USA > Ohio > Logan County > The historical review of Logan County, Ohio > Part 19
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The first importation of Vermont Meri- nos into Ohio came abont 1860, and the prices they commanded were something wonderful. It was not an unusual thing for the owner of a good flock of sheep to pay from one hundred to five hundred dollars for a single buck for the purpose of crossing with his flock. The product thus secured was a half blood Merino, a sheep of bet- ter form, and finer wool than his original stock. By selection and careful breeding the flock-master was soon enabled to bring his flock to a much higher standrad of ex- cellence, and his wool at once began to com- mand a better price in the market. The coarser wools were light and three or four pounds were the usual weights of a fleece of wool from the old original stock. The Merino wool was closer and finer and the average fleece from a well selected and care- fully-bied cross would weigh six or seven pounds, so that not only the quality but the quantity was largely improved.
It was also possible to prepare these sheep for the market and fatten them as yearlings, and thus they were in this respect alone far more profitable than the original stock.
The whole country soon found that it was more profitable to raise and keep good sheep than poor ones, and that the the ex-
pense of the keeping was no greater in the one case than in the other.
Some of the sheep-raisers who were first in the movement for the improvement of Logan county, were Edward Patterson, Al- ner Gregg, Elijah Beal. Joshua Dickinson, Ellis Akey. William Fisher. Thomas Me- Ara, Raphael Moore, John and Hugh Neu - ell. Stephen Harriman. Luther Smith, and many others who made a specialty of sheep husbandry.
The coming of railways opened up an eastern market for wool and the surplus pro- duct of the west began to move eastward to Philadelphia. New York and Boston where it found a market in the woolen manufac- tures of the east.
The wool industry has always been a safe and generally profitable crop for the flock-master, but there have been times when the market has been depressed to such a point a- to make it a very unprofitable and discouraging business. At such times the industry suffers by reason of the lowness of prices and the lack of demand for the product. and the flocks are given over to slaughter.
The competition of Australia and South America with their mild elimate and cheap- er labor has at times been so discouraging as to almost destroy the wool industry in Ohio.
It is no longer regarded as profitable to raise sheep and keep the flocks for the wool alone: the mutton has become a most im- portant part of the industry, and our tlock- masters are now crossing their flocks so as to raise a larger sheep, whose lambs will be ready for market at six or eight months old and weigh one hundred or more pounds. The wool of the new crosses are not so fine as the Merinos, but commands a good price
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in the market. and frequently produces as quality, and our Logan county flock-masters high as nine to ten pounds per fleece. have found it profitable to keep them.
One of the best and most profitable breeds and one for which Logan county is noted is the Delaine. This breed is simply a pure Merino bred from selected stock and so carefully chosen that by wathchfulness and attention the old-fashioned Spanish Merino has lost its many folds and creases. and has become a smooth and rounded sheep of good size and proportion, with an es- pecially fine and long-wooled fleece. Mr. George \. Ilenry was the first in Logan county, together with Mr. William Horn, to go into this experiment and improvement. and so successfully has this been carried for- ward, that the Delaine Association of Ohio, now has flecks numbering more than sixteen thousand which are continually growing in numbers. There are several fine flocks of Delaines in Logan county, and the product of these flocks is sold to all parts of the country and command good prices. George A. Henry, Robert and James Braden, Wil- liam and John Horn are the leading breed- « ers in this particular strain, and have found it profitable and satisfactory.
There are a number of other breeds in the county. . Mr. J. G. Harris, of West Lib- erty, on the county line, has a fine flock of Ramboulet. William and Hugh Newell have a special fine strain of the Cotswold. which they are mixing with the Ramboulet which makes a strong, hearty and large-sized sheep.
Mr. William Lyles has a fine flock of Cotswold, and S. V. and L. P. Taylor are breeders of pure Spanish Merinos.
