CHAPTER IX.
RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIES.
AS THE main source of wealth in Ross county is agriculture, a chapter descriptive of the resources of the county may appropriately be prefaced by an account of the land. The great features of topography are the valleys of the Scioto river and Paint creek and their tributaries, and the few commanding eminences that rise above the usual level of valley and upland. The altitude above sea level at Lyndon, by the United States Coast and Geodetic survey, is 912 feet ; the railroad track at Kingston is 770 feet above the sea, at Frankfort 750, at Hopetown 675, at Chillicothe 635, and Salt Creek, at the C., H. & D. railroad, is but 588 feet. This latter elevation is not much more than that of the water of Lake Erie (573 feet), and something more than a hundred feet above low water in the Ohio river at Portsmouth (477 feet).
The main surface feature affecting the soil is that the boundary of the glacial deposits in Ohio, known commonly as the drift, passes through the county diagonally from the northeastern to the southwestern corner. Hence, in the northwest half of the county the drift covers the natural rock almost entirely, while in the southeast half it is found only in the clays of some of the lowlands.
Adelphi is the most interesting place in Ohio on the drift boundary, to the geologist, partly on account of the abrupt change in direction of the line found there, and because of the deep gorge cut through to a depth of about 200 feet in the glacial accumulation by Salt creek. This great ridge left by the glaciers continues at the same height for many miles westward. "Riding along upon its uneven summit," says the distinguished geologist, Edward Orton, "one finds the surface strewn with granite bowlders, and sees stretching off to the northwest the fertile plains of Pickaway, while close to the south of him, yet separated by a distinct interval, are the cliffs of Waverly sandstone, rising 200 or 300 feet higher, which here and onward to the south pretty closely approach the boundary of the glaciated region."
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In Green township, two miles east of the Scioto river, are enormous kames, or ridges, one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet, running north and south, and three broad parallel ridges between them and the river. Two miles above Chillicothe, in Springfield township, is a terrace one-half mile in width, forty-eight. feet above the flood plain of the river, which marks the flood torrents of melting icebergs. In Twin township, where Paint creek flows, are other large kames running north and south on Cattail run, and in the northeast corner of the same township is the place where Paint creek was forced by the ice to cut itself a new channel. This drift deposit was made when Ohio was dry land. The rocks of Ross county were built many ages before that, in the bottom of the sea, or along a primeval coast.
The oldest, rock in the county, exposed to view, is along Paint creek in the western part of Paint township. Here is found the Niagara limestone, of the Devonian age of geology. Overlaying this is the Helderberg limestone, found along Paint creek in Buckskin township mainly. This rock was laid down in an ocean of considerable depth. It is a magnesian limestone, and has been quarried from the early (lays of settlement. The stone is regular in its bedding, and slabs three or four inches thick, with a superficial area of four feet, can be obtained with surfaces as smooth and regular as if sawed. In fact the slabs can be used for doorsteps without dressing. They are in good demand for curbing and crosswalk stone, and used to a less extent for building. The stone is exceedingly strong, two-inch cubes standing a pressure of over 50,000 pounds before crushing. The color is drab at first, and darkens to a yellowish brown. Occasionally some fossil corals are found in it, some zinc Mende, and streaks of iron oxide and bituminous matter that gives a strong fetid odor to the stone when worked. The Ross county quarry has forty-two feet of stone, in layers, capped by only ten feet of drift, and is practically inexhaustible. The spoils are burned into lime in kilns that are kept continually going, and the product has hydraulic qualities that make it specially adapted to outside work.
Above this rock was deposited the Huron shale, which is mainly covered by the drift, but is found out-cropping in the rest of the course of Paint creek, except where that stream was turned out of its old course by the glaciers, west of Chillicothe. But the greater part of the county is covered by the sandstone called Waverly, from the exposure of building stone in Pike county. This was deposited by the action of waves along a rocky coast, and the sand banks of river mouths, at a time when considerable of the land of western Ohio had been raised above sea. But it was some ages before the coal measures of eastern Ohio were formed, and these latter, in that region, overlay the Waverly that is such a large part of the surface
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of Ross county. In the southeast corner of the county there is a bit of the conglomerate rock of the coal strata, which is the nearest approach of the Ross county rocks to the coal bearing period. It was long after Ross county was dry land that the coal of Ohio was formed in shallow waters from luxuriant, tropic-like vegetation.
The most prominent examples of the wearing away of the rocks to form arable land are, of course, the valleys of the Scioto river and Paint creek. East of the Scioto, Salt creek flows in an old and deeply excavated valley, and other examples are furnished by Deer creek and Kinnikinnick, Indian and Walnut creeks.
Paint creek has cut a deep valley entirely through the Helderberg series of rocks, deep into the Niagara, furnishing some of the most picturesque scenery in Ohio. On the west line of Buckskin township, for two miles above and two below the Marietta & Cincinnati railroad, the valley of Paint Creek is hewn out of the heaviest section of limestones of the Helderberg division known in this part of the State. There are not less than forty feet shown in vertical section in the Rucker quarries, opposite Greenfield. It is probable that this forty feet exhausts the Helderburg series in its downward reach, and that the courses immediately below belong to the Niagara. The quarries furnish in their remarkably even bedded courses some of the most. desirable stones of the state. This Helderberg limestone, where it is found in Concord township, affords an excellent hydraulic lime, and it has burned for many years on the Rittenhouse farm, for that purpose. It produces a strong and durable cement, the supply is large, and it can be manufactured with profit, but it has to be worked in a manner somewhat different from the ordinary cements.*
The lowest courses exposed in the bed of Paint creek, two miles below the railroad crossing at Greenfield, are identified as of the Niagara group by the fossils, which are numerous, sometimes making up the entire substance of the rock.
As the Helderberg limestone is followed to the southward and eastward on Paint creek, it thins out rapidly. On the hanks of Buckskin creek, two miles north of Bainbridge, on the Greenfield road, may be seen the Niagara limestone containing the fossil megalomus, the Helderberg water lime stone, and the Huron shale, all in a section of fifteen feet. A few miles southwest the Helderberg begins to disappear, and the Huron shales lie directly upon the Niagara strata, the upper layer of which is a peculiar sandstone known as the Hillsboro. At the falls of Paint are found rocks of the Niagara almost entirely made up of the remains or casts of a creek, furnishes a good general section of the rocks of the western beautiful lily-like sea animal, the pentamerus.
*Geology of Ross County, by Prof. Edward Orton.
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Benner's hill, with its summit 500 feet above the valley of Paint part of the county. As one ascends, he passes 15 feet of the Niagara limestone, 15 feet of the Helderberg, 332 feet of the Huron shales, the thickest section in Ohio, and then 148 feet of the Waverly group, first the Waverly shales, next the quarry courses, followed by black slate, and finally the upper beds of the Waverly. Both the Niagara and Helderberg limestones are capable of furnishing an unlimited supply of lime of the highest quality, unsurpassed by any lime of Ohio in whiteness, mildness and durability.
