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210 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY CHAPTER VI. AGRICULTURAL. The Indians of course were the first farmers of this region, though from all accounts they were very indifferent farmers, being content with implements of the crudest character and equally content to let the women do the work, which latter arrangement probably saved them from starvation, The buck Indian apparently would have gone without corn rather than to bestir himself in the raising of it. As has been set out in a previous chapter, a good deal of corn was raised by the aboriginals along the banks of the streams hereabout and when the Quaker mission brought to them better tools the squaws had a somewhat easier time of it in their fields, but at best there was little system in their agricultural operations, The holding by the Shawnees of their reservation of ten miles square in the very heart of what is now Auglaize county until 1832 retarded settlement and agricultural operations here until long after surrounding communities had got a good start along that line, but it was not long after the Indians had gone until all their former lands were taken up by settlers and farming began in earnest. The development since then of the agricultural interests of the county has been about that of the normal development of farming communities in the middle west and has kept pace with similar development in the neighboring counties, both in general farming and in stock raising. The memory of many still living and still active in farm development in Auglaize county can hark back—no doubt painfully—to the days when the clearing of the forest wilderness to make way for agricultural operations was not yet a completed task. To those who cleared the forests and drained HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 211 the swamps the present generation owes a debt of gratitude that never can be repaid and of which it too often is thoughtlessly indifferent. The pioneer hereabouts had a gigantic task on his hands, a task requiring a stout heart, a strong will to do and hands able in service. The clearing of the lands, the elimination of the swamps, the making of the roads and countless other tasks of development necessitated incessant labor. Not only that, but it necessitated a sacrifice of personal comfort that few of the present generation would willingly face. But the task was done, somehow, and now in the third and fourth generation the beneficiaries of that herculean task are inheritors of the legacy that the far-seeing pioneers had in mind when they were striving mightily for posterity. STRIKING COMMENTARY ON CHANGING CONDITIONS. Viewing the well tilled fields and the well equipped farm plants visible on all sides as one drives about over the admirable highways of Auglaize county today, it is difficult properly to visualize the conditions out of which these priceless benefits arose. From the unspeakable mud roads or "corduroy" nightmares of another day, with stumbling ox teams or quivering horses straining mightily in their task of transportation, to the automobiles of today gliding smoothly over stone or cement highways is, indeed, a far cry—the most striking commentary possible upon the change in conditions that has taken place within the memory of men still active in service. Of the atrocious character of those early highways much has been said and yet the subject never can be given full justice. While earlier writers have left some graphic records of the condition of the roads in the '30s and '40s, much must be left to the imagination, for the highways simply were indescribably bad. Vast areas were nothing but swamps, which the sluggish streams never fully drained. The level plain was covered with a forest that shut out the sun from the rank mold, and this—like a sponge--held the accumulated waters. Most of the year a journey over the roads was simply a slow, laborious wallowing through mud; the bogs were passable 212 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY only by the use of "corduroy," and this corduroy of poles laid side by side for miles were held in place by strips of timber nailed on the ends, and not infrequently had to be weighted down with stone or dirt to prevent floating off when the swamp waters rose. For a graphic and illuminating first-hand description of these corduroy roads, the reader is recommended to look up his Dickens and in that famous author's "American Notes" peruse again the traveler's description of his trip by special stage coach from Columbus to Tiffin, on his way to Sandusky, in 1842. A corduroy road through a swamp was a corduroy road through a swamp and Charles Dickens has preserved a picture of such a contrivance that will live. Conditions along the makeshifts for highways over here in what presently came to be Auglaize county must have been much the same as those along the Columbus-Tiffin road—probably worse, if possible— and the reader thus will be able to gain some conception of the difficulties that beset the traveler in those days back in the '30s and '40s. Prior to the construction of the plank road between Wapakoneta and St. Marys, it was an all-day journey to make the trip from one point to the other. Farmers living east of Wapakoneta having occasion to go to R. B. Gordon's flour mill or Gibson's woolen mill (two flourishing industries in St, Marys of that day) invariably would go one day and return the next, unless they elected to travel the greater part of the night. That the character of the thoroughfares impeded growth, handicapped commerce and held in check the influences that are essential to development is very obvious to the student of that development within the borders of Auglaize county. The difficulties that were overcome and the building up of the community in spite of such a handicap is an evidence of the sturdiness of the stock that peopled this county, and to those sturdy pioneers all honor is due. With improved roads, the coming of the railroads and betterment of transportation came better markets, all stimulating the promotion of better methods of farming and the HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 213 modern farm plant is thus the natural and inevitable development. It is interesting to speculate what will be witnessed in the next generation in the way of further development. Power equipment on the farm is still a comparatively new thing and its possibilities seem limitless. SYSTEMATIC CAMPAIGN OF ROAD BUILDING. Happily, there are numerous deposits of excellent gravel in the county and when a systematic campaign of road construction was entered upon these proved invaluable. There are numerous deposits as yet unopened and the supply of gravel for road building thus seems practically inexhaustible. Under the direction of the state highway commission Auglaize county is maintaining its place along with many other counties of the state in the construction of stone and concrete highways and the "trunk" roads of the county are in admirable shape, an aid to the extension of the county's agricultural interests that is being appreciated more and more each year. The limestone deposits which crop out in numerous places in the county also have contributed largely to the solution of the good roads problem and crushed stone forms the basis for many of the best roads in the county. These natural resources, gravel, limestone and sand, conveniently accessible, have been invaluable contributing factors in the development of the agricultural interests of the county, affording an outlet for the products of the farm that has done much in the way of stimulating production. The other great natural resource of the county, the forests, which formed the really basic source of wealth of the county before the fields were made ready for cultivation, has practically passed, though many landowners have preserved considerable tracts of native woodland. These magnificent forests contributed more than can be estimated to the early prosperity of the county, for the lumber mills and woodworking factories that sprang up all over the county offered employment to many. 214 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY