Feet
10-inch drive pipe through glacial deposits Shale deposits Limestone deposits (Corniferous, etc.) Loose deposits with much water Rock salt Shale deposits More salt Limestone (Niagara, etc.) Limestone (Clinton) Clinton sands Medina sandstone	... 860 280 62 233 8 2 525 40 78 149	60 920 1,200 1,262 1,495 1,503 1,505 2,030 2,070 2,148 2,297

A small amount of gas was found in the Clinton sands at 2,160 feet. It may be well to note that in the above log the Corniferous limestone struck at 920 feet is the rock that appears at Sandusky, Marblehead, and Kelly Island; and that the. Niagara and Clinton deposits are those which appear in the Niagara gorge overlying the Medina sandstone. It is interesting to notice, also, that an abundant quantity of rock salt underlies Lorain County as well as Barberton, Cleveland and Fairport. CHAPTER II BOTANY OF THE COUNTY By Mary E. Day TILE TREES-THE SHRUBS—THE WILD FLOWERS-THE FERNS-THE GRASSES-FLORA OF THE COUNTY-A UNIQUE BOG-COLLECTORS OF PLANT LIFE. When the first settlers came the land was covered with a dense forest, much of it valuable timber. About sixty species of trees have been noted in the county belonging to seventeen families and thirty genera: the Oaks, Maples, Elms and Ashes being the most abundant. THE TREES The tall straight Oaks (Quercus alba) many feet up to the lowest limbs from having grown surrounded by other trees were perhaps of the greatest value. They were sawed into plank three or four inches thick and sold for ship-plank. In '1846 these plank sold for $10 per thousand. In 1847 the price had risen to $11 per thousand, and $16 for long plank. Many of these trees measured over 1,000 feet of plank, but the average was below that. Thirty years later the price of White Oak lumber sawed in four, five, and six inch plank, had risen to $33 per thousand at the sawmill and was sold as high as $45 per thousand delivered in Tonawanda, New York. One White Oak tree measured 2,500 feet of plank, but the average was about 800 feet. Some of the finest oaks grew where the Steel Plant is now situated, on soil that in some places is only a few feet deep over the shale. White Oak also grew near the streams in rich soil. Only a few of these fine old trees are left in the county now. The Bur-Oak and Swamp White Oak are included with the White Oak in commerce. They have been used extensively for railroad ties and fence posts. We have five other species of Oak known as the Red Oak, Pin Oak, Scarlet Oak, Chestnut Oak (Quercus Muhlenbergii), and Yellow-barked or Black Oak (Quercus velutina). The inner bark of this last named Oak was used by the pioneers for coloring cloth. The Tulip-tree (Liriodendron tulipifera), commonly known as the Whitewood, is one of the most beautiful of our native trees. It grew most abundantly near the lake ridges. The Indians used this tree for their dugout canoes. The lumber was much prized by the early settlers in building houses, especially for siding. - 13 - 14 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY The Chestnut tree is also found on the ridges. The fruit is valuable and in early times the Chestnut made the best wood for rail fences, because it is readily split and is durable. The White Pine (Pinus strobus) is found on the river bank in Elyria Township, and in a few scattering places farther down the stream, and also to some extent in Brownhelm on Vermilion River. These, with a few specimens of the Hemlock and the Red Cedar, are the only other evergreens we have. FIRST GROWTH FOREST TREE Specimen tree preserved from the original forest. Until the Nickel Plate R. R. was built this tree stood upon the farm of Norman Day in. Sheffield. Originally the whole county was thickly covered with trees of this size. Very large Black Walnut trees grew near the streams and on the rich black soil of the bottom lands along the river. With great labor Walnut trees were cut down by the early settlers and burned in log heaps that would have proved a fortune if saved. In 1885 the Black Walnut trees that grew on three acres of land in Sheffield Township were sold standing by Judge William Day for $4,500. The largest tree, HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 15 measuring 10,000 feet of lumber, sold for $60 per thousand, bringing $600. The tree was nearly 5 feet in diameter and 35 feet up to the first limb. The plank from one Black Walnut log 18 feet long that was dug out of a flood pile where it had lain for many years was sold by -James Day for $100. The Sycamore or Buttonwood grew to an immense size near the river. Some of these trees, too large to be sawed whole, were split in two with dynamite. There are several species of Maples. The Red or Soft Maple grows most luxuriantly in the swamps. The Sugar Maples (Acer saccharum) are abundant all over the county. The early settlers obtained a bountiful supply of sugar from these trees, and it was evident that some of the large old Maples along the river had been tapped before the settlers came. The making of maple syrup and sugar is an important industry in the county at present. In 1915 there were 75,744 Maple trees from which syrup or sugar was made, the product being 2,150 pounds of sugar and 13,652 gallons of syrup. The Curly or Birdseye Maple that is now very valuable is found occasionally. This is not a different species of Maple, but is found in all the species. There are several species of Hickory. The Shagbark Hickory yields the principal hickory nut of the market. The tree is not very abundant now. The Indians made great use of the nuts for food. The Black Cherry (Prunus serotina) grows to a large size. The lumber was much prized in early days for making furniture. The birds feast on the fruit. The American Elm. is a well-known tree. It sometimes reaches a great size when growing near streams. The Red or Slippery Elm is also abundant. There are four species of Poplar, including the American Aspen and the Large-toothed Aspen. Populus heterophylla is a large tree growing in the swamps. This tree is called the Black Poplar. Populus deltoides is called Cottonwood. As a native tree this is not very abundant, but is found along the lake shore. Several of the native Willows rank as trees and add much to the beauty of our landscapes. There are four species of Ash trees. The White Ash and Black Ash are best known. There is also the Red Ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica), and the variety lanceolata, known as the Green Ash, and the Pumpkin Ash (Fraxinus profunda). The Beech (Fagus grandifolia) is one of our finest trees. It has a smooth ash-gray bark that makes it a noticeable tree in winter as well as summer. It often grows with the Hemlock, the two trees harmonizing perfectly. Fossil remains representing this genus have been found in 16 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY Alaska, Colorado, and California. There is a yellowish-brown plant, named Beech-drops, that is always found under Beech trees, a parasite on their roots. The Basswood or Linden has flowers that are a great attraction to the bees. The Sassafras roots yield oil of sassafras. The Blue Beech (Carpinus caroliniana) is a small tree belonging to the Birch family. It is also called Hop Hornbeam. The wood is very dense. The Ironwood, another small tree, is often found growing in the same vicinity. This tree also has very hard wood. There are a number of trees in the county that are never very abundant in Northern Ohio. Among these are the Cucumber-tree (Magnolia acuminata), Kentucky Coffee-tree, Honey Locust, Pepperidge, Red Mulberry, Cork Elm, Hackberry, Box Elder, and the Yellow Birch. The Kentucky Coffee-tree, resembling the Locust, has been found in two localities in Sheffield, four or five trees in each group ; the Cucumber-tree in Elyria Township ; the Honey Locust, as a native growth, near the mouth of Black River. The Hackberry or Sugarberry (Celtis occidentalis), a beautiful tree resembling an Elm, grows near the streams; the fruit is a berry. The Box Elder grows where the soil is very rich. The Yellow Birch (Betula lutea) is found in the township of Elyria and Sheffield near the north ridge. Thoreau says of the Yellow Birch : "How pleasing to stand near a new or rare tree ; and few are so handsome as this; singularly allied to the black birch in its sweet checker-berry scent and its form and to the Canoe Birch in its peeling or fringed and tassel bark." The Pepperidge or Black Gum (Nyssa sylvatica) is known by its shining leaves and horizontal branches. It is so seldom one finds a Pepperidge tree that its location is always remembered. The June-berry, Pawpaw, two of the Dogwoods (Cornus) and one Black Haw (Viburnum) often grow to the size of trees. We also have the Ohio Buckeye, Butternut, Wild Crab Apple, and a number of species of Thorn. THE SHRUBS We have many native shrubs, some of them bearing fruit in autumn that is very bright and showy. The Climbing Bitter-sweet (Celastrus scandens), Waahoo, Winterberry (Ilex verticillata), the Dogwoods, and Smilax are examples. The red berries of the Winterberry are nearly as showy as those of our American Holly (Ilex opaca) which grows HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 17 farther south. The berries often hang on the bushes until Christmas time. The Witch-Hazel (Hamamelis virginica) blossoms late in the autumn, sometimes after the snow comes, and matures its seeds the next autumn, bearing flowers and ripe fruit at the same time. In early days the fruit of the wild plum and the wild grape was gathered for use. The High or Swamp Blueberry, growing in the marshes, furnished delicious fruit for many years. There were also cranberries at that time in the marshes. -Both are now nearly extinct. The Red Raspberry still grows on the margin of the swamps. The Black Raspberry vines were not seen until openings were made in the forest. They sprang up where brush heaps had been burned. There is a variety with yellow fruit. The Blackberry is the finest of our wild fruits, surpassing in sweetness the cultivated berry. The Huckleberry (Gaylussacia resinosa), a low shrub, is quite abundant. The variety with white berries is found in Avon. The wild strawberry is becoming very common, growing along all our roadsides and on the borders of the fields. There is also a variety of wild strawberry with white fruit. The elderberries are also a valued fruit. All of these fruits furnish food for the birds. THE WILD FLOWERS The wild flowers that grow within our limits are very numerous, the first in the springtime being the Hepaticas, followed in quick succession by all the troops of delicate wild beauties. A number of Orchids have been noted, among them the Showy Orchis with its rich green leaves and pink flowers, the Ragged FringedOrchis, and the beautiful Habenaria psycodes with its rich red purple blossoms. The Yellow Lady's Slipper is found occasionally, but the Pink Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium acaule) has not been found for a number of years. Putty-root (Aplectrum hyemale) is an orchid that forms a solid bulb