USA > Ohio > The Western Reserve and early Ohio > Part 9
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doubtfully to Ravenna, Portage County, and then, two years later, by Indian Trails watched by frightened deer, or along whose dim pathways ambled the lone bear, it was extended through Hudson, Summit County, to Cleveland.
It was a grim sort of route building that then went on for years through the wild-wood.
The first mail route established on the Western Reserve entered from Pennsylvania, by the way of Can- field, Mahoning County; Warren, Trumbull County ; and Deerfield, Portage County. The latter place was the end of the route. Four years later, the mail route was extended through to Cleveland. A Mr. Frity, of Jefferson, Ashtabula, was the first contractor on this route. So far, the writer has been unable to obtain fur- ther data concerning the gentleman. The first mail carrier was Eleazer Gilson of Canfield. These post- offices received their first mails October 30, 1801.
In 1805, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, and Hud- son, Summit County, were made post-offices, and the route was extended through Hudson and Cleveland, to Detroit.
After leaving Cleveland, the route followed the old Indian Trail along the lake shore to Sandusky, Maumee River Basin to Detroit. At this time there was not a house between Cleveland and Sandusky. Returning, the route was from Detroit, Sandusky, Cleveland, Painesville, Harpersfield and Jefferson to Warren. A trip was made once in two weeks. The mail day was a red letter day at these villages, and the population was out in full force to hear the news from the outside world. The mail carrier on his route was looked up to
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with more reverence than that they accorded to the President of the United States.
When the route ended at Ravenna, three days were consumed in making the trip from that place to Pitts- burg.
This route was established twenty-five years be- fore Akron became a post-office. Nine years after Ra- venna became a post-office the village boys who were playing around the new court house discovered a fine buck in the underbrush. The information soon spread, a crowd gathered, when all hands headed by David Greer, surrounded the deer and captured him alive. In this, we believe, that the history of Ravenna was unique; but before this, Bela Hubbard, who lived in Randolph, the same county, had been exhibiting in the County Seat a new squash he had succeeded in origin- ating in the new soil of the Western Reserve, from seeds he had obtained in the southern part of the State. The seed had failed to produce the same kind of squash from which they had been taken, but had apparently produced a new variety, which soon became famous, and is now known all over the country, as the "Hubbard Squash". This most desirable variety of winter squash is therefore a native of the Reserve.
Among the noted early mail carriers and stage drivers of the Reserve, was Jabez Gilbert, the friend and colleague of General Bierce. Along about 1827, these two friends in company with another, discovered a mysterious cavern in the gorge near Cuyahoga Falls. This cavern consisted of at least two large rooms, but owing to a lack of light, and fearing some dangerous pitfall in the dark, they adjourned their investigation
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to a later period. This cavern entrance was on the west bank of the gorge and consisted of but a small round hole sufficiently large to admit a man, but small enough to be easily hidden by a rock or large log. The strange part of the affair is, that although seventy-seven years have passed since this discovery by Gen. Bierce, no man, so far as is known, has ever re-discovered this mysterious cavern since.
In those days there was need for the mail carriers to be men of great courage, strong of resolution, in- nured to fatigue and danger, and fertile in expedients, clear and cool-headed at all times and under all cir- cumstances.
Such a man was Jabez Gilbert, or "Moses Jabe", as he was more familiarly known, from the fact that his "cuss-word", the oath that he always swore by, was "By Moses", and also by the fact that there were two other Jabes among the Gilberts. His will was so power- ful, his determination so strong, his resources so un- limited, that the man always accomplished everything he undertook. In his earlier life he was known as "the bridge-builder". He constructed all the bridges, or near- ly all the bridges in Portage County, and many within the present limits of Summit. He was also known as a contractor for large, heavy or difficult transportation. As a teamster for difficult and uncertain work, his fame spread over several states. Over a rough and broken country across unbridged streams, along newly de- veloped roadways, filled with stumps, stones, ruts, roots, brambles, bushes and sink-holes, he hauled all the steam boilers and heavy machinery designed for steamboat building on the lake at the mouth of the
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Cuyahoga. So stupendous was this undertaking, so heavy and immense the iron structural work, so great the distance through an unsettled country, and so poor and rough and uncertain the newly built roads of the Reserve, that no one else could be found with courage enough, or resolution enough to haul these great loads of iron from the mills in Pittsburg to the boat yards in Cleveland. To attempt to haul over such roads as then existed, by ox-team, one of those monster boilers was no child's play, and required a man in the fullest sense of the term. A man that no misfortune or ill luck could stop, or hinder, or discourage. There was no obstacle, however forbidding, ever prevented him from keeping to the letter and intent his contracts. Such was the stuff of which the early mail carriers and stage drivers were made of in the early days of the Reserve. Brave, resolute, honest, sturdy and obliging fellows, every one of them. The difficulties they encountered, the dan- gers they braved, the perils of uncertain roadways, the long distances traveled, the immensities of the forests, the loneliness of the solitudes, that nameless feeling of a God in nature, all had a tendency to strengthen their character and broaden their views of life. They never betrayed a trust, neglected a duty, nor proved untrue.
