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HOCKING COUNTY was formed March 1, 1818,
from Ross, Athens and Fairfield. The land is generally hilly and broken, but
along the main streams level and fertile. Area about 400 square miles.In 1887
the acres cultivated were 49,087; in pasture, 88,976; woodland, 49,726; lying
waste, 2,316; produced in wheat, 323,884 bushels; rye, 2,667; buckwheat, 669;
oats, 47,195; barley, 792; corn, 303,707; meadow hay, 11,504 tons; clover hay,
848; potatoes, 24,083 bushels; tobacco, 110 pounds; butter, 293,822; cheese,
150; sorghum, 4,244 gallons; maple syrup, 928; honey, 2,550 pounds; eggs,
267,750 dozen; grapes, 6,865 pounds; wine, 55 gallons; sweet potatoes, 1,729
bushels; apples, 12,027; peaches, 2,971; pears, 202; wool, 199,072 pounds; milch
cows owned, 3,487. Tons of coal mined, 853,063, being exceeded only by Perry,
Jackson and Athens county. School census, 1888, 7,982; teachers, 152. Miles of
railroad track, 80. Population of Hocking in 1820, 2080; 1830, 4,008; 1840,
9,735; 1860, 17,057; 1880, 21,126, of whom 18,459 were born in Ohio, 631 in
Pennsylvania, 430 Virginia, 114 Kentucky, 96 New York, 59 Indiana, 423 German
Empire, 198 Ireland, 129 England and Wales, 37 Scotland, 18 France and 13
British America. Census of 1890, 22,658.
The name of this county is a contraction of that of the
river Hockhocking, which flows through it. Hock-hock-ing, in the language of the
Delaware Indians, signifies a bottle; the Shawnees have it,
Wea-tha-kagh-qua, i.e., bottle river John White, in the American Pioneer,
says: “About six or seven miles northwest of Lancaster there is a fall in the
Hockhocking, of about twenty feet; above the fall, for a short distance, the
creek is very narrow and straight, forming a neck, while at the falls it
suddenly widens on each side and swells into the appearance of the body of a
bottle. The whole, when seen from above, appears exactly in the shape of a
bottle, and from this fact the Indians called the creek Hockhocking. This
tract of country once belonged to the Wyandots, and a considerable town of that
tribe, situated at the confluence of a small stream with the river, one mile
below Logan, gives the name Oldtown to the creek. The abundance of bears, deer,
elks, and occasionally buffaloes, with which the hills and valley were stored,
together with the river fishing, must have made this a desirable residence.
About five miles southeast of Logan are two mounds, of the usual conical form,
about sixty feet in diameter at the base, erected entirely from stones,
evidently brought from a great distance to their present location.
For the annexed historical
sketch of the county we are indebted to a resident.
Early in the spring of 1798 several families from
different places, passing through the territory of the Ohio Company, settled at
various points on the river, some of whom remained, while others again started
in pursuit of “the far west.” The first actual settler in the county was
Christian WESTENHAVER, from near Hagerstown, Md., of German extraction, a good,
practical farmer and an honest man, who died in 1829, full of years, and leaving
a numerous race of descendants. In the same spring came the BRIANS, the PENEES
and the FRANSISCOS, from Western Virginia, men renowned for feats of daring
prowess in hunting the bear, an animal at that time extremely numerous. As an
example of the privations of pioneer life, when Mr. WESTENHAVER ascended the
river with his family, a sack of corn-meal constituted no mean part of his
treasurers. By the accidental upsetting of his canoe, this unfortunately became
wet, and consequently blue and mouldy. Nevertheless it was kept, and only on
special occasions served out with their bountiful supply of bears’ meat, venison
and turkeys, until the approaching autumn yielded them potatoes and roasting
ears, which they enjoyed with a gusto that epicures might well envy. And when
fall gave the settlers a rich harvest of Indian corn, in order to reduce it to
meal they had to choose between the hominy mortar, or a toilsome journey of
nearly thirty miles over an Indian trace to the mill.
