USA > Ohio > Seneca County > History of Seneca County, from the close of the revolutionary war to July, 1880 > Part 25
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The principal exposures of the waterlime 'are in the quarries at Tiffin.
Quarry No. 2 is located a quarter of a mile above the last, on the
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right bank of the river, and is known as the city quarry. The dip here is southwest, six or eight degrees. Supposing the dip is uniform between quarries Nos. 1 and 2, there must be an unseen interval of twenty-five or thirty feet of the formation separating them. Total exposed, 17 ft. 9 in.
The characteristic fossil, liperditia alta, may be seen in nearly all parts of this section, but it was especially noted in Nos. 3 and 7. This rock is all hard and crystalline, but with a fine grain. No. 3, without careful examination, might be taken for Niagara, if seen alone. When broken into fragments for roads, the color of the pile, weathered a few months, is a pleasant bluish gray. Yet on close examination, the blue tints vanish, and the stone shows a drab, a dark or brownish drab, a black and a bluish gray, (the last two only on the lines of the bedding) depending on the fracture or surface examined.
The river, just in the southern limits of the city, is flowing east. The rock can be followed along the same bank of the river eighteen or twenty rods from the foregoing quarry, and has an irregular surface exposure throughout that distance, with a continuous dip southwest. The rock then follows the bluff, which strikes across a path of river bottom, and is not seen again until a mile further up the river. It is here quarried and burnt into lime. The dip is in the opposite direc- tion-that is, towards the north. This is quarry No. 3. Total, 27 ft. 9 in.
This rock is quite different in most of its external aspects from that described in the last two sections, and it probably overlies them. It is much more loose-grained and porous, and is almost without bituminous films. The beds are generally six to twelve inches, but sometimes three feet in thickness. It has more constantly the typical drab color of the waterlime, and it shows, besides the liperditia alta, another bivalve like atrypa sulcata, and a handsome species of orthis; also, a coarse favositoid coral, all of which are often seen in the water lime.
In the S. E. 14 of section 22, Hopewell township, Mr. Henry W. Cree- ger quarries water-lime in the bed of Wolf creek; dip south six or eight degrees.
The waterlime appears in thin, drab beds at the bridge over the San- dusky in N. E. J4 of section 23, Seneca township, with undulating dip.
In S. E. 14 of section 29, Clinton township, where the road crosses Rocky creek, the waterlime is exposed, having the feature of No. 8, of quarry No. 3 at Tiffin. [See Vol. I, Geology p. 618.]
The Oriskany sandstone is nowhere exposed in this county, but its
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line of outcrop probably passes through Adams, Clinton and Eden townships.
The Lower Corniferous has been observed in the following places:
S. W. 14 of section 1, Eden township. Along the bed of a little creek, tributary to Rocky creek, a magnesian, buff, granular limestone is exposed. " It has no fossils, so far as can be seen in the meager out- crops. It is also seen in the banks along the creek, on the farm of Mr. Ferguson. It was formerly quarried, to a limited extent, and used for rough walls. It is rather soft at first, but is said to become harder when the water is dried out. There is no dip discoverable.
N. W. 14 of section 20, Bloom township. In the right bank of Sil- ver creek there is an exposure of higher beds of the Lower Corniferous, as follows, from above :
No. 1-In beds of two to six inches; buff and dark buff, magne -. sian; very slightly fossiliferous; some hard and crystalline, some soft and spongy. These edges do not appear to be slaty. They have been long weathered and lie loose. This is near the junction of the Lower and Upper Cornif- crous. to ft.
No. 2-Magnesian ; rather hard ; crystalline; non-fossiliferous; buff when dry; fine grained; banded with darker buff, or with brown when in thicker beds. Beds 14 inch to 2 inches. These edges appear slaty. 2 ft.
Total 12 ft.
Lying nearly horizontal five or six rods, at the east end of the bluff the beds dip east and disappear. A little west of this exposure the magnesian, non-fossiliferous, thick-bedded characters of the Lower Cor- niferous may be seen in the bed of the creek. Eighteen or twenty rods to the east, the features and fossils of the Upper Corniferous appear in an old quarry by the roadside, where the dip is E. N. E.
S. W. X/ of section 3, Scipio township. Along the channel of Sugar creek, on the land of Enoch Fry, a stone is exposed which appears like Lower Corniferous. It is soft, coarse grained, and without visible fossils. A pond located near this place, which has precipitous banks and some. ' times becomes dry, is probably caused by subterranean disturbances and erosion.
