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300 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY taught in a schoolhouse of his own ; when he was the teacher geese roamed the streets and about the countryside ; they were common property, and yet an Irishwoman at the edge of Lima always picked them. They used to sometimes lay eggs on the schoolyard, and the first child to obtain an egg always claimed it. When a goose was on the nest they all watched her ; sometimes it would be "books" before the egg appeared, and every child was thinking about it ; when it was recess again every child joined a stampede for the nest. While Mr. Richardson was a stern disciplinarian, the prospect of a goose egg to carry home stimulated the mental and physical activities of them all. The goose that laid the golden egg would have meant nothing more than this playground goose egg, in early school history. Both Mr. Ward and Mr. Richardson are described as self-made men and exemplary citizens. Both were politicians and both served in the Allen County courthouse in official capacity, Sometimes a pedagogue still walks into the county courthouse. Teaching is still regarded as a stepping stone, and pedagogues are still ambitious. The importance of giving the rising generation an education was recognized by the pioneers, who built rude log schoolhouses for the purpose. When Miner Weeks of New York was engaged to teach a select school on Riley Creek, his curriculum read : "Readin', 'Riten' and 'Rithmetic, Taught to the tune—the hickory stick," and the puncheon floor schoolhouse was the order of things. There is a Richardson School in Lima that stands as a monument to the memory of Joseph H. Richardson and his family ; in the second generation there were some excellent teachers. Mrs. Martha Richardson Ballard was for many years a teacher ; she was the first woman in Ohio to serve on the county board of examinations. Lima has always honored the Richardsons. Women have been signally honored in connection with the Lima public schools ; for ten years Mrs. George Vicary was a member of the Lima school board when it was first possible for women to serve on boards of education. Under the provisions of the Smith-Hughes educational law, Mrs. Kent W. Hughes of Lima is a member of the State Board of Vocational Education, the first woman appointed to membership on the State Board of Education. Mrs. Hughes had charge of the educational features as a member of the Allen County Council of Defense. The women have always been among the best teachers in Allen County. Today some are teaching children in the third generation. Men as well as women grew old in the service. There have been long educational strides since the days when the school teacher boarded round, and the schoolhouses were built of logs and daubed on both the inside and the outside. The smoking schoolhouse fire in the middle of the floor, with greased paper windows—there are only a few who tell about such conditions today. The log schoolhouses are gone, and that old coterie of highly honored teachers laid down to their last sleep years ago. Why do orators who discuss that epoch in history always draw tears from the eyes of sympathetic listeners ? They were the vanguard of civilization ; they stood for the best things in community history. The little red schoolhouse of other days was a university within itself, and the great men of the past have all pointed to it as the helpful agency of their lives ; things are changed today. The country school no longer sways the universe ; the children are graduated from it before they are old enough to have so much sentiment for it. HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 301 They are somewhere in high school at the impressionable period in their life history. It was hard work that won, and there were no boasted short cuts to a liberal education. There were no free schools established in Allen County until 1850, and for some years thereafter the private schools were the most popular. Prior to the Civil war, the public school was regarded as a charity in many parts of the country. In 1852, the Lima Acadamy was established by Rev. James Campbell, and it was patronized by all in the community who felt able to pay private tuition. It was a struggle for the public school until sentiment changed toward it. In 1856, the Union schools were organized in the community. Professor Wilhelm was the first superintendent, and the first class graduated from public school was June 3, 1864, when three girls, Fidelia Bennett, Josie Cunningham and Mary Watt, were awarded diplomas. In 1865, there was only one graduate and there were no more luntil 1872, since which time public schools have been in favor. There was a time when the course of study was : Kirk's Grammar, Elementary Speller, Pike's Arithmetic, the National Reader and the New Testament. The first commencement, in 1864, was held in Ashton's Hall, and it was packed with the friends of the graduates. With the change of sentiment toward public schools new schoolhouses were built, and now the public school is the pride of Allen County. Allen and Van Wert counties both contributed to the support of the Delphos school until 1859, since which time it has been supported by Allen County and Delphos. At that time the Delphos Union School was organized under the law governing villages. William A. Shaw was an early educator in Lima, while C. P. Washburn, W. H. Wolfe and E. W. Hastings were early Delphos teachers. Ohio was late in establishing teacher training schools, but there were al ways teachers who went away for their education. Governor James M. Cox is credited with advancing the educational cause in Ohio. Teachers' training and school supervision had been adopted in all other states but Arkansas when Ohio came into line, and while it was late it had other methods to choose from, and through observation the state was able to choose the best from all. While Ohio had been pointed to as an 'orrible example, it finally wakened from its lethargy and now has an excellent educational system. Teachers no longer need leave the state for professional attainment. It is said that every great improvement in the world's history is due, directly or indirectly, to the munificence of some man successful in the world's affairs, and to Governor Cox is given credit for educational advancement in Ohio. At a recent joint session of Lima and Allen County teachers, State School Superintendent F. B. Pearson made the assertion that in ten more years the educational system of Ohio will have undergone a complete change. The trend is toward the more practical education, and some of the studies are being eliminated that have always been in the school curriculum. In his lecture, The Master American, Professor Pearson portrayed the type of citizenship which would be the product of the changed system of education. Business men try many experiments and reject those that fail ; why not educators do the same thing? While some people advocate doctrines and methods that should be abandoned because of their failure, the world is compelled to admit after centuries spent in searching for good things, that most good things are already old. The world soon recognizes merit. It is only since 1914 that there has been public supervision of rural schools in Allen County. As superintendent of schools in Allen County, 302 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY Prof. C. A. Argenbright has supervision of all schools outside of Lima and Delphos—the towns with city charters providing their own school superintendents. The county school superintendent may be appointed for from one to three years. He receives his appointment from the county board of education. There are five members of the board, and the aim is to keep educational affairs out of politics. Professional interest, experience and competency enter into the consideration when selecting a school superintendent. Professor Argenbright was the first Allen County school superintendent. The high schools under his supervision are Bluffton and Richland Joint High School ; Spencerville High School, Lafayette and Jackson Township Joint High School, Elida Village High School, Sugar Creek Township High School at Gomer, and there are secondary high schools with shorter courses of study, and Beaver Dam Village and Auglaize Rural at Harrod. The schools at Gomer and Hat-, rod are in reality consolidated or centralized schools, although the fact of centralization is not emphasized in Allen County. The first centralized school in Ohio was in 1892 in Ashtabula County and the system has found favor in many localities. In 1914, when the new school code was enacted providing for school superintendents in the different Ohio counties, some of them immediately began centralization projects. Recent reports show that from fifteen counties in the beginning the number has increased to seventy counties, and that other states are rapidly adopting the method of bringing high school advantages within the reach of all. As has been said : "Governor Cox was keenly conscious of the great importance of the movement to organize rural life and he realized that a high school system commensurate in efficiency with the importance of rural life and its industries was necessary and fundamental to the progress of such a movement, and that the country boys and girls were not getting a square deal because the socalled system then in use was inadequate to their needs and interests and failed to reveal to them the possibilities of rural life and rural activities," and he called the Ohio Assembly into extraordinary session in order to enact the new school code in Ohio. For a time Governor Cox vigilantly guarded the new law against reactionary influences and measures, and its wisdom has since been vindicated in the minds of Ohio educators. There are about ninety one-room schoolhouses in Allen County A. D. 1920, and there are a few two-room schools. In all there are 170 teachers under the oversight of the county superintendent. The claim has been established that the schools of Monroe had led in efficiency in Allen County. One explanation is that there were more two-room schools in that township than in others. In many instances there was one room above another and instead of one teacher having an enrollment of eighty pupils, the school was divided and two teachers were able to give more personal attention to pupils. The results were apparent. The two-room school contributed to efficiency, and centralization serves the purpose much better. In writing of centralization, a leading educator says : "It has proved beyond the anticipation of its most ardent advocates its worth in meeting the rural school conditions. When fully and properly administered, it is a corrective agency for the readjustment of the affairs of rural life. Fortunate are the children whose heritage it is to have the opportunities made possible by its provisions, and only the coming years can reveal the full measure of its benefits," and without much emphasis Gomer and Harrod are already centralized, and in time other communities will recognize the wisdom of it. In a sense all high schools are centralized, the Bluffton High School drawing its pupils from three HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 303 counties and six townships. The same thing may be said of all border communities, as Delphos and Spencerville. None will gainsay the statement that a liberal education increases one's opportunities for success and paves the way for usefulness and influence in the community. In the way of professional interest public school teachers are required to have thirty weeks of Normal training beside a high school education, and in future the standard is raised to thirty-six weeks Normal training. A scholarship certificate is not issued until the teacher has had the necessary professional training. When the professional interest and moral conduct warrant it, teachers are exempt from examinations. They may have their certificates renewed from year to year. While some are imported, most Allen County teachers are products of the Allen County public schools. The Lima Training School was established in 1899, with Miss Ruth English as its first trainmg teacher, and many beside Lima teachers have studied in it. In 1919 the Allen County Welfare Society was organized, covering the public schools outside of Lima and Delphos. It is not incorporated and is wholly sustained by voluntary subscriptions. Contributions and drives are made for it in the villages and rural communities. There has been excellent response to the calls for funds. The society maintains a visiting nurse whose duties are to examine all children in public school and to report as to their physical fitness. Miss Ida Nikel was the first visiting nurse. She reports to Professor Argenbright. In one rural school where forty children were examined, twenty-two had physical defects, and as a result of her suggestion fifteen of them sought expert advice. She finds def ective eyesight, defective hearing and many undernourished children. In one room in a village school where the nurse examined forty-five pupils she found thirty-four who were defective and sixteen of them sought advice from experts. The nurse weighs and measures each child and she arouses an interest in better physical care of the body. She explains anatomy and physiology and urges the importance of caring for the teeth. As a result of the suggestions of the visiting nurse some have stopped drinking coffee in an effort to make their bodies fit temples, and personal cleanliness is a long stride in that direction. The nurse usually spends an entire day visiting one school. She works in harmony with the county welfare doctor, who visits schools where there are epidemics. In one rural school where there were thirty- two pupils enrolled only seven were present. There were flaming posters on a house in the neighborhood and the teacher was powerless to secure attendance. It is the duty of the county welfare doctor to visit such homes and explain that the children are safe in school because those exposed to epidemic are in quarantine. Along in the early '70s the country schools were the community centers. There were few neighborhood churches and it frequently fell to the lot of the rural pedagogue to clean out a school house on Monday morning that had served as a Sunday community center. If a pupil is backward in his studies it is the duty of the teacher to learn his difficulty. When there were subscription schools-scholars and half-scholars—that was a system of grading and while advance has been noted there were some good results from the old-fashioned pedagogical methods. When Allen County teachers received $1 a week and boarded round, there was nothing said about the scale of wages. The high cost of living did not disturb them as today, when increased salary is the prime consideration. There is a lot of sentiment attached to the one-room country school house that so well served the educational needs of the past, but with the modern trend of things it is everywhere being left behind in 304 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY the onward march of educational progress. While some cling to it because of what it meant to them, others accept the utility side of the question and discard it. A recent versifier exclaimed : "The little red schoolhouse stands Just like it's always done— But I can't grow reminiscent— I never went to one." Some of the adherents to old-time educational methods assert that children of the past knew more at twelve years old than they do now when they graduate, not taking into the account the fact that many studies are pursued now that were unknown to the school children of a generation ago. It was said "the the pupils in our common schools were much better spellers than now is beyond all question." It is well known that greater emphasis was placed on spelling than on any other accomplishment unless it were "figgers." Another fact remains unquestioned-the early teachers were better writers, much of the handwriting of half a century ago being as plain as the script of today. There were good spellers and good penmen came out of the one-room schoolhouses in every community. There used to be writing school and the teacher was an adept in ornamental penmanship—could make a spread eagle or a zebra—but where is the man or woman today who attempts so much as a slight flourish in his signature? In the old church records, and in some family Bibles, one sees excellent penmanship. However, the fellow still exists who can "read readin' readin', but who can't read 'riten readin'." The backwoods school