HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY,

CHAPTER I.

TOPOGRAPHY AND NATURAL HISTORY.

SENECA COUNTY is bounded on the north by Sandusky, on the east by Huron, on the south by Crawford and Wyandot, and on the west by Wood and Hancock Counties, embracing fifteen original surveyed townships, extending north from the parallel of latitude 41° north to latitude 41° 18', and east from the west line of Range 13, east of longitude west of Washington, D. C., 7° 50', the principal meridian, to the east line of Range 17, east of longitude west 7° 50', or over 540 square miles. The population, according to the census of 1880, was 36,947, but the estimate for 1885, based on school statistics, places the number of inhabitants at 41,000 or 75.92 inhabitants per square mile.

The altitude at Berwick is 345 feet above the level of Lake Erie; at Republic. 308 feet; at Lodi, in Reed Township, 282 feet, and at Tiffin, 183 feet. Geologists claim that Attica is the highest point in the county.

The Sandusky River enters the county in Section 36, Seneca Township; winds east into Section 31, Eden Township; thence west into Seneca Township, flowing north by east through the southeastern sections of Hopewell Township, the city of Tiffin, the northwestern sections of Clinton Township, and, entering Pleasant Township, flows on in its tortuous channel, leaving that township in Section 5. The Sandusky River is associated with much of the early history of Ohio. Along its banks the beginnings of many little commonwealths were made., but to-day those beginnings have almost disappeared, to give place to the many important cities, beautiful villages and pleasant farm homes which grace its valley and terraces.

Honey Creek, a name endeared to hundreds of old settlers, Indians and half-breeds, has its head-waters in Huron County, and flows through Venice, Bloom and Eden Townships, entering the Sandusky in Section 36, Hopewell Township. This creek is fed by numerous streams, all, like the parent river, contributing to the wealth of one of the most fertile tracts in all Ohio. Silver Creek, which may be called a native of Bloom Township, is one of Honey Creek's principal feeders, entering the latter almost on the Eden Township line. The plateau on Section 20, Eden Township, is fifty-eight feet above the summer level of Honey Creek.

Rock Creek has its head-waters in Section 33, Reed Township, flows north into Section 17, joins other streams, and thence enters the lake on the Beeghley farm, in Section 18, Reed Township; thence runs southwest through Republic, to Section 10, Eden Township, where it takes a northwesterly course, to join the

188 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY.

Sandusky, east of Washington Street bridge, at Tiffin. In the history of the townships and of Tiffin City, many references are made to this little river.

Sugar Creek, in its course through Section 27, Pleasant Township, flows 42 1/6 feet below its plateau. Wolf Creek rises in Seneca Township, flows northeast through Hopewell, Liberty and Pleasant Townships, and leaves the county in Section 6, Pleasant. This creek drains a very large area, being the reservoir, so to speak, of the numerous little creeks in Hopewell and Liberty Townships. Harrison Creek and the western fork of Wolf Creek rise in Loudon Township, and flow north through Jackson and Liberty Townships, entering the main stream below Bettsville. Risdon Creek and tributaries flow north through the western sections of Jackson Township, and, with Little Portage Creek, afford good drainage. There are hundreds of small streams (many of which, like that on the Coleman farm in Seneca Township, never freeze up) to be found in the county, to which names have never been given; in fact, every section may be said to claim some water-right, thus bestowing upon the land a high value.

Along the Sandusky and other large streams the face of the country is somewhat broken, the terrace in Section 24, Seneca Township, being 63 1/4 feet above summer level, but outside the river valleys proper the land may be said to be slightly rolling, except in Thompson Township, which is marked by decidedly rolling lands. Even the Big Spring marsh, so long barren, has been brought under cultivation. In ten of the fifteen townships, which make up the county, there is an abundance of large hardwood timber of almost every species.

Townships and Cities.-The fifteen townships, into which the county is divided, are named as follows, with the number of original surveyed township and range:

Big Spring, 1 north, Range 13 east.

Eden, 1 north, Range 15 east.

Venice, 1 north, Range 17 east.

