USA > Ohio > Logan County > The historical review of Logan County, Ohio > Part 18
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The first plows had wooden mold-boards and were tipped with iron points. The first plows of the country were sold by Robert Patterson as early as 1826 or 1828. They were made in Columbus, and had the wood- en mold-boards and the cast iron share. . About 1835 or '36 John Powers began the manufacture of wagons and plows in Belle- fontaine, having in his employ Stewart Pat- terson and Josiah Shuffleton, who became expert plow and wagon makers. These plows had cast iron mold-boards and operation but once. In Maine, in the Amos- wrought iron shares tipped with steel. -
For many years this business was con- tinued by Powers and MeCumne and was finally transferred to Charles Wilson and William Pollock, who conducted the busi- ness until Wilson went west. when the busi- ness was conducted by Mr. Pollock until his death.
As early as 1831 or '32. William Walker had a wagon-shop in Bellefontaine on the corner of Chillicothe and Mad River streets and conducted it until his death in the fif- ties.
Such things as cultivators and improved machinery were unknown. It was not until about 1834 or '35, that improved machinery of any kind began to appear.
Wheat was threshed out by the flail. en implement made of two pieces of wood four fect long. fastened together at the ends with thongs of raw hide, and the ex- pert flailsman would swing it over his head and beat out with one of these about eight or ten bushels of wheat per day, or it was tramped out with horses. the sheaves of wheat being scattered over the barn floor and the horses were driven round and round un- til the wheat was tramped out of the straw, after which it was cleaned by winnowing through a mill or was tossed into the air with sheets and the wind blew away the dust and chaff. Both processes were slow and tedie us, but in the early days were re- garded as entirely sufficient for the purpose of the farmer.
Wheat was cut with a sickle or small circular instrument not unlike our present grass hooks, only much lighter and with teeth on the file order. An expert with one of these sickles could cut something like an acre per day. I never saw one of these in took country, settled by the Acadian French
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HISTORICAL RETIEIF OF LOGAN COUNTY.
where everything is done by hand. I saw a ufacture of the reaping and mowing ma- man cutting wheat with a sickle.
Some time about 1835-6. one Joseph Nelson, who lived some four or five miles north of Bellefontaine, began making cradles for cutting wheat. It was a scythe with four wooden fingers above for cutting. catching and delivering the wheat. and it was a great step in advance of the old meth- od of the sickle. With one of these a man could out from six to eight acres of wheat per day. Nelson's cradles at once became quite famous and the demand for them con- tinued until the death of Mr. Nelson only a few years since. Behind the cradler follow- ed the Finder who raked the wheat into bun- dles and bound it into sheaves. Sometimes an expert crafter would require two follow- ers, one to rake and one to bind.
At a later day came the mower and the renper, the first for cutting grass and the second for cutting wheat. The first cut the grass and left it on the ground. The reaper gathered the wheat and left it in winrows. as the cradler had done. to be followed by the linder on foot to rake and bind.
THE FIRST REAPER AND BINDER.
The first reaper and binder in Logan county was made by the McCormick Reap- er and Mower Company, of Illinois. It was made and gotten ready for the harvest of 1879. Edward H. Knight, a patent experi. who had had years of experience in the Gov- ernment patent office, owned and lived on the old farm of George Folsom, just north of Zanesfield. and Mr. Knight had a field of wheat in which it was proposed to try the Dew reaper and binder.
Mr. William M. Whitely. Mr. Asa S. Bushnell and a number of gentlemen from Springfield, who were interested in the man-
chines were present by special invitation to- gether with a number of persons, among whom was the writer, to sce the trial of the new machine.
It was followed around the field and cut and bound the sheaves and delivered them from the machine, and was declared to be a success. It used wire instead of twine for binding.
With some minor changes it was man- uifactured and put on the market and with its improvements still continues to be one of the most perfect machines made for this pur - prise. It was certainly the first reaper and linder in Logan county and probably one of the very first in this western country. It was not until 1880 that Mr. William N. Whiley perfected the Champion Reaper and Binder, and in that year two of these ma- chines were sold in Logan county, one to Mr. Amos Cherry, of Washington township and one to Mr. Oliver Corwin of Rush Creek township. These machines have a capacity of about twenty-five acres of wheat per day.
There was great opposition to their in- troduction, it being feared that they would seriously interfere with the labor of the country, and it was some time before this objection was put aside.