The quarry of Mr. David Wyatt, N. W. 14 of section 1, Scipio town- ship, is in a thin-bedded, bluff stone, which has no tendency to blue, without fossils, and included within the Lower Corniferous.
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GEOLOGICAL FORMATION.
The Lower Corniferous is also exposed S. E. 14 of section, 34, Adams township, along the public road.
N. E. 14 of section 26, Eden township. A fine-grained, argillacious, gray rock, weathering buff, without visible fossils, appears in the road. It seems apt to break into angular pieces, three or four inches across. It is rather hard. It is probably included within the Lower Corniferous.
The opportunities for observing the lower portion of the Corniferous within the county are not sufficient to warrant a general section and description.
The Upper Corniferous, owing to its greater hardness and toughness, was not so generally destroyed by the ice and water of the glacial epoch, and now may be more frequently seen, thinly covered with coarse drift, occupying the highest parts of the county and forming the main water shed. The coarseness of the drift on these higher tracts is owing to the washings by rains and freshets since the close of the gla- cial epoch. It is an unassorted hardpan, and sometimes covers glacial striæ in the rock below.
This part of the Corniferous is exposed in the following places within the county. It furnishes a very useful building stone, and is extensively used for all walls, foundations, and some buildings.
IN THOMPSON TOWNSHIP,
N. W. 14 of section 20. It closely underlies most of the section. The drift being thin, the soil sometimes shows fragments. A quarry is owned by Mr John W. Paine.
S. W. 14 of section 16. Mr. George Good's quarry; beds horizontal, in the midst of a field in fine cultivation, with a surface gently undu- lating; drift at the quarry eight inches, but rapidly thickening further away. Same 14 section. Samuel Royers' quarry exposes about eight feet perpendicular; beds about horizontal.
S. W. 14 of seotion 14. Reuben Hartman's quarry exposes about eight feet of blue, thin beds, which seem to have been shattered, falling towards the west, the firm beds having a slight dip towards the north- east .. Large, handsome flagging is obtained at this quarry.
N. E. 14 of section 2; Benjamin Bunn's quarry. There are here about three feet of drift over the rock. The beds are exposed about six feet perpendicularly ; dip not observed, although there is a falling away by fracture towards the west.
S. W. 14 of section 1. Charles Smith's quarry faces the west; indeed, the same is true of Hartman's and Bunn's. Mr. Royers' quarry is an
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irregular opening, facing mostly north and west. Mr. Good's faces north and east.
S. E. 14 of section 1. In the edge of Huron county, Mr. George Sheffield has a quarry in horizontal beds; gravelly soil eighteen inches.
S. E. x4 of setion 1. Quarry of William Clemens.
N. E. 14 of section 21. Quarry of Joseph Shirk. This consists of a mass of shattered and dislodged beds, from which, however, good stone is taken. In one place, a mass showing a perpendicular thick- ness of five feet is twisted away from its original position, the planes of jointing indicating where it ought to be. It is removed two feet from its natural place. The projection beyond the face of the other beds tapers, in the distance of about fifteen feet, to a few inches, and is hid by debris.
Northeast quarter of section 15, quarry of John M. Krauss.
Northeast quarter of section 29, quarry of Mrs. Joseph Hoover.
Northeast quarter of section 10, quarry of Isaac Karn.
Northwest quarter of section 11, quarry of Tunis Wygart.
Northwest quarter of .section 2, quarry of Grimes heirs.
Many others also have small openings in the rocks in this township. They are nearly all in the midst of cultivated fields, and there is a remarkable absence of boulders, although the rock is sometimes seen projecting above the surface. There are a few boulders, but they are such as belong to the drift, and have been dug out by the erosion of streams, or by man. They are not thick about rocky outcrops, as in the lacustrine region.
IN BLOOM TOWNSHIP.
Northwest quarter of section 11. Lewis Fisher has an extensive quarry in the Upper Corniferous, in the valley of a little tributary to Honey creek. About fifteen feet of bedding are exposed, lying nearly horizontal. The lowest beds are about eighteen inches in thickness, and softer, yet of a blue color like the rest. In working Mr. Fisher's quarry, it has become necessary to remove about ten feet of hardpan drift.
Northeast quarter of section 10. Jacob Detwiller's quarry is also an extensive opening, and exposes beds a few feet lower than Mr. Fisher's. The lowest seems to be of a lighter color, and must be near the bottom of the Upper Corniferous. A stream disappears in this quarry, in time of freshet.