each year, and these bulbs were eaten by the pioneer boys with much enjoyment, but the plant was not quite exterminated by this use. The Wild Hyacinth, growing on the bottom lands in great abundance, has a root that resembles an onion, which the Indians used for food. The White Water Lily (Castalia tuberosa) grew in the river at the lower end of the island opposite the steel plant, until a few years ago. The wild Sunflowers of several species, and the Joe-Pye Weed form a mass of color along the river during August and September. The tall yellow Coreopsis and the Great Willow-herb are showy flowers at South Lorain. Vol. 1-2 18 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY THE FERNS There are about thirty species of ferns growing in our county, ranging from the stately Ostrich Fern growing in alluvial soil to the delicate Asplenium Trichomanes and the Walking Leaf on the rocks in Elyria. The Christmas Fern that is green all winter is one of our most common ferns and the Bladder Ferns the most beautiful. Dicksonia is a sweet-scented fern. THE GRASSES A large number of grasses in the county now are naturalized grasses, but the native grasses number fifty or more, the streams, marshes, and lake beach adding many tall showy species. The Marsh Grass, or Slough Grass, three or four feet tall, grows on the bank of French Creek near its mouth. Indian Rice, or Water Oats (Zizania aquatica) a beautiful grass is found near the mouth of Black River. The grain is white like rice and in Canada the Indians use it for food. The Reed Grass (Phragmites communis), growing ten or twelve feet high,. is found at Lorain. It spreads from the roots, and so forms large patches. Two tall graceful grasses grow along the lake beach, Switch Grass (Panicum virgatum) and Wild Rye with long drooping spikes. There are native Poas, Panicums, Erogrostos, and Agrostis, some growing in open places, some kinds in woods, some where it is dry, others in wet places—all having their favorite locations. FLORA OF THE COUNTY The flora of our county whose congenial habitat is farther north is the Hemlock, Mountain Maple, Red-berried Elder, Purple Flowering Raspberry, Gold Thread, Calla palustris, Swamp Saxifrage, and Club-Moss (Lycopodium lucidulum). These are all common in the North and their presence here is due to the Glacial period. Nearly all plants have a preferred habitat. The Pyrola, or Shin Leaf, with its white fragrant blossoms chooses pine or hemlock woods. The Closed Gentian grows where the ground is rich and moist. The lovely Moss Pink (Phlox subulata) grows on our dry banks. This plant and our Climbing Rose (Rosa setigera) are often cultivated. The Swamp Rose Mallow (Hibiscus Moscheutos) makes the marshes at Lorain and Beaver Creek bright with its large pink blossom. The Wild Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) grows its best in the shale of the perpendicular river bank at the Fort Spring in Elyria Township with the water from the spring above constantly dripping over it. A UNIQUE BOG Camden Lake in Camden Township is surrounded by a low wet bog where Sphagnum Moss, the predominant source of peat, grows. In this HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 19 bog many plants that have become rare or extinct in other parts of the county are found growing abundantly. Among the shrubs found here are Poison Elder or Poison Sumach (Rhus vernix), the most poisonous plant we have; the species of Chokeberry with black fruit (Pyrus melanocarpa) ; the Juneberry or Shad Bush (Amelanchier spicata). The fruit of this species ripens in September, while the fruit of our common Juneberry ripens in June; Mountain Holly (Neopanthus mucronata) and Withe-rod (Viburnum cassinoides). The American Cranberry (Vaccinnium macrocarpon) and the Trailing Swamp Blackberry grew together in the moss. A number of fine water-loving Orchids have been found in this bog—Pogonia ophioglossoides, Calopogon pulchellus, Habenaria clavellata, and Ladies' Tresses (Spiranthes cernua). Arrow Arum (Peltandra Virginica) flourishes here. The fern Woodwardia Virginica, and the Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia purpurea) have been found only here. COLLECTORS OF PLANT LIFE In Dr. J. S. Newberry's catalogue of Ohio plants published in 1859 he gives the names of a number of rare species of plants collected in Elyria by Doctor Kellogg that have not been collected in the county since. Four rare ferns were reported—Woodsia glabella, a small fern that grows on moist mossy rocks and is found in Northern New England, New York, and Minnesota, and in Alaska and Greenland; Asplenium pinnatifidum, a very rare fern, and Asplenium montanum, both growing on cliffs and rocks; and Botrychrum simplex. The shrub Labrador Tea (Ledum Groenlandicum) which grows in bogs and on mountain slopes northward and is found in Greenland. Doctor Kellogg is the only one to report this plant from Ohio. Horsetail (Equisetum variegatum), a rare plant, also coming from the north, is reported from Black River. H. C. Beardslee's catalogue of Ohio plants published in 1874 includes in its list specimens collected by Dr. R. S. Harvard of Elyria and his pupil Dr. N. S. Townsend. In this list the American Mountain Ash (Pyrus sitchensis) is reported from Elyria, also the Fringed Polygala (Polygala paucifolia). Prof. Charles Penfield and Doctor Dascomb were early collectors, in Oberlin. Mr. J. Terrell found the rare Short-fringed Gentian (Gentiana serrates) in Brownhelm on the Vermilion River in 1889. Ginseng (Panax quinquefolium) which was once rather abundant on rich banks is now very rare. The Aromatic Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens) is also becoming rare in our county. CHAPTER III ANIMAL LIFE OF THE COUNTY By Prof. Lynds Jones NATIVE AND MIGRATORY BIRDS-CHANGES IN VARIETIES-WATER BIRDSSONGSTERS-MAMMALS OF LORAIN COUNTY-PREHISTORIC REMAINS-FISHES OF THE COUNTY-AMPHIBIANS-REPTILES-INSECTS. There have been found within the confines of the county 261. different species of birds which either reside in the county regularly or visit the county in their migrations north and south. Most conspicuous regular residents are Bob White, Cardinal, Chickadee, Bald Eagle, Goldfinch, eight species of Hawk, Blue Jay, Prairie Horned Lark, White-breasted Nuthatch, five species of Owl, Tufted Titmouse, Cedar Waxwing, three species of Woodpecker, and Carolina Wren. In small numbers, also, members of the following species remain ,during the winter, namely, the Crow, Robin, Bluebird, Meadow Lark, Northern Flicker, Bronzed Grackle, and Mourning Dove. NATIVE AND MIGRATORY BIRDS There are eighty-six species which breed in the county, and the following species reside in the county in the winter only, namely, Brown Creeper, Tree Sparrow, Golden Crowned Kinglet, Slate Colored junco, Purple Finch, Winter Wren, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Pine Siskin, Horned Lark, Northern Shrike, and Snowflake. Wild Geese, Swans, various species of Ducks, and other water birds visit the Oberlin water works for a short period of rest on their migratory journeys. CHANGES IN VARIETIES The Wild Turkey and Passenger Pigeon have entirely disappeared before the advance of civilization, and the Ruffed Grouse and Northern Pileated Woodpecker are practically exterminated, only an occasional - 20 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 21 individual may still venture into the borders of the county from some neighboring fastness. The disappearance of the vast forests has brought about some marked changes in bird life. Many field birds which were unknown while the forests remained have gradually spread over the state as the area of open fields has increased. We still notice this movement of certain birds which have invaded the county within the past score of years, such as Bachman 's and Lark Sparrows, both beautiful songsters. WATER BIRDS Lake Erie furnishes us with some rare water birds, such as the Iceland Gull and Brünnich's Murre. While there has been no appreciable lessening of the numbers of the gulls and terns which are found along the lake, there has been a marked decrease in the numbers of ducks and geese and shore birds. Where once vast numbers were to be found now only scattering individuals are met with. This decrease is due both to pot hunters and sportsmen, and to the settlement of the lake shore and the occupation by industrial plants of the swamp lands at the mouths of the streams which empty into the lake. Where considerable areas of swamp and marshland still remain ducks and geese may still be found in considerable numbers. SONGSTERS It is worth noting that certain of the song birds have greatly increased in the last fifteen years. Cardinals were scarce fifteen years ago but are now common over most of the county. Carolina Wrens were hardly known at all then while they are to be found in every river gorge and in some of the villages now. Yellow-breasted Chats could be numbered on the fingers of both hands twenty years ago, but now nearly every considerable brushy copse harbors a pair or more. Bewick's Wren and Carolina Chickadee have been found in Oberlin within the last three years—first county records. Lorain County is on the migration route of the rare Kirtland's Warbler. VALUE OF QUAIL When the farmers come to appreciate the value of the quail as the most important enemy of the common potato beetle this bird will receive the protection which it deserves and we shall again find it along the roadway and hear its call in every field. This county represents the 22 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY northernmost limit of the range of the quail, and in severe winters many are frozen to death. But if they are supplied with abundant food and provision made for sheltering them where predatory mammals cannot find them at night they will certainly survive in sufficient numbers so that they will prove of invaluable aid in the control of the potato beetle and other insects which injure crops. MAMMALS OF LORAIN COUNTY The Opossum is the only representative of the Marsupials in the county. There is a record of twenty-one Rodents for the county, of which the Gray and Black Squirrels and Beaver have disappeared entirely. They were numerous when the county was settled and for years afterward. There are probably seven species of bats in the county, of which the Common Red Bat is the best known and most numerous. The only native Ungulates seem to have been the Common Deer and the Wapiti, both of which have long been extinct, except for an occasional stray deer probably from Michigan. It is possible that straying individuals cross the lake on the rare occasions when it is solidly frozen over. I find records of thirteen or fourteen species of Carnivora for the county. Of these the Black Bear, Otter, Badger, Gray Fox, Timber Wolf, Wild Cat and Puma or Panther are gone. The Raccoon, Skunk, Weasel, Mink are still fairly common, while the Red Fox is rarely reported. The least Weasel has been recorded only twice. It is inevitable that the larger Carnivora should