In the earliest days of his mail carrying, when guided by blazed trees, or else following Indian Trails when the savages were hostile, he frequently swam swollen streams, or shouldering his mail, left behind a crippled or worn out steed to wander at will, while he made his way swiftly and surely on foot, to the term- inus of his route.
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Nothing could stop him from delivering his mails but death. In cases of "break-downs", or accidents, or floods, with bridges gone, he would take his mail upon his back, and with ax in hand he would swim the swollen streams, and "go through or die", "By Moses"! as he was wont to say. His only object was the prompt delivery, and in this he counted neither life, nor cost, nor effort.
With his passengers the early stage driver was always self-sacrificing for their safety and solicitous for their comfort. He was ever obliging, jolly and com- municative. He was full of stories of the people and the country.
Like the Indian, "his footsteps fast faded to the untrodden west." His last stand was on the Rockies, the backbone of the continent, but the railroads have destroyed his business; and his usefulness with all its strange characteristics is a thing of the past, and as a type he has faded away.
For years Gilbert carried the mails from Pittsburg and Cleveland in a two horse coach, making one trip a week. Then the contract was raised to twice a week in a four horse coach ; later, to three times per week, and finally, to a daily line between these two points. These coaches passed through Trumbull, Mahoning, Portage and Summit Counties. About this time John Stokes and Horace Daniels were added to Gilbert's force. Soon were to be seen stage coaches running from Cleve- land to Canton, by the way of Hudson and Middlebury ; a line from Ravenna to Middlebury and a line from Medina via Old Portage to Warren; another line from Beaver, Pa., passing through Stow and Hudson; an-
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other from Fairport to Canton via Painesville, Chardon, Ravenna and Middlebury, A line ran from Mansfield to Cleveland ; another from Wooster to Cleveland, both passing through Medina. Later a line was run from Copley through the townships north, to Cleveland, and one from Sharon, also passing through northernly townships to Cleveland.
The writer himself, was an early mail carrier on the Reserve; running a coach into Cleveland, and to within six and one-half miles of the southern line of the Reserve. He can fully appreciate the governing im- pulses and efforts of these earlier carriers in trying to get the mail through on time. In going twenty miles through a very heavy snowfall we broke down seven times, and reached Cleveland twelve hours late. In fording the river before reaching the city, we were once swept down the stream with a team and coach load of passengers.
In going up a long, steep hill, the bolts holding the double tree broke. The team continued on its way up, while the coach started on its way down the hill. At the foot, was a bridge without a guard-rail, and the coach ran off the side of this, falling about fifteen feet into a rocky gulley. The coach was reduced to kindling wood, but strange to say, not a passenger was injured. Procuring a lumber wagon without a lock the journey was continued. The passengers were good-natured and a jolly time was had the balance of the way.
The mail was delivered on schedule time, although at every steep hill, and there were many of them, the driver would have to get out and run a fence rail
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through the spokes of the hind wheels in order to lock them.