Hopewell, 2 north, Range 14 east.

Reed, 2 north, Range 17 east.

Adams, 3 north, Range 16 east.

Liberty, 3 north, Range 14 east.

Thompson, 3 north, Range 17 east

Bloom, 1 north, Range 18 east.

Seneca, 1 north, Range 14 cast.

Clinton, 2 north, Range 15 east.

Loudon, 2 north, Range 13 east.

Scipio, 2 north, Range 18 east.

Jackson, 3 north, Range 13 east.

Pleasant, 3 north, Range 15 east.

Tiffin, the county seat, is a beautiful city, most conveniently situate, and replete in everything which wealth and intelligence suggests. The main part of the city of Postoria is in this county, and like her older and greater sister Tiffin, is one of the most pleasant and business-like towns in northwestern Ohio.

Postal Towns. --The postal towns of the county in 1885 are Adrian, Alvada, Amsden, Anus, Attica, Bascom, Berwick, Bettsville, Bloomville, Carrothers, Cromer's, Flat Rock, Fort Seneca, Fostoria, Frank, Green Spring, Kansas, Melmore, Morris, New Riegel, Old Fort, Omar, Reedtown, Republic, Rockaway, St. Stephen, Siam, Tiffin, Watson, West Lodi. The pay attached to these offices, in 1884, ranged from $4.38 to $2,200, viz. : Angus, $ 4.38; Old Fort, $34.37; Cromer's, $42.91; Amsden, $48.08; Fort Seneca, $86.77; Kansas, $207.79; Bettsville, $384.70; Fostoria, $1,900; Tiffin, $2,200. Owing to the reduction in postage, the value of many of the offices to the incumbents has been lessened. The new settlement on the Nickel Plate Railroad, named Iler, was established as a postal town in September, 1835.

Scattered throughout the county are a number of small settlements, many of which cannot, however, take on the dignity of villages for some years. Others consist of a few houses grouped around a post office. These tiny settlements will, no doubt, spring into activity and request the future historian to record them as villages or cities before many decades. So early as 1844 a few

HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. - 189

of these hamlets aimed at importance. Then came the central cities and the mining stampedes, and an age intervened; then came the war, when the graces and amenities of civilized life were ignored for the "signal-sound of strife" and "battle's magnificently-stern array." A large delegation was taken from each village to serve in all branches of the now industries the first year of the struggle, and each succeeding levy gradually drained the vicinity of very much of the enterprise and public spirit which had come in and manifested its presence by works in former years. As a consequence, improvements for the period between the firing upon Fort Sumter and the surrender at Appomattox were neither numerous, costly nor architecturally elaborate. The same is to be remembered with reference to the advent of citizens at that time, neither were they numerous nor valuable, save, of course, in exceptional instances. The village, as will be readily conceded, escaped remarkable growth or development; but as years grow apace they give some evidence of advancement.

Geology.-Political lines have a most supreme disregard for geological boundaries; but the county in this respect is a part of a vast territory which has been more or less carefully explored and its obvious characteristics noted. The townships of Pleasant, Liberty, Jackson Hopewell (in the northerly part), and Loudon (in the northwesterly part), show the Niagara system above the drift; sand-formations and healthy looking boulder rock. Over the greater area of these townships the rock and sand are covered by a drift material. A complete knowledge of the history of a single pebble composing this drift would give its possessor more knowledge of geology than is now extant in the wide world. Fast of the Sandnsky River (the same territory which, in 1820, was attached to Sandusky County under the name of Seneca Township) the outcrop of the Niagara rock is a phenomenon. The State geologist, in his first report on this county, says: " The eastern part of the county is considerably more elevated than the middle and western, and the surface is characterized at once by longer and more considerable.. undulations, which have the form, very often, of ridges evenly covered by drift, running about northeast and southwest. There are still, even in the eastern part of the county, flat tracts where the drainage is so slow that the washings from hill sides have leveled up the lower grounds with alluvial and marshy accumulations. In such cases the elevated drift knolls are gravelly, and show occasional boulders; but in the level tract, which has been filled no boulders, or even stones of any kind, can be seen.

