Butler County, Ohio - The whole text, 1882 (part 9 of 39)

'In the last report of the board to the Legislature two points of termination at the Olio River, near Cincinnati, were named. The one, by preserving with the line a high level from a point about ten miles up the valley of Mill Creek, as it descends, and passing the western margin of the city upon a low level, to unite with the river at a point immediately below it. Estimates of the cost of each of these lines were made, which showed a difference in favor of the line upon the low level of about $45,000; and the cost of the Miami Canal, as stated in the report, was estimated upon this lme. Upon a full investigation of the question of the proper point to terminate the canal, which was made in August last, it was deemed advisable, with reference to all the interests connected with the canal, notwithstanding the estimated difference of cost, to adopt the line upon the high level, and terminate the canal at the mouth of Deer Creek. The superior value of the hydraulic privileges afforded by the high level, the favorable position which the mouth of Deer Creek affords, when compared with the other point of termination, for a safe harbor for steam and canal boats, both in low and high water, the great facility it affords over any other for the construction of dry and wet docks, which the increasing commerce of the Ohio River and the interests of the public will soon imperiously require, and the prominent and mutual advantage, both to the surrounding country and the city, which the level, uninterrupted by locks for a distance of ten miles back into the country will afford, - all conspired to produce the conviction upon the minds of the commissioners that the adoption of that line was required by the general interests connected with the work.

'Tt will be recollected that, in the last report of the board, calculations were made upon the extent and value of the surplus water which it was believed could be drawn from the Miami River to that point. With a view to this object, the capacity of the upper end of this section of the canal is enlarged, for the purpose of receiving and passing forward a greater supply of water. The first ten miles from the river are constructing with an increase of one foot in depth and three and a half in the width of the top water-line; and the next fifteen miles with an increase of half a foot in depth, and one foot and three-fourths in the width of the top water-line. The increase of the capacity of the canal must proportionately enhance its cost, and is another reason for the apparent disparity between the savings on this line at contract prices, compared with original estimates, and the other lines under contract. It is, however, believed that the cost of this increase of the capacity of a part of the line will be more than reimbursed to the State in the value of the surplus water which is anticipated from it. Propositions have already been made by responsible individuals to contract for the use of the whole amount of sutplus water which"can be delivered at Cincinnati, at the price placed upon it in the last report of the board.

"Tt will be recollected, when examining this comparative statement, that on the locks in this line there is no saving from the estimates owing to the scarcity of stone, from the Miami, is constructing with an increased depth of one foot and an increased width of three and a half feet, and the next fifteen miles with an increase in depth of six inches and in width of one foot, nine inches. The estimates of last year were made for a canal of the usual dimensions."

The contractors on the Miami Canal, with their respective sections in this neighborhood, were: John Hepburn, 1, 2, 25, 34; 43; Warren Jarvis, 4, 19, 28, 31, 32; A. Amsden, 37, 41; Hale & Lyons, 26; Sells & Jewett,

SHOWING THE SEVERAL KINDS OF WORK UNDER CONTRACT ON THE MIAMI CANAL FROM MIDDLETOWN TO CINCINNATI - FORTY-TWO MILES--AMOUNT OF EACH KIND, AND THE AVERAGE PRICE AS CONTRACTED.

Amount Of Each Average Price As Contracted. Total

'The locks in the above abstract are placed at $4 per perch. They were mostly contracted for to be built of timber, but have since been changed, and are to be built of stone, so far as it can be obtained at reasonable cost.

Total cost aAs.estimated, aca thy os Ga bao $468,754 00 Amount of contracts as above shown, $358,984 14 Estimated amount of line not unde r contract to the Ohio, Ten per cent, to cover contingencies on the above items,

«A considerable portion of this line running through a dry and gravelly soil, the operations of the contractors were continued through the Winter and Spring with considerable success, and during the Summer and Autumn the work has progressed in a vigorous and efficient manner. Of the forty-three miles of this canal now under contract, thirty-four are completed, and the remaining twelve miles, consisting mostly of heavy work at the lower end of the line, are in such a state of forwardness as to afford strong assurances that the whole line will be finished by the 1st of July next. No apprehension of a failure of this desirable end is felt, except as to two or three heavy embankments on Mill Creek; and these, if the Winter should prove favorable for work, it is believed can be completed within that time. The finished work on this line, in addition to the excavations and embankments of the thirty-one miles, consists of nine locks, five aqueducts, twenty stone culverts, varying in size from three to twenty feet. chord, numerous paved wasteweirs, road-bridges, etc. The aqueducts and culverts on the whole line are completed, excepting the planking of the aqueduct trunks, which was directed to be omitted until Spring. Of the three locks remaining unfinished, one is very nearly completed, the walls of the second are raised to the upper meter-sill, and of the third to the height of four feet. They will be completed at an early day in the ensuing season.

"On the 2d of June last a contract was made for the construction of a dam across the Great Miami River above Middletown, a guard-lock, and a feeder forty-three chains in length from the dam to the canal. The work under this contract has progressed so far as to afford an assurance that it can be accomplished in the next season as the stage of the river will admit. In the mean time the canal may be supplied with water through the millrace of Abner Enoch in sufficient quantity to answer all 'the purposes of navigation. It was found; by observation during the last Spring, that the ponds at the head of Mill Créek, in the county of Butler, through which the canal passes in leaving the valley of the Great Miami, would in that season of the year entirely overflow the banks of the canal, and for some months remain in that situation. To prevent this evil - which would not only at times interfere with the use of the canal,' but would in a measure destroy it - it was found to be necessary to drain the ponds by making a cut one mile and seventy chains in length. A contract was, therefore, made for cutting this drain, the cost of which is estimated at one thousand dollars. It is probably by this time completed.

'Contracts have also been made since the date of the last report of the board for the extension of the canal into and through the city of Cincinnati, to a point near the head of the proposed locks, by which it is to be connected with the Ohio. These contracts, including those for the dam-feeder and pond-drain, have been made upon terms as favorable to the State as those heretofore made for the construction of other parts of the work. So far the work is now completed, and the final accounts of it made out. It is found that in plain line the original estimates of the work "in each section correspond very nearly with the true result, and that the actual cost of such line will not exceed the estimated cost as stated in the last report of the board; in some cases it is found to fall considerably short; but on rough, uneven, and sidelying ground, where heavy embankments and steep bluffs are encountered, a heavy portion of which is on this line, the engineers' final accounts, so far as they are now perfected, show that the number of yards of excavation and embankment in each section, as then estimated, will fall considerably short of the true result. This deficiency in the estimates on the rough line is to be accounted for in the following manner: In making out an estimate of the amount of excavation and embankment for the accounts - of last year, no other data could be had than a single line of levels divided into stations of three chains each, from which the average depth of cutting or height of the embankments was inferred. The result now shows that the number of yards then produced falls short, particularly on inclined grounds and steep bluffs. In addition to this, it has been found advisable on the heaviest parts of this line, with a view to greater security, to increase the base of the banks, and, where heavy bluffs are encountered, to throw the center line of the canal farther into the hill or bluff bank, which has necessarily added much to the number of yards of earth to be removed. It has also been found necessary to relet some of the heaviest of these embankments at higher prices. From the scarcity of stone on the line, it was found necessary, in making the contracts for the locks and other stonework, to stipulate a given distance within which it was then supposed stone could be obtained, and to agree to pay where the acting commissioner or engineer should be convineed of the necessity of going farther for stone for such extra hauling. It has been found impracticable to procure the necessary quantity of stone of a suitable quality within the distance assigned, and an extra allowance for hauling stone has been necessarily made to aconsiderable amount. Some lock excavation has been also unexpectedly encountered, and several paved wasteweirs, culverts, and some pavement of the banks, have been added to it. These items of increased cost and the unforeseen variations in the amount of work to be performed will add considerably to the final cost of this section of the Miami Canal when compared with the estimates of last year. The exact amount of the increase, which is chargeable principally to the stone-work and the heavy embankments and bluffs, can not now be ascertained, as the heavy work on the line is not yet completed; nor is it in such situation as to permit accurate estimates of the cost to be made. On that part of the line between Middletown and the locks near Reading - thirty-one and-a half miles - the excess of the actual cost over the estimates of the last year will be upwards of seventeen thousand dollars.