teachers were welcomed into the homes of Allen County while under twentieth century living conditions the teacher has difficulty in finding a boarding place in many communities. While there were no prescribed qualifications in the past, as has been stated, the pedagogue of today must have professional training. The man who exclaimed : "But you can't make whistles out of pig's tails" evidently meant to convey the impression that the efficient school teacher is born and not trained for it. While everything is commercialized, nature has something to do with equipping the efficient pedagogue. An HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 305 old account says the backwoods teacher "taught twenty-two days for $8 a month and found," but such an opportunity would hardly tempt the twentieth century teachers. There was a time when brawn rather than brain was considered, when muscular development rather than mental achievement secured recognition. There were unruly boys in the long ago and they remained in the rural schools longer than now, when they are graduated before they are old enough to terrorize even the twentieth century female teacher. While in the adolescent period they are pursuing higher studies in other schools. Someone exclaimed "Backward, turn backward, 0 Time, in your flight, and make me a child again," but with the environment so changed it might be unsatisfactory to him. While in the past each "master had his own system of handwriting and the query of the age is what became of the legible handwriting of yesterday," scribbling describes the system as one sees it today as compared with the handwriting still preserved in ancient letters, and in the archives of Allen County. Along with mathematics, science, language, literature and history—the men and women of the past acquired an excellent handwriting. They memorized much of the New Testament—learned it by heart-and on Friday afternoons and in Sunday school they recited it. There were "whispering schools," and there is an occasional newspaper reader today who had his training in them. Watch for him! He is unable to grasp the thought unless his lips move in unison with his mentality. Time was when "passing the water" was the reward for careful study ; now there are sanitary drinking fountains. An old account says : "Nothing modern can equal the spelling schools of those early times. The young people would go many miles to a spelling school and it .was district against district. It was wonderful how each would back its champion speller." While Webster's Elementary Speller is an heirloom today, it was once a vital part of the school community. The McGuffy readers had their day and there was never any uniformity in mathematics until Ray's Practical Arithmetic became the standard, and many adults in Allen County today learned mathematics-what they know of the science from Ray's Part III Arithmetic; it was always thumb-marked as far as common fractions ; it had the multiplication tables in it. No doubt some who used Ray's Arithmetic would still be able to settle the John Jones estate-the last problem in Common Fractions. There were always young people with the commendable ambition to secure a liberal education, and among some of the older men and women are a few college graduates. The schools of today have some new things in their curriculum, a newspaper clipping saying: "Hume School carried off high honors in the annual contest among the nine schools of Shawnee. The contest was held in the Shawnee Township house ; overflow crowds were taken care of in the nearby church ; the contests were in farm products, stock judging, penmanship and baking ; there were more than 1,000 entries," and the rivalry always causes increased effort. The different townships hold such events. The whole community enjoys the school contest and all attend it. Older persons gain suggestions there. HIGH SCHOOL—While the high school in Delphos is in Van Wert County, it is controlled by the Delphos school corporation. There are two high schools in Lima—Central and South. Delphos has its school superintendent and Lima has its superintendent, the two schools being independent of the county school superintendent. A description of one high school will serve for all. The superintendent of public instruction in Lima is Prof. J. E. Collins. He reports the 1920 school enumeration Vol. I-20 HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 307 at 9,582, including those who attend parochial schools-all between the years of six and twenty-one being eligible to public school. The 1920 fall enrollment in Lima is 6,983, leaving almost 2,600 to the parochial schools, and including those who do not attend school ; not many who are past eighteen years of age are found in public school. There have been parochial schools in Lima since 1865, and the high school dates back to about the same period. The combined enrollment in Central and South High schools is 2,285, showing that about 25 per cent of those enumerated remain for the high school course, and a goodly percentage of the enrolled pupils pursue high school studies. Through the workings of the Smith-Hughes Vocational Educational law the attendance at the night schools has brought the attendance in Lima to 10,000, not including the business college and Y. M. C. A. night school, showing that there are many students in Lima today. There is a different course of study pursued in the two Lima high schools because of the different conditions. The Central has more pupils who pursue the higher studies and more stress is given to the academic instruction, while South is in an industrial section and the pupils major in vocational subjects. On September 20, 1918, the following industrial firms of Lima agreed to meet half the cost of a complete machine shop equipment for South High School ; the Ohio Steel Foundry, the Gramm-Bernstein Motor Truck Company, the Lima Steel Casting Company, the Solar Refining Company, Lima Locomotive Works, Inc., East Iron and Machine Company, Chalmers Manufacturing Company, the Buckeye Machine Company, and Steiner Brothers. The necessary installation amounted to $26,000 and this factory co-operation and support, together with the State-Federal aid for instruction, guarantees to the Lima schools vocational courses equal to any within the State. Some pupils attending Central High School have had to get certain metal work in South High School because of the special industrial equipment there. While there is academic instruction there, South High gives special attention to vocational education. The hand and the head— the hand is essential in the industrial community. 308 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY The time was when children made their own playthings and the pocket-knife was sometimes the only tool available. The whirligig of time changed things and they bought their toys. The wheel turned again and manual training and domestic science were included in the public school course of study. This is a practical age and the crafts are emphasized. Some who are teachers today came through school in the unproductive period when their toys were bought for them. They are helpless when it comes to handiwork, knowledge of which is gained in public school under the new order of things. Vocational education takes into the account the physical adaptability of the child. The Central High School attracts students inclined to professional or business life, while South fits them for the industrial world. The elective system allows the child to choose for itself, and a technical study of the adaptability of each child helps to decide for it. Some boys are capable of craftsmanship who cannot master the intellectual requirements, while some with strong mentality are not inclined to industrial education. Beside the two high schools there are thirteen elementary public schools in Lima-Franklin, Faurot, Irving, Garfield, McKinley, Whittier, Washington, Lincoln, Lowell, Horace Mann, Richardson, Emerson and Longfellow. There are 230 grade teachers and all are college graduates. All city teachers must give evidence of professional interest and special capability. There are almost 100 department heads and teachers in the two high schools. It used to be eight years in common and f our years in high school, but the system is changed and, including junior high, there are now six years in each-so many always dropping out when they had finished common school, but under the changed system more pupils are inclined to complete the high school course of study. After completing eight years' work the course is elective, the two years of high school training helping pupils to arrive at their own plans for future study. Those inclined to industrial pursuits may choose vocational training. The Smith-Hughes Vocational Education law enables Lima to have excellent night schools and many avail themselves of its privileges. Both technical and academic studies are pursued, some coming for review HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 309 work who are college graduates. Some of the teachers pursue further studies in night school. Since Lima is the tenth city in population in Ohio, it has some educational advantages not possible in smaller communities. Any group of twelve or more persons may secure instruction on special subjects and such classes are in existence. While there are gymnasium rooms, the recreational features are not emphasized in the Lima public schools that being a strong feature in the Lima Y. M. C. A. in its effort to reach the young manhood of the community. Some attention is given to out-of-door sports, and there are coaches for the football teams. Basketball is a specialty. There are four subnormal school departments conducted in the interest of those unable to make their grades. Motor-minded children accomplish much with their hands who are unable to master mental studies. Such girls are given sufficient mathematical training to enable them to do household marketing and thus vocational training may enable otherwise dependent children to care for themselves. The co-operation of parents is sought and the needs of the individual are considered. Professor Collins has a chart showing the capabilities of each child, and he consults it in advising them. This co-operative welfare department was installed October 1, 1920, with Miss Artha Nichols as field worker. She is a practical, trained nurse and she co-operates with the Lima Department of Public Health. She visits the school and, when necessary, the home. She secures the co-operation of parents in order that they may understand what is needed in particular instances. The nurse discovers all physical hindrances and makes an effort to remove them. The visiting nurse makes the necessary cultures to determine the nature of disease, and when she finds impaired physical conditions she offers helpful suggestions. She frequently finds under-nourished children and dietic suggestions are offered them. Some mothers understand need of balanced rations in providing family menus while others are ignorant on the subject. There is a diet kitchen at the Whittier School, where special study is given to menus. The frequent needs of medical attention caused the matter to be brought before the Allen County Medical Association, but inasmuch as 50 per cent of the children in public school are considered abnormal, the physicians did not feel inclined to establish and conduct free clinics for them. Health Commissioner Poling finds it impossible for him to handle so big a thing alone. Many families provide their own medical assistance. There is a nationwide effort to arouse an interest in public health, and 8,000,000 school children in different parts of the country are now in quest of health. Some of them have been crusading for two years, and cleanliness as well as regular habits are bringing results. It is related that the famous Order of the Bath originated when a youth who presented himself before the King for knighthood was ordered to scrub himself in preparation. The visiting nurse offers sanitary and hygienic suggestions when visiting in homes where families are ignorant of such things. Educators have been provided with mental ratings for years, and now there are physical and health ratings to enable them to determine the right course in individual cases. The cafeteria has become a feature in public schools and it is operated at cost for the benefit of proper dietic instruction and as a convenience for those who live at a distance. The cafeteria enables each child to have a warm lunch of properly prepared food, and it is another provision under the vocational education law. Traveling educators frequently say Lima has the best vocational education equipment in the State, and with its high school auditoriums it HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 311 has excellent community centers. Meetings are frequently held in the Central High School auditorium. Lima is fortunate in having an aggressive school superintendent and a progressive board of education. The school auditoriums offer educational advantages and films are shown there that enable Pupils to understand many things. A film showing the circulation of the blood was witnessed by all who were studying physiology. All the sciences are illustrated by the use of films. Both high schools have the same film service. There are lectures and plays given in the high school auditoriums. The Lima school board has provided ample housing facilities. The South High School with its industrial equipment has few equals in the world. Since September 1, 1920, all Ohio school teachers have contributed toward a mandatory school teachers' retirement fund, each teacher paying $4 on the $100 toward it. The teacher receiving $100 collects $96, and thus the fees are never delinquent in the f und that may serve a very definite purpose later. Teachers who are past sixty years old may retire on approximately half their annual salary. When they have taught for thirty-six years they are eligible to a pension and they must retire when they reach seventy years. A number of Allen County teachers may retire after September 1, 1921, under Provisions of this fund— pensioned the remainder of their lives because of their efforts toward the betterment of the rising generations. There has been a shortage of school teachers; and increased salaries has been the result of it. Many who are eligible to retire with an assured income would prefer to continue teaching. Sometimes teachers who are retired because of the age limit in one community continue their activities somewhere else and perform satisfactory service. The Home Makers' course in the Whittier School is directly due to the special effort on the part of Mrs. Kent W. Hughes, local member of the State Board of Education. It is designed for girls past fourteen years old who have not made passing grades in their studies. Seventeen girls volunteered to enter the class in the beginning, none of whom felt that they could pursue the course of study through high school. It serves the need of many girls who have ability, but who are needed at home, and of others who have lost time in moving from one town to another. A five-hour-day program is offered and girls have some time at home who enter the Home Makers' course of study. Under the course in household arts or housewifery comes a study of sanitation, house decoration and family budgets—the economical side of existence. It seems an impossibility today, but an old account says that a college once flourished at Hartford near the site of Fort Amanda. There is no trace of its activities—nothing is known of its course of study. The fact of its existence shows that the settlers were interested in education. In 1855 Lima had the Allen County Institute with a three• year course of study. Many of the foremost families patronized it. Private schools were more popular than public schools prior to the Civil war. After the war those antebellum schools never flourished again. The first parochial school was organized in 1865 within the limits of St. Rose Catholic Church. There was a frame school building with three teachers in it. In 1868 it passed to the control of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Then came the Franciscan Sisters, the Dominican Sisters and the Sisters of Charity. There are now parochial schools in Lima and Delphos. On May 24, 1890, Lima College was incorporated by the Lima Lutheran Educational Association, and two years later Judge John E. Richie donated ten acres of ground for the campus. The buildings were 312 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY erected in 1892-3, and that year it was opened