The Delaines, the Ramboulet, the Lincoln and the Southdowns are all fine mutton sheep, of good carcass and most excellent
In 1893 there were about sixty thousand sheep in Logan county, and they produced over three hundred thousand pounds of wool. The low prices of wool which fol- lowed the reduction of the tariff, and the special exemptions in the wool duties so de- pressed the price of wool that it was no lenger profitable for the flock-master, and the flecks were driven to the shambles; after this slaughter of the flocks, there were only twenty-nine thousand one hundred and sixty-eight sheep in Logan county in the Year 1900, and they produced one hundred and forty-eight thousand pounds of wool. less than one-half of the wool clipped off in 1803. This great shrinkage was a most substantial one of the most important of all our industries.
The sheep are valuable for many pur- poses on the farm, and are regarded as be- ing especially useful in renewing and im- proving old and worn-out fields by their droppings, while in addition to their fleeces they contribute very largely by their mut- ton to the meat market and thus assist very materially in regulating the prices of meats to the consumer.
HOGS.
The stock of hogs which the early set- tlers found or brought into the country were of the breed known as "Elm Peelers." They were long, lean, lank, and slab-sided specimens of the hog, and being slim as Kentucky thoroughbreds, were almost as swift of foot.
They were permitted to run at large and to care for themselves and in time became as wild as the deer of the woods. The meat from these hogs was not over-burdened with
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fat, and the price of the smoked hams and sides, when properly cured. was about two cents per pound : as the hogs were permit- ted to run at large in the woods and feed upon acorns and nuts called "mast." the flesh of the hogs not infrequently had the flavor of the particular food upon which it had in a measure been fed and fattened.
Bacon was one of the staples of trade. and it was exchanged at the stores as were Intter, eggs. skins, ginseng and dried ap- ples, for dry goods and necessaries.
After the completion of the National Road in 1828 an opening to the eastern market was made by the teams which brought goods to the west and were loaded back with these staples of local trade, bacon being one of the most important.
Sometimes instead of killing and curing the meat. droves of these hogs were gath- ered up and driven the entire distance over the National road to Baltimore, where they were fed and slaughtered. In such trips the "thoroughbred" qualities of the hog came into good play.
With improvement in all other direc- , tions. also came improvement of the stock, and the hog became a most im- portant part of the daily meat of the fam- ily. In time nearly every family attempted to provide for their own meat, and it was quite customary for each family to have from one to a half a dozen hogs in the pens fattening for the Christmas or early winter butchering. These butchering days were always great occasions for the boys and girls, and the labors of rendering, packing, curing and caring for the pro- ducts of the slaughter were taken part in by the whole family, and most frequently by the neighbors, who came in to lend a hand for the day.
In time. however, the breed of hogs. like all other stock in the country, was im- proved by a mixture of blood and quality. and to-day Logan county ranks with the best in the State in the quality of its hog products. In late years great attention has been given to the improvement and breeding of the best of stock, and there are pens in Logan county as fine as can be found anywhere in the country. The ex- hibit at our county fairs during the last few years are not excelled anywhere, and we doubt if a finer exhibition can be found than has been seen at these annual con- tests.
The Poland China. the Berkshires. Chester Whites and Duroc Jersey Reds all have their admirers, and the pens of the Logan county fair held as fine specimens as one would wish to see.
Mr. W. H. Watkins, of Bloom Center. Richard Painter, of Middleburg, and J. F. Griffith, of Lewistown, are all breeders of the Poland China.
P. F. Wirick, of Middleburg, and Wil- liam Newell, of Union township, have pens of the Berkshires.
G. F. Melhorn, of DeGraff. and Isaiah Iluber. of Logansville. are breeders of the Chester Whites.
The Duroc or Jersey Reds are com- paratively new in this section. but are be- coming very popular with the breeder and feeder. They are red, and are of fine form and good keeping. The exhi- bition of pigs of this breed at the last county fair was certainly as fine as coukl be made anywhere. D. M. Stevenson, of Bellefontaine, Daniel Patrick and C. C. Johnson, of East Liberty, are breeders of Jersey Reds.
A comparison of the hogs of to-day
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with the old-time "elm peelers" of our grandfathers is like putting a Garstang or Baldwin engine beside the old locomo- tives that first ran on the Camden and Amboy railroad seventy years ago.
POULTRY.
One of the most important industries of the farm is that of poultry.
It is only within a few years that the real importance and value of this product has come to be fully appreciated.
