History of Sandusky County Ohio with Illustrations 1882, Part 30

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cents, of which the county paid ten thousand four hundred and fifty-seven dollars and seventy-six cents. The bridge is three hundred and twenty and one-half feet in length, resting on two abutments and three piers. The width affords two tracks, or ways, on each of which teams can pass each other. The structure is convenient, capacious and durable, at the same time presenting an ornament to the city of Fremont which is a monument testifying to the merit and enterprise of the people of the county, and especially to Hon. Benjamin Inman and the county commissioners named.

The passage of this bridge appropriation bill, through the persistent urgency of Mr. Inman, was his last act in public life. In the election for representative in the county he was opposed by Daniel L. June, whose friends claimed for him greater ability to get the bill through, while Mr. Inman's friends claimed equal ability for him, and the matter entered in this form largely into the canvass. Therefore, Mr. Inman felt under special obligations to procure the passage of the law. During the session of 1877 his health failed, but he remained in his seat and worked and waited for his bill to pass, when prudence would have bid him home for rest. As soon as the bill was passed he hastened home, and soon after died amidst all the tender cares and affectionate surroundings which a devoted wife and loving children could bestow. His death was much regretted by the people of the county.

REMARKS ON THE DRAINAGE OF THE WET LANDS IN THE COUNTY, WHEN BEGUN, BY WHOM, AND THE RESULT.

And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered into one place and let the dry land appear, and it was so .- Genesis 1:9.

This was commanded and was done on the second day. Science, as illustrated by geologists and accepted by enlightened

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theologians, gives us to understand that this second day was a very long one, that it was in fact an indefinite period of time, so vast that the finite mind can neither count or comprehend the number of years. Hugh Miller, in his Testimony of the Rocks, and other geologists give us some idea of the progressive steps in the formation, and how, in obedience to the command quoted at the beginning of this subject, the dry land was by the process and forces of nature, slowly but surely made to appear, and was finally prepared for the abode of man. Now, without any feeling of irreverence or wish to express any such feeling, it may here be said in support of the conclusions of geology as to the slowness of the process, that notwithstanding the great antiquity of the order quoted, it is a fact that the west part of Sandusky county, called in early times the Black Swamp, was not all dry land in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine. Yet that there was such a command, and that it was executed as as- serted at the close of the verse, "and it was so," must be true, for man could not fish from the banks of the waters nor construct floats to fish from without land, nor could he capture his living in the forests. And as fishing and hunting are claimed to have been his earliest pursuits, we conclude that the formation of land preceded the existence of man. There need be no strife of argument about the when and the how of the matter under consideration. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. Waiving all argument and speculation, however, it is very clear that - the Black Swamp, or a great part of it at least, could not be tilled so as to produce bread and meat, or at least the larger portion of it could not, without draining.

The first settlers in the western part of the county selected their lands along the streams where the banks afforded a strip

of dry land, which, when cleared of the timber, could be tilled without artificial drainage. But the structure of the surface and nature of the soil were such, that generally a little way from the bank artificial drainage necessarily preceded tillage. It must be confessed that the pioneer residents of the county were slow, indeed, to adopt the system of draining even the surface of their wheat fields in a proper manner to insure a good crop. When, however, a few German and English farmers located in the county, they brought with them the habit of more thorough drainage of their wheat fields, as practiced in the countries from which they came. The increase of the quantity and the certainty of the crop under this treatment soon demonstrated to all observers that it paid, and paid well, to keep the surface water from standing on their wheat fields. At first this was effected on the better class of land by plowing into narrow lands with deep furrows between, into which the water settled and was thence absorbed by the earth without covering so much surface. This arrangement, with a deep furrow entirely around the field, connecting with the dead furrows between the plowed strips, was found to be a great help to the crop.