to students. For a number of years it was operated as a Lutheran denominational school, but in January, 1905, the control of it passed from the Lima Lutheran Educational Association to Lima citizens. It is still spoken of as the college. The Students' Army Training Corps was of short duration because of the Armistice, but for a time it was a reality. BLUFFTON COLLEGE—The history of Bluffton College begins with its organization, June 19, 1900, the cornerstone of the building being laid October 31st, and the institution is supported by the Middle District Conference of the Mennonites of North America. The Bluffton College Bulletin of June, 1920, contains the code of regulations and bylaws as revised at the annual meeting of the board of trustees, and the statement that the college is not conducted for profit. The name shall be Bluffton College. It had been called Bluffton College and Mennonite Seminary. Bluffton is a strong Mennonite Community, and the college has capacity for 350 students. It is known from coast to coast and from the Lakes to the Gulf. There are not many similar schools in the United States. Bluffton College attracts students from all Mennonite communities. Its students are given a liberal education and they are trained for the ministry. The General Conference of the Mennonites of North America has always believed in an educated ministry. There are four different Mennonite Conferences contributing to the Bluffton College faculty. Since 1910 Dr. S. K. Mosiman has been president of Bluffton College. There are strong men in the faculty. There is a great deal of wealth in the Mennonite church, and it is becoming more and more liberal in its views on educational matters. The annual Bible lectures conducted for one week always bring many visitors to Bluffton. Dean Noah E. Byers is active in the work of the Allen County Sunday School Association, and he is a student of community problems. There are forty-five acres in the campus of Bluffton College. Riley Creek meanders through it, and, with the numerous foot bridges and the beautiful HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 313 slopes, it is an attractive campus. The buildings are : College Hall, Science Hall, Music Hall and Gymnasium—the latter built by the students themselves. There is a fine college spirit and Bluffton College is one of the attractive spots in Allen County. Catalogues are mailed to Mennonite communities all over the country. LIMA BUSINESS COLLEGE—This private enterprise dates back to 1890, although its present organization was effected six years later. The Lima Business College now numbers more than 5,000 graduates. It is a school of accounting, shorthand, typewriting, salesmanship, English and pen art. The vertical writing system demoralized handwriting and in the Lima Business College the natural slant is used again. The college occupies the fourth and fifth floors of its own business property. It draws its patronage from twelve counties. It succeeded the old Farnum Business College. Its president is C. J. Gruenbaum. There were heavy wartime demands upon the college for efficient stenographers and bookkeepers. The Lima Business College sends out a great deal of excellent advertising matter, calling attention to Lima advantages. It is a good asset to the business community. CHAPTER XXIX THE NEWSPAPER IN ALLEN COUNTY While metropolitan papers are read in Allen County, the people care most for the home news and a well-edited, clean newspaper is among the best assets of any community. Among the factors of civilization—the forces that make for righteousness—none is more potent than the great American daily newspaper. It is true that the press controls the destiny of the Republic—has made presidents, senators, representatives, judges ; has inaugurated national policies and has solved many problems of finance and international law. Indeed, it was fortunate for one Ohio printer that his birthday came on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, A. D. 1920, because on that day, regardless of precedent, Allen County reversed the records and joined with the outlying portions of the United States of America in a birthday offering of the highest gift within the power of the nation—the United States presidency. Aye, Allen County had its part in giving Warren Gamaliel Harding, publisher of an Ohio newspaper, this signal honor. His competitor, Governor James M. Cox, was also a newspaper publisher. It seemed like the American newspaper was destined to come into its own in national politics. In the ,"Louisville Courier-Journal" Henry Watterson, dean of American publishers, says : "The daily newspaper is a necessity which isn't necessary unless you are intelligent enough to know that it is a necessity." It has been remarked locally, that many early publishers were politicians-that politicians would acquire the ownership of a newspaper long enough to accomplish some purpose with it and dispose of it again. It is also a truism in every community that when a newspaper becomes trading stock the reading public shuts its eyes and longs for better conditions. Men have owned newspapers long enough to promote a political campaign, and have had no further interest in the publishing business, and the paper was then on the market. Some have elected themselves to Congress, as Mr. Harding did to the United States presidency. Those old fellows had method in their madness—carried God into politics the same as into religion, and they just retained an influence exchange long enough to serve their purpose with it, but The Marion Star is said to be the one Harding possession that is not on the market. Narrowing down to Allen County, there is reason for pride in some of the local newspapers. An old account says : "No community in these days can be said to have reached the progressive state until that infallible index of prosperous condition—a newspaper—makes its appearance—pays its periodical visits to an intelligent constituency. In the beginning of local history, journalists were not so plentiful that one could shake them from bushes, and the appetite for printed news was not sufficiently keen to cause anyone to endure martyrdom in attempting to 'fill a long-felt want' by publishing a community newspaper." Illustrating the difficulties of publishing a newspaper under pioneer conditions is the story of Mathias H. Nichols, who divested himself of his vest—his only garment with market value-in order that he might buy white stock paper for the first issue of his newspaper—The Argus. It is said that Mr. Nichols was one of the most brilliant lawyers ever in Allen County. He came to Lima in 1845, working for a time as a printer, and he soon bought - 314 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 315 The Argus. It is related that he rose from obscure poverty to a foremost position in the community. However, he was not the earliest Lima publisher. Robert Bower, an early rhymester, who had the laudible ambition to some time write the history of Allen County, penned the lines : "For Lima was a handy place, The people all like brothers— When one had a bit of news He'd hand it round to others," and it is an old saying that one who lives at the cross-roads does not need a newspaper. The newspaper is an agency to meet the demand for general information. The public wants the n-e-w-s—knowledge from the north, east, west and south—and it is the mission of the newspaper to supply that want, and that is why it is called a newspaper. Perhaps the first Allen County newspaper was The Herald, which made its appearance in Lima in 1836, published by Hollister and Bennett. The country was new and the enterprise did not receive the necessary support. It was while Martin Van Buren was president of the United States and perhaps he had not popularized the newspaper by owning one himself. The Herald and its publishers soon dropped out of the local field. The second Lima newspaper was The Porcupine, but why recoil from it, since it was issued in 1841, and served the immediate purpose. "Names is names" and quills were used in writing that long ago. Thomas Smith was the publisher and Abelard Guthrie was editor of The Porcupine. He is mentioned as an able man, although eccentric. He wore his hair long and his mannerism was that of the gentry—and does his shadow still exist in Allen County? Look up the word "gentry." In 1843 G. W. Andrews purchased The Porcupine—perhaps its good will and subscription list, and he considerately changed the name of the publication, The Lima Argus becoming the leading exponent of Democracy in Allen County. Two years later he sold the paper to Mathias H. Nichols, and that was the time that some perfectly good wearing apparel was exchanged for stock paper. By this time there was competition in the local newspaper field. In 1843 Edward Barrett and Hamilton Davis established The Lima Reporter. It was a Whig paper but after three years The Argus was again the only Lima newspaper. Mr. Nichols did a good thing for the community when he divested himself of his vest. It seems that he retained the paper for nine years. In 1854 Sydenham Shaffer began publishing The Lima Gazette. For a year or two it was trading stock, Parmenter Brothers purchasing it the next year from Mr. Shaffer, and Cornelius Parmenter becoming business manager. In 1860 Parmenters sold The Gazette to J. N. Cunningham. A year later Cornelius Parmenter acquired it alone. When he came from Toledo to Delphos enroute to Fort Wayne, seeking a place to launch a newspaper enterprise, he heard of the possibilities in Lima and deflected his course, and thus Lima instead of Fort Wayne is the home of the Parmenters today. Somebody in Delphos told Mr. Parmenter about Lima as a coming town, and he investigated the situation for himself—he never went to Fort Wayne. He was connected with the newspaper business in Lima for many years. In 1872 Calvin Edmiston became part owner of The Gazette; in 1885 W. A. Campbell became interested in it and in 1887 H. D. Campbell became a partner in publishing it. The Daily Gazette appeared 316 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY March 12, 1887, under the management of F. T., W. A. and H. D. Campbell, and in order to call attention to its enterprise the first 2,000 copies issued were scattered broadcast in the community. While in time of the Civil war Cornelius Parmenter issued hand bills for about fifty days as daily bulletins on war conditions, it did not supplant his weekly newspaper. The Lima Gazette was the first Allen County newspaper to introduce telegraph news service over a special wire, and in 1891 it consolidated with The Republican—the result, The Republican Gazette. In 1920 there were rumors of ownership changes but the editorial page did not show it. When the daily newspaper put in its appearance, March 12, 1887, Lima was still a cross-roads village, but newspapers are always on the firing line—they are always boosting the community. In the wake of the daily press came the new courthouse, waterworks, electric lights, artificial and natural gas, and the Lima of today is the handmaiden of the daily newspaper, the community always having its affairs given the necessary publicity. In 1854 M. H. Nichols sold his "vest investment"—The Lima Argus —to T. E. Cunningham and W. E. Thompson. Mr. Cunningham at once sold his interest to Thomas M. Robb, and a year later Mr. Thompson sold out and it was Cunningham again—Cunningham and Poland. Under this management The Lima Argus became The People's Press— an advocate of Jacksonian principles—and from that time it changed ownership frequently. In the succession were : J. P. Haller, J. H. Berry, James Mackenzie, D. S. Fisher, and, in 1874, H. B. Kelley acquired it, continuing the publication until his death when Timmons acquired it. In November, 1879, The Democratic Times appeared in Lima, with 0. B. Self ridge, Jr., and E. B. Halliday in the role of publishers. Five years later it became a daily newspaper (the statement in conflict with the assertion that March 12, 1887, was the beginning of the Lima daily newspaper). In 1889 The Democratic Times and The Democrat consolidated, using the name, The Times-Democrat. The Lima Daily News— a non-partisan sheet—appeared in 1897, and it was later combined with The Times-Democrat—The Lima News and Times-Democrat, and today there are two daily newspapers in the community. The morning paper is The Republican-Gazette, while in the evening field is The Lima News and Times-Democrat, both issuing market editions and reaching rural subscribers on the date of publication. While there was street corner talk about local newspaper ownership, the reader is ref erred to the editorial section of each paper for the desired information. In 1874 there was a newspaper—The Lima Sun—issued by Dell and Harry, i. e., A. B. Coe and H. L. Nedsker, but it was a short-lived publication. The publishers had secured an army printing press, but in a short time they sold it to a Columbus Grove minister, and a religious sheet was the result. In time John Junkins acquired the property and it became a newspaper again. In 1877 Campbell Brothers acquired it. The records do not show how long The Sun shone in Allen County. While the sentiment is drifting toward the exclusive use of English, there have been German newspapers in Allen County. In 1877 The Volkblatt was established by A. Zwanzig, but there were only three issues of it. On August 30, 1877, The Courier became in reality the first German newspaper published in Allen County. It was founded by George Feltz and in 1890 he sold it to Adolph Weixelbaum ; it became the leading German paper. Mr. Weixelbaum combined it with his German paper published in Delphos—The Delphos Kleeblatt—the publication bearing the name Lima Courier and Delphos Kleeblatt. HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 317 The Star, Lima's 'industrial newspaper, published by the South Side Commercial Printing Company, with Clarence Heller as managing editor, is delivered by carrier every Tuesday and Friday, and since it is found on every doorstep most people read it. It is fearless in its editorial policy and is gaining the confidence of the community. In Delphos The Daily Herald and The Twice-a-Week Courant, with A. J. Laudeck as editor, served the community most acceptably. These publications are independent in their political affiliations. D. H. Tolan and Edward Walkup were formerly Delphos publishers. Since 1873 there has been a Bluffton News and at once time N. W. Cunningham was its editor. The Bluffton News Publishing Company is B. F. Beery and his son, Clarence Beery. In the 70's S. B. Davis was publisher of The Bluffton Standard. The Spencerville Journal- News is published by Paul Cochran. There was a time when the mechanical part of this paper was accomplished in Delphos, but now it is a home product. Elida. Beaver Dam and Harrod have all had short-lived newspapers-brief existence. It requires both capital and mechanical knowledge to operate a newspaper successfully. Sometimes advance subscriptions have been secured and the paper would suspend when it was out of money. Sometimes the swan song of a newspaper has been "lack of support" and a natural death is all that could be said about it. When reference is made to newspaper publishers, it is said that Count Coffinberry, who coined the word "Swinonia" in designating Hog Creek, was in his day a prime favorite with all publishers. While he was never a resident of, Allen County he was a frequent visitor. While there is loyal support of local newspapers, the metropolitan papers circulating in Allen County are from Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, Toledo, Chicago, and some read New York and Boston papers. When the newspaper fails to arrive promptly is when people find out how much it means to them. The newspaper of today is a complicated thing as compared with early issues of the same publication. It has added so many different departments other than the mere publication of news. The newspaper is an educational influence—one side of the triangle— the press, the church and the school. When some people have read a thing in the newspaper it is the ultimatum. The prime purpose of the newspaper is the collection and dissemination of news. There is responsibility connected with it, and competent performance has been the study of specialists for many years. The dissemination of news is one of the most important functions to civilized society. It is one of the principal factors in human progress. Advertising is regarded as more than news—it is salesmanship as well, and Allen County buyers are interested in knowing about bargains. Discriminating readers follow the editorials—when there are any-in order to know the policy of a newspaper. Usually they seek to arouse thought and action. Special articles supply a wide range of general information. The first and last purpose of the newspaper, however, is to supply the n-e-w-s from the four corners of the universe. With the newspaper available there is less visiting in the community than when men and women went about to learn what was going on in the world. Although the daily newspaper represents the best value for the money of any commodity delivered in the home—is the most common commodity that comes into the home—the average individual knows less about its production than anything else so essential to his existence. How many know how the white stock on which it is printed is obtained ? 