Nearly. all the plank that was used in the construction and maintenance of the plank road between Wapakoneta and St. Marys was the product of a saw mill at Moulton. Thousands of trees of the very best quality of whiteoak and burr-oak, three to five feet and more in diameter, were felled, made into saw logs and hauled to the Moulton saw mill, where they were sawed into planks of required length and thickness. The value of the timber thus used, based on present day prices, would be incalculable. The principle source of revenue for many of the early settlers of Auglaize county was the cutting and marketing of hoop poles. Freight trains on the D. & M. (present B. & O.) railroad for a number of years would stop where there would be huge piles of hoop poles alongside the track and wait until the crew loaded up the cars. There was a market for the purchase of hoop poles in Wapakoneta and also in St. Marys, in which places large barrel factories were doing a thriving business. IN THE DAYS OF THE GIANT OAKS. With the exception of small tracts of prairie land here and there throughout this region the land hereabout originally was heavily timbered, the various varieties of oak predominating, as has been set out in previous pages, although there was much hickory, beech, elm, black walnut, poplar, some lynn and considerable sycamore. Necessarily, as a means of claiming the land for agricultural purposes, the greater part of this timber was cut down and burned in the days before the coming of the sawmills and adequate means of transportation offered a proper market for the same, timber that today would be of almost incalculable value thus having been destroyed. Black walnut was the first exhausted when the timbermen came in, on account of its superior value for furniture. Probably the most valuable of these giant trees were the oaks, as they grew to larger dimensions than other trees and had a greater general purpose value. Many of these oaks were as much as five or six feet in, diameter, their great HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 215 boles extending above fifty feet before branching There also were many sugar (hard maple) trees and these were eagerly utilized by the pioneers as a means of procuring sugar. Much oak bark was stripped and disposed of to the tanneries and a considerable business also was done in ashes. Perhaps the finest timber that ever was taken from these magnificent forests was ship timber. For a number of years crews of expert hewers who had come from the East and from Canada worked out this timber in these woods. The best of oak was used. A single beam was made from the body of a giant oak; the beam was made square, as large as the diameter of the tree would permit, and it was hewed so true and smooth that it had the appearance of being planed. Some of these beams were so large and heavy that it required a six- horse team to draw a single one from the woods to the railroad. The sawmills used only a small amount of the choicest timber—walnut, ash and white oak—for house building material. Some of the best whiteoak was used for staves and shingles. Thousands of the finest trees were cut and burned to clear the ground for farming After the railroads came there was a demand for fire wood in quantities, and also an enormous quantity of hickory butts were shipped to the factories for spoke timber. THE COMING OF THE RAILROADS. No other single factor in the development of the agricultural interests of. this county was more important than the coming of the railroads, which offered an outlet to the products of the farm and the forests that stimulated all operations along this line. Prior to the operation of this mode of transportation the western part of the county had been deriving benefits from the operation of the canal, the story of which is carried in an earlier chapter, and these benefits of course were reflected throughout the whole of this region, but when the railroads began to push their way through the state there came a general demand for a railway through this sec- 216 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY tion and that demand presently was met, but not until ten years after the erection of the county. It ought to be said in passing that the first steam transportation offered in the county was in 1850, when a steam packet was put in operation on the Grand Reservoir. How long this was maintained is not known now, but there has been no such enterprise carried on there for many years. When the reservoir was created it was not popularly looked upon as a place for pleasure seeking, but as the stumps gradually disappeared and as the banks of the artificial lake gradually began to assume definite bounds the value of the lake as a place of summer resort as well as an all-year-round resort of fishermen and duck hunters began to be appreciated. In the spring of 1850 an advertisement in the old Republican at Wapakoneta announced that "Mr. Doyle has placed a splendid steam packet on the reservoir, to run during the season daily from St. Marys to Celina, leaving the former at 9 o'clock a. m. and returning at 3 p. m." As the years passed and as the population of the adjacent towns increased the banks of the lake began to be dotted with cottages of summer resorters and the great reservoir for years has been regarded as one of Ohio's delightful and popular resorts, but no steamboat plies its placid waters. There are five railroads and two traction lines traversing Auglaize county, giving a convenient outlet in all directions and offering admirable shipping facilities. The first railroad to enter the county was the old Dayton & Michigan line, which later and for years was operated as a part of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton system and when that systern went under was taken over by the Baltimore & Ohio Railway Company, which has since been operating it. This line coming up from Cincinnati through Dayton, Piqua and Sidney to Wapakoneta and thence on through Lima to Toledo enters Auglaize county in section 29 of Pusheta township and passes out at the Cridersville north village line in section 35 of Duchouquet township, a distance of a little more than twelve and a half miles north and south. HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 217 The preliminary survey of this road was made in 1848, the year in which Auglaize county was erected, but it was not until ten years later, in 1858, that the road was in operation through Wapakoneta, giving to the people of this county in that year their first railway connection with the outer world. It is narrated that when this project was under way the financiers of the same found their resources •running short and contemplated making the northern terminus of the road at Sidney, but that Dr. George W. Holbrook and George W. Andrews, two of the leading "fathers" of Wapakoneta came to the rescue of their home town and aroused the interest of others to the point that presently they were able to secure by popular subscription the sum of $70,000 which they offered to the projectors of the road as a bonus to induce them to extend the line north, and it was thus that Auglaize county got its first railroad and secured the needed rail outlet to the lake on the north and the river on the south. The Lake Erie & Western railroad was the next to enter the county, giving further connection with the lake (at Sandusky) and a much needed outlet west. This line enters the county at the north line of section 31 in Duchouquet township, proceeds southwesterly through the village of Buckland and Glynwood to St. Marys and thence west to Celina, Coldwater and Ft. Recovery and on into Indiana, leaving this county on the south line of section 31 of Noble township, with a branch line to Minster. It was in 1872 that this line came into Auglaize county and the event was made one of much rejoicing at St. Marys, New Bremen and Minster, which cities were becoming restive under the conditions which restricted their traffic to the canal, whereas most of their commercial and industrial rivals had by that time long been enjoying the advantages of rail traffic. This road originally was organized as the Lake Erie & Louisville railway and was so called until