be at a higher level than where the oil is deposited.
Fourth. A "surface show" of oil is unfavor- able as it forebodes leakage; while the accumu- lation of oil is accomplished by an impervious strata above the reservoir, preventing the "sur- face show."
Fifth. Petroleum is contemporaneous with the rocks that contain it. It was formed about the time that those rocks were deposited.
Sixth. The situation of the creeks, hills or valleys has no bearing on the distribution of petroleum, hundreds of feet below.
Observation and experience have established the fact that the porous strata in which oil ac- cumulates must have an arched or anticlinal form. The anticline prevents the oil from spreading indefinitely, and causes local accumu- lations or "pockets." Where no anticline oc-
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curs, oil frequently flows along the strata until it reaches an outcrop where it is wasted.
It has been observed that all great oil reser- voirs have below them -- not always immediately below - a formation of black bituminous shale. This shale is a very soft substance containing much vegetable matter, supposed to be the re- mains of beds of seaweeds.
Perhaps a majority of geologists believe that petroleum is produced from these shales by chemical decomposition, or spontaneous disinte- gration. By means of artificial appliances, oil is readily obtained from them at the present time. While experience teaches that black shales are oil-producing, it also shows that pure vegetable deposits are non-productive; and while the coal deposits are non-productive, the cannel coal and coal shale are very productive.
Three things then, are all-important in the production and accumulation of petroleum. First and lowest, a petroliferous stratum, the source of the oil. Second and above it, a porous stratum containing an anticline, the reservoir. Third and just above the reservoir, an impervi- ous stratum, the cover of the reservoir.
Salt-water and gas are almost invariably as- sociated with oil. If the drill penetrates the highest portion of an oil reservoir, gas at first escapes, but when it is exhausted, oil may be
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produced, and when the oil is exhausted, water follows. If the drill enters below the surface of the oil, the reaction of the gas forces the oil to the surface and a "gusher" is the result. When the oil is lowered to the opening the gas escapes until the pressure is relieved. Then, if any oil remains, it may be pumped. If the drill enters the reservoir below the surface of the water, the gas pressure will force the water out, until the bottom of the oil is on a level with the opening, when the oil is in turn forced out until its surface is below the open- ing, when the gas finally escapes.
But two great oil fields are as yet developed in Ohio. One being in the eastern part of the state and the other in the northern portion. The former is no doubt a continuation of the Penn- sylvania fields, while the latter is not contigu- ous to any other known field.
The oil fields in and around Wood county are, perhaps, the most marked of any in the state. The development of this field was com- menced in 1886 and marvellous results, in both oil and gas, were soon obtained. In December of 1886, the first great gusher in this field was struck. Oil shot more than a hundred feet into the air, and flooded the surrounding country be- fore it could be confined. Its supply was a hun- dred barrels per hour. The next important well
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was the "Royce Gusher" which produced two hundred and forty barrels in fifty minutes. Many other valuable wells were soon drilled.
Local companies, in almost every part of the state, are prospecting for oil with various de- grees of success. In the autumn of 1903 a local company operating in the vicinity of Otsego, Muskingum county, discovered a supply of both oil and gas in paying quantities, though as yet, no vast reservoir has been found in that locality. So interse and exciting is the search for oil and gas, that the most secluded regions will soon be invaded and the deepest "pockets" and pools will be penetrated to add their might to the vast accumulations which are continuously being shipped to the great refineries or piped to the cities and towns to be used in making light and heat.
Natural gas is a complex mixture of hydro- carbons, differing materially from artificial gas. Gas, like oil, is formed from organic matter and is but one stage nearer an inorganic compound. It is principally the carbon, in another form, which nature so zealously guards. Carbon is retained in various forms. In coal it is a solid ; in petroleum a liquid and in gas, it is gaseous. The chemical composition of gas varies some in different localities, but it is usually about 70% carbon, the remaining 30% being principally hy-
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drogen and oxygen. Gas is always present in oil fields and has occasionally been found beyond the limits of any known oil territory.
Gas, as the source of "burning springs," has been known for more than a century, but not until the last half century has it been put to a practical use. During the great oil excitement from 1860 to 1870, many of the borings for oil reached only gas. In Knox county, in 1860, two wells were sunk for oil; in both, streams of salt- water were reached, and at about six hundred feet an immense gas reservoir was struck. The gas ejected the drill and much salt-water with great violence. The former of these wells was sunk in the winter season, and the water freez- ing on the derrick, formed a crystal tower sixty feet high. Through this tower the water was thrown, at intervals of about one minute, to a height of a hundred and twenty feet. An arti- ficial geyser, in which gas took the place of steam, was the result. The escaping gas was frequently ignited and the effect, especially at night, of this fountain of fire and water, shoot- ing up to an enormous height, through a great transparent and illuminated tower, is said to have been indescribably magnificent.
