USA > Ohio > Pioneer history : being an account of the first examinations of the Ohio valley, and the early settlement of the Northwest territory ; chiefly from original manuscripts > Part 38
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41
472
ABEL SHERMAN KILLED.
he determined to go out alone in search of the missing animals. With his gun on his shoulder, he wandered down along the margin of the river about four miles, to the gar- rison, at Waterford, thinking that perhaps they might have fallen in company with the cattle of that settlement, and come in there; or that some of the rangers might have seen them in their daily rounds. When he reached that post, he could gain no tidings of them. It was now near the close of the day, and his friends urged him to stay all night with them, as it was more than probable the Indians were watching the path, and were the cause of the absence of the cows. The resolute old man would not listen to their advice, but insisted on going home that evening. He had approached within a quarter of a mile of the station, when he found, near the mouth of a run, since called " Sher- man's run," a nice patch of May apples, fully ripe. The sight of the fruit tempted him to stop, and gather a quantity for the women and children. He had nearly filled the bosom of his hunting shirt, when rising up from his stoop- ing posture, he saw an Indian within a few paces of him. Instantly springing to his gun, that stood against a tree, he raised it to his shoulder, and fired at his enemy, in nearly the same instant that the Indian did at him. Sherman fell dead with a ball through his heart, while his own shot broke his adversary's arm, near the shoulder.
The report of the two discharges was distinctly heard at the little garrison, and his eldest son, Ezra, a stout, athletic man, and a fine woodsman, instantly said that one of those shots was from his father's gun, a large musket. He seized his arms, and rushed out in search of him, although strongly opposed by the men in the garrison, who were aware of the danger, knowing that the Indians never ven- tured into the settlements alone. Fearless of consequences, in a few minutes he was on the ground where his father fell, and found him already dead, and his scalp taken off. The Indians had immediately fled, knowing, or fearing,
473
PROSPERITY OF THE SETTLEMENT.
that pursuit would be made from the garrison. Some of these particulars were ascertained after the peace, from an Indian who was present at the time, and came in to trade with the whites. He said the Indians had determined not to fire on a single man, but to make him a prisoner; or else to wait until more than one came out after the cows ; but their discovery by Sherman, and his prompt action, led them to kill him in their own defense. The next day a party of men from the fort at Waterford, went up and buried him near the mouth of the run where he fell.
Flourishing condition of the settlement.
Although constantly in danger from their savage foes, these hardy pioneers of the forest not only maintained their ground, and supported their families, but they annually en- larged their borders, clearing new fields and increasing the amount of their crop. So that in the autumn of the year 1794 they loaded two boats with corn, amounting to two thousand bushels, or more, over and above their own wants. The corn was purchased by the army contractor for the troops at Fort Washington, or Cincinnati. The price was forty cents a bushel, and was a great relief to their neces- sities, as the wardrobes of many families had become quite scanty, from their inability to renew them. Sheep had not yet been introduced into the country, and all their home spun garments were made from flax and hemp, or the skins of the deer, which, when nicely dressed, afforded warm and comfortable jackets and pantaloons for the men and boys. They were much worn for many years in the early settle- ment of the country. The woods furnished an abundance of venison and turkeys, more than equaling in numbers the domestic animals of the present day. On the rich soil of the alluvions, corn grew with astonishing luxuriance, and afforded not only bread, but a surplus for fattening hogs ; so that they soon added nice pork and bacon to their other luxuries. The great crops of acorns and beech nuts,
474
SHERMAN WATERMAN KILLED.
in some seasons, fattened their hogs without any corn. They lacked for nothing really essential to civilized life, but salt. This article was enormously dear, not less than eight and sometimes ten dollars a bushel, so that the health and comfort of both man and beast often suffered for the want of it.
1795. Sherman Waterman killed by the Indians.
In the spring of the year 1795, some young men, who had drawn donation lots on the south branch of Wolf creek, about three miles from the Waterford garrison, concluded to clear their lands in company. Their names were Wil- liam Ford, William Hart, Jacob Proctor, John Waterman, and Sherman Waterman. A small block house was built on John's land, and they commenced the labor of cutting down the heavy timber that covered the creek bottom. Although after the defeat of the Indians by General Wayne in August preceding, little danger was apprehended from them, yet as peace was not finally concluded, they as a matter of precaution thought it prudent to work in com- pany, and so day by day alternately labored on each other's lots.
