Chillicothe, Ohio

“ By this process he found that in 1840 the centre of gravity of the population was at a point in Virginia near the eastern foot of the Appalachian chain, and near the parallel of 39° N. latitude. In 1850 this centre had moved westward fifty-seven miles across the mountains, to a point nearly south of Parkersburg, Virginia. In 1860 it had moved westward eighty-two miles, to a point nearly south of Chillicothe, Ohio. In 1870 it had reached a point near Wilmington, Clinton county, Ohio, about forty-five miles north-east of Cincinnati. ”

“ He never betrayed the anxiety for his wife and children that constantly tormented him, for fear of rousing the suspicions of the Indians; but when he reached Old Chillicothe, and found a large party painted and ready to take the warpath in a new attack upon Boones-borough, he could bear it no longer. He showed no sign of his misery, however; he joined the Indians in all their sports as before, but he was always watching for some chance to escape, and one morning in the middle of June he stole away from his captors. ”

“ The "Seven Ranges," lying directly south of the Reserve, 100 drew emigrants from Pennsylvania, with some from farther south. The Scioto valley attracted chiefly Virginians, who early made Chillicothe their principal center. In the west, and north of the Symmes tract, Kentuckians poured in by the thousands.
Thus in a decade Ohio became a frontier melting-pot. Puritan, Cavalier, Irishman, Scotch-Irishman, German—all were poured into the crucible. Ideals clashed, and differing customs grated harshly. But the product of a hundred years of cross-breeding was a splendid type of citizenship. ”

“ He surveyed the first settlement within the Virginia military district of Ohio in 1791 between the Scioto and Little Miami rivers, and in 1793-'6 was engaged in an extensive survey of the same region, in the latter year laying out on his own land the town of Chillicothe. At the beginning of the 19th century he was one of the largest land-owners in Ohio. He was active in the early Indian wars, was state senator, and for a term speaker, major-general of militia for several years, and a member of the Ohio constitutional convention in 1802. ”

“ Price of flour, 6 dollars a barrel; fresh beef, 61⁄2 cents, and butter 20 cents per lb.
July 17th.—Set out again, crossing the Ohio into the state of that name, and take the road to Chillicothe, 74 miles from Maysville. Stop about mid-way for the night, travelling over a country generally hilly, and not of good soil, and passing through West Union,40 a place situated as a town ought to be, upon high and unlevel lands; the inhabitants have fine air to breathe, and plenty of food to eat and drink, and, if they keep their houses and streets and themselves clean, I will ensure them long lives. ”

“ Besides, many other donations were made for roads and other purposes, making a total of over eight million acres, the greater part of which went to creditors of the Government. Land was the only thing the United States had available to cancel the war obligations, and soldiers and others gladly accepted land certificates in lieu of those of silver or gold.
Land in body was more desirable than town lots. When Chillicothe was made capital of the territory it had about twenty cabins promiscuously located among the timber, which had not yet been cut down to designate the streets. ”

“ GRAY, EDWARD, Pvt., 14 North St., Auburn, New York. GRIESHEIMER, RAY. A., Pvt. 1st class, 319 S. Paint St., Chillicothe, O. GUIRINO, VINCENZO, Pvt., Dennison, Ohio. HALL, CARL J., Pvt., R.F.D. 2, Circleville, Ohio. HARTE, GEORGE B., Corp., 5807 Adelphia Ave., Cincinnati, Ohio. HASSENBUSCH, CHARLES, Pvt., Mt. Healthy, Ohio. HATFIELD, EARL A., Pvt., R.F.D. 3, Waverly, Ohio. HAYNES, PLUMMER, Pvt. 1st class, R.F.D. 10, Chillicothe, Ohio. HEDGES, STANLEY M., Pvt., 96 W. Fifth St., Chillicothe, Ohio. HEIBEL, CHARLES W., Mechanic, 300 S. Caldwell St., Chillicothe, Ohio. ”