be driven out or exterminated with the increasing settlement of the county. PREHISTORIC REMAINS Of course the Indians have disappeared, but there still remain the three kitchen-middens where for centuries, probably, they lived in villages fortified against their foes. One of these is on the forks of French Creek, north of Elyria, another on the Black River about half way between Elyria and Lake Erie, the other on the Vermilion River near the Swift farm. Any account of the inhabitants of the county would be incomplete which did not contain mention of the Mastodon remains which have been found. On the French farm, in Brownhelm Township, both tusks, most of the skull, and numerous vertebrae and other fragments of the skeleton were discovered while a drain ditch was being dug in a muck HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 23 area immediately south of the lake ridge at that place. These fragments are now in the Oberlin Museum. Fragments of molar teeth of a mastodon were found in a muck patch which was being drained three miles southwest of Oberlin. This is some five miles south of the southernmost extent. of the upper lake ridge. This indicates that the mastodon wandered over the region which is now Lorain County at least as late as the close of the Ice Age. FISHES OF THE COUNTY Mr. L. M. McCormick, in a "Descriptive List of the Fishes of Lorain County, Ohio," published by Oberlin College in 1892, gives eighty-nine species, of which the —Paddle Fish" is probably the only species which has entirely disappeared. The college museum contains a somewhat mutilated specimen of this large fish. It is undoubtedly true that many of the food fishes and game fishes have decreased in numbers in the last twenty-five years, especially in the streams which have, in the interval, been utilized for industrial plants. The lessening flaw of most of our streams and their filling with debris must have exerted some influence upon the fishes which HO in them. The Sturgeons are very common off shore in the lake and often grow to a large size. One specimen measured 6 feet 2 inches and weighed 129 pounds. The Garpike, or Bill-fish, is common in the lake, and large schools come into the rivers in April to spawn. They grow to be from 2 to 5 feet long. The Catfishes are represented by ten species. Of these the Blue Cat, common in the lake a.nd lower parts of the rivers is highly prized as food. Individuals sometimes weigh as much as 100 pounds ; but five pounds is the probable average of those that are caught. Suckers are represented by nine species, of which the White-nosed Sucker, the Big-mouthed Mullet, and the Small-mouthed Mullet, are most common. In early spring these crowd up into the rivers to spawn; but by the middle of May most have returned to the lake. Small ones, however, up to 8 inches or more can be found all summer. Twelve species of minnows are found. Some of these are extremely beautiful in their coloring, in the spring especially. They are chiefly-valuable as furnishing green pastures for larger species. During the months of April and May they crowd up the riffles in immense numbers to spawn ; but by the first of July they have nearly all returned to the lake. The Gizzard-shad which now abounds is said to have entered Lake 24 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY Erie when the Erie Canal was opened in 1848. It is very handsome but worthless. The Salmons are among the most valued of all the fishes, including the White Fish, Lake Herring, and Lake Trout ; but they do not frequent the rivers. Mr. Nicholas of Vermilion reported a white fish that weighed 19 1/2 pounds. The Pikes are represented by three species. The Little Pickerel frequents the headwaters of most of the streams, and are common in Vermilion River near Kipton. They feed on smaller fish, even on their own young. One 6 1/2 inches long was found in the act of digesting the head of another which was 4 1/2 inches long, the rest of the body waiting its turn outside. The Muskalonge was formerly very abundant but now rarely taken. The Sun Fishes are represented by ten species of which the Rock Bass is most valuable and common in the large streams. The Pumpkinseed is abundant in the riffles of the larger streams, and in the bayous near the lake. It is not frequent above the darns in the streams, but is found in Camden Lake where it attains a large size. The Perches are represented by fourteen species, of which the Rainbow Darter, Yellow Perch, and Blue Pike are the most common. The Blue Pike occasionally reaches the length of three feet and a weight of more than thirty pounds. It is very common in the lake but enters streams only occasionally. This is one of the most valuable food fishes taken in the pounds. The Sea Bass (White Bass) is closely allied to a large saltwater family, and is supposed to be the land-locked form of the Striped Bass. This is quite common in the lake, ascending the streams to the dams ; but Mr. George Dewey reported finding them in Kipton far above the dams. The Sheeps-head, a worthless fish common in the lake and in the streams below the dams, is principally remarkable for its ear bones which are the lucky stones often found on the lake beach. Of the Sculpins, the Star Gazer or Mud Head has been found only in Spring Brook and Chance Creek, where it is common. AMPHIBIANS There are between twenty-five and thirty species in Lorain County, but the group has not received the exhaustive study which would make possible positive statements. Probably most of the species which are dependent upon swamp or marsh conditions have decreased with the decreasing areas of their proper habitats. In favorable places the large HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 25 Bull Frog may be found in some numbers, and his "bellowings" heard. Because the Wood Frog lives only in beech woods, and such woods are fast disappearing, this species is fast decreasing. Tree Frogs are also less numerous than before the woods became so scattering and so small. Many of the breeding places of the frogs have either been completely drained, or now dry up in summer so that the species which require more than a short season for growth in the tadpole stage are unable to find suitable breeding places. REPTILES Mr. L. M. McCormick is the chief authority on this group for this county. The list which he compiled and was made ready in 1892, contains the names of forty-three species, of which fifteen are turtles and twenty-eight snakes or snake forms. Most of the turtles have decreased with the decreasing swamps and marshes and ponds, but may still be found in the extensive marshes outside of the county. Most, if not all, of the extremely large Snapping Turtles have been captured. The small Painted Turtle is now the commonest of the turtles. Only three venomous snakes have been found in the county, and they are now apparently exterminated. The Banded Rattle Snake, the Massasauga or Black Rattler, and the Copperhead have not been found within the last ten years. It is likely that there are none in the county, except possibly as occasional wanderers. None of the remaining true snakes are venomous, and none are harmful, while many of them are distinctly beneficial in their food habits. INSECTS It would be hopeless to try to say more than that the county has its full quota of insects. Such pests as the Ten-lined Potato Beetle, the Codling Moth, Canker Worm, San Jose Scale, and many others have invaded the county within recent years. It is likely that many species have disappeared with the changing conditions due to settlement, and that many have changed their food plants and otherwise so modified their behavior that they were able to successfully meet the changed conditions. The number of species is so great, and many of the forms so small that the task of compiling a complete list of all of the species which live in the county is too great for any one generation of students of insects. Very little real progress has yet been made toward the control of insect pests. Of the remaining forms of animal life it is possible to speak only in 26 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY the most general terms. A little progress has been made in the study of the Crayfishes, a little has been done with the minute Crustacea which are found in water, we know a little about our fresh water Coelenterates, Sponges, and Protozoons, and some work has been done on the Molluscs, particularly the Snails and the Clams. But the field is an open one and a rich one. CHAPTER IV LEADING TO CIVIL GOVERNMENT GREAT HISTORIC WATERWAYS-FRENCH SCHEME OF COLONIZATION-FRENCH NORTHWEST TERRITORY-FORMALLY CLAIM LO USIA NA-ENG - LISH SERVE NOTICE OF POSSESSION-FIRST OHIO COMPANY AND AGENT GIST-GEORGE CROGHAN-IN THE LAND OF THE DELAWARES-FRENCH AND ENGLISH CLASH-THE DELAWARES MOVE WESTWARDLY-THE OTTAWAS AND THE WYANDOTS OF THE LAKE ERIE REGION-BOUQUET 'S EXPEDITION-SHAWNEES LAST TO SURRENDERA NORTHWEST TERRITORY ASSURED-LIFTING OF THE INDIAN AND STATE TITLES-LORD DUNMORE 'S SQUATTERS-AMERICAN SYSTEM OF LAND SURVEYS —PUBLIC LANDS-CONGRESS LANDS-CONNECTICUT WESTERN RESERVE-FIRE LANDS—UNITED STATES MILITARY LANDS-VIRGINIA MILITARY LANDS-OHIO COMPANY'S PURCHASE-THE GERM OF OHIO - DONATION TRACT-SYMMES PURCHASE-REFUGEE TRACT-FRENCH TRACT-CANAL LANDS-SCHOOL LANDS-OTHER PUBLIC TRACTS. During the forty years preceding the close of the Revolutionary war, the lakes region and the Valley of the Ohio were the great battle grounds contested by the French, English and Americans, with their respective Indian allies. Although the French claimed the land by virtue of discovery and exploration and seventy years of loose occupancy, the English, as later adventurers, laid claim to the rich and beautiful valley through their powerful red allies, the Six Nations. This claim was of rather dubious strength, considering that the Ohio Valley and the vast domain included within its meshes were never in undisputed possession of the Iroquois. But the English point of contention was finally pressed home through force of English arms and diplomacy. The second distinct phase of the international contentions over the Ohio Valley and the territory to the northwest of it hinged on the conflict between Great Britain and her American colonies, with the result which is world's `history. The writer will therefore first enter into certain essential details regarding the discovery, clashes at arms and uncertain occupancy of the country broadly designated as the Valley - 27 - 28 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY of the Ohio previous to the establishment of a ghostly civic body over the vast territory northwest of the Ohio River by the Ordinance of 1787. GREAT HISTORIC WATERWAYS The explorations of Marquette, Joliet and LaSalle from New France to the Mississippi Valley, and gradually to its mouth, were conducted for nearly a decade from 1673, but their routes from the Great Lakes to the valley of the Great River were by way of the Wisconsin, the Illinois and the Wabash—almost continuous waterways. There