History of Shelby County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 43

Author: R. Sutton & Co.
Publication date: 1883
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 427

USA > Ohio > Shelby County > History of Shelby County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 43

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137

HISTORY OF SHELBY COUNTY, OHIO.

the current was first checked. In these strata can be read the history of the currents which flowed here, and left their records, not in rocks, but in sands. There is first, in nearly horizontal layers, a succession of strata composed of clean gravel (the lowest exposed at the time of my visit, the lower had been covered previously), then one of course, gray sand; another next of fine sand; then ten feet of sand finely stratified; then to the top alternating layers of gravel and sand. After these layers now referred to were deposited, another deposit of clean gravel was made, not parallel with these, but covering the ends of all of them from the highest to the lowest. I will simply refer to another deposit of gra- vel, near the south end of the iron bridge over the river south of Sidney. This large accumulation is less available for road-making than it would have been had it not become so cemented together by a deposit of car- bonate of lime. I distinguished from these beds of gravel that large accumulation, at a lower level, and underlying the " river bottom," or the " second bottom," exemplified by an accumulation of clean sand, used for building purposes, just below the west end of the railroad bridge, east of Sidney, over the Miami River, and perhaps underlying more or less the town of Sidney.

The broad excavation made by the Miami River through the drift of. this county and the counties above, has exposed to the transporting action of water countless thousands of perches of sand and gravel which have been removed down the course of this river, and even into the Ohio and far down it, strewing its beaches with these materials so useful to man. . Perhaps no water-course in the State has borne so much sand and gravel along its course and lodged it in places where it is accessible to man. This is a striking peculiarity of the Miami River; its broad terraces are underlain with a bed of the cleanest, finest gravel for road- making in quantities practically inexhaustible. I have but to cite the immense deposits beneath the alluvium at Middletown, on both sides of the river at Hamilton, and indeed along its whole course, culminating in that bed at Harrison junction, cut and exposed by the Indianapolis and Cincinnati Railroad.

Bowlders .- While the transported rocks do not constitute a marked feature in Shelby County, still there are many of them. The largest bowlder, however, that has yet come under my observation in the State lies near the railroad, one mile east of Sidney. It contains twelve hun- dred and fifty cubic feet, and weighs about one hundred and three tons.

Human remains .- As in other counties, in nearly every instance where gravel beds have been opened to obtain gravel for road-making, skeleton remains of human beings have been discovered. They lie invariably near the surface of the ground, and soon crumble to dust when exposed to the influence of the atmosphere. Careful observations do not seem generally to have been made as to the mode of placing the body in the earth, but enough was learned to induce the belief that no one custom of sepulture was invariably adhered to. It is not a little singular that these dry places were chosen as places of interment for the dead of that race, whichever it was, whose dead are found decaying in them. With imperfect means for opening graves for their dead in the earth, it is per- haps not unreasonable to suppose that they buried their dead in the gravel because, with their tools, the task was more easily effected in such localities than in the harder clay. This supposition seems to derive force from the appearance of carelessness in these interments. The bodies are thrust in a hole feet foremost, and forced into a small space. It is very seldom that trinkets were buried with these dead, though sometimes it is the case. . But we must notice that keenness of observation, which detected, so unefringly, the hidden beds of gravel which, though needed, were in many instances entirely unsuspected by those who ploughed and reaped above them, until the exigencies of road-making caused more thorough search to be made by those who searched without certain indi- cations, by tentative methods, and often without hope of success. With the forests cleared away, and the soil under cultivation, and often dug into for various purposes, and with more or less light from modern sci- ence, we did not suspect gravel in a thousand localities where it has been found; we had no indications of it, and when many beds were discovered, there were yet no certain marks to point out others, and two generations have passed, travelling on mud roads unwillingly, and now, when we are stimulated to road-making, and search has been made under strong incentive and competition, behold, it is no new discovery we have made-

every gravel pit is a place of human sepulture. I make the suggestion here, that possibly, in a primitive forest, there were some growths which were an indication of the nature of the underlying deposits, some which the men of the forest had learned to regard as indicating gravel. It is well known to us that some plants, some trees, are very choice in regard to the kind of soil in which alone they will flourish, especially as retain- ing moisture or not.