Notwithstanding these drawbacks, there is but little doubt that for many
years there was more enjoyment of real life than ordinarily falls to a more
artificial state of society. True, though generally united, disputes would
sometimes arise, and when other modes of settlement were unavailing, the last
resort, a duel, decided all. But in this no “Colt’s revolver” was put in
requisition, but the pugilistic ring was effectual. Here the victor’s wounded
honor was fully satisfied, and a treat of “old Monongahela” (rye whiskey) by the
vanquished restored perfect good feelings among all parties. As to deciding
disputes by law, it was almost unthought of. It is true, there were some few men
ycleped justices of the peace, generally selected for strong natural sense, who
admirably answered all the purposes of their election. One, a very worthy old
gentleman, being present at what he considered an unlawful demonstration,
commanded the peace, which command not being heeded, he immediately threw of his
“warmus,” rolled up his sleeves, and shouted, “Boys, I’ll be --- if you shan’t
keep the peace,” which awful display of magisterial power instantly dispersed
the terror-stricken multitude. This state of things continued with slow but
almost imperceptible alterations until 1818, when the number of inhabitants, and
their advance in civilization, obtained the organization of the
county.
The warmus above
spoken of was a working garment, similar in appearance to a “roundabout,” and
having been made of red flannel was elastic and easy to the wearer. It was not known,
we think, to any extent outside of Pennsylvania and her emigrants, and we think originated with the Germans. In our original
tour over the State, in 1846, when we saw a large number of lobster-back people
on the farms or about the village taverns, we always knew that region had been
settled by Pennsylvania Germans.
Logan in 1846.— Logan, the county-seat, is on the
Hockhocking river and canal, one mile below the great fall of the Hockhocking
river, 47 miles southeast of Columbus, 18 below Lancaster, and 38 miles east of
Chillicothe. It was laid out about the year 1816, and contains 4 stores, 1
Presbyterian, and 1 Methodist church, and about 600 inhabitants. The view, taken
near the American hotel, shows in the centre the court-house, an expensive and
substantial structure, and on the extreme right the printing-office.—Old Edition.
Logan was platted by Gov. WORTHINGTON. The water-power of the Hocking at the falls
was utilized by him, to the extent of a saw-mill and a couple of
corn-burrs. In
1825 Logan claimed a population of 250. The place did not get a start until about
1840, from the opening of the Hocking canal in 1838, which furnished an outlet
for the produce of the valley. In 1839 the town was incorporated; C. W.
JAMES was the first mayor.
LOGAN, the
county-seat of Hocking, is on the C. H. V. & T. Railroad, and on the Hocking
river and canal (a branch of the Ohio canal), 50 miles southeast of Columbus. It
is located on the edge of the Hocking coal and iron region on the east and
south, and close to a rich agricultural region on the west and north.
County Officers, 1888: Auditor, William M. BOWEN; Clerk, D. H. LAPPEN;
Commissioners, Henry TRIMMER, John T. NUTTER, George MARKS; Coroner, Geo. G.
GGAGE; Infirmary Directors, Philip HANSEL, Andrew WRIGHT, Isaac MATHIAS; Probate
Judge, William T. ACKER; Prosecuting Attorney, Virgil C. LOWRY; Recorder, David
M. O’HARE; Sheriff, John GALLAGHER; Surveyor, James W. DAVIS; Treasuers, John NOTESTONE, Benjamin H. ALLEN. City Officers: A.
STEIMAN, Mayor; George G. GAGE, Clerk; W. P. PRICE, Solicitor; Andrew HALL, Jr.,
Treasurer; Edward JUERGENSMEIER, Commissioner; Geo. DEISHLEY, Marshal. Newspapers: Hocking Sentinel,
Democratic, Lewis GREEN, editor and publisher; Republican Gazette, Ohio Democrat, Democratic, A. H. WILSON, editor; G. W.
BREHM proprietor. Churches: 1 Catholic, 2 Lutheran, 2 Methodist, 1 Presbyterian. Banks: First Bank
of Logan, John WALKER, president; Chas. E. BOWEN, cashier; People’s, L. A.
CULVER, president; R. D. CULVER, cashier.