The Huron shales, or Ohio black slate, are the most characteristic formation of the western half of Ross county, occupying a large area, and impressing peculiar features upon the soil, the vegetation and the landscape. An unfailing characteristic is the concretions around organic or crystalline centers, many of the lumps possessing remarkable symmetry. At the base of the series of shales, which, as has been noted, are seen to be 332 feet thick on Benner's hill, is 26 feet of white and blue clay, and about forty feet above the base of the series, a calcareous layer with numerous fossils. This lime-stone seam is best shown at Ferneau' mill, a mile east of Bainbridge. It was first brought to the attention of geologists by J. H. Poe, of Chillicothe, who discovered in it a crinoid new to science. This is said to be the only instance of vegetable and animal life to any considerable extent in the Huron shales anywhere, and the locality is one of very great interest to geologists. One interesting discovery in these shales was a tree trunk, which was traced for thirty feet. The exposures of slate along the course of Paint creek are unsurpassed--the whole series, except fifty or sixty feet of the lowermost beds, being shown iii nearly vertical sections at Copperas mountain three miles east of Bainbridge, and Alum cliffs, five miles due west of Chillicothe. Copperas mountain rises to a height. of 550 feet, and affords a vertical wall of slate about 150 feet high; and Alum cliffs, formed when Paint creek cut its new course, exposes both the Huron and Waverly shales and slates. The upper beds of the Huron are also shown distinctly in Chillicothe and on all sides of the city.
The Waverly rocks, including shales, building stone and slate, are the main feature of the southern part of the county west of the Scioto, and nearly all that east of the river, where the rocks dip down to the eastward, further on passing under the coal measures. In the city of Chillicothe the Waverly shales have a thickness of about 84 feet. These lower layers of the Waverly are marked with the prints of sea weeds, sun cracks on ancient beaches, and ripple marks, and Ross county is that near being a sea side resort today. On Stony creek, in Franklin township, are some of the hest preserved ripple marks to be found anywhere. There is also in these lower strata of the Waverly a limestone seam, that is sought for building
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and flagging stone in the vicinity of Frankfort, and has been called the Franklin flag.
The quarry strata of the Waverly are not generally so valuable in Ross county as in Pike, though the stone closely resembles that of Pike county in color, texture and composition. There is a larger proportion found in a rough and ungainly condition, known among quarrymen as turtle back or niggerhead. The strata are also much thinner than further south, though there is a considerable thickness in Paxton and Buckskin townships. In Franklin township, as one might expect from its location, there is a great amount of valuable Waverly building stone exposed on the Scioto bank, and the quarries of J. E. Higby, conveniently located on the line of the canal, are widely known. Here the stone is all furnished by a single course, eight feet thick, which can be easily split into two, courses of equal thickness. The strata have only been touched along the margins of the hills, and immense quantities of stone remain within easy reach. This rock extends for at least twenty miles along the Scioto, on both sides. Other quarries have been opened since the Higby quarry has demonstrated the importance of the industry. The Buena Vista courses, in the southeastern part of the county, are particularly valuable.
In addition to this special mention of favored localities, it must not be forgotten that there is hardly any place in the county that is not within easy reach of a quarry of some sort of stone adapted to building or flagging.
Above the Waverly building stone, is the Waverly black shale, which is cut. through in many places by the channels of the river and the creeks. Near the mouth of Stony creek in Franklin township these shales have a thickness of 27 feet, and afford, as at some other places, many interesting fossils, including fishes, often in an excellent state of preservation. This shale or slate contains sulphuret of iron in considerable quantity, and the water that passes through it emerges in sulphur springs, notably one on the north side of Sugarloaf mountain, in Green township. Overlaying the shale of the Waverly is what is called the Upper Waverly, including everything between the Waverly slate and the coal bearing series. This is the surface rock of a large part of the county, and is as much as 425 feet thick in the extreme. In Liberty and Jefferson it is much reduced in thickness, and its place taken largely by the carboniferous conglomerate, as in the adjacent districts of Pike and Jackson counties. Single sections of the series, of considerable interest, are to be found in Mount Logan, Sugarloaf mountain, Rattlesnake knob and the high points of Huntington and Franklin.
The outcrop of rock on the south bank of Stony creek, near its mouth, is of very great interest, showing 25 feet of the Waverly shales ; above them the Waverly quarry courses, about six feet thick,
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but of the worthless sort; and above that twenty-seven feet of the Waverly black slate, the heaviest section known in southern Ohio. Above this slate is the Buena Vista beds of quarry stone, and yet above, a layer of quartz pebbles called the Waverly conglomerate, observed in very few other places on the west side of the Scioto. Its outcrop here is within sight of the great wall of carboniferous conglomerate on the east side of the river, but it belongs to a much earlier period, and is the most eastern appearance of a great conglomerate deposit important in more western and northern parts of the State. The remainder of the Waverly series consists, for three hundred feet, of beds of shale, holding great quantities of flattish concretions, which contain a clayey center covered with a thin blossom of iron ore. Thin courses of a light brown sandstone also occur, but not sufficient for quarrying purposes.
Long after Ross county was raised above the sea, as a sort of plain, topped by the ocean rippled shales of the Waverly series; long after the depressions and upraisings that accompanied the deposit of the carboniferous or coal bearing rocks to the eastward; and long after the streams of that ancient time had cut away the rocks to form the valleys nearly as they are today, throughout a period of erosion when the Alleghany mountains were reduced from a height of five miles to something near their present modest altitudes--after all this, the ice age came and covered the greater part of Ohio with a glacier sheet, which, as has been stated, found its southern limit in a line through Ross county. A part of the county has the same glacial history as the northern part of the State, while the larger portion is to be classified with the southward country over which the ice never passed. The boundary passes through the northern half of Colerain township not far south of the line of the Adelphi and Chillicothe pike and leaves all of Green township to the northward. West of the river it coincides in a general way with the Chillicothe and Greenfield pike, but passing two or three miles below it on the west side of Buckskin township. To the north of this line there are occasional summits that stood above the glaciers, but the clay and bowlders that mark the drift overlie all the ordinary high land of the country in that part.
The boundary is shown with great distinctness in Colerain township. A very instructive view can be obtained by following the eastern road leading from Mooresville to Adelphi. Ascending a branch of Walnut creek, the native rocks are shown in more or less extensive sections on every hand, and the soils are seen by all their characteristics to have been formed where they now lie by the weathering and disintegration of these rocks. The banks of the stream approach each other more and more closely, until at last the road is shut within a narrow valley, above which rise, on either side, steep hills of sandstone and shale. The gorge proves to be a pass,
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and after a rapid ascent an open country is reached which differs in a very marked degree from that left behind. A broad valley, filled with gravel and clay, and dotted with bowiders, is found at a high level; the native rocks are so well covered that no clue to their composition is furnished, and rounded outlines prevail in all of the scenery, instead of the angular contour observed before., The gravel and clay contain a considerable quantity of limestone pebbles and bowiders, and thus the land comes to be known as limestone land. Its natural vegetation and its agricultural capacities are as sharply distinguished from those of the lands on the other sides of the hills as is the scenery. A great improvement is at once visible in the farm buildings, the quality of which is determined, in a general way, by the fertility of the soil. On looking back after passing a mile or two to the northward, the explanation conies clearly to view. The drift stream was stopped by this range of hills, against the northern slopes of which these heavy beds of clay and gravel are piled. In other words, these hills form in their sinuous outlines the boundaries of the true glacial drift. Sugarloaf mountain forms the most western extension of this series of hills on the east side of the river, and bowlders are found half way up its northern slope."