'"There has been paid to contractors on this canal and the works connected with it, during the year ending on the first of the present month, $265,302.78, which, with $31,994, the amount of payments last year, makes the total sum of $297,296.98 which has been paid on this line. The amount of the contracts which have been made on this canal from the final accounts of that part which is finished, and from the best estimate which can now be made of the unfinished parts, is as follows: at the head of the locks near Reading (twentyseven and a half miles finished),. . . . ._. . $228,867 20 The line from the head of the locks near Reading

"'Deducting the total amount of payment on this line from the estimated amount of contracts, as shown above, will leave the sum of $136,512.22, required to accomplish the works now under contract. The acting commissioner on this line, as provided by law, has appointed Matthias Corwine, of Warren County, James M¢Bride, of Butler County, and Arthur Henry, of Hamilton County, to be a board of appraisers for the assessment of the damages claimed by individuals in consequence of the construction of the canal through their lands, and for the materials used in the construction of the works connected with it. The operation of the law in relation to the use of materials for the construction of the canals has produced considerable dissatisfaction on this line; but it is confidently believed there will be a disposition among the citizens of that part of the State to acquiesce cheerfully in the awards of a board of appraisers composed of men of unquestionably high standing for uprightness of character and good judgment." zens of Butler and Hamilton counties had availed themselves of the opportunity of a ride upon the canal. One of the Hamilton newspapers, on November 30, 1827, Says :

"The S. Forrer, of Middletown, returned to this place on Wednesday evening last, on her way from Hartwell's basin, near Cincinnati, accompanied by the Washington and Clinton, of the Farmer's and Mechanic's line, with a party from Cincinnati. Yesterday morning they all left here in fine style for Middletown. The Washington and Clinton returned again in the evening of the same day, and left this place again early this morning for Cincinnati."

'* The water was let into the lower section of this canal to the city of Cincinnati several days since (March, 1828). Boats are now running regularly from Middletown to Cincinnati, a distance of forty-four miles."

'"'Tt will certainly be pleasing to some of our readers to learn the result of the first week's experiment on this canal. The first entries that were made on the collector's books at this place were on the 19th of March. Between that and the 26th there was entered for Cincinnati 991 barrels of flour, 432 barrels of whisky, 138 barrels pork, 576 kegs lard, and 86 barrels oil, besides a great variety of other produce of the country for the Cincinnati market. The boats on their passage outward were also generally full-freighted with merchandise and _passengers. The tolls entered upon the collector's books at this place during the first week, between the 19th and 26th, amounted to $229.36. Thus fair is the beginning."

'' ARRIVAL Extrra. - The Miami Rambler, a large pine canoe, arrived at the Hamilton Basin on Friday last, in eight days from Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, a distance of seven hundred miles. Mr. Samuel Scott, a citizen of this county, with his son, were the passengers of the canoe in her novel trip. They embarked on the head waters of the Alleghany River, proceeded down that river to its confluence with the Ohio River at Pittsburg, then down the Ohio River to Cincinnati; from thence they proceeded on the Miami Canal, about thirty miles up the line; their canoe was then hauled over the bank of the canal into the Miami River; then down the Miami to the mouth of Four-mile Creek; then up Fourmile to Mr. Scott's residence."

In May the newspaper reported that Packet No. 1, Farmers' and Merchants' Line, P. A. Sprigman, master, had arrived at the Hamilton basin, and would ply regularly between Cincinnati and Middletown when the canal was passable.

In November, 1828, the commissioners announce the completion of the lower level from Cincinnati to Middletown, although some unexpected difficulties had been met with. They report :

'The first division of this canal, extending from the head of Main Street in the city of Cincinnati to the mouth of the Miami feeder, a distance of forty-four miles, has been completed during the past season. Its full completion was delayed until the latter part of the season in consequence of the multiplied difficulties which had to be encountered by the contractors in completing their work on the heavy cliffs and embankments in the valley of Mill Creek. The greater part of the line was finished as early as midsummer. 'The introduction of water into this canal was commenced about the Ist of July, and was attended with serious difficulties. By continued and persevering efforts thirty-eight miles of it were sufficiently filled by the 1st of November for the running of boats. The extensive beds of very coarse gravel over which the first twenty miles of the canal are constructed, with the dry condition of the earth and pure state of the water at this season of the year, rendered the operation of filling it difficult and tedious. The process was rendered more difficult from the circumstance of there being but one point from which water could be drawn to supply the demand produced by the great absorption throughout the line below. Experience soon established the point that a patient perseverance was the only safe, and in the end the most expeditious, course which could be pursued. To increase the volume of water introduced from the river, with a view to hasten its progress forward in the canal, only added to. the liability of the new banks to give away, and thus to produce delays much more serious than would be experienced by the flow of water in smaller quantities, proportioned more nearly to the powers of resistance of the new and porous banks. The first view of the difficulties in filling this section of the canal seemed to wear a discouraging aspect; but a little observation and reflection only were necessary to satisfy the mind that the evil was merely temporary. 'The result has proved it to be so. Though by very slow degrees, and for a time scarcely perceivable, the absorption continued to lessen, until, with but little increase of the supply from the river, the canal was filled to a natural basin about six miles by the line of canal north of Cincinnati. It was deemed prudent to arrest the progress of the water at this point, with a view to allow the heavy clay embankment below it, under the seasoning influence of the Winter frosts and rains, time to settle and to acquire that solidity and strength which it is necessary they should have to render them safe, and which can only be acquired by the aid of time and the seasons. Embankments of the magnitude of these, where clay is the only material of which they are composed, can not be used while in a green and unsettled state without incurring greater risk than the dictates of prudence will sanction. In the present case the obligation to adhere to the counsel of prudence was the more binding, as the season had too far advanced to permit the idea of doing much business on the:canal before Spring. Navigation on this division of the canal may commence as early in the Spring as the bank can be raised, and such repairs made as the effects of the Winter upon this part of the line may render necessary; and a full confidence is felt that the business which will be done upon it, and the benefits resulting to the country, will be equal to the most sanguine expectations of the commissioners. .

"On the 28th of November three fine boats, crowded with citizens delighted with the novelty and interest of the occasion, left the basin six miles north of Cincinnati, and proceeded to Middletown with the most. perfect suecess. The progress of the boats was equal to about three miles an hour through the course of the whole line, including the detention at the locks and all other causes of delay, which are numerous in a first attempt to navigate a new canal, when masters, hands, and horses are inexperienced, and often the canal itself in imperfect order. The boats returned to the basin with equal success, and it is understood have made several trips since, carrying passengers and freight. The success of these experiments in canal navigation and the obvious facility with which heavy burdens were moved by the power of even a single horse, must go far to convince the most incredulous of the high interest and importance of such a channel of commercial intercourse passing the heart of a country as populous and productive as that through which this canal passes.

'' The levels throughout this line prove to have been taken with the nicest accuracy, and the work generally appears to have been constructed in a substantial manner. Some breaches have occurred on, the first introduction of the water and in consequence of the late heavy rains, but not to a greater extent than must be expected in all new canals. The liability to evils of this nature will gradually lessen, as time and the effects of the water upon the banks increase their solidity and strength. Two breaches occurred in the course of the season at a point about five miles from Hamilton, where the canal was constructed in the face of a bluff bank with the river, and considerable depth of water immediately at its base. The embankment at its base yielded to the pressure from above, and spread in the deep water of the river. The breaches are repaired, and probably have added to the security of the other parts of the same line of embankment. Another breach occurred in the embankment at Gregory's Creek, produced by the interference of an individual in closing the lock-gates below without the knowledge of the superintendent, before sufficient wasteways had been prepared to pass off the accumulated water. But the most serious injuries were experienced at the aqueduct over Mill Creek. From the peculiar character of the bottom of that stream, the spring-floods undermined the foundation of one of the piers so as to require the rebuilding of about ten feet of the head of the pier: and one of the wing walls of the same work also gave way a few days after that level was filled with water. The space within the wing-walls not occupied with puddle was filled with a very fine sand (the adjoining material), which, on being exposed to the influence of the water, became a quicksand, assuming a semi-fluid state. The powerful pressure of this mass overcame the wall, which, on a careful inspection, was found to have been built in a very unfaithful manner. The wall has been rebuilt, and the breach fully repaired, and measures have been taken, as far as practicable, to guard against similar evils.

the river, produced by the rains in October, caused a breach in the unfinished parts, which, from the advanced stage of the season and a constant succession of rains and high water, could not be then repaired, and its final completion was necessarily postponed until another year. In the mean time a sufficient supply of water for the canal may be drawn from the river by the aid of the brushdam, which gives the present supply. Immediately after the injury to the dam was sustained, the contract was declared to be forfeited on the part of the contractor, the work taken possession of by the State, and measures immediately taken to secure the dam against further injury, which, it is believed, will be effectual. The principal engineer was directed to make a particular examination with it, from which it appears that the acting commissioner had retained from the contractor money sufficient to admit of the completion of the dam by the State within the sum which would have been payable had it been completed under the contract. This Opinion is predicated upon the idea that the work will sustain no further injury. Several floods have occurred in the river since, which do not appear to have extended the injury.

