OHIO STATEWIDE FILES OH-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List Issue 30 ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES(tm) NOTICE Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgenwebarchives.org ************************************************************************** OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 05 : Issue 30 Today's Topics: #1 Fw: Tid Bits Part 18 B. ["Ohio Archives EV1" To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <07fe01c5364a$6da2e900$0300a8c0@margaret> Subject: Fw: Tid Bits Part 18 B. Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit ----- Original Message ----- From: "Darlene & Kathi kelley" To: Sent: Sunday, March 13, 2005 5:12 PM Subject: Tid Bits Part 18 B. Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Darlene E. Kelley March 12, 2005 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Historical Collections of Ohio And Then They Went West Know Your Ohio by Darlene E. Kelley Tid Bits - Part 18 B ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++= Ohio's Early Salt Industry at Sciota Today, salt is a commodty that is so abundant and inexpensive that most people give little thought to it. The Division of Geological Survey estimates that the Silunian rock salt beneath eastern Ohio could supply the entire nation for 32,000 years. But on the Ohio frontier in the late 1700's and early 1800's, salt was a precious commodity that had to be brought by packhorse across the Appalachian Mountains and commanded a price of 4 to 6 dollars a bushel. It is no wonder that natural salt-water springs, known as licks or salines, were of intense interest and importance to the pioneers. One of these licks, know as the Sciota Saline or Sciota Salt Licks, along Salt Lick Creek in Jackson County fiqured prominently in the development of Ohio. This lick is an area where naturally occurring salt water, known as brine, flows at the surface as a salt-water spring. It has existed at least since the Pleistocene Ice Age because numerous bones of extinct animals were found at this site. Salt had been obtained at the saline for at least 8,000 years, as indicted from archaeological excavations by W.C. Mills at Boone Rocks in 1905. At the time of its exploration, the Scioto Saline was the most important mineral industry in the State. Not only was it the reason for the founding of Jackson at this location, but the availability of salt led to early establishment of a prosperous agricltuarial and livestock industry in the lower Scioto River drainage area. European traders and explorers may ave known of the existence of the Scioto Saline as early as 1740 because there was a Fench trading post at the mouth of the Scioto River at that time. Christopher Gist, a surveyor and explorer for the Ohio Company of Virginia, made mention of it in his journel compiled during the winter of 1750/51. He noted " The Indians and Traders make salt for their horses of this water, by boiling it; it has at first a blueish colour, and somewhat bitter taste, but upon being dissolved in fair water and boiled a second time, it becomes tolerable pure salt." The Scioto Saline is marked on the well-known Lewis Evans map of the Middle Brittish Colonies issued in 1755. The Ohio country was opened to settlement following the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794 and the signing of the Greenville Treaty the following year. Joseph Conklin of Mason County. Kentucky, is credited with establishing the first on going salt operation by a European settler at the saline. There was at the time no enforced regulation of the salt lands between 1795 and 1803, and " squatters rights " prevailed. On April 13,1803, soon after Ohio became a State, the legislature passed " An Act regulating the public salt works." The provisions of the Enabling Act of 1802, which was passed to create the Sate of Ohio, forbade the State to sell salt lands, which consisted of a full 6-mile-square township. The State Legislation provided for an agent to lease lots to be used for cultivation as well as collect fees for manufacturing salt. Each lessee had to have a minimum of 30 salt kettles, bu could not exceed 120 kettles, and had to pay 12 cents per gallon capacity in the first year of operation. In 1804 this charge was dropped to 4 cents, in 1805 to 2 cents, and by 1810, to 5 mills. (1/1000 mills to a U.S. Dollar ). The earliest method of obtaining salt at the Scioto Saline, employed by Native Americans and the earliest pioneer operations, was to dig shallow pits into the Sharon sandstone during low water when the rock was exposed in the stream bed. These pits would slowly fill with weak brine, whic was dipped out and boiled over fires. The initial attempt to increase salt production was to deepen these rock pits from a foot to two to six to eight feet. The pioneer salt boilers soon discovered that brine would accumulate in deeper pits, up to 30 feet deep, that could be dug into unconsolidated sediments that filled part of the valley of Salt Lick Creek. These pits or wells were cased at the surface with a hollow black gum log in order to prevent an inflow of surface water. Soon after government control and regulation of the licks began, the salt boilers set up crude furnaces to increase efficiency and production. These furnaces consisted of a 4-foot-deep