Another remarkable appearance due to the drift is the change of course of Paint creek. Going east on the Hillsboro and Chillicothe turnpike from the western boundary of the county, one passes along the broad and fruitful valley of Paint creek, perfectly defined by ranges of hills about five hundred feet in height. The northern wall is broken for the entrance of several tributaries, such as Buckskin and Twin creeks, but the line of the southern wall of the valley is hardly interrupted. After the pike crosses the stream below Bainbridge, the creek is never out of sight, for ten miles. Then it suddenly disappears from its old time valley, which the road continues to follow, and disappears from the traveler, and one looks in vain for such a great notch in the southern wall of the valley as it would have cut under ordinary conditions. But if the traveler will leave the road and follow the creek he will find that it cuts its way through the southern wall by a narrow chasm, not more than two hundred feet wide at the base, and bounded by precipitous rocks three hundred feet high. After flowing southeast about three miles, it turns to the northeast and regains its old valley two miles west of Chillicothe. The explanation, as given by Professor Orton, is that the valley of the North Fork was occupied by one of the most southern prolongations of the ice sheet. Its course makes this likely, for it lies in the general direction of the ice progression, southeastwardly, while the course of the main creek would be free from ice. Consequently, as the ice began to finally recede, the main valley of Paint creek was a raging torrent, while the ice of the North Fork acted as a dam to check the flow toward the Scioto and formed a lake that,
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as it filled, found an outlet in some depression in the south wall of the valley, and a stream began that rapidly cut a deep channel in the soft rock. When the ice dam disappeared, the new channel was so thoroughly established that though the valley is continuous, the creek for a few miles abandons it.
The soils of Ross county south of the drift, that are formed by the decomposition of the native rock, are of a high degree of excellence in the uplands as well as in the valleys. They naturally contain large quantities of phosphate of lime, and potash and soda, and their value was shown in early times by the luxuriant growth of timber. It cannot be doubted that much land rated unproductive, only awaits more intelligent tillage.
The Scioto bottoms, in four series, contain very desirable lands. The first and second bottoms, the lands overflowed at every flood and those covered only at exceptional high water, furnish as good corn land as may be found in Ohio, and the first bottoms, at least, receive an annual deposit of new soil. The higher terraces are not so renewed, but were very productive in early times, and though now showing some signs of exhaustion, respond abundantly to the ordinary treatment of the intelligent farmer.
Where the Huron shales are exposed there is a thin soil, characterized in a state of nature by forests of chestnut and Spanish oak. Fruit trees will thrive on these slates, but grasses and cereals cannot be profitably grown. The weathering of the shales deposit in the valleys a stubborn clay, that, while fertile, is very hard to work. Generally, when the shale lands are stripped of forest the hillsides become almost a desert. But the Waverly soils, light colored, and often classed as light in character but more generally clayey and strong, are fertile and will respond generously for a long time to the intelligent efforts of the farmer who recognizes that he is continually taking from the soil something that must be replaced by fertilizers or rotation of crops.
The areas covered by the drift furnish far more varied and fruitful soils than the native rocks. The lands of this division in Ross county take their place among the best lands in the state of Ohio.
The data of the development of agriculture in Ross county is the life story of the pioneers who cleared away the forests, and of the sturdy and faithful workers who have been their successors. Concerning them, much information is given in the township chapters of this work. What has been achieved in the century, as well as what are the principal lines of farm work, are told in the figures of the crops of the present, according to the statistics of the year 1900.
The great crop of Ross county is corn, to which 61,241 acres were devoted in the spring of 1900. The crop varies from something less than two million bushels to over three ; in 1896, the greatest crop of recent years, it was 3,160,000 bushels. The wheat crop comes next,
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and this cereal does best in the drift lands of the northern part of the county. In fact, the glacial drift throughout the Old Northwest territory makes possible the great wheat crops and the wealth of the country. Ross county had nearly 50,000 acres in wheat in 1900, and the yield was 635,000 bushels, according to the estimate of the local statisticians. The smallest wheat crop in recent years was 330,000 bushels in 1896, and the largest 885,000 in 1894. Nearly twenty thousand acres are devoted to meadow hay, with a product of over ten thousand tons, and over 7,500 acres to clover, with a yield of over 10,000 tons of that sort of hay. These figures are given approximately, as everyone is aware that statistical figures of this sort are no more than approximations at the best. The potato crop in 1900 was about 50,000 bushels, the onion crop 30,000 bushels. The yield of oats was 7,700 bushels, of rye 843, and of buckwheat 223. The broom corn produced 8,400 pounds of broom material, and there were 1,600 gallons of sorghum made. The maple syrup production was estimated at 3,000 gallons, and the bees made six and a quarter thousand pounds of honey.
The fruit yields were estimated as follows: One hundred thirty thousand bushels of apples, 72,000 bushels of peaches, 1,400 bushels of pears, 661 bushels of cherries, 843 bushels of plums, 4,676 bushels of other small fruits, and 20,000 pounds of grapes. Part of these figures are from the report. of 1899.
In the way of live stock the county had 6,424 horses, 14,043 cattle, 17,097 hogs, 7,443 sheep. The wool clip was 82,044 pounds. The milk sold was 184,000 gallons in addition to that used by owners of cows, and over 300,000 pounds of butter were made. The eggs gathered were estimated at 388,571 dozen.
In 1894 Ross county reported 27,000 pounds of tobacco grown, but this industry, it appears, has been abandoned since then.
According to the figures of the state board of equalization of taxes, there are 169,829 acres of meadow, pasture and arable land ; 120,949 acres of woodland and meadows, etc., uncultivated, and 131,745 acres besides classed as uncultivated, making a total of 422,523 acres of farm lands, which were assigned a value for taxation by the state board of $8,518,629.
The cattle business in the west had its origin and rise in Ross county and the Scioto valley, and the first livestock imported into the Northwest Territory was brought to Chillicothe. The first improvement in the native herds was through the thrift and enterprise of Matthew Patton, a pioneer of Liberty township. He removed from Hardy county, Virginia, to Kentucky, about 1793, taking with him a few head of the celebrated "Patton" stock, so well known in Ross county in later years. They were English cattle, imported into Maryland by a Mr. Godd, in 1783, and purchased of him by Mr. Patton before leaving his native state. The Pattons and Renicks lived on adjoining farms in Liberty township, where
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Mr. Patton died about 1803. At the administrator's sale following his death, George and Felix Renick purchased the entire herd of blooded cattle then owned by the Patton estate. This was the beginning of the extensive and successful cattle business in which the Renicks achieved a Statewide reputation. For some years previous to this, however, the improved strains of cattle and hogs introduced by John Patton had commenced to create an interest in the general stock business, and people were looking about for a market. The Alleghenies were between them and the eastern markets, and the western markets were not yet developed. The "flat boat" route to New Orleans was tedious, perilous, and, withal, inadequate.