“ Consequently I never felt like advising others to follow the misdirections of that consul at Cleveland. But after traveling so many miles since, and not being misled by any one to amount to anything, it is curious, upon entering Ohio again, and applying to the consul for the best roads to Chillicothe, that he, even with the help of the Ohio State Road Book, should be unable to send me out of Cincinnati in the right direction. The map that goes with the road book is a splendid map. ”

“ The early official correspondence concerning the route of the road shows plainly that it was really built for the benefit of the Chillicothe and Cincinnati settlements, which embraced a large portion of Ohio’s population. The opening of river traffic in the first two decades of the century, however, had the effect of throwing the line of the road further northward through the capitals of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. ”

“ An outlying band had had, from before Gist's day, a small town across the Ohio, the site of Springville; and it was here that George Croghan had his stone trading house, which was doubtless, after the manner of the times, a frontier fortress. In the French and Indian war (1758) , the Shawanese, tiring of continual conflict, withdrew from their Ohio River settlements to Old (or Upper) Chillicothe, and thus closed the once important fur-trade at the mouth of the Scioto. ”

“ A party of thirty-three men was immediately raised to cut off their 077 retreat. These were divided into three companies, of ten men each;—Simon Kenton commanding one,—Baker another, and James Ward the third. The whole party crossed the Ohio river at Limestone, and aimed to strike the Scioto above the mouth of Paint creek. After crossing this latter stream, near where the great road from Maysville to Chillicothe now crosses it, evening came on, and they halted for the night. ”

“ In a few neighborhoods settlers from the Southern states were helpers. These persons had left the South on account of slavery; they preferred to raise their families away from influences they felt to be harmful; and they pitied the slave. It was easy for them to give shelter to the self-freed negro. In south central Ohio, in a district of four or five counties locally known as the old Chillicothe Presbytery, a number of the early preachers were anti-slavery men from the Southern [32] states. ”

“ Burr, disclosed the details of the expedition. Graham informed Blannerhassett to the contrary and sought to persuade him from participation, but without avail; then he proceeded to Chillicothe, where the Ohio legislature was in session and interviewed Governor Tiffin. The governor sent a message to the legislature and that body, in secret session, passed an act to suppress the expedition. Thereupon the Ohio authorities seized the boats and provisions on the Ohio shore and the Ohio recruits abandoned the expedition. ”

“ XX. Ancient Work, Liberty Township, Ross Co. Ohio. (eight miles S. E. of Chillicothe) .
The first of the series here represented, is situated on the east bank of the Scioto river, and occupies the third bottom or terrace. The ground upon which it occurs is level. The walls of the entire work are unaccompanied by a ditch, and are slight, nowhere more than four feet in height. The embankment of the square is perceptibly heavier than that of the small circle, which is also heavier than that of the larger one. The square work measures ten hundred and eighty feet upon each side ”

“ The road is covered with dust arising from the great number of horses, waggons, &c. conveying people from a methodist camp-meeting just held in the neighbourhood, at which it was calculated that nearly four thousand attended; the convocation had continued for several days, during which these people had slept upon the ground in the intervals between praying and preaching.
September 2d. At Chillicothe,24 Ohio. Watson's [61] hotel; the wit's mode of spelling it (Hothell) is more significant, for the beds swarm with bugs, and the thermometer is at 86° in the shade. ”

“ The soil of the town being of a gravelly kind, the streets are generally clean. The houses are of free stone, brick or timber clapboarded, the first of which is got in the neighbourhood, is of a whitish brown colour, and excellent for building. They are mostly very good, and are well painted. On the whole, I think Chilicothe is not exceded in beauty of plan, situation, or appearance, by any town I have seen in the western part of the United States. ”