"Contracts were closed on the 26th of May for the construction of the remaining division of this canal, which begins at the mouth of the feeder from the Miami River, and terminates in a dam in Mad River about one mile above Dayton. That part of it from the saw-mill at Dayton to the Mad River dam is designed upon the present arrangement to serve as a feeder; but, in the event of the extension of this work to the north at any future period, to be used as a section of canal. This division to the dam is twenty-three miles and twentyeight chains in length. It embraces ten locks, one aqueduct with a wooden trunk, three of heavy stone arches, with embankments of earth over them, and a dam across the Mad River. The remaining work is generally -of the ordinary character, with the exception of the cedar bluffs near Dayton, and a very heavy bluff bank at Vail's mill, immediately below the mouth of Clear 'Creek. At each of these points the river comes in contact with the high lands, presenting passes for the canal expensive and somewhat difficult to encounter. The work on this line has progressed since its commencement with much activity, and is already in a very forward state. By the terms of the contracts, it is to be completed on the first day of June next. The advanced state of the work justifies the opinion that it will be completed all in the month of July. :

'* The stone-work on this division, which has heretofore, on the Miami Canal, cost much more than it was originaily estimated to cost, has been let at rates about equal to the first estimate; and the earth-work at as low rates as on any other part of the canals. But throughout the line of the Miami Canal it has been found that the quantities of most of the different items of work upon which the first estimate was founded fall short of the actual quantity, and that its actual cost must necessarily exceed its estimated cost. The plans for crossing the different streams now adopted are, in many cases, . more costly, but probably more substantial than those upon which the original estimates were made. In several instances heavy arches of masonry have been adopted, where wooden aqueducts or dams were the plans upon which the first estimates were founded. The item of locks is, however, the great cause of the difference between the actual and estimated cost of this canal, compared with that of the Ohio Canal, north of the Licking Summit. The principal saving on that part of the Ohio Canal, now under contract, will be in the cost of the locks.. A very large proportion of the lockage is embraced in that line, and from the great facility of procuring stone of the easiest quality to work the locks from the summit to Kaldersburg, will be constructed at an average of $1,500 each less than the first estimate of their cost, and those from the latter point to Lake Erie upon terms but little less favorable; while on the Miami Canal the locks, instead of being the chief item of saving, have necessarily cost a sum considerably above the original estimate. The heavy bluffs and embankments encountered on the line have also contributed to swell the actual over the estimated cost of it.

'The payments made on the entire line, within the year ending on the first of December, amount to $258,- 525.79, which, with the sum of $297,296.98 previously paid, makes the total payments to contractors on this canal, $555,822.77. There has been paid on the line from Cincinnati to the Miami feeder the sum of $456,- 854.52, and there remains yet to be paid the sum of $1,115.16, making $10,403.40 its average cost per mile. This sum includes what has been paid in raising banks, in strengthening, securing, and repairing the canal, and in building lock-houses, up to the first of -December. There has been paid on account of the dam and feeder to the contractor, $10,614; and to the superintendent, since the work has been taken into the hands of the State, $600 - in all, $11,214. The original estimate of the cost of this division of the canal, commencing at the Ohio River, and including the dam and feeder, was $474,254. The actual cost of the same, beginning at the head of Main Street, in Cincinnati, including the payments on account of the dam and feeder, is $469,183.68. The estimated cost of the upper division of this canal under the contracts is $234,686.54. The work performed agreeably to the certificates. of the engineers amounts to $96,040.41, leaving work to be performed to the amount of $138,646.13. To this should be added the probable sum of $3,000, which will be required to complete the dam across the Miami River. Awards have been made by the board of appraisers in favor of individuals for damages sustained by the construction of the canal to the amount of $5,011.54, which have been paid to the amount of $4,521.87. The sums awarded have been mostly for stone and timber used in the construction of the canal. There are several claims for the value of land occupied and for injuries alleged to have been sustained by the separation of the different parts of a farm, which have not yet been decided upon by the appraisers. A schedule of the awards which have been made is herewith submitted, marked A.

On The Miami Canal, Made By The Board Of Appraisers, Under Dates July 41H, October 22D, November 24Th, 1828

"The injury which this canal sustained in consequence of the floods of the last Winter was not so great as, from its exposed position, was expected. The cost of repairing the several breaches which occurred on that part of the line below the Miami feeder did not exceed the sum of two thousand dollars. The effects of the Winter on the line, in the lower part of the valley of Mill Creek, were of a nature calculated to cause serious difficulty, and to require a véry considerable expenditure to prepare that portion of the canal for navigation. The settling of the heavy embankments, and the sliding of the earth lying in its natural. condition from under the banks of the canal on the lower side, and into it from the upper side, were evils of much magnitude, which were increased by the peculiarly wet Winter and Spring. The breaches caused by the flood were repaired, and the effects of the Winter upon the lower part of the line so far overcome as to permit of the passage of boats. throughout the line from Middletown to Cincinnati, on the 17th of March. Navigation on this division of the canal has been continued throughout the season with frequent interruptions, arising out 'of the peculiar character of the lower part of the line, and the unpropitious nature of the forepart of the season for the safety of a new canal, constructed upon clay side hills and artificial banks. A very salutary change has been produced in the appearance and character of this line since the termination of the Spring rains. The base of the embankments generally had been extended with a view to their greater security, the inner slopes and bottom of the canal, where it was deemed necessary, have been puddled, and the banks have now become much more solid and compact, and the evils arising from the slips are evidently lessening so far as to give assurances of less difficulty hereafter. But it will require time, with the exercise of much vigilance, to render this part of the canal entirely free from the evils incident to its peculiar character.

'"'The measures which had been taken at the date of the last annual report of the board to secure the dam across the Miami River from further injury proved effectual. It sustained little or no further damage through the Winter and Spring, and on the arrival of the proper season the breach through which the river had flowed for more than six months was closed in a very substantial manner. The sum expended in securing and rebuilding the dam, added to that which had been previously paid to the contractor, still keeps the cost of the dam and feeder within the sum which would have been payable had it been completed under the contract without the occurrence of the breach.

'The causes, in part, which delayed the progress of the work on the Ohio Canal have operated in their full force to retard the progress of the work on the upper "division of the Miami Canal. It was confidently believed that this line could all have been completed in the month of July; its full completion was, however, delayed until the month of November, notwithstanding every reasonable exertion was made by the contractors to finish their work at an earlier period. The transportation of stone for the locks and aqueducts, the quarries for which were situated seven miles from the line, was necessarily delayed until the middle and latter part of the Summer, in consequence of the impassability of the roads during the Winter and early part of the season. This unavoidably delayed the completion of these works until late in the season. The entire canal from Cincinnati to Dayton, with a feeder from the Miami River a short distance above Middletown, and one from Mad River near Dayton, is now completed with the exception of the dam over Mad River, which was injured by the floods of January last. The water of this river continued so high up to the month of July as to induce the postponement of the rebuilding of the dam until another season. The feeder has been extended a short distance further up the stream, which, with the aid of a temporary brush and stone dam, gives an ample supply of water for the present.

"The filling of the new line with water has proved to be a tedious operation. That part of it nearest to Dayton, being first finished, the water was introduced into it as early as the 27th of September, and with an intermission of ten days made necessary by the unfinished state of a job, and another of twelve days, in consequence of a breach in an embankment, there has been a continued flow from Mad River in the canal of from six thousand to ten thousand cubic feet of water per minute up to the present time. Such has been the absorption of the water by the gravelly plains through which the canal is constructed, that with the utmost exertions on the part of the superintendent the water of Mad River has but just reached the head of the lower division of the canal. This portion of the line being filled with water, a change in the temperature of the weather is all that is now required to open navigation from Cincinnati to Dayton.

''Witb the exception of about seven miles of the line near Cincinnati this canal is believed to be a very safe and permanent work, which will require for its annual repairs an expenditure comparatively small. It embraces twenty-two locks, overcoming one hundred and eightyeight feet of lockage. These are built in a permanent manner, most of them in a character of workmanship that will bear a comparison with other works of the kind in the United States. The aqueducts on the lower division are constructed with wooden trunks, those in the upper division, with one exception, upon. stone arches with embankments of earth over the arches. That over Clear Creek, supported by three arches of forty feet chord, is built in a style of workmanship which, for strength and beauty, is not surpassed by any work of the kind. It reflects much credit upon the skill and fidelity, of the contractor. A side cut to connect the canal with the town of Hamilton has been laid out and constructed under the authority of the board within the past season, the length of which is fifty-three chains and sixty-two links. The cost of this cut is between six and seven thousand dollars, two thousand of which have been paid by the State, and the remaining sum by the citizens of Hamilton and Rossville.

And 18Th Days Of December, 1829

SCHEDULE OF FURTHER AWARDS SUSTAINED BY INDIVIDUALS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE MIAMI CANAL MADE BY THE BOARD OF APPRAISERS ON THE 16TH AND 18TH DAYS OF DECEMBER, 1829.