Remains of Human Art .- I did not see as many flint and stone imple- ments among the people in this county as I have in some others, though such articles are not uncommon even here. There may be ancient mounds in the county, though I did not see any. Along the Miami River and other water-courses are localities where a variety of flint arrow-points and spear-points in considerable numbers have from time to time been found, though but few seem to have been preserved. Other classes of imple- ments, as stone hammers and pestles, seem not to be common, and I did not see any place where indications were found which would lead any one to suppose that these or other implements had been manufactured there. The most favored localities for arrow-points are along the water- courses and on the highest points in the county. But the larger number are found on the river and its tributaries. It is worth remark that the indications in the position of the flints do not point to an extreme anti- quity as the time of their manufacture. There are many places along our larger water-courses in the west where extensive manufactories of arrow-points, stone axes, and pestles, etc., have existed, and where pot- tery ware has been manufactured and burned. These localities have never before been disturbed by the inroads of the rivers, but are now being undermined and washed down for the first time. The implements in all stages of manufacture are found in great numbers; old bark peelers and pestles, which had been injured by use, or from some fault in original construction did not give satisfaction, were undergoing repair or remod- elling ; heaps of chips are found, and great numbers of lap-stones, ham- mers in connection with hearths, and remains of fire together with crockery, are found in these localities at no great depth below the present surface of the soil, where overflows are still a common occurrence. A very remote antiquity could not be ascribed to these remains of human art and industry from anything in their situation. In the course of a few centuries the rivers in the secular oscillations which they execute from bank to bank, a result of laws in constant operation, must disturb and redistribute, by the constant eating away of the bank, the whole of the alluvial deposit near its own level. Nothing is more constant, nothing more certain than the wear of an abrupt alluvial bank during high water, with a regularity which admits of calculation. The great number of such stone-tool manufactories, which are now disclosed along the course of the Ohio River, afford evidence that their age was not far back in gray antiquity. A few banks that are now crumbling might have escaped the erosion of the surging waters for a very long period; but it is incredible that so many as are now delivering up their relics of human art, their evidences of human industry and ingenuity, places in which for the first time since the ancient workman finally laid down his tools or kindled his fire upon his well-made hearth of bowlder pebbles, for the last time, should have escaped for indefinite ages just such action of the water as they are now yielding to.

Remains of Extinct Animals .- A few bones of animals not now found in the State-as a few teeth of the beaver, and portions of the antlers of one or two elks, and some reports of discoveries of mammoth or mas- todon remains-were all that came to my knowledge of fossils of this character. We may be prepared to hear of the discovery of such fossils in the peat beds, if they are ever much worked. Peat seems to possess the property of preserving the bodies of animals which become mired in it.

BEDDED STONE.

We come now to speak of the underlying consolidated strata which are exposed within the county. The only bedded stone found within Shelby County, lies in a narrow strip bordering the river, extending from the southern boundary of the county to within a mile of the town of Sidney. From the county line to a locality known as Boggs' Mill, wherever stone is seen in situ, it belongs to the formation called by geol- ogists the Clinton. It is the stone which immediately underlies the

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HISTORY OF SHELBY COUNTY, OHIO.

building stone in the suburbs of Piqua, in Miami County, and which is burned into lime so extensively just south of that town. It possesses, in the locality in Shelby County referred to, all the characteristics by which the stone of this formation is so surely detected. The physical characteristics of being unevenly bedded, highly crystallized, of sandy texture, and of a rust color from the presence of iron, and withal a hard stone, here show themselves. The fossils common to the Clinton in the vicinity of Piqua, are here abundantly seen-Halysites catenulata, Stro- matopora, Asyringipora, and some species of Fovosiles. These were exposed on the surface. No fossil shells were to be seen. Fragments of crinoid stems seemed to compose a considerable portion of the rock, and several species of Fenestella abounded. This formation has never been quarried here, apparently, for any economical purpose. It is in the neighborhood of an excellent limestone belonging higher up, and which furnishes lime of the first quality. The Clinton formation furnishes no good building stone in this part of the State, and, while it makes the strongest kind of lime, it is hard to burn, and heats greatly in slaking, and sets rapidly when mixed. It is highly esteemed in paper-mills, where a strong lime is desired, as it more readily softens the material used in the manufacture of paper.