Manufactures and Employees.— Frank Kessler, doors,
sash, etc., 6; Reynes Wellman, flour, etc., 9; The
Logan Woollen Mills, blankets, etc., 10; The Logan Manufacturing Co., furniture,
etc., 54; C. H. V. & T. Railroad Shops, railroad repairs, 45; Motherwell
Iron and Steel Co., bridges, etc., 83.— State Report, 1888 Population in
1880, 2,666. School census, 1888, 1,125. Capital invested in industrial establishments,
$187,500. Value of annual product, $323,000.— Labor Statistics,
1887 U. S. Census, 1890, 3,119.
The wild scenery in the
western part of the county was first brought to general notice, in “Silliman’s
Journal of Science,” by Dr. S. P. HILDRETH, who was on the first geological
survey of Ohio in 1837. His account, as given in our first edition, is here
repeated:
One of the favorite descents of the Indians was down the
waters of Queer creek, a tributary of Salt creek, and opened a direct course to
their town of old Chillicothe. It is a wild, romantic ravine, in which the
stream has cut a passage, for several miles in extent, through the solid rock,
forming mural cliffs, now more than one hundred and twenty feet in height.They
are also full of caverns and grottos, clothed with dark evergreens of the
hemlock and cedar.Near the outlet of this rocky and narrow valley there stood, a
few years since, a large beech tree, on which was engraven, in legible
characters, “This is the road to hell, 1782.”These words were probably traced by
some unfortunate prisoner then on his way to the old Indian town of
Chillicothe.
This whole region is full of interesting scenery, and affords some of the
most wild and picturesque views of any other of equal extent in the State of
Ohio. It was one of the best hunting grounds for bear; as its numerous
grottos and caverns afforded them the finest retreats for their winter
quarters. These caverns were also valuable on another account, as furnishing vast
beds of nitrous earth, from which the old hunters, in time of peace, extracted
large quantities of for
the manufacture of gunpowder, at which art some of them were great proficients. One of these
grottos, well known to the inhabitants of the vicinity by the name of the “Ash
Cave,” contains a large heap of ashes piled up by the side of the rock which
forms one of its boundaries.It has been estimated, by different persons,
to contain several thousand bushels.The writer visited this grotto in 1837, and
should say there was at that time not less than three or four hundred bushels of
clean ashes, as dry and free from moisture as they were on the day they were
burned. Whether they are the refuse of the old saltpetre-makers, or were piled up there in the
course of ages, by some of the aborigines
who made these caverns their dwelling-places, remains as yet a subject
for conjecture.
These ravines and grottos have all been formed in the out-cropping edges
of the sandstone and conglomerate rocks which underlie the coal fields of Ohio,
by the wasting action of the weather, and attrition of running water.The process is yet
going on in several streams on the southwest side of Hocking county, where the water has a descent of thirty,
forty or even fifty feet at a single pitch, and a fall of eighty or a hundred in
a few rods.The falls of the Cuyahoga and the Hockhocking are cut in the same geological
formation.The
water, in some of these branches, is of sufficient volume to turn the machinery
of a grist or saw-mill, and being lined and overhung with the graceful foliage
of the evergreen hemlock, furnishes some of the wildest and most beautiful
scenery.This
is especially so at the “Cedar Falls,” and “the Falls of Black Jack.”The country is at
present but partially settled, but when good roads are opened and convenient
inns established, no portion of Ohio can afford a richer treat for the lovers of
wild and picturesque views.
There is a tradition among the credulous settlers of this retired spot,
that lead ore was found here and worked by the Indians; and many a weary day has
been spent in its fruitless search among the cliffs and grottos which line all
the streams of the region. They often find ashes and heaps of cinders;
and the “pot holes” in a bench of the sandrock in the “Ash Cave,” evidently worn by the
water at a remote period, when the stream ran here, although it is now eighty or
one hundred feet lower, and ten or twelve rods farther north, they imagine, were
in some way used for smelting the lead.
As the great natural curiosities
of the county are becoming more known and appreciated, we think it best to
describe them fully, and this we are enabled to do by a communication from the
pen of one perfectly familiar with them, Dr. O. C. FARQUHAR, of Zanesville.
ROCK HOUSE
Hocking
county possesses more points of interest to the lovers of nature than can be
found in any other portion of the State.Among the many prominent local places of
notoriety and resort that are to be found in this county, nestled away behind
the hills, or in the valleys of this seeming wilderness, are the ASH CAVE, ROCK
HOUSE, DEAD MAN’S CAVE, CEDAR FALLS, ROCK BRIDGE, and SALTPETRE CAVE, all stand
out in the foreground, although it is impossible for one to go amiss here, who
is in search of nature’s most grand and beautiful.The Rock House is located
about twelve miles southwest of Logan, the county-seat, and six miles in an air
line from Adelphi station, Ross county, on a farm of 300 acres, owned by Col. F.