The butter, eggs and chickens of the farm. taking these three products of the housewives' care and attention, equal if not exceed the entire wheat crop. and when considered as a profitable product. after deducting the expense of cultivation and labor, are far more remunerative than the wheat crop of the farmer. and leaves a greater surplus of cash in the bank. and they should receive the attention they de- serve.
The old-fashioned. frizzled and dom- inicos have given place to improved strains of fowls, many of which come from the far east. China being in a great meas- utre the breeding place of the larger strains.
We well remember the first of the Shanghai or Light Brahimas which came into Logan county. James McGee Pat- terson and John W. Casad some time about 1852 purchased three of these fowls. two hens and a cock, and brought them from New York, just after their importa- tion from China. They were magnificent specimens of fowls, and when placed with the native chickens of that day walked around like Gullivers among the Lillipu- tians. These three chickens cost twenty- five dollars in New York, and they were
most probably the progenitors of the en- tire Shanghai or Light Brahma strain in the county.
Since that time a great many strains have been added to the list, the Buff and and Partridge Cochins, both from China, are of this class. Many of the new classes are simply fancy breeds without any great value as an egg or table bird.
The Speckled Hamburgs, the Hou- cians, the Red Caps, the Polands and many other varieties have their friends and ad- mirers. There are few strains, however. which hold their places and have continued to be regarded most favorably by all breeders and fanciers in all parts of the country, among these are the Leghorns, brown and white, the Black Langshans, the Light Brahinas and the Plymouth Rocks. It would be difficult to determine which of these birds have the most friends. They are all most valuable for certain pur- poses and are all most profitable as ad- junets of the farm or in the yards of the breeder.
The Leghorns have long been held to be great egg producers and they are especially valuable because they are hearty, easily kept and do not run to sit- ting. The Langshans are also great, egg layers and like the Leghorns, do not have any great inclination for sitting. The Light Brahmas and the Plymouth Rocks are not only good egg producers, but they are especially fine table birds, which ma- ture quickly, and they are of large size.
The Plymouth Rock, which is a cross of the Light Brahma with the old-fashi- ioned Domineco, is the most profitable bird for all purposes. It is a good layer, matures quickly and is a round. plump and marketable chick at four or five months, and
10
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is withal hearty and easily kept. It has of the very highest standard, and com- become a great favorite of all persons rais- ing birds for market on account of its size and the fact that it matures so quickly.
There are a number of breeders and fanciers in Logan county, most of whom have fine yards and good stock. Among these are E. P. Armholser. D. G. Humph- rey. J. S. Rea and Robert Roberts, raising Buff Cochins. Light Bralimas. Partridge Cochins, Speckled Hamburgs, Houdans. and Plymonth Rocks.
Dr. J. S. Balir, Frank Dickinson and J. S. Rea are breeders of the Brown Leg- horn, and their stock is of the finest.
The egg product for Logan county for 1901 amounted to 801,000 dozen of eggs. There is no means of making an estimate of the value of the chickens sold. but it probably equals, if not exceeds, the egg product.
This would make the total value of the egg and chicken product of the county about equal to the wheat product, not counting the expense of the planting. har- vesting, threshing and marketing of the wheat, and does not take into considera- tion the large amount of both chickens and eggs consumed at home by the pro- ducers.
BUTTER.
In connection with the chicken and egg product is the butter industry. It be- longs to and is under the control of the women of the household.
mands a good price in the market. In ad- dition to this there are a number of cream- eries in the county where large amounts of butter are manufactured and shipped to distant markets, as there is always a de- mand for the product.
LAND VALUATIONS.
The total number of acres under culti- vation in Logan county is 285.659. Total value of the same. . $7. 178,600 00 Total value of real estate in
cities and villages . . . . 2.778,820 00 Total value of personal property 4.840,150 00
Grand total $14.797.570 00 These valuations do not include banks, railroads and corporations.
The total indebtedness of the county. represented by bonds. is $52.000.00.
This does not include the bonds issued for pikes, ditches and public improvements that are by law assessed against the land and property improved. and are not liens or claims upon the funds of the county. nor upon the lands or property of other citizens.
CROPS.
WHEAT.