In Whose Favor On What Account

has been of immense value to the people of this section. Its usefulness, however, has been much lessened by the railroad, and those who are best informed on the subject look forward to the day as not far distant when the tolls will not pay the expense of keeping it in order, and it consequently will be abandoned. The dimensions of the channel are twenty-six feet at the bottom and forty feet at the top. In depth it varies in different sections from four feet to five feet. The locks are eighty feet long, and fourteen feet inside chamber. The maximum size of

The Warren County Canal Company was organized February 22, 1830, and led from Middletown to Lebanon, a distance including the feeder, of twenty miles. There were six locks upon it, - four at or near Lebanon, with an aggregate lift of twenty-eight feet, locking up into the western part of the town; two locks were located at Middletown, each with a fall of eight feet, locking down into the Miami and Erie Canal. At Lebanon was a dam on Turtle Creck about one hundred feet long, and also a reservoir of forty-five acres, the water from which, together with water furnished by the pool of the dam, supplied lockage water to the canal. To supply the canal from Middletown to the locks at Lebanon, two thousand cubic feet of water per minute was brought from Mad River by the Miami and Erie Canal, then known as the Miami Canal, and introduced into the Warren County Canal feeder above the second lock, north of Middletown. This canal was commenced by a company, and estimated in 1833 to cost $123,861. By an act of the General Assembly dated February 20, 1836, the canal was made an appendage and part of the Miami Canal, and placed in charge of the canal commissioners. The canal cost, when finished, the sum .of two hundred and seventeen thousand, five hundred and fifty-two dollars and sixtcen cents. The reservoir, situated in the north-west part of Lebanon, when full of water, is very much elevated above the old dam site, and the water, when drawn therefrom for lockage pur- poses, was used to propel machinery in its descent to the canal. The canal was suffered to go into disuse, and in 1855 was sold and abandoned. At the time the company turned over the canal to the State they had expended $21,742.33.

Leaders Of The Half Century

WE have found it expedient under this head to group together a list of names of those who, in the earlier half of the century, were the leaders of public opinion in this remote Western country. It only includes a few persons, and others as eminent are to be found outside of this roll. All are now dead. The list begins with the venerable president of Miami University,

Robert H. Bishop

Robert Hamilton Bishop, D. D., first president of Miami University, was the son of William and Margaret Bishop. He was born in the parish of Whitburn, Linlithgowshire, North Britain, on the 26th of July, 1777. Having early evinced a fondness for books, as well as a mind of more than ordinary vigor, he entered on a course of classical study, and in November, 1794, became a member of the University of Edinburgh. After completing his course at the university, he entered the Divinity Hall at Selkirk, under the Rey. George Lawson, in August, 1798. Here he passed through the prescribed course of theological study, and on the 28th of June, 1802, was licensed -to preach the Gospel by the Associate Burgher Presbytery of Perth.

In the Spring and Summer of 1801, the Rev. (afterwards Dr.) John M. Mason, of the city of New York, visited the Burgher Synod of Scotland, as the commissioner from the Associate Reformed Synod of North America, partly with a view to obtain a supply of preachers for the American Synod. Mr. Bishop, being at that time a student under Professor Lawson, was casually introduced to Dr. Mason, and the brief interview which he had with him led, some two months after, to a partial engagement to accompany Dr. Mason to America, provided the synod, at whose disposal he was, should so direct.

The synod met in April, 1802; and, under their special order, he was licensed to preach, with a view to his engaging in the contemplated mission. In September following, he, with five other ordained ministers, embarked with Dr. Mason at Greenock, and arrived at New York before the close of October. Having attended a meeting of the Associate Reformed Synod, which took place shortly after his arrival, he set out with two other clergymen for Kentucky; but, being left to supply two new congregations in Adams County, Ohio, for two months, he did not arrive there until March, 1803. He had been appointed to labor in Kentucky by the casting vote of the moderator of the synod - what was then called the Second Congregation of New York having made application for his services. Five years afterwards - the same congregation sent him a pressing invitation to return to them, which, however, he did not accept.

In the Summer of 1803 he had three calls presented to him in due form; but that which he finally accepted was from Ebenezer, in Jessamine County, which was connected with New Providence, in Mercer County. The two congregations united contained about thirty families spread over a tract of country at least fifteen miles square ; and, as the Kentucky River and the Kentucky cliffs intervened between the two places of worship, the two Churches were not expected to worship together much oftener than twice in a year. About the same time a professorship in Transylvania University was offered him, and, accepting it, he combined the duties of that office with those of his charge.

Having accepted the call from the above-mentioned Churches in the Autumn of 1804, subjects were given him for his trial discourses to be delivered in the Spring ; but at the Spring meeting he was informed that he could not be admitted to trial for ordination till he should dissolve his connection with the Transylvania University. The reasons assigned for this were that the presbytery had the exclusive disposal of his time, and that his duties in connection with the university were of such a nature as to interfere greatly with his usefulness to the Associate Reformed Church. This brought him into unpleasant relations with the presbytery; and ultimately he was regularly prosecuted upon a charge of disobedience, the result of which was that he received-a presbyterial rebuke, by which the matter was considered as judicially settled. The case, however, being subsequently referred to the synod, it was decided that the resignation of his place in the university should not be an indispensable condition of his ordination, and that the Presbytery of Kentucky should proceed to ordain him as soon as circumstances would permit. This decision was given in June, 1807; but, owing to certain circumstances, his ordination did not take place till June, 1808. Thus, for nearly four years he was virtually under ecclesiastical process ; and, although only a probationer, had yet the charge of two congregations, to which he preached alternately every Sabbath - the one fifteen miles, the other twenty-seven miles distant from his residence.

For some time after his ordination, Mr. Bishop seems to have exercised his ministry with a good degree of comfort and success. In the year 1810 the presbytery appointed him, in connection with the Rey. Adam Rankin, of polemic notoriety, to prepare an address to the Churches, in the form of a pastoral letter, designed to illustrate the obligation of sustaining Christian institutions, and especially the ministry of the Gospel. The document was written by Mr. Bishop, assented to by Mr. Rankin, and passed without opposition by the presbytery, though it gave great offense in certain quarters, and especially in Mr. Bishop's own congregation. 'The presbytery, with a view to prevent erroneous impressions and to avert threatening evil, directed their clerk to address an official letter to the Ebenezer congregation, distinctly stating that the offensive circular was to be considered the act of the presbytery, and not of an individual. This letter Mr. Bishop caused to be printed, with some explanatory remarks of his own, in the close of which he made an allusion to the conduct of Mr. Rankin, which he afterward pronounced '' imprudent and unnecessary," and which occasioned him great embarrassment in his ecclesiastical relations. His original connection with the pastoral letter led to the dissolution of his relation to the Ebenezer congregation in October, 1814.

In the Autumn of 1811 Mr. Bishop entered into an arrangement with two or three other clergymen for conducting a monthly religious publication, to be called the Evangelical Record and Western Review. This was the first thing of the kind ever attempted in Kentucky, and the second west of the mountains. The work, however, owing chiefly to a deficiency in the subscriptions, was discontinued at the close of the second year.

In the second volume of this work Mr. Bishop published, as part of the history of religion in the State of Kentucky, an article entitled '"' The Origin of the Rankinites," which gave great offense in various circles, and which he himself subsequently regarded as extremely illjudged and unfortunate. After considerable private and extra-judicial conference on the subject, a regular judicial inquiry was entered into by his presbytery, and in October, 1815, he was brought to trial on a charge of slander; the result of which was, he was regularly suspended from the ministry. An appeal to the General Synod from the sentence was immediately taken. The synod met in Philadelphia in May, 1816, and, on an examination of the case presented by documents, they decided that Mr. Bishop should be publicly rebuked by the presbytery for the offensive publications ; that the presbytery should use means to bring the parties immediately concerned into harmonious relations with each other; and that, if this could not be effected, there should be a regular trial instituted, and that the presbytery should make one of the parties prosecutor and the other the defendant; and that, the presbytery should be reversed. Nothing, however, was satisfactorily accomplished under this decision, and the case came again before the synod in 1817. At this meeting a committee was appointed to proceed to Kentucky to take whatever depusitions might be considered necessary; but that committee, after some correspondence with the parties and others concerned, concluded not synod. This commission, consisting of John M. Mason, Ebenezer Dickey, and John Linn, ministers, and Silas E. Weir, an elder from Philadelphia, proceeded to Lexington in September following, and in the execution of their trust made Bishop the prosecutor and Rankin the defendant. The latter claimed his legal ten days to prepare for his defense ; but when the time had expired, he declined the jurisdiction of the court. The trial, however, went on in his absence, and the decision was, "' that the prosecutor should be publicly rebuked for the publications he had issued, and that the defendant, being convicted of lying and slander, be, as he hereby is, suspended from the Gospel ministry." It is honorable to Mr. Bishop, considering the relations into which he was brought by Rankin, that he has left the following testimony concerning him: '*Mr. Rankin, with all his bitterness on particular subjects and on particular occasions, was also, in all other matters and on all occasions, a kind-hearted, benevolent man."

Mr. Bishop's twenty-one years' connection with the Transylvania University was marked by no serious difficulties or disagreeable circumstances, so far as he was personally or officially concerned. Upwards of twenty young men, who were more or less under his special care during this period, afterwards entered the ministry, and several of them rose to eminence. During one of the three years in which he considered himself as virtually suspended from the ministry, he devoted nearly all his Sabbaths to the instruction of the negroes, and organized the first Sabbath-schools ever opened in Lexington for their benefit. He has been heard to say that this was one of the most agreeable enterprises in which he ever engaged ; and that in no othef year of his residence in Kentucky had he so much evidence of the gracious presence of the Holy Spirit in connection with his labors.