The development of manufacturing indus- tries, incident to the discovery of gas, is some- thing marvellous. It is well illustrated by the
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change produced at Findlay after the discovery of gas.
The people of Findlay saw indications of gas for half a century without suspecting the great reservoir underlying them. At last, through the efforts of a German physician, Dr. Osterlen, a stock company was organized, and drilling was commenced. The first well was a successful one, and when the gas gushed forth with a panting roar, and shot a column of flame sixty feet into the air, people were alarmed for a time.
The great Krag well at Findlay was com- pleted January 20, 1886, by a boring of one thou- sand one hundred and forty-four feet. The gas was conducted forty-eight feet above the sur- face, in a six-inch pipe, and when lighted the flame rose twenty or thirty feet above the pipe. With a short pipe, the flame ascended to the height of sixty feet. The gas leaves the well with a pressure of four hundred pounds to the square inch. The daily capacity at first was between fifteen and twenty million cubic feet. The sound of escaping gas, under extraordinary conditions, has been heard fifteen miles away, and on a dark night the light, reflected by the clouds, has been discerned for over fifty miles.
Prof. G. F. Wright who visited the well in February, 1886, wrote : "Although the snow had covered the ground to a depth of several inches,
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in every direction for a distance of two hundred yards, the heat of the flame had melted the snow, and the grass and weeds had grown two or three inches. The crickets also seemed to have mis- taken the season of the year, for they were en- livening the night with their cheerful song. The vicinity of the well seemed also a paradise for tramps who were lounging about in a most con- tented manner."
The daily amount of heat from this single well is said to equal the amount furnished by the burning of a thousand bushels of soft coal. Other wells were soon sunk, and in a short time, forty wells were pouring forth the sum total of one hundred million cubic feet of gas daily; an equal amount in heating capacity to five hun- dred thousand tons of coal.
With the fame of the Findlay gas fields, came manufacturing establishments giving employ- ment to hundreds of laborers. And from an un- known village, Findlay sprang in one year, to a city of fifteen thousand inhabitants. The sur- rounding farm lands were sold at enormous prices, and one agent is reported to have sold the same farm ten times.
Chapter VI
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GEN. GEORGE ROGERS CLARK.
From a likeness in Howe's Historical Collections of Ohio, Vol. I, page 386. Original portrait in Louisville, Ky.
Courtesy of Ohio Archeological and Historical Society.
THE PEOPLING OF OHIO
I N July, 1787, an ordinance was passed by Congress, providing a government for the Northwest Territory. This territory con- sisted of the land lying north of the Ohio river, east of the Mississippi river and west of the Alle- ghany mountains, and was inhabited only by the Indians. ยท
The ordinance provided that the United States should retain the right to appoint a gov- ernor, a secretary, and three judges for the ter- ritory. Accordingly, in the following October, Congress appointed General Arthur St. Clair, of Pennsylvania, governor; Winthrop Sargent, of Massachusetts, secretary ; and Samuel H. Par- sons, of Connecticut, James M. Varnum, of Rhode Island, and John C. Symms, also of Rhode Island, judges. In the following spring, when the streams were free from ice and the roads pas- sable, these men proceeded to the new country to establish a permanent government.
"FOR THE OHIO AT THE MUSKINGUM" was printed on the cover of a wagon bearing the van- guard of the Ohio Company colony. They pur- sued their way across Pennsylvania along the
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old Braddock road until they reached the Youg- hiogheny river which was found still frozen. Here a long delay was occasioned but in April the colony again advanced down the river in boats and canoes. After a perilous journey of more than a week the company landed at the mouth of the Muskingum and viewed for the first time the site of their new homes - an unbroken forest.
The work of clearing the land was at once begun, and more than a hundred acres of corn were planted. By fall, many huts had been built and a part of the country had been sur- veyed into town lots. The plan for the town had been made in Massachusetts and was strictly ad- hered to. Large parks and broad streets were numerous and to them were given Greek and Latin names in accordance with their classic plan. After a heated discussion the town was named in honor of the French queen, Marie An- toinette, and was finally shortened to Marietta. On July 26, 1788, by proclamation of Governor St. Clair, the surrounding country was formed into the "county" of Washington. Its original boundaries were as follows: Beginning on the bank of the Ohio river, where the western bound- ary of Pennsylvania crosses it, and running with that line to Lake Erie; thence along the shore of said lake to the mouth of the Cuya-
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THE PEOPLING OF OHIO.
hoga river; thence up the said river to the port- age between it and the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum; thence down this branch to the forks at the crossing place above Fort Laurens ; thence with a line to be drawn westerly to the portage of the branch of the Big Miami, on which the fort stood that was taken by the French in 1752, until it meets the road from the lower Shawnese town to the Sandusky; thence south to the Scioto river ; thence down that river to its mouth, and thence up the Ohio river to the place of beginning. This area comprised more than half of what is now the state of Ohio, and is at present supporting a population of over two millions.