was no such feasible, fairly continuous and inviting courses through the interior of Ohio. Actual settlements and even the appearance of the French voyageurs and fur traders were therefore of a later date than like occurrences in regions farther to the west. But the discoveries and explorations of these fearless French pioneers placed upon the map of the world the stupendous Territory of Louisiana which contained the smaller regions included in the. country of the Great Lakes and Valley of the Ohio. FRENCH SCHEME OF COLONIZATION After the tour of exploration by Marquette and Joliet and the unsuccessful effort at colonization by LaSalle, the French, still ardent in their purpose of securing possession of the fertile lands east of the Mississippi, finally had the satisfaction of seeing a comprehensive scheme of colonization established by M. D 'Iberville, who is considered the founder of French authority in Louisiana. He was sent with an expedition comprising four ships and two hundred settlers to explore the mouth of the Mississippi. This he did, erecting a fort on what is now the southern shore of the State of Mississippi and which was afterward abandoned for one on the west bank of the Mobile River. Later he built fortifications at a point corresponding to the City of Natchez, protected the settlers from the incursions of the English, and in other ways strengthened the French claim to the Valley of the Mississippi. FRENCH NORTHWEST TERRITORY Previous to the year 1725 the Colony of Louisiana had been divided into quarters, each having its local government, but all subject to the council general of Louisiana at Quebec. One of these quarters included the territory northwest of the Ohio River. At this time the French had erected forts on the upper Mississippi, on the Illinois, on the Maumee and on the Great Lakes. Communication HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 29 with Canada was chiefly through Lake Michigan, but before 1750 a French post had been fortified at the mouth of the Wabash, and a route to New France was established through that river and the Maumee of the Lakes. The French had now established a chain of forts from the mouth of the Mississippi up the valley and its chief connecting waterways with the Great Lakes, along the shores of the lakes and up the Ohio Valley to the English settlements of the Allegheny region. FORMALLY CLAIM LOUISIANA The English became alarmed at this systematic occupancy of interior America, especially as the French took formal possession of Louisiana in 1749. This was done by the burial of leaden plates by the royal emissaries sent from New France, in command of Celoron de Bienville, their locations in the Ohio country being at the junction of the river by that name with the Mississippi, and at the mouths of the main tributary streams of the Ohio. That found at the mouth of the -Kanawha in March, 1846, nearly a century after it was placed there by the French commandant, has been translated as follows: "In the year 1749, of the reign of Louis XV of France, we, Celoron, commandant of a detachment sent by the Marquis de la Galissoniere, -Captain General of New France, in order to re-establish tranquility among some villages of savages of these parts, have buried this plate at the mouth of the river Chi-no-dahich-e-tha, the 18th August, near the river Ohio, otherwise Beautiful River, as a monument of renewal of possession, which we have taken of the said river Ohio, and of all those which empty themselves into it, and of all the lands of both sides even to the sources of said rivers; as have -enjoyed, or ought to have enjoyed, the preceding kings of France, and that they have maintained themselves there by force of arms and by treaties, especially by those of Ryswick, of Utrecht and of Aix-la-Chapelle." Altogether, Celoron planted six plates at the mouths of the various Ohio tributaries, as of the Kanawha, Muskingum and the Great Miami, signifying a renewal of possession of the country. This was done as follows: His men were drawn up in order; Louis XV was proclaimed lord of all that region ; the arms were stamped on a sheet of tin nailed to a tree ; the plate of lead was buried at the foot, and the notary of the expedition drew up a formal act of the entire proceedings. ENGLISH SERVE NOTICE OF POSSESSION For several years previously the English had served notices on their rivals that they would -dispute possession of the Ohio Valley ; in fact, 30 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY that the Six Nations owned it by right of conquest and had placed it under their protection. Some of the western lands were claimed by the British as having been actually purchased at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1744, by a treaty between the colonists and the Six Nations. About the time the French gave the world notice that they claimed Louisiana, the English formed the Ohio Company for the purpose of establishing trading posts among the Indians. FIRST OHIO COMPANY AND AGENT GIST From October, 1750, to May, 1751, Christopher Gist, a land surveyor and agent of the Ohio Company (an association of Maryland and Virginia gentlemen organized to buy lands in the Ohio Valley), explored the country adjacent to the main river and at various points some distance inland. As he kept a journal of his travels, it is evident that he found a number of traders on the ground, both French and English, the whole region being in the throes of the conflict between the people of the rival nations. In December, 1750, he reached an Indian town a few miles above the mouth of the Muskingum, inhabited by Wyandots, who, he says, were divided in their allegiance between the French and the English. The village consisted of about 100 families. GEORGE CROGHAN George Croghan was the leading English trader of that region, and had hoisted the English colors at the post. While Mr. Gist lingered there, stories came in of the capture of Mr. Croghan's men by Frenchmen and their Indian allies. He was invited to marry into the tribe, but delicately declined. In January an Indian trader came to town and informed the English traders that the Wyandots of the Lake Erie region had advised him that the region around the great lakes was claimed by the French, but that all the branches of the Ohio belonged to them and their brothers, the English ; that the French had no business there, and it was expected that the southern branch of the Wyandots would desert the French and come over bodily to the English. IN THE LAND OF THE DELAWARES Mr. Croghan was afterward appointed deputy Indian agent. On the 15th of January, 1751, he and Andrew Montour, an influential man among the Delawares and Shawnees, accompanied Mr. Gist in his visit to an Indian town at the mouth of the Scioto and to the towns on the HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 31 Big Miami. Their trip to the Valley of the Scioto and down the river to its mouth is described in Mr. Gist's journal. Under date of January 15, 1751, he says: "We left Muskingum and went five miles to the White Woman's creek, on which is a small town. This white woman was taken away from New England when she was not above ten years old by the French Indians. She is now upwards of fifty ; has an Indian husband and several children. Her name is Mary Harris. She still remembers they use to be very religious in New England, and wonders how the white men can be so wicked as she has seen them in the woods. "Wednesday, 16: Set out southwest twenty-five miles to Licking creek. The land from Muskingum is rich and broken. Upon the north side of Licking creek about six miles from its mouth, were several salt licks or ponds, formed by little streams or drains of water, clear, but of blueish color and salty taste. The traders and Indians boil their meats in this water, .which, if proper care is not taken, will sometimes make it too salty to eat." The course was west and southwest from Licking Creek to Hock-hocking, a small Delaware town, and thence to the Upper Scioto, which was descended for about twenty miles -to Salt Lick Creek. On the 25th he traveled twenty-eight miles, all the way through a country occupied by the Delaware Indians, and on Sunday arrived at one of their towns on the southeast side of the Scioto, about five miles from its mouth. This, Mr. Gist says, was the last of the Delaware towns to the westward. He remained a few days at that locality, held a council with the friendly Indians who made several speeches. He continues: "The Delaware Indians, by the best accounts I could gather, consist of about five hundred fighting men, all firmly attached to the English interests. They are not properly part of the Six Nations, but are scattered about among most of the Indians on the Ohio, and some of them among the Six Nations, from whom they have leave to hunt upon their land." At the time of Gist's visit the Delawares had commenced to come into notice as an expanding tribe or Indian nation in much of the territory now embraced in Northeastern and Eastern Ohio. They were an eastern people, had been traditional enemies of the Iroquois by whom they were crowded beyond the Alleghenies, but in their western home rose into power with the permanent decline of their old-time rivals and conquerors. By the commencement of the eighteenth century, the Delawares were a densely settled nation whose territory virtually stretched from the Ohio to Lake Erie, with the center of their power in the upper Muskingum and Tuscarawas. 