The Niagara limestone, in Pleasant Township, found in the bed of Wolf Creek and on Section 10 shows a northeast dip, and a variable dip on Section 20. Below the dam, in the. Sandusky, near Fort Seneca, a remarkable bard or flinty blue stone presumably of the Niagara conformation, was quarried some years ago, and has since been used for macadamizing and other purposes. On Spicer Creek, Section 28, Pleasant Township, a more pronounced Niagara limestone exists.

In the extreme southeastern corner of Jackson Township, in a tributary of Wolf Crook, there is an exposure of limestone, and also along the railroad on Section 22. Also in the old town of Risdon, and north of it along the county line, the Niagara stone shows itself. The lime manufactured at Fostoria is equal to that of Springfield or Carey.

The outcrop in Hopewell Township is decided in Sections 22 and 16, and by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, at Bascom. The immense boulders and beds of Niagara above Tiffin, in the Sandusky River, also belong to the outcrop in this township.

In Liberty Township, on Section 4, this rock outcrops, dipping gradually west. Along Wolf Creek there are several surface showings of this rock, and

190 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY.

in almost every part of the township it may be considered as merely covered by the drift. In the southern tier of sections this stone is quarried and extensively used in housebuilding, bridges, lime manufacture and macadamizing. About the year 1870, George King's house was constructed of this rock.

In Clinton Township the river may be said to act the part of the old quarryman. For centuries the Sandusky has been carving an under channel for its waters until, in 1825, man came to its help. Along the front of old Fort Ball, now in Tiffin City, the Niagara or rather Guelph stone shows itself very distinctly. In fact the whole north bank of the river may be considered a rock, extending from the summer level of the river up the terrace about sixty feet in depth, with an exposure of about eighteen feet, dipping from five to ten degrees southwest. The main showing of waterlime is found at this point. A junction of the Niagara and waterlime formations occurs within Tiffin City, above Washington Street bridge.

In Section 22, Hopewell; Section 23, Seneca; and Section 29, Clinton; waterlime is. exposed, while in many other townships it appears in beds of creeks.

The conformation known as Oriskany sandstone underlies portions of Adams, Pleasant, Clinton and Eden Townships.

The lower corniferous outcrop appears in Scipio, Bloom, Eden and Adams, while the upper corniferous gives good exposures in Thompson and Bloom Townships, where extensive quarries are worked.

The drift formation is evident throughout the county, particularly in Eden and Venice Townships.

The economical geology is represented by numerous stone quarries, deposits of bog-iron ore, brick clay and pottery clay. The red brick, manufactured in almost every division of the county, are of excellent quality, but wanting in some cases that regular, tradesmanlike finish, which have won for foreign manufacturers a large trade. This burned clay, when pulverized and mixed with other products, such as bone and sand, makes a cement equally as durable as Portland cement and far less expensive. The tile industry of Seneca has made much greater advances toward perfection than the older brick-making industry, and for this reason the product of sewer and drainage tile, pottery, etc., has grown very large. A reference to the pages of local history will point out many of, if not all, the various workers in the field of economical geology.

Wells and Springs.-Wells for domestic use are generally obtained in the looso gravel within the drift, or in that sheet of gravel and sand which very often is the lowest part of the drift. As in Ottawa County such wells are often artesian, and show the source of their water in the mineral impurities it contains. The waters of the mineral spring at Green Spring and of the spring in Section 7, Adams Township, issue from the rock, which, although exposed at no point within six miles, is probably the Niagara limestone. Wells also, which do not reach the bottom of the drift, are sometimes supplied by slow seepage from the hardpan, or by penetrating some of the sand or gravel beds contained within the drift. Wells from such higher beds of gravel are common outside the area of the Black Swamp. Within that tract such beds of gravel are more rarely met with, above that lying on the rocky conformations. The medicinal qualities of the water at Green Spring are so marked as to induce the investment of considerable capital in a Water Lure establishment. The analysis made by O. N. Stoddard, of Miami University. Ohio, is published by the proprietors.