On the 15th of June, the fore part of the day was wet, with heavy showers of rain at intervals, so as to discourage them from their common work of chopping, and they con- cluded to spend the forenoon in a little inclosure near the house which was occupied as a garden. During a hard shower they retreated into the house. Sherman Waterman, wanting some fresh bark to put in the bottom of his sleep- ing birth, had gone down to the creek, a few rods distant, to procure it. In a few minutes the report of a rifle was heard. Each man seized his gun, and stepped to a port hole to discover the enemy. Directly Waterman came running towards them, and fell down exhausted from loss of blood, within a few yards of the house. He had been shot through
475
SALT SPRINGS.
the region of the liver, while busy at his work, and they continued to fire several shots at him after he fell, but dared not pursue him for fear of his companions in the block house. While he thus lay exposed to the rifles of the In- dians, begging his friends to assist him, William Hart and one other man rushed out amid the shot of the enemy and brought him into the house, unharmed themselves. The guns of the men soon caused them to retreat; when Wil- liam Hart volunteered to go and carry notice of the disaster to the fort at Waterford.
A party of men, led by McGuffy, soon came up and took the wounded man in a bark canoe, down the creek to Tyler's block house, where he died that night. On exami- ning the vicinity for signs, or a trail of the Indians, they found, near a deep ravine that the white men were in the daily habit of crossing on a log, as they went out to their work, the spot where the Indians had lain in ambush that night. Not far from the end of the log was discovered a blanket and several silver brooches, which they had left as a decoy, to attract the attention of the whites, and while in a cluster and off their guard examining the articles, which doubtless some of them would notice and pick up, fire upon them, with the probability of killing them all. This device was often practiced, and with fatal effect, on a party of men under Captain Ogle in the narrows below Wheeling. But the rain of that morning providentally prevented this tra- gical catastrophe, and none but Waterman came within the reach of their rifles. He was the last man killed by the Indians in Washington county. The old block house was still standing in 1845, while those who built it are all in their graves.
Salt springs.
At the conclusion of the Indian war, and the consum- mation of peace in 1795, the inhabitants sallied out of their garrisons, as the children of Noah did from the ark,
476
SALT SPRINGS.
and took possession of the earth, from which they had so long been hindered by their savage foe. Many of their pri- vations and difficulties now ceased, while others remained in full force; among the latter was the enormous cost of culinary salt, which still remained at eight dollars a bushel, and greatly checked that free use of it, so necessary to the comfort and health of the inhabitants. It had been rumored, in the first settlement of the country, that salt springs ex- isted on a stream since called Salt creek, that falls into the Muskingum river at Duncan's falls; and a party had been sent up from Marietta, during the war, at great hazard from the Indians, to search for it. They however were unsuc- cessful, not having the time necessary for a thorough exploration. White men, taken prisoners by the Indians, had seen them make salt at these springs, and had noted their locality, so that from their description a skillful woodsman could find them. Feeling serioulsy the diffi- culties under which they labored, the inhabitants had a meeting and sent an exploring party of their best hunters to search for them. The attempt was successful. After their return, in the summer of 1796, a company was formed of fifty share holders, at one dollar and fifty cents each, making a capital of seventy-five dollars, with which to pur- chase castings and erect a furnace, for the manufacture of salt. Twenty-four kettles were bought at Pittsburgh and transported by water to the foot of Duncan's falls, and thence carried on pack horses about seven miles to the salt licks. A well was dug near the edge of the creek, fifteen feet deep, down to the rock which formed the bed of the stream, through the crevices in which the salt water came to the surface. The trunk of a hollow sycamore tree, three feet in diameter, was settled into the well and bedded in the rock below, so as to exclude the fresh water. A furnace was built of two ranges, contaning twelve kettles in each; a shed erected over the works, with a small cabin for the work- men to live in. The water from the well was raised by a sweep
477
SUFFERINGS OF SALT MAKERS.