318 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY How many realize the expense connected with it ? The low cost of the newspaper cheapens it in the estimation of the subscriber. However, he would not do without it if it cost twice the money. The working organization of a newspaper naturally separates itself as follows : The business office, closely allied with which is the department of advertising; the editorial ; the news-gathering department, which makes the business office a possibility; the composing room or typesetting department ; the press room where the paper is printed and folded, and the circulation department-none of the other departments effective unless the paper reaches its readers. Each department would be useless without the other. Sometimes there is an all-round man who can be of service in any department. The smaller papers are not so complicated, but on a metropolitan paper each man sticks to his department. The public is familiar with the business office and with the circulation department ; pays the money at one place and receives its paper at the other ; and it is the editorial department that is the eternal mystery. The primary function of this department is to gather the news. The reporter gets the facts—"the story," as it is universally known in newspaper parlance, and he writes it. The editor censors all "stories," for, after all, he is responsible for what goes into the newspaper. The success of any newspaper hinges upon the ability and fidelity of its reporters. Good editors may be made, but reporters—they are born, and sometimes their birth is unfortunate. In the first place the good reporter must have a "nose for news," and he must have a liberal comprehension—a sane understanding of things. His faculties must be trained so that he will "scent a story," and he must have the courage to encounter difficulties in obtaining it. He must be trustworthy and conscientious in using facts after he has obtained them. As a final requisite in this day and age of newspaper-making, the efficient reporter must be able to use a typewriter at the rate of fifty words a minute—otherwise he does not measure up to the demands made upon him. The editor, to be successful, must have, served an apprenticeship as a reporter. He must have better judgment than the average reporter. He must know men and affairs thoroughly. He must be inventive and resourceful. He must have an abundance of executive ability and confidence, to say right off the reel what shall be done in emergencies. The atmosphere in the editorial department of all newspapers is heavy with emergencies. The man is lost who hesitates at such times. Above all, the editor must have a grasp of the situation. He must be able, intuitively, to detect the truth and separate it from nonessential details. It is he who dictates the policy of the paper, unless it is a commercialized sheet and ruled from the business office. It is the editor who directs the trend of the public mind. If he is incompetent, careless or radical, the paper suffers from it ; if he is careful, painstaking and honest, the paper will profit from his qualifications. It is said, however, that the friends of a newspaper man are his greatest liability ; his enemies are always his best assets. The foregoing suggests that the very nature of a newspaper man's work isolates him—bars him from many of the pleasures that others enjoy. He dares have no close associates. The editor dare have no intimate friends. He does not know how soon he will be called upon to publish a story reflecting on them. A good newspaper man is not always popular ; in recounting the things that are considered as legitimate news, he sometimes treads on somebody's toes. "To err is human," and sometimes the doings of humanity do not read to their credit—as fights, thefts, divorces, innumerable transactions that would embarrass one's friends—and yet "news is news." HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 319 Few men possess the peculiar temperament which fits them for effective reportorial work and, therefore, reporters are-well, a necessity. Long live the competent, conscientious newswriter ! A daily newspaper is different from the average manufactured product since it is made outright in virtually eight hours. Under no circumstances can the time be extended more than twenty-four hours, or it would cease to be a daily paper. Every department works at high tension, "Hurry" being the middle name of every employe of the office. There are typewriters clicking in order that the narrative may reach the composing room—typesetting room would be a better name, and why secure advertising matter and write the stories unless the typesetters handle them later ? Since the dawn of the twentieth century there have been great strides of advancement in the typesetting department. The linotype machine now does the work of many printers. It is almost human in its capabilities. The type is molded by the machine itself and there is no after-distribution—an operation which once took up much valuable time. Then there is the "Ad Alley," where advertisements are completed when part of the type has been set on the machine. The large, blackface type so much used in advertisements is still set by hand. With all the advantages of the typesetting machines there is still employment for many printers. While not one newspaper reader in a thousand understands what is meant by stereotyping,, each line appearing in a newspaper has undergone the process. An impression is made of all type on soft paper which is converted into a matrix and the molten lead is spread on it either in flat casts or curved plates. No up-to-date daily newspaper is now printed direct from the type; the latter is used solely for making an impression on the matrix, after which the cast forms the printing surface. The casual visitor at a newspaper plant is well repaid for the time. He goes away with a wholesome respect for the publication. When he sees a modern press in operation and sees the papers that are printed from one continuous roll of white paper—when he sees the completed papers, folded and counted and ready for delivery—well, they usually give him one, showing their appreciation of his visit. The modern newspaper is the history of yesterday and there is no question about its readers being responsible for its attitude. Their support is what enables it to advocate anything at all. Discerning publishers study the features that attract most readers, and they cater to the wants of the majority in such things. As a story that is told—the editor dictates and his words are converted into type almost before the reverberation of his voice dies away. Every day the events of all the world are heralded to the different habitations through the agency of the press associations. There is no other agency to be compared with the newspaper in the spread of good influences in a community. It is a blessed trinity-book, platform and pulpit—and those who read it may control its utterances by the sort of moral sentiment with which they surround it. The newspaper is a great institution—swift winged and everywhere present, flying over the fence from the hand of some belated newsboy, tossed into the counting room or store, shoved under the door of the suburban home, laid on the work bench in the busy shop, delivered by carrier to rural patrons and read wherever it is sold—the newspaper adds character and luster—shapes the family history. It is such an integral factor in community life and people have become so dependent upon it, that a delayed paper demoralizes the whole household and every family knows the feeling of impatience while awaiting the coming 320 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY of the paper. If you do not understand the strong hold the press has on the community, just answer a few of the inquiries by telephone when subscribers have been overlooked, or the paper is later than usual. Sometimes a mail pouch is carried by-simply an oversight on the part of the railway mail clerk, but it is a real misfortune to those who miss the paper that day. After all, human life is but a book with the passing years for its chapters, and the gliding months are its paragraphs ; the days are as the sentences, but the punctuation and the proof—usually others attend to that, while one's doubts are the interrogations, and imitation of others the quotation marks, and any attempt at display is a dash—the final period being death—and from the cradle to the grave the greatest influence is the printed page. The newspaper is the most potent agency of education-the advance guard of civilization. "We, the people," are shaping its policy—responsible for it, even though absoplutely silent about it. CHAPTER XXX THE ALLEN COUNTY HIGHWAYS-GOOD ROADS "It's a poor driver that can't hit a stump." While that assertion once meant something in Allen County, it would require careful watching to see one along a public roadway today. That homely saying belonged to the transition period, when changes were being made in all phases of civilization. In these days when every farm house is within half a mile of an improved highway—a requirement in order to continue the rural mail service—a stump in the road is an incident of the past. Commercial transportation and ordinary highway travel are now so closely allied that there is scarcely a line of demarcation between them. Little "trips" that used to require weeks to accomplish are now reduced to a matter of a few hours. The hard surf ace roadways and the automobiles have changed the whole economic situation with reference to "Little Journeys in the World." Civilization's greatest debt to the automobile industry is good roads. The automobile has made good roads, and at the same time the better public thoroughf ares are making better automobiles a possibility. One does not progress without the other, and every owner or driver of a motor car is vitally interested in the good roads question. Every automobile manufacturer is equally interested in the highways of the whole country. As the miles of improved roadways are multiplied, in the same ratio is the increase in the sales, life and value of motor cars. Each year the cities, counties, states and the nation combine forces in an effort to improve the transcontinental highways, and the whole world is interested in the methods of travel. The newspapers are now emphasizing the good roads question. A billion dollars has been appropriated for good roads in the United States and that fact is of vital interest to Allen County. There are more than 8,000 automobiles owned in the county and sometimes people make long journeys in them. The utility of the automobile is of ten attacked by enemies of the industry who class it as a luxury. The automobile has come to be a necessity. With the motor vehicle those living in the country market their produce quicker and cheaper, give their children better school advantages and are in closer touch with the whole community. Those living in the cities have God's out-of-doors brought closer to them and are able to procure lif e's necessities, and with automobiles and improved highways come health, happiness and better living conditions. On sober second thought almost any person would class the automobile as a necessity. Webster defines luxury "anything which pleases the senses and is also costly or difficult to obtain ; an expensive rarity." The automobile has increased the size of the neighborhood for many families, and a stranger may find his way along Allen County highways without the formality of asking questions. The experienced chauffeur reads the roadway signs at a glance and the traveler is no longer warned by the farmers that he will be unable to see the towns because of the houses in them. Puns have always been perpetrated upon travelers who asked question. What the high-tension chauffeur dreads to encounter today is the horse-drawn vehicle, or the electric car driven by a woman ; there is no way of anticipating either of them. It is the verdict of those used to the road that an automobile is shown more courtesy at night - 321 - Vol. I-21 HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 323 than in daytime by horse-drawn vehicles ; the shadow of the car seems to create more uncertainty than the daylight honk, and an automobile may pass a carriage at night with little difficulty. "Safety first" controls the driver of horses under cover of darkness ; in daylight he takes his chances in the middle of the road, and the automobile may do the same in passing him. While there are laws of the road, some drivers are laws unto themselves. Before a recent meeting of the Allen County Historical Society, Mayor Frank A. Burkhardt of Lima read a paper, "Trails, Traces and Tracks," and it is herewith reproduced, only omitting a few duplicate features already incorporated in other chapters. Mayor Burkhardt says : The building of roadways may have been a successful art to the mound- builders, but to the American Indians it was most certainly a lost art. A century ago Northwestern Ohio was a trackless wilderness, save where the military traces of Harmar, St. Clair, Wayne and Hull left evidence of the crude choppings necessary for the forced military movements of former years.- Allen County was then in the heart of the most exclusive and most valued hunting grounds of the Shawnees, as well as the Ottawas and the Wyandottes. The present site of Lima was near where the tribes limited their zones in hunting craft. It was here they had hoped to remain steadfastly, after being dislodged from Pennsylvania and southern Ohio by campaigns of defeat. The Hull trail, chopped out by the pioneer woodsmen in advance of the army of 1812, was the nearest approach to a highway at that time ; the closest point was near the present town of Huntsville. The Wayne trace along the Auglaize was crudely improved and was used as a mail route about this time ; this is the historic trace of Allen County. The successful and strategic maneuvers of Wayne that misled the Indians occurred on this section of the trace. Along the north boundary of the county was a trail road of ancient origin. It is today adopted in part by the Lincoln highway from a point near Gomer to Fort Wayne, Indiana. This trail is known as the Ridge road, and while there is evident trace of glacial formation, it is doubtless to the buffalo that early trod this ridge that credit can well be given for its course of primeval adoption. The Indians followed in the tracks of the Buffalo which, by preservative instinct selected the ridges and lower courses of the hills. These were not only the driest and firmest, but were windswept and thus freest of snow and leaves. Then, too, there was less danger of fire, and the elevation afforded safety in outlook and freedom in signaling. Long before the time of Wayne and Harrison this narrow and devious trail was worn deep by prehistoric movements that kept clear of the impassable Black Swamp of this region. Its swerving course was unknown to General Wayne or he would not have adopted it because of the necessary heavy chopping in order to properly widen it for military movements. To properly approach the opening of trails and traces of the early settlers of the county, it is necessary to refer to great roads that first linked the Ohio country with Philadelphia and Baltimore. The Forbes road, completed in 1758 to Pittsburgh, was not only the means by which the troops and supplies were landed in the Ohio territory in the successful vanquishing of the hostile Indians, but it became the mightiest thoroughfare on the continent for pioneer trade movement and provided a channel of transportation for the settlers of an inland empire. In 1816 it is recorded that more than 15,000 settlers' wagons were counted as they passed over a bridge near Pittsburg on 324 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY the way to Ohio. Some of the early settlers of Allen County were in this throng. It is told that at places along the road logs were dragged behind the wagons to make safe the dangerous descent of hills, and at other places the men who generally walked, would hold onto either side of the wagons by means of stays to prevent upsets. One of the most typical instances of the persevering and toilsome attitude of those sturdy pioneers is in that of a woman who led a cow from eastern Pennsylvania to Ohio. a distance of over .400 miles. The settlers in transit ' camped along the roadside, taking what provisions the hunting enroute would not afford. Many writers and sightseers ventured on those trips and they recorded the hardships and experiences of those nation makers. One poet in glowing vision wrote : "I hear the tread of pioneers, Of nations yet to be ; The first low wash of waves where soon Shall roll a human sea. The rudiments of empire here Are plastic yet and warm ; The chaos of a mighty world Is rounding into form." The French traders had established posts at Wapakoneta, St. Marys and Loramie between 1698 and 1770. At the latter place is where the Indian supplies were stored for various raids upon the early Ohio settlers. When General St. Clair was sent by President Washington to punish the Indians it was from this locality that the Indian trails turned out the wily denizens of the forest that made the expedition a failure. In 1791 General St. Clair, with the largest army that ever moved into HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 325 the Indian country, was defeated in a most disastrous way at Fort Recovery. Historian Williamson recites that 200 Indians left Wapakoneta the night before the battle and threw their balance into the fight at a critical moment.. The squaws and children of the tribes were secreted along the Auglaize in anticipation of possible disaster. When the success of the fight was announced by a runner they went to the field and helped to scalp the victims. In 1794 stern retribution followed as General Wayne, in a masterful way, maneuvered his forces, and, by constructing forts, he pushed along the Auglaize and forever settled the question of the mastery of this territory. The treaty at the Rapids of the Maumee in 1817 was a signal for the settlers to take courage and possess the rich lands of the Shawnees. At this time the nearest settlements were at Urbana and at Piqua- the former on the Hull trail and the latter on the 'Wayne trace. After the Shawnees had been allotted the Hog Creek Reservation of twenty- five square miles, which contained two villages, the site of which is in Shawnee Township, also the 100 square miles reserved at Wapakoneta, it was then that the first roadway was constructed over which came the first permanent settlers of Allen County. This road was surveyed and laid out by the sturdy and intrepid chief Quilna. This trail was eagerly sought by the early settlers. Its course was not governed by section lines or points of the compass. Well does the writer remember viewing with childish fear and wonder the course of this trail through the great woods on the Isaac Bowsher farm near the site of the Shawnee village. The historic trail, long abandoned, could be traced plainly by the void of trees. It avenued through the maze of mighty oaks and elms that lined either side with artly stretches of tentacled branches that arched over the mystic way of the past. No great stretch of imagination was necessary to portray in one's mind of fancy a picture of the vanished forest people who once trod the sleeping trail. If only that virgin forest had been preserved as a public park that present and future generations might have glimpsed upon the trail of Quilna. But, the ax and the plow have now completely erased all trace of the inter-village road of a perished civilization. May the time speed when a monument will preserve and embellish the name Quilna. When Christopher Wood came to Allen County in 1824 he toiled some six days in clearing the way from Bellefontaine to Wapakoneta, thus effecting a connecting link between the Hull and Wayne roads. It is most likely the Indians at Lewiston had in use a slender trail to Wapakoneta that was followed and cut out sufficiently for the passage of the ox team of Mr. Woods. From Wapakoneta to the Shawnee Village on Hog Creek this pioneer traversed the trail of Quilna and after a friendly sojourn he chopped three days further into the wilds and in so doing opened the first way through the present site of Lima. He located on what is known as the Miller farm on Sugar Creek. The following year Samuel McClure headed a party who chopped their way into Bath Township from the southeast-most likely the identical route of the present Bellefontaine road over the "Devil's Backbone." Wood came under the tutelage of the Shawnees while McClure was directed by friendly Wyandottes. This clearly explains the proximity of the two settlements for many months without the knowledge of the presence of the other. Those early families in their coming left footprints which after years have become permanent landmarks in the form of highways that are now well established. So crude and unrecorded were those early traces that the state road maps of 1828 do 326 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY not mark them at all. About this time an order was issued by the State, placing certain restrictions upon road construction. All timbers shall be cut off and cleared at least twenty feet wide, leaving no stumps over one foot high; all wet and miry places shall be made passable by causeways 16 feet wide, made of timbers. One can accept the height limitation on stumps thus fixed, as the original "Safety First" movement in Ohio, and the same unmistakable order also made legitimate the impressionable and never forgettable "corduroy road" of pioneer times ; in fact corduroy roads survived in these parts until the tender years of the writer, for vivid recollection of attacks of "liver grown" pains that were attendant upon "shock absorberless" rides over belated stretches, are still a lingering memory. In 1842, Charles Dickens came to America to secure first-hand information, and impressions of the pioneers who "Hewed the dark old woods away And gave the virgin fields today," and one of his journeys was over the road from Columbus to Toledo. In his passage which was not far from this county, Mr. Dickens encountered the prevailing conditions that beset the early settlers of these parts ; he feelingly noted the following: "There was the swamp, the bush, the perpetual chorus of frogs, the rank, unseemly growth, the unwholesome, steaming earth; here and there, and frequently, too, a solitary broken down wagon full of new settler's goods ; it was a pitiful sight to see one of these wagons deep in the mire; axletree broken, the wheel laying idly at its side ; the man gone miles away to look for assistance. "The woman seated among the wandering household goods with a baby at her breast, a picture of forlorn and dejected patience ; the ox team crunching down mournfully in the mud, and breathing forth clouds of vapor from their mouths and nostrils ; a great portion of the way was over what was called corduroy roads, which are made of trees thrown into a marsh and left to settle there ; the very slightest jolts with which the carriage fell from log to log, was enough, it seemed to me, to have dislocated every bone in the human body." On March 7, 1842, a traveler left Columbus for Lima, and reached his destination four days later. He wrote, saying: "The road had been surveyed, some underbrush cut out, but not sufficient to find the road in the dark ; the entire country was afloat ; the ravines and depressions would swim a horse ; corduroy was made of rails laid down in a dry time ; there was danger of breaking the legs of the horses and the necks of the riders." To the people of today, the corduroy road has gone to be commemorated only in the printed sketch about it ; along with it to oblivion has gone the once familiar expression : "It's a poor driver that can't hit a stump." There was no tax duplicate in Allen County until June 6, 1831, hence no publicly improved roads prior to that time ; all roads in use were trails and traces cut out as necessity demanded them; the Allentown road is said to have been the first improved road in the county. It has recently, in part, been marked as a section of the H. M. C. Indian Trail route from Lima to Chicago. In 1831, the Elida road was chopped out to Lima, William Knittle being one of the choppers ; the same year, John F. Cole is said to have brought the first stock of merchandise to Lima; the cargo was brought in from Dayton towed by a trio of brawny oxen ; the route was by way of Wapakoneta and the Quilna trail, and the trip consumed a period of some sixteen days of toilsome travel. In 1833, the Harpsters, in coming from Wyandotte County chopped the way in part to the banks of Sugar Creek. In 1834, William Brady HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 327 and William Scott opened a road from the Auglaize River through the "ten mile woods" to Van Wert ; the course was no doubt identical with the Ridge road through Delphos and beyond, now known as the Lincoln Highway. In the early '30s the Amanda road was surveyed by Ezekiel Hover ; in 1835, the pioneers in the vicinity of Bluffton cut out a road thirty feet wide where now is the main street of Bluffton ; in these days a cut road was a luxury—other roads were mere paths ; the wagon trail from Findlay to Lima by way of Bluffton, is today a part of the famous Dixie Highway. That portion of the original trail that avoided "sycamore swale" and Beaver Dam, was in later years given the present course, after drainage facilities were worked out ; a glimpse at a county road map today will readily disclose where the early trails existed, due to the variable and devious courses ; they were made to follow the ridge lands, usually along the various creeks and streams. Some of the most beautiful drives today are afforded by these same unique routes. A trip over the Amanda trail from Lima to the Children's Home is one of delightful reward ; a drive over the Devil's Backbone on the old stage-coach route is one of marked interest ; one should not miss a journey through "Kissing Hollow" along the beautiful, wealth-laden Sugar Creek. Perhaps the most wonderful of all drives, at least from the point of imbibing the spirit of the original trail atmosphere, is to follow the course of the famous Wayne Trace from Wapakoneta across Allen County to Fort Jennings and beyond ; to spend a day in communion with nature, one cannot be better rewarded than to hie away with a picnic party to one of the many inviting nooks along the Auglaize ; the early 328 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY river crossings were all at shallow places prior to the early bridges ; the first bridge authorized by the county was in 1839 ; it was built across Little Hog Creek at Shawnee Township at a cost of $50 ; this was at a point where the present Dixie Highway crosses the creek on the Wapakoneta road. (It is a unique thing in Allen County history that two such famous roads as the Lincoln and Dixie highways should intersect within its borders. No other Ohio county can boast that distinction.) The early trails, traces and tracks of Allen County were once a scrambled network, void of a general plan ; however, the modern and complete system of highways today is based most excellently on these trails. Many of Allen County's most prominent roads today are identical with the original trails, in the greater part of their course through the county ; among these might be mentioned the Findlay road, the Allentown road, the Bellefontaine road, the St. John's road, the Amanda road, the Spencerville road, the Elida-Delphos road, the Gomer-Vaughnsville road, the Ash Grove road, the Columbus Grove road, the Marion road. the Napoleon road, the West Prairie road, the Scott's Crossing road ; these are household words to residents in all parts of the county, and they will forever preserve in Allen County some of the earliest footprints of civilization. In 1816, Major Long of the United States Army headed an expedition that made a survey for prospective national roads throughout the central states. This expedition traversed this section of the country, and Major Long is known to have traveled from St. Marys to Fort Wayne on the Wayne Trace. The expedition covered a distance of several thousand miles in a period of three years. In 1819-20, John C. Calhoun, as secretary of war, sent an expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains in the interest of the national and military roads, and as a result the greatest highway ever projected was proposed to run from Wheeling through Fort Wayne to the Mississippi ; this road as planned would have cost $7,000,000, and would not only have passed through Allen County, but it would have touched the present site of Lima ; there were no cities or towns in this section to press local claims, and persistent pressure on Congress from St. Louis and other cities to the south, caused the abandonment of a gigantic enterprise that would have meant much to Allen County in pioneer times ; today the Lincoln Highway has in part taken up the course planned a century ago. In the City of Lima the course of the roads and trails has been greatly marred; the Wapakoneta, the St. John's and the West Prairie roads formed a junction at Blue Bird Hill, a point identical with Circular and Main streets ; these roads came into this point at bold angles, all leading to a common ford across the Ottawa River at the site of the present Main Street bridge ; the Amanda and Spencerville roads formed a junction near the foot of Baxter Street, and following the course of the river to West Street, thence curving about the tannery and brewery site, it took the present course of Water Street to Main Street ; here the course of the river road led to that of East Elm Street, and led on to the ford at the site of the present Elm Street bridge ; in after years this road passed under the railroad as now, and a log bridge was erected at the river crossing; along Elm Street and the river road was all of the factory and mill business for many years. The Elida road led in boldly from the northwest ; its course near the present congested district of Lima has long since been abandoned, leading in on platted streets ; the same is true of the Findlay road from where it enters Jackson Street ; the Bellefontaine road alone retains its original course ; there is a tradition well supported that Circular Street is a part HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 329 of an Indian trail that crept along the south bank of the Ottawa River ; it is most likely a last vestige of the trail that joined the Shawnee village to that of the Wyandottes. Dr. George Hall relates that some fifty years ago, the residents on Circular Street opposed correcting its present course for historic reasons. It was at the point where Circular Street led into the main road at Blue Bird Hill, that the veteran historian, Henry Howe, who was in Lima in 1846, made his pencil sketches. Out in the townships, too, have many trails been abandoned ; the Quilna trail is completely effaced ; the West Prairie road once led in from the Lewiston district ; it has long been blotted out from beyond South Warsaw, and turned into section line channels ; early residents recall how its former course could be traced by the avenued void in the deep woods many years after. In Shawnee Township there was a crooked trail leading from the Shawnee church up stream, to where the first general store in the township was located at Hall's Crossmg; a part of this road is still open ; from the Indian village site to the Benjamin Bowsher homestead farm, there was a trail leading up stream to where the Lutheran Church now stands, and it doubtless made a junction with the old Quilna trail near this point ; here was one of the early mills ; along this trail was lined the homes of the first residents of this part of Allen County ; the Meffley tailor shop was half a mile further up the stream, and it was one of the first custom shops in the county ; for many years the entire settlement was known as Stringtown ; this trail, like many others has been swallowed up by oblivion, having given way to the changed conditions incident to the coming of the Miami and Erie Canal. and the railroad systems that now serve the community. When the first settlers arrived in Allen County, horseback travel was the fastest known transit service ; within the present generation