Fascinating stories of this wonderful country soon found their way "back east," and started numerous parties of emigrants to the Ohio. Ow- ing to natural obstacles, such as swamps and mountains, the people found it most convenient to enter this country by way of the Ohio river. Thus, those from the New England states were joined by those from Virginia and the Carolinas. Soon settlements began to spring up along all the rivers, and in the year 1796 General Moses Cleaveland led a body of surveyors to the shore of Lake Erie, where a town was layed out and a settlement made bearing the General's name. The "Girdled Road" was soon constructed from
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Pennsylvania to Cleveland and a tide of emi- gration followed. The northern portion of the county was settled almost exclusively by New Englanders and Pennsylvanians.
A spirit of speculation soon took possession of the people. The Ohio Company, owning four millions of acres, sent an agent, Joel Barlow, the Revolutionary poet, to France, where he or- ganized the Society of the Siota, to which he sold three million acres of the land. Accord- ing to the contract, the Ohio Company was to erect houses, on the land opposite the mouth of the Great Kanawha, to accommodate at least one hundred persons.
Early in 1790 a band of workmen arrived from New England, cleared a patch of ground and erected a number of huts and blockhouses. Meanwhile six hundred French emigrants had landed at Alexandria, Virginia, but missed the agent who had been sent out to meet them. After securing guides and making a perilous passage over the mountains, they at last reached their settlement and named it Gallipolis. Vine- yards were soon planted and farming on a small scale was commenced. Soon after their arrival, letters were published in France, supposed to have been written by the French emigrants, de- scribing their enchanting surroundings and pros- perous condition. Advertising pamphlets were
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THE PEOPLING OF OHIO.
also issued and soon other French colonists be- gan to arrive. These colonists were all unfitted for frontier life. Some of the men were killed in cutting timber; others by eating poisonous fruits ; and still others by the Indians. Many, however, survived and the French names, so numerous in southern Ohio to-day, belong to the direct descendants of these colonists.
Under the protection of the United States, the peopling of this territory was so rapid that only fifteen years had elapsed until the eastern portion was ready for statehood. Accordingly, in 1802, the inhabitants of the eastern part peti- tioned Congress, and were granted an enabling act, authorizing the people to frame a state con- stitution. The constitutional convention was convened at Chillicothe, and their reports showed a thriving population of forty-five thou- sand inhabitants. The new constitution was duly framed and in 1803 was ratified by Con- gress. On March 1st, 1803, the first General Assembly of Ohio met at Chillicothe, and en- acted a number of laws, necessary for the new order of affairs. Eight new counties were cre- ated, and many public improvements were com- menced. Public roads were to be built with the income derived from the sale of public lands, and public schools were to be supported in a
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like manner; section 16 in each township being granted to the inhabitants for school purposes.
With the admission of Ohio to the Union, came a great increase in the tide of immigration. The same route was followed that had been es- tablished by the first settlers. The Virginians and Carolinians crossed the mountains and came up through Kentucky and Tennessee, while those from the north came through Pennsylvania and down the Ohio. Pittsburgh soon became a thriving city, and was known as the gateway to the west. Here could be found hundreds of families with their household goods, awaiting the completion of the boat which was to carry them down the river, or fondly hoping for rain which would enable them to float their completed rafts.
Ever present with these emigrants was the Yankee peddler, with his nasal twang and his eyes sparkling with the chance of gain. His wonderful ingenuity soon enabled him to sell large quantities of pit coal indigo, and wooden nutmegs, as well as tinware, Dutch ovens and wooden clocks, all of which, he proved, were ab- solute necessities in the new country.
The most common means of transportation on the Ohio, was the family boat or ark. It consisted of a rude hut built on a flat bottom from sixty to one hundred feet long and about
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THE PEOPLING OF OHIO.
fifteen feet wide. From the roof projected two or more long poles used in guiding the boat which floated with the current. The family lived in the hut, and when their destination was reached, it was transferred to the land, and the floating home thus became a permanent one. In some seasons more than a thousand of these floating homes were seen to pass Marietta.