some time after it reached this county on its way down from Fremont. The road was completed to Minster and then the projectors changed their plan and built on west from St. Marys, with Peoria, Ill., as a western terminus 218 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY in mind rather than a southern terminus at Louisville. Since then the line from St. Marys to Minster has been operated as a branch line. The length of this road through the county is a fraction more than sixteen miles, and the branch line almost ten miles The next road to enter the county was the old Ohio Southern railroad, later known as the Detroit Southern and then the Detroit & Ironton (of unhappy memory), which in 1921 came under the individual ownership of Henry Ford, who proceeded to work out some quite interesting experiments in industrialism as applied to railway operation and who now is said actually to have put the road on a profitable basis for the first time in its somewhat uncertain financial history. The Ford road enters Auglaize county from the north in section 5 of Union township, proceeds in an almost due southerly course through the villages of Uniopolis, St. Johns and Geyer and passes on out at the south line of section 28 of Clay township, a length of about eleven and one- quarter miles It also gives this county further connection with the lake, at Toledo, and a further outlet to the south through Springfield. It was completed through this county in 1892. Five years later, in 1897, Auglaize county discovered that it was to have another railroad, this to give an east and west route for traffic. Such a line was so greatly needed that the people of the county rallied to the aid of the projected enterprise and not only gave the projectors free right of way through the county but raised an additional bonus of $57,000 to aid in construction. This was the old Columbus & Northwestern line, with its western terminus at St. Marys in this county, and originally was operated as a branch of the Detroit & Lima Northern line. It was completed in 1900 and almost immediately thereafter was taken over by the Toledo & Ohio Central system, which since has operated the line. This road enters Auglaize county at the village of Santa Fe in the southeast corner of the county, section 25 of Clay township, touches Gutman, in the center of that township, HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 219 crosses the Ford road between Geyer and St. Johns, proceeds on northwesterly to Wapakoneta and thence on west through Moulton to St. Marys, its western terminus, a distance through the county of about twenty-three miles It was about twenty years ago that Auglaize county got its first electric traction line, the first cars on the local branch of the Western Ohio Electric Railway Company's lines being operated in 1902. There are three branches of this line in this county, the one north and south coming down from Lima, entering this county at the village of Cridersville and paralleling the B. & 0. railroad line down through Wapakoneta and on south, continuing to parallel the railroad, and on to Sidney and Piqua Another branch of the line extends from Wapakoneta to St. Marys and thence on west to Celina, and the third branch is operated between St. Marys and Minster, taking in also the town of New Bremen. The great power house of the Western Ohio lines at St. Marys furnishes power ;r,,,,, and light to many of the towns and villages hereabout and has proved of much utilitarian value to the whole community. The car barns are located at Wapakoneta. Another electrio line operating through this county is the Ohio Electric railway, operating between Defiance and Springfield, which enters the county from the north in section 2 of Union township, proceeds southeasterly through the villages of Waynesfield and New Hampshire and passes out at the south line of section 9 of Goshen township, a distance through the county of about eight miles At this writing (summer of 1922) the Ohio Electric railway is undergoing a receivership and that branch of the road through this county is being operated under the name of the Indiana, Columbus & Eastern. SOME STATISTICS ON AGRICULTURE FOR 1920. The report of the chief statistician for agriculture for the fourteenth decennial census of the United States (1920) gives the approximate land area of the state of Ohio as 26,073,600 acres and the number of farms in the state as 256,695, these covering 23,515,888 acres, of which 18,542,353 acres 220 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY are treated as improved land, 3,198,929 acres as woodland, and 1,774,606 acres as other improved land in farms. This shows 90.2 per cent of the state's land area in farms, 78.9 per cent of which is treated as improved. The average acreage per farm was 91.6, of which 72.2 per cent is treated as improved acreage. The value of all farm property is given as $3,095,666,336, of which $2,015,112,999 is credited to land, $646,322,950 to buildings, $146,575,269 to implements and machinery and $287,655,118 to live stock. The average value per farm is given as $12,060, of which $7,850 is credited to land, $2,518 to buildings, $571 to implements and machinery and $1,121 to live stock. The census for the year 1850, the decennial period following the organization of Auglaize county, gave the number of farms in Ohio as 143,807, covering 17,997,493 acres, of which 9,851,493 acres were treated as improved land. In that same year the value of all farm property in the state was given as $415,630,929, of which $358,759,603 was credited to land and buildings, $12,750,585 to implements and machinery, and $44,121,741 to live stock. At that time the average acreage in an Ohio farm was 125 acres, of which 68.5 was treated as improved, and the average value of a farm was $2,890, of which $2,495 was credited to land and buildings, $89 to implements and machinery and $307 to live stock. The average value (per acre) of farm property in that year was $23.09, of which $19.93 was credited to land and buildings. With the above as a basis of comparison, it is noted in the 1920 census report that the number of farms in Auglaize county is 2,625, as against 2,810 for the year 1900, and the number of farmers—male, 2,547 ; female, 79. Of these farms, 1,085 were listed as from 50 to 99 acres, 416 from 20 to 49 acres, 120 from 10 to 19 acres, 55 from three to nine acres, and five under three acres. There are two farms of more than 1,000 acres, five from 500 to 999 acres, 43 from 260 to 499 acres, 126 from 175 to 259 acres and 769 from 100 to 174 acres, The approximate land area of the county is given as 254,080, of which 240,568 acres are included in farms, 203,146 acres of HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 221 which are treated as improved, 30,837 as woodland and 6,585 as "other improved land in farms." This is 94.7 per cent of the land area of the county, and the average improved acreage per farm is given as 77.4 per cent. The value of all farm property in the county is given as $40,822,276, as against $12,590,092 for the year 1900. Of this the value of the land was given at $28,844,338 ; farm buildings, $6,738,643 ; implements and machinery, $1,785,719 ; live stock, $3,453,576. The average land value per acre (land alone) was given at $119.90; all property (per farm), $15,545. Of these farms, 68.1 per cent were operated by the owners of the same, 31.3 per cent by tenants and the remainder by managers. The value of all domestic animals on the farms of Auglaize county is given in this report as $3,168,028, of which the sum of $1,058,116 is credited to horses, $32,815 to mules, $1,225 to asses and burros, $1,202,941 to cattle, $95,863 to sheep, $38 to goats and $777,030 to swine ; while the value of poultry was given at $283,198 and of bees $2,350. There were a total of 9,947 horses reported, 260 mules, 4 asses and burros, 22,759 cattle, 8,907 sheep, 10 goats, 56,797 swine, 300,944 chickens and other poultry and 1,069 hives of bees. There were 2,392,098 gallons of milk produced and 1,399,485 eggs produced, while the wool produced amounted to 55,071 pounds. In this report it is noted that the value of the cereal crops amounted to $5,520,179; other