In 1899 there was raised in Logan county 739.302 bushels of wheat, which is about an average crop. The wheat crop of the county is regarded as exceptionally good : almost the entire crop is manufac- tured into flour in the county and sent to distant markets. The Messrs. Colton
In 1902 there was marketed in Logan county more than 600,000 pounds of but- ter. This amount does not include the product of the creameries, but simply the product of the farm and household. The butter manufactured in Logan county is Brothers. extensive millers. in Bellefon-
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fontaine, ship large consignments of flour to England and Scotland.
CORN.
The corn crop of Logan county was planted on 55.340 acres of land and pro- duced last year 2.421.450 bushels, an aver- age of forty-three bushels to an acre.
Almost the entire corn crop is fed at home and only a small fraction of it shipped to other markets. Logan county is regarded as one of the banner counties of the State in the way of corn. wheat. oats, rye and other cereals. Its soil is rich and its higher lands are very produc- tive. There is little or no waste land in the county, and almost every acre is sus- ceptible of cultivation.
OATS.
Seventeen thousand acres were planted in oats and produced 643.000 bushels, an average of thirty-eight bushels to the acre. IIAY.
There was also produced 21,000 tons of timothy hay. 14.000 tons of clover hay and 8,000 bushels of cloverseed of a total value of $275.000.00.
MAPLE SUGAR.
Logan county is the fifth county in the State in the production of maple sugar. There are 103,115 trees in the county and the product amounted to 63.650 pounds of sugar and 33.311 gallons of molasses. Logan county sugar and mo- lasses took the first gold medal at the Co- lumbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893.
ORCHARDS.
Logan county has 2.254 acres planted in orchards, and in 1901 produced 39.155 bushels of apples. 300 bushels of peaches.
540 bushels of pears, 524 bushels of cher- ries, 507 bushels of plums and 825 bushels of small fruit. This does not include the small berries which are now cultivated in extensive plantings and produce abund- antly a fine and deliciously flavored berry.
The fruit industry has not proven a great success in the county for many years, and while new orchards are being planted every year. the fruit crop which some years since was so abundant, has been. by the reason of the severe winters or some other cause, permitted to go into decline.
We are compelled to go to the north- ern and western orchards for a large part of our supply of apples and other fruit. such as peaches and berries.
CHAPTER XIV.
RAILROADS-BANKS AND BANKING -- THE FIRST BANK -BANK STATEMENTS-CEMENT FACTORIES.
There are 97.52 miles of railroad in Logan county, divided as follows:
Valued for Taxation. The C., C .. C. & I. Railway
(Big Four), 30.06 miles. . $541,480 00 The C., S. & C. Railway. 21.44 miles 145.780 00 The Ohio Southern. 6.15 miles 43,380 00
The T. & O. C .. 8.44 miles. . . 84,280 00
The T. & O. C. (St. Marys branch). 31.43 miles. . . 106,100 00
Total valuation $921.030 00
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Thus these railroads contribute by way of taxation to the county treasury taxes upon the valuation of nearly one million of dollars.
BANKS AND BANKING.
There were no banks or methods of exchange in Logan county prior to 1849: before that time it was necessary for the merchant or other person doing business to carry his money about his person and to take it with him when he went east, over the mountains, to buy goods for the home trade.
The wholesale merchants of the East. New York, Boston and Philadelphia, gen- erally sent a representative of the house to the western country once a year to set- tle accounts and make collections. These representatives gathered up the money of the country and carried it back with them to be applied to their customers' credit ii the West.
So difficult was it to secure exchange and to obtain payments upon checks or draft, that. instead of being mediums of convenient transmission of funds, as of the present day. they were more fre- quently only an additional burden and ex- pense.
This was fully illustrated by a single transaction in connection with the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad during its construction. Being greatly in need of money to push the work upon the road. after some considerable negotiation an ar- rangement was made with the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company of Cincin- nati for the loan of three thousand dollars. which sum was forwarded by letter in a certified check on that bank. In order to have this check cashed Robert Patterson,
the treasurer of the company. rode to Springfield, but could not find enough money in any of the banks to lift the check. He was then compelled to go on to Columbus, where after much difficulty. he succeeded in securing the funds from the banks at that place, and returned with the money in his saddlebags to Bellefon- taine.
