Columbiana County, Ohio - Chapter 1, 1905

Prehistoric Conditions

To attempt to give a treatise on the science of geology, or the geological history of Ohio or of Columbiana County, would not be proper in a work such as this. Space would not admit; neither would it interest a large number of readers. The geology of this section of the .country will therefore be touched upon merely by way of introduction, and in so far as may be necessary to make intelligible the legitimate treatment of the people, and the historical environment of the past century.

Course Of The Moraine In The Glacial

The boundary line of the moraine of the glacial period enters Columbiana County at a point near East Palestine, and runs slightly south of west to the line of Stark County, with a slight inclination north of Canton, where it turns slightly, running almost to the line of Tuscarawas, and enters Holmes near the northwest corner. Thence southwest to Millerslmrg. where it turns to the south, passing tlie eastern edge of Knox, through Newark and on to Perrv; across the northwest portion i of that county to Rushville, in Fairfield. From that point it runs west to Lancaster, and, after crossing the Hocking Valley, along the boundaries of Pickaway and Hocking to the northwest corner of Ross. There again it turns westward, crossing the valley of the Scioto a few miles north of Chillicothe, and again turns south, making a slight detour, touching the northwest corner of Pike, crossing southeast Highland and northwest Adams, entering Brown County near Decatur, thence westward across the southern portion of Clermont and Brown and across the Ohio River near the line between Campbell and Pendleton counties, Kentucky. It recrosses the Ohio west of the line dividing this State from Indiana. All of the State of Ohio north and west of this boundary was under the domination, or direct influence, of the glacial moraine at some time or other during the period of its continuance.

Man And Beast In The Glacial Era

tide on "Glacial Man In Ohio," from which a few paragraphs are herewith quoted : "The glacier, which in a far distant period invaded Ohio, can be traced by three signs : ( i ) Scratches on the bed rock; (2) Till'; (3) Boulders. Taking these in their order, we notice ( 1 ) that scratches on the lied rock in such a level region as Ohio could not be produced by any other means than glacial ice, and that a glacier is entirely competent to produce them.

"Now these phenomena, so characteristic J of the areas just in front of a receding glacier, , are very abundant in certain portions of Ohio. The most celebrated locality in the State, and perhaps in the world, is to be found in the islands near Sandusky.

"But the greater part of Ohio is several hundred feet higher than Lake Erie, and yet similar glacial scratches are to be found all over the higher land to some distance south of the water-shed, and in the western part of the State clear down to the Ohio River. On this higher land the direction of the scratches is south and southeast, showing that there was an ice movement during the height of the glacial period which entirely disregarded the dq>ression of Lake Krie.

"(2) The 'till' of which we have, spoken consists of the loose soil which in the glaciated region covers the lied rock. In places this is of great depth, and everywhere it has a peculiar composition.

"The only way in which materials could thus be collected in such situations and thoroughly mixed is by ice action. The ice of the glacial period, as it moved over the rough surfaces to the north, ground off the prominences and filled up the gorges and hollows, and we have in this unstratified mixture, denominated 'till,' what Professor Newlierry called the grist of the glacier. The extent of this deposit in Ohio is enormous. In St. Paris, Champaign County, the till was penetrated more than 500 feet without finding the lied rock. This was doubtless in the fillcd-up gorge of a pre-glacial water-course, of which there J are a great many in the State. But the aver- 1 age depth of the till over the glaciated part of |

"(3) The boulders most characteristic of the glaciated region of Ohio are granitic. These are variously known in different localities as Ixmldcrs, hardheads and 'niggerhcads,' and have all been brought from a great distance, and so are common, not only to the glaciated region of Ohio, but to the whole glaciated region of the States east and west of it. The granitic mountains from which these boulders must have been derived run from the northern part of New York, where they constitute the Adirondacks, through Canada to the northern shore of Lake Huron and extend westward along the south shore of Lake Superior, containing the celebrated mining district of that region. Boulders from this range of mountains are scattered all over the region which was glaciated. They arc found in great abundance in the hills of Northwestern Pennsylvania, and everywhere down to the glacial line.

"One of the necessary accompaniments of the ice age was the production of great floods at its close. As there are spring freshets now on the breaking up of winter, when the accumulated snow metts away and the ice forms gorges in the swollen streams, so there must - have been gigantic floods and ice gorges when the glacial period drew to a close. All the streams flowing out from the front of it toward the south must have bad an enormous volume of water, far beyond anything now witnessed. Nor is this mere speculation. I am familiar with all the streams flowing south from the glacial limit between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mississippi River, and can testify that without exception such streams still bear the marks of that glacial flood. What are called the terraces of the terrace epoch in geology are the results of them. These streams have, in addition to the present flood-plains, a line of terraces on each side which are from 50 to 100 feet higher than the water now ever rises. The material of these terraces consists of coirse gravel stones and pebbles of considerable size, showing, by their size, the strength of the cur- rent which rolled them along. A noticeable thing about these gravel stones and pebbles is that many granite fragments arc found among them, showing that they must have been deposited during the glacial period, for the streams have no access to granite rock except as the ice of the glacial period has brought it within reach. The connection of these terraces with the glacial period is further proved by the fact that those streams which rise outside of the glaciated region, - such, for example, as the Schuylkill in Pennsylvania, and the very small streams in Southeastern Ohio, - do not have these terraces, and others which barely rise in the glaciated region but do not liave much of their drainage basins there, have corresjx>ndingly small terraces and few granitic fragments. Such are the Hocking River and Salt Creek in Hocking County and Brush Creek in Adams County.