From these furrows, where sufficient fall could be found, sometimes you would see a deep furrow traced away from the field, forming an outlet for the whole field, but much of the land was so level and so widely surrounded with other level land, that this plan could not be put in operation without trespassing on a neighboring farm. Neighbors could not always agree; in fact, in a mixed settlement of Germans, English, and Yankees, they seldom would agree or sacrifice a jot or tittle of their own for another. But the water must be drained away or the labor of the farmer would be lost. If Mr. Mean owned a

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quarter section, including the banks of a creek into which the wet land back of him might all be drained, Mr. Poor, who had taken second choice land in the rear of Mr. Mean, would ask in vain for the privilege of cutting a small ditch across Means' land that he might raise his bread or get a reward for his labor. If some Jonathan Spikes, from the land of the terrible Yankees, had a piece of dry land through which, only, the waters could be taken off the land of Mr. Vonslaughterlaugh, Mr. Spike would never let a ditch be made through his land to accommodate a foreigner, or if he could be brought to consent, he would demand four times what he should, even though the ditch would be a benefit to his own land. If Mr. Johnson owned a piece of wet land near Mr. Jones, and wanted to get the water off by draining through Jones' land, he could not obtain it because, perhaps, Johnson, ten years before, threw a club at Jones' yellow dog to drive him out of the road and keep himself from being bitten. Standing water, stagnant water, and stinking water were destroying crops and breeding disease and pestilence in the land, and yet such is the perversity of men's nature, that they would not, even for their own benefit, abate the nuisance. Finally a remedy was given by law.

On the 24th of March, 1859, the General Assembly of the State of Ohio passed an act to provide for locating, establishing, and constructing ditches, drains, and water courses. This act authorized county commissioners throughout the State to lo- cate, establish, and construct ditches, drains, and water courses in their respective counties, and it was the first law enacted in Ohio. It is a little remarkable that such a law was not put in force at an earlier period in the settlement of the State.

Our State Constitution of 1852, jealously

guarded the citizens of Ohio in their rights of property, by incorporating in it by clear language," Private property shall ever be held inviolate, but subservient to the public welfare."

It appears, that in 1859 some statesman discovered that draining away stagnant pools of water, and thus preventing malarial and deadly diseases, would be subserving the public welfare, and justify the exercise of the right of eminent domain; that is, take the land of a private citizen sufficient for a ditch or drain, to promote the public health. Hence the act of 1859 conferred upon county commissioners, the right to enter upon and appropriate the land of any person for a ditch; drain, or water course, whenever, in their opinion, the same would be conducive to the public health, convenience, or welfare.

With this law in force Mr. Jones could no longer deny Mr. Johnson the right to have a drain over his land, if Mr. Johnson's swail or pond could be found injurious to the public welfare. True, Mr. Jones had to be paid for the land, but he could no longer refuse to sell it, nor put on it a price so high as to forbid the improvement. Three impartial landholders fixed the value of the land to be taken, also the amount of damages, if any, to his premises over and above the mere value of the land taken. Ditching was by this law made practicable, and judicious county commissioners could make it effective in the improvement of the county.

THE FIRST COUNTY DITCH CONSTRUCTED.

According to the records in the office of the county auditor, which, no doubt, present the truth, the first application for a ditch under the first ditch law of the State was made by William Driftmire, an enterprising and determined German, who had settled on wet land in Madison township.

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On the tenth day of September, 1859, William Driftmire, with a number of others, he, however, being prime mover and principal petitioner, filed a petition, under the act above mentioned, in the county auditor's office, praying for the es- tablishment and construction of a ditch on the following route: Commencing in Madison township eighty rods north from the southeast corner of section twelve, thence north along the township line road on the west side of the centre of said road to a swail called Wolf Creek, about one mile and a half.

This swail or creek, which was to be the terminus of the ditch, entered the land of C. H. Damschroeder, also of Eberhard Myers. These men claimed that Driftmire's ditch would greatly increase the collection of water in the swail, and subject their lands, now dry, to overflow and consequent injury. Litigation followed by Eberhard Myers and C. H. Damschroeder on one side, and the county commissioners on the other. The case was taken to the probate court-John Bell, judge; a jury of twelve good men was selected, who viewed the premises and heard testimony and the arguments of counsel, and after due deliberation returned a verdict, and finding that Eberhard Myers and C. H. Damschroeder would sustain no damage by reason of the construction of the ditch. The case was taken on error to the Court of Common Pleas, where it was decided that persons owning land below the terminus of the ditch, could not, under the statute, claim damages, nor prevent the construction of a ditch.