In October, 1819, Mr. Bishop, having dissolved his connection with the Associate Reformed Church, joined the West Lexington Presbytery in connection with the General Assembly. From 1820 to 1823 he officiated as stated supply to the Church in Lexington, which had been gathered by the labors of the Rev. James McChord; and his connection with this Church he seems to have considered as highly favorable to both his comfort and usefulness.

In the Autumn of 1824 he accepted the presidency of Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, and was inaugurated on the 380th of March, 1825. Here he found a few Christian people who had been under the care of the Rev. James Hughes, for some years principal of the grammar school in that place; and the pupils of this he gathered and formed into a Presbyterian Church, and preached to them regularly on the Sabbath in the college chapel, until the year 1831, when, as the result of a revival, in which Dr. Blackburn was the principal in- | strument, the Church gathered so much strength that | they undertook to build a place of worship and call a pastor. In 1825 he was honored with the degree of Doctor of Divinity from the college of New Jersey.

Tn the great controversy which divided the Presbyte- | rian Church in 1838 Dr. Bishop's sympathy and action were with the New School. In 1841 he resigned the presidency of Miami University, but held the professor- | ship of History and Political Science until the Autumn |

He then removed to Pleasant Hill, a beautiful spot in the immediate neighborhood of Cincinnati, where there | was already an academy which, partly through his agency, was now enlarged into a college, under the name of the 'Farmers' College." Here he remained actively and usefully employed to the close of life. Dr. Bishop preached regularly in the chapel to the students as long as he retained the presidency of the university, but after that had no stated charge. He preached, however, very frequently during his subsequent years, and his last sermon was preached on the 15th of April, 1855, but two weeks before his death. As he left his house to preach this sermon he distinctly told his wife it would be his last. He heard his classes as usual on Thursday, and was just going to the college on Friday morning, when his strength failed, so that he was no longer capable of making an effort. He lingered until five o'clock Sabbath morning (April 29th), his usual hour of rising, and then died, as he had often expressed a wish to die, ''in the harness."

On the 25th of August, 1802, just as he was on the eve of embarking for America, he was married to Ann Treland, by whom he had eight children, five sons and three daughters. All his sons were graduates of Miami University. Two of them became clergymen, and one of them a professor in the university at which he graduated. Mrs. Bishop survived her husband but two weeks. ;

The following is a list of Dr. Bishop's publications: "Sermons on Various Subjects," 1808. (This was the first volume of sermons printed west of the mountains. ) 'Memorials of David Rice," with an Appendix, 1824; "Elements of Logic, or a Summary of the General Principles and Different Modes of Reasoning," 1833; "Sketches of the Philosophy of the Bible," 1833; 'Elements of the Science of Government," 1839; 'The | Western Peacemaker," 1839. He published, also, several occasional sermons and addresses, among which was a sermon on thé death of the Rev. James McChord, 1820, and the address at his inauguration as president of Miami University in 1825. He contributed, also, liberally to several periodicals.

Half Century

HALF CENTURY. 153 versity - of which he was for a long time president - directors of Farmers' College, instructors and pupils, with a numerous concourse of friends, attended his remains to body to the college chapel, where religious exercises were commenced by Rey. Professor Cary. Dr. Allen, professor of Lane Seminary, delivered an elegant and instructive sermon from the text, Second Timothy, fourth chapter, seventh and eighth verses, 'I have fought a '" ete. In the course of his remarks he read

May, 1855) seventy-four years of age and much reduced in strength, though of sound mind, he first gave, as he always had attempted to do, his soul to God, and he expected to be received as was the thief on the cross. Second, his body after death to the directors of Farmers' College, to be placed in a plain coffin, and then inclosed in a strong square box and deposited in an artificial mound in a designated spot in the college-yard, to consist of suecessive layers of earth and sand, not to be less than eight No artificial monument to be erected on it, unless it should be a few evergreens or shrubbery. Another portion of the will spoke of the aged wife he He commended her, during the few remaining years of her life, to the friends of Farmers' College. During the fifty years she, with him, had assisted in the education of young men, she had, on principle, never spent any thing for entertainments, but devoted all for the tuition and books of those needing assistance.

Dr. Scott, late president of Miami College, and long connected with the deceased in educational efforts, gave personal testimony to the worth and noble efforts of Dr. Bishop. His personal history he gaye with interest, mentioning that, ''during the changes and controversies originating in skeptical views among those controlling that (Miami) university, there was always one who nobly stood by the faithful Christian soldier, Dr. Bishop, and that was the national statesman, Henry Clay. He continued to implore the directors to retain Dr. Bishop, for, if they did not have one praying man in the university it surely would go down."

William Bebb

William Bebb, who was governor of this State during the Mexican war, was born on the Dry Fork of Whitewater, in Morgan Township, December 8, 1802. His father, Edward Bebb, emigrated from Wales, Great Britain, in 1795, traveled across the mountains to the valley of the Miami on foot, purchased in the neighborhood of North Bend an extensive tract of land, returned to Pennsylvania and married Miss Roberts, to whom he had been engaged in Wales, and, with his bride, riding in a suitable conveyance, again crossed the mountains, and settled on his land in what was then but a wilder- ness. mon with many of his countrymen, of a joyous and everhopeful disposition. His wife was a lady of culture and refinement, and her home in the valley of the Miami, with no near neighbors, was a great change from her previous life. There were, of course, no schools near to send her children to, and this was matter of grave concern to the parents, and the son was, in consequence, taught to read at home. In those years the Western Spy, then published in Cincinnati, and distributed by a private post-rider, was taken by his father, and William read with avidity the contents of it, especially the achievements of Napoleon Bonaparte. <A strong desire to acquire a better education induced him to make extraordinary efforts, and in this matter he was much assisted by Mr. David Lloyd, a graduate of a college in Philadelphia, who resided in the neighborhood. Bebb began teaching school at Oury's school-house, in the village of New Haven, Hamilton County, and afterwards at North Bend, the residence of General Harrison. He remained in this latter place a year, during which time he married Miss Sarah Shuck, the daughter of a wealthy German resident of the village.

Proving a success as a teacher of boys, he conceived the idea of extending his usefulness, and resolved to open an extensive boarding-school on part of his father's large place and farm, some two miles north of the Oury's school-house. With the assistance of his father and the encouragement of his neighbors, who had much confidence in him and his learning and ability, and with the goodwill and aid of some Cincinnati friends, he had a large and commodious two-story-and-a-half frame house and additions erected on the banks of the Dry Fork of Whitewater. The large building consisted of a middle two-and-a-half story house, and commodious wings on each side one-and-a-half story high; one of these, the northern wing, being devoted to himself and young family as a dwelling; the other, the southern wing, being the school-house, and dormitory for the boys above. The center building contained a large dining-hall, entered from a beautiful covered portico, reached by a flight of steps extending the whole length of the building, and as large a dormitory for the boys immediately above, and rooms and large kitchen at the rear. The whole house was painted white, adorned with blue. Thus situated, Mr. Bebb began his boarding-school about the year 1827 or 1828, and, being an energetic man, he began to prosper, and his school was soon filled with pupils and boarders from the boys of Cincinnati and elsewhere. This was the first and pioneer boarding-school in the vicinity of Cincinnati. that city, and it was reached by tolerably good roads for those days, either by way of Millcreek and Colerain townships, through the town of Venice on the Great Miami, or through Green and Miami and Crosby townships, through the villages of Cheviot, Miamitown, and

New Haven. In and about the locality, particularly on the Dry Fork Creek, there were a great many large, full-foliaged, and grand sycamore-trees, and Mr. Bebb named the place Sycamore Grove. This name became celebrated in Cincinnati and throughout the country, and Bebb's school and Sycamore Grove became a distinguished place. He carried on his school until the end of the year 1832, when, being filled with ambition to make a. still greater mark before the public eye, he gave up his wellestablished school.