Such a transaction at the present day would be but a moment's business in any of the banks of this city or of the country.
The money of the country was only an improved shin-plaster, and frequently not even so valuable as that. The entire banking system was at loose ends. and the private and corporate banks which sprang up in some sections were in many cases only a systematic method of windling and robbery. The paper money issued by them was without foundation or security of any kind. and only lasted so long as the pro- jectors desired to continue their opera- tions.
The volume of gold and silver was so sinall that it played but a small part in the business of the country, and the trade and commerce of the land was carried on upon a great eredlit system, founded upon bar- ter and exchange, and upon such cur- rency as was then a part and parcel of this outlying portion of the frontier.
The State of Ohio had one banking institution called the State Bank of Ohio. which issued a red-backed paper money. and which having behind it the credit of the State, passed upon a par with gold and silver and was everywhere regarded as good.
The wildeat system of banking soon came into vogue, and for a number of
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years the whole country was flooded with bills of these so-called banks.
The State of Indiana, then compara- tively a new country, was flooded with them. and they found their way over into Ohio by the thousands.
These banks were in many instances only the plainest and most consummate frauds, and frequently had no existence whatever outside of the bills issued in the name of the bank.
A single instance of this will suffice. A large number of bills upon a bank of Indiana were issued in Bellefontaine by a banker named Durfee, who within a few days of their issue refused to receive them in payment for claims due his bank or on deposit. An investigation of the bank discovered it located in a saw-mill near to Murcie, in Indiana. and its only assets were a dilapidated carpet sack.
Whether Durfee was a part and parcel of the swindle or had simply been imposed upon was for some time a mooted ques- tion, but it destroyed his financial stand- ing and he was compelled to go west. where the wildcat system had not been so quickly run to earth.
The country flooded with all kinds and denominations of money, some good and some bad. caused a most serious incon- venierce and loss to the merchants and to the people, and it was difficult to deter- mine the value of the worth of it in the market.
As an aid to the trader and the business man there was issued monthly a book called "The Detector," which found its way into every place of business and upon every coun- ter in the country. This book gave a state- ment of the standing of every bank, the value of its bills of issue, and toldl how
much they were at discount at the beginning of the month. With this book the merchant and trader regulated his business and re- ceived the money at the value placed upon it in the Detector. Very frequently the bills received today, at a state of discount, as fixed by the Detector, would be of a far less value upon the receipt of the next issue of the Detector at the beginning of the follow- ing month.
This fast and loose system of finances was almost destructive of all kinds of trade.
Another great inconvenience was to the traveler ; bills of some particular bank or banks, which passed current in his own neighborhood or his own state, when carried over the line into another state or neighbor- hood, were there found to be at a discount. and he was compelled to exchange his mon- ey for currency which he would most prob- ably find again at a discount so soon as he crossed the border line of the next state. This occasioned great loss as well as most serious inconvenience, but it continued in some measure for a number of years, until the beginning of the war, when Salmon P. Chase, the Secretary of the Treasury, for the purpose of raising funds for the conduct of the war devised the present National Bank- ing system.
This great system which for more than forty years has been the very corner stone of the great financial and industrial up- building of the country, remains today the most complete and perfect system of finance the world has ever seen. Instead of the ok! shin-plasters and wildcat issues, requiring change, redemption and discount at every cross-road. you can now travel to any por- tion of the civilized world and carry but a single kind of money, provided it be the currency of the United States, or of that
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National Banking system which was found- this day under the name of the People's National Bank.
ed and sustained upon the credit of the government bond.
THE FIRST BANK.
The first bank in Logan county was es- tablished in Bellefontaine in the year 1849. by a man named Durfee, formerly of Ma- rion. Ohio, and was situated in the north room of Judge Lawrence's old buikling on Main street, now occupied by the Lawrence block.
He did business for some time, but as it appeared, with a limited capital. His unfor- tunate connection either intentionally or un- soon withdrew from the field. intentionally with the wild-cat banking is- sues of Indiana, brought him into disrepute with our farmers and business men, and he soon after closed his bank and moved to the west.
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