The next formation ascending, is that known as the Niagara. It is not seen here in actual contact with the preceding, as the exposure is not continuous; but within about a mile of the river, an outerop of stone is observed on and near the banks of the river. A casual examination shows that a great change has taken place in the character of the stone. We have not only passed to a new formation, but into the upper strata of it. The stone is neither well stratified nor compact, and not suitable for building purposes. It is porous, comparatively soft, and very fossil- iferous, and of a light blue color. It is burned here into an excellent lime, known locally as the Pontiac lime. The strata of the Niagara, so much prized for building purposes, found at Piqua, and also those found at Covington, Miami County, belong below this horizon. The super- position of this quality of stone upon that of the Covington quarries, is ocularly demonstrated on the Stillwater. This river rises gradually up to the level of and above the stone of the Covington quarries above Covington. At the village of Clayton, on the Stillwater, about two miles north of Covington, the banks of the river are formed of the same strata as those from which the Pontiac lime is made, within about a mile of the last exposure of the Clinton, on the Great Miami. The last exposure of the Clinton on the Stillwater, is several miles south of Covington ; and a familiar example of the Clinton stone may be given in the falls of the Panther Creek. It will be seen that all that thickness of building stone about the town of Covington, and exhibited so well at the falls of Greenville Creek, as well as that of the Piqua quarries, belongs above the Clinton and below the strata which first appear above it on the Miami, near where the " Pontiac" lime-kilus are situated. The inference follows, that if there is any good building stone within Shelby County, it will be found somewhere between Boggs's mill-seat and the Pontiac lime-kilus. The shortness of the distance, together with the slight fall in the river, would preclude the existence of any extensive strata in this locality. There may exist here a few feet of evenly layered rock, cor- responding with the upper layers of the Covington stone; but the hope of very much good stone, even if any is found, is too slight to encourage much expense in searching for it. It will be thus seen that the Niagara thins out in this direction, especially the lower strata, while the upper strata maintain a considerable thickness. Indeed, it is possible that the upper strata of the Niagara lie here immediately upon the Clinton. The thickness of the strata is not known with certainty, but can be approxi- mately made out. The Pontiac lithestone is but little, if any, above the surface of water in the river in its lower layers, and a mile south of Sid- ney the top of it is about twenty-five feet above the water. With a fall of fifty feet in that distance, there would be a thickness of seventy-five feet of this quality of limestone. I think there is as much as this. We do not know that this is its greatest thickness, for it may rise higher under the drift in some places. It is a soft stone, and has, no doubt, been ploughed down by the forces which deposited the drift. It would not retain any marks of wearing forces on its surface. Although not valuable for building purposes, it contains an inexhaustible store of the best quality of lime. The lime manufactured from this stone is of a pure

white when slaked, and is suitable for all purposes for which lime is used. From a previous volume of this Survey (1870, p. 449) I make an extract, showing the composition of the limestone taken from one of the quarries of this county. I will add the remark, that the locality from which the specimen submitted to examination was taken, is about mid- way between the lowest and the highest strata. I will say also, that from the appearance of the weathered surfaces of the stone at Dugan's quarries, I concluded that there was a larger quantity of oxide of iron in the stone of this locality, than would be found either above or below, especially below. The rusty color indicated the presence of iron. From the porous nature of the stone, I supposed the iron may have been fil- tered out of water which has run through it. There was an entire absence of that rust color in the Pontiac quarry, and the same might be said of the quarries near Sidney.

Silicious matter.

Alumina and sesquioxide of iron.

Carbonate of lime.

Carbonate of mag- nesia.

Tofal.

Niagara, Sidney, Dugan's

trace.