a steam locomotive established a record of more than 120 miles per hour ; more recently an electric car developed a speed of more than 130 miles per hour ; still more recently a racing automobile took the speed record from the electric motor ; but the automobile very soon surrendered the speed title to an aeroplane, that in a burst of space annihilation exceeded a rate of 180 miles an hour—a most wonderful contrast to the plodding ways and retarding courses along the early trails, traces and tracks in Allen County. (While Mayor Burkhardt also wrote of the tracks, that feature is reserved for the chapter on transportation.) Allen County has today over 900 miles of public highway, and it can be safely asserted that at least 95 per cent of it is improved—paved, piked or macadamed ; two great transcontinental highways, the Lincoln and the Dixie, cross within the county. (Is that true in any other county ?) Other state and county roads completely ramify the county, so that today the 8,000 automobiles and motor trucks owned by Allen County citizens, are speedily moving over artly stretches of magnificent highways where once was prevalent the squash and chuck and uncertain splashes, emanating from belated hoofs that punctured the softened turf, and doughed the softened clay, as the settlers with hope and patience urged them on, the sturdy steeds that plodded the weary distance to and from mill, and market and church. The people of Allen County are living in a day of wonderful contrasts ; it is not long since logs floated mid-road, and pedestrians had to coon along zigzag on a rail fence, by fingers and toes at many points ; today a program of road construction and rebuilding is being worked out in the county that will entail the expenditure of one and a half million dollars within the next five years ; it seems an assured thing that the trails, traces and tracks of the pioneer, the Indian and the buffalo are 330 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY now eternally interwoven into the foundation bulwarks of a new civilization ; the world is today awed by tremendous things. Verily hath it been said : "Man's extremity is God's opportunity," and the thing to do is to turn from the dim maze of the trails of the past, and face the mighty highways that lead on and on ; may the noble spirits of the God-fearing pioneers ever lend to their prosterity greater and truer visions. Addenda : There has been evolution in the road building system, and the men who used to use one-horse scrapers and draw the dirt from the gutters to the middle of the road served one good purpose—the ditch at the side of the road drained it. The tile drain is one of the considerations in modern road building, and it benefits both the highway and the fields along it. When the roadbed is drained it will stand a great deal more travel, than when the horse must pull its feet out of the mud, and use all of its strength without drawing a wagon. Shawnee Township it fortunate in its highways because of the great amount of wealth assessed there, and its tax rate need not be high in order to have its roads in excellent condition. While "the little house says stay and the little road says go," there will be a difference of opinion in the community. The road is the answer to the riddle : "What is it that goes to mill and stands still?" CHAPTER XXXI TRANSPORTATION-ITS RELATION TO COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURING The annals of Allen County deal at length with the long, wearisome journeys of the pioneers to distant trading points ; sometimes they must have supplies other than what they could secure with their trusty rifles in the forests that infested the county. It is still handed down that the settlers were two, three and four days going to Piqua or Fort Defiance, and then the canal across the western part of Allen County brought the outside world closer to the community. Transportation is one of the greatest contributors to civilization, and the Erie and Miami Canal was a welcome enterprise. In 1828, the United States Government offered a liberal inducement to any enterprising person or company who would build a canal connecting Dayton and Fort Defiance ; the route was to parallel the Auglaize through the territory drained by it ; the State of Ohio, or any builder, was to have the revenue from the sale of all the even number sections of land crossed by the canal, and in the chapter dealing with Delphos and Spencerville, the activities of Father John Otto Bredeich are described—had emissaries on the ground in advance, watching developments. Under the direction of Samuel H. Farrar, three different routes were surveyed and finally when a route was determined there was a rush for investment, there being four townsites established in what is now Delphos. It is a matter of record that as early as January, 1817, there were resolutions passed the Ohio Assembly relating to a canal connecting the Ohio River with Lake Erie, and in 1819, the subject was again up for consideration ; interest revived and waned repeatedly, when finally a competent engineer was employed—James Geddes of New York. There were three routes under consideration, and it seems that a different engineer made each survey, as another account mentions Samuel ForerSamuel Forer and Samuel Farrar were one and the same, and their identity confused in the spelling, by different writers. Mr. Geddes was from the region of canals in New York. Finally, an act was passed by the Ohio Assembly in February, 1825 : "To provide for the internal improvement of the state by navigable canals," and it is attested in the vicinity of Delphos and Spencerville that the construction of the canal when Allen County was still in its swaddling clothes, gave renewed progress and vigor to the community. While the canal surveys were begun as early as 1830, it was several years before there was a canal carrying packets across Allen County. The first canalboat of any description—most likely laden with freight— to pass through Delphos, July 4, 1845, was the Marshall, and the town was full of people : "It was a most significant event, and the occasion of a day of triumph and gala festive acclaim ; the new canal early became the chief artery of transportation for a mighty trade zone. Delphos and Spencerville soon sprang into commercial prominence : at Delphos, several taverns and hotels did a flourishing business, and the crude highways teamed with heavy traffic ; not only freight, but passenger traffic as well were carried in most elegantly appointed fashion ; there were the cabins and parlors and attendant cafe service, and the relays of horses were pushed for speed. But scarcely had the towpaths been securely beaten - 331 - 332 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY down by the plodding hoofs, when the locomotive arrived and changed economic conditions." However, the canal served its purpose-had its day, and Governor- elect William Bebb was a passenger on the first passenger packet to arrive in 1846, and the public-spirited business men of Delphos met the boat at a lock a mile away and supplied fresh horses to bring the distinguished passenger into town. It was the "triumphant entrance," the prospective governor of Ohio arriving by water ; other Delphos visitors came over corduroy and unimproved roadways. President-elect Warren G. Harding has had no more courtesies showered upon him in Cuban waters and off the Florida coast, than were accorded this prospective Ohio governor who arrived by water in Delphos. It is urged by some that joining the Great Lakes with the sea by an international waterway would affect the industries of Allen County by functioning the canal again. It would both reduce the cost and increase the facilities for shipping, and that is now an economic problem ; time was when coal could be bought at 90 cents a ton in Cincinnati, and delivered in Spencerville and Delphos with the added charge of $1 for the freight; such carriage prices would be welcomed again. In Civil war days canalboats could be seen at any time coming or going from Cincinnati and other points, and when D. H. Tolan opened his printing office in Delphos in 1869, he would hear the bell and look out and see canalboats frequently. However, Delphos and Spencerville folk do not watch the packets any more-have railroad trains, and sometimes see the air transportation service. Finally, under railroad competition the canal was leased, and after a few years it went out of commercial use entirely ; while the canal once meant much to western Allen County it is now a thing of the past in community history. While Congressman B. F. Welty had ambitions relative to it, and is still urging the matter, people may never go on canal excursions again. Delphos and Spencerville citizens would hear the bell and watch for the arrival of the canal packet, and sometimes there would be passengers leave the boats ; sometimes they would go to Dayton by water ; they all knew Captain Ellis—at first he carried only freight, but later he owned a packet and carried passengers. Some who told about the packets also told about coming into the community with oxen over corduroy roads, and "them days there were deer in the woods. When the 'iron horse' came into 'this neck o' the woods,' the wild life all left it," and some regretted the passing of the time when they supplied meat for the dinner table by carrying the trusty old rifle into the Allen County forest. Time was when the Erie and Miami Canal was a great asset to west- HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 333 ern Allen County. Delphos and Spencerville were canal towns, and other towns hauled freight from there. In 1848, Lima business men "wagoned" all their merchandise from those towns. That was when they sold goods on a year's credit, and they needed cheap transportation. They turn their money oftener today, and still they advocate cheaper freight rates ; in its day, the canal was a great "feeder" for Allen County. Because of the excessive costs of moving freight, this talk of the improvement of the natural waterways through the system of the Great Lakes has been revived, and it is of interest to know that there is a clause in the famous Ordinance of 1787, under which provision Ohio was admitted as a state, relative to it. Article III reads : "The navigable waters leading into the Mississippi and St. Lawrence, and the carrying places between the same, shall be common highways and forever free, as well to the inhabitants of the said Northwest Territory, as to the cities of the United States, and those of any other states that may be admitted into the confederacy, and without the tax, impost or duty," and since the Auglaize was once used for navigation in the Fort Amanda shipyard days, this special clause had local application. The drainage of Allen County is through the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence to the Atlantic. While the railroad interests now dominate the canal towns in Allen County, the canal itself remains as a reminder of early history. The industries draw their water supplies from it, the water coming from the reservoir connecting St. Marys and Celina, and with all the waterways agitation now going on in the whole country, western Allen County people have their ears to the ground awaiting developments. It has been demonstrated that the shipping facilities of the railroads are inadequate, and while Delphos and Spencerville may never expect to see passenger packets again—time always an element in travel—freight barges may again pass up and down this waterway as they did half a century ago. History repeats itself in many communities. "In less than a generation the innovation of the waterway was supplanted by the first railroad in the county in 1856, with the opening of the Fort Wayne steam line ; the Dayton and Michigan was opened the following year, Lima becoming the traffic center of the county ; the coming of the mighty HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 335 locomotive reshaped the whole scheme of development, and shattered many plans and hopes. The 'Mad River' Railroad, first in Ohio, early became one of the most popular routes of reaching Lima from Southern Ohio points, as there was a stage coach operated from Huntsville to Lima ; the coach was driven on a bi-daily schedule, making the round trip every two days ; the route was by way of Roundhead and the 'Backbone.' In this quaint old coach, many an eminent jurist and the legal lights of the day, jostled in carefree way with young and old in the oft overcrowded vehicle that regularly negotiated the ups and downs of the devious and tedious journey ; it was of such journeys that McCauley, the writer, deplored the passing; when discussing the speed of modern travel, he said : 'We do not travel today-we merely arrive,' " and that emphasizes the saying: "Lima is only over night from any place at all." With Pullman sleeper accommodations people go to bed in Allen County and waken in Chicago or New York. "Safety first," and "Stop, look, and listen," are now familiar terms to everybody. In 1854, the first steam locomotive was brought to Allen County by canal from Toledo ; it was called the "Lima," and was used for construction work on the first railroad built in the county ; it did not "steam" into Allen County, but came as freight to Delphos. The Indiana Railroad, now the Pennsylvania, connected Crestline and Fort Wayne, and Allen County subscribed $50,000 in stock, but since it was later sold at par the railroad cost the county nothing. Many years ago, McCauley, who is the world's most renowned historian, said : "The chief cause which made the infusion of the different elements of society so imperfect, was the extreme difficulty which our ancestry found in passing from place to place ; of all inventions, the alphabet and the printing press alone excepted, those inventions which abridge distance have done most for civilization," and it is well understood that distance is now practically annihilated from the face of the earth. Some one has said that transportation is civilization—that the sailing vessels brought the old and the new world together ; the railroads brought • the cities and towns together, and the automobiles have brought the towns and the country together- thus annihilating distance. The passing of time emphasizes the statement that every stage of America's development has produced its special type of pioneer ; the first son who came from northern Europe with the ax in his hand as an emblem of progress, hewed his way as far as the Allegheny Mountains ; the second generation of Americans crossed the mountains, and added the rifle to its equipment ; the third crossed the Mississippi and the great waterways, annexing the boat ; the fourth crossed the Rocky Mountains, and became the discoverers of the long, long trails as the horse carrying the cowboy with his lariat led the way ; finally, the next pioneer in the advance of civilization, displaced the trail with the rail of steel, and his posterity has covered the whole country with a network of railways. The pioneer is not blazing new trails today, but he is covering the country again with more intensive development ; in his wake, organized capital is taking care of youthful industries. The pioneer of today is harnessed up with science and machinery ; he has for his agencies of development—coal, steam, gas and electricity. This combination is converting the trees of the forests into ships that sail over the seas, and aeroplanes that fly through the air ; it is converting the dry, dusty plains of the desert into wheat fields, and today there are no Great Plains in the Middlewest ; it is bringing the jewels from the mines that are buried thousands of feet in the depths of the earth to the surface, thus supplying millions of people with heat and com- HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 337 fort, and all things considered it seems worth while for this secondary pioneer in civilization to sweep the country again. Intensive methods will secure a better development of natural resources. The railroads have opened up these possibilities to humanity. While the railroad and the locomotive were strong factors in the nineteenth century development, the twentieth century thus far has seemingly witnessed only the beginning of the development of electricity ; it was discovered by Benjamin Franklin while flying a kite, and every day new uses are being made of it ; use of steam was first applied in 1680, by Sir Isaac Newton, and steam and electricity are two of the most valuable agencies utilized in civilization today ; there are men and women still living who remember