This decision, whether right or wrong, had a salutary effect on the utility of the ditch law, for, if it had been held that an increase of the flow of water in any swail, creek, or outlet, in which a ditch should terminate, would be good cause for re-

straining the construction, very few ditches could be made. The natural tendency of all draining and ditching is to increase the flow of water in the natural channels, at least for a time.

The result of this litigation was a cost bill for the plaintiffs, Myers and Damschroeder to pay, of one hundred and eight dollars. The total cost of constructing the ditch, aside from the cost of litigation, was one hundred and eighty-six dollars. From this time on parties were rather careful how they entered into litigation against the construction of ditches, although there were a few cases where projects were started under the law, in which perpetual injunctions were afterwards granted for irregular proceedings, or where the object was simply to make some man's land more convenient or valuable without any bearing or benefit to be conferred on the public welfare. The ditch law was modified and amended from time to time, as practice under it developed defects in its provisions, and under its improved provisions ditching in the county has gone steadily on without much litigation, although not without some controversy before the county commissioners, to the present time. The whole number of ditches established in the county previous to July 18, 1881, is two hundred and seventy.

A minute description of each ditch and its cost, and the contentions arising from the constructions, would swell our history beyond proper limits, without being interesting to the general reader.

INTRODUCTION OF DITCHING.

Probably, if the beneficial consequences be made the criterion of decision, there has been no improvement introduced into the county so beneficial and at the same time so remunerative in a pecuniary point of view as ditching and draining. The improved statutory enactments provided

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for not only ditching but also for clearing out obstructions to natural water courses, and thus facilitating the passage of the surface water from the swamps and swails, to the rivers and thence to the bays and the lake into which they empty. The result of this surface draining in the increased productiveness of the soil, cannot now be easily calculated or given in figures. But that there has been a vast increase, not only in the product of the land per acre in all kinds of cereal crops, but great addition to the acreage of good farming land in the county, is plain and undeniable. These added acres of good land are not merely an addition of the value of the reclaimed land to the wealth of the county, but they are exhaustless mines of wealth out of which skill and industry will bring perpetual supplies of food more valuable than gold or silver.

IMPROVED SYSTEM OF DITCHING.

The object of the ditch law, so called, under which the system of ditching has hitherto been prosecuted, was to drain the

water from the surface of the land. This was done, as has been said, to effect two purposes, one of which was to promote the public, health by removing the stagnant waters by which malarial diseases were produced; another was to adapt the surface of the country to the more easy construction of good roads. These are both matters of a public nature. In carrying out the plan to serve these purposes, lands of many persons were incidentally drained and greatly benefited; but the ditches were laid out and constructed with the single purpose of drawing off the surface water. The county commissioners are now, however, pursuing a different plan. In a recent conversation with Mr. Brian O'Connor, one of the commissioners, he informed us that the board was now making their ditches much deeper than formerly. The reason given by Mr. O'Connor for this change of plan, is that the old or first ditches were generally too shallow to admit of complete tiling or under draining of the lands along and in the vicinity of the ditches.

CHAPTER XX.

SANDUSKY COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

I T has been often said, and will bear repeating to each generation of men, as they succeed each other, that he who makes two blades of grass grow where only one grew before, is a benefactor to mankind. The enlightened mind readily consents to the truth of this assertion. But it is equally true that he who invents

the method of extracting from the earth six heads of wheat where five grew before, or of obtaining four pounds of meat from the same space of earth which before produced only three, or from the area raises ten pounds of wool, or cotton, or sugar where before only eight pounds were produced, is equally a benefactor to the hu-

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man race. The same may be said of all those whose observations and reasonings result in the improvement of our fruits and vegetables, and our domestic animals. Agriculture and horticulture of late years have made rapid advances toward the front rank of the sciences, but they still fail to stand where their real importance demands them to be placed, in the social and scientific scale. Among the noblest works of the earnest, thinking men of Sandusky county, is that to improve agriculture and bring the pursuit of it into a proper position in the opinions of high-minded and scientific men, by the organization of the society named at the head this chapter.

COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

In the summer of 1852 Doctor La-Quinio Rawson, who had become the owner of valuable farming lands. within the city limits, began to turn his attention to the cultivation of the soil. He at once began to call the attention of neighbors and friends to the advantages which would be derived to the farmers of the county, and the people generally, by the formation of an agricultural society. His reasonings and persistent urgency of the movement, soon brought others to his support, and resulted in a meeting at the courthouse in Fremont, on the 31st day of August, 1852, at which the society was organized.

At this meeting Hon. John Bell was chosen chairman, and Daniel Capper secretary pro tem. Sardis Birchard and Jonas Smith were made a committee for the appointment of a board of directors for the ensuing year. This committee, after consultation, reported as directors for the ensuing year the following names: LaQuinio Rawson, president of said board; Samuel Hafford, vice president; Stephen Buckland, treasurer; Daniel Capper, secretary; and James Vallette, Isaac Glick, Samuel Skinner, Alvin Coles, and

D. Adams, managers, which appointments and report, on motion, were adopted and approved by the meeting. The meeting then adopted a constitution, which provides, in substance, as follows:

First .- That the officers of the society should be a president, vice president, treasurer, secretary, and five managers, who together constituted a board of directors for the general management of the affairs of the society, to be elected annually by the members of the society, and hold their respective offices until their successors should be chosen.

Second .- That the members of the society should be residents of the county, and pay the sum of one dollar annually to the treasurer.

Third .- That competitors for premiums must be members of the society.

Fourth .- That notice of the articles for which premiums would be awarded by the society should be . published in a newspaper, or in hand-bills, at least one month previous to the day of exhibition.

Fifth .- That all articles offered for premiums must be owned by the persons offering the same, or by members of their families, and products of the soil or manufactured articles must be produced within the county.

Sixth .- That awarding committees to examine the articles offered for premium, and award premiums thereon, should be annually appointed by the directors.

Seventh .- That awarding committees should comply with the provisions of the law requiring competitors for premiums on crops and other improvements to furnish full and correct statements of the process and expense of cultivation, or expense of manufacture or production, etc.

Eighth .- That competitors for the premiums on crops be required to have the ground and its produce accurately measured by not less than two disinterested persons, whose statements must be verified by affidavit.

Ninth .- That premiums on crops of grain and grass should not be awarded on the crops of less than one acre of land, and those on root crops on not less than one- fourth of an acre; the whole quantity produced and the amount of land specified shall be measured or weighed- the root crops to be estimated by weight, divested of the tops, and sixty pounds to be considered a bushel; and grain crops to be measured or weighed according to the usual standards; the rules in relation to other crops and productions to be agreed on by the directors of the society.

Tenth .- The tenth and last article of the constitution provided that the annual exhibitions should be held at some period between the first day of September And the first day of November, the premiums on crops to be awarded if thought necessary.

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The foregoing is the substance of every provision in the first constitution of the first agricultural society in the county.

The names of the members of this society when this constitution was adopted, are recorded in this work as upon a roll of honor, to be hereafter remembered with gratitude by the future patrons of husbandry in the county. They are:

Matthew M. Coe, Samuel Hafford, James Parks, Edward Leppelman, Daniel Capper, John Bell, F. I. Norton, James Vallette, Isaac Glick, Samuel Skinner, Jonas Smith, J. F. R. Sebring, L. E. Boren, Jacob Lesher, David Garvin, Jacob Bowlus, Peter Burgoon, LaQ. Rawson, J. S. Olmsted, Alvin Coles, F. S. White, S. Birchard, C. D. Hall, George R. Haynes, L. B. Otis, E. F. Dickinson, C. Edgarton, S. Buckland, J. P. Haynes, James Mitchell, J. L. Greene, William Kepler, Horace E. Clark, F. Vandercook, R. P. Buckland, G. M. Tillotson, B. J. Bartlett, A. J. Dickinson, C. O. Tillotson, George Engler, J. R. Pease, D. Adams, J. S. Fouke, J. B. Downs, John S. Tyler, Homer Everett, John Moore, Samuel Thompson, Jesse Dorcas, Aaron Loveland, John Lefever, Daniel Tindall, Henry Nichols, J. C. Wales, J. justice, Philip King, Paul Tew, Samuel Fennimore, C. J. Orton, Dean & Ballard, James Moore, William A. Hill, W. M. Stark, Isaac Knapp, Daniel G. Shutts, Joseph R. Clark, Christian Doncyson, H. Shiveley, James H. Hafford, Jacob Kridler, Thomas L. Hawkins, W. B. Stevenson, John Orwig, Seneca Hitt, J. F. Smith, N. P. Birdseye, Adam Jordan, Norton Russell, F. Lake, George Cogswell, A. B. Taylor, John Younkman, W. C. Shutts, Hiram Haff, Miles W. Plain, Jesse Emerson, Martin Bruner, Sidney Forgerson, Lyman Miller, C. King, Orlin Sylva, John Whitmore, Isaac Mowrer, Henry Bowman, Hiram Miller, A. J. Henper, Edwin Doud, S. H. Tibbals, F. M. Clayton.