trench over which were set two rows of 12 to 15 gallon kettles. Wood was used as a fuel and heat passed beneath the kettles, bringing them to a boil. These furnaces operated 24 hours a day and required constant attention. Wood had to be cut and fed to the fires and brine had to be replenished in the kettles. The second site that gained notority was Boone Rocks, a 57 foot high cliff of Sharon standstone in the northwest part of the city of Jackson, adjacent to the present day municipal sewage treatment plant. The bed of Salt Lick Creek ran close to the base of this cliff. Boone Rocks derives it name from an unsubstantiated story about the famous pioneer, Daniel Boone. Supposedly, Boone was brought to the saline as a captive of the Shawnee, but escaped by leaping from the cliff to the branches of a tree growing at its base. Early Survey geologists Caleb (sometimes listed as Charles) Briggs, Jr., and Samuel P. Hildreth were the first observers and interpreters of the geologyof the Scioto Saline. Since their reconnaissance in 1837, there has been very little geological inquiry into the geology of the salt licks, probably because the licks were of little economic interest after their demise about 1815. Later geological focus in the area was on coal, sandtone, iron ore, and other mineral commodities. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Early Settlers of Scioto Valley The saline mines, although not strong, they did serve a good purpose by bringing comparatively cheap salt to the early settlers and drew the attention to outsiders of the advantages of settlement in that section of the State. Probably the first pioneer and permanent settler in the Lower Scioto Valley was Samuel Marshall, who came down the Ohio River in company with Gen. Anthony Wayne, in the fall of 1795. After the Treaty of Greenville, in February, 1796, Mr. Marshall selected a claim about three miles above the mouth of the Scioto nearly opposite the mouth of Tygart's Creek. There he built his cabin of puncheons and installed his family, consisting of a wife and four children. James Keyes, in his " Pioneers of Scioto County." has this to say of Marsall; " The very first of these ( true pioneers of Scioto County ) was Samuel Marshall. He came to this country and built a small cabin about two miles above where Portsmouth now stands. This was in February, 1796. He passed down the river the year before in company with General Wayne when on the way to make his celebrated treaty with the Indians. He stopped at Manchester where Nathaniel Massey had built a small stockade for the protection of his surveyors, and had likewise laid out a town of that name. " Mr Marshall had sold his property in Pennsylvannia for about ten thousand dollars and taken his pay altogether in continental money. He wished to invest a portion of his money in government lands, but he had to wait until the lands were ready for market. While thus waiting, he moved up from Manchester and built his house. He had a large family of children, some of them grown up. His eldest daughter Nancy, was married to William Rollins and had two children. " As is the case in all new countries, marriageable young women are scarce and men plenty, so while he waited in Manchester for the treaty to be made with the Indians, two more of his daughters got married-- one to a man by the name of Washburn, who settled in Adams County, and the other to Thomas McDonald, a brother to the celebrated scout, John McDonald. It is well known to all who are conversant with the early history of this country that Colonel John McDonald and Duncan McArthur were, with several others, appointed to act as scouts and keep the Indians at bay while the boats were passing down the river." In Howe's History of Ohio, credit is given this Thomas McDonald with building the first house in Scioto County. " He came to Scioto County, perhaps with his father-in-law, but did not build a house or make any long stay, but went up the Scioto and settled near Chillicothe. "To sum the matter and place it in a nutshell: We claim for Samuel Marshall credit of being the first settler in Scioto County, who came there with the intention of making it his permanent home; that he built the first cabin and raised the first crop of corn; that the first person married in the County was his daughter, and the first child born in the county was his. We know this claiming a good deal for the Marshall family." +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Isaac Bonser, Forerunner of Sciotoville Isaac Bonser, a young backwoodsman and surveyor, had already made a claim for a tract of land at the mouth of the Little Scioto. In the spring of 1795, he crossed the mountains of Pennsylvannia, in the interest of citizens of that State, and marked some pieces of land in that locality with his tomahawk, supposing that he would thus be entitled to it by priority of discovery. At the time te survey of the French Grant had just been completed, but there was no vestage of a settlement between Gallipolis and Manchesther, although surveyors were everywhere abroad in the Ohio county. Mr. Bonser's report to his Pennsylvannia friends and supporters was so favorable that four families accompanied him to the location at the mouth of the Little Scioto in the spring of 1796; they did not arrive at their destination, however, until 10th of August. The heads of the five families which thus formed one of the pioneer colonies of the Scioto Valley, although they settled at the mouth of the Little Scioto at what is now Sciotoville, were Isaac Bonser, Uriah Barber, John Beatty, William Ward and Ephraim Adams. When these five families located, they found that Samuel Marhall and John Lindsey had moved up from Manchester a few months before, and erected cabins near their claim. A Lindsey son and a Marshall married soon afterward, their union being the first in the county. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ John Lindsey, Marshall's Close Friend Although Samuel Marshall and John Lindsey were evidently industrious and well maening, they were not men of sound business judgement, and met with not a few financial misfortunes. Their mutual attachment was strong and lasting, and in death their remains were not far parted. A few years before his decease in 1816, Mr. Lindsey sold his improvements in the narrows below the Little Scioto and selected a burial place at the summit of a hill about a quarter of a mile south of the Scioto Furnace. Mr. Marshall, dying shortly afterwards, chose to be buried besides his old friend and fellow-worker. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Major Bonser, A Stayer Isaac Bonser, cultivated his land above the Little Scioto, and built several mills there and elsewhere. He lost considerable money through the rascality of one Col. John Edwards, who obtained control of a large tract of land embracing the present site of Sciotoville, and after involving various purchasers, moved over into Kentucky and let them clear up the titles as best as they could. Mr. Bonser was one of his victims, but quicky rebounded from his tempory embarrassment. When Scioto County was organized in 1803, Mr. Bonser was one of its leading men. He was particularly interested in the militia, and was elected major of one of its ten battalions. In those days two musters a year were held, on which occasions he acted as field officer. In the War of 1812, his oldest son was taken prisoner at Hull's surrender of Detroit, and he himself marched at the head of his battalion to the relief of the American troops. The Scioto contingent got as far as Sandusky, and then turned back, as the enemy had been driven off. This military record attached to Mr. Bonser the title, by which he was familiarly known, Major. Major Bonser was a Jacksonian democrat and his party sent him to the Legislature in the fall of 1827. The last years of his life were passed in farming and in the management of his little mill. He died about 1847-- by no means rich,but to his last day. a model of industry and usefulness. One of his most substancial acts was, in partnership with Uriah Barber, the building of the State Road from Portsmouth to Galipolis, soon afterr Ohio had been admitted to the Union. It lay nearly all the way through a dense forest. They had to cut the stumps so low that a wagon could pass over them, and to clear everything out so as to make a good road. They surveyed and measured the distance and marked every mile tree; and their thorough, honest work was in evidence for many years. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Alexandria Founded About three years after the first settlers commenced to locate at the mouth of the mouth of the the Little Scioto and on the French Grant, a new town sprung up on the Ohio River just above the mouth of the Big Scioto. Mention has been made of the survey of the site of that place, Alexandria, in 1787. This tract, comprising of 600 acres, was located by Alexander Parker for his brother, Col. Thomas Parker,of Frederick County, Virginia, and, as stated, the survey ws made by a party headed by John O'Bannon, deputy surveyor. Although it is said that a part of the town site, which had been cleared and cultivated to corn by the Indians, it was a round dozen of years before there was any recorded sale of town lots; according to an endorsement on the original Alexandria plat of sale of lots commenced in June, 1799, which date is accepted as the beginning of the town. Among the first inhabitants in Alexandria was Judge John Collins, William Russell, John Russell, Joseph Parrish, John Logan, William Lowry, Stephen Smith, James Munn, and William Brady. Between 1801 and 1804, David Gharky, John Simpson, Elijah Grover, William Jones and Samuel G. Jones settled in that place. It was soon discovered that Alexandria was on such low ground -- the highest part only fifty feet above low-water mark-- that any unusual rise of either the Ohio or the Scioto was almost sure to flood it. When Scioto County was created in 1803, however, Alexandria became its seat of justice. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ to be continued in part 18 C. ______________________________ ------------------------------ X-Message: #2 Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 18:37:09 -0500 From: "Ohio Archives EV1" To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <080401c5364a$8ee9e460$0300a8c0@margaret> Subject: Fw: Tid Bits -- Part 18 C. Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit ----- Original Message ----- From: "Darlene & Kathi kelley" To: Sent: Monday, March 14, 2005 1:03 AM Subject: Tid Bits -- Part 18 C. Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Darlene E. Kelley March 14, 2005. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Historical Collections of Ohio And Then They Went West Know Your Ohio by Darlene E. Kelley Tid Bits - Part 18 C. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Part 18- C Traxler Settles at Portsmouth In the meantime settlement had commenced about a mile above the mouth of the Big Scoto, on a high and attractive site. One Emmanuel Traxler, a German, had come to that locality as early as 1796 and built the first house within the present limits of Portsmouth. He had considerable means with him, and located with the express view of laying out a town, but hesitated to go far until he could enter his land in a regular way. But Mr. Traxler delayed to long, for the moment the land office was opened at Chillicothe in 1801, Henry Massie, a brother of Nathaniel who laid out that town, purchased several sections of land all around Traxler's claim, and in 1803 made the first plat of Portsmouth. It is said the name of the town was given by Massie at the request of Capt. Josiah Shackford, who was on the ground at the time of the purchase, and that he promised, if Massie complied with his request, to help build up the town. Thus Maj. Henry Massie, the surveyor, the land speculator and keen promotor, became the founder of Portsmouth, instead of the plodding German Carpnter and builder, Emmanuel Traxler, who soon went northward into Jackson County, where he died. Major Massie and Captain Shackford worked for their pet town with good results for many years. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Water Logged Alexandria Sinks About two years after Scioto County was organized and Alexandria became seat of Justice, that town was well under the Ohio River, and on Christmas day of 1808 it was three feet beneath its waters. Year by year as the floods recurred, the migrations to Portsmouth increased in number and frequency until 1816, when the new courthouse was ready for occupancy in the new county seat, Alexandria sunk out of sight, water logged and dreary. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The Origin of Jackson At the time another county seat was coming into sight, in the newly created County of Jackson. The house of William Givens, at the Scioto Salt Works, had been selected for the place of holding court until a permanent seat of Justice could be selected. The foregoing state of affairs resulted in the platting of the Town of Jackson --- known as the " north half " -- in May. 1817. That part of the original site was surveyed by a Mr. Fletcher, of Gallia County, and in 1819 the south half was laid out by Dr. Gabriel McNeel, a prominent physician of the county at that day, as well as its first surveyor. The courthouse was built on a crest of the town site, the gradual slope of which affords excellant drainage-- a marked contrast to the first county seat of Scioto. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Lawrence County and Burlington Although a few settlers straggled into what is now called Lawrence County previous to 1800, mainly Pennsylvania Dutch and Virginia Scotch-Irish, they were chiefly hunters and wanderers, without intention of permanent settlement. But sufficient remained to warrent a county organization in 1816, its name being adopted in honor of Capt. James Lawrence, a native of Burlington, New Jersey, and a gallant naval officer of the War of 1812. During the fall of the following year a town was laid out as the county seat, located at the southern extremety of the county and the southernmost bend of the Ohio River, also named Burlington. It was nearly opposite Catlettsburg, Kentucky. There the seat of Justice remained for thirty-five years. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Ironton and its Furnace Men In the meantime Ironton, ten miles to the northwest, had become the metropolis of the iron industries of the Hanging Rock Region, John and Thomas W. Means, John Campbell, Robert Hamilton, William Firmstone and others having established the fame of its furnaces throughout the country. To elucidate that statement we can do no better than to reproduce a newspaper article published in 1887, giving an account of the pioneer labors of John and Thomas W.Means, father and son, in the establishment of the first iron furnaces in the region. " In 1819, " says the paper, " there went from Spartensburg, South Caralina, to Manchester, Adams County, on the Ohio side of the river, a certain man named John Means, carrying his slaves with him. He was an Abolitionist, but not being able to manumit his slaves in his native state he sold his possessions there and, with his family and negroes, emigrated to the nearest point where he could set them free. " In 1826 John Means built a charcoal furnace near his home and began the manufacture of pig iron. The Union, as he named it, was the first iron furnace north of the Ohio in this district. In Ashland your correspondant met Thomas W. Means, a son of the pioneer furnace builder. This gentleman, now eighty three years old, has a vivid recollection of those days and hardships which all who made iron had to endure because of free-trade tendencies and the laws. In 1837, he leased the Union Furnace of his father, and ever since he has been connected with it as lessee and owner. At