F. REMPEL, of Logan, who is public-spirited and entertaining, and has recently
erected a very simple and comfortable hotel on the Rock House grounds, for the
perfect accommodation of the throngs of visitors who come here during the summer
months, from all parts of the country.
The Rock House is a house within a wall of massive
sandstone formation, which rises to the height of 166 feet, and is covered here
and there with ferns and lichens. From out this solid wall of rock, nature’s
means of time and the elements have perhaps hewn out this vast Gothic hall and
its attendant chambers, giving it windows and portals, and great sandstone
columns to bear its massive roof. This cave is wonderful for its peculiar
formation.It is about 350 feet in length, 25 feet high, and fully 25 feet in
breadth. Instead of its leading into the bosom of the cliff or rocky wall,
through a small aperture, as is common with most subterranean passages, the
rocks have been rifted lengthwise, forming two Gothic doorways at about half the
height of the precipice, affording the means of entrance; while along its front
are arranged five massive sandstone pillars; the openings between them give the
appearance of Gothic windows. Here again it appears marvellous how much of human
art and skill has been displayed by nature; and yet all is devoid of the
handiwork of man. Near the southern end of the cavern is a shelf or ledge
jutting out beyond the doorway, and above this over-hangs the frowning brow of
the great precipice, over which there trickles a little stream of water at both
the east and west ends of this lofty precipice of rocks. In taking a position in
the valley or ravine at the base of this rocky wall and its cliffs, the main
entrance which leads to the wild, weird-like, mysterious chambers within, and
then east the eyes well up towards the top of the cliff-rocks, permitting the
vision to range along the whole frontage for a distance of 500 yard, the view
thus afforded is sublime and grand in the extreme. The whole face of this
wall is so evenly and beautifully carved by nature’s eroding processes, that the
even regularity and beauty of the designs appear to show beyond a doubt that
some experienced workman and carver of stone could alone have shaped these
grotesque, artistic and fancy forms. “Within this house not made with hands”
there are doors, dormitories, windows, rocky porches, rooms, halls, stair-ways
and chambers, large enough to contain more than a thousand people. At the door
of this cavern can be seen the form of a book cut in the rock, and on the pages
the following letters appears: I.T.F.B.R.B.A.R; -- I.T.F.F.A.W.M.T.A.W., which
translated means, “In the fall Buck Run bananas are ripe. In the frosty fall a
wise man takes a wife.” Buck Run bananas is the neighborhood vernacular for
paw-paws. There are countless unique inscriptions on the rocks hereabouts. One
can very pleasantly, and with profit too, spend a month here delving around
among nature’s wonders, as only found in the howling wilderness of the Hocking
hills, whose citizens are always proud of their barefooted Jay-bird orator.
From another source we learn the cave has six openings, including
entrances and windows. These openings are bounded by stone columns,
as expressed to us in various colors, red, yellow and green. The dimensions are
also thus given: Front of precipice in which it is situated, 133 feet; length of
cavern, 200 feet; width 25 to 40, and roof from 30 to 50 feet. In the Ohio
Geological Report for 1870 is a
brief description and a picture. We now give our correspondent’s description of the other curiosities.
ASH CAVE
One of the most striking and beautiful scenes in Hocking county is so
named from the vast quantity of ashes it contains.It has been
variously estimated by different persons to contain several thousand
bushels.Even
as late as this year (1886) there are evidences of many bushels of wood ashes,
nearly as pure, dry and free from moisture as on the day when they were
burned.The
source of this unnatural ashy mystery remains unexplained.It has been
conjectured that they are the refuse of old saltpetre or nitrate of potash makers, or whether
they were piled up in this cave during the course of ages by some of the
aborigines who made these caverns their places of abode, are at best only
visionary and speculative.The cave is formed by a projecting cliff at the source of a little
stream, whose deep valley or gulch parts the bold, rock-ribbed hills whose
summits look down upon the tops of the loftiest pines, which grow at their
base.At this
point, which is the highest rock-exposure in Hocking county, the ledge is not
less than 125 feet high, and reaches or projects over from the base not less
than 100 feet, forming a semicircular cavern nearly 700 feet in length, ninety
feet deep, and about the same in height.At one side of this semicircle, near the
rock, lies the great pile of ashes which gives this enchanting and mysterious
cavern the name of Ash Cave.