Southwest quarter of section 2. Henry Detterman's quarry is located in the valley of Honey creek.
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GEOLOGICAL FORMATION.
Northeast quarter of section 20. Along the banks of Silver creek there is considerable exposure of the Upper Corniferous, and it is extensively wrought by Abraham Kagy. The beds here have a contin- uous dip, E. S. E., affording opportunities for the following sections:
No. 1-Fossiliferous beds with chert, which weathers white; thin- bedded, of bluish-gray color. 7 ft.
No. 2-Thin, flaggy, lenticular beds ; fossiliferous ; drab-buff color ; hard, brittle, and sometimes with vermicular impressions. 4 ft.
[NOTE .- No. 2 would probably be thicker-bedded if freshly exposed.]
No. 3-The same as No. 2, but in more even beds. 28 ft.
Upper Corniferous exposed 39 ft.
Northwest quarter of section 29. Noah Einsel has a handsome quarry, in beds which dip E. N. E.
Northwest quarter of section 20, Reed township. The Upper Cor- niferous is quarried by Mr. Armstrong.
THE DRIFT.
Throughout this county, this deposit lies as it was left by the gla- cier. The mass of it is an unassorted hardpan, but it shows locally the glacial stratification incident to streams of water arising from the dis- solution of the ice. Such cases of stratification are most common in the great valleys where the waters necessarily accumulated. They are by no means common, nor uniform in their location in the drift verti- cally. In some cases the stratification arises nearly or quite to the surface, or prevails to the depth of thirty or forty feet ; in others it embraces one or more beds of hardpan, which have irregular outlines. In section 20, Eden township, the banks of Honey creek were particu- larly noted, and may be described as follows:
No. 1-This is imperfectly exposed, but wherever seen is in unas- sorted hardpan with considerable gravel. It forms the soil of the county, and is of a brownish yellow color. 25 ft.
No. 2-Is blue, and composed of alternating beds of compacted hardpan, containing water-worn and scratched pebbles of all kinds and sizes, apparently unassorted and unstrat- ified, and beds of coarse sand, extremely fine sand and coarse gravel. From the sand and gravel layers issue springs of ferriferous water. The sand layers sometimes graduate into impervious, clay-like beds, and can hardly
.
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HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY.
be called sand. The lowest seen in No. 2 is a layer of eighteen inches, at least, of clear sand. 30 ft. No. 3-Talus of round pebbles and stones, mostly limestone, and frequently stained with iron oxide. 3 ft.
The thickness of the drift cannot be stated with certainty. At Attica, in the township of Venice, wells penetrate it to the depth of sixty feet without striking the rock. This is the highest point within the county, and the general surface is rolling.
MATERIAL RESOURCES-BUILDING STONE.
Next to the products of the soil, the most important resources of Seneca county consist in the products of the quarries. Throughout most of the county there is no difficulty in obtaining good building stone, although the best quarries are situated a little unfavorably for the townships of Loudon, Big Spring, Seneca, Eden, Pleasant, Venice and Reed. The quarries at Tiffin furnish stone throughout a radius of many miles, while those in Bloom township supply a great tract of country south and east. The quarries in Thompson township, although located in the Upper Corniferous, are affording one of the best qualities of stone in northwestern Ohio; they are favorably exposed for work- ing, but less developed than similar openings in Bloom township. This is doubtless due to the superior advantages of quarries further north, and at Bellevue, in Sandusky county, for reaching market and for ship- ment by railroad.
LIME.
For lime, the Niagara and waterlime formations are chiefly used. They are more easily quarried and more cheaply burned than the Upper Corniferous. Both are burned at Tiffin, but the kilns are rude and the expense of burning is greater than where the improved kilns are employed.
CLAY.
.
Clay for brick and red pottery is found in suitable quantities in all parts of the county. Many establishments for the manufacture of brick employ the surface of the ordinary hardpan, including even the soil; others reject the immediate surface, which contains roots and turf, and burn the hardpan from the depth of a foot or two. This material, although liable to contain pebbles of limestone, which injure the man- ufactured article, generally has it in such small quantity and in so comminuted a state, as to require no other flux for the silica. The tile, brick and pottery made in this way are suitable for all purposes
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MATERIAL RESOURCES.
where no great degree of heat is required. Mr. J. M. Zahm, of Tiffin, after many careful experiments, has succeeded in making a good quality of hydraulic cement by mixing the finest of the drift clay, in proper parts, with ordinary carbonate of lime or tufa. He has also produced from the drift clay near Tiffin, by making proper selections, a very fine pottery, some of which cannot be distinguished from the terra cotta ware used for ornaments and statues. It has a very vitreous fracture, a smooth surface, and a dark red or amber color. From the drift clay near Tiffin, Mr. H. W. Creeger also obtained a fine material for pottery and for glazing with salt.