At times the roads became so fearfully bad that a coach could not be pulled through. Then the mail would be carried on horseback. Once while crossing a bridge in this manner, the bridge which was afloat on account of high water, parted in the center; the weight of the horse and rider raising the structure both before and behind, in the shape of the letter V, in the apex of which were both rider and horse. The poor horse went through the bridge to the bottom of the stream. The rider jumped off on a floating plank and flung the mail to the shore; then jumping from plank to plank encour- aged the horse to make an effort to clear himself from the timbers. After a great effort the horse was brought to the edge of the stream, but becoming dis- couraged, he lay down in the stream, dropping his head under the rushing water, with undoubted suicidal in- tent. The water was not deep here, but the horse was bound to drown. Standing in the stream up to his waist in water, the rider held the horse's head up out of the water and shouted for help. It seemed a half a day, but was probably but a few minutes, when a man came along and by the use of fence rails, much yelling and urging, the horse was gotten out on terra firma and thus saved from a watery grave while in the service of Uncle Sam. The writer was once robbed and had many thrilling escapes from being held up.
A. G. Cherry was one of the most successful and patient of the Reserve Mail Contractors. Difficulties that would frighten an ordinary man did not seem to affect him in the least.
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In order to show the difficulties which even the Postmaster General of the United States labored under in those days, we publish the following letter :
Washington, D. C. General Post Office, April 14, 1806.
Sir :- Andrew Marshall, who contracted to carry the mail between Wheeling and Chillicothe, has failed to carry it according to contract, and it is probable is not competent to the undertaking. It has therefore be- come necessary to employ some person in his stead. I wish you to make inquiry and inform me if you find any person willing to undertake to carry the mail in stages ; with the names and prices which they demand. In the meantime, I wish you to have the mail carried on horse- back on that route, until it is so improved that stages can pass upon it with proper expedition. When on your return you will call upon the several supervisors of the roads and endeavor to persuade them to improve it. A line of stages would be of great advantage in carrying the mail and afford considerable accommodation to the inhabitants and I hope to see one erected as soon as the road is in proper order.
I do not wish you to set your stages in motion be- tween Chillicothe and Frankfort until they are in oper- ation between Wheeling and Chillicothe, but as soon as that is the case yours must be in motion. And it must be understood that if the establishment of a line of stages fails, the contract price must be reduced to a fair equivalent on the whole route from Wheeling to Frank- fort, Ky., for horse mails.
Your sincere friend, GID'N GRANGER, Post Master General.
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Seth Pease, the head surveyor of the Western Re- serve land in 1796, was brother-in-law to Granger, and was by him appointed as Assistant Post Master Gen- eral of the United States.
It is not known when Middlebury became a post- office, but it was probably in 1817.
Akron proper, became a post office in 1826, its first postmaster being Harvey H. Johnson. Its first mail carrier, Hiram J. Spicer.
Blowing a Conch Shell.
INDIANS OF THE CUYAHOGA VALLEY AND PORTAGE LAKES
The Indians of the Reserve, as a class, were friendly, peaceful, honest and helpful to the whites. They all loved the "firewater" of the white man, with two notable exceptions, that of Seneca and Ogontz, two chiefs of the Ottawas. When under the influence of drink, the Indians became vicious, uncertain of temper and unreliable. They frequently sought to terrorize, especially if they could catch women or children alone, in isolated cabins. Our narrative will deal, more nat- urally, with Indians of the latter class, but the rank and file of the Indians did not approve of the actions of these "drunken bucks".
Half a mile north of the Village of Boston, in the Cuyahoga Valley, was "Ponty's Camp". It was sit- uated on the west side of the river. It was a noted place in the early times and its site was given on many early maps and was generally known throughout the entire Northwest.
Half a mile south of this camp, on the same side of the river, was the Ottoway Indian Village under Chief Seneca.
Both camps were inhabited when the whites came to this country.
When white men first came to the Cuyahoga Val- ley, a tract of land comprising some thirty or forty acres, lying in the valley on the east side of the river, a short distance below the center, was cleared of trees,
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A QUIET STRETCH ON THE CUYAHOGA
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and was under cultivation. It was an Indian corn-field, and it is stated that in about 1804, settlers living in Hudson went to this field and purchased corn of the natives. How long it had been under cultivation is not known. The Indians also had their cornfields in the valley of the Cuyahoga below where Cuyahoga Falls now stands. One of the Indian dances was described by Christian Cackler, who was an eye witness: "They were of the Ottaway tribe, some fifteen or eighteen of them. They were provided with a deerskin suit, like a little boy's, all whole, but open before, and supplied with openings for the legs and arms. When put on it was tied in front. It was ornamented around the legs and arms with fringe some three inches in length, to which was attached a variety of animal claws, such as those of the turkey, coon, deer, bear, etc. One would put on this suit, and jump, hop and kick about in a sort of "Highland Fling", while two others furnished the in- spiration by patting and humming. The success of the performer seemed to depend upon his ability to get the greatest possible amount of clatter out of the claws at- tached to the fringe. When tired, he would doff the garment, take a drink of whiskey provided, and give place to another. In this way each would try his agility and gradually get beastly drunk. This they kept up for two days. Before the proceedings began they had placed all their weapons in the hands of their squaws, who were quiet spectators of the scene. At the end of two days all were drunk."