It would now be impossible to gather the great- wheat crop of the United States with- out these machines and on the immense wheat plains of the far west frequently as many as fifteen or twenty machines can be seen in a single field.
A word here as to Mr. Edward H. Knight. He was one of the most gifted men in the country, a man of marvel- ous ability and tremendous mental force. lle had been engaged in the study of ma- chinery and mechanics for many years, and
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HISTORICAL REVIEW OF LOGAN COUNTY.
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was recognized as an authority upon all the manufacture of threshers under the name these question. He was the author of and style of Humphreys. Scott and Com- pany. Knight's Mechanical Dictionary, was Sec- retary of the United States Commission to At the first county fair, held in the woods just south of the city, October 31. 1851, they were awarded the first premium for two horse threshers. the Paris Exposition, and the compiler of the volume of poetry .which is known as Bryant's.
Ile was for a number of years a resident of Logan county and died suddenly in 1881. being cut off in the very midst in some of his most important works.
FIRST THRESHING MACHINE.
The first threshing machine came into the county about 18440, and was a crude af- fair at best, but like all new inventions created great interest. It beat out the wheat with flail-like wings, and was a cumbersome affair. It had to go through a long season- ing process before it became of any real ser- vice as it wasted the wheat and did not thresh the straw clean of its grain.
About 1842 Joseph Humphrey began the manufacture of threshing machines in a shop on Columbus street, where the Mur- dock drug store is now located. These were of the earlier pattern, but unlike the wing-like threshers they had a drum cylin- der made of wood. into which were driven iron spikes, which beat and pounded the grain from the wheat.
The present threshers all have the cylin- der with teeth. but the cylindr and teeth are of steel.
Shortly after this Mr. Humphrey moved his shop across the railroad on Columbus street and continued to manufacture thresh- ers for a number of years. About 1850 in company with Joseph Scott, and Solomon Casebeer he moved to the present location of Hennesey's foundry. where they opened a foundry and machine shop, and continued
William Kerr and James Stevenson ran threshing machines as early as 1843 or 1844. and a man named Yoder in Union township in 1850. A threshing machine on the farm of Duncan Dow. father of Captain Peter Dow, while at work on his farm in Harrison township. west of Bellefontaine. in 1847, burst its cylinder, and Mr. Dow was killed.
In 18448 Thomas Baird brought a thresh- er and separator from Martin's Ferry. Ohio, hauling it overland in wagons, and for a number of years was engaged in thresh- ing in this part of the county. He was as- sisted by his brothers-in-law, John and Sam- vel Mays. Before that time the threshers had simply taken the grain from the straw. leaving it to be cleaned by some other method.
As compared with these early machines the modern and improved threshers of to- day are leviathans. The old threshers beat out one hundred bushels per day. The new and modern threshers have a capacity of fifteen hundred to two thousand bushels. cleaned. and sacked ready for market.
In the wake of these new machines fol- lowed the mechanical wonders which new mechanics were constantly turning out.
MODERN IMPLEMENTS.
The farmer now rides a sulky plow, and sits under the shade of an umbrella while he turns furrow after furrow in his fiells. He plants his corn with a machine which
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HISTORICAL REVIEW OF LOGAN COUNTY.
measures the rows with mechanical accu- gan at the top and came down along the raey and drops it with exactness and precis- ion. He rides a cultivator through the rows of his standing corn and sees it grow under his eyes as he turns the fresh earth about its roots. He gathers his hay with a patent rake, and rides a todder to toss it in the air and eure it in the sun : he loads his hay with a loader and puts it into his barn with a lift. He cuts and binds his corn with a binder and shreds it for his cattle with a ma- chine.
A prosperous farmer told me not long since that he had done all the work upon his farm without having any assistance, had planted, cultivated and gathered his crops. and had not walked across his farm a half a dozen times during the entire season.
What a contrast to the farming of early days and what a splendid tribute to the men and women who came into the wilderness to conquer it for this later civilization and whose sons and daughters have made the Great Northwest the proudest and the rich- est of all the countries of the earth.
TRAVELING TINKERS AND SHOEMAKERS.
One of the peculiar methods of conduct- ing business in certain trades in early days was the traveling tinker and the shoemaker.
These people came about with some con- siderable regularity and were employed for the purpose of fitting out the household.