It was at this point that George Renick solved the problem, and demonstrated the possibility of driving cattle across the mountains, and placing them upon the eastern markets. This achievement stimulated the stock business in the Scioto valley, and practically launched a new and profitable industry. The high standard of excellence maintained in the product gave the Scioto cattle the preference over the ordinary, poorly fattened stock of the east, and established an industry which flourished for many years.
The first herd of cattle ever driven across the Allegheny mountains was taken to the Baltimore market, in 1804, by George Renick. The "experiment" proving a success, the traffic was kept up until steam navigation rendered it unnecessary. It is due the Renicks to state that they did more to improve the stock and grade of cattle in Ross county during their active years in the industry than any other stock raisers, and it would not be far from the truth to put it "all others." As the years passed, they introduced the newer strains, and gave all a fair test. They even went to Texas and imported two or three herds of the native stock from that state, with a view to determining the question of crossing with higher bred stock. But the southern cattle did not thrive well, and were subject to epidemic diseases which rendered their keeping unprofitable. Felix Renick was the organizer and systematizer in the business, and his popularity as a capable and successful man of affairs gave prominence and standing to the young industry, and engaged the sympathy and co-operation of others. He was in many ways a remarkable man, who filled some important positions of usefulness and responsibility. He was one of the first associate judges of Ross county. Mr. Renick was a man of broad culture, a careful student, fluent speaker and writer, and, with his other accomplishments, he was a surveyor, in which capacity he made a historical map of the Indian towns on Pickaway plains. In 1834 he organized the Ohio Importing company, which came into existence for the purpose of importing thoroughbred stock from England and other foreign countries.
The first regular stock sale in Ohio was held on the Felix Renick farm, October 26, 1835. He met his death by accident in 1848, at
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the age of seventy-seven. George Renick lived to the ripe old age of eighty-seven. He, like his brother Felix, was born in Hardin county, Va. He came to Ohio in 1797, but did not finally locate until 1802. In the fall of the year last written he opened up the largest stock of general merchandise then in Chillicothe. He continued this business for six years, though at the same time giving attention to his extensive landed estate and in developing the stock industry. But. in 1808 he disposed of his mercantile interests and retired to his farm in Liberty township, devoting such time and energy as precarious health would permit to the development of the live stock interests. He gave careful attention to the rearing of all kinds of fine blooded domestic animals, notably horses, cattle and hogs. About 1810 he sold off his stock, with the exception of a few favorite animals, and removed to a farm which he had purchased in Kentucky, thinking thereby to benefit his failing health; but the change did not have the desired effect, and he returned to Ross county in the fall of the same year, and here ended his days. After his return from Kentucky, Mr. Renick gave special attention to the cattle business, and it is said that he raised some of the largest animals of their kind that have ever been produced in any country.
George Renick was a man highly conscientious, moral, benevolent, public spirited, extremely modest and unassuming, of unblemished honor and integrity. The only political office which he could ever be induced to accept was that of presidential elector during the candidacy of his early personal friend, Henry Clay.
A sample of stock growing that was famous in 1829 was the "Indian Creek Ox," raised by Messrs. Hufnagle and Hukill, which was 5 feet 5 inches high, 11 feet 9 inches from nose to root of tail and weighed 2,800 pounds. The animal was a part of a procession on Washington's birthday that year, along with Capt. Ned King's Chillicothe Blues and Captain Madeira's Light Dragoons.
The first cattle show was given on November 3, 1819, in a field just south of Chillicothe, and it attracted people from Kentucky, Indiana, Virginia and Pennsylvania, for Scioto cattle were already famous. The committee on premiums was Humphrey Fullerton, Isaac Davis, Henry Massie, Michael Alkire, William Creighton, Jr., Benjamin Kearns and John Pancake. George Renick won the silver cups offered for the best fat steer and the best gelding, Felix Renick the cup for the best cow, and William Renick the cup for the best heifer. Other premiums and honorable mention were obtained by James A. Scranton, J. B. Finley, Jonathan Renick, Thomas Worthington, M. Hufnagle and Mrs. Nancy Armstrong. When the glory had been distributed all sat down to a feast prepared by Daniel Madeira under a bower.
George and Felix Renick were the prime movers in this enterprise,
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and were prominent also in the. organization of the Ross County Agricultural society in 1821. In October of that year the society gave its first regular fair. Prizes were offered for the best homemade broadcloth, satinet, flannel, flax, linen, cotton cloth, wool and cotton yarn, a fact that throws some light upon the extent of home manufacture at that date. Specimens of corn and wheat in sack were not called for, but prizes given to the best acre, to be inspected by the judges, corn to be not less than a hundred bushels to the acre and wheat not less than forty.
This early organization ceased to be in the course of years, and was succeeded by the second Ross County Agricultural society, organized June 28, 1833, with George Renick as president; James Voss, vice president; Felix Renick, corresponding secretary; N. W. Thatcher, recording secretary; Nathan Sawyer, secretary; Duncan McArthur, Richard R. Seymour, John Crouse, Jr., John McNeil, John Foster, E. J. Harness, Dennis McConnell, A. Hegler, John Mace and William Clark, managers. Fairs were held with considerable success for several years. Out of the organization grew the Ohio Importing company, formed in 1834, for the purpose of bringing fine cattle from England, which exhibited cattle at the fair of 1835.
This was followed by the first regular stock sale in Ohio, at the Indian Creek farm of Felix Renick, October 26, 1835. In 1852 George W. Renick and Dr. Watts visited Europe in behalf of the Importing company, to purchase fine stock.
In the fair of 1835 Wesley Claypoole took the second premium for 129 1/2 bushels of corn upon an acre of land.
The third organization of a county agricultural society was at the Madeira House, August 17, 1846, at which W. Marshall Anderson was elected president; Alex Renick, vice president ; William H. Douglas, secretary; R. W. Burbridge, secretary ; Dennis McConnell, Jeptha Perrin, William Welsh, John Foster and Nathan Gillilan, directors. The first fair of the new society was held October 14-15, 1846, at the Sugar grove, where a school building was afterward erected, and in the market. house, and a dinner at the Madeira house was an attractive feature. The society bought grounds, but the financial burden became too great for it to carry, and the enterprise failed.
Then again, in 1870, another agricultural society was organized, with L. G. Delano as president.; Samuel H. Hurst, vice president; Philip Griffin, secretary; Addison Pearson, secretary. The managers were Samuel Kendrick, Dr. William Waddle, Alexander Renick, James Ewing, Joseph McConnell, S. H. Hurst, Uriah Beets, M. Lewis, Samuel Cline, Thomas Murray, John Woodbridge, A. W. Seymour, David Shotts, Samuel R. Posey, James Davis, Sol-
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omon DuBois, Thomas Griffin, Levi Buchwalter, Jacob H. Cryder, Daniel Clymer. This organization, with changes in personnel from year to year, maintained successful fairs until 1900, when the last one was held.