The analysis of one gallon of Green Spring water -haws the following constituents:

HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. - 191

GRAINS.

Sulphate of Lime, ........................105.41

Sulphate of Magnesia, ...................36.14

Sulphate of Iron, ............................ 6.53

Carbonate of Iron ...........................19.70

Carbonate of Magnesia................. 22.39

Bromide of Potassa, ..................... 16.76

Chloride of Potassa, ...................... 2.48

Silica,.............................................. 6.10

Alumina ,. ..................................... . .98

Car. Acid Gas ................................96.48 cub. in.

Density, 1.0258. Temperature, (summer and winter same) 50. .Fahrenheit. .

The Big Spring, in the southwestern part of the county, was known in early days as the Lime Spring. Unlike the northern waters (Adams) the waters of Big Spring do not show even a particle of sulphur.

Gas Wells.-Gas wells in Ohio, exhaustless fountains of earburetted hy. drogen gas, have come into prominence only within the last fifteen years, al though evidences of inexhaustible supply were manifest from the beginning o' settlement. It was known that the Chinese had for centuries utilized nature gas in their workshops and homes, but not until about a half century ago wa:> this knowledge applied in the United States, when a Fredonia, N. Y., enterprise introduced it. Since that time many localities in Pennsylvania and Ohio have searched for and found this great light and heat giver, and in 1884-85 local enterprise at Findlay, Fostoria, Bowling Green and other places has brought this hidden wealth to the doors of Seneca County, leaving little doubt of its extension throughout the county with a few years.

Prof. Edward Orton, in his paper on oil wells in Ohio, says: "The wells begin in the Niagara limestone, or in the waterlime. The drill goes through 300 to 400 feet of nearly unbroken sheets of solid rock. Below this the red shales of the Medina group come in ranging from fifty to 200 feet in thickness. The Hudson River group, next below, consists of about 400 feet of calcareous shales, gray or blue, and highly fossiliferous. The fossils are found distinct enough for identification in the drillings. The brown or black Utica shale follows next in order. It is 250 to 300 feet thick. It has but few fossils, but these few are characteristic. The gas `sand' or `oil sand' of the driller comes next. The Pennsylvania driller knows no rock but a sand-stone as an oil or gas producer, and so this source of gas goes by the name of sand-stone. Analyses of four samples of the rock from Findlay, Fostoria, Lima and Bowling Green, all agree in proving the rock to be an impure limestone, of a different type from any in the Ohio scale. It is clearly the Trenton limestone of the Eastern States and of Canada. It has been drilled into for 400 feet in several wells, but the gas all comes from its upper surface. No gain has been made by going deeper in any case yet, though several thousand dollars have been spent in this way in different localities. Torpedoes have been used with good effect in several wells. The gas comes to the surface with fair pressure when released, but with little of the explosive violence of the great wells of Pennsylvania. These latter are at least twenty times as strong as the strongest of the Findlay wells. The relations of the gas territory to the Cincinnati arch area matter of interest. Newberry located the arch too far to the eastward, as it now appears. He thought the islands of Lake Erie were carried on top of the arch, but this is thirty or forty miles out of the way. No determination was possible until these drillings were made, and the number is far too small to allow any accurate and final determination. The facts so far obtained show Findlay to be on the highest part of the arch. Taking the gas-bearing rock as our guide, we find it at the following named places and depth below the ocean level: Findlay, 310; Bowling Green, 387; Lima, 446; Fostoria, 471; Fremont, 098. The fact that the two points where gas is most abundant are found on the highest portions of the lower limestone will be noticed. The axis seems to be bearing about north and must pass near Toledo, instead of through

192 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY.