grains and seeds $159,550; hay and forage, $1,140,795 ; vegetables, $220,566 ; fruits and nuts, $28,966 ; all other crops, $19,125, or a total value of all crops in the county for the year 1919 of $7,089,181. The acreage planted to corn in that year was given as 51,125, which produced 2,078,519 bushels ; oats, 23,634 acres 938,289 bushels; wheat, 35,637 acres 717,382 bushels; barley, 3,166 acres-76,375 bushels; rye, 1,181 acres-17,158 bushels, and buckwheat, twenty-one acres-270 bushels, a total of 115,178 acres to the cereal crops, with a total production of 3,828,303 bushels. Hay and forage crops, 47,224 acres, with a total production of 63,982 tons; potatoes (Irish or white), 884 acres, 222 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY 47,891 bushels; maple trees tapped, 9,053, producing 3,266 gallons of sirup. Of the orchard fruits, 7,095 bushels of apples were harvested, peaches, 33; pears, 912; plums, 190; cherries, 497, and of grapes, 58,517 pounds. There were 986 farms reporting free from mortgage debt, 607 with mortgage debt and 196 not reporting. As a matter of interesting historical comparison, a compilation of statistical information from the county auditor's records for the year 1878, just prior to the general industrial a] d agricultural "awakening" in this county in the '80s, may properly be considered here. In that year 247,894 acres of land were reported for taxation, of a value of $4,240,730; real estate in villages, $1,330,010; chattel property, $2,052,820; 8,157 horses, of a value of $316,357 ; cattle, 14,780, of a value of $154,548, and sheep, 14,405, of a value of $26,650. It was reported that 3,192 acres were planted to orchards, these producing 1,703 bushels of apples, twenty-five bushels of peaches and 134 bushels of pears; wheat, 22,109 acres, producing 337,355 bushels; corn, 39,975 acres, producing 1,026,343 bushels, and oats, 11,295 acres, producing 371,804 bushels. The total value of the county's taxables in that year was $7,623,560, The agricultural production in the year 1887 (another comparative date) as compiled from statistics in the auditor's office, was as follows: Wheat sown, 40,955 acres, producing 650,985 bushels ; rye, 432 acres-7,235 bushels; buckwheat, 732 acres-2,169 bushels ; oats, 7,836 acres-250,536 bushels; barley, 940 acres-26,304 bushels; corn, 35,398 acres-1,292,450 bushels ; meadow, 9,946 acres-9,362 tons; clover, 7,946 acres-8,704 tons of hay and 3,106 bushels of seed; potatoes, 1,439 acres-108,747 bushels, and tobacco, twenty acres, which produced 9,085 pounds. AUGLAIZE COUNTY'S SERIOUS DRAINAGE PROBLEM. The first general drainage law of Ohio was an act of February 8, 1847, authorizing the establishment of drains by county commissioners upon petition from one or more interested landowners. Viewers were appointed to locate the HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 223 ditch and assess damages. It was this law that was operative when Auglaize county was erected in 1848 and a good part of the records of the county commissioners for the first few years of the county's history is made up of entries relating to such drainage projects. By an amendment in 1851, the viewers also assessed benefits against the land. When the petitioners had paid the damages and constructed the ditch, they might collect the benefits as confirmed by the commissioners. A township ditch law of May 1, 1854, was similar to that of February 24, 1853. Both of these laws were repealed by the county ditch law of March 24, 1859. An act of March 2, 1853, authorized the county commissioners to drain the swamp land granted to the state by Congress, payment to be made from funds realized from the sale of that land. This act was repealed on April 13, 1894. Most of the drainage enterprises in this county are county ditches established according to an act passed on April 12, 1871. An act passed on June 19, 1919, codifies all the ditch laws of the state and repeals the earlier forms without changing the general character of the enterprises. The law of 1919 provides that ditches or drains may be established by the board of county commissioners upon petition of one or more of the landowners to be affected by the project. A preliminary survey and estimates are made by the county engineer and public hearing then is held by the county commissioners. The drain is established upon finding that it is necessary or will be advantageous. Final orders of the board are subject to appeal to the court of common pleas. The drainage plan and apportionment of costs are made by the engineer. The cost is assessed against the land in proportion to benefits; the assessments are equalized and confirmed by the commissioners, and then are appealable to the common pleas court. The assessments are to be paid in ten semiannual installments. Construction of the drainage works is under the supervision of the county engineer. The commissioners may issue bonds to finance the improvement. The act provides that right of way for a private drain across 224 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY the land of an objecting owner may be obtained through petition to the trustees of the township and payment of the damages awarded by them. Joint county ditches providing drainage of land in more than one county are specially authorized by an act of June 12, 1911. The petition for establishment under this law must be signed by fifty or more interested persons, establishment is ordered by the joint action of the commissioners of the counties affected and plans and estimates for the improvemeat are made by the county engineers jointly. The cost is apportioned among the counties by joint action of the county boards and each county surveyor makes the assessments against the lands in his county. Each county may issue joint county ditch bonds to run not longer than twenty years. The greater part of the township ditches were established under an act of April 18, 1874, which was in effect until the new law of 1919. This law authorized the establishment of ditches by the township trustees upon application from one or more owners of land adjacent to the proposed drain, after public hearing. Plans for the improvement were made and claims for damages were determined by the trustees, who also apportioned the work of construction among the landowners according to benefits. Appeals from decisions of the trustees regarding the utility or location of the ditch and the awards of damages might be taken to the probate court for jury trial. For work not performed within the specified time, contract was let by the trustees and the cost was charged to the delinquent landowners. Ditches in two or more townships might be established by joint action of the trustees of those townships, under an act of April 19, 1898. A great many amendments to the act of 1874 have been made, but the character of the enterprises has not been changed. In the very illuminative and comprehensive Atlas of Auglaize County, compiled and published in 1917 by J. H. Meyer, former county surveyor, it is pointed out that the western and central portions of Auglaize county are drained principally by the Auglaize and St. Marys rivers, while the eastern and HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 225 southeastern watersheds are toward the Miami and Sciota rivers. These streams furnish the outlet for the majority of the artificial ditches which have been constructed privately and under the provisions of the Ohio ditch laws. "Probably no other county in Ohio has given as much attention to its land drainage as has Auglaize," observes Mr. Meyer in this connection. "There is scarcely an eighty-acre farm within its boundaries which has not been touched by one or more county or township ditches. These are of two kinds of construction, viz: 'open' and 'tile.' The tile ditches vary in size from six inches to thirty inches in diameter; the open ditches have been dug with bottom widths of from one foot to thirty-six feet. A vast amount of money has been expended on their construction, but without them thousands of acres of the most fertile soil would have remained useless." Mr. Meyer's review then gives in detail a tabulation of all the county ditches which have been