The Chillicothe Horticultural society, organized in 1859, gave exhibitions of the fruit of the county that were very creditable. The presidents, during the life of the organization, were John S. VanMeter, Dr. William Waddle, Dr. Thomas Miesse, and Jacob Wolf. In 1869 the second society of the same name was organized, Dr. D. H. Scott as president and Benjamin F. Stone, secretary, and by regular monthly meetings, in which papers were read upon the growing of fruits, flowers and vegetables, much interest was excited in that branch of industry and recreation. Dr. Scott served as president until 1873, when Gen. Samuel H. Hurst was made president and Gen. James T. Worthington, vice president, offices they held for about five years, when the society by common consent disbanded. However, there are large horticultural interests in the county and much attention is given to the growing of fruits, especially in the hilly portions of the county.
Dr. Samuel McAdow, the pioneer physician, was a very successful horticulturist, and the first to introduce budding at Chillicothe. He originated fruit trees that bore abundantly for sixty years. His son, Dr. Samuel McAdow, Jr., originated a cherry, called the McAdow seedling, that has been extensively grown.
A grange of the Patrons of Husbandry was organized at Chillicothe in 1873, the principal movers being W. A. Jones, S. H. Hurst, I. J. Finley, A. D. Roberts, Allen Karschner, P. A. Hodes, Jeremiah McConnell, Seth Fuller and Taylor S. Moore.
W. A. Jones, of Twin township, was one of the noted stock dealers. As early as 1868 he organized the Paint Valley Stock association, which held monthly sales at Bourneville for a number of years.
William L. Miller, of Chillicothe, is prominent among the live stock men of the present day, and is honored with a membership in the State board of live stock commissioners.
Lincoln G. Delano, grandson of an Ohio pioneer and member of a prominent family, was for a long time one of the most noted breeders of horses in Ohio. For a quarter-century prior to his death, which occurred in January, 1890, he conducted the Kinnikinnick stock farm in Green township, and gave his attention mainly to trotting horses of the Hambletonian strain. Two of his most noted products were "Referee" and "Royal Pilot." Mr. Delano also gave much time to the general interests of agriculture and stock raising as president of the Ross County Agricultural society and president of the Scioto Valley fair grounds company. By appointment of Governor Allen he served one term as railroad commissioner of Ohio.
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He was a man of happy nature and congenial spirit, and had many friends in the Scioto valley and the State.
Daniel J. Crouse, familiarly known as "Jerry," was a descendant of a family noted in the industrial history of Ross county, and elsewhere mentioned. He was prominent in milling as well as stock raising. From 1845 to 1854, in association with his cousin, John Entrekin, he dealt extensively in cattle, driving large herds over the mountains to the east. Later he gave much attention to the breeding of running horses from the best Kentucky stock, and bred some horses, notably "Chillicothe" and "Revolver," that were among the fastest of their class. A colt from his stable, which was located on his farm in Green township, the one known as "Gray Planet," sold to Daniel Harness for $10,000. Mr. Crouse was a man of excellent habits and steady character, and enjoyed the confidence of all his associates, this being shown notably by his selection as starter for several of the great eastern racing associations. In 1863, he was elected, as a Union man of the Democratic party, to the lower house of the legislature. He died May 27, 1895.
Daniel Harness, another noted horse breeder, born in Hardy county, Va., in March, 1823, was of a family devoted through several generations to the development of fine blooded horses. After he came to Ross county, about 1845, he made himself famous by the colts he sent out to the racing fields. Among these "Boston," "Meteor," and "Sumter" were among the most noted in the early days of his career. About ten years before his death, which occurred in 1902, he introduced `"Caress" to the attention of the public, and followed this favorite with the famous "Imp," who made her great record in the year 1900, winning both the Brighton and Suburban handicaps, with the time of 2 :05 2-5. Mr. Harness was a man of plain habits, hospitable and generous, and had a host of friends throughout the country.
In 1892 the Chillicothe Driving Park association was organized, mainly by W. D. Fullerton, F., M. DeWeese, C. A. Smith, G. H. Smith, and Richard Enderlin. The association bought a tract of land on the high bank above the river, northeast of the city park, and built a mile track, kite-shaped, the second one of the kind in the country. The best harness horses in the United States were brought to this track, and famous races were held, but the people did not appreciate harness racing, the records made on the "kite" were not accepted by the American Trotting association, and after three years the meets were discontinued. In 1894, "Flying Jib," the pacer, made a record with a running mate of 1:58 1/2 on this track, the fastest mile ever made by a harness performer.
The breeding of horses is a characteristic of Ross county, and it is deserving of note that that other faithful servant of man, the dog,
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has been given attention from the earliest days. There is an interesting account of pioneer Ross county dogs given by Dr. N. E. Jones, in his "Squirrel Hunters of Ohio," published in 1898. "Most descendants of Virginia," he says, "however destitute in other respects, had their packs of hounds, and the good people and the better, the poor and the poorer, mingled alike in the exciting sport of the chase. The pedigrees, qualities and performances of the `lead dogs' of different owners were known over the country, and the comparative merits were frequently subjects of warm discussion and knockdown arguments. Many trips were made on horseback through the wilderness to South Branch or other points in Virginia, on pretext of business, when the real purpose was `fresh blood,' or perhaps a pack of dogs that could take the front. . . As a rule the dogs of the finest scent and the greatest endurance and speed were bred in Ohio. Such were McNeal's `Nick,' Jordan's `Sam,' Anderson's `Magnet,' Renick's `Pluto the Swift,' McDowell's `Yelp,' Colonel Vause's `Clinch.' and a host of others that never saw a `bench- show,' but were awarded the highest praises by men who filled their places as well in the chase as many of them did important public positions in after life." Dr. Jones recalls the memorable day when Colonel Vause's little blue hound, "Clinch," chased a deer so hotly that the confused animal took refuge in the open jail at Chillicothe. But none were so famous, he says, as James Gibbs' "Stray Pup," which came from no one knew where, and proved to be a marvel in carrying a cold trail, and had a voice like an Alpine horn. "He could be distinctly heard across the great valley bounded east by the Rattlesnake and west by Patton and Stone Monument hills, a distance of more than five miles in an air line." One day twenty gentlemen, among them Allen G. Thurman, took this dog out in a sort of competitive hunt, with eleven other clogs, the pick of the state, and the "stray pup" led them all clay on a fox trail ten hours cold, and ran down the fox.
The first efforts of the pioneers were, of course, after providing a shelter, to raise something to eat. There was game in abundance--venison, wild turkey and bear meat. Corn was the great cereal crop, and out of it was made a coarse meal and corn bread, and a good deal of whiskey. Wheat was grown, and in time took the place of corn as an article of human food. Potatoes were easily grown but were not so popular then as now. Fruit was, of course, very rare at first, but there was an abundance of wild berries which served very well.
Next to food the great necessity was clothing, and it was no small task to obtain it from over the mountains unless one were content with what the new country afforded. The home manufacture of buckskin clothes was very common, as well as the weaving of flax shirts. A suit of buckskin over a flax shirt was considered full dress,
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except for the dandies or the city men of imposing rank and station. Buckskin was also the material for moccasins until tanneries were introduced, and men skillful in the handling of the skins went from cabin to cabin to make footwear for the people.
Following these most primitive manufactures came the production of woolen yarn and cloth, cotton factories to manufacture the Southern bales that came up the river, flouring and saw mills, nail mills and forges.