and pole. The company was divided into ten classes of five men each, who in rotation worked for two weeks at a time. The works were kept in operation night and day, the men standing regular watches. By the aid of a yoke of oxen, and one man to chop and haul wood, they could make about one hundred pounds of salt in twenty-four hours, it requiring about eight hundred gallons of water for fifty pounds. When the value of the labor and the cost of the outlay are estimated, the price of the salt was at least three dollars a bushel. It was also of a dark color, and in- ferior quality, much impregnated with bitter water, or muriate of lime. The greatest advantage to the company was, that the salt was procured by their own labor instead of their money, which was very scarce and difficult to get. Thus was the first salt made in the valley of the Muskin- gum. The saline was distant forty miles by land from Waterford, and during the winter, the provisions used at the works were packed out on horseback, and the salt came to the settlement in the same way, thus enhancing the expense and labor of procuring it, so that the actual cost could not have been less than four dollars a bushel. A part of the year the intercourse was by water to Duncan's falls, and thence by land. The company was kept up for three or four years, when the springs fell into other hands, and finally became the property of the state, and were leased out at a fixed rent.
Sufferings of two of the early salt makers.
Two of the men engaged in salt making, were Juda Ford and Captain William Davis. They had gone up to the works the last of November; soon after which the wea- ther set in very cold, and the men whose tour of duty followed theirs did not come to relieve them as was expec- ted. They therefore remained until the 22d of December, when their stock of food was all exhausted, except a little venison bought from a hunting camp of Indians near them,
478
SUFFERINGS OF SALT MAKERS.
and it was absolutely necessary that provision should be brought up from Waterford, or the works abandoned. Three men were left to continue the labor, and the two above named started that day for home. Their road led through the woods without any trace, or marked trees, as this was the first season of salt making, and the intercourse thus far conducted by water. A year or two later a road was marked out by the United States, and the mail carried on horseback from Marietta to Zanesville, passing directly by the salt works. Their outfit for the journey consisted of one small blanket, a single charge of gun powder, a flint, and an old jack knife, with a piece of tow string cut from a bag for tinder, and about two pounds of venison.
Not being familiar with the woods, they hired a hunter who was at the works to pilot them on to the head of Meigs creek; but it began to snow when they had gone about three miles, and he left them on a ridge which he said would take them to that creek. It continued to snow nearly all day, and fell about four inches deep. By the middle of the afternoon, they came to the end of the ridge, and de- scended down on to the low ground between the forks of a creek, which they supposed was Meigs creek. Just before night the weather cleared and became very cold. They spread their blanket on the snow and began the operation of kindling a fire. The snow rendered it difficult to pro- cure wood that would burn, and kept them busy all night collecting fuel to keep up the fire. It was intensely cold. The beech trees froze so hard as to crack and snap like pistols, a proof of the extreme severity of the frost. They comforted themselves with the thought of the warm bed they should sleep in the next night; not once suspecting that the stream on which they encamped was not Meigs creek. In the morning they left their uncomfortable bivouac by early daylight. The weather was still colder than at night, and was ascertained by a thermometer at Marietta to have been fifteen or twenty degrees below zero.
479
SUFFERINGS OF SALT MAKERS.
They started off at a brisk pace, to keep themselves from freezing, and as the sun shone that forenoon, they discov- ered that the stream run east, instead of south-west, as they knew Meigs creek did. Thinking perhaps it might soon change the direction, they continued on down stream, until it run nearly north-west, and the body of water was larger than Meigs creek at the mouth. This confirmed them in the belief that it was Wills creek, a large tributary of the Muskingum, which enters that river high up, many miles above any settlements. Just before sun down, they stopped and kindled a fire, against a dead beech tree, and having gathered wood for the night, they set up some large chunks to break the force of the wind against their heads and backs. They now examined their feet, which had been freezing for several hours, and found the heels, toes, and sides severely frozen and very painful. After eating the small morsel of venison that remained, they began to dis- cuss the probable result of their condition. They had no axe to prepare wood for the fire, and only a single priming of powder left to kindle one again, nor any gun to kill game. They were forty miles from Waterford when they started, and must now be, after two days rapid traveling, nearly double that distance. They were both thinly clad for win- ter, and had no blanket to cover them at night, the one they had being spread under them to protect them from the snow. The debilitating effects of the cold, with the want of food and sleep, had greatly enfeebled them; but they were men of sound sense and great resolution, two valuable qualities in cases of difficulty and danger. After a cold and windy night, they hailed the approach of day with gladness, although it brought no relief to their sufferings ; the blessed light of the sun being as welcome to the woods-lost lands- man after a gloomy night, as it is to the ship wrecked sea- man. The result of their deliberation was, to retrace their steps if they could, to the salt works. Their feet, when they attempted to stand on them, refused to perform their office,
480
SUFFERINGS OF SALT MAKERS.