32 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY FRENCH AND ENGLISH CLASH After the return of Mr. Gist the Ohio Company proceeded to take possession of the lands they claimed on the Ohio and established a trading house on the Big Miami about a hundred miles from its mouth. Early in 1752 the French heard of this proceeding and sent a military expedition to the Indians demanding the surrender of the English traders as intruders upon the French lands. As the demand was refused the post was attacked by the French, assisted by the Ottawas and Chippewas. After a fierce engagement, during which fourteen Indians were killed, the trading house was captured and destroyed and the Englishmen carried as prisoners to Canada. This was considered the first settlement in the Ohio Valley which approached permanency. In the following year Washington, with Gist as his guide, had recommended the erection of an English fort upon the present site of Pittsburgh, and the fiercest conflicts between the rivals for the possession of the Ohio Valley were waged in that vicinity for the capture of Fort DuQuesne, the military headquarters of the French. THE DELAWARES MOVE WESTWARDLY The Delawares, by the middle of the eighteenth century, or at the commencement of the French and Indian war, were most numerous in the Valley of the Tuscarawas, Eastern Ohio, but thirty years later the center of their strength was near the present center of the state, in the region of the county which bears their name. By the beginning of the nineteenth century the several tribes, whose territories were quite clearly defined fifty years previously, had commingled as a means of defense against the common white enemy, and as the shores of Lake Erie and Valley of the Ohio became fringed with the cabins and villages of the pale faces, the tribal lines of the red men became more and more obliterated. In Northern, Eastern and Central Ohio, where the Delawares and Shawnees once held almost undisputed sway, there were now to be found also Ottawas, Wyandots, Mingoes and even Miamis from the western border. The Ottawas and the Wyandots were especially partial to the Lake Erie region or the northern regions of what was to become the Western Reserve. This commingling and union of the Ohio Indians resulted largely from their experiences in the French and Indian war of 1755-64. The prompt action of the French in destroying the English trading post on the Big Miami and taking its occupants to Canada as prisoners of war brought counter action from the British government. Early in the HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 33 spring of 1755 General Braddock, with a considerable force, was sent to take possession of the Ohio country. His terrible defeat near Fort DuQuesne was followed by a fruitless expedition, the year after, which was directed against the Indian towns on the Ohio. Finally, in 1758, the French were expelled from Fort DuQuesne, and in 1763 France ceded to Great Britain all her North American settlements. The British then gave their attention to the defiant Indians. In 1764 General Bradstreet, having dispersed the Indian forces besieging Detroit, passed down into the Wyandot country by way of Sandusky Bay. Having ascended the bay and river as far as possible in boats, the party encamped and concluded a treaty of peace with the representatives of many of the Indian tribes. BOUQUET 'S EXPEDITION But the Shawnees of the Scioto River and the Delawares of the Muskingum continued hostile. For the purpose of subduing or placating. them, Colonel Bouquet was sent from Fort Pitt into the heart of the Ohio country on the Muskingum River. This expedition was conducted with great prudence and skill; but few lives were lost, a treaty of peace was effected with the Indians about a mile from the forks of the Muskingum, but not before all the white prisoners, amounting to some 300, had been delivered to the colonel and his force. Accompanying Colonel Bouquet as an engineer was Thomas Hutchins, who afterward became geographer of the United States. Mr. Hutchins drew a map of the country through which the expedition passed. It was published in London two years after the return of the expedition and covers much of the territory now embraced in Eastern Ohio. Various expeditions were sent against the Delawares, Wyandots and Iroquois of Western Pennsylvania, Virginia and Eastern Ohio in 1774, and as they were chiefly under the direction of Lord Dunmore, governor of Virginia, they are usually designated as "Dunmore's •ar." Lord Dunmore's march took him up the Hocking Valley and over into what is now Pickaway County, where, in the fall of 1774, he made a treaty with all the hostile Indians at Camp Charlotte, near the present site of Circleville. SHAWNEES LAST TO SURRENDER During and after the Revolutionary war, various American expeditions were sent against the warlike Shawnees, but the scenes of these forays and conflicts were in the upper Valley of the Scioto. In 1779 Vol. I-3 34 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY Colonel Bowman headed an expedition against them, and their village of Chillicothe was burned; but the Shawnee warriors showed an undaunted front and the whites were forced to retreat. In the summer of the following year General Clarke led a body of Kentuckians against the Shawnees. On their approach the Indians burned Chillicothe themselves and retreated to their town of Piqua, six miles below the present site of Springfield. There they gave battle and were defeated. In September, 1782, this officer led a second expedition against them and destroyed their towns of Upper and Lower Piqua, in what is now Miami County. Other expeditions from Kentucky were directed against the stubborn Shawnees of the upper Scioto Valley and along the Miami rivers farther west, these conflicts covering 1786-8. A NORTHWEST TERRITORY ASSURED In the meantime, by the treaty of Paris concluded between Great Britain and the United States in 1783, the western boundary of the United States was declared to be the Mississippi instead of the Ohio River. The British commissioner stoutly contended that the Ohio was its legitimate limits; but sturdy John Adams, the American representative, carried the day for the Mississippi River, thus saving for his countrymen the splendid Northwest Territory. LIFTING OF INDIAN AND STATE TITLES The next great step in the building of the nation was to satisfy the land claims of the original occupants of the soil. The first negotiations were with the Six Nations of the East. Finally, at Fort Stanwix, in October, 1784, the Mohawks, Onondagas, Senecas, Cayugas, Oneidas and Tuscaroras ceded all their claims to the western lands to the Government of the United States. But citizens could not settle in that great domain until every other Indian title was lifted, and the individual states also relinquished their claims. By the year 1786 all the commonwealths of the Union had ceded their claims to the General Government.; then remained the task of extinguishing the Indian claims other than those ceded by the Six Nations. Efforts had been continuous since the conclusion of peace with Great Britain. But the problem was a difficult one. The Indian tribes were allies of the English, with such minor exceptions as the Moravian Indians, or Christian Delawares of Lake Erie Region and the Muskingum and Tuscarawas valleys, and did not surrender their homes without a struggle. For several years there was a HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 35 series of hostile movements and numerous acts of revenge, but about 1786, when the General Government had adjusted all the state claims, a conciliatory policy was adopted toward the Indians, and by a series of purchases and treaties, made at various dates, their titles were peaceably extinguished. It is a fact worthy of note and pride, that the title to every foot of Ohio soil was honorably acquired from the Indians. LORD DUNMORE'S SQUATTERS But for more than a decade "squatters" had planted themselves in the fertile soil of the Ohio Valley. When Lord Dunmore's army of 1,200 men was disbanded at the month of the Hocking River in 1774, there is much evidence that not a few of them saw that the land was good to look upon and decided to occupy it. At least, in January, 1785, when the commissioners appointed by the Government to treat with the Delawares and Wyandots arrived in the Ohio country they found wbite settlements at Hocking Falls, at the Muskingum, the Scioto and Miami, and along the north bank of the Ohio. The largest appeared to have been Hocking, and there was quite a town on the Mingo Bottoms opposite what is now Wheeling. The Indian commissioners, George Rogers, Richard Butler and Arthur Lee, were compelled to cease negotiations with the Delawares and Wyandots until all the lands west of the Ohio were dispossessed of the whites. Ensign John Armstrong was sent by Colonel Harmer to drive the white invaders from Indian soil, and by March most of them had left the country, although some failed to leave and kept hiding until the titles to the lands were made clear. In 1784, ten years after the disbandment of Dunmore's army at the mouth of the Hocking River, Congress passed an ordinance for the government of the Northwest Territory, all claim to which had been relinquished by Great Britain. So far as the organization of any civil government under it is concerned, it was a dead letter, but under its general provisions one very important step was taken toward the realization of the white man's order and the security of property rights. On May 20, 1785, a supplementary ordinance was passed for the survey of the western lands. AMERICAN SYSTEM OF LAND SURVEYS A surveyor was chosen from each state which originally laid claim to the domain west of the Alleghenies, who was to act under the geographer of the United States, Thomas Hutchins, in laying off the land 36 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY into townships of six miles square. The geographer was instructed to designate the townships by numbers, from south to north, and the ranges were to be numbered from east to west. It is this simple system of describing land that has been followed by the Government and private surveyors ever since, and may be called the American system. The survey of the western lands was well under way at the time of the passage of the permanent and living ordinance of 1787, which has been described as "the last gift of the Congress of the old Confederation of the people of the States." THE PUBLIC LANDS When Ohio was admitted into the Federal Union as an independent state, one of the terms of admission was that the fee simple to all the lands within its limits, excepting those previously granted or sold, should vest in the United States. Different portions of them at divers periods were granted or sold to various individual companies and bodies politic. The following were the names by which the principal bodies of these lands were designated on account of the different forms of transfers : 1. Congress Lands. 2. Connecticut Western Reserve. 3. Fire Lands. 4. United States Military. 5. Virginia Military. 6. Ohio Company's Purchase. 7. Donation Tract. 8. Symmes Purchase. 9. Refugee Tract. 