FIRST MEETING OF THE DIRECTORS.

The board of directors of the Sandusky County Agricultural Society, chosen as we have mentioned above, met at the office of the secretary on the 4th day of September, 1852; present, LaQuinio Rawson, Samuel Hafford, Stephen Buckland,

Daniel Capper, James Vallette, Samuel Skinner.

The board, after due consultation and deliberation, resolved that the first fair of said society should be held at Fremont, on the 13th day of October, 1852; and

they also then and there resolved to invite all the members of the society to exhibit at said fair horses, cattle, sheep, swine, poultry, field crops, fruit, dairy products, and manufactured articles, and at the same time fixed the premiums on the various articles to be exhibited.

Although it might be interesting in the future to publish a detailed statement of the premiums offered at this first county fair, we omit the details, because we intend giving the premiums actually awarded, what for, and the amounts, which will give all the facts the reader will desire, and will avoid, at the same time, a repetition of matter in this connection.

AWARD OF PREMIUMS.

At the first annual fair of the Sandusky County Agricultural Society, held in 1852, premiums were awarded as follows:

Class A, Cattle .- Best yoke of working oxen over four years old, to Isaac Glick, of Ballville, $5. Best bull over four years old, William Hill, of Scott township, $3; second best bull, Otho Lease, of Jackson township, $1. Best bull over three years old, D. Seaman, Ballville township, $3; second best over three years old, Lyman Miller, Green Creek township. Best bull over one year old, James Vallette, of Ballville township; second. best bull, John Lefever, Green Creek township, $1. Best milch cow, John Moore, of Ballville township, $3; second best milch cow, James Vallette, Ballville township, $2. Best fat ox, John Moore, Ballville township, $3. Best two year old heifer, George Cogswell, Sandusky township, $2; second best two year old heifer, Samuel Fennimore, of Ballville township, $1. Best yearling heifer, William Kessler, of Sandusky township, $2; second best yearling heifer, D. Seaman, Ballville township, $1.

Class B, Horses .- Best stallion, S. H. Tibbals, York township, $3; second best stallion, John Colvin, York township, $2. Best brood mare and colt, P. Burgoon, Sandusky township, $3: second best brood mare and colt, John Whitmore, Townsend township, $2. Best pair matched horses, J. C. Wales, of York township, $3; second best pair matched horses, H. Haff, Townsend township, $2. Best gelding over four years old, J. Hale, Sandusky township, $3; second best gelding over four years old, B. J. Bartlett, Sandusky. Best work horse over four years old, Otho Lease, of Jackson, $2; second best work horse over four years old,

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E. Doud, York, $1. Best carriage horse, William Tew, Townsend township, $2. Best three year old colt, C. G. Green, Ballville township, $3; second best three year old colt, N. Bowlus, Sandusky township, $2. Best two year old colt, W. Shutts, York township, $2; second best two year old colt, Hiram Haff, Townsend township, $1. Best yearling colt, John Whitmore, Townsend township, $2; second best yearling colt, John Whitmore, $1. Best three year old stallion, J. Gibbs, Riley township, $3; second best three year old stallion, William Shrader, $2. Best jack, Joseph R. Clark, Riley township, $2.

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History of Sandusky County Ohio with Illustrations 1882, Part 30

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