1.60

55.00

43.92

99.52

.20

.50

54.40

44.58

99.68

Holcomb's limestone, Springfield

.10

1.70

55.10

43.05

99.95

Frey's limestone,

.10

.20

54.70

44.93

99.93

It will be seen that there is little to choose between the best Spring- field lime and the Shelby County lime. The former is a little nearer the best markets in Ohio, and enjoys the additional advantage of the com- petition of several independent lines of railroads leading to the best markets. The Shelby County lime could perhaps be burned a little cheaper on account of the lower price of fuel, but not enough so to over- come the disadvantage before referred to. When it shall be burned more extensively, which will be done when it can find a market at less expense of freight, it will become an important article of commerce between this county and other places.

Fossils .- This rock from which the lime is made discloses, when broken, an abundance of fossils, but from the nature of the rock they are not very perfect. There were species of Orthoceras of a large size, a trilo- bite, viz., Calymene Blumenbachii, corals of the genus Fenestella, and numerous shells and crinoids and cystideans, whose names I have not been able to ascertain.

POLITICAL DIVISIONS.

The county, as now constituted, consists of fourteen townships, containing villages, as here shown : Van Buren Township, Rumley, Kettlersville and Pulaski; Dinsmore Township, Botkins and Anna ; Jackson Township, Montra and Jackson Centre ; Salem Township, Port Jefferson and Maplewood; Perry Township, Pemberton; Green Township, Plattsville and New Palestine; Orange Township, Kirkwood ; Washington Township, Lockington and Newbern ; Loramie Township, Mount Jefferson, Houston, North Houston, and Russia ; Cynthian Township, Newport ; McLean Township, Berlin; Turtle Creek Town- ship, Hardin ; Franklin Township, Swanders; and Clinton Township, Sidney. Of these towns, Pemberton, Sidney, Hardin, North Houston, and Russia, are on the C. C. C. and I. Railroad; Botkins, Anna, Swan- ders, Sidney, and Kirkwood on the D. and M. Railroad; and Berlin, Newport, Newbern, and Lockington are on the Miami and Erie Canal. Port Jefferson is also at the head of the Miami feeder of the canal.

SETTLEMENT.

In contemplating the settlement under the whites, a picture somewhat blurred by time, but still distinct enough in outline, presents itself to view, and demands at least a casual glance. This picture recalls the momentous struggles waged before the erection of the State, and waged in part while even the " Northwest Territory" was yet a thing of the future. It recalls the initial movements which precipitated the old French war, and gave the English that prestige which ultimately enabled them to grasp and hold a continent. It recalls those perilous times which succeeded the Revolution, and clustered about the date of

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HISTORY OF SHELBY COUNTY, OHIO.

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the celebrated " ordinance of freedom" which organized this territory in 1787. In view of these events the writer visited the site of the old fort, and the result of that visit is portrayed in the following communication furnished the press for publication :-

"LORAMIE, OHIO, Jan. 25, 1883.