constructed in this county, beginning with ditch No. 1, the Wendeln ditch, ordered in 1868, a very informative tabulation which has thus been made available to all inquirers without the trouble of searching the records of the county surveyor's office. THE PUBLIC ROADS OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY In this same connection, Mr. Meyer's compilation gives a list of all the improved highways of the county, showing the time of their construction, length of the road, cost of same and material from which constructed, this list beginning with the German township gravel road, constructed for a length of two miles in 1874 at a cost of 82,700. The next improved highway was the Schmieder gravel road, something more than seven and one-half miles in length, constructed in 1876 at a cost of S22,840, and so on down through the years the list goes. In 1876 seven gravel roads were built in the county. In 1880 there was a general road improvement movement and sixteen gravel roads were built. Then in 1882 there were seventeen such roads constructed, the farmers of the county 226 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY by that time having come to realize the benefit of better highways. During the years since the good roads movement has kept pace with the demands of the times and surroundings and Auglaize county may well pride herself upon her excellent system of highways. Stone roads did not come into their own until in 1901, when the Bensman stone road, a distance of two miles, was ordered at a cost of $4,322. In 1902 two more such roads were constructed, the Osterloh road, one mile, at a cost of $2,541, and the Wuebker road, a distance of two miles, at a cost of $4,885. Until the coming of the paved highway stone and macadam pretty generally took the place of the former gravel-road construction and the highways constructed during the past twenty years are standing the test admirably. The impetus given the good roads movement by the coming of the automobile about that time has been maintained and further improvements are being contemplated. It was in 1917, under the direction of the state highway commission, that the era of paved roads was ushered in in Auglaize county. The first bit of paved roadway undertaken by the state in this county was the road between St. Marys and New Bremen in that year. This road was of macadam treated with a tarvia surface. In the next year the St. Marys-Wapakoneta highway was paved, three miles of brick pavement out of St. Marys and eight miles of concrete road west out of Wapakoneta. Two years later, in 1920, the WapakonetaBellefontaine highway project was taken up, a tarvia road being constructed by the state east of Wapakoneta to St, Johns, from which latter point on east through the county to New Hampshire and beyond the road is of concrete construction. There also is a stretch of highway, one mile in length, the Barber road, in Salem township, built by the state. At present (1922) there are thirty-eight and one-half miles of paved highway in Auglaize county, constructed under the direction of the state highway commission, 143.5 miles of improved township roads and 601.8 miles of improved county roads. The present program of the state highway commis- HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 227 sion contemplates the early completion in this county of certain other paved roads which will bring the state's system of paved highways in Auglaize county up to a grand total of 104.7 miles. This system will include the twelve miles of the Lima-Sidney road (the Dixie highway) through this county by way of Wapakoneta (now under construction), the road from Wapakoneta to Ft. Amanda, the Kenton road east from Wapakoneta through Waynesfield and Holden, the LimaBellefontaine road cutting through the northeast corner of this county, the Lima-Waynesfield road in Wayne township, the St. Marys-Kossuth road, the St. Marys-Piqua road taking in the towns of New Bremen and Minster in this county, the St. Marys-VanWert road through the northwestern section of the county, the St. Marys-Celina road west, the St. Marys- Ft. Wayne road northwest, the St. Marys-Botkins (Sidney) road, the St. Marys-Monticello road and the road west from Minster to Ft. Recovery, these of course being additional to the highways already paved and of which mention has been made above, the system of inter-county roads being designed eventually to connect all county seats and important villages in the state. COUNTY'S FIRST GRAVEL ROAD. As has been pointed out elsewhere, the character of the pioneer highways of the county, mere trails they were in many cases, operated as a drawback to agricultural development, which the early settlers soon sought to overcome. It was not long after the time of the erection of Auglaize county in 1848 that the people of the county began to bestir themselves in the matter of better roads. There were no public funds for roads in those days, nor was there adequate provisions of law for the construction of public roads and highways were constructed under private enterprises. The first road of this sort to be constructed in this county was the toll pike road built in 1850 from Sidney to Wapakoneta, following the line of the old military "trace" through this region. This road had emerged from its swamp state and its corduroy state 228 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY and there was sufficient travel being developed along the route to stimulate the operations of a stock company of citizens of the two towns formed for the purpose of building a toll pike. The experiment was successful and an excellent gravel road was constructed, newspaper references to this road following its construction having been of the most flattering character. The success of this road pointed the way for an improved highway between St. Marys and Wapakoneta and another stock company was organized for the purpose of constructing a plank road between these two points, the same to be operated as a toll road. This plank road in course of time gave way to a gravel road, as did all the plank roads of that period, the old experiments with plank roads never having proved very effective, and the toll pikes served well their day and generation until the days of the free roads came in. There are evidences, however, that some of the stockholders in these ancient projects were a bit backward about meeting their stock obligations, for early in 1852 in the columns of the old Wapakoneta Republican there is published an advertisement calling the attention of the subscribers to the project of building a plank road from St. Marys to Wapakoneta to the fact that subscriptions to the project would mature on April 1, 1852, and would be collected. In the fall of that same year notice was given through the same medium that suit would be brought against subscribers for collection of the unpaid subscriptions to the Sidney and Wapakoneta turnpike road. Though the "two-mile assessment law" to encourage the construction of better roads had been operative since 1848, it was not until in the '70s that Auglaize county, became awakened to the fact that something along that line must be done in this county. As usual, in the matter of projects for the public good that involve the expenditure of considerable sums of money, there was much opposition in certain quarters and the proponents of good roads evidently had a hard row to hoe for a while, but they had their way, even as they now are having their way in the matter of projects requiring a HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 229 far greater expenditure, and it was not long until the whole population was won over to the good roads idea. Professor Williamson observes in his review written in 1905 that "the first concerted effort in behalf of gravel pikes in Auglaize county took place on September 26, 1874, in the office of Hon. George W. Andrews in Wapakoneta. In the eight years following this meeting eight pikes were constructed. Much bitter feeling and excitement prevailed in the fall and winter of 1879-80 when seventeen petitions were presented to the commissioners praying for an aggregate construction of 113 miles of pike at an estimated cost of $234,065. Like all public improvements requiring the expenditure of large sums of money and requiring the levying of taxes upon the property of the county, the people, as usual, became alarmed and in some sections of the county, especially the northwestern portion, they became violent in their opposition to the petitions. The better judgment of the people, however, prevailed, and the pikes were constructed." Between the years 1876 and 1900 there were more than 365 miles of pike roads constructed in this county under the two-mile road law at a cost of more than 8800,000, or a fraction more than $2,198 a mile. BEGINNING OF CAMPAIGN FOR PAVED ROADS. It soon was found that the cost of keeping these pikes in repair was becoming an apparently needless burden, and during the next twenty years the county was annually put to large expense for pike maintenance, particularly during the latter part of this period, when it was found that many of the roads had to be practically reconstructed; for example, in 1892 the county was at an expense of $3,407 for pike repair ; 1893, $9,190 ; 1894, $16,322 ; 1895, $22,771; 1896, $11,022 ; 1897 $16,854; 1898, $19,398 ; 1899 $16,676 ; 1900, $15,896 ; 1901, $16,840, and so on through the years, a gradually increasing item of expense. It was early in 1917 that concerted action was taken by a group of "forward looking" citizens of Auglaize county to 230 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY secure the advantages likely to accrue to this county under the operations of the new state highway system. In February of that year at a meeting held in the Brown theater in Wapakoneta there was organized an association looking to the permanent improvement of the highways of the county. This meeting was attended by more than 300 of the more enterprising citizens of the county and a county good roads organization was effected for the purpose of outlining and giving direction to a general program of road construction throughout the county "and to be generally active in the securing of Auglaize county's share of the State and Federal appropriations." Every township in the county was represented at this meeting and the following officers were elected : President, Albert Herzing, of St. Marys; vice president, E. Benjamin Yale, of Waynesfield; secretary, J. H. Meyer, of Wapakoneta; treasurer, E. E. Arthur, of Cridersville, besides a board of directors representing each township and incorporated town and village in the county, as follows: Salem township, J. T. Reed; Noble, John Schamp ; St. Marys (township), Theodore Reed; German, Frank Kuenning ; Jackson, Henry Westerheide ; Logan, A. J. Walthers; Moulton, John Riebesell ; Washington, Chester Howell ; Duchouquet, G. W. Romshe ; Pusheta, George Huebner; Union, F. E. Naus ; Clay, Erwin Harrod; Wayne, C. Stanley Harrod; Goshen, C. C. Grey; St. Marys (city), Albert Herzing; New Bremen, C. V. Huenke ; Minster, Fred Goeke ; Cridersville, E. E. Arthur ; Wapakoneta, J. H. Meyer; Buckland, Wallace Bruner; Waynesfield, E. Benjamin Yale, and Uniopolis, F. J. Rinehart. And it was thus that Auglaize county came into its inheritance in the way of paved roads. THE AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION SERVICE. Under the operations of the Auglaize County Farm Bureau, co-operating with the Ohio State Farm Bureau Federation, the Ohio State University, the United States Department of Agriculture and the local board of county commissioners, a wonderful work is being done in this county in the HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 231 way of co-operative extension work in agriculture and home economics. This extension work, which is of recent development, is revolutionizing methods along several important lines and as its program is of sufficient elasticity to permit of indefinite expansion there seems to be no limit to its possibilities along the numerous lines its activities touch. That if has done and is doing a most important work is attested by the annually growing interest manifested in its operations by the farmers of the county and the rapidly increasing membership of the bureau, as well as of the membership of the county clubs (junior work) and the Auglaize Livestock Company (cooperative), together with the growing interest being manifested in behalf of the co-operative grain elevators. It is but proper to say briefly in this connection that the agricultural extension service of the Ohio State University, through which agency the above local Jactivities 'function, carries the teaching of the College of Agriculture to the people of the farms through personal instruction, bulletins and practical demonstrations in agriculture and home economics. The purpose of this service, as set out in its prospectus, is not only to deal with agricultural production, but also with economic problems, including marketing, distribution and utilization of farm products. In order to be of the most service to the largest number of people, the agricultural extension service is organized along lines which have been found by experience best to meet the needs of the people. The object of the work is to make farming more profitable and farm life more satisfying and the extension service is under the administrative management of the extension director, who represents the College of Agriculture and the United States Department of Agriculture. The service is recognized by both State and Federal governments as an educational agency of great value and from time to time laws have been passed which outline in general terms the kind of work to be carried on. The Smith-Lever act passed by Congress in 1914 permanently established a nation-wide system of agricultural extension under Federal financial support and provides for co-operation 232 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY between the United States Department of Agriculture and the state agricultural colleges. The service thus is supported by Federal, state and county funds, Federal funds being provided under the Smith-Lever act, state funds being appropriated by the Legislature every two years and the county funds appropriated by the county commissioners upon request of the people of the county. Though naturally co-operating in a sense, it should be borne in mind that the agricultural extension service has no organic connection with the Farm Bureau Federation, the former being a public institution supported by public funds and answerable to the public and the latter being a private organization, answerable to its membership and to the laws of the state. While neither is responsible to the other for any part of its program, in a broad way both are interested in the same thing—making the business of farming more profitable and living in the open country more satisfying. On the other hand, the extension service in all its activities, including the work of the county agricultural agent, the home demonstration agent, the boys' and girls' club leader and the specialists, works largely through the farm bureau, and the success of its undertakings depends in no small measure upon the strength and completeness of this county organization, the county agent, therefore, as local representative of the extension service being naturally ever alert to the maintenance of a strong local organization. The extension service is terested in joining hands with other organizations, women's clubs and the like, and the point of contact of extension workers with local communities is through the county agents, who are thus really the field men for the extension service of the College of Agriculture. AUGLAIZE COUNTY FARM BUREAU. The work of the Auglaize County Farm Bureau was practically inaugurated in the spring of 1917 as a factor in the nation's war work activities, the Smith-Lever funds also becoming available for this purpose about that time. Her- HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 233 bert L. Andrew, the present (1922) county agent, a specialist of the agricultural extension service, who had been doing work at the state experiment station, was sent into the county for emergency work and in the fall of 1917 perfected an organization of the farm bureau, which started out with a membership of 350. In