The pioneer farmers themselves engaged in the manufacture of corn meal, using what was facetiously termed the "Armstrong" mill. A solid stump was cut square on the top and a cavity burned out in it, and when cleaned out this became the mortar, in which corn was put and vigorously pounded. The product was sifted through sieves made by stretching deer hides, when green, over hoops, and puncturing with small holes when dry. Coffee mills of good size were brought into Ohio by many settlers, and some member of the family was kept busy at the grinding.
The first water power mills of the settlers were "corn crackers" supported by two large canoes anchored in some stream where the current was rapid. Between the boats was left a shoot for the water, in which the water wheel hung and revolved. There was such a mill at the head of a small island opposite the mouth of Stony creek, built by Mr. Stanbury, which is supposed to be the first mill on the Scioto.
Water power was, of course, mainly depended upon for the early industries. Consequently they clustered mainly along such streams as Paint creek, Salt creek and Kinnikinnick. These pioneer enterprises are described in the township chapters, but some of them may here be briefly mentioned.
In 1797 Henry Zimmerman built near the mouth of Beech run, a tributary of Salt creek, a small saw mill and corn mill. General Massie helped Jacob and Enoch Smith build a dam at the falls of Paint creek in 1797, and built, himself a small grist mill there that was run for a few years. The grist mill built by the Smiths was an important enterprise, and for ten years, it is said, (lid most of the grinding of the region embraced in Highland county as well as that in the immediate vicinity. About it a town was platted, that was to be known as New Amsterdam, but which never materialized.
Henry Musselman, coming from Kentucky, built a log house in which he ran a grist mill as early as 17 97, southwest of what is now Hopetown. It was a famous pioneer mill and the destination of many farmers with bags of grain loaded on their horses, to exchange for grist. Musselman's mill was run by horse power, but he afterward greatly enlarged his plant. About the same time as his enterprise, Governor Worthington built a grist mill on the north fork of Paint creek, and William McCoy one on Kinnikinnick, and these
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three were the first in the county. Other mills were soon afterward built, and Worthington came to the Kinnikinnick to build a mill in 1805, on the Columbus pike. John Crouse, one of the most notable pioneers of the Scioto valley, bought the McCoy mill upon his arrival in 1798. He was born in Frederick City, Md., in 1759, and died in 1847. His sons, John, Jr., and David, were state senators, and his descendants have honorable places in the Scioto valley today.
The Moffett grist mill, begun in the year 1800, became the nucleus of the town of Richmond Dale. Francis and Bayliss Nichols built a grist mill in Union township about 1800, and five years later Governor Tiffin built one on Deer creek, which was called Old Malden. The Inghams about 1818 built a large three story mill in the same township, on the river, which they operated as a paper mill in 1832-38.
In Liberty township Alexander McClintick built a grist mill and still soon after his settlement in 1804, and kept them going during his lifetime.
In 1827 John Morris and James Reese built the Slate Mills in Twin township on Paint creek, which has been an important establishment for many years, and is now conducted by Jacob Blosser.
A keel boat load of flour was exported from Chillicothe as early as 1803, from Worthington's mill. Ten men navigated the boat to Portsmouth, and it kept them busy getting safely through the rapids, and three or four men took the load down to New Orleans, whence they brought the proceeds home in silver, often in danger of their lives from highwaymen. The first steam flouring mill in Chillicothe was built in 1815 by Samuel Finley and Drayton M. Curtis, on the banks of the Scioto, and they were able to turn out fifty barrels of flour a day.
In 1829 the keelboats to New Orleans carried cargoes valued at $200,000, and the live stock sent to eastern markets that year overland was estimated to be worth over a million dollars. The southern exportation continued through all the early years, and in 1841 Chillicothe flour brought the highest price of any in the New Orleans and Havana market.
Just north of the city the Clinton flouring mill was built in about 1832 by David Adams, and operated by him until he sold out to Otho L. Marfield during the civil war. Steam power was introduced in 1872. The mill, with its storehouse and elevator on the canal, and elevators at others places, and subsidiary cooper shops, and its fleets of canal boats bringing grain and carrying away flour, has been for many years one of the main features of Chillicothe industry. When the hydraulic canal was completed about 1837, a large grist mill was erected upon it by William Silvey. The Emmitt mill and warehouse, built on the Ohio canal in 1865-66, are also important institutions, and for many years were a part of the many interests
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of James Emmitt, of Waverly, son of Pennsylvania Irish and Pennsylvania Dutch parents, who came to the Scioto valley a poor boy in 1810, and for a time was apprentice to a blacksmith south of Chillicothe, and afterward a teamster between Portsmouth and Chillicothe. The White Fawn mill was built about 1850, and has been maintained successfully ever since, mainly by William Miller.
Notable among the present flouring mills of the county, in addition to the foregoing, are the mill of Henry Keim & Son, on Fourth street, Chillicothe; the Scioto Mills, established in 1901 at Chillicothe, by Joseph Kellhofer; the mill of N. E. Kiknocker, in Scioto township, south of the city ; the mill at Richmond Dale, run by H. W. Peppers; one at Vigo, run by A. D. Heaton; and the mills at Bainbridge, Frankfort, Kingston, Lyndon and Austin. The Tucson mill, established about 1843, was abandoned several years ago, but a small mill is now run at the same site.
The first iron working shop in the county was established by George Haynes at Chillicothe. He came there in 1798 on the invitation of Thomas Worthington to assist in the erection of mills. He was a capable and honest workman. The hand-forged iron work for the old Bridge -street river bridge continued in excellent condition from 1815 to 1887. His descendants still live in Chillicothe.
Nathaniel Massie, we are told, in the year 1800 built him a frame house near Paint creek in Paxton township, for which all the nails were there forged with hammer and anvil. On his farm he started, a little later, a furnace for the manufacture of iron. The Pennsylvania German soon followed the Scotch-Irish Virginian, and Christian Benner began his saw mill and grist mill in 1803, and in 1810 a forge on Buckskin creek that finally developed into a woolen mill. In 1809 iron was eighteen cents a pound and nails twenty-five cents, but the forges in Ross county soon brought the price down to six and seven cents.
Richard Hulitt built a saw and grist mill on Paint creek in the first years of the nineteenth century, and this was purchased about 1815 by Thomas James, who believed that by the investment of capital the water power might be profitably utilized. He built a race and dam, and in 1817 put the Rapids Forge in operation. This iron shop was housed in a large building, and supplied with the best machinery of that day, making it one of the most important industrial enterprises of the Scioto valley. But the conditions were quite unfavorable. Ore had to be brought by teams from remote points, the iron manufactured must be hauled in wagons twenty-five miles to the flat boats of the Scioto, and nothing was convenient but the water power and the forest trees from which charcoal could be made. Nevertheless the industry was flourishing for a third of a century. James presently organized a stock company, the Rapids Forge company, in which John and James Woodbridge were interested, and
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about 1830 the business was extended to include the manufacture of nails. The Woodbridges finally ran the plant alone, and after 1840 the place was the scene of great activity, the forge with four power hammers and four furnaces busy; the nail works running to the full capacity; the large grist mill and the saw mill doing a heavy business, and the company's store, established in 1828, in a thriving condition. Misfortune began to arrive in 1852, when Paint creek indulged in a flood and swept away a large part of the machinery. Seven years later the flouring mill burned down. Soon after that the business was abandoned.