The tinker fixed the clock. repaired the kitchen utensils, and mended everything that required attention about the household and then passed on to the next family.
line until he had shod the whole family. The farmer had his coarse cow-hide boots for work in the clearings or on the farm. and the wife something equally as strong. but with a better finish, and lighter touch for her household work, while the boys and girls were shod in the brogans which were intended to keep out cold and snow in the winter wear. Such a thing as blacking was unknown: it was the tallow of the same cow that polished these shoes for Sunday or for cvening wear, and the boys and girls of the neighborhood who danced at the gatherings and "tripped the light fantastic." did so on as substantial an under-pinning as could be made out of the hides of leather cured in the old-fashioned method of early days.
It was not until a much later period that the shoemaker and the tinker found a local habitation and remained and became a necessary part of the business of the country.
CHAPTER XIII.
HORSES-OXEN - CATTLE - THE JERSEYS - SHEEP - HOGS-POULTRY-BUTTER AND EGGS-LAND VALU- ATIONS - WIILAT - CORN - OATS - HAY -MA- PLE SUGAR-ORCHARDS.
In the beginning of the century and in the early days of Logan county's experience the number of animals was limited. while the quality was the most ordinary kind. The Indians had from time immemorial been possessed of ponies which were used as beasts of burden, in the transportation of
The shoemaker was a still more impor- tant person. The head of the household had taken his hides to the tannery and had them turned into leather for shoes or harness. and when the shoemaker came along he be- comps and plunder from place to place.
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HISTORICAL REVIEW OF LOGAN COUNTY.
They rode them in many of their expedi- of the Hambletonian stock, was for many tions and used them for all purposes. As years a favorite breeding stallion and did much to improve the stock of horses in this county. He lived to be some thirty years of age and made a fortune for his owner. Isaiah Shafer. of Huntsville, im- ported a Morgan, a handsome dark bay horse, which for style and beauty was greatly admired.
they were all small and of pony-like size it is more than probable that they were de- scendants of stock brought from Spain by the Spaniards, and which had as wild ani- mals been scattered over the plains of North America. They were substantially of the same breed as the South American mustang and in the west these ponies are frequently called the mustang.
A better and larger stock of horses came with the new settlers, but the quality was none of the best. It was not until a much later day that there was much improvement in the stock of horses in Logan county.
About 1840 there was brought into the county some Morgan stock, which did much to improve the breed in this section of the country. The original Morgans came from Vermont, and it is doubtful if a more useful and profitable stock of horses. for general purposes, were ever raised anywhere than the Morgans. They had style. endurance. speed and good con- stitutions, and were much sought after for riding, driving and general use. A rem- nant of this blood is still found in the county. and wherever found it is an evi- dence that "blood will tell."
At a later day came the Percheron and Clydesdale draft horses, a most useful and profitable strain of horses for heavy work in any department. They mature quickly and bring good prices in the market and are always in demand in the city for heavy draft purposes.
The Kentucky blood became a favorite for driving purposes, and some fine stock of this blood was brought in by the Piatts. Wellword. Foulk. Smith, Taylor and others. Wellwood's Harry Clay, a black stallion
. The Hamers were horsemen, and Mr. Arthur Hamer is now perhaps the most noted breeder in the county, with a fine strain of Kentucky thoroughbreds.
About 1882 Messr -. O. P. Taylor and Company, of West Liberty, entered quite extensively in the importation of heavy draft horses, and Mr. Taylor made several trips to Europe and brought back some fine Clydesdale, Norman French and Per- cherens, and sold them throughout the county. From this stock sprang a large and valuable strain of draft horses which is the foundation of our present supply.
The farmers of Logan county, espe- cially the Dunkards and Amish, have for many years been very largely engaged in the raising of these splendid animals for market, and it is probable that as fine drait horses are found and shipped from Logan county as from any county in the State.
Of the Clydesdale. Percheron and Morgan as draft horses Mr. Trigg MeAd- ams. H. II. Bell of the eastern part of the county. Mr. D. S. Deisom of DeGraff and Mr. John Brubaker of Lakeview, have all been extensively engaged in the breeding and improvement of this strain of horses. Mr. MeAdams has also been breeding roadsters, as has Mr. E. C. Dally of West Mansfield.
Mr. Edward Flickinger, upon his farm west of Bellefontaine. and Mr. Henry
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IHISTORICAL REFILIT OF LOGAN COUNTY.