December of that year the county commissioners appropriated the sum of $1,500 to start the work of the bureau in this county, this action securing an additional fund of $1,600 from the Government, and on January 1, 1918, H. J. Ridge was appointed county agent to supervise the work in this county. At that time the membership fee was $1. In 1918 the membership of the bureau was increased to 700 and in 1919 it was further increased to 900. In 1921 the membership fee was increased to $10 for a three-years membership and the present membership of the bureau in this county is right around 1,300, distributed in the several townships as follows : Salem township, 75 ; Noble, 98 ; St. Marys, 166 ; German, 98 ; Jackson, 90 ; Logan, 87 ; Moulton, 111; Washington, 144 ; Duchouquet, 115 ; Pusheta, 82 ; Union, 84; Clay, 62; Wayne, 50 and Goshen, 52. The present officers of the farm bureau are as follows: President, William J. Rhoades ; vice president, Fred Fox; secretary-treasurer, Elmer Dammeyer, and an executive committee composed of representatives of each township, as follows: Salem township, J. H. Wright ; Noble, William Vogel, Jr.; St. Marys, Elmer Dammeyer; German, John Zahn; Jackson, Ben Severin ; Logan, Fred Fox ; Washington, Louis Kuck; Moulton, August Kruse ; Duchouquet, Ray Moyer; Pusheta, John Fisher ; Union, Frank Naus ; Clay, J. W. Finley; Wayne, D. A. Horn, and Goshen, William J. Rhoades. Cooperating with this bureau are Herbert L. Andrew, county agent; Charles M. Hampson, county club leader, and Granville Swartz, manager of the Auglaize Livestock Company. This latter association was organized in March, 1921, for the purpose of securing to the live stock farmers of Auglaize county better shipping terms and it has proved its usefulness in reducing the freight rate and in otherwise improving ship- 234 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY ping conditions to the Eastern market. During the first year of its existence the Auglaize Livestock Company (co-operative) shipped stock for more than 1,000 shippers in this county. Co-operative elevators at Wapakoneta, St. Johns, Buckland and Minster are other demonstrations of the rapidly growing "get-together" movement on the part of the farmers of this county, and there also are farmer-owned elevators at Waynesfield and New Hampshire. ACTIVITIES OF THE COUNTY AGENT. In February, 1920, Herbert L. Andrew, the extension specialist who had inaugurated the farm bureau work here in the spring of 1917, succeeded H. J. Ridge as county agent for Auglaize county and he is still acting in that capacity. He had had prior experience as county agent in VanWert county and at the state experiment station and since taking hold of the work in this county has done much to extend the scope of the bureau's operations and activities, the estimated result in the way of benefits from increased production derived from his first year of extension work here, expressed in money terms, being no less than $50,000. Monthly meetings of the respective township bureaus are held, the executive committee of the county bureau also meets monthly and the annual meeting of the county bureau is held in December. This in addition to the farmers' institute work, which still is maintained in most of the townships. In 431 meetings held throughout the county during the past year of this extension work there was recorded a total attendance of 13,351, ample demonstration of the general interest being displayed in the work. The activ:ties of Mr. Andrew's department include seed treatment, crop projects, anti-pest campaigns, farm economies, marketing projects, farm home betterment and the like and there is general agreement among all concerned that results are being obtained. Through newspaper articles and circulars letters the county agent is constantly promoting the various activities of the extension service and the farm bureau and all concerned HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 235 are thus kept in immediate touch with the promotion of any new movement looking to the betterment of farm conditions. Another and very important feature of this co-operative extension work in agriculture and home economics and which also is carried on under the general direction of the county agent is the county club or junior work, which is under the immediate direction of Charles M. Hampson, county club leader, who has his headquarters along with the county agent in the court house. This junior work is now in its fifth year of activity under state supervision and has accomplished a wonderful work among the youth of the county, its activities being confined to the various agricultural and economic experiments and demonstrations of the youngsters from ten to eighteen years of age. Prior to the inauguration of the work under state direction in 1917 something of the same character was carried on here by the boys' and girls' calf, pig and corn clubs, but without the needed direction to give it proper efficiency. After the work was taken over by the extension service it was given local direction by the county superintendent of schools and the county agent until in 1919, when O. J. Shong was appointed county club leader. He resigned in that same year and in January, 1920, Charles M. Hampson was appointed county club leader and is still filling that position. At the county fair in 1920 there were 204 junior club members who offered exhibits of their work, representing all townships save one, and as a reward of meritorious work eighteen of these boys and girls were given trips to Columbus as county champions in their respective lines of endeavor. In 1921 there were 498 juniors enrolled in this department of agricultural extension and 374 of these completed the club work, thus giving Auglaize county second place in junior work among the counties of the state. There are now (summer of 1922) 751 boys and girls enrolled in this work, this enrollment being exceeded in the state only in Wood county, which has 4,164 farms as against 2,625 for Auglaize county, an evidence of the interest taken in the work of the boys' and 236 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY girls' clubs in this county which speaks for itself. In the year 1921 these clubs turned out products of an aggregate value of $12,200, at a cost of $3,150. The enrollment in the various clubs coming within the scope of this department's activities during that year follows : Potato club, eleven members ; pig club, twenty-five ; baby beef club, three ; poultry club, seventy-five ; food club, ten and clothing club, 150. Gladys Metz, of Duchouquet township, was awarded the state championship for excellence in poultry club work. In 1919 Joy Gessler, of Uniopolis, won the state championship in food club work. BOYS' AND GIRLS' CLUB WORK. Organized boys' and girls' club work in Ohio dates from the spring of 1916, when such a department was created as a part of the agricultural extension service of the Ohio State University. For several years previous there had been conducted in the state various contests, the college having conducted stock judging work in forty-two counties. When the farm bureau was established as the recognized organization through which the extension service should function, that organization took the direct responsibility for club work in the county. During 1921 this club work was developed as a part of the extension program of work in eighty counties, eleven of which had county club leaders on full time, as in Auglaize county. A club consists of five or more boys and girls working on the same demonstration. In order to be recognized as a club and receive a charter the local club must have in addition a constitution and by-laws, a local leader in charge for the entire year and a definite program of work. There is a wide field from which the youngsters may select the demonstration suited to their liking and it is apparent that the degree of club work that can be done in a county is limited only by the essentials of supervision and organization, the opportunity here for useful service thus being practically unlimited. As has been pointed out, the meetings of HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 237 these boys and girls