From the centre of the overhanging roof a streamlet leaps into a pool below, lending additional grandeur, beauty and charms to the before sublime
picture. For more than a quarter of a mile distance down this valley, on either side, rises
to a height of from eighty to 100 feet, a rocky ledge, which for diversity and
elegant naturalness forms a scenic view seldom if ever surpassed.
From some points or positions of observation, the eye takes
in the entire length and breadth of this rocky ledge, from base to summit.At
other points are presented the furrowed erosions of the rocky faces, partly
hidden by vines that clamber up their sides, and the topmost branches of the
scraggy pines that grow up from below.This peculiar, beautiful, weird and
extensive cavern, and the scenery in its vicinity, is located in Benton
township, about twenty-one miles southwest of Logan, the county-seat. Thousands
of people visit the place each summer, generally making one journey take them to
both the Rock House, only six miles distant from the cave. Ohio can furnish no
more beautiful scenery than is to be found in this
county.
This natural rocky wonder is situated in Good-Hope township, Hocking county, on the Hocking river, and
the line of the Columbus, Hocking Valley and Toledo Railway, about midway
between Lancaster and Logan. This curiosity is a sandstone formation, the
under side forming an arch of about thirty degrees curvature. The bridge is level
on the top, ranges from ten to twenty feet wide, and is entirely detached from
all adjoining rock for a distance of nearly 100 feet. The span, measured from the under side, is about 150 feet, and is
at an elevation of about fifty feet from the bottom of the gulch it spans. The location and
easy accessibility, together with the romantic, wild-like place, its fine shade
and picturesque surroundings, have made it a favorite site for picnic excursions
from all points along the line of the Columbus, Hocking Valley and Toledo Railway.
COLONEL
WHITTLESEY’S REMINISCENCES
In the summer of 1886, a few weeks before the decease of Colonel Charles
WHITTLESEY (see page 523), he gave us orally some interesting items, gathered
when on geological surveys of Ohio, about forty-five years before. “Early in this
century,” said he, “before the establishment of courts to try culprits, there
was a rude system of justice established by the people. The wilderness region — the hill-country
of Southeastern Ohio — at times suffered from the crimes
of scoundrels who stole horses from the poor settlers and sometimes committed
murder. Whenever they were caught, and evidence certain, the people hung or shot
them with but little formality. A considerable number of desperadoes were thus disposed of; but the facts did not go out to the public, as it was before
the days of newspapers.
In the north part of Hocking county (the name of the township I don’t
recollect, only that it was on the south side of S. W. 1/4 of section 24) is a
cave called Thieves’
Cave, where the horse-thieves gathered their horses — more properly a rock
shelter, shelving towards the rear. It was in the form of an ellipse, about 130
feet long and thirty feet to the rear. In the beginning of the century horses were
brought here. Here the horse-thieves lived and hunted. As
late as 1872 horse-manure was found by me while exploring it
geologically. Anciently there was a hunters’ trail on the height of land between Lost
Run and the West Fork of Snow Fork. This was only a short distance from the
cave. Shortly
after the war of 1812, say about 1816, a man with his family, moving West, was overtaken by winter and out of money, about a mile and a half northeast from Thieves’ Cave, on the West Fork of
Snow Fork, near where it is crossed by the county line of Hocking and
Perry. He found there a sand-stone block, which, separated from the main cliff, fell and
stood upright, thus forming with the main cliff, two vertical walls. He closed up the
rear end and made a door at the other. His only light was from the open door. He had plenty of
wood and water. He made shoes all winter for the sparse settlers, and in
spring had money enough to pursue his journey. Lost Run derived its name from a
hunter lost.Years after his skeleton was found with gun by his side.He had
evidently been sitting by a tree and had frozen to
death.
ONE OF “THE OLD GUARD” AN
OHIO PIONEER
There died in Logan, in June,
1885, Christopher STAHLEY , aged 104 years and 10
months. He was a “last survivor” of the grand army of Napoleon; a native of
Alsace; a typical veteran of the wars, scarred and crippled. He was a man of
culture, and grew eloquent when describing his campaigns; and, like all of
Napoleon’s soldiers, adored his leader and worshipped his memory. We give
herewith extracts from Stahley’s story, as related to the correspondent of the
Cincinnati Enquirer.