BOG-IRON ORE.
Before the development of the lake Superior and Missouri iron mines, one of the principal sources of iron in the northwest was the bog ore deposits, which are scattered over much of the country. In northwestern Ohio the numerous furnaces which were employed on these deposits along the south shore of lake Erie, and in counties further south and west, rendered bog ore an important item of mineral wealth. It produces an iron known as "cold short"" owing to the presence of phosphorus, which cannot be used for wire or for sheet iron, but is valuable for castings. On the contrary, iron from the ores which contain sulphur as an impurity, or silicon, is friable or brittle when hot, and is distinguished as "red short." When these two qualities occur in close proximity, or in circumstances favorable for transportation, they may be mixed in the process of smelting, and the resulting iron is greatly improved. The lake Superior ores, which are the only ones smelted in the furnaces of northwestern Ohio, are quite free from sulphur, and hence at the present time the bog ores possess but little commercial value. It will be only in connection with the sulphur ores of the coal measures in the southeastern part of the state, that the bog ores can be made of any mineral value.
In Seneca county bog ore occurs in a number of places. It is not in sufficient quantities, usually, to invite expenditure of capital, and in the absence of abundant fuel, it will probably never be of any eco. nomical value. It was met with on the farm of W. B. Stanley, about two miles southeast of Tiffin, where it underlies a peat bog, covering irregularly perhaps fifteen or twenty acres.
It also occurs on the land of Mr. Foght, southeast quarter of sec- tion 27, Seneca township. It has been taken out here in large blocks, roughly cut while wet, and set up for back walls in rude fire
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places. On being exposed to the air, or especially to fire, it becomes cemented and very hard. There is also a deposit in section Ir, in Clinton township, exactly on the south line of the Seneca Indian reservation.
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Jornal Hedges
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CHAPTER XV.
LIFE OF JOSIAH HEDGES-CHANGE-FIRST PLAT OF TIFFIN-THE SAW-MILL MIASMA-FIRST FRAME HOUSES-FIRST STORES-FIRST BRICK HOUSES -THE FERRY-THE DUG-OUT - FIRST HOTELS - BLACK-STRAP - HENRY GROSS-MR. BREDOON'S DEATH-THE CREEGER FAMILY-HENRY LANG- HENRY CRONISE -- DR. BOYER'S FAMILY-PHILIP SEEWALD.
JOSIAH HEDGES.
A MONG the most remarkable of the leading pioneers of Seneca county, was Josiah Hedges, the founder of Tiffin. He was born April 9, 1778, near West Liberty, Berkley county, Va., and throughout his whole life preserved the characteristics of the true Virginian. He left his father's home at an early age, with a determination to carve out his own fortune. The first enterprise which he undertook on his own account, was a trading excursion to New Orleans on a flatboat, laden with fruit, which he floated down the Ohio river from Wheeling to New Orleans. The voyage lasted six weeks. He finally settled in Ohio in 1801; one year before it was admitted as a state, and located in Belmont county, where, for a number of years, he was one of the most active and prominent citizens. He was the first sheriff of that county, and for a number of years clerk of the court. He next engaged in the mercantile business at St. Clairsville. His capital was limited, but was slowly and surely increasing by prudence and sagacity-firm traits in his character that never forsook him through life.
In those days, merchants in the west were wont to purchase their goods in Philadelphia, journeying across the Alleghany mountains on horseback, and carrying their specie in their saddle bags. In 1819, he opened a branch store in Mansfield, having as a partner his brother, Gen. James Hedges. Soon thereafter he removed from St. Clairsville to Mansfield. In 1820, he made a journey to Fort Ball, in this county.