Tn 1831 he rode to Columbus on horseback, where the supreme court judges examined him and passed him to practice in the State. He then removed to Hamilton, Butler County, and opened a law office, being for a long time in partnership with John. M. Millikin, where he continued quietly and in successful practice fourteen years. During this period he took an active interest in political affairs, and advocated during his first, called the hard-cider campaign, the claims of General Harrison, and no less distinguished himself during that '" Tippecanoe and 'Tyler, too," campaign, in which the persons indicated were successful, and the Whigs, in 1840, for the first time succeeded in electing their candidates. Four years afterward he was elected governor of the State, and the war with Mexico placed him, as the governor of Ohio, in a very trying position. Asa Whig he did not personally favor that war, and this feeling was generally entertained by the party who made him their leader in the State; but he felt that the question was one not of party but of cordial support of the general government, and his earnest recognition of this fact eventually overcame the danger that had followed President Polk's proclamatioir of war. His term of office (1846-48) was distinguished by good money, free-schools, great activity in the construction of railroads and turnpikes ; the arts and industry generally were well rewarded, and high prosperity characterized the whole State. In 1847 Governor Bebb purchased five thousand acres of land in Rock River County, Illinois, of which the location was delightful and the soil rich. Five hundred acres were wooded, and constituted a natural park, while the remainder was prairie of the best quality, with a stream of water fed by perpetual springs. No man of moderate ambition could desire the possession of a more magnificent portion of the earth's surface. Three years after making this purchase he removed to it, taking with him fine horses and a number of the choicest breeds of cattle, and entered upon the cultivation of this fine property. Five years afterward he visited Great Britain and the continent of Europe. In the birthplace of his father he found many desirous to immigrate to America, and, encouraging the enterprise, a company was reer and a tract of one hundred thousand acres purchased for them in East Tennessee, where he agreed to preside over their arrangements and the settlement of this land. In 1856 a party of the colonists arrived on the land, and Governor Bebb resided with them until the war of the Rebellion began, when he left the State with his family. The emigrants, discouraged by the strong pro-slavery sentiment, scattered and settled in various parts of the Northern States. On the inauguration of President Lincoln, Governor Bebb was appointed examiner in the Pension Department at Washington, and held this position until 1869, when he returned to his farm in Illinois, and the peaceful pursuit of agriculture. His scale of farming was the cultivation of two thousand acres in a season, while another thousand formed his cattle pasture. While in Washington he received the appointment of consul at Tangiers, Morocco, but declined.

He took an active part in the election of General Grant, and the first sickness of any consequence he ever ~ experienced was an attack of pneumonia following an exposed ride from Pecatonica, where he had addressed the electors, to his home. From this he never recovered, and, although he spent the following Winter in Washington, occupied mainly as a listener to the debates in the Senate, he felt his vital forces gradually declining. Returning home the next Summer, and feeling that he was no longer able to superintend his farm operations, he purchased a residence at Rockford, and there resided until his death, which happened October 23, 1878. His widow still survives him, and has now reached the age of seventy-eight. She lives in Rockford, Illinois.

David Macdill

The Rev. David MacDill, D. D., was born in the Northern District of South Carolina, December 27, 1790. He was of Scotch-Irish descent. His father, though quite young, served as a soldier in the war of the Revolution, under Colonel Horry. The son in his youth enjoyed the advantages afforded by the Churches and schools which then existed among Scotch-Irish Presbyterians in the South. At the age of sixteen he had studied as much mathematics as was then usually studied in college. He had a thirst for knowledge and a love of books. .

In 1806 the MacDill family removed from South Carolina to what was then regarded as '' the far West," and settled in Preble County, Ohio. The country was almost an unbroken forest. A section of land, consisting of six hundred and forty acres, was purchased, and the work of erecting a log-house and other buildings and of clearing off the timber, mostly beech, was begun. In such work as this young David MacDill spent three years - teaching school, however, for three months during each of those years. about nineteen years old, he commenced the study of languages under the Rey. William Robertson, at Lebanon, Ohio. He finished his literary course in Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky. Among his classmates were the Rey. J. Finley Crowe, D. D., the founder of Hanover College, and the Rey. David Monfort, D. D., pastors for many years of the Presbyterian Church in Hamilton, Ohio. In 1813 he entered the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary in New York, then under the care of the celebrated Rev. Dr. J. M. . Mason, one of the ablest pulpit orators of our country. Here he spent four annual sessions, and had as fellowstudents many who afterward became leading ministers in their respective Churches. He spent the Summer vacations in teaching in the vicinity of New York. When he graduated, in 1817, from the Seminary, he delivered by appointment the valedictory address to his class. He was licensed to preach August 6, 1817. He began to preach in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian (United Presbyterian) Church, in Hamilton, Butler County, Ohio, in October, 1817. He was ordained and installed pastor of the congregations of Hamilton and Concord, October, 1818. . He continued in charge of these two congregations for eight or ten years, and then demitted the Concord branch. The Concord meeting-house was about eight miles north of Hamilton, and just this side of Collinsville. He continued pastor of the Hamilton Church until 1848, a period of more than thirty years. During the most of this time he preached three times each Sabbath - twice in his own church, and once in a schoolhouse or unoccupied church. In addition to these labors he edited the Christian Intelligencer, a monthly religious periodical. He was also for many years (about twentyfour in all) a member of the board of trustees of Miami University, and was always punctual in attending its meetings. His influence did much to promote the prosperity of that institution.

In 1848 he removed with his family to Sparta, Randolph County, Illinois. Here he became pastor of the Union congregation, which, in a few years,. became too large, in his opinion, to be cared for by one of his age. He resigned this charge, and removed to Monmouth, in order to edit the Western United Presbyterian, in 1857. He was appointed to this position by the synod of IIlinois. He was now nearly seventy years of age. He continued to discharge the duties of editor until 1862, when he resigned. He died in Monmouth, Illinois, June 15, 1870, in the eightieth year of his age.

Professor Morrison, in his biography, says: ''The fruit of his untiring labors in and about Hamilton is not all seen in the congregation he there collected, or the number of persons brought into that branch of the Church of which he was a member. The influence of Dr. MacDill was felt all over that country. There was perhaps no man in Butler County who did more to mold public opinion for good than Dr. MacDill. He was ever on the lookout for opportunities of doing good to men and advancing the glory of God." (Pp. 18-20.)

a skillful and cultivated logician, a profound and vigorous thinker, a general and accurate scholar, and a courteous and attractive Christian gentleman." The same writer speaks of Dr. MacDill's editorials as being ''among the liveliest and best specimens of thought and style anywhere to be found." (Page 33.) Dr. J. B. Scouller, in the United Presbyterian Manual, says of him: '' He wrote more for the periodical press than any man in the Church, haying written very frequently during forty years for all the papers. The style of his articles was always clear, pointed, and terse, and the matter seasonable and judicious. The same qualities characterized his preaching, while his manner was quiet and subdued. He was reverent and devout in the pulpit, and yet frequently indulged in sarcasm, of which he was a thorough master."

Dr. J. G. Monfort, editor of the Herald and Presbyter, speaks of him as follows: '' Dr. MacDill was one of the ablest and best ministers this country has ever produced. His delivery was slow, and not impressive; but his sermons were models of rich, pure, accurate, and sound thought. For fifteen years, from 1820, we heard him preach almost every other Sabbath in Hamilton, Ohio, and no other minister has so excited our higher affections and veneration. His reputation where he lived and labored is a sweet perfume."

* Of course, such a thinker and writer would be an opponent of injustice and the advocate of true moral progress. Dr, MacDill was among the earliest advocates of temperance and anti-slavery views. It was for the special purpose of advocating anti-slavery principles that the Christian Intelligencer, of which he was the editor, was established in 1825. At that time it required some courage to be an anti-slavery man.

John Woods

Alexander Woods, father of John Woods, was a native of Ireland, born in the county of Tyrone, in 1768. In 1790 he left his native land and came to the United States, and resided for some years in the eastern part of Pennsylvania. He afterwards came to the West, first to Kentucky, and afterwards to Warren County, Ohio; where he purchased a farm a few miles cast of the town of Franklin, which he improved, and on which he resided until the time of his decease. He died on the ninth day of January, 1848. He was married in 1793, in Pennsylvania, to Mary Robinson, who was born in 1762, and who died on the 16th of August, 1828, having become the mother of eight children. John Woods, the oldest son, and the subject of this sketch, was born in Jonestown, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, on the 18th of October, 1794. When Alexander Woods settled upon his land, in what is now Warren County, in the year 1797, the country was a primitive wilderness; the lofty trees had to be prostrated, and the dense forest cleared by hard labor, before the land could be brought to a fit the farm. He received such an education as the common schools of the country at that time afforded, which, by severe study at nights and such times as he could spare from hard labor on the farm, he improved, much to his advantage in after-life. He served as a soldier in the war of 1812. He was included in the last draft of the Ohio militia which was made in 1814, and was in the garrison at Fort Meigs when peace with Great Britain was proclaimed. On his return from-the army he opened an English school in the neighborhood of Springborough, which he continued for one or two years.

From boyhood Mr. Woods had formed the resolution of acquiring an education and finally becoming a lawyer; and for the purpose of enabling him to carry out his design he contracted, for a certain compensation, to clear a piece of ground adjacent to where his father lived, as a means of support. He built a hut or camp on his clearing, and after chopping and mauling the heavy timber all day, at night he often read, and studied law in his rude cabin while others slept. He pursued his course who had been a member of Congress, and was afterwards one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the United States. Mr. Woods prosecuted his studies in this manner for some time, and went regularly once a week to Lebanon, where Judge McLean then resided, to recite to him and receive instructions. He afterwards devoted his time more exclusively to the study of law. Having qualified himself for admission to the bar, and having undergone an examination touching his legal knowledge and abilities, he made application to the Supreme Court of the State, sitting at Dayton, in Montgomery County, at their June term, 1819, and was admitted to practice as an attorney and counselor-at-law in the courts of Ohio. Afterwards, in January, 1825, he received a license as attorney and, solicitor-at-law to practice in the courts of the United States. -

In August, 1819, he established himself in Hamilton, and, opening an office on the 19th of that month, commenced the practice of his profession. The courts of Hamilton were then attended by some of the eld and able lawyers from Cincinnati and Lebanon, with whom Mr. Woods had to come in competition. At his first attempts at the bar Mr. Woods said that he sometimes felt himself in rather an awkward predicament, with a confusion of ideas; but, reflecting that but few of a large audience could immediately perceive what was sound sense or the reverse, that those who were capable of thus discriminating were probably the most generous and indulgent to youthful orators, and that it was necessary, at all events, to succeed in his profession, he made it a positive rule never to sit down or to hesitate or halt, but to talk on and go ahead. And he did go ahead. In 1820 he was appointed prosecuting attorney for the county of Butler, in which office he served till 1825, at which time his services as member of Congress commenced, when he resigned.