" While visiting Berlin we were invited by a friend to take a drive about a mile north of the village, in order to visit the old landmark of which this community is so proud. The invitation was accepted, and a half hour later we were standing on the bank of Loramie Creek, upon the site of old Fort Loramie, whose associations within the historic era of this section date back to the year 1752. View the spot as you will you find it invested with a dual character, presenting itself now as a storehouse of provisions, and again as a storehouse of arms. True, the years between 1752 and 1795 were unsettled in their influence upon this whole section, and the peace of this spot was abruptly terminated on at least two occasions by the agencies of fire and the sword. During an indefinite period, anterior to the middle of the eighteenth century, this point was simply a convenient place of crossing between the hunting lands of the Miami and St. Marys rivers. It may have served as a portage for those early adventurous French voyageurs who left the lake region, away back in the seventeenth century, to explore the streams of the South and West. This early policy obtained upon this continent by the French for a period of nearly one hundred years. During this period it is probable some of those French explorers ascended the St. Marys to its head-waters; and then, while examining the topography of this locality, discovered the so-called ' West Branch of the Big Miami,' by which they may have descended to the Ohio, and ultimately through the Mississippi to the Gulf. However this, a settlement was founded on the banks of Loramie Creek by a band of English traders, which constituted one of the very earliest efforts at settlement made by the English within the limits of our State. The settlement was doomed in its infancy, for as soon as the French learned that an . English trading- house had been established at the portage of the West Branch of the Big Miami,' a party of soldiers advanced upon it and demanded the surrender of the traders, at the hands of the Miamis, to which tribe this section then belonged. The demand was refused, whereupon the French destroyed the trading-post, killed fourteen of the natives, and carried the English traders as prisoners to Canada. Such was the fate of Pickawillany, as the post was called by the English. The old French war was fought out after this date, terminating in 1763, and leaving all the French forts in possession of the English. In 1732 General George Rogers Clarke raised a force of one thousand mounted men to chastise the savages for the relentless depredations and murders committed in the Blue Licks region. In this expedition General Clarke marched rapidly up the Big Miami, then up the West Branch to the south end of the portage, where Loramie's store was situated. This store, with its pro- visions, was entirely destroyed, except so far as the goods could be sold or used by the troops. Loramie, the owner, was a French Canadian, . who had made his store a rendezvous of intriguers and hostile agencies, until he was rendered obnoxious to the English, at whose hands he merited the wrath inflicted by General Clarke. This store was of more than ordinary extent and importance, as General Clarke declared, ' the property destroyed was of great amount, and the provisions surpassed all idea we had of Indian stores.'"

Thus, after the lapse of thirty years, retribution was visited upon the French, for the blow of destruction and death dealt by them to the infant settlement of Pickawillany. Eight years after this second de- struction the old spot was witness to the march of another army, the forces of General Harmar having passed by in hurried order to that field of carnage which was almost a field of disaster, and which is known as the ground of " Harmar's defeat." Still this spot continued some- thing of a central point in the Indian country, and so saw the gathering storm of fury which burst in a wild deluge of defeat and death upon the army of St. Clair. After this carnage and massacre this spot had scarcely time to dream of peace and rest when General Wayne, with stealthy. snake-like movement, stole hurriedly by, and sweeping to the north in an almost mad career, fell upon the Miami villages, routed the warriors, and returned in triumph to Greenville, where he paused to dictate terms

of peace to the several tribes of the Northwest Territory. During this period of armed truce General Wayne erected a number of block houses throughout this section, and among these was Fort Loramie, at the old trading point, named in honor of the old store, which derived its name from its owner, and finally transmitted it to the stream upon whose banks it was located, and which was formerly known as the West Branch of the Big Miami. Latterly this name has also been applied to the post-office at Berlin. The old spot must have felt proud of the distine- tion conferred upon it by General Wayne, when it reflected upon its history of contention, strife, and blood. Its story is thus not only dual, but complemental, for it has stood alternately as a storehouse in peace, and a fortification in war. It undoubtedly cherishes many secrets, for it has told but little of its history, and even that little in ragged, jagged, and tattered fragments. If the old spot could only talk ;- but, perhaps, even then its regard for the feelings of its auditors might paralyze its tongue and drown its voice in this same oppressive silence by which it is crowned to-day. The silence of the grave is in keeping with the place, for it is a grave. At a little distance are farms teeming with life; by its side flows the gentle Loramie, rippling with glee as it murmurs that dirge in which we catch the words :-

"Men may come and men may go, But I go on forever."

Below it, less than a mile, is the village of Berlin, conservative in effort, but still bustling with life; yes, life is everywhere save here, where we experience a feeling of lonesomeness in the companionship of the dead past, for the forms we see are only ghosts of a period of strife, woe, and death. We are standing upon a grave, for it is the site of two dead settlements, and the gurgling of the stream is the only sound which breaks the oppressive silence, and disturbs our dream of the past. We feel an almost irresistible impulse to leave this spot,-to go to Berlin, -to Minster,-to any scene of life where we may mingle with things which are, and for a moment forget the cruel past, which is only death, and con- template the kinder present, which is but another name for life .- R. S. M.

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History of Shelby County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 43

Author: R. Sutton & Co. Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Number of Pages: 427

Author: R. Sutton & Co.
Publication date: 1883
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 427