10. French Grant. These ten principal bodies of public lands are noted and described, with the accompanying map, that the reader may obtain a clear idea of their comparative importance in the development of the state. It will be seen that with the exception of the Congress and the Virginia Military lands, those included in the Western Reserve constituted the largest body and, in view of its favorable position adjacent to the well-settled districts of Western Pennsylvania and to easily-accessible regions of Lake Erie, it was the cream of the territory northwest of the Ohio River. CONGRESS LANDS In 1829, then, the following descriptions of these chief divisions of public lands within the State of Ohio were correct: "Congress lands HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 37 are so called because they are sold to purchasers by the immediate officers of the General Government, conformable to such laws as are, or may be from time to time, enacted by Congress. They are all regularly surveyed into townships of six miles square each, under authority and at the expense of the National Government. In the eastern half of the state—that is, east of the Scioto river and of a meridian line drawn three miles within the eastern limits of Marion and Crawford counties—the ranges are counted from east to west, and the numbers of the townships from south to north, beginning on the Ohio river as a base. But in the west half of the state, the ranges begin on the state line of Indiana and are counted eastwardly until they reach the other ranges, which are numbered westwardly, as above mentioned ; excepting between the two Miami rivers, where the ranges run from south to north and the numbers of the townships from west to east—that is, from the Great Miami river as a base. In the purchase made in 1818 north of the Greenville Treaty line, however, a base line is made in about the middle of the tract on the parallel of the forty-first degree of north latitude, from which the townships are numbered both north and south. The townships are again subdivided into sections of one mile square, each containing 640 acres, by lines running parallel with the township and range lines. "In establishing the township and sectional corners, a post is first planted at the point of intersection ; then on the tree nearest the post and standing within the section intended to be designated, is numbered with the marking iron, the" range, township and number of the section. "Section No. 16 of every township is perpetually reserved for the use of the schools and leased under the state government. All the others may be taken up either in sections, fractions, halves, quarters or half quarters. THE EIGHT LAND DISTRICTS "For the purpose of selling out these lands, they are divided into eight land districts, called after the names of the towns in which the offices are kept, namely : Wooster, Steubenville, Zanesville, Marietta, Chillicothe, Cincinnati, Piqua and Tiffin. "Chillicothe Land District is composed of the seven westernmost of the twenty-two ranges of townships of Congress lands south of the Refugee tract, and therefore extends from said Refugee tract on the north to the Ohio river south, and from the Zanesville land district and Ohio Company's Purchase on the east to the Scioto river on the west. It includes parts of Franklin, Fairfield, Pickaway, Ross, Athens, Hock- 38 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY ing, Jackson, Lawrence, Pike, Scioto and Gallia counties, but not entirely the whole of any. " Cincinnati Land District comprises that portion of the southwestern quarter of the state bounded by the old Greenville treaty line on the north. the Ohio river south, the Virginia Military Tract and Symmes Purchase east and the Indiana state line west ; and also that part of the state of Indiana lying east of a line run directly from opposite the mouth of the Kentucky river to Fort Recovery, at the northwest corner of Darke county. It includes all of Miami, Darke, Preble, Montgomery, and considerable portions of Shelby, Logan, Champaign, Clark, Green, Warren, Butler and Hamilton counties, besides all of Dearborn, and parts of Switzerland, Franklin, Union, Wayne, Randolph and Adams counties, in the state of Indiana. This district is not probably, excelled by any other in the western country in the fertility of its soil, especially for the production of wheat, and the number and goodness of the various mill seats abounding upon its almost infinitely numerous streams and rivulets. "Marietta Land District is small, embracing only parts of Belmont, Monroe and Washington counties. There are no rivers or streams of any considerable magnitude, excepting the Ohio river, which washes its whole southeastern limits. "Piqua Land District is in the northwest quarter of the state, adjoining Michigan territory north, the Tiffin district east, Cincinnati district south, and the state of Indiana west. It embraces the first eight ranges of townships in the land purchased of the Indians in 1818. It is forty-eight miles broad, from east to west, and, upon an average, eighty-five miles long from north to south, embracing an area of about 4,080 square miles, or 2,611,200 acres of land. This computation, however, includes all the Indian reservations at Wappakonetta on Blanchard's fork on the Auglaize, and on St. Mary's rivers—altogether about 120,000 acres, thereby leaving about two and a half million acres sold, and to be sold by the general government in this district. It is not yet much settled, but the Ohio Legislature, in 1820, to set at rest anticipated future trouble in parcelling it out into counties, divided it into seven districts to which they attached the names of Allen, Putnam, Henry, Williams, Paulding, Van Wert and Mercer, to be organized into separate counties, whenever sufficiently settled. Beside which, about one hundred and fifty square miles of the district falls within the limits of Shelby county. None of these counties are, however, yet organized, excepting Mercer and Williams. It is watered by the Maumee, Auglaize and St. Mary's rivers, besides their numerous branches. The route for the contemplated Miami canal runs centrally through this district. It HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 39 must, therefore, within twenty years, become a populous and important section of the state. " Steubenville district includes all Columbiana, Jefferson and Harrison, and parts of Stark, Tuscarawas, Guernsey, and Belmont counties. It contains extensive bodies of valuable land. A considerable portion of the district, however, is very hilly, and of an indifferently good soil. It has some salt springs, iron ore, and abundance of stone coal. " Tiffin district is composed of the nine easternmost ranges of townships in the Indian purchase of the year 1818. It extends from Michigan territory and Lake Erie on the north to the old Greenville treaty line south, and from the Connecticut Western Reserve and the Wooster district on the east, to the Piqua district on the west, comprising about two and a half millions of acres. It is nearly eighty miles long, north and south, and fifty-four broad from east to west, and embraces all of Sandusky, Seneca, Hancock and Wood, and the greater .part of Crawford, Marion and Hardin counties. It is watered by the Maumee, Portage, Sandusky, Scioto and Whetstone rivers ; and by Touisant, Muddy, Muscalunge, Green, Wolf, Tymochtee and Honey creeks, and Blanchard's fork of the Auglaize river. A considerable portion of the land in Crawford and Marion counties is open prairie, called `the Sandusky plains.' In Sandusky and Wood counties, bordering upon Lake Erie, much of the land is low and marshy. But taking this whole region of country together, it may be considered fertile and valuable. The land office is kept at Tiffin, to which place, in 1828, it was removed, from Delaware, where it was formerly kept. It was therefore, formerly, called Delaware district. "Wooster district includes the whole of Richland, and Wayne, and parts of Stark, Holmes, and Knox counties, and a strip of three miles wide off from the east end of Crawford and Marion counties. This is generally a hilly district of country, and comprises the highest region of land in the state. The land office is kept at Wooster, but during, and previously to the last war, it was kept at Canton, from which circumstance it was then called Canton district. Salt springs, stone coal, and some iron ore are found in this district. "Zanesville district embraces the whole of Morgan and parts of Perry, Muskingum, Guernsey, Monroe and Washington counties. In Washington county, however, it includes only the six miles square township of Aurelius. But as there are a great many quarter townships in the eastern half of the United States' Military lands, which have not been wanted, to satisfy those warrants for which they were originally appropriated, these quarter townships have been surveyed, by the gen- 40 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY eral government, into sections of 640 acres each ; and such lands situated within the first eleven ranges of said United States Military lands, are sold, as other congress lands are, at the Zanesville land office, and may therefore be considered as constituting a part of this district. In this view of the subject, all Muskingum and Coshocton counties will fall within its limits, and parts of Licking, Knox, Holmes, and the greater part of Tuscarawas, and Guernsey counties. This district is generally hilly, and comparatively of a poor soil. But, as it is excellently well watered, by the Muskingum river and its numerous branches, well suited for various mills; has the Ohio grand canal passing through it ; and has inexhaustible beds of stone eoal, iron ore, and abundance of salt springs, it has already become a populous and wealthy portion of the state; and is rapidly improving. "The 'seven ranges' of townships, are a portion of the Congress lands, so called, being the first ranges of public lands ever surveyed, by the general government, west of the Ohio river. They are bounded on the north by a line drawn due west from the Pennsylvania state line, where it crosses the Ohio river, to the United States Military lands, forty-two miles; thence south to the Ohio river, at the southeast corner of Marietta township, thence up the river to the place of beginning. It comprises all of Jefferson, Harrison and Belmont counties, the greater part of Monroe, and parts of Washington, Guernsey, Tuscarawas, Stark and Columbiana counties. These ranges compose all of Marietta, and a considerable part of Steubenville land districts. THE WESTERN RESERVE IN 1829 "Connecticut Western Reserve, oftentimes called New Connecticut, is situated in the northeast quarter of the state, between Lake Erie on the north, Pennsylvania east, the parallel of the 41st degree of north latitude south, and Sandusky and Seneca counties on the west. It extends one hundred and twenty miles from east to west, and, upon an average, fifty miles from north to south, although, upon the Pennsylvania line, it is sixty-eight miles broad from north to south. The area is about 3,800,000 acres. It is surveyed into townships of five miles square each. A body of half a million acres is, however, stricken off from the west end of the tract, as a donation, by the state of Connecticut to certain sufferers by fire in the Revolutionary war. These lands constitute Huron county. "New Connecticut is divided into the eight counties of Ashtabula, Trumbull, Portage, Geauga, Cuyahoga, Lorain, Medina and Huron ; and is principally settled by emigrants from the states of Massachusetts and HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 41 Connecticut. In 1820 these counties contained, in the aggregate, about 57,000 inhabitants, which have since considerably increased. " The manner by which Connecticut became possessed of the land in question, was the following: King Charles II, of England, pursuing the example of his brother kings, of granting distant and foreign regions • to his subjects, granted to the then colony of Connecticut, in 1662, a charter right to all lands included within certain specified bounds. But as the geographical knowledge of Europeans concerning America was then very limited and confused, patents for lands often interfered with each other, and many of them even by their express terms, extended to the