“I became a soldier at fifteen, and was one of
the thirty thousand men who went with Napoleon to Egypt, and was one of the
first to enter the city of Malta. I was with my command at the Pyramids, and
participated in the terrible conflict with the Mamelukes Thence across the
desert and through the Isthmus of Suez to Gaza and Jaffa, and saw the 1,500 put
to death for breaking their parole, and helped to annihilate the allied army of
18,000 at Aboukir “It was in 1804 that we helped to proclaim him Emperor, and
saw the preparations made to invade England. But England was spared and Austria
punished instead. “Three years of preparation and we were on the road to the
Capital of Russia in that memorable campaign of 1812. There were 480,000 of us
who went forth to glory. Less than half that number returned, and the most of
them after being detained as prisoners. I saw them fall by battalions at
Smolensk and Borodino, and perish by grand divisions on the retreat from Moscow
to Smorgoni I personally attended the Emperor to France, when he bade adieu to
his soldiers at the latter city.
“I was one of the Old Guard. There is a blank in
my memory, and I do not know how I got back to Paris; but I found myself there,
and learned that my old commander was a prisoner at St. Helena. I had taken part
in fifty engagements, great and small, and had seen men die by the thousand; but
that death affected me more than all the rest put together.
“In
1822, in company with my wife, I to America. We reached Pittsburg by stage. From
there we floated down the Ohio on a flat-boat to the mouth of the Muskingum, and
ascended that river to Zanesville in a canoe. From Zanesville I trundled all my
earthly possessions in a wheelbarrow to St. Joseph’s, near Somerset, where I
bought a farm and settled down. Then began my disasters. My oldest son was with
me in the forest hewing logs for a barn, and by a false stroke of the broad axe
cut off my thumb and finger. A few years later a vicious horse kicked me in the
forehead and left this scar that looks like a sabre cut. The next year I fell
from a tobacco-house I was helping to raise, and broke four ribs and my
collar-bone. Ten years later I slipped and fell into a threshing-machine, and I
had my foot torn off. A few years ago I was on my way to church, and my horse
ran away, threw me out of the carriage, shattered my elbow, and left me with a
stiff arm.I am in constant dread of meeting a fatal accident. Had I remained in
the grand army of the Emperor I would feel perfectly
safe.”
TRIP TO THE HOCKING VALLEY COAL MINES.
The coal mining
interests of the Hocking valley have developed enormously within the past ten
years.Immense quantities of this coal are carried by rail to Lake Erie, and
thence transported by water to points on the lakes, while large quantities of it
are reshipped by rail at Duluth and other points, for consumption in the
Northwestern States. The operators of the Hocking valley have ever been ready to
take advantage of new improvements in mining machinery and labor-saving devices
to increase the output of their mines. An account of a recent visit of the
members of the Ohio Institute of Mining Engineers, for purposes of inspection,
was published in the We make extracts there from
The first stop was made near Straitsville,
where No. 11 mine, owned by the Columbus and Hocking Coal and Iron Company, was
visited and the thickness of the great vein was noted. The next stop was made at
Sand Run, where the box-car loading machine was in operation. This machine is
truly wonderful in its mechanism. The coal runs from a chute into the box-car
door, where the coal is received on a portable platform run in through the
opposite door.There is a steam-shovel attached to this platform, which works
from right to left, throwing the coal to each end of the car. The machine is
worked by steam and is under the control of an operator, who regulates the speed
of the engine. This labor-saving device takes the place of four men, and with it
a box-car can be loaded as quickly as an open car. Another interesting machine
at these works is the endless-rope haulage system. The engine is made on the
same plan as a railroad locomotive, and the large drums over which the wire rope
runs can be run backward or forward at the will of the engineer.Ten bank-cars
are brought out of the mine at a time, making about fifteen tons of coal, or
about the average amount loaded on each railroad coal-car. There is a large
dial, with a hand attached to the fly-wheel.This enables the engineer to know at
all times where the train is.