to carry on their demonstrations, taking an active part in their respective club groups, have developed them mentally, morally and physically. Their demonstrations are observed by friends and neighbors and the better practices which the boys and girls are trained to follow have been taken up by other youngsters as well as by their elders. Communities have been drawn together and have seen the possibilities of working together for a larger and better community life, petty neighborhood jealousies thus disappearing in the big program of the communities. Boys and girls have found themselves. Many have realized for the first time that they have a place in the life of the community and have been fired with a new determination. They have been trained in the most improved practices of the farm and home, are learning the value of co-operation and are developing into leaders in farm bureau work and other community activities. AUGLAIZE COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. For nearly sixty years Auglaize county has taken just pride in the character of the agricultural exhibits annually held at the county seat town and the big Auglaize county fair held in the fall of each year at Wapakoneta attracts attention throughout a wide territory hereabout as well as over in eastern Indiana. For years the Auglaize county fair has taken high place among similar forms of local exhibitions in Ohio and now is recognized as ranking third in the state in the matter of attendance and the value of premiums offered and contended for. The fair grounds at the western edge of the city of Wapakoneta are admirably planned and equipped, substantial buildings and a speedy race track causing it to be recognized as one of the best in the state. The fifty-ninth annual exhibition was held on August 29, 30 and 31 and September 1, 1922, and the program, as usual, was crowded with interesting events. The history of the days of the beginning of the county fair in this county is somewhat obscured by loss of early records 238 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY and the mingling of tradition with the circumstances attending the promotion of the movement which led to the formal organization and incorporation of the Auglaize County Agricultural Society and the broken and fragmentary character of the files of the newspapers during the '60s, when the organization was effected, stands in the way of definite information along that line, but it is known that the first recognized county fair was held in a large barn on the James Elliott farm on West Auglaize street in Wapakoneta in 1863. This barn stood on the present site of the V. B. Arnold residence, formerly the home of Senator M. D. Shaw. A number of the leading merchants and men of affairs of Wapakoneta, combining with representative farmers throughout the county, planned and arranged the first exhibit of the agricultural and industrial products of the county. The editor of this work, though a small boy at that time, well remembers how the men worked to clean up the barn by shoveling and sweeping the floors and dusting off the beams so that the women might display their quilts and the like to advantage. There was a fair display—for the times—of the cereals, vegetables and fruit. The live stock exhibit was held in the barnyard, the animals thus displayed being housed in an annex to the barn, At this, the first county fair held in Auglaize county, the writer can recall seeing but two carriages at the fair. These were owned by two well-to-do and progressive farmers, Hugh T. Rinehart, of Union township, and John Shannahan, of Pusheta township. The remainder of the spectators came to the fair in farm wagons, on horseback or afoot, and such was the condition of the roads at that time that they were compelled to start from their homes pretty early in the morning and leave the fair early in the afternoon in order to see much of the fair and reach home before night time. And yet the people of those days were apparently as happy and contented —if not more so—as are the people of today. The second county fair was held in the Dr. George W, Holbrook barn at what then was the south end of Court street at Wapakoneta. This second county exhibit of agricultural HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY - 239 products was more successful in every way than the first. There was a larger and better exhibit in every department and the attendance was much greater. Like as in preparation for the first county exhibit in the Elliott barn, so the men worked very industriously in sweeping and cleaning the barn on the Holbrook farm for the second county fair. Great care was taken in removing the accumulated dirt and dust from the beams in the barn so that the ladies could make their display of quilts and needle work and other samples of domestic art. From those early exhibits grew the present compact and successful county fair organization. The first mention of the fair found in the broken newspaper files is a four-column advertisement in the Wapakoneta Democrat of August 23, 1866, announcing the "Third Annual Fair of the Auglaize County Agricultural Society, to be held at their fair grounds, Wapakoneta, Ohio, on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, October 3d, 4th and 5th, 1866." And then follow the names of the officers of the society, committees, managers, the order of exhibition, rules and regulations and an extensive pre- mi., list, together with the program of the racing events. Racing was made a special feature of the program of the third day's events. The officers of the Auglaize County Fair Society there set out were as follows : President, H. T. Rinehart; vice president, B. A. Wendeln ; treasurer, O. T. Dieker, and secretary, C. P. Davis. Managers : W. P. Huett, G. W. Andrews, T. L. P. Defrees, J. J. Jacobs, William Finke, L. Sammetinger, L. D. Burton and T. J. Tabler. Executive committee, or committee on arrangements: On grounds, G. W. Andrews, L. D. Burton and C. P. Davis; on horses, mules and jacks, W. P. Huett, L. Sammetinger and J. L. Jacobs ; on cattle, hogs and sheep, T. J. Tabler, L. D. Burton and B. A. Wendeln ; on farm improvements, mechanics' work and articles for hall, William Finke, T. L. P. Defrees and G, W. Andrews. The present (1922) officers and directors of the Auglaize County Agricultural Society are: President, L. D. Koch; 240 - HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY vice president, Jacob Sheipline ; treasurer, E. W. Laut, and secretary, Adam E. Schaffer. Each of the townships of the county is represented on the directorate of the society, as follows: Clay township, Ferd Bailey; Duchouquet, J. Sheipline ; German, Emil Laut; Goshen, C. W. Feikert ; St. Marys, Amos Dowty ; Jackson, E. Westerheide ; Washington, J. H. Fresche ; Moulton, Owen Cogan; Noble, J. J. Rusler ; Pusheta, L. D. Koch ; Salem, A. J. Gearhart; Union, S. H. Manning; Logan, John Fox, and Wayne, John Moyer. Mr. Schaffer, manager of the Wapakoneta Daily News, former county auditor and present postmaster of Wapakoneta, has held the important position of secretary of the agricultural society for more than twenty-five years and in this practical executive capacity has done much to advance the interests of the annual fair. It has been written of him, in this connection, that "it is conceded by everyone familiar with the facts that Adam Schaffer is without question the best fair secretary in Ohio." Years ago there were two other annual exhibits of agricultural and industrial products made in this county. That was in the days before means of inter-neighborhood communication had been made easy through good roads and effective transportation methods and exhibits were more local than general in character. For years there was held each fall at New Bremen a tri-county fair, the farmers of the adjacent territory in Auglaize, Shelby and Mercer counties joining in a neighborhood exhibit. There also formerly and for some years was held at Waynesfield a similar neighborhood exhibition of agricultural products, which served as an outlet for displays on the part of the farmers in the northeastern section of this county and in the adjacent stretches of Allen, Hardin and Logan counties. |