the first use of steam or electricity in Allen County. While the railroads have opened up the markets of the ,world to the community, the agriculture and live stock industries advancing with the increased market opportunities, and manufacturing following in the wake of transportation, it has not always been smooth sailing with the pro- motors ; there has been a reported shortage of 800,000 cars in the transportation system of the United States, leading up to the 1920 harvest season ; while steam transportation has been a civilizing and developing influence in the progress of mankind, it is certainly handicapped and its days of usefulness are materially curtailed by the competition of the highway trucks all over the country. There is truth in the homely adage : "The smallest fleas have fleas to bit 'em, And these have fleas Ad Infinitum." While it may sound like propaganda, the assertion is made that private operation will make the railroads efficient again. The twentieth century cross-country traffic and travel was undreamed of before the government acquired temporary control of transportation; the traffic in horseflesh has declined all over the United States, and roadsters are not in demand because of the marvelous increase in the number of trucks, tractors and automobiles, and there has resulted a diversion of freight from the railroads that materially lessens their possible earnings ; while this transf ormation has been partially obscured by the labor shortage and the move- ment away from the farm, it is nevertheless a reality. The development of the gasoline motor is rapidly revolutionizing economics, with 8,000 motor vehicles in Allen County. The man going over in a balloon—ah, they no longer travel with parachute attachment, but the tourist flying Vol. I-22 338 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY over Allen County today recognizes an excellent farming country with its network of transportation facilities. Two transcontinental railways—the Pennsylvania and the Erie—cross Allen County east and west, helping to connect the Atlantic and Pacific with iron bands ; two lateral roads : the Toledo, Detroit and Ironton, and the Great Central (C. H. & D.) from north to south connect the Great Lakes with the Ohio River, and there is a diagonal railway from northwest to southeast—the Columbus and Lake Michigan route, that would put Lima in touch with the world ; however, it was only finished from Lima to Defiance, and has since been changed to an electric line ; indeed it is said the railroad facilities are such that passengers may arrive from forty-four Ohio counties without change of cars ; most Allen County towns are in direct communication by rail from Lima. The western part of the county is served by a branch of the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton road, and the Toledo, St. Louis and Western ; the Lake Erie and Western through the center, and the Northern Ohio, across the north part of the county : Delphos is a railway center, having shops located there. A local advertising medium says : "Lima has transportation facilities which are equalled by few cities of its size in the country, it has ten railroads in all directions ; it has two trunk lines to New York ; two trunk lines to Detroit ; two trunk lines to Chicago ; one trunk line to Indianapolis and St. Louis ; one to Cincinnati ; one to Cleveland and Buffalo," besides listing the direct connection with the coal fields in Kentucky and West Virginia. The Lima News and Times-Democrat exclaims : "Lima is the hub of a mighty industrial wheel with spokes of steel radiating in every direction ; it is the manufacturing center of one of the richest agricultural territories in Ohio," and while the 1920 census shows an official population of 68,000, as a commercial center Lima draws its patronage from a trading radius of 200,000 population— there being two interurban railways, with their lines touching surrounding cities in every direction. The Ohio Electric and the Western Ohio, with their freight and passenger service, open up a great deal of territory contributing to the commercial prosperity of Lima. Everything seems to point to Lima as an economic center for the development of industry. The city has fifteen miles of electric railways operated by the Ohio Electric Company, and it is said the mule was emancipated in Lima in 1886—July 4th, when the first electric car in use west of the Allegheny Mountains, was seen in Lima. The town was full of people, although it rained all day ; some would take a ride were there horses or mules to draw them. The Lima public square was full of people who "took the rain," watching the first electric car in the city. It was a curiosity—no horse or mule to draw it. A few citizens of Lima have been empire builders, inasmuch as they were railway promotors. Senator Calvin Stewart Brice was a railroad promotor ; while he had been admitted to the Allen County bar as a lawyer, he became identified with the legal department of a local railway, and from that time he was a corporation lawyer and railway financier; Mr. Brice accumulated a fortune ; he went to New York where he promoted the Nickle Plate and sold it to the Vanderbilt system, and he cleared a million dollars on one deal; law was a stepping stone, and he entered politics, gaining a seat in the United States Senate, and being chairman of the National Democratic Campaign Committee : before his death he had developed a scheme for a seaboard outlet for the Lake Erie and Western Railway, diverging at Bluffton—the Northern Ohio via Akron and Youngstown. Mr. Brice and B. C. Faurot were active in the railroad world, while Dr. S. A. Baxter, Richard Metheany and others HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 339 helped put Lima on the railroad by activities in early history. Doctor McHenry was also active in his effort to secure railway service. While Mr. Faurot accumulated money in his effort to place Lima on the map of the world, in later years when he turned his attention to industries outside of the community, it was the beginning of a long line of disastrous financial reverses ; he lost his money in Mexican railroad ventures. While Mr. Faurot had accomplished many things at home, foreign litigation and difficulties overcame him. When local inquiry was being made about Mr. Faurot, a workman standing by remarked: "When I worked for $1.50 a day on the Ben Faurot railway, I saved money," and then he expressed regret that a man who had done so much for Lima and community, should lose his fortune. An old account says : "When the C. H. & D. Railway was projected, the right of way was paid for in stock which was plenty and priceless, and the land given was plenty and wet ; the annual stockholders' meeting was held at Toledo or Dayton, and a free pass to either city was issued for each share of stock held, and as high finance even at that time had some tricks; there was stock enough issued to transport almost the entire population on the excursion, and those fortunate people who had many shares took their neighbors on the excursion, the greatest event of the 340 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY year, and what a great day it was ; people got ready long before, and many a spark was lit on those trips which started a fire that continued burning," and no doubt many had their first glimpse of the world outside Allen County. It is related of Johnzy Keeth who was a Spencerville pioneer, that he gave the right of way to the railway from the town through his own land reaching to the Auglaize River, while many held back for more money from the promotors, or refused to deal with them at all. There are always some men who are more public spirited than others ; because of such men there are railways. Among the public utilities, transportation is one of the foremost considerations ; the twentieth century is an era of high pressure ; the placid view that obtained some few decades gone by when the business of the world was conducted along lines at once dignified and marked with slowness that may at once be denominated as conservatism, is no longer applicable to the mad rush of present-day business activities; changes come about, and events succeed one another with lightning like rapidity, and in nothing is progress more apparent than in methods of transportation. Visitors always get their first impression of a community at the railway station ; it is to the advantage of the railway companies when the citizens of a community are prosperous, and they are contributing to the prosperity when through their passenger stations they present an attractive appearance to the stranger who visits the town. The railroads all maintain freight offices in addition to their passenger service, and consignments are sent to and received from all parts of the world in Allen County today. While not much was said about the underground railway in Allen County in the Civil war, because there were not many Abolitionists in the county, there is now an underground transportation system that perhaps has more miles of pipe line than there are miles of iron bands serving the above-ground transportation. The pipe lines for oil cross many farms in other counties and other states, the circulatory system being necessary in order to maintain Lima as an oil shipping station. Oil quotations are Lima north and Lima south, and the local investment is such that there will always be an oil center in Allen County. While there are no passengers, there are track men who know the routes and keep them free from difficulties. While there is wealth in the land, many people farm over the pipe lines forgetting about the wealth flowing through them. While not much use has been made of aerial transportation, the underground commercial interests of Lima and community amount to vast sums of money each twelve months. While local production is light, Lima is still the hub of the oil industry. The story is told of the accommodation train that started and stopped, and thus a belated passenger boarded it ; when he asked if the train had stopped to get a fresh start, the conductor said : "No, only a fresh passenger." Query : who was it left Allen County that day? CHAPTER XXXII THE DISCOVERY OF OIL IN ALLEN COUNTY Soon after the great Ohio gas field had been developed at Findlay in 1885, B. C. Faurot, ever alert to both private and community interests, brought drillers to Lima ; the drill was sent down on the property of the Lima strawboard works in quest of water, gas or whatever product might underlie the territory, and the initial oil well in this part of the heritage was the result ; although it is no longer producing territory, Lima quotations control the market today. It is Lima north and Lima south, and the entire oil belt of the Middle West is regulated by Lima quotations. Lima and Allen County never have been regarded as gas producing territory. The local oil industry has produced millions of dollars for Allen County and Northwestern Ohio ; at one time the biggest oil territory in the world was the Lima field. As soon as the success of the Faurot oil well had been heralded to the world by the newspapers, Lima sprang from an agricultural trading center over night to the dignity of a city ; while it was mushroom growth, the development proved to be of permanent nature. In discussing the growth of Lima, many say that among its most loyal boosters was James A. Hover ; an admiring friend exclaimed : "Mr. Hoover was one of the biggest hearted men the county ever knew, and there were but very few of the old-timers but what at some period of their lives received aid and comfort from this royal old gentleman. "Mr. Hoover owned a large farm adjacent to the City of Lima in Shawnee Township ; in 1886, the news went abroad that the Standard Oil Company was going to build a refinery somewhere in Northwestern Ohio, with Findlay and Toledo in the lead for the location ; the committee on location was : Frank Rockefeller, with F. B. Squiers, a director, and Mr. Keith, an attorney for the Solar Refining Company ; at length Lima's time for consideration came, and after an inspection of various proposed sites Mr. "Rockefeller informed the local citizens' committee that a portion of the James A. Hover farm, consisting of 151 acres lying between the C. & E. Railroad on one side, and the L. E. & W. Railroad on the . other, was an ideal situation, and if the land could be secured the refinery would be located at Lima. "When Mr. Hover was approached in the matter, he replied that in 1885 he had leased his land to the Trenton Rock Oil Company for drilling purposes, but he thought he could get a release from them without trouble, especially when such a big proposition as this for the City of Lima was at stake ; he at once consulted the men representing the Trenton Rock Company, and was urged to go right on and fasten up things so the big plant would be secured ; they said further that Mr. Hover should be taken care of without loss and the lease canceled ; the deal was then made, Hover agreeing and contracting to the Solar Refining Company 151 acres of land for which he was to receive $17,500 upon the making of the deeds ; then trouble began ; the leaseholding company refused to cancel the lease unless the company was paid $10,000 in cash ; Mr. Rockefeller was consulted, and said : 'Mr. Hover, although I have a valid agreement with you I will not see you held up in this manner. I will call everything off, and we will locate our refinery either at Findlay or Toledo.' - 341 - 342 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY "Being satisfied that this would be done, Mr. Hover replied : 'I have watched Lima grow from a village of less than a dozen houses until it is now a -city with a big future ; this is the greatest thing that ever was offered us, and if I can prevent it it shall not get away from us ; it is a great loss to me, but you shall have the land you require,' and he finally compromised with the leaseholding company by paying $5,000 ; the Solar Refining Company took possession and it is now one of the biggest assets of the city ; the sequel to the story is that several months afterward, Mr. Rockefeller again met Mr. Hover, saying: 'Mr. Hover, you are the squarest farmer I ever did business with ; here is my personal check for $2,500; I will take one-half your loss while you are standing the other half,' the foregoing facts corroborated to William Rusler by a son of the grand old pioneer long since departed to be with his fathers," and now the public knows the amount of the subsidy given by Mr. Hover to secure the Solar Refining Company for Lima and Allen County. About all that is left is the Solar refinery and the different companies dealing in oil commodities. While there was whirlwind development for several years, the decline of the oil production was the natural sequence. The Lima field soon rivaled the Pennsylvania field, and the Standard Oil Company at once established headquarters and still operates its business in Lima. While Lima will always be a center because of the facilities installed in the days of active production, there is little oil now being pumped in Allen County. The story reads like romance, and the men who reaped the advantages : Faurot, Jamieson, Brice, Baxter, Irvin, Waldorf, Metheany, Morris and ad infinitum, are all departed with the source of their wealth. The Solar Refining Company, the Buckeye Pipe Line Company and the Manhattan Oil Company all hark back to the days of local oil production. The Lima Republican-Gazette in 1917, carried a series of articles on the discovery of petroleum in the Trenton limestone, written by H. D. Campbell that is a complete resume of Allen County oil developments. The existence of the petroleum or rock oil has been known since the beginning of time. Only some excerpts can be taken from Mr. Campbell's study, since it is so exhaustive as to fill many pages in the history. The American Indian gathered petroleum from springs and streams and used it for medicine, and when the white man came it soon obtained commercial recognition. Oil was discovered in Ohio as early as 1819 along the Muskingum River. In 1829 it was found flowing in Kentucky. There was no market for it, and no use was made of the product. As early as 1856, there was demand for oil as a medicine, and in 1858 it was utilized for lighting purposes. Following the invention of the coal oil lamp, refineries sprang up all over the country. It was a New Englander, Col. G. L. Drake, who first commercialized the oil industry in Pennsylvania, and the newspapers have lately carried the story of the death of Coaloil Johnny who acquired fabulous sums and lost his