first they made from three to four tons a day, and when they increased the output to thirty tons a week it was considered a wonderful performance. " Speaking of those days, Mr. Means said: ' When I leased Union Furnace, corn sold for twelve and a half cents a bushel and wheat sold for twenty-four to twenty-six cents. Wages for competent laborers were only ten dollars a month. I made a trip to New Orleans and saw wheat sold there for a quarter of a dollar a bushel, and corn on the cob at the same price per barrel. " We used only maple sugar in those days, and paid for the commonest molasses thirty-two cents a gallon. Our woolen goods were woven on hand looms. It took six yards of calico to make a dress, and the material cost half a dollar a yard. There are more people in Irontown now than there were then in the county. We saw no gold and little silver coin, except in small pieces. Our circulation was chiefly bills of state banks, and those were continually breaking. From 1854 to 1861 I kept my furnace going, but sold very little iron-- only enough to keep me in ready money. " Charcoal iron was then worth from $ 10 to $14 per ton. In 1863 I had an accumulated stock of 16,000 tons. Next year it advanced to $40, which I thought a fine lift, but in 1864 it netted me $ 80 a ton. For eight years before the war nearly all the furance owners were in debt, but creditors didnot distress them, for they were afraid of iron, the only asset they could get, and so they carried their customers the best way they could, hoping all round for better times. We are all right and so is the country, if the fools will quit tariff meddling." +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ More of Lawrence County The Hanging Rock Iron Region extending into West Virginia, Kentucky, and the southern most part of Ohio is the vast mineral region containing iron ores, coal, limestone, and fire clay. Ironton, founded by the famous iron master, John Campbell, is in this region. During the Civil War, all production of the Hecia furnaces worked at capacity to furnish iron for the war. Seventeen of the Charcoal Iron furnaces were located in Lawrence County. They produced Pig Iron which was used to manufacture many items,from household goods to war machines and hardware. The iron produced by the regions furnaces from 1818 to 1916 was found to be not only better that other irons produced in the United States, but also superior to te best English made iron. The Hecia Furnace product was found to be of superior quality needed for great strength and durability equaled by two other furnaces--- one in Spain and other in Asia Minor. The Union Furnace, the first in Lawrence County,was built by John Means in 1826, several miles north of Hanging Rock. This was also the first furnace North of the Ohio River. The last furnace in Lawrence County to cose down was the Pine Grove furnace. Growing conditions in Lawrence County were fond to be excellant for growing fruit trees, including the apple. In 1816, Joel Gillette went to Rufus Putnam Nursery in Marietta, Ohio, and picked up a bundle of apple seedlings to take home for planting on his farm in Rome Township. While he was planting the seedlings, he noticed one quite different from the rest. He gave this worthless " worthless " twig to his young son, Alanson, who then planted it on the river bank about two miles above Procterville. After a few years, Joel Gillette's orchard was producing well. Alanson remembered is tree he had planted, went to check on it, and found it loaded with beautiful bright red apples, clustered as thick as grapes. The same apple became known by the name of the township in which it was grown-- being called the Rome Beauty. It is a hearty late ripening apple that keeps well and is good for baking and cooling and eating fresh. The popularity of the Rome Beauty Apple is such that it spread out of Lawrence County nd has become a standard product in many apple orchards, not only in our country but in others as well. Big and small boats of all kinds moved up and down the Ohio River delivering quantities of people and cargo to the docks and landings of Lawrence County. There were skiffs, flat boats, packet boats, passenger boats, and ferries to recall a few. Two of the well known names in the Riverboat Business, Davidson and Bay are found in the following quotes from material written by David F. Thomas, another Lawrence County Riverboat man. " Between 1860-1880 men born in Lawrence County, Ohio controlled approximately 75% of thepacket boat trade on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Mr. W.F. Davidson from South Point, Ohio, was the largest single owner of boats in his day, owning more than 40. Records show that Lawrence County, Ohio men at one time controlled more steamboat property than any other County on inland rivers; and some of the best pilots, masters and engineers came from Lawrence County, Ohio. " George Bay lived in Procterville, and his brother William lived in Irontown, Ohio. They were well known all over the western waters as the leading steamboatmen on the Ohio River." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Tid Bits to be continued in part 19. -------------------------------- End of OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest V05 Issue #30 ******************************************