but after going a mile or two became so benumbed with the cold, that they did not feel any pain or soreness. Life or death now depended on their own exertions, and redoubling their efforts, they reached their first night's encampment a little before sunset. Having no food, they concluded, as the moon was near its full, to continue their journey as far as they could. While in the low ground their former tracks in the snow served as a clue to lead them from the laby- rinth, but when they ascended on to the ridge, the wind and the snow, which fell after they passed along, had obli- terated this guide.
While ascending the hill their strength failed, so that they found they could not go much farther, and concluded to stop, and kindle a fire. An old dry top of a fallen chesnut tree, about half way up, offered them a favorable spot. They halted, spread their blanket on the snow, produced the flint and old knife, with a piece of the tow string, and the last little parcel of powder. Davis, whose hands had been wrapped in the blanket all day, took the flint and knife, but so benumbed were his fingers, that at every stroke one or the other would drop from his grasp. It was a trying moment, as their lives depended on the success of their efforts, for without a fire they must certainly freeze to death. At length the life giving spark was elicited, the powder flashed, the tow string caught the blaze, and after a good deal of blowing a fire was kindled, with the dry pieces collected from the decayed tree. After another long and tedious night, watching their fire and the pro- gress of the moon, which to them seemed to stand still, as in the time of Joshua, the dawn of another morning appeared.
Their feet having been frozen and thawed two or three times, were now much swollen and excessively painful. After a number of efforts to stand upon them, they at length succeeded in reaching the top of the ridge, and their feet losing all feeling, from the effects of the cold, they put
481
SUFFERINGS OF SALT MAKERS.
forward at their usual pace. Without any distinct know- ledge of their position, they supposed they were about twelve miles from the salt works. In coming out, three days before, they knew they had not crossed any water course after the guide left them. The ridge was very devious in its direction, and they sometimes found them- selves wandering off from it down some point or spur, and had to retrace their steps back again, causing them to travel two or three miles to gain one ahead.
About the middle of the day they strayed again from the ridge into a deep hollow, and being tired of going back, concluded to see the result. They soon came on to a small branch, and as they had heretofore gone down stream, now thought they would go up. In about half a mile it con- ducted them back on to the ridge again. Davis led the way as well as he could, and Ford followed, stepping in the tracks his companion made in the snow. They had been on the ridge but a short time, when the former stepped on the leg and foot of a deer, which was covered with the snow, bringing it to the surface. Ford instantly caught sight of it and asked him to stop. On examining, they recognized it as the one they had seen three days before, lying on the ground, just as the snow was beginning to fall, left there by some hunter. From this simple talisman they knew that they were near the spot where their guide had left them.
Mr. Ford says, in his manuscript notes of the affair, "Had it not been for this interposition of Providence in our behalf, causing us to go out of the way and following up this very run and guiding our feet to this little sign, which lay concealed at least four inches under the snow, we might have wandered through the woods until night overtook us" ! But by this providential interference, and the help of some slight marks made by the hunters, they struck Salt creek about two miles above the works and followed it down, 31
482
CHANGE IN THE COUNTRY.
reaching the station at four o'clock in the afternoon, the fourth day of their wandering.
Great was the surprise of their friends at their appear- ance, who, knowing the severity of the cold and their desti- tution for food, were much alarmed for their lives. On examining their condition they found that the water from the blisters had frozen their stockings to their feet, so that they were separated with great difficulty. Poultices of slippery elm bark were applied in the best manner their means would afford. It was fifteen days before they could be removed, when some pack horses came up with provi- sions, and they rode home. Mr. Ford lost a portion of the bones from three toes, and the upper part of one ear. Davis, was deprived of one great toe, and all the others much mu- tilated. The former of these men who was then nineteen years old, and the latter some years more, both lived to see salt so abundant as to sell for twenty-five cents a bushel.