Upon the breaking out of the War of 1812 the ma- jority of the Indians of the Western Reserve left, as it was supposed, to join the British. After the war five
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only returned to the Cuyahoga. These formed a camp in the big bend of that stream where Capt. Mills dis- covered them. After dark his Indian hunters fired up- on them, killing four ; the other made his escape.
A little later a few returned to Richfield but soon took up their march toward the setting sun; 1817 saw the last of them to leave, and the Western Reserve from thence was to know no more the tread of the Red Man of the forest.
Civilization swept on, a mighty power, that naught could hinder or stay.
The Indians of the Reserve buried their dead in different ways. All were interred ; some were buried in stone cists; some were lain in a horizontal position, some in a sitting posture.
The wife of Bigson, the Seneca Chief, was a very dignified but a large stout woman. When she died the Indians, at a great expense, procured for her a new calico gown in which she was wrapped. Then they actually covered her arms and ankles with silver beads and brooches. She was buried in a coffin made of bark, being first rolled up in a large blanket. The grave was dug only about three feet deep and was so arranged that a hole remained, out of which the departed could see the summons to arise and go out to that Indian heaven, the happy hunting grounds of the Great Spirit.
For some reason the savages did not take kindly to the immediate vicinity of the southern shore of the Great Lakes as a location for their villages. For reas- ons unknown, they sought sites far in the interior for this purpose. The most beloved spot for them was on
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the Cuyahoga, its confluents, or the nearby fresh water lakes.
The Indians of the Reserve were intensely migra- tory in their tastes and character. They were here today ; tomorrow they would be found down on the Tus- carawas; in a week amongst the Indian towns of the Muskingum or Miami; later, perhaps, floating down the Ohio, or roaming in the vicinity of Sandusky or Detroit.
In every historical occurrence within the state, in Colonial or pre-Colonial times, we catch glimpses of some of the chiefs or braves of this strangely restless people. This locality was undoubtedly their fastness. The Cuyahoga villages furnished a well-hidden and se- cure retreat, far from the trails white borderers were wont to travel. Here were their homes, their families and their cornfields. Within a radius of thirty miles were clustered one hundred fresh water lakes, varying in size from the mere pond to sheets of water stretch- ing miles in extent and filled with fish of most savory qualities. These lakes were frequented by wild aquatic fowl of many varieties. These shores, these forests abounded with a greater variety of game and in greater numbers than were to be found in any other section of the Ohio valley, outside of the great Blue Lick Sulphur Springs of Kentucky.
The Indians of the Reserve consisted of Senecas, Ottawas, Onondagas, Oneidas, Cayiugas, Chippewas, Mingoes, Massangas, Shawnees and Delawares.
As early as 1760 the Delawares held white prison- ers in their Indian village on the Great Bend of the Cuyahoga. The exact date of their arrival is shrouded in mystery.
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Within fifty-five miles south from the mouth of the Cuyahoga river, three great Indian Trails crossed the territory of what is now Northern Ohio.
The southern trail was the Great Fort McIntosh, Muskingum and Sandusky War Trail, which crossed the Muskingum near the junction of the Tuscarawas and the Big Sandy river.