the islands. The effect of the arch is, however, problematical. Even two swallows do not make a summer. Gas may be found away from the arch in some of the wells now going down, in which case the deductions drawn from the first facts would immediately lose their value. Drilling is sure to go forward rapidly in the State, and by means of it we shall learn very much in regard to the structure of the arch that we could not otherwise know. After a little geology can begin to predict. Already one conclusion of much economic value seems fairly well established. It is this: When the Trenton limestone is reached and penetrated twenty or thirty feet, if no reward is found, the drilling would best be abandoned. Oil is found at Lima and at Findlay. The oil is of the usual type of limestone oils, viz.: Thirty-six degrees gravity, black, rather low in lubricating quality and somewhat offensive in odor. It is ` be twixt and between,' being neither well adapted to refining nor to lubricating purposes, but, if found in quantity, may prove a source of value. As to the quantity, no conclusions are as yet fairly deducible. About 200 barrels are reported from the Lima well. The geological facts as to the occurrence of the oil and gas are very interesting and important. Our supplies elsewhere through the State nearly all come from the Berea Grit, but the new horizon lies 2, 500 feet below, and, moreover, is a limestone. Its supplies must therefore be derived from animal life, while the supplies of the Berea Grit are derived from the vegetable matters of the black shale. It appears that gas and oil both are rendered characteristic by the source from which they come."

The well drilled at South Fostoria, to a depth of 1, 775 feet, was not a success. The history of this enterprise is given in the history of Fostoria. The proposed well at Tiffin is only a matter of history so far as the projectors of the enterprise are concerned.

Zoology.--There was a time when deer were killed by the first settlers of Tiffin and Fort Ball, within the limits of their villages. The bear, wild hog, wolverine and wolf, were all here; while the reptile species claimed many and venomous representatives. Indeed blue-racers may still be found in this part of Ohio, while garter-snakes are still numerous. In July, 1883, four or five blue-racers had been killed in the northern part of Jackson Township, Sandusky County. The county was at one time a favorite camping ground for seahawks and eagles. It is related that some years before the Senecas left the county, a hawk carried off a pappoose that was left by its Indian mother in a grove which then stood on the south bank of the river, near Washington Street bridge. In June, 1882, Daniel Misner, living on the Aikens farm, five miles southwest of Tiffin, shot a bald eagle which measured seven feet from tip to tip, killing it with a charge of number six shot, at a distance of fifty yards. In February, 1885, Philip R. Fox, living three and one-half miles southeast of Fostoria, detected a large bald eagle in the act of carrying away a good sized lamb. He procured his gun and shot the eagle at a distance of fifty feet in the air, and brought him down, together with his mutton.

In the Indian times, the rivers and streams of the county were teeming with fish. As settlement advanced, the finny tribe decreased, and ultimately faded away in the general ruin which fell upon animals of the woods and waters of the wilderness. New species have, however, taken the place of the fish of pioneer times, and now inhabit the rivers and streams. In Pleasant Township, the breeding of German carp may be classed among the industries.

Botany.-It is as unnecessary as it is difficult to name the trees, shrubs, grasses, herbs and flora of this county. Every plant and flower known in this latitude flourishes throughout the length and breadth of Seneca County, while many exotics may be brought, and are brought, to perfection in the homes of the

PAGE 193 - PICTURE OF M. P. SKINNER

PAGE 194 - BLANK

HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. - 195

people. Many wild flowers, known only to the pioneers, have disappeared for ever, hundreds of new ones having usurped their place even within the pioneer period.

Horticulture is well represented, the orchards and vineyards of the county being among the first in the northern part of Ohio. In 1824 the first orchard of the county was set out in Clinton Township by John Keller; but prior to this many wild trees offered abundance of fruit to the Indians and pioneers.

Climatology. -It has been stated by very many old settlers of Ohio, that the winter of 1884-85, and indeed the summer of 1885, reached the very limit of the lowest temperature of the respective seasons. History, however, does not bear out the statement; for about the beginning of the pioneer period of the county, the wild animals were frozen in their tracks, and vegetation killed. Since that time the climate of this latitude has not varied very much in the case of Seneca. Atmospheric phenomena were rare indeed, and those appalling outbursts of nature which have devastated towns, villages and farm houses in other counties, are unheard of here.