Isaac Cook, who came with his family to Buckskin township in 1808, built a small shop on his land and became one of the pioneer nail manufacturers in the valley. He obtained his iron in Chillicothe, and cut the nails by a foot-power machine, and when a sufficient supply had been accumulated he set out on horseback with saddle bags filled with nails and sold his products to the settlers. In this way the manufacture of nails was carried on by several workmen in various parts of the county. Thus produced, if not toilsomely shipped from Pennsylvania or Kentucky, nails commanded a high price. Alexander Hawthorn advertised in the Gazette of May 2, 1802, that he had nails for sale at the following schedule: 12 penny, 10 pence per pound, 76 nails to the pound; 10-penny, 11 pence per pound, SO nails to the pound ; 8 penny, 12 pence per pound, 106 nails to the pound; 6-penny, 13 pence per pound, 160 nails to the pound; 5-penny, 18 pence per pound, 300 nails to the pound. In 1816 there were two nail factories in Chillicothe, one on Water street, owned by Joseph Miller, the other on Paint, owned by Isaac Cook.
The foundry of William Welsh and A. C. Ireland, established in 1852, was an important concern in the time of the civil war. It was famous for its steam boilers and engines, and boats were sent to it from distant places to be fitted with engines for use on the rivers and canals. In 1858 the foundry turned out the first portable engine west of the mountains, designed by Robert Meiklejohn and called the "Martha Washington."
A cotton mill was built on the banks of Kinnikinnick about 1811, for the manufacture of batting and yarn, by Doolittle and John Wallace. In 1812-15 carding and woolen mills were established in the same region by Abraham Eyestone and John Trimble, and a paper mill by David Crouse, which was first run by Hezekiah and Isaiah Ingham, young Quakers from Bucks county, Pa., in 1813. By Crouse and his sons, the business was kept up until 1857. Another paper mill was run for more than twenty years on the site of the old Worthington mill. In 1815 a cotton factory was started
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by Nathan Gregg, Archibald McLean and Thomas Davis at the northwest corner of Main and Walnut streets, in Chillicothe.
A cotton and woolen factory was built prior to 1820 on the banks of Paint creek at the south end of Paint street, by Hector Sanford, and afterward owned by Ephraim Doolittle, propelled by horse power, but it was abandoned after a few years. This mill, then owned by Gen. Alexander Macomb, of the war of 1812, father of Commodore D. B. Macomb, U. S. N., was burned down in 1820. Best wool cloth was $1.50 a yard and common white flannel was made for 62 1/2, cents a yard. Abram Thompson established a wool carding shop about 1816, and after that a factory for carding, spinning and weaving was founded by Moses Trader, and carried on afterward for a time by Pleasant Thurman, and later by John Wilson. Levi Anderson was another pioneer in woolen manufacture. The business was profitable as late as 1855, although the blankets and flannels made had to be sent away fulling.
Data regarding these and other industries are given in the township chapters. Tanneries at Chillicothe were in operation by Thomas Jacobs and James Hill when George Armstrong came here from Pennsylvania in 1810, and after them Armstrong and his son, George L., carried on the business for many years with success, using bark shipped to them mainly by the canal. Prior to 1810 Nathaniel Reeves owned and operated a tannery on the river bank near the head of Walnut street, and one was located on the south end of Paint street, east side, by the creek, owned and operated by a man by the name of Turner, about the same time. Harman's tannery was established in 1855 by Otto Harman.
There was some manufacture of brick by the old and toilsome hand process prior to 1819, when the Scioto Gazette gave notice of a "wonderful invention," about to be introduced by J. C. Stubbs and James Bonner, by which the clay could be fed into a hopper, and by machinery run by horse-power, be converted into brick, shaped ready for drying and baking. It was predicted that this machine would turn out brick at the rate of thirty a minute, and revolutionize building, making brick houses as cheap as frame.
Daniel J. Crouse, already mentioned, in early life succeeded to the ownership of the ancestral farm in Green township and milling privileges on the Kinnikinnick, and was proprietor of two paper mills, the first erected in the Scioto valley. One was devoted to the making of pasteboard out of straw pulp, and its product was spread out to dry on the slope of what is vet. known as Paper hill. The lower mill was afterward transformed into a grist mill., In 1847 a paper mill was established on the hydraulic canal, at Chillicothe, by Entrekin, Greene & Co. The dam of the hydraulic company was washed away again in 1848, but rebuilt, and in 1858 the same disaster occurred. Meanwhile, about 1850, Daniel J. Crouse and his
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cousin, John Entrekin, became the owners of the mill, and later it passed into the hands of William and James Ingham, sons of the pioneer Inghams. Crouse, it may be noted, married Rachael Ingham. Steam power was introduced after the failure of the hydraulic canal, and the factory was developed into a very successful and prosperous institution. The firm afterward became Ingham, Mills & Co., taking in W. R. Mills, the banker, and then passed into the hands of the Meade Paper Co., of Dayton, which now operates the plant.
John McCoy and Thomas James were the most noted of the early promoters of commerce and manufacturing. McCoy, born in Franklin county, Pa., in 1772, son of a Scotch-Irishman, made at the Antietam iron works, Md., a partnership in 1796 with Thomas James, born at Shepherdstown, Va., in 1776, to this effect: "We, John McCoy and Thomas James, agree to go to Chillicothea, in the Northwestern territory, or that region northwest of the river of Ohio, known by that name, thereto engage in the business of fur trading or otherwise as prudence may dictate, and at the same time to defend each other in our lawful calling as is usual in all cases of equal partners." They opened a store at the corner of Water and Mulberry streets in 1798, and advertised themselves as dealers in "gun-powder and other wares." At a later date they announced "India lawns, long cloth and silks for the ladies of Chillicothe, all of which will be sold at fair prices or exchanged for the produce of the country, especially tobacco and ginseng, which we wish to send to China." The firm acquired a monopoly of the product of the Scioto salt works, and traded in salt on the basis of a barrel of salt being worth four barrels of flour. They also packed pork and shipped it by flat boat down the Scioto, Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans for the West Indies market. McCoy continued in mercantile business for many years, suffering reverses during the hard times of 1818-19, and finally, through ventures in pork and flour, losing about all lie managed to save. He built the first log cabin on the site of Chillicothe, April 12, 1796, and his daughter, Marget, was the first child born among the Chillicothe pioneers (1797). * He died January 31, 1844, at his farm three miles north of the city.
Thomas James, retiring from partnership with McCoy in 1810, gave his attention to manufacturing, also founding a hardware store. It is said that when he came to Chillicothe he brought with him on packhorses, by way of Zane's trace, the first iron offered in the Chillicothe market. He brought, also, the first boat load of iron by way of the Ohio and Scioto. In association with General McArthur he founded the first establishment for the manufacture
* Centennial Gazette.