His natural foresight very soon suggested to him the possibility of a speculation, and he immediately decided to enter the land opposite to Fort Ball, on the right bank of the Sandusky river. Here the county seat was located soon thereafter, in the heart of the town that Mr. Hedges caused to be platted immediately after his purchase of the land
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at the Delaware land office. In 1822 the first stick was cut on the plat of Tiffin, at a place near the Commercial bank, in the first ward. In the same year Mr. Hedges built a saw mill on Rocky creek, a short distance east of the court house, and a frame building on the lot north of the court house, which was afterwards used for very many purposes -for a court house, Masonic hall, offices and shops, etc. The same building is still in existence, and stands near the mouth and on the left bank of Rocky creek and also on the bank of the Sandusky river, and is now used as a paper box factory. In the same year he also built the flouring mill on the Sandusky river, which was afterwards known as the "Hunter mill." By a prudent and liberal course in disposing of his town lots, he saw the place increase steadily, and in 1828 he secured the removal of the land office from Delaware to Tiffin, thus giving the town a new impetus. In 1825, and again in 1830, he was elected a member of the House of Representatives from this district, in which capacity he served to the satisfaction of the people. In 1837 he dis- posed of his interest in the store to a son, and from that time to the close of his life, devoted all his time to the interest of Tiffin and his growing wealth.
In his younger days Mr. Hedges was an athletic and vigorous man, and well up to nearly four score years he retained a large portion of his mental and physical vigor, and was always able to attend to his own affairs. He was generous and just in his dealings with his fellow men; benevolent and kind. He assisted all the christian denominations in Tiffin, and granted lots for the erection of churches, in addition to his liberal subscriptions. He was the originator of many, and the sup- porter of all, public improvements. He was possessed of that large and unselfish hospitality that characterized all the early settlers. He was generous to the poor, and always willing to lend a helping hand. When a man bought a lot from him on which to build himself a home, and could not pay as he had agreed to do, Mr. Hedges would never trouble him, as long as the purchaser showed a desire and willingness to pay. Yet he looked after his interest, and expected men to come up to their promises. While he had no love for drones and loafers, the man of work and industry always found in him a friend. Those that sought his advice in business, never called on him in vain ; and when he knew the man to be true and faithful, was ready to help him, if nec- essary, with material advice. He was as sincere in all his intercourse with his fellow men as he was just and generous: and while he was the good neighbor and citizen, the safe counsellor and faithful friend, he was also an indulgent and affectionate father and devoted husband.
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JOSIAH HEDGES.
His kindred, both old and young, will ever gratefully remember him. To him they could always go with loving confidence; his heart was ever open to them.
Although not a member of any church, Mr. Hedges was a good and true man; and upon his dying couch he expressed a willingness to go, and assured his friends around him of his unfaltering trust in that Savior "who has promised to save all who may turn towards Him in faith and penitence." He sank away quietly, as if but entering upon a sleep. Without a groan or a struggle, the good old man took his departure, and passed away "like one that draws the drapery of his couch around him and lays down to pleasant dreams."
Mr. Hedges was first married September 29, 1807, to Rebecca Rus- sell, in Belmont county, Ohio. He had by this union six children, two of whom are still living-Mrs. Clarinda Hunter, widow of William Hunter, and Mrs. Rebecca Walker, widow of Joseph Walker. His first wife died July 8, 1816, aged thirty-one years. After living a widower about one year, he was again married on the 10th day of July, 1817, to Eliza Hammerly, of Martinsburgh, Virginia. This union was blessed with nine children, of whom Cynthia A. wife of Luther A. Hall, Esq., of Tiffin, Ohio, Mary Jane, wife of A. C. Baldwin, of Tiffin, Ohio, Minerva, wife of Harrison Noble, Esq., the present mayor of the city of Tiffin, Elizabeth, wife of John G. Gross, for many years a prominent merchant of Tiffin, and Sarah, wife of the Hon. W. W. Armstrong, late secretary of state, and now of the Cleveland Plaindealer, of Cleveland, Ohio, the faithful and esteemed friend of the writer, are still living. His second wife died on the 10th day of November, 1837. He was married again. October 29, 1844, to Harriet, daughter of Henry Snook, of Seneca county, who is still among the living, highly respected. Mr. Hedges died in Tiffin, on the 15th day of July, 1858, aged eighty years, three months and six days.
While it is very true, and it might well be said, that Mr. Hedges died greatly beloved by his large family and all his neighbors and friends, yet he was "not without sin;" he was mortal and human. While he was endowed with very many manly traits of character, his social nature, and the allurements of friends, at times led him to excesses that he afterwards openly regretted. While he was governed by strict principles of honor, living faithfully up to his promises, and while he would never voluntarily offer an insult to, or hurt the feelings of, any person, it was exceedingly unsafe for any man to offer an insult to him within three feet of his shoulders.
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