The frost of May 15, 1834, destroyed all the fruit crop and potato crop, together with more than one-half the wheat crop. Later that year, flour, in the Tiffin market, was quoted at $14 per barrel.

The drought of 1838 resulted in destroying the grain crop, and reducing the corn crop to the amount of seed sown. A great hail storm swept over the county in May, 1839. This part of Ohio maybe said to have escaped the frost of September, 1885.

Archaeology.-The archaeologist must be forever a speculator; for, notwithstanding the researches of the ethnologists of the world, and particularly of our own searchers, the origin of the vase, mound, stone hatchets, flint arrowheads, and all the rude adjuncts of prehistoric life, remains unsettled. While some of the mounds are doubtless very ancient, others, similar in character and equally interesting, have certainly, been built up since the advent of Europeans. A string of sleigh bells much corroded, but still capable of tinkling, was found among the flint and bone implements in a mound in Tennessee, whilst in Mississippi, at the point where De Soto is supposed to have tarried, a Spanish coat of arms in silver, one blade of a pair of scissors, and other articles of European manufacture were found in positions which indicated that they were buried by the original builders of the mounds. In a Georgia mound two copper plates were found, upon which were stamped figures resembling the sculptures upon the Central American ruins. The workmanship is vastly superior to that displayed on the articles of pottery, stone and bone found in the mounds, and their origin and purpose are not yet explainable. Aside from these plates nothing has been found to indicate a connection between the Mound-Builders and the Aztecs or the Pueblos, while on the other hand, there appears many reasons for not going beyond the Cherokees, and their fellow red men of the Ohio and Mississippi Valley, to find the origin of these curious erections. The purpose of the mounds still remains in some cases a mystery, but in others they are known to have been made sometimes for burial places, and sometimes as foundations for Indian villages secure from the floods to which the low lands were periodically subjected.

The old fortifications on Honey Creek, in Eden Township, near the Mohawk Road, embraco an area of about two acres. They are attributed to the military genius of the Fishermen, or Eries, in their war with the Iroquois invaders; but there is nothing in history or archaeology to warrant a statement that the Eries were the builders. That the position was defended since the introduction of the shot-gun or rifle is told by the fact that leaden bullets of

196 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY.

every size have been found in the vicinity. Joseph Swigart, passing through Honey Creek in 1819, stopped at the spring about a mile northwest of the present village of Bloomville, and, while there, noticed two circular stone works, each about 100 yards south from the spring. A well-beaten path led from the spring to the entrance of each work. The spring and each work formed a corner of a perfect triangle. Stone hammers, flints, etc., have been found there. There were remains of the walls as late as 1830, when they were removed, and burned for lime.

In 1850 a few of the ancient mounds in Pleasant Township were opened; although for years prior to this date several small mounds were plowed over, and bones, pottery, and other relics of a past age, brought to light. The explorations of 1850 resulted in the discovery of a number of burned sand-clay pitchers, pipes, a stone pitcher, and other curios, many of which are still to be seen in the county. Among the collections of fossils, rocks, boulders and curios in the county, that of the editor of the Fostoria Democrat is considered the best. The fossil remains found in connection with the rocks of this county, and particularly with the limestone conformation, comprise the Lithostrotion mammullare, the L. longiconicum the Cyathophyllum, fungites, and the Syringopore, all belonging to the Polypi class. The only evidence of the Echinodermata is furnished by the remains of the common species. The Bryozoa class is represented in the limestone by no less than seven species; the Brachiopoda by eighteen species; the Lamellibranehiata by six species; the Trilobites by two very distinct species, showing the tails. The remains of fish and reptiles are very common. Human remains are uncommon in the strata, though in other parts they have been found mysteriously commingled with some of the first formations. In all the townships east of the Sandusky there are hillocks visible, none of. which have been explored systematically, if at all. Throughout the county, relics of the aborigines have been found; stone and clay pipes, volcanic glass spear-heads, arrow heads, and in some instances copper articles have been brought to light, all in evidence of the fact that a people dwelt here long before the immigration of the Indians, who inhabited the Sandusky country when the first settlers arrived.