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of iron in the Scioto valley, and he made his home at Chillicothe until his death in 1856, although in 1820 he built a furnace at Maramec Springs, Mo., and was a pioneer in iron manufacture in that state.
Another man prominent in the porkpacking industry was John Waddle, a native of Belfast, Ireland, who was brought by parents to western Pennsylvania about 1787, when he was four years old. Ten years later he was apprenticed to Alexander McLaughlin, of Pittsburg, a famous merchant who became afterward a resident of Chillicothe. When seventeen years old John Waddle took a flatboat load of pork and flour to New Orleans and returned to Philadelphia by way of the Atlantic, a common route for traders. Coming to Chillicothe in 1802 he became a clerk with John Carlisle, another Irishman, born in 1771, who had come to Chillicothe with his parents in 1798. In a few years Waddle had a business of his own, was busy in pork-packing and flatboat commerce and during the war of 1812 he had important contracts for the supply of the army. He lost nearly all his fortune in the troubles of 1819 and 1828, and died at Chillicothe in March, 1831.
The porkpacking house of John and George Wood was, however, the principal one at Chillicothe in 1830-30, when they were succeeded by James P. Campbell, who was prominent in the industry until his death in 1850. He was succeeded by John Marfield, and the latter by William Taylor & Co. In 1840-46 there was a considerable development of the industry. Among the men engaged in it, besides those already named, were M. R. Bartlett, David Adams, John Cowlson, Matthias Hufnagle, Abram and James Baker and Sanders D. Wesson, and the merchants Carlisle and McLandburgh. About ninety thousand hogs were packed in the winter of 1843-44, and Chillicothe claimed to he second only to Cincinnati as a "porkopolis." The first mess pork sold by M. R. Bartlett in 1842 was for shipment to Milwaukee, by way of the Ohio canal and great lakes.
William Ross, born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, in 1782, after he had graduated in college, came to Canada in 1800, thence to western Pennsylvania, and from there to Chillicothe as a clerk with the pioneer merchant, John McLandburgh. He also conducted for many years an oil mill at the foot of Mulberry street, which was one of the leading industries of the valley, founded by Thomas Davidson.
Long before the days of great agricultural manufacturing establishments William McCarroll had a sickle factory at Chillicothe, and in the flourishing times of river commerce rope walks were ordinary fields of enterprise, giving the farmer a good market for hemp.
A planing mill was established at Chillicothe in 1852, and after
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the great war there was a rapid development of this business, which continued to be of considerable value for many years.
In 1837 the business of carriage manufacture was begun by D. Thompson, and under different owners, the pioneer establishment was conducted for half a century.
Coal and iron, found abundantly in other parts of the state, do not figure in the resources of Ross county, and mineral wealth has not materially contributed to the prosperity of the community. Alum was once obtained in large quantities from the Alum cliffs on Paint creek, as well as saltpeter, and an attempt was once made to manufacture powder with the latter. Attempts were made to obtain salt wells, but without success, and salt was brought to the settlements from the Scioto salt works in what is now Jackson county. One of the teamsters engaged in this work was Joseph Vance, who lived at Chillicothe for some time before he became a prominent politician and governor of Ohio.
In 1883 the Melone Sewing Machine company was organized at Chillicothe for the manufacture of a machine invented by a citizen, and a three-story factory was built on East Main street. The enterprise was not, however, a permanent success. The Union Shoe Factory company, organized in the spring of 1883, has continued to be a profitable industry. Fntil 1888 it occupied a building at the west end of Water street, but since that date it has been established in the Melone Sewing Machine company's building on East Main street.
The furniture factory now operated by the Arbenz Furniture company, was established in 1888. It is located at the corner of Washington and Jackson avenues, and is one of the principal industries of the city, with Hon. F. C. Arbenz at the head as manager and one of the proprietors. The Chillicothe Buggy company started in business in 1889, and afterward was merged in the National Wagon works, located in the northwest part of the city. It is a flourishing institution, turning out high class vehicles to order and giving steady employment to a considerable force of skilled workmen.
In 1892 the railroad shops of the Baltimore & Southwestern railroad were removed from Zaleski to Chillicothe, the city donating $85,000 to aid in the removal and reestablishment. These shops give employment to a large number of men whose families assist materially in supporting the business of the town. The shops were finished and occupied in 1893.
The Florentine Pottery company, on Washington avenue, was incorporated in 1901 and began operations about July 1st of that year, but was not fully in action until a year later. It has a capacity of three kilns a week, and makes a specialty of jardinieres and novelties.
The Woodcock Feed Mill company dates from 1805, when it was
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founded by J. C. Woodcock, now president of the stock company, which was formed in 1899. They manufacture the celebrated Boss Feed Grinders, which have an extensive market. A. Dump, since 1889, has been engaged in the manufacture of carriages, buggies and bicycles. A. Kramer & Sons, for nearly thirty years have been doing an extensive business in the manufacture of cigars. George J. Herrnstein, after devoting the most of his life to the lumber business, has in recent years had much success in the manufacture of brooms at Chillicothe, for the wholesale trade.
The Valley Manufacturing company, making spokes, rims and handles, has been in operation since 1886, and produces nearly two million handles annually. The Chillicothe Lumber company, on Park street, manufacture and deal in rough and dressed lumber, and have a high standing among the concerns of that character in the State. Since November, 1901, Harry S. Adams has been the proprietor. The Chillicothe Bottling works, established in 1866, and now owned by George L. Emmel, is one of the best equipped in the State. A manufactory of builders' mill work, sash, doors and blinds, was founded in 1894 by Edward Reed, and is now conducted by the firm of Reed & Marshall. On the site of the old lumber yard of W. H. Reed on east Water street, is the Sterling planing mill and lumber company, which began business in July, 1901. August Schneider, manufacturer of fine carriages, has been in that business at Chillicothe since 1867.
According to the United States census figures of 1900, Ross county has 207 manufacturing establishments, with a total capital of $1,385,064. This capital is, land, $195,535; buildings, $279,055; machinery, etc., $391,011: cash and sundries, $519,463. The average number of wage earners employed is 1,400, to whom $522,073 in wages is paid. The total cost of materials is $1,473,368, and the total value of the product of manufacturing establishments in the county is put at $2,517,771.
In these figures the industries of Chillicothe, of course, form a very large part. The same data for Chillicothe separately are as follows : Establishments, 115; capital, $914,44i; wage earners, 1,223 ; wages, $454,644; cost of materials, $914,665 ; value of products, $1,709,895. Chillicothe ranks fifty-third among the manufacturing cities of the State, and in population its rank is twenty-second.
The freight wagons that were driven over the pikes of early days, and to a considerable extent, the canal boats that gave the county transportation facilities to Lake Erie and the East and the Ohio river and the South, have become obsolete, their places being taken by the railroads. Of these, the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern has 38 miles of main track and 36 miles of sidetrack in the county; the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton system 39 miles of main and 6
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miles sidetrack; the Norfolk & Western system 24 miles of main and 6 miles sidetrack, and the Ohio Southern 29 miles of main and 5 miles of side track. The total for the county is 130 miles of main track and 54 of sidings. These roads pay over $20,000 taxes annually upon their property in the county.