The wealthier emigrants, impatient with these slow rafts, traveled on swift "keel" boats propelled by oarsmen seated in the bow. These boats had decks from six to eight feet high, and afforded comfortable quarters inside for travel- ers. In 1794 two of these keel-boats made regu- lar trips from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati, in the wonderfully short time of a month. These boats were proof against the savages, as they carried both cannon and small arms, and often went a hundred or more miles in twenty-four hours.
The boatmen were a wild, reckless dare-devil set, the terror of river towns and yet the life and joy of the emigrant parties. They were also lawless and had no fixed habitation. They often boasted that they were not born of woman, but were "half hoss and half alligator." Their career was a checkered one. Where the river was smooth and straight, and the weather pleas- ant, they had a life of ease; but often in the roaring rapids, drenched with chilling rains,
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they labored arduously amidst the greatest of perils. At night they often spent the hours singing and dancing. Their songs often showed the sentimental part of their rough natures.
"It's Oh as I was walking out, One morning in July, I met a maid, who axed my trade, Says I, I'll tell you presently ; Miss, I'll tell you presently."
The songs of the boatmen had a romantic counter-sound in the horns which were blown almost incessantly at night, especially in foggy weather, and when approaching bends in the river. A poet of that time refers to the boat horn in a poem, one stanza of which is as follows :
"O! boatman, wind that horn again, For never did the listening air Upon it's lambent bosom bear, So wild, so soft, so sweet a strain."
The boatmen as well as the emigrants de- pended entirely upon their rifles for fresh meat on the way down the river. They scorned the shotgun, and an old adage run, "Luck's like a shotgun, mighty uncertain." Flour was ob- tained from floating mills along the river. These mills were always found where the cur- rent was swift. A barge, containing the mill- stones, was anchored to the shore. Farther out in the stream a small boat was placed and be-
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THE PEOPLING OF OHIO.
tween the two was a shaft bearing the water- wheel. From the barge end of the shaft, a belt extended to the burrs, and the mill was ready for action.
The most dangerous portion of the journey, however, was in crossing the mountains. The roads were ungraded and bridges few and poorly constructed. Many declared the mountains a barrier almost as impassable as the grave, and few indeed cared to cross them the second time. Home ties in the east were thus completely sev- ered, and an urgent demand was soon made for better roads. The state funds were found to be inadequate for extensive road building, and fin- ally Congress was petitioned for aid. The state paid to the national treasury, five per cent. of the income derived from the sale of public lands, and from this income Congress, in 1806, ordered a highway surveyed from the headwaters of some Atlantic stream to the Ohio river. The route selected began at Cumberland, Maryland, and coincides to a great extent with the old Braddock Road. As the population increased it was ex- tended farther westward, and before the time of roalroads, it was the greatest commercial route on the western continent.
Chapter VII
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A PIONEER COTTAGE.
Courtesy of Ohio Archeological and Historical Society.
PIONEER LIFE IN OHIO
O NCE beyond the mountains, and free from the excitement incident to travel, the emigrant found abundant proof that he was indeed in a new country. An unbroken forest, the home of wild animals, serpents and savages, marked the view line of his horizon. To remove the forests, kill the wild animals, drive away the Indians and transform this wilderness into a paradise, was the task set before them.
His first home, if such it may be called, was often little superior to that of the wild animals, and usually consisted of bark from the wild cucumber trees, laid across poles. This first home, in a very few days, gave place to the cabin which was usually about twenty feet square, to which was often added a "lean to," or shed kitchen. Upon the marriage of a member of the family, another cabin was built a few feet away and facing its front. The intervening space was covered with split boards and a double cabin was the result. A single log cabin could be built for about one hundred and fifty dollars and a double one for about a hundred dollars more.
The furniture for these new homes was very
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rude and simple, being made almost exclusively by unskilled mechanics, from the surrounding forests. The tables and chairs were made of split slabs, and the beds were made by placing forked sticks in the floor at the proper places and running poles in two directions to the walls. Bed-springs were made of clapboards. A huge fireplace was made of sticks or stones, and plas- tered with mud, and the new home was ready for occupants.
Stock raising in Ohio was at once commenced on a small scale. Horses were scarce and sold for sixty to one hundred dollars. Hogs, cattle and sheep were were more numerous. The stock were marked by clipping the ear, and were al- lowed to run at large in the forests after bells had been securely fastened around their necks.
Corn and garden vegetables were the chief farm products, but later wheat, oats, buckwheat and tobacco were grown. The wild game fur- nished an ample supply of fresh meat. Beef sold at four cents a pound, and deer meat at three cents. Mutton was not eaten on account of the scarcity of wool for clothing. Sheep had to be penned at night to protect them from the wolves. Squirrels were numerous and often very seriously damaged the farmers' crops. Large hunting parties were frequently formed, and in Franklin county, in a single day, 19,660
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