Pacific ocean or South sea, as it was then called. Among the rest, that for Connecticut embraced all lands contained between the forty-first and forty-second parallels of north latitude, and from Providence plantations on the east to the Pacific ocean west, with the exception of New York and Pennsylvania colonies; and, indeed, pretensions of these were not finally relinquished without considerable altercation. And, after the United States became an independent nation, these interfering claims occasioned much collision of sentiment between them and the state of Connecticut, which was finally compromised, by the United States relinquishing all their claims upon, and guaranteeing to Connecticut the exclusive right of soil to the 3,800,000 acres now described. The United States, however, by the terms of compromise, reserved to themselves the right of jurisdiction. They then united this tract to the territory, now state of Ohio. FIRE LANDS Fire Lands, a. tract of country so called, of about 781 square miles, or 500,000 acres, in the western part of New Connecticut. The name originated from the circumstance of the state of Connecticut having granted these lands in 1792, as a donation to certain sufferers by fire, occasioned by the English during our Revolutionary war, particularly at New London, Fairfield and Norwalk. These lands include the live westernmost ranges of the Western Reserve townships. Lake Erie and Sandusky bay project so far southerly as to leave but the space of six tiers and some fractions of townships between them and the forty-first parallel of latitude, or a tract of about thirty by twenty-seven miles in extent. This tract is surveyed into townships of about five miles square each ; and these townships are then subdivided into four quarters. The principal waters, beside Sandusky bay and Lake Erie, which skirt the whole northern boundary, are Huron and Vermillion rivers, and Cold, Pipe and LaChapelle creeks, running northwardly into Sandusky bay. 42 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY The lands are generally pretty fertile and well timbered. They lie within and constitute the whole of Huron county. A considerable portion of the land is owned by non-residents, and a majority of these owners reside in Connecticut. UNITED STATES MILITARY LANDS "United States Military Lands are so called, from the circumstance of their having been appropriated, by an act of Congress, of the 1st of June, 1796, to satisfy certain claims of the officers and soldiers of the Revolutionary war. The tract of country embracing these lands, is bounded as follows : Beginning at the northwest corner of the original seven ranges of townships, thence south fifty miles, thence west to the Scioto river, thence up said river to the Greenville treaty line, thence northeasterly with said line to old fort Lawrence on the Tuscarawas river, thence due east to the place of beginning; including a tract of about 4,000 square miles, or 2,560,000 acres of land. It is, of. course, bounded north by the Greenville treaty line, east by the seven ranges of townships, south by the Congress and Refugee lands, and west by the Scioto river. These lands are surveyed into townships of five miles square. These townships were then again, originally, surveyed into quarter townships of two and a half miles square, containing 4,000 acres each—and subsequently, some of these quarter townships were subdivided into forty lots of 100 acres each, for the accommodation of those soldiers, holding warrants for only 100 acres each. And again, after the time originally assigned, for the location of these warrants, had expired, certain quarter townships which had not then been located, were divided into sections of one mile square each, and sold by the general government, like the main body of Congress lands. The greater part of the following counties are situated in the United States' Military lands; namely, Tuscarawas, Guernsey, Muskingum, Coshocton, Holmes, Knox, Licking, Franklin, and Delaware ; but not the entire whole of either ; excepting Coshocton. Franklin county, however, is not more than about one fourth, composed of these lands. For a more particular description of these lands, the reader is referred to the several descriptions of the above-named counties, respectively, in the subsequent part of this volume. And for a view of the ranges and townships, reference may be had to the author's large Map of the state of Ohio. VIRGINIA MILITARY LANDS "Virginia Military Lands are a body of land lying between the Scioto and Little Miami rivers and bounded by the Ohio river on the HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 43 south. The state of Virginia, from the indefinite and vague terms of expression, in its original colonial charter of territory from James I, King of England; in the year 1609, claimed all the continent west of the Ohio river, and of the north and south breadth of Virginia. But finally among several other compromises of conflicting claims, which were made subsequently to the attainment of our national independence, Virginia agreed to relinquish all her claims to lands northwest of the Ohio river, in favor of the general government, upon condition of the lands, now described, being guaranteed to her. The state of Virginia then appropriated this body of lend to satisfy the claims of her state troops, employed in the continental line, during the Revolutionary war. This district is not surveyed into townships, or any regular form : but any individual, holding a Virginia military land warrant may locate it wherever he chooses within the district, and in such shape as he pleases, wherever the land shall not previously have been located. In consequence of this deficiency of regular original surveys, and the irregularities with which the several locations have been made, and the consequent interference and encroachment of some locations upon others, more than double the litigation has probably arisen between the holders of adverse titles in this district, than there has in any other part of the state of equal extent. It embraces a body of 6,570 square miles, or 4,204,800 acres of land. The following counties are situated in this tract : Adams, Brown, Clermont, Clinton, Fayette, Highland, Madison, and Union entirely ; and greater or less portions of Marion, Delaware, Franklin, Pickaway, Ross, Pike, Scioto, Hamilton, Warren, Green, Clark, Champaign, Logan and Hardin. OHIO COMPANY'S PURCHASE "Ohio Company's Purchase is a body of land containing about 1,500,000 acres, including however the Donation tract, school lands, etc., lying along the Ohio river, and including Meigs, nearly all of Athens, and a considerable part of Washington and Gallia counties. Considerably less than 1,000,000 acres was, however, ultimately paid for, and, of course, patented. This tract was purchased of the General Government in the year 1787, by Manasseh Cutler and Winthrop Sergeant from the neighborhood of Salem, Massachusetts, agents for the Ohio Company, so called, which had then been formed in Massachusetts for the purpose of a settlement in the Ohio country. Beside every section 16, set apart, as elsewhere, for the support of schools, every section 29 is appropriated for the support of religious institutions. In addition to which, were also granted two six miles square townships, 44 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY for the use of a college. But, unfortunately for the Ohio Company, owing to their want of topographical knowledge of the country, the body of land selected by them, with some partial exceptions, is the most hilly and sterile, of any tract of similar extent in the state. THE GERM OF OHIO "A great portion of the first settlers were revolutionary soldiers, with their families. They made their first settlement on the Ohio river, at the mouth of the Muskingum, where they founded the town of Marietta. This being the first important settlement in the state, is often referred to, by writers and orators, as the nucleous around which the whole state has subsequently grown. As an instance of this rhetorical figure, the following extract is selected from an address, delivered at Salem, Massachusetts, on the 18th of Sept., 1828, by the Hon. Edward Everett, on occasion of the bi-centennial celebration of the first settlement of that town : 'It is just forty years, this summer, since a long ark-like looking wagon was seen traversing the roads, and winding through the villages of Essex and Middlesex, covered with a black canvas, inscribed on the outside, in large letters, "To Marietta on the Ohio." That expedition, under Dr. Cutler of this neighborhood, was the first germ of the settlement of Ohio, which now contains near a million of inhabitants. Forty years have scarce passed by, and this great state, with all its settlements, improvements, its mighty canals and growing population, was covered up, if I may so say, under the canvas of Dr. Cutler's wagon. Not half a century, and a state is in existence (twice as large as our old Massachusetts), to whom, not old England, but New England is the land of ancestral recollection.' DONATION TRACT "Donation tract, is a body of 100,000 acres set off in the northern limits of the Ohio Company's tract, and granted to them by Congress, provided they should obtain one actual settler upon each hundred acres thereof within five years from the date of the grant, and that so much of the 100,000 acres aforesaid as should not thus be taken up shall revert to the General Government. This tract may, in some respects, be considered a part of the Ohio Company's purchase. It is situated in the northern limits of Washington county. It lies in an oblong shape, extending nearly seventeen miles from east to west, and about seven and one-half miles from north to south. HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 45 SYMMES PURCHASE "Symmes Purchase is a tract of 311,682 acres of land, in the southwestern quarter of the state, between the Great and Little Miami rivers. It borders on the Ohio river, a distance of twenty-seven miles, and extends so far back from the latter between the two Miamies as to include the quantity of land just mentioned. It was patented to John Cleves Symmes, in 1794, for sixty-seven cents per acre. Every sixteenth section, or mile square, in each township, was reserved by Congress for the use of schools, and sections 29 for the support of religious institutions, beside fifteen acres around Fort Washington in Cincinnati. This tract of country is now one of the most valuable in the state. REFUGEE TRACT "Refugee Tract, a body of 100,000 acres of land granted by Congress to certain individuals who left the British provinces during the revolutionary war, and espoused the cause of freedom. It is a narrow strip of country four and one-half miles broad from north to south, and extending eastwardly from the Scioto river forty-eight miles. It has the United States' XX ranges of military or army lands north, and XXII ranges of Congress lands south. In the western borders of this tract, is situated the town of Columbus. FRENCH GRANT "French Grant, a tract. of 24,000 acres of land, bordering upon the Ohio river, in the southeastern quarter of Scioto county. It was granted by Congress, in March, 1795, to a number of French families who lost their lands at Gallipolis by invalid titles. It extends from a point on the Ohio river, one and one-half miles above but opposite the mouth of Little Sandy creek in Kentucky, extending eight miles in a direct line down the river, and, from the two extremities of that line, back at right angles sufficiently far to include the quantity of land required, which somewhat exceeds four and a half miles. Pine or Hale's and Genet's creeks are the principal waters, excepting the Ohio river, which forms its southwestern boundary. Although the land in question was originally granted exclusively to Frenchmen, yet there are not above eight or ten French families who now reside upon it, the other portion of the population being composed of emigrants from Vermont, New Hampshire and other states. Here a postoffice is kept called French Grant office. This tract composes the township of Green, Scioto county. 