Timberman have for several years been largely engaged in raising horses, and brought in some fine blood, especially the coach horse.
Martin B. Rowand was another fancier of gord stock, and for many years was en- gaged in raising good horses.
The county, however, as a whole is not up to the highest possible standard as a breeder and raiser of good horses and especially of roadsters and drivers. This elass has been neglected. and there is fine opportunity for much greater improve- ment in the line of fine blooded drivers.
With the fine roads in Logan county there would apparently be no excuse for any lack of fine driving horses, and it would appear as if the time was ripe for the introduction of the highest standard of thoroughbred drivers.
In 1900 there were seven thousand and fifty-eight horses in Logan county. some of them high bred. and many of them valuable and useful in the larger class of draft horses.
OXEN.
A great deal of the carly farm work and the heavy drudgery of clearing was done with oxen. They were quiet and of slower movement and better calculated to work amidst the brush and logs of the early elearings, and as the roads were in spring and fall deep in mud and mire. these patient animals were better able to do the work required than the lighter and less capable horse. About the mills and for the purposes of heavy hauling. for breaking the new ground and for general purposes of the new country it is doubtful if any better animals were ever known
than the patient, plodding and steady moving oxen of our grandfathers.
To be a good ox driver was an accom- plishment of the early days, and to handle them with skill and celerity was one of the things to boast about at the firesides of the early settlers.
I have frequently heard it said of John Enoch, Jr., that he was one of the most skillful and successful ox drivers in the county. It is certain that he was a man of the most wonderful natural accomplish- ments, with the frame of a giant and the address of a Chesterfieldl. he had managed to work his way through all degrees and conditions from comparative poverty to wealth and independence. Ox teams were in use at almost every farm in the county. and for many years these patient and use- ful animals continued to be of service as beasts of burden to the early settlers.
Still later, within my day and genera- tion. the ox team was quite a common means of transportation, and it was no un- usual sight to see many of them engaged in the heavier work of the country.
Jonathan and William Ansley, when clearing up the lands north of Bellefon- taine, and i ear the present eement works. used quite a number of ox teams in this work. and I distinctly recall a great politi- eal meeting at Bellefontaine when William Ansley came dragging into town a steam engine and hitched to it as a motive power of transportation were ten yoke of oxen.
CATTLE.
The cattle which the Indians had or the stock which the earlier settlers brought were of anything but desirable breeds.
It is perhaps doubtful if thoroughbreds
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HISTORICAL REVIEWOF LOGAN COUNTY.
would have thrived on the rough treat- ment and exposure necessarily a part of the frontier. The winters were long and hard, and the cattle were frequently com- pelled to browse on brush and put up with very scanty fare, and they came out in the spring with anything but glossy coats and fat, sleek sides. The price of cattle was low, a cow being worth about ten dol- lars and a calf from fifty cents to one dollar. Stock. however, multiplied rapidly, and there was within a few years quite an amount of cattle in the country.
It was in a manner "the survival of the fittest." the hardier strains having weath- ered the storms and exposures, while the weaker and poorer went out before the blasts.
As soon as the country began to Le cleared away, and the farms commenced to look something like the farms in the eastern country from which the settlers came, they began to look about for an improvement in their stock.
One of the first in Logan country to pay attention to the blood of the cattle was Rob- ert Casebolt, of Harrison township. He had brought into the county some blooded stock of the short-horn strain and was particularly interested in improving the breed. At the very first fair hell in Bellefontaine, just in the rear of the Rutan and Riddle block. about 1849. the stock was exhibited, and Robert Casebolt's di-play attracted much at- tention. William Boggs, in the western part of the county, also brought in some choice cattle and for many years was engag- ed in this business. John Enoch ._ Jr., was for many years the largest breeder and deal- er in cattle in the county, and assisted very materially in improving the strains. The Mckinnons, the Newells, Piatts, McCol-
lochs, MeBeths. Taylors, Thomas P. Miller, Luther Smith, Moores. Makemsons, Par- rishes, Pools, Hendersons and Phims, were all largely interested in the breeding and raising of cattle and all materially assisted in raisng the standard to the mark attained by the best.