money quite as rapidly in the Pennsylvania territory. George H. Bissell soon became interested in the oil industry, and he planned drilling for oil rather than skimming it from the streams, and August 25, 1869, he succeeded in tapping oil at a depth of seventy feet which yielded 400 gallons in a day, retailing at 55 cents, and great excitement resulted —this in Pennsylvania. Thousands of derricks sprang up, stock companies were formed and immense fortunes accumulated for some of the operators. Had Colonel Drake leased adjacent territory he would have controlled the situation, but he died in poverty. His partner, Mr. Bissell, had the necessary foresight and leased sufficient land to insure his fortune. HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 343 LIMA OIL LIGHTS THE WORLD The drilling of the Faurot well on the paper mill property was momentous in the future of Lima. As when Moses smote the rock, fountains of wealth gushed forth to gladden many hearts and enrich all mankind. A new spirit of energy was engendered which spread like wildfire from Ohio, across Indiana and Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, with developments in Kentucky and Tennessee. Thousands of derricks sprang up as if by magic, and as many wells poured forth their volumes of oil which has added millions of dollars to the world's wealth. The central part of the United States was the center of oil production in the world. Desert places soon blossomed as the rose, and the mortgaged farms developed into profitable holdings. Mechanics, merchants and manufacturers all enjoyed prosperity. Lima oil was soon lubricating the machinery of the world, and carrying the light of civilization to the four corners of the globe. The town soon became the commanding city of a large section of country. The impetus gained has never been lost and Lima is still a prosperous community. The story of the drill was the story of progress and achievements. If the paper mill well had not been drilled in 1885, and the local discovery of oil had been postponed, the result would have been different in community progress. There was shortage of kerosene, and the money and men used in developing the field would have been elsewhere had not the drill penetrated oil in Allen County. This is the age of gasoline as well as steel and electricity, and when the first whiff of gas at the paper mill well indicated to the drillers that something was about to happen, gasoline was considered an almost worthless product. There was no such thing as a gasoline engine, and if the supply of petroleum had become exhausted the brains which perfected the gasoline engine and cleared the way for the automobile, the aeroplane and the submarine, must have been diverted into other channels, and these wonders of the world might yet be unknown, while the echo of the first oil well is the Standard Oil Company in Lima today. HOW TO PUT LIMA OIL ON THE MARKET The Standard Oil Company was soon recognized as the world's greatest corporation, as it cornered the Lima oil fields and went into the producing business, building the Chicago pipe line and becoming master of the oil supply of the world. Pennsylvania developments were duplicated in Ohio, oil being found on the water in many places and collected and used as medicine, these surface accumulations attracting attention as early as 1860, but developments beginning in Lima territory. Oil was found almost simultaneously in other Ohio counties, although State Geologist Orton said oil in paying quantities would never be produced from such rock as was found underlying Lima. Trenton rock takes its name from Trenton Township, Oneida County, New York, where there are waterfalls in picturesque form and the rocky formation is like that underlying oil territory all over the country. In his geological survey of Ohio, published in 1888, Professor Orton says : "The entire history of the discovery and the exploitation of petroleum in this country has been full of surprises, both to the practical man engaged in the work and to the geologists who have studied the facts as they have been brought to light, and oil in the Trenton rock, some of the wells producing 5,000 barrels of oil, or 15,000,000 cubic feet of gas, and the whole thing without precedent. There were surf ace indi- HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 345 cations of gas, but not of oil at Findlay. In 1836, at a point 3,V2 miles south of the Hancock County courthouse, a man named Wade was digging a well on the Aaron Williams farm when water was struck at a depth of ten feet and the man stopped to eat supper. When he returned with a lighted torch there was an explosion, and the fire continued burning for three months. In 1838, Daniel Foster dug a well in Findlay in which gas was so strong that it spoiled the water. Foster was a practical man and utilized the gas by piping it into his house, where he burned it in his fireplace for many years. Narrowing down to a study of the Lima oil field, Mr. Campbell pays tribute to one who was connected with local development in many ways, saying of B. C. Faurot that he was always abreast of the times, reciting the fact that the operahouse, electric light, electric street railway, etc., were the result of his efforts, and that he was planning still greater things when overtaken by adversity. He had frequently passed through the Pennsylvania oil fields en route to New York, and he was impressed with the, importance of oil or gas discovery to any community. When the work was in progress at Findlay, he was planning the experiment at Lima and did not wait for the co-operation of others in the matter. If Findlay could have a gas well so could Lima. On his own initiative, Mr. Faurot undertook it. The paper mill in which he was interested used fuel and water in quantities, and often the plant had to shut down for lack of water. While Mr. Faurot failed to get gas, he obtained something vastly more profitable, and he placed Lima on the map as the first place to draw oil from Trenton rock. The name of Mr. Faurot will always be linked with this important discovery. Joseph Brownyar and W. M. Martin who drilled the well at Findlay for a time were residents of Lima. Their contract with Mr. Faurot was for a water well ; the project attracted no attention until the drill penetrated to the depth of 1,000 feet, and if it had been a failure nothing would have been said about it. The contractors )were to receive $10,000 if the well showed sufficient calibre to supply the paper mill with the requisite fuel. Otherwise, they were to receive nothing, although money was advanced and secured by the equipment. W. S. Lowe, who was superintendent of the paper mill at the time, pays tribute to Mr. Faurot. Thirty years later, Mr. Lowe wrote in a letter to Mr. Campbell that the records had disappeared, but saying there were few men of prominence who did not at some time engage in controversy with Mr. Faurot. He was small in physique with large brain and ideas, and absolute loyalty to Lima. While he was indifferent as to individual rights, he was a captain of industry, never declining to enter a fight no matter what were the odds against him. While he had many faults and many enemies, what would Lima be today without him? The city should erect a monument to his memory, that later generations may remember the man who placed Lima on the map of the world. Through his effort the Solar refinery was located, and that engendered confidence in the permanence of the oil industry in Lima. Writing further of Mr. Faurot, Mr. Lowe said he could forget the insignificant faults of the man when he realized his greatness, his farsightedness and that other Lima leaders ridiculed him because of his ambition. None of them co-operated with him, and yet all 'shared the benefits of his enterprise. He had seen the Karg well at Findlay and only hoped for similar success in Lima. If he failed in securing gas he hoped to find sufficient water for operating the paper mill all of the time. He was as anxious for the water as for the gas. He could always buy fuel, HISTORY OF .ALLEN COUNTY - 347 but lack of water was a serious difficulty. The day the well came in there was an odor like decayed eggs, sulphur and all the other evil smells. Henry Neff was the mill superintendent, and with his clothes covered with oil he was so excited he could hardly tell about it—that the gas well had turned out to be an oil well. The news spread and immediately the banks of the Ottawa were thronged with spectators. The drilling stopped for consultation when it was decided to drill deeper and "put in a shot." No one in Lima knew anything about oil wells, and the "shot" which was made up of dynamite and glycerine was an unknown quantity. It was mixed together in a wooden box, and the well was "shot" at the depth of 1,272 feet, and tanks were the next necessity. Since there was not sufficient gas pressure to raise the oil, a pump was installed and several carloads of oil were soon on the way to the Toledo refinery. Because no one knew how to eliminate the sulphur, Lima, oil was used for fuel and the Toledo refinery objected to it because of the odor from it. The paper mill well only produced about thirty barrels a day and soon the quantity diminished, but other wells were soon in prospect and companies were organized to take care of developments. There was soon a string of leases from Findlay to Lima, and how the first wells missed some of the rich pools developed later will always remain a mystery. Syndicates were busy leasing territory and projecting oil wells, when Mr. Faurot on July 20, 1885, received the first analysis of the oil. It was 40 per cent water with 35 per cent lubricating oil, 10 per cent naphtha and only 5 per cent waste. Until then all had been uncertain about it. Mr. Faurot was so well pleased with the analysis that he at once ordered the well shot again, and announced that it would be worked for all there was in it. However, his plans changed and in pulling the well 300 feet of tubing broke off in it. As a producer the paper mill well was never profitable, although it was the cause of the Lima oil industry. It scents to have penetrated the edge of the pool, and the enterprising citizens were more fortunate in later efforts. THE SHOOTING OF AN OIL WELL When the material arrived from Toledo to be used in shooting the paper mill oil well, the men to do it were not on hand and the operatives at the mill would take no chances on explosives being left there. The consignment was taken back to the depot and remained there over night. It was reddish looking stuff comprising sixteen ingredients, and the unsophisticated would take no chances with it. When ready to shoot the well, it was placed in two tin cans about three feet long, each weighing about 200 pounds ; the men were careful, handling it like it were eggs. Part of it was burned outside making a beautiful light. Those in charge of the explosive objected to any one coming near who had a cigar in his mouth. Two hours before the time announced an immense crowd had gathered to witness the shooting of the oil well, the railroad embankment being lined with people interested in the success or failure of the undertaking. All available standing room was filled with men, women and children who patiently awaited developments. The workmen lowered one can of the explosive to the bottom with a cable wire, its weight being sufficient to sink it through the accumulated oil. The second can was lowered and a workman carefully produced a small package which proved to be small oil cans filled with gylcerine. When the glycerine was lowered the plunger followed, the drill was let down and the explosion was the result, although no jar was felt and the 348 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY first intimation was the appearance of oil at the surface. The concussion caused the oil to shoot seventy-five feet in the air, but after about one minute it subsided and there was a flow of natural gas. The oil was stronger than the gas and soon only oil was in evidence, and while the workmen were reticent the result was thought to be satisfactory. The Ottawa River was covered with oil, and those familiar with the oil industry said it was a good quality. The residents of Allen County are familiar with the situation today, and realize that because of the extensive investments Lima will always be an operating station in the oil industry. The Solar refinery is elsewhere mentioned among the Lima industries, and its relation to the different oil syndicates is simply as a refinery—not producing at all. Speculators were attracted to Lima and some of them became citizens of the community. Men who developed the field were : Mr. Faurot, I. G. Hall, J. B. Townsend, F. E. Mead, G. P. Waldorf and J. M. Haller. Leases were secured on 5,000 acres of land holding good for thirty years. The landowner incurred no expense and received one-eighth royalties. It is said none of the local promoters made any money, although the advent and activity of eastern capital finally aroused local citizens, and among other syndicates formed was a citizens' company. The oil in the atmosphere discolored the paint on the houses, and the water was impregnated with it. Meanwhile Allen County has benefited from the oil development, although there is little local production today. CHAPTER XXXIII THE POSTAL SYSTEM—ALLEN COUNTY POSTOFFICES In the Bible narrative Job exclaims : "My days are swifter than a post," and the postal service is known to have been used in some countries as early as the thirteenth century. It was provided for in the United States when the Constitution was written in 1789, although at that time it was considered as an adjunct to the treasury system. While the department is not expected to deliver all the letters of the alphabet, since the advent of the parcels post almost everything goes through it. Railway mail service was first established in 1864, several years after train service had been given to Allen County ; rural free deliveryR. F. D. mail service, was first adopted in the United States in 1895, and in 1900, it was a reality in Allen County. There was a military post- office at Fort Amanda, while it was occupied as a garrison, but perhaps only government communications were received there. In 1828, the pioneers were asking for mail service, and in 1829, there was an office established at Fort 'Amanda. Samuel Marshall and his son, Charles C. Marshall, were mail carriers from Piqua to Fort Defiance for three years from that time, making regular stops at Fort Amanda. The distance was ninety-five miles, and it was a twice-a-week service—going and coming, and there was a young girl at Fort Amanda who proved an irresistible attraction for the younger Marshall. The marriage of C. C. Marshall and Susannah Russell—the daughter of Allen County—was the natural sequence. Samuel Marshall is sometimes ref erred to as Judge Marshall, and it was while John Quincy Adams was president that he was a Fort Amanda mail carrier. The distance from Piqua to Fort Defiance was covered on horseback—weekly trips-but it would seem that the same stops would be made on the return journey. Thornton T. Mitchell was another carrier between Piqua and Fort Defiance. He was in the service five years, and Chief Quilna of the Shawnees used to show him many special favors. He also traveled on horseback, serving the different communities long enough before rural mail service was a dream in the fertile mind of Perry Heath. Now that every farmhouse in Allen County is in touch with the outside world through a government mailbox in front of its door, or at some point within half a mile from it—those rural carriers in the beginning of history seem to have been very much in advance of present-day conditions ; today the "postoffice on wheels" arrives in many localities with such exact regularity that many families regulate their dinner hour accordingly ; they would not want to be without the rural mail service. The Allen County rural mail service is distributed thus : Beaver Dam has two rural carriers ; Bluffton four ; Delphos six ; Elida three ; Harrod three ; Hume one ; Lafayette one ; Lima nine ; Spencerville five, and West Cairo one. While some Allen County carriers serve patrons outside the county, several other postoffice areas also penetrate Allen County. The route makers who are sent out from the postoffice department are not governed by geographical boundaries ; they take into consideration the distance traveled in serving the different communities from different points ; some families do not receive mail from the towns where they do their business, and it seems demoralizing to them. - 349 -