"Any one living in the vicinity of any one of the following streams can see for himself the terraces of which we are speaking, especially if he observes the valleys near where they emerge from the glaciated region ; for the material which the water could push along was most abundant there. As one gets farther and farther away from the old ice margin the material composing the terraces becomes smaller, 'because more waterwom, and the terraces diminish in size. Favorable places in which to observe these glacial terraces are as follows : Little Beaver Creek, Big Sandy Creek, near Bayard, in Columbiana County; the Nimishillen, below Canton, and the Tuscarawas, below Navarre, in Stark County; Sugar Creek near DeardofT's Mills, in Tuscarawas County; the Killbuck. below Millersburg, in Holmes County; the Mohican, near Gann, and Vernon River, near Millwood, in Knox County; the Licking River, below Newark, in Licking County : Rush Creek, near Rushville, and the Hocking River, near Lancaster, in Fairfield County; Salt Creek, near Adelphi, in Hocking County; the Scioto River throughout its course, and Paint Creek, near Bainbriclge, in Ross County ; and both the Miami rivers throughout their course. The Ohio River is also lined by these glacial terraces which are from 50 to 100 feet above present high water mark. On the Ohio there are special enlargements of these terraces, where the tributaries enter it from the north, which come from the glaciated regions as laid down on the map. This enlargement is noticeable below the mouth of the Muskingum, in the angles of the river valley Wow Parkersburg, in the vicinity of Portsmouth near the mouth of the Scioto, at Cincinnati below the mouth of the Little Miami, and at Lawrenccburg, Indiana, below the mouth of the Great Miami. Below the mouth of the Muskingum the terrace is .100 feet above the flood-plain of the river and the highest part of the terrace on which old Cincinnati is built about the same height. Nearly all the cities along the Ohio are built on this glacial terrace. The most interesting thing about these terraces and what makes it proper for me in this connection to write thus fully about them, is that the earliest traces of man in the world arc found in them.

"In my original "Report upon the Glacial Boundary of Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky,' I remarked that since man was in New Jersey lx;fore the close of the glacial period, it is also -probable that he was on the tanks of the Ohio at the same early period ; and I asked that the extensive gravel terraces in the southern part of the State \k earefully scanned by archaeologists, adding that when observers became familiar with the forms of rude implements found they would doubtless find them in abundance. As to the abundance, this prophecy has not been altogether fulfilled. But enough has l>een already discovered in Ohio to show that man was here at that early time when the ice of the glacial period lingered on the south side of the water partings l»etween the lake and the Ohio River. Both at Loveland and Madisonville, in the valley of the Little Miami, Dr. C. L. Metz, of the latter place, has found an instrument of ancient type several feet below the surface of the glacial terraces l»rdering that stream. The one at Madisonville was found eight feet below the surface, where the soil had not been disturbed, and it was in shape and appearance almost exactly like one of those found by Dr. AWxrtt in Trenton. New Jersey. These are enough to establish the fact that men, whose habits of life were much like the Eskimos, already followed up the retreating ice of the great glacial period when its front was in the latitude of Trenton and Cincinnati, as they now do when it has retreated to Greenland. Very likely the Eskimos are the descendants of that early race in Ohio.

"In addition to the other conditions which were similar, it is found that the animals which roamed over this region were much like those which are now found in the far North. Bones of the walrus and the musk ox and the mastodon have been found in the vicinity of these implements of early man in New Jersey, and those of the mastodon were dug from the same gravel pit in Loveland from which an implement found in that place was taken.

with the recent discoveries of Dr. Metz, we may begin to speak of our own State as one of the earliest portions of the globe to become inhabited. Ages before the Mound-Builders erected their complicated ami stately structures in the valleys of the Licking, the Scioto, the Miami and the Ohio, man in a more primitive state had hunted and fished with rude implements in some portions at least of Ohio.

"To have lived in such a time, and to have successfully overcome the hardships of that climate and the fierceness of the animal "life, must have called for an amount of physical energy and practical skill which few of this generation possess. Let us not therefore speak of such a people as inferior. They must have had all the native powers of humanity fully developed, and are worthy ancestors of succeeding races."