“ See some very rich lands on passing Paint Creek, and on approaching the Scioto river; these, like all the bottom lands, having a coat of sediment from their river in addition to the original soil, are by far the richest. Chillicothe is a handsome town, regularly laid out, but stands upon a flat. I hate the very sight of a level street, unless there be every thing necessary to carry off all filth and water. The air is very fine, so far as it is not contaminated by the pools of water which stand about the town as green as grass. Main sewers, like those at Philadelphia, are much wanted. ”

“ The country was rough and Kenton could not at all protect himself from the brambles through which they passed. Thus they rode all day. When night came, their prisoner was bound to the earth as before. The next day they reached the Indian village, which was called Chilicothe, on the Miami river, forty or fifty miles west of the present [Pg 145] city of Chilicothe, Ohio. A courier was sent forward, to inform the village of their arrival. Every man, woman and child came running out, to view the prisoner. ”

“ As the water evaporates at the mouth of the furnace, what remains in the kettles is laded into those near the chimney, and these kettles are again filled with water, so that the water near the chimney is in a constant state of crystallization. Tallow and Indian meal are used to promote the crystalization. It requires about 600 gallons of water at these works for one bushel of salt. There are no settlers near the salt-works, excepting those concerned in making salt.
Chilicothe, an Indian name, signifying town, is situated on the west bank of the Scioto, where the State road crosses the river. ”

“ It contains about 60 houses, a log court house and jail, and a large log Presbyterian meeting house. It is the seat of justice for Licking county. This tract of country is well settled as far east as Zanesville. The land father northward continues level, but is much of it low and swampy, and is thinly settled.
South of the State road as it approaches the Scioto, twenty-eight miles in a southeasterly direction from Chilicothe and 83 from Galliopolis on the Ohio, are the Great Scioto salt-works. The land is hilly and covered with a heavy growth of timber. ”

“ Our canals are no longer the great avenues of commerce, because the modern needs and means are different from those of former days, but our schools are still the royal roads, the people’s roads, to and from the world of letters and arts. Ohio is now second to no other state in her public school system: and well-nigh three-quarters of a century ago, when General Lafayette visited Cincinnati in his tour of the Republic which he had helped to found, nothing surprised and charmed him more than the greeting which the children of her public schools gave him. ”

“ Early in its career the great difficulty and expense of transporting goods across the mountains and down the winding Ohio had forced the people into manufacturing, and Cincinnati became the great workshop, as well as the exchange, of the vast and populous valley of the Ohio. Its wealth was legitimately earned. It was Cincinnati which originated and perfected the system which packs fifteen bushels of corn into a pig, and packs that pig into a barrel, and sends him over the mountains and over the ocean to feed mankind. ”

“ Across the Ohio, through the blinding storm, the dark outlines of Pittsburg and Allegheny City are spangled with electric lamps which throw toward us long, shimmering lances of light, in which the mighty stream, gray, mysterious, tempest-tossed, is seen to be surging onward with majestic sweep. ”

“ The city of Cincinnati occupies a remarkable site, within a fine basin of hills, on the Ohio river, which had for its older occupants the remarkable people now referred to. But the growth of the modern city has swept away every vestige of their old earthworks ”

“ In all the glowing enthusiasm of youth, the youngsters seek their fortunes in the great, fertile wilderness of northern Ohio, and eventually achieve fair success, though their progress is hindered and sometimes halted by adventures innumerable. ”

“ It is an error to say that the Ohio is a river with lofty banks. Those continuous hills, around which this river winds and curls and bends and loops, are simply the hills of the country through which the river had to find its way. We were astonished, in getting to the top of Cincinnati, after a panting walk up a zigzag road, to discover that we had only mounted to the summit of one billow in an ocean of hills.
There is always a reason why a city is just where it is. Nothing is more controlled by law than the planting, the growth, and the decline of cities. ”

“ Among the citizens of Ohio, few are more worthy of mention than Rev. Anson Smyth. There is not a township in the State in which his influence has not been felt, nor a school district in which his name is not honored. He has labored to uplift the intellectual, social, and moral status of our great commonwealth, and his impress is left on the highest and most sacred interests of the people. ”