46 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY MORAVIAN LANDS "Moravian lands are three several tracts of 4,000 acres each, originally granted by the old Continental Congress, July, 1787, and confirmed, by the act of Congress, of June 1, 1796, to the Moravian brethren, at Bethlehem in Pennsylvania, in trust and for the use of the Christianized Indians living thereon. They are laid out in nearly square forms, on the Muskingum river, in what is now Tuscarawas county. They are called by the names of the Schoenbrun, Gnadenhutten and Salem tracts. The Indians, however, have now, nearly or quite all left them. OHIO CANAL LANDS "Congress, by an act, passed on the 24th of May, 1828, granted to the State of Ohio, 500,000 acres of land, to aid the state in completing its extensive canals, now in progress: and also a quantity, 'equal to one-half of five sections in width, on each side of said canal' (meaning the Miami canal) so far as it passes through the public lands, north of the old Greenville treaty line (estimated at one hundred and six miles), thereby making the quantity of land thus granted 340,000 acres (840,000 acres, in all), provided that all troops and property of the United States transported thereon shall pass free of toll, as in the case of the before-mentioned Turnpike lands. They have been selected under the direction of the Governor of Ohio, chiefly in the Piqua and Tiffin districts. For both the Canal and Turnpike lands, the Governor of Ohio is to make the deeds to individual purchasers. SCHOOL LANDS "By compact between the United States and the state of Ohio, when the latter was admitted into the Union, it was stipulated, for and in consideration that the state of Ohio should never tax the Congress lands, until after they should have been sold five years and in consideration that the public lands would. thereby more readily sell, that the one thirty-sixth part of all the territory included within the limits of .the state should be set apart for the support of common schools therein ; and, for the purpose of getting at lands, which should, in point of quality of soil be on an average with the whole land in the country, they decreed that it should be selected, by lot, in small tracts each, to wit—that it should consist of section number 16, let that section be good or bad, in every township of Congress lands ; also in the Ohio Company, and in .Symmes' purchases; all of which townships are composed of thirty-six sections each ; and for the United States' Military Lands, HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 47 and Connecticut Reserve ; a number of quarter townships, two and one-half miles square each (being the smallest public surveys therein, then made) should be selected by the secretary of the treasury, in different places throughout the United States Military tract ; equivalent, in quantity, to the one thirty-sixth part of those two tracts respectively. And for the Virginia Military tract, Congress exacted that a quantity of land equal to the one thirty-sixth part of the estimated quantity of land contained therein, should be selected, by lot in what was then called the New Purchase, now composing Richland, Wayne, and part of Holmes, and Marion counties, in quarter township tracts of three miles square each. Most of these selections were accordingly made, but, in some instances by the carelessness of the officers conducting the sales, or from some other cause, a few sections 16 have been sold. In which case, Congress, when applied to, has generally granted other lands in lieu thereof ; as for instance, no section 16 was reserved in Montgomery township, in which Columbus is situated, and Congress, afterwards granted therefor, section 21 in the township cornering thereon to the southeast. "Furthermore, as the Virginia Military tract has latterly been found to be much larger than was formerly supposed, there are not, really, school lands enough set off for this district, into two quarter townships, or eighteen sections. Also when the school lands for the Western Reserve were set off, the Indian title had not been extinguished any further west than to the Cuyahoga river ; so that Congress has never yet set off any land for that part of the Reserve, west of said river. "The consequence of these, and some other deficiencies, is that we have, in fact, according to the official report by the state Auditor, in 1826, but 500,749 acres : whereas, by compact, we are entitled to 711,111 acres; which is the one thirty-sixth part of 25,600,000, the whole number of acres of land, actually in the state : thereby leaving a deficiency of 210,362 acres, to which we are yet justly entitled. The total valuation of these 500,749 acres of lands, as appraised, in the year 1825, was $910,728. "All these lands are vested in the Legislature, in trust, for the use of the people for school purposes. And by the adoption of a principle which many consider incorrect, the Legislature has sanctioned a principle, contended for by the people of certain townships, wherein is an extraordinary good section—namely, that the said section 16 was granted to them, specifically, and not that they are barely entitled to their proportion of the annual proceeds of all the school lands in the state, which would seem to be the most reasonable construction to put upon the original general grant. The original intention of Congress was, no doubt, that the total rents or annual proceeds of all the lands through- 48 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY out the state, granted for school purpose, should be thrown into one common mass, and then be annually distributed, by the Legislature, according to population: if otherwise, they would, doubtless, have set apart the school lands for each section of country, within its own limits; for instance, the Virginia Military lands would have had their proportion set off, within their own bounds; but which is not the case. "A fair opening is however now presented to the Legislature, for correcting the former course of proceeding since the school lands, with the permission of Congress, are all authorized to be sold; the money for which they shall sell, to be vested in permanent funds and the interest only, to be annually distributed for school purposes. It would also vastly simplify the fiscal arrangements of the state government, if they would now adopt this broad principle of throwing into one common fund the total products of the sales of all the sections 16 throughout the state, all the United States Military, all the Virginia Military and the Western Reserve school lands, lying within the state; and then, annually, distribute the interest of the whole amount among the several counties according to population. COLLEGE TOWNSHIPS "College Townships are three six miles square townships granted by Congress; two of them to the Ohio Company, for the use of a college to be established within their purchase, and one for the use of the inhabitants of Symmes' purchase. Those two in the Ohio Company's purchase are situated near the center of Athens county, and constitute the principal part of the permanent funds of the Ohio university. That one belonging to Symmes' purchase composes the northwesternmost township of Butler county. Its income is appropriated to the Miami university, which is erected thereon. These lands are no donations, but were part of the considerations inducing the Ohio company and J. C. Symmes to make their respective purchases. MINISTERIAL LANDS "In both the Ohio Company and in Symmes' purchases every section 29 (equal to one thirty-sixth part of every township) is reserved, as a permanent fund, for the support of a settled minister. As the purchasers of these two tracts came from parts of the union where it was customary and deemed necessary to have a regularly settled clergyman in every town, they therefore stipulated, in their original purchase, that a permanent fund in land should thus be set apart for this purpose. In no other part of the state, other than in these two purchases, are any lands set apart for this object." CHAPTER V DAWN OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT THE ORDINANCE OF 1787—OHIO-MICHIGAN' BOUNDARY FINALLY FIXED—FIRST SURVEYS OF WESTERN LANDS—HOW THE RESERVE BECAME NATIONAL TERRITORY—MILITARY AND CIVIL FRICTION—FIRST JUDICIARY —INDIANS AT LAST SUBDUED. As to the author of the famous ordinance of 1787, credit is now generally accorded to Dr. Manasseh Cutler, whose depth of scholarship, grace of diction and breadth of practical ability, as well as loftiness of purpose, endowed him with all the qualities which breathe through that noble document. Undoubtedly, he embodied the views of Thomas Jefferson, as expressed in the ordinance of 1784, with his own commanding personality. Doctor Cutler had come before Congress to purchase for a company composed chiefly of Massachusetts men, a. large body of public lands. In the opinion of the associates of the Ohio Company, the purpose would be virtually useless if uncovered by the guarantee of civil law and order. THE ORDINANCE OF 1787 The ordinance of 1787 was the answer, and the necessary predecessor of the first substantial colonization of the Northwest Territory. Congress wisely considered that such a colony would form a barrier against the British and Indians, and that the initial movement would be speedily followed by other purchases and extending settlements. The southern states had even a greater interest in the West than New England, and Virginia especially was eager for the development of the country beyond the Ohio. The South in general warmly supported the planting of colonies of men in the West whose energy and patriotism were well known ; and this, notwithstanding the anti-slavery provision. The ordinance provided that there should be formed from the territory between the Ohio and the Mississippi rivers and the Canadian Vol. I-4 - 49 -