The Central Trail ran from Old Portage to Fort McIntosh by way of Big Falls to Fish Creek, where it divided, the northern branch running to the lower Cuy- ahoga towns, and from thence to its mouth. Continu- ing eastward from Fish Creek it crossed the upper waters of the Cuyahoga at Standing Stone; thence down the valley of Breakneck Creek, crossing the Sum- mit near Ravenna; it passed out of that city on its southeast corner, and on through Edinburg, crossing Silver Creek a mile and a half north of the center road ; thence running through the northern part of Palmyra, it crossed through Milton, on through the Salt Springs of Trumbull, crossing the Mahoning River three miles above Youngstown; thence down the northern bank of that stream to Fort McIntosh (Beaver) ; thence on to Pittsburg.
The Northern Trail followed the Lake Shore from Buffalo Creek (Buffalo), via Presque Isle (Erie), cross- ing the Cuyahoga at its mouth; thence following the shore line to Sandusky Bay, where all three of the trails joined ; thence on by the way of the Miami of the lakes, now Maumee; and from thence to Detroit.
These were great National highways long before the hardy, daring borderers climbed the summits of the
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distant mountains, and ventured west of the rugged Alleghenies.
Over these great aboriginal roadways traveled ancient nations of red-men on their way to war, or on their peaceful migrations from the east to the west.
Over these centuries past, many men of ancient American Nations, came on their way east, to some sudden Indian foray on the outlying settlements of ad- venturous whites who had dared to push their way even beyond the Susquehanna River.
From 1760 to 1790 the Indians occupied numerous villages on the Cuyahoga and its confluent streams. Every little stream entering the Cuyahoga had its villages, consisting of from two or three to half, or a dozen wigwams. Some even reaching from fifty to a hundred wigwams. North Akron was occupied by "Old Cuyahoga Town". The Big Falls had two, Silver Lake two, whose combined population must at one time have numbered one thousand souls. The population of the Silver Lake villages alone, has been stated at five hun- dred. The Cuyahoga was dotted with its villages. Chief Wam-te-kek had his Delaware village on Turkey Foot Lake; Chief Capt. Pipe, King of New Portage the most blood-thirsty of all, had his village in Coventry, near where Louis Young's road house now is, while at "Apple Orchard" Chief Beaver Hat held full sway. A band of Chippewas had their village on Chippewa Lake, in Medina County. A Seneca Village was located on the upper waters of the Cuyahoga, in Streetsboro Town- ship. Its Chief was Bigson. His sons were John Amur and John Mohawk. He, his two sons and his three sons-in-law, George Wilson, Nickshaw and Wobmung,
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were historical characters on the border. At the mouth of the Little Cuyahoga, was an Ottowa Village under Chief Stignish. In Windham Township, Portage Coun- ty, was an Indian village, at which place was an old apple orchard and cleared spaces for cornfields. An Indian trail ran across the northern border of this town- ship, probably running to the Seneca village on the Cuyahoga, in Streetsboro township. Along this trail settlers discovered traces of many villages. In the northeastern part of this county a band of Cayugas, under Big Cayuga, was wont to roam. After Captain Delawn Mills killed Chief Big Cayuga, his nephew, "Snipnose" Cayuga succeeded to the Chieftainship. On the line of the great Ft. McIntosh and Sandusky Trail in Palmyra township, was an Onondaga Village. Many of these Indians had both their summer and winter vil- lages situated in different localities. Some had sev- eral villages among which they divided their time, add- ing variety to a rather monotonous existence.
The Indians frequently established winter villages on Wintergreen Point, near the Falls of Elyria.
When the surveying party of Moses Cleveland came in 1796, they found a permanent Indian Village of some thirty well built cabins on Conneaut Creek. 'These were a tribe of Massauga Indians under Chief l'iqua, a very noble looking and somewhat notable Chieftain in many respects. The tribe claimed to have inhabited their village from a time beyond the memory of their eldest son.
Bath had a Mingo village that acknowledged Logan for Chief. Northampton and Boston had their Ottawa villages, Chief Stigwanish, or Seneca, as he was
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better known to the whites, had his home at the latter village, while a half mile to the northwest was a vil- lage known as "Ponty's Camp".
While Logan and Pontiac are claimed as Reserve Indians by reason of their villages on the Cuyahoga, yet it is a well-known fact that prominent chiefs had two or more, sometimes a half dozen villages situated on dif- ferent rivers, and in different parts of the State at the same time. The Indians were migratory in their char- acter; not only did they possess different villages at the same time, but they were apt to change their vil- lages as the needs of the chase or of war might dictate.
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