On the 20th of June, 1820, John Woods was married to Miss Sarah Ann Lynch, of Springborough, Warren County. She was a native of South Carolina, born on the 29th of December, 1801. They forthwith commenced housekeeping in Hamilton. At the general election in gress from the Second Congressional District, composed of the counties of Butler and Warren, over Thomas R. Ross, of Lebanon, who had been the former representative. His term of service commenced on the 4th of March, 1825, but he was not required to take his seat until the first Monday of December following.

On the 18th of October, 1824, Mr. Woods formed a partnership with Michael B. Sargent in the practice of the law. Mr. Sargent was a fine classical and literary scholar, as well as a thorough lawyer. His qualifications and strict attention to business in superintending the affairs of the office, while, Mr. Woods was absent attending Congress, were of great advantage to Mr. Woods. Mr. Sargent died suddenly on the 19th of May, 1830.

When Mr. Woods's first term in Congress expired he was again elected for a second term, so that he served four years from the 4th of March, 1825, until the 4th of March, 1829. While there he was distinguished for his industry and attention to business. On the 18th of January, 1828, Mr. Woods, from the Committee on Roads and Canals, made a report accompanied by a bill ''to aid the State of Ohio in extending the Miami Canal from Dayton to Lake Erie." The bill was twice read and committed, and finally passed, and became a law on the 4th of May following. By this law there was granted to the State of Ohio a quantity of land equal to the one-half of five sections in width, on each side of that -eanal between Dayton and the Maumee River, at the mouth of the Auglaize. The same law also granted to the State of Ohio the further quantity of five hundred thousand acres of land for the purpose of aiding the

'State in the payment of the debts which had been or might thereafter be contracted in the construction of her canals. Mr. Woods was a warm friend of internal im provements, and while in Congress advocated these meas. ures with all his energy. At the session just referred to, _ the subjects of the tariff, internal improvement, Indian appropriations, and Indian affairs were largely debated, in all of which he took a prominent part. He was decided and ardent in politics as he was in every thing else. He warmly opposed the election of General Jackson to the presidency. This threw him in the minority in Butler County, which was then about three-fourths in favor of Jackson. The consequence was that, at the end of

After Mr. Woods retired from Congress he became the proprietor, publisher, and editor of the Hamilton Intelligencer, which he conducted with great ability for three years, a portion of the latter part of the time in connection with Lewis D. Campbell, who assumed the business management of the concern. Although Mr. Woods was engaged in editing a newspaper and attending to various other kinds of business, he did not relinquish the practice of his profession as a lawyer, but prosecuted it vigorously until the year 1845.

On the 30th of January, 1845, the Legislature of the State of Ohio elected him auditor of state for the term of three years from the 15th of March ensuing, at which time he went to Columbus and entered on the duties of his office. At that time the State of Ohio had been running in debt from year to year, borrowing money to pay the interest on the State debt, and thus compounding it, until the public obligations loomed up in fearful magnitude. John Brough, the former auditor, had vainly endeavored to accomplish a reform in taxation ; fear brooded over the members of the Legislature, and none dared to touch the dreaded subject. It was necessary that something should be done. Mr. Woods represented the condition of affairs to the Legislature, and strongly urged upon them to take measures to remedy the evil; and it was mainly through his instrumentality, and by his courage, industry, and perseverance that the State was saved from repudiation, bankruptcy, and ruin. By virtue of his office, Mr. Woods was one of the board of fund commissioners who contracted the loans on behalf of the State, and had the control of the public debt. When he went into office there was not to be found in any of the offices at Columbus a book in which was entered an account by which the condition of the State debt could be clearly seen. Mr. Woods procured a set of books, and from the loose papers found in the office of the fund commissioners and in the auditor's office he had a set of accounts opened, showing the amount of each description of public debt and the balance remaining standing. He also introduced important reforms in . the mode of keeping some of the accounts in the office, by which they were simplified and rendered more intelligible. As auditor he left indelible marks on the policy ~ and history of the State. He had determined to relinquish his office at the expiration of his first term of three years, but through the persuasion of a number of his influential friends throughout the State, he was induced to serve for another term, and accordingly was re-elected, and remained until March, 1851, when he returned to Hamilton.

His habits of industry and restless energy would not, however, permit him to remain idle. He became president of the Eaton and Hamilton Railroad Company, and brought his strong powers to bear on the prosecution and completion of that work. Previous to the a~ proposition was agitated and advocated by many for the construction of a.branch road from Eaton to Piqua by the Eaton and' Hamilton Company. This Mr. Woods strongly opposed, and, in consequence, was defeated at the second election. Subsequent events have proved the correctness of his judgment on this subject. With some difficulty and trouble the Eaton and Hamilton Railroad Company have since been released from their obligation to construct that branch road. Immediately after retiring from the Eaton and Hamilton Road, Mr. Woods was appointed and accepted the office of president of the Junction Railroad, leading from Hamilton to Oxford, Connersville, and thence to Indianapolis; to the prosecution of which work he brought his energy to bear, and faithfully attended to the business of the office, with honor to himself and to the advantage of the company.

Until the time of his death Mr. Woods was indefatigable and persevering in every thing he undertook. His energy was untiring, and his firmness indomitable. His early course of life had rendered his constitution hardy and capable of great endurance. At the bar his conduct was a model for imitation, despising all low and illiberal practice. To the junior members of the bar he was ever prompt to extend his friendship and patronage; and as an adviser to young men beginning life he won many friends among rising men by his generous treatment and sympathy. To the judges of the court he was polite and respectful ; and to witnesses he was considerate and candid, never attempting to puzzle or embarrass them, except when there were strong signs of falsehood or corruption. No one, it is believed, ever discharged his trusts as a lawyer with more scrupulous fidelity and spotless integrity. The strong mind and energy of Mr. Woods have left their impression on almost every public improvement in and about Hamilton. He was a liberal contrib- -utor to every thing which had for its object the promotion of the happiness of man. Many years ago he took a leading part in founding and establishing the Hamilton and Rossville Female Academy. He was active in the construction of the Cincinnati and Hamilton Turnpike Road, of which he was a director. He was president of the Darrtown and Fairhaven Pike. He was one of the leading spirits in projecting and constructing the Hamilton and Rossville Hydraulic Works. He spent considerable time in procuring subscriptions for the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad, in which he was largely interested, and of which he was a director during his life. Indeed, far more of the energy displayed in carrying forward that great work came from Mr. Woods than from any other man.

In his temperament he Was decidedly amiable, and of a most kind and forgiving disposition. His walk through life was without any deviation from the paths of honor and rectitude. In his dealings and business relations he was prompt, honorable, and expert, and a pattern of integ- rity. Law and order had in him an undeviating advyocate. He was always found on the moral side of every public question. He was a regular attendant at the house of worship of the Associate Reformed Church, of which*he was a consistent member. The purity of his private morals has never been questioned. In the early part of the month of July, 1855, Mr. Woods was attacked with inflammation of the lungs, so severe as to cause strong apprehensions of its fatal termination. However, he became better, and hopes were entertained that his system would rally, but the disease finally terminated in typhoid fever with ulceration of the bowels, which ended his existence on Monday, the thirtieth day of the month, in the sixty-first year of his age. His funeral took place at five o'clock P. M., on Tuesday, the thirty-first. The services on the occasion were by the Rev. William Davidson, of the Associate Reformed Church, of which Mr. Woods was a member; after which the corpse was conyeyed to Greenwood Cemetery, followed by one of the largest concourses of citizens ever assembled in Hamilton on a similar occasion. His remains were consigned to the tomb amid the regrets of numerous friends, and with the respect due to a life of

Mary Woods was born June 3, 1821. She married Dr. Cyrus Falconer, and died September 18, 1870. Sarah Woods was born January 18, 1823, and died Friday, February 21, 1823. Martha Woods, who married William Beckett, was born February 14, 1824. Sarah Woods (second) was born October 10, 1827, and died July 23, 1840.

Rebecca Woods was born February 17, 1831. She married William H. Miller, a lawyer of Hamilton, who went out as lieutenant in the Twelfth Ohio Regiment of infantry, and fell in the Western Virginia campaign under General Rosecrans, in August, 1861. His remains were interred in Greenwood Cemetery.