The short-horns were regarded as the lest strain of cattle for beef, and this stock very largely prevailed and continues to this day. There are now quite a number of fine herds of Logan county, of different strains, some for beef and some for milk and butter. Mr. David Fuson. E. C. Shawver and W. R. Cordrey have some fine short-horn cattle. while Reed Brothers have a herd of Gallo- ways. M. C. Bell has a choice herd of Red Polled Angus.
THE JERSEYS.
The Jersey is a breed which is compar- atively of late introduction. It comes from the island of Jersey off the south coast of England. and is especially noted for its milk and butter qualities. It has become a most useful and important factor of the but- ter industry of the country.
It is small and generally of a dun or cream color, and is very docile and easily cared for. Its yield of butter fats is extra- ordinarily large and it is not infrequent for a choice Jersey to average two pounds or more of butter a day, while some reach a much higher average. For beef it is objec- tionable, on account of its size, but it is easily kept, and for purposes of milk and Lutter is not excelled by any other breed.
The Mckinnons, the 'Moores, Doctor Blair. Doctor Richardson, Mr. Bailey, Mr. Charles Folsom, John R. Shawver and many others have some choice cattle of this strain. and Logan county has been.pretty fairly sup-
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HISTORICAL REVIEW OF LOGAN COUNTY.
plied with butter cows of this breed, and they have contributed largely to the output of butter in Logan county.
In the year 1001 there were sixteen thousand four hundred and sixty-six head of cattle in Logan county of all kinds, and while they are no longer so largely raised for beef as before, they are very profitable. and contribute no small amount to the wealth of the people.
SHEEP.
Logan county has for many years been largely engaged in the sheep and wool in- dustry.
The earlier breeds were long, coarse- wooled sheep, and the wool product was generally used at home, there being no near market for the crop produced in the county. The early farmers all kept small flocks of sheep for the purpose of raising sufficient wool for family use. In the early days, the wolves were especially destructive of sheep and these prowling marauders were contin- ually making depredations upon the sheep- folds carrying .off lambs and killing the older sheep. In due time the wolves disap- peared before the continued and vigorous attacks of the settlers and sheep began to be more profitable.
The wool was manufactured into all kinds of articles for home wear. The wo- men wore woolen dresses in the winter time, and linsey-woolsey, a mixture of wool and cotton. The men wore the home-spun cloth which came from the looms of the good wives of the household, and the whole fam- ily wore woolen hose.
In 1837. Raphael Moore, of Union town- ship. brought from Pennsylvania some Sax- ony Merinos, mixedl them with the coarser
sheep and to a limited extent greatly im- proved the flocks in his neighborhood.
The price of sheep at this time was about fifty cents per head after shearing. with the lambs thrown in. Mr. Edward Patterson, who has been one of the foremost sheep- breeders, in 1839 or 1840. purchased of Peter Detrick, Sr., a flock of sheep which averaged him thirty-three and one-third cents a head. He had. in 1838. bought one of the improved ewes and a lamb of Mr. Raphael Moore for two dollars; the price of wool was twenty cents per pound and good sheep yielded about a three-pound fleece. In 1838 choice wethers were sixty-five cents each. It was not until away along in the 'scs that the real improvement in the sheep and weol industry began.
About 1854 Solomon Cook, of Union county, brought into Logan county some Vermont Merinos, and sold to our sheep farmers. Mr. Thomas Me. Ara and Elijah Beal, of Harrison township. bought some of these as did Mr. Ellis Akey. Stephen Har- riman, Joshua Dickinson, Resolve Critch- field. and William Fisher, of Perry town- ship.
Samuel Johnson and William Pollock, of Richland township, came from Harrison county, and brought with them improved Merinos and thus added to the stock in Lo- gan county.
In 1860 there were brought into the county from Vermont and New England the Spanish Merinos to be mixed with and im- prove the stock of our coarser breeds. The Merino was originally brought from Spain in the year 1803. by Colonel Humphryes, of Connecticut, the United States Minister to Spain. It was a small. hardy and fine-wool- ed sheep, and was especially adapted to our climates and soils. When mixed with the
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HISTORICAL REVIEW OF LOGAN COUNTY.
coarse-wooled sheep of the west it produced not only a finer-wooled, but a hardier and more desirable sheep, and one better adapted for all purposes.
The old breed of sheep was not fit for inutton and ready for slaughter until two or three years okl, as it required time to fatten them after they had gone through the hardening process of the severe winters of the frontier.
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