Leaving Sand Run at 9:10 A.M., the next
stop was made at the mines of the Consolidated Coal and Mining Co., at
Brashears, where the air-compressor and the Harrison mining machines are in
operation.The Lechner air-drills and wire-rope haulage were also in use. After
dinner the party visited the mines of the Ellsworth and Morris Coal Company at
Brush Fork, which are the largest mines in the United States. At these mines
there is an entry on each side of the valley, tracks leading in a “Y” on the
same hoppers, and the coal is dumped over the same tipple.The capacity of the
mines at this place is two thousand tons per day.One cannot imagine the
magnitude of this great work without seeing it. Seven bank-cars are dumped per
minute, or ten and a half tons. The wire-rope haulage system is used here also,
but on a larger scale.The two last mines visited are fitted out with the latest
machinery.
Leaving Brush Fork at two o’clock the next
stop was made at Buchtel, where some left the train to visit the large blast
furnace, while others went to Happy Hollow to see the coke-ovens of the
Nelsonville Coal and Coke Company. Mr. Thomas E. KNAUSS, of Columbus, was with
the party. Mr. KNAUSS was formerly located at Nelsonville, and is the pioneer of
the wire-rope haulage system in the Hocking valley. The Haydenville Mining and
Manufacturing Company, of which Peter HAYDEN, Columbus, was president and
principal owner, is a large concern; owning 3,000 acres of valuable mineral
land, underlaid by rich deposits of coal and fire-clay; large and substantial
building and factories, employing a large force of men, the company turns out
immense quantities of sewer-pipe, fire-proofing, terra cotta, and
paving-blocks.The industry is a valuable one.Its development is due to the
enterprise of Peter HAYDEN, he being one of the pioneer coal operators of the
Hocking valley, and one who has done as much as any one man for the development
of the vast mineral wealth of this region. Mr. HAYDEN’S death, which occurred
April 6, 1888, brought sorrow and grief to many hearts in this valley, as he was
renowned for his patriarchal care, his consideration for the comfort and
interests, and benevolence to those in his employ. Men of all classes deemed it
an honor to work for him.He employed none but sober, industrious, and
intelligent men, and never permitted a good man to leave his service, if money
and considerate treatment were an inducement to remain. As a result, his
enterprises were singularly free from all labor complications; and his career
affords an example to be emulated by all those employing large numbers of men.
HAYDENVILLE
is six miles southeast of Logan, on the Hocking Canal and C. H.
V. & T. Railroad. Population about 600. GORE is eight miles northeast of Logan, on
the Straitsville branch of the C. H. V. & T. Railroad. Population
about 600. School census, 1888, 200.
CARBON HILL is eight miles southeast of Logan, on the H. V. division of the C.
H. V. & T. Railroad. Population about 500. LAURELVILLE is twenty-two miles
southwest of Logan.It has one Cumberland Presbyterian and one Baptist Church.
Population about 300. School census, 1888, 111. MILLVILLE is eight miles
northwest of Logan, on the C. H. V. & T. Railroad.Population about 250.
School census, 1888, 115. MURRAY CITY is twelve miles east of Logan, on the C.
H. V. & T. Railroad. Population about 500. SOUTH BLOOMINGVILLE is seventeen
miles southwest of Logan. Population, 350.
SCHOOLS.
The first school was taught by Hannah
Clapp, on the O'Neill homestead, section 25. At present, there are ten
school districts and school-houses in the
township. The school fund for 1882
amounted to
$1,768.58.
The first brick house in Hocking County was
erected in 1825 by Joseph Sudlow on the northwest quarter of section
19. The old Woodard House was built late in the fall and winter of
1824. It was built for Ichabod Woodard, Sr., and still stands on the
old place, on the east half of section
15.
The first mill
was a hand mill on a small stream which flows into the Raccoon from the
south at Starr postoffice, and was run by water-power. It has since been
known as Mill Run. In 1815 James O'Neill erected a saw-mill and
constructed a dam on the O'Neill farm. In later years it was rebuilt, but
on the opposite bank, and is still standing. In 1838 Christopher Wolf,
Sr., built a dam across Hocking River on section 11, and erected a
saw-mill there the same fall. In 1848 he sold to James O. Austin, who ran
it until his death in 1852. It afterward became the property of Ohio Patton, who has added a set of corn
burrs.
Wolfs Lock Mill was built by George W.
Benedict in 1855, at the lock on the Hocking Canal, known as Wolf's Lock.
In 1859 it was
purchased by Wilford Stiers, who sold a half interest .to
George Carter in the fall of the same year, and
in 1861 Mr. Stiers sold the rest of his interest. After passing through
various hands it finally went down several
years ago.
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