Rachel Woods was born April 6, 1835, and was married on the 13th of September, 1855, to Samuel Worthington, a commission merchant of Buffalo, New York.

Cyrus Falconer. Woods was born December'8, 1840, and died November 24, 1844. John Woods, the youngest, was born on the 19th of June, 1838. He graduated. at Miami University in 1860, subsequently studied theology at Alleghany and Princeton seminaries, and was ordained to the ministry in the Old School Presbyterian Church by the presbytery of Oxford.

George Junkin

George Junkin, president of the Miami University, was born in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, on the Ist of, November, 1790. He was the son of Joseph Junkin and Eleanor Cochran, both descended from Seotch eoy- enanters who had settled in Ireland. Nowhere, probably, have religious duties been more strenuously attended to than among those of this descent, and the Junkin family were no exceptions to the rule. In his eleventh year he became impressed religiously, but made no public acknowledgment of his conversion until his nineteenth year, when he united with the Church.

George Junkin was a boy of exceeding diligence, and as a man he fulfilled in this respect the promise of his youth. There was nothing to help him in his efforts to obtain an education; but, by dint of industry, he qualified himself to enter Jefferson College in 1809. In 1818 he graduated, although not having been the whole term at college. For the sake of lessening his expenses he had been much of the time at home, studying, and keeping pace with his classes.

He had early entertained the idea of becoming a minister, and immediately after graduation entered the Theological Seminary of the Associate Reformed Church, then under the supervision of the illustrious John M. Mason, the great pulpit orator. In this place he stayed the customary three years, and was then licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Monongahela of the Associate Reformed Church, in September, 1816. He was immediately sent to the presbyteries of New York and Saratoga, preaching in various places in 1816, and afterwards laboring in the same way in Pennsylvania and Maryland. In June, 1818, he was ordained at Gettysburg, and was soon invited to take charge of the united congregations of Milton and Pennell, a call which he accepted.

He preached to these flocks about eleven years, but in 1824 changed from the Associate Reformed Church to - the Presbyterian Church. In 1830 he resigned this charge, accepting the position of principal of the Manual Labor Academy at Germantown, near Philadelphia. Two years of successful labor followed. Easton offered him, however, inducements to remove his students to that place, and, taking advantage of the opportunity, a charter was procured from the Legislature of Pennsylvania granting the institution the title of a college, named after the illustrious Lafayette, who had shortly before been in this country on his last visit. The new institution was successful, and it has since performed a great work. Mr. Junkin toiled assiduously. He gave regular instruction in the college, and, besides, preached - on the Sabbath. In 1833 he was made a doctor of divinity by Jefferson College.

In 1841 he came out to Ohio and entered upon the presidency of the Miami University at Oxford. He can not be said to have been very successful in this place. He was a man naturally of an autocratic disposition, and he found in the free West difficulties in maintaining the same discipline that was to be enforced in the East. Many friends of the institution considered him as the choice of a cabal which had ousted Dr. Bishop and the other professors who were not meek-minded, and he was offensive also to some patrons who were not Presbyterians. This was a State institution, and yet entirely controlled by one sect. There was still another grievance which was felt, although not in the university. Dr. Junkin had imbibed a strong friendship for the '' peculiar institution," or at least for its friends, and his politics were tinctured by the Jeffersonian school of State rights. The anti-slavery discussion had then begun, and was not to be stopped. Dr. Junkin became involved in a controversy with the Rev. Thomas E. Thomas, of Rossville, one of the most eloquent preachers of the day, in which these questions were brought up. The discussion was oral, but was afterwards published in a very large volume. No decision, of course, was reached satisfactory to the minds of the public. Each party thought as before. Finally Dr. Junkin concluded to resign and give

There he continued till the Autumn of 1848, when he accepted an invitation to become president of Washington College, Lexington, Virginia, to which he was followed by twenty-six of his former pupils, who thus indicated their high appreciation of his merits. He continued in this place until May, 1861, when he was admonished that it was time to withdraw. The clouds and portents of disunion were thickening fast, and he felt that he could no longer remain in this college, which was a hot-bed of secession, or even occupy an equivocal position. His love for the Union was strong and ardent, and he foresaw the certain ruin that would follow to the inhabitants of the Southern States if they took up arms against the United States. He went from there to Philadelphia, where, for the remainder of his life, he found a home in the family of his son, George Junkin, an eminent lawyer. He did not desist from labor. He preached earnestly and often. To the soldiers he was a friend ; their encampments were visited, their wants inquired into, and their souls' prosperity solicitously regarded. He visited the Southern prisoners at Point Lookout and Fort Delaware, and looked after the unhappy wounded made at the battle of Gettysburg. He also wrote much. For a long time he contributed articles to the newspapers on the proper observance of the Sabbath. He published a '« Treatise on Sanctification," a '' Treatise on the Ancient Tabernacle of the Hebrews," and some smaller works; and he left behind him in manuscript a full commentary on Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews.

He was married in June, 1819, to Julia Rush Miller, of Philadelphia, and by her had five sons and three daughters. One of the daughters married General Jackson ("Stonewall"), of the Confederate army. Mrs. Junkin died in February, 1854.

Dr. Junkin was a man of great general ability. Impatient of contradiction or procrastination, he had an excellent insight into the ways of remedying difficulties, Church matters were thoroughly understood by him, and he was at home in a Church trial. He knew instinctively the measures to be taken. He was well liked by those with whom he was brought into contact unofficially, and his memory will long be cherished by those who had the honor to know him. He died May 20, 1868.

John B. Weller

John B. Weller, who filled more important public stations than any one else who ever lived in this county, was born in the village of Montgomery, Hamilton County, Ohio, on the 22d of February, 1812. He was of German descent, his ancestors originally settling in New York. From that State his parents removed to Ohio some few years before his birth. He was educated at the Miami University, but did not graduate. At the age of eighteen he commenced the study of law in the office of Jesse Corwin, in Hamilton. Lewis D. Campbell, his principal competitor in the polities of this county, came here at the same time, and the two young men slept together in the same bed. They were then of the same politics. Before attaining his majority young Weller was admitted to the bar, and soon after was nominated by the Democrats for the office of prosecuting attorney, his opponent being Jesse Corwin, his old tutor, whom he defeated by a handsome majority. .

In 1838, when barely of legal age, he was elected to represent the Second Congressional District in the lower house of Congress, consisting of the counties of Butler, Preble, and Darke. He held his seat for three terms, twice defeating the Hon. Lewis D. Campbell. | Mr. Weller, though very young, early took a leading part in all debates before the House, and proved himself a ready and powerful speaker.

Mr. Weller, at an early age, had married Miss Ryan, daughter of one of the leading merchants of Hamilton ; but this lady lived but a short time. Early in his congressional career he married Miss Bryan, whose father, the Hon. John A. Bryan, was auditor of the State at that time. His second wife lived but two years. In 1845 he married Miss'Taylor, a niece of Thomas H. Benton, senator from Missouri. She lived three years.

Mr. Weller was not allowed to practice his profession for any length of time; for on the breaking out of the war with Mexico he volunteered as a private, but was elected captain of his company, which became part of the Second Ohio Regiment, of which he was elected lieutenant-colonel. He fought all through the war, and led his regiment in the charge through the streets of Monterey, when the gallant Colonel Mitchell was wounded.

After peace was declared, Colonel Weller returned to his home in Hamilton, and took up his profession, but was called on by the Democrats of Ohio to lead them in the great gubernatorial fight of 1848, the Whig candidate, was Seabury Ford, and the campaign was the fiercest and most bitter ever known in this State. This was virtually a fight to decide the presidential question as far as Ohio was concerned; for it was conceded that if Weller carried the State, Cass would get Ohio's vote. After a canvass carried on in all parts of the State, in which Colonel Weller spoke in seventyeight counties, and after weeks of doubt as to the final result - for it took the official vote to decide - it was found that Weller had been defeated by a majority of three hundred and forty-five votes out of an aggregate of almost three hundred thousand. In one county over four hundred votes were cast for John Weller, which were thrown out. But the great point was won, after all; for Ohio went for Cass.

In January, 1849, President Polk tendered to Colonel Weller the appointment of commissioner under the treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo, to settle the boundary line between California and Mexico. On President Taylor's accession to the office, Colonel Weller was relieved, and proceeded to San Francisco, where he pursued his profession. In 1852 he was elected United States Senator in the place of John C. Fremont, for the long term ending in 1857. Upon his return to California in that year he was elected governor of the State by a large majority. At the termination of his career as governor he settled in Alameda County, near Oakland, but was sent by President. Buchanan as minister to Mexico in the fall of 1860. When President Lincoln came into office, Colonel Weller was succeeded by his old Ohio friend, Tom Corwin. In 1867 Governor Weller removed to New Orleans, Where he was appointed master in chancery for all of the. Gaines cases. Here he lived until his death, on the 17th ~ day of August, 1875.

Governor Weller left two children, - John B. Weller, Jr., whose mother was Miss Taylor, and Charles L. Weller, Jr., who was the only child by his marriage with Mrs. G. W. Staunton in 1854 - still living.