The foregoing narrative describes only one of the many trials which attended our forefathers in the settlement of the wilderness in the valley of the Muskingum. Numbers of these men were spared to see this region, which they found a dense forest, filled with savages and wild beasts, covered and dotted with towns and villages. Streams which no larger craft than the light canoe of the Indian had navigated since the creation, are now traversed by steamboats, whose noisy engines waken the sleeping echoes of the hills, and cause the shores to tremble with the strokes of their wheels. The lights of science and of art have removed the long reign of darkness, and the simple aborigines of the forest have been supplanted by civilization and the cultivation of the white man; and although we may deplore their misfortunes and pity their calamities in their removal from the land of their fathers, yet who shall say that the hand of God hath not
483
ORIGIN OF FACTS.
directed it? and his will ordained it? as productive of the greatest good to the human race, and to the glory of His great name.
P. S. The principal facts in the history of Waterford were furnished by the following persons, who were actors in these scenes : Phinehas and Nicholas Coburn, Deacon Wilson, Allen Devoll, Mrs. Story, Colonel Convers, and Mrs. M'Lure, the daughter of Judge Devoll. Dr. G. Bowen also afforded valuable aid in collecting facts.
484
TOPOGRAPHY OF COUNTRY.
CHAPTER XXIII.
Topography and primitive aspect of the country, within the Ohio company's purchase .- Character of the climate. - Excessive cold in February, 1818 .- Deep snow .- Table of temperature for twenty-seven years. - Amount of rain annually .- Late frosts .- Blooming of fruit trees .- Changes in the seasons in the last fifty years .- Range of barometer. - Wild animals .- Early abundance of game. - Bears. - Panthers .- Wolves .- Variety and abundance of fish .- Mauner of taking them.
THE face of the country, for many miles back from the Ohio, and along the principal streams, is broken and hilly. The hills are not placed in regular ranges, like those which form the chains of mountains, in the heads of the Monon- gahela river, and in various other places, but are without order, and would seem to have been formed by the wasting away of the rocky strata on which they are based, by run- ning water, and the action of the elements. They vary in hight from one hundred and fifty to four hundred feet, sink- ing in many places near the heads of streams, to low undu- lations. The bottom lands along the borders of the rivers are not very low, and only overflowed in high floods. Ex- tensive marshes, or ponds, are unknown in this part of the state. The lands are generally dry, and the larger portion of them will in a few years be under cultivation. At the period of the first settlement in 1788, one dense, continuous forest covered the whole region, entirely unbroken by the hand of civilization, except a small tract under the walls of Fort Harmer. The uplands presented a most enchanting appearance to the eye of the hunter or traveler. No brush- wood then marred the fair beauty of the forest; but the view was extended from hill to hill amid the tall shafts of
485
NATURAL PRODUCTIONS.
various species of trees without obstruction ; while the min- gled branches above afforded no unapt resemblance to the interior of the dome of an immense temple.
The yearly autumnal fires of the Indians, during a long period of time, had destroyed all the shrubs and under growth of woody plants, affording the finest hunting grounds ; and in their place had sprung up the buffalo clover, and the wild pea vine, with various other indigenous plants and grapes, supplying the most luxuriant and unbounded pas- tures to the herds of deer and buffalo, which tenanted the thousand hills on the borders of the Ohio. The wild turkey, in countless flocks, roamed at large amid these beautiful forests, feasting on the acorns, chestnuts, and fruit of the beech, which the bountiful hand of the Creator had fur- nished in quantities adequate to the wants of all his crea- tures. The rivers were filled with delicious fish, in such abundance, that at certain seasons of the year the smaller tributaries might be said to have been "alive with them," and in the language of an old and early settler, " the hook could hardly be dropped into the water without falling on the back of a fish." How abundantly had the Father of all provided for his children ! and nothing but that love of war and bloodshed, which was so assiduously cultivated by the Indian, combined with the natural depravity of the human heart, could have prevented the aboriginal owners of this beautiful country from having been among the most happy of mankind.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.